It is a commonly held article of faith among Michigan fans that the Free Press is biased in favor of Michigan State and against Michigan. This belief is not without basis. When comparing their recent coverage of Michigan and Michigan State, the two teams have clearly been treated differently. In the Free Press investigation on Michigan's football practices, the Free Press showed a blatant disregard for anything resembling journalistic ethics and wrote a story that did not reflect reality. Here's a repost of what I've written elsewhere detailing my thoughts on the matter:

Special thanks to all the members of MM, you guys did an excellent job, this should be a fun segment.
1. What are your expectations for Michigan football this year?
Hulk:  My expectations for Michigan football this year is to improve. I think most people would be satisfied with the football season if we can see marked improvement ranging from such things as not giving up first downs on 3rd and 30 at a 75% clip, all the players seeming to know where to be at all times, and many less "oh shit" moments. I expect to get back to beating up on MACakes and lesser B10 schools. I expect we won't be blown out of games before the second half, as has happened many times in these past two years. I expect a bowl appearance at the very least, even if its the Little Caesars 5 dollar hot n ready pizza with a order of chicken fries and a cold big gulp bowl.

JC: Michigan needs to get back to doing that it does best. Beating the likes of Illinois, Purdue, Michigan State, and consistently being able to compete against Wisconsin, Iowa, Penn State, and ultimately Ohio State. The offense needs to be able to grin and take time as well as score quickly. Defensively, the Wolverines need to stop the run. There is no getting around that. Limiting the big play will not only help the team's morale, but reduce the stress on the offense to score and win shootouts.

SCS100: I would expect Michigan to go at least .500 during the regular season, with a 7-6 or 8-5 record being the most likely depending on the bowl opponent. Many games this season are toss ups, and a few close wins/losses will ultimately define this season.

Seth9: Offense: The offense is an interesting situation this year. First of all, improvement on the line (assuming that Molk doesn’t disappear for the year again) and at QB seems virtually guaranteed, which makes the future look much brighter. With a supposedly much improved Denard and a stronger line, the offense should be much more versatile. We can also expect excellent play once again out of our slot receivers. On the other hand, I’m worried about production from our running backs and wideouts. We’re likely to see regression from the wideout position with Stonum replacing Matthews and Hemmingway’s injury history is worrisome. Meanwhile, while we have a relatively solid core of RBs, I don’t see Smith, Shaw, Cox, or anyone else on our roster that can replicate the production of a healthy Brandon Minor. That all said, the increased versatility of the offense and improvement from the QB position should lead to moderate improvement.
Defense: The defense is now going to start a redshirt freshman converted WSR at deep safety. Brandon Graham and Donovan Warren are gone. Even with fairly significant improvement from all returning players thanks to more than one year with a defensive coordinator, the pass defense is going to be bad.
Special Teams: We lost Zoltan Mesko. They are getting worse.
Overall Expectations: The presumed improvement from the QB position should lead to some mild improvement, although the pass defense could really sink us this year.

Dark Blue: I am an eternal optimist, so I’m going to go way out on that stupid limb and say 9 wins this year. The offense is going to be a force to be reckoned with. Look out Big Ten because its going to be ugly as fuck for you.

Shredder: My exceptions are always high. I think that's in anyone's nature when you are a die hard. But saying that I see the low being six wins and the high being eight wins. The end of the schedule is pretty brutal and saying we get through the first four with out any issues could be tough as well. Six wouldn't make me happy but for some odd reason seven would. Not sure what the one more game does for me. Eight would have running around with my pants off. I rather see a up and down year as appose to the 2009 up up down down down... oh god down year that is was.
I expect a very good Offense, not great but very good and hoping for a average defense. If the Defense is even worse than 09 then Rich Rod maybe out of time and luck. Lets hope some fresh new faces on the D can turn the team around.



2. Who do you anticipate having a breakout season, on both offense and defense?


Hulk:  I'll give you 2 names on offense that I think will have outstanding years. Lewan and Shaw.
People seem to be really down on Shaw because he hasn't been able to put it together and have a breakout year. I think it's a little too soon to rule Shaw out of being a homerun back that this offense needs. Last year, Carlos Brown and Brandon Minor were both Seniors that brought more to the table than Shaw. There's no shame in being a backup to a good back like Minor. Many have stated that they think Shaw lacks the vision to be able to find the holes in this offense. The beautiful thing about this offense is once the QB decides who is taking the ball, it is a one cut and get up the field offense. There's not much dancing around and if Shaw hits a crease, there's not too many defenders that have the speed to keep Shaw out of the endzone.
Then there's Lewan. The last few years we have seen the rock bottom of OL play. On several plays, I swear we would have been better not trying to block at all. That should all come to stop this year. Lewan is good. And when I mean good, I mean he has the potential to be WOAH good. Just take one look at Lewan and tell me he's not primed to anchor that side of the line for 4 years. Excellent size, long arms, athletic build, quick feet. He has a nasty streak and should have no problem getting to the 2nd level. He has been praised for his quick feet and excellent technique. He should be able to slide step to maintain leverage and use his long arms to negate counter moves. He has a chance to go down in history as one of the greatest LT's to ever strap on a Winged helmet.
I guess you want my breakout player on defense as well. I believe that JT Floyd should be a pretty good player come this fall. Last year Floyd looked slow, flat footed and out of place most of the time. WOTS is JT put in a ton of time to prepare himself to lock up the CB spot opposite Woolfolk. CB is a amazing position when you take time to study it. While it helps to have the closing speed if you do get beat, it isn't something that is necessary. CB's that are very techniquely advanced when it comes to footwoork, hand position, and a general feel for the game have a good chance to diagnose what the WR is trying to do and position himself in the best place to defend it. It also helps that we will probably see alot of cover 3 and Floyd might get a chance to play bump this year, where he can use his physicality to dictate where the reliever releases to.

JC: Craig Roh will reach double-digit sacks as the team's only legitimate pass-rushing threat. On offense, Roy Rountree will catch 50+ passes and be named to one of the All-Big Ten teams.

SCS100: I anticipate breakout on offense, if nothing else for the fact that the offense will be a lot less turnover prone. I don’t anticipate seeing Denard or Tate making as many poor decisions when it comes to arm punts or fumbles via the way the ball has been held.

Seth9: Offense: Taylor Lewan may not be the second coming of Jake Long, but by all accounts he looks to be the frontrunner for the LT spot and a strong offensive lineman next year.
Defense: Will Campbell is my selection here, as he’ll be given every chance to start at nose tackle so that Mike Martin can shift out to defensive end and the most talent possible on the line. He also is definitely the most hyped guy on the defensive side of the ball not to have established himself yet.

Dark Blue: I’m thinking that Denard will have the breakout year on offense. We got a small taste of what he could do during the spring game, and I think he builds on that and ends the year as an All Big Ten performer. On Defense, I’m going to say Obi Ezeh has an All American caliber year. Its time for Obi to step it up and be the player we all think he’s capable of being.

Shredder: On offense it has to be one of the two. Either a QB or a RB. If one doesn't break out than I think the season will be a bust and Rich Rod will be out. I don't even care who at this point. Someone just needs to step up. It's no secret I like Michael Shaw and I think Mike Cox seems good if he can get his head straight. Those would be my two guess for RBs and for QBs.... Just flip a coin because I am as clueless as the rest of Michigan nation on who will emerge.
On Defense I see Roh to continue to get better and become a decent leader. Roh may have a "meh" year in the stats area but his leadership will help this team more than his play on the field. I expect a true blow up year his JR year. It couldn't hurt if Will Campbell or someone at safety stepped up as well.



3. Toughest opponent? Opponent that we can't overlook?


Hulk: Toughest opponent should be Ohio State. Once again, Ohio State adds alot of good players in this past recruiting class to a very talented, experienced team. It obviously all starts with Pryor. He can show up on one day and look like Vince Young reincarnate, and the next look like he should be playing pee wee football. Ohio State's season will depend on how consistent Pryor can be. Pryor, Herron, and Saine all return to a pretty potent rushing attack. Devier Posey and Dane Sansenbacher are good targets. Most of their offensive line is back, which should help protect Pryor. Then there is OSU's defense. The only big loss is Kurt Coleman. They return almost everyone from the number 1 overall defense in the B10 last year. If they can get past Miami (YTM) the schedule looks good for them until the final stretch where they play PSU, Iowa, and Michigan.
I also think Iowa deserves a mention here.
Teams we shouldn't overlook. Every single last stanking one of them. I don't think that it should be a problem because I believe we are significantly better than the teams below us and you can't overlook the teams that should be better than you.
I guess I'll throw out a caution sign for the UConn game even though I don't believe it will be that close. First game of the season, all the BS of the offseason, having a chance to redeem yourselves. Shouldn't be a problem but UConn is probably the biggest unknown when it comes to how good or bad they are.

JC: Ohio State will probably be the best team Michigan faces. They are extremely talented all over the field and will be well-coached. But don't overlook Wisconsin. They return 10 starters from the Big 10's best offense and will be strong on both sides of the ball.

SCS100: Toughest opponent is Ohio State. We win = Cleveland getting LeBron back. Opponent that should not be overlooked is UCONN. A fast start to this season is key, and thinking that UCONN is another Big East team that Rich Rod will flatten could prove fatal (think back to 2007 and complacency).

Seth9: Toughest Opponent: Ohio State. This needs no explanation.
Opponent not to overlook: Indiana. First of all, we are playing them on the road and they are going to be exceptionally motivated after narrowly losing to us last year. Secondly, they return eight starters on offense, including two talented receivers in Tandon Doss and Damion Belcher. Their defense looks to be poor this year, but between a reasonably strong passing attack and home-field advantage, they could win this game that looks to be a shootout.

Dark Blue: Toughest opponent with out any doubt is Ohio State, The Buckeyes are once again poised to make a Big Ten Championship run. I think that beating them is still probably a year away, but that is why they play the games, anything can happen. As far as opponents we can’t overlook, I would have to say Indiana. This was a team who stuck with us for 59 minutes last year, and they return their whole offense. This good easily be a trap game. Don’t overlook the Hoosiers.

Shredder:  Toughest is a toss up between OSU and UW. I can see UW trucking us with their monster line and human bull dozer John Clay. I can also see OSU and the shoe over whelming a young QB in Tate or Denard. At least those two games are back to back.... ugh.
We can't over look Indiana. We haven't been good on the road for many reasons and the pistol is a different offense that did give us fits last year. The Hoosiers are more than capable of beating us if we show up and don't take them serious. Seems like this team would after last years scare.



4. What can MM do to help U of M rid the world of demons in 2010?


Hulk:  We can only do what we have been doing since the start of the site. Provide a place for people to vent about almost anything, discuss almost anything (except Harry Potter or Boxxy) , and fraternize. We have a bunch of art and even make fun of Cindy Crosby alot. Baseball gets tempers flaring. We have people with football experience and knowledge, life experience help, and general wackiness. We are a bunch of Michigan fans that bleed Maize n' Blue through and through. We even have a resident Domer fan, even though we usually shun him.
MM  is a special site. We are like a beacon in the never-ending night. MM tries to stay objective and fair, while being loyal to the university that we love.

JC: I don't know if any of us are 6"2, 220+ lbs or so and can play linebacker like Lamarr Woodley or Davis Harris, but that would sure help

SCS100:  Not post Tater’s bullshit. In all seriousness, just post rational thoughts, and don’t go after sensationalist material. And if said material appears elsewhere and needs to be countered, do it thoughtfully.

Seth9: Engage in non-vegetarian practices or make MS Paints

Dark Blue:  At MM we have a duty to keep the MGoIdiot in line. That is what we can do for U of M. Idiots beware.

Shredder: Hunt them with special gear, capture them and sell them to the highest bidder to help pay for a better CBOX.



5. What can we do to help save the Melmets? If you don't know what a melmet is refer to MM 171, towards the end of it.


Hulk: I think we can save the melmets by not having TLP drunk typing at LBs or DB not running around like a tard every time someone makes a dumb mistype.

Seth9: The Melmets are doomed. There is nothing to be done

Dark Blue: To help save the MELMET, we must convince Seth9 to post more, every time Seth posts something a MELMET gets its wings. To further save the endangered MELMETS Michigan must score more and win more because every time The Victors is played a MELMET is birthed.

Shredder: If we rid the world of helmets than teams will be forced to buy melmets... Which have been proven to be safer.



6. How many trips are you playing on making to Michigan Dtadium this year?


Hulk: Oh how I would love to make it to every home game. Alas, I now work 3rds and overtime is a given on this job. Its so complicated I actually have to plan which Saturdays I get off. Damn Commies making people work on weekends. I know I will make it to at least one and am hoping for 2. I'm looking at buying UConn tickets and will start looking for MSU tickets shortly ( /winkwink CMR)

JC: Hopefully a few games. I'll probably be at the Ohio State game at worse, but that will be in the cesspool that is Columbus Ohio.


SCS100: Student tickets pay off

Seth9: Eight—Seven football, one hockey game.

Dark Blue: Only 2 to MSU and Wisky.

Shredder: I dunno, thought about skipping a game this year and pooling my money for ND 2011 but... I always crush under the pressure and the Dtadium calls me from Grand Rapid and I show up. Maybe catch a crappy cheap game.

7. How many wins?


Hulk: I think we will go 7-5 this year. I think we should be good enough to win 8-9 games this year, but I just don't trust the defense or youth to not lose a game that we should win.

JC: 7 wins and a bowl victory.

 SCS100: 7 Regular season victories, plus bowl game win.

Seth9: Seven—I’m predicting wins over Connecticut, UMass, Bowling Green, Indiana, MSU, Illinois, and Purdue. I give us a decent chance of beating Notre Dame, Iowa, and Penn State (thanks to their QB issues) too, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we lost some games we shouldn’t too.

Dark Blue: I’m going to be the most optimistic here and say 9 wins, whether that is 8 regular season wins and a bowl win, or 9 regular season wins and a bowl loss I have yet to decide.

Shredder: Seven. I will go right in the middle of my high and low. Anything lower will be a Episode III Darth Vader: NoOOOOOOOOooooooooooOOOoooooo moment and anything higher will be a Ewok episode VI party moment full of Storm troopers melmets being used as musical drums.


8. Finally Is Rich Rodriguez finished?


Hulk: I just checked facebook and indeed, RR just finished his PBJ sandwhich with the crust cutoff. I'll check back later and let you know if he finishes anything else.

JC: Hell no.

SCS100: No. Anything higher than 7-6 and he stays

Seth9: Since I’m betting on seven wins, no. A bowl bid and winning season should be enough to keep his job.

Dark Blue: As long as he wins 7 games he’ll be back in 2011.

Shredder: My crystal ball says... No. A good solid seven wins with a nice bowl showing saves him. But is that just the die hard in me wanting that to happen? It's hard to tell the two apart these days.

Ok, so now that tickets have arrived, here is a brief overview of what the highlights are for the season:

Everyone knows the schedule by now, so there's no point in reviewing that. The one item of note from the season is that there is only one Maize Out and it is for the Michigan State game.

As for the Big Chill, as CMR has noted, the Children of Yost have gotten screwed and put into section 33, which is one of the worst spots possible (endzone, nowhere near distracting enough for State players). Congrats Michigan AD, you completely dropped the ball on this one. Now figure out a way to fix it before you get a massive flood of emails complaining about this. /end rant

In Major League Baseball, the official strikezone consists of pitches that are above the batter's knees, below the batter's shoulders, and over the plate. This zone is generally more constricted in reality, as umpires rarely call the "high strike", or a pitch between the shoulders and the chest. Some umpires have even more constricted strikezones, while others have their own very interesting quirks.

Figured I share a few pictures from my offline Michigan dynasty. Oh and BTW a huge flaw has been found in the dynasty, buyer beware. When getting to season 4 or 5 the overall of the teams start nose dive causing game play to plummet(dumb player,dropped balls,bad blocking,missed FGs). It's due to the incoming freshmen's AWR rating being way to low and not progressing enough through out the years. EA needs to get a patch out for this ASAP otherwise this guy will never buy again and this time... I mean it. Whats the point of dynasty if I can only play 4 years? I play 10+ most the time. Here is a LINK to the issue

The Road to Redemption is a long and winding road, with many snares and traps, looking to snag the unsuspecting and send them back to the West Virginia coal mines. The black lung disease is waiting for us, deep in these mines, we have no oxygen tanks, we have no air filters, all we have is the hope and perseverance to overcome the mess that has descended upon us.

Rich Rodriguez was a media darling when he descended on Ann Arbor. ESPN loved this guy, funny how things can change over the course of a couple terrible years. We, as fans of The University of Michigan, have witnessed just about everything you could witness the last two years. We have watched the MSM tear RR down, and leave the pieces scattered in the wake. We have seen our proud football institution get slammed from every angle. There has been NCAA violations, resulting from TOO MUCH STRETCHING. Way to go Dick Fraud, way to bring down the Greatest Tradition ever.

I kid obviously, anyone who knows anything about Dark Blue, knows that I’m all in for Michigan, no matter who the corch is. I want RR to succeed here. I want to watch the Zone Read option, torch the Buckeyes time and time again. I want to see this Florida kids, who have never played a game in temps under 50 degrees, Come out in shirtsleeves in the middle of November. I want to see Denard Robinson, as Pat White 2.0. I actually that was a lie, I think when its all said and done, we’ll think of Pat White, as DROB 1.0.

I’m going to be honest right here, all we have to do is WIN SOME FUCKING FOOTBALL GAMES. That’s it.  RR has continued to recruit well, bringing in his type of players from all over this great country. We witnessed, at times last year, an offense that is going to scare the shit out of defenses. This offense is going to be better this year. This could be one of the most potent offenses in Michigan history. Everyone returns, the offensive line is deeper, we hopefully will have a couple of running backs who won’t get injured when a feather lands on them the wrong way.

The Road to Redemption is a strange road, it is a road that nobody wants to have to travel down, but remember what doesn’t kill us only makes us stronger. With all of the shit U of M has endured the last two years, we should be strong motherfuckers.

To clarify the now outdated liveblog schedule on the sidebar, I will attempt to set in stone the schedule for the remainder of the summer. The schedule is as follows:

Monday-Saturday @ 11:30 or so. Sundays will be off, unless someone else wants to start one. If I'm running late, or can't do one, I'll try and let everyone know via cbox, so that someone else can start it. Once August 26th comes, I head back to campus, and I don't know what will happen at that point. Hope this makes things a bit clearer.

Apologies to Seth, who posted something useful right before I made this. Read it first.

Magglio Ordonez has fractured his right ankle and will be out for 6-8 weeks, meaning that he'll return at some point in September. This is, in a nutshell, the end of the Tigers playoff hopes unless they manage to come up with a bat to fill the 3-spot in the lineup, which simply isn't going to happen, as the Tigers are already at a big disadvantage to Minnesota and Chicago with regards to their depth and schedule.

This post will have little to do with sports, the University of Michigan, or anything normally discussed here. It will instead be solely dedicated to the primary topic of this incorrectly named liveblog. If you do not care to read about Lost, or you are in the process of watching Lost, then I recommend simply ignoring this and moving on. Of course, you would have done that anyway, so this entire paragraph is redundant...

For many, these past few years have been a dark time and scary time. Everything we had come to know of Michigan football has been turned on its ear. We grew tired of the M standing for mediocrity. We grew tired of the solidarity of Fort Schembechler. We grew tired of zone stretch left until we either punted or scored. We needed a shake-up. Some new blood. We wanted a new Schembechler.

When Senior Troy Woolfolk arrived on Campus a few years ago, he was known as famous U of M running back Butch Woolfolks son. Butch who was a major contributor in Bo’s first Rose Bowl win, admittedly steered his son towards U of M. Hoping to become another one of the famous father son combinations at Michigan, Troy always felt he was his fathers son, not his own man.

Well not anymore. Troy is set to lead a revamped secondary into the 2010 season, people now know him as Troy, not Butch’s son. I think that young Mr. Woolfolk can be one of the best corners in the Big Ten. He realizes he is the leader of the secondary. This is a unit that was burned repeatedly last year, for big plays. Troy knows its time to leave him mark on the great U of M tradition.

The secondary loses top cover corner Donnavan Warren, who left early for the NFL. Woolfolk and JT Floyd figure to be the starting corners. Floyd, who a lot of people with the time, thought was the most improved performer in the spring. I really have a lot of  confidence that this duo can be very good. Floyd is a strong physical kid who I feel is going to develop into a shutdown corner.

The Wolverine 2010 football preview issue, has Cam Gordon listed as the projected starting FS. Cam is a redshirt freshman with tons of athletic ability. No experience to speak of but I think Cam bodes well as the last line of defense for the Wolverines. Jordan Kovacs is projected to be the starter at the Bandit position while Thomas Gordon is the projected starter at the Spur position. I’m not much of an x’s and o’s guy but I believe that both of these positions are expected to not only help contain the run, but also be able to help out in pass coverage. We all know what Kovacs can do. The former walk on has been the target of a lot of hate from the MICHiverse. However this was a guy who was an All Freshman Big Ten performer and a Freshman All American, this dude is going to be a beast, as long as he doesn’t have to be relied on for deep coverage.

The secondary is a little bit thin, with a whole lot of youth coming in. I would expect true freshman Cullen Christian to be a contributor this year. This is a 4 star recruit who has all of the tools to be a shut-down corner. Tony Gibson still has Justin Turner listed at corner, for all the talk of moving Turner to saftey, this is what Gibson says:

With Justin, the bad rap he gets is he's too big and he can't move as well, but I think that's completely false. Gibson said, I think the biggest thing with him is he doesn't have to strain to cover ground because he's so smooth. He's a 6-2 kid that can run, and it doesn't look like he's full speed all the time, but if you watch the ground he covers he is. I get on him in film, but then you watch him and everywhere he goes he's closing on people. I have no second thoughts about him being a corner. He can be a corner, and a good one.

Hmmmm sounds like Turner may have a future at the cornerback position. Vlad Emilien is listed as the top reserve free safety, hopefully he can climb back from all of those knee injuries and become a factor in the 2010 secondary.

I think this unit is poised to be much improved this year. There is more depth, Jordan Kovacs won’t be wandering around at the deep safety position, things are looking up. I think if this unit is even a little bit competent this is a team that could win 8-9 games.

A side note in programming. Recently there has been some Ad Hominem attacks against certain contributors to the liveblogs.  This is completely unnecessary. MM is supposed to be the spot that any Michigan fan can come to and not be harassed.  It’s fine to joke around, we all do a lot of that but making fun of a posters family or ideals is not going to be tolerated. I will raise the MM banhammer. If you don’t like something someone says on a LB, either ignore it or respond, but do so in an intelligent manner. Don’t act like you’re 5.

Also for your enjoyment, more music I’m hoping will contribute to the 2010 Wolverines success.

 

The 2010 Football Preview issue of The Wolverine arrived on my doorstep yesterday morning. I intently spent the day reading the issue from cover to cover, hungry for the latest Michigan Wolverines football news. While reading I came across an article written by Michael Spath on projected starting DE Greg Banks. I read and I read, and the more I read the more my jaw dropped. A brief excerpt from the article:

Bank's story took it's most precipitous turn in middle school. With his parents out of work and unable to pay the rent, the family, which included a younger brother, constantly hopped around looking for boarding. Banks slept in cars, in abandoned homes and buildings, in seedy motels where the prostitution in adjacent rooms made for sleepless nights, and in homeless shelters where there was no guarantee the entire family could stay together. Even for a single night.

Holy shit, imagine how my jaw dropped, reading about a projected starter who, through no fault of his own, had overcome a mountain of bullshit to be a POSSIBLE major contributor to the Revamped Wolverines 2010 Defense.

Banks holds no ill will against his parents

They did everything, and anything, they could to make sure we at least had shoes and pants and a shirt so we could go to school. They did their very best to give their children a chance

Here is a guy who fits perfectly with what Corch Rodriguez is trying to accomplish here in the MICHiverse. The road has been a long and hard one, for both Rodriguez and Banks. Just imagine the joy that these two men will feel when Michigan comes out of the tunnel each week and proceeds to slaughter their opponents (not to say that the other 100+ people associated with the team wouldn’t feel joy). This is a scene I’m rooting for with my poor diseased little black heart.

Jordan Kovacs has been my favorite Wolverine since about the end of the Notre Dame game. I still love Kovacs with the same intensity that a Wolverine eating Buckeyes feels. However Greg Banks has made me realize that not all of these kids come from picture perfect backgrounds. And maybe we should on occasion cut them some slack, not everyone has traveled down a road this tough.

Also I’m dedicating this song as the 2010 theme for Michigan football.

 

Well I have finally spent some time with NCAA 11 over the weekend. I just beat MSU 24-0(Couisons is out for the season). I am about to up it to All-American since I seem to be killing people. I have downloaded the game to my X360 and I recommend that since the game does have a bit of a slow down or lag in the menus. The game looks amazing. NCAA finally doesn't get 2nd rate graphics. You can tell by the pictures how good this game looks. The new color system really adds some great deep colors and the jerseys look different at night which is really cool.

Dynasty-Offline

Started my UM dynasty after the rosters hit the net. I did need to do some work to the Michigan roster to make it right. The defense was a bit of a mess but I got everything straight. If you wanna DL my roster than download from R3Vb0t. I feel it's pretty good(yes Shaw is now the fastest RB).

Edit-One mistake I made was I put the wrong Gordon at safety so just make sure to put Cam in.

EA overhauled the whole dynasty layout and menu's. It feels a lot more streamlined and fluid. I have never been one to go look through all the stats to see where my guys stack up in national ranks but now I can without even going into the stats as there is now a window when you highlight "stats" that shows where players rank in different areas. Like Tate has 5 TD and is 173rd in the nation in TD passes. It shows the top 5 and than where your player ranks. It's nice since I don't have to go looking to see where he ranks. It's also nice that half tackles are counted now and sacks.

It still has all the same things like the Heisman leaders and all that. Formation subs are a welcomed return. It's been one of the many reasons I stopped buying the game the last few years. For Michigan it's a must since all the RBs bring something to the table. I use them all in different situations and packages. I spent a good amount of time just getting the formation subs right. The practice is also something I never used much but have used to become good at the option reads. I now feel like I could run RR offense with making the right choice in the option read(no I couldn't).

Recruiting



Recruiting is something I always liked but has become stale in the last few years. Players hanging up on you and there not being much to it other than going through the motions to get your ten 5 stars and twelve 4 stars to sign. It's been revamped and for the good. Now there is a difficulty level which helps a lot. I am no longer just getting one stud after another. When it's all said and done I will be lucky to land two 5 stars. I am guessing I might get one.

It is all a point system now. I can see how far ahead I am or how far behind I am. No more just guessing or being hung up on. It's great because I now know when not to waste time on a recruit anymore. When I am 400 points behind I just focus my time on new or other recruits. You can even take points away from other schools which is cool(negative recruiting YAY!). You even get bonus points for recruiting in your pipeline states which makes winning the states you have pipelines in even more important.

You now are given topics at random. Once I get the topic I can now pick and find out how important it is to the recruit,pitch my school on the topic,compare my school to other school and take away points,make a promise,change the topic(you only get to do this three times per recruit) and schedule a visit. You can also sway a recruit on a topic if they feel low about it.

The new system is just more fluid and doesn't seem like such a chore. I am sure at some point it could become a bit more of a chore but I really like the points thing. I get some dumb high out of seeing how many points I can add up and take away from other schools. It's almost like it's own game.



Game Play



The ESPN presentation is great and no more Lee Corso doing play by play is awesome. The commentary is still stale and needs to be redone but it's not awful anymore since Lee is gone. Seeing UM come out and hit the banner is great and helps on so many levels for me since I am not one to skip the pre-game or post game stuff. I wish there was a bit of a longer shot of the players hitting the banner but I can't complain much. The player motion looks great too. No more sliding around on the field. The players look like they are really making steps in the turf and feel as if they have more weight to them. Shaw feels a lot different than Cox.

Offense



A lot has changed with the 120 ways to win. The spread fills like the spread and so on. I am so into the option read or zone read. Its fun and works. It never used to work. It works great now.
I was a bit disappointed that UM didnt have a wild cat for Denard but you can still do this in a five wide spread. There are many new plays and the whole offense feels fresh and new.

The blocking is a huge reason for this. Springing holes have never looked this good or felt this sweet. The WR even block... I know I was shocked when I saw it since they never did in any of the previous games. I have gotten in the open and Odoms made one final block for me to run it into the endzone with Shaw. It was magical. The running game is a lot of fun. It's my whole game. I have had no issues fumbling either. Some have reported too many fumbles. I have not had this problem.

The passing is a lot harder. It seems like the corners and LBs mirror your WRs sometime. It can make it hard to hit for a deep pass but is a challenge. It might get a patch to fix some of this but it's not a killer by any means. You really just need to pass at the right time. No late passes anymore.

Defense



Not much has changed on this side of the ball. Running the 3-3-5 has been fun for blitzing. You can now hold B and switch to anyone on the field with the stick instead of cycling through everyone.

Getting sacks is a challenge but I have done well with RVB. The new "pro-tak" system is awesome. It's great seeing 3 and 4 guys tackle one player. Tackles don't look like canned animations anymore. They seems to have a lot of variety. The D is smart and will do it's job most the time. The safeties can no longer cover the whole field which is nice.

There isn't much to say about the defense. Not a lot of changes but I felt the offense was the side that needed the biggest help and it got that.

After the game is over it goes through a few highlights and pictures from the game which is neat.

Online Dynasty



A lot is the same with as the offline but they add dynasty wire which is neat. It uploads pictures and a story of your game to your leagues dynasty hub. You can edit these and make them funny or whatever you want. The recruiting online is nice and makes things faster and more efficient. I killed some time at work doing it and was fun to be able to just go home and play the game. It keeps my wife was wanting to kill me with my game time on the TV. You can't move up to another job online or leave the conference but those are the only draw backs. My friend,bro and I are doing a bottom feeders of the big east dynasty and I took USF. It should be fun since we are already taking jabs at each other with dynasty wire.

Overall



The game is great and headed in the right direction for once. I haven't bought it in two years. I feel sorry for people who bought 10. They just stole money from you. It was a repackage of 09. 11 feels fresh on offense and in the recruiting. The online dynasty wire is a nice touch and I didn't even bother with other modes since I couldn't care less about playing a football game with mascots and doing campus legend(which hasn't be touched or changed). It feels very diffrent from Madden which is great. The game isn't perfect but will keep you busy for months. The only glitch I ran into was when I returned a kickoff for a TD and than IU kicked off to me again... but it didn't happen again when I returned another kick in online play. My final MM score is...

MM Score 9.3


NCAA 11 Pictures

Brandon Inge, greatest baseball player in the world, will miss the next 4-6 weeks after suffering a non-displaced fracture to his left hand. Roland Emmerich has already agreed to make a movie based on the occurrence.

Every day each one of us has the chance to redeem ourselves, for something we have done. Rich Rod gets this chance soon enough, to make up for God-awful 2008 and 2009 football seasons. The construction of this road has been going on for awhile, it started in 2008 with the signing of his first recruiting class, and continues to this day. The pieces are there its time to make this thing work. Can he do it? I myself think so, however I’m not Miss Cleo, I don’t have the gift of being a psychic.

However like I said the pieces are in place, if RR gets it done, he will get a loud standing ovation, from Dark Blue, along with several ridiculous posts, about how I called it. Although there is thousands of people that have called for his success, not all of them write for a well written blog. Don’t worry guys I will be your voice.
So what does Corch Rod have to do to be successful? Normally I’d use bullets here but you know what, its a time for starting over, and I’m going to do this in paragraph form. What’s the worse thing that can happen? You won’t read it, no big deal.

First of all Rodriguez has to do things the right away, THE LEADERS AND BEST way. This means no extra stretching time(really no shit?). I’m sure that all of the players know this, and doing the hard work the right way will be second nature, to these kids.

Secondly there needs to be offensive leadership. Michigan is poised to do this well, whether its Tate Forcier, David Molk, Steve Schilling, or someone else. This team is deep on offense, and some of these guys are going to have to step up and be a LEADER. I fully anticipate this team having a record setting offensive year, but this can’t be done without leadership.

Thirdly there cannot be anymore missed assignments on the defensive side of the ball. I don’t care if the top 3 playmakers on the ‘09 team are gone. If the 11 players on defense make the plays they are supposed to, fill the gaps that they are supposed to, this will be a very good football team. There is senior leadership in Ezeh, and Mouton, There is all kinds of talent. Execution, execution, execution, execution, execution …….. If this happens I have no worries about our defense.

Fourthly and lastly, what does RR have left to lose? This guy has taken cheap shots from every member of the MSM. He has had “real” Michigan Men beat him down. What else does he have to lose? He can go out there each and every week and let it all hang loose. Why not, if Michigan underperforms in 2010,  there probably won’t be a 2011 for Corch Rod. So Corch if you read this(lmao) go out there and let it fly.

Also CMR, is working on a project that is so fucking rad, I nearly had to pluck my eyes out of their sockets. When she is finished I will post it here. Also A Remy Zero Video just for fun. Cya on the Live Blogs. 

This is the final post of a three part series evaluating the first half for the Detroit Tigers. Past posts covered the starters and relievers. This setup differs from previous posts, as we will cover player summaries for each individual player, then grades by position, then a grade and summary on the whole.