jiMpossible and SarcasMike

Trophy history update

2012-01-29T16:18:00.002-05:00

I have created a spreadsheet that tracks every game in jiMpossible-sarcasMike Trophy history.

This Site Is Valuable!!!

2012-01-14T10:43:00.000-05:00

This Site Is Valuable!!!

January prediction for M 2012 record

2012-01-09T16:09:00.003-05:00

vs Alabama @ Dallas -L
Air Force -W
Massachusetts - W
@ Notre Dame - L
@ Purdue -W
Illinois - W
MSU - W
@ Nebraska - L
@ Minnesota - W
Northwestern - W
Iowa - W
@ OSU - L
boneg Championship game vs Wisconsin - L
Insight Bowl vs. Kansas St - W
9-5

Trophy game blow-out!

2012-01-05T20:30:00.004-05:00

WVU demolished Clemson 70-33 last night taking possession of the All-Time trophy. This is West Virginia's first time winning the trophy.

The Mountaineers 2012 schedule is a little up in the air as they are leaving the Big East for the Big 12. They do have 3 non-conference on the schedule thus far, everything else is currently listed as TBD.

9/1/12 Marshall
9/8/12 at Florida State
9/15/12 vs. James Madison at FedEx Field

I'll try to do some homework over the off season to determine if the Orange Bowl massacre set any trophy game records. I would guess it has at least been quite a while since the trophy holder gave up 70 points.

Gibbons for The Victors

2012-01-04T12:17:00.001-05:00

Sugar Bowl Prediction

2011-12-31T19:30:00.001-05:00

VTU 27
M 24

Sugar Bowl prediction based on historical data

2011-12-30T17:56:00.005-05:00

M is 172-48-1 in all games I have attended (all data refers to game I have attended unless otherwise stated.)
M is 28-14 in games away from Michigan Stadium
M is 6-5 in Bowl games (4-1 in non Rose Bowls)
M is 45-9 when facing a team for the first time (I have not seen M play any of those 9 teams a second time)
M is 18-3 against schools from the original 13 colonies/states
M is 3-1 in the 10th game I have attended in a particular season
M is 38-8 with #16 as their starting QB (I missed this but DRob's start vs. Nebraska pushed #16 ahead of #7 for number of QB starts.)
M is 24-5 against teams with bird based nicknames/mascots
M is 5-0 against teams from the ACC
M is 6-3 when ranked 13 (0-1 in Bowls)
M is 6-1 when facing the 17th ranked team (2-0 vs. the ACC)
M is 4-1 in night games
This is the first time I will see M play indoors.

It's simple when you add it all up...

M 27
Virginia Tech 17

Fantasy Draft update

2011-12-11T17:22:00.003-05:00

Back in August 10 of us attempted a college football fantasy draft. We got the idea from here. The ten of us drafted out the 120 teams. With just he bowl remaining I have the lead, but anything can happen.

I thought I'd break down the "best" and "worst" picks in each round.

Round 1: Boise St (Dad) - Florida State (Mason)
Round 2: Arkansas (Cory) - Akron (Kevin)
Round 3: Northern Illinois (Dad) - Troy (Cory)
Round 4: Houston (Melissa) - Maryland (Kara)
Round 5: Arkansas State (Kevin) - Army (Andy)
Round 6: Ohio (Laura) - Oregon State (Mike)
Round 7: Temple/Florida Intl (Dad/Jesse) - BC (Mason)
Round 8: Penn State (Mike) - Idaho/MTSU (Dad/Mason)
Round 9: Kansas State/La Tech (Kara/Laura) - Colorado (Kevin)
Round 10: Wyoming (Mason) - Indiana (Kara)
Round 11: Utah State (Laura) - Mississippi (Mason)
Round 12: La Lafayette (Jesse) - New Mexico (Mason)

sarcasMike NCAA playoff 2011

2011-12-05T15:16:00.004-05:00

Everyone with an internet connection has an idea for a college football playoff - why not me.

16 teams - 11 conference champions + top 5 teams in the CFRC*
No same conference match-ups in the first round
Games on campus until final - have to win your conference to host a 1st round game
Only way an at-large team can host is if they are playing a lowered seeded at large team
Championship at Rose Bowl

Auto Qualifiers (rank)
LSU (1)
Oklahoma State (3)
Oregon (5)
Wisconsin (8)
TCU (19)
Clemson (21)
Southern Mississippi (23)
West Virginia (28)
Arkansas State (36)
Northern Illinois (41)
Louisiana Tech (44)

At Large Teams
Alabama (2)
Stanford (4)
Boise State (6)
Oklahoma (7)
Arkansas (9)

First teams out
USC (10)- they are on probation and couldn't compete anyway
Michigan (11)
South Carolina (12)
Kansas State (13)
Baylor (14)

I guess Oklahoma getting in would be the biggest complaint. If you want to swap out any of these teams go ahead. Since M would be the first team in, I say we go ahead and do that! We have to do some shuffling to avoid the first round match-up with Wisconsin.

So the seeded bracket would be:

16 La Tech
@ 1 LSU

7 Arkansas
@ 8 Wisconsin

12 So Miss
@ 5 Oregon

4 Stanford
@ 13 WVU

14 Ark St
@ 3 Ok State

6 Boise
@ 11 Clemson

9 Michigan
@ 10 TCU

2 Alabama
@ 15 NIU

*In a perfect world the at-large bids would be chosen by a selection committee, but until we get one of those, I'll use the CFRC.

Clemson takes the trophy Bowling

2011-12-04T14:54:00.003-05:00

This is Clemson's 4th time as trophy holder and 2nd this season. This is the 4th time a team has won the trophy twice in the same season. Clemson will next take the field in the Orange Bowl on January 4th, probably against West Virginia. The last trophy holder to lose their Bowl game was Arkansas losing to Missouri in the 2008 Cotton Bowl.

BCmess and my Heisman votes

2011-12-04T14:30:00.005-05:00

Why do only losses matter?

Oklahoma State beat 9 bowl (eligible) teams - Alabama 6
OSU has 7 wins over FBS teams with winning records - Alabama 3
OSU 5 wins over top 25 teams - Alabama 2

But Oklahoma State lost to Iowa State and their not "supposed" to be as good as Alabama so they get passed over.

When it occurs as expected, what if LSU loses to Alabama? They are 1-1 but Alabama gets the MNC and we'll never know what would have happened against Ok State.

My mythical Heisman ballot would be:
1: Robert Griffin III
2. Montee Ball
3. Tyrann Mathieu

Clemson - new trophy holder (again)

2011-12-03T23:48:00.002-05:00

Full post coming tomorrow - Clemson has regained the jiMpossible-sarcasMike Trophy.

M bowl possibilities

2011-12-03T15:40:00.002-05:00

As I type this it looks like Houston is going to lose to Southern Mississippi. It would seem that this is good news for Michigan - it certainly isn't bad news.

This (pretty cool) BCS bowl predictor thinks the only two games that matter if Houston loses are LSU-Georgia and Iowa State-Kansas State.

Although this isn't the order the games are played - If LSU wins - M is in the Sugar Bowl. If LSU loses, Iowa State will have to have beaten KState for M to go to the BCS, in this case the Fiesta Bowl.

The game in Manhattan is currently at the half with KState leading 17-14.

Sugar Bowl possible opponents are TCU (if they beat UNLV - currently lead 21-6), WVU (if Boise St beats New Mexico) or the loser of in Bedlam if the upsets occur.

The opponent in the Fiesta Bowl would be the Bedlam winner.

Of course I have no idea if the website with this predictor knows what they're talking about...

Hoke Speak

2011-12-02T22:35:00.002-05:00

In the verbiage of Brady Hoke, tOSU lost in the MAC Championship game tonight. Poor Buckeyes.

Conference Championship guesses

2011-12-02T15:26:00.003-05:00

MAC - NIU over the Bobcats
PAC 12Oregon over UCLA
C-USA Houston over Southern Miss
SEC - LSU over Georgia
ACC (jiMpossible-sarcasMike trophy on the line) Clemson over Virginia Tech
boneg - Wisconsin over MSU

Michigan to the Sugar Bowl

boneg championship game

2011-11-30T11:56:00.003-05:00

These two things do not go together...

Me trying to sell my tickets for $90 each

People being offered $75 to be seat fillers...

Maybe I'll go and see if I can become a last minute seat filler. The ponec made a much better decision - having their championship game on campus in Oregon.

M vs OSU prediction based on historical data

2011-11-23T11:48:00.002-05:00

M is 171-48-1 in all games I have attended (all data refers to games I have attended unless specifically mentioned)
M is 133-34-1 at Michigan Stadium
M is 115-35-1 in conference games
M is 5-1 when ranked 17th (only loss to OSU in 2005)
M is 122-20-1 against unranked opponents
M is 37-8 with #16 as starting QB
M is 8-6 against OSU (6 losses ties OSU with MSU for most victories over M)
M is 4-5 in the 9th game I have seen them play in a season
M is 4-0 in their head coaches 9th game
M is 2-1 when facing a team for the 15th time
M is 0-1 when trying to stop a 3 game losing streak against an opponent
M is 25-9-1 in the final home game of the season
M is 20-5 when facing the 4th head coach for a particular team
M is 1-0 when facing a team that the next time M plays that team will be coached by Urban Meyer

It's easy when you add it all up..

M 24 - OSU 21

Ohio State Prediction

2011-11-22T21:32:00.000-05:00

Michigan 33
Ohio State 13

9-2

2011-11-20T16:07:00.003-05:00

Huh...

I thought my 8-4 July prediction was pretty optimistic. Turns out I was a glass half empty guy.
The win does mean Michigan has beaten each conference opponent the first time I've seen them play. Nebraska joins Indiana as the only conference opponents I haven't seen beat Michigan.
Denard still seems tentative in his runs. I was glad to see him finally take the open field scramble rather than force a pass. He still seems to be making too many cuts rather than just running when he gets to open field.
Toussaint is good - sometimes he thinks he's Barry Sanders and turns a 1 yard loss into a 4 yard loss, but other than that - he has been stellar.
I'm happy for Martaveous Odoms. He has made a huge difference as a kick returner and he's becoming part of the passing game again. He was the ONLY offensive weapon on the 2008 team, he deserves to go out successfully.
Blake Countess is the best corner M has had in years. Not sure what the coaches thought when he was behind Woolfolk, Floyd and Avery at the beginning of the year. And he's only a freshman.
The defense will greatly miss Martin and Van Bergen next year. They are very good. I would be surprised if they're not playing on Sundays next year.
The power outage was weird. The underground men's room only had the emergency lights on. The scoreboards were out until just before the half. I assume jiMpossible's fan thingy would have worked - he would have been a star one eyed king amongst the blind.

Michigan has their best chance to beat OSU in quite a while - not sure when M was last favored in the game.

Little Hokey Foo Foo

2011-11-19T17:32:00.000-05:00

Nebraska Prediction Based On Trophy

2011-11-16T20:01:00.000-05:00

m 26, n 23

M vs Nebraska prediction based on historical data

2011-11-16T15:42:00.003-05:00

M is 170-48-1 in all games I have attended
M is 132-34-1 at Michigan Stadium
M is 114-35-1 in conference games
M is 10-0 when facing a conference team for the first time
M is 5-1 when the opposing coach shares the first name of a former M coach*
M is 6-0 when ranked #20 (1-0 against ranked opponents when ranked #20)
M is 5-1 when opponent is ranked #17
M is 48-28 against ranked opponents (6 straight losses)
M is 20-13 when facing a higher ranked team
M is 48-19-1 against teams with "humanish" mascots
M is 36-8 with #16 as their starting QB
M is 10-4 in the 8th game I have seen them play in a particular season (3 straight losses)

It's easy when you add it all up

M 24 - Nebraska 28

* that I have seen - i.e. Bo, Gary, Lloyd or Rich

Virginia Tech - New Trophy Holder

2011-11-13T17:21:00.007-05:00

Sorry for the late post... I thought Georgia Tech held on to beat the Hokies. For Virginia Tech this is their first time winning College Football's Greatest Trophy. They are the first first-timer since Kentucky last season. And the 100th team to win the trophy overall!

Their win will likely keep the trophy out of the SEC - at least until bowl season. The Hokies have 2 games remaining on their schedule - this Thursday they travel to UNC then they host Virginia Saturday after Thanksgiving. VaTech currently leads the Coastal division of the ACC. Clemson has clinched the Atlantic division, the Tigers would be the opponent in Charlotte.

The ACC champ will likely go to the Orange Bowl against a BCS at-large team. If Michigan wins their final 2 games - they may receive an at-large bid...

(AP Photo/John Bazemore *)

*Kinda

Michigan vs. Illinois predictions

2011-11-11T09:20:00.002-05:00

Illinois mostly bottles up Michigan's offense except for 2 big plays
Only 1 turnover for Michigan
Robinson less than 50% completions but 2 TDs (see above)
Michigan's D has trouble with Scheelhaase - but wins the turnover battle

Michigan 23 Illinois 21

Illinois Prediction Based On...A Lack Of Confidence!

2011-11-10T09:17:00.001-05:00

Illinois 25, Michigan 24

Going for 2 or not when down 9

2011-11-09T15:28:00.005-05:00

Both BrianGoBlog and BWchriS commented about Michigan's decision to kick the PAT rather than go for 2 when they scored what turned out to be their final touchdown.

MGoBlog thinks M made the wrong decision and BWS disagrees.

I tend to agree that kicking the PAT was correct.

Time left: Michigan scored with 7:53 remaining, making the score 24-15. There had been 18 possessions to that point. Meaning the average possession to that point had been less than 3 minutes. M had all 3 timeouts (I think M used their first timeout on Iowa's next punt).

Keeping it at 2 possessions instead of 3: A missed 2 point conversion means M needs to score 2 times in under 8 minutes, with Iowa running clock - that's not enough time to do so without an onside kick. I know a missed 2 point conversion with no time left means you lose - I get it, but I'd rather start with a more doable option stop and score - rather than stop - score - get onside kick - score.

What if Iowa scores? 27-15 - takes a last second field goal to put us in OT out of the equation. Or forces M to go for a TD on a 4th and long goal rather than take a FG now and scramble for the tying TD. 31-15 - means M needs 2 TDs and 2 2-point conversions... 27-16 and 31-16 are much better options.

Momentum and emotion: A failed 2 point conversion would have to demoralize the team - knowing they scored but still need to score 2 more times...

BWS wanted to something like the Advance NFL stats to show:

WP(extra point) vs. WP(2-pt make)*.4 + WP(2-pt miss)*.6

But isn't really able to pull it off. Based on the comments I've seen on his post and in mgoblog - I am definitely in the minority, but that doesn't change my opinion that M made the right choice.

M is who we thought they were - kinda

2011-11-07T13:47:00.003-05:00

Michigan is 7-2, back in July I had predicted at this point they would be 6-3. Why don't I feel better about their record than I do?

Problems
The offense in general - compare the numbers to last year after 9 games (it is worth noting that the 3-OT games against Illinois is included in the 2010 stats)

Offense	2010	2011
Points	350	294
First downs	218	197
Rushing yards	2461	2090
ypc	6.2	5.6
passing yards	2362	1763
y/a	9.2	8.4
Comp %	65.2	53.1
Interceptions	10	13

Decrease of 1000 yards of total offense
Loss of over half a yard per play
Way too many interceptions (10 is pretty high btw)

But beyond the numbers, nothing seems to work well consistently in the offense. Last year there were several "go-to" plays - from the standard Denard sweep; to some version of the read option (not that the truly optioned much); the play action hash pass pass; bubble screens.
What have been Michigan's most successful plays this year? Toss it up to Hemingway? They seem to have a collection of plays, not an offense.

Denard is obviosly uncomfortable in this offense. The coaches and DRob himself may tell us differently, but I don't believe them. He's been told the offense needs a drop back passer, so that's what he wants to be - to his and the teams detriment. If it isn't there - quit forcing it and run. He's not punishing the defenses for cheating tight on the receivers. If there's no one open - then he MUST be. How many times was he standing flat footed looking to force a pass to his 2nd or 3rd read? RUN!!!

The Devin package seems to have diminishing returns. There really hasn't been too much success from any of the alignments. And if they do have something new - stop showing it against Minnesota and Purdue and save it for a real opponent...

What's wrong with Hagerup? He was a great punter this year. The suspension really seems to have caused him to take a step back. Was it for PEDs? A huge punt played a role in the LSU-Alabama match-of-the-millenium, Michigan needs to get better there.

Where was Thomas Gordon? Against a power runningback like Coker, M benches one of its leading tacklers and substitutes Woolfolk. Woolfolk was a failure at corner and is not a good tackler. And Gordon doesn;t even get in for a snap?

How many times does Desmond Morgan have to get blown up before he comes out of the lineup? I prefer Hawthorne to Morgan, not sure what the coaches see.

How does the 4th down play not include a run pass option? Denard running >>>> Denard passing, Denard passing with the threat of running >>>>> Denard passing from the pocket.

I had Michigan winning 2 of their final 3 games, I would be surprised (pleasantly) if this happens.

Boneg Ladder

2011-11-06T06:21:00.002-05:00

With a couple more 'upsets', the current Boneg Ladder now looks like this:

PSU

(everyone except PSU and Indiana)

Indiana

Using this as a predictor, M will go 2-1 the rest of the season.

Take that Columbus Dispatch

2011-11-04T11:01:00.002-04:00

It has been 1448 days since OSU has beaten Michigan in the Blood Battle

Michigan vs. Iowa prediction

2011-11-04T10:47:00.002-04:00

I haven't seen much Hawkeye football this season. We watched the end of regulation and overtime in their match-up with Iowa St. Iowa was certainly not very impressive. Last week they found a way to lose to a horrible Minnesota team. So it would seem I should have some confidence in a Michigan victory. But for some reason I'm not.
Back in July I picked this as a Michigan loss. Michigan has been better defensively than I expected. But the decline in Denard's play still scares me. I see another 2-3 interception game, that will be tough for Michigan to overcome.

Michigan 10 Iowa 12

I'm just saying.

2011-11-04T04:12:00.000-04:00

Iowa Prediction Base On Fortune Cookie

2011-11-03T16:11:00.000-04:00

m32, i24

Boneg Ladder

2011-10-30T09:47:00.000-04:00

It was only a matter of time until there was a jumble in the Boneg Ladder. When MSU lost to Nebraska, that created an MSU-Wis-Neb jumble. 8 hours later, OSU was added to that jumble when they beat Wisconsin. Because none of the teams in that jumble have lost to any other teams, they sit on the top rung with PSU.

PSU has 5 wins, but the wins have been against 5 of the bottom 6 teams (per Boneg Ladder). All three of the remaining games are against top rung Boneg Ladder teams.

If someone can upset MSU, it really looks to be a Boneg Championship game with 2 2-loss teams. Unfortunately, MSU's remaining 4 games are against teams on the bottom 4 rungs of the Boneg Ladder.

So, here's this week's Ladder:

PSU MSU-Wis-Neb-OSU

MI

Purdue

MN IL

Iowa

Northwestern

IN

Using the Boneg Ladder to predict the games, M will go 2-2 from this point, losing to Neb and OSU.

Using the Boneg Ladder to predict the rest of the league, MSU will not lose again earning the slot as the Michigan division representative in the Bone Championship game. In the Indiana division, it would be a three way tie between PSU, Wisconsin and OSU, each with 2 losses. PSU would be eliminated because they would have lost to both Wis and OSU. That would leave OSU as the division champ due to head-to-head.

Georgia Tech - New Trophy holder

2011-10-30T09:24:00.004-04:00

Congratulations to the Rambling Wreck from Georgia Tech. Their 31-17 victory over Clemson ended the Tigers 6 week run with college football's greatest trophy.

This is the Yellow Jackets 3rd time winning the trophy. They beat Auburn on October 14, 1944 - you may remember that Auburn did not field a varsity team in 1943 because of the war, so the trophy sat dormant for a season. Tech won twice before losing to Duke in early November.

They waited 20+ years to take the trophy again. defeating Tennessee in October of 1966. They were more successful in their second defense of the trophy, rattling off 5 straight wins before losing to arch-rival Georgia on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

Tech has 3 regular season games remaining. Following their bye week, they close out hosting Virginia Tech, traveling to Duke and the annual match-up with Georgia. If they win out, they will likely win the Coastal division in the ACC (not sure of the tie-breaker scenario if 3 teams have 2 losses) and potentially take on Clemson again for the ACC title.

I'm going to predict the trophy will be going back to Blacksburg in 2 weeks.

M vs. Purdue prediction based on historical data

2011-10-29T08:34:00.002-04:00

M is 169-48-1 in all games I have attended
M is 141-34-1 in games at Michigan Stadium
M is 28-7 on their homecoming

It's easy when you add it all up

M 21 Purdue 17

M vs Purdue Prediction Based On......nothing

2011-10-28T17:03:00.002-04:00

Michigan 33, Purdue 15

Big Ten Ladder

2011-10-23T09:39:00.000-04:00

The Ladder is back. As you may know, each team is on a higher rung than teams they have beaten, and on lower rungs than teams they've lost to. There have not yet been situations that cause circles/ pileups (a beats b, b beats c, c beats a, for example). One upset could do that.

There are actually two ways to do the ladder. One using the undefeated teams on the top rung and lining up teams below. The other is using the winless teams and lining up the teams above. I'm going with the first one.

The ladder as of today:

PSU - MSU
Iowa - Purdue - Wisconsin - Michigan
Nebraska
Minnesota - OSU
Illinois
Indiana - Northwestern

Using this as a predictor, M will go 4-1 from here on out (losing to Iowa on the road). I'd take that.

Uniforms

2011-10-16T21:52:00.000-04:00

I don't feel like saying anything about the game, but I do have to comment on the uniforms.

MSUs Nike costumes were a bit offensive in their design, but they were worlds better than M's Faux-Throw road unis. Seriously, who thought this was a good idea?

And though I like the numbers on the helmets, is there any way to make the color of the numbers the same maize as on the rest of the helmets or on the jerseys?

M vs MSU prediction

2011-10-13T10:51:00.003-04:00

Doesn't look like I'm going to East Lansing this weekend ($200 per ticket???) so there will be no prediction based on games I've attended. So let's go with something along the lines of games not attended.

M is 721-261-35 in games I have not attended
M is 52-26-5 in against MSU games I have not attended

Michigan 23
MSU 17

MSU Prediction Based On Paris Metro

2011-10-12T21:57:00.001-04:00

msu 28 m 20

Michigan at Midpoint

2011-10-11T19:30:00.003-04:00

As jiMpossible pointed out, somehow he has become the more confident one. Back in July I predicted M would finish 8-4, which seemed pretty optimistic.

I had M at 4-2 at this point, with losses against ND and Northwestern. Obviously M pulled out victories in both games. Looking forward. I had M losing to Iowa and Nebraska in the second half. While I wouldn't say M will definitely beat the Hawkeyes, it would seem they should. Nebraska I feel a little more confident against than I did back in July.

That being said, this week will tell quite a bit. I don't think MSU is as good as they were last season, but they are probably the best team M has played since the miracle UTL.

If Hoke can break the first time coaching in the Paul Bunyan game streak, M will definitely be the front funner for the boneg game in Indianapolis. If not they'll need help.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say M will be playing in a BCS game this January.

Optimism

2011-10-09T08:26:00.000-04:00

I'm not sure what's happening this year. There have been two games where I've predicted M to win, and you've predicted a loss. I've been right both times.

Since when am I the optimistic one?

I haven't made a decision yet, but I'm leaning towards a loss to MSU.

M vs. Northwestern prediciton based Denard's hacked twitter account

2011-10-06T16:26:00.003-04:00

12 M
27 N (the N in Denard is not counted)

Northwestern Prediction Based On Grand Central Station

2011-10-06T05:47:00.002-04:00

m33 n22

jiMpossible & Bo at the 1990 Rose Bowl from BTN special

2011-10-04T20:26:00.004-04:00

Shut outs

2011-10-03T15:28:00.008-04:00

When OSU scored with 10 seconds left against the Spartans Saturday I tweeted excitedly:

@mpharmd98

WooHoo Michigan still the last team to shut out OSU! #goblue

Since it was also apparent that M was the last team to shut out Minnesota - I thought it would be interesting to see who was the last to shut out each of the boneg teams.

Team	shutter outer	Score	date
Illinois	OSU	30-0	9/26/2009
Indiana	Michigan	58-0	10/14/2000
Iowa	Illinois	31-0	10/14/2000
Michigan	Iowa	26-0	10/20/1984
MSU	Michigan	14-0	10/21/2000
Minnesota	Michigan	58-0	10/1/2011
Nebraska	Arizona St	19-0	9/21/1996
Northwestern	OSU	20-0	9/27/2003
OSU	Michigan	28-0	11/20/1993
Penn St	Michigan	20-0	10/6/2001
Purdue	OSU	49-0	10/23/2010
Wisconsin	Syracuse	34-0	8/24/1997

Michigan leads as the last shutter outer with 5 (including consecutive weeks); OSU is next with 3 then Illinois and Iowa close out the boneg schools with ASU and Syracuse the only non-conference shutter outers.

If you look only for boneg conference shut outs - Wisconsin was shut out by Iowa 31-0 on 11-16-1996.

Nebraska has not been shut out in a conference game since Oklahoma beat them 27-0 on 11/23/1973. But as far as their current conference is concerned, they have not been shut out by a boneg team since Purdue skunked them 28-0 on 9/27/1958.

My final bits are when Michigan was last shut out in a non-conference game: a 25-0 loss to Independent MSU on 9/29/1951. How about against a team not currently in the boneg ? That gets screwed up as well. M (with Gerald Ford) lost to U of Chicago 27-0 on 10/13/1934. But of course that was a conference game...
You have to go back to M's 10-0 loss to Navy on 10/30/1926 for their last loss against a team unrelated to any version of the boneg .

Minnesota Prediction Based On Sandwich Board

2011-09-29T17:05:00.000-04:00

m 38 mn 14

MSU ranked vs. unranked OSU

2011-09-28T15:15:00.003-04:00

I saw this on the Twitters

Tony Gerdeman (@GerdOzone)
9/27/11 10:15 PM

It's been 45 years since a ranked Michigan State team and an unranked Ohio State team have met on the football field.

That would be 1966 when 4-0 MSU went to the horseshoe to face 1-2 OSU. The Spartans came away with an 11-8 victory, their closest game of the season until the 10-10 tie in the Game of the Century at the end of the year against Notre Dame.

Of course this almost isn't even true. MSU is ranked 25 in he USA Today coaches poll and is the first team listed in others receiving votes in the AP poll. In the CFRC, MSU is 38 and OSU is 40.

M vs. Minnesota predistion based on historical data

2011-09-27T20:03:00.002-04:00

M is 168-47-1 in all games have attended (all data is from games I have attended unless otherwise noted)
M is 140-34-1 in Michigan Stadium
M is 35-7 in when #16 starts as their quarterback
M is 113-34-1 in conference games (43-6-1 in Big 10, 70-28 in Big Ten, 0-0 in B1G)
M is 2-o in the first game with a particular number of conference teams
M is 12-2 against Minnesota
M is 6-0 when ranked #19 (M was last ranked 19 going into the Indiana game played almost exactly 1 year ago)
M is 120-20-1 against unranked opponents
M is 1-1 when facing teams for the 15th time
M is 17-9 in the 5th game I've seen in a season
M is 58-20 in October
M is 22-4 against teams with rodent/weasel mascots

It's easy when you add it all together:

M 45 Minnesota 13

Some Mostly Useless Statistics

2011-09-25T08:23:00.000-04:00

M has run only 22 plays while the games have been tied this year.

When trailing by 15 or more points, M averages 77 yards per pass play. (only 2 yards per rushing play)

M's winning streak is tied for 11th longest in the country (up from 16th last week).

While trailing, DRob averages just under 9 yards per carry. When inside M's 20 yard line, he averages 11 yards per carry.

SDSU Thoughts

2011-09-24T18:41:00.000-04:00

Some thoughts after the SDSU game:

Even though I don’t feel any better about most of my specific concerns about this team, I somehow feel better about the team overall. I don’t know if I feel like M will be able to go 5-3 in the conference or anything like that, but I definitely think it is possible to be in every game until the 4th quarter.

If you are looking for a way to reduce the number of carries for your 20+ carry QB, I don’t think the best idea is to put in the option play. Of course, he was able to make some good gains when that play was called. I don’t know if he is doing enough to stay healthy (running out of bounds, getting down before tackles, etc.). In the first half I thought he wasn’t taking hits too badly. In the second half I said “oof” a number of times when he carried the ball. That will be a concern all year, I think.

I don’t want to worry about FG kicking, so I’ll just remember that M has only missed one FG this year. Only missing one FG in 4 games is rather impressive.

The defensive line really showed up. The rest of the defense was good, too. Two games in a row under double digits is pretty groovy. The last season that happened was Lloyd's last season. It also happened the season before that. (Rodrig never did that).

That pass to Dileo was about the same as the play he got his TD on last week. They need to do it more often. Of course, one of those was dropped today (was that Koger?).

Speaking of drops. There were too many. Of course, Denard’s passing is just plain bad. He has no touch on short passes, no touch on long passes (a little altitude will let the receiver get to it) and makes horrible decisions on medium passes. I don’t see him improving on this as the season goes on. I hope I'm wrong.

If there is a RB battle going on, I’m pretty sure Hopkins is closer being out of it.

I still think Smith is running the best. He is tough and has some speed. I don’t know if he is running well enough to solidify himself in the starting position yet, but I think he should be the starter for another week.

Again, Smith made a screen play work that wasn’t working. Against ND, Lewan (I think) missed his guy completely and Smith scooted around him. This time, it looked like he was in front of two of the Offensive Linemen when he caught the ball. For a team that can’t throw the ball downfield and has some problems with RBs running the ball, you’d think they would work harder on screens, bubble screens, and other very short passes.

SDSU’s passing game was bad. I don’t know how much was forced by the M defense, but the number of passes that were in the wrong time zone and inexcusable drops was scary.

Overall, though, I liked what the D did. I didn’t seen anyone make multiple painful mistakes.

Most of the first half it looked like M just had more talent and was going to win for that reason. Not unlike many of the wins M had during the Bo/Mo/Lloyd era. I’m hoping this is the first of many wins like this.

M vs San Diego St prediction based on historical data

2011-09-22T13:45:00.002-04:00

M is 167-47-1 in all games I have attended (all data refers only to games I have attended unless otherwise stipulated)
M is 139-34-1 in Michigan Stadium (140-34-1 if you count ice hockey)
M is 34-7 in games with #16 as their starting QB
M is 2-1 against teams in the Mountain West Conference
M is 21-5 in the 4th game I have seen in a particular season
M is 1-1 when ranked number 22
M is 12-3 when ranked between 20-25
M is 119-20-1 against unranked teams
M is 47-18-1 against teams with "humanish" mascots
M is 22-7 against schools with the name of their city (location) in the schools name
M is 41-17 against schools with "State" in their "common" name
M is 19-8 against teams with a nickname representing a conquered people
M is 1-3 in the 4th game I have seen M's coach as their head coach (only Bo was a winner)
M is 152-42-1 against teams whose head coach's first name is a movie title ( I didn't think there would be so many... stupid IMDB)

It is simple when you put it all together:

M 21
CSU-SD 35

San Diego State Prediction Based On Soap

2011-09-22T05:54:00.002-04:00

m 35 sdsu 23

Interesting article on College football fanbase size

2011-09-20T16:38:00.003-04:00

Interesting article from the NYTimes looking at the geography of college football fanbases.

Michigan ends up with the second largest fanbase, behind OSU. Although it is tough to see Michigan behind OSU in anything, I think having an entire state essentially to themselves makes the difference. I would (like to think) that outside of their home states M still has an advantage over OSU. But splitting the state with MSU and Michigan having a smaller population than Ohio make the difference.

Breaking out some of the numbers:
Total number of fans for Michigan schools:
Michigan 2.9M
MSU 1.1M
WMU 105K
CMU 65.7K
EMU 65.1K
gets us to 4.24M fans Michigan gets ~68% of those fans.

Total number of fans for Ohio Schools
OSU 3.2M
Cincinnati 323K
Akron 198K
Miami 121K
BGSU 117K
Toledo 110K
Ohio 108K
Kent 71K
gets only 4.25M fans and OSU gets a 75%

I think that somewhat hold my theory. Michigan loses a much larger share of fans - both locally and to a lesser extent nationally to MSU. While the Buckeyes only lose tiny amount to their state schools.

I would be interested in seeing how the markets within Michigan broke down. I bet SW Michigan is a 3 way fight - with Michigan maybe even third behind Notre Dame and MSU. Michigan likely still dominates in Detroit. The rural areas I would guess are slightly Michigan, but that is based more on historically better program more than anything else.

I would be very interested to see this tracked over time. I would have thought ND would have come out first. They likely would have in the 1940-60s. Before the NFL took over NYC in the late 1950s, I would think all the numbers would have been a much higher percentage - but especially in the east.

Where have all the conferences gone? Realignment in FBS

2011-09-19T16:10:00.004-04:00

It appears the Big 12 and the Big East are coming apart. There is a lot of talk of four - 16-team super conferences leaving every one else outside looking in.

The Big 12 dissolving is not really that surprising to me. The inequity of Texas getting so much more than the other schools is hard to take. And the Big 12 is really only in existence because the SWC fell apart. From the beginning when they didn't guarantee an Oklahoma-Nebraska match-up every year, I thought there were problems.

The Big East has never been a football conference in my mind - Miami's success not-withstanding. It has always been about basketball. So when BC, Miami and Virginia Tech left a few years ago, I didn't think anything of it - because they weren't basketball schools. But when Syracuse leaves - Syracuse one of the founders - one of the darlings of Madison Square Garden leaves, I realized football money trumps basketball and logic.

Will the B1G be left without a chair when the realignment music stops? Should they even play this round? Who will be left of interest?

As always there is the golden child - Notre Dame. They make perfect sense - great academics, national following, geographically perfect. They currently are in the Big East in everything but football and hockey. With the Big East losing luster, will they be forced to blink this time? I read on twitter the suggestion of ND getting the same option from the B1G (everything but football), Why would the conference take that?

Missouri? Geographical - but little else. Kansas - Basketball & geography. The other Big 12 cast offs are even less appealing.
From the east - Rutgers - near NYC geographically - but not in the minds of fans (NYC or otherwise). Louisville, UConn etc. not much to go on.

Any chance the B1G loses teams if they don't add? I don't think Nebraska wants to go anywhere again so soon. PSU has always wanted another eastern team - maybe this is their chance to run if no one new joins from the east. I'd take a ND for PSU any day - let's make that trade.

Although the B1G was ahead of the curve on the last expansion, I think they're behind now and maybe that's the right place to be.

2011 first quarter (of the season) thoughts

2011-09-19T15:20:00.003-04:00

Michigan has completed the first quarter of its 2011 schedule undefeated - this puts them ahead of my preseason prediction. But not to the point where I'm confident going forward.

Problems:

Slow starts - Michigan has yet to score in the 1st quarter. They've been outscored 21-0. WMU was 1-1 on possessions, ND was 2-2, EMU was 0-2* with a fumble and getting stopped on the 1 yard line on 4th down. Michigan is 0-5** with 2 interceptions.
Denard has been inaccurate (27-55 with 4 interceptions) in the passing game.
No one outside of Denard has been able to consistently generate a running game. He has 352 of Ms' 680, about ~52%. 2010 showed us this is not a sustainable way to victory in conference.
Poor kick-off coverage - Average start after a kickoff for the opponents is the 30 yard line. If you throw two outliers - it moves up 2 full yards on only 16 kickoffs...
Rush defense - Giving up 4.8 yards/carry against 2 MAC teams and Notre Dame does not bode well in conference play.
Not enough plays from Craig Roh, RVB and Mike Martin - the defensive "leaders"
Haven't gotten far enough ahead in MAC games to get the back-ups (especially Devin Gardner) many reps.

*EMU's 3rd drive of the 1st quarter ended in a field goal early in the 2nd.
**M's first possession against WMU ended in a TD in the 2nd quarter.

Successes:

Overall defensive improvement - There seems to be more of an idea on defense this year. It's tough to quantify. My feeling is the linebackers have been much better than last year and the DBs have been better as well. The D-line still needs to improve - especially given that it is the "strength" of this defense.
Making corrections and improving as the game goes on - after the 1st period, M has outscored the opposition 100-23. Jump balls being unsustainable as an offense aside - M has made plays when they've figured out what they could do against the opposition.
Denard can still do this (from mgoblog).
Very improved play from Jeremy Gallon both on special teams and as a receiver.
Similar improvement from Thomas Gordon on defense.
Jake Ryan seems like he's going to be a good one.
No horrible special teams gaffes.

Where do we go from here?
I don't think any games on the schedule are un-winnable or unfortunately un-loseable.

Clemson - new trophy holder

2011-09-17T19:31:00.002-04:00

Congratulations to Clemson for taking the sarcasMike-jiMpossible all-time college football traveling trophy from Auburn today.

This is the third time Clemson has held the trophy - they defeated Duke on October 19, 1974, but lost to Tennessee the next week.

The waited 14 to hold the trophy again. The beat Penn State on New Years Day 1988. The rattled off 2 victories to start the 1988 season before losing to Florida State.

The trophy leaves the SEC for the first time since Florida won the BCS mNC over Oklahoma in January of 2009.

Clemson becomes the first ACC school to possess the trophy since Florida State's 15 game run in 1999-2000. Coincidentally, Clemson hosts Florida State next weekend. If they get by the Seminoles, they travel to Blacksburg to face the Hokies.

M vs. EMU prediction based on Historical data

2011-09-16T10:14:00.004-04:00

M is 166-47-1 in games I have attended (all data refers only to games I have attended unless otherwise noted)
M is 138-34-1 in Michigan Stadium
M is 33-7 with #16 as their starting QB
M is 17-1 against the MAC
M is 25-1 in the 3rd game I have attended in a particular season
M is 3-0 against EMU
M is 12-1 following games that they've set a new national attendance record
M is 118-20-1 against unranked teams
M is 25-14 while unranked
M is 24-5 against teams from Michigan
M is 50-9 against teams I have seen play a team other than Michigan (I saw EMU beat UNLV in 1995)
M is 22-3 against directional schools

It's simple when you put it all together:

M 41 - EMU 17

Eastern Michigan Prediction Based On London Underground

2011-09-15T19:55:00.002-04:00

m 48 emu 14

What are the chances 2011 = 2010 = 2009

2011-09-15T16:47:00.004-04:00

Michigan opens it season with an easy win and a decent defensive performance. They follow that up with a dramatic last minute win over arch-rival Notre Dame. Stop me if you've heard this one before.
Where does M go from here?

Reasons to expect 2011 is more of the same

Lack of talent on defense
ND is once again not as good as their press clippings
Offense relied on a few plays that it would seem could be coached against
Defense not getting much pressure without blitzing

Reasons to expect more from this team

better coaching - especially on the defensive side
offense - players and coaches - are feeling each other out and will improve over the course of the season as they learn what they can do
it can't happen 3 years in a row, right?

I'm not convinced this is a very good football team. I guess maybe because of that - even though the final result (still thinking 8-4) will be about the same, I don't think they'll get there the same way they have the past two seasons.

Notre Dame Prediction Based On BART Platform

2011-09-07T19:25:00.002-04:00

nd 28, m18

M - Notre Dame prediction based on historical data

2011-09-07T19:06:00.003-04:00

M is 165-47-1 in all games I have attended (all data refers only to games I've attended unless otherwise noted)
M is 137-34-1 in games at Michigan Stadium
M is 32-7 in games with #16 as starting QB
M is 9-6 against Independents
M is 20-6 in the 2nd game I have attended in a particular season
M is 8-4 against Notre Dame
M is 117-20-1 in games against unranked teams
M is 24-14 when unranked
M is 30-7 against schools from Indiana
M is 0-2 on September 10 (both losses to Notre Dame, one at night!)
M is 3-0 when facing a coach for the first time with his second team (i.e. I saw Brian Kelly's CMU team face Michigan, now this is the first time I've seen his ND team face Michigan)
M is 5-2 when facing a teams for the 12th time
M is 3-0 when facing the 6th different head coach for an opponent
M is 46-18-1 against teams with human(ish) mascots
M is 30-10-1 against teams with adjectives commonly used in their nickname
M is 26-8 against private schools

It's simple when you add it all up.

M 19
ND 24

M-OSU bobble heads

2011-09-05T09:50:00.000-04:00

From UniWatch Blog today - one of his regular experts has created a bobble headed recap of every M-OSU football game. This is really cool!

Lets hope we get back to some Winged Bobble Heads for the next few years...

After the rains came...

2011-09-04T08:54:00.002-04:00

The weather got pretty ridiculous - I'm surprised WMU accepted the surrender terms. I would hope Michigan would not have in a similar situation.

M vs. WMU prediction based on Historical data

2011-09-01T08:05:00.004-04:00

M is 164-47-1 in all games I have attended (all data refers only to games I've attended unless otherwise noted)
M is 136-34-1 in games at Michigan Stadium
M is 3-1 in games with a new Michigan head coach
M is 31-7 in games with #16 as starting QB
M is 16-1 against schools from the MAC
M is 31-4 in the first game I have attended in a particular season
M is 3-0 against WMU (WMU is 0-4 in all games I have attended - they lost to Miami (OH) in the first NCAA game I ever saw in 1975)
M is 116-20-1 in games against unranked teams
M is 23-14 when unranked
M is 23-5 against schools from Michigan
M is 2-0 on September 3
M is 7-0 against opposing head coaches whose last name starts with the letter after their first name start with - i.e. Bill Cubit - BC

It's simple when you add it all up:

M 28 WMU 21

Fantasy draft

2011-08-29T19:20:00.004-04:00

Here we go:

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php/option=com_mobile/task=viewaltcast/altcast_code=0b31b55074" &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;College football Fantasy Draft&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

WMU Prediction Based On Bus Marquee

2011-08-29T19:00:00.000-04:00

M 33, WMU 21

Jim's Season Prediction Based On Drum Set

2011-08-29T18:58:00.000-04:00

How Uncle Lefty saved Bubba Smith's Career

2011-08-03T20:30:00.004-04:00

Football great Bubba Smith has passed away. I don't remember him as a player, but I do remember him as an "actor" I think he was best when playing himself in the Miller Lite commercials of the late 70s and 80s.

Although I think this lead to some controversy when he was upset that fans at his Alma Mater were cheering "Tastes Great... Less Filling" instead of "Go Green... Go White".

My best Bubba Smith memory involves my Uncle Lefty. Lefty was quite an athlete, he played football against Red Grange for Wabash college back in the 1920s. Later in life he was an official and worked practices for MSU. My best recollection of his Bubba Smith story goes something like this:

Every play I kept throwing my flag because Bubba was lined up offside - in the neutral zone. I finally told him, "Bubba, your too big, you should lineup half at yard further back." The rest was history. If it wasn't for me you'd never have heard of him!

I really do not do that story justice, unfortunately, Uncle Lefty has long passed. He was a treasure trove of great stories.

July prediction for 2011 M football

2011-07-25T16:21:00.003-04:00

As I did last year, I'll make my first prediction of M's for the upcoming season in July. I nailed it last year, correctly predicting a 7-5 record (switching the outcomes of Notre Dame and MSU). I was wrong in my prediction for both the Bowl M would play in and the result.
Overall July 2010 grade B+

Here we go:

WMU - Win
ND - Loss
EMU - Win
SDSU - Win
Minnesota - Win
@ Northwestern - Loss
@ MSU -Win
Purdue - win
@ Iowa - Loss
@ Illinois - Win
Nebraska - loss
OSU - Win

M finishes the regular season 8-4 - (5-3 in conference) tied for second in the Legends division. Ends up in another bad match-up in Florida in January against Georgia in the Outback Bowl - and loses, finishing 8-5.

80% confidence interval (regular season only) 7-9 wins
90% confidence interval 6-9 wins
100% confidence interval 5-9 wins

Ingalls does good

2011-07-08T09:53:00.002-04:00

Great article in the Freep regarding Doug Ingalls (Oz)and his wife Doreen. I hadn't thought how the move of girls basketball to basketball season affected other coaching families.
One of my other GHS teammates Joe Madden (Madds) pointed out that the Freep goes so far as to say Doug's dad is:

Jack Ingalls, the legendary basketball coach from Gladstone

But the Escanaba Daily Press has not pushed for Jack to make the UP Sports Hall of Fame. I guess I don't know enough about who is in and who isn't, but it seems like JI should get some consideration...

Newt Loken passes - M legends are dwindling

2011-06-30T21:10:00.004-04:00

Newt Loken, Father of Michigan Men's Gymnastics and longtime leader of the Cheerleaders - the real cheerleaders - the guys in the Maize sweaters* that Dave from the short hallway was in - passed away this week.

A year or so ago I was in line behind Newt at the ACE hardware - he was charming the uninterested cashier to the point she almost enjoyed her job.

The first I'd ever heard of him was when my family used to go to the Go Blue Brunch prior to the homecoming football games in the late 70s - early 80s. Thinking back now, those were so packed with Michigan legends it is hard to believe. Newt was just one of many legends that would speak:

Wally Weber - long time freshman football coach
Bob Ufer - no introduction needed - just in case
Millie Schembechler - Bo's wife
Hazel "Doc" Losh - legendary astronomy professor whose grading system included "A for Athletes, B for Boys and C for Co-Eds"
Don Canham - AD extraordinaire

With Newt's passing there is a definite dearth of Michigan's living legends. Who would you consider M's greatest living legends?

Bob Chappuis
Bump Elliott
Cazzie Russell
Red Berenson
Anthony Carter
Rick Leach
Jerry Hanlon
Don Dufek Sr

Is it sad that I don't consider Lloyd Carr a legend? Not sure if it is because he's retired so recently or because I'm disappointed in his lack of obvious support for his successor. Am I too old to consider Tom Brady, Desmond Howard, Charles Woodson or the Fab 5 legends?

I guess it also points to the void in Michigan's "greatness" from the late 40s to the 70s.

*How is it possible that the interwebs do not have easily accessible images of the old maize sweater-ed cheerleaders?

Uniforms

2011-06-16T05:51:00.000-04:00

I realized what I don't like about the 'Legacy' uniforms. At first I thought maybe I was being an old curmudgeon and didn't like change, but that doesn't make sense because I do like the helmets/facemasks. Then, I thought maybe it was that I don't like the stripes, but that isn't so because I think stripes do have a 'retro' look that is kindof neat. What I really don't like about the jerseys is the color. More specifically 'colors'. The stripes give me way too much yellow (maize) on a beautifully navy (blue) jersey. I don't know if they could have made the yellow stripes thinner, or had fewer of them, but I just don't like the amount of yellow they give to the great M jersey.

Oh, the other complaint I have about the jerseys aren't in the look, but in the function. As in, the function of my eyes. With those little numbers on the front, I will have to wait for players to turn around to see their numbers. I like the block M in front, though, so I think I can live with adjusting my view to the big screen or to my device if I really want to know who did something on a play.

Throwback jerseys part 2

2011-06-08T14:55:00.003-04:00

Looks like Throwback Jerzegeddon is close at hand. As we discussed a while back the Freep stumbled upon these as the likely throwback for the UM- Notre Dame game.

Today the mgoblog community came across this on an MDen page - it has since been removed... even more damning evidence hovering brought up the words "Adidas Throwback Jersey...Night Game"

I think they over did it with the striping. I think a better look would be to limit the striping to three maize stripes - limited to the shoulder area no the sleeves. The 3 stripes would be similar to the 3 stripes on the football helmet (assuming Adidas could get the color right...)

Here's a side by side comparison:

I think this is quite an improvement!

How should we track the Trophy through USC's sanctions?

2011-06-07T14:30:00.006-04:00

USC has vacated 14 wins between 12/4/2004 and 1/4/2006. Unfortunately this affects the All-Time College Football Trophy.

On 1/1/2004 USC beat Michigan in the Rose Bowl to take possession of the trophy. They reeled off 25 consecutive wins before losing to Texas in the Rose Bowl in 2006. However the final 14 of those wins have been vacated.

I've thought of a few different scenarios (see poll below).

USC keeps the trophy throughout the vacated wins - but are given credit for only 11 wins not 25. The most similar precedent to this is when Auburn did not field a football team in 1943 do to WWII. In the official record they maintained the trophy throughout their hiatus. I like to think the importance of the trophy is the main reason they started a team again in 1944.
The team USC played in their first vacated game takes possession of the trophy as this is the first game USC officially "cheated". In this case UCLA would be given the trophy (praeter emendatum in) and we would track forward from there.
The first game played/completed after USC's last non-vacated victory would be determined to be the new "Trophy Game". We would go back and determine which school was the next team to win a game after USC's victory over Notre Dame on 11/27/2004 and track forward from there.
Other ideas? Leave suggestions in comments.

create free polls | comment on this

OSU coaching futures

2011-05-31T15:52:00.004-04:00

In case you hadn't heard, Jim Tressel resigned yesterday. They've promoted Luke Fickell to interim head-coach (he was already slated to coach the 5 games for which Tressel was suspended). But I don't think anyone expects Fickell to be the long term coach.

Yahoo Sports, among others, looked at the potential replacements for Tressel. After watching the pains Michigan has gone through TWICE in the past 4 years looking for a head coach, I think OSU landing Urban Meyer would be a huge blow to Michigan's esteem.

In 2007, Michigan was turned down by Greg Schiano and depending on who you believe Les Miles. They "settled" for their third(?) choice - Rich Rodriguez. For numerous reasons (see mgoblog circa 2008-2011) this did not work. The next search appeared to have Jim Harbaugh as the primary target. I'm not convinced that David Brandon ever even talked to him or Les Miles and we ended up with Brady Hoke as the head coach. Prior to the debacle in Jacksonville against Mississippi State, I said I would prefer keeping RR to hiring Brady Hoke. Afterwards, I agreed with jiMpossible, that RR had to go.

For Michigan with no sanctions hanging over them to end up with a coach with a 47-50 record at schools like Ball State and San Diego State and OSU to end up with Urban Meyer (104-23) at Bowling Green, Utah and Florida (+ 2 MNCs) while their coaching search goes on during what we can only assume will be MAJOR sanctions, would be ridiculous.

I hope Brady Hoke is the most successful coach in Michigan football history, but his getting the HC job with Meyer in Columbus, really shows how much the Michigan name has lost luster in the past 10 years...

Desmond Howard OMG!!!

2011-05-27T11:41:00.003-04:00

Former Michigan Heisman trophy winner Desmond Howard spoke at the Black Coaches and Administrators Convention last night. His main topic was the feeling of "Entitlement" he thinks current players have. He does not like their recruitment being treated as a major news story - like an individual player could make or break a program.

He used Denard Robinson in the coaching turnover as an example.

"I'll give you a perfect example: Michigan fires coach Rich Rodriguez. All the noise in Ann Arbor is, 'Is Denard Robinson going to stay or leave?' I'm like, 'Hey, if the kid wants to go, don't let the door hit you on the way out.' You looked fantastic for five games against nobody. That's what you did. I'm not going to deny his talents, but you ain't won nothing in Ann Arbor, son! Not so much we need to worry about if you're going to be here next year or not."

This has caused quite a stir on WTKA, AnnArbor.com and MGoBlog.

Callers and commentors were not happy with Desmond. Questioning if he was jealous of Denard, wondering why he never says anything nice about Michigan. I felt like it was almost tipping towards the way Buckeye fans have forced Kirk Herbstreit to move away from Columbus because of all the complaints and threats he was receiving.

Is anything in that quote not factual? I don't think so. I've seen DRob do some amazing things but his performance was not up the same level against better quality teams.

Is Desmond being somewhat hypocritical - after all he left Michigan early? Michael Taylor e-mailed the show hinting at that in his message. At least he could argue he had WON big games at Michigan - he had won the ultimate individual award.

Ira on WTKA was mostly upset that Desmond had chosen Denard as his example and not Justin Boren. Later Sam defended Denard and to some degree any player who would contemplate leaving in a coaching situation. I wonder if Boren falls under that umbrella? I would guess not...

Here's to hoping that DRob's decision to stay was the right one for him, but more importantly the right one for Michigan.

Throwback jerseys

2011-05-20T16:22:00.002-04:00

Are you kidding me? Could the addidas logo be any bigger? At least there isn't an Arby's logo like the Big Chill jerseys...

OT: Sharing sidewalks

2011-05-13T14:08:00.002-04:00

I walk to work nearly everyday, and over the course of 1.6 miles each way times over 200 days a year I occasionally come across other walkers/runners etc. It never ceases to amaze me that people when walking/running in pairs do not move into single file to allow those of us going in the other direction room to pass. I would say >50% of the time I end up walking on the grass to avoid contact.

This morning two women were walking dogs (one each). These were rather large dogs. They had plenty of time to see me coming, but they did not move into single file. I was pinned in by a fence and could not take my usual tact. As I passed - the one dog actually lunged at me and nipped at my shorts. In my frustration I actually yelled back at them (as they kept on walking) to "learn to share the sidewalk" among other things.

When Hoot and I were vacationing in Rome, we made fun of the Italians being so intent on their conversations while walking that they never moved for walkers in the other direction. Turns out American are worse, they don't move and have no reason.

10 year anniversary of Crappy Softball

2011-05-03T06:52:00.003-04:00

On May 3, 2001 - the miracle known as Crappy Softball first took the field. Expecting to lose every game, we somehow managed to split the opening double-header. Other than that (and 2 forfeits) we did not win another game in the spring season.

But winning games was never the primary goal. My initial recruitment e-mail specifically asked for people who never played the game. I implied getting to fly-balls before they stopped rolling would be considered a victory.

We played 8 seasons (2 seasons a year for 4 years). Pfizer got very little work from me on Fridays over the course of those seasons. I spent the majority of my day-after-the-game updating the stats and record book for the Fighting Crappies.

For our 100th game we even created a commemorative t-shirt containing the name of every player who had ever taken the field for the squad.

Memorable highlights include:

Chris Joseph complaining to Hoot about the "dead frog" in the outfield.

Joe Moonsammy and his cricket throws from the outfield (he never bent his elbow...)

The batter order was determined by order of arrival at the field.

Somehow we managed to pull of a triple play - on a ground ball not some freak line drive. I successfully let the first two batters get on base then the 3rd batter hit a two hopper right to Joe Welch at short. he tagged the lead runner, stepped on the bag and threw for first to complete the miracle.

Hoot catching her first fly ball (we got the batter to sign the ball)

Missing my first games due to taking a practice throw inches from my temple. Hoot, driving a stick shift for one of the first times, managed to get me to the ER before I lost too much blood... I think Scott Ciarkowski lead us to a split in the games.

We had 2 players get called out for being out of the batters box - there was no lines ever painted. I think I almost got ejected for complaining about the second call. I kept asking the ump to show me where my batter stood and he couldn't/wouldn't...

We almost got no-hit in a game. The ump knew it was a no-hitter because he even called Chris Ridella out for bunting. He didn't completely follow through, but the ball went to the outfield on the fly, how is that a bunt? We eventually got a hit - out of spite!

Thorsten injured the umpire's ankle on a swing follow through. Somehow we managed to get a co-workers husband as the ump for the rest of the game. I think we won when on a called 3rd strike...

Stimpy runs the bases night!

I'm sure other players would add different memories (and I welcome them to do so in the comments)

We finally ran out of steam, it got too difficult to make sure we had enough players to not forfeit (an inherent problem with a team built on not caring). And I felt the most important thing was that we never forfeit a game.

I'd happily take the field again, I miss playing - I don't miss running the team...

Dragging out the NFL draft

2011-04-29T10:48:00.003-04:00

I'm not a fan of the extended 3-day NFL draft. I didn't watch any of the draft coverage last night. I understand it went on past midnight.

The first round always took too long, but who cared on a Saturday afternoon. But if the choice is watching Berman and Kiper talk for 15 minutes between picks or watching Community, The Office, Parks & Rec and 30 Rock, the NFL draft loses every time.

For those of you who chose to waste time watching the draft instead - here are the NBC shows update -SPOILER ALERT - if you're waiting to watch them on your DVR

Community - Shirley had her baby - it was Andre's not Chang's

The Office - Michael's last episode - he was telling everyone he had one more day, but left a day early to head out to Boulder (he had to call Holly to find out where they were going to live)

Parks & Rec - Jerry's painting for the Pawnee govt art project showed Leslie as a topless centaur and Tom as a cherub. The townspeople were not happy with the nudity - but Leslie and Jerry tricked them in the end

30 Rock - Jack's wife Avery was arrested in North Korea. Liz was empowered by realizing she fixes all the problems on TGS, she should be able to do the same in her life. A plastic bag stuck in a tree becomes her white whale.

Meanwhile - Fairly seems like a nice get for the Lions!

I'm not sure how much of the later rounds I'll watch over the next couple days, probably not as much as I used to when the Draft first came to weekend television, that's for sure.

Should M have gone for 2 down 9?
	Yes
	No

pollcode.com free polls