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…
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Foiling the Spartan Pranksters (1949)
[Update: Audio from This Week in Michigan Football history, discussing the ‘49 Spartan antics] Heading into 1949 season, Michigan was the two-time defending national champion and was riding a Yost-like 23-game winning streak. First in their way in the quest for the third championship in a row was Michigan State College who were still a few years away from admission to the conference. This won’t shock anyone in Ann Arbor, but before that game played 62 years ago this Saturday, a group of MSC fans came to town ready to stir things up. They had mixed results. One group succeeded in sneaking into Michigan Stadium and used white paint to insert the initials ‘MSC’ in six-foot block letters at midfield. They took the rest of the paint to deface the press box windows and give other parts of the stadium a white wash. Another group, apparently a crew of sixteen future leaders of men, set out to deliver a more complex prank. They actually carefully designed and built a structure that would seal off the iconic Engineering Arch on campus (left). They constructed a wooden frame and created 60 cement blocks that when pieced together, would shut down the Arch. They actually rehearsed the prank and, according to reports, apparently could complete the stunt within seven minutes. But shockingly, they…
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The Clans React to John U. Bacon’s Three and Out
I just finished John U. Bacon’s Three and Out and I need to talk to somebody. For a while. Same thing will happen to you. If you landed on this page, I don’t need to suggest you buy this book—you probably already bought it or certainly plan to. You really don’t have a choice now, do you? (It drops October 25 – get it now on Amazon). This isn’t a full review. I was lucky enough to receive a beta version of the book and its content is subject to be tweaked, added or removed. But I can offer a few thoughts. For starters, I’ll note that it’s painful enough to relive the past three seasons just from memory. Now try it in 3D and HD, complete with unreleased scenes, quotes and outtakes. And did I mention cockroaches? I give credit to Bacon for writing this—no one held a gun to his head to do it—and he surely knew he’d be ruffling a feather or two twenty by putting this out there. As Brian mentioned, everyone seems to be upset about the book. Most people will be talking about Lloyd Carr, who is charged with conduct unbecoming a Michigan Man yet, it is strongly noted, didn’t speak to Bacon for this book so in several cases we rely on the perspective…
