• Mattison’s Mansters – Sights & Sounds – (Michigan 45, Illinois 0)

    It’s seems like a simple expectation but you forget, especially in the aftermath of the Alabama and Notre Dame games, that these coaches have a track record of making players better.  You are seeing it.   The defense confident and fun to watch and they’ve retooled the gameplan with Denard and it’s clearly working.  I’ll take this stat line 24/7: 7-11, 2 TD, 0 INT. The Manster Jake Ryan is suddenly a star.   The defense is now in the top 10 in  the country and the pass defense is ranked third.   adidas sponsored Coach Hoke’s undershirt.  No word yet on the black pants (Armani doesn’t make blue, people).  The Stadium Bridge is almost done.  Everything is working. Can I nitpick?  Naturally.   I realize that Bellomy was just inserted there at the end of the first quarter, but at a minimum I would have tried to draw Illinois offside on the 4th and 1 on the goal line (and either burn a timeout or heck, take a 5 yard penalty, who cares) and I would have gone for it either way.   Yes – that seems like a silly thing to say at this point but I felt the need to prove my Michigan fandom. The Misc: * Ford Returns.  Once again a nice job by #1000SSS with the Legends presentation.   I’m not…