The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - September 13, 2004 - 5B
The Rant Box
Like everyone watching the game, The Michigan Daily football writers tend to
complain from time to time. This year, we decided to share what's bugging
us. And, you, the reader, can join in, too. Send us your 'Reader Rant' to
TheRantBox@umich.edu and please include your name, year and school.
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Bob Hunt is not a football player. Actually, he's not much of an
athlete whatsoever. But he is a wannabe soccer hooligan who
likes to go on road trips. As football writer for The Michigan
Daily, Bob will travel to each Michigan road game and comment
about his experiences.
- The whole experience was pretty surreal, one that I would
compare to my trip to the Rose Bowl as a fan last January.
Everything was great, except for the actual game part.
" With just over five minutes to go and a Michigan loss
immiment, I took the elevator from the press box down to
the field level. But the elevator went up one floor to the Uni-
versity club level to pick up a surprise guest. When all I could
think of was "it happened again," all of a sudden Muham-
mad Ali, walks into the elevator, stares me straight in the eye,
and pretends to jab me. No joke. Let's just say I was stunned.
He then took out a red handkerchief, put it in his hand, and
preceded to'make it disappear. After that, Ali made it look
like his thumb was gone. I was just in an elevator with one
of the most influential figures of the 20*1 century, and he's
doing magic tricks! Meanwhile, I didn't say anything. I was Bob hypes It a
so astonished and depressed after witnessing first - On t
hand another Michigan second-half collapse that to ex
absolutely no words come out of my mouth.an
Besides, what should I have said? What do i
you say to someone like that? After the fact,
I still don't know the answer.
- I thought it would be funny ifI slapped 4
on my Glasgow Celtic soccer jersey (which
consists of green and white stripes), and dressed g
like a Notre Dame student with my really white of
skin and reddish blondish hair. For the most part, Itv
it worked. A number of girls yelled "Go Irish!" have
at me, and one guy even wanted to have his picture
taken with me. Another guy came up asking for a hug. I - All of
accidentally tackled him into the ground. Suckers. go out to party
A the Notre Dame campus.
he night before the game, we space wanted
perience the life on campus. We got there
d saw little, until we heard lots of drumming
in the distance. We then sprinted to find a
secret ritual-style pep rally in the middle of
campus. About 1,000 students encircled
the Notre Dame drum corps cheering and
dancing like they had watched the game
tape from last year's Michigan-Oregon
ame before heading over. All I could think
f was, do they do this before the Navy game?
was one of the most cultish public rituals I
ever seen.
f us figured that the student body would
in anticipation of the next day's game.
How about everyone doing 38 shots of beer? We found
no such activity. Three of us tried to enter a dorm to see
what it was like. We entered an all-girls dorm, in which
we were asked for our name, the girl we were visiting and
identification. While one entered with under name "Andy
Chen," who was with "Monica," others had no such luck.
Nothing was going on anyway.
- As for the stadium experience, you could definitely tell
that you were at a Catholic school. There was also the most
coordinated student section I have ever seen. But overall,
people were very nice and respectful. Even people who knew
I was from Michigan. I won't get that in Columbus.
- Bob Hunt can be reached at bobhunt@umich.edu
STAFF PICKS
Predictions against the
spread from 9/7/04
No. 8 Michigan (-13,5) at Notre Dame
UNLV (+15.5) at No. 21 Wisconsin
Ball State (+30) at No. 25 Purdue
Central Michigan (+26) at Michigan State
Eastern Michigan (+37.5) at No. 11 Florida
Iowa State (+24.5) at No. 16 Iowa
Marshall (+16) at No. 9 Ohio State
Penn State (-1.5) at Boston College
UCLA (-3) at Illinois
No. 3 Georgia (-8) at South Carolina
Iniana(+20) at No.24 Oregon
Western Michigan (+24) at Virginia Tech
New Mexico State (+32) at No.12 California
Georgia Tech (+7) at No. 20 Clemson
No. 4 Florida State (+2) at No. 5 Miami
Best Bet
This Week's record
This Season's record
Chris
Burke
Gennaro
Filice
Bob
Hunt
Sharad
Mattu
Notre Dame
Wisconsin
Ball State
Central Michigan
Florida
Iowa State
Ohio State
Boston College
UCLA
South Carolina
Oregon
Virginia Tech
California
Clemson
Miami
Oregon
96 (04)
9-6 (0-1)
Michigan
UNLV
Purdue
Central Michigan
Florida
Iowa State
Ohio State
Penn State
UCLA
Georgia
Indiana
Western Michigan
California
Georgia Tech
Florida State
Central Michigan
87 (1-0)
8-7 (1-0)
Notre Dame
Wisconsin
Purdue
Central Michigan
Florida
Iowa State
Ohio State
Penn State
Illinois
Georgia
Oregon
Virginia Tech
California
Clemson
Miami
Central Michigan
7-8(1-0)
7-8 (1-0)
Michigan
UNLV
Purdue
Central Michigan
Florida
Iowa State
Ohio State
Penn State
Illinois'
Georgia
Oregon
Virginia Tech
New Mexico St
Clemson
Florida St.
Georgia
7-8(0-1)
7-8 (0-1)
Dennis Lee
MMB Drum Major
Michigan
Wisconsin
Purdue
Central Michigan
Florida
Iowa State
Ohio State
Penn State
UCLA
Georgia
Oregon
Virginia Tech
New Mexico St.
Clemson
Miami
Central Michigan
8.7 (1-0)
8-7 (1-0)
Ducks not so mighty,
but Burke prevails
There was something bittersweet
about Chris Burke's opening-
week victory in the Daily's staff
picks. On the one hand, Burke
rolled together a solid 9-6 mark
to take a one-game lead in the
standings. On the other hand,
Burke's best bet - Oregon
- didn't cover. And the Ducks
got beat. At home. By Indiana.
Almost enough to ruin the first-
week victory. But not quite.
The moment of the week came
as Gennaro Filice began cel-
ebrating what he thought was a
weekly victory after Georgia Tech
stunned Clemson, only to find
out that he had - sadly - come
in second. Speaking of sad, Bob
Hunt was extremely fired up after
starting the week 6-1 (including
a stellar celebration of Miami's
come-from-behind win). But Hunt
promptly ran through an 0-5
stretch. That collapse tied him
with Sharad Mattu, who entered
the week proclaiming that he
would not win, and then delivered
big time. Meanwhile, Dennis Lee
got the celebrity group off to
nice start, though his confidence
in Michigan covering fell by the
wayside.
MATTU
Continued from page 1B
Michigan shouldn't be a program
that goes through "cycles," but that's
exactly what it has become.
Think about the last three years.
There's been the rough year with key
new personnel (2001), the year with
promise (2002) and the year where
everything comes together (2003).
Sure, last year was fun, but there's
more than one way to get to the same
place.
This year, Michigan has great
receivers and defensive backs. Next
year, it will be the defense's front
seven. Are they just supposed to play
out the season while the quarterback
and running back develop?
Now, maybe Carr is ready and
willing to open up with redshirt
sophomore Matt Gutierrez. Maybe he
really was set to be the starter before
his shoulder injury. Maybe Carr just
wanted to survive with Henne in the
meantime.
But if Henne was the starter and is
still the starter, spread out the offense
anyway and deal with the lumps. He's
a freshman and mistakes will come,
but he'll learn. Soon, he'll learn to
feel the pressure coming from his
blindside and get rid of the ball. He'll
learn how linebackers and secondar-
ies disguise blitzes. He'll learn how
to freeze the safety and to set up
single-coverage.
Michigan's wide-receiving trio
should be carrying Henne (or Guti-
errez or any other quarterback
Michigan decides to send out there)
through this season, and then the
quarterback could pick up the slack
and carry Michigan's young receivers
in two years.
That's how the true national pow-
erhouses work.
Sharad Mattu can be reached at
smattu@umich.edu
I
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TONY DING/Daily
Michigan wide receiver Steve Breaston gets taken down by Notre Dame cornerback Carlos Cambell.
IRISH
Continued from page 11B
Michigan's offense was quickly forced
to kick the ball away, but senior Adam
Finley was swarmed by the Irish, and his
_m hunt attemnt was blocked Notre Dame
field goal, and Michigan stretched the
lead to 6-0 just prior to the end of the first
quarter.
But without question, the defensive high-
light of the game for the Wolverines came
when they held on a goal-line stand mid-
way through the second quarter. stuffing
run by freshman Mike Hart fell far short
of the goal line.
"We had a miscommunication there,"
Carr said. "It was a wristband call by our
quarterback and we did not get the play
call that we wanted."
That "miscommunication" meant
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