Hoke Gives Them the Hook

Today is the big day!  What the majority of this country has been waiting all summer for.  The return on college football!  It's not really the start because there have been some games played earlier this week, but most games are being played today.  The game I am interested in, Michigan/Alabama, is on national television tonight.  I would love to see Michigan win, but in my head I think Bama will.  They won the national championship last year and also won back in 2009.  They are quite the powerhouse right now. 

The thing that everyone is talking about in this game is the suspension of two Michigan players.  One was arrested for drunk driving and arraigned in August for it.  The other is accused of breaking into a dorm room and stealing a lap top.  His court date is set for later this month.  One, Fitzgerald Toussaint, was the second leading rusher on last year's team.  The other, Frank Clark, is a backup defensive end.  Obviously the big impact is Toussaint's suspension.  It's a little difficult to try and replace a one thousand yard rusher, even for just one game.  Yes, you have Robinson who is the leading rusher on last year's team, but after him the next guy last year ran for just about three hundred yards. 

This is a big deal because it's going to be their toughest game of the year.  Forget Michigan State and Ohio State, this is THE GAME of the year for them.  Time for Michigan to step up and show that they can compete with the big schools of the SEC.  Everyone from the coaching staff to the random fan sitting in an apartment in Minnesota knows this, so why suspend the players for this game?  Why not two weeks from now when the University of Massachusetts comes to Ann Arbor?  Or next week when they play Air Force?  I'm not saying that those games are going to be cake walks, but the impact of the missing players won't be felt as much as it will be against Alabama.  So why not?  Because it would send the wrong message.  Last year, I wrote about Notre Dame and the mishandling of one of their star players.  Everyone in their right mind knew that situation and suspension was a joke. 

Suspending these two players for this game sends the message that no one is above the program.  Just because you play football at the University of Michigan doesn't mean you can break the law.  Hopefully this works.  Brady Hoke has sent a clear message that if you cross the line, you pay the consequences regardless of who they are playing on Saturday.  He seems to be someone that will hold true to his word, I just hope that if this situation comes up a couple of weeks before the Ohio State game he will keep to his word.  I think he will, he's a true Michigan Man.  I hope that it won't come down to needing to make that decision though.  I hope that this message is the only one that Hoke needs to send.  I hope that this can bring some true integrity back to college football.  





Hope can be a dangerous thing.