ohio state at Michigan, Saturday, 11/30/19, Noon EST, FOX/Fox Video

[lineygoblue]

Oh, I forgot one. Greg Mattison stands on the "M" after the game and flips the bird to what's left of the crowd at the stadium. Problem is, the only ones left in the stadium are OSU fans singing about some girl named carman.

Young changes his name to Chase Manhattan after the game, because he could start his own bank with the money he's going to make in the NFL. And he sends a thank you card to Josh Gattis.

[Whitley]

I said before the season that the top of this team was 9-3. I also said they would lose to Army, Notre Dame and Ohio State. I would love to be proven wrong on all three accounts this year.

I don't think Michigan has the guns to beat this OSU team anywhere but at Ann Arbor. It is going to be very important to get the crowd involved and out to a 7-10 lead early in this game. Best case for Michigan is to have this within a one possession game going into the fourth quarter. I think for the first time this is really going to be a game.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Here's a video clip of the fields injury. Watch it then read my take:

https://twitter.com/247kevinboilard/status/1198336649811369986?s=21

The mechanics, if it is an injury and I'll get to that, is a hyper plantar flexion of the foot at the ankle joint. That sounds weird but the foot dorsiflexes (upward) and plantar flexes (downward). Field's foot is plantar flexing as he goes down.The stressed ligament would be the Anterior Talofibular.

Depending on an athlete's flexibility normal range of motion in this plane is about 20-25 degrees from neutral. The video demonstrates to my eye that the range gets to about 50-60 degrees. That's a lot.

Ligaments in Field's age group are pretty flexible, but, 2x normal range is going to stretch that ligament to the point of pain. To the point of a ligamentous tear can't be determined with accuracy without an MRI. You can tell a lot by physical exam but the gold standard is an MRI.

It there are tears, the ankle can be unstable in that plane. Pain, swelling and visible bruising would be present in this case - and a lot of that doesn't show up until a few hours after the injury. I have no doubt he's getting a very thorough work-up. If it's just stretched, even if its a pretty good stretch as long as there aren't tears, good trainers can treat it with whirlpool and alternating heat and ice. Maybe some ultrasound tx. Then it can be taped up to improve stability at the cost of loss of mobility.

No telling if he will play on Saturday but I suspect he'll be limited in practice if he's honest about the pain he might be experiencing - and he probably won't be - or trainers and the docs get imaging that suggests even a low level of tendonous injury.

[iam416]

FWIW, Ryan Day said he's good to go after the game.

If Fields doesn't play that could really work. It'll be a good excuse for a defeat that's going to happen regardless and they'll get him back for the B10 CG, which i the game they absolutely need to win.

[Hannibal]

LMAO. I'll say it again. You can rest Fields. You won't need him until you play Alabama.

[AlabamAlum]

You mean LSU.

[lineygoblue]

OSU won't play LSU until the Final.

[Jeff Buchanan]

M opened yesterday at +9. Preseason had M at -3. So far bettors seem to like ohio state at those odds as the bucknutz have 65% of the wagers so far. Oddsshark has the score at osu 47, M 26.

That's weird.

This simulation has osu winning 75% of the time with an average margin of 14, raw final score = osu 30, M 16. Projected final score = osu 31, M 27.

http://www.ncaagamesim.com/fb_GameSimulator.asp?hSchedule=9026&HomeTeam=Michigan&HomeYear=2020&AwayTeam=Ohio+State&AwayYear=2020&hs=1

Sagrin's predictor has osu winning by anywhere from 12 to 14 points. Note that both raw final score predictions for the simulator and Sagrin are the same.

So,despite Mr. Roger's whining, osu likely wins by two TDs.

https://www.usatoday.com/sports/ncaaf/sagarin/

[drok]

Which all feels about right. What's changed for me over the past few weeks is you can see a path to victory through our receivers and the passing game. The other key to me will be our pass rush getting pressure while staying in their lanes to avoid Fields scrambling. If those 2 keys are working, then it will be interesting. Otherwise it will devolve pretty quickly. Even as recently as post-ND game, I didn't think we had any chance. Now there's just enough of a glimmer to make this painful again when we inevitably lose. It's been the recent history of this rivalry - just enough optimism to make the inevitable more painful.

[Jeff Buchanan]

So true, Drok. I'm staying analytic and unemotional. Sean said yesterday he didn't want to go, sit in the cold and watch another predictable loss. Tired of the disappointments when a chance emerges. Last year was bad when M fans and everyone else thought M was going to win then disaster. Different set up this year. M with a good looking Gattis offense emerging only to, once again, get trick-fucked. I'm not smoking the hopium ...... better to just unemotionally analyze and the numbers and match-ups tell the story cut snd dry. osu wins it. So, that's where I am.

[AlabamAlum]

It's a sad thing. You M guys need to pull yourself up by your boot straps and will yourself to battle. Fields may be unstoppable, but the world will know that free men stood against a tyrant, that few stood against many, and before this battle was over, even a god-king can bleed.

Aye, fight and you may die. Run, and you'll live... at least a while. And dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willin' to trade ALL the days, from this day to that, for one chance, just one chance, to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take... OUR FREEDOM!



???????

[iam416]

Goddamn right, Alabam"Alum." It's shameful. And it's especially shameful given that they're going to win.

[Tom W]

I'm looking to get into a 1995 state of mind leading up to this weekend. Ohio had an undefeated juggernaut back then as well, only to get shredded by a 3-loss Biakabutuka and company. They played with reckless abandon in that game and absolutely smacked the bucks out of the Rose Bowl.

It's a thin sort of inspiration, of course, but it's SOMETHING. There's also the belief (without any evidence) that last years debacle has really caused this staff to focus on every detail in this matchup, and that they'll come up with a gameplan like they did in 2017- only with better personnel. This would be opposed to the 2016 and 2018 plans- which just seemed to focus on playing in the same comfort zone that had gotten them there.

They'll still probably get drilled, but it will at least be interesting and maybe ohio will have at least a few dents and scratches to show for the effort , We'll also be kind of pissed, but it won't be as bitter as 2016 or as bewildering as last season.

[lineygoblue]

Drok and Jeff say it about as good as anyone. I refuse to invest the emotional capital in this game anymore. For me, all Michigan football seasons now end with Game 11. The final game is where the people who are responsible for this program have let it slip so badly, that even an excellent coach like Jim Harbaugh hasn't been able to get it back to where it once was, and he's had nearly five years on the job. I still think he's the best man for the job, but I doubt he can ever get it back to where it once was. Too much damage has been done.

The 2016 game pretty much tells the tale for how this series has gone. We had a team go in to their own stadium and dominate them, only to see them fritter away the lead, and then have the officials conduct one of the laziest displays of officiating I've ever witnessed, to drive the final nail in Michigan's coffin. Then in 2017, Michigan got the ball, with 2:47 left in the game and OSU clinging to a 4 point lead, and a chance to win with a simple 2 minute drill. On the very first play, our "quarterback" closes his eyes, and heaves the ball about 50 yards downfield, which was about 30 yards past anyone wearing a Michigan uniform, only to have the ball fall into the hands of a very surprised OSU player. Even they couldn't believe how easily they withstood Michigan's last gasp. And the OSU fans let us know about it afterward. Loudly.

And what was Michigan's reaction? Crickets. Nothing. Oh well. "We'll get 'em next year".

Bullshit.

Then, the icing on the cake was 62-39. Urban Meyer slammed the door and locked it on any hopes for the future of Michigan football, and now sneers about it on Fox Sports.

Its over. OSU will soon tie the series, and take the lead. And nothing can be done about it.

[UMStan White]

France