usmnt

Brindley should hear his name tonight [Bill Rapai]

RIP. Sad week for the Michigan family, as Mister Simpson and Ryan Mallett both died far too young. Mallett drowned off the Gulf Coast—apparently one of 11 people to lose their lives to rip currents in the past two weeks. Simpson's death is under investigation by the Cincinnati police department. Keep their families in your thoughts.

Toe meets leather. Warde Manuel asserts that the changed Big Ten format will not affect The Game:

“The Game will remain at noon in the regular season when we play,” Manuel said on “In the Trenches,” a podcast produced by Michigan Athletics. “We’ve had great fan enjoyment of that game, and being at noon. Great television response in terms of numbers of people who who watch that game. I think there’s no need to move it to any other time. It’s really been become a part of that series and people sort of set their calendar, set their clock to watch that game at noon on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.”

This of course sets up the unappetizing possibility of an immediate rematch for the Big Ten championship, but aside from some wacky bloggers making wacky, impossible suggestions—Seth and I are specialists in this department—I'm not sure what the alternative is.

Also note the assumption that the Game will be at noon, which is technically not guaranteed—Fox could choose another Big Ten game for their #1 overall pick—but is about as certain as anything in this crazy mixed-up world.

Math wins. There used to be a cottage industry around here: fourth-down clucking. We still mention it from time to time, but the section on the podcast that used to mention unforgivable Brady Hoke decisions has mostly been reduced to things like "ehhh… that's really close." That's because college football has gotten a lot more aggressive on fourth down. Bill Connelly provides a graph:

image

Since there are occasional correct punt decisions even in the top two categories college coaches are probably approaching optimal. I also enjoy the big spike in 2020, as the college football collective decided that nothing mattered lol. Then they were like "oh… that worked" and kept going for it.

Michigan was not on the leading edge—you probably know this—but chose its spots superbly:

Meanwhile, Michigan went for it just 21% of the time (87th) but picked its spots well and profited by 5.3 points per game (ninth). Jim Harbaugh's Wolverines converted 17 of 21 attempts (81%, second in FBS) and scored 81 points after those 17 conversions. Opponents scored only seven points after the four failures.

No decision was more important, bold, and correct than Michigan going for it on fourth and one in their own territory early in the third quarter against OSU. Meanwhile, the Buckeyes:

I imagine this is high on the list of offseason priorities in Columbus. It'll be interesting to see how that number changes this year. If it stays stubbornly low it could be a sign that Ryan Day's just a finesse kind of guy.

[After THE JUMP: yeahhhh we're just going to ignore you thanks]

Better than Kevin Wilson? [Bryan Fuller]

Something I forgot to put in the soccer post. LOOK AT THIS MAN JUMP INTO INFINITY

Just city council things. How's city council going, nobody asked?

Two months ago Jeff Hayner dropped an anti-gay slur on Facebook and the fallout has not yet stopped because no one can say "sorry" and take their lumps. (As this goes on, the majority faction is quietly busy doing good things for the city.)

[After THE JUMP: an ordering of things displeases me!]

6/6/2021 – USA 3, Mexico 2 (ET) – Nations League Champs

Columns in this space often strive to pull out the one moment, or one feeling, from a sporting event that we can build a story around. We like our numbers but we are not robots. We're in this to feel a thing, and in most sporting events there is a defining thing that ordains misery or joy.

Here, yes, there was one. When a soccer team preserves a lead in the 123rd minute with a penalty save from a backup goalkeeper who has seen four games for his club all season—who follows that up with an exhortation to drink Pepsi Max instead of alcohol in the post-game interview—there's a defining moment. But no, it was not, because soccer games that are ludicrous fast-forward montages set to that "Having A Wonderful Time" song aren't defined by anything that simple or understandable. Now that I have children I can participate in Spongebob memery!

If you watch that at 2x that's USA 3, Mexico 2. Drunk like Ethan Horvath never is.

[After THE JUMP: Mark May appears]