FB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[D306]

Thunderhead  welcome to the board. Good comments great to see another poster on the board.
Raider 68 you are certainly welcome on the MIAA board, quality posts and thoughts. Anyone that has issues with a poster with cogent thoughts becuase they support teams in another conference are discounting the idea behind this site. DIII football conversations.

I am all for the movie, with Andy Dick in the movie of course it will be crude, rude and stupid funny. That is what the movie's target will be, any movie about football is a good movie. DIII recieves little recognition, tell me why I watch bowling, darts, HS cheerleading on ESPN2,3,55 and any other sports channel. We Love sports, not sure why D2 and DIII are not on these stations every weekend, or replays during the week. The viewership would be strong, evereyone would like to support the local team and regional HS players.

Regarding the taunting before you enter the endzone, of course taking points of the board is a good call. That will teach these idiots some accountability, it is about the team you did not score by your self so why are you so vain.  I am also OLD SCHOOL let the oppossing team take care of the issue itself later on "turning a blind eye" to some "quality hits". Hockey gets that part of sports right, "hotdogs" are all about making themselves feel better at others expense. Getting your "Azz" handed to you a few times changes that real quick. I have no problem with teams celebrating the score as a team, not the preplanned celebrations

Quick thoughts from the UofM spring game, Defense will be better than last year. Mike Martin will be a first round pick if he stays healthy. Moving him to DT and letting him use his skills, and strength will lead to several big plays. The 4-3 and multiple front shifts is a positive, high pressure defense, will help the back end of the defense which is young. Couple young LB's can play get some size and comfort with reading plays, they will be solid
Kicking game is a bad, can not make a FG. Young Punter has a great leg, needs some work on punts under pressure. Amazing that a Big Ten university can not get a kicker, I know a couple of these guys have a good background so hopefully they come around to be acceptable. May see a true freshman win this job.

Offense has talent, struggling to learn Multi set game plan, couple good athletes at QB. Gardner has a strong arm, not comfortable in the pocket, and reading defenses. Denard is a freak very fast, has to impove on taking a snap under center and not lose touch with the field.  They have some decent size at RB,  need a FB which is not in the roster (true freshamn used in spring game).  This will take a couple years way to many small players with speed on the roster. OL is pretty solid , little depth after starting core is a problem with injuries that always come.

Attitude is great, this team will play well and be competitive every week, expect a hard hitting defense. There will be some ball control running with 2-3 TE and hitting the hole on short yardage plays.

Have to say the difference in attitude Team first all about being a Michigan Man is very obvious. the Sports department is very happy with the choice (HOKE) and return to traditional attitude.

[Raider 68]

D306,

Thanks for the kind words and the info on the Spring games! I am afraid that the showboating the Pro's do and is allowed by the NFL has found its way into the college and even below. The taunting should be, IMHO, punitive, and the HC's hold their players accountable.

[ThunderHead]

Regarding the Michigan Spring game; I thought that overall - while some players looked good, it was more in less a matchup of a bad offense vs a defense that was worse.

RR recruits a far different type of athlete then Brady Hoke, and it will take some time for Hoke to turn the program around and square it with previous Michigan "looking" teams.

I didn't think RR would be successful in the Big Ten, he would have had better success in the SEC as the defensive sets are more conducive to his style of offense. Tim Tebow wouldn't have lasted a full year in the Big Ten running the Florida offense in my opinion, the LB's are just to physical. When they hit you, they "pop" you, and it's tough for anyones body to run read-option, or spread option-read offensive sets against the teeth of Wisconsin, Penn State, Iowa, Michigan State, and Ohio State's defense. Just ask Denard Robinson, Juice Williams or Drew Stanton.

I told several Blue Belly buddies when Michigan hired RR that RR was a rich mans version of John L. Smith, and they laughed at me. But RR had the same type of system, the same philosophies on the offense side of the ball, and recruited the same type of offensive player. He also payed little to no attention to the defensive side of the ball and defensive recruiting.

Now I'm telling my same Blue Belly Delusional's  friends that Brady Hoke is a poor mans Dantonio, Beilema, and Frentz. And I'll go on record and say that I like Hoke. I loved what he did at Ball State. I just don't think he was a good a hire as the above three. But time will tell. I think Michigan has a very favorable early schedule in 2011 and good start would not surprise me, nor would a very low tier bowl game appearance. I think Michigan will lose to Nebraska, Ohio State, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Northwestern and Iowa. I wouldn't call Illinois or Minnesota (with Coach Kill) give-me wins either.

My dark horse in the B10 is Northwestern. They could be as good as anyone if they can piece back together a defense and marginal ground game.

BTW - did you know that Trine Coach Dan Simrell hired Brady Hoke as his linebackers coach while Simrell was the HC at Toledo. He also hired current MSU strength coach Ken Mannie while at Toledo. (Nick Saban then brought Mannie to MSU after his one year at Toledo where he replaced Simrell as head coach. Simrell went on to take the OC job at West Virginia)

Just my two cents!

Go Trine!

[formerd3db]

Good and interesting comments D306 and ThunderHead, including about U of Michigan and its spring game.  (Sorry about that Raider68, no slight re: OSU for you Ohio guys!).  I originally wanted to attend Michigan's spring game on Saturday also, however, other business commitments (including Hope College Lacrosee) were in progress for me.

[ThunderHead]

Did anyone read the "official findings and review" regarding the kid who died while filming a Notre Dame practice? It borderlines on insane..  Per ESPN: "Notre Dame said Monday that football staff responsible for advising whether it was safe to practice outside used out-of-date weather information the day a student videographer fell to his death when the hydraulic lift he was on toppled over in high winds."

"Ultimately, no one -- not Collins, Klunder, nor Russ -- told Kelly or any coach that practice should be held indoors or that the lifts should not be used," the report says.

I don't understand why it was not Kelly who should have told Director of Football Operations Chad Klunder, along with then-head athletic trainer Jim Russ and Tim Collins, director of football video and film, that perhaps they should move inside for the day. Did no one within the entire program notice the  wind gust data that was being blasted everywhere in Indiana and around the midwest via TV? Did no one happen to notice the high wind advisory that had been in effect since the previous day and had been forcast days in advance?

Why is the guy in charge of lifting weights and the guy in charge of video deciding if practice will be held inside due to to high winds, rain, sleet, or snow? I can see, to an extent, how Chad Klunder DFO would have a say, but in my experience the DFO and his team are too busy planning the upcoming team travel needs and do not handle the actual practice sessions.

This is a complete and total copout, it is an unbelievable excuse for a complete lack of common sense. Basically Notre Dame's official response might as well have read this: It was an act of God. His bad

Anyway, just my two cents.

Go Trine!

[Mr. Ypsi]

That is also pretty much my understanding from si.com.  Everyone screwed up, but no one person screwed up.  Except for the kid that died (and no one took him seriously because he was a 'card'), no one had the latest weather info.  A true tragedy.

Word is that they will now film practices by remote cameras - no filmers.  A total shame that it took a death to move to that practice.  But it was a freak accident; I can't really find it in my heart to blame anyone.  (And I hate Notre Dame, so they must be blameless! )

But with those winds, wouldn't indoor practice be more productive anyway?)

[sac]

That is also pretty much my understanding from si.com.  Everyone screwed up, but no one person screwed up.  Except for the kid that died (and no one took him seriously because he was a 'card'), no one had the latest weather info.  A true tragedy.

This was such a cop-out by ND it isn't even funny in the least.  The windiest day in probably the last decade or more in the Midwest.  You did not need a new weather forecast to know it was excessively windy or that higher winds were coming. 







Spring games mean very little.  Spring games in high winds, light rain on a generally dreary day mean less.  Spring games by a coaching staff who have had 15 practices to install a new offense and defense......even less, less.

Two things I took from watching UM's spring game.......the emphasis was on power running, and on aggressive defensive alignments and calls.  Basically they worked on the weakest parts of last years team.


It looks like UM will A) probably tackle better........which yippee and hooray and B) probably play a pretty aggressive style of defense.


PS........please God I hope the Freshmen kicker coming in the fall, Matt Wile, can kick and kick well,  because how the hell can a major D1, BCS program have such an abomination of a kicking game.

PS 2.........he's from San Diego which means he'll be good untill the first time the temp drops below 60.  So Mid-September, then I'll be pulling my hair out again.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Totally agree on the kicking game.  I just do NOT understand the problem.  There are SO many talented soccer players out there, how can kicking be such a problem, even at the d3 level, much less d1?

At the IWU at Hope game I attended (2008? 2009?), I believe the two teams combined to miss something like 7 of 9 fgs and eps!   I'm pretty sure either of my sons would have made at least 50% of the kicks (I might have made more than 2 of 9, and I was then c. 60! ).  [I realize there is a great difference between a free kick and a kick with 1,000 pounds of beef coming at you, but once you internalize that if any of those guys so much as touch you, they're toast, it is not really that different - I'm certain that at least my older son would grasp that.]

[And, yes, I realize that Jason Hansen's career may be over due to an illegal play; just have to shut that out of your mind.  Kickers should make the vast majority of their kicks.]

[Mr. Ypsi]

sac, as to your opening paragraph, hyperbole much?!

Have you overlooked the hundreds of tornados in the last decade?  I agree they were (criminally) negligent, and outside practice (with or without cameras) was probably an error, but 'windiest day in the last decade'?!  C'mon - I seriously doubt it was the windiest day in South Bend even THAT year.

[sac]

sac, as to your opening paragraph, hyperbole much?!

Have you overlooked the hundreds of tornados in the last decade?  I agree they were (criminally) negligent, and outside practice (with or without cameras) was probably an error, but 'windiest day in the last decade'?!  C'mon - I seriously doubt it was the windiest day in South Bend even THAT year.

Am I be chastised by the King of hyperbole?  


Here's a small quote from one of the midwest newspapers about the Oct 26, 2010 windstorm.

"The storm's intensity rivaled, and may have surpassed, the winds that doomed the famed Edmund Fitzgerald in 1975 in Lake Superior. In fact, "Chiclone of 2010" (named for the beating it dealt the Windy City) boasted the lowest atmospheric pressure readings ever measured anywhere in the continental United States, according to Weather Underground — making the storm more intense than the Great Blizzard of 1978, the Armistice Day Blizzard of 1940, the November storm of 1998, the White Hurricane of 1913 which inspired Deedler's above quote, and the Edmund Fitzgerald storm of 1975."


Here's the headline from CNBC.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/39853590/Biggest_Storm_in_70_Years_Blasts_Chicago_Midwest


I remember specifically that there were storm warnings here in Michigan 4 days in advance, because I took the time to plan a day along the beaches of northwest Michigan to do some photography.

[ThunderHead]

Yeah, not to quote myself here but: Did no one within the entire program notice the  wind gust data that was being blasted everywhere in Indiana and around the midwest via TV? Did no one happen to notice the high wind advisory that had been in effect since the previous day and had been forcast days in advance?

To say that no one had the "correct whether information" is laughable. If you've ever been outside you know you quickly you become aware of the wind, and common sense tells you if it's a good idea fly a kite or to put someone 30 feet up in the air on a sizzors lift or not.

Also, and I've heard this argument, that it was the kids fault because he should have known better. This to me is also absurd. Anyone who has spent any time around Brian Kelly can attest to the fact he's very very demanding. So even if he approached the videographer (which there is no indication he did), but even if he did, and he asked the 20 year old kid "hey it looks windy but do you think you can handle it?" Of course the kid's gonna say "hell ya I can handle it"

It's the exact same thing I would say. You're not going to say "oh boy I just think it's to windy and the lift will be shaking a lot, I'm kind of scared for my safety." Especially when their is a female video team member already up in another lift on the other side of the field. (and believe it or not, she was not called down after the first lift tipped over because they "didn't want scare her or make her aware she was in a compromising position")

If it was my kid who was killed in the event, I would press the issue. You'd  have to drag me out of the office of the Father kicking and screaming. ND completely and totally screwed up, and their "finding" is a complete slap in the face to family of the student, and anyone who has any type of common sense.

Just my two cents

Go Trine!

[ThunderHead]

Also - for you Michigan Fans...(below)

[Raider 68]

Also - for you Michigan Fans...(below)

Nice Pic!

[formerd3db]

I assume you are talking about the stadium pic, not the one under his "id" info! ThunderHead - you need to get rid of the latter irrelevant one (actually, I don't like either of them ) and join our "Helmet Club"

[Joe Wally]

The Helmet Club rocks!  Helmet Club members get discounts at "The 21st Amendment!"