Is Saturday’s showdown the last in the Big House for Lloyd Carr? If so, where does his body of work put him inside the Michigan coaching Valhalla? Definitely somewhere below Yost, Schembechler and Crisler, maybe on par with Kipke and above the rest. It’s tough to compare eras but clearly it is getting harder to win consistently as the years pass. Overall Lloyd Carr has delivered. How will Carr remembered? Many of his critics have pegged Carr a great recruiter but a decent coach who should have competed for more national championships. Carr’s earned some of the criticism and deserves some of the heat for the way things started this year. Yet many if not most M fans will hold a fond place for Carr due to his performance on the field especially the 1997 championship and for his significant work for Mott hospital and other local charities. When he decides to leave Carr deserves to be honored and I’m sure he will. For the stat nerds, Carr is in a winning percentage battle with the man he succeeded, Gary Moeller. Coming into the year Carr (.75839) had a six thousandths of a percentage point lead on Mo (.75833). If Carr loses again this year he’ll dip below Moeller in this metric (and no doubt live the rest of his…
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Badgers win as Hart, Henne held out
There was a lot of question as to whether Hart and Henne would play in this one given that the game is essentially meaningless (thanks to ESPN for reminding us of that like 70 times during the game) to the team’s goals. Give credit to the Bagders because they played hard, with QB Donovan making some great plays but…it’s clear Michigan pulled its chips off the table for this one. It goes without saying but Henne and Hart would have played had the team wearing red was from Columbus. It’s a bit of a concern that no one on defense rested and at times Donovan and the Badgers sliced them up. Not a good way to go into the Big Game but what can you do? Obviously would have a been much different with H&H intact. As for Mallett, he started out pretty slow missing a W-I-D-E open Arrington that would have been a touch had the ball been within 20 yards of #16. Mesko could have punted the ball to Arrington. Mallett never really settled down; throwing some pretty weak balls and making some poor decisions. I don’t know what Manningham’s problem is but he’s got to understand that Mallett is going to make mistakes. His 97-yarder was pretty sweet and it easily became the longest TD catch in…
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You M-supporting Wuss!
You may have noticed this site pumps Stubhub. They pay a decent commission if you refer someone who buys tickets from their site. While SH’s reporting sucks, it does tell you who bought what. I just found this disturbing sale: While I can’t know for sure, it appears as though we’ve got a bonafide pessimist within our ranks. It’s a somewhat safe assumption that these tickets were purchased by a Michigan fan. This “fan” no doubt purchased the tickets assuming Michigan would lose to the Buckeyes and take the Big Ten #2 slot in the Capital One Bowl vs. the SEC #2. Funny, the dude is loyal enough to want to attend the Capital One Bowl, but in his hearts of hearts– a traitor. Reveal yourself coward!
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An M Man is Hit (Man)
Did you catch the news that David Harris made a couple plays for the Jets this weekend? Yep, in his first start of his career Harris rung up 17 tackles in week 8 and TWENTY-FOUR (!) tackles last week against the Skins. He’s been hailed as “Harris The Hit Man” by the New York Post. He’s fourth in the AFC in tackles right now, one more than Ray Freakin’ Lewis. This despite not starting until a couple weeks ago – WOW. Along with Chuck Woodson’s big day and the other quarterback who helped his team win their 8th straight by tossing two fourth quarter TD passes all the while playing for a coach wearing a sweatshirt, it was a big day for former M men in the NFL.
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Dantonio and Izzo: Beauties
Put aside all the garbage flying around in the aftermath of the MSU/Michigan game. You’ve got to like a few things coming out of the from the Spartan coaches: First, on Dantanio. Check out this beauty he slipped into his Monday presser. He gives his take on my question of whether real fans sell their tickets to the big games: “It’s inbred in me,” Dantonio said. “It exists in me and everybody who’s a true Spartan, not the ones who give their donor seats to Michigan Wolverines. Next Izzo, who is just about everything you want in a hoops coach. Check out what he did to his players to punish them for the Grand Valley State loss: After the loss, Izzo decided to temporarily kick the players out of their brand-new locker room. Members of the media got to see the Spartans’ new digs after the game and they look better than some NBA locker rooms, complete with comfortable couches, a high-tech television with a video-game system and a kitchen area. “I just look at that as, you earn the right to have something that nice, and we didn’t earn the right,” Izzo said. “I just said that, make sure that everything including the toothbrushes are out of there.” Over the last few days, players have dressed in the weight…
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Pre-Screening of HBO’s ‘The Rivalry’
For anyone interested in seeing a pre-screening of the HBO Documentary ‘The Rivalry’, HBO and Comcast are hosting fans Wednesday at the Michigan Theater. You may have seen this on the M-Zone blog last week. I got the same info. If you want to go, call the listed number below and make a reservation. If anyone checks it out I’d love to get a review for MVictors – please send it along! For those out of town but can’t wait, HBO has posted a short interview with Bo Schembechler that may be part of the show, along with some photo galleries.
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Lazy Manningham; Hart’s Brother comments
A few more takes from the game this weekend: – Manningham’s catch will be always remembered but he took some heat for a play earlier in the fourth quarter. Here’s Matt Zemek of CFN: Michigan receiver Mario Manningham nearly cost his team a victory with a shameful lack of effort…With his team trailing in the final minutes of Saturday evening’s game against Michigan State, Manningham lazily trotted out of bounds one yard short of a first down. I was on the opposite sideline during that play but to me, it just looked like Manningham wasn’t aware of where he was on the field. He caught the ball and went out of bounds. To characterize this as “shameful” seems to be a major stretch and a shameful characterization by Zemek. – I don’t know if they showed this on TV but Zoltan Mesko laid out a ref pretty hard during the game. He inadvertently caught the man with his robust hips while heading out to punt. After the guy when down Mesko didn’t break stride and just continued to the huddle. Lloyd Carr (in his ‘Darth Sweatshirt’ gear) was one of the first guys on the field to check out his status; here’s a photo taken just after the incident: – A day after the game I’ve thought about Hart’s “little…
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Victors Steal Another One
In a matter of a few moments the Wolverines turned around what was almost certainly a program-defining win for new Spartan coach Mark Dantonio. Michigan couldn’t move the ball and was being run over by MSU backs Caulcrick & Ringer. With just a few minutes left and down 2 scores Henne and the offense picked away at the loose coverage and scored two touchdowns, the last an amazing catch by 86 that pulled Michigan ahead for good. It was stunning to watch. A few takes: Most Painful? In some ways I feel this hurt MSU fans worse than the 2004 comeback, probably because a) of the emphasis Dantonio put on this game, b) this game was in East Lansing in front of a loud crowd, almost desperate for this win, and finally c) recent history of difficult games like the 2004 stunning loss in Ann Arbor, last year’s Notre Dame collapse and the two tough overtime games this year. Speaking of 2004, didn’t Manningham’s catch look wildly familiar?: Mountaineer Flair I’m starting to get a kick out of all these tools wearing Appalachian State gear. I saw a few items coming into the game and it was definitely on the minds of many Spartans. I don’t care what people wear to a game, but to have made a conscious decision…