There are many fans that don't realize that the Michigan - Notre Dame game is not as frequently played as the media would have you believe. While the MSU - Notre Dame rivalry is much more frequent. Plus we have a traditional trophy!

I'm sure someone will post a rivalry bot...


ND and Michigan have officially only played 36 times. The first 3 were in 1899, 1900 and 1902...and then, for many reasons that I don't really want to go into, they stopped playing. (There are records that predate 1899 for games but back then Michigan was "taking it on themselves" to teach other schools how to play football and would travel to campuses and "play" games...though they weren't really games, more like scrimmages, or glorified practices. Michigan kept score, but the other team didn't and most believe that there was some "fudging" of the rules back then by the Michigan club members as there were no standardized rules for football. Michigan won all 3 when ND was still trying to establish their program. They did not play again until WWII, where they split a home and home series in 42 and 43. After that, the series was not revived until 1978, and they played every year between 1978 and 1982. 1985 and 1994, 1997 and 1999, 2002 and 2014. So the series has been sporadic.

The series itself is 16-19-1 with Michigan winning 19 games, to ND's 16 and a single tie. But since after 1936 when the modern game of college football we know and love (I use 1936 because that was the first year the AP attempted to crown a national champion, and cover college football on a national scale) the series is even 16-16-1

Meanwhile, ND and MSU have played 64 times, which makes MSU the 5th most frequent opponent for ND behind Navy (90 games), USC (88 games), Purdue (83 games), and Pitt (67 games). Those are the only 5 opponents that ND has played 60+ games against in their 117 football seasons.

ND's record against MSU is 35-28-1, with the 1 being one of the most famous games in College Football lore (which many believe ushered in the modern era of college football because the TV demand for the 1966 game was so high, it proved that CFB on TV could be a viable money maker for TV networks and schools - CFB started exploding in the media in the wake of that game.)

The 28 wins for MSU over Notre Dame represent the second most wins over ND for any program. Only USC (37) has more.

MSU and ND's first game was in 1918 when the school that would be come MSU was still establishing itself. ND won, and then the series stopped until 1948, after WWII. The rivalry was born because MSC president John Hannah could not find opponents to help legitimatize and grown MSC's athletics program to make a bid for the B1G. MSU's football program at the time was exploding, and many of the Midwestern powers at the time did not want to schedule independent MSC because they'd probably lose. So Hannah contacted ND president Fr. John Cavanaugh and asked him. ND was, themselves, in a pretty good position to take on a top team near by and Cavanaugh realized the potential of a series. So, Cavanaugh not only said yes, but also agreed to a five year series, in which MSU would get 3 home games.

Thus the series was born, and most MSU fans who know the story are forever grateful for ND's help back then...which is part of the reason why the rivalry is different/fun for a lot. We really are pretty close together, our football programs have had a long run of intertwined history, and there is a mutual respect. We have a lot of alum in Chicago living among the ND alum, and subway alum as well. Most more experienced ND fans, and the ND alum in my family generally agree that the MSU-ND series is a more special experience for them, despite the fact that the media, national especially, pimps the M - ND series because of the flash of it all.

Many believe Michigan was leading a black ball...there's a lot of that in the history of MSU/Michigan both in athletics and beyond. There's a lot of negative history between Michigan and ND too. If you want to know the reason why so much hate exists read the book: "Arrogance and Scheming in the Big Ten: Michigan State's Quest for Membership and Michigan's Powerful Opposition"

It's a tough read, the writer is pretty....dry...it read like a medical textbook (I'm a Health Sciences Librarian, I read medical scholarship most of my day...trust me on this one!) However, the research that went into it is solid, and it's exploration of why MSU fans/alum are the way they are toward Michigan in general. We're working to get over it off the field as many of the University of Michigan institutional policies that were working toward the marginalization of other state higher education institutions were eliminated by former Michigan President James Duderstadt in the 1990's, but there is a 125+ year history of belittlement beyond athletics for us and them to get over! A history that many fans, and media members don't really understand.

Websites (Most are not active):

• Inside the Pylon - Videos may not load embedded, but you can copy the url. Pretty good look at base plays, position responsibilities, and other terms you run into.
  
• Breakdown Sports another place for looking at the above, less available though covered deeply. See article on Cover 1 for example.
  
• Football Study Hall More on the statistics side of football (old stomping ground of Bill Connelly), a bit more all over the place.
  
• Dan Casey's Twitter If you want to see clips of fun and interesting plays past and present, he's a good'un.
  
• Playbooks - Historic coaches' playbooks. You can get a pretty good understanding of things like read progression and play goals from these, as well as what the purpose of each player on the field for each play by reading through some of these.
  
  ---
  Books: These are the books most people recommend starting from.
  
  

1. David Seigerman's Take Your Eye Off the Ball This is a really good book for understanding the game holistically. From positions to managing a season to how you can pay attention to a play, a drive, and a game.
   
2. Chris B. Brown's The Essential Smart Football and The Art of Smart Football (read in order of printing) Fantastic book set for anyone ready to dive a deeper into how the game has and could develop. Seeing everyone raving about the wildcat is always a chuckle though.
   

• Tim Layden's Blood, Sweat & Chalk. Definitely worth the the purchase. Would recommend the above first, but this is a great go for the stories behind the plays. How they came to be and why.

Not as sure about general college football history but this was a really excellent book about Notre Dame football history from its creation up to around the WWII era IIRC (may actually go past that, I just know it covers at least to that point.)

I don't want to kill you with a wall of text so I'm going to be a little simplistic in this answer but the tl;dr on Notre Dame playing neutral site games against random teams like Navy goes along these lines:

Notre Dame at the time was a small, unknown school which most major universities did not have much regard for academically. While they did cut their teeth and establish their chops as a good football program against Big Ten schools, there was a big cultural divide there that led to some really nasty scenes and an eventual erosion of relations between ND and the regional powerhouses. The animosity wasn't uniform across the board, which explains why ND still maintains on and off series with schools like Purdue and Northwestern (Michigan is a whole different saga) but in general it reached a point where ND needed help filling up a whole schedule.

They did maintain home games against tiny local schools like Wabash College but those contests, in Notre Dame's tiny ass playing field, weren't raising enough funds for a top tier program. They needed to find new partners, which meant intersectional rivalries, and the prospects of getting home and homes was bleak, for the same reasons G5 teams today struggle with that. The only response was to start playing a mix of "buy games" (road games with a minority of the gate going to ND) and neutral site games in big cities like Baltimore, Philadelphia, and especially New York (they were essentially the Boise State of the time). The New York gate receipts from games played in Ebbets Field/Polo Grounds/Yankee Stadium essentially funded the program and served as its biggest marketing point, which led to the establishment of the big "Subway Alumni" base for which ND is famous.

The school's marketing department also played up the religious bigotry they faced from other Midwestern schools (which was essentially true) as well as ethnic bigotry against their Irish, Italian, and Polish players (which was a bit more of a stretch and not necessarily a founded claim). This eventually led Catholics and Irishmen around the nation to support them as a symbol of general anti-Catholic and anti-immigrant bigotry (despite the fact that Notre Dame was founded by French missionaries and had a Scandinavian football coach; yes, the Fighting Irish thing was a bit gimmicky but became a self-fulfilling prophecy).

While not an all-encompassing historical piece on the landscape of college football per se, John Bacon's "Three and Out" offers a fascinating insight into Rich Rodriguez's tenure with Michigan Wolverine.

Here's the book description:

> Three and Out tells the story of how college football’s most influential coach took over the nation’s most successful program, only to produce three of the worst seasons in the histories of both Rich Rodriguez and the University of Michigan. Shortly after his controversial move from West Virginia, where he had just taken his alma mater to the #1 ranking for the first time in school history, Coach Rich Rodriguez granted author and journalist John U. Bacon unrestricted access to Michigan’s program. Bacon saw it all, from the meals and the meetings, to the practices and the games, to the sidelines and the locker rooms. Nothing and no one was off limits. John U. Bacon’s Three and Out is the definitive account of a football marriage seemingly made in heaven that broke up after just three years, and lifts the lid on the best and the worst of college football.


Although I've yet to read the book, I have read the first chapter that's free (look to the right side of the amazon page for the Kindle edition and you'll have the ability to have a first chapter sneak-peak) and it's compelling, to say the least. And one of the reasons for this is that the book deals with so much more than Rich Rodriguez's tenure, but also the history of Michigan Wolverine football.

Like I said previously, I haven't read it all but it's definitely on my wish list. Make sure to read the first chapter to see whether or not you'll like it.

A little. It's a bit understudied because academics can be a bit finicky about cultural studies, but Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer is probably the best that has been written about Alabama. I'm not sure about Auburn material that isn't simply rhapsodic remembrances of great games or based around the unchallenged mythos of the Auburn family. As an academic, I hope to get a chance to write something like that some day, though.

[The System: The Glory and Scandal of Big-Time College Football] (http://www.amazon.com/System-Scandal-Big-Time-College-Football-ebook/dp/B00C0AM2XG/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1419270371&sr=1-1&keywords=the+system) was a really interesting read.

Bruce Feldman's books, [Meat Market] (http://www.amazon.com/Meat-Market-Smash-Mouth-Football-Recruiting-ebook/dp/B00P6KC4GM/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1419270508&sr=1-1&keywords=meat+market+inside+the+smash-mouth+world+of+college+football+recruiting) and [The QB] (http://www.amazon.com/QB-Making-Modern-Quarterbacks/dp/0553418459/ref=asap_B00NI03SCG?ie=UTF8) were both easy and fun reads.

[Rammer Jammer, Yellow Hammer] (http://www.amazon.com/Rammer-Jammer-Yellow-Hammer-Journey-ebook/dp/B000FC1W5K/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1419270677&sr=1-3&keywords=Dixieland+Delight) I enjoyed as well.

The Missing Ring was already mentioned, that is a good one too.

[The Last Coach: A Life of Paul "Bear" Bryant] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Last-Coach-Life-Bryant/dp/039332897X) is another excellent read on a legend.

As I Canadian who moved to Austin for grad school and learned to love football, I sympathize with the need to find something that covers the basics!

Here's a site I linked to below that covers some basics:
http://footballoutsiders.com/strategy-minicamps?page=2
... but even that might be too advanced.

If you're looking for complete basics, you might be better off with a book.
Take Your Eye Off the Ball is quite helpful for this, as it covers the basics of all the different positions and it gets into formations and a bit of strategy.:
http://www.amazon.com/Take-Your-Eye-Off-Ball/dp/1600783910/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320168296&sr=8-1

Football for Dummies is even more basic, but it can be a good guide for the beginner:
http://www.amazon.com/Football-Dummies-USA-Sports-Hobbies/dp/1118012615/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320168316&sr=8-1

Stop watching the ball. But seriously though, I have some pretty successful sports writer friends who have a deeper knowledge of football than I ever will and that's the biggest piece of advice they give me. That book is pretty good, but to be honest, I still slip back into watching the ball and wonder why we don't call the "throw a touchdown play" more often.

Also, welcome to the journalism brotherhood. I cover politics, not sports, so hit me up should you need any advice on understanding the farm bill.

Edited for a typo that drove me crazy.

I thought I should just point out that this is an excerpt from a new book, called Three and Out, by John Bacon. When Rich Rod started, he basically was given all access to follow him around, because he was planning on writing a piece about him being an offensive guru, but then shit hit the fan and he changed the premise of the book. Its basically an inside look into all of the drama around Rich Rod's hiring and firing, and a lot of the infighting of the AD. It sounds like a good read for anyone interested in what happened to Michigan the last 3 years. You can pre-order here, if interested.

I highly recommend The Biggest Game of them All: Notre Dame, Michigan State, and the Fall of 1966. Despite being about two of my least favorite teams, the book does a magnificent job exploring that era of college football, touching on subjects like the beginnings of national recruiting, television coverage, race, and politics.

Also, if you're remotely interested in football strategy, The Essential Smart Football is, well, essential.

Haha, most fans would be satisfied with that, yes. But you would still hear all sorts of some dumb stuff like "well, we really shouldn't have gone for it on 4th down that one time, that was a bit much" or "I don't think the players are conducting themselves with enough integrity after scoring" or something like that. So I guess we can be satisfied as a fan base, we just never want to feel good about it.

There's a part of Three and Out dedicated to talking about stuff like this. I don't remember the exact story, but a local radio station challenged people to call in with complaints about the team the day after a blowout win and they got swamped with calls.

This is discussed in to GREAT detail in "The System". The book was released last year right before my trip to Ohio State. It is a must read for any CFB fan. So many great stories covering many programs, coaches, players, and stories. It goes in to great depth on recruiting players and coaches, cheating, training, traveling, AD's - all aspects of the game. Over 300 taped interviews if I remember went in to that book.

There is a couple chapters throughout the book on Leach's move from TTU to WSU including the James debacle.

Another book I recommend to people is Blood, Sweat, and Chalk by Tim Layden. It is a compilation of his personal research into offenses and defenses, some of which were featured in Sports Illustrated articles. If you're interested in the evolution of the game and the why of certain schemes, this is one of the best reads out there. It also makes for terrific off-season reading.

Read smartfootball by Chris Brown (he now writes for Grantland). His book is also cheap at $10 and totally worth it.

If you're okay with team-specific fan sites, head over to Eleven Warriors and read everything ever written by Ross Fulton and Kyle Jones. While, obviously, focused on OSU X's and O's they also delve into their opponents. They have, in my opinion, the easiest-to-read and best introduction to Nick Saban's pattern-match defensive scheme.

Here is the one thing that will fix nearly everything in this thread that people say to “prepare for”. With this item. You are prepared for fucking everything.

I usually buy two about a month before the start of each season. They fit under jorts or khakis alike and helps make new friends everywhere. Wearing this means you dont give a fuck about the game in a hurricane, SEC humidity or that cold shit thats frozen and falls out of the sky (i think its called snow)

[Freedom Flask](Freedom Flask https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006WV1HV2/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_lyPdBbE9K0HA4)

This is not a paid advertisement. But it can be.... i fucking love this thing so much ive gone to sleep with it a few times.

Two easy recommendations: The Essential Smart Football from Chris Brown and Study Hall from Bill Connelly. The former is the easier read but both go in-depth without being too confusing. When I was done reading them I felt smarter, for whatever that's worth.

Yes and no. It will help you learn to read teams, but it won't help you understand why they do things and adjust.

I recommend Chris Brown's books, like The Essential Smart Football.

There's a part in The Opening Kickoff that relates to your comment. Even in the early days, football was a revenue generator for these colleges. As new colleges began to be established, fielding a football program was a quick way to obtain money, influence, and prestige. There were a large number of graduates from Yale, Princeton, Harvard, etc... that were spreading around the country (compared to preachers in the book) to teach the game. All of this coincided with the rise of the newspaper. It mentioned that improved printing technology, availability of wide distribution, and improved literacy rates established the substantial influence of the newspaper. Many of these newspapers dedicated a section to sports, and latched on to football quickly.

Another one not by a coach, but check out Smart Football. I haven't read the book yet, but his blog is really good, and it has good reviews on Amazon.

I'll always upvote SmartFootball. Dude is fantastic at explaining schemes and plays, both offense and defense. This article from Grantland about the Michigan State defense is just about the best thing I've ever read about defensive football. Also, his book is a must read for any other football nerds out there.

Buy some football books, start reading websites that cover strategy like Smart Football and what has helped me is that I have games from last year recorded and I'll just watch one position or maybe a few and see what they do on every play (helps with patterns and technique, therefore possible plays). Also what you can do is document football plays as you watch, as explained in Take Your Eye Off the Ball and you start noticing patterns and plays better. That is a start.

There's a good book called Take Your Eye Off the Ball: How to Watch Football by Knowing Where to Look. I read the first edition, but I link the latest one I could find. It's the book I recommend to people if they want to learn about the nuts and bolts of football. And it's been my experience, the more you know about the sport you're watching the better the overall experience is.

Edit: Thank you for the gold anonymous redditor

Not exactly what you asked for, but I got Keep Your Eyes Off the Ball off Amazon for just a few bucks a couple years ago, and it really helped me a lot with this very thing. The spiral bound "playbook edition" comes with a three hour DVD as well. The spiral version isn't dinky/flimsy so don't be scared.

Before that book, I never knew where I was supposed to be looking and missed out on a lot. Problem solved.

Edit to Add: There is an updated/newer version now, but Amazon reviewers are unclear about whether it has a DVD, if that matters to you--I think the book is pretty clear on its own.

It's called a freedom flask and it's awesome. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B006WV1HV2?pc_redir=1411945668&robot_redir=1

It's a bit dated (1997), but Feinstein's Army/Navy book is pretty good.

I recommend Roll Tide/War Eagle on ESPN or SEC Network if you have it. This short, funny book is also excellent.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0609807137/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_bgfJBbXDTZZ8G

The Big Scrum is my go to recommendation for a history style text. You have a players flair so I am not sure The Essential Smart Footbal will be meaningful for you to read, but its a great book nonetheless.

This book on Rich Rod is great.

https://www.amazon.com/Three-Out-Rodriguez-Michigan-Wolverines/dp/B0085RZPY6

The Big Scrum: How Teddy Roosevelt Saved Football is a good, easy read.

Along similar lines, Gus Malzahn wrote a book about his offense. It's similar to what you describe but a slight variant of that.

Also, While not a new trend, or even as popular as the ones you described, the air raid offense is one of my favorite trends. It flourished mostly in the 80s under Lavell Edwards at BYU but itis still used today, notably by Mike Leach at Washington State.

Within that same article, Maisel says:

>Yost not only led the opposition to Notre Dame's membership, he pressured Minnesota to end a series of games with the Catholic institution.

Wikipedia also cites the following passage:

>After cancelling the series, Yost was instrumental in corralling together the member schools of the Western Conference (the current day Big Ten Conference), refusing entry to Notre Dame and suggesting that conference members should not schedule the Fighting Irish. As a result of the boycott by Midwest opponents, Notre Dame scheduled games against schools on the east coast and west coast, such as USC and Army, and did not play Michigan again until 1942.

From a book by football historian John Kryk called 'Natural Enemies: Major College Football's Oldest, Fiercest Rivalry — Michigan vs. Notre Dame'.

There are a couple other books that I know on the subject. I think one is called 'Shakedown the Thunder: The Creation of ND Football' that lays a large majority of the blame at Yost's feet.

Plus there are quotes like this (after Michigan was named 'champions of the west' despite losing to ND and having a worse record) that leave a pretty bad taste in my mouth:

>"Of course we are champions. They have a good team down there, but you must recognize the fact that we went into that game caring little whether we won or lost. Practice was what we wanted."

Went through the same thing a couple years ago. [This is a good place to start.] (http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Smart-Football-Chris-Brown/dp/1470125595) Give it a thorough read; it is much easier (although still not easy) to find film without coaches' commentary. Best of luck!

Uh.....

MSU's quest for admittance is pretty interesting. Add to it Michigan getting booted from the conference, and being the mover and shaker of the two most recent expansion waves, and I think we're doing fine.

Just started reading Opening Kickoff: The Tumultuous Birth of a Football Nation, it's pretty good so far.

A small plug for The Solid Verbal podcast for bringing it to my attention.

> Good no huddle coaches make good no huddle teams.

Yep. That's why I'm glad we got the guy who literally wrote the book.

St. John is a great writer. He wrote Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer too which is a great intro to how fucking crazy Bama fans are

Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer: A Road Trip into the Heart of Fan Mania

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0609807137?pc_redir=1406968942&robot_redir=1

None, I've never coached or played a snap.

I recommend The Essential Smart Football by Chris Brown. I literally couldn't put it down. A lot of my education comes from reading http://fishduck.com/ as well, which is obviously Oregon-centric but the videos and graphics help with understanding any scheme.

Pat Kirwan's "Take Your Eye Off the Ball: How to Watch Football by Knowing Where to Look" helped me out a ton. It's NFL-focused, and not defense-specific, but the concepts translate. I adored this book. It's absolutely worth every cent.

​

You should read this book. Lots of cool history. Much of it covers wisconsin's star player, who was the best punter in the country. In the early days they had rules like the offense turns over the ball to the opponent if they commit a penalty, so punters were huge. You'd punt on first down if you had real bad field position. Also, field goals were at one time worth more than touchdowns, and they used to have many limits on when you could sub, so players had to do everything. The game was quite different when it first began.

The John U. Bacon ones are pretty good.

Three and Out. Fourth and Long.

I'm kinda intrigued by this one coming out by Dave Revsine.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Opening-Kickoff-Tumultuous-Football/dp/0762791772

Good meme friend

https://www.amazon.com/Hurry-Up-No-Huddle-Offensive-Philosophy/dp/1585186546

Good one but my favorite book about Alabama is The Last Coach by Allen Barra

Sunscreen flask

Then he just thinks it's weird you're drinking sunscreen.

Edit; better less special ed options

Hairbrush

umbrella

Bible

Tampon

Bra

Binoculars

Lipstick

Kneck Tie

"iPhone"

Camera

Gonna plug a book on topics similar to this:

"Opening Kickoff" by Dave Revsine

There's a Pat O'Dea narrative. And also some interesting chapters on rules, eligibility, and the safety of the game.

An EXCELLENT treatment on the origin of the sport is The Opening Kickoff: The Tumultuous Birth of a Football Nation by Dave Resvine of the B1G Network.

Starts with the birth of the sport in the Ivy league, its role in the birth of the Big 10, its reform and eventually the formation of the NCAA.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Opening-Kickoff-Tumultuous-Football/dp/0762791772

I try to usually watch the defense on any given play, usually the linebackers since you can't see much of the secondary (on TV). I recommend the following book:

http://www.amazon.com/Take-Your-Eye-Off-Ball/dp/1600783910/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=2N5XD87VH8WX4&coliid=I3DLWTK0HRQ6BQ

Blood, Sweat, and Chalk is pretty good. It goes over the evolution of offenses from the beginning of football. It talks about who invented what and the lineage of some stuff. The book really explains the offensive schemes well. I thought it was an interesting read.

This is a great one

From the guy that wrote Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer (which is an awesome book)

I actually just read a book about how ND students successfuly ran the KKK out of South Bend in the 1920's. Great read about the time period and the history of the school.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0829417710

Not based on an individual team but well worth the read.

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This is a parody of this shirt, Three Wolf Moon which was popular on the internet a while back due to the reviews of the shirt on Amazon. Wiki.

The More You Know.

Swing your sword was pretty insightful!

​

https://www.amazon.com/Swing-Your-Sword-Leading-Football/dp/1938120124

While this thread is still active, I read Mike Leach's Swing Your Sword a month ago. Thought it was a good book.

Don't need the book anymore. If anyone here wants to read it, I'll ship you the paperback so long as you live in the lower 48. Just message me your address and I'll put it in the mail this week. Only got one copy - first come first serve.

The Opening Kickoff is really good. About the early days of College Football, especially all the controversies, many of which we deal with today.

The Last Coach: A Life of Paul "Bear" Bryant was really interesting.

I love Blood, Sweat, and Chalk, It is like a history of football formations and strategies. It tells the story, but is almost kind of like a reference book. http://www.amazon.com/Blood-Sweat-Chalk-Ultimate-Football/dp/1603200614

He did write a book, it’s pretty interesting, but that is not the title. Swing Your Sword by Mike Leach.

Three and Out, by John Bacon. Rich gave him full access to his Michigan program, and it seems that everyone f'ed up there, not just Rich.
edit: fixed link

I'll bite.

Just because he had the lowest winning percentage in UM history doesn't mean he's a bad coach. :/

Interesting book BTW.
https://www.amazon.com/Three-Out-Rodriguez-Michigan-Wolverines/dp/B0085RZPY6

Can't adapt his offense to fit his personnel? I suppose that's how he managed to make fucking Chris Todd look half decent, by running his offense the exact same way he would with Cam Newton? His offenses have finished in the top 30 nearly every year he's been a head coach or OC at the FBS level... But he misses on one QB recruit in JJ and has to force guys who aren't ready into action as a result and suddenly he's a bum who can't coach. Gotta love how short people's memories can be.

Also he literally wrote the book on one of the biggest football innovations of the last 30 years, so yeah, he is innovative.

There's also a book on it, if you're a reader:


The Big Scrum: How Teddy Roosevelt Saved Football

you must be new to the internet... I'm here to help. Go read this, and know and understand.

Has anyone read any football strategy books? I'm interested in this one but I want to know if it's even interesting

They wouldn't "officially" offer him the job without meeting with him in person. But Bill Martin did speak to Miles directly on the phone. Michigan officials asked to set up a meeting with him in Miami, where Miles had already scheduled a recruiting trip later on in December, but Miles refused to meet with them to discuss the deal until after he had coached LSU through their bowl game, which ended up being the national championship, though no one expected that at the time. After Miles refused to set up a meeting, that's when they moved on to Rich Rod.

It's all covered in the book "Three and Out". I think that's the most thoroughly researched a reliable source that I've seen on the matter.

By reading books like this...

After reading John Bacon's [Three and Out] (http://www.amazon.com/Three-Out-Rodriguez-Michigan-Wolverines/dp/B0085RZPY6), I concur. His issue was defense. His D still allows a lot of yards and points, but he has a program that let's him run his offense and enough talent to make it work.

Maybe cause we didn't get into the big ten until 1950? Possibly because U of M consistently tried to vote for us not to join?
Here's a book on it: https://www.amazon.com/Arrogance-Scheming-Big-Ten-Membership/dp/0615584195 with the title "Arrogance and Scheming in the Big Ten: Michigan State's Quest for Membership and Michigan's Powerful Opposition"
Edit: Downvoted with a source, neat.

Meat Market

And

The System

Are cool reads on the subject

I've been reading Take Your Eye Off the Ball. It's definitely NFL-focused, but really gives a lot of insight into the things going on that we don't normally look at during the plays--specifically O-Line and D-Line gamesmanship and QBs reading coverage and pressure pre-snap. I'm only about 1/3 of the way through it, but I'd recommend it so far.

> But when the University of Chicago dropped from the Big Ten in 1946, Michigan State was primed to join. Nebraska, Notre Dame, Iowa State, Marquette and Pitt also were considered. But MSU ultimately was tabbed in May 1949 and began competition in 1953.

See more at: http://btn.com/2014/06/30/a-look-back-at-the-last-three-big-ten-expansions/#sthash.y9qRnTrF.dpuf

http://www.amazon.com/Arrogance-Scheming-Big-Ten-Membership/dp/0615584195

It's definitely a flask. I thought about getting one but I can't get over the dispensing method.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B006WV1HV2?pc_redir=1411945668&robot_redir=1

Teddy was an important figure because he was under a lot of pressure from institutional heads to reform the game. There was a book I read a few years ago called The Big Scrum the spoke about his involvement in this in length. Teddy may have helped bring about the talks that lead to the creation of the forward pass, but it was Harvard in the end that sealed the deal (pretty much all due to the fact that their brand new stadium was made of reinforced concrete).

there's a great book on that team. A Civil War by John Feinstein. link below

\https://www.amazon.com/Civil-War-College-Footballs-Rivalry/dp/0316278246

Bryant always kept his salary $1 less than the university president to send a message about who was the boss. That was discussed frequently while he was coaching. There is a recent book titled “The Last Coach” that discusses his philosophy.

Here's the link.

This book describes the Big Ten admission issue at length.

The Opening Kickoff by Dave Revsine

http://www.amazon.com/Scoreboard-Baby-College-Football-Complicity/dp/0803228104

http://www.amazon.com/The-Opening-Kickoff-Tumultuous-Football/dp/0762791772

http://www.amazon.com/Notre-Dame-Vs-Klan-Fighting/dp/0829417710

your right, in particular nd and the kkk have some famous history.

https://www.amazon.com/Notre-Dame-Vs-Klan-Fighting/dp/0829417710

the book

https://www.amazon.com/Hurry-Up-No-Huddle-Offensive-Philosophy/dp/1585186546/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481554406&sr=8-1&keywords=gus+malzahn

I am gonna pick this up.

http://www.amazon.com/Take-Your-Eye-Off-Ball/dp/1600783910

Take Your Eye Off the Ball

Small correction, but I think you mean "Take Your Eye off the Ball"

https://www.amazon.com/Take-Your-Eye-Off-Ball/dp/1629371696/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1536642049&sr=8-1-fkmr1&keywords=Keep+Your+Eye+Off+the+Ball+2.0

His autobiography is actually titled Swing Your Sword.

As u/guiness_blaine pointed out, his autobiography is literally titled "Swing Your Sword"

get her one of these

https://www.amazon.com/WineRack-200-008-Wine-Rack-Medium/dp/B001FYZZI2

They make professional products that do this much better.

This is where I learned of the 3-wolves t-shirt (look at the reviews)

Close enough.

You should read up on the history of the relationship if you think the hard feelings between UM and MSU was a recently started "narrative." Here's a well-researched book on the subject.

A Civil War: Army Vs Navy is one of my favorites

I'm reading "Three and Out: RichRod" right now, and I'm starting to take pity on the man. He was sabotaged from day one.

Gus Malzahn wrote a book about his offensive philosophy when he was still coaching high school.

https://www.amazon.com/Hurry-Up-No-Huddle-Offensive-Philosophy/dp/1585186546

Fuck Michigan

https://www.amazon.com/Arrogance-Scheming-Big-Ten-Membership/dp/0615584195

Remember that one time that Notre Dame (Four Horseman included) had fought the KKK?

No? Here’s a book

Read "The System". Its unbelievable how schools & surrounding communities are willing to turn a blind eye to sexual assault by athletes.

White claws and powder pedialtye brother.

We sucked, but pulled it out. I got some girls so suck my whiksey dick (https://smile.amazon.com/Freedom-Flask/dp/B006WV1HV2/).

• "The System: The Glory and Scandal of Big-Time College Football." Best book on big time college football I've ever read. Goes inside/behind the lines, and gives you different angles and perspectives on scandals. There's four chapters dedicated to the story of Mike Leach ranging from TTU to WSU. One about how Nick Saban got to Bama, and others about sexual assault, paper classes, improper benefits, and all the other politics and behind the scenes damage control stuff we never see. It's also euphoric, because it gives the inside story of players' or coaches' experiences in big moments we all know of.
  
  
• "Missoula, Rape and the Justice System in a College Town." The scope is college football at the University of Montana. This can be a difficult read, especially if you or anyone you care about has had an experience with rape or sexual assault (graphic and chilling), but it is really good, and is a harsh reality check that most don't really get from sports-prioritized media on the topic (Victim perspective and stories).
  
  
• On the more X's and O's side, there is "Blood, Sweat, and Chalk." Ignore the wildcat chapter though. The history of that chapter is extremely weak and inaccurate.
  

Well I'll preface this by saying that 1) I don't have the exact figures (I doubt any people not involved with the NCAA do...), and 2) the term "student athletes" encompasses all manner of athletes from cross country runners to rowers to football players. If you sub-divide it out by sport affiliation, it probably skews different, and in that regard you'd probably see football and basketball players tend to be arrested more often than ordinary students. (At least if you're talking about the top-tier programs, which are typically attached to top-tier universities.) There are some stats to this end in Jeff Benedict's "The System," which /u/RobertNeyland's mentioned.

As for overall arrest rates, though, a report by the U.S. Dept. of Education states that 37,901, 37,299, 37,942 arrests occurred on 4-year college campuses in 2007, 2008, and 2009, respectively. Some issues I'm wondering: 1) I think those only count arrests made on college campuses (e.g. not at an off-campus tailgate or something), 2) I don't know the total number of college students at 4-year schools in the U.S. (though maybe this list is what we need).

Maybe someone with more time can track down arrest rates for all athletes, and we can cross-check rates against general student body rates.