via mgoblue.com Heading into the season we figured Harbaugh was the answer but that he needed time. We hoped that time would be short, even just maybe something would happen this year. We hoped that under his tutelage, a quarterback would emerge to lead this team. And we hoped somehow we’d muster a running game and the defense would come together. So here we are in mid-November with much on the line and with the events of the past few weeks—very hopeful. Rudock looked like a different cat out there, with a new level of confidence and toughness. At times he looked a bit like a young coach Harbaugh himself with the fierce runs on third down and balls to fire the pigskin over the middle. And as Sap said, the passing game is starting to click. The concerns for these 2 weeks are obvious. A winless in B1G team in IU won the line of scrimmage and the “yeah but Glasgow” excuse turned into this. We still couldn’t really run the ball and in space the first “man”, meaning mainly an Indiana 19 year old kid, took us down. The penalties were horrible. The linebackers were ineffective at best. We missed a bunch of tackles. But you are hopeful, aren’t you? Despite all that stuff Michigan is a really…
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Scarlet & Prey: Michigan 49, Rutgers 16 | Sights & Sounds
To head into a game against a team who beat you last year as 4 touchdown favorites and beat them by five-- feels damn good. Sure, it was an imploding Rutgers squad and it was far from perfect, but it's all good.
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Testudo Champions | Dr. Sap’s Decals
Guest post by Steve “Dr. Sap” Sapardanis Well, I was one of those guys who predicted a shutout against Maryland – just not like that – yikes! The defense is starting to look very 1980/1985-ish. But the offense? The offense is still a work in progress, or is it? I don’t know. I guess we’ll find out where this team is in the next two weeks. In the meantime, here are the Champions for the Maryland Game: OFFENSIVE CHAMPION – Gotta go with Drake Johnson. With no De’Veon Smith and Ty Isaac not being able to hang on to the ball, The Drake made plays and looked comfortable running the ball – brace and all on his left knee. When the team was sputtering and looking for a spark on “O,” #20 made the most of his opportunity. DEFENSIVE CHAMPION – It’s obvious the D-Line is playing lights out these past few games, but when the game/match was resembling an FA Cup Final and tied nil-nil after 15 minutes, Desmond Morgan was the difference on defense. His INT and strip thwarted Maryland drives when the game was still in doubt. The more I see of #3, the more I think that he is starting to look like a classic Michigan middle linebacker. SPECIAL TEAMS CHAMPION – Speaking of soccer, you…
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Decalanalysis Phase II: Evolution of the 2015 Helmet Sticker
Guest Post by Steve “Dr. Sap” Sapardanis Before we examine the 2015 decal (which we started in Phase I here) we need to look back at the evolution of the Michigan Football helmet decals. 1969-1974 Version #1 – When Bo introduced the helmet stickers at Michigan in 1969 (Version 1), they were solid, maize-colored, crudely shaped footballs. These were used through the 1974 season. Here’s Don Moorhead’s helmet as featured on HelmetHut.com: 1975-1982 Version #2 – The decal shape became more oval and the snarling wolverine head was added. There was now a left-facing version, and a right-facing version. Here is a good look at them from one of Jim Dack’s helmets (find more info on Jim’s collection at wolverinehelmet.com): The other distinction with this version was that the wolverine image was actually clear, thus allowing the blue helmet paint to make the wolverine appear blue: Because the design was made 40 years ago, there was no high-end computer program like Photoshop that was used to create the snarling Wolverine head graphic. It was probably created using Line Art. Notice the level of detail on the hair, teeth and nose of the wolverine. The more you zoom in, the more detail you will see. 1983-1984 No Helmet Stickers. The mystery of this two-year stretch discussed here. 1985-1994 Version 3 –…
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Beaver Beatdown – Sights & Sounds (Michigan 35, Oregon State 7 – 2015)
“I GUESS I HIT THAT HOLE YOU NERDS!” (via Michigan Daily) Following another Smith score to put U-M up 26-7, Harbaugh personally called for the 2 point conversion. He gave some kind of signal to the celebrating players – it looked like a bear claw from the press box. He sat hunched over outside the team area basically begging for Rudock and a few other guys to get the message and line up—flashing the bear claw gesture as hard as he could. Rudock and crew eventually got the message, lined up, and successfully executed the 2 point conversion to put U-M up 28-7. On the trot back to the sideline Rudock tried to slide back to the bench with the rest of the unit but Harbaugh put his hand in Rudock’s chest—stopping him in his tracks. There was a quick chat between QB and coach, I assume something along the lines of maintaining composure even after a TD and paying attention. After the chat, #4 delivered a pair of hearty butt slaps and Rudock went back to the bench. Here’s the deal – Harbaugh is in absolute control (most of the time) of the sideline and what the players are doing on the field. The only other way he’d have it is if the rules allowed him to play a…
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Sights & Sounds | Michigan Spring Game 2015
To those who attended, that had a gameday feel, didn’t it? Now we need to convince Ira, Sam, and Steve to prop up the Victors Lounge tent in 2016 and we’ll be all set.
