I was thinking about how incredibly intelligent our defensive line was last year. I never heard about anyone not knowing how to line up. Kyle Phillips, Alexis Johnson, and Shy Tuttle were in their first year of Pruitt’s system. I wonder who taught them how to line up. Then we had Emmit Gooden who had just arrived on campus from his starring role in Last Chance U. I didn’t hear of any problems. Even guys who played sparingly last year like Butler, Mincey, et. al., not a peep. Of course no one would have expected any issues with Paul Bain. That goes without saying. I wonder what happened this year.
I’ve heard last Saturday described as an epic loss, in the class of the Michigan loss to Appy State in 2007. In 2007 that was the first game of the year for both teams and it was played in the Big House. Michigan, we’re sometimes reminded, went on to have a relatively decent season, sort of. They were ranked #5 in the preseason poll for big boys and Appy was ranked #1 in the early poll for the little boys. In the immediate aftermath of the game Michigan fell completely out of the rankings. Michigan’s second game, also on their home field, was against our beloved friends, the Oregon Ducks. Michigan lost again, 39-7.
From there Michigan would go on an 8 game winning streak climbing back as high as #15 in the poll before dropping their last 2 and disappearing again. They were invited to the Citrus Bowl for a matchup with Urban Meyer’s #9 ranked Florida Gators and newly minted Heisman trophy winner Tim Tebow. They beat the Gators and carried Lloyd Carr off the field as he had announced in November that that season, 2007, his 13th as the head coach at Michigan, would be his last year. His 5th year offensive coordinator was our own lovable grandpa, Mike Debord. Michigan was rewarded for the victory over Florida with a season ending ranking of #18. 2007 would be the 3rd consecutive year that Appy state won the FCS national championship.
Most people, especially outside of Michigan, don’t remember much about that 2007 Michigan team. They just remember that they lost to Appy State. They may not even know that Appy state in those days was the “Alabama” of the FCS league. The game between those two has its own wiki page. It’s listed among the historically significant games of college football.
We’re not 2007 Michigan and Georgia State isn’t 2007 Appy State. So far our game doesn’t appear to even have a wiki page. I sort of doubt the game turns out to be historically significant to the college football landscape. I also doubt we’re going to see our players carrying our head coach from the field but we can still hope that we might yet be able to beat the Gators this season. On second thought, never mind; that was just a passing thought. jmo.