Michigan opens as 3-point favorites vs PSU

.

Tough call, seems like a good line.

'shoes

Wow

I think the biggest contributor for such a small spread is Brady's record on the road.

Admin wrote:

I think the biggest contributor for such a small spread is Brady's record on the road.

True...added to the fact the Nits are tougher at home, as are most teams. They did lose to Central Fla. at State
College, but maybe UCF's underestimated due to the "directional" in their name. (Lost only 28-25 to So. Carolina).

Still, I'd have expected an even touchdown as the early line...given how badly their defense was diced by Indiana
(and mostly on big plays, which we're capable of) and the fact we're unbeaten.

Penn State's defense was pretty much shredded by Central Florida. I watched that game. The final score was misleading because in the final minute, the CFU center snapped the ball about 15 feet over the punter's head, which ended up giving PSU the ball at the 8 yard line and allowing them to score.

On paper, PSU is pretty meh. But seeing this is probably their biggest home game, they will play much better. Plus, I've grown used to watching meh teams play good against Michigan and then going back to sucking the following week.

Penn St. just got dogwalked by a middle of the pack Big 10 team (at best). I really, really, expect that line to move.

Gamblers look at Mich on the road under Coach Hoke and it is not a pretty sight from a gambling perspective.

'shoes

wshoes wrote:

Gamblers look at Mich on the road under Coach Hoke and it is not a pretty sight from a gambling perspective.

'shoes

Looking at Hoke's road losses, they were to teams whose final rankings were #10, #4, #3, #1 (if you want to count Bama on a neutral site) and Nebraska who was 20ish, but we were without Denard.  Losses suck but I imagine many coaches wouldn't have good records against teams ranked that high, unless you're an SEC team and can buy all the top players you want.  

The only "bad" road loss was at Iowa two years ago, who was not very good.  And although we shouldn't have been in the position we were at the time, we did get screwed on two horrible calls to end the game.  A touchdown taken off the board and an obvious pass interference on the final play that wasn't called.  

This is still a young team and it's not going to be easy playing at a hostile environment like Beaver Stadium.

I'm going to miss the game for a freakin' wedding......

EJinGA wrote:

I'm going to miss the game for a freakin' wedding......

I've pretty much told anybody that I expect to invite me to a wedding that if they plan it for a fall Saturday, I simply won't be there.    

And I've told my girlfriend, who at this point I plan to marry at some point in the future, that a spring/summer wedding is the only possibility (luckilly she's on board with that).

The last Michigan game I missed, for any reason, was the Friday night game against Minnesota back in 2004 or whatever..."the 4th quarter comeback".

I missed it because I was still playing high school football then, and we had our own game that night. I remember looking up towards my dad as we ran into halftime to inquire about the score. I could see it written all over his face that it wasn't good. I was pretty pissed off the rest of our game....but it helped....I recorded two interceptions that night and we beat the hell out of our opponent.

Later found out about the comeback when we got back to Elkhart from Wawasee.

Admin/EJ---  and take me at my word, this is a true story:

My daughter, knowing I (at the time) subscribed to The Wolverine, wrote an angry (and published!)
letter castigating John Borton for his all-too-accurate description of what happens when a Michigan
fan is in the house and his team's losing ("...while Mom tried assuring the kids that Daddy would be
OK in a few hours...")

Borton's reply?

"Said, isn't it Katie?  Here's one for you, to get him back and test his dad-hood:
Schedule your wedding to occur during the Michigan/Ohio State game, and be
sure he doesn't bring the Watchman."

Admin wrote:

EJinGA wrote:

I'm going to miss the game for a freakin' wedding......

I've pretty much told anybody that I expect to invite me to a wedding that if they plan it for a fall Saturday, I simply won't be there.    

And I've told my girlfriend, who at this point I plan to marry at some point in the future, that a spring/summer wedding is the only possibility (luckilly she's on board with that).

I know it. I don't like weddings, regardless... But good friends, blah, blah, blah.

This is such a big game... If it's on BTN I can sneak off and watch some of it on my phone.

Admin wrote:

The last Michigan game I missed, for any reason, was the Friday night game against Minnesota back in 2004 or whatever..."the 4th quarter comeback".

I missed it because I was still playing high school football then, and we had our own game that night. I remember looking up towards my dad as we ran into halftime to inquire about the score. I could see it written all over his face that it wasn't good. I was pretty pissed off the rest of our game....but it helped....I recorded two interceptions that night and we beat the hell out of our opponent.

Later found out about the comeback when we got back to Elkhart from Wawasee.

Did you play for Central or Memorial?

WolverineHistorian wrote:

wshoes wrote:

Gamblers look at Mich on the road under Coach Hoke and it is not a pretty sight from a gambling perspective.

'shoes

Looking at Hoke's road losses, they were to teams whose final rankings were #10, #4, #3, #1 (if you want to count Bama on a neutral site) and Nebraska who was 20ish, but we were without Denard.  Losses suck but I imagine many coaches wouldn't have good records against teams ranked that high, unless you're an SEC team and can buy all the top players you want.  

The only "bad" road loss was at Iowa two years ago, who was not very good.  And although we shouldn't have been in the position we were at the time, we did get screwed on two horrible calls to end the game.  A touchdown taken off the board and an obvious pass interference on the final play that wasn't called.  

This is still a young team and it's not going to be easy playing at a hostile environment like Beaver Stadium.

Historian, that is a great point. That record really isn't so bad when you take a closer look at it.

'shoes

Oh, man. Fall weddings are the worst. But they're a big thing now.

In 07, I had to go to a Fall wedding in back to back weeks. After the first one, I ran outside the church and called my dad for a score update against Notre Dame. Thankfully, it was halftime and we were up 31-0. The next week, we were playing Penn State and I snuck a tiny hand held TV into the reception hall with me. As the entire room was bowing their heads for the blessing, I was bowing my head looking down at the TV in my lap watching the final minute of the game tick off the clock. Another win.

Don't get married during Fall unless its a bye week.

sandyeggo_blue wrote:

Admin wrote:

The last Michigan game I missed, for any reason, was the Friday night game against Minnesota back in 2004 or whatever..."the 4th quarter comeback".

I missed it because I was still playing high school football then, and we had our own game that night. I remember looking up towards my dad as we ran into halftime to inquire about the score. I could see it written all over his face that it wasn't good. I was pretty pissed off the rest of our game....but it helped....I recorded two interceptions that night and we beat the hell out of our opponent.

Later found out about the comeback when we got back to Elkhart from Wawasee.

Did you play for Central or Memorial?

Memorial.

Fuck Central.  

WolverineHistorian wrote:

Oh, man.  Fall weddings are the worst.  But they're a big thing now.  

In 07, I had to go to a Fall wedding in back to back weeks.  After the first one, I ran outside the church and called my dad for a score update against Notre Dame.  Thankfully, it was halftime and we were up 31-0.  The next week, we were playing Penn State and I snuck a tiny hand held TV into the reception hall with me.  As the entire room was bowing their heads for the blessing, I was bowing my head looking down at the TV in my lap watching the final minute of the game tick off the clock.  Another win.  

Don't get married during Fall unless its a bye week.

Or do what I did (the second time),-get married on New Year's day and have a combined wedding reception- bowl party.

'shoes

wshoes wrote:

WolverineHistorian wrote:

Don't get married during Fall unless its a bye week.

Or do what I did (the second time),-get married on New Year's day and have a combined wedding reception- bowl party.

'shoes

Now that's not a bad idea!!

Admin wrote:

wshoes wrote:

WolverineHistorian wrote:

Don't get married during Fall unless its a bye week.

Or do what I did (the second time),-get married on New Year's day and have a combined wedding reception- bowl party.

'shoes

Now that's not a bad idea!!

That is a good idea, as long as Michigan doesn't play in one of the early games...

Admin wrote:

The last Michigan game I missed, for any reason, was the Friday night game against Minnesota back in 2004 or whatever..."the 4th quarter comeback".

I missed it because I was still playing high school football then, and we had our own game that night. I remember looking up towards my dad as we ran into halftime to inquire about the score. I could see it written all over his face that it wasn't good. I was pretty pissed off the rest of our game....but it helped....I recorded two interceptions that night and we beat the hell out of our opponent.

Later found out about the comeback when we got back to Elkhart from Wawasee.

That is the last game I missed too.  Well, 2 3/4's of the game.  I was on a work up for a deployment.  We were floating around a couple miles off the coast of Virginia.  I was watching the game in the berthing area, and we lost the satellite.  It never came back, so I went to sleep thinking UM lost.  Next morning I see an email from my wife that said "can you believe they won?"  BTW, that was the same night my wife became hooked on UM football.  She told me later that she was kind of watching because I wasn't there and when the comeback started she couldn't stop watching..   Fate?

fishgoblue22 wrote:

Admin wrote:

The last Michigan game I missed, for any reason, was the Friday night game against Minnesota back in 2004 or whatever..."the 4th quarter comeback".

I missed it because I was still playing high school football then, and we had our own game that night. I remember looking up towards my dad as we ran into halftime to inquire about the score. I could see it written all over his face that it wasn't good. I was pretty pissed off the rest of our game....but it helped....I recorded two interceptions that night and we beat the hell out of our opponent.

Later found out about the comeback when we got back to Elkhart from Wawasee.

That is the last game I missed too.  Well, 2 3/4's of the game.  I was on a work up for a deployment.  We were floating around a couple miles off the coast of Virginia.  I was watching the game in the berthing area, and we lost the satellite.  It never came back, so I went to sleep thinking UM lost.  Next morning I see an email from my wife that said "can you believe they won?"  BTW, that was the same night my wife became hooked on UM football.  She told me later that she was kind of watching because I wasn't there and when the comeback started she couldn't stop watching..   Fate?

Beautiful story about your wife.

wshoes wrote:

fishgoblue22 wrote:

That is the last game I missed too.  Well, 2 3/4's of the game.  I was on a work up for a deployment.  We were floating around a couple miles off the coast of Virginia.  I was watching the game in the berthing area, and we lost the satellite.  It never came back, so I went to sleep thinking UM lost.  Next morning I see an email from my wife that said "can you believe they won?"  BTW, that was the same night my wife became hooked on UM football.  She told me later that she was kind of watching because I wasn't there and when the comeback started she couldn't stop watching..   Fate?

Beautiful story about your wife.

Yep, now she is as hooked as I am.

WolverineHistorian wrote:

Oh, man.  Fall weddings are the worst.  But they're a big thing now.  

In 07, I had to go to a Fall wedding in back to back weeks.  After the first one, I ran outside the church and called my dad for a score update against Notre Dame.  Thankfully, it was halftime and we were up 31-0.  The next week, we were playing Penn State and I snuck a tiny hand held TV into the reception hall with me.  As the entire room was bowing their heads for the blessing, I was bowing my head looking down at the TV in my lap watching the final minute of the game tick off the clock.  Another win.  

Don't get married during Fall unless its a bye week.

If the friggin' game was on at 12:00 like normal I could watch it. Instead, it's on at 5:00.

95% of noon games these days are snoozers. Two MAC teams always square off on ABC (at least in my area.)

I agree a 5:00 start is dumb. But I'll take it over an 8:00 start.

I never used to do this, but I typically get out and play a round of golf early Saturday these days. I used to wake up and sit in front of the TV for two hours of Gameday then watch every game on TV, beginning at Noon.

Now I typically tee off around 6:45-7am, I'm back home around Noon (CDT), and I'm settled in to watch beginning around the 2nd half of those games.

3:30 is the perfect start time.  I'm ok with the 5pm start. It is better than noon or 8pm.

EJinGA wrote:

If the friggin' game was on at 12:00 like normal I could watch it. Instead, it's on at 5:00.

How is a 12:00 start "normal"? We've had one this year, one...

And I don't see any more coming. The sparty game "could" be a noon kickoff and so "could" the ohio game but I don't see it. TV dictates everything and there is no way ohio is at noon. sparty maybe but I still kinda doubt it but maybe...

2ndComingOfBo wrote:

EJinGA wrote:

If the friggin' game was on at 12:00 like normal I could watch it. Instead, it's on at 5:00.

How is a 12:00 start "normal"?  We've had one this year, one...

And I don't see any more coming.  The sparty game "could" be a noon kickoff and so "could" the ohio game but I don't see it.  TV dictates everything and there is no way ohio is at noon.  sparty maybe but I still kinda doubt it but maybe...

UM vs OSU is almost always a noon game regardless of records.

http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/mich/sports/m-footbl/auto_pdf/2012-13/release/release_20121119aaa.pdf

http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/mich/sports/m-footbl/auto_pdf/2011-12/release/release_20111121aaa.pdf

http://www.mgoblue.com/auto_pdf/p_hotos/s_chools/mich/sports/m-footbl/auto_pdf/fbl-weekly-112210