Week 9: Nebraska Recap

I have to be honest, I have been delaying my weekly blog posts because my current opinion of Michigan football is very discouraging.  Sitting down here in West Virginia with nothing else to do, I figured I owed it to my loyal reader (maybe there are two now) to continue my normal weekly schedule.

I wish there wasn't a Michigan football game last Saturday night.  It turned into one of the most frustrating losses in the Brady Hoke era, and all but ended Michigan's chances of making the Rose Bowl in the worst year of Big Ten football that I can ever remember.

There is not much good to pull from last weekend's debacle, so this post is going to be short since I dont want to get myself all worked up again.  Basically to sum up my feelings right now, I haven't cared less about Michigan football since 2008 and 2009. 

The Michigan football program lives and dies with one player, Denard Robinson.  Saturday night he left with an elbow injury just before halftime, and immediately the game turned unwatchable.  Russell Bellomy just didnt look like a capable B1G quarterback.  It was frustrating because I felt that Michigan's other 10 offensive players were superior to Nebraska's, but since the quarterback was beyond useless the game was over at that point. 

The defense managed to play reasonably well for most of the game, but got worn down by the end.  The unit held Nebraska in check for the most part, and even moved up to tie Alabama for the nation's top passing defense.  This likely has more to do with the competition level, but still that is pretty impressive.

Looking ahead, if Denard doesn't return soon, Michigan likely will not win another game this season.  Devin Gardner is by far the best 2nd option at quarterback, but with him just starting to take snaps this week in practice I doubt he offers too much of an advantage over Bellomy.  The offense just has nothing going for it right now, which became brutally obvious on Saturday night.  The receivers are well below average and most cannot seem to pull a pass that  would be labeled as difficult, the running backs have been utterly useless and the offensive line continues to struggle (not just the same guys either).  So this weekend in Minnesota should result in a win, but who knows how the team responds after such a depressing loss.