Real life intervenes as I have a pile of work waiting for me today. I'll try to get some stats up and perhaps a short link fest, but my column on the game is going to have to wait until Tuesday. So in it's place, Thumbin Though will appear today.
Just as a quick comment on what happened Saturday. I was at the game. No, I wasn't happy. Do I think it's the end of the world? No. It is, however, the start of a very bad season for Michigan. The game was far less distressing than Rodrgiuez' comments afterwards, Tony Dews' post game behavior (which should be disciplined), and Carlson Butler's punch. (All of which can be accessed here). I expect more out of the coaching staff and the players.
Six wins looks like a pipe dream at this point, but I thought the offense looked pretty decent, minus Minor, Grady, and Threet's fumbles. This team, with the exception of our safety play, will be pretty good by season's end. I think everyone needs to take a deep breath, and realize the majority of the mistakes in this game were by young, inexperienced players. It'll get better, it's just not goign to get better quickly.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with Thumbin' Through, I bring my Treo to every game and thumb out my thoughts as the game goes on. This is complete stream of consciousness. The idea is to put you right inside my head as the game goes on, play by play, Being John Malkovich style. Sometimes it's funny. Sometimes it's painful. Often it's obscene, especially after this weekend. But it's never boring. So if you have delicate sensibilities, I would recommend you skip this posting and continue on to the rest of site. Regards - Ed.
Thumbin Through Michigan Football at Notre Dame!
Nd UM weeeeeeeeeeee!
Just drank brews with house rock built. Life good. Tailgating is good.
Black daggers (some kind of parachute team) made a jump in.
Let the cripple fight begin.
For some reason the mums (flowers) are maize, not gold. Woo. A sign.
beer make me think stupid things.
Irish taking field. Blah blah blah. windy tho. Going to be hard to
throw ball today. Not monsoon, but wind picking up.
Thompson leads team onto field. Woo. Bad sign.
Clear right niw. Prb rain in 10 min, bt for now, it's football. Corner
of EZ behind nd band. 8 rows from top. Grt vw.
Harrison taylor thompson cptns for coin flp
Lou hoooooooooollllllllllltttttttt
coin flips. Slobbers on coin. No one wants to pick up.
UM losses toss. Will recv.
Shw and booboo bk to rcv.
Wind. Booboo fks up kick. Loses it. Takes it to 9. Grt. woo
Mcguff threet - mathtws for 6 lft
2d mcgf rt for 14.
1d mcguff on zn rd lft. For 11
1d - mcguff tckld at los for ls of 2 midl btwn cntr grd rt.
Bultr on pass midrt. Flg. chp blk mich. Dumbass.
2&27 - minr in - minr drops pass for fumbl. Nd ball. Minr blws it. Totaly
ND at 11
Pass lft nthn
2d - clsn rolls lft rt. Gts tckld. Fmbl. Nd baaall. ???
3d - 3a6 - bs PI call on trnt. Rcvr pshn off. Tht shldv bn no cl - nd
buddy shking his hd on that too.
1d
Rn lft on gft 1d for td. Hld not clld.
Not best strt. Cld be ugly. 7-0 bd guys. Last yr but revrsd.
Irritated bt not worried. Bs call. Down a td. Nt gd strt but we'll see wht hpns.
Ko nd
Shw fumbls kick on 15
Wht the fk?
Jeeeeeeeeeezus.
1d - pass lft on brown ovr thrn
2d 3 wd - hughe mid left for 5.
3d - @ 10 - tnrt beat on td to back of lft ez. Fk.
13-0
Not so mch crpl ft. 14-0.
Nd pickin on trnt exclusivly.
Bittrns consming me. Wht the fk is gng on? Irish fans as shockd as I
am. 14 -0? R u srisous?
Apprntly they know who to go aftr.
Ko nd. Pls dnt fk up um.
Kick to ez. Shw rns ball out from 3 yrds deep to 14. Dmbass. 1d @ 14
1d UM - rt grd blwd over for loss on mcgf hnd of.
2&e3 - empty bf - mcguff pass lft - for 3.
3&11 - swt pas lft mid in zn to mthws. 1d
1 & 10@27 - mcgf rns rt bhn blks for 10 nic rn
1d - wnd pkn:up. - rn rt 5r 4
2d - thrt strs dn rcvr - bt mks cmplt - brly. Rt 3 &1
3d - mcgf bried bhnd line - ls of 1.
4&2 - pnt - ugly gm so fr. -zltn agnst wind. TO - ND
Um to pnt. - Zltn rns pnt lft fr 1d! Didnt see tht coming.
1d - mcgf to rt for 2
2d - pass dp lft to mthws rld inc mthw pssd. Calling for flg. Ply undr
rvw. Beautiful thrw. We'll see wht hppns.
Nt engh psh frm o-ln yet. Bt not as bad as I thght.
Inc - ply cnfrmd.
3d - lousy ply call - pass to lft fr nthn. 4 & 5 gn?
Bubl scrn to mcgf on thrd? R u kdng me? Lousy call. Stupid call. Explt
zn u dumbass. 4 &6
Crious to see rply of pass to mthws.
Um gng for it.
Pass rt on bd thr. Didnt know whr thrwng.
Trn ovr on dwns.
1d ND. - dp bll midl on wrrn. PI clled. Not happy but evryone else sms
to think its rt. - rt call by nD
1d @ 48 - trnt bt agn dp. Brwn fks up cvrg. Trnt lks bk at brwn &
scrms. Brown is nw Mndy. No excuse. Bd cllin by d co.
Ko to englmn. - rtn to 27. God ths is awfl.
1d - brwn at qb, brd. Rn rt. Rks of dspratn.
2d - minor in rb. Thrt. - pass almst int on ps lft. Ugh.
3d - pass far lft to sdln for cmpl & 1d
@ 41
1d - minr rns rt btw grd tkl for 9
2d - wr scrn lft to odoms fr 1d lft. 14 gn
1d - hnd off lft to minor ct rt for loss in bkfld on zn rd. Loss four.
2 & 14 - rb scrn to uncvrd mcgf for 38 yrd TD. Mcgf mks it hapn. 21 - 7 aftr ep.
To quote dodgeball "it's like watching a back of retards try to hump a
door knob"
20 - 17 officially out windo
Um ko - AA rtns to 37
1d - scrn rt buried. Hribl call. By irish.
2d - pass lft. Fmbl on hit. Tckl wrn & hrrisn.
3d & 5 - pass rt int by trnt. Bout fkn time.
Um ball @ 27
1d - mcgf rn lft for 30 - flg. - pf on nd for 15.
1d on 29 - end frst qrtr.
Good god. Anyone told me Id see 28 pntd in frst qrtr Id slp thm in mth
and call thm liars. Dfns awful. Spcl tms? Wrst evr. but wht do u do?
Need beer. DAMMIT! In nd stdum. no beer.
Clouds mvin in
1 @ 10 - mcgf in bckfld - sht scrn rt to odoms for loss of 9 - u hs to fr that?
Mcguff gts 10 bck on rn rt.
3& 9 - minr & mcgf - thrt on rn midl for 20 1d ! Mthw shldv blck
1d - zn rd to lft for nthn. 2d at 7
2d fb in - bd pass on nk bootlg to butler. Mid
3d - sht ply cl on pass rt to 26 - crpy call. At least go to ez dumbass
FG - gd. 21 - 10
Still ugh. Ply clling in rd zn is nt good.
Ko UM - kck flded at 13 accdntly rn oob.
1d irish - go blu dnt suck. - rn rt for 2.
2d - why is s brown still in gm? - wrn & ezeh bl tckls - tat rns for 60 - god.
1d - pass on wr scrn rt for 8
2d & 1 - rn lft for 7
1d - rn midl rt to 1 yrd. Caught d off grd. how?
2 & 1 - PI on wrrn - he cm dwn with ball. R u kiddin?
1d - sht call - rn lft stpd shrt. - shckr - on clrs inspctn its a td.
- refs in this game r trrible.
28 - 10 Irish
Failures in secondary r shcking. Shafer apparently has no clue wht
he's doing. This is criminal.
87 yrs in 6 fking plays. Bittr.
Ko oobs. Mich ball @ 40.
1d - pass on ply fk to stonum on rt for 20
1d - pass rt on zn rd to odoms for 7
2d - mcguff on zn rd lft mid for 6
1d - zn rd midl std up at midl loss 1
2d - stonum slnt mid rt for 1d
1d - PF on tckl - fc msk -
1d @ 8 - grdt & mcgf - mcgf lft for 2
2d @ 7 - 3wd - grdy blows ovr d for Td mdl.
28 - 16
28 - 17 aftr ep.
Ugh.
Still bittr. D sucks today. Hngovr nt hlping. Nd coffee. Ahhhhhh coffeeee.
Ko um - rtrn to 35
1d - rn lft fr 5
2d - stf midl rn
3d - pass rt - shrt 1d
4& 1 - pnt
Wrrn bk s
1d mcgf rn lft brks tckls for 10
1d @ 36 - zn rd lft fr 1
2d - fmbl on thrw. Loss 9
3d - gd pss prtct inc dp llft to mthws. Gd covr.
Pnt to 14
Nd ball
1d - huge hole rt pks up 18 - stpd PF adds 15.
1d @47 - pass inc to mid lft.
2d - wr hitch lft - no gn. Trnt tckl
3d - off pass intr on pass rt. Trnt gets blwd ovr on sht clsn thrwn.
4th - punt -why thrw on 3rd?
Wrrn cthces at 10 - rtn to 15.
30 sec. - mich downs.
End half
Mich down 11 after drping 14 points in first 5 minutes. Pass covrage
still spotty. Rn d on rt sd of s line. No idea whts going on.
Ko to 30
ND - up midl lft for 3
2d - 2&6 - s brown shoots gap stps run lft for loss. Shldv bn big gnr
3& 6 - pssr - clsn throws away.
Pnt - wrrn fmbls ball. Crp. Lks like um dont kno - thnk god
1d @ 10 - spcl teams truly spcl today
1d - mcgf rt for 4
2d - mcgf splits lft side for 17
1d - mcgf lft for 6
2d - nd plyr dwn.
2d - irish shot cntr grd gap for loss 1
3d - pass hits stonum in hands, drps it. Grt pass. Good decsn
Pnt - stfd @ 17
1d - rn rt stfd
2d - passs rt in frnt of wrrn. Dcnt cv bur 1d
1d @ 29 - gash lft for 7
2d -grhm pulls dwn hughe on rn rt.
hughes to rt. Ezeh blows tckl. Pck up of 13
1d @ nd 49
1d - clsn fks up pass almst thrw pick on qk slnt lft.
2d - rn rt stpd
3d - prssr - shldv bn int grnd
Pnt - thnk god. Tb.
1d @ 20 rain coming down hrd
1d w 7 20 left.
1d - mcgf rn lft nthn
2d - fk lft pass rt to mthw for 9
3 & 1 - deep ball to odoms for 30!
1d mich - mcgf rns rt goes dn ackwrdly - gn 13
1d - shw grdy - shw zn rd for 3
2d - same ply rt - nthn shw
3& 5
3d - deep ball to ez PI irish
1d - goal @ 5 - rn rt stuffd mcguff
2d - grdt fmbls on 3. Dammit.can any rb hold onto ball?
1d nd @ 7
lft rt for 3
2d - hughe run midl rt for 5 on bltz
3d - mid rt for 1d - t yrd
1d - mid run bried.
2d -rn rt buried.
3d - pass inc to rt on roll out
Pnt - almst blck - ball @ 47 of UM
1d - 4 sec in 3rd qrtr - thrt kps midl fr nthn.
2d - end 3rd
Rain comindwn . Dnt kno if enf tim lft to mk cmbk
2d - fmbld snp - rn bk fr td. Gm ovr. Phn dying. I'm done.