10 Things You Might Not Know About the Next 5 Months

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10) Wisconsin will lose this weekend to Washington State. And on the off chance that they don't, Wisconsin will lose to Iowa in their Big Ten opener. They might lose both. In either case, there will be a mass scramble by the media to remind you that the Big Ten sucks.

9) Michigan's Offense will not be as spectacular as advertised. Michigan's defense will not be as horrible as advertised.

8) The Wolverines will have two players in the top 5 in the Heisman voting in December.

7) Iowa not having to play Michigan is equally important as Michigan not having to play Iowa.

6) A player from Ohio State will be kicked off the team for something shady that involves boosters, money, cars, or flack jackets and hatchets.

5) An Ohio State fan will be dumb enough to buy Mike Tyson's poop. He will then be retarded enough to throw it at a random Michigan fan after the game on November 17th.

4) Defense will cease to win championships.

3) If the Wolverines are undefeated for the month of September, then they will also be undefeated at the end of November.

2) Michigan's toughest game in the Big Ten will be in Champaign, Illinois.

1) The Wolverines will play in New Orleans in January...whether it's on the 1st or the 7th, we'll have to wait and see.

2007 Game Preview: Appalachian State University

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3.  Offense:  Multiple Single Back Sets

4.  Defense:  4-3

5.  2006 Record: 14-1 (7-0 Southern Conference)

6.  Star Watch:

Five ASU players are Pre-Season All Americans (RB Richardson, QB Edwards, DB and Buck Buchanan Award Candidate Corey Lynch, OG Kerry Brown, and CB Jerome Touchstone)

Senior Running Back Kevin Richardson-(5'9, 190) This former walk-on won the Southern Conference Offensive Player of the Year Award and is now a Walter Payton Award Candidate.  He averaged well over 100 yards per game as he ran for 1,676 yards (All time school record) and 30 TD's (All time DII record) last year as a Junior including 179 yds and 4 TD's in Championship Game. 

Sophomore QB Armanti Edwards- Last year's National Freshmen of the year was second on the team in rushing easily surpassing the 1,000 yd mark for the season.  Scored 15 TD's on the ground and averaged over 6 yds per scamper.  Also threw for over 2,000 yds.  (150 per game with a 60 percent completion percentage)

Junior Linebacker Pierre Banks-Led the team with over 100 tackles last season playing the wide side linebacker spot.

Redshirt Freshmen CoCo Hillary-Yes the second 'C' is capitalized.  This slot receiver/return specialist has dazzled in the fall workouts, is a threat to break a big one!

The Series

These two schools have never met and this is ASU's first ever trip to the state of Michigan.  It is also ASU's first ever matchup against a Big Ten Conference Team.   ASU is 45-29-3 in season openers and 6-29-1 vs. DI squads.  Their last victory over a DI school came in 2000 vs. Wake Forest.

Fast and Fun Facts


  • ASU is a perfect 2-0 all time in instant replay challenges! 

  • ASU's next opponent is the Lenoir-Rhyne Bears, enrollment 1,600!

  • ASU is a perfect 15-0 when Richardson eclipses the 100 yd mark!

  • One of ASU's title sponsors is Hardee's.  (I really miss the "fixins" bar and their commecials on the website are sweet!)

  • In an online poll, as of yesterday, 71% of ASU fan's biggest concern about the game was stopping our offense.

  • ASU players are referred to as "APPS" and the stadium is nickname "The Rock"

  • They have a "Tailgate of the Game Award" for each home game

*Appalachian State University football's preparations for the defense of its back-to-back NCAA Division I football national championships and 2007 season opener at Michigan will be chronicled for a 30-minute documentary as part of Fox Sports Net's popular Under the Lights series.

Center of Nowhere

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​by Johnny Cleveland

A short week has taken its toll on the tailgate and website faithful, not to mention the Wolverines. Compounding the upcoming weekend is a well rested and increasingly confident group of Chippewas. CMU stayed right with Boston College last Thursday in its first of two Nationally televised games. The Chips got down early but mounted a valiant comeback and even had some chances to tie if not win the contest. With time winding down in the game, the crafty Chips moved all the way inside the BC 40, then out of knowhere they decide to run some crazy "muddle huddle" formation and end up throwing a pick to end their chance at winning. However with extra days of prep and seeing some of UM's weaknesses, we are sure to have a battle with the instate squad. 

The University
  • Located in Mt. Pleasant Michigan

  • Nickname: Chippewas

  • Colors: Maroon and Gold

  • 27,452 Students

  • 4th largest Michigan Public U
Football History CMU/UM
  • Michigan leads series 2-0

  • CMU's last National Championship, 1974 (DII) / UM's 1997 (DI)

  • Michigan 'O' coordinator, Mike DeBord was CMU's previous head coach.

  • Last meeting (8/30/2003) UM 45 CMU 7
CMU 2006

The Chippewa program is definitely on the rise as they have increased their victory total each of the last 3 seasons. Head Coach Brian Kelly has them headed in the right direction highlighted by the close game with B.C. and a winning record last season.

Top players include

1. DE Dan Bazuin -- MAC Defensive player of the year last year and National DI leader with 26.5 tackles for a loss. Bazuin has already been invited to the East/West shrine game and is an All American in several publications.

2. Linebackers -- Three returning starters

3. O Tackle Joe Staley -- Allowed zero sacks last year. 300 lb's, 4.7 forty time. Also going to E/W Shrine game.

4. RB Ontario Sneed -- dual threat running and receiving the ball

5. Punter Tony Mikulec -- was named the MAC West Division Special Teams Player of the Week for his performance against BC.

Too Bad for them

Fun Shit

  • Same school colors as Riverview High School, Webmasters School

  • OL "Big Country" Benke from Lakeshore HS, home of the Moore's.

#13

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With Breaston and Manningham streaking down the sidelines looking for deep balls and drawing double coverage, who will be moving the chains in the middle of the opponents defense? Ladies and Gents, meet Greg Mathews. He doesn't have the speed of Teddy Ginn Jr., but he is his cousin.  He doesn't have the athleticism of Memphis Tiger Darius Washington, but he went to the same high school as him. At about 6'3 the incoming Freshmen has great size and had some super gamebreaking performances at Orlando's Edgewater last season. Not the least impressive being a 200+ yard recieving game in the state playoffs that included over 100 yards in the final quarter to bring his squad back to victory. All this occurring after returning from an injury earlier in the game. As aforementioned, Matthews is not a burner, he is a plodder that hopefully will develop into a big time possesion receiver.

The best part of the G. Mathews story thus far is the fact that he actually arrived here in Ann Arbor. He was born in Honolulu, grew up in Los Angeles and finished high school in Florida. Of course his top two choices were FSU and Miami, leaning towards the later as he grew up a fan of the "U". When Michigan offered him a scholarship before the Florida schools he changed his tone but then said his best campus visit was to Ohio State. Compounding matters was the fact his mom went to school at OSU and his grandmother was an instructor in Columbus. However the Maize and Blue staff wrestled him away from the three perenniel powers and now he is ready to produce.

And produce he must if he expects to avoid being redshirtted this season. With Arrington and Tabb and Dutch and possibly Savoy slated to play a similar role, he may be caught in a logjam this upcoming fall. The injury to Bass may have moved him up a bit on the depth chart but big time catches will determine his PT. He seems to be a bit ahead of some of the aforementioned in the intelligence category and he practiced daily against two big time defensive back recruits on his high school team. Lets see if Henne can get him the ball before he realizes how much shittier the weather gets here as compared to L.A., Orlando and Honolulu. #13, Greg Mathews.

 

Did U Know? : Retired Jersey Numbers

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There are five Michigan jersey numbers that have been officially retired by the 'U'.

  • # 11 - Francis Wistert, 1931-33
    • Albert Wistert, 1940-42
    • Alvin Wistert, 1947-49
  • # 47 - Bennie Oosterbaan, 1925-27
  • # 48 - Gerald Ford, 1932-34
  • # 87 - Ron Kramer, 1954-56
  • # 98 - Tom Harmon, 1938-40

In website update news, I am in the process of finding a different message board solution. Actually, I think I have found it, just working on proper implementation right now. You can still use the current one, but it may be better just to share your banter in the comment sections of the front page posts until I get things squared away. Thanks for your patience! ONE MONTH!!!!!!

GO BLUE!