This NCAA response seems aimed at assuaging the ego of its own lack of authority, a useless threat meant to prevent ridicule of its ability to lead only by opaque assertion of its right to punish offenders it deems fit to punish. There is no moral high ground here.
This is an ugly empty threat, a gesture that once exercised leaves this toothless enforcer no place to rest comfortably. Only an institution cowers to this challenge, not a coach who is too well known, too quirky and too beyond NCAA redemption who had already been punished for a crime never prosecuted before sentence was passed. What else could it do to stem the tide of embarrassment except promise more threatened punishment, for what exactly, some alleged bad hearing behavior?
Top of the world Ma! That isJimmy Cagney's death knell challenge to authority in the gangster classic White Heat. And that is Jimmy Harbaugh, no longer under the thumb of the NCAA, telling the committee of infractions.
Translation: It sounds worse than it is. We're acknowledging we've reached a decision that was already negotiated and the existing punishments remain in place.The actual case won't be fully explained until Harbaugh chooses to acknowledge his responsibility in the matter.
The NCAA is now on record punishing the program for Covid-related practice and tryout violations and whatever they allege our coach did. Michigan is cooperating as an institution because that's what it does. It will acknowledge wrongdoing pay a fine, absorb recruiting restrictions and let it go.
Harbaugh is on his own legal ledge along with his lone wolf Jim Rockford show of indignity. He speaks for himself.
The NCAA gets to wash its hands of a case that no one other than it wanted to make an issue of in a last grand gesture before it goes away as some kind of recruiting overseer with any real authority.
Well, I can now confirm 0 percent signing is an accurate opportunity gauge of Dug McDaniel's availability outside the KSU metropolis of Manhattan, Kansas.
I was never a big Dug fan. However, he is now off the board and Tarris Reed seems more likely to join him there than return to Michigan. I thought he stepped up his game last year and was frequently the victim of poor officiating.
Until he becomes a more confident efficient scorer, he is better off sharing a role in the paint as a defensive eraser. He never showed strong ball handling skills or good hands. But I thought he improved his game last season.
He played a Soviet border guard in Stripes with a cast that starred Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, Warren Oates, John Candy and Sean Young. He was a kick to watch.
Can he shoot? Check out his film. It's incredible, he never misses. Never seen anything like it. Haven't seen him defend, rebound or pass but he sure can shoot.
This is not a surprise. When he was growing up, Harbaugh watched network TV dramas. He was a Rockford Files TV show fan. In the popular NBC program featuring James Garner as a private detective, his character Jim Rockford lived in a trailer by the beach. He drove a muscle car and lived by the beach. Harbaugh thought this was cool.
So, when he was hired by the Chargers, he was interviewed and asked whether he might want to pursue a Rockford Files lifestyle at the beach. That planted a seed.
Now, today there are some really swanky RV's. I actually spent some useless time recently looking at a zoom video tour of a brand new 3 BR, 2 bath, two story RV near the Mississippi coastline.
The trailsr in Rockford Files wasn't really cool, but if you can live by the beach in California, well, that might be cool enough. Harbaugh is nothing if not a product of his environment and goofy thoughts.
So, while transitioning to new his job while his wife is still packing the family up for a new chapter in California, Harbaugh is reliving the halcyon years of his youth recreating a bygone era of trailer life that never was. And it's cool. Jim Rockford was cool.
"Well, I'm the guy that tells you there are guys you can hit and there's guys you can't. Now, that's not quite a guy you can't hit, but it's almost a guy you can't hit. So I'm gonna make a fuckin' ruling on this right now. You don't fuckin' hit him. You understand?"
Appropriately, from The Departed, Mr. French in conversation with Billy Costigan after the cranberry juice- period scene in the bar.
I would like to see Beilein coming back to the program in some capacity. Not expecting overnight program success under May's management.
But improvement in key areas of the game like defense, turnover avoidance and ball possession appreciation would signal that. When you value the ball and possession of it, it naturally leads to respect for other areas of the game that directly impact winning.
I can't believe the striped screw job at Munn tonight. The refs allow Sparty to count a goal after a pad save without any knowledge where the puck is and disallow a goal scored when a teammate of the Sparty goaltender fell into him on a check. The goalie wasn't blocked, didn't lose sight of the puck, could have stopped the shot that followed but didn't. He wasn't prevented from making a play because the only interference came from a teammate bumping him. Complete bullshit.
Wow. What a gunslinger. His career was far too short at Michigan. Just glad we had him for a short time. Best qb potential in the draft. Will be a star in the league.
Having a son who could earn a scholarship whether rich, a coach or just a lowly average parent in the world of college athletics, is what any parent would seek.
He could help coach the Hornets in Charlotte. Jumpman sold the franchise and winning now seems an afterthought in the NBA. Pretending to be successful by getting to the playoffs and trading contracts seems to be the primary interest.
The Hornets keep resigning the losingest head coach in the league to run their losing operation, kind of like the Pistons.
Johnathan James McCarthy, not John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt -- an admittedly long handle even considering the children's song reference, becomes simply JJ not his last name, because it's easiest to recall. In the same way, that Denard Robinson isn't referred here by his last name because it's longer than Denard's two slyable first name. And not everyone calls him Shoelace.
Any Tom, Dick or Harry could have played for Michigan but only Tom Brady did. I like Mike, but Hart is more descriptive of the guy we all remember with another one syllable last name as Michigan's all-time rusher and former RB coach.
Well, this news is only relevant because it sets the stage for a Manuel decision once Michigan is sent packing from the Big Ten tournament today and this forgotten season is properly buried. All that is left will be a flowery Juwan funeral.
McNabb beat Michigan a week after the Wolverines dropped the 1998 opener to ND in South Bend. Tom Brady inauspiciously returned home with an interception ending his first drive.
Overall, it was a forgettable performance in which Drew Henson was subbed in the first half before Brady's later reentry. Neither played well in a 38-28 loss, a final score that looks better than the rout it actually was with Syracuse ahead at one point, 38-7.
Some 111,000 witnessed this game at the Big House and I was one of them. Syracuse with its fifth year senior qb dazzled and dizzied Michigan's defending national champion defense with an instant attack that McNabb launched with eight straight completions.
As a Heisman Trophy candidate, McNabb was stylistically different than JJ, more elusive, and more willing to run than throw when the opportunity arose but like him willing to take direction or improvise as the game required. Against Michigan, he was unstoppable that day. He ran circles around Michigan's pass rush and defenders who seemed incapable of getting a hand on him.
On the day, McNabb was 21 for 27 passing for 233 yards and ran 19 times for 60 more including a 17-yard TD scamper with one shoe missing. By contrast, Brady was 13 of 24 for 108 yards.
I saw Brady and Michigan lose to Illinois in a game that stung more than the Syracuse beatdown but which was more convincing than others I've watched. The outcome was never in doubt after Syracuse opening possession.
We will appreciate the JJ legacy in a way that will resonate with the lavish praise Jim Harbaugh has heaped upon him as time goes by. He led his team to the most wins in school history in a single year and lost only once as a starter.
Brady was a junior when he opened 1998 in his first year as a starter. Like Brady, JJ was only a two-year starter at Michigan. Brady lost his first two games in the year following the other Michigan national championship in my lifetime.
The complaint centers on the fact that the SEC and ACC teams never play north of the Mason Dixon line -- ever. You can count on your fingers the number of times any Southern based football power has ever played outside its region even during warmer months in the fall.
This obviously includes bowl games which, of course, were launched with the Rose Bowl and with their growth have been mostly staged in Sunbelt states primarily aimed at promoting regional tourism.
Even with conference realignment and expansion, schools have made it a point not to play games outside their regional footprint. Yet B1G teams have always played in the South. Non power 5 teams have been willing to travel for big game checks but not SEC or ACC teams.
The guy who wrote them, Ian Fleming, was engaged in British Naval intelligence during WWII. Maybe explains POV of the stories. He wrote a dozen books and more short stories starting in 1953. All of the books showcase the era and Jamaican settings where Fleming's fictional James Bond thrived from the fifties to mid-sixties in print and film.
From Goldfinger, Dr. No, Thunderball (personal favorite because of Ursula Andres) Casino Royale (multiple versions), the stories always revealed cool spy gadgets, cars, techniques and narcissistic fascist villains. Not too far removed from today's politics.
Of course, none of the recent Bond films contain the same wit and best original actor who made the series worth repeat watching: Sean Connery.
To me, any play in the regular season that propelled the team to an undefeated record was just as important as closeout and momentum-changing plays in the final four games in the run down of its national championship performance.
So, for example Sanristil's picks which sealed the 1000th win against Maryland, are as big or bigger than Wilson's deflected catch which set up Corum's tying TD late in the fourth quarter in the Rose Bowl, if only because one leads to the other. They were just as the crucial if not more so runs by Edwards and Corum in the Penn State road victory.
Every play mattered. And they were all big in terms of victory overall. But when they happened, some seemed more vital at the time than some may seem now in retrospect.
During the season, as fans because of the way the season unfolded with so much political and legal extracurricular drama surrounding the team, I know I lost sight at times of how capable the players were and never lost faith in themselves or their teammates as they played each week.
Their greatest achievement in my mind was the ability to check the noise blaring around them and concentrate on their winning mission without an emotional letdown. This was borne from complete trust and belief in each other and their ability to perform under pressure. They were magnificent -- every week. Undefeated. 15 and 0. The best Michigan team in my lifetime.
During his press conference today in LA, Jim didn't confirm the hiring of Minter or his son. Not that I don't expect that they won't be, he just didn't confirm it.
OK, it's not necessarily in the pantheon of happy moments, but one of my favorites is when the coach flipped his clip board and papers after a motion penalty call against Michigan in the 2016 Ohio State game.
The calling official would later argue that he treated Harbaugh's outburst as a technical foul and felt justified in flagging Michigan for showing up the officiating crew.
I just felt coach's frustration was completely justified at the way the game was officiated culminating in that display of emotion. Harbaugh was later fined by the league to the max so that he never repeated that behavior except in 2021 when he ran on the field during the first half of Michigan's victory over OSU after a Buckeye player ripped the helmet off a Michigan player. That double-bird reaction was a real dirty bird response that helped highlight the first of a three-year revenge binge against the Buckeyes.
Remarkably, this team tries hard, at least for a half. It can shoot and score, just not consistently enough in the second half to win primarily because it doesn't play defense, allows opponents multiple shots per possession by failing to control loose balls or handle the ball on offense.
There is no way a team can win when it fails to offensive rebound, turn the ball over nearly 20 times a game and repeats the same mistakes game in and game out.
Remarkably, there has been individual improvement from Tarris Reed and Terrance Reed this season. Reed has shown the ability to become an effective inside scorer when he catches the ball. Williams has shown himself to be willing to take the ball with the clock winding down and the big shot needs to be taken. Unfortunately, he's just not dynamic enough to carry off this role.
Dug McDaniel, on another team without academic considerations, would be a star even though he is a complete defensive liability and commits way too many silly turnovers.
Overall, this team lacks floor coordination, has awful hands, cannot rebound, grab loose balls and doesn't play cohesively. It's a mess. And painful to watch.
Against MSU, I figured Michigan bigs might control the boards with superior size and Sparty's reliance on a three-guard offense. And for a half, shooting 61 percent from the field, Michigan took a halftime lead like it mostly always does. Then reality set in and when Sparty turned up the defense, it was lights out, as usual.
Campbell proved last night what anyone has ever said about him: he is stubborn without remorse. And because he is, he set back the Lions timeline for a Super Bowl opportunity by at least another year but perhaps 50, going beyond his coaching tenure in Detroit.
Eschewing field goals when they have meaningful consequence in the overall winning effort, doesn't mean that you are negating the opportunity to win. Sometimes a field goal is all you need. Losing by three emphasizes the point in a way that doesn't
And the Lions could have kicked a tying field goal. And they still had a chance to tie at the end without needing another possession.
But Campbell for all his positive team self-belief, didn't actually believe in his defense to hold up. He didn't want to put it out on the field to stop a long game-winning SF drive, so instead he allowed them grab a 10 point, two possession lead.
He knew his team couldn't stop the 49ers in the second half.
And he was right. They couldn't. But he didn't give them the chance to win a potential tie game.
San Francisco had simple motivation for its second half play. Score on every possession. The Lions had to be more calculating. Score in any way to keep the lead. Campbell isn't calculating.
And he also wasted all his team's timeouts in the contest by the manner and context in which he failed to use them more properly. The game ended with Lions having timeouts left.
Campbell's decision-making near the goal line was questionable. His team wasn't aggressive. It wanted to run the clock out. He had enough time to run the ball three times at the end of the half and still kick a field goal, which he grudgingly wound up agreeing to kick seemingly in spite of himself.
This Lions loss was almost Shakespearean in prolonging the misery for the most loyal football fan base in the universe. Definitely Lionesque. After the game, Campbell said the obvious: He didn't regret any decisions and thought going for it on 4th down when the team wasn't converting on change-of-possession downs was still the right move. SF players afterward said they "bit him in the butt." The 49ers were lucky to win.
Lloyd had a 6-7 record against Ohio State and started fast in winning three of his first four meetings against the Buckeyes just like his predecessor, Gary Moeller who finished with a 3-1-1 record. By contrast, Bo had a 11-9-1 career record against the Buckeyes from 1969-1989.
Channing Stribling may be listed on roster sheets as from Birmingham, Ala. because he played for the Birmingham Stallions.
But he is from Matthews, NC where he went to high school. I should know I live here and there is a shrine of records documenting his Michigan career along with Jamar Adams, another graduate from Butler High School in Matthews.
Seriously, Ryan Day is going to put someone else in charge of his offense? He couldn't do that last season when he had supposedly the best wideouts in the country. Also, Jalen Milroe didn't exactly give O'Brien a sterling reference during Rose Bowl preparation.
And I never heard any coach on the Alabama staff try to temper Milroe's complaint about O'Brien which seemed tinged as more than qb coach criticism of Milroe's quarterbacking skills. Ryan has to win one game next year and is loading up his roster and staff to meet the Michigan challenge.
To me, Harbaugh's NFL future resides in LA. Pundits there are suggesting he might be offered a contract he couldn't refuse: $15 to $18 million per year over 5 years. Don't think his Michigan contract buyout will be a major hurdle.
We'll see whether Chargers ownership is willing to pull the trigger. The fan base there is all in on Harbaugh and wants him over a list of others as their next coach and an actual decision appears to rest on completion of Rooney rule minority interviewing requirements and whatever contract stipulations Harbaugh might otherwise be seeking to coach there.
The other roadblock for the Chargers in hiring Harbaugh is matching a new GM that he could deal with organizationally.
I think a decision on his hire will be announced in a couple of days. If no deal is reached, I think he returns to Michigan.
One Shining Moment has its origin in Haslett, Michigan. Written and composed by David Barrett in 1986, CBS Sports was an unintended beneficiary of this championship anthem. It got the song independently from former Sports Illustrated writer and CBS sports reporter and contributor Armen Keteyian, a friend of Barrett's. It took Barrett less than an hour to compose it.
Keteyian learned about the song while watching the 1985 NBA Finals with Barrett in New York City and without Barrett's knowledge urged CBS Sports to use it. Out of the blue back home in Michigan, the former high school basketball player who once scored 32 points in a game against Clarkston High thought it was a prank when CBS called expressing interest in his music.
Originally planned for use during the 1986 Super Bowl between the NY Giants and Denver Broncos, the network opted not to use the song but made it clear it was still highly interested in it. Then adopted it as the crowning anthem for its March Madness coverage. The rest is history.
I remember learning of the song's origin tale during a dinner in Ann Arbor with church friends who knew the musician and recalled him playing it for them at their home, just a few blocks from the Big House. So, the song is highly appropriate for any sport. Over time, the song has been recorded by three major artists, Jennifer Hudson and the late Teddy Pendergrass and Luther Vandross.
Barrett, an Emmy award winner, is now a highly accomplished musician and composer who has worked extensively as a folk song artist and a longtime collaborator with Art Garfunkle. He is also credited for musical work on a Woody Hayes PBS documentary.
It is pointless to speak of changing what we can't possibly change. WE can't alter what can't be altered. If he goes, he goes.
We've lived with the prospect of Harbaugh leaving for the NFL since his first double digit win season. He's had a bunch.
The issue for us is stability and expectation of greatness. He's delivered that. If it's not in the cards to return JJ and company, then it's not in the cards to have Jim return.
My hope is he realizes that returning to Michigan is more than a satisfactory career endeavor and that going to the not for long league always ends less well whenever that end comes. I want him back. If he goes, I'll wish him well. Then, we start over. And all our opponents rejoice.
This looks like an end run to make an example out of Harbaugh and Michigan. And Michigan needs to take a hard line and demand complete transparency in whatever penalties they are assessed in the pending case.
You know the NCAA is going to demand no public response from the university or Harbaugh about their enforcement action. I want full transparency in whatever action is taken.
The head coach opening at Alabama only impacts Michigan to the extent that any of its players decide to hit the portal and decide to leave over the next 30 days.
Not counting on that occurring though the Buckeyes appear to believe they are going to be the next logical move for a bunch of Alabama roster moves and that they are building a super team in the process.
As always, well written, and a delightfully solid read.
If the sign-stealing issue is ever raised or pushed by the NCAA or Scarlet and Gray conference agenda promoters (and you can't trust the sunshine super puffers at BTN, especially Jerry DiNardo) I want to learn root and branch the whole story, so we learn the full tale of its origin and media nourishment. This has its roots in Columbus despite claims of Buckeye mouth breathers that it was an organic controversy.
The Stalions saga will always make this season memorable and that perfect championship performance week in and week out one of the greatest achievements in Michigan and college football history. Never forget!
I don't think it's a coincidence that all evolutionary threads of the Michigan football program from the Schembechler era have been knotted under Harbaugh.
That was always apparent to me, a human connection of a motivational charge of those who stay will be champions and represented at Schembechler Hall. It's also based on the Harbaugh idea of extended family and a tangible example of his truth not rhetoric.
So, from Fred Jackson to Denard, from Jansen to John Falk, the championship thread has been connected by the Harbaugh family devotion to the team, the team, the team.
Recent Comments
This NCAA response seems aimed at assuaging the ego of its own lack of authority, a useless threat meant to prevent ridicule of its ability to lead only by opaque assertion of its right to punish offenders it deems fit to punish. There is no moral high ground here.
This is an ugly empty threat, a gesture that once exercised leaves this toothless enforcer no place to rest comfortably. Only an institution cowers to this challenge, not a coach who is too well known, too quirky and too beyond NCAA redemption who had already been punished for a crime never prosecuted before sentence was passed. What else could it do to stem the tide of embarrassment except promise more threatened punishment, for what exactly, some alleged bad hearing behavior?
Top of the world Ma! That isJimmy Cagney's death knell challenge to authority in the gangster classic White Heat. And that is Jimmy Harbaugh, no longer under the thumb of the NCAA, telling the committee of infractions.
In a word, yes. And I still wish he was coming back for his senior year to show why that determination didn't require debate.
Translation: It sounds worse than it is. We're acknowledging we've reached a decision that was already negotiated and the existing punishments remain in place.The actual case won't be fully explained until Harbaugh chooses to acknowledge his responsibility in the matter.
The NCAA is now on record punishing the program for Covid-related practice and tryout violations and whatever they allege our coach did. Michigan is cooperating as an institution because that's what it does. It will acknowledge wrongdoing pay a fine, absorb recruiting restrictions and let it go.
Harbaugh is on his own legal ledge along with his lone wolf Jim Rockford show of indignity. He speaks for himself.
The NCAA gets to wash its hands of a case that no one other than it wanted to make an issue of in a last grand gesture before it goes away as some kind of recruiting overseer with any real authority.
Wow! What a great summary. For some it takes a diary. For you, a paragraph. Congrats!
Gary Moeller? That is ancient wives tale material. Why did OJ prevent anyone from taking a phone into his deathbed hospital room, including his kids?
Well, I can now confirm 0 percent signing is an accurate opportunity gauge of Dug McDaniel's availability outside the KSU metropolis of Manhattan, Kansas.
I was never a big Dug fan. However, he is now off the board and Tarris Reed seems more likely to join him there than return to Michigan. I thought he stepped up his game last year and was frequently the victim of poor officiating.
Until he becomes a more confident efficient scorer, he is better off sharing a role in the paint as a defensive eraser. He never showed strong ball handling skills or good hands. But I thought he improved his game last season.
Apparently, Tarris decided as of yet, not to sign up for school in Manhattan, Kansas.
He played a Soviet border guard in Stripes with a cast that starred Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, Warren Oates, John Candy and Sean Young. He was a kick to watch.
He's from YALE!!?
Or as Kenny Smith might say to Barkley after an Auburn upset -- YALE!!?
Moar Muppets!
What!? No Muppets!?
Can he shoot? Check out his film. It's incredible, he never misses. Never seen anything like it. Haven't seen him defend, rebound or pass but he sure can shoot.
This is not a surprise. When he was growing up, Harbaugh watched network TV dramas. He was a Rockford Files TV show fan. In the popular NBC program featuring James Garner as a private detective, his character Jim Rockford lived in a trailer by the beach. He drove a muscle car and lived by the beach. Harbaugh thought this was cool.
So, when he was hired by the Chargers, he was interviewed and asked whether he might want to pursue a Rockford Files lifestyle at the beach. That planted a seed.
Now, today there are some really swanky RV's. I actually spent some useless time recently looking at a zoom video tour of a brand new 3 BR, 2 bath, two story RV near the Mississippi coastline.
The trailsr in Rockford Files wasn't really cool, but if you can live by the beach in California, well, that might be cool enough. Harbaugh is nothing if not a product of his environment and goofy thoughts.
So, while transitioning to new his job while his wife is still packing the family up for a new chapter in California, Harbaugh is reliving the halcyon years of his youth recreating a bygone era of trailer life that never was. And it's cool. Jim Rockford was cool.
Appropriately, from The Departed, Mr. French in conversation with Billy Costigan after the cranberry juice- period scene in the bar.
To the guilty, the quote always fits. Have gun will travel.
I would like to see Beilein coming back to the program in some capacity. Not expecting overnight program success under May's management.
But improvement in key areas of the game like defense, turnover avoidance and ball possession appreciation would signal that. When you value the ball and possession of it, it naturally leads to respect for other areas of the game that directly impact winning.
Those things didn't happen. Which makes the outcome tainted.
I can't believe the striped screw job at Munn tonight. The refs allow Sparty to count a goal after a pad save without any knowledge where the puck is and disallow a goal scored when a teammate of the Sparty goaltender fell into him on a check. The goalie wasn't blocked, didn't lose sight of the puck, could have stopped the shot that followed but didn't. He wasn't prevented from making a play because the only interference came from a teammate bumping him. Complete bullshit.
Wow. What a gunslinger. His career was far too short at Michigan. Just glad we had him for a short time. Best qb potential in the draft. Will be a star in the league.
Having a son who could earn a scholarship whether rich, a coach or just a lowly average parent in the world of college athletics, is what any parent would seek.
He could help coach the Hornets in Charlotte. Jumpman sold the franchise and winning now seems an afterthought in the NBA. Pretending to be successful by getting to the playoffs and trading contracts seems to be the primary interest.
The Hornets keep resigning the losingest head coach in the league to run their losing operation, kind of like the Pistons.
They weren't just lollygaggers. They were worse than that. I don't know what's worse in college basketball lollygagging, but it was way worse.
This team is just horrid to watch. The coaching staff has fixed nothing since December. As a group, they do nothing well.
Johnathan James McCarthy, not John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt -- an admittedly long handle even considering the children's song reference, becomes simply JJ not his last name, because it's easiest to recall. In the same way, that Denard Robinson isn't referred here by his last name because it's longer than Denard's two slyable first name. And not everyone calls him Shoelace.
Any Tom, Dick or Harry could have played for Michigan but only Tom Brady did. I like Mike, but Hart is more descriptive of the guy we all remember with another one syllable last name as Michigan's all-time rusher and former RB coach.
Well, this news is only relevant because it sets the stage for a Manuel decision once Michigan is sent packing from the Big Ten tournament today and this forgotten season is properly buried. All that is left will be a flowery Juwan funeral.
Welp, I guess it's time for Day to change signals again before Buckeye Scoop claims Stalionesque cheating deal. Nope, too late for that. Karma!
McNabb beat Michigan a week after the Wolverines dropped the 1998 opener to ND in South Bend. Tom Brady inauspiciously returned home with an interception ending his first drive.
Overall, it was a forgettable performance in which Drew Henson was subbed in the first half before Brady's later reentry. Neither played well in a 38-28 loss, a final score that looks better than the rout it actually was with Syracuse ahead at one point, 38-7.
Some 111,000 witnessed this game at the Big House and I was one of them. Syracuse with its fifth year senior qb dazzled and dizzied Michigan's defending national champion defense with an instant attack that McNabb launched with eight straight completions.
As a Heisman Trophy candidate, McNabb was stylistically different than JJ, more elusive, and more willing to run than throw when the opportunity arose but like him willing to take direction or improvise as the game required. Against Michigan, he was unstoppable that day. He ran circles around Michigan's pass rush and defenders who seemed incapable of getting a hand on him.
On the day, McNabb was 21 for 27 passing for 233 yards and ran 19 times for 60 more including a 17-yard TD scamper with one shoe missing. By contrast, Brady was 13 of 24 for 108 yards.
I saw Brady and Michigan lose to Illinois in a game that stung more than the Syracuse beatdown but which was more convincing than others I've watched. The outcome was never in doubt after Syracuse opening possession.
We will appreciate the JJ legacy in a way that will resonate with the lavish praise Jim Harbaugh has heaped upon him as time goes by. He led his team to the most wins in school history in a single year and lost only once as a starter.
Brady was a junior when he opened 1998 in his first year as a starter. Like Brady, JJ was only a two-year starter at Michigan. Brady lost his first two games in the year following the other Michigan national championship in my lifetime.
So, you're saying we have a chance? I haven't felt the confidence our team did the last three years it played them.
And its confident performance in that game is the only thing that matters.
The complaint centers on the fact that the SEC and ACC teams never play north of the Mason Dixon line -- ever. You can count on your fingers the number of times any Southern based football power has ever played outside its region even during warmer months in the fall.
This obviously includes bowl games which, of course, were launched with the Rose Bowl and with their growth have been mostly staged in Sunbelt states primarily aimed at promoting regional tourism.
Even with conference realignment and expansion, schools have made it a point not to play games outside their regional footprint. Yet B1G teams have always played in the South. Non power 5 teams have been willing to travel for big game checks but not SEC or ACC teams.
The guy who wrote them, Ian Fleming, was engaged in British Naval intelligence during WWII. Maybe explains POV of the stories. He wrote a dozen books and more short stories starting in 1953. All of the books showcase the era and Jamaican settings where Fleming's fictional James Bond thrived from the fifties to mid-sixties in print and film.
From Goldfinger, Dr. No, Thunderball (personal favorite because of Ursula Andres) Casino Royale (multiple versions), the stories always revealed cool spy gadgets, cars, techniques and narcissistic fascist villains. Not too far removed from today's politics.
Of course, none of the recent Bond films contain the same wit and best original actor who made the series worth repeat watching: Sean Connery.
To me, any play in the regular season that propelled the team to an undefeated record was just as important as closeout and momentum-changing plays in the final four games in the run down of its national championship performance.
So, for example Sanristil's picks which sealed the 1000th win against Maryland, are as big or bigger than Wilson's deflected catch which set up Corum's tying TD late in the fourth quarter in the Rose Bowl, if only because one leads to the other. They were just as the crucial if not more so runs by Edwards and Corum in the Penn State road victory.
Every play mattered. And they were all big in terms of victory overall. But when they happened, some seemed more vital at the time than some may seem now in retrospect.
During the season, as fans because of the way the season unfolded with so much political and legal extracurricular drama surrounding the team, I know I lost sight at times of how capable the players were and never lost faith in themselves or their teammates as they played each week.
Their greatest achievement in my mind was the ability to check the noise blaring around them and concentrate on their winning mission without an emotional letdown. This was borne from complete trust and belief in each other and their ability to perform under pressure. They were magnificent -- every week. Undefeated. 15 and 0. The best Michigan team in my lifetime.
He must have filed two weeks ago and just waited to announce his intentions. The deadline for draft declaration was 1/15.
Good luck Quinten. Thank you for all your contributions to the team and NC effort.
During his press conference today in LA, Jim didn't confirm the hiring of Minter or his son. Not that I don't expect that they won't be, he just didn't confirm it.
And he did confirm Herbert's hire.
OK, it's not necessarily in the pantheon of happy moments, but one of my favorites is when the coach flipped his clip board and papers after a motion penalty call against Michigan in the 2016 Ohio State game.
The calling official would later argue that he treated Harbaugh's outburst as a technical foul and felt justified in flagging Michigan for showing up the officiating crew.
I just felt coach's frustration was completely justified at the way the game was officiated culminating in that display of emotion. Harbaugh was later fined by the league to the max so that he never repeated that behavior except in 2021 when he ran on the field during the first half of Michigan's victory over OSU after a Buckeye player ripped the helmet off a Michigan player. That double-bird reaction was a real dirty bird response that helped highlight the first of a three-year revenge binge against the Buckeyes.
Remarkably, this team tries hard, at least for a half. It can shoot and score, just not consistently enough in the second half to win primarily because it doesn't play defense, allows opponents multiple shots per possession by failing to control loose balls or handle the ball on offense.
There is no way a team can win when it fails to offensive rebound, turn the ball over nearly 20 times a game and repeats the same mistakes game in and game out.
Remarkably, there has been individual improvement from Tarris Reed and Terrance Reed this season. Reed has shown the ability to become an effective inside scorer when he catches the ball. Williams has shown himself to be willing to take the ball with the clock winding down and the big shot needs to be taken. Unfortunately, he's just not dynamic enough to carry off this role.
Dug McDaniel, on another team without academic considerations, would be a star even though he is a complete defensive liability and commits way too many silly turnovers.
Overall, this team lacks floor coordination, has awful hands, cannot rebound, grab loose balls and doesn't play cohesively. It's a mess. And painful to watch.
Against MSU, I figured Michigan bigs might control the boards with superior size and Sparty's reliance on a three-guard offense. And for a half, shooting 61 percent from the field, Michigan took a halftime lead like it mostly always does. Then reality set in and when Sparty turned up the defense, it was lights out, as usual.
The Jim Harbaugh Memorial Cheeseburger Collective. I will fund.raise for the collective tomorrow, for a cheeseburger today.
Campbell proved last night what anyone has ever said about him: he is stubborn without remorse. And because he is, he set back the Lions timeline for a Super Bowl opportunity by at least another year but perhaps 50, going beyond his coaching tenure in Detroit.
Eschewing field goals when they have meaningful consequence in the overall winning effort, doesn't mean that you are negating the opportunity to win. Sometimes a field goal is all you need. Losing by three emphasizes the point in a way that doesn't
And the Lions could have kicked a tying field goal. And they still had a chance to tie at the end without needing another possession.
But Campbell for all his positive team self-belief, didn't actually believe in his defense to hold up. He didn't want to put it out on the field to stop a long game-winning SF drive, so instead he allowed them grab a 10 point, two possession lead.
He knew his team couldn't stop the 49ers in the second half.
And he was right. They couldn't. But he didn't give them the chance to win a potential tie game.
San Francisco had simple motivation for its second half play. Score on every possession. The Lions had to be more calculating. Score in any way to keep the lead. Campbell isn't calculating.
And he also wasted all his team's timeouts in the contest by the manner and context in which he failed to use them more properly. The game ended with Lions having timeouts left.
Campbell's decision-making near the goal line was questionable. His team wasn't aggressive. It wanted to run the clock out. He had enough time to run the ball three times at the end of the half and still kick a field goal, which he grudgingly wound up agreeing to kick seemingly in spite of himself.
This Lions loss was almost Shakespearean in prolonging the misery for the most loyal football fan base in the universe. Definitely Lionesque. After the game, Campbell said the obvious: He didn't regret any decisions and thought going for it on 4th down when the team wasn't converting on change-of-possession downs was still the right move. SF players afterward said they "bit him in the butt." The 49ers were lucky to win.
Sometimes when you're on, you're really fucking on!
Lloyd had a 6-7 record against Ohio State and started fast in winning three of his first four meetings against the Buckeyes just like his predecessor, Gary Moeller who finished with a 3-1-1 record. By contrast, Bo had a 11-9-1 career record against the Buckeyes from 1969-1989.
Channing Stribling may be listed on roster sheets as from Birmingham, Ala. because he played for the Birmingham Stallions.
But he is from Matthews, NC where he went to high school. I should know I live here and there is a shrine of records documenting his Michigan career along with Jamar Adams, another graduate from Butler High School in Matthews.
Seriously, Ryan Day is going to put someone else in charge of his offense? He couldn't do that last season when he had supposedly the best wideouts in the country. Also, Jalen Milroe didn't exactly give O'Brien a sterling reference during Rose Bowl preparation.
And I never heard any coach on the Alabama staff try to temper Milroe's complaint about O'Brien which seemed tinged as more than qb coach criticism of Milroe's quarterbacking skills. Ryan has to win one game next year and is loading up his roster and staff to meet the Michigan challenge.
To me, Harbaugh's NFL future resides in LA. Pundits there are suggesting he might be offered a contract he couldn't refuse: $15 to $18 million per year over 5 years. Don't think his Michigan contract buyout will be a major hurdle.
We'll see whether Chargers ownership is willing to pull the trigger. The fan base there is all in on Harbaugh and wants him over a list of others as their next coach and an actual decision appears to rest on completion of Rooney rule minority interviewing requirements and whatever contract stipulations Harbaugh might otherwise be seeking to coach there.
The other roadblock for the Chargers in hiring Harbaugh is matching a new GM that he could deal with organizationally.
I think a decision on his hire will be announced in a couple of days. If no deal is reached, I think he returns to Michigan.
One Shining Moment has its origin in Haslett, Michigan. Written and composed by David Barrett in 1986, CBS Sports was an unintended beneficiary of this championship anthem. It got the song independently from former Sports Illustrated writer and CBS sports reporter and contributor Armen Keteyian, a friend of Barrett's. It took Barrett less than an hour to compose it.
Keteyian learned about the song while watching the 1985 NBA Finals with Barrett in New York City and without Barrett's knowledge urged CBS Sports to use it. Out of the blue back home in Michigan, the former high school basketball player who once scored 32 points in a game against Clarkston High thought it was a prank when CBS called expressing interest in his music.
Originally planned for use during the 1986 Super Bowl between the NY Giants and Denver Broncos, the network opted not to use the song but made it clear it was still highly interested in it. Then adopted it as the crowning anthem for its March Madness coverage. The rest is history.
I remember learning of the song's origin tale during a dinner in Ann Arbor with church friends who knew the musician and recalled him playing it for them at their home, just a few blocks from the Big House. So, the song is highly appropriate for any sport. Over time, the song has been recorded by three major artists, Jennifer Hudson and the late Teddy Pendergrass and Luther Vandross.
Barrett, an Emmy award winner, is now a highly accomplished musician and composer who has worked extensively as a folk song artist and a longtime collaborator with Art Garfunkle. He is also credited for musical work on a Woody Hayes PBS documentary.
It is pointless to speak of changing what we can't possibly change. WE can't alter what can't be altered. If he goes, he goes.
We've lived with the prospect of Harbaugh leaving for the NFL since his first double digit win season. He's had a bunch.
The issue for us is stability and expectation of greatness. He's delivered that. If it's not in the cards to return JJ and company, then it's not in the cards to have Jim return.
My hope is he realizes that returning to Michigan is more than a satisfactory career endeavor and that going to the not for long league always ends less well whenever that end comes. I want him back. If he goes, I'll wish him well. Then, we start over. And all our opponents rejoice.
I think it's hard after you're engaged in an emotional journey to pull back after its over and feel satisfied about it.
There is desire to want to reclaim it, relive it, to keep wanting that loving feeling to never end. And, of course, life goes on. But there is peace.
And it goes along with a powerful emotional recognition of a memory nobody can deny, Michigan: National Champions.
This looks like an end run to make an example out of Harbaugh and Michigan. And Michigan needs to take a hard line and demand complete transparency in whatever penalties they are assessed in the pending case.
You know the NCAA is going to demand no public response from the university or Harbaugh about their enforcement action. I want full transparency in whatever action is taken.
The head coach opening at Alabama only impacts Michigan to the extent that any of its players decide to hit the portal and decide to leave over the next 30 days.
Not counting on that occurring though the Buckeyes appear to believe they are going to be the next logical move for a bunch of Alabama roster moves and that they are building a super team in the process.
As always, well written, and a delightfully solid read.
If the sign-stealing issue is ever raised or pushed by the NCAA or Scarlet and Gray conference agenda promoters (and you can't trust the sunshine super puffers at BTN, especially Jerry DiNardo) I want to learn root and branch the whole story, so we learn the full tale of its origin and media nourishment. This has its roots in Columbus despite claims of Buckeye mouth breathers that it was an organic controversy.
The Stalions saga will always make this season memorable and that perfect championship performance week in and week out one of the greatest achievements in Michigan and college football history. Never forget!
I don't think it's a coincidence that all evolutionary threads of the Michigan football program from the Schembechler era have been knotted under Harbaugh.
That was always apparent to me, a human connection of a motivational charge of those who stay will be champions and represented at Schembechler Hall. It's also based on the Harbaugh idea of extended family and a tangible example of his truth not rhetoric.
So, from Fred Jackson to Denard, from Jansen to John Falk, the championship thread has been connected by the Harbaugh family devotion to the team, the team, the team.