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 3rd, 2017 at 4:48 PM ^
South Carolina is the fifth-worst bowl eligible P5 team to S&P+, ahead of only UCLA, Arizona State, Duke, and Kentucky. If we are healthy, we should demolish them.
December 3rd, 2017 at 10:30 PM ^
I feel like Michigan's offense never got their feet under them this whole season. Every time they seemed to put it together another costly injury or QB change would set them back. Given a month to heal up and drill some the deficencies (i.e. pass pro), I think we're going to be a pretty tough team to beat.
December 4th, 2017 at 9:39 AM ^
Naturally, David Pollack and his fellow mouthbreathing SEC friends on College Football WTF on ESPN all picked South Carolina because their QB is better than John O'Korn. Truly insightful analysis.
December 3rd, 2017 at 4:47 PM ^
Hard to conjure any excitement for play in an irrelevant bowl. Biggest plus is extra practices.
December 3rd, 2017 at 6:25 PM ^
So if it's not the playoff you're not interested?
December 4th, 2017 at 5:35 AM ^
It's the payoff not the playoff that matters. B$GTEN.
December 3rd, 2017 at 4:49 PM ^
Go blue. Beat those cocks
December 3rd, 2017 at 4:50 PM ^
MSU fans are boycotting Outback Steakhouses. This is what it's all about.
December 3rd, 2017 at 5:05 PM ^
But OK Sparty.
December 3rd, 2017 at 5:07 PM ^
Oh man, there goes Outback's wedding catering business.
December 3rd, 2017 at 5:22 PM ^
gonna have to pick up that slack...
December 3rd, 2017 at 7:49 PM ^
They'll have to fight Olive Garden for it.
December 3rd, 2017 at 5:30 PM ^
If JOK starts, I’m sure a significant portion of M fans will boycott too.
December 3rd, 2017 at 9:07 PM ^
Miserable bastards.
December 3rd, 2017 at 5:37 PM ^
...at Outback HQ. Those guys have to be smart enough to know that everyone has been boycotting their restaurants because the food is terrible.
December 3rd, 2017 at 9:05 PM ^
to try to keep the mayhem down.
December 3rd, 2017 at 9:08 PM ^
behind police HQ, and they're expecting a rush as people look to scrape up cash for Xmas presents.
December 3rd, 2017 at 9:34 PM ^
Can claim Disrespekt from a restaurant chain that probably has absolutely nothing to do with what team goes to their sponsored bowl. They said the same stuff when UM got Sugar Bowl bid. It’s always something with them.
December 3rd, 2017 at 9:48 PM ^
They should boycott Outback Steakhouse because Outback Steakhouse is terrible.
December 4th, 2017 at 12:00 PM ^
like Outback.
December 3rd, 2017 at 11:17 PM ^
Spary tears taste like Bloomin Onions?
December 4th, 2017 at 9:33 AM ^
That sauce tho.
December 4th, 2017 at 9:32 AM ^
The price of jorts in Tampa will plummet without the EL fanbase. #oversupply
December 3rd, 2017 at 4:51 PM ^
It's astonishing that we could have that huge of a disparity between our rush offense and sacks-allowed rate. You'd think that being really good in one of the two would make you at least passable in the other, just from defenses being forced to overplay it. Hopefully we never see that again.
December 3rd, 2017 at 4:56 PM ^
Brandon Peters starting ?
Shae Patterson to M rumor legit or just whatever ?
December 3rd, 2017 at 6:42 PM ^
1 and 2
Shea drama is real.
December 3rd, 2017 at 7:26 PM ^
How likely is it that he will be allowed to transfer without having to sit a year?
December 3rd, 2017 at 8:31 PM ^
Nobody really knows with the NCAA though. It's in the compliance officers hands now.
December 3rd, 2017 at 8:52 PM ^
Thank you ....... hope it does get settled quickly. Would be a big get .... pun intended but seriously thanks for the knowledge.
December 4th, 2017 at 12:35 AM ^
Believes that immediate eligibility is quite likely
December 4th, 2017 at 9:05 AM ^
I think he will convince a few others to at least kick the tires and visit.
December 3rd, 2017 at 8:48 PM ^
Curious to see how Peters and D Mccaffrey handle the transfer if Patterson comes to Michigan.
December 4th, 2017 at 1:45 AM ^
That's a real risk, IMO. Michigan needs to develop a pipeline of Harbaugh guys coming through the program. It's really, really hard to keep three QBs on the roster that think they should be starting.
Maaaaybe you can keep McCaffrey happy for another year. Peters maybe not so much.
December 3rd, 2017 at 4:55 PM ^
That line is WRONG. M will be favored.
December 3rd, 2017 at 5:07 PM ^
Although, one with half a brain won't take that bet.
December 3rd, 2017 at 4:58 PM ^
The most important question... Are we the Bloomin’ Onion or Coconut Shrimp??
December 3rd, 2017 at 8:14 PM ^
The Big Ten is always the freaking Coconut Shrimp.
When do we get to be the damn Bloomin' Onion?
Chain restaurant bias is a real thing, people.
December 3rd, 2017 at 4:59 PM ^
Yeah, that line has to be a typo. Unless Vegas suddenly got into the business of giving money away for no good reason.
This should be a comfortable win. I assume not unlike Purdue, but with less offensive creativity and, I hope, better medical facilities.
December 3rd, 2017 at 5:07 PM ^
Let’s win this one!!
December 3rd, 2017 at 5:08 PM ^
This will be the first of 16 straight wins. Including the BIG and 2 playoff games next year. Can't wait.
December 3rd, 2017 at 5:08 PM ^
Also, we need to make it this blog's mission to get Ryan "Fryin'" Nanni as the official Bloomin' Onion mascot for this game.
December 3rd, 2017 at 6:48 PM ^
This, a thousand times this. Has he updated the quest lately? Thought Outback pretty much stopped all contact.
December 3rd, 2017 at 9:16 PM ^
They stopped talking to him, so it falls on this blog to pick up that torch and carry it across the finish line.
December 3rd, 2017 at 5:16 PM ^
Did not realize we were that bad at giving up sacks. Better tighten that up for next year a whole lot if we expect to go far. Don't care who your QB is, if he has no time he's not going to do much.
That said, SoCar should be a good win to get 2018 off on the right foot.
December 3rd, 2017 at 5:20 PM ^
Ummmmmmmmmm....have you watched Michigan football this season?
December 3rd, 2017 at 5:42 PM ^
Unfortuntely yes, but seeing it in writing that we were 118th in something is still quite surprising.
Comments