MGoBlog: The MGoPodcast

2 hours and 56 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, The Aretha Franklin Amphitheatre, Radecki Oral Surgery, Long Road Distillers, and Venue by 4M where recorded this.

1. Offense vs Oklahoma
Starts at 0:54

That... went better than we expected. Seth was right about Oregon's offensive line. Michigan won this game by listening to the MGoPodcast! Or at least they looked at the film and did the obvious thing to do. Offensively it looks like they tightened it up and simplified things, they looked at things Bryce was good at a year ago and emphasized his legs. It looks like Bryce went through some progressions and then decided to scramble a couple times. There were some plays that could've gone better but it wasn't on Bryce's decision making, Oklahoma was just covering the field well. Savion Hiter screwed up a zone read twice, freshman mistake (that had us and Bryce rattled). If you want to win a game against Oklahoma you need to run Underwood 18 times a game and that's what they did - Whittingham wished he ran more. Bryce seems more comfortable rolling out - that lob to Hiter on the sidelines was right out of his high school film. Fumbles need to be cleaned up, QBs aren't active in practice so they're probably not practicing ball security as much. Don't pitch the ball over a defender's head. They won by game-managing and being content with 17 points. Jason Beck had a fantastic gameplan with what he had against a hyper-aggressive defense. The Marshall-Cat seems redundant when you have Bryce's legs. Savion Hiter has it and is making pre-season All-SEC players look silly. They're finding ways to get Marsh the ball. JJ Buchanan is... really good. They really only used the starting wide receivers, Goodwin, Travis Johnson, and Ffrench did not contribute. Pass protection was generally very good, they were also going against one of the best run defenses in America. Michigan doesn't quite have the mental processing speed yet but all things considered they did pretty well. We go about 47 minutes before complaining about the rhino, which means it went a lot better. 

2. Defense vs Oklahoma
Starts at 54:15

Can't ask for much more than only giving up 10 points. That said, it was apparent that Oklahoma's o-line was very banged up, they had two guys rushing back from knee sprains. Michigan ran a 3-3-5 because they only needed to run their two good defensive tackles, this probably won't translate well against better offensive lines. Dom Nichols has earned his star. Jay Hill's gameplan was a weird hybrid of Don Brown and Jesse Minter - we're a man-to-man team but we're also confusing the quarterback? Bracy punching the ball out was reminiscent of his play at Memphis. Nate Marshall is Josh Uche. He was a great pass rusher but got baited on some run plays. Cam Brandt only had six snaps, they're giving the snaps to guys who make plays (this didn't happen last year). Palepale didn't play but Lea'ea did. Overall the coverages were excellent and even zone (which they don't usually do) was good enough. NOB made a play. There were a lot of hugs with Cole Sullivan after the game, would've been nice to have him at Michigan on this defense. Snowden was excellent, you've got three NFL-ready defensive backs on the field (not including Earls yet). Jyaire Hill - stupid penalty, don't do it again. Pretty interception. Defensive tackles were nice, Pierce was the best to stand up to double teams. Defensive lines will be graded on a curve. 

3. Hot Takes, Special Teams, and Game Theory
Starts at 1:30:34

Takes hotter than Brian predicting the Oklahoma gameplan. We saw a field goal! What was the biggest punting EPA above expected? Punting might become a dangerous weapon on this team. Should the caught punt have been a touch back? It's when you have possession but that feels wrong. They go for it on 4th and 1, Bryce is a big guy for sneaks. Are the penalties partially because there's a new coaching staff with new schemes they're thinking through and also some "Sherrone"-ness leftover? Don't rush the punter on 4th and 5 or less. Remember, if you touch the ball you can assault the punter. Should that helmet coming off been a penalty? Certain penalties should go away over the course of the year, it's a very young offense learning new things. This crew was an SEC crew that was a bit more ticky-tacky about holds. The Oklahoma fans were great and everyone we've talked to said they had a great time. Home and home games like this are so fun and are what college football is all about. Everyone is going to remember this game, Michigan beat Oklahoma. Oklahoma fans will probably always remember the game last year. 
 

4. Around the Big Ten with Jamie Mac
Starts at 2:04:31

Lightning Round:
Indiana 55, Howard 0
Wisconsin 36, Western Illinois 9
Nebraska 56, BGSU 7
Michigan State 35, Eastern Michigan 7
Maryland 38, UConn 14
UCLA 28, SDSU 10
Minnesota 13, Mississippi State 38
Rutgers 21, Boston College 28
Purdue 35, Wake Forest 38

Oregon 31, Oklahoma State 39
The score was close but Oklahoma State dominated. Seth was right about Oregon's offensive line being a problem. Oklahoma State snaps a 21 game FBS losing streak (they still have an 18 game Big 12 losing streak). Oklahoma State outgained Oregon 554 to 281. 

Ohio State 23, Texas 24
Texas goes into the 4th quarter down 23-3 and rallies back. There's a hilariously missed 45 yard field goal. The Ohio State offense was Jeremiah Smith and that was about it. 16 of Julian Sayin's 32 passes went to Jeremiah Smith. This is Ohio State's third straight loss to a P4 team, in which they've scored 10, 10, and 23 points. 

Iowa 16, Iowa State 13
The most El Assico score possible. Iowa had a coherent looking offense at times, that's scary! Iowa has a wide receiver, Tony Diaz, who already has 15 catches on the year. The Hawkeyes did only rush for 3.2 yards per carry.

Illinois 27, Duke 31
This was close all game and was the opposite of El Assico until the 4th quarter. Katin Houser looks better at Illinois than he ever did at Michigan State, Collin Dixon is a dangerous wide receiver (11 catches for 166 yards, 3 TDs).

Washington 16, Utah State 14
This is alarm bells going off for Washington. The second week in a row that Washington QB Demon Williams is the lead rusher, their one-two punch is gone. No Denzel Boston? They just can't seem to score in the redzone. Washington was +3 in field goal margin and only won by two. 

Penn State 27, Temple 9
Penn State controlled this game but it was very un-inspiring. Temple had a 91 yard drive that ended in a field goal, Penn State was giving up 50 yard drives. 

USC 49, Louisiana 30
USC still looks like USC under Lincoln Riley. Louisiana's QB is named Lunch Winfield. 
 

MUSIC:

"Rein Me In"—Sam Fender and Olivian Dean

"The Rising"—Bruce Springsteen

"4EVER"—Clairo

“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, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Radecki Oral Surgery, Long Road Distillers, SignalWire where we are recording this, and introducing Applied Fitness Solutions, and The History of Michigan Football, an online course by Greg Dooley.

Featured Musician: Jacob Givens

THE VIDEO:

[After THE JUMP: The show notes, eventually.] 

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

1. Oklahoma Preview: Offense
starts at the top

John Mateer is back; we got to see the Real Mateer last year—they ran him 15 times—before he got banged up, and that unfortunately is probably happening again. Still have Isaiah Sategna, the graduated slot who's going to be a handful no matter what, and three other WRs they like plus a rising sophomore who's going to be a star eventually. Run game is no longer hampered by the old RB coach, but they've got a lot of new cooks in the kitchen, and it's not clear who's running the show. There was a lot more under-center, they've imported blocking TEs and FBs, and they're playing 3 of them at a time. Last year Arbuckle ran his Wazzu RPO-heavy passing spread; this year the linemen are going downfield. Their OL situation is messed up right now with a lot of injuries clouding things at LT, C, and RG, and insiders are skeptical about the program's report that two of their ~6 starter-caliber guys will be fully back. So...true freshman center against Trey Pierce, eh? If Oklahoma turns this into a blowout it's because they are winning the TE vs Michigan LBs battle, which is a real concern given the LBs have to respect Mateer's legs and arm.

2. Oklahoma Preview: Defense
starts at 18:45

Last year Michigan tried to ease Underwood in by doing the things you do with freshman QBs and Venables was sitting on them. You know he can coach a defense because he took over a Lincoln Riley/Cale Gundy outfit and made it an elite outfit. Took him a few years to do that of course, because he had to raise his own elite recruits. But yo: Cole Sullivan isn't even starting. They've made him the more linebacker option at CHEETAH, the VIPER equivalent. Secondary are all returning starters, front are all experienced guys. Alex was surprised however how much the UTEP run game worked on them, especially on Stone, the DT expected to be the first taken in the Draft. That was a Rich Rod 2008 effect somewhat: UTEP spread out and ran the QB and did interesting things to mess with the way Oklahoma defenders get upfield quickly. Michigan can't do what they did last year: NEED to hit some deep shots on 1st down.

3. WMU After Review: Offense
starts at 38:04

4. WMU After Review: Defense
starts at 55:24

Not great, actually. Big mistake scores in the LBs, John-Henry Daley was JAG. Did find a lot of +1 or +0.5 events for Dominic Nichols, including playing AROs well, and think Bowles is exciting in a Don Brown death marmot kind of way if they can have him not blow Day 1 things. But want more at 3rd DT than Lea'ea being a supreme effort guy—got two plays from Palepale in six snaps so there's upside here. Cam Brandt getting crushed is bad news for all of the young DEs. Nate Marshall had a young guy mistake so you see why they preferred the senior, but these guys are going to have to get a lot better. Secondary not much to say: they were fighting screens but not a lot downfield.

Featured Artist: Jacob Givens

I'm only barely on Instagram, but when I'm on there I'm usually sharing music stuff with my besties, who were all in an Ann Arbor band that tried to "make it." Jacob Givens is us, minus the Michigan football text chain. He also was making music around the same time as my friends, and finally shared it online. He's not as good at singing, but the composition and lyrics are so good I want to make a Jacob Givens video of me and my friends listening to Jacob Givens for the first time. Probably of Fluorescent.

If you've got music and won't issue a takedown notice on YouTube, I'd love to feature it on future episodes.

Songs:

Tabula Rasa

Fluorescent       

Pendulum

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:

Offensive line: one guy issues. Disappointment high, recalibrating, but not 3-9 bad.

Bryce had a hand in everything that was wrong. Staring down the receiver isn't just a problem; he shouldn't even be looking there. Making decisions before the snap and not coming off them.

Why is there a State Street/Main Street discrepancy? Don't know.

Sam: They didn't have a plan for Bryce to be that bad, which tells you they didn't think he would be?

Brian: Last year he was very up and down. Look at him like RS Fr Vince Young. He wasn't the Rose Bowl winner until that Rose Bowl. Guys like this don't come fully formed. Not writing him off. You need to do what he can do now and lean on it. Run the Dampier offense.

Seth: We set up the expectations, Bryce and the program and the system did too, and maybe that's just wrong.

What to do vs Oklahoma? They're a next-evolution Don Brown defense built to suffocate a QB run game (Cole Sullivan at CHEETAH sometimes). Hit them deep: slot fade, JJ down the sideline.

Hockey hazing lawsuit: Not surprised because that was widespread in hockey and at Michigan in that era. Seth points out it was a massive historical success that we conquered that culture 25 years ago. It was brutally hard to do that. Open that can of worms. See how ugly things were. People should know we can fix this.

Not naming Mel and Red in lawsuit: Figure UM will settle, if you add them they'll fight to preserve their reputations.

2 hours and 13 minutes

The Sponsors

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

Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, The Aretha Franklin Amphitheatre, Radecki Oral Surgery, Long Road Distillers, and Venue by 4M where recorded this.

1. Clocks and Vibes
Starts at 0:54

Brian left early. The clock said zero so he left the building. Spiritually the result of this game doesn't matter, they lost the game spiritually. After Zapruder Film Analysis, either NBC showed the wrong clock or the clock in the stadium is bad. The seconds weren't the same length?? Does college football need tenths of seconds? Was this the most disappointing game you've seen as a Michigan fan? The plays don't look coherent, it doesn't look like players are running the same thing. The run game was disappointing and Bryce Underwood does not look like he's improved from a year ago. 

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

2. Offense vs Western Michigan
Starts at 19:30

Bad. Bad in ways that make you scared about where the program is. Bryce is still zeroing in on one receiver without seeing the field. Manuel Beigel is not one of the best eight offensive linemen, why is he on the field as the rhino? He can't block. Half the line ran stretch and the other half didn't. They didn't try to just run power down their throat. It felt like they were trying to run frippery without establishing the basic stuff first. The coaches are from Utah and BYU, programs that have been established for 20 years. Are the coaches running plays like Michigan has the stability and continuity of Utah and BYU? We were hearing that Bryce's footwork was improving, is he just not learning/processing fast enough? He's got the talent but if he can't read a defense then it doesn't matter. Age-wise, Bryce is still a freshman. Why did Bryson Kuzdzal start the second half, the other two RBs barely had any plays. JJ Buchanan is pretty good! Jalen Hoffman looked good, put him out there instead of a rhino. Evan Link came a long distance last year but was disappointing this week.

3. Hot Takes, Defense, and More Vibes
Starts at 54:57

Takes hotter than the internet at about 10:30pm Saturday night. Can't be too mad at the defense because functionally they only really gave up six points. You can see things happening on the defense, the young linebackers have talent but they're making mistakes. On the ground game there's a huge difference between the starters and everybody else. They don't think they have a 3rd defensive tackle. Pierce and Etta looked pretty good. Too much Brandt. Salesi Moa didn't look terrible out there, he's an... interesting player. Defense tried to be heroes too many times. Punting was really good, Zeke Berry was an excellent gunner. Let's talk 4th downs and clock management. Nine penalties is concerning. The uniforms have got to go. The stadium volume was really low, the music wasn't deafening but you also couldn't hear the refs. The stadium experience felt "very generic". They replaced the Rose Bowl logo with a Google Gemini ad. They had to put the corporate logos on the banner that had the national championship logos on it. It feels like every year that you go to the stadium the experience gets worse. This is important to us and not to the people who are selling it. There's nothing about it now that wouldn't be materialistically different than if Dave Brandon was currently the athletic director. It looks like Michigan didn't let Western bring their band. Fans rushing the field might've been the most organic thing to happen during the game but players wanted nothing to do with it. 
 

4. Around the Big Ten with Jamie Mac
Starts at 1:46:06

Lightning round:

Indiana 52, North Texas 16
Nebraska 49, Ohio 21
Ohio State 56, Ball State 3
Penn State 45, Marshall 0
Iowa 40, Northern Illinois 0
Maryland 62, Ham 0
USC 39, Fresno State 0
Minnesota 59, Eastern Illinois 7
Northwestern 34, South Dakota State 18
Illinois 42, UAB 23
Purdue 44, Indiana State 19

Washington 24, Washington State 10
Sadly this is probably how the Apple Cup will go from now on. Washington really struggled to move the ball but Wazzu has no offense. 

Notre Dame 41, Wisconsin 13
Wisconsin's uniforms looked like Rutgers. This was not the blowout that the score suggests. Neither team could really run the ball. Wisconsin looks like a team that could make a bowl game again. 

Oregon 34, Boise State 27
Oregon almost doubles Boise State in yardage. Remember Seth's hot take about the Oregon offensive line? Dan Lanning is not building strong up front. 

UCLA 42, Cal 24
Could UCLA maybe be 7-3 when they come into Ann Arbor? They rushed for over 8 YPC. 

Michigan State 30, Toledo 20
This game was funnier Saturday morning. Toledo had some explosive plays. Doesn't move the needle on Michigan State much. 

UMass 37, Rutgers 21
UMass rushing rutger'd Rutgers. 
 

MUSIC:

"Too Much Time On My Hands"—Styx

"Against All Odds"—Phil Collins

"Walking On A Thin Line"—Huey Lewis the Names

“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, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Radecki Oral Surgery, Long Road Distillers, SignalWire where we are recording this, and introducing Applied Fitness Solutions, and The History of Michigan Football, an online course by Greg Dooley.

Featured Musician: The Unsustainables

THE VIDEO:

[After THE JUMP: The show notes, eventually.] 

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

1. WMU Preview: Offense
starts at the top

It's a Walt Bell offense! They're going to put the WRs and TEs at the sideline to draw the secondary away from a running game that goes tempo, shifts late, and has a great backfield to punish any mistakes. Big OL includes a returning all-MAC guy and two 6'6" heavies at guard. Expect the WR screens to be the main passing attack, and if it's 3rd & long they dead.

2. WMU Preview: Defense
starts at 15:27

The front seven got raided. They're finally out of Lou Esposito defensive linemen, went to the portal for an OSU walk-on and a weird DT/LB hybrid from LIU. Linebackers were formerly blitzy types, now 5th years. Secondary has one star in Joshua Franklin, the corner who returned when he could have gone to Ohio State or something, and another decent returning starter in former UConn/CMU CB Jarvarius Sims. Turner's been moved to nickel however and they're starting Presbyterian CB Willard Ferrell, who's listed at 6'1"/155, which: I believe you if you say you've gotten bigger but if that's your starting point woah. Ditto for returning free safety Joey Pope, and former Michigan walk-on, who also started for WMU last year.

3. Upon Further Preview
starts at 28:41

Things we learned while doing the previews. One is that people are calling Bryce Underwood a bust: uh, too early folks! Linebacker panic in spring was probably because they saw nine walk-on caliber players with three young guys and zero Nate Staehlings. Also Chris Bracy's arrival was like Dani Rojas.

4. The NCAA's Eligibility Crisis
starts at 53:32

Is LSU trying to corner the market on most unlikeable coaches? They are pushing this thing so hard it's turning people in favor of the NCAA. Such an incredible own goal from the NCAA to not grandfather this properly, because there were guys waiting and they drew a harsh line. Because they gave everybody the 2020-21 season for free it's really only those two classes—2021 and 2022—that didn't get a free fifth year, and all they had to do to make this make sense was extend it to players who 1) Didn't do anything pro after this rule was an option (read: not the guys LSU tried to sign, who were trying out on NFL teams); and 2) Would have eligibility under the new five-for-five rule (read: only recent grads who played four in four). Michigan would like them to play anyways because Roddy Gayle is now crucial with the McCoy injury, and it would be nice to bring back Ernest Hausmann as well.

Featured Artist: The Unsustainables

From MGoUser TxWolverine44:

My band is The Unsustainables and we're based out of Chapel Hill. We're a rock-steady ska group and recently released our first album Every Broken Heart Will Mend (we have sent out the opening title track as our unofficial single). Worst case, I hope you enjoy it! The loose Michigan connection is that I'm an alum (c/o 2012) so tenuous

Best case, I enjoy it, listen to it a bunch while writing the previews this year, and use it for our first MGoRadio episode this year. They say rock-steady ska, but if ska is a confluence of jazz and pop-punk, the jazz influence here is a much bigger part of the mix. Seeing them live up here probably isn't an option, but they have a couple of EPs that preceded this album so you can turn this on and leave it boppin' while you go through a bunch of linebacker film or whatever it is you do during the day. I used three thematic songs but the Chesterfields song was my fav when I had this on.

If you've got music and won't issue a takedown notice on YouTube, I'd love to feature it on future episodes.

Songs:

Every Broken Heart

Friday Nite

Honeydrippers   

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