The spread between teams in the conference is collapsing and Michigan continues its drop after the brutal loss to Notre Dame. In the preseason poll the gap between the Buckeyes and the lowest rated Gophers was 85.2 index points, that gap heading into week 4 is now 73.5. Steady Eddie all season? The Spartans, in four polls from the preseason to the current week, the Michigan State index has held a range of 50 to 51.1. Here’s the current poll: The comments from the pollsters were pretty consistent: the Big Ten sucks: Gilliam the Badger: “The Big Ten proved this week that it ranks slightly higher than the WAC, the Sun Belt, the Missouri Valley, the Big Sky, and Big East conferences.” Biggie the Spartan: “We did not learn a whole lot this week other than the Big Ten looks to be pretty lame from a national perspective.” Schlimmy the disappointed Buckeye, “Wisconsin provided the Big Ten with their best win of the year so far (which isn’t saying much). Michigan and Ohio State, first Michigan simply handing Notre Dame the game in the first quarter. Second I completely expected my Buckeyes to get spanked by USC, once Beanie hurt his foot/toe a couple weeks ago I knew they were in serious trouble vs USC. I’m not saying they would…
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Carty on WTKA, talks about Dews incident (audio)
Ann Arbor News columnist Jim Carty called in to the morning show yesterday with his thoughts on Notre Dame. He talked about an incident which made it in his column Sunday (which was run on the front page of the paper), a post-game shouting match between coach Tony Dews and an Irish fan: Michigan assistant coach Tony Dews getting into a verbal confrontation with a fan en route to the team bus. “You’re a Division I coach, act like it,” the 20-something fan shouted at Dews. Indeed, but Dews only shouted back, seemingly insistent on getting the last word in. Carty was asked to talk about what he saw during this incident, and he explained. I don’t think Dews should be getting into it with any fan, but we still don’t know what was said and I question whether Carty should have mentioned the exchange in his column. Here’s the full audio (the Dews discussion starts around 3:33): [display_podcast]
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Harmon Bio in the works, Military record discussed
Writer Fredric Alan Maxwell is pulling together a biography of Michigan legend Tom Harmon titled, ‘The Late Great 98’. Michigan Today released an excerpt of the book that will be released chapter by chapter over time in a unique format, and will eventually result in a hard copy book. Details are found on tomharmonbio.com: The Late Great 98 is the Tom Harmon Biography-in-progress that is being published on an advanced subscription basis. People who purchase reduced-rate advance copies will be e-mailed Harmon stories and chapters as they are written, which they can review and comment on, thus becoming part of the editorial process. Hard cover books containing the final draft will be printed and delivered by mail to subscribers before they are sold in bookstores. Maxwell’s book intro discusses some of the controversies around Harmon’s military service in World War II. There were accusations out there discrediting Harmon’s military service, summarized below: …very persistent rumor is afloat to the effect that Tom Harmon, when he crashed in South America was yellow, that he, contrary to all traditions and rules of the Air Service (sic), bailed out first whereas it is the duty of the pilot to be the last to jump. Rumor has it that that was the reason that Tom was the only one to survive that crash. It…
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Blue Books: Historic Michigan Football Photos
I just received a fresh copy of ‘Historic Photos of University of Michigan Football’ from Turner Publishing. Michelle O’Brien authored the collection, which pulls together fascinating photos from the vaults over at the U-M Bentley Historical Library over the past 100+ years. It isn’t confined to games and practices; it also includes a few unique looks at the band, the fans and in some cases, the excitement on campus and outside the stadium. Each photo contains a detailed caption describing the photo often along with a relevant background from the period. O’Brien did a very nice job-it’s a fine collection and would make an excellent gift. While I’ve seen a few of the photos before but most were new to me. Here’s a few of my favorites, click to enlarge: Louis Elbel, the man that composed The Victors after the 1898 Michigan game at Chicago, conducts the Michigan Marching Band in 1952 The original Little Brown (White?) Jug. I love the “Not to be taken from the Gymnasium” instruction painted on the top. Can you imagine? A photo as they break ground on Michigan stadium, with a clear shot back to Yost Field House in the background. Gorgeous.
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Michigan Bowl Projections
Summarized: Actually CFN has the Wolverines in: Champs Sports Bowl Dec. 27 / 4:30 p.m. ET Orlando, Fla. ESPN Tie-Ins: ACC No. 4 vs. Big Ten No. 4 or No. 5 Way Too Early Projection: Georgia Tech vs. Michigan As does Bruce Feldman on ESPN, staying close to home: Motor City (MAC vs. Big Ten) Ball State vs. Michigan My take, it’ll be a challenge to get to six wins but I think it can happen based on what I saw in South Bend Saturday. Penn State, Ohio State likely sure losses. Toledo likely win. That’ll leave the Wolverines needing to go 4-2 of Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan State, @Minnesota, @Purdue, Northwestern. – Wisconsin – Illinois – Toledo – Penn State – Michigan State – Purdue – Minnesota – Northwestern – Ohio State
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Pushing the Rock
While there’s still a shot a getting to six wins and preserving two great streaks, this season is turning into an exercise of focusing on themes and trends inside games rather than the end result. A loss a Notre Dame is always tough to take and we still don’t know how good the Irish are, but I saw some good things out there Saturday. The comeback effort turned into a Sisyphean task, as a few times the Wolverines were on the brink of scoring a critical touch only to have a brutal fumble or pick wipe it all away. This game was obviously lost on the turnovers, the worst occurred before the rain came down, but that can be fixed. This offense isn’t quite ready to enough register points to overcome the kind of hole they put themselves in the first quarter, but certainly showed signs. After last week I never thought I’d say this but Threet looked sharp, didn’t he? I don’t mean sharp as in ‘much improved for a guy who’d be a third stringer on most teams’, I mean sharp as you want your quarterback to be. I haven’t seen the replay on that early screen to Minor that was dropped and picked up by the Irish- I assume that shouldn’t have been thrown but otherwise, didn’t…
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How It’ll Go
I think Michigan’s defense will do very well against Clausen, but I give the Irish an edge today. Like Sean at Michigan Sports Center, I see a close game with a couple big plays making the difference. I see Michigan scoring one offensive touchdown that is the result of a sustained drive. But Michigan needs this one; I think they’ll be ready.
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Blue Books: Holtz Courting Lloyd Carr
This week we’ll go again to the absolute definitive tome on the Michigan-Notre Dame Rivarly, John Kryk’s Natural Enemies. There are several anecdotes of interest in the book, some I’ve mentioned on these pages before, and I’ll revisit some of these in the future. Today, a selection from Chapter 11 ‘Extra Points’. Lou Holtz will be honored at Saturday’s game and they are unveiling a statue. I’m sure Jason Peter has some thoughts on how to decorate the Holtz likeness. I don’t know if Lloyd Carr will ever be honored with a monument at Michigan but I’m sure he’ll get his name on a facility or prominent street. An obscure street near Michigan stadium was the reward for Depression era coach Harry Kipke, who won national championships but was also fired at the end of the decade. But according to Natural Enemies, Lou Holtz wanted Carr to join him in South Bend on a couple occasions: In an interview for this book in 2003, current Michigan head coach Lloyd Carr revealed that in the 1980s Lou Holtz twice tried to woo him to his staff at Notre Dame. Carr said he believes that the first offer from Holtz came in 1986. “One night I was sitting at home and Lou called me. I was shocked, honestly,” Carr recalled. “He said,…