Delaware State Game Notes

A few notes from the game, a few minutes after Michigan resounding win:

  • No offense to Delaware State, The Approaching Storm and the nice folks from Dover.  But if we must put these FCS teams on the slate they’ve got to at least be upper-tier programs, like maybe our winged brethren Delaware.  Having a game today beat a bye week— but just barely.  This game was no fun for me after watching the first two possessions. 
  • The student section was maybe 3/4 full at kick-off:

students

  • The closed captioning at Michigan stadium was debuted today.  I think it’s a nice idea and I’m all about improving the game experience for the handicapped, but I wonder how helpful this really is to the hearing impaired:

cc

  • Rodriguez emptied the bench of course, but didn’t go to “R. Calhoun”…a fan who was in full pads, helmet, gloves, etc., and ready to get in the game.  Seated right up the gut in section 23, he even wandered down to the sideline gate to share a few observations:

calhoun

  • The prohibition of bags into the stadium of was in full effect again today, and I noticed these guys atop the northeast tower looking for serious troublemakers.  I want these guys on that wall.  I need these guys on that wall:

    swat

  • I enjoyed checking out WTKA’s Bud Light Victors Lounge before the game (met legendary caller “Dennis from Oakland County”).   Steve Clarke and Sam Webb returned this week (after some nerd filled in last week) to join Ira Weintraub (center) to conduct the Key Bank countdown to kick-off show:

lounge

7 Comments

  • Sean

    “But if we must put these FBS teams on the slate they’ve got to at least be upper-tier programs.”

    Why? If you ever schedule an FCS team they should be as bad as possible. A win over an FCS team will result in reactions of “who cares,” whereas a loss, well we know what happens then. No good can come from scheduling a decent FCS team (even if they’re back-to-back national champs and a great team, people won’t get past the fact that they’re in the FCS), and if they’re going to go there, might as well bring in the easiest opponent possible.

  • Greg (MVictors)

    @Sean
    Maybe the difference is that I don’t care about reactions – I want to watch some semblance of a football game, not a joke. Remember how much the rest of us are putting down for these tickets. Those cats couldn’t even earn a first down without a penalty or come close to stopping our offense.

    People dump on Bill Martin for scheduling Appalachian State (I did, before the game) but that was one of the better games I’ve seen in the Big House.

  • Sean

    While it was exciting, I don’t consider losing to Appalachian State a good game. I’d much rather watch Michigan thoroughly dominate its opponent from start to finish. The point is to win games. And as much as you may not care about people’s reactions, fact of the matter is perception matters, and being a national embarrassment at the start of the 2007 did nothing but generate negative recruiting fodder.

    And for the record, you can sort of count the Delaware State game as costing nothing extra if you consider that this year’s season tickets cost the same as last year’s.

  • Greg (MVictors)

    Sean, thanks but I obviously disagree with most of that. Fans are entitled to see a decent football game and if we’re fearful of losing or embarrassing ourselves or scaring off recruits because of how we perform against far less talented teams then something’s gone awry.

  • Jim48043

    The only good thing I could see about the game with Delaware State was that the family and friends of those kids on the team who work as hard as they do but seldom get on the field got to see them on the Michigan Stadium field ( what an ugly attempt at a sentence). Period.

    As far as the gate goes, I submit that it is probably true that Michigan paid Bo less money over the span of his 20 years as head coach than it cost to defend and settle U of WVa’s lawsuit about hiring Mr. Rodriguez.

    But I ought thank Sean for reminding me just who is responsible for 3:30 starts, 8:00 starts, midweek college football games, the BTN, and the spectacle of U S Congresspersons threatening to legislate the Bowl Championship Series. Now I need to work on attaining the serenity necessary to accept that college football programs seek to please the Seans of the world.

    I agree with the host’s comments, and thank him for his fine site.

  • Sean

    @Jim48043
    Listen, I have never been a fan of playing I-AA teams and was in absolute disgust that Michigan scheduled Appalachian State, because up until that time, we had kept it to I-A opponents. I would much rather scrap the FCS team on the schedule every year and have a home and home USC, Texas, Oklahoma, Miami, etc. That is what Ohio State is doing, though they still are playing FCS teams. I don’t prefer I-AA teams being on the schedule, but it’s simply unrealistic to expect anything else to happen now that there are 12 regular season games. Michigan could prevent that from happening by paying more to opponents for them to come here or by scheduling home-and-home series with lower-profile teams, but they aren’t going to do that because it’s all about making as much money as possible. My only point was that if an FCS team is going to be scheduled, make sure it’s an easy game that gives the starters a week to rest and the walk-ons a chance to play. That’s it.

    I don’t see how you can go from that to saying that you need to attain serenity to accept that I am the type of person college football programs please. What does that even mean? I am someone that hates tradition and wish they tossed it all away? Um, not exactly. Some things change over time because they have to. If you seriously expect every game to start at noon then you’re crazy, and that isn’t the case because of money, not because of me or whoever you think I am. College football programs like Michigan make decisions based on money 90% of the time; plain and simple. That is why we have 8 home games this season and other than the year we play at UConn, that will probably be the case anytime Notre Dame comes to Ann Arbor. Mid-level programs that need exposure are the reason there are games during the week. ESPN figures people will watch more football if they put games on during the week, and MAC teams are willing to play in them because that’s the only time they can get on ESPN. It isn’t about the fans at all, as they would much rather have games on Saturdays. It’s about exposure to the program which in turn leads to more money.

    If you honestly think that fans are the reason for everything you mentioned in your third paragraph, then you are clueless. In college football, just like everything, it’s all about the money.

  • Jim48043

    Why do I bother?

    OK. Pay attention. I will grant that the colleges have prostituted themselves. But, there would be no prostitutes but for the johns.

    I saw the 1987 Rose Bowl where ASU put a gang of steroid users on the field.

    I saw that same coach, Bill Snyder, make KSU a winning team.

    I saw people worship Barry Switzer.

    I see 3:30 starts with more than 1 and 1/2 hours of advertising.

    I see college players who cannot read at 6th grade levels.

    I think all of it is wrong.

    Read Bo. Read about Dave Gallegher, and Dominic Tedesco, and Ken Higgins, and Tom Slade, and Gil Campbell.

    Winning the wrong way is dishonorable.

    Honor is a difficult concept for most people to grasp. George W. Bush lacks and lacked it, as did anyone who doesn’t reget having voted for him. The hiring process for Rodriguez lacked it. Justin Feagin on the field shows a lack of it. I don’t want to hear that other programs lack it, too.