Pitarresi: No more mystique

The University of Michigan has won 870 football games.

 

That’s the most in the history of college football.

 

Unfortunately for new coach Rich Rodriguez, only two of those wins have come this year.

 

You think Greg Robinson has it tough, having to hear what an idiot he is with an 8-33 record through three and a half seasons? Rodriguez, who had things cooking during his years at West Virginia, took over a program that prides itself on its century-long elite status. The Wolverines stumbled badly in losing to I-AA power Appalachian State last year. They certainly dropped the ball in losing to very ordinary 1-4 Toledo Saturday.

 

 Rodriguez will get a pass this season no matter the final record. If the Wolverines finish with just three or four victories, the fans will be angry but manageable. If the same thing happens next year, they will be much more impatient than Orange fans are now.

 

Well, here’s the reality. Of those 870 Michigan wins, maybe 400 came against teams that had no chance whatsoever to beat the Wolverines. That’s not Michigan’s fault. The Wolverines superiority for more than 100 years was due in part to the fact that they were one of the very first great programs, and they built on that. Success breeds success. Notre Dame and Yale and quite a few of the traditional powers fall into the same category. They built histories that made players want to go to their schools and intimidated opponents.

 

That means much less now. Thanks in part to an 85-scholarship limit, parity in college football is a fact of life. You can bet the Toledo players were not afraid of the Wolverines. Mystique is only powerful if you let be. All you have to do is look at the Top 25 polls week to week the last couple of years. There is no stability. A lot of fans don’t like that. I do. Very few teams roll over now for the power teams. You have to prove yourself on the field every week.

 

I think what you’ll see in the future is teams that are very good for a few years, then ordinary or maybe even bad, and then maybe back again. That’s a good thing.