Wednesday, October 17, 2018

The Mailbag and Mid-Week Round-Up


The Mailbag
I just can’t disagree with you more about Shea.  He does not see wide open receivers, he is not accurate, he has the loaf of bread thing far too often, and he is very late with decision making (both when throwing or running).   I will be willing to bet you some decent coin that Shea causes us a loss due to the above mentioned short-comings.  I would love to see McCaffrey as the starter.  I think that he is every bit as good as Shea NOW, and I like the extra year of eligibility.

Superfan

Sigh…This discussion with you (and others) is really starting to wear thin on my nerves.  Shea is doing EXACTLY what a good to great QB should be doing:  Controlling the offense, not getting into trouble, and not forcing passes when receivers might not be as open as they appear. 

HE’S ALSO LEADING THE TEAM.

That’s a HUGE intangible that can’t be seen or measured on film. I re-watched Saturday’s game and I also noticed a couple of plays where Shea could have gone deep.  I also put both sacks squarely on his shoulders as he could have gotten rid of the ball in both cases instead of eating it.  I’m trusting the coaching staff right now and believe that if McCaffery was playing that much better in practice, he’d see more playing time.  But everyone seems to be comfortable with Shea and while Michigan is winning, I don’t think any changes are imminent.  Now, if he does “blow a game” somewhere on this Journey, then yes, McCaffery should see more playing time.

And as long as Michigan keeps climbing in the S&P+ Stats, I’m incredibly happy with what’s happening in Ann Arbor.   Polls are useless.  Trust the numbers…Michigan jumping from 22 up to 4 is exactly what you want to happen.  Shea's doing fine...





“Revenge Tour”?  Isn’t that a little precocious?  Aren’t you supposed to brag and whoop it up AFTER you win the games???!!!

Heads up:  I didn’t coin the “Revenge Tour” phrase and I never talk it up early.  It was actually Winnovich in a post-game on-field interview that said, “The first game of the ‘Revenge Tour’ is behind us.”  So, I’ll give Chase the credit, but, DAMN, I LOVE THE WAY THIS TEAM IS THINKING!

“The revenge tour has officially commenced,” Michigan defensive end Chase Winovich said. “I was thinking about putting that for my next Instagram post.”


I guess Saturday pretty much falls into the “Big Game” category?  Does Harbaugh get the Sparty monkey off his back this time?

It could be argued (based on recruiting alone) that the “LNU” (Please address these these school names appropriately when responding to anything this blog puts out!!!)  monkey has already been tossed aside.  Michigan has been building their program for the future and LNU has been trying to do what it always does which is get the castoffs, coach them up and try to win close football games by any means necessary (grabbing defense, holding, etc.)  Moving forward, Michigan will have the overall better program and will be a better football program for years to come. 

That being said – Uh, yeah.  Michigan has to prove it on the field.  Plain and simple.  No more moral victories or “what if” moments can plague this team at this point.  This is a “must win” game if ever there was one on the Michigan schedule or for Jim Harbaugh.  I almost hate to type that, but it’s true.  In fact, the next 5 games are must wins, if you will.  But this one is BIG without question.

Have you been following the NCAA Hoops Corruption Trial?  Any thoughts?

As a matter of fact, I have been following it and I’m a little surprised that there’s not more headlines out there.  In an extremely disappointing take, Coach K from Duke is stating that this is a “blip” and not prevalent in the sport of college hoops. 

Are you F-ing kidding me, Coach K?

I want to know what color the sky is in Coach K’s world.  If he believes this is a blip and not mainstream, he’s seriously misguided, misinformed or is just choosing to ignore the big picture.  Which it seems like the I-I-I is also doing – head in the sand, “Na-na-na-na-na!!!”

“We haven’t followed it that much, to be quite frank,” Krzyzewski said at a Monday news conference. “I think it’s a minute. It’s a blip. It’s what’s happening — I mean it’s not.”


It’s very difficult for a reasonable mind to hear what’s being levied in these trial hearings and be convinced that college basketball is not corrupt at its core. For many fans, it just reinforces what was suspected all along and put succinctly years ago by late, candid UNLV coach Jerry Tarkanian.
“Nine out of 10 schools are cheating,” Tarkanian said. “The other one is in last place.”
Every school that’s been named should go on high alert.  At some point, the I-I-I has to wake up and figure out how they’re going to punish these schools that have players that were receiving illegal benefits.  Death penalties shouldn’t be out of the question based on the I-I-I’s own rules and guidelines when it comes to “amateurism” and player compensation.  If they don’t do anything?  Then throw out the rule book and let professionalism into College Sports.

This actually makes what Beilein and Michigan have accomplished in the last 5 years that much more impressive.  Doing it clean in this environment is amazing at this point.  And Michigan was a program that was punished for being “the worst” during the Ed Martin Scandal years.  Michigan should be pushing the NCAA to enforce the rules to the Nth degree in all of this…

Bama Defensive Player Punches Mizzou Player
Alabama coach Nick Saban said Raekwon Davis will be disciplined for punching a Missouri player on Saturday.
Saban told reporters that he spoke with SEC commissioner Greg Sankey about Davis, who punched Missouri offensive lineman Kevin Pendleton several times in the fourth quarter of Alabama’s win over the Tigers.
“I visited with commissioner Sankey about Raekwon’s actions,” Saban said Monday. “We will handle that internally. We will have him do some things. I think it should affect his playing time in the future.”
I find it unbelievable that the SEC Conference (and all conferences for that matter)  doesn’t have something on the books that more or less forces a kid to sit for a game when something this egregious or blatant happens. 
LNU Up To THEIR Old Tricks
An LNU player was guilty of something similar (eye poking) against PSU last Saturday (and I expect more of the same in East Lansing this Saturday).


Penalties played a key role in Penn State’s defeat. Of the six penalties the Nittany Lions committed, none may have been bigger than the unsportsmanlike conduct call on CJ Thorpe in the second quarter. After the Nittany Lion defense stuffed the Spartan offense on three consecutive plays from inside the 2-yard line to set up a 4th and goal, Thorpe was flagged for ‘retaliating’ after being poked in the eye. On the following play, Michigan State scored to tie the game.
Bosa Retiring From College Football- Withdraws From THE STU
I’m not surprised.  If anything, I was surprised it took this long.  From all the reports, it sounded like the only game he was going to be able to play in, if he was lucky, was the Michigan game.  I’m not sure why he had to withdraw from school as they don’t play “school” all that hard down in Columbus.  I  mean, he could have rehabbed and still been a leader in practice and maybe on the sidelines?  I dunno.  But he was a “Team Captain”, so bailing is kind of a big deal if you’re into that kind of thing.  Regardless, it’s still THE STU and Michigan needs to beat them as part of the Revenge Tour. 
This Week In Schadenfreude
Plenty in here this week with Georgia, Miami, PSU and Washington all losing.  I can’t be rationale fans (which, let’s face it, no one is!) start calling for the firing of their otherwise successful head coaches.  Sure, that makes sense.  Just start cloning Satan so everyone can have their dream coach!
Dawg Fans are going insane claiming their program is headed down the toilet with Smart at the helm.

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