The Curious Case of Michigan

[DP5555]

Michigan is getting a lot of attention in the college football world right now, and I feel like Hawk fans have a unique perspective on the situation because Jake Rudock was their signal caller for a couple years.

Here's my take...

You can definitely tell Jim Harbaugh didn't waste any time putting his stamp on the program. This isn't surprising to me. The guy is nuts, and in football that's not a bad thing. There is nothing negative you can say about their defense. They've been awesome and I think that's a huge part of the reason why they are getting the respect they are getting right now.

However, if you flip it over to the offensive side of the ball I think a lot of people nationally aren't able to see what Hawk fans know already. Maybe I'm wrong, but what we've seen so far this year is Jake Rudock. He's an incredibly inconsistent QB. That's what he was for Iowa. He'd go out and have a very solid game one week only to turn around the next week and play scared. It was very confusing. One week I'd think Iowa had a good QB who could lead them somewhere and the next I'd be wondering what in the hell got into him. This is exactly what I expected out of him at Michigan. I knew he'd have some good games like he did against BYU, but I also knew he'd have some games that simply make you scratch your head. His inconsistency is his downfall.

That said, at this point in the season Michigan is an anomaly. With their defense, if Jake plays well they may be able to surprise some teams. However, if Jake has one of his patented no show games they'll collapse when no one expects them to. It will be interesting to watch how it unfolds.

 

[ThunderHawk]

Just wait until Michigan State and Ohio State unload their defenses on Riddick.

Caution: PTSD

 

[NCHawker]

I would not be surprised if both UM and MSU defeat Ohio State.

 

[hawkijustin]

I dont get the love for UM right now. Yes the loss to Utah looks better now but its still a loss. Beating BYU I saw coming from a mile away. BYU was not a good team yet somehow highly ranked. Didnt they need two hail marys to win the two games they won? Anyways Michigan will get exposed once big 10 play starts.

 

[JStandefer]

Michigan had a really good defense last year with most back this year. All they need from a QB is a game manager, which is what they got with JR.

It is as simple as that. Harbaugh is a good coach. UM's defense is really good. And Jake just doesn't have to screw it up

 

[EstronHawkKing]

Another Jake thread, yawn!!

 

[mopkins]

I dont get the love for UM right now. Yes the loss to Utah looks better now but its still a loss. Beating BYU I saw coming from a mile away. BYU was not a good team yet somehow highly ranked. Didnt they need two hail marys to win the two games they won? Anyways Michigan will get exposed once big 10 play starts.

Completely agree. A loss to Utah, a 21 point win vs a very bad UNLV team, and a shutout vs a team who needed a hail mary to beat a mediocre nebraska team. I don't get the love at all. Also, Utah only beat a very bad Utah State by 10 points and gave up more points to Utah State and Fresno State than they did to Oregon. So lets not get too carried away by the throttling Utah put on Oregon just yet.

People love Harbaugh, he's a polarizing dude. That's why Michigan is getting all the love right now and that's why you can see deace's boner from outer space

So far neither Ohio State or Michigan State have looked all that great, but neither of them have had to either

 

[DDThompson]

Michigan has a very good defense. That will keep them in every game.

Big name coach dropping down from the NFL will have media cred plus those people see whst a mess the 49ers are after JiH left adds to his aura.

I can understand the Mich love from talking heads. I'm not sold yet ... but Toledo is getting love for beating Ark and ISU. Why not Mich?

 

[mopkins]

well they'll beat Maryland obviously, but then NW, Michigan State and @Minnesota. If they're legit they'll be able to prove it soon enough.

 

[hawkdrummer1]

Harbaugh looks to be turning a failing program into something solid pretty quickly. Rebuilding 101 is a tough defense first...which they have already. A solid running game is next, and that's looked pretty good the last couple of weeks. Ruddock doesn't have to do much with those 2 things in place...unless teams start to stack the box.

8 wins looks to be the minimal expectation at this point, probably more. Not bad for his first year.

 

[SmokeTownHawk]

If Michigan can win at least 8 in a rebuilding year under a new coach the expectations in '16 will be in the Urban realm.

 

[okieviaiowa]

Harbaugh is a proven winner ....

favorite to land the top player in the country out of NJ

 

[westender]

Michigan is getting a lot of attention in the college football world right now, and I feel like Hawk fans have a unique perspective on the situation because Jake Rudock was their signal caller for a couple years.

Here's my take...

You can definitely tell Jim Harbaugh didn't waste any time putting his stamp on the program. This isn't surprising to me. The guy is nuts, and in football that's not a bad thing. There is nothing negative you can say about their defense. They've been awesome and I think that's a huge part of the reason why they are getting the respect they are getting right now.

However, if you flip it over to the offensive side of the ball I think a lot of people nationally aren't able to see what Hawk fans know already. Maybe I'm wrong, but what we've seen so far this year is Jake Rudock. He's an incredibly inconsistent QB. That's what he was for Iowa. He'd go out and have a very solid game one week only to turn around the next week and play scared. It was very confusing. One week I'd think Iowa had a good QB who could lead them somewhere and the next I'd be wondering what in the hell got into him. This is exactly what I expected out of him at Michigan. I knew he'd have some good games like he did against BYU, but I also knew he'd have some games that simply make you scratch your head. His inconsistency is his downfall.

That said, at this point in the season Michigan is an anomaly. With their defense, if Jake plays well they may be able to surprise some teams. However, if Jake has one of his patented no show games they'll collapse when no one expects them to. It will be interesting to watch how it unfolds.

Michigan State will destroy Michigan and put them right back in their place as #2 in their state. Tired of the Jake Rudock strings. He's gone. Get over him. We have a better QB now.

 

[DP5555]

Michigan State will destroy Michigan and put them right back in their place as #2 in their state. Tired of the Jake Rudock strings. He's gone. Get over him. We have a better QB now.

Lol I am over him. My point was simply that he's inconsistent and most national pundits and Michigan fans haven't read that far into it. If you look at his career at Iowa he was all over the place. He had a good game at BYU and the Michigan defense scored a shutout. Naturally a lot of people are talking about them right now but what they don't realize, and most of us do, is that Jake is still the same old Jake. He'll pee one down his leg at some point when no one is expecting it.

 

[homes]

Another Jake thread, yawn!!

Yes, but a well disguised one, so you must give the OP credit for the stealth nature of it. You didn't realize you were in another one until the second paragraph.

 

[Chickenlounge]

Completely agree. A loss to Utah, a 21 point win vs a very bad UNLV team, and a shutout vs a team who needed a hail mary to beat a mediocre nebraska team. I don't get the love at all. Also, Utah only beat a very bad Utah State by 10 points and gave up more points to Utah State and Fresno State than they did to Oregon. So lets not get too carried away by the throttling Utah put on Oregon just yet.

People love Harbaugh, he's a polarizing dude. That's why Michigan is getting all the love right now and that's why you can see deace's boner from outer space

So far neither Ohio State or Michigan State have looked all that great, but neither of them have had to either

 

[HawkeyeWalker]

If Michigan can win at least 8 in a rebuilding year under a new coach the expectations in '16 will be in the Urban realm.

He's gonna have to get a qb for that level. A game manager won't get them to that level.

 

[INTIMIDATORHawk]

I hope for Jake's sake that he keeps it together when the competition level ramps up. Personally I don't really care, but he had a tendency to play really poorly when facing a tough defense. I can't even begin to imagine how many sacks he would have suffered against that Pittsburgh defense. CJB is so much better against defensive pressure.

I'm not sold on Michigan State because of their defense. It has gotten progressively worse since 2013, and this year they are giving up a ton of passing yards against marginal teams. I'm not sure they can stop Ohio State or Michigan. They might end up the 3rd best team in the East.

Ohio State is surprisingly inconsistent on offense. If they don't get that figured out, they might be shut down against Michigan's defense...which is completely legit.

 

[homes]

I hope for Jake's sake that he keeps it together when the competition level ramps up. Personally I don't really care, but he had a tendency to play really poorly when facing a tough defense. I can't even begin to imagine how many sacks he would have suffered against that Pittsburgh defense. CJB is so much better against defensive pressure.

I'm not sold on Michigan State because of their defense. It has gotten progressively worse since 2013, and this year they are giving up a ton of passing yards against marginal teams. I'm not sure they can stop Ohio State or Michigan. They might end up the 3rd best team in the East.

Ohio State is surprisingly inconsistent on offense. If they don't get that figured out, they might be shut down against Michigan's defense...which is completely legit.

I can hear it now from the media. When Iowa beats any of these 3 for the BT Championship, it will be due to these teams not being as good as advertised, not that Iowa is better than advertised.

 

[HuckFinn]

I must say that I am amused that with the last three coaching hires at Michigan, the arrogant fan base has crowned them early and often as the program saviors. The media has been right there with them. We shall see what Harbaugh can get done...long run. It ain't a sprint, its a marathon. And, MI has been basically irrelevant for a pretty long period of time.