Vote Coach Brady Hoke!

Vote Coach Brady Hoke!

Brady Hoke's got some cash coming his way

Michigan will owe Head Football Coach Brady Hoke a cool $200K for getting the Wolverines to a Bowl Game this season.

Michigan will pay Hoke $75K just for getting to a Bowl Game, and an additional $150K for being the 2nd, or 3rd Big Ten team selected, i.e., the Citrus Bowl, or the Outback Bowl.

While the contract doesn't say anything about a BCS Bowl bid, I think it's pretty clear that Michigan going to the Sugar Bowl this year, as part of the BCS, will be the equivalent of a 2nd place Big Ten selection.

Here's the coaches contract.

Meeechigan 40, Ohio State34

After 7 miserable years of losing to the dreaded Buckeyes, the Michigan Football team had their finest hour this past Saturday, defeating Ohio State, 40-34, in front of 114,132 rabid college football fans.

Hail to the Victors Valiant, Hail to the Conquering Heroes.....Go Blue!

Thanks to the Wolverine Historian for the footage. Check out his YouTube page, it's fantastic.

 

 

Meeeechigan beats the Buckeyes...Go Blue!

Photo courtesy of Jamie Edmonson...https://twitter.com/#!/jaimeedmondson

Newest edition to Schembechler Hall/ Michigan Football Museum

Wouldn't it be nice to have this Michigan football on display at your house.



http://twitpic.com/7hxk22

Go Blue!

Bo, Woody, Joe Paterno and the 1970s

The news coming out of State College, Pennsylvania this week hasn't been kind to legendary Nittany Lions Head Football Coach Joe Paterno.

With the revelations that former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky has been accused of molesting young boys during and after his time at Penn State have the walls of college football's once stoic institution crumbling down.

As I write this post, Coach Paterno had issued a statement today that this year will be the last year he roams the sidelines as Penn State's coach.

The Nittany Lions are playing their final home game of the season this Saturday against the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

I wanted to write something a little different in my response to all that has already been written many times over all across the Internet.

My feelings about coach Paterno keep taking me back to my youth of the 1970s.

I started following college football in 1976.

My beloved Michigan Wolverines were the #1 team in the country, led by Bo Schembechler, in his 7th season as the Wolverines top football man.

I fell in love with the Wolverines, and college football, and would watch any and all college games on TV that I could.

Big time college football programs and their coaches ruled the 1970s.

Woody Hayes at Ohio State, battling Bo and Michigan every year...on and off the field.

Bear Bryant at Alabama, battling  Shug Jordan at Auburn, Fred Akers at Texas of the then Southwestern Conference, smashing heads against Arkansas and Lou Holtz.

Tom Osborne at Nebraska, Barry Switzer at Oklahoma, battling it out in the then Big 8.

Johnny Majors at Pittsburgh and the annual end of the year get together with Joe Paterno at Penn State.

I always rooted for Paterno and the Nittany Lions when they played.

Penn State was an independent in football in the mid '70s, still nearly twenty years before they would join the Big Ten conference, in 1993.

Independent football was big in the '70's.

Teams like Penn State, Pittsburgh, Florida State, and Notre Dame, always seemed to play a lot of big football games all over the country, filling up non conference games of teams from the SEC, the Big 8, the Pac 8, and the Big Ten.

I would watch many college games, after every Michigan game, and of course, many bowl game.

I would find one team from every conference that I followed when the Wolverines were not playing.

I chose to follow Maryland from the ACC...my Uncle moved to Bowie, Maryland...USC from the West Coast, and the Pac-8 Conference.

The Midwest was for Nebraska from the Big 8, Arkansas was my team from the Southwest, because my father was born in Evening Shade, and Michigan State from the Big Ten and my home state of Michigan...except when they played the Wolverines.

For some reason I never followed any SEC teams, although I would watch 'Bama play quite a bit.

Joe Paterno was as big a name as any in college football when I first started watching.

I'm not really sure why, but I just liked Penn State, and would watch the team play when college football was at the height of inter-conference games.

Today's non conference games are nothing like the 1970s and 1980s.

Alabama-Penn State...Notre Dame-Alabama...Michigan-Notre Dame...Penn State-Pittsburgh...Penn State-Nebraska(now a Big Ten game).

Florida State-Nebraska....Ohio State-Oklahoma...Penn State-Miami...Miami-Notre Dame.

Classic games from a classic past.

Joe Paterno was, and still is,considered one of the best college football coaches, and as of today, his 409 wins stands as the most in Division 1...now called the Football Bowl Subdivision.

Paterno has been Penn State and Nittany Lions Football since becoming an assistant under then PSU coach Rip Engle, in 1950.

In 1966 Paterno took over for Engle as the Head Football Coach, and the legend of Penn State Football was born.

Paterno had five undefeated seasons between 1966-1973, and yet the Nittany Lions never won a National Championship.

I guess, in a way, Paterno was, to me, a carbon copy of Bo Schembechler, and that made him and Penn State a team I could relate to.

I rooted on the Nittany Lions and felt bad for Paterno when, from the 3 yard line, Penn State failed on four downs to get into the end zone, losing the 1979 Sugar Bowl, and the National Championship, to the Bear an Alabama.

I cheered JoePa on as he continued to build powerful teams in State College, and when he and Penn State beat Georgia in the 1983 Sugar Bowl for his 1st NC, I clapped and smiled for him, his players, and their fans.

In 1986, when teams like Miami were changing the way players behaved on college football fields, I stood by Bo and JoePa, and would always root for Miami to lose, just like they did that night in January of 1987, when Penn State beat the Hurricanes, 14-10, for their 2nd title.

In both the '82 and '86 season, for 33 years, the Penn State defense was run by another Nittany Lion legend, Jerry Sandusky.

Penn State and Joe Paterno always stood for what was right about college football.

They never changed, never.

Penn State ran out the same offense for 45 years.

They ran out young men like Matt Millen, Jack Ham, and LaVarr Arrington at "Linebacker U."

The Nittany Lions ran out in the same uniforms...blue at home, white on the road, with the same white helmet with a blue stripe running down the middle.

They ran out on the field with the same white socks and the same black cleats...year, after year, after year.

And they ran out the same Head Football Coach for 45 years, Joe Paterno.

Never a blemish, never a whisper, never as much as a hint that anything was ever wrong in State College, Pennsylvania.

Year, after year, after year, after year.

And then, like a thunderbolt from the heavens, the once untouchable Penn State football program is coming apart at the seams.

Fans and Alumnus from Penn State can't believe what they're hearing.

Joe Paterno knew what was going on with Sansusky all those years, and yet he allowed Sandusky to continue to come to the Penn State football facilities, bringing young boys to practice.

Only Paterno, a few Penn State administrators, a few Nittany Lions assistant coaches, defensive coordinator Sandusky, and the victims themselves know what really happened in each and every one of those horrible, horrible days of abuse.

Why would Paterno, a man of substance and strength all those yeaars not demand the university do the right thing and report Sandusky to the police?

When Paterno reported what he was told to Penn State officials, why didn't those officials call the police?

The obvious answer is not the one we want to hear.

No one at Penn State wanted the scandal to go public, no one wanted their jobs at Penn State to go away.

No one wanted the legend of Penn State and Joe Paterno to come under such scrutiny.

They covered it up, and never reported Sandusky to the police.

Those Penn State administrators, athletic officials, and yes, Joe Paterno himself, were looking out for everyone but the innocent young men who trusted their lives to a friend, a trusted member of the community.

They trusted long time Penn State coach, Jerry Sandusky with their well being as a substitute parent.

Sandusky violated that trust when he did what he did, and every one in State College Pennsylvania violated the public trust when they let Sandusky continue un punished for his wickedness.

Amid all these allegations, coach Sandusky, through his lawyers, has pleaded his innocence, and in America, a person is indeed innocent until proven guilty.

Jerry Sandusky will have a chance to prove his innocence.

As for the victims, well, their innocence was taken away long, long, long, ago.

1973 #1 Ohio State #4 Michigan

I had never seen this game before, just old films of Dennis Franklin's game tying TD late in the game.

While discussing famous Top 5 meetings between undefeated teams, this game came to mind, and so I googled it, and found the game, divided up into the first half, and then the second half, on You Tube.

Here's the 1st half...10-0 Buckeyes.

Now on to the 2nd Half...all Wolverines, 10-0...Go Blue!

This infamous game, played in Ann Arbor before 105, 233 at Michigan Stadium, was, at the time, of course, a new NCAA record.

The 10-10 tie was supposed to send the Wolverines to the Rose Bowl, because the Big Ten had a no-repeat rule that didn't allow any Big Ten team to play in the Rose Bowl in consecutive years.

Ohio State had gone to Pasadena the year before, and every Michigan coach, player, administrator, and fan, knew the Wolverines were headed to the Rose Bowl.

In a vote taken after the game by the Big Ten Athletic Directors, the Buckeyes, by a vote of 6-4, were sent by the conference to the Rose Bowl.

The A.D.'s of the Big ten were afraid that Michigan starting QB, Dennis Franklin, wouldn't recover from from the broken collar bone he suffered in the game.

The controversy was devastating to Michigan head football coach Bo Schembechler, who never forgot what the conference did to his Seniors, who finished their 4 year careers 30-2-1...and never were allowed to play in a bowl game.

Because of the infamous vote the Big Ten changed the rule, eliminating the Athletic Directors from voting in case of a tie, and the conference also allowed other Big Ten teams to go to bowl games.

Ohio State won the Rose Bowl, 42-21, over USC.

In 1975, Michigan became the 1st Big Ten team not to win the conference championship play in a bowl game, the 1976 Orange Bowl against Oklahoma.

Enjoy the game...and Go Blue!

Wolverines on Twitter update

I like to follow as many Michigan players as possible on Twitter, and today one of the best Wolverine centers, David Molk, has joined the popular social media site.

You can find David Molk here...http://twitter.com/#!/dmolk

I will also be adding Molk to the Twitter list on the left hand side of the home page here on Maize and Blue Football.

If you know of any former Michigan players who are on Twitter, please feel free to share, I's really appreciate it.

Go Blue!