Did You Know We Beat Iowa by 25 Points in Football?

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I get depressed when we lose.  So why I didn't get fired up about Devin Gardner and the boys when we beat the crap out of Iowa 42-17 last November is beyond me.  No post.  No pics.  Sad.  Sorry.  We had a hell of a tailgate that day.  Smoked, fried, and smoked-and-fried turkeys....filet mignon, tailgater awards, lots of great stuff.  So here are those pictures, submitted respectfully over two months late...

And the new game page is here.

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What an exciting game! The Cardinals came in and gave Michigan all it could handle. The Wolverine defense stepped it up late, forcing seven straight incomplete passes late in the fourth with goal to go...and soon after thwarting a hail mary attempt. True Freshman Brandon Minor broke 100 yards for the first time in his career with 108 yards on 12 carries. Mike Hart added 154 yards on the ground. Michigan wins a hard fought victory 34-26 behind 507 yards of total offense including 352 rushing. The Wolverines move to 10-0, completed a perfect home season, and have just one more game to go before the big one against Ohio State. 

SCREW YOU FOR BUYING THIS BULLSH*T.

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We played Ball State on Saturday and embarrassed ourselves. We were a couple bad breaks away from going to overtime with one of the worst teams in college football. There are now a laundry list of problems that, if unchecked in the next seven days, will result in getting our collective asses handed to us in Bloomington...and in 14 days, will result in the most lopsided Michigan-Ohio State game in 10 years. That list includes:

  • The dumbest pass in Chad Henne's career

  • Lloyd bringing in the second team defense with just a 15-point lead because he's got a soft spot for his former coaches

  • Questionable pass coverage

  • Being out conditioned by a low level MAC team and having it show in the fourth quarter

  • The dropsies: Breaston, Arrington, Butler...you're on notice

  • The right side of the O-Line that let a guy come in unblocked and pop the ball out of Mike Hart's hands

  • The two punter system

  • Garret Rivas's kick offs

  • Dumb penalties

  • Lloyd babying the team on Michigan Replay

I have never been sicker with a win. I've never had less confidence in this 2006 team. I never thought that at 10-0, I would need them to show me something. But I do. I need them to dominate Indiana, make no mistakes, make me comfortable by halftime, and make me want to go to my car by the start of the fourth quarter.

Our home tailgating season came to an end with a plethora of fried turkeys, all cooked and eaten before noon. Stuffing, potatoes, pumpkin muffins, and various other Thanksgiving delights filled the tables before we said our goodbyes for the year. It's been a great year despite the crappy home slate, and I thank all of you for your spirited participation. We step it up every year!

We adjourned from the golf course for the last time and headed to our yearly banquet, where the Godfather was master of ceremonies for the 2006 UMTailgate.com Tailgating Awards. 

This Is A Big Waste of My Time: The Ball State Preview

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​I watched The Break Up last night. It was an excruciating hour and forty-five minutes that I'm not going to be able to get back. But that will be nothing in comparison to three hours I will spend at this weekend's football contest between Michigan and Ball State. Non-conference action in early November? Senior day against the Cardinals? Ahhh yes, you can feel the tradition.

Ball State comes into Ann Arbor

 fired up and on a roll after last weeks pasting of Miami of Ohio, 20-17. They boast the nation's 14th ranked passing offense using a two-quarterback system, and one badass punter named Chris Miller. However, their prolific passing offense might be attributed to the fact that they are always playing from behind. Ranked 116 out of 119 Div 1A teams, the Ball State 'D' has given up over 450 yards per game. Highlights of their sieve include surrendering 610 yards to Northern Illinois and 535 yards to North Dakota St. Their offense is so potent, and their defense is so poor, that they are thinking of playing West Virgina and Louisville in a round-robin tournament of shitty-ness every Thursday next year.  

We do have some ties to Ball State.

 Their head coach, Brady Hoke, was our defensive line coach between 1995-2002, during which time we had less penetration than (fill in your own Captain Michigan joke here). Stan Parrish coaches the Cardinal offense coming off of his masterful gameplanning of two of the Navarre years back in 2001-2. But perhaps our biggest tie to Ball State is the Ball Jar, the namesake of the school that can be found all summer long in Ann Arbor filled with the chemical goodness that is Casa Dominick's Sangria. Yum.

The School:

  • Enrollment: 20,113

  • Mascot: Charlie Cardinal

Notable Alumni:

Numbers:

  • This will be the first meeting between Michigan and Ball State

  • Michigan is 21-0 all time against teams from the MAC conference

  • A win this Saturday will mark Michigan's 25th 10-win season, which is second all-time only to Alabama.

  • This will be Carl Tabb's last game at the Big House, marking the end of his 12 year career as a Wolverine receiver. It seems like only yesterday that he was playing catch with Todd Collins.