Archives for September 2007

It’s time for OSU fans to – (gulp) – rally behind coach Carr.

Now, before you take me outside and stone me, hear me out.

We’ve made our jibes at Carr, even had him as Tressel’s second banana from time to time, but we only mock that which we respect. The fact is that Carr has done a better job of coaching these past few games than what reactionary UM fans (and ESPN analysts) are giving him credit for.

For instance, in the past four games, Michigan has put up about 1600 yards of offense and scored almost 100 points. Three of the teams they’ve done this against have had excellent defenses (including two of the top five Ds in the country last year). They have a handful of future NFL draft picks – perhaps as many as three first rounders.

Of course, the problem is that the UM defense has given up just about 2000 yards and 150 points in these same four games. Yeah, yeah, “it’s been against all these spread offenses.” But Carr has faced and beaten spread offenses in the past. OSU fans will hate me for bringing up all those wide-open-spread-offense OSU teams from the late 90s that Carr had no problem with beating. He also beat a WSU spread offense for his title in 1997. He destroyed a highly touted spread-offensed Notre Dame team last year, (a ND team that was no doubt overrated, but still much better than I-AA App State).

At any rate, even if Carr is giving up a lot of points… does that automatically make him a bad coach? Rich Rodriguez of West Virginia has what is universally considered to be a pathetic, gimmicky defense, yet he is considered an up-and-coming star of Div. I-A. No, it’s not points and yards that matter, but wins and losses.

There’s no doubt that Carr is still effective in the non-tangible ways of being a coach; anyone who has watched Mike Hart’s post-game comments knows that motivation and leadership isn’t a problem in the UM locker room.

Sure, Carr is ultimately responsible as the “head” coach, and if he can’t fix the problem(s), he should be let go. But he’s earned a shot at trying to fix things. The first thing he should do is fire Ron English, who is primarily responsible for these recent losses. UM’s offensive schemes have been plenty good enough to win, but the preparedness & execution hasn’t been there on the other side of the ball.

So OSU fans should rally behind Carr. I have no problem admitting that this motivation primarily comes from a desire to keep the status quo in the modern “Scowler vs. the Sweatervest” era. Trust me, if they get rid of Carr, it’s going to be Tressel vs. Jeff Tedford or Les Miles, and no OSU fan would want that year in and year out.

However, I also say this as a Big Ten fan. This 1950s, ironman, baby boomer, buick-with-fins, asbestos-insulation-and-nuclear-testing-is-good-for-you, polio-vaccine-era style of football that Ron English is using is making a mockery of the Big Ten. Fall on your sword, Ron, so Carr can have an opportunity to hire a defensive coordinator that actually designs schemes and prepares athletes to play 21st century football.

Please don’t make us add “2007” to the MotSaG Carr tombstone:

Some delusional comments from former Michigan linebacker Dhani Jones:

“How do you put Appalachian State over Michigan as the greatest loss in history?” Jones said. “Because you’re the biggest team, the best team, the most profound team. Because of that, they look at you like the world has been turned upside down.

“People are very jealous of Michigan. People have always been jealous of Michigan. If the same thing happened at Ohio State, USC or Notre Dame, they wouldn’t be reacting like this (nationally), because Michigan is held to another standard. It’s interesting how people say Michigan is not all that and Michigan gets beat and then people can’t stop talking about it. Everybody wishes they went to Michigan.”

I don’t know about you guys, but we sure have been jealous of Michigan the last three years! Man, I wish we could lose to our hated rival three years in a row and then stink up our bowl game. They are so lucky!

Big thanks to Bill at The Blog for the Sports Gamer for this absolutely wonderful link.