8A - Thursday, October 17, 2013 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.cam 8A - Thursday, October17, 2013 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Still no answers at left guard, where 5 players fight for spot By MATT SLOVIN ManagingEditor The leftcguard position for the Michigan football team might as well be a revolving door. That's because, instead of clar- ity coming to NOTEBOOK the offensive line picture at the season's midway point, things are becoming increas- ingly jumbled. Redshirt freshman Erik Magnuson, listed on the depth chart as a backup tackle, is the latest player to take reps at left guard. He spent much of Satur- day's loss at Penn State filling in for injured fifth-year senior left tackle Taylor Lewan. Mag- nuson's versatility makes him an ideal candidate to rotate between the line positions. "He hasn't done that a lot, but he's a really athletic guy," said Michigan coach Brady Hoke at his Wednesday press confer- ence. "He did some good things the other night that warrant trying to get the best five on the field." According to Hoke, no deci- sion has been made as to who will emerge from the logjam at the position to start against Indiana this week. He said five different players have been rotating at left guard in practice - Magnuson, freshman Kyle Bosch, redshirt freshman Kyle Kalis, redshirt sophomore Chris Bryant, who started against the Nittany Lions, and redshirt junior Joey Burzynski. Hoke noted that Magnuson, who is 6-foot-6 and 285 pounds, had to get stronger to catch up with his classmates. His high- school career as a lacrosse play- er meant he missed out on time in the weight room. "He's got a quickness to him," Hoke said. "He's got good feet. That's why we recruited him at left tackle - because of his ath- leticisih." SCHEDULES LEAKED: A few hours before Michigan's 2018 and 2019 conference schedules were slated to be released by the Big Ten on Wednesday morning, they appeared on mgoblue.com. In both of those seasons, the Wolverines will be tested right off the bat in the Big Ten against traditional powers. A home game against Nebraska will open the 2018 conference schedule, while Michigan will play at Wisconsin in its first Big Ten game of 2019. Starting next season, the Wolverines will play against their top two rivals, Michigan State and Ohio State, at home in the same seasons and on the road in the same seasons. That trend will continue, with both of those games being played on the road in 2018 and at the Big House in 2019. Michigan will play each team in the newly formed East Divi- sion, as well as three crossover match-ups. In 2018, the cross- overs are Nebraska, Northwest- ern and Wisconsin. In 2019, they will be against Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois. The complete 2018 and 2019 Big Ten schedules can be found here. INJURY UPDATE: Lewan suf- fered a couple different "boo boos," as Hoke said, against Penn State, causing him to miss the second half. According to Hoke, the ail- ments won't keep him out of the game against the Hoosiers. Lewan appeared woozy as he stumbled to the sidelines after walking most of the way off the field on his own accord. When asked if Lewan under- went tests for a concussion, Hoke said that the tackle saw the team's doctors but wouldn't explicitly say what the injury was. A few plays after Lewan was injured, he sprinted back onto the field, much to Hoke's sur- prise. The coaching staff needed to physically separate Lewan from his helmet in order to prevent him from trying to re-enter the game in the second half. "I didn't see it," Hoke said of Lewan's sneaky return. "But he didn't play after chat, did he?" NOTES: Motivational speaker Eric Thomas, a former Michi- gan State consultant, addressed the team Wednesday. Redshirt junior quarterback Devin Gard- ner said it helped the team to "kill the noise" coming from public criticism of the team fol- lowing its first defeat. ... Hoke said placing additional focus on an increased offensive tempo to simulate Indiana is unnecessary because the team typically prac- tices that way regardless. UPON NEW TICKETING POLICY ANNOUNCEMENT supported general admisslon did not support general admission supported gene S of those no enrolling at Michigan for Fall 2014(srcr) AFTER ATTENDING 4 HOME FOOTBALL GAMES 4 admissic which increased by 3% after attending the first 4 games STUDENTS' REASONS FOR SUPPORT AND OPPOSITION (respondents were able to choose more than one option), 100 r Support General Admission Policy 80-- 60- 40 - . ' - 20 9949' 9999 9999 e~ eo99 a-. ow x9 - , err 100 Against General Admission Policy 60 40 20 0 P S u SOURCE: Survey shows widespread opposition to ticket policy e ADAM GLANZMAN/Daily Redshirtljunior Joey Burzynski is one of five different players who have been rotating at left guard in practice. He could start against Indiana Saturday. Date Sept.22 Sept.29 Oct,6 Oct.13 Oct.20 Oct,27 Nov.3 Nov.10 Nov. 17 Nov. 24 Dec.1 BIG TEN SCHEDULE 2018 Opponent Date Nebraska Sept.21 at Northwestern Sept. 28 Maryland Oct.2 Wisconsin Oct. 19 at Michigan State Oct.26 E Oct. 26 Bye Novt2 Penn State No,9 atiRutgers Nov.16 Indiana Nov. 23 atOhioState Nov.30 Big Ten Championship Game Dec.7 BIG TEN SCHEDULE 2019 Opponent at Wisconsin Bye Iowa attillinois at Penn State Rutgers at Maryland Bye Michigan State at Indiana Ohio State Big Ten Championship Game By ZACH HELFAND DailySportsEditor After all the initial outrage over the new Michigan football student seating policy - followed by full crowds, followed by grum- bling about wait times, followedby empty seats - a new survey shows the general opinion about the seat- ing policy has changed very little. Initially, a large majority of stu- dents opposed the policy. Midway through the season, a large major- ity of students still oppose the policy. In a survey conducted by the Central Student Government released Wednesday, 76 percent of respondents indicated that they opposed the policy, compared to 17 percent who said they were supportive. Prior to the season, 73 percent opposed the policy, with 14 percent in support. The number of responses points to the high level of student engagement with the issue. In slightly more than 24 hours, 5,892 students responded. The survey was sent in an email from CSG President Michael Proppe on Oct. 8. Overall, 77 percent of respon- dents said the 2012 season was a more enjoyable experience. Just eight percent said 2013 was more enjoyable. CSG presented the findings to the SACUA Student Relations Advisory Committee meeting on Oct. 11. On Oct. 15, Proppe pre- sented analysis of the results to the Athletic Department. Accord- ing to a CSG press release, the Ath- letic Department has expressed a willingness to consult with stu- dents and faculty before deter- miningthe 2014 ticketpolicy. "Though there wasn't much student input leading up to the switch to general admission, the Athletic Department has been very responsive to student con- cerns since then," Proppe said in the release. "This meeting was another huge step forward." Proppe added that "next year's process will be an improvement over this year's." The survey also provided a glimpse at why students support- ed or opposed the policy. Inter- estingly, both groups listed the same reasons. For those who sup- ADAM GLANZMAN/Daily The student section was more enjoyable in 2012, said 77 percent of respondents. ported the policy, 81 percent said they liked the flexibility to choose with whom they sit. That was the most popular reason for support- ing the policy. Among those who opposed the policy, 85 percent said they couldn't sit with friends who didn't arrive atthe same time. That was also the most popular reason for opposingthe policy. Forty-two percent of support- ers said the policy creates a better atmosphere in the student section. Seventy-five percent of those who, opposed said it hasn't improved the environment. And then there were the six percent of those who support the policy - about 60 respondents - who said they were in favor of the plan because they enjoy standing in line. "We reviewed the Central Stu- dent Government's survey results, and while some results were not surprising based on our own shared observations, there was some feedback that will be very helpful in making improvements going forward," said Michigan Athletics Chief Marketing Offi- cer Hunter Lochmann in the CSG press release. "We look forward to working with the CSG to review our ticketing policies in general as we make decisions for future sea- sons." The Athletic Department has declined the Daily's requests for comment on the student ticket policy. The department announced the policy change in an email on April 23. Students immediately resist- ed the change, and within three hours, a Facebook group opposing the change garnered more than 1,500 'likes.' Within 24 hours, a formal online petition through CSG requesting a shift back to the old procedure of assigned seats had more than 2,600 signatures. The policy announcement also 2 came with a price hike, to $295 for seven games in 2013, includ- ing service fees, from $205 for six games in 2012. That makes Michi- gan the second-most expensive student ticket out of the 129 FBS or soon-to-be FBS schools in 2013. The Daily conducted a Face- ' book poll on April 24, in which 77.2 percent of the 643 voters indi- cated they hated the policy, but the CSG survey was the first for- E mal poll conducted of the student population. When the season began, the student section was full for the opener against Central Michigan and the night game the following week against Notre Dame. But by the next two home games - Akron and Minnesota - large swaths of the student section were empty.