The Rich Rodriguez era did not start off well. For all the off-season hype about Rich Rod and his vaunted spread offense, when it came to game day the Wolverines did a massive face plant. Michigan fans knew this was coming. The exodus of players to graduation and the NFL draft after the 07-08 campaign would have made this season challenging for ANY coach. But to usher in a complete overhaul, most people knew that disaster would ensure despite their hopes that things might be deceptively better than projected.
Enter Utah. As we saw in 2004 with Urban Meyer calling the shots and Alex Smith (and his small hands) under center, Utah is not just a schlep of a mid-major. They're a solid team similar to App State last year (a team that was coming off of a Div 1A championship, a fact that got lost in the upset rhetoric). That said I'm not surprised that Michigan lost on Saturday. However, watching the game was very painful. Not just because my beloved Wolverines looked anemic on offense, but because of the commentators. I could rant and rave about my distaste for sports commentators for hours. The most annoying moment, to me, occurred during the first half when the commentators were slurping Michigan's offense, which had never really gotten off the ground, at the same time that the producers put up a graphic of both teams' total yardage. Utah had well over 100 yards total offense and Michigan had 35. If it weren't for penalties committed by the Utes, Michigan's 4th quarter comeback would have been for naught. It's foolish to think that Big Blue will get those kinds of breaks every week. Personally, I wanted to seem more Sam McGuffie. When he did get the ball he looked alright. Granted he's no Mike Hart, but he's not running behind the same offensive line either. I'm intrigued to see how he develops in Ann Arbor. But right now, we need a quarterback. Sheridan threw A LOT of near interceptions, and Threet was a bit better, but not a whole lot. I wouldn't be surprised if Threet starts next week though, based on his 4th quarter performance. Sheridan looked like he was trying to be Pat White out there instead of just managing the game. Before the season started Michigan fans knew that a QB would be at the top of the list for next year's recruiting crop. Frankly, I'm surprised Pryor DIDN'T come to UM. It's one thing to sign on to a program that's already winning, but it's another to be the spark, or the cornerstone, that brings a team back to their rightful place of prominence.
I do have to give props to Utah's offensive line. They protected their quarterback really well and allowed him to thread the needle with his passing. It's not a stretch for Utah to win the Mountain West title this year, assuming they stay healthy.
Hopefully next week, when we play a weak Miami, Ohio, team Big Blue will settle into their offense a bit more so they're ready for Notre Dame in week three. After the absolute domination we've had over ND the past few years, it would suck to let that get away now. In reality, we're still at least another year or two away from getting back to being a consistent top 5 or top 10 team. So long as that happens, these growing pains will be worth it. As for this year, I'll be happy with 7-5 or 8-4.
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