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Brian

Event. The Alumni Associations big homecoming tailgate is this weekend. It features many things:

Five stations of delicious tailgate themed foods.

Cold beer brewed by U-M alumni-owned North Peak Brewing Company.

Performances by student groups.

Appearances by special guests including: University President Mark Schlissel, MGoBlog creator Brian Cook, and New York Times bestseller John U. Bacon.

A performance by the Michigan Marching Band.

The Exclusive Member Lounge - Alumni Association members can meet Sara Moulton between 12:30 - 1:30 and try out some of her favorite tailgating recipes.

One of them is somehow me. I have been tasked with emceeing the event, so send me all your John U Bacon short jokes. Tickets are available here. Teaser: I hear John U Bacon is not very tall, you guys! /rimshot

Whoops. Accidentally left this from LongLiveBo out of the game column:

Felt like this for a while

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Ended up feeling like this.

21893870482_5afcfa87be[1]

You will agree that it is good I have repaired this mistake.

A man who knows his history. Michigan went way back in the annals of football and dug out the T-formation against Maryland. I'm charting it and trying to figure out what the accepted lingo for T-formations with receivers is and hit up the Wikipedia article, and bang:

Yost_regular_formation_(crop)

That is from Fielding Yost's 1905 book "Football for Player and Spectator," which sounds amazing. Also, the section in which this image is found is headlined "Obsolescence," to which Jim Harbaugh would like to say not so fast, my friend.

Another tale in which Michigan is prepared. From Doug Karsch:

"I spoke with D.J. Durkin this week before the game, and he said, 'Look, Caleb Rowe is fine, until he gets pressured. That's where the turnovers have come from. So we're going to need to pressure him.'

"Sure enough, they did. All three of his interceptions came under heavy duress. Desmond Morgan said after the game about his interception, which came on a screen pass, before the ball was snapped, he knew in that down and distance that they liked to go screen. He told the defensive line to watch for the screen."

Michigan got Hurst in on Rowe so quickly he ended up hammering the ball at a running back about five feet from him. The deflection that followed was partially forced by the D.

So many ORs it sounds like a seal convention around here. Looking ahead a little bit to next week, Michigan State's depth chart on offense is certainly uncertain:

Pasted image at 2015_10_06 10_18

Jack Allen is a very good center. As a 6'2" left tackle he's gonna die. MSU really needs Conklin back posthaste. I imagine if there is any way either he or Kieler can play next Saturday they will do so.

It's fatal. Start over. The immediate aftermath of hiring Mike DeBord at Tennessee has exceeded even Michigan fans' extraordinarily jaded expectations:

The Vols are 108th in Bill Connelly's "explosiveness" metric. They've scored a total of 13 points in the second half of games against Oklahoma, Florida, and Arkansas.

The optics here are really bad. Tennessee essentially does not have a quarterbacks coach. That task has fallen to Nick Sheridan (yes, that Nick Sheridan), who is a grad assistant after a couple of years as Willie Taggart's QB coach at WKU and then USF. No offense to Sheridan, but that's an incredibly thin resume for the only guy a major college has with any claim to be a QB coach. Dobbs has seen his completion percentage drop six points and lost 0.6 YPA this year. You want those numbers to go the other way when your QB hits his upperclass years.

You really have to wonder what the hell Butch Jones was thinking.

The love is real. If Cracker Barrel's latest viral marketing campaign was based on kidnapping and hypnotizing Jim Harbaugh, someone needs a raise.

BTW, there is now a hidden subplot in Harbaugh twitter:

This happens a lot in his mentions now. A lot.

Possibly because Licensed Twitter Troll Tim Kawakami is retweeting him. Well done, Licensed Twitter Troll Tim Kawakami.

Cumong man. I am happy with the state of the team. I am getting a little punchy about the outside perception of it from both humans and numbers. Vegas moved Michigan from essentially infinity to 1 for the national title to 22 to 1, which is insane. S&P is not a person but a series of carefully selected numbers; now that Michigan bludgeoned Maryland and all preseason numbers have been dropped Michigan sits third(!) in it. FEI, at least, is more skeptical—Michigan is 22nd.

Pat Forde has a gimmicky column on when the undefeated teams lose in which he essentially says Michigan is goin' to the the playoff:

Northwestern (1)

Expiration date: Oct. 10, at Michigan. Saturday the Wildcats play in the Big House, in front of roughly 75,000 more people than have seen them play at any point this season. First team to 10 may win this matchup of the best defenses in the conference – and that team will be the Wolverines.

Michigan State (8)

Expiration date: Oct. 17, at Michigan. If this comes to pass, the Mitten may lose its mind. But which team is playing better football at the moment? The Wolverines.

Ohio State (20)

Expiration date: Nov. 28, at Michigan. And if it comes to this, Lord have mercy on the scarlet and gray.

I think the Lord's already done plenty for Ohio State, thanks. We have to fire our coach for blatant cheating—oh look Urban Meyer is tanned, rested, and ready. Hooray.

Dadrock is everywhere. The HarPod dominates all sports.

As basketballs bounced on the hardwood, the arena filled with noise: "You get up every morning from your 'larm clock's warning, take the 8:15 into the city."

Yes, Michigan basketball's official opening practice of the 2015-16 season actually included Bachman Turner Overdrive's "Takin' Care Of Business."

The Dads. They are rocking.

Quinn also has some useful takes from the open practice:

Speaking of Robinson, yes, he's as advertised. The redshirt sophomore can shoot — really shoot — from all over. It's effortless; more net than rim. As Derrick Walton Jr. told us before practice, "Like, it's weird when he misses."

Now all that Robinson has to prove is that he can get off his shot in live action, defend on the other end, and rebound his space. As for the athleticism question, Robinson rose up and tossed in an ally-oop with ease on Friday. He can jump. Quickness? I'm not sure yet.

I don't know where he got the impression Doyle had any baby fat; guy was as built as I've ever seen a freshman post at M. IIRC his tendency to become exhausted was more because he was constantly ill last year.

It's back! Jim Hackett has resumed wearing his I Got Harbaugh outfit.

This is a welcome development.

Etc.: Russell Bellomy departs UTSA. "A retrospective on Tom Crean's mediocre sext game." A history of moved Michigan games. Aubrey Dawkins oh man oh man oh man. Official site stuff on the Yost renovations. Gary Danielson being himself. ESPN adopts a sensible strategy for game overlap.

Comments

Yostal

October 6th, 2015 at 12:31 PM ^

The Ann Arbor Press reissued it a couple of years ago, you can get copies at the M-Den.

It is pretty interesting as a time capsule of a moment in college football where Michigan stood astride the world.

MGoBlue-querque

October 6th, 2015 at 12:43 PM ^

I have a good friend who is a diehard Tennessee fan and he is non-pleased with the DeBord era. I told it wasn't going to be good. I'm pretty sure Vols football is going to kill his liver.

StephenRKass

October 6th, 2015 at 12:43 PM ^

Brian, are you now a company man? Part of the establishment? Do you wear a hockey sweater to the event? Are you able to speak your mind, or do you have a list of things you can't do? I dunno, man. What's the world coming to? Cumong man, don't sell out to the MAN! Would the dude agree to this?

CGordini

October 6th, 2015 at 12:45 PM ^

Thinking about going to this, but at $60 (I think? I have a student ID that is currently valid, but I *technically* graduated last year...) that's a hard sell. Plus, I'm trying to organize my own tailgate.



Will other Michigan football celebrities be there? Former players?

JeepinBen

October 6th, 2015 at 12:48 PM ^

I'm sure this is in the Wikipedia article, but it might have been "obsolete" by 1905, at least until the Bears used it to drop 732 points in the 1940 NFL championship game...

julesh

October 6th, 2015 at 12:51 PM ^

My friend is a huge Niners fan and love Harbaugh. She came here for the BYU game to see him again. She was lamenting the Niners QB situation and asking what could help. I replied bringing back Harbaugh (No you can't have him). She said she'd never take him away from a place that clearly loves and appreciates him. She loved seeing how everyone in Ann Arbor is just all in for Harbaugh.

mgobaran

October 6th, 2015 at 12:55 PM ^

I believe you would just call it the "T-Formation Wide" if the TE's are replaced with WR's. That's at least how the old NCAA games handled Wishbone formations with WR's vs. TE's.

charblue.

October 6th, 2015 at 2:27 PM ^

Even more interesting is that Bo was never a guy fascinated by a single offensive system.

If you go back and watch the team play during the Harbaugh period, guess what, you will witness the same kind of plays that we witness today. Millen was right on the broadcast when he called Michigan's offense Schembechler 2.0.

Once Bo's staff was enamored with the way Oklahoma was running its wishbone offense, and so he was giving serious consideration to changing Michigan's attack, until he went to a coaching clinic where the guy teaching it, couldn't explain it well enough to Bo's liking, and he just decided he'd stick with what the team ran.

His offense featured shifting, heavy tight end pass plays and power running with the option and qb runs when his qbs could run. He never liked the pass much until he had No 1. Part of that was Woody's influence. He had some pretty good mentors along the way like Harbaugh has.

pescadero

October 7th, 2015 at 1:09 PM ^

The average father becomes a father at 27. They're a dad for about 18 years. Which means dad rock is rock for guys currently between 27 and 45 years old or so.

 

A 45 year old was 12 in 1983, a 27 year old was 22 in 2010.

 

There is your dad rock: released 1983-2010.

 

Wilco fall right in the middle of that.

 

Takin' Car of Busines came out in 1973. Someone that was 12 when it came out is almost 60.

markusr2007

October 6th, 2015 at 1:33 PM ^

Boom. You've just been Dadrock'd (a.k.a. BTO'd or REO Speedwagon'd).

This is hilarious, as my 14 year old neighbors were just playing "Now your messin' with a Sonofabitch" in their garage last weekend.  It was better because they're using some really cool, crunchy distortion pedals.  Other neighbors, less happy about the profanity.  BTO was first Canadians to ever use curse words.

Sigh.

Gene Simmons is right though.

Rock n' Roll is dead.

Or perhaps he meant "Dayaad"?

 

 

BlueMan80

October 6th, 2015 at 2:01 PM ^

I was the "4" back AKA right half back.  We played with the ends tight and not split out.  I would be split out off the right end's hip as the wing back when we needed some passing yards.

So, I got quite a chuckle out of Harbaugh bringing out the T-formation against Maryland.

George Halas would be proud.

charblue.

October 6th, 2015 at 2:44 PM ^

and because in youth football no one passes, all the formations were tight. We had two tight ends, tackles, guards and center, and  three backs in the backfield with the qb under center. Teams that ran single wing were always considered exotic. Few teams ran triple option because of the chance for turnovers. And we used numbers instead of the alphabet for gap definition.

We rarely split receivers outside and our best plays were crossbucks. Blocking was pretty much straight ahead and turning your assignment and rbs were not encouraged to bounce plays to non designated spots or backside daylight.

My team always blocked this one play well when it was called and it was a 43 crossbuck where the four back, me, took a handoff from the leftside to the rightside gap between the guard and tackle or three hole on the rightside. Loved that playcall. Used to make a few yards running it. Scored a two-point conversion on it once, and wasn't touched.

WFNY_DP

October 6th, 2015 at 2:41 PM ^

I think one of my favorite "oh hey look these guys are getting COACHED!" moments on Saturday was a Maryland screen pass in the second quarter where the o-line let the d-linemen through, and they ALL immediately--at the same time--recognized the screen pass and pulled up. Like, almost in unison. It was so clear at that moment how much better-coached this team is than just a year ago.

Coldwater

October 6th, 2015 at 3:48 PM ^

It's very prevalent in Michigan High Schools. It's pure smash mouth football. Zealand West and Monroe St. Mary won State championships with it last year. There's a lot of "hide the ball" deception, pulling guards, and off-tackle power. The fullback trap is a staple.

jsimms

October 6th, 2015 at 4:58 PM ^

The defense played another remarkable game against maryland

But, what college qb is successful/effective when he is pressured?  For that matter, pro qbs have a devil of a time when the defense gets pressure