Instant Reactions

We quite possibly may have just witnessed the beginning of the end of Rich Rodriguez's tenure at Michigan.  This team came out absolutely flat and showed zero improvement despite having two full weeks to prepare for the mediocre Penn State team that they took the field against tonight.

I do not want to here anyone talk about how great it was to see the team "fight" back after going down 31-10. "Fighting back" is noble if you are a band of happy-go-lucky losers, but I'm sorry if I have certain expectations for football at the University of Michigan that don't include routinely coming from 21 points down in the second half.

Here are five of my initial post-game reactions:

1. Defensive Personnel Moves - Ray Vinopal started at the deep safety spot and Cam Gordon started at the spur spot.  Vinopal was promptly burned on a deep touchdown (and missed multiple tackles) and Cam Gordon continued to be horrible despite having less responbility at his new position. Overall, good thought in principle but the fact that they stuck with these changes in the second half was absolutely baffling.

2. Vincent Smith - Smith could be a great third down back in this system but he simply should not be the primary feature back in this offense.  Multiple times tonight Smith had huge holes that a better back would have exploited for huge gains and it is absolutely killing Michigan right now that they can't take advantage of these opportunities.  Also, if Vincent Smith ever lines up as the I-back in third and short again I think we should just put the punt team on the field instead as he has never had success in this situation.

3. Denard Robinson - A healthy Denard may still just be the most electric player in college football.  He is truly becoming comfortable with the read-option and is gaining an even better understanding of the offense.  His third rushing touchdown tonight was a perfect rendition of the read-option where both the defensive and and strong safety bit hard on the run-action to the tailback which allowed Denard to walk in the end zone.

4. Wide Receivers - The receiving corps did Denard no favors tonight.  The receivers had multiple opportunities to make important grabs during the course of this game but they simply failed to make any catch that was nominally difficult.  Who doesn't miss the days of quality game-breaking Michigan wide receivers?

5. Rich Rodriguez - Hey Rich, love that you finally got involved in the fourth quarter with the defense, but you were two and a half years too late.  It is true that you have had a lot working against you since you came here but at the end of the day you've not delivered anything on the field to change the negative perception against you and you have no  one to blame for that other than yourself.  Having a team coming off a bye-week perform this bad against a team decimated by injuries who also was starting a backup walk-on quarterback is inexcusable.  Rich, I hate to say it, but, barring a late season miracle run, you sir have run out of time.

A more detailed recap is in order but for now leave your comments on your thoughts from tonight's debacle in Happy Valley.

P.S. How is Greg Robinson employed? The fullback screen along with the curl/out third-down combo were run at least 5 times a piece and our defense never made a single adjustment on either of these plays. Joke.