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?

Beware of blinding loyalty...

The nice thing about the NFL off-season compared to other sports is that it gives every fan a reason for new optimism and hope with their team.  Unlike other sports, the NFL Draft provides teams with players who can make an instant impact.  For Lions fans like myself, you finally have a defensive play-maker that should, based on all projections, be an unstoppable force that frees up the rest of the defense while stopping the hell outta the run.  For New England Patriots fans, it's a chance to restock and reload some aging pieces on a once formidable defense.  New hope can also be found with the approach the Chicago Bears took this off-season in bringing in an offensive/defensive specialist to be a new coordinator.

Did Creed just say the Marlins Suck?

That's right, I'm not ashamed to admit it, throughout my informative years I like to call high school, I was a big fan of the legendary super band Creed. Alright, maybe that's going a bit far but I'd be willing to bet you that there aren't many people out there who haven't heard Higher, With Arms Wide Open, My Sacrifice, the list goes on. So what does me being a Creed fan have to do with sports you ask, good question.

I just so happened to feel an urge to hear some Creed at work and did the logical thing, I pulled up YouTube. Now being a sports fan, when the results list popped up and I saw a Scott Stapp song paired with the Florida Marlins logo, I was intrigued and thought what the hell (the video is after the jump):

Today's Starting Pitcher 04.15

Although I won't have a blog post daily (unfortunately I do need to work and not talk about sports all day), I will however try to make sure I at least post one interesting sports item a day, well, at least Monday through Friday.  Today I give you this little bit of reporting from the NBC Sports department.

As we all are aware, one Tiger Woods has been involved in a little domestic drama over the past several months.  Most recently, Tiger, had a new commercial released that basically can be described as Tiger's father scolding him or at very least, giving him a stern talking to.

Well according to sources in contact with NBC, the other figure in this ongoing drama, Elin Woods, was none to happy about this commercial.  There are now beliefs surfacing that this may be the final straw to break the camels back and officially bring an end to Elin and Tiger's marriage.

There are also reports out there citing Tiger's return to golf coming so quickly after the fall out as a driving force in a possible Elin/Tiger separation.  Don't get me wrong, I'm sure these two happening, if the sources are indeed correct, would add to the aggravation of this entire fiasco but let's be honest here, anyone who says the driving factor in a possible divorce is anything other that Tiger sleeping around with so many women needs a reality check.

We're Off and Running

I'd like to thank you for swinging on by and checking out Back To The Bleachers. What I hope to accomplish with this blog is to take a semi-serious and hopefully satirical look at the world of sports. I'll cover major events when they occur but will also take some time to enjoy and talk about the many things that make sports as enjoyable as they are. Feel free to comment with your own views and opinions or shoot me an email (backtothebleachers@hotmail.com) if you have a subject that you think readers would like to enjoy.

Have fun, comment often and in the immortal words of embattled University of Michigan football coach Rich Rodriguez, "Let's be positive."