• Jug Deal: Win One, Get two Free

    November 7, 2008 /

    The original Little Brown (White?) Jug, from Historic Michigan Football Photos. HT: Caught this nugget on Sam Webb’s show this morning and it really hurts. The winner of Saturday’s battle will keep the Little Brown Jug for not only a year, but until November 5, 2011 (!). Bollocks! Yes, due to the way the schedule shakes out the Wolverines and Gophers don’t meet for another three years. Thankfully that game is in Ann Arbor (kick-off time hasn’t been determined quite yet). That’s our jug! As Lloyd Carr reminded everyone last year, we bought it, they stole it. It’s ours–let’s keep it. Should we fail, it’ll be the longest stint that the jug’s been in Minnesota since a four year stretch from 1960 until Michigan won it back in 1964. Previous to that, Minnesota’s great Bennie Bierman-led Depression era teams held the receptacle from 1934-1942.

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  • Braylon’s Bad Bet

    November 7, 2008 /

    Recall that earlier this year former Michigan WR Braylon Edwards made a friendly wager with his workout pal Michael Phelps: JUNE 26 – ANN ARBOR, MICH. …Edwards was sure this was taking his fitness to another level. So he and Phelps made a friendly wager. “For every gold you win in Beijing,” Edwards told the Olympian, “I’ve got to score two touchdowns this year.” ——— AUGUST 16 – BEREA …Phelps called Edwards from Beijing soon after he won his final gold medal and reminded him of their bet. “I got eight,” Phelps said, “so that means you’ve got to get 16 touchdowns this year.” “News flash,” Edwards said. “I did that last year. I’ll give you 17.” News flash, it’s not looking so good for Bray. His mere three touchdown catches this season with seven games remaining mean Edwards better put up a truly Phelpsian performance and haul in a couple per game from new quarterback Brady Quinn. If last night was any indication, it’s not looking to good. Quinn and Edwards hooked up just once for fifteen yards.

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  • Index is no Joke

    November 7, 2008 /

    A comment on the current Power Index from reader ‘M Fan’: You’re joking, right? Your “power index” has Michigan ranked ahead of Purdue? By what logic??? I suspected this all along, but obviously, this index is idiotic. Response: Nope, this isn’t a joke this is very serious. The Big Ten has approached me* about using the Index to determine the order of bowl selections after the Rose. Read ‘How it Works’ and note a few things to understand: A team that is .7 of a point ahead of another team isn’t really “ranked” ahead of the other. Statistically it is insignificant.  Both teams equally blow. M Fan’s implied argument is that Purdue beat Michigan last week, therefore how on earth could Michigan be slotted higher than Purdue? This isn’t the AP poll. The index asks the pollsters to rate each team in the index against each other each week as if they were going to meet on a neutral field. If you came away from that game Saturday thinking that Purdue was clearly the superior team, that’s fine, but that’s not what the guys in the index saw. Most, including me, believe a game on a neutral field would be a toss-up. (At least today). Finally, I still get notes/comments suggesting that this is a clearly Michigan-biased poll, which might…

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  • Power Index Week 10

    November 5, 2008 /

    The index pretty much held this week with the exception of the Irish and Northwestern switching slots after Notre Dame’s tough loss to Pittsburgh. Michigan State had a great win over Wisconsin who’s leadership has to be questioned after they way they handled the closing moments of that game. Here’s the index: Comments from the pollsters: Gilliam the Badger “Well, Texas Tech beat Texas, and leapfrogged PSU, on their bye week. So…does Penn State have a chance to get back into the BCS title game? Someone tell me. Michigan State couldn’t stop PJ Hill or John Clay, but a series of bad mistakes and inability to finish games puts the talented Badgers in last place. That last one was frustrating. Probably about as frustrating as throwing a pick-six with :12 left to Northwestern. At home. On homecoming. That’s all I know. This is my worst season as a Badger since 1989!” Lew, the Hoosier“Good win for Sparty, but what in the world was Bielema thinking calling a timeout to let Sparty settle its field goal unit for the game winner? It’s tough being a Michigan fan this year, but it’s gotta be tougher being a Badger fan. And speaking of M fans, good to see the majority of you are on board (at least with Coach Rod) based on the…

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  • We’re Still #1* (and why the defense is really disturbing)

    November 4, 2008 /

    Yes, nearly solely due to the remarkable season of punter Zoltan Mesko, Michigan remains atop the nation in net punting this week. You may have noticed that Mesko was listed as a semi-finalist for the Ray Guy Award last week and I think this is a bigger factor than his punting average, although he’s still solid in that category at #7 in the land with an average of just over 45 yards/punt. Michigan should be pretty good at covering punts because they’ve covered almost more than anyone in the country. In 2008, Michigan’s 61 punts are more than just 3 other teams (Auburn, Washington State, and Wyoming, all with 63) and we’ve punted for more yards (2705) than easily anyone else. Factoid: It’s about 2705 yards from the Big House to the Ann Arbor-Saline Road exit on I-94. So what does this mean?* We’ve got a great punter* We’ve done a decent job covering these great punts* As mentioned, we punt a lot therefore we’re getting good at it.* A lot of our drives stop deep in our own side of the field, therefore we don’t have a lot of punts that serve to pin the opponent back. Mesko is getting his full leg into most punts.* While we’re tops in covering punts we’re still #96 in the country in…

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