Wednesday, November 23, 2016

OSU prediction based on it being about damn time


This is a picture of my mother and my Uncle Jim at the 1939 Michigan - Ohio State game. Michigan won that game 21-14 in Ann Arbor. Sometimes it feels like M hasn't won since. Then I remember...

My first OSU game was Jim Harbaugh's 1985 team. Michigan was the better team all day, but the Buckeyes got close late and them Harbaugh to Kolesar put it away. We went down on the field after the game, the north goal post came down and jiMpossible made an effort to grab the flag st the top of one of the uprights. A cop pounded on the upright with a billy club and that dispersed the crowd somewhat.

jiMpossible was Gilligan in the MMB halftime show for the 1986 Harbaugh guarantee game. Bo knew they would miss the field goal because it was his turn.

1991, of course belonged to Desmond Howard.

1993 was the first in a series of M ruining OSU's season, and the last time OSU was shutout.

1995 was the Biakabutuka-ing

1997 was Charles Woodson channeling Desmond 

1998 was my only trip to Columbus to watch the game. We sat in the first row - in bleachers right on the track - this was before they lowered the field. Tom Brady tried to keep them in the game, but the offensive line got no push and Michigan had negative rushing yards for the day.

In 2000 jiMpossible and I watched Drew Henson's naked bootleg ice the game from the TV in my apartment. M hasn't won in Columbus since (and he hasn't watched a game on TV with me since).
That brought Tressel and everything changed.

M won the 100th game between the two schools and my dad was on the field as legends returned to line the tunnel for the team touching the Go Blue Banner.

The 2005 game is when my then 83 year old father was knocked over by a BDBitL cymbal player.

M won again in 2011 with a great effort from Denard Robinson, but a poor pass from Braxton Miller missed a wide open receiver or that game too might have ended in a loss.

There were times this season when I was convinced Michigan had the better team. OSU has had several closer-than-expected games, But these past couple weeks Michigan's offense has been very disappointing. My head says the Buckeyes will win at home and probably make the playoffs. My heart says it's about damn time.

M 17
O 14

Monday, November 21, 2016

Ohio State Prediction

Michigan Gulo Gulo 19
Ohio State Aesculi Glabra 33

North vs. South Endzone update

As I had posted previously we put some of my mother's ashes in the south endzone of Michigan Stadium while the field was being resurfaced in 2003. My dad wanted me to keep track how many points were scored against Michigan in each endzone, convinced that her ashes would help stop the opposition.
This was a good year for my mom. the opposition only manages 22 points in the south endzone vs. 61 in the north endzone. This brings the total since 2003 to 996 in the north vs 842 in the south.

My dad passed away this summer and we haven't managed to get his ashes down on the field yet. But I'm sure we'll find a way and more importantly, find a way to track what difference his ashes are making for the Wolverines.

Friday, November 18, 2016

Indiana prediction based on historical data



Michigan is 204-59-1 in all games I have attended
        - Data is only for games I have attended unless otherwise stated
M is 133-44-1 in conference games
M is 15-0 vs. Indiana - Indiana is 0-16 in games I've attended, as I saw them lose to MSU in 1987
M is 74-0 vs teams I haven't seen them lose to
M is 3-1 when playing a team for the 16th time
M is 170-44-1 in Michigan Stadium
M is 130-68 on artificial turf
M is 131-42-1 vs. schools with mascots deemed heavier than a Wolverine
M is 20-3 when ranked #4
M is 148-24-1 vs. unranked teams
M is 123-9-1 when ranked vs. an unranked team
M is 26-5 when Jim Harbaugh plays a leading role for the team
M is 55-23 in 3:30 kickoffs
M is 4-1 in the 10th game I have attended in a season
M is 1-1 on November 19
M is 12-2 against teams with head coaches that share the last name with the main character playing opposite Tom Hanks in a Tom Hanks movie (volleyballs count)
M is 9-1 in the first start of the season for that season's second starting QB

As I've posted before very few people alive have ever seen M lose to Indiana - lets keep it that way

It's easy when you look at the numbers:

M 38
IU 17

Indiana Prediction

Michigan Gulo Gulo 42
Indiana Hoosiers* 13

*A Hoosier is someone from Indiana.  So, I guess I could have said Indiana Indianans

Thursday, November 10, 2016

Iowa prediction based on Jim Harbaugh's broken leg

Saw this tweet the other day that confused three different Michigan/Harbaugh stories

There are 3 things at play here:

When his dad was an assistant at Iowa Jim broke his leg on the first day they moved to Iowa City.
He did break a bone as Michigan QB in a loss, but that was his arm in 1984 diving for Jamie Morris's fumble against MSU.
He did quarterback the 1985 squad to that 12-10 loss.

My prediction for this week is none of these three things will recur

M 41
I 13

Iowa Prediction

Michigan Gulo Gulo 34
Iowa Oculi Accipitridae* 19

*The term 'Hawkeye' was used to help promote Iowa.  Though it may have something to do with the Indian chief Blackhawk, I decided to use the taxonomical word for hawk, precided by the Latin for eyes.  "Eyes of the Hawk"

Wednesday, November 9, 2016

Trophy Update - Tide rolls over LSU

Alabama maintained control over the jiMpossible-sarcasMike Trophy with a 10-0 victory over LSU in Death Valley.
This was the first shut out in a trophy game since Virginia Tech shut out Virginia in November of 2011. Just a reminder that 2011 Hokie squad lost to Michigan in the Sugar Bowl - although they had lost the trophy in the ACC championship game before playing M.
Bama still has a tough match up with Auburn and the SEC title game on their schedule along with facing Mississippi State this Saturday and Chattanooga next.
But at this point it seems very likely the trophy will be heading to the playoffs.

Thursday, November 3, 2016

Maryland prediction based on historical data



Michigan is 203-59-1 in all games I have attended
        - Data is only for games I have attended unless otherwise stated
M is 132-44-1 in conference games
M is 3-1 vs. Maryland
M is 7-3 vs. schools that have been a member of more than one conference in separate attended games
M is 169-44-1 in Michigan Stadium
M is 129-68 on artificial turf
M is 116-21 vs. schools with animal based nicknames
(non-human)
M is 33-6 vs. schools with egg-laying animal based nicknames
M is 72-17 vs. schools with mascots deemed lighter than a Wolverine
M is 4-3 when ranked #2 (4 straight wins)
M is 147-24-1 vs. unranked teams
M is 122-9-1 when ranked vs. an unranked team
M is 25-5 when Jim Harbaugh plays a leading role for the team
M is 54-23 in 3:30 kickoffs
M is 6-7 in the 9th game I have attended in a season (the only ordinal numbered game in which M has a losing record)
M is 1-0 on November 5
M is 1-2 when the day + month = year using DD/MM/YY format
M is 11-4 vs. head coaches with alliterative names
M is 26-6 vs. head coaches with a name that can be a job
M is 0-1 the week after scoring 32 points
M is 4-3 the game after giving up 23 points
M is 5-1 when going for their 10th consecutive attended victory
M is 26-6 vs. schools from the original 13 colonies
M is 67-20-1 vs. schools with an alum/attendee that I have slept in the residence of

On game day it will have been 9,534 days since I attended an M victory over Maryland. The only longer streaks of teams I have seen M play but not defeat since my last attended victory are with USC and Florida State. On Saturday it will be 10,169 days since I saw M beat USC in the 1989 Rose Bowl. For FSU it will have been 10,997 days since M's 1986 homecoming victory of the Seminoles.

It's easy when you look at the numbers
M 38
Md 10

Wednesday, November 2, 2016

Maryland Prediction

Michigan Gulo Gulo 44
Maryland Malaclemys Terrapins* 13

*this is the only terrapin found in the United States