One last hurrah for Hippo’s favoUrite banner pic!

Washington (+5.5) v. Michigan (7:30, ESPN)

Oh man, this line just keeps creeping up.  I have a really bad feeling, and it’s worse than the usual (gas).

Polar opposites clash tonight.  There’s the smug superiority (undeserved) epitomized by the Michigan Man – of whom Lesser Harbs is more or less the khaki-clad epitome.  Unless one is a Michigan Man oneself, one has a very strong urge to punch the Michigan Man right in the genitals.  We all know people like that in our orbit, within or outside of sportsball.

Whereas Kalen DeBoer is the blue collar guy who worked his way up the coaching ladder.  If anyone has a bad word to say about him – professionally or otherwise – I haven’t heard it.  B1G “royalty” like UM have to view their imminent entry into the conference as some sort of “barbarians at the gate.”  For us neutrals, it will be nice to see someone crash the party and make the games more watchable.  Tonight is sommet of a preview in that respect.

But shit – this Wolverine team (on the pitch) is physical as fuck.  They win both lines of scrimmage with great regularity.  It’s the Alabama formula, albeit more as a “one off” – given that UM only managed this level of dominance by keeping the core group together (more or less) for the better part of the last 3 seasons.  That is…they don’t recruit like Alabama, and are perfectly set up to crash back to 8-4 after Lesser Harbs takes the Clippers du Merde job.  Which he’s gonna, win or lose.

That hits at Washington’s weakness (run defense), but consider the opposite side of the coin.  Modern FITBAW theory says that if you have to be weak at something, run defense is it.  Where Washington has the advantage is in the passing game, and they just might have a good enough OL to allow Penix Power to fully shine through.  The Huskies’ WR depth will also test the Wolverine secondary like they have not been remotely tested to date.

But again – if it takes 30+ points to beat Michigan, can they really go off that wildly?  Surely 40+ is too much to ask.  What I imagine DeBoer wants is to be within a score with 2 minutes or so left, and the ball in Penix’ hands.  He’ll take what comes from there.  Let’s all hope that’s what we get to see, not the 35-10 pasting Hippo has started to fear.