FB: Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference

[INQBScout]

In my eyes, if they win a bowl game it will be a good year.

I think if they GET to a bowl game it will be  GREAT season. 

[cave2bens]

Developing..

Also, on DC's QB situation....an observer had said somewhere that DC's #1 QB was throwing the ball up for grabs and also that the Jackets had no interest in getting the ball to the stud receiver.  Is this so?  Do you think these guys have been coached up properly?

Saints Fan,

According to DC stat ledger, aforementioned stud caught eleven balls (109 yds, 1TD) so it appears the problem may be one of getting said ball into proximity of the right-colored jersey.  Three interceptions, two lost fumbles, and six penalties for seventy-five yds (all fifteeners' ) versus no opposition miscues goes a long way in explaining that outcome.  Wonder if starting QB has been checked for achromatopsia, but 18 rushes for 85 yds is indicative that he can run away from trouble if warranted.  Back up was perfect 2-2 for 14.  Didn't want to go through Westerville and deal with OSU football traffic anyway.

Victory Bell,

Is "the mothe" a candidate for the Vick School of Character Development and Cultural Pursuit? We've a current vacancy in Atlanta...

signed,

A blank  

[SaintsFAN]

it is comical that every person i have asked that question to has said "boot the motha" and move on. funny that every coach on the staff said the same thing, but the head coach was afraid he'll end up on the street. now if that isn't the tail wagging the dog, i don't know what is. hell, he even got a 2 week vacation without practice to think about how he dropped f-bombs all over the coach.

Where the hell was this?  Or can you say?  Not a good situation...


cave2bens,

I didn't see the stats...just going off of what was said, you know what happens when you assume.

[victorybell_57]

can't say where, but it involves a very fast running back. speed is paramount in making these decisions. the back-up guard and fb got the axe over the summer.

interesting article i found:

BY MICHAEL ROSENBERG

FREE PRESS COLUMNIST

A few months ago, in a move that was neither announced nor reported, Michigan gave two-year contracts to all its football assistant coaches. Lloyd Carr had requested it.

Carr wanted some security for his assistant coaches in case he decided to retire after the 2007 season. The contracts are not rolling, but there is a mutual understanding that if Carr decides to come back in 2008, his assistants will be extended through 2009.

 
That way, if the assistants get fired and don't find other jobs, they each get a year's salary.

For Carr, this was one of the last steps in fulfilling the goal he laid out in May 1995, when his friend Gary Moeller was fired and Carr was suddenly the interim head coach: He wanted to leave the program in better shape than he found it.

"Bo and I had a lot of discussions in the last year about the future of this program," Carr said in a mid-August interview in his office in (Bo) Schembechler Hall. "We talked about a lot of things. And what I do know is that the only thing I have control over is trying to make sure that the day I leave, I can have peace of mind in knowing that I have done everything I can do to have this program in a position where it is in great shape."

How great? Michigan has earned Bowl Championship Series bids in three of the last four years. Only Ohio State, Southern California and Oklahoma can say that.

And as Carr sat in his office last month, he knew his 2007 team could head to another BCS game. He had senior stars Mike Hart, Chad Henne and Jake Long. The schedule was favorable. Ohio State and Notre Dame were breaking in new quarterbacks, and both schools were coming to Ann Arbor. So were Oregon and Penn State.

The pieces were in place for a run at the national championship. And if that happened, and Carr decided to announce his impending retirement in early December ...

Well, Carr has been adamant that school president Mary Sue Coleman and athletic director Bill Martin will choose his successor.

But wouldn't they have to ask him his opinion?

Wouldn't he be able to steer them toward somebody who would maintain the integrity of his program?

Would Martin really hire a coach who would take a broom through the entire coaching staff that had just earned a spot in the national title game? According to 2006-07 salaries, if the coaches all sat out the following year, Michigan would have to pay them $1,230,939 to not coach, on top of a likely raise of a few hundred thousand bucks for the new guy, because Carr has always been underpaid relative to his peers.

Wouldn't Carr have some leverage then, even if it was unspoken?

First things first: Carr told people privately that he was seriously worried about his team's opening game, against two-time defending I-AA champion Appalachian State. He knew there were legitimate questions about his defense, that Appalachian State had fast players running the spread offense, and that he wouldn't be able to fully evaluate his personnel until after the first game.

And Carr knew that, despite public perception, the best I-AA programs are better than a few dozen I-A teams. He would never, ever say this, but anybody watching film of Appalachian State and Eastern Michigan could see that Appalachian State was a much better team.

Carr's team was supposed to open the season against Eastern. Get the feet wet, win by three or four touchdowns, move on to the big boys. But Martin moved the EMU game to October and searched for a new opponent.

Martin found Appalachian State.

As he spoke in his office in August, Carr knew his opener was tougher than anybody realized.

But of course, he did not expect to lose.

And he could not foresee the national story that the loss would create.

A fascinating story

This is the story, which everybody has heard by now: Little Appalachian State beat mighty Michigan, 34-32, in one of the biggest upsets in college football history. Appalachian State is in the division formerly known as 1-AA, and no 1-AA school had ever beaten a ranked team.

Michigan was outcoached, outplayed and totally embarrassed itself. Carr's team looked unprepared. Kirk Herbstreit, arguably the best college football analyst on TV, told a national viewing audience Saturday night on ABC that it's surprising that Appalachian State could even stay on the field with Michigan.

That is the story.

In many ways, it should be the story. It is, objectively speaking, a fascinating story.

But for a moment, let's try to separate the story from the game.

Mountaineers have talent

To fans in Michigan Stadium, or those tuning in, the first indication that Appalachian State would put up a real fight came after Michigan took a 7-0 lead. The Mountaineers responded with a 68-yard touchdown pass.

Two aspects of that touchdown pass provide insight into what transpired Saturday. One is that Michigan safety Stevie Brown blew the tackle. It was one of a litany of Michigan mistakes. The Wolverines absolutely were outcoached and outplayed. If you saw the game, you know that. Carr has acknowledged his team was unprepared, and he has taken responsibility.

But here is the other interesting part of that play, what you probably don't know: the Appalachian State receiver, Dexter Jackson, is one of the fastest players in the country. He ran the 100-meter dash in 10.51 seconds at the NCAA East Regionals in May and ran the 200 in 21.01.

For some perspective: the Southeastern Conference's best sprinters competed in the same meet, and only one, Florida's Willie Perry, finished ahead of Jackson in either race.

See, Appalachian State has some excellent players, too. Not as many. But some.

There is a perception that there is a big gap between 1-A (now called the Bowl Subdivision) and I-AA (now called Championship Subdivision) football, and that the 113 1-A schools are all better than the best 1-AA teams.

It isn't true. BCS analyst Jerry Palm told the Free Press that "the really good I-AA teams can win the Sun Belt and win the (Mid-American Conference)." We know this is true, because in 1997, Marshall jumped from I-AA to I-A and won the MAC.

Nobody wants to hear that, and who can blame them? Michigan should still beat the best team in the MAC. And the story is irresistible.

Carr's savvy underestimated

This is the kind of story that people in the news business say "has legs." Monday, two days after the game, people around the country were still buzzing about. Various media outlets have echoed this headline in The New York Times:

"Upset in the Books, Focus Now Shifts to a Coach's Future."

The Times speculated that Carr might step down after the season. Fans and other reporters have wondered: How long will Martin let Carr coach?

Anybody asking that question does not understand the dynamics in play at Michigan. Martin could not fire Carr if he wanted to, and there is no indication he wants to. People continually underestimate Carr's political savvy and the respect he garners within the university.

How can the school keep a coach who has lost five of six to Ohio State, has not won a bowl game since 2002 and just suffered the most embarrassing loss in school history?

Hmm. Maybe it has something to do with the fact he has won almost 76% of his games, won the school's only national title since 1948, has never had a losing season, has never been in trouble with the NCAA or the law and has finished in the top 10 in three of the last four years.

How many coaches in the history of college football have been fired with that resume?

Any?

U-M not necessarily doomed

The story is that Appalachian State beating Michigan is unprecedented.

Absolutely true.

But there are a few near-precedents that are worth noting.

In 1999, Stanford lost to San Jose State and won the Pac-10. That same year, Alabama lost to Louisiana Tech and won the mighty SEC. Last year, I-AA Montana State beat Colorado.

That doesn't mean Michigan should have lost to Appalachian State. Of course Michigan should have won, just as Michigan should beat Indiana or Northwestern or Syracuse, teams that are probably all worse than Appalachian State this year.

But this doesn't mean the Wolverines are doomed for the rest of the year.

This week, Lloyd Carr and his players can't do anything about the story. It has already been told too many times, and it is too irresistible. The stain of humiliation is not coming out.

But they can do something about what happened in the game. They can cut down on the mistakes. They can put a spy on Oregon's quarterback, as they did against Appalachian State in the second half Saturday, and (finally) slow down a spread offense. Henne can recover from one of his worst games to show why he will be a first-day NFL draft pick.

They can beat Oregon, beat an undermanned Notre Dame team and contend for the Big Ten title.

But they can only do it if they can get past the story.

Still Bo's program

Room 2012 in Schembechler Hall remains largely untouched since last November. There are still letters sprayed across the desk, pictures hanging on the wall, Post-it notes stuck to random pieces of paper. This is not an accident.

"As far as I'm concerned," Carr said, "that's Bo's office."

As far as he's concerned, this is Bo's program. Not necessarily in style (Michigan's offense has changed drastically in the last 17 years, despite complaints from disgruntled fans) but in substance. The head coach still does not think he is bigger than the university. The assistants still try to follow every recruiting rule to the letter.

Carr bristles whenever somebody implies he is determined to hand-pick his successor from his own staff. He doesn't want the impression that he is running the search, or that his successor will not have earned the job.

But I think there is another reason Carr objects when people say he is set on handing the keys to one of his assistants:

It isn't true.

Carr wants somebody who upholds his beliefs about the program. That doesn't necessarily mean somebody with Michigan ties. It means somebody with Michigan values. For example, if Coleman and Martin could somehow lure Kirk Ferentz away from Iowa, you would surely hear glowing comments about the hire from Carr.

Carr's fear is not getting fired, which won't happen, or losing to Ohio State again, which might. He doesn't even fear that an outsider will take over the program. No. He just does not want the football program to suffer a scandal like the one that brought down the Michigan basketball program.

Carr wants a successor who respects the tradition and legacy of the program while winning most of his games in an ever-evolving, cutthroat sport. That is what Carr has done. He is far from perfect. But that is what he has done.

One thing about college sports: Coaches tend to know who is clean and who isn't. Not every scandal gets reported. Some coaches have great reputations in the media but not with their colleagues.

If Martin and Coleman focus on a coach who Carr believes cheats, will Carr warn them?

"I will absolutely do that," he said in August.

He paused.

"I should qualify that by saying I will absolutely do that if I'm asked," he said. "And I hope I will be asked."

Contact MICHAEL ROSENBERG at 313-222-6052 or mrosenberg@freepress.com.

[dc_has_been]

I still think there is no excuse for UofM losing to App State, Lyodd Carr won his national title w/ Moellar's recruits, & I do think a coach should get fired if they can't beat their rival & have lost their last four bowl games.

Viva la Bo!

[victorybell_57]

agreed

[tricksnaps56]

FYI,

Hanover is trying to work it out so that they still play TMC.  They just want to add Centre and still play Butler.

[Adam Sayer]

How about the Bearcats whipping the Pac-10 on ESPN. I think their defense had 5 TO's including a blocked punt which UC scored 27 of their 34 points from. The UC offense struggled. At the time (game is still going on) they have negative yards rushing and about 145 passing.

MTSU and Louisville was interesting. They played a 4-quarter 7 on 7 game as it was 50 something - 42 with a whole quarter to play.

I love Lloyd Carr. I hope he stays at Michigan for another 10 years.

The best part of the UC game was ESPN gave The Chicken on the Run a shout out. The Chicken, as us locals call it, is a little bar (primarily) and grill (secondarily) in Deer Park about a half mile down the street from me on Ohio Ave. They started talking about Skyline and someone mentioned The Chicken. Great.

Also, another famous Deer Parkian, Bill Cunningham, was in the news for calling Adam Dunn a drunkin monkey in Left Field. Everyone made a fuss about it but the chances are it's true. Word around "was" that Dunn would drink a 6-pack before the games...as a local reporter had stated (Off the record of course.) I believe the words were, "Adam Dunn's a decent ball player but he would be a lot better if he didn't drink a 6-pack before the game."

Who loves The Park...I do, but they're going down Friday night!

[wabashcpa]

Pick 'em's are updated - don't forget to make your picks for Week 2.

Colts got off to a rousing start tonight - defense looked a lot better than I expected.

[SaintsFAN]

Tricks,

Thats great news...I knew HC wasn't going to pu$$ out of a rivalry game like others have..

adam,

it was 5 INT's and 7 TO's overall for the UC Defense....amazing, I couldn't believe the score when I turned it on in the 4th quarter (I had to play softball last night).   

ESPN did a replay of the U of L game.  It was 21-14 after 4 minutes of play.  They had 500 yards of offense between them after the first quarter, with Brohm throwing for 223 yards in the quarter....amazing.  They SHOULD drop giving up that amount of points to Middle Tennessee St. 

No wonder Dunn got all pi$$y when Cunningham said this.  BTW, thats the 2nd time he's said his mom called him crying.  Nice ploy, Dunn....next time nobody will believe you.  She already can't listen to Marty and Cowboy...

Something has to explain the way he plays in the field and the reason he can't do anything but pull the ball (reminds me of a drunken softball player I saw last night)

[Adam Sayer]

Here's a nice link about the Mountaineers. Apparently App State T-shirts have been selling like hotcakes in Ohio. Hmmm.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3008022

[M and L]

Any one going to the MSJ game Saturday Night?

[M and L]

I'm pissed that I missed thous two games.  When I got home it was already half time for both games.  And then fell asleep by 10o'clock and didn't get see any of the Elder kids play.

The Chicken?  Where the hell is that place, never heard of it.  Oh it must be on the east side of 75.  Any over there scares me.

Sayer, the only reason why you like Carr is because he can't beat Jim Tressel.

[tepee]

Did they mention Never on Sunday?  and Squeak the barber/mayor of Deer Park?

[SaintsFAN]

Did they mention Never on Sunday? 

Nope, I don't think I heard them mention The Browns one time.