It came down to lack of depth. We don’t have the depth to replace the key injuries and just didn’t have the talent on defense to hang with the big boys. We were exposed. But we’ll be back with more guys. Harbaugh and crew have done a remarkable job this season with what we have. At kickoff today of the final game of the regular season we were in the B1G and even playoff discussion. Sights and sounds: Honoring Legends: Talking with those involved, sounds like #1000SSS did a great job taking care of the families of the Legends this morning and for the game. Here’s the Oosterbaan crew including my man Ben McCready (47), godson of the great Bennie O.: Again, the Legends program did a great thing by putting these great players in the forefront. The other bonus was building new relationships with the current families and in certain cases, with the student-athletes who got to wear the coveted jerseys. McCready shared this note he received recently from Capt. Jake Ryan: “Ben – I just wanted to write and tell you it was an honor to wear the #47 jersey at Michigan. I was excited when Coach Hoke asked me and I wanted to represent Bennie in the best way on and off the field. Thank…
-
-
Sights & Sounds: Michigan 31, BYU 0 (2015)
Whoa. What happened? Based on my straw poll of the press box, most media folks had BYU winning this one. So call BYU a good, at least a decent, team. That was a mercy kill. Offhand, that was probably the biggest beatdown of a good team since, what? 38-0 Vol. I over Notre Dame in 2003? Rudock made good decisions with the pigskin. Smith missed a couple of holes but it didn’t matter because he’s a beast. The defense was relentless and finished tackles. Special teams were sound. The playcalling was straight money and clearly, the playbook is being cracked open to the later chapters. Maybe there is magical khaki dust after all. Assuming we handle Maryland on the road, heading back home to face Northwestern will be fun to watch. It feels good man. To the sights and sounds: DER-EK JEET-AHH. The Pope could have visited Michigan Stadium today and no one would have noticed – here’s Derek Jeter: Above there’s Derek Jeter killing it in his Michigan hoodie, with suite ticket in pocket (does he really need a ticket? to anything?) with Sarah Harbaugh on the left. Any fool who tried to get too close to #2 had to deal with Big Tony, aka The Captain’s Cleaner: Coach Edwards. I strolled over to the opposing team suite (it’s…
-
Salt Lake City Sights & Sounds (Utah 24, Michigan 17) – Jim Harbaugh’s first game
Darn. It turns out there is no magical khaki lint for #4 to sprinkle around the locker room but you, the most rational and reasonable Michigan fan, was still hoping there was. Guilty as well. Sights and sounds from Harbaugh's debut:
-
Dr Sap’s Decals | Northworstern
Bless you Sap for serving up decals after that rough game. Here you go: OFFENSIVE CHAMPION DE’VEON SMITH – Now you know why coaches like Bo and Bill Parcells loved to have a strong running game. When you can close out a game, or at least milk the clock, it puts pressure on the opposing team to either use all their timeouts late in the game or drive the length of the field to win. Smith has given the Michigan offense the strength and stability it desperately needs – especially when U-M’s QB is basically playing on one leg. DEFENSIVE CHAMPION FRANK CLARK – Finally a solid, break-out, statement game from Clark. Dude was the classic guy who came to play right from the opening snap to the final play of the game. I haven’t seen such a strong and steady big play performance from a Michigan defender since some guy wore #2 in 1997. SPECIAL TEAMS CHAMPION KICK TEAM – I don’t want to sound like an old coach, but don’t EVER take another extra point for granted. If Matt Wile doesn’t convert his PAT, the score would have been 9-9 instead of 10-9, and all Northwestern would have needed was a PAT of their own to win. I know, I know, Wile had one kick blocked, but…
