Team 137 - Game 7 - Michigan vs. Illinois

It’s late October and there’s excitement in Ann Arbor … and no, it’s not because of a particularly strong apple-picking season, although we all get a little giddeyup in our step with a glass of Dexter Cider Mill cider in hand (gotta love those late-fall Barn Dance memories).

Nope, it’s because Big Blue continues its ascent in the national polls and currently finds itself undefeated and ranked #3 in the country after further shake-up at the top during the Blue bye week.  It’s been a decade (almost to the day) since Michigan last was ranked this high once the leaves began to change – October 21, 2006 to be exact – and Blue Nation is ready … after all, it’s been expected since the day Coach Jim said yes … maybe it’s a bit earlier than some thought, but it’s here and it sure feels good.

The Maize and Blue enjoyed some extra rest during the bye week, although we’re not sure whether any of them actually broke a sweat in the beat-down they put on Rutgers last weekend.  Up next … the University of Illinois for Homecoming 2016.  Let’s break down the W over the Scarlet Knights and then set the stage for this weekend’s Big House matchup against Lovie Smith and his Fighting Illini.

Big Blue is rolling … all aboard the Khaki Bus!

Michigan v. Rutgers – The Recap

Last weekend, the Maize and Blue Bus headed East for a showdown with some kids that claimed to play Division I college ball in New Jersey.  Harbaugh and company showed up looking for a Big Ten football game … Rutgers instead greeted them with a busload of high-school players trying to compete at the next level, albeit highly unsuccessfully. 

And let’s be honest, from the opening kick, Rutgers’ chances at victory were about as good as the Outer Banks facing Hurricane Matthew. But the beating couldn’t have felt good, and to make matters worse, Rutgers had invited more than 200 recruits to attend the game as special guests to experience the athletic prowess of the Scarlet Knights in person… doh! 

Ah yes, the golden age of television, when social commentary is best delivered by animated characters from places such as Springfield and South Park, and binge-worthy obsessions hit the small screen more regularly than Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson hits the big one.

As for those pesky cartoon types, a quick shout out to The Simpsons, which aired its 600th episode this week and is on track to pass Gunsmoke as the most episodic television show in history sometime during the 2018 season.  Whoo-Hoo!

Moving on to the more current “stuff,” I just finished my newest small-screen binge, HBO’s The Night Of, and holy Bejesus, Batman!  Some long-form travel hit the calendar and so I decided to make this my next mini-drama to attack … the eight-episode HBO series that only has one season seemed within reach, and I went for it.  And it hit me hard ... a prison/legal drama that exposes the underworld of survival in the American prison system, and does so while highlighting the changing nature of a Pakistani boy who becomes transformed by the process.  Richard Price, Steve Zaillian and their team ask us to consider how our society treats people whose journey includes such a life experience ... and the answers are hard to come by (not only for questions involving our complex legal system, but also for the f-ugly foot fungus that haunts John Torturo in his performance of a lifetime – gross and hard to watch, at times, but intense, thought-provoking and emotionally riveting).  This intense examination of typecasting is real to the bone, and it’s disturbing as fuck to see how “the inside” may actually look … the only question is whether it’s coming back, and if so, in what form, as it’s hard to imagine where it could go in continuum.

Near-term late-fall travel means some new stuff to explore … maybe Narcos … maybe Westworld … maybe Difficult People …  who knows … and of course catching up on The Blacklist, my guilty pleasure … I just can’t get enough of Reddington and his shenanigans, although after just one episode this season, I’m fearful that Redd may have joined Fonzie in jumping that proverbial shark, which would be a shame … but I’m not there yet, so let’s wait and see how the rest of the season unfolds before casting any undeserving aspersions.  

Sorry, I digress.  Where were we?  Right, Big Blue gridiron. Michigan beat the scarlet pulp out of Rutgers, a fucking lot to a wee-bittie little – 78-0, to be exact.  This game was an ass-kicking wrapped around a bitch-slap and smothered in a mucho-grande dose of whoop-ass … it hit the record books as Big Blue’s second-largest margin of victory in the modern era (the largest was UM’s victory over the University of Chicago (yes, the original Monsters of the Midway), 85-0 on October 21, 1939, and the Rutgers game was full of all sorts of interesting facts – like the fact that six Michigan players had more individual yards (in passing, rushing or receiving) than all of Rutgers did on the day … or the fact that Rutgers punted 16 times or that the Wolverines scored 11 TDs.  The list goes on … and it’s accompanied by a plethora of sad images of the afternoon … a fucking lot to a wee-bittie little, that’s the punchline, and we’ll take it.

Both teams started slow, and then Michigan brought the opening excitement when N.J.-native Jabrill Peppers took a snap at QB and ran the ball 63 yards downfield to set up Michigan’s first score, a Ty Isaac 4-yard run.  #5 Peppers then had a punt-return TD called back – kindling for a young Heisman fire? – and the Wolverines got on a roll.  Speight to Chesson for 30 yards …14-0!  Fumble-recovery-lead-to-red-zone-start … Peppers for a 7-yard option score at QB … 21-0!  And then it got out of control.  Harbaugh finished the first half by going for two after a Khalid Hill TD, and tacked on two more quick scores to put Michigan up 43-0.  Big Blue then came out and won the second half, 35-0.  Ouch!

The Michigan Offense

Wilton Speight went 6-13 for 100 yards and a TD and retired early to make room for John O’Korn and Shane Morris.  Chris Evans posted a team-high 153 yards in Big Blue’s 481-yard rushing attack – an 8.6 yards-per-carry average is ridiculous in today’s FBS environment.  Five different Wolverines recorded rushing TDs, including a two-spot for All-Ridonkulous-Team stand-out Jabrill Peppers.

And while we jest about Heisman hype this early in the campaign, this kid could start at a handful of positions on Offense, Defense and Special Teams and at any of them be in the top 5 in the country respectively.  As Bo always said … The Team, The Team, The Team … it’s not about an individual performer, and that’s true … but it’s hard not to marvel at this beast of a student athlete.

The Wolverines had 23 first downs and 600 total yards on offense (119 through the air and 481 on the ground) and controlled every element of the offensive attack from the line of scrimmage and beyond.  Again, consider the competition … but this was the Michigan offense we long to see coming out of Schembechler Hall.

The Michigan Defense

Rutgers put up 39 total yards on offense, and that’s all you need to know about the Michigan defensive effort in New Jersey. The D Line notched tackles and sacks across the board and the secondary spent more time thinking about that upcoming fall-break excursion to Dexter Cider Mill than defending wide-out threats.

Yes, the Rutgers game felt good on every level … and yes, we knew going in that it wouldn’t be close, but no one predicted it would be that grotesque … especially Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse.  For those who didn’t catch the buzz, the Ruth’s Chris Ann Arbor location released a promotion inviting Michigan fans to come in for a meal and receive a discount of the number of points by which Michigan beat Rutgers … all fine and good from a human-interest perspective, but the fact that Ruth’s Chris reneged on the deal because of the ass-pounding is weak sauce.  Unlike the local steak shop, Coach Harbaugh, who was seen dining at Ruth’s Chris just days later (by the way, with a glass of milk to accompany his steak … maybe the grossest news item of the UM/Rutgers cycle?), lives up to his end of the bargain … that’s how he was raised and that’s how he rolls … and that’s why Big Blue crushed the bejesus out of Rutgers last weekend … drop the mic.

Michigan v. Illinois – The Preview

This is the 95th meeting between Michigan and Illinois on the gridiron, with Michigan holding a commanding lead, 69-23-2.  The series dates back to 1898, when Michigan won the series opener 45-0.  More importantly, this weekend is Homecoming in Ann Arbor … which means bashing in an Illinois car in the diag, featured match-ups in both the Mud Bowl and the Nose Bowl and hoards of older Wolverines walking around campus looking nostalgically for another great slice of Back Room for the walk through the diag.  Michigan is 88-27 in the last 115 Homecoming games at the Big House (including a 10-5 mark against Illinois during that run), and this year should be no exception to the general trend of lopsided Maize and Blue victories.

The Fighting Illini come into this game 2-4 (1-2 Big Ten) – and yes, college football in Champaign-Urbana has been on more of a decline over the last five decades than Trump’s polling numbers of late.  The program finished first in the conference and won the Rose Bowl in 1963 and hasn’t won a major bowl since.

As for that over-sized oompa loompa and his manipulate-the-system-driven nightmare of an opponent, I have little time or interest in any extended coverage this week of the election (yes, what some call Lice On Rats On A Horse Corpse On Fire 2016), but suffice to say we’ll be seeing / hearing / reading a lot more over the next six weeks … which is good, as we’ll all get a little bit dumber in the process ... but just to throw one more fun tidbit out given the TV proclivities of this panelist, if you haven’t yet seen the Will & Grace take on the election, it’s worth checking out … and no, not necessarily for its message or the way in which it’s articulated, but just to see Jack and Karen on screen together bantering about over today’s trials and tribulations of both the masses and the classes … good stuff.

Anyhoo, back to Illinois football … the off-season hiring of former Chicago Bears Head Coach Lovie Smith was met with excitement by the locals in Illinois farm country, but so far it’s been more of the same misery as Illini fans have seen for the better part of, well, forever.  

Illinois’ wins this season came against Murray State in the season opener at home and last week on the road against the lowly Rutgers.  In between, the Illini have fallen to North Carolina (48-23), Western Michigan (34-10), Nebraska (31-16) and Purdue (34-31 in OT).  Scoop of chocolate, scoop of vanilla … don’t waste my time.

QB Wes Lunt leads the Illinois offense with 840 yards on the season and 6 TD strikes.  The backfield is flush with guys no one has heard of who have relatively meaningless stats on the season (Kendrick Foster, Reggie Corbin and Ke’Shawn Vaughn have together rushed for just a little over 700 yards).  Malik Turner leads a relatively innocuous receiving corps, but his 29 grabs for 400+ yards and 3 TDs merit attention by Harbaugh and his defensive experts.

Big Blue is focused and ready for its next victim, as Team 137 is aware of its surroundings in college-football land and is focused on keeping pace with those in its general vicinity.  

And while it’s important to hone in only on the task at hand, no doubt others will engage in postseason speculation as we turn towards late fall, and so we must take it in stride.  Yes, Michigan is in the hunt … but no, it’s nowhere near automatic that the Maize and Blue roll through the rest of the runway unscathed and poised for post-season action.  Let’s just hang on there, Andy Staples of Sports Illustrated , and focus on execution each week and see what happens.

As for the state of college football today, it’s starting to crystallize and thus the increased noise by those talking heads of what may come when winter sets in.  Bama and OSU sit atop the polls, with UM nestled in at third after Clemson needed OT to survive NC State.  Slick Nick looks better than anyone else around (what else is new?) … Urban Meyer smells worse than anything trolling the gridiron (again, what else is new?) … Coach Harbaugh keeps his khakis pressed and his boys in execution mode … and Clemson clearly completes the top four as it stands today.  But none of that matters if you slip up on the field … Jesus, Tim, can you please focus on the task at hand?  Yes, Illinois, sorry … it’s getting late in the season and I’ve had more than my few cups of joe by now … the feet are startin’ to move and sometimes it’s just hard to stop … you know, like Mike Newhouse said, “I just want to dance!”

My dancing shoes are on this week, that’s for sure. Big Blue opened as a 28-point home favorite – the number now sits close to 36 with most Vegas “experts,” and I wouldn’t be surprised if it continues to climb.  Team 137 is hitting its stride at the right time of the season, and Coach Harbaugh knows better than to allow his troops to lose focus.  The talent, drive and worth ethic all are there … and the coaching simply is better than the competition.  It’s a great time to be a Michigan football fan.

The early prediction is now in … Michigan 48 - Illinois 7

Go Blue!