Unverified Voracity Requires Nose Tackles Comment Count

Brian

Indeed. Plaque up at Crisler.

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Michigan's started preseason practice, looking less skinny or more skinny as appropriate. Stauskas in particular looks a lot more likely to power through contact this year:

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YOU ARE DOING A BAD JOB AT DEFENSE, FOREGROUND

Unfortunately, Mitch McGary's got a lower back thing that's limiting him. A big guy getting a nagging old person injury is a thing that turns out to be chronic unfortunately often, but the noises from Beilein about it are encouraging:

"It's been day-to-day, pretty much all fall, and we're moving forward from there," Michigan coach John Beilein said. "I'm very hopeful it'll be gone before too long.

"He's done some on-and-off things this fall."

McGary blew up various skills camps this summer, so whatever it is it's a recent thing.

Soldier on. Michigan does not change its depth chart on the OL. That probably means nothing; FWIW.

Bo's phone call. Mason relates what happened after the 38-35 Buffalo Stampede game in which Minnesota ran rampant on Michigan:

“We ended up basically being able to run the ball against anybody,” Mason said. “When we blew that game against Michigan in ’03, after we had a 21-point lead, my secretary took a call on Monday and said, ‘[Former Michigan coach] Bo Schembechler’s on the phone.’

“I picked up and Bo said, ‘Mason, I never thought I’d see the day when Notre Dame or Ohio State rushed for 424 yards against Michigan, much less Minnesota,’ and then he hung up.”

Bo probably threw in some other words that Mason left out.

Also, Glen Mason's take on what Minnesota's doing is relevant to our current interests:

“There are less moving parts with the read option"

Brace for impact. Michigan is currently a whopping 21 point favorite over Minnesota after opening at 16.5. It is unclear whether that projects turnover margin or final score.

Minnesota did look completely terrible against Iowa, losing 23-7 and barely getting across the line of scrimmage on its 27 rushing attempts. For the game they had 27 yards rushing, 135 passing, and threw two picks. The jury's still out on Iowa's defense, which seems improved but ceded 30 to NIU and 21 to Iowa State; Minnesota looks like a product of its schedule.

Yes, even more so than Michigan does, sheesh. Thus the line cited above.

Meanwhile, across the triangle of hate Iowa fans are feeling rather chipper after matching last year's win total in week 5. Highlights:

Iowa's athletic department has figured out how to use the "upload" button on YouTube

Rudock has some decent wheels; Mike Patrick can be boring about a 74-yard touchdown; Michigan's nose tackles watched this game and said "FINALLY WE WILL BE ON THE FIELD" to themselves.

Jacobi points out that Iowa is actually a slight favorite(!) for this weekend's matchup against Michigan State. Projected final score: 1.

You kickstarted this. Martavious Odoms's thing bears fruit (HA!):

Or vegetables.

We have brought you low. Michigan instrumental in midseason firing of Paul Pasqualoni. Yes. That is the ticket. Ignore the 41-12 loss to Buffalo behind the curtain. Also in expectation-dampening sad things: Akron loses by lots, Notre Dame loses by lots, Central Michigan loses by lots. I liked this season better three weeks ago.

Why fire Pasqualoni now?

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It's all happening.

60 minutes of unnecessarily rough pass interference somewhere else. Actually, various folks are chattering about Michigan State DC Pat Narduzzi taking the UConn job:

Spoke w some coaches re: UConn. Strong feeling among group I spoke w that Pat Narduzzi will get good look.

This tweet gets a hilarious set of responses that are exactly what you'd expect: MSU fans painting the UConn program as a deathtrap and saying things like

Unless he gets offered a place like Texas I honestly don't see it happening. His kids love it hear and he is very close

…that.

The opposite of Indiana. In a not good way. Via Chantel Jennings, the dichotomy of Michigan State in stark relief:

Indiana | Oct. 19
Big Ten rank:
Total offense: No. 1
Total defense: No. 11

Michigan State | Nov. 2
Big Ten rank:
Total offense: No. 11
Total defense: No. 1

Who is State ahead of? Purdue, obviously. Obviously Purdue. Indiana is ahead of Nebraska. Think about that when you consider the depths to which Bo Pelini's defense has sunk. #Kiffin4Nebraska

Etc.: Details of the Harmon exhibit at the Bentley. Boy, do I not care about Michigan's spot in the polls right now. Illinois pounds Miami (Not That Miami). I don't understand this thing about a dog named Jake Butt. The history of Michigan decals.

Comments

ScruffyTheJanitor

September 30th, 2013 at 12:27 PM ^

I don't know how that never dawned on me, but its a reference to Adventure Time, a funny and weird show which features a boy named Finn and a Magical, shape-shifting dog named Jake Butt in a suprisingly depressing (at least the setting is) post-apocolyptic future where Finn is one of the few humans left in existance. 

dnak438

September 30th, 2013 at 12:51 PM ^

Hoke was unsurprisingly noncommital but it sounded like the staff was continuing to think hard about OL changes and would perhaps make a decision by Tuesday:

 

El Jeffe

September 30th, 2013 at 12:51 PM ^

Stauskas looks swoll!

/ Tate

LeVert is no longer two-dimensional!

/ That thread about that recruit who looked young to some posters.

Any chance we can get a height/weight change report about the hoops team?

jmblue

September 30th, 2013 at 12:59 PM ^

Minnesota firing Mason remains one of the great firing blunders of all time.  Just think: that guy turned Minnesota into a halfway decent program while they were playing at the Metrodome.  If he'd have been given TCF Stadium to recruit to, he could have made them a serious Big Ten contender.

Does Mason not want to coach anymore?  I'm surprised no one's given him a call.

Hannibal.

September 30th, 2013 at 1:33 PM ^

I agree, but he had been there for ten years and it seemed like choke after choke for Mason with no signature victories or great upsets.  He had hit his hard ceiling and he never played in a single New Year's Day game.  I feel like at least they should be able to get a guy who can win 7-8 games a year. 

Needs

September 30th, 2013 at 1:56 PM ^

Exactly, that's not Mason's ceiling, it's Minny's ceiling.

 

I actually think Mason's firing had a lot to do with him so openly campaigning for the OSU job that Tressel got it. Minnesota fans could stomach 8-5/7-6 but not with a coach who clearly wanted to be somewhere else.

aiglick

September 30th, 2013 at 1:03 PM ^

We've just got to limit the turnovers to maybe one a game. If we can do that it would make us look a lot better. They are part of the game but if we play relatively mistake free I think we'll be competitive with most of the country. #getittogether

The Reeve

September 30th, 2013 at 1:11 PM ^

At the peril of being eviscerated, I wanted to suggest reason for optimism. Obviously, the transitive theory doesn't apply to sports; endless data prove this to be true. It doesn't mean scraping by Akron and UConn is a good thing, but their subsequent games are irrelevant, IMHO. They came so close to Appalachian Statehood and then fell back, like a drunk off the wagon, deep into the gutter.

Notre Dame is not great, but they're not bad, either. An upper echelon Big 10 team, I would say. The performance in that game is not an irretrievable thing. The defense is reasonably sound and the offense had its moment...and can have it again.

I believe Michigan rebounds to comfortably handle the next three, with a scare early in Happy Valley. A month to improve for Trash Bowl 2. Bring it on.

(I retract everything if it turns out to be not true.)

Hannibal.

September 30th, 2013 at 1:11 PM ^

How in God's name is it that we are 20.5 point favorites this weekend?  Have the people putting money on Michigan actually watched us play?  Is somebody on Minnesota deep in debt to bookies and planning on point shaving? 

jmblue

September 30th, 2013 at 1:18 PM ^

Probably because the oddsmakers don't overreact to every game like fans do.  We have turned it over eight times the last two weeks, which is not normal for any team.  If we simply hang on to the ball long enough to at least punt it away, Minnesota probably won't score much.

The Reeve

September 30th, 2013 at 1:28 PM ^

Well said. After the Notre Dame game, a M friend of mine made an impassioned case for M in the title game. Now he thinks we lose 5.

We are not great, but we're not bad, either. I also would argue that Hoke and Borges do something by habit in games like Akron and UConn that hurts us badly from winning as we should: the look ahead to the Big 10 season. I don't mean that as typically used - someone is not paying attention to or respecting the current foe as they think about a future game - I mean that they don't go for the throat early, always wanting execution and MANBALL to, as it should in such games, carry the day.

Hoke is happiest if MANBALL (no creativity) wins him a cupcake game - and it has in past seasons. He almost got burned this year.

M-Dog

September 30th, 2013 at 1:56 PM ^

The #EATING garden looks like it's really taking shape since the last video.  It looks really well-designed to make use of the available space.

Made me hungry.

 

BlueMan80

September 30th, 2013 at 2:14 PM ^

had a somewhat similar conversation with Lloyd after that game.  I shared Bo's opinion on that one.  Who'd a thunk it?

Pasqualoni is now free to take his brand of east-coast football west to USC.  You bet Pat Haden is excited about his options now.