the just released schedules were a flat-out statement that the B10 doesn't believe SOS will matter in playoff selection
Rodriguez Presser Bits: Post-ND
The Rodriguez presser boiled down into notes of interest.
Obviously
Steven Threet is your starter for Wisconsin.
Injuries
- Huyge is “getting closer to being able to play”—not a useful comment but whatever—and Ortmann “will be limited this week” but may be available for Wisconsin.
- Later, Rodriguez mentioned that Huyge should be 100% this week or next week.
- Mathews was still dinged, “played more plays than we probably should have played him” (we’re from play!), but should be fine for next week.
- Terrance Robinson “was ready the first game” until his injury; he will be limited this week but may start seeing some snaps against UW.
- Cory Zirbel’s injury is “more than likely” season-ending.
- Freshman Brandon Smith had his appendix out and will redshirt.
Redshirts
As mentioned, Smith will redshirt. Robinson might be a candidate, as well: “there are guys that are right there, like Terrence Robinson, that we'll evaluate in the next two weeks.” It sounds like the only freshman OL with a chance to play are Ricky Barnum and Patrick Omameh(!)—Rodriguez would still like to redshirt them if possible and will only stick them in if the injury situation gets dire. With Huyge and Ortmann getting close to returning, that seems unlikely.
As it stands now:
- Have Played: Odoms, Shaw, Stonum, McGuffie, Martin, Cissoko, Fitzgerald
- May Play: Robinson, Koger, Roundtree
- Probably Redshirting: Smith, Moore, O'Neill, Wermers, Mealer, Barnum, Omameh, Khoury, Feagin, Floyd, Demens, Cox
Despite some offseason chatter that Rodriguez was as profligate with redshirts as late-era Carr, it’s hard to protest any of the guys who have seen the field except maybe Fitzgerald, and given the situation at linebacker even that seems reasonable.
Safeties
You’re welcome to parse this on Stevie Browns every which way:
Some of them might not have been his mistakes, and it might have looked like his mistakes. There were a few plays I'm sure he'd like to have back. He also did some pretty good things.
Charles Stewart is a guy we probably want to play more in the secondary. He's been pretty consistent when he's had his chance in there. Brandon Harrison has been pretty consistent, too.
Also, the invisible Mike Williams was brought up:
Mike is playing a lot of special teams, he's making a few plays. He's getting closer to playing more. He's playing in some of our nickel packages.
We're getting more confidence to get him in there. He's a young guy who has never played. He's still learning some of the defense, but he's getting a little bit closer each week.
Official complaining
Rodriguez questioned the chop block call on Molk—he was asked about it directly—saying “Molk did go low but the guy was grabbing our guard, our guard wasn’t even blocking him.” When asked about the officials he said “there were a few I questioned.”
September 15th, 2008 at 4:53 PM | 
I don't know why but I can't
I don't know why but I can't
September 15th, 2008 at 5:56 PM |
Some NaN Ideas
Some NaN Ideas
.hmmessage P
{
margin:0px;
padding:0px
}
body.hmmessage
{
FONT-SIZE: 10pt;
FONT-FAMILY:Tahoma
}
This problem shows up in Safari and also in PCs with parental control software. Make sure your browser is current else switch-off any kiddie protection that may be running. NaN is a ubiquitous error message which means a piece of your software is returning an "illegal" number type, such as null when a positive integer is expected. Most likely in your case the NaN results from a scripting flaw which prevents your browser from receiving the number in a storage array where the video file begins. If you're really frustrated, consider installing a freeware second browser on your computer. Good luck.
September 15th, 2008 at 5:39 PM |
Are you using a Mac?
Are you using a Mac?
I have that problem on my Macs but it works on my PCs. I couldn't find a fix for the Macs.
It was nice he didn't throw Stevie under the bus but you can tell he realizes it is a problem.
I also think Carty is officially off the Christmas list. He talked about the media making a big deal out of the "Michigan will be back" comment. He must think the article was as big of a turd as I did. Pointless crap like that makes me lose the little respect I have for mainstream sports writers (if you can call Carty one).
In such a cynical, sarcastic society, oftentimes looking for the negative on anybody or anything, if you're fortunate enough to spend five minutes or 20 minutes around Tim Tebow, your life is better for it. -Thom Brennaman
September 15th, 2008 at 6:00 PM |
Speaking of media
Speaking of media
Speaking of media douchebags, anyone know if Drew Sharp has been piling on lately? I refuse to read his garbage, but I can't imagine he has been quiet these past few weeks.
September 15th, 2008 at 7:33 PM |
nd blocking. aka...
nd blocking. aka...
...tackling? anyone else see the numerous times where our guy falls down with one of their o-line turds laying on top of him. i know holding is probably a stretch for the home-town refs to call, but on more than one occasion, i saw a nd lineman all over our DE and essentially tackle him. it was egregious.
September 15th, 2008 at 7:47 PM |
Have you tried to keep your
Have you tried to keep your
Have you tried to keep your footing on wet rubber pellet turf while engaged with a very big person? It's pretty hard to keep your footing, so you fall constantly. If a DL falls down on a passing play, OLs are taught just to fall down on top of him. In run plays, OLs can pancake guys and fall on them. Neither of those cases are holding UNLESS the OL starts falling first and actively pulls a DL or LB on top of himself.
Also, there weren't "ND" refs. There were qustionable calls, but it was a Big East crew making them
September 15th, 2008 at 7:59 PM |
Grass
Grass
ND stadium has real grass, not rubber pellet turf. (But your point with footing probably still stands . . .)
Proud member of the 6/30/2008 circle of trust.
September 15th, 2008 at 8:12 PM |
It's slightly better on
It's slightly better on
It's slightly better on grass, but 8 inches of rain will make it pretty bad. I completely forgot that ND still has grass, and I've been blocking out all memories of this game.
September 16th, 2008 at 11:21 AM |
actually, i have...
actually, i have...
...tried to keep my footing while engaged with a very big person under wet (but not gay--not that there's anything wrong with that) conditions.
my point was that our guy would step across and engage the nd lineman, attempt to turn to the outside and pursue as the nd rb runs a sweep, and then the nd guy tackles him from behind to prevent the pursuit (with great success). that's not a footing issue from my perspective.
but i do see a larger point here. a big east ref crew. wvu is in the big east...
September 15th, 2008 at 7:40 PM |
Sharp has, actually, largely
Sharp has, actually, largely
Sharp has, actually, largely kept his mouth shut since he wanted Kevin Grady crucified.
September 15th, 2008 at 8:12 PM |
I can't speak for myself
I can't speak for myself
but the guy who ran over Weis seems to prove your point.
<em>Have you tried to keep your footing on wet rubber pellet turf while engaged with a very big person?</em>
http://twitter.com/#!/JHScramble
September 15th, 2008 at 9:32 PM |
Redshirting
Redshirting
Probably Redshirting: Smith, Moore, O'Neill, Wermers, Mealer, Barnum, Omameh, Khoury, Feagin, Floyd, Demens, Cox
And my personal favorite, George Morales? Keegan and I gots to know.
September 15th, 2008 at 10:55 PM |
cramping
cramping
Threet and Odoms(?) were cramping up in the 4th quarter. Can the staff please make sure the kids are properly hydrating themselves during the game to make sure that never happens again?
Threet's perfromance was encouraging and let's hope he can stay healthy. But damn, how bad does Cone suck? I mean, worse than Sheridan? Really? Wow.
Sheridan seems to be prone to the dreaded Mental Errors when placed in the heat of battle. You can't coach that away or predict if someone is prone to it until it starts manifesting itself in games. Well, now we know. Sheridan is a ticking time bomb of suck. I'd demote him to the 3rd string. And I think Stevie Brown fits into the same category as Sheridan: recurring, critical errors in the heat of battle. Grab some bench, kid.
Ortmann, Nowicki, Huyge, Ferrara will all play before the true FR OLs. Almost a definite redshirting. GOOD!
Stonum showed me something with 2 tough catches.
Jim Carty is like that snippy little yorkie you'd love to just punt across the room.
Go Blue
September 15th, 2008 at 11:01 PM |
Sheridan
Sheridan
I totally agree on Sheridan, though he showed a bit more passing ability than he had previously.
If Threat plays on the 27th like he played Saturday we have an excellent chance to beat the Badgers.
Pete
September 15th, 2008 at 11:24 PM |
Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Did Fresno State neutralize the WI offense or did the Badgers simply shoot themselves in the foot repeatedly? If it's the former then Shafer better be looking at that game film, because if FSU can hold WI to 13 points then we should be able to do the same. And I think our O should be able to score more than 13 on them.
Having said that, I will go into that game expecting to lose. You see, every week there's something new that malfunctions and causes the loss. That's what young teams do.
Go Blue
September 16th, 2008 at 1:37 AM |
Some of both. UW was not
Some of both. UW was not
September 16th, 2008 at 11:41 AM |
That fumble call overturn
That fumble call overturn
That fumble call overturn was a little more than "iffy". "Wisconsin got totally hosed" is probably closer to the truth, the Fresno guy caught it, turned upfield and took a step upfield, and Wisco punched the ball out.
Also we have to keep in mind that Fresno State is a pretty solid team, and Wisco did beat them on the road. In any event, is there ever any secret to how to play Wisconsin's offense? It hasn't really changed, they're going to live and die with the running game unless you blow the assignments when they do decide to pass. Apparently Evridge only came out because of cramps (only missed a drive and a play in the 4th, he played the rest of the game but apparently was dealing with the cramps for a lot of the 2nd half before he came out) so he'll be the QB in 2 weeks barring a practice injury of course.
Evridge isn't all that good, but he does have mobility -- his best play of the game was avoiding a blitzer that came up the middle, getting outside the pocket, starting to run but finding a receiver instead for about a 20 yard gain that set them up inside the 5, after which they scored their lone TD of the game.
September 16th, 2008 at 7:34 AM |
Big East Refs
Big East Refs
How in the hell was the game officiated by Big East refs? I thought the visiting team brought thier refs with them? It was like the old days with Notre Dame and their lop sided MAC refs. With so many bad calls and non-calls I'm sure there were a couple of Big East officials that had a hard on to pay Coach Rodriguez back for the WVU fiasco.
September 16th, 2008 at 11:38 AM |
ND has Big East ties
ND has Big East ties
in hoops and other sports (baseball I think, possibly others). So it is not out of left field for them to use Big East Refs for their home games.
And I don't think that visiting teams bring their own refs unless there is a specific agreement to do so - like what Wisconsin proposed to Fresno, but got shot down.
Proud member of the 6/30/2008 circle of trust.
I don't know why but I can't view the press conference. I haven't been able to all year. In the area that should tell you the length of the video I get this:
NaN:NaN
WTF is that? Anybody else rockin that?
No question, Jim.