Michigan Beats Minnesota-Goes 3-7 for Season

More amazing than cheese-whiz was that the U of M Wolverines beat the Minnesota Golden Gophers last Saturday 29-6 improving their record to 3-6 this season and giving them hop that they could end the season with a 3 game winning streak.

I was very surprised that Michigan came prepared for this game. After losing to Utah, Toledo and Michigan State the season was essentially over, and all they had left to play for was pride. Not that a potential 5-7 record is anything to boast over, but if the Wolverines can beat Northwestern this weekend and OSU in the following weekend they will have shown the potential exists to turn around next season, and give hope to the massive following that IS Michigan football that all may not be lost forever. It's just lost for this season!

The additional benefit of Michigan’s win is that the little brown jug stays with us for at least another year. And after the terrible season this team has had they need to enjoy every victory they can!

Michigan v. Minnesota-November 2008
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/recap?gameId=283130135

Thursday 12th November 2008

Penn State Defeats Michigan at State College, PA

Last Saturday-October 18th, 2008-The Wolverines from the University of Michigan came to State College, PA to play the undefeated Nittany Lions. The Wolverines are under new management-as they say-with a new coach and everyone had thought that any difficulties the Wolverines would have in adjusting to the new coaching staff and new plays and attitude would not take long. The tradition at Michigan is a winning one, and no one I knew could think of when Michigan last had a losing season, let alone were simply a bad team.

I grew up watching both Michigan and Penn State play. I had an uncle who loved watching Michigan play and my grandfather who I was close to when I was growing up loved Penn State-probably due to the fact that he grew up in the backyard of State College and went to PSU. I always heard from both sides-uncle and grandfather-that if they ever were to play each other, it would be like worlds colliding, titans battling! Neither side would admit that they could lose. Fortunate for them when I was growing up they played in different divisions-Michigan in the Big Ten and Penn State in the Independent division.

Some 15 years ago though Penn State joined the Big Ten division and Michigan and Penn State have played nearly every year and I’ve seen some very good ball games when they’ve played each other. This year Michigan is simply not playing well-and this is not said to take away anything from the Nittany Lions win last weekend. The Penn State Nittany Lions are playing top ball and are the ones to beat in the Big Ten conference. I believe the Big ten Title is the Nittany Lions to lose. In fact they play OSU this upcoming weekend in Columbus and it should be a very good game. ESPN is making the case that this game will decide who will win the Big ten championship. If Penn State wins then they control their destiny in reference to the Big-ten title. They have three games remaining after playing OSU and all of them are conference games. It’s in the Lions hands.

I’ve watched the Wolverines and the Lions play my entire life and have gotten used to seeing both of them in a bowl game and fighting for the Big ten title or for a National championship. This year though I may find I only have to look for the Nittany Lions playing over the New Year Holiday as Michigan-with a 2-5 record-doesn’t look like they know how to win, or want to win at times. Perhaps this really is a rebuilding year for the Michigan Wolverines. At least I’ll be able to feel confident and secure as long as Joe continues to coach the Lions at State College!

Penn State-espn page
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/clubhouse?teamId=213

Michigan-espn web page
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/clubhouse?teamId=130

Penn State 46 Michigan 17
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/recap?gameId=282920213

Thursday, October 23, 2008