Unverified Voracity Enters A World Of Pain
this is a completely normal bowling event
I honestly don't know how anyone goes bowling and doesn't get in a massive brawl. You've just spent several hours of your time flinging a ball at various inanimate objects and the objects generally win. You are losing to some smug-ass ovoid shapes. In such circumstances, it is only natural to become so irrationally angry that you start a yell-fight over the circumstances you find yourself in.
And lo, it has happened to football teams.
A fight nearly broke out between #Michigan and #SouthCarolina at Splitsville. pic.twitter.com/ghzbCVNzWA
— Isaiah Hole (@isaiahhole) December 28, 2017
This makes total sense. I do enjoy how bored the cops look. Because this happens every time they're in a bowling alley.
These are unrelated, but I wish they weren't. Mo Hurst will play in the bowl game. Probably less than he has in most games, for a ton of reasons. Here's hoping he gets through it okay.
God bless Mike Leach. And God bless the reporter who absolutely nailed the zoom-out reveal midway through:
Mike Leach cooling off his hot coffee while Mark Dantonio answers a question during the Holiday Bowl press conference is the best Mike Leach moment ever. pic.twitter.com/jN6QyuUhDS
— Sam Adams (@SWXSamAdams) December 27, 2017
This is art on par with the raptor gif. And they said bowl season didn't mean anything.
You cannot understand the Brohm of it all. Purdue beat Arizona in an extremely entertaining game that featured one of those college-only back-to-back-to-back touchdowns in the last few minutes to swing the game to and fro. In the end Purdue's margin depended heavily on this play at the end of the first half:
Purdue running the fake kneel is my new favorite thing pic.twitter.com/4ld5KjsYCm
— Alejandro Zúñiga (@ByAZuniga) December 28, 2017
That is a perfectly legal play that I've seen Auburn and Arkansas execute over the past few years. People are describing it as a "fake kneel," though, and they do have a point: Purdue had a guy lined up as the traditional we're-gonna-kneel "safety" on the play. Shame on Arizona for biting on that after Purdue got the ball back with almost a minute left...
Remember that Purdue fake kneel down play? Both Rich Rod & Arizona's players say the refs told them beforehand it was a kneel & not to rush the passer.
— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) December 28, 2017
...oh.
[/mentions fill up with "intent to deceive" outrage]
Well... you're not wrong. If a team is going to line up in a formation that causes the refs to demand the opposition stop playing they should stop playing too. One dollar says that there's a new rule covering running actual plays from a kneel-down formation next year. Which is a shame:
Most importantly, when Gus Malzahn runs this play, the call on the field is “THERE’S A SNAKE IN MY BOOT!” because the name of the fake kneel is “Woody,” it almost always involves the smallest running back on the team getting the ball, and because anytime one can take an excuse to yell “THERE’S A SNAKE IN MY BOOT!” on a football field, one should.
RIP.
Interesting Michigan-related item:
Second time they’ve ran this ♂️gotta believe it’s coming
— Maurice Hurst Jr (@mohurstjr) December 28, 2017
M apparently had this scouted.
Random bits from Zach Shaw. Shaw has been poking around the 24/7 database for article on various Michigan units, and has come across a number of things that look promising for next year's defense:
- On the DL, Aubrey Solomon had a "stop rate"—tackles at or near the LOS—of just over 10%, which was on par with Hurst and Winovich. Nearly identical to both, in fact. Those guys were 10th and 11th nationally in that stat. If Solomon maintains that productivity he should be at least good and, with some extra pass rush, potentially great next year.
- At linebacker, Khaleke Hudson and Devin Bush Jr. missed just three tackles each all year. Both guys had a ton of QB pressures but not many stops—probably because the DL was crushing so many plays before they could even get to the LBs.
- The cornerbacks did this: "Michigan’s three cornerbacks — all first-year starters — allowed 32 of 81 passes for 478 yards, 0 touchdowns, 4 interceptions and 16 pass breakups." That is, of course, bonkers. Like having Jourdan Lewis clones coming out of your ears.
- The safeties were good-ish. In the aftermath of a tough game for Metellus against Ohio State there have been a lot of criticisms of the safeties, and by implication departed safeties coach Brian Smith. But collectively there were middle of the pack when targeted and had an acceptable missed tackle rate—Metellus's was more acceptable than Kinnel's. The individual stats don't take into account the general lack of huge plays against M. Michigan gave up quite a few 20+ yard plays (59th) but relatively few 30+ (22nd); a lot of those longer plays were the inevitable result of Michigan's very aggressive defense cracking. The safeties mostly held down those opportunities.
If Solomon improves as much as most rising sophomores he could be only a reasonable step back from Mo Hurst, and then Michigan just has to find a linebacker from 5-6 options and a develop some DL depth to have the kind of defense that could be #1 nationally. Again.
One downer: per Football Outsiders Michigan's punting efficiency was 121st nationally, and the early shanks from Will hart didn't have much of an impact. Brad Robbins's net yardage was 121st. Shoulda got an Aussie.
Etc.: Graham Couch is at it again! If you've seen various Lars Von Trier movies the reference to him in this article will go 1% of the way towards restoring your lost time and/or sanity. Marcus Ray departs WTKA. The Blind Pig will carry on. Patterson officially in; the other two guys are officially not. Ted Janes of the Daily talks to John O'Korn. Jourdan Lewis: still good.
December 28th, 2017 at 12:24 PM ^
December 28th, 2017 at 12:25 PM ^
Mike Leach is a National Treasure.
December 28th, 2017 at 1:35 PM ^
That pan out is priceless.
December 28th, 2017 at 3:40 PM ^
The abrupt zoom back in is even better IMO. "Who cares what Dantonio is saying, let's check back in on if Leach's coffee cooling technique was effective"
December 28th, 2017 at 11:38 PM ^
That clip captures the essence of each coaches personality in 30 seconds. Dantonio drones on, Leach don't give a fuck.
December 28th, 2017 at 1:36 PM ^
December 28th, 2017 at 4:25 PM ^
Before he took the Wazzu job, Mike Leach was a frequent guest-host with Jack Arute for many months on the SiriusXM College Football Playbook (now sadly overrun by ESPNU). He would extemporize on issues of the college-football day as well as a multitude of other subjects. Always a gut-busting hoot!
Here's a wide-angle take of the presser. Skip ahead to about 7:30 for the best part:
December 28th, 2017 at 7:38 PM ^
December 29th, 2017 at 12:51 PM ^
"coolin off with coach"
December 28th, 2017 at 4:07 PM ^
Any memes of him blowing out wild fires or standing on beach blowing so people could go kiteboarding?
December 28th, 2017 at 12:26 PM ^
Leach looked like he wanted to tell ol' coach grumpy, "damn you're boring".
December 28th, 2017 at 12:47 PM ^
Looked to me that he wanted to tell his coffee, "damn you're scorching".
December 28th, 2017 at 12:59 PM ^
Now that would make it really special!
December 28th, 2017 at 12:30 PM ^
Sign me up for the 2018 hype train. Get some tickets now for Indy and the Cotton Bowl!
December 28th, 2017 at 12:43 PM ^
December 28th, 2017 at 1:27 PM ^
One puzzling thing to me that stood out in terms of slow defensive adjustments was allowing McCray to go into coverage with an offense's best athlete in space.
December 28th, 2017 at 12:43 PM ^
December 28th, 2017 at 2:01 PM ^
Whenever we play Purdue in the future our guys go all out on that kneel play.
December 28th, 2017 at 2:05 PM ^
Refs are also there to maintain control/civility. Let's say Purdue does take a knee, which happens 99% of the time that teams line up that way, and Arizona's DL knocks their OL over, it's going to end in a fight.
December 28th, 2017 at 3:02 PM ^
Yeah, tempting fate. Too much like bowling.
December 28th, 2017 at 6:14 PM ^
The OL should be prepared for contact on every single snap. If they get knocked on their ass it's their own fault.
What if there was a fumbled snap on a kneel play? The DL should be agressive until the game is over.
This isn't minority report. The refs should never proactively make calls and decisions on what probably will happen.
December 29th, 2017 at 12:18 PM ^
The year after Peyton Manning graduated, Tennessee won the MNC with a number of incredibly lucky plays (missed last minute FGs by opponents and the like). One of the craziest was when Arkansas was beating them, and all they had to do was run out the clock, and they fumbled. Granted it wasn't a victory formation, but still:
December 28th, 2017 at 11:37 PM ^
December 28th, 2017 at 12:48 PM ^
December 28th, 2017 at 12:50 PM ^
It was a big change from 2016 when UM was usually able to change the field position battle thanks to the punter.
December 29th, 2017 at 8:06 AM ^
December 28th, 2017 at 1:31 PM ^
That one play aside, I sure wish Blake O'Neil was a true freshman back in 2015 instead of a grad transfer senior.
December 28th, 2017 at 6:17 PM ^
Depends where you look. On 247 he was listed as the 16th best punter of his class.
December 28th, 2017 at 12:50 PM ^
December 28th, 2017 at 1:03 PM ^
is there were still 48 seconds left and Purdue had 2 time outs and Arizona had 3 time outs. Purdue had also been carving up the Arizona defense in the first half. They had almost 400 yds of offense when they got the ball back with 48 seconds left in the half. Nothing about that screams kneel down and just get into halftime
December 28th, 2017 at 12:55 PM ^
New SC to be announced soon? I've seen Herbert from Arkansas being floated around as the guy.
December 28th, 2017 at 12:59 PM ^
December 28th, 2017 at 1:35 PM ^
The Wisconsin/Arkansas guy has been floated about as the next possibility. Don't know if it's a 60% likelihood or a 95% likelihood, but he's the leading name for the job right now.
December 28th, 2017 at 12:55 PM ^
December 28th, 2017 at 1:55 PM ^
For so many things that this team does right I've never understood the need to play our super agressive defense on 3rd and long on the opponents side of the field. It's not four down territory, rush 3 or 4 and leave everyone else in zone coverage, we have the athletes to cover space if they are in the right spot, get the stop and get the ball back. Who cares if they get 10-15 yards back when they needed 20.
December 28th, 2017 at 3:00 PM ^
December 28th, 2017 at 6:22 PM ^
I hate how we leave dual threat QBs unaccounted for in the red zone. Trace McSorely has no business rushing for 3 TDs against us.
December 28th, 2017 at 12:57 PM ^
Long and Levert had the recruiting pedigree. I think Watson filling in was one of the pleasant surprises of the season. I'm hoping he is coming back for his 5th year.
December 28th, 2017 at 1:14 PM ^
December 28th, 2017 at 1:31 PM ^
He's a redshirt junior this year.
December 28th, 2017 at 1:32 PM ^
http://www.mgoblue.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=1337
His Michigan player profile indicated that he only played 3 years. I thought 2018 would be his redshirt-senior year.
December 28th, 2017 at 10:47 PM ^
December 28th, 2017 at 1:21 PM ^
December 28th, 2017 at 1:38 PM ^
Regarding bowling... saw 2 guys almost fight over whether Bowling was a sport. Saw this debated many times over the years, but these 2 were ready to knuckle up over it. General rule is can't be a sport if you get better at it the more beer you drink.
HOT TAKE: Onwenu moves to defense next year. Plenty of interior oline. M.O. is talented enough to break the rotation on the dline. Never got his starting spot back after injury due in large part to Ruiz playing so damn good. I remember a couple of differnt plays where M.O. pulled and cleared a runway for RB. He's talented and could play O or D.
December 28th, 2017 at 4:45 PM ^
December 28th, 2017 at 4:53 PM ^
I like it. Straight to the point. No chance!
I needed someone to help me put that crazy thought out of my head.
December 28th, 2017 at 5:17 PM ^
December 28th, 2017 at 1:43 PM ^
Comments