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,…
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It’s Michigan-Notre Dame you fools
Get excited. I don’t care if the Irish are struggling and Michigan punts 13 times. History matters and it’s going to be awesome in South Bend in the rain and thunder. This is going to happen every year until at least 2031, so shape up: Running out of Ticket artwork ideas by 2031See you in South Bend tomorrow, chumps. Thanks to Kelley and Brendan (Irish sounding fellows, no?).
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Calvin Magee on coaches show
No audio, but Calvin Magee covered the first part of the Rodriguez radio show tonight. A few tidbits: * The team will go down a day early a practice on the Notre Dame field on Friday. Probably more of a walk-through, but I didn’t know you could do that sort of thing. * Magee called Steven Threet “the guy”, which I think is saying something. He didn’t rule out playing Sheridan. * Talked a little about their first trip to South Bend, Rodriguez and the Mountaineers visited in 2001, a 34-24 loss.
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Almost Most Obnoxious
Michigan fans, #2 most obnoxious on Fox Sports’ list covering all of college football. Their reasoning for the second slot: What can you say about a fan base that thinks a loss should be rewarded? Never mind their incessant complaining after dropping (gasp!) in the rankings after losing to No. 1 Ohio State in 2006, they actually think the rest of the country cares about their rivalry with the Buckeyes. Maybe if the game actually determined a legit BCS title contender, we would. But without a doubt, Michigan fans are the whiniest fans in college football. Do we have to go through this again? I think Michigan fans dropped that right after the Rose Bowl, but ok. So that’d leave the Buckeye fans #1 most annoying of course, right? Wrong, the Buck mob slid in at #7 somehow with Notre Dame fans topping the list. Maybe I need to understand what they mean by obnoxious but in general I like Notre Dame fans. One thing I can’t stand about Irish fans, the oft-uttered notion that “a good Notre Dame team is good for college football”, as if CFB has been suffering over the past 20 years and requires a savior (memo to ND fans, it’s you that needs salvation). Maybe college football on the whole is more interesting on some…
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(Don’t) Need 2!
Update: I got ’em – thanks Brendan and K’s!! Do you have or know someone with two tickets for South Bend? Don’t want to sell them to a Domer? I could use a pair (so to speak). Other than suitable compensation I can offer a great deal of karma for you. Contact me here with details.
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Rosenberg in studio, WDFN (audio – 3 parts)
Detroit Free Press sports columnist Michael Rosenberg was in studio with Stoney and Wojo promoting his first book, War as They Knew It: Woody Hayes, Bo Schembechler, and America in a time of unrest, which will be released September 10. He also talked about Rich Rod and even fielded a few questions from callers. If all this sounds familiar, that’s right! Somebody all ready did all of that (MVictors interview Part I, Part II). But now you can listen. I’m not sure Sith Lord Rosenberg has made many if any appearances on the radio and as he notes, is probably the only the area Detroit writer that doesn’t have a radio gig of some sort. Here’s the interview in three parts, if you are having trouble go directly to the WDFN podcast page here. [display_podcast] I’m glad to say I’m not so much of a nerd that I knew for sure how to spell “Sith”, so I guessed via a Google search. In doing the search I discovered there’s a Wookieapedia, a Wikipedia honed in for Star Wars geeks. It has nearly 60,000 entries. Rosenberg will be promoting the book Wednesday at 7pm, Borders on Liberty in Ann Arbor.