http://www.yardbarker.com/rss/team/166 Recent articles about the Michigan Wolverines en-us A very special mailbag, with just one question. This one has been asked, or implied by people sending me reasons the play of the team is definitely the fault of the coaches, by many, many people the past couple weeks. If you sent one, I read it. I'm not responding except here. Sorry. Usually I try to be better about it. The platonic ideal: Just talk me off the ledge... Please explain what it would take for you to no longer support Rich Rod.  What specifically has to happen? ... Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:46:30 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/all_sports/article_external/When_Can_We_Fire_This_Guy/1532917 http://www.yardbarker.com/all_sports/article_external/When_Can_We_Fire_This_Guy/1532917 http://www.yardbarker.com/all_sports/article_external/When_Can_We_Fire_This_Guy/1532917 http://www.yardbarker.com/media/e/1/e111fc6101948476be202920ff0df39313534fda/small/90354925.jpg More photos » by Tony Ding - AP Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez shouts words of encouragement to his players . (AP Photo/Tony Ding) Browse more photos » November is an odd month. Some years it is the most miserable 30 days on the calendar. Others, you think it was June and summer was around the corner. This year seems to be a combination of the two, and Saturday provided us with one of the most beautifu... Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:26:49 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/college_football/article_external/At_Least_It_Was_a_Nice_Day_Michigan_Football_Gacks_Up_Another_Loss_to_Purdue/1532239 http://www.yardbarker.com/college_football/article_external/At_Least_It_Was_a_Nice_Day_Michigan_Football_Gacks_Up_Another_Loss_to_Purdue/1532239 http://www.yardbarker.com/college_football/article_external/At_Least_It_Was_a_Nice_Day_Michigan_Football_Gacks_Up_Another_Loss_to_Purdue/1532239 http://www.yardbarker.com/media/e/1/e111fc6101948476be202920ff0df39313534fda/small/90354925.jpg Rich Rodriguez: Injuries: Brandon Minor's ankle injury is ongoing, and now he has a bruised shoulder as well. Junior Hemingway has a back bruise and was limited against Purdue. Martavious Odoms is still day-to-day, he hasn't progressed that well. Perry Dorrestein is getting better. Carlos was limited against Purdue because he missed the week of practice with tendinitis. Personnel notes: Brandon Minor gives the team a completely different dimension because he is able to break tackl... Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:52:31 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/all_sports/article_external/Monday_Presser_Notes_11_9/1530445 http://www.yardbarker.com/all_sports/article_external/Monday_Presser_Notes_11_9/1530445 http://www.yardbarker.com/all_sports/article_external/Monday_Presser_Notes_11_9/1530445 http://www.yardbarker.com/media/e/1/e111fc6101948476be202920ff0df39313534fda/small/90354925.jpg Warning: post rated PG-13 for f-bomb drop. 11/6/2009 – Michigan 1, Miami 3 – 4-3, 2-1 CCHA 11/7/2009 – Michigan 36, Purdue 38 -  5-5, 1-4 Big Ten 11/7/2009 – Michigan 1, Miami 5 – 4-4, 2-2 CCHA In the aftermath of The Horror, my coping strategy was to shut off the blog—which was then still on Blogger and subject to the chaos of Haloscan's free-for-all—to avoid any emo suicides and watch The Big Lebowski. (Kittens would show up Monday.) Yes, I am one of those annoying people who t... Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:42:48 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/college_football/article_external/Get_Out_Of_My_Cab/1529906 http://www.yardbarker.com/college_football/article_external/Get_Out_Of_My_Cab/1529906 http://www.yardbarker.com/college_football/article_external/Get_Out_Of_My_Cab/1529906 http://www.yardbarker.com/media/2/5/25dd55191186fbce1d5001ba31d925d36ff8a2f3/small/Eastern_Michigan_v_96b5.jpg Another week, another tough loss for the Wolverines. This is getting to be like a broken record around here.For one half of the game, Michigan looked calm, poised and confident. They racked up 24 points on a decent Purdue team. The defense, after letting Purdue on the board early, stiffened up and played relatively well given all their deficiencies.But again, just like last week at Illinois, a huge momentum shift in the 3rd quarter let a lesser opponent back into the game, and Michigan was st... Sun, 08 Nov 2009 23:26:00 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/college_football/article_external/Looking_Back_at_Week_10_Purdue/1529516 http://www.yardbarker.com/college_football/article_external/Looking_Back_at_Week_10_Purdue/1529516 http://www.yardbarker.com/college_football/article_external/Looking_Back_at_Week_10_Purdue/1529516 http://www.yardbarker.com/media/2/f/2fc9801031dab29772dd8bbcd645629137c8b61c/small/Eastern_Michigan_v_8ee2.jpg This team has managed to find new and varied ways to tear its fans' hearts out over the past month and a half and yesterday was no exception.  A classic recipe of a crippling turnover, a genius playcall by the opposing coach, a missed extra point, and just to top it off a horrifying booth review all combined to stick the needle to Michigan in ways that never cease to be cruel.  My heart goes out to these players though, they're fighting their tails off.  Oh and let&... Sun, 08 Nov 2009 17:24:12 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/college_football/article_external/Agony_of_Defeat_Are_There_Any_Meaningful_Streaks_Left/1525641 http://www.yardbarker.com/college_football/article_external/Agony_of_Defeat_Are_There_Any_Meaningful_Streaks_Left/1525641 I… here. This is for you. Is there a thing that makes these things? If there is a thing that makes these things, this is slightly crazy. If there isn't I don't know what you can even say. Other than FTW. It came from the message boards. This is where we are this week. Thank God for Adidas. I know Michigan would never go for something like this… …or do I? I mean, we are currently enduring hyper-loud blasts of Bob Seger and AC/DC on a regular basis. There is some possibility S... Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:52:34 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/all_sports/article_external/Unverified_Voracity_Hates_Non_Engineers/1513289 http://www.yardbarker.com/all_sports/article_external/Unverified_Voracity_Hates_Non_Engineers/1513289 Personnel notes: Odoms did not play and was replaced by Roundtree. Patrick Omameh got a series late in the first half, probably because Dorrestein was injured. It sounds like Dorrestein might miss the Purdue game, with Patrick Omameh his likely replacement at RG. Robinson did not play until the game was over. Ln Dn Ds O Form RB TE WR D Form Type Play Player Yards M30 1 10 Shotgun 3-wide 1 1 3 Nickel Pass Long handoff Mathews 5 Illinois walks a safety d... Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:51:04 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/college_football/article_external/Upon_Further_Review_Offense_vs_Illinois/1506380 http://www.yardbarker.com/college_football/article_external/Upon_Further_Review_Offense_vs_Illinois/1506380 • According to reports, Brandon Minor is about as healthy as he's been all season. We've been told for the last two weeks now that Minor's high ankle sprain is getting better and that he should be close to 100%. But last week, he came in for one play and fumbled the ball after getting stuffed at the goal-line by the mighty Illinois defense. • That special school from Columbus is going to be a little more special in 3 weeks when they come up to the Big House. Apparently, Nike ha... Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:55:00 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/college_football/article_external/Minor_Healthy_tOSU_to_Wear_Old_Unis_at_Michigan/1506328 http://www.yardbarker.com/college_football/article_external/Minor_Healthy_tOSU_to_Wear_Old_Unis_at_Michigan/1506328 Video note: Unfortunately my computer rebooted itself after applying an "important update" last night, which obliterated a 14-hour process via which I convert the torrent into something clippable. So no video today. I will go back in an add it later, and I'll revisit the key points in a couple of Picture Pages posts. Personnel notes: Leach replaced Ezeh until very late; Ezeh and Kenny Demens were part of the goal line package, though, with Leach apparently relegated to the benc... Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:24:00 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/college_football/article_external/Upon_Further_Review_Defense_vs_Illinois/1499307 http://www.yardbarker.com/college_football/article_external/Upon_Further_Review_Defense_vs_Illinois/1499307 Dear ESPN, I am writing to congratulate you of the amazing announcing work done by Mike Patrick and Craig James in last weekend's Michigan-Illinois game. Right from the start of the broadcast, I was happily welcomed with Mike's invitation "It's great to have you with us!". It's not exactly up there with Brent Musburger's "You are looking live...", but it's close. As soon as I heard Mike Patrick's eloquent voice, I knew I was in for a Halloween ... Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:27:00 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/college_football/article_external/Awesome_Announcing/1485208 http://www.yardbarker.com/college_football/article_external/Awesome_Announcing/1485208 Scroll down or click here to join the Doc's game day live blog, covering every game all day long. Illinois 38, Michigan 13. All the hype surrounding Illinois as a potential darkhorse coming into the season -- emanating from this blog as much as anywhere -- pinned the Illini's potential success on the veteran stars, Juice Williams and Arrelious Benn, but if their depressing catastrophe of a season has even the tiniest spark left after five straight Big Ten losses, it only exists becau... Sat, 31 Oct 2009 17:47:33 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/college_football/article_external/Illinois_finds_the_cure_A_little_hustle_and_a_lot_of_Michigans_defense/1474879 http://www.yardbarker.com/college_football/article_external/Illinois_finds_the_cure_A_little_hustle_and_a_lot_of_Michigans_defense/1474879 [Editor's note: I was working on a post similar to this today that examined the past five years of defensive recruiting with a particular focus on the secondary. This is broader but I may as well not reinvent such a well-put-together wheel. I will take this opportunity at the top of the post to rephrase something I stuck in a mailbag. Here are the members of the secondary in the recruiting classes that comprise this year's team: 2005: None. (Harrison, Sears, Richards all gone.) 2... Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:33:28 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/all_sports/article_external/The_Decimated_Defense/1459060 http://www.yardbarker.com/all_sports/article_external/The_Decimated_Defense/1459060 Personnel notes: As noted Monday, Michigan had an actual substitution package: on passing downs Williams would be replaced by Cissoko. For obvious reasons, that's unlikely to continue down the road. The rest of it was as usual, with the line rotating regularly and no one else coming out ever. One exception: late in the game Obi Ezeh was yanked twice, first for a play and then for the rest of a drive, in favor of Fitzgerald. Each time he got to the sidelines an exasperated Jay Hopson tried... Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:04:54 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/all_sports/article_external/Upon_Further_Review_Defense_vs_Penn_State/1452186 http://www.yardbarker.com/all_sports/article_external/Upon_Further_Review_Defense_vs_Penn_State/1452186 Alright Michigan fans, let's just calm down a little bit. I know expectations for this team sckyrocketed after starting off the season 4-0. Even though we struggled to get past a mediocre at best Indiana team, people suddenly thought Michigan was going to go undefeated and contend for a national title. Remember, we were 3-9 last year. Realistic pre-season expectations for this season had Michigan going 6-6. OR a best case-scenario of probably 8-4 if all goes well. I personally t... Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:58:00 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/college_football/article_external/Dont_Panic/1437039 http://www.yardbarker.com/college_football/article_external/Dont_Panic/1437039 http://www.yardbarker.com/college_football/article_external/Dont_Panic/1437039 http://www.yardbarker.com/media/d/3/d3d2a58edfca94b98e6fbc6f2a9eb64b4f64afc7/small/Miami_of_Ohio_b8b7.jpg Per Tim's press conference twitter, David Molk has a torn ACL and will miss the rest of the season. Here's a kitten: Feeling better? No? Oh. I assume Michigan will go back to the line configuration they used last month when Molk was out with a broken foot. Left to right, that was Ortmann, Schilling, Moosman, Huyge, and Dorrestein. First guy off the bench now is probably John Ferrara, who saw some time in the Iowa game when Huyge wasn't playing well or had a minor injury. T... Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:55:44 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/college_football/article_external/Molk_Out_For_Season/1436998 http://www.yardbarker.com/college_football/article_external/Molk_Out_For_Season/1436998 This game was the battle of the lines. Specifically, the offensive lines. I could not have been more wrong in my prediction (about Michigan) in this game. I thought Michigan would come out and play inspired football. And in a way we did, driving 70 yards on the first drive to take the 7-0 lead. But that's when the game took a terrible turn - our defense took the field. We had no answer for Darryl Clark and the Nittany Lion offense. He picked us apart all day throwing for 230 yards and ... Sat, 24 Oct 2009 18:14:00 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/all_sports/article_external/Penn_State_Defense_Controls_Game_From_Beginning/1428225 http://www.yardbarker.com/all_sports/article_external/Penn_State_Defense_Controls_Game_From_Beginning/1428225 MAIZE OUT! If you're going to the game, wear your maize shirt over your sweatshirt. If it might rain, take 3 dollars to Target and buy a yellow poncho. Seriously people...let's make this maize out thing real! I don't usually dive into a full-fledged preview of up-coming games. But this week feels like it's worthy of a really good look at the matchups and what I think will be the outcome this Saturday afternoon. Penn State has lost their last 5 games in Ann Arbor dati... Thu, 22 Oct 2009 23:51:00 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/college_football/article_external/Michigan_Penn_State_Preview/1420035 http://www.yardbarker.com/college_football/article_external/Michigan_Penn_State_Preview/1420035 http://www.yardbarker.com/college_football/article_external/Michigan_Penn_State_Preview/1420035 http://www.yardbarker.com/media/3/9/39bce8f9c60047825c8553a189b241ee01295ea4/small/Eastern_Michigan_v_9ac0.jpg 10/17/2009 – Michigan 63, Delaware State 6 – 5-2, 1-2 Big Ten   This what everyone wanted after last year's decision to schedule Utah didn't go as planned and Michigan slumped to a 3-9 record: a tomato can's tomato can. Someone to take lunch money or candy from. A baby seal to club, and then club some more, and then club some more until David Cone's lyrical daggers were targeting only a wet, damp smear. This is what we got, a game in which I was pondering at which poi... Mon, 19 Oct 2009 09:40:42 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/college_football/article_external/Baby_Seals/1396252 http://www.yardbarker.com/college_football/article_external/Baby_Seals/1396252 http://www.yardbarker.com/college_football/article_external/Baby_Seals/1396252 http://www.yardbarker.com/media/1/f/1fb2eddc2c66f001c2a8961be9dc0ebf8bf17763/small/Oregon_Ducks_v_8ba0.jpg