Dr. Sap’s Decals – Gopher Edition — MVictors.com

Ed. Steve Sapardanis aka “Dr. Sap” is back with his decals. This week I added the Editor’s Pick & added a bit to the Fan Award. Here are the picks from Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6 and Week 7 and Week 8.

Context: Back when Bo was coaching the Michigan Football team, he awarded decals for individual as well as TEAM accomplishments. He also selected Champions each week.

Not only were the obvious categories (offense, defense, special teams) selected, but Bo also made it a point to recognize the not so obvious ones – Scout Team Champions and Team Hustlers – each week.

Take it away, Sap:

OFFENSE	DEVIN GARDNER – If you’re like me, earlier this year you watched the UM Spring Game and paid close attention to DG. To me, he showed back in April that the game had slowed down for him and he was much more comfortable in the pocket making plays. Maybe all that film study paid off. He must have also been watching the tapes of Jim Harbaugh – especially his rainbow TD pass to Ken Higgins against Indiana in 1986. Gardner’s TD pass to Dileo was much the same, except DG threw his on a ROPE – WOW!!! His performance evoked three words from me: Poise, Confidence and WOW!!
DEFENSE	QUINTON WASHINGTON – To me it seemed like every time a Golden Gopher ball carrier got up from a run up the middle, Big Q was at the bottom of the pile. There may have been some questions about the strength of UM D-Line, but Washington is starting to clog up the middle, making it tough sledding for opponents to run on Michigan this year.
SPECIAL TEAMS	BRENDAN GIBBONS – I know he didn’t kick a field goal this game, and he only converted 5 extra points, but Gibby actually gets the decal for NOT making a kick. Minnesota was flagged on the last PAT of the game, which “lefty” doinked off the right goalpost. Because of the foul, U-M re-kicked and Gibby promptly drilled it down the middle. If he was ever going to miss a PAT, that was the time to do it!
HUSTLER / SPARKPLUG	JEREMY GALLON – If you thought JG was all over the field, you were right. He hauled in a TD pass, took a few handoffs on some Jet Sweep plays, returned punts, and oh ya, recovered an onside kick late in the game. Only thing left to do is play a few snaps on defense!
UNIFORM CHAMP	BLUE SOCKS – What’s up with the socks?? Just when I was starting to get used to the blue socks, adidas decided to treat them like a NASCAR quarter panel! I was OK with the yellow M – understood the historical significance – that was cool. Three stripes? Only on the back side of the sock? If that wasn’t enough, there was piping going down each side! Yes, PIPING!
UFER MAIZE & BLUE FEDORA FAN	U-M HELMET FAN – I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Michigan fan have more UM helmets on his get up than the fan that the BTN showed in the final seconds of the game. He had several helmets on his UM leather coat, and of course he was sporting a U-M helmet toque – PERFECT! Runner-up: The many Michigan “I can’t believe they have beer here” guys. Drink ‘em, stack ‘em and tweet about ‘em:
EDITOR’S PICK	ROY ROUNDTREE. Treezy made it look easy, both on the field and off. He made a few nice grabs and Jon Falk summoned Roy over to be one of the first to take the crock– he earned it: