Michigan surrendered another double-digit second-half lead and lost the Alamo Bowl to Nebraska 32-28 late last night. The game featured several twists, bad calls, and nearly one of the greatest plays in college football history. No matter how you look at it, this loss was reflective of a sad season that will sting throughout the winter, spring, and summer up until the 2006 Wolverines take the field. If Lloyd Carr doesn’t do something to stop this trend, Pam Ward will be calling Michigan games for ESPN2 next season. Here are the takes on this game: – Final Play. See the diagram above. Listening to the radio in the morning and reading both the Detroit Free Press and News in the morning, you’d think that the final play was not a big deal. ESPN, fortunately, thought otherwise, breaking it down several times after the game and today in between breaks. This really makes this one a bitter pill. After watching it several times on ESPN.com, it looks like Tyler Ecker thought he could turn the corner on the Nebraska defensive back and score. He was pushed out of bounds at about the 14. Stevie Breaston, who played a great game on special teams, was trailing Ecker the whole time begging for the ball. Had Breaston got the ball, M would have…
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Buckeyes Stifle Michigan Again in 2005
Dominant Ohio State D makes the difference; Troy Smith completes the comeback ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN NOVEMBER 21, 2005 Oh the pain. Jim Tressel continued his mastery over Lloyd Carr’s Wolverines as the Buckeyes took down the Michigan Wolverines again, the second time in Ann Arbor. Since Tressel arrived, the only Michigan win was the classic 100th meeting between the two teams (thank goodness!). Before the game, Carr said a loss would make this season a disappointment. It happened and it is. While clearly overrated as pre-season #4, there really is no acceptable terms whereby this team can lose four regular season games (three at home!) and consider it a good season. It is very disappointing for everyone. Here are the takes on this game:– Buckeye Bamboozle Poor Schlimmy! Tailgate legend Scott Grow fell victim to the eBay Buckeye Ticket Bandit. Earlier this year Schlim locked into tickets to the big Michigan – Ohio State game on eBay to a seller with a high rating. The tickets were to be delivered 2 weeks before the game. Payment was rendered and nothing ever showed up. Turns out Scotty wasn’t the only one burned by this deadbeat: there have been over 70 complaints to the Ohio Attorney General. It turned into a big news story, here’s one update. – White Whale. The sweater-vested…
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Big Ten Conference Tie Break rules
Here’s the rules for every Big Ten BCS tie scenario SALINE, MICHIGAN OCTOBER 31, 2005 It’s another tight Big Ten football race for the championship and to determine the team that will receive the Big Ten’s automatic BCS bid. Here are the rules: • If there is a two-way tie, the winner of the game between the two will represent the conference. If the teams did not play each other, it is then based on overall winning percentage. • If there is still a tie, the most recent team to earn a BCS automatic selection is eliminated. • If three teams are tied and if one team defeated both of the others, that team is the representative. • If two of the three teams defeated the third team, that team is eliminated and the remaining two teams revert to the two-team tie procedure. • If two of the three did not play each other, the BCS representative is determined by winning percentage in the overall schedule. If all three have the same winning percentage, the most recent representative is eliminated and the other two revert to the two-team tie procedure. • If four or more are tied … if one team defeated each of the other three, then that team is the representative. • If two of the four teams…
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Second Half Shutdown of Wildcats
Trip to Chicago topped off with another Big win EVANSTON, ILLINOIS OCTOBER 30, 2005 Despite being up 16 late in the fourth quarter, few of 10,000+ Michigan fans that attended the Northwestern game Saturday night could relax. Not after watching the fate of the previous five games being settled in the final seconds. Only when the Wildcats exhausted their timeouts and Michigan picked up a well earned first down did the maize and blue fans breathe easy. In fact, the only group that really seemed relaxed the entire game was the Michigan sideline. Sitting three rows behind the bench for this crucial 33-17 victory, one of things I took away from this was how calm, poised, methodical and perhaps unemotional the Michigan machine really is. The only real excitement out of this team was after Grant Mason’s outstanding interception late in the second quarter, and of course when the game was over. Overall, this was a much needed win and continues a stunning revival of a team that was left for dead four weeks ago. Here are the takes on this game:– Depth. Lloyd Carr consistently gets criticism for not challenging for national titles despite having highly ranked recruiting classes year after year. This is certainly a valid discussion point, but I hardly ever hear Carr praised for delivering the…
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Give Lloyd Carr Credit for the Depth
Another point of view on a common criticism of Carr EVANSTON, ILLINOIS OCTOBER 30, 2005 Lloyd Carr consistently gets criticism for not challenging for national titles despite having highly ranked recruiting classes year after year. This is certainly a valid discussion point, but I hardly ever hear Carr praised for delivering the depth and talent that Michigan possesses. There are several dimensions to this. First, this criticism kind of assumes that, by virtue of the winged helmets and “tradition”, Michigan simply opens the doors to Schembechler Hall and lets the top talent line up for scholarships. This implies that Carr has no hand in, a) actually recruiting the top prospects and, b) continuing to create a desirable program that kids want to be a part of (5 Big Ten titles, 9 straight New Year’s day bowls, let alone a place that parents are proud to send their children). These critics assume that anyone could come in and continue dragging in top talent year after year. I’m not so sure this is as easy as it seems to come to Carr and his staff. Second, I don’t hear Carr praised when the value of these deep recruiting classes actually makes a difference. Look at this season. This team continues to lose its top players yet there’s always a Wolverine back-up ready…
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Should We Trust the BCS Computers?
Sagarin featured in Wall Street Journal in October 19, 2005 piece SALINE, MICHIGAN OCTOBER 26, 2005 The debate on the use of computers as in input to determining the teams that play in the college national championship has raged since the BCS was first introduced in 1998. One of the most prominent mathematical formulas that is used to rank college football teams is run by Hendricksville, Indiana resident and former Indiana MBA Jeff Sagarin. Mr. Sagarin was recently featured in a Wall Street Journal piece due to his efforts to make Indiana move permanently to the Central time zone. The majority of the state for many years has remained on Eastern Standard time throughout the year, causing much confusion when the rest of us switch our clocks ahead in the summer for Daylight savings time. In April 2006, Indiana will move to use daylight saving time. The rub: each Indiana county needs to decide whether it is going to be on Central or Eastern time presenting some other dimensions of confusion, but that’s another issue. Sagarin has lobbied hard that the position of the sun over Indiana at noon makes it senseless to be in the Eastern time zone. Here’s some of his data on the topic from his website if you are interested if you have a few weeks…
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Carr-diac Arrest, Michigan Takes Iowa in OT
Once again it seems we are watching the same game over and over again this year. Michigan gets a lead, surrenders it, and then it's a crapshoot up and to the final seconds. Michigan decided to give the ball to fourth-string running back Jerome Jackson on third and goal from the Iowa 1 yard line, and he didn't waste the opportunity. This will set up a classic Big Ten showdown in Chicago next weekend.
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Henne Finds Manningham to Sink Penn State 27-25 (2005)
Michigan reverses fortune with the final second winSALINE, MICHIGAN OCTOBER 15, 2005 This team is getting pretty frustrating to watch. Nothing is coming easy for them, so it’s nice to take this one away as a win. The three loses clearly could have gone either way, and now Michigan’s two big wins are in the same category. Chad Henne drilled a pass through the Penn State secondary on the final play of the game, right in the hands of Mario Manningham for another glorious Michigan come-from-behind 27-25 win. This presents another chance for Michigan to redeem themselves and somehow the downtrodden Blue is still in the Big Ten race, at least for a share. A lot of this they control: Michigan needs to beat Iowa, Northwestern and Ohio State and hope for at least 1 more loss out of Wisconsin or Penn State. PSU hosts Wisconsin on November 5th. My take: Michigan will stumble again. Takeaways:– This Season. It seems every major game is coming down to the final few plays, and in most cases, seconds. It really shouldn’t be, Michigan should be putting these teams away. M is getting into a cycle of surrendering double digit leads and having to attempt a comeback. Twice they’ve pulled it out (MSU, Penn State), and twice they’ve failed (Minnesota, Wisconsin). I can’t…
