Looking back at Miami, OH, looking ahead to the big one in South Bend this weekend. Here’s beat writer a rama…Jim Carty of the Ann Arbor News dialing into WTKA Monday, and Detroit News beat writer Angelique Chengelis: [display_podcast]
-
-
Power Index: Week 2
Michigan bounced around once again this week, although only gained a spot in Index. Notre Dame continues to drop – from 6th in the preseason, to 7th in Week 1, to the current 9th slot. Spartans are holding steady rating-wise, but creeping up Schlimmy the Buckeye: “Great week for the Big 10 going undefeated, but Ohio State sleepwalking for 3 quarters doesn’t bode well for them heading into their titanic clash vs. USC.” Gilliam the Badger “Can’t say much about the rest of the Big Ten, but the Badgers have a Heisman candidate in P.J. Hill, and he’s possibly the third best running back on the team. Zach Brown has an NFL burst, and John Clay looks like a more athletic version of Ron Dayne. They won’t make it to a BCS bowl, though, with this defense. Really need Aaron Henry and Jonathan Casillas back from injury on the D side. Getting Travis Beckum back at TE will be important for next week’s game at Fresno State.” Lew, the Hoosier, Wolverine and Gutierrez backer “Penn State’s offense looks very impressive – maybe Oregon State will turn out to be the worst team. I expect Ohio State to get crushed by USC this weekend, but I’m not sure they’ll drop too much in the index given the competition (in the Index).…
-
Blue Books: The Yost-Rockne Feud
A new feature on MVictors, periodically I’ll take a look at a passage from one of the great books written on Michigan athletics. This week we’ll go 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. But for today, here’s are a few selections from Chapter 4 ‘Yost vs. Rockne: 1918:31’. [Note: These are selections from through the chapter, just trying to highlight the feud:] In a nutshell, here’s what each came to think of each other from 1923 to 1931. Rockne, then in his late 30s to early 40s, saw in Yost a “hill-billy” who was forever grinding the religious ax against Notre Dame, who was as crooked as a dog’s hind leg, who was selfish and vain beyond comprehension, who was blindly jealous of Rockne’s own success and ascension to national stardom, and who coached boring, neanderthal football. Yost, then in his mid to late 50s, saw in Rockne a coach who feared the regulatory confinement of a conference, who ran a renegade football factory at Notre Dame, who sought unfair advantages over his opponents, and who continually and deliberately broke football rules with his controversial offense. Kryk…
-
Never bet with a double jointed fish
You may have caught this during halftime of the Notre Dame vs. San Diego State game. Apparantly Braylon Edwards ran into Michael Phelps this summer as they were working out in Ann Arbor. Phelps was working out at Canham; Braylon with Barwis Here’s Braylon on WDFN (bottom of post) talking about working out with Barwis; he didn’t mention Phelps. Here’s the specifics from Peter King’s piece in Sports Illustrated: MARCH 17 ANN ARBOR, MICH. OVER A St. Patrick’s Day lunch at the Brown Jug, a University of Michigan campus hangout, Braylon Edwards, the former Wolverine, picked the brain of one of his off-season workout buddies: current Wolverine Michael Phelps. Swimming, Phelps told him, is the ultimate cardio workout. A light went on over Edwards’s head: You can’t sprain an ankle in the pool. You can’t wear down your joints. Edwards quizzed Phelps on setting up a workout. “This is what I’ll do to stay in shape between minicamp in June and training camp in July,” Edwards said. — —————– JUNE 26 ANN ARBOR, MICH. THANK YOU, Michael Phelps. In the second week of his pool workouts at Michigan, Edwards alternated track drills in the water—high-knee, hurdler motion mostly—with swimming laps. One day track, the next day freestyle; one day track, the next day breaststroke; one day track, the next day…
-
Lords of the Ring
M’s finest, gearing up for Notre Dame with a little rough housing and a Sean Astin film festival:
-
Good Enough, Michigan beats Miami 16-6
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…
-
Honorary Captains, Miami OH game
Slight of hand by Pete Elliott as they prepare for the Gophers I was looking for this, here you go via The Hoover Street Rag: * Pete Elliott, 1945-48 Bump Elliott’s brother, a QB. Later head coach at Nebraska, Cal, and Illinois and a College Football Hall of Fame inductee in 1994. * Ron Simpkins, 1976-79 A 1979 consensus All-American linebacker, Simpkins posted 150+ tackles in three consecutive seasons, including a mind-boggling 174 in ’78 and another 168 the year after. * Dick Caldarazzo, 1968-69 Caldarazzo only lettered two years, but he blocked for Ron Johnson (Original Recipe) as he broke most of Michigan’s rushing records and helped Michigan to its first Big Ten title in five years. That photo above? I just bought it a couple weeks ago on eBay. It’s Pete Elliott at practice before the Minnesota game in 1948, showing a little deception with the rock. Here’s a larger size photo. Full release from mgoblue.com.
-
Major Biochemistry
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.