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.

The 76th annual Mud Bowl was held outside the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity at the corner of South University and Washtenaw Saturday. SAE defeated Phi Kappa Psi 36-16, never really looking back after scoring the first three touchdowns of the game. It was the 11th straight win for the host squad. Tri-Delts and Alpha Phi sororities squared off at half time and I think the fans were the real winners in that battle. I’ve got some video I’ll post later. The event raised around $15,000 for University of Michigan Mott Children’s Hospital and the Make a Wish Foundation. Update:  And how about a few clips from the big day, you might like this if you’re one of those freaks who enjoys girls, mud and wrestling.

That game was so disappointing for obvious reasons. The Ann Arbor News used the terms bone-headed and bewildered to describe the Michigan defense’s struggles on Saturday and it fits. Juice Williams gave one of the best performances we’ve seen, up there with the Vince Young, Dennis Dixon and Donovan McNabb beat downs. If you didn’t know coming into 2008 that there’d be ups and downs, you learned it during the Utah game and it’s been that way throughout. Michigan ended the Wisconsin game on the highest high and when ball popped from Odoms’ hands on the kick-off right into the hands the orange, they hit a new low. A few take aways for me from this game: * Many of our fans are annoying as hell. Proper conduct at games is a frequent topic over the past few seasons as folks have debated booing, whether and when to stand or sit during games, key plays, etc. I think there’s another behavior that’s worthy of critique. I usually wear headphones to the game not only to look cool and listen to the broadcast, but to also block out the commentary and critiques by the people around me. I’m not saying people can’t talk or even shout how they are feeling but it’s over the top. How many times are you stuck…

I missed this, but Little bit Country, Little bit Coastie didn’t: Great stuff. Wisconin/Wisconsin, whatever.