The Bucket Problem

We're joined by Parker Fleming, aka @StatsOWar, to preview the college football semifinal between Michigan and TCU. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

FORTY-FIVE TO TWENTY-THREE. WE WILL NEVER DIE. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Meet at Midfield subscriber-only podcast isn’t subscriber-only because it’s FREE WEEK. This week’s second pod is a solo mailbag endeavor. Topics: A personal announcement. The issues at linebacker and which non-OSU opponent could give them the most trouble. Getting the WRs more involved. The wrongest I’ve ever been about a non-Michigan coaching hire. My dream neutral-site-only schedule. 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 Meet at Midfield for much more Michigan content plus Ohio State, Big Ten, and national coverage. Subscriptions are 5% off with promo code EXTRA. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I have no idea what’s in this one! Iowa stuff, probably? — Ace. 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After Dan graces us with a voicemail intro, Connor and Taylor join Ace to break down Michigan’s closer-than-anticipated win over Maryland, discuss how it impacted our outlook on the Wolverines, name our Big Ten teams of the week and more. Topics: Dan leaves a voicemail. Actually, two voicemails. The respect bit is over. Warm and fuzzy homecoming feelings. An extended discussion of playcalling, game management, the nature of watching games in particular settings and the challenge of separating that initial experience from our postgame analysis. We very much agree that the sequence to being the second half was bad. Please don’t stand in the pocket forever, J.J. McCarthy. Blake Corum: great! The backups with Donovan Edwards out: a problem! Ace is fed up with Iowa and respecting their chances of winning and we kinda lose the plot for a bit. Max Bredeson: legit. Was the pass rush worrisome or was Taulua Tagovailoa just really dang slippery? Mike Barrett >>> Kalel Mullings right now. Get well soon, Nikhai Hill-Green. The cornerbacks in particular and the secondary in general were excellent, especially against Maryland’s talented receiving corps. Gemon Green has been just as good as D.J. Turner this year. The defense needs to do better getting lined up before the snap. Connor called shotgun, which means he led the Michigan State discussion. The Big Ten West is very bad and it should feel bad. Except for Minnesota. Maybe. Northwestern is go 1-11 with a win over Nebraska. 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this week’s podcast, Ace, Connor and Taylor discuss the UConn game, each pick a Big Ten team to highlight for the week and much more. Topics: We question the timing of a major sporting event. Josh Allen is worked into the podcast in a relevant way. Talking Taylor out of the desire to see Lance Leipold at Wisconsin because that’d be terrifying. A brief history of recent Kansas coaches. The FOX pregame show’s extreme divorced energy. Eastern ended Herm! We report on Ypsilanti’s reaction. Fine, the UConn game. We love how the team looks and try to take away what we can from a non-conference schedule of three teams ranked 120th or worse in SP+. Losing Cade: not fun. A.J. Henning: fun. A minor recruiting conspiracy theory. Speaking of conspiracies, U-M’s PFF grades make zero sense again. The defense gave up 2.1 yards per play. Not bad. The phenomenon of overanalyzing and underrating young returning starters, inspired by Junior Colson. We collectively love Mike Sainristil. Thoughts on Maryland-SMU, Nebraska-Oklahoma and the market on NFTucks. RGIII is taking horny too far. HODL. Is Bob Stoops a big Degrassi guy? Urban to Nebraska? Sure! What could go wrong? The REAL long-term ramifications of the 1997 national championship votes. 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 Meet at Midfield for much more Michigan content plus Ohio State, Big Ten, and national coverage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ace, Alex and Taylor eventually get around to breaking down Michigan’s call-their-shot blowout of Hawaii. Before that, though, did you hear about Scott Frost? Topics: The 2017 UCF team that built Scott Frost’s reputation was really talented! This non-conference schedule: significantly less talented. Taylor might go to church next week. Thank you, Marshall. Scott Frost got so fired Nebraska paid an extra $7.5M to do it now. We debate whether Nebraska is a better job than Kansas. You know what’s definitely a better job than Nebraska? Wisconsin. Okay, fine, we’ll talk about the Hawaii game. It’s J.J. McCarthy and it’s not a conspiracy. We spend a lot more time on the offense than the defense because Hawaii is very not good. Jake Butt really knew the roster. Nice BTN debut. Jim Harbaugh hates providing early-season clarity about the receivers. Did we learn anything? It's debatable. 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ace, Connor and Taylor review Michigan’s 51-7 win over Colorado State. There were a lot of reasons be to be encouraged on only a couple minor missteps in an easy win over, admittedly, a bad team. Topics: The cold open worked this time! Connor passes up the tempting OSU-related big mood for a good Michigan vibes big mood. The QB battle now includes possible Instagram drama. Also, like everyone else, we were more impressed with J.J. McCarthy and it’s okay for this to be playing out this way. OSU/ND was… underwhelming. We’re cool with that. The offense didn’t need to show much or use the receivers. The running backs and O-line were good. This was a very TE-centric game plan. RGIII got horny on main. Maybe we see a deep ball before Maryland, maybe we don’t. Sure, caveats apply to the defense, but we could hardly have asked for more out of the post-Hutchinson/Ojabo pass rush. Jesse Minter’s passing down blitz packages were downright mean. The only real hiccup was Will Johnson giving up a deep ball and he almost recovered to make the play anyway. We’re not worried unless it happens repeatedly. Competing Brad Robbins mustache jokes. Taylor tries to make Bowl Team Colorado State a thing. We’re skeptical. Big Ten programs as bad Disney World rides. We're so sorry, Dan. 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ace, Alex, Connor and Taylor run through Michigan’s 2022 football schedule, answer the most pressing questions about the program this year and make our season predictions. Topics: We cut most of the cold open! It was awkward. You’re welcome. Let’s force Nebraska to open every season in a foreign country. Northwestern is bad and cowardly and could win nine games. Chase Brown may elevate Illinois from the bottom tier of the conference. We break the news to Connor that Lovie Smith is an NFL head coach. In 2022. Maryland’s passing game is worrisome, Mike Locksley is not. We all greatly respect Michigan State and their remarkable football program. TuckCoin is the future. The numbers don’t account for Ohio State’s lack of Dog. We’re split on who we believe will win the QB battle. Can the all-around progression of the defense make up for the losses of two first-round EDGEs? Rose Bowl soon come? 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ace, Dan, Connor and Taylor go position-by-position through Michigan’s defense. But first, another lengthy big moods session. Topics: Connor only watches movies with subtitles The most down bad date of all time The “Faceoff on the Lake” is sadly semi-false advertising Meltdown August Remembering Some Punt Returners We hit the under on our “Caden Kolesar mention” prop bet Dispelling the myth of Night Kinnick Connor’s big mood is an accidental self-critique The defensive line: large, good, might even have instant impact freshmen Edge: big shoes to fill, lots of players to try Inside linebacker: solid potential among the starters, not a lot of depth Cornerback: the strength of the defense, arguably Nickel: will be a downgrade from Dax Hill but a lot of ways to fill this spot Safety: should have at least three playable guys, we all love Rod Moore Special teams: good kicking, please don’t use indispensable players as returners 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ace, Connor, and Taylor go position-by-position through Michigan’s offense. But first, a lengthy big moods session. Topics: The cold open doesn’t go as planned Approaching the season with uncharacteristic optimism Did anyone who voted in the AP Poll watch Clemson last year? Anyone at all? The Katzenmoyer Law is still being enforced in Columbus We needed to get some Notre Dame hate out of our system Connor reveals another dark family secret The world’s worst “House Divided” flag Picturing a brighter future for Nebraska (the Armed Forces Bowl) We get the same QB controversy quote every year Please tweet to @HomefieldApparl and ask them why they canceled the final week of Big New Saturdaya Michigan’s schedule sets up well for an ongoing QB battle Can Corum/Edwards be an even better duo than Haskins/Corum? Searching for a No. 1 receiver The tight ends are really good How the hell do the coaches utilize all these skill players Last year’s Joe Moore Award-winning O-line has a very good chance of being better this year Which units are we most and least confident in? Ace cheats. 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Special guest Ben Mathis-Lilley (@BenMathisLilley), Slate senior writer, joins the show to talk about his upcoming book THE HOT SEAT, which focuses on Michigan football during the 2021 season. This should be of great interest to you. Preorder the book here. Topics: That Phil Steele August feeling Ben’s formative experiences as a fan How DJing works The nature of fandom, Michigan, Jim Harbaugh, and other topics you can read about in THE HOT SEAT Much more 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices