Since I’ve pounded the rugby punt thing to a pulp, a few more notes and observations from Saturday from my cherry seats on the 45 yard line. “Get Yer Programs, losers” – This guy was schlepping game programs in Spartan Stadium right in the heart of the MSU elite.  Yes, where the likes of Tom Izzos of the world sit, check out his gear: On the 2:  Great discussion on when to go for two in these comeback situation on mgoblog- check it out.   The net?  Percentages yield that Michigan should have looked for the deuce after Stonum’s score.  As Brian pointed out on WTKA on Monday, I think coaches know the fans would crucify them if this strategy failed so me and my fellow nerds will need a few brave souls to try this before it becomes a fan-friendly strategy.  Funny – I see that Dantonio was down 21 to Wisconsin and went for two after their first comeback score but missed it.  Per my MSU insider, he didn’t have a logical explanation for this at the presser.  And showing that he probably wasn’t aware of the strategy, State kicked an extra point when they cut the lead to 9 on their next, very late, touchdown. As far as these strategies, the percentages are great (a 44% chance!!) but…

Audio from the Monday press conference, Rich Rodriguez discussing the fake punt from Saturday: [display_podcast] Hate to beat this to death, but hearing Rodriguez go through this Monday didn’t make me feel any better.  Rodriguez confirmed he called the roll punt and that it was an option, and there is a call where they simply roll out and punt (with no option to try to run for the first down): Normally when we roll punt it’s just a true roll punt, it’s not a read like it was in the game. Just to be clear, this isn’t a revelation to me—it’s just that I’ve heard some folks speculate that the coaches never called for an option.  Not true. You’ll rarely see me argue play calling on these pages but I’m obviously struggling with this one.  I understand the reasons to try to the roll out punt (even a little better now after hearing RR talk about it) but I don’t understand including the option in this case.  Rodriguez’s system is heavily based on reads but to do this for the first time this season, in the shadows of the goalpost, in the third quarter of a tight game, on your first game on the road, in East Lansing…I don’t get it.   But whatever, it’s done and we move on. But…

I understand one of the most sought-after classes for undergrads at U-M is John U. Bacon’s sports journalism class.   Surely that is in part due to the course materials (you mean there’s a class about sports?) and in part due to Bacon himself, recipient of last year’s Golden Apple Award.   Last fall I had the pleasure of visiting the class along with Brian Cook of mgoblog to talk a little bit about blogging. I’m guessing a few folks in the 1920s lined up for this class. The next edition of eBay Watch takes a look at a notebook from a lecture on football apparently taught by Fielding Yost himself in the summer of 1925.  I don’t know if it was a University-sponsored class or just a clinic-like course open to coaches and the like. Here’s the only photo from inside the notebook showing some of the knowledge dropped by ol’ Yost. Looks like a strategy on crushing the weak side with a jailbreak of blockers: The book also contains notes from lectures in 1926 by Milton Orlander (an assistant under Robert Zuppke at the University of Illinois), and Gilmore Dobie of Cornell University.  The lucky chap who took these detailed notes?  The seller isn’t sure – perhaps closer inspection will reveal that. The auction of the notebook ends October 6…

Hogie It was very nice to take in a couple of periods back at Yost earlier this evening.  Red and crew took care of the University of Windsor 6-2 in the exhibition.  The official attendance is listed at just under 6,000 but the old arena was about 2/3 empty. The action got a little chippy as the teams tallied 14 penalties including a 10-minute misconduct at the end of the second period for the Windsor goalie.  I left early & listened to the WKTA radio coverage for the third period, and captain Chris Summers was interviewed during the action.  Interesting–he talked about some challenges last season serving most the season as team captain as a junior, hinting that there may have been some issues between he and the seniors.  He stressed that this squad is more of a unified team. While we won’t have player interviews during the game action this season, the radio team did note that they’ve set up a microphone in the locker room and will talk to Summers in between periods. Ed. 10/5:  Speaking of getting back to Yost, lifelong diehard Michigan fan Steve Sapardanis was in the stands.  He actually skated against his beloved Wolverines back in 1982 as a freshman netminder for Windsor – the first game of his career at Windsor!  He was…

I know a lot of Michigan fans really aren’t comfortable unless they’re miserable.  For you, Spartan sights and sounds from Saturday:  Mark Dantonio walks to the stadium with the team with lucky briefcase in tow The brothers Duckett, TJ left next to older brother Tico.  These guys were on the winning side of two brutal MSU wins – Spartan Bob (T.J.), Desmond endzone mauling (Tico)   Horrible bathrooms situation made worse by people doing this   Coach Izzo took the field to hand out rings to the 2008-09 hoops team   Big Ten champs on the face, Final Four on the side    Sparty takes a knee and flexes his enormous pipes  Hoisting the little brown Bunyan post game Elsewhere– Writer/historian John Kryk (author of Natural Enemies) cleared up the history behind the shift in schedule with MSU in 1968—see his response here.

photo credit : my dad Me back on 9/20: Punt option:  This prompted a rare in-game post, but I’d love to see Rodriguez consider dropping in the punt roll-out option with Mesko once again especially on those fourth and short situations.  I hated that thing at first but with Zoltan back there handling it I’m completely comfortable after watching how it was employed last season. Eh. Maybe not so great of an idea with when you’re in the shadow of the goalposts.  I haven’t seen all the explanation here but I assume the coaches called the option (really bad idea – and yes, they did) and Mesko made the read to run it (bad idea). I love the band member on the left.  Mesko hasn’t even taken three steps and he’s looking down the sideline to give Rodriguez the stink eye. This dude is the most relaxed man I’ve ever seen.  Baby blue jacket, turtleneck, pinkie ring, legs-crossed.   He’s just taking in a great college football game on a wonderful autumn day in East Lansing.  No emotional investment whatsoever—I envy this man: Related: Rodriguez on the Rugby punt (audio from Monday)

Something caused a big shift in the Vegas spread last night after 5pm, with the line jumping as many as 6 points toward the Spartans.  The current odds have MSU giving 3.5 to the Blue for tomorrow’s tilt: USA Today posts the shifts in the line here, and it looks like it started last night with one site moving the line to –3.5 at 5:53pm at most the rest moving the same way minutes later.   Hmmm… The totals also dropped 3 points at this time from an aggregate of 57 down to 54.

While researching my brief post on the 1964 team I noticed that Michigan played both Michigan State and Ohio State on the road that season, unlike today or any other time that I could recall in my lifetime.  Looking at the Bentley Library season by season summaries, the shift happened in 1968 when Michigan scheduled Michigan State for a second straight home game that season (see back-to-back ticket stubs to the left). Does anyone know the circumstances behind the shift?  I asked Bruce Madej and Craig Ross and they weren’t sure.   It’s easy to understand why Michigan would want such a change. The Buckeyes and Spartans were very powerful at the time, and it probably was a headache for the coaches to face them twice on the road every other year.  As far as ticket sales (keep in mind the Big House had plenty available back then), having to go every other year without seeing Michigan’s rivals probably was tough on season ticket sales. Update 10/4:  Thanks to writer/historian John Kryk, author of the awesome Natural Enemies, for a thorough explanation: It wasn’t until the late 1950s that the Big Ten mandated that teams had to play home-and-homes with other conference teams, if that’s what the other conference teams wanted. But either right away or eventually, if both teams agreed,…