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Programming note: We’ve got so much great user content coming out of the Utah game I’m putting up an extra DD this week to cover all the postgame stuff.
The diaries sections had quite a bit of attrition from their 2008-‘09 heyday, with many star diarists moving on to start their own blogs and such. Since then we’ve developed a new lineup of regulars putting out better stuff than 95% of power five schools’ best blogs. And since we’ve got a lot of new readers and returners around right now perhaps this is a good time to reintroduce you to some of the people putting out MGo-quality content just because they want to.
The force is strong with this one. First and foremost, bronxblue is now in year seven of diary writing and year four or six of “Best and Worst” depending on whether you count the ones when he’d tell the story with ~50 thematic images. This week’s asks the question we were all trying to tamp out of our brains and which resurfaced the minute we saw the blocking take another one of those now familiar new system plunges:
But there so many moving parts that have to be “right” for it to run optimally. I know people talk about the spread offense as a sports car, but to me the RR/Urban Meyer-style offense is like a souped-up Toyota Corolla. It works because of its simplicity, its reliance on replacement-level parts at most positions. It obviously runs best with premium talent at the skill positions, but I can’t imagine a world in which you could take Alex Malzone and drop him into Harbaugh’s offense and beat Indiana comfortably, let alone what OSU did against Wiscy, Alabama, and Oregon.
After an offseason of hearing Brian tell various audiences “of course I still want Harbaugh; I’m not crazy!” it looks like there’s no way out of paying that offensive line transition cost once again.
The tracks go off in this direction. The other diary all star developed the last few years is alum96, who began what seems destined to be the next great regular weekly: Opponent Stock Report. I know, you’re thinking we just dragooned BiSB out of his pleasant life of law things and family having to produce the front page’s weekly Opponent Watch. This is a good complement, building off of his preseason prediction articles.
You don’t need to see his identification. Okay Hoover Street Rag is technically not part of the MGoBlog diary section. But due to the wonky Thursday game Craig Barker’s postgame for Utah didn’t make “Elsewhere” in Brian’s column. Let’s remedy that:
Jake Butt, in triple coverage? Why not? (Photo by Bryan Fuller)
If we're truly honest with ourselves, it wasn't that different than our usual collective delusion of a summer. We overinvest in the positives, we paper over the negatives or doubts with rationalizations or dismissing them as unknowns. We talked ourselves into the notion that the guy who only had 1.9% of his pass attempts last year intercepted would take better care of the ball. We told ourselves that the O-Line would have improved technique and hey, throw in some Harbaugh and boom, problems solved, past buried, ship righted.
I’m surrounded by Sparties, who have now taken to complaining nonstop about Harbaugh hype by sarcastically taking it way over the top. I’m sending them to Hoover Street.
The damage doesn’t look so bad from out here. And then Inside the Boxscore still lives. If Ann Arbor was hit with a nuclear bomb and declared a radioactive zone for 100 years (or 7 football seasons), ST3 will still be there digging out scorecards and sharing the gory details. We just tried this and it worked; the organism is more on point than ever:
Jake Rudock was everything I was hoping he would be, except for the three interceptions. He threw X+1 yard passes on third and X. He completed 27 of 43 passes for a 62.8 completion percentage. I'm thrilled to see a number there north of 60%. He passed for 279 yards, good for 6.5 yards per attempt.
This jives with my Jake Take. There were one or two that could be attributed to new QB in a new system targeting a kid who was playing at Maple & Lahser last year, then the pick six was him pushing while in 4th quarter comeback mode.
That’s great kid don’t get cocky! I’ve never heard of Pit2047—I like to imagine this is a Pitt fan from 32 years in the future who, knowing how the next three decades would turn out, decided Michigan would be the most rewarding. He too faulted Rudock for just one of the three INTs while going over each starter on offense and his individual performance.
Etc. Thanks again to mgoweather for the game day meteorology. Ron Utah’s “If they could say it” attempts to present the thoughts of M’s coaches if they could realspeak is hit and miss, and with Harbaugh at least is starting to feel a bit superfluous.
Best of the Board
BY THIS SNARLING WOLVERINE SHALL YOUR DEEDS BE KNOWN
What will the helmet stickers look like? There’s a thread speculating; count me with the people in favor of the late ‘80s snarling carcajou, exemplified by this helmet courtesy of Dr. Sap:
We’ll see the stickers debut this weekend on the dudes who earned the most. In the meanwhile I remind you to re-read the Kryk article from 2009 HTTV that we republished earlier this year.
YES AND YOU ARE HIRED
MGoNukE you just saved me a ton of work that I was really not looking forward to. You are hereby made official judge of Guess the Score, Win Stuff, if you want the job. There’s a free tshirt involved, probably. Also the gratitude of three pessimistic, off-by-one guessers who are getting free copies of Endzone Brandon’s Lasting Lessons. Also enjoy an MGopoint for every one of the 523 scores you had to sift through.
ETC. The depth chart for OSU (NNTOSU) is the same minus a few “OR”s, Gene Rodenberry apologizes to KSU band, laughs from grave that it took us this long to notice what the Enterprise looks like minus its nacelles. The nice Utah fan who was bouncing around on our board the last few weeks thanks all the MGofolks he met and stuff.
Your Moment of Zen:
The new schedule, with Dr. Sap