Utah spoils Rodriguez's debut as Michigan head coach

History hasn’t been kind to coaches who lose in their first game as Michigan head football coach.  Rich Rodriguez became only the third man to suffer that dubious distinction (and only the second at home) on Saturday as a listless looking Wolverine team was beaten at home by Utah 25-23.  More disturbing than the final score was Michigan’s performance, looking every bit like a team that thought they could “phone it in” against a very talented opponent.

The Wolverines looked pretty good in the first quarter, as they opened the scoring with a TD and scored a late FG to end the period up 10-6.  Unfortunately, they appeared to be under the impression that they could just sleepwalk through the rest of the game and go home with a victory.  Utah had other plans, scoring the next 19 points to put the Utes up 25-10 midway through the third quarter.  Michigan mounted a furious comeback, but they just don’t have the talent to “turn it on and off” against a versatile and well coached foe.  The comeback effort fell short to the disappointment of 100,000+ Michigan fans in attendance.

Former BYU standout and current Ute head coach Kyle Whittingham—who for years has been one of the most underrated assistants in the sport before becoming one of the most underrated head coaches in college football—wasn’t particularly happy with his team’s performance, though that was tempered by the fact that they left Ann Arbor with a “W”.   That the Wolverines could have entered this game thinking it was a “gimmie” in light of Utah’s 5-3 mark against BCS schools under Whittingham borders on unconscionable.

Rodriguez should get his first win at the Wolverines helm next week as overmatched Miami-OH comes to town.  Then again, as the huge upset pulled by Appalachian State last year indicated nothing is ever certain in college football.  The Red Hawks’ visit will be followed by yet another huge test for the team as they travel to South Bend, IN to play Notre Dame on 9/16.  A loss here could put Rodriguez on hot seat before his office has been completely furnished.

If the new Michigan coach needed anything else to keep him up nights, the fate of the previous two men who lost their Wolverine debuts aren’t overly reassuring.  Bump Elliot lost his coaching debut in 1959 and stumbled to a 4-5 record that season.  More recently, Gary Moeller—already facing the unenviable task of succeeded legendary Bo Schembechler—lost his debut to Notre Dame in 1990.  Fortunately, Moehler righted the ship leading the team to a 9-3 record and went on to coach five successful seasons in Ann Arbor.  Elliot managed to hang around even longer, coaching ten seasons despite a mediocre performance in the W/L column.  Of course those were different times with less pressure, and Elliot had a lot of goodwill as a legendary player for the team.

Utah, meanwhile, continues their season next week at home against UNLV and has a good chance to run their record to 5-0 heading into a big non-conference tilt against Oregon State on October 2nd.  A victory there would put the Utes on the fast track to potentially being this season’s “BCS buster”.