muggles
"There's a starman waiting in the sky. He'd like to come and meet us,
but he thinks he'd blow our minds."
November is the period when "pretty sure he won't be at San Fran" (neither Harbaugh could make the playoffs this year) can mean "he's gotta come!" So, dear diarists, let's dedicate a post to the starman waiting in the sky. This week resident coaching search guy in the diaries alum96 decided to look into Jim's meteoric rise. He included a table in there of split passing/rushing stats for offense and defense. I've taken this opportunity to recreate those as S&P+ ranks (total yardage ranks in parens) because there's a discrepancy in the passing:
| Season | Coach | Record | Rush O | Pass O | Rush D | Pass D |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 Stanford | Singletary | 1-11 | 105th (115) | 107th (95) | 94th (117) | 47th (60) |
| 2007 Stanford | Harbaugh | 4-8 | 37th (102) | 88th (70) | 86th (77) | 84th (84) |
| 2008 Stanford | Harbaugh | 5-7 | 6th (19) | 15th (103) | 104th (77) | 99th (83) |
| 2009 Stanford | Harbaugh | 8-5 | 12th (11) | 7th (70) | 89th (55) | 104th (98) |
| 2010 Stanford | Harbaugh | 12-1 | 30th (17) | 2nd (29) | 24th (19) | 30th (16) |
| 2011 Stanford | Shaw | 11-2 | 18th (18) | 10th (22) | 32nd (3) | 14th (73) |
| 2014 Michigan | Hoke | 4-5 | 45th (67) | 70th (105) | 6th (25) | 44th (36) |
Major disagreements between S&P and the standard stats: the passing game in 2008 and 2009 (bolded) was extremely efficient, just not used very often. Thus total yardage looked awful, but in terms of what happened when they passed, it was very good even before you could explain it away as Andrew Luck. This is a common theme for Harbaugh reclamation projects; the former quarterback is the master of the pick-your-spots passing game. This is also a lesson in tempo—Stanford would plod along, depressing total yardage.
Let's not do this again until my find-on-page searches for "Michigan" don't have to progress past MSU and several directionals to get to ours.
Hokespeech Generator. A guy named MeanJoe07 has apparently found something on the internet where you input the text of Brady's press conferences, add a few nouns (like balsamic vinegar) and a name (like Rhonda Jones) and get back something that makes sense only to people used to digesting soylent blue. The diary is too weird to be of much interest, but the same guy has been responding to comments all over the site with his tool, with quite disconcerting results.
Etc. Basketball back wallpaper. Michigan is probably not going to a bowl game. Best and Worst. Inside the box score. Wolverines in the NFL, and NBA/NHL/etc., when are we getting the former quarterback who coaches an NFL team?
Best of the Board
PUT IT ON THE MAP
A startup that makes realtime maps for local festivals and such is letting us use their software to give the MGoCommunity a more functional method of sharing their spots with each other on gameday. Events around campus, best watering holes, open tailgates for MGoReaders, where the band warms up, etc. all go on the crowd-sourced map. If you want to organize a meet-n-greet or game-watching party in your town, go ahead and add it to the map (it'll be off camera for those in Evanston).
[Jump for some stuff I believed in as a kid]
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