The streak is over. It had been 2,926 days since Michigan had last beat Ohio State, but today, the Wolverines ended that, picking up a 40-34 win against the Buckeyes in a thrilling game at the Big House.

Courtney Avery picked off a Braxton Miller pass in the final minute of the game to seal the win for Michigan, which is now 10-2 with a legitimate chance to be selected to a BCS bowl. In fact, at this point, I’d be surprised if the Wolverines were passed up by the Sugar Bowl, which is very likely going to have two at-large choices thanks to the SEC likely putting two teams in the national title game.

It was an improved defense that had Michigan in that position heading into today, but it was Denard Robinson that finished the job. The junior quarterback had the best game of his career in what was really a must-win situation for the Wolverines (more on that in a second). He was 14-of-17 for 166 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. He also ran for 170 yards and two scores. He’s had statistically better games, but this is the one that Denard will be remembered for in Michigan.

As to the must-win declaration: With Ohio State in the state it was in this season, and with Urban Meyer coming on board, if Michigan didn’t win this year, it might have been a while before the Wolverines found a way to win against the Buckeyes. Brady Hoke has done a great job in Year 1, but he’s led a bit of a charmed existence thanks to a very weak Big Ten, an 8-game home schedule, and his chief rival — both on the field and in recruiting — being hampered by a rough season on and off the field. He’s taken advantage and deserves credit for doing so — he should make no apologies for dragging a fading program back to 10-2 — but had he lost this game, a lot of the goodwill he has built up might have been gone.

It nearly was, had it not been for the erratic arm of Braxton Miller. The Ohio State freshman looked brilliant in spots, especially running the football, but he missed a lot of open receivers and cost the Buckeyes at least two sure touchdowns with overthrows. The second came on the final drive, as DeVier Posey had double-moved J.T. Floyd into oblivion and was running free down the sidelines.

The thought of Miller with some more seasoning and in Urban Meyer’s offense should scare not only Michigan fans and the rest of the Big Ten, but the rest of the country. Those two will win a lot of games together.

But not today. No, today belonged to Michigan, which isn’t thinking about all of that other stuff while celebrating the only thing that matters in Ann Arbor, beating Ohio State.

It’s November, and predicting college games in November is akin to jamming your hand down a garbage disposal with a ring on each finger.

In other words, it can be a bloody mess of a situation.

Sorry for the graphic nastiness. I’m just a little salty after going 1-3 last week, which dropped my season record to 24-18-2. That’s not bad overall but when you consider I haven’t had a winning week in a while, I’m a little on edge. (I’ve had plenty of .500 weeks, but a push is not a win, my friends.)

The hook screwed me in the Nebraska-Penn State game while Illinois was thumped at home by Michigan and Nevada couldn’t cover the digits against Hawaii. Louisiana Tech was an easy winner at Ole Miss, but a 1-3 record isn’t going to do it. Unless, of course, you name your prediction column “Fade Material.” Then you’re covered either way. (See, smart, huh?)

On to this week’s nastiness…

Nebraska @ Michigan, 12:00PM ET
I think the Huskers are a pile of inconsistent dirty diapers. One week they hold Michigan State to only a field goal and then come out the following Saturday and lose to Northwestern at home. Then they build a 17-0 lead on Penn State only to keep the Nittany Lions in it until the very end. My point is, I don’t trust Nebraska. I don’t know what I’m getting in Nebraska. I know what I’m getting in Michigan. They can’t throw the ball but Denard Robinson is going to make plays and the Wolverines have been unbeatable at home this year. The hook scares the hell out of me after what happened last week at Happy Valley but I’m going to roll the dice anyway with the home favorite.
THE PICK: MICHIGAN –3.5

Oklahoma @ Baylor, 8:00PM ET
The Sooners are done losing this year (at least in the regular season) and they clearly are out to prove that they’re still national-title worthy. The last time these two teams met was in Waco last year, where Oklahoma rolled to a 53-24 victory. I expect more of the same this year from Landry Jones and Co. Robert Griffin III is a nice player but I trust Oklahoma’s defense to stop Baylor’s explosive offense way more than I trust the Bears to slow down the Sooners.
THE PICK: OKLAHOMA –15

USC @ Oregon, 8:00PM ET
When I first saw this line I said, “Wow, 14.5 points? USC has more than enough talent to hang with Oregon and cover that spread.” Then I remembered how badly the Ducks took it to the Trojans in Southern Cal last year and one of the many unwritten rules of college football betting: Never go against Oregon in Eugene. I think I’m 0-42 either with or against the Ducks this season, but I like them tonight. Matt Barkley will keep things close at first but Oregon is just too explosive on its home turf.
THE PICK: OREGON –14.5

Cal @ Stanford, 10:15PM ET
With the way Andrew Luck and Co. lost last Saturday to Oregon, I think it’ll take them a quarter or two to shake off the bad vibes. Cal is a very imperfect team but its more than capable of hanging with the Cardinal if Stanford comes out in a fog. Call this one a hunch, but I like the Golden Bears to stay within a touchdown or two of the Cardinal.
THE PICK: CAL +17.5

Check out College Football Point Spreads at Bullz-Eye.com.

Coming off a loss at lowly Minnesota, Iowa looked to be lost. But really, it was just Iowa.

The Hawkeyes are consistent this year. That’s not necessarily a good thing. They’re awful on the road (0-3) and good at home (6-0). Teams playing better at home than on the road is not at all out of the ordinary. But when you lose at Minnesota then win at home against Michigan, there’s something major going on. Does the team bus have a carbon monoxide leak?

Iowa picked up a 24-16 win against the Wolverines by shutting down Denard Robinson and playing better defense than it probably has all year. The Wolverines had four plays from inside the 5-yard line as time was running out, but couldn’t punch it in (cue Michigan fans claiming Junior Hemingway did actually score on one of the plays — he pushed off, folks).

So just so we’re straight, Iowa held Michigan to less points than it did Minnesota. To be fair, I guess, Michigan State did the same thing, eking out a win against the Gophers today.

So now Iowa, which has lost to a team that is 2-7 and another that is 5-4, controls its own destiny in the Big Ten Legends Division. It has Michigan State at home next week, then plays at Purdue and at Nebraska to close out the year.

If things go as they have so far this season, that means a 1-2 finish for Iowa and a middling bowl. But with a well-balanced offense and a defense that can apparently stop people every once in a while, there’s a decent chance Iowa will be playing in Indianapolis. Yes, Iowa, the team that lost to Minnesota.

Before the college football season started, I described the dilemma facing the Michigan coaches regarding Denard Robinson. Robinson is a great running quarterback, but he has problems throwing the football. With 11 interceptions so far this year, it looks like Brady Hoke’s plan to use Robinson in their pro style offense is running into serious problems.

Now we have Dave Miller from the National Football Post describing Michigan’s “Shielace” quandary:

But if Brady Hoke wants to win a Big Ten championship with the junior Robinson on his roster, the first-year Wolverines head coach may have to consider whether “Shoelace” is best suited to be the team’s quarterback on an every-down basis.

In Saturday’s loss at Michigan State, Robinson went 9 of 24 passing for 123 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Granted, it was a windy day in East Lansing. But even in ideal conditions, Robinson has shown this season that he isn’t a consistent passing threat in Al Borges’ offense.

What’s most alarming for the Michigan coaching staff is Robinson’s propensity to throw up jump balls — wild tosses that can result in big plays for either the Michigan offense or the opposing defense. This fall, “Shoelace” is completing only 53.9 percent of throws, and he’s already thrown 10 interceptions. He threw 11 picks all of last season while completing 62.5 percent of his passes.

There’s no question that Robinson is one of the 11 best Wolverine players on offense. But is it time to turn the starting quarterback duties over to Devin Gardner, the No. 2 quarterback, and utilize Robinson in a variety of ways in Borges’ offense?

I think they’ll stick with Robinson, but he’s probably going to wilt again as he starts to face tougher defenses.

These might have been hideous, and the game might have been, too, but Michigan State will take it.

The Spartans ended Michigan’s run at a perfect season today with a 28-14 win against “Big Brother.” That’s four straight, which pretty much makes big brother your older, fatter, kind of alcoholic brother that you can beat at sports.

Michigan’s offense was rendered impotent as the Spartans corralled Denard Robinson’s run game and forced him to pass, which, um, isn’t what Michigan wants to be doing. Robinson was 9-of-24 for 123 yards, one touchdown and one interception. The interception was returned for a touchdown by Isaiah Lewis, effectively ending the game.

Perhaps more impressive, however, was Michigan State holding Robinson to under 50 yards rushing. The Spartans also hit him well after the whistle a couple of times, you know, just because. It worked, though, as Robinson was out of the game at the end of Michigan’s final drive, causing backup Devin Gardner — who Michigan offensive coordinator Al Borges inexplicably used with relative frequency during the game — to come up with a fourth-and-22 play that is sure to reside at the top of ESPN’s Worst of the Worst for years to come. Seriously, Gardner ran for about 130 yards on the play, 125 of which were in the wrong direction or sideways.

It’s only loss No. 1 for Michigan, but it brings back memories of the Rich Rodriguez era. Michigan State out-schemed Michigan in the second half, destroying the “Brady Hoke and Greg Mattison won’t be out-coached” meme that Michigan fans were spreading. The Wolverines couldn’t tackle, which surely gave Michigan fans the shakes after watching that on repeat for the last three years.

I’m not saying Brady Hoke = Rich Rodriguez, but this should put the brakes on the Brady Hoke for Pope campaigns. Michigan is just now entering the tough part of its schedule, and should expect more of this as it goes on this season.

As for Michigan State, it’s not out of the woods yet. The Spartans have to play Wisconsin and Nebraska in the next two weeks, so the euphoria from this win could wear off quickly. But the Spartans are unbeaten in Big Ten play after games against Ohio State and Michigan, and control their own destiny when it comes to playing for the Big Ten championship.

But that’s all irrelevant right now, as “Little Brother” has officially grown up and is in control of the state of Michigan, which might be the most important thing to the residents of East Lansing.

Through the first three games of this season, Michigan offensive coordinator Al Borges has tried at times to implement the more pro-style offense that he eventually wants to run in Ann Arbor. When that hasn’t worked — and that’s often — he’s trashed that and gone to a simplified version of Rich Rodriguez’s offense, aka the “Give the Ball to Denard” offense.

Denard Robinson as a runner might be the most dangerous weapon in college football. As a drop-back passer in a pro-style set, he’s not even in the top half of quarterbacks in the Big Ten.

Borges is realizing this, and in recent weeks has gone to the GTBTD offense quicker than he did in, say, the Notre Dame game. Against the Irish, Borges waited until the second half, and had it not been for horrendous fundamental coverage skills by the Notre Dame defensive backs, it would have been too late. Unleashing Denard in the shotgun not only allows him to throw, but also forces single coverage on the outside, which is Michigan’s only chance to get any kind of passing game, because Robinson isn’t going to read a defense effectively.

The challenge going forward, however, is finding a way to make this work during the Big Ten season. A year ago, the better Big Ten defenses figured out how to shut down Robinson, or at least slow him down enough to force Michigan into uncomfortable situations. If Borges tries to go pro-set, Michigan might not win a Big Ten game, and I’m not exaggerating. If he goes simply GTBTD, the Wolverines are probably going to run into the same problems eventually, but it’s easily their best chance at winning games.

Some Michigan fans have brought up using Robinson as a running back and trying out Devin Gardner, a sophomore who was a highly-regarded recruit, at quarterback. That won’t work either, because part of what makes Robinson so dangerous is the fact that you still have to cover receivers down the field when the ball’s in his hands. That goes out the window if you’re just handing off to him. He’s also not big enough to handle the between the tackles pounding that a running back.

So how about the single wing? It’s a pretty simple offense, and it’s really not that far from what Michigan does now. The misdirection keeps defenses from keying on Robinson, and he still has the threat of throwing downfield. Also, nobody plays against the single wing, because nobody runs it. That gives Michigan, and maybe the most dangerous player in the country, the same advantage the service academies and other option teams have: forcing teams to prepare in one week for an offense they’ve never seen before.

I understand that Michigan is eventually going to be closer to the kind of smash-mouth type football team that we saw under Lloyd Carr and Bo Schembechler, but if it wants to win games and take advantage of its best asset this year and next, it’s going to have forget about that.

With the first night game in Big House history, throwback uniforms and an incredible last-second win over Notre Dame, Michigan fans got quite a treat last night. The atmosphere was electric and completely different from what we’ve come to expect from the wine and cheese ground in Ann Arbor.

Players on both sides made some spectacular plays, and Denard Robinson overcame a bad interception to drive down the field for the winning touchdown.

That said, this was one of the more pathetic displays of defense I’ve ever seen in college football. Brady Hoke might be bringing toughness back to Michigan, but he and his coaching staff should be embarrassed by what happened on Notre Dame’s last touchdown. Meanwhile, Chip Kelly has never been known for his defenses, and Notre Dame found a way to give up huge plays with under 30 seconds left in the game.

Michigan’s new head coach, Brady Hoke, is facing a difficult dilemma. On the one hand, he needs to bring Michigan back to playing Michigan football after the disastrous RichRod experiment. That means moving back to a pro style offense and moving from the absurd 3-3-5 defense that stopped nobody in the Big Ten back to a traditional 4-3. Michigan needs to get bigger, and Hoke has started that process with his 2011 recruiting class.

Yet with respect to the offense, Hoke also has Denard Robinson, one of the most explosive college football players we’ve seen in years. He was perfect for RichRod’s offense, even though that offense and Robinson sputtered against better defenses. It was an all-or-nothing proposition, and naturally Hoke is anxious to move on.

So how does he use Denard Robinson going forward? Hoke says “We’re smart enough to have elements he does well from what he did in the past in our offense.” But he plans on using Robinson as the quarterback in his pro style offense, which will have Robinson taking snaps under center instead of the shotgun and relying on play action.

I’m skeptical this can work. Sure, he’ll still unleash Robinson at times, and I suspect they might use the option play, but Robinson’s effectiveness will likely suffer dramatically under this system.

Robinson made big plays in the passing game last year, but that was because he found wide-open receivers when defenses tried in vain to slow down his running game. This year he won’t have that luxury. I don’t see Robinson consistently making the tough throws demanded in a pro style offense. He’s also very short and that will limit him as well.

We’ll see how this experiment plays out, but I suspect that Hoke will regret taking Robinson out of his element.

A better option might be to have a traditional quarterback run Hoke’s new offense, and keep a version of RichRod’s system around for Robinson to run as a Wildcat formation. He could also use Robinson as a Slash-type weapon in the traditional offense.

Right now their odds of winning the Big Ten are set at 15/1, so few are expecting a breakout year.

With this transition and the drama surrounding the Big Ten this year with the addition of Nebraska and the troubles at Ohio State, Michigan should be one of the more intriguing stories of 2011.

The 2011 college football season is still a couple of months away but seeing as how we’ve reached the dead days of the sports calendar, I figured it would be okay if we took a look at this year’s Heisman candidates. Below are five players I believe have the best shot at claiming this year’s Heisman hardware.

1. Andrew Luck, QB, Stanford
What to Like: Barring injury or a Jake Locker-type senior campaign, Luck could run away with this year’s Heisman. He was runner-up for the award in 2010 and was named the Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year. Most pundits believe he’ll be the top signal caller in college football this year and he’s the main reason why Stanford will be rated high in the preseason polls.
What Not to Like: He lost his top two receivers (Doug Baldwin and Ryan Whalen), his head coach (Jim Harbaugh), and his offensive line (which allowed only five sacks last season) is undergoing a reloading phase. Can Luck overcome all that change in one offseason?

2. Landry Jones, QB, Oklahoma
What to Like: Jones led the nation in completions last season and put up monstrous numbers in Oklahoma’s pass-happy offense. He completed 65% of his passes while racking up 4,700-plus yards and 38 touchdowns. With WR Ryan Broyles and nearly all five starters on his offensive line returning, Jones shouldn’t miss a beat.
What Not to Like: Losing all-purpose back DeMarco Murray hurts, but the biggest worry with Jones is whether or not he can handle the expectations of Oklahoma being the top-ranked team at the start of the season. All eyes will be on the Sooners every week and just one slip up could cost OU a national title berth and Jones a shot at the Heisman.

3. Marcus Lattimore, RB, South Carolina
What to Like: After rushing for 1,197 yards and 17 touchdowns as a freshman, South Carolina fans can’t wait to see what Lattimore will do for an encore. His performance last year placed him among the nine SEC players who have rushed for at least 1,000 yards as a freshman, which is a list that also includes Georgia’s Herschel Walker and Florida’s Emmitt Smith. With Lattimore set to again be the workhorse in Steve Spurrier’s offense, you can expect big things out of this sophomore in 2011.
What Not to Like: Quarterback Stephen Garcia is one jaywalking charge away from being kicked off the team for good. If Garcia flubs up again or can’t beat out sophomore Connor Shaw for the starting job this summer, then Lattimore might have too much pressure on his shoulders this season. If SC becomes too one-dimensional, Lattimore’s production will likely suffer.

Read the rest of this entry »

Years from now, when people look back on 2010, what will they remember as the defining sports moment? Uh, they can only pick one? We discovered that Tiger Woods likes to play the field and that Brett Favre doesn’t mind sending pictures of his anatomy to hot sideline reporters via text message. We found out that LeBron listens to his friends a little too much and that Ben Roethlisberger needed a serious lesson in humility. But we also learned that athletes such as Michael Vick and Josh Hamilton haven’t blown second chance opportunities (or third and fourth chances in the case of Hamilton). It was also nice to see a certain pitcher turn down bigger money so that he can play in a city that he loves.

Contributors: Anthony Stalter, John Paulsen, Paul Costanzo, Drew Ellis and Mike Farley

Tiger Woods gets around.

We hesitate to put this under “golf” because the only clubs involved were his wife’s nine-iron hitting the window of his SUV and the various establishments where Tiger wined and dined all of his mistresses…over a dozen in all. This was the biggest story of the early part of the year, but it got to the point that whenever a new alleged mistress came forward, the general public was like, “Yeah, we get it. Tiger screwed around on his wife. A lot.” He has spent the rest of the year attempting to rebuild his once-squeaky clean image, but it’s safe to say, we’ll never look at Tiger the same way.

LeBron wilts when his team needs him most.

Say the words “LeBron” and “Game 5” in the same sentence and NBA fans everywhere know exactly what you’re talking about. In the biggest game of the season, LeBron looked disinterested, going 3-of-14 from the field en route to a 120-88 blowout at home at the hands of the Celtics. There were rumors swirling about a possible relationship between LeBron’s mom and his teammate, Delonte West, and there’s speculation that LeBron got that news before tipoff and that’s why he played so poorly. Regardless of the cause, LeBron played awful in that game, and it turned out to be his swan song in Cleveland as a member of the Cavaliers. Talk about leaving a bitter taste.

You can auction off your talented son’s athletic abilities and get away with it.

The NCAA set a strange precedent this season while dealing with the Newton family. The always inconsistent and completely morally uncorrupt NCAA decided in its infinite wisdom that despite discovering that Cecil Newton shopped his son Cam to Mississippi State for $180,000, and that is a violation of NCAA rules, that Cam would still be eligible because it couldn’t be proven that he knew about it. Conference commissioners and athletic directors around the country spoke out about the decision, while agent-wannabes and greedy fathers everywhere had a light bulb go off in their own heads: As long as we say the player doesn’t know about it, it could go off without a hitch. What was Cecil’s punishment in this whole thing? Limited access to Auburn for the last two games of the season. Easy with that hammer there, NCAA. Read the rest of this entry »