Unverified Voracity Eats At IHOP
This should make the Internet fun for a minute pic.twitter.com/YmCdTMnQm5
— Chase Parham (@RivalsChase) December 5, 2017
Shea Patterson and friends watch. It's happening? I mean. Can't throw a rock without hitting someone who says SOURCES are telling him that Shea Patterson is a lock for Michigan and possibly as soon as this weekend. Sam Webb's put in a crystal ball, which he hastens to say is not a Gut Feeling, and here's the Blade's Michigan beat writer:
Sources: Michigan is the front-runner to land Shea Patterson, and the Ole Miss QB expects to be eligible to play immediately.
— Kyle Rowland (@KyleRowland) December 6, 2017
It's happening.
Probably also happening: Van Jefferson and Deontay Anderson. Both guys are coming up this weekend. Highlights of Patterson throwing to Jefferson in 2016, when Jefferson was a redshirt freshman:
Enjoy @VanJefferson12's freshman highlights from last year. Love the way this guy plays. #12Days pic.twitter.com/FVWhGCK6vO
— Ole Miss Ink (@OleMissInk) August 21, 2017
He had 49 catches for 543 yards and was on pace to best that as a sophomore when he dislocated his elbow before the Texas A&M game.
That is likely it despite some overheated reports that up to seven Ole Miss players are interested in Michigan. Taking the three guys above already stretches Michigan's scholarships pretty thin. Anyone who doesn't play tackle is in tough for playing time, and per Rashan Gary's mom Greg Little isn't interested. Gary and Little became friends over the course of their recruitment so that's as good a source as any.
The other guys mentioned haven't set visits and it's unclear that Michigan would be interested in them.
Why wasn't it Cracker Barrel though? For some reason, Harbaugh flying down to see guys he might have on his football team caused the internet to blow up. Harbaugh claps back at Mark Dantonio? Go crazy, guys. Harbaugh does a thing literally all football coaches do dozens of times a year with high school players? Maybe let that one slide.
What do you say, internet?
Actually, it's very cool and good that Ole Miss got in trouble for loaner cars but a multi-millionaire can fly a private jet into Oxford to recruit players away from the team. Very cool. Very good. https://t.co/YS4mD9r79b
— Red Cup Cooperation (@RedCupRebellion) December 5, 2017
Ah, still internet I see.
A fairly good defense. Michigan lands four guys in the PFF All Big Ten defense, and three of them return:
The 2017 PFF All-B1G First Team Defense pic.twitter.com/L4XCrJ11TY
— PFF College Football (@PFF_College) December 5, 2017
Two more guys couldn't have been far off that list given this stat:
Lowest passer rating when targeted among B1G CBs?
— PFF College Football (@PFF_College) November 30, 2017
How about Michigan's duo? pic.twitter.com/kBJsmwXOIN
Personally, I'd take the CBs who whooped up on Simmie Cobbs over the one who got whooped until he got a safety bracket, but Michigan's guys were probably hurt by a lack of volume.
Add in Rashan Gary to the five returning guys in the above tweets and you've got quite a platform to build on.
Missed tackles: nah. Josh Liskiewitz, one of PFF's Big Ten evaluators, was grilled by Iowa fans because Josey Jewell was omitted from the team above. This spawned an interesting twitter thread in which Liskiewitz defended himself with various stats he'd compiled. The most interesting from a Michigan fan's perspective:
[he == Jewell, FWIW]
This is true to an extent, but among #B1G LBs he ranked 38th in tackling efficiency, which takes into account misses per attempt. By comparison, #Boilermakers LB Ja'Whuan Bentley had more total tackles than Jewell and half the MTs. Devin Bush missed just 3 total.
— Josh Liskiewitz (@PFF_Josh) December 6, 2017
Jewell had an 86 grade—which would have made him first team All-SEC or All-Pac12, but finished 9th(!) in the Big Ten. We assume that Tegray Scales, Jason Cabinda, and Ryan Connelly are three of the five guys in front of Jewell, FWIW.
Peters cleared; Black a maybe. Brandon Peters is good to go for bowl practices and the game, per Harbaugh. I assert that he will start. Yes, I assert that. Here's a randomly depressing stat!
Prior to the injury, Peters was 37 of 64 for 486 yards passing in five games, including three starts. He's thrown a team-high four touchdowns, and no interceptions.
Sweet fancy Moses.
In other bowl injury news, Tarik Black is back in practice and could play in the bowl game. Harbaugh says he's "leaning towards not doing it," and, I mean... don't. Michigan's in a good spot in the bowl game without him and a potential fifth year is far more valuable than whatever marginal bonus chance at a bowl win he provides.
Good luck, whoever you are. South Carolina has axed their offensive coordinator. Er, their co-offensive coordinator Kurt Roper. The other guy, Bryan McClendon, is at least temporarily the only cook in the Gamecock kitchen. He is 33 years old and facing down Don Brown with one of the worst offenses in the country. Good luck with that, sir.
FALSE. I love Harbaugh but this is a bad take he should feel bad about:
"My reaction is that there should be more than four teams in the playoffs," Harbaugh told reporters. "Again, I want to reiterate: 8 teams, 12 teams, 16 teams. Sixteen would be ideal in the playoffs."
For one, a team that reached the finals is playing 17 games. For two, the urgency of the regular season is obliterated if last year's Michigan team finishes their season they way they did and still gets in.
Add one fan. ESPN's Sarah Spain has been on a journey across college football to find a team to root for, and she stopped by the MGoTailgate before the OSU game last week:
Saturday morning I headed out to meet one of my hosts for the day, Gordie Fall (named in honor of Gordie Howe), at the famous MGoBus. The tailgate featured craft beer from Wolverine State Brewing Company, loads of breakfast food and, of course, the maize and blue MGoBus owned by Matt and Sara Demorest. While I was there, I learned more about life on campus and the UM scene with Brian Cook and Seth Fisher, of popular Michigan sports site MGoBlog.com. I also met former Wolverines running back Vincent Smith (you may remember him from this), who's now running community gardens in Flint, Michigan, and his hometown of Pahokee, Florida, to increase access to healthy foods, reduce juvenile crime and use gardening-based intervention to curtail violence. Very cool.
Adam was also there! Adam doesn't talk much. Thanks to everyone else's contributions but certainly not ours, Michigan was the pick. Welcome, Sarah. Prepare to be called a Walmart Wolverine despite going to Cornell.
Etc.: More on Dave Brandon The Program's first press conference with chief gobbledygook purveyor Herm Edwards. A timeline of Jimbo Fisher's unprecedented move. John Beilein gets shots up. Chris Collins tells a bald-faced lie in a postgame press conference. It remains impressive how many NU internet people openly loathe the guy who got them their first NCAA tourney bid.
December 6th, 2017 at 1:58 PM ^
Remember what happens if we decide to do this like other sports. There are only 3 models that the NCAA would pick from in this situation:
* 10 automatic bids and 8 at large teams, autobids #7, #8, #9 and #10 play each other in first round.
* 10 automatic bids and 10 at large teams, top 12 get byes and the bottom 8 play in the first round.
* 10 automatic bids and 14 at large teams, top 8 get byes.
That's it. That's how other sports do it in the NCAA. Those would be the only 3 formats that the NCAA would consider. So before we say "look how other sports do it," let's think about the implications. The NCAA "autobid" system gives autobids to every single conference, not just the good ones.
No matter what format you pick, it's five rounds of playoffs with the possibility of a first round bye.
December 6th, 2017 at 3:30 PM ^
has the attendance and viewership in the regular season that college football has.
December 6th, 2017 at 6:23 PM ^
No other sport does it this way and no other sport has as fun and interesting of a regular season.
December 6th, 2017 at 1:32 PM ^
Harbaugh is almost right about the playoffs. 4 is not the right number as it is basically Alabama + 3 as they continue to schedule the FCS schools before their biggest rivalry game and have one less conference game. They also have only one tough OoC opponent to start which means the ability to take a loss or a bolstered resuem with a win.
It should be 8. Same as everyone says for that setup within the 8: 5 power 5 conference champs, highest ranking Group of Five, plus 2 at-large slots to argue about all year.
December 6th, 2017 at 3:06 PM ^
December 6th, 2017 at 1:37 PM ^
December 6th, 2017 at 2:59 PM ^
I just don't understand this concern about providing him with the 5th year option should he want it.
You gotta be kidding me Brian, the guy was the best WR and when he went down it really hurt our offense, he ain't stickin' around for a potential 5th year, he might be gone after his junior/RS Soph year.....play him if he is available, we need to win this game period, worry about the future in the future 3 years later, not now.
December 6th, 2017 at 6:39 PM ^
Because who cares about playing him in a game that matters little that will change our win percentage from 80% to 80.001% at the cost of sacrificing a potential 5th year. Even if we have 1% shot at him getting a 5th year it's a good trade. If he were a more important position and this was the playoffs or a normal rose bowl, maybe. When was the last time we had a WR leave early for the NFL? What are the odds he goes? What are the odds we win the bowl game because of him? Not playing him is the obvious choice.
December 6th, 2017 at 1:37 PM ^
You gotta drive a few miles to get to the Cracker Barrel from Oxford, and pass an IHOP anyway.
Besides... maybe the kid craves Fluffy The Snowman pancakes or something.
December 6th, 2017 at 1:37 PM ^
Wow. That's something that reinforces the miserable level of QB play this season.
I hope Peters has a great bowl game and the team gets a big win. The BWW Bowl win provided a nice launching pad for the 2016 Wolverines. As for Patterson, well, this is a meritocracy, so may the best man win the QB position for 2018. Drew Henson brought out the best in Tom Brady, so let's see if Patterson does the same for Peters.
December 6th, 2017 at 9:51 PM ^
December 6th, 2017 at 1:38 PM ^
I'm just not sure I'm for giving auto-bids to P5 conference champs.
What if TCU, or even Stanford won? That would not have automatically put them among the 8 best teams in my eyes.
December 6th, 2017 at 2:26 PM ^
It's not unlike how some Cinderella teams make the Dance by going on a run in their conference tournaments. I think it adds an extra interesting dynamic.
If top seeds get the home turf advantage, the end of season regular games would still matter.
December 6th, 2017 at 3:17 PM ^
Yep, that was me. Don't need auto bids if you expand to 8. If there were ever a 3 loss conference champion, or like in 2012 an 8-5 champion (Wisconsin), I don't think they'd be worthy of making the playoff. Taking the top 8 with no autobids is going to get you all five champions and 3 other worthy teams.
December 6th, 2017 at 3:48 PM ^
I don't think we should use the rankings of this year and years past as forecasting for your theory simply because anything past #4 does not matter, therefore there is probably minimal thought that goes into it. Who is to say that if it was an 8 team playoff, the commitee would compare Auburn, USC or even Wisconsin more closely to Penn State, Miami, or UCF and the top 8 would change? We have seen in past years that team X jumps over team Y into the top 4 in the final week simply because the committee would rather see Team X in than Team , I would imagine similar things would happen in an 8 team At-large format, but it isn't necessary as it currently stands due to it not meaning anything.
December 6th, 2017 at 5:20 PM ^
In 2017 the AP and coaches match the CFP poll top 8
In 2016 the AP and Coaches have the exact same top 8 as the CFP.
In 2015 the AP has the same top 8 as the CFP, while the Coaches have FSU at 8 instead of ND at 8.
In 2014 the AP and coaches have the same top 8 as the CFP
So in four years only the Coaches in 2015 had a different top 8 than the AP and CFP and was just swapping 8 and 9 vs the other two.
I think the CFP does a pretty good job.
December 7th, 2017 at 9:29 AM ^
Could be, my thoughts are just a theory obviously. I'm not sure the two polls have much validity either though. With all of the talk that surrounds the CFP, it is natural that the coaches (or whoever fills out the polls for the coaches) and the media start to veer towards how the CFP is leaning. I guess we will never know. My opinion was just that it isn't a certainty that the top 8 would be the same if there were 8 playoff teams than if there were only 4.
Either way, I would much rather have as few of decisions necessary by the committee as possible.
December 7th, 2017 at 10:07 AM ^
Well it would be the other way around because the AP and Coaches release their poll before the CFP Committee.
Polls are always going to have human biases built in to them, but I think it is worth noting that three separate groups of people have nearly identical top 8 teams over the last four years. Perhaps that is the committee copying the AP and Coaches but I still think it means the committee is putting thought into all the teams it ranks.
December 7th, 2017 at 11:15 AM ^
I hear ya. Although, the final week they release at a similar time, no? Regardless, I was more saying that the voters in the polls aren't oblivious to the talk about who "should" be the four teams that were talked about all over the place. You are right though that the similarity in the 3 separate systems leads to a certain belief that they are probably pretty accurate.
I wasn't trying to say that I think that the committee does a bad job, I personally would rather just see a cut and dry system for the most part (for the 5 spots) with a little bit of leeway for extraneous circumstances in the 2 or 3 at large spots. Just because the committee has done a good job so far, doesn't mean that it won't happen that a very deserving team gets screwed down the road. I would rather take the risk of having a great but not elite team who wins their conference making an 8 team playoff in order to have a set standard for who gets in than put my faith in a group of people to decide the whole thing on a year to year basis.
December 7th, 2017 at 11:57 AM ^
Honestly, I'd love to see a return to the BCS poll but with the following modifications.
Old BCS: 1/3 AP, 1/3 Coaches, 1/3 an average of computer systems
New Playoff Poll: 1/4 AP, 1/4 Coaches, 1/2 average of computer systems
I think that would be a fair way to get teams ranked that is totally transparent as you could have computer polls be required to release algorithms. I'd let them take margin of victory into account as well.
December 7th, 2017 at 1:03 PM ^
Actually, I believe the AP had requested they not be a factor in any calculation determining BCS participants -
Their argument being it's their mission to report the news, not create it.
I'm for a group of power rankings playing as a large or larger a part as human voters. While there will be prejudices built in with regards to how they rank various stats, etc, those values won't be regional.
December 7th, 2017 at 1:10 PM ^
AP poll was included until December 2004 when they requested to no longer be included.
December 6th, 2017 at 3:25 PM ^
It makes everything worth something then, and makes a large portion of the system clear cut. If stanford or TCU won, then they deserve to be in an 8 team playoff because of how they performed in their conference. Would much rather have that then base these decisions on the opinions of a committee,
December 6th, 2017 at 4:38 PM ^
Nah, a mediocre team avenging an earlier loss in the Conf title game and thereby gaining an auto-bid is NOT preferable to voting, not to me.
December 6th, 2017 at 5:28 PM ^
TCU for sure and possibly Stanford would have made the top 8 without an autobid had they won.
TCU was 11 and Stanford was 12 going into the weekend. If they had won they would have probably jumped USC who was 10. Miami who lost at #7 and dropped. So that has them at #9 and #10. Then they'd be compared against PSU. It wouldn't shock me to see them both jump PSU after winning their conference title. TCU would have the best shot since they'd have hypothetically beaten the #3 team and have an 11-2 record as big ten champs. SO that has TCU at #8 and possibly Stanford at #9 if they could jump PSU. Then you'd look at Auburn. Would an 11-2 big 12 champ TCU jump Auburn? Would a 10-3 pac 12 stanford jump Auburn?
TCU I'd say yes so they go to #7 and then it is just a discussion of 10-3 Auburn vs 10-3 Stanford for #8.
December 7th, 2017 at 1:26 PM ^
So there'd be debate & discussion then?
Cool, I'm only against auto-bids...
December 6th, 2017 at 6:44 PM ^
I like the auto bids...maybe allow wriggling out of it if a team only wins because sanctions kept a much better team out of it. But I like auto-bids. Why is Stanford less deserving than USC? USC got destroyed by ND and Stanford destroyed ND. Stanford is no cupcake. Winning a conference is hard and should be rewarded. They put OSU in last year and they got destroyed so voting obviously doesnt choose better teams. Go for the deserving teams, if they lose, so be it, they're more deserving than Alabama who finished 3rd in the SEC. Conference championship games should be defacto quarterfinals.
December 7th, 2017 at 10:13 AM ^
But if you did top 8 no autobids, both PSU and OSU make it last year as well as Bama and OSU this year.
Had Stanford won the Pac12 then the best record in the conference would be Washington at 10-2. Stanford at 10-3 would have been close to top 8, but 3 losses don't really make me think they'd deserve to be in the discussion.
The point I'm making is that autobids aren't neccessary and as the last 4 years have played a raw top 8 would have included all the P5 champs. The only time a raw top 8 would exclude a p5 champ is they had a relatively poor record of likely 3 or more losses.
December 8th, 2017 at 5:37 PM ^
I want cfp committee to be tasked with as little as possible, those guys are terrible. I also like things being clearly defined. A 10-3 Stanford that beats Washington deserves to be in. Washington already lost the quarter/semi/whatever-final to Stanford and deserves to not be in unless they manage to get one the 1-3 wild card spots (depending 6 or 8 team playoff). Conference championships should matter.
December 6th, 2017 at 1:39 PM ^
If we take 3 transfers there is going to be some processing of players from this current class. You aren't giving a firm handshake to JBB with our tackle depth for a spot for a developmental rb prospect.
December 6th, 2017 at 2:04 PM ^
December 6th, 2017 at 2:23 PM ^
Welcome to the family Sarah!
December 6th, 2017 at 2:28 PM ^
I will first admit that I haven't seen a lot of film on Patterson. But what I have seen has been almost exclusively shotgon/read option spread style. Does anyone know how often he actually was under center and if there will be any struggles for him to run our "pro style/play action" type of offense?
December 6th, 2017 at 11:03 PM ^
December 6th, 2017 at 2:41 PM ^
December 6th, 2017 at 2:52 PM ^
Poor form by Harbaugh to go to IHOP instead of Waffle House. #KnowTheTerritory
Although my favorite thing about this post is the first comment on Collins' story -- "this is a bad look for a coach -- like Harbaugh complaining about medical facilities"
Oh, Internet. Just keep doing you.
December 7th, 2017 at 12:42 AM ^
December 6th, 2017 at 3:05 PM ^
December 6th, 2017 at 3:08 PM ^
Sarah Spain picked Michigan!!!
http://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/20785846/espnw-college-foot…;
December 6th, 2017 at 3:08 PM ^
Sarah Spain picked Michigan!!!
http://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/20785846/espnw-college-foot…;
December 6th, 2017 at 3:09 PM ^
now i see that Brian included that in the piece. sorry guys. Am i going to get negged back below 1000? Double post, too... ouch.
December 6th, 2017 at 3:50 PM ^
Others (looking at you Sparty) will decry this and say it feels dirty but OSU went aggressive with PSU and picked up some very key players iirc - may have been recruits vs. returning players but point still stands.
December 6th, 2017 at 5:07 PM ^
December 6th, 2017 at 6:47 PM ^
If Peters sits behind Shea for two years and starts one year he'll have as many starts as Trubisky.
December 7th, 2017 at 9:19 AM ^
—beats out Peters for the job in fall 2018
—plays well enough to keep the job
—doesn’t play well enough to go pro (or just decides not to)
—doesn’t get hurt
There’s just as much opportunity for Peters at U-M as there is elsewhere. If he transfers, he burns one of his remaining years of eligibility, since he’s already redshirted.
December 6th, 2017 at 5:34 PM ^
I want a 16 team playoff, but if Harbaugh wants 16 I DEFINITELY want 16. I don't get the argument that it diminishes the regular season schedule. You still have to be good to make the playoffs and all the games matter. All other sports have a playoff and we never hear "the playoffs diminish the regular season." Nobody complains about the 60+ teams that make the NCAA basketall tournament and nobody complains when Michigan gets in as the 6th (24th best) or 10th (40th best team) seed. Maybe we should skip all the other rounds of the NCAA tournament and just hold the final 4 since they are the 4 best teams.... why give a 6th seed a chance to be national champion when they weren't one of the best 4 teams at the end of the regular season??
The playoffs are exciting because anybody that's in them can win, not just any of the 4 teams voted in by biased men sitting around a table being all subjective about everything, changing their criteria to fit their wants, and then tell fibs about why they selected which teams and not others. Playoffs because the teams have to actually PLAY it out. If you're in it, you can win it and I like that.
December 6th, 2017 at 9:23 PM ^
In a 16 team playoff, Clemson's loss to Syracuse wouldn't be a big deal. Clemson in fact could have lost 2 more times, finsihed 9-3 and made the playoffs in the top 16. In a smaller playoff field losing to Clemson is a huge deal, because Clemson's margin for error was gone.
I wouldn't object to increasing the playoffs to 6 teams so that each major conference championship has a chance to make it in. However, I don't want CFB games to have as much meaning as a single regular season basketball game.
December 6th, 2017 at 5:30 PM ^
December 6th, 2017 at 5:47 PM ^
Comp.% Yards/Att. TD% Int.% NCAA QB Rating
57.8125 7.59375 6.25 0 142.225
Sorry about formatting.
*competition-level asterisks apply to most of that
December 6th, 2017 at 6:49 PM ^
*also most of it against stacked boxes daring him to pass
I feel comfortable about him or Dylan being our starter next year but if Shea drops into our lap we take him happily.
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