I did not attend either of Michigan’s games in their regional of the 2Ksports Classic benefitting Coaches v. Cancer (not getting into town until tomorrow: drat!), but I did manage to catch most of both games on ESPNU by heading out to local drinking establishments.

Pre-game tonight (IM conversation):
Paul: no one wanted to go to the bball game with me… i’m so surprised
Tim: haha. are you still going to go?
Paul: no
Tim: typical michigan basketball fan. i would go if i were there.
Paul: who wants to go to the bball game alone. that would be sad
Tim: THE BASKETBALL TEAM DOESNT SEEM TO MIND IT
Tim: der uberzing.

…And on that note:

• Am I supposed to be able to tell Zach Novak and Stu Douglass apart? I hope not.
• I love how “Academic All-Big Ten” is a synonym for “former walk-on.” However, it appears that, in basketball, “former walk-on” manages to not be a synonym for “white.”
• ESPNU’s coverage is… lacking. The worst part is the ridiculous length of commercial breaks.
• Manny Harris is much better than last year (with necessary caveats about level of competition), but he still tries to make things happen more than he needs to, resulting in turnovers or bad shots.
• What’s with Jevohn Shepherd changing numbers? That’s going to take some getting used to.
• Nobody on Michigan can rebound to save their lives.
• When are the kids on the fringes of the Maize Rage going to realize they look stupider being the only ones not to jump around than they would if they just went with the flow?
• A pair of good performance by the Wolverines, beating the teams they should. Now they have to pull off a surprise or two in the Garden.

Posted under Football

The entire time he was the headman in Ann Arbor, Lloyd Carr was more than just a football coach: he was a molder of young men. Some Michigan fans may scoff at that, and point to the decline in winning percentage over his last few years, or losing his last four games against Ohio State. However, Lloyd realized, like so many people with any sort of perspective often do, that coaching football is about more than just Xs and Os, wins and losses. In fact, if you asked nearly any college football coach in the game today, he would say that teaching young football players how to become men is at least as important.

In 2006, Lloyd Carr had an outstanding year from the win and loss standpoint. However, Lloyd will undoubtedly tell you that 2007 was a year that he was more proud of his team. Until the very end, he taught not only hot reads and zone blitzes, but how a man is expected to behave, and even the finer points of Rudyard Kipling and Jack Kerouac. His players made him proud in the Capital One bowl, and even more so when they have moved on with their lives since.

So without Lloyd at the helm in Ann Arbor this year, have the values of Coach Carr and Coach Schembechler before him left as well? Probably not. Lloyd is still around, and he certainly would love for the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year to embody a commitment to academics and shaping young men that he sought in his tenure in Ann Arbor.

Rich Rodriguez may be a year or two away from being in the running for a Coach of the Year Award, but with Lloyd still in town, you can bet the values of academics will never leave the program.

For more information on the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award, or to vote for a coach who you think values the classroom as much as the practice field, visit coachoftheyear.com.

Posted under Football

The Situation
Just under 12 minutes remain in the first half. Minnesota has reached Michigan’s territory for the first time on the day, facing a 3rd & 7 from Michigan’s 47. The Wolverine defense has dominated the game thus far, preventing Minnesota from gaining a single first down. Getting another stop here could solidify Michigan’s momentum, and springboard the team to just their third victory of the year.

The Personnel and Formation
Minnesota is in a trips left spread formation. There is one receiver to the right of the line, and one far left with two slot players inside of him. Adam Weber is in the shotgun with DeLeon Eskridge flanking him to the right. Michigan responds with its Okie nickel package. The Wolverines are showing man-free coverage, with Donovan Warren lined up over the solo receiver, Morgan Trent over the trips split end, and Brandon Harrison and Charles Stewart (as a linebacker) over the slot receivers.

The Play
Weber drops back to pass. Michigan indeed comes after him, with man-free coverage, blitzing 6 (Eskridge does not go out on a passing route, so Michael Williams, as a linebacker, ignores him and goes after Weber). Weber has about a microsecond to react, and no time to throw. Obi Ezeh finds a big crease in the middle of the line and sacks Weber, along with Williams and Jonas Mouton.

The player will show in this paragraph

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Why it Worked
Michigan managed to send 6 pass rushers against 6 blockers, but still get to Weber with relative ease. The Gophers’ blocking assignments were confused by the use of the Okie Chaos, in addition to a twist pass-rush move by Brandon Graham. Even if the Maroon Sea had not parted for Ezeh, Williams and Mouton still would have had plenty of opportunity to sack Weber before he could get a pass off. The outside rush by Williams ran into the futile blocking attempt of Eskridge, and Mouton used his speed to get around the left tackle on the other flank. Had Eskridge gone out on a safety valve route, Williams would have had the responsibility of staying with him.

By the way, Michigan has been doing similar things all season – the players just haven’t been executing, particularly in the “tackling” department. Not to harp on one point to much, but Scott Shafer knows what he is doing. If players are in position to make plays (it’s what they do, after all), the blame goes on the kids for not finishing them, rather than on the guy cooking up the schemes.

Now you know what it was like Inside the Play.

Posted under Football

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Texas Tech	2
2	Alabama	—
3	Texas	1
4	Oklahoma	2
5	Florida	2
6	Penn State	5
7	Southern Cal	1
8	Utah	1
9	Oklahoma State	4
10	Georgia	2
11	Boise State	1
12	Missouri	1
13	Ohio State	1
14	TCU	3
15	Michigan State	—
16	Brigham Young	—
17	Virginia Tech	9
18	Pittsburgh	2
19	North Carolina	7
20	California	2
21	Maryland	2
22	Florida State	1
23	Ball State	3
24	Georgia Tech	7
25	Tulsa	3

Changes from Draft: None. Despite some of my own second-guessing on a few of my choices, it seemed as though readers didn’t have as much of an issue with the draft as I expected.

Posted under Football

Massey from Buckeye Commentary drops by to offer his take on Michigan’s game against Minnesota this week. For my view on the Buckeye game, head over to his site.

What I saw: I saw the Little Brown Jug stay on the same sideline as it has for 35 of the last 38 years. Sometimes Minnesota makes the game more interesting by taking a huge lead into halftime only for Michigan to wake up, storm back, and leave the Gophers emasculated. The Michigan defense spared us the suspense on Saturday by playing like the defense I originally expected to see after taking he last month or so. Call it an Italian-style defense, except the Wolverines took October off, instead of August.

The defense held Adam Weber to about a quarter of his yardage total from the previous week while completing neutering the Gophers’ offense. Minnesota could not have had more than 50 yards in the first half, while punting every single possession. Aside from their opening second-half drive, Minny was a complete embarrassment on offense, to Michigan’s credit.
What I didn’t see: The schizophrenic offense or the Nick Sheridan sleeper hold. With Threet concussed and still having headaches, Wolverines’ fans have to feel a little better. Sheridan was not spectacular but he was waaaaay better than I ever dreamed he would be. Sure, he threw some questionable passes but he did not infect the entire with ineptitude like I figured he would.

Who I watched: K.C. Lopata was so money. He is a good kicker so the fact that he was 5-for-5 on the day is not a surprise, but he had not attempted a meaningful field goal in a month and that was against Toledo. Ugh.

I also watched Justin Feagin play for the first time this season. I do not keep up with Michigan football as closely as you all do, but what was the reason that Rodriguez did not play him until facing a 7-2 team, on the road, with a successful season totally out of reach? I understand that he had the bulk of his yardage on one carry but I would be lying to you if said I did not expect him to be the starting quarterback in September 2009.

What I expect to see next week: Uh, more Feagin? It sounds like Minor and Threet will still be out against Northwestern but the Cats are coming unglued. NW’s offense is essentially a carbon copy of Minnesota so there is no reason that the Michigan defense cannot put the same vice on the Wildcats. I would be a total fool to predict another flawless offensive performance but their confidence must be at a season high.

What this can tell us about The Game: I have worried in the past that Michigan would magically put all the offensive pieces together against the Buckeyes. It would not be magic anymore but simply building on past, improved performances.

More alarming for Ohio State fans is the play of Michigan’s defense. Pryor and Wells are played better against Northwestern but that is only in relation to the miserable performance against Penn State. The Buckeyes offense can be stopped by an athletic defense that makes it difficult for Pryor to make his reads because, after 10 games, the Buckeyes clearly lack a consistent running attack. If the offense is not self-destructing, while the defense plays like last week, and Lopata is bombing field goals The Game may be a lot closer than most people anticipated.

Posted under Football

Michigan made a huge mistake in hiring Rich Rod. The season only get worse.
Minnesota-28 Michigan-7

Minnesota has a very tough defense and an offense that can really move the ball through the air. They’ll beat Michigan by at least 14. Michigan is steamrolling towards 2-10.

Hail to this year’s fraudulent Wolverines! U of M alums will shun each of you forever! Learn to pour some coffee because that’s the job you’ll get on graduation! 2 and 10!

This Rod hire looks worse every week, he is infamous for his arrogance and failure to make adjustments. Chances are his tenure at Michigan will be a failure. Whether the players fit his system or not, there is no reason for the ineptitude his Michigan team has displayed this season. Good coaches learn to adapt.

I agree. R Rod’s master plan is to sacrifice this year’s team and make it go 2-10, so he can claim what terrible team he inherited from Lloyd Carr. This will set the expectations way low for future years. That way, when he does finally have a winning record, say 7-5, he hopes to be praised for what genius he is. In the end, RR will turn Michigan into another Purdue. Few decent years followed by “rebuilding” year, followed by few decent years, and then so on. Don’t expect another National Championship with him.

(Source)

Various outlets are reporting that Rich Rodriguez has called Steven Threet “very, very questionable” for Saturday’s game against Minnesota. Justin Feagin has been moved back to QB to back up Nick Sheridan. If that sentence doesn’t fill your veins with icy dread, I don’t know what will. Who knows, maybe Sheridan will be lost for the season and Feagin will go nuts on the Gophers, a la Justin Siller against Michigan? (Source)

Posted under Football

The board.

New Information:
OH QB Courtney Avery. Conference player of the year.
GA QB Blake Sims. Offer list.
PA RB Corey Brown (not to be confused with 2009 PA CB Corey Brown, an Ohio state commit). Currently favors Ohio State, Rutgers, Florida, Penn State, UCLA, and Bama.
FL WR Javon Bell. Fluff with a bit of recruiting info (Michigan not mentioned).
FL Slot De’Joshua Johnson. Junior video. Michigan is “hot in pursuit.”
IL OL Christian Lombard. 10+ minute interview (audio) with a Notre Dame supporter. Takeaways: Doesn’t care how far from home he has to go, looking for good academic support, being recruited by everyone at both tackle positions, thought there were as many MSU fans as UM fans at the game this year.
FL OL Jose Jose. Grew up a Miami Hurricanes fan. It looks like they are by far the team to beat for him.
TX DT Jay Guy. Horns lead for him (info in header).
OH DT Andrew Norwell. Offered by OSU.
IL DE Chance Carter. Has played some offense this season, but it just helped him realize he belongs on D.
FL LB/DE Zachary/Zachery Allen. Video.
FL CB LaMarcus Joyner. Favors Florida State, followed by the other two instate schools.
FL CB Nickell Robey. Fluff.

Etc.:
The watchlist for the 2010 Rivals250 has come out. Of course, it will change a lot before star ratings are actually issued to anyone, but Jeremy Jackson and Ricardo Miller are both on it, though not as “potential 5-star” guys (of which there are only 10). Marvin Robinson is on it as well. Sometime later, I’ll go through and take note of everyone who Michigan has or may have interest in.

Analysis:
Not a whole ton of Michigan-relevant info this time, though it seems like the Wolverines may not have a chance with two of the top DTs on the board. Christian Lombard will probably be a battle, though I don’t think Michigan has gotten itself behind yet.

Posted under Football

Sorry this is so late. I often confuse these “AM” and “PM” things you hear so much about.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Texas Tech	2
2	Alabama	—
3	Texas	1
4	Oklahoma	2
5	Florida	2
6	Penn State	5
7	Southern Cal	1
8	Utah	1
9	Oklahoma State	4
10	Georgia	2
11	Boise State	1
12	Missouri	1
13	Ohio State	1
14	TCU	3
15	Michigan State	—
16	Brigham Young	—
17	Virginia Tech	9
18	Pittsburgh	2
19	North Carolina	7
20	California	2
21	Maryland	2
22	Florida State	1
23	Ball State	3
24	Georgia Tech	7
25	Tulsa	3

Games Watched: NIU-Ball State, 1st half of TCU-Utah (plus the highlights), Virginia Tech-Maryland, Michigan-Minnesota, Ohio State-Northwestern, Portions of Texas-Baylor, Portions of Michigan State-Purdue, The end of Illinois-Western Michigan, Alabama-LSU, Penn State-Iowa, Portions of Florida Satte-Clemson, Oklahoma State-Texas Tech, Portions of Vanderbilt-Florida, BC-Notre Dame.

Things I’m Iffy About:

• #1 and #2. Texas Tech’s schedule has a worse back end, seeing as how they played TWO(!) 1-AA schools, and Alabama played none. However, the top of the resume is much better, as Texas Tech has beaten a pair of top 10 teams, whereas Alabama’s best win is… in overtime against a not-very-good LSU unit? Alabama has also struggled much more with the teams on their schedule, whereas Texas Tech has blown out pretty much everyone except Texas. For now, I’ll give the benefit of the doubt to the team with the better wins, not the one with fewer bad teams on the schedule.
• Not having Oklahoma State ahead of Utah. However, they do have 2 losses (to the Utes’ 0), regardless of against whom those losses came. Aside from the #1 wins on the resume (which give OK State a slight edge) and losses on the resume (which gives Utah a slight edge), I think the resumes aren’t as far off as you’d think. Utah is ahead of the Cowboys until someone convinces me otherwise.
• TCU over Michigan State. IT looks like MSU wins that comparison easily, on second review. Those teams will be switched on the final ballot unless someone tries to convince me why they shouldn’t be.
• The order after #15 or so. I feel like there are a lot of comparisons that are similar enough I just threw the teams in there.

Part of the reason for huge deltas is that I managed to not
rank North Carolina last week. Have at it. The more comments, the better my ballot ends up.

Posted under Football

This has been a rough year for Michigan fans as streak after streak was broken, as benchmarks of sustained success were missed, as the team lost five straight games and seven of nine overall. What got to me the most was the one step forward, two steps back modus operandi of this team. It seemed as soon as one thing became effective, something else broke. So, every time I saw something that inspired hope, that hope was quickly and forcefully shattered by some mistake or failure.

Maybe it’s because I’ve been telling myself and anyone who will listen that this will work, but I have not really taken stock of how bad this season has been. Before last Saturday, Michigan had won two games by a total of 12 points and lost seven by a total of 87 points. Some of the games were competitive, but in Big Ten play I can’t really say Michigan should have won any of the games that it lost. The Wolverines were outplayed by better teams.

This was all sinking in by Saturday. I was resigned to a loss, even a blowout, against a team that Michigan has, quite literally, historically dominated. Even at half time, I figured the same old script would show itself. If this team has proven anything, it’s that it’s inconsistent. So expected the same old script: three and outs on offense; missed tackles and blown assignments on defense.

This is the first game that I’ve been excited to re-watch since the Toledo sadness happened. That was really when I lost my optimism for this team. Subsequent games made me question next year’s team. But one game made me remember why I was so excited to see this team play in August. What they lack in consistency they make up for in potential.

This offense was an absolute machine on Saturday with one quarterback who doesn’t throw well down field and one quarterback who doesn’t throw; with the worst offensive line any of us are ever likely to see; freshmen at almost every skill position; the top two running backs not playing at 100%. For the first time the offense was able to effectively counter the defense’s adjustments. In the past few games, the original script worked well, but once the defense adjusted, the offense stalled. There were a ton of new wrinkles (e.g. Feagin), some nostalgic wrinkles (e.g. the Braylon Edwards Memorial Diamond Formation), and parts of the basic the scheme that worked better this game than any game previous. This is what we have to look forward to. We got a preview of what this offense will be.

The defense, after giving up 48 points and roughly 6.82×10^23 yards against Purdue absolutely shut down an adequate if not amazing Minnesota offense. The defense was vintage Scott Shafer. The 3-3-5 stack was, as this blog and gsimmons guessed, likely and experiment designed to stop a decent running back (Kory Sheets) because there was a third string quarterback playing. The defense against Minnesota varied between 4-3, 4-3 over and 3-4 okie. The corners played up at the line both on man to man and on basic cover two. The defensive line and linebackers played well as a team and kept the running game contained very well.

My favorite part of the defensive game plan was the 3-4 Okie Chaos on passing third downs. I can’t imagine an offensive lineman or quarterback feels comfortable with 4 stand up potential blitzers moving in and out. I have to go back and look, but I don’t believe that Minnesota picked up a first down in one of these situations. Scott Shafer isn’t just a “press-man coverage and blitz” guy. He uses the threat of blitz just as well as actually blitzing.

This is what this team will become. This game proves that these guys can coach. I don’t care if Minnesota isn’t as good as advertised. The team that showed up and played could hang with most teams in the Big Ten. But when you have the youth and inexperience that Michigan has, it’s irrational to expect consistency game to game and from start to finish. After trying to revel in little victories like converting a third down or a good kick return, it’s nice to see the entire product and revel in a victory that results in win.

We caught a glimpse of what will happen, but the best part is that soon we’ll be living in the future.

Posted under Football

That’s what we’re told almost every time a play is reviewed in college football. “Every play is reviewed.” In the time it took the officials to spot the ball and wind the clock, ESPN had already put on screen conclusive video evidence that Obi Ezeh had possession of the ball and was down.

Some people may say “yeah, but it was a gritty, hustle play by the Minnesota player to get down there and dig the ball out of the pile. That’s football.” To that, I’d say when a player has possession of the football and a knee, elbow, or hip hit the ground, the play is dead. It’s a simple if A then B. We had a situation A, but it was not followed by B.

I don’t blame the officials on the field. It’s a tough situation to call. It happens really quickly and it’s hard to get a good angle in a scrum like that. But that’s why we have instant replay. And Rodriguez shouldn’t have to call a timeout to give them time to do what ESPN did in 10 seconds. Rodriguez shouldn’t have to challenge since every play is reviewed.

What do you think was going up in the booth? The replay official was watching the game in real time on his uber-high def monitors and from that decided there was nothing the least bit questionable? I’m in favor of replays happening when the call questionable, not just when the official thinks he (or she) sees incontrovertible visual evidence. I’d rather break the flow of the game in order to ensure the correct call is made.

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Posted under Football