Week 2: Close encounters of meaning, or not

Week 2 

With one more week in the books, the picture becomes clearer in some spots, blurrier in others. 

The nonconference slate is a mishmash of comfortable victories, head-scratching close calls and everything in between: Week 2 offered a diverse selection of all three. Take Clemson, Georgia, Arizona, for example -- and those were all wins. 

Thus far, Clemson looks nothing like the team that closed the 2015 season on a high note, the highest note of any team not named Alabama. Deshaun Watson passed a whopping 53 times and completed just 27 of those attempts, which is fine if you're Texas Tech or the Detroit Lions' Matt Stafford, but not if you're the No. 2 team in the country playing Troy at home. 

Meanwhile, in Athens, Kirby Smart's squad limped its way to a win against Nicholls State (which finished 3-8 in 2015). After a solid win against UNC (made slightly more solid after UNC's thumping of Illinois), the Dawgs came back down to earth, with Nick Chubb managing just 80 yards on 20 carries. Turnovers helped keep the Colonels in the game, as if often the case when the Little Guy hangs with the Big Guy. Georgia can definitely compete in the SEC East -- which, I suppose, is a lot like saying the Big Ten West winner will have a chance at winning the conference title. But this team is another Chubb injury away from some real problems ... an injury that hopefully does not happen, because he's a fun player to watch, and isn't that what all of this is about? 

Arizona, well, they scored 28 unanswered and beat Grambling State by 10. If you need a second to reread that sentence, feel free to do so and meet me at the next paragraph. 

Done? Yes, that is something that happened, yet another drop in the torrential downpour of madness that is the college game. And, really, let's be honest: Is that result even all that surprising? Does that box score move the needle in any way whatsoever? No? I'm not sure what to say about the Rich Rodriguez era in Tucson other than his teams always seem to teeter perilously on the precipice separating resurgence from oblivion. Rodriguez's squad followed his first two seasons, both 8-win campaigns, with 10 wins in 2014, but just seven last year. 

The Wildcats cap the season with trips to Oregon State and Washington State, and the rivalry tilt against Arizona State. But it's the five games prior that will decide the season and, perhaps, move the needle back in the positive direction for Rodriguez and Co. After this week's matchup against Hawaii, Arizona hosts Washington, travels to UCLA and Utah, then hosts USC and Stanford. Win three of those and close out with four straight against WSU, Oregon State, Colorado and ASU and you're looking at eight wins. 

But, you know, who knows. Arizona, like so many others, is just one of those teams that generally does not adhere to philosophical structures of order or reason. They're either firing on all cylinders, zooming down the highway, or crapped out on the side of the road, belching smoke into the pastel Arizona sky. 

Speaking of close calls, you can even look at Nebraska, which dispatched Wyoming with ease, 52-17 -- close call? The Cornhuskers held a 24-17 lead after three quarters. But hey, that's why you play four. 

If all of the above sounds like bad news for the aforementioned teams, maybe it is and maybe it isn't -- but take it all into account, hand-wringing Michigan fan, when you bemoan Michigan's "unimpressive" 37-point victory against UCF. 

That performance was far from perfect, but why is anyone expecting that in the first place? Even Alabama, the colossus from T-Town, didn't look like the same team in Week 2, besting Western Kentucky by "just" 28 points, 38-10. Jalen Hurts threw two picks and the Tide averaged 3.2 yards per carry. None of that means anything. 

Oh, right, there was also that business in Stillwater. What to say? I still lack words for the conclusion of the 2015 Michigan-Michigan State game. Things happen in college football that are spectacular for their lack of decipherable meaning. You can say "why?" but you already know the answer. 

Incredulity, thy nom de guerre is college football. 

If you're looking for sense in anything, college football is the last place you'll find it. You might as well roam the desert looking for a Wi-Fi hotspot, pining for a chance to send that Tweet about how something that happened on Sept. 10 presages either doom or success against a future opponent. 

Elsewhere

• Iowa State is truly bad. This is a fact that only underscores the awesome accomplishment achieved by Iowa in its 42-3 win against them. The Hawkeyes have found a way to lose to some wretched Cyclones teams over the years, but not this time. Really, I was far more impressed by this victory than one ought to be. We're not talking a hex of the late 1990s/early 2000s, when ISU beat Iowa five years in a row, but ISU did take three of the last five before this year's matchup, including the 2012 9-6 game. That ISU team finished 6-7. They also finished 6-7 in 2011, another winning year for ISU over Iowa, and 2-10 in 2014. This is probably more than you needed to know -- the point? Beating a bad Iowa State team by many points is significant for an Iowa team that has struggled to beat bad Iowa State teams. 

• Remember Danny Etling? If you do, you're either a recruiting buff or a Purdue football die-hard. Regardless, he played most of a football game this past Saturday ... for LSU. Etling, who transferred from West Lafayette to Baton Rouge, went 6-of-14 for 100 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Which, somehow, was worse than Brandon Harris' performance in Week 1 against Wisconsin. It really is difficult to think of a program that has squandered so much talent based on its inability to get one thing even sort of right (i.e. quarterback). Gone are the glorious days of Matt Mauck.

• The Seminoles head to Louisville to take on QB Lamar Jackson and Co. this week in what promises to be an exciting matchup. Jackson posted another big day in a Week 2 win against Syracuse. In two games, he's passed for 697 yards and completed 59.7 percent of his attempts. He's also rushed for 318 yards. Needless to say, FSU is a step or two up from Charlotte and Syracuse. But if early returns mean anything, Jackson is a step up from the quarterbacks FSU has faced to date. 

• There's still something strange about seeing Washington sitting there at No. 8. They went 8-6 and 7-6 in Chris Petersen's first two years, yet somehow found themselves in the preseason top 10. Why? I don't know. It's not even that they necessarily don't "deserve" to be there, so much as their inclusion feels very strange, like a curly fry that finds its way into a batch of regular fries. With that said, unlike many other teams, the Huskies have taken care of business thus far, and the schedule actually looks quite manageable. UW hosts Stanford Sept. 30 and visits Oregon Oct. 8, but after that I don't see any games that are slam-dunk losses. A trip to Utah is always tough (ask Michigan), USC is the Pac-12's LSU (hey, look at all that talent) and the Apple Cup is a rivalry game still, even if the Cougars have failed spectacularly to date. If UW wants any chance at a playoff berth, it will need to sweep that Stanford-Oregon stretch. 

• The game of the week? Arkansas-TCU, which was actually sort of a snoozer until the very end. The unsnoozeification of this one began when Arkansas missed a 22-yard field goal, then up 20-7 late in the third. TCU stormed back to take a lead, until Arkansas went 58 yards in 62 seconds to tie it with a minute to go at 28-28. TCU had a chance to win with a field goal, a 28-yarder. That was blocked, because the very notion of field goals resides in the realm of Bad Possibilities, and Arkansas went on to win in overtime. It's still unclear to me what Bret Bielema and Arkansas' path to success in the SEC West is, but one thing's certain: Razorbacks games are worth the watch. A Sept. 24 date with Texas A&M will likely be another one worthy of viewing consideration. 

• After a rough first quarter that saw Tennessee trailing Virginia Tech 14-0, the Vols bounced back to notch a comfortable win at Bristol Motor Speedway (it's a brave new world). Tennessee gets a breather with Ohio this week -- well, in theory -- but then the schedule gets brutal before finishing with a pretty breezy five-game stretch. After Ohio, UT gets Florida at home, Georgia and Texas A&M on the road, and Alabama at home. The Vols were talked about as a playoff contender heading into this season, but that four-game stretch always loomed large. Assuming they get to the SEC title game and score an upset against Alabama, they can't afford to lose more than one of those four. Maybe Tennessee figures things out and manages to go 3-1 there, win the final five and have a shot at a play-in game in the SEC title game. Either way, like the Stanford-Oregon stretch for Washington, the Florida-Georgia tilts in consecutive weeks are must-wins. 

• If college football can be likened to Game of Thrones, then Nebraska's 2015 season was akin to the guy who jumps on the bandwagon of the deity in vouge at exactly the wrong time. That's really the only explanation for Nebraska's insane run of bad luck last season. However, looking at their schedule, the 'Huskers have a chance to be one of the notable bounceback teams of 2016. In one of the more quietly interesting games of the week, Nebraska welcomes Oregon to Memorial Stadium, a team that is undoubtedly a few notches below what it once was. The Ducks can still score, sure, but they've given  up yards and points like they're hosting a yard sale. Excluding UVA QB Kurt Benkert's -27 yards rushing, the Cavaliers racked up 220 yards rushing on the Oregon defense this past weekend. ESPN's Power Index gives Nebraska a 74.2 percent chance at victory. If Nebraska can score a win -- which would only be an upset in terms of the arbitrary nature of early-season polls -- then a 7-0 start is not out of the question. Nebraska follows this one up with games against Northwestern, Illinois, Indiana and Purdue; that is, the antithesis of the middle of Tennessee's schedule. 

Shameless Self-Promotion Time: Iowa

As always, my recap of Saturday's game went up at Maize n Brew this morning.

In short, whatever happens against Ohio State and in the bowl game, Michigan is looking at its biggest offseason in several years. Whether that includes coaching turnover or not, 2014 will prove to be a crucial season for a program that has trended downward since the 11-2 season two years ago.

Michigan 21, Iowa 24: It Tolls For Thee

Michigan 21, Iowa 24

Photo credit: Alan Light

Fresh off an overtime win in Evanston that was two parts ugly and one part dogged resilience, the Michigan Wolverines hit the road again, this time for the record-setting cold of Iowa City, looking for their first consecutive road wins in the Brady Hoke era. 

The Hawkeyes last took the field on Nov. 9, when they dispatched the Purdue Boilermakers with ease at Ross-Ade Stadium, 38-14, their best performance since pasting the Gophers at TCF Bank Stadium back in September. 

The Wolverines came into Saturday a 6-point underdog against the 6-4 (3-3) Hawkeyes. In previous years, Michigan fans might have looked at a line like that with significant skepticism, but this is not like any other season. For the Wolverines to move to 8-3 heading into The Game, anything less than their best game would likely result in a loss. Michigan's much-discussed road woes did not bode well for them at Kinnick Stadium, a place they had not won since their overtime victory there in 2005. 

On Iowa's first offensive play of the game, QB Jake Rudock rolled to his right, where he was met by Jake Ryan. Ryan walloped the sophomore quarterback as he released, leading to a fluttering ball that Brennen Beyer snagged and took to the end zone untouched, giving Michigan an early 7-0 lead. 

The Hawkeyes missed a field goal on their second drive, but started their third with good field position at the Michigan 45 following Michigan's second three and out in as many drives. Iowa drove down to the end zone in seven plays, capped by a 5-yard touchdown pass to a diving CJ Fiedorowicz.

The game continued on like a record scratching every time Michigan got the ball. The offense went three-and-out again, and Matt Wile's short punt again allowed the Hawkeyes to start in Michigan territory. This time, the defense held when Iowa elected to go for it on 4th & 5.

Later, after Kevonte Martin-Manley backtracked on a punt return, getting himself hogtied at the Iowa 3, Blake Countess reeled in the Michigan defense's second interception of the first half.

The Wolverines found themselves with a 2nd & goal from the Iowa 2-yard line. Gardner play action faked and rolled back to his right. He carried the ball about as far as he could, seemingly with the intent to run it in or take the loss, before finding a wide open A.J. Williams in the end zone with an unorthodox flip pass. The touchdown was Williams' first career reception, and it came at a great time for a Michigan offense that struggled mightily in the first half.

The offense finally woke up on its final drive of the first half. Starting from the Iowa 47, a couple timely completions through the air and some nifty running by Gardner moved Michigan down to the Iowa 4. On third & goal from the 9 --after a 5-yard penalty on Kyle Kalis-- Gardner launched a strike to an open Jeremy Gallon a yard deep in the end zone, giving Michigan a 21-7 lead.

The Wolverines lapsed in kickoff coverage, however, allowing a 60-yard return that eventually yielded a field goal opportunity. Iowa's field goal struggles continued, however, as the holder couldn't put the ball down cleanly, not even allowing Mike Meyer a shot to kick it. Michigan went into the half up 21-7 despite having been outgained 170-113.

The turnover margin (+3 for Michigan) was the difference in the first half; for Michigan to hold on, they would have to avoid the swinging pendulum of regression in the second act.

Miscellaneous Minutiae, 10/15/13

Somehow we're already halfway through October...time flies when you're having fun!:

• Indiana continues to work on the two-QB dynamic with Tre Roberson and Nate Sudfeld. 

• On the heels of a crushing loss at Camp Randall, Sippin' On Purple asks where the 4-2 (0-2) Wildcats stand. 

• The Illini look to bounce back after their loss in Lincoln; unfortunately for them, they'll have to do it against Wisconsin. 

• Kyle Bosch is the newest name to enter the 2013 line blender. 

• Like Michigan, Wisconsin hockey is off to a 2-0 start. Also like Michigan, the Badgers have some difficult upcoming tests on the road. 

• Speaking of hockey, this is yesterday's news but tickets for this year's Big Ten hockey tournament in Minneapolis this March are on sale. 

• Christian Hackenberg won CBSSports.com's "Rookie of the Week" distinction. 

• BHGP with a mid-season assessment of the Hawkeyes, who travel to Columbus this weekend. 

Miscellaneous Minutiae, 9/30/13

Ready or not, Michigan will once again be taking the field this Saturday. Fortunately, you won't have to think about that for a little while. Some Monday links for you to pick at:

• Iowa handed the Gophers a loss with relative easy Saturday afternoon at TCF Bank Stadium. The Daily Gopher has a recap, worth reading given Minnesota heads to the Big House this week. I agree with the penultimate paragraph; this was one Minnesota, for the sake of progress as a program, needed to win. 

• Jacobi has some Iowa-centric takeaways from Saturday's 23-7 Hawkeye win. 

• The ESPN Big Ten Blog looks at Week 5, and also compares the end of the first half Philly Brown touchdown to Miller's late game touchdown heave against Wisconsin in 2011. 

• Jerry Kill defends his decision to not yank QB Philip Nelson in favor of Mitch Leidner (Star Tribune). 

• Minnesota was an awful 4-for-13 on third down against Iowa, one of several stats in which the Hawkeyes thoroughly dominated the Gophers (TwinCities.com). 

• On the bright side for the Gophers, while their passing game has not been very good, Derrick Engel had a solid game in a losing effort. 

• Ex-Wolverines in the NFL post at Maize n Brew. Jordan Kovacs watches Breaking Bad, in case you were wondering. 

• Eleven Warriors talks about Saturday's win over the Badgers; as big as the win was for the Buckeyes, they lost starting safety Christian Bryant to a season-ending ankle injury. 

Miscellaneous Minutiae, 9/27/13

Take the week off, Big House. You deserve it. 

It's a sunny, 75-degree, decidedly un-Fall like day here in the Windy City; I guess we'll have to wait a little while longer before football weather arrives. In the meantime, have some links to prepare you for tomorrow's slate of games around the country: 

• On the injury front for Wisconsin--mentioned in Breaking Points yesterday--Coach Gary Andersen cleared a few things up, but didn't give anything definitive on tight end Jacob Pedersen, a big piece of the Badgers' passing game. Without Pedersen, star receiver Jared Abbrederis is Wisconsin's only dangerous receiving threat. That is not a formula for success against a very good Buckeye secondary, especially with Bradley Roby set to match up against Abbrederis. On the bright side for UW, Peniel Jean will go, meaning freshman Sojourn Shelton won't have to make the start. On the not so bright side, freshman center Dan Voltz will likely make his first start. This game would have been tough enough if the Badgers were completely healthy, but now, I'm thinking my prediction of a UW 7-point loss might have been slightly optimistic in favor of Andersen's squad. 

• Eleven Warriors previews this all-important Leaders division clash. Land Grant Holy Land has a preview, too. 

• Keys and storylines for LSU-Georgia. 

• Ron Higgins of NOLA.com talks SEC defense, and why it might not be as great as it has been. 

• If you're looking for some early season rivalry action, the always underrated Minnesota-Iowa game is your ticket. As always, Floyd of Rosedale is on the line, and the Gophers look to bring that pig back to the Twin Cities. The Daily Gopher has a Q&A with RossWB of Black Heart Gold Pants. 

• Four factors from BHGP for Saturday's game at TCF Bank Stadium (3:30 ET, ABC). 

• The undefeated Ole Miss Rebels head to Tuscaloosa this Saturday; Roll Bama Roll previews the Bo Wallace-led Ole Miss offense. It's been two weeks now since the Texas A&M game, so I'm not sure this counts as a "trap" game, but the Crimson Tide cannot take this Ole Miss team lightly. 

• Andrew Gribble of al.com talks to Hugh Kellenberger of the Jackson Clarion-Ledger about Ole Miss-Bama. 

• ESPN guys talk Oklahoma-Notre Dame. The Sooners will be making their first trip to Notre Dame Stadium since 1999. 

Shameless Self-Promotion Time (Iowa)

One last time. (HT: Mike DeSimone)

It's the Senior Day edition of Shameless Self-Promotion. I cannot believe that we have only one regular season game left. Where has the time gone?

• As usual, I wrote about the smashing victory against the Iowa Hawkeyes over at Maize n Brew. After Iowa had some offensive success early on, the Wolverines simply outran the Hawkeyes, literally and figuratively, all afternoon. And so, here we are, sitting at 8-3 with a trip to Columbus against an undefeated Ohio State team coming up on Saturday. With that sentence, I think I might have just unknowingly transported myself to the world of college football circa 1993-96. How about that American Online, eh? Pretty nifty if I do say so myself. In any case, all this frivolous chatter translates into one short, penetrating phrase: Beat Ohio. 

Who Are You and Why Do We Care?: Iowa Hawkeyes

Is there a rivalry here?
Michigan has been playing Iowa since 1900, but in 57 meetings, Michigan has a 40-13-4 record. Although the match up has been back and forth over the past decade, historically there is not a rivalry.

So who is their biggest rival?
Iowa is one of the few Big 10 teams whose biggest rival is not in the Big 10. Their rivalry with Iowa State is so fierce that they had to bring in a Corn Mascot to keep the peace. They also created the worst trophy in the history of trophies for the winner.

When did we see them last?
The Wolverines entered Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, Iowa with a 7-1 record, while the Hawkeyes were 5-3. At this point, Michigan still had a chance to tie the Michigan State Spartans for the Legends Division lead (although the Spartans still had the tiebreaker). Michigan went three and out on its first possession, and Iowa got the ball. After two long passes by James Vandenberg, Marcus Coker finished the job, and rushed the Hawkeyes into the end zone. The two teams traded three and outs, before Michigan started to move the ball. After a slow drive down the field, Denard Robinson threw the ball to Fitzgerald Toussaint for a five yard touchdown. The snap was bad on the extra point, and Drew Dileo tried to run it in for a two point conversion, but he failed. The second quarter saw Iowa score twice, while Michigan gave the ball away. After converting on a fourth and eight try, Iowa drove down the field where Vandenberg completed a one yard pass to Brad Herman for the touchdown. Denard would fumble on the next possession, giving Iowa the ball on the Michigan 31. Iowa would not advance much farther, but Mike Meyer connected on a 42 yard field goal. In the two minute drill, Denard threw a pass to the end zone, but it was intercepted by Iowa's Christian Kirksey. 

The third quarter was a defensive struggle, as the only points came on a 32 yard field goal from Brendan Gibbons. The score was 17-9 as they entered the fourth. On Iowa's first possession of the quarter, Marcus Coker scored his second touchdown of the day on a 13 yard run. Michigan's offense remembered how to play on the following possession. Eight plays and 57 yards later, Denard threw a pass to Kevin Koger for a touchdown. 

With 2:15 left in the game, Michigan received the ball at their own 18 yard line, and would have to march the length of the field. On the first play of the drive, Vincent Smith ran for 11 yard, but continued on after his knee did not touch the ground. He thought that he scored the touchdown that would potentially tie the game. Upon further review, Smith's elbow touched the ground, and Michigan would have to drive from their own 29. With 16 seconds left, the Wolverines got down to the Iowa 3 yard line and called their final time out. On first down, Denard lofted a ball in the direction of Junior Hemingway that fell incomplete. On second down, Denard found Hemingway in the back of the end zone for what should have been a touchdown. Hemingway's knee hit the ground before the ball went out of bounce, yet the Big Ten officiating crew called the pass incomplete on the field, and the booth agreed (Watch the video to decide for yourself). On third down, Denard ran away from a blitzing linebacker before throwing a pass toward Vincent Smith who could not make the diving catch. Finally, on fourth down, Roy Roundtree got mugged on a slant, yet no pass interference was called, and the game ended Iowa 24 - Michigan 16. 

When did we last win?
In the midst of the 2006 undefeated streak, the Hawkeyes entered the Big House with a 5-2 record. Lloyd Carr decided to give the ball to Mike Hart early and often. Hart ended the game with 31 carries for 126 yards and two touchdowns. Those two touchdowns plus two field goals from Garrett Rivas gave Michigan more than enough points to come away with the 20-6 victory.

What do they look like?
The Pittsburgh Steelers. Compare. In 1979, Hayden Fry (Iowa's Head Coach) wanted to have his team dress like champions so they would play like champions. He gained permission from the Pittsburgh Steelers to use their uniform design, and Iowa has worn them since. Supposedly they wore this monstrosity in 1995.

Do they have good coaches?
When Hayden Fry retired in 1998, Iowa needed their first new Head Coach in ten years. Then University of Iowa President, Mary Sue Coleman, hired Kirk Ferentz for the job. Ferentz played linebacker at the University of Connecticut, and went straight into coaching. He was an Offensive Line Coach in the NFL for both the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens from 1993 to 1998. As Head Coach of the Hawkeyes he has a 100-73 record, lead the team to Conference Championships in 2002 and 2004, and is currently in the midst of a three year bowl win streak.

Have they won a National or Big Ten Championship?
The Hawkeyes were National Champions in 1958 with a 8-1-1 record and a Rose Bowl victory. They have won 11 Big Ten Championships including five since Hayden Fry took over as Head Coach in 1978.

Where do they play?
In 1929, the University of Iowa opened Iowa Stadium, which has since been renamed Kinnick Stadium. Kinnick Stadium is named after Nile Kinnick, the only Heisman Trophy winner in Iowa history. The most interesting thing about their stadium is the away team locker room, which is pink. Very pink.

Do they have any game day traditions?

• Back In Black Entrance: Back In Black by AC/DC plays as video of the Hawkeyes walking down the tunnel appears on the screens. 
• I-O-W-A Chant: The four corners of the stadium chant out Iowa letter by letter. This occurs after every touchdown. 
• Kinnick Statue: Iowa players all touch the statue of Nile Kinnick before they enter the stadium. 
• Kinnick Heisman Speech: Before every game, Nile Kinnick's Heisman acceptance speech is played over the loud speakers. 
• Magic Bus: Tailgating location. 
• Hawkeye Victory Polka: Played after every Hawkeye victory. 

Do they have a goofy mascot?
Herky the Hawk was created in 1948, and started appearing at football games in 1959. Although Iowa has had the same uniform since 1979, Herky has never worn it. He wears a shirt with an I on it, yet has the team's football pants and a helmet. Before every game, Herky surfs into the stadium, carried by four cheerleaders. He then plants a Hawkeye flag in the field. 

Prediction based on everything but football (even though this didn't work last week): Michigan 35 - Iowa 13. 

Watershed

With a month to go until the start of Team 133's season--and fall camp starting soon--this is probably the last chance to sit and reflect on last year's team and this offseason as a whole before things start to pick up again. This is a time for the consumption of formulaic positional rankings posts, W/L predictions, and any other number of pre-season drudgery, sure, but it's also a time for thoughtful consideration of the things that have happened in the world of college football in the last year or so, Michigan-related or not.

Michigan finished last season at 11-2, its best record since the 2006 season. Needless to say, Michigan exceeded the hopes of even the most optimistic sort; personally, I had Michigan going 8-4, with losses to Notre Dame, Iowa, Illinois, and Nebraska. Like many Michigan fans, I was uncertain about Brady Hoke's ability to return Michigan to respectability and/or greatness...that is, until his opening press conference. After that, it became fairly obvious that he was the proverbial "good fit", and that many of the problems that plagued the RR regime would not be an issue under Hoke. I think I've mostly done away with the inescapable shame stemming from my brief and UNACCEPTABLE period of pre-press conference questioning of the hiring/The Process. But, as our old friend Rich Rodriguez once said: it's in the past.

The season began and it was immediately obvious that things were different. After Western Michigan had some early success moving the ball, Mattison's defense hunkered down and looked altogether like a unit that was receiving actual attention and coaching as opposed to being the ancillary complement to the offense that it was under RR (and I say that as a former RR uber-fan).

The Notre Dame game was...something. Almost a year later, I still don't know how to describe it. The title of the Monday game recap I did for that game just about sums up my ongoing state of mindless WOOOO-ing regarding that game. It has become a dream-like substance that requires revisiting because of its exciting nature and yet in some paradoxical way loses some of its merit in the process. Watching last yea's Notre Dame game during one of the BTN's numerous offseason airings is kind of like explaining a joke to someone. Some things, when picked apart too much, lose their mysticism.

With that said, it was an unforgettable experience to be in the stadium that night. An midsummer autumn night's dream, it was.

Despite it all, there was still the creeping underlying notion that not only was Michigan very lucky to win, there was still the possibility that, like the previous two seasons featuring heart-stopping victories over the Irish, Michigan might not be all that good for all its theatrics. However, those concerns were allayed as the season went on, partly due to a relatively easy schedule but mostly due to a defensive renaissance and a strong running game.

As I stood in the Superdome terrace this past January, watching the confetti fall and listening to Junior Hemingway's voice quaver under the atmospheric weight and mountains of circumstance, I marveled at how little all of this meant to me. Let me explain. The fact that Michigan had gone 11-2 was unbelievable, made even more remarkable by the fact that it was probably a top 5 season in my career as a watcher of Michigan football (dating back to approximately 1996, the season holding my first real-time memories of watching) in a year which no one expected to be nearly that good. Michigan had won its first BCS game since the turn of the millennium, the Orange Bowl game on 1/1/2000 against Alabama. All of this was done with essentially the same roster that RR had the year before. Think about it: the odds of Michigan experiencing a similar statistical defensive turnaround again during your lifetimes is highly unlikely (which, I guess, is a good thing). The end product of Michigan's season was spectacular, but not nearly as impressive as the path Michigan took toward reaching that end.

Yet, none of that mattered to me. What did endure was the fact that players like Mike Martin and Ryan Van Bergen and Junior Hemingway all stuck it out, despite having the misfortune of attending Michigan during its leanest stretch since the '60s. They improved year by year, incrementally but noticeably, and they were endearing and fun to watch. Michigan did not win a national title or a Big Ten championship last season, and yet I found it almost on the same plane of worship as the 1997 season. In past years, I would have been upset that Michigan had lost to Michigan State and Iowa the way that they did, that Michigan had simply bungled yet another opportunity to win a national title (not that that was a realistic outcome), but last year I really wasn't.
---
Many other changes in my fandom have come to pass in the past year or so. As anybody who reads this humble blog with any sort of regularity would know, I've become decreasingly passive-aggressive in  my distaste with the business of recruiting, a distaste which has become more and more unconcealed by the day. I'm not sure exactly when this transformation took place, but maybe this is the natural result of getting older and become slightly more mature (only slightly).

I generally think that the mania surrounding Terrelle Pryor's recruitment was the beginning of the end for me with respect to the hyper-obsessive following of recruitment. I, like most other Michigan fans, had an almost nonsensical obsession with the tracking of Michigan's recruiting efforts. I spent time reading recruiting round ups on MGoBlog and elsewhere, mindlessly storing names of various recruits in my brain--mental storage space that could have been occupied by something useful, and yes, brains do work exactly like pay-for-storage businesses--that often had no realistic chance of landing in Ann Arbor: a wideout from California, a tailback from Georgia, a defensive end from Florida.

Maybe it was graduating from college--and consequently finding myself older than even Michigan's senior players--that did it, but eventually I realized that this recruiting hobby was all mostly an incredible waste of time. The fact that I was no longer worried about what this would mean for the precious vitality of my Michigan fandom/Mandom was a harbinger of other wholesale shifts in my philosophy as a college football fan.

Like others, the Penn State scandal, among many other more consequential things, allowed me an opportunity to reassess what I find important about Michigan and all the connotations that go along with being affiliated with Michigan, as a fan of its athletics and a recent alumnus.  This is in no way meant as some sort of haughty reaction to the Penn State fan base's response to the scandal (generalization is a bad thing), but it has become very obvious to me, in the year and a few months after graduation, that what makes me miss Michigan does not begin and end with football, or basketball, or hockey.

At the same time, with the PSU scandal, the NCAA issues at Ohio State, Oregon, Miami, UNC, and elsewhere, the NCAA's seemingly arbitrary timetables and rationale for the levying of punishments, in addition to the insanity of realignment and the playoff debate, this offseason was also one that fostered a burgeoning nihilism regarding the game that I have held above all others. Other than Michigan football, I follow Michigan football, four pro teams, and Michigan hockey to a lesser extent, but there has never been any question which sports reigns supreme in my eyes. However, all of these things started to make me question my admittedly very, very naive perspective of college football as this inviolable concept.

Unfortunately, college football at a macro level is becoming increasingly unappealing, like looking at anybody under those doctor's office fluorescent lights: everything looks a little bit worse. It's not that I dislike change, it's just that being older and thus more capable of understanding the minutiae of the business--and oh is it a business--of college football makes for a significantly more conflicted experience. In fact, it makes for an infinitely more conflicted experience, because without said knowledge, the only conflict is the ultimately Knowing the pettiness of these proceedings and the frivolous nature of most discussion about college football (and sports in general, really), have forced me to think twice about this obsession. Ignorance truly is bliss.

After a while, as I did with recruiting, I stopped paying attention to the daily bits of innuendo in the world of realignment and the playoff debate, and I was much better off for it. Both of these targeted downsizings of my fandom allowed me to retreat to a more local, Michigan-centric level. However, it also gave me an opportunity to devote more time to understanding the rich tapestry of variegated tradition that is college football, one which I think is unsurpassed in the world of sports.

I've written ridiculously long posts about each Alabama positional group, previews of the SEC East and West, the ACC Coastal and Atlantic, and, in the coming weeks, posts on the Pac 12, Big 12, and Big East. When I first started this blog two years ago, there was literally no way I would have even considered doing any of these things, let alone writing at length about any of them with some level of comfort.

Reading Pre-Snap Read and various team-specific websites--whether independent ones or teams' respective SB Nation sites--has allowed me to increase my knowledge about college football exponentially. Never before would I have considered reading a lengthy offseason post about, say, Northwestern, but I have done so this offseason. As a result, I will enter this college football season with a body of knowledge dwarfing what I had going into any other season.

Speaking of Northwestern and following along with the theme of a more macroscopic, non-Michigan-centric view of the college football landscape, I will be attending Northwestern this fall for grad school. As a result, I have taken to reading blogs like Sippin' on Purple and Lake The Posts with regularity, almost as regularly as I read MGoBlog and EDSBS, which is saying something. This would explain the seemingly frequent Northwestern references here throughout the last three or four months. The point is, my appreciation for the game as a whole has driven me to do things like, gasp, maybe care a little bit about teams other than Michigan. This doesn't even have to do with some absolute value of fandom, which is not the zero sum game that many so called superfans make it out to be (i.e. that supporting another team in any way somehow subtracts from your love of your first team). Rather, it's an expression of appreciation and curiosity, both of which are decidedly good things. I'm not saying that I'm going to miss Michigan games to go watch the Wildcats play, but I might end up DVRing and watching them later. At no point in the past have I ever thought about doing that for any team, let alone Northwestern.

I mean, in no other offseason would I have been as equipped to write a post like this about Iowa or one like this about Northwestern. It just would not have happened, and I think that's partly a testament to the writing practice that I get on here as well as my willingness to venture out into the great unknown of college football, also known as "teams other than Michigan."Believe it or not, there are a lot of great and interesting things going in the world of college sports outside of the University of Michigan; familiarizing yourself with these things, in my opinion, actually serves to make you a better Michigan fan and/or Michigan Man (if you're that sort of person).

But Fouad, why are you saying all this when you said before that this is all frivolous and basically a waste of time? Well, you're right. This is frivolous, and if there is anything that has changed the most in my outlook in the past year or so, it's that this is: a) supposed to be fun and b) that this is so laughably not life and death.* You would think that the latter would be obvious, but it's amazing and honestly somewhat frightening how much the actions of a squad of 18-22 year olds can affect the psyche of an otherwise well-adjusted adult human. Whereas games like the 2010 Penn State game and the 2009 Michigan State game (and many, many others) left me in a world of hurt, I found myself shrugging off Michigan's 2011 losses fairly easily. Progress!

*A phrase in the sports fan's lexicon that is almost matched in thoughtless by the analogies drawn between sporting events and things like war or other disasters.
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I've said this about Denard approximately 372 times in the last couple of years, but if there is anything to take from college football, anything worth tethering yourself to, worth clinging to like it is the sole source of nutrition for your fandom, it is the memories of the players themselves and the component parts of your favorite triumphs. The latter is, of course, in contrast with the remembrance of the end result of the triumph itself--the fact that it yielded a win, the final score, yardage totals, records set. Remember the way that Denard ran that first time against Western Michigan, not that he would go on to break all sorts of records that in the end are sterile and meaningless things. Drop a statistical nugget, an ugly bundle of numbers, into your metaphorical pool of memory and it sinks to the dark bottom. Drop the memory of Denard dropping the snap, picking up and running past everyone on his first play floats, even runs, atop the surface of those same mental waters.

These people that we watch every Saturday are not only players, they are human beings with a set of differentiating characteristics that make the existence of another person like them literally impossible. As such, each player, even the little-used or the not very good, should be given their due respect. Even Jareth Glanda produced a memory for Michigan fans to lock away and store forever, a point of raw memory that many will recall thirty years down the road when thinking about the 2012 Sugar Bowl. Sure, it helps that Michigan won, but Glanda's simultaneously hilarious and timely "reception" might prove to be a more lasting note in the annals of Michigan football than the fact that Michigan won the Sugar Bowl, a glorified exhibition game.

Also, lest I verge too far into the realm of the morbid, it is always good to appreciate these players that give their time, their bodies, and their minds to Michigan, simply because you never know how much longer they (or anyone else, really) will remain in this world. This is true of everybody in every walk of life, but for a sport that is often, as I said, considered "life and death" by some, it is important to remember what life and death actually are. Death is final. The extinguishing of a life is final. Your sadness after a Michigan loss compared to these things is like the Earth's place in the Milky Way galaxy: it is an incredibly insignificant speck of dust in a larger speck of dust within a Universe holding billions and billions of these larger specks.

That little spot is how important the result of sporting events ultimately are vis-a-vis everything else in existence...i.e. not very. Still, there is considerable good to be found therein. 

As we approach, I will pour more time into this sinkhole of an obsession, running down my various predictions for various teams, players, conferences, etc. Whether or not the things I write here are widely read, this has been a fun thing and a good outlet for my thoughts on the teams and sports that I love. In a way, creating this blog and tasking myself with formulating thoughts on various offseason and in-season happenings has subconsciously molded and changed my opinions on a lot of things: recruiting, realignment, playoffs, the overall intentions of the principle players of college athletics, the ultimate importance of any of this stuff.

Let us praise great men and appreciate what has been accomplished. Just as importantly, let us question the things that need questioning. If this post seems incredibly disjointed, that's probably because it reflects the inefficiencies and hypocrisy of the NCAA and collegiate athletics. In a way, such an entity can only be responded to in kind with a similarly disjointed and conflicted message. Even so, this is a good time to tinker with that message, to reformulate and recalibrate the reasons and mechanisms of our fandom.

In a month, the season will start and there will be plenty to talk about. The Alabama game will produce some sort of significance, good or bad, a sort of barometric measuring of the strength of Michigan's football program. Michigan will travel to Notre Dame, Nebraska, and Ohio State, and will attempt to end Michigan State's winning streak at home. Very soon, there will be a lot to talk about: narratives to build up and deconstruct, statistical models to analyze and fit to certain theoretical frameworks, and a bevy of new memes and hilarious gifs.

For now, let's also savor this ephemeral silence. Very soon, things will become much louder.

Shameless Self-Promotion Time

This week in self-promotion:

• I wrote a brief-ish (for me, at least) rundown of Cam Gordon and where he fits onto the defensive two-deep going forward. It still seems a shame to me that he lost his job due to injury, but I still believe that he can and should have a role in 2012 (and 2013 if he's coming back for the ol' victory lap). 

• As a part of MnB's Iowa week, I decided to write about someone who I think hasn't received enough attention over the years (not that he would want it): Norm Parker, recently retired Iowa defensive coordinator. I don't think that people are making a big enough deal about the fact that Iowa is losing not one but two coordinators, both of whom joined Ferentz right at the onset of his tenure in Iowa City back in 1999. I would advise you to also check out the rest of this week's Iowa-centric posts, as they are all very good. If you want to educate yourself on the rest of the Big Ten before the season starts, you should be reading Maize n Brew. Trust me, it helps these trying summer months go by faster. 

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Anyway, a few more quick Friday links: 

• Head over to UMHoops for live updates on who Beilein and Co. are offering. It is not a great time to be a Badger fan a recruit's cell phone. 

• Carlton Brundidge finds himself a new home at Detroit Mercy. I wish him the best of luck. 

• The "truth" about Adam Sandler's new movie is that I am not going to be seeing it. 

• If you missed it, Ireland fans singing "The Fields of Athenry" yesterday despite watching their team get methodically destroyed by Spain...was one of the coolest things I've seen/heard in a while. Imagine if the Big House had burst into a seemingly never-ending chorus of The Victors throughout the entire fourth quarter of the 2007 Oregon game: 

Miscellaneous Minutiae, 2/28/2012

Weekly Shameless Self/MnB-promotion: I wrote some stuff about Zack and Stu over at MnB...you can read it or you can not, but hopefully you choose the former. Also, make sure to check out the site at large if you haven't already. It has gone to being on "hiatus" to producing regular stuff in less than a couple of weeks, which is pretty tremendous indeed.

The Doctor Is Out: As you probably know, Matt Hinton of Dr. Saturday (and formerly Sunday Morning Quarterback) has decided to hang 'em up. While he has indicated that this isn't it for him re: writing about college football, it's still unclear what the next step is. I would have to agree with Spencer Hall's proposition:

I have a hard time imagining him not finding a better opportunity to keep doing what he does at a place with less officious superiors. The blog had gradually been oppressed by a vague sort of TMZification, and it's pretty clear that Hinton was not the source of that. 

I'm sure I'm not the only one that, with some definite sadness, deleted Dr. Saturday from my bookmarked sites. After MGoBlog and EDSBS, Dr. Saturday was my next stop along the pothole-laden information superhighway cutting through the land of College Football. It was a place where you could, on a daily basis, just become a better college football fan if you so chose. Despite writing for a big entity like Yahoo, the site was more than just a mere accumulator of links and offensively generic, unmemorable "takes." His work was a reminder that real people play and teach this game, and that it is not the NFL just yet. 

As someone who has linked to Dr. Saturday on many an occasion, I'm sad to see Hinton go; thankfully, we can reasonably assume that he will find a new spot to call home. Part of his work at Dr. Saturday was  just, well, plain 'ol work (i.e. pumping out 4-6 articles a day during football season) but the pieces that made Hinton unique required true talent and writing ability. These things are not in great supply. 

News from the NATIONAL. FOOTBALL. LEAGUE.: So the NFL Combine--arguably the creepiest event in sports outside of college recruiting (which is more of a omnipresent stank than an "event," other than NSD, obviously)--happened and our former warrior philosopher poets, Molk, Martin, and Hemingway, all did vey well. The Combine has always been a silly thing, but it's a hoop that you have to jump through, and it's clear that all three's showings will positively affect their respective draft statuses. Regarding Junior, one scout said: 

There aren't more receivers that did more for themselves than that guy. He wasn't even on our radar going into this thing. He is now. It's way too early to say where or if he'll be drafted, I'm not prepared to make that distinction, but he's definitely in the conversation now. And that's more than you could have said about him a week ago. 

Junior ran a 4.53 40, which, quite frankly is a little shocking. Junior also finished first or tied for first --out of 26 receivers--in the 3-cone and 20-yard shuttle, while also coming in second in the 60-yard shuttle. Protip to my Bears: so, I know David Terrell didn't really work that one time but hear me out. Forget about taking Michael Floyd with the 19th pick and grab Junior late...you can thank me later.

As for Molk and Martin, well, in case you weren't aware, they are both kind of strong. Molk put up a ridiculous 41 rep effort on the bench, which is amazing even if you have little T-rex arms. Martin, on the other hand, put up 36 after declaring that he would beat the bench press record of 49* set by former Oregon State DT (current Chicago Bear) Stephen Paea. This must've been incredibly disappointing after training for this one moment for so long; I've only seen a few quick highlights of the combine so I have no idea if there was anything wrong with him, physically, but I feel like 36 has to have been well below even his prior standards.

You know that you are strong when people are somewhat disappointed when you put up 225 pounds a mere 36 times. Clearly Mike Martin was foolishly leaning on faulty Barwis advice** when he could've gotten some free advice from the student workout warriors filling up the IM Building/CCRB; "if it's not bench you might as well not be doing it" needs to be installed somewhere in those places, kind of like an M Club Supports You banner but for the most insufferable people in Ann Arbor.

*I'm not sure why every article repeats this fact, but the record is actually 51, set by Justin Ernest of EKU in 1999. You are now armed with this utterly useless fact. Maybe, one day, you can use it to condescendingly start a sentence with the following: "Well, aaaactually..." 
**For the sarcasm-impaired...that was a joke.


GERG Redux: Relax, it's Not That Gerg. After some previously unofficial chatter, Iowa has decided to plunge headlong into the perilous situation known as "having a coordinator named Greg that is not Greg Mattison." Yes, Iowa has officially announced the hiring of Greg Davis as Kirk Ferentz's new OC. A GIS leads to these pictures popping up near the top:

Also, this:

This could all end up working out just fine, but yeah...the back-to-back hirings of Phil Parker and Greg Davis isn't exactly awe-inspiring. These hirings represent a metaphorical gunning of the car of Time; in a short time, Iowa's 2002-04 Reign of Terror suddenly feels like ancient history. It might have been not that long ago, but in that rear view mirror it's starting to look like more and more like a distant, dust-veiled memory.

With so much coaching turnover to overcome in both Iowa City and Madison, I really have a hard time envisioning either winning more than 8 games in 2012.

Things That Didn't Happen: Wolverine Historian with some basketball highlights, straight out of that fine year 1993, from a game featuring a mask-wearing Webber:

More? Rob Lytle, Jumbo Elliott, and Erick Anderson make the 2012 College Football Hall of Fame ballot. Jack Johnson has received a fate that I would wish upon no one. Crisler construction pictures at UMHoops.

We Hardly Knew You, 11/2/2011

Another Saturday has come and gone. A brief snow flurry fell as I watched Gameday Saturday morning...mansome. It's Big Ten football time, for real y'all. It feels so strange not being in Ann Arbor for all of this after spending four years there, each week recovering from the last only to build up steadily each day until it became Saturday again and everything was good. Even when things weren't good, they were something. Thankfully, I will be making it out for the Nebraska game, so it'll only be a few more weeks of this "not being in the Big House" nonsense.

(HT: Mike DeSimone)

Goodbye: This is already old news at this point, but Carvin Johnson is the latest Wolverine to leave the program. Of course, once you get past the fact that this is a not insignificant dent to Michigan's depth in the secondary, it hurts to lose a guy like this for many other reasons.

An average Michigan recruiting class normally features a five-star or two (sometimes more), a veritable army of four-stars, and a smattering of three-stars boasting offer lists that seem to dispel their lukewarm recruiting rankings. You'll see an elite quarterback, monstrous offensive and defensive tackles, and defensive backs with a propensity to cover large swathes of turf with speed, agility, and courage.

Then you have the rest. It's hard not to become attached to players like these, players who were specifically elected, plucked from the enormous faceless mass of anonymous three-stars because they sparked some interest in somebody along the way. That's nothing to scoff at. The domain of the three-star is not that different from that of the working world at large; that is, the sheer number of people in existence makes it difficult to differentiate one's self from others, to make one's self noticed, appreciated, seen. In college football recruiting, there are infinitely more three-star and below prospects than there are four and five-star guys (this is obvious and follows logically--ultimately very few are cut out for college football), and it's difficult to get noticed by the elites.

I wish he had stayed, but, in the end, these are the guys you root for even when they're gone, simply for the fact that they keep an idealized notion of hope afloat. The idea that simply getting noticed is even a possibility should be reassuring to us all.

Three and Out: I received my copy of "Three and Out" last Thursday and, after tearing through it in the span of 24 fevered hours, was intent on writing a big ol' depressing post about it full of outrage and hand-wringing. After letting some of the book's more ignominious revelations settle in my mind for a while, I decided not to for the simple fact that: a) it's been talked about ad nauseam and b) it's incredibly depressing. With that said, if you haven't read it you probably should go do that. A few impressions ranging from the general to the specific to the inane (this is completely off the cuff...I know there will be many things I'm either forgetting to mention or lack the ability to adequately confront):

• Obvious statement of the century, but man did RR git a raw deal from the word go. He made his mistakes, but he just didn't have a chance. Eric Mayes's comments pretty much sum up what RR was up against and represent some of the far from rosy underbelly of the institution of Michigan football. The most frustrating part of the book is realizing how much RR actually did understand many Michigan traditions, going all the way back to his early coaching days. I just wish he was more able to articulate what he did know to the media, in addition to knowing when to just stop talking and start coachspeaking. 
• As a piece of writing, this book is awesome from start to finish. The survey of college football history and the development of athletic departments, the relationships between ADs and college presidents, the evolution of offenses, all the way up to the biographical bits about RR's upbringing and early pursuit of a career in coaching, were consistently captivating, even if you already know about most of these things. 
• As grim as much of the book was, something about a grown man saying--profanity ahead--"FUCK ME" was admittedly kind of funny (after watching "Fargo" the other night I guess I'm in a dark comedy sort of mood). Obviously, the circumstances were not funny at any point, but the aforementioned is something I imagine a 15 year-old on a Mountain Dew and Halo bender saying. Although the depiction of RR's cursing and object tossing wasn't flattering, it was real and most of all familiar. 
• Similarly, Rod Smith's "Suck it, Notre Dame" line...GOLD. 
• I mentioned last week that I would be reluctant to view things in any sort of black and white sense despite whatever disappointments I'd find in the book. While I'm still dedicated to that notion, it's hard not to lose a little respect for, yes, Lloyd Carr. 
• Despite RR's treatment, it becomes quite obvious (if it wasn't clear already) that the players were the biggest victims throughout this entire nightmare. Bacon's descriptions of what the players had to go through on a daily basis--as a result of the ongoing drama in addition to the day-to-day grind of life as a college football player--humanizes the whole shameful affair in a way that's unrelentingly heartbreaking. 
• The last line of the book was perfect and yet so painfully succinct that you wish it would just swallow up every page that preceded it. I remember my unbridled excitement about what was to come in the moments leading up to kickoff of the Utah game; it seems to have happened so long ago that I'm not sure it was ever real. 

Glazed, No Sprinkles: Transitioning to less depressing topics, this week's edition of Inside Michigan Football promises its usual buffet of fluff that doesn't give you anything new or useful to think about (but you still love it anyway). Hoke talked about this and that and other things, but the only reason I'm linking this is to note that he mentions a liking for glazed donuts but not the sprinkled kind. Once again, Hoke proves that he gets it. Sprinkles are most certainly the flashy, substance-less dressings of a donut lacking in fundamental toughness. A man who likes sprinkles is not a man I want to know.

Also, there's an awkward exchange about Halloween costumes at the end, punctuated by Hoke hilariously saying: "I just don't know, Jim."

Minnesota In Ur Base, Outscheming Ur D00ds: Black Heart Gold Pants has a great rundown of what exactly went wrong last Saturday against a horrible, horrible Minnesota team. I highly doubt we'll be basing our gameplan on what Minnesota did given that we, you know, actually have some amount of defensive talent to work with, but it's an interesting read nonetheless. If Minnesota DC Tracy Claeys can figure it out, I have faith that Mattison will be just fine.

The Gophers went with the "wide nine" for much of the game, which is now in vogue in the professional ranks and has replaced the Wildcat as the gimmicky deviation from the monotony of sterile manball the NFL espouses that is inevitably mentioned a million times per broadcast involving a team using these philosophies. To a certain extent it kind of worked for the Gophers. Sure, Coker made a killing on the ground, racking up 252 yards; at the end of the day, though, the Gophers only gave up 21 points, which is pretty miraculous given Minnesota's defensive incompetence against everybody save USC. BHGP writes:

It certainly seemed like Minnesota was copying the recently popular NFL concept of setting their ends up in the so-called "wide nine" stance, as in outside the tight ends. And unlike NFL teams, who prefer this look solely on passing downs, it certainly seemed like Minnesota went with this look all the time. Why go this route? Here's a good article on the concept, but the basic idea seems to be to pressure the quarterback. And Vandenberg did seem to face pressure all day, even when Minnesota didn't have an explicit blitz call on.  It's hard to say if that was due to the alignment of the ends and how much was due to a mediocre day by the Iowa offensive line, but whatever it was, it worked. 

Again, there's no way Michigan goes with this extreme of a game plan on defense, but it's worth considering. Despite the outcome of the game, Iowa will provide a serious challenge this defense; Vandenberg is a capable, strong-armed quarterback, and, paired with a pretty good back in Coker and an NFL quality receiver in McNutt, nothing but our best effort will do. Iowa's offensive line isn't really anything to write home about, and I don't see the more straight ahead stuff being a major threat barring any obscene displays of horrible tackling. As usual, controlling the edge will be crucial because the Hawkeyes do like them some stretch plays. If Michigan can duplicate the relatively solid edge-consciousness they displayed against Purdue then that should go a long way toward shutting down the run and giving Mattison free rein to blitz the heck out of Vandenberg and a leaky OL.

McGary Watch: If you haven't heard, tomorrow is the day that Mitch McGary, coveted 5-star big man, announces his decision tomorrow. Everybody who's anybody is saying that he's a lock for Michigan, which, if true then WOOOOOO. Nick Baumgardner of AnnArbor.com talks about the implications of a McGary commitment:

If Brewster Academy mega-recruit Mitch McGary puts on a Michigan basketball hat Thursday, he instantly changes John Beilein's program.

The Wolverines' 2012 recruiting class suddenly shoots up the national rankings and Beilein gets a 6-foot-10, 250-pound power forward with seemingly limitless potential to add to his already promising roster for next season.

 The article even includes a LaVell Blanchard name drop, with recruiting analyst Dave Telep noting that McGary would be Michigan's highest-rated recruit since Michigan landed Blanchard way back in 1999. That shouldn't be surprising at all (see Amaker, Tommy and Ellerbe, Brian) and yet it is. Blanchard was my favorite player as a younger fan (I was in middle school when he played) and the only basketball jersey I currently own is a blue Michigan #30, a cherished relic from a frustrating era.

With McGary ostensibly (knock on wood) joining the program, I think it's safe to say that this sleeping giant is starting to wake up. And to think that people wanted Beilein and his "gimmick" philosophies on offense and defense gone at one point--ah, the virtues of patience. Michigan hit a home run the day they hired Beilein, and that investment is finally starting to bear fruit.

More? Adam Jacobi's "Keys to the Game" for this Saturday...I'm pretty confident that we'll win but for some reason I'm getting some strong 2009 Illinois-esque vibes. HOLD ME. Joe Pa insistent on keeping the 2-QB system alive...Penn State's QB situation takes the old "if you've got two quarterbacks then you've got none" saying and derpifies it even more than would normally be the case. As WVU lawyers up, new Big 12 puppet commissioner Chuck Neinas says "Hey guys, see y'all next year!" Former Alabama and LSU stars now in the NFL weigh in on the game of the year, with each player shockingly siding with his alma mater. Georgia taking a page from the Iowan reality known as "not having any running backs ever due to various circumstances/having to deploy a guy named Paki O'Meara for a non-zero number of plays"...thankfully for UGA, they get New Mexico State this week. The WSJ on Bama-LSU.