Everything seemed to look good when the move was first announced. Rich Rodriguez had been a great coach in his time at West Virginia, and was considered to be one of the top spread offense coaches in the country. When he was asked to join Michigan, it seemed like a match made in heaven – albeit a very big change from the way that things were in Michigan previously. In his three years as their head coach, he was not able to duplicate his success and in the end  turned out to be a failed experiment for the team.

In his time with the team he posted a total of a 15-22 record and overall was unable to  make the spread as successful in Michigan as he had hoped. This can be attributed to the fact that Michigan had not recruited players that would thrive in the spread offense. Because he did not find immediate success, Rich Rodriguez had a lot of trouble recruiting the kind of players that would succeed in his offense, and in the end it turned out to be a bad fit for Michigan.

Michigan fans are used to nine and ten win seasons. This is a number that Rodriguez did not hit in his time with the team. After the team’s huge 52-14 loss in the Gator Bowl to Mississippi State, it was celar that the team was never going to find the success that they had hoped for under the former Virginia Tech spread genius.

It is not currently clear where the team will be heading next. Tehy will begin their search for a new head coach imemdiately. Some have suggested that they could decide to hire from within the organization, but given the lack of success that the current coaches have seen, do not be surprised if they decide to go elsewhere.

Michigan hopes to get their program back together. That will start with the hiring of a new head coach, hopefully someone who is able to meet their needs and will not make the sweeping changes to the program’s philosophy that we saw with Rodriguez.

Mississippi State came out on top in their game against Michigan to finish the season at 9-4 and pretty much surely end the career of Rich Rodriguez at Michigan. the game was out of hand from the second quarter on. The first quarter ended with a score of 10-14, Michigan lead, but they were unable to score another point throughout the rest of the game, allowing Mississippi State to put up 21 in the second, 14 in the third, and 7 in the fourth.

Relf had a great game completing 18 of 23 passes for 281 yards on the game with three touchdowns and one interception. He spread the ball out very well, with no receiving catching more than four balls in the game and all of them having less than 80 yards on the game. Ballard helped Relf to secure the victory, rushing the ball 20 times for 76 yards and three touchdowns. His longest run was only eight yards but his downhill, hard, running style made him a popular option for the team when they were looking to control the clock.

Meanwhile, Robinson’s two touchdowns came in the first quarter as he completed 27 of 41 for 254 yards and two touchdowns on the day. He also spread the ball out quite a bit, but Roundtree was the favorite receiver with nine catches for 53 yards and a touchdown.

All in all, it started out as an interesting game but quickly got out of hand and Michigan was unable to keep up with the constant attack that Mississippi State threw at them. Michigan didn’t play so bad offensively, but defensively they were unable to slow them down. Michigan remained in the game through the first quarter but things quickly got out of hand in the second quarter of the game.

It will be interesting to see what happens to Rich Rodriguez. He is considered to be one of hte smartest coaches in the NCAA because of his time at Virginia Tech but he is working with a different set of talent here that was ultimately unable to institute a great spread attack for the Wolverines and was force dto change his game plans as a result of the lack of his talent.