Guess I should have waited a day…
But last Wednesday marked exactly 50
days until the return of college football and it seemed like a good day to
post. It never fails that right after I
post, I stumble across something that would have made sense to put in the post. And ESPN did an article titled “50 thoughts
from 50 different people in football”.
Michigan’s Shea Patterson was one of them:
Michigan QB Shea
Patterson: "I'm
excited to get back on the field, especially with an early exit last season and
the stress of potentially not being able to play this season during the spring.
I'm just ready to play ball, but I'm really ready to play with this team
because if we reach our full potential with the talent we have, we should be
unstoppable."
And of course, I love when an
expert agrees with the MMQ!!! Err…Maybe
I agree with him??
ESPN analyst Tom
Luginbill: "The Big
Ten East division. It's going to be a bloodbath, a battle of attrition. I think
there could be three CFP contenders in Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State. Add
to the mix a pesky team in East Lansing and I don't know how anyone comes out
unscathed. It's the best division of the power five conferences."
And no pre-season article would
be complete without a PJ Fleck “Row the Boat!” reference for good measure:
Minnesota coach P.J.
Fleck: "Our
young players playing. I'm really excited about this 2018 class. They're a
special group of young people. They're people who have bought a vision, bought
the 'Row the Boat' culture, bought the vision of winning the Big Ten West
championship, starting with that, and then the Big Ten championship, getting
into the playoff. That's why they came here. They gave up a lot of
opportunities elsewhere, maybe more recent, modern, traditional programs than
us to make it that traditional program again, to connect the bridges between
the '30s, '40s, '50s and '60s to the 2000 teens and '20s and '30s, because
we've had a gap in there, a 51-year championship drought. That group bought that
and they gave up a lot of opportunities that most people sat there and thought,
'Why would you pick Minnesota?' I'm excited to watch them play. I'm excited to
get them in camp and see what they can do."
Mgoblog does a “Best Athlete at Any Position” All Time
This is one of my favorites
from the now Head Coach himself.
Every Michigan QB needs to watch and learn that glory is defined as standing
there, taking the hit and making the play!!!
Marcus Ray letting David Boston
know that you probably shouldn’t go over the middle in the Big House….
Conference Predictions
From the Mailbag:
The Pre-Season Spectacular usually gives me some insight as to what you
think about the rest of the teams in College Football. Where’s my insight???
Okay – You asked for it, here it
is
ACC
Favorite: I’m not going
against the grain on this one. Clemson
should repeat as conference champion. 17
starters returning and barring injury (or a “complacency” issue – which I
doubt Dabo lets happen) an ACC Championship should be a task they can
accomplish.
Oh So Close: FSU, Miami &
Va-Tech. You have to keep an eye
on 1st, 2nd and 3rd year coaches and FSU
has Taggart, Miami has Richt and Va-Tech has Fuentes. 1st, 2nd and 3rd
year guys. They could each muddy up the water for Clemson. Especially watch out for FSU and Taggart. I feel like that’s a match made in Heaven….
True Dark Horse: NC
State? They’ve been close and
they’ve upset Clemson. They know how to
win, can
they just put it all together for one season?
Upset No One Sees Coming: Again, NC State gets Clemson RIGHT
BEFORE Clemson plays FSU. I’m
not saying the Tigers are going to overlook the Wolfpack, but then again…Upsets
happen.
SEC
Favorite: Satan’s
Warriors. I really don’t see how
they don’t win the West, but they did lose to Auburn last season,
albeit it was at Auburn. But
they kind of got rolled by the Tigers.
Oh So Close: Georgia,
South Carolina, Florida. Again,
see the ACC for why I like these guys. 2nd
year coach, SEC Champion and National Championship runner-up Smart will have
Georgia rolling again. Muschamp at South
Carolina has that team playing well. And
1st year Coach Mullen at
Florida will probably have a good to great defense and if he can find a viable
QB with his offense, the Gators could become problematic for the rest of
the SEC East.
True Dark Horse: LSU. With grad Transfer Joe Galloway joining the Tigers from the suckeyes, things could be
looking up in Baton Rouge. Orgeron is
also one of those 3rd year guys and he needs to win. Honorable mention to MSU and new head coach Moorehead
as being a disruptor, but I just can’t pick them to win the West.
Upset No One Sees Coming:
Texas A&M @ Alabama (9/22). 4th game for new Head Coach Jimbo
Fisher. He’d like to prove that he’s worth that $75M. I have a feeling all the trickery gets used and
all the stops get pulled in this contest.
Big iiX
Favorite: This one’s
tough. I have a couple of
different ways I could go here, but I’m not going to waffle. I think Holgersen
(WVU) finally figures out a way to pull off the Conference championship and
with QB Grier in his 2nd year in the Holgersen offensive system, he
might just be able to do it. If not the ‘Neers, then Oklahoma has to be the
favorite.
Oh So Close: TCU, Okie
State and Texas. TCU could be in the “Favorite”
section if it wasn’t for the fact that Pattersen seems to screw up one game
each season (sometimes 2). There’s no reason Okie State shouldn’t be
battling for the Big 12 every season. 2nd
year Coach Hermann at Texas should have everyone buying in to his system at
this point. Still, all three of these
teams have to prove it to this guy before I’m a believer.
True Dark Horse:
Iowa State isn’t going to sneak up on anyone this season. Snyder
is keeping everyone in suspense as to whether or not he’s actually going to
coach K-State this season. If he steps
down and his son takes over, look for an inspired push by the Wildcats to
pull off the impossible and win the Big iiX.
Upset No One Sees Coming:
Baylor, coming off one of its worst seasons with a single conference
win last season, has the potential of being undefeated heading into Norman to face the Sooners. Ruhle is in his 2nd season, BTW.
Pac 12
Favorite: Washington. I don’t see anyone else with the exception of
maybe Stanford with Bryce Love returning
being able to run the table in this conference. And Stanford, like Michigan, always seems to
find a game somewhere they can lose. Stanford and USC square off early (9/8/18)
in the season so that will define the season for one of those teams very
early. The Pac 12 hamstrings itself with
late game start times, Thursday and Friday night games (short week) in addition
to just being the Pac 12. This conference
will struggle to place a team in the CFP.
Oh So Close: USC. While they dominated last season, they lost a starting QB and that’s simply tough
to replace, I don’t care who you are.
Helton is a good coach and USC will be in games, but the
championship will elude them. Utah is in here also, as Whittingham is a
great coach and just reloads.
But they will struggle against better teams.
True Dark Horse: Any
other season, they would be in the “oh so close” category, but UCLA with new
head coach Chip Kelly could actually be a force to be reckoned with in the Pac 12
south. Kelly’s offense is unique and
difficult for any defense to manage. It
wouldn’t surprise me at all to see UCLA still in it in November…Arizona
will make early noise playing nobody until October…Then reality will
set in.
Upset No One Sees Coming:
The Pirate and WSU finds a way to screw somebody every
season. Last year it was USC. This season?
Who knows, but there’s a school out there that’s going to
lose to Leach and the Wazzus....
It’s just what happens in the Pac 12.
B1G
Favorite: the suckeyes. They’re loaded and they have a very FAVORABLE
schedule. The toughest
road game they play is at PSU, and, as stated previously, when a Team loses 35%
of its offensive production, not to mention losing its Offensive Coordinator
(who went to MSU to replace Mullen).
Penn State simply can’t be as good as advertised this season. The suckeyes kind of have an easy path to
Indianapolis, that is, until the last game.
Oh So Close: Michigan,
depending on how the initial half to 3 quarters of the season plays out, could
be the “disruptor” in the B1G this season. Beat the Domers, LNU and Wiscy and things
will be interesting in November.
Oh yeah, they also have to beat the Cornhuskers and the aforementioned
nittany lions, too. And eventually win
the B1G Championship against whoever survives the B1G West.
True Dark Horse:
Nebraska. Frost will be looking
to get the most out of what he has in Lincoln this season. He’ll ride his Juniors and Seniors HARD
convincing them that they are at Nebraska for a reason. And that reason is to WIN!!! If he can get buy-in from those guys, look
out. The Gophers and Purdue with 2nd year
head coaches could also make noise…
Upset No One Sees Coming:
Let’s go early and big. Maryland
picks up where they left off early last season and makes Texas sorry
they scheduled a home and home with the Terps.
The terps get some early season love with a home upset of the Longhorns
in the 1st game of the season.
More Mailbag, Texts
& Tweets
In response to the Pre-Season Spectacular – Part 1:
Well MMQ:
A. You are delusional:)
B. If we are going to have such a great D, why do
your prognostications have so much scoring against us? I will not say
that it is impossible that we go undefeated, but what I will say is that if you
are correct on how many points we surrender, there is no way in hell we go
undefeated.
MMQ Response: I’ll admit that I
give a lot more credit to other teams scoring on what I suspect (with good
reason) will be a great Michigan defense. I just understand that Michigan is usually the biggest
game on most schedules and a lot of coaches and players circle that date as
being something “Special”. I can’t tell
you how many times I’ve sat in the Big House or watched on TV when a team “on
paper” that is dismally inferior to Michigan comes into the Big House
or on their home field in front of their own fans and has “the game of their lifetime”.
Shit happens. I don’t
want to recall them all here, but nobody is sitting around “Trying to get
worse.” Everyone is striving to be a
better team than they were last
season. So, yeah, I’m cautiously
optimistic and I always respect my opponents.
It’s just the smart thing to do…And maybe I show my respect for them by
not giving them all a “Goose Egg” when they play Michigan.
Hey Slappy – Sparty has owned your ass for the last 10
seasons. We have arguably the best
receiver (Davis) in the B1G coming back and he’ll be catching balls from what
could be argued as the best QB (Lewerke) in the B1G. If you think your team can come to East
Lansing and win on our turf, you’re sadly mistaken. Sorry.
MMQ Response: Fuck
you. As stated earlier, LNU overachieved
last season and probably won 3-4 games they shouldn’t have. Including
the game in Ann Arbor and getting real lucky to beat PSU. If things go back to “normal”, I expect LNU to be at most a 7-8 win team. If they’re lucky. And yes, I do believe that history is about
go back to LNU being a disruptor and less of a winner when all is said and
done.
MMQ – I see where you’re going with the one game at a
time and the mantra of “Michigan has to go through it to get through it.” And I also see the parallels to 1997, which I
also remember thinking that Michigan wasn’t going to be that great that
season. 1997 kind of came from out of
nowhere. That was a really good
analogy. Still…Do you really think they
can pull this off? Seriously?
MMQ Response: Yeah, I
really think they can pull this off. Seriously. Again, check out one of Patterson’s
Freshman highlight videos. And
imagine him wearing Maize and Blue!
Again, Michigan’s offensive production in 2017 was the third
lowest since 1990. That’s bad. It can only get better (I hope). Patterson is calm and cool in the pocket,
extends plays and scrambles as well as any QB out there. There’s
a reason he was one of the top QB recruits 3 years ago. Am I putting too much on Patterson? Maybe. But jeez, what else do we have to look forward
to if we can’t hope?
ETC
SOS – Same Ole Sparty Still Running LNU
As much as I’d like to give Engler and Beekman the benefit of the doubt…I
just can’t. If you were there when the
Larry Nassar stuff was going down, you have to go. Or at least, not be PROMOTED as part
of the “New Deal!” LNU!
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/sports/columnists/john-niyo/2018/07/16/msu-sends-muddled-message-bill-beekman-permanent-hiring/788689002/
Cada Makes Final Table, Finishes 4th and Wins 4th
Bracelet
Local Sterling Heights resident Joe Cada made the
Final Table at the WSOP Main Event and then bought into the Closer event
featuring over 3,000 players and won it!!!
Amazing feat and a lot of poker over 11 days. Even a lot for me!
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