This and That

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

-Went to the Michigan/Iowa game last night. It was a typical Amaker loss. They came out with a lot of defensive intensity and built a solid lead on hustle, some fast breaks and some good one-on-one play. Iowa made some adjustments after going down by 14. Michigan’s top defender, Brent Petway, went out of the game with an uncertain injury. Iowa then went on a 20-1 run as Michigan went scoreless for over 8 minutes. By the time they woke up, Iowa was up by seven with five minutes to go. A couple of key turnovers and fouls down the stretch sealed the deal, and they suffered a tournament-shattering loss. AD Bill Martin was at the game. One can only hope that he is reaching the same conclusion that many of us are reaching: we need a new coach.
-There’s a lot to dislike about the hype leading up to the Super Bowl, but one of the things I like is how college football fans from every section of the country can all claim a little piece of the game each. For us up here, its good to see Cato June and Marlin Jackson of the Colts get their shot at a ring.
-Once again, MgoBlog has nailed it, with an article about how coaches salaries are affecting college football. Our readers in SEC country will appreciate the new nickname for Nick $aban he came up with.
-After losing four of the last six, perhaps Bruce Pearl should spend more time coaching and less time painting his body for Lady Vols games.
-A lot was made recently up here about a slight alteration made in Lloyd Carr’s contract for 2007. His most recent contract was signed in 2005, and it called for $300,000 to be put aside in a separate account to be given to Carr if he remained Michigan’s head coach on July 1, 2007. The alteration made in late December calls for Carr to get an additional $300,000 if he is still employed (in any capacity)by the university on July 1, 2008. The assumption that everyone here seemed to make was that Carr was going to retire or announce that 2007 was his last at some point. I’m not so sure that’s what’s going on here. It’s quite possible that this is just an extension of the prior terms.
-So with the Carr contract news, and the basketball struggles, the Michigan message boards are awash in new coach talk in both major sports. Imagine how stressed the Bill Martin will be if he has to replace both coaches in the same season.
-Football recruiting things are getting crazy up here. I try not to get sucked into all the angst on message boards, but its hard not to read about it when there is nothing to but sit and wait for the basketball team to make their annual NIT run.
-I know I’m a week late with this, but the Duke/Clemson thing was a travesty, if you can use such strong language for a game. I don’t understand why the league couldn’t order the teams to replay the last play when they realized the officials had made a mistake. In the coaching I do, we have a rule in our state league that a judge’s bad decision cannot affect an outcome. If we find a judge has ruled wrongly, even after the match is finished, we will change the ruling and have the players replay the last game. Why couldn’t the ACC order the two teams back to Cameron the next day to replay the last 3 or so seconds?
-I like Tony Dungy’s suggestion to play the Super Bowl in Fort Wayne, Indiana, halfway between the two cities. I believe that football was meant to be played in the snow.