Via U-M Media Relations. Needless to say I’m real excited they slotted Michigan and Minnesota together to preserve the Little Brown Jug rivalry, and more importantly, they stopped the overthink on the Ohio State-Michigan timing. Great stuff. Michigan Announces 2011 and 2012 Conference Football Schedules CHICAGO, Ill. – The Big Ten Conference office announced tonight (Sept. 1) the football division alignments and conference schedules for the 2011 and 2012 seasons. The announcement was made during a live Big Ten Network special at 7 p.m. EDT. The University of Michigan will compete in a division that features Iowa, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska and Northwestern. The other division consists of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue and Wisconsin. Each school will play the five institutions within its division and will face three teams from the other division, including one cross-division matchup guaranteed on an annual basis. Michigan’s protected cross-divisional rival is Ohio State. “The Game,” regarded as college football’s greatest rivalry, will continue to be played as the final contest of the regular season. The winner of each Big Ten division will meet in the inaugural Big Ten Football Championship Game, to be played at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Ind., on Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011. The championship game will determine the Big Ten champion and the conference’s participant in the…
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UConn Pregame Festivities—What to Look For
I had a chance to talk to a few folks at Media Relations about Saturday’s pregame activities. It’s suggested you get into your seat at least 20-25 minutes prior to kick-off to be safe. It won’t be a drawn-out process as there’s a TV schedule and of course a football game to be played. Here’s what you can expect (bulleted by design, specific order not certain): Video piece on the Stadium project Video piece on Brock Mealer Ribbon cutting (with Bill Martin, Dave Brandon, the Regents) Brock Mealer will lead the team out, walk under the banner. The team will follow. Looks like two flyovers (sounds like MGoShoe has it right.) TBD – but possibly some type of pyrotechnics(!)? There will also be set video pieces throughout the game In and around the concourses there are a few new items (I’m not sure how much of this was in place for Fan Day): The Michigan Stadium ‘Art Deco’ lettering is now on the east side of the stadium, and Bruce Madej encouraged folks to check that out along with the goings on around the rest of the concourses. He wasn’t sure if the other lettering set was going to put on the west side. There is also new permanent artwork in the concourse areas "honoring teams and award winners." Other…
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eBay Watch: Bid on Michigan Media Avalanche, Cure Cancer
Thanks to a tip from loyal reader James Joseph, check out this pile of Michigan and college-football related material (programs, media guides, books and more) currently up for bid on eBay. Better yet—the proceeds from the auction go directly to support the Cancer Kicker himself—the great Phil Brabbs. Editorial: Dude, I know it’s to cure cancer, but selling your copies of Natural Enemies and Bo’s Lasting Lessons? Those books are sacred! Here’s the full lot of items:
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Mud Bowl Moved to November 6
Per a source at SAE, due to a student break during Homecoming (October 16), the annual Mud Bowl game will be played November 6. Bummer. Not only is it three weeks later (and colder), this game should be played on Homecoming weekend. Related: SAE Mud Bowl 2009: Recap & Photos Kids Having Fun: Mud Bowls and Protests
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Desmond joins Sklar Brothers on Rome (08-27 audio)
’94 Michigan grads Randy and Jason Sklar guest-hosted Jim Rome’s radio show Friday and as they do, brought a little Michigan feel to the show. In the second hour they were joined by Desmond: [display_podcast] They discussed the timing of the Ohio State-Michigan game, the BCS in general, Reggie Bush giving his Heisman Trophy back and NCAA violations, on the upcoming season, his sleeper team in the Big Ten (Wisconsin), and the outlook for Michigan and Rich Rodriquez (needs 8 or 9 wins, or seven with Ohio State), "no doubt in my mind they will score points." Howard also joked about Bill Martin disappearing earlier than originally expected. Love the outro music.
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"Mr. Brandon Expects to be Fully Compensated"
I got a chuckle out of this, from WTKA 1050AM yesterday. Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports is apparently an old friend of AnnArbor.com’s Mike Rothstein. When word got out that Rothstein dinged the luxury sled belonging to new athletic director Dave Brandon, Passan pounced on his old pal: [display_podcast] I hope Passan dropped something like, “Mr. Rothstein, you do know that Mr. Brandon is a very powerful man, right?”
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Beanie Bowl Media
Michigan held its ‘Beanie Bowl’, a full team scrimmage in the Big House including band, PA announcer and the whole deal. A few videos released: Stonum took the opening kick-off back. Good and bad I guess, right? Line drive kick, taken at the 10 and no one touched him: Also (via a tweet from Victors_Valiant), here’s Frank Beckmann talking on the Huge Show during the scrimmage, you can hear the PA announcer and the band in the background. Frank "Blue Skies" Beckmann.
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eBay Watch: Hand Him the Hustler Award (1990+)
While Wolverine fans tend to toss any great individual performance that occurred during a loss in the circular file, there are a few that stand out. One of those is tailback Jon Vaughn’s 201-yard rushing performance in Gary Moeller’s coaching debut, a thrilling 28-24 loss in South Bend in 1990. Thanks to eBay, we now also know that Vaughn had a little more than game film and the occasional ache/pain to remember that great effort. Evidently Vaughn was the game’s ‘Offensive Hustler’: Yes, apparently Coach Mo not only dealt out helmet stickers, he also handed out Little League second place trophies for individual efforts. Per the auction description: Very rare one of a kind John [sic] Vaughn offensive hustler award for the game on sep 15 1990 vs the notre dame fighting irish. The trophy stand approx 14 inches high. The trophy does have some wear in areas. Please note that this trophy does not specifically mention his name. However i just recently purchased a memoribilia [sic] grouping from John [sic] Vaughn. Vaughn earned more prestigious honors at the end of the season, particular co-Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year. Against Moeller’s advice, Vaughn bolted to the NFL after the season and had a short career in the bigs. Other Hustlers eBay Here’s a couple other guys who deserved…