MGoPodcast 12.2: Corn Sweats
1 hour and 20 minutes
We can do this because people support us. You should support them! The show is presented by UGP & The Bo Store, and if it wasn’t for Rishi and Ryan we’d be furloughed SBNation writers right now. Proceeds from the "Those Who Stay Home" collection are going to support our front line workers at Michigan Medicine. Our associate sponsors are also key to all of this: HomeSure Lending, Ann Arbor Elder Law, the Residence Inn Ann Arbor Downtown, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, and FuegoBox
[Hit THE JUMP for the writeup and the player]
1. Football is Back. Okay?
starts at 1:00
Addressing the hottest takes against bringing back Big Ten football with daily rapid COVID testing and a 21-day sit-out period. Basically this.
[The rest of the writeup and the player after The Jump]
2. Football Bits
starts at 19:42
Jalen Mayfield is back, Ambry and Nico won't be, and we're at different places regarding the Joe Milton hype that apparently pushed out McCaffrey. Position-by-position news and discussion basically.
3. Hot Takes and Gimmicky Top Five Things Nebraska Fans Should Be Mad About
starts at 48:29
How long does it take to get a Seth bit anyway?
4. Recruiting
starts at 1:10:11
Exit what's his name. Losing a 5-star basketball player to [checks notes] Stanford? Next year's class is going to be all kinds of messed up.
MUSIC:
- “Sprawl I (Flatland)”—Arcade Fire
- “Egg & Daughter Nite, Lincoln Nebraska, 1967 (Crazy Bone)”—John Prine
- “Ballad of the Dying Man”—Father John Misty
- “Across 110th Street”
THE USUAL LINKS:
Who has Alaska played anyways?
September 21st, 2020 at 4:42 PM ^
Hey, hey, hey! Ease up on Nebraska. Born in Nebraska, I can attest it has / had this artificially created HUGE lake that must have been as big as the Big House. To my 4-year old eyes, that was a GREAT lake.
September 21st, 2020 at 4:48 PM ^
Nebraska & Colorado! My uncle was from Nebraska and my aunt was homecoming queen (or court) at Colorado.
September 21st, 2020 at 4:57 PM ^
You TOTALLY misunderstand Nebraska.
Factually, it's rolling, not flat. (Mid-Michigan is flat. My high school cross country team had 1 hills: up and down an overpass.)
Spiritually, driving through Nebraska is an actual moment of zen. (Okay, okay, hours of zen.)
September 21st, 2020 at 6:34 PM ^
The earth is round. So when viewed from far enough away, you are correct, Nebraska is not technically flat. But it’s awfully hard to convince someone of that who has driven across the state.
September 21st, 2020 at 11:25 PM ^
I think I sense your problem. As you drove across the state, did you keep your eyes open?
September 21st, 2020 at 4:59 PM ^
Do Nico and Ambry want to play or do they want to sit out the 8 game season that they were willing to play through when it was 12 games?
The college players who are skipping this year for the NFL draft do realize that the draft is in April and not November, yes?
September 21st, 2020 at 7:09 PM ^
Drew Rosenhaus...
September 21st, 2020 at 10:38 PM ^
Please, do go on. We're not as connected or as informed as you, so...
September 22nd, 2020 at 1:00 AM ^
I assume Seth means that Drew Rosenhaus (one of the biggest names in sports representation) is likely persuading both players to play it safe and stay away. He's good at his job for a few reasons, persuasion being one of them I'm sure.
September 22nd, 2020 at 8:31 AM ^
Drew is the 'super' agent behind utterly MASSIVE contracts for a shitload of really good players. There is no doubt he has their ear, their mental state, and their current lifestyle all very much under his control. I wouldn't be surprised for him to be underwriting a larger insurance benefit for them, one large enough that the NCAA policy wouldn't allow it.
September 21st, 2020 at 5:13 PM ^
1) That's not a promising assessment to our 2 deep QB situation with a new line. It doesn't even take into account if they get covid...automatic 21 day quarantine (2-3 games). What happens if they both get it or are injured?
2) Totally good take minus Ambry that Don Brown mixes up his coverage schemes.
3) OMG Nebraska Bugeaters? That is hilarious, I want to see the team logo.
4) Donovan Edwards please!
Good job as always guys.
September 21st, 2020 at 5:34 PM ^
Nothing Brian said in this podcast made any sense whatsoever
September 21st, 2020 at 7:48 PM ^
His analysis of the quarterback situation was... surreal
September 22nd, 2020 at 7:32 AM ^
Why? He’s just skeptical that Milton made the large leap he’d need to be good/great this year. It could be wrong but it isn’t crazy.
September 22nd, 2020 at 6:59 AM ^
What a useful piece of detailed feedback. I'm sure Brian will get right on fixing the meticulously documented corrections you've provided in this comprehensive analysis.
September 21st, 2020 at 5:47 PM ^
Brian seems to think that you are not contagious prior to when you would test positive for covid, I don't know if that's true.
September 21st, 2020 at 11:14 PM ^
Not an expert, but I'm pretty sure that is true. If you're contagious, you're shedding the virus. You must have quite a bit in your system. How would that not be picked up on a test? You're breathing or sneezing out the virus, but a test can't detect it?
September 22nd, 2020 at 9:32 AM ^
As I understand it, they're nuanced. Your infection curve is bell like, in that you build up to a perceptible infection rate and then it drops back down as your antibodies kick in. Rapid tests are really good at picking up most people along that spectrum, but they have a cutoff in terms of sensitivity.
If you're on the downslope of an infection that isn't a problem since you aren't shedding the virus to others. But if it missed on the upswing then you might miss an infected person until you test again. PCR tests are more sensitive and can get these earlier and later cases, but they take longer and have the same issue of not distinguishing if you're early detection or post-infection.
These tests are important and will help limit exposure to people, but it's not necessarily as cut-and-dry as it was made to sound in the podcast.
September 21st, 2020 at 5:56 PM ^
My kid's summer travel hockey team was the Nebraska Bugeaters. They find it weird and entertaining out here, too.
Nebraska AD would have made himself into a folk hero if he had simply questioned aloud, repeatedly, why the strongest football program in the league is consistently handed the easiest schedule, and left it at that. Let Kevin explain.
September 21st, 2020 at 7:41 PM ^
"Joe Milton is the starter by default after Dylan McCaffrey transferred out"
Serious question: Does Brian think Dylan McCaffrey transferred because he was going to start and... didn't want to?
September 21st, 2020 at 7:42 PM ^
Yeah, I didn't really understand Brian on this segment.
September 21st, 2020 at 9:18 PM ^
Didn’t listen to the podcast but I will say the way McCaffrey left the program is strange. The way people are pushing the transformation of Milton it just seems like they are trying to make Fetch happen. I just don’t see Milton being any better than Shea. Hope I am wrong.
September 21st, 2020 at 9:43 PM ^
I'm getting strong "Johnny Sears is our top corner" hype I was hearing before the App St. game. Like, I don't think Milton is going to be a bad QB but people who think Shea Patterson is the nadir of QB play are probably going to be sorely disappointed this fall.
September 24th, 2020 at 10:04 AM ^
Same. The Milton hype is wild. I mean, hope it's all true! But we don't have anything on tape to suggest he's going to be some amazing world-beating quarterback. Also, QB's almost always get much better with experience. If he's going to be good, it won't be this year. You can have an offense that hides this, and I think Gattis will do a good job of setting up a lot of easy throws. But the crazy hype is...kind of bizarre. I guess the Mgoblog board is not Kafka, "there is hope, just not for us" Instead, hope springs eternal.
September 22nd, 2020 at 8:35 AM ^
I hope you're wrong, too. If Shea represents the best QB'ing we can have, the future is bleak. I refuse to believe this until I actually see it happen on the field. Joe can be Shea this year - but he has to show improvement, and be far better next year.
Hopefully, he's just plain better all around. Right now.
September 22nd, 2020 at 9:36 AM ^
It's not the best QB play Michigan can have, but Patterson of two years ago was better than Patterson last year (even though I think the receiving corp also regressed and that hurt). My point is that Patterson wasn't that bad last year, and Milton in his first year putting up those numbers would be a really good sign for his ability in the future. But I honestly don't understand this idea that he'll hit the ground playing like a seasoned vet over an offseason.
September 21st, 2020 at 11:18 PM ^
I haven't listened yet, but I'm pretty sure his point would be it's a battle. Is Milton not the starter by default with McCaffrey out? That seems to be the case even if Milton was ahead of him. I'm also skeptical McCaffrey left so early just because of playing time. And like I've said, if Milton was really that far ahead of him already, Milton must be really damn good.
After listening I think Brian is too down on Milton. He basically said there's no way Milton is any better than OK this year. That's crazy. However, I am skeptical. Not saying he won't be great or will be bad, we just really have no idea. Ace was talking about how Milton was quite highly ranked and had a high ceiling, which sure, but McCaffrey was a top 125 guy who has a brother in the NFL and an NFL dad, and he's looked better than Milton in what limited action both have had. I'm just skeptical that Milton is so good already that McCaffrey is nowhere near his level.
September 22nd, 2020 at 7:03 AM ^
The statement is said within the context that prior to McCaffrey's departure, we didn't know what the QB situation was. What we knew included the possibility of a legit QB battle. Now, we don't know what actually happened, but McCaffrey's departure all but inks in Milton as the starter.
September 21st, 2020 at 10:04 PM ^
I am not remotely optimistic about the QB spot, but if there was a year where it doesn't really matter because the world is a dumpster fire, 2020 is it. Like, I don't think McCaffrey or Milton are different enough as playmakers that they change my outlook for the season, so might as well take the training wheels off and see what happens with two QBs on the roster.
September 21st, 2020 at 11:51 PM ^
I agree with you on this, but you know 75% of the blog will lose their damn minds when/if Milton is mediocre. When we’re 2-2 to start the year this blog will also be a dumpster fire.
September 22nd, 2020 at 9:38 AM ^
Oh absolutely. I tended to think they'd struggle at Minny regardless of starter, and so I'm not looking forward to this place being unhappy with a slow start.
September 22nd, 2020 at 12:17 AM ^
My beef with the Big 10's announcement is that they postponed explicitly to spring of 2021. I presume this is what caused so many players to opt out, and in some cases, irrevocably.
Further, I did not see anything about reviewing the decision based on the arrival of better testing methods. There were some vague statements, but nothing that would lead one to believe that a 2020 season was even remotely possible.
That was a big screwup - explicitly moving the season out to spring 2021 and not providing any guidance for what might change their minds. It's possible that daily rapid testing didn't exist at that point, but it's more likely that they would have known that it was being researched.
A reference (if you like): https://www.si.com/college/2020/08/11/big-ten-cancels-fall-football-season-coronavirus-decision
September 22nd, 2020 at 1:49 AM ^
Hope all the Milton doubters keep that same energy when he is ballin. I’m not sure if people on this board forgot how football works obviously these guys were competing all the way through August and September.Clearly Milton improved to the point he was to good not to start. Milton started training to be the starting QB once the 2019 season completed. That means throwing and training with the receivers on offense. He even trained with Devin Gardner and another QB coach to get him ready. DCaff comes from a football family there is no way he didn’t try to put up a fight for the starting job against Milton.
September 22nd, 2020 at 9:41 AM ^
I love how "let's not expect Vince Young out of a first-year starter who didn't complete 50% of his passes in HS and looked incredibly raw last year" is seemed "hatin'". I just hope that people who are so gung ho to believe Milton will carry this team to the promised land remember that he's still going to struggle and that's okay. Because I have a feeling that type of foresight is in short supply.
September 22nd, 2020 at 6:41 AM ^
Hey, who chooses the music for in between segments? I generally love every song you pick, would be great if whoever does it could post a Playlist of songs on this site at some point.
September 22nd, 2020 at 7:05 AM ^
That's usually me, depends on the pod. These were mine.
I'm one of those people on Apple Music but not Spotify, so someone may need to copy it over for a lot of people, but when I get a breather a playlist would be a fun thing to put together.
September 22nd, 2020 at 10:02 AM ^
+1 for apple music
also for the music selections, although more ska, pleaz.
September 22nd, 2020 at 6:59 AM ^
With an athletic department like that, there will ALWAYS be zero days since the last reference to Scott Frost's mother.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carol_Moseke
September 22nd, 2020 at 10:07 AM ^
A roundtable discussion about COVID and college football should probably involve a medical expert.
Comments