Monday, December 14, 2020

Michigan Monday: The Big Ten Loves Michigan Football

I'm not sure when this started

Was it with the complaints on the awful Big Ten officials?  

Could it be when the Big Ten brought in a bunch of Ohio State fans to officiate the game in 2016?  

Was it the Summer Camps? 

Is it because Michigan always gets a better bowl then they deserve? 

Do they just hate Harbaugh?  

I have no idea on how or when the Wolverines hurt the Big Ten's office feelings, but that office is going out of their way to screw the Wolverines at every turn.  

In what was supposed to be an East - West match-up between same seeded teams (for example: 1 East vs. 1 West, 2 vs. 2 and so on) Michigan the 6th seed in the East got a game against the #2 team in the West.   MSU and Maryland are playing a divisional game.   The Michigan game is also scheduled at 7:00 PM on Saturday in late December in Iowa.   Which makes zero sense.    Or does it...... 

Here is my theory:  the Big Ten knows Michigan has been shut down for 2 weeks and has little to no chance of playing next weekend.  They threw this game together to protect Iowa's record and put it at an un-realistic kick off time, so they could play the other games in the afternoon.   The Big Ten has only a few programs that probably even want to play in a bowl game, they have to protect Iowa as one of them. 

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Michigan Basketball got an ugly win last night against Penn State and are now 1-0 in the Big Ten.   Michigan is looking for a replacement for Hunter Dickinson when he needs a blow and are struggling to find one with Austin Davis out with an injury.   Michigan struggled with Penn State's defense and shot 5-14 from 3.   Livers and Wagner combined for 16 points and Dickinson had a team high 20.  

The MVP of the game was Brooks who added 12 points but stopped the game tying play with great defense on a dribble drive by PSU's guard Sessoms. The un-song MVP was Chaudee Brown who didn't' score but played suffocating defense on Penn State's best players.  

Michigan is now a dribble drive and low post team but needs shooting to win Big Ten games.   There won't be any off days and every win will be earned.   Michigan has to have offense from Livers and Wagner and both have been hot and cold this year.  Wagner played well on defense and Livers hit free throws but they need to be scoring 25-40 points per game combined.   Next game is on Christmas on the road for the first time against Nebraska.   Can I also say, Michigan put together a very good schedule to start the season.  The Football program could learn a few things on what is happening in Crisler.


  • If Michigan gets rid of Harbaugh, their former head coaching candidate pool got a bit bigger this weekend as Arizona fired Kevin Sumlin after ASU scored 70 on them, Lovie is out at Illinois, and Auburn fired Gus Malzahn.   I thought it was funny, that Arizona put their DC as interim head coach after his squad gave up 70 point.  (please note: none of theses guys would be a candidate for the Michigan HC job, I sometimes use sarcasm in my writing.  :-))

9 comments:

napo said...

If Harbaugh goes to NFL, would Malzahn be a daft choice

Goose said...

Sadly I'm not sure it matters who coaches. I believe the problems run deeper. Fun fact Rutgers has won more bowl games in the last 2 decades than michigan. Why? The recruiting classes are high, the coaches are highly regarded. So I ask why, why is it that success even moderate success against good teams has eluded Michigan? Is it a culture problem? Is it an academic problem? Is it a sense of entitlement? What do yall think I'm at a loss?

M Don said...

Good lord Bob, cry me a river! The schedule was done this way because we are still a marketable night time game even in our dire year and Minnesota & Wisconsin specifically asked to play each other to keep their longest game played in college football streak. Getting tired of the woe is me the big ten & the world hates us, it’s not our fault, etc. BS. We are supposed to be Michigan right?! Our damn fight song says leaders & best & instead this blog seems to advocate for all MAC schools, only at home, noon games, etc. That’s not leading or playing the best at all, but instead sounds like a 8 year old boy that wants take his ball & go home when things don’t go his way. This year sucks & the trend has not been good for a while, but you don’t become great or win championships by complaining and playing easy competition. Notre Dame did that the year they played Alabama in championship game & got destroyed. Does the big usual 4-5 teams in the playoffs get protected? Sure to a point, but they earned that by winning. We’ve earned nothing in decades & just whine about it like a petulant child. Grow up! You want respect and power...go earn it. Win! Win on the road! Win at night! Win, Win, Win! Don’t duck or make up excuses to why we’re where we are. Losers do that and that is not the Michigan I used to know! Suck it up & win! Go Blue!!

EzmoB said...

If coach H stays Michigan needs to bring in a strong AD that can keep coach H in his place. He was given way too much power when he was brought in and no one checked him. This downfall started in 2018 when OSU destroyed us.

Chowman said...

Goose the same logic that UoM gets better bowl games then they deserve, their recruiting classes are grade higher than the really should be. Same thing that happens with Texas. Big fanbases, with lots of money and the recruiting sites inflate their recruits in order to sell subscriptions and to keep those subscribers happy. Last thing Rivals wants to do is piss off paying customers by saying their teams recruiting class blows. Don't get me wrong UoM gets a Gary or Dax Hill now and then and WASTES their talent, but to a great extent, kids that commit to UoM get a bump that they wouldn't get if they committed to another program. It's a combo meal: inflated rankings along with a lack of any player development has our program in the cellar!

Chowman said...

Not sure about the B1G but I'm starting to HATE Jim Harbaugh. Just wish he'd go away. Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is insanity. It's been 6 years, why would anyone think he can or should be given the chance to try an turn things around. It's time to try something different. Could it fail? Absolutely! In fact it mostly likely will, but IMHO it's not going to get better with Harbaugh. Fear of the unknown is not a reason to stick with Harbaugh. For those fans that truly think that Jim can fix things, then I'll agree to disagree with you, but respect your opinion. But if you're part of this fan base that says "keep Harbaugh cause they next coach could be worse", I got no patience for you!

Chowman said...

Napo: Malzahn would be daft on multiple levels. 1st I don't think he's a very good coach with X's and O's. Two he couldn't consistently win at Auburn with the way the SEC operates, i.e. over signing and going the JUCO route. Also, to my knowledge he's got no link to the Midwest. For the B1G teams not named OSU, recruiting the Midwest is a staple. In fact that's one of the biggest areas I think Harbaugh has failed, he no longer gets many state of Ohio recruits. OSU gets the cream of the crop and now the Kentucky has made inroads. Cincy doesn't a good job of getting Ohio players to stay in state. You look at some of the better players in UoM history and they are from Ohio.

Rudy said...

Telling the recruits "I'm committed to this program" is not the same as "I am staying and will be the coach here for the future" period! He's giving himself wiggle room so if he leaves, they can't say he lied. Telling a half truth is not the truth. You are staying or you are going, just say it dammit. Signing Day will be interesting, no doubt. After it is done and the smoke clears, let's see where the top 10 recruits in the state end up. We already know some are leaving the state. There was a time when a kid growing up in MI wanted to go to UM, it was only a question of if they were good enough. Now they leave. Jimmy rubs many of these high school coaches wrong and yet another thing for the AD to consider.

Goose said...

I'm sensing another John U Bacon book coming about the Harbaugh years. My question to u all is what would u name it?