I am glad to welcome new writer Brendan (bpbrady) to the site. Check out the first post from the self-described “cool dude with an awesome hair and beard combo” on Saturday’s game between Michigan and Northwestern.
A couple weeks ago, ALDLAND took you to the opening of the Big Ten season in Ann Arbor. Now we are taking you on a B1G roadtrip to Evanston, Illinois for the Michigan-Northwestern game. But first, I am sure you have a lot of questions. For instance, you might be asking yourself “who is this cool dude with an awesome hair and beard combo writing this article? He isn’t that one guy, or that other guy who usually bring us the ALDLAND content we know and love!” I’m Brendan, the guy who has promised that he would write about five different articles and has not once written any of them due to a debilitating addiction to FIFA. Debilitating, I tell you!
Anyway, on to the roadtrip/game coverage. If you go to a game at Northwestern, make sure you stay in Chicago, and not in Evanston. Evanston is a fine college town and all, but there isn’t a ton to do and it’s only a 40 minute train ride from Chicago to the stop nearest to the stadium. Plus, you can do fun things like have pizza! Who doesn’t love pizza? Communists, that’s who.
Tailgating in Evanston can be a lot of fun, especially if you are a fan of a team that brings a lot of people to away games. We tailgated for several hours with a bunch of Michigan fans, discussing such varied topics as how much we all love Denard Robinson and how great Denard Robinson is at running with a football in his hands. I learned about an interesting game called Dodgebeer, but that’s a whole different article.
Northwestern’s stadium holds about 40,000 fans and is largely uninspiring. Those of you lucky enough to have taken in a blowout loss at Vanderbilt Stadium would be instantly familiar with Ryan Field. Except you might be confused by the atmosphere, because Northwestern has Dan Persa as their QB and not Larry Smith, and consequently actually get somewhat excited for football games. Nevertheless, their fans were personable, and several complemented me on how I was “a lot nicer than those Iowa fans.” Iowa fans, what the heck?
The game started off well for Michigan, as Denard Robinson orchestrated a Michigan scoring drive capped by Steve Watson’s first career catch and touchdown. Miraculously, he did not throw a pick. This changed in short order, as Denard, clearly momentarily color blind, started giving the ball to the Northwestern players like it was candy on Halloween. Denard’s generosity allowed Northwestern to tie the game and eventually take the lead. Michigan’s offense continued to be lackluster, and at the break they found themselves trailing 24-14.
Sometime between the end of the first half and the start of the second half, Brady Hoke either put the fear of God into Michigan, or Northwestern forgot how to play football, because in the second half Michigan put on a clinic, scoring 28 unanswered points to give them a 42-24 victory. The second half featured an extended cameo by backup QB Devin Gardner after Denard hurt his hand and had to take a drive off. Gardner showed why he has the potential to be a star at Michigan, driving the Wolverines down the field like a seasoned veteran and scoring on a one yard run.
What did this game mean for the now 6-0 Wolverines? Well, it means they are bowl eligible, for one. I’m not sure how many doubts this answered about Michigan’s ability to play on the road, as they came out flat in front of a crowd that was at least a third Wolverines fans. Nevertheless, 6-0 is 6-0, and the country will see whether Michigan is for real this week when they take on the Spartans in East Lansing.
For Northwestern, this had to be a tough pill to swallow. They moved the ball almost at will in the first half, but failed to understand the significance of the first down line in the second half and consequently scored no points. Things are not going to get any easier for Wildcat fans, as Northwestern travels to Iowa City next weekend. A loss there and it’s looking like a trip to the Little Caesar’s Pizza Bowl for the Wildcats. However, the plus side of that is: pizza.
I hope you have enjoyed my first article for ALDLAND. I hope to write more in the future, however I think my friend Jeremy just called to see if I want to play FIFA . . .
ESPN Dallas/Fort Worth reports:
TCU trustees are scheduled to meet on Monday and are expected to accept the Big 12’s invitation to join the conference, sources confirmed Sunday.
An announcement could come as early as Monday evening.
The Big 12 extended TCU an invitation on Thursday and said it would begin discussions with the university immediately. TCU chancellor Victor Boschini Jr. issued a statement on Thursday about the situation.
“These discussions with the Big 12 have huge implications for TCU,” the statement said. “It will allow us to return to old rivalries, something our fans and others have been advocating for many years. As always, we must consider what’s best for TCU and our student-athletes in this ever-changing landscape of collegiate athletics. We look forward to continuing these discussions with the Big 12.”
A move to the Big 12 allows TCU to rekindle some of the rivalries it had for so long in the Southwest Conference, which disbanded in 1996.
TCU, the defending Rose Bowl champion, agreed earlier this year to leave the Mountain West Conference for the Big East, which has an automatic BCS berth.
A source told ESPNDallas.com last week that TCU would have to pay a $5 million exit fee to leave the Big East, but would be able to join the Big 12 in time for the 2012-13 athletic year.
What? You thought the Big XII was collapsing? Over and done with? Maybe. But the Big East is going down first, as reported here a month ago. Texas Christian’s decision to get itself into a BCS conference at all costs made sense two years ago, but now, the Big East is done, and TCU’s football team isn’t as good. (That’s a perspective that shows how fast this landscape really is changing, even if it appears incremental on a day-to-day basis.) The Big XII, fearing it’s next to dissolve, had to take TCU to keep something resembling a critical mass and, conveniently, replace one departing Texas team with another. And of course, TCU still thinks it belongs in a BCS conference. Million-dollar musical chairs.
Weekend rain in formerly drought-ridden Arlington, TX sets up a big Monday for Motor City sports fans, with game two between the Rangers and the seemingly outmatched Tigers preceeding the Lions’ first Monday Night Football appearance in a decade. The way the ALCS has started, it probably is a good thing Detroit fans will have options tonight.
Indianapolis stayed perfect yesterday, losing to the happless Chiefs, and the Jets and Eagles look as bad as ever.
Saturday didn’t feature many close games either, as the Top 25 largely rolled. Northwestern kept Michigan close early in Evanston, but it wasn’t to be for the Mildcats. (More on that game later.) Florida never was in it against LSU, although Tiger fans were prepared for…whatever. Similarly, the Red River Rivalry looked anything like a rivalry, as Oklahoma dominated Texas, and Clemson continues to look anything like Clemson.
In the works this week: a new writer joins the site and weighs in on Michigan/Northwestern; a new music series; and ALDLAND returns in force to SEC country. Thanks for reading.
First Lady of Les Miles’ Air Force/Flying Circus
Because I’ve probably expended my office audio-listening capital for the day on baseball clips, and because I’ve used up most of my seasonal and Friday-themed songs for the moment, here’s a textual jam to lighten the mood on a Friday afternoon. Inspired by the Georgia Tech football coach’s call to get more students in the stands during games, EDSBS (more on Magalan‘s other favorite sports blog in a future post) profiled an All The Way Turnt Up interaction between the coach and one GT student:
The University of Memphis’ disgraced 2007-08 basketball season prompted three local attorneys who claimed to represent unnamed season ticket holders to threaten a lawsuit against former coach John Calipari, former guard Derrick Rose and current athletic director R.C. Johnson before reaching a lucrative out-of-court settlement.
Calipari and Rose, according to the settlement agreement obtained Thursday by The Commercial Appeal, agreed on May 28, 2010, to pay a total of $100,000 to the three attorneys — Martin Zummach, Frank L. Watson III and William Burns — who were representing, in the agreement’s words, “certain ticket holders.” The amount was to be disbursed “as they agree among themselves.” … Keep Reading
(via The Commercial Appeal)
Here's your Game 5 winner
The Detroit Tigers hung on to beat the New York Yankees in a decisive fifth game last night, advancing to the ALCS, which starts Saturday night in Arlington, TX.
I questioned Jim Leyland’s personnel decisions before and during the game, but they turned out to be exactly the right moves. Keep reading…
After opening up the college football season with Vanderbilt, I opened big Ten conference play in Ann Arbor last Saturday, where Michigan took a vice-like grip on the Little Brown Jug, beating Minnesota 58-0.
Across the state, the weather had been somewhat crummy all week. I got into town on Friday night hoping to watch Game 1 of Tigers-Yankees. I thought I might’ve seen snow in Ann Arbor, but everyone saw rain in NYC, necessitating a suspension of that game after about an inning of play. Our Saturday-morning tailgate (for a noon game) was a cloudy windstorm punctuated by grilled bratwurst. It turns out that those are the best kind of windstorms. Even better was that things calmed down and the sun came out just in time for kickoff.
I cannot immediately recall a more one-sided game between teams in equivalent classifications above the high school level. I’m told Minnesota was without its senior quarterback. Given that the Gophers have a win on the year and apparently played USC close, he probably deserves some Heisman votes even if he doesn’t take another snap. It wasn’t so much that Minnesota made a lot of mistakes– they only had one turnover, which I predicted right before the play occurred– as that they just couldn’t function on either side of the ball, while Michigan seemed to gain an easy 8-10 yards on every play.
And thus Michigan improbably moves to 5-0. I want to say they aren’t as good as their record, but I’m really not sure anyone has a basis to say anything about them because, outside of the strange Notre Dame game, they really haven’t been tested. The next two weeks will provide that test, though, as they go on the road for the first time this season, first at Northwestern and then at Michigan State.
Look for ALDLAND to take you to a couple more Big Ten games this year, and maybe even another SEC game.
Following the lead of the $5 million football coach, athletics directors may be next to hit the college sports salary jackpot.
ADs average about $450,000 at the NCAA’s top-tier schools, according to a USA TODAY analysis, rivaling the pay of many university presidents. But at least five ADs make more than $1 million, and since August 2010, at least 10 public schools have given their AD’s pay raises of $75,000 or more.
USA Today’s cover story on the topic is here. The paper also provided a breakdown of the top 120 schools’ ADs. The top ten, ranked in descending order by total pay:
| School | Athletics Director | Conf. | University pay | Other pay | Total pay | Max Bonus |
|---|
| Vanderbilt | David Williams | SEC | $2,560,505 | $0 | $2,560,505 | $0 |
| Florida | Jeremy Foley | SEC | $1,545,250 | $0 | $1,545,250 | $50,000 |
| Louisville | Tom Jurich | Big East | $1,422,204 | $5,500 | $1,427,704 | $344,000 |
| Texas | DeLoss Dodds | Big 12 | $1,093,391 | $2,365 | $1,095,756 | $125,000 |
| Ohio State | Gene Smith | Big Ten | $1,074,546 | $0 | $1,074,546 | $250,000 |
| Wisconsin | Barry Alvarez | Big Ten | $1,000,000 | $40,800 | $1,040,800 | $0 |
| Oklahoma | Joe Castiglione | Big 12 | $975,000 | $0 | $975,000 | $510,000 |
| Notre Dame | Jack Swarbrick | Indep. | $932,232 | $0 | $932,232 | $0 |
| Duke | Kevin White | ACC | $908,659 | $0 | $908,659 | $0 |
| Tennessee | Dave Hart Jr. | SEC | $750,000 | $0 | $750,000 | $0 |
(HT: @AndrewBrink)
ALDLAND 