Recent Comments

The issue with students not showing up.

Don't you remember all the catches he had when Chad Navarre was throwing to him?

This red zone offense should be killer. They could run a variation of a spread (Gardner would still be under center so not a true spread) with two pass catching TEs both over 6'6" (plus Butt who is a similarly skilled athlete) that could both block or release and cause a mismatch against LBs who could be both slower and much shorter. Plus you could have two huge receivers on the outside, that would cause additional mismatches on fade routes to the corners. And finally the other team would have to worry about a run up the gut by Green and the talented OL. And one final cherry, with Devin, is a rollout to the edge. I'd hate to be a defensive coordinator game planning for this.

I'd add "you'r a baller"

Otherwise very professional

The band didn't take a plane or a bus. Damn Dave Brandon and his cheap ways.

I hope his 3 is part of Ace's highlights from Florida.  Probably my favorite play of the second half. What a great moment!

Michigan!

Michigan Scores 76 pts per game and allows 61 pts per game. Again, very competetive defensive and offensive numbers, especially considering the level of competition.

My parents had a Beta hooked up to a 13" screen until about 2009 when they upgraded big. Still one of my favorite quotes from the Simpsons is when snake was steeling a VCR and quipped "Oh no! Beta"

Growing up in the 80s and 90s was great. Didn't have cable until my sophomore year and didn't get on the Internet until my freshman year in college in 98.

A mod avatar fight between you two would be reminiscent of Obi Wan vs Vader.

For hippy haircut.

I miss the old point systems for the pos bangs, and even more fun, the neg bangs. Sigh

They did explain that it was a red flag that she went to school out of state, however, it took more work than necessary to prove and took longer to receive that she was in state. It was also ridiculousness that 2 months after graduating as in state she had to prove it again. I think the university is set up to make as much money as possible and making it difficult to be rated as instate is one of them.

I can say that Michigan's residency policy (in non military situations) is skewed in favor of pushing for out of state tuition. My wife lived out of state for 3 years while she got her graduate degree at a private school. She worked for about a year before coming back to michigan.

She decided to change careers and go back to michigan, and by the time she reapplied she had; went to michigan for undergrad, has always had a michigan license, paid taxes in michigan all but one year of her working life, owned a house in michigan for 4 years, worked at the university for 3 years, and still had to fight to not pay out of state tuition because of her grad school.

To top it off, after completing her second degree and applying to the grad program at michigan, she again was first listed as out of state. Again, this was fixed, but I can understand how the university can make mistakes regarding in state and out of state residency status.

*burning

I hear Spartans like their couches like they like their STDs, burning!!

85-72 michigan

- I chose to go to Michigan over State

- I did not literally get kicked in the balls

- Kate Upton + gifs both exist

- My current head football coach has never told a story about a turtle biting a past legendary football coaches balls

Does having to play man to man all the time in the NBA have anything to do with this as well? I feel like the zone allows for college teams to clog up the lanes more than what is allowed in the NBA

But when I do go, I hope it is for something epic, like comparing a certain blogger to a certain lead singer of Nickleback. I want my pilgrimage to mean something

The daily piece on Red Berenson. One of his greatest coaching successes was a blue chip who didn't succeed on the ice, but succeeded in life as a neurosurgeon.

Between Hoke and his staff, Red and his staff, and Belein and his staff, I'd not trade any of them for another staff. It's pretty special when you step back and take a look at UofM's athletic program.

But see nothing controversial about your post. RR recruited a certain type of player on offense and Gerg seemed to not teach any fundamentals on d. Plus the attrition was huge over the last few years. Michigan has produced very few nfl players over the last 4 years.

1 billion - to pi good guys

Shame on you. Ask me trice, shame on me.

Not sure about Webber due to his non-contact and the fact he didn't come forward with it, but the rest have grown and are still a huge part of Michigan basketball. I don't think it takes anything away from what the current team and their success.

It appears Healy builds a higher quality home with more standard upgraded features, however, we are unsure if their pricing might end up pushing us out since they will end up being more custom. We like the current layout of the pulte with open floor plan, and we wouldn't have to live in construction cause we'd be one of last built in that section. Healy has a better lot though that backs up to woods rather than a small farm.

My wife works in A2 and would take Pontiac trail. I work near 275 and 7 mile and would be taking 10 mile and 8 mile over. Currently we both take 696 and 275, with my wife having to fight m14 as well. Our commutes will both become much better

Appreciate the advise. We actually like one of the pulte homes because of the open floor plan it provides.

And thanks to other MgoBloggers for bearing with me on this. Bad topic, but atleast it gets the creative juices flowing on clever quips.

Feel free to mark redundant

If the reason he was drafted in late rounds had to do with him being gay. I'd hope that the second scenario would be a bigger red flag than liking dudes. If so, it makes a lot of sense why he would go to such lengths to hide it

I'm guessing being a Mormon and the football culture (or sports culture) in regards to being gay is probably the bigger issues for him. It just makes a lot more sense than the naive explanation.

Not only is he at a super religious college, but also comes from a super strict religion in regards to homosexuality. Throw in the stigma it sounds like there is in the football world and it adds up pretty quick.

Thanks for the help. You are a scholar and a gentleman

A few questions. When you run right, does the left guard pull? Does your opinion on running right change at all with an athlete like Devin? I'd imagine that if we ran left and Gardner ran play action, he would also have a check down to his legs easier with only a DE or linebacker to beat to the edge? Thanks

I'll look up the schemes to understand where plays go. I'm hoping sometime in the offseason we will get a nice diary explaining this exactly. I think we see almost as big of a transition in offense this year as we did during the coaching change. I think it will be a fun offense, as Borges is known as a guy who likes a lot of different plays and Hoke has proven to be am aggressive play calling coach

I think the offense will be very different. As Space Coyote has pointed out, Borges was running an offense that not only differed because of denard, but also because of the linemen and tight ends. I think next years offense will look a lot different more because of the line and was wondering what others thought that might look like

So does this assume we are running to the right? It seems like you would want to run to the left to both run behind Lewan and Kalis (not sure which gap this is) and would also help open up play action since Gardner would roll to the right. It seems like this would combine spread tendencies with power running. How often should we expect linemen to release to the second level? I know that Brian mentioned Hoke was of the linebackers make tackles lineman cause turnovers mindset so I don't know if that means much releasing.

That was the one game I left early for in my 5 years as a student. I left sometime in the fourth quarter.  If my memory serves me right, it was a very cold day, and the game went a long time (3:30 start), and I ended up bailing with around 5 or 6 minutes in the half to get back to Markely to catch the last of dinner.

I did miss the Washington and Penn State games when I visited my girlfriend (now wife) in Boston in 2002. I really wish that we had a bye that fall break weekend.

And my only story about the leaving early, is that my friends and wife and I were at the alumni bar (our side east) in Boston watching the MSU game in 2004.  The bar emptied out with 8 minutes left and 27-10.  We stayed, and ended up getting to watch an amazing game.  I always wanted to see the looks on peoples faces after they had gotten home, since most would have taken the T and would have no knowledge of how the game transpired. 

really 5'10"?  I saw him on fan day during the special teams kicks, and he looked tiny. I always thought he was more of a short 5'9" if anything.

I really like the idea of having a tall athletic reciever like Gardner out there.  We saw Hemmingway go up with a big body and come down with the ball a lot. If DG can high point the ball, this makes total sense.  He's also pretty physical.  I remember a play where he dropped his sholder to get a few extra yards.  Size definately counts.

you have $5.

If you take all the commits from teams 2 (OSU) through 5 (MSU) you get a class that is competitive with Michigan's.

I must be in the minority then, because I always liked the brighter yellow, than the orangy yellow.  If I had were to choose between the helmet yellows (numbers or wings) the wings would easily win. I think it looks better on the filed and in the stands.

is spreading his brand by evaluating not only players play on the field, but fashion off. I'm intrigued to see this new feature on TTB.

remember his drop/ sure TD against USC in the Rose Bowl.  He made up a lot in his senior year, but I remember wondering what the hype was in his younger days.  I thought he grew up a lot that last year in AA, with his renewed focus.  It's too bad he has seemd to regress.

Since when did you need a computer for a website? No wonder my blog is getting no hits.

is there are going to be ticket packeages that will be much cheaper for 2 "bad" games, an ok game, and some better games.  I bought one this year for football and it worked out perfectly. I feel for the hardcore Bball fans that wan to and can attend every game.  For the rest, I think there will be opportunities to go without breaking the bank.

As an optimist, I am seeing this as Michigan Basketball making it's way back.  I'd much prefer paying a little more to go to a Michigan football game and atmosphere, than to be given free tickets to attend an Indiana football game. I'm hoping that this is what it means for basketball.

I remember him forcing the fumble against Sandiego State.  I think in addition to both his and Martin's suprising speed, they will be even more lauded for their pursuit(?) angles.  Another reason to thank Denard, as well as the coaching staff. Love to see M players succeed.

that he had a big spring and carried that to the fall.  I've felt that we have had many false spring hype that just wasn't backed up.  Hopefully that continues.

for some reason I thought that the Nebraska game was being pushed to the second to last game since we are in the same division (and the two traditional powers in the division).  not correct about that, and it seems the November thing was debunked earlier as well.

Validation, but oh how they want it. Like Golum and the precious.

90% of the time I forget that you are a MSU fan and instead, think you are just a reasonable, devils advocate type, Michigan fan.  Kudos to you for that. 

Freep was somewhat right, so if Brian had said there was a 0.01% chance that Hoke would be coach, then Brian would have been right, and this whole argument would be moot? Good to know. 

Nice turn around with the alumnus quip.  Glad your LSA degree got you something there.

What the Freep originally reported and the Major violations that the University admitted to, are two very different things.  If the original report had stated that

"Michigan strength and conditioning football coaches have present during 15 minutes of stretching before practice, which, in addition to other countable practice hours, has resulted in Michigan surpassing the allowable hours/week."

"In addition, graduate coaches have been spotted in the grey area of being present during 7 on 7 drills."

Then yes, I believe that the Freep would have nothing to apoligize for.  Taking players quotes out of context, and writing a complete fabrication of the truth without both sides of the story shows some serious unethical reporting.

I am a little ashamed that an '00 LSA alumni cannot understand the difference between a blog's opinion on a coaching search and a Freep article claiming students health is in danger.

I also don't understand why YOU didn't apologize to Brian once you were shown his redactions about his missteps.

plus, I'm pretty sure that's the house my wife lived in on Ann Street.

By the way, I started joking about hipsters before it was cool.

y u no moar than 5

my friend, I like your style.

I could imagine lots of people enjoying the 12 months of perfect weath... wait a sec. Is this one of those sarcastic posts? One without a /s to make it painfully obvious you are being sarcastic. Well my friend, damn you, damn you to hell*!!

*hell- A city located in Central Ohio named after a guy who kinda discovered America.

This comment should be marked NSFH

I mean, if Indiana State can stand in the way of B10 Schools paying a small stipend and gauranteeing multi year scholarships, surely we can oppose Brian from enjoying his life and voiding us from insightful or hilarious content.

I'll have to ask for MGoProfit's legal advice on this.

Thanks to all who have contributed to this website with insightful and funny content.  It was an enjoyable year on MGoBlog, with many Golden poops.

There is no way the number 4 scoring offense in the country (Wisconsin 44.6) can keep up with the number 3 scoring offense in the country (Oregon 46.2). I mean defensively Wisconsin (Rank 6th 17.0) is a little better than Oregon's defense( Rank 48th 23.6), but that can't make up for the large discrepancy between the two offenses. I'm suprised Wisconsin is even showing up.

between physically abusive and verbally abusive (not that either is any good).  I'm not painting Kampfer as some saint, but he never sent someone to the hospital in critical condition.Someone else did and Milano is responsible for his own actions. He is doing good things, but injuring someone that badly is something he had to answer for. We have a justice system for a reason. Someone who is drunk should not be judge and jury. No, when you fight with someone you usually don't have dinner with them, but when you injure someone the way he did, then you do have a responsibility to stick around. He had a chance to walk away before there was an incident. The fact is, he walked away after it.

 I did state that the initial step in was probably a good idea (even though I have no idea what the truth is, which is probably somewhere in the middle, as the original Kampfer incident was remembered differently). The issue was not that initial stop. It was later.  And I don't know why you are giving Kampfer a harder time for being drunk than Milano. Stupid situation for both, with stupid results for both, who both suffered greatly.

but I think we are jumping on Kampfer a little hard for a onesided piece. The account of the girlfriend being harrassed was from Milano and his brother and friend and not from anyone else. I'm glad Milano stepped in if anything was happening, but the incident he got in trouble for did not happen then, it happened later on the walk home. 

A lot of people are saying he's a nice guy, and he was drunk, well guess what, you are responsible for the things you do both sober and drunk. I have a friend who drove drunk and  who is a nice guy, but deserved his time in jail. Milano made a mistake in not walking away afterwards and injuring someone who had to rehab for months. The fact that he can get a clean record seems like he made out fine and he got support from his coaches.  But a tell all book about how he was wronged by not getting the privilege of playing football for Michigan does not seem like a Michigan Man type of thing.

A drunken brawl where you hospitalize someone else seems like a valid reason to be kicked off the team.

885

I started a forum to rank these teams based on schedule strength, pts for, and pts against.  PSU is 64th, 21.8 for, 12.7 against vs Michigan's 60th, 34.8 for, and 14.6 against. I think the edge goes to Michigan here. Similar schedules and records except Michigan is handing out average  20 pt wins vs 9 pt wins.

In a smoke and mirrors Big Ten we deserve as much as anyone sans maybe Nebraska and/or MSU.

and hope it's correct.

in about 5 minutes (i'm not very patient). So far an interesting mix of results. They are all Big ten teams (not Indiana, Minny, and Northwestern). I see people struggling to rank the teams, which went along with my general hypthesis that November is going to be a crazy month in the B10 as eight teams are actually pretty similar.  

actually had a huge jump last year in FEI. Up until the game against us, they were rated very high.  I think our offense was really good last year.

important to hear this.  If we don't know and learn from our history, we are doomed to repeat it.

I had wished to see RR get 4 years last fall, but know that Dave Brandon made the right choice to make the switch to Hoke, and Hoke has done everything right (minus maybe one call on 4th down) to bring this team, community, and program back to whole.

Another reason to root all the harder for the current players that always gave their all.

Can't wait to order the book (through MGoBlog of course, available now for pre-order sales)

We have been the dominant team on the field for years without having to play down to the level of MSU. When we play up to Michigan's standards, this will not be an issue. MSU was a better team Saturday and beat a good (yes good) Michigan team. Michigan needs to be great, because every week they will get the best from every team that plays us. Illinois, MSU both consider us their biggest rivalry and a little bit of most every other team, has a major dislike of Michigan.  This was earned by being one of the top two teams in the confereance for 40 years (and beyond that).

Michigan never should play down to other teams levels.  Leaders and Best, This is Michigan.

he means that at next weeks resumed press conference, Heiko still asks the questions.

If so, you owe an MGoApology, for MGoAssuming, an MGoReadingComprehensionFailure.

this was a given everyday.

I was worried about this game and feel better now that it is over.  Don't disagree with the better team winning comment. Only thing I don't understand is the "Face Mask" that you said lead to the Gholston punch.  From the replays I've seen, Lewan just manhandled him the whole play and then after he had donkey ridden him down, shoved his head down.  Not exactly nice, but not an illeagal play, and didn't nearly add up to the retaliation punch.  I saw Gholston talk to Hoke on the way out and shook his hand.  I'm guessing he's not a bad kid, but should still get two game suspension (one for each).

I'm more disappointed in the last roughing the passer play that seemed to be an attempt to injure Denard after the game was well in hand, and the coaches seeming approval of these types of plays. I saw Nick Fairley do a lot of dirty stuff last year and was dissapointed with the Lions pick up of him. There is a fine line between agressive play and dirty play and I think it was crossed.

It is a shame, because MSU looked good otherwise and could have won this game without the extra's.  It takes away from what the rest of the team did.   

missed the first post (I know how dare I let work get in the way of MGoBlog readership) so plus 1 to the OP

708

Edit: Sorry Stuttering problem

888

not sure the point you are trying to make here. Our offense only did one of the five points there (scored points) as they turned the ball over 3 times, never had a drive of over 5 plays the entire game, and lost time of possession by a huge margin.

I think the more important point to make is Borges changed some things up in the second half and let his playmakers make plays.

I also am not nearly as worried this year as I was last year about the defense spending time on the field. I definately want it to come down, but Mattison is rotating players like crazy, creating some depth, and keeping players healthy and fresh for the entire game.

I loved rewatching the rediculous angles that defenders have to take with him.  Sometimes it looked like Teo was almost running north south with his angles, and he is a pretty quick LB.

I was suprised how muffled the sound was when I went to get my Icy Chill. As a student, if I ever left to the concourse, you still easily hear what was going on. I hope that means the sound is really staying in.

I have to admit I've felt like a fool for the last 2 games though. I thought that with all the returning starters I had a handle on which players are which. The new staff has been making major substitutions, which leaves me trying to figure out who 30 is (Gordon), 7 is (Hawthorne) etc.

I have to imagine all these players getting PT is going to pay huge dividends later on, when we haven't run our starters into the ground and let an injury destroy any hope of mediocrity. Running back by committee is not a good thing, but defense by committee is a thing of beauty.

I understand he's somewhat of a goon, and isn't the best writer, but I give him credit for sticking by his team. I also think that some of you are taking him a bit literally. I'm guessing his quote

"As fan's we have no possible way of seeing things through rational eyes... That's why your Ol'buddy Damefan exists, I'm very clear and level headed!"

should have a /s somewhere, which means he at least has a sense of humor about himself.

I also do believe that Notre Dame is a better team than the 0-2 record suggests. Tommy Rees being clutch is pretty accurate when you think of the atmosphere after we scored with 1:12 left in the game, and the fact he drove the team back down to score on us.

I respect Notre Dame and see a little of themselves in us.  I have no problem with them returning to Glory, as long as that return always makes a detour when they play us every year.

I haven't seen this posted yet, but I just wanted to point to Denard's development.

Two years ago, he was thrust into a game against Iowa to bring home the W. After a TD drive built mostly on his legs, his next drive required him to pass, which resulted in him throwing an interception after not checking down to the wide open wheel route Odoms was running.  Fast forward to 2011, and a freekeshly similar situation, he steps into the pocket, checks off his down field recievers, and hits Gallon in stride to set up the game winning TD.

I think this is an excellent display of his development, and why a Junior Denard is going to be fun to watch. I also think it alleviates some blame to the Notre Dame defense as well, since this happened to a very stout 2009 Iowa defense, with the only difference being a Freshman Denard didn't read the defenses as well as he does now.

844

since it was less piping, but not zero piping, and we lost fewer road games with less piping, he may be on to something. We'll see, but if we wear these jersey's with no piping and win vs NW in our first road game, then we will be undeafeted on the road without the piping, thus giving us a perfect correlation of amount of piping vs losses on the road.

And here I thought it had something to do with Gerg.

at the picture of Jones wondering what hit him in the head.

Well done, and great analysis. Looks like my fears of a very tough game are waranted. We had a lot of work to do as well on our side of the ball.  Hopefully Michigan is ready for this great game in the national spotlight. A win won't look as nice now, as it will later, but will be very worth it.

Last time we played them in the Big House, was the loudest I had ever heard the crowd before. For those there, make it a repeat performance.

715

I think you should support your friends on their big day.  I know you are worried about getting rid of these tickets and getting your money back, but that's what fellow MGoBloggers are for.  I will generously take these worries and tickets off your hands, so you can celebrate with your friends.

I'm sure you will enjoy yourself.  No worries about me, and no thanks required. 

Im*

I guess I offended someone with my comment, but if we were to find one flaw in Carr's defenses, it was susceptability to athletic QB's (list you mentioned). As Mwolverine mentioned, playing against smashmouth prepares you for smashmouth. Playing against both smashmouth and spread prepares you for both.

Again, not quite sure what was contraversial about my original statement.  Open to hearing where I went wrong.

to try an age old trick. Go to the tailgate and wait for a sorority girl (or anyone) to ge way to drunk for game time (not used to the long day of tailgaiting) and buy the ticket at face value at the last second. It's highly risky, as I would be going by myself, don't know anyone tailgaiting yet, and am almost 10 yrs removed from college (so don't know how I am going to find this unicorn), but am very tempted to try it.

raptor was/is a lady.  When did stockwell change to Coed?

vs 3rd and short. 3rd down back usually refers to 3rd and long (I believe 4 to 10 yards), which is what V. Smith would excell at (good hands and decent blocker).

Iowa and Wisconsin, it would have been really easy since the divisions would have been the MNW and IPO leagues

MNW = Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Wisconsin

IPO = Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Penn State, Purdue, Ohio State

Oh?

are always good. I base my soccer teachings on John Kreeses philosophy.

"Defeat is not allowed in this Dojo!"

In the long run, good grades and working hard in school is something that should drive someone to succeed. When dealing with little kids who probably think about ten minutes into the future, providing small rewards for something is not always a bad thing.

that Woodson is taller than he is. He always felt like 6'3 for some reason. Maybe it was the unreal catch against MSU or his larger than life personality, but I'm always suprised when I reealise he's only 6'1.

but I never liked the stickers. And I think it's ok to disagree with some of the things that Bo did.

that Izzo got for listening to the Cleveland offer.  Personally I thought he shouldn't go (may be my bias about college sports and the success he's had), but in the end he chose to stay. There was a lot of anger out of EL though about him even listening. I figured after 15 great years, he had earned a little more respect than that. With only 4 yrs, Dantonio would possibly get even worse, although the level of disdain could prove that football is just not that important to most of them.

I think he knows what you are listening to better than you do.

I think that we agree that it is backup youth that is our main issue.  Woolfolk is a very seasoned senior.  Avery started 5 games last year with Floyd (an upper classman) backing him up.  Kovacs (lets drop the walk-on tag, he's started and played well for two years) will start as an very seasoned upper classman. Which leaves us with a first year starting Free Safety, which, like, yeah, see Michigan Free Safeties of last decade.

If we stay healthy here, we have a good chance to be past mediocre to good (not great, but good is a huge step). I also think that defensive line pressure is a huge factor in secondary turnovers.  If our line is applying consistant pressure with 4 rushing and occasional blitzes, an uncomfortable QB is going to toss up a lot more bad tosses. I think we have a good chance to move back to the median on defensive turnovers.  

There's another video by the steroid ND Fan. Those are great for response videos after we beat them.