Lots of Italian food, lots of family, and yet another dominating victory by the Wolverines. Really an amazing day with lots of old friends making an appearance, big hugs and misty eyes. In case anyone questions why I do this every Saturday in the fall, days like this are why. Can’t wait to see you all on the road the next couple of weeks and then back in the cove for the home finale.
November 11, 1995: A group picture indoors as the rain turned to sleet before Michigan edged the Boilermakers 5-0. Purdue had 113 total yards. Mike Alstott was held to 19 yards…he averaged 6 YPC that season. More from this day on the game page.
Michigan takes on Purdue in hoops tomorrow at Crisler so we throw it back to November 13, 2010 when we touched bellies for luck before Michigan’s 27-16 victory over the Boilermakers. Some interesting stats in this one: Will Hagerup, Tate Fortier, and Denard Robinson all PUNTED in this game as pooching (since outlawed by, um, math and statistics) was a standard practice back in the 2010’s. I do recall we ate two caterers trays of Chick-fil-a minis at the tailgate, and by we I mean “I”. Full game page is here and has a bunch of good photos from Frydaddy who brought his big boy camera that day.
The tailgate crew (with 2021 BTC experience under our belt) opted for a restaurant experience over the downtown Indy cold, wind, and bad canned beer. We landed at Fogo de Chao, packing an artery or two before making our way to the stadium. Probably the last real tailgate of the year, though I’m angling for a little something if we make it to SoFi.
What can you possibly do as an encore when you dispatched the evil empire for a second consecutive season just seven days ago? Nothing. Short of literally hanging-a-hundred, we were not going to leave Lucas Oil impressed on Saturday. And while it wasn’t smooth sailing by a long shot, once Michigan seized the 2nd half and went up 28-13, we all kind of sat around waiting for them to drop the confetti and play Mr Brightside. And rather patiently I might add. Holy shit those commercials.
Michigan defeats Ohio State in Columbus and Purdue for the Title in back to back weekends…and they did it plagued with injuries. Now with 28 days to rest up for a beatable semi-final opponent, January 9th is truly within reach.
Not the greatest of pictures this week, but I’ll make up for it on NYE in PHX.
Julie Jacobson / AP
If ever there were a Big Ten Championship game that was tough to get up for, it was this one. As much as a matching banner and Purdue revenge were unchecked boxes on the to do list, the previous afternoon felt so good, it would be tough to feel better.
But we do.
After dodging a bullet on Thursday, Michigan manhandled three of the top four seeds of the Big Ten en route to back-to-back Big Ten tournament championships.
We have reached that point in the season where we all start to doubt John Beilein’s team. Apologies will start just a few weeks later.
— umtailgate (@umtailgate) February 7, 2018
The team you punched a wall about less than a month ago just cut down the nets at Madison Square Garden. The team you wrote off into a "maybe next year" scenario is the only team to have beaten every one of the other 13 Big Ten teams at least once. Some, like Michigan State, they beat twice. The team you questioned even as recently as this week, wondering if they could upset some of the top tier teams in the Big Ten and make a run at a banner, has dominated. And they were not upsets. Michigan was the team to beat. Michigan was the aggressor. They are the ones who knock.
Wagner was named "Most Outstanding Player" of the Big Ten tournament, but Moe insists the award belongs to his teammates. And he is most certainly correct. Jon Teske was the man on Thursday, filling in for Wagner when he got into foul trouble, and again today, when he actually had more minutes than Moe, as Coach Beilein tried to throw every option he could at Purdue's mutant Ivan Drago.
Mutant Ivan still had 23 points on 9-12 shooting. HOWEVA, Teske and Wagner combined for 31, so there's that. Zavier Simpson has gone from being benched early in the season for PG by committee to on the cusp of a Burke or a Walton (minus FT%). He became a focus of a few timely articles, and all are worth a read:
That last one is behind the paywall at The Athletic, but you should throws those folks some cash, they make a good product.
Anyway, seems like X could become that tournament guy we've been looking for, but the truth is, there are so many role players on this team that can carry them a game, a round, or even to San Antonio.
Some questions remain: Will free throws eventually bite us in the ass? Can we just practice free throws continuously until the tournament? What will be the effects of this long layoff? If we play in Detroit instead of Sparty, will they cry for a week, a month, or forever #disrespekt?
Well, we've got 11 or 12 long days to find the answers. For now, enjoy the championship, and hope that we don't cool off too much in a fortnight.
Oh, and get yourself in a bracket picking mindset, the field is released in a week (so weird that it's not tonight...friggin' Delaney) and it will be time for the 19th Annual UMTailgate.com tournament challenge.
Go Blue Forever
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