Previously:

November 2006

December 1 - Friday

UFR: Offense vs. Ohio St. The bad field conditions were a big factor for the offense. Also:

DeBord?

Well, if you had told me we would score 39 points I would have kissed the man.

Recruiting Board Update. Looking back, the 2006 season has paralleled the 2016 season in many ways. Here is a huge divergence. Instead of have long lists of 4 and 5 stars ready to commit. We have this situation:

The most notable change is at linebacker, where Michigan appears to be scrambling. They've got offers out to a number of three stars who are considering teams like Nebraska and Wisconsin and Iowa, certainly not shabby but also not OSU or USC or Florida.

And this:

There is also the matter of Michigan's most recent commitment, Grand Rapids CC OT Mark Huyge, who Michigan snatched from the clutches of directional Michigan schools with an offer.

December 2 - Saturday

Inevitable USC Blowout Open Thread.

December 3 - Sunday

A comparison of ‘M’ against Florida in regard to who should go to the championship game.

Coaches
Lloyd Carr, an eloquent public speaker, tireless defender of his players, and playoff advocate		Urban Meyer, a inveterate whiner who goes purse shopping when not running the local chapters of NAMBLA and the Communist Party. Also points too much.

 

Sided With Who During Civil War?
Union		Confederates

Brian wants to know if the world has gone crazy (because Florida was chosen to play in the championship game).

Two short posts with vague updates during the bowl selection show.

December 4 - Monday

Lots of reaction from the previous day’s decision to put Florida in the championship game. Lots of ridiculous explanations for votes.

On Notice: Fiasco Edition. I’ve never heard this about McDonough:

GARY DANIELSON: I can't summon my mental faculties to give him what he deserves. It would be a string of personal insults bordering on the obscene. So I'll let Braves & Birds say it:

Gary Danielson's performance last night was an absolute disgrace. I understand that he's reputedly a human being who is paid to have opinions, but I've rarely seen an announcer turn the fourth quarter of a football game into a 30-minute advertisement for one school. The fact that Danielson (a) was not recruited by Michigan (and thus went to Purdue) and (b) is working for the one network that exclusively covers the SEC surely had nothing to do with his open rooting for Florida and his subjective, idiotic comparison of the two team's schedules. Regardless of the result of the vote this afternoon, Danielson is going to go down in Michigan lore along with Sean McDonough, who performed a similar role in 1997 during CBS's broadcast of the Nebraska-Tennessee Orange Bowl to facilitate the Huskers picking up part of the national title.

Brian is looking for USC tape. I doubt he still needs it now.

December 5 - Tuesday

Blogpoll ballot week 15.

Unverified Voracity!!!!!With Exclamation!!!!! The Big Ten’s Saturday night games program went well, and it will be expanded in 2007. This might mean the ‘M’ will be forced to host night games.

New shirts, but the links are broken.

December 6 - Wednesday

Blogpoll week 15.

Hello: Austin Panter. First JUCO since Russell Shaw!

Excerpts from Gary Danielson and Kirk Herbstreit on 1270 (no actual content any more).

Hello: Brandon Herron. He’s a project and a redshirt is likely.

December 7 - Thursday

Hockey at the halfway point. The season seems mediocre so far. TJ Hensick and Jack Johnson have been the standouts. It’s likely they will compete for the CCHA title, but not much else beyond that.

Urban Meyer spent the past few weeks campaigning for Florida to get in the title game. He even said that if it was a ‘M’ vs. OSU rematch and ‘M’ won, OSU should go get rings made and still call themselves the champions. Lloyd Carr referred to this as inappropriate and...the media attacked Carr.

December 8 - Friday

Unverified Voracity Needs Shoulders. Post season awards have been given out,  and there is an interesting article about Mitch Mustain’s recruitment, and his dealings with ND and Weis.

December 11 - Monday

Brian begins reviews of his preseason predictions. He begins with the bottom of the Big 10. So far, his predictions for Illinois and Northwestern have been accurate.

Recruiting Board Update including news that Marell Evans committed.

New commitment is that of Evans, a two-star with no reasonable argument that he might have been overlooked. He doesn't play for an obscure high school (Varina is a state power), he hasn't been injured or forced to play out of position, and he doesn't have offers that belie his ranking. Michigan snatched him away from Temple, Buffalo, and Middle Tennessee.

Brian tried to make improvements to the blog, but it failed.

December 12 - Tuesday

Here is the 6 team playoff post that Brian referenced in UV a few days ago. I like these two aspects of it:

B. No autobids. As a natural consequence of things there will often be conference champions in the playoff, but as much as I think Wake Forest is a cute story, they would be dead weight in a tightly constrained playoff field like this one.

D. Pick your poison. Seed only as far as you have to, then let teams draft their opponents. In this current format, the #3 team would have a choice between the 5 and 6 teams with the #4 getting the leftovers. The #1 team would get its choice of the first round survivors.

December 13 - Wednesday

Blogger roundtable covering ‘M’ and the Rose Bowl. I didn’t realize that Tressel didn’t cast his vote in the final coaches’ poll.

Recruiting Board Update with a still working James Rogers highlight video. Still lots of confidence that OT Matt Romine will commit in January.

Unverified Voracity Still Talkin’ Playoffs. Renovations are in the works for Crisler, though it is rumored to go from 14,000 to 10,000. Also, an odd mention of ‘M’ history in an article about Miami Dolphin Jason Taylor.

On Sunday, Dolphins' coaches reached still further back into the past and let Taylor be a 1960s University of Michigan style "monster man," lining up wherever he pleased.

December 14 - Thursday

Freep has confirmed rumors that Jake Long will return.

CFB bloggers used to give each other awards (maybe they still do). Brian runs down some nominations.

Brian reviews his preseason predictions of MSU and Wisconsin.

December 15 - Friday

A very long post in response to another article about Brady Quinn’s Heisman candidacy and media bias in relation to Notre Dame.

December 18 - Monday

Brian’s believes he went too far in his attack in the previous posts and offers his retraction.

Recap of the basketball game against NIU. The team looked good; Courtney Sims looked explosive. Probably a sign of good things to come.

Post on why coaches aren’t more aggressive on 4th down. The conclusion?

When you get thrust into the poker of the NFL for the first time, the stakes are high, the depths dizzying, and the consequences of a gamble that backfires severe. The natural inclination of the n00b is to cower and make the safe play. Most of them never live long enough to get out of the kiddie pool and start making moves.

December 19 - Tuesday

Jason Bailey has left the hockey team for the Ottawa 67s. It wouldn’t be much of a loss, except bench is already thin.

Unverified Voracity Hires Wisely. Kerry Coombs has been hired from Colerain High School to be on Brian Kelly’s staff at Cincinnati. He has been friendly to Michigan (Corbani Mixon and Mister Simpson), but this is still seen as a good thing because it could help draw players away from OSU.

December 20 - Wednesday

Recruiting Board Update. Not much going on. OL recruiting is looking pretty weak. They’re offering middling recruits none of which will end up committing. For everything else that will go wrong in the coming years, the recruiting was not going well in these last years of Lloyd.  

Preview reviews continue with Penn St. and Purdue. Brian’s predictions remain fairly accurate, which he asks his readers to remember when he gets to Iowa.

December 21 - Thursday

Hockey Recruiting Overview. It’s going to be a very strong class with some familiar names.

Then there's Swede Carl Hagelin, a late pickup who would normally be Wyzygowski or a MacVoy, a grinder who's stapled to the fourth line or wearing a suit for the duration of his career. Not so for Hagelin. Says Elite Prospects:

Hyfsad driv i skridskoåkningen och fina offensiva instinkter. Okej målsinne.

See! Awesome.

Other members of the class are Louie Caporusso, Bryan Hogan, and Matt Rust.

Unverified Voracity Transfers to Delaware. Former ‘M’ QB Jim Harbaugh is now the coach at Stanford. Also, an interesting statistical discussion from I Blog for Cookies about which recent offensive coordinator (Parrish, DeBord, and Malone) had had the most success. The advantage goes to DeBord, but it’s highly likely that that has something to do with him being paired with two of the best defenses in recent memory.

December 22 - Friday

Recruiting update with lots of excitement. CA S Michael Williams is leaning toward ‘M’ over ND, but most importantly, he said he’s being recruited as a nickleback. Also, TX RB Sam McGuffie is very high on Michigan.

Brian’s taking some time off for the holidays.

December 29 - Friday

A drive by drive breakdown of how UCLA beat USC - First Half. I must admit to not reading all of this one.

December 30 - Saturday

Brian’s commitments to AOL Fanhouse, being in LA, and liveblogging the Alamo Bowl have made content slow in coming.

UCLA beating USC - Second Half.

December 31 - Sunday

Vicious Electronic Questioning with Brian Grummel on USC and the Rose Bowl. Here are some names you might have forgotten from this USC team: QB John David Booty, RBs Chauncey Washington and C.J. Gable, WRs Dewayne Jarrett and Steve Smith, OT Sam Baker, DE Lawrence Jackson, NT Sedrick Ellis, LB Brian Cushing, and S Taylor Mays.

Rose Bowl Preview.

Finally, three opportunities for me to look stupid Sunday:

• Arrington has a big day.

• Booty is sacked five times.

• 27-20, Michigan.