Wednesday, September 26, 2018

The Mailbag, Chaos In Clemson, More...


I’m tired of Hudson getting called for targeting.  Is it him or the rule?  Both?
I understand why we have a targeting rule in the NCAA and NFL at this point.  CTE is no laughing matter and the reason the rule was put in place is to help players live long and fruitful lives after they're done playing.
HOWEVA’!  There are now way too many instances of hits that are legit and that are called targeting that shouldn’t be.  The unintended consequences are something that needs to be dealt with.  How the I-I-I (Idiots In Indy) screwed this one up so bad is beyond me, especially when there’s a perfect model that is used in NCAA hoops. 
Change the rule to Targeting I & Targeting II, just like Intentional Fouls.  A Targeting I would receive the personal foul yardage and the player has to go to the “penalty box” for 15 minutes or the remainder of the game if it occurs in the 4th quarter.  Targeting II would result in the player’s ejection for the remainder of that game.
I still think the 1 half penalty in the ensuing game on a kid who’s just trying to play football is too severe.  And if he’s a star player, it hurts the rest of the team. There’s no other sport where a personal foul penalty carries over to the following game.  Save for a league determined penalty on a foul for an extremely severe penalty or unsportsmanlike conduct.
But yes, I’m tired of Hudson not getting to play in the 1st half of football games…
It’s hard to believe you were nervous about this game.  I mean, Nebraska was BAD.  What got you so nervous that you thought the upset might happen?
Again, I read too much.  At night, sometimes a day or two before the game.  That in turn keeps me awake and it becomes a run-away train from there.  First, I read the “Fee-Fi-Fo-Film” over at www.mgoblog.com and the way Seth breaks down offenses and defenses is amazing.  I could not or cannot do what he does, but I learn every year and every week when I read his stuff.  His follow-up, “Neck Sharpies”, also breaks down the game and provides really good insight as to what Michigan is doing really well and what they’re sucking at.
When I read the F-F-F-F on Nebraska’s O, I got nervous.  Seth adds clips of the opponent against someone else and, I mean, you simply have to look at what Nebraska did to Colorado on certain plays.
So, yes, I had a sense that Nebraska was a much better team.
But if you clicked THAT link, now you have to click on Neck Sharpies to understand how BAD Nebraska played on Defense.  And Offense. 
The LB play of Nebraska was especially atrocious and not expected.  But what you need to understand is that Michigan was also throwing different looks at Nebraska, making all that good stuff happen. 
Long to Short:  If I would just stop reading, if I would start trusting that the Michigan coaching staff KNOWS WHAT THEY’RE DOING (and watches film too), well, everything will be fine!
 So, you think racking up points against a bunch of teams ranked (statistically) over 50th in the country is a big deal?  I don’t.  Like you said:  Harbaugh has to prove it to me at this point.  Nothing less than 1-Loss heading down to Columbus is acceptable right now.  IF this team is as good as you think it is…
The MMQ isn’t the only one wondering this.  Yes, I was on a little Monday Morning high and I do think Michigan played a great game.  But yes, Bill Connely wonders the same thing from SBNation.
On one hand, Michigan is back up to fifth in S&P+ this week, and if the Wolverines stay around there, it would be their third top-10 finish in four seasons under the khaki-wearing 54-year-old. 2017’s retooling season went worse than expected, but it’s still hard to ask for much more than this, especially at a program that had enjoyed only one S&P+ top-10 finish in the eight seasons since Lloyd Carr’s retirement.
While that’s impressive, why does Harbaugh keep losing big games to the rivals?
That’s the question.  And the rivals are also part of the problem:
The rivals are looking just fine, too.
Ohio State, second in S&P+, has one of the two or three most talented teams in the country and currently has a projected 68 percent chance of beating Michigan again when the two teams face off in late November.  
(This is depressing to see – Editor.)

Penn State is currently sixth in S&P+ (a slight error on Sunday had their rankings reversed, though their ratings were nearly equal). The two teams will take each other on in a virtual coin-toss game (Michigan’s current win probability: 55 percent) on November 3.
(Better – Ed.)

After a rough start, Michigan State is back up to 18th in S&P+. The Wolverines will be slight favorites when the in-state rivals play in East Lansing on October 20, but ... well ... they were favored by solid margins in 2015 and 2017. Odds don’t appear to matter all that much to Mark Dantonio.
(Screw Everyone In East Lansing – Ed.)

Connelly wraps the article up with the fact that Michigan could (and should) be 6-1 heading into East Lansing.  Wiscy and PSU at home are proving to be very important games to have at home.
Classic Troll???
Speaks for itself....
Forgot to Put Steaks From The Tailgate On The Blog On Monday!
Gotta’ love Bama Fans!  They now how to Tailgate!  Filet Mignon was the call of the day!  And it was awesome!


Chaos In Clemson
This story is crazier than anything that’s happened so far this season.  Dabo may be making the biggest mistake of his career.  Kelly Bryant is a great QB and Dabo, instead of making his hot-shot frosh sit on the bench and learn, has decided to start Trevor Lawrence based not on his performance in a hostile environment where he CHOKED (Texas A&M) but rather, how he played against a tomato can (Georgia Tech).  Yep.  Watch for this one to blow up in Dabo’s face similar to how it blew up in Lloyd Carr’s face with respect to Henson – Brady.  Stupid – stupid -stupid.  And, of course, Kelly just announced this AM that he’ll be transferring. 
Northwestern Loses Leading Running Back To Spinal Cord Defect
This sucks….
Jeremy Larkin decided to stop playing after medical staff discovered that he has cervical stenosis, a narrowing of the spinal canal in the neck. Larkin had run for 346 yards and five touchdowns for the Wildcats in their first three games of the season.
Alabama Will SHRINK Bryant Denny Stadium
This is kind of baffling, but in a weird way, I’m curious to see how it turns out.  I’ve always been of the, “Less is More” persuasion.  Fewer seats would mean a longer waiting list to get season tickets. And fewer seats would make said tix more VALUABLE to the fans that are ponying up.  Meaning you could actually scalp and make a few bucks…

College Football is going through the same thing the NFL is going through.  Too many bad games that people don’t want to waste an entire day getting to the game and watching a boring opponent.  Sure, it’s no problem getting fannies in seats when its Auburn, LSU, or some other worthy opponent (for Bama).  But when you only play 8 conference games, 2 FCS teams and two Power 5 non-conference teams, of which the FCS teams are automatically home games, yeah, I can see where Bama fans are like, “Screw this.  I’ll keep my money, build a man-cave and watch from home.”
This Week In Schadenfreude
Poor Tennessee and Va Tech....
https://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2018/9/24/17893626/college-football-reaction-tennessee-virginia-tech


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