For posterity: Tickets on StubHub were at about $415 for one minimum get-in-the-door ticket the morning of The Game, with prices increasing to about $600 by kickoff time.
And to think, for the all the years of the history of these Preview articles, I had assumed it was a 1-10 scale. I suppose we all know what they say about assumptions.
For me, it's not quite that high. Don't get me wrong, I do have a desperate need for Michigan to win... but not quite to the "11" level. Michigan will still control its own destiny relative to all other goals on the table regardless; and this isn't Ohio State we're talking about here.
Touchdowns on nine (9) straight drives to open the game?! This is 100% from memory, but the most I can remember in any game dating back to the mid-90s, against any level of competition, is four.
A 100% downfield success rating for the QB? Don't remember seeing that, either, since MGoBlog introduced that metric however many years back.
Great analysis. It's nice to know that it hasn't been just my imagination that, whichever teams in the B1G West happen to be the weaker ones in a given year, are generally the ones that Michigan has rotated off its schedule for that year.
My daughter was born the morning of this game. (Birth date: 9-10-11.)
I was a first-time youth flag football head coach that year, of my 7-year-old son's team, and that Saturday was to be our first game. My wife, being an absolute hero, told me that she was just fine, and to go coach the game. My team won, with my son scoring two long touchdowns.
I returned to the hospital that evening to watch this game with my wife.
I don't understand this attitude in general from Sparty. Isn't the whole disrespekt thing predicated, in large part, on Michigan's relative indifference to Michigan State in the past, as contrasted with Sparty's obsession with Michigan?
"MSU is our secondary rival"; approach to the State game as just another B1G conference game; "little brother"; and so forth.
Shouldn't Sparty be happy that Michigan is, at last, taking them more seriously?
> Northwestern reached midfield on 9 of their last 10 possessions, and came away with no points in those possessions. None. I don’t even know how you do that.
This uncomfortably reminds me of that Michigan year under Rich Rod where Michigan would repeatedly put together long drives only to have them stall around the opponent's 20 or 30 yard line, and then proceed to miss a field goal because we had no kicker. ?
- For me, 50 is generally the floor for a win. If we'd have made that field goal against App St., that'd have been a 50. A win is a win.
- Against a weaker opponent, around 80 is the ceiling for a convincing win.
- 100 is reserved for a domination of a strong rival team.
- I suppose a crazy exciting win against a rival might merit a 100 as well. It's hard to claim that Under The Lights I against Notre Dame back in 2011 wasn't a 100.
- A loss is generally going to be under 50, although a close loss against a favored rival might be more. I suppose the 42-41 loss to No. 3 OSU in 2013 on the failed 2-point conversion would qualify for something like a 60.
For the season:
- 50 is an 8-4 season (or the modern equivalent). 100 is a national title.
>"I think they've beaten them eight out of the last 10 times so I don't think you can be surprised at all," Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck told reporters this week. "I think it would almost be the other way. If Michigan beats Michigan State, you should be surprised in these times."
> That’s not a dig. It’s a perfectly fair assessment of how that rivalry’s broken in the last decade.
I think I might have rated season satisfaction at around a 55.
Why? It's not like I put a ton of thought into this, but: Michigan's 5-2, likely headed for 8-4, which was about par for the Lloyd Carr teams that I watched while I was a student and got to know the program (with 1997 being an exceptionally nice exception). That seemed meritorious of a middling score on the 100-point scale.
The ultimate measure of the success of a punting play is the net gain in field position, right? Yet this is NEVER mentioned on TV coverage -- i.e. "Michigan flipped field position by 46 yards on that punt" -- and that always has always annoyed me.
I'm aware that I could come up with this number myself by calculating the difference between the "FROM" and "RLT" values (or the IN-AIR YD and RTN values), but it would be nice to have the net yardage displayed for an at-a-glance measure of how well the punt went!
After all, we don't generally talk about passing or rushing plays in terms of the starting and ending yard lines -- we talk about yards gained (or lost). Can we apply the same concept here?
Fun fact: A chunk of metal (such as a trumpet) chilled down to well below freezing temperatures will, when held, pull warmth out of your hands right through a couple of pairs of gloves.
That McDoom jet sweep fake into swing route the opposite direction was wonderful play design. And Brian's replay highlighting the defender that was supposed to be covering McDoom was just delightful.
Here's an odd question. If Zettel had been ejected for targetting, could Michigan theoretricallty have declined that penalty, since Zettel being out for the first half against MSU next week would actually hurt Michigan? (Assuming Michigan could anticipate the possibility of an MSU win vs OSU.)
Recent Comments
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Me too, Brian, me too.
Thanks for this comprehensive write-up!
Awesome story! Thanks for sharing it!
For…
For posterity: Tickets on StubHub were at about $415 for one minimum get-in-the-door ticket the morning of The Game, with prices increasing to about $600 by kickoff time.
+1 for Want to…
Delightful!
You got a cackle of knowing glee out of me with this one. 😂
> This sample size is so small as to be offensive to the very notion. And yet: hope.
Prose like this makes my Michigan heart happy. 💛💙
"Desperate need to win level" of 11! ELEVEN!!
And to think, for the all the years of the history of these Preview articles, I had assumed it was a 1-10 scale. I suppose we all know what they say about assumptions.
For me, it's not quite that high. Don't get me wrong, I do have a desperate need for Michigan to win... but not quite to the "11" level. Michigan will still control its own destiny relative to all other goals on the table regardless; and this isn't Ohio State we're talking about here.
Loved that the Barrett kickoff return pass was charted.
And the rest, too. Wonderful article!
Touchdowns on nine (9) straight drives to open the game?! This is 100% from memory, but the most I can remember in any game dating back to the mid-90s, against any level of competition, is four.
A 100% downfield success rating for the QB? Don't remember seeing that, either, since MGoBlog introduced that metric however many years back.
Deep breath. Remain calm.
Great analysis. It's nice to know that it hasn't been just my imagination that, whichever teams in the B1G West happen to be the weaker ones in a given year, are generally the ones that Michigan has rotated off its schedule for that year.
Full list of category tags present on this post:
[coronavirus] [it's happening]
?
My daughter was born the morning of this game. (Birth date: 9-10-11.)
I was a first-time youth flag football head coach that year, of my 7-year-old son's team, and that Saturday was to be our first game. My wife, being an absolute hero, told me that she was just fine, and to go coach the game. My team won, with my son scoring two long touchdowns.
I returned to the hospital that evening to watch this game with my wife.
Pretty much best day ever.
…
Great write-up! Great game!
Grammar nit: "rutger" (singular) should not be captialized.
I don't understand this attitude in general from Sparty. Isn't the whole disrespekt thing predicated, in large part, on Michigan's relative indifference to Michigan State in the past, as contrasted with Sparty's obsession with Michigan?
"MSU is our secondary rival"; approach to the State game as just another B1G conference game; "little brother"; and so forth.
Shouldn't Sparty be happy that Michigan is, at last, taking them more seriously?
JBB, a…
Unicorn salad!
JBB, a question mark on the OL in past seasons, with a +19 performance! Hail, JBB and Ed Warinner!
> Northwestern reached midfield on 9 of their last 10 possessions, and came away with no points in those possessions. None. I don’t even know how you do that.
This uncomfortably reminds me of that Michigan year under Rich Rod where Michigan would repeatedly put together long drives only to have them stall around the opponent's 20 or 30 yard line, and then proceed to miss a field goal because we had no kicker. ?
- For
For individual games:
- For me, 50 is generally the floor for a win. If we'd have made that field goal against App St., that'd have been a 50. A win is a win.
- Against a weaker opponent, around 80 is the ceiling for a convincing win.
- 100 is reserved for a domination of a strong rival team.
- I suppose a crazy exciting win against a rival might merit a 100 as well. It's hard to claim that Under The Lights I against Notre Dame back in 2011 wasn't a 100.
- A loss is generally going to be under 50, although a close loss against a favored rival might be more. I suppose the 42-41 loss to No. 3 OSU in 2013 on the failed 2-point conversion would qualify for something like a 60.
For the season:
- 50 is an 8-4 season (or the modern equivalent). 100 is a national title.
After some brief Google research, looks like it's this:
> The Spartans are ranked for the first time this season, fresh off a win at then-No. 7 Michigan.
>"I think they've beaten them eight out of the last 10 times so I don't think you can be surprised at all," Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck told reporters this week. "I think it would almost be the other way. If Michigan beats Michigan State, you should be surprised in these times."
> That’s not a dig. It’s a perfectly fair assessment of how that rivalry’s broken in the last decade.
Source: https://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2017/10/12/16463908/pj-fleck-…
Can I get a math check on the Fear/Paranoia Level? Looks like it adds up to a 4 to me, not a 2.
I think I might have rated season satisfaction at around a 55.
Why? It's not like I put a ton of thought into this, but: Michigan's 5-2, likely headed for 8-4, which was about par for the Lloyd Carr teams that I watched while I was a student and got to know the program (with 1997 being an exceptionally nice exception). That seemed meritorious of a middling score on the 100-point scale.
Our first Desperate Need To Win value that's not a 10 in... quite a long time?
The ultimate measure of the success of a punting play is the net gain in field position, right? Yet this is NEVER mentioned on TV coverage -- i.e. "Michigan flipped field position by 46 yards on that punt" -- and that always has always annoyed me.
I'm aware that I could come up with this number myself by calculating the difference between the "FROM" and "RLT" values (or the IN-AIR YD and RTN values), but it would be nice to have the net yardage displayed for an at-a-glance measure of how well the punt went!
After all, we don't generally talk about passing or rushing plays in terms of the starting and ending yard lines -- we talk about yards gained (or lost). Can we apply the same concept here?
When's the last time that the Desperate need to win level was not at 10?
> Michigan State’s pass rush is statistically improved. They recorded one sack, which puts them ahead of last year’s per-game sack pace
Kudos to MSU! X-)
The link to the "Michigan Replay.mp3" from the linked "What's with the theme music?" post is broken!
Any chance that post can be updated to link to a working copy? We can't let this priceless piece of Michigan history be lost forever!
Fun
I was there, in the band.
Fun fact: A chunk of metal (such as a trumpet) chilled down to well below freezing temperatures will, when held, pull warmth out of your hands right through a couple of pairs of gloves.
> Robo-Speight is using his flamethrower attachment.
Activate!
> The trademark MSU defensive playcall [America's Double A Gap Twist Blitz] was comprehensively beaten. Finally.
Finally indeed! It's about time, and was super pleased to see this!
> "Peppers ... could start at quarterback right now for 11 Big Ten teams."
My brief initial reaction was: LOL, that's all of them!
Then I remembered that, no, no it isn't. -_-
That McDoom jet sweep fake into swing route the opposite direction was wonderful play design. And Brian's replay highlighting the defender that was supposed to be covering McDoom was just delightful.
Here's an odd question. If Zettel had been ejected for targetting, could Michigan theoretricallty have declined that penalty, since Zettel being out for the first half against MSU next week would actually hurt Michigan? (Assuming Michigan could anticipate the possibility of an MSU win vs OSU.)
You beat me to it! I appreciated that as well!
A couple new UFR records?
> KEY MATCHUP: RYAN GLASGOW versus ANY WHO WOULD STAND IN HIS WAY
Looking forward to it! :-D
The cheerleaders! They were... leading cheers! Which the students were following!