U-M football season has arrived. Here's what to expect from The Scott Bell Newsletter this fall
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The 2023 Michigan football season is (almost) finally here. And as we hit the 10-day mark until the Wolverines kick their season off against East Carolina, it felt like a good time to share with you my coverage plans for the upcoming season — as well as share a special offer and give a few reminders of some special perks that subscribers receive.
As always, if you ever have any questions, comments, concerns or suggestions, feel free to e-mail me at the newsletter’s e-mail address: bagofbell@gmail.com.
Special offer
First and foremost, with the ‘23 season about to kick off, I’ll be offering a 23% off special offer from now until opening kickoff on September 2nd.
This offer is for premium, annual subscriptions only, and you must use the link below to get that special pricing.
For long-time premium subscribers, you know these special offers are few and far between, so if you’ve just been receiving the free e-mails and you’re ready to take the plunge into premiumland, now would be a great time to do so, because another special offer is not imminent.
Weekly content schedule
I’ve generally kept the same in-season “schedule” for content since starting this newsletter in 2020. This year, you’ll have the same usual staples (game column, game preview, predictions, power rankings, etc). But after getting some feedback about my “main” column each week, I’m going to make a few minor tweaks.
The biggest such tweak: I’m committed to getting game columns out earlier this fall. But instead of them coming in at around 6,000 words or so, they might be closer to the 2,000-3,000 range. In other words: You might be getting a few chapters instead of an entire book. But you’ll be getting it to start your work week rather than waiting a couple extra days for me to add a few more thousand words to it.
It’s really important to me to offer more than just surface-level coverage of games and the team in general. If you’re going to spend money on a product, I want it to be different than other things in the market. And there’s already a lot of great Michigan coverage out there — something I’m very conscious of. So I take this very seriously. I’m not here to tell you what a coach said during media availability during the week. Or even to tell you what happened on the field during a game. Other people already do that. And you’re already watching that on TV or in person. My goal is to tell you what it means, why it happened and what could be coming next — while hopefully being a little entertaining in the process.
With that in mind, this is my content plan for this fall:
Monday: “Main” column for the week. This will typically be my write-up of the previous Saturday’s game. For weeks like next Monday or the week coming off a bye, I’ll have a separate feature/column ready to roll out that day.
Tuesday (NEW): I’ll share audio and a written transcription of my weekly chat with Sam Webb and Ira Weintraub where we break down the previous week’s game and look ahead to Michigan’s next matchup.
Wednesday (NEW): Wednesday Q&A. This will take place using the “threads” feature of this newsletter, something I toyed around with during basketball season and when big news hit this offseason. It will largely act like a VIP message board, where I’ll answer any question premium subscribers may have, regardless of topic.
Thursday: Big Ten power rankings. This is a long-time newsletter staple and will remain as such. I’ll take a look at what’s been happening around the Big Ten and how different teams shake out in my power rankings. And there will continue to be bits. Lots and lots of bits.
Friday: Game preview/predictions. Another newsletter staple. I’ll break down Michigan’s upcoming game and give my prediction for how it plays out, while also predicting every Big Ten game — both straight and against the spread — as well as three other big national games of the week.
Saturday/Sunday (NEW): Quick takeaways from Michigan’s game. This will be new. Part of the feedback I received from folks this offseason is the wait was too long for analysis off a Michigan game. So I’m committing to getting something quick out — either Saturday or early the next day, usually depending on the kickoff time of that week’s Michigan game. This might be in audio/podcast form. It might be more interactive using the threads function. It may be in a different form. But I’m committed to testing different things out, soliciting feedback and then hopefully settling in on a preferred format by the time we reach conference play.
ICYMI
If you’re a premium subscriber and you’re looking to sharpen up heading into the start of the season, here’s some content from the offseason that might be worth checking out — whether it’s for the first time or as a refresher:
Big Ten Power Rankings heading into 2023: Why I think Michigan — not Ohio State — is the team to beat in the Big Ten this fall: Read here
Big Ten football preview (offense): Check out my Preseason B1G All-Offense Teams (1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th), my Preseason B1G All-Transfer Team and power ranks of the conference’s top offensive players: Read here
Big Ten football preview (defense): Check out my Preseason B1G All-Defense Teams (1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th), my Preseason B1G All-Transfer Team and power ranks of the conference’s top defensive players: Read here
2023 Michigan football roster breakdown: 60 takeaways on 60 players — a closer look at the deepest Michigan football roster in decades: Read here
Michigan football fan survey: Breaking down the results of my 2023 Michigan football fan survey to subscribers, where you share your thoughts on 20+ questions surrounding the Michigan football program: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
Michigan’s Two-RB “Problem”: A deep dive into how Michigan can optimize the fact that it has a pair of elite running backs in Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards: Read here
Development U?: A deep dive looking into how Michigan has become “Player Development U” under Jim Harbaugh: Read here
Full archive: A premium subscription gets you access to a full library of more than 100 newsletters since 2020: Read here
Special perks
Along with the premium subscriber content outlined above in the weekly content schedule section, premium subscribers also get access to free special contests and fantasy sports leagues with real-money prizes.
For the fourth straight fall, I’ll be offering fantasy college football leagues for all premium subscribers that are interested in participating. They are free to enter as long as you’re a premium subscriber. And as long as you remain a premium subscriber for the duration of the league, you’re eligible for cash prizes, which go to the winners of each individual league.
The leagues will once again be hosted on Fantrax.com. And I’ll try to mix in a variety of Big Ten only leagues, P5 only leagues and full FBS leagues.
My only ask: Please only commit to these leagues if you’re committing to being an active participant over the course of the entire season. The last thing we want are draft no-shows or folks who give up a week or two into the season. This is meant to be competitive and community building. I want to make room for everyone who wants a spot. But I also don’t want to burn hundreds of dollars accomodating people who don’t even care to participate.
If you are interested in participating, please e-mail me at bagofbell@gmail.com with “FANTASY COLLEGE FOOTBALL” as your e-mail subject. If you have a preference on Big Ten vs. P5 vs. all FBS, please note that inside the e-mail. I can’t promise to get you your preference, but I can promise to do my best. We’re up against the clock a little bit this offseason, but I’m committed to still making it happen. My working plan is to begin “slow” drafts on Monday morning, where you have 1-2 hours to make picks. If we get close to running into the start of games, I reserve the right to speed up that “slow” clock a bit, though.
Referral bonuses
Also new this fall: Referral bonuses.
This is an opportunity to spread the word about this newsletter — while earning some comped premium subscriptions in the process.
It’s pretty simple. On each newsletter, I’ll have a button that says “Refer a friend.” In fact, here’s the actual button if you want to give it a test run.
This is a way to share this newsletter to a friend. It also means I can spend less time promoting this on Twitter/X/whatever it’s called. Actually, it means I can just spend less time in general on Twitter/X/whatever it’s called, so that’s a major win in itself.
Once you make a referral, the system will note it. And as your referrals add up, so will your rewards. For this fall, here’s my referral “bonus” structure:
If you make 3 referrals, you’ll receive a one-month comp
If you make 10 referrals, you’ll receive a three-month comp
If you make 25 referrals, you’ll receive a six-month comp
For competitive folks out there, a “subscriber leaderboard” that looks at the subscribers who have made the most referrals can be found HERE. (It’s also now a part of the navigation at the top of the newsletter.) Whoever ends up on top of that list at the end of 2023 will get something special from me, too.
Sponsorship opportunities
This newsletter operates under a pretty hard paywall for written content, and I plan to keep it that way as a thank you to people who subscribe — why the hell would you subscribe to a premium product if everyone else can get it for free?
One thing I am toying with for the future, though, is potentially rolling out something outside of the paywall designed to attract a larger audience. This would most likely be a podcast, but I’m also open to other creative ideas.
There are a lot of costs to taking on an additional project like this — both time-wise and monetarily — so I would only consider rolling out a “free” project like this if I had a partner in the form of a/(some) sponsor/(s).
If you or a business you’re associated with might be interested in discussing this further, please don’t be shy and shoot me an e-mail at bagofbell@gmail.com where we can discuss in more detail. I’m happy to share more about my vision and my audience, both at free and premium levels.
One last reminder
This last announcement isn’t specific to the newsletter. But if you’re a Dallas resident, please consider heading out to the NYLO Dallas Plano Hotel this Saturday (8/26) for the U-M Dallas Alumni Club Michigan football kickoff event. I’ll be the featured speaker. I spoke at this event last year and it was a lot of fun, and it was really cool getting to meet a lot of subscribers in the flesh.
Doors will open at 12:30 in the afternoon and I’ll start talking around 1.
This is a free event. But if you plan on attending, please RSVP at THIS LINK to assist organizers in preparing the venue. And while it’s free, please consider donating to the club’s Scholarship Endowment Fund. It’s a great cause that helps future D-FW Wolverines get to Ann Arbor by easing the pain of that out-of-state tuition.
Just when I was debating if I wanted to start doing a UM pod as a side project you are jumping into the market. Guess I'll reconsider, it's already a crowded space in UM podcasting streets.