It's almost time...

[TenaciousD]

The season is almost upon us. 2 years of growing pains and struggles, this video says it all:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IV-xZZay9E

Bring on the pain!

[Hitme]

Watch a real team. November 27th is the only game that matters, cannot wait to take you all down once again!! The vest always wins.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-lRbO17jKw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmqjSH-aG-s&feature=related

[TenaciousD]

Typical short sighted bucknuts. Only caring about one game... it's an important game, but make no mistake, at UM we want a NC.

[Hitme]

Typical short sighted bucknuts. Only caring about one game... it's an important game, but make no mistake, at UM we want a NC.

Yea, well you cannot win a NC without beating OSU. Especially when you guys can barely get through division 2 teams.

[Jouser]

Yeah! Call us shortsighted now.....you're just upset you have nothing else to say...you don't have an NC in sight or a win in November against coming anytime soon!  Sooorrrryyyy

[TenaciousD]

shortsighted? If I was that I would be screaming for RR's head. Instead, I am sitting back watching what is soon to be the start of year 3 in a 6 year rebuilding project. I love the progress they showed last year, this team is starting to click. I have longsightedness and it doesn't look good down the road for the bucknuts in November.

The only thing suspect this year is the D, no question the O will be scoring. Just remember, after this season, that is only the halfway point in UM's return to dominance. Enjoy your time while you can.

[Hitme]

I love how you guys go from being a good team, straight to "rebuilding." Sounds more like an excuse as to why you guys are not winning!!

[TenaciousD]

No one with any sense thought we were a "good" team under Carr the last 3-4 years of his coaching. The guy's coaching style was outdated and not applicable to the current stage of college football. App state was the result of years of mediocrity under Carr. He consistently took top level talent and had it underperform.

Somehow all tuos fans just assumed that Michigan is always a "good" team, whether the facts back that up or not.

[Hitme]

You don't 'rebuild' mediocre teams, you 'rebuild' teams that have been consistently bad the past few years. Michigan wasn't horrible, the past year they were back to mediocre. I don't think RR is the savior, he got lucky at WVU.

[TenaciousD]

Aside from 1997 and the first 11 games on '06, when was carr NOT a bad coach? 2 showings out of over a decade don't cut it. Not being able to beat tuos aside from your first year don't cut it. Taking amazing talent but putting the brakes on many times in games in 1997 so it resulted in a split NC against a coach who let his kids play, and had them playing above their talent level. That's not the atmosphere I want to see at a program like UM.

Whether or not RR is the "saviour" of UM football remains to be seen. What is clear, however, is that he inherited a class from carr that was 23, yes, TWENTY THREE, scholarships short and a team that was built on achieving an "earned" status, so players thought they didn't have to keep earning their spots. RR destroyed that mentality and brought back a S&C program with Barwis that teaches these kids to rise above their talent level and embrace a modern take on college football.

To judge him after 2 years, when his first FULL recruiting class is full of soph/RS fresh that are mostly starting this season, is also very premature. AD Brandon has made it clear that RR will be given his full 6 year contract, and he can only truly be judged when his starting class is full of seniors/juniors, which is 2012. This year is a year of expectations and hope, but not blinded NC hopes. Next year the expectation is to contend for the big 10 title and contend for the NC in 2012. If he is not close to achieving those at the end of 2012, then he might be re-evaluated.

Until then, sit back, don't get too nervous, and see if what he is installing will indeed do what the "people in the know" inside the program seem to believe it will.

[Hitme]

Then why do you get on Tressell for his coaching? Tressell came into TOSU and immediately had success, even through Coopers last 2 lackluster years. Is it too much to think that RR should have similar success given the same situation? Tressell didnt have to wait for 'his' recruits to get to play, that either says that OSU is far more prepared than Michigan, or Tressell is just that much better.

[TenaciousD]

I get on tressel because ever since his big win in '06 he has been showing more and more signs of becoming just like carr. Plus, cooper recruited well and didn't leave tressel 23 scholarship players short when he came in. Tressel also didn't change the way the guys fundamentally played the game when he came in, he kept the same basic execution in place with just minor tweaking. Tressel also flat out lied to TP, telling him he would turn him into an NFL QB if he went there, then failing to have him take at least half his snaps under center, which you need to do if you want to become an NFL QB. The only thing JT does well is try to limit his mistakes, but he also puts the brakes on many times in games when you can tell the kids want to keep playing, just like carr.

Other than them both taking over coaching a new team, there is nothing "same" about the situation, it is really apples and oranges. JT got a team that was pretty deep in talent and the players knew the scheme they were playing, he made minor adjustments but left it mostly intact and had immediate success. RR took everything the kids thought they knew and threw it away, starting a new system from the ground up and then coaching them through the struggle and growing pains of learning how to play the right way and watching some players jump ship because they didn't want to put in the work that was now required of them. There were a couple Carr players who bought into RR's system (Graham being the main one, also Warren) but most of Carr's players felt a sense of entitlement to play that RR destroyed and they bailed, telling the NCAA when they left that RR made them "stretch too much." (Yes that is one of the original complaints)

Still think it's the same situation?

[Hitme]

It may be apples and oranges, but at the moment, it seems that Tressell has handled his 'oranges' better than RR's 'Apples' in terms of first few years of coaching. You apparently do not follow Ohio State closely because you are blaming Tress for Pryor not running under center. When it is actually Pryor who told Tress that he wanted to go away from center.

[TenaciousD]

My fault, I didn't realize TP ordered JT around, I thought it was the other way around.

 

Either way though, JT brought in TP with the promise of turning him into an NFL QB and he has utterly failed on that promise. If, and this is a BIG IF, TP gets drafted in the NFL it will not be as a QB. Period. Wherever the blame for that lies, it lies, but promises were made that were not kept. I don't follow tuos like UM, but there are a few trolls who seem to feel it is their duty to update everyone on hailvictors.com about tuos going on's.

[Hitme]

lol, You have to conform to your top candidate, not by buying there best player things like USC did, but by letting him have control of his offense. So far it has failed, but it is possible that he will grow up this year and be legit.

[TenaciousD]

Well enjoy. "conforming to your top candidate" is Carr 101. Go ahead and keep the blinders on about jimmy, his best days may very well be behind him. Imagine if JT had told TP "No, you said you want to go pro so you are going to do what *I* say, that's how it works." and TP listened and re-adjusted his style of play instead of trying to adjust tuos to him. He would have 2 years of growing pains gone and now be close to a fluid, pro-style, passer with a dangerous set of legs. Instead he is NOW trying to adjust more under center and going through what should have been freshman pains as a junior, not good.

See, RR doesn't let Tate and Denard, or Gardner for that matter, tell him what they want to do. He tells them his system, tells them the best way for their style of play to adapt to it, and beats the crap out of them to get them in shape so they can execute it consistently. They now have year 1 of growing pains gone (running about 40% of RR's playbook) and a possibly rough year 2 (running about 75-80% of his playbook) coming up, but they have a very promising year 3 and 4+ (full playbook) on the horizon. It is entirely possible that they go 9-3 this year, but if the D isn't there they could easily go 4-8 with some key turnovers. I'm not concerned with the W/L record until next year, I just want to see progress on the field and I will know the system is working.

Sometimes it takes a while for a dynasty to be installed... mark my words!

[Hitme]

It's impossible to tell how they are going to do, they may do well, and they may flop.

[TenaciousD]

I can promise you this: The O will put up more points this year than they did last year.

[Hitme]

Shouldnt be too hard hahaha. Our offense will probably be the same, sadly.

[TenaciousD]

28 days until kickoff!!!