Another beautiful day in Ann Arbor as coach Rodriguez got his first win at the helm of the Wolverines. The 16-6 win was far from convincing or complete, but this win over Miami, OH was plenty good enough after last week. They were supposed to win, they did, but I think many folks were relieved to get this one in the books. The offense made some strides, the defense kept the RedHawks out of the endzone and that’s what we needed to see. Everyone can take a breath and as the Blue get ready for Notre Dame next week. A few takes:* You saw a few glimpses of what this offense, and perhaps this team, is capable of if they can get players in space. That wasn’t Big Ten talent on the other team but you can see some damage being inflicted on anyone if they get the right guys in the open field. It was much more fun to watch this game, despite being up only 4 points in the fourth quarter. * Threet missed three guys in the first half that were basically wide open and could have gone for six. That hurts. No, they weren’t the horrible tosses we saw from Sheridan last week but these guys should be able to make those throws. * Sheridan looked…

Michigan senior cheerleader Kristy Bojazi made the big time: she was featured Friday on Sport Illustrated’s SI on Campus ‘Cheerleader of the Week’. Here’s the full photo gallery of the biochemistry major, you love it.

Do you remember the last time Miami, OH came to town? Maybe not right off the bat, but that was the opener of the 2004 season when Lloyd Carr made the (perceived) last minute switch at quarterback, deciding to go with the freshman. Check out this ancient post on the game which was held September 4, 2004: First off, Lloyd Carr starting a true freshman (Chad Henne) blew my mind. The whispers around the program indicated that Henne was tearing it up during camp and pre-season practices. We’re still not exactly sure what happened to Matt Gutierrez I was up North on vacation and I remember hearing the word on the Michigan radio network a few hours before the game. I’m sure Eerhole was on it on the message boards. There was also a brief mention of a new running back, nickname compliments of WTKA drive time host Dennis Fithian: True freshman ‘Michigan’ Mike Hart looked really good on his 3 carries – I wonder if we’ll see him vs. ND. Those three carries went for 20 yards that game, and Yep, we saw him against the Irish for five more carries and 17 more yards. He made his first start in game #3 against San Diego State and blew up. Related: Spawn of M Zone’s has its Know Your…

Freep.com – This won’t make sense unless you read the article or listen below A great segment on WTKA yesterday; you may have missed this as it was sometime just before the end of the show at 10am. Here’s Larry Lage, AP sports writer who covers the state of Michigan, on his week behind the scenes with the coaches and team. He wrote an excellent 3000 word article on the experience, check it out here. Contrast his observations with those of Michael Rosenberg, check out my interview– a little different take on Rodriguez. Lage: “He never wants to change. He still wants to, at the core, be the guy that’s leading Glenville State. I don’t think he wants to feel like he’s ‘big timing’ people.” And his final thoughts: “I like a lot of people had a ‘jury is still out’ gut feeling about Rich Rodriguez. After spending this week with him, I’m convinced that he’s a good guy, a good coach, and tries to be a good husband and dad. And I didn’t have that feeling for sure before spending that week with him.” [memo to Andy Evans, please don’t finish the sentence of the guy you are interviewing with a cliche’ unless you want to end up on ‘a reservation’]. Here’s the audio from WTKA yesterday, and from…

What a crock! This is so stupid and has to change. For these teams not to play at both places in a given season is a travesty. Via Mark Snyder on Freep.com. Michigan and Michigan State again play only once this season, on Feb. 10 in Ann Arbor – it’ll be televised on ESPN.