Preview: Michigan Wolverines vs Miami Politically Corrects

There are not too many scintillating games in the Big 10 this week, but that won't stop us from examining at least a few of the clashes on tap for this Saturday! Today, we'll take a look at the impending battle between the Wolverines and the Redhawks, noon kickoff EST, ESPN2.

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There's a little cliche saying that goes something like this: "you're neither as good or as bad as you looked the first week". Michigan fans, myself included, are certainly hoping that this happens to hold true heading into week two. By "hoping" we really mean clinging to it with a death grip, but I digress.

Without going into an entire rehash, the Wolverines were thoroughly and completely outplayed for 30 minutes of football... Brian Johnson made every conceivable throw in the first half and generally looked really good doing so. Utah ran 45 offensive plays in the first half compared to Michigan's 30. Then all of a sudden the defense we'd been expecting decided to show up. Michigan held Utah to just 48 yards of total offense and three points in the second half while sacking Johnson four times and recovering two turnovers, plus a blocked punt. Unfortunately, this spark didn't carry over to the offense, where the Wolverines converted on opportunities but could not manage to sustain any kind of a drive whatsoever when they needed to, this was clearly reflected in time of possession where Michigan held the football for a mere 24 minutes to Utah's 36 (!!!!).

Oddly enough, for how terribly Michigan played, with 6 minutes to go, they were a two-point conversion away from tying the football game. Plays, believe it or not, were there for the taking, but failures in execution slammed the door on a number of chances Michigan had to escape a poor performance with a tally in the win column. Disappointing? You betcha. Were there some positives to take away from what we saw on the field Saturday? Definitely. So a lot of questions remain for Rodriguez's crew this week, particularly on offense where the execution was... completely lacking.

Turns out that Miami (OH) has a few questions of their own after a fairly hefty 34-13 loss to Vanderbilt. So let's look at the matchups shall we??

Miami on offense:
Last year's 108th ranked scoring offense did not do much to comfort Redhawk fans last week. On offense, the Redhawks managed just one touchdown despite 340 yards of offense; without having to even scan further down the box score this just screams TURNOVERS. QB Daniel Raudabaugh was 19/41 for 244 yards, good for 1 TD and 3 picks (there they are!). The rushing attack managed 96 yards on the ground... Miami's leading rusher, Thomas Merriweather, tallied 59 yards on just 10 carries. These totals seem small until you gaze over at the miniscule 36 yards that Michigan put on the board last week.

Raudabaugh's attempts certainly seem high at first glance, especially considering his less than 50% completion rate, but they are not out of whack with what Miami has done in years past. Glancing back at the Redhawks 2007 campaign, Raudabaugh threw the football 40 or more times in four of the eleven games in which he appeared, and in fact averaged just under 35 attempts per game for the year with a 54.7% completion rate.

Miami boasts another large offensive line, coming in at an average of 309 lbs per man... this sort of statistic used to mean something in college football, unfortunately for the Redhawk fans, it does not anymore.

Michigan on defense:
If Michigan's secondary comes out in the type of coverage they displayed for the second half of the Utah game, then Miami's preferance for forward-passing the football plays into a strength on the Michigan D... however if they come out giving the Miami receivers 10 yard cushions like they did in the first half last week, Radabaugh will have his choice of open targets to throw spiraling oblong objects towards.

The Michigan defense last week looked completely lost for the first portion of the football game. Utah played nearly the entire game in a spread formation, and for the first 30 minutes Michigan's defense utilized a 4-3 formation to combat the spread... this failed horribly, largely due to very suspect pass coverage by the linebackers, huge cushions by the corners, and little to no pressure on Brian Johnson by our D-line. Once Shafer and crew got into halftime however, the D came out in a Nickel and absolutely dominated the Utah offense. Jonas Mouton came in for Marrell Evans at linebacker and definitely laid claim to a starting position for this week. All in all, the improvement in defense can probably be chalked up to several factors: Half-time adjustments, finally getting the "rust off", and conditioning. By the time the fourth quarter rolled around, the Michigan D was running over Utah and showing no signs of slowing down despite having been on the field for the majority of the football game, this was especially evident on the D-line. Eeeeeeee Barwis indeed.

The fact that Radabaugh isn't likely to take off and run certainly seems to fit into the "pin the ears back" type of approach that Shafer has been lauded for all offseason. I'd look for the Wolverines to come out and play much more aggressive from the opening gun this week.

Verdict: Give the nod to the Michigan defense.

Miami on defense:
The Commodores piled up 269 yards rushing (166 from Vandy QB Chris Nickson) and averaged over 5 yards an attempt... compared to a mere 91 yards passing. That passing yardage is a bit misleading until you account for the fact that Vandy only threw the ball 16 times with 9 completions to 8 different players. Any time your leading receiver has two receptions, it's been a somewhat odd day. I only caught portions of this game, but I did see enough to realize that Nickson simply shredded Miami. Trust me, as a Michigan fan, I have years of empathy built up for this kind of gutting, it hurts. It seemed as though most of his yards came from simply dropping back and then picking which side of the field he was going to take off on, particularly on 3rd down. Interestingly, Miami has all three of their linebackers (two seniors, one junior) on the Butkus Award watch list which obviously makes the linebacking corps by far the strength of the Miami defense.

Miami lines up in a 4-3 and unlike Michigan, there is nary a freshman listed anywhere on their two-deep on the defense.

Michigan on offense:
Egads, yeeeek, and ugh... How else can one describe 203 yards of total offense, 36 yards rushing with 1.4 yards per carry without dipping into realms of previously unseen profanity? This output has been described by some as "OMG worst EVER!" which is a fine display of some of the worst short-term memory you could imagine. Michigan failed to accumulate 100 yards of total offense in their last regular season game against the Buckeyes... So, as eye-gougingly bad as the offense was last Saturday, lets keep in mind that they did manage to score three touchdowns and had the opportunity to actually tie the football game late.

Much has been made in the Michigan realm of Steven Threet and how he should obviously start over Nick Sheridan. Sheridan was 11/19 for 98 yards, one TD, and one pick. Threet entered in the second half and was 8/19 for 69 yards and one TD... BUT almost half of those yards came on his GORGEOUS 33 yard TD to Junior Hemmingway. What many have been harping on is that Threet simply looked more comfortable running the offense and had the better (which in this case means bigger) arm than Sheridan.

That said, both QBs played as though this was their first time taking collegiate snaps. Problem was, we relied a LOT on the vertical passing game, and for that, it was obvious that Sheridan does not possess the arm strength that Threet does. I expect Three to start Saturday, but would be surprised if Sheridan didn't get some snaps as well.

Now we come to my “biggest” concern for the Michigan offense… despite having all of these running backs, the Wolverines simply could NOT run the football. In a mind-bending statistic, the Michigan running backs got a whole 15 carries on Saturday. This is way, way, way, way, way, way, way too few. Part of this was a product of having 2nd and 14 on nearly every possession, and part of it was our plan to try to get outside… there was room up the middle and indeed the few solid runs were right up the gut. There's simply too much talent in the backfield to not give all of these guys more carries this week. The offensive line had difficulty opening up holes, but the problems weren't so bad that we should abandon trying to run between the tackles altogether.

Many of the struggles on the offense are not from complete lack of talent, but from failures in execution. The freshmen play makers all showed flashes, which is impressive because it was an intense struggle to get them the football, particularly in space. Stonum looks to be a legitimate threat at receiver if the quartebacks understand he's not 9 feet tall. McGuffie took a screen right up the middle and made a linebacker look downright foolish… and also made a very nice cut on his TD. Shaw showed some of his toughness and ability as well making a number of nice grabs out of the backfield. All of them look fast, fast, fast. Carson Butler is going to be a mismatch for most defenses and Michigan needs to look to get him the football a lot more as well.

VERDICT: Even I can't claim Michigan has an advantage at this point here, if the execution improves, there's no reason they can't move the football. If they are a no-show for 60 minutes, this game will become very interesting. Overall, heading into the game, I have to give the nod to the Miami defense.

Special Teams:
Stunningly, Michigan's special teams looked downright GOOD on Saturday. Zoltan Mesko was actually one of the weaker performers, and that's saying something. Lopata's career long 50yd FG, combined with one blocked punt, one fumble recovery on a punt return, and solid coverage all day long adds up to a pleasantly solid performance.

Miami also saw some solid play from their special teams: Punter Jake Richardson averaged over 48 yards/punt last week and Nate Parseghean tallied 2 FGs of 28 and 37 yards. Both teams kick returners were stifled for most of their week one games.

VERDICT: All in all, the athleticism and talent of Michigan's special teams gets the nod here, although not in a hugely decisive way.

Yay Journalisms!!!!

Well, as the countdown reaches a fever pitch round these parts, the daily battle to stay occupied and to soak up any bit of news concerning your team or any team for that matter sometimes yields fantastic results... observe dear reader:

An anonymous author for the Hazelton, PA Standard Speaker gives you the kind of low-down nitty gritty football detail that you and I crave:

"I disagree on Penn State. The Nittany Lions will win nine or 10 games. I’ve been accurate on my Penn State predictions the past few seasons."

Naturally, you read on with great interest as you are certain that there will be a reality-altering explanation for this assertion... and you read on, and you scan further down the page, and.... well... really there is none. Zip. In fact it simply jumps on to another topic completely. What do you expect? The man has been accurate, and damnit that was certainly good enough for Sam By-God Walton, it will have to be good enough for us.

10-2 I say!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What makes this "article" fantastic is it is the kind of non-sequiteur rant that you can only get from a crotchety old fan of any team. What takes it to the next level is that this was published by a paper. News worthy? Certainly not. An entertaining read? Well it certainly had me chuckling away.

Which brings me to this... Stew Mandel's glorious response to a questioning of the validity of Michigan's occupation of the 24th spot in the first Coaches Poll... (second page just over half-way down).

"I hate to beat this to a pulp, because I've said it several times before, but Michigan's offense is going to stink this season, and nothing short of Charles Woodson's return and/or a 1997-caliber performance from the defense will render Michigan a top-25 team. Which leaves only one possibility: There must be a bylaw in the coaches' poll -- much like the one that requires them to vote the BCS title-game winner No. 1 -- mandating the Wolverines' inclusion."

If someone would like to point out the difference between the first quote further up on the page and this one, by all means educate away. No knee-jerk responses here, no need to get into a spitting contest, but I think it will be nice to have this quote to look back on as the season rolls along, you know just in case ol' Stew happens to be correct... or if all the moons around Jupiter align and we make a first-down this year we can ask Stew what happened with his crystal ball. I don't know how after 125+ years of never having to replace playmakers on the offense it finally caught up with us... God, I wish we had recruited some more players!

Have we really reached a point where it's time to lambaste a team that's ranked 24th as overrated?? Stew seems to think so:

"I wrote a few years back about the recurring phenomenon of Michigan's overinflated preseason rankings (quite prophetically, I might add; that was the year they started No. 4 and finished 7-5) -- but this is the most flagrant case yet. [...] All at a time when the new coach is trying to implement an offense for which he currently lacks the proper personnel?"

Ding, ding, ding!!! There it is! Lacking the proper personnel for his offense! Journalism sticker for you Stew! That brings the running total of references to this lazy and completely devoid-of-any-sort-of-research point to 2,743 thus far this offseason... and still two weeks left to go!

Now listen, if you happen to think that Michigan is not deserving of such a lofty ranking, by all means you are entitled to your opinion... but, uh, to say this is the "most flagrant case yet"... at 24th?

I honestly cannot think of another time when Michigan lost a bunch of play-makers and guys on the O-line and was able to so much as cross mid-field the following year or ever got so much as a contribution from guys who had to step up to replace former stars... (videos courtesy of WolverineHistorian)

An Introspective Look at Scheduling and Social Consciousness... or just scheduling

Here we sit, a mere 3 weeks and change away from the literal kickoff to the most glorious time of the year, fall practices have begun, teams are fine tuning (read: wholesale searching for answers), and more and more commentary regarding teams is percolating through websites, radio shows, and television. One thing that I’ve particularly enjoyed this offseason is the use of the term “sleeper” to describe several teams. A cursory Google search for “NCAA Sleepers” reveals Virginia, North Carolina, and yes, Utah as carrying that label. There are several aspects of describing a team as a “sleeper” that annoy most erudite college football fans, the foremost of which being that once a team is labeled as such, EVERYONE and their brother repeats it ad nauseum. This tends to negate the “sleepiness factor” that a team supposedly possesses - After all, when I hear the word “sleeper” I think of a team that could be surprisingly good.

This begs the philosophical question: “if everyone labels a team a sleeper, are they really a sleeper anymore?” Doesn’t being an “under the radar team” (another favorite by the way) mandate that you are better than your opponents think you will be? If everyone [and their brothers! – ed.] labels you as being potentially good, exactly how many opponents are going to overlook you? The way that the term has been utilized lately brings about a different connotation if you ask me.

Rather than simply saying that a team has a possibility of being “good” or “better” this year, many experts look at teams that lie outside of the major power conferences and dig deep into the murky colloquialism bag. What do they grab? Sleeper. Why? Well they wouldn’t want to damage their hard earned credibility by labeling a team as “good” and then end up being wrong would they? They’ve manipulated the game so that either way the team’s season turns out, they’re insulated from criticism. Who’s going to get upset at somebody for calling a team that flops a sleeper? It was just a hunch wasn’t it? People who make predictions that are more concrete stand to have their necks out on the line… see Kirk Herbstreit re: Anthony Morelli, or a certain Michigan Blogger printing National Title shirts prior to 2007. So now rather than going out on a limb and saying , “Hey I think team X has a shot at being solid this year!” analysts instead cushion themselves by using that other term (I’ve already typed it too many times).

You may be asking yourself, “What’s the point Champ?” Fair enough. Let’s take the team name “Utah” away, and instead simply look at the factors you’d normally examine to try to forecast a team’s season. You know, basics like difficulty of schedule, returning players, lost players, recent track record, coaching acumen, talent etc. If we do that for this Unknown team that resides in Unknownville and go ahead and crank this admittedly somewhat subjective data through the prediction machine, what do you come out with?

Returning Starters: 8 on offense (including all skill positions), 6 on defense

Momentum: Won 8 games in a row to close ’07 including bowl game against Navy

Coaching: Kyle Whittingham (ha…hahaha…. See, it’s dangerously close to Willingham… get it? Eh??) carries a 24-14 record in his three years since Urban Myer’s departure, and an impressive 3-0 mark in bowl games. Per the Utah media guide he is the first Utah coach EVER to take his team to a bowl game in each of his first three seasons. Not exactly chopped liver.

Schedule: There’s a reason many are saying that if Utah can get past Michigan they could run the table…

So what do we have here? A pretty decent outlook by most accounts no? So what would you call that? Me? I’d probably go with “a good football team with a good chance to be successful this coming season” but that’s just me. Hmmmm….

Here’s where things get interesting, and where I think the scheduling higher-ups at several schools could learn a key lesson or two. Utah (the somnolent one) has instant credibility available to it if it were to manage a win on August 30th. Michigan, despite many predictions of an abysmal season, stands to gain little from beating what, on paper at least, figures to be a pretty decent football team. Oh, and if they were to lose? Utah T-shirt sales would skyrocket in East Lansing and Columbus, because “hur-hur, yous lossst to thems!” Meanwhile, if Utah runs through its admittedly lackadaisical schedule with only a loss to the Maize and Blue, they will in all likelihood end up in a BCS bowl anyways. The decision to schedule Michigan is a win-win for the Utes.

Michigan, on the other hand, could stand to take a tactic from its arch rival in this regard. The Buckeyes have upped their OOC schedule in a very cunning way. Yes OSU plays USC this year, yes they’ve played Texas the past few years, and if you look ahead you’ll see a marquee matchup each season for the foreseeable future. What is hidden by these contests is a laughable remainder to the OOC schedule! OSU gets to play a big time game against a big time opponent (something most lay people would call a “high risk” game, but in fact is exactly the opposite), where a loss will NOT derail a season or a BCS hope (see: LSU vs. OSU last year), and where a win will scream “LEGITIMACY!” from the highest of peaks. All while having what amounts to exhibition games for the remainder of the OOC schedule. How is this not genius? How is it that Michigan locked themselves into playing Notre Dame for decades when they had an opportunity to say “Thanks for the rivalry, but maybe we should start seeing other people for a bit” a few years ago? Notre Dame has not added any panache to the Wolverines schedule over the past few years. I’m not discounting the tradition or the rivalry; it’s always a huge game to both schools. My point, however, is that Michigan simply doesn’t gain as much from playing ND as it did 15 years ago. Perfect example: after a blowout victory against the #2 ranked (!!!!) Fighting Irish in ’06, many were using that game as a “so-what” at the end of the year when “debate” raged over Florida or Michigan. What would have happened if Michigan had played, say, Oklahoma? Or Georgia? My guess is that UM would have gotten the nod for the rematch.

Instead, Michigan is now caught in the middle of a scheduling conundrum: with ND on the slate for God only knows how long, how do they put together a schedule that’s not too tough, not too cup-cakey, but juuuuuust right? Well you can’t; not by the national media standards anyway, and they matter, because well, they make the polls now don’t they? Despite the fact that Utah figures to be a solid football team, Michigan will not garner any votes or confidence from a victory against the Utes. A loss, however, will open up the opportunity to play every criticism card in the book. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I think a solid performance against Utah would be a huge confidence boost to not only the team and the coaching staff, but much of the fan base as well. The problem is that in this current system there’s more to it than that, and that ephemeral feeling that poll creators get when they see a big game win or loss as opposed to one against a mid major solid team is enough to make a huge difference these days.

So how does the sleeper thing fit into all of this? Pretty darn well if you ask me. The media at large has labeled Utah as a team that “could be good,” which conveniently means that if Michigan were to win on August 30th, the Utes probably weren’t as good as most thought, and perhaps Michigan might not be as bad as many said. What the sleeper “label” has done has put any actual evaluation on hold for Utah while reducing the likelihood of Michigan making any kind of impact on how it is viewed by those who vote in the polls.

While this might seem small in the grand scheme of things, I think it illuminates two things that Michigan has either looked at and passed on or failed to realize altogether: that scheduling a big time tough opponent early in the year is not as damaging as the prevailing notion makes it seem, and secondly, scheduling good teams that are not widely recognized as such poses the problem of large risk with little benefit.

NCAA 2009 for a guy who hasn't played since college...

[This is from Champ, who has been working like a beaver, and spending his off time playing this game. Ok, I really just wanted to call Champ a beaver. - B2]

Ok... knee-jerk reactions to NCAA '09 after one half on All-American... (which means most of these are totally misguided likely)

First, a few caveats:
1. I did not own or play NCAA 08, so perhaps I'm a bit behind the curve on some of this stuff... read: totally goddamn lost on most of it.
2. I am now playing the PS3 version of this game for the first time since college, the controls are somewhat foreign to me right now.
3. Some of the player ratings are a joke (KC Lopata a 58 for example, dude was only 11 for 12 last year!) but I'll try to focus more on the gameplay since messed up player ratings are nothing new.

Which brings me to my first complete gripe... the X button, which for all of eternity has been "sprint" is now "stiff-arm". This greatly annoys me as I have taken at least 6 handoffs in the backfield and promptly tried to stiff-arm nobody in particular instead of blasting towards a hole... I actually had to consult the manual to notice that R2 is now "sprint"... why this setup is better I do not know, I'm going to try playing a few games with it before I start making tweaks.

Speaking of running, not sure if this is just because it's Michigan, but uh... it's hard. Part of the problem is that I simply don't know our "strengths" yet and I definitely don't have my rotation of "go-to" plays figured out at all. The computer can't run (nothing really new there) and you can't run (although perhaps I will improve now that I know how to sprint), all in all it's difficult. I'm also not real clear on Michigan's depth chart. Minor is the starter, with Grady the second in line... I switched him with Brown who has a 94 speed rating. They appear to have Michael Shaw or somebody (Avery Horn?) listed up on the list as well at #28... I think McGuffie is #34. The freshman numbers are all mixed it up making it a little tough to know who's who. Regardless, that all said, it's hard to run... and I was playing Minnesota.

It's also not hard to throw three interceptions apparently. I think I was something around 14-19 in the first half, with three picks (throwing short passes over the middle is begging for it). Most were short passes, but I'm starting to get the scary impression that it's going to be an air it out type of game where the ball is more than likely caught, rarely dropped, and often picked if you throw into the slightest bit of coverage. Oh, and they still have Mallet in the game, he was quickly benched for who I thought was Threet [Turns out that Threet is the starting QB, and was apparently benched promptly by Champ - B2], but may very well have been Sheridan. Whomever #8 is... God, I don't even know our QB's number.... Pump fake is the R thumb stick, which I like and am very accustomed to.

Pass defense will take some time, I tried to go for two picks/breakups and both times got absolutely torched, so for the time being, I am letting the CPU handle that.

Play calling... holy hell did they change this on me, don't know if it's new this year or was last year and I just haven't seen it... but the format is totally changed and unfamiliar, it takes a while to find how you like them presented (ex. you can say, Run or Pass and then see all available plays, or you can go by formation, etc) and it takes even longer to find a play you want to run.

The playbook itself? Base 4-3 on D, and then more shotgun formations than any Michigan team has EVER featured at any point in time... ever. In fact you could probably combine all shotgun formations for all years of this franchise, and this year's playbook has more, it's going to take some getting used to.

The game itself looks great, very fluid and far less choppy than the old-gen games. They still managed to botch Michigan Stadium a bit (the visitors section is all wrong) but I've given up on those kind of details at this point. That said, is it too freakin' hard to have the team run out and touch the banner? If they do other entrances, why is that so tough? Hell just show a video clip for all I care.

There's an online-dynasty mode... which I have to figure out how it works, but sounds amazing, it may well get you and I in trouble. The game seems to have a deeper level to it in terms of playing your dynasty, etc.

It's going to take some getting used to, but the game looks good and plays nicely... after the requisite warm up period here I'll check back in with more substantive thoughts.

The latest update from Champ was regaling the tale of a stirring comeback involving a 31-7 halftime deficit. Needless to say, Champ has been enjoying the game immensely, and I've received no reports of thrown controllers, or broken TV's.

Penn State 2008 (it rhymes!!!)

Masks? Check. Football Unis? Check. Joe Pa get-up? You betcha. Smart-phone nicely clipped to football pants? Um... check.

So, having poked around BSD for most of this off-season, I feel decently comfortable in placing the majority of Penn State fans' expectations for this upcoming season at: "high" on the big board. Why not? There's a lot to be confident about from a Nittany Lion perspective, there are also a few things that I don't see getting a lot of mention around the Blue and White corner of the world that one might go ahead and place on the "question mark" list. How does it all sort out? Well let's embark upon that mystery together dear reader!

One thing the media will harp on that is ridiculously off-base: Well, it will be next to impossible for anyone to top the pure buffoonery that was Kirk Herbstreit's prediction of greatness from Anthony Morelli to lead Penn State to the summit of the Big 10 mountain. I wish I had taped a few of those segments prior to last fall, but this will have to suffice: go ahead and scroll down to the "What a Difference a Year Makes" category and enjoy.

This year? I don't know. Much focus will undoubtedly be on JoePa, but I have a feeling we'll hear more about the way that the old coach is "opening back up the offense" for his new quarterback(s)... a return to 2005 no less. That statement in and of itself isn't off-base, but here's the rub. Penn State has shown a tendenancy to play several BIG games in a very close to the vest fashion, particularly on the road. Last year that was the Michigan game in Ann Arbor. We've been down this road, but suffice to say that Michigan couldn't possibly hope to stop an offense in the spread formation at the start of the year... surely, Penn State and staff were well aware of this... and instead of simply following a blueprint that had been clearly laid out two weeks in a row for them by App State and Oregon, they came into Michigan Stadium and threw rock...

Turns out we have a bigger rock

Oh sure, it's a bit self-serving to throw up that picture (sue me) but it does illustrate a point. Penn State was #10 in the nation that day and had a chance to really make a run at the rest of their schedule after this hurdle... suffice to say it was a big game for them against an ailing Michigan squad, and they packed it in. Penn State fans will tell you it's not the first time. If Penn State has success with this new offense, it won't mean much if they don't take it with them to Camp Randall and to the Shoe. Yes the offense is experienced at most spots, yes the defense looks to be another strength, but what has changed on the staff and in the recruiting game that makes this Penn State team different from so many that have come before it? That's a question I just don't see being asked or answered much thus far this year.

One thing the media will completely ignore that is integral to this team's success: This team's lack of a reliable and/or proven offensive weapon. Having a new QB isn't as huge of a hindrance to your offense if you have a go-to guy who can bail you out when needed, but when I look at this Penn State offense, I have a hard time picking out that guy. Is there talent? Sure. But what has it done thus far that makes you comfortable pointing as anyone being the "go-to" playmaker in '08?

Something else you won't read about coming into this season:
1. Over the last 8 years, Penn State is a .500 football team in the Big 10 conference.
2. Over the last 5 years, Penn State is a sub .500 football team in the Big 10 conference.
3. Last year's record against winning football teams was... you guessed it, .500.

So that begs a question or two if you ask me. Yes Penn State returns a lot of players, especially on the lines, but the key question is not just of experience, but of talent. Just how good is this team? Who has the chance to become the playmaker on this football team? Who is going to be a guy on offense who will give Penn State a deep threat? Oh, and just one more thing: yes Penn State is returning to a more "2005" offensive approach, but Michael Robinson isn't the guy handling the pigskin, will whomever assumes that role be able to manage an offense that doesn't seem to feature any kind of a safety blanket? At what point will PSU's inability to bring in offensive firepower become an issue that people outside of the PSU circle (aka the media) start to discuss?

Oh, and we'll hear plenty about Sean Lee's absence from the field, but perhaps a more intriguing question is how much his leadership will be missed as well.

Area that scares you as an opponent: D-line. This D-line will be the heart and soul of what figures to be another solid defense. They are talented and they are deep. If the front four play well it will make the loss of Sean Lee not nearly as big of a deal from an on-field standpoint. The offense has loads of experience (perhaps not the talent to match) in nearly every position with the exception of the backfield. If Daryll Clark and Steven Green step up into serviceable roles, there's going to be reason for some of the optimism circulating in Happy Valley. Michigan had a similar set-up in '04 and took two freshmen in Chad Henne and Mike Hart to the Rose Bowl... of course we also had a Braylon Edwards...

Area that makes you salivate as an opponent: JayPa. He's the Penn State Mike DeBord.

Random factor that you think will come into play this season: A joke of an out-of-conference schedule sets up PSU for a run of @Purdue, @Wisconsin, Michigan, and @OSU. Let's just imagine that PSU runs out to 6-0... that leaves three HUGE games:
- @ Wisconsin (a team Penn State DRILLED last year)
- Michigan (a game most Penn State fans are oddly overlooking...)
- @ Ohio State (a team that has somewhat owned Penn State in Columbus)

That's quite a stretch in the heart of the season, and two out of three on the road no less. If anything, I doubt the ability of the coaching staff to put together three straight solid gameplans, especially with having to travel to Columbus. Penn State has every opportunity to field a very solid football team, but I think this stretch (and really the overall stretch of 4 road games in 5 weeks) will cost them a truly great season.

Overall record: 9-3

Final Big 10 standing: 5-3, pick two from the following: Michigan, Purdue, and Wisconsin. Chalk another up to the Buckeyes.

Bowl destination: New Year's Day somewhere.

Examining the Company Line...

A few friends and I were discussing this interesting point the other day, and I think it's a fun hypothetical:

If Lloyd Carr were still the head coach in Ann Arbor, with Mike DeBord and Co. still around, what would be the expected record for this upcoming season? No other changes in the team here, Mallet is still gone, Arrington and Manningham too. You really think the "experts" would be predicting the same season of woe for the Wolverines? Let's save that for just a moment.

For all those doom and gloomers regarding the offense, I invite you to look back at our offensive output over the past several years (highs in bold). Not exactly overpowering in any way, shape, or form...

2007 - 27.2 points/game, 68th in total offense (dear God...) ---> 9-4
2006 - 29.2 points/game, 38th in total offense ----> 11-2
2005 - 28.75 points/game, 55th in total offense ----> 7-5
2004 - 30.83 points/game, 46th in total offense ----> 9-3
2003 - 35.4 points/game, 15th in total offense ----> 10-3 (oh what could've been... @!#% punt formation)
2002 - 27.7 points/game, 52nd in total offense ----> 10-3
2001 - 27.5 points/game, 70th in total offense ----> 8-4
2000 - 33.9 points/game, 11th in total offense ----> 9-3

West Virginia under Rodriguez?

2007 - 39.6 points/game, 15th in total offense ----> 11-2
2006 - 38.8 points/game, 5th in total offense ----> 11-2
2005 - 32.0 points/game, 50th in total offense ----> 11-1
2004 - 30.0 points/game, 26th in total offense ----> 8-4
2003 - 28.9 points/game, 72nd in total offense ----> 8-5
2002 - 30.4 points/game, 18th in total offense ----> 9-4
2001 - 21.3 points/game, 80th in total offense ----> 3-8

Now then, I can foresee a lot of people pointing to that 2001 number in Rodriguez's first season at WVA and going berserk... but take a moment and glance up at our offensive outputs for the '01 campaign in Ann Arbor... just about 6 points more a game and an offense that was marginally better ranked (although undoubtedly 10x more talented than what WVA had at the time) and you get 6 more wins and 5 less losses. Does anyone here want to try to argue that Michigan has had less talent than West Viriginia over any of this time period? Anyone? Not me, that's for sure. Is it not at all conceivable that PERHAPS, just MAYBE, Rich Rodriguez knows what he's doing from a game planning, X's and O's, and play calling point of view? You know, the kind of ability that means he doesn't exactly HAVE to have a Pat White on his team for that team's offense to be functional?

But what about the pre-Rodriguez WVA team? Perhaps that offense was solid and capable, and his new system set them back until they got the hang of it? Here we go:

2000 WVA - 27.9 points/game, 73rd in total offense ----> 6-5

So, um... not exactly the most catastrophic drop in the world eh? Even with the most complex, highly finnicky, player-specific-offense-that-man-ever-created?

Every time someone starts going all "woe is us" or "hahahahaha" regarding this year's offense and completely ignores the following, it drives me crazy:

1. The offense here has hardly ever been lights out over the past 8 seasons, despite being choked with talent across the field more often than not. It has been mostly slaps to the forehead infuriating with momentary bursts of brilliance. If you could've taken a snapshot of each and every Michigan fan's expression after the opening drive of the bowl game this year you would've seen two things: A) Joy and B) Rage... we had been waiting for that for YEARS.

2. Our returning defense certainly holds the potential to be a solid unit, which, might occasionally figure into an outcome come fall.

3. For AGES we Michigan fans have howled about the play calling, absolutely SCREAMED about it, I'm one of the chief perpetrators believe me... I can honestly say that the removal of DeBord from the press-box already has this new offense off on the right foot.

So now that we have a guy who's regarded as one of the top in the game at scheming and game planning and running an offense... why are we all jumping off bridges because we have an inexperienced offense? Isn't it conceivable that less talent (for Michigan standards) with better play-calling and game-planning and conditioning somewhat evens the equation out a bit?? You think the Michigan advantage in talent might be worth one more TD a game than what the Mountaineers had in '01? Because if you do, you're looking at an offense that is right on the average of the past eight units we've put on the field numbers-wise. A thought worth considering when you're lobbing out predictions of a record that hasn't found the books in over 40 years.

When I talked about this on one of the boards I post on, I stated that I don't care one iota about those who go on and on about running "his system", the important point (as I see it) is that the guy will try to put the ball in his play-makers' hands and if the past is any sort of indicator, he'll be aggressive about it... something we've, as Michigan fans, all been BEGGING for over the past decade. What people seem to miss is that you don't have to run the exact Pat White WVA offense for things to work. Let's just imagine if Michigan decided to relentlessly use it's best players... the few times that they took this approach, the results have been pretty nice: ND '06... Florida '08... OSU '03... MSU '02, etc. You could also look at any drive late in a game where they found themselves in a dire situation and were literally forced to open up the offense... another angering trend that had many of us going "duh".

It's not exactly a huge stretch to say that we've gone X-3 and X-4 for ages running half-back traps nearly exclusively to the left side and then throwing over the top 3 times a game to an all-world receiver. Sure that's a generalization, but it's not like you've walked away from many Michigan games going "whew, we just out game-planned them there"! All of the jokes about running to the left on first down and wide receiver screens behind the line of scrimmage on 3rd and 7 aren't actually jokes, they've been tried and true predictions over the years. Imagine how Steve Breaston might have developed with someone in place who might have had a better idea of how to use him?

When Michigan finally went for broke this New Year's Day, the result was the highest bowl offensive output in a century... Suffice to say that aggression when combined with talent can have some nice after-effects. Now listen, I fully understand that we don't have that offense this year, and I'm not trying to argue that we wil not miss a beat. BUT, Rodriguez will have players at his disposal who have the ability to do things with the football. His job is to figure out how best to get them the ball in the best position to do something with it, you know, take advantage of things the defense will give... He happens to be pretty good at that sort of thing if you glance back at his extensive track record. He also has a chance of finding a few solid football players out there in Maize and Blue. The running back position is as deep this season as it has been in years, despite those outside the program not being familiar with all of the names, Michigan still trots out a number of wideouts who will be dangerous, and I think it will be interesting to see how we integrate Carson Butler into the offense at the TE spot.

Where people seem to get stuck is in thinking that because Rodriguez "can't run his system" they automatically assume that he can't field a competent offense in any regard. Folks, it doesn't take a ton of complexity to put points on the board. When I look at the defensive potential along with the schedule, I don't see a lot of instances where Michigan will have to score 35 a game to win. Perhaps I am mistaken?

So back to my original question, do you think the predictions for the upcoming season would be as universally dour if the old staff were in place? Allow me to answer for you: the answer would be no. Predictions would be middling, likely another 4 loss season sort. I can draw a lot of parrallels between this upcoming year and the Wolverines' 2001 campaign. You may recall 2001 as a year of utter dispair heading into the season, Michigan had just graduated Anthony Thomas, and later in the spring lost Drew Henson and David Terrell to early jumps to the MLB and NFL... That season represents the low water-mark offensively over the last eight years... 70th overall... the result? 8-4.

For years the accusation has been that Michigan has gotten by on superior talent... I don't think it would be unreasonable to say that the last coaching staff had an approach that focused more on perfecting execution than trying to seek out any and all weakness in the opponent and how to attack them. I imagine if we boiled down the approach, it was essentially: "We have the better players, if we play well, we will beat you". That will not work this season, and I think it's also safe to say that Rodriguez has NEVER relied on that approach. He has been forced to figure out how to win with lesser talent, how to attack opponents and create matchups that favor his team, how to plan and prepare his teams... he's proven this, and it's because of this that I think that he'll be capable of fielding an offense that will be better than the "miserable" that has been the company line all off-season. No, the huge talent advantage won't be as apparent this year, but the coaching advantage will be, and I think many are overestimating the effects of one, and underestimating the impact of the other.

I object

Opinions are funny things, and naturally you'll always hear that someone else's opinion is just as valid as yours or mine... this of course is not true. I have no problem with a dissenting opinion or point of view. What I do have a problem with is when said argument is devoid of any sort of attempt at presenting the information used to draw out the conclusions that were reached. I am more than happy to engage in a discussion and even reconsider my stance, just present your points of view in a way that has some sort of logical backing behind them. Absolute statements made without such backing fall into a different category. That said, the following deserves a few words presented in a calm fashion...:

From Nittany White Out:
Michigan will be beaten and beaten badly this season. For years Michigan has been beating on its fellow Big Ten rivals mostly due to Lloyd Carr’s impeccable coaching. This is not to say Rich Rod can’t coach. But he simply doesn’t have the players to run his offense. Sure he’ll modify it this year to fit his players, but if history repeats itself, his first year will be dismal. And to the delight of all Big Ten teams, Michigan will struggle. Michigan will be last season’s Notre Dame.

Can you honestly tell me with confidence that they can even win all their non-conference games? With Utah, and Notre Dame (away), the odds are in favor of a 2-2 start before they even start their conference gauntlet. Then there are revenge games away at Penn State, at Purdue, a vastly improved Michigan State, Illinois, at Minnesota and at Ohio State. If you look at their schedule, only 3 games can be considered a sure win, Miami (OH), Toledo and Northwestern.

The 2008 season will be sweet music to all Big Ten fans not sporting Maize and Blue.

Now then, everyone is certainly entitled to their opinion on this year's Wolverines... what I take issue with here is the ridiculous litany of "points" that are thrown out here sans defense, logic, or any identifiable level of reason. All this "breakdown" does is trot out a number of phrases, talking points, and whimsical notions that have been echoed around rival message boards ever since Rodriguez was announced as the new HC. Let's take them in order shall we?

1. For years Michigan has been beating on its fellow Big Ten rivals mostly due to Lloyd Carr’s impeccable coaching. This is missing the forest for a single tree. I said in the comments section over there that I'm was as big of a Lloyd Carr supporter as you could find during his tenure in Ann Arbor. He deserves a LOT of credit, but the main reason why Michigan has been winning football games has been his impeccable coaching? The man was a solid football coach and even greater person, he will go down as one of the greats who have roamed the sidelines in the Big House. But to claim that Michigan has been beating on its fellow Big Ten rivals mostly due to Lloyd Carr's coaching? Certainly his ability as a head coach was a large factor in Michigan's Big 10 success... but uh, there are a few other points to take into account here as well. For one, I think Carr's management of his talent had a much larger effect than his gameplanning or x's and o's prowess did.

I highly doubt anyone would argue that Carr-lead Michigan teams' success had nothing to do with his recruiting, which coincidentally brought in more talent than other teams in the conference could dream of having (save for that one down Columbus way of course), it probably had nothing to do with the fact that Michigan was a better football team across the field than nearly everyone else they lined up with, and I'm sure it had nothing to do with the fact that there has been a long-running tradition of a top level program, which affords it the ability to recruit, gather quality staffs (even if Malone, DeBord, or Andy Moeller were members...), and build from a very strong base. Michigan has not only been fortunate to have a run of great coaches, but we also have been spoiled rotten with the level of football player that we bring in year in and year out... more on that in a bit. To say we won only because of Lloyd Carr's coaching ability is quite simply wrong.

2. But he simply doesn’t have the players to run his offense. Sure he’ll modify it this year to fit his players, but if history repeats itself, his first year will be dismal. Sigh... I nailed this in the preview on "things people will beat to death and be way off base about" and here's example 1A. Sure he'll modify it to fit his players... and if you'd care to tell me how the caliber of player he had at West Virginia, Tulane, and Glenville State compares to that which he is now working with in Ann Arbor, I will happily sit here and listen. Michigan beat a number of teams over the years by running HB traps to the left and occasionally find one of a long line of great receivers deep (oversimplifying a bit for the sake of brevity)... the offense doesn't have to be amazingly complex or mind bendingly difficult to succeed, in fact if you'd like a beautiful example, I direct your attention to last years contest between #10 Penn State and the lowly unranked Wolverines... final score? 14-9 Michigan. Not exactly an offensive firework show was it... and a true freshman qb at the helm no less.

Rodriguez has been around the block, he'll put something in place that will enable this team to play to its strengths. Why everyone is so convinced that because Michigan won't run the "Pat White Steve Slayton" offense next year that they are in huge trouble is beyond me, Rodriguez ran an effective offense with Sean King winging the ball all over the place, and he ran one that whipped the life out of opponents by throwing less than 20 times a game, he's clearly able to adjust to his personnel, but hey, that's inconvienant to this flawed argument. We're all well aware of his first year record at West Virginia and Glenville State, etc, etc, but to try to compare his first year at WVA with what he's working with here is a bit of a stretch if you were to ask me. What his success in these different systems does tell me is that he WILL get his play-makers the football, and believe me when I say that we will have more than one or two players who will be capable of making plays.

The second part of this is the notion that because the offense likely may struggle at times, Michigan is doomed. This might be the case if the defense were going to be of the 2000 vintage... but that simply will not be the case. The Maize and Blue won't have to score 35 points a game to win. Of course it'd probably help to actually, you know, look at the team you're talking about to realize points like that.

3. Michigan will be last seasons Notre Dame. Based upon what? Michigan lost a number of top offensive skill players like ND did two years ago? That's where any and all comparisons stop beween these two teams. The coaching staffs couldn't be more different in terms of both track record and ability, the recruiting classes compared over the past four years are vastly different, the schedules for the upcoming year are different, and the makeup of this year's Michigan squad compared to last year's notre dame edition is also vastly different. Quick name last year's starting running back for ND... does he even crack our top 5 heading into this season? How about their top receiver.... and on, and on, and on.

4. Can you honestly tell me with confidence that they can even win all their non-conference games? With Utah, and Notre Dame (away), the odds are in favor of a 2-2 start before they even start their conference gauntlet. 2-2 would be something close to a worst case scenario to start the season as I look at the teams we're facing... but hey, "the odds favor it"... which means precisely nothing. Nothing in the way of matchups, breakdowns, or other places where any of these teams might give Michigan problems. Utah will be a tough test, as will ND as the first road game, are theses sure wins? No. Are they sure losses? No.

5. Then there are revenge games away at Penn State, at Purdue, a vastly improved Michigan State, Illinois, at Minnesota and at Ohio State. Ah yes, the "revenge game"... this is as true a barometer of an upcoming season as any. I love the argument that teams will be excited to beat Michigan this season... really?? That's different from every other season how exactly? It's really helped Penn State out a bunch since '96 hasn't it, every time our two teams have lined up since then hasn't been a "revenge game" for the Nittany Lions? Next of course is the "vastly improved MSU" (in what way are they vastly improved?)... which just so happens to have to travel to Michigan Stadium where, vastly improved or not, they haven't won since 1990... which is a vast expanse of time.

I've longed learned the hard lesson of trying to determine "sure wins" and you know what, the same holds for "sure losses". For anyone to try to claim that Michigan will be doomed to a 9th place conference finish and a record that one must reach back to 1967 to find another in the same ball park (4-6) with nothing more substantial than talking head sound bites and message board banter is just a bit laughable... add to the fact that it is June, and it's even more laughable. Call me old fashioned, but examining trends and matchups certainly carries more weight than trying to judge a team's "revenge factor" against its opponent.

So in short, we're in trouble because:
1. Rodriguez can't possibly run "his" offense (nevermind that this "argument" completely ignores 2/3rds of the game of football and fails to present any sort of actual attempt at defending these kinds of predictions, it sounds good and everyone else is saying it too!).
2. Other teams will want to beat Michigan really bad... which is news to exactly no one.

How very illuminating...

Michigan may very well struggle this season, nobody knows how we'll look come the end of August, which makes absolute statements about the upcoming season altogether misguided. Particularly when such absolute statements don't do anything like the following: "I think a lack of an experienced quarterback combined with the installation of a new system will really hinder Michigan's offensive efforts this year, this could spell trouble in a number of matchups, including...blah, blah, blah and so on."

I am not stating that Michigan will be great or even good, I don't KNOW what they will be, but to deny that there's a chance that they will be anything other than downright terrible (and the Nittany Whiteout prediction is the bottom of downright terrible) is pretty bold at this point in the year. To attribute said terrible-ness (English is a generative language after all) all to a struggle on offense is just a bit too much for my taste.

Northwestern 2008

One thing the media will harp on that is ridiculously off base:
Bright shiny offense, lots of yards, lots of passing yards, possibly a healthy “woah!” back in Sutton, returning experienced QB… One problem, Northwestern fails to turn all of those yards into points… for a team that had 11^th ranked passing attack in the country, and the 32^nd overall O in the land… well, finishing 72^nd in scoring points to a bit of a problem. The media will focus on all of the experience on the offensive side of the ball, but they better learn how to put the thing in the end zone before anyone gets too excited about challenging the upper echelon of the conference. Northwestern fans are attaching their hopes to new personnel in both coordinator positions, and I don’t have a problem with that, just understand that until this guy proves that he’ll be more effective in getting the pigskin over the goal-line, skepticism is the order of the day.

One thing the media will completely ignore that is integral to this team's success:
Line play. Not to use statistics as a complete crutch for this preview, but, uh….

2007 Sacks Allowed: 97^th

2007 Sacks: 96^th
2007 TFLs: 95^th

2007 Rushing O: 97^th

It’d be easy to guffaw at these numbers on the surface, but we’re not about that here are we? A few caveats? Caveats: obviously more than just the D-line is responsible for sacks and TFLs, but a competent one certainly helps in those areas. It also doesn’t help that Northwestern loses their leading tackler (by 50 freakin’ tackles!!!) in LB Adam Kadela.

The sacks allowed will have to improve if Northwestern hopes to be able to find more success on the offensive side of the football. The rushing statistic is also somewhat misleading due to the fact that Not-Tyrell-Sutton was at running back for five of the twelve games last season. Although Sutton only averaged 74.5 yds/game in the seven games he did play. Needless to say however, a lack of solid experience on both lines is going to be an issue that this squad will have to overcome in order to have a successful season.

Most important contributors on each side of the ball:
I’ll whole-heartedly concur with what LTP had to say in this space: Tyrell Sutton on offense. The guy is the catalyst for this offense much in the same way that Mike Hart was for my Michigan squad over the past four seasons. In the three games where Sutton managed to get 20 or more touches last season, Northwestern went 2-1… for his career when he touches the ball over 20 times, the Wildcats are 8-3. If this offense wants to be effective, particularly in the red zone, then they MUST feature a guy in the backfield that makes defenses respect the run and the play-action, without that, you get what you’ve seen from the Wildcats lately… lots of yards, few points.

Defensively… wait… what’s happening here? (jarring painful memory) Anthony Thomas breaks through the line and….. WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MY EYES! MY EYES!!!! NO ONE TOUCHED HIM!!@#$!>? NOOOOOOOOOO! Muffled sounds of agony emanating from a hat placed over a face (/jarring painful memory)

Area that scares you as an opponent:
The fact that Northwestern appears to be oh-so-close to having one of those “puncher’s chance” offenses that on any given Saturday could light you up like a Christmas tree. I hate track meets and given the way this team is shaping up on both sides of the football, track meets will be the order of the day if you were to ask me to draw up an ideal NW scenario. If, and as with all previews this remains an “if”, the new coordinators can get this team fine tuned a bit, then Northwestern could give a number of defenses fits.

Area that makes you salivate as an opponent:
No discernable threat as a pass rusher, the line has problems protecting the QB, teams will be able to bring a lot of pressure on Bacher who will need to cut down on his picks if Sutton is anything South of 100%. Teams will look to keep the football away from the Wildcats’ offense and there are enough offenses in the Big 10 that will be capable of pounding the football that this could present a problem.

Random factor that you think will come into play this season:
Northwestern’s schedule becomes decidedly tougher at the end of the season with the final three games featuring OSU, @ Michigan, and Illinois…. BUT leading up to that stretch the Wildcats play Indiana and Minnesota. Northwestern could very well have a bowl bid locked up heading into the final stretch, making them a team with nothing to lose heading into that final stretch…

Overall Record: 8-4 (4-4) I think NW stands a solid chance of running the non-conference table, needless to say they are horrifically overdue. I think matchups with Purdue, Michigan State or Illinois, Michigan, Ohio State will all present too much for the Wildcats to handle, however, which puts them into the endless quagmire of teams finishing with a .500 record in our ridiculously early preview series... math? What’s that?

Final Big Ten Standing: 4-4 is looking to be all the rage this season… I think the Wildcats are good enough for anywhere in the jumble from 5^th to 7^th with Illinois and Purdue.

Bowl Destination: Capital One Bowl week bowl du jour…

Meeeechigan 2008

Alright full disclosure: I’m a dyed in the wool Michigan fan; however, I do not find myself to be the “OMG GO BLUE!!1!!!1 everyone else suxzores” type of obnoxious fan that B2 alluded to, perhaps I am mistaken, do inform me if need be. I am biased, but I will do my best to explain my points of view on the team and back them up with [gasp] reason and logic [/gasp]. You won’t see me creating national title shirts prior to a season (AHEM like a certain Michigan blogger who shall remain nameless but deserves to have a plot in the Steve Bartman HOF). Disagree with something I have to say? Comment away dear reader, comment away.

One thing the media will harp on that is ridiculously off base – Wooo boy, what WON’T the media harp on and in an off-base fashion? If it has the words “Rodriguez” “Offense” and/or “Spread” in it, then it’s likely off-base, and it will likely be beat like a drum to the tune of “CRAIG KRENZEL TAKES MOLECULAR GENETICS!!!! DREW HENSON PLAYS BASEBALL!!!!! THE SSSSS EEEEE SEEEE IS AMAZING!!” type of level. You’ve been forewarned… oh oh and West Virginia in any context will likely be mentioned ad nauseum. Also, if I have to hear one more time about how the entire offense won’t work because Threet doesn’t run a 4.4 40… I may snap. There’s a bevy of topics to pick from here, and even the harshest critics have to admit that Michigan certainly is the most intriguing storyline in the Big 10 right now. This naturally means way too much exposure and way too much focus that will undoubtedly carry through the season. You’ve been warned.

One thing the media will completely ignore that is integral to this team's success – Well so far that would be anything that has to do with the defensive side of the football. You won’t hear the media harp on the returners on the D-line or our two stellar corners who are returning, nor will you hear about the talent stepping into more prominent roles in the line-backing corps (Ezeh will become a much more familiar name by the season’s end). For something as cliché and well known as “defense wins championships” the defense that’s assembling in Ann Arbor hasn’t gotten a lick of a mention thus far. Here’s a little secret, they’re going to be good.

The second part of this is talent. All we’ve heard about thus far is how much Michigan lost on the offense… and hey, no bones about it, we lost a lot, but uh, guess what, there’s more to come and step into those vacated roles. The Wolverines haven’t been slacking in the recruiting department, and solid classes from the past several years will be joined by a heck of an incoming freshman class where a number of guys will likely challenge for playing time right away. No one has mentioned how much IS there. The team will be young, but it still rolls out more talent than every team in the Big 10 save for one… count the number of times THAT gets mentioned this year. Most Michigan fans will tell you that the issue has not really been talent over the years, it’s been how that talent has been utilized… and that will most assuredly change heading into this season.

Most important contributors on each side of the ball – Without a doubt this is the offensive line. I know, I know, DUH, but I have to go with them here. If Michigan is going to have success offensively this season, then the offensive group up front will have to gel quickly and give Threet some time and the stable (and holy cow what a stable) of running backs some lanes to run in. It’s hard to imagine that Michigan would lose the number one pick in the draft and actually become better, but I don’t think they’re going to lose as much ground as some make it out to be. Aside from the excellence of Long, the rest of the line was decidedly “MEH”. The other losses aren’t going to be as big of an impact as outside observers are assuming, and the way things are shaping up, Michigan will roll out 4 red-shirt juniors on the line… not exactly a rag tag bunch of green-horns.

On the defense I have to go with Brandon Graham. Graham has the ability to become a LaMarr Woodley type of player on the D-line and could be one of the keys to an experienced front four getting consistent pressure and creating mismatches at the line of scrimmage.

Destroyer of backfields

Area that scares you as an opponent – The unknown. Every Michigan opponent this season is getting a team they have never seen before. This isn’t going to be the “first down draws to the left behind Long 80% of the time and not kill you with its offensive weapons until they absolutely must” or the “throw the 2-yard WR screen on 3^rd and 7” type of Michigan team that opponents have counted on year after year. The game-planning will be different, the play-calls will be different, and oh, oh yes, the players themselves will be different. Count me as a member of the “eeeeeeee Barwis!” club, I cannot wait to see these guys take the field come the fall: speed, speed, and more speed. The thought of Michigan’s talent with space to operate is a scary proposition indeed, and Rodriguez will undoubtedly bring a level of aggression that this team (depending on whom you talk to) may or may not have been lacking over the past several seasons. Watch how much they try to get guys like Matthews, Stonum, Brown, Minor, McGuffie (droooooool), Shaw, and others the football in space… Michigan will have a number of real burners that will likely get the ball in much better shape than Steve Breaston could’ve ever dreamed of.

Area that makes you salivate as an opponent – Youth. Michigan’s QB will be someone who has never taken a collegiate snap as a starter. The receiving corps is also young, the line will feature new faces in new positions, and there will be freshmen getting significant playing time at various spots across the field. There will be miscues, there will be freshman mistakes, and there will be head-slapping moments. The way that teams are going to play the Wolverines early, and the way I’d game plan for them right now, would be to stack the line and force the quarterback to make plays by bringing pressure, if Threet crumbles or the o-line is anything resembling the version we saw against the Buckeyes last year, then you’ll see many Michigan fans screaming eeeek and covering their eyes.

Random factor that you think will come into play this season – I’m taking liberty here and mentioning a few… first and foremost is the D, I love how it looks right now, it could become a force, but I will be stunned if it is anything short of very solid. Secondly, Threet (or whomever will be the QB, some seem to think Feagan may have a shot, I am not one of those people) won’t have to win games on his own. Much will be made about the lack of experience on offense and the “new system” being brought in. What will be missed is that Rodriguez will tailor the system to the players he has. You won’t be seeing a Pat White offense next year. You’ll see one that maximizes the talents of the players that are on the field, Michigan will run the football and they will use their mix of receivers to spread the field to open it up for the backs.

I think you’ll see a return of the screen (something we used to run to perfection) to the attack, and a lot of plays designed to give Threet easy and simple reads (think Tom Brady when he first started with the Patriots). Michigan simply needs the QB to be able to manage the football game and not make huge mistakes. The Wolverines are flat out LOADED in the backfield and will once again bring a number of solid receivers into the mix. They will not have to fling the football all over the field to move the chains, nor will they have to score 40 points a game to have a chance to win. For all of the hyperbole about how bad the offense could be, it won’t have to be a showstopper for the team to have a shot, and for the most part I think that is something that many out there are overlooking right now. Michigan has recruited VERY well over the years, the names won’t be as familiar, but you’ll know them by the end of the fall.

Overall Record – Yeegads, anyone who knows me knows that I HATE predicting my own team’s record… you always get blasted and there is no middle ground. This team could legitimately cover quite the spectrum… they could be downright terrible or they could be surprisingly good, and none of us has any iota of a clue what they will look like when they tee that ball up for opening kick come late August. Naturally this means predicting the records at this point is even harder than usual, that is to say it’s impossible. First clue to our random guessing game would be to examine the road contests: these include trips to South Bend, Penn State, Purdue, Minnesota, and oh yeah, a little date in Columbus at the end of the year.

Penn State will be frothing at the mouth… again… like always… but as long as JoePa is at the helm in Happy Valley, I’m going to be confident heading into that tilt. Purdue actually scares me a bit, don’t laugh. They will return a number of players and they have given Michigan FITS in West Lafayette recently. Although I didn’t see a whole lot in the Boilermakers last year that has me trembling about this upcoming season, I think they’ll be more than ready when Michigan heads to Ross Ade. The Buckeyes stand every chance of being a ridiculous football team this year, and that game in Columbus will be a MONSTER of a challenge, to count on a win there would be sheer lunacy, but anyone who knows this series at all knows that Michigan will be ready to play come November 22nd. I don’t think it’s completely unreasonable to see the Wolverines coming out of their road schedule with a record of 3-2.

Home tilts feature Utah (not quite the creampuff you might want to see in the opener… of course after last year, nobody is a creampuff… sigh), Wisconsin, Illinois and those pesky Michigan State Spartans. Michigan hasn’t dropped four games at home since 1967, and since 1995 has put up a decent record of 74-12 (that’s a pretty solid 86% clip). Michigan Stadium might not be a decibel beast, but the Wolverines have defended their home turf rather well over the years and so I’m going to lean hard on home field advantage here. Michigan’s defense will keep this team in games this season, and there just aren’t many offenses on the schedule that give one pause when staring 5 or 6 months down the line. I’ll set the bar on the higher end and say 6-1, giving us an overall record of 9-3.

Final Big Ten Standing – This one is tough, I have to put a chill in my heart and count the Buckeyes as the better football team, so there’s one… Illinois and Michigan State are the “punchers chance” teams that we’ve already discussed thus far, but with both games coming at home I think Michigan will be able to take care of business. Wisconsin will be solid again and I’m calling that a toss-up and likely our toughest home game on paper right now, but it is the Big 10 opener, where Michigan has been otherworldly good over the years, so keep that in mind. Somewhere in those three games Michigan might stumble, so we’ll go with one L out of those 3. Penn State fans are already beating their chests about this upcoming matchup, and that’s laughably premature, the Nittany Lions will likely be favored at home, but keep an eye on that October 17^th tilt. Penn State has more questions than they’d like you to know about and losing Sean Lee is a big blow to that defense, me thinks Michigan hangs tough in Happy Valley, JoePa has yet to prove that he can game plan against the Wolverines and I don’t expect that to change suddenly now. A defensive battle favors Michigan whether Bob Nittanylion fan thinks so or not. I don’t know why, but the Purdue game seems to be the one lurker to me that bugs me. It follows on the heels of the Penn State and Michigan State games and just seems to be the kind game that might jump up and bite a young team… call me somewhat concerned there.

After all that jabbering, I’ll go 5-3 in the Big 10; good enough for a possible top 3? Opposing Big 10 teams are licking their chops now, but I’m telling you that many are going to get a lot more than their fans are bargaining for at this point in time. The defense will give the young offense ample time to find its feet and keep the pressure of having to score every time it touches the ball far away. Rich Rodriguez CAN coach, the guy knows what he’s doing, and despite the pedantic defamation of the guy’s character by many (I’m sure all are well versed on the situation and its various intricacies), I don’t see a whole lot of people out there questioning his coaching ability.

Bowl Game Destination – 9-3 would bring another New Year’s Day bowl of lesser distinction and be a colossal upset to the Kirk Herbstreits and Beano Cooks of the world… and a tremendous smile across the face of yours truly. Optimistic? You bet your ass, but that’s how I roll.

GO BLUE!

Soapbox Time!

I don't want to get off on a rant here... but... (cue Tears for Fears)

For those who are unaware of James Hardy's existence, I can't fault you, but here's your synopsis: he was a highly talented receiver who through some sort of odd sequence of events ended up at Indiana University... set all kinds of records and was a veritable force in that offense, declared early for the draft and was picked up by the Buffalo Bills. Oh, oh yeah, and he also is a world class human being*, as exemplified by this, and oh yes, this...

Some might notice a bit of a "TREND" here... but hey, why not take a chance on this walking disaster? He's tall and can catch a football! It's stories like Hardy that aren't hard to predict, and in fact I'll go ahead and go out on a limb here and guarantee red and blue flashing lights await this individual in the near future, and it'll likely be something that'll be worse than his ol' pa deciding not to press charges despite taking a beating and being threatened with a weapon. It's mystifying how you hear things like "character issues" thrown out about players entering the draft and nobody ever makes too much of a big deal out of it... it's funny how that word covers things like "baby's momma beater" and "father beater" "threaten father with a gun in hometown" type of individual. Hey, congratulations Buffalo! He'll be a tremendous addition to your squad!

Come on over guys and check out my crib!!!

It just amazes me that somewhere, someone is willing to pay an epic failure of a person like Hardy MILLIONS OF DOLLARS despite every piece of evidence that states this guy is destined for a number on his back that is damn sure going to be longer than two digits... it's this portion of sports that causes me to frown as a fan. Where are people's backbones? Integrity? Where's the ability to tell some sleeze-bag like this to go ahead and pull it out his own ass? Sorry James, you sure have all the physical tools, but you're a complete dumbass, we're going to look elsewhere.

The saddest part is that I have literally zero doubt in my mind that this kid will be a colossal problem and likely end up literally hurting someone in the process. In fact, take it to the bank and lock it up, and go ahead and remember I said so when everyone gets "stunned" by the most recent act of violence by a professional athlete.

*Or a complete low-life scum sucking failure who will no doubt be involved in some sort of heinous violent act against a family member or loved one within the next 3 years... you know, whatever works better for you.

Rant off.

Des Moines… it’s in Indiana or something

Little Spinal Tap for everyone there to get us off on the right foot. And yes Iowa faithful, I know that the University of Iowa is located in Iowa City, thank you.

Hey, remember when there were at least two separate occasions last November where Michigan fans like me were trying to come to grips with LOUD rumors of Kirk Ferentz to Ann Arbor?? Oh I can shrug and smile now, but those days were some of the worst in recent memory. I recall how it began…

(A gentle waking to a cool gray late autumn/early winter morning)… stretchhhhhhhh… yawn, scratch, perhaps I’ll have some Smart Start today, that Special K just doesn’t get it done anymore, ah good the coffee’s done, let’s just set this down while I just check out the ol’ rumor monger machine shall we? JESUS TAPDANCING CHRIST! Who in the name of Bump Fucking Elliot are we looking at? Kirk Ferentz… (hits refresh)… not joking… (refreshes again)… but wha… no way… we’ll be fine, I’m going to enjoy this fine java while I wait for the “har-har just kidding here” PBBBBBBBBBBBBTTGHHHHHHHH! Oh it burns! It burns!! Wait what do you mean there’s a goddamn flight that was tracked from Cedar Rapids to Ann Arbor, they have PLANES in Cedar Rapids?! It’s not conceivable, (refresh) (refresh) (refresh) repeat for 8 hours a day until rumors subside… which oh by the way was somewhere near 9045 years… Not since Tim Dwight scared the ever loving bejeezus out of me in ’97 have I been that terrified of something from Iowa... so anyways, yeah on to the Hawkeyes, alright!

1. One thing the media will harp on that is ridiculously off base – Let’s get back to our friend Kirk Ferentz for a quick second… The media seems to constantly portray this guy as a worker of miracles with “lesser talent”. Hey, I’ll give him all kinds of credit for his three year run that started in ’02, but uh… other than that burst of success, in the always fair and objective game of college football, his last three seasons have left a lot to be desired. That’s 1-game-above-.500 level of desire by the way. Iowa had a top 10 or top 15 recruiting class in 2005, they should be coming into the prime of their careers this season, but uh… through either horrific character misjudgment or even worse luck with injuries, I wouldn’t say that the excitement is brimming over at this point. I’m not saying Ferentz is to blame for all of the problems with the program, but uh, there have been more than a few, and at some point don’t you have to look at the coach? The media won’t, they’ll extol him as a great molder of talent if Iowa shows as much as a pulse this season, but I wonder how much patience Iowa fans really have at this point.

2. One thing the media will completely ignore that is integral to this team's success – First things first, Iowa gets out of playing both the Buckeyes and the Wolverines this year, which is the greatest gift the Big 10 can give to a team. Actually on the field the slotted starters on the O-line are looking like they’ll play different positions from where they were respectively last season. Seeing as how Iowa’s O-line was somewhere between god-awful and “Michigan-against-Ohio-State-Non-Existent” last season, perhaps this shakeup was the only real option/idea the Iowa coaching staff had. Oh, yeah, and THERE’S A BATTLE AT CENTER!!! YAH!!! Kirk Ferentz has a freshman son who might play center someday too! Holy crap! Center love all around!! In all seriousness though, there is experience here, if they can somehow be even a serviceable unit, Iowa will be a much better offensive football team than the 2007 version… which was 110^th in the nation in scoring offense (wow). Oh oh, and the scoring defense? 12^th… I’m sure the team meetings were a BLAST for the O last year!

3. Most important contributors on each side of the ball – In case you haven’t noticed, I LOATHE picking the quarterback in this section, but I have to here. Iowa has no discernible talent at running back that is capable of even walking right now. They do however have a surprisingly well stocked cabinet of wide-receivers though. They will be worthless if Christensen or Ricky Stanzi (which is perhaps the most polar opposite name of Bronco Nagurski that one could ever have) can’t get them the football. The rushing game will also be hapless without the threat of danger through the air. Defensively? Iowa has always had at least one linebacker on the field that is nothing but a guy who goes out and flat out makes plays, and I don’t think there’s any reason that’ll be different this year, and the few times I saw Iowa play last season (key word: FEW) A.J. Edds looked impressive.

4. Area that scares you as an opponent – Iowa was on their way to closing out the season on a bit of a high note before choking on applesauce against Western Michigan. Perhaps the Hawkeyes were starting to figure a few things out? They scored 120 points in their first 8 games and managed to get to 102 in their final four… I’m reaching I know.

5. Area that makes you salivate as an opponent – Hey did you hear that Iowa lost 17 players from its 2007 roster? Oh, oh yeah, and right now this is their running back:

I mean when I hear Paki O’Meara, I guess this comes to mind…

6. Random factor that you think will come into play this season – Remember how Iowa had that bit of success years ago and all of a sudden they were the chic pick every year with Drew Tate to be the team to beat in the Big 10… and they pretty much were as far from that as possible? Well now with the glare of expectations out of the way, perhaps Iowa will have the chance to sneak up on some people. If they get any kind of a running back, the offense has nowhere to go but up.

7. Overall Record – 7-5, Iowa heads back to the bowls, but not by too big of a margin.

8. Final Big Ten Standing – There are a number of teams in the conference that are simply more complete football teams than Iowa right now, missing out on Ohio State and Michigan is a gift, but I still don’t think Iowa is going to be much more than a .500 Big 10 team. Call it 4-4 again this season, which I’ll say is good for a big ol’ tie in the middle of the conference in the 5-6-7 range.

9. Bowl Game Destination – I guess that’d mean either the Motor City Bowl or the Insight Bowl??? Something like that…

Behold The Future! Illinois 2008

1. One thing the media will harp on that is ridiculously off base – Did you know Illinois has a quarterback named Juice Williams? Yes, indeed that’s his name… no one in the media apparently cares that this guy hits the broad side of the barn at about a 50% clip. Can he run? Yes, yes he can. Can he throw? Well he did manage to improve his completion percentage from 39% in ‘06 (wha wha whaaaaa?) up to 57% in ’07, but with only 22 TDs against 21 picks in his career… suffice it to say that by bottling him up, this team will bog down in the offensive department. Don’t expect this to be mentioned though, Illinois had a big turnaround last year, and they feature an athletic QB!!! They’ll show highlights of his unconscious game in Columbus (and what a performance it was!) and ignore the fact that this guy simply hasn’t been that good at throwing the football, nor will he have MANBEAST Mendenhall next to him in the backfield. In fact, they’ll likely base his season outlook off of that game and that game alone… oh… what? They HAVE?

2. One thing the media will completely ignore that is integral to this team's success – How about Ron Zook’s complete and utter ineptitude at managing a football game? Great recruiter? Sure! Solid sideline presence on Saturdays? Uhhhh… no. Too many examples to name; let’s just say that as long as he’s there they will bring in talent and he will make gameday decisions that leave Illini fans very confused. How soon do you think you’ll see the mismanagement of his top two quarterbacks by yanking Williams and throwing in Eddie McGee on a whim? 2^nd quarter of the Mizzou game? 3^rd?

Random-other-things-the-media-will-likely-ignore… ummm probably that 49-17 asswhippingundressingbehindthewoodshedstompingbeatdown that USC put on the Fighting Politically Corrects back in January… or perhaps that after Mizzou, Illinois plays the Chicago Symphany, Peoria Girl Scout Troop #254 (away), and the Illinois State IM flag football champs for the rest of their out of conference schedule. I don’t know, pick one.

3. Most important contributors on each side of the ball – Whichever running back not named Rashard Mendenhall steps in will be a big question, but I’m going to say that Arrelious Benn will be one of the most important players in this offense. If he can bail Williams out and be any kind of a reliable target, the way you defend Illinois completely changes, the kid is a star waiting to burst out, they just have to get him the football. On defense, I’ll go with Brit Miller, who despite his name is a linebacker… a four year starter at that!

4. Area that scares you as an opponent – The fact that Juice Williams could black out for 60 minutes and play a game like he did in Columbus last year… they really held that ball for over 8 minutes on the final drive? Really?! Shudder…

5. Area that makes you salivate as an opponent – No Rashard Mendenhall and near as anyone else can tell, a quarterback who isn’t going to be picking you apart any time soon… Defenses game-planning against Illinois will put 23 people in the box… at least that’s what USC appeared to do.

6. Random factor that you think will come into play this season – Two things here: Illinois starts Big 10 play @ Penn State and @ Michigan. Regardless of the current situations at both schools, that’s a tough start to the conference slate, and tripping out of the box may impact this team more than a more experienced squad. Secondly, there’s the chance that Arrelious Benn turns into a wide receiver that should be playing for Michigan or Ohio State and enables Juice Williams to throw Kurt-Kittner-8^th-grade-lob-balls and complete them due to Benn’s complete and total level of awesomeness… if this happens, count me as someone who will be highly annoyed.

7. Overall Record – Mendenhall was a beast last year and Illinois caught quite a few people by surprise… including apparently Ohio State. This team was capable of playing quite well, but they lacked consistency, and now they lack their MANBEAST tailback… I think a slight regression towards the mean is on the horizon for the Politically Corrects… call it 8-4 with all four losses coming in-conference… the Mizzou game is a tossup and I’ll lean the Illini way for them on this one, Big 10 solidarity and all.

8. Final Big Ten Standing – Not too hot, not too cold, jusssssssst right, so I say 5^th.

9. Bowl Game Destination – Wooo boy, where does the 5^th place Big 10 team go? Motor City Bowl? I don’t know… We’ll call it a “Late December Capital One Bowl Week Special” and leave it at that.

Whaddya say Beauford?

And So It Shall Be! Indiana's Destiny for 2008!

1. One thing the media will harp on that is ridiculously off base –Ummmm… well… going to have to stretch it here, but here goes: From an X’s and O’s standpoint, the Hoosiers are implementing a no-huddle offense after meeting with the Colts and Oregon this off-season… expect this to be mentioned Twentity Hundred times per broadcast. Add to this that their OC is named Matt Canada (I wish I was joking) and well… groan worthy broadcast moments a plenty to follow, eh? Hey-o, see there’s one already. Perhaps some of the media will focus a bit much on this team’s run to the bowls last year as some sort of starting point for a move up from the cellar of the Big 10. Make no mistake that 2007 was as good as IU football has been since the Mallory years, but that said, things aren’t exactly going to be building up from last year.

2. One thing the media will completely ignore that is integral to this team's success – Austin Starr! The guy was a Lou Groza finalist and on multiple All-American lists! I only had to read about 15 different pieces on the Hoosiers before noticing this… I’m giving the kicker his due here….

3. Most important contributors on each side of the ball –Ahhh ok, duh, Kellen Lewis… 3000+ passing yards, 700+ rushing yards will do that. IU was 3^rd in the conference in scoring offense… he’s why. On defense, Austin Thomas, the team’s leading tackler will most likely be the key component of the unit.

4. Area that scares you as an opponent – Is Kellen Lewis an area? He is now. He’s the classic Antwaan Randle-El case of “imagine if he played on a team where he wasn’t THE ONLY PLAYER ON THE FIELD!”

5. Area that makes you salivate as an opponent – Karma and professional decorum merit a genuine response here… Let’s put it this way: IU loses Hardy to Sunday play and/or cleaning up highways in orange attire, James Bailey is transferring which means that, uh, like who’s going to catch the occasional spiral? Although, speaking of spirals, apparently Kellen Lewis can’t behave well enough to continue in his role as one man offense at least for the spring-time… and of course his alter-ego role as fumble machine for the Hurryin’ Hoosiers in at least one appearance this year. Check out around the 1:05 mark for some fantastic all around play here... O-line? We don't need no stinkin' O-line!

Oh, oh yeah, then there’s the minor problem of the continued incompetence of the AD Rick Greenspan… Remember Bobby Williams at MSU? Feel good story, hired him after an emotional win… dude never won a road Big 10 game… in 3 years!!! Well here we’ve got Bobby Williams version 2. As Beauford stated, Lynch’s last stay-over was at DePauw University. IU could’ve tested the waters to see if a young up-n-comer or solid candidate had any interest in taking over the team… but nope, “hey we won with the interim guy, let’s just hire him!” Remember this decision three years from now.

6. Random factor that you think will come into play this season – Indiana’s first down celebration… which if I’m correct is called “the first down march”… it really looks like a bunch of people reaching up to milk a cow… it’s working hard at making a run for the WORST first down celebration* in the conference, although it’ll take a mighty effort to knock of the reigning champs… This might be the most intriguing sub-plot of their season.

*First down celebrations that involve anything more than the band and your team’s normal cheer are slaps in the face of the football gods and will be punished accordingly.

7. Overall Record – IU has something resembling a habit of losing a non-conference game to an absolute nobody (not that there’s anything wrong with that)… so taking that into account, and the unholy beating that Central Michigan will likely administer to them, and adding in the fact that I think 3 conference wins is perhaps the upper limit of reasonable here, my spring-time prediction is that Indiana is a 5-7 football team.

8. Final Big Ten Standing – Mmmmmmmm…. 9^th sounds about right here.

9. Bowl Game Destination – None. God help us all if a 5-7 team gets into a bowl game. Wait has that happened? Don’t tell me, I don’t want to know.

Know When To Fold Em'

Earth to Penn State… hello??

I’m going to try to do all of you Blue and White folks a favor, so go right ahead and sit back for a moment and think about what I’m saying here. First off, I must pose the following question: Why, sweet Jesus, why are you not angry right now? How is it that you are in any way content with the fact that your coach is bound and determined to stay right where he is, and cost the program that he means so much to in the process? Why is it so difficult for people who are in the position to remedy the situation to recognize what needs to happen here? Honor the man, tell him thanks for everything, and move on with it. Have the fans not yet reached the point where they are ready to let go of the past and recognize the present for what it is?

I know it’s a difficult thing to do; I wasn’t one of those torch carrying morons who wanted Lloyd Carr run out of town at the drop of a hat. I genuinely respected and appreciated the man and really grew up with him as the leader of my Maize and Blue, it was not easy to recognize that perhaps it was time for him to call it a career. But you know what? It was, I came to that realization, and even more importantly, Lloyd Carr came to that realization. Michigan will forever remember Carr for his 30 years at the school, and the program will benefit from his ability to walk away when the time was right. Can Penn State fans possibly think they’re going to be in great shape at this point in time?

Here’s my theory, go ahead and try it on for size… Recall that Joe Paterno was doing a spectacular job of running himself out of Happy Valley just four short years ago. Here’s betting you didn’t find too many sentimental types when his name was brought up near the end of 2004. Why’s that you might ask? Well, here’s why:

2000: 5-7
2001: 5-6
2002: 9-4
2003: 3-9
2004: 4-7

And then… “It” happened. “It” is known as 2005. A glorious year for Penn State fans to look back on and remember, 11-1… literally seconds away from a shot at a national title… after posting losing records for four of the last five seasons, Penn State came out of literally black-hole-nowhere with this team.

Oh so close!!!

So here’s the question that is perhaps one of the hardest to ask as Penn State loyalist: Just exactly how much did Joe Pa have to do with 2005? How much of a role did he have in that team, and how much of a role did the superb play of Michael Robinson and a solid defense have to do with it?

Since then, the Lions haven’t been able to capture the same magic, posting “meh” years of 9-4 in ’06 and ’07. Perhaps more poignantly here, even taking 2005 into account, take a look at the following:

Penn State is a .500 ballclub in conference play over the past 8 years… that’s 32-32 from 2000 to 2007.

It’s idiocy to say that a successful team is to blame for anything, but do you think if 2005 is a 7-5 year that Penn State fans are sitting here watching this entire fiasco unfold? The sad part is that 2005 bought Paterno time he literally did not deserve. Let’s call a spade a spade here shall we? His role in that football program is as a figure-head, no two ways about it. That’s not to say he doesn’t mean a lot, that’s not to say that he doesn’t embody the tradition of Penn State football, but you are out of your mind if you think that man has had any sort of control over the goings on from an X’s and O’s, game-planning, and really even an ACTIVE recruiting role.

The point here is this, save for one magical run in 2005, over the past 8 or 9 years Penn State has been anywhere from a god-awful football team to a decidedly mediocre football team. It would seem to be pretty clear to those removed from the immediacy (read: kool-aid) of the program (i.e. me) that a few changes in philosophy would do the Nittany Lions some good from a football standpoint. Yet, here is your coach, whose overall role in the day to day operations of the program is certainly somewhat questionable, hanging on and claiming that he doesn’t need a contract to keep coaching. His determination to remain in a position in which he has not truly been effective in for years is praised and encouraged by some, but it needs to be recognized for what it truly is: damaging to the program. His actions are setting up a very difficult and arduous path for PSU in the near future, this situation will only intensify, and if you don’t think this will have a larger and larger impact on recruiting as it goes on, you’re out of your mind.

It’s sad to see someone as universally respected and liked as Paterno do this to himself and the school, he’s put everyone in a terrible position, and he certainly has laid the groundwork for some truly ugly moments over the horizon, whether it be in trying to remove him from the head coaching position, or be it in a new coaching search, or whether it be in serving as a big reason for recruits to look elsewhere. The man is unquestionably the heart and soul of Penn State football and the school, but it is that label that should weigh heavily on him to recognize what the RIGHT thing to do is, and that is to give the program every possible opportunity and advantage to thrive after he has moved on. Right now, his actions and the inactions of the folks in power in Happy Valley certainly do not convey that message.

A Tradition Unlike... errr where'd it go?!

I want my Masters back…

Let me be astoundingly clear about something: I love the Masters. To be sure, I also love golf, but there are few things that you’ll find golfers to be as passionate about that doesn’t directly concern their game as those four glorious days that give us a window to Augusta… it’s literally the green-flag to spring and for many, the signal of the beginning of golf season.

I must interject a brief aside, if you’ll indulge me. There may be several of you out there who say “Golf?!” and come up with a decidedly not-witty comment that has been used mere thousands of times before. If you don’t like golf, that’s fine, but I’ve found most people who don’t enjoy the game fall into two categories:

1. They’ve never actually attempted to play
2. They’ve played, learned that it was actually difficult, and decided not to like it because, brah, I don’t suck at anything… (other than life of course)

Those of you who don’t like the game or don’t pay attention to it need not read on.

There, now that that’s settled, allow me to climb up on my golfer’s soap-box for a moment here. Let’s get one thing painfully out in the clear: The Masters sucked this year. There, I said it. Flat out sucked. Trevor Immelman deserved to win, and I don’t want to take a thing away from him. Champ’s not one of those front-runners who has to see a “name”win to enjoy the tournament, those guys can go pull it out their ass for all Champ cares (coincidentally, many were likely intently watching the Red Sox Yankees “rivalry” this weekend as well…). What I wanted to see was good golf and some competition. We got neither. The one brief bit of relief I had was the fact that Tiger wasn’t gift wrapped another major due to some dude choking on applesauce all day long while The Striped One played nothing better than par golf. Tiger Woods demands respect, but I HATE watching him win that way. On a day where the winds blew, the eventual winner tied a dubious record… highest final round score shot by the eventual champion: 75.

That doesn’t cover the scope of the suckitude of this tournament however, in a four day stretch where the low score was 67 and the final 20 players on Sunday couldn’t break par, there was a detached and very distant feel to this tournament. There were no roars on Sunday, there were no back nine charges, there were no low scores from a few groups ahead of the leaders to add intrigue and excitement to this competition… this from a tournament that was world renowned for: “The Masters doesn’t start ‘till the back nine on Sunday”. Ack. Some will blame the wind… but that’s a scape goat here. It’s not as though the place was on fire for the first three rounds, and there were fantastic conditions to be had out there. What did we get? A bloodbath… which isn’t what the Masters used to be about. Suddenly the Masters and the folks in those green jackets have caught a case of USGAitis… and it reeks. I do not enjoy the U.S. Open, it’s not entertaining for me to sit there and watch train wreck after train wreck on a tricked up and artificially toughened forgettable track in the summer sun. Leave that garbage to the USGA.

The Masters is above that, its tradition is so interwoven with the holes and the players who have made them memorable that to trifle with them to the extent that the people down there have has robbed the tournament of much of its magic. NOBODY CARES that Augusta yielded under par scores because it was still a course that demanded and rewarded solid golf and shockingly: yielded exciting golf. The people at Augusta have gone too far with their changes. The course is too long and they have combined this length by making the greens no more receptive, adding cuts of rough where none previously existed, and essentially turning the track into the U.S. Open dressed in green sheep’s clothing. Which is vomit inducing.

When you remember the Masters what do you remember? You remember Nicklaus shooting a back nine 30 for the ages in 1986, you remember Ernie and Phil dueling with eagles and birdies in ’04, you remember David Duval throwing it away down the stretch, you remember Mark O’Meara making birdies on the last two to win, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player doing likewise, the greats playing great golf. Seve, Woosnam, Ben Crenshaw, the list goes on and on and on. I’ll tell you what you don’t think of: a bunch of guys trying to put band-aids on rounds and just get into the clubhouse… that’s U.S. Open type garbage right there.

Don't plan on seeing these reactions on Sunday anytime soon...

There’s a ridiculous and nasty venereal disease going around the sport of golf right now concerning the word “par”. “We must protect par!” has long been the cry of nobodies and dweebs at the USGA, and now with the artificial and unnecessary tricking up of Augusta National, we’re starting to see the effects of this kind of hysteria. Par is just a goddamn number, that’s all it is, a number, and an arbitrary one at that. What I want to see is exciting golf, I want to see players dueling down the stretch, and I have not a single care in the world whether that duel takes place at 15 under or 1 under or even 3 over. We got none of those things Sunday, because we’ve got courses now that don’t allow players any opportunity to do anything other than get lucky, and they are covered up with stupid words like “demanding”, “exacting”, and “a challenge”. They are none of these things, they’re contrived and stupid. Anyone can make a golf course hard by growing the rough for a couple of weeks, saying par 5’s are par 4’s and making the fairways as wide as your hallway. Augusta has started to show the early symptoms of this ridiculousness and the tournament has suffered the consequences for the past two years.

Augusta was different, it was a great course that provided great moments… but in its current configuration it’s in grave danger of losing that, and that’s a shame. When sporting events forget what they are about and begin to focus myopically on insipid details, they run the danger of alienating those that have made the event what it was in the first place…

Champ… out.

VLSPSBET

Beauford and I haven’t teased this out yet, so consider the following a trial run… and I PROMISE this is the last time I mention Billy Packer for months… anyways, Monday when Packer continually failed to recognize that the Kansas Jayhawks were utilizing a zone defense in the second half, it got me thinking about many of the misnomers or misconceptions that are continually reinforced by your average sports announcer… and as a result by your common sports fan.

Well gentlemen and madams, when has average ever been acceptable? You’re not that type of sports fan; you’re not that type that lets somebody in your group talk about yesterday’s game, totally BLOW the description and let it slide… no, Beauford and Champ know you better than that. You expect to converse on a higher level when you enter into an intellectual debate within the sports genre; and you expect those conversing with you to have a base of understanding so that you may effectively communicate with them. It’s an unwritten rule that’s simply understood.

So without further ado, we present to you a possibly ongoing series here at State of Game:

The Verne Lundquist School of Proper Sports Broadcasting Etiquette and Technique

Or VLSPSBET if you’re into that whole brevity thing.

Why Verne Lundquist you ask? Because there is no finer sir, and I’m offended that you asked in the first place. SEC folk (shudder) have been privy to his talents for years. Verne is still whipping young pups in this broadcasting game with his smooth delivery, clutch performances, and salient understanding of several sports. All of that while a myriad of analysts out there can’t seem to get a grasp on just one. Think about this, in the Masters alone, Lundquist has been immortalized TWICE:

1986: Nicklaus sinks his birdie putt on the 17^th part of the greatest 9 holes of golf ever played at Augusta, and that moment will inexorably be tied with Lundquists epitome of perfection: “YES SIR!!!!!!!”

2005: Woods holes the up and back chip for birdie on the 16^th proving that golf balls do in fact have a flair for the dramatic. Again, this will never be separated from Verne’s sublime: “In your LIFE have you ever seen anything like that?!”

So there’s your reasoning right there… In these sections, we will deal with all sorts of errata of the announcing type, and likely harbor some very ill will toward several individuals in particular. Who you ask? Well you’ll just have to keep checking back to see won’t you!!! Onward.

Today’s topic for VLSPSBET: The old trusty reverse, what it is, and what it is NOT!

Few plays in football are so poorly understood and so often mistaken by announcers. The reverse is not a new play, it has been around for a quite a while… and yet, it appears that somewhere in the textbook of football commentating, the “END AROUND” was mistakenly switched with the definition of “REVERSE”… naturally, then when a team runs a true reverse, the fools in the booth fall all over themselves to add to its grandiosity, labeling the play “a DOUBLE reverse”!!!! Don’t be that guy dear readers, don’t be that idiot who stands up and screams reverse during a football game when the play is merely an end around, you’d disappoint Verne.

So how do you avoid this most basic of mistakes? How about actually recognizing what each play entails? Without futher ado:

An END AROUND: Is a play where the quarterback hands off to a wide receiver in the backfield. The receiver motions into the backfield as the ball is snapped and receives said handoff from the quarterback, he then proceeds (if all has gone well and according to plan) towards the opposite end of the line from where he lined up, hoping to, as they say, “catch the corner”. If we had a dollar for every time this simple play (and dare we say, when properly used, effective) was exasperatedly called a reverse, we would be enjoying many fine things.

A REVERSE: A reverse is usually built off of your basic sweep play, in which the quarterback takes the snap and pitches the ball to the tailback, who for the purposes of this discussion proceeds to run towards the eastern sideline. Meanwhile, the receiver who started out on the east side of the formation begins to motion in the opposite direction… that would be westward. The tailback then proceeds to hand-off or pitch the ball to the receiver, who is now headed towards the western sideline and hopefully in the opposite direction of all 11 players on the defensive side of the ball. Note the key here is that the ball REVERSES DIRECTION… Not exactly a difficult concept to grasp now is it? What about the ever so rare double reverse? Well gentle reader, simply add yet another exchange on the end of your usual reverse with the ball now in the hands of the third ball carrier on the play (HB – WR – WR) and headed back in the original direction that the play began in, for us, east.

So there you have it, a brief and succinct breakdown of the difference between the end around and the reverse… keep track and savor the moment the first time this season that someone fails to recognized the simple difference between the two!

Pack It In Boys, It's Over!

Beauford's up with the sun and gone with wind. Doing his thing as a travelin' man, headed for those Hollywood nights in those Hollywood hills... maybe not, but it sounds good and if it's good enough for Bob Seger, it's damn sure good enough for us.

Now then, let's get right to it! Champ ain’t much for bragging, after all I hate rude behavior in a man, won’t tolerate it. But methinks we might have found ourselves a bit of an exception here…

With something just north of seven rotations of the second hand around the clock face left in the first half of the Kansas and North Carolina semi-final, the rock chalk jayhawks emphatically pushed their advantage over the Tar heels to a… ahem… “healthy” 28 points, thus prompting Billy Packer to sigh/cry/mumble the following: “this game is over Jim”.

Again, that’s a bit more than 7 to go in the first half, and the analyst has just chimed in with: “this game is over”. I’m sure the CBS van was thrilled.

Now then, never mind that this game still had over 27 minutes remaining in it, and never mind that at times this season North Carolina had gone on 94-3 runs in a span of a little under 5 minutes or that teams have pulled of similar comebacks before (Duke / Maryland and Kentucky / LSU come springing to this writer’s mind)… no sir, that was all ACC spokesman and resident North Carolina cheerleader Packer could take. His team (and let’s not pull punches here, Packer loves him some Tar Heels, and why not, I am no geographer, but Wake Forest isn’t too far on down the line from UNC) was being beaten so badly, that if it hadn’t been for a combination of made free-throws by UNC and Bill Self’s charges inexplicably ceasing to feed the ball down low, I have no doubt that the halftime score would’ve read something in the region of 852-12.

In fact, if the camera had been on the trenchant sob, I’m sure there would’ve been a fling of the hands in the air and a slow movement of forehead toward table. I would pay for that footage with the finest of meats and cheeses in the land, good people. The only truly sad part about this whole exchange was that Jim Nantz didn’t have the wherewithal and the cajoles to rip Packer to shreds… particularly when North Carolina did its best category five tornado impression on the entire state of Kansas and its followers in the early goings of the second half… but hey, that’s CBS and booth chemistry!!! Gotta love it!

Now for the braggadocio, although taking any credit for this is like saying I was right about predicting the sun rising today… that notwithstanding, on with the back-patting! Friday:

“Next? Billy Packer will ruin the TV watching experience of these games for an entire nation of curious observers and die-hard fans alike. There is no bigger wet-blanket in sports than Packer, who hates what basketball has become, hates today’s player, and loathes anyone who doesn’t understand the intricacies of a “box and 1”… oh and did I mention that he is quite possibly the biggest ACC shill of all time? Everyone jumps on Vitale’s case (rightly so), but Packer is even worse. Packer makes me hate basketball, he is as uninspiring and boring of an analyst as I can imagine, and he literally can slow the game down because he brings negative energy to the table.” Packer came through in every regard didn’t he??

You know what the worst part of all of this is? The not so inane fact that Billy is a GOOD analyst at times, he makes good points regarding the actual game of basketball, but his demeanor and the way he lets it affect the way he calls things, ESPECIALLY with an ACC team on the court in front of him, well he just ruins it. If you happened to watch the rest of that basketball game on Saturday, you’ll know that the rest of the evening was spent by Packer talking about UNC 90% of the time, and Kansas for approximately 10%... followed again by him somehow taking credit for knowing that Kansas would win in the end… It was, suffice to say, ghastly. I certainly hope that all the Jayhawk fans were able to get their own radio guys on in some fashion and mute the TV.

And with that, enough basketball pour moi, if you listen closely you can hear the sweet dulcet tones of whistles ringing out over the crack of pads across the country... spring time is here, rejoice!

Basketball Tiding Us Over

Ed. Note:

This comes from Champ, who sets his countdown to kickoff clock around the time Tiger tee's it up at Augusta. He then submits himself two entire season's worth of the weirdest Chinese water torture ritual we've ever seen involving water, his countdown clock, and a small break to watch the Indianapolis 500. By kickoff, he's literally (not figuratively here, mind you, which is what "literally" has become in today's society) but LITERALLY window licking mad.

Without further ado,


Champ's clock. Except it's for football. Not 24. We've never really liked 24...



So here it is, the final weekend of the collegiate basketball season! We here at the Champ household like to take this time to sit back and take stock, because critical thinking and personal reflection are nothing if not integral fibers of our being, and because frankly, we haven’t had much to be excited about in the basketball section of our lives for a good long time. Not being the biggest of basketball fans, this weekend signals the true countdown to kickoff, which features several very important pit-stops along the way to Sep… err… late August. These would include, but of course are not limited to:

- The Masters tooounament (otherwise known as Heaven)
- Oh sure there’s a “spring game” that some schools might have, but the next time anyone takes away something valuable from a spring game it’ll be the first time… not that anyone would want to see how things are going… new players… possibly a new quarterback… maybe some new linemen… new starting running back… few new receivers…. errr a new coach… oh and a new staff… all of which is wrapped up in a big ol’ Barwis headlock… nah, I’ll be fine to wait till it counts in late August… nothing of interest to see there, nothing at all… hmph.
- The Greatest Spectacle in Racing, the Indianapolis 500, it is an event that all should attend at least once, and it will blow you away.
- U.S. Open, etc, etc… well not really, you see after the U.S. Open, it’s all downhill, you can literally count the days with a mere two digits, you are in the middle of the stretch run of what was once known as the “national pastime” and you can start to smell that Saturday morning air wafting your way from over the horizon.

So, yeah, that’s it, football season’s practically here! Yay! Or not, but at least that little synopsis makes it seem that way doesn’t it? So in lieu of the fact that there simply isn’t much discuss on the college football front right now, Champ thought he’d do everyone the favor of extolling his wisdom on a random gamut of issues regarding the hardcourt, in rapid succession… brace for it, here it comes:

First, let’s focus on the upcoming weekend: Tyler Hansborough will be referred to using all manner of glittery adjectives to basically say that he’s a good basketball player who works hard… and OMG HE’S WHITE, MORE PRAISE, LAUD IT ON, WE HAVEN’T SEEN THIS SINCE LARRY BIRD!!!! I can’t make fun of this too much because hopefully you will be witnessing a repeat of this phenomenon with one Samuel McGuffie (/goosebumps…) Suffice to say that I think Hansborough is a great player, but the coverage of him is ridiculously over-the-top, and if you don’t think it has anything to do with his pigmentation, then I don’t know what to tell you.

Next? Billy Packer will ruin the TV watching experience of these games for an entire nation of curious observers and die-hard fans alike. There is no bigger wet-blanket in sports than Packer, who hates what basketball has become, hates today’s player, and loathes anyone who doesn’t understand the intricacies of a “box and 1”… oh and did I mention that he is quite possibly the biggest ACC shill of all time? Everyone jumps on Vitale’s case (rightly so), but Packer is even worse. Packer makes me hate basketball, he is as uninspiring and boring of an analyst as I can imagine, and he literally can slow the game down because he brings negative energy to the table. There is no reason on God’s green earth that Gus Johnson shouldn’t be involved in these games, he’s too good, his talent can’t be ignored… Why is it that the networks keep trotting out these dinosaurs of announcers (Packer and Vitale are chief offenders) who contribute nothing to the viewing experience? Johnson is SUBLIME, and yet we hardly ever get to see the man practice his craft. Sickening.

Third, Eric Gordon and all manner of kids who are simply too young, too green, and not complete enough will sign on the dotted line for an absolutely sickening amount of cash. Do they deserve blame? No. The first person here who claims that they’d turn down certain millions for the love of the school is nothing but one fat bastard sonofabitch of a liar and should be told so. What needs to happen here is what the NFL did (gasp, Champ citing the NFL for the cause of good??? Que?!?) No really, it does, and it benefits EVERYONE involved. The NBA needs to make a “3 years out of highschool” rule just like their much bigger, much stronger, and much more fervently followed brother does over on the gridiron. Why is that Champ? Well because it benefits the kids that the NBA uses to make its money, for one! How? By allowing them to actually develop and have a better base to build from once they jump to the league, it stands to reason that more might actually receive an education out of the deal (GASP!), and in so far as the NBA is concerned, the quality of play will vastly improve. Oh sure, there’s the occasional Garnett, Kobe, or Lebron… but there are a hell of a lot more Bracey Wrights.

Perhaps some people are out there West of the Mississippi enjoying a lot of solid basketball being played… ever wonder why that is? It’s because these teams have young talent, but not the kind of young talent that jumped directly from highschool or one year in college, no it’s the young talent that was battle tested in the college ranks, honed its skills and is now playing well in the NBA. Derron Williams, Chris Paul, etc? It’s not rocket science folks. This isn’t a slam on Gordon either, the kid is clearly talented, but if the last 3 months haven’t proven conclusively that he isn’t ready for an increase in pressure and stress to his life, I don’t know what will. The solution is simple, and everyone benefits from it, especially the players.

Random Notes:
Hey Chris Henry, you worthless scum-sucking stain on the pants of society, you are a failure and the carcass of your career will hopefully give future players who are like you some pause before they even so much as step outside of their house, good riddance. 5th arrest, that’s MOTHER FUCKING FIVE everyone, as in, five times more than one… as in that’s five times your dumbass managed to throw away an opportunity to make more money than 99.9% of the people that walk this Earth. I feel absolutely zero pity for your complete and utter waste of talent, and the first team that so much as throws this guy’s name around as a possibility to pick up should be smacked. C-YA! Congrats to the Bengals, just goes to show that you certainly don’t stray far from the straight and narrow on that team before there are consequences!!!! The only sad part of this story is that somehow, someway, you know this guy won’t get banned from the league, and somewhere, someone will sign him for an obscene amount of money and take a chance on him.

Ok, rant off… As for this weekend: Rock Chalk sonsabitches! Jayhawks over Bruins, and then the countdown begins! Enjoy!

More Hand Wringing, Champ Responds.

From Beauford:

Brian's got his response up at mgoblog. WARNING: Brian will make you think. If you're against that, don't click. It will only lead to frustration. In a nutshell, Brian comes to the conclusion that...academics at BCS schools are really messed up. Carty's not 100% wrong, but he's not holding the smoking gun either.

An elaboration on my own response:

People obviously want to talk about this, so I will. Here goes: I have long given up the pretense that BCS schools are really about the student-athlete. I've dropped the student part altogether. BCS schools, in football, are factories designed to produce talent for the NFL, and generate revenue for various groups - notably media outlets - who have less than stellar intentions when it comes to the athletes themselves. Basically, you sell anything and everything you can, and in today's market, that means the academic rigors that athletes face have been bought and paid for. It's taken care of - just go out and play hard on Saturday, son.

Thus, Carty's article doesn't really bother me all too much. Does he raise some legitimate issues? Yes. Mostly the late "transfers" to Independent Studies. Are there some other question marks? Yes. Mostly the anonymous sources, and the fact that...um...the Psych department at UM has already investigated, and cleared, the parties involved. If that sounds fishy to you, it's because it is. You have to trust that the department holds themselves to a high enough standard to conduct a real investigation of themselves. Carty obviously doesn't buy it. Whether you do is up to you.

Bottom Line: I am thrilled when I hear an athlete has taken on a real academic challenge. I am not shocked when I hear that the majority of them, apparently, don't. This article is fodder for OSU and ND message boards, but so far, it is of no surprise, or real consequence.

From Champ:

Anyone else have a slight problem with the fact that Carty goes into such tremendous detail regarding athletes struggling or being filtered into Kinesiology, etc... yet he makes no effort to even compare the percentage of athletes in these majors to the percentage of non-athletes in these majors. If the contrast is so stark, SHOW US, give us the comparison! You can't just say look at this, boy that looks bad without giving us some means of actually judging it. For all we know from this article, everyone else who takes kinesiology graduates with a 4.0. Yes, there has been a clear shift to general studies majors on the football team... but how does that compare to the student population as a whole? How many general studies majors are there period? How many kinesiology majors?

So Michigan, in order to admit kids who are borderline, places them in the program with the lowest admission requirements? This is shocking? What would be of concern to me would be if the University and the Athletic Department weren't making it crystal clear to these kids what their future options were in terms of degree's they'd be able to pursue. You have to be upfront about it. The best part is, I don't see anywhere where these kids are being left behind, aren't graduating with degrees, or being left to struggle in the world as a result of the degree they did earn. Perhaps that's the next installment??? Citing two successful grads from the football team doesn't seem to be the best way to pull back the curtain on such a terrible program if you ask me...

So basically, the university has complied with prop 48, it has admitted kids who meet the prop 48 requirements, but are likely below the standard of the student that is otherwise admitted into certain programs, and they tend to have a tougher time? Really? Again, show me where the U is admitting these kids and then hanging them out to dry, show me where these kids come and play football and then have no future as a result of not earning a degree... because the kids that do earn a degree sure seem to be doing just fine and dandy. I want to see them address that question, show me where athletes are coming out of the university with a degree that seems to have given them less of an opportunity to succeed in their life after college, show me where the athletes are getting a lower quality education.

So Carty and the Ann Arbor News somehow feel that the University of Michigan shouldn't be helping these kids achieve an education of some sort? They feel that these athletes who are clearly borderline should just be thrown to the wolves? There's a MAJOR difference between giving a kid the opportunity to succeed, and literally hand-feeding him along the way. I've seen absolutely zero evidence of the latter. There hasn't been one mention of tutors doing students work, students never going to class and getting credit, students cheating on tests... not ONE. I just don't get the attack. The fact that athletes are enrolling in less demanding majors that are offered by the university to everyone isn't shocking, it doesn't affect the academic integrity of the university, and it certainly doesn't reek of wrong-doing. Again, Carty and the AAN do absolutely nothing to draw a comparison to the student body at large. This of course would make the article actually worth reading, but alas, why provide useful statistics when it's much easier to only examine the football team?

No one here is criticizing self-improvement, no one here is attempting to justify mediocrity... what I want to see here is something that is actually worth discussing. Doesn't it come through to anyone else that the U of M is 100% on top of this stuff? I mean for heaven's sake, how many departmental investigations and meetings have been cited here? Other than some frustrations with students who probably aren't as gifted as others, what else have we seen? Are athletes graduating with worthless degrees that leave them unprepared to move on in their lives???? In essence, is Michigan using a very small proportion of its students athletes to further its own interests on the field, and then leave them behind in the classroom? I certainly don't get that impression, and Carty et al certainly haven't given us any more reason to believe so. Show me former players who are struggling in their lives years removed from Ann Arbor, show me how many former players have fallen into certain categories.

Any one who has graduated from anywhere knows that finding success after school is about both the value of your degree and WHO YOU KNOW. The combination of networking available at the U of M along with the value of a U of M degree certainly puts the students coming out of Michigan in a solid position to succeed. I would love to see the staff of the Ann Arbor News post their college transcripts, schedules, and majors out there. I could stand here and question the rigor that goes into a journalism degree just as these folks are casting stones at the areas of general studies and kinesiology, but that's simply missing the crux of this issue! Does the U of M short-change its athletes academically? Does the U of M conduct illegal activities in order to keep its athletes eligible? The AAN has no newsworthy answers to these questions.

I have particularly enjoyed the response from those within "academia" in the comments section of these articles. You will find no more idealistic and horrifically misguided perception of education than from those who purport themselves to be so offended by this story that they find people like John Hagen to be an affront to the entire academic community. Please. The purpose of education is for students to learn, to equip themselves with tools that will allow them to succeed. The school can offer top notch programs across the board, but it won't do much if the students don't take an active role. Encompassed within that broad spectrum is certainly the question of responsibility. I get a huge kick out of articles like the Petway article where he talks about not even knowing that the U of M had a music school until his Junior year... PICK UP A FLYER BUD! Universities cannot possibly bear the entire burden for making sure that every single individual makes the most out of their time spent at their institution. There has to be some personal accountability and responsibility here as well. The students, ALL students, have a responsibility for their own education. If some choose to make less out of their opportunity than others, than so be it, but don't come back and try to cast aspersions on the academic culture at Michigan for it. I don't see anywhere where the University of Michigan has actively limited a kid, I haven't seen one instance of that appearing in any of this work so far.

I think it's hilarious to watch the comments pour in on these sites from the realm of education, yet NOT ONE address the non-athlete, not one discusses the possibility that the same type of trend exists whether you're an athlete or not. Of course I've been throwing out the word "athlete" here, when what we really should be saying is "money sport athlete". The AAN isn't posting the academic records of the baseball, gymnastics, soccer, lacrosse, softball, etc teams... anyone care to guess as to why that might be?

I am curious as to how the AAN and those in the academic world taking it's point of view would justify the notion that athletes should be receiving the exact same education as those who are not participating in athletics do. How on earth can anyone sit there and say that one person's academic experience should meet the same standards as someone else's when the situations are so different? If I have X hours a week to focus on my course-work, and an athlete has X-40 hours a week to focus on their course-work... who do you think is going to be able to spend more time on their education? Isn't that a reality of being a "student-athlete" across the board? By choosing to participate in athletics, aren't you actively deciding to place that constraint on your time and education? The key is this: are the opportunities there as a student, whether an athlete or not, for you to pursue an area of interest based upon meeting the basic requirements of that program? If you meet those requirements, can you graduate with a competitive degree? If you choose to work to make sure that you're able to extract all that you want from both areas, you most assuredly have that opportunity. If you choose to lessen your academic load to accommodate athletics, then are you still able to move on from your school with an opportunity to succeed? The fact that some majors may require less work than others is there whether you're an athlete or not.

Sorry for the rant, but this whole "expose" thus far has done nothing except foster a discussion of academics and athletics in general, and though some of the findings here are a bit troubling, I see nothing that the University needs to be shamed for, nor do I see any instance where the University has compromised its academic integrity to serve the purpose of athletes. So the question needs to be asked: "what's the story here?"

EDIT: All that typing... and I forgot to list my major thought here... perhaps the question should be: should the U of M be admitting borderline kids? From an academic point of view, if the reputation of the university was earned based upon the rigor of its courses and the quality of graduate it turns out, then is it a good idea to admit kids who fall below the school standards, but qualify based upon the NCAA standards? That's the point that seems to lie behind all of this discussion, and it's certainly one that is tough to tackle.

OMG Recruit - Michigan Fan Style...

Champ Summers helps us out today, offering yet another insight into the maize and blue sections of the brain, which is located just left of the "I'm batshit crazy" section. Consume, dear reader, consume. I think I may actually weigh in on this one, because I think much of the Maize and Blue section in Champ's head is rationalizing the fact that this year's OMG recruit isn't going to be attending Michigan. Of course, just saying this will elicit some sort of snarky retort in the comments section. But...without further ado, I bring you Champ Summers:



I want to commit this to text right now, I want it written down somewhere for future reference, whether I am proven right by the course of time or proven to be a fool a few years down the road. Here it is, straight from a dyed in the wool Maize and Blue fan: I want absolutely no part of Terrelle Pryor, none, nada, zip. I’m tired of watching people make excuses for this kid because he has some serious potential on the gridiron. His act is tired, and as time marches onward, the red flags are starting to accumulate. It’s in times like these that people need to remember that one player will never be bigger than the team, let me go ahead and say that again: never. One of the things that I’ve always been proud of as a Michigan fan is that despite astronomical expectations, the program and the fan base have never been about win at all costs, and now is no time to start. I’m not saying that Pryor is a bad kid, I’m not trying to say that he will be bust, but there are too many signs and symptoms of a Mo-C type of situation here for my liking and folks, I don’t care if he beats Michigan four years in a row, I want no part of that humiliation. Bring up the name Maurice Clarett to any true Ohio State fan and watch their face contort in pain and anger, I want no part of that. The very fact that there is even a concern in that direction makes me want to simply walk away and pick up a very talented QB recruit next winter (which is a virtual lock at this point).

As I walk back along the timeline of Pryor’s recruitment, I find that it simply does not add up. For a player who was a virtual lock (according to a number of sources) to head to Columbus, why on earth has he not reached a decision yet? No one else finds it a bit odd that somehow, someway, nearly every other player who's going to be playing D1 football on scholarship managed to go ahead and figure out which school they'd like to attend despite what are no doubt very busy schedules?? But poor Terrelle Pryor plays basketball!!! You’re kidding? A high school football recruit who plays basketball?? When has that EVER happened before? How does he even find time to eat with that kind of schedule? Frankly I think the kids on the swim team at Jeannette High ought to seek out Mr. Pryor and one by one go over what their day-to-day schedule entails. I’m also not going to buy into the whole “huge magnitude of the decision” nonsense either. Guess what Terrelle, you knew that after this year, you'd be going to school, likely to play a sport of some nature, and perhaps in spite of all your time spent with your two sports that nearly EVERY talented highschool recruit participates in you should've set some time aside to decide a few things regarding your future. Now then, let’s say he was all set to make a decision and his father decided to nix it… does that make you feel any better about this whole mess? Me either.

Terrelle Pryor may or may not turn out to be a once in a great while type of college football player, but frankly, at this point, I don’t think he’s worth the gamble. It’s sad in a way, because now even if he somehow ends up at Michigan, the microscope will be on this guy from day one, and my anxiety level will be that much higher (selfish I know). I may end up eating these words, I may end up regretting the fact that I passed on the next great thing, or maybe I’ll be writing in this space in a few years about what a tremendous Michigan Man Terrelle Pryor has been and what his legacy will be… but standing here now, without the benefit of hindsight to aid me, can you honestly say you’d be all aboard for taking on this circus act? Not me, no thanks. I'll take a kid like Justin Feagin who's thrilled with the opportunity to play in Ann Arbor and certainly appears to have a good head on his shoulders… even though he may be rated as less talented. Why? Because it's about the team, the team, the team and thus far Terrelle Pryor has shown that he’s about nothing but me, me, me.

Champ. Out.