Toledo victory jeopardizes Michigan bowl hopes
Written by Dave Woolford | | news@toledofreepress.comWhile Toledo’s football Rockets are rallying around the cry, “Remember The Big House,” Michigan’s quickly imposed mantra was, “Forget Toledo!”
Tyrrell Herbert
It was the best of times for UT following its 13-10 triumph over UM on Oct. 11 and the worst of times for the Wolverines, possibly even worse than their loss to Appalachian State at the start of last season. That Richter-scale-size tremor was considered the biggest upset in college football history by some scholars of times gone by.
UT football aficionados think their guys went one better. They did.
Appalachian State, a Football Championship Subdivision envoy (formerly Division 1-AA), was marching toward its third consecutive Division 1-AA national championship. Toledo was 123rd in Jeff Sagarin’s ratings, behind 18 Division 1-AA teams. The Rockets jumped to 101 following their triumph over Michigan, oddly enough just one behind Appalachian State.
It’s been stated by some longtime UT football observers that this victory, alone, will save “Toledo Tom” Amstutz’s head coaching position for at least another season when that topic was becoming contentious.
Not necessarily so during a year when Toledo’s supposedly biggest upset ever came against a Michigan team that will be measured against UM’s worst ever. This was a very average Mid-American Conference UT team at 1-4 with three straight losses at home facing a Michigan team that will want to forget a lot more than just Toledo before this season ends.
The Rockets’ triumph was over tradition not superior talent. To UT’s credit, it was not intimidated by The Big House, the biggest crowd it had ever played in front of and the big odds favoring UM by 17 points.
The Rockets did what they absolutely thought they could do without scoring an offensive touchdown for the second game in a row while sending the Wolverines to Penn State Oct. 18 as a 24-point underdog. That tells you something about UM. When was the last time Michigan was a 24-point underdog to anyone, especially a team it has beaten nine straight times? And when was the last time a Mid-American Conference representative defeated the Wolverines in 24 previous contests? None to be exact.
College football’s winningest program is in danger of losing eight games for the first time in school history, surpassing the seven setbacks Michigan posted in 1962, 1936 and 1934. Also in grave jeopardy is UM’s streak of 33 straight bowl-game appearances, currently the longest such streak in the nation.
Some polls rank Michigan as the fourth best football team in the state, not only behind 20th-ranked Michigan State, but also Central Michigan, Western Michigan, and how about the Detroit Lions?
What prompts the pollsters? The schedule, for openers. After playing five of their first six games of the season at home, the Wolverines play four of their last six on the road, including Oct. 18 at Penn State.
A victory against Toledo would have at least put UM at .500 instead of dropping the Wolverines to 2-4. Michigan needs a total of six victories to become bowl eligible. Winning four of their final six games with opponents, such as the third-ranked Nittany Lions today, overly eager Michigan State on Oct. 25 and Ohio State to end the regular season seems way too much to ask of a lot of teams, but especially of the Wolverines. They started the week of Oct. 12 ranked 109th among 119 Division 1-A teams in total offense. Michigan was expected to thrash about before gaining some level of consistency, but it’s been a much bigger struggle than even UM coach Rich Rodriguez admits he anticipated.
Heading into Happy Valley, the Wolverines were averaging a Big Ten-low 19 points, while an experienced defense, which was to keep things afloat until the offense found smoother sailing, was yielding 25 points per contest, ninth worst in the conference.
Michigan’s final six Big Ten opponents had a combined overall record of 32-7 and occupied the top five positions in the conference standings heading into this weekend.
Rodriguez, the star of a new fan-based Web site called FireRich.com, says until he’s blue in the face that his team has to “stay the course.” Problem is the Bermuda Triangle is dead ahead, and the waters are filled with naysayers, a gigantic gloomy Gus, large schools of worrywarts and other assorted sharp-tongued cynics all ready to feast on their forecasts.
While the Wolverines are trying to hide their embarrassing red glare administered by the Rockets, UM’s loyal followers are pleading for Rodriguez to can his spread offense, at least until there’s some players around who can actually put it to good use.
You can’t make apple butter out of crushed kumquats, but Rodriguez is sticking with his system as everything that can go wrong continues to pile up at the Wolverines’ doorstep.
A disgusted Ann Arbor scribe immersed in a totally repugnant disposition following the game penned, “It was a bunch of no-names from a slumping Mid-American Conference program.”
Just wondering: What does that make Michigan?
