Last Known Good Configuration

.....well, how about basketball previews. I am sure that will help. UM has the big coaches vs cancer coming up in a few weeks! Possible games with Duke and UCLA, so what could possibly go wrong?!?!?!

And, I kind of like that Augustine dude......I had the Over and needed all the TDs I could get at that point.......yea, for bad calls actually helping my wagers for a change!!

"It does not, so we're back with the same story again: mostly outplayed
and totally outgained. The only reason it was even somewhat competitive
was Michigan State's determination to waste their massive advantage in
yardage, but even their essential Sparty-ness couldn't blow this one."

Optimism: We were in it until the fourth quarter! We'll get them next year!

Pessimism: If it weren't for a bogus TD, terrible Sparty prevent defense before the half, and some bad FG snaps, this game would have been a blowout a lot sooner.

I need to see the UFR for this game: I want to see which of the above interpretations is more accurate.

I'm not sure what to call it, but perhaps Lloyd kept the playbook for our last bowl game against Florida.  That was a pretty good configuration.

a Sheridan for heisman video.

That is completely unbelievable (or, I guess, completely believable) that he was the same guy on the '05 play.  As the Sparty fans I was watching w/ were b*tching up a storm I calmly explained that we are now even for that play.

The only thing worth watching for the remainder of the season is to see if a team, even a bad team, can go an entire year w/out even coming close to playing well for an entire game.

the pylons were part of the EZ. where did that idea come from? NFL?

suggestion: go full into hockey coverage. UFR, cover it live, the whole 9. if for no other reason, do it just to piss off the hockey haters... Long live the Dominion of Canada!

There's a ton of football yet to play, so you wont struggle for content. Here are some ideas:

1.) Analyze teams that have had crappy years, but turned it around big time the following year. Can UM duplicate those successes.

2.) I have a good friend who is an ND fan and we spoke last year about how it was all about IDing players who would stars for the next couple of years. Break it down for UM.

3.) This is not the first UM team to stink, but its the first one who had everything else go wrong sliding it to a losing record and without a bowl. Do retro pieces on those clubs.....actually, I wanted to do diary series on that, but have not had the time....yet....but feel free to take that idea.

4.) As the leader of the Blog Poll, write some pieces on the CFB landscape right now.....hey, I kow you're a UM blog, but I dont think anybody would mind some fresh content.

5.) Profile in Heroism for a new DC.....ha ha. I am not serious about that, but I want to see if Gsimms is out there reading.....Just Kidding!!!!

 6.) Recruiting Monday. Recruiting Tuesday. Recruiting Wednesday. Recruiting Thursday. Recruiting Friday. Maybe break up your recruting coverage a little bit if you're going to downplay actual game analysis from this point forward.

I dont know, there's ton of stuff to still write about........you'll figure something out.

First ever loss to MAC school

End of decade long Penn State win streak

Loss of Paul Bunyan Trophy

Likely:

No bowl game ending 33 year streak.

Worst record since 1936

Loss of the Little Brown Jug

Loss to Buckeyes for first time ever 5 years in a row.

It's a high price for a transition year.  I hope it pans out.

didnt hockey get killed this weekend too?

how's our crew team look?

I thought last year's pass coverage was bad.  This year's version is downright pathetic.  We talk about the Michigan football regression over the past 6 or so season.  Well, IMO secondary play is leading that regression.  Is there a DC and secondary coach out there that can reverse this trend?  I am not a football player, nor do I profess to know anything about the game, but what is so difficult about sticking with your guy for 6 seconds?

I recommend covering Women's Volleyball.  They are ranked #20 now, or at least were before they beat #11 Minnesota last weekend.  Much less suck, and much more hot girls in little shorts.

In 30 seconds on Saturday after the game, I googled the NCAA Rulebook, downloaded the PDF, and searched for the word "pylon" and I had the rule.  You're telling me the replay official could not have done the same thing if he didn't know the rules?

I also looked up what ended up being Rule 9-2-b-4, but that was just me being petty.

Well, if your inner otter leads you to video games, there are some great ones coming out.

Fallout 3, Gears of War 2, Fable 2, Dead Space, Left 4 Dead, Little Big Planet, Far Cry 2 and a ton more before the end of the year. Assuming your occupation keeps you busier than most, there are also some excellent games of the past year including Bioshock and GTA IV that you may have missed.

The rage I feel hearing Jim Brandstatter detail our weekly failure is mitigated by the fact that I'm channeling said rage into pretend vehicular homicide during Michigan games.

It helps.

- Vance Bedford is a good DB coach who should've been retained.  Last year's pass defense ranked 8th in the ENTIRE COUNTRY. Bedford was also the DB coach when we were #1 in pass defense in 1997 (albeit with Woodson, blessed be his name).

- I suggest this season be dubbed "The Year of Infinite Since" because virtually every team statistic will henceforth have the suffix "since 2008" tacked on to it for a VERY long time.  Example: "Michigan hasn't lost to MSU at home SINCE 2008."  "This is Michigan's worst record after (X number of) games SINCE 2008."  Etc, etc, etc.

-Interesting Stat of the Day: a Michigan football team has NEVER lost more than 7 games in a single season. EVER.  So yeah, we're talking all-time suckitude here, people.

1. Full-on, position-by-position (line-by-line?) hockey preview, with ratings, like you do for football every August. Did you already do this? Do it again if you want.

2. Creepy-stalkerish road trips to watch high school games featuring '09 or '10 football recruits.

3. Occasionally branch out to conference- or nationwide coverage. Maybe UFR a "game of the week." Basically, watch good football and keep yourself sane.

4. VEQ with Mike Rosenberg.

talk about college football in general.

fight with other bloggers.

talk about other big ten teams more.

talk about basketball.

anything besides more hockey

Even though we're one of the 10 worst BCS teams by record, we can all take heart that we're still the best team in Washtenaw County. Sort of like Indiana being proud they're the best team in Bloomington.

I suppose if you're somebody who's big into "hoping" we can "hope" that next year will be substantially better, but that hope is only based on RR's past with WVU, not anything done this year. Given that there's been no discernible improvement in any phase of the game since Utah, it's not unreasonable to have some questions about some of the coaching staff and their ability to teach fundamentals, esp. the defense. We better "hope" it's just that RR got saddled with the very worst talent in the B10, because if that's not the case then the future looks pretty bleak to me for 09 as well, since we'll still have either a freshmen QB or Threet, and our defense, as porous as it is, will be losing a lot of game experience.

Cover more hockey!

Take a look at any common denominators in a rebuilding job that turns from an awful season, to a decent following season.

Was progress during the bad season important?  In trying to be optimistic for next year, I'm remembering that Minnesota seemed to get worse as the season went on, and now looks pretty decent this year.

I'm of the opinion that you can't just roll over to next season, flick a light switch and suddenly be better just because players are all of a sudden sophmores or 2nd year starters, but maybe there is evidence to the contrary.

Muppets to carry us through the schadenfreude, ba na-na-na.

it's a season to moderately emulate Ben Sanderson

Here is the link - http://www.theworldofisaac.com/2008/10/you-stay-classy-um.html

 Just wondered if this was really true or not.

I'm of the opinion that you can't just roll over to next season, flick
a light switch and suddenly be better just because players are all of a
sudden sophmores or 2nd year starters, but maybe there is evidence to
the contrary.

how many games of starting experience did we have (one both O & D, but esp O) on 8/30? 15-20 on O? and 10 of those were from schilling? closer to 100 on D, but 80ish from the Dline and Trent? In that single, 1st game of the season we probably tripled our total games of starting experience. is this analysis reasonable? IDK... back of the envelope, etc.... but i think HTTV did something like this in the past.

That's what next season's preview is for.  Besides, we all know the stories about turnarounds with new coaches: Saban lost to ULL last year (or ULM . . . can't remember for sure, don't want to look it up) and is currently ranked 2nd; Pete Caroll at USC; Cap'n Sweatervest at tuosu; Rodriguez at Tulane, Clemson, and WVU; &c.. 

You can look at all the characteristics of those teams that you want, but do any of them automatically mean that UM will follow the same path?  And what about the new coaches that couldn't turn the corner (see Callahan, Bill)?  Do any similarities that might exist there mean that we won't be successful in the future? 

You can assume that the situation at Michigan right now is completely unique and just look at the team in a vacuum: look for any signs of progress; look for any starters or non-starters that might emerge into a starring role on either side of the ball after an offseason of Barwisizing and another round of spring/summer practices.  That might be a little more useful but, again, that's what the '09 preview is for.  What will this site cover in August?

It's hard enough to wait for a new season from January to late-August, which will probably be mid-November to late-August this year.  We don't need to start now.

<swipe at shoulders of nearest innocent party>

<touchdown!> 

Stevey Brown, the worst arm-tackling safety in the history of college football.

"I put it to you: what should I do over the course of the next month?"

 I haven't read the 43 comments that were posted before mine, so sorry if I'm rehashing a previous suggestion.

 You should start a new series of columns called "The Future Right Now", featuring more in depth recruiting coverage, and profiles of current players that aren't seeing playing time right now, but will make an impact in the future.  Do it by unit - OL, DL, LB's DB's, QBs, RBs, etc.  That would be awesome. 

 I'd also be interested in some explanations/pontifications on Rodriguez's spread offense, like on a tactical, strategic,and theoretical level.  What do we have to look forward to?  Why is it going to work?  What makes the spread better than other offenses, on a strategic level? 

Agree with JamieMac on extended hockey coverage. Unfortunately, a combination of the injury bug and one enraged meathead have the hockey team also destined for disappointment.

I would like Brian to continue the game summaries, however. Somehow the idea of reading other peoples' logical frustrations and further frustrations at those fans who aren't logical prove somewhat therapeutic for me. 

And also.... Who's up for some Michigan basketball?!!!