David Brandon Talks about Rich Rodriguez's Future and Wisconsin Week

David Brandon is a tough, smart, diligent and motivating boss.   In a great interview published by thewolverine.com, Brandon discusses a number of things about the football program.  He’s obviously excited about the way that the permanent lights have turned out.  Probably the next update to the Big House will be new scoreboards.  After that, don’t expect many more changes to the iconic bowl on Stadium and Main.

Brandon is very non-committal in his language to the media about whether or not Rich Rodriguez will be back next year.  He makes it clear that the next two weeks are absolutely important as he evaluates the state of the program. 

I think he’s got to be much closer to bringing him back than letting him go. Although the AD says there have been both successes and disappointments this year, he seems to put a fair share of his decision on how things are going behind the scenes.  Here are some very interesting quotes from the interview that shows what a hands-on approach he is taking in regards to the football team:

It's not as simple as win-loss records. It's just not. People want to try to make it that simple, but there are so many things you have to look at when you measure the strength of a program. You've got to look at your pipeline of recruits, your academic performance of recruits as well as your current student-athletes. You have to look at the staff; how the staff's performing and working together. 

I'm going in those locker rooms before the game, during the game and after the game and practices, seeing how the team responds in difficult situations. Going over the game films and finding out exactly where the breakdowns occur and why they occur. I do that.

There's a lot to play for, and hey, this team's playing for respect. They have been since the beginning of the season. If you look at the three losses we've had, Michigan State we just played poorly.

Those other two losses, we went down by three touchdowns in each of those games and came back in the fourth quarter and were literally a possession away from being able to win those games back after being three touchdowns down. That doesn't sound like a team that gives up or lacks confidence. That's a team that can score quickly and always believes they're competing. I like that about this team. 

Based on everything we have seen from our team, these players truly seem to be working their tails off, fighting through adversity with a great team spirit and full of potential for next year and beyond.  Barring three straight one-sided losses, or as I like to say, the ole buck naked in the late night drive thru type situation, it would seem pretty strange not to bring Rodriguez back.  I would have to think a win on Saturday would all but guarantee his return. 

All of this assumes that Brandon truly doesn’t have a personal agenda.  Of course, he has very strong Bo Schembechler ties, and one way an AD can make a name for himself is by hiring a new head coach who is a tremendous success.  That said, I don’t think Brandon is worried about making a name for himself.  I believe that David Brandon’s biggest professional agenda is simply to put together the best football program possible.

Bottom Line:  There’s still more football to be played, but Rich is getting closer and closer to guaranteeing his return.

Hail To The Seniors! 

More than any Wolverines senior class in decades, this group is dedication and perseverance personified.  James Rogers: What an amazing team-first attitude.  Leading Tackler Jonas Mouton.  Emotional leader Martell Webb.  Co-Captains Steve Schilling and Mark Moundros.  The under-appreciated Greg Banks and Adam Patterson.  The suddenly resurgent Obi Ezeh.  Big Bad Perry Dorrestein and John Ferrara.  Canadian Renaldo Sagesse. 

Cheers to all of you (and Troy Woolfolk who we hope to see back from injury next year).

Wisconsin marks the last game at the Big House for all these guys.  All year, and even more so this week, Rodriguez has talked about wanting to send the seniors off on the right note.  You better believe emotions will be running sky high when those guys run through the tunnel and touch the Go Blue banner one last time at the Big House.  I’m getting goose bumps just writing about it, so you can imagine what an incredible feeling it’s going to be for those seniors and their teammates. 

On Friday night, the seniors and their parents were honored by the team.  Our boys have played hard as nails every single game.  With one of the best teams in the country coming to Ann Arbor, Michigan is going to need to feed off that emotion to have a chance at pulling off what could be the biggest win in Rich’s first three years.

Resurgent Second Halves

Three guys who are having resurgent second halves of the season:  Craig Roh, Vincent Smith and Obi Ezeh.  Roh has shown once and for all that he belongs on the defensive line.  Smith’s burst and ability to keep his feet is much better than early in the year.  His recovery from major offseason knee surgery has been impressive. 

Most surprising is Obi Ezeh.  Most fans, myself included, had written off Ezeh as a lost cause.  I would have never thought that moving him to outside linebacker would pay off the way it has.  All of a sudden, Ezeh seems to be playing a higher level than at any time in his career.  Major kudos to the Obi and the coaching staff for getting it done when none of us thought you could.  Ezeh’s size on the outside could be a big factor in shutting down, or at least containing, the vaunted Badger running game.

Wisconsin Game

In the Friday walkthrough, Coach Rod talks about the game against Big Wisky.  Pretty quick, cool interview.  One of the best things I heard him say is that Taylor Lewan is likely to be ready.  Although Rodriguez says that Lewan won’t start, I expect he will see considerable time. 

I don’t know that Huyge will have much of a shot at stopping freight train defensive tackle J.J. “Mega” Watt.  Watt is pretty close to an unstoppable force.  You don’t usually say this about a defensive player, but seriously, you can’t expect to totally stop him, you just hope to contain him. 

Lewan, however, is a stud himself.  If Taylor is healthy, even though he just a frosh, I think he might be able to contain Watt.  I think he would have a much more legitimate shot at it than Huyge.  If Watt shifts over to the other side, I think Omameh is physical enough that he and either Molk on the inside or (most likely) Dorrestein on the outside, should also be able to limit Watt’s damage as well.   Somehow we have to keep that monster off Shoelace.

Denard Robinson

Robinson, in my opinion, had his worst game of the season against Purdue.  The 94-yard pick six was huge.  If we go in for the touchdown, it might be lights out for the Boilermakers instead of a tight ball game.  The scary thing is, the other interception was even gaudier. 

I believe that Denard can bounce back and have a turnover free game against Wisconsin.  If he does, we might be in for one heck of a game. 

Stopping the Wisconsin Offense

The obvious question this week is how our defense going to stop this relentless Badger offense?  I really don’t know how anyone is supposed to stop them.  Their O-Line averages 350 pounds.  Talk about mammoth.  That’s bigger than most NFL lines.  When these guys get into the second level, they’re like a bunch of stampeding elephants.  Regardless of whether John Clay is in there or not, their running game is incredibly powerful and Michigan will really have its hands full in the run game.

The Badgers are absolutely lethal in the red zone.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen red zone numbers like this. In Big Ten play, Big Wisky has scored touchdowns on an unfathomable 25 out of 28 trips.  That’s pretty much a 90 percent clip,

wow!  Also, Scott Tolzien is going to come into the game with a ton of confidence.  First off, they just scored 83 points last week.  Maybe more importantly, Tolzien will remember absolutely carving up the Wolverines last year.  He threw for four TD, and ran for another one.  His passer rating was only 197.3 in last year’s game.  Yeesh.

Turnovers

Turnovers.  It’s all about turnovers.  Make no mistake, Wisconsin is one seriously formidable team.  They have behemoth size on both side of the line, quarterback Scott Tolzien is having an incredible senior season and their powerful downhill running game is downright scary. 

If Michigan comes anywhere remotely close to the five turnovers that we have averaged the past two weeks, we will get destroyed.  However, if Michigan avoids turnovers on offense and creates them on defense, we could have a legitimate shot to pull it out at the end.

Conclusion

This is the first time all season where the script has been flipped on the Wolverines.  Up until now, the question has been whether opposing teams can really score enough points to hang with the Wolverines.  This week, for the first time all year, we are wondering if Michigan can put up enough points to hang with Wisconsin. 

While the Badgers are a clear favorite, the Wolverines have the potential to hang with anyone when Denard gets loose.  Big Wisky tends to choke at the Big House (even our 2008 team somehow beat them in Ann Arbor), so anything’s possible.  GO BLUE!!!

GB2SL!