Hoping to win the award for "Least Timely Post Ever," I took a crack at UFR-ing the Ohio State game.  Here's the defensive side of things.

Now, I'm not even pretending to be Brian, so I'll have a hard time getting formations right, let alone plays.  But what I can do is chart the game, sum it up, and hopefully provide some insight into the season that was and the season that will be.

Notes
Announcers kept pointing out that Ezeh DNP, don't know if it would have made a difference.  Minor out for the offense.  Would have made a difference.

Drive Chart:

Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	RB	TE	WR	D Form	Type	Play	Player	Yards
OSU26	1	10	Shotgun 1-back	1	2	2	Nickel	Pass	PA flat	Floyd	11
Michigan starts with a single deep safety and 3 down linemen.  Quick out, pushed out by Floyd.  Playing not to get beat deep.
OSU37	1	10	I-form	2	1	2	Nickel	Run	Off-tackle left	Kovacs	1
Lots of jumping around on D, formation inverts.  Kovacs unblocked around the end, hit in the backfield.  Called 1 yard.
OSU38	2	9	Shotgun trips	1	1	3	Nickel	Pass	Rollout out	Leach	11
Floyd playing 10 yards off, tackle by Leach.
OSU49	1	10	I-form	2	1	2	4-3	Run	dive	RVB	0
Nothing glaringly wrong.
OSU 49	2	10	I-form	2	1	2	Nickel	Pass	PA out	Warren	0
Pryor airmails one.  Not much pressure.
OSU 49	3	10	Shotgun 2-back	2	0	3	4-3	Pass	RB under	Brown	2
Pryor gets protection, good open field tackle by S. Brown (tackle +1)
Drive result:  punt, 11:47 1st Q 0-0

Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	RB	TE	WR	D Form	Type	Play	Player	Yards
OSU 22	1	10	I-form	2	1	2	Nickel	Pass	WR flare	Warren	2
Can't really call it a flare.  Receiver just stands there.  Warren Tackle +1
OSU 24	2	8	Shotgun trips	1	0	4	4-3	Pass	Out	Brown	0
Pryor misses by 3 yards short.
OSU 24	3	8	Shotgun 1 back MP	1	2	2	4-3	Pass	sack	Martin	-5
Great play by Martin!  Shows us his helmet hair T +1, Pressue +1, Awesome hair +1
Drive result:  Punt. 8:06 1st Q 0-7

Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	RB	TE	WR	D Form	Type	Play	Player	Yards
OSU20	1	10	Shotgun 1-back 2 TE	1	2	2	Nickel	Run	Power left	Roh	4
Good contain by Roh, tackled by Martin et. Al.
OSU24	2	6	I-form	2	1	2	Nickel	Run	dive right	Mouton	`
Good tackle by Mouton T +1
OSU25	3	5	Shotgun 4 wide	1	0	4	4-3	Pass	swing flat	Brown	4
Stevie Brown hangs on until Mouton gets there to stop short.
Drive result:  3 and out, good punt 2:04 1st Q 0-7

Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	RB	TE	WR	D Form	Type	Play	Player	Yards
OSU6	1	10	I-form 2 TE	2	2	1	Nickel	Run	dive	Martin	1
Pryor bobbled snap, run into the line
OSU7	2	9	I-form	2	1	2	Nickel	Run	off-tackle	Leach	18
Leach got out of position, turning a 5 yard gain into lots.  Huge hole.
OSU25	1	10	I-form	2	1	2	Nickel	Pass	PA out	Floyd	13
Floyd playing off receiver, coverage -1
OSU38	1	10	Shotgun 1-back	1	1	3	Nickel	Pass	Rollout	Floyd	6
Floyd playing 5 yards off receiver, coverage -1
OSU42	2	4	I-form	2	1	2	Nickel	Run	off-tackle	Campbell	1
Will taking up space, good tackle T +1
OSU43	3	3	Shotgun 1-back 2 TE	1	2	2	Nickel	Run	option-look	Brown	1
Good pursuit by everyone, good tackle by Stevie
Drive result:  punt, 11:21 2nd Q 0-7

Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	RB	TE	WR	D Form	Type	Play	Player	Yards
OSU20	1	10	Shotgun 1-back 2 TE	1	2	2	3-3-5	Run	power right	Campbell	14
Graham has a hold in the backfield, Will (and everyone else) wiff on tackles.  T -1
OSU34	1	10	Shotgun 1-back 2 TE	1	2	2	3-3-5	Pass	PA scramble	Brown	9
Pryor takes off (pressure +1) Graham +1, RVB +1, Brown stops short of 1st
OSU43	2	1	I-form	2	1	2	4-3	Run	dive	Graham	0
Graham break through, good tackle (tackle +1), stop short.  He's good.
OSU43	3	1	I-form	2	1	2	4-3	Run	dive	Nobody	3
Nobody noticably messed up, LBs slow to react.
OSU46	1	10	Shotgun 1-back 2 TE	2	1	2	3-3-5	Run	Zone read/keep?	Herron?	25
Herron (-1) can't shake his block, misses Pryor.  Graham bites on the fake.  Mouton overpursues.
M29	1	10	Shotgun 1-back	1	1	3	4-3	Run	Counter	Everyone	29
Line slanting right, play goes left.  TD.  Heniger gets knocked back, opening the hole more.  -1 for something.
Drive result:  TD. 5:22 2nd Q 3-14

Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	RB	TE	WR	D Form	Type	Play	Player	Yards
OSU32	1	10	I-form	2	1	2	4-3	Pass	PA post	Floyd	0
Play action, throws deep.  Receiver had a step on Floyd, ball overthrown.
OSU32	2	10	I-form	2	1	2	4-3	Pass	Option pass?	Warren	0
Mouton hold the corner, forcing a pass.  Warren had a shot at the pass, receiver pretty much dropped it.
OSU32	3	10	Ace	1	1	3	3-3-5?	Pass	scramble	RVB
Pryor flushed by Mouton, scrambles, RVB contains, Pryor throws it away. Pressure +1
Drive result:  punt. 3 and out.  Defense got away with one or two. 4:45 2nd Q 3-14

Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	RB	TE	WR	D Form	Type	Play	Player	Yards
OSU19	1	10	Shotgun 1-back 2 TE	1	2	2	3-3-5	Run	Zone read	Banks	11
D-line can't break out, missed tackles (tackling -1), runs OOB
OSU30	1	10	Shotgun 1-back 2 TE	1	2	2	3-3-5?	Run	Zone read	Kovacs	14
Zone read keep.  Kovacs misses a tackle T -1, Graham and Mouton lost contain.
OSU44	1	10	I-form	2	1	2	3-3-5	Pass	PA scramble	Graham	-25
Graham busts through the line, Mouton holds Pryor in, Pryor throws it away pressure +1, intentional grounding
OSU20	2	35	I-form	2	1	2	4-3	Run	off-tackle	Leach	1
Basic play, non-remarkable outcome.
OSU21	3	34	Shotgun 1-back2 TE	1	2	2	3-3-5	Run	Zone read	Graham	11
Graham/Kovacs pursue the RB again, leaving Pryor with space.  Why aren't they better at stopping this play?
Drive result:  punt, 1:14 2nd Q 3-14

Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	RB	TE	WR	D Form	Type	Play	Player	Yards
OSU40	1	10	I-form	2	1	2	3-3-5	Run	off-tackle	Woolfolk	6
Big rock beats littler rock.  Good tackle by Woolfolk T +1
OSU46	2	4	Shotgun 1-back trips	1	1	3	4-3	Pass	bubble screen	Kovacs	0
Got lucky  Bubble screen wide open, receiver drops it.  Kovacs watching Pryor, forgets about the receiver.  Nearest defender 10 yards away when the ball is thrown.
OSU46	3	4	Shotgun 1-back	1	0	4	4-3+	Pass	stop	Mouton	INT
Corners showing blitz, drop out.  Pass tipped, caught by Mouton +1, Warren +1 for the tip
Drive result:  INT 13:07 3rd Q, 3-14

Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	RB	TE	WR	D Form	Type	Play	Player	Yards
OSU11	1	10	Shotgun 1-back	1	1	3	4-3	Run	Zone read	Roh	6
Roh +1, reads the zone read correctly, great tackle +1
OSU17	2	4	Shotgun 1-back	1	1	3	3-3-5	Run	Zone read	Roh	13
Bah.  Pryor dropped the snap, RVB can't get a hand on him, Kovacs can't catch in the backfield, Roh and Leach finally make the tackle.
OSU30	1	10	I-form	2	1	2	3-3-5	Run	dive	Martin	4
Martin makes a hit at the line, falls for 4.
OSU34	2	6	Shotgun 1-back	1	1	3	4-3	Run	Zone read	Martin	16
Martin and others miss the tackle, giving a big gain.  Tackle -1
M50	1	10	Shotgun 1-back	1	1	3	4-3	Run	Zone read	Mouton	13
Almost identical to the last play.  Tackle -1  Giving this one to Mouton for getting sealed.
M37	1	10	Shotgun 1-back 2 TE	1	2	2	Nickel	Run	Zone read	Fitzgerald	-1
Graham +1 penetrates, allowing Fitzgerald to wrap up. Tackle +1
M38	2	11	Empty backfield	0	1	4	3-3-5?	Run	Zone read	Herron	13
Herron and Fitzgerald bite hard, allowing Pryor to keep for a bunch. ZR -1
M25	1	10	Shotgun 1-back	1	1	3	3-3-5	Run	Zone read	Roh	23
Roh and Banks lose the corner, big gain.  Stevie Brown slow to react. -1
M2	1	G	Goal line	2	3	0	Goal line	Run	dive	Graham	-2
Brandon Graham, we'll miss you Tackle +1, line +1
M4	2	G	Goal line	2	3	0	Goal line	Pass	Rollout sack	Graham
Sniff.  Graham +1, tackle +1
M6	3	G	Shotgun 1-back	1	1	3	3-4	Pass	TE screen	RVB?	TD
Don't know who to give this one to.  Michigan brings 8, nobody gets TE.  RPS -1, RVB is the closest D.
Drive result:  TD.  Why can't we defend the ZRS?  4:46 3rd Q, 10-21

Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	RB	TE	WR	D Form	Type	Play	Player	Yards
OSU17	1	10	Shotgun 1-back	1	1	3	4-3	Run	counter	Mouton	6
Good tackle by Mouton to keep this short.
OSU23	2	4	Shotgun 1-back	1	1	3	4-3	Run	Zone read	Kovacs	6
Again.  Holly Rowe has underpants.
OSU30	1	10	Shotgun 1-back	1	1	3	4-3	Run	Zone read	Roh	6
Again.  Roh makes the tackle.
OSU36	2	4	I-form 2 TE	2	2	1	3-3-5	Run	dive	Everyone	4
3 yards and a cloud of dust.
OSU40	3	2	Shotgun 1-back	1	1	3	3-4	Run	Zone read	Roh	4
Roh almost had Pryor in the backfield, still made the tackle.
OSU41	1	10
Illegal shift, end of 3rd Q 10-21
OSU37	1	15	Shotgun 1-back	1	1	3	4-3	Run	Zone read	Kovacs	3
Zone read sweep, good tackle by Kovacs T +1
OSU37	2	13	I-form	2	1	2	4-3	Pass	PA rollout out	Woolfolk	5
Rollout, Woolfolk forces out
OSU43	3	8	Shotgun 1-back	1	1	3	4-3	Pass	Go	Roh	0
Pryor looks like he wants to scramble, Roh holds him in the pocket.  Deep bomb, Floyd cramps up, overthrown. Pressure +1
Drive result:  punt, 13:43 4th Q 10-21

Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	RB	TE	WR	D Form	Type	Play	Player	Yards
OSU6	1	10	I-form 2 TE	2	2	1	4-3	Run	draw	Mouton	1
Draw, met in the hole by Mouton +1, T +1
OSU7	2	9	Shotgun 1-back 2 TE	1	2	2	4-3	Run	off-tackle	Mouton	3
Zone read-look, tries to cutback, brought down by Mouton +1
OSU10	3	6	Shotgun 1-back	1	1	3	3-3-5	Run	Zone read	Brown	5
Stevie Brown -1 gets caught up behind a block, almost allowing this to go for a 1st.
Drive result:  punt. 10:13 4th Q 10-21

Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	RB	TE	WR	D Form	Type	Play	Player	Yards
OSU19	1	10	Shotgun 1-back 2 TE	1	2	2	4-3	Run	off-tackle	Warren	6
sweep/off tackle, brought down by Warren.
OSU25	2	4	Shotgun 1-back 2 TE	1	2	2	4-3	Run	Zone read	Roh	3
Roh -1 bought the fake and is past Pryor when he takes the ball back.  Kovacs +1 T+1
OSU28	3	1	Ace	1	2	2	4-3	Run	dive	nobody	1
Move the pile
OSU30	1	10	I-form	2	1	2	3-3-5	Run	draw	Leach	1
Good hit in the backfield by Leach +1
OSU31	2	9	Shotgun 1-back trips	1	1	3	4-3	Run	Zone read	Graham	-4
Yay, we defended it! Leach +1 holds the corner, Graham +1 TFL
OSU27	3	13	Ace	1	2	2	4-3	Pass	rollout sack	Graham
Pryor rolls out and runs right into Graham +1.  Pressure +1
Drive result:  punt, 4:49 4th Q 10-21

Well, that doesn't seem so bad.  Numbers?

Defense	+	-
Graham	6	0
RVB	1
Herron		1
Heniger		1
Kovacs	2	2
Roh	1	2
Brown	1	2
Warren	3
Martin	1
Mouton	4	2
Leach	2	1
total	21	11

Bear in mind that I may have (probably did) screw up simple math.  Also, I probably missed who's really responsible for what plays, since all I was looking for was either missed tackles, woefully out of position, or other gross misplays that I noticed.

Heros

Graham, obviously for the one-man goal-line stand.  The numbers say Mouton also had a good game.  I'll give an award to "Tackling" as well, since there were only a couple noticeable wiffs of consequence.

Goats

Can I give one to "Zone Read" defense?  No one really stood out.  After the first couple series, the coverage got better, and played a good game.

Summary
First of all, these things are really hard and time consuming.  Please give Brian more money for doing this week after week.

I think the 3-3-5 experiment actually started in this game.  I think a lot of what I called Nickel is really 3-3-5.  The single deep safety is kind of a give-away.  One thing I did notice, is that our Zone Read defense looks different than most.  Here's an example:


At the snap, everyone looks good.  Three down linemen, 7 total in the box.


But nobody holds the corner.  Leach is gone, Brown and Mouton(?) are holding position at the line.  Basically being blocked by the one TE.


Now they realize what's going on.  Kovacs comes up and makes a great stop to hold this short of a first.  This could have been bad.

Some of the effectiveness may be due to OSU's play calling, but overall the defense looked good.  They only gave up a few big plays, nothing over 30 yards, and generally tackled well.  I think there are a couple technique holes that need to be filled, but for a bunch of freshmen, they looked good to me.  I have some hope for the team, mostly from the heart and grittiness they showed against the #10 team in the country.  How can you not get behind a team that looks like this?

Quick reminder before I break into this: the team plays two home games this weekend (for the only time this season). They play Western Michigan tonight and Central Michigan on Saturday. Both games take place at 7pm in Oosterbaan Fieldhouse. I encourage everyone to make it out and support the team.

On to the show...

The MCLA regular season still has several weeks left to go, but CollegeLax.us blogger Buffalowill has already started breaking down the bubble watch for the 2010 MCLA Tournament, taking place May 11th-15th in Denver. The tournament consists of 16 teams, including the 10 conference champions and 6 at-large bids.

Michigan's conference, the CCLA, has traditionally been a 1-bid league, while the national scene has been dominated by the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse Conference (Colorado State, BYU, and others) and the Southwestern Lacrosse Conference (Chapman, Arizona State, and others). Will, however, predicts that the CCLA should get two teams in this year, giving the Wolverines an in-conference companion out in Denver.

Moving on to the bracket at large, here's a very enlightening chat from the selection committee last year on some of the specifics about how they select the field gives us a great idea of the criteria. I won't go into quite as much detail this far out from the tournament, since there's still a lot of lacrosse to be played, but down the road, I'll compare using their criteria:

[MCLA Tournament Selection Committee member] Tony Scazzero: A team’s body of work was the overall focus; quality wins, quality losses, strength of schedule, quality of schedule, OOC games, and record and scores against top divisional opponents.

Team factors that were also considered included; conference playoff seeding and record, injuries/circumstances affecting team performance, when wins/losses occurred, and travel.

Committee members used a variety of information during this process. Statistical analysis, various polls, first-hand game accounts, common opponents.

So that's the general criteria, much like the NCAA Basketball tournament, and unlike the NCAA Hockey tournament, which results from a pretty strict adherence to the PWR numbers. Last year was also the first year of a committee-based approach, rather than using the polls.

[Committee member Ken Lovic] klovic: We did not look at who was where, rather, who deserved to be where. We also did NOT (though people want to believe it) look at conference match ups. We as a committee came to a decision that we should not factor that into seeding.

So, unlike the hockey tournament, they do not switch teams compared to their seeds to avoid early-round conference matchups, and since all the games are played at the same site, there is no need for swaps based on location, such as how Michigan got shipped to Fort Wayne.

Autobids (bids per league are according to Will's breakdown, though I adjusted based on current poll rankings):

• Chapman - SLC - 3 bids.
• Colorado State - RMLC - 3/2 bids.
• Florida State - SELC - 2/3 bids.
• Michigan - CCLA - 2/3 bids.
• Minnesota-Duluth - UMLL - 1 bid unless Duluth doesn't win autobid.
• Oregon - PNCLL - 1 bid unless Oregon doesn't win autobid.
• Boston College - PCLL - 1 bid regardless of who wins.
• Cal Poly - WCLL - 1 bid regardless of who wins.
• Lindenwood - GRLC - 1 bid regardless of who wins.
• Texas - LSA - 1 bid regardless of who wins.

The at-large bids, according to current rankings, would go to #4 Arizona State (SLC), #5 BYU (RMLC), #8 Michigan State (CCLA), #10 Florida (SELC), #12 Virginia Tech (SELC), and #15 Loyola Marymount (SLC).

According to Will, it's more likely the SELC loses one of its bids (Virginia Tech) by the end of the year, and that ends up going to Colorado or Utah, both languishing out of the MCLA The Lax Mag rankings at this time (and, as noted above, Colorado is pretty bad this year, and shouldn't be ranked in the other two polls). I think the more likely situation is that either the SELC holds onto that bid or the CCLA gets three bids. Since Virginia Tech is currently projected in by the rankings, I'll say they get in.

Without further ado, your 2010 MCLA Tournament Bracket (by the way, if anyone knows of a web-based bracket program that's a little more aesthetically appealing, let me know):

Last 2 in: Virginia Tech, Loyola Marymount.

First 2 out: UConn, Indiana.

Next Bracketology: April 15, 2010

Very rough draft with a lot of lacrosse still to be played. For this edition, I just went by my composite of the 3 main MCLA polls, but now that I have most of the background information out of the way, I'll compare teams a little more in-depth for future editions.

Michigan State would be a possible opponent in the second round for the Wolverines, but they have an opportunity to improve their seeding with a trip to play #3 Colorado State and Colorado this coming weekend. Other than that, they should be expected to win the rest of their games, except against Michigan to close the regular season and in the CCLA Tournament. I'll go into much more depth at a later date, but a strong Michigan State lacrosse team is good for Michigan.

BONUS UPDATE

Man, these lacrosse updates always seem to be filled with bonus info at the bottom. H/T CollegeLax.us for bringing this to my attention, as there's now a video of (HD!) highlights from the Michigan/Oregon game in Dallas a couple weeks back, thanks to Claude Lyneis of Oregon:

Oregon vs Michigan Lacrosse Patriot Cup 2010 from Claude Lyneis on Vimeo.

It's pretty NFL Films-y with narration and such, so if you want the goods, items of note can be found at:

2:13 Jamie Goldberg
2:58 Svet Tintchev
3:29 Trevor Yealy
3:58 Josh Ein
5:47 Trevor Yealy
6:17 Brief interview with Coach Paul

Two of the Oregon goals (including the 4th, to send it to overtime) came on pretty weak play by Michigan. It was sloppiness that wasn't weather induced leading to a couple turnovers. The first led directly to an easy breakaway goal, and the second gave the Ducks the ball in Michigan's end with just 11 seconds left.

I just spoke with the Head Coach at Ft. Scott Community College, Jeff Sims, about Demar Dorsey, and here's what he had to say about the situation. (For those that haven't heard, Demar Dorsey signed an LOI with Ft. Scott CC).

- "With all of our guys the goal is to get them to Division 1. The plan is to get Demar to Michigan, period. Whether that's right now, or next year, our goal is to get him there."

- "He wants to play at Michigan, and he wants to get right. If he can't get right in the next couple months, then our goal is to get him to Michigan as fast as possible. We're all trying to succeed, and he's doing this the intelligent way. No one picks us over Michigan."

- "He's working very hard to be a Wolverine, but he has to be ready just in case, to recover if he doesn't get in. If he comes here, we'd love to develop him, and get him to his goals. WE ARE HIS BACK UP PLAN. He may never end up at our school. If he can't get qualified, then he needs to know that he has a backup plan, and that's us."

- "No one picks us over Michigan, but we're here if he can't get in. We told him that we want to try to develop him, and get him to where he needs to be, if he needs us."

So, this is a backup plan in case he doesn't get qualified. We'll just have to wait and see what happens from here.

As part of my job, I explore the depths of newspaper archives on microfilm. The following interesting tidbit was published on the top of the front page of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner on March 19, 1910, and I've tried to keep the formatting and headlines as they were displayed:

QUARTER BACK LOSES HIS MIND

Famous Football Player on the Wolverine Team is Located at Walla Walla Working as Laborer.

HIS MIND IS TOTAL BLANK

Disappeared Months Ago From His Home and All Trace of Him Has Up to the Present Been Lost.

WALLA WALLA, March 19.—James Miller, the famous quarterback of the Michigan team last year, who has been missing from his home for several months, was located in this city yesterday working as a laborer. His mind is a total blank and he is quite unable to recognize his friends. He was elected to the captaincy of the Wolverine team for next season.

•••

I'm not WolverineHistorian, but the story gets even more interesting than this. Miller started for the 1909 team in all seven games. He played six at right end, and one at quarterback. The team went 6-1 under Fielding Yost, losing only to Notre Dame while beating Case, Ohio State, Penn, Syracuse, Minnesota, and Marquette. After the season, Miller was voted by his fellow players to be the captain of the 1910 team.

Things didn't work out that way. In December 1909, grades were released. Miller didn't have any. It wasn't that he failed or missed a few classes — he hadn't enrolled in any. He was supposed to be enrolled in a senior civil engineering class, but never showed up. Even in the days when Purdue got its nickname for reportedly recruiting boiler makers to play for its football team, folks frowned on out-and-out manipulation of the system.

There might be more to the story than simple cheating. The Michigan Alumnus reported that Miller simply didn't pay his tuition after registering for classes. Because he hadn't paid, he wasn't able to take classes. The ruse wasn't discovered until late November, by which time football season was over. Miller didn't respond to the dean's office until early December, repeatedly ignoring or missing calls of inquiry. On December 13, 1909, he finally showed up to a meeting but offered no explanation. His father had paid the outstanding debt on December 8, but by then it was too late.

Miller's classmates in the Student Council took a poll on what his punishment should be: 13 voted to expel him, 9 voted for suspension, and other options received fewer votes. The university faculty, taking the vote into account, duly expelled him from Michigan after the new year. He was denied his varsity sweater and cap, prohibited from becoming captain the following season, and Michigan formally apologized to the schools it defeated during the season Miller played. It didn't, however, give up the wins.

Needless to say, Miller was in shock. He had gone home to Detroit for the semester break, and his father heard from friends that he was wandering around in a daze, struck by his abrupt plunge from the height of Michigan sporting society to being an utter outcast. Shortly after he received the news of his expulsion, he disappeared.

His subsequent discovery in Washington (other accounts have him discovered in Canada first), brought a storm of attention. Whether he was faking his "illness" as a convenient way to explain away his actions, or whether it was an actual mental defect caused by the shock of his expulsion, I haven't been able to find out. I also unfortunately haven't been able to find out what happened to him after the fact. I did uncover a death notice for what might be his son, and if Henry Leonard Miller (born 1914) indeed was James Miller's son, his work for the University of Michigan shows the incident didn't create a family of Michigan State fans.

Michigan (13-9)		@		Indiana (12-11)
Friday 3pm, Sembower Field, Bloomington, IN
Alan Oaks (3-3, 2.79 ERA)		vs		Walker Stadler (3-2, 4.91 ERA)
Stats	Audio (IU)
Notes: Michigan is 125-56 all time, including 1-2 in Ann Arbor last year
Michigan		@		Indiana
Saturday 2pm, Sembower Field, Bloomington, IN
Bobby Brosnahan(2-2, 4.15 ERA)		vs		TBA
Stats	Audio (IU)
Notes:
Michigan		@		Indiana
Sunday 1pm, Sembower Field, Bloomington, IN
TBA		vs		Drew Leininger (3-1, 1.22 ERA)
Stats	Audio (IU)
Notes: My guess is Miller starts. I've heard rumors of Katzman.

Having done the pretty thorough Q&A already (and returning the favor here), I'm not going to focus a ton on previewing Indiana in this post; instead, I'll focus just on a few thoughts.

They come after the jump:

One of my favorite types of mgo-posts before the days of m.go.podcasts were segments called Vicious Electronic Questioning (VEQ). To quote Brian circa the 2009 ND game:

Hello once again. When Michigan plays the sort of opponent that actually has opposition bloggers this here blog tends to flag one of them down and relentlessly grill them until they are convinced their team will meet ignominious defeat. 

Never does the phrase "sort of opponent that actually has opposition bloggers" come more into play than with college baseball. The Big Ten has a surprising amount of baseball coverage (and amazingly, we're fairly organized), and one of those fine blogs is Behind the Plate, covering this weekend's opponent, the Indiana Hoosiers.

So while I may not get quite as vicious as Brian in his VEQ's with House that Rock Built, I can also promise at least 75% less Tom Hammond:

He makes me hate Indiana for reasons I can't explain

What does posting a picture of Tom Hammond, a Notre Dame football announcer, have to do with Indiana University's baseball team? It just doesn't make any sense. If Tom Hammond is linked to IU, you must acquit. The defense rests.

Anyway, I return the favor by writer IUBaseballFan by answering some questions over at Behind the Plate, in which I predict a series sweep with a low confidence rating. Probably even lower now that I look into a certain ace on the IU staff, more about him after the jump. This will also act as the preview for the weekend, but I'll have a few more thoughts to post up tomorrow.

Q&A after the jump...