Recent Comments

McGary's offense is just getting better.

The guys moved/rotated well and kept SDSU from getting too many easy inside shots. Left a few guys open, but that happens. 

Oh, I'm not saying you want Burke handling the ball all of the time. Just the opposite. You do need to spread it around - and that's precisely the rub. Burke is so good with the ball that sometimes the rest of the team falls into this pattern of leaving it him to take over games. You can only do that so much.

I'm sorry for what I wrote upthread. I should have thought more carefully before I wrote it. I am genuinely concerned about the team's chances in the NCAAs, but I could have stated that much better than I did. I've been following this team nearly all of my life, so I'm not a fair-weather fan at all. Nevertheless, I shouldn't have made that comment.

Really, would a 4 seed be a surprise?

No, this team doesn't suck. They wouldn't be in the top ten if they did. But they've got some key problems that they are going to need to overcome if they expect to win the Big Ten tournament and go deep into the NCAAs. It's not wrong to point that out.

I'm just saying it's not all on him.

Regarding injuries, my point is that while it would have been good to have Denard and Devin on the field at the same time more, you can't just plug in Denard anywhere. He's not going to throw, so you know he's going to run. Maybe he doesn't run, but then he needs to block, which puts him at risk.

Certainly not a failure. I expect Hoke to say that the team will settle for nothing less than a Big Ten championship, but as a fan, this season has gone pretty much along the lines I expected it to. Sure, I'm disappointed about the loss to OSU and I can already hear Buckeyes fans saying that Urban Meyer will rip off ten wins in a row against U-M. But I don't think that will happen. 8-4 isn't a stellar record, but it's a winning record that will put us in a decent bowl against opposition that, at this point, U-M will have a better chance against. When your 4 losses are to teams with a combined 2 losses, and two of those teams have a very real chance at the national championship (and perhaps even a third team if not for sanctions against them), it's not like you can say U-M didn't come to play against teams they should have beaten.

I can't say a whole lot about the playcalling in the second half, at least not anything more than what's already been said. But Borges isn't going anywhere and Hoke is getting his players. This team has been getting better and will continue to get better.

Felt like a block of ice when I got home and had to warm up in the shower.

While watching the game, I doubted the wisdom of THE_KNOWLEDGE.  I admit my error in straying from the path of enlightenment.

On one hand, it's not unreasonable to expect a senior QB (and three-year starter) to make better decisions with the ball than Denard Robinson made. On the other hand, it's the coaches' job to recognize the skill sets their players have an adjust their game plans accordingly.

I recognize what Borges is trying to do with Denard, but maybe after this game, U-M will have to go with a more run-heavy offense (with maybe some short passes thrown in here and there). Of course, defenses will then stack against the run, but Michigan may just have to accept that and find a way around that.

I'm watching the ESPN GameCast; on the Twitter stream linked to the GameCast, someone called "@bucksinsider" tweeted "OSU making Maynard look the the superstar he isn't." Heh.

...Dave Diebolt!

We wouldn't be here on MGoBlog if we didn't. It's just that we're still processing this loss, because it not only showed just how good Alabama is, but how far U-M has to go to compete at that level. That's a hard lesson to learn when we all want so much to believe that U-M is an elite team. But they're not right now.

I still think this team has a good chance at a reasonably successful season: a winning record and a bowl game. Possibly the Big Ten championship, but there are considerable roadblocks in the way of that. Our expectations, given the talent we have now, are just going to have to be more modest than perhaps we would have liked.

...that gets me down at the same time. We have to set our goals lower because it's clear we can't compete with the best teams in the country.

But I should have known that the fine folks here would beat me to it.

Weinreb went further than the other naysayers, probably to justify being paid for saying the same thing that ten other sports columnists did.

I could be wrong, but I have a hard time seeing how McQueary ever coaches again, anywhere. That whole staff is now tainted by Sandusky's (alleged) crimes. My hunch - and I realize that I may be saying the obvious here - is that this situation, as bad as it is, is just going to get worse and in turn the PSU coaching staff will look even worse than it does now. There are still a lot of details left to be uncovered, and they will be very ugly.

Damn straight I want my biggest rivals to lose games. So, go Wisconsin.

I was playing EU3 just this morning, then wandered over here a few hours later and lo and behold, an EU3 reference!

Will probably move on to a glass of Elijah Craig bourbon at some point.

Joint operating agreements were authorized under the Newspaper Preservation Act of 1970 to allow newspapers in the same market to combine operations and therefore cut costs, the rationale being that JOAs would allow multiple newspapers to survive where circulation was declining.  This was before the age of 24 hour/day TV news and the Internet, so the Act's supporters argued that the Act would preserve editorial diversity and prevent a single large newspaper from controlling the local market.

It reflects well on Rodriguez that he wasn't willing to risk Denard's health, but the very fact that we notice such a move reflects more broadly on the ethical ambiguities in big-time college football.  Sitting down a player with a potential head injury should be pretty much automatic for any coach.

It's not like U-M football hasn't gone through a rough period before, e.g., the 1960s and other programs in more recent years have.  No one talks about it now, but USC was thought to be a faded program in the mid/late 1990s.  Alabama from the late 90s until Saban's tenure began was a totally up and down program (there's several mediocre and losing seasons in that stretch).

I'm not saying that it isn't tough to watch Michigan's program struggle like this, but I truly believe, based on the trends I've been seeing in the last 10-15  years, that there really is more parity in college football these days.  Even the top programs have run into difficulty.

For me, the  yardstick is the entire season.  If Michigan can pull out a couple of good wins in the last four games, then that just might be enough to let Rodriguez keep his job for another year.

The defense truly is awful.  All three of U-M's losses have been very winnable games with our offense.  Problem is, poor defensive and/or special teams play make coming from behind too difficult for even this defense to do.  I don't know how much you can blame that on coaching or schemes; yes, it's true that in the end it's the coaching staff that has to take responsibility for the quality of the team, but they don't get out on the field and play the game.  Our defensive players just aren't very good.  Michigan lacks defensive talent.  That's the bottom line for me.

Brandon has said that there's no magic record that will be the determinant of whether Rodriguez keeps his job.  Furthermore, even if Brandon wants Rodriguez gone, who will replace him?  And will that throw this program into 3-4 more years of disarray?

Just be cool.  It's easy to win with grace; losing with grace takes more character.  Don't let people bait you into being the asshole who can't handle defeat.

I had to give you a point just for the "long green table at the end without the coffee" line.

My issue with the News is one separate from their sports coverage; I won't go into it because we're on a sports blog.  Still, I see your point.  Rosenberg thought he had a bigger scandal than he did and now it appears the Freep wants to dig in.

You gotta know a lot.

And don't give me that bullshit about not having maize gear for cold weather. There sure as hell isn't a lot of pure white winter gear, but nonetheless PSU manages to pack Beaver Stadium with 100,000 screaming fans for White Outs. A maize sweatshirt is like $35 - if you can afford tickets to the game, then you can afford to get cold weather maize gear.

Indeed. And there's also this thing called "layering" that people can try sometimes.

I don't mean to go into tin foil hat territory here, but this also may lend some credence to the rumors that there was/is a lot of dissention in the athletic department over Rodriguez's hiring.

The linked audit report is dated July 24, 2009, as is the management advisory memorandum. The statement released today says:

"The report also noted that this was an area of concern and University Audits sent a memo to the athletic department to correct it – which they did."

U-M in the Motor City bowl would be the first opportunity I'd have had in a while to see a U-M game, and the first time I could see U-M live at a bowl game.

Now I need to dig out my copy of Jagged Little Pill.

"has *to* 'do football'...." Fingers going faster than the brain, there.

Iowa was the team I found the least objectionable to represent the conference.

It's smooth, baby. I'm not an OS fundamentalist; I don't hate Windows or refuse to use it. In fact, I'll probably install it on my computer with Boot Camp.

I just prefer Mac OS X. I've also had better luck with the hardware. My iBook G4 (that I just traded in) lasted five years without a hitch and was in fine shape when I sent it off. I don't mind spending the "extra" money.