Michigan vs. SDSU 2011 Named as one of Rivals best non-Conference games
Rivals lists best non-conference matchups of 2011 including UM vs. SDSU
personally, I'm very excited for this game, and looking to beat SDSU's combo of Lindley and Hillman just with Hoke's personal knowledge of that team.
Thoughs?
(Link: http://collegefootball.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1210668)
I am excited to see how we do against Hoke's old crew. Just crossing my fingers for a W.
On a side note, did anyone see that LSU has WV and Oregon next year? Now that is a tough non-conference schedule!!
When Hoke signed everyone was talking about possibly buying out SDSU so they didn't have to play. Is this still a possibillity?
I doubt it considering the game is like 6 months away, if they wanted to do the buyout thing you would assume it would have needed to be done asap to allow Mich to pick up another team to fill their schedule, as they are not going to miss out on home game revenue.
April 13th, 2011 at 10:32 AM ^
Why does Delaware State have another open date to fill?
I think the ND v. Michigan is also a key NCG. It's a rivalry game of the overall #1 v. #2, it's the first night game for both programs, and MI has won the last meetings and Kelly has not faired well against MI. That's the trifecta.
April 13th, 2011 at 10:14 AM ^
I agree that ND is a bigger game for Michigan. I think the person who wrote the article probably does too. However, I think his point was that these are non-regular non-conference games. Michigan plays ND every year (or almost every year) so wouldn't be expected to be on that list.
Don't get me wrong though, I think the ND game will be a much bigger indicator of what we should expect from Michigan football this year.
April 13th, 2011 at 10:42 AM ^
I fully expect Michigan to lose to ND this year. I'll still be jumping up and down and screaming at the TV, but Kelly is in his second year there and his team has had time to adjust. Michigan will still be learning on both sides of the ball and will still have a lag between thinking and doing.
If Michigan played ND in October or November, when they should be playing their best football of the season, they would have a lot better chance to win. I think Michigan will win eight games this year, but ND won't be one of them.
April 13th, 2011 at 10:14 AM ^
"Kelly has not faired well against MI"
ummm... the dude has coached exactly two games against michigan, one at central michigan which coincided with our 2006 crush-everyone-until-the-last-2-games-which-totally-never-happened season and the other was his first year at the helm of notre dame where we only won by 4 points despite an inhuman day by denard and nd rotating between a concussed qb and a walk-on.
don't get me wrong, i hope in 5 years we can throw that statement out there, but it's a little premature to be dropping that right now.
April 13th, 2011 at 10:44 AM ^
Being 0-2 against a team would be "not fairing well" against said team. I don't see the problem in that statement. He didn't say "brian kelley is a yearly whipping boy" or "we dominate kelley whenever and wherever we play."
April 13th, 2011 at 11:59 AM ^
Kelly lost one game he was supposed to lose and another game he might have won if his starting QB hadn't had a concussion. So yes, technically "has not fared well" is true. But there isn't enough of a sample size to really tell us anything useful.
also, it's "fared well", not "faired well"
there is no cotton candy
/end rant
April 13th, 2011 at 10:15 AM ^
Both teams have been in night games against other teams. I think you mean the first night game matchup between the two?
April 13th, 2011 at 10:36 AM ^
ND and UM game at ND was played at night in the late 80s/early90s. Curse you Reggie Ho!
April 13th, 2011 at 10:50 AM ^
3 night games played between us and ND in South Bend:
1982: ND's first ever night game. We play flat and lose 23-17. The only time Bo lost to Jerry Faust.
1988: Reggie Ho. The D keeps ND out of the end zone all night, though. Mike Gillette's game winner is just wide right with 1 second left on the clock and we lose 19-17. ND lucks out and avoids disaster for what seems like the millionth time in school history. They go on to win the national championship.
1990: We're up by 10 in the 3rd quarter, we have a chance to go up 31-14 on the #1 team in the land in their own stadium but Grbac throws a pick in the end zone. We then proceed to blow the lead. ND's Rick Mirer throws the game winning TD in the final minute to beat us 28-24. (Oh, yes. This was the infamous game where the ref measured for a first down with an index card. Only in South Bend.)
Revenge, Blue. I want you to make ND feel that same horrible pain under the lights at the Big House in September.
April 13th, 2011 at 11:02 AM ^
I freaking hate Brian Kelly more than ever now.
Posts like these are why I read comments. I will keep an eye out for sweet, sweet vengeance in the fall.
I remember that 1990 game with the infamous index card measure for the 1s.t down. I remember hearing all about it in the Chicago news for what seemed to be weeks. Thanks for the history lesson (no sarcasm) and yes, I did mean the first night game for ND v. Michigan at Ann Arbor.
April 13th, 2011 at 11:08 AM ^
Depends on wins vs. winning percentage.
Texas is now #2 in overall wins - overtook ND in the past 5 years, IIRC.
Notre Dame is still #2 in winning percentage.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_winningest_college_football_teams
...how much fun it would have been to see Tate manage a few snaps. He was looking forward to it.
Now that I think about it, was Brady the guy who snubbed him at SDSU?
April 13th, 2011 at 11:16 AM ^
And he enrolled in January 2009. Hoke was hired by SDSU in December 2008, while Tate was already packing his ball waxing equipment and bong for his trip to Ann Arbor.
I know there will be a ton of hoopla about this game because of the Hoke transition to Michigan, facing his former team, blah, blah, blah. But what really intrigues me about this matchup is the conundrum facing Spencer Brinton - UM's high-profile QB transfer from the early 2000's. Who will he cheer for? Will he bust out his blue #7 from his Michigan days, or a black #16 from his SDSU glory years? Perhaps the Michigan white road jersey paired with black SDSU pants?
For those who don't remember Spencer Brinton:
http://www.michigandaily.com/content/selfless-spencer?page=0,1
If M somehow loses, the laughter will be relentless. This season could be a disaster.
April 13th, 2011 at 10:00 AM ^
my Id.
April 13th, 2011 at 10:47 AM ^
Insightful contribution.
April 13th, 2011 at 11:00 AM ^
I only clicked on the little red box to see what he said after you made a comment. It's heaven.
April 13th, 2011 at 11:17 AM ^
The problem is, half the time I'm working on a public computer and I'll have to read the MGoTrolls' comments anyways so I'm kind of used to it at this point. But I'll definitely do it for my laptop.
April 13th, 2011 at 11:57 AM ^
So you're using OSU computing power to talk on MGoBlog? Nice...
There's a libertarian anarcho-capitalist who believes in taking every possible government benefit as a way of speeding up the fall of the state, and that's the closest analogy I can think of to you doing that.
April 13th, 2011 at 12:00 PM ^
Yep, that sounds just like me. I get dirty looks on occasion from screen-watchers but what are they going to do, complain to IT? MGoBlogging beats going outside and walking through endless construction zones and breathing in cigarette smoke.
April 13th, 2011 at 12:06 PM ^
Haha, I haven't seen much of the OSU campus except High Street up by their bookstore and the dorms over by the law school, so I can't comment on that. MGoBlog is definitely a fun way to avoid going outside and doing something, though.
April 13th, 2011 at 12:09 PM ^
All my friends are super-busy during the day anyways so I mostly kill time on the blog or do homework between classes. Or you can take a jaunt down to the fast-food district and take your pick of the finest cuisine Columbus has to offer at rock-bottom prices. If you're in town, Five Guys on High Street has great burgers, and you can get a burger with toppings plus a HUGE container of fries for about 8 bucks. To top that off, you get free bottomless peanuts for just showing up to the restaurant!
April 13th, 2011 at 12:12 PM ^
Five Guys is awesome. I haven't made it down to Columbus since my first and only trip there, but I actually might stop for a few minutes this weekend. My "bff" might get permission from his coach to go home to Akron for his 21st...you know...to renew his drivers license... In that case I'll pass through Columbus and might give a hug to a girl I know there.
April 13th, 2011 at 12:15 PM ^
I'm pretty free this weekend if you want to hang out. Let me know when you'll be in town and we'll figure something out.
/gotta go to class now
April 13th, 2011 at 12:17 PM ^
I'll let you know if I actually do make it, for sure, but I'm not all that hopeful right now.
April 13th, 2011 at 10:00 AM ^
M v SDSU is considered a top non-conference game? Is the non-conference schedule for the rest of cfb THAT bad? I mean, Michigan is basically playing a MAC game - I get that it's somewhat interesting due to storylines but I would hope this wouldn't make a top 100 list of cfb games to look out for on a national level. M v ND will be much much more important and interesting.
April 13th, 2011 at 10:03 AM ^
If SDSU's to be considered a MAC-level opponent then they should probably go down as the best MACrifice we've ever played. Not an easy game by any stretch.
April 13th, 2011 at 10:20 AM ^
"Today, we're going to look at the 12 best non-conference games of the season. It's important to note that this does not include non-conference games that are played annually; some of those games would've made the list, sure, but the idea here is to show that the occasional two-game series can lead to some mighty fine football."
The author of the article specified that this was a non-annual list of non-conference games. Also, SDSU had a great offense last year and returns their starting H back and QB. They could pose some real problems for our secondary.
April 13th, 2011 at 10:43 AM ^
Yes, but they did lose their two best receivers. At least we've got that. Let's hope that Borges was very important to them. And we get to play against a 3-3-5! Hooray! But a properly run 3-3-5. Booo...
April 13th, 2011 at 10:16 AM ^
Michigan fan this will be one that I'm really kind of worried about. Given SDSU has not beaten any of it's Big Six BCS foes in recent history. high risk low reward ala App. State type of deal.
But as a college football fan in general the top three match ups listed are just as if not more intriguing.
3. Boise State vs. Georgia in Atlanta
2. Oklahoma at Florida State
April 13th, 2011 at 10:34 AM ^
This game scares me a bit. Hoke knows them just as well as they know Hoke.
April 13th, 2011 at 10:43 AM ^
I think we have the advantage here. We took coaches from SDSU on offense and defense, plus the HC, obviously. So we'll be able to scout their offense and defense about as well as any team in the country.
However, they will not be able to scout us nearly as well. Sure, their DC who was there last year knows the Borges offense, but it will be very different with Denard and our personnel. Game planning for UM-2011 will be worlds apart from SDSU-2010. Also, our DC is the one main outsider thrown into all of this, so the SDSU offensive coahces won't know Mattison any better than any other college DC. The fact that he's been coaching in the NFL for a while only makes his defenses that much harder to scout.
April 13th, 2011 at 10:36 AM ^
They played TCU closer than anyone last year.....
But i do think Hoke & Co. will have them up to the challenge!
April 13th, 2011 at 11:17 AM ^
Doesn't count. They were down 3 scores in the 3rd and if we have learned anything, we learned making a game out of it after being down a lot only counts if you win. If you lose, stats don't count and the team played horribly and the only reason they came back is because the other team gave up
April 13th, 2011 at 10:37 AM ^
We will very likely be on that list next year too, probably at the top.
April 13th, 2011 at 11:04 AM ^
Wow, I could really care less about half of those games. Pitt vs. Iowa? Arizona State vs. Illinois? Arizona vs. Oklahoma State? Missouri vs. Arizona State? Come on.
And is Penn State really going to compete with Alabama? Rivals says SDSU will torch our secondary but they make no mention of Bama possibly torching JoePa? With Nick Saban's oversigning, they'll have plenty of weapons.
Miami vs. Ohio State will be interesting just because of the suspended players. But Miami has been a joke the last several years. So OSU still has a chance.
April 13th, 2011 at 12:08 PM ^
Care less?
April 13th, 2011 at 12:39 PM ^
Texas A&M-Arkansas is going to be a better matchup than half of those.
I can't believe that I'm the first one to mention Kyle Turley in this thread.