See Michigan in their pretty white and blue uniforms with bright yellow pants, shiny new winged helmets, and long locks flowing from beneath them. Pretty, pretty, pretty.
See Alabama in their drab red outfits, with equally unstylish helmets, and good ole boy boot camp haircuts. Drab, drab, drab.
See Alabama head coach Nick Saban scream at a player when he came off the field after making a mistake. Saban won't tolerate it. He's a hard man.
See Michigan head coach Brady Hoke gently comfort one of his players after making a similar mistake. Hoke wants to be a father figure, and has said these are his sons. He's a nice guy.
See Alabama beat Michigan like a pit bull would a toy poodle in a cage match. It seems speed and flat out toughness have a way of trumping being pretty and overrated. And in the real world, sorry to say, being a nice guy is a good thing, but it has it's limitations. See business -- or politics.
Michigan's faithful will no doubt find a way to put a positive spin on the game, but this was a blow-out. Men against boys. Tanks against the cavalry. The Alamo, the Little Big Horn -- like that.
Alabama trotted out a true freshman running back that would gain more rushing yardage than the entire vaunted Michigan ground game -- combined. Michigan's coaching staff didn't even bother trying to run QB Denard Robinson because they thought Alabama would take that away with their defensive schemes. Thing is, Alabama looked like they were prepared to take everything else away as well. By getting away from what they do best, perhaps Michigan lost the mind game going in by trying to be cute.
What yardage Michigan did manage to get is deceiving. Robinson threw up 2 basically "Hail Mary" passes, and his prayers were answered both times. Minus those, they couldn't accomplish anything in the red sea that was engulfing them.
Alabama 41, Michigan 14, and it was nowhere near that close. Alabama covered the 14 point spread like paper covers rock. Having a comfortable lead and knowing they were vastly superior to Michigan, it looked like Bama eased up shortly after the second half began. Had they kept the pedal to the metal, this game might have become REALLY ugly for the Maize and Blue.
I don't know how far in advance college football schedules are made out, but if this game was pencilled in during the last year or so, and Michigan's new head coach had anything to do with it -- then just as things were looking promising for Michigan, Brady hokey-poked his team into a buzz saw.
He's a nice guy, but when it comes to a big time game, he doesn't get to put his right hand, left hand, right foot, left foot, etc., in -- then take them back out, then put them back in and shake them all about -- it's all in from the opening kickoff, and let's see what happens.
In this case, Michigan was all out before the game even began. It was a mismatch. A 14 point spread?
Well, one can give a fart 14 points too, but I still don't like it's chances in a tornado.
I did not watch more than 10 minutes of the game, watched the Tigers and changed to football during commercials and dull spots. Michigan was outcoached, outplayed and everything else.
ReplyDeleteOne question though. Was the officiating as bad the entire game as what I saw? Like an obvious facemask to a M running back ignored and offensive holding called?
Like a Bama defensive back shoving a receiver out of bounds and then intercepting the pass, leading to another TD?
Alabama was clearly the better team, by a lot. But the score of the game may have been a little more respectable with competent officiating. Or maybe it was better later in the game - I never turned it back to watch, as Mad Max was really dealing on the mound for the Tigers.
Right on, Al. I saw those missed/blown calls as well. I can understand the facemask not being seen, due to so many big bodies in the vicinity, and depending on which angles the refs were looking from, but the pass interference was blatant. The answer to your question? Beats me. Can't figure the Tigers. They get broomed in KC, and come home to start thumping the Chisox. And don't look now, but Mad Max has quietly become the ace of the staff.
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