MGoBlog: The MGoPodcast

1 Hour and 44 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 great buzzer beaters in sports history. Recap of the WMU game talks about power play woes, good goaltending, the early 3rd period surge, Horcoff’s blunder and then his heroism. This was a big game to win.

Segment 2

A look around the former opponents including Denver’s clash with BC, MSU’s struggles with UNH, a surprising weekend from Minnesota, and more lackluster B1G results. Then a preview of Ohio State. The Buckeyes are controlling play well so far but finishing and goaltending issues have led to a poor non-conference showing so far.

Bonus segment:
A division by division look at the NHL season so far

 

MUSIC

NHL on ESPN Theme

"Bloodsport"--Sneaker Pimps

Ice Hockey (NES) Theme

2 hours and 1 minute

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, Radecki Oral Surgery, Long Road Distillers, Applied Fitness Solutions, The History of Michigan Football, an online course by Greg Dooley, and Venue by 4M where recorded this.

1. Offense vs Indiana
Starts at 0:54

Was that the worst play call you've ever seen? After two years of charting Wink Martindale, Seth says yes. Let's talk about 3rd and goal from the one inch line. This play was supposed to go to the rhino! Jason Beck has very special boy syndrome, more than anyone other assistant coach. Kyle Whittingham always seems surprised at press conferences when things go wrong, you're the head coach! Jason Beck has lost Michigan three games that they should've won and they would've been a lock to be in the playoffs right now. They run the "very special boy" plays when they can't even run the base plays. Would you rather watch this game 100 times in a row or 27 for 27 100 times in a row? Zack Marhsall's leaked texts were probably the nicest things being said about Beck. If Kyle Whittingham doesn't have a solution on how to fix this then he should already just be let go. There's no coming back from that 3rd and 1, firing Jason Beck doesn't solve anything but it sets the precedence that this performance is unacceptable. Harbaugh had a whole bag of plays that countered the defense adjusting to the base plays, Beck doesn't have that. Was the QB change actually a mistake? Tommy's first half was benchable, the second half was okay. There's a reason why you don't start true freshmen at QB but you also need to adjust your offensive scheme to a true freshman QB. Why would anyone want to stay on this team as long as Jason Beck is still the OC? Half the team is probably already in the "portal" and nothing is going to change until the people responsible for ruining things are removed.

2. Defense vs Indiana
Starts at 34:03

Indiana had one pass in the second half, Zeke Berry was the one to catch it. Jyaire Hill made himself a lot of money in this game, he locked down Charlie Becker. The only issue with the defense were some leaked yards on missed tackles. Enow Etta played early but was on the injury report and was limited. Dominic Nichols didn't play which was coming. Benny Patterson has earned "guy" status, not a dude yet, but a guy. Is Chris Bracy the best player on the defense/the team? Was part of Michigan's success coming from Indiana turtling when Cignetti realized Michigan can't score? The Indiana injury report had to have been wrong, it said everyone was healthy. 

3. Hot Takes, Special Teams, and Game Theory (Bonus: Hockey)
Starts at 55:59

Takes hotter than Jay Hill after looking at this boxscore and saying "we haven't given up 20 points all season, how are we 4-3??" Would you take Mike Locksley or Al Borges as OC?? Field goal shank, it was out of range anyways. Zero kick returns! Punt returns were something. Kyle Whittingham committed malpractice in not challenging the "fumble" pitch to Hiter, it was a forward pass. At least work the referee. The ball that went through the gunner's legs had to have hit him, you have to challenge that, too. We can't believe Indiana actually jumped offsides on 4th and 1, maybe Beck actually caught them off guard with the predictable motion! Only one penalty, and it was the worst roughing the passer penalty ever! They missed Michigan's delay of game on the missed field goal, did that contribute to missing it? Hockey! The Western Michigan game was a little bonkers! Michigan comes out in the second period and scores twice in a minute. Both goalies were really good. Jaydon Perron's got to be the run-away front runner for the Hobey Baker Award. 
 

4. Around the Big Ten with Jamie Mac
Starts at 1:32:48

Illinois 21, Oregon 10
Battle of the back-up quarterbacks. Probably the worst offensive performance of the Dan Lanning era, Oregon fires their offensive coordinator after this game. This says more about Oregon than Illinois. 

Minnesota 13, Iowa 10
Iowa outgains Minnesota 288 to 209 but turned the ball over four times. Iowa never beats themselves but they did in this game. Minnesota wins on a walk-off field goal, they have all three of their three main trophies for the first time since 1978 (not including the $5 Bits Of Broken Chair Trophy with Nebraska). 

Wisconsin 24, USC 7
USC outgains Wisconsin 241 to 200 but nets -17 rushing yards. BIG TENNNN. Did Wisconsin make a case for "best defense in the Big Ten"? Luke Fickell is... off the hot seat? If they beat Iowa they could go 10-2. There's a path to a UCLA vs Wisconsin Big Ten Championship game!

UCLA 28, Michigan State 10
When's the last time UCLA had 245 rushing yards? Michigan State was down to their 3rd string QB. UCLA outgains MSU 443 to 156, this was down-to-down just a beating. Semaj Morgan - 7 catches for 70 yards. 

Northwestern 42, Rutgers 14
Northwestern scores 28 points in the first half and that's ballgame because Rutgers is never getting to 28 points. The Chip Kelly renaissance is real! Also Rutgers is terrible. Does Northwestern have a case for best offense in the Big Ten?? Aidan Chiles threw his first interception of the season. They are now 9:1 to make the playoffs. 

MUSIC:

"Don't Care"—Klark Kent

"Betty Ford"—Friendship

"Loser"—Beck

“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, Applied Fitness Solutions, and The History of Michigan Football, an online course by Greg Dooley, and SignalWire, where we are recording this.

Featured Musician: De Novo

THE VIDEO:

[After THE JUMP: The show notes.] 

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

1. Indiana Preview: Offense
starts at the top

Josh Hoover isn't a Heisman QB, but he's good, and has two excellent receivers, a good OL, and speedy RBs. Khobie Martin, their expected RB1, is supposedly back as well. They don't know what to do with the TEs however.

2. Indiana Preview: Defense
starts at 23:35

The #2 defense to SP+ made life hell on Ohio State, have four good (two excellent) linemen and two stars in the secondary. One of the CB positions might be a sport worth attacking. They stunted the hell out of the 2024 offense; maybe that table can be turned?

3.Hoops v Houston Preview
starts at 44:36

We preview basketball's last exhibition, since Houston is expected to be a contender. Some interesting developments against Oregon State regarding the playmaking chops of Thiam. Estrella's defense has been a surprise the other way; he's going to be a hole, and that might lead to starting Reed so they can continue switching 1-4. Didn't see as much Hartman vs Oregon State, think the freshman version of him is superfluous on a team with two PGs, McKenney, and Roddy Gayle, and if you have time for more spacing just play Quinn Costello. Houston is the telltale if this offense is really good.

4. After Further Review: Penn State
starts at 58:02

They ran Stretch! Underwood was benched for poor performance is what happened. Tommy benefited from better playcalling and personnel usage, also showed good poise. Improvement from Beck was not good from Beck; he still does things that make absolutely zero sense. Defense wasn't Jay Hill's best gameplan. Tried out three approaches to 12 personnel, of those Big Nickel was the best I thought. Cornerbacks had a bad day, but 76% of downfield throws were contested and they're not going to catch 40% of those always, right? I mean, IU might.

Featured Musician: De Novo

Continuing through my collections from my time as a band merch guy, this sampler is all I have, unfortunately, from a fascinating group that existed for a short time in Ann Arbor in the early-mid 2000s. I knew them because they used to open for Oblivion (my best friends and college housemates). It was formed by Scott Doerrfeld, the keyboardist, who found drummer Nick Kittle with a flier, and Kittle brought along guitarist Spencer Bastian, who was just oozing with musical talent and knew how to mix their recordings himself. They struggled to find a singer until they met Serena Arena, and her haunting voice is the first thing you hear; she's not quite Dolores O'Reardon but she had that same sort of Banshee wail that you had to hear live. This was not a good era to be starting any kind of band, let alone a proggy hard rock Cranberries thing, but I never forgot Serena's voice, and every time I put this sampler back on I find something new in Spencer's compositions. You can tell this dude had major musical chops because today he's a Grammy-nominated producer in Detroit. Bet he's going to be pretty surprised someone has a copy of him playing. Merch guys never forget, Spence.

Songs:

"Precious Metal"

"Driving On"

"Nancy"

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:

Sometimes your hyped starter is making too many mistakes and playing a young guy just gives you a spark, and that's what happened last week when Michigan made a change at right guard. :)

Tommy Time: Penn State's reaction was to make things easier on the freshman, which was kind of insane. Tommy has so much more poise than Bryce; we all agree he's the QB to start against Indiana.

Bryce struggled more than you realize (interfered slant was wrong read, second interception was at least five yards off). Great at zone reads, terrible at throwing downfield.

Carr will get a reality check from IU.

Still have major Beck problems. Two-man route on 3rd & 4, RPO pop pass on 3rd & 8, what are you doing?

Stretch: They got three explosives from it. They still had it; error rate was very low.

Seth likens it to the USC/Washington stretch last year when Wink got so obliterated he had to find humility.

Craig: We suggested pistol and they got the Kuz run from it.

Josh Gattis's Army game running arc without split zone. Split flow blocker provides so much.

Execution and Tactics: The bloggers told you to run pistol, split stretch, dagger (coulda been), and you've got too much rhino. When the bloggers know better, you've got a problem.

Going back to that USC game last year: you saw Rod Moore have his worst game, you saw them unable to defend the edge of power—when the vibe is bad things unravel in this game.

Do you have any confidence in Beck to run basic stuff and be competent? I don't. Indiana has the best coaching staff in the country right now—kept both of their coordinators after the natty.

Expectations for Tommy? Good thing we know next to nothing about what he's good at so IU can't take it away.

Defense? Cornerbacks had a really bad outing vs PSU. A lot of that was OPI, but you're not going to get many calls for pushoffs in this league. Those fades do not require any pass pro because the ball is aloft before the

IU plan: how are you getting outside? How are you beating man? Where's your QB run game? Sam says they have to pass out of play-action.

How many times are you running Tommy?

IU is the best team M faces this year. Run a lot of RPOs. A lot of unknowns; Hoover got hurt, isn't Mendoza. Worried about the front, both PSU and Minnesota went on long drives because they're not able to create a lot of havoc. Marsh and Becker can win jump balls; rather have IU score relatively quickly.

Seth's turn in the BPONE, predicts 30-10 Indiana because IU feasts on turnovers. Good teams expose weaknesses you didn't even know you had, and other than Oklahoma's defense Michigan hasn't been playing good teams. Worried that we've played our cards now and things could unravel.

1 Hour and 11 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 visual podcasts and pets. The first Denver game was a pretty complete victory, sans DuPont and Johnny Hicks. Michigan scored early and led all the way. Jayden Perron has a goal in every game so far. Got the split that was needed at the very least, with the opportunity for more.

Segment 2

The second Denver game was dicier, with DuPont back. DU scored the first goal, then Michigan answered with three. Then DU came back, including some of the craziest goals we’ve ever seen. Michigan had to kill two long 5v3s. Then a roundup of games this weekend, including discussion of the B1G’s depth looking bad. Just one game this weekend, vs. WMU, and tickets are pricey.

 

MUSIC

NHL on ESPN Theme

"Everything At Once"--Lenka

Ice Hockey (NES) Theme