I’m not just advocating this because I want my school to be represented by the winner. Lloyd Carr, at least this far into the season, has proven to me that he deserves to be coach of the first four games. Extrapolating to the rest of the year yields interesting results.

Oops, did I say Lloyd? I meant “Oyd.”

Vote here.

Posted under Coaching

Commercials on ESPN have been hyping up a big feature on Mario Manningham that will air this weekend. This is surprising, seeing as how he’s so damned media-shy.

If you typically tend to avoid GameDay like the plague (as I know many people do), catch it this weekend at 10ET on ESPN.

Posted under Misc.

…but Colin Cowherd does not.

Here’s an MP3 of the relevant audio.

Posted under Misc.

James Kamoku, who tried to rip Steve Breaston’s leg off during Saturday’s game, is to receive no punishment from Bret Bielema, accoring to mgoblog’s Brian Cook.

If you don’t know what Kamoku did, take a look at this video clip, again provided by Brian. Eerily reminiscent of Ohio State’s Robert Reynolds trying to kill Wisconsin QB Jim Sorgi a couple seasons ago (and succeeding in crushing his trachea). The difference? Reynolds was suspended for a game. Even then, the very same Wisconsin Badgers who refuse to suspend a player in a similar incident, thought that wasn’t enough.

If you think this is absolutely wrong on the part of Bret Bielema and the Wisconsin football program (and it is), there’s something you can do about it! Let Bielema know you are upset, by e-mailing him (bab@athletics.wisc.edu). Please, if you actually contact him, keep the e-mails classy and respectful, unlike James Kamoku.

Posted under Misc.

I’ve been mega-busy, and therefore didn’t even finish my ND post, much less post anything else during the week.

Here’s what you missed:
We destroyed ND
We beat Wisconsin handily, by more than thescoreboard would indicate.

You may now return to your regularly scheduled programming.

Posted under Misc.

7:13 AM
Wake up 2 minutes before alarm is set to go off.

7:32 AM
After much mental preparation (read: a couple huge glasses of water), I finally get in the shower.

8:12 AM
After a couple trips back home to grab things I forgot (including, but not limited to, a Cottage Inn pizza acquired at 2:30 AM), I arrive in the WOLV office.

8:16 AM
Receive call from fellow roadtripper Paul. He’ll allegedly be ready to go around 8:45. Until then, I’ll gather equipment and instructions for getting to South Bend.

Posted under Misc.

I have a quick interview that I’m trying to upload, but I can’t get it to work. Here’s the transcript instead. This interview was given on the field after Saturday’s victory over CMU.

VB: What do you take away from this game?
JL: Well, these are pretty much warmup games, and they give us a chance to… get rid of some of the mistakes.
VB: What else do you think needs to be fixed before next week?
JL: Well, we need to watch film to really know, but there’s always something to improve on. After we watch the film, we’ll work on that in practice this week.
VB: Does this game get you ready for the Irish next week?
JL: Well, like I said, these are warmup games, and the real season starts next week.

Posted under Misc.

“This is when guys make names for themselves. Guys like (Tim) Biakabutuka, when he played Notre Dame and Ohio State, he always had big games. Tyrone Wheatley, A-Train (Anthony Thomas), Chris Perry, that’s where you make your name, in big games. If you don’t perform in these big games, then you’re just an average back.”

– L. Michael Hart

Posted under Misc.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQ9yM-RZv7g]

Posted under Analysis

I guess it’s like an editorial, but it looks like an ad. Its text is as follows:

“Student Section 101

TIP: With 110,000 fans and 20,000 rowdy students, third down should be an impossible situation for opposing offenses in the Big House. Here’s how to make that happen:

1 Enjoy the time-honored Michigan tradition of jingling your keys on third down.

2 Scream at the top of your lungs, and watch the visitor’s offense struggle to get in sync.”

I’ll take this on a point-by-point basis.

• I’d hardly call even a majority of the students in the 20,000-strong student section “rowdy,” much less paint everyone with that broad brush. You’re more likely to get funny stares if you act rowdy than have other people join in.
• Third down should be tough for opposing offenses in the Big House. This brilliant plan by the Daily is not the way to make that happen.
• I’m adamantly opposed to the “key play” “tradition.” What does it do to intimidate opposing offenses? Nothing, you say? Well, I wholeheartedly agree. It’s not like they fear that we are going to lock and/or unlock something during the course of a play.
• If they insist on promoting this inane “key play” crap, the Daily should at least get their priorities in order. Advocate the screaming as first priority (and second, and third), rather than acting like jingling your keys (dear freshmen, it is hilarious to wiggle your keycard, I promise).
• If we’re trying to make noise, why not also advocate other means, such as stomping on the bleachers, or doing something that actually, you know, makes noise?

End the key play idiocy, and you will be one step closer to making Michigan an intimidating place to play.

Posted under Misc.