Still in Pain (Part 2-of-3)

There is not much to be said about the game that has not already been said, so I won't go into too much detail about the game. Here are the highlights (and lowlights).

• It was clear that the offense was not in synch. Even though Carr later admitted that Henne just couldn't throw the ball well with his injury, I don't fault him for leaving Henne in the game. You can't pull a four-year starter out of this game unless he volunteers his position. Besides, it's not like we trusted Mallett.
• Why didn't Michigan go back to the no-huddle offense? It worked so well on their FG drive, and the hurry-up approach really helped our running game! I really liked the play call at the time and it paid off with Michigan's only points of the game.
  
• It was humiliating to see OSU pull a play out of the Waterboy movie playbook and essentially take a knee for the last 20+ minutes of the game. They knew Michigan would lose unless the defense scored two touchdowns once they went up 14-3. Too bad Michigan did not have Bobby Boucher to play linebacker.
  
• If I were an OSU fan (thankfully I am educated), I would have been really frustrated at the conservative game plan. Tressel would have been ripped to shreds for his playcalling if Michigan somehow came back to win. Maybe OSU could have scored another 10-20 points if they tried, but their passing game was not very impressive in the wet conditions.
  
• It was a total team loss. No unit is spared from blame, but OSU also has one hell of a defense this year. People will point to the poor throws and dropped passes, but the biggest culprits were the offensive and defensive line. OSU owned the trenches.
  
• So sad to hear OSU's fans take over the stadium in the fourth quarter. However, they earned the right to boast. At least the students tried to foil their cross-stadium cheers.
  
• I think Lloyd Carr is a great character and he will be greatly missed as Michigan's coach. I will never bash the guy for what he did for the school. That said, I think I am starting to understand what the John Cooper era must have felt like.
  
• I know I can be negative at Michigan games, but I was sitting in front of someone that pissed me off so much with his negativity that I wanted to turn around and give him a piece of my mind. Whenever Michigan ran on 1st and ten, he yelled at our 'idiot coach' for being predictable. Whenever Michigan passed on 1st and ten, he called Lloyd a 'dolt' for putting Michigan in a 2nd and long situation. He yelled at Henne after every incompletion, completely oblivious to the fact that he was hit on almost every pass attempt. Imagine this negativity after every single play on offense or defense. I just tried to drown him out by cheering loudly for Michigan, but that fan tested my patience, moreso than the idiot who was heckling me at the Northwestern game this season.
  
• Michigan will shock a very good OSU team in Columbus next season.
  

After the game was over, we were so soaked, cold, and miserable that we decided that dinner in Ann Arbor was not a good idea. Unfortunately, I was not able to take TheJSB and her dad out to dinner as a thank you for the free ticket. I felt kind of bad, but I really needed a hot shower ASAP before I got sick. Instead, I made plans to see TheDogDoctor for dinner. On my drive over to her place, I was trying to think of the most miserable football games that I attended, taking into account result, weather, and other intangibles. There are three other games that standout. Syracuse 1998, OSU 2001, and Tennessee (1/1/2002 Bowl). The game from this weekend was at the top of the list. It was the most miserable weather for a game I have seen before (win or loss), and a horrible outcome on the field. That said, I am still glad I went home for the game.