On Friday, I tuned into the popular Stoney and Wojo radio show in Detroit and the discussions was about whether the two hosts would be shocked if anything were to happen in college football on the heels of USC's loss to Oregon State.

Bob Wojonowski, aka Wojo, said that nothing would shock him short of perhaps a blowout by a bottom-feeding team over a powerhouse.

But with the way Michigan looked in the first half against Wisconsin before coming back to win, there have to be a ton of shocked Michigan fans out there.

That first half was the most brutal thing any of us have witnessed in all our years as Wolverines fans. How brutal? How about 20 yards and 5 turnovers in the first half altogether?

Now after the big win, everyone seemingly is a believer in Rich Rodriguez's philosophies. Count the players and perhaps some prospective recruits among those believers, and that makes it pretty important for the future.

This season might not mean a whole lot anymore on its own because the Wolverines aren't likely to contend for the Big Ten title, but make no mistake that this was a big "program win" over the 9^th-ranked Badgers

Some other thoughts: (more)

Still, the Wisconsin team that Michigan beat wasn't at full strength though because with them missing Travis Beckum for most of the game and also Garrett Graham, they weren't able to threaten the Wolverines with their misdirection/bootleg game. The tight end is a huge part of the Wisconsin offense and they really missed both of those guys so the linebackers could focus on the run instead of worrying about matching up with the tight ends, especially Beckum, who is a nightmare to D up against. The beauty of the win is that no one will remember that fact from now on nor will they realize how big the loss of those guys was to the Badgers.

Michigan fans shouldn't think all is well, however. Steven Threet didn't even throw for 100 yards or complete 50% of his passes. He is a little quicker than people think and he does throw a nice ball when he has time and confidence, however.

For the Michigan offense to get better, the burden falls on the shoulders of Rich Rodriguez to play to the strengths of his personnel. In the second half he went to more of a passing-based spread offense similar to what Michigan ran in the Capital One Bowl against Florida. Even with the inexperience, Michigan can transform into a passable offense if Rodriguez lets Threet wing it on the intermediate routes instead of throwing screens and doing read option plays all day. It'll be interesting to see if Rich Rod adjusts and gives Threet the freedom to throw the ball downfield.

For all the comments by Rich Rod about his ability to adjust his scheme, he certainly didn't do that early in the season. Now with the Big Ten season under way, we'll see if he decides to hold off on implementing the true spread option and decides to really give UM the best chance to win in 2008 for the rest of the year.

I thought Penn State was a dinosaur of a program after last year, but they're for real in 2008. Just think if they still had Sean Lee. Personally, I hope they win the national title to get folks to shut the hell up about the Big Ten for a little while, and they have a shot to do so with a little luck.

I can probably say with high confidence they're not the best team in the country or even top 3 or so but they have a good shot to get into the title game and if they draw Oklahoma or an SEC team like Alabama or LSU they would have a very good chance to win the title game.

Why are they so much better? Because of Michael Robinson 2.0, of course. Robinson was never a great QB but he fit PSU's offense so well because they have the personnel to run the ball. Daryll Clark has that same confidence and is also big enough to take the hits necessary when it comes to running the option read or the draws. And on top of that he's a better passer than Robinson ever was.

Ohio State is a different beast with Pryor in there. Throw in Beanie...and maybe some Jonathan Stewart-style runs up the gut? They are going to just keep getting better and better. No offense to Todd Boeckman but he wasn't going to lead the Buckeyes anywhere...and he certainly was no Craig Krenzel. If you want to be a Matt Mauck/Krenzel/Matt Flynn-style game manager, you'd better be able to run it every now and then and you'd better take care of the ball better than Boeckman did. OSU vs. Penn State should be flat-out epic.

How about Derrick Williams with 241 all-purpose yards and 3 touchdowns against Illinois? Here's a classic case of fans anointing someone a bust way too soon in today's media-saturated football landscape. Williams is a (slightly) poor man's Percy Harvin now that PSU has the creativity to get him the ball in creative ways and the skill guys around him to draw the defense's attention. Williams isn't just a phenom in NCAA Football video games anymore, he's the real deal on the field as well. And he's always been a pretty good player at worst, really. Enjoy the games everybody.

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JEH45 said:

	Nick: Enjoyed your article, but would argue the point about Boeckman-he did lead the Buckeyes to the NC game last year. I also tend to agree with you in that Penn State is looking good.
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October 02, 2008
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