Kirk Herbstreit and his Herbies
I'm not sure if voting on these different preseason awards will effect the outcome but Michigan players are in 3 of the votes for Herbies.
Jeremy Gallon is in the discussion for Herbie's Best Kept Secret.
Derrick Green is one of the Fresh Faces nominees.
Devin Gardner is in the vote for the "Taking It To The Next Level" Herbie.
I'm a little surprised to see UM didn't get in the discussion for his Best Defense Herbie over Florida State or South Carolina (one player doesn't make you good).. but whatever.
August 21st, 2013 at 2:59 PM ^
South Carolina and Florida State were both better than Michigan for points against last year.
August 21st, 2013 at 3:10 PM ^
Seems to be liking MSU to play in the Championship game vs. OSU. Our season will be a complete fail if that happens. I expect State's D to be good, however I don't think their offense is up to this level.
August 21st, 2013 at 3:15 PM ^
I don't mind being under the radar. In 2006 Michigan was ranked a measly 14th and made their noise throughout the season.
August 21st, 2013 at 4:15 PM ^
Michigan was also ranked 14th in the 1997 preseason poll.
August 21st, 2013 at 3:32 PM ^
ESPNU had their Big Ten Preview on last night and both Tom Luginbill and Mike Bellotti picked OSU to win the Leaders and UM to win the Legends. Bellotti picked OSU to beat UM in the CCG but Luginbill actually picked UM to win the conference. Luginbill appears to be a huge Devin Gardner fan. He actually picked Gardner to win the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year and mentioned he thought he was the most impressive QB at the Manning Camp (which featured Johnny Manziel and Tajh Boyd, among others).
August 21st, 2013 at 3:55 PM ^
I'm not sure State's offense will be up to any level. I listened to an interview with a guy from SpartanMag and it sounded like they have 3-4 QBs who could potentialy be their starter. One of the QBs who looked the best was a true freshman.
I don't even know who their RBs are. They have maybe one decent WR. That offense stank last year and I think it will be worse this year.
August 21st, 2013 at 11:59 PM ^
Nick Hill will be their RB. He looked pretty solid when I watched him play although he never had to carry the load.
August 22nd, 2013 at 1:09 AM ^
Hill's best attribute is his speed. Langford if faster and getting a LOT more carries in scrimmages than Hill - and he's producing. Hill has trouble breaking tackles. Langford is breaking tackles.
Langford was an ATH recruit. Tried a few positions. Now, making a really strong push for the starting RB roll. Holmes (true freshman from Flint) is making some noise too.
Hill will probably be a return guy.
As for the passing game (as someone stated earlier), the WR's are catching the ball much more consistantly.
MSU's back 7 on D are as good as any in the bigten. Maybe the best in the bigten.
The front 4 are heavy in depth, but don't seem to be as good as recent years. Calhoun is a projected breakout player. Gholston sat a lot of 3rd downs last year, and Calhoun capatilized.
Lawrence Thomas at DT is the X-factor. If he breaks out, like predicted, the front 4, with Rush, Calhoun, Thomas, and Hoover or Reynolds should be a +.
The corners are beyond solid, so there's room to blitz Allen - a natural blitzer. And blitzing Allen freed Rush during his freshman year to make a lot of noise.
MSU will be better this year.
August 22nd, 2013 at 10:39 AM ^
"MSU will be better this year."
Doubt it.
MSU fan by chance?
August 22nd, 2013 at 1:08 PM ^
Yeah. Following the preseason. All qb's, including Maxwell, are playing better than last year. Wr's catching the ball. Biggest problem from last year is getting much better.
August 22nd, 2013 at 3:17 PM ^
IDK
I cannot be conviced MSU's offense will be anything other than inadequate this year.
Their defense will keep them in alot of games, like last year, but they will lose games like last year because they won't be able to score more than 1-2 TDs a game.
August 21st, 2013 at 3:14 PM ^
Kirk gabe me herbies too, and I habben to hab a sbeech imbediment.
August 21st, 2013 at 3:42 PM ^
...but yours is better.
August 21st, 2013 at 3:15 PM ^
These are basically the Dundies of the sports world, right? Does Lee Corso man the keyboard and AV equipment?
August 21st, 2013 at 3:34 PM ^
Isnt that a bunch of old VWs? In fact I think I would rather watch those old Herbie movies than pay attention to Herbie and his fake tan.
August 21st, 2013 at 5:46 PM ^
Herbstreit is a good dude
August 21st, 2013 at 3:35 PM ^
can't stand to look at or listen to the guy/
August 21st, 2013 at 4:15 PM ^
Go easy on him. This is much better than PamaWards.
August 21st, 2013 at 4:30 PM ^
I disagree. The Pammies is a fantastic award series.
http://www.awfulannouncing.com/pammies/pam-ward-chronicles/your-2012-pa…
August 21st, 2013 at 5:58 PM ^
I actually missed last year's Pammies until this link appeared. Thanks for sharing this - they are pretty funny typically.
Good insight, Lou: "The football is so important they named a game after it"
August 21st, 2013 at 7:37 PM ^
I find it hilariously ironic that this guy tries to make a living critizing others for doing a crappy job at their line of work, when this guy's website belongs in the Encyclopedia Of Poorly Designed Websites. I couldn't read half the content of the article because it was blocked by pop-up video ads.
August 21st, 2013 at 4:30 PM ^
No matter what he has said/done, Herbstreit will always be 100% Buckeye slappy and I can't take anything he says seriously.
August 21st, 2013 at 4:57 PM ^
I disagree with this 100%. Herbie is very objective.
August 21st, 2013 at 4:42 PM ^
And I like it when Spielman gives insight about the technical aspects of football, but otherwise I think he (Spielman) is sub-par calling games. Spielman is definitely the bigger "homer" of the two.
Agree about Pam Ward. Not a big fan of her calling football games.
August 21st, 2013 at 8:00 PM ^
100% here. Wrote about it a while back. CS has changed since osu was put on probation. Really took off his objective glasses for scarlett colored ones. Herb can be mostly objective but it feels forced sometimes. Ward is just awful.
August 21st, 2013 at 4:55 PM ^
I actually don't mind Herbie all that much. I feel he is fairly objective and no more of homer than Des is. Plus I can always watch the clip of him getting knocked out in the Big House if he says something I disagree with.
August 22nd, 2013 at 8:13 AM ^
Anyone have a link to the herbie hit in the big house?
August 21st, 2013 at 5:06 PM ^
I will only say this now while downvoting is turned off but I'm a fan of Kirk Herbstreit, not as much as Desmond but I think he brings a lot to ESPN NCAAF coverage.
August 21st, 2013 at 5:42 PM ^
I'll get on board with you. I don't mind Herbie either.
August 21st, 2013 at 6:33 PM ^
Anyone who doesn't like Herbstreit on this board probably has their homer goggles on. He calls it as he sees it. Has done a great deal for college football and having him and Des on GD is a great thing for the rivalry.
August 21st, 2013 at 8:53 PM ^
Agree, I like to watch Herbie - I think he does a nice job.
August 21st, 2013 at 10:03 PM ^
He's not that bad. I actually like more than Howard sometimes, just because he seems more detached at times.
August 21st, 2013 at 6:03 PM ^
Herbies? Might want to get that checked out by a doctor.
August 21st, 2013 at 6:50 PM ^
on his lip.
August 21st, 2013 at 6:23 PM ^
...went bananas?
August 21st, 2013 at 7:23 PM ^
Huck Ferbie!
August 21st, 2013 at 7:32 PM ^
They chased him out of Columbus, so that would indicate that he's doing something right.
August 21st, 2013 at 8:04 PM ^
and a solid commentator. maybe that nasty hit Michigan gave him did some good.