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Which means Najee Harris will

Which means Najee Harris will commit on Wednesday, right?

So nobody told the Glorious

So nobody told the Glorious Leader which end is the front of the helmet?

That's the first thing I

That's the first thing I noticed too!  But I guess that river must flow into Turkey and then the Black Sea, rather than disappearing into a hole in the ground.

So, this is what the

So, this is what the conference champs/8 playoff teams woud look like this year and projected long-term:

 

2016:
Big Ten: Ohio State Buckeyes (or in a just universe: Michigan, argh)
SEC: Alabama Crimson Tide
SWC: Houston Cougars
Big 8: Colorado Buffaloes
ACC: Clemson Tigers
Pac 10: Washington Huskies
Big East: Penn State Nittany Lions (or Louisville?)
At Large: Michigan Wolverines
 
All-Time (Favorites and Runners-Up):
Big Ten: Michigan Wolverines,    Ohio State Buckeyes
SEC: Alabama Crimson Tide,    Tennessee Volunteers
SWC: Texas Longhorns,    Texas A&M Aggies
Big 8: Oklahoma Sooners,    Nebraska Cornhuskers
ACC: Florida State Seminoles,    Clemson Tigers
Pac 10: Southern Cal Trojans,    Washington Huskies
Big East: Penn State Nittany Lions,    Miami Hurricanes
At Large: Notre Dame Fighting Irish
I think this year's Big Ten

I think this year's Big Ten illustrates the problem with mega-conferences.  

Why did college football rely on polls for nearly 100 years?  Because of sample-size problems.  There are a lot of college football teams and they play few games, and have wildly different schedules, so you can't lust rank them by their record.

 

Well, mega-conferences have the same problem.  2016 Penn State has a better record than 2016 Michigan.  But they did not play the same conference schedule.  If we're going to have 14 teams in a conference, we might as well have a poll to determine the conference champion.

Here is my proposal for

Here is my proposal for conferences.  My idea was to preserve old-school conference alignment as much as possible.  Schools who are not old-timey members of each conference are indicated with an asterisk.  There are 7 conferences, plus a Catholic basketball league that includes Notre Dame, which would be independent for football.

 

BIG TEN (10)
Michigan Wolverines
Ohio State Buckeyes
Indiana Hoosiers
Minnesota Golden Gophers
Wisconsin Badgers
Michigan State Spartans
Iowa Hawkeyes
Illinois Fighting Illini     
Purdue Boilermakers
Northwestern Wildcats     
 
ATLANTIC COAST (8) -> ATLANTIC COAST (10)
North Carolina Tarheels
Duke Blue Devils
North Carolina State Wolfpack
Maryland Terrapins
Virginia Cavaliers
Wake Forest Demon Deacons
South Carlina Gamecocks
Clemson Tigers
Florida State Seminoles*
Georgia Tech Yellowjackets*
 
SOUTHWEST (9)
Texas Longhorns
Texas A&M Aggies
Arkansas Razorbacks
Southern Methodist Mustangs
Texas Christian Horned Frogs
Houston Cougars
Baylor Bears
Rice Owls
Texas Tech Red Raiders
 
BIG EIGHT (8) -> "LOUISIANA PURCHASE" (10)
Oklahoma Sooners
Nebraska Cornhuskers
Kansas Jayhawks
Colorado Buffaloes
Missouri Tigers
Iowa State Cyclones
Kansas State Wildcats
Oklahoma State Cowboys
Utah Utes*
Brigham Young Cougars*     
     
SOUTHEASTERN (10)
Alabama Crimson Tide
Kentucky Wildcats
Florida Gators
Georgia Bulldogs
Tennessee Volunteers
Louisiana State Tigers
Auburn Tigers
Mississippi Rebels
Mississippi State Bulldogs
Vanderbilt Commodores
 
PACIFIC EIGHT (8) -> PACIFIC 10 (10)
Southern California Trojans
UCLA Bruins
Oregon Ducks
Washington Huskies
Stanford Cardinal
California Golden Bears
Oregon State Beavers
Washington State Cougars
Arizona Wildcats*
Arizona State Sun Devils*
 
BIG EAST (10)
Penn State Nittany Lions*
Miami Hurricanes
Louisville Cardinals
Connecticut Huskies
Syracuse Orange
West Virginia Mountaineers
Pittsburgh Panthers
Rutgers Scarlet Knights
Boston College Eagles
Virginia Tech Hokies
 
 
"CATHOLIC TEN" (10)
Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Georgetown Hoyas
Villanova Wildcats
Xavier Musketeers
Marquette Golden Eagles
Providence Friars
St. Johns Red Storm
Seton Hall Pirates
De Paul Blue Demons
Creighton Blue Jays
     
 
LEFT OUT
Cincinnati Bearcats
Dr. Harris

When Michael and Martellus Bennet played for Texas A&M, their jerseys read, "Mi. Bennet" and, "Ma. Bennet."  

 

I think Da. Harris and Dr. Harris is even better.

 

But actually, I fail to comprehend why players put Jr. or III on their jersey.  Tim Hardaway, is your father on the current Michigan basketball roster? No?  Then you're Hardaway.  Same for you James Ross III.

Tom's Head

Why does that expanding head gif remind me of Beavis and Butthead?

This

Gah! Finally found this post again... wow this thread blew up fast.

 

Anyway, I coudn't have said it better myself.  And actually, Bacon's (or Brian's?) point about minor leagues is illustrative.  If there were a farm league or minor league of feeder teams for the NFL and they sucked up talent that would have otherwised played for college teams... I would still care about college football infinitely more than pro sports, because I would still want to see Michigan beat ohio and Notre Dame and the SEC.

I think Dragon is pretty

I think Dragon is pretty clear here, and your response is simply deliberately missing the point.

 

The point is that Brandon's end-goal is to turn a profit.  That is the wrong end-goal.  And his behavior clearly demonstrates that his primary motivation is wrong-headed.

 

I think Dragon said it best: we want to make money to the extent that it helps us win, but winning, for the sake of pride, is the goal.

And graduate students make

And graduate students make about $20k

Wisconsin Schadenfreude

I know some will disagree, but I generally agree with McGary and pull for other Big Ten teams in the tournament or bowl games (even Ohio, mostly because of family connections).  I was rooting for Illinois and Minnesota, and would love to see an all Big Ten Final Four.

That said, I was looking for vindication that Wisconsin's success in Big Ten play is partly/mostly/entirely due to Big Ten refs.  But I didn't see the Wiscy game.  Do we has vindication?

Vince Young

I would love to see Devin give us flash backs to Vince Young as he destroys So Cal in the Rose Bowl.  And to avenge New Year's Day 2007.  Devin FTW!

Third Coast Offense/Ale

Dude, Third Coast Offense [roll over tag text: the Great Lakes are sometimes referred to as the Third Coast, as in Bell's "Third Coast Ale"]

Mone == Dhalsim

Is it just me, or is Mone in the process of seriously damaging his left ankle in that photo?

Post touches

Srlsy.  We can haz post touches for 6' 4" 340-lbs. center?

Scramble scramble

I'm seriously looking forward to watching Devin Gardner devastate the morale of opposing defenses with his scrambling, a la Vince Young ca. 2005.  Don't get me wrong, I love Denard whole-heartedly, but his refusal to scramble drove me friggin' nuts.  This year, I want me some Gardner Scramble!

I guess that is a reasonable

I guess that is a reasonable fear.  Watch out for Dave "Slippery Slope" Brandon.

 

I've been reading MGoBlog for years, but my strong feelings about Uniformz finally convinced me to contribute.

Uniformz

 

First, I'd like to share that long before I became a Wolverine, I had a deep respect for the university and what it represented.  Tradition, and continuity, and a no-nonsense attitude were a big part of that.  To me, back then, the culture of the university was embodied in the t-shirt that seemed to dominate the fanbase, even in Texas: maize, block MICHIGAN across the chest of a blue shirt.  Straight across.  Not even curved.  You know who are.

MICHIGAN didn't need a loony-tune character or a snarling, befangled bearcat with flames shooting out of its eyes to draw attention.  It was MICHIGAN, fergodsakes.  Look it up.

To me, it seems the parade of jerseys (and other attempts to monetize everything) is out of character.  It cheapens the Michigan brand.  It's trying too hard.  It's the difference between calmly walking off the court after draining the game-winning 3-pointer and jumping up and down and shrieking and peeing your pants.  We've done this before.  In fact, we wrote the book on how to be a successful "public ivy" university.  Our attempts to grab attention in the football uniformz fashion contest is cheap, and out of place.

 

That said, I have to seriously disagree with those who oppose the "new" helmet.  A matte finish does not a new helmet make.  Helmets have changed dramatically in the 100+ years of Michigan football.  It's the Maize wings and three stripes on a blue background that make it the same.  It's not like we're going to insist on wearing leather helmets in 2013 just for the sake of refusing change.