2006 Season rounded out by Ball State SALINE, MICHIGAN AUGUST 23, 2005 Yikes. Fresh out of 1000 South State Street, Michigan announced it is rounding out its football schedule with Ball State. Ball State. Along with Central Michigan, Northwestern, Wisconsin, MSU and Iowa. OK, so MSU is always a big one, and Iowa will be a test. Traditionally Michigan has scheduled a major conference opponent in one of the slots. Shame! All this said, with the adding of a 12th game in 2006 Michigan still can make this right by getting in a big school. We’re watching.
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Michigan Football Preview 2005
What you need to know about this squad SALINE, MICHIGAN AUGUST 18, 2005 Expectations are high once again for Michigan. Here’s this season’s look at the upcoming season and this team. Before Looking Ahead . . . – Any year with a Big Ten championship and a Rose Bowl berth can’t be look upon unfavorably. It was a great season. The Texas game in Pasadena was one of the all time greats. That said, the fact is the team lost 3 games, and easily could have lost five (Michigan State and Minnesota were squeakers at home). The lingering bad taste from the last four games is due to the inability of the defense to stop the run. M gave up nearly 275 yards on the ground in these games, and finding a cure for this is at the tip of the tongue of all of the preseason talk. Tickets – This year’s theme is ‘consecutive Big Ten championships’, featuring photos of old coaches, rings, etc., celebrating Michigan’s success in the conference. Michigan has won two straight championships and five in the last eight years. Replay of MSU game – The Michigan Ticket department did a good thing this year. For those who renewed their tickets using an ‘eCheck’, they supplied a free copy of the MSU 3OT game. I reviewed…
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The 2005 Tom Brady NFL Draft
Tom Brady, Tom Brady, Tom Brady, Tom BradySALINE, MICHIGAN APRIL 24, 2005 Day One of the NFL draft is complete and I’m pretty sure they need just to rename the whole thing the Tom Brady annual NFL draft. I’m serious…if someone is calculating the number of times Tom Brady has been mentioned this weekend please Fedex your piles of data to me asap. Tie this into a drinking game and the ER will be short on stomach pumps. It is ridiculous. ESPN even has two commercials running featuring Brady with the theme “who will be the next Tom Brady?” in the draft. At this point, I think we can drop Tom and save time by just calling him “Brady”. By the way, I think one of the spots is a re-run from last year where they say Brady has “two rings”. Hey ESPN, last I checked he is up to three now but since when is ESPN concerned with statistics? Keep in mind, this is coming from a guy who lives for references to Michigan and its players. Buckeye fans and Patriot haters must be going nuts. In case someone is wondering why they keep mentioning him, he was drafted in the 6th round and is the poster child for the potential value of late-round picks. Other takes:– Speaking of…
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Michigan Announces Big House Renovation Plans
Michigan To Expand Michigan StadiumNew levels, luxury boxes, wider seats, and more for $200M!SALINE, MICHIGAN JANUARY 21, 2005 Obtained by the Ann Arbor News via the Freedom of Information Act, plans to renovate Michigan Stadium are out of the bag. Click to enlarge on the artist’s rendering pictured left depicting the general goal of the renovation (apparently orange is a favorite of AD Bill Martin). Completion is desired by 2008-2010. So what does this mean and what is the initial word on the street? Here’s what I’ve heard:– Many fans are concerned about the price tag but it will be funded through the existing preferred seating program, set to begin next season.– A few fans feel that the basketball arena should be the primary target of renovation. The typical response is that revenue from the suites and additional features will fund other projects at the U.– The report in the Ann Arbor News indicated there might be a seat reduction of a few thousand seats, putting Michigan below at least Penn State and probably Texas A&M as the leader in capacity. AD Bill Martin and others have already made statements confirming that this is a concern and will be addressed. (Translation: They’ll figure out a way to not reduce the capacity size.)– They would like to add an additional inch…
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Rose Bowl 2005: Texas Tops Michigan
Michigan falls short in classic battle in 2005 Rose Bowl ONEKAMA, MICHIGAN JANUARY 2, 2005 It was at times exciting, at times confusing – but there’s no doubt about it this was a classic. Texas kicked a wobbly, apparently deflected, field goal as last second ticked off to defeat the Wolverines. Certainly if the Wolverines could have put a hand on QB Vince Young, the outcome would have been different. What could have Michigan done better? They didn’t make too many mistakes, but here’s a few points to consider as Michigan comes home: – Stopping those QBs. It was the biggest fear of most fans and analysts coming into the game. Would Michigan be able to stop a mobile quarterback. Not only did Michigan not stop Vince Young, the problem seemed to get worse. Young made the Michigan defense look confused, if not foolish. Ohio State’s Troy Smith, and thankfully for one half, MSU’s Drew Stanton, torched Michigan this year. What is the deal? I thought Michigan had it figured out during the middle of the second half, but no. Big questions remain for the defense and coach Jim Herrmann next year as there’s little doubt that the Big Ten has taken notice. Sports talk radio in Ann Arbor (1050AM WTKA) and Detroit (1130AM WDFN and 1270AM) is calling for…
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The Pick: Woodson’s Interception vs. MSU
Here’s Charles Woodson’s epic interception for the Michigan Wolverines. The interception helped the Maize & Blue defeat Michigan State in 1997 on that road at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing. Woodson looks like he is reaching at least 11 feet into the air, probably a little higher. For those who need a refresher course, Woodson ripped that ball out of the air, secured it, and landed in bounds for the turnover. Later that year Michigan won the 1997 national championship in the Rose Bowl and Chuck Woodson won the Heisman Trophy: college football’s most prestigious individual honor. Woodson went on to leave college after that season (as a junior) and entered the NFL draft. He was drafted by the Oakland Raiders and has made a few trips to the Pro Bowl.
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Rivas’s Kick Drops Spartans in OT (Again)
The second straight OT thriller falls M’s way againEAST LANSING, MICHIGAN OCT. 1, 2005 Garrett Rivas’s kick wasn’t crisp or firm, but it sailed through and ended another classic Michigan vs. Michigan State game and DB13. The Wolverines’ 34-31 win was a tale of two halves: the first a wild offensive show, the second more of a chess match, highlighted by big blunders by each team. The win essentially salvages Michigan’s season and certainly puts at least a hold on the Spartan’s desire to win a Big Ten title. At least for two weeks when MSU can get right back where they want to be with a win at Ohio State. Michigan has plenty of brutal games coming up but the pieces seem to be back in place for a run at a title. The difference? Not much, but as mentioned in earlier columns, the difference Mike Hart makes to this team is significant. He was clearly not at full speed but was the best player on the field today. Drew Stanton of MSU played a great game, and some in the Ann Arbor media are questioning Spartan coach John L. Smith for holding back the MSU offense in the second half. Another big break for the Wolverines came on the overtime coin toss (they called ‘tails’), which gave them…
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Spartans Plant Irish
Five in a row in South Bend? Envy A half time you knew this was going to be a classic. Congratulations to the Spartans for an impressive 44-41 win over ND, and now five straight wins against the Irish on the road? Wow. Five thoughts on the game: 1. Five straight in South Bend? My god, what a feat. From the perspective of the Michigan fan, there are few things going on with MSU Football that bring on feelings of envy for those in Ann Arbor. This is certainly one. The Spartan’s dominance over the past decade over the Irish is amazing. It is comparable with Michigan’s dominance over John Cooper’s Ohio State teams. 2. No TD for Irish. For Irish fans grumbling about the play where MSU knocked the ball away on the goal line. It was close, but couldn’t be overturned. Chad Henne was probably in the end zone on first down last week (before fumbling on second down), and that wasn’t even reviewed. My advice: take your beatings like men. 3. Planting the Spartan Flag. For Irish fans concerned that excited Spartan players (see above – #14 should’ve had a V8) took a flag out of the stands and planted in on their field, as if to indicate this was Sparty’s House. The Domers are lucky they…
