Regular readers know that one of our, um, original regular readers (and an old friend of mine), DeepTeaKup, is a Michigan fan (and out of respect for him, I’ll refrain from our usual “(sucks!)” concatenation to the “Michigan” string on this post). He’s no regular Michigan fan. He actually graduated college, he actually played some football, he actually raises his children with an appreciation for proper dental hygiene, and he hails from Canada. So if you can’t say anything nice about him or this post, at least know that he appreciates a good plate of poutine. That and he helped yours truly survive months in the badlands known as Detroit once. If it weren’t for DTK, there’d be no HLS because the natives would have smoked me and turned me into jerky before HLS was ever conceived. Did you know Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road” is actually about Utica, MI?

Here, DTK once again gives us his annual preview of the Michigan squad (we’ve lost count of these as well, DTK, but thanks for doing it.). – DMQ

First of all let me say what an honor it is to be asked back for a fourth (or is it third, have I done four previews and have three kids or is it the other way around) annual Michigan preview for domer, Biscuit and all the loyal HLS readers out there.

The second year of the RichRod era opened in grand style last week with a dominating victory over what was supposed to be an upper-tier MAC team. While it may be tempting for many Michigan fans to revise their outlook on the season based on this victory, this is young team that still has some flaws. That being said, I don’t think I’ve ever felt so good about an opening season victory over a cupcake. I guess all the extra practice is starting to pay some dividends.

I am having a tough time getting a feel for this week’s matchup in terms of how well UM matches up with this ND squad. I think on both sides there are some potential serious mismatches and this has the potential to be a very exciting game, which hasn’t really happened a lot since this series was renewed. With that said, on to the preview.

Offense:

Quarterback: What a difference a year (and two new QB’s) makes. This was the second most pleasant surprise for me on Saturday. Tate Forcier looked poised beyond his years on Saturday, directing traffic, calling plays at the line, and just looking like a true leader out there. He seems to thrive when the play breaks down and picks his rushing opportunities well. Prevailing logic would be for ND to blitz and try to pressure him but I honestly think ND would be better off trying to disguise coverages and messing up his reads on obvious passing downs.

First prediction, at about the 8 minute mark of the second quarter ND fans will be tired of hearing about Denard “Shoelace” Robinson’s footwear securing habits. That being said, this kid has NFL speed and pretty good arm strength but I can see how he only completed like 45% of his passes in high school. Look for formations with him and the Tater on the field at the same time. He will play this week; he has too much speed and athletic ability to keep off the field.

As RichRod promised, Nick Sheridan did play last week, and then proceeded to throw an INT. Barring injury, I would not expect to see him on the field this week.

Running Back: In the world of UM fandom, I am probably committing some type of blasphemy by saying this, but I am not as sold as the rest of the UM blogosphere on the awesomeness of this group. I think for the UM ground game to be effective, Brandon Minor has to play and show the hard running style he showed at the end of last year. Injuries kept him out of the WMU game and have been a problem for him his entire career. If Minor is able to start picking up yards in big chunks, it could open up the offense for the Tater. Carlos Brown will also get his fair share of carries. He does not really break tackles all that well, but does have the speed to be a true home run threat if he can get to the second level. Michael Shaw has also shown flashes, but did not have the most yards against WMU. Still, I liked the way he ran. He read his blocks well and showed a good burst. Vincent Smith racked up a few good YouTube clips in spring ball but is probably a year away. He’s very small (170 lbs maybe) but runs “bigger”. Expect to see Kevin Grady in short yardage situations. I still think the DUI was incredibly stupid but I credit him for hanging around even though he never quite panned out the 5 star status coming out of high school.

Receiver: What an interesting group this is turning out to be; very versatile. You have some bigger guys here as well as the more traditional spread slot type receiver. At outside WR, there are three main guys; Junior Hemmingway had a breakout game against WMU, has good speed, size (6’1 225), good hands, and flat out makes plays. He is a matchup problem for ND, I don’t know if ND has anyone who can cover him straight up in man to man coverage. Greg Matthews is a very good possession type receiver with great hands, but I don’t expect him to ever have a stat line like Floyd did against Nevada. Darryl Stonum was recruited by USC and Florida coming out of high school, has sprinters speed and above average strength. He has yet to put it all together on the field in a consistent manner. Only a sophomore, he may still need another year to live up to his potential.

At slot, another pleasant surprise has been the play of Kelvin Grady (Kevin’s younger brother). Since coming over from the basketball team last year, he has shot up the depth chart above some incoming freshmen. Tay Odoms played, made some key blocks but needs to get the ball more against ND. Roy Roundtree, Jeremy Gallon, and Terrance Robinson all have some measure of practice and/or recruiting hype but appear to be below Grady and Odoms on the depth chart.

UM also features two excellent tight ends. RichRod and Calvin Magee are figuring out how to incorporate Kevin Koger and Martell Webb into the spread despite not having a single TE on the WVU roster the last few years of his tenure. I think Koger will become the Tater’s safety blanket in the red zone. At 6’6, with good speed and excellent hands (made a great one handed catch against WMU), I think he will put some real pressure on the ND safeties and LB’s, hopefully preventing them from being able to blitz at will.

O-Line: This is definitely not the typical UM line. Only one guy checks in at over 300 pounds (I guess that ties them with the ND coaching staff, zing!!!), Steve Schilling is probably the only NFL prospect on the line. This unit does seem to function well together though, one thing to watch will be the holding penalties, must have been at least 3 of them last week.

Defense:

Of all the positives to come out of the WMU game, I was happiest with the vastly improved tacking and assignment football played by the UM defense. I credit that to having to practice against the spread as well as the addition of Greg Robinson. Hopefully he kept the same defensive playbook from the Syracuse-ND game last year. I think the D can be above average this year but is only a few injuries away from playing walk-ons at some key positions. UM is placing a premium on speed over size on D, should be an interesting match up with the larger, more physical ND O-Line.

Line: Simply put, I don’t think any team on UM’s schedule is stopping Brandon Graham without keeping a TE in to block. He’s most likely a first round draft pick next year. Mike Martin may also require double teams, absolute beast in the middle of the line. Ryan Van Bergen plays at the other end position, plays within the scheme, and has a great motor but is sort of limited in his upside. If there are any injuries in this group though, UM is in big trouble. The drop off to the backups Segasse (Canadian), Will Campbell (raw true freshman) and a bunch of walk-ons and upper classmen who have yet to accomplish much at UM.

Linebacker: Yet another surprise from last game, Stevie Brown was exceedingly competent at the LB position. He covered well, played run support and tackled extremely well. Obi Ezeh plays in the middle and has not quite lived up to the potential shown as a freshman, but is very capable as long he does not have to cover anyone. Jonas Mouton: I think the lights went on for him this year. I would like to see him blitz the QB more. I think he is a weapon. Craig Roh, another true freshman, plays a sort of hybrid LB/DE role, looked pretty good last week but is probably a year away from being a consistent pass rush threat.

Secondary: This, in my opinion, is where UM and ND wins or loses this game. This is strength on strength, ND’s WR’s against UM’s CB’s. I would expect to see a lot of blitzing from UM so the Donovan Warren/Floyd and BooBoo Cissoko/Tate matchups are huge. This is another area where UM can not afford any injuries, JT Floyd and Justin Turner are not ready for prime time just yet. ND probably has a clear advantage in the matchup against UM’s safeties, Michael Williams and Troy Woolfolk are both first year starters and will get better as the season progresses.

Special Teams: Zoltan Mesko is probably the best punter in the country; I don’t expect ND to do much in the punt return game. Kickoff return worries me a bit, WMU consistently started around the 30 last week, I think ND will break a few here. For all the talent UM has on offense, the return game continues to disappoint me. Greg Matthews will probably return punts, he is a safe option but not a big threat. Kickoff return is hard to gauge, only two returns last week (Stonum and Odoms), I would like to see this improve.

Prediction: Always remember, folks, I never predict a UM loss and if I didn’t do it last year I’m sure as heck not going to call a loss here. I think we’re in for an exciting game here, UM 35 ND 31 in OT. UM holds ND to a FG on the first possession, and then a pass from Forcier to Koger in the back of the end zone wins it for UM.

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Yesterday, we incorrectly reported that what the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors perform before a game is called “The Haka.” We were wrong. What the Hawaii Warriors perform is a “Ha’a.”

*Yes. Seriously.

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Salve, Magisterium.

I was visiting with Brother Bernard, the Enclave’s archivist, the other night and beneath the full, silvery moon, with the sound of his rare, red piglets squealing in the background, Brother Bernard passed on to me a rare and unsettling manuscript.  For centuries the Enclave has gathered every piece of writing in existence.  Not just work that has been published, mind you, but copies of every scrap and doodle on earth are gathered, catalogued, and archived by Brother Bernard’s minions.

It was with trembling hands that the good Brother handed me this work, and I share it with you now, previously lost to the ages, only so that you may understand the devastating power of the written word, the vastly overrated goodness of abbreviations, and the importance of a good editor.

OMG, IMO Gators’ Meyer so Hott I May G in my P’s

His name is etched in the anals (sic) of history.

Urban Meyer is so hot that he can roast an entire turkey by merely pinching his nuts together and yawning on the fowl.  It doesn’t even have to be thawed...

The list continues for one hundred-and-three pages after that, makes some rather dubious claims about a football coach’s abilities and sexual proclivities, and concludes abruptly with the sentence: “Only I could make you truly happy, Urban.”

The piece has no author listed, but is written entirely on Orlando Sentinel stationary and is heavily perfumed with Calvin Klein’s “CKIN2U” Cologne.  Which is delicious.

Let us read and heed.  Warnings abound in such work, and the would-be columnist wallows in superlatives like a pig rolling in its neighbor’s shit.

Let us pray for lost souls, and let us pray for gout unto those who worship false idols.

H’amen.

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This really is just a confusing story on ESPN.  I’m not really sure what the point is, and after reading it I think I only get about 50% of what’s going on.  I only post and comment on it to 1) point out again that DickRod somehow manages to get tangled up in messy stuff constantly.  It’s fun!   And 2)  to mess with our loyal scUM reader or 2 out there. 

It just seems that Fraudy McFrauderson tends to associate with shady people.   This will not serve him well over time. 

Richy, you should listen to my grandpa, who always said: ”Son, don’t leave your alma mater and cheerleader girlfriend behind in the dead of night, shred your papers, refuse to pay your buyout and then go offer jobs to people from WVU that are accused of being racist.  The last step is the one that will get ya.”  Or something like that. 

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More specifically, how did they get to this point?  Don’t get me wrong, Michigan has always always always sucked.  But this is just getting ridiculous.   How’d they get here? Let’s review.

First, they hired a Dick.  Literally.  Just a big shady Dick that shreds his former program’s docs.  Just a huge scummy Dick that pays you back 37.5 cents when you lend him a buck.  A big ole Dick that cleaned house, firing the entire UM staff. 

So then what?  His players leave.  I mean, they all leave.

So what’s a Dick to do?  I mean, he did his best Urban impression, but still needs ‘athletes’ for his squad.  What does this Dick do?

He oh-so-desperately holds open tryouts.   19 year old tuba players are lining up for d-line.  Juniors that last played in middle school are sweet Running Back prospects. 

Sad.

So apparently, these are the “Champions of the West” taking the field next year:

Victors Valiant my ass.  The day #38 there hits the hole and powers through for a 4 yard gain is the day that Michigan football has truly made history. 

Awesome.  Dick gets what he deserves.

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One of the proudest traditions of Notre Dame Football is the annual game with Navy. Notre Dame and the United States Naval Academy share a unique bond, and, as much as anything, this game is a celebration of that bond. We’ve long held the opinion that, no matter what tinkering is done with the Notre Dame Football schedule, only 2 games are an absolute must, and one of them is with Navy. It’s also an absolute must-see for the fans. If you’ve never been to a Notre Dame/Navy game, you should get around to changing that real soon.

In preparation for this year’s Notre Dame/Navy match up, we got together with Pitch Right, a Navy blog (not to mention one of the best college football blogs around). We asked Pitch Right a few questions, the answers are below. You can also check out our answers to Pitch Right’s questions here.

1) At ND, as with most colleges, if you’re a football player, you tend to have far fewer problems attracting the ladies. Is that the case in Annapolis, or do the women just flock to the uniforms of the midshipmen anyway?

Considering the extensive scientific research done on the issue, I think it’s safe to say that while women generally flock to men in uniform, being a football player at the Academy certainly has its advantages. I’ve been around some of these guys both at and away from the stadium and I can assure you that the young women they roll with are very attractive.

2) Over the years, we’ve seen a lot of midshipmen doing push-ups. How many push-ups would you guess the average Navy football player has to do outside of football? Or is there some sort of exemption for PT for football players?

Well, last I checked there was no tackling test on the physical fitness test (although maybe there should be this year) so there really isn’t any kind of exemption. Pushups are a staple of military life though, so why don’t we just ballpark the figure at “a lot.”

3) If you were the Notre Dame Defensive Coordinator, how would you go about defending the Navy offense? Do you think ND’s current defense has the guys to work such a scheme? Do you see guys on the ND roster who might have some problems with the triple-option?

Notre Dame has struggled over the last few years with the triple option (271 rush yards allowed LY, 239 rush yards allowed in 2005), and despite getting an extra week to prepare for the option I don’t see the Irish having much success against Navy’s offense. To start out with Notre Dame is 93 rd in the country against the run, and most of that has come against more conventional style offenses. Factor in that this has been the most explosive offense under Paul Johnson, and you’ve got to give the match-up advantage to Navy.

If I was Corwin Brown, the one thing I would do is to tell my guys to take chances. Obviously the key to defending the option if to play disciplined, assignment football and all that stuff but that is a helluva lot harder than it sounds when you actually go against it full speed. Basically, you’re not going to stop Navy from what they do without creating turnovers, and considering how bad Navy’s defense is all you’re going to need is to get one big play to potentially put the Irish in the drivers seat. One thing people need to begin understand about this year’s Navy offense is that it is truly is one of the best in the country (currently ranked 16 th), and stopping it goes beyond having good players or even a good coach for that matter. The teams which have held Navy this year (Rutgers and Wake Forest) have each forced three turnovers. If Navy turns the ball over more than once, we lose; it’s as simple as that.

As much as I like him as a player, Tom Zbikowski was out of position and just looked lost against Navy last year. Maybe that’s because he got fat and had a bad shoulder, but he’s always looked slow reading his assignments to me. I’ve also seen some sloppy tackling out of the secondary players this season, and question if some of these younger linebackers and defensive lineman for the Irish have the ability to step in and play their assignments against Navy. We’ll have to see though. You guys probably know better than I as to how the Irish are going to line up on Saturday, and I think it’s a big mystery to everyone how a guy like Corwin Brown, coming from an NFL background no less, will handle an offense that he’s really never seen before.

4) A lot of programs are keeping an eye on Paul Johnson these days. Do you think a program like Nebraska might sweep in and take him away from Annapolis? If they did, how would you feel about it? Is Johnson as highly respected within the Navy circles as he seems to be around the country?

I get asked this question all the time, and to tell you truth I really have no idea. Aside from knowing next to nothing about the current state of affairs in Lincoln, getting a handle on Coach’s thoughts with regards to any future career move is not exactly a “consult the dictionary” type situation. There was a big stink over all of this last year and maybe we’ll start hearing a lot about it again in a month, but for the short term I think Johnson stays put. He renegotiated his contract last season and let’s face it the guy has a really good deal here, so unless he’s dead set on winning a National Championship tomorrow he’s not going to bolt.

Obviously if he left I’d be pissed, because to tell you the truth I don’t know if anyone else could continue to hold the program up at such a high level. The one thing about Coach Johnson is that he needs his staff, and if he ever did go his staff would likely go with him. Johnson is untouchable in Navy circles, as mere mortal fans like myself hold him to be the best college football coach in the country. Keep in mind, that’s the best, not one of the best. Basically, if you’re a Navy fan and you think the Mids could do better with someone not named Johnson you’re liable to be sent to Antarctica or some such.

5) As awesome as we think it is that the young men who play for Navy have made a commitment to their country, every once in a while we’re even more awed by the Navy player who could probably play for a lot of other D1 teams, if not start; A few fullbacks come to mind. Which guys on the 2007 squad could “play for anybody?”

Good question. I think to often we as fans assign all the credit to a system like the triple option, and have a tendency to sometimes gloss over the individual parts. I don’t know if anyone on this current Navy team could “play for anybody” but there are a number of guys who could probably see significant playing time at some very good schools around the country.

I think Reggie Campbell is one of those guys. Here was a dude who at 5′6 was told that he was too small to play Division I-A football, and came to the Naval Academy because it was his only option to do just that. While here, Reggie has shown that he’s an amazing athlete ( 4.39/40, unbelievable strength) and that has big play ability both as a runner, a receiver, and a return man. The guy is a straight up stud, which is basically what Steve Kragthorpe said last season when he was quoted in a press conference as saying Reggie could play for anyone in the country.

Eric Kettani is another guy who could play for a number of other teams, and actually has the physical tools to be a feature back in a conventional offense. He runs a 4.53/40 and benches 400 pounds, and has shown great vision and quickness this season. Kettani can cut and hit holes better than any other fullback who has been here, and is in my mind the best pro prospect on the team.

Fullback Adam Ballard and linebacker Irv Spencer are guys who have been visited by pro scouts in the off-season, while the underutilized WR Greg Sudderth was a highly sought after linebacker out of high school who was offered by most teams in the ACC. Both QBs Kaipo-Noa and Jarod Bryant had offers to play defensive back from BCS conference schools, but chose Navy because it gave them their only opportunity to play quarterback at the Division I-A level. Whether or not these guys could play for USC or Florida is highly doubtful, but more and more we’re starting to get away from the idea that in terms of talent, Navy has guys who could only play for Service Academies. That being said, in terms of pure talent Navy is probably in the Bottom 30 (some would argue much lower) of I-A teams.

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Not only should the Bye Week help this team recover from a brutal 8 weeks, but the offense should, should, look much better now that they’re facing the 4 worst defenses ND has faced all year (with the exception of Purdue).

First 8 Opponents’ Total Defensive Ranks as of Today:

• Georgia Tech: 9
• Penn State: 7
• Michigan: 34
• Michigan State: 29
• Purdue: 59
• UCLA: 26
• Boston College: 29
• Southern Cal: 3

Final 4 Opponents’ Total Defensive Ranks as of Today:

• Navy: 99
• Air Force: 57
• Duke: 98
• Stanford: 102

So the first 8 opponents have averaged a 24.5 ranking. Granted, the first 8 opponents are bolstered by their games against ND, but let’s estimate a 10 place bonus having played ND, and that means their “normalized” average rank would be 34.5, so let’s call that 35. Our last 4 opponents are averaging out to a rank of 89th. That’s a massive, massive difference in quality of defense. Hell, make the “ND Bonus” 20 spots. It would still be a difference of almost 45 spots in the rankings. And ND actually made the Purdue defense look as bad as they really are, so there’s hope for these final 4 games. Nay, I’d dare say there’s an expectation, a very reasonable one, that the offense should finally start to “click” in these last 4 games and create some momentum for Spring practices.

By the way, ND reverted to its old ways on Saturday, giving up 5 sacks in the game (their average even after only giving up a couple in each of the last few games). The good news, is that Navy is ranked 119th in sacks, Air Force is ranked 72nd, Duke is 52nd, and Stanford is ranked a surprising 15th.

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Ahem. Uh, Coach Weis…

Source

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With a national, independent schedule like Notre Dame’s, it’s interesting to see the mirror-images that present themselves in the form of opponents that seem just like each other. Michigan State always plays us tough, and then usually finds a way to melt down later in the season. Georgia Tech manages to do much the same thanks to something Orson calls “The Chan Gailey Equilibrium.” Purdue is the most excruciatingly boring college football program in the world, and they’re closely matched with Boston College. Also, both Purdue and BC think they’re rivals with Notre Dame. Heh.  At any rate, Purdue East week usually marks the 2nd most boring week in college football blogging.  It’s a great time for me to analyze kicking game numbers, I guess.
Like they say in the restaurant business, “Location, location, location!” And for Boston College, that’s really all they’ve got going for them. About a mile away from their campus, you can get the best lamb kebabs this side of the Atlantic Ocean. Yeah, they’re a highly ranked team, but they’re highly ranked in a year where that really doesn’t seem to much matter. Does anyone really believe this squad would give #1 LSU or even #9 Florida a good game? But at least after a BC game at Chestnut Hill, you can head into town for a good meal. What’s Purdue got to offer you? The Wendy’s on exit 8?

Pictured Here: Some guy you’ve never heard of, but he could probably tell you how to get to Mike’s bakery.

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Dear Notre Dame Offensive Line,

Ya done been called out.

“Jimmy Clausen is one of the better true freshman quarterbacks I’ve seen the whole time I’ve been here,” Davis said. “Unfortunately, his O-line is just falling apart. They can’t block a soul. That’s going to hurt your team. That’s going to hurt your offense. That’s going to get you to 0-5.”

Thanks,

Management

HerLoyalSons.com

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It’s bad enough that ND is 0-4 this season.  It’s even worse to know that this is Purdue week – The Most Boring Week In College Football Blogging.

If you guys hear anything that we should know and that we should let other ND fans know about Purdue, please feel free to e-mail us.  We’re digging.  We really are, but Purdue is simply the most boring college football program in the nation, and it’s hard to keep our attention on the task at hand.  I got distracted by some pre-Algebra homework problems earlier when I was trying to pull some facts together about whoever their coach might be.  I think he sells diabetes equipment or something.

This would be a vastly more interesting week if we’d dump Purdue from the schedule and take on a team like, say, ITT Technical Institute.  Do they have a football team?  I often wonder why kids go to play at Purdue.  What, hate the difficulty of playing for a team that people might actually look up in the Sunday papers?  Have a masochistic love of tedium?
Maybe we’ll do a “look back” on what’s happened in the last 4 weeks since, apparently, nothing much will be happening this week.

Whatever.

Hey, did you hear that a mime has died?

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Les is liking his options right now.

With Michigan (sucks!) quickly realizing that this may, in fact, be Llloydd Carr’s last year as head coach of the Skunkbears (and by “may, in fact, be” I mean “is”), a ton of media attention has been poured on Les Miles, head coach of the LSU football program, as Carr’s potential replacement. And after the smart-bomb-on-an-Iraqi-power-plant-like beat down that LSU just put on Virginia Tech last weekend, it seems like some Michigan (sucks!) fans are slobbering all over themselves at the possibility.

So we got to wondering how this makes fans of LSU feel. Afterall, it’s not as though LSU is some mid-major program. Jumping to Michigan (sucks!) from LSU would hardly be a “promotion.” So we decided to ask a few questions of our friends at AndTheValleyShook.com to get their perspective on this situation and a few other things about the HLS Top-25 #1 ranked Tigers.

1) The entire football world seems a little shocked in the way LSU man-handled Virginia Tech. Did you guys think that LSU would be this good all along? Are you buying the hype, or is there more to this? Is VaTech overrated?

Very few rational folks expected the offense to perform the way it did against the Hokies; losing a QB and the top two wideouts AND installing a new offense made it seem like a relatively straightforward bet that it would take the offense awhile to gel. On the other hand, most everyone expected the defense to be stout. This was solidified not long after the Sugar Bowl when Tiger fans learned that both Glenn Dorsey and Bo Pelini would be back this year. While LaRon Landry was a key loss on that side of the ball, our 8 returning starters had pretty much everyone confident that we wouldn’t drop off much, if at all.

Who knows on the overrated-Va-Tech question. I get annoyed when a good team beats another good team and the world emphatically declares the losing team to be “overrated.” Perhaps the losing team was fairly rated and just got their asses beat? By that logic, the 1995 Nebraska Cornhuskers made every single team that year look overrated. Ergo, no team was deserving of the #2 ranking. Not that we’re the ‘95 Huskers, or even close, but just using that to illustrate a point. We’ll find out over the next few weeks if Virginia Tech really is as bad as we made them look last Saturday. It’s tough to argue against a defense that compiled the #1 ranking in the country for two consecutive seasons entering this one. But clearly they’ve got some previously overlooked problems at QB that are being addressed.

2) Les Miles seems to be the alpha-candidate in the hearts and minds of Michigan (sucks!) fans everywhere for the position of Head Lloydd Carr Replacer. Are you concerned at this point? Les hasn’t been very committal one way or the other when asked about the potential opportunity. Or has he, but the media is burying it for a story?

I’m not that concerned. I like Les Miles plenty enough, and if you scroll through my blog posts throughout last football season you can see that, but I have to say I’m surprised by the amount his star has risen in the last week. I guess the stars really aligned on that front for Les, with our huge win (now clearly the signature win of his 2+ year tenure) coming in conjunction with the world realizing in stunning fashion that Lloyd Carr is done.

If you’d have polled a group of Tiger fans prior to the season, I guarantee you at least half – and likely far more – would have been indifferent if Les left. I don’t think a single person in the blogosphere considered Miles to be aything more than a complete boob. Everyone’s LSU ranking came with the caveat “would be higher if not for the dude on the sidelines wearing the headset.” Yadda yadda yadda. There is plenty truth to the assertion that we’ve turned in subpar performances in pivotal early season games (Tennessee ‘05, Auburn and Florida ‘06). So that little nagging tidbit left most folks unconvinced on Miles’ true acumen as a head coach.

I personally think Les absolutely leaves LSU for Michigan (assuming the season unfolds such that they still want him by the end of it), and I wouldn’t blame him at all. Michigan is his alma mater. He’s a Bo Schembechler guy, and who WOULDN’T take the opportunity to pay tribute to his hero by following in his footsteps? And how often has that Michigan head spot actually been open during our lifetimes? If he passes on it now, he may never again get the same opportunity. Of course he’ll be noncommittal all season, but that’s out of pure respect to his team and Mr. Carr (who hasn’t officially been axed yet, let’s remember).

The disruption to LSU will be a bummer, but probably an overrated issue when it’s all said and done. Having to name the third head coach since 2004 may seem like a big problem, but LSU would clearly exhibit a polar opposite set of circumstances to the typical program in the midst of such turmoil. Hopefully we’ll be coming off a national title and third-straight 11-win season. More…

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Michigan (sucks!) and Notre Dame have never both had 0-2 records. But after this week there can be only one non-winner. Only one biggest loser.

Despite the vortex-like nature of Michigan (sucks!) and its fan-base, I have managed to know a few fans and/or alumni who are, eh, tolerable. One of them is our resident Michigan (sucks!) fan here at HLS, Deep Tea Kup. Mid-last week, I asked him to write up a preview of the ND/Michigan (sucks!) game from his perspective. So he did, but he reserved the rights to heavy editing if Michigan (sucks!) looked bad against Oregon. So, guess what! Now I’ve got two Michigan (sucks!) perspective previews. So I’ll present his latest and give some background info on his former work if and when he makes any references to it.

Bare with DTK. Not only is he a Michigan (sucks!) fan, he’s also a Canadian living in San Francisco, so, you know, English probably isn’t his medium. More…

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Michingan (sucks!)’s supposed Heisman candidate QB, Chad Henne, who could suck apart the chemically bound elements used to make chrome on a Harley, is out for the ND game with an injury, leaving plenty of votes open for the other two Michigan (sucks!) Heisman canditates, Mike “Trying to Avoid Sucking by Keeping His Mouth Moving” Hart and Mario “My Memory isn’t so Short That I’m Gonna Make Up a Mean Nickname about Him Sucking Just Yet Because I Remember Last Year” Manningham. You ask me, he just wanted a moment to breath from all the sucking.

Injured Michigan quarterback Chad Henne will not play against Notre Dame.

Wolverines coach Lloyd Carr did not provide a timetable for Henne’s return, listing him Monday as week-to-week. The senior was knocked out of the second half of Saturday’s 39-7 loss to Oregon.

Freshman Ryan Mallett will start against the Fighting Irish on Saturday at home in a matchup of storied teams with 0-2 records.

“This test will be different than any he’s had,” Carr said. “But I can guarantee you that he’s not intimidated.”

Carr declined to confirm Saturday’s ABC-TV report that Michigan trainer Paul Schmidt said Henne had a lower-leg injury.

The senior struggled in his first 1½ games as the Wolverines opened with two losses at home for the first time since 1959.

Henne was 12-of-23 for 172 yards with a touchdown and an interception, a pass that sailed into double coverage on the opening drive against Oregon. In the opener, he was 19-of-37 for 233 yards with a score and an interception in Appalachian State territory.

Seriously, Chad would destroy this.

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