Something of Monkeys and Backs

Sweet joyous relief 

The euphoria I felt Saturday hadn't existed since Notre Dame 2006.  I was quite literally leaping into the air repeatedly, for just a moment in time I was a honorary member of the Grammatica family.

(Silly Grammaticas)


You just have to feel good about Michigan's seniors.  It's been discussed extensively on the interwebs but enduring three different head coaches (the 5th year guys) and the most futility in half a century and all the negativity swirling around the program would break greater men than I, but not this group of seniors.  They made a decision to stay together, to hold their team together and overcome it at all.  They didn't win a B1G title, but they exceeded all reasonable expectations and finally ripped that giant Ohio State gorilla from their backs. 

If Brady Hoke goes on to become an iconic figure in Michigan football history there will be a story written about this group of seniors and what they meant to Brady Hoke's program.  I cannot overstate the importance of that victory.

Of course, Ohio State needed to change the headlines so they have already announced Urban Meyer as their next head coach.  Urban is going to recruit extremely well, but you wonder if he'll be able to rebuild the wall that Tressel had built around Ohio.  I also wonder if any coach can live up to the expectations being laid at Urban's feet.  He is now the savior of the Buckeyes program and any struggles, even minor, will incite the rabid fan base.  If he was stressed out at Florida we can only imagine how he'll handle the fire in Columbus.

When I first starting hearing all the Urban to Ohio rumors I was not very thrilled at the prospect but after thinking it over, I think I like it.  I like seeing Ohio State struggle but nothing is better for the Big Ten and Michigan football than Ohio State and Michigan meeting as top 10 teams in epic clashes.  I can see some of those clashes happening in the next 5 years.

BCS

Here's Michigan's rooting guide for next week.


In the Big 12:
Oklahoma State over Oklahoma
Texas over Baylor
Iowa State over KState

In the championship games:
LSU over Georgia
Virginia Tech over Clemson
UCLA over Oregon (ha)
MSU over Wisconsin
Southern Miss over Houston


The big keys are LSU big over Georgia as well as Oklahoma State over Oklahoma.  A MSU win boosts Michigan's strength of schedule and Wisconsin would surely fall behind Michigan in the polls but the result here shouldn't matter too much as either loser is likely to fall behind Michigan in the polls.  The only surefire way to prevent Michigan from making it into the BCS is Georgia beating LSU.