[Bryan Fuller]

Unverified Voracity Grabs Popcorn Comment Count

Brian September 16th, 2019 at 1:10 PM

That's a shame dot gif. The Pac-12 has confessed to an error:

Michigan State should have been given a third chance to kick a game-tying field goal late in Saturday’s game against Arizona State, the Pac-12 Conference said Sunday in a statement.

The league acknowledged its officials erred on what became the final play of a 10-7 loss for the Spartans. As MSU kicker Matt Coghlin missed a 47-yard attempt that could have sent the game to overtime, an Arizona State player illegally jumped over the Spartans’ line, but the officials, a Pac-12 crew, did not throw a penalty flag.

This was just desserts after a horrendous pass interference call on Arizona State to even get MSU within field goal range. It gives MSU something to focus their rage on that's not scoring seven points in a football game in 2019, though, and provided a platform for last weekend's king of the tweets:

[After THE JUMP: hairless mascots]

Let's dwell a bit. As hilarious as it was for MSU to lose a game 10-7, I don't think that's as good as we want it to be for the game down the road. MSU outgained Arizona State nearly two-to-one; last year Arizona State had a yardage advantage. Maybe ASU's defense is as bad as it was last year, when MSU gaining 377 yards was a prelude to hilarity, not competence.

From a "let's win this football game" perspective I'd rather see MSU win games like they did against Tulsa, where a bunch of opponent pratfalls obscured a pretty horrible performance, than a loss like ASU, where a bunch of MSU pratfalls obscured a yardage ass-kicking. From a point-and-laugh perspective there's no competition, obviously, but it does look like a fair portion of MSU's issues last year were from the Lewerke injury. He again looks functional.

On Eubanks. Max Marcovitch:

Nick Eubanks felt chills when he heard the play-call. He knew it was one designed to free him over the middle, a play Michigan had practiced repeatedly in the lead-up to its Nov. 17, 2018 bout with Indiana. He lined up on the right side of the line, put his hand on the ground, heard the cadence and started flying as if carried by the wings of an angel.

He released up the field, darting up the seam through the Hoosiers’ defense. As Zach Gentry broke to the corner and the safety chased, Eubanks knew the rest was inevitable. It was a moment born of unspeakable tragedy and unthinkable resilience, and finally it was all his. His, and nobody else’s. Gone, if only for an instant, was the burdensome past. The end zone beckoned.

Eubanks caught a dart from Shea Patterson at the opposing 20. There was nothing but green grass in front, but his head jolted right, left and right again to be sure. It was the first touchdown of his career. Then he crossed the goal line, as the band played “The Victors” and the roar of 110,000-plus washed over.

He didn’t hear much, but he felt plenty.

Run game items. Long runs are pretty random so this should make you feel a bit better about Michigan's ground game through week three:

Getting Runyan back should also help. Also not going through a game where the one QB pull gets blasted by a corner blitz.

Nooners. Rutgers, Maryland, and Iowa are all listed as noon games on MGoBlue. That probably means Notre Dame will be at night—Michigan won't play MSU at night and OSU is at noon as usual.

We should have tried this with Ibi Watson. If you've flipped on a Kentucky game this fall you may have been bothered when Kentucky's giant receiver does something like this…

…and you're like "why do I know his name?" Well, Ahmad Wagner played basketball at Iowa for three years, where he was a low usage, low-efficiency wing who seemingly only got playing time because Fran McCaffrey gets itchy if he doesn't play 11 guys. Here's a dunk he did.

Hooray. But while Wagner was just a guy as a small forward, he is physically overwhelming at WR:

The former University of Iowa small forward hauled in 3 receptions for 70 yards against Florida, including a juggling, 26-yard TD catch that confirmed his status as one of the most unique and overlooked weapons in the country. He also drew a pass interference penalty in the 4th, extending a frankly incredible ratio: On just 18 career targets, Wagner has come down with 9 receptions and drawn 8 (!) pass interference flags against smaller DBs overwhelmed by his size and ability to box them out on jump balls.

Anyway, throw the ball to Nico Collins.

Low expectations. Andy Katz has a bracketology out with the following features:

  • 4-seed Purdue
  • 5-seed Illinois
  • 5-seed Ohio State
  • 8-seed Wisconsin
  • 8-seed Penn State(!!!)
  • Michigan in a play-in game.

So that's two teams that lost 35% usage guys, an Illinois team that hasn't been to the tourney since 2013 and was 7-13 in league play, an OSU team that was 8-12 in the league, and Pat Chamber's first bid in nine years at Penn State ahead of a Teske/Simpson/Livers core.

Michigan's going to take a hit without Beilein but jeez. At least it'll be easy to be a positive surprise.

Why would you do this? A person has spent some amount of time removing all the hair from various college basketball logos.

image

Of all the ways in which to spend time, this seems the least worthwhile. But you should look at them anyway.

Yoder of the week. Reports that Michigan suffered a major injury in practice are false, per Sam Webb. Never Yoder.

Skinner bill updates. Ted Tatos doesn't think much of the NCAA's arguments:

Those familiar with the O’Bannon v. NCAA case may be hard pressed to stifle their laughter upon seeing the NCAA trot out such risible, well-refuted claims. …

…the California bill does not prevent any other state’s colleges and universities from participating in the NCAA cartel’s collusive restrictions. Nor does it prevent California’s own schools from continuing to collude with other NCAA members to limit athlete compensation in other areas. The bill simply says that California universities cannot participate in cartel restrictions only with regard to NIL rights. In raising a Commerce Clause challenge on this issue, the NCAA would offer the absurd argument that SB206’s removal of a restraint on trade should be subordinate to a cartel’s nationwide imposition of that same restraint, a position at clear odds with the Sherman Antitrust Act.

Any claim that the bill would “burden” interstate commerce is suspect for at least two other reasons. First, the bill does not impose additional regulations. Rather it deregulates, freeing college athletes from the economic restraints imposed upon their own identities by the NCAA, an economic cartel that has lost the last two antitrust cases it has faced. Second, the benefits to athletes are not local. Colleges and universities in California, like any other state, recruit nationally and internationally. As such, the NIL benefits would not be restricted by any state boundary. Further, any third party may compensate athletes competing for California schools in exchange for their NIL rights, not just California companies or individuals.

The South Carolina version of the bill is about to get filed, but since it's filed by a couple of Democrats in a Republican-controlled state it might not have much of a chance.

Etc.: don't click here. This isn't even a nickname that makes sense? "Still a chance" Jordan Bohannon plays this year. For Iowa basketball. Not Kentucky football. Probably. Helicopter man. I completely missed Spencer's opener this year until now. Orion Sang on Charbonnet.

Comments

KTisClutch

September 16th, 2019 at 3:11 PM ^

SP+ had MSU as a 53% win expectancy, which is not as high as I'd have though based on the yardage discrepancy. Looks like MSU got lucky to win the turnover battle according to the advanced box score. 

RJWolvie

September 16th, 2019 at 3:41 PM ^

In the photo accompanying the PAC 12 officiating story in my news app, in addition to the leaping ASU player, there’s front & center an MSU OL who’d been beat, with his left arm hooked around an ASU player’s waist, the ASU guy already past him. So, missed that penalty too. Should’ve been offset and try again from there, not the +15 state thinks

JHumich

September 16th, 2019 at 5:30 PM ^

Well, the entire point was that it's also narcissistic to comment on your own comment. So, it was meant to be ironic, but it ended up being anemic because the iron(y) was lost on you.

And, just to save me another comment, that is also a play on words because anemia is lack of iron... lighten up, man. It's a fan blog/board site.

Quadrazu

September 16th, 2019 at 5:43 PM ^

RE: Ryan McCrystal's research on Rushing.

Wisconsin's numbers are curious.  We know they have a fantastic attack with Taylor.  And yet, the first two (negative and short yards) are red, and the long runs are just... pale green.  I would have expected much more green.

I wonder if he's normalized by number of games played, since Wisconsin only has two?  (But Michigan's looks ok...)

Anyway I'm not sure this graphic makes me feel any better or worse.

YoOoBoMoLloRoHo

September 16th, 2019 at 8:26 PM ^

Not buying the storyline of newfound efficiency in Sparty’s O. Their attack is fairly very limited to 2 WRs (White, Stewart) and a mobile QB. I think Jarvis was injured on Sat, so they are also down 2 tackles at this point from a weak starting point on the OL.

rym

September 16th, 2019 at 9:31 PM ^

Regarding the Tatos piece on SB206: he’s correct that the NCAA’s Commerce Clause argument will fail, but his explanation is inadequate. The Sherman Act is irrelevant, as that’s a statute, and the dormant Commerce Clause doctrine is constitutional. The constitutionality of a state law does not have anything to do with the Sherman Act or other federal statutes.

The NCAA’s argument will fail because the California bill does not discriminate against interstate commerce or regulate interstate markets; it affects only California student-athletes, and it restores rather than restricts marketplace rights. It does not “interfere[] with the natural functioning of the interstate market either through prohibition or through burdensome regulation.” McBurney v. Young, 569 U.S. 221 (2013). Accordingly, the bill does not violate the constitutional dormant Commerce Clause doctrine.

The NCAA is a cartel whose rules block markets such as the market for athletes’ likenesses. NCAA rules themselves override “the natural functioning” of markets. State laws removing those obstacles promote rather than restrict commerce.

 

The Man Down T…

September 17th, 2019 at 1:44 AM ^

I don't know why they said state got robbed.  The dude jumped up in the gap between the players.  That's allowed. You can't leap over a player directly but you sure can leap between the players over the gap between their respective shoulders.  That's what the dude did.  Refs called it right