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Date Title Body
24 weeks 2 days ago Auburn's other starting running backs

were Lionel James and Tommy Agee - together w/ Bo Jackson, was an incredible backfield - M was the only team to hold them w/o a TD that year. 

One other tidbit - Auburn's use of the wishbone inspired Bo to install the package as M's short yardage / goal line package - with Bob Perryman, Dan Rice, Gerald White and Jamie Morris all available for that set, it was very effective. 

 
49 weeks 9 hours ago Sugar Bowl

doesn't that Sugar Bowl incident work against OSU here?  If I were the NCAA officials that approved the agreement to permit players to participate in the bowl game, I might be a bit unhappy that Tressel flat out lied to us while negotiating the deal - makes the NCAA look very bad in hindsight - hell hath no fury like a bureaucrat scorned. 
1 year 11 weeks ago Well Spoken Kid

One of the interesting things so far in the Hoke era is that he appears to be selling the academic reputation of Michigan a lot harder than had been the case with RR and, frankly, with much of the Carr era.  He is going after some very smart kids that value the Michigan educational excellence, in addition to being great football players.  Camren Williams comes across as very sharp in the interview.  You can't make up the whole team of 4.0 kids, but it is an important part of the puzzle IMO.

BTW, if you go back and look at the # of academic all-americans historically at Michigan, almost all of them played for Bo - it really dropped off under Mo/Lloyd/RR.  Smart kids not only gravitate toward Michigan vs. some of its competitors, but in theory should make fewer mistakes, learn faster and be more coachable.  I think Bo understood that and benefitted from it  - good to see that Hoke seems to recognize it as well.

 

 
1 year 27 weeks ago thanks for posting

for us older MGoBloggers, '85 was a special year, particularly coming off the 6-6 1984 season where some thought the game had passed Bo by.
1 year 27 weeks ago and very few 4/5 star recruits

not that the star system existed back in the dark ages - beyond probably Brad Cochran, Mark Messner and possibly Garland Rivers, the '85 defense was not made up of a bunch of nationally touted HS recruits.  In fact, in the 1983 class, the Media meme was George Perles at MSU eating Bo's lunch as far as recruiting in state went - players like Pat Shurmur, Mark Nichols and Dean Altobelli to State while Michigan had to settle for 2nd best.  The more things change, the more they stay the same...
1 year 29 weeks ago rush 4 or 5 consistently

not all out blitz, but given that our LB zone drops are consistently bad, just send 1 of them routinely in passing situations - still leaves 6 in coverage, allowing 2- or 3-deep will reasonable underneath coverage.  I'd rather have Roh, Demens or Mouton blitizing than the extra guy in coverage
1 year 29 weeks ago BWS captures the problem in one simple page

is there any doubt this team was not prepared by its coaches?  Youth on D has masked the problem - this defensive staff cannot and should not survive
1 year 29 weeks ago Illinois precedent

When Zook cleaned house after last season, he hired new DC / Secondary coach and gave him the authority to pick his own staff - hired new OLB coach but kept the incumbents at D-line and ILB.  Result has been immediate improvement year 1.

Could be a model for U-M:  hire new DC and let the DC make decisions on his staff and scheme - maybe he keeps Tall, Gibson and/or Braithwaite and maybe not. But to get the right DC, RR needs to give him autonomy on staff and scheme. 

I think RR should stay but it can't be business as usual on the defensive side - I understand the no talent meme and do not discount that, but there is not much to point to support the current defensive staff - our defensive talent, such as it is, is not getting better as the season progresses.  The same could be said last season - coaching problem needs to be addressed.
1 year 31 weeks ago Herron not on list

Anyone else surprised he did not see the field vs MSU? Thought he was effective prior to his injury
1 year 31 weeks ago tackling fundamentals

M obviously missed a ton of tackles Saturday - it looked like our guys were tackling high - led to a couple of face mask penalties but mostly backs / receivers just ran through the tackle - it was consistent enough that even my wife was complaining - when I played (light years ago) we were taught to drive through the mid-section - for those that are more current in the coaching world, has conventional wisdom changed on tackling technique? 
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