Michigan Seeks to Repeat History, Pelini Says Bring On His Firing

On Saturday, rivalry week will come to an end and for Michigan (7-4, 3-4), their disappointing season will conclude with a matchup against its arch rival, #3 Ohio State (11-0, 7-0), for the 111th time.

This season, the game has less on the line as Ohio State has already punched its ticket for the Dec. 7 Big Ten Championship game after defeating Indiana (4-7, 2-5) last Saturday, 42-14. For Michigan, they’d like to snap the Buckeyes’ 23-game win streak and their National Championship dreams as well as get a win in front of the home crowd.

It’s also been an ugly November as Michigan has lost three of its four games. But as any college football fan knows, upsets do happen and history is on Michigan’s side.

Brady Hoke

Rewind to the 1969 season and Ohio State–then called the “greatest football team of all time”–was sitting on 22-game win streak and trying for a national title under coach Woody Hayes. But first, they had to get past Michigan in the Big House.

Sound familiar? #12 Michigan sat at 7-2; it had a first-year coach, Bo Schembechler and they wanted to play in the Rose Bowl. The outcome: a 24-12 win.

Fast forward to the 1995 matchup with Ohio State at 11-0. Again, they were looking at a national championship and an 8-3 Michigan, who had just lost two of its three previous games under another first-year coach, Lloyd Carr.

The result? A 31-23 Michigan win.

Will third time be the charm for Michigan? This year, the team is playing for its third-year coach, Brady Hoke, and a landmark win.

Can quarterback Devin Gardner stay upright against the nation’s sack-leading team?

Unfortunately Vegas doesn’t think see third time as a charm: Ohio State gets the win (-16, 57 o/u) and sits at 6/1 to win the BCS National Championship.

Pelini Says Want to Fire Me? Go ahead!

After being on the hot seat for weeks, the rumor mill kept churning on Friday for Nebraska (8-4, 5-3) coach Bo Pelini after his team’s 38-17 loss to Iowa (8-4, 5-3). In his postgame press conference, Pelini said of the hot topic via the Associated Press, “If they want to fire me, go ahead. I believe in what I’ve done. I don’t apologize to you. I don’t apologize to anybody, myself or this staff. My record, our record since I’ve been here, speaks for itself. And this program is heading in a good direction.

“You choose not to think so, that’s your prerogative. All I know is myself, this staff, the people who have been associated with this program since I’ve been here can look themselves in the mirror and feel good about what they’ve done.”

Bo Pelini

For Pelini, he’s been Nebraska’s head coach for six years and has amassed a 57-24 record. This season, his performance was especially picked apart after losses to then #16 UCLA (8-3, 5-3) and Minnesota (8-3, 4-3).

And now losing to Iowa could be the nail in the coffin.

At issue is whether Nebraska’s first-year athletic director Shawn Eichorst believes Pelini can turn this high expectations program around and that his approximate $3 million per year contract (runs through 2017) is right for the program.

Nebraska has a storied program but it hasn’t won a conference championship since 1999. They ended this season tied for second in the the Big Ten Legends Division, winning their least number of regular-season games since the 2008 season when Pelini first came to town.

And their 2013 three home-game losses? A first for the team since the 2007 season.

Not helping Pelini’s case is his temper. In September, a 2011 audio with a profane-filled tirade by Pelini against a Nebraska fan had been released and in Friday game’s, the volatile coach got an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty in the third quarter.

Time will tell if Pelini returns but earlier in the season Bovada’s odds were against this (+300, -500 no).