Rod's Riddler

This didn't start with Batman. Or the Riddler. In fact, I started with a listen to Rod's phone conference with the Big 10 today. This not only covers the theme of the day, but also one of my favorite tv shows growing up:



And on to Rod's Riddles we go ---

How Can a Coach Avoid Fumbles?

Rod had a question and answer about the Notre Dame game. The audio link from Mlive is here. Basically, Rod spent a few minutes saying this:

--Brandon Minor's "fumble" was supposed to be a forward pass.
--We have to coach it up on the kick receiving team, although they caught it "pretty well" in practice.
--The unforced turnovers have got to be corrected (no kidding!)
--Brandon Graham has played "pretty well". But he is still learning the new scheme and terminology, which has slowed him down.
--ND executed deep ball well and handled conditions well.
--ND handled the ball better than we did.

I would have added something like this: We will not start a true freshman at kick returner in the first road game of the year. We will not start a true freshman at kick returner in the first road game of the year. We will not start a true freshman at kick returner in the first road game of the year.

There's One In Every Group.

At the end of the session, Jeff Rabjohns, an Indianapolis Star reporter, asked whether there are more missed field goals in college are a result of the wider hashmarks in college as compared to the pro game, and whether college should adopt the pro hashes.

Uhh. Let me think about that. . . .

Not The World's Hardest Riddle, but . . .

The answer to Rabjohn's Riddle is actually a little closer than you might think. Here's the World's Hardest Riddle:

I turn polar bears white
and I will make you cry.
I make guys have to pee
and girls comb their hair.
I make celebrities look stupid
and normal people look like celebrities.
I turn pancakes brown
and make your champane bubble.
If you squeeze me, I'll pop.
If you look at me, you'll pop.
Can you guess the riddle?

Think about this one. It might take a couple minutes.

Rabjohns' Riddle.

Rod actually nailed the answer and the reason to Rabjohns' question. The reason: No dumbass, there are more made field goals in the pros than college becauase they are pros. Incidentally, Jeff, there are also more field goals in college than high school despite wider goal posts and the use of tees. Huh, go figure.

You know I really wanted to make fun of Rabjohns. Rip him up a little. Not like Drew Sharp or Terry Foster ripping, that wouldn't be warranted. Maybe something more like this:





But, I actually took some time to read some of his articles. Here's an example of a good one, which is yet another riddle: How young is too young? I don't know if Jeff would like Detroit or not, but we can certainly make room for you, Jeff. If you like Ann Arbor, Jim Carty needs to get out of town. Or, if you'd like the big city paper you could replace Rob Parker, Drew Sharp, and Terry Foster together, and save the papers some payroll expense.

And the answer to the World's Hardest Riddle Is . . .





No.

More Than An Ugly Win

Sometimes a win is a win. Sometimes a win is more than just a win.

A coach's first win, is more than just a win. Even if it's only over a MAC opponent. Coach Rodriguez has his first W wearing the Maize and Blue. Rod admitted it wasn't pretty. And, normally, I would have a lot of complaining to do only beating relatively poor Miami, Ohio but not today. This win is also more than just a win because:

--Rodriguez avoided losing Michigan's first game ever to a MAC team;
--Michigan avoided going 0-2 for the second straight year;
--Without this win, 32 straight bowl seasons was in serious jeopardy (could still be);
--In the words of the greatest crime fighter of all time:

Austin: [the guard has just fallen in molten lava] What a... burn?
[laughs]
Austin: That sort of thing could get a man... fired?
[laughs]
Austin: I think he was... hot... for... you?
[laughs]
Felicity Shagwell: That's enough.
Austin: Yeah.

--And more heat, Rodriguez needs not.

Postgame video:

09-06-08: U-M vs. Miami of Ohio postgame press conference

Celebrate Young Man:


And deservedly so. Aside from a couple of potential big passes that were just missed by Miami, (only one of which was a blown coverage) the defense played pretty well and gave up only two field goals. The front looks pretty good, and TT, Brandon Graham, and Obi Ezah played well today. If they can keep up the pressure from the last 3 halves, and the secondary can turn it up small notch, they should really hold Weis U to less than 250 yards on offense. Barring an offensive meltdown (which is no gimme) we've got a reasonable shot to win next week against whale boy.


Quarterback Found.

Steven Threet was erratic at times. But, he had far better command of the offense than did Nick Sheridan. Sheridan was supposed to be the runner. After today, Not So Much. Whether Threet knows the offense better, fakes better, or what, its pretty clear we have a #1. We'll see if Rod sticks with him, or continues to juggle. Please, no more juggling, unless it's in the bag, or Threet completes more than 5 straight passes to Tacopants. At one point, Threet had a couple of long completions to Tacopants on the sideline. Despite that, it's hard to remove the better passer, when he's also the better runner, in command, and moving the offense.

Running Backs.

Honestly, did anyone ever think that Steven Threet would outrush Brandon Minor in any game? Threet 5 for 26; Minor 1 for 15. Better question: Why did Brandon Minor carry only once?

I like the use of many backs. One thing about the 2nd half of Lloyd's tenure that bugged me was his propensity to lean on one back excessively (Anthony Thomas, Chris Perry, Mike Hart) when there were other backs very capable who could have contributed. But, Brandon Minor had the best run of the day, clearly. Shaw and McGuffie also looked good, but why not get the senior the ball more than once? I was also glad to see Grady get the short yardage carries, this makes mucho sense.

More Confirmation That Andre Ware Stinks:

Miami qb pitches left, the ball is fumbled, but the ref blows the whistle thinking it's a forward pass. Andre keeps rambles through the play and the referee discussion following a replay. Had he listened to the explanation by the ref, he and his partner would have known that "by rule, repeat 3rd down". Instead, Andre wonders aloud with his partner whether Miami would go for it on 4th down, and why isn't the Michigan staff yelling that the refs have missed changing the down markers.


Team Comparisons.

Weis U. barely beat San Diego State, who was blasted by Cal Poly; OSU had a similar game to Michigan's against a worse opponent Ohio U; Wisconsin struggled in the first half against MAC opponent Marshall. While there is a lot of work to do on offense, Michigan wasn't the only team to horribly struggle today -- and with the learning curve of a new offense, it could be worse.


SuperCrazy Stats of the Day:

Pat White:

20 rushes for 97 yards
4.9/carry
0 td
11/18 passing
72 yards
0 td
0 int


Steven Threet
5 rushes for 26 yards
5.2/carry
1 td
6/13 passing
63 yards
0 td
0 int


This is Scary.

Miami linebacker Clayton Mullins says we're pretty similar to CMU, and that after a few adjustments, they handled what Michigan was doing. I don't necessarily agree. I think there was more to Michigan's lackluster last 3 quarters than Miami's D, but still:

"They did a few things that we weren't expecting to start off with. With Butch Jones being on [Rich Rodriguez's] staff and now at Central Michigan, I'm pretty sure some of that stuff is exactly what Central Michigan is doing. We adjusted to it. I felt like we played pretty well after that first drive until the last drive. We felt like we could make it happen and that we would be able to stop them. We made the adjustments that we needed to make. After we did that, the defense came together, and we wanted to get back on the field. We just felt like we had everything starting to click, but then we had a few breakdowns at the end."

Couches Are Igniting In A World Of Shit.

in Morganstown (you thought I meant east lansing, and it's probably 50/50 they are after crushing the little emu; but I'm strictly talking mountaineers here. And rightfully so:

Why is it when you try to be honest about Gomer Pyle, I mean Bill Stewart, people say you're not a real fan. I''m 35 and have been rooting for them as long as I can remember. If 7-5 is good with you, waht kind of fan are you. RR created an expectation level of greatness. We didn't always reach it, but we cam close. Stewart is overmatched, and this will become more evident as the year goes on. Is it possible the Oklahoma win is the worst win in WVU history? There's a reason he wasn't a candidate before that game.

Oh, how true that is. Both as to unexpected expectations Rod brought, as well as the cluster**** the wva administration made of the whole mess and Gomer's hire. Nice guy, that Gomer. But, West Virgina Fans: You Are In a World of Shit:

OSU wrap

The Game:

I am disappointed. I had hoped that Chad Henne would be healthy. He was not. While the first pass left me thinking he might be healthy, a bomb down the west sideline, the next floated pass as quickly proved he was not. The Game continued that way. When Chad threw the ball was high. It was also thrown with virtually no velocity. Chad has a great arm, but there was just no "pop" in the passes.

I am also disappointed that Jake, Henne, Hart, and mostly Lloyd couldn't go out with a win. I really wanted Lloyd to go out with a win. Really. Badly. He deserved it.

In the second half, Chad came out. Mallett came in. There was such a difference in the velocity of the passes, it was really amazing. Mallett has a strong arm, but no stronger then Henne when healthy. Of course, the coaching staff doesn't trust Mallett, nor did I, and I cheered with the rest of section 6 when Chad came back onto the field from the tunnel. (Speaking of tunnel did anyone notice the extended video of the lockerroom to tunnel to field before the game -- pretty cool). While I hoped that the cortizone would help, it didn't.

Of course, neither did superimmatureMario. But, despite superMario's failure's it is doubtful it would have made a difference. Henne's subpar health gave us really no chance. Michigan has been woefully bad at sustaining the run this season. With a gimpy Hart, that ineffectiveness was amplified.

The offensive and defensive lines crushed Michigan. I was a little surprised not to see more of Minor and Brown after it was clear that Hart wasn't 100%. But it would not have mattered without a passing attack. Our line simply couldn't effectively run block. Which is something that will certainly change next year once we abandon the zone blocking scheme. So, next year, I look forward to greater confidence in the run game, particularly short yardage running.

Said and done, the story of the game was told by the offensive and defensive lines. We were pounded. Our sole chance of success in light of that pounding was our passing and outside skill players. Chad wasn't up to the challenge, as you saw.

The Good

I give Ron and the D credit. While tofu blew up out defensive line on numerous occasion, we actually held tofu to a respectable yardage and point total. Some of that was due to conservative playcalling (2 passes) some due to the rain, and some due to the D. The only big play of the day was Wells run. A run that could have been stopped without a missed tackle (subject to my review of the replay, it looked like the backer should have had him, or at least slowed him down enough to allow help). So, Ron, I again spare you the spankboard. I also must mention the Englemon interception, which was a nice play and should have set up a score.

Zoltan the Inconceivable. I am buying a shirt for next season.

The Crowd. I stood (with the rest of my section) the ENTIRE game. While we stand a lot in section 6, it is typically only OSU for which we stand the entire game, and stand and clap and yell we did. Even the 3rd and 4th quarters, which all things considered for this game, was pretty damn good.

The Bad

Line play. Mike Hart. Mario Manningham. Carson Butler penalties. The weather. Uggh.

The Ugly.

Ghoston is ugly good. How did we let him get to Colombus. Not good. Oh yeah, and the twelve Buckeyes in the three rows either side of me, really ugly. One dude, who called Zoltan the Inconceivable a "European Gypsy" on 13 separate occasions during the game. Zoltan proceeded to kick a 70 yard punt inside the Buckeye 10 yard line. This guy was wearing 70's style white rimmed glasses with red tinted lenses -- LLLOOOOOOOSSSAAAHHHHH!!!

Observations.

The coaching staff does not trust Ryan Mallett. He got his head chewed off after the only series he played. By looking at Henne, you know that if they had any faith in Mallett, he would have played. They don't. He didn't. While I hope he can get his head out of his ass because it appears he has all the physical tools to become an exceptional quarterback, I doubt his mental and emotional ability match his physical skills. Steven Threet may be competition next year, which would truly be a shock considering the fanfare with which Mallett entered.

There is a realistic chance that tofu will be in the MNC. They are not that good. They are a shadow of an Oregon team with Dennis Dixon. That said, I would like to see our future coach kick some Buckeye ass in the MNC. Would be nice, wouldn't it.

If Penn State gets taken ahead of us after losing to us and to little brother, there is something seriously wrong. I will boycott the Outback Steakhouse or Capital One if that happens. In the case of Outback, I would actually be kind of bummed because their sirloin, filet, and tuna appetizer are all very good. As for Capital One, not so muc . . . . Wait! I mean I control millions of billions of dollars, capital one. Yeah, and sure, they happen to all be stuck with a foreign bank in Nigeria, but I have a way to get that out if you can just send me a check. Not that San Antonio is all bad -- they really cook some fabulous food down there. And, hey, the odds in are in our favor this time if we need our tight end to do anything other than run out of bounds on the last play of the game. On second thought, our tight end is Caron Butler.