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Wednesday, November 10, 2021 — 7

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When I watch Michigan football 

games, here’s how I set it up: The game 
goes on my TV, I have my laptop open 
to watch another game and toggle 

through 
Twitter, 

then I have my 
phone to occupy the 
inevitable simulta-
neous commercial 
breaks with some-
thing else.

Saturday’s game 

was ridiculous. It 
started at 7:30 p.m. 
and ended at 10:54 

p.m., and that was one of the short-
er games of the season. Last week, 
against Michigan State, the game last-
ed three hours and 59 minutes, almost 
identical to the NCAA average, is aver-
aging three hours and 24 minutes a 
game this season. Way back in the 
before times of 1996, college football 
games averaged just over three hours 
in length, almost exclusively because 
of the commercials. 

Watching college football games 

is losing its excitement. In a game 
like Saturday’s, when neither team 
was especially electric and tensions 
were low, the continuous commercial 
breaks kill the flow of the game. And, 
as a viewer, those frequent breaks 
make it hard to stay engaged.

You can’t watch a football game 

for football’s sake because you aren’t 
actually watching football. You’re 
watching an ad for some auto insur-
ance group that you’ve seen 27 times 
in the last month. You’re watching the 

announcers come back from commer-
cial break for 30 seconds to talk about a 
sponsor that the TV network lined up, 
just so they can send you back to com-
mercial break to watch an ad about 
a drug for a disease you don’t have. If 
you’re lucky, you’ll see a punt or kickoff 
between the breaks.

The college football viewing expe-

rience is no longer about Michigan 
versus Indiana, or watching Purdue 
upset Michigan State, but it’s about the 

commercials. 

When Michigan isn’t playing, I 

generally don’t watch college foot-
ball. When 3:00 p.m. or 6:30 p.m. rolls 
around, maybe I’ll turn on a couple 
games in order to watch the last eight 
or so minutes of close matchups. I 
want to see if North Carolina can upset 
Wake Forest, or if Alabama will actu-
ally lose to LSU, but the TV networks 
made it so only the last 15 minutes are 
interesting. 

The football doesn’t matter.
The first three-plus hours of the 

game isn’t fun to watch, no matter how 
good the teams are because I can’t 
watch the game. Tennessee versus 
Kentucky was an electric, high-scor-
ing game. I could only watch the end of 
it because every time there was a com-
mercial in the Michigan game, there 
was a commercial in that game, too. 

Commercials at the end of drives 

make sense — it’s a sensible ending 

point and people are expecting to 
take a break. There were 11 drives in 
the first half of the Wolverines’ game 
Saturday, and 27.5 minutes of com-
mercials each half isn’t terrible. But 
when a drive lasts one play because of 
a turnover, and they go straight back to 
a commercial, it feels like I’m not even 
watching football. 

Instead, the excess number of com-

mercials comes from one main source: 
booth reviews. It’s one of the biggest 

reasons the Michigan versus Michi-
gan State game was four long hours 
— a product of eight replay reviews. 
Some reviews take up commercial 
breaks and minutes of dead air time 
as announcers flounder to fill the 
void of silence that would otherwise 
accompany watching slow-motion for 
five minutes. There cannot be replays 
that take minutes away from the game, 
removing the viewer and sowing dis-
satisfaction in the audience. 

Maybe put a time limit on replays or 

create a quicker process to go through 
replays. I don’t know, I’m not an expert, 
but this needs to be reigned back in. 
The NFL has an average game length 
12 minutes shorter than college football 
with much less variable game lengths. 
So we know it isn’t about the sport itself. 

Major League Baseball, which is 

notorious for its pace-of-play problems 
and has been experimenting for years 
on how to improve it, finishes its games 
16 minutes faster than college football. 

The audience for college football, 

unlike the MLB, will not shrink. 
Instead, its pace-of-play problem will 
simply prevent it from growing as 
average viewers will be turned off by 
the commercial-plus-football model of 
televised games. 

Something needs to change. Maybe 

the replays, maybe a shortened half-
time, I don’t know what. 

But college football often just isn’t 

fun to watch anymore.

Managing 
Sports 
Editor 
Kent 

Schwartz can be reached on Twitter @
nottherealkent.

 SportsWednesday: Please, for the love of god, make football games shorter

KENT

SCHWARTZ

MADELINE HINKLEY/Daily 

College football’s excessive reviews and commercials have led to a pace of play problem that’s killing the enjoyment of the sport. 
 
 
 

With just three games remaining on its 

schedule, the Michigan football team isn’t 
sugarcoating the challenge that lies ahead. 

“The last stretch is the most important 

three games,” junior offensive lineman 
Trevor Keegan said. “We gotta lock in. 
Hone into our assignments, hone into film. 
It’s on us.”

By winning eight of their first nine 

games, the Wolverines have put themselves 
in an admirable position 
entering the home stretch; 
a Big Ten title remains 
within their reach. The 
path to Indianapolis — 
which 
some 
Michigan 

players have referred to as 
a new three-game season 
— begins with a daunting 
trip to State College to face 
No. 23 Penn State. 

It’s a game that the Wol-

verines may not be at full 
strength for. 

A bevy of Michigan 

players 
departed 
Sat-

urday’s contest against 
Indiana prematurely, turning the pop-up 
medical tent into a popular destination. 

Sophomore running back Blake Corum 

hobbled off in the first quarter and was later 
seen on the sidelines in street clothes and 
donning a boot. Senior cornerback Gemon 
Green was helped off the field before half-
time. A pair of wide receivers — sophomore 
A.J. Henning and freshman Andrel Antho-
ny — left in the third quarter. 

Most notably, Cade McNamara spent an 

offensive series in the tent, with Harbaugh 
admitting after the game that the junior 
quarterback is “working through some-
thing,” which Harbaugh also said after the 
Oct. 30 loss to Michigan State. 

And that list doesn’t even include junior 

tight end Erick All, who missed the game 
after limping off in the waning seconds of 
the Michigan State loss. 

“I don’t have any updates on injuries at 

this time,” Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh 
said on Monday. “It’s a matter of the team 
working every day, grinding every day. 
You’re refreshing, trying to have good days. 
Good meetings, good practice and then go 
play the game.” 

On the surface, the rash of injuries 

would seemingly pose challenges for 
Michigan’s offense. All is the Wolverines’ 

leading receiver. Corum is an integral 
component to the explosive 1-2 running 
back punch. Anthony burst onto the 
scene against the Spartans with an elec-
trifying 155-yard, two-touchdown per-
formance. 

Missing any of them would presumably 

limit Michigan’s offensive capabilities. And 
yet, they’re attacking practice as if all were 
healthy. 

“It doesn’t change,” Harbaugh said of 

the game plan. “It’s more of a next man-up 
mindset than changing a game plan.”

For the most part, that’s because Har-

baugh has confidence in the reserves to help 
fill any voids. He specifically mentioned that 

the running back room is equipped to han-
dle the potential loss of Corum and fresh-
man Donovan Edwards, who has been out 
since the bye week. 

“There’s really good, quality players 

there,” Harbaugh said. “Those guys that have 
been preparing, they’ve been working all sea-
son and now comes their opportunity.” 

At this point, nine games into the season, 

hardly anyone is fully healthy. Still, the Wol-
verines are embracing the injury bug as part 
of the grind. 

“It tests your manhood,” Keegan said. “If 

you’re a little banged up, we want to play, we 

want to play for each other. 
Coach (Harbaugh) talks 
about it all the time when 
his elbow popped out 
(when he was playing).”

Keegan is no stranger 

to playing through injury 
himself. He’s battled a 
shoulder injury through-
out the year, an issue he 
maintains has plagued 
him since high school. 
Now, he says the ailment is 
on the upswing. 

“It’s just getting a lot of 

treatment to try and get 
your body right,” Keegan 

said. “You’re gonna be up at six o’clock, 
6:30 every day in the facility not leaving 
until nine. The biggest thing is trying to 
play with confidence because you know 
if you’re lagging with something, you’re 
not gonna be able to play with full confi-
dence.”

Added Harbaugh: “It’s a quality. It’s 

something that a lot of football players take 
a lot of pride in. Pain threshold — some have 
it, some have a very high pain threshold. It’s 
a very good quality. I know a real football 
player prides himself on it.” 

Against the Nittany Lions on Saturday, it 

appears as if the Wolverines will have to test 
how high that threshold can go. 

Michigan dealing with rash of injuries 

ahead of clash with Penn State 

JARED GREENSPAN

Senior Sports Editor

MILES MACKLIN/Daily

Michigan is entering the last three games of its season with a load of injuries.

On a roster as deep as the No. 2 Michigan hock-

ey team’s, players know they need to maximize 
their time in the lineup to maintain their spot on 
the depth chart.

This weekend against Michigan State, the 

Wolverines knew they’d be without senior defen-
seman Nick Blankenburg due to injury which 
created a hole in their lineup. Steve Holtz was the 
next man up.

The sophomore defenseman suddenly found 

himself debuting on the first pairing with sopho-
more defenseman Owen Power in a tough rivalry 
series against the Spartans. In the Wolverines’ 
series sweep, Holtz cashed in on his opportunity.

“He’s getting the most 

of his debut,” junior for-
ward Nick Granowicz 
said after Saturday’s win. 
“Second game and he 
looks like a regular.”

In 
unsheltered 
ice 

time, 
Holtz 
rounded 

out Michigan’s defense 
with a sound physical 
game. He can be a reli-
able option for the Wol-
verines’ defense, whose 
bottom pairing has been 
a revolving door between 
junior Jay Keranen, freshman Ethan Edwards 
and senior Jack Summers.

All weekend, Holtz delivered punishing hits 

to the Spartans’ forecheckers. Like many physi-
cal teams the Wolverines have played, Michi-
gan State tried to dump the puck in and force 
bad passes but Holtz’s 6-foot-4 frame meant he 
could take those hits and make the right play on 
defense, buying time for his teammates to get in 
position.

“I take pride in (my physicality),” Holtz said. 

“When I’m looking to hit someone, I’m looking 
to separate them from the puck and then that 
way I can create some space and some time for 
my partner.”

But it’s not just his large body that creates phys-

ical success — it’s how he uses it. Skating next to 
Power, Holtz looked small despite being only an 

inch shorter. However, he skates with his center 
of gravity held lower than most other skaters, and 
his body acts as a spring to leap out onto an oppos-
ing player. His stout hockey stance makes him 
practically immovable.

That showed itself on Friday, when he leveled 

Spartans forward Erik Middendorf with a hit in 
front of the Michigan State bench. As Holtz sent 
Middendorf halfway over the boards to the erup-
tion of the Children of Yost, he not only took his 
man out of the play but also pushed the momen-
tum further in the Wolverines’ favor.

By delivering punishing hits and playing with 

an edge, Holtz rounds out the offensively-gifted 
top four defensemen. On such a skill-heavy roster, 
Holtz diversifies the units that the Wolverines 
can send on the ice.

“(Holtz) brings a little bit of an edge, a little 

grit that we don’t have,” 
Michigan 
coach 
Mel 

Pearson said. “Especially 
the way teams are playing 
against us (is) so aggres-
sive, physical, and he 
brings that physicality.”

Not only does his size 

offer a different look for 
the defense, but Holtz is 
one of three right-handed 
defensemen on the Wol-
verines’ roster — Blanken-
burg and junior Keaton 
Pehrson being the others. 

Lefties have a harder time pinching along the 
right side boards without exposing themselves to 
big hits, but those three have an easier time han-
dling that workload than most.

Holtz proved he’s a good shutdown defense-

man against Michigan State, and it’s a role that 
helps solve Michigan’s unsettled bottom pair. 
While he doesn’t have the offensive prowess of 
the top four, he shuts down opposing rushes and 
throws his body around. That’s something Pear-
son will look at when he calls Holtz’s name.

“We always talk about players having money 

in the bank so to speak,” Pearson said. “ … (Holtz) 
made some deposits, so when he goes to try to 
get some money out or has an off night or tough 
game, at least he knows he can go in there and get 
a deposit, get another chance to play.

“He made a huge deposit this weekend.”

Holtz adds physicality to Michigan defense

CONNOR EAREGOOD

Daily Sports Writer

KATE HUA/Daily

Steve Holtz steps up to fill hole in lineup 
created by Blankenburg injury. 

