While I normally don't like doing these sort of catch-all posts, I realize it's kinda necessary if I really want to get my thoughts on the weekend in college football out there before the next weekend in college football. Story of my life: too much to write about, so little time to do it. Therefore: bullet points!
-The Big Game. Give credit to the Wolverines for making this far closer than it had any right to be. The offense got about as aggressive and creative as we've seen this year. Even as injured as he was, Devin Gardner threw for 451 yards and 4 touchdowns, and the running game came up with 152 yards of their own. It leads one to question: Where the hell has this been all season? Al Borges couldn't have pulled out any of these plays when Michigan was still playing for something? Clearly if they can hang with the 2nd-ranked team in the nation, they should have had no problems against Akron and Northwestern, right?
-The play. Despite what many will tell you, going for the two-point conversion was absolutely the right move to make. Given that nobody expected this game to be this close at the end, Devin Gardner was near death, and you essentially had no kicker, going for the win in regulation was the only option. Unfortunately, the execution left much to be desired, and it was only made worse by the fact that they ran a play that the Buckeyes saw coming from a mile away, which linebacker Ryan Shazier admitted after the game. Even more so when you consider that OSU called a timeout to adjust to the play they knew was coming, and the Wolverines came back onto the field in the exact same formation, having changed absolutely nothing. And they wonder why the play failed so miserably.
-The decision. Much has been made of Taylor Lewan's claim that Brady Hoke polled the seniors as to whether they should go for the two points. The players all agreed that they should, and this has been held up as proof that Hoke isn't a good coach in his own right. And while there's probably a case to be made for that, this isn't it. Clearly he knew he was going for two before using his ask-the-audience lifeline during the OSU timeout, and would have done so either way, so just stop it.
-The vote of confidence. Much as Dave Brandon gave it to Brady Hoke earlier in the week, Hoke did to his staff today, announcing that everyone will return next year. Whether Dave Brandon sees it that way is yet to be determined, but if so, that raises the bar higher than at any point in Hoke's tenure here. Even a sacrificial offering of Borges or Darrell Funk would probably buy Hoke more time to right the ship, but if he does indeed stay the course, the only acceptable outcome in the 2014 season can be winning the Legends/whatever-the-hell-they-name-the-division next year. Anything less should result in Hoke and his entire staff getting the boot. No excuses. This team hasn't made any progress since his first season, when he took a team comprised mostly of RichRod's players to the Sugar Bowl.
-The B1G Game. If you're Michigan State, you should be damn thankful right now that the Wolverines just gave you the blueprints on how to beat Ohio State in next weekend's conference championship game. The Buckeye pass defense had no answer for Devin Gardner all afternoon, and the Wolverines' pass defense managed to neutralize Braxton Miller's passing game, but couldn't do much to stop him and Carlos Hyde from running all over them. But, while Ohio State has the #1 rushing offense in the country (Hyde by himself has put up 7.8 yards per carry this season), Michigan State just happens to have the #1 rushing defense, allowing the fewest yards per carry (2.23) by any team in the last 4 years. If Connor Cook can buy himself enough time in the pocket to make big plays, and the Spartan defense can contain the running game, you might just be looking at an upset in Indy this weekend.
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