The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Monday, November 13, 2006 - 5B
MAIZE GAUGE
The Michigan Daily football writers break down the weekend's stats that don't show up in the box-
score. The defense-o-meter measures the intensity of the defense, the Carr-o-meter judges Lloyd
Carr's demeanor following the game and the hypemeter measures the fans' game performance.
DEFENSE-O-METER
414 The defense made last week's poor showing against Ball State
a distant memory. It held a solid Indiana offense to a season-
low 131 yards on offense, includingjust 26 on the ground.
That brings the season average to 30 yards per game.
CARR-O-METER
4/4 Carr was thrilled after the game, and why not? He's steered
Michigan to an 11-0 record heading into the biggest game
any of us have ever seen. Now it's time for Lloyd and his
staff to get down to business gameplanning for OSU.
HYPEMETER
If it were up to us at the Daily, Indiana would lose its cer-
tification as a public institution. Saturday's showing was
4 atrocious. Michigan fans drowned out Indiana fans from the
opening snap, and by game's end, it was like a home game.
STAFF PICKS
Predictions against the spread
for Nov. 11
This week, Jason and Randy
Sklar upgraded their cheap seats
on ESPN Classic to the enclosed
seating of The Michigan Daily
staff picks.
No.2 Michigan (-19) at Indiana
No.1 Ohio State (-23.5) at Northwestern
No.3 Louisville (-7.5) at No.15 Rutgers
No. 4 Texas (-17) at Kansas State
Georgia(+13) at No.0S Auburn
South Carolina (+13.5) at No. 6 Florida
No. 21Oregon (+8) at No.7SouthernCal
No. 8 California t-14) at Arizona
No.9 Notre Dame(-12) at Air Force
Cincinnati(+19) at No.10 West Virginia
No.13 Tennessee (+5.5) at No.11Arkansas
Alabama(+18) at No.12 Louisiana State
No. 14 Boise State (-14.5) at San JoseState
No.16 Wisconsin (even) at Iowa
Texas Tech (+9) at No.l17Oklahoma
No. 18 Wake Forest (+8.5) at Florida State
No.19 Georgia Tech (-14) at North Carolina
Kent (+29) at No.20 Virginia Tech
Duke (+28) at No.22 Boston College
Miami (even) at No.23 Maryland
Nebraska (-1) at No. 24 Texas A&M
Wyoming (+18) at No. 25 BYU
Purdue(+3) at inois
Minnesota (-2) at Michigan State
Temple (+36) at Penn State
Best Bet
Record
overall Record
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Scott Matt
Bell Singer
indiana Michigan
Northwestern Northwesterr
'n
Kevin Stephanie
Wright Wright
Indiana Michigan
Northwestern Northwestern
Louisville
Texas
Auburn
South Carolina
Southern Cal
California
Notre Dame
West Virginia
Arkansas
Alabama
Boise State
Wisconsin
Oklahoma
Wake Forest
Georgia Tech
Virginia Tech
Boston College
Maryland
Texas A & M
BYU
Purdue
Minnesota
Temple
Georgia Tech
12-12-1 (0-1)
103-101-8 (3-6-1)
Louisville
Texas
Auburn
Florida
Southern Cal
California
Notre Dame
Cincinnati
Tennessee
Alabama
Boise State
Wisconsin
Texas Tech
Wake Forest
Georgia Tech
Virginia Tech
Duke
Miami
Texas A & M
Wyoming
Purdue
Michigan State
Penn State
Tennessee
10-14-1 (0-1)
99-105-8 (4-6)
Louisville
Texas
Georgia
South Carolina
Oregon
California
Notre Dame
West Virginia
Arkansas
Alabama
Boise State
Wisconsin
Texas Tech
Wake Forest
Georgia Tech
Virginia Tech
Boston College
Maryland
Nebraska
BYU
Ilinois
Minnesota
Temple
California
10-14-1 (0-1)
95-109-8 (5-5)
Louisville
Texas
Auburn
Florida
Southern Cal
California
Notre Dame
West Virginia
Tennessee
Alabama
Boise State
Wisconsin
Texas Tech
Wake Forest
Georgia Tech
Virginia Tech
Duke
Maryland
Nebraska
Wyoming
Purdue
Michigan State
Tempie
Notre Dame
9-15-1 (1-0)
95-109-8 (5-5)
Michigan
Ohio State
Rutgers
Texas
Auburn
Florida
Oregon
California
Notre Dame
West Virginia
Tennessee
Louisiana State
Boise State
Wisconsin
Oklahoma
Florida State
Georgia Tech
Virginia Tech
Boston College
Maryland
Nebraska
BYU
Purdue
Minnesota
Penn State
Wisconsin
11-13-B (1-0)
111-93-8 (5-4-1)
Pickers continue to struggle.
Mediocrity is the new bench-
mark here at the Daily. Scott Bell
topped the weekly standings with
a.500 mark, but still trails the
celebs by eight games.
Jason and Randy Sklar, co-
hosts of ESPN Classic's "Cheap
Seats," kept the celebrities on top
with a respectable showing con-
sidering how the rest of the Daily
football writers performed. Their
pick of Wisconsin as their best
bet was enough to put the celebs
on top of that category, as well.
Bell would also like to let it be
known that he's accepting thank
yous for picking against Michigan
this week. During Michigan's
hot streak at the beginning of
the year, he continually picked
against Michigan. Then, the two
weeks prior to this week's game,
he picked Michigan - and the
Wolverines struggled. This week,
he sacrificed a correct pick in the
name of getting Michigan back
on track for the Ohio State game.
Kevin Wright continues to
pick California as his best bet
and continues to look like a
moron. Oh well, Kev, at least
you keep getting your name in
the paper.
The race for top spot among
the Daily writers could still be
anyone's ball game. Matt Singer
has been consistent enough
to stay in the.race, and may be
ready to pounce on Bell this
weekend.
BELL - From page 1B
five days.
Oh, and don't forget special
teams. Do you guys remember
Steve Breaston? No, not the Steve
Breaston who seemed to be con-
tent as a third option in Michi-
gan's passing attack this season.
I'm talking about the Rose Bowl-
record setting Steve Breaston.
You know, the one who ran circles
around Texas two years ago in
Pasadena. He returned a punt for
83 yards and a score to go along
with his 100-plus yards receiving
on Saturday.
Yeah, that guy. It might be good
to get him fired up for the Ohio
State game. Think he heard about
Ohio State alum Kirk Herbstreit
calling him "worthless" leading up
to The Game?
Well, maybe thoughts of the
Buckeyes seeped a little bit into the
players' minds. But why not pre-
pare for Ohio State in the process,
as long as you're not overlooking
the Hoosiers while doing it.
Finally, with the game in hand,
one person cracked - kind of.
"Of course, you think about it
- 'I can't wait'til next week,'" said
junior running back Mike Hart,
who also hinted that the team might
have looked past Ball State last
week. "Probably when the game got
to when we were up by 28 points, I
knew it was over. You're just happy
on the sideline. I wasn'tcsitting there
talking about 0-State, but you're
happy thinking about it.
"I guess you could say you were
thinking about it. You just know
that you got through this game,
and you were undefeated. I wasn't
thinking about game plan and stuff
like that. It was just like, 'We're 11-
0, they're 11-0.'"
Mike, I think we'll let that one
slide.
Funny enough, the person who
let his guard down the most was
the head of the program: Michigan
coach Lloyd Carr, who I'm guess-
ing had his hand in planning the
gag order in the first place.
"I don't think I'd talk about that
if it happened," Carr joked when
asked if he thought about Ohio
State during the game.
That charade didn't last long.
The coach of Michigan's last
national title team (1997) went
on to say that the Buckeyes were
admittedly in the back of his mind
on Saturday - though he tried get-
ting rid of them.
But guess what? The ridicu-
lous circus regarding The Game is
finally upon us.
There are five more days of talk
ahead. But come Saturday, nothing
that's happened so far this season
matters.
No 26-point wins against Notre
Dame canhelp the Wolverinesslow
down Troy Smith. Will the fact
that Michigan's defense knocked
out two Nittany Lion quarterbacks
in Happy Valley mean anything in
Columbus? I don't think so.
Now Michigan, which still sits
comfortably at the No. 2 spot in
all major college football polls,
doesn't have to worry about mak-
ing it to The Game unblemished.
The one thing left for the Wol-
verines is to close the door on the
team that has ruled from atop the
college football world all season.
Just one more hurdle to climb to
complete the Revenge 2006 tour.
Less than one week away. And one
game to prove that Michigan is
just that: No. 1.
- Beli can be reached at
scotteboumich.edu.
THE MICHIGAN DAILY TOP 10 POLL
7. Notre Dame: Charlie Weis is back. Sure, the Wolverines
handed him a bigger loss than dropping a dozen donuts on the
ground, but the Fighting Irish are slowly climbing back into
the rankings inthe Daily Top 10.
&.West Virginia: Thec Mountaineers pr vedtatth g
East isn't its highly touted as those hin h ofrec
'm ade it out to bc,. Still West V'irginia hs chnc t
xmove back tip Nwhc.n it faces Rutg~erst n hex seao
9. Louisiana State: After losses to Florida and Auburn
when those schools were ranked in the top five, the
Tigers have bounced back nicely. JaMarcus Russell
has led his team on a four-game winning streak.
1 10, Wisconsin:ti .ur zny,6 h agr ae'
Also receiving votes: Wake Forest, Boise
State, Louisville, Nebraska, Texas.
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FROM THE GAME IN COLUMBUS.
Running back Jerome Jackson holds up a finger after Michigan's 34-3 victory over Indiana.
MICHIGANDAILY.COM.