Did You Know We Beat Iowa by 25 Points in Football?

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I get depressed when we lose.  So why I didn't get fired up about Devin Gardner and the boys when we beat the crap out of Iowa 42-17 last November is beyond me.  No post.  No pics.  Sad.  Sorry.  We had a hell of a tailgate that day.  Smoked, fried, and smoked-and-fried turkeys....filet mignon, tailgater awards, lots of great stuff.  So here are those pictures, submitted respectfully over two months late...

And the new game page is here.

Weekend Roundup: Big Ten Meetings Edition 7-30-12

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My god it's nearly August.  Jet plane for Jerry's World leaves in less than a month.  Game with defending national champion in 32 days.  Whoa.​

Here's what happened across the internets while you pondered how much it would cost to actually become Batman:​

  • ​AnnArbor.com takes a look at Michigan's new roster, which now includes the incoming freshmen.  Of note, everybody is fully embracing the Gittleson plan, packing on pounds and no doubt getting slower, namely Jibreel Black and Craig Roh.  We are about to Lloyd the shit out of this team.  Soon after its release, Mgoblog took that roster and analyzed it like it was their job...which I guess it is.   You wish your job was that cool.
  • Denard comes out of games for injuries.  You've seen it.  I've seen it.  His style of play makes it an inevitability.  So it's a good idea to have a good back up.  We have a serviceable one whose abilities have yet to be tapped...and we've decided that he needs to get time at wide receiver.  I guess we've got to appease him before Shane Morris gets here and forces him to switch positions in the name of pro-style philosophies., but does it make sense for THIS season?  Anyway, the Freep says he's busy adjusting to his role.
  • From ESPN...Brady speaks at Big Ten Media Days about being the preseason Big Ten favorite, moving Roh and Black, and Will Campbell's abs.
  • ​Denard Robinson, whose 3229 rushing yards is just 667 shy of Randle El's Big Ten QB record, spoke at the Big Ten media days.  
  • Black Shoe Diaries covers the six top recruits that have decided to reaffirm their verbals to Penn State.  I sympathize ​with what the Penn State blogosphere is going through...it sucks and its not your fault it sucks.  I also appreciate the fact that this is good news for Penn State right now.  I also want to be clear that these six kids will not be signing with Penn State in February.  You'd have to be bat shit crazy to sign up for four years of no bowls, a team short on scholarship athletes, and no ability (short of a fifth year of eligibility) to reap any benefits of your efforts.
  • Urban Meyer's camp "Friday Night Lights" debuted in Columbus this weekend.  From the sound of the Eleven Warriors recap, it was a resounding success, and it gave onlookers a chance to gaze upon the horseshoe's new scoreboard and new and louder music.  And the scoreboard wars continue....​
  • Boiled Sports presents 2012's pivotal Boilermakers, players that are going to need to step up to get them the success they pine for, which is apparently 8 wins.​
  • Derrick Walton, who is about a year from his arrival at Michigan, lead his AAU team to the Adidas Super 64 Championship in Las Vegas on Sunday, and was named the tournament MVP.  UMHoops has more.
  • Iowa has beaten Michigan three times in a row, a first in the series that dates back to 1900.  No player our team has beaten Iowa.​..or Michigan State for that matter.  Damn you Rodriguez Years!  Anyway, Hawk Central reminds you of your Hawkeye problem.
  • For all things recruiting, you need yourself some UM BBQ.  Maize and Brew covers the event in great detail.​
  • People in glass houses are occasionally allowed to throw stones.  So, despite this...I still take great pleasure in this.​  Maybe if Brady and Urban get together they can universally decide not to have their players miss playing time in a closed door meeting.  That way, nobody can talk shit about the other, and Fitz can start in Texas.
  • AnnArbor.com covers Brady Hoke's proficiency in night games.  3-0 last year....9-0 in that Ball State miracle year.  Good news considering the schedule is skewed toward the latter part of the day on Saturdays this fall.​
  • They're going to let students into the Big House to watch the Cowboys Classic on the big screens.  Very cool.  Good luck keeping the alcohol out of there on a Saturday night on welcome weekend.​
  • Jalen Rose will join ESPN College Gameday...the hoops version...this fall along with Bruce Pearl.
  • Eleven Warriors doesn't exactly pine for Shane Morris, but they certainly do pine for there own version of this recruiting recruit.​

I Know Team 132

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​

There's no debating, this defense is remarkably better than last year.  Still full of attrition, still full of injuries, still starting babies and walk-ons, and yet performing at a level that warrants your attention.  The 2011 Wolverines boast, per game, the #10 scoring defense in the country (16.38), and the #28 defense in total yards (335.75).  Through the same point last season, Michigan was allowing twice as many points (33.89) and 118 more yards (453.67) per game. 

And that's where the good news stops for now.  The offense has been struggling to find its identity, residing somewhere between the wide open speed of the RichRod led Wolverines and the I-form/playaction/drop-back passing scheme you came to know and love...and eventually hate...under Lloyd Carr.  For me, it's about the misuse of talent.  Denard, when left to roam, makes things happen.  But somewhere along the line his "health" became the focus, or at least that's what they're selling us...less running, more quarterbacking...less RichRod system, more installation of the system we will be using in the future.  They are making Denard into the QB of our future, and it remains to be seen (meaning next year) if he can develop that skillset.  Regardless, it seems our 2nd biggest concern (behind the worst defense ever) going into the season is coming to fruition...Denard is no longer Denard.  They are coaching this team like they have the ability to punch teams like Iowa in the mouth, to win in the trenches, to play power football.  But that's a few recruiting classes and apparently a significant amount of growing pains away.

The Purdue victory, and the method by which it was accomplished, is what lost the game at Iowa.  They won that game with the system of the future using players of the past, playing a craptastic Big Ten squad, and they assumed it would work again.  It didn't.  It won't.  A Michigan offense that isn't centered around Denard and his uncanny ability to be his own personal playaction is not going to work...not this year.

NASCAR.  It's the buzzword of the week out of the post-game pressers.  It's Coach Hoke's pet name for the two-minute offense...the offense that wins games, the offense that worked against Notre Dame to the tune of two touchdowns in a little over a minute, the offense that marched down the field in the 4th quarter this week.  It had Iowa on it's heels.  It was unstoppable.  It IS unstoppable.  So the simple question becomes, why isn't NASCAR THE OFFENSE?  Even some watered down version of it is better than what we did out there for three quarters, and what we seem to try to shoehorn in every Saturday.

At Kinnick, I sat five rows up behind the Michigan bench at about the 25 yard line.  Not my favorite vantage point, given the depth perception issues you get when the ball is snapped at the other end of the field, but fun to experience every once in a while, especially when the action is right in front of you.  Michigan came on and off the field in my corner.  After halftime, for the first time in many years, I yelled at a coach.  "Turn him loose Coach!" I yelled at Brady.  "Turn him loose!"  I struck up a conversation with a former Hawkeye player in the stands, and he was as astonished as I was that Denard was so handcuffed.  When the opponent is wondering why you aren't gashing his team with your team's strengths....that's when you know you are doing something wrong.

And the answer today from Fort Schembechler seems to be "we need to play tougher," when the reality is, we need to play smarter and faster, at least on offense.  Smarter and faster would have made the Sparty game closer.  Smarter and faster would have won at Kinnick.  Tougher might win in the future, but the truth is, team 132 does not have the men for tough, and it would be very surprising if suddenly they developed into what Brady wants them to be in time for the season saver after Thanksgiving.  

That's not to say that Indy is out of the question.  The Big Ten is a mess.  A giant sloppy mess of barely average teams beating each other up from top to bottom.  If you think you are in the driver's seat, you are probably about to lose.  

But Michigan would need to win out to even sniff a chance, and that is no small task.  In addition, I don't think it's this team's focus anymore.  I believe this season has become about beating Ohio.  And while that hurts to say right now, it's going to feel so good that none of this will matter.