Unverified Voracity Bombs Bo Ryan Out Of Nowhere
[Patrick Barron]
On Speight. Yesterday we reported he'd be out for the regular season; someone asked Harbaugh if he was out for the season and he said no. Those aren't the same thing, obviously. You should still expect O'Korn for the next two weeks. Beyond that we'll see. There are conflicting reports about the exact nature of the injury. I've gotten some additional reports that it's a shoulder issue, not the collarbone. The upshot is the same.
Whenever we report something that comes into question our policy is to reveal as much as possible so you can judge for yourself, but there's not much I can say here. Best I can figure is that a person close to the situation got some preliminary or garbled information, which is why ESPN and the Free Press were both able to issue confirmations, with the Free Press citing the same injury. I can't say we'd do anything differently given the provenance of the information. These days we sit on anything not impeccably sourced because the downside of an incorrect report is greater than the upside, so of course.
Other dings. 247 reports that both Channing Stribling and Delano Hill should be good to go this weekend. Stribling had some issues getting off the field after his interception and Hill was replaced by Tyree Kinnel just after halftime when Hill went down with what looked like a cramp to me, but must have been at least a bit more serious. Steve Lorenz say Hill might be held out as a precaution.
PFF on Iowa. For one, Wadley is good against many teams, not just Michigan.
Iowa HB Akrum Wadley averaged 4.3 yards AFTER contact per carry -- best of any Big Ten back with 100+ carries. pic.twitter.com/ypKpiob0rW
— PFF College Football (@PFF_College) November 15, 2016
(I assume "averaged" is supposed to be "averages"; former implies they're just talking about the Michigan game but the 100+ carries indicates they're talking about the entire season.) Wadley's utilization remains a mystery. Michigan missed 11 tackles on him; prior to MSU, when the missed tackle explosion began, they had just 19 on the season.
Meanwhile the offensive grades are grim. De'Veon Smith made PFF's top five with a 55.5 grade, which is the kind of thing you see when Michigan's D plays a really bad offense. The other four, all of whom got solidly positive marks in the mid-to-high 70s, are Bredeson, Cole, Magnuson, and Butt—blockers. Michigan's skill guys disappointed.
Defense was more of the same with missed tackles hurting the LB grades. Mo Hurst again graded out excellently; per PFF he's the top interior pass rusher in the country. I'm a bit surprised he hasn't moved into the starting lineup as Godin comes back to performances that are more in line with his junior year.
FWIW, Hurst says he is leaning towards a return next year.
"It'll be just about how (me and my family) feel about it, we'll talk through it, I'll talk with coach (Jim) Harbaugh about it," Hurst said. "I think (I'm leaning toward) wanting to stay for a fifth year and pursue a Master's degree. That's something that (could be a factor).
"The degree and just the chance to come back. I love playing here. It's been everything I've imagined, especially these last two years. The atmosphere on campus. The coaches are great and they've done a great job and I know I've gotten a lot better."
That is obviously a huge deal for Michigan, which would be replacing him in the starting lineup with... Michael Dwumfour? There's a reason Michigan looks set to take 8 DL in this recruiting class.
The outlier. S&P+'s been updated and it shows just how out of nowhere Michigan's offensive performance was on Saturday. S&P+ tracks "percentile performances" on both sides of the ball. Michigan's worst outing this year against Wisconsin was at 70%; they had just one other performance under 80, that a 78% against MSU.
Against Iowa: 11%. That game alone saw Michigan's offense drop from 8th to 25th in Bill's rankings. Again I would like to shake my fist and ask why does anything happen if it's not going to be predictive.
Occam's Razor. Folks who cover OSU are in a never-ending search for red meat for the ravenous masses. See anything Bill Kurelic's ever written. Cleveland.com gets in on the act with an in-depth look at how Pioneer LB Antjuan Simmons ended up committing to OSU. Which of these approaches seems more like Harbaugh?
There are only two things that can explain Michigan's approach: Either Harbaugh never prioritized Simmons on his recruiting board or the Wolverines completely blew it with how they recruited the 6-foot-1, 215-pound prospect.
Maybe Simmons will be great at OSU but there's no story here other than sometimes people disagree on a recruit.
A nasty lawsuit in a surprising locale. A former basketball player at a Power 5 school has filed an antitrust lawsuit alleging various attempts to boot him off his scholarship. That school is... Northwestern?
The suit describes a variety of measures the program and athletic department used to free up Vassar’s scholarship, which was eventually transferred from athletic grant-in-aid to an academic scholarship. The University, the complaint alleges, went so far as to offer Vassar a cash payment in March of 2016 so he would “go away.”
The suit also alleges that Northwestern placed the three-star recruit in an “internship” so he could retain his athletic scholarship. The program, called the “Wildcat Internship Program” involved him working in a janitorial capacity. It also claims that Northwestern tried to falsify Vassar’s timesheets during the internship “in an effort to create grounds for revoking [Vassar’s] guaranteed athletic scholarship.”
The suit also attacks the NCAA and its transfer rules and is part of a larger lawsuit put forth by Hagens Berman against the NCAA in 2012.
I did not expect Northwestern basketball to be accused of cutthroat behavior this day.
The larger lawsuit is an attempt to bash down various NCAA transfer restrictions in a class action and goes hard in the paint on Bo Ryan:
123. To call Ryan a hypocrite would be an insult to hypocrisy.
(Because he blocked Jared Uthoff's transfer to Iowa after moving up to Wisconsin despite a contract with UWM.)
Etc.: settings –> options –> mute "tuddy". This article on responding to motion is very technical but may be of interest to actual coaches and football nerds. Inside the FEI rankings. Tom Brady and Brandon Graham make PFF's midseason All-Pro team.
November 15th, 2016 at 1:18 PM ^
Great to hear on Stribling and Hill! Thank you for that update.
November 15th, 2016 at 1:25 PM ^
Speight injury could have downside, for sure, but I guarantee Harbaugh is excited about the challenge to respond to adversity, and he will have his team on board. Tell 100 guys they can't do it without one guy and you have a great motivational tool.
November 15th, 2016 at 1:25 PM ^
FWIW I talked to Simmons' head coach, who is a friend of mine, a few months back and he said that Simmons' mom just never liked Coach Harbaugh. Something rubbed her wrong from the beginning and Urban played it perfectly. Coach said Don Brown came in and made a great impression and they liked him but it was too little too late. His heart was already in Columbus and they were already too "in love with" Urban. Sometimes you just miss, even the GOATs like Jim.
November 15th, 2016 at 1:29 PM ^
and as much as we love Harbaugh and how great of a coach he is, he can't connect with every recruit and parent. Some are just not going to like, that's the nature of the beast. He will always get his share of top recruits.
November 15th, 2016 at 6:56 PM ^
November 15th, 2016 at 8:21 PM ^
Well, he won't land at Michigan. I can tell you that much.
November 15th, 2016 at 1:27 PM ^
November 15th, 2016 at 1:32 PM ^
November 15th, 2016 at 1:36 PM ^
November 15th, 2016 at 1:50 PM ^
I'm able to think clearly now.
Getting 17 point lead - which we were a missed throw or three and some broken momentum away from doing - would have forced Iowa to throw. And that would have been the ballgame. Maybe not blowout territory, but we would have been able to control the flow of the game and ride out the bad luck/riotous officiating.
November 15th, 2016 at 2:55 PM ^
From the stands, it went from "we are going to win this game!" to "we hopefully will win this game" to "uhh, are we going to win this game?" to "shit shit shit shit shit" after the bogus facemask penalty.
Connect on just one of those deep shots and we're talking about a hard-fought victory over a feisty Iowa squad. Le sigh.
November 15th, 2016 at 3:30 PM ^
The frustrating thing is early in the second quarter it looked like UM was starting to take control of the ball game. The first few possessions of the game went:
Iowa 7 plays 29 yds, punt
Michigan 6 plays 22 yds, punt
Iowa 4 plays, -4 yds, turnover on downs
Michigan 10 plays 23 yds, FG (3-0)
Iowa 11 plays 47 yds, missed FG
Michigan 9 plays, 72 yds, TD (10-0)
Iowa 4 plays 24 yds, punt
The punt was downed on the 2, Iowa got a safety and the momentum that was trending towards UM was gone and never came back.
November 15th, 2016 at 4:20 PM ^
And if Darboh manages to get a foot down in the endzone, that number is secured, regardless of everything else that happened in that game. We analyze game-ending things and circumstances because of what ifs after a loss, but the fact is everythig that could go wrong, did. A targeting foul leaves Michigan shorthanded on various special teams plays. But you can't erase the past, you can only live with the aim of not repeating.
Michigan better grow a pair, because they are going to soon be traveling to a pit of doom in Ohio where you either account for yourself or you surrender your soul. And soul-taking is not acceptable this year on any Sabbath you want to recognize. We are 10 years removed from another special meeting in Columbus, and Bo's passing and we expect a different outcome this time. I don't give a shit who plays quarterback.
November 15th, 2016 at 6:26 PM ^
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November 15th, 2016 at 2:04 PM ^
Outliers are outliers for a reason, now it's time to hope thats what this is and that they don't develop a hangover that lasts into the IU game.
November 15th, 2016 at 8:59 PM ^
Unless you're Alabama, not one team in this country is immune from upsets. OSU played like shit and lost to a Penn State team that is NOT a top-10 team. A few years ago they lost by two TDs at home to an us ranked VaTech team. Clemson just lost at home to an unranked Pitt team.
Upsets happen every year in college football that shouldn't happen. It's part of what makes the game great, but sometimes you're unfortunately part of the losing end of one. Time to regroup and focus on the next game. We still control our destiny.
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November 15th, 2016 at 1:46 PM ^
As terrible as the offense was, we were lucky to only lose by a point. People can question the playcalling all they want, but a lot of those have had success against other opponents. The sweep to Smith always makes me scratch my head, but it's gained yards every other time they ran it.
When your quarterback has a 10.5 QBR and averages 4 yards an attempt, that's what happens. Hit one deep ball, hell even an intermediate throw and the game changes completely.
Still very optimistic. If we had to lose a game, this was the one to drop.
November 15th, 2016 at 2:17 PM ^
Do you mean the Higdon sweep on 3rd and 1? It seemed like it would have worked except Iowa guessed wisely and blitzed their CB right into the play. We couldn't catch a fucking break that night.
November 15th, 2016 at 2:33 PM ^
No it was to Smith in the 1st quarter. Never saw it again after that. It just stuck out to me as one of those plays that people bitch about when it doesn't work, but don't even notice all the other times it has been successful.
I completely agree on the Higdon play though. I thought faking the expected FB dive, and then trying to get to the edge was actually a good call. Like you said, they just happened to have someone in perfect position.
November 15th, 2016 at 2:53 PM ^
I don't think that was a good call, at all! As soon as the FB motioned and setup behind Bredenson, I saw the pitch going to that side - and so did Iowa. You could see the entire defense slant to that side, I don't think anyone on the weak side even paid attention to that side of the field. That play was broadcast on a loud speaker at full blast...
November 15th, 2016 at 3:31 PM ^
Allen made the FG after that play. When Higdon was smothered for a loss, I thought the play had knocked UM out of FG range.
November 15th, 2016 at 3:32 PM ^
Pretty sure Panda poached TD's using the same look all season up to that point.
November 15th, 2016 at 4:35 PM ^
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November 15th, 2016 at 3:01 PM ^
Seems like the problem is we are too predictable. We can't continue to do the same thing over and over again and expect teams not to pick up on it....and why we didn't just line up heavy and run down their throats, given how shitty they have been at defending the run, near our own endzone escapes me...
November 15th, 2016 at 5:57 PM ^
Agree on the play calling predictabilty- coach has to help the team out every now and then- he went to sleep.
November 15th, 2016 at 1:53 PM ^
I wonder what the wisdom is behind reporting a Speight injury when the coaching staff clearly doesn't want it known for their own reasons.
What is the upside? The only upside I can think of is being able to brag that this Blog broke the story. That is purely for the benefit to this blog and no one else. This is not a website about "importnat issues." This is about sports and entertainment. There is no journalistic duty to keep the public informed about injuries. There are no public rights involved here.
So, what is the downside? I imagine the coaching staff sees a downside or they would openly discuss these things. They are attempting to gain an advantage for the Michigan football team.
I love this blog, but where reporting information only benefits this blog to the detriment of Jm Harbaugh and company, I have to side with this coaching staff. Especially, since this all just seems tactical for helping the chances of winning games at no detriment to anyone. I'll take a slightly better chance to beat OSU over knowledge about Speight's injury (about which I can do nothing).
Brian's may vet sources and report news. But, should he ask himself why he is reporting it and whether it helps the team we all come here to be entertained by?
I think Brian fumbled the ball here. But, he has done more harm than good over the history of this storied blog.
P.S. - I assume that such decision-making was undertaken before reporting the crass nature of Dave Brandon, but that was done for the BETTERMENT of the Michigan football program.
November 15th, 2016 at 1:58 PM ^
"But, he has done more harm than good over the history of this storied blog."
I assume you meant that the other way in that he has done more good than harm?
November 15th, 2016 at 3:37 PM ^
You're right. Thanks.
November 15th, 2016 at 2:24 PM ^
People come to this blog in part because of the information given by Brian and the staff regarding all things Michigan football. If it were up to the coaching staff, there would probably be close to no information about the football team available at all for public consumption. Brian doesn't make decisions based on what is best for the coaching staff, he makes decisions based on what is best for the people who read his blog. They are his consumers, not Jim Harbaugh and co.
Plus, do you really think putting information out there stating that it's likely Speight won't be available for the next two games actually hurts Michigan's chances of winning? If they lose in Columbus, it won't be because Urban and his staff were scouring the internet for information about Speight and stumbled upon a gold mine at Mgoblog.
November 15th, 2016 at 3:35 PM ^
As to your first paragraph, The readers of his blog are his consumers. But, they care more about Michigan football's performance than this blog. Brian should too. It is the backbone of this whole thing.
It is not to be reverred to the point that it harms any individual, but we are talking about depth chart games here. Nothing more.
As to your second paragraph, obviously Harbaugh and co. think it is important from a game planning standpoint. You can assume whatever you want about what will help the opposition. I will stick with the coaching staff's position on the same and they think providing depth chart information causes more problems than it solves. I agree with them, not you.
November 15th, 2016 at 4:50 PM ^
Brian had important information that was relevant to the football team. There are many readers here that wanted to know it. The minute that he decides to run his content through the prism of what might be best for the coaching staff, Brian might as well hand his blog over to the athletic department and have them produce the content themselves.
The backbone of the whole thing isn't fans caring more about the football team than the blog. It's Brian and his staff being excellent writers, producing excellent content that can be trusted as accurate. It's also Brian and his team not being a group of athletic department shills.
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November 15th, 2016 at 5:01 PM ^
We are talking about the depth chart here. Nothing more. Not errant leadership. Not important issues.
SInce it isn't important, then, yes, Brian should consider how it affects Michigan football. He is not protecting any rights, public or private, in addressing depth chart issues.
You said "The minute that he decides to run his content through the prism of what might be best for the coaching staff, Brian might as well hand his blog over to the athletic department and have them produce the content themselves." That is so over-eimplistic and "black and white" that it is meaningless. Life isn't like that.
Fans have no "right to know" about injuries any more than we have a right to know about which broadway actors are sick on a given day or which starlet is dating which pro athlete. (The only ones who really need to know are bookies....but are we concerned about their rights?)
Be a fan, not a chamption of applying important concepts about rights to entertainment gossip.
November 15th, 2016 at 8:38 PM ^
There's a reason why nobody has come to your defense on this, yet several people have told you you're wrong. Nothing Brian puts out there is irresponsible or important enough to negatively harm Michigan's chances of winning football games, including this. You think somehow Urban Meyer was unaware of Wilton's injury and just discovered it by reading this blog?
I'm not arguing that fans have a "right to know." I'm saying that the Athletic Department/football program has no right to decide what content is published on this blog. This isn't a random piece of gossip, it's relevant information that fans of the team appreciate knowing. No harm in that.
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November 15th, 2016 at 10:42 PM ^
November 16th, 2016 at 7:09 AM ^
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November 15th, 2016 at 6:00 PM ^
MgoBlog is about journalism first- the coaches are very well paid big boys and need to take care of their own business. Its MGoBlog- not Pravda.
Besides- do you really think people can hide something like this successfully?
November 15th, 2016 at 2:14 PM ^
I see your point, but MGoBlog is not Michigan Athletic Department or Michigan Football Team. MAD/MFT looks after things/information that benefits the Team. MGoBlog has no such duty towards MAD/MFT. The MGoBlog management team can decide which information to publish and which one not to; that's their discretion.
The behavior you are "expecting" is what has spawned most of the evils around the CFB landscape. I hope that type of allegiance is never expected by the MAD/MFT or demonstrated by MGoBlog.
November 15th, 2016 at 3:30 PM ^
How can you not see the difference between reporting important things about academics, assault, etc. versus tactical information about the depth chart.
Brian should vigilently report news important to people's rights. Depth chart info is an entirely different ball of wax.
MGoBlog can and does excersize its own discretion. I care about this blog. I just care about the football team more. Just me, I guess.
November 15th, 2016 at 6:56 PM ^
As someone else has pointed out, Urban Meyer isn't looking at MGoBlog for tactical information on Michigan football team. If MGoBlog is the one with a very important piece of news that shouldn't be disseminated without proper consent of the Headcoach or someone of power from the AD, then there are bigger problems with the team than just that piece of news. If the AD wasn't ready to put the information out on Speight and someone leaked it to Mgoblog before that, then that person is the one to be reprimanded.
I still don't see why Mgoblog needs to be the keeper of information for the AD.
November 15th, 2016 at 7:12 PM ^
I think the problem with this isn't so much about OSU checking MGoBlog for updates as it is about this story possibly becoming a distraction for the team/players, with nosy reporters badgering guys for status updates on Speight, asking them how they feel about O'Korn, etc.
November 15th, 2016 at 8:18 PM ^
Potentially. And they being 18-22 yr olds, that will be a big problem. Heck, it's a problem for even older folks :)
But that's where the AD or the Coaches come in. To keep distractions at a minimum. MgoBlog is not and should not act as the AD/coach.
November 15th, 2016 at 4:17 PM ^
But hasn't Brian always stressed that he is a fan and not a so-called journalist?
This isn't like speaking truth to Dave Brandon's abused power. He obviously wants our football program to succeed and it's potentially harmful to the team to release this kind of information publicly.
I am going to guess that this is a misunderstanding - Brian likely shared the injury info thinking it was going to break anyway, and did not anticipate Harbaugh's response/clarification/denial (whatever it turns out to be).
November 15th, 2016 at 2:32 PM ^
I get what you are saying from the perspective of "the good of the team." But keep in mind that Brian is running a business with this blog, and that business model depends entirely on web traffic coming to (and obsessively refreshing) the blog. We come here not just for the game write-ups, analysis, etc., but also largely to be kept up to date on all things Michigan. The ability to timely report news is a huge aspect of this blog.
That said, I think that even given his business model, Brian really does strike a good balance on reporting "news," often giving up the ability to break a story until he has thoroughly vetted his sources and obtained permission from those sources to post. One could argue that he is skews on the side of not reporting.
In this instance, it is irrelevant, since the information that Brian reported was already being reported on several other fairly credible outlets.
November 15th, 2016 at 2:58 PM ^
Was the Speight injury being reported elsewhere? It seemed like Brian broke the story and others cited him.
November 15th, 2016 at 3:27 PM ^
Brian was the one who "broke" the story. His scoop.
You are right that scoops are good for business and that this is a business.
The question is whether it benefits his business to give out tactical information that could hurt the very thing that his readers care about.
How would the dynamic change if he was reporting trick plays he saw in practice? What about sections of the playbook? Maybe secret strategies for dealing with certain opposing players?
The line needs to be drawn somewhere and I just don't think breaking a story about Speight is as important as whatever Harbaugh is tying to acheive.
November 15th, 2016 at 4:56 PM ^
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November 15th, 2016 at 5:04 PM ^
It isn't really different. Let's say Harbaugh planned to move Peppers to full-tme wildcat against OSU. Or Harbaugh decided to use OKorn as a running QB even if Speight was cleared to play.
Reporting insider information about who will play where and what plays Michigan will run includes both trick plays from practice, injury news, etc.
Just because it relates to sitting someone because of injury as opoosed to choice doesn't matter.
November 15th, 2016 at 5:17 PM ^
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November 15th, 2016 at 6:02 PM ^
Once people suspect a website deliberately hides info then it is toast- trust cannot be bought back for a long time
November 15th, 2016 at 6:32 PM ^
I don't know about that. For one thing, Brian's mentioned at other times that he's heard reports of something or other before a game, but sat on them, either because he wasn't 100% sure or thought it wouldn't be beneficial to reveal them. By the same token, this and other sites have often kept quiet about recruits' verbal commitments, to allow the player to come forward with the announcement himself. (Hence the finished "Hello" posts coming up within minutes of a recruit's announcement.)
I'm assuming it's not Brian's intention to report an injury against the wishes of the player and his coach, and that this is an unfortunate misunderstanding.
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