Hail to the Victors?

So caught my first Michigan- Ohio State game on Saturday. It was an experience to say the least.
First off the Big House is deceptive in its size. The place fits around 111,000 people but from the last row of the stadium its not that far to the field. That means that everyone has pretty good seats. The bad news is that you better like your neighbor because he'll be sitting in your lap by the time the game hits halftime.

Here's another thing that bugged me about the stadium, there's only one exit in each section. That wouldn't be bad if the sections were small. The stadium is one large bowl, with only one level. This means that each section was huge, about 70 rows of 20 seats. Now the problem with this is that people tend to get up and try to leave at the same time, either at half time or at the end of the game. This causes what can only be described as a human traffic jam. I waited about 30 min. Just to get from my seats to the exit. There has got to be a better way to do this. I understand that the stadium is old and that the majority of it is underground,but come on. Some of those allegedly brilliant engineers over at U of M can figure something out.

As for the game itself, the fact that it will be replayed on ESPN Classic as an instant classic says a lot. It was a tremendous game that shouldn't have been as close as the score. There is no reason that Michigan should have ever close to the lead in that game. The Buckeyes dominated on both sides of the ball, handily at that. The Michigan running game was held to less than 50 yrds. Rushing. Chad Henne showed no signs of being any better than John Navarre.

So, how did this game get decided in the last minutes when it was so thoroughly dominated by the Buckeyes. The answer special teams and defense. Ohio State tried to give this game to Michigan, who didn't know what to do with it.

The Buckeyes lost two fumbles that lead to 10 Michigan points. Another Michigan scoring drive came off a horrible A.J. Trappasso punt, i'll cut him some slack since the kick was into a strong wind(but 18 yards, that's shameful). Here's some more evidence of the Wolverine's good fortune; three of their four scoring drives were under 40 yards, Ted Ginn fumbled two punts that cost the Buckeye's serious chunks of yardage, not to mention the Buckeye's missed an extra point and a field goal (where have you gone Mike Nugent?) Not that any of that should be held against the Wolverines.

When you make mistakes like that you are supposed to lose, and John Cooper would have lost. But the Wolverines crapped the bed on this one. They mounted one real drive all day, 11 plays, 69 yards that ended in a Garrett Rivas field goal. This also was the only time that the Michigan offense crossed mid-field on its own. On most days this would have been a blowout Ohio State victory, mistakes kept the game close. But what else do you expect from an OSU- Michigan game.

All in all it was a beautiful day to watch a football game. And it was one of the better games i've ever seen. There's nothing like the deafening silence of 100,000 people who can't believe they lost. Again.

When does the fire Lloyd Carr talk start, has it started already and i wasn't told? The guy recruits well and is always keeping his team in the Big 10 race. Is it enough that he's lost 4 of 5 to OSU and is 2-7 in his last 9 against OSU and Notre Dame? He did win a fake national title in '97. (There are no legitimate co-national champions, its a contradiction in terms, but that's a whole other column.) How long do you let him hang around? OSU let John Cooper go 2-10-1 against Michigan. I don't think U of M will wait that long. (Wouldn't it be really ironic if they went after Butch Davis? )