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SEC placed 5 in the final…

SEC placed 5 in the final top 14 in 2023 (Georgia, Alabama, Missouri, Ole Miss, LSU)

B10 placed 3 (Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State) but that turns to 5 if you include new members (Washington and Oregon).

"Meritocracy" is hard to…

"Meritocracy" is hard to chase in any model with autobids, because if you take last year's rankings, Penn State likely gets left out of a 14 team playoff despite being a Top 14 team (at #13) if G5 gets an autobid (I believe the proposed model would also give ND an autobid if they land in the top 14).

With autobids, it's probable that some team in the 13-14ish range is going to get left out of the playoff and all the conferences are scrambling to pick up more autobids to make sure that team isn't from their conference.

TBH, the most egregious $ play is ND getting an autobid if they are ranked in the top 14.  There's no other team in the country that has that guarantee.

Put a giant windmill in…

Put a giant windmill in front of the goalposts, like putt putt golf.

"SUUUUUUUPER SAYIN'!"

- Gus…

"SUUUUUUUPER SAYIN'!"

- Gus Johnson, probably

I like Herbie.  Though he…

I like Herbie.  Though he did go pretty out there with his CFP take justifying FSU's snub.

To be clear, I don't think the opinion itself was terrible, but the digging in felt kind of uncharacteristic for him.  Also, I think he kind of ignores the counterargument that selecting the "best" is all well and good, but it seemed pretty inconsistent on the committee to say FSU gets excluded for not being the "best" irrespective of record when Georgia got excluding despite clearly being one of the four best, irrespective of record.

Yeah, also the logic of "the…

Yeah, also the logic of "the committee can't resist creating a traditional Rose Bowl matchup" begs the question . . . why?  Do the members of the committee get a bag of cash from the Rose Bowl if it gets a bunch of viewers?  Are they all on nostalgiaberries?  And why would Warde Manuel want Michigan to face Oregon instead of FSU in the semi?

What's the advantage of…

What's the advantage of Stalions attending the CMU/MSU game on CMU's sideline, vs. Stalions attending the game in the stands?  It seems like, it'd be a worse POV if you're stealing signs.  And I doubt CMU/MSU was sold out or super expensive.

The only reason I can think of is that MSU was onto him, so he thought the heat was on, and he couldn't purchase tickets conventionally, but WTF?  If the heat was on, the solution isn't "oh, let me dig this hole deeper and TRESPASS on this team's sidelines?"

Eh, it's data.

Certainly,…

Eh, it's data.

Certainly, if Michigan's RPS was comparatively terrible in 2022/2023, it would suggest either illegal sign stealing didn't happen, or it was extremely marginal in benefit.  But doesn't entirely disprove it.

If Michigan's RPS was comparatively very good in 2022/2023, it would suggest either illegal sign stealing happened, or it was extremely beneficial.  But doesn't entirely prove it.

You could also do in-season comparison of games we know we've been accused of sign stealing vs. those we haven't been.  E.g., 2022 RPS vs. Colorado State/Hawai'i/UConn vs. 2022 RPS vs. Penn State/Ohio State.  It wouldn't be entirely dispositive ("we didn't open the playbook vs. inferior opponents" or on the other side "inferior opponents have terrible playcallers, so it's easier to RPS them even without sign stealing")

But either way, data is data.  I personally feel like the "illegal" aspect of the sign stealing (scouting other games) probably was happening, but it probably was of very marginal benefit.  Analysis of RPS could possible help quantify the benefit, but it wouldn't be 100% dispositive.

Don't shoot the messenger,…

Don't shoot the messenger, but my biggest fear is:

1) The NCAA clearly has a hard on for Michigan/Harbaugh.

2) Tagging Michigan for a "you should have known" variety violation seems entirely within the MO of a biased organization that only goes after institutions they have hard ons for (see: USC)

The investigation will likely look into the funding angle, but even short of that, the Reggie Bush saga shows that if the NCAA doesn't have the evidence, they won't hesitate to throw the "you should have known" bullshit at you, and (unfortunately) the logic here would be: if Stallions' play prediction was being used by the team, either one of two things happened: Michigan asked questions about Stallions' methodology and knew how the sausage was made, or Michigan didn't ask questions about Stallions' methodology because they didn't want to know how the sausage was made (which, in the NCAA's eyes, means they "knew").

TL;DR, don't be surprised if one of the angles in the investigation is asking if Michigan looked into Stallions' methodology, and if the answer is 'no' the follow up question is 'why'.

I think the joke they're…

I think the joke they're trying to make is the Lions got absolutely spanked by the Ravens because Stallions was scouting the Lions' signals at the Bucs game on behalf of a different Harbaugh.

Would be interesting to see…

Would be interesting to see if any schools stopped him from buying/using tickets across the home bench.

But had no qualms whatsoever about letting him buy/use tickets from across the away bench...

Not that it would exonerate Michigan, but maybe we bring the entire B10 down with us on a RICO charge.

Caleb (or at least his dad)…

Caleb (or at least his dad) has threatened to sit out if they don't like the team that's picking #1.

Chicago is holding both the #1 and #2 spots right now.

We are currently living in a version of the simulation where CJ Stroud/Nico Collins and JJ McCarthy/Marvin Harrison Jr. could be top tier tandems in years to come and it feels gross.

Or . . . hear me out . . .

Or . . . hear me out . . .

University of Michigan Announces that September 23, 2023 Game Vs. Rutgers Will Be 'HAMBURGER DAY' at the Big House

The University of Michigan Athletic Department has announced that the fourth game of the season, on September 23, 2023 against Rutgers, will officially be "Hamburger Day" at the Big House.

All persons tailgating before the game will be legally obligated to distribute free hamburgers to anyone on request as a condition of parking in the tailgating area.

During the game, fans are encouraged to participate in Hamburger Day by purchasing a hamburger for the person immediately behind you at the concession stand.

The University has also partnered with the Dave Thomas Foundation to donate half of all proceeds from the game to the Wendy's affiliated charity, and Ann Arbor area Wendy's will distribute free hamburgers all day.

* - in order to ensure that no free hamburgers are provided to recruits visiting that weekend, visiting recruits at the game will be wearing shirts that say "NO FREE HAMBURGERS TO THIS GUY.  SIGNED: THE NCAA" to clearly communicate to fans that under no circumstances should any free hamburgers be given to these individuals.

Harbaugh is Oppenheimer…

Harbaugh is Oppenheimer confirmed.  NCAA investigation is being controlled by Jim Schwartz behind the scenes.

Better yet, what happens if…

Better yet, what happens if U-M literally hires this guy as interim head coach during the 4 game suspension?

Matt Millen had 8 drafts…

Matt Millen had 8 drafts from 2001 to 2008 and despite picking in the top 10 six out of eight times, he only picked three pro bowlers (Calvin Johnson, Shaun Rogers, Roy Williams).

Bob Quinn had 5 drafts from 2016 to 2020, picking in the top 10 two out of five times, managed to draft five pro bowlers (Jamal Agnew, Kenny Golladay, Frank Ragnow, TJ Hockenson, Jonah Jackson).  Also worth noting that Quinn's more recent guys haven't had the chance to play out their full careers and develop to pro bowl level.

If the rumor is true (I…

If the rumor is true (I agree, big 'if') the extra piece might be that he went beyond his authorization and started digging through Harbaugh's inbox looking at shit he wasn't supposed to (e-mails from the NFL, perhaps?)  Though, I can't imagine it would be escalated to the police raiding his house unless Weiss did something really stupid like forward e-mails from Jim's inbox to his own e-mail account, in which case, it might be plausible that U-M escalates it to make sure Weiss doesn't have anything on his computer/e-mail account that they don't already know about, or what to make sure what was taken did not go out further from Weiss to somewhere else.

DPSS report says "An…

DPSS report says "An employee reported fraudulent activity involving someone accessing university emails accounts without authorization. Upon further investigation, It was found that a crime may have been committed."

It's possible the DPSS report is entirely unrelated to Matt Weiss.

It's also possible it is related to Matt Weiss.

If I had to guess, some kind of gross stalking situation.  However, I'll shoot the moon and bet $10 it's "Jim Harbaugh to NFL rumors were fake, based on an elaborate sting operation involving fake, planted e-mails that appeared to be from NFL teams, to suss out who has been accessing Jim's e-mail account.  Matt Weiss apparently correctly guessed that Jim's e-mail password is 'milksteak'."

People have different…

People have different triggers for getting nervous, but for me, Ohio State is either excitement (we're not favored, but could see how we could pull the upset, like this year) or BPONE.

Nervousness for me is when it's a high stakes game and Michigan should win, but there's a clear, articulable path that results in Michigan losing.

In this case, that would be some combination of 1) Max Duggan achieving the next stage of Super Saiyan-ness, and/or 2) Michigan being non-Super Saiyan Goku that has to prep and power up a spirit bomb over the course of 11 episodes to unleash on Ohio State and now we're tired (* - Purdue being one of those Krillin-level threats that we were able to dispatch in one of those one-off episodes).

Our Happiness points for…

Our Happiness points for winning the NC by beating Ohio State is 1000

Our Happiness points for winning the NC by beating Georgia is 800

Our Sadness Points for losing the NC to Ohio State is -1000

Our Sadness Points for losing the NC to Georgia is -100

So even if chances of winning against Ohio State is higher than our chances of winning against Georgia, our expected Happiness/Sadness points are probably higher playing Georgia than Ohio State.

Found James Earl Jones'…

Found James Earl Jones' MGoBlog account

"The Michigan Tunnel shouldn…

"The Michigan Tunnel shouldn't have dressed so slutty"

Maybe I'm biased but the reprimand seems pretty victim blame-y to me.

It's going to be more common…

It's going to be more common when the playoffs expand and more teams will be in position like this (locked status in both conference championship and CFP) to be playing relatively meaningless games at this point in the season and protecting their starters for more important matchups in the future.

It's not going to be quite as bad as the final regular season week in the NFL, but it'll be closer.

I didn't downvote but daily…

I didn't downvote but daily reminder that we are fans, not players or coaches.  It literally does not matter what we focus on in terms of on the field outcome.  I ate a barrel of Halloween candy and skipped the gym yesterday.  I think the football team will survive my lack of focus.

Rutgers spent the entire day…

Rutgers spent the entire day trying to murder our QB and Harbaugh complements their tackling.

This is probably one of many reasons our team has toughness and other teams are soft.  I feel like a team that invites this kind of physicality wouldn't give up 418 yards on the ground and throw sandwiches in protest.  Or concede a TD on 5 running plays in a row at the end of a 42-27 game.

Notre Dame is another good…

Notre Dame is another good fit.

Buckeye fans on Reddit are…

Buckeye fans on Reddit are scrambling to take donations to build a dome over the Horseshoe.

It would be next level rivalry stuff if Michigan rolled in and there's a giant patchwork of blue Home Depot tarps stitched together and draped over the entire stadium.

He's a fan of all states…

He's a fan of all states that begin with the letter 'A'

If anyone knows a Michigan…

If anyone knows a Michigan alum somewhere up the Smuckers corporate chain, please, please, please make NIL deals for Uncrustables happen.

Plays for loaded Carlsbad HS…

Plays for loaded Carlsbad HS with elite QB prospect Julian Sayin. 

Kind of a long shot, but has anyone told Julian that if he played for Michigan he could dye his hair maize and his nickname could be "Super Sayin"?

Fights in sports are subject…

Fights in sports are subject to legal scrutiny, it just so happens that most jurisdictions have carve outs that revolve around consent and foreseeability.  E.g., if you play hockey, you consent to the reasonably foreseeability possibility that a fight breaks out, even though fights are clearly against the rules of hockey.

Fights in basketball are less common than hockey, but Bill Laimbeer Combat Basketball was a thing, so it's not entirely unforeseeable.

That's why I refuse to read…

That's why I refuse to read UFRs on this site until this blog hires Andy Reid and Bill Belichik to write them.

Watching HotD and I swear D…

Watching HotD and I swear D&D were doing the Leonardo DiCaprio pointing at the TV meme after Episode 2 when they literally did the "subvert expectations" thing.

Maybe it's because I knew what was going to happen, but the whole time I was like, "oh, we're doing this bullshit again where we lazily setup a surprise twist by deliberately withholding relevant information from the audience."

I'm pretty sure Frost is the…

I'm pretty sure Frost is the combination of cocky and delusional that thinks he's going to win the next three games and there's zero reason to accept a lower buyout to get fired earlier.

TBF, Frost's reputation has cratered so badly, twisting in the wind for three weeks can't do much harm.  The 1% chance Nebraska actually beats Oklahoma is worth sticking around to put a shiny sticker on turd of a resume for a future coaching gig at a (much) smaller program.

About 1 in 3 teams featured…

About 1 in 3 teams featured on Hard Knocks go on to make the playoffs that year.

You have to be pretty shitty to be eligible for Hard Knocks (miss playoffs twice in a row), yet their playoff success rate would make Lions fans drool.

Petition to change the…

Petition to change the position title from "Head Coach" to "Hokage"

Team motto: "BELIEVE IT"

Team motto: "BELIEVE IT"

12 random ass people from…

12 random ass people from the general population?

Completely unrelated to Deshaun Watson but I've seen jury trials, and not enough people worry about the fact that every day people's lives are decided by 12 random ass people, and it's not entirely random because the clever ones tend to find ways to weasel out of service and the final jury ends up being disproportionally composed of people that don't have anything better to do.

I once surveyed a jury after they returned a guilty verdict in an age discrimination case and the defense attorney asked one of the jurors why they thought his client discriminated against the plaintiff on the basis of her age and the juror's response was "I didn't think she was discriminated against because of her age."  Right after returning a verdict saying she was discriminated against because of her age.  Like . . . what even?

I don't disagree with you…

I don't disagree with you necessarily, but I imagine for QB's specifically, Sark has a pretty decent resume of coaching the likes of Mac Jones, Tua Tagovailoa, and Jake Locker.  I mean, the rate he coaches college QBs that go on to play in the NFL has got to be pretty high up there.

And if this were a normal recruit it'd be one thing, but I'm going to venture to guess that when it comes to evaluating football coaching acumen, Arch MANNING has access to better resources and insight than us plebs on MGoBoard.

High school me once saw…

High school me once saw Jalen Rose buying a shitton of gatorades and snacks at a 7-11 and my teenager brain thought it was so cool to be rich enough to buy bulk numbers of individually sold snacks and beverages at 7-11 instead of buying them in bulk at Meijer at a discount.

Maybe ponder whether…

Maybe ponder whether Michigan made an appearance in the last episode of Barry you watched, and if the answer is "no," or "I'm not sure," don't click the post?

Kind of sad we live in a…

Kind of sad we live in a world that it's totally plausible that the guy who took the video is in cahoots with the "victim" and the plan was to create a video to sell to TMZ.

It's also plausible that the whole thing is fake and they're all in cahoots and Mike did it for publicity.

Hard Knocks: "The sun rises…

Hard Knocks: "The sun rises on a new season for the Detroit Lions..."

Jared Goff: Confused_John_Travolta.gif

Best thing I can say for the…

Best thing I can say for the Dolphins on this trade is that they're going to find out exactly what they have in Tua because there's no more excuses about whether or not Tua got enough support.  Which isn't that terrible of a strategy with Tua in the make it or break it years of his rookie contract.

Perhaps you've never been …

Perhaps you've never been "seen" in the same room as Buffalo Bill because you are Buffalo Bill and you're always wearing someone else's skin.

GOT 'EM

Equal "chances," but not…

Equal "chances," but not equal probability.  Team that goes last in NCAA OT gets an advantage, similar to how the team that goes first in NFL OT gets an advantage.

Both the NCAA and NFL rules give an advantage to the team that wins the coin toss.

I say, have both offenses and both defenses play simultaneously from the 25.  No clock, just 2 independent play clocks for both sides.  First team to score a TD wins.  Teams can opt for a FG, but other team gets to keep playing and wins if they get a TD, loses if they score nothing, and pushes the game to another round of OT if they score a FG.  Discourages lollygagging and timeouts, since first team in the endzone wins, regardless of the number of plays it takes to get there.

To prevent entanglement, if for any reason an offense is pushed more than 20 yards back from the starting 25, they lose.  50 yard line is considered out of bounds and defense wins if an offensive player runs backwards past midfield.

UCLA: and I took that…

UCLA: and I took that personally

I imagine a lot of people…

I imagine a lot of people put ML bets on Michigan expecting chaos from COVID, especially when the Pickens news broke last week.

Eh, Barry said he wanted to…

Eh, Barry said he wanted to take as long as possible to make a decision, which I believe.

As for why he didn't say something earlier to the Lions letting them know he was considering retirement, 1) based on his personality, I'd guess it's because he didn't want the Lions bending over backwards to try to convince him to stay, and 2) he didn't want to create a distraction (see: Aaron Rodgers).

And honestly, if Barry said something earlier, the Lions would NOT have brought in a RB to replacement (see: 2021 Packers off season).  They would've gone all-in to try to convince him to stay, which could've put them in an even worse position if they invested draft picks and spent on free agents around Barry, only to find out Barry was still leaving.

Lionel Hutz punctuation will…

Lionel Hutz punctuation will crack me up every time