Things discussed:

• Harbaugh to the NFL? Only the Raiders, and only if they make a ridiculous offer.
• Difference this year from last: Harbaugh went through last January’s renegotiation.
• If anyone’s going to make the move it’s the Raiders making a big one. Jim’s gotta know however that it’s not going to last.
• Donors who are for Michigan not their own self-aggrandizement is what makes Michigan so competitive. Having Ross be mostly hands off helps Michigan keep the donors from messing with the program, and that’s something that other schools envy us for. Good donors want a better linebacker, not more access.
• NIL and “NIL”? Michigan is coming along, probably not as fast as other schools are going to keep adapting.
• Transfers? Michigan’s only gotten one guy since 1990 who got more than a few credits towards a Michigan undergrad degree to transfer: Grant Mason from Stanford. Everyone else was a grad transfer or more or less started from scratch.
• Can Michigan be competitive in this environment? If the talent is more diffused. If Bama and UGA and Ohio State have their choice it’s unlikely Michigan can go 3-0 against them to win a championship. When you have an Ole Miss and Florida and A&M focused on getting the guys who want to go wherever’s offering the most money, that takes the top off of Bama and Georgia and Ohio State.
• Hoops: Problems they have are not solvable, because they don’t have wings. Their thruck will change at least. Illinois is playing great even without Curbelo. Frazier is the kind of guy who can tear us apart.
• Hockey: Made it over their bumpy part of the road and Mel teams have good second halves, but the Olympics could leave us severely depleted. Still look like a good team to make a run in the playoffs. Great UMass series this week.

With David Nasternak and Alex Drain

This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games.

[Writeup after THE JUMP]

---------------------------------

Segment 1: A Tie and a Win

00:51

• News, Notes, Catch-up
• Some Quick Tech Speak
• Michigan Scores at a Minute's Notice
• A Late Win
• Convincing Numbers

Segment 2: More Mass, B10 Roundup, and some PSU Talk

28:50

• Top Line Dominance
• Portillo very good...still
• Frustrating last 7 Minutes
• B10 Wrapup
• A look ahead to Penn State
• Also Olympics

---------------------------------

• NHL on ESPN Theme
• U.S. Army Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps Historical Ensemble
• Ice Hockey (NES) theme

Things discussed:

• The Orange Bowl: Georgia was just really good. Stetson Bennett was great.
• UGA had us scouted perfectly. Harrell vs their TE, two TDs each on Colson and Vincent Gray.
• UGA’s talent was a game-changer.
• Georgia fans were nice—Let’s have a home and home with them?
• Cade vs JJ: Sam’s ready to go McCarthy now, but we all expect a competition, and a result.
• Love for this team.
• Break: Harbaugh talk. If Michigan can’t get transfers in or compete on “NIL” they’re not ready for the next phase of college football.
• Hoops: This team is an easy scout. They need a wing.

1 hour and 10`minutes

Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com.

And let’s not forget our associate sponsors: Peak Wealth Management, HomeSure Lending, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, SignalWire (use the code MUPPETS), Prentice 4M, where we recorded this, Team Fan Club, and introducing The View from the Cheap Seats podcast by the Sklars, who will now be joining us for the Hot Takes segments. Please go subscribe and like their podcast, and leave your hot takes about this game in the reviews.

starts at 1:00

Miami, the city, is a weird place. Georgia's defense has a Devin Bush and even Blake Corum in space couldn't get around him. Run game didn't get anywhere and Cade's 3-4 yard passes at a time wasn't able to get Michigan down the field. JJ is probably the one with the ceiling to compete with teams like Georgia. 

[The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]

starts at 18:56

We were hoping Michigan could make up the talent gap by scheming up some plays and playing smarter - turns out Georgia out-schemed Michigan. Georgia seemed prepared for all the nuances of Michigan's defenses that they could exploit. Seth gives some optimism about the future of this defense.

starts at 29:56

Takes hotter than... Miami? Brian has opinions about tacos. Quarterback situation for 2022 looks to be really good. Unclear if there's a bruiser at running back to replace Haskins, but Michigan's backfield could be one of the most explosive in the country. Michigan loses a blocking tight end in Joel Honigford but the returning unit looks good. Center replaces Andrew Vastardis with a possible upgrade and the rest of the line looks to be in a good place - can any of them be an All-American? Add Ronnie Bell to the returning receiver group and they might be one of the best in the league. 

starts at 52:40

Most of the defense returns for 2022. Losing the best defensive end duo in the country hurts, it's unclear on how to replace Ojabo and Hutchinson. Defensive scheme may need to be restructured a bit, but the recruiting seems to be planning for that. Junior Colson probably has the biggest growth potential at linebacker. Losing Brad Hawkins and (we assume) Dax Hill will be difficult, may need to play true freshmen at some point. Dropping a five-star true freshman (Will Johnson) at cornerback will be feasible next season. It's looking like Michigan could be in the same situation next season as this one: going into the Ohio State game with everything on the line.

MUSIC:

• "When You Were Mine"--Joy Crookes
• "True"--Skirts
• "All of the Time"--Jungle
• “Across 110th Street”

Things discussed:

• Georgia mindset: They got 2018 Ohio State gamed vs Bama, think they’re going to beat Michigan and lose to Bama again.
• Hoping there’s some non-linear stuff going on: What UGA does to offenses in the 30s or 50s may not be what they do to a Top 5 group.
• Michigan has to get their explosive plays, a la Wisconsin.
• They’re 2018 Michigan on defense, if Ryan Glasgow was 6’6”/340. Want to put 8 in the box and cover 1.
• Dealing with Davis? Trap trap trap trap. Want to see a great Michigan gameplan.
• Georgia’s offense like throwing to the TE and RB so if Michigan can put them in long downs they put the Dawgs in a bad spot where they are using their best offensive weapons to chip Hutchinson/Ojabo.
• Brian recalls Andre Seldon broke up a fade in an all-star game vs their 6’7”/265 TE Darnell Washington.
• Basketball vs UCF: Michigan has to fix their turnover problem and their guards getting blown by problem. One of these problems probably gets fixed this game. Key to the game: hit your threes, because they play two bigs.

Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. UGP makes custom apparel such as t-shirts and sweatshirts and was founded by 2 Michigan alums over 20 years ago. They have 3 retail locations in Ann Arbor and offer thousands of University of Michigan athletic products for sale, ranging from clothing to accessories and memorabilia. Check them out at ugpmichiganapparel.com or check out our selection of shirts on the MGoBlogStore.com, including this one--->.

And let’s not forget our associate sponsors: Peak Wealth Management, HomeSure Lending, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, Prentice4M, and Team Fan Club. We are of course made possible by SignalWire.

The live broadcast was canceled because we had so many kid interruptions happening.

[After THE JUMP: The player and what was said]

--------------------------------------------

1. Georgia Preview: Offense (starts at 0:22)
2. Georgia Preview: Defense (starts at 24:04)
3. After Upon Further Review: BTC (starts at 43:23)
4. Hockey cancelation makes everyone mad. (starts at 58:09)

Just a local artist I grew up with who used to be in a hip-hop called Athletic Mic League when we were in college together, and now goes by Mayer Hawthorne. He has an official website and everything.

• “Mr. Blue Sky”
• “The Ills”
• “The Walk”

Also because Across 110th Street will get our Youtubes taken now now, the opener and outro:

• “The Employee is Not Afraid”—Bear vs. Shark
• “Ruska Vodka”—Motorboat

Things discussed:

• The softness of Ohio State fans: fainting couches for Desmond making fun of their OL.
• Happy Urban Meyer fired morning.
• Big Ten recruiting and realignment. I pitch my Showcase idea again, because it is the perfect solution.
• HBCU takes the #1 overall recruit and the SEC feels entitled. You can’t pay players to choose your school over better career options, only we can do that.
• This recruiting class: Brian loves that they used their championship to finish, I love that Michigan recruited to their strengths and soft spots in the system.
• Who’s going to play next year? Johnson. Mason Graham, probably Sabb or Zeke Berry. Going to see more Macdonald amoeba.
• OL recruiting? They’ve got an extra year of eligibility for everybody.

Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. UGP makes custom apparel such as t-shirts and sweatshirts and was founded by 2 Michigan alums over 20 years ago. They have 3 retail locations in Ann Arbor and offer thousands of University of Michigan athletic products for sale, ranging from clothing to accessories and memorabilia. Check them out at ugpmichiganapparel.com or check out our selection of shirts on the MGoBlogStore.com, including this one--->.

And let’s not forget our associate sponsors: Peak Wealth Management, HomeSure Lending, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, Prentice4M, and Team Fan Club. We are of course made possible by SignalWire.

THE VIDEO

[After THE JUMP: the player and what we said]

--------------------------------------------

• QB JAYDEN DENEGAL: Big-bodied, M had him up for a throwing session, camper, * fell, Speight. Teams were wary of weight issues. “Inconsistent” delivery. Slow release. Good deep ball. Cerebral. Owns a tortoise.
• QB ALEX ORJI: VT decommit. Tough Dallas leaguer, kind of a Michael Barrett where he’s linebacker shaped and could move there if QB doesn’t work out. Or “backfield TE” just sayin.
• RB CJ STOKES: Low league. Great balance, serious jump cut, runs good routes and wants to catch the ball a lot.
• WR TYLER MORRIS: Golden Tate smooth and post-catch burst. Injured this year and no drama in his recruitment or he’d be a top 25 player. Also comped to Garrett Wilson. Great routes. Olympic-caliber high-jumper. (Junior Olympics champion).
• WR DARRIUS CLEMONS: Huge dude who makes crazy catches and has a “verified” 40 of 4.37. Route running is a work in progress.
• WR AMORION WALKER: Long, tall, leapy. M has done well with wingspans from the South.
• TE COLSON LOVELAND: Flex you can play immediately, Erick All potential. Staff enamored. Bama looked.
• TE MARLIN KLEIN: Receiver build, still rather fresh from Germany, plays in a low-level Georgia league so he’s more a Schoonmaker project.
• OT ANDREW GENTRY: Counting him as a 2022 even though he was in the 2020 class. Crazy Mormon mission story recruitment after that. Stueber comp.

OL ALLESSANDRO LORENZETTI: Fell off the recruiting industrial complex tree and hit every blind spot on the way down: Quebecois, mid-career transfer, no junior film, highest-ranked player ever at his school in Connecticut, and extremely short recruitment that didn’t reciprocate SEC interest.

OL CONNOR JONES: One of us! Comes through the same Colorado OL factory as the rest, going to need some development. Fan favorite.

(starts at 43:21)

• NT KENNETH GRANT: Mammoth, underrated as far as his get-off and agility. Might need some time to develop. OSU slow-played and wished they hadn’t when he rose up the rankings.
• DT MASON GRAHAM: Ryan Glasgow. Can play immediately.
• DE/DT DERRICK MOORE: National top-50 heavy DE affected by M’s late rise, may be a play immediately. We honestly haven’t scouted him much yet.
• EDGE KEVONTE HENRY: Didn’t sign with M today, didn’t sign with Courtney Morgan’s new place either. Uche-level edge-bender they’re going to go all-out for down the stretch.
• EDGE/LB MICAH POLLARD: Popped when scouting someone else, development time, staff might see him at either role. Braylon’s nephew, Marcus’s son.
• LB JIMMY ROLDER: Late pop and thank god because they were struggling at MLB this cycle. Athlete in the mold of Ben Gedeon.
• LB DEUCE SPURLOCK: M had to go back hat in hand but smart player, sideline to sideline, underrated athlete, had to fend off Southern schools late.
• LB AARON ALEXANDER: Don’t know much about him because he was a converted RB then got hurt. Had a good playoffs for Belleville. Also: Belleville.

(starts at 1:06:06)

• HSP KEON SABB. Brian has the worst memories of Cato June but yeah: linebacker who moves like a safety. Big piece for the amoeba stuff they want to do.
• S ZEKE BERRY. Lorenz’s favorite player of the class. Peppers-like, even on offense. Maybe not as twitch but that sort of player.
• S DAMANI DENT. Underrated player of the class, nationally. Oregon loved him after he went to their camp. Dax Hill minus the rankings.
• CB WILL JOHNSON. Ideal cornerback, great upside for a top-20 guy because he can play anywhere in their system, runs WR routes like a WR.
• CB KODY JONES. “SEC-style” cornerback who just can turn on a dime and competes like mad then goes in the 2nd round. Nickel early? Big recruiting win down the stretch.
• CB MYLES POLLARD. Every Michigan fan, starting with Josh Newkirk, saw it before Michigan did, but he balls out against top competition. If he was a 4.4 instead of 4.5 guy he’d be Will Johnson.

(starts at 1:27:18)

5Q5A: When do they get the bump from the end of this season? When does this secondary take over? Any LB/DE in the mix immediately? Affect of losing of Courtney Morgan? How do they finish?

LIGHTNING ROUND: Best player? Best player still on the roster in 4 years? Most underrated? Biggest recruiting win?

• “Hi, Hey There, Hello”—The Mowgli's
• “Sorry I Stole Your Man”—Jessica Hernandez & The Deltas
• “Starman”—David Bowie

Also because Across 110th Street will get our Youtubes taken now now, the opener and outro:

• “The Employee is Not Afraid”—Bear vs. Shark
• “Ruska Vodka”—Motorboat

This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games.

[Writeup after THE JUMP]

---------------------------------

Segment 1: A Slushee Win

• The Questional Surface
• Trading PPGs
• The Keranen Major
• Dobes Christmas Charity
• Gritty, Grindy Goals and Solid Portillo

Segment 2: Short-handed, Disjointed Mess

• Horrendous State and Early Hole
• The Absolute Mess of a Middle Frame
• Gas Tank Empties
• Big Ten Roundup
• First Half Thoughts

---------------------------------

• NHL on ESPN Theme
• "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" -Christmas Carol and Song
• Ice Hockey (NES) theme

• Iowa: Michigan’s first two scores made them big chip leader as Iowa’s best shot was to go up 10-0 and then Iowa you to death.
• There was a long stretch of Iowa in there.
• They had no answer for Aidan Hutchinson, so they folded: one time they ran a two-man route! Hutch Thayer Munson’d another guy.
• Poaching Michigan’s coaches? The cycle is mostly complete: Playoffs and early signing period forced hands to move in December. Gattis is our most eligible bachelor, but if BT and UVA are filled now, it’s really up to what happens at Oregon, who should just promote Moorhead. Unless Wake opens up Gattis might be able to stick around for an Oklahoma-like job.
• Georgia: Their offense isn’t inept but it’s not gangbusters. Their defense is and I come clean that I really do like their front seven and that Michigan has to throw downfield to score on them. Nobody believes me about their linebackers: they’re good folks.
• Also I don’t take the bait from a reader who wants me to rip on Kirby Smart. I don’t like him, but he’s a good coach.
• JJ McCarthy is as fast as Blake Corum.
• Why is the line moving towards Georgia? The South? UGA hasn’t really beaten a good team this year.
• OSU’s new DC: We’re not enthralled. He ran a good defensive system to beat the Big XII. He’ll be better than Kerry Coombs, or trying to scrap together a Quarters defense after they benched Coombs.
• Notre Dame/Marcus Freeman: right move, higher ceiling than Brian Kelly, because nobody likes Brian Kelly. Fickell would have meant blowing up the recruiting class and waiting for the end of the playoffs. Held that coaching staff together too.
• Cristobal going to Miami to play for 15,000 people: crazy. Joe Brady?

With David Nasternak and Alex Drain

This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games.

[Writeup after THE JUMP]

---------------------------------

Segment 1: Minnesota Dissects Michigan 

• OMRs and Zone Entries Doom the First Period
• Michigan does not enter the House
• Gophers Pre-Scout
• Noah West?

Segment 2: Michigan Responds in Kind

• Here We Go Again
• Just Kidding! Pasta is Here
• Much Better Entries
• Another 30 Minute Game
• B10 Wrap/OSU Preview

---------------------------------

• NHL on ESPN Theme
• "We Are the Champions" -Queen
• Ice Hockey (NES) theme

1 hour and 16 minutes

Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com.

And let’s not forget our associate sponsors: Peak Wealth Management, HomeSure Lending, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, SignalWire (use the code MUPPETS), Prentice 4M, where we recorded this, Team Fan Club, and introducing The View from the Cheap Seats podcast by the Sklars, who will now be joining us for the Hot Takes segments. Please go subscribe and like their podcast, and leave your hot takes about this game in the reviews.

starts at 1:00

Michigan fans channel their inner European soccer league by singing apropos of nothing, having wandered the desert to achieve this joy. Iowa gives up their longest run of the year and longest pass of the year on back to back drives. How fast is JJ McCarthy?? What can Donovan Edwards not do? Playing conservatively after going up 14-3 was the right call. Cade had a bit of a rough game. Iowa was aggressive against Michigan's ground game, didn't generate much outside the Blake Corum run. Schoonmaker had a couple of the best catches of his career.

[The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]

starts at 29:20

Iowa's offense being bad met all expectations. Iowa cut their game plan around stopping Aidan Hutchinson. Despite this, Aidan wins the MVP with one sack and four tackles. Stats fail to encompass Aidan Hutchinson. Nice to see younger players come in and make a few plays.

starts at 43:22

Takes hotter than that one Iowa fan in the stands who was clearly swearing about a 3rd down play call. Is Aidan Hutchinson good enough to fix the Lions?? How many Big Ten teams could Donovan Edwards start at QB for? Michigan wins the special teams battle. Iowa has an excellent punt returner who finishes the game with negative yards. Multiple punts almost get blocked before the actual punt block. Eviscerating Iowa special teams felt like the real "win with cruelty" moment of this game.

starts at 1:01:07

Michigan draws Georgia in the playoffs. Don't immediately pencil in Alabama, Cincinnati is #5 in SP+ and gets an Alabama team that struggled against a struggling Auburn team. Georgia is Iowa but with the #2 offense in the country. The line is -7.5 which seems quite large for how well Michigan has been playing. Hockey had a weird split against Minnesota this weekend. They're setting up nicely for their annual Mel Pearson second half of the season rally. Very important win for basketball against SDSU. Frankie Collins is looking like the starting point guard. Hunter Dickinson's 3-point shooting is quite the development.

MUSIC:

• “Pump It Up ”—Endor
• “Mr. Brightside”—The Killers
• “Party Hard”—Andrew WK
• “Across 110th Street”

Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. UGP makes custom apparel such as t-shirts and sweatshirts and was founded by 2 Michigan alums over 20 years ago. They have 3 retail locations in Ann Arbor and offer thousands of University of Michigan athletic products for sale, ranging from clothing to accessories and memorabilia. Check them out at ugpmichiganapparel.com.

And let’s not forget our associate sponsors: Peak Wealth Management, HomeSure Lending, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, Prentice4M, and Team Fan Club. We are of course made possible by SignalWire.

THE VIDEO

[After THE JUMP: the player and what we said]

--------------------------------------------

They’re a great center and a great zone running running back held back by a passing game. We think Michigan might be able to pull out the defense they used on Wisconsin: go 5-2 and let the DBs man up in the secondary. Long discussion of special teams because they’re the best at it, though Michigan neutralizes that by being the second-best at it.

(starts at 20:16)

One of the smartest secondaries in CFB: we call it graduate-level Cover 2, where they can switch to a lot of different things on the fly. Want to generate turnovers but Cade McNamara is a new threat level for them. Defensive tackles are still smallish and rotate a ton, don’t have an Epenesa who can change the game. Haskins turning the three-yard runs into 5-6 yard runs could be a major difference-maker. So could the talent level of the receivers. Alex wants us to run outside and see if they can match the speed of Corum/Edwards/Henning.

(starts at 35:36)

Cannot find anything bad to talk about on offense. An offensive line wreckage. We’re mad about PFF’s offensive line grading because only Stueber was all-Big Ten to them. Lots of little tweaks to the things they’ve been doing all year to put their guys in advantageous positions. OL finished +50 though!!!! Seth thinks it’s because they grade screens as pass protection, thinks there isn’t a better guy than Zak Zinter at making that kickout block on Counter Trey. Defensively Ohio State went with a lot of stretch zone off of tempo and tried to beat Michigan to the edge. Their receivers did work against a secondary playing down a man because M was bringing five-man pressures.

(starts at 53:03)

Wasn’t as bad as it looked: Love just started canning NBA threes to break open a close defensive matchup, but there were a lot of defensive improvements. True that they can’t find shotmakers outside, unless Moussa can be one? Think Eli, Dickinson, and Diabate are your three best guys, and then you have to reconfigure whom you want out there with them, probably Houstan if he can keep progressing defensively and shoot more like 35% (he’s probably not the 40% prince that was promised), and then it’s a race to see if Jones pulls it together or Frankie Collins can emerge as Simpson 2.0. Not looking like a Final Four team anymore but better than they’ve been.

Tonight’s featured musician is husband&wife, a band recommended to me by my IU friend who’s always sponsoring stuff here. I asked him for a few recommendations from Indiana and he said husband&wife. I Spotify’d and was like wow, good call. Then I looked them up and first article I read said “For fans of Bear vs Shark.” Victor Oladipo slam dunk dot gif.

• “Belong Gone One”—from their album Proud Flesh (2010)
• “Proud Flesh”—title song of that album.
• “I’ll Wait”—I’ll Wait/Don’t Rush EP (2013)

But I’m regretting not using Florida Hideaway now. Slaps.

And because Across 110th Street will get our Youtubes taken now now, the opener and outro:

• “The Employee is Not Afraid”—Bear vs. Shark
• “Ruska Vodka”—Motorboat

With David Nasternak and Alex Drain

This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games.

[Writeup after THE JUMP]

---------------------------------

Segment 1: The Niagara Series

• Slow First Five Minutes
• Niagara Isn't Allowed to Shoot Anymore
• Michigan Scores Many Goals
• Slow Start to Game 2
• Michigan Scores More Goals and Wins

Segment 2: Special Guest Nate Wells Previews Minnesota and More

• Nate Wells!
• What's going on nationally?
• Big Ten Recap
• Minnesota Preview

Secret Segment 3

---------------------------------

• NHL on ESPN Theme
• "Pump It Up" -Endor
• Ice Hockey (NES) theme

Things discussed:

• How are we feeling?
• Ohio State got punched in the mouth and fell apart.
• Buckeye defense not prepared for what Michigan runs.
• Buckeye offense was not ready for Aidan Hutchinson to turn CJ Stroud into an NFL rookie. All they got was Ninja on Ojabo and their WRs making ridiculous catches in coverage.
• The DTs for Michigan stood up. The DTs for Ohio State did not.
• Sam wants to doom Hutchinson to the Lions. Seth: He goes to the Lions he will be Suh, he will be Megatron, he will be Barry—he will be a great player wasted.
• Heisman: They don’t give it to the Most Outstanding Player. Maybe if Hutchinson HAD A TOUCHDOWN in his stats, Big Ten. Or that TD that went over his hand that he was close to intercepting and running back.
• Gattis: take a bow! Should be a head coaching candidate after that.
• Iowa talk: They can’t pass pro. Great RB and great C. But they’ve been extremely lucky, living off of turnovers and opponent QBs getting hurt.
• Hassan Haskins appreciation. Pulled me out of the BPONE and all the way to where we are now.

2 hours and 8 minutes

Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com.

And let’s not forget our associate sponsors: Peak Wealth Management, HomeSure Lending, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, SignalWire (use the code MUPPETS), Prentice 4M, where we recorded this, Team Fan Club, and introducing The View from the Cheap Seats podcast by the Sklars, who will now be joining us for the Hot Takes segments. Please go subscribe and like their podcast, and leave your hot takes about this game in the reviews.

starts at 1:00

Reminiscing on legends that faded away in past Ohio State game losses like Khalid Hill's 4th and 1 touchdown, Denard's long run in the Shoe, and Devin Gardner putting up 41 points on a broken foot. This year's performances from the likes of Aidan Hutchinson, Hassan Haskins, and the offensive line will never be forgotten. Message to the fans: you do not have to act like you've been there before. Michigan's 41 rush attempts (including two kneel downs) absolutely dominated this game. What happened to Ohio State mentally? They seemed rattled all game and panicked. Michigan offense goes back to some old school Jim Harbaugh packages and also used the specific skills of their backup quarterback in the biggest game of the year. The offense gave up zero tackles for loss in this game. You watch Michigan's offensive line handle Ohio State's defensive line in person and think "how is this happening?" And then you rewatch the game on tv and think "how is this happening???" Ohio State's cornerbacks do not know how to play press coverage. Brian has decided that flea flickers are underutilized. Cade's interception is really his only major mental mistake. Cameron Brown is now officially on the Fools Hurdled list.

[The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]

starts at 40:20

Ohio State puts up nearly 500 yards of offense, but this happens to everyone. Michigan was able to tighten up near the redzones. They were only able to get into the endzone after escaping from tough situations, Michigan defense made them work for it. The performance of Michigan's defensive line almost cannot be explained. Ojabo is not-just-a-shooter- wait, NFL scouts if you're reading this, ignore that. Aidan Hutchinson for Heisman, but unironically. According to PFF he had 15(!!!) QB pressures which is the most PFF has ever recorded since they started recording college football. Aidan Hutchinson won Michigan this game. Josh Ross had a critical 3rd and short that he blew up, Michigan scores on the ensuing drive. Rod Moore started as a true freshman against Ohio State and it was just fine. The organization of this Michigan defense is outrageously good. The cornerbacks got hit a few times but overall held up fine and didn't get beaten. CJ Stroud gets in his own head a bit when under pressure and was susceptible to Michigan's pass rush. Macdonald threw a pro style defense at CJ Stroud and he wasn't able to handle it. The offseason reboot worked.

starts at 1:08:57

AHHHHHHHH. Brian's voice requires a surge protector, has a hot soup take. Is this the most satisfying win ever since the creation of MGoBlog? Realistic talks about a run in the college football playoffs. Ohio State commits THE CLASSIC BLUNDER of not going for two early. Michigan's 4th down decision making made sense. No field goal attempts from Michigan because they didn't need to. Why did the Ohio State player field a kick from the three yard line? AJ Henning muffed a punt but probably should have drawn a kick catch interference call. Not much to talk about with officiating! Brian has a fan experience story.

starts at 1:35:26

Nebraska finishes 1-8 in conference play with a scoring margin of zero - all of college football twitter was dialed in on it. Nerbaska vs Iowa is a great rivalry - the team that can't punt vs the team that knows best how to punt. It's hard to see Iowa looking like a team that's going to keep up with Michigan in the Big Ten Championship game. Iowa doesn't know who their starting QB is going to be, yet. Jamie says the most Iowa sentence ever. Wisconsin's offense collapses against Minnesota. Wisconsin almost punts from the Minnesota 35 on 4th and 1, takes a penalty, and converts the 4th and 6. If Minnesota didn't blow it against Illinois, they would've been in the Big Ten Championship game and forced a battle for the Jug. Twitter has some strong opinions about punting from the opposing 35. MSU converts a flea flicker - everyone should run a flea flicker at least once per week. Is Penn State in trouble going into next year? They may need to hit the transfer portal hard. Purdue had a solid 8-4 season, Indiana not so much. Nick Sheridan is out at Indiana. Illinois gets The Hat for the first time in years. Brandon Peters claimed to be the only person in the locker room to go 2-0 yesterday. Maryland goes 6-6 and makes a bowl game, Bryan Mackenzie will have to wait another year for Rutgers to make a bowl. The Michigan Rutgers game is really weird in hindsight.

MUSIC:

• "Linus & Lucy"--Vince Guaraldi
• "Sweet Revenge"--John Prine
• "Baby Come"--Cut Worms
• “Across 110th Street”

Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. UGP makes custom apparel such as t-shirts and sweatshirts and was founded by 2 Michigan alums over 20 years ago. They have 3 retail locations in Ann Arbor and offer thousands of University of Michigan athletic products for sale, ranging from clothing to accessories and memorabilia. Check them out at ugpmichiganapparel.com.

And let’s not forget our associate sponsors: Peak Wealth Management, HomeSure Lending, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, Prentice4M, and Team Fan Club. We are of course made possible by SignalWire.

THE VIDEO

[After THE JUMP: the player and what we said]

--------------------------------------------

Yeesh. Their running game is just dangerous enough to be lethal given the way you have to set up against their passing attack. Best trio of receivers at once? The hope here is we brought in a guy from an NFL defense that specialized in ruining young NFL quarterbacks to catch up to the OSU meta game where they’ve become a pro offense.

(starts at 21:11)

Kerry Coombs got the Paterno, Barnes made them a little leaky Cover 2 because the way they score that’s all they have to be in this league. Linebacker level is exploitable; All could have a good game, Michigan might be able to Nebraska-Oklahoma this into a shorter game.

(starts at 40:06)

Cade had a good game in a controlled environment. The Donovan Edwards stuff was a right response to what Maryland was doing defensively. As is tradition, the defense showed some things that make us terrified before Ohio State.

(starts at 49:20)

We talk about the traditions of Ohio State, and how they’re all linked back to Michigan, and clear up a few myths that Seth’s been peddling.

Tonight’s featured musician is Ma Baker, whom I saved for this episode because they are headlining at The Blind Pig tonight. They are Washtenaw County’s most righteous jam band.

• “Jammy”
• “Zonde”
• “Falling Too”

And because Across 110th Street will get our Youtubes taken now now, the opener and outro:

• “The Employee is Not Afraid”—Bear vs. Shark
• “Ruska Vodka”—Motorboat

If you or a friend made some good tunes and don't have a label out scrubbing for them we'd be happy to feature you.

Things discussed:

• Michigan history corrections.
• Maryland: Michigan was looking past then, Donovan Edwards brings a new dimension.
• McNamara performance: not like MSU because he wasn’t getting pressure, his reads were more open, and his receivers helped him out more. It was a good performance—just stop throwing it off his OL’s helmets.
• McCarthy: Perfect game for him because UMD’s secondary falls apart, gives their running game more space, POPS. Also definitely not the starter.
• OSU-MSU: Not surprised MSU fell apart in the secondary, surprised they couldn’t move the ball, but that happens when they lost their Heisman candidate to an ankle thing.
• M-OSU: How do we win this one? Beat their linebackers, screw with Stroud’s reads, get pressure, and get the ball to Michigan’s playmakers. #SpeedinSpace time.
• Nebraska/Penn State vs OSU through-lines? Both teams make life hell on linebackers!
• We talk about OSU’s receivers, what about Michigan’s receivers?
• Michigan is the best team Ohio State’s faced this year (yes including Oregon), and Ohio State’s been in some games this year.
• Seth: It’s going to matter if Ojabo and Hutchinson are allowed to play football under the rules.
• Hoops: significantly down on Houstan, who’s not a 3. Johns has no confidence. Team is shooting

With David Nasternak and Alex Drain

This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games.

[Writeup after THE JUMP]

---------------------------------

Segment 1: Notre Dame Wins in OT, 3-2

• The Holtz Roller Coaster
• Beniers Coast to Coast
• Portillo Plays Well
• The Collapse
• What do you do in 3v3 OT?

Segment 2: Notre Dame Wins in OT, 5-4

• Great Start, Creating and Finishing
• The Collapse Comes Early
• Portillo Has a Terrible...and Also Good Game?
• We Need to Talk About the 5v3 Stuff
• Alex Has Opinions on Penalties

Secret Segment 3

1 hour and 16 minutes

Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com.

And let’s not forget our associate sponsors: Peak Wealth Management, HomeSure Lending, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, SignalWire (use the code MUPPETS), Prentice 4M, where we recorded this, Team Fan Club, and introducing The View from the Cheap Seats podcast by the Sklars, who will now be joining us for the Hot Takes segments. Please go subscribe and like their podcast, and leave your hot takes about this game in the reviews.

starts at 1:00

Why are we playing an ACC team? Harder to appreciate a blowout with what's coming next. What other team is walking to their doom at the end of the season every year? Cade goes 75% on completions for >10 yards per completion - helped out by some spectacular catches. Donovan Edwards has more receiving yards in this game than Chris Evans did in any single season. Hassan Haskins only gets 78 yards at 3.9 YPC, does not help that Cade will not keep the ball on a read. JJ McCarthy shows some flashes in this one, including a reminiscent Denard-first-snap play. McCarthy extends a play that Cade probably would have otherwise thrown away. 

[The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]

starts at 26:48

Ground game defense feels a little bit concerning considering Maryland is a team that does not run well. Not great signs for Ohio State. Solutions on what to do when being blatantly held - just go down? Did a nice job holding Rakim Jarrett to two receptions. Michigan is #4 in SP+, and yet are 8.3 points behind Ohio State, which is huge. Hard to be happy about being #4 because we have a Sword of Damocles. 

starts at 41:54

Takes so hot they look like Mike Locksley after his team takes multiple red zone penalties on the same drive. Locksley's facial expressions are far too relatable to an exasperated dad. Jay Harbaugh - best coach on staff? Not a hot take, just a question. Kick return trick play won't work against Ohio State since Ohio State doesn't pooch kick. 

starts at 56:44

Michigan State's pass defense was, uh... thoroughly exposed. Michigan just has to not lose that badly to go to the Rose Bowl. Nebraska doing what Nebraska does - losing to a ranked team by one score. Nebraska is ranked #33 in SP+, Michigan State is #34. Braelon Allen is emerging as a consistent runner for Wisconsin. Minnesota plows through the erotic rotting corpse of Indiana football. Indiana is a loss to Purdue away from being winless against Power 5 teams for the first time since Kevin Wilson. Looking at the boxscore, how did Iowa win by 10? P00N results in Brian setting the rules for all M00N related scoreboard jokes. Rutgers couldn't score once against a flu-ridden Penn State team. 

MUSIC:

• "The Man"--Aloe Blacc
• "You're Dead"--Norma Tanega
• "Love the One You're With"--The Isley Brothers
• “Across 110th Street”

Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. UGP makes custom apparel such as t-shirts and sweatshirts and was founded by 2 Michigan alums over 20 years ago. They have 3 retail locations in Ann Arbor and offer thousands of University of Michigan athletic products for sale, ranging from clothing to accessories and memorabilia. Check them out at ugpmichiganapparel.com.

And let’s not forget our associate sponsors: Peak Wealth Management, HomeSure Lending, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, Prentice4M, and Team Fan Club. We are of course made possible by SignalWire.

THE VIDEO

[After THE JUMP: the player and what we said]

--------------------------------------------

Taulia Tagovailoa experience is he’s going to Madden QB into sacks or crazy 3rd and 9 conversions. They screen as often as they run so that’s their offense. Their defense broke the record for most guys cyan’d despite a couple of decent DEs and a good secondary because their linebackers don’t yet know what they’re doing and their DTs are just beatable.

(starts at 19:06)

Cade McNamara graded out not negative in a game that had a lot of passes thrown under duress because Ryan Hayes cannot stop NFL-grade pass-rushers all by himself. Thought Haskins carried the team; they had him reading the PSU DT to see if there was a cutback lane or if they were overplaying the left side. Attacked the boundary by forcing the safeties who came into the box to be real linebackers instead of free hitters.

(starts at 33:12)

Matt from Endless Motor takes Seth’s chair (literally) to talk about the early season rotation. Short version is Houstan is really a four or a guy who guards Just a Shooters, not major scoring wings. The guy who can defend that is Diabate and we’re intrigued by the idea of using him as a weird three. Brooks is having an amazing early season and solves the question of backup guard, which means you can explore Bufkin on the wing. Devante’ Jones has to stop trying to get those steals. Add Kobe and Williams and Diabate to Dickinson and Eli and you’ve got an incredible passing team.

Two identical games against Penn State: return of Beecher gives them three excellent centers and an answer for teams that want to play ‘90s hockey. Interesting to see Steve Holtz (Steve Holt!) earning a pairing with Power. We also discuss Portillo (not Porteeyo) and his highlight reel weekend, and the pocket dimension where they keep the Hughes.

Tonight’s featured musician is Russell Brower, who if you’ve ever stopped because some piece of background music in your video game, or Disney ride, or Saturday morning cartoon made you think, “Whoa—this is awesome; I wonder who composed this?” there’s a good chance it was Russell Brower. He was previously the senior audio and lead composer at Blizzard Entertainment, and before that was principle media designer and music director at Walt Disney Imagineering (the theme parks division).

He’s also worked on projects like Batman: The Animated Series and other films. If you, like me, like to use videogame music to get your flow on when working or studying, you already know what a treat it is when a Brower composition comes up in your playlist.

• “Totems of the Grizzlemaw”—from World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King
• “Heaven’s Devils”—from StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty
• “New Tristram”—from Diablo III

And because Across 110th Street will get our Youtubes taken now now, the opener and outro:

• “The Employee is Not Afraid”—Bear vs. Shark
• “Ruska Vodka”—Motorboat

Things discussed:

• Two RPS plays to beat Penn State: Mesh and Mesh beater.
• Clifford got Devin Gardner’d. Mike Morris blew a guy up.
• PSU had two dudes at DE too: Ryan Hayes *struggled*—have to give him help. Why are you running empty on 3rd and 11?
• 4th and 2: Michigan can’t play down 3 guys on a side, no matter what they think. Should have audibled to the left because PSU was misaligned.
• Running game: PSU brought down a safety so Michigan went even heavier, 10 guys in the box, and turned those safeties into linebackers.
• Schoonmaker vs Honigford? I don’t think it makes enough of a difference.
• Haskins: He is who we are. Draft prospects? Come back?
• Best DE combo in Michigan history? Seth mentions Maentz and Kramer.
• Ohio State Lucy talk from Craig and Sam. Ohio State fans are going to be there because Michigan sold them tickets last summer.
• Seth on fandom: It’s rewarding to believe in something.
• Basketball talk: Houstan couldn’t shoot and couldn’t stay in front of his guy, and played 39 minutes!? We think he should go in the 4 rotation, put Williamson and Bufkin at the three.

With David Nasternak and Alex Drain

This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games.

[Writeup after THE JUMP]

---------------------------------

Segment 1: The Original

• Slooooooooooooooow Start
• Morgan and York Duke
• Dot One-timers
• Beecher and Beniers
• Portillo's Best Game?

Segment 2: Deja Vu

• Period of Penalty Minutes
• Another Great Response
• BTN MINUS
• Another Destructive Third Period
• A Look Around the B10 and Irish Preview

---------------------------------

• NHL on ESPN Theme
• "Zombie Nation" -Kernkraft 400
• Ice Hockey (NES) theme

1 hour and 32`minutes

Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com.

And let’s not forget our associate sponsors: Peak Wealth Management, HomeSure Lending, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, SignalWire (use the code MUPPETS), Prentice 4M, where we recorded this, Team Fan Club, and introducing The View from the Cheap Seats podcast by the Sklars, who will now be joining us for the Hot Takes segments. Please go subscribe and like their podcast, and leave your hot takes about this game in the reviews.

starts at 1:00

Brian vs tweeting as a personal battle, Seth has become dangerously optimistic. False starts make first few drives extremely difficult. Penn State's passing defense has been lights out, Michigan has been the closest to Ohio State in creating passing yards against Penn State. Only two carries for Donovan Edwards, this was Hassan Haskins' game. How is Michigan not successful at short yardage? Missed Blake Corum in some situations. 

[The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]

starts at 22:24

Penn State offense takes the field, gives up sacks. Four fumbles in this game and Penn State gets all of them. Sean Clifford looks absolutely battered and beaten on the sideline all game. The defense bashes Penn State's mesh on 4th down. Jahan Dotson gets relatively held down in this game, only 61 yards on 9 receptions. Secondary got got a couple times but overall exceeded expectations. Penn State receivers also helped out a lot. 

starts at 43:09

Takes hotter than a Penn State fan after James Franklin called a fake field goal from the two where you got to throw it to your kicker and then he fumbles it backwards because he's the kicker and it's just like what are we even doing? Can't complain about red zone offense when you score from the 21. Punt safe team was not punt safe in the 1st quarter. Fake punts are alright, fake field goals are the dumbest thing ever. Nobody seems to quite understand the rule of catching a ball on a punt before the endzone. Basketball and hockey lightning round, Michigan defeats racism 77-49. 

starts at 1:16:00

Minnesota just can't get by Iowa under PJ Fleck. Wisconsin continues to roll in the 2nd half of the season, did Michigan play Wisconsin at just the right time? Northwestern is just a dead fish at this point. Maryland drives to the MSU 16, 23, 24, and 39 in the second half and get no points from any of those drives. Comfortable win for the Spartans, despite having a secondary that is butt. Michigan State scores on a flea flicker for the 4th(!!) time. The biggest win for Rutgers on the road against a conference opponent?? Against pre-season #17 Indiana??? Ohio State - is scary. 

MUSIC:

• "All of the Time"--Jungle
• "Digits"--Young Thug
• "Freebird II"--Parquet Courts
• “Across 110th Street”
•  

Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. UGP makes custom apparel such as t-shirts and sweatshirts and was founded by 2 Michigan alums over 20 years ago. They have 3 retail locations in Ann Arbor and offer thousands of University of Michigan athletic products for sale, ranging from clothing to accessories and memorabilia. Check them out at ugpmichiganapparel.com.

And let’s not forget our associate sponsors: Peak Wealth Management, HomeSure Lending, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, Prentice4M, and introducing Team Fan Club! We are of course made possible by SignalWire.

THE VIDEO

[After THE JUMP: the player and what we said]

--------------------------------------------

Jahan Dotson is a new level of problem for our cornerbacks, but it’s good that their QB isn’t running because he can’t stay behind that OL either. Defense has struggled at DT since losing their star, but still stacked on the secondary.

starts at 18:57

Offense still doing things that I hate, started doing more stretch zone, which some of them are good at. Cade had an underrated performance. JJ usage explained by Cade. Haskins did his awesome stuff. Don’t know why I needed to chart the defense except to know how badly the NFL is going to want Ojabo now. We did Don Brown things.

starts at 34:12

Buffalo did the Buffalo things. Caleb Houstan’s defense needs work if he’s going to survive as a perimeter player. Diabate is a freak and it’s so fun to have that. Hunter Dickinson is now in the Aidan Hutchinson range of boringly good. Didn’t see enough Jones to know. Favorite lineups?

starts at 46:54

With Reid McCarthy of Ann Arbor Elder Law, because his segments always go off the rails.

Tonight’s featured musician Nomo, a funky jazz band that existed in Ann Arbor when I was existing there for a time after college, during which time I acquired their first album “LP” and have been going back to it ever since. Long past the time that I share it with you.

• “Discontinued”
• “Busy”
• “Better Than That”

And because Sony bought Across 110th Street and slapped a claim on us, the opener and outro:

• “The Employee is Not Afraid”—Bear vs. Shark
• “Ruska Vodka”—Motorboat

If you or a friend made some good tunes and don't have a label out scrubbing for them we'd be happy to feature you.

Things discussed:

• Indiana game: commercials are out of control. Veneer of commercialism was completely off with a 7:30pm game that has as many ads as the Super Bowl. It felt like a MAC game.
• Indiana’s offense was hopeless—didn’t do anything that bothers Michigan.
• IU wasn’t running to the field because Michigan put Barrett in there—IU’s plan was to option off Hutchinson.
• Ojabo: 17 snaps and looked like an NFL 1st rounder. Damn.
• Penn State preview: Watch out for Jahan Dotson. Injuries to their QB’s legs and their best DT have given them weaknesses they didn’t have before. PSU’s player development isn’t great so they’re very good where talent shows (DB) and not great at positions where coaching matters more (OL).
• But weird things happen vs. Penn State.
• How down are we on Gattis? Sam has no issues, Seth has issues in the run game. Stretch zone worked against IU, seems like a good fit for some of their players, but Sam thinks Michigan isn’t going to do that instead of inside zone, never mind that they’re not able to run it from their setup.
• Pass concepts are good, Sam wants more JJ in the red zone, Seth is singing McNamara’s praises. Boils down to whether you think it’s on the players or the coaches that Joel Honigford is running a bad route.
• Try this: Don’t play anything during commercials. Let it be quiet.
• Michigan over Michigan State in the playoff: Brian thinks head to head should be what matters most, the rest of us say if the playoff committee watched that game and thought Michigan was the better team, who are we to argue?
• Hoops vs Buffalo: Williamson had a great game, so did Buffalo’s Williamson, who was hitting a lot of 2PJs to make up for his teammates missing their threes. Diabate showed vision, athleticism.
• Houstan had a hard time staying in front of guards—probably needs to be playing the four, which changes how you figure out Michigan’s lineups.
• Buffalo is going to be a good team, especially when they can play small instead of putting those goombas out to slow Dickinson.
• Ever seen three double techs before?
• Devante’ Jones is more advanced than Mike Smith was early.
• MSU and OSU basketball: MSU is weird, OSU might be bad.

With David Nasternak and Alex Drain

This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games.

[Writeup after THE JUMP]

---------------------------------

Segment 1: We Have More Talent Than You 00:51

• Fast Start for Matty
• Second Period Struggles
• How Michigan Beat It
• Third Period Onslaught

Segment 2: Score Early, Then Suffocate 

• Picking Up From Friday
• Sparty Bounces Back
• Michigan Drains the Third Period
• A Look Around the B10
• PSU Preview

---------------------------------

• NHL on ESPN Theme
• "Short Skirt Long Jacket" -Cake
• Ice Hockey (NES) theme

1 hour and 20`minutes

Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com.

And let’s not forget our associate sponsors: Peak Wealth Management, HomeSure Lending, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, SignalWire (use the code MUPPETS), Prentice 4M, where we recorded this, Team Fan Club, and introducing The View from the Cheap Seats podcast by the Sklars, who will now be joining us for the Hot Takes segments. Please go subscribe and like their podcast, and leave your hot takes about this game in the reviews.

starts at 1:00

One of the most boring Michigan games we've ever watched? Too many commercials, it was cold, and they played the Applebee's song. Haskins Hurdling a Fool count is up to five. Injuries compromised the offensive gameplan a bit. There was a literal line of players trying to get into the injury tent. Cade only had 18 pass attempts, JJ has another yakity-sax play, Brian apologizes for trying to sing Yakity-Sax but sang Calliope instead. 

[The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]

starts at 26:40

Defense - great performance against not great offense. Zero sacks from Hutchinson due to being doubled and held. Ojabo continues to be a freak of nature. Junior Colson is developing nicely. Some key Indiana players getting injured makes the defensive performance even murkier to grade. Nine games in and still not much to be said about the cornerbacks. 

starts at 40:44

Takes so hot they're the inverse of how we all felt for 3 unnecessary hours in a November night game. Editor's note: I was not prepared for Seth's take. The entire state of Indiana, minus West Lafayette, should not exist at night. DJ Turner fills in for AJ Henning on punt returns, proceeds to get two kick catch interferences on a single play. Brad Robbins is secretly good but nobody really talks about it. Tweet about Brad Robbins, get a like. 

starts at 58:26

Purdue beats Michigan State with a play from Tecmo Bowl! Brohm claims to have stolen if from a YouTube video of a high school team years ago. Purdue now in a four-way tie with Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa for the Big Ten West. Does Ohio State look beatable or was this a one-off bad game (spoiler: it's the less fun answer). Nebraska is 1-6 in Big Ten play and outscoring their Big Ten opponents. If you're Nebraska... it... still kind of... makes sense to keep Scott Frost? Iowa and Northwestern in the Battle of Backup Quarterbacks. Seven punts in a row to start the game sounds about right. This podcast team was never fooled by Iowa's top five ranking. Brian demands a Grover Bortolotti on Michigan's team. Brandon Peters: 7-of-9 for 80 yards for a win over the number 20 team in the country! Shout out to the Illinois punter for rowing the boat three times and then snapping the paddle. 

MUSIC:

• "Meet Me at Our Spot"--The Anxiety
• "Dennehy"--Serengeti
• "Crutch"--Band of Horses
• “Across 110th Street”

NOTE: The podcast version didn’t hit the feed until later tonight because I have to get to the basketball exhibition. Thank you to our special guest tonight: Former IU basketball player and NBA head coach Butch Carter

Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. UGP makes custom apparel such as t-shirts and sweatshirts and was founded by 2 Michigan alums over 20 years ago. They have 3 retail locations in Ann Arbor and offer thousands of University of Michigan athletic products for sale, ranging from clothing to accessories and memorabilia. Check them out at ugpmichiganapparel.com.

And let’s not forget our associate sponsors: Peak Wealth Management, HomeSure Lending, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, Prentice4M, and introducing Team Fan Club! We are of course made possible by SignalWire.

THE VIDEO

[After THE JUMP: the player and what we said]

--------------------------------------------

They broke Penix, broke two of his backups, and broke the seal on a true freshman basketball convert who still looks like that. Still have some good receivers though.

starts at 18:57

Not a particularly stout front except the one really good linebacker. Getting their injured cornerbacks back. Tom Allen is a good coach.

starts at 34:12

OTHER than the refs: Cade’s day stood up. He made most of his big throws on passing downs. Offensive line pass pro was very good. Barnhart iffy. MSU took away runs. Defense got weird: 5-1 and 6-1 got beat because there’s only one linebacker. Big plays are MSU’s jam. Rotation: learned lesson.

starts at 46:54

We have a new sponsor who’s going to be funneling money to the Men’s and Women’s basketball team and he used to coach in the NBA, and has some stories about Crisler when it was young as well.

Tonight’s featured musician is my best friend Tres Crow, because it was handy and he’s great. From different points in his career.

• “As the Moon Sets”—Tres Crow
• “Paperback Writer”—Noble Three
• “Enos Mills (aka Rubber Tube)”–Oblivion

And because Sony bought Across 110th Street and slapped a claim on us, the opener and outro:

• “The Employee is Not Afraid”—Bear vs. Shark
• “Ruska Vodka”—Motorboat

If you or a friend made some good tunes and don't have a label out scrubbing for them we'd be happy to feature you.

Things discussed:

• How did they lose that game?
• The 4th down over-discussed. No doubt it was PI(x2) so there’s really no argument.
• Cade’s Day: wasn’t just great but great under pressure: 350 of Michigan’s passing yards were on passing downs or clock situations.
• McCarthy in the redzone? We’re still in favor.
• Someone should tell Macdonald that the spotting rules are different in college—you don’t have time to substitute! Third one was the most boggling because it was late in the game and they had been burned twice.
• Defensive breakdowns: DTs getting out of their lanes, and they’re not the starters. Hawkins and Moten both missed chances to stop long TD runs.
• Run game issues: 90% of them were Jacob Slade, the best DT we’ve faced this year.
• MSU brought safeties down but that didn’t explain a lot of the passing game, since those yards were on passing downs.
• Andrel Anthony: I got to make a comp to all the Ones. Denard-like debut.
• The overturned TD over-discussed. No reasonable person trying to officiate that game fairly overturns that, which means the Big Ten has a problem. Other officiating things—it was VERY one-sided, to the point where I couldn’t do the normal refs- stuff in UFR. Seth: The overturned TD isn’t a controversy; it’s a fact. That this game was a case example of officiating changing the result isn’t a controversy; it’s a fact. Proposed solution is to get professional referees.
• Kenneth Walker nearly got the Worst Rule in Sports on him.
• One call they missed against Michigan: Morris put Kenneth Walker in a choke hold, should be suspended for it.
• Indiana thoughts, Boiler up!

With David Nasternak and Alex Drain

This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games.

[Writeup after THE JUMP]

---------------------------------

Segment 1: Badgering the Badgers 00:51

• Interesting Scoring Debate
• Overpowering Opening Stanza
• The Beautiful Goals
• OMRs and the Fight

Segment 2: Letdown and Giveaways 

• Where Did These Goalies Come From?
• The Giveaways
• Michigan Fights Back
• Don't Blame Portillo
• This, Again, Huh?

---------------------------------

• NHL on ESPN Theme
• "Roller Coaster" -Bon Jovi
• Ice Hockey (NES) theme

1 hour and 26 minutes

Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com.

And let’s not forget our associate sponsors: Peak Wealth Management, HomeSure Lending, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, SignalWire (use the code MUPPETS), Prentice 4M, where we recorded this, and introducing The View from the Cheap Seats podcast by the Sklars, who will now be joining us for the Hot Takes segments. Please go subscribe and like their podcast, and leave your hot takes about this game in the reviews.

starts at 1:00

It's almost basketball season! Michigan can't get away from shooting itself in the foot, especially on substitutions and ill-timed false starts. Cade's passing game emergence in this game was an unexpected but pleasant surprise. The Andrel Anthony show results in an all-time hot take from last week. Is he the new number one receiver? Does any of this matter? Seth's best guess on the JJ fumble is that Corum might not have had the correct playcall. Erick All has 10 catches!

[The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]

starts at 22:13

Defense takes a step back, particularly at defensive tackle. Lots of rotation at defensive tackle and leaving the starters off the field. Michigan was not prepared for Michigan State's tempo. Linebackers were fine, cornerbacks held up for the most part. Moten had a great shot at an interception and Dax Hill got beat deep on the MSU 4th down touchdown on a tip-of-the-hat throw. 

starts at 34:36

Hot takes so hot they would be sitting innocuously on a Michigan message board. AJ Henning Punt drop one of only a few missed opportunities on special teams. Moody kicks seven field goals, four of them count. Robbins' botched fake punt run should've just been a called fake punt run. Frustration about field goals and red zone decision making, including a Charlie Weiss comparison (miss you big guy xoxoxo).

starts at 52:57

Michigan fans may be miserable, but so is most of the Big Ten. Nebraska pulled a Dave Brandon ticket sale scheme and Adrian Martinez got booed en route to four interceptions. Minnesota rows the boat to their own destiny. Wisconsin starting to look like Wisconsin as they also control their own destiny. Jamie has few notes about his Hoosiers losing to Maryland as Seth attempts to pronounce Tagovailoa correctly. Rutgers vs Illinois, happened. Does Ohio State have holes in the secondary that Michigan could exploi- nope, not even going to finish that sentence. Penn State actually getting the benefit of the doubt on holding non-calls.

MUSIC:

• “How Not to Drown”—CHVRCHES feat. Robert Smith
• “Not”—Big Thief
• “Down on the Bottom”—The New Basement Tapes
• “Across 110th Street”

1 hour, like almost exactly.

Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. UGP makes custom apparel such as t-shirts and sweatshirts and was founded by 2 Michigan alums over 20 years ago. They have 3 retail locations in Ann Arbor and offer thousands of University of Michigan athletic products for sale, ranging from clothing to accessories and memorabilia. Check them out at ugpmichiganapparel.com.

And let’s not forget our associate sponsors: Peak Wealth Management, HomeSure Lending, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, Prentice4M, and made possible by SignalWire.

THE VIDEO:

Live and die by the big play. Offensive line uses nine guys but Kenneth Walker III is going to make guys miss and carry more on his back. Two speedsters and a QB who can hit them is our concern.

starts at 18:57

Bend don’t break versus bends but won’t break you matchup. Still go back to MSU quarters because they have MSU safeties.

starts at 34:12

Offense was unimaginative, got safeties in faces at the line of scrimmage (bad) but RBs dealt with them (good). Defense dominated; I was upset about the officiating, especially the chop block and the sideline judge.

starts at 46:54

What happened versus WMU? They’re actually a good team. Wisconsin is not, but Moe stood on his head to keep the Badgers in it. Minnesota looks shaky, we find out about Penn State tonight.

Tonight’s featured musician is August Red, which is user Tom Nixon (class of ‘92)’s new band that pays homage to that late 70s and early 80s LA sound.

• Sunshine Melody
• Never-Ending Story
• This Night Won’t Last Forever

And because Sony bought Across 110th Street and slapped a claim on us, the opener and outro:

• “The Employee is Not Afraid”—Bear vs. Shark
• “Ruska Vodka”—Motorboat

If you or a friend made some good tunes and don't have a label out scrubbing for them we'd be happy to feature you.

Things discussed:

• MSU talk part 1: Didn’t expect Thorne to be good. Has a good deep ball.
• MSU’s schedule has been pretty weak, should have lost to Nebraska.
• RB comparison: PFF thinks you could take Walker and any other back in the country and they won’t be Corum/Haskins.
• Can our quarterback play rise to the occasion? McNamara can’t beat MSU the way he played against Northwestern.
• What about our offensive coordination? Hoping we looked past Northwestern, have some things planned.
• QB talk: We’re all on team McNamara but want to see them come at this from a “what’s the hardest thing for a defense to stop” perspective. McNamara is your every down guy. McCarthy should come in at any moment and have downfield throws available as well.
• Sam Webb makes a 5-minute pitch for Mel to go to LSU.
• Michigan’s running game: Power is the answer. Pin & Pull returned, huzzah!
• MSU is going to beat our cornerbacks. Is that twice or 12 times is the difference. They’ll nerf Hutchinson by getting the ball out quickly and trusting their WRs to make a play.
• Explosion vs consistency, LFG.

With David Nasternak and Alex Drain

Segment 1: Stampeded at Yost  00:51

• Is this the last of NCHC TV? 
• Western is good; Michigan defense was not
• Special Teams were not very special
• Comeback was not to be
• Just an all around butt-kicking

Segment 2: A win? A tie? Yes. 28:32

• What surface was the Saturday game played on?
• Much better start: BrissonDot and Moyle Rebound
• The penalty kill...not great results
• Erik Portillo. Yes.
• Nick wins the tie

1 hour and 21`minutes

Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com.

And let’s not forget our associate sponsors: Peak Wealth Management, HomeSure Lending, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, SignalWire (use the code MUPPETS), Prentice 4M, where we recorded this, and introducing The View from the Cheap Seats podcast by the Sklars, who will now be joining us for the Hot Takes segments. Please go subscribe and like their podcast, and leave your hot takes about this game in the reviews.

starts at 1:00

Brian has joined the Cade Haters, does not get the support he was expecting from Seth, who still hates no-read zone reads and trying to be a split zone team with a QB it doesn’t fit. Downfield accuracy was more about decisions not to throw guys open. Pre-snap reads are good but post-snap decisions are not. Is a fair quarterback. The running backs are stars—Colson might be Brian’s favorite of those he’s watched. Haskins showed us 1890s football. Erick All blocked. Guards…okay, but Zinter is missed.

starts at 31:20

We start with the One Bad Thing because it’s the only score. Blamed that on Colson not funneling because they were replacing Ross with Hawkins, and on Moten eating a block for NO GOOD REASON. Good game from DJ Turner, who effectively passed Green? Screens breakdowns until they shadowed them Ross. DL rampant—no holds for Hutchinson though. What’s a guy gotta do?

starts at 46:04

They did block a punt, overwhelming the shield like the days of yore. Henning had one return, let one bounce to the two. Game theory: we wanted to go for it on the 4th and 2 because Northwestern isn’t having a two-minute drill from the 2 yard line so chances are you get a punt with 1:45 left and then get into field goal range again…if you don’t score a TD.

starts at 1:??:??

Winning QBs had no yards as the rushingest of the rushers won every game. The OT fest: Penn State got back their quarterback but he didn’t run downfield (turned down his one opportunity and took a sack). Really missed Mustipher since Illinois was plowing them with QB sneaks for 2 yards on every 3rd and 2 and 2nd and 2, and powering their way to big gains for both backs. Wisconsin has another vote for winner of a silly West. Minnesota-Maryland was standard Gopherball. Ohio State’s offense…let’s end it there shall we?

MUSIC:

• “Congratulations”—MGMT
• “The Balcony”—The Fruit Bats
• “Work this Hard”—Caveman
• “Across 110th Street”

Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. UGP makes custom apparel such as t-shirts and sweatshirts and was founded by 2 Michigan alums over 20 years ago. They have 3 retail locations in Ann Arbor and offer thousands of University of Michigan athletic products for sale, ranging from clothing to accessories and memorabilia. Check them out at ugpmichiganapparel.com.

And let’s not forget our associate sponsors: Peak Wealth Management, HomeSure Lending, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, Prentice4M, and made possible by SignalWire.

I apologize for the terrible stream today. The streaming software, OBS Studio, wiped my settings 5 minutes before we were to go live.

[After THE JUMP: the player and what we said]

--------------------------------------------

Very bad at linebacker.

Third quarterback's the charm, but all their interior OL are sub-300 and they run power.

The first Black player for both teams, and also a brilliant doctor.

Didn’t realize how good.

Tonight’s featured musician is Dani Darling of Ann Arbor, who released her new album The Future this year and played the Pig a few weeks back. My selections:

• The Sublime
• La Femme
• The Future

And because Sony bought Across 110th Street and slapped a claim on us, the opener and outro:

• “The Employee is Not Afraid”—Bear vs. Shark
• “Ruska Vodka”—Motorboat

If you or a friend made some good tunes and don't have a label out scrubbing for them we'd be happy to feature you.

Things discussed:

• Sam: “Michigan State has the softest fanbase in sports.”

With David Nasternak and Alex Drain

This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games.

[Writeup after THE JUMP]

---------------------------------

Segment 1: Puttin' Down the Dawgs 0:51

• Intro and Did Michigan think the game started a half hour later?
• Why do they hate Nick?
• The Power Play Starts the Offense
• Brisson, Beniers, and Van Whye
• Michigan deflates the third period

Segment 2: You Say Mavericks, I Say Screaming Eagles 34:06

• Is Michigan just starting late to keep it close?
• Once again, it's the Power Play!
• Why are we in the box so much? Shhhhhhhhhhh!
• Bordeleau and Brisson take over the third
• Takeaways, the B10, and a look to Western

---------------------------------

• NHL on ESPN Theme
• 'Coach' Opening Theme Song
• Ice Hockey (NES) theme

wsg Matt from Endless Motor. 1 hour and 32 minutes

Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com.

And let’s not forget our associate sponsors: Peak Wealth Management, HomeSure Lending, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, SignalWire (use the code MUPPETS), Prentice 4M, where we recorded this, and introducing The View from the Cheap Seats podcast by the Sklars, who will now be joining us for the Hot Takes segments. Please go subscribe and like their podcast, and leave your hot takes about this game in the reviews.

starts at 1:00

Hunter Dickinson was pretty good, awesome in fact, and then just plain awesome as they doubled him and took away his favorite shoulder. He can develop that and/or a three. Moussa Diabate is going to be an IMPACT defender, can play the four, might develop a shot, switchable nightmare. Versatility with Brandon Johns able to play 4 or 5. He was more commanding as a starter, team X factor. Terrance Williams is about to bust out. Will Tschetter: redshirt or instant Wisconsin center?

[The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]

starts at 32:24

Caleb Houstan is like bringing in an NBA three-and-D dude. Not going to feel like a freshman, can shoot over anyone 6’5” and lower so he could be the new Chaundee shoots it guy. Backups: all the fours and twos. Eli Brooks is the most important player on the team (no hot take). Kobe Bufkin is going to outplay his rankings—this year he’s something in between freshman and sophomore Caris. Could see a jump from Zeb Jackson, or he could fall behind Isaiah Barnes. Not Jace’s turn yet. Could be Frankie’s turn soon but Devante Jones is your starting PG and could be an upgrade on Smith.

starts at 1:06:53

Tier 1: Illinois gets back Kofi and Curbelo, Trent Frazier is a problem for Brooks, who else can play on this team? Purdue brings back everybody, can a sophomore breakout from Ivey and Edey and Newman and Gillis take them all the way? Ohio State replaced its backcourt, waiting to see if Seth Towns can take a big role. Maryland found a center and a PG to go with Ayala and Scott. Tier 2: Indiana is 2015 Michigan football. They’ll put four out so TJD can work alone inside, and brought in four transfers/recruits to do it. MSU has a few dudes but can’t figure out which and when to play. Iowa and Wisconsin suffered huge losses. Nebraska > Penn State and Northwestern. Are 200 teams better than Minnesota?

starts at 1:46:57

Signs of life from future opponents who looked like pushovers, signs of death from objects in the rearview mirror. Indiana has to be a frustrating follow, but not enough that we can wish Jamie luck on fixing that OL.

MUSIC:

• “Silver Dollar”—Sierra Ferrell
• “Proofs”—Mates of State
• “In the Stone”—The Goon Sax
• “Across 110th Street”

Things discussed:

• Nebraska: They’re a good team. Great defensive line. Was this the gutsiest win by Michigan under Harbaugh? Have to give credit to Nebraska for shooting themselves in the foot.
• Cade Talk: Sam asks when we go with McCarthy, Seth is on Team McNamara because he’s got a high floor, and maybe that’s what you need when you have a good defense and good players around you. Brian says McCarthy should be the redzone guy.
• Offense: Playing better to their strengths. Tight ends had a great day vs not Wisconsin LBs, running backs won the game, Cade wasn’t that great but he was steady. TE leak.
• Note user Dragonchild’s diary about how Michigan is using less split zone and associated plays. They’re a good power team. Cade is a good 5-wide guy. They can run both out of the same personnel.
• Defense: Worried about the cornerbacks. Gray and Turner had BAAAAD pass interferences and that’s not going to work vs Ohio State.
• Michigan State? Quarterback play and two good receivers are real—the run game might be an effect of playing very bad run defenses but respect is due. Seth: These are all just college football teams. Michigan/MSU/Iowa/Nebraska…not that much separates these teams.
• Hockey Talk: This team can score at will on the power play, additions are great, have a lot more age than people realize. Portillo gives up too many soft rebounds but that was 1/4.
• Jett: Big recruiting win—Howard showed he can pull a guy out of IMG *AND* make him clean his room. Versatile player, closest recent comp is Franz? Needs a left.

With David Nasternak and Alex Drain

• Powerplay goals and also more goals
• KJ and his highlights
• Why are we always a man down?
• More goals
• Some added physicality?

• Goals before BTN+ shows them to me
• Michigan falls asleep on defense
• More penalties
• Michigan wakes up and scores more goals
• Any overall weekend takes
• Next weekend and what else happened in the B10

1 hour and 32 minutes

Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com.

And let’s not forget our associate sponsors: Peak Wealth Management, HomeSure Lending, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, SignalWire (use the code MUPPETS), Prentice 4M, where we recorded this, and introducing The View from the Cheap Seats podcast by the Sklars, who will now be joining us for the Hot Takes segments. Please go subscribe and like their podcast, and leave your hot takes about this game in the reviews.

starts at 1:00

Better in numbers than it felt. Sort of a Washington game but with dinky doo passing. The TE leak stuff was something they saw on film and kept working. McCarthy’s arc read worked when they thought it was Cade, but they need a pop pass or something off of it because it’s too obvious late. Had to use multiple guards—Stueber wrecked. Appreciation for the running backs—greatest hurdle of all time? McNamara deep accuracy, where’d you go?

[The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]

starts at 23:45

Nebraska is very good at college crappe, not very good at fundamental football. DTs have a very good day again, impressive that Mazi Smith could keep going after the opening screen. Jenkins had the 3rd down stuff. Hinton was great. They’re not pass rushers however, which is still a step-up problem. Michigan had crappe as well, especially when Morris and Hawkins played that 4th and 2.

starts at 47:15

Not a lot of weird decisions—both teams punted on 4th and 1 in their own territory. Special teams battle wasn’t as big as we expected because of Michigan’s punt returns: one flub, one ran backwards, one let bounce and lucky it went in the endzone. The rest was great: Robbins added distance to his Boom. MAAR blood in Moody.

starts at 1:14:03

Iowa-Penn State changed when PSU didn’t have a backup quarterback, which is very hard to do in 2021 when your Will Levis can just go start at Kentucky. PSU’s defense is legit: Luketa is doing the Micah Parsons stuff, and their secondary is filled with stars. MSU-Rutgers you can watch the highlights because that’s all there was. Wisconsin’s best RB was booted from the program. Ohio State is shoveling coal again.

MUSIC:

• “You and Me ”—Penny and the Quarters
• “Maria También”—Khruangbin
• “On the News”—Your Old Droog
• “Across 110th Street”

1 hour and 3 minutes

Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. UGP makes custom apparel such as t-shirts and sweatshirts and was founded by 2 Michigan alums over 20 years ago. They have 3 retail locations in Ann Arbor and offer thousands of University of Michigan athletic products for sale, ranging from clothing to accessories and memorabilia. Check them out at ugpmichiganapparel.com.

And let’s not forget our associate sponsors: Peak Wealth Management, HomeSure Lending, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, Prentice4M, and made possible by SignalWire.

Get Martinez throwing off his back foot, and please get off the field ASAP. Respectable defense too but Seth thinks the OLBs are crackable. Special teams are a foot shooting gallery.

starts at 14:52

Not the 2018 confused guys, also not Wisconsin. Good LB and a pair of DTs. Can they be edged?

Starts at 30:53

Seth explains the Cade cyan for 15 minutes.

Starts at 51:20

Part II of our preview for the year, featuring THE guy to talk about college hockey, even if he wants to talk about Minnesota and then have his internet cut out on him mid-segment so we couldn’t get into how bad MSU and OSU are going to be.

Tonight’s featured musician is Via Mardot of Holland, MI, and three tracks off of self-titled 2020 album. Wife and I discovered her music last year, and I asked for this one personally. Olivia Mainville makes Frenchy indie with Pulp Fiction vibes. Find her on Instagram. My favorite of hers is Wreck but the songs I chose for the pod were:

• Stand
• War
• Tie to the Bar

And because Sony bought Across 110th Street and slapped a claim on us, the opener and outro:

• “The Employee is Not Afraid”—Bear vs. Shark
• “Ruska Vodka”—Motorboat

If you or a friend made some good tunes and don't have a label out scrubbing for them we'd be happy to feature you.

Things discussed:

• A Fetty Wapp is the internet term for a 38-17 victory.
• Wisconsin’s left tackle was really bad in pass pro.
• Wisconsin’s defense is For Real. Sanborn and Chenal were beating up on our tight ends.
• Exception: split zone versus a guy slanting inside from inside. That block doesn’t work. Can’t punish that with McNamara.
• Ben Mason is pined for. Dives behind Stueber and Zinter work.
• I mean if someone said this was single wing offense versus a 5-3 defense in 1950 what’s the difference?
• Are our mesh points real? Seth now thinks McNamara is missing them.
• Michigan capitalized in some high-leverage situations.
• McNamara: Missed a lot of long reads that we never saw because Fox broadcasts are so bad. If you go to the video at around 11 minutes you can see the screenshots that Sam brought up. Wheel route: McNamara put it in the only spot that safety could have broken it up. First play he had a TD to Sainristil. The shorted throw on 4-verts to Roman had a wide open seam to All.
• Hutchinson was rampant. Michigan played with a 5-1-5 and can get away with it because Hutch owns one edge and Dax owns the other.
• Defense had such a dominant start it could have been 28-0 after the 1st quarter.
• Hockey talk: Exhibition looked like Michigan is going to be a MONSTER this year. Kent Johnson has turned the corner. Mix of forwards seems to be perfect for three lines of a Grinder+Scorers.

With David Nasternak and Alex Drain

Segment 1: Forwards, goals, and many talents

• Pairings make up lines: KJ and Matty; Bords and Brisson
• What to do with line 3? Beecher will miss some time
• Grind Line Part 4! Van Whye and Moyle
• Who fits in? How do they complement everyone else?
• How long has Pasta been here

Segment 2: Defensemen, Goalies, and Intangibles

• Best D pairing in the NCAA?
• Who will play with the New Hughes?
• Plenty of options for 5-8
• The Year of Portillo
• Special Teams and Friends
•  Around the Conference: Minnesota and.......anyone?
• Measures of Success

---------------------------------

• NHL on ESPN Theme
• "We Ready" - Archie Eversole ft. Bubba Sparxxx
• Ice Hockey (NES) theme

1 hour and 19 minutes

Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com.

And let’s not forget our associate sponsors: Peak Wealth Management, HomeSure Lending, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, SignalWire (use the code MUPPETS), Prentice 4M, where we recorded this, and introducing The View from the Cheap Seats podcast by the Sklars, who will now be joining us for the Hot Takes segments. Please go subscribe and like their podcast, and leave your hot takes about this game in the reviews.

starts at 1:00

Long discussion about Cade: were the bad passes on him or the receivers? Little bit of both but we disagree on the degrees. McCarthy can run options however, which seems like an important thing. No more split zone in short situations: you’re asking for impossible blocks. Tight ends got Wisconsinized. Hello Roman Wilson (don’t step out).

[The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]

starts at 22:45

How Wisconsin was this? Quarterbackly: no. Wolf had two turnovers when he came in—similar to when Michigan lost Peters and fell apart here years ago. The front seven however! The DTs withstood some Wisconsin linemen. Ojabo had a GAME. Dax Hill had a game. Hinton and Smith and the young DTs with them looked pretty good. The interesting blitzes are an effect of running more zone.

starts at 39:42

Seth reads off every 4th down decision and Brian says whether he would go or not go on that one. Really there was just one we thought they got too conservative. The pooch was a bad idea—20 yards in that circumstance is worth way more than 2 seconds. Special teams was a huge difference, e.g. punt from the 17, get it back on the 40. Moody hits all three.

starts at 56:22

Western Kentucky could have hung with MSU if they didn’t just kick field goals. Indiana broke Penix as well as everything else. Ohio State did to Rutgers all the things we were clamoring to do to Rutgers. Nebraska did terrible things to Northwestern, with a walk-on running back. 

MUSIC:

• “Marigold”—Jelani Aryeh
• “Wet Leg”—Chaise Lounge
• “Future Me Hates Me”—The Beths
• “Across 110th Street”

1 hour and 9 minutes

Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. UGP makes custom apparel such as t-shirts and sweatshirts and was founded by 2 Michigan alums over 20 years ago. They have 3 retail locations in Ann Arbor and offer thousands of University of Michigan athletic products for sale, ranging from clothing to accessories and memorabilia. Check them out at ugpmichiganapparel.com.

And let’s not forget our associate sponsors: Peak Wealth Management, HomeSure Lending, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, Prentice4M, and made possible by SignalWire.

[After THE JUMP: the player and what we said]

--------------------------------------------

starts at 1:00

They thought they had a quarterback. Now they don’t have a running back either.

starts at 17:17

As Wisconsin as ever. That linebacker factory is incredible. Can we deep pass? Will we deep pass?

Starts at 31:57

Things got stupid.

Starts at 47:51

Part I of our preview for the year with all the expectations.

Tonight’s featured musician is Miko Marks, and three tracks off of her new album Race Records, which came out TODAY. The ‘Hard Times’ cover is such a good one, and such a good pull, says this Civ VI American. Listen on your preferred listening link.

• Hard Times
• Long as I Can See the Light
• Long Journey Home

And because Sony bought Across 110th Street and slapped a claim on us, the opener and outro:

• “The Employee is Not Afraid”—Bear vs. Shark
• “Ruska Vodka”—Motorboat

If you or a friend made some good tunes and don't have a label out scrubbing for them we'd be happy to feature you.

• Helpful iTunes subscribe link
• General podcast feed link
• What's with the theme music?

Things discussed:

• Why does Michigan play so scared and soft? Why are we playing off coverage versus Noah Vedral?
• Rutgers sold out to stop the interior run game and M had no Plan B: ran Bash once (twice). RBs didn’t bounce when they had some opportunities.
• How good is Rutgers? Good on D, terrible on O.
• Seth: Michigan never takes Rutgers seriously. We could have just run the things they ran.
• Cade talk: Don’t know what happened in his head. If you have to turtle because he can’t throw after a hit, put in the backup.
• Struggles vs Power Read/Inverted Veer: No time to coach up Mullings because offense kept going three-and-out and they were right back on the field again.
• Offense was the big issue, and the offense died because they had no plan but to push a good defense off the ball. Michigan doesn’t run a zone read correctly: they’re reading it before the snap. Zone read options messed us up on defense too.
• Sam: Do you coach around a QB situation. Brian: Do you have to coach around your starting quarterback?
• Can you teach McNamara to zone read please? After the snap. It has to be after the damn snap. Not asking for Denard; can you get him up to Noah Vedral level?
• It seems ridiculous to not fix a problem you know you have until it causes a catastrophe.
• Late shout out to Aidan Hutchinson.

1 hour and 23 minutes

Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com.

And let’s not forget our associate sponsors: Peak Wealth Management, HomeSure Lending, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, SignalWire (use the code MUPPETS), Prentice 4M, where we recorded this, and introducing The View from the Cheap Seats podcast by the Sklars, who will now be joining us for the Hot Takes segments. Please go subscribe and like their podcast, and leave your hot takes about this game in the reviews.

starts at 1:00

Signs in the first drive, great play-action and RPOs on the second drive, then they ran out of ideas and kept running into stacked boxes like they'd never scouted this team and what they do. RBs are going to come in for some minuses. Vastardis got roasted by the slanting nose. DID NOT TEST THE EDGES VS THOSE INSANE SAFETIES UNTIL 5 MINUTES LEFT WHAT ARE WE DOING HERE?

[The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]

starts at 21:05

Also not great. Rutgers ran a lot of college stuff, Michigan ran out a lot of DTs, Hutchinson was rampant, refs were unkind to us here and both teams on deep passes.

starts at 35:25

The Sklars join us for the Hot Takes segment. Brad Robbins is not Jesus (in case you were wondering). Moody missed a field goal, RU missed too. Lots in the Game Theory segment, starting with Rutgers going for it at the end of the half on 4th and 10. And then Michigan not running a play with 5 seconds left. And lots more.

starts at 56:22

How long can we spend on Minnesota-Bowling Green? Long enough to name every Carr assistant and player, and not long enough to get to the implications for teams who may have been losing to Minnesota in the 4th quarter this year.

MUSIC:

• “Drivers”—John Andrews and the Yawns
• “Jesus Was a Cross-Maker”—Judee Still
• “Good Intentions”—The 1AM Radio
• “Across 110th Street”

1 hour and 16 minutes

Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. UGP makes custom apparel such as t-shirts and sweatshirts and was founded by 2 Michigan alums over 20 years ago. They have 3 retail locations in Ann Arbor and offer thousands of University of Michigan athletic products for sale, ranging from clothing to accessories and memorabilia. Check them out at ugpmichiganapparel.com.

And let’s not forget our associate sponsors: Peak Wealth Management, HomeSure Lending, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, Prentice4M, and made possible by SignalWire.

[After THE JUMP: the player and what we said]

--------------------------------------------

They’re going to test Daxton Hill on the edge; let’s see how that works out for them.

Not as bad, still doing the Stunt 43 thing. Can Michigan outflank them or is it another battle of Cannae? McNamara kind of game.

Good Morning,

Michigan has began a war with Rutgers University. Our Order, represented by some of Rutgers elite student leaders, see it fit that this rivalry be hereby declared.

We have had enough of Michigan. Fence the Garden was brought forth because of Mr. Harbaugh, and us Scarlet Knights are ready to protect our state. We R battle ready.

Tonight sparked the beginning of the end for Wolverine Football, and no longer will they return to their former glory. The Curse of The Bambino reigned for 86 years, Michigan's will last for 28.

What happened on That One Drive is the only thing we learned.

Tonight’s featured musician is Terry Klein, from Austin, Texas, whom you can find at www.terrykleinmusic.com. He told me to save “Too Blue to Get That Far” for a loss but it’s too good to sit on. That’s Bart DeWin on the organ fyi.

• Straw Hat
• Too Blue to Get That Far
• Better Luck Next Time

And because Sony bought our song and slapped a claim on us, the opener and outro:

• “The Employee is Not Afraid”—Bear vs. Shark
• “Russian Vodka”—Motorboat

If you or a friend made some good tunes and don't have a label out scrubbing for them we'd be happy to feature you.

Things discussed:

• The opening makes sense if you heard what we were tearing up laughing about before the segment started, which is Vance Bedford saying Michigan fans who aren’t excited about this running game need to take some Viagra.
• Sam wants our thoughts on how well the team is playing vis a vis preseason expectations.
• OL charting: They don’t screw up very much! This game was like 80%, and when one guy made a mistake they fixed it.
• Seth: JJ McCarthy has some competition for AJ’s best friend because Vastardis can move. He’s draftable.
• DL charting: They don’t screw up very much either! Came back to Earth from Washington but not a weakness, and Hill-Green and Gray have been surprisingly effective when the were expected to be sore spots.
• Caveat: haven’t faced good QBs yet.
• QBs: should they find a role for McCarthy? Seth: yes. Other guys: no.
• Rutgers and Wisconsin previews.
• What’s going on with Kerry Coombs and Ohio State?

1 hour and 25 minutes

Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com.

And let’s not forget our associate sponsors: HomeSure Lending, Ann Arbor Elder Law, the Residence Inn Ann Arbor Downtown, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, Information Entropy, the Raw Power app for iOS by Gentleman Coders, SignalWire (use the code MUPPETS and they’ll buy your team lunch!), and this episode was supposed to be recorded at Prentice 4M, on the other end of The Bridge. Take their survey to decide what to do with Lucky’s.

starts at 1:00

That was thorough. Takes us 15 minutes to bring up the passing game. The rushing game has a diversity of power instead of inside zone—split zone is really their IZ. It all works.

[The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]

starts at 25:06

Also quite thorough. Michigan has never seen a QB keeper on an arc read (because they never see it in practice—zing!). Scripted drive put the DTs on edge duty, that got cleaned up. No attempts downfield Rocky? Ready for the Stanford 4th and 1 fire drill.

starts at 37:03

Why are they kicking a field goal on 4th and 2 on their only successful drive? Seth thinks they had Caden Kolesar out there for Washington because he’s a vet and the atmosphere wasn’t going to bother him, but the plan was to go with AJ Henning all along. One that he let bounce showed why, what happened after that also showed why it was a good plan. Congrats to the specialists on their day off.

starts at 51:58

Nebraska’s defense holding Oklahoma to a manageable score is more surprising than Oklahoma’s defense allowing Nebraska to shorten the game. Ohio State’s defense is…bad? Does it matter? Michigan State faced a Miami team that punches itself in the face, but their new RB is legit. New Jersey defeated a maize and blue team with wings on their helmets.

MUSIC:

• “Paving the Runway”—JJ Heller
• “Running Away”—Freak Power
• “Mr. Blue Sky”—cover by Mayer Hawthorne
• “Across 110th Street”

1 hour and 3 minutes

Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. UGP makes custom apparel such as t-shirts and sweatshirts and was founded by 2 Michigan alums over 20 years ago. They have 3 retail locations in Ann Arbor and offer thousands of University of Michigan athletic products for sale, ranging from clothing to accessories and memorabilia. Check them out at ugpmichiganapparel.com.

And let’s not forget our associate sponsors: Peak Wealth Management, HomeSure Lending, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, Prentice4M, and made possible by SignalWire.

[After THE JUMP: the player and what we said]

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starts at 1:00

Randy and Jason Sklar come on to remember the humor of Norm Macdonald, whose humor inspired them and the humor of this blog. Here’s the Moth Joke:

starts at 27:01

They’re a racecar with Rocky Lombardi under center. Tempo and a speedy running back, and they’ll take their shots downfield. Alex doesn’t hate any of their linemen.

starts at 37:31

They’re bad—Seth says the program was torn apart by coaching changes and defections. Worst one was their DT whom they donated to Indiana.

starts at 48:16

Other than John Donovan, how seriously do we take the dual pavings? Semi-seriously.

Tonight’s featured musician is Maxwell Thomas, a Chicago-based, eccentric yacht rocker who produces alt rock inspired by JRPGs.

• Ghost
• Rising Sun
• Traveler’s Theme

And because Sony bought our song and slapped a claim on us, the opener and outro:

• “Funk It Up Old School”
• “Russian Vodka”—Motorboat

If you or a friend made some good tunes and don't have a label out scrubbing for them we'd be happy to feature you.

Things discussed:

• Welcome back Brian.
• Thank you, John Donovan. Our defense had it easy.
• Mazi and Hinton came in for Aidan-like scores but CONTEXT.
• Hello there Rod Moore. Junior Colson less encouraging.
• Ryan Hayes PAVED. Counter worked, why stop?
• What does this say about the passing game? They clearly don’t have much confidence in it.
• Seth: You play an opponent. Washington had safeties way back. Michigan has RUNNING BACKS.
• Hockey recruiting: the Alabama of hockey, except recruiting matters less in this.

1 hour and 32 minutes

Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com.

And let’s not forget our associate sponsors: HomeSure Lending, Ann Arbor Elder Law, the Residence Inn Ann Arbor Downtown, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, The Phil Klein Insurance Group,  Information Entropy, the Raw Power app for iOS by Gentleman Coders, SignalWire (use the code MUPPETS and they’ll buy your team lunch!), and this episode was supposed to be recorded at Prentice 4M, on the other end of The Bridge. Take their survey to decide what to do with Lucky’s.

starts at 1:00

Vastardis and co. were mauling Tuli and Taki. Lots of interesting runs with pullers going opposite directions. First play: T pull with a backside read. 2nd play: TE crosses one way, Jet and G pull the other way. OL going to come in for huge scores.

UW leaving 2 safeties back, playing one high, so why not? UW had LB flying outside when RB did, were not going to get edged. YOU CAN BLOCK BEHIND THE LINE GUYS! Erick All did work. Honigford is replaceable. Roman Wilson cannot block. Bell missed.

CADE: Bad reads. Didn’t have a lot of time but he spent too long on 1st reads and missed 2nd reads.

[The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]

starts at 32:37

Now you believe me about John Donovan. Why are you running on 4th and 4 when you haven’t run before? Why aren’t you reading an edge when Hutchinson is coming? Josh Ross much better game. Was popping OL. Mike Morris is happening. Hutchinson by god.

Wanted to get Giles Jackson out in space and M had that anticipated. Tried to test Dax Hill on the edge once. Kris Jenkins is happening. Might be a little small still but breakout candidate. Live action for Rod Moore.

starts at 51:20

Refs had just one (two but the 2nd was overturned) bad call. Their old fashioned punt led to that 4th down play because they have an upback. Good decision to go on 4th and 1, but decision to pass on 2nd and 2. UW: Why not have Jackson return? M: Why Kolesar if he dropped one? Michigan Foug’d one to Jackson and it looked scary until German Green hewed him down. Moody good from….60?

starts at 1:05:51

QUACK! We look for more MOONs on the schedule.

MUSIC:

• “Mr. Brightside”—cover by Jada Facer
• “I Ran”—cover by Janet Devlin
• “Who Let the Dogs Out”—cover by Matt Mulholland
• “Across 110th Street”

1 hour and 13 minutes

Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. UGP makes custom apparel such as t-shirts and sweatshirts and was founded by 2 Michigan alums over 20 years ago. They have 3 retail locations in Ann Arbor and offer thousands of University of Michigan athletic products for sale, ranging from clothing to accessories and memorabilia. Check them out at ugpmichiganapparel.com.

And let’s not forget our associate sponsors: Peak Wealth Management, HomeSure Lending, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, Prentice4M, and SignalWire (use the code MUPPETS and they’ll buy your team lunch!).

[After THE JUMP: the player and what we said]

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starts at 1:00

Alex thinks the offensive line and John Donovan’s play-calling are the problems. Also the quarterback. Also all of their receivers are hurt.

starts at 16:52

Jimmy Lake’s defenses always know what they’re doing however, and always have a never ending supply of NFL cornerbacks. Tuli and Taki up front will be a bigger test for our suddenly lively inner OL.

starts at 30:16

We remember the 2002 Michigan-Washington opener, from the perspective of the guy who made the winning kick none of us believed he would, and the guy who was given Red Bull for the first time before entering the stadium.

starts at 51:30

Recalibrating how much I love the running backs. They put a lot on Josh Ross. NHG’s issues seemed fixable. Might also have to recalibrate how we think of DL statistics.

Tonight’s featured band is Goat Motor, the Chicago-based funk rock band for whom reader Dustin Fillion does the bass work. Check them out on Spotify, or on their Facebook page.

• “Hold Me Back”
• “Slate”
• “How Could I Be So Blind”

And because Sony bought our song and slapped a claim on us, the opener and outtro:

• “Funk It Up Old School”
• “Russian Vodka”—Motorboat

Things discussed:

• Understand run-run-run when Zinter is in there.
• Sam: They didn’t think he would play much.
• Vastardis! We were both down at him, but he had a game, was reading Ralph Holley well. The Henning TD was mostly Vastardis—Sam noted they also bluffed the DE with a feint from Vastardis. Graham Glasgow-esque job vs Holley.
• Filiaga didn’t miss assignments. Good matchup for him.
• Ronnie Bell on his way to a Heisman before we lost him. We talk about That Catch!
• John O’Neill crew: Seth says it’s seriously time to do something. Keep the woman, let her build her own crew. Every single down these guys are screwing something up.
• Breaktalk: Ron Hefley is playing for Kevin Kelly, the coach who doesn’t punt.
• Washington talk: John Donovan sucks. He’s got a 6’3” guy playing RT and a 6’8” guy playing G.
• Michigan defense: they’re putting a LOT on their plates. Safeties look well-coached. Green can’t plan zone. Vincent Gray can’t play man, except he did well against WMU’s fast guy.
• Seth pronounces UW names.

1 hour and 38 minutes

Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com.

And let’s not forget our associate sponsors: HomeSure Lending, Ann Arbor Elder Law, the Residence Inn Ann Arbor Downtown, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, and Information Entropy, the Raw Power app for iOS by Gentleman Coders, and SignalWire, which is the virtual office platform we recorded on during the pandemic because we’d had it up to here with Zoom (use the code MUPPETS and they’ll buy your team lunch!)

This episode was supposed to be recorded at Prentice 4M, on the other end of The Bridge, started by a couple of readers to have the perfect, affordable, safe, and clean living/renting/working space near campus.

starts at 1:00

Do we start with the good news (they can run), the bad news (Bell), or the future news (McCarthy). #SpeedInSpace is over—there were no reads and lots of fake reads that burned downs or delivered safeties and linebackers to the running backs immediately. In this game at least the RBs could put those defenders on their asses. JJ seems to be erratic.

[The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]

starts at 28:58

One drive of bleeding plus a Not Angry About That throw over Gemon Green (and a taunting on Ojabo) and then not much. Just a few gashes from LBs getting out of position. Hinton looked like their best DT, Hutchinson got to spend a lot of time on the sideline while they rotated a lot of guys. Mike Morris, hello there. Secondary looked okay but shaky—they’re better as a zone team.

starts at 44:45

The hot takes are half the segment even though there was a lot of special teams, because the only game theory stuff was at the end of the 1st half (learn to manage a clock!). Much of the game was spent waiting around for Brad Robbins punts to land. Using Bell as a returner. Foug’ing it.

starts at 1:00:35

We go long this time of year because there are so many games. Jamie does not recognize the existence of Iowa.

MUSIC:

• “Stop Making This Hurt”—Bleachers
• “Stay High”—Childish Gambino
• “Nothing Else Matters”—cover by Phoebe Bridgers
• “Across 110th Street”

1 hour and 6 minutes

Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. UGP makes custom apparel such as t-shirts and sweatshirts and was founded by 2 Michigan alums over 20 years ago. They have 3 retail locations in Ann Arbor and offer thousands of University of Michigan athletic products for sale, ranging from clothing to accessories and memorabilia. Check them out at ugpmichiganapparel.com.

And let’s not forget our associate sponsors: Peak Wealth Management, HomeSure Lending, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, Prentice4M, and SignalWire (use the code MUPPETS and they’ll buy your team lunch!).

[After THE JUMP: the player and what we said]

--------------------------------------------

starts at 1:00

We finally listed to you about putting the opponent previews first in these so you can listen to the rest on the way home from the game. Caleb Eleby gets the ball out quickly, has a LT who was a C last year and started at DT vs Michigan in 2018. Missing their star, Eskridge, who went in the draft as well as the star LT who also got drafted. Best offensive weapon is Skyy Moore. Defensively Seth thinks their good DT can get pushed around by Michigan’s front, but this is still the defense to #SpeedinSpace to death.

starts at 22:17

How do they let JUB take over a hockey team? Well it was the WORST hockey team. But anyway it’s a new Bacon book so we go off the rails and you buy and read it at letthemleadbybacon.com.

starts at 39:12

We FINALLY address the question everyone asks: What does Harbaugh have to do to keep his job? Answer is sell tickets to next year. Bacon: Washington game matters.

starts at 51:30

We’re running out of guys who can’t talk hockey so I get to the be dumb guy who shuts up as Brian and Alex Drain and Bacon discuss the better-than-Bama recruiting run Michigan’s been on.

Tonight’s featured band is Georgia Mountain Stringband, which is reader Brendan Held’s bluegrass band. Check them out on Spotify, or on their facebook page.

• “Hard Man to Love”
• “Choctaw Mackinon”
• “Bible Belt”
• “Across 110th Street”

Things discussed:

• WMU preview, Seth gets the Broncos QB’s name wrong. Likes their DT and Anchor, not their secondary.
• Skyy Moore is their dangerbug.
• I would pass deep against them.
• Michigan wants to run.
• Seth is very mad that they don’t read with their starting QB, and it sounds like they’re going to do that again.
• Sam thinks they’re better at running the ball than slinging it.
• Play-action maybe?

1 hour and 12 minutes

Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com.

And let’s not forget our associate sponsors: HomeSure Lending, Ann Arbor Elder Law, the Residence Inn Ann Arbor Downtown, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, and Information Entropy, the Raw Power app for iOS by Gentleman Coders, and SignalWire, which is the virtual office platform we recorded on during the pandemic because we’d had it up to here with Zoom (use the code MUPPETS and they’ll buy your team lunch!)

This episode however was recorded at Prentice 4M, on the other end of The Bridge, started by a couple of readers to have the perfect, affordable, safe, and clean living/renting/working space near campus.

starts at 1:00

Two guys who took the jobs of two pros. If Ronnie Bell can get to punts and not drop them they’re 75 percent of the way to being a top punt return team in this age of spread punts. Michigan doesn’t spread punt; they need to find someone who can get to them like Khaleke Hudson.

starts at 19:04

We believe in Bert! Well above Northwestern maybe? Could Nebraska go 4-8 and KEEP Scott Frost? Wisconsin or Iowa?

starts at 39:04

We discuss from worst to first. Rutgers is performing at a program all-time high under Schiano. Alex has been reading the Maryland blogs. Michigan State is still starting an Allen. Penn State and Michigan could form one super team to challenge OSU. INDIANA!!!

starts at 57:44

Who’s your boy on this team? Most disappointing thing about the season? Winner of the Big Ten East? C’mon, you know you want to say it.

MUSIC:

• “Living Colour”—Cult of Personality
• “Edit”—Geese
• “Role Models”—Treeboy & Arc
• “Across 110th Street”

56 minutes

Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com.

And let’s not forget our associate sponsors: HomeSure Lending, Ann Arbor Elder Law, the Residence Inn Ann Arbor Downtown, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, and Information Entropy, the Raw Power app for iOS by Gentleman Coders, and SignalWire, which is the virtual office platform we recorded on during the pandemic because we’d had it up to here with Zoom (use the code MUPPETS and they’ll buy your team lunch!)

This episode however was recorded at Prentice 4M, on the other end of The Bridge, started by a couple of readers to have the perfect, affordable, safe, and clean living/renting/working space near campus.

starts at 1:00

Brian does not like this idea of taking the Ravens LBs coach and making him the coordinator of a defense that looks like a 5-2 in 2021. The three guys they plan to start have talent but there are a lot of walk-on names behind them.

[The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]

starts at 17:08

Not as petrified as we were in spring, except Brian. Only two linebackers there are. We try to talk Brian into Nikhai Hill-Green—Seth thinks this is a good development because Barrett struggled against Wisconsin in a more linebacker-ish role. Not worried about Mullings because he was a two-year project. Colson should be fun. Josh Ross is mentioned like “He’s good, next.”

starts at 30:43

Immediately rip off the band-aid and discuss cornerbacks. Brian is the positive(!) one about Gemon Green, at least in man coverage. DJ Turner II has plausible deniability, the two 2020 cornerback recruits do not. May it be Ja’Den McBurrows to the rescue mid-season? The safeties are either the best tandem in the Big Ten, or that just because they have Dax Hill, but Seth thinks he will be in nickel role a ton this year with RJ Moten blooming at safety.

starts at 46:45

Please remember there’s a nickel for every spread. Difference between this and Wisconsin. Can it work? It can’t be worse. Maybe it can be 2011-style weird enough to kick the other team off the field sometimes.

MUSIC:

• “DayLight/NightLight”—Aesop Rock
• “Do I Wanna Know?”—Arctic Monkeys
• “I’m Still Alive”—Cake
• “Across 110th Street”

1 hour and 17 minutes

Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com.

And let’s not forget our associate sponsors: HomeSure Lending, Ann Arbor Elder Law, the Residence Inn Ann Arbor Downtown, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, and Information Entropy, the Raw Power app for iOS by Gentleman Coders, and SignalWire, which is the virtual office platform we recorded on during the pandemic because we’d had it up to here with Zoom (use the code MUPPETS and they’ll buy your team lunch!)

This episode however was recorded at Prentice 4M, on the other end of The Bridge, started by a couple of readers to have the perfect, affordable, safe, and clean living/renting/working space near campus.

starts at 1:00

We try to convince Brian to care about football by showing him all the wonderful things. Like Cade McNamara is the guy but his ceiling is…Shea Patterson? J.J. McCarthy is a much better floor. Not much from Bowman. But hey, running backs! Haskins is a Dude, way too good for Charbonnet to stick around. Corum is everything we desire in a running back. Picking out roles for Edwards makes it fun, as long as we can not think about how the backs were misused last year.

[The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]

starts at 27:44

Ronnie Bell is he, but also the man who led the country in average YAC in 2019. Cornelius Johnson is an easy breakout candidate. Daylen Baldwin had legit Ohio State interest. AJ Henning inherits the Giles Jackson role, while Sainristil is the Jeter of the offense: coaches hype him every offseason, yet to see it. Don’t sleep on Roman Wilson either. Tight end is thin unless the new wave of guys from nowhere appear, but All could have huge upside if he’s only more like the guy who caught everything before he learned to block.

starts at 46:04

They clearly wanted Zinter to move to center but since that didn’t happen it’s Vastardis and both of Trente Jones and Karsen Barhart are waiting to get on the field. Not a terrible situation, really—Stueber can play and Hayes is locked in at LT, and they love Zinter, and the all-out melee at LG that Keegan won should mean he’s pretty good. We disagree re: Moore.

starts at 59:36

What is speed and space? It’s Ronnie Bell leading the country in YAC.

MUSIC:

• “Wolf Like Me”—TV on the Radio
• “Pegasi”—Jesca Hoop
• “Ghosts”—Ted Leo
• “Across 110th Street”

• Helpful iTunes subscribe link
• General podcast feed link
• What's with the theme music?

Things discussed:

• HAIL TO THE VICTORS 2021: The greatest 2021 Michigan Football preview magazine ever pulled out of my ass at the last minute.
• Yost: where he came from and what influenced who he was.
• History of Black athletes at Michigan. DeHart Hubbard and the Olympics.
• 1895: Michigan is the App State who beats an East team, East teams don’t want to play us after that.
• Angell and the original vision for the University of Michigan.
• Ian Boyd “Flyover Football” and his view of Michigan’s quarterbacks.

Things discussed:

• Northwestern lost their starting RB: Meh, they were on their downswing anyway. Their QB situation is way more alarming than their RB situation.
• Big Ten West: Wisconsin’s or Iowa’s, Graham Mertz was great against Illinois but just okay against the rest. He’s not a world-beater. They’re still going to Wisconsin though.
• Nebraska investigation. The S&C guy ran illicit practices and their analysts were coaches. THIS IS TRUE ABOUT EVERY POWER 5 SCHOOL. They buried the lede: Frost told the S&C coach to hide it from the administrators to practice during COVID.
• Seth: Every program is using their analysts as coaches. Alabama started it, Ohio State was doing it, the NCAA had a moment to do something and did not. Not going to hold Nebraska’s feet to the fire for doing what Rich Rod did. They ARE guilty of cheating around COVID, which endangered the rest of the Big Ten, and not just their seasons.
• There’s a difference between ignoring bad rules that everyone ignores, and ignoring COVID protocols to get an edge.
• When you cheat you’re not supposed to have the head coach leave a record of saying “Let’s go cheat.”
• Need to hammer this: Nebraska should be in trouble for breaking COVID, not for breaking NCAA rules that everyone breaks.
• Nebraska was so immature about this, and still think they’re the ones who “Saved Big Ten Football” last year. They tried to get an edge by putting everyone else in danger.
• Seth: It’s really hard for people to see a black market, because nobody who covers these teams wants to report their teams and sound like sour grapes if they turn in another team. So people don’t understand the nuances because we don’t inform them ahead of time.
• NCAA Future: The Big Ten-ACC-Pac12 have different needs than the rest of the NCAA. Could they split off? Only the NCAA Basketball Tournament to worry about.
• SEC’s problem: They made enemies of their coalition of the corrupt.
• Fall practice: Barrett losing out to Hill-Green? Good for NHG; Barrett’s game was not linebacker.
• OL: They’re saying nice things about Filiaga because he’s in the process of losing his job to Keegan, and people don’t understand these things are subtle.
• Not subtle: the players like Sherrone Moore way more than Ed Warinner.

Things discussed:

• AUGUST!!! I mean August 21sxt
• Breakout players. We go right past QB (and Blake Corum) to…
• Craig: Most important on defense is Mazi Smith. Thinks we’ll see some Junior Colson.
• Seth: Zak Zinter and can he make it work at center, because that is the key to the whole thing they want to run.
• What do they mean by “We’ve got to run the ball more?” Seth: They spent half of their downs last year either in comeback mode or behind the chains, where they had to throw the ball downfield because a six-yard gain can’t help them.
• Defense: Third and Grantham. They’re going to take gambles, dangle big yards for the offense to get them to fall into traps. High-risk, high-reward.
• During the break Sam talks about Walter Nolan’s recruitment. They’re coming up for at least two games. If you like clean recruitments this isn’t the one for you.
• Skip (filling in for Ira) goes on blast for his Spartandom.
• Where does Michigan finish in the East? Third. Even when we finish first we’re third. Look around the East: they’re down. Indiana looks good.
• Seth: The QBs of the Big Ten suck this year, except Penix. I don’t like Mertz at all. Clifford is the third straight three-year starter Penn State broke.
• Adrian Martinez can ball, but has nobody around him.
• Ewers is at Ohio State because the State of Texas wouldn’t let him make any money, not because he thought he can compete.

Things discussed:

• Tarris Reed: Expect him to commit tonight. Solid big who will be around for a few years. Not a one-and-done.
• Emoni Bates: Somehow managed to finish “high school” 2 years early, using colleges as leverage for a pro deal.
• But Jett Howard might be a two-and-done.
• NIL: Michigan is slow off the block. Endorsements are pennies, money is coming from boosters.
• Sam: Amateurism was always a scam. It wasn’t about character; it was about classism. Coaches & administrators started getting paid like pros and it blew the whole model up.
• Make an NIL fair. What do you think it should be—don’t use NCAA’s standard because they don’t have one.
• You don’t become the Pac12 commissioner by being a competent individual. These are rich guys who didn’t have the competence to be in charge of something actually important.
• Expansion: Sam: SEC is smart, setting themselves up for when they have to share TV money with the players.
• Big Ten plan: Step one is see if you can make your own mega-conference with ACC and Pac schools. Then look at adding the Pac. Kansas? Take their basketball program.

Things discussed:

• HAIL TO THE VICTORS 2021 is HAPPENING: It’s going to end.
• Big XII: Did we forget to get into this on air? Oops. It was the entire pre-air discussion. Anyway, we think this is the perfect opportunity to get all the non-SEC schools together to pass everything that’s great for college athletics but not for the SEC.
• Why should I be excited about Michigan football this year? Seth goes off: Don’t you miss this? They can turn the game into Penn State 2014 but nothing can take away the link between fans and football players who put more effort into their play than any other sport. This is your team. Hassan Haskins is going to run some guys over for you.
• More football: How’s the defense going to function now?
• During break: They made the GLI two extra home games vs WMU/Tech but aren’t adding them to the season tickets.
• More football: QBs, and whether Michigan can run zone reads. Seth gives some of the insight about the offense from writing HTTV articles.
• NBA Draft: Franz 4th? If they think he can shoot and is an elite wing defender. 7th to Golden State seems likely. Livers is the best teammate out of the 200 three-and-D guys. Chaundee can get up a three and that’s valuable.

With David Nasternak and Alex Drain

Segment 1: The Draft

• Giggling, obviously
• A walkthrough the actual Michigan-related picks
• Potential Lineup in the Fall
• Wings, Avs, Isles, and others

Segment 2: Hockey Basics, revisited

• Alex wrote a series of Hockey Technicalities
• Breakout, Neutral Zone, Forechecking
• Special Teams Basics: Power Play and Penalty Kill
• Michigan does what regarding this, now?

---------------------------------

• NHL on ESPN Theme
• "#1"—Nelly
• Ice Hockey (NES) theme

Things discussed:

• HAIL TO THE VICTORS 2021 is HAPPENING: Let’s get this funded today! 
• Oklahoma and Texas to the SEC?
• Who leaked it? Mizzou and A&M possibly, since they seem to be hard no’s.
• Are there two other No’s in the SEC? Florida/Georgia don’t want Bama in the East perhaps?
• Seth’s plan: If Texas & Oklahoma go to the SEC the Big Ten’s only play is to combine with the Pac-12, rotate cross-country games, and play your pods every year, then play a championship at the Rose Bowl. Big Ten can send Nebraska to the West to even things out (and restore Nebraska-Colorado).
• Craig: What about Toronto? We…can’t argue against it.
• Duke? Their lawyers can get them out of the ACC.
• Should academics/AAU membership play a role in Oklahoma to Big Ten? Seth: Hell no. That’s a legacy from the early 1900s when certain schools like Notre Dame had professional teams of players who weren’t enrolled at the school.
• Seth talks about the Ticket Watch column from yesterday.

Things discussed:

• Legal advice for Dwayne Haskins. Ann Arbor Elder Law is going to be really impressed about Seth’s knowledge of Michigan case law.
• NIL versus cheating: What’s the difference?
• Sam lays out how he would make his NIL pitch to counter Florida’s “Gatorade” play.
• Sam: I think Wes would choose Michigan over Florida.
• Michigan’s advantages and disadvantages in recruiting. Players want to WIN more than you do.
• Where’s the NIL money coming from? Are ADs worried that it’s coming from their waterfalls?
• NCAA cheating is great for money laundering. Ed Martin came along 30 years too early.
• Why is a Michigan like a Ravens offense? Because we’re going to be big up front, and use motion to let the RBs pick their gaps pre-snap. They don’t have a Lamar Jackson at quarterback. Ravens use HUGE linemen in their spread, and Michigan’s trying to put Zak Zinter at center. Seth doesn’t think it changes what Michigan was already doing—they were already using a lot of Greg Roman’s Beef Spread offensive philosophy.
• Why is a Michigan like a Ravens defense? Because we’re going to be big up front, and force defenses to try to attack us outside. We discuss whether they can make it work?
• Is Michigan’s defense going to improve? Yes. They’ll go from 115th to 90th. Huzzah!

Things discussed:

• Craig tells a story about the one guy who could defend Adrian Dantley, Wayman Britt.
• Caleb Houstan’s non three pointer game.
• Big Ten Hoops-around: Is Michigan the favorite? Purdue has a ceiling of Williams, Ohio State lost Washington, Maryland got a PG and a C but lost their Ws.
• The Wisconsin locker room, and what the hell, we just roll through the whole Big Ten.
• Justice Finkley: Sam says Michigan got him up for their in-person evaluations and saw a Carlo Kemp not a Matt Judon, and shared that with Finkley, who wants to be an edge. We roundtable whether they should have taken him anyway.
• In the break we talk about gefilte fish.
• Shoelace and NIL. I was trying to build up to a point about NIL and then the guys started talking about giving Peppers love life advice and I lost my connection. My point though was that there are two NILs: paying the players through the loophole, and also there are all kinds of opportunities for players who aren’t major sport athletes, e.g. Naz or a volleyball player who has thoughts about videogames.

Things discussed:

• Happy NIL Day. What’s Michigan going to do about it? Sam: Line up 8 deals for Walter Nolen, duh.
• Michigan’s policy is to follow the new Michigan law, since that has some protections for the university if a player wants to advertise something objectionable (and a 7-day notification period), but Craig points out it’s pretty lax.
• Nike should lock up Michigan’s stars now so they will stay through their eligibility, since they can’t have them after.
• Supreme Court decision vs NCAA: Ignore Kavanaugh and ask what this means for scholarship limits, which seems to fall in the narrow prohibition on offering academic aid. So can the baseball team be fully funded now? Can the Big Ten take back baseball by having the most scholarships?
• NCAA defunct? No because they run a tournament and they need to play each other.
• Effect on the game?
• Planned economies don’t work, commies!
• If you’re worried about the freedom aspect, you probably haven’t been exposed to the dictatorship of a football program before.
• History Hour: Michigan has been paying players since the 1890s.
• Seth corrects Craig on the Bo to A&M story but it brings up a point: the NCAA was more effective at policing in the mid-20th century, but these days the players and the game are already professionalized.
• Will NIL cause locker room friction? Do the 5-stars making $100k+/year at Ohio State get along with the 3-stars?
• Education component: Teach the players how to run their own LLCs.
• Seth: Stop trying to figure it all out right now. Capitalism works.
• Michigan to require athletes to be vaccinated: Fine with this. Organizations have to protect themselves and the vaccine is safe and effective.
• What school did Taylor Decker go to that he doesn’t believe in vaccines? Yes, it’s okay to dismiss people who have “issues” with the vaccines. Their issues have no basis in reality. It sucks that the wet whiny crazies have found a foothold in politics—though less of one than we’re making it out to be—but it doesn’t change the fact that if you aren’t willing to do something as simple as take a COVID vaccine to protect your teammates, you’re probably not much of a teammate, and we don’t want you anyways.
• Dwayne Washington to the NBA: Not sad because he specialized in killing Eli Brooks. Big Ten title goes through West Lafayette?
• More Bufkin and Dug talk.

Things discussed:

• Dug takes: Michigan wants a long-term guy at point guard—setting up to have a lot of experience.
• Wish we had some stats on his free throw shooting because a key for him is can he make shots off the dribble. He can definitely get them—quickest guy in his class.
• Bufkin: could he be the best player in the class? Depends when he blows up and how much we get out of Frankie.
• Recent football commits: Crowell put his stamp on Aaron Alexander
• CJ Stokes: Mike Hart has a type—big question is why did South Carolina’s new staff not re-offer? There’s a reason he’s a 3-star and Corum was a top-100 guy but similar games.
• Seth once “raced” David Underwood—I actually stretched the truth here. I umpired softball in the summers, and David was I think the captain or the organizer of one of the two teams of football guys. When the other team didn’t show vs the football guys once, I gave them the field, and they were screwing around hitting flies to the outfield. I jumped in as well, and got there first to a ball in the alley between us, and they gave Underwood shit for having less range than the ump.
• Owen Power: the #1 pick in the draft returning? Buffalo can get an extra UFA year and they’re not going to be competitive this year anyway. If he wants to be in the NHL next year he will be. NHL isn’t allowed to put guys in the AHL again so they can use college for that instead now.
• NIL: Court’s decision is a sign the NCAA doesn’t want to get before them again. We’ve reached the tipping point now where the schools that made it their mission to keep payments in the black market are jumping to make the most friendly NIL bill as soon as possible so they don’t miss out on recruits.
• We should never forget Gene Smith was the #1 guy trying to stop this from happening. Will there ever be a reckoning for Ohio State being THE school defending the old racket? Will LSU ever get in trouble? Well not if Mark Emmert’s brother in law is in charge there.
• Bagmen won’t go away but they’re not going to compete with Nike, and where does Nike want a player to go? Michigan (Oregon).
• Can we get MJ on the line with Walter Nolen?
• How can they differentiate between commerce and paying players? They can’t; stop trying.
• $50,000 to wear an MGoBlog hat once for five minutes. MGoBlog will sponsor any fullback at Michigan.

Things discussed before the show:

• Seth gets on early and Sam talks about Walter Nolen. Seth puts all this film into an If it Happens folder.
• Michigan has to blow the South out of the water in NIL to compete with the South.

Anderson thing discussed:

• Good to hear the voices of the survivors.
• Wilmer-Hale report is so damning it’s hard to believe there needs to be more.
• Taking this to the Attorney General’s office sounds like a waste of time and a PR trap because we’re at the point where the plaintiffs and the university have to decide on a number, which is not what we’re really interested in.
• We want to focus on how we change the structures of power at the university so that we don’t have these institutional failures again.

Other things discussed:

• Daylen Baldwin scout: more Darboh but Fast or Junior Hemingway but not as leapy than Nico Collins or Devin Funchess, blocking really sticks out on film, Michigan needed another Cornelius Johnson since everybody else on the roster is #SpeedinSpace.
• Hoops recruiting: Do you take a Dug in hand or wait on a situation where two 5-stars deciding a month later are both down to UNC or Michigan? Hmmm.
• Bigs recruiting: we’re not even going to consider Jalen Duren, and Lively for whatever reason is trending away, but if Donovan Clingan chooses hometown UConn over being Hunter Dickinson 2.0 he didn’t decide based on fit.
• NIL: Recruits should use the Charity Bowl as the most scientific understanding of how each school’s fanbases will spend money once they can aim their respective money cannons at recruits, though there’s a little bit of nuance, e.g. you probably won’t make more at Slippery Rock than 13 Big Ten schools.

The Sponsor: If you're buying or reselling, talk to Matt Demorest at HomeSure Lending now and see if you can't lock in a low rate while it lasts. He’s a rad dude, and hasn’t recently made MSU change its name or made you listen to Dickie V for five minutes in the middle of a broadcast.

Previously: 1879, 1893, 1901, 1918, 1925, 1932, 1940, 1947, 1950, 1964, 1973, 1976, 1980, 1985 p.1& p.2, 1988, 1991, 1999, 2003, 2011 p.1 & p.2

[Writeup and player after THE JUMP]

(starts at 1:00)

F. Scott Fitzgerald was a super weird fan. Eisenhower vs. Stevenson. Platooning is out, T-formation passing and facemasks are in. Rose Bowl has a no-repeat rule. Ohio State is banned from the postseason. The Pac falls apart because every school is selling each other out. Everybody’s playing each other. Racism: South is still segregated, North has an unofficial quota system so every team has one Black guy. At Michigan: Slippery Rock scores, a dog that makes a dashing goal line stand, and the Salk polio vaccine.

(starts at 31:34)

courtesy Peg Canham-Keeley (left)

Had a sweeter shooting stroke than Caleb Houstan. Created the modern tight end who’s both offensive tackle and downfield receiving threat. “It was like having a license to play 12 guys” –Lombardi. At his funeral they asked the assembled “Who’s ever been kissed on the mouth by Ron Kramer” and everyone raised their hand, including the media, and Don Canham’s wife. Was to Michigan fans of his day as Denard is to modern fans. Never lifted a weight. “Big” scandal before 1956: his GPA is a 2.01 because Michigan just gives solid letter grades, but you need a C+ average, and Look Magazine reports Kramer shouldn’t be eligible.

(starts at 00:00)

The size of squads are just starting to balloon in this era, and Michigan is up to 60 players from 40 two years prior and 32 two years before that. Team was made of ends, I guess because they all wanted to play for Oosterbaan the way Juwan Howard has all the bigs. Tom Maentz is 6’3/210, Kramer is 6’3/216 and four guys they can play behind them. Jirm Orwing and Al Sigman are vets but they’re hoping Willie Smith “who rocks the scales at 237” pushes Sigman. Agile and speedy guards in Dick Hill and Varv Nyren. Hill already a star. No depth--moved a guy from end.  New center is Mike Rotunno who also switched from End. They get back Gene Snider who started in 1954 but was ineligible in 1955 and is a solid linebacker. Big backfield with Herrnsten (6’2) and Ptacek (6’1) coming up from freshman. Nobody’s much of a passer they worry. Ptacek (“Tah-check”) is a “locomotive” type and their best passer. Pace is the better runner but not a great defender, gained 10 pounds in the offseason.

(starts at 1:3259)

9/29: #7 Michigan 42, UCLA 13. UCLA finished #4 in the AP last year after losing a close Rose Bowl to MSU, but PCC sanctions came down and all of the 1955 starters were ineligible to play for half a season. Sanders staggered all of their suspensions. Stars were back Donnie Long, Guard Esker Harris, Center Jim Matheny, and back Bruce Ballard. They were a single-wing team as well but passed a lot, going 9/22.  UCLA had four fumbles. Michigan just ran the ball for 234 yards. Went 4/9 passing including a 70-yard TD to Ron Kramer from Terry Barr. Kramer and Maddock each kicked three XPs.

10/6: #5 Michigan 0, #2 MSU 9. Duffy’s 3rd season, coming off their 9-1 1955 “national championship year” when they only lost to Michigan and won a fantastic Rose Bowl that ended on a last-second field goal the kicker thought he missed and the ref had to convince him otherwise. Again game played in Ann Arbor--1953 was last time we went to EL but they had just added 9000 seats and were planning to add the 2nd decks in 1957. Coming off a 21-7 win over #12 Stanford, so this is a game of top 5s. Got over 100k in the stadium (101,001 is the listed and the capacity). State has Clarence Peaks, who went 7th overall in the draft.

Michigan dominates statistically but can’t punch it in, Herrnstein throws an awful INT setting up an MSU field goal. Herrnsten fumbled in the 4th Q and set State up at the 21, and they scored for the 9-0 score. Reel is on youtube.

10/13: #12 Michigan 48, #15 Army 14. Second year in a row playing at Michigan Stadium, shows how far Army’s fallen? Big game that draws a national audience despite both teams falling to Tier #2 by now.

10/20: #8 Michigan 34, Northwestern 20. Ara Parseighian’s first year, they used to yell “Rose Bowl!” if they got a first down.

10/27: #5 Michigan 7, Minnesota 20. WTF! Big upset on homecoming. Michigan scores quickly then Injuries: Lost Terry Barr (ankle) Kramer starts playing cornerback on defense for him. Pace, Orwig, and Hill went out. Time ran out at the end of the 1st half with Michigan on Minnesota’s 4 yard line.

Minnesota’s “blitz offense” took over in the 4th Q after Michigan had a 7-0 lead at halftime and 7-6 lead at the end of the 3rd Q. Ran a hurry-up offense from the Wing-T and Michigan’s “defensive timing was thrown off” by it. Two last-chance drives ended on downs to set up another Minnesota score, and the last drive ended on an INT in the endzone. Box score shows the yards and stats were close.

#1 Michigan State was upset by 1-3 Illinois the same day, which meant Iowa and Ohio State were the only undefeated/untied B10 teams (Minnesota had a tie with NW)

11/3: #17 Michigan 17, at #7 Iowa 14. Check out the route to get there:

Remember this the next time you’re crying bored on I-94. Forest Evashevski’s Iowa--only game they lost all year, second year in a row M was the only loss of the Rose Bowl winner, and 4th close game in a row he lost to his alma mater.

No wonder the guy went nuts. Mike Shatusky, 3rd string RHB scored two second-half TDs to bring M back from down 14-3. Last one was at 1:06 in the game.

Best UM played all year, coming up in big moments.

(starts at 2:14:37)

11/10: #10 Michgian, Illinois 7. Wing-T team with a great backfield and one great guard. Revenge for the loss in 1955. This was a weird year for Illinois--two ties and lots of very close games, beat #1 MSU and Cal in a 2-5-2 season.

Star cornerback/halfback Abe Woodson (who became one of the best kick returners of the 1960s in the NFL) had three second-half TDs and also set hurdles records. RB Dale Smith was good too, and UM was focused on stopping Bobby Mitchell and Larry Jefferson who’d torched them in ‘55. Smith scored on a left pitchout on their first drive--just a great individual play--but Michigan tightened up and ran all over them (328 yards, 120 from Pace). Took control on a Statue of Liberty play on 4th and 4 at the Illinois 12.

Crowd cheered when Iowa beat Minnesota, which kept Michigan in the Big Ten title race (needing help from OSU to beat Iowa). Also we hate Minnesota. Would have been extremely unfair for M to go to the Rose Bowl--it was based on wins and Michigan had a 7th Big Ten game.

11/17: #10 Michigan 49, Indiana 26. Offense took over, but only 58,515 showed up (still a record for attendance, 566,093, breaking the 1949 record by 3k.)

Kramer made one of his “miracle catches” and was all over the place, including a Woodsonesque interception and two more bat-downs in keeping IU’s QB Steve Filipowski to one reception. Nobody mentioned the Heisman.

Bittersweet win because Ohio State lost to Iowa, which gave Iowa the Big Ten championship. Michigan, with a win over Iowa and an extra Big Ten game, would have been able to go with a victory over Ohio State next week.

11/24: Michigan 19, at #12 Ohio State 0

Rivalry becoming #1 for Michigan? Blanking OSU isn’t even above the fold in the Daily!!!! But 10k rooters went. Clearly the #1 for OSU:

“For the almost fanatical Ohio crowd, the defeat meant “a poor season.” In Ohio, the Michigan-Ohio game often means the success or failure of a whole year. Also the Buckeyes “only” won six games this year.

Woody Hayes in Year 6. OSU was playing for a 3rd straight Big Ten conf title.

SCANDAL: OSU gets a slap on the wrist: Big Ten investigated Woody’s loans to players, Woody refused to provide any accounting of his loans. Investigation also found “serious irregularity” in their off-campus work program. Probation for one year and ineligible for the Rose Bowl, which they weren’t eligible for anyway. Tragically talented: Woody has a great line and backfield (11 guys drafted). One of those players is Jim Parker, the best G in the country. Outland winner. Went 8th overall and tackle Bill Michael went 16th overall.

Woody is so confident he won the toss and chose the wind (that’s not deferring--M got both kickoffs).

Fumble luck favors Michigan: OSU lost all 4 of theirs, Michigan recovered all three of theirs. But Michigan’s defense knew Woody was going to keep it to the ground and tightened up against the run, playing Kramer like a Viper. Kramer is outstanding in his final game. Literally flying through the air on some of his tackles.

Delicious Woody tears:

On Ohio State fans.

Wrap: Heisman vote this year was LUDICROUS. Everyone but Tennessee fans and the worst Domers agrees who should have won.

--------------------------------------------

• "Green Door”—Jim Lowe
• "Why Do Fools Fall in Love”—Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers
• “I’m in Love Again”—Fats Domino
• “Long Tall Sally”—Little Richard
• “Across 110th Street”

Things discussed:

• New allegations from Matt Schembechler that significantly reframe the story reported in the WilmerHale Report.
• Doesn’t change what’s in the report, and doesn’t change the fact that as Michigan fans we want to see Michigan continue to deal with sexual assault cases that continued at the university long after Anderson. Things in the provost’s personnel report didn’t trigger anything for years.
• Seth: disappointed with Harbaugh’s response.
• NIL: NCAA has been kiting, nobody will be ready by July, and that’s the point: the states who recently passed laws to go into effect immediately are just doing a recruiting. Gonna be the Wild West for a time.
• Expanding the playoffs: it’s going to happen, just got to hash out the number. 12 sounds reasonable. Please put them on campuses.
• Juwan Howard’s name in NBA jobs: he’s going to coach his sons, but we get that the NBA is the pinnacle. Interesting that Howard said “that’s in the past” when someone mentioned it to him. It won’t be about the money if/when it happens; it’ll be about “How good am I?”
• Point guard recruiting: we like Seth, would take a Bradley.

With David Nasternak and Alex Drain

• Hajjer was good, got unlucky and no support.
• Weston...not so much. Also no support.
• Who's back, who's not...who else matters?
• Decently strong core returning

• Men's Draw...well chosen!
• Women's Draw...uhhhhh not as much
• Isles/Bruins is great tv; Canadian Series is not really
• Tampa is just too complete; Avs/Knights have lived up to the hype
• Caveat for the summer!

---------------------------------

• NHL on ESPN Theme
• "Closing Time"—Semisonic
• Ice Hockey (NES) theme

Things discussed:

• Detroit Day: rename the BBQ at the Big House—they’re letting Detroit know they’re a priority post-Brown.
• Craig: Local players have a stronger connection to the program.
• Gattis extension: Can’t recruit on a short contract. What if Michigan needs out?
• Hunter Dickinson draft: Like Livers last year, he’s probably just getting an evaluation, but it does start the clock that he’s probably leaving after 2021-‘22.
• Break Talk: Red Wings are cursed, NHL never has a problem getting other franchises the first overall pick.
• Owen Power first overall? Seth: how many years did the Wings get to the trade deadline needing a solid defenseman, and Power is that as a floor.
• Which NHL teams will leave our players in college? Which guys are we keeping?
• Michigan baseball: bit by the good pitching, last year’s run was good pitching too. They’re in a really tough regional: host Notre Dame might be the worst team.
• Naomi Osaka and the role of press conferences.

With David Nasternak and Alex Drain

• Alex and David debate hitting and assaults in hockey
• Michigan gets Pitcher'd
• Michigan Pitchers Nebraska
• Michigan rally is too late
• Notre Dame, UConn, CMU Previews

• Michigan loses their 4th infields
• What's in the Circle?
• Who's Coming In?
• What's up with the 5*s?
• What does it all mean?
• Playoff Round 1 Recaps
• Who Escapes Canada?
• Avs/Vegas

---------------------------------

• NHL on ESPN Theme
• "Rocky Mountain High"—John Denver
• Ice Hockey (NES) theme

Thing discussed: The university’s report and recommendation that Fielding Yost’s name be removed from Yost Ice Arena, and the history of racism at the University of Michigan.

• Panel: Mostly fine with renaming the building, think it’s a small gesture and the story is much larger, involving most of those in power at the University of Michigan and other institutions around the country before, during, and after Yost’s life.
• Seth: Racism is quiet. It’s not about smoking guns and bad actors—it’s a culture that puts the feelings of racists over equality and a system of keep things “pleasant.”
• The “Moral Map” standard versus the reality that of Michigan’s 103 building names, all but one—the William Trotter Multicultural Center—are named for white people. Trotter’s lesson: You have to agitate.
• Craig: We should be
• Seth: 13.5% of my graduating class in 2002 was African-American; the last class was 4.4%.
• Report issues: Didn’t talk to the experts like John Behee whose information was used. Craig: It read less like a history and more like a legal brief, and he was really bothered that it made Gerald Ford out to be a hero. Willis Ward does not support that story.
• Seth: Michigan was different from other schools because they had protesters against sitting their Black player. Yost hired Pinkertons, who found three leaders of the protesters whom President Ruthven dismissed.
• Brian: Doesn’t that disqualify him from having a building named for him? Seth: Sure, but it’s a small part of a much greater system that’s still in force today.
• Sam: Highlight the student response. Highlight history. Discusses historical events of attacks on Black communities, and their resonance in events today.
• Seth: Example of Belford Lawson Jr. (read the article here). Same movements we have today. Same reactions we have today.
• Sam/Seth: History of Ocoee Massacre on Election Day 1920 in response to Black registration to vote, and how these stories are not told, kept quiet, specifically because they resonate with the same issues today.
• Michigan must teach this part of their history—name of a building is such a small part.You have an opportunity here to apply some function by teaching people, and open up the conversation again to real changes. Do more than being symbolic.
• Seth: Story doesn’t end with Yost. Crisler’s Quota system is visible in the team photos.

• Baseball has an epic comeback...and then not so much
• Maryland gets Shell-Shocked
• Senior Day Letdown
• Beaubien's No-Hitter
• Storako's Time to Shine
• No hitting at all
• We Should Have Just Gone to Bed

• General French Open Musings
• The Men's Draft
• The Women's Draft
• Final Thoughts

---------------------------------

• NHL on ESPN Theme
• "Anyone for Tennis"—Cream
• Ice Hockey (NES) theme

Things discussed:

• Seth & Craig come on early (Sam is out sick) to talk about sports analytics
• Softball seeding: Michigan got hosed, the Big Ten got hosed, Washington and the Pac 12 got hosed even worse. Seeding was absurdly SEC-biased.
• Committee based it on the Big Ten not playing out-of-conference games, punishing the conference for protecting their players during a pandemic.
• Will this be what finally pushes the northern schools to leave the NCAA and create their own summer league?
• Would they adapt Bakich’s proposal to make more money? Brian: plausible. Seth: no, because they’re a cartel, and the small schools are driving it.
• How scholarships work in softball/baseball now.
• Matt Campbell turned down the Lions, would you?
• Oregon State DT transfer, and Michigan’s Ravens-like front: will it work?
• Hockey: Brian crosses fingers that Michigan Hockey Summer leaves us at least three of the four guys about to get drafted.
• Hoops: Are they a 1 seed? Their floor is really high, a bit on Bufkin.
• Track is good.
• Let’s change the field hockey rules.

New sponsor: We’ve taken the fetters off David Nasternak and Alex Drain so they can talk about all of the other Michigan sports, with some pro playoffs sprinkled in during offseason. Also because we have …A SPONSOOOOORRRRR: It’s local realtor and our good friend Sheri Weintraub (wife of Ira). If you’re house-hunting or looking to sell in Ann Arbor, Belleville, Canton, Chealsea, Dexter, Manchester, Northville, Plymouth, or Saline, go with Sheri. Visit teamweintraub.com and let’s get started!

• The Continued Fame of Alex Drain
• Baseball hits enough to win 3, but pitches well enough to only win 2
• Softball crushes Rutgers
• Softball gets the WORST draw in the NCAA Tournament
• Alex breaks down Washington

• East: Isles/Pens; Caps/Bruins
• Central: Preds/Canes; Bolts/Panthers
• North: Habs/Leaves; Jets/Oilers
• West: WIld/Knights; Blues/Avs

---------------------------------

• NHL on ESPN Theme
• "All the Small Things"—Blink 182
• Ice Hockey (NES) theme

With David Nasternak and Alex Drain. I think we’re going to rename this “The Michigan Othersportscast” and get a sponsor.

• Field Hockey Comes Oh So Close
• Is it Sustainable?
• Baseball Pitches...until Sunday
• Softball also Pitches...until Sunday

• We walk through the 15-20 NHL players
• Werenski, Larkin, GLENDENING, Trouba
• Hyman, Hughes, Max Patch
• Carl and the Winnipeg Boyz

---------------------------------

• NHL on ESPN Theme
• "Crazy Town”—Butterfly
• Ice Hockey (NES) theme

Things discussed:

• NFL Draft: is Justin Fields a good draft pick? What we think of the Lions picks.
• The trolling Michigan fans draft! Extensive talk on Melifonwu.
• How did a team with 8 draft picks lose to one with none?
• Did sitting out hurt or help? Will opt outs be part of college football in the future?
• Which Michigan draftee does well?
• This is the year Chris Evans catches a lot of passes.
• Devonte’ Jones or Frankie for PG next year?
• Jones can rebound—that’s a real skill. Crafty player.
• Chris Solari: Emoni Bates will be a 2-year player at MSU because of his strong feelings for Tom Izzo :)
• Around the Big Ten: who got better who got worse?
• Liddell transfer? Uh, right. Has there ever been a more delusional fanbase than Illinois?
• Softball talk.
• Strauss Mann: why did he leave? Portillo gets some time, NHL might not like big netminders but AHL needs goalies and rarely can you get a guy like Mann without a draft pick.
• 1991 What If: Derrick Alexander doesn’t get hurt? When the drop’s to Yale Van Dyne…

With David Nasternak and Alex Drain

• Best Michigan goalie since?
• Strauss Moments
• When/where will he sign?
• What Does It Mean For Michigan?
• Baseball vs Illinois...lotsa hitting, not much pitching...and some wind

• When was the last time PSU beat M?
• Does this mean or change anything?
• Alex and his Lions
• David and the Jets
• 8 Michigan players were drafted...we try to guess things

• NHL on ESPN Theme
• Graduation (Friends Forever) - Vitamin C
• Ice Hockey (NES) theme

Things discussed:

• Coastal Carolina transfer DeVonte’ Jones: crafty, likes to steal it, three-pointer is more of a set shot not a pull-up. Athleticism questionable. Great around the rim. Great insurance policy. Can shoot a free throw. Can he D up? Will his shooters improve here?
• Ceiling for hoops next year? Final Four team? We think Barnes is underrated, Chaundee-like jumper. Houstan is an instant third banana at the three. Those guys plus Eli and Johns give you shooting if it’s not coming from point.
• Why hasn’t Franz declared yet? We’re not sure. Speculate he’s doing it after finals? Maybe Mo is using the Izzo’s basement situation?
• How do they fit everyone together? Diabate at the four with Dickinson at the five? Tschetter? Think T.Williams is a better option for fourth guy in the frontcourt.
• Dickinson growth: Right hand, shooting threes.
• Football recruiting: What is Michigan getting in Tyler Morris? Seth says Golden Tate—so smooth, Sam says Ronnie Bell. ACL injury moved up his recruiting timeline, canceled his senior season.
• Sam makes us watch film on FL 3* DT Jordan Phillips, whom we think could commit on the visit this weekend. We like. Seth thinks a commit would necessitate a lot of defense, as Alabama’s class right now is “Let’s wait and see who we want then take them.”
• NCAA: 12-team playoffs, since they ruined the bowl games. Transfer portal effect on fandom? Emmert extension: very clarifying. There’s no cost to getting rid of that guy. NCAA is just going to do anything to avoid paying players.

With David Nasternak and Alex Drain

This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games.

[Writeup and player after THE JUMP]

---------------------------------

• Michigan beats OSU 2-1 in series; Including some awful Rainball
• Michigan sweeps Minnesota...but that might not be saying much. See Game 1.
• Michigan loses to Rutgers 2-1 in series; little hitting, only okay pitching
• A look at the B10 Baseball Standings and future schedule

• We quickly chat about a couple of Hockey recruits David saw
• Michigan takes 3 of 4 in Columbus
• Michigan overpowers Maryland 4-0
• Michigan impressively takes 3 of 4 vs NW, including Alex's increasing bid for immortality
• A look at the B10 Softball Standings and future schedule

• NHL on ESPN Theme
• “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”—performed by Frank Sinatra & Gene Kelly
• Ice Hockey (NES) theme

Things discussed:

• Gymnastics Natty!
• BTN Plus is awful. They are making it impossible to grow their fanbases because you have to be hardcore to be there. Production is the pits.
• Was Michigan right to quash their spring and keep the spring game to a minute of useless tape?
• Big discussion about how the program is killing any goodwill that’s left, only letting the haters air their grievances.
• The 20- and 30-somethings aren’t as tied to Michigan anymore because they haven’t been engaged. They’re Dave Brandon’ing.
• Basketball: did the opposite. Craig tells the story of Beilein walking the media through a practice.
• How did Al Borges benefit from inviting Heiko in?

Things discussed:

• Eli’s return and how it affects the rotation.
• Portal guys we might be looking at? Options have to be a cultural fit and be interested in a smaller role because unless it’s a star there isn’t 35 minutes to give away.
• Take a Chaundee if there is one but you can roll with what you’ve got. You’ve got 80 minutes at guard, 30 goes to Eli, which leaves you 50 to get out of Collins, Bufkin, Zeb, and maybe Barnes, or find a transfer.
• Sam: They might wait to see who doesn’t make it in the NBA. Brian: bench shooter.
• Maryland got their center and guard: are they good?
• Change at recruiting coordinator: Dudek to MissSt, Michigan gets Courtney Morgan. “Dudek certainly has a type and it’s weird as f—.”
• Courtney Morgan: great dude, gotta grab him if you can. Seth says Morgan’s like Hart/Bellamy in that he can survive a coaching change at the top.
• Strategy: load on on recruiting because the future’s going to be whatever comes after a rough year.
• Xavier Worthy: best friends on the team were Joe Milton and Giles Jackson, who aren’t saying great things about Michigan right now.

The Sponsor: If you're buying or reselling, talk to Matt Demorest at HomeSure Lending now and see if you can't lock in a low rate while it lasts. He’s a rad dude, and hasn’t recently made MSU change its name or made you listen to Dickie V for five minutes in the middle of a broadcast.

Previously: 1879, 1901, 1918, 1925, 1932, 1940, 1947, 1950, 1964, 1973, 1976, 1980, 1985 p.1& p.2, 1988, 1991, 1999, 2003, 2011 p.1 & p.2

[Writeup and player after THE JUMP]

(starts at 1:00)

Teams are starting up right and left—over a hundred of them in five years—and the few teams that exists are trying out “scientific” football and hiring their first head coaches. Chicago changes the game by creating a school that’s going to pour money into its football program as its primary marketing strategy. Ohio State uses their team to justify its existence to a state that hates them. Meanwhile there’s talk of a conference of Midwest teams. Michigan gets a coach.

(starts at 44:06)

Michigan’s in their second year of having a head coach, and converting to the Yale system. George Jewett and Michigan football’s role in anti-racism. Trainer Dad Moulton was a professional sprinter. Roger Sherman one of the first Chicago stars. Count Villa from Walla Walla is the guy who’d eventually convince Gustave Ferbert to leave his job as Michigan head coach to pan for gold in Alaska. Pa Henninger another super freshman on the line. Fatty Smith was one of the best blockers in the West. Big Jim Hooper was a character, became one of the last old-time mining men of Butte. WW Griffin was a left tackle for Michigan before he was a famous Chicago publishing house. Jimmy Baird is the star, but his brother is the guy managing the team. George Dygert is captain, which means he calls the plays.

(starts at 1:3259)

Two warmups against the DAC, then a rough game at Chicago where time is called with Michigan on on the one-inch line. Minnesota comes into town and trounces us en route to their national championship. With Dygert out, Wisconsin dominates us even worse, program is now at a super low. Then Michigan borrows some money from a professor to travel to Purdue, dominates them, and gets stiffed.

(starts at 2:14:37)

Stuck in West Lafayette and in debt, the team hops a train to Indianapolis to play DePauw, and win again. Follow that up by destroying Northwestern—this is a completely different team! Now we’re trying to reschedule on the fly, have a whole spat that ruins our relationship with Cornell. Michigan gets Chicago to play us again, and puts together a road trip to Kansas City versus Kansas.

--------------------------------------------

All of these tracks are performances of a book of music given out as a souvenirs from the World’s Columbian Exposition (World’s Fair) in Chicago, 1893

• "Chicago Day Waltz”
• "The Last Day of the Fair”
• “The Chicago Dudes March”
• “Across 110th Street”

Things discussed:

• Who’s coming back? Eli solves a lot of the questions you have at guard. Chaundee would solve the rest of them plus shooting.
• Do they go into the portal? Sam brings up Jacob Young but what do you get from him that you don’t get from Frankie Collins?
• Point guard is the only question. If it’s a big question that says they don’t believe in Zeb. Marion Jackson of Toledo or another experienced distributor is the only spot maybe.
• Sam: Not a guarantee that Chaundee and Eli return, but it makes sense for both.
• The incoming freshmen: Diabate is going to be a switchable nightmare at the four or five. Houstan can be your shooter from the three.
• Barnes: we’re slow-playing how excited we are about that guy. A lot of people think he could be the best player in the class. GR3 with a better shot LFG!
• Eric Tolbert knew about the #2 NBA draft pick and didn’t tell Beilein about it.
• Hockey: How many of these guys are coming back? Lots of them!
• Football: the offense looks good, defense looks terrible. Seth: I believe the offense because the RBs looked good and we’re hearing the right things, and OL isn’t all injured.
• Defense: Oy. Safety should be fine but everybody else is struggling, especially the linebackers and DL.
• Noise is they can’t stop the run at all.
• Part of that is probably the new system is complicated, and it’s too much for a young team.
• Portal effect: Michigan’s transfer policy is bad across the board.
• Who’s the quarterback?

With David Nasternak and Alex Drain

This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games.

starts at 0:51

• Alex mocks Michigan players to the draft.
• Does not talk about the Sabres for 30 minutes. Does talk about the NHL for 10 minutes.
• Forwards: grades & memories

starts at 43:04

• Defensemen, broken down and graded.
• Goalie play: yay!
• Special teams assessed

• NHL on ESPN Theme
• “Stuck in the Middle With You”—Stealers Wheel
• Ice Hockey (NES) theme

1 hour and 37 minutes

Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com.

And let’s not forget our associate sponsors: HomeSure Lending, Ann Arbor Elder Law, the Residence Inn Ann Arbor Downtown, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, and Information Entropy, the Raw Power app for iOS by Gentleman Coders.

And introducing SignalWire, which is the virtual office platform we recorded this on because we’ve had it up to here with Zoom (use the code MUPPETS and they’ll buy your team lunch!)

starts at 1:00

Shot quality disparity was huge, so the difference was really luck of the Juzang. Livers absence was noticeable because he’s your bucket man. Go down the line: Austin Davis and Hunter Dickinson are 50% at the rim. Missing 5 straight free throws. Wagner going 1/9 from the floor. Game-winning play gets Franz screamingly wide open and he hits nothing. Most flagrant hook and hold not called since the rule was put in place. Dickinson got scouted to death: right shoulder!

[The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]

starts at 14:26

We think Eli is coming back, and Chaundee Brown is 50/50, expect the rest to go. Eli really helps where they have holes next year—if he was a great creator that would be even more. Don’t want to recruit over your guys, so if they can’t get back Chaundee might as well roll with the freshmen and see which can play. Haven’t ruled out Mike Smith (expected to sign in Chicago) or Austin Davis, but he’d have to take a 3rd role.

starts at 23:38

Dickinson should get more effective, more patient, develop more post moves. Moussa Diabate at the very least should be a monster defensive center and play 30 minutes between the 5 and 4. Switchable terror, vertical terror, has an outside shot and can put the ball on the floor. In case of emergency Johns can chip in but he’s your 4 we think. See some Williams if his outside shot comes around, especially with Dickinson. Not seeing Tschetter yet but Houstan could do some 4 as well. He’s your new Livers: shoot, play D, has some athleticism that makes him a top-10 recruit. Alternatives if no Chaundee: Isaiah Barnes—GRIII-2. Jace Howard: And ones!

starts at 44:51

Eli will have this team organized on both ends of the floor, strong defensive player especially when there’s a wing-sized guy like Smith next to him instead of another floor-bound dude. Frankie Collins is Smith-sized but bouncy, super-explosive, deadly in the open floor, radiates winner. Similar to Zavier Simpson there’s a shooting issue, but he’s not a set shotter like X so that could come around. Zeb Jackson needs to take the wheel—Michigan’s best case scenario is if he turns into a starter. Kobe Bufkin and Isaiah Barnes are two freshman shots at a SG who’s just a shooter. Bufkin is a big riser, combo guard size, can be a secondary playmaker, gives you a chance at a Dwayne Washington, though Washington needed another year. Where does the creation come from?

MUSIC:

• "Things Change"—Black Heat
• “Life”—The Walters
• “In the Garden”—Real Estate
• “Across 110th Street”

Things discussed:

• Tough game to lose, Michigan could have done one more easy thing right and they win, UCLA could have done one more really bad thing and not gotten away with it, and lost.
• Oh right, the missed hook and hold. Grrrr.
• You could hear UCLA calling out Dickinson’s movements.
• Mad that Michigan didn’t go to Chaundee more.
• Be mad about the coaching though? Juwan Howard is the national coach of the year and has the best class coming in.
• Next year’s class: Frankie Collins has more lip curl than any guy before him. 
• Caleb Houston lets the game come to him.
• Moussa Diabate—makes you so switchable you can get away with mismatches elsewhere.
• Which 5th year guy would you want back?

With David Nasternak and Alex Drain

This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games.

[Writeup and player after THE JUMP]

---------------------------------

starts at 0:51

• Alex is the Devil
• Quality of Ice: poor
• Locales...where?
• Game times and stations do not cooperate
• Plink-O results...again
• Signing Watch and Transfers
• NHL Rundown

starts at 37:43

• Baseball Rotation
• New Hitters
• Schedule Breakdown
• Softball's Aces
• Softball is also hitterless
• Pay attention to Tennis!

• NHL on ESPN Theme
• “Fargo Theme”—Jeff Russo
• Ice Hockey (NES) theme

54 minutes. We’re doing that thing again where we publish a partial pod between games then finish up after the next one.

Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com.

And let’s not forget our associate sponsors: HomeSure Lending, Ann Arbor Elder Law, the Residence Inn Ann Arbor Downtown, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, and Information Entropy, the Raw Power app for iOS by Gentleman Coders.

And introducing SignalWire, which is the virtual office platform we recorded this on because we’ve had it up to here with Zoom (use the code MUPPETS and they’ll buy your team lunch!)

starts at 1:00

Put that in your Seder. Florida State didn’t know what to do about Franz, Johns came alive. First time we’ve gotten to see Johns after a week to practice in this role, and first time we got to see Juwan coach with a week to prepare for a tournament opponent, something Beilein was always so good at. Chaundee can rise. FSU’s switching nerfed some of their better qualities.

starts at 25:21

Weird team that wants to be big but lost two bigs and now overplays their 6’9”/260 foul-prone guy because the next biggest player is 6’6”. Kind of like Maryland in that they have a lot of scary wings who take a lot of jump shots, plus a wild-haired point guard who can pass (top-50 assist rate). Were underrated with the rest of their conference but drill down into the Synergy numbers and there are a lot of weaknesses, not to mention they’re all way smaller than Michigan’s frontcourt and no bigger in the backcourt.

starts at 42:57

Naz and the Browns took us as far as it could be believed, and further. Kind of like the 2009 basketball team that beat Clemson and hung with Blake Griffin, proving this is a program you can compete at. Hockey, man, at least it’s either star-touched Duluth or a team that’s never won it. Giles Jackson, man, at least we’ll always have the Indiana “return.”

[The player after The Jump]

MUSIC:

• "I’m a Midnight Mover"—Wilson Pickett
• “Angel Duster”—Run the Jewels
• “Across 110th Street”

Things discussed:

• Vaccination Roundtable: somebody get Sam a shot!
• LSU: Taking Will Wade to the trash can. Has LSU never seen a basketball? All they do is Iso, as soon as the 2Pt floaters weren’t falling and they shut down their PG things looked fine.
• FSU: Very very tall. Big question is whether their 7-footer can take out Dickinson because they have the long athletic guards. It’s more Liam Robbins than Kofi Cockburn. FSU turns it over a lot and scores in transition with Scottie Barnes.
• Cheap fouls.
• FSU gives up threes, not two’s. Chaundee game again?
• Alabama talk just in case: Seth likes that you can stop them at the rim and they’ll keep coming anyway. More afraid of FSU than Bama, not because they’re a better team but because they’re a worse matchup.
• Women’s hoops: when they’re not just Naz they can beat anybody! Leigha Brown being a second banana puts Hailey Brown in the right role. Doing it with out Dilk!
• Big Ten, where you go? Lots of love for Krutwig.
• Hockey: bad draw.