Some Thanksgiving Thoughts

I don't have much to say about the Wisconsin game last week that I didn't already say about the Iowa game or the MSU game. It was the same damn game. Offense makes key mistakes early and doesn't get started until its too late. No defense whatsoever, with Wisconsin basically naming its score without really using half of its offense. Special teams were awful (although I was glad to see we finally started attempting some onside kicks, we should do that after every TD against OSU), there were questionable coaching decisions (why is Gallon still returning kicks?), and once again we looked like we don't belong on the same field as an upper echelon Big Ten team. I don't see how this gets better anytime soon.
-Despite the clusterfuck that was the field arrangement at Wrigley Field (make it, take it? Did the dlineman have to count to five apple?) I liked the game. The crowd was into the game and close to the action, being close to an EL station really seeemed to help the atmosphere. I hope they figure out the field configuration and make it an annual event.
-Terell Pryor might be the most talented player in the conferense, but he is probably one of the dumbest. His comments about Herbstriet being "a fake buckeye" on tweeter might be as stupid as his "everybody murders" quote from earlier this year. No one has done as much to promote the OSU program in the last ten years as Herbstreit, all the while maintaining his "impartiality". I'm guessing that Pryor will be about as successful in the NFL as another former buckeye star, Maurice Clarett.
-I'm not exactly a Nebraska fan, but I thought they got pretty screwed at Texas A&M on saturday. 17-3 penalty margin? Five personal fouls including a pretty weak roughing the passer call that kept alive A&M's winning drive? Right.
-Another year, another Virginia Tech appearance in the ACC championship game. Is there another team that has dominated their league so thoroughly and so quietlythe last five plus years?
-I know it's "just Fresno", but I found Boise's 51-0 win on Friday impressive. Fresno had been averaging almost 35 points a game (they scored 38 at Ole Miss) and Boise completely shut them down. I'm still hoping for Auburn and Oregon losses to give us a Boise / TCU national championship game.
-OSU President Gordon Gee's comments about Boise and TCU were sickening. Gee has proven in the past that he's not exactly a football expert. In 1992 he called a 13-13 tie between OSU and Michigan "the greatest victory in OSU history". While at Vanderbilt, he eliminated the athletic department and combined it with the department of student affairs. So why is this confirmed football neophyte speaking out about the worthiness of Boise and TCU's schedule? He's trying to protect his school's assets. He, like all the presidents of the power conferences, realizes that he needs to do whatever he can to protect the status quo and the economic inequity in the sport. Why are BCS conference presidents so opposed to a playoff that many say would bring in more money than the BCS? Because that money would spread out among all 11 conferences, and the power conferences would lose their huge monied advantages.
-Bowl eligibility watch: 35 bowl games, 70 teams needed to fill slots. 65 teams currently have six or more wins. 12 other teams are 5-6 or 5-5. 4 teams are 4-6 with two games remaining.

Stop me if you've heard this one before

Michigan comes out fired up, makes a defensive stop or two and takes the lead. Opponent comes right back down the field and scores and then continues to score throughout the second and third quarter. Michigan scores in the fourth quarter, but its too little to late. Michigan offense gains lots of yards, but is undone by turnovers. Michigan defense looks good in spots, but fails to make the stop at the key moments. Yes, this game looked a lot like the MSU game, and further reinforces what we have thought for several weeks now -- this team is not quite ready for prime time. The defense is still far too weak to be counted on to stop any team that is trying to score. Poor positioning, poor tackling, or just poor recognition - they simply don't have enough talent to be successful. The offense has also shown its youth in the last two weeks with costly turnovers, ridiculous penalties and an inability to make clutch plays. And special teams (other than punting) is still a weight on the offense.
Still, there were some positives:
-Tate's play (other than the two interceptions) was encouraging, and opens up the possibility of bringing him in future games as a change of pace when Denard is struggling.
-Kenny Demens looked better than horrible in place of Obi Ezeh. Hopefully his play against Iowa effectively ended Ezeh's playing time for the year.
-522 yards is a lot of yards to gain on a top ten defense. It does lend some credence that if (and that's a big if) turnovers can be cut down, this offense can duplicate some of their early season domination.
-The defensive and offensive lines played decently considering that David Molk and Mike Martin missed most of the game.
-The receivers looked good, especially in the fourth quarter. I think it's clear that most of them react better to Tate as a passer than Denard.
-Zoltan, Jr!
-Crowd was really into the game, especially during the mini-comeback in the fourth quarter. After the game, Iowa players reported troubles hearing audibles.

Of course, watching them shoot themselves in the foot for the second straight week has led to a lot of grumbling about Rich Rod and a lot of discussion about his future here. Towards the end of the game, there were chants of "We want Harbaugh" audible in the sections near us. Personally, I'm not ready to kick him to the curb just yet. There are still five games to be played, and there have been enough positive signs to suggest that a winning conference record is not far fetched. Unlikely, maybe, but not impossible. So I will reserve final judgement for at least two more weeks.

Thoughts on other games:
-The Wisconsin / OSU game was surprising so much because the Badgers, but rather for the way they won - by imposing their will on the Buckeyes and ramming the ball down their throat. I'm not surprised that the OSU offense stalled because they've looked rather pedestrian at times this year, but I didn't think Wisconsin would score over 30, when they only scored 20 against Arizona State at home.
-OSU's loss really helps MSU. If Iowa loses to Wisconsin this week, MSU has a one game margin over everyone in the conference, and can almost afford a lose in their toughest game left, in Iowa City. Of course, MSU has yet to play outside of the State of Michigan, and I wouldn't be surprised if Northwestern gives them a scare. Still, they are looking good for a New Year's day bowl, at least, if not a BCS bowl.
-I think we are heading for a TCU-Boise national championship game. The SEC undefeateds both have to play Alabama and each other. Oregon still has tough games with USC, Washington, Arizona and Oregon State. Oklahoma, Missouri and Oklahoma State all play each other, along with games against Nebraska and Texas. Finally, MSU still has to go to Iowa City. If Boise and TCU run the table, they will each be 37-1 in the last three years. Meanwhile, some other BCS bowl will feature a game that will be hyped as the "real" national championship game (Alabama/OSU in the Sugar, perhaps).

OSU thoughts and season wrap-up

It could have been a lot worse. The defense played hard, and Tressel's conservatism played right into Michigan's hands, so despite a gaggle of turnovers, the final score looked somewhat respectable.
-There's no doubt that Tressel is a great coach, especially when it comes to defense and special teams. But much like Lloyd Carr, he couldn't game plan his way out of a paper bag. Our defense has glaring weaknesses at LB and at safety and every non-MAC team has taken advantage of them until OSU. But instead of spreading us out, running zone read plays and short out passes and play action passes, i.e. things that would have forced our LBs and DBs to make decisions and plays in space, Sweatervest decided to run primarily out of an I formation, straight up blocking, that allowed our D-line to get penetration. Now perhaps Tressel saw no reason to do anything on offense since he knew his defense would probably out score us, but I think that if you constantly ask your offense to do the bare minimum, when you really need them to do something, they won't produce. It's what has happened to them against USC and SEC team recently, and it might happen in the Rose Bowl if they have to try and outscore Oregon.
-Pryor is a great athlete, but he has horrible QB mechanics. He's their version of Denard Robinson, but bigger and probably faster. Tressel should look to hire an NFL QB coach to try and develop his pocket passing.
-As much as the Forcier interceptions killed us, I don't think we should try and shut him down next year. His strength is his ability to pull something out of his ass when he's scrambling, I don't want him to lose that.
-There were as many OSU fans at the game as I've ever seen. That's to be expected with the season we've had. With the proliferation of ticket websites, making it easier to sell or buy tickets to any game, I would expect similar situations in the future if we don't turn it around.
-Of all the seniors who played their last game on Saturday, perhaps the thing I'll miss the most is the press box. The next time we see Michigan on TV, it will be at a different camera angle.

-Despite the disappointing end to the season, I think it's pretty clear the Rich Rod isn't going to be fired anytime soon. Anyone who suggest otherwise is either an idiot or in sports talk radio (or more likely, both). We gave Tommy Amaker six years, there's no way, considering his considerable buyout that we fire Rich Rod anytime before the end of the 2011 season.
-Whether he should be fired or not is a different question. I don't think he should be, but I understand the point of those who suggest he should be. I think two years is not enough time to give a coach, and I think there are still considerable holes in the roster that would not be helped by a coaching change. But I also think that given the way the first two years have gone, it's not terribly likely that Rich Rod will last much beyond 2011. There aren't many cases in recent history of a coach doing as poorly in his first two years as Rich Rod has done and winning big in his third or fourth year.
-Although I think Rich Rod should stay, I wouldn't mind if our LB coach Jay Hobson were to leave. He was responsible of inside LBs and both of our veterans in those positions, Ezeh and Mouton seemed to have regressed this year.

Ride Captain Ride

News came down from on high today that Bill Martin will be hanging it up as AD by next September. Now while most of us wouldn't know what makes a good AD, I think it's pretty clear that Bill Martin has been one of the best ADs in the country for the last ten years. To recap some of his accomplishments:
-He took an athletic department that was opertaing at a loss each year and made it one of the most profitable departments in the country, even without luxury boxes.
-He dramtically improved the facilities here, including a new football practice facility, new soccer stadium, boxes at Yost, new basketball practice facility, new wrestling facility, new varsity tennis complex, new academic support center for athletes, a renovated baseball and softball complex, and of course, the new suites and press box at Michigan Stadium. It is easily the most prolific building period in the history of athletics at the university.
-He helped provide a new emphasis on women's athletics, leading to our first ever women's national championship (2oo1 in field hockey).
-Eight top five finishes in the last ten years in the Director's, or Sears Cup, the annual award given by the NCAA to the school that finishes with the best overall placements in their top 10 men's sports and top 10 women's sports. These finishes have come against a number of schools that have extraordinarily large private endowments (like Stanford), or sponsor more sports than Michigan due to climate or size of athletic department (like Texas).
-Despite some high profile misses in coaching hires (Tommy Amaker, Bob Bowman), he has made some outstanding hires -- John Beilein, Rich Maloney, Marcia Pankratz and Rich Rodriguez -- that have put a number of the athletic programs in good hands for years to come.

All in all, it's safe to say that not since Don Canham retired has Michigan had such a successful AD. Here's hoping his successor has half his business sense.

Bullets:
-Not much to talk about with the Delaware State game -- both teams got the cash they needed out of the deal, the Hornets their 500k payout, which probably paid their season expenses, and Michigan their $4 million gate, which paid for a few different non-revenue sports
-From my vantage point, the national championship pecking order looks as follows:
1) Alabama / Florida winner (assuming they are undefeated)
2) Texas
3) Iowa
4) Cinncy
5) Boise
6) TCU
7) Alabama / Florida loser (or 1-loss SEC team)

Actually if the championship game is not a rematch, I think the one loss SEC team shoots above the two mid-majors, and maybe even above an undefeated Cinncy.
-I'll be interested to see how many of the SEC slappies who cried injustice at the idea of a rematch 3 years ago will now campaign for the loser of the SEC championship game to get a second bite at the apple.
-I'm not buying this "woe-is-me" routine from the Buckeyes and their fans. No matter how awful they look and how many games they lose between now and November 21, I'll still expect Pryor to go 28-32 for 350 yards and 4 TDs against us.
-A weird line for this weekend's games: Iowa @ MSU is a pick'em. Now I know it's tough to win on the road in the Big Ten, but Iowa already won by 11 in a night game at Penn State. Do the oddsmakers really think Penn State is 11 points worse than MSU?

Missed Opportunities

I must admit that when it happened, I was livid. How could you not put the golden child, Tate Forcier, back in the game? After all, hadn't he already led three fourth quarter drives to win or tie games this year? We only had 1:40 on the clock, no timeouts, and we had to go about 60 yards to get into reasonable field goal range. Surely this was the perfect setup for more heroics.
But no, Denard Robinson came back out on the field. Maybe Tate was injured, we had seen him shaking his hand like he had hit it on something earlier in the quarter. But we saw him start to run on the field, as if to say, "I'm ready to go" only to be told to sit down by Rich Rod. This was clearly a decision by Rich Rod to go with Robinson.

After the game, I stewed for a while, thinking about the missed opportunity to steal a game on the road against a top ten team when you commit five turnovers. As disappointed as I was that the game slipped away, I began to mellow a bit, thinking about how good the team had played in certain segments, and realizing that we were a nine point dog in this game and nearly won it.

As I poked around on various message boards, and saw discussions of the game, and of Rich Rod's decision to bench Forcier, I came across a comparison that seem particularly apt to me.
Late in the Big Ten basketball season, with the Michigan hoops fighting for their first NCAA bid in ten years, Michigan was playing on the road against a poor Iowa team. With tough games still to play against Purdue and Minnesota, most people felt this was a must win for our tournament chances. After blowing a large lead late, John Beilein benched his best player, Manny Harris for the overtime period, and we ended up loosing. At the time, many people were upset that the loss had cost us our chance at an NCAA bid. But Manny came out fired up a few days later and we beat Purdue, and then beat Minnesota, and he was the best player on the court in our big dance win against Clemson. In the end, Beilein's decision to bench Manny against Iowa probably cost us that game, but might have been the move that saved our season. We can only hope that Rich Rod's bizarre decision to bench Forcier will have the same consequences.

Bullets:
-Big picture, I'm very pleased with where we are. A year after finishing 3-9 (and being somewhat lucky to get one of those wins), we are 4-2 with two narrow losses, and most of our remaining tough games at home. 8-4 is a real possibility now, and that would be a huge one year improvement
-Boy did our line play look great. I think we beat Iowa on both sides of the ball, and they were supposed to have the best D-line in the league outside of Columbus.
-I love seeing Brandon Minor run downhill. We really need to get him more carries against the big boys. I would love to see him repeat the success he had in the first half against PSU last year against the Knitknees this year.
-I was very impressed with Denard Robinson in the next to the last drive. Everyone in the stadium knew he was going to run the ball, and they still couldn't stop him. I wish he had come in the game earlier. I hope he gets significant snaps in the scrimmage against Delaware State.
-Jordan Kovacs has turned into a serviceable safety. Now if we could only bring Mike Williams along, we might be ok (meaning average) in the secondary.
-Woolfolk also look good. I would guess he's our starting CB the rest of the year, regardless of what happens with Cissoko's suspension.
-Other than Zoltan, our special teams were quite poor. Why can't we find a decent punt returner. Isn't that something that slot ninjas are supposed to be good at?
-If I were the Illinois AD, I'd start raising money for Ron Zook's buyout and would get Brian Kelly on speed dial. The Illini look like they've quit on Zook.
-The Big Ten looks like OSU's to lose. Iowa is good, but not good enough to win in Columbus. While the Buckeyes might trip up once, I don't see them losing twice, and no one else in the league is good enough to run the table. I would put Iowa, PSU, and Wisconsin in the group behind OSU, with Michigan, MSU, and maybe Minnesota a step lower than them.
-Has anybody else in the country played as many exciting games as Washington? (Perhaps us)
-The post game interview with Bobby Bowden was painful to watch. They asked him what went wrong with the game, why they lost, and he couldn't offer much more than cliches. It's pretty clear that he doesn't have the slightest clue what's going on out there. I don't envy the FSU fans or decision makers. It's pretty hard to deal with the fact that the person that basically created your program is now like an anchor around its ankle.

Lose Yourself

There are points during the long off-season where you find yourself daydreaming about the upcoming season, and how great it could be. There are times during the two week prelude to the season when you hear message board reports about how some young phenom is tearing it up in practice and is poised for a breakout year. But you stop yourself from daydreaming too much because you don't want to get your expectations too high. And you remind yourself that those reports have often been wrong in the past.

So when Tate Forcier missed a wide open Kevin Koger streaking down the western sideline on third down with just over 3 minutes to go I saw the young quarterback bend down with his hands on his helmet and thought, if only briefly, that they gave it a good go, and perhaps two wins in the first two games was too much to expect after the trainwreck that was last season. I half expected my friend of 20 years who sits next to me at games to remark, "Well, at least they'll probably be 3-1 when the head to East Lansing"

But thanks to some curious playcalling from Jabba the Weis, the great improvisational skills of our young quarterback, and some nifty receiving from our senior possession receiver and a career backup, what had been a good game turned into an all-time classic. In the process, the afternoon exceeded anything I had dared to imagine back when all anyone wanted to talk about was the arrest of an ex-quarterback or the number of practice hours the team spent in a week. As I rewatch the game (in HD, no less), the painful memories of last year are already starting to fade. If we have too many more of games like today or last week, I think I'll forget about last year altogether.

When the season started, I think most people had Michigan pegged between 5-7 and 7-5. I think those predictions might need to be revised. With the two toughest teams remaining on the schedule (OSU and PSU) coming into AA, and road trips to MSU, Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin not looking as tough as they did at the start of the season, an 8 or 9 win season doesn't look out of the question, and there is a chance, a small chance, that this season could really be a special one.

Bullet Points:
-Tate Forcier is one of the three best QBs in the Big Ten, and might even be better. We haven't had a QB that could just make shit up like that since Jim Harbaugh. We've had big strong guys who could throw it thru a brick wall, but no one that you would want to see outside of the pocket.
-Hello Daryl Stonum. He had kinda a tough year last year, getting into some trouble off the field, and not showing much on the field. There were reports in camp that he was dropping a lot of balls. With top wideout Junior Hemingway out this week, we really needed Stonum to step up, and boy did he ever. His kickoff return was a thing of beauty, and he did a great job running his routes, even when he didn't get the ball. I look forward to seeing him grow this year.
-Brandon Minor is clearly our #1 tailback. His bruising style is a perfect counterpart to the quickness of our other skill positions.
-This team still has a lot of holes in it. Obviously we need more depth in the defensive secondary, we played a 5-10, 190 pound walkon redshirt freshman at safety for most of the second half. We need some size in the DL and LB, we got pushed around a little up front. Our offensive line still has improving to do. But you can really begin to see how this team is going to look when it is ready to compete with the best teams in the conference and the country. The gap between us and the 2 teams at the top of the conference doesn't look as big as it did 2 weeks ago.
- The piped in music is growing on me. I thought it was much more effectively used this week. The White Strips tune is great for sporting events (as any good European soccer fan already knows), and I like the Eminem tune as well. I like the fact that there are local connections with both artists. Besides, with the new acoustics, we can't hear the band at all anyway, so they might as well play something.
-The Notre Dame team is improved from last year. They have a lot of offensive fire power, and they do a fairly good job of using it. Their defense needs a lot of work, but I don't know if there are a lot of teams on their schedule, outside of USC, that can slow them down or take advantage of their defense.
-Michael Floyd is the best receiver we'll play all year. I hope his family starts looking for an agent, so he can get ready for the NFL draft in the spring.
-Jimmy Clausen has a big arm, but no poise. Four different times in the game he called timeout in the middle of a quarter, for no reason other than he didn't like what the defense looked like. I don't think he could improvise if his life depended on it.
-Still I can't help but think that there is a limit on how successful they can be with Mr. Schematic Advantage there. He's a great recruiter, but he couldn't teach his way out of a paper bag, and there are stories after stories of him pissing off former players with his arrogance and rudeness. He can't afford to lose too many more games this year.
-In other games, I think Jim Tressel is wasting Terrell Pryor's considerable talents by trying to make him a pro style QB. Put him in our system, or Florida's, or Texas', or anyplace where they'd let him use his speed and his running ability on a more regular basis, and people would be calling him the new Tebow. USC was ripe for the picking Saturday evening, and OSU let them off the hook because they couldn't take advantage of a young, albeit very talented, USC defense in a hostile environment. They were just too conservative on offense until it was too late.
-As I was watching that game, I couldn't help thinking as I saw them in a Two TE, one receiver set, "Why don't they spread them out, so that they can get more running lanes" Rich Rod's offense has gotten to me.
-After all the crap we heard over the summer in the local media about how MSU had passed Michigan and was taking over the state in recruiting, I couldn't help but feel a little schadenfreude in the Spartans' loss to Central Michigan. Mark Dantonio has taken every opportunity to take cheap shots at us in the media the last two years, so I didn't feel too much sympathy for him as I saw him in a post game interview looking like someone had just run over his dog. Although I think he is better than John L Smith, his record is now only three games better than Smith at the same point in his tenure, and State has four very losable games coming up, @ ND, @ Wisc, Michigan, and @ Illinois. Things could get real ugly in a hurry for Lt. Dan.

Out of Town Scoreboard

Some thoughts on other games over the weekend:

-Why on earth would Ohio State schedule Navy the week before USC, without a tune-up game in between? Perhaps it will work to their benefit this week, but my guess it will just beat them up for the big game this week. I wouldn't be surprised to see a repeat of last years USC domination.
-Ron Zook seems to have returned Illinois to the level they were at before he got there: wildly inconsistent and terribly disappointing on a regular basis. Missouri was supposed to be rebuilding this year, with only four starters back on defense, and a new skill position players on offense. The Illini made them look like national championship contenders.
-Maybe Dan Hawkins should consider coaching the intramural team.
-I wonder if Keith Nichol is kicking himself now. With Bradford's injury, he could be starting for a top five team now, instead of being a backup on a mid-level Big Ten team.
-Georgia's loss and LSU struggle against a team that was 0-12 last year illustrates why I've always felt the SEC "dominance" is overrated. Accumulated miles have a huge effect on college teams, and SEC teams rarely travel outside of their conference footprint.
-FBS teams went 34-3 against FCS teams this weekend. 2 of the 3 losses came from ACC teams. Duke lost to Richmond, the defending FCS national champion, and Virginia lost to William & mary, who was 7-4 last year. If Al Groh's job wasn't in danger before, it probably is now. With the Miami / FSU game to come tomorrow, the ACC is 4-6 on the opening weekend. Looks like another year of somewhat mediocre football from the nation's best basketball league.
-Watching the Tulsa / Tulane game Friday night (yes, I'm an addict), it occurred to me that a 2 for 1 scheduling deal with Tulane wouldn't be the worst thing for Michigan's future schedules. Tulane would be a step up from FCS teams, they only draw a few thousand fans to their home games in the Superdome, and Michigan fans might be able to fill many of those empty seats. Besides, I know someone who could get me tickets to that game ;-)

Ohowihateohiostate

"Liquidate Ohio State
And humble Woody Hayes
They breed a lot of cattle in Columbus,
Send them out to graze
HA HA HA
Knock them off their ivory towers!
Send them running into the showers!
Down with Ohio State!
It's a know-nothing party school."

No expectations for tommorrow, just hope. I will ask whatever cosmic forces that took Bo two days before the biggest game in this rivalry to give us one back tommorrow, and let the team play with his spirit in their hearts. What the mind can concieve, the man can achieve.

Que Sera Sera

It's amazing how much easier it is to watch a loss when you write off all chance of a victory before the game ever starts. I was only half heatedly watching the game, and so I wasn't so crushed when Nick Sheridan came in and the game exploded. I think a loss to Penn State was also easier to take given the way the last nine games have gone. I don't think any Michigan fan in their wildest dreams thought when the Knitknees joined the league that we would dominate them the way we have. We knew they had to win one eventually. This seemed like as good a year as any.

There were some positives in the game, mostly regarding the offense. Surprisingly enough, several of my pre-game thoughts were right on the money:
"First, Threet has to stay healthy. We couldn't beat Pioneer High with Sheridan, we need Threet." --unfortunately we got to find out just how true that statement is.
"Secondly, the offensive line has to get better. Simply put, its hard to run any offense if you can't block anyone." - They did do better, at least in the first half. I thought the much maligned duo of Molk and Mooseman looked much better than in past games. The interior line play looked so good at one point, that I wondered if they had moved Schilling inside.
"I'd like to see more of the other running backs other than McGuffie. Don't get me wrong, I love Sam, but I think a change of pace would help offset some of the other issues." - Boy, I was kinda just guessing here, and I was really thinking about Shaw. The emergence of Minor (and his lack of fumbles) was a very pleasant surprise. Hopefully he can keep that up the rest of the year
"I think the long hand off (quick throw to WR who stays at the line) is there almost every play. It should be an automatic, if the CB is more than 10 yards off the line, toss it out there." - They actually ran this play and it worked a few times.
"Some deep shots, provided Threet is in. For the most part, the outside receivers have been single covered, and the safeties have been crowding the line of scrimmage." - Not a lot of this, but Threet's elbow might have had something to do with this. I think this is the key next week against the Sparties.

Despite the second half meltdown, I think that if Threet stays healthy, they could have a mediocre, or maybe even average offense. Unfortunately, for all of the steps forward the offense is taking, I think the defense and special teams are taking steps backward. The linebacker play is still awful, and the tackling from everyone except the D line has been junior varsity level. It seems the recipe to beat Michigan is simple: double the DTs and make the LBs make reads. The special teams are a complete and utter joke. It seems to me that the easiest thing for a coach to work on is decision making (i.e not running the ball out of the end zone when you fumble it 7 yards deep), and blocking on punts. It doesn't seem like these things are being taught. All the explosive skill position talent doesn't do you any good if you can't execute the basics.

-Elsewhere, I think that temptation on the part of some in reaction to the MSU-OSU game is to say, "Same old Spartans" This misses the point. It was unrealistic to expect the Spartans to jump from where they were to all of a sudden be a top ten team. They have to learn to walk before they can run. The only thing that game told us is that it's the same old Buckeye team. The Buckeyes have looked rather pedestrian all year, not scoring an offensive TD against Purdon't, beating Troy by only 12, and Minnesota by only 13. This game proved that they are still the best team in the Big Ten, and the Knitknees better be prepared for a donnybrook when they go down to Columbus.
-The Texas dismantling of Missouri was even more impressive than their win over Oklahoma. Will Muschamp is looking like a brilliant hire. I wonder if there is another program in the country that has as many built in advantages as Texas (weather, population base, facilities, name recognition, fan support, etc.) I also like the look of the addition at DKR, it was only half done when we went down there last year.
-How bad must it suck to be a Seattle area sports fan now? The Mariners lost 100 games, the Sonics moved to Oklahoma, the Seahawks are 1-5 and Washington and Washington State will likely be a combined 1-21 when they meet for the Apple Cup in November, with the lone win a Wazzou win over 2-4 FCS "powerhouse" Portland State. No truth to the rumor that Rich Rod is trying to get both on the schedule for the end of this year.

Bowl Math

After getting undressed on homecoming, we sat in the stands doing bowl math. That's when you go through the schedule and try and figure out where the six wins will come from to make us eligible for the the 33rd year in a row. What we came up with:
Sure Losses -- at Penn State, at OSU -- This is the year the streak ends for the Knitknees. Considering they lose almost all their starters next year, it better. And the trip to the Snakepit could get ugly.
Sure (as much as anything is sure in this year) wins -- Toledo, at Minnesota, at Purdue -- If we don't win all three of these games, we'll be home for the holidays.
Tossups -- Michigan State, Northwestern -- This is where the bowl push will be won or lost. Lose both of these, we go nowhere. Win both, we go bowling, maybe in the Alamo bowl, or the Champs Sports Bowl. Split these games, things get dicey. The bowl rules say that all 7-5 teams must be guaranteed a bowl spot for 6-6 teams to get a spot. The Big Ten has seven slots, including the BCS. Five Big Ten teams currently have 5 or more wins (Penn State, OSU, MSU, Northwestern, and Minnesota). The first four are likely to be bowl eligible, although never count out the ability of the Spartans to completely implode. 3-2 Illinois and 3-2 Wisconsin will both probably get to seven wins. That leave Minnesota, 2-3 Purdue, 2-3 Indiana, 3-3 Iowa and us fighting for that last Bowl bid. Now, if Ohio State and Penn State both end up with two or less losses, they are both likely to end up in the BCS, meaning there will be an extra bowl spot open. So at 6-6, we have a good shot at a bowl, but not a risk.
Will we get there? Good question. I think that MSU is a good match up for us, similar to Wisconsin. Power team with not much offensive diversity and serious questions in pass defense. Northwestern doesn't have the athletes the Spartans do, but they might have a better defense.

As for the game, not much to say other than Juice Williams. We stopped their zone running game fairly well, but just couldn't stop Williams running or throwing the ball. He has certainly grown as a QB. Last year you could count on him to make a number of bad reads and throws every game. This game he didn't. In short, he is exactly the type of QB I think Rich Rod would want for our system.
The offense was the same as it ever is, stop and start, very erratic. Occasionally flashes of what it could be, but mostly just missed plays. Throws off by a bit, routes run incorrectly, blocks not held long enough, etc.

From other games:
-Iowa flat out gave away the game in East Lansing. The Hawkeyes out gained the Spartans and held their all-everything uberback Javon Ringer to under 100 yards. But two endzone turnovers, another on their own 20 put the spartans up16-3 halfway through the third. Iowa rallied to 16-6, when Kirk Ferentz made the first of two ridiculously bad decisions with about 8 minutes left in the game. With a 4th and 5 at the MSU 15, he passed up the field goal which would have brought them to within 7 and went for it. The pitch play failed, and State took over. After Iowa scored again to make it 16-13, Ferentz again passed up a field goal to go for it on 4th and 2 at the MSU 20 with two minutes left and only one time out. When the off tackle play was stuffed for no gain, MSU took over and ran out the clock. If I were an Iowa fan, I would be livid. The decision to pass up the game tying field goal was inexcusable. Considering your five previous red zone trips had resulted in 6 points, you take the points whenever you can. For the Spartans, they need to find offense from someone other than Ringer, or he won't last the season.
-I was thinking that OSU looked beatable until that last drive. Yikes, let's hope Pryor actually starts to play like a freshman at some point this year.
-With apologies to MSU and Northwestern, I think the big ten is a three team race now: OSU, Penn State and Illinois. I know the Illini have that loss already, but I still think they can give the Buckeyes trouble.
-I wonder if any of the defensive coordinators in the Big 12 sleep at night. My goodness, Sam Bradford at OU has been near flawless, Texas Tech is still taking no prisoners, Texas' Colt McCoy has been scary good, Kansas can't fall behind far enough to stop it's offense from coming back, and i don't think Missouri has a punter on it's roster. The Tigers haven't had a 3 and out with the first string offense all year. Oh, and Oklahoma State has scored 223 points in their last four games!
-On that note, the next four games for Texas: OU, Missouri, Oklahoma State, @ Texas Tech. That's the #2,3,4 & 5 scoring offenses in the country.
-How bad has the year been for the Pac 10? Their second best team, Cal, got whipped by a team (Maryland) that got blown out by a team(Virginia) that got blown out by Duke.
-If Miami and Florida State played a football game in an empty stadium, would it make a sound?
-Golden Rankings out later this week, after the Wednesday game. Guess who's number one?
-Hey, I got a link from the UofM Alumni Association! Glad to see our donations going to good use.

Michigan is more developed than Ohio

An interesting study on something called the American Human Development Project unequivacably states what we've known in Ann Arbor for some time. Our neighbors to the south aren't quite as far up the evolutionary ladder as we are. The site cites something called the human development index, an index created to measure the social progress of a country or area. It is based on health levels(life expectancy stats), education levels (% of HS and college graduates), and income levels. Naturally, Michigan fares better in these categories than does that state down south. No word on whether the index takes into account average alcohol consumption or number of drunken orgies.

The site also has an interesting little quiz, to determine your own personal human development index. I scored a 7.97.

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 ;-)

"That was horrible"

We walked silently and quickly down Main street away from the stadium, beaten down by the toxic combination of a near freezing mist that fell the moment we entered the gates, and one of the dullest games we've seen in 25 plus years of games, with an offense that was almost as numbing as the weather. Nobody said anything as we dodged drunk Buckeye fans intent on making asses of themselves, cars pulling out into the street from their parking spots on muddy lawns, and t-shirt vendors trying to sell their last shirts of the year. Really what was there to say? We so much wanted this game to be different, to be a triumphant send-off to all of our heroes, to be one last middle finger salute from our coach to all his critics. For too long, we've heard national pundits tell us how we should feel about him, or about how his job in jeopardy. Now that we knew he was leaving, we wanted to send him off the right way, with a chance to show everyone he was leaving on his own terms, and to show the nation that we, as fans, were both excited about the future, and sad to see this man leave the program.
After about 15 minutes, we arrived at Washtenaw Dairy, where my wife and five-year old son were waiting with warm cider and donuts. When I got in the car, my son, who had watched the game at home, exclaimed, "That game was horrible!" I winced a little and said, "On every level" He replied, "Yeah, even on Level Ten"
I'm not sure if I've ever been to level ten of disappointment, but I get the feeling I'd recognize it if I went there.

Bo and Woody

Bo and Woody will forever be linked in every one's mind because they were at center of the best rivalry in sports at perhaps its most intense era. For ten years they ruled the league, winning ten big ten titles, and going a combined 184-35-6. The ten games between them were epic, with only two real blowouts in the ten years, and Michigan holding the slimmest of margins, 5-4-1. It is only natural that when you think of one, you think of their rivalry with the other.

But I have a real problem with people who try and equate the two and say that they were similar people, of similar character. Last year all you heard from Buckeye fans was how the two were one and the same. The truth is that Woody wasn't half the man that Bo was. Woody was a classless bully who would push his own mother in the mud if she put on a blue sweater. Yes Bo had a temper, yes he yelled at referees, and was grumpy with the media. But he never punched an opposing player. He never slugged a sideline camera man. He never tore up sideline markers, or attempted to start a fight with opposing team's marching band. He would never purposely denigrate an opposing team's traditions. Woody was pathological in his hatred of "That team up north", and acted like a spoiled child when he lost to them. He was Bobby Knight without the soft underbelly.
It was Woody's erratic behavior that formed the basis of the general tenor of the OSU fan base towards this rivalry. If Woody wouldn't even acknowledge the name of his chief rival, it's ok for the fans to act like third graders. Respect? Woody never respected the game or his rival enough to control his behavior so why should the typical fan show any restraint in dealing with opposing fans? It's the reason why Michigan fans fear for their safety when they go to Columbus. It's why the former president of OSU refered to "drunken orgies" on football Saturdays.
So when you are watching the game Saturday, and you here them talking about Bo and Woody, remember that though the are forever intertwined in our memories, they are not together watching the game. Bo is in heaven, Woody, well...

The little nine strike back

I heard someone comment recently about how the big ten was reverting back to the mid-70s, with Michigan and OSU winning something like 36 of their last 38 games, with the two losses being their yearly donnybrook. Well this past weekend, the little nine bit back.

-As hard as I try, i just can't seem to get myself too worked up by our stinker performance in Madison. Yes you want to win every game. Yes, you want to continue the positive momentum the last eight weeks have given you. Yes, there was a slim chance at a BCS bowl even with a loss to OSU. But clearly, in the grand scheme of things, this game meant next to nothing, especially in contrast to the game this week. Consequently, I don't think this loss tells us anything about the OSU game, other than perhaps that we need Henne and Hart to be healthy to beat OSU. Of course, anyone who didn't realize that before this week hasn't been paying attention very closely. Yes the run blocking was horrendous, as was the run defense. But the defensive failings were a result of being on the field too much, and the run blocking was a result of getting behind and needing to pass to catch-up. I also think the entire team realized the significance of this game, or lack thereof, and mailed it in.
-Meanwhile, down in Columbus, we learned that Michigan is not the only team that can't defend the spread option attack. The Buckeyes just couldn't get Illinois, a slightly better than mediocre team coached by the second coming of John Cooper off the field when they needed to. For the second time this year (MSU) Todd Boeckman looked less than perfect when he was pressured. Unfortunately for us, we don't really have the scheme that can take advantage of this weakness. Yes we can spread the the ball around to different talented receivers (assuming Henne is healthy), but we don't have the running threat at QB that caused the OSU pass rushers to pause.
-I do wonder if there will be any hangover for the Buckeyes. All off-season all they heard about was how the blew it in the national championship game. They heard the cracks about how they were overrated, didn't belong on the same field as the Gators. The fact that their basketball brethren also lost to the Gators in the championship game only served as a reminder of their disappointment. Sweatervest even made the score of the game the entry code to their football complex. So after working all year to replace all the talent that left, and working their way up from a pre-season ranking in the teens, they had finally gotten to a place where they could almost taste their shot at redemption. And then it was taken away from them in the form of a 16-play, 40 yard, 8 minute drive from the Illini. The Buckeye offense literally had to sit and watch their dreams die in front of them.
-The big winner in the game in Columbus, other than the Illini was the Rose Bowl. The Rose Bowl would dearly love to get the Buckeyes, since they have only been their once since 1985, as opposed to Michigan who would be returning for the fourth time in five years. If OSU had won out, the Rose might have had no Big Ten team to take.
-The big losers, other than OSU, were Iowa, MSU, IU and Northwestern. All four teams are 6-5, and with six other teams ahead of them, will all be competing for one bowl slot (the Motor City) if the Big Ten only gets one team in the BCS. All other things being equal, the Motor City would like to take MSU and the guaranteed sell-out in Detroit. But by rule, they can not take a 6-6 team if there is an eligible 7-5 team. So this week's games against Western Michigan, Penn State, Purdue, and Illinois respectively are that much more important.
-It amazing how far and fast Miami has fallen. 48-0?!? To Virginia?!? In the Orange Bowl finale?! Have some pride, have a sense of history, and at least put up a fight. No wonder they never sell out games. The Hurricanes were always much more of pro franchise than a college program.
-I wonder what sort of gimmick Mark Richt will come up with in Georgia's next big game to fire up his players.
-If I'm a Nebraska fan, i don't know if the performance against K-State makes me happy, or makes me pissed off that we hadn't seen that effort in the prior 5 weeks when the season was still salvageable.
-When a QB comes off the field and gets on the phone to talk to the coaches upstairs, why do they still use corded phones? Couldn't they use a Bluetooth or something else that isn't twenty years out of date?

Hoops is here
-Looks like the craziness of the college football season has transferred to basketball. Gardner-Webb over Kentucky? Belmont over Cinncy? Mercer over USC? That's three wins by Atlantic Sun teams over major conference teams. To put that in perspective, the Atlantic Sun was 0-30 last year against BCS conference teams with an average margin of defeat of just over 22 points. Of course, with a tournament, these upsets don't mean nearly as much as they do in football.
-So far so good with Beilein's boys. Two comfortable wins against Radford and Brown, with fewer turnovers, more steals, and more energy than we ever saw from Amaker's teams. Perhaps the thing that I liked the best happened off the court. Last year's starting PG Jarrett Smith was suspended for the opener because he missed some classes. Apparently Beilein informed Smith that he would miss the Friday opener at a practice earlier in the week. During the practice, Smith went down with an ankle injury, complaining loudly. Beilein told all the players to leave him alone and left him with the trainers while he took the team to the other end of the court. After practice, he told Smith he would serve his suspension once he was completely healthy. No skating on the punishment because you are hurt. That strikes me as very Bo-like.
-The freshman back court looked really good. Manny Harris looks like, well, Mr. Basketball. Kelvin Grady is very fast and will help up press the tempo a lot. Together they actually look like a decent big ten back court. I would be shocked if Jarret Smith ever starts another game for us.

Sound and Fury

With apologies to William Faulkner, thoughts about the this weekend's games.

-I found the Georgia reaction to their first touchdowns to be one of the most classless things I've seen this year. I generally think that people make too much of a big deal over post game celebrations. Who cares who planted what flag where? But to orchestrate an in-game celebration is ridiculous. I found it especially surprising given Mark Richt's reaction to his team's post-game celebrationagainst Vanderbilt. Considering how crazy people went over TO's Sharpee or the Joe Horn cell phone, I'm surprised more people haven't called out Richt for this. The Bulldogs are lucky they weren't playing in the Orange Bowl, or they might not have made it of the game alive.
-Speaking of the SEC East, this is starting to look like the year that the entire division goes 4-4. Tennessee is the only team that controls it's own destiny, but would anyone be surprised if they lost 2 out of their final three to Arkansas, Vandy, and Kentucky. I'm not sure I'd pick the Vols to beat any of the other SEC East teams on a neutral field, with the possible exception of Vandy.
-Not much to take from our game against perhaps the worst BCS conference team in the country with our backup QB and backup running backs, other than the fact that watching Mallet play a couple of games makes me appreciate Chad Henne even more.
-I get the feeling that with all the injuries, we really haven't seen a complete game from our offense. I hope we get one or two in the next three games.
-One of the downsides to the zone rushing attack is that we don't run as many screen plays as we used to. I think that a screen or swing pass to get Brown or Minor on the edge could be really effective.
-Ohio State looked scary good, especially on offense. Granted that Penn State isn't a top ten team, but they looked like they could name their score. The good news is that the OSU defense looked like it could be run on a little.
-All other considerations aside, I would love to see an Oregon - West Virginia championship game. That's the type of game that could be 55-50 at the half. If you thought the Boise / OU Fiesta bowl last year was fun, you ain't seen nothing yet.
-The reason why Hawaii shouldn't be in the BCS? They are 8-0 right now. Their 8 opponents to date have a grand total of 17 wins this year. This is after they beat 4-4 New Mexico State this week. Kansas and Ohio State, who have both been accused of having played no one this year have opponents with 30 and 37 wins respectively. Hawaii closes the year with 5-3 Fresno State, 4-4 Nevada, 2-6 Washington, and 7-1 Boise State, so the schedule gets a little tougher, but do they deserve a shot over an at-large BCS team?
-Bad news for Notre Dame haters, they streak over Navy just might continue. Sure this is an historically bad Irish team, but Navy just lost at home to Delaware 59-52. Of course, if a I-AA team scores 59 on Navy, Notre Dame should score a ton right? Now, if Notre Dame loses, not only do they lose to Navy for the first time since the Johnson administration, they lose their second game of the year to a team that lost at home to a I-AA (sorry FCS) team.
-New rankings are posted: South Florida stays near the top despite their second straight loss. USC drops off the table down to #73. Top riser and top faller among the top50 are both from the ACC, Clemson who beat Maryland on the road to jump to #27, and Virginia who lost to NC State and fell to #37. Big match up this week is #8 Arizona State at #6 Oregon.
-Would someone please tell the CUSA to stop with the Sunday night games. I've gotten used to the Thursday and Friday games, and have actually gotten to the point where I enjoy the chance to see the atmosphere at a place that normally doesn't get the limelight. But Sunday? The CFB weekend should end the moment the NFL starts.

The Mad Monks

One of, if not the best, characteristics of Lloyd Carr coached teams over the years was on full display Saturday night in Champaign-Urbana. His teams have always shown incredible resiliency. Like Rasputin, the infamous Russian advisor to the last Tsar, they just won't die:
-Pump them with enough cyanide to kill five normal college football programs (the twin horrors of App State and Oregon)
-Shoot them in the back several times (lose your best player, and the only player who has shown up for every game this year)
-Beat them senseless with a club (night game against a spread option attack with speed at key positions, the exact type of offense they have struggled with in the recent past)
-Throw them in a frozen river (A senior quarterback with injuries so bad that he went the locker room twice during the game, and left the stadium with his right arm in a sling)
Poison them, stab them, throw them in the river, they keep coming back for more. it wasn't pretty, and they still have a long way to go, but they are bowl eligible and have another Big Ten championship in their line of vision. Proof positive that you never count out a Lloyd Carr coached team.
-The receiver pass from Arrington to Manningham was a thing of beauty and almost completely out of character for Mike Debord. A poster on one my favorite Michigan message boards jokingly suggested that QB coach Scott Loeffler made the play call while Debord was in the powder room. All kidding aside, I think it was a fairly well-called game by the coaches, given the limitations of the team's injuries. I do wonder why the abandoned the run when Henne came back in the game.
-Carlos Brown had a great game. He's not going to get you the guaranteed 4 or 5 every carry like Hart, but he does have more big play ability.
-QB-Center exchange, QB-Center exchange, QB-Center exchange, QB-Center exchange...(just keep practicing it)
-Henne and Hart should both rest this week if they are not 100%. Minnesota is absolutely awful.
Other games:
-What a play to end the LSU-Auburn game. More proof that this is a charmed season for Les Miles and the Bayou Bengals. I don't think the coaches expected Matt Flynn to take 10 seconds to snap the ball on that last play, and it could have ended up a disaster if he had gotten sacked or had to scramble.
-Right before the penultimate play of the Cal-UCLA game, I thought to myself, UCLA is going to be sitting at the first down line. If they throw, throw it a little deep. For the second straight week the fighting Tedfords are undone by a QB mistake at the end of the game that costs them a chance to kick a last second field goal. Longshore stared down his receiver and tried to force a throw to a receiver that was covered.
-I turned on the USC game and saw that they were playing the Edmonton Eskimos.
-Not to be outdone, the masters of the ugly jerseys unveiled a high school type all-white ensemble that had countless viewers in the northwest calling their local cable company and asking why the broadcast was in black and white.
-Sparty put up a good fight in C-Bus, but i wonder how much of that was OSU letting their guard down after breaking out to a methodical 24-0 lead in which the Spartans offered little resistance. Kudos to MSU for not packing it in, if they show the same sort of defense in their last four games, they's get the one or two wins they need to be bowl eligible.

The Return of Mr. Manningham

Two TDs and 8 catches for a buck forty-seven. There was one of his patented double-move, fly routes, some quick outs, a couple of crossing routes, and a few grabs in traffic. The one week suspension and the tongue lashing he publicly received from his QB certainly lit a fire under his behind. Combined with 10 grabs from Adrian Arrington, a good performance from Chad Henne (21-28, 265, 2 TDS), and some halfway decent play calling, we finally saw the type of offense that everyone expected before the season started. If they can keep this up, we could be tough to stop the rest of the way. Of course, by "they" I really mean Mike Debord and Lloyd Carr. Apart from a serious injury to one of the major players, play calling is the one thing that could really hamper this offense. Mix up the first down pass and run plays, throw in some play-action, and don't tip off the plays by doing things like only bringing in freshman receivers for running plays, or shuffling the FB to the direction of the run before the snap.
-I doubt that Hart's injury will keep him out of the game next week. If he can walk, he'll be out there. Actually if he is hurt, it might come down to who wins the argument between him and the coaches. If they win, he sits, if he wins, he plays. A couple of times against Penn State, the coaches brought him out to rest him, and he ran back out on the field, telling his backup to go sit back down.
-As expected, the defense looked very solid against Purdue's non-running spread. Purdue's offense may have been state of the art when Tiller first arrived in '97, but it has become very passe'. Without a running QB, it is really quite one dimensional. Without the threat of the run, our DL just pinned their ears back and let loose on Curtis Painter. The Purdue receivers obliged with their usual plethora of dropped balls. I'm not sure that this performance means anything for this week's game at Illinois. The Illini run exactly the kind of run-first spread option that has given us trouble.
-Speaking of the Illini, so much for the Rose Bowl express. Hopefully, we will take a look at the Iowa film and copy some of the stuff they did.
-I wasn't watching the LSU/Kentucky game very intently, but it seemed to me like LSU had a lot of penalties called on them at very inopportune times. Did the Wildcats get a little home cookin'?
-To everyone jumping on the Buckeye bandwagon, keep this in mind: everyone of their remaining opponents, MSU, @ PSU, Ill, Wisc, @ Michigan, is better than each of the teams they have played so far, with the possible exception of the Spartans and Washington. They probably deserve to be #1 right now, although South Florida has a good argument, but I don't think they will go through the season unscathed.
-Not a good weekend for future Michigan coaches: Les Miles finally misses on a fourth down and short when it counts; Jeff Tedford forgets to tell his freshman QB to not get tackled in-bounds; Greg Schiano struggles early with Syracuse before pulling it out; and Brian Kelly loses his undefeated season to an unranked opponent.
-The weirdness of this season has been hammered home over and over by the worldwide leader, but it's worth mentioning again that midway through October, the following teams control their own destiny to get to the BCS: Boston College, South Carolina, Kansas, Arizona State, and Connecticut. Somewhere in the upper floors of the Fox Sports headquarters there is an executive banging his head into the wall with every crazy upset.
-Golden ranking are done, I will post later tonight or tomorrow.

How soon till Hockey season starts?

Well, it's official, the App game was no fluke, and the Schembechler era is over.

Just about anything that could go wrong, went wrong. The offense moved the ball but couldn't put any points on the board (four red zone trip in the first four possessions resulted in one TD). The defense got beat every possible way. The tackling was horrible. The D line got no pass rush. The linebackers were constantly out of position. The defensive backs got torched repeatedly. Oregon scored 39, and probably left 20 points on the field. Michigan's three stars on offense, Mike Hart, Jake Long and Chad Henne all were injured. Henne didn't play the entire second half, left the locker room on crutches, and is doubtful for next week's game against the Fighting Leprechauns. His replacement, super freshman Ryan Mallet had his moments, but also looked very much like a freshman at other points.

So the high hopes of the season are gone, and a reassessment of priorities for the team and the coaching staff is in order:
-Priority number one is getting six wins and keeping the nation's longest bowl streak intact, even if it's a trip to the Insight or Motor City bowl. Where those wins are going to come from is any body's guess. If yesterday is any indication, a Ryan Mallet led offense will be extremely limited, especially if the opponent can limit the effectiveness of the running game. The defense is not likely to be good enough to win games on its own, even though there aren't any spread teams left on the schedule as dangerous as Oregon.
-Priority number two is a win this saturday. The last thing you want to do is be the one that gets Notre Dame healthy. Much has been said about the historically bad levels of these two teams. It is the ultimate pillow fight, the offense that couldn't move across the street, against a matador defense that would do any Spaniard proud. But no matter who the coach is next year, they will have to recruit against the little tuna, and a win in this game will help keep his bluster to a minimum. In a sense this might be priority number one, because I don't see how they will get to a bowl if they don't beat the Irish.
-Priority number three is a win up at East Lansing. While they might be able to get to six wins without a win there, a win by the State will be marketed by the Sparties as proof that the balance of power is switching in the state
-Priority number four is a win over Ohio State. Normally this would be the top priority, but as it seems highly unlikely, and Tressel's record against Carr will be irrelevant with a new coach coming in, I put it down the list. If a bowl game is secure by this point, this game will be all about sending Carr out on a high note, and helping the heal the psyche of the fan base. If I'm Carr, I'm thinking of announcing my retirement the Monday before the game, and turning all the negative energy that's pointed my way right now into positive, gratitude type vibe. If they get to six wins, and Carr announces before that game, he will get a huge standing ovation before the game. For as much as he is being reviled right now, there is still a lot of love for one the classiest coaches in the land, who has represented the school and the team with the greatest honor in the last dozen years.

Meanwhile, the task at hand for Bill Martin and the AD's office is as follows:
-Say nothing about Coach Carr that is not positive until he makes his retirement announcement. Something similar to the quote you made about you and Amaker being joined at the hip.
-Prepare your list of candidates. I would suggest starting with Tedford, Rodriguez, Schiano and Ferentz. Each candidate should have head coaching experience at the BCS level, should be a good Xs and Os guy, and should understand that their job is as much media relations as it is football coach.
-Quietly send out feelers to each person on your list to see if they might be interested. Make sure that none of these feelers can be discovered. It is better to not contact someone than it is to risk them being put in the awkward positions of having to deny their interest, or you being put in a position where it looks like you are pushing Carr out the door.
-Once Carr announces, near or at the end of the season, begin your negotiations in earnest. Ideally you should be down to two or three candidates within a week after he announces. Remember that any coach who is going to play games in the media about the position is probably not worth hiring.
-Set a goal of announcing your new coach by the time the national championship game is over. This gives the new coach time to shore up the recruiting class.

If Carr handles the team with class and the team rededicates itself to improvement, I think they can get to six wins. If Martin handles the football search like he did the basketball search, we'll be in good shape.
But of course, what do I know, I thought they'd beat Appalachian State