Preview: South Carolina

Time: Noon
Location: Raymond James Stadium
Weather: 63 and 70% of rain

TV: ESPN2

Stream: ESPN App

Line: Michigan - 7.5

Bowl games are a funny thing, they fall in between an exhibition vs. an important game for some programs.   Who wants to be there is usually the difference between winning and losing.   I have seen Michigan destroy a Florida team in the Citrus Bowl who had checked out for the NFL Draft already and I have seen Michigan sleep walk in the Orange Bowl in the first half.    You never know. 

Michigan will have added pressure on Monday as they are the last Big Ten team to play a Bowl Game and could give the Big Ten an undefeated Bowl record.  That type of pressure is good, as it gives the players more motivation to play well.   The little yelling match at bowling also didn't hurt.

Tale of the Tape

Michigan OL vs. USC D line = Michigan
Michigan Offense vs. USC D = Push
Michigan D vs. USC O = Michigan
Coaching = Michigan
Intangibles = Push
Bloomin' Onion vs Coconut Shrimp= Shrimp

These two teams are pretty much mirror imagines of each other.   Both are pretty bad on offense and both teams play good defense.   Sounds like there is a good chance of rain on Monday, which could mean a messy field and an ugly offensive game.  

Sing "Tie me kangaroo down sport" (the theme song of WWF's Bushwhackers) if......

• Don Brown and his "dudes" dominate USC's offense
• Brandon Peters plays like he is the long term solution at QB
• Michigan's offense doesn't turn the ball over
• Michigan is motivated to play
• Two weeks of practice and a month of rest has helped the Wolverines
• No Rust
• No injuries

Yell, this is just an exhibition anyways if.......................

• Michigan keeps USC in the game with its offense
• Michigan can't run the ball
• JOK plays a lot
• Michigan's defense is on the field too much and gets tired
• Michigan doesn't want to be there and has moved on to next season
• Michigan's special teams looks like a mess

You will notice this is about what Michigan does and doesn't do vs. South Carolina's strength.   The Gamecocks offense is really bad and they fired their OC right after the Clemson blowout.   Is this a good change? probably but who knows what the new OC has up his sleeve.   The defense is a bend but don't break and should give Michigan a few opportunities on offense.  I expect a lot of field goals by the Wolverines.  

The weather is the wild card and I hope it doesn't rain.  This is not the rainy season in Florida but the outlook keeps showing more and more chance of rain.   I really like Michigan's TE's, Evans, and Higdon in this game if Peters plays well.   I see lots of 5-7 yard passes and some throws to the running backs.  Move the ball between the 20's, score a couple TD's and kick a ton of field goals. 

South Carolina will struggle against Don Brown defense, unless they come out with a ton of new stuff they haven't put on tape.   That seems like a challenge in two weeks worth of practice.  The key to this game is how clean the Wolverines are on offense and do they keep the Gamecocks in the game  with short fields and easy points.

Michigan 27 South Carolina 9

Michigan Tuesday: Best Christmas Tweet

I started this challenge with the hope of raising $15,000 in about 10 days. As a community of people taking a stand against DIPG and childhood cancer, we have went above and beyond that. Thank you to everyone that has made this Christmas the most special! pic.twitter.com/2O0k8XTBD3

— Chase Winovich (@Chase_Winovich) December 25, 2017

Well Done Michigan Football Community!  Well Done!


Believe it or not, its game week and Michigan will play a football game in less then a week.  Lets take a quick look at South Carolina Gamecocks:


Overall record: 8-4, finished #2 in the SEC East at 5-3.


Best win: NC State.
Worst Loss: Kentucky 23-13
Common Opponent: Florida won 28-20


Offense:
Pass for 212 yards a game.  79th in the country
Run for 127 yards a game. 108th in the country
Score: 24 points a game. 101th in the country


Defense
Give up 20 points a game which is 26th in the country.

This is a clearly a team that excels on defense and struggles on offense.  Does that sound familiar?  This might be a 10-7 game.   :-)


After the season was complete, the Gamecocks fired OC Kurt Roper and WR Coach and now acting OC Bryan McClendon will call the plays against the Wolverines. 

We will look more into South Carolina as the week progresses.  Hopefully you have the day off and can recover from all the holiday! 


Here is a quick look at the team activities this week:

• The Wolverines will land today in Tampa
• 12/27 Bowling Party
• 12/28 Busch Gardens
• 12/29 Hospital visit
• 12/29 Tampa Lighting Game
• 12/30 Clearwater Beach

I have a feeling Jimmy might schedule a few practices in between as well! 

Michigan Monday: Likes Steak!

When Michigan was announced as the Big Ten's representative for the Outback Bowl, it seems only the MSU fans were surprised.   Brett McMurphy predicted this match-up of Michigan vs. South Carolina in Tampa weeks ago. 


Why are MSU fans so mad?  Well, its a process and you will have to follow the long path on this one.

1. OSU beat Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship by two field goals
2. The College Playoff committee picked Alabama over OSU for the final 4
3. Which means the Big Ten went from the Playoffs to the New Year Day Bowls
4. The Big Ten Champ can't go to the Orange Bowl and if a BIG 10 team is selected to play in the Orange they lose their spot in the Citrus Bowl, which would go to the ACC.
5. Wisconsin is picked for the Orange Bowl (be careful there is an Orange Bowl Curse!)
6. Which pushed MSU out of the Citrus Bowl spot and pushed ND in
7. The next best Big Ten Bowl is the Outback
8. The Outback picks Michigan which pushes MSU to the Holiday against WSU.

MSU fans feel they should be in the Outback on New Years Day not the late night Holiday Bowl in California.


Couple thoughts why:  The Holiday Bowl matches two ranked teams, the Outback has a match-up of two un-ranked teams.   MSU historically doesn't travel well and Michigan does.   Michigan brings a ton more TV viewers.   That is why. 

• Guess what?  Michigan seems to be back in the Shea Patterson lottery again.   Sam Webb reported last week at this time, that they weren't interested.  He has retracted that take and now says Michigan is.   He is visiting this weekend.   Ole Miss got hit with two years of a bowl ban, which would not make Shea immediately eligible.   It seems Shea wants and needs to be eligible next year if he is going to transfer. 

• Jimmy said a few things on the Outback tele-conference: 

-Peters has been cleared and will be the #1 QB in bowl practice
-Jimmy is still leaning on keeping the medical redshirt on Tarik Black if he is healthy


Couple tips if traveling to Tampa for the Outback:

• Tickets are either $170 or $80 for the game.  The 2nd tier is not real high, the third tier is. 
• Hotels:

1. Best place to stay is in Clearwater on one of the nations best beaches.  That is still 45 minutes or so away from the stadium.  Hotel will be pretty big $$$$$
2. Tampa really has two hotels districts in the Downtown/Bay or at the Airport.  

Downtown/Bay is nice but not a ton going on down there.   There is a Westin and Embassy Suites.
The Airport has a lot of hotels and will be your best bet on price.   There is a really nice Westin near the airport that is on a little lake that you can rent wave runners, etc. 


If your traveling with kids, your not too far from Disney if you want to take a day at the park (if you stay in Tampa).  Tampa also has a decent theme park in Bush Gardens and your not far from Lego Land either. 

Michigan Tuesday: Not a Good Day For Steve's at USC and Recruiting Updates

Yesterday, wasn't a great day for Steve's running major football programs named USC.  Steve Sarkisian was fired after reports surfaced he was drunk at practices and during a game against Arizona State.   After being put on medical leave the day before he was fired on Monday. 

The OBC (old ball coach) Steve Spurrier has decided to retire immediately.   His team is 2-4 and he seems like a figure head at this point.   It's strange that he would step down right now but it's clear South Carolina is not preforming. 

Illinois, USC West, USC East, and Maryland are all looking for their next head coach.   We are in week 7 of the season.  

• There continues to be positive buzz around Kareem Walker and his Michigan visit.  The rumblings out of OSU are that they were not real happy with his A2 visit and they have started to recruit Wisconsin RB commit Antonio Williams.   Kareem was also quoted as saying that Peppers is like a brother to him.   I wouldn't be surprised to see him back on the sideline sometime this year.   (It won't be this week).  People close to him, said that Kareem was impressed by the number of RB's Michigan used during the game.  That he prefers to be in a multiple back system.

• 4 star DB Lavert Hill continues to visit A2 for games.   He was there last week and is planning on being there again this week.   He had originally planned to visit Tennessee with his friend and teammate Donnie Corley.  Lavert is committed to Penn State and is very much trending towards Michigan.  (as we know his brother is on Michigan's roster)

• The top ranked kicker in this class happens to be an instate prospect from Rockford in kicker Quinn Nordin.  He is another PSU commit that is looking like a strong candidate to flip to the Wolverines.  He is planning on attending the MSU game.

• No word yet on four-star FL LB Devin Bush Jr. visit which we are hearing was an un-official, meaning he paid his own way. 

• Nothing special out of Jimmy's Monday press conference, he did say he expected Channing Stribling would be back in the line up this week.

Wolverine Wednesday: Big Win In CBus

Michigan hadn't won a game in Columbus in 10 years, that drought came to an end last night as the Wolverines beat the Buckeyes by 10 points on National TV.  It wasn't the pretest performance on either side but what's exciting for Michigan fans is the development of point guard of Derrick Walton, Jr. who was just 4 assists away from a triple double with 13 points, 10 boards and 6 assists.  Nik was guarded by the best man to man defender in the Big Ten in Aaron Craft but still managed 15 point.  GR3 continued to struggle with his shot but hit a big 3 point shot late in the game to put the Wolverines up 6.  "Glenn’s shot in the right corner was a huge shot for us,” Beilein said. “If you look at his stats, he’s struggled from there — he’s a good shooter — but a great confidence-builder for him.”

Michigan now has road wins against MSU, OSU and Wisconsin which hasn't happened since the 1992/93 season.   I think the most impressive thing is Michigan couldn't have looked any worse against a solid Iowa team on Saturday and came out a couple days later and left Columbus with a road win. 

Now they come home for back to back games at Crisler against MSU and Wisconsin. 

• The Old Ball Coach talks about how the Big Ten negative recruits:  “We don’t run into much of any negative recruiting around here as SEC coaches,” Spurrier said. “We were involved with a player who was being recruited by a Big Ten school. They got negative a little bit with ‘There’s a lot of crime in Columbia, the big city. They don’t graduate their players,’ which was completely untrue. They searched for a little bit of everything but the player came with us anyways.”  That is really funny coming for an SEC coach.  

• This is a sad situation for a talented player.  I don't expect he will end up at MSU:  2015 MSU commit Jayru Campbell charged with two counts of assault.

Outback Bowl Preview: South Carolina

Time: 1:00 EST
Location: Tampa - Raymond James
Weather: 75 Partly Cloudy
TV: ESPN
Line: Michigan +5


Michigan has earned the right to play another SEC team this year, the first match-up didn't go so well.  Let's hope this is a better game then the one on 9/1.  Both Michigan and USC have a lot in common, they both were early favorites to win their conference, top ten teams, lost their top running backs to bad leg injuries, both pre-season starting QB have gone down to injuries, both programs have first round draft picks in Lewan & Clowney and both teams play pretty solid defense.  

We know this Michigan team better then we know ourselves at this point.   There are two keys to Michigan's success in this game: Big Al Borges and Denard Robinson.   I expect we will see more Denard at WR and RB to get ready for the NFL and Devin to get ready for his future as Michigan's #1 QB.    I wonder if Big Al has had enough time to game plan for this combo and blocking Clowney with anyone and everyone possible?

Michigan is down two starters with the loss of their punter and starting CB.   The loss of JT Floyd is going to hurt the defense and it should be interesting to see who takes his place in the line-up as we get a glimpse of the future. 

Tale of the Tape

Clowney vs. Lewan = Clowney

U of M D vs. USC D = Push and a low scoring game

Denard's Right Arm vs. the forward pass = Lots of runs

Big Al's Strategy vs. The Old Ball Coach = OBC

Which team wants to be there vs. Which team that doesn't = TBD


Tec Fear Factor

4 out of 5 Bones and wishing he was in Florida for the game!

I have a feeling that Denard will play well in his final game as a Wolverine in his home state of Florida.  I just hope Big Al has a game plan to stop maybe the best player in college football in Clowney.   Both team are going to try to run the ball and surprise each defense with some big plays in the passing game.  

Which Michigan Offensive team will show up?  The first half of the OSU game or the second half? 
That's the big question, can Michigan play up to their ability on offense and score more touchdowns the field goals. 

Sing Hail to the Victors if...........................

• Denard breaks some big runs
• Devin is accurate throwing and scrambles for some first downs
• Denard can throw and surprises everyone in completing say 10 passes
• Not having a true RB doesn't hurt us
• The defense plays like it has all year and keeps Michigan in the game

Say well they are "Cocks" no matter if we win or lose if...........

• Clowney continues to hit either of our QB's with a first name that starts with D
• Michigan turns the ball over more then once
• Big Al has the creativity of a blank canvas
• Wolverine WR's can't get any separation
• Michigan struggles to score more then a few field goals

I sure hope Michigan plays with pride and sends Denard off to the NFL with an inspired performance.  I'm hoping for more of an effort like they had in the Capital One against Tebow then the Gator against Mississippi State.   Weird things happen in bowl games and the team that wants to be there beats the team that feels they deserved more.  Both teams thought they deserved more in August but ended up here in January.

This is the last chapter in a true Michigan man in Denard.  He will play WR, RB and some QB in his last performance in the Maize and Blue.   He has thrilled us all but continues to struggle against teams with a solid defense that can match his speed.   

Wolverines Watch:  Wile punts well, Big Will has a sack and a couple TFL's, Jake Ryan does his regular Jake Ryan.   Roy Roundtree breaks a long run but gets caught at the one yard line, Denard has over a 100 yards with a couple big runs.   He also surprises everyone with a throw to Gallon for a big gain. 

Michigan 10  USC 21

Go Blue!

Michigan Monday: Big Ten's Big Toe

Have you ever broken a toe?  When it first happens, you think it shouldn't be so bad until you have to put weight on it and walk everyday.  It hurts.

That is how I think about the Big Ten in 2012.  The Big Ten broke their Big Toe and they keep running into things to re-injure it.  The joke of a Championship game was the last straw on a terrible season all around for a league with 12 teams, 2 more on the way that calls themselves the Big 10.    That Big Toe is broken and won't heal until maybe next year.  (or at least until basketball season)

We don't need to re-cap the car crash this Big Ten Football season has been and now a non-ranked 8-5 Wisconsin Badgers is representing the league in the Rose Bowl.   Speaking of Bowl Games here are the games the Big Ten will be playing in:

Rose: Wisconsin vs. Stanford

Capital One: Nebraska vs. Georgia

Outback: Michigan vs. South Carolina

Gator: Northwestern vs. Mississippi State

Dallas: Purdue vs. OK State

Buffalo Wild Wings:  MSU vs. TCU

Texas Bowl: Minnesota vs. Texas Tech


Vegas has yet to release lines for these games, but I don't expect any Big Ten team will be favored.  Wisconsin is already a 6.5 dog to Stanford.

Nebraska's embarrassing loss in the Championship game knocked Michigan to the Outback.  


The Michigan - South Carolina game should be interesting.  Both teams play good defense and both lost their top running backs to bad leg injuries.   Brady Hoke vs. the Old Ball Coach. 

If you haven't seen to many USC games this year, they have an NFL First Round (Top 5) player in DE Jadeveon Clowney who is just a Sophomore. 

Michigan has struggled against good defenses with Denard Robinson under center.  I expect we will see a ton of Devin at QB and Denard all over the field.   It will help if Denard is healthy enough to throw a pass if he has to when he lines up at QB.   Lewan vs. Clowney should be a good match-up. 

South Carolina lost back to back games this year to LSU and Florida.  They are 10-2 and ranked #10 in the BCS.