Sponsor note. Hey, folks: Tom Brady is on the hunt for the biggest Michigan fan other than Seth. We posted a set of trivia questions from Autograph a few weeks back and we're back for more. First, check out the Leaderboard from round one, which we'll be updating all year.

Then hit up the second set of trivia questions, which we'll be posting weekly through the end of September. Our friends at Autograph and Valiant will offer access to purchase unique rewards and experiences throughout the season based on your performance and participation.

This set of trivia questions closes Friday at 5 PM, so get on it.

I mean, whatever? I suppose I have to dredge up an opinion about Michigan self-imposing a three-game gameday-only suspension on Jim Harbaugh. Here goes: darn it.

The only part of this that matters is that it might piss off Harbaugh to the point where he gets more serious about going to the NFL. You or I could coach Michigan against ECU, UNLV, and… whoever is the last nonconference opponent. Ah. Bowling Green. Anyway: you or I could guide Michigan to three wins in those games. (Mel Tucker, on the other hand…)

So on one level it's smart to get this junk out of the way now because Texas, an actual power conference opponent, is on the schedule next year. On another level it's deeply annoying to cave to an NCAA kangaroo court that is busy violating its own guidelines because of what's clearly a personal vendetta against a coach who can't be bothered to pretend they're relevant anymore. There's a lot of sturm und drang on the message boards about this because of the latter, but… this does not matter. Michigan's chances of success this season have not been altered even 0.01%.

So, whatever. Double whatever.

[After THE JUMP: OSU's got an issue or two]

Trouble in paradise? Michigan had a quarterback battle go into the season last year, but that was a guy who'd won the Big Ten getting passed by JJ McCarthy. This one seems a bit more ominous:

No starting quarterback announcement yet. Ryan Day said neither Kyle McCord nor Devin Brown has won or lost the job yet. “Our staff feels confident with both of them.” He said he asked the staff this weekend who they thought should start, and it was “split right down the middle.”

— Dan Hope (@Dan_Hope) August 21, 2023

This is a bit sunnier take from Day than his previous comment on the QB battle:

"I don't think it's right now we have two guys who are just blowing it out of the water and you're like 'Oh my God, I don't know who's gonna play,'" Day said. "But it's also not like they're not doing well either...Now, were just looking for the consistency."

Seems like whoever it is will be a major step down from CJ Stroud. Here's to seeing OSU's offense outside of the SP+ top ten. Or at least somewhere other than first.

The pads go on. Jadyn Davis experienced a steady slide over the course of shorts-and-skeleton season. But maybe he's one of them gamer guys:

Providence Day looked the part of No. 1 team in North Carolina in a 42-35 victory over Northwestern (SC) on Saturday night. Providence Day held a commanding 42-21 lead with eight minutes left in the game and Northwestern scored two late touchdowns. …

Providence Day was led by outstanding performances by 4-star Michigan quarterback commit Jadyn Davis and 4-star North Carolina wide receiver commit Jordan Shipp. Davis' final stat line was 24 completions of 35 attempts for 456 yards, five touchdowns, and no interceptions.

A fair chunk of this highlight reel is Davis doing stuff:

 

Anonymous NIL takes. On3 has series of anonymous coach quote articles, which are always pretty interesting. This one focuses on how NIL has affected college basketball recruiting:

A Coach in the Big East: “The ‘process’ begins (and almost ends) with the financial benefit of the school. If it was even part of the process, it was nearly last (or non-existent) pre-NIL. The money/NIL has no equivalent now in the process, and there is almost no way to overcome a substandard ‘offer.’ …

A Coach in the A10: “NIL has significantly changed how we recruit. If we know early on that the decision is all bout money, we may choose to move on. We have a solid collective; however, we don’t think we want to ‘outbid’ anyone. We think our program’s history and the university have a lot to offer; unfortunately, a lot of kids, agents, and advisors only care about the bottom line. I think recruiting is mostly about two things, 1) role definition and 2) NIL, “Will I play and how much will I get paid?

“I think the common thought in college is you want to get old and stay old. But I think there’s a valuable opportunity for mid-majors to get slightly better talent than before the portal era. I believe you take the guys that can help you win. They can come from a local high school or be playing 4.000 miles away if they can help you and fit your culture, you take them.”

I assume this is less drastic of a change in football since there are fewer football recruits who are obvious program-changers than in basketball, what with 85+ man rosters versus 13. I do agree with "get old and stay" old after Michigan's experience with Moussa Diabate, Caleb Houstan, Jett Howard, and Frankie Collins. In all four of those cases Michigan spent a bunch of minutes developing substandard players* only for all of them to bolt. They're probably going to get more out of Nimari Burnett than any of them.

*[This may be somewhat controversial but Michigan was ~7.5 points better per 100 possessions with Howard off the floor last year, and Howard was probably the best of the four.]

Football is back soon, and it brings with it Indiana Signmaking. Say what you want about the Crossroads of America, but never say they can't apply pigment to a large piece of cardboad:

those still make me chuckle

and i am reminded of this beauty from purdue pregame.

the sign making ability in that state is wonderful pic.twitter.com/CVJJszNyHC

— FRO (@froness4) August 22, 2023

They'll always have that, and when you have signs who needs bowl bids?

Etc.: Proposed prices for first round playoff games next year have yet to find a broadcaster because the prices are sky-high. CBB burnout at all time high. McCarthy, Zinter, Jenkins, Corum, Edwards make Dane Brugler's top 50 prospects for the upcoming draft.