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When will it end? That’s what Michigan fans must be wondering after seeing yet another embarrassing loss. Wisconsin’s No.13 defeated Michigan 49-11 at The Big House on Saturday night. It was a game that seemed to be over within minutes of starting. The beleaguered Michigan defense managed to force a Wisconsin punt on the game’s first possession, but the Wolverines returned the ball in their opener of the night. Joe Milton’s pass was hijacked before it was picked. A few games later, Wisconsin took a 7-0 lead.

Milton was intercepted again on Michigan’s second possession.

It was his fault, however, as he failed to locate Wisconsin linebacker Leo Chenal and shot a pass straight into his numbers. Chenal’s return set another score in Wisconsin soon after.

Fortunately for Michigan, they would no longer spin the ball. At least not in the traditional way. Unfortunately, taking care of the ball wasn’t enough to put the Wolverines back on the line.

Badger’s assault would continue with Wisconsin leading 28-0 at halftime.

It was Michigan’s biggest halftime home game since 1927. The Wolverines would show signs of life in the third quarter, putting 11 points on the scoreboard, but it was a short-lived flurry. Wisconsin would respond by burying the Wolverines more in the fourth quarter with two more TDs.

The Badgers go 2-0 this season with the win and prepare for a huge game against the 4-0 Northwestern next week. The two teams are the only ones to remain undefeated in the Big Ten West division. As for the Wolverines, they are now 1-3 in the season and will face another team 1-3 at Rutgers next week.

Here are the four highlights of another great Wisconsin victory over the Wolverines.

1. Graham Mertz was not sharp, but it didn’t matter

This is not surprising considering the time Mertz must have wasted due to the positive result for COVID-19. It was also no surprise that the rest of the Badgers looked a little rough at the start of the game before Michigan made their lives easier and gave them time to settle into the game. However, when we first saw Mertz early in his career against Illinois, he tore through Illinois with surgical precision. Mertz looked like the best quarterback ever, completing 20 of his 21 passes with five touchdowns.

It wasn’t like that on Saturday night.

Mertz completed just 12 of his 22 passes for 127 yards and two touchdowns. Even through the night, as the rest of the Wisconsin attack found a rhythm, Mertz felt like a slow half-step. It was inaccurate with some rollovers and slow with readings on others. But, again, that was to be expected with the long layoff and lack of time for rehearsals. Chances are, the real Graham Mertz is somewhere between this Illinois game and this Michigan game, and I bet it’s closer to how Illinois performed.

2. Wisconsin still dominates Michigan on the court

Efficient ground play helped overcome Mertz’s fragile play. The Badgers racked up 341 yards on Saturday night, averaging 6.7 yards per carry and five touchdowns. It was a dominant performance from a Wisconsin offensive line that only allowed two tackles per loss on the night.

3. This confusing statistic

Michigan did not record a layoff or turnover in the first half of the game, which meant the Wolverines defense had gone through five consecutive halves of football without one. According to ESPN Stats and Info, this was the first time a Big Ten defense has gone so long without layoff or turnover in the past 15 seasons.

Now, it’s not all bad news as the Wolverines would record a second-half layoff. Of course, everything went well after the decision of the match, but it still matters! It didn’t help that the Wolverines were deprived of their two best defensive linemen Aidan Hutchinson and Kwity Paye tonight. While honestly how the Wisconsin offensive line dominated this, I can’t say for sure that their presence would have mattered much.

4. Harbaugh’s speculation will only increase

I’ve said several times that I don’t think Jim Harbaugh will be fired, especially during the season. Michigan doesn’t like to fire coaches all the time, let alone

For Brianna Turner, Phoenix Mercury’s 105-100 overtime win on Wednesday night was an out of body experience.

Not just because of his 21 rebounds in the franchise, but also because of how the final seconds of regulation went at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla.

Former Mercury star DeWanna Bonner tripled against Turner, then, after a turn-over, two free throws for an 89-86 lead with 3.4 seconds left.

Skylar Diggins-Smith ran onto the field for a 30-foot success that beat the buzzer for the momentum Mercury maintained into the extra five minutes for his seventh win in his last eight games.

“I already felt really bad because I was protecting DB (Bonner, his former teammate) when he hit those last three,” Turner said. “My soul has left my body. Then when Sky hit those three my soul came back and I was so relieved. This is the player who is Skylar. It is so strong. She is honestly one of the most amazing teammates I have ever had. ”

They both played Notre Dame even though they were apart for three years, and that was sort of Irish playing chance for Mercury.

After leading by 20 points at halftime (51-31) against a team against which they had never had the advantage on Monday, the Mercury were beaten 33-10 in the third quarter, testing their seasonal resilience. awesome.

Diana Taurasi went from a goalscorer to more than one distributor during the quarter / overtime, distributing five of her seven assists, with Kia Vaughn and Shey Peddy playing key games to finish Diggins-Smith in critical regulatory moments.

Peddy’s recovery with 17.3 seconds left in the quarter gave Mercury a chance to play for the final blow. Instead, Diggins-Smith immediately went to the basket, scoring but nearly failing to leave 13.8 on the clock.

“It was terrible time management on my part,” said Diggins-Smith. “I went too early. I left DB Time. ”

But Vaughn quickly handed him the ball after Bonner’s free throws. “

We played pretty much the same at the end of the second quarter,” said Diggins-Smith on a trip from coast to coast. “This time I knew I needed a three and I just pulled it. There was no need to celebrate because we still have five minutes. But I was glad I had the opportunity. ”

In the first extra time of the Mercury season, Taurasi did a triple followed by a Diggins-Smith pull-up for a five-point lead (96-91) with 55.3 seconds left. The Sun (10-11) failed to come close to three when Taurasi and Peddy teamed up for four knockdown free throws.

Mercury (13-8) didn’t get any worse than fifth in the WNBA with a regular season game to play. There is still a chance for a fourth and first farewell to Minnesota (13-7) if the right combination of events occur between Thursday and Sunday, including a victory for Mercury over championship leader Seattle on Friday.

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Most likely, Mercury will play costume no. 8 – Dallas, Washington or Atlanta – in a first-round playoff game on Sept.15.

Mercury manager Sandy Brondello has said that if it is possible to level up, his team will compete for it against Tempest. If the playoff setting is set, it would likely limit minutes for Taurasi, 38, and possibly others, as they were forced to play for a long time due to injuries.

Mercury won with seven players on Wednesday,

minus forwards Alanna Smith (ankle) and Nia Coffey (foot). Vaughn, who was doubtful when he entered the game with a sore knee, had 12 points and seven rebounds in 32 minutes.

Diggins-Smith set a season record 33 points (two of his career high) with six assists. Taurasi had 28, including 18 in the first half. Bonner had 32 for the Sun and Thomas, after none in the first half, 18 plus 17 rebounds.

Turner’s 21 rebounds improved the record of 19 franchises set by Candice Dupree in 2011 in Mercury’s 24th season. He also had 10 points, five assists and four blocks, a leap from his first game against Connecticut (4/8/1/0).

“The last game I was so disappointed with my performance,” said Turner.

“He was quite pathetic, defensive and offensive. In this game I wanted to focus a lot on defense and getting rebounds. ”

. is DIFFERENT.

— Phoenix Mercury (x) (@PhoenixMercury)

For the 30-year-old, winning the playoffs matters more, even in a comeback season (she lost all of 2019 after giving birth to her son) as she played at all-round level. leagues or almost.

“I made the playoffs earlier than ever,” he said.

“I don’t individually care what I’m doing now. Maybe I’ll think about it later, but for now I’m just trying to keep the pace we had, keep the pace and contribute. to this team. That’s all I have to do. I think. I just want to win and keep playing hard for this team. ”

Diggins-Smith is in the top 10 in the league in terms of scores (17.8 PPG) and assists (4.4). He made the All-WNBA first team in 2014 (20.1 points / 5.0 assists) and 2017 (18.5 / 5.8).

On Wednesday, he averaged 23.8 points, 4.8 rebounds and 5.

2 assists in the previous six games. On Tuesday, she was named Western Conference Player of the Week for the fourth time in her career and her first with Mercury.

 

The Knox County Board of Directors hosted the course on Wednesday evening after discussing whether to tighten restrictions on nightlife even as cases have skyrocketed and in-person classes are balanced on a rope steep in Knox County schools and at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

There will be no change for at least another week until 10 p.

m. The curfew began about a month ago, despite growing frustration among some board members over the lack of action and warnings from UT Chancellor Donde Plowman that the situation is dire.

The number of cases among college students has doubled in a week and the number of students needing isolation due to contact with those who have fallen ill is skyrocketing.

“We have 616 cases now, last week that number was 303,” Plowman said. “We have almost tripled the number of students in need of isolation.”

“This is not good news.”

Health officials said they knew the companies were breaking the rule, but would focus on educating owners instead of issuing injunctions.

Dr Martha Buchanan, director of the Knox County Board of Health, said she had not exercised her authority to impose restrictions on companies that refused to comply but looked to them for education.

“I don’t know how we would do it on a large scale,” he said.

Meanwhile, the county’s metrics, updated on Wednesday, show a worrying increase in three of the five categories the health department tracks with a system of red, yellow and green lights to indicate levels of concern.

The metrics, updated weekly, went from green in four of the five categories to green in contact tracing capability alone. Hospital capacity has remained stable on yellow, while the number of tests performed and recorded deaths has changed to yellow and the number of cases has changed from green to red.

More than 1,000 new cases of COVID-19 have been recorded in the county and 222 cases were discovered in a single day, the largest increase in one day since the start of the pandemic. Six people died in the first nine days of September and the total number of cases has exceeded 8,000.

“We have seen five consecutive red flags in the past six days,” Buchanan said.

“The 11-20 year old age group has seen a growth rate of 279% (in cases) over the past two weeks.”

Board member Dr James Shamiyeh said the University of Tennessee Medical Center reported similar increases.

“As we’ve seen more cases diagnosed in this younger demographic … the correlation between cases and hospitalizations continues to exist,” he said. “We believe the Knox County cases are behind this acceleration in (the region) as a built-up area.”

In particular, young people are driving the increase.

Shamiyeh is concerned that as young people mingle in the community, they will serve as a vehicle for other age groups.

The Knox County Board of Directors held the course on Wednesday evening after discussing whether to tighten restrictions on nightlife even as cases have exploded and in-person classes are balanced on a tightrope in Knox County schools and the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

Timea Babos of Hungary criticized the “injustice” of her exclusion from the US Open on Sunday, the day after she and her doubles partner Kristina Mladenovic were ejected from the tournament.

On Saturday,

Babos and her French partner Mladenovic were told they could not make the double after New York officials ordered Mladenovic to quarantine her.

Mladenovic was one of many players in contact with player Benoit Paire, who retired last Sunday on the eve of the competition after testing positive for coronavirus.

In an Instagram post,

Babos, who had no contact with Paire and was under no obligation to self-quarantine, said she was shocked by the exclusion of her and Mladenovic.

“I’m home. I’m sitting in my kitchen and crying,” Babos wrote.

“I’m just starting to realize what happened and I don’t understand. It’s terribly unfair. I can’t see any reasonable reason why this has happened.”

Babos pointed out that Mladenovic had done several tests for Covid-19 last week and that all of them had tested negative.

“Let’s look at the facts:

Benoit Paire’s positive test was ten days earlier (after 4 negative) and in recent days his results were negative,” Babos said. “Others close to him have never tested positive. Kiki (Mladenovic) had 11 – repeat 11 – negative tests for Covid-19. Yet we were locked up, ”added the 27-year-old Hungarian.

Babos also countered his treatment by the fact that Frenchman Adrian Mannarino – one of those who had been in contact with Paire – was cleared to play against Alexander Zverev in the third round on Friday.

“On Friday they did everything possible to make sure Mannarino could play.

He was allowed to play and the next day we weren’t. It is simply an injustice! Incomprehensible! This is not true. ”

Babos said she had two opinions on whether to participate in this year’s US Open, which several players ignored citing concerns over COVID-19.

“I was asking myself a lot of questions,” he says.

“But I’m an athlete, I want to compete. They robbed us of the chance to lift a Grand Slam trophy, not to mention the material side and the psychological damage! But why? I don’t know, I don’t understand.”

The journeys of Azarenka and Pironkova were less celebrated but just as inspiring.

Two-time Australian Open champion Azarenka was one of the best players in the game, having won back-to-back titles at Indian Wells and Miami in 2016, before stepping away due to her pregnancy. She gave birth to her son, Leo, in December that year and returned to competition the following June, advancing to the fourth round at Wimbledon in her second tournament. Following a breakup with Leo’s father later that summer, she was drawn into a controversial custody battle that had a significant impact on her ability to travel out of the state of California.

Azarenka was forced to withdraw from the 2017 US Open and has since been unable to play consistently, as she continues to fight in court. His irregular schedule resulted in poor performance and his level of play suffered greatly. She is not allowed to give many details about the legal process, but she has stated on several occasions that she will one day write a book about it.

Due to the dispute, Azarenka was unable to play the Australian swing in early 2020.

She has since said she is considering retiring from the sport but has decided to give it one last try. He competed in an exhibition tournament in June in Charleston, South Carolina, and the Top Seed Open in Lexington, Ky. Once the season kicked off last month. He lost in the first round.

Then she arrived in New York City – with her son and mother in tow – for the two tournament bubble, and hasn’t lost since. Azarenka pulled off the Western and Southern Open draw in the final, winning the title after Naomi Osaka retired before the game.

“This is my first title as a mom,” she said after the tournament.

He didn’t lose a set on his way to the round of 16 at the US Open and put in a dominant performance after a dominant performance, including a victory over No.5 seed Aryna Sabalenka in the second round. Azarenka will face Karolina Muchova on Monday (5:00 p.m. ET, ESPN2).

Pironkova, a 2010 Wimbledon semi-finalist, made her last touring appearance at the All England Club in 2017 before being sidelined for her pregnancy. She gave birth to her son, Alexander, in April 2018 and was done with tennis, until he was.

“I guess I just need to take my distance for about two years,” he said this week.

“Little by little I started to really lose the tour, I started watching more tournaments, I started following the players. I started making plans in my head, looking at the schedule , which tournament was right for me. ”

Prior to the US Open, Tsvetana Pironkova had not played on the tour since Wimbledon in 2017. AP Photo / Alastair Grant
Pironkova announced plans to resume competition on March 11, a day before the season’s suspension due to the coronavirus pandemic. Unranked and having not played at an event for over three years, she was able to use her protected ranking for the US Open and came to New York with low expectations.

Like Azarenka, Pironkova dismantled her opponents in straight sets and knocked out two-time senior champion Garbine Muguruza, No. 10, and seeded 18, Donna Vekic along the way. He credits his son for his success.

 

“Everything changes,” he says of becoming a parent.

“Your priorities have nothing to do with what they did before. Nothing is really the same. Right now I’m just happy to play. Having the opportunity for him to watch me makes me very happy too.

“I don’t really know how to explain it.

It’s just great to play without that extra pressure that I had on myself before. Before, it was almost a life and death situation for me to win a game. Right now, it’s not quite that. It’s just fun to be on the pitch. ”

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Pironkova will face Alize Cornet on Monday on ESPN, with a quarterfinal offer on the line. Williams will continue her quest to make history with a match against Maria Sakkari at Arthur Ashe Stadium at noon ET on ESPN.

While the three remaining Moms would love to hoist the trophy next weekend at Arthur Ashe Stadium, it seems clear to Azarenka that it’s not just about winning or losing.

“By identifying myself or other players as mothers, I think that’s not the only thing we are,” Azarenka said earlier this week. “I think being a mother [is part of it, but] it’s