• Hello, Angelique (WTKA audio)

    The great Angelique Chengelis joined Ira and Sam today on WTKA’s Michigan Insider to talk concussions, Hawkeyes, substitutions, Denard, the media getting the boot from practice (and her understanding of “the rules”) and the Delaware State campus: [display_podcast] . Full podcast and all of the Insider podcasts here.

  • How about this non-conference schedule? (1957)

    Here’s a quick version of eBay Watch, it’s a 1957 pocket schedule currently up for bid. Check out the non-conference line-up: Over the past few seasons, the attention the Buckeyes have been getting over their battles with Texas and, last Saturday, with USC, have made a few Wolverines fans get scarlet in the face. Calls to sports talk radio have asked the question, Will Michigan set up a home-and-home with one of these elite teams in the non-conference? The fact is Michigan’s got Notre Dame on the schedule until 2031 and there doesn’t seem to be any indication that this will happen. Bill Martin’s already indicated his preference to add another Big Ten game to the schedule once the rest of the conference is on board. The Wolverines didn’t have much trouble with these teams as those were different days. Coach Bennie Oosterbaan and crew went out to Los Angeles and handled the Trojans on September 28, 1957, 16-6 in front of 43,000 fans. The next week, Michigan came home and shut out Georgia 26-0 to the delight of 84,000 in Ann Arbor. The balance of the ‘57 season didn’t go so hot, going 3-3-1 in their remaining games to finish 5-3-1 good for 6th in the conference.

  • Michigan Football Lost Luggage in 1914

    There’s been so many great items auctioned lately and this one is really nice. A pre-WWI scorecard from the Wolverines trip to play Harvard. The piece consists of 4 pages: the cover, an layout of the starting line-ups, a scorecard and roster, and finally a list of key college football rule changes for 1914. Pretty cool. It fetched a sweet $366.50 on eBay. Check it out: Rule ChangesOne cool thing about scorecard is the back cover lists ‘Important Changes in 1914 Football Rules.’ You could tell the college football rulesmakers were concerned solidifying some of the rules around the game’s latest innovation: the forward pass. Two of the key rules listed in the scorecard related to the quarterback position. It didn’t take folks long to realize that a QB shouldn’t be able to dump the ball to avoid a sack: 3. A penalty to 10 yards is inflicted on the team attempting a forward pass, and, finding the making of the pass impossible, intentionally incompleting the pass by grounding the ball. While taking away the ability to ground the ball, they knew back then that they’d need to protect those precious quarterbacks: 4. There shall be no roughing of the player who has just made a forward pass. Street Clothed WarriorsThe trip to Cambridge was a big one from the…

  • Latest sign of the App-ocalypse

    Wow, if you need tickets to Saturday’s game the Athletic Ticket office has some for sale for tomorrow’s game. And I’m not just talking single tickets…I requested a pair and they were offered as of 9am this morning. How many losses are we away from re-instituting the Don Canham high school band day plan to fill the stadium? Iffy on going to see the Wolverines on Saturday? Come on, go pick up some tickets, show up early and be loud! If nothing else you’ll want to compare uniforms.

  • Dropping the Baton

    Following up on the post-game thoughts published yesterday, a few more things on this disaster: – Over before it started. Some of you may have noticed that the new Michigan marching band drum major did a bad, bad thing. After entering the stadium and dipping his hat (or head) on the stadium turf, the drum major marches to the North endzone, tosses the baton up to the goal post and must catch it if Michigan is to win. Needless to say the baton hit the ground. The band did make it into Section 22 to try to fire out the crowd. – Just opened the Sunday Ann Arbor News. John Heuser graded the team and gave the highest mark (a ‘D’) to Special Teams. I don’t know exactly what he uses to come up with these measures but a team that can’t get 11 men out on the field with any consistency deserves an ‘F’ at best. Throw in two blocked kicks, 2 botched 2 point conversion attempts and a kick-off return team that leaving the bench STARTED TO RUN TO THE WRONG SIDE OF THE FIELD FOR THE LAST KICKOFF with under 30 seconds left and I’d be more comfortable with a ‘G’. Carr got an F as well and deserved it:. Chad Henne. Terrible game. He started out…

  • Why Ball State Might Matter (or Not)

    Ball State nearly Shatters 2007 SeasonSALINE MI, Sunday 5 November 2006 What appeared to be a mere nuisance (almost an annoyance) on the 2007 M Football schedule, Ball State proved to be more than just a walk-over. With under 3 minutes to go in the game, Brady Hoke’s Fighting Jars had the Wolverines on their heels. The 109,000 on hand were on their feet, urging Michigan to stop them – yes, to stop Ball State! So what does all this mean? Let’s look at both sides of the coin here, why this could mean a lot, and why this might not mean anything. Why This is a Disaster: Here’s a few reasons why this is a really a disaster– Michigan almost lost to Ball State. To Ball State. They had to ball on the 2 yard line and could have easily punched it in, and got the deuce. Anything can happen in OT, although Michigan has never lost in OT. – The secondary looked brutal, albeit it was second string guys. Was this a look at the future of our secondary?– Could this come back to bite Michigan in the polls, and thus drop Michigan out of the BCS rematch scenario, assuming they lose to the Buckeyes?– While most of the damage happened against the 2nd string defense, the first…

  • Still Running: Blue Stomp CMU

    Michigan continues focus on running game heading into big one in South Bend ANN ARBOR MICHIGAN SEPTEMBER 9, 2006 This one was over early, as Michigan quickly established the run on the overmatched Central Michigan Chippewas. Nothing much was learned from week 1 to week 2. We know the running game looks better as does the defense. Meanwhile the Irish crushed Penn State all over the field and head into Saturday as a 6 point favorite over the Blue. Here are the takes on this game:– Lightning Delay. We experienced the first ever weather-related delay in the history of Michigan stadium, pausing for 1 hour in the second quarter as a few bolts came down within 6 miles of the stadium. – Passing Game. A few things have to bug you here. First, Michigan really hasn’t shown it can effectively beat a team through the air. The good news is that they didn’t need to against the first two opponents. But they’ll need to air it out against Notre Dame to win – this is a given. In addition, Henne saw a lot of pressure from CMU and Vanderbilt. If he’s getting pressured against these chumps, what is going to happen when the Irish are rushing him? – Sec. 22 Sightings. It’s always interesting to witness the comings and goings…

  • Plain English: M Stifles Vanderbilt 27-7

    Michigan gets back to the basics, stifles Vanderbilt ANN ARBOR MICHIGAN SEPTEMBER 2, 2006 While it wasn’t mid-way through the fourth quarter that the win was secured, most M fans had already seen the things they wanted to see: an undisputed domination of the line of scrimmage . Renewed Offensive Coordinator Mike DeBord moved the Blue to a zone-style blocking scheme that seemed effective in creating chances for Mike Hart. And new Defensive Coordinator Ron English’s d line was playing in the Vanderbilt backfield all day. The day was far from perfect. There were several mistakes that stalled or killed drives: penalties, dropped passes, poor field goal attempts and bad passes to cite a few. And while the Denver Bronco-style blocking scheme freed up Mike Hart for major yardage, Vanderbilt seemed to adjust in the second half and also put a lot of pressure on Chad Henne throughout the game. As pointed out by many of the players during the post game presser, there are many issues to resolve. Here are the takes on this game: – 171-9. Say what you want about the opponent, this is still a team that beat Tennessee last year and just missed knocking off Florida in the Swamp. Losing Jay Cutler to the draft was obviously a huge loss, but the Commodores had plenty…