ppToilet’s post-game version of Monumental’s wallpaper
It’s been nearly a week and I’m not sure I’m back on a normal sleep schedule yet. I had to shake down Ace for our review copy of NCAA 14 back, change Devin’s number to 98, then go Michael Vick on computer defenses for hours because I wasn’t quite ready to stop watching that happen. This apparently is happened to bronxblue as well…aw hamburgers Brian already quoted that part. Here then’s a totally different stanza from this masterpiece:
Worst: QB Vision Cone still in experimental mode
[Funchess and Butt] are young and should improve as the season comes along (especially Butt, who appeared to drop and/or run out of position for a couple of balls), but Gardner’s passing cone seems a bit skewed toward Dileo and Gallon and that could very well catch up to him as teams adjust or, knock on wood, one of them gets hurt. For as much as I love the idea of this team’s leading receivers both being eligible for the Pomeroy Award, that would feel like a massive waste of talent at other positions on the field and, frankly, counter-productive to this team’s maturation this year and beyond.
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| Brian is like 6’2” so H2V must be a big guy. |
I disagree with both bronx and ST3 (in his weekly inside the box score) that the running game was effective at taking pressure off the passing. Brian already UFR’d what I saw: one big Gardner run that made the stats nice, and Fitz doing subtle things to screw with ND’s linebackers when they had him dead to rights. The particular brilliance of Gardner and Borges and Gallon and Dileo and Toussaint in this game was they managed to put up 41 points without the running game being something the defense had to cheat to. Borges picked his spots well because there wasn’t much to be had, Gallon hauled in catches while wearing cornerbacks who could be aggressive because there was help behind them, and Dileo threw his defender on his TD by doing a high-speed luau in the end zone.
More in ND postgame: HAIL 2 VICTORS did the Sports Power Weekends thing and wrote up his glowing review—Jared’s a client and I sat with him at the game so obvious bias here but, yeah, there’s a reason he’s our guy. Jamie Mac went through the recent history of favorites in this series. Brhino went through his favorite memories of the definitely-not-a-rivalry (why is Ismail in there?!?).
[Diarist of the Week and Best of the Board after the jump]
Recruits Per Capita
Ooh: map!
That is number of FBS recruits per capita in those states by dnak438. In the comments it was noted that FBS schools in proximity equal more FBS recruits and vice versa, e.g. a 2-star Montana recruit will be more likely to attend the local FCS school while a 2-star in Alabama could get picked up by UAB or something—it’s not Montana’s fault that small schools in the South want to sacrifice the rest of their athletic departments to pretend they’re D-IA. This is why the SEC does better than the size of their less populous states. My guess is these per-capita numbers are slowly trending down in the South and up in Midwest, because the population that is less likely to see football as its best means of success is the population that’s moving. Compare this map to a poverty map and the only difference is West Virginia and basketball states. Anyway this is great work and earns the not-at-all-coveted Diarist of the Week.
Bo-Mo-Llo-Ro-Ho
Quick read and interesting comparison by J.W. Wells Co. of the schedule difficulties, etc. between Michigan coaches since Bo. Hoke has had an easier schedule than the other guys so far; Moeller had the toughest week-in/week-out outings, but Rich Rod played 22% of his games against teams that finished in the AP Top 10. Guy couldn’t catch a break.
Analysis etc.:1484 tries re-ranking conferences by seeing how the in-conference margin of victory versus the spread compares to out-of-conference (so for example if every SEC teams rolls over every ACC team it plays then their games are all decided by a field goal the SEC is stronger). Flaw: sample size, and other than rivalries the SEC tries to be careful about scheduling anybody they can’t demolish. Once I read Clemson beating Auburn by just 7 was a huge win for the SEC I was kinda “yeah, this isn’t working yet” but 1484 agreed. Michsportsguy is tracking how teams do against the chalk. LSA sets a Big Ten baseline.
Best of the Board
WE NEED A COUNTER GET THE SAM!
EGD has been watching Michigan run power and isn’t liking this whole “don’t worry, Funchess is too much of a pass threat for the SAM to be near the run game” thing we’ve been doing (or the Funchess can combo effectively thing, which has been similarly mostly-miss).
On the other side of the ball, CLord pointed out that Michigan’s defense didn’t have an answer for the counter gap other than “invade Kelly’s brain and make him stop using it.”
BACK TO THE PATIO FOR BIG JON
MGoPatio graciously hosted us last Friday (read also: post-event thread) and would like to do so again. Meanwhile he’s got a project underway on Kickstarter to make a perfect replica Brown Jug as a gift to Falk for his years of service.
WHO IS EVERETT COOK?
The Michigan Daily has now covered Lloyd Brady more than it has MGoBlog. No, no, it’s cool that you guys are into our memes but you’ve covered this guy a ton while I’ve yet to see even one reporter on the ground in Ohio tracking Hoke’s jersey sales. Or, you know, maybe covering either of the Daily alums who work for MGoBlog?
Anyhoo the OP wanted to know if the Daily’s Everett Cook was Brian’s brother; the answer is no, he’s Brian’s son, which becomes apparent when you see his full name: Everett Golson Puppet Cook.
HENNE TO DENARD AND OTHER FORMER WOLVERINE WEIRDNESS
Take THAT, mind!
Butterfield has begun doing updates on the Michigan players in the NFL. Diary this, man. Highlight is Henne will be JAX’s starter after an injury to Gabbert; between him and Denard I am suddenly rooting for Jacksonville, a franchise I previously loathed. Weird world, this.
BOARD ETC. I like the weekly MGoCoach threads—good answer for all the snowflakey stuff it replaces. Stop screwing up the Wave students.
Your Moment of Zen:
LSUfreek (click the pic to play)
Yabba dabba doo.
Bonus Double Moment of Zen:
Touching the banner through the eyes of Swieca.