Wednesday Happy Hour Prepares to Drop the Puck, Travel to Indiana

Maize n Brewgives you your daily (or semi-daily) rundown of all the Michigan Football, Michigan Basketball, College Football, and College Basketball news you need to get through the tedium of your boring desk job. For good measure we'll throw in a little irreverent information, comedy and commentary to help you salt away the time until the clock strikes 5pm. If you want Maize n Brew in 140 characters or less, follow us on Twitter! Or you can friend us on Facebook and become a fan of Maize n Brew on Facebook for more links. Here's what's ON TAP:

Stuff You Should Read Right Now

Michigan football team injury report - Linebacker/safety Carvin Johnsonwill return against Indiana from a sprained MCL he suffered in the opener. Linebacker Brandon Herron (ankle), running back Michael Shaw (knee) and quarterback Tate Forcier are all probable for the Indiana game on Saturday (3:30 p.m., ESPNU).

Michigan Wolverines' Denard Robinson cleared to play against Indiana Hoosiers - ESPN, however, is reporting that the Wolverines don't expect injured running backs Michael Shaw and Fitzgerald Toussaint or safety Michael Williams to face Indiana. The saddest thing about this is that Rodriguez revealed that Williams is meeting with doctors to discuss his future after suffering concussions. That just sucks. Good luck kid. We're all pulling for you and hoping you're going to be well enough to see the field again.

The Puck Drops This Weekend - MGoBlog launches into a very thorough preview of the hockey team. A must read for the hockey faithful.

Indiana vs. Michigan through the years - Crimson Quarry launches into a discussion (with video) of IU's great wins and heartbreaking losses against Michigan.

Jones vs. Clay: Big Ten's best on display- The best game of the week. A nice write up by Rittenberg.

Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson has a fan in former Wolverines QB Brian Griese - Brian Griese hearts Denard:

"[Denard] said to me, ‘I don’t care about the stats or the publicity.' In fact, he hates the media attention, which to me, you know he’s the perfect package. He’s an unbelievable kid and a great representative of the university."

So, woo!

Lloyd Carr makes a prediction: Notre Dame will join Big Ten - Lloyd Carr may have been quiet for a while during his retirement, but he certainly seems to be opening up a tad this year. Carr dropped something for the press to chew on while talking to the Montgomery (Ala.) Quarterback Club last night.

"I'll give you one prediction and this is just a personal prediction, but I think Notre Dame is going to come to the Big Ten."

You'll pardon me if I yawn this away. Of course Notre Dame will join the Big Ten. It's just a question of when the Big XII implodes for the last time. But right now, that still looks a ways off in the future.

Michigan Football

Dreaded Judgement: Grades from the First Third: Offense Part I, Offense Part II, and the Defense - Our friends at Dreaded Judgement grade everything on the Michigan team through four games.

Taylor Lewan isn't your typical Michigan man - Smell my finger. You've heard about the finger tatoo, now get the WHOLE STORY!

Michigan vs. Bowling Green Awards - Touch the Banner doles out the awards from the BGSU game.

Nature vs Nurture and the Michigan Defense - In Rod We Trust continues to preach patience to the Michigan Faithful about the defense.

No shortage of visitors expected for IU-Michigan - When IU (3-0) and Michigan (4-0) kick-off Saturday at 3:30 on ESPNU, Tom Crean and his staff are expected to be in the midst of hosting a pile of BIG TIME basketball talent. Lets go in there and shut everyone up. Someone buy John Beilein a ticket to this game.

Second consecutive 4-0 start doesn't mean much for Michigan football team - Cautious doesn't begin to describe the feeling around Schembechler Hall these days.

"You’re just happy to get wins this early in the season, keep getting these young kids experience," secondary and special teams coach Tony Gibson said. "I’m happy with our progress to this point. … We need to get better. Obviously, you’re never satisfied with where you’re at."

Indiana football fans, players focus on Michigan - Apparently we're back to wearing a bullseye on our back. It's nice to get back to normal.

Denard Robinson won't rest much before Michigan football team faces Indiana - Stating the obvious in 500 words.

Catching up with ... former Michigan wide receiver Amani Toomer - Amani Toomer is now an analyst for the Big Ten Network and sat down for a one-on-one with Ann Arbor dot Com's Pete Bigelow. In addition to answering all the "where you been, what you done" type questions, Toomer cut through the crap and laid out an honest answer about the Wolverines in 2010.

"I'm extremely skeptical. I'm excited about the start, but I'm very skeptical about the future because I've seen this show before last year when Tate Forcier was up for the Heisman and everybody was talking about how great Tate Forcier was and I just can't jump on board yet and be like, Michigan's back. I still think they're still a work in progress."

Rich Rodriguez: U-M 'on track' to compete for Big Ten title - Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez told the media conference tall on Tuesday that Michigan is "On Track" toward winning the conference championship. Please note he didn't say they'd win it, but that the pieces are finally starting to be in place for Michigan to consistently compete for Big Ten Championships. To me, this is only true of the offense. Until Michigan's defense starts to improve and the Wolverines' defense recruiting returns to it's normally high levels I don't think Michigan will consistently play at the same level as Ohio State.

Big Ten Football

Mining the Box Score: The Non-Conference Numbers - The Only Colors launches into a data mining operation to uncover the wonderful or horrid truths about their team.

The Spartans rank 10th in the country in rush defense and 13th in yards allowed per carry (not adjusted for sacks). Those numbers are particularly impressive given that MSU has only recorded 4 sacks so far (99th in the nation)--compared to the 11 they recorded in nonconference play last year. Colin Neely is the only Spartan to post more than one sack in the first four games this year, and that's only true in a very technical sense--he's been credited with 1.5 sacks.... The negative spin is that the secondary has only seen one real passing attack and--if a pass rush doesn't materialize soon--will get torn apart like it did last season as Big Ten quarterbacks have plenty of time to find open receivers. That scenario is less fun to conceptualize.

Iowa Hawkeyes By The Numbers - A statistical preview of the Iowa Hawkeyesand Penn State Nittany Lions. Jeeebus, this does not look good for Penn State.

Ranking The Iowa-Penn State Wins, No. 6: 2003- In anticipation of the 2010 Penn State-Iowa game, BHGP counts down all seven Iowa Hawkeyes wins over the Nittany Lions in the Kirk Ferentz era. Scott Chandler and Fred Russell feature prominently in this edition. The growing HATE here is palpable.

Nitt Picks Hates Empty Seats - Penn State fans are starting to get nervous about the fanbase's inability to welcome people to Happy Valley without peeing on them. I am very, very grateful that Michigan fans do not have this problem. 

Robert Biscontini of the Class of 1974 is worried about how Alabama fans will be treated when they come to Happy Valley next year. I learned a lot about hospitality, life — and football — a few weeks ago in Tuscaloosa.

Adults and students invariably welcomed us, conversed, invited us to join them, bought drinks and complimented our coach and program. That won’t happen when they visit next year. One student will scream at some family with kids. Another will spill Nacho cheese on one of their fans, like I saw a drunken kid do to an Iowa fan last year.

Michigan Hockey

TheWolverine.com - Trio of Wolverines named to All-CCHA Team - Three Wolverines, led by senior forward Carl Hagelin, have been named to the preseason All-CCHA team the league announced Tuesday. Hagelin is joined by classmates Louie Caporusso (first team) and Matt Rust (second team).

 The Blog That Yost Built: 2010 Michigan Hockey Season Preview Part 1 and Part 2: The Forwards.