Rex Hudler

Michigan looks to be the choice for Mitch McGary. He makes it official Thursday.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Nov 1, 2011 -> 07:58 PM) They tested positive 2 days before they played Florida. Love the SEC. I believe they were tested 2 days before. Test results aren't immediate. When the results came in have not been stated publicly. If they were tested before the team left for Jacksonville, its unlikely they are going to get the results and suspend them within the day and a half before the game. In this case, I don't see it as out of the realm of reason.

QUOTE (zenryan @ Nov 1, 2011 -> 04:12 PM) It was the second game of the season with a new QB. I watched that game because I had money on Alabama and Alabama played conservative all game and then just shut it down once it hit the 4th quarter. It was 20-3 thru 3 quarters and one drive Alabama ran it every play of a touchdown drive that covered about 70 yards. Of course PSU scored a TD in the final 2 minutes to make it look like a 2 score game. The final score is really an injustice of how close the game really was. All true, yet still closer than any other Bama game this year! And FYI, Bama almost always drives the field with no passes and scores once a game. Often it is in the opening drive of the 2nd half. Don't be shocked if Alabama doesn't spread it out and throw a lot early against LSU.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Oct 31, 2011 -> 08:31 AM) True story, definitely a very down year. But PSU wouldnt show very well in a bowl game, they just arent very good. I'm not arguing with you, but it is amazing to me that Penn State has by far played Alabama its closest game all year.

QUOTE (dasox24 @ Oct 30, 2011 -> 02:43 PM) I absolutely love Dooley. I really want him to succeed b/c he's just the man. But I do highly question some of his in-game coaching decisions. Then again, he is working with no room for error. With a healthy offense, he can get away with some of those "questionable" decisions. With a healthy Bray, Tennessee wins that game last night. That's what just f***ing pisses me off about losing our 3 best players so far this year. I was just hoping that Dooley would give Bruce Pearl his pants back when Bruce left. I really hope for everyone's sake Bruce didn't give the matching jacket to Dooley and he breaks it out on a cold night.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 28, 2011 -> 07:10 AM) Honestly I don't get that impression from him. This is a kid who almost failed out of high school as a sophomore. He's made a heck of a recovery then, because Michigan, Florida and Duke aren't low level educational institutions.

I put together a trip last year so I have pretty good insights. 1. Use Priceline and name your own price for a hotel. You'll get a great hotel, be able to narrow down the area and much cheaper than even hotwire. We got the Sutton Place Hotel (for less than $100/night) right across the street from Gibson's (is this the triangle you were referring to, Rock?). Hopping bar in the hotel and nightlife in general in the immediate area. I've also gotten the Westin Michigan Ave for about $75/night. Weekends are especially cheap at those type hotels. 2. If you haven't, I suggest a Blue Man Group show. It was a lot of fun. 3. If you want to learn a lot about Chicago, I definitely suggest one of the river architecture tours. 4. If you like architecture, Frank Lloyd Wright has two homes in the area that are pretty cool. We went to the Robie House. 5. If you are staying downtown, you probably don't need a car. If you're flying in, you can take trains and buses everywhere you want to go. You can buy an unlimited transit pass for a certain # of days ahead of time at chicagotransit.com. 6. Go to Google maps and put in things you want to see and/or addresses for directions. There is a tab at the top where you can get directions via public transit that will give you specific bus times, which bus #, where the stop is and all the right stops on the El. The Red Line is your friend in downtown Chicago. 7. Check out Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives web site for some cool places to eat. We hit 3 or 4 of them. 8. Check out the museums, Shedd Aquarium, Planetarium, Art Institute based on your own interests. 9. Wear good tennis shoes because you will do a ton of walking. 10. Eat great pizza! Can't get everyone to agree on which is the best, but there are a lot of good choices. Garrett Popcorn was also a hit. There was a long thread with a lot of suggestions for my trip in July 2010. Not sure if you can still pull it up, but you will find a lot of good info there. That should be a pretty good start!

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Oct 23, 2011 -> 07:24 PM) Clemson is very good offensively, but any team who gives up alot of points and is led by underclassmen is going to be subject to an upset at some point. Agreed. I don't think Clemson will make it through unscathed.

In regards to LSU, what the hell is synthetic marijuana?

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Oct 20, 2011 -> 03:34 PM) 1 game suspension for Gholston for the punch. Looks like they didnt find anything wrong with him trying to kill Denard. Doesnt really help any of us out, he only misses playing against the best team in the conference. Which they were going to lose anyway, which I think you were inferring. Personally I don't think it was enough and the statement, aka half-assed apology was ridiculous. He claims he was provoked. Provoked on all three PF penalties? Strange to me that the Big Ten had to do the dirty work and MSU didn't get out in front of it, instead stating they would do a thorough investigation. //end rant

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Oct 20, 2011 -> 09:48 AM) You cant sleep on Wisconsin even though they lost Leuer. Jordan Taylor is enough for them to make a run and they actually have some talented underclassmen. I see OSU, MSU, Wis, ILL and Pur all locks to make the tourney. I'm going to ask because as much as I should be in tune with Purdue, I'm not. Would Purdue's chances rest mostly on Robbie Hummel's health and effectiveness? Do they have enough behind him if he isn't the player he once was.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Oct 18, 2011 -> 03:38 PM) Looks like a 3 game suspension is in the works for Gholston. Obviously a good choice, but f***! We already played them, I need MSU to hand out some damn losses. Which brings me to a question on the new Big Ten format. How do they determine the winner of each division? Overall conference record? Record within the division only? Overall record (not thinking that is likely). Anybody seen a link that explains tie breakers as well?

Can't wait for basketball season! IU is going to finish 35-0 this year!!! Ok, I'm awake now. What did I miss?

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Oct 18, 2011 -> 12:57 PM) Come on really? The plays you posted were flagged, thats what happens in football. Gholston is going to get suspended like he should have for the punch, just like your player did against ND. That guy is dirty as hell and had some cheap shots when we played them as well. In the Sugar Bowl Cam Heyward was put in the exact same arm bar that happened in your game, in fact it tore his elbow out so bad that he's had to have multiple procedures on it since that game. Dirty s*** happens all the time in football involving meathead kids. When your post was first put up on the Scout site (and now on this site) I felt the same as alot of people thinking that he should have been kicked out and suspended. Now that its going to actually happen what is the point of whining about it? Outside of the punch (clearly dirty) your own players have said it was a tough game all around without being cheap. Thats about what it looked like to me who watched the entire game. And saying that it doesnt bother you that MSU (your little brother) beat you 4 years in a row with that dirty f*** Dantonio at the helm you are kidding yourself. That wasn't my post on the Scout site, thank you very much. And as far as what I am thinking, why don't you just ask rather than tell me what I'm thinking. My problem with you is this thread asked for objective opinions on the plays posted. Never did I say football is not a tough game. Never did I say UM players have not done something dirty, in fact Lewan was way too aggressive and hot headed in the early part of last year. I can't argue with anything you just said above other than the fact you had to inject other non-related matters into your first two posts. OF COURSE it bugs the crap out of me that we've lost to MSU for 4 years. But that has nothing to to with the points being made in this thread. But as I've stated in a previous thread, my hope going into the season was that UM's schedule would break down as follows: 1st 5 games - No worse than 4-1 (we finished 5-0, I'll take it) Next 5 games (four on the road) 3-2 (still have a shot at that) Last two against OSU and Nebraska - was hoping we could pull out a split of those two, but figured it was a long shot. I think we still have a shot, but I'm not holding my breath. Before the season I thought 8-4 was probably, give or take one. It seems the season is playing out exactly that way. I'm no delusional fan that thinks UM is going to go 11-1 or 12-0 every year. I know we aren't anywhere near where we need to get to. As to which games we lose, of course I'd like to knock off MSU and/or OSU, but if we stay competitive I'll be okay if the final bell rings at 9-3 or even 8-4. Sadly, we could be better next year and start much worse. The schedulers did us no favor in 2012. We open against Alabama in Dallas, play Air Force and that offense next and then go on the road to ND. Add Nebraska and OSU on the road at the end of the year and it bookends quite difficult!

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Oct 18, 2011 -> 09:18 AM) Lol and I'm the one with the bias? Jeez. I watched the whole game, this rivalry is always very dirty, unlike The Game. Msu deserved to be penalized at least as much as they were and Gholston should have been booted. Either way it wasn't that close of a game and this looks like sour grapes for a loss. UW will run all over them next week and it will make you feel better. Kiss my a$$ Rock. You're a smart guy, but sometimes an idiot. If you even half paid attention to what I've posted you know it has nothing to do with sour grapes. We'd have lost that game with or without those plays. But forgive me for trying to isolate plays that anyone on this site would take offense to if it happened to their team. And again, if you can show me where Michigan players were dirty in this game, I'll be happy to take your point as valid. Problem is you like making blanket statements that have nothing to back them up.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Oct 17, 2011 -> 09:25 PM) Were there no dirty plays committed by UM In that game? Before the punch the UM lineman was clearly being dirty when pushing his head into the ground. Obviously he should have been ejected after the punch, but there was dirty s*** all over that game, always is. Show the videos of UM players being dirty then! I'm not saying its never happened, but I haven't seen anything like that this year. And I've watched the punch video several times and don't see what you're seeing. There isn't enough on that video. Lewan's arm was below gholston's head, not pushing it down. What it looked like to me, expecially if you catch the beginning of the play at the bottom of the screen, is that Lewan buried Gholston on the play and kept him down, which is what a lineman is supposed to do! On the flip side, a defensive lineman's goal is to break away from an OL, not grab his arm and pull him down with a twisting arm bar. Somehow I knew you wouldn't be able to take your jersey off and look at things subjectively. I can tell you this. I've watched every UM game this year and this is the least penalized team we have had in a long time. Very few penalties due to lack of discipline. And I can't recall any that measured up to the 4 or 5 personal foul penalties MSU had in one game. So unless you want to come up with some video proof, your first sentence is pure OSU BS.

I hate to be whiny, so I will post a few videos with my thoughts and ask the masses for yours. I found the Michigan State game to be very disturbing Saturday because of how dirty MSU played. I know football is a rough game, but I think the videos speak for themselves, especially if you take them all in the context of one game. I'm hoping William Gholston will be suspended this week against Wisconsin. I hope I am doing these links right. I would appreciate if you guys can take your team jerseys off and give objective feedback. Would you want this crap done to your team? The following two videos show William Gholston taking down Michigan tackle Taylor Lewan with an arm bar (an arm known to be hurting already - he missed all of spring and most of summer workouts due to the elbow on that arm). What you don't see is at the very end, there is an additional twisting of the arm after they hit the ground. There was an obvious intent to injure here. If you doubt it, you'll see another piece of work by Gholston soon. The next video is of Gholston throwing a punch at Lewan. He was flagged, but not kicked out. I guess you could stretch your view to call this a shove, but I'm not buying it. Next is Rashad White body slam of Denard Robinson. Probably the least egregious of the group, but when looking at them as a whole, I think it fits. The headline says Jerrel Worthy, which is incorrect. Another by choir boy Gholston. This one doesn't look bad on the initial full speed look at the play, but check out the 2nd and 3rd angles. I know s*** goes on in the pile, but he tried to rip his freakin' head off. The last one knocked Denard out of the game. I can't remember if he came back in or not. The hit itself wasn't that late, if he would have pulled his hands back. But the slam to the ground twisting to make sure he landed on top of Denard leaves me with zero doubt they had some kind of bounty on knocking Robinson out of the game. That hit on the QB is not allowed in any league.

QUOTE (Brian @ Oct 17, 2011 -> 06:42 AM) Ha. I can't DVR a game and watch it as if it is live. I just look at the score and stats. I catch highlights on BTN. I don't work too many more Sats so have time to watch games now. And do you see how much I post in the TV thread because of my DVR? I obviously have no life right now. I hear ya. Saturdays are about the only thing in life fun for me. That's a slight exaggeration, but I get your point. As I said before, if we can beat Purdue, take one on the road from Iowa or Illinois and split with Nebraska and Ohio we'll be good at 9-3. One slip we'll be 8-4, which won't be bad, but it won't taste as nice if it comes in the form of losing the last 2 or 3 games. When you get a minute, check out the video clips I am going to post sometime today.

QUOTE (Brian @ Oct 16, 2011 -> 05:09 PM) I have only seen the 2nd half of the Notre Dame game and this all the Michigan football I have seen this season because of work on Sat. Didn't even realize they were ranked 11. That is absurd since they haven't played anybody. They were ranked 11th only because they were undefeated and Michigan. Way too premature. As Rock said, Hoke said they didn't belong there. My guess is they ultimately land somewhere between 15 and 25. Brian, one of the improvements this year has been the defense has been creating turnovers, which they did very little of the past few years. You know they do have a thing called a DVR now, right?

Michigan's season (at least the W/L record) is going as I had hoped. 8-4 was always the target in my mind with 9-3 or 7-5 possible. At this point I would be disappointed with 7-5 and think 9-3 is realistic. There isn't a team on the schedule UM can't beat, but possibly sans Purdue, not a team they might not lose to. Before the season, I looked at their current 5 game stretch with 4 on the road and hoped they would go 3-2. A win over Purdue at home and beating Iowa or Illinois on the road would make that happen. It would be nice to split the final two home games against Nebraska and OSU, which would make for a 9-3 season. None of it will be easy. As far as the particulars, the defense is better than I expected, yet still has a long way to go. The offensive transition has been tough, but expected. Pretty much, the team goes as Denard goes. He doesn't have to do it all, but he has to be better at getting the ball to his receivers. He can't run the ball for 200 yards/game. Some days (or halves of games) he can be horrible throwing the ball. Other times he gets in a reason and he is better than adequate. That is what will be necessary to finish 9-3. If not, we're looking at 8-4 or a meltdown as in the past few years happens. I think this group has a little more fortitude than past teams, but the next several weeks will tell us for sure.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Oct 6, 2011 -> 09:55 AM) What a joke. Leave one conference for the Big East, then leave them within a year. TCU never played in the Big East. They weren't scheduled to jon the conference until next year. Add to that, two Big East teams left the conference in the interim, I have no problem with TCU taking a 2nd look and deciding the Big 12 is a better opportunity.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Oct 6, 2011 -> 09:29 AM) They are going to clean house as far as coaches go at the end of the season, although I could see Fickell, Heacock and maybe Vrabel staying on. Its not that they're the problem though, its the lack of policing around boosters and kids from ages 18-21. Its a systemic problem at every school that right now is getting attention because pretty much everyone would like to see OSU get caught for something. The boosters in columbus need to know from the new head coach that this s*** wont be tolerated and then the coach needs to throw kids off the team that violate said rules. When I say clean house, I mean Gene Smith and the whole damned compliance department. They can't blame all this on Tressel and someone within the school has to be responsible.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Oct 4, 2011 -> 04:31 PM) Its trickling out as we speak, however the NCAA has decided they can determine a workable wage for all players regardless of market or job title. Mostly because they couldnt get any info on the booster himself. Trickling in? As in there is more yet? At what point is OSU going to realize they need to clean house and just Tressel is not enough??

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Oct 3, 2011 -> 01:34 PM) Ugh, cant wait for this season to be over and done with. Now an "employment issue" keeping players off the field. The NCAA now is in a position to determine the correct compensation for people working jobs off campus. Just get this s*** over. Rock, I know this has been tough but I want to ask you one question. I won't ask for any details unless you want to give them. But awhile ago, after Tressel was let go I believe, you indicated there was more to come that you knew about. Did the stuff you were referring to ever come out? I guess I got the sense it was something big, but at this point nothing major has come out since that time, unless I am forgetting something.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Oct 3, 2011 -> 06:52 AM) Most likely to go undefeated: 1 Boise State 2 Wisconsin 3 Stanford 4 Oklahoma State 5 Alabama 6 LSU 7 Oklahoma 8 Georgia Tech 9 Texas 10 Clemson 11 Michigan 12 Illinois 13 Kansas State I would set the over/under at 3 teams. If I had to put money down, it would be Wisconsin-Stanford in the title game, with Boise absolutely destroying some Big Ten or Pac-12 team in the Rose Bowl. Looking at that list, it makes me shake my head that Michigan is 11th. While I don't think there is a sure loss on Michigan's schedule, there is no way they run the table. I believe they can win every game, but can also lose many games remaining on their schedule.