In the summer of 1950 the ground armies of North Korea poured across the 38th Parallel and swarmed over the ill prepared armies of their southern neighbor. Soviet and Chinese trained and equipped North Koreans rolled brand new tanks towards victory, crushing both the South Korean Army and the pathetically unequipped and unprepared US army before it. The first US troops to make contact with the North Korean Army, the 21st Infantry Regiment, also known as Task Force Smith, made contact with the North Korean 4th Infantry and 105th Armored Divisions at Osan. The North Koreans had over 30 brand new Soviet built T-34/85 tanks… the US troops, members of an army whose logistical prowess had won a world war only five years before, could barely field six anti tank rounds. The US Army didn’t even last a day at Osan before they fled in panicked retreat. 

As the invasion on the ground turned into disaster for the Americans, they turned to the one conventional weapon they had left to stop the North Korean onslaught: the newly rebranded US Air Force. As the remnants of the US and South Korean forces dug in around Pusan for a last ditch battle, American planes started to swarm over the extended supply lines of the North Koreans. WW2 vintage Mustangs (solo and twin), Corsairs, and B29s were joined by newer F80 and F84s jets and together America’s proudest arm swarmed over their comrades on the ground like guardian angels. 

For all the effort the North Koreans had put into their ground forces, they had almost completely neglected their Air Force. The early aerial battles of 1950 were a slaughter. Combat experienced American pilots shredded every plane the North Koreans, who had not even had an Air Force before 1950, sent up to face them. The American planes soon began to run roughshod over North Korea’s vaunted ground forces, and the last Allied line around Pusan began to stiffen. A counter attack at Inchon  collapsed the North Korean advance, and as the Americans and South Koreans rolled towards the Yalu river and the border with China, the Soviets determined something had to be done. That something was the Mikoyan-Gurevich (MiG)-15. 

The first American jet to be shot down by the pride of the Soviet Air Force never knew what hit it. The US Air Force reported the death of First Lieutenant Frank van Sickle in his F-80 Shooting Star as caused by “Anti Aircraft Fire”. A document in the archives of the former Soviet Air Force lists the true victor as First Lieutenant Semyon F. Khominich in a MiG-15.

But the Americans quickly learned how outclassed they were. The MiG-15, with its Soviet pilots ran circles around the piston driven American fighters, and easily out maneuvered the straight winged F-80s and F-84s. The United States, once undisputed masters of the air, was staring at the very real prospect that their arch nemesis had bettered them at their own game. Over what became known as MiG Alley, the dominance of the skies that the United States had enjoyed since 1944 began to crumble. 

Despite the Army’s lack of preparation, the Air Force had been burning the midnight oil, and had an ace up its sleeve. While war was raging in Korea, US F-86 Sabers, a state of the art pure fighter plane was patrolling the skies over Europe. US leaders were reluctant to expose their best weapon to loss in combat on a secondary front, but as the US losses started to mount, they sent one squadron of perhaps the best and certainly most beautiful fighter plane the US has ever fielded to war in Korea. 

The results were immediate, but not as decisive as our histories have led us to believe. The F86’s gave the US pilots an even chance, and they took it. While the MiG-15 had been designed as an interceptor, armed with 3 cannons to shoot down the dreaded waves of American bombers, the F-86 was a gunfighter. Equipped with 6 .50 caliber machine guns, it also possessed another technological marvel, a radar controlled gunsight. The Soviet pilots too were battle tested in the skies over Germany in the Second World War, but slowly, the superior skill of the G-Suit equipped American pilots began to wear them down. Soviet air doctrine at the time involved large formations of planes, closely controlled by ground commanders maneuvering formations into battle. The US Air Force still possessed a cowboy mentality of “let’s just fly up and see if there is anyone to shoot”. 

Soviet, Chinese and North Korean pilots would often have a better tactical position than the Americans, but when it became time to fight, to put rounds on target, the skill and preparation of the Americans began to play its dividends. 

As the Soviet losses began to mount, there was a very real fear of the US discovering their previously clandestine role in the conflict. (The US was well aware, it had been listening to the ground to air communications in Russian since the beginning). Fearing escalation, and the attrition of their last remaining combat experienced fighter pilots, the Soviets began to pull back their active participation in the conflict. 

Then the losses really began to mount. With Soviet pilots, the MiG-15 equipped Communist forces had lost approximate 2 MiGs to every 1 F-86, but as the war was put into the hands of North Korean pilots, the legend of the Saber began. The planes were about equal, but the disparity between the pilots and their abilities began to take its toll. By the end of the war, the F86 had become the master of the skies over Korea. The slaughter had been so lopsided, that the Soviet Union abandoned fighter aircraft as a primary weapon, and focused on Surface to Air Missiles and point interceptors instead. 

Air Combat, unlike almost all other combat is largely mathematical. Two men may fight to the death on the ground and victory is many times unpredictable. So many factors and random occurrences play a role that ground combat is largely a matter of chance. In the air however, with the laws of physics holding sway, it comes down to how good is your machine, and how good are you. Understanding the physics, each move and counter move, and being able to predict what your enemy is doing means life and death, and those odds are directly tied to experience and skill. Tactics and strategy are both secondary to how many skilled pilots one side can put into the air versus the other.

Lacrosse is a game of matchups. Like other team sports, it is a game of putting your strength on the opponent’s weakness, but unlike other team sports there is a twist: in lacrosse all 1 on 1’s favor the offense. 

Because of the size of the field, the range of shooters, and the ability to read and respond to defensive movement even three to four passes deep, lacrosse in space is requires defensive rotations unlike any other team sport. 

At its most basic, lacrosse is a dodge and dump game… the offense finds the mismatch (either a good dodger on one of the two short stick defensive midfielders, or an Attackman on a Long Stick Midfielder). The guy with the ball dodges towards the goal, draws a slide from the second defender helping, and then passes the ball. The pass goes towards the man the sliding defender was guarding, or it skips to the man whose defender replaced the slide guy. These are called 1 (or hot) and 2 (cold) slides. If the pass to shoot is not open, you pass it forward, and you get a Dodge-Pass-Pass-Dodge, and attack the backside of the defense, which is now rotated and out of position. 

This is the most basic of lacrosse offenses. One you teach middle schoolers. And one that Penn State apparently forgot to guard against. Ok, not really. 

You can forgive them, because in recent years a second offense has gained popularity, one that Penn State loves: the motion offense. The Motion Offense is a general term encompassing many options, which is more akin to a choreographed football play than it is to the fluid dodge based offense. It tries to shift the defense without the dodge, to create looks inside with off ball picks and rotations and feed clutch shooters for doorstep goals. It takes coordination, timing, and above all else, skill. 

Lacrosse teams with horses run a dodge based offense, lacrosse teams with great lacrosse players run motion offenses. Great teams can run them both. 

The coaching staff at Penn State isn’t dumb. They had faced Michigan once, and knew that Michigan’s most lethal weapon was Lehigh Grad Transfer Attackman Justin Tiernan. Tiernan is lethal off a feed from a dodger. He finds the gap in the defense, and has a quick release into an absolute laser of a shot. Tiernan isn’t a dodger, he is a finisher. He has 3 assists on that season. That is 0.2 assists per game, but his 53 goals are 20 more than the next Michigan player. Michigan’s formula is simple. Draw a slide, and get the ball to Tiernan. Score. Win. 

Penn State knows this and so tried to institute their own version of The Jordan Rules… don’t slide, and don’t let Tiernan score. By leaving their defenders 1 on 1 against Michigan’s dodger they were betting on their defense to bend but not break, and force Michigan’s dodgers to try and score on their own against a fantastic Penn State Goalie. 

It was a sound plan, except as it turned out, in a dogfight Michigan’s dodgers were vastly superior 1 on 1, and they made every shot count.

Which brings us to Justin Brown. Brown is a good lacrosse player, who for whatever reason has yet to find consistent success in Michigan’s offense. After a 5 goal outing against Penn State in 2022, he has struggled to find the back of the net, scoring only 6 goals in 2023 and 2024 combined. He is exactly the kind of offensive player Penn State was gambling could not beat their best defensive midfielder 1 on 1 and pay it off. 

As the ball swung out to him in the right alley with 2:23 left in the 1st Quarter, Brown, wearing #1, knew exactly what had to be done. Everyone in the stadium and watching on TV knew what was about to happen. As Penn State defensive midfielder Kyle Aldridge trotted out to pick up Brown, it was as clear as Donovan Edwards motioning out covered by a linebacker. People pointed, and moved to the edge of their seats… 

The stage was set. Michigan led 4-1, but hadn’t scored in over seven minutes of game time. The last few possessions had featured a Michigan turnover, a failed clear, and a bad shot by Tiernan. It looked for a moment that Penn State’s tactics were working. If they could force a stop here, they could get the ball back to their offense, and close the gap to two…if.

Brown started into his dodge, broke down, and just ran right by the squared up Aldridge. In his defense, Aldridge had no chance…. but then something fascinating happened. Penn State brought no slide. They sent Aldridge, who was in textbook position to defend a rollback when the slide came, absolutely no help. He was left on an island alone as the faster Brown torched him towards a shooting position and on the run, buried one in the back of the next. 5-1 Michigan, and the game was over. 

3:03 in case my attempt at timing the video doesn't work...

As the Michigan offense poured goal after goal onto the broken and demoralized Penn State defense, the outcome was never again in doubt. Penn State stuck to their strategy for most of the game, and Michigan dodger after Michigan dodger burned a Penn State defender, and put effective shots into the goal. Sometimes alone, sometimes with a ball pick from their wingman, the Michigan offense accepted Penn State's challenge, and beat them like a drum. 

It was the old fashioned man-ball, Down G of lacrosse. My skills against yours, and I am going to win. Michigan is now heading into their second ever NCAA tournament. Michigan, which had been so dominant during the club days but had yet to find its footing in the NCAA ranks is now back to back Big Ten Tournament Champions. We did this diary last year saying Michigan had put everyone on notice that they had arrived. After what we saw against Penn State, they not only have arrived, they are a force. 

Go Blue.