Michigan Monday: Tightens It's Chin Strap

This is the week that players on both teams have to worry about being too hyped to play.    I would imagine practice is going to be lively for both teams as they enjoy Thanksgiving dinner as a team on Thursday before the world stops on Saturday at noon.

Both teams are sort of limping into this big game, both got upset on the road this year and both had head scratching wins over the weekend.   OSU beat a 1 win Big Ten team by 1 point and Michigan did snow angles to a 10 point victory over a 5-5 Indiana team.

I hope Jimmy practices outside most of the week, because I have not liked how the Wolverines have played in cold weather at Iowa and the wind and snow on Saturday.   The early forecast for The Game is low 40's and a small chance of rain.

• Jimmy answered all the questions about Wilton's availability for next weekend, as he is day to day. 

• Brooklyn (NY) Poly Prep 2017 OL Isaiah Wilson visited for the IU game this past weekend.

• If it was 99% that Charlie Strong was going to be fired at Texas, it became 100% after the loss to Kansas.  If you remember, Texas did take a couple of shots at Jimmy when he was in the NFL.  He isn't going anywhere and the leader in the clubhouse for that job is former OSU assistant Tom Herman.   I wouldn't be surprised if Charlie ended up at Purdue.

A look ahead to the rival in Columbus, Ohio:

Ranked: #2 by the CFP
Best Win: Oklahoma
Worst Loss: Penn State

They are 8th in the country in running the ball with an average of 263 yards per game.
They are 68th in passing at 230 yards per game.

They are 5th is scoring offense at 43 points per.
Defense is 3rd in points against at 13 points per.

ESPN GameDay will in in C-Bus and will start the show at 7:00AM.   Love that there is a former Wolverine and a former Buckeye on the GameDay crew.

I have watched some OSU games this year and this team goes as it QB goes.   JT pretty much controls the entire game.   The OSU offense will dink and dunk in the passing game, run you death with Mike Weber and JT Barrett and then hit you will a long pass for a TD.  

The Buckeyes are not as talented as they were last year but they have plenty of talent on both sides of the ball.    Michigan's #1 goal on defense is to stop JT Barrett as he prefers to run much more then throw.   It would be great if Michigan could fly Denard up for the week of practice, so he could simulate Barrett.   Maybe he just stayed in the Detroit area after Jacksonville's loss on Sunday?



from The BIG HOUSE Blog http://mbighouse.blogspot.com/2016/11/michigan-monday-tightens-its-chin-strap.html