So what’s the limit of Rich Rod’s “free pass”? From the text’s and notes I got on vacation it’s clear that for many of you there’s a line and the Toledo loss may have crossed it. I still haven’t watched the game but looked over the press, the stats, etc., and really there’s no excuse for that. In his road show to meet alums around the country, Rodriguez urged fans to ‘fly in formation’, that is, like a flock of geese supporting each each other as they moved ahead. If someone strays from the pack, Rodriguez said we’ll try to save them but at some point you’ve got to rejoin the main group and leave the stray to perish. I can’t blame a lot of folks from peeling off after Saturday. To me, beyond players behaving really poorly on and off the field (they’re not) and perhaps the team being disorganized and sloppy in games (they’re not), he gets a free pass from me. Said another way, I’m not drawing any conclusions about Rodriguez or his future in Ann Arbor on this season. Even if they drop the rest of the games this season. But even the most laid back ‘let-Rich-Rod-get-his-players’ drum beaters must have not seen it going like this. From the conditioning, to coaching, to allowing time for…

Is a Big Ten-affiliated bowl allowed to select a 6-6 Big Ten team over a 7-5 team? For example, if Michigan were 6-6 and Northwestern were 7-5, and all the other bowl spots were taken, could the Motor City take a .500 Michigan team over a Northwestern team with a winning record?

…to miss a game.

I’m in Orlando for a few days on vacation, posts will be light for a little bit. You can’t escape Michigan football though. On my way to grab some groceries I picked up WQAM and listened to former Michigan All-American Jim Mandich who goes by ‘Mad Dog’. (As an aside, Mandich, a former Dolphin, referred to former Dolphins coach Nick Saban as “a giant piece of turd”). I had a Michigan shirt on and while checking out, the cashier asked me how I liked Ann Arbor because he was applying to graduate school. I told him it was a nice town, blah, blah, blah, but then I heard a guy behind me ask, “Did you pay for that shirt?”. It was the dude bagging groceries in the next aisle who was flashing his Buckeye key chain.

The huge gap that Ohio State held in the preseason poll was gradually slipping away all season, and finally this week the pollsters had enough. The tight win over Wisconsin wasn’t good enough and Penn State takes over the top spot. Perhaps Penn State’s handling of Juice Williams and Illinois means a little more know after the beat down the Illini put on the Wolverines last week. The index rating for Michigan didn’t change much, as mentioned last week I don’t think the Wisconsin win made believers out of anyone and M barely budged. Michigan State is holding strong and has entered a top tier of five teams followed by a huge drop off: Takes and comments from the pollsters: Biggie, of MSU: Illinois is back on track. Michigan still struggling with stopping the spread. Northwesteern vs. MSU is huge next week….one team is going to separate themselves as the possible surprise team this year in the Big Ten. Penn State vs. Wisconsin, another big matchup. Schlim, the Bucknut: “Illinois finally looked like the team most were anticipating before the season (unfortunately at Michigan’s expense) Penn State takes over the top spot on my ballot, them seem to have everything clicking right now.” “As far as Wisconsin, Seriously you suspend the BAND!?!! I don’t know what’s going on at Wisconsin…

I just wrapped up an interview with former WTKA morning host Dave Shand. It was a non-stop 90+ minute discussion covering a dozen or so topics. We talked about what he’s been up to since the hiring, his relationship with WTKA today, his thoughts on the academic and athletics series, on Jim Carty’s departure from the News, on the football coaching search, on the Rodriguez hire, the Fab 5, Steve Fisher, Red Berenson, the future of Michigan hockey, and yes, we discussed his on his lawsuit with Bill Martin. It’ll take a while for me to wade through and transcribe the audio but I’ll do my best to get it up in the next week or so. I’ll probably release it in a few segments.

In perhaps his final call into WTKA, now as former columnist of the Ann Arbor News, here’s Jim Carty talking about his final article at the News and his decision to make “a switch” into law school: [display_podcast] He reflects a bit on his career and talks about some of his personal sit downs with Lloyd Carr, Tommy Amaker and more, and spends some time talking through the Illinois disaster. You can still catch JC on his new blog Paper Tiger no More.

There were rumors out there for a while, but it’s official. Jim Carty confirmed this afternoon that he’s leaving his position as columnist for the Ann Arbor News. I’m not sure how many details are public yet, but Carty is not moving to another paper–he’s taking on a different career altogether. More on Carty’s legacy coming soon.