Archives for November 2010

2010 Blogpoll Ballot, Week #14 (Draft)

In a bold move (not that it matters), I have ranked Wisconsin over TCU for this week’s BlogPoll ballot. My reasoning is this: At this point in the season, I propose that Wisconsin is the better team. Yes, they have a loss. It was to a Top 10 team in Michigan State. But they’ve looked unstoppable since. Wisconsin has a win over a Top 5 team (Ohio State) and has absolutely decimated the competition since, averaging 67 points per game while giving up 23.7 over their last three games. TCU, on the other hand, doesn’t really have a marque victory to point to. Baylor is meh and victories over Oregon State and Utah don’t look as impressive as they did when they happened.

If things stand as they are, though, this won’t matter as they will most likely meet in the Rose Bowl and they can duke it out then.

Past that, I feel pretty good how this looks but I’m sure I’ve overlooked something. Please let me know in the comments.

Seniors and Defense Come to Play, Ohio State wins 37-7

We’ll have more later, but for now:

Buckeyes WIN!

The seniors on defense showed up to play and absolutely bottled up Denard Robinson and the rest of the Wolverine offense. (By which I mean they bottled up Denard). QB Force made an appearance and his presence known immediately throwing an INT.

Brian Rolle and Jermale Hines came to play and were everywhere once again and Heyward was a force inside.

Oh, and Boom had a rather prolific game himself. It would have been nice for that 94 yard TD go penalty free, but it still netted Boom 89 yards and he racked up 175 over the course of the game.

So now we savor the victory and root for the unlikely upset of Wisconsin. Either way, the Buckeyes should be heading to a BCS bowl game. We just have to wait and see.

Week #13 – Open Thread and Live Michigan Chat

Week 13 is upon us. Join us for the Live Chat for the Michigan game and whatever else comes to you during this, the final week of football for the good guys.

Hit the jump for the Michigan Live Chat.

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Game #12 – University of Michigan

This doesn’t feel right, writing a preview post during Thanksgiving weekend, but here we are in this brave new world. Next season we’ll be writing meaningful regular season posts in December. This ain’t your dad’s Big Ten anymore.

So the University of Michigan Wolverines roll into the Horseshoe tomorrow, with hopes of a colossal upset that would solidify Rich Rodriguez’s job for the foreseeable future and officially declare that Michigan is “back” and that the rivalry means something again. The upstart Wolverines, behind Mr. Do-Everything Denard Robinson, are looking for the first victory over Ohio State in forever and know what this could do for their program.

Yeah, that won’t be happening this year.

But being an Ohio State blogger with some free time this weekend, I still need to put forward something resembling a preview. So let’s get Denarded in here.


For brevity’s sake, I’m not going to dwell on the match-ups too much for this game. We already know what we’re getting with Ohio State’s offense going up against Michigan’s defense. (I’m calling it a “defense” here only in the academic sense: they have 11 players on the field, each occupying a position that could be considered a defender. How much “defensing” they actually do is debatable).

We know that Pryor will manage the game effectively, with weapons like Boom Herron and Dane Sanzenbacher at his disposal. I don’t expect anything flashy or out of the ordinary. Straight-ahead, snot-bubble, smash-mouth football. Expect the offense to come out throwing early and then finishing off the day with a steady dose of Herron, Saine and Hall. I also look for Pryor to make a play or two with his legs. But against this defense, I don’t think there will be much resistance.

What I’m interested in and what this game boils down to, for me, is Denard Robinson versus the Ohio State Defense. As many know, I am one of those Ohio State fans that wants Michigan to be successful eleven out of their twelve games. I didn’t actually root for them as I watched their games this season, but I was pleasantly surprised to see them find success early on. As I watched Denard shred defenses (starting with UConn) all season long, I couldn’t help but wonder what he would do against the Silver Bullets. Well, we don’t have to wait much longer.

I am anxious to see what the game plan will be. Will he get his 350+ against a defense that is giving up 241 yards again? As was mentioned in the comments earlier, that is an unstoppable force/immovable object situation. Problem is, that “unstoppable force” is a little six foot, buck-eight-five sophomore quarterback. He will be hit hard and hit often. How long will it last?

In the end, he may not even make it to the end of the game. Hines and Rolle will see to that.

Finally, I wish only for the best for the outgoing seniors. Heyward, Homan, Rolle, Hines and others have played and given us four great years of football. We wish them the best and hope they will be the next class of seniors that have never tasted bitter defeat at the hands of the Michigan Wolverines.

I don’t see this one ever being in doubt.

OSU 38
Michigan 14

Happy Thanksgiving from us all at MOTSAG

It is 10:48 AM on November 25, 2010 and Michigan still SUCKS 😉

Poll Dancing: Week Twelve

(This is a guest series by MotSaG reader Jason Nafziger. He’ll be taking a weekly look at the college football polls and pointing out the absurd, the laughable and the head scratchers. Please note that Jason is not talking about the BlogPoll. Or my ballot to the BlogPoll.)

As expected, there was very little movement this week. Nebraska fell out of the top ten thanks to a 9-6 loss to Texas A&M that was full of thrills—on the Huskers’ sideline anyway. This weekend could get interesting though, starting with Black Friday, when three of the four remaining undefeated teams will face off against ranked opponents, two of them on the road. Get your cold turkey sandwiches ready…

First, #2 Auburn will travel to #11 Alabama for the Iron Bowl and the day’s best chance for an earth-shattering upset. Should the Tide pull it off, Auburn will still have the SEC championship game to boost its rating prior to bowl season. Even the tamest possible outcome—a one-loss Auburn getting the nod over unbeatens Boise and TCU—would still trigger a minor BCSpocalypse.

Next #1 Oregon hosts #21 Arizona. The Ducks spent the last two weeks thinking about their miserable offensive performance in a win over Cal. Meanwhile, the Wildcats rank 12th nationally in scoring defense. This is probably a long shot and Oregon has a better chance of losing next week on the road against Oregon State, but the ultimate goal for BCS-haters is for both of these teams to lose at least one of their next two games.

Finally, #4 Boise State takes on #19 Nevada. Save for a 6-point loss to Hawai’i, Nevada has been basically crushing the same teams as Boise so far this season. Their win over Cal is not as impressive as the Broncos’ triumphs over Virginia Tech and Oregon State, but they did slaughter the Bears by three touchdowns. A Boise loss isn’t as intriguing as losses for the other two teams, but picking one (or two) from a slew of one-lossers would be a PR nightmare for the BCS. There are currently eleven 0- or 1-loss teams and no pair of 1-loss teams plays each other, meaning that all eleven could end the season with one loss (although TCU is pretty much a given to remain unbeaten).

The Poll Dancing Hypothetical and Totally Awesome Playoff (v. 1.3):

(1) Oregon vs. (16) Florida International
(2) Auburn vs. (15) Pittsburgh
(3) TCU vs. (14) UCF
(4) Boise St. vs. (13) Northern Illinois
(5) Wisconsin vs. (12) Virginia Tech
(6) LSU vs. (11) Michigan State
(7) Stanford vs. (10) Oklahoma St.
(8) Ohio State vs. (9) Alabama

Some shuffling around here, proving that a playoff is already more interesting than the BCS. The Buckeyes’ opening game shifts to last year’s champ Alabama. Wisconsin slides up to take on Virginia Tech, while LSU drops down face Michigan State.

The Breakdown (full Top 25):
24% SEC, 20% Big 12, 16% Big Ten, 16% mid-major, 12% Pac-10, 12% ACC, 0% Big East

One thing that strikes me is that these numbers have remained virtually unchanged for weeks even though the individual teams have been different. It’s almost as if there’s some inherent regional bias built in to the system…

Michigan By The Numbers

What I’m thankful for: Statistics.

Statistically Speaking
Ohio State
Value (Rank)
Value (Rank)
Michigan
Advantage
Rushing Offense (ypg) 216.2 (17) 181.3 (92) Rushing Defense (ypg) Ohio State++
Passing Offense (ypg) 230.0 (55) 263.9 (111) Passing Defense (ypg) Ohio State+
Pass Efficiency 158.4 (10) 139.7 (92) Pass Efficiency Defense Ohio State+
Total Offense (ypg) 446.2 (18) 445.2 (112) Total Defense (ypg) Ohio State++
Scoring Offense (ppg) 39.6 (9) 33.5 (99) Scoring Defense (ppg) Ohio State++
Rushing Defense (ypg) 86.0 (3) 257.4 (10) Rushing Offense (ypg) Push
Passing Defense (ypg) 155.1 (5) 257.2 (30) Passing Offense (ypg) Ohio State
Pass Efficiency Defense 98.2 (7) 154.6 (16) Pass Efficiency Offense Push
Total Defense (ypg) 241.1 (3) 514.5 (5) Total Offense (ypg) Push
Scoring Defense (ppg) 13.9 (5) 36.8 (15) Scoring Offense (ppg) Push
Turnover margin +1.09 (7) -0.64 (101) Turnover margin Ohio State++
Penalty Yards/game 44.0 (25) 47.5 (42) Penalty Yards/game Push
Sacks (/game) 1.55 (91) 0.91 (11) Sacks Allowed (/game) Michigan++
Sacks Allowed (/game) 1.82 (57) 1.46 (95) Sacks (/game) Ohio State
3rd Down Conv. (%) 44.5 (34) 40.9 (76) 3rd Down Conv. Def (%) Ohio State
3rd Down Conv. Def (%) 29.7 (4) 47.6 (19) 3rd Down Conv. (%) Push
Redzone Offense (%) 89.5 (14) 86.7 (89) Redzone Defense (%) Ohio State++
Redzone Defense (%) 75.0 (21) 84.0 (50) Redzone Offense (%) Ohio State
 Legend
  Difference <25 in National Rank = Push
  Difference >25 in National Rank = Ohio State
  Difference >50 in National Rank = Ohio State+
  Difference >75 in National Rank = Ohio State++
  Differences >100 in National Rank = Ohio State+++

Presented without comment.

As always, stats are grabbed from cfbstats.com.

2010 Blogpoll Ballot, Week #13 (Draft)

Comments and suggestions are welcome.

While we wait for the Blog Poll

BlogPoll Delayed

My Blogpoll ballot will be delayed until later this afternoon as unforeseen circumstances (read: The Walking Dead) conspired against me last night.