Michigan Football - 2025 Season.

[lineygoblue]

This site says that JJ is now the favorite for the Heisman.

I wish it wasn't true, because that puts a lot more undue pressure on him, but I guess it is, what it is.

https://www.mlive.com/wolverines/2023/10/michigans-jj-mccarthy-is-the-heisman-trophy-favorite.html

[Jeff Buchanan]

If you listen to post game comments lately, players have been consistently dismissing the BS that's coming their way. Mgo's Best and Worse article by BronxBlue talks about how the sports press ran with the story of sign stealing without vetting any part of them. Moreover, it was obvious, according to BronxBlue, that sports writers were just copying and pasting previous stories over their names. Echo chamber.

I think this team is locked in on goals and both high praise and criticism are being ignored to stay focused on those goals. Not worried about JJ getting Heisman Hype.

[Mike]

The sports books now have Michigan as the betting favorite to win the natty and JJ to with the Heisman. It's worth noting that, according to an ESPN article I read, Vegas has received twice as many wagers on UM than UGA so they need to adjust their odds accordingly. It doesn't really mean that's what they think or predict will happen.

There's also some theoretical point spreads floating around that have Michigan as a favorite over every other team in the country including -4.5 against Georgia. What a time to be alive!

[Jeff Buchanan]

Curb your enthusiasm. Happy Valley beckons. At least its a noon KO so, there is that. We all may be, just a little, over-confident of M's path to the NC. After all, this is CFB. Shit happens. Just ask Ferentz. Game altering calls by amateur referees seem to increase as the season, and the stakes, move ahead. M has two away games where not only does the team have to overcome the home town team advantage, but overcome the likelihood that a ref or refs will change an outcome by a single bad call.

I'll save Wiz the need to post it ...... "fucking refs"

[lineygoblue]

I'm just a tad more confident that Michigan can get things done in HV, but its going to be a 4 quarter game. Pedo State didn't show much fire against OSU, and it was a golden opportunity to do so. I'm not predicting a M win in HV, but I feel its more do-able than I felt a week or so ago. The big difference in M football since 2021 has been focus. These guys aren't easily distracted. They know what they want, and they're going after it with all they've got. I guess that's all we can ask.

In other news, I'd make M about a 30 point favorite versus BYE this week ...

[Mike]

Curb your enthusiasm. Happy Valley beckons. At least its a noon KO so, there is that. We all may be, just a little, over-confident of M's path to the NC. After all, this is CFB. Shit happens. Just ask Ferentz. Game altering calls by amateur referees seem to increase as the season, and the stakes, move ahead. M has two away games where not only does the team have to overcome the home town team advantage, but overcome the likelihood that a ref or refs will change an outcome by a single bad call.

I'll save Wiz the need to post it ...... "fucking refs"

I'm not overconfident when it comes to the playoff. But I'm quite confident they come out of HV with a double digit win. PSU's defense is very good and it will be the best we've seen all year but their offense is meh and our defense is pretty damn good in it's own right. Even if we have to Lloydball them, Michigan will get it done.

Also: Frames. Janklin.

[lineygoblue]

I think we may have gotten just a peek at what M might try to do to PSU. TE's are becoming more involved in the passing game. They're not just blockers anymore. Loveland and Barner run seam routes very well.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Yeah, I agree with you on the outcome, sans some high variance shit. I'm just constantly irked by game changing bad calls that have already happened - not against M - and the potential for more as stakes rise. That M has not been victimized by this problem has a lot do with the M's dominance and, as the game proceeds, even a terrible call isn't game changing. But the next three teams have a higher probability that M isn't going to dominate them, these teams will hang, and going into the 4th quarter, game outcome altering bad calls become more likely.---

[iam416]

I hate what I'm about to say. I have long wanted to see Michigan football teams play to the level that Michigan has attained these last three seasons. They play the way I enjoy seeing the game played. That's a credit to them, and to the members of the coaching staff. There's an awful lot right with these people, and I want to start there.

However, that doesn't mean there isn't something wrong. I don't know precisely what's happened, but I'm willing to offer this guess. Michigan football was broken at the end of the 2020 season. We all saw it. Many of us(myself included) called for a head coaching change, as we thought things couldn't improve under the current leadership. Jim Harbaugh had to hear that call. A coach that hadn't failed anywhere in his life was hearing the calls for his job from his fellow alumni, and he felt he had to make changes to save the program. I suspect-- and I think the available evidence and current allegations support this inference-- that Harbaugh decided to push against any constraints on his program as hard as he could. The old expression is, "If you ain't cheatin', you ain't trying." My guess is, Harbaugh decided it was worth it to try.

I don't want this to be true. I didn't want it to be true when Rich Rodriguez and his staff came into a tough situation and decided to bend the rules to gain whatever advantage they could find for a roster unsuited to their style of play. In retrospect, given how that ultimately played out, Michigan might have been better served cutting ties with Rodriguez immediately. You cut corners to find a way to win, and you will eventually have a mess to clean up. My guess is, at the end of this, whatever this Michigan team wins on the field, Jim Harbaugh is going to leave Michigan with a major mess.

Yeah....

[iam416]

Correct. So this really is analogous to the Astros -- sign-stealing in MLB is allowed -- IF it's done in a certain way. If it's done in a way that's against the rules, then it's a problem. I mean, not a big enough problem to strip them of anything, but a problem.

I don't know what your KGB dude did. However, my guess -- and this is purely my guess -- is that there's evidence he visited future opponent venues. And if I really had to guess, I'd say he filmed signs live and paired them up with the TV run-back. I mean, I don't think this was ordinary -- it certainly seems like numerous other B10 schools noticed -- so, either he's exceptional at gameday sign-thievery or he was running his Jason Bourne shit.

But, that's a pure fucking guess. And, aside from the glorious opportunities for sass, when allegations like this come out I'm very much a wait to see all the cards kinda guy. So, we'll see.

Still very much a guess, but I'm feeling much, much better that the guess is going to proven correct. Except he was sending people to games. He wasn't going himself.

[Jeff Buchanan]

From my reading of the rules on scouting, Harbaugh has to have directed a staff member (Scallion?) to go to future opponents, scout them, use electronic equipment to film a sideline's play-call signals and report back to the football department about what he learned. That would establishes a plan was in place by M that violates the rules on scouting.

Harbaugh has already made what you would expect is an exculpatory statement. Regardless, Michigan has burden of proof, not the NCAA in a case like this - a bit different than the legal justice system in the US. I doubt JH or M's athletic department will have anything else to say about this.

Was Scallion directed to go scout future opponents by someone in authority on the M football staff? Did he charge travel expenses to the athletic department. Both of these unanswered question, among others, if answered positively would tend to demonstrate a plan was in place. formulated by the football program to scout future opponents. That would be in violation of the applicable NCAA rule. If Scallion was acting independently and on his own initiative, the NCAA rule is not clear on whether individuals acting independently, even if they subsequently talked to Harbaugh about what they saw, would put Harbaugh in jeopardy of having broken NCAA rules.

Regardless, all M has at the moment is a notification by the NCAA that a rules violation may have occurred. There are no further details about what evidence the NCAA has or will uncover in a subsequent investigation (if there is one). Other than the public release of an ongoing investigation by sports writers that tended to label and smear JH as a cheater, there's no factual evidence available in support of the "cheating" allegations or to discredit it. Long way to go. There won't be any findings this season that would lead to punishment. OTH, the NCAA could decide there's not enough evidence to proceed. M will be notified of that.

[iam416]

Lol. The coach has imputed knowledge.

And there’s gads of evidence here. It’s just not 100% conclusive — for now. But it’s increasingly more clear what happened.

Give my regards to graveyard as you go whistling by.

[Jeff Buchanan]

People posting here may or may not have seen Brian's at mgo piece on the allegations. It has some good points.

https://mgoblog.com/content/i-got-your-sign

[iam416]

That’s from October 20 — has he updated his opinion?

[iam416]

And I don’t think anything of substance will happen to M, but everyone will know what they did. That’s where I think it ultimately ends.