In my book, Rich Rodriguez has 30 minutes of football left to save his job. Why? Well, the first 30 minutes of football tonight have been downright embarrassing. Michigan is trailing Penn State at halftime by a score of 28-10 and is making former walk-on quarterback Matt McGloin look like an All-American in the process. Michigan just keeps making bonehead play after bonehead play on both sides of the ball, which is why they are now in an 18-point hole.
Michigan opened this game by going three and out when they couldn't gain a couple yards to move the chains. Penn State proceeded to get the ball and take 14 plays to go down the field, scoring a touchdown on a four-yard run by Evan Royster. Michigan answered with a TD on a 32-yard Denard Robinson run, but Royster gave the Nittany Lions another lead with a one-yard touchdown run on the next drive.
In the second quarter, Michigan cut the deficit down to four points when Seth Broekhuizen made a 37-yard field goal. This came after Denard Robinson left for a couple plays after landing awkwardly on his hip. Michigan had to punt after Robinson went out, but the Wolverine defense actually made a stop, keeping the score close.
Things went downhill for Michigan after this sequence, though. Matt McGloin led PSU down the field on an 11-play drive that was capped off with a QB sneak for a touchdown. Michigan's Jeremy Gallon dropped the ensuing kickoff and it went out of bounds inside the five. PSU got a stop and McGloin connected with Graham Zug only four plays later for a 20-yard touchdown, giving the Nittany Lions a 28-10 lead.
It takes some seriously awful coaching to be trailing this much to a team with a former walk-on starting at quarterback, especially coming off of a bye week. Michigan had two weeks to prepare for this game and it looks like they spent two minutes. I'm already on the verge of fully jumping on the fire Rich Rodriguez bandwagon based on the first half, and I'm certainly not alone. If Rodriguez wants to change the minds of Michigan fans, he better get his team focused and hope they play much better in the second half.
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