It’s the second week of the college football season and, apparently, Michigan still sucks:
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — Oregon coach Mike Bellotti posed for a picture on the block M in the middle of the field at Michigan Stadium, a scoreboard looming in the background.
“Make sure you get the score in there,” Bellotti said.
Oregon 39, Michigan 7. Another embarrassment for the Wolverines. Another opponent celebrating at the Big House.
A week after getting stunned by Appalachian State, the Wolverines were handed their worst beating since before Bo Schembechler worked the sideline at the Big House.
Dennis Dixon accounted for 368 yards and a career-high four touchdowns, helping the Ducks build a 25-point lead at halftime and cruise to an easy victory.
“It’s a good win because I think there were some questions about how Michigan was going to bounce back, and whether we would be competitive,” Bellotti said. “I think our players took that to heart.”
The Ducks (2-0) beat Houston handily in its opener, then were even more dominant against a once-proud program that boasts the most wins and best winning percentage in college football.
Michigan (0-2) has opened a season with two straight losses at home for the first time since 1959 and has dropped four straight for the first time in four decades.
A losing streak that started, by the way, with last November’s Ohio State game.
At the very least, this should put an end to any BCS hopes that Michigan had this year (so much for that Rutgers v. Michigan matchup in Pasadena in January I guess), and probably means at least a few weeks of wins before they get anywhere near the Top 25 again.
Over at Sports Illustrated, Stewart Mandel argues that this is just the inevitable outcome of a football program that’s been declining for awhile:
BATON ROUGE, La. — As you ponder the stunning, season-opening implosion of the Michigan football program –- one that now includes consecutive home losses to start a season for the first time since 1959 –- know this: The downfall began long before last week’s loss to Appalachian State.
Masked by three Rose Bowl appearances over the past four years and largely undetectable to the outside observer, a crisis was brewing within the Wolverines’ program, one that’s become painfully obvious over Michigan’s current four-game losing streak to Ohio State (42-39), USC (32-18), Appalachian State (34-32) and now, in the most humiliating edition yet, Oregon (39-7).
Clearly, the coaching staff in Ann Arbor is not long for this world.
Next weekend, it’s Notre Dame v. Michigan for the title of suckiest football program in the Midwest.
