There's Injured and There's Hurt, 12/9/2011

(HT: Mike DeSimone)

Things That Have Been Called Boo-Boos That Aren't: Denard's inability to not throw like he's Taylor Martinez early on in the season can in part be explained by the fact that his boo-boo was actually a staph infection. In addition, the "myriad injuries" part confirms that the few times where I blasphemously thought that maybe Denard had lost a step were not necessarily unfounded concerns because, you know, he was hurt.

I'm no doctor, but staph infections conjure up vague notions of unpleasantness, and it's not hard to imagine it affecting his play. As if you needed an more reasons to love Denard, he is a TOUGH football player with lots of TOUGHNESS and GRIT. THIS GUY'S ARM WAS FALLING OFF BUT HE JUST KEPT PUSHIN', THE WANT TO IN THIS GUY IS JUST UNBELIEVABLE. I'LL TELL YOU WHAT, I'D LOVE TO HAVE 22 DENARD ROBINSONS ON MY FOOTBALL TEAM. Jon Gruden hasn't said this yet but can you imagine him saying it? I sure can. And people say Denard's NFL prospects as a QB are bleak.

But seriously, after last season a lot of people were left wondering whether or not Denard could survive another season. He can partly thank Fitz for his durability this season, but Denard is simply a pound-for-pound TOUGH human being a la Vincent Smith.

Stand(ifer) Down*: Michigan loses its commitment from Anthony Standifer, as tweeted by Allen Trieu yesterday. Grades seem to be the reason per the Internets, which is a shame if true. It's always tough losing a commitment, particularly one that goes to the same school as 2013 target Laquon Treadwell. His offer list isn't outrageously great (basically us, ND, Iowa, and assorted mediocrity plus Boise State) but at the same time, Michigan is one of them and trust the coaches &c. Come on down Armani Reeves and Yuri Wright.

*I'll show myself the door.

Rich "Uncle Rico" Rodriguez: When Coach Rod said that he would've gone 10-2 this year if he was still around, my first thoughts were: 1) Would GERG still be around in this hypothetical scenario? 2) I could see 10-2 as a best-case but 9-3 or even 8-4 are probably more likely if we're conjecturing baselessly here (and we are) 3) Coach, why would you ever agree to do The Huge Show/answer a question like that with anything other than mind-numbing coachspeak? and 4) I give you the below*.

Coach woulda put me in fourth quarter, we would been state champions. No doubt. No doubt in my mind. 


*Just FWIW; that is a joke. There were very few people as pro-RR as I, and what RR said wasn't really that bad either in or out of context.


Oakland (Not That Oakland): Michigan takes on the Oakland Golden Grizzlies (our most hated rival!) at the Palace of Auburn Hills tomorrow (4 ET). UMHoops has the usual preview and other assorted reading material. Oakland's three losses are to Alabama and Arkansas on the road and Ohio (not that Ohio...Ohio Ohio). Playing this sort of team is the kind of RPI-booster that teams want; high enough to be respectable as a tomato can but not enough to worry about defeat. The game recap should come up Sunday afternoon as I prepare to watch my Bears get Tebow'd. /cries

Heisman Stuff THIS IS SO IMPORTANT not really: Doctor Saturday on RGIII winning the Heisman. Okay, yes the Heisman is an inherently stupid award reflective of the BCS and its big name favoritism...but I can't help but be OUTRAGED if RGIII (2011 RGIII, aka 2012 Denard PLEASE) doesn't win it. How is this even a debate? Mel Kiper showed up on ESPN earlier expressing a preference for Trent Richardson, which, come on. Anybody picking Richardson for anything (including the Doak) is having one single un-ending thought process being coded out in their brain: SEC SEC SEC SEC SEC SEC SEC, and so on into oblivion. He hasn't even had the best season for a tailback, let alone overall. I know that he benches so much that the Bama S&C staff won't let him up his max because it would supposedly destroy the universe like he's dividing by zero, but come on guys. COME ON.

More? TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO. PAWWWLLLLLL I DON'T TRUST URBAN MEYER UP THERE WITH THAT SHADOW RECRUITING STAFF IT'S UH CONSPIRACEEEE PAWLLLLLL I'll hang up and lissen. I kind of want the NCAA to pull a David Stern and be like "No" to whatever school Dayne Crist decides to go to. As someone who lived in Alabama during the glorious reign of Mike Shula, all I have to say to this is LOL WHY? Um, insert How About No.jpg. Tim Beckman to Illinois; not sure how I feel about this yet. A really awesome AMA featuring Spencer Hall and LSUFreek...these things are always cool and especially so if you enjoy EDSBS and LSUFreek's brilliance, which you should as a college football watcher. Spencer professes a deep respect for MGoBlog more than once, which is pretty cool.