Wisconsin 37, Michigan 21, (final)

[Taosman]

Originally Posted by Buckeyecty4

Michigan cant mess with what they have going.. they are a fragile team.. right now they are on a winning streak and I think that's important that they keep riding it.. cause to be honest, they are the type of team that if they had lost last week or lose this week, I think that takes them down a notch emotionally and confidence wise heading into The Game..

I don't know if you could call them "fragile" now! That's an overstatement.
Better with Hart....yes. But, not "fragile" without him.
Maybe Henne's health is more important than Hart's right now.

[Buckeneye]

I see Hart coming in if Michigan starts digging a hole.... Wisky is better than MSU especially if Hill is healthy.

[MililaniBuckeye]

Originally Posted by HailToMichigan

It'd be a shared title on paper only.

And in the record books, where it really counts. Speaking of records: 20 straight conference wins...beyatch.

[Taosman]

Do not discount the availability of Lance Smith to Wiscy! He is a very good and explosive back! He will start probably.

[sandgk]

The part I find out of kilter with your analysis H2M is this ...

Carr is adamantly indicating Hart will go (and that Henne is a gamer).

"I don't think you're going to keep him out of this one," Carr said of (Hart in) the Wisconsin game.
When cohost Jim Brandstatter asked about Henne, Carr hesitated but endorsed him too, saying, "Absolutely. He finished the game, didn't he?"

Now, it could be that Carr is blowing smoke, but if I don't see Hart on the field against Wisky, I'd feel that says much more about how badly the running back is banged up, than it does about strategy.

Originally Posted by Taosman

Do not discount the availability of Lance Smith to Wiscy! He is a very good and explosive back! He will start probably.

And there is that also - the game is at Camp Randall - so Lance Smith can (and will) go.

[jwinslow]

Sure they didn't fall apart, but they also didn't rally that well either.

They didn't rally after their first loss, they barely showed up. After that 2nd loss, let's skip over the ND, given the ease of beating that horrific squad. The following week they rolled without Henne, and barely beat PSU at home. They were so inspired by that struggle that they made Bacher look like Montana, and had to scrape out another close win. For all the weak b10 talk directed at OSU, UM is even more fortunate imo. This 8 game streak would not take place other years, when there was at least one quality team outside of The Game.

UM most certainly needs to maintain their confidence and swagger.

With Henne & Hart out, it's likely that there will be turnovers and field position surrendered to Wisconsin. I think your defense above anything else needs to maintain its confidence. I don't think it is a good thing if Wisky has more time to exploit Graham & Trent, when those two will be asked to tackle Wells in space and cover Small & Robiskie.

Better with Hart....yes. But, not "fragile" without him.

I'd call Mallett's ball security fragile without Hart taking the ball & offense out of his hands.

[Buckeyecty4]

Originally Posted by HailToMichigan

That, I also disagree with. If this was the kind of team to get down after a loss and not play, they'd probably be 4-6 right now instead of reeling off an 8 game win streak following the Oregon debacle.

1) They folded up after going down a couple scores to Oregon.. that showed me that we emotionally fragile following the App St. game.. they showed up to play Oregon, started facing adversity, and basically packed it in for the afternoon..

2)There 8 game winning streak has a lot more to do with the talent they have and games vs a bunch of mediocre to bad teams (the same we've been playing)..

To me when you are a team that has faced adversity during the year, and have righted the ship and are on a winning steak, you better not let that streak end, cause in most cases it will take off some of the edge you've had..

Wins are precious in CFB, u dont hand one over cause u deem the game doesnt technically mean anything in the standings..

[Ttown]

IMO if Wiscys DB can hold Mario in check they win. Their O line is big and I say they can run the ball.

[sandgk]

One last thought on this game -- the biggest thing in TSUN's favor in my opinion, is the degree of loss to injury suffered by Wisconsin during Saturday's game in Columbus.

[Pheasant]

Originally Posted by HailToMichigan

That, I also disagree with. If this was the kind of team to get down after a loss and not play, they'd probably be 4-6 right now instead of reeling off an 8 game win streak following the Oregon debacle.

If Hart and Henne sit at Wisconsin, and Michigan loses, I think that only focuses them more. If Hart sees his teammates lose to Wisconsin without him, the #1 lesson there is that he's absolutely needed for the OSU game and he'll want to run that much harder.

If? Pretty sure they already did that once this season. That's where the blowout loss to Oregon came from.

When it comes to The Game I don't think it really matters what happens against Wiscy (barring further injuries) since both teams will be plenty motivated. If Hart and Henne are ready to play in the Wiscy game I can't imagine Carr would sit them just to get them more ready for tOSU. Don't really mind if he does though, I hope Hart is nice and healthy for his 4th and final loss to tOSU. Whatever needs to happen for that to occur is fine by me.

[HailToMichigan]

Getting rocked by Oregon isn't exactly out of kilter with what Oregon has done to their opponents all year. Michigan could never defend Troy Smith or Vince Young, so what Dixon did to them probably would have happened whether Michigan was 1-0 or 0-1. Remember, Henne first got hurt in that game, so asking Mallett to orchestrate that kind of comeback in his first game would have been on par with him actually living up to all the wonderful Chuck Norris stuff he does in his own thread.

And if that loss had gotten them down on themselves and destroyed their confidence, which it easily could have, they don't beat Penn State, they don't beat Purdue, they don't go into Illinois and win, and they don't beat MSU after falling behind.

[sandgk]

Man, do you really think that about a mobile quarterback?

We'd better get Henton's trial date moved up pronto.

Seriously though, you were not totally blown out of the water at home by Young (Rose Bowl of course) and the margin of victory for Ohio State didn't yawn like the chasm Dixon and company put between themselves and TSUN. There was more going on there than TSUN's systemic issues in defending against a mobile QB.

[HailToMichigan]

Originally Posted by sandgk

Man, do you really think that about a mobile quarterback?

We'd better get Henton's trial date moved up pronto.

Seriously though, you were not totally blown out of the water at home by Young (Rose Bowl of course) and the margin of victory for Ohio State didn't yawn like the chasm Dixon and company put between themselves and TSUN. There was more going on there than TSUN's systemic issues in defending against a mobile QB.

Well, the 39 points is roughly the same as what Young and Smith did. As for the offense, I don't know why it was so bad in the first half. Maybe Henne did have some lingering issues. (The second half is out the window....as I mentioned, Mallett was never going to engineer that comeback.)

But still - Henne's undeniably gotten better as the season goes on. That could never have happened if there were confidence issues stemming from Oregon.

[jwinslow]

The second half is out the window....as I mentioned, Mallett was never going to engineer that comeback

Keeping up is not required, doing something against Oregon would have shown some heart. They do not possess a great defense.

UM's star WR sure seemed to be lacking in effort that day.

That could never have happened if there were confidence issues stemming from Oregon.

I'm not worried about Henne & Hart's confidence. My focus is still on the defense, which supposedly improved into a strong unit but have not faced very good opposing talent. I still think a long day in Wisconsin is the last thing UM's defense needs.

[OCBucksFan]

Originally Posted by HailToMichigan

Well, the 39 points is roughly the same as what Young and Smith did. As for the offense, I don't know why it was so bad in the first half. Maybe Henne did have some lingering issues. (The second half is out the window....as I mentioned, Mallett was never going to engineer that comeback.)

But still - Henne's undeniably gotten better as the season goes on. That could never have happened if there were confidence issues stemming from Oregon.

Well, I think the ASU game really deflated scUM, Hart got hurt in that game, Henne had a bad game and they were the laughing stock of the entire nation for the entire week. Hard not to have your players hear that or let it get into their heads, the Oregon game was just a flat out ass-kicking. A combination of players dealing with that, Dixon just being a flat out freak and that evil spread option they run was pretty much total destruction for tsun.

Henne has gotten better, well I think he has, but still they have this habbit of getting into the fourth quarter down and having to come back. This isn't healthy, it eventually is how USC gets clipped every year, and a quick strike team might make them regret that, a lot.

Like I said, I am still not sold on the corners at tsun, Morgan Trent isn't a good player, people seem to forget that, and I think of Wiscy gets the jump this game could get interesting fast. But as I have said, Wiscy has a horrible run defense, but then again, so did MSU and they were a handful.