BOX FTW. That's right. He does. I think he even enjoys it.

"Terror." It's terror. Weird press conference interlude via Angelique Chengelis:

My favorite moment from Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez's press conference Monday was when my esteemed colleague, Larry Lage of the Associated Press, asked if Rodriguez was on the field before the game when the Wolverines do "the circle of death"?

Rodriguez smiled uncomfortably and then replied.

"Oh, yeah, circle," he said. "I speak politically correct here. What are you talking about? That's our team unity circle that we have. Wow, Larry. You can get in trouble for saying stuff like that.

"It's our team unity circle. We're out there for that."

Apparently Lage pressed it, claiming "Circle of Death" sounds more intimidating, for which he gets 46 points, only to get shot down. But it's not "circle of death." It's Circle of Terror, as coined by MVictors. And it is terrifying. Never forget how terrifying it is.

Stop looking at the cheerleaders for a second. I've given Gregg Easterbrook the business before, but never has so much ignorance about college football been encapsulated in a single sentence:

As TMQ noted last month, going no-huddle all the time is just another way to be predictable, plus leads to rapid three-and-outs that send the defense back onto the field; but going no-huddle once in a while creates the element of surprise. … Michigan surprised Notre Dame by going no-huddle for the entire game, but the key word is surprised.

Michigan, of course, hasn't huddled since Rodriguez's arrival, and virtually every spread team in the country eschews the huddle. Gregg Easterbrook is either that guy from memento or hasn't watched a Michigan game in over a year, which means he should probably not talk about them.

Wait, wait. Yesterday I noted the Mouton punch-type action and opined that I thought he should miss Eastern Michigan, but that if previous similar actions didn't draw sanctions he wouldn't. I forgot about these twin Irish incidents:

The latter was flagged, the former was not, and neither player was suspended by Charlie Weis. I don't recall any media attention in the aftermath of either, probably because the opposing coach didn't specifically note he wasn't complaining about it.

There's zero precedent for suspending a guy who didn't even get flagged, AFAIK, and Mouton would be rightly pissed off if he was the first. This from Mike Rothstein…

Whether it was a punch or not, Mouton should sit against Eastern Michigan

…seems out of all proportion to established precedent. And also what? If it wasn't a punch, Mouton should sit? Third-party opinion is decidedly meh, FWIW.

Advertisin' note. The M-Den has a twitter. They give away things on it regularly if you follow them. So you should probably follow them.  Also, the M-Den is fantastic.

Etc.: Maple Street has placed the Tate Forcier article from Hail to the Victors 2009 up if you want to read it. Also, CONSUME. Michigan is #12 in Brian Fremeau's fancy FEI ratings.