Forget about it Michigan fans.  Forget about the silly notion that the football team can still rebound, run the table, and win the Big Ten.  Is it possible?  Sure.  Is it even close to realistic?  Not at all.  Quite frankly, Michigan football has been exposed.  I know it's the last thing any Wolverine fan wants to hear, but it's now, brutally, a truism.

  Furthermore, Michigan fans, you can't want that to happen.  Yes, you're true fans.  Absolutely, you want the team to win.  However, if Michigan were to run the table and win the Big Ten, the entire conference would be staring a terrible reality dead in the face.  Your conference is overrated.  Remember, this is the program that went 11-0, including wins against "tough" opponents Wisconsin and Penn State last season.  They rumbled into Columbus, ready to pull off the upset and play for the national title.  You all remember it.  It was 1997 all over again.  Lloyd Carr's boys were back and ready to set the record straight.  Unfortunately, over the past four games, they have etched that record in stone.  Michigan football is not what it once was.  Not even close.

  It's not even that they're losing, but how they're losing that is such a damning indictment of Michigan, and regrettably, the entire Big Ten.  Big plays are crippling the Wolverines' defensive unit, and have been since last November.  One of the unwritten rules of defense is that no one gets behind your safeties.  There are times, during this four game stretch, where you're forced to wonder if Michigan has safeties.  Yesterday, Dennis Dixon hooked up with Brian Paysinger on an 85 yard touchdown pass -- the first of three Ducks touchdowns of 40 or more yards.  There was no missed coverage, no trick play.  Watching the replay, as painful as it may be, Paysinger ran a simple wheel route.  From the weak slot, he curled outside, streaked up the sideline, and left Michigan corner Brandon Harrison clutching not at shoestrings, but at cleats.  Once again, Michigan's lack of team speed is exposed.   Harrison dove at the 28 yard line - 84 feet from the endzone - because he was losing ground.  Paysinger ran away from the Michigan defense.  He's not the fastest receiver they'll face, and, as Oregon proved twice more in their thumping of Michigan at the Big House, it's not the last time Michigan will give up the big play.

  That's depressing enough, Michigan fans, but I'm not even close to done.  The offense, the vaunted offense everyone was so afraid of coming into the season, has not been much better, if at all, than the defense.  Aside from running back Mike Hart, the offense looks uninspired, ineffective, and, as always, simple.  Jake Long and Adam Krause, two potential all-Americans, are even missing blocks.  They all look deflated, defeated, and defective.  Hart and his senior teammates, Long and Henne, came back for revenge.  They had bitter tastes in their mouths from the way 2006 ended.  Fun story - until they hit the field.  Hart has been great.  He's ducked and dodged his way to consecutive games of 100+ yards.  The sad part is that he's doing it by himself.  He's getting hit in the backfield, and improbably, finding a way to churn out yards.  On several occasions yesterday, Hart shrugged off his initial hit, and moved the chains.  The problem is, he's getting pounded.  The bigger problem is, the second he leaves the field, so does the Michigan offense.  The guys who spell him, Brandon Minor and Carlos Brown, either run into a wall or fumble the ball away. 

  The Big House has turned into a photo-op for opposing players and coaches, and an aviary for the boo birds.  For that, I applaud Michigan fans.  Settling for disappointment is not your way.  Unfortunately, your head coach doesn't share your fire or desire for a winning team.  Play back any of the last four games, and find for me an example of the Michigan coaching staff making an adjustment to alter the flow of the game.  Furthermore, find an example from those games where the opposing coaches didn't find a weakness, alter their gameplan, and run away from the Wolverines.  Watching the games is embarrassing, but rewatching them is worse.  Not because you have to relive the experience of the loss, but because you, the average fan, are seeing things that the coaching staff evidently is not.  There was nothing different about the Michigan defense against Oregon than you saw against Appalachian State.  Both teams featured spread offenses, creative plays, and mobile quarterbacks - yet you saw no changes on the defensive side of the ball in week two.  If the fans can see it, then the coaches have to see it.  Why no adjustments?  Whether stubborn or stupid, the Michigan coaching staff has looked outclassed by two teams they're supposed to beat handily.

  The time has come for change.  That time is now.  Drastic changes need to be made.  Sticking by Carr because of his class or career winning percentage is a detriment to Michigan's success and respect among college football's elite teams.  Year in and year out Michigan fans find a reason to believe they can compete with anyone and they'll once again relive the 1997 experience.  Year in and year out, Lloyd Carr and the Wolverines suffer defeats that are inexplicable - usually in September.  In August you were hoping for a national title.  Less than a month later, you're praying for a win.  Do you think for a second that USC, LSU, or any other perennial powerhouse is actually seriously worried about things of that ilk?  Making any argument that Michigan deserves any moniker other than overrated is an excuse, and an irrational one.  Quite frankly, the Wolverines have done more to discredit themselves over the past four games than they have to gain national respect over the past 10 years.

  Now that you're all angry, seething, and ready to send me an email berating me for being so harsh on the Wolverines, it's time for an admission.  I, too, am a Michigan fan.  I feel your pain, I truly do.  I live in Ohio to boot.  Work isn't fun for me very often when Michigan loses.  Being the only Michigan fan among a sea of Ohio State fans and bandwagoners alike, gets really hard when the only defense I can logically come up with is some quip about Maurice Clarett.  The Wolverines have been dominated in bowl games and Ohio State games for the past four seasons, and now, evidently, the bottom has fallen out.  This is more than a disappointment, it's a dilemma.  Right now, Buffalo has a better record than Michigan, and they haven't even played a I-AA team.  As I watched the game yesterday and took notes, I noticed that the signs fans spent time creating had gone from the likes of "Another BCS Championship" to comical efforts like "Anyone but Carr."  That's how far we've fallen, folks.  Michigan State has more realistic national title hopes than Michigan.  Chew on that for a while.

  Big Ten fans, Michigan owes you all an apology.  You won't get it of course, but by losing, and losing in the fashion they have, Michigan is discrediting the entire Big Ten.  If you're a Wisconsin or Penn State fan, you're probably thinking I'm an idiot.  Think about it though.  The Big Ten media picked Michigan over both of those teams and Ohio State, to win the conference.  Furthermore, any Big Ten team Michigan does beat this season will be subject to the same criticism Michigan is right now.  If Michigan were to manage the unthinkable and entirely unlikely and win the Big Ten, it would be a monumental blow to the entire conference.  Appalachian State fans will make t-shirts that proclaim them the real Big Ten champs.  Oregon fans will laugh from the west coast, knowing they beat the Big Ten's conference champion by 32, on their hallowed home turf.  Is that picture materializing for you?  It's a trainwreck, and it's one that even Michigan fans have to hope doesn't happen.  The best possible scenario for the Big Ten is that Michigan continues to struggle in conference play, losing big to the likes of PSU and Wisconsin.  With Wisconsin looking less than impressive in a win against UNLV, and Penn State being completely untested thus far, the Big Ten is subject to more criticism this season than any I can remember in years past.  Remember when it was fun to debate conference supremacy with SEC and Pac 10 fans?  Those days are gone for the forseeable future, so if those arguments arise, run from them.  I'm sorry Penn Staters and Camp Randall residents, and I'm sorry Buckeye fans, Ann Arbor has given the Big Ten a black eye.  Hopefully one of the Big Ten teams emerges as a powerhouse, goes into the BCS, and proves that there is still some quality football being played in the midwest, but until that happens, the conference is going to be criticized, so just be prepared for it.

  The fact of the matter is that Michigan opened the door and put the entire Big Ten under a fine microscope.  Any slip up, colossal or minimal, will be highlighted, dissected, and debated.  You don't want that, Big Ten fans.  Here are the unavoidable facts.  There is no salvaging of the 2007 season for Michigan.  It's just not possible.  Even if you are a Michigan fan, and if you're a true one, you're not hiding, you're taking your beating, you can't possibly say you'd be happy if the Wolverines won the Big Ten.  The conference championship would be flawed, and a team that has already lost 2 games would be fed to the wolves in a BCS game.  Can you honestly say that you hope Michigan manages to find themselves in a BCS game against the likes of say, Pat White and Steve Slaton of West Virginia?  If your answer to that is yes, YouTube Armanti Edwards and Dennis Dixon, and rethink your answer.  Everyone seems to be getting what many Wolverine fans already believed -- Carr needs to go.  However, the season has just begun, and with the damage done, how far will this ship sink?  From one Michigan fan to many others, I urge you not to hide, not to turn on the team you love, but to be realistic and honest, and admit that the 2007 season, two games in, is lost and embarrassing.