Unverified Voracity Eulogizes Troll
So... how did that happen? Ohio State lost to Penn State over the weekend. You may not be aware of this so I will pause for your chortling.
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All right. Done? No?
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how bout now nvm
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cumong man
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cumong
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Okay. Now we can proceed. While OSU losing to Penn State, a team Michigan beat 49-10, has caused no end of merriment in the Michigan fan base*, there was an awful lot of flukiness in the PSU win. OSU outgained PSU by a wide margin, held them to under 300 yards of offense, and had a 64% win expectancy per S&P+. PSU made up the deficit with two huge special teams plays, the first a blocked punt that set up a field goal to pull them within four, the second a kick-six that turned an potential 7-point OSU lead into the three point deficit they'd lose by.
Normally I'd write those off as flukes not applicable to the Game, but Michigan has already blocked six kicks this year and has Jabrill Peppers sitting back there for any teams who want to get overly concerned about getting the punt off. Advantage: Michigan.
Meanwhile, PFF's evaluation contains some shocking stats about the OSU OL:
...the entire unit struggled in pass protection, surrendering a staggering 34 pressures between them, with RT Isaiah Prince accounting for almost half of those by himself. The spark of Curtis Samuel’s untouched 74-yard touchdown run and Marcus Baugh’s tackle-breaking exploits in the first quarter weren’t repeated in the final 25 minutes of the game.
And it could have been worse for OSU. Star Nittany Lion DE Garrett Sickels sat out the first half. This did not prevent him from racking up 2.5 sacks. A different PFF article has a different pressure number but it's still boggling: 28 pressures on 53 dropbacks. Taco Charlton and Chris Wormley are likely to do similar work. PSU's 28th in adjusted sack rate. Michigan is 4th.
A second major issue was an inability to get to Saquon Barkley near the line of scrimmage:
the Penn State offensive line set up Barkley with 41 of his 99 rushing yards before contact, and Barkley didn’t have to break any tackles while coming up just a yard shy of a 100-yard game. The star on the offensive line for the third straight week was RT Brendan Mahon, who dominated the Ohio State front on the ground, combining particularly well on double teams to blow the Buckeyes’ defensive tackles out of the middle of the play and disrupt the linebackers behind them.
Later in that piece PFF will advocate for OSU's backup DTs to play over the starters after PSU and Wisconsin gashed OSU up the gut repeatedly. I will repeat: PSU—THE Penn State University—gashed Ohio State up the gut. Penn State. That one. That team. The one with Paris Palmer in the starting lineup again. They got 8.2 yards per carry between the tackles. (Why on Earth they only gave Barkley 12 carries is completely inexplic—oh right James Franklin.)
OSU's run D looks fine statistically, but that's largely due to 4 TEAM rushes for a total of –43 yards. Those were three kneels from the gun and a yakety snap over the punter's head. Remove those and Penn State rushed for an even 5 yards a carry without a single broken tackle from Barkley.
Michigan looks like they have a significant advantage on both lines. I can't believe I'm saying that but here we are.
*[My favorite thing is OSU fans saying it was a ROAD NIGHT GAME since Vegas is now offering 40 points for home field advantage.]
In other OSU issues. Land Grant Holy Land notes that OSU doesn't get many explosive plays. It's Curtis Samuel and that's it. In a very James Franklin twist, Samuel had two carries for 71 yards against PSU. And as always, I recommend Ross Fulton's OSU breakdown.
Meanwhile in this week's matchup. It doesn't look good for MSU:
How is Michigan State going to move the football?
I'm not sure how else to headline this bullet point. If you look at the numbers -- what Michigan's done on defense and what Michigan State's done on offense -- you get a pretty simple result. Michigan State will have to completely change the way it runs offense, overnight, and Michigan's defense will have to take a massive step backward for the Spartans to move the ball with consistency.For the year, 22.2 percent of MSU's offensive possession have reached the red zone (No. 117 nationally). Michigan's defense, meanwhile, has allowed offenses to reach the red zone on just 6.7 percent of their possessions. That's No. 1 nationally. Michigan State also ranks near the bottom nationally in number of possessions per game at 12.6 and near the bottom in average field position. MSU is No. 91 nationally in rush yards per game, Michigan's No. 4 nationally in rush defense. If numbers hold, this could be a great day for Michigan's defense and a long one for MSU's offense.
MSU's gotta hope that some long bombs get completed and LJ Scott can conjure something up himself.
Bill Connelly gets to talk about his numbers too. We've been doing it all year, and he joins the "holy crap, Michigan's defense in S&P+" brigade:
Def. S&P+ is presented in an adjusted points-per-game figure and is created from an opponent-adjusted mix of efficiency, explosiveness, finishing drives, turnover factors, and field position factors. Here are its top five defenses in the country:
5. Wisconsin (12.4 Adj. PPG)
4. Alabama (11.9)
3. Florida (11.3)
2. Clemson (11.0)
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1. Michigan (0.8)0.8!
Yes, these numbers are adjusted for garbage time, so Jim Harbaugh’s general ruthlessnessisn’t giving the Wolverines an added statistical advantage.
Yes, these numbers are adjusted for opponent, though while Michigan’s schedule was supposedto be awful, it really hasn’t been; among Wolverine victims, Wisconsin is 10th in overall S&P+, Penn State is 16th, and Colorado is 17th.
[Eric Upchurch]
Jim Harbaugh is crazy part infinity. SBN notes that Harbaugh does things without knowing what the score is. Deadspin gets into Harbaugh's inability to let that fourth-quarter spot go, and I make note of the latter mostly to highlight a couple of comments. One:
When Tomsula wouldn’t let anything go, you called him a hoarder and impounded his car.
Two:
He was my daughter’s micro-soccer coach when she and his kid were 4 years old. He couldn’t have been nicer, more mellow, or better liked by the kids. He adapts to every situation to be great at whatever it is.
I almost don't want to believe the latter.
Baumgardner pokes the bear. Cumong man:
No disrespect, Michigan State, but Michigan's focused on bigger things for 2016
That's probably worth a field goal, that headline.
Harbaugh is worth it. Financially, things are going swimmingly:
U-M's overall revenue in spectator admissions increased to $45.1 million during the 2016 fiscal year, compared to $41.9 million in 2015. The $3.2 million increase was primarily due to an increase in football ticket demand, according to the financial analysis, which was approved by the U-M Board of Regents on Thursday, Oct. 20.
In comparison, spectator admissions decreased $8.3 million in 2015 due to a decrease in football, men's basketball and ice hockey admissions.
Overall, the athletic department saw an increase of $7.8 million to its net position for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2016, which is up from 2015's $1 million overall increase.
He literally pays for himself, and that's before various other application/donation things get factored in.
RIP Drew Sharp, troll. People should memorialize the dead as they knew them. Much of the Detroit media has done so in the case of Drew Sharp, who passed away at 56 this Friday. Those who knew him say he was a great and funny guy whose button-pushing writing shouldn't define the man, and I won't dispute that.
However, much of the memorializing has bothered me because it skips straight over the lasting fact of Drew Sharp's career: he was an unrepentant troll. There is a certain genre of newspaper columnist or radio talking head that is relentlessly negative because that's the only thing he can do that gets a reaction, and Sharp was Detroit's version. (There's one in every city.) He didn't have readers. He had marks.
His cynicism was breathtaking, and this was never more clear than in the immediate aftermath of Michigan signing Demar Dorsey. Sharp correctly diagnosed that circus as desperation on the part of Rich Rodriguez, but for the wrong reason. Dorsey was nowhere close to qualifying and never came close, spending his career at various vagabond stops en route to a brief Arena League career. It's a sad story about kids who come up rough and can't make it out.
Or, if you're Drew Sharp, it's an opportunity to bash a teenager who ended up in trouble:
MATT SHEPARD: "He was timed with a 4.4—"
SHARP: "Avoiding police."…
SHEPARD: "That happened when he was 16 and he was acquitted.
SHARP: "I wonder if that was because he was a high profile recruit. Hmm. I wonder. … OJ got acquitted. Being acquitted doesn't mean you're innocent."
That's the only thing he ever did that made me legitimately angry; the rest of it was eye-rolling at his transparent attempts to troll people. I only knew his writing, so I knew him as a man with contempt for everything and an utter lack of empathy.
Meanwhile his writing level and banter was barely above every message board's worst poster. Deadspin got its hands on a couple of his Brandon-esque emails some years back, and since those come through without the benefit of seven layers of editing they're the clearest picture of his talent as a writer.
WAAAAAH! WAAAAAH!
Does the little baby need a pacifier?
Yeah, Detroit needs writers that makes excuses for the city and simply tell the idiots in this town just want to hear.
They've been doing that for 30 years in this town and that's a big reason why Detroit is swirling down the toilet.
Oh, I'm sorry...that's not a "happy feel good story" is it?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
He had none. Drew Sharp's death is a loss to those who knew him. His career is his career, though, and shouldn't be viewed through sepia-tinged glasses. It says something that most of the newspaper obits start with "if you look past the thing he did every day for the last 30 years, he was a great guy." Mmmhmm.
Etc.: Nebraska regent reacts to players' kneeling protest badly. Nobody on the NTDP is a first round lock this year but two Michigan commits are candidates. Hockey also picked up a commit from D Mike Vukojevic, a potential first round OHL draft pick. Brendan Quinn on Xavier Simpson. Kill 'em with kindness. Also your DL.
October 25th, 2016 at 12:41 PM ^
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October 25th, 2016 at 9:11 PM ^
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October 25th, 2016 at 12:42 PM ^
Wow that eulogy was brutal, Brian. I'm not saying that it's refutable, just that you're a braver man than me. Prepare thyself for thy mentions.
October 25th, 2016 at 12:44 PM ^
It was accurate, factual, and respectful. Jesus people have no idea what words like "brutal" mean anymore
October 25th, 2016 at 12:51 PM ^
I watched the Walking Dead on Sunday, bro.
October 25th, 2016 at 12:53 PM ^
but from what i've read it sounded pretty bad. How bad would you say it was 1-10?
October 25th, 2016 at 1:01 PM ^
October 25th, 2016 at 1:20 PM ^
October 25th, 2016 at 1:42 PM ^
this cracked me up! +1
October 25th, 2016 at 1:49 PM ^
It was brutal.
October 25th, 2016 at 4:46 PM ^
October 25th, 2016 at 7:49 PM ^
God, I hate that show.
October 25th, 2016 at 2:59 PM ^
October 25th, 2016 at 3:47 PM ^
I don't think the point is that Brian was being disrespectful, or "Brutal" as stated above, because he wasn't, it was well written and not discourteous. I guess I have just always thought that criticism of someone should be either constructive, or left unsaid, which is why I have never liked the idea of honest, negative eulogies.
I did not read Sharp, so I do not have the dislike that many people on here have, but what's done is done. I understand if you do not want to write a positive eulogy or share untruthful throughts on your opinion of someone who has passed, but I don't see the point in criticizing them because there is nothing that can be done about it now.
The only results I can see is scarring some family and friends image of him who may have a positive view on the decesased, and honestly, if someone truly believes a loved one was a good person, why cause more pain then they are already dealing with by attempting to ruin that impression?
October 25th, 2016 at 8:31 PM ^
October 26th, 2016 at 9:54 AM ^
I wasn't saying that was bound to happen. My main point was simply, what is the point of writing negative things about a person who is no longer able to do anything to change those aspects of themselves. There is no positives that can come from a negative eulogy.
October 25th, 2016 at 8:31 PM ^
October 25th, 2016 at 1:34 PM ^
That felt incredibly tame to me. I mean, point to one thing Sharp wrote in the past, oh, half-dozen years that came across as genuine and focused on improving discourse. You can't. Maybe he was a great guy in person, but the character he portrayed (and got paid handsomely to enact) was a droll, borderline-racist, profoundly-uninteresting dog whistling troll. It's generally good practice not to speak ill of the dead, but that doesn't mean you need to whitewash their pasts either.
October 25th, 2016 at 1:41 PM ^
"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be." -- Kurt Vonnegut, Mother Night
October 25th, 2016 at 12:42 PM ^
"He didn't have readers, he had marks". That has to be one of the most accurate statements ever written on this blog. Excellent way to put that.
October 25th, 2016 at 2:18 PM ^
Agreed. Which is also why I quit reading Drew Sharp several years ago.
Brian nailed it. He might have been a good guy, but only for those that had an actually relationship with him. For people who only knew him through his writing, the guy will not be missed by many people.
October 25th, 2016 at 12:43 PM ^
October 25th, 2016 at 12:44 PM ^
October 25th, 2016 at 12:45 PM ^
Actually, the thing that killed me about Drew Sharp is not that he was a no-talent hack - he wasn't. Once a month, almost like clockwork, he would produce something that was smart, insightful, well-written. The rest of the time he would turn to the dark side and find the worst things he could to say. He coulda been a contender, so to speak, but he preferred not to.
I never could fathom why he chose to see the world that way, but that quoted email sheds more light on his motivation than his whole body of work as a columnist.
October 25th, 2016 at 1:36 PM ^
When he actually wrote them himself.
http://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/ot-david-harns-directly-calls-out-drew-shar…
October 25th, 2016 at 1:43 PM ^
Connecting the dots, a lot of the heartfelt columns from his fellow writers extolled some truly nice things that Sharp did for them (e.g., agreeing to travel to an away game in another columnist's place, so the other columnist could watch his kid play high school football that night). Having to do so much work, already having an "angle" -- which is the toughest part of a columnists' job -- saved time. As a default, he'd go negative and assume the worst.
Probably also a reason he plagizarized last year (for which he, nor the Freep, ever apologized for, though it was the main reason he was let go at 105.1) -- it's a time saver.
Reading his co-workers obits, Sharp seemed like a great co-worker, friend and someone who looked out for his fellow man. It's a shame that didn't come through, at all, in his columns or media appearances.
October 25th, 2016 at 1:55 PM ^
Yeah, that disconnect is what bothered me most about his passing. To hear such nice things from the people that truly knew him, why the hell did he have to go the opposite route for the people that didn't know him?
You ever hear the saying "If you want to know the true worth of a man, watch how he treats his inferiors, not his equals?"
Drew Sharp treated his inferiors like shit.
October 25th, 2016 at 3:01 PM ^
I mean you know like just out of curiosity?
October 25th, 2016 at 3:39 PM ^
Clearly everyone but his peers. And most certainly his audience -- whether it was print, radio, or TV.
October 25th, 2016 at 2:18 PM ^
Could you point/link to any of these?
I have not seen them. Partly because I refused to read his work in the last few years as I tried to avoid feeding trolls.
October 25th, 2016 at 12:47 PM ^
The video Buckeye guy seemed like a pretty good guy. I don't get why he'd film himself at the end of such a game, but who hasn't wanted to yell at Chris Fowler to shut up?
I also liked his "congratulations Penn State - you're going to the Armed Services Bowl" snark. Plus he called PSU out on the white out bullshit. If I'm looking for exemplars of bad Buckeyes, this isn't my first choice.
October 25th, 2016 at 1:16 PM ^
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October 25th, 2016 at 1:30 PM ^
Did you stay till the end when he mentions wearing his "chomper shirts?" What the hell is a chomper shirt?
If you have to fix your hair every 30 seconds, you might want to consider going with a new hairstyle.
October 25th, 2016 at 2:30 PM ^
Consider this:
If PSU wins out (certainly possible) and we win out (looking better every day), then PSU finishes with the same overall record as OSU and a BETTER conference record... who's going to the Generic-Product Bowl then?
October 25th, 2016 at 3:00 PM ^
Still Penn State.
October 25th, 2016 at 1:22 PM ^
October 25th, 2016 at 1:33 PM ^
He's also right about the lack of pass interference call. It was a terrible no-call. Good for video Buckeye for not blaming the loss on it, though.
October 25th, 2016 at 1:55 PM ^
I watched it twice the other day when it was first posted in a thread and then twice more today in this thread. There are just so many great nuggets in it. This guy is now my favorite buckeye fan. It would be a blast to tailgate with this dude.
Herbstreit.....Quiet.
October 25th, 2016 at 12:51 PM ^
October 25th, 2016 at 12:51 PM ^
He may have been a great guy, but you would not know it from his writing.
October 25th, 2016 at 1:31 PM ^
because you are what you write. No exceptions.
October 25th, 2016 at 12:51 PM ^
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October 25th, 2016 at 2:00 PM ^
When I read that the other day I was not connecting the dots. For those that may have forgotten, when Weber shocked everyone and committed to osu at the last minute, we got Higdon to flip from Iowa. I think this all went down on signing day if I remember correctly. Now here we are with Higdon perhaps about to bust onto the national scene as a great back.
October 25th, 2016 at 3:20 PM ^
Not exactly.
We did flip Higdon from Iowa on signing day. But Weber decommitted from us in late November and committed to OSU in the beginning of December. The new staff went after Weber hard once they were hired, and the night before signing day Weber was allegedly torn between Michigan and OSU. We flipped Higdon early in the morning on signing day, and that was allegedly the final straw that pushed Weber to sign with OSU.
October 25th, 2016 at 4:45 PM ^
October 25th, 2016 at 12:53 PM ^
Wow OSU's OL is a flat out disaster and their DL isn't much better.
Also, spot on about Drew Sharp.
October 25th, 2016 at 12:57 PM ^
October 25th, 2016 at 1:01 PM ^
October 25th, 2016 at 1:17 PM ^
and people gave me shit because of my indifference.
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