NCAA Football FanHouse

Rich Rodriguez Ends the Fun By Agreeing to Pay WVU $4 Million

Chas Rich — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 09:36:00 EST

Filed under: Michigan Football, West Virginia Football, Big 10, Big East, NCAA FB Coaching

I'm sure Michigan and WVU fans are probably relieved that this is over, but I'm terribly disappointed.

West Virginia University says ex-football coach Rich Rodriguez has agreed to pay a $4 million buyout clause after breaking his contract.

That would settle WVU's lawsuit that had been set for trial this fall. WVU attorney Tom Flaherty says the tentative agreement was reached late Tuesday night.

The past few months have been a fun time to watch -- as long as you are on the outside. The depositions being taken then released to the public for mocking. Rodriguez's lawyer equating the buyout to "slavery" even as Rodriguez's present contract with Michigan just happens to have a $4 million buyout. Good stuff.

FanHouse never even got a chance to ~~mock~~ discuss the deposition of outgoing WVU President Mike Garrison talking about "Product Rodriguez." Instead it ends with a whimper. Not all depositions taken. The chance for more legal filings to accuse each other of broken promises, misused cell phones, shredded documents, and good vitriol dressed in legalese.

It remains to be seen if Rodriguez is paying the money himself or if Michigan and/or a wealthy donor is ponying up the money to end this before training camp opens in Ann Arbor.

UPDATE: It appears that Michigan will pay at least part of the money owed.

Sources today said Rodriguez will pay $1.5 million over a three-year span that begins in two-and-a-half years, with $500,000 due at the end of each 2010, 2011 and 2012.

Michigan will pay $2.5 million immediately, and additionally is expected to pick up Mr. Rodriguez's legal fees.

Rich Rodriguez Ends the Fun By Agreeing to Pay WVU $4 Million originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Wed, 09 Jul 2008 09:36:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Michigan RB Kevin Grady Probably Should Not Have Been Driving

Adam Jacobi — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 03:00:00 EST

Filed under: Michigan Football, Big 10, NCAA FB Police Blotter

Pop quiz, hot shots. The phrase "half past dead" refers to which of the following:

A) A lyric in The Band's classic song, "The Weight;"

B) Steven Seagal's timeless cinematic treasure "Half Past Dead," co-starring noted thespian Ja Rule;

C) Kevin Grady's state of being early Wednesday morning.

If you guessed A, you're over 40 years old. If you guessed B, you are a fine connoisseur of cinema. For everybody else, yes, C is the right answer. The Michigan tailback, one of several looking to take over the departed Mike Hart's carries, was arrested on "suspicion" of DUI. We say "suspicion" because Grady blew a .281, which is more than three and a half times higher than the legal limit in Michigan and most other states.

Just for the sake of further context, .080 is legally drunk. .200 will absolutely ruin your weekend. .400 is enough to kill people.

So, if anything, Grady is lucky in that he didn't kill anybody--or himself. Again, he blew a .281. He does, however, find himself in the unfortunate position of being incoming head coach Rich Rodriguez's first serious disciplinary case, which makes it unlikely that he'll escape with anything less than serious punishment. As first offenses go, OWIs almost never result in dismissals, but the mind-blowing particulars probably mean Grady's not seeing the field in any meaningful action until at least October.

Michigan RB Kevin Grady Probably Should Not Have Been Driving originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Fri, 04 Jul 2008 03:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Old School: Tim Brewster Did Actually Go to the Rose Bowl

Brian Cook — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 10:30:00 EST

Filed under: Michigan Football, NCAA FB Video, Illinois Football

"Old School" is the College Football FanHouse's irregular look back at the rich history of college football, usually through the medium of embeddable flash video. Check out the Old School archive for more famous plays and infamous hair.

Before Tim Brewster was Minnesota's head coach, he coached tight ends in the NFL. Before that, he coached tight ends in college. And before that, he was an Illinois tight end with a killer Buckstache and coachspeak down pat:

About two minutes into the video, Thomas Rooks scores the game's only touchdown in a 16-6 Illinois win over Michigan, Illinois' first since 1966. Illinois would go to the Rose Bowl for the first time since 1964.

The Illini were, naturally, cheating their asses off, though Mike White's wikipedia page completely omits mention of that.

Old School: Tim Brewster Did Actually Go to the Rose Bowl originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Thu, 03 Jul 2008 10:30:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rich Rodriguez Doesn't Have the Time to Live in the Past

Tom Fornelli — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:32:00 EST

Filed under: Michigan Football, Big 10, NCAA FB Coaching, NCAA FB Media Watch

With Rich Rodriguez taking over the Michigan football program from Lloyd Carr there are going to be plenty of changes made in Ann Arbor. Obviously, the biggest change the team and Rich will have to make is implement ing an entire new offensive system with a bunch of players who weren't recruited for it. That's not exactly the easiest thing in the world to do, but luckily the Wolverines early season schedule consists of cupcakes like Utah, Miami (OH), and Notre Dame. There isn't an Appalachian State in the bunch, so the Wolverines will have some time to adjust.

Another big change will come on Sunday mornings, as Rodriguez has no plans to appear on "Michigan Replay", a popular postgame show that's been running for 33 years.

The Michigan football coach's show, which reviewed the previous game and looked ahead, will no longer be on the air Sunday mornings.

Rodriguez has said he's not interested in hanging around after games to tape a show because he would rather use the time visiting with recruits and spending time with his family.

Not to fear, Michigan fans, just because "Michigan Replay" is going the way of the single wing formation doesn't mean there won't be a new show. Instead of having a weekly show taped after each game to review it and look forward to next week's game, the school is going to produce a weekly preview show.

What it's going to be called, or when and where it will be aired have not been announced yet.

Rich Rodriguez Doesn't Have the Time to Live in the Past originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:32:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Want Michigan Tickets? Cut Your Legs Off

Brian Cook — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 11:26:00 EST

Filed under: Michigan Football, Big 10, The Word

When Michigan embarked on an ambitious renovation of Michigan Stadium this winter it exposed itself to ADA regulations that didn't apply to the 1927 edfice. One Paralyzed Veterans of America lawsuit later, Michigan had a mandate to build over 200 wheelchair-accessible seats over the next four years.

Eighty-four of those go in next year, and only 14 have been sold. They're in areas of the stadium that require PSLs -- which means they're good seats -- but the University has waived the PSLs on them for the next three years. Michigan Stadium has a season ticket waiting list longer than Notre Dame's bowl drought (zing!), and that goes double for actual schmancy PSL seats.

And the kicker:

"We're going to be getting the word out to work with the disabled community," Bodnar said. "There are different groups we can contact. Under the consent decree (in the settlement), they are only available for individuals in wheelchairs."

Keep this in mind if you see a headline like "UNEXPLAINED RASH OF AMPUTATIONS ACROSS MICHIGAN" sometime in the next couple months.

Want Michigan Tickets? Cut Your Legs Off originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Thu, 19 Jun 2008 11:26:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Worst Moments in Big Ten Football History #6: Bo Schembechler's Bowl Record

Mark Hasty — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 11:22:00 EST

Filed under: Michigan Football, Big 10, Bowl Games, NCAA FB History

FanHouse is counting down the ten best, ten worst, and ten weirdest moments in the history of Big Ten football.

"Bowls, to hell with bowls. I'm not interested in bowls."

That's what Bo Schembechler said in 1981 after losing to the Iowa Hawkeyes 9-7 in the Big House. It was Michigan's second conference loss of the season, putting their hopes of yet another Rose Bowl in serious doubt. But really, the Hawkeyes did him a favor that day.

There's no question Schembechler was a dogged competitor who hated to lose. If the football season ended in November, he'd have to be remembered as one of the five best coaches of the modern era. Unfortunately, it doesn't, so any sober assessment of the man's accomplishments has to include a look at his bowl record.

In 21 seasons as Michigan's coach, Schembechler never had a losing season. His Wolverines finished first or second in the Big Ten in 16 of those years. His 96-16-3 record for the decade of the 1970s was the best of any coach in Division 1. Schembechler also led his Wolverines to 17 bowl games, including 10 Rose Bowls--more than any other Big Ten coach. And how did he do in those games? Michigan fans would rather you didn't ask.

5-12, if you must know. That's not too good, especially when you consider that Schembechler only lost 48 games total as Michigan's coach. Thus one out of every four of his losses came in a bowl game.

His record in the Rose Bowl was particularly grim. He only won two of the ten Rose Bowls he coached. He even lost three straight, from 1977 to 1979.

Granted, you have to be a pretty good coach to lose three straight Rose Bowls, since you have to make it to that game first. And can you imagine any coach these days losing twelve bowl games without getting fired?

But they didn't fire him; despite Schembechler's postseason futility, he was (and still is) a much-loved figure in Michigan football. Thus he earned the privilege of writing the last chapter of his own story, and handpicking his own successor. Schembechler decided he'd step aside after the 1989 season and hand the keys over to his longtime assistant Gary Moeller.

Buoyed up by a desire to send Schembechler off on a good note, the Wolverines won the conference that season, giving Schembechler his mind-boggling tenth trip to Pasadena. It was the perfect ending to a wonderful career.

The Wolverines lost to Southern Cal, 17-10.

Worst Moments in Big Ten Football History #6: Bo Schembechler's Bowl Record originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Wed, 04 Jun 2008 11:22:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Red On Red: Desmond Howard Criticizes ESPN's Reporting

Brian Grummell — Thu, 22 May 2008 18:06:00 EST

Filed under: Michigan Football

... as the knives are sharpened in Bristol ...

In an interview with the Detroit News about ESPN's botched "Les Miles to Michigan" call:

[Herbstreit's report] was wrong on so many levels. As a former player, unless I spoke to that coach and he told me it was cool, I would never have done that because he was still coaching a team that's about to play in a (SEC) championship game. ... His team, the first thing they saw when they woke up was that report. It was not fair to him and not fair to the players.

He's got a point given that he's on Michigan's search committee and literally spends every Saturday with Herbstreit. All it would have taken was a simple call to a well-placed colleague to add another layer of proof.

Are Howard's days at ESPN numbered after this? Who knows, but Maize N Brew nicely outlines the college football zeitgeist at Bristol ca. 2008.

I'll be curious to see if there's any fallout from this one. Herbstreit really is the face of Game Day at this point and is clearly being groomed to take over as ABC's lead commentator for college football, if he isn't already. He's the golden boy and Howard just took him to task.
The World Wide Leader in Sports is known to have an itchy trigger finger when it comes to dissent. Desmond is a good, but by no means irreplaceable commentator. It will be interesting to see if Desmond's comments do more than just kick a dead horse.

Red On Red: Desmond Howard Criticizes ESPN's Reporting originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Thu, 22 May 2008 18:06:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rich Rodriguez Claims He Was Coerced Into Signing Contract. Yeah, Right.

Pete Holiday — Tue, 13 May 2008 21:10:00 EST

Filed under: Michigan Football, West Virginia Football, Big 10, Big East, NCAA FB Coaching

Michigan Coach Rich Rodriguez, in his tireless effort to weasel his way out of paying his buy-out, has reached the point which even casual observers will recognize as the beginning of the end: he's just making stuff up now.

A Fox Sports column today asserts that, in a deposition, Rodriguez claimed that he was "coerced" into signing his contract. Coerced. Into signing a multi-million dollar contract. Somehow, it seems, that Rodriguez wants us to believe that the powers that be at West Virginia are powerful enough to intimidate him into signing on the dotted line, despite his ready access to legal counsel, agents, financial advisors, and really any other sort of assistance he could ever want.

This is, in a word, nonsense.
Coercion is an interesting claim. A textbook, easy case of coercion would be if WVU's President had held a gun to Rodriguez's head and told him to sign the contract. Not all instances of coercion are as straight-forward, but they all contain the same premise: that the contract was signed under duress from some sort of threat.

What sort of threat would WVU have even been able to legitimately make?

The simple answer: there really isn't one and if there had been, this wouldn't be the first we heard of it. This is an example of Rodriguez tossing out words he doesn't really know the meaning of because they sound good. This is typically what people do when the truth doesn't sound quite good enough.

Take a look at the intro paragraph from the Fox Sports story:

Former West Virginia football coach Rich Rodriguez says Gov. Joe Manchin and three members of the university's board of governors pressured him into signing a new contract before the start of the 2007 season, even though it had a $4 million buyout clause he didn't want.

They "pressured" him, apparently, into accepting a buyout clause that he didn't want. Pressured him how, we don't quite know. After his flirtations with Alabama, you can hardly blame WVU for wanting the buyout and you can hardly blame his attorney/agent/etc for recommending that he just take it and be happy.

A different claim entirely is that WVU made him promises to get him to sign the contract that they never followed through on. This is also a bit difficult to believe because, honestly, what attorney is going to say "Yeah, we got all of this other stuff in writing... but you can take their word for those deal-breakers that you absolutely need in order to make the deal work."

Still, odd things go on in negotiations of all stripes, and it wouldn't be the first time a hand-shake rider was added to a contract, but Rodriguez should just drop the whole "coercion" argument... it'll never fly.

Michigan should step in, pay his buyout, and make this whole mess go away. It's going to get a whole lot worse before it gets any better, and it's a shame that Rodriguez needs to be wearing the Michigan logo while he throws his legal temper-tantrum.

Rich Rodriguez Claims He Was Coerced Into Signing Contract. Yeah, Right. originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Tue, 13 May 2008 21:10:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Worst Moments in Big Ten Football History #2: Michigan vs. Appalachian State, 2007

Mark Hasty — Tue, 13 May 2008 14:49:00 EST

Filed under: Michigan Football, Big 10, NCAA FB History

FanHouse is counting down the ten best, ten worst, and ten weirdest moments in the history of Big Ten football.

Oh, like you didn't know this was coming. Come on. How could the single most disastrous game in the history of the conference not be the next item on this list?

You know the particulars already. Michigan was #5 in the country; Appalachian State was supposedly just another ~~Division I-AA~~ Football Championship Subdivision tomato can who was only supposed to be in it for the money. You know the game came down to a last-second blocked field goal, and you also know that Michigan was doggone lucky that they were ever in a position to win this game. The block happened, though, so the chants of "Down goes Frazier!" spread across the college football world. Appy State had pulled off the greatest upset of all time, being the first Not Ready For Prime Time Player to drink the milkshake of a top-5 team.

The day after, the Grave Dancers Union got a record number of applications for membership. "Overrated!" "End of an era!" "Fire Lloyd Carr!" Gosh, it's hard to argue with people when they're right.

My concern, though, is not with what this game meant to Michigan. My concern is with what this game meant to college football in general.

Though I am but a lone voice crying out in the wilderness, I'm convinced that good Division I-A Football Bowl Subdivision teams have no business slumming among the Not Ready For Prime Time Players. Competition creates competitors. The teams with the toughest schedules usually seem to be in the mix at the end of the year, while the teams that spend September snacking on cupcakes invariably spend November puking pastry all over their pants. Heading into last season, I decided that I would no longer pick these silly slumlord games in Pickin' On the Big Ten. That policy lasted all of one week, thanks to this game.

Spare me your "any given Saturday" pieties. Appy State was known to be a rock-solid program. Most of the big boys don't pick the top-notch FCS teams for their exhibition games. They pick overmatched teams willing to come to the Great Big Stadium and play dead for three hours in exchange for a large check which almost certainly won't bounce. The big-timers get a win that, inexplicably, counts towards bowl eligibility. Some teams (I'm looking at you, Illinois) even have the temerity to schedule two of these stinkwad games, meaning the Illini could go 4-6 against real competition and still make it to a bowl game.

And now, thanks partly to Appalachian State's once-in-a-lifetime performance and partly to Michigan's early-2007 incompetence, these games are less ridiculous than they should be. "You never know," says the fan. "Remember Appalachian State?"

Fine. I promise to remember Appy State, just as long as you promise to remember, when you're watching your team's third-string quarterback light up Eastern Delaware's secondary, or you're watching a true-freshman defensive end dominate a Saint Appolonia tackle who is four inches shorter and 80 pounds lighter, that your team could be proving something today, but isn't.

Worst Moments in Big Ten Football History #2: Michigan vs. Appalachian State, 2007 originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Tue, 13 May 2008 14:49:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WV Newspaper Columnists Are S-M-R-T

Brian Cook — Tue, 13 May 2008 12:46:00 EST

Filed under: Michigan Football, Ohio State Football, West Virginia Football, Big 10

Cleveland Browns receiver and Michigan alumnus Braylon Edwards caused a minor internet meltdown in Michigan-land recently when he said he was mad at new Michigan head coach Rich Rodriguez for giving the #1 jersey to an incoming freshman defensive back. Edwards had endowed a scholarship for the jersey, traditionally given to god-like wide receivers, that specifically prohibited any freshman from wearing the #1.

Every newspaper in West Virginia has three guys working the Rich Rodriguez beat; Bob Hertzel is one of them. And Bob Hertzel is very confused:

[The number #1] has belonged exclusively to a wide receiver since 1979, dating back to Chris Carter.

There is something wrong with this sentence: it's "Cris Carter." Oh, and here's a picture of the Wolverine legend donning the precious #1:

Oops.

WV Newspaper Columnists Are S-M-R-T originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Tue, 13 May 2008 12:46:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rich Rodriguez's Lawyer Doesn't Know Much About Sports

John Radcliff — Fri, 09 May 2008 20:09:00 EST

Filed under: Michigan Football, West Virginia Football, West Virginia

Now that the depositions are underway in the WVU vs. Rich Rodriguez case, we are finally starting to learn a few things that weren't apparent. For instance, we didn't know how little Rodriguez's attorney, Marv Robon knows about sports. More to the point, how little he knows about who is coaching where.

At one point Pastilong testified that Texas A&M had a problem when its football coach was given his own Web site, leading to his dismissal. "You mean Bobby Knight?" Robon asked. Bobby Knight? He was a basketball coach. Latest stop at Texas Tech, not A&M. And he was fired at Indiana.

Not satisfied that people knew the depth of his lack of fandom, Robon continued.

"Do people blame Mike Parsons for Bobby Huggins leaving?" When he was corrected and told that Huggins was the current coach, Robon dug himself in deeper. "Attempt to leave?" he asked.

Once again, real life proves itself far funnier than anything I could ever make up. I'm sure he meant former West Virginia basketball coach John Beilein. And being a West Virginia fan, I heard a lot of things about assistant AD, Mike Parsons and the loss of Beilein. His name was also mentioned quite a bit during the Alabama-Rodriguez fiasco. Keep in mind that what I just said is 100% rumor. But the rumor goes that while both Rodriguez and Beilein were at West Virginia, they went to Ed Pastilong on more than one occasion to complain about Parsons. Most likely about facility issues and Parsons lack of concern.

It hardly seems important at this point, as Pastilong and Rodriguez made only sparse contact over his last eight months.

In Rodriguez's final eight months, Pastilong seldom had contact with the coach other than in social settings and was not involved in negotiations, which were done through Team Rodriguez's agent, lawyers and financial experts while the WVU legal team and President Garrison and Walker handled the Mountaineer side.

Yeah, so Pastilong wasn't involved with the negotiations for Rodriguez and Huggins. So anything he says involving the Rodriguez contract isn't going to mean much. And the guy that was involved in the negotiations, WVU President Mike Garrison, kind of has some character issues(language). And one of the things that Rodriguez has been saying from the beginning is that there were verbal agreements to reduce the buyout. I don't know much about law, but right about now I'm not feeling so good about my schools chances to collect the $4 million.

The scenario I've just described might not amount to anything. It might just be that what is in the contract is the only evidence that really matters. But then again, if these things play a part it won't really matter about Robon's sports knowledge. Because Garrison just grooved one down his wheel house.

Rich Rodriguez's Lawyer Doesn't Know Much About Sports originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Fri, 09 May 2008 20:09:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Charlie Weis Takes the Words Straight Out of Our Mouths and Tells Michigan Where to Go

Brian Stouffer — Thu, 08 May 2008 11:03:00 EST

Filed under: Michigan Football, Notre Dame Football, Big 10, NCAA FB Gossip, NCAA FB Coaching

The Detroit Free-Press gets points for due diligence on this article, which is about a shoddy homemade video on YouTube. The home movie shows a surly Charlie Weis delivering a speech at the pre-game luncheon before the spring game. In front of a handful of fans and donors, Charlie cracked candidly about his feelings for that lovely academic institution in Ann Arbor:

"And then we'll listen to Michigan have all their excuses as they come running in and saying how they have a new coaching staff and there's changes. To hell with Michigan!" (exclamation mark is [sic] -Ed.)

The exclamation mark, in my opinion, comes from the overactive imagination of the article's author. A viewing of the video (the quote in question is at the 1:10 mark... be warned, though, it's a really obnoxious video) will convince every rational person with a cursory understanding of what counts as an "exclamation" that the more commonplace period is a more appropriate punctuation mark for the transcription.

Weis' remarks come from a long tradition of Notre Dame and Michigan trading damnations upon one another. Most famously, Bo Schembechler was known to quip "To Hell With Notre Dame" to anyone who asked him about scheduling the Irish, the Big 10's relationship to Notre Dame, or if he wanted syrup with his pancakes.

In related news, Hell has politely refused to accept Michigan, as doing so would drastically drop property values throughout the area.

Charlie Weis Takes the Words Straight Out of Our Mouths and Tells Michigan Where to Go originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Thu, 08 May 2008 11:03:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Why Can Taylor Bennett Play but Ryan Mallett Can't?

Brian Cook — Mon, 05 May 2008 13:52:00 EST

Filed under: Georgia Tech Football, Michigan Football, Arkansas Football

This offseason, two quarterbacks found themselves sca-roohed by coaching changes: Michigan's Ryan Mallett and Georgia Tech's Taylor Bennett. Both are square-peg pocket passing battleship types virtually guaranteed starting jobs until a QB-run-mad head coach came in with a bunch of round holes; both said "screw you guys, I'm going home."

But while Mallett has to sit out at Arkansas next year, Bennett has been given the go-ahead to play this fall for Louisiana Tech. Why? How? What? Well, remember that one year the NCAA allowed anyone who'd picked up an undergraduate degree to transfer without penalty?

Yeah, that rule was repealed after coaches complained, but by "repealed" we mean "not repealed." The above-linked article on Bennett:

[Myles] Brand and the NCAA created a workaround. The waiver process Bennett used to be able to play at Louisiana Tech has been used successfully by about 30 Division I athletes since July 1, 2007, NCAA spokesman Erik Christianson told me. That's actually more than took advantage of the graduate student transfer rule in the one year for which it applied.
"For any individual who has legitimate academic reasons to transfer after graduating, we will grant it," Brand said.

Mike Knobler, the author, takes a properly skeptical tone about "legitimate academic reasons," saying there is some "fiction at work here," but is generally approving of the move. And you know what? He's right.

I think the NCAA got this one right, too. Bennett should be able to play out his final year of eligibility. Without the waiver his football career ends on the sideline, watching some freshman get blown up on a triple option. Mallett, on the other hand, doesn't even lose a year since he played as a freshman. He's got an enforced redshirt, then has three more years, just like he would have had at Michigan.

The transfer process works for players who move early in their career, but a sudden change when you're a junior or senior is terribly damaging. And sometimes it can give you hope for a career where there was none. One of those 30 athletes that have gotten waivered through was Michigan safety Ryan Mundy, who no one around the Michigan program was exactly sad to see leave. He jetted to West Virginia for a year, got Barwisized, played well, and was drafted in the sixth round. Without the waiver he would have been cut and likely out of football.

The key distinction between the new NCAA process and the new, player-friendly one:

Whether to grant a waiver is based on "why the student-athlete is transferring, whether the specific graduate degree is offered at the previous institution, and whether the previous institution supports the waiver," Christianson wrote in an e-mail.

Don't want your star cornerback transferring to Florida for no particular reason? Say so. Have no problem with a quarterback who doesn't fit your system finding a place to play? Say so. Everyone wins.

Why Can Taylor Bennett Play but Ryan Mallett Can't? originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Mon, 05 May 2008 13:52:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jim Tressel's Got a Wizard Hat of His Own

Brian Cook — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 12:24:00 EST

Filed under: Michigan Football, Ohio State Football, Big 10

You're probably tired of the hot topic in the Big Ten this offseason: does a gentleman's agreement to not recruit other conference schools' verbal commitments exist?

Joe Tiller thinks so even though a few years back he lifted Michigan tight end Garrett Bushong from Michigan State; he thinks this mostly because Rich Rodriguez came into town and snatched Ohio wide receiver Roy Roundtree from under his nose. Tiller went nuts, derided "wizard hats and snake oil," and they were off.

Jim Tressel was asked about this gentlemen's agreement and took what might have been a shot at Rodriguez when he claimed that agreement was in effect "only among the gentlemen." Then he yoinked a kid named Melvin Fellows:

The Garfield Heights defensive end informed Tressel that he was switching his oral commitment from Illinois to the Buckeyes, delivering a blow to the Illini and bringing OSU's growing class to 12 pledges.

By my calculations, the gentleman count in the Big Ten stands at zero.

Jim Tressel's Got a Wizard Hat of His Own originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Mon, 28 Apr 2008 12:24:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What You Get for the Money: Morgantown

Charles Rich — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 09:09:00 EST

Filed under: Michigan Football, West Virginia Football, Big 10, Big East, NCAA FB Coaching

Got $2 million dollars to spare? Want to live in a gated community in Morgantown? An early 90s McMansion can be yours. It has a tennis court, swimming pool, 5 fireplaces, boat docks and sits on 2 acres. Go ahead, take the photo tour.

Hold off on making an immediate offer, though. The present owner might be more motivated to sell by the end of August. After the trial is finished. At that point, Rich Rodriguez might need the money.

You might be able pick up the house that sits off of -- wait for it... wait for it... Cheat Lake -- at a nice discount.

What You Get for the Money: Morgantown originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Thu, 17 Apr 2008 09:09:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Best Moments in Big Ten Football History #6: Desmond Howard's Heisman Pose, 1991

Mark Hasty — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 14:58:00 EST

Filed under: Michigan Football, Big 10, Heisman, NCAA FB History

FanHouse is counting down the 10 best, 10 worst, and 10 weirdest moments in Big Ten football history.

There ought to be a unit to measure cockiness in athletes. There should be some means of comparing one athlete's self-confidence with another's. Yes, there should be such a unit, and if there ever is, it should be called the Howard. One Howard would be equal to the amount of cockiness displayed in the photo above, the infamous moment towards the end of the 1991 Ohio State-Michigan game when Desmond Howard struck the Heisman pose, knowing--knowing--that he had just locked up the award.

I remember seeing this moment on live TV. At the instant Howard struck his pose I had never admired nor loathed an athlete so much. He was arrogant, and he was right. Howard didn't just win the 1991 Heisman, he claimed it. Howard scored 138 points for Michigan that season, becoming the first receiver ever to lead the conference in scoring.

It wasn't just what Desmond Howard did that earned him the Heisman, though. It was how he did it. He caught 61 passes for 950 yards that season. That's more than respectable, but those aren't dizzying numbers. Last year Texas Tech's Michael Crabtree caught 134 passes for 1,962 yards. Crabtree even outdid Howard in touchdown receptions, 22 to 19. But did you catch something in those numbers?

The key word, of course, is "catch." Michael Crabtree caught twice as many balls as Desmond Howard. Howard found the end zone one out of every three times he caught the ball.

I mean, that's just not natural. A really good receiver finds the end zone once every eight to ten times he catches the ball. One out of three? That's batcakes, just completely batcakes.

Howard won his Heisman by the second-largest margin ever at the time. He had some competition, but seldom is the Heisman winner as clear as it was in 1991, because seldom is there one player who is clearly the most outstanding in all of college football. (The rest of your top five from 1991: Casey Weldon, Ty Detmer, Steve Emtman, and Shane Matthews. Go ahead, Noles fans, state your case for how Casey Weldon got jobbed.)

So in the end I can't begrudge Desmond Howard his Heisman-pose moment. He earned it, and there's something peculiarly American about about becoming an icon by appropriating an already-existing icon, after all. But I think I have to take back my suggestion that the Howard would be an appropriate unit to measure cockiness. The more I think about it, the more I realize that even a Chad Johnson press conference would have to be measured in milliHowards.

Best Moments in Big Ten Football History #6: Desmond Howard's Heisman Pose, 1991 originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Tue, 15 Apr 2008 14:58:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Best Moments in Big Ten Football History #3: Michigan Beats Florida, 2008

Mark Hasty — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 12:07:00 EST

Filed under: Florida Football, Michigan Football, Big 10, Bowl Games, NCAA FB History

FanHouse is counting down the 10 best, 10 worst, and 10 weirdest moments in Big Ten football history.

There wasn't a more disappointing team in the Big Ten last year than the Michigan Wolverines. Players like Chad Henne and Mike Hart sacrificed twelve months of NFL-sized paychecks to stay in Ann Arbor for one more year, sincere in their belief that 2007 would be a special season.

Of course, "special" and "wonderful" are two completely different words. "Non-wonderful" would be a better way to describe how the 2007 season turned out for Big Blue. They entered the 2007 season ranked fifth in the nation, only to lose to ... well, I think you know what happened in the first game of the year. And the second. The Wolverines did manage to win eight games in a row after that, but closed the regular season with losses to Wisconsin and, of course, Ohio State. The day after the OSU loss, Lloyd Carr told his team he would be retiring after Michigan's bowl game.

When the bids came out and the college football world learned that Michigan would be facing the Florida Gators (defending national champions with the eventual Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow starting at quarterback) everyone figured Lloyd Carr would go out a loser. The only real question was how many points Michigan would lose by.

Now, I thought that Michigan's eight-game winning streak last season was nothing to sneeze at. It may have come against less-than-fearsome competition, but after the first two weeks of the season, prevailing wisdom was that the Wolverines weren't any good at all. I disagreed, having seen Carrthulhu awaken from his slumbers before. But even I said that Michigan was going to lose by four touchdowns or more.

If I told you that Michigan played an SEC team in a bowl game in which the Wolverines rushed for only 151 yards and turned the ball over four times while their opponents didn't turn it over at all, your next question would be "How much did they lose by?" Chad Henne was great in spite of throwing two picks. Mike Hart also had a solid game, running for 129 yards and two touchdowns. But the real story of this game was how Florida was never really able to convert a third down into anything other than fourth down. Still, it was a tight game all along. The Wolverines needed a brutal four-down series on defense to stop the Gators' last drive, sending Lloyd Carr into retirement with a 41-35 win.

Of all the bowl games the Big Ten played last season, this one looked the most like it would turn into a steaming heap of failure for the conference. Instead, it was a signature victory that gave some pride and hope to a conference whose image has taken a beating over the past few seasons. Not enough to make up for a couple of the losses that also happened during last year's postseason, but hey, let's not get ahead of ourselves. Let's just remember that Michigan turned out to be better than anybody thought they were.

Best Moments in Big Ten Football History #3: Michigan Beats Florida, 2008 originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Thu, 10 Apr 2008 12:07:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rodriguez Lawyer: Buyout Basically Equivalent to Slavery

Brian Cook — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 11:09:00 EST

Filed under: Michigan Football, West Virginia Football, Big 10, Big East, NCAA FB Coaching

Aaaand every Michigan fan would like the Rodriguez lawsuit to be settled quietly right... about... now:

"It's like back before the Civil War when slaves had the right to buy their freedom," said Marv Robon, one of Rodriguez's lawyers. " A penalty of $4 million is almost like a slave from Africa trying to buy his freedom in America."

Yes, it's just like that if the plantation owner has -- quixotically and in total defiance of the language -- paid his slaves millions of dollars and increased the millions of dollars paid to said slaves when a plantation in Alabama came calling. And if the slave already had another, even better-paid slave position available at a really old and prestigious plantation.

But I think we've already established Robon's analogy kinda breaks down when the whole "slavery" thing is brought in, and since that comprises the whole of it, it's probably best if that guy spends the rest of the trial gagged.

No, Justin Boren, not a sexy gag. A functional, non-fetishized gag.

(HT: MVictors.)

Rodriguez Lawyer: Buyout Basically Equivalent to Slavery originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Mon, 07 Apr 2008 11:09:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Departing OL Justin Boren's Father to Ohio State: 'Take My Son, Please'

Adam Jacobi — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 11:35:00 EST

Filed under: Michigan Football, Ohio State Football, Big 10, The Word

The Justin Boren transfer saga continues to get weird. Did we say weird? We mean weirder.

Boren, as you'll probably recall, announced his decision to transfer from the Michigan football program on Tuesday. He tendered his letter of resignation or whatever to the media the next day, and it contained all sorts of ominous, nonspecific statements against the program's best interests, including the following excerpts:

I regret leaving behind my friends and teammates, but I need to stand up for what I know is right.

Michigan football was a family, built on mutual respect and support for each other from Coach Carr on down. We knew it took the entire family, a team effort, and we all worked together. I have great trouble accepting that those family values have eroded in just a few months.

I saw Rich Rodriguez throw Jimmy Hoffa into an active volcano in 1975.

If you want to get technical, the last excerpt may not actually exist in Boren's statement, but his decision to cite "family values" certainly leaves plenty of suspicion in a reader's mind. Sunday Morning Quarterback speculates further, and it reads like the "Woodland Critter Christmas" episode of South Park. SMQ also notes that this situation may be more closely related to the extreme duress of the no-huddle spread offense Rodriguez is implementing and the two offensive linemen who have already left, but let's not get bogged down on facts here folks.

Of course, the "fun" doesn't stop there.

In today's Columbus Dispatch, Boren's father Mike seems to be actively campaigning for Boren to end up at... oh dear, Ohio State?

"Ohio State would be a good fit for Justin, and that's why he's not at Michigan anymore, because Michigan is not the right fit for him. ... I have not talked to Ohio State and I'm not sure about their situation. ... But would he go to Ohio State? Yes."

And who, pray tell, is this Buckeye sympathizer?

Mike Boren, who played under Bo Schembechler in the early 1980s

Oh. Well then.

The most curious aspect of the decision to court Ohio State is probably the scholarship situation. While it stands to reason that a starting sophomore offensive lineman at Michigan could probably name his new school and receive a scholarship offer, that can't be the case at OSU; Big Ten rules prohibit awarding scholarships to athletes transferring inside the conference.

Consider that. A former Wolverine would rather pay for his son to play at Ohio State than at Michigan for free. Ouch. We're fairly certain that Michigan fans' reaction to that scenario starts with F and rhymes with "Tuck you, buddy."

Naturally, it's far too early to advise said Michigan fans to buy one-way tickets to Fourandeightsville for 2008, but what they've got in place right now scarcely bears any resemblance to a football team that's ready to compete at a high level. Should they be concerned? Probably. Are they always concerned anyway? Well, yes. Now, for once, it might be justified.

Departing OL Justin Boren's Father to Ohio State: 'Take My Son, Please' originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Thu, 27 Mar 2008 11:35:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Michigan Loses Starting Guard; Wolverine Fans Prepare for End Days

Brian Cook — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 21:59:00 EST

Filed under: Michigan Football, Big 10

Ann Arbor Torch & Pitchfork & Apocalyptic Sign Co's stock price is through the roof. Head for the hills! Only the strong will survive!

The Michigan Wolverines just missed out on some guy named Pryor, leaving their quarterback position in the hands of two statuesque water-buffalo sorts recruited to run an offense in which they do not run, ever, and one lightly-regarded true freshman. Starting wide receivers Mario Manningham and Adrian Arrington entered the draft early. Mike Hart, Chad Henne, and Jake Long are ticketed for the early rounds of the NFL draft. The two kids who platooned at right guard last year decided to graduate and give up football.

With the departure of Jake Long and Adam Kraus, only two starters returned on the offensive line, one of whom -- Steve Schilling -- was abused so constantly he has "property of Vernon Gholston" stamped on his forehead. The other is beastly guard Justin Boren, the only Michigan lineman in recent memory to forgo a redshirt and a rising star.

Correction: the other was beastly guard Justin Boren. It is no longer:

Michigan junior offensive lineman Justin Boren will not be a Wolverine any longer, head coach Rich Rodriguez announced today at a post-practice press conference. Boren, a 13-game starter in 2007, made the decision earlier this week.

Your returning offensive starters: wide receiver Greg Mathews, tight end Carson Butler, and the aforementioned Schilling. Michigan now has three scholarship interior linemen on campus, a freshman quarterback slated to start, and an entirely new offensive system to absorb by August.

A memorial service for Michigan's bowl streak -- longest in the nation -- is tentatively planned for December 1st.

Michigan Loses Starting Guard; Wolverine Fans Prepare for End Days originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Tue, 25 Mar 2008 21:59:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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