Can someone smarter than me tell me how this won't put schools in different states at a massive competitive disadvantage? I have to believe Virginia (assuming the law passes) will not be the only state to do this, but then there are other states that will strike this down before it ever has a chance to see the light of day.
Whether the reasoning for rejecting the law is sound or not, how does it not put Michigan at an extreme disadvantage if the state government doesn't approve a similar law, but state governments in Ohio, Texas, Alabama, Georgia, California, and elsewhere all do? Now they all have a massive alternate route for providing money to athletes that Michigan, legally, does not.
Personally I'm not sure I'd want a law passed like this anywhere. Would it not push some schools that are already operating in the red even further into debt, causing massive ramifications for non-revenue sports and maybe the athletic department as a whole?
I honestly didn't even think about that. Michigan is on three years probation, so is the NCAA going to use this probation period as an excuse to come back with Sign-Gate and say "you broke probation, now you're f****d"?
I honestly wouldn't put it past the NCAA to, like you said, be playing the long game here. Put down a slap on the wrist for Burger-Gate, but set up the chess board so that when it comes time for Sign-Gate, it allows them to come down with the punishment they really want. So then they can have their 50 lbs of flesh and say they still matter because they took down big, bad Michigan.
And honestly, even independent of the NCAA, what's stopping the rest of the Big Ten over this remaining three year period from collaborating again and saying "Okay guys, we've got three years. Time to put our heads together and see whatever other dirt we can dig up!" You really think MSU and OSU won't be using this time to find whatever else they can?
They've done it before, and that was when Michigan was in the midst of a title run that dropping them out of could've lost the conference a lot of money. There is nothing to dissuade them from doing it again.
Even with Dusty May coming in and the promise of a better future, Michigan can't remotely compete with that. That's just a fact.
Back to back defending national champions, far and away the most dominant team in men's college basketball over that time period, and they extend you an offer?
Tarris would've been stupid not to take it. Honestly, no hard feelings. If Tarris was my son, I'd tell him to do the same thing. One program is at the pinnacle and is a straight apex predator right now. Michigan is all the way down at the bottom of the mountain, just trying to figure out how to get back up on its feet.
Just keeps going to show that the NCAA can (and will) only punish schools that ALLOW IT to happen.
I know a lot of us think the NCAA is incompetent. I don't think they are. At least not as much as they are made out to be. What they are is a schoolyard bully that a lot of kids are starting to learn how to stand up to. But a school like Michigan hasn't. Michigan is the one kid in the yard that either can't fight back, can't defend itself, or chooses not to. That makes you daily fresh meat.
I don't advocate going and looking for trouble, but until something changes where you decide its time to stand up and defend yourself, the bully is going to keep coming back to you, time and time again, demanding your lunch money, your shoes, the answers to tonight's math homework. Tomorrow he's going to want your bike, your backpack, and your Nintendo Switch.
Until you give them a reason to stop bullying you, they are not going to stop. So at this point, if Michigan can't defend itself from the NCAA or worse, chooses not to, then frankly it deserves the treatment it gets.
While this is all entirely subjective and there probably isn't one right answer, I'd say the best is probably 2023 OSU. Simply because of everything that was at stake. It was the last Michigan-OSU game that was truly winner-take-all. Every year following (unless they meet in the playoffs) is just for bragging rights and playoff seeding.
More than that, that game was a referendum on Harbaugh's entire program. What his legacy and the legacy of his team was going to be, what kind of man he was/is. The legacy and personal/professional reputation of every single member of that program, and those who came before them in the previous two years, were all on the line. Fair or unfair, that was the deal, and had Michigan lost, it would've stayed with them forever. They would've been remembered by everyone outside of Michigan fandom as nothing but a bunch of cheaters. It would've been a self-reinforcing echo chamber across the national landscape, people would've been writing about it for months on end, you'd hear about it on ESPN every day. All it would've been was Cheaters. Cheaters. Cheaters. And when you say something loud enough and long enough, eventually people start to believe you.
And you'd better believe Ryan Day would've used a win as a platform to vent all of his frustrations and say EVERYTHING he wanted to say about Michigan. It would've been a self-righteous, petty, condescending victory speech about how OSU is the vanguard of justice for college football, and how their victory is a victory for all that is good and true in college sports. It would've made his ND post-game look like tea time with Barney. And he'd remind people of it EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.
But they won, and they shattered that narrative to everyone outside of Columbus and East Lansing. That win so exponentially important for as many reasons off the field as there were on the field.
Honorable Mentions
2021 OSU - Was probably the most euphoric win over OSU because they finally managed to do it. And it wasn't a fluke win. It was a dominant ass-kicking.
2022 OSU - Showed that 2021 was not an aberration. It was not a "blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while." It wasn't "well they were just due, had a bunch of seniors and got lucky." OSU's seemingly unbreakable psychological edge that they had for 20 years finally came crashing down.
Rose Bowl - beat Nick Saban and the SEC in the playoff, at the Rose Bowl, while still many pundits out there saying "Yeah good for you, you beat OSU again. You can't handle the best of the SEC." Man, when you shut Paul Finebaum up, that's a good day. You couldn't have asked for a more nationally meaningful win in a better setting, and you may never have a game like that at the Rose Bowl ever again.
National title game - I mean yes it was amazing, but it felt a little like beating Finland after beating the Soviets. But it was great from the standpoint of being able to take all the hate from the previous 2-3 months, all the criticism, and throw it right back in their faces. It was the ultimate "eff you" to everyone who had been screaming CHEATERS CHEATERS CHEATERS for three months, because there was nothing they could do it about it. They had to sit there and eat their shame sandwich with a side order of s**t.
I'm really curious how the trajectory of Harbaugh's program would've changed from 2017 onward if he'd won that day. And then you also have to wonder if the renaissance from 2021 onward would've even happened? Would it have even needed to happen, because they would've gotten the proverbial monkey off their back five years sooner?
Curious how much of this was Michigan brass deciding "Harbaugh isn't here anymore, no sense in trying to protect him at the expense of Sherrone and his staff and continue a dark cloud hanging over the program indefinitely."
I'm still waiting for indisputable proof that Harbaugh lied or knowingly deceived the NCAA about this stuff, and to me this all just continues to show that the NCAA will only punish schools that allow them to do so. But if this allows Sherrone and Co. to move forward and put it all to bed, fine.
At the end of all of this, whatever. Michigan won the national title despite OSU's best efforts to dismantle the entire season and brand Michigan as a bunch of foul, disgusting cheaters. Michigan won it all anyway, and there's a potential argument to be made that all of this made this team even more focused, more determined, and contributed to them winning the title.
That is rubbing salt and lemon juice into a wide open, gushing OSU wound. After Charlie Baker's "fair and square" comments, OSU has no choice but to sit there and take it. They have to eat their shame sandwich with a side order of s**t.
I think he has the potential, certainly, to warrant having been a top-5 pick by the end of his career. He's probably the most polarizing QB prospect in the draft because there's just a lot of relative unknowns, how much was Harbaugh "keeping his stallion in the barn," and can McCarthy sling it across the yard and win a game for you throwing 30-40x a game if he needs to.
Don't know the answer to that. Only time in college he had to play that kind of game, he lost. Some of that wasn't his fault, defense didn't play great, but he gave away 14 points to TCU.
My level of confidence in his career outlook depends largely on who drafts him. If he ends up with the Vikings, who have quite a bit of talent he can play with right now, he may be in really good shape. If he goes to the Broncos, he could have a rough first year or two as will be a team devoid of a lot of talent, but the prospect of pairing him with Sean Payton for the long term is extremely tantalizing to think about. If he goes to the Pats....dunno. New HC for the first time in over twenty years. That's all an unknown.
If he goes to the Giants or the Commanders, then god help him.
Guess I'm not really answering the question. Do I think he's a top-5 pick this year? Yes, but a good part of that is a product of him being a QB and going into a very QB-driven league. That said, he has the potential to be the best QB in this entire draft class when its all said and done.
Everyone deserves a second chance, and I don't believe Denard is a repeat offender. At least as far as drinking and driving goes.
I just don't see him getting that opportunity at Michigan. Already had to let Scruggs go for the same issue. Moore has to set the tone really early for what he wants his program to stand for, even if that means letting guys go who are Michigan mainstays and were otherwise net gains on your program.
Michigan, to me, has earned the benefit of the doubt on who it wants to recruit and who it takes. Sure, I'd like to have this kid, but they've taken a bunch of three star, low - mid four star guys, a light dash of five stars, and used that team to win a national championship and beat OSU three straight times.
I trust who they get until they give me a reason not to.
Of course they're not going to listen. They haven't by now so what indication is there at all that they ever will? MSU and OSU fans will take Sign-Gate to the grave that this will be the biggest scandal in college sports history, and there is nothing you, I or anyone can do to dissuade them from that. To them, Sign-Gate is all they have left to cling to that can keep them away from the reality that Michigan actually won it all. It's a coping mechanism and nothing more, particularly for OSU fans who have been coddled for two decades and never knew anything but winning. To them, there had to be SOME OTHER REASON Michigan won these past few years. They couldn't possibly have been better than OSU because they'd never seen it before.
To them, cheating was the only way Michigan could've gotten the better of them. Saying that to themselves makes them feel better and allows them to keep living in the 2000 - 2019 world they came from where Michigan couldn't stop getting in its own way.
Everyone else has seemed to accept reality and moved on with their life. If they want to cling to "ARGH CONNER STALLIONS VAST NETWORK CHEATERS CHEATERS CHEATERS" for dear life and hope that somehow anything comes out of it, then that is their cross to bear.
So fucking stupid. Call an Uber, man. Or better yet, you’re Denard Robinson, in Ann Arbor. Half the town’s population would be happy to drive you home on their own dime, no questions asked.
You’ve got a family, dude. Why put them and yourself in this position?
I don’t know if that’s the end of his coaching career, but that’s likely the end of it at Michigan.
If you mosey over to MSU / OSU boards, all Michigan players should be banned from the NFL for life for desecrating the sanctity of the game. Harbaugh should be dragged out of LA in handcuffs and locked in San Quentin because reasons, and the rest of the staff should be show-caused for 20 years and not allowed to coach volunteer pee-wee football, much less major college coaching.
OSU should be retroactively awarded the national title because "Well, they never should've been there anyway, so that #1 seed was our rightful spot and of course we would've beaten Bama and Washington."
I think everyone else by and large has stopped caring. Its not a story anymore, Michigan put all that "we're only any good because of Conner Stallions" crap to bed. Only butthurt, desperate, self-righteous OSU / MSU fans still care and are F5'ing their keyboards maniacally, waiting for updates that the NCAA will do anything. Everyone else has shrugged their shoulders, accepted reality and moved on with their life.
What was up with Michigan's constant postseason blunders?
Up until this past season of course, it seemed like Michigan had some kind of systemic issue when it came to preparing for the postseason. It seemed to transcend coaches. Harbaugh won the national title of course, but when factoring that in still went 3-6 in the postseason. Hoke was 1-2, Rich-Rod 0-1, Carr was 6-7, Moeller was the only outlier and went 4-1, Bo was 5-12.
So what was the issue? Was the team just that emotionally drained following OSU? Poor game-planning for out of conference opponents? Overlooking opponents? Apathy towards the postseason since OSU, in almost every situation, IS THE SEASON? I don't think it was always "well the other team was just better."
The Orange Bowl semi-final, the Citrus Bowl with Bama, and probably the Gator Bowl with RichRod are the only bowl games in recent memory that I look at and say "From the moment that game was scheduled, there probably wasn't much Michigan could've done to win that game."
I went to the Draft in 2013 with my uncle when I still lived in NY. Was happy I did it, I get to say I've been before, but I'm not going to be rushing back to do it again. Even when/if it comes down here to Atlanta.
The "free" tickets are technically free, but we waited for hours to see if we could even get tickets to just get in the door. Granted, Radio City Music Hall is a much smaller venue than where they're hosting the event now, but sitting around waiting just to find out that you could get in stunk.
There is a LOT of waiting around. Especially if you go on the day of the first round. They gave us little radio headsets to cycle through different channels so you could listen to Kiper/McShay/Gruden commentary on the picks, but otherwise you were just sitting around waiting for announcements, and with the first round being I think 9-10 mins between picks, you're waiting around for a LONG time. My uncle eventually decided to leave by I think the 19th or 20th pick. He didn't care to wait around and see the Giants pick.
In retrospect, going to the draft that year was probably the worst year to go to a draft in terms of watching star power that lasted in the league. That entire draft (at least the first round) was devoid of hot shot skill position players or QBs. Only first round QB taken that year was freaking Christian Ponder. It was A LOT of OL/DL "in the trenches" kind of guys. I think the first 4-5 picks were all linemen or linebackers. The only WR taken in the top 10 was Tavon Austin.
Cleveland hosted the NFL Draft a few years ago. CLEVELAND. If Cleveland can host the draft, Detroit can too.
I haven't been back in downtown Detroit in a few years, but when I was last there in 2017, I didn't feel even remotely unsafe. And I'm guessing its gotten even better since then. Are there bad pockets of town? Absolutely. But there's bad areas of town everywhere.
Commence all the OSU and MSU fans yelling out "SEE SEE SEE HE'S NOT A FIRST ROUNDER, HE DOESN'T WANT TO GO AND HUMILIATE HIMSELF, THE JIG IS UP, HE'S A CHEATER ARGH HIS WINS AGAINST US NEVER HAPPENED RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE!"
Even if that were true, Harbaugh had always been pretty clear that winning a Super Bowl was still a goal for him. That's something that Michigan can never offer him, no matter how much money they give to him, how much money it pledges to NIL, to an assistant budget. No college job can offer what he's looking for now.
Harbaugh accomplished everything here he could possibly accomplish. He did something I honestly felt like might never happen at Michigan again. Short of the "only thing better than one national title is two national titles" incentive, what else was left for him to do here?
I'm not sure there's really anything Michigan could've offered him that would've convinced him to stay. He could leave knowing the program was in a great position, and that he'd accomplished all he'd set out to accomplish.
Brian and Co. talked about this on the podcast earlier this week. It’s a proper gesture to Juwan, who by all accounts has handled being fired with as much professionalism and dignity as you can ask him for, to let his son finish out his career at UM if that’s what he wants.
It May wants to give him a shot, that should be good enough for all of us.
The American Crime Story miniseries with OJ was really good. Not as good as the following season about Gianni Versace's assassination, but still very good. Season 3 about Monica Lewinsky was a step down or two in quality, but not bad.
Side-note: the Gianni Versace season of American Crime Story is one of the best single seasons of any show I've ever watched. Its not so much about Versace as it is about his assassin, Andrew Cunanan. Darren Criss was friggin' awesome in that role, is a Michigan alum in real life, and gave a "Go Blue" shout-out in his Emmy acceptance speech.
Northwestern probably couldn't convince its own fans to go down there for that game. They have a hard enough time convincing their own fans to attend games right in Evanston.
While opposing fanbases like Michigan, OSU, Nebraska or PSU would pack Soldier Field for games, I don't know how much of that money Northwestern would see. A very sizable portion of the proceeds, if not a majority, might go to Soldier Field. If Northwestern can at least keep the game on its own turf, they can have all the ticket proceeds come directly to them as opposed to having to share it with someone else, if not give it all away entirely.
Best of luck to him. If he goes to MSU, then so be it.
Can't be all smiles when we take Tony Alford away from OSU then flail our arms up in the air yelling at the clouds when one of our own wants to go to MSU.
People who ride their bicycles on the road instead of the sidewalk. I get that you don’t want to run into pedestrians, and I get that it’s legal, but I don’t want to run into an oncoming car while trying to avoid running into you. I think you hitting someone else with your bike is far less serious than me slamming into another car head on while I try to get just far enough out of the way to avoid hitting you.
OSU certainly had a claim to be considered the #2 team in the country last year. OSU was a team where I can say if Michigan played them a second time, I'm not entirely sure Michigan wins. Georgia probably goes in that category as well as long as Michigan gets their best game.
OSU lost by 6, on the road to the #1 team in the country, on the final drive, in plus territory. Putting my bias and OSU hatred aside, its hard to dog them too much for that.
The towns themselves might not be different from one another (never been to Fayetteville or Lexington so I don't know for sure), but the programs themselves are VASTLY different from one another.
To be clear, Arkansas is not a slouch of a program. That's not what I'm saying. But one is infinitely more prestigious as a program, one will get you considerably more spotlight, and I'm also willing to bet you're going to make considerably more money at Kentucky (playing basketball) than you will at Arkansas. Kentucky is basketball royalty. Arkansas is not.
Kentucky boosters will funnel w/e NIL money is necessary into the basketball program to win. Even at the expense of the football program, if necessary. Arkansas likely has to decide how it wants to split up between football and basketball. Kentucky does not need to answer that question. Kentucky basketball will get w/e is necessary to win, and the football program can have w/e is left over.
Yes, Mark Stoops is doing a great job in Lexington and has raised the bar there. But football will ALWAYS be a very distant second fiddle on that campus, and that's not up for debate. I doubt Stoops himself would even debate that.
I'm sure Calipari will be able to lure recruits to Arkansas. But at the same caliber and clip as he did in Lexington? My money says doubtful.
Unless Calipari is willing to overhaul is entire philosophy of how he runs his programs (building off one and dones) I don't see how this move makes sense for him unless the relationship he has with the AD and the fans in Lexington are just that toxic now.
You're not going to be able to draw better talent to Arkansas than you are to Kentucky. I don't know what kind of one and done talent you're going to be able to draw to Arkansas but it certainly won't be the caliber of player you can get to come to Lexington.
Either way, maybe this is a mutual decision. Seems like Kentucky has been getting bounced from the first week of the tournament very frequently in recent years.
Basketball and football are two different worlds. I don’t be grudge and hold against Matt Painter the things that a grandstanding, virtue signaling turd like Ryan Walters says. I don’t care about “conference loyalty,” but if Purdue wins, I’ll be happy for them. Painter seems like a good dude.
That said, Ryan Walters and his “we have the receipts, we have the transactions, we know what you did” bullshit can honestly fuck off. I will laugh whenever I see his team lose.
If you, Bielema, and everyone who took the opportunity to gang up on Michigan during Sign-Gate REALLY CARED about what happened, you would’ve begged your AD to give back every last cent your school made off of Michigan’s trips to the CFP. Because to you, it’s just blood money, right? You don’t want to make a profit on “screwing over” the truthful, honest, hard working programs, right?
Not a single conference member has given back any of those funds.
Not going to Tigers Opening, but heading out to the Rockies Opening Weekend. Bit of an every other year or so tradition my Daddy and I in have to go see a game at a ballpark we haven't been to yet.
Never seen a game at Coors but got some absolutely fantastic baseball weather out here in Denver!
Best of luck to him. He stuck it out through some pretty tough times with a fanbase that never seemed to care much for what he could (or couldn’t) do on the court. Don’t care who you are, that’s tough to deal with.
I know this is based largely if not entirely on the fact that Sherrone has been putting his staff in place, but it just feels odd that there haven't been any commitments since the national title game.
Not saying its a problem. There's been a good reason for it. Just feels a bit weird anyway. I'm guessing if Harbaugh was here and we weren't turning over most of the staff it would've been happening already. Hope Sherrone is still able to capitalize on all that positive momentum!
Going to take a lot to even get this team into position to be on the bubble heading into Selection Sunday next year. I don’t expect them to make the tournament next year and considering what Dusty is inheriting that’s likely an unfair expectation, but he absolutely seems to have things trending in the right direction early on.
I'm guessing we may never know the full scope of what happened between Juwan and Sanderson, but there is very likely some bad blood still remaining between Sanderson and Michigan. Or more specifically, Sanderson and Warde.
Warde stuck by Juwan through all of it when there appears to have been very little reason to, and I'm sure that was the final nail in the coffin for Sanderson to decide he was no longer welcome in Ann Arbor, and packed his bags.
Probably more likely that Sanderson's kid winds up at Illinois. Even though there is a new coaching regime in Ann Arbor, Warde is still there. I have a hard time believing Sanderson would want his kids playing any sport at Michigan while Warde Manuel is still overseeing the athletic department.
Is he a grad transfer or just spent his freshman year at FAU last year?
If not, I'm skeptical about his credit transfer situation. Seems like unless you come from Stanford, UVA or an Ivy, you should plan on little to none of your credits transferring to UM.
Maybe its just me, but I don't get how this is a direct shot at Harbaugh.
How many guys on OSU's staff grew up in a football family? Maybe not all of them, but I'm guessing A LOT of them. Day could very well have been referring to / comparing with his own staff.
I like taking shots where I can, but unless I'm missing something, this feeeeeeeels like a reach.
I don't disagree that its unreal how they're able to recruit at such a high level over and over and over. I do wish Michigan was able to recruit near that level to make the last three years potentially more sustainable.
But I also take solace in the fact that over the last three years, all of OSU's recruiting stars haven't mattered in the slightest. All that matters is they've taken three straight big fat losses, they've had to watch Michigan win a national championship while sitting on their behinds at home, and they've had to watch all their assertions that Michigan was only any good because of Conner Stallions fall completely by the wayside.
To me, that has to hurt far more than Michigan being worried about comparing its classes to OSU's. OSU reeled in all those players, and outside of good volume in the NFL draft, has nothing to show for it.
MHJ is arguably the best pure talent in the entire draft, but I wonder if he's the right fit for a Harbaugh offense. Harbaugh is going to want to pound the rock, unleash his tight ends, and while he will throw the ball, his receivers being able to block is probably just as important to him.
I don't think MHJ will be there to pick anyway, but even if he is, its not completely insane to believe that Harbaugh would pass on him. Not because MHJ isn't worthy of the pick, but because Harbaugh's philosophy on offense wouldn't allow him to get the full value of MHJ that he should with picking him fifth overall.
That said, MHJ is probably the kind of talent that you sit there and say "get him on my team however you can, and adapt your gameplan to suit his skills."
OL or TE probably makes the most sense for Harbaugh. Even if MHJ is there, I don't think Harbaugh's philosophy would really allow MHJ to be everything he could be with the Chargers. I wouldn't be surprised if Harbaugh passed on MHJ if he was there. Not because MHJ isn't good enough. He absolutely is. But if Harbaugh's tenure at Michigan is any indication, his teams will not be built by going through the air. My bet is Harbaugh will believe he has bigger needs.
That said, I doubt MHJ will be there to pick anyway. Fifth overall pick, in my opinion, is way too high to take a guy like Brock Bowers, so if that's who you really want, I trade down with someone who's desperate for a QB (Vikings or Broncos, probably), and Bowers is probably still there at pick 11 or 12. Pick up some draft capital and still get your guy. Otherwise, I just take the best OL available.
Final note: for anyone who's rolling their eyes at Harbaugh over gushing about McCarthy's abilities:
1) Don't you think he's in a position to know what McCarthy can or can't do better than most anyone on this planet?
2) If he can prop "his guy" up, get him drafted higher, while also simultaneously give his team a better pick at whoever it needs (Chargers most certainly don't need a QB), its a win-win for both McCarthy and Harbaugh. I bet Harbaugh would love nothing more than to have pick of the first non-QB off the board.
Recent Comments
Sadly, this is the post of the day.
Can someone smarter than me tell me how this won't put schools in different states at a massive competitive disadvantage? I have to believe Virginia (assuming the law passes) will not be the only state to do this, but then there are other states that will strike this down before it ever has a chance to see the light of day.
Whether the reasoning for rejecting the law is sound or not, how does it not put Michigan at an extreme disadvantage if the state government doesn't approve a similar law, but state governments in Ohio, Texas, Alabama, Georgia, California, and elsewhere all do? Now they all have a massive alternate route for providing money to athletes that Michigan, legally, does not.
Personally I'm not sure I'd want a law passed like this anywhere. Would it not push some schools that are already operating in the red even further into debt, causing massive ramifications for non-revenue sports and maybe the athletic department as a whole?
I honestly didn't even think about that. Michigan is on three years probation, so is the NCAA going to use this probation period as an excuse to come back with Sign-Gate and say "you broke probation, now you're f****d"?
I honestly wouldn't put it past the NCAA to, like you said, be playing the long game here. Put down a slap on the wrist for Burger-Gate, but set up the chess board so that when it comes time for Sign-Gate, it allows them to come down with the punishment they really want. So then they can have their 50 lbs of flesh and say they still matter because they took down big, bad Michigan.
And honestly, even independent of the NCAA, what's stopping the rest of the Big Ten over this remaining three year period from collaborating again and saying "Okay guys, we've got three years. Time to put our heads together and see whatever other dirt we can dig up!" You really think MSU and OSU won't be using this time to find whatever else they can?
They've done it before, and that was when Michigan was in the midst of a title run that dropping them out of could've lost the conference a lot of money. There is nothing to dissuade them from doing it again.
Even with Dusty May coming in and the promise of a better future, Michigan can't remotely compete with that. That's just a fact.
Back to back defending national champions, far and away the most dominant team in men's college basketball over that time period, and they extend you an offer?
Tarris would've been stupid not to take it. Honestly, no hard feelings. If Tarris was my son, I'd tell him to do the same thing. One program is at the pinnacle and is a straight apex predator right now. Michigan is all the way down at the bottom of the mountain, just trying to figure out how to get back up on its feet.
Just keeps going to show that the NCAA can (and will) only punish schools that ALLOW IT to happen.
I know a lot of us think the NCAA is incompetent. I don't think they are. At least not as much as they are made out to be. What they are is a schoolyard bully that a lot of kids are starting to learn how to stand up to. But a school like Michigan hasn't. Michigan is the one kid in the yard that either can't fight back, can't defend itself, or chooses not to. That makes you daily fresh meat.
I don't advocate going and looking for trouble, but until something changes where you decide its time to stand up and defend yourself, the bully is going to keep coming back to you, time and time again, demanding your lunch money, your shoes, the answers to tonight's math homework. Tomorrow he's going to want your bike, your backpack, and your Nintendo Switch.
Until you give them a reason to stop bullying you, they are not going to stop. So at this point, if Michigan can't defend itself from the NCAA or worse, chooses not to, then frankly it deserves the treatment it gets.
While this is all entirely subjective and there probably isn't one right answer, I'd say the best is probably 2023 OSU. Simply because of everything that was at stake. It was the last Michigan-OSU game that was truly winner-take-all. Every year following (unless they meet in the playoffs) is just for bragging rights and playoff seeding.
More than that, that game was a referendum on Harbaugh's entire program. What his legacy and the legacy of his team was going to be, what kind of man he was/is. The legacy and personal/professional reputation of every single member of that program, and those who came before them in the previous two years, were all on the line. Fair or unfair, that was the deal, and had Michigan lost, it would've stayed with them forever. They would've been remembered by everyone outside of Michigan fandom as nothing but a bunch of cheaters. It would've been a self-reinforcing echo chamber across the national landscape, people would've been writing about it for months on end, you'd hear about it on ESPN every day. All it would've been was Cheaters. Cheaters. Cheaters. And when you say something loud enough and long enough, eventually people start to believe you.
And you'd better believe Ryan Day would've used a win as a platform to vent all of his frustrations and say EVERYTHING he wanted to say about Michigan. It would've been a self-righteous, petty, condescending victory speech about how OSU is the vanguard of justice for college football, and how their victory is a victory for all that is good and true in college sports. It would've made his ND post-game look like tea time with Barney. And he'd remind people of it EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.
But they won, and they shattered that narrative to everyone outside of Columbus and East Lansing. That win so exponentially important for as many reasons off the field as there were on the field.
Honorable Mentions
I'm really curious how the trajectory of Harbaugh's program would've changed from 2017 onward if he'd won that day. And then you also have to wonder if the renaissance from 2021 onward would've even happened? Would it have even needed to happen, because they would've gotten the proverbial monkey off their back five years sooner?
Curious how much of this was Michigan brass deciding "Harbaugh isn't here anymore, no sense in trying to protect him at the expense of Sherrone and his staff and continue a dark cloud hanging over the program indefinitely."
I'm still waiting for indisputable proof that Harbaugh lied or knowingly deceived the NCAA about this stuff, and to me this all just continues to show that the NCAA will only punish schools that allow them to do so. But if this allows Sherrone and Co. to move forward and put it all to bed, fine.
At the end of all of this, whatever. Michigan won the national title despite OSU's best efforts to dismantle the entire season and brand Michigan as a bunch of foul, disgusting cheaters. Michigan won it all anyway, and there's a potential argument to be made that all of this made this team even more focused, more determined, and contributed to them winning the title.
That is rubbing salt and lemon juice into a wide open, gushing OSU wound. After Charlie Baker's "fair and square" comments, OSU has no choice but to sit there and take it. They have to eat their shame sandwich with a side order of s**t.
I think he has the potential, certainly, to warrant having been a top-5 pick by the end of his career. He's probably the most polarizing QB prospect in the draft because there's just a lot of relative unknowns, how much was Harbaugh "keeping his stallion in the barn," and can McCarthy sling it across the yard and win a game for you throwing 30-40x a game if he needs to.
Don't know the answer to that. Only time in college he had to play that kind of game, he lost. Some of that wasn't his fault, defense didn't play great, but he gave away 14 points to TCU.
My level of confidence in his career outlook depends largely on who drafts him. If he ends up with the Vikings, who have quite a bit of talent he can play with right now, he may be in really good shape. If he goes to the Broncos, he could have a rough first year or two as will be a team devoid of a lot of talent, but the prospect of pairing him with Sean Payton for the long term is extremely tantalizing to think about. If he goes to the Pats....dunno. New HC for the first time in over twenty years. That's all an unknown.
If he goes to the Giants or the Commanders, then god help him.
Guess I'm not really answering the question. Do I think he's a top-5 pick this year? Yes, but a good part of that is a product of him being a QB and going into a very QB-driven league. That said, he has the potential to be the best QB in this entire draft class when its all said and done.
Everyone deserves a second chance, and I don't believe Denard is a repeat offender. At least as far as drinking and driving goes.
I just don't see him getting that opportunity at Michigan. Already had to let Scruggs go for the same issue. Moore has to set the tone really early for what he wants his program to stand for, even if that means letting guys go who are Michigan mainstays and were otherwise net gains on your program.
Michigan, to me, has earned the benefit of the doubt on who it wants to recruit and who it takes. Sure, I'd like to have this kid, but they've taken a bunch of three star, low - mid four star guys, a light dash of five stars, and used that team to win a national championship and beat OSU three straight times.
I trust who they get until they give me a reason not to.
Of course they're not going to listen. They haven't by now so what indication is there at all that they ever will? MSU and OSU fans will take Sign-Gate to the grave that this will be the biggest scandal in college sports history, and there is nothing you, I or anyone can do to dissuade them from that. To them, Sign-Gate is all they have left to cling to that can keep them away from the reality that Michigan actually won it all. It's a coping mechanism and nothing more, particularly for OSU fans who have been coddled for two decades and never knew anything but winning. To them, there had to be SOME OTHER REASON Michigan won these past few years. They couldn't possibly have been better than OSU because they'd never seen it before.
To them, cheating was the only way Michigan could've gotten the better of them. Saying that to themselves makes them feel better and allows them to keep living in the 2000 - 2019 world they came from where Michigan couldn't stop getting in its own way.
Everyone else has seemed to accept reality and moved on with their life. If they want to cling to "ARGH CONNER STALLIONS VAST NETWORK CHEATERS CHEATERS CHEATERS" for dear life and hope that somehow anything comes out of it, then that is their cross to bear.
No one except them cares anymore.
So fucking stupid. Call an Uber, man. Or better yet, you’re Denard Robinson, in Ann Arbor. Half the town’s population would be happy to drive you home on their own dime, no questions asked.
You’ve got a family, dude. Why put them and yourself in this position?
I don’t know if that’s the end of his coaching career, but that’s likely the end of it at Michigan.
Depends on who you ask.
If you mosey over to MSU / OSU boards, all Michigan players should be banned from the NFL for life for desecrating the sanctity of the game. Harbaugh should be dragged out of LA in handcuffs and locked in San Quentin because reasons, and the rest of the staff should be show-caused for 20 years and not allowed to coach volunteer pee-wee football, much less major college coaching.
OSU should be retroactively awarded the national title because "Well, they never should've been there anyway, so that #1 seed was our rightful spot and of course we would've beaten Bama and Washington."
I think everyone else by and large has stopped caring. Its not a story anymore, Michigan put all that "we're only any good because of Conner Stallions" crap to bed. Only butthurt, desperate, self-righteous OSU / MSU fans still care and are F5'ing their keyboards maniacally, waiting for updates that the NCAA will do anything. Everyone else has shrugged their shoulders, accepted reality and moved on with their life.
Anyone going to pull a Homer Simpson and go on a hunger strike to stop the move?
What was up with Michigan's constant postseason blunders?
Up until this past season of course, it seemed like Michigan had some kind of systemic issue when it came to preparing for the postseason. It seemed to transcend coaches. Harbaugh won the national title of course, but when factoring that in still went 3-6 in the postseason. Hoke was 1-2, Rich-Rod 0-1, Carr was 6-7, Moeller was the only outlier and went 4-1, Bo was 5-12.
So what was the issue? Was the team just that emotionally drained following OSU? Poor game-planning for out of conference opponents? Overlooking opponents? Apathy towards the postseason since OSU, in almost every situation, IS THE SEASON? I don't think it was always "well the other team was just better."
The Orange Bowl semi-final, the Citrus Bowl with Bama, and probably the Gator Bowl with RichRod are the only bowl games in recent memory that I look at and say "From the moment that game was scheduled, there probably wasn't much Michigan could've done to win that game."
You and Tony Soprano would get along swimmingly.
I went to the Draft in 2013 with my uncle when I still lived in NY. Was happy I did it, I get to say I've been before, but I'm not going to be rushing back to do it again. Even when/if it comes down here to Atlanta.
Such a dumb take.
Cleveland hosted the NFL Draft a few years ago. CLEVELAND. If Cleveland can host the draft, Detroit can too.
I haven't been back in downtown Detroit in a few years, but when I was last there in 2017, I didn't feel even remotely unsafe. And I'm guessing its gotten even better since then. Are there bad pockets of town? Absolutely. But there's bad areas of town everywhere.
Commence all the OSU and MSU fans yelling out "SEE SEE SEE HE'S NOT A FIRST ROUNDER, HE DOESN'T WANT TO GO AND HUMILIATE HIMSELF, THE JIG IS UP, HE'S A CHEATER ARGH HIS WINS AGAINST US NEVER HAPPENED RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE!"
He ain't there to scout and evaluate. He knows what these guys can do better than any other team in the league.
He's there to see his guys.
Even if that were true, Harbaugh had always been pretty clear that winning a Super Bowl was still a goal for him. That's something that Michigan can never offer him, no matter how much money they give to him, how much money it pledges to NIL, to an assistant budget. No college job can offer what he's looking for now.
Harbaugh accomplished everything here he could possibly accomplish. He did something I honestly felt like might never happen at Michigan again. Short of the "only thing better than one national title is two national titles" incentive, what else was left for him to do here?
I'm not sure there's really anything Michigan could've offered him that would've convinced him to stay. He could leave knowing the program was in a great position, and that he'd accomplished all he'd set out to accomplish.
Brian and Co. talked about this on the podcast earlier this week. It’s a proper gesture to Juwan, who by all accounts has handled being fired with as much professionalism and dignity as you can ask him for, to let his son finish out his career at UM if that’s what he wants.
It May wants to give him a shot, that should be good enough for all of us.
I will die on this hill with you.
The American Crime Story miniseries with OJ was really good. Not as good as the following season about Gianni Versace's assassination, but still very good. Season 3 about Monica Lewinsky was a step down or two in quality, but not bad.
Side-note: the Gianni Versace season of American Crime Story is one of the best single seasons of any show I've ever watched. Its not so much about Versace as it is about his assassin, Andrew Cunanan. Darren Criss was friggin' awesome in that role, is a Michigan alum in real life, and gave a "Go Blue" shout-out in his Emmy acceptance speech.
My guess is that:
Kind of reminds me of that Zoolander quote.
You think you're too cool for school? Well I've got a newsflash for you, Walter Cronkite.
..............
You aren't.
If this debate did not have a "Burning Dog Poo and the Human Response" category, then this is not a debate I'd like any part of.
Still a weird guy. But he’ll always be OUR weird guy.
Best of luck to him. If he goes to MSU, then so be it.
Can't be all smiles when we take Tony Alford away from OSU then flail our arms up in the air yelling at the clouds when one of our own wants to go to MSU.
Just the nature of the business, sometimes.
Statistically speaking, by now a Big Ten team should've won by accident.
People who ride their bicycles on the road instead of the sidewalk. I get that you don’t want to run into pedestrians, and I get that it’s legal, but I don’t want to run into an oncoming car while trying to avoid running into you. I think you hitting someone else with your bike is far less serious than me slamming into another car head on while I try to get just far enough out of the way to avoid hitting you.
Get on the fucking sidewalk where you belong.
OSU certainly had a claim to be considered the #2 team in the country last year. OSU was a team where I can say if Michigan played them a second time, I'm not entirely sure Michigan wins. Georgia probably goes in that category as well as long as Michigan gets their best game.
OSU lost by 6, on the road to the #1 team in the country, on the final drive, in plus territory. Putting my bias and OSU hatred aside, its hard to dog them too much for that.
The towns themselves might not be different from one another (never been to Fayetteville or Lexington so I don't know for sure), but the programs themselves are VASTLY different from one another.
To be clear, Arkansas is not a slouch of a program. That's not what I'm saying. But one is infinitely more prestigious as a program, one will get you considerably more spotlight, and I'm also willing to bet you're going to make considerably more money at Kentucky (playing basketball) than you will at Arkansas. Kentucky is basketball royalty. Arkansas is not.
Kentucky boosters will funnel w/e NIL money is necessary into the basketball program to win. Even at the expense of the football program, if necessary. Arkansas likely has to decide how it wants to split up between football and basketball. Kentucky does not need to answer that question. Kentucky basketball will get w/e is necessary to win, and the football program can have w/e is left over.
Yes, Mark Stoops is doing a great job in Lexington and has raised the bar there. But football will ALWAYS be a very distant second fiddle on that campus, and that's not up for debate. I doubt Stoops himself would even debate that.
I'm sure Calipari will be able to lure recruits to Arkansas. But at the same caliber and clip as he did in Lexington? My money says doubtful.
Unless Calipari is willing to overhaul is entire philosophy of how he runs his programs (building off one and dones) I don't see how this move makes sense for him unless the relationship he has with the AD and the fans in Lexington are just that toxic now.
You're not going to be able to draw better talent to Arkansas than you are to Kentucky. I don't know what kind of one and done talent you're going to be able to draw to Arkansas but it certainly won't be the caliber of player you can get to come to Lexington.
Either way, maybe this is a mutual decision. Seems like Kentucky has been getting bounced from the first week of the tournament very frequently in recent years.
Basketball and football are two different worlds. I don’t be grudge and hold against Matt Painter the things that a grandstanding, virtue signaling turd like Ryan Walters says. I don’t care about “conference loyalty,” but if Purdue wins, I’ll be happy for them. Painter seems like a good dude.
That said, Ryan Walters and his “we have the receipts, we have the transactions, we know what you did” bullshit can honestly fuck off. I will laugh whenever I see his team lose.
If you, Bielema, and everyone who took the opportunity to gang up on Michigan during Sign-Gate REALLY CARED about what happened, you would’ve begged your AD to give back every last cent your school made off of Michigan’s trips to the CFP. Because to you, it’s just blood money, right? You don’t want to make a profit on “screwing over” the truthful, honest, hard working programs, right?
Not a single conference member has given back any of those funds.
Not going to Tigers Opening, but heading out to the Rockies Opening Weekend. Bit of an every other year or so tradition my Daddy and I in have to go see a game at a ballpark we haven't been to yet.
Never seen a game at Coors but got some absolutely fantastic baseball weather out here in Denver!
Best of luck to him. He stuck it out through some pretty tough times with a fanbase that never seemed to care much for what he could (or couldn’t) do on the court. Don’t care who you are, that’s tough to deal with.
Hope he can go get a fresh start somewhere else.
I know this is based largely if not entirely on the fact that Sherrone has been putting his staff in place, but it just feels odd that there haven't been any commitments since the national title game.
Not saying its a problem. There's been a good reason for it. Just feels a bit weird anyway. I'm guessing if Harbaugh was here and we weren't turning over most of the staff it would've been happening already. Hope Sherrone is still able to capitalize on all that positive momentum!
Going to take a lot to even get this team into position to be on the bubble heading into Selection Sunday next year. I don’t expect them to make the tournament next year and considering what Dusty is inheriting that’s likely an unfair expectation, but he absolutely seems to have things trending in the right direction early on.
All you can ask for at this point.
I'm guessing we may never know the full scope of what happened between Juwan and Sanderson, but there is very likely some bad blood still remaining between Sanderson and Michigan. Or more specifically, Sanderson and Warde.
Warde stuck by Juwan through all of it when there appears to have been very little reason to, and I'm sure that was the final nail in the coffin for Sanderson to decide he was no longer welcome in Ann Arbor, and packed his bags.
Probably more likely that Sanderson's kid winds up at Illinois. Even though there is a new coaching regime in Ann Arbor, Warde is still there. I have a hard time believing Sanderson would want his kids playing any sport at Michigan while Warde Manuel is still overseeing the athletic department.
Is he a grad transfer or just spent his freshman year at FAU last year?
If not, I'm skeptical about his credit transfer situation. Seems like unless you come from Stanford, UVA or an Ivy, you should plan on little to none of your credits transferring to UM.
Maybe its just me, but I don't get how this is a direct shot at Harbaugh.
How many guys on OSU's staff grew up in a football family? Maybe not all of them, but I'm guessing A LOT of them. Day could very well have been referring to / comparing with his own staff.
I like taking shots where I can, but unless I'm missing something, this feeeeeeeels like a reach.
I don't disagree that its unreal how they're able to recruit at such a high level over and over and over. I do wish Michigan was able to recruit near that level to make the last three years potentially more sustainable.
But I also take solace in the fact that over the last three years, all of OSU's recruiting stars haven't mattered in the slightest. All that matters is they've taken three straight big fat losses, they've had to watch Michigan win a national championship while sitting on their behinds at home, and they've had to watch all their assertions that Michigan was only any good because of Conner Stallions fall completely by the wayside.
To me, that has to hurt far more than Michigan being worried about comparing its classes to OSU's. OSU reeled in all those players, and outside of good volume in the NFL draft, has nothing to show for it.
I don't know. If there's anything Patrick Bateman taught me, its to avoid guys who are into "that whole Yale thing."
One of the greatest on-screen troll jobs of all time.
You WILL NOT make this put ya JACKASS.
MHJ is arguably the best pure talent in the entire draft, but I wonder if he's the right fit for a Harbaugh offense. Harbaugh is going to want to pound the rock, unleash his tight ends, and while he will throw the ball, his receivers being able to block is probably just as important to him.
I don't think MHJ will be there to pick anyway, but even if he is, its not completely insane to believe that Harbaugh would pass on him. Not because MHJ isn't worthy of the pick, but because Harbaugh's philosophy on offense wouldn't allow him to get the full value of MHJ that he should with picking him fifth overall.
That said, MHJ is probably the kind of talent that you sit there and say "get him on my team however you can, and adapt your gameplan to suit his skills."
So what the heck do I know.....
OL or TE probably makes the most sense for Harbaugh. Even if MHJ is there, I don't think Harbaugh's philosophy would really allow MHJ to be everything he could be with the Chargers. I wouldn't be surprised if Harbaugh passed on MHJ if he was there. Not because MHJ isn't good enough. He absolutely is. But if Harbaugh's tenure at Michigan is any indication, his teams will not be built by going through the air. My bet is Harbaugh will believe he has bigger needs.
That said, I doubt MHJ will be there to pick anyway. Fifth overall pick, in my opinion, is way too high to take a guy like Brock Bowers, so if that's who you really want, I trade down with someone who's desperate for a QB (Vikings or Broncos, probably), and Bowers is probably still there at pick 11 or 12. Pick up some draft capital and still get your guy. Otherwise, I just take the best OL available.
Final note: for anyone who's rolling their eyes at Harbaugh over gushing about McCarthy's abilities:
1) Don't you think he's in a position to know what McCarthy can or can't do better than most anyone on this planet?
2) If he can prop "his guy" up, get him drafted higher, while also simultaneously give his team a better pick at whoever it needs (Chargers most certainly don't need a QB), its a win-win for both McCarthy and Harbaugh. I bet Harbaugh would love nothing more than to have pick of the first non-QB off the board.
Didn't Yogi Berra have something to say about deja vu?
STOP, MY PENIS CAN ONLY GET SO ERECT.