It's inexplicable, but I think this is exactly correct. Why Michigan continues to tolerate any bloviated, nonsensical reprimand from the hand of the NCAA is pathetic at this point. This is not an organization to be taken seriously because they do not act like a serious organization.
The correct posture to take against the NCAA: We're going to do whatever we want, and if you want to interfere?.. We will take you to court and we will win.
Michigan needs to learn there there is no tactical advantage from being the last boy scout.
At this rate, the NCAA is going to be dissolved by the courts in less than 5 years. If what Mars states in this memo can be proven factual in court, it shows an egregious and exploitative over reach of power for the scope of the NCAA's purpose.
For the same reason your boss cannot have access or evaluate your personal cell phone, medical or financial records as part of your performance review [unless court ordered because you are suspected of committing an actual crime], the NCAA cannot demand access to personal information unless they are granted a court order to do so.
The NCAA does not seem to understand their statute of limitations as an oversight committee, not a governing body - they are not law enforcement, and so they do not get to bypass privacy laws unless a judge gives them permission to do so.
This is an organization that seems to have lost their sense of purpose and scope, and thereby have lost their bearings on what is - and is not - permissible as an oversight organization. Mark Emmert was the blithering idiot that allowed the inmates to run the prison, and Charlie Baker is the little boy caught with his finger in the dam.
There is no purpose for this organization to exist any longer. They neutered the rationale of their own existence by passing and completely deregulating NIL. We're watching an organization seal their own fate with a master class of ineptitude in real time.
That's a pretty grim reality. When a team begins to tailspin from the time a coach is reinserted into the equation all but suggests they no longer respect his leadership.
From an outsider perspective, it seems like Juwan is outside his depth to lead a major college basketball program, and he hasn't been able to manage the stress and pressure well. The players now see it for what it is, and have lost faith in his ability. It's unfortunate, but the writing is on the wall he needs to be relieved of his duties before next season.
I just don't see it happening. He is probably headed with Jim to LA. Hopefully Sherrone can get on the horn with John and find another young under study from the Ravens organization to come run the defense and cut his teeth as a coordinator.
Agreed, I would bet the AD will make a public announcement before midnight making this official. Let Sherrone and his staff hit the recruiting trail tomorrow with a signed contract in hand.
Really like the class. Outstanding class in the trenches which I love because that, generally speaking, requires the most development from a positional perspective. This class assures we have reinforcements coming behind the starters and rotation guys.
A little light on explosive playmakers, but the transfer portal can fill any holes there as needed.
With the way this staff develops talent, I've come to care much less than I used to when it comes to star ratings from the recruiting sites. Much like Beilein and his staff recruited - if the staff thinks a certain prospect is worth an offer - I trust their judgement over how the sites evaluate them.
This is and should be a turnover averse game plan. A high flying offense is not required to beat Iowa. Don't turn the ball over and make Iowa play a long field is all that should be needed to win.
The offensive line needs to play much better. But the play calling makes sense so far given the opponent.
Hopefully anything related to Nugent is just precautionary. I think we'll be fine with Anderson at C for tonight's game. Obviously the CFP would be a different story
Hopefully only in a "break glass in case of emergency" type scenario. I feel pretty confident CB2 - CB6 should be able to handle Iowa's passing game. Anything is possible, as they say, so if he can go it makes sense to dress him; but we'll need him in January (assuming we handle business the way this team should be able to) much more than we will in Indianapolis.
At the end of the day - the great equalizer in football is who wins the line of scrimmage. You win the LOS and don't turn the ball over, you will win the game way more times than not; despite all the hubris,
Michigan seems to understand that, and OSU can't be convinced. All the star wide receivers and quarterbacks are for naught if you can't run the ball or stop the run better than your opponent.
Completely agree with you on the mental toughness. This was a stalemate of a game, and really OSU had the advantage on the field if not for the turnovers. Both teams made critical plays, but in the moments of this game when the outcome was in doubt, Michigan made more plays than Ohio State did. And that was the difference.
OSU is a tough team - a tough defense for sure.. but Michigan is tougher. Hats off and mad respect to our guys for answering the bell mentally when they absolutely had to have it against a great opponent. They beat a very talented and hungry team with the deck stacked against them, and forever will be cemented in history for winning one of the most pivotal matchups in the history of the best rivalry in sports.
Both would definitely be drafted in the 2024 draft. JJ I still believe would go in the first round, albeit probably somewhere in the backhalf if I had to guess based on the last few weeks.
DE is more challenging to project, but he's a probably a mid round pick with the way he can catch the ball out of the backfield. That's an extremely valuable asset in today's NFL.
I think they could both improve their draft stock with a good senior season, but both are firmly on NFL draft boards in the '24 cycle.
Saw that hit as well. OSU is lucky that wasn't a bad knee injury with the way his leg rolled up under the defender.
Passing game may be a little wobbly for both teams. In some relative bad news, it looks like Henderson is back to full strength. He was explosive out of the backfield tonight.
JJ is completing like 77% of his passes this season lol. His stats definitely aren't flashy. But throwing the ball accurately and with appropriate velocity is not an issue.
Win and advance, baby. Any road win in the league is a good win. It is a little concerning to evaluate the offensive play calling - especially in the second half - and how JJ has played without Jim on the sideline. It's plausible having Jim ruled out within 48 hours of kick off each of the past two weeks could be very disruptive short notice. Hard to know if that's grasping at straws or reality until next week when they've had a full week to prepare for his absence.
One thing is for sure, this team outta be pissed off even more than usual running out of the tunnel for next week's match up. It seems like almost insider common knowledge that Ohio State is responsible for breaking the news and fanning the flames of this PR circus that the UM players have had to play through the past month of the season. I know I would be out for blood against the culprit, and I have to imagine they will be.
OSU looks more beatable than they have in the past decade or so, but they also look a lot better than they did a month ago.
I anticipate a battle for the ages next week. Show no mercy next week BEAT OHIO!
I certainly don't think it sounds foreboding for Michigan, that's for sure. But I think more likely it signals a posture more like "they're cooperation is not going to hurt their cause, but I never said it would help it either" from the NCAA.
At the end of the day, a league office suspending the HC before due process has been completed through NCAA investigation for a level 2 or 3 scouting violation is not a punishment that meets the crime.
To me, whether or not Chris Partridge knew about Connor 'n Friends, or whether or not a booster financed the operation is not relevant to what Michigan's grievance is - or should be. The injustice is related to the lack of due process, not what information a continued investigation brings to light.
If you got pulled over texting while going 38 in a 25, and rather than write you a ticket and require you appear in court he pulls you out of the car and puts you in county jail for 30. days, you would be demanding your due process. It doesn't matter whether or not the text records can prove that you were aware you were breaking the law; what matters is that there is a procedure for how the situation should be handled, and that procedure was not followed.
I'm so disappointed in Michigan for losing their vigilance in what they are fighting for. Their due process was violated. And they're going to let these scumbags get away with it before seeing it to the end.
So all that is to say, hopefully the NCAA will consider the B1G punishment as enough to consider this matter closed; because it is much more excessive than anything the NCAA would have handed out for the level of violations that were committed. Which is absurd.
If this assertion is true and the Regents gaslit their own administrative leadership under such public and exlposive circumstances.. To me it only suggests the Board of Regents were in on the job and want Harbaugh gone as well.
I'm really not sure how else you could rationalize why a Board of Regents would allow their President, AD, football coach and distinguished alumni of the media stand so vehemently on the soap box for what looked like a noble cause.
Why the absolute fuck would the Regents gaslit their own institution like that unless they've been subverting the cause all along because they want to see Harbaugh gone.
Absolute gutless and delusional leadership if true.
If the Regents of the University would hang their president, athletic director, football coach, players, and distinguished alumni of the media out to dry like that... then they don't deserve to sit on the Board of Regents to begin with.
I don't know whether or not Regents weild the kind of unilateral power to just shut down a case that it appeared the entire UM admin was prepared to fight.. but I also know these are very powerful people, so anything is possible I suppose.
If that is the case they should just know, their decision to sweep the rug out from under their president on down makes UM leadership look like sniveling jackasses.
The narrative will be Michigan is both weak and guilty. They played chicken with the B1G and lost, because they are pussies and cheaters. Pettiti took egregious and unprecedented measures to punish our coach and program before due process was complete. And he is now emboldened to do it again whenever he pleases.
Unless some new information came to light less than 24 hours before the hearing that would look very bad for Michigan under the microscope of a legal investigation, then the board just gaslit the entire university related to a very public and emotionally explosive set of circumstances. That would be truly unbelievable and inexcusable.
I don't disagree with anything Bill Burr said on the topic of sign stealing. I think all the anecdotes today suggest that this saga has turned into something much more precarious for Michigan than vaguely impermissible sign stealing.
If the University - from the President down through the Athletic Department - were ready to fight this tooth and nail, weather the media storm, and go under the microscope of the Washtenaw County legal system for over a week... and then 24 hours before their hearing decide they will accept an unprecedented disciplinary action from the B1G under the very public absence of due process.. something happened.
Either Michigan came to discover the B1G was withholding information until a conversation was had this afternoon between the league office and UM officials that would look very bad for Michigan in court; or UM leadership puckered their asshole in the eleventh hour at the thought of losing their legal battle.
I can understand if the university came to find out today that a legal battle would almost assuredly uncover Michigan was guilty of further, more serious transgressions than electronic sign stealing, then standing down was a play to avoid really bad exposure for the football program.
But understand, the President of the University now looks like a jackass, the Athletic Director looks like a jackass, Jim Harbaugh looks like a jackass.
These are intelligent people that understand how public narratives and the court of public opinion work. To the outsider, this looks like Michigan rolled over "when shit got real" because the B1G called their bluff and Michigan folded OR it looks like the B1G extorted the UM administration with information they disclosed less than 24 hours before a court hearing, and Michigan knew the fight would end worse for them than it would for the B1G office.
I honestly am hoping it's the latter than the former, because the university appears to have shown their whole ass and have given credence to everything that sniveling shit Finebaum, and Thamel, and Dinich reported. This is a significant PR loss for Michigan, and one that could lead to a major shakeup for Michigan. Powerful people at Michigan have been embarrassed, and someone will pay for it.
Well said. This was my interpretation as well. Basically, the league is pissed about the pedantic media circus this has become. And when the courts come to rule the B1G was egregiously out of line for attempting to suspend a coach from his team without any semblance of due process and gets reinstated, Michigan now controls the narrative and the remaining members are furious about the sound of that; so they will fire Pettiti.
To me it implies the 13 other league members definitely wanted to screw Michigan, but they wanted it done with skillful tact and PR. Now they feel like Pettiti shouted "Nibb High Football Rules" ripped a wet fart into his microphone and walked off camera in the national media.
Dug is a straight up baller. I was really impressed how quickly he went from deer-in-th-headlights freshman, to a guy that could be sensational at times, but still showed his (naturally) lack of experience as a freshman.
3 games in this year it looks like he's maintained his explosive playmaking ability, but also looks much more composed and consistent over the course of a game.
My hawt take: Dug will be the best point guard in the league this year, and this Michigan team will be much better than last despite losing 2 first rounders and an All-American center. This will be a case study on why team chemistry can be as equally important to individual player talent.
I'm no lawyer myself - and I'm sure we'll have some professionals that will weigh in - but I think the premise you're referring to would be precedent, and so the league would only find themselves in a situation where precedent would need to be evaluated if they find themselves in civil court.
Any future mediation the league finds themselves in outside of the legal system would not need to establish precedent, unless it is explicitly stated somewhere in the league rulebook that precedent will be used as the basis for delegation.
Now I'll let a lawyer redline my assertion much like I do Monday/Friday 9-to-5 lol
If you're trying to win a popularity contest, you may want to post that on an MSU or Ohio State blog lol.
In all honesty, I am not assigning much validity to the "he should have known what an entry-level assistant was doing on a daily basis".
I would venture to bet prior to this low-level-violation-turned-media-circus, you could ask any coach in America "what does your Administrative Analyst do on a daily basis", and they could not give you a detailed answer. The same way a CEO could not tell you exactly what an entry-level credit analyst does on a daily basis.
Should Michigan - and specifically Harbaugh - have setup some safeguards around mitigating rules violations for their lower-level staff members? I suppose you could argue that, but I think its a bit pedantic. I'm not even sure that would have caught what Stalions was up to, because the actual language as the rule is written is so abstract and vague that it is kind of hard to explicitly instruct what is and is not illegal. Most people would not go the lengths Connor did to scout something as trivial as play signals... but most people are not Connor.
Make no mistake, this is about a league full of obtuse asshats that don't like Jim Harbaugh. It's not about program negligence from the head coach.
Yes, that would definitely suck. And I might be feeling a bit too chesty after that STATEMENT win in Happy Valley, but I think it's highly unlikely that is going to happen. For whatever reason, they couldn't get the ruling they thought they would today. But I still think Michigan has a very strong case in this matter. I feel very confident the injunction will go through on Monday.
JJ must have dinged his throwing arm or something. Either that, or we're seeing the product of the offensive line coaching serving as the final decision maker leaning heavily on his offensive line.
This is one of the most perplexing elements of this entire situation proving to have many perplexing elements.
Literally every school not named Ohio State is undermining their own financial interest by gaslighting Michigan to the point where they need to consider whether or not they want to align with the member institutions in the conference.
If Michigan leaves the B1G, the conference eventually collapses. Ohio State and (probably) Penn State would be fine. They carry enough cache that, however the void is filled in the wake of a power conference collapse, they'll have a seat at the table in the new power conference dynamic.
But for the programs that remain (like Rutgers, Purdue, Iowa, even Michigan State, et. al), making up what is currently the most profitable conference in college sports, you directly undermine the relevance and profitability for your athletic programs if you're in a profit sharing environment without Michigan. No new power conference needs Rutgers, or Iowa or Purdue. But they need Michigan. You were in the club, and you're creating massive levels of exposure to lose your meal ticket over pressuring the league to issue a jail time sentence to a flagship program over a parking citation.
It's absolutely asinine. You really dislike Jim Harbaugh and Michigan so much that you're willing to burn down your athletic department over an offense you're staff is probably doing as well? Truly crazy times we live in.
I'm still stunned how obtuse and dimwitted Pettiti has shown himself to be. He could very well be dismantling one of the newly minted power conferences - jeopardizing hundreds of millions of dollars in the process - and not even realize he's doing it. Aside from the total lack of integrity it demonstrates to bypass due process.. he is going to alienate the most monetarily valuable athletic department not just in the conference, but in the entire country.
This is like watching a guy confidently and unknowingly shit his pants on stage during his TED talk about the importance of dust mite insurance. He and the league office fucked this up on a level that is almost incomprehensible. If Michigan leaves, the B1G falls apart. Full stop. He just made that a serious possibility by undermining the rulebook of his own conference. Utterly asinine.
"Ohhhh.. those signs. Right, right." - Ryan Day, 10 days from now after the electronic paper trail is linked from an OSU Athletic Department PC to a Purdue Athletic Department PC.
"Imagining" is exactly why the B1G League Office is in the precarious situation they are in now. You don't "imagine" evidence as the grounds to levy a punishment before an investigation has concluded. At the end, you either have the evidence or you don't.
If you "imagine" the league has evidence that Stalions bought tickets to rivals game, plus visual evidence of his "friends" recording; then the only party pretending here, is you.
I would venture to bet this brief hypothesis is pretty accurate, which to me then begs the question:
How, as the commissioner of one of the two developing college football power conferences, do you not have someone within your administration capable of putting this situation into full context if you do not understand it yourself?
Like, there is no one in the league office that can (well.. could have) explain to Tony behind closed doors?:
"Stealing signs is part of the game in college football. Every coaching staff in our conference have low-level analysts on staff that attempt to steal their opponents' signs every week. What Connor did is technically against NCAA rules, although this is basically a non-issue unless the NCAA discovers evidence linking the recordings to coaching staff members that are responsible for game planning and play calling. Until that happens, the best move is to 'uphold the integrity of due process'. It is outside the scope B1G to administer punishment before the NCAA has finished an investigation. It's actually written in our Conference Bylaws Handbook."
The ineptitude of the league office is somewhat equally as shocking as the commissioner himself.
He's saying the coaches were not aware of anything related to his - I'll say "extracurricular" activities.
He is protecting himself from any exposure (probably at his lawyer's direction) if it comes out the coaches did in fact do something improprietary; either indirectly related or totally unrelated to his operation.
Bottom line: He's saying the coaches did not instruct him to setup a network of conspiracists to record games, and he didn't explicitly tell them he was doing it.
Michigan: employed an entry-level staff analyst that - under his own admission - used a network of friends/professional contacts to electronically record contests between future opponents [against the rules], in an effort to steal said opponent's play signs during their contest against Michigan [not against the rules] on his own accord.
Michigan State: members of their team were recorded on video unprovokingly swinging helmets, punching, kicking and stomping on Michigan players [against the rules, against the law] as words were exchanged at the end of last year's game versus Michigan.
If Haller would like to argue both discretions are of equal egregiousness, and thus, should demand a similar recourse; then he may as well argue jaywalking is of equal egregiousness as reckless drunk driving. Anyone in an influential administrative position making this kind argument in good faith is demonstrating they do not have the critical reasoning skills to hold the position in the first place.
I think we all know (or should I say, assume) Haller is not making this argument in good faith. So he may not be stupid, just morally bankrupt. But it has to be at least one of the two.
Welcome aboard, Jacob! I'm not that up-to-speed yet on the '24 class and had to read up on him a little bit.
Looks like a pretty nice prospect. Firmly a 4* inside the top 200 as of today. Also lists offers from Arkansas, Auburn, Cincinnati, Colorado (Prime knows a thing or two about DB's), Iowa, Kentucky, MSU, Mizzou, Nebraska, ND, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, PSU, Pitt, Tennessee, WVU & Wisconsin.
That is true, I think a better way to phrase what I mean is: it's never a bad thing to have a center that can dominate a game offensively if that's where you want to focus recruiting efforts.
However, if you don't pair that type of player with a few legit scoring perimeter threats it's extremely difficult to win anything of significance. To truly get the most out of Dickinson and Reed and the players like them that come after, you have to be able to space the floor. Right now, outside of Jett Howard, there is no one on Michigan's roster that teams have to account for at all times on the perimeter; and there hasn't been since Franz and Isiah Livers left for the NBA.
I don't have any issue with Juwan focusing his roster construction around punishing big men that can dominate offensively in the paint; after all his trademark in the coaching profession is developing big men into highly skilled scoring options, But until we either develop or recruit perimeter players that will shoot you out of the gym if you're late recovering, Michigan's offense will be vulnerable to bog down, regardless of how good our center is offensively.
I think schematically, the coaching is actually pretty good. The offense manufactured a lot of open looks today, we just don't have enough consistent shooters right now to knock them down. That piece to some degree is on Juwan and his staff when it comes to roster construction, but the coaches' job is to generate open looks, the players' job is to make the shots. We simply did not come close to making enough shots to win against a solid team. A six point loss when shoot 18% away from the rim suggests other areas of the game were actually played pretty well.
I was just actually looking at Michigan's 2023 & 2024 recruiting profile and it did strike me how lightly this staff is recruiting the guard positions.
Currently they have one guard (Washington) committed between the 2023 & 2024 classes. They also have two traditional centers committed across those same classes; neither of which look like they are realistic candidates to play the stretch 4. [EDIT]: They have two guards across both classes, not one. The recruiting services however do not consider them to be strong contenders to land additional guard prospects in either class as of now.
Building a roster around a high impact center with quality depth can certainly still work, but I think if you do that you need to surround him with great shooters to give him space to operate. All of last season and all of this season so far, juxtaposed against the 2021 Final Four roster, demonstrates how the offense bogs down significantly when an opponent doesn't have to respect the three point line and can just clog the lane and sag off your perimeter players.
I do think Juwan is a very good strategist and in-game coach, but I am wondering if he needs to re-evaluate his recruiting strategy. They need to get some shooting to pair with these high level centers they intend to bring in over the next few years.
Yes, naturally. The more exposure a person has to a violent activity, the more likely they are to get injured.
The 12 team playoff will do a lot of good to create competitive parity across college football, if the NCAA took their job seriously at all (spoiler: they don't), they would make some subtle adjustments to recruiting periods and scheduling flexibility to account for the 15+ game schedules for the teams competing for a national championship any given year.
Haven’t seen anything directly or indirectly referring to Colston making any comments like that. But, in a general sense I felt like Michigan did do a little too much talking in general leading up to the game and I think to some degree they paid for it.
Making comments asserting you’re the more physical team, and you’re going to “smash” your opponents defensive scheme will always be interpreted as a questioning of physical and mental toughness. There is no reason to give your opponent an additional motivation other than the fact it’s a playoff game.
If you want to be confident privately that’s fine. Publicly, acknowledge your opponents successful season, call them a challenging opponent and say you’ll have to play your best game for an opportunity to win. Anything short of that is emotional jet fuel to an underdog that’s already going to be jacked up for a big game where the narrative expects them to lose.
There will be much hand wringing about the play calling and grievance about the officiating; both of which warrant some frustration. But if you want to identify the singular reason Michigan lost this game, it's because Michigan's 3 turnovers directly resulted in -21 points on the scoreboard.
Michigan's coaches were far from perfect today. TCU's weren't perfect either. The refs made some inexplicably terrible calls that benefited TCU without question.
In the absence of catastrophic turnovers, Michigan probably wins anyway. That is what lost them this game. The rest is minutia.
Duggan and Stroud are most definitely different types of quarterbacks, but at a high level schematically, the structure of their offenses aren't much different. Duggan played well and made a few plays on our defense for sure. But I don't think his performance alone was enough to beat Michigan today.
Michigan's three turnover plays that lead to -21 on the scoreboard, paired with the zero blitz call on 3rd & 7 that lead to a 76 yd touchdown, and a pair of atrocious reviews and you get a 6 point loss to a team we're perfectly capable of beating. I don't think Michigan not being able to deal with TCU's scheme had much to do with it.
I think the point is the expectation from the officials is that they should not have any impact whatsoever in the final score of the game.
When you take a touchdown off the board so obvious the ESPN panel feels compelled to talk about how egregious the call was, followed by just deciding after review they're going to ignore a targeting call to end the game, there is valid reason to consider whether or not the officiating had a deciding factor in the outcome of the final score.
Could the Michigan players have played a cleaner game to keep themselves out of those situations? Without a doubt. Could the coaches have called a better game in a few critical situations? Most definitely. Does that give the officials the license to make two inexplicable calls in high leverage moments while the game is in balance? I think any football fan would agree their job is to call the game as the rules are written.
There is no hump for Michigan to get over. They played a sloppy game against a good-but-beatable team and they got beat.
If they want to get over the "hump", they need to play better against good teams in big games. Michigan play with anybody when they play up to their capability.
Recent Comments
Looks like Davis feels chesty about #16 overall HS recruit to Michigan (Liam McNeely)??..
I don't know who you are, Davis.. but I like your style.
It's inexplicable, but I think this is exactly correct. Why Michigan continues to tolerate any bloviated, nonsensical reprimand from the hand of the NCAA is pathetic at this point. This is not an organization to be taken seriously because they do not act like a serious organization.
The correct posture to take against the NCAA: We're going to do whatever we want, and if you want to interfere?.. We will take you to court and we will win.
Michigan needs to learn there there is no tactical advantage from being the last boy scout.
At this rate, the NCAA is going to be dissolved by the courts in less than 5 years. If what Mars states in this memo can be proven factual in court, it shows an egregious and exploitative over reach of power for the scope of the NCAA's purpose.
For the same reason your boss cannot have access or evaluate your personal cell phone, medical or financial records as part of your performance review [unless court ordered because you are suspected of committing an actual crime], the NCAA cannot demand access to personal information unless they are granted a court order to do so.
The NCAA does not seem to understand their statute of limitations as an oversight committee, not a governing body - they are not law enforcement, and so they do not get to bypass privacy laws unless a judge gives them permission to do so.
This is an organization that seems to have lost their sense of purpose and scope, and thereby have lost their bearings on what is - and is not - permissible as an oversight organization. Mark Emmert was the blithering idiot that allowed the inmates to run the prison, and Charlie Baker is the little boy caught with his finger in the dam.
There is no purpose for this organization to exist any longer. They neutered the rationale of their own existence by passing and completely deregulating NIL. We're watching an organization seal their own fate with a master class of ineptitude in real time.
That's a pretty grim reality. When a team begins to tailspin from the time a coach is reinserted into the equation all but suggests they no longer respect his leadership.
From an outsider perspective, it seems like Juwan is outside his depth to lead a major college basketball program, and he hasn't been able to manage the stress and pressure well. The players now see it for what it is, and have lost faith in his ability. It's unfortunate, but the writing is on the wall he needs to be relieved of his duties before next season.
I just don't see it happening. He is probably headed with Jim to LA. Hopefully Sherrone can get on the horn with John and find another young under study from the Ravens organization to come run the defense and cut his teeth as a coordinator.
Agreed, I would bet the AD will make a public announcement before midnight making this official. Let Sherrone and his staff hit the recruiting trail tomorrow with a signed contract in hand.
Really like the class. Outstanding class in the trenches which I love because that, generally speaking, requires the most development from a positional perspective. This class assures we have reinforcements coming behind the starters and rotation guys.
A little light on explosive playmakers, but the transfer portal can fill any holes there as needed.
With the way this staff develops talent, I've come to care much less than I used to when it comes to star ratings from the recruiting sites. Much like Beilein and his staff recruited - if the staff thinks a certain prospect is worth an offer - I trust their judgement over how the sites evaluate them.
This is and should be a turnover averse game plan. A high flying offense is not required to beat Iowa. Don't turn the ball over and make Iowa play a long field is all that should be needed to win.
The offensive line needs to play much better. But the play calling makes sense so far given the opponent.
Hopefully anything related to Nugent is just precautionary. I think we'll be fine with Anderson at C for tonight's game. Obviously the CFP would be a different story
Hopefully only in a "break glass in case of emergency" type scenario. I feel pretty confident CB2 - CB6 should be able to handle Iowa's passing game. Anything is possible, as they say, so if he can go it makes sense to dress him; but we'll need him in January (assuming we handle business the way this team should be able to) much more than we will in Indianapolis.
Noticed that as well. As it turns out it was none other than Rod Moore
At the end of the day - the great equalizer in football is who wins the line of scrimmage. You win the LOS and don't turn the ball over, you will win the game way more times than not; despite all the hubris,
Michigan seems to understand that, and OSU can't be convinced. All the star wide receivers and quarterbacks are for naught if you can't run the ball or stop the run better than your opponent.
Michigan proved it again today.
Completely agree with you on the mental toughness. This was a stalemate of a game, and really OSU had the advantage on the field if not for the turnovers. Both teams made critical plays, but in the moments of this game when the outcome was in doubt, Michigan made more plays than Ohio State did. And that was the difference.
OSU is a tough team - a tough defense for sure.. but Michigan is tougher. Hats off and mad respect to our guys for answering the bell mentally when they absolutely had to have it against a great opponent. They beat a very talented and hungry team with the deck stacked against them, and forever will be cemented in history for winning one of the most pivotal matchups in the history of the best rivalry in sports.
GO BLUE!!
You broke my heart!!
Both would definitely be drafted in the 2024 draft. JJ I still believe would go in the first round, albeit probably somewhere in the backhalf if I had to guess based on the last few weeks.
DE is more challenging to project, but he's a probably a mid round pick with the way he can catch the ball out of the backfield. That's an extremely valuable asset in today's NFL.
I think they could both improve their draft stock with a good senior season, but both are firmly on NFL draft boards in the '24 cycle.
Saw that hit as well. OSU is lucky that wasn't a bad knee injury with the way his leg rolled up under the defender.
Passing game may be a little wobbly for both teams. In some relative bad news, it looks like Henderson is back to full strength. He was explosive out of the backfield tonight.
JJ is completing like 77% of his passes this season lol. His stats definitely aren't flashy. But throwing the ball accurately and with appropriate velocity is not an issue.
Win and advance, baby. Any road win in the league is a good win. It is a little concerning to evaluate the offensive play calling - especially in the second half - and how JJ has played without Jim on the sideline. It's plausible having Jim ruled out within 48 hours of kick off each of the past two weeks could be very disruptive short notice. Hard to know if that's grasping at straws or reality until next week when they've had a full week to prepare for his absence.
One thing is for sure, this team outta be pissed off even more than usual running out of the tunnel for next week's match up. It seems like almost insider common knowledge that Ohio State is responsible for breaking the news and fanning the flames of this PR circus that the UM players have had to play through the past month of the season. I know I would be out for blood against the culprit, and I have to imagine they will be.
OSU looks more beatable than they have in the past decade or so, but they also look a lot better than they did a month ago.
I anticipate a battle for the ages next week. Show no mercy next week BEAT OHIO!
I certainly don't think it sounds foreboding for Michigan, that's for sure. But I think more likely it signals a posture more like "they're cooperation is not going to hurt their cause, but I never said it would help it either" from the NCAA.
At the end of the day, a league office suspending the HC before due process has been completed through NCAA investigation for a level 2 or 3 scouting violation is not a punishment that meets the crime.
To me, whether or not Chris Partridge knew about Connor 'n Friends, or whether or not a booster financed the operation is not relevant to what Michigan's grievance is - or should be. The injustice is related to the lack of due process, not what information a continued investigation brings to light.
If you got pulled over texting while going 38 in a 25, and rather than write you a ticket and require you appear in court he pulls you out of the car and puts you in county jail for 30. days, you would be demanding your due process. It doesn't matter whether or not the text records can prove that you were aware you were breaking the law; what matters is that there is a procedure for how the situation should be handled, and that procedure was not followed.
I'm so disappointed in Michigan for losing their vigilance in what they are fighting for. Their due process was violated. And they're going to let these scumbags get away with it before seeing it to the end.
So all that is to say, hopefully the NCAA will consider the B1G punishment as enough to consider this matter closed; because it is much more excessive than anything the NCAA would have handed out for the level of violations that were committed. Which is absurd.
I heard he climbed Mount Kilimanjaro over the offseason.
If this assertion is true and the Regents gaslit their own administrative leadership under such public and exlposive circumstances.. To me it only suggests the Board of Regents were in on the job and want Harbaugh gone as well.
I'm really not sure how else you could rationalize why a Board of Regents would allow their President, AD, football coach and distinguished alumni of the media stand so vehemently on the soap box for what looked like a noble cause.
Why the absolute fuck would the Regents gaslit their own institution like that unless they've been subverting the cause all along because they want to see Harbaugh gone.
Absolute gutless and delusional leadership if true.
If the Regents of the University would hang their president, athletic director, football coach, players, and distinguished alumni of the media out to dry like that... then they don't deserve to sit on the Board of Regents to begin with.
I don't know whether or not Regents weild the kind of unilateral power to just shut down a case that it appeared the entire UM admin was prepared to fight.. but I also know these are very powerful people, so anything is possible I suppose.
If that is the case they should just know, their decision to sweep the rug out from under their president on down makes UM leadership look like sniveling jackasses.
The narrative will be Michigan is both weak and guilty. They played chicken with the B1G and lost, because they are pussies and cheaters. Pettiti took egregious and unprecedented measures to punish our coach and program before due process was complete. And he is now emboldened to do it again whenever he pleases.
Unless some new information came to light less than 24 hours before the hearing that would look very bad for Michigan under the microscope of a legal investigation, then the board just gaslit the entire university related to a very public and emotionally explosive set of circumstances. That would be truly unbelievable and inexcusable.
I don't disagree with anything Bill Burr said on the topic of sign stealing. I think all the anecdotes today suggest that this saga has turned into something much more precarious for Michigan than vaguely impermissible sign stealing.
If the University - from the President down through the Athletic Department - were ready to fight this tooth and nail, weather the media storm, and go under the microscope of the Washtenaw County legal system for over a week... and then 24 hours before their hearing decide they will accept an unprecedented disciplinary action from the B1G under the very public absence of due process.. something happened.
Either Michigan came to discover the B1G was withholding information until a conversation was had this afternoon between the league office and UM officials that would look very bad for Michigan in court; or UM leadership puckered their asshole in the eleventh hour at the thought of losing their legal battle.
I can understand if the university came to find out today that a legal battle would almost assuredly uncover Michigan was guilty of further, more serious transgressions than electronic sign stealing, then standing down was a play to avoid really bad exposure for the football program.
But understand, the President of the University now looks like a jackass, the Athletic Director looks like a jackass, Jim Harbaugh looks like a jackass.
These are intelligent people that understand how public narratives and the court of public opinion work. To the outsider, this looks like Michigan rolled over "when shit got real" because the B1G called their bluff and Michigan folded OR it looks like the B1G extorted the UM administration with information they disclosed less than 24 hours before a court hearing, and Michigan knew the fight would end worse for them than it would for the B1G office.
I honestly am hoping it's the latter than the former, because the university appears to have shown their whole ass and have given credence to everything that sniveling shit Finebaum, and Thamel, and Dinich reported. This is a significant PR loss for Michigan, and one that could lead to a major shakeup for Michigan. Powerful people at Michigan have been embarrassed, and someone will pay for it.
Well said. This was my interpretation as well. Basically, the league is pissed about the pedantic media circus this has become. And when the courts come to rule the B1G was egregiously out of line for attempting to suspend a coach from his team without any semblance of due process and gets reinstated, Michigan now controls the narrative and the remaining members are furious about the sound of that; so they will fire Pettiti.
To me it implies the 13 other league members definitely wanted to screw Michigan, but they wanted it done with skillful tact and PR. Now they feel like Pettiti shouted "Nibb High Football Rules" ripped a wet fart into his microphone and walked off camera in the national media.
Dug is a straight up baller. I was really impressed how quickly he went from deer-in-th-headlights freshman, to a guy that could be sensational at times, but still showed his (naturally) lack of experience as a freshman.
3 games in this year it looks like he's maintained his explosive playmaking ability, but also looks much more composed and consistent over the course of a game.
My hawt take: Dug will be the best point guard in the league this year, and this Michigan team will be much better than last despite losing 2 first rounders and an All-American center. This will be a case study on why team chemistry can be as equally important to individual player talent.
I'm no lawyer myself - and I'm sure we'll have some professionals that will weigh in - but I think the premise you're referring to would be precedent, and so the league would only find themselves in a situation where precedent would need to be evaluated if they find themselves in civil court.
Any future mediation the league finds themselves in outside of the legal system would not need to establish precedent, unless it is explicitly stated somewhere in the league rulebook that precedent will be used as the basis for delegation.
Now I'll let a lawyer redline my assertion much like I do Monday/Friday 9-to-5 lol
This is how you PR with a flamethrower +1
If you're trying to win a popularity contest, you may want to post that on an MSU or Ohio State blog lol.
In all honesty, I am not assigning much validity to the "he should have known what an entry-level assistant was doing on a daily basis".
I would venture to bet prior to this low-level-violation-turned-media-circus, you could ask any coach in America "what does your Administrative Analyst do on a daily basis", and they could not give you a detailed answer. The same way a CEO could not tell you exactly what an entry-level credit analyst does on a daily basis.
Should Michigan - and specifically Harbaugh - have setup some safeguards around mitigating rules violations for their lower-level staff members? I suppose you could argue that, but I think its a bit pedantic. I'm not even sure that would have caught what Stalions was up to, because the actual language as the rule is written is so abstract and vague that it is kind of hard to explicitly instruct what is and is not illegal. Most people would not go the lengths Connor did to scout something as trivial as play signals... but most people are not Connor.
Make no mistake, this is about a league full of obtuse asshats that don't like Jim Harbaugh. It's not about program negligence from the head coach.
Yes, that would definitely suck. And I might be feeling a bit too chesty after that STATEMENT win in Happy Valley, but I think it's highly unlikely that is going to happen. For whatever reason, they couldn't get the ruling they thought they would today. But I still think Michigan has a very strong case in this matter. I feel very confident the injunction will go through on Monday.
JJ must have dinged his throwing arm or something. Either that, or we're seeing the product of the offensive line coaching serving as the final decision maker leaning heavily on his offensive line.
This is one of the most perplexing elements of this entire situation proving to have many perplexing elements.
Literally every school not named Ohio State is undermining their own financial interest by gaslighting Michigan to the point where they need to consider whether or not they want to align with the member institutions in the conference.
If Michigan leaves the B1G, the conference eventually collapses. Ohio State and (probably) Penn State would be fine. They carry enough cache that, however the void is filled in the wake of a power conference collapse, they'll have a seat at the table in the new power conference dynamic.
But for the programs that remain (like Rutgers, Purdue, Iowa, even Michigan State, et. al), making up what is currently the most profitable conference in college sports, you directly undermine the relevance and profitability for your athletic programs if you're in a profit sharing environment without Michigan. No new power conference needs Rutgers, or Iowa or Purdue. But they need Michigan. You were in the club, and you're creating massive levels of exposure to lose your meal ticket over pressuring the league to issue a jail time sentence to a flagship program over a parking citation.
It's absolutely asinine. You really dislike Jim Harbaugh and Michigan so much that you're willing to burn down your athletic department over an offense you're staff is probably doing as well? Truly crazy times we live in.
I'm still stunned how obtuse and dimwitted Pettiti has shown himself to be. He could very well be dismantling one of the newly minted power conferences - jeopardizing hundreds of millions of dollars in the process - and not even realize he's doing it. Aside from the total lack of integrity it demonstrates to bypass due process.. he is going to alienate the most monetarily valuable athletic department not just in the conference, but in the entire country.
This is like watching a guy confidently and unknowingly shit his pants on stage during his TED talk about the importance of dust mite insurance. He and the league office fucked this up on a level that is almost incomprehensible. If Michigan leaves, the B1G falls apart. Full stop. He just made that a serious possibility by undermining the rulebook of his own conference. Utterly asinine.
Holy Shit… the dumbass actually did it. Watching a man literally sign his professional death warrant.
Tony Petitti is an absolute imbecile.
"Ohhhh.. those signs. Right, right." - Ryan Day, 10 days from now after the electronic paper trail is linked from an OSU Athletic Department PC to a Purdue Athletic Department PC.
"Imagining" is exactly why the B1G League Office is in the precarious situation they are in now. You don't "imagine" evidence as the grounds to levy a punishment before an investigation has concluded. At the end, you either have the evidence or you don't.
If you "imagine" the league has evidence that Stalions bought tickets to rivals game, plus visual evidence of his "friends" recording; then the only party pretending here, is you.
I would venture to bet this brief hypothesis is pretty accurate, which to me then begs the question:
How, as the commissioner of one of the two developing college football power conferences, do you not have someone within your administration capable of putting this situation into full context if you do not understand it yourself?
Like, there is no one in the league office that can (well.. could have) explain to Tony behind closed doors?:
"Stealing signs is part of the game in college football. Every coaching staff in our conference have low-level analysts on staff that attempt to steal their opponents' signs every week. What Connor did is technically against NCAA rules, although this is basically a non-issue unless the NCAA discovers evidence linking the recordings to coaching staff members that are responsible for game planning and play calling. Until that happens, the best move is to 'uphold the integrity of due process'. It is outside the scope B1G to administer punishment before the NCAA has finished an investigation. It's actually written in our Conference Bylaws Handbook."
The ineptitude of the league office is somewhat equally as shocking as the commissioner himself.
He's saying the coaches were not aware of anything related to his - I'll say "extracurricular" activities.
He is protecting himself from any exposure (probably at his lawyer's direction) if it comes out the coaches did in fact do something improprietary; either indirectly related or totally unrelated to his operation.
Bottom line: He's saying the coaches did not instruct him to setup a network of conspiracists to record games, and he didn't explicitly tell them he was doing it.
A presentation of the circumstances:
Michigan: employed an entry-level staff analyst that - under his own admission - used a network of friends/professional contacts to electronically record contests between future opponents [against the rules], in an effort to steal said opponent's play signs during their contest against Michigan [not against the rules] on his own accord.
Michigan State: members of their team were recorded on video unprovokingly swinging helmets, punching, kicking and stomping on Michigan players [against the rules, against the law] as words were exchanged at the end of last year's game versus Michigan.
If Haller would like to argue both discretions are of equal egregiousness, and thus, should demand a similar recourse; then he may as well argue jaywalking is of equal egregiousness as reckless drunk driving. Anyone in an influential administrative position making this kind argument in good faith is demonstrating they do not have the critical reasoning skills to hold the position in the first place.
I think we all know (or should I say, assume) Haller is not making this argument in good faith. So he may not be stupid, just morally bankrupt. But it has to be at least one of the two.
Jourdan Lewis, Devin Bush, Donovan Peoples-Jones.. bring on Georgia!
Welcome aboard, Jacob! I'm not that up-to-speed yet on the '24 class and had to read up on him a little bit.
Looks like a pretty nice prospect. Firmly a 4* inside the top 200 as of today. Also lists offers from Arkansas, Auburn, Cincinnati, Colorado (Prime knows a thing or two about DB's), Iowa, Kentucky, MSU, Mizzou, Nebraska, ND, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, PSU, Pitt, Tennessee, WVU & Wisconsin.
https://247sports.com/Recruitment/Jacob-Oden-136298/RecruitInterests/
That is true, I think a better way to phrase what I mean is: it's never a bad thing to have a center that can dominate a game offensively if that's where you want to focus recruiting efforts.
However, if you don't pair that type of player with a few legit scoring perimeter threats it's extremely difficult to win anything of significance. To truly get the most out of Dickinson and Reed and the players like them that come after, you have to be able to space the floor. Right now, outside of Jett Howard, there is no one on Michigan's roster that teams have to account for at all times on the perimeter; and there hasn't been since Franz and Isiah Livers left for the NBA.
I don't have any issue with Juwan focusing his roster construction around punishing big men that can dominate offensively in the paint; after all his trademark in the coaching profession is developing big men into highly skilled scoring options, But until we either develop or recruit perimeter players that will shoot you out of the gym if you're late recovering, Michigan's offense will be vulnerable to bog down, regardless of how good our center is offensively.
I think schematically, the coaching is actually pretty good. The offense manufactured a lot of open looks today, we just don't have enough consistent shooters right now to knock them down. That piece to some degree is on Juwan and his staff when it comes to roster construction, but the coaches' job is to generate open looks, the players' job is to make the shots. We simply did not come close to making enough shots to win against a solid team. A six point loss when shoot 18% away from the rim suggests other areas of the game were actually played pretty well.
I was just actually looking at Michigan's 2023 & 2024 recruiting profile and it did strike me how lightly this staff is recruiting the guard positions.
Currently they have one guard (Washington) committed between the 2023 & 2024 classes. They also have two traditional centers committed across those same classes; neither of which look like they are realistic candidates to play the stretch 4. [EDIT]: They have two guards across both classes, not one. The recruiting services however do not consider them to be strong contenders to land additional guard prospects in either class as of now.
Building a roster around a high impact center with quality depth can certainly still work, but I think if you do that you need to surround him with great shooters to give him space to operate. All of last season and all of this season so far, juxtaposed against the 2021 Final Four roster, demonstrates how the offense bogs down significantly when an opponent doesn't have to respect the three point line and can just clog the lane and sag off your perimeter players.
I do think Juwan is a very good strategist and in-game coach, but I am wondering if he needs to re-evaluate his recruiting strategy. They need to get some shooting to pair with these high level centers they intend to bring in over the next few years.
Yes, naturally. The more exposure a person has to a violent activity, the more likely they are to get injured.
The 12 team playoff will do a lot of good to create competitive parity across college football, if the NCAA took their job seriously at all (spoiler: they don't), they would make some subtle adjustments to recruiting periods and scheduling flexibility to account for the 15+ game schedules for the teams competing for a national championship any given year.
Haven’t seen anything directly or indirectly referring to Colston making any comments like that. But, in a general sense I felt like Michigan did do a little too much talking in general leading up to the game and I think to some degree they paid for it.
Making comments asserting you’re the more physical team, and you’re going to “smash” your opponents defensive scheme will always be interpreted as a questioning of physical and mental toughness. There is no reason to give your opponent an additional motivation other than the fact it’s a playoff game.
If you want to be confident privately that’s fine. Publicly, acknowledge your opponents successful season, call them a challenging opponent and say you’ll have to play your best game for an opportunity to win. Anything short of that is emotional jet fuel to an underdog that’s already going to be jacked up for a big game where the narrative expects them to lose.
There will be much hand wringing about the play calling and grievance about the officiating; both of which warrant some frustration. But if you want to identify the singular reason Michigan lost this game, it's because Michigan's 3 turnovers directly resulted in -21 points on the scoreboard.
Michigan's coaches were far from perfect today. TCU's weren't perfect either. The refs made some inexplicably terrible calls that benefited TCU without question.
In the absence of catastrophic turnovers, Michigan probably wins anyway. That is what lost them this game. The rest is minutia.
Duggan and Stroud are most definitely different types of quarterbacks, but at a high level schematically, the structure of their offenses aren't much different. Duggan played well and made a few plays on our defense for sure. But I don't think his performance alone was enough to beat Michigan today.
Michigan's three turnover plays that lead to -21 on the scoreboard, paired with the zero blitz call on 3rd & 7 that lead to a 76 yd touchdown, and a pair of atrocious reviews and you get a 6 point loss to a team we're perfectly capable of beating. I don't think Michigan not being able to deal with TCU's scheme had much to do with it.
I think the point is the expectation from the officials is that they should not have any impact whatsoever in the final score of the game.
When you take a touchdown off the board so obvious the ESPN panel feels compelled to talk about how egregious the call was, followed by just deciding after review they're going to ignore a targeting call to end the game, there is valid reason to consider whether or not the officiating had a deciding factor in the outcome of the final score.
Could the Michigan players have played a cleaner game to keep themselves out of those situations? Without a doubt. Could the coaches have called a better game in a few critical situations? Most definitely. Does that give the officials the license to make two inexplicable calls in high leverage moments while the game is in balance? I think any football fan would agree their job is to call the game as the rules are written.
There is no hump for Michigan to get over. They played a sloppy game against a good-but-beatable team and they got beat.
If they want to get over the "hump", they need to play better against good teams in big games. Michigan play with anybody when they play up to their capability.