Denard Robinson B1G Ten Offensive Player Of The Week

Although Denard Robinson threw 3 interceptions in Saturday's Under the Lights game against Notre Dame and completed only 11 passes, he was selected as the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week reports the Detroit Free Press this morning.

Though Robinson's statistics may not look superb, his fourth quarter play was very impressive. He led Michigan to 28 points in the fourth quarter for the second-biggest comeback in stadium history (17 points).

Denard ended up accounting for 446 total offensive yards (338 passing and 108 rushing), meaning that Denard was involved in almost 98.7% of all the offensive yardage. Along with this Denard ended up with 5 total touchdowns (4 passing and 1 rushing) which was Michigan's total touchdowns for the night.

Even although Denard's overall stats were not that impressive, his ability to contribute to every Michigan touchdown and 98.7% of the team's offensive yards allowed him to receive this distinct honor this week.

This is Denard's 4th Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week award and the team's first since November 8th, 2010 when Roy Roundree won the award after the team's amazing win against Illinois in triple overtime.

Denard and Michigan both still need to improve to have a chance at larger goals for this season, but it's nice to have two Big Ten players of the week after the first 2 weeks of the season (Brandon Herron was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week last week. Read: here).

Brandon Herron Named B1G Ten Defensive Player of the Week

The Detroit Free Press just reported that Brandon Herron was announced as the B1G Ten Defensive Player of the week. This comes after Herron returned an interception 94 yards for a touchdown and recovered a fumble and returned it 29 yards for another touchdown.

In fact, Herron's performance was so great that he ended up scoring more points himself than the entire Western team. Though Herron's touchdowns was largely due to help from other players (the interception was tipped and the fumble was caused by Jordan Kovacs) he still did a great job in his touchdown returns.

Herron will become the first Michigan player to win this honor since Brandon Graham earned it almost 3 years ago in September 2008. Though having a great performance in Western does not always show great things for the season, there has obviously been some change in the "feel" of this defense, as they've already scored more defensive touchdowns than all of last season and Herron received a reward that was not awarded to any Michigan player last season.

Hopefully this is a sign of the future and Greg Mattison's new defense.

Terrelle Pryor Is Drafted By the Oakland Raiders.

ESPN has just reported that Terrelle Pryor was drafted by the Oakland Raiders as the 18th pick in the 3rd round of the supplemental draft.

Though he is unlikely to receive significant playing time, this is still a major step both for Pryor and Ohio State. Now that he has a place in the NFL, at least for the conceivable future, there will be much less pressure on him from fans, the media, and the university.

He seems to be a great fit for the Raiders (I think we all know the reason) and Michigan fans can only hope he avoids anymore trouble. Surely he may prove to be more of a gain for Michigan than he ever was for Ohio State, especially considering a huge portion of his playing time has already been voided.

Link here:

ESPN

Rival's Preseason Rankings Favor Big Ten and Michigan

Though preseason rankings and predictions are often far off from the actual results, they still make for interesting reads and some great "water cooler" discussions.

In one of Rivals' most expansive preseason rankings list, the Top 100 Players Countdown, several Michigan players received some praise from the website:

Rivals' Preseason Top 100 Players:

Denard Robinson - #20

Mike Martin - #47

David Molk - #75

ESPN's Big Ten Blog has also picked several Michigan players in its Top 25 Big Ten Players. Though the full list is not out yet, Denard Robinson has not yet been listed, several have already been named.

ESPN's Top 25 Big Ten Players:

David Molk - #12

Mike Martin - #10

Another set of preseason rankings by Rivals placed Mike Martin as the #3 defensive tackle in the nation trailing only Billy Winn of Boise State and Jared Crick of Nebraska. This is a pretty significant ranking since there has been much preseason hype for players like Jerel Worthy (ranked #8) from Michigan State and John Simon of Ohio State (ranked #6).

Though Michigan would like to see more players on these lists in the coming years, it's awesome to see these types of rankings with such a young team. The Big Ten did well overall with 21 players ranked in the Top 100 overall players and 4 defensive tackles ranked in the top 15 in the nation.

Here are the full rankings:

Rivals' Top 100 Players

Rivals' Top 15 Defensive Tackles

Ohio State May Face Further NCAA Charges

Today, in a report from ESPN, the broadcasting network posted that Ohio State will be receiving another set of allegations against Ohio State's football program in the coming weeks. This comes as a surprise since just a few days ago the NCAA stated that Ohio State would avoid the most serious rule infractions.

Some of the new information that has surfaced includes things such as thousands of dollars worth of merchandise being sold by players, free games of golf, and special auto deals specifically designed for players.

The NCAA's current allegations against Ohio State are primarily linked to Jim Tressel and the previous coaching staff. If the new allegations contain things such as the infamous "failure to monitor" allegation, Ohio State could face much stiff penalties. This is because the "failure to monitor" allegation implies that the entire athletic department and school is to blame for the rule violation.

Typically, if a school is found guilty of the "failure to monitor" charge, there are stiff penalties for the program and entire athletic department. For example, USC received this rule infraction recently and was forced to accept scholarship reductions, a postseason ban, and the vacation of a NCAA championship. However, USC's violations were linked to the entire athletic department. If new allegations against Ohio State continue to focus solely on Tressel and the coaching staff, Ohio State may get off much lighter on its penalties.

This can be seen in the NCAA investigation regarding Tennessee. Instead of placing blame on the university, the NCAA opted to blame Lane Kiffin (head coach at the time) and the coaching staff for recruiting violations. Though Tennessee still had to incure some punishments and the tarnishment of its reputation, the penalties would likely have been much worse if the NCAA had accused the university itself of a "failure to monitor."

If ESPN's reports are accurate and the NCAA is primed to add new allegations to Ohio State including a "failure to monitor" charge, there could be serious penalties including scholarship cuts and bowl bans. If these types of penalties surface, the Ohio State football program will take a major step back. Recruiting will take a significant hit (there's already much speculation that a bowl ban will spur several high profile recruits from Ohio State to Michigan), Ohio State will have fewer scholarship players on the field, and be incapable playing in nationally viewed bowl games.

There has been some speculation that this sudden "change of heart" by the NCAA was driven by Terrelle Pryor's testimony, but I'm hesitant to believe these rumors. Pryor may be in tough waters to be eligible for the NFL Supplemental Draft, but assuming he's trying to cough up information that will directly harm his college team may be a little too speculative. Over time we have clearly seen that Pryor has some questionable standards, but as of now, these rumors are, well, just rumors.

What we do know is that the NCAA investigation is continuing and seems very likely to be headed for new allegations against Ohio State. Whether the NCAA will postpone Ohio State's appearance before the Committee On Infractions is also still uncertain, but I think it's safe to assume that whatever allegations will reach fruition by the end of the 2011 season.

Michigan Football Media Coverage

For those of you searching for your Michigan Football "fix" during the summer and for future seasons, there have been several recent announcements about media coverage for Michigan's football team.

The first major announcement regarded the Big Ten Network's preseason tour. During Fall Camp, several analysts from the Big Ten Network tour each campus and evaluate each team's prospects for the upcoming season. This year the Big Ten Network will arrive in Ann Arbor on Thursday, August 18th and the show will air on August 22nd. Though no specific air time has been listed for Michigan's preseason show, it is extremely likely to air @ 8pm as several of the other preseason shows have already been listed by the Big Ten Network's website to air @ 8pm.

Another exciting announcement regarded Jim Brandstatter and the show "Inside Michigan Football" which airs on Fox Sports Detroit for the first show of the season on Monday, August 29 @ 6pm. This show features several members of the coaching staff including Brady Hoke and provides some in-depth and interesting commentary on the state of Michigan Football.

Michigan has also extended its deal with CBS Radio for another 5 seasons. All basketball and football games will be on WWJ-AM (950) and 15 men's hockey and women's basketball games will be on WXYT-AM (1270). So if you're planning on listening to the games on radio, be sure to tune into these stations in the coming years.

Another exciting new feature of the football team has been it's "Countdown to Kickoff" on the Michigan Athletic Site. Each day a short clip has been released to "hype" Michigan's football kickoff. Some videos have included player and staff interviews and also tours of the athletic facilities.

You can start viewing these Countdown Videos Here:

Countdown To Kickoff - Day 30

On a side-note, the Detroit Free Press also reported that Michigan's game in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge against Virginia will start @ 7pm on Tuesday, November 29th.

Photo Credit: Todd McInturf - Detroit News

Big Ten Moves To 9 Conference Games In 2017

Big announcement today as the Big Ten opted to move to 9 conference games in 2017. Though this seemed highly likely after comments from the Commissioner and Michigan's Athletic Director Dave Brandon, this is still an important announcement.

Not only will this keep the "intimacy" of the Big Ten, but it will have a large impact on scheduling in future seasons. For example, as of now, Michigan has a yearly rivalry game with Notre Dame, but now that Michigan will only play 3 non-conference games after 2017, this will become even more difficult to schedule if Michigan is hoping to plan more games similar to the 2012 showdown with Alabama in Dallas.

Michigan has enjoyed long-term battles with several MAC teams, specifically Western and Eastern Michigan, so being forced to cut some of these games may leave some fans annoyed, but it will likely create more quality games over time. Facing MAC teams are always fun, but at least personally, I'd much rather play a team like Wisconsin or Penn State than Eastern or Western Michigan.

The other issue is that Michigan's schedule will also likely become more difficult on a yearly basis. Granted, Michigan has often scheduled tough non-conference opponents (this can be seen in Michigan's 2012 schedule which includes Alabama, Notre Dame, and Air Force), but as stated earlier, the replacement of some MAC teams or other "easier" teams will likely make every year more difficult.

This change is still a few years off, but it's exciting to know that Michigan will be facing more quality opponents on a consistent basis.

Here is ESPN's post about the change with some comments from Commissioner Delany:

ESPN

First Preseason Rankings For 2011

The first USA Today poll for 2011 was released today and it seemed to fair well for Big Ten teams. There were 5 teams ranked in the top 25 of the poll:

Wisconsin - #10

Nebraska - #11

Ohio State - #16

Michigan State - #17

Penn State - #25

Teams also receiving votes:

Iowa - #30

Northwestern - #31

Michigan - #34

Also, Notre Dame was ranked #18 so the Big Ten and Notre Dame are clearly ranked pretty well. The SEC ended up with 8 teams and the Big 12 also had 5 teams in the Top 25 poll.

Michigan may not have a ton of love, but these polls are not always extremely accurate and often seem to be based more on last season's performance than predictions for this season. For instance, teams like Michigan State and Wisconsin received much love from USA Today, but most experts predict they will at least take a significant step back. Wisconsin lost Tolzien, who was one of the best quarterbacks in the Big Ten last season and Michigan State lost Greg Jones, who was one of their best defensive players last season, and have a much more difficult schedule than in 2010.

Michigan may not be exactly where the Maize and Blue faithful would like, but the poll seems to imply that we are going to be at least a decent team which leaves plenty of room for improvement.

For the full poll results click the following link:

USA Today

Nebraska Officially Joins the Big Ten

Approximately a half hour ago Nebraska officially became a member of the Big Ten Conference. They bring a lot to the conference, specifically in football. They are only one of six teams in Division I-A to win at least 800 games. On top of this they claim 5 national championships and 43 conference championships.

Though many, including myself, point to Michigan's program as more historically successful, Nebraska's football and athletic history can't be denied.

Obviously, the biggest change with Nebraska's addition is the new football conference championship game starting at the end of next season with the winners of the Leaders and Legends divisions (yes, I guess we all have to deal with these names now! haha). This is probably the best chance since Big Ten football will now be able to avoid have co-champions on a yearly basis.

As a student, Nebraska's academic standing did provide some concern. They are ranked #96 in the nation in terms of overall academics. No other Big Ten school was ranked below #71 by US News. So bringing in Nebraska did weaken the Big Ten's academic standing, but there is hope of improvement, especially with the addition to the Big Ten. Being academically compared to Michigan and Northwestern is a lot better than with Texas and Oklahoma.

So bottom line, this is a great pick-up for the Big Ten athletically and in national perception, but questionable academically. Luckily, the Big Ten Conference is an athletic conference so academics isn't the most important priority, but I do think it's important to note. Simply adding teams can have negative side-effects (although these are sure to be minimal if present at all).

I look forward to Nebraska and potentially a new rivalry,

It's Great to be Michigan Wolverine and follow me on Twitter here:

Tom