The Bucket Problem

We're joined by Parker Fleming, aka @StatsOWar, to preview the college football semifinal between Michigan and TCU.

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FORTY-FIVE TO TWENTY-THREE.

WE WILL NEVER DIE.

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Use promo code THEGAME this week to get 25% off your subscription forever at Meet At Midfield. You won't find a better home for incisive analysis from both sides of the best rivalry in sports.

Now, here's two fans yelling at each other.

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Michigan. Ohio State. Both 11-0 for The Game. Nothing else matters. Ace, Connor, Dan and Taylor go position-by-position through Saturday's matchup and give their predictions.

PointsBet is my go-to sportsbook. You too can use (or fade) our bowl picks and take advantage of features like booster odds, same-game parlays, and name a bet. Use promo code BUCKETPROB when signing up for the PointsBet app to get your first deposit MATCHED for up to $1,000 in free bets. Double your betting potential with promo code BUCKETPROB.

Use promo code BLACKFRIDAY for 200% THE WHOLE SITE this week at homefieldapparel.com, your home for the best, softest, retro logo-est, dunking mascot-est, most fashionable licensed collegiate gear you can imagine. Yes, they have Michigan—and Slippery Rock.

Sign up for www.meetatmidfield.com for much more Michigan content plus Ohio State, Big Ten, and national coverage. Use promo code THE GAME this week to get 25% off your subscription forever.

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Ace and Connor co-host this week’s episode, which covers a very straightforward Nebraska win and a much less straightforward Big Ten West title race, for the most part.

Topics:

Let’s bring this MSU tunnel incident reporting energy to U-M’s issues, maybe?

Dominant teams win boring games.

Maybe Ronnie Bell was just trying to spice things up?

Michigan has some special true freshmen.

Illinois looks a lot less worrisome than a few weeks ago.

The dream Big Ten postseason scenario.

PointsBet is my go-to sportsbook. You too can use (or fade) our bowl picks and take advantage of features like booster odds, same-game parlays, and name a bet. Use promo code BUCKETPROB when signing up for the PointsBet app to get your first deposit MATCHED for up to $1,000 in free bets. Double your betting potential with promo code BUCKETPROB.

Use promo code MEETATMIDFIELD for 15% off your first order at homefieldapparel.com, your home for the best, softest, retro logo-est, dunking mascot-est, most fashionable licensed collegiate gear you can imagine. Yes, they have Michigan—and Slippery Rock.

Sign up for www.meetatmidfield.com for much more Michigan content plus Ohio State, Big Ten, and national coverage.

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Ace, Connor and Taylor fire off some big moods, discuss the Rutgers win, and pick their Big Ten teams of the week (or two, in Connor’s case).

Topics:

You might want to mute “Harbaugh Colts” right now to get ahead of things.

Michigan had a very “we’re playing Rutgers” offensive game plan.

The lack of an elite WR is a bigger issue than J.J. McCarthy.

Blake Corum ran well, vomited. Donovan Edwards ran well, received well.

Trench dominance on both sides of the ball when accounting for the absences on the O-line.

Fades work sometimes, it’s fine.

We shall never speak of this special teams performance again.

PointsBet is my go-to sportsbook. You too can use (or fade) our bowl picks and take advantage of features like booster odds, same-game parlays, and name a bet. Use promo code BUCKETPROB when signing up for the PointsBet app to get your first deposit MATCHED for up to $1,000 in free bets. Double your betting potential with promo code BUCKETPROB.

Use promo code MEETATMIDFIELD for 15% off your first order at homefieldapparel.com, your home for the best, softest, retro logo-est, dunking mascot-est, most fashionable licensed collegiate gear you can imagine. Yes, they have Michigan—and Slippery Rock.

Sign up for www.meetatmidfield.com for much more Michigan content plus Ohio State, Big Ten, and national coverage.

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Ace, Connor and Taylor go over an eventful Saturday night Michigan State game and its violent aftermath, live-react to the college football playoff rankings release and more.

Topics:

Michigan State is up to eight suspended players.

Any MSU media member is allowed to call Michigan soft only after taking one (1) clean shot to the face from a helmet swung by a U-M football player of their choice.

BREAKING COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF RANKINGS TOTALLY DERAIL OUR BIG MOODS.

Dan isn’t even on the podcast this week and still has the most even-keeled take on the playoff. We’re all terrified.

The offense: didn’t need to throw downfield, dominated on the ground, didn’t finish enough drives.

The defense: absolutely stifling beyond a few jump balls to Keon Coleman.

Jake Moody for Heisman.

PointsBet is my go-to sportsbook. You too can use (or fade) our bowl picks and take advantage of features like booster odds, same-game parlays, and name a bet. Use promo code BUCKETPROB when signing up for the PointsBet app to get your first deposit MATCHED for up to $1,000 in free bets. Double your betting potential with promo code BUCKETPROB.

Use promo code MEETATMIDFIELD for 15% off your first order at homefieldapparel.com, your home for the best, softest, retro logo-est, dunking mascot-est, most fashionable licensed collegiate gear you can imagine. Yes, they have Michigan—and Slippery Rock.

Sign up for www.meetatmidfield.com for much more Michigan content plus Ohio State, Big Ten, and national coverage.

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Connor, Dan and Taylor get you ready for Saturday night’s rivalry tilt with Michigan State.

Topics:

Dan is mostly made of cheese.

Maggie Haberman has interviewed most of this podcast.

Michigan State week means it’s Dan’s time to shine.

Averaging negative yards before contact is bad, in our opinion.

The receivers are the clear strength of MSU’s offense.

Unfortunately for MSU, that plays into the strength of U-M’s defense.

Mel Tucker did not unearth another Kenneth Walker III.

The defense discussion goes quicker because they’re “pretty comprehensively bad.”

The predictions run a wide range, as long as that range includes Michigan winning.

Dan will not be facing consequences for any of this.

PointsBet is my go-to sportsbook. You too can use (or fade) our bowl picks and take advantage of features like booster odds, same-game parlays, and name a bet. Use promo code BUCKETPROB when signing up for the PointsBet app to get your first deposit MATCHED for up to $1,000 in free bets. Double your betting potential with promo code BUCKETPROB.

Use promo code MEETATMIDFIELD for 15% off your first order at homefieldapparel.com, your home for the best, softest, retro logo-est, dunking mascot-est, most fashionable licensed collegiate gear you can imagine. Yes, they have Michigan—and Slippery Rock.

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Connor and Taylor take you through Michigan’s glorious 41-17 beatdown of Penn State.

Topics:

Connor’s loose familiarity with the Taco Bell menu.

A promising job opportunity in sports media for our Bangalore-based listeners.

Even good modern defenses aren’t really built to defend Michigan’s style of play.

Red zone playcalling: could use improvement!

Michigan kept J.J. McCarthy parked in the garage.

Run game vs. PSU: a woodshedding.

The defense: getting tempo’d that one time was bad. Otherwise, pretty good!

Respect to Sean Clifford, who has the heart of a li[MIC CUT]

The linebackers were impressively not very noticeable.

Is Gemon Green better than D.J. Turner? It’s worth a discussion.

Oh my god, MSU/Wisconsin.

PointsBet is my go-to sportsbook. You too can use (or fade) our bowl picks and take advantage of features like booster odds, same-game parlays, and name a bet. Use promo code BUCKETPROB when signing up for the PointsBet app to get your first deposit MATCHED for up to $1,000 in free bets. Double your betting potential with promo code BUCKETPROB.

Use promo code MEETATMIDFIELD for 15% off your first order at homefieldapparel.com, your home for the best, softest, retro logo-est, dunking mascot-est, most fashionable licensed collegiate gear you can imagine. Yes, they have Michigan—and Slippery Rock.

Sign up for www.meetatmidfield.com for much more Michigan content plus Ohio State, Big Ten, and national coverage.

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Ace and Taylor break down an eventful 21-point win over Indiana and run the full gamut of big moods in this week’s episode. Also, our Big Ten Teams of the Week.

Topics:

Mike Hart is recovering in Ann Arbor, thank goodness.

Taylor declares co-host supremacy, makes convincing case.

The damn Pinkertons!

For understandable reasons, the offense had a tale-of-two-halves performance.

J.J. McCarthy can inspire remarkably divergent takes depending upon the perspective.

Blake Corum, RB1.

The defensive line and the secondary were great. The linebackers? Sorry, didn’t hear you.

Hot damn, Eyabi Okie.

Important context: IU fired their O-line coach pretty much as soon as this game ended.

Nunzio!

A selection of statistics from the Illinois-Iowa advanced box score.

PointsBet is my go-to sportsbook. You too can use (or fade) our bowl picks and take advantage of features like booster odds, same-game parlays, and name a bet. Use promo code BUCKETPROB when signing up for the PointsBet app to get your first deposit MATCHED for up to $1,000 in free bets. Double your betting potential with promo code BUCKETPROB.

Use promo code MEETATMIDFIELD for 15% off your first order at homefieldapparel.com, your home for the best, softest, retro logo-est, dunking mascot-est, most fashionable licensed collegiate gear you can imagine. Yes, they have Michigan—and Slippery Rock.

Sign up for www.meetatmidfield.com for much more Michigan content plus Ohio State, Big Ten, and national coverage. Subscriptions are 5% off with promo code EXTRA.

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