football

RichRod talks about the quarterback competition at the Big Ten meetings.

Michigan’s quarterback battle seems destined to drag late into fall practice, and coach Rich Rodriguez doesn’t mind the competition one bit.

Rodriguez reiterated at the Big Ten spring meetings Tuesday that incumbent starter Tate Forcier and fellow sophomore Denard Robinson are neck and neck atop the depth chart.

“It’s wide open, it’s not just coach speak,” Rodriguez said. “Denard and Tate are right there battling for it. Denard made a lot of steps in the spring and then Devin (Gardner) coming in for the first time did pretty well. He’s still behind the guys, which you would expect because it’s his first spring. But it’s going to be an interesting battle.”

“I thought they did a pretty good job as true freshmen, but our expectation in their second year are a whole lot higher,” Rodriguez said.

So how does Rodriguez see the quarterback battle shaking out?

“I don’t,” he said. “What I hope it does is elevate all of those guys, and if all of them get elevated because of the competition within each other but still understand the team concept then it’s all win-win.”

Prediction based on flimsy evidence: Coach Rodriguez will employ a more deliberate quarterback rotation system in 2010 to get Tate and Denard a more equal number of snaps.

Meanwhile, Coach Beilein put out a little more information about a possible European tour this summer for the men's basketball team. Beilein said:

...he expects to make an overseas trip with his basketball team this summer.

"We’re working through some of the possibilities there right now," Beilein said from the Big Ten spring meetings. "We can get games, it’s where we can get them because the Italian leagues are just finishing, the German leagues are just finishing, the Belgian leagues are just finishing. It’s hard to get a coach to make a commitment for Aug. 23, so we’re working. That’s what we would like to do."

Beilein said Michigan would have to travel overseas the week of Aug. 22, after summer semester classes are finished but before the fall term begins.

Prediction based on flimsy evidence: LLP does not get a fifth year and Michigan signs a European player in the 2011 recruiting class.

http://www.maizenbrew.com/2010/5/18/1476932/fun-with-numbers-michigans-2...

Interesting write up analyzing Red Zone Touchdowns.  Its crazy how Michigan was 41st overall in scoring offense but 116th in red zone offense.  Between Denard's quicks and Hopkins power hopefully this number can improve dramaticallly in 2010.  Go Blue!

Perhaps someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but this is the first I'm reading of such a specific desire for Big Ten expansion to reach into the south.

If the two biggest factors are "gaining a foothold in the south" and "lucrative television markets", I can't see any target bigger than Texas.  As one who cringes at the thought of Rutgers and UConn joining the Big Ten instead of Texas and anybody, this is good news.  Yes, NYC is the giant media market, but with Texas you get Dallas and Houston - two of the top ten markets nationally.

Maybe I'm just hoping (rather than reading) between the lines, but no matter how big the NYC market is, it isn't located anywhere near the Sunbelt...and Rutgers is about as exciting as Everybody Loves Raymond.

http://www.mgoblue.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/051810aad.html

Michigan officially announced the release of the schedule, including the talked about San DIego State game. Couple Notes 

• 8 home games, all 4 non-conference in month of September at home
• bye week after non-conference before opening at Wisconsin on Oct. 8th
• 3 November home games including Minnesota, Illinois, and Ohio State
• OSU game to be played after Thanksgiving FWIW.

With the talk of a possibilty of a neutral site game in the future who would you like to see play Michigan.  On the list of revenge games: Oregon, Nebraska, USC, Texas, Tennessee.  On the list of interesting games because MIchigan former/current coaches games: West Virginia, LSU, Stanford.  Who else would you like to see San Diego State lol? Include where you would like it played.

Lynn Henning has a pretty fair column up on detnews now about the future of the football program and the athletic department falling squarely on Brandon's shoulders.  Nothing earth shattering, but pretty reasonable coverage I'd say.

http://www.detnews.com/article/20100518/OPINION03/5180407/1361/David-Brandon-s-mission--Make-U-M-football-a-one-time-offender