Blog Ten Gameday: It Seems Rich Rodriguez Wants To Get Fired

Now I’m of the opinion that the idea of firing a coach in only his second year at a school is idiotic.  I don’t care what a school’s tradition is, a coach needs some time to work his system and players in, and he should be given that time.

All that being said, I can understand all the frustration that is sure to come pouring out of Ann Arbor this week.  Half the town already wants Rich Rodriguez gone — oh Les Miles, Les Miles, where for art though, Les Miles? — and now the Wolverines have lost again.

At home.

To a Purdue team that hadn’t won in the Big House since 1966.

Purdue 38  Michigan 36  Final

How do you follow embarrassing losses against Penn State and Illinois?  Why you go out and lose to a team that had lost their last 11 road games, got shutout by a score of 37-0 last weekend, and hadn’t won in your building in 43 years.  That’s how.

Joey Elliott and the Purdue Boilermakers racked up 494 yards of total offense against the Wolverines, including 367 yards coming through the arm of Elliott.  The key stretch of this game lasted nine seconds.  Michigan had a 30-17 lead when Purdue scored to make it 30-24 on a Ralph Bolden touchdown run.

Purdue would then onside kick, recover it, and on their very first play of the ensuing drive Elliott hit Cortez Smith for a 54-yard touchdown to give Purdue a 31-30 lead.  Michigan never recovered from the sudden turnaround, though they did have a chance to tie it late after Brandon Minor’s third touchdown of the game made it 38-36.  Unfortunately Tate Forcier was sacked on the two-point conversion attempt.

Wisconsin 31  Indiana 28 Final

You know what I really like about Bill Lynch and this Indiana team?  Well, they didn’t win today but for a team that doesn’t have much depth they always seem to stay in games they have no business being in and fight down to the very end.  It’s admirable.

Though more admirable than Indiana’s heart are John Clay’s legs.  Clay had another one of his ho-hum 134 yard days and Montee Ball also ran for 112 yards and two scores to help the Badgers leave Bloomington with a narrow victory.

Illinois 35 Minnesota 32 Final

Maybe the Illini thought that the first two months of the season were preseason?  Whatever the case, they’ve now won two in a row as they followed up their victory over Michigan last week by going to Minnesota and taking down the Gophers.  Juice Williams had to leave the game in the first half, but Jacob Charest did a pretty nice job filling in.

Charest threw for 185 yards and a touchdown to help pace the Illini offense.  Jason Ford led the way for the Illini rushing attack with 82 yards and a touchdown.

Michigan State 49  Western Michigan 14

Ladies and gentlemen of the Big Ten, meet Mr. Ashton Leggett.  Leggett blew up for the Spartans on Saturday afternoon, rushing for 110 yards and four touchdowns on only 14 carries.  That’s a touchdown every 3.5 times he touched the ball.

Kirk Cousins had himself a day as well throwing for 353 yards and the Spartans offense racked up 602 total yards as a unit.  Western Michigan could only manage 211.