The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1194003
JANUARY 2020 THE WOLVERINE 5 FROM OUR READERS FROM OUR WEBSITE On Michigan playing Alabama in the Citrus Bowl Jan. 1 … • Yes. Bring it on. Can't relate to anyone who is afraid. Peppers05 • I don't love the opponent (would have much preferred Ten- nessee), but I like playing on New Year's and against, to say the least, a name opponent. Cincinnati_Wolverine • Hide the young children … this will be too sad (harmful) to watch. Hello, DVR! Big-blue • Classic who wants to be there type bowl game matchup. This favors Michigan. PurpleArgyle • What are people afraid of? Michigan literally has nothing to lose in this one. If they get blown out against Bama, it's to be expected — it's Bama. Will anyone really think any less of the program after the OSU game? If they keep it close, they'll earn some re- spect. If they somehow win, it will erase a lot of negative press. I know some were hoping for Tennessee or Kentucky, but those are literally all-risk/ no-reward matchups. Even if Michigan wins, does anything think any differently of the program? Diehard566 • We are Michigan. Guys will be more up for this than Tennessee or Kentucky. If we lose this so what; if we lose those it is really bad. JnCAREY • The question is, how many Alabama guys skip this game? How motivated will they be? I'm guessing Michigan guys will play and they will be motivated. k2kal3 • There is a difference between being afraid and being realistic. For Michigan to win they'll need to play at a level they haven't in the last several years. Possible? Yes. Probable? No. Section 24 • If we limit mistakes like we did from the second half of PSU through IU, we stand a chance. We'll have to play a near-perfect game and hope the bowl practices provide enough time to get some bigger bodies ready for the DL. If the receivers catch the ball, we might pull the upset. Yes, we will probably lose, but a win is a bigger reward than a lot of other potential matchups. n8wildey • Just my humble opinion, but if Michigan loses a close one it will be spun as Michigan couldn't even beat a "down" Bama squad … and if Michigan wins, it will be spun the same way. Yost24 • The upside of a win is great … really great. The downside of a loss is painful, but survivable. Jim Harbaugh will not have any problem motivating the team for this matchup. I hope the Alabama players come in disappointed. BlueMonster • I get the feeling Jim is very much looking forward to this challenge. I hope we play with great intensity because it would be nice to see how we stack up. We learned we are not in OSU's league this year, and this game will tell us if we are in that next notch below them or if we are a couple notches away. If OSU is just one of those once- in-every-20-years kind of a team and a notch above everybody, and we play Alabama close or win, I think we'll feel a lot better about where we're at. marzanoj On Juwan Howard's basketball team posting back-to- back wins over top-10 teams North Carolina and Gonzaga Nov. 28-29 … • Those games were fun to watch. Guys are getting smoother as each game goes by. You could see Franz Wagner getting more comfortable as he went also. It's obviously way too early to get into pre- dictions and expectations, but I'm sure this season will be a lot of fun. It also looks like there is no reason these guys should not be competitive in every game. jorg96 • My favorite part of watching this team is the pure joy on their faces and in their play. thedude2403 • These were not flukey wins or even close games. At times both UNC and Gonzaga seemed overmatched. Based on how they won, these Michigan kids (can we say it yet?) shocked the world! DrMazenblue • Love Coach Beilein, but the sooner the national narrative ends about how great Coach B is to how great Coach Juwan is the better. There's an energy to this squad's play that is fun to watch. fletcher hall • Love it. John Beilein was awesome at de- velopment of talent and brought U-M basketball back. Juwan acknowledges he inherited a player-run team. He's a players' coach. Kids are having fun and playing loose. Perfect transition if you ask me. UofMinfla • You can't say that Michigan is back, rather, you can say that Michigan never went anywhere. Juwan is a great coach who is only going to get better. I don't know his net worth, but I assume that it's significant because I don't see him as the type of person who would've blown his NBA millions. He doesn't have to be doing this. He doesn't have to be mopping sweat off the floor. He could be sitting in a broadcast booth or at a beach in Miami for that matter. But instead, he's back at his alma mater trying to mold young men. We are lucky to have him as our coach. That's my takeaway at this point. phillysam Join The Conversation - 60 Day Free Trial, Use Code BLUE60 Juwan Howard's team opened the sea- son 8-3 and was ranked No. 14 in the AP poll that came out Dec. 16. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL