Looking for a Place to Happen

Andrew Marsh had a nice night (Michigan Athletics)

Wayward ho! Away we go

It's a shame to leave this masterpiece

With its gallery gods and its garbage-bag trees

So I'll paint a scene, from memory

So I'd know who murdered me

It's a vain pursuit, but it helps me to sleep

--"Looking for a Place to Happen" by The Tragically Hip, the fifth single from the band's third studio album, Fully Completely 

OK, I'm not happy, but I'm not angry.  I didn't "call it" by any means, but the computers did say this was more than likely to be a USC win, so any belief in Michigan winning was largely vibes-based or hope-centered.  That is not a bad thing, per se, but it was not as simple as Michigan heading out to LA, securing a nice win, and getting into the playoff conversation.  

What I saw yesterday was a team that couldn't tackle and couldn't fit USC's runs.  It was shocking and disappointing.  This would have been a much more of a beatdown on the scoreboard if Michigan had not secured two timely turnovers while USC was driving and in the red zone.  But the reality was, USC looked like they could get whatever they wanted on the ground, Michigan could not finish a tackle to save their lives, and Bryce and company could only do so much, and you end up losing by 18.  

There's not a lot to say that doesn't devolve into complaining about Wink (Michigan isn't going to fire him in season) or being overly pessimistic about the rest of the season.  Washington is a good test this coming weekend, if they can contain the Huskies' QB, it should be a relatively straightforward affair, and if not, well, Michigan hockey looked excellent this past weekend, taking a pair from #6 Providence at their rink.  We'll see how it goes, right?

Tales from the Spreadsheet

• 13-31 IS  a Scorigami!  (honestly, did not predict that! A 31-14 loss would not have been, so thanks, Sherrone, for going for two?)
  
• 75,500 were in attendance for the game, which is the smallest crowd to see Michigan play this season.
  
  
• Michigan moves to 5-7-0 all-time against the University of Southern California (all of USC's wins have been in Los Angeles County).
  
• Michigan moves to 17-3-0 all-time on October 11 (Michigan's most recent loss was the Toledo incident in 2008.)
  
  
• Michigan falls to 19-17-1 when scoring exactly 13 points (we keep doing this lately.  Three of Michigan's four most recent road games have ended up with Michigan scoring 13 points.)
• Michigan moves to 8-13-0 all-time when allowing 31 points to the opposition.
• Michigan has lost 2 games all-time by precisely 18 points, the other example being the 2008 loss to Notre Dame in South Bend.