We will be talking about what is going on at Michigan later on. By the way, at least the NCAA is willing to go after one of their big brands. The Premier League could learn a thing or two from them. Longtime readers know I am an Everton supporter, and we got a worse penalty for a breach of FFP that gave us no competitive advantage than Manchester City breaking over 100 charges and Chelsea cooking their books, and the Big Six clubs for threatening to leave the Premier League during the whole Super League debacle.
So mad at Kentucky they're gonna punish Cleveland State again, I see.
Tark was a cheat, but he was honest, old dude! Meanwhile, last week was a bad weekend for the football teams I love. The Packers at least lost to a better opponent on the road, but the Badgers have no excuses. They are lucky that I want to talk about the Michigan scandal instead.
Fickell is breathing a sigh of relief.
I am feeling the HYYYYYYYYYYPPPEEEEE! and ready to pick some games. Watch me work.
Minnesota Golden Elite Rowers of the Boat (+27.5) vs. A School In Columbus The Gophers got blown out at Purdue Harbor, and it looks like Row the Boat Fleck will have to rely on the Axe game to get into a bowl game. While I would normally say that this is a trap game for the Buckeyes because they are going to be looking ahead to their trip to Ann Arbor next week, that would be too ridiculous even for my standards. Ohio State isn't going to be looking ahead, and they are going to get off to a better start than they have in their earlier games. While the Gophers will be game, this is a plain and simple talent gap game. Buckeyes 70, Row Row Row Your Boat Elitely 14.
Gophers aren't very good. Ohio State is. Plan accordingly. Ohio State 48, Minnesota 14.
Nebraska Cornhuskers (+6) vs. Beloved Wisconsin Badgers Last week was one of the worst Badger performances at Camp Randall I have ever seen. It's like they expected Northwestern to roll over and die for them, and I'm sure that Fickell was not happy. Nebraska must be the most snakebitten team in America over the last few years, as they find new ways to lose close games. If the Badgers have their crap together, then they can get a bowl game wrapped up, as you don't want the bowl streak to come down to the Axe game. Badgers 34, Cornhuskers 21.
National television. This game is on national television. What a terrible thing to do to the nation. Badgers will probably win. But I am not confident in the slightest. Wisconsin 17, Nebraska 13.
Los Angeles Chargers (-3) vs. Glorious Green Bay Packers The Packers played a B quality game, but to win in Pittsburgh required an A game. The Chargers are a strange team. They have a ridiculous amount of talent on offense, but Brandon Staley has consistently done less with more and just like Mario Cristobal at Oregon has wasted Justin Herbert. The Packers looked better, but this won't be easy. What they are going to need to do is feed Aaron Jones and can someone please tell Watson that he can fight for the football? As much as I wish that the Packer brass would make changes at the end of the year, they will continue to bury their heads in the sand. Packers 21, Go Back To San Diego 20.
The Packers aren't good. The Chargers are indeed strange. Packers 24, Chargers 20.
Minnesota Vikings (+2.5) vs. Denver Broncos Remember when this looked like a terrible primetime game a couple of weeks ago? It turns out that the Vikings have life, and the Broncos proved that winning against the Chiefs was no fluke by beating the Bills. Josh Dobbs might be a hero, but a word of warning Vikings fans. This team will get your hopes up, before finding a new way to break your heart in brutal fashion. I think that the Vikings are going to win this game and put a ton of pressure on the LOLions. If the LOLions blow this chance to win the NFC North, I got something special planned for you guys. You don't want me to use it. Vikings 30, Broncos 20.
He's special, so special. Vikings should win this, but I sense a trap at high elevation. Broncos 24, Vikings 21.
You should have saved that video for my next topic!
And now, it's time to dunk on Michigan. The Wolverines had one of the biggest temper tantrums that I have ever seen last week, and it was really incredible. The Big Ten was placed in a tough spot, and Tony Petiti couldn't win. If he didn't punish Michigan, then he would have ticked off the rest of the league. So by punishing Michigan, he ticked off Michigan. Jim Harbaugh has proven that despite Michigan having an overwhelming list of advantages over just about every other football program in the Big Ten, he still needed to cheat twice. If I was Warde Manuel, I would be very concerned about the culture in his department. Michigan football and men's basketball are both coached by alums who are "Michigan Men", and both have utterly embarrassed and disgraced the athletic department. Juwan Howard of course infamously punched an assistant coach in a handshake line after a game against the Badgers, and when he released a statement apologizing, he initially misspelled the assistant's name. Harbaugh broke NCAA rules twice this year, and it's not like they are arcane rules that the out of touch NCAA hasn't updated. The dead period and in person scouting rules aren't new rules. I've seen Michigan and their defenders say that Harbaugh didn't know, but that is a terrible defense. Harbaugh is in charge of the football program, and it's his job to be aware of what goes on in his department. To not know and/or not report it to his superiors is a failure of leadership.
Not knowing things, or pretending not to know, is a central part of life these days, as any visit to a comment section will demonstrate. (Closed circuit to Brad - we aren't talking about you. As far as you know, at least.)
What really sucks in all this is that the Michigan players had nothing to do with this, and are playing football at a high level. JJ McCarthy probably is going to lose Heisman votes, which isn't fair to him. He wasn't stealing signs, and his teammates probably didn't ask questions about where their coaches got the information. I don't blame the players for being defensive of their results, as all they have done this year is win football games, and they should be proud. Blame the coaches, staffers, and athletic department officials who screwed up.
How about global warming? Can we blame that, too?
Go right ahead, Geritol Fan. Now let's get back to my epic rant. What would I do if I were the Michigan president? I would have fired Harbaugh and Manuel for cause. The bottom line is that those men are responsible for running their departments in a clean manner, and they agreed to follow the rules when they signed their employment contracts. Regardless of if they knew, ignorance and/or not stopping the cheating is unacceptable from leaders in any industry.
Unless Merrick Garland reports to you.
You really need to get back to writing about politics, old dude. I can tell you miss it. But that's not what we're doing here. Enjoy your football this weekend. Ben out.
2 comments:
I may, as a Spartan born south of Columbus, be a bit biased here, but with multiple coaches being in on it, according to the firm that broke the scandal, I'm having trouble believing that Harbaugh wasn't in on it. For that matter, I'd have to guess that anyone watching tape with a modicum of expertise about the game would start to ask "gosh, we are in exactly the right place every.single.play. Now how does that happen?"
And since the new defenses are fed through the linebackers, yes, that means that they almost certainly knew. Hail to the cheaters. If it is as bad as it's starting to look, I'd dare suggest that Michigan is giving up that 1000th win and going back to 950 or so.
I won't speak for Benster, but I personally agree with you on this, Bubba.
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