Tuesday Lowdown Tweets Schadenfreude, Then Deletes It

Week 1 of the college football season is in the books, and it was not memorable. Here's the Tuesday Lowdown to help heal those wounds.

Yahoo!: Michigan State players share their critiques of Denard Robinson’s play on Twitter (then delete them)

File this one under "Sparty No!". Bonus points because it took place not on a gameday.

Trolling is the art of posting inflammatory messages about something or someone on the Internet, and during the Alabama-Michigan game, Michigan State players had trolling down to a science.

Of course the main target was Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson, who had a less than stellar outing against Alabama. Robinson, who many considered a Heisman contender, was 11 of 26 for 200 yards a touchdown and two interceptions. He also managed just 27 yards rushing and a score in the 41-14 loss.

Throughout the course of the game, Michigan State players chimed in on Robinson's play. While most of the tweets have been deleted, Mlive.com managed to grab them before they disappeared:

"Is this guy really a QB I'll say my mans (walk-on Tommy Vento) is a better QB lol," linebacker Denicos Allen tweeted. "S/O to my boy vento by the way."
"DENARD IS SOOOO BAD!" safety Kyle Artinian tweeted. "And it makes me feel so good."
"I can play quarterback for the school in blue," linebacker Jamal Lyles tweeted. "(Le'Veon Bell) for heisman > the other guy in the great state of michigan."

And when Robinson found Jeremy Gallon on a 71-yard reception?

"Even a blind squirrel can get a nut ever once in a while...," running back Nick Hill tweeted.

Michigan State can mock because the Spartans beat No. 24 Boise State 17-13 on Friday and cemented running back Le'Veon Bell as one of the early Heisman contenders. But we'll see who gets the last tweet when the two teams meet on Oct. 20.

MVictors: Bad Juju...Get off Me
MVictors, who covered the game in Dallas, unknowingly, brought back to Ann Arbor with them some of the rubber pellets from the field at Cowboys Stadium. Greg needs some help disposing of them properly.

MGoBlog: The Axeman, Publicized
We all know the SEC, Alabama especially, over-signs recruits regularly. Thanks to a recent WSJ article, we know a little bit more about the mysterious process of using "medial hardships" and how they are used to exploit players and skirt NCAA scholarship caps.

This is actually the less odious bit of Saban's merry disembowelings since the kids he cuts via this method get to stay in school on scholarship (and don't hurt the APR), but it's still a way for him to skirt competitive equity. He gets to try out four extra kids a year and then dump them. The NCAA's in a tough spot since it's tough to discern between scam artists like Saban and legitimate cases like Antonio Bass, but suffice it to say this is a dangerous precedent to set. The NCAA has to close this loophole. 

Deadspin: Brent Musburger Said Piss, and Kirk Herbstreit Couldn't Keep His Sh*t Togeher
Presented without comment.


MLive: Fitz Toussaint, Frank Clark reinstated for Michigan's game against Air Force

Michigan coach Brady Hoke said Monday that suspended players Fitz Toussaint and Frank Clark will play Saturday against Air Force.

Welcome back. Carry on.

Detroit News: Michigan trusts Courtney Avery to fill in capably for Blake Countess

Michigan coach Brady Hoke said Monday he expects Countess will have surgery in the next two weeks.
"We trust Courtney," Hoke said Monday during his weekly news conference. "Courtney is a seasoned veteran. With him and Raymon (Taylor) and (freshman) Terry Richardson — all three of those guys are guys we've counted on to step up and play. Courtney has a lot of experience and he's played a lot of football here."

I suspect Avery and Raymon Taylor will duke it out over the course of the next few weeks to replace Countess, with Taylor ultimately winning the gig, but it's nice to have real actual competition for this spot and not just a warm body as has been the case the last few years.

Assorted Bits
Shutdown Fullback breaks down week 1. Prolific animated-gif creator LSUFreek takes a shot at the less-than great start Florida had to the 2012 season. Someone decided it would be fun to watch all of the Denard's throws against Alabama. Michigan is an early 21-point favorite over Air Force...which seems a bit high all things considered. The O/U is a mind-blowing 61.