This list is completely arbitrary and not a genuine analysis of the relative merits of state fossils.
Similarities between Michigan and Penn State
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After reading the mgo.licio.us article about Penn State and their supposed "Spread HD", there was an inset link to this article: http://www.altoonamirror.com/page/content.detail/id/509133.html?nav=5017
If you replaced "Joe Paterno" with "Lloyd Carr" and each corresponding PSU person with its Michigan equivalent, it would still sound just about right. (even the part about not throwing passes over the middle).
My opinion of why Michigan has always been successful against PSU was that it was looking at a mirror-image of itself. While Michigan typically struggled against teams that didn't employ their Pro-Style offense, Penn State's straightforward "conservative" playcalling played right into Michigan's hands. Of course, while we as Michigan fans could grumble about it from our own perspectives, it's always interesting to hear the same words being said about another team with similar deficiencies (hence, the Altoona Mirror Article linked above). Here's an excerpt of how it could have read if it were written about Lloyd Carr-era Michigan Football:
ANN ARBOR - Michigan can have all the offensive weapons in the world, but it won't matter if Lloyd Carr insists on being conservative.
Carr needs to do several things for the intriguing new Run, Run, Pass, Punt offense to be most effective:
* He needs to let his playmakers make plays.
* He needs to give Mike DeBord freedom to call plays that actually surprise defenses.
* He needs to allow his offense to take some chances on the road rather than constantly trying to win defensive battles.
If Carr refuses to take full advantage of his offensive weapons, Michigan will have another mediocre season. (And yes, 9-4 should be considered mediocre at UM.)
July 15th, 2008 at 1:13 AM | 
Is 9-0 similar to 0-9?
Is 9-0 similar to 0-9?
July 15th, 2008 at 2:55 AM |
N/A
N/A
haha...touche.
I wonder if Penn State regrets joining the Big Ten. It's not like any of their other sports have been anything to write home about, and even before Miami, BC and VaTech left the Big East, they easily could have been the power brokers of that conference had they decided in the early 90s to join the Big East (if offered entry) instead of playing second fiddle to Michigan/Ohio State.
I remember there being a lot of talk that once Penn State joined the B10 that the "Big 2, Little 8" conference pecking order would change, but save for '94 and '05, there hasn't been much special coming out of State College.
July 15th, 2008 at 10:24 AM |
PSU and Lloyd Carr
PSU and Lloyd Carr
In all honesty, I'm getting tired of ripping on Lloyd for how 1-dimensional his playcalling was, but this posting has merit. Lloyd's game was outdated. PSU faces problems until Paterno steps down. 2005 was impressive, especially with Michael Robinson (there is some speculation that Lloyd was trying to install a spread offense with Antonio Bass and zone blocking, which was used, but we'll never know), but PSU has some of the same problems as UM. For one, I hear that PSU's S&C and Michigan's before Barwis were among the most outdated in the country.
I'll do a post about how poorly run the Big East has been and how it is far from what it should be. I mean, they kicked out Temple, who is improving, and now they only have 8 teams.
Side note: I read that Va Tech has excellent S&C, which is weird because I think that Beamer is just old, but a decent coach.
Ann Arbor is a classy broad.
"Get off my plane!" - Ricky Stanzi, Air Force One 2
July 15th, 2008 at 10:55 AM |
Don’t forget the Barwis effect
Don’t forget the Barwis effect
Until this year, M and PSU were also doing the same style of strength training. Which leads me to believe (hope?) that we probably have 2-3 years left of the streak. I’d love to see it extend to 20 years, but there has to be a win for them coming.
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