October 25th, 2018 at 6:01 AM ^
Who is this Rob Parker that you speak of?
October 25th, 2018 at 8:22 AM ^
Always hated him as a sportscaster when I was in the Detroit area. Bernie Smilovitz too.
I rather turn them off and get info from another source than listen to them. Maybe 10-15% actual sports and the rest of their presentation their unfounded opinions and dumb pet tricks.
October 25th, 2018 at 8:58 AM ^
At least this time, Parker wasn't trolling. I thought what he said was fair. Everything is lined up. They need to finish the job. That sounds accurate to me.
October 25th, 2018 at 9:31 AM ^
Something about a blind squirrel and a nut comes to mind. Parker is a troll, period. He's Mike Valenti with a TV audience, nothing more.
October 25th, 2018 at 10:28 AM ^
And accurate. It's not like being cautious in pronouncements about how well this season may turn out is going to hurt Michigan. I'd much rather that than be over-hyped in October, and then feed the "choke" or "always disappoints later in the season" narrative. Michigan is in a good spot, and needs to keep improving, and finish up the last half of the season strong.
October 25th, 2018 at 10:30 AM ^
He is trolling, he's just trolling Alabama.
October 25th, 2018 at 9:11 AM ^
F-ck rob parker
Beat penn state
October 25th, 2018 at 10:00 AM ^
F-ck Penn State too! oh, and beat them too!
October 25th, 2018 at 6:02 AM ^
my proposal: get through bye week and focus on beating PSU. Our post Halloween record over the past 5 seasons is 11-14 (8-7 under Coach Harbaugh) so to me it seems more appropriate for us to focus one game a time rather than talk about Alabama. Then again I'm not on tv trying to find hawt takes to get a reaction.
October 25th, 2018 at 6:11 AM ^
Seriously.
I remember early in the season, people said we would never survive this three game stretch. Now they're already buying hotels for the national championship game.
I'm as excited about this team's progress as anyone, but let's get past PSU and OSU before we even start entertaining dreams of beating Bama.
October 25th, 2018 at 7:35 AM ^
Throw in Indiana too. Its been like 8 years straight its came down to the wire
October 25th, 2018 at 9:52 AM ^
Indiana's not bad either. They beat a good(???) UVA team and hung around with MSU and PSU. I'm not sure Indiana is officially 'good', but they aren't Rutger either
October 25th, 2018 at 10:00 AM ^
They're good enough to beat a superior team that shows up unprepared. I'm confident everyone will be ready though.
October 25th, 2018 at 10:23 AM ^
In appreciation of the continuing Rutger meme, I'll leave this here...
October 25th, 2018 at 8:19 AM ^
Well not the NCG but I am booking rooms this weekend for the B1G CCG lol.
October 25th, 2018 at 8:28 AM ^
lol, me too, where ya' lookin at?
October 25th, 2018 at 10:41 AM ^
I honestly know nothing about Indy, so if you have any advice I’d really appreciate it.
October 25th, 2018 at 1:06 PM ^
Stay right next to St Elmo’s at Le Meridien. You can see Lucas Oil Field from your room if you are street side. Can walk to the game from there. Valet parking and of course if you’re there you should eat at St. Elmo’s.
October 25th, 2018 at 2:22 PM ^
One of the best meals I ever ate was at St. Elmo's. Delicious!
October 25th, 2018 at 6:24 PM ^
We lived there for 15 years. Stay downtown-on or near the circle. The downtown is small enough that everything is walkable. The canal corridor is a nice place to walk and hang out...all kinds of venues right off of it...including the NCAA headquarters. The zoo and museums are very accessible by foot. If you have kids, the children's museum is world class. If you have your own transportation go check out the art museum up Michigan Ave/Martin Luther at 38th St-lovely grounds. We loved the Illinois St. Food Emporium-is a delightful place for breakfast and lunch. Broad Ripple is another neat area to shop and eat and walk the river path. Go check out Peyton Manning Children's Hospital...where I worked...lovely facility :) Lots of options/things to do.
October 25th, 2018 at 8:26 AM ^
welllllllllll, um,... I already, kinda,.. sorta bought my tickets for the B1G championship game. :p
October 25th, 2018 at 9:12 AM ^
You mean B1GCCG like the other guy said. EIEIO
October 25th, 2018 at 8:40 AM ^
I'm with you, and I'm not convinced yet that we're not going to struggle plenty against psu, but it is these peoples' jobs to hype matchups and build anticipation for the playoffs. That and this team and the way they've won save the first quarter of the Northwestern game has been pretty impressive, you have to admit.
They're slowly pounding the life out of their opponents they way we always dreamed about; the way we always envied teams like Alabama for.
Every bit of early success we've had in years past has always had a little bit of stink on it from one serious deficiency or another, like maybe they COULD win the B1G and beyond, but this team smells pretty sweet and looks at this point like they probably SHOULD win the B1G. Despite the deficiencies they have, they seem at least complete enough to stand a good chance with the elites.
I'm ok with getting a little excited at the possibilities.
October 25th, 2018 at 9:12 AM ^
Most teams can't hang with Michigan for 15 minutes let alone 60 minutes. A few have had some success in the first quarter but after that Michigan always takes control and I think it's high time to give Ben Herbert props for what he's done from a strength and conditioning perspective to make the Wolverines clearly so much stronger than they have been in recent years.
There probably should be a separate appreciation thread for Ben.
October 25th, 2018 at 11:21 AM ^
Props sure, but they had no where to go but up in physicality due to the natural maturation of a men vs. their age.
October 25th, 2018 at 11:30 AM ^
I think Herbert has done a fine job, but I'm not willing to give him the majority of credit for the team's performance. The OL improvement from last year - in execution, implementation, speed, and IQ - has been a HUGE difference. And none of that is on the S&C coach (except speed - some of that is S&C). The QB improvement goes without saying. The WR improvement goes without saying. The punt game goes without saying. Those are not S&C improvements, they are player and coaching improvements.
The defense is the defense - it's as good this year as it was last year. The difference is the offense, full stop. The offense keeps the ball for 34 minutes/game (#7 nationally). It took last years offense two games to hold the ball for that long! This is why teams can't handle 4th quarters against us - they're defense is strung out and gasping for breath. And their offense, all of a sudden, has to score a bunch in pressure time when they haven't been able to do so all game.
October 25th, 2018 at 9:39 AM ^
Take it one game at a time. Better today than we were yesterday. Better tomorrow than we are today.
I am pretty confident that JH won’t let the team think any further ahead than demolishing PSU.
October 25th, 2018 at 11:16 AM ^
I understand this, but I also feel the goalposts are being moved every game. First it was "If we get through Wisconsin..." then it was "Yeah, but Harbaugh can't beat rivals..." and now it's "Let's get through PSU...".
At some point I feel we've got to allow ourselves to he happy that we have, most likely, a good football team this year.
Fans are urging other fans to not think about the playoff. I really hope that's not the attitude the team has taken. I hope they are believing they can make it there and playing that way, too.
October 25th, 2018 at 6:41 AM ^
October 25th, 2018 at 8:05 AM ^
I don't think he meant it in a "If we talk about Alabama the team might not be focused on PSU" sort of way. I think it is more "Alabama has murdered almost everyone they've played for the last 6 years and we've yet to finish with less than 3 losses in the same time period" sort of way.
October 25th, 2018 at 9:20 AM ^
I think the bad post Halloween record may have something to do with previous years under RR and BH that often ended up having their goals dashed by that point in the season.
October 25th, 2018 at 11:37 AM ^
We are fans, we can look ahead to whenever we want.
October 25th, 2018 at 6:05 AM ^
LOL, i love Michigan and I want this to be true so badly, but LOL.
October 25th, 2018 at 6:26 AM ^
Hey, I’m excited about our team, however, pump the brakes. Like others have stated, we haven’t always done real well in the month of November...let’s focus on psu and continue to take it 1 game at a time. I still have hauntings a few years ago about a trip to Iowa.....we shouldn’t have lost that one...I know, different team now, but shit happens.
October 25th, 2018 at 10:20 AM ^
Thank God that Iowa is not on the [regular season] schedule. That game still haunts me as well.
I do agree with Joel Klatt though- this is most likely the best team we've been able to Watch under Harbaugh thus far. I still can't get over the fact of holding the spartans to a sub-100 yard game. I love that they got more yards in their spartan-walk than they did in the actual game.
October 25th, 2018 at 6:34 AM ^
Can someone transcribe this whole thing for me?
October 25th, 2018 at 6:44 AM ^
I could but I’m busy with finding my Armani student shirt.
October 25th, 2018 at 6:48 AM ^
I can wait
October 25th, 2018 at 6:46 AM ^
Guy 1: Michigan is kicking everyone's ass in stellar fashion...looking stout could be dangerous to Bama
Guy 2: Michigan looks great but Oklahoma has a case for being a Bama threat
Guy 3: Still on the fence...history of letdowns in big games...beat PSU/OSU then it's on
October 25th, 2018 at 6:35 AM ^
Can't listen to this idiot... i will pass.
October 25th, 2018 at 6:43 AM ^
Thanks for letting us know.
October 25th, 2018 at 6:50 AM ^
I’m not going to lie, I’m not sure I want any part of that yet. Maybe I’m still recovering from our last meet up with them.
October 25th, 2018 at 7:05 AM ^
October 25th, 2018 at 7:44 AM ^
I just wanted to flesh out the 'not played anyone' thing. It's basically true. I don't know how these rankings work, but here's what I see:
- Top 3 best teams 'Bama has played
- 18 - Texas A&M (W, 45-23)
- 25 - Missouri (W, 39-10)
- 46 - Ole Miss (W, 62-7)
- Top 3 best teams Michigan has played
- 7 - ND (L, 24-17)
- 13 - Wisco (W, 38-13)
- 42 - Michigan State (W, 21-7)
Upcoming games:
- Best teams 'Bama will play:
- 15 - LSU
- 17 - Auburn
- 20 - Miss. State
- Best teams Michigan will play:
- 10 - Penn State
- 8 - Ohio State
That Wisconsin win makes Michigan look 'Bama-like, but just look at how they destroyed A&M and Ole Miss, both comparable to the Michigan State game. Michigan will apparently have stiffer challenges, not including potential Championship games. However, if you take the average strength of the opponents, diluted severely for Michigan by Rutgers/Indiana, it's probably about the same, if not worse.
October 25th, 2018 at 8:08 AM ^
Alabama will almost certainly have a higher ranked conference championship opponent if they get there.
The B10W champion may very well be a 3 loss team going into the B1G championship game. Very interesting race out west right now with 4 teams with one conference loss.
October 25th, 2018 at 8:20 AM ^
I'm personally wondering if Purdue emptied the cupboard for Ohio State and will have trouble showing up the rest of the way. However, given Michigan State's injuries, I think they win their next one.
October 25th, 2018 at 9:08 AM ^
What are you talking about? Iowa could be top 7.
October 25th, 2018 at 10:10 AM ^
If they win out, sure. The only decent team they've played is Wisconsin, which they lost. They also have probably the easiest schedule in the Big Ten. Look at this schedule:
http://www.espn.com/college-football/team/_/id/2294/iowa-hawkeyes
The only non-bottom feeder crossover they have with the B1GE is PSU. If they win that game this weekend, which I don't think they will, they may finish with one loss. Classic 8-4 Iowa team that caught an easy schedule.
October 25th, 2018 at 9:39 AM ^
Indiana will be a hell of a lot better than the FCS team Bama plays before Auburn.
Average strength of opponents is a lazy way to measure strength of schedule anyway. If you're a top 5 team, there should be little difference between playing the #120 team and the #80. Expected win % is more relevant.
Bama does have a tough finish other than the one cupcake. Most of the CFP discussions here have been about the contenders all winning out, but according to 538's numbers it's more likely that either Bama or Clemson lose twice than they both go into the playoffs undefeated.
October 25th, 2018 at 9:44 AM ^
Could you please explain strength of opponent v. expected win %? I don't know much about either one.