On the ride back from Northwestern, one of my compatriots received an e-mail from TheWolverine.com with the cryptic message that Artis Chambers had played in games this year while he was ineligible. Knowing that this could mean very bad things, we tried for the remainder of the trip to find out what the deal was, to no avail.

Upon returning, I did some research (yes, I spent my Saturday night looking for football information) and found the following:

Artis Chambers played this year while he was deemed academically ineligible. Somehow, Michigan violated the rules by letting him enroll early even though he wasn’t cleared to do so. Chambers played on special teams in the Penn State, Notre Dame, Oregon, and App State games, and played defense in mop-up time in the Notre Dame blowout.

Apparently, however, the only game that was threatened (in terms of forfeiture) was the Penn State game. GBW is reporting that it is unlikely UM will be forced to forfeit the game.

More information, as well as postgame analysis of the Northwestern victory, will be coming later.

Posted under Personnel

I am going to Northwestern this afternoon for the game tomorrow. Expect fun updates with lots of pictures and stuff. I will probably make fun of nerds to almost the degree that I do it when I’m in Ann Arbor (zing!).

Posted under Misc.

Kenny Demens (6-1, 225), a WLB prospect from Detroit Country Day high school, has committed to Lloyd Carr and the Michigan Wolverines. Demens chose the maize-and-blue over Michigan State and Nebraska.

Demens has been described by some as a slightly bigger version of Chris Graham, with true WLB size. Hopefully, he can learn the mental part of the game (and how to tackle) better than Graham has.

With this commitment, Michigan has 16 in the class, and has room to take a few more guys. It is likely that Michigan will take mostly defensive players, with the possibility of on OL and/or a WR.

Posted under Recruiting

Kenny Demens moved to “lean.” He announces tomorrow (oddly, during the NW game). Removed a few guys committed elsewhere. Moved Brandom Smith and Vaughn Telamaque to leans. Moved J.B. Fitzgerald to committed (has it really been that long since I’ve done a recruiting post?

Posted under Recruiting

If you thought Brandon Graham’s performance on Saturday (3 tackles, 1.5 sacks, FF, FR) had Anthony Morelli ready to file an assault charge, you’d only be taking into account what a hardened criminal the Michigan defensive end is.

No, Graham is a cold, hard, …court date non-attendee? A warrant has been issued for Graham’s arrest, though the article linked states that he will likely not be arrested unless pulled over on another traffic charge. It is likely that this issue will be resolved soon, and will be no big deal to the football team.

Posted under Personnel

Highlight.

Corny music for the win.

Posted under Video

As I may have implied (or even stated outright, I don’t remember) in this space, I am currently interning for the Big Ten Network for a semester. I have also interned in the past for ESPN, and for the past two weeks, I have worked for them again. The quality not only of the product, but also of the working environment between the two companies is night and day.

Working for the Big Ten Network (I’ve done it once this year, for the Appalachian State game) is not good at all. When I work for them, I’m honestly embarrassed to be associated with such a poorly run organization. The supervisors have no fucking clue what they’re doing, and employees doing work that is contracted out don’t show up (or, more likely, the BTN forgot to hire some).

ESPN, on the other hand, is run smoothly. Fair enough, they’ve been around for 20-some odd years, compared to the BTN’s 1. However, I could literally step in and do a better job than many of the production-side employees at Big Ten Network than they do. The same could not be said for ESPN. When there is nothing for a runner to do at ESPN, it is because there really is nothing to do. At Big Ten Network, there is work to be done, but the supervisors just have no clue what the hell they’re doing.

ESPN is organized and efficient, and the Big Ten Network is, like, shitty.

Posted under Misc.

Unlike Tim, I was at the game on my student ticket sitting standing in section 29, row 23. I have to say the crowd got pretty loud around me, but there were the requisite douchebag Michigan fans.

What really got me was the kid in front of me on third down did the key play thingy without any keys. He was doing all the bad parts of the key play without the small benefit of the noise made from jingling keys.

I decided to once again pocket some change and buy a water bottle on the way to the game. By the second Penn State drive I was nicely hydrated and had the loudest noisemaker $1.19 can buy. I have to say, if the entire student section did this (a la OSU 2005), it could make a difference. I can even give it a stupid name in order for people like it. Third down is no longer a “key play”, but rather a “game changing play.” Hell, you could probably get a bank to sponsor free water bottles at the gates.

The biggest cheer of the game probably came when Mike Hart limped off the field, and then ran back on after the time out. No matter what Hart does, he energizes the fans. There were fewer than normal people who wanted to throw the ball every single down. People are starting to realize that the best game plan is turning around and giving the ball to Hart.

I got a text message from my buddy (formerlyannonymous) in the third quarter saying “Omg fullback shuffle misdirection” I felt the same way.

Finally, after wins, one of my favorite things to do is read through the open thread on MGoBlog. When you know the story has a happy ending you can smile knowingly at how (justifiably) bi-polar we Michigan fans are. There was one quick back and forth that had me falling out of my chair:

Our space emmporer should start aiming for the corners.
Mike74 | 09.22.07 – 4:30 pm | #

There are no corners in space
KBlow | 09.22.07 – 4:31 pm | #

It could just be because I’m taking a course on the philosophy of space and time, but I prefer to think Michigan fans are just damn witty.

Posted under Analysis

I worked for ESPN again this weekend, so I didn’t get to watch the whole game, but ehre are some things I observed:

• Mike Hart is, like, really good at the football.
• Brandon Graham is really good as well. I think the lack of his presence in the first couple games really contributed to the defensive struggles.
• Morgan Trent has turned into a legit #1 corner (not lockdown, but how many true lockdown guys are there in college?). Now if only there was a good second guy.
• The maize out was pathetic again. I don’t give a fuck if you started liking Tom Brady after he won the Super Bowl MVP, and went out and bought his Michigan jersey. Your ticket says to wear maize for a reason. That said, the gold-colored shirts that Steve and Barry’s sells also look like complete shit.
• The crowd noise was pretty good, especially when it counted. As someone who has fairly high standards in that regard, I was pleasantly surprised.
• A ton of people left between the end of the second and the end of the third quarters. Almost every single one I saw was a student, 95% female, and 90% sorority girls among those.
• Ryan Mallett has more to learn to be a true starter, but he is a pleasure to watch, because it is obvious he is having fun out there, and is excited to be playing.
• How many times has a game had four left-footed kick specialists? I’d guess one.

Posted under Analysis

In a stroke of genius I had yesterday, I decided to start posting the highlight videos from the show (on WOLV) to Youtube, and linking them here. I’ll do this every week from here on out. Enjoy.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YGB_Q87hYE]

Posted under Video