Michigan Draws South Carolina In Outback Bowl
you can touch a ray if you go to Tampa. woo.
Michigan returns to Tampa for a rematch against South Carolina, as predicted weeks ago by Brett McMurphy. As far as bowl matchups against SEC teams with the same record as you go, South Carolina is an ideal matchup if your preference is to get any sort of win and get to the next season—and this is my preference.
The Gamecocks rank 67th in S&P+ because that ranking system thinks they're a 6-6 team that's been fortunate. Tale of the tape:
| MICHIGAN | thing | SOCAR |
|---|---|---|
| OFFENSE | ||
| 31st | SD RUN RATE | 94th |
| 8th | RUSH O | 67th |
| 10th | LINE YARDS | 54th |
| 76th | PASS O | 48th |
| 118th | SACKS ALLOWED | 71st |
| 24th | PASSING DOWNS | 102nd |
| 72nd | OVERALL | 88th |
| DEFENSE | ||
| 43rd | SD RUN RATE | 105th |
| 8th | RUSH D | 25th |
| 2nd | LINE YARDS | 41st |
| 2nd | PASS D | 56th |
| 2nd | SACKS | 72nd |
| 3rd | PASSING DOWNS | 31st |
| 10th | OVERALL | 46th |
The Gamecocks' offense is a passing-oriented dunk and dunk outfit; their defense is okay but only that. They've played two games against defenses in Michigan's vicinity; they scored ten points against both Georgia and Clemson, failing to crack 300 yards in either game.
S&P+ favors Michigan by about nine. So naturally Vegas favors a team that lost to Kentucky by ten? By more than a touchdown?
South Carolina opened as an 8 1/2-point favorite over Michigan in the Outback Bowl https://t.co/TkM1xdNyDr
— Nick Baumgardner (@nickbaumgardner) December 3, 2017
That might be a data entry error. It is exceptionally rare for systems like S&P+ to differ by that much from the Vegas line. It's either that or Vegas pricing in O'Korn, but if Brandon Peters's health is that much of a swing and unknown why would they even have it on the board? I don't know. A dollar says typo.
Anyway. Good matchup Michigan should win.
UPDATE: score one for typo.
@chengelis no Vegas line or consensus offshore line yet, but 5Dimes has MI -9 over South Carolina. I was thinking it should be around -7, so waiting to see what CG or Westgate opens at.
— Johnny Detroit (@Johnny_Detroit) December 3, 2017
December 4th, 2017 at 4:59 PM ^
Tampa gets no love from Brian. Tampa kicks ass though, if you need recommendations and have time to do stuff outside of the airport, hotel and stadium let me know. Happy to share the best parts of this place.
December 4th, 2017 at 8:39 PM ^
December 4th, 2017 at 11:45 PM ^
It's a pretty large metro area (not tri-county detroit big, but still). If you can let me know where you'll primarily be or what you'll be up to, I could def give you the heads up on the best areas. You wouldn't want to be stuck on the wrong side of a bridge (there are 4 across the bay) for certain events. AirBnB is a great way to go down here as well - always always stay in previously rated properties.
Beaches (Pinellas County)
Avoid beach-area rentals right off the beach. You'll get hit with a premium and they tend to be kinda lousy. Shoot for rentals more than a block off the beach. You'll find larger houses and less expensive apartments/condos. I'd recommend Indian Rocks or Madeira Beach, and beaches south of that. Clearwater Beach while beautiful is always bananas. If you're looking to go North of Clearwater Beach, Dunedin (done-eed-in) is pretty cool.
Tampa Proper
South Tampa is the spot to be. A little higher cost but the AirBnB rentals tend to be better. I created a map to highlight the area with road boundaries that should help out when searching https://drive.google.com/open?id=1tcX07stCZEGJsAX3tN1MAMcCrAD4iq5w&usp=…
West Tampa is very Hispanic - nothing against it, just good to know.
St. Pete
Lots of folks confuse "Tampa" with "Tampa Bay" and throw in Pinellas county, the beaches and St. Pete in the same bucket. If you're lookig to stay in St. Pete, the Old Northeast is a great area. The city of Clearwater (different than the beach) has some nice areas with nice homes, but I'm not that familiar with it.
Lots of apartments near Gandy Blvd in Pinellas/St Pete. I've stayed there in the past (before I moved down) and they're good. There's also Shore Acers right off Gandy with lots of waterfront homes if you're going to go all baller.
Areas to Avoid
If it's Tampa proper, you'll want to avoid staying Ybor, Riverside Heights, and Tampa Heights. All three are considered rough areas. Seminole Heights is the area that just dealt with a "serial killer" - it's a big mix of shady-as-hell and up-and-coming. If you dig Corktown in Detroit you might think staying there is cool. Avoid being near MLK. On one end it's industrial and on the other, well, it gets rough. Staying down by MacDill AFB is OK, lots of rentals down that way, but you'll be a good distance from everything.
Do not stay south of 1st St and don't stay West of Tropicana Field in St. Pete. Avoid the other cities in Pinellas county; Largo, Pinellas Park, etc. They're not bad, they're just not great places to stay.
December 4th, 2017 at 8:52 PM ^
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