Here’s a set of the harshest quotes from the major local writers that covered the game. Jim Carty, Ann Arbor News “No imagination, no fun meant no chance for victory” “When’s the last time Michigan let it rip?” “[Michigan has] so many players that Carr can play it safe and still end up 11-2.” “..there isn’t an offensive skill [high school] player who’d pick the Wolverines over Southern Cal or Boise State. Not one.” Shawn Windsor, Detroit Free Press
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Rose Bowl Bollocks
Quick thoughts: – Ugly loss, Morgan Trent was worked over all day and night. – Booty looked very good and the receivers for USC were too much. – – You expect to see a couple drops; I don’t think they had any. – In relation to the pressure on Lloyd Carr, Musburger and Herbstreit must have mentioned “the bloggers” 4 or 5 times during the fourth quarter. Musburger (in-)correctly noted that Bill Martin has a great relationship with Lloyd Carr. That said, Coach Carr isn’t under any kind of pressure from the University, I guarantee you that. And no pressure is coming from this blog. – This hurts quite a bit. Looking back to this time last year, Michigan was coming off one of the worst years in recent history and rebounded to be in the conversation for the BCS title game up until today. A win would have been huge but it doesn’t take away what Michigan accomplished the rest of the season.
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Happy New Year – Go Blue!
Ahh, New Year’s Day is here with a full slate of great games headlined by the much-hyped Rose Bowl. Speaking of the hype, wow, the ABC/ESPN machine really went after it in the past couple days, huh? How about that coundown to the Rose Bowl running on ESPN? I told the gang here I wish they’d do that for every Michigan game. As far as the game, I’m thinking Michigan will have a little too much for J.D. Booty and the Trojans and will win a tight one: 26-20. The keys? Getting pressure on Booty and containing Jarrett. It’s been so long since the Ohio State game and I’m looking forward to seeing David Harris fly around the field and see what trouble Woodley and Branch can cause up front. Prescott Burgess is completely healthy and it’ll be interesting to see his impact. Here’s some more New Year’s Day predictions for you, against the spread: Wisconsin +2 over Arkansas Tennessee -4 over Penn State Nebraska +1.5 over Auburn Georgia Tech +9 over West Virginia Oklahoma -8 over Boise State
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Beef Bowl Blunder
MVictors.com continued its battle for accuracy in journalism today, correcting a statement in a Detroit Free Press piece on the 2006 Lawry’s Beef Bowl, the annual meat-a-thon held before several bowl games. In his Thursday piece, Shawn Windsor wrote that Michigan “gorged itself on 612 pounds of meat, roughly 100 pounds more than the team devoured two years ago”. According to our records, Michigan actually consumed 630 pounds of beef in 2004, so they actually ate less this year. We contacted Windsor who cited his source by stating “Lawry’s told me Michigan ate more than two years ago. I guess they don’t know how to count their own beef.”
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Lawry’s Beef Bowl Today
Today is the annual Rose Bowl tradition, the Lawry’s Beef Bowl, where the 2 teams square-off in a competition to eat the most beef. Over/under on Michigan’s beef consumption: 615 pounds. Line: Michigan favored by 40 pounds of beef. Rationale? It is well known that the Wolverines take these little bowl competitions pretty seriously so they’ll be going right after it. Also, I have to imagine that the Californianess of USC will result in a few more vegetarian Nancy boys on the Trojan side of the table. Go Blue!
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Bungle in the Bruin Jungle
What an embarrassment yesterday as Michigan got completely destroyed by #1 UCLA. Was I expecting a win? No way. But you had to expect a little more than this. It was basically garbage time with 10 minutes to go. Good coaches don’t get crushed like that, I’m sorry. Thirty Seven points? Unacceptable!! I’d rather watch Desmond Howard breaking down the Holiday Bowl than suffer through the second half of that game again. The good news? It appears as though the football team, which has arrived in LA, didn’t have to watch this debacle and risk infection. From the LA Times: No special outings were planned, and the team did not expect to attend the UCLA-Michigan basketball game at Pauley Pavilion on Saturday. “We’ve got about 120 players,” spokesman David Ablauf said. “I don’t think there are enough UCLA season-ticket holders who would give us their seats.”
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CFN on the Michigan Split
I’ve already speculated the on the chances of a split title earlier this week. He’s CFN.com addressing the issue in its weekly Q&A: For the sake of argument, let’s say that Michigan comes out and trounces USC in the Rose Bowl, and Florida barely/controversially/soundly/however beats OSU. Do you see a scenario in which the AP voters, who don’t have to answer to the BCS honks, vote Michigan as the #1 team? I know it’s WAY out there, but I was wondering if you guys had thought about it. Thanks. -PJ Kendall
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Split Indecision?
With all the craziness of this year, would it be a shock if Michigan was thrust back into the conversation after the Rose Bowl? A national title split is unlikely under any circumstance, but Michigan is a close enough #3 in the AP poll that some voters could be swayed to take Michigan under the right conditions after the season is through. Having been tossed out of the BCS poll of choice in favor of the low-brow Harris Poll makes the ‘let’s stick it to the BCS’ a scenario within the realm of discussion. Side note: Don’t know much about the Harris Poll? Here are a few data points for you:– Boomer Esaison is a voter.– One voter, former Iowa State coach Jim Walden, actually took Florida #1 in the final poll. WHAT?– I heard a couple of voters put Florida #5. Equally as ridiculous. Anyway, here’s how the split title would have to play out, along with the chances of each scenario:– Florida eeks out a sloppy win over Ohio State (three or fewer points) with – 20% chance– Michigan smokes USC by 14+ and looks good doing it – 25% chance AP voters would have to then have Michigan leapfrog over Florida and the now 1 loss team that already beat Michigan (Ohio State). The arguments would have…
