Jim Harbaugh, Lovie Smith Haven’t Translated NFL Success to College Ball

October 24, 2019 By Leave a Comment

This past weekend saw Lovie Smith and the Illinois Fighting Illini defeat the #6 Wisconsin Badgers, a team that was favored by 30.5 points. And with this glorious victory, Smith matched Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh in victories over a top ten opponent while being a head coach in the Big Ten. 

That total number, is one. Yes, Harbaugh, head coach in Ann Arbor since 2015 is just 1-10 versus top ten opponents. As for Smith, he’s right when he referred to the Wisconsin conquest as “a signature win,” but league his record is an abominable 5-26. He’s 3-25 against Big Ten teams not named Rutgers.

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Filed Under: College Football, Illinois Fighting Illini, Michigan Wolverines, NFL

#7 Notre Dame Fighting Irish at #20 Michigan Wolverines Game Preview, Prediction

October 23, 2019 By Leave a Comment

Tell me again why the #20 Michigan Wolverines are favored this weekend at home over the #7 Notre Dame Fighting Irish, with the visitors having had an extra week to prepare for this game? ND’s body of work this season is much more impressive than Michigan’s and Wolverines head coach Jim Harbaugh is just 1-10 against top-10 teams in his career.

He has as many wins against top 10 teams at Michigan as Lovie Smith now has at Illinois. And as anyone who makes free college football predictions will tell you, he is 0-8 as an underdog. But hey, maybe Vegas knows something I don’t. Or they really believe in that Big House home field advantage; A LOT!

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Filed Under: College Football, Michigan Wolverines, Notre Dame

CPS Legend Juwan Howard on Recruiting Chicago, Fab 5 Awareness in Millenials

October 2, 2019 By Leave a Comment

Today was 2019 Big Ten Media Day for basketball, yes, really, basketball, and yes that it’s not you, it really is that much earlier than usual this year. The league has two new coaches, both of which have strong connections to the city where the league is headquartered and the event is traditionally held- Chicago.

The Michigan Wolverines’ new head coach is Juwan Howard, a graduate of Chicago Vocational High School, and former star in the Chicago Public League. Nebrasketball has a new mentor in Fred Hoiberg, whose last gig was coaching the city’s excuse for a NBA franchise, the Chicago Bulls.

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Filed Under: College Basketball, Michigan Wolverines, NBA

2019-20 Big Ten Basketball Power Rankings Media Day Edition

October 1, 2019 By Leave a Comment

Wednesday is Big Ten Media Day, and if that seems extremely early, well that’s because it is really is. It’s 87 degrees in Chicago, host city for this event, as I type. Let’s talk basketball, amirite? I mean the Major League Baseball playoffs haven’t even started yet (the real postseason, not the play-in games) and we’re talking about an event that literally, just five years ago was held on Halloween.

That is the nature of the college basketball beast though. Everything is being moved up; way up in the calendar year. So without further ado, let’s look at the Big Ten basketball pecking order.

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Filed Under: College Basketball, Illinois Fighting Illini, Michigan State Spartans, Michigan Wolverines, Nebraska Cornhuskers, Northwestern Wildcats, Ohio State Buckeyes, Purdue Boilermakers

2020 NFL Mock Draft 9-18-19

September 17, 2019 By 2 Comments

nfl draft

We have 2020 vision, NFL Draft style, right here, right now. It’s our fourth 2020 NFL mock draft update, and the order was based on a combination of NFL.com’s power rankings plus how we see the teams finishing the season out. Team needs were sometimes, but not often taken into account, as it’s just way too early to factor in. Obviously this will be modified many times between now and 2020 NFL Draft day.

So I implore you to really not take this very seriously, and just have fun with it. Please refrain from pointless hostility and needless acrimony in the comments section. Don’t be that guy. You have too much to do in your life than to waste it on trivial online conflict like that. Enjoy!

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Filed Under: Chicago Bears, College Football, Green Bay Packers, Michigan State Spartans, Michigan Wolverines, Nebraska Cornhuskers, New England Patriots, NFL, NFL Draft, NIU Huskies, Northwestern Wildcats, Notre Dame, Oakland Raiders, Ohio State Buckeyes, Purdue Boilermakers Tagged With: , , , ,

ESPN College Gameday: How it Went From Transcendent to Unwatchable

September 7, 2019 By Leave a Comment

espn-college-gameday-jadeveon-clowney

Republishing from 9-16-17

To pinpoint what’s so wrong with ESPN College Gameday in 2017, there are a couple different places from which you can start. You can begin with ESPN’s horrible bungling of the Jemele Hill and Robert Lee situations, and go from there. The same principle, that of “let’s try to never hurt anyone’s feelings ever, no matter what the cost, because hurt feelings means upset sponsors” applies across the board.

ESPN should have never apologized for what Jemele Hill said about Donald Trump.

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Filed Under: Business, College Basketball, College Football, Duke Blue Devils, Entertainment/Media, Illinois Fighting Illini, Kentucky Wildcats, Michigan State Spartans, Michigan Wolverines, Nebraska Cornhuskers, North Carolina Tar Heels, Northwestern Wildcats, Notre Dame, Ohio State Buckeyes, Purdue Boilermakers

Jonathan Taylor, Wisconsin Badgers to Make B1G Very Big Tenny this Fall

July 18, 2019 By Leave a Comment

Don’t laugh- the best college football playoff contender in the Big Ten this year will come out of the West division. It’s the Wisconsin Badgers, led by Jonathan Taylor, their star tailback and strong Heisman Trophy contender.  Taylor could be the best back in the country and he’s the only Big Ten individual player with a realistic shot at the highest individual honor.

He’s coming off back to back top ten finishes in Heisman voting, so the best online casinos usa will have him among the top contenders on their board to claim the award this fall. As they should, because Taylor is poised to become the first Badger to receive a Heisman finalist invitation to New York City since Montee Ball.

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Filed Under: College Football, Illinois Fighting Illini, Michigan State Spartans, Michigan Wolverines, Nebraska Cornhuskers, Northwestern Wildcats, Ohio State Buckeyes, Purdue Boilermakers

John Beilein to Cleveland, Michigan May Need to Elevate Assistant Coach

May 13, 2019 By Leave a Comment

Shocking news broke early Monday morning- Michigan Wolverines basketball coach John Beilein is leaving the program to become head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers. According to various reports, with Adrian Wojnarowski being the first, Beilein will sign a year deal with the Cavaliers.

This obviously leaves Michigan in a very tough spot, having to a find a new head coach this late in the cycle. They could do an outside coaching search, but it would have to be very quick and extremely aggressive. More likely, the Wolverines will have to go the internal route.

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Filed Under: College Basketball, Michigan Wolverines, NBA

Both Michigan and Michigan State on National Title Odds Boards

May 3, 2019 By Leave a Comment

michigan vs michigan state

Both the University of Michigan and Michigan State University are riding high right now in both of the revenue sports. The Spartans and Wolverines traditional, and also recent, prowess in both football and men’s basketball has created quite a buzz in the state.

In the state of great lakes splendor, fans are very excited about college sports, and that interest should only rise as the state moves towards possibly legalizing sports gambling soon. A current package of state House bills would permit online sports wagering, poker and casino gambling as well as live in-person sports betting at state casinos.

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Filed Under: Business, College Basketball, College Football, Michigan State Spartans, Michigan Wolverines

2019 NFL Mock Draft 4-25-19 Final Edition

April 24, 2019 By 29 Comments

nashville

It’s 2019 NFL mock draft update time! It’s our second update since the NFL Draft night invitees list was announced. It’s all starting to fit into place now with the Scouting Combine, free agency, pro days all behind us. We made a few more more changes this week, and the big night in Nashville will soon be upon us.

(Also, here is our very first 2020 NFL mock draft over at this link) Have issues with the picks? Of course you do. Many often bones to pick, so have at it in the comments section.

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Filed Under: Chicago Bears, College Football, Green Bay Packers, Michigan Wolverines, New England Patriots, NFL, NFL Draft, Northwestern Wildcats, Oakland Raiders, Ohio State Buckeyes

March Madness is Big Business, How Big? Try $10 Billion

March 22, 2019 By 2 Comments

brackets

We’re in the midst of what many declare the greatest four days on the American sports calendar- the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament. Colloquially (and trademarked) known as “March Madness,” it’s a Thursday-Sunday span that sees a field of 64 college basketball teams swiftly reduced to 16.

In order to make this happen, the games start in late morning and run until very late in the evening. It’s a time when work productivity is at its lowest because, at least for these three weekends, just about everybody is a college basketball fan. The sport only enjoys a very tiny niche following the rest of the year, but for this month, it’s front and center.

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Filed Under: Business, College Basketball, Duke Blue Devils, Kentucky Wildcats, Michigan State Spartans, Michigan Wolverines, North Carolina Tar Heels

Michigan State or Michigan: Who Has a Better Final Four Shot?

March 19, 2019 By Leave a Comment

michigan vs michigan state

Asked to give his initial thoughts on drawing #15 seed Bradley in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, Michigan State Coach Tom Izzo was surprisingly defensive.

“I don’t have any thoughts on that. I guess the only thoughts I have is I’ve been-1-seed and been a 7-seed. Got to a Final Four as a 7 and got beat the first weekend as the 1,” he responded in a tone that was less jovial than expected from a coach who had just won the Big Ten Tournament title.

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Filed Under: College Basketball, Michigan State Spartans, Michigan Wolverines
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