Instant Analysis - Sept. 5
Michigan 31 ... Western Michigan 7
- Michigan
31 ...
Western Michigan
7
Pete
Fiutak
It's early, and a blowout win over Western Michigan,
even if the Broncos
are good enough to win the MAC, isn't any reason to
start booking tickets to Pasadena, but this was a
much, much different Wolverine team than anything
that showed up last year. By all reports, the team
banded together, rather than split apart, with all
the controversy swirling around Rich Rodriguez this
past week, and many of the ills will quickly be
cured if there are more performances like this. One
thing will be really, really important to remember
going forward; the talent is still young. Tate
Forcier and Denard Robinson are going to make a slew
of mistakes along the way and they're going to play
like freshmen from time to time, but they sure have
provided a spark. The team, just because of the way
these two performed, played a lot faster, with a
better tempo, and appeared to be a team with far
more confidence and fire than it ever showed on the
field last year. Again, this is one game against
Western Michigan, but it could signal the beginning
of the RichRod era and what it was supposed to be
when he was hired.
Richard
Cirminiello
It doesn’t matter where you live or where you went to school. Something just felt right about Michigan’s unexpected domination of Western Michigan.
Unless you’re a Buckeye or a Spartan, for instance, the Wolverines’ 2008 debacle wasn’t a whole lot of fun for anyone who really enjoys college football. Certain programs are supposed to be good for nine or 10 wins perennially. The maize and blue is one of them. Is the school all the way back? Of course not. Considering the dark cloud that followed the school a year ago, though, getting three touchdown passes from rookie Tate Forcier and a tremendous effort from the defense is an ideal way to kick off a season. A turnaround in Ann Arbor won’t happen overnight. However, fans of Michigan finally got a glimpse of what a Rich Rodriguez team might look like once he starts to corral more of his kinds of kids. And considering the unflattering news reports of late, not a moment too soon.
Matt Zemek
1) That sound you heard in Ann Arbor? It was a sigh of relief. Michigan’s offense knew what it was doing. Yeah, there are 11 games to go, but to have an appreciably crisp performance in week one, with all the controversy swirling around the program, represents a hugely encouraging moment for the Wolverines and Mr. Rodriguez.
2) That sound you heard in Ann Arbor? It was a sigh of relief from any Central Michigan fans who might have snuck into the Big House to get an early look at MAC West rival Western Michigan. Much as Notre Dame-Nevada was partly a matter of the underdog face-planting, so it also was that Michigan’s excellence was accompanied by a poor showing from the Broncos, who expected to be competitive in this contest. It’s not as though the chase for the Mid-American Conference crown is a foregone conclusion, but a positive afternoon would have given Western Michigan the kind of emotional ballast that lasts a full season. The simple fact that the Broncos won’t gain such a boost means that Central Michigan just gained a small but meaningful amount of leverage on day one of the 2009 campaign.
Michael Bradley
Michigan proved Saturday that hard work does pay off. The Wolverines may not be ready for the big time, but they proved they could beat a Mid-American Conference team, and after losing to Toledo last year, that is a pretty big deal. Freshman QB Tate Forcier looked pretty good, and Shoelace Robinson has speed to burn, but the key to any success the Wolverines will have this year was shown on the defensive side, where they were able to hold down what was a pretty formidable passing attack in 2008. We’ll learn soon enough (like next week), whether Richie Rod is ready to take some big steps away from his 2008 disaster, but this was a good way to quiet things down for a while, at least until the Fighting Irish come to town.