Fall and Football, Football and Fall. Can't have one without the other. So who are you are watching, and how are they doing?78 responses total.
I watched a fair part of the Indiana-Michigan game. Michigan's offense was _really_ bad: seventeen points, only seven in the second half, and none before both the special teams and defense had racked up touchdowns. They have got to get better if they want to go to Pasedena.
Michigan State did just fine today, beating 9th or 13th ranked Iowa, 20-10. The Spartans weren't supposed to be very good this year, but are 4-1. Their lone loss was a pathetic loss to Louisiana Tech by a point. I don't know if my team will compete for a Big Ten championship this year but they're doing fine so far.
MSU is only two seconds short of an undefeated season. :/
Yep. I heard very little about that game because I was on vacation then. I heard they almost held but lost it at the end. You can't get it back, unfortunately. However, by beating Iowa, the Spartans doubtless earned their way into the top 25. Good for them. No one expected they'd ever crack the top 25. Next week they play Indiana, the weakest team in the Big Ten. (Michigan and Michigan State swap opponents; Michigan plays Iowa.) MSU will probably struggle. But if they win, their next opponent is weak team Illinois. If they win that one, too, they're bowl eligible, which was probably their team goal for this year.
(link to sports?)
(Good idea.)
This is item #37 in the Fall 2003 agora, and 125 in sports.
We shall see if U-M can get it back in gear - they'll need to on the road in Iowa City. Then the following week in Minnesota. BTW, that game has been moved up to Friday night, since the Twins are in the AL playoffs, and might need the dome to host a baseball game Saturday.
That's going to be quite an interesting UofM/Iowa game.
I hoping so. I'm also hoping to watch it. On television, as usual.
I tuned in on radio just before the end of the first half, and "saw" Michigan's lead shrink from 20-10 to 20-17 after a long punt runback. I tuned in with about 7 minutes left in the game, hearing that UM was now down 30-20, meaning that they had not scored at all in the second half. They got a long TD pass to pull within 30-27, and the defense held and forced an Iowa punt. The offense stalled around midfield, and that was the ball game. You can blame it on me, I guess... ;-) I don't want to be a John Navarre basher, but the memories that I am going to have of him are failing to deliver in the clutch when the opportunity was there, especially Notre Dame & Ohio State last year, Oregon & Iowa this year.
I failed to be impressed by John Navarre at the beginning. He's gotten more mobile over the years, but yeah; he doesn't deliver in the clutch.
John Navarre is the 2nd rated QB in the Big Ten right now. To hear people bashing him, I'd have thought he was 8th. Navarre is not the problem with Michigan, in my opinion. I think Braelin "Brick Hands" Edwards is more of a problem. Saturday, the punting game was much more of a problem.
You can certainly spread around the blame for why Michigan gets behind. They don't seem to handle that well, only seem to thrive when playing with the lead. But all that doesn't matter when you get the ball back late in the game with a chance to pull it out. I would like to see UM / Navarre actually do that for once.
(since this sports conf. doesn't get a lot of traffic, you may want to request that this item be linked to the new fall agora...)
(I started it in agora, Kevin. ;)
(see what "forget" gets you? ;-)
So Michigan just missed scoring a point a minute against Illinois today.
Those were the days... Michigan "catches a break" by having Purdue *at* Michigan next Saturday. Actually, in general, things have gone Michigan's way re: the Big 10 race, pretty much. If they just win their games, their destiny is in their own hands...
Mostly. Wow, a football item still on grex. This might actually get interesting next week, with all the Michigan State folks floating around (some of whom actually care about football)...
Michigan looked good today, beating Purdue. I think this takes Purdue out of the race for the national championship. I watched the end of the Tennessee-Alabama game. *Really* close: five overtime periods. I saw a touchdown, two field goals, and another touchdown, with a two-point conversion. Alabama's last chance at a touchdown fell incomplete.
Michigan looked *awesome* beating Purdue. Remember, Purdue was ranked #8 in the country in the BCS ranking. Michigan beat them 31-3, completely dominating the game in every way. Next week is the Michigan-Michigan State game. They're both going to be ranked between #10 and #15 most likely. They play at noon, at Spartan Stadium. As a Spartan fan, I had started to settle into the idea that Michigan State ought to win the game, but if Michigan plays like they did today, no team in the country could beat them.
On the other hand... Michigan had one other game where they played that well. They played that well against Notre Dame. They then lost two straight games, to Oregon and Iowa. Still, today's game was *amazing*. I expected Michigan to win, but I didn't expect them to win like that.
Isn't MSU the only undefeated team in the Big Ten? That should change next weekend. ;)
Michigan State is the only undefeated team in the Big Ten, yes. They're 4-0. They did lose a nonconference game to Louisiana Tech. They play Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio State and Penn State. It doesn't seem likely they'll run the table on those teams. Penn State is bad but the other three are very good, nationally ranked teams. However... they have the opportunity to go to the Rose Bowl if they do win all their games, or even three of the four. That would be very satisfying; they were not expected to go to any bowl game this year after going 4-8 last year and bringing in a new coach.
I'm hoping the Spartans go to a bowl, just not the Rose Bowl. ;)
Well, yeah, the Orange Bowl would be better this year. I, however, would be very much satisfied with the Rose Bowl.
(Actually, UM has a rather pedestrian win over Indiana at home between the road losses to Oregon and Iowa.) Let's hope that UM can keep up the intensity of the past 2 weeks when they travel down I-96 to Moo U. At least this year we won't have to worry about a brain damaged clock operator giving the cows an extra second to work with!
MSU fans quit whining about the factors that went against them and helped with their loss after a week or two. Michigan fans may *never* forget the 26-24 loss to MSU in 2001. However, they had no trouble getting over the two bad turnover calls at the end of the game that gave them an unearned victory over Iowa that same year. (Remember? The Big Ten apologized for the officiating for that game? Of course you don't...) I am looking forward to *this* weekend's game. Neither team was expected to be where they are. Michigan was expected to be crowding the top of the Top 25, and be 8-0 at this point. Instead they're #13 in the country (according to the BCS) with a 6-2 record. Michigan State was supposed to be 3-5 or worse, but instead they're 7-1 and ranked #10. It may make for a wonferful game. I'll say this... if Michigan plays like they did against Purdue, they'll blow Michigan State right out of Spartan Stadium. They would have beaten anyone that day. That was an amazing game. I don't expect that to happen. I expect a close game. Because of their superior defense against the running game, solid special teams, better quarterback, and home field advantage, I expect the Spartans to win.
The thing that always gets conveniently overlooked in the "Anthony Thomas fumbled but the refs didn't call it" whine is that the fumble was caused by a face mask that also wasn't called. So let's not dredge that one up as some kind of half assed "make up" over the homer clock operator at East Moo U.
I don't spend a lot of time complaining about referee errors. I enjoy the game of college football. I am enjoying looking forward to this weekend's game much more, just now, than I am enjoying the win two years ago, or MSU's 4 wins in their last 5 home games against U-M. I'm anticipating a Spartan victory. The team that ran the ball better has won 35 of the last 37 games -- and U-M is not going to be successful running the ball against Michigan State this year. Turnovers mean a lot, and State hasn't given up the ball in the Big Ten season this year. Not once. They've taken the ball away 11 times and given it up 0 times. Heh. Selective statistics will build up a team. Actually, I'm expecting a close, hard-fought game. Michigan and Michigan State have played common opponents Indiana (S), Iowa (S), Minnesota (S) and Notre Dame (M). (M or S is which school did better against each common opponent.) I think this game is going to be a lot of fun for everyone. At this point, I couldn't be happier about it. Sunday morning... we will see.
(jep, you mention that U-M won't be successful running against MSU. I'm not sure of whether I necessarily agree or disagree, but my understanding is that MSU doesn't have much of a running game at all. could you comment? right now, my primary source of news on the game is the Michigan Daily, which is quite biased in this regard.)
Michigan State has a poor running game by Big Ten standards, they're tenth in the conference with an average of 103 yards per game. Michigan is 5th in the Big Ten, averaging 143.2 yards per game. However, Lloyd Carr, coach of U-M lives by the running game, and John L. Smith, MSU's coach, does not. MSU wants to pass the ball anyway. Michigan was pretty much forced to go to the passing game for their win over Minnesota, when the running game was ineffective. Minnesota wasn't prepared for it and let a big 4th quarter lead slip away from them. Michigan State will be better prepared for what happens when Michigan can't run the ball. Michigan played against a passing offense last weekend, Purdue, and succeeded by swarming (and flustering) the QB. Kyle Orton said, after the game, he never got the chance to throw the ball long. I don't believe MSU's QB, Jeff Smoker, is going to get flustered. I think if Michigan blitzes MSU like they did Purdue, then Smoker will drop a short pass to somebody. If they don't blitz, Smoker will have time to find an open receiver -- and he's got the most accurate arm in the Big Ten. (70% completions in the Big Ten.) I don't think Michigan has an answer for a QB as good as Smoker. I think MSU is also vulnerable to a strong passing offense. If Michigan throws the ball well, as they do sometimes and don't do other times, then this could be a high scoring game for both sides, and unpredictable. In a close game, MSU has the advantage because their kicking game is better. They punt for 10 yards per attempt more than Michigan. They trust their field goal kicker. Dave Rayner is accurate from almost 50 yards out. Michigan does not trust their kickers, especially with long kicks. Michigan does have a better running game. If they can run the ball, they'll probably win. Michigan State is also prone to penalties. If the Spartans give up a lot of penalty yards, that could be a factor.
High noon! :-)
A few years ago, a few nights before the Michigan-MSU game, someone painted green S's all over the diag on the center of Michigan's campus. Since then, every year, the guys from Theta Chi bring their couches and their foozball table to the diag and camp out for several days before the game. This morning I saw one of them polishing the 'M' with a can of Brasso.
And Michgan won, by an interception in the end zone! I was really, really worried. After that fumble recovered for a touchdown by State, we were in trouble. When we gave the ball up on downs with a minute and twelve seconds left, I got scared. But the defense stayed with it, and State came up empty with time expired. Woof!
Luckily for the Spartans, it is just a football game. ;)
Right, basketball season is coming right up. (-:
(I was surprised at how often and how well U-M [specifically Perry] was able to run the ball. I also was surprised at how often the Spartan receivers simply dropped passes, just like they did in the early season.)
re #38 - I seem to remember some MSU fans saying that last season after the football game. And then losing to UM in basketball ;) (However, hockey season will bring some good games, as it always does)
After going 9-34 over the last four years, Eastern Michigan football head coach Jeff Woodruff was releived of his duties and EMU Assistant Head Coach/Running Backs Coach Al Lavan was named Interim Head Coach. http://www.emich.edu/goeagles/football/2003/Releases/woodyrelieved.pdf EMU has three games remaining in their schedule including next weeks game against the University of Central Florida (12 Noon kickoff) which is to be televised as the MAC game of the week on Fox SportsNet Detroit and fox SportsNet Ohio.
I personally don't think it is right to fire the college head football coach before the end of the season, when the reason is "loses too much". The only possible acceptable exception to that might be if letting him stay until the games are over would affect recruiting.
Of course letting the coach stay on will affect recruiting. Opinions are already being formed by recruits. They are going to want to know early on who the new coach will be.
Somebody has to come in last.
Hopefully not four years in a row though. The recruiting issue is one that AD Dave Diles mentioned.
Eastern was competitive in the MAC before Jeff Woodruff. There's plenty of reason to consider him as the problem. It was time for him to be replaced. He was quoted before the season, and through the beginning of it, that no matter who is the coach next year, the team will win more than it loses. But I guess he said the same thing last year, and the year before.
I feel bad for him, he's really a nice guy from everything I've read and seen, but I would really like to see more than one win a season. (wow, if you would have told me 15 years ago that in 15 years I'd be writing *anything* about football I would have laughed)
I think probably most coaches are nice guys, and good people. You've got to have some personality to go into the homes of high school kids and recruit. I agree that Jeff Woodruff seems like a nice guy on the radio and in the newspapers. So do Lloyd Carr, John L. Smith, Bobby Williams (previous MSU coach), and all of the rest of them. You can be as nice as can be, but you're paid to teach football and win football games.
When the head football coach (college) is fired during the season, it is almost *never* the case that the new, permanent head coach (for the next season etc.) is known right at that time. The interim guy is almost always one of the assistants. So knowing who the next coach is going to be is not an issue for potential recruits - it is certainly not known at the time of the firing. The only way the firing could help recruiting is if the coach is "so bad" that the school is demonstrating to the potential recruits that they won't have to put up with him, and getting that message out there sooner. Witness the MSU situation last season...
I bounced between three games this afternoon: Indiana at Penn State, Minnesota at Iowa and Wisconsin at Michigan State. Penn State, Iowa and Wisconsin won, all three by very lop-sided scores. Now to see how Michigan does at Northwestern and Ohio State does against Purdue.
So Michigan won handidly. So handily, I didn't even notice time expire. Now I'm watching Purdue and Ohio State duke it in overtime. 13-16 OSU, right now.
Purdue missed its last field goal attempt, so Ohio State won. Next week is for the Rose and Sugar Bowls. :)
Eastern Michigan won it's second game in a row today against Ball State (who were favoured by 10) Let's hope for three in a row when they go on the road against Northern Illinois(#21). The final was 38-14.
I had hoped it would go that way. Too bad next week won't be on television.
Yeah, I wish it wasn't my birthday and Eastern's Band-O-Rama next Saturday, otherwise I'd think about taking to the road....
Your birthday is next Saturday? Not a day or so before or after?
(MSU played *at* Wisconsin, and they didn't play too well) All is well in the "Big 2, Little 8-now-9" world: Michigan-Ohio State for universal supremacy, as it should be. :-)
RE#56 -- Last time I checked it was Saturday.....yep, Saturday. (I think I'm missing something)
If they were universal supreme, they would be undefeated.
100th Anniversary game or 100th gathering for a UM-OSU game? Is there a difference?
My understanding is that this is the 100th time Michigan and Ohio State play. The first time was in 1897. (According to the special supplement in this evening's Ann Arbor News.)
So far, Michigan is looking pretty good. Unfortunately, I had something else to do and missed the kickoff, saw the first two scores, listened to the set-up for the third score, and missed the fourth (Ohio State's first). Penalties are hurting both teams.
Michigan by 14 with 7:55 to go.
Taking the knee four times after an interception, Michigan wins. Anti-climactic. But sweet. :)
Michigan won the game and the Big Ten title by beating the Buckeyes, 35-21. In the 4th quarter, John Navarre tossed an interception, but the Wolverine defense held OSU to a 3 and out, and that ended the possibility that Ohio State could catch up and win the game. No national championship for Ohio State this year. I'm sure Michigan fans can overcome their grief.
'Twould be easier in New Orleans.
I don't think there's a realistic chance for Michigan to get to the national championship with 2 losses. However, they will play in the Rose Bowl, and that's something.
'Twill be interesting to see if Ohio State stays ahead of us in the BCS rankings.
I just noticed that in the UCLA-USC game, USC is the only one to get into the end-zone: the score is 2-41, USC.
Mr. Alvarez will have to wait for a bowl game for his 100th win.
Is this the last of the Michigan home games this year? Does this mean I can shop at Briarwood this Saturday with only normal Saturday traffic?
Yes, the home games are over for the year. The only game remaining will be played somewhere south of here, on or about New Year's Day.
Hey, let's not forget about the Spartans! They end their season 8-4. An AWESOME improvement over last year! GO GREEN!
People who aren't Spartan fans have been saying the season is a disappointment, since the team lost 3 in a row against Michigan, Ohio State and Wisconsin, and went from being #9 to being unranked. I don't see it that way. This team went from 3-8 to 8-4 and a bowl game. They did it with a new coach and all that goes with that. They did it with a QB who came back from awfully far down. They did it after losing the #2 pick in the NFL draft, and despite a lot of injuries to their cornerbacks. Yeah, I was excited when they were #9. Had they won out, they might be playing for the national championship. That would have been a magnificent story, obviously. It didn't happen that way. It's still been a terrific season. Maybe next year will be even better. I'll be looking forward to it.
Yay Spartans!
I'm not a Spartan fan, but I do think they did well this season.
managed to catch the last fifth of UM/OSU on a dining-hall tv. very happy thing :) somehow Pitt managed to schedule their last game, against Miami at "home" (actually at the Steelers' stadium downtown), for Saturday night during Thanksgiving break. . . .
watched a docu. on painted whores on broadway on lifetime.
You have several choices: