Archives for October 2014

Let Me Fix Your Team – Michigan Wolverines

I look around college football and I see a lot of disgruntled fan bases. They aren’t happy with their team whether it’s the coaching, the play on the field, all of the losing or a combination of these three. When I see these problems I start to think of a solution for these teams, but I never put them on paper before. But in you’re luck now downtrodden schools! Now I’ve decided to use my expertise to help you through your issues. With my help you’ll be a winner in no time. Just call me Doctor Josh! After helping Florida with their problems, I decided to take on an even bigger problem this week. It’s my toughest patient yet…

Patient: Michigan Wolverines
Status: 3-5 (1-3 in Big Ten)
Current Fan Base Mood: Most of the fan base is starting to realize their program hasn’t been relevant in decades, which has led to depression and heavy drinking. Also: #FireHoke #FireBrandon
Most Embarrassing Moments: Getting shutout by Notre Dame, losing to Minnesota, concussion management of Shane Morris, Brady Hoke’s press conferences, Dave Brandon in general, getting beat by their “little brother” (Mike Hart’s words, not mine) Michigan State, Devin “Pastry Chef” Gardner serving up turnovers and suffering a humiliating blowout loss to Ohio State. Wait that last one hasn’t happened. Yet.

Devin the Pastry Chef

Dr. Josh’s Advice: Well it’s good to hear Michigan fans are starting to accept what they are: a shell of how great their program was back when they were winning multiple national titles in the 1800s when there were only two other teams playing football. People say Notre Dame has issues with this, but at least they went to a national championship game in the last decade (even though they got smoked). Anyway the point is accepting your football team sucks is the first step.

Next you need to go out into the wilderness and go on a spiritual quest to discover who should be the true “Michigan Man” to lead your program back to being great. Of course the wilderness you’ll probably be taking your journey in is located in Ohio because that’s where the greatest Michigan Man ever came from. Come to think of it most great coaches around the country come from Ohio (Urban, Tressel, Stoops, Miles, etc.).

One more thing: I know it’s going to be tough getting through the rest of the season, so you might as well pick up some Domino’s pizza and a Coca-Cola. You should at least have some comfort food in your time of misery.

Prescription: As a certified college football doctor, I’ve sat back and watched fans along with “experts” say who should be the next head coach at Michigan. I laugh at these suggestions though because they’re all wrong. The Harbaugh brothers seem like fine gentlemen, but they don’t fit the recent competitive culture of the program. You’re overreaching and they’re unlikely to leave the NFL. Then there’s Les Miles, who is from Ohio and has previous ties to the program of course. Makes perfect sense, doesn’t it? Wrong! He’s currently a head coach in the SEC, which is the greatest conference God has ever delivered to mankind according to Paul Finebaum and the College Football Playoff Committee. You can lose three games in that conference and still compete for a national title. No way he’s leaving easy street.

Rich & Les

Last, but not least I’ve seen Ron Zook’s name thrown out there as a “joke” candidate. That’s just wrong, man. This is a serious situation and as you know I take my job quite seriously. Just look at the fine prescriptions I made for Illinois and Florida. Their fans have done nothing but praise my miracle work.

I have the perfect coach in mind for the University of Michigan. This man was born right in Ann Arbor, Michigan! He’s fairly young at 49 years old and played at Michigan State in college. In fact he was a starting center for three years and earned All-Big 10 Conference honors. He was the co-captain of the team when they defeated USC in the Rose Bowl in his senior season. Not only a great player, but a great student too! He was the first ever graduate student to play on the football team at Michigan State. In addition to this Big Ten experience and hometown lineage, he has three years experience of being a head coach in the NFL and is currently the offensive coordinator for one of the hottest offenses in the league. Aren’t you dying to know who this is?

Can I get a drumroll please? This man deserves it!

This mystery man and the guy I feel should be the next head coach of the Michigan Wolverines is…

Pat Shurmur!

Shurmurnator

You won’t find another coach that battles as hard as this guy. He battled so hard that the Browns had to fire him because they knew he was going to deliver success and battle them to Super Bowls, something that the football gods won’t allow. So I’m going to list the reasons this is a homerun hire: 1) He’s forthright and open about injuries, something that is the exact opposite of Hoke. Proof? This quote describes Shurmur after his first preseason game with the Browns: “When his first game was over, he was open about injuries and honest in his assessment of individual players.” 2) You would be sticking it to your rival Michigan State, just like you stuck that spike in their field before losing to them last Saturday, which led to Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio sticking a late touchdown right up Michigan’s…. well you know. 3) It would bring back to life the once greatest parody account in Twitter history, fake Pat Shurmur. Fake Shurmur could then have epic Twitter battles with the current greatest parody account, Fake Bo Pelini. So if you’re losing you still get entertainment!

I don’t think I need to list any more reasons at this point because you’re probably at Shurmur’s front porch right now begging him to come to Michigan. In fact since you guys like hashtags so much, here’s one for you: #ShurmurToMichigan. I’m a genius!

Happy Halloween Michigan fans! For next week’s post I would like to take questions from you the appreciative audience. It’ll be a Q&A session where Dr. Josh can solve any problems you may have or are curious about. You can put those questions in the comments sections below or send them to Twitter: @SchottJosh. Be sure to send some questions!

Trick or Treat: Dave Brandon to Resign

According to multiple sources Dave Brandon the Athletic Director of University of Michigan is expected to announce his resignation today at 1:30 pm. From the Detroit Free Press

Dave Brandon is expected to resign as the athletic director of the University of Michigan, a source with first-hand knowledge of the plan told the Free Press.

U-M President Mark Schlissel called a 1:30 p.m. news conference this afternoon. The source told the Free Press that U-M will announce that Brandon is out as athletic director.

We will have more later tonight on what develops to keep Buckeye Nation posted to whats going on up north.

Will Ohio State “Rush” Into November Against Illinois?

“November is for contenders, we always say that…” ~ former Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel

The Illinois Fighting Illini will enter into Ohio Stadium on a forecasted chilly evening to battle long-time rival Ohio State. While Ohio State is listed by Las Vegas oddsmakers as a comfortable favorite (Ohio State has a -28.5 point spread), Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer and his coaching staff will do their very best to focus their team upon defeating the Fighting Illini and securing the seventh victory for the 2014 season.

Ohio State fans recall how Illinois came into Ohio Stadium in 2007 and upset the then-top ranked Buckeyes. As I stated this past week on the MotSaG podcast, it is quite vivid to me how Illinois tormented Ohio State coaches (most especially, former Ohio State head coach John Cooper), players, and fans throughout the 1980s and 1990s (1988-1992, 1994, 1999). When Ohio State fans contemplate how the Buckeyes had to rally last weekend on the road at Penn State (31-24 2OT), as well as how Illinois defeated a favored Minnesota team last weekend, the coaching staff, players, and fans cannot overlook the capacity of Illinois upsetting the Buckeyes.

Illinois has seventeen players on its roster from Ohio. The overwhelming majority of these players were not recruited by Ohio State; the lone exception to this is Caleb Day of Hilliard, who spurned Ohio State for Illinois in 2013. The most notable Ohioan is V’Angelo Bentley of Glenville, who made the key fumble recovery against Minnesota that secured the Illinois victory last week.

The areas that I will be focusing upon throughout the game will be…

1. Ohio State relying upon its running game – Quarterback J.T. Barrett sustained a sprained MCL injury against Penn State. Although Barrett has been cleared to play against Illinois, it would be surprising to see Barrett being asked to contribute much in the running game against the Fighting Illini. Ezekiel Elliott may be a workhorse, and other running backs such as Curtis Samuel and Warren Ball may also have opportunities to pad their respective statistics. Bri’onte Dunn will not play against Illinois, due to injury.

2. How Well Will Ohio State’s Defense Contain Illinois’ Reilly O’Toole? – O’Toole has ascended into the role of Illinois’ starting quarterback, after starter Wes Lunt was lost to injury. O’Toole is more of a dual-threat quarterback, capable of making plays with his legs as well as his arm. Will Ohio State’s quick and aggressive defense be able to contain O’Toole Saturday night?

3. Will Ohio State Play Cardale Jones Against Illinois? – Anyone who has listened to me throughout this season’s MotSaG podcasts will hear me questioning why backup quarterback Cardale Jones has not received more playing time this season. Considering Barrett’s sprained MCL injury, it is in Ohio State’s best interests to rest Barrett as much as possible, with the remainder of the 2014 season left to play. While Jones is not the passer Barrett is, Jones has the physical skills capable to play the quarterback position as a game manager for the Buckeyes. On this week’s podcast, I even made the suggestion that true freshman quarterback Stephen Collier, who has been targeted for a redshirt season, may be worthy of playing time, depending upon the type of potential lead Ohio State may be able to build upon against Illinois. Think of it this way – suppose Barrett reinjures his leg, and is out for the season, so now Cardale Jones is the starter. Anyone else comfortable knowing Stephen Collier is next up, with no playing experience? Thought so.

Perhaps Ohio State will be able to shut down Illinois all across the board, and get off to a fast start. While that would be very pleasing to Coach Meyer, as well as all Ohio State fans, I believe Illinois will be able to keep it close until the end of the first half. Look for Ohio State to pull away in the second half, behind a strong rushing performance, and an opportunistic defense. I have it Ohio State 35, Illinois 17.

MOTSAG TV Guide

All games Saturday, November 1, unless otherwise noted.

BUCKEYES

Illinois @ Ohio State. 8:00p, ABC.

I don’t know. This game is probably exactly what it looks like it is–a bounce back after a surprisingly close shave against Penn State and an officiating crew rehearsing for some new hilarious Will Ferrell movie I guess. You could probably argue that this is a potential “trap game” if you want to be the kind of person who says stuff like that.

UPCOMING OPPONENTS

Indiana @ Michigan. 3:30p, Big Ten Network.

Minnesota, Michigan State: no games

OTHER BIG TEN TEAMS

Wisconsin @ Rutgers. Noon, ESPN.

Maryland @ Penn State. Noon, ESPN2.

Northwestern @ Iowa. Noon, Big Ten Network.

Purdue @ Nebraska. 3:30p, ABC.

OTHER OHIO TEAMS
All games on ESPN3 (online) unless otherwise noted.

(Friday, 10/31) Cincinnati @ Tulane. 8:00p, ESPN2.

Western Michigan @ Miami (OH), 2:30p.

OTHER BIG NATIONAL GAMES

(Thursday, 10/30) Florida State @ Louisville. 7:30p, ESPN.

Florida vs. Georgia in Jacksonville. 3:30p, CBS.

TCU @ West Virginia. 3:30p, ABC/ESPN2.

Auburn @ Mississippi. 7:00p, ESPN.

Stanford @ Oregon. 7:30p, Fox.

The Spread, Week Ten: It’s All About the Benjamins

The first-ever College Football Playoff rankings have been released, and you probably know someone who’s mad about where their team has been slotted. That’s not me, and that’s not what this is about. I don’t really care how many SEC teams are in the top whatever or how this team isn’t being measured by the same standard as that team. To be perfectly honest with you, I don’t even really care where Ohio State is ranked.

Now, that’s partially because this week’s rankings are completely meaningless. I’m not even sure I understand why the committee is doing a weekly update when one of their announced important factors is conference championships, something we won’t know until all the games have been played. I guess they just want us to know they exist. And ESPN needs to fill time and fuel their shouting shows for another seven days.

What I’m concerned about is the absence of a specific team, a team who–admittedly–hasn’t beaten anyone noteworthy and won’t really have a chance to. I’m talking about undefeated Marshall, one of only three teams with a perfect record remaining and the only one of those three to not show up in the first official top 25.

And yes, I know all the arguments against the Thundering Herd (and I don’t disagree with them) but the simple fact is that any post-season structure that doesn’t allow an undefeated team a shot at the title is broken. It’s what I was most afraid of with the paltry four-team format and it’s clearly going to come to fruition should Marshall win out.

Some may argue that a team like East Carolina, with its three non-conference games against “Power Five” schools, could crack the top four had it won every game. (ECU does check in at #23 in this week’s rankings, the lone non-power team on the list.) But let’s face it, by the end of the season having beaten South Carolina, Virginia Tech and North Carolina wouldn’t have been impressive enough to leap-frog a one-loss Oregon or Michigan State or Auburn or Notre Dame.

And it’s all by design.

The College Football Playoff replaces the BCS, a championship system developed in 1998 by the six major conferences. (This, kids, was a time when the Big East was populated by Miami, Virginia Tech and West Virginia.) For sixteen years, the BCS ensured that a team from one of those six conferences would be named the champion, even as it pretended to open it doors ever-so-slightly to the smaller conferences.

Eventually, people grew dissatisfied with the format, reaching the breaking point when two teams from the same division (guess which one!) played for the national title. Playoff talk–which has existed pretty much since the beginning of the sport–heated up again. So, the exact same group of teams, who had now rearranged themselves into just five conferences, came up with our new system and made sure to keep nearly all of the money (over 70% guaranteed) for themselves.

Of course, conferences receive an extra $6 million for each member team that makes the playoff, so it’s very important to make sure the committee understands exactly where those four teams should come from. By placing value on things like conference championships, strength of schedule, quality wins and (apparently) quality losses, the deck has been sufficiently stacked against the mid-major conferences.

Judging from the initial rankings, the committee has heard the message loud and clear. A mid-major team will never play in the College Football Playoff as long as it only has four teams.

Money wins again.

Ohio State vs. Penn State 2014 Highlights

Predicting Every Single FBS College Football Game: Week 10

Record in week nine: 38-11 (77.55% of games predicted correctly) To see my week nine picks, click here.

Overall record for the season: 404-136

Thursday Oct. 30
Florida State @ Louisville – Pick: Louisville (Upset)
Troy @ Georgia Southern – Pick: Georgia Southern

Friday Oct. 31
Tulsa @ Memphis – Pick: Memphis
Cincinnati @ Tulane – Pick: Cincinnati

Saturday Nov. 1
Air Force @ Army – Pick: Air Force
Duke @ Pittsburgh – Pick: Duke
Wisconsin @ Rutgers – Pick: Wisconsin
East Carolina @ Temple – Pick: East Carolina
Oklahoma @ Iowa State – Pick: Oklahoma
Maryland @ Penn State – Pick: Penn State
LA Monroe @ Texas A&M – Pick: Texas A&M
UCF @ Connecticut – Pick: UCF
Rice @ Florida International – Pick: Florida International
North Carolina @ Miami (FL) – Pick: Miami (FL)
Boston College @ Virginia Tech – Pick: Boston College
Washington @ Colorado – Pick: Colorado (Upset)
Oklahoma State @ Kansas State – Pick: Kansas State
Northwestern @ Iowa – Pick: Iowa
Central Michigan @ Eastern Michigan – Pick: Central Michigan
Auburn @ Ole Miss – Pick: Ole Miss
Arkansas @ Mississippi State – Pick: Mississippi State
Texas @ Texas Tech – Pick: Texas Tech
Western Michigan @ Miami (OH) – Pick: Western Michigan
NC State @ Syracuse – Pick: Syracuse
Western Kentucky @ Louisiana Tech – Pick: Louisiana Tech
Virginia @ Georgia Tech – Pick: Georgia Tech
TCU @ West Virginia – Pick: TCU
Purdue @ Nebraska – Pick: Nebraska
Indiana @ Michigan – Pick: Michigan
Florida vs. Georgia – Pick: Georgia
BYU @ Middle Tennessee State – Pick: BYU
Georgia State @ Appalachian State – Pick: Appalachian State
Kentucky @ Missouri – Pick: Missouri
Texas State @ New Mexico State – Pick: Texas State
Kansas @ Baylor – Pick: Baylor
Houston @ South Florida – Pick: Houston
USC @ Washington State – Pick: USC
South Alabama @ Louisiana-Lafayette – Pick: Louisiana-Lafayette
Arkansas State @ Idaho – Pick: Arkansas State
New Mexico @ UNLV – Pick: UNLV
Colorado State @ San Jose State – Pick: Colorado State
Old Dominion @ Vanderbilt – Pick: Old Dominion
UAB @ Florida Atlantic – Pick: Florida Atlantic
Stanford @ Oregon – Pick: Stanford (Upset)
Tennessee @ South Carolina – Pick: South Carolina
Illinois @ Ohio State – Pick: Ohio State
Southern Miss @ UTEP – Pick: UTEP
Notre Dame @ Navy – Pick: Notre Dame
San Diego State @ Nevada – Pick: Nevada
California @ Oregon State – Pick: California
Arizona @ UCLA – Pick: UCLA (Upset)
Wyoming @ Fresno State – Pick: Fresno State
Utah @ Arizona State – Pick: Arizona State
Utah State @ Hawaii – Pick: Utah State

I’ll let you know how I did with my predictions on next week’s post. Let me know in the comments what you think of my picks and feel free to ask me why I picked the way I did. Also you can follow me on Twitter @SchottJosh.

The NCAA Loves Controversy (Op-Ed)

In 1997 I remember watching the Rose Bowl that Ohio State won and thinking to myself this is the greatest game I have ever watched. That bowl game just happened to be the last time I remember enjoying how National Champions were determined.

In 1998 the BCS was created and over the next 16 years College Football fans had to deal with things like computer rankings, margin of victories, biased voters, and something called a Harris Interactive Poll. In those 16 years the system overall never really didn’t work. In nearly every year the teams played their seasons and everything worked out well. In 2003 there was a split title with USC and LSU but that is the lone controversial year. Everyone hated the BCS system across the board. The call to end the system started the day it was created and didn’t end until it was destroyed.

The drama that the BCS created fed the NCAA with non-stop water cooler moments that began in August and didn’t end until after the NCG was completed. Even the mighty SEC leaders and fans hated the BCS system and they were dominating the system for the entire time. Why did they want change? Well they wanted more of their teams to get a shot at playing for the title.

So after 16 years change was a coming insert the CFB Playoff system. Whats the biggest difference between the BCS and Playoff? Instead of 2 teams you get 4 teams. Everything else stayed pretty much the same. The committee still uses biased voters rankings, computer rankings, strength of schedule, and what ever else they can use to be controversial.

Don’t believe me? Ask yourself this why did the committee use Oregon having OL injuries as justification for ranking them higher than Arizona who beat them head to head? Why did they not give OSU the same courtesy for losing Braxton Miller and starting a back up against VT?

So we have the first ever ranking releasing and the SEC has 3 teams in the top 4 and 4 in the top 6. OSU is 16th do they deserve to be higher? Does it matter? The NCAA decided to create a new system that is even more controversial than the BCS system.

Why would they do that? In my honest opinion the NCAA is utilizing a brilliant advertising strategy. There is nothing better to build buzz and viewers and marketing money than to have people talking about drama. You see if the NCAA did the playoffs the correct way All conference champions are in and a few at large bids who would care about the rankings in October? Who would turn their TVs on to watch a bunch of guys and gal picking their favorite 4 teams and teasing another 21 fan bases that they have a sliver of a chance to make the playoff?

So there you have it this is about creating buzz and viewers and people standing around water coolers discussing the controversy and how they can’t wait to see how this goes each week for the next 7 weeks. This is about building a brand and making money and yes making you angry enough to keep watching hoping for your team to be in the top 4 this week or next or never more than likely.

How do you fix this system?

I am glad you asked. A playoff is the correct way to determine a champion. But why come up with a stupid way of determining who should be in the playoff? You have the perfect model already in basketball. Every Conference Champion is in. There are 11 conferences if you include independents (which should be forced to join a conference under this plan. So you have 10 locked in and add 6 at large bids and you have a 16 team playoff where winning in the regular season matters and the SEC can still use their clout to get 3 or 4 teams in the playoffs so they are ecstatic. The B1G and Big 12 and PAC 12 all have teams in the playoff and no one is screwed. Who cares how the teams are seeded win and you move on lose and you didn’t belong anyhow.

The fix to this issue is simple yet the NCAA chose to make it controversial for their selfish reasons and the schools fell in line lemming after lemming.

The only way to change the system right now?

You need to hope and wish for the SEC to get 3 or 4 teams in the playoff this year. If they get 2 teams the fans and media can justify that enough to placate the angry people. But if the SEC fills out the bracket you will see an uproar and it will happen in the media which can influence the NCAA like no fan ever could. So if you want change this is the quickest way to facilitate it in my honest opinion.

What says you?

MotSaG Live Episode #11 – Breaking Down the Penn State Win & Previewing the Illinois Game

Topics discussed were Ohio State’s big victory over Penn State, the Big Ten’s results from week nine and we made our usual weekly picks. And of course we previewed and discussed Ohio State’s upcoming game with Illinois. In addition we give our predictions for the College Football Playoff Committee’s first ever rankings (spoiler alert: we are all wrong). One more thing: We are now on Stitcher and most importantly we have a kick ass theme song.

MotSaG Live Podcast #11 – Breaking Down the Win Over Penn State & Previewing The Illinois Game

Time for episode #11! If you missed last week’s episode of MotSaG Live, you can watch it by clicking here. It airs live every Tuesday at 6 pm ET.

As always I will be hosting the podcast this week and be joined by fellow MotSaG writers Shannon Sommers and Chip Minnich. On this show we’ll breakdown Ohio State’s ugly win over Penn State, the Big Ten’s performance from this past weekend and make our usual weekly national and Big Ten picks. We might also discuss the first ever poll released by the College Football Playoff Committee later tonight. We’ll also of course preview and predict the outcome of Ohio State’s prime time matchup with Illinois this weekend. Our special guest this week is Robert from Illiniboard.com.

Now I’m going to list the following ways to view this podcast. Below is the video player to listen to the podcast. You will be able to listen to it here on the site every week. Don’t fret if you can’t listen live. Once the podcast is over with you will be able to view it as many times as you want, just like any YouTube video. If you’re unable to view it here on the site for some reason we also have you covered if this happens. I’ll link to our YouTube channel right above the player every week and you will be guaranteed to be able to view it there. You can also listen through our Google+ page or follow the main @MotSaG account on Twitter. I will also have the link posted on my Twitter page (@SchottJosh).

You can also subscribe to MotSaG Live on iTunes. You can find our page by typing “MotSaG Live” in the iTunes search box or click here. This episode should be on iTunes later tonight. We also have a special announcement on the show regarding the podcast on Android devices!

Whether you’re watching live or later, you’re sure to be entertained and informed!

To view it on YouTube, click here.

To view the Google+ event page, click here.