Coach, interrupted.

If he only knew.

The "suspense" is finally over, as Michigan pulled the plug on the Rich Rodriguez Experiment, ending one of the worst 3 year runs in school history, in which the Wolverines posted a 15-22 record.  The most important stat during this period is the 0-6 record against Ohio State and Michigan State.

Bo Schembechler once said that "Only a Michigan man will coach Michigan".  According to various interpretations, I have come to understand that it means someone who identifies and understands, what it means to be associated with the University of Michigan.  I'm not really sure, but that's the vibe I get.  Of course I could be wrong, and if so, will the real Michigan men please stand up and educate me.

What I do know however, is that if you're the head coach at Michigan, you have to BEAT Ohio State.  If you're the coach at Ohio State, you do not lose to THAT SCHOOL UP NORTH!!  Failure to beat the other consistently could result in you looking for another line of work.  It's just that simple; anything less is unacceptable.  Ask John Cooper or Lloyd Carr how it worked out for them.

After Bo, there was Gary Moeller, then Lloyd Carr; Michigan Men.  So when it became news that Rich Rodriguez would be the next man to lead Michigan, that just didn't sound right.  First of all, he's a Mountaineer through and through, having played for West Virginia.  Secondly, he just didn't look like he fit the bill of a "Michigan Man".  He bled West Virginia "blue and gold" and not Michigan "maize and blue".  It was doomed from the start.

Rich Rod had taken West Virginia from the middle of the pack in the Big East, to one game short of playing for the national title.  Over his final three seasons, he had a 32-5 record and the Mountaineers were not only contending for Big East titles but BCS Bowl games as well.  From the looks of it, he had a good thing going on at Morgantown and had attained a cult hero status.

All that changed when he bailed on his team three weeks before the Fiesta Bowl, to become the next coach at Michigan.  As doomed as it seems, I can't fault him for taking the job.  How often does a job like this become available?  Whatever it is that West Virginia had, Michigan had more of it or just better; history, facilities, recruiting pool, money.  Michigan even helped buy out his contract at West Virginia.

However, once he landed in Ann Arbor, you knew things weren't going to work out when: your star quarterback transfers because he can't see how he would fit your offensive schemes, you star receiver opts to enter the NFL draft (probably because he just doesn't want to play for you) and a key lineman transfers to - get ready for this - Ohio State!!  In case you're wondering, I'm talking about Ryan Mallett, Mario Manningham and Justin Boren (in that order).

When Terrelle Pryor, then a highly recruited quarterback who would have fit Rich Rod's offensive scheme perfectly, chose Ohio State over Michigan, it really killed any chances of Rodriguez making an immediate impact in his first season.  Seeing the kind of player Pryor has turned out for the Buckeyes, you can see why his services were in high demand.

Everything else pretty much went haywire after that.  Where do you start, the back to back losing seasons?  The NCAA Violations?  The fact that his "run-first spread option" offense just wasn't getting it done (even though Denard Robinson ran it like a natural)?  Or even worse; a school that had built a reputation for being one of the better defenses in the country, couldn't even stop a 1-AA team?  If they had anything resembling a defense, they might have been better than the 7-5 record they posted in the regular season.

Having gone lost to Michigan State and Ohio State in his three seasons, the 52-14 beatdown his team suffered at the hands of Mississippi State in the Gator Bowl had all but sealed his fate.  By then, everyone had seen enough and it became a matter of just how fast can they fire this guy.  This whole situation was taking it's toll on him.  The guy was breaking down in banquets, quoting Bible verses and lines from Josh Groban (and this is when you know you can't get any lower).  In the press conference after the Gator Bowl, when reporters kept asking him about his future, his response was , "you're asking the wrong guy."  Knowing what happened next, they probably figured who the right guy was.

For what it's worth, at least he gave it a try, but it just didn't work out.  Maybe he's better off now and I'm sure he'll get another chance sometime.  Whatever direction Michigan goes from here, you can at least hope that they'll try and get it right this time.

Third time's a charm; Glendale here we come!!!

Hopefully, we have all by now got over the fact that Oklahoma will be playing the Connecticut Huskies, the Big East champions.  I don't think I'm wrong in assuming that most OU fans were hoping for a rematch with Stanford (from last year's Sun Bowl), or maybe a showdown with Ohio State or Arkansas.  What we got instead, was a team with an 8-4 record and is ranked #26 in the BCS standings (I didn't know that they went that far).

Before I get on the "Oklahoma's going to blow out UConn" bandwagon, you'd be surprised at how much these two teams have in common on their road to Glendale, AZ.  Both teams were written off after losing 2 conference games.  They both put in strong defensive performances down the stretch, to go along with a combined 9 game win streak (4 for Oklahoma, 5 for UConn).  They both won their last conference games by a field goal (UConn beat South Florida 19-16 on last minute field goal, while Oklahoma beat Nebraska 23-20).

That being said, if there was anytime that Oklahoma needed to end its 5 game losing streak in BCS games, this would be it.  Oklahoma however is in a "no-win" situation.  If they win, well, they were supposed to.  If they lose, then it's another BCS bust.  Oklahoma's last BCS win was against a Washington State team that has gone 35-61 since that Rose Bowl.  Since then, Oklahoma has been the punchline to many a joke in Baton Rouge, Los Angeles, Boise and Morgantown.

Last time Oklahoma was in a "no-win" situation like this one, it was against a Boise State team that was making it's first appearance in a BCS bowl game.  In defense of the Broncos, they had posted a record of 85-16 (4-2 in bowl games) going into that match-up.  They were a well coached team and knew how to execute; and I really don't have to tell you how the game ended.

Then came West Virginia.  A team that had lost their coach 3 weeks before playing OU.  Prior to that, they had fallen a game short of playing in the National Championship game.  So you'd be forgiven for thinking that they would be lacking any inspiration or motivation going into the Fiesta Bowl against a red-hot Oklahoma team.  What many people overlook is the fact that the Mountaineers were riding a 32-5 record (2-0 in bowl games), and were very much a championship calibre team.  So they had EVERY reason to show that they still had some fire left.  And did they show up ever!!!  Playing the way they did, they could have beaten ANY team that night.

So in this third trip, I'm sure that Oklahoma will look at where they've failed in their past trips to the Fiesta Bowl.  Whether it may be conservative play calling, execution on both sides of the ball, over confidence; I really don't know.  Even though they'll be highly favored against Connecticut, Oklahoma will be playing with a chip on its shoulder.  And that is when they play best.