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Loading ...A Weekend of Inexplicable
Photo by Said Alsalah/Michigan Daily
A buddy and I showed up at Michigan Madness a little after nine, just in time to catch the tail end of the skills competition and start placing friendly wagers on the three-point and dunk competitions. My friend bested me in the three-point contest as Manny Harris’ pairing edged Stu Douglass and Co. by one shot. However, I figured I had the dunk competition won, taking Darius Morris with the first pick, while my friend decided to go with DeShawn Sims. Needless to say, neither of us predicted what was coming next (via UMHoops):
Manny Harris proceeded to dominate the scrimmage (proving, once and for all, never to bet against Manny Harris, as I found out), but as the Crisler crowd streamed for the exits, the name “Novak” was on the tip of everyone’s tongue. Everyone from grade school kids to college students to ushers were mimicking the through-the-legs jam, and all left the arena even more excited about the prospects of Michigan basketball than when they entered.
Michigan’s absolute shellacking of Delaware State didn’t fall anywhere near Novak’s dunk on the inexplicable scale: DSU is a below-average FCS squad whose stated goal was to be within 20 at the half while collecting a massive paycheck. However, fans who sat through years of uninspiring 33-17 victories over MAC opponents could not be faulted if they spent much of Saturday’s game rubbing their eyes and wondering when their Wolverines had been replaced by the mid-nineties Florida Gators.
63-6? 727 total yards? On 72 plays? These are video game numbers, and unlike our SEC brethren, Michigan has never been a video game team. Yes, it is hard to understate just how bad Delaware State is, but I still can’t image a Lloyd Carr team handing out a beating like that, let alone last year’s anemic offense. I have seen Cone-to-Reyes, and it is beautiful.
The updates kept trickling across the bottom line, and they were good. 9-7 Purdue became 16-7 Purdue became 23-7 Purdue, and even when Ohio State closed the gap to 26-18 you could sense that it was over. Then Terrelle Pryor threw one last desperation duck, and Doug Worthington took a handful of Aaron Valentin’s facemask, and it was. And the headlines, the headlines:
Any Michigan fan who didn’t take pleasure in watching Terrelle Pryor run Ohio State’s BCS chances into the ground needs to learn how to take pleasure in wonderful things. I scoffed when Stewart Mandel suggested Pryor may have chosen the wrong school, and that the Wolverines may be better off with Tate Forcier at quarterback. Now? I would rather not entertain hypotheticals, but I can’t help but revel in the misery of the Pryor-led Buckeyes, and I would like to formally un-scoff at Mandel’s article.
For a weekend that looked to be one of the least exciting of the fall, I certainly had a lot of fun. Hopefully next weekend provides even more joy, whether the events that unfold can be explained or not.
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