MGoBlog: The MGoPodcast

1 Hour and 31 Minutes 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. Segment 1 Curling mixed doubles on the quad box, biathlon, and why speed skating is faster than it looks. Downhill skiing is insane. The Friday night 4-3 OT game was insane. The game was even early, tilted towards the Spartans late in the second. Michigan came out with their backs against the wall and their hair on fire in the third. Refs swallowed their whistles and missed some egregious calls. Barnett's goal sent Yost back to the Old Yost days. Frustration about roster decisions and puck management but Moldenhauer and Perron have become consistent scorers. This game was what the rivalry is all about.    Segment 2 Well, let's talk about the second game. The press box at Little Caesars Arena causes vertigo and lower box hockey tickets are a scam. Michigan came out flat, sloppy, and chasing the game almost immediately. Dave spotted Ivankovic in the press box and then on the ice moments later... because it was the 4th string goalie who looks just like him. Michigan's top-end talent vanished as they gave up a 4-0 lead, the first goal was especially ugly. Perron and Moldenhauer gave some hope but a power play that couldn't enter the zone ended all hope. Michigan looks like the best team in the country on Fridays and deeply mortal on Saturdays. The Hage-Horkoff line goes quiet when Michigan needs them most. Too many statement weekends turn into split-series shrugs. MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "The Kids Are Alright" -- Barns Courtney Ice Hockey (NES) theme

2 hours and 23 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, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. Men's Basketball vs Penn State and Ohio State Starts at 0:51 Usually there's a segment for each basketball but that would just be silly. Michigan annihilates a short-handed Penn State team featuring two thunderous Mark Davis Kiwi dunks and a season high from Nimari Burnett. Is there anything else to say about this game? Michigan only had eight turnovers against Ohio State. Oddly they missed a lot of bunnies. Michigan is rounding into the elite offensive and defensive rebounding team we were hoping they would be. Nice to see Yaxel get to the rim, he doesn't do it enough. Another nice game from Trey McKenney. The balance of this team is insane. We're looking forward to what Mick Cronin says after Aday Mara stuffs him in a locker. A few more easy games before a brutal close to the season. Michigan State did Michigan a solid by beating Illinois.  [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]  2. Hockey vs Michigan State Starts at 25:16 Game one was one of the best college hockey games we've ever seen. Old Yost was dark and full of discontented engineers who just learned to swear. It was absolute hell for opponents and it's just not that anymore in most games. Friday night felt like Old Yost. Michigan played great when they had their backs against the wall but you can't just rally from down 4-0. Michigan could be the second best team in the country and still just not be as good as State. Michigan's 4th string goalie looks just like Ivankovic and confused Dave in the press box. Why was Ivankovic suddenly ready on Saturday? Yost got HOT in the third period on Friday because of the missed calls. Michigan can still absolutely win a regular season title. Biggest concern in the NCAA tournament is also Michigan State, but the college hockey playoffs are weird. Has the modern era of college football reached hockey?  3. Hot Takes and Offensive Recruiting Class With Steve Lorenz Starts at 53:24 Takes hotter than Brian's face watching Seth come up with something that's hot. Usually we would do this on signing day but now nobody can remember when that is. Salesi Moa signed and enrolled at Utah and still ended up at Michigan. Brady Smigiel is one of your QBs but he's coming in injured, which probably effected his recruiting stock. He's a classic pocket guy, but Whittingham likes mobile QBs. QB Tommy Carr has Tate Forcier comparisons. Savion Hiter comes in as the most talented running back in this class, as well as the last few classes. What do you think Fred Jackson would call him? Jonathan Brown comes in as a generic three star RB but there's not much being said compared to Hiter. We'll count Salesi Moa in this class, he could play receiver and safety. He might actually be able to contribute in year one. WR Travis Johnson is just outside the top 100 but was very adamant about sticking to Michigan even after everything went down. WR Jaylen Pile also didn't waver but so far seems like just a guy, but with more scholarships available sure, bring him in. TE Mason Bonner comes in from Denver, might take a little time to develop. Should be athletic enough down the road. OT Malakai Lee comes in from Honolulu and might be the most excited about the coaching change. Comparisons to Mike Onwenu. Marky Walbridge is a late riser and offensive lineman late risers are often encouraging. Adrian Hamilton projects to center and centers don't rank highly usually. Tommy Fraumann is big enough to not care about rankings, born right after the 2008 Michigan Utah in which Kyle Whittingham beat Michigan.  4. Defensive Recruiting Class Starts at 1:45:41 Carter Meadows is a five star defensive end we're all excited about. He's not allowed to enroll early so he'll probably be a year two star. DE McHale Blade is one of the coolest names in this cycle. He has all the athletic traits, could be the sleeper of the defensive side. DE Tariq Boney is your Josh Uche, just let him go after the QB. Alister Vallejo looks like Mason Graham on the field and the kid from the Sandlot in his profile. DT Titan Davis is a Kris Jenkins guy, could be an anchor DE but will more likely fill in DT needs. Linebacker is where the excitement falls off. Nobody is anywhere near four star status. CB Jamarion Vincent is a developmental guy, expect him in year three. He was previously playing QB. CB Ernest Nunley is a former Cal commit and will probably be a safety. S Jordan Deck could me a sleeper, boring safety. Overall not a big fan of the back seven but it is the transfer portal era. It could be okay but it's sketchy.   MUSIC: "Bazooka"—Miami XO "Baby Steps"—Olivia Dean "Phish Pepsi"—Wednesday “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra   

No Sam today. Dusty shirt is maize; get it before we play MSU again. Things Discussed: Men's & Women's Basketball win at Breslin: 40 basketball wins. Jeremy Fears's instant karma for his dirty play. Impossible not to see all the extra stuff that guy does when you rewatch the games: yankbacks, pulldowns, more trips. Ira counted 80 yards in penalties and a targeting. MSU game: Brilliant defensive first half, all MSU could do consistently was get to the free throw line. Calling out their dirty play goes right to their heart because it's the best thing they can do. Going 2-3 zone out of halftime made good tactical sense but ball betrayed them a bit, good resilience to fight back. More tactics: Michigan was getting it down to Mara but he's not big enough on the block to make that. McKenney love: He's played his way to Michigan's best two—Burnett and Gayle are losing minutes to him. Anticipates screens, is big, and his midrange pullups are a good floor for possessions that help you against an elite defense. Really important for what this team needs to be going forward. Who's M's best draft pick? We'd take Morez. Who's the best five? Depends on opponent and context. Might not play Mara vs a 5-out team, can go three bigs against an MSU-like opponent. Who's the best team in the Big Ten? Illinois. They go to Breslin and host Michigan but the rest of their schedule are the mids Michigan already played, they got the best player in the league from the composite 250s in Wagler—worst scouting miss in history? Hope Underwood calls out MSU's assist lies so Wagler gets his laurels for his real assists. Michigan next year? Might only have to replace Yaxel (McKenney and Cason take Gayle and Burnett minutes), can go to the portal for a difference-maker and run it back. Penn State preview: They have Mingo back but Yuric played out of his mind last time and think he's not coming back from a 103-degree fever on Saturday to play like that again. Have a bunch of questionable guys tonight. Think University Park atmosphere is similar to Saline 7th Grade Middle School game. WEAR PINK (I can't; I don't have any). What's the reverse Dusty May for Izzo? Sing he's a jolly good fellow, or bring out the newspapers. Hockey: MSU series could be for the conference since Wisconsin is wilting and Penn State just lost McKenna to a bar fight. Michigan needs to get more than a split because MSU has Minnesota, Notre Dame, and Ohio State left, and Michigan still has to play the other contenders. Put me down for this: Mick Cronin is going to complain about Michigan buying players when he comes to Ann Arbor. Craig says he'll dog his own players.

1 Hour and 58 Minutes 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. Segment 1: Hockey vs Ohio State Alex has some curling takes. Game 1 was a barn burner. Game 2 was the opposite of that. Game 1 had a lot of goals and Peck didn't have the best control of rebounds. Ohio State isn't going to make the tournament so you could say Michigan escaped this weekend. Ohio State doesn't have goal scorers and yet they manage to score goals. The ice is not good quality in Columbus. Should goalies be fair game outside of the crease? Peck has some puck tracking issues. Saving 32 of 34 shots in game two is pretty good though, he gave you a chance. You need to score more than two regulation goals against a bad Ohio State team.    Segment 2: Around the League Providence is somehow 6th in NPI? Michigan could possibly draw them as a 2 seed. Bentley is sitting at 26 but could be a first round matchup. RPI is Not Good. Notre Dame is only getting ties against Bowling Green, but this was probably an improvement for the Irish. It feels like Penn State has hit their ceiling. The Big Ten is very top heavy but the bad teams are bad. Alarm bells in Madison. What's Michigan's gameplan need to be to get past Michigan State? The Friday night game is on FS1! Bonus Segment: Olympics Preview Begins at 1:12:44   MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "Knights" -- Minus the Bear "Nothing More" -- Guards Ice Hockey (NES) theme

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, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. Men's Basketball vs Michigan State Starts at 0:51 Where's Tre Holloman at?? Michigan's first victory at Breslin since 2018. They managed to blow all of their 16 point halftime lead but only briefly. This year didn't have the same "helplessness" vibe of previous years. The grifting from Jeremy Fears was incredible. Michigan State's offense ended up being generating bogus calls and then hitting free throws. Their roster doesn't have the best athletes in the world but they have guys that have stuck around for a while. Trey McKenney is becoming a much bigger piece of this team, if Michigan goes on a tournament run it could be because he steps up as a major contributor. Is he the 6th man? They're running a lot of offense through Mara, maybe that should be going through Morez Johnson instead. Michigan is back to #1 in Kenpom and is projected to win the Big Ten outright but the end of the schedule is very tough.  2. Men's Basketball vs Nebraska Starts at 29:17 The vibes here were considerably worse! Nebraska was getting an alarming amount of open looks. Michigan wins by shooting what felt like 70% from two. Some of Cadeau's turnovers were just inexplicable. We can't pronounce Berke's name so he's just Berke Boyband. The studies say that every conspiracy theory you have about officiating is true. Pass blocking is not actually allowed in basketball. Nebraska is legit, this was a tough game that Cadeau almost gave away. Shout out to Fred Hoiberg for coming in with a great gameplan for confusing Michigan. The overturn on the challenge made no sense, how was that possibly clear? Should Michigan be going inside more when the threes aren't dropping? Michigan was missing open threes. They beat a top 10 Kenpom team while shooting 23% from three, that's impressive no matter what. Was LJ Cason unplayable?  3. Hot Takes and Hockey vs Ohio State Starts at 52:18 Takes hotter than Yaxel Lendeborg at the free throw line. Michigan gets five of six points over Ohio State in a frustrating manner. Stephen Peck played a great game on Saturday until the last five minutes. They're missing points here and there against teams that they're better than. Wisconsin somehow went from #1 to might miss the tournament. Michigan State is only one point behind in the Big Ten rankings.  4. Gimmicky Top Five Sports Villains Starts at 1:14:40 We're born haters so it's time for a gimmicky top five sports villains. There are a surprising number of ways to define "villain" in this context. There's a lot of NHL discourse because you used to just get paid to hurt people. Which Big Ten commissioners make the list (spoiler: all of them). Not posting spoilers here but yes there is a certain Wisconsin basketball player. Who's on your list?   MUSIC: "Moody"—Royel Otis "Silver Joy"—Damien Jurado "Sweet and Dandy"—Toots and the Maytals “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra   

Things Discussed: Nebraska: Nearly won that game shorthanded. Got great performances from replacements but ran their starters into the ground. Craig's analysis: Hoiberg decided to play some football. Steamroller screens and the like. Nebraska just made contested threes in the first half that they missed in the second half. Sam Hoiberg is straight up good: understands basketball, understands how to organize a team, understands how to get the ball to his guys. Second half Michigan did press the press the edges a little tighter. Kenpom tracks 2 point distance. We're thrilled. Seth: The most important stats in basketball are two-point defense and two-point offense, and the most important component of two point percentage is distance from the rim. Michigan wins these games because they get to the rim better than anybody and push you away from the rim better than anybody. Hoiberg knew he had to shoot to win, but also drew up some excellent sets to get free twos when he needed them. Shout-out to Nebraska's Max Bredeson kickout and form tackling. Hoiberg messed so well with Michigan's switches: They want to switch one to four, and they want to leave Mara available to put his hand in the way at the rim. Nebraska's response was to run these double screens—the Rip Hamilton way—to get cracks open for their shooters, but that contributed to their shooters getting tired in the 2nd half. Turnovers: some are baked in, unforced. This game additionally had ref show turnovers but they're going to take chances to get to the rim because that's what's so important to them. MSU preview: They're such a Big Ten team. They can get around M's two-point defense because they shoot assisted other twos and those are good enough shots opposite the #1 defense. They get after you (not the ball: they jump on your back) on the boards. Kohler has really turned himself into a shooter, might be an NBA player. Fears was terrible early in the season but now he's an excellent guard. Gets after it (and you) on defense, isn't a great shooter but can find pockets to pass into and draws a ton of fouls then makes his FTs. Coen Carr = Brent Petway! MSU is going to play dirty. Nobody in the country gets better calls at home, and they are going to use that strategically. Expect them to be mauling Mara to deny paint touches, expect Cooper to have his arm wrapped on Rez and pulling him down. All the gritty trick that define Izzo teams. What's with Yax? Think he's drawing more defensive attention and that's creating more for Morez Johnson. That's a credit to Dusty May: when he built this roster he built in answers for everything you want to do to them. Credit to Trey McKenney. He's become the 6th man, because he will come in and give you whatever you need right then. Defense? He's big and athletic. Need to hit some free throws (vs OSU, or the three at the Under-8 timeout?) he's got you. Missing your threes, he'll knock down a pair.

1 hour and 31 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, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. Around the Big Ten with Jamie Mac Starts at 0:51 Indiana Football won a natty. We say again: Indiana Football won. A natty. The Ohio State fans are crying Signs, it's great! Putting this in context because there hasn't been a more surprising national champion in any sport? Maybe Leicester but IU had the worst W% historically of any champion. Arc of college football is the big schools consolidate their chances of winning—last time a new school entered the ring it was Florida, which represented a demographic shift. What does this mean? Not a secret sauce but IU built similarly to 2023 Michigan: a base of players who played together a long time and some elite pieces added. They get better ROI by ignoring HS recruiting, put a lot of time and money into scouting. Similarity to Dusty May in that Cig knows what he needs and scouts the hell out of the rest of the sport. [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]  2. Hot Takes and Men's Basketball vs Ohio State Starts at 27:20 Takes hotter than it's not outside. OSU game was annoyingly close. At one point Michigan was 2/16 from three and under 50% from the charity stripe. Biggest story of the game is the way Michigan held Bruce Thornton in check—the one hedge to center court that Mara got called for a foul was an awful call, but a proof of concept for how they defended OSU, which was to not give Thornton any space. Great Crisler crowd kept getting into highs and then a low-percentage event would derail, like their 17%-shooting big Christoph Tilly making a pair of threes (one a bank), 24%-shooting Amare Bynum making a deep contested jumper, and Mobley getting a bank three as shot clock is dying. Missed front ends made FT shooting feel extra annoying, somehow righted in the 2nd half. Big part of that was 21 good minutes from Trey McKenney. Liked Cason and McKenney more than Cadeau in this one: OSU has a 7'0" center and a 7'2" center but both of them are glued to the floor, which favors YOLO players. Annoying turnovers trying to figure out their zone. 3. Men's Basketball vs Indiana and a Nebraska Preview Starts at 54:03 Less annoying game, as Indiana was without Tayton Conerway for all but two minutes, and nobody else has the ability to get to the rim. IU couldn't even get the ball inside the three-point line. They finished 11/34 (32%) from three and that was because they made twice as many as they should have. IU only got five ORebs as they abandoned the glass to stop Michigan's transition game but terrible Nick Dorn shots that went off the back iron were their best way of getting the ball in the paint. Final score doesn't reflect the game because once Michigan got up 20-5 they put it in cruise control—this time it wasn't LJ Cason on the one drive for a layup. Will Tschetter's defense on Tucker DeVries was also a major factor. Nebrasketball is truly good. Very well-coached team, has a good system that turns everybody into Nebraska: 11th in taking threes, 6th in opponent 3PA/FGA. Have to slow down the game to protect stretch C Rienk Mask, who's the key to that offense. Might be without small four Braden Frager and been without SG Connor Essegian most of the year so there's a 23% shooting big in Berke "the Turk" Buyuktuncel that you can hide Mara on. The problem with that is it takes Mara out of the paint so you can't get away with playing as aggressively on the perimeter. Think we saw the prototype for how they want to play against Nebraska in that Oregon game. Might be able to do what Illinois did, was to take shots but then crash the glass because they don't have a lot of size. 4. Women's Basketball wsg Ira Weintraub Starts at 1:15:12 Time to get to know the best women's team in school history. Three losses were all similar: got way behind in the 1st quarter, fought their way back, came up short. Defense is fantastic, play the full court and cause a lot of turnovers which creates offensive opportunities. Get bogged down a bit in the half court and struggle to make their FTs. WBB officiating is beyond atrocious. Washington loss was a schedule thing after 2OT late game vs Oregon, but UConn and Vandy losses showed they can play with the elites and just need one more big basket from the super sophs. Hockeybear is blogging the team and making Team Sheets (key). It's not so easy is it? Super sophs: Holloway runs the offense and sets the defensive tone, Olson is a bucket, Swordsy is hero, and then they're getting a year from a growing Delfosse and UCLA transfer Dudley. Mostly a seven-woman rotation with Sofilkanich giving them some size inside, BQD a nightmare of a defensive pest, and then growth from Crockett who gives them some more size when they need it. Can they compete with the ELITE-elites? Nobody's unbeatable this year; Michigan is a solid two-seed, feel like floor is Sweet 16, has the make of a team that ends up losing a Final Four game en route to a big run next year.   MUSIC: "Getting Killed"—Geese "Forever Never Ends"—Jeff Tweedy "Downhill"—The Delivery Boys feat. Goldwood, Max Gertler & LOSTBOYBK “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

Things Discussed: IU national champions: Most unlikely championships in the history of sports. Credit Cignetti and top to bottom program management. How did they do it? Talent evaluation is elite. Built like 2023 Michigan: develop a lot of your own guys and then surgically found guys in the portal. Seth: Lesson for the rest of CFB is ROI: IU wasn't paying that much for their JMU guys, wasn't spending to have 5-stars learning to play on the three-deep. Focus shifting from Ty Haywoods (super talented, needs 3 years) to Blake Frazier (ready now) because there's no guarantee you'll get any return. Need to build your scouting department to watch all of CFB and know what you need. Sam: Can Michigan recreate the JMU Dudes with some of the Utah guys they got? Not a coincidence the Big Ten is winning championships and SEC isn't even in the game. Two reasons the SEC was dominant: they had a culture of paying players under the table and they had Nick Saban. Being able to develop guys (without them leaving or costing too much) will be the golden egg in the future. How sustainable? Maybe? Bringing in a veteran QB every year, DC might get Jesse Minter'd to a better job. Should remain a good team, very hard to repeat. Hoops: Shooting better? Maybe, but 3s are random and they're probably capped around okay in that department because they have guys like Gayle, Cason and Yax. IU lost their main guy who could get to the bucket and M could lock them down. Excellent defensive performance disguised by Kenpom. IU shut down M's transition game by abandoning the boards. Interesting decision by IU because those were M weaknesses. Yax okay? Think he plays off Rez—the scouting report is focus on Yaxel so that's opened up things for Johnson, since no team has enough big wings to last against both of them. Ohio State preview: OSU is an effort game—Thornton can shoot and they make a lot of floaters. CANNOT let them cut and get to the rim. They don't play defense so you have to put up 100 on them. Nebraska: Nebraska might be without their freshman winger Braden Frager, that makes them a five-out team. Can you play Mara against them? Break: Tatum to RB? Probably a Whittingham "gonna try that" thing. He's had success with that, but it's a bit late and there's no scouting on it. Like what it says about Tatum as a team player. Don't think he can play both AND baseball. That's a lot, and safety is the moon to him. Hockey: Michigan is #1 in Big Ten points percentage but they've got the hardest schedule of any team in hockey left to go. Let off the gas for 10 minutes of 120 against Minnesota and were unlucky not to get more goals. Have to protect Peck—this team can play defense like that, going to have to maintain that focus. Can't lose points against the OSUs and Minnesotas because the games vs MSU/Wisconsin will determine the league. Can you get Ivankovic back? Maybe? Haven't heard anything positive except they haven't ruled it out. Trey Burke: Top three player in M history? Yeah. Block was clean, and so was the team.

1 Hour and 16 Minutes 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. Segment 1:  Strong opinions about the Minnesota broadcast mis-pronunciating names. Top NHL storylines - everyone in the East is in the hunt and the west has several teams that could get under 90 points and make the playoffs. Teams just aren't interested in tanking anymore. How is Minnesota this bad? Six minutes into game one the shots are 10-0, the Gophers can't even touch the puck. Michigan absolutely shuts down the Gophers in the 3rd period. It was as easy of a third period as you could get to protect a newer goalie. Minnesota should have enough solid players to be a decent team, are they as bad as Notre Dame if they don't have the level of goal-tending that they do?  Segment 2:  After Friday night the vibe going into Saturday was simply "alright, don't blow this!" Michigan gets an early goal and Minnesota doesn't get their first shot for a while. Michigan dominated early but just couldn't get past the goalie and it's only 1-0 before Minnesota came out intense in the 2nd period. Penalty kill is now a bigger issue for Michigan. Minnesota's goalie wanted the 2nd goal back but you can't blame Minnesota's problems on the goalie. Alex thinks college hockey shouldn't have OT. You shouldn't feel mad that your team won. Around the league - Mercyhurst had a sweep! They have three (3!) total wins on the season. It's a big weekend for bye weeks. Michigan State is the best team to challenge Michigan in the Big Ten. Michigan feels like a much better team than Ohio State, they should just sit on them in a couple weeks.      MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "Buffalo Song" -- Chris Fayz Ice Hockey (NES) theme

2 hour and 10 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, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. Transfer Portal - Offense Starts at :51 The portal is closed! The only windows remaining are for a coaching change and for Indiana/Miami after the national championship game. Transfers, NIL, and contracts have been weird this cycle. Will Diego Pavia be in college until he's 45?? Thank you Davis Warren for beating Ohio State in the Funniest Game Ever. Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi is your backup QB out of Colorado State where he threw for over 7,000 yards. That's a "we don't practice f*cked" pick-up. Jadyn Davis's recruiting profile was a huge miss. Georgia Tech is a cool place for Justice Haynes, we're still not sure if Kuzdzal is returning. Taylor Tatum comes in from Oklahoma after a case of fumble-itus and several other ailments. Now he might actually have a good running backs coach. They retained Andrew Marsh - massive. The wide receiver room looks great, the only thing missing is a dedicated slot receiver but Michigan hasn't really utilized the role in a while anyways. Marlin Klein declared for the NFL draft but is he going to get drafted? The remaining tight ends and fullbacks should be good and viable options, they didn't get anyone out of the portal. JJ Buchanon doesn't count since he's being listed as a wide receiver. The offensive line is mostly retained which has star power potential. Overall the offensive line held serve besides losing Haywood, overall an A-grade. Would you give the offensive portal recruiting/retention an A all across the board? Could this become a... top ten offense?  2. Transfer Portal - Defense Starts at 41:41 Defensively is more of a mixed bag. Defensive end lost a lot of guys to graduation but only Devon Baxter to the portal. John Henry Daley is questionable based on his health, but if he's healthy you get Derrick Moore (but who actually plays more). Defensive tackle doesn't lose anyone noteworthy to the portal. You get back Trey Pierce and Enow Etta. Jonah Leaea was like a young Mo Hurst, he needs another 20 pounds. Defensive tackle has depth, just not star power, this wasn't a spectacular portal season for them either. This gets a solid B. Linebacker is the trouble spot. They lose Ernest Hausmann to eligibility/spirit quest, Cole Sullivan to Oklahoma, and Jimmy Rolder to the draft. The guys they bring in are uhhhhhh. Aisea Moa knows Jay Hill's system so he could possibly play but doesn't seem like he'll be all-Big Ten. This is a D, it's close to an F. At cornerback, you get Jyaire Hill, Zeke Berry, and Snowden. Jayden Sanders to Notre Dame stings. Let's.... talk about the allegations of sabotage and blackmail? Cornerbacks situation gets a... C+. Safety loses Brandyn Hillam and Elijah Dotson. Is Bryce Underwood the only guy to come from Belleville and last for over a year? Is Rod Moore going to play? Who knows. Chris Bracy comes in from Memphis, who comes in with a historic tale of a fabled fumble. Safety starters could be Bracy and Rod Moore, Mason Curtis to linebacker. You have six safeties? How many are going to play in a Cover-1? Defense overall gets a C, they probably didn't get better or worse. How much of the Wink disdain will have been warranted? If Daley doesn't get healthy who is going to be the star on this defense? Maybe they'll be like the offense last year - lots of potential but not quite there yet.  3. Hot Takes and Basketball vs Washington and Oregon Starts at 1:23:58 Takes hotter than Utah's athletic director on Twitter. Michigan basketball sweeps their west coast tour, they don't dominate but give a solid beating in both games to not-great teams. Michigan and Oregon were close to identical at the rim. You're starting to see the cracks in the armor of this team. Sean Stewart is an elite flopper. What did Dusty possibly say to warrant a technical? Elliot Cadeau was pretty efficient but gets too close to the face of guys on the perimeter and then gets beaten. He tries things that are just a little too ambitious too often, these things usually don't work. Indiana doesn't match up with Michigan at all, Trey Burke to get honored at the Ohio State game. It's about to get real for Nebraska.  4. Hockey vs Minnesota Starts at 1:54:54 Michigan gets an almost-sweep of Minnesota getting 5 of 6 points. It's hard to believe this is what Minnesota's hockey team looks like, they've fallen a long way. Minnesota didn't go into the portal or the CHL and just doesn't have the same talent as they used to. Even the announcers were saying "oh, don't do that!" Seven saves in one minute is pretty incredible. Michigan State is still the one team that can match up with Michigan. Michigan is probably in the best spot since the 2022 team when they were number 1. Is there anything Warde Manuel has done that makes you think Michigan hockey will be on a local television station? Four Big Ten teams are in the top 10 of NPI.  MUSIC: "Secret Loving"— Dry Cleaning "Dancing In The Club"— This Is Lorelei & MJ Lederman "Random Rules"— Silver Jew “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra   

Thing Discussed: Portal: You can't make an OL in the portal—keeping Guarnera and Sprague was huge. Wide receiver room is night and day from before. They put a secondary back together. Concern over LB and don't have an impact DT. Seth: After all that everyone is back where they were. Lucky for Michigan that everyone's a free agent but this is a terrible way to run the sport. Why does everybody forget Chase Taylor? You're going to learn his name this year. DT: Sam says PalePale was getting talked up during bowl prep. Put Crippen down a few times. Question is conditioning. Hoops vs Wisconsin: What happened? They got five-outed, pulled Mara out of the paint which was a key to how they were playing two-point defense, which is mostly drop. Played a lot more hedge vs Washington. Discussion on 3-point randomness. NBA studies prove the efficacy of closeouts. It's not totally random; what really matters is preventing open shots. No correlation between first half and back half three-point defense. Seth: Washington can't get to the rim and Wisconsin has guys who can take advantage of that. These European shootin' bigs are going to be a problem. Michigan is like Florida last year: they're big and they play fast. Slow them down and pull them outside and win a luck game. Response is to hedge more. Brian: We sometimes see Michigan playing live ball tactics that don't make sense against the team they're playing; the hedging was practicing for Illinois and Nebraska. Rebounding (especially vs PSU): Needs work. Big Ten doesn't officiate shoves in the back or the Wisconsin step-under, so you have to really focus on practicing rebounding in this league to be any good at it, and it's not the focus of this team. Hockey: Was it a cheap shot? If Notre Dame wasn't a goon squad we'd say no, but they've seen this guy run a goalie and Notre Dame is notorious for causing injuries—they knocked out M's best defender earlier in the year. Same referee was there for McGroarty's injury, Hallum's injury, and no calls on either of those either. Big Ten does not care about hockey, the officiating is atrocious. They don't know the game, and they're getting players hurt because of it. Can't self-regulate because there's no fighting so you need officials to do it, and they don't care.

1 Hour and 31 Minutes 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. Segment 1:  Have sports gotten too dramatic from a comeback perspective? The Bears are a team of destiny. "The Lions Game We Don't Talk About" is actually several Lions games. Anyways, Michigan hockey. Brandon Naurato has been extended through the 2029-2030 season. Notre Dame players Caeden Carlisle has been suspended one game and Paul Fischer suspended two games after the Michigan series (this will have no impact on Notre Dame's ability to win games, they're just bad). Naurato needed to make some changes going into this season but he's made most of the necessary changes. Coaching extensions have been the kiss of death at Michigan (see: Sherrone, Juwan). The Notre Dame series used to be a dreaded weekend but not so much anymore. It was nice to see not-the-superstars scoring the goals in the first game. That said, this was their worst defensive weekend of the season.  Segment 2:  Michigan won this game but people had a lot to say about it! Michigan was mostly in control but it was a sloppy game overall. "The Incident" though was the injury to goalie Jack Ivankovic. The hit didn't look very menacing but the end result was that he couldn't put any weight on one leg. He seemed so focused on the puck that he didn't see the Notre Dame player. Someone impartial who saw the video of the hit would think there's nothing malicious, but Notre Dame has a reputation of playing dirty and have lost the benefit of the doubt for a lot of people. There's a gray area in how hockey players treat injuries of opposing players. If Notre Dame always takes one of your players out, is it worth just not playing them even in the Big Ten semifinal if you're already a top seed in the NCAA tournament? The referees need to do something to help even it up after Notre Dame took out the goalie, but instead Notre Dame has a power play. That only antagonizes players further. Luckily Michigan scores enough that Stephen Peck could give up three goals per game and Michigan could still be in a good spot. Mercyhurst got a win! The rest of the Big Ten over the weekend. This team was on pace to win a national title before the Ivankovic injury and now we'll just have to see how Stephen Peck does.      MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "I Wanna Get Better" -- Bleachers Ice Hockey (NES) theme

1 hour and 48 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, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. Transfer Portal - Offense Starts at :51 Never doubt the law of conservation of vibes. The Penn State basketball game saved the offensive line. This was recorded on Sunday at noon so by the time you listen to this, things have probably already changed (hello, Jaime Ffrench). It would be nice to get a backup QB in the portal (hello Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi). Justice Haynes has hit the portal, might be going to Georgia Tech, and Oklahoma RB Taylor Tatum is in. So far he's struggled with fumbles and a hamstring injury but Oklahoma's RB coach is one of the worst in P4. He might be a Moneyball situation. Kuzdzal might be coming back? Jaime F-f-f-french is in and if JJ Buchanan joins then we have an actual wide receiver room. Still need a tight end? Offensive line got their guys back, we're un-mad now. Need some depth at center, though.  [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]  2. Transfer Portal - Defense Starts at 27:11 Not as sunny as the offense right now but it can change at any time. How we feel so far depends on the status of John Henry Daley's Achilles, he could be a Derrick Moore comparison if healthy. Defensive end looks pretty set. Defensive tackle... they get Pierce back. They do get Jonah Lea'ea from Utah who was a bit undersized and needed another year to develop. Enow Etta's return has turned from optimism to pessimism. Hopefully Alister Vallejo is ready as a freshman. At linebacker Rasheem Biles is off the board, they are hosting Cade Uluave from Cal, an all-ACC linebacker. Jimmy Rolder has declared for the draft and is #692 on the NFL Mock Draft database. The secondary isn't entirely in the portal but it's alarming, safety is now a concern. Surely we'll find out more about safety this week because you can't go into a season with three safeties. Per Trevor McCue, Jay Hill doesn't rotate the secondary at all! Kerry Coombs got his guys for special teams, they've got a kicker from Pitt, Trey Butkowski. This offense could be really good and not need to rely on a kicker who can hit field goals from the 37. Overall, get in a safety or two and ideally a good defensive tackle and this team is really close to being very competitive. When's the last time the offense was better than the defense, 2011?  3. Hot Takes and Basketball vs Penn State and Wisconsin Starts at 1:05:25 Takes hotter than Wisconsin three point shooting. Basketball is no longer invincible. This must feel the same as when Matt Painter had to play Mo Wagner. Michigan got out-rebounded pretty badly which feels like a major failing given the line-up. They need to play a little dirtier in the paint. Michigan and Wisconsin were shooting back-to-back threes until Michigan fell off. The offensive goal-tending ruling was the rule. Wisconsin doesn't send many guys to the offensive board, they tend to get back and trying to get transition baskets isn't worth it. A key for Michigan going forward is how stretch is everyone's five? Wisconsin shot 12 points higher than their expected for the number of threes they shot.  4. Hockey vs Notre Dame Starts at 1:28:57 Michigan escapes a bad Notre Dame team but loses goalie Jack Ivankovic for "some period of time" (possibly the season). The hit was unfortunate but probably not malicious. There are strong words said about these officials. Naurato has said in his press conferences that "I can't say what I want to say." Big Ten hockey is one of the best leagues in the world and the Big Ten treats it like the 4th most important sport. Freshman goalie Stephen Peck is now your starter. The defense needs to step way up to support their new goalie. If the season ended today they'd still be the number one seed in the tournament, though. Part of that is because of Ivankovic.  MUSIC: "One Tiny Flower"— Jeff Tweedy "Don't Do Me Like That"— J. Mascis "Falling Behind"— Laufey “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra   

Thing Discussed: Most excited about the hire: there are adults in the room. Spent 20+ coaching in one place with no scandals. Impressed that they stabilized the program so quickly. Portal recruiting happens in December; they're playing from behind because IU was setting up all of these visits weeks ago. Notice they're getting special teams guys because Coombs was already in his job. Whittingham as Crisler (Brian: [moans]), as an established outsider who locked down Harmon to survive the transition. That was the end of the Yost Cycle, and likewise this is the end of the Bo Cycle. What happens next? How does he develop ways to take advantage of Michigan's place in the new world. Money allocation is a big conversation going forward. Indiana puts all of its resources into the portal, Michigan will pay a NOB and also pay a Rolder. New offense: Not a whole lot different under Harbaugh? Utah fans: "get ready to run QB Power!"...okay! "Tell your TEs to prepare to be blockers." Sure. "Don't expect any Seth: More Urban Meyer approach where it's about efficiency more than explosives. Loaded at OL, have great RBs. Main feature of Beck is he plays a "tight end" who's really a receiver. Brian points out JJ Buchanan is 6'3"/225 and only played five snaps inline—that's just a wide receiver. Point is they're way more spread than people realize. In Break: Ryan Mallett (RIP). Craig says Lloyd tried to broker a conference with Mallett's dad and Rich Rod, neither side was interested. Jay Hill: Has the bona fides, knows where the hashes are, made Weber State a power. Schematically, going back to more of a Cover-1 look. Notre Dame defense is similar, also a lot like the Ryan Walters stuff where they turn their 4-2 into a 5-1 regularly. Really wanted to keep Cole Sullivan (as a WLB who can DE or S) and Jordan Young (as a nickel who can S or CB) for this system. Think Jyaire or Shamari would be good in that nickel role. Biggest hurdle for this staff? Probably learning how to recruit as Michigan instead of Utah.

2 hours and 5 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, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. Men's Basketball vs USC Starts at :51 Basketball gets to go first because they've earned it. They're the number one team on Kenpom by a full five points and the second highest rated Kenpom team of all time. Michigan shot 20% from three and still beat a top 25 USC team by 30 points. This was the Morez Johnson game. Michigan has three of the top five players in the Big Ten. What does a Michigan loss look like? Dusty May has done a great job working on Roddy Gayle, auto-benching with this team is fine. The cutoff for Kenpom to think you're a rotational player is 10% of team minutes, Grady and Goodman are both above this metric. The things that Michigan are good at are things that are very repeatable. There are different levels of Kenpom Time every time Michigan plays. It's weird to say this but it's good that Michigan gets Nebraska at home, they're spicy.  2. Football vs Texas Starts at 24:34 The Citrus Bowl came and went. We were hoping we could learn things about this offensive line going into the off-season then a lot of them went and hit the portal. Kuzdzal played an encouraging game but there were still a few moments of "I wish Jordan Marshall had hit that hole." Bryce Underwood did get some explosive runs, this will be nice for a new coaching staff that likes to run the quarterback. He was put in a lot of positions to fail towards the end of the game. Kerry Coombs did some things with special teams! Wow Michigan drew holds finally. We are done with the Wink Martindale era. Michigan had zero pass rush.  3. Hot Takes and Coaching Staff Starts at 40:11 Takes hotter than the basketball team, this will be the intro until any reason otherwise.  Offensive Coordinator - Jason Beck Came in from Utah, was at New Mexico before that. Has had some very successful offenses. Was a spread-heavy coach at New Mexico and became Whittingham-ized at Utah. Seems like a seamless fit, he should know what to do with Bryce Underwood. Running Backs Coach - Tony Alford It's working, good work keeping him around. Wide Receivers Coach(es) - Micah Simon and Marques Hagans Micah Simon doesn't have a lot of experience, he followed Beck. How much coaching does it take to get someone to catch the ball?  Tight Ends Coach - Freddie Whittingham He's developed some studs. Kyle Whittingham's brother, does not feel like a nepotism hire. Offensive Line Coach - Jim Harding Has two first round tackles this year. Probably could not have gotten a better o-line coach. Michigan has players trickling into the portal but you've got The Guy coaching next year's group. A lot of offensive linemen got recruited by Sherrone so it's not a shocker that some players are looking elsewhere.  Defensive Coordinator - Jay Hill Turned Weber State into a powerhouse. He has coordinator and head coaching experience, seems good. He has coached college his whole career rather than coordinate NFL defenses. Defensive Ends - Lewis Powell Specializes in Polynesians. Has a spectacular track record of developing defensive ends. Brian pledges to figure out how to pronounce all the Polynesian names.  Defensive Tackles - Lou Esposito Continued from last year. You can get more assistant coaches now so it makes sense to split DEs and DTs.  Linebackers Coach - Alex Whittingham Kyle's son, spent eight years with the Chiefs. Apparently Andy Reid played with Kyle Whittingham. This one is a bit more of a nepo hire but he has moved up the ranks.  Defensive Backs Coach - Jernaro Gilford BYU fans are upset that he's leaving which is a good sign. There aren't a lot of cornerbacks in the portal, hopefully he can find some guys.  Special Teams - Kerry Coombs Gets to keep the job he got right before Sherrone was fired. His previous Special Teams have been in the 30ish rank. He's not a slam dunk but should be solid.  4. Transfer Portal Starts at 1:42:43 It's Portal Takes season, we have not yet gotten to Portal Gives season. Guys who are in the portal are not necessarily gone. Jadyn Davis, Davis Warren, Ben Roebuck, Connor Jones, Devon Baxter, Semaj Morgan, Jaden Mangham, and Jasper Parker are guys who will probably get better opportunities elsewhere. Elijah Dotson, Brady Prieskorn, and Kaden Strayhorn are guys you'd like to keep around. Zeke Berry, Jake Guarnera, Andrew Sprague, Cole Sullivan, and Enow Etta are the "ouch" group. Some guys have left the door open. Would really really like to get Guarnera back, Sprague sounds like he's going to Texas. Most folks who are going to enter the portal have but we're not out of it yet. Keep an eye on Utah defensive end John Henry Daley, cornerback Smith Snowden, and safety Tao Johnson. Cole Sullivan would be a great fit in this defense, would love to keep him. They need guys (plural) on the defensive line, especially at defensive tackle. Even if you keep Andrew Marsh you would like to get a wide receiver or two. Might want to look into a punter or a kicker, maybe with a new staff we can finally move on from the 2015 Michigan State game.  MUSIC: "Nothing I Need"— Lord Huron "A Couple Minutes"— Olivia Dean "Cotton Mouth"— fanclubwallet “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra   

2 hours and 45 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, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. Kyle Whittingham Reaction Starts at :51 Brian can't make fun of the name "Kyle" anymore. Woah, Alex Drain is here! Did Kyle Whittingham get pushed out of Utah? He's 66 but could probably beat up several members of the current team, he doesn't feel too old. This might be the best guy to hit the ground running with Bryce Underwood. He's had a 20+ year stretch of success and it's mostly over-performing expectations statistically. Are there concerns about the way this would translate to Michigan? Utah folks are asking if we're prepared for limited media availability, a coach who can sound like a jerk, and a 300 lbs fullback. Yes, yes we are. Kyle Whittingham's risk for scandal seems extremely low. How many coaches in the Big Ten would you pick over him? His dad's nickname was "Mad Dog". A brief history of his success over his coaching career, which included two PAC-12 Championships. Kyle lets his QB run the ball, Bryce's output this season would've been the worst for Utah going back at least a decade. Harbaugh had a great hit rate on sleeper recruits, Whittingham should as well. He has some very Harbaugh-adjacent quotes as well. What's your letter grade for the hire? [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]  2. Assistants Starts at 42:48 The new staff is coming together pretty quickly. Jason Beck is lining up to be the offensive coordinator, coming in from Utah. Alex details his history as a coach which was mostly as an offensive coordinator and QB coach. He likes hybrid players and will love the tight end room. Jay Hill is lined up from BYU as defensive coordinator, BYU fans are not thrilled that he's leaving. He took a 100ish ranked defense and turned it into a top 25 defense. He also made Weber State a powerhouse while he was there. He'll play more man-defense than we're used to which might not be what we want against Ohio State. Jay Hill could also be a head coach in waiting down the road. It feels like the defense is going to be coached again. Jason Beck could be a QB coach but there are rumors that Koy Detmer Jr could come in as an analyst/QB coach. All signs point to Tony Alford being retained. Ron Bellamy will probably stick around, they still need a Michigan guy and he might be the most "Michigan Guy" on staff. Freddie Whittingham could likely come in at tight ends coach, he is not a nepotism hire. He could also be a recruiting coordinator guy if you want to keep Grant Newsome around. Jim Harding could be the offensive line coach coming out of Utah. Lewis Powell might be coming in as defensive ends coach out of Utah. Lou Esposito might stay at Michigan. Linebackers coach is the one area where we haven't heard anything. Whittingham has mentioned going after a coach that is still in the playoffs. Jernaro Gilford might follow Jay Hill as the defensive backs coach. LaMar Morgan is a good recruiter so maybe you keep him. What about Special Teams coach? Time to move on from Kerry Coombs already? How would you grade these potential hires?  3. Hot Takes and The Search, Revisited Starts at 1:38:48 Takes hotter than the Utah message boards. It was a wild ride getting from DeBoer, Fisch, or Dillingham to here. A lot of information was coming from agents getting names out there. A lot of people said "Biff Poggi could get the job" and it was never going to happen. Did Michigan really never go and try to offer Dillingham a job? It feels like his people really hyped him up. We might be having a very different conversation if that Oklahoma receiver would've just caught that ball. Everyone penciled in Dillingham after the Oklahoma Alabama game and then he signs an extension. Whittingham was unemployed, he probably didn't have agents hyping him up. Brian still likes Jeff Brohm. Interestingly Penn State never went after Whittingham but once the Michigan job opened up he said he was "in the transfer portal." Why was Biff Poggi on that podcast? He was shooting his shot for a job but it was never going to happen. How well did the "insiders" do and how clued in will they be on the new staff.  4. Michigan Football vs Texas Starts at 2:18:38 Oh yeah Michigan has a bowl game. The only opt-outs are El-Hadi, Derrick Moore, and Barham (and Ernest Hausmann). Maybe it's a good sign that a lot of players still want to play in this? Six of 11 defensive starters are sitting out for Texas, most of their offense is playing. Michigan's best hope is to watch Arch Manning turf five-yard outs. I guess we'll see Wink walk off the field as a Michigan coach for the last time. This feels like a zombie team right now. Does Michigan have a way to stop Ryan Wingo? The Ohio State game feels like four years ago. Are you excited for this game? A lot of big-name guys have at least remained in the recruiting class. The hope of the Sherrone era was "hopefully he just gets better at coaching" and it's a relief to just move on. What was the most enjoyable game of the Sherrone era? Not the highlight, but the most fun beginning-to-end? A lot of things about the last two to three years make a lot more sense now. A lot of paranoia and worry feels lifted, there are adults in charge.  MUSIC: "Medium Machine"—Sports Team "Inept Apollo"—Nation of Language "Where'd You Go"—Horsegirl “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra   

Thing Discussed: Women's hoops talk: This is the best team in Michigan history. They're tiny up front but they've got a lot of length on the perimeter and are generating a ton of steals. Hung with the best UConn team in a minute for 3 quarters. Reading the DeBoer comments: When someone's at a terminal job he gets to hog both lanes. Our read on it is DeBoer is making the comments you make if you're going to consider Michigan AFTER the Playoff. Timeline is our enemy: if Bama beats Oklahoma Michigan will probably move on to Dillingham and Dillingham will say yes. Dillingham: Meteoric riser, great motivator, Bryce seems to like, Sam thinks his offense is explosive. Concerns are young guys have yet to make their big mistakes. A little weird, but so was Harbaugh. Very ASU with a very Arizona staff. Brohm: Seems like a solid coach, won wherever he's gone but hasn't had that 11-win season; think people are wary that his DC is Ron English (probably can't come here after the EMU stuff) and Vince Marrow, who's said some things about Michigan. Brian: So did Jim Harbaugh. Seth: But Harbaugh was right. Brian: Marrow said Harbaugh was going to the NFL, so he was right too. Think concerns are overblown. Craig makes the case for Scot Loeffler: Michigan guy from Ohio who'd leave the Eagles in a second. Adam Stenavich: Isn't the playcaller, has never been a HC or a college coordinator. Eli Drinkwitz: Not a fan. Schedule winner (they only play 8 games in the SEC and he got an easy one). Personally find him off-putting, not a cultural fit. Gone out of his way to make uneducated comments about Michigan's 2023 season: hard pass. Clark Lea: Intriguing. Offense is 100% Pavia, worried about building an OL, but Seth finds his defense fascinating, seems to be good at putting together a roster. Don't know his buyout because you can't FOIA a private school. Seth: Roster construction is going to be critical in this age. Can you recruit your needs in the portal, build an OL at home, and keep your team together? Whoever they hire the GM is going to be the next most important position. Find the best.

1 hour and 54 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, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. What Happened Starts at :51 Sometimes in December we don't have enough content for a podcast... this week there is enough for a podcast. Michigan football has been thrown into chaos following the Sherrone Moore firing. This is the third out of five Warde Manuel hires in the three most important sports to have left in disgrace (also Jim Harbaugh depending on who you ask). There have been too many red flags on too many hires. There is no oversight within the athletic department and then you have to do an investigation instead of preventing one. The only reason the WiFi is better at Michigan Stadium is because of the Zach Bryan concert, not because they cared about the fan experience. Fans are just a piggy bank. Michigan is way too much in the news right now. If "a lot of people knew about this" then why didn't someone say something sooner? Warde lost credibility after his handling of Mel Pearson and he doesn't get credit for Brandon Naurato. Grandmas in Peoria know too much about the Michigan athletic department.  2. Coaching Search Bits Starts at 27:41 Michigan needs a new head football coach. How good do we feel going into it? Probably about a B-. There's not an obvious slam dunk candidate. The three big names are Kalen DeBoer, Kenny Dillingham, and Jedd Fisch. If Alabama wins their first playoff game then DeBoer is almost entirely off the table, if they lose to Oklahoma then there's enough smoke to believe he might think about it. Would DeBoer really leave Alabama though? It's not a place that coaches leave and he's a long shot even if they lose to Oklahoma. Kenny Dillingham played for Arizona State and has a lot of family and connections in Phoenix, he might just be a long shot to convince to move from home. Kenny Dillingham is young, he watches Stranger Things and doesn't understand all the references. What about Jeff Brohm? Jedd Fisch is good at roster construction and handling QBs, something that would be nice for Michigan right now. Jake Butt had a strong endorsement for Jedd. Some coaches wouldn't have former players stomping for them. Jason Eck is a fun name but he's never proven himself at a major program. Based on everything so far, it feels like it's probably Jedd Fisch (PENDING A BACKGROUND CHECK). Which assistant coaches/coordinators would you keep?  3. Hot Takes, Men's Basketball vs Maryland Starts at 54:31 Takes hotter than... actually we need takes about half of where they could go. We need to dial it back this week. Thankfully we can now turn our attention to basketball! Michigan 101, Maryland 83, a strange game. David Coit was hitting threes from every heavenly covered shot. When Michigan was down by 9 Kenpom still had them 76% to win. Maryland went 14-27 from three and Michigan still covered the Kenpom spread. This game was the script for Michigan to lose a game and won by 18. Brian reads Yaxel's boxscore poetically because it deserves it. Solomon Washington got ejected for two technicals. Michigan navigated foul trouble and you probably didn't even notice. Michigan is actually top 50 in three point shooting.  4. Men's Basketball vs Villanova Starts at 1:38:12 They went up by 30 at halftime and only won by 30?? What are we even doing here. You look at some of these top 50, top 25 teams on the schedule, could they beat Michigan in Ann Arbor? No way. Being #1 in two point defense with this schedule is insane. Michigan is identifying their weaknesses and working on them, that's terrifying for opposing teams. What is this team's weakness now? Hey, shout out to undefeated Nebrasketball!  MUSIC: "PH Suite"—Curtis Dro and Lamar Woods "Man I Need"—Olivia Dean "I Got Flavor"—LaRussell and Lil John “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra   

Thing Discussed: Proportioning outrage: Sherrone, the maximum. Athletics department? Don't know but suspect people knew for a long time and didn't react until they got information they had to act on. The assistant he had an affair with? We don't know—not exonerated but also let's be conscious that sharing her name and photo and history of an unfamous person irreversibly makes her famous for This, for life. It also has a chill effect on other women caught in illicit relationships with powerful men, and we have a public interest in making sure that math favors coming forward, not participating in the cover-up. What is going on here that we don't have a control mechanism? Brian: I don't trust Warde in this situation because we saw the process for Mel Pearson. No faith this was handled appropriately. Who lied to you Sam? Sam: for certain, Sherrone lied. That wasn't the only basis for his report. Michigan investigated or "looked into it" and they didn't have credible evidence until yesterday when the woman came forward. (He doesn't say this but I took it to mean she lied to the investigators originally).  Brian: Warde Manuel has done nothing in 11 years but bumble from one crises to another. Sam: A coverup did take place, between the involved parties. What could Michigan have done to reveal it? We don't know. What brought it to light was she came forward. Argument with Craig over the Wilmer Hale report over Mel Pearson: Craig doesn't like the report, argues for due process; Brian and Seth found the report credible and included you-have-to-fire-him level offenses, and Warde sat on it for months. Other Thing Discussed: Candidates Kalen DeBoer: If he'll listen. Minter: think we can work around the show-cause, might not be able to work around the fact he's in line for NFL jobs. Jeff Brohm: Proven coach, Louisville alum but would listen. Jason Eck: Former Wisconsin OL and line coach who's a cultural fit, only been a HC for 4 years and only New Mexico for one year. Think he's a Harbaugh after 1 year at Stanford. Wildcard: Jay Harbaugh. Bad ideas are bad ideas. Seth notes insanity is possible, e.g. John Harbaugh might come available. Also hiring a coach these days won't be on the AD; you bring in consultants for this sort of thing. It's a much better job than PSU right now, or the last 3 Michigan coaching searches when we were trying to replace Lloyd Carr without paying anybody, trying to find someone who will debase himself to work for Dave Brandon, or Harbaugh-or-bust with a program coming out of a Hoke low. Michigan job today is you get to pick your staff, maybe pick your AD, and inherit Bryce Underwood and a roster built for success with a top 2 or 3 (maybe even #1) NIL war chest. Will DeBoer listen? Math has changed: Alabama fans are holding him to an unreasonable standard based on what Saban did during a time when Alabama had more advantages over Michigan than they did now. Sam: Think DeBoer will listen. If not for that Playoff selection they were ready to run him out of town. People there are expecting him to have the success Saban had in a system that does not afford him the same advantages that Nick Saban had. Brohm will listen too. Sam: Loves Brent Key (also his alma mater), but how much of his success is Hayes King? Lea same thing; why not hire Diego Pavia. Floor: Jedd Fisch, is fine, not a high ceiling, or might be. He's done what we would want to see at Arizona and Washington.

1 Hour and 29 Minutes 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. Segment 1:  A discussion of Christmas decorations. Michigan played a strong defensive game to win the opener. Great shots from Spence and Park and Ivankovic didn't have to do much else to nail down a shutout. Segment 2:  Michigan outscored MSU in the period they were dominated in and got outscored in the periods they played well in… that's hockey! Michigan seems to be on an even level with MSU, which we would've taken before the year. A check in on the standings and national rankings. Not many past opponents played this weekend. Our outro discusses the WJC rosters and the Olympic rosters and which Michigan players may make either team    MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "Sibling Rivalry" -- PUP Ice Hockey (NES) theme

1 hour and 42 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, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. Michigan Hockey vs Michigan State Starts at :51 A very silly debate not worth publishing preceded the actual intro of this podcast. A split against Michigan State is a very fair result, the whole series was intense. The first period of the Saturday game was an onslaught that Michigan relatively survived, Jack Ivankovic has been solid. How many first and second rounders were in this game? The answer is in the double digits. Is the Big Ten the best hockey league in the world outside of the NHL? Most of the time this team looks dominant but looking back on that Wisconsin series and the first period against MSU on Saturday shows some concerning trends where Michigan can't get out of their own zone. Minnesota is surprisingly not what they've been in the last few years.  2. Men's Basketball vs Rutgers Starts at 26:05 Michigan is putting up demolitions not even predicted by Kenpom. If Michigan puts up a reasonable number of 3s there's just no way to beat them. What did Rutgers even do... get to 41% from 2? Well Michigan shot 72% from 2. They've played the 8th hardest schedule in the country, what even is there to say? Morez Johnson is shooting 3s now. Michigan had more offensive rebounds than misses from 2. Cadeau had an alarming turnover rate earlier in the season and most of those have gone away. Is Yaxel the alpha guy for scoring? Do you need one when you win games by 40? Roddy Gayle is rounding into the guy we originally thought he would be. The floor on this team is so high, if they shot 15% from 3 they'd probably still win by 10. The only teams that look mildly threatening on the schedule are Michigan State and Purdue. USC is also spicier than we thought. Michigan is now favored in every single game on the schedule.  3. Hot Takes, Football Offensive Recruiting Class Starts at 54:31 Takes hotter than Curt Cignetti walking off the field after beating Ohio State 13-10 to win the Big Ten Championship and reacting in NO WAY WHATSOEVER. Savion Hiter is the number one running back in the country and he has the tape to back it up. Brady Smigiel and Tommy Carr come in at QB, they won't see the field for a while but then you could have a redshirt sophomore starting after Bryce leaves. It's nice to see Michigan recruit like they have 105 guys in a class. Michigan loses a wide receiver but picks up Travis Johnson, also Brady Marchese and Jaylen Pile. Would've been nice to get a slot guy but nice to get a few receivers. They're all early enrolees. Matt Ludwig comes in at tight end and is the number one player in Montana, close enough to Idaho. Michigan should get tight ends from American Samoa and Alaska. Mason Bonner comes in from Colorado, keep an eye on him down the road. Malakai Lee is the headlining offensive lineman out of Hawaii, Bear McWhorter is an all-name nominee. Marky Walbridge is a quintessential under-scouted player.  4. Football Defensive Recruiting Class Starts at 1:20:32 Carter Meadows is the #6 overall player in the class, he could be the first overall player in the draft if he projects how he's supposed to. Taco Charlton comparison? Tariq Boney is the other edge, described as a violent high motor style. Titan Davis is Chris Wormley shaped but could move to defensive tackle, McHale Blade might be the most underrated guy in this class. Alister Vallejo, the Mason Graham comparison! He's a lot of peoples' favorite player in this class (a class with two five stars). Could he help next year? Many linebackers, mostly flyers and not an instant-impact class. Do not trust AI in your recruiting history research. The defensive back class is a little light, all four stars though. Jordan Deck is a Makari Paige kind of guy. They get a kicker who kicks and a longsnapper who long snaps, yay. Kerry Coombs comes in as special team coordinator.  MUSIC: "Train Love"—Yor Old Droog "MAGIC"—Vince Staples and Mustard "I Need a Lover"—John Couger “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra   

FOOTBALL v OHIO STATE Offense had some neat ideas in the run game, not so much the passing game. Problem with not running read options all year is Bryce blew too many of them. Sherrone is a run guy, had some great run tweaks, but it ended up costing them in the passing game as Bryce was cold—gotta throw on early downs if you're going to be a successful passing team. Defensively it was worse when we looked. "Only 27 points" is because they only had nine possessions and one of the killed the game in the 3rd and 4th quarter. Wink: Not great. Felt mailed in, no interesting ideas, and the ideas he did have were bad ones, like delayed blitzes that won't get to Sayin until it's too late, or showing his hand. Sayin was never confused: he read out what he planned to. Sam not a fan of spot-dropping. That was most of the defense this game; in the past Michigan's used a lot more switch and poach coverages. Wink is too easy to see coming, and that's not going to change. We're ready to move on, hope he is as well. Differences aren't all on Wink: Ernest Hausmann was a big loss, and a big difference last year. Josiah Stewart was and The Gifts were a big deal last year. Getting off the field on 3rd & 3 is when those playmakers have to do something, and Michigan didn't have those guys. SIGNING DAY Got interesting yesterday. Big money plays at Zion Robinson, Travis Johnson and (from UNC) Julian Walker. Michigan is either getting Zion Robinson (who got a big offer from Syracuse) or Georgia commit Brady Marchese—if Calvin Russell is serious then they'll work that out separately. Julian Walker is deciding today; his connection to Michigan in the first place was his dad, isn't sure he wants to leave home, which is understandable. If he goes to UNC it's just money. Hiter was just a misunderstanding when his contract came and they got it cleared up eventually. Underrated guys in the class: Alister Vallejo (we love), McHale Blade (fell too far after his injury) and Tommy Carr (we think he's better than Brady Smigiel, not better than Bourque).

1 Hour and 18 Minutes 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. Segment 1:  NBA Cupdates and Thanksgiving food debrief. Michigan largely hammered Harvard in the first game, scoring early and often en route to a comfortable win. Nick Moldenhauer has elevated as a playmaker and Josh Eernisse continues to score. So does Will Horcoff. Hobey? Decent special teams night, just a ho-hum win Segment 2:  Different game script from the first one, Harvard came out much more energetic. Michigan kept them to the outside for the first two periods and kept Ivankovic's eyes clean, while cashing in on high-danger chances the other way. Harvard did control play and finally broke through when Michigan's dumb penalties gave them too many looks. Horcoff redeemed himself after terrible 3rd period penalties. Okay with an OTW to achieve the sweep. Still 3rd in NPI. Many of our old friends took the week off… should Michigan take Thanksgiving week off? Huge clash with MSU this weekend, a team riding the Porter Martone and Trey Augustine wave but looking for depth scoring.    MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "Smarter Than You" -- The Undertones Ice Hockey (NES) theme

1 hour and 43 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, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. Offense vs Ohio State Starts at :51 Good thing this is pivoting to being a snacks podcast. Combos are way up there as far as gas station snacks go. Every time Ohio State got into a 3rd down situation they would just drop back and throw it to an open receiver. When Michigan was in this situation, Ohio State would just man up and Bryce had nowhere to throw. Those substitutions that happened all season continued in this game. Is trophy done going brrr? You cannot have this many holes in your team and expect to compete with Ohio State. The offensive line didn't look as dominated as it seemed, if Jordan Marshall and Justice Haynes played the whole game they'd probably break some more big runs. It didn't seem like Chip Lindsey brought much into this game that was built off of what they had been doing all season. Maybe Bryce froze up (pun not intended) a bit. He only had five throws at halftime? Guarnera actually looked really good, Frazier and Sprague held their ground. The reasons this offense didn't shine this season weren't because of the offensive line. Who's even going to sit out on offense in the bowl game?  2. Defense vs Ohio State Starts at 29:05 Giving up 27 points to Ohio State seems not that bad but we're still done with Wink. Ohio State's 3rd down conversions were the easiest possible. Neither Barham nor Derrick Moore got anywhere near Sayin all game. The 5-2 came back... It's year two, the defense shouldn't be this simplified. Yes, simplify it early on but it cannot be simplified against Ohio State. He learned nothing from the USC game, Wink needs to get fired and if he isn't then that's on Sherrone. There was a 20 play 81 yard field goal drive that took 12 minutes off the clock. That goal line stand was nice, though. Ohio State was at their own 10 but the backups were in?? Also it's a Fox broadcast, there's plenty of time to rest your starters during tv timeouts! There's a lot of work that needs to be done on the defensive line going into next year. The waves of elite defensive tackles has run its course.  3. Hot Takes, Game Theory, and Special Teams Starts at 53:38 Takes hotter than... idk. I'm out of ideas just like Michigan's coaches. The first sign that it was over was when Ohio State declined a holding call and then held Michigan on 3rd and 5. Zvada made field goals and a mob didn't have to come after Brian (they would've been right to do so). Hollenbeck had an 11 yard punt. Keeping Andrew Marsh just to fair catch punts is a valuable skill, don't make him a kick returner though. Kicking field goals early on 4th down felt like the right thing at the time, it could've been a stupid blizzard game later. You'd trust Zvada to make these field goals more than you'd trust the offense to get six yards in the redzone. Apparently an Ohio State player had head butted a Michigan player and Barham was demonstrating - but also don't do that. Jeremiah Smith almost had the funniest application of the worst rule in football. There were a lot of Ohio State fans at this game, how does that keep happening? Were there Ohio State fans near you and if so what was the experience near them like?  4. Around the Big Ten with Jamie Mac Starts at 1:25:11 Oregon 26, Washington 14 Washington's hyped offense just never came true in any of their big games this year. Oregon locks up a playoff bid, they'll probably get the G5 bid or the ACC champions. Penn State 40, Rutgers 36 Congrats to Penn State on getting bowl eligibility. This was a shootout. Tamper with the Rutgers receivers.  Minnesota 17, Wisconsin 7 Wisconsin is not good.  Michigan State 38, Maryland 28 Jonathan Smith was fired after this recording. There might've been 10,000 fans at this game but the weather kept a lot of people home.  Illinois 20, Northwestern 13 Snow game!  Iowa 40, Nebraska 16 Just a first half blowout without much effort in the 2nd half. A very disappointing ending to Nebraska's season. Nebraska is 2-10 the last three years in November. USC 29, UCLA 10 UCLA lead at halftime and then USC ran away with it in the 2nd half.  Indiana 56, Purdue 3 A year after Indiana gave Purdue their worst loss in the rivalry they give Purdue their first home loss in the rivalry. MUSIC: "Colors Change"—Tanks and Bangas "Too Good Too Bad"—Jason Scott and the High Heat "My Girlfriend Doesn't Worry"—Jeffrey Lewis and the Voltage “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra   

The Sponsors We want to thank Underground Printing for starting this and making it possible—stop by and pick up some gear, check them out at ugpmichiganapparel.com, or check out our selection of shirts on the MGoBlogStore.com. And let's not forget our associate sponsors: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklar Brothers, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Radecki Oral Surgery, Long Road Distillers, and SignalWire where we are recording this. Featured Musician: Sunday the Band THE VIDEO: [After THE JUMP: The show notes.]  --------------------- 1. Ohio State Preview: Offense starts at the top Forecast is wind and snow, the real blizzard arriving after the game. Other than one guard they all range from solid to stars. They're back to what they were in 2021-'22, with a future 1st round QB in Julian Sayin who reads leverage on Ryan Day's standard multi-level drag routes and throws to the guys getting open. Those guys: Jeremiah Smith, the future #1 overall pick, and Carnell Tate, who will be a 1st rounder this year. Both have been banged up, but we think they're both going to play and more or less be themselves, with an excuse banked if they lose. Where they've advanced is they use a lot more two-TE sets, particularly Max Klare, a true blocky+catchy hybrid who may necessitate a hybrid response. They use the TEs in clever RPOs to create space for Sayin's throws, and are good enough in the run game with Bo Jackson to punish you for overplaying pass. 2. Ohio State Preview: Defense starts at 16:59 Be afraid. Illinois gained 295 yards on 4.2 YPP and Washington gained 234 yards on 4.4 YPP. Alex Drain does not like Matt Patricia, but he's slimmed down himself and his playbook and has Ohio State playing at an elite level. That's Caleb Downs, the guy Corum juked for a touchdown in the Rose Bowl, and now the best player in football, who's allowed to rove around and make plays while they man you with everybody else. It's also the play of their linebackers; Sonny Styles was the guy Corum juked on the 6-5 touchdown, but was always supremely talented and is at the peak of his game. Arvelle Reese was another big recruit; he came on last year and is in the conversation to go 1st overall as a grow-a-Parsons. He can be a safety, a DE, a linebacker, or anything. They can get away with all of that man and blitzing LBs because Igninosu, Matthews, and Styles are excellent athletes in coverage, and the Big Ten doesn't like to flag their grabbiness. The next generation of DBs is coming up—you remember trying to recruit Aaron Scott and Bryce West, plus #8 overall Devin Sanchez. They replaced four superstars on the DL with a superstar, a star, and two Just-Guys. Kayden McDonald is the lone member who wasn't a top-50 recruit but he's the star, and is probably a step too far Crippen and Guarnera. Caden Curry made the leap; he's Jack Sawyer 2.0, a strong pass-rusher and a force against the run. Kenyatta Jackson is equally strong against the run but is a block-and-done rusher. Tywone Malone has been there for ages. 3 and 4. Hoops in Vegas After-Action Report starts at 31:49 and 44:49 Beat Auburn by 30 and SDSU and Zaga by 40. Teams came into this thinking they could blitz Michigan's ball screens, Michigan came in having practiced their response to it. Zaga thruck? Look who took their shots—those aren't their shooters. The defense has been incredible; Morez allows you to be switchable when Mara is off the court and when he's on there's nowhere to go with the ball. Zaga had to take a bunch of push shots from 12 feet that are good shots for them, but that's not going to sustain an offense. Cason is coming around, though the offense is still much smoother with Cadeau. Turnovers are going to be the thing for this team again; when they get anything like even shot volume they're murder because their threes are open and they have all of these guys who score at the rim. Yaxel is becoming the Weapon that he was thought to be in the portal, but is extra dangerous because he doesn't have to be. Big-big actions are going to have to level up now that teams are sitting on them. This is where you bring in Tschetter, because a team that prepared for Johnson is out of sorts. Featured Artist: Sunday the Band If it wasn't for Brad Dumont I might still be in the Rose Bowl parking lot. Brad recognized us, let us in his car, and took us to Randy Sklar's place in time to catch Washington vs. Texas. He also put on the music of his then-14-year-old son Nate. Part of this had to be the fact Michigan had just won 26-20 in overtime in Nick Saban's last game. Also these kids rocked. It's relatable catchy stuff with a funky rhythm that's way more advanced than anyone ought to be at that age. Apparently in the two years since these high schoolers have picked up a following in the Pasadena music scene, but were getting in at the bottom floor; these are the two songs they've recorded so far. Trouble in Paradise was the one we were bouncing around to like middle-aged Mikey Sainristils. Rewind hits right now. Also give it up for a four-piece band when all the stuff that gets pushed these days are from solo artists and collabs. You can make fun of me now then turn this on for the ride home after we win. Songs: Rewind Trouble in Paradise Also because Across 110th Street will get our Youtubes taken down, the opener and outro: “The Employee is Not Afraid”—Bear vs. Shark “Ruska Vodka”—Motorboat

1 Hour and 17 Minutes 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. Segment 1:  Opener: discussing thanksgiving foods. Michigan was much better than Ohio State on Friday but had to grind for a 3rd period victory. Talk about possible soft goals. Good goaltending from Eberly. Nice pass by Valentini --> Hughes wins it. Segment 2:  Michigan scored a touchdown and got the 2 pointer on Saturday. 4th liners set the tone, skilled guys bring it home. Bad Eberly game. Sucked ruining the shutout. Discussion about B1G expected goals numbers and Michigan's place in the conference hierarchy. College hockey's west is way better than the east yet again. Checking in on old friends. When will Mercyhurst win a game? Michigan should pummel Harvard but Harvard's goalie is really good. Michigan picked up a commit from Nic Sima out of the OHL so we check in on the 2026 recruiting class.   MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "Celebrate the Reckless" -- The Magic Giant Ice Hockey (NES) theme

1 hour and 45 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, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. Offense vs Maryland Starts at :51 It doesn't feel good to just beat up on Maryland the week before The Game. Dave explains a soft and gooey snack for all of you to enjoy. Bryce was okay! He's worked on a nice seam route with an arc to Marlin Klein that he didn't have before the bye. And a dig route! There was one bad pass which was a tough throw to make anyways. Can he go and win The Game? Probably if the defense can do enough. This was never going to be a challenge for the offensive line but they exceeded expectations anyways. The Ohio State game might be a bridge too far, though. Kuzdzal is a step down from Justice Haynes and Jordan Marshall but he's got some juice. They succeeded on wedge! Andrew Marsh almost completed the Odell Beckham?? He's a star going forward. Marlin Klein hurdled a fool, Goodwin had a few catches. It was nice of Maryland to just run into themselves and let Michigan do what they wanted.  2. Defense vs Maryland Starts at 34:09 There was an opening drive touchdown with various guys being offsides again, but then there wasn't much until the backups came in. Pleeeease do not be rotating the back-seven against Ohio State all game. Derrick Moore has 11 sacks, imagine if he played more! Ernest Hausmann did not travel, Cole Sullivan was back (and possibly a little rusty). This performance didn't build confidence in holding Ohio State to 10 points again, a lot of Maryland receivers were running open. Brandyn Hillman had another good game, maybe that mini-suspension was the best thing for his career. He was even directing players into position. Some of Maryland's drops count as triple drops. There's just not much interior rush from this defensive line, maybe play Barham at linebacker against OSU so you can blitz him. Does Wink actually call plays without knowing or caring which personnel are out there? This year you don't have the two best defensive tackles in America and you can't bait Ryan Day into running into a six man box.  3. Hot Takes, Game Theory, and Special Teams Starts at 56:08 Takes hotter than yours truly after he got through the hot takes intro and had to re-do them because the Sklars dropped out of the call. Brian broke Zvada. Chase Taylor gets +4 on the onside kick recovery, that did not feel good. There was no punting from Michigan so we don't have to complain about punting. Marsh had some nice punt returns?? End of first half time management was less than ideal, Goodwin lined up in the wrong spot and they should've called timeout. Stop jumping offside! The late hit by Brandt was a weak call, so was the one on Bryce Underwood. Every replay angle was field-level and somehow they're contradictory?  4. Around the Big Ten with Jamie Mac Starts at 1:19:43 Oregon 42, USC 27 A close-ish looking boxscore but Oregon scored 28 first half points. Oregon has figured out some things after the Indiana game, they're in the 99th percentile in opportunity run rate. They're starting to look like the championship team they were hoping to be.  Iowa 20, Michigan State 17 Iowa pulls out a classic game that they don't deserve to win. MSU QB Alessio Milivojevic punted three times. Michigan State's 8 game losing streak is tied for the 2nd longest, the program record is 10. Tickets for MSU vs Maryland at Ford Field after the game are free!  Northwestern 38, Minnesota 35 An offensive explosion game! Northwestern wins at Wrigley for the first time in 8 attempts.  Wisconsin 27, Illinois 10 Neither team gets to 300 yards of offense. This was the first time all season that Wisconsin scored in the first and second quarter.  Penn State 37, Nebraska 10 The Grunk throws 12 times for 181 yards, that'll do it. Nebraska goes 1 of 6 on 4th down. Who is Penn State's number 1 coaching candidate?  Washington 48, UCLA 14 The Huskies continue to play without some of their stars but still blew out UCLA Ohio State 42, Rutgers 9 Ugh MUSIC: "Feel It Again"—Winyah "Drugs"—Philharmonik Live from NPR Tiny Desk "DBZ"—Your Old Droog and Method Man “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra   

The Sponsors We want to thank Underground Printing for starting this and making it possible—stop by and pick up some gear, check them out at ugpmichiganapparel.com, or check out our selection of shirts on the MGoBlogStore.com. And let's not forget our associate sponsors: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklar Brothers, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Radecki Oral Surgery, Long Road Distillers, and SignalWire where we are recording this. Featured Musician: The Band Feel THE VIDEO: [After THE JUMP: Things discussable.]  --------------------- Not necessarily in this order. 1. Maryland Preview: Offense starts at around noon They have a kid quarterback too, but Malik Washington doesn't have an offensive line or a running game to help him. He does have a redzone threat in Shaleak Knotts and a couple of other productive receivers. That offensive line is the problem—their left tackle is from Central Connecticut State and he's not even their worst OL. Their TE room is banged up and bad at blocking. The RB and TE are good receivers but don't contribute much to the run game either, and somebody on this team has to protect the QB. 2. Maryland Preview: Defense starts at around 12:20 PM They're very young—younger than we are. Remember when Jalen Huskey picked off JJ McCarthy in the endzone? Hint: it was the game JJ threw interceptions in 2023 and made us feel bad briefly. They're opportunistic in the secondary, and won some games early in the season because they pick the ball off. They also have some transfers who make the passing game tough sledding: an Ohio vagabond who gets the backfield, a true freshman pass rusher that M had its eye on. Safeties are the returning starters and the best part of the defense, but have to hang back and clean up after the kids. Prescription: pound 'em. 3. Hoops: TCU and MTSU After-Action Report starts around 12:40 PM This team can be maddening. They have eight to nine starters who will take over a game or throw it away on any given possession. Aday Mara can be inconsistent even when his height isn't, and that's why they're 6th in Kenpom. Team fixed its rebounding issues and sprung some major turnover issues that allowed MTSU back into a game they were out of, before they were out of it again. The Blue Raiders settled for a lot of jumpers—contested threes or pullup other twos, while M is scoring 1.4 PPP at the rim. That formula is going to work against a lot of teams, but San Diego State and Auburn are going to be real threats. 4. Northwestern After Review starts at around 1:00 PM Andrew Marsh, come on down. Already on star watch and boy do we like that. Bryce was pretty good except when he threw a REALLY BAD freshman interception and an only kinda bad OC interception because they went to the well one too many times against Robert Fitzgerald, who balled out. Run game: Jordan Marshall is special but Bryson Kuzdzal is playable. Offensive line continues to do well against this level of competition; got 70% of their available yards against a very good defense. Defensively Seth thinks he's figured out (finally) why Michigan's rotations are what they are, in part because Michigan finally figured out their rotations. They also tried a new 3-3-5 defensive strategy that uses Barham as a linebacker and Hausmann as a hybrid, but it suffered the same fate as a lot of Wink ideas when he springs something new. Fine games from Brandyn Hillman and Mason Curtis; not as mad at Bowles as I thought we'd be. Cam Brandt: that's still weird, at least in pass rush, but he did some things in the run game to justify himself again. Featured Artist: The Band Feel You know here at MGoBlog we're fans of the un-Googleable. The Band Feel, which will be at The Pig in a few weeks, looks, acts, and sounds like a lost act from the early 1970s. But man does it ever work now, and it's not like the psychedelic ideas stopped coming when all the Zeppelin knockoffs drank themselves into glam. The Band Feel picks up where Beck, Sabbath, Deep Purple, etc. left off, but they also work in all the threads that have been developed since. The hit is "Shoal Creek" which sounds like a long lost Led Zeppelin song, but I stumbled on "Fly Birdy, Fly" which weaves in some of the bluegrassy ideas that became country back into rock. Goodbye Virginia is off their 2024 EP but the others are from their newest album Into the Sun. Songs: Icarus Fly Birdy, Fly Goodbye Virginia Also because Across 110th Street will get our Youtubes taken down, the opener and outro: “The Employee is Not Afraid”—Bear vs. Shark “Ruska Vodka”—Motorboat

Things Discussed: FOOTBALL v NORTHWESTERN When not being a terrible freshman Bryce was a five-star freshman. Some incredible throws in this one. Not that mad about 2nd interception because that was on the OC. Lindsey's gameplan of RPOs (ten Split Flows!) was perfect against Dantonio-style quarters. Got 70% of their yards, which is more important for future performance. RPOs were also good for getting Bryce feeling comfortable. We have a freshman but also a five-star, and he looked like one. Sam: Note the first drive was downfield passing! That throw to Andrew Marsh: wow. Shoutout to NW safety Robert Fitzgerald. Let's tamper with that guy! Andrew Marsh: What a perfect guy to be coming through. MARYLAND PREVIEW They're young with no running game to fall back on so they lose games. Gotta win jump balls against their big receivers. Malik Washington will be a good one, but no OL and no run game. Their defense is also young and mistake-prone. BIG TEN PRIVATE EQUITY DEAL ON HOLD, MICHIGAN AND USC FTW? Why the other schools want it: They're all in big debt because building debt (paid to their big donors) was how these non-profits made their revenue disappear while getting to keep most of it and making the ledgers balance for Title IX compliance (e.g. updates to Breslin are Women's Basketball expenditures.) Now you want to free the ledgers and the donors to pay players, so you need upfront capital to unravel the old system. Lock down a portion of Michigan's revenue. MSU, NW, IU, PU, RU, IL need to lock in a share of M/OSU revenue now because if the conferences break up for a super league they're not going to be invited. The length of the media rights contract is 20 years. This is CRITICAL. Michigan State has a real chance of becoming a mid-major. Ohio State wasn't on board until they got a clause giving them a bonus for selling more gear/stadium advertising. The way it's structured now they get more money than Michigan, which is all they wanted to hear. Why Michigan and USC don't want it: Michigan already got itself out of the debt cycle.

1 Hour and 14 Minutes 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. Segment 1:  Extensive discussion on the extremely mediocre NHL. Michigan got bludgeoned in the first period of Friday's game yet ended it up 3-0. PSU quit after that and Michigan dominated them. Guaranteed a fierce response on Saturday? Will Horcoff has been awesome this season. Segment 2:  Michigan didn't play a bad game but came up short. Good in-zone defense, less good rush defense. Didn't love the 2nd goal from Ivankovic. Valiant comeback attempt included a sweet deke by Perron. More discussion of McKenna's defensive effort effort problems. Overall an okay weekend. Should the Gophers tank for a good draft pick? How good is Ohio State?    MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "Sunburn" -- Fuel Ice Hockey (NES) theme

2 hours 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, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. Offense vs Northwestern Starts at :51 This doesn't even qualify as a top five weird Northwestern game (we list our top five). This week's snack of the week is organic pumpkin seeds. On one level, this kinda looked like Michigan's best game of the year on offense and defense. Michigan comes out slinging it and Bryce's confidence seemed like it was at another level, but he made young mistakes. What happened on Bryce's sacks? Playing Northwestern always kinda feels like they have your signs. Michigan was able to counter some of Northwestern's defensive counters. Most of the mistakes are coming from freshmen which is just something that happens. Missed cuts on zone is whatever but missed cuts on power isn't good. Bryson Kuzdzal came in and did just fine. Bryce's scrambles were pretty good and mostly improvisation, his interceptions were freshman stuff. Safeties were baiting him, can he anticipate that in the future? The first interception was not understanding how to read the coverage, the second one was just needing to throw the ball better. Andrew Marsh made the Michigan catch of the year, you have a dedicated receiver going into next year. You could have 12 of 14 boxes in a great position next year. Andrew Marsh is the best freshman receiver since... Manningham? How much does this performance mean against Ohio State? The reverse fumble is on Chip Lindsey.  [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]  2. Defense vs Northwestern Starts at 44:15 Northwestern came into this game with a pretty good ground game and they got stuffed. This was a good game to run the 5-2 in, Northwestern is on the opposite end of the spectrum from USC. Northwestern's gamesmanship cost them two false starts, Michigan tipped what they were running multiple times. The defensive backs got beat a few times but sometimes a receiver just makes a nice play over you. You probably don't want to put Zeke Berry on Jeremiah Smith, Jyaire Hill is getting his star back. Brandyn Hillman tackled with his arms! He's grown as a much more mature player over the season. They're defending screens now! TJ Metcalf body-slammed a guy.   3. Hot Takes, Game Theory, and Special Teams Starts at 1:08:55 Takes hotter than suburban Chicago in mid-November. There seems to be differing views on how much people liked this venue for a football game. The camera shots were weird. Seth and Dave think the inside of the stadium is magical, Brian not so much. It might've actually been 90% Michigan fans. They did the best they could with clock management at the end of the first half. What about timeouts at the end of the second half? Zvada kicked the ball into the street outside of the stadium. Brian takes responsibility for the missed field goals by changing the preview. Semaj got replaced, he's a better player than he's performed but he may be overdue for a mental health break. 4th down decisions. NFL calculator says there's a complete coin flip in decision making. It shouldn't be a holding call if you're getting your ass kicked. Semaj was on the ground with the ball but they didn't overturn the fumble? There's no transparency between officiating and the fans, other conferences and sports are getting better at it. 4. Around the Big Ten with Jamie Mac Starts at 1:59:37 USC 26, Iowa 21 Iowa jumped out to a nice lead but scored zero points in the second half. The Hawkeyes lost three offensive linemen. The universe is paying them back for all the 10 win seasons they had no business having. USC is now a legitimate playoff contender.  Indiana 31, Wisconsin 7 This was a sludge fart for Indiana in the first half but put it away in the second. Wisconsin is one of the worst Big Ten offenses ever contemplated. Most of Wisconsin's offense was off of a couple weird plays.  Penn State 28, Michigan State 10 A rock fight between two of the worst teams in the league. Michigan State had 15 wins over the last three years... well at least they did. Penn State won the very ugly trophy which might actually be the best trophy and they looked like they really wanted it. Illinois 24, Maryland 6 Maryland is not even trying to run the ball anymore. Illinois ground them to a pulp. Don't throw at Maryland, just run them over.  Washington 49, Purdue 13 Washington doubles Purdue in yardage and most of that was likely garbage time for Purdue.  Oregon 42, Minnesota 13  This feels like danger zone for PJ Fleck. They could lose to Wisconsin?? Ohio State 48, UCLA 10 UCLA is without Nico in this game, their backup has never thrown a college pass. UCLA is moving out of the Rose Bowl??  MUSIC: "Slow Burn"—The Rose City Band "Swans"—Maston "Optimism"—Jana Horn “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra  

wsg Rodger Sherman, founder of Sports!, formerly of The Ringer, coiner of "Fetty Wapping," college football hero. The Sponsors We want to thank Underground Printing for starting this and making it possible—stop by and pick up some gear, check them out at ugpmichiganapparel.com, or check out our selection of shirts on the MGoBlogStore.com. And let's not forget our associate sponsors: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklar Brothers, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Radecki Oral Surgery, Long Road Distillers, and SignalWire where we are recording this. Featured Musician: Terry Klein THE VIDEO: [After THE JUMP: Things discussable.]  --------------------- Not necessarily in this order. 1. Northwestern Preview starts at the top They're fine. Their offense plods but for one good receiver or when their QB throws an INT, which he's got accuracy problems that were visible when he was a Rhett Ashlee QB at SMU. Their defense is decent, rotates, plays sound football of a Lloyd variety. Alex likes edge Aidan Hubbard more than Michael Kilbane (whom PFF prefers). Their DTs are a little undersized so they jump behind the line of scrimmage, which Nebraska was able to exploit down the stretch. 2. Northwestern Preview cont. wsg Rodger Sherman starts at 13:56 What's it like being a Northwestern fan these days? It's spending $800 million on an unnecessary stadium instead of players, because you can't put your name on players. 3. Wake Forest After-Action Report, and a short TCU Preview starts at 27:45 How many ways can we say Mara is a star? Defensive ceiling is ridiculous. Three-big lineup needs a name. We also talk about Matt D's findings regarding the defensive play of Michigan's guards, which was not at all what we expected. 4. Purdue Upon Further Review starts at 44:58 Young offensive line plus Zack Marshall and Jalen Hoffman continue to be good blockers—might meet their match vs Ohio State. Jordan Marshall is a beast. Bryce's second half wasn't great either—he was not feeling comfortable in the pocket, missed some RPO reads he made earlier. Need a bye to get right. Defensively, I wasn't mad about Wink. Don't say on the internet that I was mad. Defensively the kids were not alright and the defensive rotations were still weird, but more explainable given the injury circumstances. Long drives were explainable until Purdue figured out they were just running nail (where you insert a blitzing LB as a 5th lineman and play 5-1). Interested in Lugard Edokpayi. Featured Artist: Terry Klein I usually don't go for country music, but I do when it's made by Terry Klein (LSA 1995), a folk country artist from Austin who's been touring festivals the most hallowed singer-songwriter venues across the country for decades, and reading a lot of MGoBlog between stops. His last album Leave the Light On won a bunch of acclaim, making American Songwriter's list of the best records released in 2023. His fifth album, Hill Country Folk Music, just came out. Songs: I Used To Be Cool The Dirty Third The Job Interview Song     Also because Across 110th Street will get our Youtubes taken down, the opener and outro: “The Employee is Not Afraid”—Bear vs. Shark “Ruska Vodka”—Motorboat

Things Discussed: HOOPS Craig and the Half a Head story vis a vis Tarik Skubal. Aday Mara holy crap. He was last year's on-off numbers while playing 37/45 minutes. When he was on the floor Wake Forest was 27% at the rim. M needs to figure out the rest. Loosening balls but not converting them to turnovers. Have three bigs on the floor and none know how to box out because they were the rebounding alphas. Three Bigs? Don't think it's going to work because Morez Johnson taking a three in the flow of the offense isn't going to work. The point of Yaxel is to make him a four, so you're effectively using Johnson at small forward. Maybe if you also make Mara a Wolf-level assist guy? They won a game when they shot 16% from three; if they can be 33% from three and have Mara's defense it's over. Don't overreact to Lendeborg's start: injured hand and Wake was a weird team that didn't have big tradeoffs from switching only 6'7" guy on Lendeborg to another. Loose balls: not boxing out when they're not boxing out, the way they play is everyone can be aggressive on their man and you have a behemoth, so nobody's facing the ball when he knocks it loose. Defense needs to be more aggressive: You saw Gayle got it; he overplayed on the perimeter and got some turnovers because if they cut behind you you're still covered. Wake's first shots sucked. LJ's thing is he goes in the lane, but this team doesn't have a lot of perimeter shooting. Tschetter's defense doesn't match well with this team, but he can get you threes. Was hoping he could be on the court with Johnson and Mara but he can't unless Morez can take threes. Trey McKenney was a revelation on defense. He knows where to be, has that length. Can they run offense without Cadeau on the court? Cadeau also needs to be more careful with the ball—deserved six turnovers. FOOTBALL Northwestern Preview: Low-scoring game. They're good on defense, they're interception-prone, they're best at putting two TEs on the field and running OZ and Duo; Michigan might be able to play two-DTs. When they do well they get movement on the front. Caleb Tiernan: Always loved Northwestern. If we're in a match of who can out-1950s the other give me Michigan's OL and Jordan Marshall. If M gets an explosive they can look for it in the RPO game: NWern can't go to their 3rd safety and their SS is a 6'4"/220 hybrid guy. Maybe get him against Marsh? Barham at edge or linebacker? I vote linebacker, because that makes them tell you how they're going to set up. TONY PETTITI IS GOING TO END THE BIG TEN Trying to pass their their "pay-day loan" (thank you Regent Bernstein) over the objections of Michigan and USC is the way they get Michigan to leave when the Grant of Rights expires. When all of these are mid-majors in 20 years remember this moment, and the idiots trying to solve today's problems with a cash infusion that future fans will have to pay for.

1 Hour and 28 Minutes 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. Segment 1:  Miscellaneous opening discussion. Not a great game for either goalie but Michigan made the biggest plays in the biggest moments to earn a win. Top line delivered in the 3rd period. A good hockey game all around Segment 2:  Michigan caught flat footed by Wisconsin's aggressiveness. Penalty kill problems and goalie problems. Scored a shorthanded goal but never got back into the game. Goalie interference discussion. Too much physicality too late. Neither WMU nor Providence are looking great right now. MSU clearly outplayed PSU. Probably aiming for a split this weekend. Brief Spengler Cup talk.     MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "Northern Lights" -- Kennie Ice Hockey (NES) theme

2 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, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. Men's Basketball vs Oakland Starts at :53 Everyone said "nice" at the halftime of this game. At first it didn't seem like the results meant much because Oakland looked really bad, but then they went and had a close game against Purdue. How much can you gather about Michigan fromhere? Trey McKenney was 6-8 from three and looked the part. He also had four assists and no turnovers, there were some Darius Morris qualities about him. Do they go with the very big rotation with Yaxel out? Will Tschetter seems to get more minutes when Yaxel is out, would like to see him step up as a four year player. Wake Forest was a bubble team last year and look like one this year, that game will tell us more about Michigan.  2. Previewing Men's Basketball in the Big Ten Starts at 21:31 In reverse Kenpom order Penn State They're bad. Rutgers How is this team even going to score a basket? They have seven teams scheduled in the 200s.  Minnesota Niko Medved's first year at Minnesota, but the roster does not look good. They'll compete with Rutgers and Penn State for the bottom spot. Oregon 35th in the preseason but have fallen considerably after a one point win over Hawaii and a four point win over Rice. They have a transfer from Elon, the Oregon NIL budget must be focusing on football.  Maryland The only Big Ten team with a loss. They shot terribly against Georgetown and were only in it because they scored 30 points off of free throws.  Northwestern They bring back Nick Martinelli, the guy who makes the worst shots you've ever seen (complimentary). They've blown out Mercyhurst and Boston, which would be impressive if it was hockey. Their center looks like Elvis. Washington Very young team starting two freshmen and two sophomores.  Nebrasketball Sam Hoiberg is still playing a majority of minutes, but at least the mustache is gone. They bring in the Icelandic Unicorn.  Iowa Ben McCollum's first year. Tavion Banks looked great at Drake last year but will probably hit a wall against the Big Ten.  Ohio State They beat IU Indianapolis 118-102, eek. They've retained a few players which is a big thing in college basketball now.  Michigan State More continuity and the best win in the Big Ten so far (69-66 over Arkansas). They're very experienced. They were awful at three point shooting a year ago and so far they're at 20% this year. This doesn't seem like a team that's going to win the league by three games but they didn't look like that last year.  Indiana Year one for Darian DeVries. They bring in a lot of new players and we don't know what to expect. This team is loaded with seniors. They're going to do what they do and then go away.  UCLA Mick Cronin is awesome, actually. How can a team starting Xavier Booker at center be? They have shooting but defense and rebounding are big questions. What if Mick Cronin yells at them more? USC Hey it's Terrance Williams. USC is surprisingly putting together a basketball program. Wisconsin They're 18th in Kenpom and looking at the roster doesn't make sense. There's no bench, either.  Purdue They bring back Braden Smith and Trey Kaufman-Renn. Fletcher Loyer is also back. Their 10 point win over Oakland was awkward. Jack Benter is an interesting freshman at guard. You can't second guess Matt Painter but they're missing their classic giant center that they build around.  Illinois This team is huge. They absolutely blew out Jackson State and Florida Gulf Coast. Pronounce Ivisic, or Petrovic, or Stojakovic, or Jakstsys.    3. Hot Takes and Hockey Updates Starts at 1:15:30 Takes hotter than the opposite of Kinnick Stadium, that looked miserable. Michigan split with Wisconsin over the weekend in a return to reality series. But it felt like worse than a split for what got exposed. Michigan couldn't get out of their zone but most teams on the schedule won't be able to replicate what Wisconsin did. Goalie Jack Ivankovic also just had a bad weekend which happens. Friday was such a fun game that was getting ruined by piped in music. They're being told to turn it down. Wisconsin seemed to really get under Michigan's skin and the frustration came out. The Big Ten is one of the best hockey leagues in the world and the league barely broadcasts games.    4. Around the Big Ten with Jamie Mac Starts at 1:45:28 Indiana 27, Penn State 24  Absolutely bonkers ending. The final two catches were amazing. This game raised questions about Indiana's ability to block next-level guys. Mendoza was pressured on 50% of dropbacks. Penn State did start the season with a group of players you would've thought would do that, though. All Penn State quarterbacks are now "The Grunk". Indiana was 2-25 against Penn State coming into this game and this was their first ever win in Happy Valley, the feels are still amazing for Hoosiers fans.  Oregon 18, Iowa 16 Oregon went into Kinnick during a rain storm and got almost the full Iowa experience (except that the safety happened to Iowa). The only stat that matters is that Oregon survived a November night(ish) game in Kinnick, survive and advance in that scenario.  Wisconsin 13, Washington 10 Played in similar conditions as Oregon vs Iowa, except this game sucked! Wisconsin's lead passer was the punter. This was a Big Ten West game and someone had to lose. If this wasn't in a sleet storm then Demond Williams probably gets more than 134 passing yards.  Nebraska 28, UCLA 21 Nebraska QB TJ Lateef goes 13/15 for 205 yards and 3 touchdowns. Dylan Raiola who? This was a very Big Ten game with limited possessions because both teams ran the ball a lot. Nebraska goes through so many running backs but might've finally found a guy. Rutgers 35, Maryland 20 Rutgers' running back Antwan Raymond rushed for 240 yards but Rutgers got outrushed. Maryland had six explosive plays and had a -0.4 EPA outside of those. Rutgers rescued their bowl hopes. USC 38, Northwestern 17 The boxscore is a blowout. USC had a fake punt pass that wasn't even legal. Why did they pull that out against Northwestern? It was close at the time. Ohio State 34, Purdue 10 merp MUSIC: "Feel For Love"—Michigan Rattlers "What's It All Mean"—Philharmonik "Sin Triangle"—Sidney Gish “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra   

Things Discussed: Bryce Underwood: Progress isn't linear. Jordan Marshall and the offensive line: The redshirt freshmen will save us! They're already playing at close to a Big Ten level. Defense: Purdue was very college crappe. I asked them to be vanilla, they were, and I'll take my lumps. Mad at special teams for not putting them back enough because the way Purdue plays they need to be able to take a TFL or a sack, or need to have a 4th down strategy. We're rotating an extreme amount, also there are extreme levels of injury: Any team that loses Rolder, Sullivan, and Barham isn't going to be great at LB. Protected the kids by blitzing them. Vance disappointed in the DTs: they were in the wrong gap sometimes on those LB blitzes. I saw Pierce do that once in the 1st half, haven't gotten to the 2nd half yet. DTs to me are Benny & Pierce, then a big gap to a lot of innings eaters, where Etta is more of a pass-rush option and Payne, Williams and Ike. You're playing a tempo team and they're only in there for three snaps. Running the DTs on and off the field is wearing them out as much as playing. Three snaps is three deadlifts of a 300-pound guy, then you're sprinting a 300+ pound body off the field. Too much rotation: They got on a 19-play drive with a quarter break and at no point in that drive did Michigan have their best available players on the field at over 50% of the spots. Brandt is not on Moore's or Guy's level. Ratios are way off. Brandt plays as much as Derrick, more than Guy. Are guys going to leave if they don't get PT? That's true but 1) That doesn't explain having starters playing 40% of snaps, 2) That's not the culture of this program. The culture of this program wasn't "You get yours" it was "Egos don't matter as much as the Team." That 2023 team had multiple "starters" because Harrell and Stewart could both play at a high level, sophomore D-Mo and McGregor could both play at a high level. If it's a program goal to get guys snaps against Purdue, go and beat Purdue first and then when you're up three touchdowns get your guys in. Offense and Bryce: He's young and doing young guy things like fleeing the pocket and forcing throws he's used to throwing. He had a terrible half and a decent half. Can't really blame Chip because he's giving him the reads, e.g. a wheel to Klein that takes advantage of Purdue taking away screens, and he throws it at Klein's feet. Also: he doesn't have receivers who make those plays for him when they're there. Klein should have caught that ball. Semaj had another one whistle through his hands. McCauley didn't adjust to a ball in the endzone. Go watch any freshman QB and you see the same things: Watch JJ in 2021. Watch Gardner when he was young. Go under center? Might help the run game but Crimes Against Man Panda. Craig talks about the 1939 Bears. Men's Hoops: Oakland was bad. Open corners were just there, they were missing two players, run a complicated zone with a new team. Trey McKinney is a knockdown shooter, and he has a little Darrius Morris (RIP) in his game. He's not Mike Smith, won't have short-arm turnovers. Good sign he can use his long arms productively. Cadeau: Wonder if he's going to have more TOs against Wake Forest. If he can keep turnovers under control this team will be very good. Defense has a very high floor. Michigan has three bigs instead of two this year, means their second-best lineup won't be a massive drop from their best. Didn't have Cason, might be that sixth guy of the year (or your starting two?) who can be Plan B for point guard and competently relieve Roddy when they full-court press him. Solution for press: Mara? Just have the freaky tall guy pass it without putting the ball on the floor. Women's Hoops: Very interesting team. They're five-out, swarming. Lots and lots of turnovers.

1 Hour and 0 Minutes 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. Segment 1:  Opener talks birds and peacocks. Henry Mews lost for the year, which is a huge bummer but Michigan has defensive depth. Matthew Mania will get a larger role. First ND game was a weird one, tons of penalties. Michigan got screened thoughts through well. Horcoff's shot is popping much more this year. Ivankovic gave up one not great goal, then Michigan put it away. Segment 2:  Great game from ND goalie Nick Kempf. Michigan deserved the OT win. Nice game from Moldenhauer. 5 points on the weekend is mostly fine. PSU can't keep getting away with it, but are underdogs this weekend vs MSU. Minnesota looks real bad and can't score. Wisconsin comes to town this weekend, they look good and have fixed their goalie issue.   MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "Irish Dubstep" -- Green Lads Ice Hockey (NES) theme

1 hour and 55 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, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. Offense vs Purdue Starts at :57 This podcast starts out telepathically but then Brian's intrusive thoughts got telepathed so it had to stop. Dave introduces the Snack of the Week. Would you rather talk about this game or Dunkaroos? Bryce Underwood - not good in the first half. A fumble on the sideline is usually harmless unless it involves the silliest rule in football. His scrambling was good but you can't build a business in this industry by scrambling, that will get you killed against Ohio State. Too many missed passes, he doesn't really settle in. By the Georgia game, JJ was probably where Bryce is now - many mistakes but you can see the talent. On the flip side, the offensive line had a great game. Purdue loaded the box but Jordan Marshall rushed for 185 yards anyways. You can't tackle him with just one guy, he will emerge from piles. This is the fourth straight game where Sprague has been incredible. Bryson Kuzdzal had some nice runs on the game-sealing drive. Tight ends were fine, more catches by Zack Marshall. There's not a lot of separation between Marshall and Klein. Semaj had way fewer snaps, Goodwin saw more time. You have six 2nd or 3rd year players on this offensive line that can absolutely play in this conference. The future of the offensive line is bright.  2. Defense vs Purdue Starts at 41:43 How do we even feel about the defensive performance? We've seen Purdue all season be an offense that moves the ball down the field but can't score. That happened but it felt bad. Cam Brandt was too far upfield on a couple big run plays. Why are the good defensive ends not on the field for 70% of the snaps that they should be out for? Why are the starters rotating out so much throughout the game? Assuming he's healthy, do you put Jaishawn Barham at DE or LB against Ohio State? Michigan didn't commit to a position for him and it's hurting his play. Way fewer three defensive tackle sets, yay. If your name is going to be "Michael Jackson" you need to go by "Mike". Jyaire Hill got sealed a couple times but was otherwise fine. The endzone DPI was DPI. Metcalf got sucked in during the touchdown.  3. Hot Takes, Game Theory, and Special Teams Starts at 1:06:04 Takes hotter than the amount of trouble Jason would get into if he did the Hot Takes voice at a golf tournament where he was during recording. Michigan has not been good at Special Teams Things, why are they running kickoffs out of the middle of the endzone? Another punt that Semaj didn't field that gave up 20 yards. Did Jay Harbaugh have a heat map for punting? We've never had to talk so much about shield punting positioning but now we have to. Clock management at the end of the first half was pretty on-point. Purdue's 4th down decision making was aggressive which you do if you want to try to win the game. Shout out to Michigan fans for feeding energy back into the team in the 4th quarter. The students did the shirtless thing that's become a college football thing. Also shout out to Barry Odom for getting the Purdue bench fired up.  4. Around the Big Ten with Jamie Mac Starts at 1:28:22 Indiana 55, Maryland 10 This is a typical Indiana game these days. Indiana's offense is a machine. The defense is... also a machine?? Every week, Indiana has some weird defensive stat that's historical and worth tracking. Mendoza threw and interception on his first play, the game was wobbly for about a quarter.  Ohio State 38, Penn State 14 Briefly competitive in the 2nd quarter. Penn State is the first top five team in the history of college football to lose five straight games. Julian Sayin had 14 yards per attempt. Ohio State finally catches a break and gets an obvious targeting call to not get enforced.  Minnesota 23, Michigan State 20 (OT) MSU benches Aidan Chiles for Alessio Milivojevic. The Spartans lose this game despite outgaining Minnesota by about 160 yards. The final two minutes of this game are worth watching. Northwestern QB Aidan Chiles?? Alessio had a better EPA than Chiles any other game this season. USC 21, Nebraska 17 If you like offense, don't look at this game. We are suddenly having feelings about Wink Martindale. Dylan Raiola is done for the season and USC is able to grind out a win. Raiola's backup went 5/7 for 7 yards.  Illinois 35, Rutgers 13 A solid victory for Illinois, most of Rutgers' yards are when it was 35-6. Bert: "I put us as good as any 6-3 team out there. That doesn't mean anything." Bowl eligible in consecutive seasons for the first time since 2011. Illinois is the new Wisconsin.  MUSIC: "On & On"—The Marcus King Band "Husbands"—Geese "Don't Forget That I Love you"—Pale Jay “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra 

No Brian this week The Sponsors We want to thank Underground Printing for starting this and making it possible—stop by and pick up some gear, check them out at ugpmichiganapparel.com, or check out our selection of shirts on the MGoBlogStore.com. And let's not forget our associate sponsors: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklar Brothers, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Radecki Oral Surgery, Long Road Distillers, and SignalWire where we are recording this. Featured Musician: Grand Gesture THE VIDEO: [After THE JUMP: Things discussable.]  --------------------- 1. Purdue Preview: Offense starts at the top Injured Mockobee, injured, turnover-prone starting QB in a battle with Arkansas transfer. OL gets worse from left to right. Receivers drop more than ours. Tight end was one dude who's hurt and three weirdos. They move the ball with College Crappe: screens, GT Counters, lots of RPOs, and the occasional baller play by Ryan Browne. DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES WINK. 2. Purdue Preview: Defense starts at 25:22 That secondary is rough and getting rougher. They have one good lineman, plus maybe a second in Breeon Ishmail. Linebackers came with Odom. Do the Nebraska thing where they give you lots of weird fronts, 3-3-5, 404 Tite, Mint, etc. so they confuse your reads. Going to be fits and starts, need to take advantage of the cracks without Haynes. 3. MSU After Review starts at 45:51 Defensive UFR things: Jimmy Rolder was a star for more reasons than you think. Jyaire Hill took away their main thing. Chiles looks broken, MSU OL look broken, they are down bad. 4. We Solve the Coaching Carousel starts at 1:03:29 Open and soon to be open coaching jobs, person who has to approve, person we would choose. We ship LSU, PSU, Florida, Arkansas, VT, Wisconsin, UCLA, Stanford, MSU, Oregon State, and Oklahoma State, plus Seth has one more because we stole a coach from somewhere. Featured Artist: Grand Gesture (Spotify) We featured Grand Gesture on this show back in 2017 and I rediscovered their album I downloaded (for free) from Bandcamp. Reader Ryan Dembinsky (class of 2000) is one of the guitar players in this NYC band that promises "Protean fjord jam rock." I'd actually characterize it as a great example of the more interesting stuff that came out at the end of the garage rock era (other examples: Apollo Sunshine, Starlight Mints) that I thought was better than the genre that birthed it. Ryan also used to write the Ghosts of Wayne Fontes blog back when MGoBlog was young (2006-2009) and sports blogging was a budding industry. I'm not sure they're still together—the last show on their FB page was pre-pandemic—and even then they were all musicians on the side with full-time jobs. I wonder what would have happened if they took this professional though, because they're pretty good and got some buzz in the NYC music scene around 2017. Songs: Straw in My Sock Computer Love 1,000 Yard Stare Also because Across 110th Street will get our Youtubes taken down, the opener and outro: “The Employee is Not Afraid”—Bear vs. Shark “Ruska Vodka”—Motorboat

(No Brian this week—that was planned—and I overslept) Things Discussed: THE CRAIG ROSS HOUR Rudoph Verchow, most likely, I dunno. I wasn't there. Bredeson had a game—Sam explains what's going on with the blocking scheme. He's not reading on the fly; he's reading whether there's someone in the B gap, come get him! Run game cooking: MSU slanted into them but they had Bredeson to answer. Bryce: Concerned, not panicked. What's going on? RPOs are a comfort zone for him, but on 16 RPOs he only threw one and they were there for him. Coaches didn't have him prepared for nickel pressures. Gotta notice when the DBs are lined up over each other in the slot. THE PART I WAS THERE FOR MSU was pretty bad. Aidan Chiles has regressed badly. Guards easy to push around or just get out of the way. Jimmy Rolder had a GAME, though some of those events were just MSU bad. Jyaire Hill played great, shut down Nick Marsh and that was the end of what MSU can do. He had the one failed chuck on a long throw late. Okay, –2, but didn't offset a great night. Young guys make mistakes. Good gameplan from Rossi against a true freshman QB, Bryce is going to have to learn to trust his pockets and see the rush. TJ Guy: back to TJ Dude. Important because Cam Brandt isn't playing well, Nate Marshall is Not Ready. DTs are fine. They rotate so much it's hard for anyone to get traction. Benny and Pierce are much better than the others, but they were able to run their defense in a way that everybody just had to hold up to doubles and let the LBs make plays. Payne is fine. Williams is fine and gets one big play a game. Pierce is hurt or else they could play him more—warrior. LBs if Rolder and Sullivan are out: Move Barham back? I guess you have to. Bowles didn't have a good game; the 2nd & 19 one of the things you need is for him to drop back in a "V". Purdue: Old USC OC, don't Wink out.

1 Hour and 2 Minutes 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. Segment 1:  Opener discusses the Frozen Frenzy, among other topics. Perron's skill provides the first goal. Ivankovic steals the day. Special teams good again. Too many penalties bogging down the flow of 5v5. Have you ever seen an empty netter like that one? Segment 2:  Another pretty even game, just didn't go Michigan's way. Called off goal might've been the turning point. First freshmen defensive breakdowns of the year. Felt like a trap game going in. Is PSU good? Is Wisconsin good? Is anyone in the B1G besides MSU good? ND seems okay but Michigan should aim for a sweep   MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "Bronco" -- Pigeon Pit Ice Hockey (NES) theme

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, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. Offense vs Michigan State Starts at 1:05 They watch games in Craig's garage but to be clear it's a very nice garage. This game means different things based on if you're from Michigan or not. This game is like "Jerry Springer: the Rivalry". Michigan went back to the 2023 "we can just run the ball and get away with a win" gameplan. 'Road Bryce' seems to be a real thing. Every time they show Jonathan Smith he looks like he doesn't want to be there. Should there be an ingrained hatred of Michigan if you're going to be the head coach at Michigan State? Bryce doesn't have a good game but both backs go for over 100 yards. Bryce looked great last week, what happened? Or is this just the case of a true freshman in a road environment again? Sprague and Guarnera had great games, El-Hadi maybe not so much? The pieces for the 2026 offensive line may already be in place. Let's talk about Semaj... We're mostly out on Semaj, do you bench him now for his own good? Jordan Marshall: runs through guys and runs through guys. The Crippen high snap was unfortunate. Can anyone play fullback better than Max Bredeson?  [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]  2. Defense vs Michigan State Starts at 59:04 We've been down on Wink but this was a good game for the defense. You can't take much on this based on the performance of the opposition. Chiles was awful in a vacuum, Michigan was not forcing his problems. Hillman had a really good game, he's been given a lot of criticism but this was a chaotically good game. Jimmy Rolder was a little bit of everywhere, he's a playmaker now. Derrick Moore is pretty good, he should start! Everything around the defensive tackle position is fine but we're used to a defense designed around great defensive tackles. Defensive backs should have as equal right to the ball as wide receivers.  3. Hot Takes, Game Theory, and Special Teams Starts at 1:26:57 Takes hotter than the bacteria and/or virus that really got up in Brian's business this week. Glue the hat and pants on, Michigan State's not getting the trophy back. Some of us don't think that guy was off-sides... or was he? The hold on Crippen is not even remotely a hold. If that's a hold then we need to talk about Jaishawn Barham. Why are we accepting a fair catch on the 20?? We are out on J.B. Brown as special teams coordinator. Hollenbeck had a nice game at least. Semaj gets run over by Goodwin?! Should they have taken a shot in the endzone before the end of the half?   4. Around the Big Ten with Jamie Mac Starts at 1:51:10 Rutgers 27, Purdue 24 The Purdue QB catches his own pass and spectacularly hands the game over to Rutgers in dramatic fashion. Rutgers gets yards, not points. Purdue wins a game they probably shouldn't have. This game kind of saved Rutgers' season, they could potentially compete with Penn State for bowl eligibility.  Nebraska 28, Northwestern 21 Northwestern outgains Nebraska and Dylan Raiola was un-inspiring. That said, Raiola was still the better QB. Northwestern always seems to find the worst QB in the portal. Nebraska seems to think they can solve their offensive line problems with the portal but they can't.  Indiana 56, UCLA 6 There was a pick-six a minute into the game and that's all she wrote. Last year Indiana was a fun story, this year THEY'RE SCARY.  Washington 42, Illinois 25 Road Washington is a thing. The worst roughing the passer call we've ever seen is in this game. Could Oregon be a play-in for a playoff spot for Washington??  Oregon 21, Wisconsin 7 Wisconsin doesn't get shut out three games in a row! All things considered, the Wisconsin defense is playing their hearts out.  Iowa 41, Minnesota 3 Iowa had 274 total yards. How do you get 41 points on 274 total yards? It's Iowa. We need a Floyd of Rosedale pose on touchdowns in this game. Playoff Iowa??? No, that's silly.  MUSIC: "Chokkan Way"—Haku "My Girlfriend Doesn't Worry"—Jeffrey Lewis "Nausea"—Jeff Rosenstock “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra   

The Sponsors We want to thank Underground Printing for starting this and making it possible—stop by and pick up some gear, check them out at ugpmichiganapparel.com, or check out our selection of shirts on the MGoBlogStore.com. And let's not forget our associate sponsors: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklar Brothers, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Radecki Oral Surgery, Long Road Distillers, and SignalWire where we are recording this. Featured Musician: Chirp THE VIDEO: [After THE JUMP: Things discussable.]  --------------------- 1. MSU Preview: Offense starts at the top. What have they done to Aidan Chiles? He's dinky this year, and not very accurate as a dinker either. Be careful of his rushes. MSU fans are turning on their coaches already. Offensive line is a shambles of injury. Nick Marsh, enter the dang portal already friend. They're not even throwing to him deep. Sandbagging for this game? Please don't Wink out—they've been running a million screens. 2. MSU Preview: Defense starts at 20:26 Let Bryce cook, we say! A lot of cyans as yards are coming easily. They run both types of switch coverages—weird to see Dantonio's low safeties and press corners against a passing spread (it didn't work). Best thing to do is repeat last week's approach. 3. Washington After Review starts at 43:48 Waiting for Brian to tell us about Bryce and Frazier, but they looked pretty good. Drops were an issue, are an issue. Seth proposes a prospectin' name for Jordan Marshall. Defensively Washington contributed a lot to our scores, but credit Wink or the people who yelled at him for going back to the 2024 Ohio State gameplan. Long discussion on the rotations, especially at DL—Cam Brandt isn't Derrick Moore or a young Derrick Moore and it's unfair to be playing him as such. Also Jordan Young at the end of the 2nd half when you've got a 7-point lead. 3. Hoops and Hockey Check-In starts at 1:15:54 Hockey is undefeated after their best game in years vs WMU, game 2 is tonight and will be intense. Hoops has their 2nd exhibition, hopefully with a frontcourt this time, and this one has all the makings of an elite matchup. Featured Artist: Chirp Chirp is a four-piece band that hops around genres. I don't they've opened for Vulfpeck but they're part of that same progressive rock/funk and jazz-fusion scene. Formed in 2015, Jay Frydenlund, Brian Long, Sam Naples, and Patrick Blommel have been playing concerts and festivals all around the region. I saw them with Joe Hertler (featured here before), and got a notification in my email this week that they'll be at the Pig at the end of November (11/28), so I figured it's a good time to bring them up. I have them on my work playlist, mostly for their covers, but the songs featured are all off their 2022 album. Songs: "By the Book" (video) "Little Friend" "Fast Food Blues"       Also because Across 110th Street will get our Youtubes taken down, the opener and outro: “The Employee is Not Afraid”—Bear vs. Shark “Ruska Vodka”—Motorboat

Things Discussed: OFFENSE Bryce Underwood had has best game yet. Throws down the middle of the field can beat ANYTHING. His RPO reads are on point. Chip is doing a great job with him. How do they keep finding these TEs? Michigan made a lot of young guy mistakes but also overcame them because they have kids who can step up. Max Bredeson for Heisman? PFF numbers on him don't capture what he does. The split stretch trap TD was a *READ* by Bredeson!!! Offensive philosophies: One school of thought (Lloyd, Harbaugh) is if you option you let the defense call the plays. Other school of thought (Chip, Malzahn) is take what they give you. Post-Gattis, M ran maybe three RPOs/season. Blake Frazier: Still not super strong but that agility is visible. Ryan Hayes as a RS Fr would have looked like this. In the break: Sam Webb's football career, Craig praises Seth/Brian, Seth says there are MSU guys who would do this sort of thing (e.g. Chris Vannini) if they had the fanbase to support it. Michigan fans want to KNOW more than they want to believe. DEFENSE USC gameplan vs the Washington gameplan. This was the Ohio State 2024 gameplan: play four against the run, 75% two-deep, lots of QQH, and invite the opponent to screw up. Will Howard, Demond Williams: these are college QBs. If you give them enough opportunities to make hard reads they'll screw up and throw it at a defender. This has gotta be hard for Wink because if you play this way against an NFL team you'll get shredded. Vanilla defense unlocked fast play from their linebackers. Yay Michigan went away from Bear fronts against 2 TEs on the field. This is hard for Wink, but he's not good at disguising fire blitzes, and believes he does. Got away with it at the Ravens because he had great man coverage defenders. He needs to use less of them to keep them effective. They still got taken advantage of on passing downs in this game. Edge defense: only one Barham went too high incident, which is VERY GOOD! Hutch would have games with 1 or 2 and I'd praise him to the heavens. Need to calibrate. M mixing more man into their coverages. Jordan Young out there at the end of the half—that kind of stuff has to stop. Young is young Rod Moore, but at this stage it's Rod against Washington in 2021 not Rod against OSU—Rod needed time to become the guy who could start against Ohio State.

1 Hour and 16 Minutes 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. Segment 1: Thursday Escape and Friday Dominance  Opener Tight Game...On the Scoreboard Friday Night Beatdown Attempted Takeaways Segment 2: NHL, Scores, and Previews  We Dig Into NHL Storylines and Team Old Friends and Around the League Western Michigan and William Whitelaw Revenge   MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "People I Don't Like" -- UPSAHL Ice Hockey (NES) theme

2 hour and 10 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, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. Offense vs Washington Starts at 1:05 Pay no attention to the background noise from the drag show at Venue. This game was vanilla and we like that. Bryce Underwood had a fabulous day despite losing about 50 yards from drops. There seems to be a big difference between Road Bryce and Home Bryce. Michigan didn't take many deep shots because the short stuff was working great and Washington has tall corners. The remaining road games shouldn't be nearly as threatening as the previous three. The game is over but they have a designed run for Bryce? Jordan Marshall isn't Justice Haynes but he gets a lot of yards after contact. He's still working on re-gapping but overall an excellent first start for him. Jasper Parker looked fine. Under Harbaugh not much changed between offensive coordinators, but with Chip Lindsey a lot has changed already. He was dealing in the first touchdown drive. When's the last time we came out of a game thinking "oh wow they nuked the defensive coordinator?" How do we feel about going for it on 4th down and passing it to Mr. Dropsies? Running it up the middle is probably a 70% conversion, throwing it to Semaj is also a 70% conversion but for different reasons. Evan Link looks to be done for the year. Bryce's first scramble was Frazier getting knocked backwards, he seems fine but doesn't quite have the oomf that Evan Link does. Zack Marshall had a great game, what happened to the starting tight ends? Overall the offensive line was fine.  2. Defense vs Washington Starts at 34:40 The defense only gave up seven points but everyone is still a little mad. Michigan runs a pretty vanilla defense and it works nicely because college quarterbacks are going to make mistakes. Oden did intercept the ball but uhh... it was not because of his performance. Washington shot themselves in the foot but also Jaishawn Barham was much more responsible. Wink is not forgiven but it was nice that this game plan was simplified and it was fine. A lot of defensive tackle rotation but not everybody is a play maker. Is Lou Esposito the one rotating the tackles so much? Maybe part of the chaos on defense is you don't get used to playing next to the same guy every snap. This will not be a -33 RPS day. Jyaire Hill is not getting targeted very much.  3. Hot Takes, Game Theory, and Special Teams Starts at 58:19 Takes hotter than the bangin' drag show going on during the recording of this podcast. Brian apologizes once again for changing "AHHH YOU PUT IT THROUGH THE UPRIGHTS" and disrupting the cosmic balance. Zvada misses another field goal but gets the game sealer. Punting was a 35 yarder and then a rocket. No major complains about Semaj on punt returns except that he hit the spin button at the wrong time. The 4th and 1 drop to Semaj was unfortunate. What about the 4th and 2 on the 6? The whistle blew too early. Max Bredeson's holding call is the worst holding call since that Northwestern holding call. Stadium vibe: some people could actually use their phones! It should not take nine minutes to get a $9 coke, the athletic department doesn't pay close attention to the small things. Apparently concession people at Yost don't get paid but the athletic department can finally install cell phone towers at Michigan Stadium after 11 years under Warde.  4. Around the Big Ten with Jamie Mac Starts at 1:26:57 Iowa 25, Penn State 24 The nicest thing you can say about Penn State is that a lot of big programs are in collapse. Drew Allar's career is over, Ethan Grunkemeyer throws for 93 yards and throws two interceptions. Iowa threw for 68 yards but ran for 245 yards, Iowa should just run the triple option!  UCLA 20, Maryland 17 You gotta respect Maryland's commitment to one Army drive and then not doing a thing after. UCLA looked like the better team all game. This was a Big Ten [wild wild] West game. This is Maryland's third straight heartbreaking loss, they can't finish games with a freshman QB. There's still a path to a bowl.  Indiana 38, Michigan State 13 Shout out to everyone who listened to this on Spartan Radio. Indiana's offense was extremely efficient. Fernando Mendoza was 24/28 for 332 yards and four touchdowns. Indiana football fans were mad that they weren't winning by more. Did Indiana give up enough passing yards to be concerned with playoff implications for the Hoosiers? Northwestern 19, Purdue 0 Northwestern gets one 76 yard scoring drive and that's about all the scoring in this game. Don't let the score fool you into thinking that Northwestern has figured something out.  Notre Dame 34, USC 24 USC takes a 3rd quarter lead followed by Notre Dame getting a kickoff return. Then USC just falls apart in the 4th quarter. This was frustrating to watch as a Michigan fan.  Ohio State 34, Wisconsin 0 134 total yards for Wisconsin and that's generous. Oh god they play Oregon next weekend. Minnesota 24, Nebraska  Dylan Raiola is sacked nine times, that's too many times. Nebraska had just entered the top 25 and has now exited the top 25. A left tackle was ejected for targeting! Shout out to Minnesota fans for really filling the stadium on a Friday night.  Oregon 56, Rutgers 10 14 different Oregon players went for at least 10 yards on a play. Oregon was very upset about their Indiana game. Somehow there wasn't a rutger. Oregon had 233 breakaway yards, Rutgers had 202 total yards.  MUSIC: "Brand New Second Hand"—Peter Tosh "It's Not Easy"—Ofege "Plain as Your Eyes Can See"—Jim Sullivan “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra   

The Sponsors We want to thank Underground Printing for starting this and making it possible—stop by and pick up some gear, check them out at ugpmichiganapparel.com, or check out our selection of shirts on the MGoBlogStore.com. And let's not forget our associate sponsors: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklar Brothers, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Radecki Oral Surgery, Long Road Distillers, and SignalWire where we are recording this. Featured Musician: Rawhide THE VIDEO: [After THE JUMP: Things discussable.]  --------------------- 1. Washington Preview: Offense starts at noon, we hope Massive respect for their skill positions, not so much their offensive line, which means this game will mostly be a test of whether Wink learned anything from last week, or cares to now that he's put his football career on life support. 2. Washington Preview: Defense starts around 12:15 PM Not the offense. D'Anton Lynn is on the Ravens tree but he's not having the same success, mostly because they can't seem to get the defensive line up to size. Devan Thompkins is 290, Jide Abasiri is 295. Edges were highly ranked (Anthony Lucas was a pre-Elston Michigan target) but sophomore Kameryn Crawford isn't panning out like a top-100 is supposed to. They added Portal #25 Keeshawn Silver from Kentucky and a 5-star freshman, but they haven't changed that math, and are getting pushed around. We do still like Kamari Ramsey, who came with Lynn from UCLA and has been playing nickel this year. Cornerbacks are tall. 3. Hoops and Hockey Check-In starts around 12:30 PM Hockey is off to a hot start after a two-game road sweep of Providence, though having to come back against Robert Morris last night put the first little damper on it. Basketball starts tonight with an exhibition against Cincinnati at Crisler that will be our first look at the transfers. Question #1 is how physical will they be up front, because Cincy has a brawler. Will they try three bigs? 4. USC After Review starts around 1:00 PM I had three RPS-3s, two for screens and one for the Power after the 3rd & 26 and TD, which were both Power, when Wink ran an exotic that had no chance against Power. If they can cut out half of their shit and get their best players (read: seniors like TJ Guy) on the field, they should be able to get righted. Offensively it was a better performance than 13 points. There weren't that many drives, and Bryce struggled. His passes might be flat because he's getting sped up (Gardner has been in that position). Marshall missed two big cuts that Haynes makes. OL was okay; El-Hadi's return wasn't great, there were some mistakes from Guarnera, but USC's defense didn't ask Sprague to do too much and he did well, and Link had MAs but wasn't straight-up beat. Brian doesn't blame Bryce for the interception—once the WR wins inside he's going to win the route—but the throw to Marsh could have put him in the endzone if Bryce is feeling confident in his throw. Maybe give him some max pro to Featured Artist: Rawhide (formerly Girl Fight) Last May someone was carrying a tom into Ziggy's with a bumper sticker that read if "If you don't like Motörhead Fuck you" with American and British flags on it. My one friend snapped a photo and sent it to our group for commentary from the guy who founded (and sold) an MGoBlog-sized site about metal music. This thread of college roommates/bandmates/best friends is like 10% Michigan sports, 20% Xennial parent shit, and 70% music shit, meaning music prompts can result in 42-message threads that the college football guy in the middle of writing a college football preview magazine might not get to until he's trying to clear unread notifications many months later. This is how I found I had missed the group discovering a new genre/EP called Michigan Fuzz Punk by Rawhide, a two-piece (Ellen Cope and Jacob Bloom) Michigan band formerly known as Girl Fight. What I know about them comes from this column. The EP is pay what you may ($13.10 is fair). Anyway this is me talking about Michigan Fuzz Punk, which is both an excellent description of the genre and the EP's title. I am a total tourist in this genre so I'll refrain from talking about it like I know shit about shit, except I'm super intrigued to see what this is actually like live since the recordings only hint at it. I'll say the song Reach Me kicks and it's hilarious that "Greta is a Punk" and "Paige's Song" are the same song. Songs: "Stone Cold" "Reach Me" "Clocked In"        Also because Across 110th Street will get our Youtubes taken down, the opener and outro: “The Employee is Not Afraid”—Bear vs. Shark “Ruska Vodka”—Motorboat

Things Discussed: RIP Zia Combs. Wink shit. Brian and I are done. Is it coaching or players? I say coaching, because there's no point in running the stuff, even if it's good stuff, if you don't have the coaching points down, and the #1 coaching points are not in. They're going to have to simplify, stick to some basics until they can run all of this stuff. Hillman: Unplayable at this bust rate, but too good of a player to not coach the bust rate out of him. Players going off-script? If it's seniors you gotta ask why they think they have to. Wink Shit: Never drops a DT into a screen. Plays three DTs. Expected long passing and got short. Had no way to defend power. It was all so easy; the only thing that stopped USC was a bad call and 2 redzone turnovers. Worst coaching performance since Rich Rod made Greg Robinson go 3-3-5 vs Purdue in 2009. Offense is young but you can see what they'll look like post-mistakes. Found a WR2 in Marsh, might want to try some max-pro to get BU confident.

1 Hour and 3 Minutes 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. Segment 1: Friday Beatdown  Opener Back and Forth Opening Period Second Period Drubbing Shutdown Third Period Segment 2: Saturday Sweep, Non-Con Shockers, What's a Bobby Mo?  Special Teams and Breakaways Series Takeaways. Feeling Pretty Good? Hockey Jaime Segement We Want Mo' Bobby  MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "Providence" -- Poor Man's Poison Ice Hockey (NES) theme

2 hour and 21 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, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. Defense vs USC Starts at 1:00 Seth reads off an ominous message from Brian from earlier last week. USC's success rate was typical of a good offense against a MAC team. This was the dumbest game plan we've ever seen a Michigan defensive coordinator execute. Wink Martindale coaches like he looks down on college and Brian is officially done with him. Is Wink just Charlie Weis?? What happened between The Meeting from last year and this year? Mike McDonald made a lot of the same mistakes in his first four games but he was able to adjust to what was around him, Wink can't change. Would things be better if they fired Wink Martindale and just made Rod Moore the defensive coordinator? His answer to the question "are you spilling or setting the edge" was "it depends on the playcall" which raises a red flag. How much actual player development is being done? They're playing their subs in the first quarter, Brandt had more snaps than Derrick Moore. USC was running a lot of really easy stuff but they may legitimately be one of the best offenses in the country. Why are they subbing so much against such a good offense? His buyout is head coach money to be one of the worst defensive coordinators in the Big Ten. It's not just younger guys making mistakes, it's older guys, too. At some point you gotta think "maybe this is a tunnel screen?" USC had a 66% standard downs success rate.  [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]  2. Offense vs USC Starts at 40:07 There was a limited number of drives in part because USC ran the clock a lot. Bryce Underwood just wasn't quite up for it in this one. His deep passes were too flat but he had some good moments too. Denard talked about how in big games we was so amped that he couldn't hit his targets, maybe Bryce is still a little nervous in big games. USC's nickel is nicknamed "the angry giraffe" because he's so tall. Andrew Marsh is getting better rapidly and is becoming the next best option #2, maybe that's why the tight ends got fewer targets. The pieces of a solid offense are there, they're still developing. The tackles weren't getting whipped consistently. Despite the issues, Bryce is developing as expected for a freshman, he has a lot of added pressure when the defense can't stop the opposing offense. Based on limited snaps of Jadyn Davis, maybe you can't run Bryce as much to risk injury. El-Hadi was back and looked fine.  3. Hot Takes, Game Theory, and Special Teams Starts at 1:04:56 Takes hotter than the eternal flame in the Los Angeles Coliseum (which does get put out at the conclusion of the game). The game might've been going a bit fast which caused the false starts. The OPI was a bad call. Michigan drew a holding call!! A lot of extracurriculars went uncalled. Hollenbeck's punting started promising but eventually resulted in a 28 yarder. Do you punt or try for a 60 yard field goal? That two point conversion is apparently the thing you do now? The USC cheerleaders were on the field when Michigan was running a play!  4. Around the Big Ten with Jamie Mac Starts at 128:41 NOTE: This was recorded just before James Franklin was fired. Indiana 30, Oregon 20 This was a defensive masterclass from Indiana. This is how 2023 Michigan would've beaten Oregon. How the hell does Indiana have one of the best defenses in America?? This was really the first game all year where Dante Moore was under pressure and didn't seem to know what to do. Indiana has signs of... a championship winning team?! Penn State 21, Northwestern 22 Drew Allar is out for the season. This wasn't a fluke, Northwestern just outperformed Penn State. Linebacker U has completely fallen apart and Jim Knowles doesn't seem to know how to be aggressive with this roster. Will... Penn State win a Big Ten game?? James Franklin was fired immediately after this recording so there's still speculation on what to do with this situation. The situation at Penn State just seems toxic all around.  UCLA 38, Michigan State 13 Michigan State scores on their first drive and then that's all, folks. October UCLA is the opposite of October Maryland. Michigan State can't move on from John Smith for stability reasons... can they? What do the Spartans do well? What Big Ten teams would swap their QB with Aidan Chiles? Nebraska 34, Maryland 31 Nebraska had control of this game down-to-down but Dylan Raiola threw three interceptions. October Maryland can't get out of their way again. Raiola isn't quite there yet but has a shot at it next year.  Ohio State 34, Illinois 16 Ohio State was never really threatened. Illinois outgains Ohio State 295 to 275 but three of Ohio State's first four drives started in Illinois territory.  Iowa 37, Wisconsin 0 Sim to basketball season. This wasn't even an Iowa offensive explosion, Wisconsin threw two interceptions and lost a fumble. You can't fire Fickell but you also can't afford not to? Washington 38, Rutgers 19 A fun first half but Washington blows the doors open in the second half. Total yards were 590 to 493. Rutgers is 0-3 in the Big Ten but had a halftime lead in each of those games.  Purdue 20, Minnesota 27 Minnesota is outrushed 253 to 30 rushing yards but Purdue throws three interceptions and loses a fumble. If you rewatch this game, we will have to call 911. MUSIC: "Au Pays do Cocaine"—Geese "See You Again"—Tyler the Creator "Havin' or Not"—LaRussell and Lil Jon “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra   

The Sponsors We want to thank Underground Printing for starting this and making it possible—stop by and pick up some gear, check them out at ugpmichiganapparel.com, or check out our selection of shirts on the MGoBlogStore.com. And let's not forget our associate sponsors: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklar Brothers, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Radecki Oral Surgery, Long Road Distillers, and SignalWire where we are recording this. Featured Musician: Syd Burnham THE VIDEO: [After THE JUMP: Things discussable.]  --------------------- 1. USC Preview: Offense starts at the top Maiva is getting 12 YPA vs blitzes, so maybe don't Wink so much in this game. They're using a lot more 12 personnel and splitbacks this year as well so it's not just your standard Lincoln Riley spread. It's still Lincoln Riley though, and it's been murder on a mostly bad offense. A big reason is the All-American slot/flanker Makai Lemon. There aren't as many outside guys as last year but they kept their two favorites; Ja'Kobi Lane is back and huge, but freshman Tanook Hines is getting most of the snaps at the other side. You do have to be wary of tight end Lake McRee and JUCO RB Waymond Jordan. OL might be better than they were against Illinois, when they had some significant injuries; we expect LT Elijah Paige to be back but not center Killian O'Connor, so they'll have to play 7th year senior J'Onre Reed. 2. USC Preview: Defense starts at 19:15 Not the offense. D'Anton Lynn is on the Ravens tree but he's not having the same success, mostly because they can't seem to get the defensive line up to size. Devan Thompkins is 290, Jide Abasiri is 295. Edges were highly ranked (Anthony Lucas was a pre-Elston Michigan target) but sophomore Kameryn Crawford isn't panning out like a top-100 is supposed to. They added Portal #25 Keeshawn Silver from Kentucky and a 5-star freshman, but they haven't changed that math, and are getting pushed around. We do still like Kamari Ramsey, who came with Lynn from UCLA and has been playing nickel this year. Cornerbacks are tall. 3. Wisconsin After Review starts at 36:56 Underwood is coming along, the RBs are elite, and Andrew Marsh is happening. Still have McCulley the #1 with a bullet, and it's nice to see they're giving him leapy chances now. Not sure where PFF (and Sam apparently) are getting the bad pass protection grades for the tackles, because we thought they were fine. The young OL have mistakes but they fix them, and they all have the talent. Fire blitzes were the order of the day. Weird seeing this defense spill but that's what they do sometimes I guess. Rod Moore's return was a bigger deal than you think. Seth's not as mad at Wink as you think.  4. Around the Big Ten starts at 52:45 There are some pretty big games this weekend (and that's more interesting than hockey vs Mercyhurst) so we previewed each of them. Indiana at Oregon: "…is a top-ten matchup" means Okay grandpa let's get you back to a home. Oregon by 7. If IU's OL is legit they can win and if they can beat Oregon there's no ceiling on this team. I can't believe in Indiana! Ohio State at Illinois: They'll lean. UCLA at Michigan State: What's funnier: MSU losing at home to UCLA or UCLA immediately losing by like 60 after beating Penn State? MSU fans are already saying Jonathan Smith doesn't have That Dawg in him. He seems like a normal human being, not an angry little dwarf. Nebraska at Maryland: Interesting game with what happened with Maryland last week. They are throwing many screens. Rutgers at Washington: Expect a high-scoring game. Would like this game on the opposite coast but Rutgers's offense is hit or miss and three time zones suggests miss. Northwestern at Penn State: PSU fans are already salty after the Eagles and Gavin McKenna/PSU hockey just lost to Clarkston. If you have one punt there could be a riot; OTOH Penn State fans respect Northwestern's big win over a tough UCLA team. Iowa at Wisconsin: euugh. Special teams malfeasance by Wisconsin will ruin them. Purdue at Minnesota: Vaguely watchable? Featured Artist: Marcus: Syd Burnham Okay reader who keeps asking: this is when I'll do Syd Burnham (now Osten; she got married this summer, but kept the performing name). Syd is an indie rock musician and graphic designer from Detroit who mixes a bunch of genres (jazz, singer-songwriter, etc.) to come up with a unique sound. She made an impact with her debut EP "The Yellow Album," at the age of 16, followed by her album "Timeline" at 19. She has since released hit singles like "Summertime," "4 A Grl," "Milky," and "By Then" but her live performances are what carved out a dedicated audience in the Detroit music scene. Syd goes up there with just a guitar and her voice but has a magnetic stage presence who incorporates her modern art into the music, and incorporates local themes into the artwork. Links: IG, YT, FB, Spotify. Songs: "A GRL" "Best Friend" "By Then"        Also because Across 110th Street will get our Youtubes taken down, the opener and outro: “The Employee is Not Afraid”—Bear vs. Shark “Ruska Vodka”—Motorboat