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Date Title Body
Puke.  Another geriatric

Puke.  Another geriatric retread.  Well, it was a nice 15 minutes of hope.

Is the money not there?  DB

Is the money not there?  DB is spending 9.5 million ro renovate the field hockey facility.  25 million on an indoor rowing facility.  A competent football coach is an infinitely better use of that money.

Great question.  My honest

Great question.  My honest answer is "someone I've never heard of."  No more retreads.  No more guys who have been fired multiple times.  And for the love of god nobody whose primary credential is that they've coached in Ann Arbor before.  Maybe it could be a position coach (recruiting ties in the south would be a dandy bonus). 

I could even get excited about an innovative coach from the high school level.  Remember when people thought Malzahn was hired primarily as a recruiting ruse?  That worked pretty well.  There are tons of great candidates out there, but many of the decision makers seem so risk averse that they'd rather hire somebody else's failure than give a shot to an unknown.

If I were to pick a name I've actually heard of, how about Brian Johnson, the QB coach/OC at Utah?  He's a super young guy (I've got to imagine this aids in recruiting, as well as not being completely stuck in one's ways) and played in an offense ideally suited for Gardner.  I'm also guessing Utah is right around as high a level of program as one can realistically expect to poach a guy from for a lateral promotion.

Kneel down.  You can keep

Kneel down.  You can keep that clock moving, there's less risk of a fumble or injury and it loses nothing over an under center run in terms of efficacy.  Follow this with a Gardner pooch punt on second down to catch them with their pants down and gain a bunch of field position.

Bullet point number two of

Bullet point number two of "Smart Borges," if true would be the most damningly myopic and wilfully ignorant of all. 

There are many ways to skin a cat, and Borges chooses to attempt it with glue and more fur.

I'm sure this flouts the no

I'm sure this flouts the no politics line, but how many of these NBA owners have contributed directly to a political candidate that explicitly supports denial of gay rights?  But yeah, the NBA gives a flying fuck about the plight of homosexuals.  This is contrived PR bullshit plain and simple.

Off the top of my head: 2008

Off the top of my head: 2008 undefeated Utah left out for 1 loss Florida (which they validated by thumping Bama), 2010 TCU (not as easy to defend but Auburn still got there just for being SEC). 2011 Bama is selecteed over OkState (who has an easily better resume) and Stanford.  2012 You can make an argument for Oregon or Kstate going over Bama.

Any year there are not 2 and exactly 2 undefeated teams the BCS gets it wrong (so basically USC/Texas and Bama/Texas).   The SEC has been left out in the cold once (Auburn) and been the beneficiary a half dozen times at least.

I wonder if this is

I wonder if this is symptomatic of the online application process: upload resume, proceed to input everything on resume into various boxes thus rendering the first step completely stupid.

I've often wondered what I

I've often wondered what I would feel like if I were Denard Robinson, walking past that indoor rowing facility or asinine billboard.  I think this exchange from Seinfeld sums it up pretty nicely:



JERRY: Does it ever bother you that this organization-



GEORGE: Nope!



JERRY: is beating the bushes-



GEORGE: Nope! (Starts heading for the door)



JERRY: to basically give this money away-



GEORGE: Noo!



JERRY: to virtually anyone, as long as they're not you?



GEORGE: (Standing in the doorway) I'm fine with it! Fi-hi-hi-hine I say! (Leaves)

I'm not going to comment on

I'm not going to comment on the reaching implications, but seriously, being able to read the whole paper FO FREE is giving me a wicked halfer.

Upon assembling all the

Upon assembling all the evidence, it seems obvious to me that there are only two conceivable explanations:

1) DB/Hoke think there is absolutely nobody better than Al Borges.  I suppose it's not impossible for someone to think this, but it's a longshot.

2) Athletic Department money is better spent on a 40 million dollar facility for rowing or some kind of highfalutin billboard in a parking lot.  I'm pretty sure this is it.

Dave Brandon makes me sad.

I just can't see hanging

I just can't see hanging one's hat on head to head recruiting battles. Losing a couple guys to Hoke won't kill Meyer's recruiting classes. OSU will almost certainly have a top ten class, and if Meyer closes like he usually closes while Michigan loses a guy or two they could even finish with a higher ranked class. In any matter, having the # 2 class versus #5 or however it plays out isn't a huge difference in my eyes.

We do have Mattison, but you have to respect Meyer's track record for finding coordinators. On offense, they have Urban, just about the best in the biz. We have Al Borges, the quintessential pro-style retread.

I'm not saying I think Michigan will never beat OSU again, but it may not be soon, and I definitely don't believe it will be frequent.  Sure, you're technically correct about the jury being out, but it's in about the same way the determination has yet to be made whether Raymon Taylor is of the same calibre as Charles Woodson.

I'm pretty realistic about

I'm pretty realistic about Michigan's spot in the college football universe, and I realize that our chances of being the flagship program in the B1G all but went kaput the second OSU snagged Urban Meyer.  I also think it's reasonably established by now that to be consistently in the hunt for the MNC, a program has to outright cheat or at the very least play fast and loose with moral grey areas (oversigning, abusing medical hardships etc).

Obviously, I'd hate for my school to be engaging in those kinds of activities, so my barometer of success is very simple: have a top ten-ish type season (11-2 with OSU and BCS wins is dandy to me).  Or, absent the quantifiable victories, just be more exciting/entertaining than frustrating/predictable.  Having a ten win season against this year's schedule would have been a really tall order, but the second half against OSU, the Bellomy fiasco and the sheer degree of Bama destruction were enough for me to file '12 under "not successful."

I'd put Hoke at one out of two so far, and my pointless speculation is that this is about what I should expect for the near future.

Except every play with Denard

Except every play with Denard at quarterback.

Brandon's new bowl jerseys

Brandon's new bowl jerseys will include a scrolling LED display on the chest which Al Borges will use to inform the Gamecock defense that, yes, this play will indeed be a run.

Jake Ryan declaring for the draft will seem like a real possibility.

Denard scores a magical but ultimately meaningless touchdown.

South Carolina 13  Michigan 7

Borges' largely unremarkable

Borges' largely unremarkable career spans three decades.  Knee jerk? Not exactly.

Preemptive reminder: position does not prove competence.

I wish the powers that be at

I wish the powers that be at Michigan were equally capable of making obviously beneficial decisions in such short order.

To put it succinctly: this is

To put it succinctly: this is going to get much, much worse before (if it ever) gets better.  The "this will never, ever be a pass not even one time out of a hundred WR package" has already returned.  Hoke has shown this season that whatever supposed acumen he displayed for clock management and controlled aggression last year was a mirage.  Down 14 with 7 minutes left?  We don't need no hurry up, fergodsakes.

In fact, the word from Schembechler Hall is this weeks installation consistes entirely of fitting Kerridge's helmet with a megaphone so he can scream at opposing defenses, "Hey morons, I'm motioning this way!  The run is going here!"

I really need to know the

I really need to know the details before forming any kind of opinion on this.  The way drunk drivers are sometimes entrapped and the sometimes ludicrous punishments that are enforced is an issue I take umbrage with.  We place all DUIs under the same umbrella, but are being blackout drunk and plowing your car headlong into a children's street hockey game and being pulled over for DWB, subjected to a breathalyzer and narrowly missing an arbitrary mark at all similar?  I'm not saying either of these are what happened in Fitzy's case, merely that DUIs can range on the moral outrage scale from completely despicable to completely null.

"The only downside for us is

"The only downside for us is if the message isn't heard and acted upon, and we then become vulnerable for not having reported it."

Let me disambiguate that a bit: The only downside for us is if Jerry keeps raping boys and someone finds out, we're going to look like we did exactly what we're doing.

This could not happen to anyone.

Wow that's disapointing. 

Wow that's disapointing.  That may be literally the most unintriguing set of 3 PAC-12 matchups possible.

No top end contests.  No cool away city to visit.  No Rich Rod 2 electric bugaloo.

It beats MAC-cakes, but only by the slimmest margin possible.

At least they only play it

At least they only play it once.  A person can smile and ignore something for two minutes, but  Michigan Football has literally ruined the seven nation army games for me.

Sycophancy.

Sycophancy.

Note to self: verify personal

Note to self: verify personal recollection.

Good catch.

Very interesting. But i

Very interesting. But i think you've enormously overvalued top draft picks. A couple of your top coaches, Gailey and Pinkel in particular are being tremendously skewed by single players. Practically every draft pick has a good to outstanding college career. There are all americans and all conference players galore in the late rounds. A dozen 6th and 7th hrounders demonstrates way more developmental acumen than a single top pick.

Correction: we were Michigan

Correction: we were Michigan not Oregon.  Perhaps you missed last season.

I'm confused.  Is the

I'm confused.  Is the supposed point of the sign that Communication and Family Resource Management are more rigorous concentrations than General Studies or that we are kicking their asses in undeclared players (one can't help but notice the disparity in column totals)?

It has been astounding to me

It has been astounding to me that if my social media and the media at large are representative, about 9 of every 10 people have taken "enabling child rape doesn't sound like something Joe Pa would do" to mean "enabling child rape isn't something Joe Pa did."

I had been feeling for the last few days that I had been taking crazy pills.  Thanks for the sanity.

That's the issue 1 doesn't always play 2 at least not truly. The bcs generally picks two top 4ish teams at pseudo random then bills it as 1 vs 2. Unless there are two and only two undefeated teams and both from solid conferences, the idea of picking a legitimate 1 vs 2 match up is laughable.

I have no idea what compelled

I have no idea what compelled me to click that link, but, dude, THE FUCK!?!?!

Pretty sure the L in that officer's name is a typo. Stonum is a card carrying moron and should have been gone a year ago, but this is just your typical a-hole cop doing what a-hole cop do.

The rule is cut and dry on

The rule is cut and dry on the snow angel.  You cannot take the celebration to the ground.  Can't get more on the ground than Grant was.

The PI was pretty weak, but I'm certain they missed several more CJ deserved, so, whatevs.

I guess my answer would be hookers and abortions for MNCs = HELL NO. Booster money to stars who "don't know about it" and no consequences for NCs, I could probably get behind that. I don't see any point in getting all high and mighty unless somebody is being legitimately victimized. There's a certain gamesmanship to the harmless cheating. Something about "then you ain't trying."

If there's ever been a human

If there's ever been a human being who deserves to be mocked more than Plax, he does not come readily to mind.  I am instantly a Stevie (seriously?) Johnson fan.

Those people were not all

Those people were not all crazy.  There were times when DRob's performance warranted such speculation.  His absolutely transcendent performance on Saturday doesn't retroactively change the past.

I certainly hope that the last 2 games were indicative of the proverbial "lightbulb" turning on for the Borge's offense.  It looked that way, and, if true, the sky is the limit for Senior Denard.

I'm not sure you can say they

I'm not sure you can say they overpaid.  There is no market rate for coaches with 2 national titles in the last ten years.  This hire is unprecedented.  This isn't just a big name coach, it's the biggest name.  There are *maybe* a couple names you could argue about (all virtually impossible to get (you're not gonna pry Saban away from Bama or get Pete Carroll to come back down to CFB)), but there is not a human being on Earth who's proven to be a better college coach than Meyer.

The people writing this off as no big deal are in denial.  Granted, it isn't guaranteed to succeed (Rich Rod looked like a great hire), but they are now holding pre-flop AA.

I'm all about the optimism, but when did Borges stop the I form idiocy?

What I'd like is not

What I'd like is not sacrificing wins to transition for the sake of transitioning.  Specifically, let's not blatantly waste 10+ snaps a game in the I form.  And FEI is a less than credible stat.  You'd have to be demented to think Michigan's 2011 offense is superior to Oregon, Stanford, LSU etc.

And on a personal level, I think the bubble screens is a legitimate question that deserves more than "you can't handle the truth!"

If even half the stories of

If even half the stories of Mattison's recruiting acumen are true, his production out of this unit and his elite resume make him a top 5 DC (and to be honest, I'm not sure who I'd take over him.  There may not be such a man).

Hoke is largely an unknown, but I think the most important thing a head coach does is bring in great coordinators and great recruits.  Hoke is A+ in 2/3.  This recruiting class is killer and he gets credit for GMAT.  Right now he appears to be a top 50 coach on the precipice of top 10.  That may seem counterintuitive, but right now it seems he's done almost everything he can do right except having done it longer.

Borges, I can't say is any better than maybe top 100.  To be frank, I don't think replacing him with an OC picked at random would be detrimental (and could easily be positive).  He's negative VORP (VOROC?).  If you pose the question: "name some good things Mattison has done?" one could talk for hours.  If it were "name some good things Hoke has done?" one can pontificate on recruiting.  For Borges?  I got nothin'.  But he's not legendarily bad like GRob either.

Total, the staff is top 30ish.  If Hoke proves himself a bit more and replaces Borges with a plus OC, it's top 1.

Let's just agree that +102 

Let's just agree that +102  in scoring defense and +58 in YPP is worthy of deity status. 

Dave Brandon, thinkin' Arby's

Seven Nation Army incessantly

I would like to come out of

I would like to come out of this game thinking "Alright, who are you mister OC, and what have you done with Al Borges?"

Desmond Morgan and Jake Ryan play mistake free football as things start to "slow down."

Rawls time!

An Odoms TD, dude deserves it.

I expect to see almost an exact replica of the Iowa game.  Major Denard related frustration (inability to throw, refusal to run), but an excellent defensive performance.  If a couple more bounces go our way than theirs, it'll be a close win and everything will feel a lot more comfortable.

As I've always suspected,

As I've always suspected, repeated listenings to 7NA turns one into an idiot.

Take note DB.

Wish the kid the best and

Wish the kid the best and hope he becomes the next Mike Hart, but this seems like an illogical move.  Schollies are at a premium and the coaches are effectively bidding against themsleves.  Even if he commited elsewhere (Eastern?), there's all but a 100% chance he could have been ninja'd later in the process.

The coaches must either think he's a total diamond in the rough or they're down on our chances with big names.  Hoping it's the former.

During the worst of yesterday

During the worst of yesterday I found myself thinking: "if Bellomy can't pass better than this, it may be time to place him in the Vlad Emilien/J.T. Turner category of if we haven't seen 'em yet, this is a real bad sign."

The fact that he was B1G PoTY

The fact that he was B1G PoTY yet was not the 1st or 2nd team all B1G quarterback should tell you something.

The hesitation you saw yesterday is explained by his being a neo-freshman.  His inability to throw a football accurately is his own.  And is the first rule of debate "categorize your opponent as a bad speller?"  How can you be really sick of something that has literally never been said?

Don't look now, but it's a distinct possibility that Denard could finish the year below 50% completion percentage.  In fact, at present he's ranked 106th out of 114 in that category.  That doesn't mean nothing.

You keep using this word,

You keep using this word, "winnable," I do not think it means what you think it means.

 

Are you implying you don't

Are you implying you don't think Gallon can dunk?

If you adjust for the 2 away

If you adjust for the 2 away games (because they're obviously not pumping crappy music into an empty stdium), 7NA has more plays this season than any non-Denard player has touches (by my count 59 7NAs versus 55 carries for Fitz, who leads in touches).

7NA has literally become a bigger part of the game than the starting running back.

"Disgusting" hardly does it justice. 

That's positively average for

That's positively average for a home game now.  Against Minnesota I counted 6 in the first quarter alone.