Yes, it's been a light posting week...my apologies. For those that are not "in the know," Jake Long has decided not to go to into the NFL draft, despite being projected in the early part of the first round. This move will no doubt put him on par with Jesus for the Michigan faithful, and make Mike Hart pony up some big cash for a Christmas gift for Jake.
Here's the article from the Freep.I hope to have some fresh stuff up this weekend.
How many people have asked you today how pissed off you are about the BCS championship game? No less than 15 for me. Well, I'm not pissed...I'm just disappointed. To be honest, I don't have any emotion left...November 18th took it all out of me.
It's time to refocus whatever anger and pain you may feel towards "the Florida coach," the former Florida coach, or the monkeys with darts over at the Harris poll...and direct it towards Pete Carroll. We are in the Rose Bowl folks, and if all you can think about is that this is a consolation game, then shame on you. It's Michigan vs. USC, a rematch of the 2003 Rose Bowl, and most likely a battle for #1...not for this year, but in next year's preseason polls. Seems like pre-season placement factors in to this BCS crap...so maybe that's important. Ya, probably not.
Rounding up the weekend (and the last couple of weekends) around the internets:
Injury Report:
It's over. But it's been over. It would have hurt a lot less if there they had never given us a glimmer of hope. But they did, and by "they" I mean the media...the voters...the BCS. We lost to Ohio State on November 18th, and we were all ready to let the dream die there. On Sunday the 19th, because of our valiant effort, Michigan fell from #2 to, well, #2. Unexpected? Yes. Unprecedented? Yes. Real? No. Though the pollsters and the computers kept the Maize and Blue in the #2 spot, they were really always #4. They were always behind USC and Florida. The idea of a rematch was only part of the problem. It was the fact that not only would Michigan get to play Ohio State again, but they would be playing them back-to-back. As the cold weather dictates that the Big Ten end their schedule before Thanksgiving, Michigan had no more games to play. Their last game...Ohio State. Their next game...Ohio State? Too much to stomach for the world outside of the Midwest. Not good on paper...not great for TV...no go for Big Blue.
You needn't look far to find if we are the best one loss team, and if the pollsters dictated the game they wanted instead of #1 vs. #2. Imagine if you will the expected USC victory over UCLA. USC heads to Glendale easily. But what do the BCS standings look like? No doubt we remain #3, and Florida remains #4. Florida moved only to create a matchup, and that is unfortunate.
Another scenario that puts us in Glendale? Take the bye week we previously had and use it, then play a patsy during "championship weekend." Michigan beats Vanderbilt 27-7 this weekend, and it's off to Arizona for Carr's boys. Note: Florida beat Vandy by 6.
However, that's not why we aren't in Glendale. We controlled our own destiny. We needed only to win in Columbus to go to the National Championship game. We didn't.
We have no argument. We lost a game. The rest is fodder for sportstalk radio.
So it's back to Pasadena for Michigan, the third trip to the Granddaddy of them all in four years. An impressive mark, even if it is mired in disappointment. UMTailgate.com is heading out west, so drop me a line if you are making the trip. And now that it is Florida playing Ohio State, I must say...GO GATORS! BEAT THE BUCKEYES! You can stick that "good for the conference" line right up your ass.
GO BLUE!
Oh, and the highly anticipated pictures from our trip to Columbus? They are right here. But they really suck.
P.S. If you want to be super pissed off...look at this.
I won't bore you with the man's resume or his countless contributions to the Michigan Football program, because if you are a reader of this blog you already know that Bo is Michigan Football. I had the honor of meeting Bo once, back in the summer of 1998 following Michigan's National Championship. As a gift for my birthday, a friend that worked in television (Bloomfield for those in the know) dispatched me to interview Bo for channel 50 on the eve of the Millie Schembechler golf classic. Walking in to the U-Course clubhouse, my ideas of Bo were a series of sideline blowups at referees. I was never more intimidated. But I introduced myself, and Bo immediately asked me about my last name being DiMaggio. We spoke for about 15 minutes about Joe DiMaggio (no relation), who he had met years ago. For me, Bo went immediately from intimidating, fiery coach to really nice old man. Like a younger version of Earnie Harwell, Bo talked and talked...not on camera, but to me. We walked out on the golf course and I floated a couple of softball questions to him on camera about the event. Bo was also fully aware the entire time that I was star struck. After the brief interview, he turned to the cameraman and said "Let's get a picture." He put his arm around me like we were old friends and posed with a big smile.
Bob Ufer once said, following the Anthony Carter catch against Indiana in 1979, that Bo Schembechler was "looking up at Fielding H. Yost in football's Valhalla." Now Bo can join him to watch the game this weekend.
We will miss you Coach. This one's for you.
Once again...not my crafty photoshop work. In addition, get some kleenex together and read this blog, which is far and away the most poetic pro-Michigan writing anywhere on the internets.
Sure, it's just a game played by a group of young men, most of whom can't order a beer at a bar. But for those of us that live and die by Michigan Football, that dream of perfect seasons, those boys hold in their hands the keys to our sanity, our sanctity. The ramifications of Michigan-Ohio State do not define us, for over 125 years of football history will cover the outcome of Saturday, win or lose. But Saturday WILL define the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry. Yes folks, it is tough to say, especially when I am young by comparison to the amazing history of this great rivalry, but everything we've accomplished in this rivalry, especially that which has occurred in the last 15 years, will be on the line at 3:30pm on Saturday. Ruining their lives in 1995, again in 1996, and shoving it in their face in 1997...all gone. John Cooper...a distant memory. All that anyone outside of Ann Arbor will remember will be the game between Michigan and Ohio State in 2006. This is it. This is everything. The idea that Buckeye football begins and ends with that son-of-a-bitch in a sweatervest can come to fruition.
And for us, the die hards, the faithful, it will not be the hours or days following the game when you are either basking in the glory or licking your wounds, when you are glued to the television coverage or simply sitting alone in a fetal position in the dark. Time will pass, and time heals all wounds and mutes massive accomplishments. But mark my words...this will be the toughest to shake. Six long weeks will pass, and with the piles of crap that are at the top of the college football heap, you will only be hearing about one team for those 42 days, the winner of this game, and how they are by far the favorite over whomever the BCS decides to plop in there, and we will be inundated with "we take you back to how they got there back on November 18th." ESPN Classic will air the game 20 times and people will cover their walls with the Sports Illustrated cover.
On January 1, someone will be playing in a Rose Bowl...and they will be disappointed about it. What a shame to hate to go to Pasadena. On January 8th, someone will be playing for the glory, the ring, and for history...even after having already made it.
The School:
Famous Alumni:
On the Line:
The Numbers:
Watch out for:
Predictions:
The Hammer:
There are always two sides to every story. And it's often very hard, especially if you're a Michigan fan, to see how the Buckeyes fan base has the confidence in their team and fifth year senior quarterback, after all what can Michigan do that Troy Smith hasn't seen already. Adam Liberman asked me this question yesterday and I have dwelled on it ever since. Some say we've waited 10 years for a team like this. I've waited a lifetime. The '97 team had extra special meaning to me. I was a senior at Michigan, one of my suite mates and pledge brothers was a member of the team, I had class with countless Wolverines and there was a personal attachment to each victory. I cried after the final whistle blew and as the sun set over the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, I reached into my pocket and procured three Phillies that I had left over from New Years (appropriately enough there were three of us sitting together, Myself, Daris Dewbery and Jason Trombley). I thought to myself, this is what heaven must feel like. And yet that team was centered around a devastating defense that was led clearly and unquestionably by one player, the greatest college football player of my generation, Charles Woodson.
And this is why I've waited a lifetime for this Michigan team. We are more than one player. The talent depth, the determination, the absolute domination this team is capable of is like nothing I've seen in a Michigan team. USC in 2004 is what immediately comes to mind. And maybe Henne isn't Matt Leinart (albeit he is a Junior, the same year Leinart was when he won his first NC as a starter) and Hart is clearly not Reggie Bush but this team is dominant. Maybe not to the casual observer but its there, sitting quietly in the corner waiting to explode as it did in South Bend in September. Obviously Ohio State isn't Notre Dame. The Buckeyes have the most offensive balance we'll face this season. They have replaced nine lost starters on defense from last year's team and have performed well above national expectations. And we're still going to win. Jim Tressel, Columbus, Ohio, Troy Smith, Ted Ginn...remember those names and places. Remember this team. I urge you to take five minutes out of your day and relive what has to this point been the greatest season in Michigan football. Soak it in and breathe deeply. It's just beginning. Don't fret. Have faith. Remember we have Hart and Henne, Branch and Woodley, Manningham and Arrington, Hall and Harris. These are Wolverines. These are our student athletes. And most importantly these are our Victors. Prediction...27-17. I love this team. David Harris DMVP, Hart OMVP.
Johnny Cleveland
The game of the aughts is sure to be a dandy. I am not scared of t. Smith, unless he gets it to G & G a ton so its on Mo T. and Leon. If they stand tall then the rest will be history as hart hits 150 for 2. Super Mario gets two plus Arrington's one and the final one in garbage time from Minor. A three pointer from pudge brings the total to 48. OSU catches up a little late but not enough to scare anyone and definitely not enough to deserve a rematch. Nice season, please represent our conference well in the Capital One Bowl, cuz after that ass whippin, the Badgers are going to Pasadena.
UM 48 TOSU 28.
The X-Box
Michigan 44, Ohio State 24
The Webmaster
Michigan has answered all of their critics. It seems like the Alamo Bowl occurred in a different century, a different dimension. The blown 4th quarter leads, the lack of a running attack, the stagnant defense...all of the follies of the 2005 Wolverines have been avenged and forgotten...all but one. And as this team prepares to take the field at the Horseshoe, they will know that. So much accomplished, yet so little. This is the final chapter for perhaps the greatest team ever to don the Maize and Blue...and it might as well be the whole damn book.
This game will not live up to the hype. And as Jason Forcier trots into the game near the end of the 4th quarter, the world will realize that this was not a matchup of #1 and #2, but instead a showcase for the new #1. Behind senior leadership and an aggressive gameplan, both offensively and defensively, Michigan will show the nation the type of team that belongs in Glendale. A team that took the #8 total offense in the country, and held it under 200 total yards. A team that flaunted its offensive weapons when it needed to, with near perfect balance. A team that continues to prove without a shadow of a doubt that they are the greatest college football team of all time. It is truly great to be a Michigan Wolverine.
"What the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve. And those who stay will be champions."
Michigan 31, Ohio State 10
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