Indiana Links: Preview, The Podcast, FFFF Offense (chart), FFFF Defense (chart). Something's been missing from Michigan gamedays since the free programs ceased being economically viable: scientific gameday predictions that are not at all preordained by the strictures of a column in which one writer takes a positive tack and the other a negative one… something like Punt-Counterpunt. PUNT By Bryan MacKenzie@Bry Mac Like most born-and-raised Michiganders, I grew up a Detroit Lions fan. Back there and back then, it was kind of like the idea of having a smoking section in a restaurant or putting CFCs in breakfast cereal. Maybe not GREAT for you, but certainly nothing that would cause serious long-term problems. I was nine in 1991 when the Lions made the NFC Championship Game, part of a stretch where the Lions made the playoffs six times in a nine year stretch. It seemed harmless. Eventually the true physical and emotional toll of Lions fandom became clear, but by then I was hooked. B
Minnesota Links: Preview, The Podcast, FFFF Offense (chart), FFFF Defense (chart). Something's been missing from Michigan gamedays since the free programs ceased being economically viable: scientific gameday predictions that are not at all preordained by the strictures of a column in which one writer takes a positive tack and the other a negative one… something like Punt-Counterpunt. PUNT Bryan MacKenzie is out this week. Fortunately I know a guy. PUNT By Nick RouMelCounterpunt Emeritus A “Catch-22” has come to be understood as a paradoxical situation, one in which neither of two choices is either possible, or desirable. It comes from the eponymous 1961 novel by Joseph Heller, set in World War II. The protagonist, John Yossarian, pilots a B-25 bomber in Europe. After watching too many friends die, he wants to quit. He cannot wait to fly enough missions so that he can be reassigned. But every time he gets close to being finished, his megalomaniac commander keeps retroactively
Nebraska Links: Preview, The Podcast, FFFF Offense (chart), FFFF Defense (chart). Something's been missing from Michigan gamedays since the free programs ceased being economically viable: scientific gameday predictions that are not at all preordained by the strictures of a column in which one writer takes a positive tack and the other a negative one… something like Punt-Counterpunt. PUNT By Bryan MacKenzie@Bry Mac I undertook a really dumb thing this year. I killed my entire lawn. On purpose. We moved into our current house in 2019, and the lawn has always been mediocre at best. It was green in the summer, but a lot of the green was weeds, clover, crabgrass, nutgrass, and dandelions, and the portion that WAS grass was a mixture of completely different grass types. Every year I said, “this is the year I do something about this lawn.” And every year, I did the same thing: nothing. I had too much work and too many kids to drive to various activities and too many football games
Rutgers Links: Preview, The Podcast, FFFF Offense (chart), FFFF Defense (chart). Something's been missing from Michigan gamedays since the free programs ceased being economically viable: scientific gameday predictions that are not at all preordained by the strictures of a column in which one writer takes a positive tack and the other a negative one… something like Punt-Counterpunt. PUNT By Bryan MacKenzie@Bry Mac One of the things that makes college football great is that it cannot, from a fandom standpoint, be “solved.” There are too many variables and not enough equations. The NFL has 32 teams and 17 regular season games among teams who perform generally the same from week to week and from one year to the next. College football has 133 teams and 12 regular season games, and the week-to-week and year-to-year performances vary WILDLY. Oh, you beat the #17 team in the country last week? HAHA, you just lost to a MAC team playing a converted safety at quarterback and a converte
The Sponsors We want to thank Underground Printing for starting this and making it possible stop by and pick up some gear, check them out at ugpmichiganapparel.com, or check out our selection of shirts on the MGoBlogStore.com. And let’s not forget our associate sponsors: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Human Element, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, Venue by 4M, Winewood Organics, and SignalWire where we recorded this. Special Guest: Rutgers Expert Bryan MacKenzieFeatured Musician: Darrin James The Video: [After THE JUMP: The saidening.]