Bring on the Minutemen?

It appears as though the University of Michigan is close to finalizing the opponent who will open up the 2010 season at Michigan Stadium and be a part of the dedication game for the “new and improved” Big House. According to Rivals, that opponent will be….drumroll……The University of Massachusetts. This is flat out awful. Compounded to this pathetic display of wussiness is the fact that Michigan State just signed home-and-home deals with West Virginia and Alabama(!) for 2014-2017. That’s right. While Kid Brother is doing things the right way and convincing good football schools to make a return trip to East Lansing, Sailboat Willie is continuing to raid Ann Arbor Pioneer’s schedule for Saturday opponents.

This isn’t the first time we’ve complained about the scheduling, but it is likely to be the loudest, because at this point the schedule has become a joke. Sailboat Willie’s crowning achievement with regards to out of conference scheduling appears to be that he managed to re-up with Notre Dame from now until infinity—which would’ve been great, say in 1987. While the allure of Notre Dame still exists somewhat, the Irish have been perpetually horrid for the better part of 15 years (save for a historic win against USC in 2005. Or something like that.) Sure, Michigan-Notre Dame still generates a fair amount of pre-game buzz (even the pillowfights of the last two seasons) but the fact of the matter is that Sailboat Willie has to treat Notre Dame for what they really are at this point—another Purdue or Illinois—and not as the crowning jewel of the out of conference schedule. It appears as though Little Brother AD Mark Hollis understands this. As much as we hate Buckeye-Lovin’ Mark Dantonio and the school 60 miles to the northwest, they are building a program and looking to get national attention, which games like that will do.

Sailboat Willie, on the other hand, appears focused on one thing only—the almighty dollar. The Delaware State cash-grab this year is further proof that Willie is absolutely fine with scheduling Notre Dame and an assortment of MAC/FCS all-stars while charging $50 a pop in addition to seat licenses. Why go through the hassle of scheduling with LSU, Alabama, Auburn, Texas, or Oklahoma when you would have to give up a golden goose and play a out of conference road game in return for that date? Surely that is out of the question, as we already travel to South Bend every two years. Why give up a home date with Wofford for a tilt with the Tide at Bryant-Denny Stadium? Where is the incentive to have Michigan-LSU dedicating the newly renovated stadium under the lights at the Big House on ABC Prime Time when Michigan-UMass will be easier to schedule, come with the same amount of tickets sold, and a couple hundred thousand dollars appeases the visitors from Amherst? Simple economics, right Willie?

Michigan was once known for being willing to play pretty much anyone. One of the perks of watching Michigan growing up was that we were always playing in big games early in the season. Some highlights of tremendous out of conference schedules:

In the early 80s, there were only 2 OOC games. We scheduled:

1982: Notre Dame, UCLA
1983: Washington, Washington State
1984: Miami, Washington

Upon expansion to three:

1986: Notre Dame, Florida State, Oregon State
1988: Notre Dame, Miami, Wake Forest
1989: Notre Dame, UCLA, Maryland
1990: Notre Dame, UCLA, Maryland
1991: Boston College, Notre Dame, Florida State
1992: Notre Dame, Oklahoma State, Houston
1993: Washington State, Notre Dame, Houston
1994: Boston College, Notre Dame, Colorado
1996: Boston College, UCLA, Colorado
1997: Colorado, Notre Dame

There you have it. Not only did the Wolverines somehow manage to play other marquee programs in addition to mighty Notre Dame, for the bulk of that time, Notre Dame actually was mighty. The two schools of thought surrounding playing hard out of conference schedules are: (1) don’t do it, a loss cripples your national championship hopes; and (2) do it! The exposure helps you recover from the loss and helps your cause.

We fall in category two. Realistically, we need to stop losing to the Toledos and Appalachian States of the world before we can be concerned about what a loss to LSU will do to our national championship hopes. Since the inception of the BCS, only once, in 2006, did we have serious national title hopes in November (no, the 2003 and 2001 seasons weren’t “serious” hopes, despite high November BCS rankings.) USC, Texas and Oohi are prime examples of schools who have scheduled tough and had it make no impact on their ability to rebound and contend for a title. USC is widely considered to be the premier program of the decade and their only obstacle has been falling to mediocre Pac-10 teams. Texas and Oohi split their head-to-head, and Oohi’s only problems regarding the BCS have been finding someone to change them after they soil themselves in front of the nation in the title game. The bottom line with scheduling tough teams is that you’ll win some and you’ll lose some. The wins, though, are well worth it. Michigan State seems to get that. Sailboat Willie sees only the reflection of dollar bills off of the newly placed glass on the suites above Michigan Stadium.

One of the things I enjoy the most about the summer is the anticipation for football. Usually in mid-August I head over to a friend's home and go through decades of Michigan ticket stubs, reminiscing back on games the pre-dated me, and those we remember from our childhood. It will be a dark day in 25 years when my child is going through old ticket stubs and instead of remembering Miami, Florida State, Washington, and Colorado coming into the Big House, he is sifting through tickets with "Bowling Green," "Louisiana-Monroe," and "Idaho State" on the front.

Go Blue! Beat Delaware State!

The Saga of The Fainting Goat

It's time to take a brief hiatus from the last week of 2L studies to address the situation that has become increasingly bizarre between Michigan and...The Fainting Goat?

As pretty much anyone with a passing interest in college football knows by now, The Fainting Goat (tFG) was at Michigan's workout on Tuesday, checked out the offense, chatted with Coach Rodriguez, and then the internets blew up with rumor, speculation, innuendo and general confusion. Obviously, tFG at one time had some pretty serious football skills, winning Gatorade's National Player of the Year honors in 2005 and widely being considered the #1 QB prospect in that class. Offers from Michigan, Notre Dame and many others followed, but tFG chose basketball (because there are dozens of 6'1" white point guards in the NBA?) and sold his soul to play for The Rat in Durham. Four underachieving years later, tFG has an interest in checking out that whole "football" thing again.

It started with a workout for the Green Bay Packers, and ended with the meeting with Coach Rod on Tuesday. We here at MATW got an inside scoop on how those conversations went:

Green Bay Scouts: "Yo, brah, we love your raw skillz, but you need about 30 pounds of meat on that ass, and not the kind Danny Green placed on your grill. Plus, it would be super-duper if you actually, you know, spent some time around a football program. Gots it, yo?"

tFG, after twice falling to the ground while being searched at the airport, hops on a flight from Raleigh to Detroit. He slaps the street to get a taxi, and jets over to Coach Rod's crib at 1000 S. State. Much like Corleone and Roth, they don't really like one another, but see mutual benefit in a working relationship (no word on whether Coach Rod snake-oiled him with claims that together they would be bigger than US Steel). tFG gets to be Barwisized, a year learnin' football, and all he can drink chocolate milk. Coach Rod gets to claim a #1 overall recruit and NPOY on his 'crootin resume as well as have some insurance that should Tate and Denard shake hands with LaMarr and be rendered disabled, he never has to turn to Sheridan or Cone. They shake on it, and instantly the internets have ovaltine for the next year or so.

Kidding aside, this has provided fodder for many a fan of schools not named "Michigan" (and chiefly those named "Ohio State" and "Michigan State.") But, on its face, it seems to make sense. As much as we all hate tFG, it's likely that he still possesses more raw QBin' skills in his fingertips than Nick Sheridan could ever hope to have. That's not a knock on Sheridan- the kid works hard, loves Michigan, but lacks talent. If Sheridan ever has to take another meaningful snap in a game, well, that will not be a good day. Nothing against Nick, hell, if I were to start at QB for Michigan you bet your ass I would work hard, be dedicated to the position like no other...and suck more than any QB has ever sucked before. Michigan fans would curse my name, chiefly because winning matters. And thus, the problem with Sheridan and Cone. They just aren't Big Ten QBs. Is tFG? Probably not right now. Not to mention, he's working with only a year of eligibility. But, this team will certainly be led by either Tate Forcier or Denard Robinson come September. Those guys are your clear #1/#2. They'll get the necessary snaps to develop and show their worth as the future of the program. tFG? He would get to shake off the rust, give the scout team a better look, and provide much needed depth. And hey, the worst thing that could happen is that he turns out to be really good, and the move is vindicated. As to Coach Rod's "offer" to him that he could come in and compete for the job, well, that's what every kid should be told. The best players should play and if tFG were to have an unlikely run of success and win the job, he should be on the field.

Of course, that "offer" (whether or not it happened) has led to an interesting reaction from Michigan's current #1-by-default (i.e., No-Denard) Tate Forcier. Forcier, who has never lacked confidence, first made a rather puzzling statement to The Michigan Daily Thursday.

From what I’ve heard, I’ve been talking to coaches all morning, my position coach, Coach (Rod) Smith, he told me specifically that they have not offered him. They don’t know why he would lie. They don’t know the kid. They haven’t offered them. They said we’ll let you’ll know what’s up, because right now, their specific words were, they haven’t offered them.

I want to believe my coaches, I committed (to) them. Why would a kid like him lie to national media? So to me it’s still up in the air.

From what I’ve heard, he hasn’t been offered anything yet, he hasn’t accepted anything yet.

We were actually in practice here, we were having a meeting before practice, and he walked in, and I recognized him. I was like, ‘Who is he?’ And I talked to the coaches about it, and he’s trying to find out the best options available.

His quotes saying they offered him, I woke up and it was on TV. My coaches were calling me, they called me like three times this morning before I even saw it, but I don’t know if they saw it on TV before I did and just wanted to tell me the truth. It’s hard. I can’t give you a word on it. I’m not worried about it, a kid like that was good in high school, but it’s nearly impossible to come back to this level and play. It might be possible, but not in the QB position. You have to know too much. You have to know the speed of the game.

If it happens, it happens. I still highly doubt he’s coming. It would be impossible.

Again, the only reason he would be doing this is because I heard he tried out with the (Green Bay) Packers. And from what I heard, I’m not worried about it. It ain’t going to happen. By the time he would legally get here would be in the summer, and by the time he’d get here, he’d have to learn the whole playbook and get used to the speed of the game. I doubt you could even do that at the high school level, go in your senior year and try to play. You have to know too much. You have to get used to too much. I’m honestly not that worried about it. It ain’t going to happen. I talked to (Michigan) Coach (Rich) Rod(riguez) and he said (Paulus) doesn’t know if he wants to play football or be a basketball coach at Duke or coach football. He doesn’t know yet. I might not be getting the whole story from my coaches, but there’s no final word.

Again, interesting to say the least. Of course, it was followed up later in the night by a Facebook "status" update that has now made its way around the internets (and received a chuckle from 2010 commit Devin Gardner):

Tate Forcier i can give a damn what Paulus does. If he wants to ruin his career and come here its fine with me cuz hes about to be my backup!
2 minutes ago · Comment · Like

Now, you can't help but love that sort of confidence (nor can you help but question the reaction were Lloyd still running the show...6 a.m. stairs for sure) but Forcier's reaction that is now very public has led to further criticisms of the program which we really didn't need coming off a very positive spring. Is Forcier nervous, concerned, upset about the possibility of tFG coming to Ann Arbor or being given a fair shake at the starting gig? Likely not, given his history of not backing down from competition (sticking with interest in Michigan when Kevin Newsome and Shavodrick Beaver were committed) and his comments after Beaver de-committed about nothing being handed to you in the Big Ten. Truthfully, given Forcier's exceptional play at the tail end of spring ball, it's highly unlikely that tFG would be able to shake off the rust, get his timing back, learn the offense and mesh with the team in just a couple of months in order to have a real shot at the starting gig. Both Forcier and Robinson have a large advantage in that race.

So what is the verdict? While we're likely screwed if our #3 QB is seeing significant time anyways, it's tough to determine whether the risk-reward balances out. Is it worth the raw talent tFG could bring over Sheridan to deal with the circus that will be his participation? Is QB depth for 2009 really that big of an issue? Fans of teams who are not used to football success are considering this move an indictment on Rodriguez's feelings about Forcier/Robinson, and a ploy to "save" the 2009 season by getting a one year starter. Taking Coach Rod's words for what they were, that he could immediately compete for the starting gig, without understanding the context (that EVERY player should be able to earn a starting spot- which doesn't happen at all schools) an ignorant fan could draw that conclusion. In all likelihood, Michigan will be in a better position had this not been an issue. As head coach, though, Rodriguez should be looking at any option that can make the team better, which is what he is doing here. Quite frankly, our stance here at MATW is that of "meh." We don't like tFG, if he comes in to Michigan for a year, that likely won't change. If he makes the team better, great.

Paulus?

I guess we could use the depth...but...the Fainting Goat?

Vincent Smith

This is running back goodness.

Tom Brady. The Godfather.

As if Tom Brady needed to earn more respect from MATW...he has now gone full Corleone on us. At the larger wedding celebration last week, there was an incident with the paparazzi being shot at by a member of the lovely Mrs. Brady's security detail. Moments earlier, a very Corleone moment happened:

The pair ran back to Cortez's Suzuki SUV, parked about 500 feet away in dense
brush.

They split up as they ran away, and by the time Aviles said he reached the
SUV, his colleague was already there speaking to a guard.

Aviles quoted the guard as saying, "Tom Brady just wants to talk to you. It's OK, nothing's going to happen."

But Aviles claimed when the photographers accepted the guard's invitation back to Gisele's house, they were swarmed by three members of the wedding party and five hired guards dressed all in black.

The photographers lied their way out of the tight spot — saying they hadn't taken a single frame.As the lensman drove away, Aviles claimed he spotted one of the guards pull a pistol.

Seconds later, a bullet shattered the back of Cortez's SUV, struck a front windshield wiper and then bounced back into the cabin, landing in between the terrified shutterbugs, he said."I thought this was going to be my last job," Aviles said.

This may well be the most awesome story yet for Mr. Brady, who will from this point forward be known as "The Godfather." Our only hope is that he took a moment to smash their cameras, peel of several hundos and throw them at their feet.

Devin Gardner...All Blue

Tremendous. First Denard...now D-Gardner. A huge coup for Coach Rod for the 2010 class, and a much needed head start to adding depth at the QB position for years to come.

To Hell With Oohi

Denard romps on 11/21. We dance on the 50.

Go get 'em, boys.