Unverified Voracity Throws It Down Comment Count

Brian

Iowa: not very good. BHGP on the Hawkeye depth chart at guard and RB:

IOWA FOOTBALL TAKES ON MICHIGAN SATURDAY (/GROAN).Here's the two-deeps. Conor Boffeli is your left guard this week. Jordan Walsh, Austin Blythe, Nolan MacMillan and Boffeli have all had a turn playing turnstile there since Brandon Scherff and Andrew Donnal left the Penn State game due to injury. Neither Mark Weisman nor Brad Rogers are listed at running back or fullback.

Last week, Damon Bullock got to play an Iowan version of Poor Damn Toussaint, rushing for 1.9 yards a carry against Purdue, the #85 rushing D in the country. Iowa is not good. FWIW, the game was off the board yesterday but has now been set at Michigan –20. Iowa is not good.

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YAHHHHHHHHHH / Bryan Fuller

Basketball: possibly very good. I took in my first non-tiny-stream version of Michigan basketball last night*, and this happened:

"I probably should've dunked it," the Michigan freshman forward joked. "I missed a little tip-in, I was kind of upset about that."

It was awful. I'm so depressed.

The Wolverines' freshman forward showed off every facet of his game, and his potential, scoring 21 points on 8 of 9 shooting. He went 3-for-3 from behind the 3-point line, he finished off alley-oop dunks and even grabbed six rebounds.

Oh right that part well you guys just aren't demanding enough excellence. It is only by doing so on the internet that excellence can be achieved.

But seriously folks. !!!

Let us take a brief moment to consider Jordan Morgan, who continues to lose weight and get more athletic. He uses this additional athleticism to be incredibly annoying. Here is a screen in your face. Here is a hedge of your screen that puts you in the corner six feet from the three point line. Also it comes with free batting at the ball. He is going to rotate back now and not block your shot but just make it so that when you jump you're bouncing off him a little. And then he will run the floor.

Morgan's still undersized and may still be foul-prone against better competition, but this year Michigan can turn to Mitch McGary and Jon Horford when that happens instead of a badly miscast Evan Smotrycz, so I don't even care that much except Morgan does seem a step or two better than those guys because of the aforementioned embodiment of the most annoying noise in the world.

Big guys have a tendency to make that senior step up—Chris Young, Pete Vignier, Graham Brown—that makes them loveable lunch-bucket little-coaching-squee machines, and Morgan is in that year even if he's a junior thanks to the redshirt. There's a reason he's starting.

He'll probably see his minutes reduced against teams that can put out a post guy who can simply outhuge him; other than that it's going to be hard to get him off the floor.

Other things:

  • Vogrich > Stauskas at the moment because of defense, Stauskas > anyone in terms of three point shooting ever. Totally not getting ahead of myself based on three games.
  • The defense started off a little ugly, but after it was 26-25 ten minutes in the Jags scored only 29 more points in the final 30 minutes. It doesn't seem like it will be a strength, though. That's the tangible thing Michigan will miss without Novak/Douglass.
  • Jon Horford thunderdunk + Tim Hardaway thunderdunk + GRIII alley-oop festival == John Beilein looking at his team, thinking about the dudes he coached at Cansisius and wondering if it's even the same sport.
  • Not a huge fan of the two post setup. If you're going to do that one of them has to be able to operate out of the high post or shoot—not necessarily threes, but midrange jumpers—and I'm not sure Michigan's posts are prepared to do that yet. McGary might be a high post guy in time. They'll probably run it 10 minutes a game or so.
  • McGary's blown layup thing definitely looked like a guy used to having more up than he currently has. Looks like he'll have time to round into shape.
  • Fact: Spike Albrecht is better than half of the guys Amaker recruited.
  • Hardaway took no threes. In fact, there were exactly two shots all game that irritated me, one a long contested heat check Burke three, the other a long Hardaway two with 20 seconds on the shot clock. Two is kind of an amazing low number.

*[Defensive defense of self: It's hard for me to carve out the time to go to Crisler early in the week because I am working so hard for you, reader, and hockey versus MSU against BBball versus Slippery Rock is no contest.]

The vexer is now the vexee! Or maybe vice-versa. I'm vexed.

Will Campbell wrapping up vexing career by playing his best football

Commence the Rodriguez rabbling!

"It's been bumpy, it's been up and down," Campbell said. "I wish I was under this coaching staff all four years, but I wasn't, so the opportunities they gave me I just tried to capitalize on.

"I'm not saying that (the previous staff held me back). I was just lazy and young, and didn't realize the opportunities in front of me."

You could have had a stuffed animal rubbed on your face, man. That was the opportunity you missed in favor of eating cheeseburgers and playing video games. Verdict: good call.

Format set, mostly. The people who made the playoff thing got together to hammer out some playoff details. They are:

  • A 12-year contract featuring a bucket of money delivered by ESPN.
  • The Rose, Sugar, and Orange Bowl all have set lineups, with the Orange featuring the ACC champ versus the highest ranked SEC/Big Ten/Notre Dame entity that did not make the playoff or the Rose/Sugar.
  • The highest ranked team from a minor conference—Big East now included—gets an auto bid to an "access" bowl. In years when the Rose/Sugar/Orange are all out of the semifinal business that means there is essentially one slot up for grabs.
  • It's unclear what happens when the Rose hosts a semi and the Fiesta/Cotton/Peach bowls are acquiring teams. When the Rose/Sugar are hosting semis they will not allow the Big Ten or SEC champ to be in the Orange Bowl to make the Fiesta/Cotton/Peach setups more attractive in a long term TV contract.
  • There is another bucket of money coming for the title game.

More documents, more facepalming for the NCAA. Get The Picture has been all over every document released as part of the Ed O'Bannon case's discovery process, and here's the latest palm-to-forehead moment:

Davis then writes: "Here's my concern -- Eil [sic] is a current player on the Ole Miss team. Is using his actual number and attributes (height, race, etc.) too close to reality thereby using Eli's likeness (if not his name) and causing an eligibility issue?"

Another NCAA staffer, Melissa Caito, wrote in response: "Pls be cautious as you move through this -- any more 'watering down' of the video games will likely move the manufacturers to cease operations with us."

I'm not a lawyer, but that seems bad.

BONUS:

Another document made public Monday by the plaintiffs lawyers showed the results of an NCAA commercialism and licensing survey in which 12 of 150 responding Division I schools said they "engage in the sale of licensed products bearing a current student-athlete's individual likeness."

This was 2004 to 2006. I wonder what constitutes "likeness" here—it's possible some schools admit that putting 16 on a jersey and selling it is enough, while others are like "16, never heard of him, who's named 16 lol nobody."

Etc.: MGoUser hops on reddit to ask if people actually show up at other schools. Burke is now 20, also scoring and assisting. Billy Taylor documentary is FRIDAY FRIDAY FRIDAY. Even the most reasonable minds have to wonder about whether there is some conspiracy at Penn State. Oh… against Penn State? Oh. Safety blitzin'.

Comments

JeepinBen

November 13th, 2012 at 12:40 PM ^

First,  your Hardaway bullet is in the playoff section (guessing that's in the wrong section).

Second, regarding your inability to attend every Michigan game ever, just out of curiosity, how much time do you spend on the site during a typical in-season week? As a terrible writer, I have no idea how much time it would take you.

Brian

November 13th, 2012 at 12:45 PM ^

um, it's hard to tell. I do that thing where you work until your brain complains and then do something else for a bit, and feel like you can never go do anything because if you're at your computer you could start working at any time. "Lots" is the best approximation I can offer. 

The Wagon

November 13th, 2012 at 12:45 PM ^

On ESPN Gameday this past weekend, they demonstrated Johnny Manziel's popularity by showing all of the "Johnny Football" t-shirts on sale at the Texas A&M bookstore. Isn't that a blatant violation?

ClearEyesFullHart

November 13th, 2012 at 12:52 PM ^

Everybody is giving credit to Demens and Gardner, but I saw you grind Mark into the turf so damned hard they had to scrape him off with a spatula. I know who won that game big fella.

m1jjb00

November 13th, 2012 at 12:54 PM ^

I'm not calmed by the stat on points scored by IUPUI in the last 30 minutes.  That seemed more a function of them than anything special Michigan was doing.

Early season + youth, however, seems like a better reason not to panic.  And Morgan is probably going to be a notch better this year than last, which was very good already.

Indonacious

November 13th, 2012 at 1:13 PM ^

I find the first part of your post to be questionable... if you are willing to claim that michigan had no part in their lack of production for the last 30 minutes but then suggest that they were solely at fault for IUPUI shooting well in the first 10 minutes, then I think you are being unfair. There offensive output in early the first half was largely due to them making an unsustainable amount of 3s (some being the fault, in part, of michigans D).

http://www.scacchoops.com/ViewHDGame.asp?hSchedule=14960&bView=3&sInclu…

Shows a steady decline in their off efficiency and their eFG%, which I doubt is due to IUPUI just deciding to suck and more likely michigan rotating better and IUPUI coming down to earth.

As an aside, I can't imagine what people would be saying if you know...we weren't clobbering people. 

chitownblue2

November 13th, 2012 at 1:18 PM ^

Well, they started off the game shooting close to 70% - which I think we can agree is a bit high for them, or anyone.

There's likely some regression in the "last 30 minutes" number involved.

Indonacious

November 13th, 2012 at 1:29 PM ^

I agree with that...I guess I meant that IUPUI didn't just systematically decide to play differently and start sucking by abandoning their offense and just throwing the ball at the backboard. I just think its silly if we can say that when they shoot very well to start it is because of our D sucking but then when they shoot more normally/poorly its only because they regressed. I just think if you are going to be mindful of regression-themed arguments you have to use them both ways.

M-Wolverine

November 13th, 2012 at 1:01 PM ^

But what interests me is I think I've finally figured out PSU. They have the little brother mentality at what (once was) a major football program.  And it hasn't come recently; it's been noticable since the day they entered the conference. Even though they were given every scheduling break imaginable, they've always felt the other schools were out to get them. Compare this to Nebraska, who yes, this year has little to complain about, but was given a "welcome" really tough schedule, and seems to have joined more smoothly. Maybe we learned something from Penn State. But I think it has a lot more to do with the self-confidence of the school and fanbase of where they stand. I don't think the league is "upping" the Cornhuskers...it's just been one of those years where they put themselves in position for the lucky breaks to matter, and they've been getting them all. They can go both ways one year over another. We've seen it. 

But this stuff is just apeshit-

 

I would love to get out of the BIG It is a terrible football conf. and laughing stock of nation. I know the ACC isn’t much better but I would rather travel to Tallahasse or Miami or NC this time of year to see an away game than cold as ice locals like Indiana, Mich, and Wisc. Plus all the BIG schools are sooooooo far away from south central pa. I know it will never happen because of the $$$$. But I feel that we say right now 3 more years in BIG then we are done. Screw them they never wanted us and it shows how we were original treated and lets face facts, we (esp when playing against OSU, UM, Neb)we get the hose job by the refs. Plus I think the ACC is on the rise and it is a hell of a good basketball conf. So lets get out!

Probably more in the almost 950 posts of crazy, but this one towards the top...yeah, it's the Big Ten that's embarrassing PSU, not the other way around....

mGrowOld

November 13th, 2012 at 1:15 PM ^

Excellent comparison of PSU/Nebraska and how their fanbase handled entered the B1G and one I had never considered until you wrote that.  You're right - PSU bitched and moaned and has generally acted like spoiled little children from day one while Nebraska seems like they've always been here and fit right in.

I too read the nutjob comments on this post immediately after it went up and thought to myself "be careful what you wish for PSU".....not like anybody around here would be heartbroken if you left.

JeepinBen

November 13th, 2012 at 1:24 PM ^

Pre-season there was a lot of chatter that they could run the table and win the B1G in their first season.

But they had trips to  Madison and State College and got the Buckeyes for their OOD opponents.   Those are the 3 best teams in the "Woody" division. They also came to Ann Arbor and East Lansing for good measure. Welcome to the conference, buddy.

FrankMurphy

November 13th, 2012 at 1:52 PM ^

Yeah, but in fairness, A&M has been a sleeping giant for a while now. That program has the resources, tradition, and recruiting base necessary to be among college football's elite, but they could never get over the hump for some reason. Their switch to the SEC happened to coincide with the hiring of Kevin Sumlin. 

M-Wolverine

November 13th, 2012 at 1:47 PM ^

PSU got for years right before Michigan and OSU.  You should have to earn your way. And to Nebraska's credit they said "yeah, you didn't give us any breaks" but they didn't whine about it. On the other hand, even with a bye PSU loses to the two traditional powers their first year then whines "they're out to get us!!!" Funny how when the bye weeks stopped PSU beating us stopped.

I just hope if Nebraska continues to do well this year they don't think everything will work out for them like it has this year every year. PSU went undefeated their 2nd year in the Big Ten.....after that, not so much.

FrankMurphy

November 13th, 2012 at 1:47 PM ^

I know Penn State fans who are intelligent and sensible in all other aspects of life, but who genuinely believe that the Big Ten is out to get Penn State and that JoePa's reputation is being sullied because all of the other fanbases are jealous of him. They're not just talking trash, they actually seem to believe this.

I think Penn State fans have easily displaced Notre Dame fans as the most delusional fanbase in America.  

saveferris

November 13th, 2012 at 3:06 PM ^

Penn State was an independent before they joined the Big 10.  Prior to conference affiliation, they were the center of their universe and never had to share the spotlight with anyone.  Nebraska, on the other hand came from the Big 12 and was third fiddle to Texas and Oklahoma.  So while Nebraska has a proud football tradition and has a high opinion of themselves, their perspective still doesn't allow them to trend toward diva-ness.

I'm certain if Notre Dame would've behaved in much the same manner as PSU if they had ever accepted the invitation to join the Big 10.

I'm sure all the PSU nutjobs are looking at the deal that ND got with the ACC and thinking would merit similar treatment, which is laughable.  But I'm with you MGO, if Penn State wants to go, I won't shed a tear, they've brought nothing to this conference except a little bit of presence on the East Coast and not much else.  Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.

Needs

November 13th, 2012 at 2:08 PM ^

Ahhhh. [takes out rediculous bubble pipe]

I generally agree, but think there's one additional thing at play that makes this more complicated than just the Little Brother complex. Penn State fans combine the 'lack of respect' that characterizes the LB with a superiority complex that assumes they are the rightful holders of all that is right and good in college football. 

Since the late '60s, Penn State had been running up impressive records against a schedule consisting generally poor competition. Their regular east coast rivals (which some PSU fans long to return to) was a collection of reliably terrible teams -- Maryland, West Virginia, Syracuse, Temple, BC. The only real consistent exception was Pitt, which was understandably their rivalry game.

In the '60s and '70s, the result was several undefeated seasons that, nonetheless, didn't yield national championships, because the voters were like, you've beaten a series of terrible teams. This granted Penn State fans a "nobody respects us" inferiority complex to go along with the "Success with Honor" superiority complex that Paterno imbued the program with. In the '80s, Penn State beat those same teams but beefed up their schedules, won two titles, and gained national respect. It's this context that explains the laughably one-sided financial nature of the eastern conference that Paterno tried to set up (no shared revenues, IIRC). It also explains the assumptions of Penn State fans that they would dominate the Big 10 (which was generally down apart from Michigan when PSU joined).

Given these assumptions and the memories of the lack of respect for PSU during the 1960s and 1970s, they entered with a belief that the Big 10 would screw them over to prevent them from dominating the conference. And when PSU turned out to be less successful when they no longer played completely overmatched opponents every week, many concluded that this was the result of the conferences plans, "Referines," OSU's dastadly ways, etc. That the conference doesn't protect them represents PSU fans' Little Brother inferiority complex, that the ACC would jump at a team who will be on probation, associated with child molestation for the foreseeable future, and soon decimated by sanctions represents their superiority complex. 

In short, the pathology of the PSU fan is much more psychologically interesting than that of the MSU fan. 

And at least their bitching got us instant replay.

 

M-Wolverine

November 13th, 2012 at 4:44 PM ^

Has an inferiority conference.

I'd say when Penn State joined OSU was really good under Cooper, except when they played us; and that's when Wisconsin and Northwestern came into their own. But you might have meant the perception coming into the Conference rather than once they joined.

You would have gotten the +1 for te bubble pipe alone.

Needs

November 13th, 2012 at 5:27 PM ^

Yeah, I meant when they agreed to join the conference in 1990. At that point, Wisconsin was pre-Alvarez and terrible, NU was pre-Barnett and worse, OSU was going through the Bruce - Cooper transition, and Iowa was starting to fade from the highpoint of the Hayden Fry years in the mid 80s. We were consistently good but the league was pretty down.

I feel like OSU's best Cooper years were in the mid 90s. I think they won a share of the conference title in 1993, the year that PSU started playing in the conference, but we absolutely obliterated that team (was it 31-0?). The next year, Penn State beat them something like 63-10. But 1995-1998 were all really good OSU teams. 

M-Wolverine

November 13th, 2012 at 7:43 PM ^

It was a lot of fun. And the strt of under ranked Michigan teams taking it to OSU. Kept them out of the Rose Bowl. (Which they had a draught of). But yeah their best years were when they were the Lions were in the conference. (My auto-correct "inferiority conference" above is pretty funny considering the topic).

Section 1

November 13th, 2012 at 2:37 PM ^

Does it count, if I also say that I sort of wish that Will Campbell had been playing under a Mattison-led defense all that time?  But if the Michigan budget in 2008 couldn't afford Jeff Casteel, I don't think that they could have outbid the Ravens for Mattison's services.

Who knows, if in 2017, we'll be griping about how if only we'd had a better offensive coordinator than Borges.

I try not to engage in revisionism.  The funny thing with Campbell is that not so long ago, people were blaming his high school coaching, and the overall quality of the Detroit PSL, for the fact that he wasn't an instant star in the Big Ten.

Butterfield

November 13th, 2012 at 3:21 PM ^

While mattison has been key to the defensive turnaround, I think Will's development can probably be attributed most to his position coach and Brady Hoke, who works with the linemen. I'm not sure RRs position coaches would have changed even if casteel were brought in. Oh, and Arizona's defense certainly isn't seeing a positive effect....

Butterfield

November 13th, 2012 at 3:50 PM ^

1.  Mattison is on the record saying he only came to Michigan for the opportunity to work with Brady Hoke.

2.  Arizona's defense under Casteel is ranked 116th in YPG, 103rd in PPG nationally.   There are 120 FBS teams.  Those are GERG style rankings if I've ever seen them.  Some of the totals they have ceded to opponents this year include:  66, 49, 54, and probably most incriminatingly 31 against Colorado, the 115th highest scoring offense in the country.  Would it have mattered even if they did spend the money?

Butterfield

November 13th, 2012 at 4:24 PM ^

If you ended it after saying you had wished Will played for Mattison, that would have been saying something nice.  But as usual, you took the opportunity to denegrate the program for not being willing to pay Casteel. 

By the way, a lot of teams in the Pac12 have to play that schedule.  It hasn't stopped Arizona State, Oregon State, Oregon, USC, and Utah from being in the top 50 in scoring defenses. Somehow I think this Michigan team and staff would manage to perform a bit better than Casteel's D has thus far.   

Section 1

November 13th, 2012 at 5:12 PM ^

I'll denigrate the program, for not being willing to pay Casteel.  It was probably the worst mistake of Bill Martin's otherwise-excellent tenure in the Athletic Department.  (Much worse, I'd say, than Tommy Amacker.  Don't press me on Brian Ellerbee.)

Don't take my word on it.  Ask Dave Brandon.  His first significant decision as AD, as far as I am concerned, was, 'We have to have an all-new paradigm on football assistant/coordinator salaries.'  Brandon made that determination before he determined to relieve Rich Rodriguez.  Brandon knew what had gotten fucked up, as soon as he got into the job.

No matter, whether Jeff Casteel is included in any discussion on the topic.  Michigan, and the whole conference, lagged the rest of the country.  Brandon knew it.  Brandon knew that we had to change.  He changed it.  And every other contending football program in the B1G is likewise changing, as fast as they have to or as fast as they can.

So yeah.  Count me in, for denigrating Michigan's Athletic Department, for those decisions, during those years.

Thanks for asking and have a nice day!

M-Wolverine

November 13th, 2012 at 7:35 PM ^

But if it makes you feel any better, Goss kept Ellerbee around, not Martin. Now if someone wants to argue he kept him around too long before hiring Amaker (guessing that was a typo), I guess they could, but it'd be way OT.

ijohnb

November 13th, 2012 at 1:09 PM ^

details of the playoff "formula" alert me to the fact that they are going to actually find a way to make me want the original BCS formula back, quite the same way that the original BCS formula made me want the "old bowl system" back where everybody just played whoever in a New Years Day spectacular.  At every step of the way, they are taking a good idea and convoluting the details in such a horid way that you forget what the actual idea was in the first place. 

I am afraid that you cannot have the "bowl system" and a playoff at the same time, in the same way that you cannot have your cake and eat it too (although that never really made sense to me as if you are eating you already "have it" or are having it, and nobody really wants to have a cake unless they are eating it, but whatever).

ijohnb

November 14th, 2012 at 11:12 AM ^

but cake is not to be possessed, it is to be eaten, i.e. to possess cake is to eat it.  A non-edible item would make more sense, such as, "you cannot eat your calculator and have it to."  Nobody wants a cake because they want to frame it and hold on to it, so it is on no significance to tell somebody they cannot do so.

Ed Shuttlesworth

November 13th, 2012 at 1:16 PM ^

For better or worse -- probably worse -- college sports as we know them (*)  are not going to survive the O'Bannon/NCAA litigation.

(*) Which is to say, students playing for schools they attend, for scholarships of equal value to their teammates'.

Blue boy johnson

November 13th, 2012 at 1:21 PM ^

M is very fortunate Trey Burke decided to return for a second session with M hoops, but It struck me while watching this team the game Burke sat out: This is a top 20 team without Trey Burke.

Burke and GRIII: pretty clear these are the two best players on the team.

I will be watching GRIII closely, but early returns show a lightening first step that the great ones have. Bruce Pearl gave an involuntary "wow", on the one devastatingly quick crossover GRIII effortlessly made.

TwoFiveAD

November 13th, 2012 at 1:30 PM ^

Vogrich is starting for one reason and one reason only he is a Senior.  He is no where near the offense of threat Stauskas is and both of their defensive games are pretty bad.  It's early but at this point it doesn't look like Mcgary will challenge for a starting spot.  I predict Stauskas will be in the starting rotation by B1G play. 

Randy

November 13th, 2012 at 2:38 PM ^

The Iowa line you linked to from vegasinsider.com appears to have Iowa favored by 20, doesn't it?  That has to be a typo; if not, give me some of that action!

profitgoblue

November 13th, 2012 at 2:57 PM ^

That thread created on Reddit has some really interesting answers.  The one real eye-opener is the response from an Oregon poster about the fact that their student section is rarely full at kickoff.  Autzen is notorious for being one of the most difficult stadiums for visiting teams (see Michigan a few years back) because of the noise.  Interesting to read that they have the same student attendance issue that Michigan does.  Maybe its the free tickets causing more casual fans to get tickets?