Tuesday Morning Brews: No cars go

Happy Tuesday, folks. Welcome to Morning Brews. We’re back after missing Thursday’s edition last week, which fell victim to an unavoidable work conflict. This morning we have a mixed back of football and non-rev. content.

Let’s get to it:

Men’s soccer leads Big Ten. Michigan soccer won a pair of games last week to go top of the table in the Big Ten. The Wolverines first downed Ohio State last Tuesday by the score of 3-1. Then, Michigan took care of Northwestern on Saturday by the score of 2-0. All this gives the Wolverines a lead in the conference with 10 pts. on a record of 7-1-1 (3-0-1). They’ll be back in action against Oakland tomorrow evening.

Volleyball splits the weekend. Michigan got the weekend off on the right note on the hardwood by blanking Rutgers 3-0 for their second conference win of the season. However, the Wolverines also booked their second conference loss of the season two days later. Michigan found itself on the wrong end of a 3-0 sweep for the first time this season at the hands of No. 9 Penn State. The team moves to 13-2 (2-2) and they’ll be back in action this Friday against Purdue.

Field hockey edges Northwestern. The Wolverines won a pair of games this past weekend on the turf as No. 10 Northwestern and Indiana both went home with losses. On Friday, the Wolverines beat the Wildcats by the score of 3-2. The game on Sunday wasn’t quite so eventful, as Michigan cruised to a 6-1 victory over Indiana. The squad is now 8-4 (4-1) on the season and will be travel to Iowa for their next on Friday.

Hockey No. 6 in preseason poll. The 2017-18 Frozen Four Michigan Wolverines open their season on Yost Arena’s Red Berenson Ice this Saturday against Vermont. When they do so they’ll be ranked No. 6 in the preseason USA Today poll. Numbers 1-5 in the poll are Minnesota Duluth, Ohio State, Notre Dame, St. Cloud State, and Providence. This will be Mel Pearson’s sophomore campaign behind the bench for the Wolverines, and here’s hoping that he avoids a sophomore slump.

After squeaking out a victory in Evanston, Michigan football held steady at No. 3 in MLive’s Big Ten football power rankings. The No. 1 slot was occupied by Ohio State and the No. 2 slot was occupied by Penn State. Wisconsin and Iowa round out the Top-5, while Michigan State checks in at No. 6. Michigan’s next opponent, the Maryland Terrapins check in at No. 7 in the rankings.

The line for next week’s game against Maryland opened at Wolverines -17, and it’s more or less holding in that -18 to -17 range so far. You may recall that last week I thought the -14 line against Northwestern was generous:

Apparently the line opened at -9, before moving to -12.5. As of my writing this (Monday evening), the line had moved further still to -14. My take? That’s still a steal. Northwestern is No. 60 in the S&P+ with an offense ranked No. 96 and a defense ranked No. 26.

Ouch. Taking a look at Maryland, they come in at No. 56 overall in the S&P+; No. 76 on offense and No. 50 on defense. To me, this game looks to be fairly valued at -17 to -18.