The Beginning

June 19, 2008 Note: This is a post that originally appeared on Golden's Football Rankings and is reproduced here for posterity.

Not everything here will be directly related to the University of Michigan, but as a lifelong resident of Ann Arbor, an alumnus of the University, and a 25-year season ticket holder, it is a subject near and dear to my heart.

-Saturday’s game against Northwestern was as dull as the score suggested. Lloyd Carr is not one who believes in wasting points. If he could guarantee the other team could only score 3 points a game, he would never try to score more than 4. This year’s defense is about as close as you get to a guarantee, so there wasn’t much in the way of fireworks. I think they decided they were going to work on the running game only, despite what defense the Mildcats were in. With their top receiver, two top tight ends, and starting right tackle out, and with weather that was inhospitable at best, they didn’t run more than half a dozen different plays.
-The defense, meanwhile was as nasty as the weather. Hint to opposing coaches: don’t show your quarterbacks the film, they may come down with a 24 hour flu. For the second straight week, the starting QB from the previous week’s opposition missed their next game after Michigan (Morelli of Penn State last week, Tate of Iowa this week). This defense is the most explosive we’ve had in the 25 years I been watching UofM football
-I think it is pretty obvious that an undefeated West Virginia or Louisville makes the national championship game over any number of one loss teams. But what if the undefeated team from the Big East is Rutgers? Would a one loss team from the SEC, even one that doesn’t make the championship game or play a ranked team on the road (hello, Auburn) beat out a Rutgers team that closes its season at West Virgnia?
-I don’t think USC is out of the championship race. If they run the table and the Big East has no undefeated teams, I could easily see them beating out any team from the SEC, especially if Arkansas wins the league title.
-John L. Smith is not done at MSU. At least not yet. Not until November 7. November 7?!? What does election day have to do with Spartan football? Plenty when you consider that former MSU player, coach, and AD George Perles is a Democratic candidate for the MSU Board of Trustees. If he gets elected, you can rest assure that he, along with allies that he still has on the board will give Smith his walking papers (and maybe AD Ron Mason as well) and will get one of their cronies, like Eagles asst coach Pat Shurmer, in place.
-Are Miami and FSU going to make bowl games this year? FSU is 4-4 with home games left against Wake, Virginia, Western Michigan, and Florida. The game with the Gators looks like a loss, Wake and Virginia both beat teams that the ‘Noles lost to, and even Western is probably better than Troy, which almost won in Doak Campbell. Miami, meanwhile is 5-3, but has a tougher schedule with Virginia Tech and BC in the Orange Bowl, and trips to Maryland and Virginia. -So the big news on Michigan message boards prior to the game was a report by a Fox affiliate out of Columbus that the Columbus police department was issuing an arrest warrant for Michigan linebacker Prescott Burgess. His crime? Theft of some CDs from a store that has since gone out of business when he was 14. The report turned out to be false, as the Columbus PD has no plans to arrest any members of the Michigan team. But the fact that TV station would report, and that many Michigan fans took it seriously, at least for a little while, should tell you something about the nature of this rivalry. Any Michigan fan who has been to the Snakepit knows that you take your life in your own hands when you go there wearing the maize and blue.