desmond howard

80th percentile floaters are nice

More Alston takes. This is not a sponsor note, but Richard Hoeg is a law-talking guy with an hour long podcast episode on the NCAA's "slow-motion suicide":

At the Ringer, Rodger Sherman:

Time and time again, the NCAA refuses to budge, even as its position becomes more untenable. They fought NIL to the bitter end, determined to keep athletes from receiving outside money even after it became clear that the NCAA’s side would lose. They fought in the Supreme Court to keep athletes from getting money for academic purchases, even though their argument was clearly legally doomed. The NCAA’s board of governors recently gave president Mark Emmert—a man who has dug in deep to keep the NCAA’s model alive, while also making a lot of other mistakesa contract extension until 2025. (Like the Supreme Court’s decision, the choice to extend Emmert was also unanimous.) The NCAA remains fatalistically committed to its dying business model. They will happily drown, dragged to the bottom of the ocean with the last pennies they took from this system, rather than share a lifeboat with the athletes who play the games.

At CBS Sports, Matt Norlander:

The decision itself is not surprising. After the appeal for this case was heard in March, the questions and tones of the justices toward NCAA legal counsel indicated an anti-NCAA approach. The belief among the legal experts CBS Sports spoke with was that a 6-3 or perhaps even 7-2 decision in favor of Alston was most likely.

Instead, the NCAA got swept.

[After THE JUMP: Devante Jones floater time]

[Patrick Barron]

Sponsor note. Richard Hoeg will business you up. He will file documents and draw up contracts and get you right with the government as you attempt to launch your very good business idea.

hoeglaw_thumb

He will also not talk about Michigan football or talk about Michigan football, as is your preference. If you'd like a small business lawyer who's in the same boat you are, he's the guy to call.

I now own an ascot? In addition to our weekly discussions about the continuing Robert Anderson fallout on WTKA, I made an appearance on Stateside to talk about how it's impacting various parts of the program from the fanbase to former players and where the focus should be.

For the record. Summarizing some things said on these podcasts:

The release of the Wilmer Hale report seems to have induced these many and various press conferences, which seem designed to increase public pressure instead of saying anything that is not already in a university-commissioned document that may not be literally comprehensive but is comprehensive enough to identify a pattern of behavior and damn the culture in the football program around that time. "How much money should survivors get in compensation?" is an unanswerable question and to me it's not an interesting one. The lawyers will posture and there will be a number.

I'd rather talk about the structures in place then and the ones in place now that have brought some much-delayed comeuppance to four different serial sexual harassers.

[After THE JUMP: Power round two?]

the first-half high point was a high point [ESPN screencap]

Previously: Krushed By Stauskas (Illinois 2014), Introducing #ChaosTeam (Indiana 2009), Revenge is Terrifying (Colorado 1996), Four Games In September I (Boston College 1991), Four Games In September II (Boston College 1994), Four Games In September III (Boston College 1995), Four Games In September IV (Boston College 1996), Pac Ten After Dark Parts One and Two (UCLA 1989), Harbaugh's Grand Return Parts One and Two (Notre Dame 1985), Deceptive Speed Parts One and Two (Purdue 1999)

Week One: 1993 Washington Part One, Part Two, 2002 Washington Twitch stream

This Game: Condensed game, WH highlights, box score, MGoPreview, Denard After Dentist, Offense UFR, Defense UFR, a Notre Dame fan's live blog

Lineup Cards! Brought to you by Seth. Click the images to embiggen.

Michigan offense vs. Notre Dame defense:

Michigan defense vs. Notre Dame offense:

Michigan-Notre Dame is a sight to behold.

Yes, the rivalry has lost its national luster. The Irish's season-opening loss to USF ensures this is the third time in five games both teams enter the contest unranked; that hadn't happened in the history of the rivalry until 2007. Notre Dame is in year two under Brian Kelly after the program bottomed out under Charlie Weis. Michigan is in year one under Brady Hoke (and offensive coordinator Al Borges) after Rich Rodriguez could only field half of a good team.

The rivalry itself is still healthy, however. Despite being, well, not very good, the Wolverines have taken the last two games in the series, both last-minute triumphs featuring star-turning performances by Michigan quarterbacks—Tate Forcier in 2009 and Denard Robinson in 2010. Meanwhile, the two teams are playing in Michigan Stadium's first-ever night game.

As per usual with this game, nobody has a clue what to expect. Notre Dame turned the ball over five times in its season opener but only lost by three points. Michigan looked good against an overmatched Western Michigan squad but didn't even complete three quarters before the game was called due to lightning. How little did we know? This was in Brian's preview:

The only thing we can take from the USF game is that Notre Dame has trouble defending bubble screens. The Bulls consistently racked up 5-10 yards despite the wholesale suck of Daniels. Chalk up some free yards on the outside.

Chalk is easily erased, thankfully.

As you'd expect from a game with a name—Under The Lights—there's a lot of pregame fanfare. Michigan unveils the Legends Jersey program by honoring Desmond Howard.

[After THE JUMP: #FreeDenard]

leaning into the Michigan-Massachusetts connection this week

this post contains no information about horses 

How many times have you been mistaken for Eddie Azcona, Tyrone?

"Woof" - dog 

in which my repeated threat to discuss hockey recruiting is made good upon 

I'm making a 53-man roster with Michigan alumni. Here's the D.

Tom Brady Michigan

Build the best NFL offense with Michigan players

The little guys' turn