Agreed. The decision to go for it on 4th down rather than taking the easy points (particularly when it would put you up 3 scores again) was infuriating, and the crazy bounce off of a defender to complete a pass is typical Lions-hating universe... but it was still the best year in my lifetime, and it feels like a corner has been turned. They may not be a bunch of world-beaters, but they don't feel like the dregs of the league any more either; I'd expect them to perform at average+ for the next several years.
Thank you for all of your contributions to the blog and beyond; my little brother (now in his final year at U-M Law) had some interactions with you in high school and was tickled pink that you wrote for MgoBlog, long after I'd introduced him to it (when I was in law school prior to 2009). Hope that this is your greatest year (in all dimensions) since 1998!
I realize this isn't a contractual quote, but to me, the "any that COULD arise" is the issue. If he says "contract survives no matter what the NCAA does for any of the following activities" and itemizes the things he thinks they're going after him for, then maybe. But it's always theoretically possible that Stalions funded his activities by blackmailing Harbaugh over sexts, and the university shouldn't exonerate him for that.
Agreed. Mad love for Harbaugh, and I'm sure there are better MGoLawyers on the board than I, but I can't see a scenario in which the University is literally signing off to any and all potential harm that could come up.
I'm at peace, as others have said, a little saddened that this era of college football is over, but happy that this resets the clock on so many records, and feels like anything could happen again.
We moved to Ann Arbor in 1988. My dad was a professor (and dual-degree alum), and we started getting season tickets when I was 8; we would walk the ~2 miles to the stadium, passing increasing crowds, and it was magical. I didn't understand the game at a strategic level, and firmly believed that Timmy Biakabutuka could have beaten any team in the country by himself (cue the SNL "Bears Fans" scenarios). Our family went to the Rose Bowl for the '97 game shortly before my parents split up, and Michigan football was one of the things that I hung onto in high school. I went away for college, went to UM for law school in 2006-2009 and (at the time) even masochistically enjoyed the fandom martyrdom of freezing against Minnesota, since I truly believed we'd be back on top. I just never thought it would take this long.
Personally, this team's resilience has been a source of steadiness. I started freelancing full-time after getting laid off in October of 2022 because my wife went back to work and we were only able to find half-time childcare for our then-2-year-old. She's now in a full-time program, but I haven't found the right opportunity to go back to traditional employment yet. I've been incredibly lucky that it's worked out (I was able to match my 2021 salary), but every month is variable, and seeing this team go out every week and get the job done, setting aside the new challenges, unforeseen wrinkles, and outside noise, has helped me get through my own anxieties.
My daughter has never seen Michigan lose to Ohio State. She hasn't been to a Big House game yet (maybe next year), and she doesn't enormously care (Tuesday morning I reminded her that Michigan won a championship and she said "Next time they win a championship you shouldn't be so loud"), but in the face of a chaotic, uncertain, complicated world, I love that this is something we have. That a team without any Heisman finalists could go out there and win it all. That Donovan Edwards could score 2 TDs in a quarter. That the team wasn't flawless, but were exactly what they needed to be.
I have chills reading this. I started dating my now-wife in the fall of 2008. She was not a football fan at the time (we both went to Cornell undergrad: football was an embarrassment, even by Ivy League standards), but she found "Better Son/Daughter" amusing, and started to get why this matters to me. I'm doing one pushup for every passing yard JJ throws for tonight. Our three-year-old (who has never seen Michigan lose to Ohio State, and is only just starting to follow games) will probably get on my back for some of them. I hope my arms collapse before halftime.
Honestly, I think Michigan has been a "scrappy, get it done" team all year. And that actually gives me more hope- if everybody plays clean, they could STILL hit a higher gear than what they've shown.
Which is to say at their current rate it would actually take until Year 5 to hit 100... next year only gets to 98/99 depending on if you round up or down.
The reasons why you lose matter; they can help you decide if you were unlucky or need to improve, how you can improve, and whether (in extreme cases) it's worth continuing to spend your energy on an activity. But it seems as if Ryan Day (and signgate enthusiasts) think that identifying a reason actually changes the outcome. It doesn't. And if the best reason you can come up with for your failure is "not my fault" you'll never improve.
THIS, to me, is what it is to be a Michigan man, and what this team has done (albeit painfully) since the end of the Carr era to get, at last, to success: trying different things (remember the sturm and drang over Lloyd Carr's coaching tree or lack thereof?), "eating bitter" (for all the Shaolin fans), and continuing to work, to improve, to play as a team, and to let the results speak for themselves.
I'm scared for this game. Partly because we haven't played a team that felt anywhere near as tough, partly because winning three in a row seems unimaginable after the last 20 years, and partly because of Barnhart/Harbaugh out... but that's all "vibes." We're playing at home, this team has everything to play for, and has shown throughout the season that it is about the team. McCarthy has an off-day? We win. Corum not the destroyer of worlds he was in 2022? We win. Run 36 times in a row? We win. I hope we don't make mistakes in this game. I would love to see MHJ completely shut down, but expect he burns us at least once. It won't matter. THE TEAM will win.
Thank you for this! My takeaways:
1. We're a cleaner team. Fewer mistakes, higher efficiency, more benefits from opponent mistakes.
2. Despite not feeling like our RBs are quite as dominant as they were last year, they're a clear asset- more YPP on more plays than the bad guys.
3. They're strongest early in the count- only 26% of their 1st downs came from 3rd or 4th down, v. 36% of ours. Make them grind it out and we've got this.
Not sure about the greatest win in program history, but yes, we will win this game.
This team has been focused on this goal all year, and still handled their business against all of the mediocrities that stood in their way. Now they FINALLY have a chance to silence all the doubters, get revenge on the would-be saboteurs, and they get to do it all at home.
Electronic messaging systems are not allowed, but smoke signals and messenger pigeons are clearly legal. Candygrams are a gray area best avoided lest we risk further NCAA investigations.
As an alum of both schools (Cornell BA, UM JD), I will just say, this was a phenomenal game. Hard-fought, thrilling, and went into OT, can't ask for much more than that (but I'm not a lacrosse expert by any stretch, so maybe you can).
I had the chance to meet him 1:1 in 2010 after leaving consulting and looking for my next role in Chicago. He was generous with his time, gave me a lot to think about, and clearly a ferocious competitor. I didn't agree with a lot of what he did (especially the Tribune fiasco), but he was a genuinely self-made child of immigrants, and (at least occasionally) self-aware in a way that many people successful in one field aren't. In his own words: "I could live out the rest of my life sitting on my own beach drinking mai tais every day... but I still want to win."
Oh, the Indiana comment... "These were no cheapies, either. 521 of those losses came against Big Ten teams, with 78 coming to Ohio State, 61 to Michigan, and a whopping 75 to… Purdue? Y’all lost 75 games to Purdue? In football? Good lord, this is Sacha Baron Cohen-levels of commitment to the bit" made me choke on my coffee.
So sorry to hear about that. My wife's been underemployed for basically her whole career since finishing her master's (partly the fault of relocation for my work, partly bad luck). She stopped looking in 2020 when we had our daughter, and we're hoping that the story of "mom re-entering the workforce") generates a little more sympathy now that she's applying again.
If you want to connect/have a chat, here's my linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacob-lehman-0781a97/
Happy to commiserate/see if there's anyone I could introduce you to who might be helpful.
Good to hear! I'd love to have a conversation with someone in-house; my previous experiences have been that they were leaning towards people with a big law firm background (which I did for one summer in law school and new that wasn't for me), but I'd be interested in getting into those roles. If you'd be comfortable making an introduction, I'd love to connect on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacob-lehman-0781a97/
Agreed, the psychology can be a bear. I'm fortunate to have a decent severance, some side hustles that are keeping me sane and from going too far in the red, and a 2-year-old to remind me that there are more important things than my ego.
I started this year with the super bowl; placed a $5 bet with a $200 bonus if it won (or something similar) and hedged that one on another site to start a bankroll. My total has increased slightly to $255 since then. I don't place parlays, I don't place large bets, I don't do outside research. Unlikely to ever be able to pay the bills with it, but the fact that I'm in the black after 500+ total bets is a small ego boost.
I'm new to betting this year (not counting March Madness pools); for CFB I'm generally taking underdogs. I place very small bets across a portfolio that I hope comes out ahead overall. I assume the vegas sharps know more than I do, so I'm almost never trying to outsmart them with an inside scoop or studying games, I tend to look for discrepancies across the bookmakers and take an outlier's good odds when they're given on the assumption that overall the others will be right and it will net out. I'm up $200 since January, on ~500 bets in total across multiple sports.
Today is busy! I'm taking
Louisville
SMU
Clemson
Auburn
Colorado
Florida
Indiana
JMU
Ball State
Tulane
Charlotte
Purdue
Wisconsin (F*ck the Bucks)
Boston College
Stanford
WMU
Good luck out there, and don't bet more than you can afford to.
Amen. Many years what's made that team down South (and Georgia last year) look so dominant offensively was not the occasional athletic uber-freak play, but the consistent ability to find the weakness in a defense... and the patience to go with what's working until the weaker team stops you.
Agreed, and thank you to poster for sharing the video. Seems like the article author was trying to stoke a conflict/alarm... this looks like an honest reaction describing his perceptions in response to direct question and accepting coach's decision, not a "surly" toxic locker room presence hating on JJ.
There's validity to both; his consistency and the results of last year should count for something, despite fans' fickleness/attraction to the shiny new object. At the same time, he can't think that he gets to rest on his laurels now and coast... that's not how sports/life works. Achievement should earn you some grace and patience on an off-day, but if an off-day turns into an off-month, you're out. He's young, though, I get the frustration. My only concern would be if the coaching staff wasn't honest with him and made him think he had it locked up in a way he didn't, that feels like a problem.
Recent Comments
Agreed. The decision to go for it on 4th down rather than taking the easy points (particularly when it would put you up 3 scores again) was infuriating, and the crazy bounce off of a defender to complete a pass is typical Lions-hating universe... but it was still the best year in my lifetime, and it feels like a corner has been turned. They may not be a bunch of world-beaters, but they don't feel like the dregs of the league any more either; I'd expect them to perform at average+ for the next several years.
... At least it's positive?
If you drink more and faster you can do more of both.
What about from a noir, independent authority that hands out punishments in no rational manner?
IYKYK
I don't know you, but I love you. You've got this.
Thank you for all of your contributions to the blog and beyond; my little brother (now in his final year at U-M Law) had some interactions with you in high school and was tickled pink that you wrote for MgoBlog, long after I'd introduced him to it (when I was in law school prior to 2009). Hope that this is your greatest year (in all dimensions) since 1998!
I realize this isn't a contractual quote, but to me, the "any that COULD arise" is the issue. If he says "contract survives no matter what the NCAA does for any of the following activities" and itemizes the things he thinks they're going after him for, then maybe. But it's always theoretically possible that Stalions funded his activities by blackmailing Harbaugh over sexts, and the university shouldn't exonerate him for that.
Agreed. Mad love for Harbaugh, and I'm sure there are better MGoLawyers on the board than I, but I can't see a scenario in which the University is literally signing off to any and all potential harm that could come up.
I'm hoping it's soon enough that she still cares more about my volume than the game... I wasn't even that loud!
I'm at peace, as others have said, a little saddened that this era of college football is over, but happy that this resets the clock on so many records, and feels like anything could happen again.
We moved to Ann Arbor in 1988. My dad was a professor (and dual-degree alum), and we started getting season tickets when I was 8; we would walk the ~2 miles to the stadium, passing increasing crowds, and it was magical. I didn't understand the game at a strategic level, and firmly believed that Timmy Biakabutuka could have beaten any team in the country by himself (cue the SNL "Bears Fans" scenarios). Our family went to the Rose Bowl for the '97 game shortly before my parents split up, and Michigan football was one of the things that I hung onto in high school. I went away for college, went to UM for law school in 2006-2009 and (at the time) even masochistically enjoyed the fandom martyrdom of freezing against Minnesota, since I truly believed we'd be back on top. I just never thought it would take this long.
Personally, this team's resilience has been a source of steadiness. I started freelancing full-time after getting laid off in October of 2022 because my wife went back to work and we were only able to find half-time childcare for our then-2-year-old. She's now in a full-time program, but I haven't found the right opportunity to go back to traditional employment yet. I've been incredibly lucky that it's worked out (I was able to match my 2021 salary), but every month is variable, and seeing this team go out every week and get the job done, setting aside the new challenges, unforeseen wrinkles, and outside noise, has helped me get through my own anxieties.
My daughter has never seen Michigan lose to Ohio State. She hasn't been to a Big House game yet (maybe next year), and she doesn't enormously care (Tuesday morning I reminded her that Michigan won a championship and she said "Next time they win a championship you shouldn't be so loud"), but in the face of a chaotic, uncertain, complicated world, I love that this is something we have. That a team without any Heisman finalists could go out there and win it all. That Donovan Edwards could score 2 TDs in a quarter. That the team wasn't flawless, but were exactly what they needed to be.
I have chills reading this. I started dating my now-wife in the fall of 2008. She was not a football fan at the time (we both went to Cornell undergrad: football was an embarrassment, even by Ivy League standards), but she found "Better Son/Daughter" amusing, and started to get why this matters to me. I'm doing one pushup for every passing yard JJ throws for tonight. Our three-year-old (who has never seen Michigan lose to Ohio State, and is only just starting to follow games) will probably get on my back for some of them. I hope my arms collapse before halftime.
Go Blue.
Win the game.
I will go to my grave believing that she says "maybe we'll have some f*ckin' pie" in this song.
Honestly, I think Michigan has been a "scrappy, get it done" team all year. And that actually gives me more hope- if everybody plays clean, they could STILL hit a higher gear than what they've shown.
You can't see the stars during the Day time...
Which is to say at their current rate it would actually take until Year 5 to hit 100... next year only gets to 98/99 depending on if you round up or down.
The reasons why you lose matter; they can help you decide if you were unlucky or need to improve, how you can improve, and whether (in extreme cases) it's worth continuing to spend your energy on an activity. But it seems as if Ryan Day (and signgate enthusiasts) think that identifying a reason actually changes the outcome. It doesn't. And if the best reason you can come up with for your failure is "not my fault" you'll never improve.
THIS, to me, is what it is to be a Michigan man, and what this team has done (albeit painfully) since the end of the Carr era to get, at last, to success: trying different things (remember the sturm and drang over Lloyd Carr's coaching tree or lack thereof?), "eating bitter" (for all the Shaolin fans), and continuing to work, to improve, to play as a team, and to let the results speak for themselves.
I'm scared for this game. Partly because we haven't played a team that felt anywhere near as tough, partly because winning three in a row seems unimaginable after the last 20 years, and partly because of Barnhart/Harbaugh out... but that's all "vibes." We're playing at home, this team has everything to play for, and has shown throughout the season that it is about the team. McCarthy has an off-day? We win. Corum not the destroyer of worlds he was in 2022? We win. Run 36 times in a row? We win. I hope we don't make mistakes in this game. I would love to see MHJ completely shut down, but expect he burns us at least once. It won't matter. THE TEAM will win.
Go Blue. Beat Ohio.
"Architecturally, nothing stood out to me about the Taj Mahal." - Denzel Burke
"From a filmic perspective, nothing stood out to me about Citizen Kane" - Denzel Burke
"Nothing stood out to me about Muhammad Ali's boxing" - Denzel Burke
Agreed. "Nothing stood out to me about the works of Bach" is more of a self-own than a dis.
I think he knew where to get the vacuum... gently used, well refurbished.
Same. Or perhaps, Emas.
I'm gettin' high watchin' time fly.
Thank you for this! My takeaways:
1. We're a cleaner team. Fewer mistakes, higher efficiency, more benefits from opponent mistakes.
2. Despite not feeling like our RBs are quite as dominant as they were last year, they're a clear asset- more YPP on more plays than the bad guys.
3. They're strongest early in the count- only 26% of their 1st downs came from 3rd or 4th down, v. 36% of ours. Make them grind it out and we've got this.
4. Fuck 'em.
Not sure about the greatest win in program history, but yes, we will win this game.
This team has been focused on this goal all year, and still handled their business against all of the mediocrities that stood in their way. Now they FINALLY have a chance to silence all the doubters, get revenge on the would-be saboteurs, and they get to do it all at home.
LFG.
Electronic messaging systems are not allowed, but smoke signals and messenger pigeons are clearly legal. Candygrams are a gray area best avoided lest we risk further NCAA investigations.
Excellence is a habit, and this team has demonstrated it so thoroughly I don't see them letting up. 34-13.
+10 for use of "panglossian" and "augurs" in the same post... thank you Mr. Roget (or maybe putting that classics degree to good use?)
Lawyer turned consultant here... and I don't disagree.
pedant or pedo?
"Ball don't lie." Brings back fond memories of the NBA Championship Pistons...Love it.
As an alum of both schools (Cornell BA, UM JD), I will just say, this was a phenomenal game. Hard-fought, thrilling, and went into OT, can't ask for much more than that (but I'm not a lacrosse expert by any stretch, so maybe you can).
I had the chance to meet him 1:1 in 2010 after leaving consulting and looking for my next role in Chicago. He was generous with his time, gave me a lot to think about, and clearly a ferocious competitor. I didn't agree with a lot of what he did (especially the Tribune fiasco), but he was a genuinely self-made child of immigrants, and (at least occasionally) self-aware in a way that many people successful in one field aren't. In his own words: "I could live out the rest of my life sitting on my own beach drinking mai tais every day... but I still want to win."
May his memory be for a blessing.
Advice and/or introductions to relevant people would be great; thank you!
Oh, the Indiana comment... "These were no cheapies, either. 521 of those losses came against Big Ten teams, with 78 coming to Ohio State, 61 to Michigan, and a whopping 75 to… Purdue? Y’all lost 75 games to Purdue? In football? Good lord, this is Sacha Baron Cohen-levels of commitment to the bit" made me choke on my coffee.
So sorry to hear about that. My wife's been underemployed for basically her whole career since finishing her master's (partly the fault of relocation for my work, partly bad luck). She stopped looking in 2020 when we had our daughter, and we're hoping that the story of "mom re-entering the workforce") generates a little more sympathy now that she's applying again.
If you want to connect/have a chat, here's my linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacob-lehman-0781a97/
Happy to commiserate/see if there's anyone I could introduce you to who might be helpful.
Good to hear! I'd love to have a conversation with someone in-house; my previous experiences have been that they were leaning towards people with a big law firm background (which I did for one summer in law school and new that wasn't for me), but I'd be interested in getting into those roles. If you'd be comfortable making an introduction, I'd love to connect on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacob-lehman-0781a97/
Agreed, the psychology can be a bear. I'm fortunate to have a decent severance, some side hustles that are keeping me sane and from going too far in the red, and a 2-year-old to remind me that there are more important things than my ego.
I'm happy to connect on Linkedin if that works for you: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacob-lehman-0781a97/
Thank you!
I started this year with the super bowl; placed a $5 bet with a $200 bonus if it won (or something similar) and hedged that one on another site to start a bankroll. My total has increased slightly to $255 since then. I don't place parlays, I don't place large bets, I don't do outside research. Unlikely to ever be able to pay the bills with it, but the fact that I'm in the black after 500+ total bets is a small ego boost.
Following up (and a little more on my strategy):
I'm new to betting this year (not counting March Madness pools); for CFB I'm generally taking underdogs. I place very small bets across a portfolio that I hope comes out ahead overall. I assume the vegas sharps know more than I do, so I'm almost never trying to outsmart them with an inside scoop or studying games, I tend to look for discrepancies across the bookmakers and take an outlier's good odds when they're given on the assumption that overall the others will be right and it will net out. I'm up $200 since January, on ~500 bets in total across multiple sports.
Today is busy! I'm taking
Louisville
SMU
Clemson
Auburn
Colorado
Florida
Indiana
JMU
Ball State
Tulane
Charlotte
Purdue
Wisconsin (F*ck the Bucks)
Boston College
Stanford
WMU
Good luck out there, and don't bet more than you can afford to.
Marylanders are also inordinately fond of their state flag...
I'm going for the long shots straight up tonight: UTEP and Nevada. Not great teams, but their opponents are beatable, and payouts are good.
Not placing my bets on tomorrow's games until the morning, so I'll let y'all know then.
You're right... by the time we get to a bowl game he won't complete a single pass!
Amen. Many years what's made that team down South (and Georgia last year) look so dominant offensively was not the occasional athletic uber-freak play, but the consistent ability to find the weakness in a defense... and the patience to go with what's working until the weaker team stops you.
Happy Birthday Bryan! Shockingly similar score differential predictions from the two of you, though...
Brilliant, gents. I'll be driving home around kickoff, likely getting in around 8:30; over-under on Michigan up 14-0 by then?
The devil's victory: 66-6.
Can confirm, goes well with coffee.
Agreed, and thank you to poster for sharing the video. Seems like the article author was trying to stoke a conflict/alarm... this looks like an honest reaction describing his perceptions in response to direct question and accepting coach's decision, not a "surly" toxic locker room presence hating on JJ.
There's validity to both; his consistency and the results of last year should count for something, despite fans' fickleness/attraction to the shiny new object. At the same time, he can't think that he gets to rest on his laurels now and coast... that's not how sports/life works. Achievement should earn you some grace and patience on an off-day, but if an off-day turns into an off-month, you're out. He's young, though, I get the frustration. My only concern would be if the coaching staff wasn't honest with him and made him think he had it locked up in a way he didn't, that feels like a problem.