This Month in MGoBlog History - January 2007: Rose Bowl Aftermath and Recruiting Scrambling

Submitted by Maize.Blue Wagner on

Previously:

December 2006



On Monday, January 1 USC beat Michigan in the Rose Bowl 32-18. First Half. Second Half.  

January 3 - Wednesday

Rose Bowl Open Thread.

January 4 - Thursday

Brian recaps his experience at the Rose Parade. The whole post is entertaining.

7:52 AM. So you're walking down this parade route in front of people who have been dourly camped out waiting for something to watch for hours, possibly days. They watch you, and if they're USC fans they shout something like "WOOOO USC" and since it's really early in the morning and you feel silly because you thought California was much warmer at 6AM and you've spent the first hour of your day trudging from Rose Bowl to Rose Parade, your mood is black black black. The prospect of doing all this to sit down and watch a parade conjures up memories of boredoms past and generally ruins your day.

January 5 - Friday

Brief thoughts on the game. Henne played pretty well, the defense performed adequately, but the OL gave up pressure all afternoon. It was very reminiscent of 2004. Should Carr be fired? No. Should Andy Moeller be fired? Maybe.

January 8 - Monday

Unverified Voracity Tolls Stewie. The New York Times recognizes Brian’s nickname for Tressell “Cheatypants Sweatervest”.

Hello: Mike Williams. He has a rough few year ahead of him.

Alan Branch is having a press conference today to announce his draft intentions. He’s leaving.  

January 9 - Tuesday

Recruiting Board Update with all star game updates. CBs Ron Johnson and Donovan Warren are two of the remaining targets on the board.

January 10 - Wednesday

Final Blogpoll Ballot.

Part 1 of the nominations for the CFB blogging community.

Final Blogpoll.

Mid-year hockey CSB rankings.

January 11 - Thursday

Brian’s final Maxwell pundit award ballot. His top three are: Reggie Nelson, Alan Branch, and Darren McFadden.

A recap of a couple rumors. Ryan Mundy will not be returning for the 5th year. Rumors persist that Andy Moeller will not return as OL coach. Instead it is said he might be joining new Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh.

January 12 - Friday

Unverified Voracity Sterilizes the BCS. Ryan Mallett, Vince Helmuth, Austin Panter, and Artis Chambers are early enrollees. I bet that will help their Michigan career. Also, Colt Brennan won the Maxwell pundit award. Brian is not pleased.

January 15 - Monday

Michigan sports has a rough weekend. The hockey team is struggling, the hockey team is falling apart, and IN S Jerimy Finch decommitted to go to Indiana. Not ideal.

January 16 - Tuesday

Mailbag with topics covering opponents and the ‘M’ bye week, Zoltan Mesko reading MGoBlog, and Lloyd’s perceived jet lag problems, i.e. the inability to win games west of the Mississippi.

January 17 - Wednesday

Unverified Voracity Probably Affected by Gravity. The first mention of new MSU coach Mark D’Antonio. He comes complete with new countdown clock.

Yes. That's exactly what Michigan State needs: more focus on the Michigan game to the exclusion of everything else on the schedule. Just in case they were ever thinking of winning a game after it ever again.

Query: what should this clock be labeled? ("Countdown to Disappointment" was a submission from the Victors, por ejemplo.)

Mmm yeah, not so much.

January 18 - Thursday

Safeties coach Ron Lee has left. No one is sure why.

The final preview review as Brian looks at his Big Ten previews from the summer. This was from the top of the conference and also represents his biggest miss. He had Iowa #2 in the country and going to the Rose Bowl; they finished 6-6.

January 19 - Friday

Recruiting board update. Here’s where things stand:

So... yeah, Finch. Even with a hypothetical RoJo commit he would have been easily the third best recruit in the class. His loss moves the class a fair chunk of the way from "disappointing" to "outright disaster." No RoJo == outright disaster, on a par with the 2000 class. If we do get him, we'll have addressed the crying needs at QB and CB from last year's excellent class and shouldn't have a Willingham-esque gap between quality recruits that's going to hammer Notre Dame's lines next year. (Other than the current gap at cornerback that's already hammering us.) There will be a lot of pressure on the Michigan staff to put together a 2008 class on a par with the 2006 group -- one bad recruiting class won't kill you but two in a row will cause problems.

January 22 - Monday

Hockey update. This past weekend was markedly improved on the previous one. Brian asserts that TJ Hensick might be the best player he’s seen at Michigan, outside of maybe Mike Comrie.

January 23 - Tuesday

No content today.

January 24 - Wednesday

Unverified Voracity Avoids Draft-Related Puns with lots of updates on the prospects of ‘M’ players in the upcoming draft.

January 25 - Thursday

Liveblog of the basketball game against #2 Wisconsin. Brian stops when Wisconsin gets up by 20.

Unverified Voracity Moves On. There’s a link to Boubacar Cissoko’s Myspace page. The link no longer goes to his Myspace page. Also, there is a rumor that Ryan Munday will go to Pitt. This is possible because of a new rule that allows a player with an undergraduate degree to transfer without penalty.

January 26 - Friday

Unverified Voracity is Suddenly Frequent. There are stronger and more frequent signs that this will be Lloyd’s last year. Also, a video of the MacGyver theme on acoustic guitar.

 

At this point there is nearly a month long gap in posts on the current site. From here on we will switch to the old Blogspot site.

 

January 29 - Monday

Recruiting Board Update. Illinois commit Ronaldo Sagesse is a new name that has popped up as a possible add before signing day. Rashad Mason is a possibility at WR. Ronald Johnson made a trip to Florida, and the fear in his recruitment is starting to amp up.

The Detroit News is exploring who will Michigan’s 12th opponent in the upcoming season. This post has a great deal of sad irony as Brian refers to “Christian-Lion” matchups. At least that’s what the first game of the upcoming season is supposed to be. Brian will still go though.

There's no way around it: I'm a sap. A mark. A rube. The dirty Victorian era ne'er-do-wells in the athletic department have entwined me in a confidence scheme. (They call me "guv'nor" to my face, though.)

January 30 - Tuesday

Unverified Voracity Puzzled by Puzzlement. Some early speculation on who could replace Amacker. Billy Gillespie, Mike Montgomery, and Tubby Smith are a few of the names mentioned. Also, Vanderbilt won’t be Michigan’s opening opponent.

A link to a bracketology that is no longer from 10 years ago.

January 31 - Wednesday

More CFB blogger award announcements. This one is won by EDSBS.

Brian’s internet has been down, so he knows nothing about RoJo, but things are not looking good.

 

Comments

WolverineHistorian

January 19th, 2017 at 8:58 AM ^

That stupid Rose Bowl.  Felt like USC defenders were on top of Henne on every single play.  He had no time to do anything.  It was the kind of offensive line play that would become the norm under Hoke.  I also remember that huge smile on Pete Carroll's face and wanting to punch it right off him.

4godkingandwol…

January 19th, 2017 at 2:33 PM ^

... when I first started following recruiting at any level. Jerimy Finch is a name I recall. Just googled him, and seems like he's fallen on harder times. Committed to Michigan -> Switched to IU -> Switched to UF -> Tranferred to IU after season ending injury at UF -> played only special teams -> left team -> Jail for bulgary in 2014.

Bummer on a lot of levels.

 

stephenrjking

January 19th, 2017 at 5:23 PM ^

I'm a bit anxious about recruiting these days, since top title contenders are killing it and we need to keep up. But, man, the recruiting coverage on this post is ledge-worthy stuff, especially since we all know how long Mallett stuck around.

This quote is presciently brutal:

"There will be a lot of pressure on the Michigan staff to put together a 2008 class on a par with the 2006 group -- one bad recruiting class won't kill you but two in a row will cause problems."

You don't say.

Maize.Blue Wagner

January 19th, 2017 at 10:41 PM ^

As I've done this series, I am continually amazed at where we've come as a fanbase. The attitude and ideas from then seemed so simple and childlike. I guess you could say we're jaded now, but if there's anything good to come out of it, hopefully we appreciate what we have now all the more. 

Bando Calrissian

January 20th, 2017 at 3:01 PM ^

That 2007 Rose Parade was particularly bizarre in that George Lucas was the Grand Marshall, so half the damn thing were phalanxes of stormtroopers, rebel soldiers, what seemed like a hundred each of Obi Wan, Darth Vader, Chewbacca, and the Emperor...

When the MMB buses pulled up on the freeways for the staging (that's how they do it--they shut down the freeways, the buses pull up, and you walk up an onramp to the lineup), there were imperial troops walking in formation up the onramps. Surreal.

What they also don't show you on TV is that past the 100-yard area with the cameras and stuff is another 5 miles of parading through what turns out to be residential neighborhoods. 99% of the people watching the parade are just random people and old Hispanic grandmothers in lawnchairs who just wander out of their houses.

BeatOSU52

January 21st, 2017 at 10:11 AM ^

I remember reading some very interesting things from insiders about that whole fiasco.  Basically it came down to his mom pissed at the Muskegon coaches for pushing RoJo to commit to Michigan  in the weight room (and he was about to too) and so Momma Rojo put a hault on that.  Momma Rojo  then wanted him to go to MSU, but USC had excellent bag-men back then and so he went far away from Mom.  I also knew all of a sudden the RoJos had all kinds of nice possessions that they couldn't afford shortly after he committed.   ,..But then we weren't as bummed when we get Donovan Warren a couple weeks later.  ...

Wolfman

January 25th, 2017 at 11:09 AM ^

Rojo went to USC with Mama's blessing. It is  true that Tony pushed his kids, actually only had two of BIG level, Taylor and Rojo to Michigan. Was a combination of the school and respect for the program that he loved for years. Its also true that Momma wanted a say and may have received it seeing that Ron's committment came after she was given a shopping spree on Rodeo Drive, gratis USC. I will forever remember when he broke wide open vs. ND in that downpour. The ball was delivered perfectly and he dropped it. Felt bad for the kid. Hell of a talent, but based on watching him a lot in h.s. - same town - knew he was a special talent but was difficult to imagine him the no. 1 recruit in the nation. Someone has to be though. 

philhersey

January 28th, 2017 at 12:54 AM ^

I was there. with my son, age 10. next to drunk usc frat boys. had to get there at 4.30am to get parking--- one million people in rose parade right?  Lloyd fucking Carr. one time they passed 18 straight times at us because they, pete carroll, knew they can't run against us but they can certainly pass... not on Leon Hall but the other guy ,,,,,morgan trent. 4.3 40 but.... so ... at age 48 i said "i can do  better" and took up flag league football. then rugby. two years. U Nevada Reno (D1 rugby ) . Lloyd threw every known thing at USC (that is to say, they knew exactly what was coming).. I hate Lloyd. I love , but hate Pete Carroll. god damn the 2007 rose bowl. oh... by the way... the chant... "over rated, over rated". so ......ps TKE"s bite me. you suck as Pi Iota sucks too.