From sources deep inside the Sigma Alpha Epsilon camp, it’s confirmed that Mud Bowl is on for 2011. Kick-off is slated for 9AM on October 29, Homecoming weekend. Michigan will face Purdue at the Big House at noon. Many wondered if the traditional slop fest would happen given SAE’s campus suspension, but it’s a go and it will benefit C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital once again this year. Last year the game raised $38,000 for Mott, and sights are set on $40,000 in 2011.
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Fun with Big Ten Tie-Breakers
The latest Big Ten weekly press release detailed out the tie-breaker scenarios in detail and Adam Rittenberg of ESPN summarized the basics earlier this month. For the B1G title game, the winner of each division will play, unless one of the division winners is ineligible to play in a bowl game. To me, the official Big Ten division tie-breaker rules aren’t crystal clear after a quick read. I think the confusion is that technically Big Ten conference teams have three types of records: The division record (5 games) The overall conference record (8 games) The overall record (12 games) Here are the key elements on the conference championship rules from the official site, with some comments to clarify what it means. Hat tip to Big Ten media relations lead Scott Chipman for confirming this: 1). Divisional Champion rule: The Big Ten football championship will be decided by a game played between the two division champions. Clarification: The division champion is the team with the best overall conference record (in the 8 overall conference games played). 2). First Tie-Breaker: If two teams are tied, the winner of the game between the two tied teams shall be the representative. Clarification: So that’s easy if you are clear on how two teams can tie, and that’s based on overall conference record as discussed in 1).…
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Headlocking Hugs (Sights & Sounds) Michigan 28, San Diego State 7
Most were surprised how easy that went Saturday for Hoke and crew and Michigan together the most complete half I can remember. The biggest factor was the poor play of highly-rated QB Ryan Lindley, who seemed out of sorts all day. The U-M defense deserves some credit for that for sure but Lindley didn’t get a lot of help from his receivers who ran poor routes in many cases. Here’s Lindley trying to connect in the end zone in the fourth quarter and his receiver has a step on Countess – the ball is too high, off-target and just sailed: Commence the Miscellanea: Since I’m not going to tell you anything about how Denard fared on the field that you didn’t see with your own eyes Saturday, try this: Laces on Lockdown Denard’s “Xs” – In the postgame Denard talked about a recent trip to the lanes. He told the media, “I did all right,” and shared that he bowled the 200-160-170 series. The “X” in Denard’s Twitter handle stands for strike, and use can use an X to mark one thing off the list of things that you thought you could do better than #16. Switch to Schutt – Some nerd I asked Denard about his switch of helmet manufacturers this year. I was half hoping there was some…
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Dr. Sap’s Decals – San Diego State
Continuing the series. Find your background here. Here’s Dr. Sap’s selections for Week #4, along with a few editor’s picks: Al Borges: 2 decals: 1 for bringing back the option play series to Michigan Stadium – that almost brought a tear to my eye!! The other was for the 57-yard TD drive in the 4th QTR that was ALL on the ground – Bo would have been proud!! U-M Kick Team: 1 decal for each member of unit for coverage on 2nd QTR kickoff forcing SDSU to start possession inside 10-yard line U-M Defense: 2 decals for each member of unit for two 4th down stops of SDSU drives in 4th QTR Denard Robinson: 5 decals – 5-yard TD run, 53-yard TD run, 1-yard TD run, option-pitch to Fitz Toussaint in 2nd QTR – that was sweet to see again at Michigan Stadium!! +1 editor’s pick for bowling a 200 last week. Craig Roh: 3 decals – 1 Tackle For Loss (TFL), 1 Sack, 1 Forced Fumble (FF) Jake Ryan: 3 decals – 3rd QTR TFL, 3rd QTR Fumble Recovery, 4th QTR Fumble Recovery Ryan Van Bergen: 4 decals – 1st QTR PBU, 3rd QTR FF, 4th QTR TFL and +1 editor’s pick for having his #3 nearly yanked off. Mike Martin: 1 decal – editor’s pick for mentioning The…
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The Only SDSU guy Hoke Didn’t Hug Before the Game
Yikes. Here’s some guys he did hug, including SDSU head coach Rocky Long: And a few of the staff:
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M Hockey Pregame
If you need it, here’s the M hockey team before the game, hamming it up: Contrast the 2011 squad with the team from last year. Here’s 2010 team are on the field before the UMass game, and keep in mind these guys were 1 goal away from a national championship:
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This Week in M Football History: Spartan Vandals invade Ann Arbor (1949)
For this morning’s 1050AM WTKA KeyBank Countdown to Kick-off pregame show, we’ll take a look back at 1949. Michigan entered the season as back-to-back national champions and started off the season against Michigan State. But the Spartan fans had some antics planned before the game and I told the story about what happened that day: You can check out all of the This Week in Michigan Football clips, go here.
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When Bo Wavered on the Stickers
The recent Dr. Sap’s Decals post has sparked a bit of discussion on whether Hoke should bring them back. One of the arguments folks use against the practice is that individual awards like this take away from the team concept. But you have to reconcile that with the fact that Bo, who was mildly supportive of the team concept, started the tradition of issuing the decals. But there was a point when Bo wavered. Did you know that he actually took them off the helmets for a short stretch in the early 80s? I did, but only because Dr. Sap himself sent me an updated diagram a few weeks back. This week I got this email from a former U-M lineman who talked about when this happened and more: Not sure if you knew this but in 1983 and 1984 Bo did give us stickers but they were placed on a board in the Football Building. He just did not put them on our helmets. When Bo announced it, it was to show the importance of the team and not the individual as the gold footballs were individual awards. Initially It was like “that kind of sucks” and you never thought about it again. More because it was a change than anything else. It’s funny as an offensive lineman you…
