The Game: Not Off, But Not Looking Great
Football did apparently practice Monday in some capacity:
Sources: Lot of optimism out of Michigan today. They are preparing to practice, which is a good sign for playing the Ohio State game.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) December 7, 2020
How many players practiced, what Michigan's case count is, and whether there are any positions so depleted that playing would be impossible remain unknown. Angelique Chengelis's take is much more circumspect and probably more accurate:
The plan right now, I've been told, is for Michigan to practice today and tomorrow. Team should be meeting about now. I'm not sure it's a "sign" they will play -- It's a sign they're TRYING to play Am not ready to make that leap yet that The Game is gonna happen
— angelique (@chengelis) December 7, 2020
Michigan has pushed off its media availability for a second time, which was a prelude to last week's cancellation. The release notes that Michigan is continuing "limited workouts," which doesn't sound particularly good for the prospects of a game actually happening. If Rivals's report that Michigan "might have less than 40 scholarship players" available is anywhere near correct this game is not happening.
Webb is reporting that Milton practiced and that's a sign he would make an effort if the game does happen. This also implies that 1) Milton is hurt and will probably be around the same capacity he was at during the Penn State game and 2) McNamara is not available. If the game is played chances that Dan Villari makes an appearance are better than even.
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December 8th, 2020 at 11:31 AM ^
Michigan winning this game would be about as big of an upset as has been seen in college football. Which, if you think of it, is quite a sad statement.
December 8th, 2020 at 11:38 AM ^
It took two years for Michigan to go from being favored going into a game in Columbus (2018) to being underdogs on the scale of Stanford vs USC
Extremely impressive tank job
December 8th, 2020 at 12:05 PM ^
Trevor Lawrence to UM!!!!
December 8th, 2020 at 12:52 PM ^
Michigan upsetting OSU would be the equivalent of Rutgers upsetting OSU.
December 8th, 2020 at 1:16 PM ^
I know we're all wallowing in BPONE, but when you are down to what amounts to your 4th best QB since before Covid canceled (then didn't) the season, and reports are saying you could be down to only 40 or so scholarship players...I mean, it's sad, but it's not any sort of indictment on the program being "so far behind OSU" or whatever. It's an indictment of 2020 and the weird shit that's happened.
And yeah, Michigan is very far behind OSU. But you didn't need covid to tell you that.
December 8th, 2020 at 11:31 AM ^
Accurate headline--if the game isn't off, it won't be looking great.
December 8th, 2020 at 11:36 AM ^
What a mess.
December 8th, 2020 at 11:37 AM ^
Sounds like Wednesday will be the drop dead date.
December 8th, 2020 at 1:06 PM ^
Phrasing??
December 8th, 2020 at 11:38 AM ^
Truthfully I would rather see Villari than Milton.
December 8th, 2020 at 11:50 AM ^
Be careful what you wish for!
December 8th, 2020 at 12:01 PM ^
I do not want to see a 2* true freshman over Milton.
December 8th, 2020 at 12:50 PM ^
If Milton really is hurt, there's no point in him playing and getting even more hurt. We've also seen that this coaching staff will turtle. To be completely honest, I'd rather we go triple-option this game than play a QB who isn't ready and get his ribs caved in.
December 8th, 2020 at 1:04 PM ^
Put Haskins in for a wild cat, and run an option offense with jet sweeps and double reverses. If we are going to lose big, have fun doing it.
Or run it up middle for no gain. Outside run for 2 yard gain. Third and long pass thrown for 4 yards, punt. Or some variation of that.
December 8th, 2020 at 1:15 PM ^
Villari is a tough kid. Who knows, maybe they play small ball and kill clock.
Is Cade out for season? I don't see any info out there on him, whether he will play again this year. Could it be he is playing, and we're sandbagging ?
December 8th, 2020 at 2:24 PM ^
"Who knows, maybe they play small ball and kill clock."
Well, they should be able to kill a little over a minute per drive doing that.
You serious? If not, thanks for the laugh. If so, you displaced Toby Flenderson for dumbest remark on the board today.
December 8th, 2020 at 11:40 AM ^
If this does happen, how does betting work? I would put $50 on OSU covering the spread. What would my payout be?
December 8th, 2020 at 11:58 AM ^
I know nothing about betting, but probably like, a penny or something.
December 8th, 2020 at 12:23 PM ^
On a typical wager against the spread, you get -110 odds (or something similar pending betting market fluctuation) which means you win $100 for every $110 bet. The winning amount on a $50 wager with -110 odds would be $45.45.
December 8th, 2020 at 12:28 PM ^
Yeah RockinLoud seems to be alluding to just taking OSU straight up. Which on a $50 bet would be a little more than a penny, but probably only a few dollars.
December 8th, 2020 at 1:03 PM ^
Ty. I've never bet before so didn't know how it works. I would take OSU covering.
December 8th, 2020 at 11:48 AM ^
"Less than 40!!" Jeebus.
What's with all the vagueness out of UM? It seems like when other programs have been hit with this we at least get a 'X players and Y staff' and yet we seemingly have no idea what the situation is with Michigan. Do they not have their hands wrapped around the actual numbers yet due to testing? Or is this more 'don't tell the press anything' stuff that only a few programs seem to engage in anymore?
December 8th, 2020 at 12:20 PM ^
I commented on this lack of transparency and was negged to oblivion.
Nice to see I'm not the only one who sees this as a problem.
December 8th, 2020 at 1:33 PM ^
I mean, it's a forum post by the same Chris Balas who said Jim Harbaugh had signed a 3-year extension, then maybe was going to the NFL, then (shrug emoji). So yeah, I'm sure the school will actually disclose this information when it's relevant but the fact that some mid-level sources are giving conflicting info to a guy on a sports site doesn't qualify as meaningful obfuscation.
December 8th, 2020 at 11:49 AM ^
I wonder what Angelique's MGoBlog name is?
Probably a morbid thought, but I almost want to see them play just to see what kind of fight Michigan would put up. Will they play hard as a last hurrah, like Nebraska routinely does? Or just phone it in like against Wisconsin? What is the team's state of mind?
A blowout is a forgone conclusion. But it doesn't have to be a study in apathy and 'give up' like the Miss St bowl game was.
December 8th, 2020 at 11:57 AM ^
I mean, you've watched this team play right?
December 8th, 2020 at 12:00 PM ^
This program under Harbaugh never seems to get up for this game like some of Hoke's teams did, with the exception of maybe JOK's year. I'd expect them to roll over and get annihilated
December 8th, 2020 at 1:18 PM ^
I disagree completely... they played hard every year in this game, but just fell short, and Brown's D was exposed.
Hoke's teams played hard but I think you might be thinking they played harder than Harbaugh's but I think that was due to it being vs the old OSU pre Meyer rolling, and that Hoke won one.
December 8th, 2020 at 1:50 PM ^
Pre Meyer rolling? Meyer was rolling right away. Went undefeated in his first season at OSU. It's a simple fact that Hoke's teams never got embarrassed against OSU the way Harbaugh has the last two years.
December 8th, 2020 at 2:07 PM ^
Meyer his first few years, was beatable.... Dantonio beat him.
December 8th, 2020 at 2:28 PM ^
Hoke's teams played above themselves vs OSU, like a genuinely mediocre 2013 team nearly beating #3 OSU led by Urban Meyer. They did fairly well in 2012 too.
December 8th, 2020 at 11:38 PM ^
Hoke also coached three of the four years against Braxton Miller and the fourth against freshman JT Barrett, which minimized the death rocket potential of the Buckeye offense they enjoy behind Haskins/Fields/whoever comes next.
Not to mention the upgrade from Zach Smith to any sentient being at WR coach, let alone a rising star like Brian Hartline.
December 8th, 2020 at 11:52 AM ^
This was going to be a bloodbath with our best players out there, but a true freshman with no experience playing QB? Good lord, this could be a blowout of historic proportions. Cancel the game!
December 8th, 2020 at 11:55 AM ^
It would be in keeping with recent Michigan tradition for our #1 QB to be injured against OSU.
December 8th, 2020 at 11:59 AM ^
Well...to be fair I think our #1 QB this year is transferring
December 8th, 2020 at 11:55 AM ^
Play The Game.
Die like Vikings
(figuratively speaking, of course)
December 8th, 2020 at 11:58 AM ^
If you sift through the rumor tea leaves and try to piece together what's going on, seems like it's very iffy the game is happening and if it did, we'd be down a lot of players. Honestly what's the point of playing if that's where we're at. It'll only be entertaining for the same reason watching the Broncos play with no QB was entertaining - it'll just be interesting to see how bad exactly it'll be. Why bother
December 8th, 2020 at 12:00 PM ^
cancelling the media availability probably has as much to do with harbaugh's contract status as covid.
December 8th, 2020 at 12:17 PM ^
I don't know about that. He could just say "no comment" about the contract issue. That doesn't seem like a reason to cancel a press conference.
I'm guessing there will be a decision made about Saturday very soon.
December 8th, 2020 at 12:01 PM ^
Um...
December 8th, 2020 at 12:07 PM ^
For Christ's sake, run a wishbone offense with one of the RBs or WRs taking the snap, and let the play clock get down to 1 on every single play. Maybe they will only have a chance to score 50.
December 8th, 2020 at 12:12 PM ^
You watch that Saints/Broncos game?
December 8th, 2020 at 1:47 PM ^
I did not, but the score was 34-3, right? I'd take that if we were forced to play.
December 8th, 2020 at 12:18 PM ^
We already let the play clock get down to 1 every single play. It won't make a difference.
December 8th, 2020 at 12:25 PM ^
Not always. We snap it with 5 seconds left when we're running our 2-minute offense.
December 8th, 2020 at 12:42 PM ^
I do enjoy our 7-minute end-in-a-field-goal drill.
December 8th, 2020 at 1:29 PM ^
I do enjoy our 7-minute end-in-a-missed-field-goal drill.
Fixed it for ya.
December 8th, 2020 at 12:10 PM ^
Just cancel the fucking game.
December 8th, 2020 at 12:15 PM ^
Amen.
Our problems are massive and obvious even without having to watch us lose 72-3 this Saturday.
December 8th, 2020 at 12:37 PM ^
I don't understand what the team fielded in Columbus would potentially gain other than years of PTSD. Another mental image I have is that Columbus lets in fans. I honestly would not be surprised to see a half full horeshoe Saturday. Mods would surely ban me if I expanded on how much I despise Ohio and that rotten school.
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