<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=2v8riX_0wFTEFwQ00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=2v8riX_0wFTEFwQ00" width="600" height="600" ></figure>It’s a lot worse than we expected. There are Dungeons and Dragons references and they aren’t even coming from Seth (we’re rolling 1s, folks). They’re not doing any of the things we thought they’d be good at in the off-season. They don’t have a plan and they never had a plan. Sherrone Moore isn’t getting fired after one year, so how do they get out of this hole? Kirk Campbell is in trouble. Is there something going on with this team in the background that we just don’t know about? Neither side of the ball is getting better throughout the season. What would YOU do if you were Sherrone Moore? All things considered, the defense did pretty good. They held Illinois to under 300 yards and Luke Altmyer only had 80 passing yards. Illinois’ draw plays worked really well. The defensive line has been struggling with mobile quarterbacks this season. The refs got Michigan for all their holds and DPIs. Takes hotter than a random post on any message board. Do you think you could punt a ball 33 yards? Welp, let’s talk about the fake punt. Michigan plays too slowly to be down two touchdowns. What is the maximum you’ve ever seen the refs get the spot wrong? Big Noon Indiana is a silver lining!495 yards to 304, one turnover to five for the Hoosiers. Indiana’s backup quarterback comes in and it doesn’t matter! The Hoosiers have a 51% chance of going 11-1 according to Bill Connelly. USC was up 28-14 in the 2nd half. They are now 1-4 in the Big Ten and have lost all four games by a combined 14 points (they led all of these games at some point in the 2nd half). Aidan Chiles is pretty good when he doesn’t turn the ball over and he only turned it over once. Iowa scores a 75 yard rushing touchdown and that’s about it for them. Congrats to UCLA for their first Big Ten win. The passing stats in this game are upsetting for Michigan fans. Just lean on Northwestern and they’ll fall over. <ul><li>“Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra </li></ul>"The Galloping Ghost is out there because I guess ghosts are part of this game as well."This game was a cold shower. Reminds me of the 2009 Illinois game in that, while just one game, it felt hugely pivotal for the perception program. It's much harder to feel optimistic about the direction we're headed now. Similarly, the 2013 game against Akron. Michigan won that game 28-24, but it require some last-minute heroics to do it. Against Akron. Then the very next week a victory over UConn, but again, barely (24-21). There was a message being sent in those games. Michigan went 7-6 that year, with a 3-5 record in the Big Ten. The next year they went 5-7, and it was the end of the Hoke era.I mean, let's not overstate this game vs that. Akron was a 5-7 MAC team while UConn was 3-9. Illinois is 6-1 with a close loss to the #3 team in the country on the road. They'll get houses by Oregon next weekend but they close with Minnesota, MSU, Rutgers, and NW. That's a good chance at 9-10 wins.Also, that was Hoke's third season at the helm, while this is Moore's first. I know some people just want to fire him so UM can hire Johnny Unbeatable as the new HC but not everything has to be doom and gloom.That Hoke year isn't a great comp, but unfortunately this is a lot like Juwan Howard's second-to-last squad. There is some high-end talent that's leaving at the end of year, and the team is mediocre even with that high-end talent. When that talent is gone, then it could get ugly. There's an awful lot riding on Jadyn Davis for next year.I'd be very surprised if they roll the dice with Jadyn Davis next year without picking someone up from the portal. This season is what it is and the staff are just working with what they have. But not making moves in the offseason to make sure they have a competent QB next year would be a huge mistake.The point is it represented an inflection point. We could argue there were earlier inflection points with Hoke. But I recall that Akron game, and in the aftermath people saying "a win is a win!", and me thinking that W had some real cracks in the foundation.I thought that IL's uniforms were really pretty neat. And I never think that about anyone's uniforms. A kind of model of how to make a day--and event--of it, and maybe fire a team up that tad bit more, too. <blockquote>Is there something going on with this team in the background that we just don’t know about?</blockquote>If I were to guess -- and I have absolutely no insider information -- it's a combination of several things:<ol><li>Several sub-optimal hiring choices for assistant coaches;</li><li>Sherrone Moore still figuring out how to be strong in the CEO role, while not betraying his more sociable nature; </li><li>The lack of strong leadership from within the players; and</li><li>A very big stage, and Moore and others not quite ready to be on that stage.</li></ol>These things aren't unique to football: these dynamics are present in any organization where the leadership isn't quite up to the task. I saw it several times in my 35 years in a large corporation where a manager took over a work team, and things just didn't mesh well. I would imagine the same occurs within military organizations when a new commanding officer comes in and struggles to lead effectively.My two-cents ... I could be wrong, of course.</div></body>

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MGoPodcast 16.8 : Big Noon Hoosiers

It’s a lot worse than we expected. There are Dungeons and Dragons references and they aren’t even coming from Seth (we’re rolling 1s, folks). They’re not doing any of the things we thought they’d be good at in the off-season. They don’t have a plan and they never had a plan. Sherrone Moore isn’t getting fired after one year, so how do they get out of this hole? Kirk Campbell is in trouble. Is there something going on with this team in the background that we just don’t know about? Neither side of the ball is getting better throughout the season. What would YOU do if you were Sherrone Moore?