MGoBlog: The MGoPodcast

Things Discussed: Rundown of the ton of false reporting. NCAA is in town: False. WSJ says offer rescinded: False. Thamel says all the B10 coaches are repeating Ryan Day's talking points: False. It's one thing to sensationalize—ESPN sensationalizes all the time—but they're getting provable facts wrong. Getting it right means calling someone who could tell you your reporting is wrong. Craig Ross: Shares the time Sam had it from someone that Carr was against the Harbaugh hire and he checked on it with Carr who said he loves Jack Harbaugh and he'd be the biggest fan of the hiring of Jim Harbaugh. How much does it matter? Run-pass is the best you can tell; it matters, not as much as how the right tackle's foot is aligned, because the RT's half step is more important than hiding your intentions from the defense. James Franklin: Nobody needed your signs to know you were running a zone read on 4th & 2 vs OSU in 2018. Nobody said we need to start a federal investigation against Northwestern when they had Michigan's signs that day. Schiano's the biggest sign-stealer in the league, because nobody changes their signs. Sam: they're mad about Stalions though. That wasn't Schiano's halftime comment. Want to shut them up? Everyone turn in your sign-stealers and go to wristbands and microphones. Stalions on CMU's sideline? Possible that McElwain didn't know who Stalions was. Seth: Is it possible that CMU borrowed Michigan's sign-stealer to try to beat MSU? Would explain how he got a placard, how he knew how the coaches were dressing, etc. It wouldn't implicate Michigan, because they get no benefit from that, but would fit Stalions's profile. Brian: If Michigan's moving ahead with their contract for Harbaugh their internal investigation found no evidence that Balance of news is positive; now we're just down to coaches complaining. Do you think these guys are interested parties? The check? Ryan Day doesn't care about the check; the commissioner of the league is a TV guy, and a TV guy is not going to devalue the TV conference's most valuable property because they will get sued by Fox and NBC, and guarantee that Michigan will leave this conference for the SEC. Guy who said it's a three-touchdown advantage $1 it's Franklin. And you still lose. Ryan Day you still lose too. Why aren't OSU/PSU clamoring to play Michigan without their sign-stealer? Brian: "If you actually believe what you're saying you would be, but you don't because it's crazy." Maybe you guys need to get good; we're a TV product and you guys are unwatchable. This conference is Michigan and Ohio State and the four teams we're importing because the rest of you are unwatchable.

Things discussed: At Ohio State: The Devante' Jones Game. Craft in his game finally adapted to the Big Ten. His shooting changed OSU's plan to go under screens. T-Will: Unlocked by transition. Officiating was unacceptable. Not the usual bad Boroski stuff: They let Liddell get away with everything. Michigan defense: brought doubles from the baseline to generate 11 steals. Turnovers and ORebs were the difference in the game. Houstan: Not a guy who can shoot off screens. He needs to be set. His defense was strong but against just-a-shooters. Offseason work: Learn to finish. He can get to rim but he's terrible once there. Indiana: One good player team. Race Thompson is a guy who works on a better team. Bad matchup for Michigan at guard. Can we get these guys back? Houstan yes, other guys not likely? Seth: have to change their mindsets. If Michigan can put $1 million on the table for Hunter, sure. Is Michigan ready to do that? Makes the most sense if he's getting good advice. Diabate too. But what's the likelihood they're getting good advice? Break: Bilas thinks you should be allowed to dick punch if you're Boeheim's kid. Football: McCarthy injury, how it affects the QB competition. Hockey: Playing MSU is bad because you're surprised next series when you have to play hockey again.

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]   Segment 1: All About the Finishing An Opener Many Shots Against Scoring the Chances ALL OF THE GOALS AT THE END Segment 2: An Epic Comeback A BAD! Start Not Goals, Goals, and Penalties Whooping in the Third Old Friends and Around the League Wisconsin Preview MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" -The Tokens Ice Hockey (NES) theme

1 hour and 38 minutes The Sponsors 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. 1. Offense vs WMU 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] 2. Defense vs WMU 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. 3. Hot Takes, Special Teams, and Game Theory 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. 4. Around the Big Ten, wsg Jamie Mac 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”

2 hours and 30 minutes The Sponsors 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. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, Venue by 4M where we recorded this, The Nose Bleeds, which is the Sklars Bros’ reboot of Cheap Seats on UFC Fight Pass, Autograph: Fandom Rewarded, who just launched an app where you earn rewards for things like reading MGoBlog and listening to this podcast, and introducing Champions Circle, the NIL fund keeping our team together. 1. Basketball Bits Starts at 1:00 We welcome Alex Drain to talk about Indiana football. But before that, filling up the basketball roster (coaches and players). Dusty May’s hires are recruiting focused, do they get an Australian?? Guys in the portal are guys the NBA doesn’t want, hence why they’re in the portal. Mark Pope to Kentucky is interesting but it’s probably a good hire overall. Would you rather play in the G league or get paid by Duke or Kentucky? Most of Michigan’s coaches look like A- hires. Getting a guy like George Washington III is a good get because they’re probably not going to fill all 13 spots, plus he could develop in his second year. They don’t have a recruiting class right now. Vlad Goldin feels like he’s in the bag, he’s on campus this week. Tre Donaldson has multiple crystal ball predictions for Michigan. Connor Essegian would hate Wisconsin which is a good culture fit! 2. Hockey Wrap-Up Starts at 45:31 Michigan loses to Boston College 4-0, who would then go on to lose to Denver 2-0 after the Denver goalie played the game of a lifetime. Don’t think Michigan played poorly like the Quinnipiac game last year, Boston College was just at another level. Michigan got into trouble in 4-on-4s, especially after Dylan Duke’s bad penalty. Seamus Casey probably wasn’t 100%, this was one of his worst games. Who’s back next year? The bigger question marks are on defense. Still no rumors on goalie and anyone left in the portal doesn’t have a great save percentage. Put up an NIL bat signal. 3. Previewing The Big Ten Part One Starts at 1:20:32 Takes hotter than Ohio State fans after losing to Oregon this year. Indiana football time! They essentially imported the whole JMU program plus a coach from Ohio. They landed four running backs from the portal, all of whom played significant snaps last year. Rutgers got a funny quarterback out of the portal. Minnesota and Rutgers like to trade their players a lot, apparently. Taulia Tagovailoa tried to get another year for no reason and didn’t get it. Maryland lost a lot and will have quite the drop off. We try to have Michigan State takes. Their defense has been hideous for years but they do return some of those guys. There are pieces on offense but the offensive line isn’t great., they’re a year zero. Penn State’s spring game had some concerning moments! Their top receiver is transferring and the shaky offensive line loses guys. Ohio State said “we’re never losing a football game again” so we’ll see if it works. Their QBs didn’t look good in the spring game. The defensive line dominated. Wisconsin hit the portal hard. Illinois' good defense is all gone. 4. Previewing The Big Ten Part Two Starts at 2:02:19 Northwestern has gotten one (1) guy out of the portal. They're playing on a practice field by the lake this season and that might just sum up their season. Iowa has Not Brian Ferentz as their offensive coordinator, how's that going to look? Spencer Petras is in the portal! "[Team] is playing in the Rose Bowl!" is already an old joke. Nobody got picked apart by the portal as much as Purdue. Dylan Raiola to Nebraska is exciting but it probably won't start well. There's a path to 8 wins there. Minnesota will be okay. USC is finally making an effort to play defense. Their schedule is brutal, though. It will be interesting to see UCLA without Chip Kelly, also their travel schedule is wild. Oregon is a serious football program. Washington's roster and staff has been gutted.  MUSIC: "Everyday Hustle" — Future and Metro Boomin “What a Difference She Made" — Jaylen Ngonda “Ready or Not”—  Shakey Graves, featuring Sierra Ferrell “Across 110th Street”

1 hour and 49 minutes The Sponsors 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. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, Venue by 4M where we recorded this, The Nose Bleeds, which is the Sklars Bros’ reboot of Cheap Seats on UFC Fight Pass, Autograph: Fandom Rewarded, who just launched an app where you earn rewards for things like reading MGoBlog and listening to this podcast, and introducing Champions Circle, the NIL fund keeping our team together. 1. Basketball Bits Starts at 1:00 Seth is once again the biggest dork. Will Tschetter is returning, Terrance Williams II hit the portal and declared for the NBA draft (¯\_(ツ)_/¯), and Dusty May has made some assistant coaching hires. Mike Boynton and Akeem Miskdeen have joined the staff. These moves seem like they’re recruiting focused. All three of the big three from FAU are in the portal, Nick Boyd released a big list of schools that did not have Michigan on it. Michigan should get Davis and Goldin. Have you met Louisville’s fanbase? What about the rest of Michigan’s roster? Brian gives his guess on 10-11 roster spots.  2. Football Spring Bits - Defense Starts at 38:36 As it turns out, the defense is better than the offense right now. They’re really high on Jaishawn Barham, the linebacker transfer from Maryland. Rolder is still dinged up and we don’t blame him for what happened against Ohio State. There is speculation on the CB2 chatter and why it’s more encouraging than this time last year. LB2 and CB2 should be fine. On the defensive line, TJ Guy is a guy (ahhh he did it). Etta is also encouraging. It won’t be last team’s defensive line but it should be a two deep we’re comfortable with. The last two questions are “what do we do without Rod Moore” and “who is the nickel back”? 3. Football Spring Bits - Offense Starts at 50:20 Takes hotter than our Kickstarter. On offense, it feels like Alex Orji is simply the leader at quarterback so far. To be fair, the offensive line is probably having a bad time against this defensive line. Semaj Morgan has been getting talked up which is not surprising. Donovan Edwards has apparently gained 15 pounds (with no mention of him catching passes). Marlin Klein is being called the best athlete of the tight ends. Not really any surprises along the offensive line. Sure, some of the problems at quarterback could be the defensive line dominating the offense line but those talks could also be covering up limitations of the quarterbacks. It could all work out but for that to happen you have to run the Denard offense and win some Iowa games. What would you consider a successful season this year? 4. NCAA Hockey Tournament  Starts at 1:19:48 Michigan hockey reaches the frozen four for the third consecutive year. Michigan scores three in the 3rd period after North Dakota was arguably the better team in the first two periods. This is the opposite of what the season narrative has been. Of teams that have made the frozen four historically, the numbers one, two, three, and six are in. This is the bluest of blue bloods frozen four. Denver is 100 duck sized horses. Boston College has snipers, can’t get into a shooting match with them.  MUSIC: "Miracles" — Alex G “Time Waits For No One" — The Rolling Stones “Will I See You Again”—  Three Sacred Souls “Across 110th Street”

1 hour and 58 minutes The Sponsors 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. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, Venue by 4M where we recorded this, The Nose Bleeds, which is the Sklars Bros’ reboot of Cheap Seats on UFC Fight Pass, Autograph: Fandom Rewarded, who just launched an app where you earn rewards for things like reading MGoBlog and listening to this podcast, and introducing Champions Circle, the NIL fund keeping our team together. 1. The Hiring of Dusty May Starts at 1:00 Brian let Seth out of his basement where he works on the UFRs so he’s off exploring the world somewhere (France). Michigan hired Dusty May as the 18th head men’s basketball coach, and the news was dropped in the middle of a hockey championship game. The rumor was that John Beilein played a big part in getting May. Good job, Warde Manuel! This hire was sniped from Louisville, who thought they could hire him this weekend. Whatever happened to Louisville? Dusty May really turned around Florida Atlantic basketball, which was basically a non-existent program before Dusty. He’s had a great track record everywhere he’s been. Dusty May is able to keep his players, even after a Final Four run.  2. Basketball - Looking Forward to Next Year Starts at 29:58 What makes Dusty May appealing as a coach? He seems to be really well liked. His teams shoot a lot of 3s and they shoot them pretty well. There are a lot of Beilein parallels.  Who comes back? Who do you try and get? Johnell Davis is his star and has a year remaining. Bryan Greenlee and Vladislav Goldin are the other two starters who could come over as grad transfers. Does Dusty bring over his coaching staff and do you retain any of the coaching staff from an 8-24 team? Who do you want to keep from last season’s roster? We’re completely happy with the hire but there isn’t a statistic that pops out consistently every year (except defensive assist rate). Expectations for next year are very low, fill a roster with guys you can build a program from. He’s going to have to hit the portal pretty hard.  3. Football Bits Starts at 1:07:05 Wink Martindale’s contract makes him the highest paid defensive coordinator in college football. When’s the last time you saw a long-term NFL coordinator jump back to college? Greg Scruggs has resigned and the guy to keep an eye on now is Terrance Jamison from Illinois. DJ Waller and Jyaire Hill are the two names that popped up during Sherrone Moore’s press conference as looking impressive so far. It might be Jack Tuttle as the spring front runner at QB until someone comes in and takes it. Don’t take too much stock into his Indiana career. Michigan has lost good receivers over the last three recruiting cycles, they need to get some more guys. Will Michigan pass more under Sherrone Moore? Probably not. Cam Goode was not on scholarship, he was on NIL all last season. The era of scholarship limits is over! 4. NCAA Hockey Tournament  Starts at 1:31:49 Michigan hockey is a #3 seed and gets to play in an empty stadium in Maryland Heights, Missouri! They get North Dakota in the first game and are in an overall manageable draw. North Dakota's goalie seems like a guy. Michigan loses in OT to Michigan State in the Big Ten Championship game and Michigan State's game-tying goal might be the worst call we've ever seen. Michigan had a waved off goal that was also questionable. We've seen Michigan State many times, we're ok with drawing them as the #1 seed. When can we see the end of the tournament format of playing in empty neutral sites? The game is Friday at 8:30 on ESPNU. MUSIC: "Mayday" — Home Free “Rum And Coca Cola" — The Andrews Sisters “Ready to Go”—  Republica “Across 110th Street”

1 hour and 41 minutes The Sponsors 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. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, Venue by 4M where we recorded this, The Nose Bleeds, which is the Sklars Bros’ reboot of Cheap Seats on UFC Fight Pass, Autograph: Fandom Rewarded, who just launched an app where you earn rewards for things like reading MGoBlog and listening to this podcast, and introducing Champions Circle, the NIL fund keeping our team together. 1. Looking Back on the Juwan Howard Era Starts at 1:00 It’s coachin’ search time, baby. Time for Warde Manuel to finally make a decision (unless it’s Beilein). One last look back at the Juwan Howard era. He came in with a good Beilein roster and brought in Franz Wagner. It felt like a seamless transition but then after that he just didn’t have a wing on his roster. Juwan was finding guys who were already shaped for the NBA and not having them prove anything. He also couldn’t play the portal well, it feels like he was too used to managing NBA rosters. It’s not a zero tolerance policy if you keep having incidents happen.  2. The Basketball Coaching Search Starts at 27:30 Greg McDermott (Creighton), Randy Bennett (Saint Mary’s), Nate Oats (Alabama), and Tony Bennett (NTTB, Virginia) are off the table. John Beilein has been brought up but it feels like a pipe dream. He’s older and not familiar with the NIL era. Shaka Smart probably won’t be interested because football is king at Michigan. Is Michigan a better gig than Marquette? Richard Pitino Jr - needs a better resume than what he did at Minnesota. Brian’s guy is Niko Medved out of Colorado State who has improved the Rams tremendously. He can find weird guys from weird places under the radar and he coaches them up. Also, everyone seems to like him. Darian DeVries (Drake) is a candidate who coached under Medved. His teams seem to be really well coached but are short (they can avoid turnovers and can’t offensive rebound at all but can maniacally clean up their own glass). Dusty May at Florida Atlantic reached the Final Four last year and had a Kenpom top 20 team. This is his 6th year as a college coach but only the second where his team has been good. Amir Abdur-Rahim at South Florida built Kennesaw State from a one win team to a tournament team. Mark Pope of BYU has had top 20 Kenpom teams in three of the five years he’s been at BYU.  3. Hockey at Minnesota - BTT Semifinals Starts at 1:02:25 Michigan beats Minnesota for the third straight year in the Big Ten Tournament at Mariucci. This will lock up an NCAA Tournament bid and now they play Michigan State in East Lansing for their third straight Big Ten Tournament title. This was probably Michigan’s most complete game of the season. The second period was extremely dominant but felt like they should’ve scored more. Michigan is 1-3 against MSU so far this year after winning their first game 7-1. They’ll likely be a 3 seed. Do you or do you not want to draw Denver? 4. Latest Football Bits Starts at 1:27:33 Hey, did you hear Michigan sniped Tony Alford from Ohio State? What if he hates Ryan Day more than Michigan?? Who knows. This is a good sign that people want to work for Sherrone Moore. Wink Martindale is learning a lot about the defense from Rod Moore, so maybe the Mike Sainristil effect won’t be as big as we thought. Newly hired defensive line coach Greg Scruggs got an OWI, which was not his first. He’s been suspended indefinitely. Spring football starts today! MUSIC: "Fancy" — Drake “If You Don't Want My Love" — Jalen Ngonda “Gettin' to the Point”—  Panda Bear and Sonic Boom “Across 110th Street”

1 hour and 59 minutes The Sponsors 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. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, Venue by 4M where we recorded this, The Nose Bleeds, which is the Sklars Bros’ reboot of Cheap Seats on UFC Fight Pass, Autograph: Fandom Rewarded, who just launched an app where you earn rewards for things like reading MGoBlog and listening to this podcast, and introducing Champions Circle, the NIL fund keeping our team together. 1. The State of College Football Starts at 1:00 We are uh. We are out of content (still managed to record a two hour podcast). With regards to Ben Franklin's sex life. Craig Ross turns 3,008, wish him a happy birthday (still hasn’t seen a worse Michigan men’s basketball team). The Big Ten and SEC got together for a working group and the thing they were working on was screwing the rest of college football. They already want a 14 team playoff with auto bids. What would be different about college football right now if Dave Brandon was in charge? Nothing. College football is great for reasons that the people who only care about money could never understand. Adding Maryland and Rutgers was the beginning of the end, Brian is going to dance on Jim Delaney’s grave. What can you even do about it besides complain about it on podcasts. [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP] 2. Big Ten Hockey Tournament vs Notre Dame Starts at 23:41 They didn’t make it easy but Michigan hockey sweeps Notre Dame in the first round of the Big Ten tournament. Nobody played better than Notre Dame’s goalie, despite giving up nine goals. Notre Dame is 10-1 in games where they only score three goals, they can’t score but the goalie keeps them in games. Was it an icing? No. Another week, another discussion of the terrible major calls. The Ohio State vs Wisconsin game determines whether Michigan plays in East Lansing or Minneapolis (Michigan will play in Minneapolis). Michigan is at their ceiling in terms of RPI (#10), but the gap between them and 14 is very small. According to Alex, Michigan is a 99%+ chance to make the NCAA tournament, so they’ve basically punched their ticket. Who stays and who goes after the season? Make Brian an NHL GM, he plays Football Manager and won the championship in the Turkish league. 3. Warde Manuel and Juwan Starts at 1:03:22 Takes hotter than Warde Manuel's seat if he retains Juwan Howard. Warde Manuel has become controversial amongst Michigan fans, and by controversial we mean everyone wants to fire him except Santa Ono. What is Warde doing if he wants to keep Juwan around? Seth has been told that Warde Manuel has repaired Michigan’s relationships with the NCAA and Big Ten, Brian has curled himself into a ball and crawled under Walter White’s floor and is laughing maniacally. R.I.P. paper tickets. If he doesn’t get rid of Juwan Howard, what is actually going on? There are a lot of Fargo references in this podcast. Warde is the head of the college football committee in charge of the worst college football playoff we’ve ever seen. 4. Gimmicky Top Five - Non-Michigan Fandoms Starts at 01:29:22 Five non-Michigan things we are fans of. Oh no, how many of us are just fair weather Detroit fans? The National Parks are good and you should go but not when I go because they’re overcrowded now! Brian does not hate National Parks, why would you think that? Who is the bigger dork, Seth or Brian? Shout out to Lindsay Ellis, the Brian Cook of film theory and why The Hobbit Trilogy is bad. Brian turns down a $1300/month murder basement. MUSIC: "Gen X Cops" — Vampire Weekend “Midwest" — Vacations “Forget Everything”—  BEL “Across 110th Street”

1 hour and 47 minutes The Sponsors 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. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, Venue by 4M where we recorded this, The Nose Bleeds, which is the Sklars Bros’ reboot of Cheap Seats on UFC Fight Pass, Autograph: Fandom Rewarded, who just launched an app where you earn rewards for things like reading MGoBlog and listening to this podcast, and introducing Champions Circle, the NIL fund keeping our team together. 1. Updated State of the Basketball Program and NFL Draft Stuff Starts at 1:00 We’re not going to talk about basketball, but this is mostly a basketball segment. Discussing Sanderson’s departure from the program from Sanderson’s perspective. It’s unbelievable that Juwan didn’t get fired for this. Basketball standings are the Big Ten West’s revenge. There’s no reason to believe that Michigan will be good next year, teams that mainly use the portal have not been that great and Michigan probably won’t even fill the roster. This is year five, that’s on Juwan. If Juwan is retained, add it to the list of Warde Manual bag fumbles. Apparently Warde is good with speaking to people and managing non-revenue sports. Has he even had to make a hire in major sport? Sherrone Moore and Naurato were a given. Warde likes to just sit around and wait for whatever happens to happen. Even Graig Ross says this is one of the worst teams since he was in school. If Juwan gets fired it won’t be until the end of the season. Do you enjoy watching the Combine? Dave does, Brian does not. The NFL draft will be fun to watch this year because there will be a lot of Michigan players getting drafted and every time they do there will be a lot of highlights of Ohio State getting dunked on. Mike Sainristil knew Washington’s plays because Mike Sainristil is football smart. It was Mikey all along!! According to scouts, all of Michigan’s offensive linemen are two years ahead of everyone else in terms of maturity. Cornelius Johnson tested out amazingly. He didn’t get a ton of targets but he bailed out JJ a lot, and that skill set will translate to the NFL. Blake Corum changed his skill set from speed back to inside guy based on what the team needed. 2. 2024 Defensive Line and 2024 Linebackers Starts at 31:56 The defense only lost Keon Sabb to the portal, they look just as loaded this year as last year but without the ability to roll out nine defensive linemen. This should be Derrick Moore’s blowup year. Josiah Stewart came on in a big way after struggling a bit the first half of the season. Is it time for TJ Guy to get some serious snaps? Will he become “TJ Dude”?? Brian’s head almost explodes trying to talk about the defensive tackles. Mason Graham will be the best defensive tackle in the country and should be a 99 in NCAA 25. And then the other guy is KENNETH GRANT. Trey Pierce looked fine as a true freshman but not much you can tell about him yet. It should be the best defensive line in the country, just need 3rd string depth. Linebackers lose Barrett and Colson and is a little more up inI the air. Hausmann was a good rotational piece, Rolder looked like a player as a true freshman but was rough against Ohio State. Jaishawn Barham comes in from Maryland and is a good run stuffer. These three are the makings of a good linebacker corps.  3. Hot Takes and 2024 Secondary Starts at 54:48 Takes hotter than JJ McCarthy's draft stock. Will Johnson will be the highest graded player in NCAA 25 (unless you use The Seth Roster, then it will be Mason Graham). He’ll basically be Charles Woodson. The safeties look stacked and apparently Michigan is looking to get Quinten Johnson back. Makari Paige started in 2020, Rod Moore started in 2021, they’ll be fine. Once again, the biggest question mark is the second cornerback. Also for as amazing as Mike Sainristil was, we might still be underrating him because he was the glue. Whoever you insert at the second corner spot is going to be the least experienced corner on the field and they’ll be replacing the most experienced corner in Josh Wallace. Will they go to the post spring roster and pick up another corner again? They’ll still be one of the best defenses in America. Martindale will be a drop off because Minter was running coverages Marvin Harrison had never seen before but it shouldn’t be a major drop off. Seth is Brian’s Mike Hart. It’s an Alex Drain-ass coaching staff (Alex if you’re reading this, Brian’s words. Not mine). 4. Hockey at Minnesota Starts at 1:29:36 Michigan splits with Minnesota but there's chaos on the college hockey bubble. Michigan moves up from 14th to 13 in Pairwise and Pairwise Predictor has them at 69% in. In game 2, Michigan goes up 3-0 in the first period and ends up winning in OT. Michigan's goalie looked great in the first two periods of this game but gave up 5 goals in the 3rd. When things start to go wrong, everything spirals out of control. Is this team on par for what we expected them to be this year? Kind of.  MUSIC: "Higher" cover — Randy and Jason Sklar “It Was Agatha All Along" — Kristen-Anderson Lopez “Rich Baby Daddy”—  Drake, Sexyy Red, SZA “Across 110th Street”

1 hour and 44 minutes The Sponsors 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. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, Venue by 4M where we recorded this, The Nose Bleeds, which is the Sklars Bros’ reboot of Cheap Seats on UFC Fight Pass, Autograph: Fandom Rewarded, who just launched an app where you earn rewards for things like reading MGoBlog and listening to this podcast, and introducing Champions Circle, the NIL fund keeping our team together. 1. The Final Coaching Staff Starts at 1:00 Jack Tuttle has been approved for a 7th year, does this incentivize you to switch over your offense since he's so different from Orji? Whoever the quarterback is, they just need to have a Cade McNamara year. Sabb hitting the portal is sad. The coaching staff is final (other than what's up with Mike Hart). The average age of this coaching staff is too close to Alex Drain. The Tennessee message boards are like "RHWRRRGHREWRGRR". Things seem to be moving positively on the NIL front with Sherrone Moore in charge. Michigan is losing assistants at a higher rate because if you succeed at Michigan you go to the NFL.  2. Legal Talk With Bryan MacKenzie! (Part one) Starts at 27:12 We discuss the myriad legal issues facing the NCAA. Tennessee, the university and state, are sticking it to the NCAA asserting that NIL restrictions are anti-trust and cannot be legal. The NCAA has said that you can talk about NIL but you cannot use it as an incentive. What? When was the last time the NCAA even won a lawsuit?? The NCAA is potentially facing a $4 billion lawsuit, how do you calculate that and does it bankrupt the NCAA or do schools have to pay for it?  3. Hot Takes and Legal Talk! (Part Two) Starts at 41:31 Takes hotter than Travis Kelce in the first half of the Super Bowl when he was yelling at Andy Reid. Dartmouth men's basketball (yes it exists) is leading one of the charges. At private schools, we could be approaching athletes being employees with the ability to collectively bargain. There are 11,000 division I football players and 5,000 division I basketball players, how do you account for all of that under the tent? Signing a contract could help solve the transfer portal issues and sitting out bowl games. The NCAA is so paranoid about people being employees that they're hurting their own product. Legally, you may have to show your athletes as minimum-wage employees, can you show that with scholarships? Moving forward, how does the NCAA show a distinction between professional and amateur athletes? What should the final play be? We have no idea.  4. Hockey vs Penn State Starts at 1:21:32 Hockey splits with Penn State which is not good, Michigan is slipping off of the bubble. The Friday game, Michigan won in the 1st period. The second game was extremely un-inspiring. They're running out of centers. Michigan has to be able to out-score their mistakes and they just don't have that right now. Michigan has a hero-line and it's getting held up and are gassed by the 3rd period. The inconsistency of major penalties in Big Ten hockey is ridiculous.  MUSIC: “Sinner”— The Last Dinner Party “Bottled in Cork" — Ted Low and the Pharmacists “Rock.co.Kane flow”—  de la Soul featuring MF Doom “Across 110th Street”

1 hour and 44 minutes The Sponsors 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. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, Winewood Organics, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, Venue by 4M where we recorded this, The Nose Bleeds, which is the Sklars Bros’ reboot of Cheap Seats on UFC Fight Pass, Autograph: Fandom Rewarded, who just launched an app where you earn rewards for things like reading MGoBlog and listening to this podcast, and introducing Champions Circle, the NIL fund keeping our team together. 1. Coaches and Vibes Starts at 1:00 Some of us would like to continue basking in the glory of the national championship and some (Brian) acknowledge that we must move on and start looking into the next season. There have already been some coaching changes since the last podcast. Wink Martindale's defense isn't that different from the Ravens defense (and it is not the Don Brown defense). Defensive line will still be elite, the big question is depth. Michigan's got too many safeties and not enough corners, move some? It's looking like Greg Scruggs, the Wisconsin defensive line coach, will be coming over. Linebackers coach positions is fuzzy. A lot of Michigan's offensive philosophy was probably coming from Sherrone Moore and Kirk Campbell so having that continuity is huge. Sherrone is helping tremendously at keep the team and culture together.  2. 2024 Offense Part 1 Starts at 28:41 Who is the quarterback and what is the philosophy of this offense? Between Kalel Mullings, Donovan Edwards, Semaj Morgan, Colston Loveland, Max Bredeson, and Tyler Morris, there's a lot coming back to play with. How do you pass the ball with Alex Orji at quarterback and what is the run/pass split? If not Alex Orji at quarterback, then who? Even though they turn over the entire offensive line, the backups are upper classmen so it might be a Wisconsin situation where it's just the next line up.  3. Hot Takes and 2024 Offense Part 2 Starts at 47:58 Takes hotter than Keisei Tominaga (and that's the only mention of basketball on this podcast). If you want continuity with the offense, do you make Kalel Mullings RB1? How much should Donovan Edwards motion out as a receiver? What are the alternatives at QB if you go with Alex Orji and it doesn't work out? Jayden Denegal is probably the floor and he's Wilton Speight. Making a case for why the offensive line will be good again, ideally Andrew Gentry is the left tackle. Tyler Morris will be a good WR2 (behind whoever they motion out between Donovan Edwards or Colston Loveland).  4. Hockey vs Michigan State Starts at 1:29:51 Michigan has a sad hockey weekend and gets swept by Michigan State, losing the Iron D. These teams played fairly evenly but Michigan State has a goalie that can bail them out and Michigan doesn't. Michigan needs to be able to out-score their mistakes but they can't right now. Michigan basketball exists, goodbye!  MUSIC: “Olivia”— Wolves of Glendale “Flamingos - CARRTOONS" “City Slicker”—  Ginger Root “Across 110th Street”

1 hour and 30 minutes The Sponsors 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. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, Winewood Organics, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, Venue by 4M where we recorded this, The Nose Bleeds, which is the Sklars Bros’ reboot of Cheap Seats on UFC Fight Pass, Autograph: Fandom Rewarded, who just launched an app where you earn rewards for things like reading MGoBlog and listening to this podcast, and introducing Champions Circle, the NIL fund keeping our team together. 1. Sherrone Moore and the Coaching Staff Starts at 1:00 Sherrone is rounding out his staff - Kirk Campbell is the offensive coordinator, Grant Newsome is the offensive line coach, and Steve Casula is the tight ends coach. We're projecting that Ron Bellamy and Mike Hart are returning (Mike Hart's absence from certain events were just him going through some personal stuff, per Sam Webb). It looks like Mike Elston and Steve Clinkscale are back so far. There's a linebacker and defensive coordinator spot open (the 3rd Ravens guy is off the board). If they bring in long-tenured NFL guys, can they recruit? Could Michigan start pulling coaches from two NFL franchises moving forward?  [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP] 2. Hockey vs Ohio State Starts at 23:27 Michigan swept Ohio State, just like football as you might recall, but Ohio State is pretty bad at hockey this year. The Friday game felt like one that could fall apart but they came up ahead. The Saturday game felt like Michigan was on the doorstep and just had to finish it. They're looking like they're rounding into a tournament team, especially with their World Juniors guys back. Michigan was finally on the other side of five minute majors!  3. Hot Takes and... State of the Basketball Program Starts at 49:34 Takes hotter than Rutgers basketball with five minutes left in a basketball game against Michigan. Rutgers went on a 37-12 run to end the game, and Rutgers has one of the worst offenses in the Big Ten. What is going on in the locker room? What is the culture of this team and who's even in charge of what? It's year five but there are only two guards on the roster and two open roster spots. There's no reason to retain Juwan.  4. Just Naming Guys Starts at 1:16:15 No, really. They're just naming guys. It was this or another basketball segment. Seth's story about a football player with magic powers was critiqued by a Michigan football player. The Commissioner of this segment had to step in to vacate a #2 guy. Leave five guys in the comments (as in Michigan football players, not the food). MUSIC: “Just Like Football”— Brothers Keep “My Heart Will Go On - Bad Recorder Cover" “GUY.exe”—  Superfruit “Across 110th Street”

4 hours and 26 minutes The Sponsors 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. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, Winewood Organics, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, Venue by 4M where we recorded this, The Nose Bleeds, which is the Sklars Bros’ reboot of Cheap Seats on UFC Fight Pass, and Autograph: Fandom Rewarded, who just launched an app where you earn rewards for things like reading MGoBlog and listening to this podcast. 1. Weird Jim Harbaugh Era Highlights Starts at 1:00 There was too much to remember, so we crowd sourced. Sleepovers, satellite camps, the pope, and fun recruiting shenanigans. The Harbaugh era kind of starts and ends with Lou Holtz. There was a lot of diving into pools while fully dressed. People who cover the pope have been watching to see if he ever wears the Jordans that Jim gifted him. Don't drink out of the public fountains in Rome. You ever just grab a handful of meatballs? Character growth arc - Jim Harbaugh and chickens. He told a Peruvian Catholic priest "I'm in the Notre Dame ass-kicking business." Never forget "the white board", what's your favorite quote from it? He's directed traffic for hours. Jim Harbaugh war dad. Alejandro continues to be a real go-getter. Make sure you swipe Freddy P Soft off your shoulder.  2. HOT TAKES and Jim Harbaugh Era Highlight Honorable Mentions Starts at 50:40 Takes hotter than the San Francisco 49ers in the 2nd half of the NFC Championship (SORRY SORRY. Brian's words, not mine). Talking about moments that weren't the top moments but still note-worthy. Ben Mason, Darboh, and good shit from Jedd. The 2015 BYU game had a lot of all-time single player moments. The evolution of Donovan Edwards' career at Michigan and running power on a kickoff return against Northwestern. Jabrill Peppers fielding punts was a safety blanket we miss. Jim Harbaugh evolved the run game and also brought us the TRAIN! Sad field goals, the emergence of JJ, and Mr. Brightside. The 2016 Indiana snowglobe game. Player development into 4th, 5th, and 6th years has been incredible.  3. Jim Harbaugh Era Top 25 Moments 25-11 Starts at 2:09:03 Everyone has something different that they love the most about the 2016 Rutgers game. Multiple Michigan State things at the expense of Michigan State, including Defeated With Dignity. There are so many stats in the Jim Harbaugh era that were some sort of "Michigan hasn't done ___ in ___ years" and now all those stats are reset. Remembering a lot of Jourdan Lewis moments, but especially that interception. The whole context of this year's Penn State game was to prove if this team was real. THEY SAID THE KID COULDN'T THROW THE DEEP BALL. They say you need a QB to win a national championship but Michigan won it with an elite run game and pass defense.  4. Jim Harbaugh Era Top 25 Moments 10-1 Starts at 3:09:41 Jumping around at Wisconsin was when this program really started to feel special. The 2021 Big Ten Championship Game was just a huge party, Seth threw a cat across the entire room. Ohio State makes this list multiple times. What can man do against such reckless hate. Aidan Hutchinson is coming for you. The top five could really be in any order. Michigan had to figure out how to win against Alabama, but against Washington, Michigan just had better players. The Rose Bowl overtime was like a dream, and it was a real Rose Bowl against Alabama. Mike Sainristil represents what this program was all about, and the pass breakup against Stover is the ultimate highlight of that. In life, hurdle all your fools.  MUSIC: “Who's Got It Better Than Us”— Bailey “Saturdays”— Broken Bells “Jump Around”—  House of Pain “Across 110th Street”

3 hours and 18 minutes The Sponsors 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. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, Winewood Organics, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, Venue by 4M where we recorded this, The Nose Bleeds, which is the Sklars Bros’ reboot of Cheap Seats on UFC Fight Pass, and Autograph: Fandom Rewarded, who just launched an app where you earn rewards for things like reading MGoBlog and listening to this podcast. 1. National Championship Feels Starts at 1:00 "Bring us home, Blake." He did it just like in the Ohio State, Penn State, and Alabama games. And then Mikey got an interception. A perfect moment in a perfect season. JJ's tweet was right, everyone just take a breath and relax after the last 20 years. So many guys came back to make this possible, and that's the culture of this program. Everyone who stepped up did when they needed to. Michigan's diversity of what they do on offense might be unmatched anywhere else in the country, and part of that is because so many people stick around. We call Blake Corum a perfect human being but Mike Sainristil is the same thing. This program has developed so many dudes who are going to the NFL that most people would not have expected. If you re-ranked these recruiting classes, how much higher would Michigan jump? Michigan fans really showed up for all the playoff games and events.  2. Defense vs Washington Starts at 45:54 We start with the defense this time because the defense was incredible this game. What more can you even say about Jesse Minter and the players at this point? Everybody eats. Penix was in bad shape by the end of the game, Jaylen Harrell chased him down after the game to congratulate him on a good game. Keon Sabb had a bad missed tackle on Washington's first drive but made up for it later. Michigan seemed to plan this season around playing 15 games with all their substitutions to keep everyone fresh. It also helped that a lot of starters didn't have to play most 4th quarters this year. Washington was not able to just toss up the ball and have their receivers go get it, which is a big part of their game. Penix was uncomfortable all game and it brought his game down. Washington had open guys but it wasn't the guys Penix were expecting to be open. Read 1 --> Read 2 --> Uh oh Mason Graham. Besides a couple misses, this team tackled so well and have all season. How did a wide receiver become the Honey Badger?? Washington does have a great screen game.  The best defense since 1997.  3. Offense vs Washington Starts at 1:32:46 A re-run of the Rose Bowl but more explosive. They looked a little nervous about passing the ball. One of these Washington linebackers apparently has never seen duo before. Michigan never really fully incorporated a JJ run game which was frustrating. Donovan Edwards, you've been sandbagging us all year! We don't care when you cut, but please just cut. Seven minutes into this game, Donovan Edwards had won the national championship. According to SP+ this is the best Michigan team since 1902 and the first team to hold every opponent to under 25 points since 1904 Minnesota. How many teams are losing their best offensive lineman and not seeing a drop-off? Michigan's transfer portal scouting was nuts, so many dudes did so well. JJ didn't torch this defense but he didn't need to, he also had a good YPA.  4. Game Theory, Special Teams, and Feels Starts at 2:10:52 WARNING: This segment gets really misty towards the end. That was the most annoying punter Michigan has ever faced. The care for special teams feels like it really dropped off this year. Decision making was pretty much by the book, though. Onto vibes, nobody has ever felt as good as this because nobody else has ever felt as bad. Reminiscing on some of the bleakest times of the Harbaugh era because they're part of what make this so sweet. Now let us stop wallowing. An impromptu gimmicky top five of "favorite moments of the season."  We talk about how we're feeling right now. There is a very good chance you will cry during it. I did. MUSIC: “Win”— David Bowie “Down, Up!”— BabyTron “We're a Winner”—  The Impressions “Across 110th Street”

2 hour and 30 minutes The Sponsors 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. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, Winewood Organics, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, Venue by 4M where we recorded this, The Nose Bleeds, which is the Sklars Bros’ reboot of Cheap Seats on UFC Fight Pass, and Autograph: Fandom Rewarded, who just launched an app where you earn rewards for things like reading MGoBlog and listening to this podcast. 1. Rose Bowl Feels Starts at 1:00 If Michigan wins the national championship, was the Rose Bowl still a bigger game? It was a real Rose Bowl. There is almost no piped in music so you can actually just hear the ambience of the crowd. It's the most beautiful stadium in America and you couldn't build it today. There are no stadium gimmicks, just the existential dread of playing Alabama in the most important game ever (this is a compliment). Michigan wasn't ready to be at this level two years ago, but now they're The Man going into the national championship game. 2. Offense vs Alabama Starts at 21:21 Michigan puts up nearly 400 yards of offense and it feels like they left a lot on the field. Aside from TCU, the only game where JJ had to put up a game winning touchdown drive (featuring the dumbest Roman Wilson penalty of his career). AT LAST THEY RUN PLAY ACTION. Roman Wilson makes up for it by not only having a truly heroic catch but landing on his feet and he keeps going. Michigan had a great gameplan and schemed a lot of open receivers. Michigan didn't run dig but Alabama was trying to account for it. Michigan had counters to a lot of the stuff they've been putting on film all season. How did you feel about the trick plays? Overall, hard to criticize the gameplan. Mullings can catch! Blake's OT touchdown run is insane, shout out to Karsen Barnhart and Trente Jones. Semaj Morgan was probably in his own head a bit in this game but still had four catches.  3. Hot Takes & Defense vs Alabama Starts at 1:03:25 Takes hotter than your blood pressure in overtime. You have to go after Milroe and Michigan did it as a team, that's how you stop Alabama. "Khaleke Hudson vs Minnesota" gameplan paid off. Josh Wallace was such a perfect fit for this defense - a senior with a billion snaps who is disciplined. Keon Sabb didn't get to play most of the day and then gets a huge hit. Josiah Stewart looked great. Michigan did a great job on their stunts.  4. Game Theory, Special Teams, and Washington Preview Starts at 1:48:48 Jay Harbaugh was suddenly replaced by Parker Fleming. If Michigan lost this game, it would be because of special teams. Jake Thaw should've just let that punt go. Semaj Morgan had the yips, but he's a true freshman playing in the Rose Bowl. Was playing for a long field goal correct after the botched flea flicker? Let's just not talk about the last 40 seconds ever again. We briefly laugh about Ohio State. Brian can't stream a game from his phone in Michigan Stadium but he can stream a game on his phone on a plane. Penix played out of his mind against Texas. Michigan probably matches up better with Washington than Texas. Washington's offensive line won the Joe Moore award via pass blocking, not rushing. Should you blitz Penix or just play coverage?  MUSIC: “Dixieland Delight”— Alabama “Alabama”— Neil Young “Deacon Blues”—  Steely Dan “Across 110th Street”

1 hour and 34 minutes The Sponsors 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. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, Winewood Organics, Human Element, Venue by 4M where we recorded this, The Nose Bleeds, which is the Sklars Bros’ reboot of Cheap Seats on UFC Fight Pass, and INTRODUCING TO THE PODCAST: Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning. 1. College Football Playoff Discussion Starts at 1:00 The College Football Playoff committee putting in Alabama over Florida State is just awful. This isn't a Michigan thing, it's a college football thing. They're a 13-0 ACC champion team. Florida State did everything they could. This Alabama team has been erratic all season. Their defensive tackles are just guys but they have an outstanding secondary and two really good edge rushers. Michigan probably has an advantage in both trenches. It feels like Michigan should win this game. There's no clear monster in the playoffs (besides maybe Michigan?). 2. Offense vs Iowa Starts at 25:15 This wasn't nearly as bad as it felt when you rewatch it. Trente Jones keeps picking up the stupidest holding calls. Colston Loveland dropped some passes he never drops. They played very conservatively because once you go up by 10 points in this game it doesn't matter. JJ only goes 22/30 for 147 yards, if his tight ends don't drop some we're playing the incompletion game again. Michigan did some simple trick stuff but it's not the kind of thing that can fool Iowa, they're a very sound defense. They need to do some soul searching with Donovan Edwards before playing Alabama. Instead of "JJ's incompletions" we play "JJ's sacks". 3. Hot Takes, Defense vs Iowa Starts at 52:40 Takes hotter than every single Florida State fan until the end of all time. Brian should've just put "no" as the preview. Was it a fumble or an incomplete pass? Let's talk about how good of a human Mike Sainristil is (he's going to be president one day). Who's on the Mount Rushmore of these past three seasons? Kenneth Grant continues to consume. There's not much else to say about how Michigan's defense did against Iowa's offense. 4. Game Theory, and Special Teams Starts at 1:20:45 Michigan normally goes for it on 4th and short but when you can kick a field goal to go up against Iowa, you just go for it. How is Iowa so bad at QB sneak? Semaj Morgan did a thing, the guy who tackled him might be the most athletic person on the field, though. Jake Thaw was the "just field this punt" guy. How does James Turner compare to Jake Moody? MUSIC: “War Pigs”— Black Sabbath “Going Down South”— RL Burnside “Dyslexic Heart”—  Paul Westerberg “Across 110th Street”

3 hours and 20 minutes The Sponsors 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. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, Winewood Organics, Human Element, Venue by 4M where we recorded this, The Nose Bleeds, which is the Sklars Bros’ reboot of Cheap Seats on UFC Fight Pass, and INTRODUCING TO THE PODCAST: Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning. 1. Thoughts on The Game Starts at 1:00 It comes down to Michigan being the type of team to go for it on 4th and 1 and Ohio State is the type of team to punt on 4th and 1. This game came down to blocking and tackling, not sign stealing. Ohio State is below the Ferentz line over the last three years (and are 74% of the way to Ryan Day's 100 points). Twitter has been so much quieter since Saturday. Is this the end of the line for Ryan Day? Should it be? Also who would you even hire next? Michigan's culture was built to beat Ohio State. This program brings out the mental fortitude of the players required to endure what the last six weeks has been.   2. Offense vs Ohio State Starts at 36:19 Blake Corum's 22 yard run is what he came back to Michigan for, he ran duo and made Sonny Styles look silly. Trente Jones is blowing people off the line - so happy for him in this game. The Ohio State defense was as advertised, JTT is a monster of a run defender. Feels like they could've just used JJ instead of Alex Orji on the run plays out of the first half. Why didn't JJ run more? It didn't quite feel like the best game plan but it worked, also Ohio State's defense just played really well. Was the Roman Wilson touchdown throw the best throw we've ever seen a Michigan quarterback make? Playcalling on Michigan's last series wasn't great but otherwise it was great throughout the drive for draining seven minutes of clock. Cornelius Johnson didn't have the same explosive plays as last year but the catches he did have were arguably just as monumental. There's no question that Colston Loveland is going to catch the ball when the ball goes his way. 3. Hot Takes, Defense vs Ohio State Starts at 1:18:31 Takes hotter than Ryan Day's seat. Michigan's defense did exactly what we expected, Marvin Harrison Jr said he's never been doubled like that before. Michigan did a good job containing TreVeyon Henderson, Chip Trayanum was more effective. The secondary got interesting after Will Johnson got hurt. Why was Jimmy Rolder out there? Marvin Harrison Jr made some insane catches, especially the downfield one where he was held. Ryan Day didn't want to run CJ Stroud and he doesn't want to run Kyle McCord. Surprising lack of frippery between both offenses. McCord played surprisingly well under pressure. Quinten Johnson's big hit made the Big House as loud as we've ever heard. Michigan's rotation of players all season paid off in this one. 4. Game Theory, and Special Teams Starts at 2:08:44 Let's compare Ryan Day to James Franklin! Discussing all of Ohio State's punting situations. What about Michigan's, should they have gone for it on the final 4th and 4? Maybe it's better to let Colston Loveland win it for you than to have to defend Marvin Harrison Jr without Will Johnson. Ryan Day on 4th and 1 - WHAT ARE YOU DOING? A monster game from Tommy Doman. There were far fewer Ohio State fans in the stadium this year. Shout out to the giant Mike Sainristil head in the field rush. Roman Wilson's touchdown was absolutely a touchdown. Stadium replay - DON'T SHOW THE REPLAY IF YOU'RE NOT GOING TO SHOW THE BALL. WE WERE EMOTIONALLY DISTRAUGHT. Also it was an incompletion, not a fumble. 5. Around the Big Ten with Jamie Mac Starts at 2:45:53 Iowa - 13 Nebraska - 10 The most Iowa win ever? They hit the game winning field goal with someone who has not kicked all year. The last ten minutes of this game was incredible. The Big Ten Championship Game should be about the same as two years ago. Northwestern - 45 Illinois - 43 In regulation! Northwestern amazingly finishes the regular season 7-5. Bert was angry at the end. Purdue - 35 Indiana - 31 Indiana head coach Tom Allen is fired after this game (and gets a $20 million buyout). Who does Indiana hire? Maryland - 42 Rutgers - 24 Maryland won this in the first quarter. Tagovailoa threw some dimes and that's all she wrote. Rutgers cannot play from behind. Taulia now leads the Big Ten in all time passing yards. Wisconsin - 28 Minnesota - 14 Hot seat time for PJ Fleck? Penn State - 42 Michigan State - 0 Total yards were 586 to 53. MUSIC: “Winning”— Santana “I'm Gonna Be Myself”— The Sheepdogs “Too Young To Burn”—  Sonny and the Sunsets "Mr. Brightside" — Cloud Illusions “Across 110th Street”

2 hour and 13 minutes The Sponsors 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. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, Winewood Organics, Human Element, Venue by 4M where we recorded this, The Nose Bleeds, which is the Sklars Bros’ reboot of Cheap Seats on UFC Fight Pass, and INTRODUCING TO THE PODCAST: Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning. 1. Offense vs Maryland Starts at 1:00 The annual "play like butt before the Ohio State game" game! JJ is banged up, how much did that effect him? Michigan turtled in this game after taking a convincing lead. The sun was brutal, looked like it made things difficult for receivers. Michigan's calls have been a bit predictable and they're not weaponizing play action as well as they could. The guards had a great game, the tackle situation just got more interesting.  2. Defense vs Maryland Starts at 33:30 This game was the full Taulia Tagovailoa experience - he does a few amazing things and then a couple terrible things. Ohio State's run offense isn't going to be much better than Maryland's. How much will Kyle McCord run against Michigan? Michigan rotated a lot this game but it feels like a lot of these guys deserved playing time. Would you rather go up against Taulia Tagovailoa or Kyle McCord next week?  3. Hot Takes, Game Theory, and Special Teams Starts at 1:02:15 Takes hotter than a Michigan fan watching a competitive game for the first time this year. It doesn't actually feel like the refs are out to get Michigan. The intentional grounding in the endzone never gets called so it was surprising. The two targeting no-calls felt right, the contact was not intentionally forceable on either. Tommy Doman earned 2 points on his punt that landed on the one. 31 points is too normal in a game where you scored two safeties. The wind must have been a factor on 4th down decision making for them not to kick field goals. 4. Around the Big Ten with NOT Jamie Mac Starts at 1:29:03 Iowa - 15 Illinois - 13 Iowa scored a safety to start the game. Iowa has clenched the Big Ten West despite having lost all their offensive weapons. Tory Taylor punts for 413 yards in an emotional senior day. If Michigan plays Iowa in Indy it will probably be like two years ago. Penn State - 27 Rutgers - 6 This game was about what you would expect. Drew Allar only has 79 passing yards but Rutgers was just never going to move the ball on this Penn State defense.  Michigan State - 24 Indiana - 21 Michigan State's win expectancy in this was 12% with less than three minutes left. This has to be the end of Tom Allen. Who does Indiana get after this (or Michigan State for that matter).  Northwestern - 23 Purdue - 15 Northwestern is bowl eligible! Purdue turns the ball over four times.  Wisconsin - 24 Nebraska - 17 Chubba Purdy and Tanner Mordecai are back. Nebraska needs to beat Iowa to get bowl eligible now.  Ohio State - 37 Minnesota - 3 This was the Michigan games sans that one big throw. Can you name the Ohio State backup QB that threw twice? Michigan could have a lot of new packages for Ohio State becuase we've seen so few all season.  MUSIC: “Debris”— Reigning Sound “Loving Cup”— The Rolling Stones “Unthinkable”—  Alicia Keys ft. Drake “Across 110th Street”

2 hour and 15 minutes The Sponsors 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. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, Winewood Organics, Human Element, Venue by 4M where we recorded this, The Nose Bleeds, which is the Sklars Bros’ reboot of Cheap Seats on UFC Fight Pass, and INTRODUCING TO THE PODCAST: Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning. 1. Offense vs Penn State Starts at 1:00 Michigan runs for 36 straight minutes of this game and still Penn State's defensive ends get out of their rushing lanes. Karsen Barnhart gets beat on three of the first four passes and Michigan decides "we're not going to do that anymore". The vibes were immaculate, though. The only way Michigan loses this game is by turning the ball over (fumble luck was on Michigan's side this game). Do you remember what JJ's one incompletion was? The implications of Penn State's pass rush probably doesn't apply that much to the Ohio State game. The noise of Beaver Stadium does play a factor. Would you still recruit Ryan Mallet in today's game? Anyone who can't get out of the pocket is not a modern Quarterback. Michigan should've just held up a giant board that said "run". 2. Defense vs Penn State Starts at 38:57 Shall we play the Drew Allar completion game? What do Sean Clifford and Drew Allar really have in common? Neither have had a functional offensive line. Drew Allar is 70% in a clean pocket and about 38% when under pressure. There was a lot of Cam Goode in this game. There was never really a point where you thought Michigan should change their defense in order to win this game. KENNETH GRANT RUNNING, MY GOD. Michigan was tipping off what they were doing on defense a lot. 3. Hot Takes, Game Theory, and Special Teams Starts at 1:08:10 Takes hotter than Penn State defensive linemen on 3rd and 11. We have shirts. Thank you, James Franklin, for giving us content for this segment! Penn State going for it on 4th and 6 in the 4th quarter was probably not a good idea. The first two point conversion was definitely not a good idea. Going for two is opening the box and finding out if the cat is dead or alive.  Officiating wasn't perfect but also didn't feel biased. 4. Around the Big Ten with Jamie Mac Starts at 1:35:22 Maryland - 13 Nebraska - 10 Three Nebraska quarterbacks threw interceptions in this game, Maryland had 92 penalty yards. This game had eight(!) turnovers. But hey, Maryland is bowl eligible. Illinois - 48 Indiana - 45 Just a debacle from the Indiana defense. Illinois QB John Paddock had 507(!!) passing yards. An Illinois player got ejected for spitting on an Indiana player. Iowa - 22 Rutgers - 0 A slow motion blowout. Iowa gets 402 yards of offense! This game had an over/under of 27.5 which is the lowest in collegiate football... and it still hit the under. Northwestern - 24 Wisconsin - 10 Northwestern is a win away from bowl eligibility. Wisconsin is now so far away from what God wanted Wisconsin football to be that now they're being punished. Purdue - 49 Minnesota - 30 Purdue somehow pulls off over 600 yards of offense and has two 100 yard rushers. Ohio State - 38 Michigan State - 3 Michigan State looks like they're just packing in the season now. Many Ohio State fans apparently are more confident after the Michigan Penn State game. MUSIC: “Leave Me Alone”— I Don't Know How But They Found Me “Confidence”— Ocean Alley “Power Man”—  The Kinks “Across 110th Street”