The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - November 22, 2004 - 5B
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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 a football writer for The Michigan Daily, Bob will
travel to each Michigan road game and chronicle his experiences.
All season long, I asked everyone I
knew what they thought I should do when
I went to Columbus. I was basically told
by everyone to "not get shot." Well, I'm
happy to say that I still have each extrem-
ity attached to my body - barely.
there to take pictures of me getting my
ass kicked. "Throw him into the street!"
one girl yelled. I was even mooned. One
group started to follow me, until a cam-
pus police car was spotted right near the
area where our car was parked. Kids,
don't try that at home.
- WhenI was wearing neutral colors,
I found Columbus to be a decent college
town, but nothing special. Some bars
had an open-door policy where your
ID was checked only when drinks were
purchased, which was a nice touch. But
while the majority of the college towns
I've been too have a distinct flavor, I never
found one in Columbus. Well, other than
the fact that everybody hates Michigan.
- Discounting the play on the field
attending the game at Ohio Stadium was
incredible. Since the whole thng is built
above ground, unlike Michigan Stalium.
it looks massive from the fied It the
one thing that I never realy uierstood
was the large number ol anitions
that were shown from the eboard
in the south endzone. Thee w a n am
mation for literally everythi here
were multiple Simpsons anima i 1 and
even an appearance by Splcial 11> from
"Crank Yankers" on Comedy central
"Yeaaaayyyy! Go Bucks! Yai yvyy
All of this made me wonder, " low does
the school acquire all of the rihts lfr
these characters?' Regardi. Ohio
State Scoreboard Operations is currently
hiring animators. So all you art students.
there is a way to put that degree to work!
Just not a Michigan degree.
Bob Hunt wants to tell all the people
who swore at him that he is looking
forward to taking lots 0fpictures with
celebrities in Los Angeles. lie can be
reached at bobhuntaumnich.edu.
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STAFF PICKS
Predictions against the
spread for 11/20/04
M chigan (6) at Ohio State
illinois (+13) at Northwestern
fIndians(+20,5) at Purdue
Michigan State (-3) at Penn State
Wsconsin (+2.5) at Iowa.
Florida (+7) at Florida State
Auburn (-9) at Alabama
Stanford (+24) at Cal
Oregon (+3.5).atOregon State
Washington (+11) at Washington State
8YU (+24) at Utah
North Carolina (-5.5) at Duke
Qklahoma (-34,8) at Baylor
Wake Forest (+18.5) at Miami
Louisiana Tech (+24) at Boise State
Best bet
Weekly record (best bet)
Season record (best bet)
Chris
Burke
Gennaro
Filice
Bob
Hunt
Sharad
Mattu
Crazyhorse
Michigan
Northwestern
Purdue
Michigan State
Iowa
Florida State
Auburn.
Cal
Oregon State
Washington State
BYU
North Carolina
Baylor
Wake Forest
Boise State
Washington State
6-9 (&1)
79-79-5 (7-4)
Michigan
Northwestern
Purdue
Michigan State
Iowa.
Florida
Auburn
Stanford
Oregon
Washington State
BYU
North Carolina
Oklahoma.
Wake Forest
Boise State.
Michigan State
6-9(0-1)
78-80-5 (6-5)
Ohio State
Northwestern
Indiana.
Michigan State
Iowa
Florida State
Alabama
Stanford
Oregon State
Washington State
BYU
North Carolina
Baylor
Wake Forest
Louisiana Tech
Wake Forest
510 (m)
77-81-5 (6-5)
Ohio State
Northwestern
Purdue
Michigan State
Iowa
Florida State
Auburn
Stanford
Oregon State
Washington State
Utah
North Carolina
Baylor
Wake Forest
Boise State
North Carolina
7-8(1-0)
86-72-5 (7-4)
Michigan
Northwestern
Indiana
Michigan State
Iowa
Florida
Auburn
Stanford
Oregon State
Washington State
BYU
Everyone struggles
in crazy week.
Things have gotten bad for the
Daily football writers in recent
weeks, but it has never been this
bad. You just know that things
are off when you don't have to
go .500 to win the week. Pretty
soon, people will be calling forf.
the return of former celebrity
George Washington (a.k.a. the
quarter). All five pickers this
week selected Northwestern,
Michigan State and Washington
State. All failed to cover. Popular
selections of Auburn, Stanford,
BYU and Wake Forest didn't help
the cause either. But the Daily
football writers started loving Kirk
Ferentz well before this week,
as everyone picked Iowa. Who
knew Iowa would become the
second favorite football team in
Duke Ann Arbor! Sharad Mattu took the
Duke lead by going 7-8. Chris Burke and
Oklahoma Gennaro Filice kept slipping away
Miami with 6-9 weeks. Bob Hunt fought
Louisiana State hard to get above .500, just to
Michigan ~have a horrific 5-10 week to drop
Michiganfour games under. This week's
540(0.1) celebrity, Michigan megafan -
84-74-5 (7-4) Crazyhorse, also fell hard at 5-10.
FILICE
Continued from page 1B
An inconsistent offense and a consis-
tently mediocre defense led to unpredict-
ably from week to week. The Wolverines
proved to be clutch, and that factor
won them games (Minnesota, Purdue
and Michigan State). But fourth-quar-
ter excellence is supposed to be the
finishing touch on a great team, not the
defining characteristic, as it was for the
Wolverines.
Michigan revealed its (and the Big
Ten's) truly average colors on Saturday.
The Wolverines were manhandled by
- at least until Saturday - the most
unimpressive Ohio State team I've seen
in my four years at this university; an
Ohio State team that kicked off the Big
Ten season with three consecutive loss-
es. And although the Wolverines entered
the game as heavy favorites, Ohio State's
win didn't seem fluky at all. The Buck-
0 eyes' performance was overwhelmingly
dominant.
So, how does a team that entered the
game tied for sixth place in the Big Ten
beat the conference's leader with relative
ease? The Big Ten - and therefore the
Big Ten's best team - is unquestionably
vanilla in 2004.
This will be reflected on Jan. 1.
Last season, the Wolverines shipped
off to Pasadena with high hopes, but left
the Rose Bowl with their tails between
, a their laes having suffered an extremelvy
stay at No. 4 in the BCS and earn a trip
to Pasadena. Cal is eerily similar to the
2003 Trojans, as it boasts an explosive
offense (ranked fifth nationally) and a
stout defense (ranked 11th nationally).
Coach Jeff Tedford's well-rounded,
free-spirited offense is worlds better
than anything the Wolverine defense
has faced this year.
Texas would slip into the Rose Bowl
if Cal loses. There's also a possibility
that a convincing win over Texas A&M
on Friday would push the Longhorns
past Cal in the BCS and present them
with a date with the Wolverines. Texas
would definitely be a step down from
Cal, especially since the Longhorns
seem to annually take off the Oklahoma
game and their bowl game. This team
would be the most favorable matchup
for the Wolverines. But Michigan's
defense has looked silly against mobile
quarterbacks this year (especially
against Ohio State), and the Longhorns
have one of the nation's best running
signal-callers in Vince Young.
The Trojans, on course for the BCS
title game in the Orange Bowl, would be
probably relegated to the Rose Bowl if
they were to lose one of their remaining
games against Notre Dame or UCLA.
Southern Cal. isn't as good as last year,
but neither is Michigan. Regardless, the
Trojans may have the best overall talent
in college football with players like Reg-
gie Bush, who is a better version of Ted
Ginn Jr.
TONY DING, oLyw