Recent Comments

the B1G up to look bad. Gee, a home field advantage for a one level up Pac team - lets take it!

Any skill position that requires speed or athleticism in general. Bonus:it's ok to make these statements because they're not discriminating in any way.

/s/

tied :-(

On the other hand how awesome will that photo of Denard smiling in cap and gown be?

in the way the story is written ...

we're talking defense contract level seating. Maybe they are made of carbon fiber and lightweight alloy, and have an ejection feature for quicker exit at the end of the game.

http://www.mgoblue.com/genrel/042513aaa.html

There is a Michigan scholarship fund for players who leave early and then later decide they need to finish their degree (and need help paying for it).

See, how awesome is that!

Now, if you set up shop in North Carolina, maybe. That said, be prepared to pay $5 more a shirt at least, and the workers still are paid US minimum wage.

FWIW the Michigan flag I bought in Ann Arbor was produced in North Carolina. (I guess the carbon footprint of it being shipped to Ann Arbor, and me driving to Ann Arbor and back may still be less than if it came from Asia.)

Agree with several poster's above: until our society decides it is better to buy less stuff at higher prices companies will continue to look the other way for lower cost. However, if our society decides to do that, I wonder what the economic impact will be to low cost developing markets.

and Desmond somehow injures Jake Ryan's knee ...

(now we know what happened)

for athletic training as well. Tutoring services. Training table food. Etc.(Wait Minor League baseball players get $20 a day for food while on the road.)

Supposedly most Minor League baseball players get $850 a month the first season, and between $1050 and $2150 a month depending on A - AAA.

I'm sorry but that doesn't stack up to tuition, room, board, academic support, atheletic training, etc.

On the flip, I believe Denard should benefit more directly from his own jersey number sales. But who buys NCAA 12, or watches the game on TV or in person just because of one player? (Well ,aybe this coming year. ...)

if it hadn't been for my wife, the old Zenith color tube TV almost was smashed in '93. That sucker still works though - up over my bar fridge in the basement.

it wouldn't be the internet if it wasn't a little wacky and opinionated

hamstring for his ACL reconstruction. but that was because he's still growing. otherwise they would have repaired using the patella tendon.

four month recovery time for the patella tendon version.

no matter how "college ready", especially when we are still looking for Molk 2.0 calling the shots, leaves me with big question marks.

I will happily believe it when I see it in the fall.

of a commercial opportunity just after halftime ...

Our new 2nd rival is: Nebraska -- that team we have to beat every year to be able to play Ohio twice in two weeks.

Agree with the poster above: Hart was right: Sparty is the upstart little brother. They had their few years while we were in turmoil, and will continue to be the little attack dog that puffs up and wins more often than they should (by playing as dirty as they are allowed). However, just as Mike said: sometimes you have to let them think they are getting ahead, just to smack them back down again.

Maybe they'll figure out that quality opponents bring in more revenue, and well stop getting crapy home schedules like last season.

(If they fix nothing else in the division reshuffle, they somehow need to fix our home and away strength of schedule rotation.)

a) T'eo is complicit

or

b) it was a lomg distance relationship (or so he thought) starter on Facebook, and he was punked by the person(s) on the other emd all along including the phone calls and meeting someone claiming to be this person while at Stanford.

an SM3 anti ballastic missle launched from an Aegis Cruiser or Destroyer? I like it.

as if he were going to block and saw what was coming (there is a reason he is such a good blocker and it is not his size). SC won the RPS on that play and it was hosed before the snap.

While some of this seems scary and either Big Brother or Terminator, there are efficiencies to be gained through these types of applications

As and example, I just set this up in my house:

Problem: if you have a constant hot water recirculation system, the hot water heater has to cycle more often to keep the water heated with heat loss in the loop. A less efficient tank water heater is required. Thus wasting either gas or electricity.

Flip Problem: if you disable the recirculation system (like I did when I installed a tankless water heater) when I turn on the hot water, I let many many gallons of cold water run down the drain waiting for the hot thus wasting resource.

Solution: set up an on-demand recirculation loop.

I have X10 motion sensors in each of the "far away" bathrooms that turn on the recirculation system when you walk into the bathroom and a heat sensor at the pump. So the recirc pump pulls the water through the loop until the heat sensor detects hot water and shuts the pump down. This takes a few minutes, and you still have to wait a bit, but you are not wasting water, and the water heater doesn't run all day. Metlund makes a retrofit push button version of this as well, but I went with X10 as I had an existing pump.

Next step for me though is working in the Android app so I can turn on the recirc as I head up the stairs. If my alarm clock could do this as well - that would be great.

Smart machines can be more efficient. Imagine an outlet that can tell when your devices are fully charged or not in use, and shuts off so the plugged in DC power converters are not just turning amps into heat.

watching on TV is way different than seeing him in person. On TV it is like "whoops, there goes Denard and he's gone". In person, there is a collective holding of breath every time the ball is in his hands. It is way more exciting, and I wish I had gone to more of his games.

is the right word choice in this case. The hit is overhyped. It should have been their ball anyway. We came back and pulled ahead in that game after the hit and subsequent touch down off the turnover. Clowney was kept in check most of the game.

I believe in Bo's Lasting Lessons, Bo commented on the scholarship reductions from 105 to 95 to 85, and how that changed redshirt policies, etc. I am guessing when the scholarship numbers at schools like Michigan and Ohio State dropped, other schools started picking up the 40 players and thus it was possible for those other schools to be competitive at least cyclically.

By the time I passed through Ann Arbor ('83-'87), Bo had shifted into a cycle of years of strength and occasional building years. I believe the reduction in scholarship numbers caused this uneven distribution in talent and experience on Bo's teams.

Of course the game evolved too.

needs to hire Vince Smith as a blocking consultant.

with uverse, and then the networks and cable oligopoly showed them the light.

i.e., while I would love for this to happen, I will believe it when I see it and it works reliably.

now that sounds just like a Wisconsin team.

It's a little harder to get your car inspected and go to the DMV in Florida from Ann Arbor. He's paid the fine and this is now a nom-issue.

They had 105 or something before Title IV. So the University has to offer 85 scholarships to female atheletes as well. So for example, women's rowing is a schlarship sport, and men's is a club sport.

Therefore, even if we eliminated other sports programs, many women's programs would remain to balance out against the football scholarships.

What is more concerning to me: while many facilities need updating, it appears to me that the department is building the Tajmahal of sports on South Campus. I am not sure if they are required to build "equal" facilities, but the South Campus plans look pretty extravagant for however few student-atheletes there really are versus the general student population.

Then again, if Title IV stated that an equal number of female academic scholarships had to be added, how many more scholarships could Michigan offer without the cost of associated sports programs? If you were paying higher seat fees, etc. to increase the number of general academic scholarships to the Unversity, would you feel better about paying more for your ticket?

In the end, I see many more girls in sports these days, and that is made possible in part by all of us paying more for football tickets. Maybe in the end that in itself is worthwhile.

it doesn't matter that we hauling in great guys in the trenches. /s Seriously though, kids go by what they see. If you're a running back or wide receiver, we haven't shown how they are going to get highlighted, and thus they are listening to other coaches telling them how other schools will get them to the NFL. Unless the redshirt OLine has a break through year next year, I think we suffer one more year in this mire. Plus the Hoke/Borges manball run first penchant is going to hurt us versus passing spread teams for top WR prospects. The coaching staff is building inside out though. Assuming Borges moves out of his DeBord choke phase, this will get better.

to Ann Arbor and back. It is totally worth the trip. I would not do that every weekend mind you, but you just need some of the fans, some of the time plus the local contingent.

These are some good guys going out into the world. I wish them all good luck. Denard better get some playing and press time with the NFL because we'll all hit smile withdrawals otherwise.

can get his head out of the ground.

and said "look, I think it was clear how important OL depth was this season. So we have re-evaluated the position and feel to have adequate depth to win we need to take one more OL in this class."

1) We have how many returning RBs on scholarship for one open position - five? Somebody needs to start producing (and needs help from the OL doing it) for the number of scholarships allocated. This has been an ongoing problem really since Mike Hart left.

2) If the long snapper snaps the ball more quickly, and Hagerup gets the punt off just as fast, the receiving team has less time to react and set up to block, and the net punt numbers improve. Maybe that scholly for an out of state kid is worth something in the field position battle for the defense ...

Maybe I am getting old, but you can barely hear our band any more - even for the pre-game build up.

Also, what ever happened to "Let's Go Blue"? Seems like they don't play it anymore.

Embarassment!

next year is a huge unknown w/ many redshirt freshman on the line. versus being ready to graduate and be a first round pick.

which would you choose?

reminds me of Carr era second half conservatism. We tried to force ball control when our defense was working and we should have been more aggressive.

in Maryland and Rutgers recruiting sphere, would you rather play in the ACC, the Big East, or the B1G? I think as they get money on campus, and their facilities improve, so will their programs. (Syracuse - have you seen the basketball dome they play football in?)

Being from DC, between Maryland, UVA, and Va Tech, there is probably more latent fandom in the Maryland fanbase. Tech are already active, and UVA are an arms length steeplchase sort of bunch (people that think Michigan fans are arrogant have to witness UVA grads first hand).

FWIW, the first ever college football game was played at Rutgers. So there is some legacy to latch onto there. Oh, and Rutgers has hockey.

on ESPN and he said part of this was in response to a shift in demographics. Given the amount of growth that is supposed to continue down the I85 corridor between Raleigh and Atlanta, if they could swing UVA and UNC they probably would swing this way. But I agree UNC leaving Duke behind would be lile Michigan leaving Ohio behind. (NC State is like little brother ... meh ...)

I also agree the only way UNC gets the urge to move is if the SEC or the Big 12 invite ACC teams and the conference further destabilizes.

I wouldn't discount Georgia Tech to quickly though. The SEC and Georgia may be attractive for them, but the academic fit isn't there. Anchoring at the bottom of the I85 growth zone, and well into supposedly talent rich SEC territory may still make sense.

I still think the Big12 is the odd man out. How does the Pac12 get to a viable 16 otherwise?

You have to take UNC and Duke.

That would polish B1G basketball and LAX credentials a lot, but doesn't buy you much TV market-wise or football. (http://www.stationindex.com/tv/tv-markets) Raliegh-Durham is the 27th ranked TV market.

Georgia Tech would be the bigger get ratings wise: Atlanta is #8. But the territory wouldn't be contiguous.

split the two columns in the middle out by offense and defense ...

I hope he takes it to the house (and there will be many moist eyes in Michigan Stadium).

East and All Over the Place

but the refs can't hear me through the TV.

I think PI is the point of emphasis this season and they are just not flagging anything not totally blatant to an impartial observer.

during the game, and did see it a few times. Especially in the early series. One of our guys would have a hand on someone, but not be fully engaged and the defender would burst by them to make a tackle.

So I am not sure what it takes to teach finishing technique, but I sure hope the lights come on at some point in the next two weeks.

people have found the answer to this puzzler. During the game I kept thinking Ski Mask U, and was wondering if they mistook us for MSU.

his stength and fundamentals left him. It is a long way from Kansas when you're playing a night game away at Nebraska, versus your buds on both sides of the ball in Ann Arbor.

if they are going to be running into an unblocked linebacker? Maybe Rawls can run though 1 out of 4 and get a few more yards, but that is not an answer.

I would imagine his teammates keep checking on him to make sure he's not upset. Of course BWC could have been asking if he was OK on problem 4 or something.

My take is this: Denard and then Russell have been getting the bulk of the reps in recent weeks. Devin needs more reps early in the week to get back up to speed. Who get snaps in practice tomorrow is more telling.

I don't see anything that says Denard won't be playing, and if he is taking snaps in practice I expect him to play. I think they are just working up Devin in case.

the kid had his first meaningful action at Nebraska, at night, from behind, in a clutch game as far as the division race is concerned. This is like when Molk went down in warm-ups at the Sugar Bowl. (I felt so bad for Rocko Khoury then when many people dumped on him.) Russell was taken off guard, and was totally flustered. The freak Smith turnover made it worse, and his fundamentals just left him.

Sure, he should have been better mentally prepared to step in, but remember the games against U Mass, Purdue, and Illinois, and how late into the game Denard played? Understood that Denard needed some game reps to get up to speed himself, but I would have given up one or two touchdowns in each of those games for six more series for Bellomy.

Then don't get me started on Gardner ... our game experienced back up QB that everyone thought should be a WR ...

The theme is that the player plays to the expectation for the position. Clearly Russell Bellomy did not. He was flustered, and I don't see that the coaching staff did enough to prepare him for it. They gambled on getting Denard more game experience and putting Devin at WR, and the chickens came home to roost.

It appears Ohio has figured out that Miller is the majority of their offense, and if he goes down they are screwed unless their backup QB is prepared to step in for clutch performance and OT win ...

Oh wait Kenny Guiton is a Junior. So other teams save their Junior bench QBs to employ as back up QBs ....

/S/

I think in order for it to be a reception, the receiver needs to maintain posession of the ball after contact with the ground, and the ball cannot touch the ground: particularly if it is moving around.

So, since Smith did not hang onto the ball it is not a reception, but because when we last see the ball it is between his arm and the ground it is not down yet. So when it goes flying out the other side (where we cannot see if the ball is touching the ground or not), that ball is effectively the same as a tipped pass.

I am thinking the ground can't cause a fumble rule is applied once posession is completely established.

The ball appears to be hitting the turf here:

And the ball is not firmly in his posession here (in the replay on TV you could see the ball moving):

It was reasonable to overturn the ruling on the field.

We are too reliant on one guy on our offense. Opposing defenses know and plan for this. The good ones can stop him, and the we cant score enough. Worse is what happens when he comee out of the game.

The B1G sucks, and helps to hide the faults. But we are not good enough.

about Gardner at WR, and how he was goign to get the 1 jersey ... well it didn't make any sense to take your big game experienced back up, and NOT practice and develop him at QB for an entire season. Especially when we now have either Gardner with a year less experience at QB reps, Bellomy, or freshman Shane as options next year.

The idea was fine last year for a couple of trick plays. They took a big gamble this year and the baloon payment just came due on the mortgage.

with the no huddle spread, where Rich was signaling in the adjustments as the opponent's defense lined up. Al's traditional huddle and called plays relying on Denard to audible seem to narrow the possibilities and thus make us more predictable and easy to defend.

Tom Brady or even Chad Henne by chance?

right now

15 minutes before game time and halfway through the season and you put up a post like this tempting the football hating gods? Are you nuts?

Knock on wood until your knuckles bleed this very instant!

because MSU has won 4 years in a row, and the Division could ride on this game (and we play Nebraska away).

Agreed that if MSU loses, they are looking at a 6-6 season right in the mouth. However if we lose, and lose at Nebraska, then all this talk about B1G Championship and Rose Bowl may be another year of wishing.

It is time to just win baby!

of college football.

So the refs need to get a handle on this early, and the O-line need to step up. The Taylor and Tom show may very well be a more entertaining subplot than the overall game.

took the same approach, the same answers would be headlines and the unwashed masses would be melting down on mlive.

I would rather he say "the MSU rivalry has always been important, and given its significance in the Division race it is even more important, but Ohio will always be our number one rivalry. That said, this week we are focusing on preparing for Michigan State." and be done with it. MSU bulletin board material be damned.

It seems like the big Michigan - MSU rivarly has been on BTN more often than not. I thought this was because BTN gets a few "good ones" a season, and ABC / ESPN doesn't feel this game gets enough national interest versus other choices on the same weekend. (Seems like Penn State rubbernecking is the in thing from national point of view this season, and the rest of the non-BCS ranked B1G is not worth watching.)

The upside is it further fuels Sparty's inferiority complex.

or maybe even MSU. I think the Ohio-like rivarly for Navy will always be Army. Those zoomies are relative young upstarts.

If SC loses a game, but beats Bama in the SEC championship, and WVU and Oregon run the table, then maybe the voters go for the two undefeateds.

there are many people who choose not to go to college because they don't like school.

I think it is more an insight on the hypocrisy of the system where people who have no interest in a higher education, are given scholarships, academic assistance, etc., just so that institution can succeed in a sport.

I am sure there are many ex-high school football players out there, who would really appreaciate the opportunity to continue playing football, and get a higher education. That is what is sad to me.

but I can appreciate that other people have traditions important to them, and that is a big part of why college football is special. This was precisely the OP's point - not the West Virigina / Country Road part.

and you guys are nitpicking because you have an anti-West Virginia / country bias. Maybe not Oregon, but many, many schools have traditions rolling back decades. The West Virginia example hear probably draws as high a percentage of tears as the band taking the field and the team touching the banner at Michigan Stadium.

The Georgia posts over the past week, and my own experiences at UNC games (Duke and NC State don't have a traditional feel), and friends who went to Va Tech and Clemson ... well it is fun to get out and experience the college football experience over the bland corporate NFL. (The NFL died for me when the Redskins left RFK for some field in Maryland.)

Section 1, did anyone ask Dantonio about the Jack Allen gouging Jonathon Hankins' eyes? Granted Hankins made some jackass statements before the game, but that combined with the late hits on Braxton Miller out of bounds int he first series, etc., made for a typical Sparty dirty game.

Not looking forward to this crap when they come to Ann Arbor. I just hope Taylor and the boys establish early on that shit will not be tolerated. Maybe they'll act the fools the week before against Iowa in East Lansing, and the Big Ten officials will be on the lookout for tomfoolery.

to kick their asses one more time in South Bend and then end the series ....

We could leave singing "It's Great to Be a Michigan Wolverine" ....

and my kid ad I were joking that we had a big mac happy meal bounty program for a simple (benign) TFL. Clearly we were on the pay for performace side of the equation.

I have seen this kind of behavior though. Usually if the parents and coaches made a big enough noise the refs start watching and flagging.

on content since it is a by-week, so I'm willing to give the OP a pass. I clicked on the link because I had already looked at all the others, check Blockhams.com for Friday Roughs, etc. So ...

they'd get Rocket the second time and make a statement. Bo wanted to kick away but decided on his staff's recommendation. He then took ownership for his decision in the press conference.

I too wish Bo's gut won out over his staff's bravado that day.

around to stare Sharp down, and drop an f-bomb or two on him.

both lines played better.

So I guess we'll see when the UFRs come out.

good.

Running XP and Firefox 10.0.7

I haven't been able to search the site or page past the first set of Diaries for over a year. Tried Chrome and IE. Same issues. Tried turning ad, pop-up, and flash block on and off (I allow ads for MGoBlog). Same issues.

The scarlet and grey anomolly has cleared now. Strange. Like my home was invaded and laptop hacked by Buckeyes ... didn't think that was something they were capable of.

as well. And I think the post your are responding to is missing the body type you describe, but the point is similar.

My son tried baseball, basketball, soccer, and football. When he was up to bat, or got the ball in the other sports it was a trying experience. Most players wouldn't pass to him, parents would audibly groan, so he had to make due defending in basketball and soccer, and getting the ball when it came his way. Each of these sports he eventually decided were just not for him.

He has played tackle since 2nd grade, and runs out on the field with a confidence that he is a key part of his team, and his teammates acknowledge his contribution. He's now a center and linebacker in 8th grade. When he made the team in 7th grade about a third of the team are 7th graders) many kids were surprised (presummably based on his awkwardness), but he wasn't. He was confident that as long as he competed in tryouts, he'd make the team.

Two differences I see:

1) soccer still can be dominated by one or two really skilled kids on a team at younger ages

2) football offers team roles for bigger kids who are awkward albatrosses when it comes to ball handling. This is really good for their self confidence.

Egyptian antiquities when they built the high Aswan dam ...

that guy, gal (I know you were defending), other guy, or transgendered person.

Seriously folks, there is something wrong with an unrestrained compulsion to correct minor grammatical errors of an unknown poster on a blog. You have no idea of the poster's socio-economic background, state of mental alertness, or input device keyboard and autocorrecting software.

Would you have stood up in Chicago and corrected Denard during his speech knowing his background and the situation in which he is speaking?

I for one, resist the urge to correct someone's grammar, and instead overlook the obvious error, and read along with the poster's intent. Your attempt to educate comes across as arrogance, and it discourages many reasonable Michigan fans of various backgrounds from commenting on this blog.

[FYI, I spell and grammar checked this post in word, just so you jerks could focus on my message rather than my grammar and spelling.]

and they solidified in time for the bulk of the B1G season. There was such wholesale change up front, that I am hoping for a coached up noticable improvement by the time we play State (and hopefully ND). the loss of Molk, Huyge, and Koger seem to have similarly impacted O line leadership and chemistry. Again hoping for some gelling as we progress.

We knew these were the spots that would be question marks. In years past we have watched Michigan State coach up a new dline, and Ohio do the same. So lets hope for question marks becoming good exclamation points.

wiggle room to dis Wisconsin for the B1G Championship Game if they don't win the Woody Division.

I would have said no, because last year I thought Bama's offense was so-so. I still think it is not the level of USC 2006, but that defense .... woah. Those guys came in like it was Tuesday at the office, and just executed with very few mistakes. They clearly did not overlook us, and Nick Saban put a heck of a gameplan together.

To me the funny thing is the all so polite fans were taunting us with S-E-C, S-E-C, when I think they should just be shout ROLL TIDE, or ALABAMA. Most of the SEC looks good but flawed and therefore beatable with a decent game plan and execution. Alabama was impressive.

It will be interesting to see if a team like USC can keep it close, cause some mistakes and beat Alabama. But they don't have the dual threat at QB. If our offense had more game time under their belts, and Denard could connect on more of his passes / Devin could haul them in, it would have opened the game up more. Enough? Not without a similar near flawless game by our defense.

Bottom line: end of season (with the injury caveat), this game looks different and we at least feel better coming out of it. After playing a few warm ups, maybe a little better. We just weren't ready, because practicing against each other, is nothing like playing a hard hitting team at full speed. I am glad by the way that the coaching staff "blooded" some of the Freshment. They will remember that experience and draw on it down the road.

So, long story short, this is the best team, that was fully prepared, we have come up against in a long time. (I think the '69 Buckeyes did not mentally prepare like Bama did. I also think the 2006 Wolverines did not mentally prepare for USC like Bama did.)

because we don't have big DBs that can toss Tree like a ragdoll, and Denard does not get a full press onslaught coming at him. (i.e., less pressure and less receiever impedance / different timing)

those interceptions put our defense in a bad place, as did our field position when we had to punt.

the Big Ten deep? I actually think the conference of late has been more competitve than this past you refer to. It is only recently that the rest of the Big Ten has cycled through with years of competitiveness. Wisconsin and Iowa have come on, Penn State for a while, then MSU. It was Ohio, Michigan, and whomever happened to be hot that year when one or the other was caught napping.

I think this quarterback of the year strategy Wisconsin has is misguided, but they'll be back. Two years ago they could have handled Bama way better than we did.

PSU will be hammered for a while - they cannot strategize their way around the sanctions like USC did.

Nebraska is a good addition, but we'll see where they are as the season goes on. I happen to think our game in Lincoln decides the B1G this year.

OSU appears to be back but capped by sanctions.

MSU is in transition, we'll see how they as the post-Rich Rod recruiting downturn hits them.

It's all cyclical and explainable. And I agree, the bulk of the SEC did not look that good either. Dave just signed us up for the toughest assignment imaginable out of the box, and we weren't ready yet.

( though someone will nit you on Toledo, Rich lost to them, while misusing or having run off Lloyd's guys ... /s ).

The cream puffs started when we went to more games in the money grub. As I recall Carr didn't want to add a 12th game (added risk of injury to his players, etc.) Add to that the ability to schedule cream puffs at home only, and the $$$ start rolling. And then Notre Dame became a cream puff for a while there too.

In the 80's we always had two major conference (or ND) non conference games and then the B1G slate. In '84 we beat Miami (YTM) before Jim harbaugh was injured and we went 6-6. We always had a Pac-10, ACC, SEC, or Big East (when Miami and BC were there) opponent at home, and one away, and ND would come on and off our schedule.

Somewhere in there, ND became a fixture, and the other games became the bottom of the other conferences, and then the MAC, and all the way "down" to App State and the UMass's of the world.

The stupid thing is, this was done for more money. I can understand a MAC school for a pre-season warm up, and maybe one other, but who wouldn't pay more for their season tickets if we had two semi-marquis or better match-ups in our non-conference schedule? You can't tell me it is not possible to set up alternate home and home schedules (ND home one year, while the other opponent is away, and visa-verse), and make up for the lost cupcake revenue of one game every other year through an increase in ticket cost for games that people actually want to see.

Anyway, back then, when going undefeated was the only path the the AP or Coaches Poll National Championship, losses in those pre-season games, especially the first one out of the box were devastating, and Notre Dame was a particular thorn in our side.

Anyway, yeah, step it up men!

[Link to former schedules FWIW.]

The rule says: "Defensive players may ward off or legally block an eligible pass receiver until that player occupies the same yard line as the defender or until the opponent could not possibly block him. Continuous contact is illegal"  How does this apply to a run play only or for that matter at all?

Please explain why a rule that says "eligible pass receiver" is only for a run play, when it doesn't say it is only for a run play? I agree that Rule 9, Section 3, Article 4 ends with "attempting to reach the runner", so it could be construed that the underlying parts are specifically about an instance where the play is a run. However, Part e -- "When a legal forward pass crosses the neutral zone ..." is clearly in the instance of a pass play.

Thus, I believe the Parts are in reference to either a pass or run situation. By that measure and the video replay above, I agree with the OP: Roundtree was even with or past the defender when the defender shoved him out of bounds. Roy flew sideways out of bounds, not backwards.

It should have been a 10 yard penalty.

That said, if the ref didn't see when Tree was pushed, it would be very hard to make the call, and since the push was well away from the interception it would not likely to have been scrutinized in the review without a flag having been thrown. So them's the breaks.

{Edit: Link to the rules FWIW.]

While it is a reprehensible practice, oversigning is legal, Alabama and LSU are able to put teams together like Bo and Woody did back when they had 100+ scholarships to work with. They just suck up all the talent for miles around, and thoe kids all still sign with Saban and Miles because they think think risk is worth the potential reward.

So until the cows come home, someone has to build a team in a cyclical way that they have the same depth of talent and can beat Bama anyway.

dude

felt like Wisconsin 2010 all over again ...

and play whoever loses between Oregon and USC in the Rose Bowl this year. Winning the B1G looks doable if Lewan is not out.

we just were unlucky as it was hard to implement in a trash tornado.

the last few years in key games (Texas, OSU, USC, etc.). Close games where we could score enough points to make up for a fading defense against top opponents.

App State, a faster USC, a faster Oregon, over and over again to a faster Troy Smith, etc. that created that conversation. Remember when Ron English first came in at DC and the defense devoted their summer to loosing weight, and getting faster and adding endurance?

The Wall Street Journal had an interesting article on NFL Players: Tired of Being Fat (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000087239639044437510457759114002989789...),

My view: Gittleson = old NFL and Wisconsin run stopping (or blocking) players and Barwis = new spread run / pass players, and Wellman is somewhere in between. The reason Bo didn't win many Rose Bowls is simple: he and Gittleson built their teams to win the old Big Ten and beat Ohio State. Wisconsin (and maybe Iowa) are the last vestiges of the old Big Ten.

Sure, maybe Gittleson could have evolved his conditioning program to bring what Rich wanted, but it was reasonable for Rich to bring in the guy he trusted to get the job done. just like it was reasonable for Brady Hoke to do the same.

I agree with the OP, Wellman has done some good work over the past two summers. I think the results are part Wellman's program building what Hoke needs, and part players like BWC, Q and Ash realizing no one is in front of them, time to graduation is short, and they need to get it done (now or never).

is there is enough maize on the shoulders that you could wear it to a maize out game and look maize in the crowd.

no humors bits at all in there. He's all serious, and feeding the Fort standard lines.

This has been the most boring pre-season since the internets came around to feeding us ...

The "gritty" walk-on who plays his way onto the field as a four year starter, and the gifted quarterback who grew up in challenging, disadvantaged circumstances, and has proven again and again how humble he is despite his stardom, and how much of a teammate and sportsman he is. These are young men we can be proud of.