Here’s the audio from the press conference: [display_podcast] If you need a chuckle—> Denard went before Rich Rod and was asked this epic question about leaving for the NFL next season. Feel free to download for your mixtapes and remixes. Full Rich Rod transcription: Q. Rich, did you have any sense something like this was coming at all either in your team or what you saw from Mississippi State on film? COACH RODRIGUEZ: No, I thought our guys practiced well, I thought they were focused, how we came out with the right intensity. But from the second quarter on, we did not execute. It sounds simplistic, but it’s very disappointing because the guys have a great attitude. But they made plays and we didn’t. They tackled better than us, they caught better than us, they ran better than us, and that’s unfortunate. Our guys did play hard, we just did not play as well as we’re capable of playing and they played extremely well, and that was the ballgame. Q. A lot of players make comparisons having a lot of time to prepare for Connecticut, kind of comparing that to having a lot of time to play in the Bowl game. How was the execution different in both games that kind of made it different? COACH RODRIGUEZ: Well, if I…
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Bully XX and More Pregame Photos
A few more from around the field during pregame: Interesting – Rich Rod had the kickers warm up in the Mississippi State end during pregame. (After they kicked on the Michigan side of the field). RR was watching the kicks pretty closely. There is a bit of a crown on the field – I don’t think it will affect Robinson but we’ll see. Roundtreezy getting ready… …and grabbing a drink This is “Bully XX” – almost needed #21 after the Miss State players stomped out. Jeremy Gallon warmed up with the quarterbacks.
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Gator Bowl 2011 – Pregame Photos
I had a chance to hop on the field before the game. First off, it’s just a perfect day here – can’t say more. The EverBank Field gridiron appears to be in excellent shape – a couple gashes visible here and there but only up close. While I’m not natural grass expert I can safely say the grass is cut very tight—specifically 9/16” per Nick, the head groundscrew guy in charge of it all: Naturally Nick is a Spartan, having graduated from MSU’s prolific turf grass school. He’d much rather be in Orlando watching his Spartans battle Saban and crew, but he expects to be peppered with texts throughout the game for updates. Nick had the painful task, for a Spartan that is, of making this happen in the North endzone (but he did a nice job): Michigan’s end zone is North, the and the Wolverine players will be on the East sideline. Here’s a view looking South: Go Blue. And if you’re not on the Twitter, get on the Twitter, I already tweeted out photos an hour ago!
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Bulldog Bells
Mississippi State fans love them some cowbell and recently Rich Rod mentioned that he’d probably be looking to mimic the clanging in practice to prepare for the Gator Bowl. Thanks to today’s rare media glimpse at a practice, we know it’s happening. A few young assistants along with Rhett Rod (I think that’s little RR), were hovering over the snap rocking the bells. No sign of Chris Walken and no need– it was pretty loud: A couple others from practice: Legal stretching RR at the podium – kind of a cool spot for a press conference (on the balcony of the second floor, not far from RR’s office) Pending update
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How the Gator Got #3
I’m not exactly sure how I got to this point, but I’ve posted a few times on the intricacies of the bowl picks between the Gator Bowl and Insight. It started back in October when I found this nugget on a Gator Bowl press release: The Gator Bowl will share, with the Insight Bowl, the third and fourth pick in the Big Ten Conference after the BCS. The Gator Bowl and the Insight Bowl will each submit, to the Big Ten Conference, their team selection…Should each Bowl desire the same team, the selection order will be decided by the flip of a coin.. Then a reader showed me this story by Garry Smits on jacksonville.com which had a slightly different version of what was worked out, including a pre-emptive coin flip earlier this year: The other bit of good news is that the Gator Bowl won a coin flip with the Insight Bowl in the Big Ten offices in Chicago (Catlett called heads). Therefore, the Gator Bowl will get the third Big Ten selection after the league champion goes to the Rose Bowl. While I believed the story above (why would they make that up), I wondered why the glossy Gator Bowl press release was so specific about the relationship between the bowls and what prompted the change. So Monday…
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Anthony Carter’s Gator Bowl Watch (1979)
The second biggest unknown out there right now is where Michigan will end up this bowl season. The Insight Bowl in Tempe seems likely, but the Gator Bowl isn’t out of the question. Here’s a piece of Michigan and Gator Bowl history-–a watch which the seller claims once belonged to the great WR Anthony Carter (and thanks to reader Art for sending this over). So who do we know this once belonged to AC? It comes with this not very official-looking document saying as much: Anyway, I wouldn’t be shocked if this did indeed belong to Carter. Michigan lost a tight Gator Bowl to North Carolina but AC shined, hauling in 4 catches for 141 and two touchdowns. The difference was probably the crazed dawg donning the Carolina blue. The Wolverines were up 9-0 when Lawrence Taylor knocked QB John Wangler out of the game. B.J. Dickey replaced Wangs and connected with AC for a score with under two minutes to go, but they failed to convert on the two-point conversion that would have tied the game. 1979 was an interesting year for Bo and crew. All told they finished 8-4, dropping their final three games and finishing #18 in the land. Speaking of that crew, Bo’s assistants that season included Jack Harbaugh and Les Miles, and now this post…
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Coach Robinson’s Championship Ring (1990)
It looks like another Michigan championship ring up for auction, this time a 1990 Big Ten Championship Ring. Here’s a look: A few notes: Like most of these rings it’s 10K gold. It appears as though the stone is maize colored, the first time I can recalled seeing that. Reads “Big Ten Champions” around the stone. One side reads “Count On Me” which I take to be the team slogan that season, along with the score 35-3 below an alligator. That of course is a nod to the 1991 Gator Bowl when Gary Moeller’s men crushed Mississippi (Wolverine Historian YouTube). That’s the game the entire Michigan offensive line (Dean Dingman, Tom Dohring, Greg Skrepenak, Matt Elliott, Steve Everitt) was named the MVPs of the game. Steve Everitt told the Ole Miss guy across him, “YOU LIKE THAT, HUH??” a record 17 times that day. The other side features the player/coach name, a depiction of the Big House and their position/role on the team. This one belonged to a coach named “Robinson”. There wasn’t a major position coach on the team with that surname but the team photo does reveal a David Robinson, fourth from the right in the seventh row, probably supporting S&C or another group: So…this probably was this man’s ring. Having featured a bunch of rings on this…
