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Industry Professionals Celebrate Intersection of Sports and Business at Annual MSBC

9/29/2019

By Adam Bressler

ESPN’s Senior NFL Insider Adam Schefter (right) speaks with Seth Ader during an interview at the 2019 Michigan Sport Business Conference. Photo by Adam Bressler

As reminded by recent news of Draftkings’ partnership with the NFL and the sale of Fox Sports’ regional affiliates to Sinclair, sports and business are closely linked. For the past eight years, undergraduate students from the Stephen M. Ross School of Business and the School of Kinesiology have celebrated this intersection by organizing the Michigan Sport Business Conference. This year’s conference took place on Friday, September 27 in the Robertson Auditorium of the Ross School of Business.

The annual event draws speakers from the financial aspect of sports to discuss the latest trends within the industry. In the past, speakers have included Dan Gilbert, owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Don Garber, Commissioner of Major League Soccer, Robert Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard, and Stephen Ross, owner of the Miami Dolphins. This year’s conference featured four panels, three one-on-one interviews, and two condensed keynote-style presentations, dubbed “power talks”.

According to its mission, MSBC aims “to educate and connect the next generation of sport business professionals.” Outside of the structured discussions, there were opportunities for students to network with industry professionals and meet with representatives from sports organizations across the country.

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Michigan Hockey 2019-20 Season Preview Part 2: Defense and Goalies

9/29/2019

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https://mgoblog.com/sites/default/files/2018-11/MGoBlog_JD%20Scott_Michigan%20vs%20Notre%20Dame-Hockey%20%2811%20of%2011%29.jpg (JD Scott)

By: Alex Drain

Welcome back to part 2 of WCBN Sports’ preview of the 2019-20 Michigan hockey team. Last week we kicked it off by looking at the forward group, while today we examine the defense, goalies, and penalty killing:

Unlike with the forward group, Michigan sustains substantial losses on defense, losing 3 of its top 4 defenders from last season in Quinn Hughes, Joe Cecconi, and Nick Boka. Hughes is quite obviously the most notable, an electric talent and transcendent skater who had his upsides and downsides in the Maize and Blue. Hughes may well have been the most creative and explosive defenseman to play at Michigan in decades, but it didn’t come without its drawbacks, as his relentlessly offensive style left Michigan’s back end exposed and there were a grotesque number of odd-man rushes allowed when he was on the ice last year. This was best encapsulated in a distressing game at Madison Square Garden against Penn St. back in January, when no less than 3 Nittany Lion goals were direct results of an irresponsible play style from Hughes.

Hughes exits, but thanks to some master late stage recruiting from Mel Pearson, Michigan has as close to a one-for-one substitution for Hughes as you’re going to get: Cam York. York was the #1 defender on the historically talented USNTDP last season, manning a power-play unit that featured five of the top 15 picks in June’s NHL Draft (York being one of those). York had been a Boston College commit who Mel flipped to Michigan last September and he was selected 14th overall in the 2019 Draft by the Philadelphia Flyers. York isn’t the same *stylistically* to Hughes, because Quinn’s daredevil style is one-of-a-kind, but he is in the same mold. York should be able to man the top power play and be the #1 defender on Michigan right away, sliding into most of the same responsibilities as Hughes. MGoBlog’s Brian Cook has hypothesized a Ewing Theory scenario with York and Hughes, and while I’m not willing to say that, it is reasonable to say that while York won’t be the same offensive creator that Hughes was, he may well be a clear upgrade defensively. If you want to read more about York, here is a link to one of the many NHL Draft scouting reports of him.

Michigan also loses Joe Cecconi, who was Hughes’s defensive mate on a pair that honestly wasn’t optimal (I would’ve preferred a more defensively responsible partner), as well as Nick Boka, a stay-at-home type who scored 20 total points his last three seasons at Michigan. They do return Luke Martin, another stay-at-home who will likely pair with York. York-Martin should be a strong pair, since Martin’s strong defensive style should compliment the more offensively minded York. Pencil that in as the top pair. Then there’s senior Griffin Luce, who’s also in the Martin/Boka defensive mold. He’s solid. Luce is likely to pair with sophomore Nick Blankenburg. Blankenburg is definitely more of a puck mover than Luce, as his 10 points as a freshman matches the entire 3 year career point total of Luce. Blankenburg seems like a strong breakout candidate and should either play on the first power play (if Michigan uses two defenders on the unit) or manning the second PP.

The third power-play unit is likely to consist of sophomore Jack Summers and one of two newcomers. Summers is another breakout candidate, as he amassed 11 points in just 29 games, although he played a little time as a forward too. He’s also a puck-moving type and Michigan will give him as much of a responsibility as he can handle. The candidates to pair with him are either freshman Keaton Pehrson or grad transfer Shane Switzer. Switzer was sparingly used at Boston University, playing 31 games over three seasons for the Terriers and he is basically a non-factor on offense, scoring 0 points in 17 games last season. Pehrson was a Michigan Tech commit who followed Mel to Michigan and then was deferred a year, meaning he’s a 1998 birthday. He’s quite mature and ready for college hockey, and at 6’2”, 194, he’s marketed as a good mix of size and skating. Neutral Zone rated him as a 3.5 star recruit when he committed to Michigan, and should be capable if Michigan wants him to play. It’s anyone’s guess as to who Mel prefers between Switzer and Pehrson at this point in time.

Jake Gingell rarely played as a freshman and I’d have to see an indication to believe he’s going to be a major factor. All these things considered, here’s my guess on defense pairings for the 2019-20 season:

Cam York - Luke Martin
Griffin Luce - Nick Blankenburg
Jack Summers - Keaton Pehrson/Shane Switzer

There’s a scenario where the defense is vastly improved simply due to these pairings making far more sense on paper than last year. A year ago you had two offensive guys with defensive issues paired together at the top (Cecconi-Hughes) and then two stay-at-home guys on the second pairing (Boka-Luce). So essentially you got a lot of offense but leaky defense on the top and no offense but stronger defense on the second group. These pairings do far better at matching one puck-mover with one stay-at-home defender.

Goalies

This probably the single-most significant X-Factor on the team. There’s really no other way to put it, except that Michigan’s goaltending last year was bad. Plain and simple. The Wolverines’ two goalies last season, Strauss Mann and Hayden Lavigne, were both in the bottom 7 of all goalies in college hockey in save percentage. And it’s not like Michigan was disastrous defensively! They weren’t great, but they still finished far more respectably in goals against (tied for 42nd out of 60). What that essentially means is that Michigan wasn’t giving up a ton of shots, but a lot of those shots were going in, which tends to mean your goalies were a problem. They have to be better for this team to succeed.

Now I’m pretty optimistic that that can happen, because we’ve seen the talent these guys have. Hayden Lavigne was one of the most underrated components of why Michigan made the Frozen Four a couple years ago. No matter how poor his performance was at times last season, I will always remember Lavigne stealing that game at Yost against Notre Dame, which may have been the difference between making the NCAA Tournament and not. He has that ability in him, he just needs to find it again.

Strauss Mann may have more raw talent than Lavigne. At the very least, he has the single-best attribute of any current Michigan goalie in his catching glove. The downside is that Mann relied on the glove far too much, sometimes contorting himself to use the glove when he could’ve just blockered it aside. This resulted in himself getting out of position far too often. But, let’s keep in mind that Mann was a freshman last season (as opposed to Lavigne, now entering his senior year), so hope for substantial improvement is probably considerably higher for Mann than for Lavigne.

The Important News: Coaching Shakeups

Maybe the biggest reason for optimism on defense and goalies is the presence of new assistant coach Kris Mayotte, who was poached from Providence College, which is a pretty Big F****** Deal. Providence is one of the best programs in college hockey, having made the tournament six straight years, including two Frozen Fours of the last five (both Mayotte was a part of). More specifically, Mayotte was the assistant in charge of working with goalies and the penalty kill, which are simultaneously two of the things Providence has been best at AND the two things Michigan has been worst at under Mel.

Providence has finished in the top 10 in fewest goals allowed each of the last four years (while Mayotte was there), and he’s had netminder Hayden Hawkey in the top 20 in save percentage each of the last three years. Furthermore, here are the penalty kill percentages and national rank for Providence over the last four years that Mayotte was there:

2016: 84.9% (13th)
2017: 85.6% (10th)
2018: 85.4% (7th)
2019: 86.6% (6th)

As a comparison, here are the penalty kill percentages and national rank for Michigan in Mel’s first two years:

2018: 75.0% (57th)
2019: 78.5% (46th)

Yeah. Your author has consistently complained about Michigan’s penalty killing strategies under Mel, as they were the #1 reason why Michigan lost in the Frozen Four in 2018. Even if Michigan barely improves with the goaltenders, if they can just get the PK from 78% to the 85% range that Mayotte had at Providence, that would be a game-changer.

Conclusion

I have modest optimism about potential defensive improvement this year. As I mentioned, the pairings are more logical and the talent level hasn’t dropped considerably compared to last year thanks to bringing in York. They have a good balance of offense and defense from the blue line and while it remains to be seen about the goalies, it’s also hard for them to be worse than they were last season, especially with the coaching change. If Mayotte can work his magic with the PK group, then this side of the puck can get considerably better, simply because of how high of a percentage ceded goals were from the PK over the last two years. Upshot: modest improvement, but chance for much higher.

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The Candle in a Cave:Trying to bring some light into the darkness of Michigan fandom

9/25/2019

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By: Carl Gerisch, editor: Noah Kotre

Unfortunately, some of my earliest memories of Michigan football are watching the biggest upset in college football history and Michigan’s only loss to a MAC program. I started to understand football around the time that Rich Rodriguez came to Ann Arbor. As a result, I’ve experienced the worst that Michigan football has had to offer. And yet, the worst I’ve seen from this fanbase has been during the last three years: a time that has included multiple ten-win seasons.

This reaction is due to unrealistic expectations, poor performances in marquee games, a certifiable football genius coaching in Columbus, and, frankly, one bad spot in 2016. And now, after less than a quarter of the season and two poor performances, I am seeing this fanbase at an all time low. Most Michigan fans are somewhere between depressed, enraged and hopeless. That is why I am writing this article, to try to instill some hope and positivity into the Michigan fans who are either giving up on the season or calling for Harbaugh to be fired.

To start my optimistic take on the current football team, I’m going to look big picture. If we look at the season as a whole, the most recent embarrassment against Wisconsin doesn’t affect anything. Future losses would put the Wolverines out of the playoff picture, but that would have been true regardless of this loss. (Now I’m sure you’re thinking that I’m crazy to be thinking about the playoffs after such a terrible game, but the onfield performance will be addressed later). A loss to another B1G east team, such as Ohio State or Penn State, would be much more detrimental to the season because those losses would make it much more difficult to get to Indianapolis. A cross division loss, however, is almost irrelevant in making the championship game in the East. So, if a one-loss Michigan team wins the Big Ten, they will be all but guaranteed to earn a spot in the playoffs.

Now to the more difficult part of the article, convincing the average fan that the team is going to improve dramatically over the next few weeks. I’ll start on the offensive side of the ball. The offensive line play has been nowhere near where we expected coming into the season, particularly in pass protection. I chalk a lot of that up to left tackle Jon Runyan Jr. being limited/unable to practice and missing the first two games. Most fans underestimate the value of chemistry on the offensive line and the importance of in-game reps against opposing defenses. Additionally, the amount of communication that happens on the offensive line frequently goes unnoticed. This makes it incredibly difficult to pick up stunts and elaborate blitzes amidst crowd noise. So, I expect pass protection to improve dramatically now that Runyan is healthy and Michigan’s next three games will be without crowd noise.

I also think that protection will improve if running back Tru Wilson can get back on the field and healthy, because currently Christian Turner is struggling mightily in pass protection and is the reason for two of Shea Patterson’s fumbles on the season. I’ve actually been encouraged by the run game so far this season and was baffled by the refusal to run against Wisconsin, but I doubt there will be any more games where Michigan only hands the ball off 10 times all game.

   The part of this team that has received the most criticism is the quarterback play. Some complaints have been justifiable, but Shea Patterson is a good college quarterback. His greatest weakness, his inability to dissect a zone, was put on display against Wisconsin, a team that runs exclusively cover 2 and cover 3. His play over the last year and a half, however, has proven that he is a quarterback with good arm strength, accuracy and mobility. I believe that the team’s offensive approach moving forward will be more suited to Shea’s strengths. He throws a great deep ball and good jump balls which every fan hopes to and should expect to see more of. I think that the fourth quarter against Wisconsin is a harbinger of the play calling going forward: more quick hitters and downfield shots. This team has elite talent at all the skill positions on offense and the coaching staff seems to have figured that out.

   In terms of the defense, I’ve gotten exactly what I expected coming into the season. This team simply doesn’t have the personnel to stop the Wisconsin offense. The Wolverine defensive line has zero players above 300 pounds and their linebacking corp includes a former safety in Jordan Glasgow and another safety sized player at viper in Khaleke Hudson. This year’s defense is built to stop spread offenses and was never going to be able to stop Wisconsin. I predicted that Wisconsin would be the team’s only loss before the season because of this fact. The rest of the schedule employs spread attacks besides Iowa and Michigan State, and neither of those teams try to mash your face in like Wisconsin .

In the first three games I’ve actually been impressed by a lot of new faces that are starting on the defense. Brad Hawkins has covered well and made a few nice tackles around the line of scrimmage. Ambry Thomas seems to be the same athlete we all knew he was last year and seems to be more focused after his bout with colitis. Jordan Glasgow made some surprisingly good plays, especially against Army, despite being a natural safety playing weakside linebacker. The biggest bright spot on the defense, in my opinion, has been Aidan Hutchinson. Hutchinson has been using his hands really well to fight off blocks, which was on full display in OT against Army. Another positive moving forward is that Josh Uche seems to be at a point in his development where he is deployable on more than just obvious passing downs. Uche is no doubt a weapon as a pass rusher, and being able to rush him on standard downs as well will be huge.

   I’m not delusional. The first three weeks have been very bad. The Wisconsin game was one of the worst games that I’ve ever seen a Michigan team put together, but teams almost never finish the season playing how they start. If you go back just to last year, the Notre Dame game was a terrible performance, especially from the offensive line. Then, by the end of the year, the O-Line was playing like the best unit in the conference. Many teams start the season terribly and then finish it on fire. Just look at Penn State in 2016. They started the season 2-2 with a loss to Pitt, a 7-point win against Temple and a 39-point loss at Michigan. Then, by the end of the year, they were a top ten, arguably top five, team in the nation. That team is very similar to this year’s Michigan team: incredible talent all over the offense, including a QB who is great at throwing deep balls and an elite prospect at running back (and no I am not saying that Zach Charbonnet is or will be Saquon Barkley), along with a defense that is weak upfront which isn’t going to be able to shut people out. They were also employing a new offensive coordinator whose unit improved monumentally over the course of the year.

It is far too early to be giving up on this team and the 2019 season. Everything is still ahead of them and their potential is still sky-high. The schedule also allows for a few weeks before the next big test at Penn State (Iowa while playing on the road is not very concerning). Football is only around for three months out of the year, and it is silly to waste that time being angry and depressed. I think that every Michigan fan should heed the words of Michigan’s godfather Bo Schembechler: ““When your team is winning, be ready to be tough, because winning can make you soft. On the other hand, when your team is losing, stick by them. Keep believing.” Well, the team is losing, so I choose to keep believing, and I hope that you will do the same.

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Michigan Hockey 2019-20 Season Preview Part 1: The Forwards

9/25/2019

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https://dbukjj6eu5tsf.cloudfront.net/mgoblue.com/images/2017/11/2/IHM17_Ferris_mgb_020_.JPG

By: Alex Drain

Welcome to Part 1 of WCBN Sports's 2019-20 Michigan Hockey season preview. Today we'll be looking at the forwards:

Let’s start with the good news: basically everyone is back. Of the forward group, Michigan loses precisely two everyday players, and one of those two missed the whole second half of the season. They are Brendan Warren, who was a useful but mostly defensive middle 6 forward (scored just 1 goal and 2 assists last season), and Josh Norris, who was the team’s top line center until suffering a season-ending injury in December. That’s it. Everybody else is back and as a result, it means that Michigan rolls over a ton of production to the 2019-20 season. Counting the defensemen in this metric, Michigan returns 80% of its goals from last season, on an offense that was 24th nationally (out of 60 teams). That should mean good things for this coming season.

The forward group is led by Jake Slaker and Will Lockwood, who are now in the twilight of their Michigan tenure. As seniors, they will be asked to lead this team to a B1G title and a return to the NCAA Tournament. Last year they played on the “SNL line”, with themselves and Norris, until the latter’s injury, and then it was more of a hodgepodge until the end. This season, they will almost certainly both play on the top line together and their production backs it up: Slaker had 25 points in 35 games and Lockwood had 31 points in 36 games. Slaker's production has been very similar each year of his Michigan career (between 21 and 27 points all three seasons), and the question looming for him is whether he can finally ascend to elite college production. Regardless, look for both to approach a point-per-game pace in 2019-20, as both are playing for NHL contracts.

Nick Pastujov and his brother Michael Pastujov were the anchors of last year’s second line, and both took considerable steps forward. Nick had 24 points in 36 games (compared to 15 a year earlier) and Michael had 19 points in 31 games (compared to 9 a year earlier). Michigan would like both Pasta brothers to see improvements in potential, especially for Nick, who is also a senior and will likely be centering the second line. Sophomore Jimmy Lambert could be a breakout player in his second season with the Maize and Blue, as he showed good accuracy on his wrist shot in 2018-19 and the scoring chops to be an impact college player. After putting up 13 points as a freshman, Michigan would like to see a step forward from Lambert, hopefully emerging as a true middle 6 winger. Jack Becker has been Michigan’s trusty net-front presence on the power-play over the last two seasons and he’s now a junior, which again should bear fruits of experience and age as he will look to boost his 15 points in 36 games clip from a year ago while playing on the second or third line.

The fourth line seems unlikely to change compared to last season, as it was arguably Michigan’s most effective line down the stretch. That line was Garrett Van Wyhe centering Dakota Raabe and Nolan Moyle. The three scrappers are not really skilled offensive players, but they are sound defensively, gritty, and just work harder than their opponents. Despite being more of a checking line, all three guys got to double digits in the points column, providing valuable offense, often banging around the net for greasy goals. They had tremendous chemistry last season and given that GVW and Moyle were both freshmen and Raabe was only a sophomore, Mel Pearson & Co. have to hope that the fourth line can improve as well with a year of college experience under their belt.

Outside of those 9 guys who are all likely to be regulars in the lineup, there are some potential contributors returning. Luke Morgan played nearly every game for Michigan a season ago, posting 13 points in 36 games, but the Lake Superior St. transfer could never find a sturdy place in the lineup, bouncing between center and wing. Given that he scored 22 points in 36 games as a freshman with the Lakers two years ago, the Wolverines know there is more offense, potentially top 6 upside, to unlock out of Morgan. It’s just up to Pearson to figure out how to coax it out of him. Adam Winborg played 27 games for Michigan in 2018-19 and will be entering his senior campaign. Winborg has been a 4th line defensive center type, who is responsible in his own end of the ice and who is strong in the face off dot. The problem for Winborg was that he lost ice time to Van Whye on the 4th line and he will need to produce more offensively (5 points in 27 games) in order to play consistently on the third line. Finally, Jack Olmstead, who scored 1 goal in 7 games, returns to the Maize and Blue but is mostly unknown at this stage.

Additions: Michigan brings in 5 forwards in this recruiting class, starting with the blue chip prize, Johnny Beecher. Beecher was often lost in the shuffle on last year’s historically talented United States National Team Development Program squad, sometimes relegated to the third line because the top two centers on the team were picked in the top 5 of the NHL Draft (Jack Hughes and Alex Turcotte). But that’s not an indictment of Beecher whatsoever, as he was also picked in the first round, selected 30th overall by the Boston Bruins. Beecher scored 43 points in 63 games for the USNTDP last year despite not getting first power-play minutes. Beecher’s draft profiles highlighted him for his rare combination of size (6’3”) and skating ability (quite good), as well as his responsible two-way play, as a good shooter and passer, and as a penalty killer. While Beecher was regarded as a “safe” pick, lacking the dynamite upside of a Norris, his size and physical maturity may make him more college-ready. For what it’s worth, Beecher had a phenomenal tournament at the World Junior Summer Showcase on Team USA in late July, which should further bolster beliefs that he is ready to have a big freshman year at Michigan. Beecher will play right away and it could be on the top line.

The Wolverines also bring in Emil Öhrvall from Sweden by way of RPI and the USHL. As a freshman at RPI in 2017-18, Öhrvall had 2 goals and 9 assists for 11 points, which is fine (similar to Mike Pastujov’s first year at Michigan). He then left RPI for the USHL, which he torched for 63 points in 59 games last season. Now on Michigan, the expectation should be that Öhrvall can play as a middle 6 winger right away, contributing hopefully close to 20 points.

Mel Pearson must despise engineers because Michigan continued raiding the RPI cupboards this summer, swiping Jacob Hayhurst as a grad transfer as well. Hayhurst played three seasons at RPI scoring 20 points (7 G, 13 A) as a freshman and 23 points (12 G, 11 A) as a sophomore, before he apparently forgot how to score goals as a junior, notching just 3 goals but a whopping 20 assists for 23 points, being named RPI’s top forward at the season’s end. In all likelihood, Hayhurst’s plummeting goal count last season was probably just puck luck and I would expect it to revert to some kind of mean (idk, roughly 10?) this season. Given that assistant coach Bill Muckalt said “(we) expect (Hayhurst) to come in and be a top-six forward” in the team press release announcing the incoming recruiting class, I will take the man at his word and make the bold prediction that Hayhurst will be a top six forward.

Finally, Michigan brings in Eric Ciccolini and Nick Granowicz. Ciccolini is a genuinely interesting developmental forward who showed enough in the OJHL to be drafted in the 7th round of the 2019 Draft by the New York Rangers. Given the forward logjam (more on that in a sec.), I don’t know where Ciccolini is going to slot in this season for Michigan, but he should be considered more of a long term addition. Granowicz is a very old (already 21) local kid by way of the BCHL, who posted good numbers as an overager in that league and he does not appear to be a scholarship player from Brian of MGoBlog’s estimation. I don’t expect to see much of Granowicz this coming year.

So… what about that logjam?

The thing about rolling over 80% of your goals and 10 everyday starters and then adding a 1st round NHL pick at center, a 7th round NHL pick at winger, and two legit transfers, is I have no idea what the forward rotation is going to look like. What seems pretty concrete is that Lockwood and Norris will be on the top line, *probably* joined by John Beecher. Then the Pastjuov brothers are logical fits for the second line, *probably* joined by Hayhurst. After that it gets dicey. The third line will probably be some combination of Öhrvall, Becker, Luke Morgan, Jimmy Lambert, Winborg, and Ciccolini, with three of those 6 probably being left out. Finally, I would expect the Moyle-Van Whye-Raabe line to be left intact on the fourth line. There is the chance that Mel could roll with 13 forwards and leave only two of those previous 6 out, but that’s his choice. So, I would anticipate the forward group to look like this:

Lockwood-Beecher-Slaker
M. Pastujov-N. Pastjuov-Hayhurst
Öhrvall-Morgan-Becker
Moyle-Van Whye-Raabe
Jimmy Lambert (optional 13th forward)

This will be a much more veteran group than last season, and it feels like there’s pretty solid balance. Given that Michigan was 24th in goals per game last season and they bring 80% of that production back with another year under their belt, and then add a very talented freshman + two trusty transfers, the offense should be better, if not significantly (potentially top 10 in college hockey). The offense seems to me like it should be a strength of this team, and the big question is whether Slaker and Lockwood can ascend to Calderone/Marody 2018 levels, since the supporting cast behind them should be strong.

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Drew Brees and The City of New Orleans

9/16/2019

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By Eric Margolin

40-year-old quarterbacks are rare in the NFL. Good 40-year-old NFL quarterbacks are even rarer. And as we found out this weekend good, durable, 40-year-old quarterbacks are the rarest of all. In a game against the Rams, Drew Brees tore a ligament in his throwing thumb that will require surgery and keep him out for a minimum of six weeks. It will be Brees’ second missed game since entering the NFL in 2001. Most of you aren’t New Orleanians and are probably wondering why you should care. “NFL players get injured all the time.” “It’s a violent game.” “At least you had a future hall of fame QB in his prime.” But the relationship between Drew Brees and the city of New Orleans is one that runs much deeper than football.

Most of you probably know about Hurricane Katrina and the devastation it left in its aftermath. To summarize, the 4th most intense hurricane to ever make landfall in the contiguous US killed at least 1200 people and flooded 80% of the city of New Orleans in August 2005. The Superdome went from a football arena to a temporary shelter overnight. Journalists wrote that the city shouldn’t be rebuilt. The entire state of Louisiana was in chaos.

That year the Saints played all their home games in San Antonio and Baton Rouge. Media outlets reported that the team would be relocated to San Antonio and the disastrous season ended with a 3-13 record and the firing of coach Jim Haslett.

At the same time on the other side of the country, Drew Brees, the San Diego Chargers starting quarterback, tore his labrum and rotator cuff, possibly ending his football career altogether. After the Chargers refused to offer Brees the contract he wanted, he chose to sign with the second worst team in the NFL at a time when their stadium still had a massive hole in the roof. Brees chose us when no one else did.

That decision rewrote the history of the Saints, Brees, and the city of New Orleans. In 2006, Brees’ first season as a Saint, the Superdome was sold out for the first time in the team’s history, the Saints went to the NFC championship game for the first time ever, and Brees was named first team All-Pro. But Brees and the Saints gave the city something to root for, something to hold on to, for the first time since Katrina. That year Brees also won the Walter Payton Man of the Year award for his efforts to rebuild New Orleans. Brees’ comeback from injury paralleled New Orleans’ rebirth after Katrina, inevitably linking the two.

To those of us from southeast Louisiana, the Saints aren’t just a football team. In 2017, the rate of shootings in New Orleans doubled when the Saints weren’t playing. Even when they went with bags on their heads, Saints fans always showed up to games. Despite residents dealing with the cost of rebuilding an entire city, the Saints have sold out season tickets every year of Brees’ tenure.

Football in New Orleans is more like a religion than a sport, and while every player is a Saint, there is only one Bresus. He is the face of our franchise. He stood up for the city when no one else would. He wanted to be in New Orleans when others wanted to let it drown. He brought the city its first Super Bowl. He and his family live in the city instead of the suburbs. His charity rebuilds academic and athletic facilities for underprivileged and intellectually disabled children. He built homes with Habitat for Humanity after Katrina. Drew Brees has taught us all to be resilient, hardworking, and to never give up. He may have been born in Texas and gone to Purdue, but Brees is a New Orleanian through and through.

All of this is to say that the city of New Orleans and New Orleanians everywhere are going to have a hard six weeks. If you see mad Saints fans on social media or think that we’re being ungrateful for our time with one of the best quarterbacks to play the game, remember that this injury is more than a “boo-boo on a football man.” It demonstrates the fragility of a Saint and brings to mind the vulnerability of a city. This could be the beginning of the end of a relationship that has brought a great American city through its darkest time and we are scared.

UPDATE:
Brees' surgery is scheduled for today (9/18) in Los Angeles. Dr. Steven Shin will be performing the procedure which is expected to sideline Brees for 6-8 weeks.
Back home in Louisiana, someone power washed some interesting art onto the roof of the Superdome.

Images courtesy of the following:
NPR
Canal Street Chronicle
Arizona Daily Star
The Daily Dolphin
Uproxx
WWL-TV

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Slippery Rock Football 2019 Season Preview

9/4/2019

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   Michigan football is already underway. While chatter about Dylan McCaffrey, the new look D-line, and a myriad of other wonderful football spectacles cloud the air, making it easy to forget about the second favorite college football team in Ann Arbor: the Slippery Rock University The Rock. This 2019 season will mark the 60th anniversary of the first season when Michigan Stadium PA announcer Steve Filipiak began sharing the scores of Slippery Rock games with the crowd. 60 years later the announcing of Slippery Rock scores, usually met with a roar from the crowd remains a fun Big House tradition for the fans in the stadium during a tv timeout. So while every other aspect of Michigan football has been analyzed inside and out, I’ll try to break down Slippery Rock’s 2018 seasons, the changes to the team for this season, and break down the schedule and when we can expect to be hearing some good news in the Big House ahead of Thursday night’s kickoff against Wayne State in Detroit.

  2018 Slippery Rock The Rock Football Recap

   If you are a Michigan football season ticket holder and have a great memory, you might recall that Slippery Rock had an up year in 2018, improving off some good seasons in years past to go 11-3, and 7-0 in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference before losing in the conference championship game to 9th ranked West Chester University. Entering the NCAA Division II football playoffs 9-2 and as the Northeast Super Region 7 seed, Slippery Rock upset both #13 LIU Post and University of New Haven on the road before losing to Notre Dame (OH) 21 - 17 in the Super Regional Finals / National Quarterfinals on December 1st. Slippery Rock finished the year ranked 12th by the ACFA Coaches Poll.

Offseason Changes

   Expectations are high for Slippery Rock as they are presently ranked 10th in the ACFA Coaches Poll. This is largely thanks to the fact that they return senior QB Roland Rivers III who eventually sparked to the offense after he got the start in The Rock’s Week 3 matchup at Millersville University in his first game of the season. He scored a touchdown on a 10 yard scamper on the first drive en route to a 57-10 victory that crowned him the champion of the three-man QB battle against Andrew Koester and Taylor King. Rivers threw for 226.8 yards per game and posted a 28 touchdowns to 12 interceptions. The Slippery Rock offense averaged 38.5 points per game in games Rivers started.
Rivers will retain a lot of the help on offense that helped him shine as well. Redshirt juniors Henry Litwin and Jermaine Wynn Jr. shared the team lead with 51 receptions last year and finished first and second on the team respectively in receiving yards. Their 1,586 combined receiving yards accounted for 44.3% of the team’s passing yards last season. Expect the left side of the O-line to be a strength too, as LT Chris Larsen, LG Ryan Podgorski, and C Austin Wayt all started every game last season and will be returning. That’s not to say that The Rock offense will be taking off right where it left off however. The Rock will have to move on from Wes Hills who graduated last year following his only season at Slippery Rock and three years prior playing for Delaware. In his senior season Wes Hills set the Slippery Rock University single season rushing record with 1,714 rushing yards to go along with 17 rushing touchdowns and chipped in 193 receiving yards as well. Roland Rivers was the only other player to eclipse 250 rushing yards for Slippery Rock last season, but they’ve got another division 1 transfer in Charles Snorweah, who graduated from Rutgers after playing in 7 games in his senior year for the Scarlet Knights.
   The defense, which limited opponents to 21.2 points per game last season brings back plenty of reasons for optimism as well. 11 of 14 players who started for Slippery Rock this past season are returning in 2019. The highlights of this unit include redshirt junior LB Tim Vernick, who will serve as a team captain and started 21 games in his first two seasons for The Rock and led the team in tackles in 2018. Redshirt Sophomore Jeff Marx earned 1st team All - Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference honors during a 46 tackle, 7 TFL, and 1 sack campaign last year. Chad Kuhn posted 48 tackles, 14, TFL, 7.5 sacks, and 8 QB hurries during the 2018 season. You can expect this side of the ball to improve on that 21.2 points per game number, while the offense will likely keep up the pace or extend their 38.5 points per game under Rivers from last year, which should mean plenty of big wins for The Rock in 2019.

Schedule Predictions

   Let’s take a look at what might lie ahead of Slippery Rock this season, and what scores might be celebrated in Michigan Stadium.

Week 1:
   Don’t care for the Bears or the Packers? Well, you’ll probably still choose to watch that game, but Slippery Rock travels to Michigan this week to take on Wayne State (who they played in the Big House in 1981) on Thursday at 6. Wayne State was ... less pleased, with their 2018 season going 2-9. Slippery Rock should be off to a good start with their season and Big House score announcements in 2019. Expect a victory and announcement during the Army game on Saturday to the tune of:
              Slippery Rock 55 - Wayne State 13

Week 2:
   Michigan is off on Saturday, September 14th, but Slippery Rock isn’t. Slippery Rock lost 25-21 in Shippensburg, PA, last season. This defeat prompted the QB change that put Roland Rivers in command of the offense. Expect Slippery Rock to avenge their defeat from last season.
W

Week 3:
   Michigan hits the road to Maidson on September 21st, but Slippery Rock stays at home and plays, and should defeat Millersville just as they did last year on the road.
W
Week 4:
   On September 28th, Michigan hosts the Rutgers of the B1G East: Rutgers. Slippery Rock visits the Rutgers of the PSAC West: Seton Hill. The Griffins won just one game last year. Expect Carl Grapentine to announce another Slippery Rock win after their two week hiatus. I’m thinking something like:
Slippery Rock 42 - Seton Hill 20

Week 5:
   Michigan hosts the second half of back-to-back home games on October 5th, and Slippery Rock plays their second consecutive road game. Mercyhurst was average a year ago going 5-6 and losing by 20 in Slippery Rock PA. This is the first game where I think an upset is possible. Both games are noon kickoffs, so a final score likely won’t be read although division II games go quicker. Nonetheless expect the fans in Ann Arbor to celebrate a win along the lines of:
Slippery Rock 31 - Mercyhurst 27

Week 6:
   Michigan travels to Illinois to face the Illini while The Rock return home and host Indiana (PA), a formidable opponent who Slippery Rock narrowly defeated in Indiana, PA, last year.
W

Week 7:
   Michigan and Slippery Rock both hit the road on October 19th, and will both be in Pennsylvania. Edinboro didn’t put up much of a fight last year.
W

Week 8:
   On October 26th Michigan and Slippery Rock host Notre Dame and Clarion University respectively. Unlike Michigan, Slippery Rock won their matchup last year against a 4-7 squad. Don’t expect anything too different, and count on another Slippery Rock victory / big lead on the scoreboards at the Big House. Let’s say about:
Slippery Rock 35 - Clarion 13

Week 9:
   Michigan will be in College Park facing the Terrapins on November 2nd, Slippery Rock’s senior day. California (PA) was a good team last year but still lost by 23 at home to The Rock
W

Week 10:
   Michigan has the week off, but Slippery Rock never takes a week off. Seriously, they never have BYE weeks. Gannon went 2-9 last year.
W

Week 11:
   Michigan hosts Michigan State during the final week of The Rock’s regular season. Slippery Rock will have to travel to Eastern PA to play PSAC East opponent Bloomsburg. The Huskies went 6-5 last season, and went 2-4 against opponents who also played Slippery Rock in 2018. Slippery Rock went 4-2 against those opponents. This is one of the few games on the roster where Slippery Rock shouldn’t be a heavy favorite; however, I expect the better team to pull through. For the final time of the season, Michigan fans should be celebrating a Slippery Rock victory that looks something like:
  Slippery Rock 24 - Bloomsburg 14

   While the potential for a perfect regular season is likely to get spoiled by an upset along the way, Slippery Rock should be one of the best division two teams in the nation. I would have to call them PSAC favorites and should have a high seed in the Northeast Super Region come tourney time, and make perhaps the most noise of any division two team by causing the 110,000 fans in Ann Arbor to roar 5 times this season, with the potential to still be playing, and winning football when The Game returns to Ann Arbor on November 30th.

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