It's DejaVu All Over Again

They call him Shoelaces up in Ann Arbor. His game is shifty and sleek and if you listen to those who root for the maize and blue, Denard Robinson is the epitome of all things good in college football.

In two games as a starter for the University of Michigan this year, Robinson has thrown for 430 yards and 2 touchdowns while racking up a whopping 455 yards and 3 scores on the ground. His performance thus far has even drawn the praise of former Rich Rodriguez quarterback Pat White who has called Robinson a “Beast.”

Shoelaces is single-handedly resurrecting the Wolverine tradition and proving Rich Rod to be the genius he was hired to be. The more this young signal caller improves his quarterback rating, the more his legend and fan t-shirt tributes will grow.

Believe it or not, Robinson’s emergence as a star also coincides perfectly with Michigan’s return to the Top 25. A feat made even more impressive considering it was done in serendipitous fashion by beating Notre Dame in South Bend on national television.

Now, before we assume this story has the fairy-tale ending that sees everyone yelling “Go Blue” in Pasadena, let’ read the rest of this story, for some reason it sounds very  familiar.

There you go, if you look closer at the writing on the page, you’ll notice every time this story mentions Robinson, you see another name that has been scribbled out. The reason this story sounds so familiar is because it’s the exact same tale we watched unfold with former Wolverine golden boy, Tate Forcier.

In consecutive years, Michigan has opened the season with the same question marks surrounding the team and its coach. They have a new starting QB that is supposed to be a prototypical fit in the Rich Rod offense. Rodriguez is again mired in turmoil and his system has yet to stick with his players.

They opened the season at home with a very winnable game against an inferior opponent. For the second straight year, a win against the Fighting Irish all but guaranteed the U of M a spot in the AP rankings. Feel free to stop me if this is beginning to sound like a replay of last season.

Now, sitting at number 20 in the nation, Shoelaces will rack up another 1,000 all purpose yards while smacking around UMass and Bowling Green. Then, in his most impressive game of the year, Robinson will lead Michigan to a victory against the Big Ten’s perennial bottom feeder, Indiana.

By the time Michigan State rolls around, Robinson will have the Wolverines undefeated and pushing for a spot in the Top 10. But again, this is almost exactly what happened last year with Forcier under center.

This story is not intended to be a declaration that the Wolverines will finish the season below .500 and miss a bowl game for the third straight year but it’s also important to recognize the underlying factors in Robinson’s performance.

Credit is due to Michigan for beating UConn and Notre Dame and starting the season 2-0, but wins over these two programs is hardly something to boast. UConn is the third best team in a conference that has failed to achieve a single marquee win this season, unless you consider Syracuse beating Akron a big win.

As for Notre Dame, they may finally have a coach that will lead them back to respectability in a few years, but it’s a team that is both rebuilding and learning a new scheme that is hardly known for its defensive stoutness. Not to mention they are breaking in two new safeties, a new quarterback and three new starters on the offensive line.

It is also true that Robinson has been much more effective than Forcier in his ability to run the ball, but Robinson is also averaging 20 more rushing attempts per game compared to his predecessor. This may be due to the loss of Brandon Minor and the Wolverines inability to find a suitable number one back, but the reason Robinson is putting up the statistics two people would is because he’s performing the roles of two players each game.

This may be a fine strategy for the Wolverines to employ at the start of the season, but what happens when they get into the heart of the conference schedule. Five of the final seven teams Michigan faces this year will be in contention for a New Year’s Day bowl game and will bring a little more defensive ferocity than the Colonial Athletic Association can provide.

Robinson may prove me wrong and go on to be the second Rich Rod quarterback to fail miserably in the NFL, but without a few compliments in the offense to limit the hits Robinson has to take each game, one has to imagine his durability may become an issue. After all, isn’t that what happened with Tate Forcier last year?

Is this Heaven? No, it's College Football

On a glorious fall afternoon on September 13, 2009, the Football gods decided to bless us with an amazing gift, NFL Red Zone. 

The intro rolled and there stood Scott Hanson, the face that would forever change Sunday afternoons.  One man offering football fans "Every Touchdown From Every Game."  It was to be a station like none other; no commercials, every score and live look-ins decided entirely by what games are the most intriguing at that moment.  No longer were football fans throughout the midwest forced to watch the St. Louis Rams get the business when they would have much rather been watching the Texans and Titans dual it out in an offensive slobber knocker.

And as myself and a few of my friends sat down on that glorious September afternoon with our jaws dropped in awe, you could just hear John Kinsella ask his son Ray, "Is this Heaven?"

We weren't in Iowa nor did we go have a catch, but for once, the corn field in Central Illinois this writer calls home seemed a little more tolerable. 

Now, with a new season under way and the Red Zone just a week away from it's triumphant return, everything seems right in the world.  But what about the NFL's younger brother, the NCAA.  The college game goes hand in hand with its professional version, after all, you can't have a football weekend with out college Saturday.

Games are being aired all day on the ESPN family of networks, Fox Sports has it's Big 12 and Pac 10 games of the week, the SEC and BigTen networks air every game the conference plays that week while the major networks show the weeks premiere match ups and, for some reason beyond me, still shows Notre Dame.

As a college purist, I find myself spending my entire Saturday glued in front of my television.  From the second College Gameday starts until the final whistle blows on the last west coast game I am riveted.  But what if the NCAA were to take a page from the NFL's book and start its own Red Zonesque station(s).

Imagine the possibilities. The NCAA "College Ticket," every college game as it's happening.   One second you could be watching Terrelle Pryor roll out in a naked boot for another Buckeye touchdown and then instantly be sent down to North Carolina where Robert Quinn and the bruising Tar Heel defense slam the door on a goal line stand.  Most importantly, you'll never again have to miss a stunning upset because you figured there was no reason to waste your time watching Michigan vs. Appalachian State.

And if that all seems to overwhelming to watch at one time, it can be easily broken down as well.  Break the games up and show them on regional stations.  Could conference sponsorships bar separation of certain teams in different regions?  Possibly, but that can be over worked by simply breaking the games up into a BCS Station and a Mid-Major Station.
 
As far as this writer is concerned, the only problem facing the college game is that it's just too big.  There's entirely way too much to watch without devoting your entire day to the game.  And trust me, you are still left catching up on everything you just weren't able to watch.  Imagine knowing who Ndamukong Suh was prior to the Big 12 championship game or being able to catch the rise of UCLA and Oregon State without having to see them play USC.
 
It's a problem the NFL realized and did an amazing job fixing and it would serve the NCAA well to figure out how to harness in the potential of a "College Ticket"