For the anonymous '74 alum who stated that Bo's hiring wasn't all that popular at first, that may or may not be true, but his record that first year was pretty good, culminating in an upset of a 1969 Ohio State team that was considered at the time by some to possibly be the best team ever in college football. Michigan lost the previous year to an undefeated OSU national championship team 50-14. Overall, the team was 8-3, winning a Big Ten championship and a trip to the Rose Bowl. In 1970, Michigan was undefeated before losing at Columbus. Both years. U-M finshed in the top 10 in the polls. Whatever popularity issues Bo may or may not have had at the beginning were disposed of quickly. More to the point, Bo was able to achieve success with the talent he had to work with and did not rely upon "the cupboard was bare when I got here" as an excuse for failure.

I think people forget also that Michigan fans did not like Bo Schembechler at first also. Did he have a perfect first season at Michigan? No but he had talented players already well-versed in the system, something that Rodriguez did not have the luxury of having.

Michigan's first drive against Penn State is what we should be looking for CONSISTENTLY. But that's where we need to get to. Give them time. This is team is much better than last year but still needs experience and consistency. I look for Forcier to start next year, Devin Gardner to be a backup QB and Denard (Shoelace) Robinson to be scatback or wide receiver. Robinson has the speed to get open and would be hard to cover, so why leave him at QB?

Wolverine ('74)

Rich needs time to build this program with his players. There is too much criticism right now considering that a very solid majority of his footballers are freshmen and sophomores. People need to relax. michigan will be back and these years will soon be forgotten. Let Rich do his job and the benefits will follow in time.

Expectations are way too high for this team at this stage. Rodriguez is an excellent coach and recruiter and he will have his players within two years (Gardner is the next Pat White by the way) and Michigan will be a thorn in OSU's side and things will be back to normal. GIVE IT TIME! We're talking about a complete upheaval of a traditional offense.

It requires a new set of players based on SPEED and an understanding of a complex system that we have seen does not take a mere year to perfect. Everything else will follow. Look at the Oregon/USC game....Michigan's offense will look like Oregon's. People have to be patient and support our coach. If we exile him now, we'll have to start all over again which will result in even more disappointment for years to come.

Colin Cowherd, who absolutely RIPPED on Michigan football a few years ago, feels that Rich Rodriguez has a great future in Ann Arbor and that a national title can be achieved within five years.

Greatness takes time. Rod built west virginia and tulane into repsectable programs and he will do the same here. We cannot leave him on an island of criticism that began when Carr retired. Patience is a virtue and we could learn to have some right now. Basketball is almost here, anyway.

i'm telling you being from wv, rr makes me sick, however i'd take him back today if you give him his four years you will be playing for a national championship every year after that, he is a winner and will own the big ten!!!! as bad as i hate to say it is the truth wait and see!!!

Hey UM Football Fans,

Aren’t you glad you paid $2 million for “Rich Frad-riguez?”

3-10 in 13 games!

Again, aren’t you glad you paid $2 million for him!

I am originally from Illinois.............I am a true blue Illini fan. I see Mary Sue gave a vote of confidence for RR. Love it! Mary Sue............luv' ya'..............keep the guy forever. The rest of the Big Ten will luv' ya' also.

Y'all look pretty in pink.....maybe even mauve..........but keep ole' RR around so even lowly Illinois can blast y'all. We need more female Big Ten Prez's to achieve equity.

Luvin' every minute of it.

I can’t for the life of me understand why people are defending Rodriguez, his decisions have been, at best, questionable and given the amount of money that is poured into that program student, alumni, and fans have the right to expect more. I have to guess those supporting him are not alumni of Michigan and yes it makes a difference. It is more than just who is on the field, it is how the team is actually executing the game and that is directly related to coaching. My only other comments is related to the person who said this(RR) is not rock bottom and points to the Gerald Ford era, I guess that means we have to go back 75 years to find anything comparable to the current situation we have.

I might have seen a few more games than others and researched UM football history during my time in Ann Arbor (for a book). This ain't CLOSE to rock bottom (last season far more resembled that when you lose to freaking Toledo at home).
This year's problem is ALL about depth. When injuries occur, as has happened on the O-line especially, and you have a thin line of talent on defense (with a critical lack of size up front), these things happen.
Redemption is STILL possible in a couple of weeks and with two more wins, UM can go to a bowl gae which would be a major turnaround from last year's nine-loss season.
BTW, that was NOT the worst team in UM history. Check out 1934 when Gerald Ford was captain and someone named him as an All-American. THAT 1-8 season, with the lowest offensive output in history, was FAR worse.
Believe me, in two years, this will ALL be forgotten. Meanwhile, until they replace Crisler Arena, UM is NOT a basketball school. Go get the Campy Russells, Phil Hubbards, Rickey Greens, Glen Rices, Rumeal Robinsons, and other standouts on a cinsistent basis, then you can discuss dominance in that sport. Beat MSU before you think about basketball as a major force.

I am a long die hard Michigan fan. This year's team is horrible!!! Lets start at the coaches and work our way down to the players. The lack of effort and lack of focus has to be put on the coaching staff. If a player cant field a punt, then do not put him back their RR! The players have to do a better job tackling, and reading the ball when it is in the air. I think we only have one or two INT's all year. If it was not for Brandon Graham this team would be 1-6. I believe Greg Robinson should start packing his bags also. Michigan should have" Michigan Men" running the program, not running away from it! Lets go after Les Miles ( A Michigan Man) with everything we have so he can bring Michigan back to where it belongs! Lets get back to smash mouth football the way we have been doing it for the past 100 years. RR has not won a BIG GAME ever! His teams has never been in national title talk. Lets cut our loses and lets get Michigan Men running the Michigan program!!

Lets Go Blue!!!

This is a great column. But I don't think Michigan is the worst team. It has played very well at times and it did beat Notre Dame and came close to beating Iowa. But it has a tendency to break down at times, on both offence and defence. In the Illinois game, the defence finally crumbled, but had played well up to a point.
I also think the coaching is poor, play selection questionable at times. If mostly running plays were called against Illinois, why not play Robinson, who is a better runner, for some series? Why does Forcier try to run so often? A mobile quarterback is very helpful, but he should use all weapons and not rely on himself mostly.
I think the coaches need to motivate the players effectively. There is no reason for so many turnovers.
There is no excuse for poor tackling, confusion in the field, etc.
I think the recruiting, especially in Michigan, also needs to improve. The current situation won't encourage potential recruits.
I feel that Michigan is a young team that could grow and improve. But it is not improving, but sliding. I think coach Rodriguez needs to make major adjustments in his approach.
I was at the university during 1956-1959 as a journalism student under the University of Michigan-University Press club of Michigan fellowship. I followed the Wolverines then and have done so faithfully since. I find it very painful to see the Wolverines deteriorate to this extent. I thought that the losses to Appalachia State and Toledo were awful aberrations. But now the winningest football team is in a sorry shape. Other good teams have also seen bad times. The challenge is to get out of it. And it is for the coach to motivate himself and his players and make the necessary adjustments. Thanks. Azhar Ali Khan, ottawa, Canada

After the first month of the season I was so giddy that I put my analytical mind aside and started to believe the nightmare that started in December 2007 was over. The losses to MSU and Iowa did not need to happen, but I still had faith in this team. But the last few games have me back to believing this is the wrong person and system for this conference. I was going to let Rich Rod off the hook, but I may simply be adding more "firsts" and "last times" to http://www.pocketpigskin.com/richroddisaster.html.

I have loved Michigan football since I was a child, and am an alumnus of this great university. We have had mediocre (8-4 record) teams in the past, but something about this "era" makes it really hard to invest my Saturday watching the game. There is not much to cheer about, and my wife does not like my bad mood for the rest of the weekend. I can only hope that Rich Rod can turn things around (we thought that we had done that in September), otherwise Michigan football will be re-rebuilding for many years to come.

Go Blue!

I'm not really sure how much of an impact having a different coach would have made these past two years. If you look at our current defensive guys and when they were recruited, we have four left from 2005 to now, Warren being the only one doing his job. Most of these left before Rich Rod was hired. Lloyd Carr was many things, but it's pretty evident he didn't do his job in the recruiting department in his final seasons, especially on defense.

Besides the goal line fail (which should NOT have come down to that...Roundtree should know how to get in the damn end zone with a breakaway), the playcalling was fine. They Lloydballed the run game and it was working. Execution mistakes by the players killed most of the offensive drives, plus muffed punts and whatnot. Coaching or not, CATCH THE DAMN BALL. The first few games proved that our players can go out and get the job done, but they're just making mistakes they weren't making before. The Notre Dame game showed that we have the talent and ability to beat almost anyone; our players just have to get their heads out of their asses (coughMikeWilliamscough).

Anyways, our skill position players who are redshirting this year are probably going to end up taking starting positions next year (Gallon and Turner especially). Firing Rich Rod is not the solution and never will be for years...changing coaches again would be a major Michigan State move.

Andy,

I am a Michigan Alumni (class of 69) who was a freshman roommate of Dave Fisher when he played fullback for Michigan. I must say in all these years through Bump Elliott, Bo Schembechler, Gary Moeller and even LLloyd Carr, I have never seen anything quite as bad as the Rodriguez era. When Ellott lost to Ohio State he went in and quit. I do not think Rodriguez fully comprehends he is a the U of Michigan not West Virginia , or some call it Hillbilly U. I think the Board of Regents and the President of Michigan should cut their losses and fire Rodriguez at the end of the year. It really is embarrassing to the University.

It is not a lack of talent, but a lack of coaching if by this point in the season the players don't know what is going on. The team did seem to give up. Maybe there have been too many off-field distractions this year, but most of those have been self-induced, so we get back to coaching.....

I'm so mad, embarassed, and frusterated I don't even know what to say...things early on seemed like they might turn the corner. Two tough losses in the rain to State and Iowa I can accept, barely, but the last two games have been pathetic. It makes me long for what could have been had Carr stuck around with Ryan Mallet throwing bullets down field.

I don't want to loose faith, but with Purdue, Wisconsin, and Ohio State coming up it is hard to keep my head high.

At this point, it all comes down to whether or not you feel Rich Rod can turn the corner next year. Even if he was to be replaced, whomever took his place would be starting with a much different base set of athletes...here's to hoping Rich Rod can turn the corner.