Everybody except Charlie Weis, and Matt Millen knows you build championship teams with defense. Instead, Dickrod has fixated on the latest undersized running QB dejour while neglecting his defense, effectively conceding local defensive recruits to Ohio State and MSU.
The reason you need defense is because there will always come a time when your offense is having a bad day, but if you don't have a defense even bad offenses can score on you. With a strong defense, you're always in every game.
In 2007 in his final game as coach of the Mountaineers, Rodriguez's high powered offense gained less than 200 yards of offense and lost at home to a 4-7 Pitt team 13-9. This loss kept WVU out of the BCS Championship Game. Since then, nothing has changed. Rodriguez is still running up the score on bad teams to distract his fanbase from the fact that his teams have a ceiling. They always end up getting shut down by bigger, stronger, faster defenses, just like the one Dickrod allowed Ohio State to build right under his nose.
Last year, Michigan lost at home to Ohio State 21-10 thanks to 4 Tate Forcier INTs and a Forcier fumble returned for a touchdown. As of right now, there's no reason to believe they will be able to score any meaningful points against Ohio State.
As a Michigan fan, I want what's best for this program, and right now that means eliminating Rodriguez from it. Since he's already won 7 games, there's the prevailing opinion that he has saved his job for another year, and that it would take something seriously embarrassing to jeopardize that now. A shutout vs. a team with a real defense would send a message that the one thing Rodriguez knows how to do doesn't even work. Sure, you can gain yards by going 5-wide to run it up the middle. Call me old fashioned, but I'd rather have a team that gains yards by using superior talent to run it up the middle. Nebraska tried the "gimmick offense/no defense" strategy with Bill Callahan to equally disastrous results. Now they have Bo Pelini, a real defense, a 10-2 season, and back-to-back appearances in the Big XII Title Game.
Next year, the Big Ten goes to a divisional format. Can you say with any certainty that this Michigan team would finish ahead of either Nebraska, Iowa, or MSU? Could we beat Minnesota or Northwestern without having to score over 60 points?
The reason you need defense is because there will always come a time when your offense is having a bad day, but if you don't have a defense even bad offenses can score on you. With a strong defense, you're always in every game.
In 2007 in his final game as coach of the Mountaineers, Rodriguez's high powered offense gained less than 200 yards of offense and lost at home to a 4-7 Pitt team 13-9. This loss kept WVU out of the BCS Championship Game. Since then, nothing has changed. Rodriguez is still running up the score on bad teams to distract his fanbase from the fact that his teams have a ceiling. They always end up getting shut down by bigger, stronger, faster defenses, just like the one Dickrod allowed Ohio State to build right under his nose.
Last year, Michigan lost at home to Ohio State 21-10 thanks to 4 Tate Forcier INTs and a Forcier fumble returned for a touchdown. As of right now, there's no reason to believe they will be able to score any meaningful points against Ohio State.
As a Michigan fan, I want what's best for this program, and right now that means eliminating Rodriguez from it. Since he's already won 7 games, there's the prevailing opinion that he has saved his job for another year, and that it would take something seriously embarrassing to jeopardize that now. A shutout vs. a team with a real defense would send a message that the one thing Rodriguez knows how to do doesn't even work. Sure, you can gain yards by going 5-wide to run it up the middle. Call me old fashioned, but I'd rather have a team that gains yards by using superior talent to run it up the middle. Nebraska tried the "gimmick offense/no defense" strategy with Bill Callahan to equally disastrous results. Now they have Bo Pelini, a real defense, a 10-2 season, and back-to-back appearances in the Big XII Title Game.
Next year, the Big Ten goes to a divisional format. Can you say with any certainty that this Michigan team would finish ahead of either Nebraska, Iowa, or MSU? Could we beat Minnesota or Northwestern without having to score over 60 points?
