Defense?!? We don't need no stinkin' defense!

I was lucky on Saturday in that I didn't watch most of our game in Bloomington live. Due to my son's soccer game starting at 3:45, I got a few updates during the first half, saw a little bit of the start of the second half at home, and then watched the final drive at a Pizza Hut surrounded by a bunch of hungry eight year-olds. Of course I recorded the game and was able to watch it later on in the evening. I could fast forward through much of the game when we were on defense. The funny thing is that it took me longer to fast forward through the Hoosiers 98 offensive plays than it did to watch Michigan's offensive plays twice.

The most interesting thing about the game, was that I think both coaching staffs came into the game thinking they couldn't stop the other team on offense. Indiana decided that they were going to be aggressive on defense, hoping to get some big negative plays and or turnovers. They slanted their d-line a lot, had their linebackers key on Denard, and occasionally bringing a safety up to the line. That resulted in a lot of single coverage on wide receivers, and no deep run support, which led to a lot of long plays on Michigan's part. The Michigan coaches, on the other hand, decided to play soft coverage (for the most part), hoping that by forcing the Hoosiers to dink and dunk their way down the field, they would eventually make a mistake. For the most part, Indiana did not make mistakes and held the ball for an impossibly long time. In the end, neither defense did anything to suggest that they will be anything other than putrid this year.

In that sense, I think this game probably reinforced most people's ideas of what Michigan's team will be this year. Those that were convinced that this year is just like last year will point to the 500 yards passing allowed against a traditional doormat of the league and proclaim that the tougher teams in the league will run up the score. Those that see this as a new year point to a second straight road win and the continual video-game like stats of Denard Robinson as proof that even when our defense is the dregs, we can still outscore anyone. I think that both viewpoints are valid. This is probably the worst defense in the big ten, and despite its youth, I'm not sure it will make any quantum leaps this year. At the same time there's a real chance that this is the best offense in the league. Everyone talks about Denard's obvious abilities, but the offensive line is monster, the TEs are good blockers, and the receiving corps might be the best in the league, both in receiving and in blocking. What this all means is that we are likely to see more shootout, last team with the ball wins type games.

Other random thoughts:
-One thing that will help our defense is the inherent conservatism in a lot of coaches in the league--Tressel, Ferentz, Paterno, and to a lesser extent Lt. Dan and the Madison Meathead are all "run or die trying" coaches. Our run defense is not stellar by any stretch of the imagination, but our pass defense is so porus that any time spent trying to establish the run is a wasted opportunity to beat our corners deep, or catch one of our linebackers trying to cover a TE. One or two wasted opportunities might be all our offense needs to win a game.
-I don't think the all-out blitzing, throw the kitchen sink at them approach will work with this defense, but I would like to see us disguise our coverages or vary things up a little bit. Playing 20 yards off the receivers every play seems like its asking to get picked apart. Throw in an occasional four man line, or a safety blitz. I noticed they played Mike Martin at DE a little against Indiana. Maybe moving him around some more, or bringing in other big bodies (Patterson, Will Campbell) on run downs will help against the caveman offenses.
-Having Brandon Herron back this week will help the pass rush, because it will allow us to move Craig Roh to his more natural position, DE on passing downs. It will also be good to get Carvin Johnson back, because I think he may be a little more physical than Thomas Gordon, although Gordan hasn't played that badly
- I don't know why LSU fans are complaining about Les Miles. They all want to go back to the days when they had a handsome, well dressed coach who always seemed to be in full control. But who's to say that if they got rid of Miles they wouldn't end up with another coach like the guy who came before the guy they're all pinning for. Maybe the norm for LSU coaches is not Nick Saban, but rather Gerry Dinardo. At least Les keeps the games interesting, and his press conferences are certainly more entertaining that anything Dinardo does on the Big Ten network.
-Lane Kiffin is an idiot. Up two with Washington driving, already in FG range with two minutes left, he decides not to use any of his three timeouts to give his offense time to respond, instead choosing to use two of them to ice the Washington kicker Eric Folk (who beat SC last year with a late FG) before his 32 yard attempt. Rats are gonna start jumping off that ship soon, if they haven't already.
-Gambler's Lament-Another exhibit why gambling on college sports is bad for your health was the Northwestern/Minnesota game. In our weekly College Pick'em pool (no money, just bragging rights), I had the Wildcats -5.5 @ Minnesota. Late in the game, with Minnesota leading 28-20, i flipped over to another game, figuring I was gonna lose this one. I flipped back a few minutes later to find that not only had Northwestern scored a TD, they'd missed the two point conversion, gotten the ball back and kicked a field goal. Now they were leading 29-28 and Minnesota had the ball with under a minute left. This game was toast for me, NU wasn't going to cover. But with just over 30 seconds left, with no timeouts left, Minnesota's QB threw it right to a Northwestern LB in the flat who broke into the clear and headed toward a pick six. Just about the time I jumped out of my seat, excited that I might actually get this pick right, the Wildcat linebacker realized where he was, realized that they didn't need to score and slide to the ground at about the 30. Good thing I didn't have any money on the game, or I might have been really pissed.
-More Golden rankings stuff later this week, and maybe if I find the time a post about the upcoming game with little brother.

Thanksgiving weekend games

-If I had a Heisman vote, it would go to Colt McCoy after his performance against A&M. Although some of that sentiment is based on his whole career. I can see the arguments for Gerhardt from Stanford, Spiller from Clemson, and of course, Tebow. I wasn't that impressed by Ingram.
-Speaking of Tebow, I'll be more than happy to see him go. He's clearly a great player and as an impartial observer in most Florida games, he is exciting to watch. But the cult of personality that has grown around him is quite sickening, frankly, especially where religion is concerned. I've always believed that religion and sports shouldn't be mixed. God didn't help either team win, and players who believe that are either fools, or think we are foolish. The fact that Tebow goes on missions, or puts a bible quote on his eye black doesn't make him a better football player, or even a better person, it just makes him a more devout christian. Would he be any less of a football player if he knelt down, pointing towards Mecca and prayed to Allah four times a day? i wish him all the luck in the NFL (or CFL), but I'll be happy if I can watch a Florida game with out some announcer going on about St. Tebow the saviour of Gainsville.
-Nice bounce back win for LSU. Good to see that Miles will keep his job for another year Their loss at Mississippi was quite embarrassing, and it's good that it won't really impact their season too much. Golden had a pretty good breakdown of all the game management mistakes in that game. I just don't understand how coaches (and it's not just Miles) who make millions of dollars can't completely master something that a majority of the fans can figure out. Shouldn't you assign some graduate assistant to watch time and tell the head coach when it's time to call a time out?
-Sad to see Chuckles out at ND. He was always good for a laugh, and there was a certain comfort in knowing that no matter how well he recruited the likely hood of them being a really good team was slim.
-I don't have much sympathy for Bobby Bowden. I know people think he should have been allowed to pick his own exit, instead of being forced out. But Bowden created a culture at FSU that the only thing that mattered was winning football games. Nothing else, academic scandal, criminal charges, or loyalty to the university matters as much as winning. The fact that mercenary attitude came back to bit Dagummit in the ass shouldn't surprise anyone.
-If the reports of 10-15 MSU players being involved in the post football bust beat down of frat boys turn out to be true, Dantonio should turn down the bowl bid. When nearly 20% of your team decides to don ski masks and start a brawl moments after gathering with coaches, families and supporters of the team to celebrate the team's accomplishments, that's a sign of an overall problem with the program. Because if 15 team members went to the brawl, you know that there were many more that knew about it and didn't do enough to stop it. The fact that it happened right after the banquet show that these players have little respect for the coaches. The whole incident is a giant "fuck you" to Dantonio and his coaching staff. -- "Thanks for the great season coach, now we are going to go do something that will embarrass you and the program and goes against everything you've been trying to teach us this past year" Of course, one could argue that Dantonio's reinstating Geln Winston to the team fresh out of jail because he was worried about his depth at RB sent the message that winning on the field was the only thing that mattered. If Dantonio wants to change that message, he should cancel the bowl trip. His alma mater and Clemson did that a number of years ago after a particularly ugly post-game brawl.

While You Were Away

This post is mainly for my dad, who unlike the rest of us, has a life, and doesn't obsessively check the blogs, message boards and RSS feeds for news everyday of the off-season.

Michigan has had a pretty active off-season, perhaps the most eventful in 40+ years. A little synopsis for you. Please take notes as there will be a quiz before you enter the stadium for the first time this year.

Lloyd Carr retired the Monday after the OSU game. Said most of the usual retirement press conference stuff (had a great time, will miss lots of people, no opinion on who the next coach is, trusts Bill Martin to get it right, etc). The coach search was a wild ride of rumors, non-denial denials, plane tracking, and all out meltdowns on various message boards. At one time or another, the following coaches were rumored to be coming here: Les Miles (2 or 3 different rumors), Kirk Ferentz, Greg Schiano, & Jim Grobe. Finally, when it looked like all hope was lost, Rich Rodriguez was announced as the new coach. He dismissed all of the prior assistant coaches, hiring only RB coach Fred Jackson back. He brought a number of his coaches from West Virginia with him, and hired a new LB coach and defensive coordinator.


People in West Virginia were not happy that Rodriguez would leave his alma mater to come here. The University sued Rodriguez shortly after he left to collect his $4 million buyout. Rodriguez vowed to fight it. A six battle ensued, which included a lot of name calling, some silly posturing, and eventually ended up with Rodriguez paying WVU $1.5 million over two years, and the UofM paying $2.5 million. Some people in the local media saw this settlement as indicative of a character flaw on Rodriguez's part.


A number of players left the team after the bowl game. Receivers Mario Manningham and Adrian Arrington declared for the NFL and were drafted. QB Ryan Mallet transferred to his home state of Arkansas, stating that he didn't feel that he was a good fit for Rodriguez's new spread offense. Rumor around the blogs was that he might have transferred even if Lloyd had stayed. Offensive lineman Justin Boren, who started 12 games at center and guard last year and is the son of former linebacker Mike Boren, announced he was leaving after the first day of spring practice, stating that he felt that the "family values" of Michigan were eroding under the new staff. He subsequently enrolled at Ohio State, along with his younger brother Zach, who was offered a scholarship there only after Justin transferred. Despite comments from former players, like Desmond, who supported Rodriguez and cited rumors that Boren left because he wasn't guaranteed his starting spot back, some people in the local media saw this as indicative of a character flaw on Rodriguez's part.


Recruiting went well. The Wolverines received commitments from nine players after Rodriguez took over, including a number of players who committed on or right before signing day. A couple of players actually decommitted from other schools to commit to Michigan. This prompted a tirade from Purdue coach Joe Tiller, where he chastised Rodriguez for breaking a "Gentleman's Agreement" between Big Ten coaches not to recruit players who have publicly committed to other Big Ten schools. Tiller referred to Rodriguez as a snake-oil salesman in a wizard hat. Some people in the local media saw this as a character flaw on Rodriguez's part, even though recent history shows that just about every big ten schools has poached recruits from other big ten schools in a similar manner.


Rodriguez brought with him Mike Barwis, the strength and conditioning coach at WVU. After getting a big upgrade to the weight room facilities, Barwis has proceeded to totally revamp the strength and conditioning program, and has become somewhat of a folk hero among the Michigan blogosphere. Depending on which urban legends you choose to believe, he owns a couple of wolves for pets, he used to be an mixed martial arts participant, has never had a player miss an entire season due to injury, and will turn mere mortals into superhuman football machines. He has gotten rave reviews from all of the current players, a whole host of former players now playing in the NFL, both from here and West Virginia, who came to Ann Arbor this summer to work out with him. The hype about him got so deep at one point that MSU had to put out a story about their S&C guys, and how they were just as good as Barwis.


In March, the Ann Arbor News unvailed a huge four part story about Academics and Athletics at Michigan. The articles claimed, among other things, that the athletic department steered kids to certain easier majors (general studies), certain professors who were friendly to the AD, and encouraged independent study programs, and athletes were admitted to school who normally wouldn't go to college. The University of course quickly refuted the report's claims. The reaction from the national media was was one of indifference. When I saw Golden in April, he wondered why this was even a story. This is just standard operating procedure at Division I schools.


Our stadium is undergoing some significant upgrades. Despite some initial skepticism, most reaction seems to be positive. The AD has been warning people to arrive to games earlier, however, do to longer lines to enter the stadium. Construction of the $250 million project is due to be completed prior to the 2010 season. Also under construction is a new practice facility.


After signing a multi-million dollar in July 07, Adidas introduced the new Michigan jerseys. The home jersey remains virtually the same as the last Nike jersey, with the swoosh replaced with the three lines. The road jersey contains large yellow stripes along the sides that has not been warmly received.


So there you have it. Despite all the negativity from the main stream media and national pundits, the Michigan blogosphere seems somewhat upbeat about there chances, with predictions centering around 8-4 or 7-5, with promises of death and destruction for Michigan's enemies in 2009 and beyond.

Geaux Tigers!!

Lots of talk today on sports radio about who Michigan fans should root for in tonights game.
The reasons why I am rooting for LSU tonight
1)Les Miles is a Michigan man, I will always root for him, regardless of whatever Lloyd Carr might think of him.
2)I have more friends in Louisiana than I do in Ohio.
3)I love Gary Crowton's offensive innovation
4)I am hoping for some sort of Les Miles trick play like this beautiful fake field goal from earlier this year.
5)Jim Tressel and Ohio State is the focus of evil in the modern world. For the sake of truth, justice, and common decency, I can't root for them.

This and that

Some assorted thoughts that I've been holding on to:
-Although I was kinda rooting for Central Michigan to pull off the upset over Purdue, I am glad to see the Boilers win, as it could be the only win that the Big Ten gets this bowl season. MSU, Michigan, and Illinois are huge underdogs, with Michigan and Illinois playing against top ten teams with top five talent. Ohio State and Penn State are playing virtual road games. Wisconsin is in a pick'em game, and who knows what to expect from Indiana after a 15 year bowl drought. Part of the problem for the Big Ten, apart from the travel issues (Big Ten teams always travel further than their opponents) is that Big Ten teams are often playing teams that are higher ranked in their conference. Wisconsin, 4th in the Big Ten plays the SEC runner-up Tennessee. #6 MSU plays ACC runner-up Boston College. I would like to see a revision of the bowl selection process that would rectify this problem, and would also vary the match-ups from year to year, so that teams don't go to the same bowls year in and year out. The six BCS conferences choose three bowls as the "second place" bowls (say, Capital One, Cotton, and Holiday), three as the third place bowls, three as the fourth place, etc. Each of the bowls in a particular group gets a chance to select any team in their particular slot. So for instance, the Capital One, Cotton, and Holiday would match-up the top non-BCS teams from the six BCS conferences. The Third place bowls would get the next choice, the fourth place the choice after that and so on.
-I wonder if Texas fans are more happy at their team's 7th straight 10 win season, or disappointed that they appear to underachieve once again. Looking back, there is no way they should have lost to Kansas State or Texas A&M. If they win those two, they could've been in New Orleans instead of San Diego. They are very young, and have a fairly easy schedule next year. They should make a serious push.
-Why the heck did Southern Miss can Jeff Bower? What more do they think their program should be? Bower gave them 17 years, 14 straight winning seasons, 119 wins, nine bowl games in the last ten years, three out of the four last conference championships. He is an alum who married a local beauty queen. He wasn't going anywhere, and he's gotten more out of that program than anyone else could reasonably expect. They're in freakin' Hattiesburg, do they really think there is a coach out there that can take them to the BCS? Within two years, if not sooner, they'll regret their decision.
-Speaking of traveling, the Wizard of Odds has an interesting post about the amount of miles travelled by college football teams for non-conference games in the last ten years (HT: EDSBS) While some of the results are too be expected, BCS conference teams travel less than BCS conference teams, eastern teams travel less than western teams, some of the results are surprising in their degree. We knew that SEC teams rarely traveled outside of the south, but we didn't realize it was so pronounced. In the last ten years Georgia has traveled a total of 358 miles for non-conference regular season games. Compare that to the 23 thousand miles logged by USC, or the 11 thousand Michigan has travelled. When you consider that 8 of the 10 least travelled teams are from the SEC, and only one team in the league, Alabama has averaged more than 1,000 miles a year, and you get some idea of why the SEC has accumulated the non-conference record it has. So the next time you hear someone ramble on about the superiority of the SEC, remind them that the average SEC team has traveled 350 miles per year to non conference games in the last decade, while Big Ten teams went almost 1,000 miles, while PAC Ten teams put in 1,500. And, of course, there's that whole home bowl game thing.
-Not to keep flogging a deceased equine, but I was very interested in the news that Les Miles called Rich Rodriguez to congratulate him on getting the Michigan job. According to Rich Rod's mother Miles thanked him for losing to Pitt but joked that the loss cost him his dream job. There's a little truth in all humor, right? How much do you want to bet that Miles would have given up the chance to coach in the championship game to come to Michigan? He really needs to stop thinking about the Michigan job, or he's going to get killed on the recruiting trail.
-Finally saw HBO's "The Rivalry" the other night. There are certainly some elements that are well done, but I had to agree with most of the criticism I heard from other people: it is definitely told more from the Ohio State perspective than the Michigan perspective; there should have been more about what Schembechler's passing meant to Michigan fans, than what it meant to Buckeye fans; there was no mention of Lloyd Carr, which is ridiculous; they could have included a lot more on Bob Ufer; they left out a number of interesting items from the ten year war, the buckeyes tearing down the M club banner, the Michigan fan dotting the "i", "Save Fuel, Burn Woody bumper stickers", etc. All in all a great show, but with a few tweaks could have been better.
-In all the hubub after the OSU game, Carr's retirement, etc, I forgot to send out an attaboy to our spartan brethern for their two game winning streak to end the season and their invite to the Champs Tangerine Micron PC Sports Bowl. After they lost to Michigan and Coach Dantonio got involved in a pissing match with Mike Hart, they had the look of a typical spartan team about to collapse down the stretch and blow their shot at the post season. But they pulled it together and beat two straight bowl teams to end the season on a winning streak for the first time in forever. Even if they get torched by BC in today's game, this has been a positive first season for Dantonio, and spartan fans should be very pleased with the progress. Now if he can just find a way to beat big brother ;-)

Viva La Revolution!!

After almost a month of stumbling, public rejections, message board panic attacks, and a weird mating dance with a certain SEC West coach, Sailor Bill Martin and his first mate Mary Sue Coleman managed to back their way into a top five coach, Rich Rodriguez of West Virginia.
-My initial reaction: shock, excitement and relief that the whole search process is finally over, and the new era of Michigan football can go forward. I can finally get some work done, because I don't have to check the message boards and blogs every fifteen minutes to see the latest rumor from "insiders" who were just as in the dark as we were. I'm still pinching myself to see if this is real. Rich Rod is a better coach than each of the guys we were rumored to have talked to previously. Outside of Stoops, Meyer, Carroll, and Tressel, he is probably the hottest coaching commodity out there. He is young, has extensive head coaching experience, and is know as on the great offensive innovators in coaching today. We were able to pry him away from his alma mater without paying him a ridiculous SEC-type salary ($2.4 / year).
-After listening to his press conference, there is no doubting that he is a complete 180 from the last 40 years. He is warm, personable, accessible to fans, and will keep press conferences light and funny. He seemed to indicate that there will be some open practices in the spring, something that Carr would never even consider. Perhaps there might even be a real spring game. Of course he brings an offense that will look totally different than Carr's tradition pro set. He has run both pass heavy and run heavy spread offenses in the past, and has said he will adept to the personnel here. The guess is that the offense will be more pass and less run the next couple of years, until they get decent running QB in here after Mallet graduates.
-It sounds like he will bringing a lot of his own assistants with him, which means favorite whipping boys Andy Moeller, Mike Debord and Mike Gittleson will probably be leaving.
-Despite my excitement at the hire, I do feel a little melancholy that it was not Les Miles. Although Miles is clearly not in Rich Rod's league as an offensive coach, his very strong emotional connection to Michigan would have been very special to watch. Whereas Rodriguez was very matter of fact in his press conference, saying he had to learn about Michigan's tradition, Miles would have had everyone in tears at his press conference. I feel like a high school kid who asks the prettiest girl in the school to the prom, figuring the worst she can do is say no. When she says yes, he is amazed and thrilled, but feels bad for his next door neighbor who he has know forever and had said she would go to the prom with him if he couldn't find a date.
-I do wonder where Les Miles goes from here. Clearly Miles wanted the job. The fan base and alumni wanted him. There were reports that he had tried to contact Bill Martin and Mary Sue Coleman over the weekend, looking for one more chance to plead his case. On the radio after the press conference, Detroit News writer, Angelique Chengelis, who is generally well connected to Lloyd Carr, said that she thought that the infamous meeting Miles had with Martin and Coleman consisted of Miles trying to convince them to offer him the job. She also stated that she didn't think he was ever going to be offered the job. Reading between the line, you can surmise that Lloyd Carr probably stood in the way of Miles and the job. So now, having been rejected by Michigan, Miles has to go back to LSU, knowing that he won't get another shot at the job, and knowing that his opponents in the SEC are whispering in every recruit's ear that Miles wanted to leave LSU, but that Michigan didn't want him. As competitive as the SEC is, that might be just enough for his program to get off track and end up 7-5 or 8-4, instead of 10-2 or 11-1.

-Over one hundred years ago, an offensive genius from a little town in West Virginia and turned a football program that was little more than an intermural program into the greatest tradtion in college football. Here's hoping that Rich Rod can be half as successful at Meeechingan as Coach Yost.

Bill Martin and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day

You just knew that this season wasn't going to go out with a whimper. The year that brought us the horror of Appalachian State, the bloodbath that was Oregon and the bone-numbing soul crusher against that team from down south gave us one more punch to the gut this weekend.
The day started with ESPN reporting that Miles to Michigan was a done deal and that he was bringing Georgia Tech's fabulous defensive coordinator Jon Tenuta with him. We were sky high. This was a brand new day for Michigan, one that would bring excitement to the program, while still embracing the traditions that we all love.
Almost immediately, came rumblings that it wasn't a done deal, and that in fact Miles had been working on an extension with LSU, and that terms had been finalized. LSU posted a notice on their web site that Miles was staying. We were crushed. How could this have happened when it appeared that all parties assumed he was gone.
A hastily called press conference was called where Les refuted the rumors that he had signed anything with Michigan, but didn't categorically deny that he was interested in the Michigan job. Some life perhaps. Again spirits rose a little bit.
But after the game, he confirmed that he was indeed staying at LSU. He sounded in his post game presser like someone who had been left at the alter. He talked of how he loved Michigan but couldn't go there. The ultimate blow. We had a great coach, a top ten coach who wanted to come home in the worst way, and we let him get away.
So how did this happen? My guess (and that's all it is, and probably all it will ever be), base on various internet rumors and stories:
-Michigan and Miles had been talking for weeks (through intermediaries, of course), talking about details, but neither side committing to anything (Michigan to hiring, Miles to taking the job)
-LSU came to Miles after Michigan asked for permission to speak with Miles on Thursday or Friday, knowing that Michigan wouldn't contact him until after the game. They offered him three contract extension options, one if he agreed before the game, one if they lost, and the last if they won.
-LSU's offer was substantially higher than what Michigan had been talking about (3.5mil / year versus 2.4 mil / year). Miles tried calling Michigan to try and get confirmation that he was their guy. For whatever reason, Michigan never called him. Some suggest it was money. Some suggest that Martin wasn't completely sold on Miles. Others think it was just gross incompetence on Martin's part.
-Miles, without any word from Michigan, realized that a bird in the hand is worth more than two in bush, took the LSU offer.
-Herbstreit's leak on Saturday morning didn't really affect the outcome at all, except to bring all the backroom dealings out in the light, and perhaps expedite the process.
-In talking to Miles' agent on Sunday, after all the drama, Martin will still only commit to Miles being "among our candidates."

-The anger among Michigan fans and alumni on message boards, blogs and around the water cooler is palpable. Miles was a very popular choice up here, and the idea that we lost him because we wouldn't pay even close to the market rate, because Lloyd Carr was exerting influence, or because Martin was simply outplayed by the LSU AD is infuriating to a lot of people, including yours truly. This guy was the perfect fit for the job, a continuation of Bo's tradition, while bringing experience and success from other BCS conferences. Instead we are going to end up with some retread or inexperienced coordinator. Even people who weren't completely sold on Miles are upset because of what this weekend's events clearly showed: We aren't playing by the same set of rules as the elite programs in the country. We are holding onto this outdated paradigm about how things "should" be done, and it is not only costing us games, it just cost us our best chance to modernize the program.

Even today there were rumors that Les Miles has not signed the much publicized contract extension, and is leaving the door open for Michigan to commit to him. I'm not getting my hopes up, because I know I will just be disappointed in the end.

Maybe I should move to Australia.

It's gonna git ya...

Ain't karma a bitch? All around college football this weekend, we saw it work it's little magic.
-In Lawrence Kansas, the Jayhawks scored as many points in one game against Nebraska (76) as the did in the entire decade of the 1970s (60) or the 1980s (76). In fact, until two years ago, Kansas hadn't scored more than 30 points against the Huskers since 1960, and now they done it three years in a row. It could have been a lot worse. The Jayhawks had 76 points with 10 minutes left to go in the game. They could have scored 100 if they were so inclined, and given their history with NU, no one would have faulted them. They scored Tds on 10 straight drives! Looks like the Big 12 north will come down to a season ending KU / Mizzou clash at Arrowhead in KC.
-In South Bend, Navy ended the longest continual losing streak in CFB history, beating the Irish for the first time since the Johnson administration. The most incredible thing about the game was that Notre Dame lost because of some amazingly stupid decisions on the part of Charlie Weis. On the first possession of the game, Notre Dame marched right down and scored. Navy promptly fumbled, giving ND great field position. After their drive stalled because of penalties, Charlie Weis called a fake FG on a 4th and 15 at the Navy 25. Of course it failed, and Navy went down the field to tie it up. Given that Navy is not a very good passing team, a 10-0 lead with all the momentum on the Irish side would have made it very hard on Navy. That call, while strange, was nothing compared with the doozy that was to follow. With the game tied with under two minutes to go on the Navy 25, Weis decided to go for it on 4th and 9 instead of kicking a go-ahead FG that would have forced the triple-option offense of the Midshipmen to go the length of the field (or most of it) with a little over a minute left to go. Instead Evan Sharpley got sacked, the game went to overtime, and the rest is history. The karma really comes in when you consider that when he was hired, Charlie Weis proclaimed his genius to all who would listen, and now they are losing games because of him not in spite of him. True to form, after the game they asked Weis why he didn't go for the late field goal, and he responded, "Why, so we can miss it?" He makes an absolutely indefensible decision and when questioned, he throws his players under the bus. It amazes me that none of the Notre Dame bloggers or media is calling for this guy's head, especially when so many of them wanted Bob Davie and Ty Willingham gone at the same point in their respective tenures, when they had almost exactly the same results. One blogger, let out a rather emotional tirade aimed at Weis, but took it down a few hours later. At any other place, this guy would be run out of town. Heck, in many places in the SEC, he'd have to have an armed guard with him at all times to keep the crazies away.
-I don't know if it was karma that led LSU over Team $aban, but I do like the fact that LSU's never say die attitude looks very much like a Michigan team. I've seen a lot of LSU games this year, and I am really starting to see Les Miles' Michigan roots.
-Finally, in East Lansing, a double dose of karma. For the MSU fans who had printed up their Appalachian State shirts, an inexplicable loss on the hardwood to division two Grand Valley State. And for Coach Dantonio and his "moment of silence" (after M's loss to Appalchian State, he joking asked for a moment of silence to open his post game comments), he got introduced to the rivalry with a come-from-ahead loss. That's not to say that Dantonio didn't do a great job, he did, I think he out coached Carr in many ways. He just learned that one of the constants of being a part of Spartan football is soul-crushing losses to arch-rivals.
-That being said, I think that State fans have a lot that they can be pleased about this game, despite the final outcome. For the most part they outplayed Michigan, and did a lot of things that bode well for the future. Of course, we've said that before, and I'm sure Spartan fans are not interested in moral victories when it comes to Michigan.
-I know they were just trying to protect their injured stars, but I really think that Carr and Debord blew it in the second quarter, but not opening up the offense a little more and trying to put the Spartans away early. I felt if they had gone ahead and scored to make it 21-3 before half, it might have killed all the fight in State.
-The Spartans will not be sad to see either Chad Henne or Mike Hart leave. In four games against MSU, Hart has 676 yards on 106 carries and 2TDs, Henne is 79-120, 880 yards and 14(!!) TDs. It is not a stretch to say they could be the most successful pair of opponents in MSU history.
-The big ten bowl situation is a mess, but I still think that if MSU wins one of their last two, at Purdue and hosting Penn State, there is no way the Motor City bowl will pass them up.

On lost teams, first games, and cajones of steel

-I couldn't help wondering as we left the game if we are going to get the two more wins we need to be bowl eligible. We looked sloppy and unfocused for a second straight game. Special teams breakdowns, missed tackles on defense, missed blocking assignments, fumbled snaps. This might be as undisciplined a team as Lloyd Carr has had. I really wonder if Lloyd Carr and the coaching staff has lost this team. That would certainly would explain the uninspired play and the numerous discipline problems (Manningham and Minor suspended for this game, Sears kicked off the team, the Fulmer Cup standings). On some level, the players may know that Carr is nearing the end of his career, and with the goal of getting back to last year's mountaintop gone, they have begun to drift a little in practice and during games. One can only hope that the combination of some senior leadership, the return of some injured starters and a string of challenging games ahead (minus Minnesota) can get them back on track.
-Stanford?!
-I felt a little better about our game next week when I watched some of the OSU-Purdue game. OSU is the best team in the league, but I expected they'd put up a little more of a fight. Purdue showed little if any running game, and Curtis Painter didn't show much mobility. Purdue runs a spread, but it's not the kind of spread that has hurt us. We have struggled against the spread option attack and in particular the zone read, where the QB and RB come together at the snap and the QB reads the defense and decided to either keep the ball or leave it in the RB's hands. I'm not saying Purdue won't move the ball on us, but I'm not as worried about an Oregon like beat-down.
-Wow, what a game down in Baton Rouge. Les Miles has cajones of steel. 5 for 5 on fourth down calls. He totally out coached the boy genius Urban Meyer. LSU, who had half an offense without any receivers who could catch the ball (Early can't return to soon), and who had real trouble slowing down the Florida offense early in the game, won the game on guts and the iron will of Mr. Miles. "What the mind can conceive..." and all that. The more I see of Les, the more I begin to like the idea that he might be our next coach.
-In fact how's this for a dream scenario: Lloyd announces his retirement right before the OSU game. The team goes out and knocks off the #2 Buckeyes and costs them a return trip to the National Championship, setting up a championship game between the top two candidates for the M job, Tedford and Miles.
-Seriously, Trojans.
-Florida at #14?!? Did any of these coaches watch the game in Baton Rouge? The Gators put up more of a fight than either South Carolina or Virginia Tech, both of whom are ranked ahead of them. Couple that with the fact that Tennessee, who they beat by three dozen earlier in the year just clobbered a ranked opponent by 21, and the Gators should be no lower than 10th. In fact, switching USC and UF might be just about right. I wonder if the Blogpoll will get it right.
-Notre Dame finally won a game, and nobody noticed.
-I bet there are SEC fans everywhere laughing their behinds off at the idea that Ron Zook could win a Big Ten championship. With games left against Minnesota, Northwestern, Iowa, and Ball State, they are looking at a potential 9 or 10 game season. Of course, given Mr. Zook's history, every surprising win is followed by an equally surprising loss and a couple of embarrassing off-campus incidents.
-Thanks to the BTN (F you Comcast), I have seen all of five minutes of MSU football this year (normally I see bits of pieces of just about every game), so I couldn't give you any elaborate thoughts on their loss to Northwestern, but everything I read after the fact makes it look like the more things change the more they stay the same in EL. Look for one more shocking win (please let it be in Columbus), and at least one more heart-wrenching loss.
-There were two good things about our game. The first was Mike Hart setting the record for most rushing yards by a Michigan back, and the almost two minute standing ovation he got when they announced it. As I've said before, highlights alone do not give you a full measure of what he has meant to this program in his four years. Without him, they easily could be under .500 in the last three years. We will miss him something fierce next year.
-This was the other good thing:

My five year old son attended his first game at Michigan Stadium. Yes he was more interested in the ice cream he got, playing with the binoculars, and making paper airplanes than the game, but he sang the fight song, gave us a hug and a high five when Michigan scored, and was constantly looking for "Mike" in every play (he heard us cheering for Mike Hart). All in all, a good first game. I look forward to many more.

We own... Penn State

As I was leaving the game Saturday, I saw a young Penn State fan, maybe 11 or 12, sitting with his dad on a brick wall outside the guys bathroom. The kid just looked crushed, like he was on the verge of tears. It was obvious that this was his first road game cheering on Penn State. I felt like saying something to the kid, telling him that everything would be ok, there would be other games, etc. Of course I didn't, because anything a guy wearing a Michigan jersey and baseball cap said at that moment would be taken as rubbing it in. I realized that this kid could now call himself a true Penn State fan. Watching Penn State lose a heart breaker in Ann Arbor has become a rite of passage for Nittany Lion fans.

This game had to look familiar to Penn State fans. Same sorta woulda, coulda, shoulda as the last two. The had plenty of opportunities (5 red zone trips resulting in 9 points), but were done in by turnovers, conservative play calling, poor quarterback play, and an inability to block Michigan's defensive line. The couldn't run the ball consistently, except for some draws in the second half. They didn't do a very good job getting the ball to their play makers, Derrick Williams and Jordan Norwood (3 catches each) in space, where they could take advantage of the poor tackling of the Michigan secondary. The didn't look for TE Andrew Quarless in the middle of the field, and didn't really challenge Michigan deep. It seemed to me that they don't trust QB Anthony Morelli or his arm, because they didn't give him many complicated reads.

The Michigan offense was only slightly better. They too missed a couple of scoring opportunities. At one point during the game, I commented like I felt that Michigan was dodging bullets. My friend who was with me pointed out that Michigan had missed a number of opportunities and it was more like both teams were dodging blanks. I thought given the circumstances (freshman QB, third string right guard), the play calling was acceptable. The offensive line was incredible. Mallet made a few more mistakes than the previous week, but also made a couple of great plays while scrambling that give us just a glimpse of what the future will be like (ah, that's what pocket presence looks like).

Hart was, well, magnificent. Let me set the scene for you. Penn State has just kicked a field goal to cut it 14-9. There is six minutes left in the game. We have the ball around our 40. The student section is chanting "Mike Hart, Mike Hart". Penn State has nine in the box. Everyone in the stadium knows where it's going, right behind #77 All-American left tackle Jake Long. Mallet might as well be shouting it out at the line of scrimmage: "Left 20. 77 Off-tackle. Hut hut." Hart gets the ball, avoids a D lineman at the line of scrimmage, jukes past a couple of linebackers four yards down field and then plows through the safety and a couple of other tacklers out to the first down. Later in the drive, he is injured on a second down carry. As he limps off the field, a murmur runs through the crowd. Penn State calls thier last time out. Hart limps back out on the field. The crowd goes crazy. His block of the blitzing linebacker gives Mallet just enough time to hit a receiver just beyond the first down marker. Given the way the season started, I know that Hart will likely not be in the Heisman race. But he deserves to be. Before the season is over, he will be the best running back in the history of Michigan in just about every statistical category, and he is certainly the best I've ever seen.

Thoughts on other games
This was cool:

I'm still not convinced that Les Miles will be offered the job here, but if he does end up here, I hope he brings Gary Crowton with him.
-The UCLA / Washington game was something else, one of those typical Pac 10 wide open affairs. At one point, in the span of 5 minutes, Washington scored a TD, UCLA lost their second string QB (who was playing in place of the injured Ben Olson) and had to sub in a walk on freshman, UCLA busted an 80 yard run, Washington hit a 70 yard pass to a slot receiver, and then UCLA returned the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown. Can't they find a way to put those games on earlier, so more of us can see them?
-I wonder how long after the cheering subsided for Notre Dame's first offensive TD of the year, did people in the stadium realize, "We're still going to lose this game and go 0-4"?
-How in the world did Louisville lose to Syracuse?!? Syracuse is awful, they've only scored over 20 points against a BCS opponent once in Greg Robinson's tenure there. Steve Kragthorpe might have a pretty short stay there if he's not careful.

Full Golden Rankings coming up later this week.

Waking up the Echos...

of Gerry Faust that is!

Saturday was a extremely delightful day at the Big House. From the very first play of the game, just about everything that could go wrong of Notre Dame did, and just about anything that could go right for Michigan did.

A few observations on the Michigan performance:
-The defensive play calling was excellent. It was blitz heavy, they disguised their coverages, and it didn't feature any instances of Johnny Sears one-on-one on a much faster receiver.
-Although Slocum, and Mouton didn't play, Brandon Graham did and was outstanding with 3 1/2 sacks. His presence allowed Shawn Crable to move back to his natural LB position, and was also excellent with 4 TFLs.
-The tackling was one thousand times better. There was probably fewer missed tackles in this game than there was in about six or seven individual plays in the Oregon debacle.
-A lot of my hopes for the offense revolved around mixing up the play calling, keeping the defense honest. They didn't do much of that, because they didn't need to. What's the point of play action pass when they can't stop the run even when we telegraph the play.
-I was pleased with Mallet's performance, and I hope they give him a few more opportunities to throw next week, as I anticipate the Penn State to be a little tougher to run on.
-What can you say about Mike Hart. I heard one of the talking heads on Gameday refer to McFadden of Arkansas as the best pound for pound player in the country. He's not. He'd have to be one and a half times better to beat our Hart. He is a vision, power, and a refusal to be tackled. He must have broken 50 tackles in 35 carries yesterday. He moved into third on the all time rushing list at Michigan, he'll be number one before the season is over. The most unfortunate thing about our season opening losses is that he won't be in the Heisman hunt, and he's easily the most valuable player in the country.

I'm not sure how much the performance means for next week or the rest of the season, because the team they beat is quite possibly the worst team I've seen in Michigan Stadium in 25+ years of games. Their offensive and defensive lines have the consistency of jello. There were a number of times when every single O-lineman was beat by the man they were blocking. The d-lineman knew Hart was running left behind Long on four out of every five plays and still couldn't stop them. Their WRs have little to no speed. Their DBs were burned deep a couple of times, but chose to shove the Michigan WRs for the PI. Jimmy Clausen looked unimpressive, but its hard to tell how much was his fault. He definitely has a cannon, but it seems to me a couple of times he held onto the ball too long trying to make a big play. I don't think they have one player on their team that would start for Michigan. I was kinda shocked at just how bad they are. Considering that Notre Dame fired Ty Willingham after three seasons, despite him exceeding expectations off the field, and Weis' recent struggles. he should be feeling some heat if things don't improve soon. With USC, UCLA, BC, MSU, Purdue, MSU still to come, the likelihood of them making a bowl is slim to none. Heck they might have trouble wining even four game.

Some other observations from yesterday's games:
-Yikes, the big ten is putrid. Iowa lost to Iowa State who had shown nothing in losses to Kent State and Northern Iowa. Kirk Ferentz is officially off my wish list.
-How much does Minnesota miss Glen Mason? OT games against Bowling Green (loss), Miami (win) and a not as close as it looked loss to Florida Atlantic show that maybe Tim Brewster, who had never been a head coach or coordinator of anything wasn't ready for the job. Seriously, the Florida Atlantic might be the only FBS non conference win the Sun Belt gets this year. Too bad they can't play Syracuse.
-Northwestern's loss to Duke might be the worst of all the losses. Duke has lost 22 straight games. The last time they beat an FBS team it was still known as I-A and the president's approval rating was above 40%.
-You could hear the cursing from the Plains all the way up here when Alabama pulled out the win over Arkansas. The tide (pun intended) has already turned in that rivalry and we're not even out of September.
-The Florida/ LSU is starting to look like a a national semi-final game, unless Alabama, South Carolina or Georgia can throw a wrench into it. The other spot looks like USC's to lose.
-Florida State has lost almost all of the mojo, sex appeal, pizazz, whatever you want to call it, that they used to have in their 14 year run of top 5 finishes. Their game against CU in Boulder was an absolute snooze-fest.

Golden cites another article from a New Orleans paper talking about Miles to Michigan. This one includes a quote from Jim Carty of the AA News talking about Miles' desire to come back to Michigan. That quote from Carty is a little out of date, and Golden might want to check out a recent blog entry from Carty chastising the NO papers for the Miles to Michigan thing.
Golden has also published his conference standings from the Golden rankings for the first time this year. I will post the standings from my modified Golden rankings (including all Division One teams) later in the week, along with a brief explanation of the differences between our two rankings.

Les Miles and more defense

As our dear friend Golden mentioned a few days ago, and as I have mentioned here before, I don't think that Les Miles to Michigan is the slam dunk everyone seems to think it is. Internet rumors are shaky at best, but often times if you see similar type things being hinted at in different places, there is some measure (albeit a small one at times) of truth that can be taken from them(i.e. the old smoke fire thing). The stories being hinted at concerning LSU current football coach revolve around personal and professional transgressions when he was on the staff here at Michigan. Whether the stories are true or not isn't as important as the impression that there are some people at the University who might not want to bring him back. His two biggest selling points as a potential UofM coach are his habit of hiring good assistants and his familiarity with the school. If there are people who don't want him here, that cancels out one of his two assets.

Miles has to be careful here that he doesn't get Glen Masoned. When the OSU job was open before Tressel was hired, Mason made no secret about his desire to return to his alma mater to coach. When the job went to Tressel, Mason lost a lot of credibility at Minnesota. You can bet right now that Saban, Meyer, and other coaches are contacting every one of the LSU's recruits and telling them Miles is as good as gone.

The bottom line, I think, is that the start of the season has given the AD, Bill Martin (who wasn't here when Miles was here) more freedom to hire whomever he feels is the best candidate, regardless of their connections to the university. I don't think Miles will be that candidate unless they miss on some other choices.