Michigan to Play Delaware St. on Oct 17

​Ignoring my plea for a decent home-at-home matchup, Michigan has taken the easy road once again and will play 1-AA Delaware State on Oct 17, 2009.  Good luck promoting that one Mr. Martin.

Schedule reads as follows:

Sept. 5 Western Michigan
Sept. 12 Notre Dame
Sept. 19 Eastern Michigan
Sept. 26 Indiana
Oct. 3 at Michigan State
Oct. 10 at Iowa
Oct. 17 Delaware State
Oct. 24 Penn State
Oct. 31 at Illinois
Nov. 7 Purdue
Nov. 14 at Wisconsin
Nov. 21 Ohio State

The Big Finish

Some say we're back in the game.  I say we never left.

• Stokes


• More Stokes


• And More Stokes


• (William) Campbell and [J.T.] Turner are the top-rated players in the state of Michigan and Ohio, respectively. This is the first time that the Wolverines had the top-ranked athletes from both states since 2002: Prescott Burgess (Ohio) and LaMarr Woodley (Michigan).


• Michigan did well despite coming off their worst season since Bo Schembechler was in kindergarten. That reflects the tradition of Michigan football, Rich Rodriguez's recruiting prowess, and the blatantly obvious fact that every position on the field is up for grabs.


• Florida’s Scot Loeffler (the popular quarterbacks coach for Lloyd Carr and of the Detroit Lions last season) and who just joined Urban Meyer and the Gators last month, apparently tried to woo Turner to Gainesville in the past three weeks.

It's Like the NFL Draft...Only It's Children. Giant, 4.3-Forty Running Children.

​National signing day is here, which can mean a lot.  Scratch that, it DOES mean a lot.  Say what you want about the first year performance of Rich Rodriguez...the recruiting class that has been tentatively assembled by the snake oil wizard is tremendous.  Respect that, if nothing else.  If a few fringe non-verbals pull the trigger and LOI to the Maize and Blue...the hype machine will be full steam ahead.

Typically, the rich get richer on this day, as the best of the best from high school pick the best of the best football programs, continuing the cycle that keeps Utah outside of the BCS.

We are one of the rich...and we've got Rich.

We've morphed very quickly into a team that emphasizes national recruiting.  You can chalk up the perceived successful MSU recruiting class to the fact that we allowed them to have the home state.  Yes, the Big Ten can be won with a team comprised of the State of Michigan's finest.  But we didn't bring in Rodriguez to win the Big Ten.  And while we would be ecstatic at the idea of a Big Ten championship right now, that is not the ultimate goal here anymore.

Rebuild.  Eliminate Ohio State.  Win Bowl Games.  Win National Championships.  Yes, that order.  Yes, that's plural.

It all starts tomorrow....roundup of announcement times courtesy of The Wolverine.

Update (11:30am): Denard Robinson and Adrian Witty to Michigan.  Pearlie Graves to Texas Tech.  We are one step closer to no chance of Sherithreet.

Weekend Roundup, Signing Week Edition: February 2, 2009

​What you missed around the internet while you tried to become the next Sully...

• Lloyd Carr's (and my) alma mater, Riverview High School,  has hired a new coach with a State Championship pedigree and a passion for small town support, discipline, and a running game.  Good luck to Coach Jeff Stergalas...I look forward to seeing the changes this fall.


• The Super Bowl MVP is Santonio Holmes from Ohio State.  He's a real character guy, which, in Ohio State terms, means he's never brandished an automatic weapon.  He has however sold drugs, used drugs, and beat his girlfriend.


• Beilein educates the media about Manny Harris's unwarranted ejection.  It was complete crap.  However, even though the collapse seemed to come following his exit, I have trouble believing it was worth 18 points.  I guess you never know.  Either way, someone needs to take those officials to task.  Maize and Brew reviews the rule book.


• Michael Phelps hits the bong.


• Sammy the Owl got ejected from a game for roughing the referree.  This wouldn't be news, except that Sammy and I have a history.


• Signing day is coming this Wednesday.  Rittenburg says the late push might be huge for us.  Getting Denard Robinson would make us one step closer to never seeing Threet or Sheridan again.  Denard and his teammate CB Adrian Witty will announce at 11am on Feb 4th.


• Taj Boyd is not going to Ohio State.


• Nice local fluff on your favorite former walk-on cager C.J. Lee.


• Ian Gold talks about new Defensive Coordinator Greg Robinson.  He had a stint under G-Rob at Denver.


• Lloyd Carr speaks at an alumni club event in one of my favorite cities, Naples, Florida, and admits he's a closet Dolphins fan.


• If things keep going the way they are, Michigan hoops might find itself in the "other tournament."  No, not the NIT....the "other other tournament."

Time Off Before the Buzzsaw

​Michigan Basketball has lost five of their last six.  Three weeks ago, we sat at 13-3...today we are 14-8.  It wouldn't be so troubling if we had been competitive in any of the losses, but for the most part we have not been.  Each of the games had periods of shooting that caused even casual observers to cringe.  I can here the echo in my head of the announcers..."Michigan is 0 for 11 from 3-point range"...."Michigan is 2 for 15 from three point range"...."Michigan is shooting only 27% from the floor so far tonight."  We once "lived by it" and we are certainly "dying by it."  The margins of loss in the second half of January..14, 7, 15, 18, and 18.  Again, I live in a world where rational thought is clouded by visions of Rumeal Robinson, so I feel I must mention that there is a whole lot of season ahead of us.

Michigan gets a bit of a break this week, which Coach Beilein has said they have been looking for in order to practice their shooting.  I like the sound of that.  The problem is that when you are in the middle of a season that doesn't take a break, all time off is offset by a game-heavy period.  That game heavy period starts Thursday, when the Wolverines play a Penn State team that just got done beating Sparty at Breslin.  It will be the first contest of three that Michigan will play over six days.  They will get only Friday to prepare to play a Saturday night ESPN televised (6pm) non-conference game against UCONN in Storrs.  Then two days off to prepare for the Sparty invasion on Tuesday night...also on ESPN (7pm).

If Michigan Basketball was looking for a good time to get things back on track, this is it.  With Penn State poised to crack the top 25, it looks like it will be three games against three ranked opponents...one of which will likely be the #1 team in the country.  With two of the games on ESPN, the world (and the selection committee) will be watching, and that's no time to be losing by 18 points.