For recap of the player and Rich Rod press conferences, check out Tim’s rundown on mgoblog. It’s Michigan State and there was clearly a media buzz in the air. About twice as many video cameras were on hand. The press conferences go like this: At just after noon, Rich Rod sits down for about 20 minutes in the back of the Junge Center and answers questions off camera. Then he moves over to the front for a cameras-on presser, usually a little shorter (because everyone’s already asked him 20 minutes of questions!). Then there’s a delay, then media relations brings in players to speak & usually 4-6 guys hit podium one after another. A few shots. Here’s Rich Rod seated at the pre-presser at his seat in "the squared circle": Obi Ezeh was very relaxed and put the defense’s troubles in perspective: Likewise with Kovacs, who had a huge game last year against State: Captain Steve Schilling scored big points with his "Offense" shirt. It reads "SCORE" on the back. Make we can get Underground to print up some "Defense" and "Don’t SCORE" shirts for Obi and crew: Denard eyed the Pizza House pizzas stacked up in the back of the room and nothing was going to stop him from getting there: Update. Speaking of Denard, check out this…
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Forty-Nine More to the Left Column (1939)
Look at this 1939 wire photo of Michigan’s Grand Old Man, Fielding H. “Hurry Up” Yost looking at a team photo of his dominant 1901 squad. Yost is pointing to the great Willie Heston but it’s not clear why: Believe it or not, this isn’t the first time a wire shot has shown up on eBay featuring someone holding a photo of Yost’s dominant 1901 squad. Back in March, I did a short post on a Rose Bowl beauty queen from 1938 holding a large photo of the point-a-minute squad: Here’s one thing I didn’t notice in that March post. In the team pic featured in the wire photo of the beauty queen and in today’s auction with Yost, the writing on the ball held by captain Hugh White reads “550-0”. But in the official team photo (obviously the original) at the Bentley Library page for the ’01 squad, that ball reads “501-0” (right): Back in those days, the team gathered for the team photo after the season, to not only take the picture but also to select the captain of next year’s team. Michigan was undefeated and outscored its opposition by the 501 to nothing margin—at least up to that point. So they snapped the photo but they had one more game to play that year and which was…
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Denard: Please Don’t Loop, Swoop or Pull
I was up in East Lansing for the Wisconsin game but tuned into the radio broadcast and this morning I watched the replay. (I broke down and ordered the expanded sports package on Comcast to get ESPNU). It’s remarkable stuff to watch to be sure and like you, I’m still very worried about what’s going to happen in the next few weeks with this defense. Miscellanea: * I expected it to be close, definitely closer than the spread, but not quite like that. I read this Saturday morning and remember thinking it was silly for Sharp to be so specific in his prediction, but, pretty much: Drew Sharp MICHIGAN 41, INDIANA 38 This is a game that goes down to the last possession. The Hoosiers score a touchdown with less than a minute remaining, but that gives Denard Robinson enough time for another miraculous drive. * Love the MS Paint giant shoe sign: Lon Horwedel – A2.com * After the final pass of the game was broken up, cameras panned over to their obligatory shot of the winning coach. Greg Robinson grabbed Rich Rod to tell him something and it was kind of weird: * The other interesting sideline moment came just minutes earlier, after Taylor Lewan was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct after Denard scored the game-winner. While ESPNU provided…
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AP Poll Week 6: Who Voted for Michigan (and who didn’t)
Sixth week of the poll from the Associated Press. A rundown of where Michigan landed after the squeaker against Indiana. This week, comparing where each voter had Michigan and next week’s opponent, Michigan State (via pollspeak.com): Voter Michigan Michigan State Differential Chip Cosby unranked 12 Jon Wilner unranked 24 Scott Wolf unranked 22 Ray Ratto 8 12 -4 Kyle Ringo 9 12 -3 Craig James 10 11 -1 Keith Sargeant 10 16 -6 Kyle Tucker 10 15 -5 Rob Long 10 11 -1 Randy Rosetta 11 14 -3 Greg Archuleta 12 14 -2 Brett McMurphy 13 12 +1 Joe Giglio 13 18 -5 Dave Foster 14 19 -5 Greg Auman 14 16 -2 Mike Hlas 14 12 +2 Adam Zuvanich 15 17 -2 Bill Cole 15 17 -2 Bob Hammond 15 18 -3 John Werner 15 13 +2 Sal Interdonato 15 16 -1 Tom Keegan 15 14 +1 Cecil Hurt 16 19 -3 Jack Bogaczyk 16 18 -2 John Hunt 16 18 -2 John Niyo 16 12 +4 Jon Solomon 16 15 +1 Kirk Herbstreit 16 18 -2 Kyle Veazey 16 15 +1 Steve Conroy 16 10 +6 Bob Asmussen 17 16 +1 Chadd Cripe 17 16 +1 David Jones 17 20 -3 Doug Lesmerises 17 11 +6 Ferd Lewis 17 18 -1 Manny Navarro 17 18 -1 Robert Cessna…
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This Week in Michigan Football History: Yost, President Coolidge and the 1926 Wolverines
Here’s the next entry in ‘This Week in Michigan Football History’ to be played tomorrow on WTKA 1050AM’s Key Bank Countdown to Kick-off pregame show before the Indiana game. This time we head way back to October 2, 1926, for the season opener in Fielding H. Yost’s final year as head coach, and the last season the Wolverines would play at Ferry Field. You get a little history on Yost, on the state affairs on the construction of the new stadium (it was a mess), and on a special trip out east where Yost and the boys met President Calvin Coolidge. The sponsor is Wolverine Beer so here’s where you can find it, or check out the Beer Wench’s Blog. I’m still waiting to have my first Wolverine beer, perhaps someday soon. You can hear all of the This Week… clips here.
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ESPN to air follow-up piece on Mealer on E:60
(Click the E:60 Elliott box on the right to view the 1 minute clip). This airs on E:60 this coming Tuesday at 7 p.m. Via ESPN: Michigan’s Elliott Mealer On September 4, Brock Mealer led the Wolverines out of the tunnel for the Michigan home opener. The older brother of offensive lineman Elliott Mealer, Brock walked to the middle of the field with the assistance of two canes and touched the banner to start the 2010 season. In that moment, his family was finally healed. The Mealers were on their way to midnight mass when a 90-year-old driver crashed into their sports utility vehicle three years ago on Christmas Eve. The accident took the lives of Brock and Elliott’s father, David Mealer, and Elliott’s girlfriend, Hollis Richer. Elliott tore his shoulder trying to rescue Brock from the wreckage, but his brother was paralyzed in the accident. Doctors told Brock he had a one percent chance of ever walking again. E:60 first profiled Elliott Mealer on October 6, 2009, after he came back from his shoulder injury and made his college football debut wearing the number 57, in honor of the year his father was born. A year later, the focus is on Elliott’s brother Brock, who spent the last year working out with Michigan’s strength and conditioning coaches trying to…
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Happy Birthday Big House – October 1, 1927
From Hail to the Victors 2010: Ohio Wesleyan was the team selected for the first game in Michigan Stadium. This was no random act. Yost started his coaching career at the tiny school back in 1897; coincidentally he faced Michigan that season. Only able to muster ten men for that trip to Ann Arbor, Yost himself was permitted to fill in at left tackle. Somehow Wesleyan managed to hold Michigan scoreless and the game ended in a 0-0 deadlock. We are remarkably fortunate to have someone around town who actually witnessed the first game in the freshly minted stadium. Red Simmons, the inaugural U-M women’s track coach, turned 100 in January 2010 and casually mentioned to me in an unrelated interview that he went to the game with a couple of his high school classmates. I phoned Simmons early this year to talk about the experience. “Three of us came from Redford High School,” Simmons recalled. “We didn’t have tickets but they didn’t have barbed wire over the fence. When we saw that the usher inside was busy doing work, we said ‘Go!’ , and climbed over the fence.” Simmons didn’t know that, according to The Big House, the athletic department offered free admission to Michigan high school students for the game! Once inside, Simmons’s and his pals didn’t have…
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Injury Report – Indiana
via Media relations: University of Michigan Football Injury Report vs. Indiana, Oct. 2, 2010 OUT (0% PLAY) Jones, Mike Leg Shaw, Michael Knee Toussaint, Fitzgerald Shoulder Van Slyke, Jared Clavicle Williams, Mike Head Woolfolk, Troy Ankle QUESTIONABLE (50% PLAY) Ferrara, John Hand PROBABLE (75% PLAY) Herron, Brandon Ankle Johnson, Carvin Knee Robinson, Denard Knee
