I was in Ann Arbor this weekend for the game. A friend of mine is a UM season ticket holder, so this was my sixth(?) PSU/UM game in AA. I have not watched the TV broadcast so the few thoughts below are based purely on being there:
(as an aside, I haven’t read through the game thread so some of this may have already been discussed. If so, lo siento).
1) I like Ann Arbor as a college town. It is much better than Columbus (not a college town) or East Lansing (not really a college town), but is significantly bigger (meaning more stuff to do) than State College or Bloomington or Chapel Hill. It is about the same size as Syracuse, but is much, much nicer and more university centric. Lots of good drinking and dining options. Somewhat oddly, lodging is still a nightmare (e.g. Motel 6 not walking distance from campus for $150 a night…sure, I guess so). My only other complaint is that the town is a little bit snooty but I guess that fits.
2) The weather was fantastic for a November game. Partly sunny with an intermittent breeze during the day. Temperatures dropped a little when the sun went down, but it was still very, very pleasant.
3) I saw a fair number of PSU fans around town, but it seemed like not as many as I saw in 2016. Maybe it was just my imagination or maybe I’m mis-remembering.
4) I almost typed that Michigan is an underrated beer state, but I’m not sure who rates those things, so I will say instead that Michigan is a great beer state. I think I drank 100% local except for one beer at a Mexican restaurant (because their only local option was an IPA and…bleh).
Some random stadium thoughts:
1) My buddy’s seats are in the non-PSU endzone (i.e. the endzone into which we scored out only TD). Decent seats, but it is really hard to see what is happening when the ball is in the red zone on the other side of the field, so I ended up watching the live feed on the scoreboard a lot.
2) There was a pre-game F16 flyover; while I think this is cool, when they don’t announce it (or don’t time it up properly) the go over so fast you basically miss it. They either need a fly a slower “mission” (maybe F16s aren’t the ideal aircraft for a flyover?) or make people aware to look for it.
3) The pre-game video that Michigan’s plays is new this year (or at least new since 2016) and for some reason it really rubbed me the wrong way. It’s fine to highlight famous alumni and athletes (and having James Earl Jones narrate it is very cool), but they literally refer to Michigan as the greatest university in the world. It’s a great school and all, but that’s laughable (it might not even be the greatest university in its conference) and sums of Michigan alumni arrogance/break with reality.
4) If you think Beaver stadium doesn’t show enough scores of other games…woo-boy. Michigan stadium rarely shows any scores and the only score they announce over the loudspeaker is Slippery Rock (which is a cool tradition and all, but I’d rather know who won OSU-UNL).
5) Security at the stadium is kind of joke. No metal detectors. No pat down. All you have to is remove your hat and unzip your coat. I could have smuggle in a 750 ml bottle of alcohol if I was so inclined.
6) Michigan fans around me were much worst behaved than I recall in the past. Lots of profanity directed towards PSU players, band and coaches (more on that below) and just more obnoxious behavior in general
7) I’ve seen this commented on in other places so I won’t dwell on it, but the stadium music selection was…interesting. I get that everyone know uses both Zombie Nation and Seven Nation Army (both of which have their CFB origins at PSU), so whatever. But they also played “Sweet Caroline”. Some Michigan fan claims that they “always play it”. They definitely didn’t play it in 2016, so if they “always play it” it’s new. I hate that song and wish PSU wouldn’t use it either. But seriously…what’s next playing “Hang on Sloopy”? They also play Mo Bamba several times (which again, maybe they’ve been doing all year), but I found it odd that they again were playing “our song.” The only time I saw the PSU players jumping around a little bit was when they played it prior to the second half kickoff.
8) The Blue Band made the trip, but I wasn’t super impressed with the joint “Game of Thrones” themed halftime show. I’m not really a marching band guy though (if it was up to me they’d just sit in the stands and play the fight song).
On to the game itself:
1) The “block six” that got called back was run into the other endzone so I didn’t have a view of the “not an illegal block”, but I’ve seen it on replay and…whew, boy. That sucks. I remarked at the time (not knowing that it was a bad call) that was the turning point in the game. Tied at 7 in the second quarter and PSU would have had a ton of momentum. I also have questions about how those multiple penalties were enforced, but I will save that for a separate post so it doesn’t get buried here.
2) Not surprisingly, there were a bunch of holding penalties that were not called on UM that were even obvious from the stands. I’m sure I’ll see even more when I watch the DVR. The worst one was a bad hold against Toney on Michigan’s long pass play that set up their second TD. That was a brutal sequence: block six called back, fumble, missed holding call on long pass play. Thanks refs! I could tell from the stands that the targeted penalty against Amari wouldn’t stand, but the UM fans lost their effing minds over that. I’m always surprised how many people at football games don’t know fairly basic rules of football.
3) I also thought that Hippenhammer (I think) got held badly on an incomplete pass (this was in the first quarter when it looked like Trace badly overthrew Mac near the PSU sideline).
4) I wonder if the knee injury is affecting Trace’s plant foot and therefore is accuracy. Lots of balls look high and behind their receivers. I think Tommy probably needs to start next week and give Trace a week off to heal up.
5) PSU didn’t look like they had any energy after the block six was called back. Just none. Nobody getting excited about good plays, no “juice” on the sidelines. Not sure how to explain that, but this (and most) team plays much better when they are loose and having fun.
6) The “knowledgeable” Michigan fans around me mocked Franklin for opting to take a re-kick on an out of bounds kickoff. Then my friend (UM grad) explained to them that KJ is not someone Michigan should want touching the ball and that was an aggressive, but correct, call by Franklin. There were also fans that mocked Franklin every time he took a time out. I’m assuming the one before the half was a conversation about whether to punt, go for it, or if they had a fake they liked. Given how little the offense had done at that point, I had no problem with considering all options there. After this same douchebag made his 20th comment of use of timeouts, I pointed out to him that in both halves Michigan used all three timeouts and PSU had timeouts left, so if anyone was calling stoopid (sic) timeouts it was Khaki Pants and that shut him up.
7) Speaking of Coach Jimmah, his decision to challenge Dotson’s sideline catch was poor sportsmanship. I could see from the other side of the field that it was a catch. Why do that? Because he’s an a-hole.
