When Michigan coach Brady Hoke was hired in January, one of his first orders was to install countdown clocks inside Schembechler Hall. The clocks include digital readouts that serve as a daily reminder of the time remaining before the Wolverines face Big Ten foes Ohio State and Michigan State. But just because Michigan's annual nonconference game with Notre Dame isn't represented with a permanent timepiece doesn't take away from the significance of a rivalry that dates to 1887. "This is important as anything,' Hoke said Monday.

A band of storms throughout the Midwest cancelled the end of one game, postponed another and caused delays in other matchups. Michigan and Western Michigan agreed to end their game Saturday late in the third quarter after a second delay due to lightning, giving Brady Hoke a 34-10 victor in his debut. "It was kind of wild," Hoke said. "Wet and wild." Michigan athletic director Dave Brandon said the lopsided score played a part in ending the game early.

Howie Bailey was introduced to the sport of skeet shooting during his brief career as a relief pitcher with the Detroit Tigers in the early 1980s. Now, 30 years later, the Grand Haven native and current West Olive resident has been recognized as one of the best in the sport in the state of Michigan. Bailey, 54, was inducted into the Michigan Skeet Shooting Hall of Fame this past Saturday at the Michigan State Shoot at the Detroit Gun Club in Walled Lake.

There was concern in the off-season that Grand Haven's varsity football team had lost too many offensive playmakers to graduation and some growing pains were in order. If anything, Thursday's 48-21 thumping of Traverse City West at Buccaneer Stadium eased those concerns and proved that seven new starters on that side of the ball have grown up in a hurry.