Following the wrap up of the Big Ten season, week 14 of the Power Index.  Notre Dame has some work to do but I’m not sure the USC game will change many views of the struggling Irish. Looking back at the preseason release of the Index, the biggest drop by far belongs of course to preseason #4 Michigan who finish barely in the 10th slot. Teams that exceeded the expectations of the pollsters include the Spartans (from #6 to #3), Minnesota (from #12 to #8) and the team that had some many issues in the off-season but finished pretty strong, Iowa (from #9 to #4). Here’s the final regular season index, we’ll do another after the bowls and perhaps a pre-2009 Index sometime in January. I’m looking for a Notre Dame backer to replace our fallen Shep if you’re interested, drop me a note. Don’t miss the great banter below. Gilliam the Badger “Michigan State’s offensive line looked like they ate a full Thanksgiving dinner before taking the field against Penn State. Stuffed. Wisconsin escaped their Appalachian State because Cal-Poly’s kicker missed 3 PATs. Pardoned. Michigan sets their all-time record with 8 [Ed: actually nine :(] losses, and loses to Michigan State, Notre Dame, and Ohio State in the same season for only the second time in history. Rich Rod…

With Drew Stanton out with a concussion and Dan Orlovsky out with a broken thumb, your likely #2 quarterback on Thanksgiving will be Brighton High School’s finest, Super Drew Henson. Free Press has more. As the Freep recalls, Henson’s only NFL start came for the Cowboys four years ago on Thanksgiving Day.

Dantonio: "Embarrassing out here? You know, I play the game, we coach the game. You know, you do this long enough you're going to have days like this. So, as I said before embarrassing would have been 3-9 coming into this game."

Two weeks ago a talented West Virginia football fan launched his masterpiece titled Rich’s Ass on YouTube. Over four thousand views later, Rick Heim has become a bit of a local icon and his tune has been spun on news and radio stations. The cleverly worded anthem, which also features Heim on acoustic guitar, sums up the betrayal the Mountaineer faithful feel in their hearts since Rich Rodriguez up and bolted for Ann Arbor. Verse after verse in Ass, Heim draws back, takes dead aim and ultimately lands a handful of metaphorical arrows squarely in Rich Rod’s kiester. As expected Wolverine fans didn’t take kindly to Heim making a mockery of their new coach. While there’s an underlying appreciation of his subtle genius, Michigan backers were none too happy calling Heim everything from “retard” to “numbnuts”. The singer/songwriter was kind enough to answer a few questions about his inspiration, clean coal, his new celebrity status around Morgantown, and much more: MVictors: While the source of your passion is clear, what ultimately inspired you to produce this piece? Heim: Women! Just to pick up women. (Just kidding). While Rich’s leaving our program seems to be the focus of many of your viewers as well as many around the country, it’s really about how he left. The year before you guys lured…

Photo: Detroit News, post Wisconsin game Audio: The Dubliners performing folk ballad, “The Leaving of Liverpool” .

Here we are, just a few hours from kick-off from the Big One. Any rational Michigan fan is pessimistic about the ultimate outcome today but no bother. My hopes for today are simple: Make big collisions on defense and finish tackles. Play their wideouts aggressive and wrap up Pryor. On offense, make the plays during the few times they are there, make catches, hold onto the ball. Most of all, just go hard from the start and don’t let up until the whistle. Go Blue!