Updated: Analysis on 11/1/09 This would be much more fun if Michigan were represented anywhere on any one of the ballots of the 60 Associated Press college football pollsters for 2009, but here’s some data nonetheless. After reviewing each of the voters’ rankings here’s a few things that stuck out: Top Slots: With the exception of one voter, all of the writers have Florida, Alabama or Texas in their top three.  Jon Wilner on the San Jose Mercury News slotted the Longhorns #4 (and USC second). Trojans: Speaking of USC, they don’t have the widest standard deviation in the poll but it’s close.   Wilner’s #2 is the highest slot for Pete Carroll’s crew, with lowest going to Jay Tate of the Montgomery (AL) Advertiser who’s got the Trojans at #11. Closer to home: Hawkeyes: Those who follow Brian Cook’s BlogPoll might know that Brian mgo-Tim himself slotted the Hawkeyes #2 this week.  Six have Iowa the highest at #4 while two of the biggest haters come from just up the road: Eric Hansen of the South Bend Tribune has them #12, and Pete DiPrimio of the Ft. Wayne (IN) News-Sentinel #11.  Here’s how everyone else voted for Iowa in Week 9. Penn State: Craig James was one of the first to show Michigan some love earlier this season, and this…

In the latest edition of the U-M’s School of Literature, Science and Arts Magazine, John U. Bacon wrote a very cool piece looking into the great traditions around Michigan football.  I even contributed a few quotes to the section on the Little Brown Jug.  LSA graduates should already have their glossy copy at home. Included is some pretty cool history talking about the history of the famed ‘M Club’ banner, check it out: from LS&A Magazine, Fall ‘09 (John U. Bacon) One other line from Bacon I loved.  While recapping the origins of The Victors, Bacs drops this great line: One overlooked aspect of “The Victors” separates it from all others: While other schools’ songs urge their teams to make a great effort in the hopes of winning, “The Victors” celebrates a crucial contest already won. Very cool. 

  A dude inside the excellent Bud Light Victors Lounge prior to the Western Michigan tilt donned a “I <Heart> Boubs” t-shirt.  He was the beau of the ball, I can assure you.  I hearted Boubs as well.  Sad to hear about this, mostly for #33 himself who wasted a great opportunity.

Legendary Detroit sports radio caller Linda from Grand Blanc dialed up Mark Copeland and Brian Cook on WTKA 1050AM this evening and summed up Saturday: [display_podcast] . All the podcasts from this afternoon here.

The latest MVictors Power Index:   Interesting, the Buckeyes move back up to share the top spot with the Hawkeyes, with the Nittany Lions lurking.  Michigan understandably took the biggest drop, not losing their 7th slot but sadly moving well into the third tier of this group. Comments from the pollsters: Gilliam the Badger:  Bucky was on a bye, so I’ll let Biggie the Spartan try to talk himself into the value of a well played L. ;^) Biggie the Spartan:  I thought the Iowa game would go down to the wire and it sure as hell did.  I thought State would miss Winston at some point and they did this game when they had to run Baker twice with a 1st and goal from the 1 near the end of the third quarter.  Forget about a Big 10 title, Sparty has to win 3 of the next 4 to have a shot at a decent bowl game or they could be looking at a rematch with CMU in the Little Caesars Bowl at Ford Field…nerves. Schlimmy the Buckeye:  I’m still not convinced Iowa is a legit top 5 team, give them credit for finding a way every week to pull off the "W" but I would say six of their eight wins have came down to the final minutes,…

I got an email from Mike over at the jiMpossible and SarcasMike blog last week, showing me the work they’ve done on this.  Pretty funny stuff. The concept is simple: starting with the first college football game played between Rutgers and Princeton in 1869, what if the winner of that game won a mythical trophy that they held until they lost, passing the trophy to the team that defeated them, and so on?  Could this chain be tracked all the way to today?  Mike has taken on the task and just posted the latest version of the chain (he’s working on a few clarifications in the 1920s and 1930s). In the current revision, Michigan has held the mythical trophy eight times over history, the last time being in 2003 when they eventually surrendered it to Southern Cal in the 2004 Rose Bowl. And the current “trophy holder”?  The Florida Gators. Here’s a snapshot of what it looks like:

Pretty miserable day out there as Michigan was manhandled by the Lions.  I knew it was trouble at 10-7, Clark was making great decisions and always seemed to find a mismatch in our secondary. Hats off to Penn State for giving some of what Michigan has delivered to the Lions much of the past thirteen years—a physical beat down. The best part of the first four games, beyond the record of course, was that they were a complete validation of Rodriguez.  He used the players he had in creative ways, he was winning with his system, and he showed what could happen with even a glimmer of the right quarterback.   Atop that, his success seemed to validate the idea of bringing in a guy like RR to shake things up in the fading conference. The next third of the season has obviously raised old questions about what we’re dealing with here.  The Michigan State and Iowa losses were understandable.  What you didn’t want to see was a clear regression and that’s what you got Saturday.  Beaten in every phase by team that was manhandled themselves, at least in the second half, by Iowa.  Injuries, turnovers, and drops are all important but beyond that, if you thought it looked like last season it’s because it did. The upside?  All signs show…