Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue

A few weeks ago, I had a post that said Lloyd Carr channeled Bill Belichick by wearing a hoodie on the sideline. Well, this has gone way too far. Lloyd Carr in his "genius" (and for those that don't know me - enter sarcasm here) decided the Wisconsin game wasn't important and played the 2nd team all day on offense. Lloyd thought he was coaching the 14-1 New England Patriots with the playoffs coming up next week and gave Tom Brady and Randy Moss the week off.

I usually get on Lloyd playing "not" to lose instead of playing to win. Yesterday, he showed something new in his "genius" by playing to lose and maybe winning if Wisconsin decided not to show up on Senior Day.

Why make the trip? When I make a trip to Wisconsin with my beautiful wife, I plan on staying a few days, playing Whistling Straits and enjoying the Kohler Spa. As you know, Wisconsin in November is no place for playing golf. So maybe Lloyd thought, why should we go? I see you working coach. You should have kept the entire team from getting cold or taking the charted flight to Madison. That Central Time Zone can be confusing.

Instead of playing the second team all day, why not just stay home? Sure Ryan Mallett can get some experience playing on the road for next year and throw some key interceptions. Maybe we can see if Mario can get 100 yards receiving on 3 completions? We can see if the defense has learned anything and was able to stop Wisconsin's 3rd string tailbacks? But those seem like trivial items, I think staying home getting some treatment from the training staff makes more sense.

Well, Lloyd didn't listen to me and took his team to Wisconsin for a non-golf trip and got his hat handed to him. What seemed like a game he wanted to lose, he exactly did. Chad Henne played two series and Mike Hart didn't see the field all day. Ryan played like a Freshmen QB by throwing interceptions and showing glimpses of brilliance on a 97 yard pass completion to Mario and a nice deep ball to Adrian Arrington. Michigan's running game was ineffective all day and Michigan's defense couldn't stop the run by anyone that Wisconsin decided to put back there.

For anyone with half a brain, that combination equals a loss in a game that Michigan didn't need to win to go to the Rose Bowl. I guess losing this season doesn't matter much anymore to the Michigan coaching staff and let's be clear that is the unit that lost this game. With that said, Michigan got over powered on both sides of the ball and played from the kickoff like their tee time had been canceled.

I just don't understand this strategy. I can see Coach Carr saying this past week; "Gentlemen, either we beat OSU and go to the BCS Rose Bowl or we lose that game and go the Capital One or Outback Bowls. Either way it's a Win - Win for a team that lost to App. State, Let's check out some great golf courses in the Madison area"

Well in Lloyd Carr's/George Costanza bizarro world, something funny happened. Michigan lost the game they were trying to lose and OSU lost a game they were trying to win. So the game that was going to decide the trip to the Rose Bowl will now decide the outright Big Ten Champion this year. This is one strange year and who knows who will win this one, with Michigan's suddenly porous run defense and Henne's day to day shoulder, I don't think Michigan has a very good shot. If the Sweater Vest is looking for a couple good courses in the Ann Arbor Area, I can make a few suggestions.

Cheers:

• "You will get nothing and like it!"

Jeers:

• LC's strategy for the Wisconsin game
• Ryan for being a Freshman
• Arrington dropping some very catch-able balls
• The defense for not stopping anyone at RB
• Crable for what the "hell are you thinking?" How many roughing the QB calls are you going to get that cost us Big Ten games? Hey Player, that penalty might of cost your team the game.
• The Linebackers as a unit
• The offensive line (besides Jake). Block somebody! Anybody!
• The entire coaching staff on laying down for Wisconsin to try to win a share for a Big Ten Championship against OSU. I thought BO was way too conservative when he was coaching at U of M, but I never saw his team "save" itself for the Ohio State game.