What can I say about the Penn State game? It reinforced several things that we already knew about Michigan, in addition to some other stuff:

• The offense isn’t simply bad, it’s inconsistent. It can be very bad much of the time, and it can also produce effective drives some of the time. The lack of experience is resulting in the evil side of the offense being apparent more than the good side.
• Nick Sheridan is not very good at the footballs. By all accounts he’s a good kid, but he’s not Division-I material.
• I had forgotten how bad Penn State fans were. They vault back up to #2 in my “biggest assholes in the conference” unofficial rankings, surpassing Wisconsin.
• Minor looked pretty good, and I think that he’s likely your primary starter for the short-term future, as a strong runner is necessary when the standard running play is “go into the teeth of the defense with only nominal assistance from your offensive line.”
• The defense still needs to step up. The big play has become something of a habit. I know Penn State is far and away the best team we’ve seen so far this year, but the defense has to be able to at least slow them down.
• That said, I’m not huge on all this Shafer hate that is going around. I think Shafer is hamstrung by some of the personnel, and maybe even the position coaches he has to work with.
• Not sure when I’ll get around to making an FNL. Hopefully tonight, though.

And on to Michigan State:

• In case you missed it (since I accidentally posted it at midnight), here is the post I wrote about the previous times Rodriguez and Dantonio have faced off. Obviously, neither team is the same, but it’s at least interesting to see.
• Steve Threet and Brian Hoyer are both supposed to start this weekend. God help us if Threet can’t play.
• I see Michigan State as a Wisconsin analogue more than anything. Wisconsin is the only team we’ve beaten so far this year, so at least there’s hope.

Posted under Football

On Confusing Insults
Saturday morning we left the house where we were staying decked out fully in our Michigan gear. Before we even hit the street from the back door, we ran into a few a Penn State fans. One of these partisans pointed at the group of us and yelled “FAG! FAG! FAGGOT!” I think we responded with either “Go blue!” or “Keep it classy State College.” Then the more we thought about, the more confused we became. Was there one of us who looked or acted some way to earn the extra syllable? Did one of us just seem more homosexual that that person deserved the full pejorative? By the end of the day we were arguing with each other about who was the full word. We decided it was Tim.

On Beaver Street some girls walked by looking really confused. As we got close to her she said “Who are all these yellow people?” We looked around quickly to make sure it was in fact referring to us. We were definitely the only people who could classify as “yellow.” I’m not sure if her use of the term “yellow people” is common in State College to refer to Michigan fans, but we were not used to that use of the term.

On Hilarious Things Saved for All Time

This photo was taken on Foster between Atherton and Barnard.

On Things That Might Be Related
One really awesome feature on Penn State’s campus is the Creamery. Both times I’ve made it down to State College I’ve stopped at there and gotten some of the best ice cream I’ve ever had. Unfortunately, there was no Peachy Paterno or Jay’s Java Chip or Chocolate Marshmallow Morelli. I got bittersweet mint and Nate got vanilla. It was delicious as this picture shows:

On The Surprising Calm
We were pretty sure that Michigan was going to lose, but we also knew we wanted to hang out in State College Saturday night. In the unlikely event of a Michigan win, I would have been worried about some sort of murder-suicide, mob mentality sort of thing. To prevent this, we bought Penn State hoodies (if Braylon can do it, we can). After the loss we decided to see how excited the fans were about a fairly huge game in recent Penn State history. We threw on our Penn State clothes and headed out on the town.

Walking down the street, one of us would yell “WE ARE!” and listen for a response. Generally even with big groups of people there wasn’t a huge response. Usually it was one or two people out of all of them. I’m not sure if it was a come down from the excitement and build up to the game, but many fans simply seemed deflated and relieved. I remember after the Wisconsin game this year or the Penn State game in 2005, Michigan fans were going crazy in Ann Arbor all night after the game. I’m not sure what was holding the Penn State fans down, but something certainly was.

Posted under Football

More bad recruiting news, as Anthony Fera has decommitted from Michigan.

As much as people think the position isn’t particularly important for recruiting, we really could have used a good kicker in the 2009 class, and the mere fact that there is more attrition at all is a little unsettling for Michigan fans who follow recruiting.

We’ll have to see where the staff goes with this, and I’ll bring more info as it comes out.

Posted under Football

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Texas	1
2	Penn State	1
3	Alabama	2
4	Oklahoma State	4
5	Georgia	2
6	Texas Tech	6
7	Oklahoma	2
8	Southern Cal	2
9	Ohio State	—
10	Florida	6
11	Utah	1
12	South Florida	3
13	TCU	13
14	LSU	—
15	Missouri	2
16	Ball State	9
17	Florida State	3
18	Georgia Tech	8
19	Boise State	1
20	Minnesota	3
21	Brigham Young	10
22	Northwestern	4
23	Pittsburgh	1
24	Maryland	2
25	Wake Forest	4

Posted under Football

Hosted by Nittany White-out.

1. We’re approaching week 9 now, are you pleasantly surprised or already waiting for basketball season?

Uh, neither. The season is going crappily (though only slightly worse than expected), though basketball season won’t be much better. I think the rest of the season is going to be crucial to the mental well-being of many a Michigan fan.

2. Describe one specific play from this season you would alter for a different outcome if you had the chance to.

Just one? How about the “fumble play” every time we’ve run it. Doesn’t count? I guess the failed 2-point conversion against Utah to tie the game could have set an entirely different tone for the season, so for lack of better options, I guess that. One of the early fumbles in the Notre Dame game that really gave them momentum are regrettable as well. I guess the pick-6 against Toledo was the catalyst for the low point this season, so that will be my final answer. THERE ARE JUST SO MANY OPTIONS!

3. How could it (#2) possibly impact the way your season is going?

The Toledo pick would have just changed the outcome of that one game, which would have been a highly desirable change, I guess. However, if the Utah game had ended in a Michigan win, who knows where we might be right now? 5-2, probably.

4. Big Ten player you just can’t stand, why?

Pryor. Only because I covet him.

5. Boo’ing your own team (we’ve seen quite a lot of this across the Big Ten this season), your feelings on this.

Hate. Hate hate hate. I wrote about about this when it first happened against Wisconsin, but I don’t really think it’s that necessary to link it. The reasoning should be obvious enough. By the way, why is there a bonus apostrophe in the word “booing?”

Bonus Round

1. Number of beers or alcoholic drinks consumed by week 8 (or a good estimate)

Enough, but not too many.

2. Most annoying commercial seen this season

Any of the terrible Wisconsin or PSU ads that are seen primarily on BTN. The Penn State ones are particularly eye-gougingly corny, in a completely “One Shining Moment” way.

3. Your prediction for the next coaching change in the Big Ten (Joe Tiller exempt)

Have to think Ferentz is out at Iowa if they don’t make a bowl, considering they have had tons of off-field troubles this year. Paterno is likely gone one way or the other, and definitely so if PSU makes it to the championship game.

Posted under Football

The Board lives here.

Added:
OH OL/TE Dakota Anderson. Michigan is on his radar.
From Jim Stefani (and Pahokee):
FL LB Zachery Allen.
FL DL Richard Ash.
FL DL Antonio Ford.
Also from Jim Stefani:
MD RB Malik Cross.
TN OL Zak Tait.
OH CB Seth Cunningham.

New Information:
FL WR Commit Ricardo Miller. He’s still solid, despite the… struggles… of Michigan. Ricardo is also mentioned in the article about the rest of the Florida guys below.
OH LB Jordan Hicks. He is also a mid-level hoops recruit.
FL S Marvin Robinson, FL CB Lorenza Wood, FL WR Chris Dunkley. A bit of fluff from Sam Webb in the Detroit News, including that all are visiting for the MSU game this weekend.

Analysis:
This MSU game is obviously pretty huge for recruiting, and not just in 2009. If a few key 2010 guys were to drop (and maybe even a 2011?), it could get some positive momentum going. Again in this update, I want to make an effort to be as comprehensive as possible. That means the board will be a bit bloated for now, but hopefully I won’t completely whiff on anyone.

Posted under Football

I couldn’t figure out a larger frame for these stories, so we are going to make them into a collection. There may be some things I forget, so bear with me. I’m still trying to recover.

On the Necessity of Shirts:
I will try not be too specific in order to protect the guilty. We stayed at a chapter of my fraternity at Penn State. It was started up there in 2001 and is now starting to become cemented on campus. Well, on that Friday night we got into State College around midnight with 30 rack purchased in Ohio. We were obviously too sober for the scene when we arrived. The level of inebriation was completely appropriate for the occasion, except for one gentleman.

This gentleman was one of the original founder of the chapter. He had to be at 25, but likely older. Tim, our mutual friend Nate and I were talking with a few of the brothers in the kitchen when this gentleman walked up the stairs from the basement we could immediately tell it was going to get interesting. He was wearing jeans and boxers and that was it. We all know the term OMG Shirtless, this was the opposite, so LOL Shirtless or maybe OMFG Shirtless. When both nipples and navel point to the ground, you should wear a shirt.

He seemed completely confused as to why Michigan fans would be in State College. He seemed fairly confused about everything else. After babbling on about getting special forces troops to kick our (meaning Michigan I believe) Marines’ asses, he set out trying to explain the new shirt sweeping Penn State this year. The conversation went something like this:

• Drunkard: On the front it says “Make Michigan our Bichigan.”
• Tim: uh… OK.
• Drunkard: Bichigan. You know, like bitch again.
• Paul: yes… bitch. OK.
• Drunkard: Bichigan. Do you get it? Like bitch again… get it?
• All Three of Us in Unison: Yes! We went to Michigan. We get it
• Drunkard turns around and walks away

He would later find his shirt and disappear into the night. I assume he made it to wherever he was heading. This was clearly not his first rodeo.

On the Dichotomy of Fans:
Before the game, we were walking around State College and campus decked out in our Michigan gear. We were going to see our friend play Penn State’s club tennis team, so we were walking down Curtin street by the Creamery (I think). As we were approaching the street, a car slowed down and the passenger leaned out the window and yelled “FUCK MICHIGAN! FUCK YOU GUYS.” A middle aged woman walking toward us turned around looking horrified and said “I can’t believe people would say things like that.” She did not acknowledge our existence.

We were walking down Beaver St. (I think) and on either side of there are tall apartment buildings with balconies. We saw a group of kids on an 8th floor balcony having a good amount of fun. Tim and I have been to State College before and are a little wary drunk Penn State students. Well, they started yelling at us when we crossed the street, and by the time we got near to the balcony on of the kids up there poured some vodka. This surprised me. I could understand throwing empty cans or something, but wasting perfectly bad alcohol on us? That’s just lame.

We were walking around trying to find a bar to watch the game. We went into the Saloon, and once we got inside of a bar, the fans were all friendly and good sports. One woman gave us a drink recommendation (a Bong Water Monkey Boy FWIW); I talked with another fan about how Rodriguez will work out in the long run (more logically than some conversations I’ve had with Michigan fans). Sure we were ribbed and there were some friendly barbs thrown, but it was in the spirit of college football.

I don’t mind people making fun of Michigan or me by proxy. That’s what makes college football great. Be creative and not threatening. Everyone is there to enjoy two programs going up against each other and two fan bases coming together. Have fun and enjoy it.

Photo: On Penn State Signs
The text of the sign:

ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION

Used for improved livestock breeding. Was made feasible for dairy cattle by the work of Prof. John Almquist, who, beginning in 1944 in the Borland Lab, perfected the use of antibiotics to preserve semen and developed commercial methods of using it. His internationally acclaimed research increased food production and breeding efficiency worldwide.

That’s all I have for right now. One or more parts will be coming throughout the week.

Posted under Football

Yet again, I found myself not in control of which games I got a chance to watch. I also just threw teams on it pretty randomly if I wasn’t quite sure what to do. I’ll need a lot of help making something coherent out of this mess:

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Texas	1
2	Penn State	1
3	Alabama	2
4	Oklahoma State	4
5	Texas Tech	7
6	Georgia	1
7	Oklahoma	2
8	Southern Cal	2
9	Ohio State	—
10	Florida	6
11	Utah	1
12	LSU	2
13	South Florida	2
14	TCU	12
15	Missouri	2
16	Ball State	9
17	Florida State	3
18	Georgia Tech	8
19	Boise State	1
20	Minnesota	3
21	Brigham Young	10
22	Northwestern	4
23	Maryland	3
24	Vanderbilt	2
25	Wake Forest	4

Posted under Football

While Rich Rodriguez, Michigan coach, has never faced off against Mark Dantonio, Michigan State coach, the two individuals have coached against each other in a former life. In 2005, Dantonio was the headman at Cincinnati, the new kid on the block in the Big East. Rodriguez was just starting his multi-year romp through the Big East. The Bearcats and Mountaineers squared off in Nippert Stadium, then met again in Morgantown the following year.

Can that series tell us anything about how the contest in Ann Arbor this weekend is going to turn out? While those were the same coaches, they were with different teams, in drastically different situations. West Virginia was in the midst of making the entire conference its bitch, while Cincinnati was just moving up from Conference-USA. However, Mark Dantonio is a defensively-oriented coach (he was Ohio State’s defensive coordinator from 2001 to 2003), while Rich Rodriguez spends the majority of his energy on offense. Perhaps there are some relevant tidbits to tell us a little something about how Saturday’s game will transpire.

2005
38 West Virginia-Cincinnati 0
The Mountaineers rushed for 297 yards (Cincinnati only gained 269 total yards), with Steve Slaton leading the way, gaining 129 on 25 carries (5.16/carry). Pat White had success one the ground as well, gaining 111 yards to accompany his 100 through the air (on 7-12 passing with one TD).

Since Michigan doesn’t have Pat White, what can we glean from this performance? For starters, West Virginia scored on their first drive. This is a tribute to good game planning by Calvin Magee and Rich Rodriguez, and allowed the Mountaineers to put their opponents on their heels from the beginning of the game. In addition, the Bearcats gave up 100-yard rushing performances to two, players, which they rarely did under Dantonio (with the caveat that one of them was White, of course). Cincinnati’s leading tackler was a safety, which isn’t out of the ordinary, but maybe troubling when playing a team that did most of its damage on the ground. Cincinnati also did manage a few tackles for loss, sacks, and hurries. With a less mobile quarterback, that may mean that State can force Michigan into similar situations with its defensive schemes.

2006
42 West Virginia-Cincinnati 24
The rushing attack of West Virginia was once again potent in Year 2 of the Dantonio-Rodriguez rivalry. This time, the Mountaineers gained 313 yards on the ground, with 148 of them coming on the legs of Steve Slaton (on just 12 carries, for an eye-popping average of 12.33/carry). Pat White contributed 93 yards of his own, while going 7-13 for 98 yards and a TD over the air. Though Cincinnati scored the game’s first points on a field goal, it was all Mountaineers from there until the game was out of reach.

What can this tell us for a game between Michigan and Michigan State? Even if the Wolverines get down early, the quick-strike capability of this offense can keep them in the game. Also, although team speed is largely a matter of recruiting, even Cincinnati’s press release for this game acknowledged that the offensive schemes of West Virginia had the Cincinnati defensive braintrust stumped. Add in that Michigan has been building and recruiting for speed (and has had much better recruiting success that Michigan State in recent years), and the Wolverines could have success soon.

Analysis
West Virginia won by a comfortable margin in each game, averaging 40 points. The success on offense may lead one to believe that Mark Dantonio has trouble defending Rodriguez’s particular implementation of the spread. An interesting note may be that West Virginia was more dominant in 2005, the year in which they scored first (despite being on the road). If Michigan can draw first blood, perhaps the Spartans will be on their heels. Can RichRod make the struggles continue at a new school? We’ll find out Saturday afternoon.

Posted under Football

If you know of an article that can help out, let me know. I’ll fill in the remaining game articles/stats as I find the articles. 2010 updates will come in the form of a year-end wrapup.

CA QB Tate Forcier
This Week: Scripps Ranch v. St. Augustine. Scripps wins 40-36.

With a sprained ankle, sore back, cramps in his legs and a woozy head, Scripps Ranch quarterback extraordinaire Tate Forcier limped off the Serra High football field last night with an amazing 40-36 victory over Eastern League rival St. Augustine…

It doesn’t sound too serious. I hope. The touchdown runs?:

He also rushed 14 times for 121 yards and had touchdown runs of 1, 53 and 47 yards. And he plays cornerback on defense.

Season Totals: Scripps Ranch 5-1.

Season Totals: Pius 4-2.

Posted under Football