ROPE A DOPE!

Muhammad Ali made it famous against George Foreman, it's not a mystery, you all remember, right? What a gameplan. Let the bigger, stronger undisciplined monster wear himself out by throwing haymaker after haymaker, just hoping he doesn't knock you out early . When things don't go his way, he starts to make mistakes. Soon he is missing huge punches and leaving himself open, leading with the chin. After a while, his legs start to give, he starts to stumble around....He is tired. This is when the smaller fella makes his move because he is a little fresher and knows it's now or never.

This may be kind of a silly analogy but that's what was running through my mind Saturday night. I watched ND run up and down the field against Michigans defense with no problem. Without even breaking a sweat, ND was up 14-0 and showed no signs of letting up and more importantly, Michigan had no answer. I said earlier in the week that ND whipped up on USF statistically but turnovers killed them. ND came into this game a favorite and with no intentions of last weeks disaster. One thing I have noticed being a Michigan fan, over the last few years, when a team turns the ball over early in the season it tends to follow them throughout the year.

It was 17-7 at half and Michigan had nothing going their way it seemed. Michael Floyd was visibly laughing at the coverage he was getting and I couldn't blame him. But somehow, the defense would make a few stops at very important times of the game, a couple third and short yardage situations come to mind. With the game 24-7 late in the third quarter, I got up from my seat at a friends house and said "I'm going home". As pathetic as things were, I had all intentions of watching the rest of the game at home. That is where the miracle happened. As soon as I returned home, Michigan scored their second TD, making it a 24-14 game.

We all know what happened from this point but something needs to be said about this Michigan team. First thing is Michigans defense made stops and caused a few turnovers. Other than Reese's self made fumble, Michigan was putting helmets on the ball and recovering the fumbles they caused. Yes, they gave up over 500 yds of offense, but let me tell you folks that ND will put up those numbers consistently this year and Michael Floyd will get his against any team in the country. Michigans defense never gave up and realized they had a chance late in the game and stepped it up a bit.

Last thing is Denard is as resiliant as a 5 yr old child. Is he an NFL QB? Hell no. IS he a great passer? Hell no. What he is? A happy go lucky young man who has put Michigan on his back more than a couple times and led them to victory. Seriously, how many kids can play so inconsistent and put it together in the clutch like he did? This team isn't great but Denard is a great player who's positive vibe and attitude rubs off on his fellow players. So once again, the rastafarian look alike's legs and inaccurate arm pushed his team to a win while a nation of onlookers giggled and shook their heads. This is one of those games where Rodriguez would have said "what a great victory" with a huge smile on his face. Brady Hoke says "we have a lot to work on". GO BLUE

BIG TENS POWER POLL
1. Wisconsin- Russel Wilson really takes this team up a level
2. MSU- Great QB, good skill players and solid D
3. Nebraska- Defense
4. Michigan- Some stops on D and Denard is enough currently
5. Illinois- This offense is better than advertised
6. osu- Still undefeated and defense is the key
7. Northwestern- playing good football without top player, QB Dan Persa
8. Iowa- Took a loss this week but Iowa is fundamentally sound and always rebounds
9.PSU- I know, that may be a bit low but they lost and the QB situation is terrible.
10. Minnesota- they suck, but not as bad as Indiana and purdue
11. Indiana- bad
12. Purdue- worse



Other notes from college football

Bama and LSU are the two best teams in my mind

osu and Miami will be interesting Saturday night

ND and MSU is a huge game

Florida State is loaded and plays Oklahoma Saturday

Florida is also loaded and nobody is talking about them