Liddell/Ortiz 2

I'm really looking forward to the fight tonight, although I doubt Ortiz will do anything but get knocked out again.

Mike Tyson arrested for DUI and Coke possession

Former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson has been arrested and charged with DUI and cocaine possession. The Rhodes scholar was leaving a night club in Arizona when he was pulled over by the sheriff's office.

Sgt. Larry Hall said the boxer was stopped after his car almost struck a sheriff's vehicle while leaving the club at about 1:45 a.m.

"He showed signs of impairment and voluntarily submitted to field sobriety tests," said Hall, a member of the Buckeye Police Department who was working in the area as part of a holiday DUI task force.

Hall said the 40-year-old Tyson was placed under arrest after "showing more signs of impairment" during the field sobriety tests. Police then found cocaine on him and in his car, Hall said. The boxer was alone in the car.

Tyson was booked at the Maricopa County jail, isolated from other inmates for his own safety, and was set to make an initial court appearance Friday morning, Sheriff Joe Arpaio said.

Tyson will continue his spiral downfall until it leads to his tragic death. He has earned hundreds of millions in his life but is broke and with no true guidance in his life. Hopefully 'Iron Mike' can find some help before it is too late.

Made to be Broken

You know what they say about records, so here are some current Wolverines with chances at breaking Michigan records (be it Monday or next year).


Mike Hart

The junior tailback now has 1515 yards on the season and 3632 yards for his career. His single season total is the 5th best in Michigan history and he needs 159 to catch Chris Perry for #4, 188 to catch Jamie Morris for #3, and 218 to catch Anthony Thomas for #2. His career rushing total is 6h best in Michigan history and he can catch Chris Perry for #5 with only 64 more yards. He only needs 840 yards to tie Anthony Thomas for the #1 overall spot in Michigan history and barring injury, that seems like a lock next year as he has a very real chance to crack the 5000 yard barrier.

Mike Hart also has 14 rushing TDs this year and 27 for his career. He needs 1 more TD to tie Anthony Thomas for the 5th most in a single season in Michigan history. His 27 career rushing TDs are 9th best in Michigan history and he can surpass quite a few people before his career is over. He'll catch Gordon Bell with 1, Butch Woolfolk with 2, Billy Taylor with 3, and Steve Smith with 4. He needs 12 more to catch Chris Perry for #3 all time behind Tyrone Wheatley and Anthony Thomas.

Hart is now up to 19 career 100 yard rushing games which places him 3rd on Michigan's all time list needing only 3 more to catch Anthony Thomas for #1 all time. Hart can also tie Jamie Morris with 10 games of 100 yards rushing in a single season if he has a big Rose Bowl. He also has 8 career 150 yard rushing games which puts him just one behind Anthony Thomas for the #1 all time mark at Michigan. His 4 career 200 yard rushing games already hold the Michigan all time record.

Chad Henne

Chad is now up to 7468 career passing yards and 68 career passing touchdowns. He only needs 1786 yards to catch John Navarre for the all time Michigan lead and 3 TDs to catch Grbac for #2 on the list and 4 TDs to catch Navarre for #1 on the list. Henne also is down to 22 TD passes needed to catch Drew Brees for the all time Big Ten record and will likely fall just short of Brees all time Big Ten record for passing yardage.

Mario Manningham

Manningham has 9 TD catches on the season and 15 for his young career. Mario just needs 1 more TD to catch Braylon Edwards for the 10th best single season in Michigan history and 2 more would put him into a tie for the 6th best season in Michigan history. For his career, Manningham is now up to a tie for 10th best of all time in receiving TDs and only 8 more would put him all the way up to 4th behind Edwards, Carter, and Howard. If Manningham stays for 4 years, he has an outside shot at Braylon Edwards Big Ten and Michigan record of 39 career TD catches.

LaMarr Woodley

Woodley sits at 11 sacks and 14 TFL on the season and 22 sacks and 46 TFL for his career. He only needs 1 sack to tie the Michigan single season record and he needs 2 sacks to get to 3rd best in Michigan career history and 3 sacks to get to #2 in the all time record book. When it comes to TFL, he is 4th on Michigan's career list and can climb all the way to #2 with only 2 more TFL against USC. Woodley's 123 yards lost on TFL this season is already the best in Michigan history (by 1 yard over Jason Horn in 1995) and his 111 yards lost just on sacks is far and away the best in Michgian history in a single season ahead of Chris Hutchinson's 99 yards lost in 1992.

LaMarr Woodley also has 4 fumble recoveries on the season which places him in a tie for 3rd best single season in Michigan history and he needs 1 more to move into a tie for the best of all time.

Leon Hall

Leon Hall has 15 pass break ups this season and 31 for his career. Leon only needs 3 PBUs to move from #2 to #1 all time on the Michigan single season list alongside Marlin Jackson in 2002. He also needs 3 more to tie Marlin Jackson for #2 on the Michigan career list behind Todd Howard's 41. Leon Hall also has 3 INTs on the season and 12 for his career. His career total is #4 all time and he only needs 1 more to move to #3 on the career list.

Garrett Rivas

Garrett already has the career Michigan record with 63 career field goals made (tied with Remy Hamilton at #1). He also is the #2 career leader in field goal percentage at 77.8% (for players with at least 20 attempts) just behind Remy Hamilton at 83.3%. Garrett's 161 made PATs in his career are best in Michigan history (JD Carlson's 137). There really isn't a whole lot left for him to do in the record books once he gets one more FG to break the tie with Hamilton.


Steve Breaston

Steve already holds the Michigan career record with 1941 KR yards and 1599 PR yards. The punt return mark is also a Big Ten career record. He already joined Wisconsin's Nick Davis as the only players in Big Ten history to record at least 1000 yards in 3 different career categories (KR, PR, receiving). He also holds the Rose Bowl single game record with 315 all purpose yards in his last appearance in Pasadena so we'll see if he can top that on Monday.

The Grand Daddy of 'em All

What others are saying...

The Detroit Free Press notes that speed (or lack thereof) is still a topic of discussion

According to Lane Kiffen...""When you look at the Big Ten as a whole, there is not a lot of speed". "We go for speed," he said. "That's just our philosophy."

The Free Press also mentions how next year starts on Monday for Ron English

The answer will be heard throughout the off-season. If Michigan's defense stops USC's offense, English will keep his reputation as a bright young defensive mind and Booty will face major scrutiny next August. If USC overpowers Michigan's defense, U-M fans will wonder whether English is just a younger, more charismatic version of maligned former defensive coordinator Jim Herrmann.

On the calendar and in perception, next year starts Monday.

According to the Free Press, the Michigan defense will be ready

Since then, English said he's seen improved intensity and crispness. "We've picked it up," he said. "The preparation has gone well."

The Detroit News says that USC is ready to score some points against Michigan

They have a solid defense, but you definitely see they can be exposed at times," USC star receiver Dwayne Jarrett said. "It's exciting to see things like that."

The News also quotes another USC wide receiver licking his chops

"The other corner, No. 14, he's a good player, but I don't know, we feel like we can make some plays on him," Smith said of Trent. "The safeties, if they're starters, they have to be good, but we feel like we can make some plays in the secondary."

The LA Times quotes Leon Hall on Dwayne Jarrett

"Ohio State didn't have a Jarrett-type of receiver," Hall said. "Jarrett can put himself between the ball and the defender and, if he gets that position, then it's almost 100% that he's going to get the ball."

Another gem from Lane Kiffin in the LA Times

Lane Kiffin, USC's offensive coordinator, said the Trojans hope to slow that up-field push by running at Woodley, whose size raises questions about his ability to stop the rush.

The Orange County Register says Chauncey Washington is back for USC

The Trojans do, however, have one implement they had to leave in the toolbox against UCLA. They have a healthy Chauncey Washington.

"I believe I can be a difference-maker," Washington said.

The San Gabriel Valley Tribune says Leon Hall is up to the challenge

His sophomore year he got caught up in the B.S. of being a Freshman All-American," said English, who was defensive secondary coach before taking over as coordinator this season. "But the last two years he's been the type of kid that's really bought into being technically sound."

The SGV Tribune also has a bit on a wiser Chad Henne

A year wiser and more polished, Henne looks to lead the Wolverines past the disappointment of not reaching the Bowl Championship Series championship game and to their first bowl win four years.

"We were definitely disappointed with the (BCS) outcome at first, but we're at the Rose Bowl," said the Henne, a 21-year-old junior. "We're playing a great team, and we can be the second team in Michigan history to go out with 12 wins.

"That's what we've set our hearts on and we're coming out here to go out with a win."

One Last Time

Whereever it says "Kyle's Mom", just insert "Urban Meyer"




Whew, now I think I finally got it out of my system.

Will Michigan hoops dare to join this list?

1. Alabama
2. Alabama-Birmingham
3. Alabama State
4. Albany
5. Alcorn State
6. Air Force
7. Arizona
8. Arizona State
9. Arkansas
10. Auburn
11. Austin Peay
12. Belmont
13. Boston College
14. Boston University
15. Bradley
16. Brigham Young
17. Bucknell
18. Butler
19. Cal
20. California-Santa Barbara
21. Cal State-Northridge
22. Central Connecticut
23. Central Florida
24. Central Michigan
25. Charlotte
26. Chattanooga
27. Cincinnati
28. Colorado
29. Colorado State
30. Connecticut
31. Creighton
32. Davidson
33. Dayton
34. Delaware State
35. DePaul
36. Duke
37. East Tennessee St
38. Eastern Illinois
39. Eastern Kentucky
40. Eastern Washington
41. Fairleigh-Dickinson
42. Florida
43. Florida Atlantic
44. Florida A&M
45. Fresno State
46. George Mason
47. George Washington
48. Georgetown
49. Georgia
50. Georgia State
51. Georgia Tech
52. Gonzaga
53. Hampton
54. Hawaii
55. Hofstra
56. Holy Cross
57. Illinois
58. Illinois-Chicago
59. Indiana
60. Indiana State
61. IUPUI
62. Iona
63. Iowa
64. Iowa State
65. Kansas
66. Kent State
67. Kentucky
68. Lehigh
69. Liberty
70. Louisville
71. Louisiana-Lafayette
72. Louisiana State
73. Manhattan
74. Marquette
75. Maryland
76. McNeese State
77. Memphis
78. Miami (Fl)
79. Michigan State
80. Minnesota
81. Mississippi State
82. Missouri
83. Monmouth
84. Montana
85. Murray State
86. Nevada
87. New Mexico
88. Niagara
89. North Carolina
90. NC-Asheville
91. NC-Greensboro
92. NC-Wilmington
93. NC State
94. Northern Iowa
95. Northwestern State
96. Notre Dame
97. Oakland
98. Ohio
99. Ohio State
100. Oklahoma
101. Oklahoma State
102. Old Dominion
103. Oral Roberts
104. Oregon
105. Pacific
106. Penn
107. Penn State
108. Pepperdine
109. Pittsburgh
110. Princeton
111. Providence
112. Purdue
113. Richmond
114. Sam Houston State
115. San Diego
116. San Diego State
117. Saint John's
118. Saint Joseph's
119. Saint Mary's
120. Seton Hall
121. Siena
122. South Alabama
123. South Carolina
124. South Carolina State
125. Southeast Louisiana
126. Southern
127. Southern Cal
128. Southern Illinois
129. Stanford
130. Syracuse
131. Temple
132. Tennessee
133. Texas
134. Texas A&M
135. Texas-El Paso
136. Texas-San Antonio
137. Texas Southern
138. Texas Tech
139. Troy
140. Tulsa
141. UCLA
142. Utah
143. Utah State
144. Valparaiso
145. Vanderbilt
146. Vermont
147. Villanova
148. Virginia
149. Virginia Commonwealth
150. Wagner
151. Wake Forest
152. Washington
153. Weber State
154. West Virginia
155. Western Michigan
156. Western Kentucky
157. Wichita State
158. Winthrop
159. Wisconsin
160. Wisconsin-Milwaukee
161. Wyoming
162. Xavier

Just take a look at this list. Since the day Tommy Amaker was hired as head coach of Michigan in March of 2001, this is a list of schools that have played in the NCAA basketball tournament. That's 162 schools that have done what Michigan hasn't been able to. If somebody wants to argue that Michigan can't compete for a national title without major upgrades to Crisler and a practice facility, so be it. Just don't use that facilities talk as a reason why Michigan can't make the NCAA tournament when so many teams have been able to do it over the last few years.


I hesitate to even extend the list to include schools that have made it since Michigan last played in the NCAA tournament in 1998.

Holiday Cheer

Slow blogging the last few weeks with me being so busy at work and having so many holiday functions to attend. Things are starting to slow down a little bit finally, and what better way to start than with some Rose Bowl preview stuff? I'll try to have it up by Thursday. As for Michigan hoops getting blown out of the water by UCLA, can't say it was a surprise. This year's team is sorely lacking in talent in the backcourt and will get beaten handily by teams that can pressure the ball.

Happy Holidays

Michigan Hoops....11-1?????

So the Michigan basketball team defeated Northern Illinois yesterday to improve to 11-1 on the season heading into their showdown with #1 UCLA at the Pauley Pavilion next weekend. The question is, how good is this team? 11-1 is a mighty pretty record. In fact, it is the best record Michigan has had through 12 games in a long time. Twice under Amaker they have started 10-2 only to tail off somewhat in conference play. Michigan's only loss thus far was at NC State in the Big Ten-ACC Challenge and they haven't exactly had a quality win yet.

Let's take a peek at their 11 wins and how those teams have fared against other "major" competition this year.

• Central Connecticut State - CCSU hasn't really played anybody with a 13 point loss to UMass and a 3 point loss to St. Bonaventure being their biggest name opponents
• Davidson - they lost to Missouri by 6 points, Duke by 28 points, and beat Charlotte by 28 points
• Eastern Michigan - lost to Marquette
• Wisconsin-Milwaukee - also lost to UAB and Wisconsin
• Harvard - they haven't played anybody
• Youngstown State - lost to Michigan State and Ohio State
• Maryland-BC - lost to St. Johns, George Washington, and Marquette
• Wofford - lost to Clemson and Auburn and Cincinnati (by 1 point)
• Miami (OH) - lost to Kentucky, Xavier, Illinois, and beat Rutgers
• Delaware St - lost to Pitt, NC State, Marquette, Purdue, and Wisconsin
• Northern Illinois - hasn't played anybody

So not exactly an impressive slate of victories. Miami, UW-Milwaukee, Wofford, and Davidson are probably the best of the group. But how does Michigan stack up statistically with last year's NIT group through 12 games? Well, it's tough to compare because last year they had already played Notre Dame, Miami-Florida, UCLA, and Indiana. But here's a look anyway:

Stat: Last year - this year

Team FG%: 50.2% - 48.3%
Opp FG%: 41.4% - 36.0%
Rebounding margin: +8.6 - +9.4
Asst/TO ratio: 1.04 - 1.15
Team PPG: 73.0 - 70.5
Opp PPG: 61.3 - 54.3


Not a whole lot of difference. They still turn the ball over way too much. The defensive stats have been a bit better, albeit against far inferior competition. It will be interesting to see how they hang with UCLA. Can they keep it interesting in the second half? Will they get blown off the floor? The one encouraging part about this season thus far is that they have done most of this without much contribution from super frosh DeShawn Sims who has had a few little injuries here and there, but has been really emotionally hampered by the murder of his little brother a few weeks ago. If Sims can ever get his game back, they could make a run at an NCAA bid this year in a weak Big Ten. Based on recent history, however, I'm not holding my breath.

Troy Smith wins Heisman by Landslide

Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith won the Heisman Trophy today by the second largest margin ever. Smith beat out Arkansas running back Darren McFadden and Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn.

Only O.J. Simpson's 1,750-point victory in 1968 was more onesided than
Smith's.

"I haven't spent that much time dreaming about it," Smith said of winning the Heisman. "But I'll be dreaming about it tonight. It's pretty cool."

The senior moved to the front of the Heisman race in September with a flawless performance against Texas and finished off a perfect regular season by throwing four touchdown passes against Michigan.

The 22-year-old Smith is the sixth player from Ohio State to win the Heisman and first since tailback Eddie George in 1995. And it's the school's seventh Heisman -- Archie Griffin won two in 1974-75 -- tying Notre Dame and Southern California for the most.

Troy Smith was deserving of the award but the Heisman field was a bit weak this year. Brady Quinn would not have been a finalist if he didn't play for Notre Dame. If McFadden had played for the Irish or Buckeyes he would have won the award.

J.D. BOO Drew and the Idiotic BoSox Front Office

Being a St. Louis Cardinals fan there use to be a hope every year when J.D. Drew was on the Cardinals. The hope was that perhaps this would finally be the year that Drew lived up to the big expectations that were put upon him after leaving Florida State.

First he held out and refused to sign with the Philadelphia Phillies. You can probably guess his agent at this point. None other than the notorious Scott Boras. Drew then signs with the Cardinals and dissappointed St. Louis fans every single year he was in town. If he was not injured (about 60% of the time) then he was loafing around in the outfield, overrunning flyballs, and watching strike three be called countless times.

St. Louis finally got smart and traded Drew to the Atlanta Braves for Jason Marquis, Ray King and Adam Wainwright. King was a solid reliever for a couple of years for the Cards. Marquis was in the starting rotation and good initially before sucking it up and pitching himself off of the World Series roster. Wainwright spent a couple of years in the minors before arriving in the big leagues this year as a relief pitcher. He was the set-up man throughout the regular season. He then becaome the closer when Jason Isringhausen went down with a bum hip towards the end of the year. Wainwright went on to become a World Series hero with his nasty curve ball.

So what has J.D. Drew done during this time? Well he has missed 123 games in those three years since being traded by the Cards. He played one year for the Braves and it was a contract year. So what did Drew do? He played more games than he ever had up to that point. He played in 145 games. He hit .305 with 31 homers and 93 rbi's.

The Braves decided they couldn't afford Drew and so the Los Angeles Dodgers offered Drew $55 million dollars for five years. The script gets a little old, but Drew of course was injured over 50% of his first season with the Dodgers missing almost 90 games.

The Dodgers worst nightmare about J.D. was about to come true. The next season, 2006, Drew played 146 games. One more game than he played during his contract year with the Braves. Of course many people didn't know that Drew could opt out of his contract at the end of the year. Drew had a decent year batting .283 with 20 homers and 100 rbi's.

The next part is a bit predictible. Drew and his agent, Scott Boras, surprised the Dodgers and told them that they are opting out of the last three years and $33 million dollars of his contract. The Dodgers were intially shocked, disturbed and pissed at Drew and his super agent for going back on their word. The thinking around the rest of baseball land was who is going to pay this average outfielder more than the $11 million dollars per year that he was due from the Dodgers.

Drew and Boras had this part planned all along. They probably had even talked to teams before hand. The team of 'idiots' from 2004, the Boston Red Sox, decide to sign Drew for five years and $70 million dollars. It would appear that the so called 'idiots' of 04 have moved from the field to the front office. That is $14 million dollars per year for a guy who doesn't produce and is injured more often than he plays. This for a guy who has hit over thirty homers just once (31) and has a career high in rbi's of 100.

Boston mentioned Drew's speed and superior defense as part of the reason they gave him the big contract. Drew has never won a gold glove or come close. He also has stole a total of three bases the past two years.

Drew will play about 60% of the Red Sox games during the tenure of the contract which means that Boston is actually paying J.D. for three years of playing time which equates to $23.3 million dollars per year.

If Boston fans thought the curse of the Bambino was bad then they will be in for a big surprise when the Curse of paying J.D. Drew $70 million greenbacks a year finally registers around July during Drew's second trip to the disabled list. Think Boston fans you could have had Johnny Damon for the same price. At least that would have been justified and well earned, and unlike Drew, Damon has heart, pride and produces on the field.

Gary Danielson is the Anti-Christ

I bet Urban Meyer still feels dirty from the rim job that Gary Danielson gave to Florida on Saturday, though Urban was begging for it at the time.

Here's a link to the CBS feedback page where you can let them know what a douchebag you think Gary is and ask for his termination.

Go nuts with it. If Gary never says one word on TV again, I will be happy. He disgraced himself.

God Save Us All

Jim Walden, the former coach of Iowa State, apparently has a vote in the Harris Poll. As you probably know, this gives him a say in who plays in the BCS national title game. Well, not only does Jim have a vote, he had an interesting vote. He was the one and only person in the country to vote Florida #1 ahead of Ohio State. Here are some quotes from this weekend and a few months ago that put this man's logic in perspective.

From Whole Hog Sports:

But Walden said Texas would still deserve to be rated higher than every other one-loss team if it wins out because the Longhorns’ only loss was to No. 1 OhioState.

“You’re never going to get me to vote for one team ahead of a team that’s only lost to the best team in the country,” Walden said.

OK, got it? Seems simple enough. Now this little nugget from the New York Times:

“If you look at the Big Ten conference, it is a joke,” Walden said in a telephone interview late last night. He added: “I voted my heart and I voted my strength of what I believe in. In my opinion, Florida is the No. 1 team in the nation.”

Interesting. Any other thoughts on Florida and their coach Urban Meyer? Let's check the Des Moines Register:

“I have always thought the SEC was the whiniest bunch, who are under the mistaken belief that they have invented football and I have never met Urban Henry,” said Walden, mistakenly confusing Florida coach Urban Meyer for a Lombardi-era Green Bay Packer defensive lineman. “I have been drinking a lot of Alka-Seltzer today.”

Must be the Alka-Seltzer making him loopy. Do you really want a man so hopped up on Alka Seltzer helping decide the national championship? He was sold every week of the year that Ohio State was the best team in the country, including after their final victory over Michigan. Every other person in the country with a vote gave it to Ohio State for number one. But not slick Jim. Was he just trying to avoid his own logic from earlier this year in which he unequivocally said the team that lost to #1 would have to be #2? Is he that smart? I don't know.

I do know that the Harris poll really needs to step up the quality of people voting in the poll because it is a flat out joke right now.

Facts

Florida, Michigan....Michigan, Florida, etc.

• One of these teams played a tougher schedule than the other as based on the cumulative winning percentage of their opponents
• One of these teams best win was in South Bend by 26 points while the others best win was by 13 points at home over LSU
• One of these teams lost on the road to the #1 team in the nation by three points while the other lost by 10 points on the road to 2 loss Auburn
• One of these teams only had 2 games decided by 7 or fewer points while the other had 7 games decided by 7 or fewer points
• One of these teams had a coach that refused to bitch and moan about what his team deserved, while the other had a coach that cried like a little girl.
• One of these teams was far better against their one common opponent (Vanderbilt) than the other

And, one of these teams got snubbed from the national championship game because people don't want to watch a rematch. How sad is that? Just 2 weeks ago, the college football nation got treated to one of the greatest regular season games of all time. It was the highest rated game in over a decade. It featured the greatest rivalry in sports. It came approximately 27 hours after Bo Schembechler passed away. It was a 3 point game that came down to the final minutes. We had a chance to watch it happen again. It was Ali-Frazier II waiting to happen.

But alas, it was all for nothing. Instead, we get to watch Ohio State beat up on an inferior Florida team that is no real threat to them and Michigan gets to work on their tan in Pasadena for the 3rd time in 4 years.

But imagine what could have been if people had voted for who they thought was best, instead of what game they wanted to see. (HT MGoBlog)

George Lapides, a Memphis sports radio talk host, said he believed Florida would lose to Michigan if the teams were to play. But he jumped the Gators from No. 4 to No. 2, past the Wolverines, after Florida beat Arkansas.

“I liked the idea of a conference champion playing a conference champion,” he said. “I think that’s more appealing than a rematch. I think you try to pick something as appealing as possible.”

Ohio State v. Florida in BCS National Championship

National Championship: #2 Florida Gators v. #1 Ohio State Buckeyes
Rose Bowl: #5 USC Trojans v. #3 Michigan Wolverines
Sugar Bowl: #11 Notre Dame Fighting Irish v. #4 LSU Tigers
Orange Bowl: #14 Wake Forest Demon Deacons v. #14 Louisville Cardinals
Fiesta Bowl: #10 Oklahoma Sooners v. #8 Boise State Broncos
Cotton Bowl: #23 Nebraska Cornhuskers v. #9 Auburn Tigers

Michigan can cry foul because it will be the Florida Gators playing against the Ohio State Buckeyes in the BCS National Championship game.

Baseball Hot Stove Rumors

• Padres could trade Jake Peavy to Boston for Manny
• The Mariners are talking to veteran outfielder Luis Gonzalez
• Mets have inquired about trading for pitching ace Ben Sheets
• Houston is trying to decide between Morgan Ensberg and Aubrey Huff to play third base
• Cubs are looking to trade Jacque Jones over Matt Murton
• Curt Schilling is already defending the potential free agent signing of J.D. Drew

LSU fans gobbling up Rose Bowl Tickets

Fans of the LSU Tigers are garfing up tickets to a potential bowl game at the Rose Bowl. More than 32,000 tickets have been sold to LSU according to a report.

More than 16,000 tickets for the Rose Bowl were pre-sold between Tuesday
afternoon and Wednesday night, LSU ticket manager Brian Broussard told the
Shreveport Times, bringing the total of LSU Rose Bowl pre-sales to
32,000.

According to the report LSU will play either Michigan or USC in the Rose Bowl. I would assume that if USC wins their last game of the season against UCLA then the Tigers would be playing Michigan with USC playing in the Championship game against Ohio State.

Michael Vick gives the 'Dirty Bird'

Michael Vick of the Atlanta Falcons gave his home fans the 'Dirty Bird' yesterday as he was leaving the field. Perhaps he was just responding with how one dimensional he is to the home fans.

Crimson Tide fire Shula after 6-6 season

The Alabama Crimson Tide used head coach Mike Shula. That is the best way to describe it after the school fired Schula today.

Alabama was on probation when Shula took the job and they are set to finally come off it and receive all of their scholarships back in February. Shula had to coach the team under-manned for his entire tenure at the school.

The Tide was 10-2 last year and won it's bowl game against Texas Tech.

Sources are siting that Shula was fired because of the team's losses to rivals including Auburn and LSU.

Defensive coordinator Joe Kines has been named as the interim head coach. The Tide has had seven coaches in the twenty-four years since coach Bear Bryant retired.

There is no way to say Coach Shula wasn't screwed. He coached this team during it's most trying time and gets fired as his reward. Hopefully he will get another head coaching job elsewhere.

Ohio State and USC are 1-2 in new BCS poll

The USC Trojans moved past Michigan into second place in the BCS Bowl Championship poll. Ohio State remained at #1.

Michigan, Florida and LSU rounded out the top five.

Many experts believe a win for USC against UCLA next weekend will place the Trojans in the National Championship game against the Buckeyes of Ohio State.

Notre Dame fell from 5th to 9th in the standings after getting demolished by USC on Saturday night.

LSU moved up the most spots going from 10th to 5th with their win over top ranked Arkansas.

Louisville, Wisconsin, Boise State, Arkansas and Notre Dame finished out the top ten.

Top 10 BCS Standings- November 26, 2006

1. Ohio State Buckeyes 1.000
2. USC Trojans .946
3. Michigan Wolverines .922
4. Florida Gators .890
5. LSU Tigers .822
6. Louisville Cardinals .762
7. Wisconsin Badgers .710
8. Boise State Broncos .674
9. Arkansas Razorbacks .662
10. Notre Dame Fighting Irish .626

USC destroys Notre Dame

The #3 ranked USC Trojans destroyed the #6 Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Saturday night in Los Angeles by a score of 44-24.

The Irish never had a chance in this one after turning the ball over on downs on their first drive of the game. Trojans quarterback John David Booty threw for three touchdowns. He also threw two interceptions. Irish quarterback Brady Quinn threw for 268 yards and three touchdowns. Quinn was also the leader rusher for ND with 73 yards on 11 carries.

C.J. Gable let the Trojans on the ground with 108 yards on 20 carries. Receiver Dwayne Jarrett had 7 catches for 133 yards and 3 touchdowns for USC.

Now if the Trojans can beat UCLA next weekend at the Rose Bowl then they should be playing against Ohio State in the BCS National Championship game in January.

USC now has a record of 10-1. Notre Dame falls to 10-2.

Happy Holidays

I've been on vacation all week. Might get back to some blogging early next week when I'm back in town.

Part One?

Wow. What a game. It's not often you see the most hyped regular season matchup of all time and it actually lives up to the billing. 42-39? That was a hell of a game. I hope both defensive coordinators are busy fixing some major holes this morning because those offenses were rolling.

But back to the point on everybody's mind this morning: The Rematch.

Before the game, I stated I hoped their was no rematch. I still feel that way. Michigan had their crack at OSU and lost. Unfortunately, they lost a nailbiter on the road. I am forced to ask myself, who should Ohio State face in a bowl game? While I don't think it would be fair to force them to play Michigan again, the BCS says it should be the second best team in the nation.

And that leads to the question, who else is better than Michigan? They just took the best team in the country to the wire in their own house. If it was played in Ann Arbor, they probably win. Has USC been better? They got beat by crappy Oregon State and taken to the wire by Washington and ASU amongst other lesser teams. Notre Dame? Umm, please see the 47-21 smackdown earlier this year that the Wolverines handed out to the Irish. Florida? Maybe, but they have yet to be impressive this year with close game after close game. Arkansas? I think a 5 TD loss pretty much knocks them out of the equation.

The only fair thing for Ohio State would be to award them the national title tomorrow. But that's not going to happen and there is a very good chance they will face Michigan again on January 8th.

UPDATE: Michigan remains #2 in the BCS ahead of USC and Florida.

One

One Perfect Season.
One Rivalry.
One Game.
One Moment.

BO

Glenn E. Schembechler. 1/1/29 - 11/17/06. He was Bo. It's only 2 letters, but never has a nickname more aptly fit a coach. He was the meanest SOB on the field and in the lockerroom you'd ever want to meet. You did not want to get in his way when he was making a point. But he also taught young boys how to be men and how to succeed in life. He was the face of Michigan football for a generation. He took a once storied program and shot it full of life and took the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry to another level when he squared off with Woody Hayes in the 10 year war.

On the eve of the biggest Michigan-Ohio State game ever, Bo and Woody will now have the best seats in the house. The timing of Bo's death is just unreal. Yesterday, he addressed the team for one last time before they headed off to Columbus. I cannot even begin to analyze how this affects the game tomorrow. It's so far past "win one for the gipper". Bo was still an active part of the Michigan football family and had an office in aptly named Schembechler Hall.

Rest in Peace, Bo, and Go Blue.

I'd be remiss if I didn't include a few of my favorite Bo quotes...

"A Michigan man is going to coach Michigan" - Bo's proclamation when Bill Frieder agreed to take the Arizona St job prior to the 1989 NCAA tournament. Out with Frieder, in with Steve Fischer, and hello national title.

"205 lbs of twisted, hardened blue steel" - How Bo described himself after collapsing a few weeks ago.



There are also some phenomenal articles on Bo getting posted around the web. The Detroit Free Press has two outstanding ones including the best I have ever seen from perennial doom and gloomer Drew Sharp. Mitch Albom's article is a thing of beauty. Bo will be in everybody's thoughts and prayers tomorrow.

It's Christmas Eve

Words cannot accurately describe how much anticipation I have built up for the game on Saturday. It's insane. I have absolutely no idea how this game will play it. It is the unstoppable force meeting the immovable object. Both teams have been unbeatable this year and rolled to 11-0. OSU has been prettier, but Michigan has a more impressive resume of opponents.

The two juggernauts rocketing on a collision course all season long are finally about come together in one glorious afternoon of football at the 'Shoe.

Michigan-Ohio State is a big deal every year. It's a big deal if they have a combined record of 15-5. This year it is 22-0 in what is likely the biggest regular season game in the history of college football. Think about it.

• The Biggest Rivalry in all of sports
• The first time two teams from one conference have been 10-0 in over 70 years (and they are both 11-0)
• The first 11-0 v 11-0 conference matchup in the history of college football
• Guaranteed spot in the MNC game for the winner
• Possible MNC spot for the loser (though it should be noted I am not in favor of that)

What's not to like? Troy Smith will win the Heisman with a big game. Michigan's D, meanwhile, is looking to dispose of him like Brady Quinn. Chad Henne and Mike Hart are a phenomenal tandem. Ted Ginn and Mario Manningham are two of the biggest big play threats in the country. David Harris and James Laurinitis are two of the best LBs in the nation. Malcolm Jenkins and Leon Hall are two of the best corners in the nation. Alan Branch and Quinn Pitcock are two of the best defensive tackles in the nation. LaMarr Woodley is the tasmanian devil at defensive end. Hell, you could probably make a combined team from the Wolverines and Buckeyes that would top any conference's best in the country.

This game could go any number of ways. Troy Smith could once again dazzle and lead OSU to an easy victory. Michigan's defense could pummel the OSU offense. Mike Hart might go off for 200 yards. Mario Manningham could put on a show like he did against Notre Dame. Tressell might beat Carr again. Carr might win his second national title.

The only thing I know is that the entire world of college football will be tuned in to watch. Should easily be the most watched regular season game in college football history.

Ohio State-Michigan Game Notes

From the greatest production of the MGoBlue website on a weekly basis, some highlights from this week's edition of Game Notes.

• The Wolverines hold a 57-39-6 advantage in the all-time series and have compiled a 6-4 record in the last 10 meetings between the two schools.
• U-M has a 27-21-2 record in Columbus and is 21-20-1 at Ohio Stadium.
• Head coach Lloyd Carr has a 6-5 record against the Buckeyes, including a 2-3 mark in Columbus.
• The Wolverines received 1,513 votes in the coaches poll and 1,561 votes in the AP poll, including a first-place vote in both polls. This is the highest the Wolverines have been ranked in the AP poll since U-M claimed the 1997 Associated Press national title.
• This Saturday, Michigan will play its 365th game when ranked in the top 10 of the Associated Press national poll. The Wolverines have compiled a 271-83-10 all-time record
  (.758) when listed in the AP top 10; head coach Lloyd Carr has a 47-18 record. This season, Michigan is 8-0 while rated in the top 10.
• Carr has had great success against top 10-ranked foes during his career, posting a 16-6 mark against Associated Press top 10 squads and an 8-2 record against top five teams. He began his coaching tenure with nine straight victories over top 10-ranked teams.
• Carr is 6-2 on the road against top 10 teams.
• The Wolverines enter the Columbus looking to claim their league-leading 43rd conference
  crown and sixth during Lloyd Carr’s tenure as head coach. U-M’s 42 conference championships are the most of any college football prgram in any conference across the country. The Wolverine football program is the only Big Ten team in any sport to win a conference title in each decade.
• U-M leads the nation in rushing defense this season, yielding 29.9 yards per contest to the
  opposition. The Wolverines held their first four opponents to less than 50 yards rushing, the first time that U-M accomplished that feat during head coach Lloyd Carr’s tenure. Michigan has held 10 of its 11 opponents to under 60 rushing yards, including nine under 50, five under 25 and two to negative rushing yards.
• Michigan’s defense heads to Columbus as the toughest to crack on third down this season.
  The Wolverines lead the nation in third down defense. U-M has allowed the opposition to convert just 25 percent of its third-down chances (39-156).

I could go on and on, but there is a ton of great stuff there. It's an excellent read to get you up to speed.

The Man, The Myth, The Legend

It's Ufer Time! on ESPN with a nice article by Gene Wojciechowski. Personally, I think it's an apt time to recall a famous bit of Ufer from the past. Listen here.

It was November 22nd, 1969, that they came to bury Michigan.
All dressed in Maize and Blue.
The words were said, the prayers were read, and everybody cried.
But when they closed the coffin, there was someone else inside.

Oh they came to bury Michigan, but Michigan wasn't dead.
And when the game was over it was someone else instead.
Eleven Michigan Wolverines put on the gloves of gray
And as the organ played the Victors they laid Woody Hayes away.

The part about "they came to bury Michigan" and "when they closed the coffin there was someone else inside" seems to sound familiar this year as Michigan sits as a 7 point underdog heading into Columbus and seemingly just a roadbump on the Buckeyes road to the national title.

Ufer will forever be one of the most cherished names in Michigan football, and in his own words "MEE-CHIGAN can do it. MEE-CHIGAN can do anything."

Statistically Speaking

Yeah, I like numbers. They are cold and hard and people use them to make lots of arguments. Here's some numbers for The Game and how the Wolverines and Buckeyes have compared on the season thus far.

Statistic --- Michigan / Ohio State

Scoring offense: 29.4 / 35.8
Scoring defense: 12.1 / 7.8
Total offense: 373 / 401
Total defense: 231 / 262
Rushing offense: 195 / 179
Rushing defense: 30 / 90
Passing offense: 178 / 222
Passing defense: 202 / 173
Passing efficiency: 145 / 166
Pass eff defense: 101 / 97
Turnover margin: +12 / +14
FG kicking: 83% / 73%
3rd down conv: 40% / 51%
3rd down defense: 25% / 31%
Net punting: 33.9 / 37.0

A couple interesting points. OSU has a much better scoring differential, but Michigan actually has a better yardage differential (in terms of net difference and even better for percentage difference). Michigan is better on both sides on the ground and Ohio State is better on both sides through the air. Michigan has an edge at kicking, but OSU gets the edge at punting. OSU is better on 3rd down on offense, but Michigan is better on 3rd down on defense. Both teams have a phenomenal turnover margin.

What does all this mean? Not a damn thing you couldn't figure out from seeing #1 11-0 vs #2 11-0. They are both very good and have varying strengths and (relative) weaknesses.

Nothing to See Here

Move along people, there is nothing going on this week. I think Michigan has a bye or something as I haven't heard much about any upcoming games.



(thanks to Nothing Is Illuminated for the link to the pic)

Yeah, now that the last of the cupcakes (Northwestern and Indiana) have been polished off, it's now officially OK to talk about the BCFGOAT. Yep, the Biggest College Football Game Of All Time is about to go down in Columbus, Ohio. Last week I learned that two teams from the same conference hadn't been 10-0 since 1935. That's a long time. I'm anxiously awaiting somebody to dig through the entire history of college football to find a pair of 11-0 teams from the same conference meeting in their season finale. I'd say there is a very good shot it has never happened. Expect an orgy of information relating to The Game this week from every media outlet imaginable.

In other news, it was nice to see the Tigers add a big time bat to the lineup. Gary Sheffield is old, but he draws walks and hits for power and is still one of the most feared hitters in the league. If he stays healthy, he is the Tigers #1 or #2 hitter alongside Carlos Guillen. It's also nice that they didn't give up a single piece of the MLB roster parting only with major prospect Humberto Sanchez and a couple A ball pitchers. More thoughts to follow once CFB is in hiatus.

A Walk Down Memory Lane

This year's game is in Columbus at the Horseshoe. Here's a little look back at Michigan's last 10 trips to Ohio to play the Buckeyes.

2004 - Ohio State won 37-21 in a game that wasn't very close. Chad Henne and Mike Hart were freshmen making their debuts in the rivalry. Troy Smith stole the show ending Michigan's 13 game conference winning streak by rushing for 145 yards and passing for 241 yards.

2002 - Ohio State won 14-9 in a game that sent them to the Fiesta Bowl where they would eventually win the national championship. It was a strange game as Michigan had over 100 more yards total offense and twice as many first downs. But OSU converted their chances into 2 touchdowns while Michigan repeatedly settled for field goals.

2000 - Michigan won 38-26 in Columbus to clinch the Big Ten title. Drew Henson lead the way going 14/25 for 303 yards and 3 TDs.

1998 - Ohio State won 31-16 despite 375 yards passing by Tom Brady. Michigan never really threatened in this game.

1996 - Michigan won 13-9 over the previously unbeaten Buckeyes. This game will always be remembered for Tai Streets 69 yards touchdown on the second play of the second half when Shawn Springs slipped and fell in coverage.

1994 - Ohio State won 22-6. An ugly game all around for the Wolverines as the Buckeye scoring started with a safety when Todd Collins tripped on his lineman's feet in the endzone.

1992 - The Game finished in a 13-13 tie that was a fitting end to a Michigan regular season that featured 3 ties. Kirk Herbstreit had the game of his life and OSU rallied from a 10 point deficit in the 4th quarter to come up with the tie.

1990 - Michigan won 16-13 on a field goal by J.D. Carlson as time expired after Greg Frey's 4th and 1 keeper failed less than 2 minutes earlier deep in Michigan territory. The win sent Ohio State from the Rose Bowl to the Liberty Bowl (ouch).

1988 - Michigan won 34-31 behind legendary heroics from John Kolesar. OSU rallied from a 20-0 halftime deficit to take a 31-27 lead with 2 minutes remaining. Kolesar busted off a 59 yard kick return and then 2 plays later nabbed a 41 yard TD catch to seal the victory for the Wolverines.

1986 - Michigan won 26-24 despite 3 turnovers by outgaining the Bucks by nearly 200 yards on the day. My memory is a bit fuzzy on this one.


There you have it, 20 years of Michigan-Ohio State football in Columbus. Michigan is 5-4-1 over that time span. So who will step up this year? Can Garrett Rivas duplicate JD Carlson's feat? Can Steve Breaston channel John Kolesar? Will Chad Henne put up numbers reminiscent of Drew Henson?

Michigan Hoops Talent on the Way

There is a great article on Michigan's three hoops recruits for the incoming class of 2007 on MGoBlue. Alex Legion, Manny Harris, and Kelvin Grady will bring a serious talent infusion to the roster when they set foot on campus. Legion and Harris are both ranked in the top 40 nationally by Rivals.com. Here's a quick and dirty overview of their games.

Legion - a straight up scoring machine. He's a 6'5", 185 lb wing with a deadly jumper that has range out behind the arc. He can also score in traffic. He transferred from Detroit to Oak Hill in Virginia for his senior year of HS where he can follow in the footsteps of guys like Carmelo Anthony and Marcus Williams and other elite talents that have gone their for a year of bball boot camp. Definitely needs to work on his passing and defense, but he can score with the best of them.

Harris - a tough as nails combo guard at 6'5", 170 lbs that can do it all on the court. His biggest strength is his tenacious defense, and he is at his best slashing to the hole on offense. Still needs to work on his jumper but he has a well rounded and explosive game that will make him a dangerous player on both ends of the court. Expect him to compete for PT at point guard.

Grady - lightning quick 5'11" 170 lb guard who is the little brother of Kevin. Also a great TB, but he's coming to Michigan strictly for football. Biggest strength is his defense which is aided by his blazing speed and quick feet and hands. A good but not great offensive PG, he should at minimum provide good depth and compete at the PG spot. If his jumper gets a little better he could be a very good college PG because he will lock people down on the other end.


It's nice to see that the hoopsters are starting to restock with talent after a couple of years of sleepers and projects. DeShawn Sims, Alex Legion, and Manny Harris are 3 of the most talented/highly ranked players to commit to Michigan in the last 5-10 years. When you add in the fact that Amaker is still in on some mega-recruits in 2007 at the post spots, Michigan's basketball roster is getting a serious upgrade in talent over the next 2-3 years compared to the past. I should mention that it also helps that this is the first season they have had 13 scholarships in a long time so it shouldn't be a coincidence that they are improving their recruiting.

Midweek Miscellany

It's Election Day! The results are in: Ohio State still sucks! I kid because I care. It's the week before the week of the Ohio State game, which I guess is referred to by some as the week of the Indiana game. Honestly, though, it's Indiana. I know they beat Iowa, but so did Northwestern. I also know Indiana just lost to Minnesota by some God forsaken score of a bajillion to fourteen or something like that.

I gotta say that the best thing I saw on TV this weekend, was the last 23 seconds of the first half of the Wisconsin-Penn State game. It was sheer comedy on so many levels. First you have Wisconsin just blatantly abusing the clock rules which was funny on it's own. Then you get to see JoePa torn between disbelief and sheer anger as he comes onto the field and rips into the ref. Then on Wisconsin's third kickoff, a squib, PSU fumbles and it is actually recovered by Wisconsin but the half had run out by then. Finally, as JoePa is walking to the lockerroom, he threatens to go postal on the camerman. It is probably the longest last half minute of a half ever, but it is one of the best 6 minutes of TV you will ever see in a college football game. See for yourself...

Doogie Howser is gay?!?!?!?!?! I wonder if CBS will keep up the Barney's Blog. No, not the purple dinosaur. It's the blog of Neil Patrick Harris' character on How I Met Your Mother. I just find it a little amusing when Doogie is gay and his character is the horniest heterosexual guy on TV. The titles of some recent blog entries: "Huntin' Coug", "The Amazing Morning-After System", "Occupation Stimulation", etc.

It's also sad to see Britney and K-Fed calling it quits. I had such high hopes for the cute couple. If they can't make it, what hope do the rest of us mortals have? Although I have to wonder if this is just Britney fulfilling her life long destiny as trailer trash. Hand her some menthols and she can be a nice 24 year old single mother of two living back home with mommy in Louisiana. And yes, this was techinically her second marriage. Do we have an Elizabeth Taylor rival in the makings? She could hit four marriages by age 30 with no trouble at all.

Sorry for going off topic. I am still dazed and confused by Ohio State's 7 point win over Illinois and how bad the Buckeye offense looked in the second half. I don't make much of it, though, just strange to watch and wonder exactly what might be possible for the Michigan defense.

The Non-Preview Preview of Michigan Basketball

They done up and sucked at the end of last year and blew what should have been a guaranteed NCAA berth with an experienced and talented team. With it is gone any ounce of benefit of the doubt I had towards this team. From now on, they'll have to prove it on the court before I believe it. But I thought I should get to this preview before Big Ten Wonk, because I guarantee that his knowledge of some of the newcomers will be lacking and perhaps I could help out :)

So what to expect this year? Would it be wrong to say "the unexpected"? Let's first go back to last year. Courtesy of Big Ten Wonk's tempo free stats, you can find some interesting things. For one, Michigan was tied for being the 2nd most efficient offensive team in the conference last year at 1.06 points per possession. This unfortunately was offset by their tying for 2nd worst defense in the conference at 1.07 points allowed per possession to the opponents.

Michigan was efficient on offense? Say what? If you are like me, you remember Michigan turning the ball over with regularity for what seems like the 28th year in a row. It's true. They were the 2nd worst team in the Big Ten turning the ball over on a full 24.1% of possessions. But when they didn't turn it over, they were demons. Michigan was the 2nd best shooting team in the conference with an eFG% of 52.9% that was topped only by the deadly Buckeyes. They were also the best offensive rebounding team in the conference snagging nearly 37% of their own misses off the glass.

Yep, if Tommy's boys could've taken care of the rock last year they would've been one of the best offensive teams in the nation. That's the good news. The bad news is they did turn the ball over too much and they stunk on defense. Michigan used their crappy defense in terms of efficiency combined with the fastest pace in the conference to allow a league worst 71.1 points per game in Big Ten games. This offset their #2 scoring offense that scored 70.5 points per game.


So what did they lose from last year? Daniel Horton, Graham Brown, and Chris Hunter are out. Freshman Kendric Price (redshirt), Ekpe Udoh, K'len Morris, DeShawn Sims, and Reed Baker are in. Horton is the obvious big loss, but is it really that big? He came on last year as a more efficient scorer but still only ranked 15th in the conference in PPWS. He also offset his #4 in the conference ranking in assists per 100 possessions with the #5 worst rate of turnovers per 100 possessions. It was the story of Horton's career. A high volume shot taker that had a poor assist/to ratio for a point guard. He did some great things, but frequently was the end of a bad Michigan possession with a missed shot or a turnover. Brown and Hunter provided some size down low the last 4 years and Brown really came on as a rebounder leading the Big Ten in rebounding percentage last year snagging a full 18.8% of all available boards when he was in the game. Neither provided much offense and were merely adequate on the defensive end, buoyed mostly by rebounding.

And who's on the team this year? We'll start with the post players and move down to the guards.

Courtney Sims - he's a big body and he's been known as a soft player throughout his previous 3 years in Ann Arbor. He sometimes plays like a dominant college big man, but way too often is nowhere to be found when the going gets tough. But behind his reputation lies a consistently improving player. In each of his first 3 years on campus, he has had significant improvements in his PPG, RPG, and FG%. His scoring has increased from 7.7 to 9.9 to 10.9 poings per game. His rebounds have gone from 4.7 to 5.2 to 5.7 per game. His FG% has gone from 55% to 59% to 63%. Not too shabby. He ranked 3rd in the Big Ten in PPWS last year and 8th in rebounding percentage (both stats for conference games only). Based on his career numbers, it seems that 12-13 points and 6.5 rebounds a game are not out of line along with 65% shooting from the field. When Sims is on, he's very tough to defend in the post with his feathery touch and long arms. Unfortunately, he can struggle to get position against tougher defenders and struggles to beat the double team. It's now or never for this senior to prove he is one of the best players in the Big Ten by stepping up in his final season.

Brent Petway - Air Georgia. Opposing fans think he just wants to dunk and has no interest in helping the team win. The funny thing is, he is a phenomenal defender and very good on the glass. Yes, his offense is limited to within 5 or 10 feet from the rim, but he is still a valuable player that brings energy off the bench. I'm a little worried that his impact will suffer if Michigan is forced to use him as a starter at the 4 spot this year. Thankfully, our next player may have something to say about that.

DeShawn Sims - Michigan's biggest recruit since Daniel Horton and a hell of a matchup problem for opponents. This freshman could be a star. He's 6'8", 225 lbs, and can score inside or out. Jamal Mashburn is the comparison that has most frequently been thrown around to describe his game. In very tragic news, his younger brother was shot and killed this weekend so my heart goes out to him and his family. Sims figures to be the prototypical 4 man for the uptempo game that Tommy Amaker favors.

Ekpe Udoh - get to know this name. He's 6'10" with a 7'3" wingspan and he can do some damage in the paint. Not afraid to mix it up down low, this freshman will provide big time depth off the bench this year spelling Courtney Sims. His style is also a nice complement to the team and will help replace a little of what Graham Brown brought.

Kendric Price - a 6'8" twig at 205 lbs who has too good of a jumper to play in the post and too little ball handling skills to play on the wing. He redshirted last year and I have no idea what kind of contribution he will make this year.

Ronald Coleman - in the words of Brian of MGoBlog, "meh". He doesn't do much for me. Supposedly a great shooter, but he's a mere 32% behind the arc in his 2 years at Michigan. He tries hard, but lacks athleticism or the ability to handle the rock. I'm never confident when he is on the floor.

Lester Abram - now this kid can play. He's a career 11 ppg scorer and ranked #4 in the Big Ten in PPWS last year. He can stroke it from anywhere on the court and is a hard nosed defender. Now a 5th year senior, he is a career 49% shooter from the floor, 40% behind the arc, and 85% from the line. His only problem is that he cannot create much off the dribble and is not a good passer. Abram is a great secondary scorer on a team, but he cannot create for himself and he doesn't make others better. Still, when he is in the game Michigan usually has an advantage over their opponent at his position.

K'len Morris - jack of all trades who can play anything from the 1 to the 3 spot on the floor. I'll have to see more of his game before I make any definitive statements as to how good this freshman is, but he is definitely not a raw project as he has a pretty polished game based on reports of everybody that have seen him. He'll provide depth off the bench this year, but we are in trouble if he is playing major minutes.

Anthony Wright - interesting freshman from hoops power Oak Hill in Virignia. He's a 3 man with deep range on his jumper and a reputation for being a tough defender. He also has to know a thing or two about winning coming from Oak Hill. Might have a tough time cracking the rotation, though, with guys like Abram and Coleman and Morris also fighting for time at the small forward spot.

Jevohn Shepherd - if anybody on the team can give Petway a run for his money in terms of athleticism, it's this kid. This sophomore from Toronto is a 6'5" skywalker. Unfortunately, he handles the ball worse than many HS players and can't pass. His jump shot is OK and he can play good defense, but his ballhandling really holds him back. A tremendous upside, but I'm skeptical that he can be more than role player this year.

Dion Harris - this senior is the prototypical combo guard. Pretty good handle for a shooting guard, but far from a natural point. He has scored at least 10 ppg in each of his first 3 seasons peaking at 14 ppg as a sophomore. Last year he was deadly behind the arc hitting 39% despite shooting a high volume going 69/177. One of the best long range shooters in the conference will be splitting time between PG and SG this year for the Wolverines. Expect his scoring to suffer if he is running the point and Michigan doesn't have anyone that can replace his scoring ability at the 2 spot. This leads us to...

Jerret Smith - the pudgy backup PG as a freshman is going to be counted on to provide big time minutes at the point this year. He is not the fastest, but is very strong on the ball on offense. A decent shot and a natural passing ability combined with good vision make him a perfect fit at point guard. Unfortunately, his conditioning lets him down at times and he has to rely on guile and strength to break down the D because his quickness isn't good enough.

Reed Baker - lightly recruited 6'1" point guard from Fort Myers, Florida. He's the prototypical scrappy little white guy that can shoot the lights out. It's a void Michigan has had since Robbie Reid graduated. How much will he contribute? Hard to say. It's not hard to imagine him coming into at least one game this year and knocking down 4/5 threes over a few minutes and breaking a game open, but it's also not a stretch to think he'll have trouble defending any good Big Ten guard.


There you have it, the 2006 Michigan Wolverines. What to expect? Only God knows. I could see them finishing anywhere between 17-14 and 23-8 in the regular season heading into the Big Ten tournament. I'm not betting on them winning anything this year, but hold out the possibility that I could be pleasantly surprised. I'll be happy if they stop turning the ball over so much and play some defense. I think the 2 most important players this year are Jerret Smith and Courtney Sims. If they are both consistently productive, Michigan will have a very good team. I find it hard to believe that they can both do that, however.

Ball State recap

Or why the score looks a hell of a lot worse than the game.

Michigan
...rushed for 352 yards
...averaged 7.7 yards per carry
...got their 3rd string TB over 100 yards
...completed 68% of their passes despite several easy drops
...gave up 3 points from the starting D
...gained over 500 total yards from scrimmage
...didn't miss a kick

But yeah, it was a close game at the end.

I absolutely hate it when we play inferior opponents way too close. Michigan should be good enough to blow them out of the water. But you know what? Let's be a little rational about this. Is there anything from this game that portends badly for the Ohio State game? Not really.

Offense
Rolling, Rolling, Rolling...they were rolling on Saturday. 46 carries, 352 yards, and a boatload of asskicking up front. In addition to the rushing attack, Chad Henne was 17/25 passing despite being victimized by several easy drops. And yes, Superman was back in action wearing number 86. What's not too like? How about the drops. It's becoming a nasty habit of the receivers dropping too many easy catches. Henne also threw a pick six. Watching the film, I'm not sure if Henne or Breaston deserves more of the blame. Henne can't make that throw, but Breaston also has to get underneath the defense on a slant and not let them jump it. Either way it was a horrible play. But realistically, the offense did whatever they wanted on Saturday rolling up 507 yards from scrimmage and averaging an insane 7.1 yards per play. Ball State sure was a nice way to get the offense healthy.

Defense
A tale of two defenses played out on Saturday. The first stringers ate Ball State for lunch as expected allowing well under 200 yards of total offense and only 3 points. The second stringers? Yikes. Burnt toast. Johnny Sears and Charles Stewart each managed to get burnt deep once leading to a TD. Sears got torched on a 54 yard touchdown catch and Stewart got lit up on a 62 yard catch that got BSU inside the 5 and lead to another TD. Those 2 plays were the difference between a blowout and a close game. It's a little strange that Carr and co. went to the backups with so much time left and it's even more disturbing that they sucked so badly. But does that somehow make the starting defense look worse? Hardly. The only thing it could mean trouble for is the 2007 Michigan defense.


Really, the game was quite simple to describe. Michigan dominated most of the game, but BSU made 4 big plays leading to 23 points that made it very interesting.

1) Mike Hart's fumble for a safety - like El Nino, Hart fumbling does not come around every year. Opponents should enjoy it while they can. Does anyone honestly expect this to happen against OSU?

2) Chad Henne's pick 6 - horrible pass and I am splitting blame 50/50 at this point between he and Breaston for reasons listed above. Henne has been very stingy with the INTs this year, so unless this becomes a trend I'm not very worried. The only play remotely similar to this all year was the pick against Notre Dame on the first drive that hit the ND safety in the numbers and got returned inside the 5.

3) Johnny Sears getting burned - he's the #5 CB on the team behind Hall, Trent, Harrison, and Stewart so he won't be playing against OSU much at all. I've got high hopes for him in the future, but he's a redshirt freshman right now with almost no experience.

4) Charles Stewart getting burned - he's the #4 CB on the team and the fact that he actually started 2 games when Trent was injured scares me somewhat. He is slow as crap and would be better suited to SS with his physical play. Fortunately, he also will not be playing much against OSU.

And that's basically it. Mike Hart and Brandon Minor and Jerome Jackson did as they pleased with the ball racking up insane numbers. Kevin Grady sat with a shoulder injury and was unable to pad his stats like the rest of the backs. Mario Manningham is back and will start next week. Tyler Ecker and Mike Massey both could've played and should play next week which is great news for the OSU game when we will get back to having 3 quality TEs instead of 1 that is a freshman.

In summary, the final score was ugly. That's about all you can take from the game, however, as Michigan's first string offense and defense were steamrolling Ball State.

Lloyd Carr versus The Nation (and BSU)

As of Friday, November 3rd, here are the winningest college football programs in the country since Lloyd Carr took over at Michigan for the 1995 season. Listed is their overall record along with winning percentage and number of national titles over that time span.

1) Ohio State: 116-30, 79.5%, 1
2) Florida St: 114-32, 78.1%, 1
3) Tennessee: 113-32, 77.9%, 1
4) Texas: 114-33-1, 77.4%, 1
5) Miami: 109-32, 77.3%, 1
6) Nebraska: 114-34, 77.0%, 2
7) Florida: 113-34, 76.9%, 1
8) Michigan: 111-34, 76.6%, 1
9) Virginia Tech: 111-34, 76.6%, 0

Nobody else is even close to the top 9 in terms of winning percentage. As you can see, when it comes to winning games and winning national titles, Michigan has been as good as anybody since Lloyd Carr took over with less than 3 wins per 100 games separating them from #1 on the list.

Anyways, on to Ball State. They suck. Based on all the repeated criticisms of Michigan for their "close" 14 point win over Northwestern last week expect them to open it up just a bit more in the first half this week. It also helps that Mario Manningham is back and they'll try to get him a ball or two to get his timing back.

Look for more heavy doses of Kevin Grady, Brandon Minor, and Jerome Jackson today as they run, run, and run some more in the 2nd half. Carlos Brown might even get some plays if we're lucky. Ball State has a good passing game, but their OL has never blocked what Michigan will throw at them today.

Best guess at a score? How about 34-10. I don't think the weather will be nearly as bad this week as it was last week.

2006 BTPR, week 9

All work and no play make Homer something, something. Go Crazy? Don't mind if I do!

Way, way, way, way, way too much work this week. I think my conference power ratings have to stay the same for another week, however, because the higher ranked teams just keep on winning every game. Hopefully I don't close out the year with these same rankings.

1) Ohio State
2) Michigan

3) Wisconsin - these first 3 are getting boring

4) Penn State - nice shutout of the Boilers and they get a crack at #3 this week
5) Iowa - not a good team without Drew Tate
6) Purdue - blah

7) Minnesota
8) Indiana - will fight for #7 this week
9) Michigan State

10) Illinois
11) Northwestern


I'll see if I can't swing a preview of Ball State in the morning.

Hoop This

We interrupt your previously scheduled Michigan football blogging to pass along a reminder. It's The Return of The Wonk! Big Ten Wonk is back in action on Wednesday. He'll have an opening day Festivus (for the rest of us) followed by Alphabetically Sensitive Preseason Walk Arounds (ASPWAs) for each team. You guessed it, they are in alphabetical order. Michigan is due to hit the bookstands on November 7th so stay tuned.

But seriously, the dude knows hoops. He has been more than doing his part to shed light on tempo-free stats and the like. If you think rebounds per game is a great stat to measure rebounding prowess by, please read up on Wonk and get your act together! Unfortunately, Michigan has sucked during his reign. I refuse to do much of a preview on Michigan basketball this year, but I'll get into those reasons in a month or so with my "not a preview" preview. Until then, please get your fill from Wonk.

I'd also be remiss to mention that I'll have some thoughts on the World Series and the Tigers offseason in a few weeks. It's just that they played like such crap it isn't worth my time right now and I'm thankfully far more interested in college football right now with Michigan's fantabulous season. But fear not, I will get to it.

This is Way Too Good to Miss

In the spirit of TOO EARLY Ohio State stuff, check out this preview of The Game. It is one hell of a nice read done in a position by position matchup style preview. Sure there are some parts here or there that I would disagree with, but it is funny as hell. Some snippets...

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Defensive line: Whirling vortex of horror vs. rampaging hordes of unholy might. Both groups are quite, quite good. Michigan, however, has the clear edge here. They average something absurd like 7'3" and 545 pounds across the line (slight exaggerations) and knocked 2 of Penn State's innocent QBs out of the game with a blitzkrieg of sacks and flattenings that made Poland shudder. Smith's mobility at QB will probably help mitigate UM's bloodlust, but it will be tough to run against them. Edge: Michigan.

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Carr, on the other hand, is your run-of-the-mill crotchety grandpa type, the one who keeps all the balls you hit over his fence in a big garbage bag labeled "Jason's toys he'll never ever get back ever even after I die so help me God won't someone teach these kids some respect, consarn it?" Tressel is suspected by many detractors and non-Buckeye partisans of cheating or using unholy magic, basically because he's really good at the two things Ohio State is notoriously bad at: beating Michigan and winning bowl games. I dismiss the notion that Tressel is "in Carr's head", however. Both men have, in all likelihood, killed men with their bare hands and enjoyed it.

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Great writing even though most of his stuff appears to have almost nothing to do with sports. Perusing his site it looks like he is from Cleveland which would explain the fascination with The Game. At least he had the good sense to get out of Ohio.

College Football Thoughts and Musings

Quite a weekend of college football, though Michigan didn't have much to write about. The Trojans were denied by the Beavers, West Virginia and Louisville are looking ahead to Thursday night's showdown, Ohio State rolled on. Some thoughts...

• West Virginia - yes, I get it. You are now up to number 3 in the BCS with USC's long regular season winning streak snapped. You are playing Louisville in a battle of unbeatens that very well might be a national semifinal of sorts along with the Michigan-Ohio State game. But please, spare me the no respect card. West Virginia just hasn't proven anything this year. They are 7-0 against simply putrid competition. What kind of a non conference schedule is this? Marshall, Eastern Washington, Maryland, Eastern Carolina, and Mississippi State? Yes, Steve Slaton is a phenomenal talent and Pat White can make plays. Do not, however, try to tell me that West Virginia would put up numbers against a team that can stop the run. But what about the Sugar Bowl against Georgia? Yeah, I saw it. I saw WVU get up 28-0 in a hurry and then hang on for dear life only scoring 10 points in the last 44 minutes and 10 seconds of the game against the crappy 52nd ranked rushing defense of Georgia. The Bulldogs rushing D was bad last year and they had a horrible matchup with West Virginia. The Mountaineers exploited it and got a big lead and held on for the W. Congrats. However, that was last year. And as relatively unimpressed as I am, it still counts for squat this year. West Virginia very well could be one of the top five teams in the country. However, they have done nothing that 35 other teams in the country couldn't do against their schedule so far. I'm praying that Michigan meets West Virginia in a bowl game.
• Michigan - That was one ugly 17-3 win over Northwestern. Do you think Lloyd liked it? Check out this quote from his press conference today: "I love that kind of game Saturday. I love that environment. I think you find out a lot about your team. I'm not concerned in terms of margins, point spreads. In most cases I don't even know them." I swear he's happier playing a close low scoring game against a bad team than he is if they would've won 42-0. And the playcalling shows it when Michigan runs the same play over and over and over and refuses to test the other team deep. Is it that they are saving something for OSU, or do Carr/DeBord just prefer to win a game by running it on nearly every play? I'll bet on the latter.
• Mike DeBord - hmmm, is he really the brains behind Lloyd Carr's operation? He was offensive coordinator for 1997 to 1999 during which time Michigan went 12-0, 10-3, and 10-2. Now he's back calling the plays this year and Michigan is 9-0 and counting. Some people say he is the beneficiary of having great defenses backing him up (I'm looking at you Brian), but I say no way. Michigan's defense gave up more points in 1999 than they did in 2005, yet Michigan managed to go 10-2 in 1999 compared to 7-5 in 2005. 1998's defense wasn't spectacular either. Michigan with DeBord calling the plays managed to go 20-5 over 1998 and 1999 which is the best two year stretch since the mid 1980s not counting the 1997 season. Doesn't he deserve at least a little credit? I mean his offense is a defense's best friend (not to mention Lloyd's best friend). He emphasizes rushing the football, minimizing turnovers, and time of possession. He makes it easy on a defense by not putting them behind the eight ball. It says something that Michigan is 38-0 when the defense holds the opponent under 30 points with DeBord calling the plays. Any takers on whether Ohio State will be over or under 30 this year? I tend to disagree with some of the boring, predictable methods of DeBord's offense. However, he has shown a willingness to open up the gameplan in big games and is not afraid to do so on the road. Think about it. Over the last decade of Michigan football, which big road games did the offensive gameplan make you go WOW and which ones made you cringe. 1997 Penn State? 1999 Penn State? 2000 Orange Bowl against Alabama? 2006 Notre Dame? Not too shabby in those games. Now how about 2000 Purdue? 2002 or 2004 Notre Dame? 2003 Iowa or Oregon? The more you look at it IMHO, the more DeBord looks like a genius when it comes to winning games. Is he the reason Michigan is 9-0 this year and went 12-0 in 1997? No. But he's a part of it. His offense helps the defense out. And the fact that Michigan had successful seasons in 1998 and 1999 despite defenses that were as bad as anything from 2000-2005 shows me that it isn't just the defense.
  

9-0 v 9-0

We have now officially moved up to the TOO EARLY Ohio State segments of blogging.

Quite a contrast in styles yesterday. Michigan beat Northwestern 17-3 in cold (<> 50 mph gusts) conditions in a game that can best be described as ugly. Ohio State had a little better conditions and hammered Minnesota in every facet of the game winning 44-0. Style points awarded to Ohio State.

But does it matter? Did Michigan even try on offense? I'll argue that they didn't. They played without Mario Manningham, Tyler Ecker, Rueben Riley, Mike Massey, and Adrian Arrington sat on the sidelines for most of the game. The conditions were brutal and all they tried to do was run. Northwestern knew this but still couldn't stop it, merely slowing them enough to hold them to 202 yards on the ground. That's the third time in the last 5 games they've topped 200 on the ground for those keeping track at home. Northwestern played an 8 man front the entire game and Michigan plunged right into it. Henne was 10/20 on the day, but was betrayed by Steve Breaston's hands at least once or twice.

Ohio State was brutally efficient yesterday. They scored in every quarter. They ran the ball for 266 yards, threw for 218 yards, and flat out beat up Minnesota's offense holding them to 182 yards on the day. If you care to peruse the Buckeye's numbers this year, you might notice that Penn State is the only Big Ten team to hold them under 38 points this year (28 for that game), though you might remember that 14 points in that game were off late "pick 6s" by the Buckeye defense. But they have been shredding Big Ten opponents this year. 38 points at Iowa, 38 at MSU, 44 points against Indiana, 44 against Minnesota. Michigan's defense will certainly have their work cut out for them against a Buckeye offense that is rolling.


We are now less than 3 weeks away from perhaps the Biggest Regular Season Game in the History of College Football.

Mmmmmmm, Northwestern

Those wildcats are a tasty cupcake lined up for Michigan this week. Gotta wonder, though, exactly which Northwestern team will show up. Will it be the team that thundered out to a 38-3 lead on Michigan State? Or will it be the group that staggered and fell allowing Michigan State to score 38 unanswered points in the 2nd half? Or will it be some combination thereof?

What is certain is that Northwestern sucks this year. They got a nice 21-3 win at Miami (OH) to start the season on the emotion of Randy Walker's death and a return to his former school. Since then? Just 1-6 with some bad losses. Their only win since the first week was a nailbiter over Eastern Michigan. Their offense sucks (94th in total offense, 103rd in scoring offense). Their defense sucks (93rd in total defense, 90th in scoring defense).

It seems like the only drama surrounding this game is off the field. When will Mario Manningham be back? What's going on with Adrian Arrington? How crazy are the cops in Columbus as it relates to Prescott Burgess? How much longer until the Ohio State game?

Is there any doubt about the outcome of this week's game? Not really. I wish I could get fired up about it, but I can't. Northwestern's offense is in for a world of hurt and their defense is just overmatched.

Predictions?

Impossible to say. Carr will definitely call off the dogs early, but will it even matter? The only way Northwestern keeps it close is if they stack the line and tackle well because Michigan is going heavy on the ground this game. Kevin Grady, Brandon Minor, and Jerome Jackson will get a workout as they seek to avoid overworking Mike Hart again. I'll say Michigan 38, Northwestern 10.

How Ohio State got to 8-0 (AKA How Stella Got Her Groove Back)

The Buckeyes are 8-0 and nearly unanimous (except for 2 dorks in California - Scott Wolf I'm talking to you) at number 1. How'd they do it? Well, let's leave out last year's thrashing of Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl that gave them some preseason love this year.

Ohio State has outscored their opponents 34.9-8.3 so far this year. They rank #20 in total offense, #11 in scoring offense, #15 in total defense, and #1 in scoring defense nationally. Why are their scoring numbers so much better than their total numbers (on both sides)? Probably because they are #4 nationally in turover margin.

Who have they beaten? Here's a rundown of their opponents along with that opponents national ranks in total o, scoring o, total d, and scoring d...

Northern Illinois - 18, 24, 100, 71
@Texas - 27, 4, 14, 15
Cincinnati - 85, 100, 55, 54
Penn State - 53, 59, 39, 40
@Iowa - 28, 45, 57, 38
Bowling Green - 54, 87, 54, 99
@Michigan State - 26, 29, 81, 93
Indiana - 93, 68, 107, 105


As you can see, Texas is far and away the best team they have played this year. Iowa is probably the 2nd toughest (they played both of those on the road). Other than that? Probably Penn State next and then not much else (aside from Michigan State's offense). Indiana, BGSU, and Cincinnati are all brutal. Northern Illinois isn't exactly good considering the competition they play.

What does it all mean? Nothing. Just that it's never too early for WAY TOO EARLY looks at Ohio State. I mean what the hell other game should I be worried about at this point?

2006 BTPR, week 8

Well, last week's rankings worked out pretty good with the higher ranked team winning every game. Let's keep it the same this week.

1) Ohio State
2) Michigan - it's lonely at the top for these 2

3) Wisconsin - still the king of the midgets as the drop from #3 to #4 is large

4) Penn State - not too impressive over Illinois, but a win is a win
5) Iowa - hung tough for a little while as expected in Ann Arbor
6) Purdue - nothing special against the Badgers

7) Minnesota
8) Indiana
9) Michigan State - largest comeback win of all time that begs the question, how the hell can you fall behind by 35 points to Northwestern?

10) Illinois
11) Northwestern - soon to be cupcake #1 on the Wolverines road to Columbus


We'll see if it can hold true for another week. Tomorrow we will return to some gratuitous WAY TOO EARLY Ohio State related preview type stuff.

Rushing Defense, what does it mean?

Michigan has a great rushing defense this year. Yeah, yeah, we all know they rank 1st nationally against the rush. What's the average at now? Something like 33 yards per game allowed? Yowza. But what does that mean? Here's a little table going back a few years detailing the national leaders in rushing defense and the rank of the national champions that year in rushing defense.

2000: #1 Memphis - 73 ypg, 2.3 ypc; #23 Oklahoma - 108 ypg, 3.2 ypc
2001: #1 UAB - 57 ypg, 1.9 ypc; #40 Miami - 133 ypg, 3.1 ypc
2002: #1 TCU - 65 ypg, 2.0 ypc; #3 Ohio State - 78 ypg, 2.6 ypc
2003: #1 USC - 60 ypg, 1.8 ypc; #3 LSU - 67 ypg, 2.4 ypc (USC and LSU split title)
2004: #1 USC - 79 ypg, 2.6 ypc; #1 USC
2005: #1 Ohio State - 73 ypg, 2.4 ypc; #33 Texas - 131 ypg, 3.7 ypc

As you can see, 3 of the last 4 national titles have been won by teams ranking in the top 3 nationally in rushing defense.

How does Michigan stack up this year so far? 33.6 yards per game allowed and 1.4 yards per carry allowed. Both would be the best by far this century in college football. I'd be interested in going back decades and seeing how that number would stack up (if it holds up).

The Mission

Your mission, Ron, should you choose to accept it: Contain the most dynamic and dangerous player in the country.




I expect you will spend the next 4 weeks preparing your defense to follow your mantra of Playing Hard and Playing Fast.















Sense a pattern here?

Breath a Deep Sigh of Relief

It's over. That whole stretch of games where people said, get back to me after the Iowa game, is done with. Michigan ran through 6 straight losable games and won all of them to get to 8-0. All that is left is Northwestern, Ball State, and Indiana before heading to Columbus. You could not have hoped for more as a Michigan fan with only 1 game this year being decided by less than 14 points. Raise your hand if you think Michigan is pretty damn good...



This week, I'll officially move to WAY TOO EARLY Ohio State previews. This will be followed by TOO EARLY and EARLY Ohio State previews as The Game draws near.

Game 1

After a week of partying and celebrating the Tiger's first pennant in 22 years, it's back to business tonight as two of the most storied franchises in baseball history square off for the third time in the World Series. St. Louis will be looking for revenge from 1968 when the Tigers took an epic game 7 by beating Bob Gibson in his prime. They will also be looking for revenge from earlier this year when Detroit swept St. Louis over a 3 game series in Detroit (10-6, 7-6, and 4-1).

Check out The Detroit Tiger Weblog for the best Tiger blogging around.

Or head to Deadspin for the most popular sports blog that happens to be written by a Cardinals fan.

Tonight we will get a chance to see if the Tigers are rusty with not having played since 1 week ago. We'll also get our first crack at the AL vs NL thing since the Junior Circuit spanked the Senior Circuit all over the field in Interleague play this year. Detroit was one of those teams that dominated the NL (along with the Twins, White Sox, and Red Sox) going 15-3 against the NL Central this year. Who won the NL Central? The Cardinals. Yep, Detroit dominated the Cards division this year.

I'm not into making predictions and it is nice to see all the love the Tigers are getting from national pundits this week, but I'm not buying the hype. These are the same people that said the Yankees would steamroll Detroit so let's just see how it plays out on the field. I'm just hoping to get at least one peek this week at Albert Pujols vs Joel Zumaya.

Thoughts on Iowa

(preseason)Iowa will be a very tough game. They always play us tough. They have a great quarterback. Their D will be solid. They have a great coach. (/preseason)

Yikes, what the hell happened to the Hawkeyes? Sure, injuries hurt. But they just lost to freakin' Indiana! They got steamrolled at home by Ohio State and while Ohio State is the best team in the country, they aren't that good.

I'm truly torn looking at this game. Part of me sees the Iowa that has played Michigan very tough under Ferentz. Hell, that same part remembers the epic battles between Bo and Hayden Frye in the 1980s. Then again, Michigan is rolling right now. The game is at home. Iowa is reeling. There is little objective evidence this year that Iowa can keep it close in Ann Arbor.

So what to expect? Drew Tate will have a good game and will frustrate the defense. He can move around the pocket and can keep the play alive giving his receivers way too much time to get open. But he'll also make some mistakes giving Michigan field position. Michigan's offense should be able to establish a pretty solid ground game against Iowa and Henne will have open targets if the OL gives him time. This game might be similar to the Wisconsin game where it is close for a little while before Michigan pulls away in the 2nd half.

I'll guess Michigan wins 31-13 and guys like Kevin Grady and Brandon Minor get some nice work at TB.