Unverified Voracity Can Handle Iran Himself Comment Count

Brian

Hail Mattison. Tube sock brigade == ND's line in the eyes of a guy who might know, Purdue OC Gary Nord:

Gold and Black: Are you having trouble with your offensive front, and is that affecting your run game?

Nord: "No, I think the offensive line played the best game they've played this year, I really do. They probably protected better than they've ever protected. I think Michigan's defensive line was probably as good as any that we've played. They were very good. They held Notre Dame to about the same number of yards we had and they had five turnovers on them. They played two of the better teams in the country in Alabama and Notre Dame, those two, so their stats were screwed up a little bit going in, but watching them man-for-man and for the four-down guys and two linebackers, they're as good as there is in the country."

Coachspeak? Never. Gary Nord speaks the gospel truth at all times thanks to an ancient curse passed down from Nord father to Nord son that turns them into a walrus if they ever say anything other than the unvarnished facts of a matter.

DANNY-HOPE-thumb-300x310-60787[1]

Danny Hope has it too, and fell from the straight and narrow.

That's so Weis. I mean, seriously.

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The US government needs to disguise Weis as an Iranian ayatollah and send him into deep cover. Within weeks the country will collapse in the world's most disorganized civil war.

Yeah, I know about Somalia. I stand by what I said.

Next up: the University of Phoenix Phoenixes. TOC does a thing where they deploy Bradley-Terry ratings for college football* in the service of predicting things. They've got a margin-aware version, too. The West is a sack of cats with Michigan a tiny favorite thanks to not having a conference loss yet; the by-far top two teams in the East are the ineligible ones. BIG TENNNNNN.

Michigan's opponent this weekend… eh… not so good.

Blowout of the Week (Illinois Division): Illinois @ Michigan

Not only has Illinois only won one game against 1-A competition (Western Michigan), last week's 17-point loss to Wisconsin was their closest loss. This will not end well. Michigan is an 80% favorite according to the basic method, 93% (17 points) according to margin-aware.

The Illini have a one in 70,100 chance of winning out, though.

Over at A Lion Eye they're trying to figure out how on earth you fire Ron Zook and get a lot worse:

Our last four losses by 17 or more under Zook:

11/26/11: Minnesota 27, Illinois 7

11/12/11: Michigan 31, Illinois 14

10/16/10: Michigan State 26, Illinois 6

10/03/09: Penn State 35, Illinois 17

So if you’re scoring at home, that’s four 17+ point losses in the last five weeks for Illinois.  And before this season, four 17+ point losses in the last 35 games.  You know what, let’s make this one hurt a little more.  2006 through 2011.  Six seasons, eight losses by 17 points or more.  This season, four of our six games were losses by 17 points or more.

Illinois's run game has fallen off a cliff you already thought it had fallen off, dropping from 11th in 2010 to 41st in 2011 to 94th(!) this year, 94th when three of their opponents have been WMU, Charleston Southern, and Louisiana Tech. Every La Tech opponent has rushed for more yards against the Bulldogs than Illinois.

BONUS: after collecting 41 sacks a year ago, Illinois has nine in six games this time out. They returned everyone but Mercilus. They're 109th at sacks allowed. Illinois: not good.

*[college hockey fans may know this as KRACH]

Another tough injury for State. Dion Sims missed most of the Indiana game with an ankle injury. He's day-to-day-ish:

"I don't know that he'll make it this week," Dantonio said of Sims, "but he may make it next week. We'll have to see how he responds in the next couple days, really."

This week is Iowa, next week Michigan. Sims is MSU's leading receiver with 313 yards, though if you give Aaron Burbridge a minute he'll eclipse that.

Sims's backup is a redshirt freshman, FWIW. If Sims misses the Michigan game the main benefit seems to be a lack of the multi-TE sets State used to spring Ed Baker to a big day last year.

Also in injuryland, OSU MLB Etienne Sabino is out four weeks with a bone fracture in his leg. That prognosis should have him back on the field for Michigan, but seriously you can come back from this sort of thing in four weeks?

Senior linebacker Etienne Sabino has a broken right fibula and will miss at least three weeks, possibly more, for the Ohio State football team.

Sabino was injured in the first half of Saturday’s 63-38 win over Nebraska. He had surgery on Sunday to implant a steel plate into his leg.

Maybe:

“He talked to the team afterwards, and it was an emotional moment,” Meyer said. “The best case is three weeks. The worst case is longer. We hope to get him back.”

I am terrified of football players. Sabino's replacement is true freshman Joshua Perry, but OSU spends a lot of time in a nickel package that he won't feature in.

Willis Ward to be honored. All it took was action from the state legislature:

Oct. 20 (UM vs. MSU) is Willis Ward Day in Michigan. Athletic Department spokesperson said Michigan plans to recognize Willis on that day.

I've always loved "recognize" as a thing that is done by official-type people. "Oh, hey… you're Willis Ward, aren't you? Rad. I suppose this IS a plaque with you on it!"

Yost to host. Hockey drops the puck tonight in an exhibition against Windsor; Yost Built previews the D and goalies. I agree with him that splitting Moffie and Bennett across two pairings makes sense. Something like…

  • Trouba-Merrill
  • Bennett-Clare
  • Moffie-Chiasson

…gives you offensive firepower at all times and a defensive guy who will cover up for the offensive guy when he lets his freak flag fly. I'll also be watching to see what kind of progress Brennan Serville can make. He was pretty bad last year but also very young; he could make a big step forward.

Red says Rutledge, Racine, and Janecyk will all play a period so hopefully that means Rutledge's eye thing is healed is ready to go for the real season opener on… Thursday? Guh.

Someone's got to do something about hockey scheduling. There's a game at Yost on February first this year. You know when the next one is? March. I assume this is just the CCHA screwing with Michigan because it can; hopefully next year they'll be able to move more home games into the back half of the schedule.

BONUS SCHEDULING TIP: The Big Ten should seek out opportunities to have rival weekends where, say, Minnesota football and hockey come to town at the same time. The travel equation changes dramatically when you get a hockey series on top of your football game.

Compher so pretty. JT Compher had another career lined up if hockey didn't work out:

"When I was younger I did toddler modeling and I was on the front of a catalog," Compher told NHL.com. "I got to keep the red scooter that I was modeling. That was pretty cool."

Compher said he can't remember what company the catalog was from, only that he was 3 or 4 years old at the time and got a pretty cool new toy out of the deal.

Okay, okay, this happened. Stop emailing me about it plz:

dFY0U[1]

As I said on the twitter, my favorite part is that he appears to have misspelled his own damn name in his twitter handle.

Etc.: Ramroth Finnegan! I bet he ends up at Cincinnati. Illinois CB Terry Hawthorne was taken off in an ambulance last week but may return Saturday. Weinreb on Penn State remembering this football thing. Tim Hardaway expectation tracker. More numbers displaying that Illinois is bad yo. Denard throws are key.

Comments

WolvinLA2

October 9th, 2012 at 12:06 PM ^

I knew Illinois would be bad this year when they were bad last year and then I saw a suprisingly large number of their guys called on draft day.  You can't be bad, lose a decent amount of NFL talent, and then not be TERRIBLE.

derpDerpDerp

October 9th, 2012 at 12:14 PM ^

Brian - you're being unnecessarily provactive by talking of sending agents into Iran to bring the country to civil war. This is breaking your own rule against politics on this site.

natesezgoblue

October 9th, 2012 at 12:20 PM ^

"The US government needs to disguise Weis as an Iranian ayatollah and send him into deep cover. Within weeks the country will collapse in the world's most disorganized civil war."

this had me rolling..

jaggs

October 9th, 2012 at 12:28 PM ^

it hard to believe that people would email you something like the OSU twitter thing. Do they believe that you don't read your own message board? Do they think this is somehting you might miss? He's on top of it people!

InterM

October 9th, 2012 at 12:33 PM ^

So true -- we've got three home games between now and Friday, six overall in October . . . and then a grand total of one home game between mid-January and the beginning of March (versus nine road games during that period).  But, hey, who wants to watch hockey in January/February, when you can see it in October -- not like there's other sporting events to watch or attend around now . . . .

saveferris

October 9th, 2012 at 1:13 PM ^

Plus, we play at home on Saturday night four times total the whole season.  Four!  We have more games on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays (five).  I thought last years hockey schedule was bad with just six games after the holidays, but at least we got to enjoy some home games during the stretch run in February.  Now we're essentially going to follow the stretch run on TV.

Besides, let's face it, for all the hype that surrounds the environment at Yost, the atmosphere in October is nothing compared to the atmosphere in January / February.  Nice that our farewell tour in the CCHA is such a downer.

bronxblue

October 9th, 2012 at 12:40 PM ^

I never understand running simulations on data sets of 5-6 games, especially when most of these games were OOC matchups against cupcakes.  Right now most Big 10 teams have played 2 conference games, so trying to divine how they will play going forward seems a little weird.  At least wait until everyone has played 4 games and has some history.

Anyway, would be amazed if Sims isn't on the field against UM.  Sabino?  Not so much.  I broke my fibula when I was 7, and I was in a cast for 3 months.  Obviously a different situation, but 3-4 weeks seems really optimistic unless the word "break" isn't what I think it is.

WolvinLA2

October 9th, 2012 at 1:00 PM ^

I have the reverse opinion on Sims and Sabino. Sims is a big dude, and needs a good ankle. He might want to play all day, but if he can't go, he can't go. I doesn't make sense to go in early and risk reinjury that might keep him out the rest of the season.

Sabino, OTOH, might be good. Unlike you when you were 7, he has a steel bar in his leg now, which helps out a lot. And we are his last game of the season. If he gets hurt again, he has the whole offseason to heal up. There is no next week for them against us, I bet the pull out all the stops they can.

tubauberalles

October 9th, 2012 at 1:38 PM ^

First, disclaimer: I am not a doctor nor trained in any way in the medical arts.

I have, though, broken my own fibula as an adult.  That experience taught me that specific bone (at least according to the orthopod) was largely superfluous up near the knee, though very important for stability down by the ankle.  I was in a leg immobilizer for less than two weeks and on crutches for less than four.  My break may very well have been much less severe than in this case, but it was still a fractured fibula that was essentially ready for normal activity in under 4 weeks.  If they put a plate in, it might be stable and ready for use even sooner.

In my non-professional, internet-message-board-informed opinion.

 

WolvinLA2

October 9th, 2012 at 3:00 PM ^

Yeah, I definitely agree with your last point. I think he'd go a week earlier with the game being against us (although almost all of Sparty's games are important at this point).

I guess it just depends how bad it is. A high ankle sprain can really linger, and he's got a lot of weight on that joint. My guess is he tries to go, but doesn't make it through the whole game.

JeepinBen

October 9th, 2012 at 12:42 PM ^

Yes a thousand times make this happen! Even the B1G can't screw this (remembers "leaders and legends") aw crap.

They're probably going to have M Hockey in Minnesota while the gophers are here for football. And air both at the same time on TV.

But seriously, hockey/football triple headers would be awesome.

StraightDave

October 9th, 2012 at 12:47 PM ^

I broke my jaw in August and had a steel plate implanted into my lower jaw bone and the doc told me 4-6 months to heal.  This OSU dude broke his leg and is talking about three week.  WTF?

jmdblue

October 9th, 2012 at 12:53 PM ^

The decided schmatic advantage then enjoyed by the CIA would doubtless lead to spontaneous revolution and a popular overthrow of Ahmadinejad.  All without leaving American footprints.  As an added bonus, C. would look positively Budda-like (chins just a jigglin') in a tent-sized robe.  Brilliant.

saveferris

October 9th, 2012 at 12:56 PM ^

Someone's got to do something about hockey scheduling. There's a game at Yost on February first this year. You know when the next one is? March. I assume this is just the CCHA screwing with Michigan because it can; hopefully next year they'll be able to move more home games into the back half of the schedule.

The schedule this year is maddening. Including tonight's exhibition against Windsor, there are six home games being played in October. There are just seven games at Yost after the holidays, total. This includes one exhibition game against the US-NDTP and a Tuesday (TUESDAY?!) night game against BGSU, thus ensuring nobody shows up. And, as Brian points out, we essentially spend February on the road.

I'd cite a CCHA conspiracy except MSU and OSU have much better balance to their schedule pre and post Christmas. So either the CCHA just has it in for Michigan or we're just unlucky. I'd accept unlucky except last seasons schedule shook out pretty much the same at this seasons, so DB needs to throw some weight around and get better balance to the hockey schedule.

FrankMurphy

October 9th, 2012 at 1:49 PM ^

In fairness to Cardale Jones, I highly doubt that he simply derped his own name by accident. It's probably some kind of inside joke with a friend or a reference to something that people older than 30 are incapable of understanding. 

Also, the hilarious irony is that every single word in Jones' tweet is spelled correctly, and his grammar and punctuation are better than 90% of all tweets. He even took the time to capitalize where appropriate. 

eschaton811ydau

October 9th, 2012 at 4:45 PM ^

"BONUS SCHEDULING TIP: The Big Ten should seek out opportunities to have rival weekends where, say, Minnesota football and hockey come to town at the same time. The travel equation changes dramatically when you get a hockey series on top of your football game."

 

Synergies, man. I bet DB would blow a load in his pants if you pitched this idea to him.

Drbogue

October 9th, 2012 at 7:11 PM ^

I'm a plastic surgeon, not an orthopod, but a fibula break is not likely a 4 week deal. He'll, it'll take 6 for the callous to turn to bone. Of course, it's not a weight bearing bone and they may just be referring to the pain he is having... Regardless, one pop to outside o his leg and he'll be sitting the rest of the season

In reply to by Drbogue

B-Nut-GoBlue

October 10th, 2012 at 12:10 AM ^

"Regardless, one pop to outside o his leg and he'll be sitting the rest of the season"

Of which there will be none; so they'll probably be willing to take the chance, I guess?!

I agree with you, though, I'm going to be surprised/impressed(?) if he is playing at a high enough level two days after Thanksgiving.