I'm glad you responded to that BGS quote about us "rebuilding." Totally ridiculous.
And I can't help but smile to think that Domers use our losses to mitigate the pain of their constant suckitude. It's just kind of pathetic, in a Michigan State sort of way.
Check out youtube of the Oregon mascot kicking the shit out of the Houston Cougar on EDSBS. I'm literally crying laughing so hard. I'd embed it, but WTF. Besides, if you aren't checking out EDSBS with regularity, then minus one million cocktails to you asshole.
"Mallett gets a three-week audition, probably loses to Penn State badly..."
booooo... this is backsliding
come back Brian's mojo!! Come Back!!!
FWIW - http://blog.mlive.com/thediag/
20...d_be_costl.html
Basically talks about what Miles would have to do to come to Michigan.
Key Contract Language:
"It being expressly understood that should coach accept employment at the University of Michigan, coach shall pay to the University (LSU) in lieu of all other legal remedies, liquidated damages in the sum of one million two hundred fifty ($1,250,000.00) dollars and will forfeit any claim to funds under Section 11 of this contract."
I kinda feel for you Michigan folks, but those delusional NDers can get bent. I hope you beat the crap out of them and send Lou Holtz into such a frenzy that both he and Beano Cook drown in a pool of his spit and drool.
I am "Run Up the Score" guy and I assure you that Penn State will still lose to Michigan.
Penn State is a school rich in tradition. No names on jerseys, Zombie Nation, White-out, Linebackers and losing to Michigan. Why should it go modern?
"As long as you're dreaming, you could ask for a bowl win and a college down that's not a hole."
You speak for us all, in hoping (come this Saturday afternoon) for a college down that's not a hole. We haven't seen many on our side of the ball lately. lol; beautiful Freudian slip.
House Rock Built is an oasis of rational hilarity in the ocean of hysterics that drowns the rest of the fanbase. Consistently good work over there.
Here is a name nobody has mentioned - Bud Foster, D coordinator for Va Tech. He is arguably the top D coordinator in the country (certainly near the top), is long overdue for a head coaching gig, and comes from a program that is among the best coached in the county every year. Why would we not want to at least try to interview Bud Foster?
Yeah, RUTS, we're on to you. All you're doing is trying to reverse jinx us. We're on to you now, and when (if? please be when) it backfires, you'll have nobody to blame.
I'm sure UM will be able to point to this year's on-field performance to keep that recruiting train rolling the way it has for the past year or so, although it seems to have steered clear of all the in-state (in-State?) talent. End-of-year coaching turmoil is always a harbinger of recruiting success. Who's delusional? ND is at its nadir, and I think you realize that, given the recruiting success of the past two years. My outsider's take on UM is that the bottom is still a long way down.
I won't bother you with my work and travel schedule and how that impacts my ability to post on our blog, but I'll point out that "two full weeks" from the GT debacle would be this coming Saturday, wouldn't it? Perhaps you're calculating the interval using the same formula that enables you to point to UM's awful AA grad rates as evidence of the rigors of the Kinesiology major.
Anyhow, I don't come over here that often, so what do I know. Maybe there are kittens and crying baby girls all the time. If that's the case, I retract my dig.
As long as you're dreaming, you could ask for a bowl win and a college down that's not a hole
Bowl wins and bitchin' college towns? People in glass houses...
I honestly don't know what you guys are talking about. There are but a few certainties in this crazy, unpredictable world:
1. The expansion of Charlie Weis' gunt is directly proportional to the decreasing size of Jimmy Clausen's swimwear.
2. Styrofoam coolers have no magnetic properties, other than a stunning ability to attract the feces of drunken Ohio State fans.
3. Even with a retarded, drooling, no-armed quarterback with an acute case of spina bifida and a defense that 1939 Poland would be proud of, Michigan will still find a way to defeat Penn State -- half the time in a stunning blowout, the other half in a soul crushing, wife better leave the house while she can sort of way. As this is an odd-numbered year, I believe we're due for a soul crusher.
Run Up the Score, I wish all fans (including UM fans) could take humor in losses the way you do. I also wish opposing fans could all interact like PSU and UM fans seem to around here--you are all very classy. If UM can't win the Big 10, I root for Penn State all the way.
One irony is that our DC {your alum}
may just be the guy who keeps us in the game.
Right now his side of the ball is responsible for our "offense".
Who knows? Maybe we can find a way to suit him up
As an Iowa fan who regularly reads your blog I must say the past two weeks have been sheer genius - perhaps a bit suicidal at times - but nevertheless sheer genius.
Hopefully you crush the 'Domers. I say Crewcut Charlie is being exposed for what he is and getting what he deserves, especially after recruiting that dickwad Claussen.
May the two college teams I despise the most - ND & tOSU - get beat by Blue this year.
Keep the faith...and should you guts lose on Saturday, please hide the sharp objects.
LJ -- It's more fun than whining like fucking babies about biased officiating like many PSU fans tend to do. Nobody likes to admit that we've been the far inferior team in five of those eight losses, lost fourth quarter leads in two others (1999 and 2005, although you could say we lost the game in the first half of '05), and that leaves 2002 -- a game in which I can accept the merits of an argument that PSU was actively screwed in some fashion since a PSU receiver who actually landed with both feet in bounds was ruled OOB.
And honestly, one or two wins against Michigan would eliminate the whining entirely.
Fielding Yost invented linebackers:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Fie...ing_Yost#Legacy
Just sayin'....
Well, this should do it...
http://youtube.com/watch?v=RXmaR_7UYhY
Do with for the children, Dollar Bill.
Dylan is the guy who predicted that ND goes 11-1 at BGS, gentlemen. This year. One of the militant mainstreams.
"People in glass houses..."
ND's last bowl win : 1994
Michigan's last bowl win : 2003
Difference is 9 freakin' years dude.
"I won't bother you with my work and travel schedule and how that impacts my ability to post on our blog, "
I don't freakin care about your work or travel dude. So quit postin "I don't post here often.. blah blah.. but I just did now.."
What's that dude from the ND blog smoking? Can't speak for South Bend cause I've never been, but as far as college towns go, I haven't seen many better than Ann Arbor.
During the Michigan-ND hype (sarcasm, people) on Sportscenter, the only highlight ESPN could muster on Claussen was a screen pass. It was beautiful.
Dylan- incredibly weak. Period.
Besides, Michigan has won 5 Bowl games since Notre Dame last won one. Perhaps our house is not some shiny fortress of bowl-iciousness like it might be in Los Angeles, but it's hardly a "glass house" as it relates to this particular conversation. But hell, our bowl performances (even with 5 wins since ND's last) are more comparable than college towns, I'll at least give you that. South Bend is a pretty campus and a hole of a college town. I've yet to meet an ND grad that disagrees in good faith.
Keep clinging to that erroneous grad rate. If you're going to make shit up (as most credible bloggers should strive to do), why not just say 7%? Or 0? Or - 3.4billion% of grade A suckiness?
Actually, Dylan, nevermind. I thought USC fans would be able to throw stones at ND's bowl record, but they've only won 4 since ND's last bowl win... Florida's won 5, like Michigan. So I suppose they can't either.
Meh. Enough. I think bowl games are overrated anyways (unless it's the MNC), but I don't think South Bend's general crapiness is overrated.
South Bend? A nice college town? Maybe if you like Applebees and boredom.
Is this supposed to be fucking serious?
I went to South Bend last year for the Michigan beatdown and I can confirm: That town seriously blows. No one can argue it.
South Bend is right up there with umm. . . . Houston. It's almost as bad as Gary, Indiana.
the battle for our dignity is over. the battle for who's the worst best college football team ever is about to begin. LETS GET READY TO CRUMBLE!
South Bend, the american flavela. What a dump. I think the plan was to model itself after Detroit.
1. Please don't lose
2. Please hire Les Miles
RUTS...I'm not sure to mark down "Charlie Weis' gunt" as a typo or a really, really nasty Freudian Slip.
Run Up The Score:
What isn't there to like about PSU? I mean, how cool is the tradition of no names on the jerseys? Class university.
But the reason for Michigan having an upper hand at the moment in this series (will end in 11 days) is quite simple: innovation.
Teams that innovate (OSU, USC, Oregon, spread offenses, etc.), hurt Michigan. Teams that go mano a mano and try to "out execute" Michigan (PSU, Wisconsin, MSU [sometimes]), we can do better against.
Strategically, Michigan is a dinsosaur. So are you. Michigan's dinosaur has been bigger or luckier in recent years. Spread offenses are like cavemen circling the slow, dumb dinosaur, peppering it with spears.
As long as you try and out-Dinosaur the king of the Dinosaurs, you are going to have your hands full.
I'm glad to actually see gunt in a besides myself.
It's also nice to see ND fan stereotypes are completely accurate.
I have always heard it as Bunt...
Not the delicious cake we all love!
but a combination between Belly and....
Well, you can rhyme
Interesting how Miles won't come out and say "I am not going to Michigan. Not this year, not next year, not the year after." all's he basically says is he won't discuss. I'll bet the deal is done or close to it
South Bend ???
Yeah - that's like Altoona or Johnstown: a total shit hole. The ND campus proper is nice, but the town to the south and the strip malls to the north are awful.
ND is at its nadir, and I think you realize that
Oh please - Notre Dame has consistently been mediocre since Holtz left, with the occasional blip when a new coach is hired (See Ty Willingham, 2002). Same story, different year.
Nobody's mentioned what this 0-2 is doing to recruiting...
2 players, including OMG SHIRTLESS LB Hale cancelled his official visit this weekend...
he could probably start next year (my 7 year old niece could probably start next year) and he's cancelling his official.
David Boston busted for GHB...
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com...b.ap/
index.html
WR Boston tested positive for GHB Updated 9/11/07
Boston, David WR TB Free Agent
News: A urine test indicated Tampa Bay Buccaneers receiver David Boston had GHB in his system when police found him behind the wheel of a sport utility vehicle last month and charged him with driving under the influence. Boston, who released a statement last week saying he had done nothing wrong, was arrested Aug. 23 when police said he was found slumped over the steering wheel of a red Range Rover with the SUV running and in drive. A breath test taken at the scene was negative for alcohol. Boston was arrested pending the results of tests for other substances. The results of the urine test were returned last week and submitted to the Pinellas-Pasco County state attorney's office. Police said Monday that an initial positive reading for GHB, or gamma hydroxybutyric acid, was verified by a second independent lab. GHB is a central nervous system depressant often called the "date-rape drug" because it leaves people groggy and powerless. Among other things, it is also said to have body-building effects.
cheater.
I'm confused. I thought ND's nadir was in 1999, when they went 5-7. Oh no, I forgot it was in 2001, when they went 5-6. Hold on, hold on, it was 2003, when they went 5-7 again. No that can't be right because it was 2004, when they went 6-6. The only person to hit rock bottom more often than ND is Britney.
Meeechigan Dan hit the nail on the head. If you do something unusual or tricky then the UM coaches are "surprised" regardless of how obvious it was you were going to do what you did. If you line up and play regular-like then it's game on. Just listen to Carr talk about the spread. I've lost my heart for bitching about the coaches but he makes it sound like the spread is some mystical offense that can only be stopped by perfect execution and voodoo.
I'm an optimist, so I'm left to hope that ND doesn't have it in them to run anything but a regular scairdy cat offense. Hopefully, anything else will result in Clausen meeting the ground--a lot.
The 2 big questions are.
1. Can the UM defense stop ANYONE?
2. Can ND stop Hart knowing he is the entire UM offense?
For the record, I like reading BGS. I just ignore the rah rah hagiographic stuff because that's not there for me.
"2 players, including OMG SHIRTLESS LB Hale cancelled his official visit this weekend..."
Per NCAA rules, Hale is not allowed to take official visits until he takes the ACT or SAT.
So David Boston is date-raping himself while bodybuilding? Now that's kinky.
Hmmmm so when I told Boston to "Go F-Yourself!" at the game he listened?
Damn...I am omnipotent
I donated my tix to the Ann Arbor Make-A-Wish Foundation. Great alternative.
I prefer "FUPA" to bunt or gunt, if only because it's adaptable to both genders. It's the O.P.P. of insults.
I'm no medical doctor or nothin', but how is GHB help you get stronger? How can you lift weights if you're drifting in and out of consciousness?
Do we know if Mike Hart is healthy for this weekend? Is he still nursing that thigh injury? We're going to need him to carry the ball 50+ times, Chris Perry-style.
"Spread offenses are like cavemen circling the slow, dumb dinosaur, peppering it with spears."
well, looks like someone's been visiting the museum of not-so-natural-history
and there's really nothing unusual or trickey about the spread offense.
"Teams that innovate (OSU, USC, Oregon, spread offenses, etc.), hurt Michigan. Teams that go mano a mano and try to "out execute" Michigan (PSU, Wisconsin, MSU [sometimes]), we can do better against."
You can't put it any better than that. With all due respect to Bo, Mo, and Lloyd's accomplishments, we haven't tried to beat anyone with our brains since Fritz Crisler.
How ironic is it that the only victory we've got against USC in the Rose Bowl since 1948 was when they were coached by a former assistant under Bo, Larry Smith?
Since most paleontologists today think that dinosaurs were probably warm-blooded and much quicker than formerly thought, how 'bout this version:
Spread offenses are like Cro-Magnon men circling the slow, dumb and uncomprehending Neanderthal, peppering it with spears and insults. As long as you try and out-Neanderthal the king of the Neanderthals, you are going to have your hands full.
Don, thanks for rescuing my chronologically challenged metaphor. DanK is a stickler.
i don't think the spread offense is quite as innovative as people think. It is not much more than the evolution of the single wing used by Crisler himself into a passing type formation:
single wing at bottom of page:
"This is the Spread Formation developed by Dutch Meyer of TCU in the early 1950's, primarily for passing purposes. (Coach Meyer - and Coach Matty Bell before him - were largely responsible for the "wide-open" reputation of Southwest football.) The Spread began as a Tight Double-Wing and evolved into a Tight Triple-Wing, before splitting both ends."
Ore was in this formation 50% of the time, at least: bring 1-2 'wings' or 'split-ends' into the backfield, and you get the spread option. In the case of the spread option, the primary purpose is to run up the middle, imo. since the defense is forced to spread the field toward the split ends (ie, almost half the defenders are positioned toward the sideline to guard the ends), the middle of the field is ripe for exploitation.
FUPA is acceptable, but "gunt" is preferred. Or, you can always go woth the classic: "Booty in the front". Gets 'em every time.
// RUTS...I'm not sure to mark down "Charlie Weis' gunt" as a typo or a really, really nasty Freudian Slip. //
I meant what I said and I said what I meant.
Anyway, Meeeechigan Dan, you're obviously 100% correct. We try the same tired bullshit every year, and since Michigan has generally had better athletes, we lost. Funny, you think Paterno would be the ultimate dinosaur, but I guess not.
In the Annals of Delusion, don't forget Rakes of Mallow, who thinks ND would be competitive in November, and that anybody who thinks otherwise is delusional.
RUTS, that, by definition, makes Paterno the ultimate dinosaur, doesn't it? Michigan must have a smidgen of mammal DNA in there.
DanK - great find on the single wing. Hugh Wyatt is a friend of mine and a smart football man. It's true that today's spread-option games are really single wing football brought into the 21st century. When you've got a serious athlete at quarterback, why not run it?
really, the single wing was designed to have the ball in the hands of the best athlete too. they just didn't throw much b/c of the ball shape (so no one really practiced passing in HS/college alot). i think the development of 2-platoon ball & the change of the ball shape really led to the pro-style, passing QB offense.
2-platoon led to getting the biggest, strongest linemen. prior to that, linemen needed to be agile and small so they wouldn't get winded. i can't see aaron gibson excelling in the days of iron man football were the point was to get outside the D with fast, quick guys. so when the linemen got bigger, you could simply plow a hole & run right at them (if you had the better/bigger guys). the better design of the ball meant more passing, better passers etc. thus the pro-style offense.
i think the return of the single wing happened when smaller schools realized they couldn't compete with the bigger OLs and rocket-arm QBs. so they said, hey why not run the single wing and spread those bigger guys on D outward. then we'll be able to run up the gut without the biggest OLs and rocket arm QB. people think the spread is necessarily designed to throw, but i don't think thats the case.
DanK, fantastic stuff on the single-wing/spread... went to Coach Wyatt's site, and saw this interesting quote:
"There are no miracle coaches, and no coach has any great secrets or any unsolvable plays that make him successful. The successful coaches are those who know how to handle men, who pay great attention to a thorough teaching of the rudiments of the game, who have a comparatively few basic plays which they can teach their teams to execute flawlessly, and who have good material to work with." Glenn S. "Pop" Warner, 1927
So I guess Warner would say our problems are not due to predictability or lack of innovation, but rather lousy teaching of the rudiments and poor execution thereof.
Regardless of where you come down on that argument, this fact is still true: once again, when a tactical and strategic revolution is occuring in college football, the University of Michigan is a very late follower, not a leader. We will only bring the spread offense to the Big House after other coaches across the country have already developed innovative ways of attacking it.
Given that the football program represents an educational institution that beats its chest 24/7/365 about how it's in the forefront of literally everything on God's Green Earth, this has always struck me as more than a little ironic. Sort of like Cro-Magnons sitting around discussing Voltaire and particle physics Monday through Friday and then cheering lustily as their barely-tolerated Neaderthal cousins assault one another with mammoth femurs.
I think I've just described a Far Side cartoon.
but i don't think M needs to go to the spread to be effective offensively. the pro-set can work. it worked just last year. it works for USC. and texas. the problems with the offense have been 3 things, imo:
1) turnovers
2) crappy play in the redzone
3) not giving Hart the ball enough
the offense looked pretty effecient untill Henne made the worst throws of his life and until RBs NOT from NYS carried the ball. again, look at brian's numbers from the ASU game: 'execution' errors outweighed 'predicitbility/playcalling' errors 2-1.
on defense, it's, well, basically everything. but the best thing is to defend the Spread-option with a 3-man/odd-man front. not to not use TT as a spy. and to not stunt the DL every 3 plays. and to not have Crable in a 3pt stance. imo, anyways
Oddly, TMQ discusses the newest rage at all levels of football--the shot gun spread--in his weekly column.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/p...11&
sportCat=nfl
He predicts it has passed its prime and will be solved very soon.
Kill me for not crucifying DeBord but I suspect the offensive problems so far revolve around poor QB play. That and fumbles by backup RB's. Jeebus Carlos, one carry (one freakin' carry w/o Hart) and you manage to put the ball on the ground.
Good stuff, DanK, and spot on. Drop me a line at pac10brewhouse@gmail.com if you get a chance.
What Hugh himself told me about the death of the single wing was that it became almost too differentiated for its own good. The four backs in a Caldwell/Crisler single wing are all radically different positions, each requiring a starter and a backup. The last major team to run the single wing, UCLA, gave up because they just couldn't recruit enough quality backs.
He also said it became an issue of everyone knowing the tailback was going to get the ball, and the lack of deception put the offense at a disdvantage.
From there, top-level football went to the I formation, where a tailback was permitted to pick his holes with zone blocking, or other Paul Brown-esque T formation offenses. The Houston veer (and its child the wishbone) and the run-and-shoot were other developments for schools that didn't want to run straight ahead.
I think Easterbrook and other commentators need to differentiate between various offenses that happen to use a shotgun snap. "Shotgun spread" is not an offense, it's a formation, and in football a formation is just a frame in which many different schemes can operate.
Washington State has been running a shotgun spread passing game since the 1980's and doing it very well. Nobody with eyeballs would ever confuse Washington State with Utah, Florida, Texas or some other running/option team.
West Virginia is running as close to a modern single wing as anyone; Hawai'i is throwing the ball all over the field. Radically different offenses bonded only by a similarity in formation and a quarterback who's not under center.
And no NFL team runs anything like West Virginia's offense or any offense than threatens a defense with multiple running options. Most pro teams could run their stuff from shotgun or under center and it'd be the same dang offense.
To claim that all of these different schemes will all be "solved" soon is ludicrous. Teams with good players - WSU's receivers, or Hawai'i's QB, or WVU's runners - will continue to be successful. Mediocre teams will move away from established teams in the hopes of surprising or confusing defenses.
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