Rich Rodriguez gave a speech in suburban Detroit last night that included him comparing the woes of Michigan football to Hurricane Katrina:

(Thanks for that)

It’s really kind of ironic that the New Orleans Saints overcame the hurricane a few years back. And we’ve had a few hurricanes of our own. We had a big hurricane in August, and it kind of hit us like a ton of bricks. But you had 120 young men and a bunch of people on the staff that said this is not going to tear our program apart.

Rodriguez also noted that he once lived in Louisiana, which means that if he receives any subsequent criticism for such an asinine statement in the coming days, I’m sure he’ll use that as cover. Read more…

Lee Higgins of the AnnArbor.com reports this week:

A University of Michigan football player was arrested this morning after a female student reported he sexually assaulted her.

The man was questioned and released as detectives continue to investigate the 2 a.m. incident in the 600 block of South State Street, Ann Arbor police Det. Dave Monroe said. Police would not release the name of the player today.

Monroe said no charges have yet been filed as the investigation continues. Both parties are 18-years-old and know each other. The charges stemmed from an incident between the two at a party on Saturday night at the Chi Psi fraternity.

Read more…

Ohio State fans, that is:

(From THE BIG (RED) HOUSE On Saturday)

Stellar sign by Bucks fans at Michigan Stadium last Saturday.

Those folks will be happy to note today that Michigan Bill “I’m the A.D., honey” Martin, has assured us that Rich Rodriguez will return to coach the Wolverines next season.

That’s great news for SbB, so long as it ensures delightful pre-game scenes like what we enjoyed on Saturday.

After all these years at Michigan Stadium, who knew that the players tunnel was too narrow?

(Breaking: Nick Lachey lands on feet as Buckeye ballboy?)

Either that or before the Ohio State-Michigan game today, Wolverines running back Michael Shaw cheap-shotted a member of the Buckeyes entourage who was not dressed out for the game.

Always a good idea to have both teams enter and leave the field at the same time. Read more…

It’s been a great past few years for Bill Martin. No wait, no it hasn’t. He essentially blew any chance at landing LSU’s Les Miles a couple years ago when he too busy sailing in the Caribbean to take Miles’ agent’s calls; he hired Rich Rodriguez instead, which, wow; and now’s he’s just going to go ahead and retire (presumably so he can just sail in some peace and god-damned quiet).

(You want my ID? These microphones and reporters are my ID. Get outta here.)

His retirement’s not effective for another 10 months or so, though (September 4, 2010, to be precise), so Martin’s still got a lot of work to do. Athletic directin’, administratin’, and the timeless pastime of old rich people: gettin’ pushy with the help. Cue the incident reports!

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Earlier this season, Michigan had to deal with the suspension of Jonas Mouton after he was caught sneaking in a quick sucker punch on a Notre Dame player. All of this was much to the chagrin of Rich Rodriguez, who had maintained that Mouton had not done anything wrong and would not be punished by the team. After that, RichRod became the conference’s most vigilant film studier, pointing out a questionable forearm shiver by Purdue’s Zach Reckman on a defenseless Northern Illinois player as that game ended. Out came the Big Ten Banhammer once again, and Reckman caught a one-game suspension from the conference. Video of both offending plays is after the break.

 (Bussed-under Boiler to Rich Rod: MAD MUCH?)

Surprisingly, Reckman and Boilermaker head coach Danny Hope weren’t terribly impressed with Rodriguez’s involvement in Purdue’s disciplinary procedures and took it a little personally. So even as revenge is a dish best served on a scoreboard–Purdue 38, Michigan 36, in this instance–Hope and Reckman decided to make the most of the opportunity of meeting RichRod at midfield after the game. Commence catty slapfight ownage. Read more…

In case you hadn’t heard, it sounds like Ohio State is going to wear some throwback uniforms for their annual tilt with Michigan on November 21. We saw a blurry camera pic of the jersey yesterday and scratched our heads; it hardly looked like a throwback, just another future-tron white jersey that are all over college football these days.

(Well well.)

ELEVEN WARRIORS appears to have found the rest of the uniform, pictured above. Now, the “throwback” stuff comes into play. The font for the numbers on the helmet seems to have been stolen directly from the Pittsburgh Steelers’ current uniforms, but the pants are old school to the core and it all looks exactly the way you’d want a throwback to look, really.

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In case you missed it, Saturday marked the official end of the “Michigan’s already back” storyline for 2009. How else to interpret a 38-13 loss to an Illinois team that hadn’t beaten a I-A team all season long?

(Yeesh.)

Michigan actually led 13-7 and had first-and-goal on Illinois’ 1-yard line in the second half. They failed to capitalize, gave up three touchdowns in the third quarter, then had a chance to bring the game back to a one-score contest early in the fourth. Unfortunately, Tate Forcier fumbled on a sack, Illinois defensive end Corey Liuget recovered, and that is very bad news for you, Mr. Liuget; you’ve made Michigan left tackle Mark Ortmann angry, and Ortmann punches manballs when he’s angry. Video after the break.

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Hey, someone has to drive around and photograph all the college cheerleaders, then post the photos and break down their performances on his web site. That someone is Orlan Ree, Jr., editor of the Cheer Times. One of man’s finest inventions, in my opinion.

This isn’t just some eye candy receptacle: They’ve put a lot of work into this. Besides the photos, which aren’t salacious, there’s plenty of reporting about what it’s like to attend games at the various stadiums, prices for parking and concessions and so forth, and of course reports on the cheerleaders themselves. Following the jump, the shocking truth about the Michigan Wolverine football cheerleaders, and oh yeah, other photos via the link. Read more…

It would pretty well suck to be Rich Rodriguez these days. After all, the Detroit press seems to be on a witch hunt, except it’s not really a hunt, since RichRod’s already right there and they’re not looking for anyone else. At the same time, though they tut and moan about everything about the program, wins are the only thing that’ll shut them up, and they’ll come when they come.

(Not a man having a good time.)

So when some good news from off-the-field business comes along and can help Rodriguez manage the media horde, well, that’s just plain great. Nothing can possibly go wrong with a piece of news like “Michigan’s GPA is the highest it’s been in 25 years,” which Rodriguez says the Academic Success Program told him. Why, just a few months ago, he told reporters, his Wolverines “have recorded the highest GPA ever recorded.” Great news! Let’s just let the newspaper double-check on this and oh dear no, we’ve got a bit of a discrepancy. Juuuust a bit.

Read more…