SB Nation - Jake Long

Back out on that road again

Sam @ WWAHT — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:30:32 -0000

Three weeks ago, Ohio State ignominiously fell on the road in West Lafayette to a determined Purdue Boilermakers squad playing roughly 7 miles over its head. The shocking loss snapped Ohio State's 16-game road winning streak and negated the possibility of the Buckeyes matching Michigan's 17-game road streak in the late 80's. Had Ohio State won that game, it would be returning to Happy Valley this Saturday in the hopes of snapping their archrival's record. Unfortunately, Terrelle Pryor's performance in front a not-that-hostile crowd on that fateful day make such pondering feel more like delusions of grandeur. Ohio State has had two weeks to lick its wounds at home against wildly overmatched foes, both in- and out-of-conference, and the narrative has shifted. Now, the Buckeyes head into Happy Valley with the goal of getting their road groove back.

Just how magical was that road streak? Well, from late 2005 until early 2009, it wasn't particularly controversial to say that Jim Tressel's teams played some of their best football in hostile environments. Five games in particular truly defined the run, and even a bonus one came out of conference:

In 2005, Ohio State arrived in Ann Arbor 8-2, but with an apparent renewed life following the heartbreaking loss to the Nittany Lions. Down 21-19 late in the fourth, Troy Smith thrust a dagger into the heart of Michigan fans (and it wouldn't be the last time):

Antonio Pittman would later seal the deal with a touchdown run, and the streak was on.

The next season, in the early September Texas heat, the preseason favorites for the national championship made quick work of the defending champion Texas Longhorns (sound NSFW):

It was after this game that the "road warrior" meme first gained traction. Heading into that game, there wasn't that much (setting aside preseason hype and rankings) in the Buckeyes' favor. Sure, Vince Young was gone, but Ohio State had to replace 9 starters on defense, and was still in search of a bona fide number one receiver. Nevertheless, for one magical night, the team put it all together and dominated a team that, even in retrospect, it probably shouldn't have dominated so thoroughly. The win catapulted the Buckeyes through an undefeated regular season and landed them a date with Florida (*single tear*) in Glendale.

But before all that, Ohio State had to take care of conference business, and that meant traveling to undefeated Iowa in late September, the last test of what had looked to be a brutal opening month going into the year. Unfortunately, Iowa ended up being fairly disappointing on the year, but that didn't stop this from being so much damn fun:

That marvelous catch and run was just a part of an epic 38-17 beatdown that would set a new standard for road beatdowns in which the good guys ride into town, rape the mascots and ride off on the women. Or, rather, with the opposing women-folk trussed to their wagon. Either way, the win solidified Ohio State's status as untouchable for the 2006 regular season.

Yes, 2006 Iowa set a standard. That is, until Ohio State returned to State College, Pennsylvania in 2007. Penn State was by no means a great team, but had all the necessary tools (except for Anthony Morelli, who was just a plain tool if you're a Nittany Lion) to pull off an upset of the top-ranked Buckeyes. At the site of Ohio State's last road loss, anything seemed possible. Instead, Ohio State crushed Penn State's larynx the moment the Nits showed signs of life in taking a 7-3 lead on their very first drive (apologies for the music):

Looking back on that game now, it's easy to say it was anomaly for Todd Boeckman, who never came close to approaching. It was not, however, anomalous for the team as a whole, which now had a reputation etched in stone for playing its best football on the road. Ironically, a shocking home loss to Illinois two weeks later only worked to solidify Ohio State's growing conference reputation as road juggernauts.

While the "road warrior" label did not die in 2007, I feel it's proper to end with the most thorough, soul-crushing domination of the entire streak. Yes, there were approximately 67 punts. Yes, Michigan had little-to-no chance of winning this game in the first place. Yes, Ohio State's offense didn't look particularly pretty, but, uh, I'm kinda used to that by now. I don't care. This is simply the stuff schadenfreude dreams are made of:

There are images from this game that will never die: Chad Henne assuming the fetal position, cowering from another Vernon Gholston sack. The Gun Show getting Henne on some other occasion, this time ensuring the team's best player has at least one more black mark on his senior season. Beanie Wells ending all doubt by putting the Buckeyes up 14-3 wit ha brilliant scoring one. Vaguely attractive Michigan coeds crying. This... this beautiful, beautiful thing:

While I hesitate to call it the beginning of any sort of end, the thoroughly demoralizing, soul-stomping victory in Ann Arbor, like a boot stomping on a human face forever, was arguably this streak's crowning achievement. Sure, the Buckeyes won more road games the next season; a last-minute victory at Wisconsin, twin jailsexings of Michigan State and Northwestern, and an even-in-all-but-the-turnover-margin-and-thus-the-final-score cro-magnon victory at Illinois. All were fun to watch, but none of them featured Buckeye football at its absolute best (ed. note: Michigan at least featured great defense) in truly pressure-packed situations (Madtown came close, but.... the Buckeyes hardly looked even competent for three quarters of that game), and thus, none of them truly merit inclusion as games that defined the streak. Michigan represented a farewell of sorts; the Buckeyes would not quite live up to their dominant road billing from there on out, and it finally came back to bite them in West Lafayette.

Thus, that streak is over. Dead. When Ohio State makes the trip to Happy Valley this weekend, it absolutely must attempt to recapture some of the magic that guided previous Ohio State squads into and out of hostile territory unblemished. Jim Tressel's winning formula is usually excellent on the road; home team turnovers plus a consistent ground attack, capable of grinding out 5+-minute scoring drives, take any crowd - including the Whiteout, if 2007 is any indication - out of the game, with a masterful, and at times, brutal efficiency. Yes, I'm all for boring these suckers to death. Games like these are when Tresselball's ability to slowly destroy an opponent's soul is paramount. Hopefully, this Buckeye team can cobble together enough of a running game to make this look a bit more like 2007 than 2005. Ohio State is "back out on that road again", as Steve Earle once sung, and in these situations, there really are "those that break and bend". Is Ohio State the other kind? We'll know soon enough.

A Little Reality in an Otherwise Interesting Season for Michigan Football

Maize n Brew Dave — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:14:31 -0000

More photos » by TONY DING - AP

about 1 month ago: FILE -- This is a Sept. 19, 2009, file photo showing Michigan quarterback Tate Forcier (5) embracing offensive lineman David Molk (50) after an NCAA college football game against Eastern Michigan, in Ann Arbor, Mich. Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez says center David Molk is out for the season after tearing a ligament in his right knee against Penn State. (AP Photo/Tony Ding, File)

Browse more photos »

For all the grinding and gnashing of teeth I've read and heard since Saturday, you'd think the rapture had occurred. It seems as though the rest of the Big Ten was taken in a divine light, leaving only Michigan to contend with the SEC and other evils left on this world.

Not so much. Saturday sucked. But the reality is Saturday's Michigan loss to Penn State was not unlike other games or years we've seen as Michigan fans. Michigan got thumped by a better team. Penn State's defense was far better than we were willing to give it credit for, and their Defensive Tackles and Linebackers ate our average offensive line for lunch. Darryl Clark was a far better passer and game manager against Michigan than I, personally, gave him credit for. Michigan also shot itself in the foot with drops, stupid penalties, drops, a safety inducing bad snap and more drops.

It was ugly. But we've seen just as bad or worse.

If you're looking for a parallel, don't look at 2008. That's not a particularly apt analogy. Look at Game 2 of 2007. Yes. The season we'd all like to forget. The Oregon game. If you're looking for a game where Michigan came out of the tunnel gamely, put seven points on the board, then collapsed like a New Orleans levy against stiff breeze, that's the one. Saturday's Penn State game wasn't even close to that. Oregon dominated every last aspect of that game in a manner that completely eclipsed the loss to Penn State.

Even worse. Look at the Iowa game in 2002, when Michigan lost 34-9. I have no clue how we got 9 points. None. They should've deducted points from Michigan's score. Then there was the 2007 Ohio State game. Or, look back to Donovan McNabb steamrolling the Wolverine defense in 1999. Even a moment's reflection reveals this sort of thing has happened before. It's happened to good teams as well as bad ones. So please, let's not act like Michigan never lost a game in poor fashion before Rodriguez showed up on the sidelines.

The sad reality is that this isn't a very good football team. Sure there are some exciting players. Sure there is talent. But this is the same team that went 3-9 last year, only it's a year older and starting sometimes two freshmen quarterbacks. The same defensive and offensive liabilities still exist. The difference is, this year, we're beating teams we're supposed to beat. We're just not ready to beat teams we shouldn't.

Going into the Michigan State game I was genuinely afraid that people would look past this team's obvious deficiencies, and work themselves into a delusional frenzy. Check. We played marginally against Iowa, and came within two points of beating the Hawkeyes before blowing the doors off cupcake Delaware State leading up to the Penn State game.

Woo. We're 5-2 with wins against crappy competition! Let's go crazy! Woo! Seriously. Look at who we've beaten. Western Michigan. Eastern Michigan. Indiana. Delaware State. Out best win is against a highly over rated Notre Dame squad that should've lost to Washington, Boston College, and Michigan State. Woo! World Beaters! We deserved to lose both prior games. The only reason Michigan remained in either the Michigan State or Iowa games was because both teams let Michigan stick around and seemed determined to give the game away for no good reason.

Penn State didn't. Penn State played like a good team. And good teams beat mediocre ones.

And let's be honest. This is a mediocre Michigan team. They're not bad. They'll go to a bowl game. But they're not good enough to play poorly and win. But given how bad things were last year, I'll take it.

What's amazed me the most about this season isn't the progress, it isn't the work they've put in. It's just how short Michigan fans' memories are. Michigan's recruiting and talent level was in a nose dive from 2005 onward. 2007 (minus Jake Long) showed that. While poor game planning didn't help anything, Michigan got whipped on both lines by "inferior" opponents. Look at the linebackers and safeties. The upperclassmen we're supposed to have aren't there. Look at the offensive line, our upperclassmen are adequate at best. Our best players are freshmen and sophomores. When that's the case, you're not going to win a lot of games.

After four wins over bad to mediocre opponents there a portions of the fan base expecting the world. Questioning the play calling. Questioning personnel selection. Insinuating different decisions would've netted wins rather than losses. No. They wouldn't have. And if you think they would've, you're fooling yourself. So stop. Please. Stop. You're giving the rest of us a migraine.

The Penn State game turned when David Molk left in the first quarter. The following series, Michigan fell apart. Molk is the key to this offensive unit because he's the only reliable center we have. More importantly, he's our best offensive linemen and arguably the most important player our offense has. He brings a nastiness and purpose that was sorely missing with his departure. Without him, the line was in disarray and Tatenard spent the rest of the game running for his life.

We're not far enough along where we can over come an injury like that. Frankly, there aren't a lot of teams in D1 football that can. Look at the Oklahoma Sooners. A new offensive and they've already lost more games this year than in the last two combined.

Things are getting better. One game doesn't change that. Michigan is still much better than last year. We're 5-3. We're better playing much better than last year. Saturday was both an aberation and an expected outcome. The Penn State defense that dominated the Michigan offensive line and a linebacking crew that confused the hell out of two freshmen. Being freshmen caught up to Tate and Denard over the last four games. That said, I think you'll see a tremendous step forward as the season goes on. We got beat by a game plan that actually executed itself to exploit our weaknesses. It happens.

But ask yourself if you would've taken 5-3 at this point before the season began. You bet your ass you would've. And the fact is this team is getting better, even if it didn't play like it on Saturday. Better days are ahead.

You've just got to be patient.

The 2009 Michigan Football Preview, Part One: The Offensive Line

Maize n Brew Dave — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 17:45:16 -0000

It's go time people. There are just four days until kickoff. Frankly, those days can't end quick enough. After three weeks of practice. Months of tedium. Oh, and a two-day stretch of mind blowing incompetence from the Free Press editorial staff. Football is just about here. That means it's time to get a better handle on how the Michigan Football team looks heading into the 2009 season. In Spring practice we thought we had all the answers. After a week of Fall Practice, all those answers went out the window. So what we're left with is a pile o' questions about who is going to start where and whether talented player A will overtake talented played B for position X.

That's what we're here for. Over the next few days leading up to kick off, Maize n Brew will be providing you with some answers to your questions about the team, the season, and what to expect. We'll try to keep it grounded, but we're not guaranteeing anything. We are fans (compete and total homers), after all. If you can't wait for the season to get here and want answers on how it'll play out, we've already previewed the season in depth. Wins and losses too! Take a look, here are Beauford's, MnB Dave's, and SCM's season predictions. There's your quick fix if you need a baseline.

But this is going to be a little more indepth. That's why I'm splitting things up in to a couple of separate posts. The unit we know the most about at this point is the offense, so lets start there. The Depth Chart is out, so we'll break it down.

2009 Michigan Football Season Preview: The Offensive Line

The linemen do the dirty work, so they get top billing. They also get top billing because this unit, more than any other, will determine the fate of Michigan's season. Don't believe me? Ask yourself how much better Michigan's season would've turned out had Threet/Sheridan not been running for their lives and had time to throw? What about the run game? You saw the improvement as the line improved. For this offense to work, the linemen are the linchpin of the system. They have to be mobile, quick, and able to get to the second level of blockers; something they were rarely able to do last year.

This year Michigan returns 4 starters and 7 players with starting experience. From Left to Right, the line is as follows: Mark Ortmann (LT), Steve Schilling (LG), David Molk (C), David Moosman (RG), Mark Huyge (RT). Your primary backups will be Perry Dorrestein (LT), Ricky Barnum (LG), Rocko Khoury (C), John Ferrara (RG), and Patrick Omameh (RT).

The Starters

via www.mgoblue.com

Of the starting lineup, only Huyge hasn't seen game action. To an extent my concerns about his abilities were assuaged by his performance in the spring game, praise he garnered when the Big Ten Network did their Michigan practice show, and the fact he would've started last year if not for a knee injury. Everyone else has extensive starting experience, and frankly, the inside of Michigan's line may be one of the strongest three man sets in the Big Ten. Both Molk and Schilling were blue chip recruits, with Molk being rated the #1 Center in his class and Schilling a 5 star tackle. Moosman wasn't as heralded, but he progressed wonderfully last season and at 6-5, 295, with quick feet, I'm to the point where I'm expecting big things from him as well. The interior line's experience combined with their talent should mean very big things for the interior running game. Looking at the schedule, only Penn State returns a pair of outstanding Defensive Tackles. There are some units with one good DT returning, but no one else in the conference has a dominant interior defensive line. What that means is look for Rich Rodriguez to use that straight up the gut advantage in the run game a lot more than last season.

(more of the preview after the jump...)

While I'm confident in the Guards and Center (David Molk is a badass), I'm still a little concerned on the edges. Sure I think Huyge and Ortmann will be more than serviceable at Right and Left Tackle. But I don't think they're going to be dominant. Reports out of camp were that Brandon Graham was tearing through the tackles on a semi regular basis. Your reaction is probably "so what, it's Brandon Graham," but I think there's a little more to it. The Big Ten is absolutely loaded with excellent Defensive Ends this year. Top to bottom you could probably rank the ten best DE's in any order and make a legitimate argument for it. Want proof? Even Indiana has a pair of DE's that would start tomorrow at Penn State. Trevor Anderson is back at MSU. Thaddeus Gibson at OSU. Ryan Kerrigan at Purdue. And the list goes on. Wanna know what's weird, the tackles dodge a bullet because Correy Wootton and Northwestern aren't on the schedule. Ever thought you'd say that? Ortmann is a good Tackle, but he can get caught up in his own feet from time to time. Huyge moves well, but we only have limited video to go on. Honestly we're throwing darts with a partial blindfold on here because our info is so limited. Ortmann played last year with a series of injuries including a shoulder injury of some kind that meant he could barely move on of his arms. Huyge's ankle injury caused him to miss the entire season. When you combine uncertainty at the position with the depth of talent at the End position in the Big Ten this year, even optimistic fans have to admit the Tackles may be better than they were last year but could still have a rough year despite it.

The Back Ups

This is the biggest difference between this year and last. Depth. If someone goes down, we've got two guys behind him that are ready to go. Last year you were holding your breath because no one had played. If an unknown starter went down, you plugged in another young, unknown to get mauled. Notsomcuh this year. The line took its lumps last year, but in the process Michigan was still able to redshirt a number of talented players. A year later, they're much larger, much stronger, and have a full year of practice under their belt in Rodriguez' system. With Ortmann and Moosman departing after this season, they're ability to step in from time to time will critical not just to Michigan's success this year, but in 2010 as well.

via blog.mlive.com

At this point you're probably aware of who Perry Dorrestein and John Ferrera are. But just in case here's a quick catch up. Dorrestein was a middling recruit on the offensive line who actually walked on to the team sans scholarship. Ferrara was a low mid Defensive Tackle recruit who was moved to offensive line last year when the Coaches went "Holy hell, there's no one on the Offensive Line!" They are your primary backups at Left Tackle and Right Guard. Now before you go jumping out a window, keep this in mind, Ferrara started five games at Left Guard last year before Schilling moved inside. For a guy that played guard for all of fifteen minutes before the season started, he was actually pretty good. His experience and size (6'4" 280) make him a more than capable backup and fill in starter if need be. Dorrestein I'm not as high on, but the fact remains he started in four games at Tackle last year and acquitted himself well. He's not going to be a starter unless injuries require it, but he's a capable backup.

The rest of the backups you should be excited about too. Patrick Omameh is apparently going to be an absolute beast at right tackle. The very definition of a sleeper, Omameh was a lightly regarded prospect who everyone said had the "potential" and "body" to be something special. Just no one wanted to expend a scholarship in the Big Ten for the kid to develop. Michigan did. Now they get to reap the benefits as Omameh made a massive push to overtake Huyge for the RT slot. Not bad for a redshirt frosh. Ricky Barnum was one of the snake oil pitches that worked two years ago, as Rodriguez slithered Barnum out from under Urban Meyer. Barnum was the 5th rated center in his class and seems to have emerged as one of Michigan's soon to be stars on the OLine. He's another kid who made a push for playing time but ran into having Schilling ahead of him. Then there's Traverse City's own, Rocko Khoury. The big redshirt freshman likely won't see a lot of time at center with David Molk in front of him, but you should be glad to have him back there. The 6'6" 280 pound kid has a nice little mean streak and had enough of an off season of Mark Ortmann to throw some praise his way at Big Ten Media Days. One other guy to watch for in the back-up category is true freshman Quinton Washington. Washington shocked a lot of the older members of the team with his natural strength. Steve Schilling noticed it immediately when the freshman was standing up defenders on the first day of pads even though he'd only been in camp Barwis for a couple of weeks. I can't wait to see what happens to Washington after a year in the gym.

Injuries?

One guy I haven't mentioned is Tim McAvoy. Unfortunately, McAvoy suffered a knee injury in practice and Rodriguez indicated he be out for a couple of weeks. It's really too bad. McAvoy had a legitimate shot at playing time this year, but it's likely his senior season will mostly be spent in the trainers room and on the bench. At this point though, everyone else seems mostly healthy.

2009 Outlook

With the exception of tailback, the Offensive Line is easily the deepest, most experienced position Michigan has this year. The starting five are talented and mobile. The backups are experienced or brimming with talent and strength. As an added bonus, Michigan's ability to ~~tort~~ trot three quarterbacks onto the field who can run or roll out of the pocket should greatly increase the line's effectiveness because it will prevent teams from pinning their ears back and bumrushing the quarterback like they did last year.

The strength on the line will clearly be it's interior. I suspect you'll see multiple plays this fall where the center or one of the guards is used to maul a linebacker or two. When you've got the strength and speed of the interior line, you can do those sorts of things. The edges won't be quite at the level of the intereior, but it should still be measurably better than last year. Ortmann and Huyge have without a doubt learned a substantial amount going face to face with Graham all summer long. I think Ortman should have a decent year, but he's not going to remind anyone of Jake Long. He'll be a good tackle, to expect anything more at this point is unfair and unwarranted. On the other side of the line I am very excited to see Huyge in game action. I can't really tell you why. Rumors, hype, TV, and spring film all make me think he's actually going to be pretty good. It's a total hunch, so take it FWIW.

One of the biggest differences you'll see this year the that you'll see all five linemen on the same page. For the majority of the 2008 season the Michigan Offensive Line was a mess in terms of execution. Players were blocking the wrong guy, they were running aimlessly after they released to the second level, they were telegraphing the snap counts. You're not going to see that this season. These guys actually know where they're supposed to go, who they're supposed to block, and how the plays work. The result will be our running backs and quarterbacks having room to run and not having to escape their first tackler five yards behind the LoS. In the passing game, we'll have to see. I think the group will execute much better than they did last year. But until we see Tate, or Denard or Nick throw the ball, I don't know how it'll turn out. What I do know is that they'll have a lot more time than last year.

Overall, this should be one of the most improved units in the conference, let alone the team. Play on playas.

Tuesday Happy Hour Welcomes Two New Michigan Football Recruits, Marvels at Athletic Department Revenues, and is Available to Assist in Your CBS College Football Broadcast

Maize n Brew Dave — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 16:08:10 -0000

It's Tuesday, but there's a lot in the Michigan Football and College Football Universe to get you caught up on. Here's what's ON TAP:

Stuff You Need to Read Right Now

A Detailed Look at Defensive Line Play. Tomahawk Nation looks at the details of defensive line play. It's a "Back to Basics" discussion that is so awesome your brain will explode with happiness. Goddammit I love this site.

Smart Football explains the Georgia shallow cross patterns. Go there. Read. Be educated.

Dan Shanoff notes that ProFootballTalk just partnered with NBC Sports. Just to make things interesting he suggests the potential for Mr. Swindle to find his way to CBS. Please God, make this happen. I beg you. And while your at it I'd like a pony. BTW, ABC/ESPN, I have a voice of golden silk and can drink like Musberger. I understand you may have need of my services...

Fixing the NBA Draft: A modest proposal. A Sea of Blue proposes some tweaks to the NBA draft that actually would bring some sanity to the process. Unfortunately, that's why these great suggestions will never come to fruition. Still, great work by ASOB.

Michigan Football

Heisman Pundit goes rating the nation's top quarterbacks. Of note, he picks Tate Forcier to be the top freshman QB in the country. Woo.

The Free Press asks if Michigan's Taylor Lewan is the next Jake Long? Let the hype wagon begin rolling. It's never too early to heap monstrous expectations on a 17 year-old now is it? "Right now, I'm 275. I need to gain about 10 more pounds if I want to play," Lewan said. I think we're looking at a redshirt folks. Relax a tad.

Michigan picked up two new commits: TX OLB Holmes Onwukaife (3*) and SC QB Cornelius Jones (N/R). News and a short interview with Onwukaife over at MGoBlog.

Cornelius Jones Goes Blue. In case you're wondering who, exactly, Cornelius Jones is, Varsity Blue's got you covered. (Hint: Not an awesome vampire in Brooklyn).

2010 Michigan commitment Ricardo Miller moving to Michigan. File this under stuff you already knew. Class of 2010 wide receiver commit Ricardo Miller, is moving to the Ann Arbor Area. He just hasn't figured out where he'll be going to school.

Will Gholston commits to MSU. SBN's outstanding Spartans blog, The Only Colors, has the news on our newest Green and White nemesis. I am long overdue in linking The Only Colors, and that's my bad. The Only Colors is churning out killer content and really giving a great MSU take on all things Spartan. I'm hoping a little copious linkage will buy me some forgiveness. Lo siento, gentlemen.

Whoa. This is kind of a sad day. The M-Den lost its contract with University of Michigan to supply Wolverine apparel for sale at the Big House. I know the MDen is a corporation that makes money, yadda yadda. But I bought my first Michigan T-shirt from them back in '93. No word on who will replace the MDen as the University's new "official" merchandiser when their contract expires at the end of the month. But in hindsight, the merchandise and apparel have just sucked the last few years.

Make your own joke. Mine will just get me in trouble. HT: Eleven Warriors. To borrow from Swindle on this one.

[R]emember that you don’t have to make the really bizarre and funny things in this world up, you just have to pull them off the wires. Also, if anyone needed the ability to withstand pepper spray right now in the manner of Ohio State fans, it’s protesting Iranis.

Michigan Basketball

UMHoops is back to its player report cards. Our beloved Honky Magic receives a Tommy Boy. :_(

College Football

Bruce Feldman takes a look a the 10 softest nonconference schedules in the country. First up for a fisking? Northwestern and Penn State sit Nos. 1 and 2 on that list.

The Fanhouse seems to think that Notre Dame's dwindling TV revenue from its NBC contract may finally force the Domers into a conference. Right now Notre Dame's television (NBC Football) and shared Big East conference revenue (basketball only) in 2009 will be, at best, $11.35 million. By comparison, in 2008, every school in the Big Ten will clear north of $15 million from the conference, a number that will only increase in years to come. Every school in the SEC will bank, conservatively, $17 million. Ha. Indiana is kicking your ass financially. While it's an interesting thought that this will "force" Notre Dame into a conference, I'm not so sure.

Here's why: while Texas is tops athletic revenues, Notre Dame is still bringing in $59.77 million on football alone. That's more than enough to keep Notre Dame's athletic department free floating. Still, with Texas' athletic department generating $120.3 million from all sports and a staggering $72.95 Million from football alone, you've gotta think that the Domers are looking at a conference, even in the abstract, as a way to generate more cash.

For the record, Michigan came in 4th at $99 million, with $57.37 million of that revenue coming from football (7th overall).

The Sporting News gives us their top 5 College football teams poised to improve this season. Michigan, of course, gets no love.

That said they don't fall into TSN's 5 College football teams in line for a decline in '09. TSN takes Minnesota behind the woodshed, and Matt Hayes predicts a 4-8 season for the Varmint Cong. Wow. With 16 starters back you're predicting 4-8? I know they've got a tough schedule, but I get the feeling their offensive line is going to be really, really good.

Dr. Saturday says Maryland v. West Virginia is not a rivalry? When I was in DC is sure as hell was. That is as nasty a crowd as I have ever experienced. I had forty year olds, hammered out of their minds, bringing their kids to the game wanting to fight me becuase they thought I went to Maryland or West Virginia, all because I wasn't wearing Red or wearing blue and yellow. It's just a nasty, nasty rivalry. Don't under sell it.

More from the good Doctor. The Iron Bowl is not that kind of extreme (but it's close) What's a little good, old fashioned hate among friends?

Taylor Mays and the USC Song Girls. USC Safety Taylor Mays life is so much better at 21 than yours will ever be. I hate him for this.

College Basketball

More fallout for the USC basketball team following Tim Floyd's resignation.

Random Stuff

Don't click here. don't ever click here. You'll never look at the toilet the same way.