The End Zone: UT 11-10

11/10/2011

Four years ago while I was in Orlando covering Michigan before the Capital One Bowl, somebody asked coach Lloyd Carr what he thought about Purdue's 51-48 win over Central Michigan in the Motor City Bowl the previous night. "That was a great game," Carr remarked, "[but] that's not football. That's a basketball game."

Not sure what Carr would think of Toledo's 66-63 victory over Western Michigan on Tuesday, or the Rockets' 63-60 loss to Northern Illinois last week, but I'll go ahead and answer it for him. That's definitely not football.

I'm sure there are TV viewers out there who enjoy those types of games, and ESPN almost assuredly does with the opportunity to line its pockets with extra cash from the countless extra commercials. But I can't imagine the few people left in the seats at the Glass Bowl when it was all over enjoyed the marathon game that lasted four hours, 16 minutes, and didn't end until 12:18 Wednesday morning. One fan jokingly asked me if the Rockets had won with a game-winning 3-pointer, and in fact, they had — on Jeremiah Detmer's 39-yard field goal, which was the only field goal in the game, with 1:51 to play.

From top to bottom, UT should be embarrassed about giving up 126 points — all in regulation — in its last two games. A defense that surrendered just 78 points in its first four conference games has been ripped and torn to pieces. It's a good thing lowly Central Michigan is next, because I hear the Chippewas have been struggling with their jump shots.

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