football

[Ed: Bumped for the line change info on Michigan's major step forward in Vegas. Since Vegas lines are year-in, year-out the most accurate prediction mechanisms available, this is heartening. Perhaps too heartening. BTW: Jamie and his merry band of degenerate gamblers cover all manner of things at Just Cover.]

Before getting into the meat of what will be a quick hitting MGoDiary, let's clean some things up from last week.

I might make a decent oddsmaker after all. Those four prop bets I came up with for the ND/Michigan game sure did confound people. Only one person did better than 2-2 and that was MGoTim, who checked in a 3-1. I guess it pays to be an insider. Not sure what his prize should be. Maybe a day off from cat chasing duties? Or a day where his posts get to breathe for two hours without a post on top of it? He certainly doesnt need the MGoPoints. In that same diary, I listed all the actual props that sports books had up for the Notre Dame game. A few brave souls put their necks out on the line and picked each one. And, you know what? They did pretty well, considering the number of props out there. Special kudos goes to Clarence Beeks who went 10-2-1 on his prop selections. Somebody get that man to Vegas, STAT. But, it's really no surprise. He's a Pittsburgh Steeler fan, so you know he is sharp as a tack. Nice work, Mr Beeks. Now, how are those Orange futures looking? Please advice.

Also, over at the JCB, the Pick-4 game for the week is up. Check it out. If you havent played yet, no worries. Jump on in. Once Ocotber rolls around there will be more points available to allow you to catch up, so dont worry if you're behind and just starting the contest this week. We'vre having a fun time with this and the more, the merrier.

On to the UMASS game. A lot of folks dont realize that the oddsmakers do release lines for FCS vs FBS teams. Some places will even have full betting boards for the FCS vs FCS games throughout the year. Just about everyone of them will have lines for all the levels of college football playoffs, too. That comes in handy every year when I wake up shaking that second Saturday of December with no bigtime college football to bet on anymore. Dont think for a second that that's the deepest we can go into depravity. I've noticed that 5dimes is also offering high school football lines for the bigger games across the country. No way, will I ever bet those. That's just being a degenerate. No way. Well, maybe if its the only game on TV. Or if there's some value in the line, maybe. But, you have to be a pretty dark soul to go this route. Completely unrelated, does anyone know who is starting for Hoover, Alabama at quarterback?

As of now, Michigan is favored tomorrow by 28.5 points. It's been a weird week tracking this line. At the start of the week, 5dimes listed it as just Michigan -21. That must have been a misprint, or they got hammered with so much Michigan money, because they took the line off the board for several hours and by Tuesday afternoon the line had ballooned up to 29.5 points. It crept to 30.5 by that evening. The line has been steadily coming down ever since. It was lodged at Michigan -27.5 for a couple of days before settling in at the 28.5 number this morning, with an Over/Under total of 51.5. THAT looks enticing. Two out of every three games in the Rodriguez Era have gone over the total, but none have this year. Should we play the percentages and expect an Over? With that out of the way, let me quickly rattle of the mock props for tomorrow.

Tate Forcier/Devin Gardner, total combined yards: O/U 250.5

Ray Vinopal, total combined tackles, INTs, PBUs: O/U 5.5

Fiztgerald Toussiant, total rushing yards: O/U 80.5

Will A Michigan Freshman Intercept A Pass: Yes/No

Jeremy Gallon, total yards, including returns: O/U 120.5

Try your hand at those.

I intended on waxing philosophical all the Denard Show, but what more can I really add at this point? For the second straight week, he produced a game and some plays I've never really seen from a Michigan QB before in the 30+ years I've been watching. Damn impressive so far. I say we sit back and enjoy the show. And work on our own dreads.

His emergence has also had a major impact on the odds for Michigan. The most notable being the fact that Denard is now one of the betting favorites to win the Heisman Trophy. Terrelle Pryor is technically the chalk at 3.5 to 1, but Denard is the second favorite bet at 4.5 to 1. Not bad for somebody who wasnt even on the board ten days ago. Kellen Moore is 8/1 and a series of players including Cam Newton, Mark Ingram and Ryan Mallett are at 10/1. Tate Forcier, by the way, remains on the board as a 30/1 shot to win the trophy. FACT: THAT MIGHT BE A SUCKER BET.

Michigan has also shifted from a 100/1 shot to win the BCS National Title all the way down to 30/1. That's a pretty big swing. We've also seen the pointspreads for Michigan's Big 10 showdowns start moving in the Wolverine's favor, some rather significantly. Here are where the Big 10 lines stand right now.

• Michigan -5.5 vs MSU (Line was UM -3 over the summer)
• Michigan pick 'em vs Iowa (Line was UM +3 over the summer)
• Michigan +3 at Penn State (Line was +10 over the summer.......oh, to have a +10 ticket in our pockets right now)
• Michigan -1 vs Wisconsin (Line was Michigan +3 over the summer)
• Michigan +13.5 at OSU (Line was Michigan +15.5 over the summer)

Denard is having an impact. The public wants to bet Michigan again. The average line movement since the season started is 3.7 points in Michigan's favor. I fully expect the MSU line to be -7 come game day. The others will continue to move towards Michigan. If you want to play the Homer card and bet Michigan, get these lines now before more value gets sucked out of it. For the the first time in the Rodirguez Era in Ann Arbor, bookies are adjusting lines to stem the amount of money rolling in on the Wolverines. That's progress, babby! And, it's a great thing to see.

[Ed: I cannot believe Michigan is actually a favorite against Wisconsin. The betting public now has Michigan at 8-2-1 on the season, which will be a neat trick.]

"Notre Dame under Brian Kelly isn't a good bet to go 1-2 in its first three games. That's why Michigan's stunner over the Irish last Saturday made life doubly difficult for the Spartans entering Saturday's get-together in East Lansing.

Many of us bemoaned the lack of coverage of Brock's story and walk on ABC's broadcast of the UConn game.  Now the BTN is rectifyng that to some degree with its own 8-min feature that will air before the Michigan - UMass game on Saturday, 18 Sep. 

In addition, as has been discussed on the MGoBoard, Erin Andrews was in town this week to interview DRob and others for a College Gameday feature on the new CFB It Player. 

Details for both features are available in the official release from MGoBlue.com which is lifted in its entirety below.

Brock Mealer Story to Air Saturday on Big Ten Network

Sept. 17, 2010

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The Big Ten Network will air its feature on Brock Mealer this Saturday (Sept. 18) prior to its broadcast of the University of Michigan football team's game against Massachusetts. The eight-minute feature chronicles the path that Mealer took to lead the Wolverines down the tunnel in the season opener against Connecticut on Sept. 4.

Mealer, given less than a one percent chance to walk again after a tragic car accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down, worked with the Michigan football strength and conditioning staff over the last nine months.

The Big Ten Football Saturday Pregame Show airs from 10:30 a.m. until noon EDT.

Denard Robinson Feature:
ESPN will broadcast a feature on Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson at 11 a.m. EDT on its College Football Game Day show.

Media Contact: David Ablauf (734) 763-4423

Since it seems that Roh is more dangerous playing on the line than back as a LB, wouldn't we be better off keeping him there? Assuming that is the case, does JB get the nod at LB with Herron out since he is "playing both positions" according to Rich? I have not seen any note regarding this move and wondered what the reasoning would be since we just saw the defensive UFR supporting this fact that Roh is doing some damage to offensive tackles.

Rittenberg continuing to show he knows where to go to find quality information, as he references the epic video created by a Mgoblog user today in his lunch links. By the way, if you haven't seen it, see it.

So apparently I won the Facebook MS Paint contest for two UMass tickets... only one problem after entering I found out I can't go... which leaves me in a bit of a pickle... there is no way in hell I'm letting them go to waste. So before I respond to the email, is there anyone who can make but doesn't have tickets?