The
End Of An Era
Some of you may or may not have heard that last
Sunday’s first attempt to bring down the Silverdome kind of didn’t work…In
fact, it was still standing on Monday.
I was driving home Monday afternoon (I work right across the street from
the Silverdome) and saw the police and a few by-standers out en-force, so I stopped in the
left turn lane on Featherstone directly north of the Silverdome and turned on
my video camera (phone). As
they Say, Timing is EVERYTHING! (sorry for the orientation! I thought I fixed it but it isn't uploading the correction...)
Turn up the volume!
That
voice you hear is me. It
was LOUD!!! You could feel the double
shock wave of the explosives and then the ensuing wave from the collapse. And the dust cloud was HUGE!!!
We’ll
miss you Silverdome. I had a lot of fond
memories there.
I
Apparently Hit Some Nerves on Monday…
I
got a LOT of feedback from Monday’s post, particularly regarding the fact that
the Committee decided to put 2 SEC teams into the CFP.
This is a cardinal sin with some of you…I get
that.
Look, the way I see it, and I know I’m repeating myself, the
Committee hasn’t gotten it right from the start and have made a mistake in each
of the first 3 seasons of the CFP.
In year one, it was no Big iiX team (either TCU or Baylor were
worthy) and they selected the eventual CFP Champion suckeyes.
Year 2 SHOULD have been the suckeyes, but they
instead claimed that the B1G Conference Champion Sparty was better than
the 1-loss but massively loaded with NFL talent suckeye squad. Sparty went on to get destroyed by Bama on
New Year’s Eve, embarrassing the Committee and creating an unwatchable game.
In year 3, The Committee F’d up again by selecting the
suckeyes when they were clearly the 3rd best team in the conference
(PSU and Michigan each had 2 losses with way better players and either team was
clearly better statistically at that point).
So, yeah, this season was a mess for the #4 position when Wiscy
couldn’t take care of business in Indy.
The Committee had to hold its nose and make a decision between the
suckeyes, Bama, and I’m sure that USC was brought up. The suckeyes lost 55-24 at Kinnick. Bama hasn’t beaten anyone in the top 15 and
had a really weak schedule. And USC got
clobbered by the 3-loss Domers. The
deciding factors: The Suckeyes flaws were greater than Bama’s weaknesses. And Satan doesn’t lose Blow-Out games. And as I stated, Bama will be close to 100% with
respect to healthy players. Vegas had
Bama as a 1-point favorite over the suckeyes…And right now, the Clemson
– Bama game is EVEN in Vegas. I wouldn’t
be surprised
if Bama wins the whole damn thing.
But this is EXACTLY what everyone wanted.
So, was it a close decision? Sure.
Would I have been happy if they would have picked the
Suckeyes? I dunno. Probably not... I would have been happy that Bama was out
(because we shouldn’t be rewarding weak schedules and a team that doesn’t even
play in the conference Championship) but I don’t think the suckeyes would be able to
beat Bama on a neutral field this season.
When you put the decision into the hands of a committee, and
not just taking the 4 highest ranked Conference Champs, well, you’re going to
have issues like this.
Take
it out of the hands of the committee and just say the top 4 Conference champs
regardless of record and losses (by final ranking) and you get your wish. Better yet, go to 6 or 8 teams, take the Conf
Champs and 3 at large. Everyone will be
happy!
Sparty
Fans To Boycott the Outback
I got a lot of feedback on the B1G being “fixed for Michigan”
and why even bother playing the regular season if the Bowl’s just end up
choosing whoever they want?
“Sparty DESERVES TO BE PLAYING ON NEW YEAR’S
DAY!!!” The Bowls have been more
or less choosing whoever they want for decades.
Nothing has changed, there’s just a twist this season.
It’s a trivial thing and it wouldn’t have happened if Wiscy would
have done its job. When Wiscy
lost to the suckeyes, the pecking order of the B1G’s Bowl Tie ins
shifted and the other “At Large Bowl” The Orange, selected Wiscy from the field
of best available teams. Unfortunately,
there’s a little-known codicil in the Bowl Constitution that says when a B1G
Team is playing in the Orange Bowl (or any conference, for that matter), the Citrus
in Orlando is not allowed to have another team from the same conference,
which screwed up Sparty’s New Year’s Day Bowl destination which they were
slotted to play. The Outback had already made its
selection of Michigan. The Outback has
no affiliation with either the Orange or the Citrus. The deal with the Outback was signed, sealed
and delivered before Saturday. Then,
Saturday happened and Sparty got bumped to the next tier on the
bowl ladder – the Holiday.
Add in to the mix that Michigan gets better ratings than Sparty
and it all makes sense.
Shit
happens. Get
over it.
But I will say that it’s nice to be playing the 6th
place SEC team vs. the 4th place team as 2 SEC teams are in the
play-off, moving everyone in that conference up another notch.
They’re all meaningless bowls anyway…Early Lines: Michigan 7.5 favorite over South Carolina and
Sparty a 4.5 dog to Wash State...
And
Of Course, This Is Now A Thing…
Harbaugh
and D’Antoinsuo are taking Twitter shots at each other after the above
mentioned debacle regarding the bowls. D’Antoinsuo started it with a sleight against
Michigan and Harbaugh followed up with a salty congrats on the Sparty
turnaround season despite “all the off-field issues”.
Whatever…
What’s
The Deal-io about Ole Miss QB Shea Patterson?
www.mgoblog.com has
the best summary of what’s happening with Ole Miss and the seniors that can
transfer immediately due to NCAA sanctions.
Ole Miss QB phenom Shea Patterson requested his release and is
interested in Michigan. Highlight
Reel:
Michigan would be foolish NOT to have some interest in Shea
as depth at QB is non-existent for next season.
It would be tricky as Brian points out with respect to Peters, who at
one point was rumored to transfer (but his father said all BS) and one more
year sitting on the bench.
Still, any QB help should be embraced by everyone.
There’s a few other players at Ole Miss that are looking at
Michigan, also. In fact, there will be 3 players
from Ole Miss in Ann Arbor this weekend!
Including an OT that could really help out!
MMPG - How In The Hell Do You Lose A
College Hoops Game When You Have a 20 Point Lead?
I’m still a little ill after Monday’s Michigan Men’s
Hoops debacle down in Columbus.
Long story short: Michigan was
leading this game by as much as 20 in the 1st half and the score was
43-30 Michigan at halftime. Michigan
came out in the second half and shot the poorest of ANY TEAM OF THE BEILEIN ERA for one
half of basketball. I don’t know
what to say here except that sometimes you get outliers on the ‘ole bell curve. Think of this as a 6-sigma event. Michigan only scored 19 2nd
half points. It should never, EVER
happen again.
I
think…
The
Numbers:
FG% 2nd half: 5-29
17.2%
3FG%
2nd Half: 1-12 0.083%!!!!!
This is a “Live By The 3, Die By The 3” issue. I’ll still take a 3-point attempt over a
2-point attempt all day, but Jeez-Louise, MAKE SOME SHOTS!!!
The
Coaching Carousel Tracker
Fisher
leaves FSU High and Dry.
In what was only a rumor 3 weeks ago, Texas A&M proved to be ready
to do the right things at the Head Coaching Football position and went after
and got Jimbo Fisher. After 8
seasons with the Seminoles, Fisher decided he’d done all that he could for FSU
and jumped into the SEC West Mess with a contract reportedly worth $75M over 10 Seasons.…I
give him 50-50 odds of succeeding at A&M.
Jimbo Fisher is 0-11 against Satan and all Satan Coaching Tree Descendants.
Because we still need a score card:
UCF makes a great move and
hires former OU QB Josh Heupel! This is a great hire as he was the offensive coordinator
at surging Mizzou and he will keep the UCF train rolling along!
Chad Morris of SMU is the
rumored next coach to be at Arkansas. Should be a decent
hire, but not a lot of splash….
FSU made the pitch and landed
Willie Taggart. He’ll be happier in Florida, of that I’m
sure. The Question is: What does Oregon do in Coach Search Year #2?
The hire that is now taking
forever? Tennessee, who else? After dick-tripping their way all over the
country throwing money and a contract at whoever would listen, Fulmer seems to
be taking his time and losing valuable recruiting time before the early
signing period.
Etc.
FSU May Be The Biggest
Disappointment
From another loyal reader questioning the MMQ’s,
in particular the most disappointing team. I
agree that FSU was a “Top 4” team on a LOT OF PRE-SEASON Lists! Mine included, especially after the way they
played Michigan in the Orange last year and the fact that their QB and most of
that defense was returning. How could
you NOT like them? Lose your
starting QB and some other folks and it all goes to hell. And then lose their coach? Okay, I could change my mind, but Tennessee
is a train wreck, too.
This Is Becoming The New Trend –
Players Continue To Bow Out Of Bowl Games
And if you’re blaming them, I’m
guessing you’re the same person(s) that doesn’t want them to be compensated for
their efforts on the field. I personally
have no issue with this whatsoever.
And it wouldn’t surprise me to see more players taking this position that AREN’T
Declaring for the NFL draft. Why risk
your own future for a meaningless bowl trophy?
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