blogpoll

Bzzzt. UMHoops reports that Casey Prather's choice is Florida. Sorry for my incorrect earlier speculation/enthusiasm. Michigan is still pursuing MI SF Trey Ziegler, who won't decide until the spring. If they don't get him it'll be on to the class of 2011.

Old School. The 1957 Michigan-Indiana game via home video:

That comes from Uni Watch, which also notes via a reader that Michigan has some weird inconsistencies in the way they name players on their uniforms:

As you might know, Michigan football has a freshman QB, Tate Forcier. He’s the younger brother of Jason Forcier, who was once a third-string QB on the team (about five years ago or so) and then transferred to Stanford. When Tate started practicing in the spring, there was a thought that Jason would transfer back to Michigan and both brothers would be on the team at the same time. This never happened, but Tate still wears a ‘T. Forcier’ nameplate, as if Jason were on the team.

Meanwhile, we have Kevin Grady at FB and his brother Kelvin Grady at WR (who had been on the basketball team last year and then moved to football this summer). They’re both K. Grady — in fact, they’re both Ke. Grady — but they both wear just ‘Grady,’ even though they’re sometimes on the field at the same time. I sorta wish they did FNOB, which I love, or else ‘Kel. Grady’ and ‘Kev. Grady,’ but alas, they just wear their surname.

Finally, we have Stevie Brown at LB and Carlos Brown at RB. Carlos’s NOB is just ‘Brown,’ while Stevie wears ‘S. Brown’ — weird.

I’m surprised this would happen at Michigan, where they take the home uniforms so seriously.

FNOB = "first name on back." You can probably extrapolate what NOB means. Uni Watch has a weird insider lingo that fosters some community or something.

Let me take this opportunity to denounce a spreading scourge: nameless jerseys. If you're Notre Dame or Penn State, okay, whatever. But it seems like everyone is doing it now in an attempt to emphasize team unity or other such sportwritery nonsense. When Eastern Michigan is doing it, things have gone too far. I want to know who is who as a fan.

Baby's first Michigan-Michigan State game. The universe isn't quite back in order—Michigan State opened a slim underdog but is now a 1- to 1.5-point favorite—but it's getting there:

Michigan-Michigan State is big for both football teams, but for the Spartans, it could be their season

That's Mike Rothstein penning a headline that could have been written at any point in the last 40 years, though probably not with as much truth behind it as this time around. This is Rothstein's first exposure to Michigan State's particular mania…

The anger came in every syllable flying out of Kirk Cousins’ mouth. The disgust was evident on his face, the frustration obvious in his mannerisms.

Michigan may have multiple rivals and already pocketed a rivalry victory against Notre Dame this year, but an hour northwest, at Michigan State, there is only one rival. And there is only one game.

Michigan.

“This game is personal,” said Cousins, the Michigan State quarterback. “And we need to win it, and we’d better win it.”

…particular mania…

"The lack of respect they have, period," defensive end Trevor Anderson responded when asked about his dislike for the Wolverines. "It's sickening."

…particular mania…

The Spartans' offensive line is hurting and hasn't helped produce a single 200-yard rushing game this season.

But that didn't stop left tackle Rocco Cironi from chiming in.

"I think everybody has a hatred for Michigan," he said.

…I wonder if he thinks State is acting a little odd, in his experience? It would be interesting to get an outsider's perspective.

Win at all costs. Dantonio on Glen Winston:

One move that appears certain is additional carries for Glenn Winston, a sophomore running back from Detroit.

Winston is considered one of the team's top three running backs along with freshmen Caulton Ray and Larry Caper.

"You can't starve the horse that pulls the cart," said Dantonio of Winston's status.

Students going to game: "AJ Sturges" chant plz.

Um… really? My first instinct is that this is insane:

Time for BCS To Include BlogPoll in Formula

That's registered BlogPoll voter Dan Shanoff touting the poll in relation to the Coaches' and Harris polls, which are run by old men who haven't watched a football game since nineteen dickety-two. But the list of grievances presented by Doctor Saturday a month into the season is compelling:

But a month into the season, is it too much to ask the AP, coaches and Harris polls reflect the slightest shred of common sense?

• LSU is No. 4. Because ... ?

• Oklahoma is No. 8. Because ... ?

• The coaches rank Oklahoma State ahead of Houston.

• The coaches and Harris polls rank Penn State ahead of Iowa.

• The coaches and Harris rank Cal ahead of Oregon.

• All three polls rank Ole Miss ahead of South Carolina.

Each of these has explanation over at DocSat, though in many cases the explanation could be "duh." The blogpoll is far from perfect but the ever-expanding cadre of voters who are basing their ballots strictly on what's gone on between the sidelines—something the poll guidelines suggest should be implemented by week five and demand by week eight—makes for a poll that escapes most of those inanities. LSU and Oklahoma are still too high but lower. Houston, Oregon and Iowa are ahead of the teams they beat handily. And while South Carolina isn't ahead of Ole Miss, it's because neither features in the top 25. That's just the draft ballots, but historically what movement there is between Monday and Wednesday is of the variety that sees the final poll move more towards onfield events.

I still think it's insane. The BlogPoll contains a number of motley blogs that put "sucks" after every mention of Michigan or vote their team way higher than it deserves only to be struck down by malevolent forces. But a bunch of guys in their pajamas are transparently doing a better job of paying attention than the people actually in charge of making BCS decisions. So if it's insane, the only thing more insane is the current system.

Nice plane. I'd like to meet the man who owns this baby:

Wheeeeeee. Jonas Mouton Suspension Fiasco will not die:

The Big Ten Conference office announced today that Ohio State University football student-athlete Kurt Coleman has been suspended for one game as a result of initiating helmet-to-helmet contact and targeting a defenseless opponent in the fourth quarter of Ohio State's game against Illinois on Sept. 26, 2009.

This actually seems like it might not be directly related to the JMSF, as the BTN's article cites a new rule for 2009 that mandates post-game review and possible suspensions for helmet-to-helmet hits. I can't embed the actual incident, but here it is. I'm torn on this one. That was basically flinging your brain at a defenseless player's brain, and while it's less obviously unsportsmanlike than either the Mouton or Recknagle incidents it's far more dangerous.

Rank	Team	PPB	Delta
1	Florida (69)	23.9	--
2	Alabama (20)	23.5	2
3	Texas (4)	23.0	--
4	California	20.6	2
5	Penn State	19.0	--
6	LSU	18.3	4
7	Miami (Florida) (8)	17.8	10
8	Mississippi	17.6	--
9	Boise State	17.3	--
10	Cincinnati (1)	14.1	6
19	Michigan	5.7	6

The rest of the top 25 at CBS Sports.

I put a little more thought into this week's ballot than last week's holiday edition. There are still some things I'm not comfortable with, so comments are obviously very welcome.

• Florida didn't really do anything to move down, but USC and Alabama have definitely had more chances to prove themselves on the big stage so far.
• For some reason, I ended up with Notre Dame several spots ahead of Michigan, which will be fixed by the final ballot (though I do think the Irish are a pretty legit team this year).
• I don't really like Iowa and Northwestern towards the end of my ballot, but I didn't really have anybody else off the top of my head that seemed to belong.
• I don't like Tennessee where they are, especially considering their resume-building win was against a functional bye team.
• Some of the deltas appear to no be quite right, so don't worry about those too much (especially considering I don't even really look at last week's ballot to formulate the new one).

Help me out in the comments.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Southern Cal	2
2	Alabama	2
3	Florida	2
4	Texas	2
5	Penn State	1
6	Brigham Young	1
7	Boise State	2
8	Houston
9	Cincinnati	6
10	California	2
11	Miami (Florida)
12	Georgia Tech
13	TCU	3
14	Nebraska
15	Mississippi	4
16	Ohio State	2
17	Notre Dame	1
18	UCLA
19	Tennessee	2
20	Auburn
21	Florida State
22	Michigan
23	LSU
24	Iowa
25	Northwestern
Last week's ballot
Dropped Out: Oklahoma State (#7), North Carolina (#13), Virginia Tech (#17), Utah (#18), Oklahoma (#20), Georgia (#22), Kansas (#24), Oregon (#25).

Your top ten, with enthusiastic Mormons (and Bears!) in:

Rank	Team	PPB	StdDev	Delta
1	Florida (92)	24.5	2.7	--
2	Texas	23.2	2.7	--
3	Southern Cal (2)	22.4	2.1	--
4	Alabama (5)	22.3	1.4	1
5	Oklahoma State	20.0	2.0	5
6	Penn State	18.7	3.1	1
7	California	17.7	2.6	5
8	Mississippi	16.9	3.1	3
9	Brigham Young (1)	15.5	4.0	11
10	Ohio State	14.8	4.3	4

The remainder plus the extracurriculars, including a ballot spike, are at CBS Sports.

Your chalky top ten:

Florida got 99 of the 101 first place votes, and the two that didn't rest gently on the Tebow Child's ticklish nose were handed out in polls that either ranked the whole thing on schedule strength and only schedule strength or voted Utah #1 because that's where they finished last year(?).

You will, however, note that the blog-folk managed to exclude potential flash-in-the-pan Ole Miss from the top ten. It wasn't by much—they're #11—but a three spot difference in a preseason poll represents a fairly large difference of opinion.

The rest of the wonder can be found at CBS Sports. Roundtable #1 comes up Monday on Hey Jenny Slater.