I will be removing one of those this Friday. Your wedding day is the perfect day to express your deepest love... which is a tie between your bride and Michigan football.
A very small contingent of talking heads has been talking about UM vs. VT. This would be perfect for me as I have just moved to Viriginia after graduating. I moved down the year that VT lost to James Madison. It was awesome because I only had to deal with a couple of weeks of people telling me about THE HORROR before they had the minor horror.
There's a reason he wasn't able to run against Iowa. It was the same reason he had so much time in the pocket. They werent rushing, they were holding the line of scrimmage for the most part so that they didnt over pursue. To be honest, the most successful Denard plays were the power sweeps out of the shotgun, which has nothing to do with his scrambling skills, they are just designed runs.
If the team is going to win games in November, then Denard has to establish some threat as a passer. If not, then he is basically worthless to us as a snap taker. There is a reason that the team has fallen apart at the end of the year and even our biggest wins all have to come from behind.
Denard is basically the definition of the type of person that I want to recruit on my football team. He is athletic and humble and team dedicated, but to be successful we need him to throw the ball well and make reads, not just stare at one receiver each play.
I like pretty much everything that these guys had to say. No excuses and not acknowledging the dirty play of MSU (which was obvious), because what good would it do. They take losses with the same amount of poise and class that they achieve victory. Its the same kind of coaching and player philosophy that was getting players ready for the NFL in past and should give us all hope for the years to come. Brady Hoke is building something great here, and he is doing it quickly. And lets not forget, this game is not even important (See article below from 2007):
Historically, it would usually be Michigan v. Ohio State... Michigan being on an extreme lull and Iowa playing out of their minds are not typical.
I would like to look at that break down and see if it balanced by conference championships or rose bowl appearances.
North Rose bowls = South Rose Bowls?
or
North Conference Champs = South Conference Champs
I know it would be weighted because of Penn State only being there for 11 years, but I have a feeling those divisions are fairly balanced historically.
Hockey isn't in the big 10 (CCHA)
Basketball doesn't need divisions (Big ten free for all)
Volleyball same as basketball
Not sure about baseball, but I am guessing that they play a ton of games.
So why are we even thinking about other sports?
Also, a rotating conference is a dumb idea.
I am happy for Warren. I can't imagine his draft status going up much with another year at Michigan, no matter how much I want him to stay.
Thanks for being a dependable DB Mr. Warren.
But Craig Roh's dad said that we aren't allowed to say anything negative EVER.
(Drenched with sarcasm and that special sauce that Quickie Burger puts on)
I am pretty sure that we are allowed to bring this kind of stuff up as long as we keep the conversation intelligent. I feel an intelligent response to Valenti from "we the fans" is important. Which means someone needs to bring it up. Its the commenters jobs to say that this is a bad reporting by Valenti, but its not the origanters job to keep the crazy people at bay.
My dad was listening to the show and he said the argument was fairly convincing. My dad is pretty skeptical and 97.1 is notoriously pro-MSU, so he always takes it with a grain of salt. However,I live in Virginia now and he felt the need to call me because of the conversation being had on the radio (My dad is totally pro-Rich Rod so he was a bit upset and needed a friend).
He said that they also mentioned the new athletic director being a motivator because they would have an opportunity for him/her to find a football coach right away. Also, apparently RR has a stipulation in his contract that any violations of NCAA rules are grounds for semi-uncompensated dismissal. I would think that the university has to see this as a lucrative time to release a coach (who they are paying ALOT), who may not YET be earning his paycheck (notice I didnt say that he could never earn his paycheck, but no one can argue that if he continued on this pace that we would continue to pay him that much).
Win: Grin for days on end. Still hate the spread offense (sorry everyone, I just don't really like it).
Loss: This is actually not an option. Realistically it might happen, but I refuse to accept it.
Good analysis, but lets take into account that Tate wasn't really granted full reins to the offense until after the Iowa game (ish). I imagine that as a QB, it can't be very comfortable wondering if you are going to be the QB, even if you are having a good drive just because the system your coach is trying to implement demands it. How does Tate get to establish himself as a leader if that happens? I mean after the ND game everyone was on the Tate bandwagon and he has shown signs of being the passer and runner we need. He doesnt have the healthiest line in front of him right now. I am not trying to make excuses for him, but do we really think that if we keep a QB carresoul going that we are going to keep getting better and better QBs?
Also, white was running against Big East defenses for the most part. Top to bottom, I dont think that compares.
Lets not forget that Hemmingway, Roundtree, Stonum are not Arrington, Breaston, Braylon.
I like the part about leaving emotionally driven comments out.
" It is great for intelligent posters to give insights that talk about strategy, what is working and what is not. However, emotional reactions calling for the heads of coaches and players will do nothing but destroy this program."
From what I can tell, our fanbase is in four strata:
1) 100% Rodriguez no matter what happens
2) Optimistic, enjoys the bright spots, but looking for result and willing to provide CONSTRUCTIVE criticism
3) FIRE RICH ROD HOLY CRAP DO IT NOW AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH
4)Drunk in the stands wearing a black northface jacket, texting their friend in a different section asking them what the score is.
I feel we need more of the number 2.
We have also gone through two defensive coordinators in two years. The sophmores have had the same amount of time in Barwis-land as the seniors and juniors. They seniors and juniors have seen MORE changes in defensive coordinator and system than the sophmores. I understand that all of the sophmores weren't RichRod recruits. Can we take a second and stop blindly supporting everything bad that happens.
The communist football thing comes from an article a couple of years back (2007) from the Steve Szabo.:
"I call that Communist football," Szabo said. "I'm so tired of it. Good, red-blooded Americans snap the ball, hand it to the guy and have a normal run game or pass game."
http://www.michigandaily.com/content/spartans-pose-no-red-threat
I didn't know that quoting ex-coaches wasn't funny.
Sorry
I am going to preamble with this and say that I was never really excited about Rich Rodriguez as a hire for a coach(my reason is that I feel the spread offense is communist football). I am also going to say that I don't think he deserves to be fired yet, but is moving in a direction that I was afraid of.
I am pulling for our team to improve, but I have always been a proponent of strong defense. I can live with a bad offense, but why is every single person on our defense that is worthy (Graham and Warren basically) all from the Carr recruiting. I think that is a pretty strong fact. I know that they are older and therefore more experienced, but why are they improving and the youngins regressing. The same question arises, why did we start McGuffie. I know the line sucked, but man, he was not ready for Big Ten football yet. I also didn't like the minor thing he said about the players not meeting expectations. Not a whole lot of coaches ever say stuff like that. Man, I don't even know if JLS ever said anything remotely negative about his players. Nothing rings a bell. None of these things bug me too much, but they are a bunch of little nagging issues.
I personally thing Mario was gone no matter what, but I think that if anyone was going to get to keep Adrian Arrington and Mario Manningham and Mallett, it would have been Lloyd. One thing that no one can argue is that Lloyds players were amongst the most loyal to their coaches.
I guess none of this has a point, just a bunch of random thoughts.
The one difference is that Michigan should expect wins over OSU more often than A&M expects wins over Texas. Sadly, I think that at this point in the rivalry, it would mean the same for us as that 1984 game for A&M. Another difference is, A&M fans weren't used to 35 years straight of bowl games. They don't have the winningest program in College football, and they weren't coming off the worst season in their history. I guess I just realize how sad our fanbase feels when we are looking externally for bright spots. As a program, we shouldn't be begging for parallels with other schools, we should be setting the bar on how to do things.
FYI of the overall records:
74-36 in Texas' favor.
57-42-6 in Michigan's favor.
I thought that Rich Rodriguez was this magical wizard of a man who could do a lot with a little. I thought mediocre players became solid starters under his tutelage and in no time at all. I thought Mike Barwis took the little guys and turned them into baby eating heathens that rip apart the man they are blocking/being blocked by.
Either some people who post on this board have been lying to me or now all of a sudden I have to wait for these things to happen.
Way to say it out loud. Now you just jinxed the hell out of it... I now going to have to purchase some snake oil from the local wizard and mix it with the unicorn hair and dance naked in the moonlight in the reflecting pool in front of MLB to unjinx it and pass my blue book exam that week.
Lets say we steal on from OSU or Wisco.
2008-2009: 3 wins
2009-2010: 6 wins
*2010-2011: 9 wins
*2011-2012: 12 wins
*2012-2013: 15 wins
So as you can see using sound scientific logic, we should be at 15 wins in 2012. This is actually a bi-product of what the Mayan calendar predicts. It wasn't the end of the world in December 2012, just a restructuring of the BCS into playoff system in which the BCS champion has to play 15 games.
So yes, this is exactly where I thought this team would be.
When does Denard Robinson become "not the right talent" for quarterback? Even the argument that he is a wildcat qb doesn't quite do it, because Ronnie Brown is a wildcat qb throwing against NFL defenses, and he doesn't throw as many INTs as D Rob (Ronnie also isn't on the depth chart as a qb).
I don't mean this to be condescending to D Robinson, but I have to wonder when Tate establishes himself as THE qb, no matter what, sink or swim. Maybe put Robinson in every once and a while, but don't give him entire drives.
Robinson is way too good of an athlete not to utilize. He has even shown signs off toughness beyond his speed (I notice that he tends to fall forward when in a pile). But, when does RR draw the line and give full control to Tate and make D Rob become a slot receiver or an option qb that is only utilized sparatically. I feel that Rich Rod is catering to D Rob's athleticism and doesn't want to upset him by asking him to move positions.
I do realize that our back up qb would then be Nick Sheridan. But in terms of the passing game, would that really be so bad (5 ints on 137 att for Sheridan)(4 ints on 21 att for Robinson and 2 tds were wide open v. Deleware state). Ok, nevermind, it would still suck.
The .500 stat about the games with the "scratch head quarterbacks" is good, but notice that the games we won, the opponent scored less than 14. I don't know if our defense is equipped well enough to handle that kind of torture with the turnovers against a team that isn't Eastern Michigan University. Denard is too big of a threat for us not utilize, but maybe he should not throw the ball further than 7 yards or so. OR, he could throw it for 30+ as long as it is 3rd down and works the same way as a punt would have worked (not likely with Meskos boot).
Recent Comments
I will be removing one of those this Friday. Your wedding day is the perfect day to express your deepest love... which is a tie between your bride and Michigan football.
A very small contingent of talking heads has been talking about UM vs. VT. This would be perfect for me as I have just moved to Viriginia after graduating. I moved down the year that VT lost to James Madison. It was awesome because I only had to deal with a couple of weeks of people telling me about THE HORROR before they had the minor horror.
The sack that Mike Martin had was just like Miss Piggy Swallow another muppet whole
Or does every single picture of Urban Meyer look a little bit too natural under the sith hood?
I can't wait for next Saturday. I am freaking out
9 Wins playing ManBall with mostly speed players... What will Brady Hoke do when he has 4 recruiting years under his belt?
Has Brady Hoke ever said anything in a Presser that isn't awesome?
There's a reason he wasn't able to run against Iowa. It was the same reason he had so much time in the pocket. They werent rushing, they were holding the line of scrimmage for the most part so that they didnt over pursue. To be honest, the most successful Denard plays were the power sweeps out of the shotgun, which has nothing to do with his scrambling skills, they are just designed runs.
If the team is going to win games in November, then Denard has to establish some threat as a passer. If not, then he is basically worthless to us as a snap taker. There is a reason that the team has fallen apart at the end of the year and even our biggest wins all have to come from behind.
Denard is basically the definition of the type of person that I want to recruit on my football team. He is athletic and humble and team dedicated, but to be successful we need him to throw the ball well and make reads, not just stare at one receiver each play.
I like pretty much everything that these guys had to say. No excuses and not acknowledging the dirty play of MSU (which was obvious), because what good would it do. They take losses with the same amount of poise and class that they achieve victory. Its the same kind of coaching and player philosophy that was getting players ready for the NFL in past and should give us all hope for the years to come. Brady Hoke is building something great here, and he is doing it quickly. And lets not forget, this game is not even important (See article below from 2007):
http://www.michigandaily.com/content/bad-blood