Most were surprised how easy that went Saturday for Hoke and crew and Michigan together the most complete half I can remember. The biggest factor was the poor play of highly-rated QB Ryan Lindley, who seemed out of sorts all day. The U-M defense deserves some credit for that for sure but Lindley didn’t get a lot of help from his receivers who ran poor routes in many cases. Here’s Lindley trying to connect in the end zone in the fourth quarter and his receiver has a step on Countess – the ball is too high, off-target and just sailed: Commence the Miscellanea: Since I’m not going to tell you anything about how Denard fared on the field that you didn’t see with your own eyes Saturday, try this: Laces on Lockdown Denard’s “Xs” – In the postgame Denard talked about a recent trip to the lanes. He told the media, “I did all right,” and shared that he bowled the 200-160-170 series. The “X” in Denard’s Twitter handle stands for strike, and use can use an X to mark one thing off the list of things that you thought you could do better than #16. Switch to Schutt – Some nerd I asked Denard about his switch of helmet manufacturers this year. I was half hoping there was some…
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Foiling the Spartan Pranksters (1949)
[Update: Audio from This Week in Michigan Football history, discussing the ‘49 Spartan antics] Heading into 1949 season, Michigan was the two-time defending national champion and was riding a Yost-like 23-game winning streak. First in their way in the quest for the third championship in a row was Michigan State College who were still a few years away from admission to the conference. This won’t shock anyone in Ann Arbor, but before that game played 62 years ago this Saturday, a group of MSC fans came to town ready to stir things up. They had mixed results. One group succeeded in sneaking into Michigan Stadium and used white paint to insert the initials ‘MSC’ in six-foot block letters at midfield. They took the rest of the paint to deface the press box windows and give other parts of the stadium a white wash. Another group, apparently a crew of sixteen future leaders of men, set out to deliver a more complex prank. They actually carefully designed and built a structure that would seal off the iconic Engineering Arch on campus (left). They constructed a wooden frame and created 60 cement blocks that when pieced together, would shut down the Arch. They actually rehearsed the prank and, according to reports, apparently could complete the stunt within seven minutes. But shockingly, they…
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Forty-Seven & Victors Valhalla
As discussed this weekend, Dave Brandon said he planned to extend an offer to the families of U-M players who’ve had their jersey number retired to be honored as Michigan Football Legends. If those families signed off, that would mean U-M would effectively “un-retire” those numbers and have them join #21 in the Legends program with a dedicated locker, a special patch on the jersey along with some prime, dedicated real estate in Victors Valhalla* inside Schembechler Hall. As mentioned I’d like to see this happen and I hope those families eventually agree to do this. Of course we won’t ever see a timetable from State Street for this to happen, so I sought out Ben McCready, the godson of Bennie Oosterbaan, to get his thoughts. "I would love to see #47 on the field again," McCready told me. "It would remind players and fans, old and new, about the incredible playing and coaching legacy of the greatest athlete in the history of the University of Michigan." McCready also recently contacted a couple of Oosterbaan’s closer living relatives and found that they were also supportive of the Legends concept. "They loved the idea," he shared. So—this is far from official and we’ll see where this goes from here, but I see this as excellent news. If the Oosterbaan family steps…
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Dr. Sap’s Decals – Eastern Michigan
Hoke didn’t bring them back but I think a surprising number of Michigan fans would like to see them return. I’m talking about the helmet stickers or decals of course, Bo Schembechler’s 1965 invention (while at Miami, OH) that he brought to Ann Arbor. Wolverine gear guru Dr. Steve Sapardanis was one hoping they’d be back and he’s even suggested a 2011 version to grace the Schutts and Riddells on Saturdays: Although these won’t adorn the headgear this season, Dr. Sap thought he’d run down a his thoughts on who he’d honor each week. First, some context from Sap: In the past, Bo Schembechler had a list of achievements and criteria for each team (Offense, Defense and Special Teams) as well as individual accomplishments for awarding his helmet decals. Not being privy to film study or game performance grading, the process has been simplified to just touchdowns and big plays – and a few other "Awards of Distinction" as you will see below. Here’s Sap’s rundown for Eastern Michigan, including some influence from the editor of this site. Week #3 vs. Eastern Michigan ALL members of the Michigan Defense: for not allowing a point in the 1st quarter – first time all season! Jibreel Black: 1 decal for Forced Fumble in 1st quarter. Thomas Gordon: 2 decals – one for…
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Bo Is Always Watching
Were you there? Well prove it. The Under the Lights Fan Cam from the Notre Dame game is out. Look who checked in: To Hell with Notre Dame! Speaking of watching, I think old Bob Ufer was watching, too. Via The M Zone, love this:
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Lights Out! Under the Lights I – Sights & Sounds | Michigan 35, Notre Dame 31 (2011)
In the intro of this week’s edition of ‘This Week in Michigan football History’, I said, “Time will tell if this tonight’s battle will be talked about for decades to come…” Well, it didn’t take much time to make that assessment and you can have that answer now if you’d like it. Yes, this will be talked about for decades to come.
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Remy Hamilton Shakes Notre Dame’s Thunder | This Week in Michigan Football History
For this week’s segment which will be broadcast during WTKA 1050AM’s KeyBank Countdown to Kick-off, we go back to September 10, 1994, and remember when Remy Hamilton stuck his foot in the Ron Powlus hype machine: (Yes, Ira included the mandatory To Hell With Notre Dame drop!). Here’s how it looked: You can check out all of the This Week…segments here. Go Blue!
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Night Moves: Michigan’s First Night Game (1944)
While Notre Dame will be Michigan’s guest for the first night game at the Big House, did you know it was Bo Schembechler’s 1982 Wolverines who played in the inaugural battle under the lights in South Bend? The Irish upset the 10th-ranked Wolverines 23-17 on that historic evening in front of 59,000 fans at Notre Dame Stadium. But that ’82 game wasn’t the first time the Wolverines played at night, as that tradition started nearly 70 years ago. On September 23, 1944, Fritz Crisler’s Wolverines traveled to Wisconsin to play The Hilltoppers of Marquette in a game that kicked off at 7 p.m. As part of the war effort, Michigan had several players on the roster as part of the Navy’s “V-12” training program. To enhance the supply of college-educated officers, the Navy rolled out V-12 in 131 U.S. schools. Those enrolled were considered active-duty personnel, required to adhere to strict military rules and discipline. One of those rules prevented any member to be away from the “base” (the campus, in this case) for more than 48 hours. To accommodate the 48-hour rule and to play a game on the road as far as Milwaukee, Fritz Crisler’s crew left Ann Arbor at around 1:30pm Friday afternoon and arrived at Marquette that evening. Crisler held a brief practice under the lights…
