[Ed. Bless you Sap for putting some heart into the final home decals of the year after…that.] OFFENSIVE CHAMPION DEVIN GARDNER – To me, New 98 is the LaVell Blanchard of the Michigan Football Team. Great kid. Smart kid. Face of the program for the past few years. Much like Blanchard, Gardner has been caught in the middle of a coaching change during his career. Caught in the middle of a program trying to find its way. Caught in the middle of a university trying to figure out what kind of identity they want their football team to have. Much like we do when looking back on the career of Blanchard, I’m sure we will say much the same for Gardner: “Oh, the Gardner years! Tough kid. Never quit. Never gave up. Sad that his record wasn’t better.” At the half, I saw no one on offense who stepped up to spark this unit. This offense rushed for almost 300 yards and only Gardner got into the endzone. You can see he’s feeling better, but he is obviously still a shell of himself, physically, and probably mentally. There’s an old Canadian hockey saying about a goalie that gets peppered with so many shots that draws a parallel to a QB in football who gets hit and sacked a lot: “That…
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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…
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Dr. Sap’s Decals | Morning in Ann Arbor Edition
Sap is refreshed, recharged and kindly offers you his post-Hoosier decals. I tossed in the Editor’s edition for good measure: OFFENSIVE CHAMPION AMARA DARBOH – This was the breakout game we’ve all been waiting for from Darboh for the past 2 years. Much like the Detroit Lions needed another wide receiver to complement Megatron, the Michigan passing game needed another option downfield other than Devin Funchess. Especially now, when Devin Gardner’s foot injury is forcing him to do his best Dan Fouts-stay-in-the-pocket-no-matter-what impression, Darboh gives the offense another place to go with the ball other than wherever Funchess is. Hopefully Darboh can use this game to jump start his career and the U-M passing game. DEFENSIVE CHAMPION RYAN GLASGOW – It was obvious that the Michigan defense came to play this game and made sure there was going to be no repeat of last year’s basketball-like score against IU. That all starts up front, and while there were several guys who played lights out by keeping the Hoosiers under 200 yards of total offense, I singled out Glasgow because of his strip and fumble recovery – all in the same play. These guys in the trenches don’t often get the glory, but you had to like what Glasgow did. SPECIAL TEAMS CHAMPION MATT WILE – A missed field…
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Dr. Sap’s Decals | Scarlet O’Horror*
Steve “Dr. Sap” Sapardanis once again provides his game decals in this, ahem, challenging(?) season. Until the day comes that Michigan gets its collective act together and assigns helmet decals again, Sap will bring you his game Champions who will be decorated, albeit virtually, with his helmet stickers. I’ll typically toss in the Fan Award and the Editor’s Choice: OFFENSIVE CHAMPION DEVIN GARDNER – I thought New 98 did his best to win this game for his team. He is a leader because he has been through the most of anybody on this team. How many coaches/coordinators has he been through? To be sat down for the conference opener last week in this his 5th year had to have been a tremendous disappointment. But true to his character, he let that slide right off his back and focused on the game at hand. DG made some sweet throws (Butt’s grab in the first half comes to mind) and his 4th quarter TD run set Michigan up for the game winning field goal. Too bad it was blocked. Wonder if New 98 can kick like Old 98?? DEFENSIVE CHAMPION JOE BOLDEN – For the second straight week, Bolden was the best player on defense. Playing what looked like every play in a track meet-like game against a RichRod derivative spread offense…
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Dr. Sap’s Decals | Jug Swiped Edition
Barbarians! Steve “Dr. Sap” Sapardanis is back this season with his weekly postgame helmet stickers. Sap would do a backflip if coach Hoke decided to reinstate this tradition that Bo brought to the team in 1969. Until that day comes, Sap will bring you his game Champions who will be decorated, albeit virtually, with his helmet stickers. I’ll typically toss in the Fan Award and the Editor’s Choice: OFFENSIVE CHAMPION NONE – I was going to award De’Veon Smith with a decal as he ran hard in the first half. He scored a TD. He ran with passion. Smith ran with an attitude that seemed to be just what this offense needed. But then where was he in the second half? Not slamming him for lack of playing time, but…NO DECAL FOR YOU! DEFENSIVE CHAMPION NONE – Joe Bolden made some big stops in this game. Yes, he had 10 tackles and 1 sack and yes, the defense kept up their end of the bargain for as long as they could, but…NO DECAL FOR YOU! SPECIAL TEAMS CHAMPION NONE – Dennis Norfleet had a decal all but sewn up. He was solid in his returns. He made all the catches – some under duress – and heck, he even downed a punt at the Minnesota 1-yard line, but then he…
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Ute Ugly, Yeah, Ute Ugly | Dr. Sap’s Decals
Steve “Dr. Sap” Sapardanis is back this season with his weekly postgame helmet stickers. Sap would do a backflip if coach Hoke decided to reinstate this tradition that Bo brought to the team in 1969. Until that day comes, Sap will bring you his game Champions who will be decorated, albeit virtually, with his helmet stickers. I’ll typically toss in the Fan Award and the Editor’s Choice: OFFENSIVE CHAMPION Devin Funchess – There is an old Canadian Hockey saying about getting or giving a “Hotel Dieu Pass” to or from one of your teammates. That means your inaccurate pass caused one of your teammates to get laid out and lit up, to the point where they have to be taken off on a stretcher and taken to the local hospital. (Hotel Dieu is a common Canadian Hospital name.) What that pass did, aside from Funchess taking a wicked shot, was jack up Utah even more. When you get a freebie to lay out one of the stars from the other team, you have just incited the feeding-frenzy to begin. Via mgoblog / Fuller So while it was just one incomplete pass, it was MUCH more than that. It was Utah’s cue to come after Michigan for more. I commend Funchess for staying in the game and making two huge…
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Dr. Sap’s Decals | Butt Uglies Edition
Steve “Dr. Sap” Sapardanis is back this season with his weekly postgame helmet stickers. Sap would do a backflip if coach Hoke decided to reinstate this tradition that Bo brought to the team in 1969 (from Miami, OH, mind you). Until that day comes, Sap will bring you his game Champions who will be decorated, albeit virtually, with his helmet stickers. I’ll typically toss in the Fan Award and the Editor’s Choice: OFFENSIVE CHAMPION OFFENSIVE LINE – Kind of stepping out on a limb here but, Derrick Green does not run for 137 yards and 2 TDs without some holes being created by the O-Line. Derrick Green does not look like High School Derrick Green without the Big Uglies getting it done up front. I realize the opponent was a MAC school that hadn’t won a game in almost 2 years, but I saw signs of progress by the Hosses in the trenches. I had a feeling this line would show some addition by subtraction, and now that the 2 senior tackles have left, this unit is starting to gel. Again, I’m not talking B1G Championship here – just saying that when you gain over 450 yards of offense, the guys up front are something right. Doing it in September is one thing. Getting it done in November is…
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Dr. Sap’s Decals | Notre Dame
Via Maize & Blue Nation Steve “Dr. Sap” Sapardanis is back this season with his weekly postgame helmet stickers. Sap would do a backflip if coach Hoke decided to reinstate this tradition that Bo brought to the team in 1969. Until that day comes, Sap will bring you his game Champions who will be decorated, albeit virtually, with his helmet stickers. I’ll typically toss in the Fan Award and the Editor’s Choice (except this week b/c we sucked). OFFENSIVE CHAMPION NO DECAL – I get it, Funchess had over 100 yards receiving, but no points = No Decals for anybody on the offense. DEFENSIVE CHAMPION NO DECAL – The D played hard and was not the reason U-M lost this game, but I didn’t see any consistent play from anyone that deserved any decals. SPECIAL TEAMS CHAMPION NO DECAL – Two missed field goals early set an ominous tone for this game. You just can’t have misses like that in big road games like this. UNIFORM CHAMPION WHITE SOCKS – I saw several players wearing all white socks up to their knees – wonder if they read my post last game? That look, with the road white jerseys and white socks, is classic and timeless. Decals to all those knee-high-white-socked-M-Men!! BOB UFER FAN AWARD THOSE WHO STAYED – To those…