I'm skipping the weekend roundup to pack. So surf the internet your damn self.
Injury Report:
That's all...I'm on vacation this week and leaving admin duties to Johnny Cleveland. You behave JC. I'll be checking in now and then.
FD-WM
Coming off quite possibly the greatest day in Michigan/Detroit sports since Woodson won the Heisman and Michigan upset Duke back in '97, it took mere moments...and a shady Lloyd presser...to sober you up quickly heading in to Penn State. Mike Hart and Mario Manningham, who by my gorilla math make up about 95% of the Michigan offense, were injured during the scrimmage against Michigan Agricultural College on Saturday. While Hart says he is good to go, Manningham has been shipped to Siberia, and will be unable to discuss his injury (or lack thereof) until Lloyd thinks it's time. Manningham, who provided the miracle finish against Penn State last season in the Big House, will apparently be inactive for this year's contest against the Nittany Lions. He injured his knee in the 3rd quarter and was seen icing it on the bench in the 4th quarter. MGoBlog has received reports from some students that have seen him on crutches on campus. Could be more than just a week...but unless it's six weeks, Mario will be back in time for OSU. I hope am sure Adrian Arrington can fill the role until Mario's return...though it would be nice to have him for Iowa, our last meaningful game until the trip to Columbus.
In a move that will once again test our tailgating endurance, the University, in association with ABC sports, has set a kickoff time of 3:30pm for the Iowa game, extending our planned Italian theme to a 7.5 hour trattoriamarathon.
News from the weekend around the Google-owned web...
I have come to the crossroads my friends, and I have chosen a new path. It happened tonight. I have approached this football season with such cautious optimism that I have come close on several occasions to physically holding my lips together with my index finger and thumb when inspired to start spouting off about the success of this year's Wolverines. We're good. We're great. Just be quiet about it. Walk with a quiet confidence like the Wolverine squad did after dismantling the Gophers. Stride together, arm-in-arm. Pick up the Little Brown Jug. High five each other. Walk back to the locker room. Sing the victors. Go home and start thinking about Michigan State. All business.
Since Notre Dame, I've been teetering between this quiet confidence, and exploding into a fit of joy over our performances, and now the first 5-0 start since 1999. Tonight, I read this post from Ronald Bellamy's Underachieving All-Stars, which includes such brilliant writing and expresses my feelings so well, that I would like to hire this person to write my memoirs, which will most certainly be a best seller. Here's an excerpt that doesn't do it justice:
They deserve your allegiance, your respect; they deserve at least a mulligan ... though after holding the 8th best run offense in America to 108 yards, at home, it seems peculiar that they'd even have to ask for one. It's October now, and the team that last year had taken you on a disorienting waltz to the outskirts of hatred has already become the enemy of your own expectations, the ones this team has created in just four games.
Not a minute after completing the read, I got a call from The Hammer, whose emotions are often worn on his sleeve, and whose allegiance was in question during last year's campaign. He had also read it. It was then that the switch flipped for me, right there on the phone. I'm no longer quietly confident.
I AM READY TO PLANT A FLAG.
I AM READY TO TALK SHIT TO YOU, SPARTY. JoePa and Drew Tate...you're next. I will heretofore treat you all with the same disdain. Not because of something you did, but because you are in the way.
Get out of the way of my date on High Street in Columbus.
And Columbus, well, that's a story for a later date, filled with an anger so pent up, that its only parallel is the level of "pent up" I was after subbing in for Bubba after he puked at his bachelor party.
Yes, I know, a wounded Michigan Agricultural College is on deck, and the scare is still coming. It's #6 on the list. But it's just a scare folks, not a loss.
Around the wide world of internets...
"I would say he's (David Harris) playing as well as any linebacker that I've seen this year anywhere."
4-0. Four wins. No Losses. Do you remember where you were when Michigan was last 4-0? It's hard to believe that it was seven long years ago. There was no UMTailgate.com. Bubba and Stephen's consecutive game streak stood at a paltry 29 games, and it was three games before I even started mine. Bill Clinton was President of the United States, and we were only 17 games removed from our National Championship of 1997. It's difficult to come to grips with the fact that it has been so long since we made it through September with our National Championship hopes fully intact.
I'm not ready to book my tickets to Arizona just yet, and it would be cliche to say that "the time is now," but think about how quickly your attitude has changed regarding this team. At Notre Dame, you couldn't relax until Lamar Woodley sealed it with his fumble recovery for a touchdown late in the 4th quarter, despite the massive lead throughout the contest. Against Wisconsin, you were confident throughout, and knew it was over when a second Henne-to-Manningham made it 17-10 midway through the 3rd. That's what defensive domination does. That's what special teams domination does. It breeds confidence. It wins games. We are the polar opposite of 2005. Every quarter we get stronger. We shine in the 2nd half. We overcome mistakes by forcing our opponent to make them.
There are four games remaining before three weeks of preparation for Ohio State. One of revenge, one against the red-headed step child, one against a legendary coach under the lights, and one against a team that once embarrassed us on our homecoming. Win those four, and the path to Columbus is set.
We commence these final four games with something we haven't had to do in twenty years, go to Minnesota and re-claim the Little Brown Jug.
Weekend highlights from all those damn internets...
I normally don't criticize our players, but I'm very disappointed in Rueben Riley because Rueben and Jake Long have been bugging me since they got here to get a pass to them, to let them carry the ball. So I designed that play to get Rueben a pass. I don't like what he did with the ball. He lost five yards. He didn't run with it. That play's out of our playbook.
Which would you prefer, Big Ten offensive player of the week or Big Ten defensive player of the week? Relax indecisive Wolverine fan, this week you get both. That's right, high school teammates Mario Manningham and Prescott Burgess nabbed Big Ten player of the week honors on offense and defense respectively following Michigan's 47-21 pasting of the Fighting Irish in South Bend.
Highlights from across the rest of the Maize and Blue dominated internets this weekend...
Injury Updates
Chris Graham and Tyler Ecker returned to action this week as expected. Mario Manningham's wrist scare in South Bend was just that...a scare. X-Rays came back negative.
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