Full official press release, via U-M Media Relations. [Comment: What. A. Schedule. Oh crap let’s get better soon.] U-M to Open 2012 Season vs. Alabama at Cowboys Stadium DALLAS, Texas — The University of Michigan football team will face the University Alabama in the 2012 College Football Kick-off Event at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Sept. 1, 2012. The game will be televised nationally in primetime. “This is a great way to kickoff the 2012 season with two of the nation’s winningest college football programs,” said Athletic Director Dave Brandon. “We are excited about playing a regular season game in the state of Texas, a region of the country where we have traditionally recruited. Our goal is to get as many Michigan fans to the game as possible to witness this match-up of traditional powers.” The Wolverines will be the away team with the Crimson Tide designated the home team. The game officials will be a crew from the Big 12 Conference. This will be the fourth time that Michigan faces Alabama in school history, and the first contest played during the regular season by the two programs. All three previous games between the Wolverines and Crimson Tide were played in bowl games. Michigan defeated Alabama by a 28-24 score in the initial meeting, the 1988 Hall of Fame…
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Bowl Representation
I know this is a news flash to no one, but if Michigan gets past Iowa Saturday, we’ll have qualified for the first bowl game since the epic 2008 Capital One Bowl. Current bowl projections: CBS Sports – Gator Bowl – vs. Georgia Scout/CFN – Gator Bowl vs. Mississippi St. ESPN (Schlabach) – Capital One Bowl – vs. Florida ESPN (Adelsen) – Gator Bowl vs. LSU Between us girls, I’d take any of those scenarios right now if you’re offering. Speaking of offering, the folks that actually dole out the invites to the postseason games are the bowl representatives. They have a special place in my heart because besides keeping the companies that produce single-toned blazers in business, at each home game the bowl reps sit in the row just behind me in the press box. I always make it priority to check in and say hi. It’s got to be a great job. On Friday nights media relations takes these guys out to dinner and often they get a tour of the stadium and all that good stuff. Last week I met Clay, great guy and a rep from the Gator Bowl, which renews its affiliation with the Big Ten this post season. He’s the first one to distribute some literature to the media and I’m guessing I’m one…
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We’re Getting Pink Saturday
No doubt you’ve seen NFL teams donning various forms of pink gear over the past couple weeks in support of Breast Cancer Awareness month. I confirmed with U-M Media Relations that Michigan will be joining them on Saturday, as coaches will be wearing sideline polos and hats laced with pink along with the breast cancer ribbon logo. (Hat tip to Craig Barker for alerting me to some sightings of pink M gear in town a few weeks back.) As I understand it, the shirts will be white with a pink ‘M’ logo. As far as the hat, my contact at the PR firm representing adidas sent this over and I believe this is it or close. Based on what I heard media relations, the ‘M’ logo on the hats might be pink for the game: Limited quantities of the pink gear will be available a M-Den stores and at the game. More details to come. For those attending Roger Waters’ performance of ‘The Wall’ at the Palace on October 24th, grab this gear so you can represent your Wolverines and blend in nicely with the crowd. I’m sure the Hawkeyes will appreciate Rich Rod and crew embracing the cause. For decades they’ve been pushing for teams visiting Kinnick Stadium to get into the pink:
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Coach Robinson’s Championship Ring (1990)
It looks like another Michigan championship ring up for auction, this time a 1990 Big Ten Championship Ring. Here’s a look: A few notes: Like most of these rings it’s 10K gold. It appears as though the stone is maize colored, the first time I can recalled seeing that. Reads “Big Ten Champions” around the stone. One side reads “Count On Me” which I take to be the team slogan that season, along with the score 35-3 below an alligator. That of course is a nod to the 1991 Gator Bowl when Gary Moeller’s men crushed Mississippi (Wolverine Historian YouTube). That’s the game the entire Michigan offensive line (Dean Dingman, Tom Dohring, Greg Skrepenak, Matt Elliott, Steve Everitt) was named the MVPs of the game. Steve Everitt told the Ole Miss guy across him, “YOU LIKE THAT, HUH??” a record 17 times that day. The other side features the player/coach name, a depiction of the Big House and their position/role on the team. This one belonged to a coach named “Robinson”. There wasn’t a major position coach on the team with that surname but the team photo does reveal a David Robinson, fourth from the right in the seventh row, probably supporting S&C or another group: So…this probably was this man’s ring. Having featured a bunch of rings on this…
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Welcome to Missourah
Before the season most expected Michigan to lose four to six games (me) this year so sitting at 5-1 at this point shouldn’t be shock. But when drilling down at each game, losses vs. UConn or Notre Dame or even at Indiana were stomachable. But if you insisted during preseason that one of those losses would be to MSU you’d get a little cringe from anyone, definitely from me. That hurt. Monday I wrote, "you could argue that the future of Michigan football is in the balance" on Saturday’s game. That was admittedly a tad strong but given the manner of the result, the scales just tilted against the future of Rich Rod in Ann Arbor. There’s plenty of opportunity, starting Saturday, to tip things back. This morning you’ve got a fanbase of M fans, as in Missourah, as in ‘show me’ this team can hang in the Big Ten. Sights and Sounds Check out my pregame photos here. I’ve been trying to post these just as the game starts so if you like this kind of thing, head here early in the first quarter during home games if you want to check them out. Includes former captains Mark Messner, Jim Conley, Denard and more. One of those pregame shots included the Screaming Eagle parachute drop which I think is…
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That’s Just Not Cool Man
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Michigan State (Pregame – Photos)
I’ll post a few here, my favorite first: The legend Mark Messner no doubt recalling his epic battles with Tony Mandarich, here with his two sons before the game: 1964 team captain Jim Conley says ‘Hail!’ Off topic, it was an incredible day there for tailgating. Here two wild and crazy guys lost their football in the 18th hole pond and took an unprecedented means to retrieve it: The Screaming Eagle dropped in pregame:
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Pregame with Hondo (audio)
On air with Hondo Carpenter of the prolific Spartan Nation this evening. Of course talked a bit on the big game, the fan hype, how much this means to Michigan and of course, about #16. Here’s the audio: [display_podcast] . As I told Hondo, I give Michigan the edge but I could see it going either way. Related: Monday with Hondo (audio from earlier this week)
