MGoBlog: The MGoPodcast

2 hours and 22 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, 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 Iowa
Starts at 0:54

The way we feel about this one is probably the way you felt about the Trouble With The Snap game. But in this game it wasn't one play that makes you go "oh come on" it was like eight. The team looked vastly improved and Iowa's defense will probably end up as a top 15 unit. Bryce was able to integrate into the run game and take advantage of that in the passing game. The defense did everything you could ask except for some tipped passes. Underwood had two huge errors - the QB sneak and the interception. Whose fault was the interception on? Are we in an inverse Wile E. Coyote year? Bryce had ways to attack the zone that were effective, it helps that he has two NFL wide receivers. They were crushing the defense until they shot themselves in the foot. There was consistent movement from the offensive line, injuries are becoming a concern. We started seeing some real production from the running backs. These holding calls are getting ridiculous, in part because they're holds that rarely get called. They ran Kuzdzal with Bryce as the lead blocker again. They only rushed for 3.8 YPA but that's enough when you're throwing for 9.9 YPA. Hogan Hansen is alive! Hoffman looked much improved. From a Bryce standpoint we're back on track to where we wanted to be. Throw it to a Rhino at least once!

2. Defense vs Iowa
Starts at 38:22

There's not much more you could ask. There were multiple tipped catches for Iowa that are usually more likely to get picked. Hill had a little bit of a rough game. Trey Pierce dominated a lot in this game and Bobby Kanka made some nice plays. Iowa's biggest run of the game? 8 yards. There was more Staehling in this game which was nice to see. Do you want Hank Brown to make a fade on the final play? They ran press man. Iowa also ran perfect offense on the final play, what can you do. Iowa hasn't had a solid Big Ten quarterback in a minute, they have one now. 

3. Hot Takes, Special Teams, and Game Theory
Starts at 57:47

Takes hotter than Brian on the stairs in Michigan Stadium for 20 minutes after losing to Iowa on the last play of the game. Special teams made field goals, yay. Punting was okay, not Cam Brown's best game. Are you on team "don't return kickoffs"? A lot of Iowa kickoff players were out this game. You can't give up a straight line kick return, don't squib kick it. Kirk Ferentz still doesn't know how to call a timeout to call a Hail Mary. Kirk Ferentz isn't going to suddenly decide to go for it on 4th and 1. Run Hiter inside the five yard line? The play before Michigan's 4th down that Bryce lept was spotted short. Was he supposed to do a QB sneak and made his own decision to leap it? He learned a harsh lesson and he won't do it again. Was running the ball on the final 3rd and 5 the right move or do you let Bryce go and win the game on that final drive? He has thrown picks and screwed up a QB sneak earlier. You don't assume that Iowa's offense can go 91 yards in 1:40. All of these holding plays have been on defenders who are already out of the play. Zeke Berry's personal foul - a really soft call. There should have been three seconds after John Henry Daley got hurt so Iowa didn't just get a free play. 
 

4. Around the Big Ten with Jamie Mac
Starts at 1:33:01

Revenge of the Big Ten West

Oregon 41, USC 27
Ban baseball slides. Desman Stephens should have played his last college football game. Sometimes you have sympathy for the defender but this was head hunting. But Dylan Raiola comes in and Nebraska fans get to watch him be a good quarterback! 19/25 for 289 yards and two touchdowns. 

Indiana 29, Northwestern 23
A score that would not have been surprising three years ago. "Trophy go brrrr" -Jaime. Free Aiden Chiles! Northwestern stayed in this game by throwing to their tight ends. Indiana might only be good not great on both sides of the ball. 

Wisconsin 24, Penn State 20
Penn State takes a 17 point off turnovers, but their offense got put in a locker. Was that the slowest 71 yard touch down pass you've ever seen? The Badgers are 12-4 under Luke Fickell when the expected starting QB starts and finishes a game. 

Minnesota 27, Washington 24
Washington had 40 yards on 27 carries, they just can't run the ball. Washington fans are starting to turn on Jedd Fisch. Minnesota also can't run the ball, QB Drake Lindsey played alright but Washington's defense is suspicious. 

Nebraska 31, Michigan State 13
Michigan State only has 257 yards of offense, turns the ball over three times, and gives up six sacks. State doesn't look badly coached, they just don't have guys this year. Milivojevic's skill position players are... Fred Moore? How real is Nebraska, actually?

UCLA 54, Maryland 3
Total yards are 475 to 181. It did take UCLA a quarter to get going. Mike Locksley might not get fired, he might just leave and see if anyone would notice. Should the next team with a coaching vacancy just hire the James Madison coach? (No, their head coach is Billy Napier). Could UCLA make it to the Michigan game with only one loss and have playoff conversations?? 

Lightning Round:
Rutgers 58, Howard 7
Notre Dame 49, Purdue 10
Ohio State 42, Illinois 19

MUSIC:

"Gravity Blues"—Geese

"Neverr Everrr"—Viallgerrr

"I Missed Again"—Phil Collins

“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: Madison Ambush

THE VIDEO:

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

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

1. Iowa Preview: Defense
starts at the top

They shut down two bad teams and an unknown in ISU. We know they're historically good, run Cov2 and lots of Cover-6 and Cover-8. Seems like the DTs are soft and LBs are making them hold up, which should be exploitable. Cam Buffington is a young Jack Campbell. What's going on in the secondary? Lutmer emerged last year, Anthony Hawkins might be losing is job to a JMU transfer. ISU got them on the edges because the LBs were stepping down and the ISU LT got out on the LBs.

2. Iowa Preview: Offense
starts at 20:11

Alex has a hard time getting a bead on these guys. Return two OL from last year's Joe Moore OL, Seth thinks all three interior OL are centers but they have a great LT (should be a G in the NFL) in Trevor Lauck. Kamari Moulton was great last year but banged up, so is transfer RB LJ Phillips. Tony Diaz has emerged as TE DJ Vonnahme has been hurt. Hank Brown: meh. Fast straight-line speed.

3. UTEP After Review
starts at 42:20

Encouraging play from Bryce Underwood. Made better decisions than it looked, might be a beat late but can get to a better look. Defense: Tariq Boney was amazing, hard to learn more from the DL against this. Earls and Bracy both at fault for 1st TD. Bracy was not at fault for the 2nd TD. Weird to have a DC who just presses the "NOPE" button. Noticed another bust between Earls and Mason Curtis.

4. Roddy's (and Noland's) Eligibility, Rivals Payola, and the PCSA
starts at 1:10:55

...is what I think we are talking about this segment. Roddy wins Round 2; Round 3 is the NCAA's appeal and that's the most important. Rivals is charging $500 to come see your kid—it's gross but also they're getting in on a world that's been exploiting athletes for tens of thousands. They pay for camps already. They pay their own travel to visit and work out for schools. They pay tuition at private schools or buy houses built by boosters to go to the big programs where they'll get noticed. This isn't "you have to pay $500 or we won't look at you;" it's another option. Where it damages is the Rivals rankings. But Old Rivals got a reputation for favoring the guys who went to their camps.

Featured Artist: Madison Ambush

I know nothing about these guys except this sampler kicks. Also they were probably listening to Frank Marino around the same time my friends and I were. The only way I can describe it is it's from some alternate reality where hair metal got to keep developing as a music form without veering into glam or getting upended by grunge. There's so much energy here, and also so many ideas buried, especially in Stray Time Bomb, which has what I think is a guitar wail recorded backwards behind the chorus?

This sampler came home with me from a 2005 trip to New York, a night I was bouncing around the music scene with a friend who was working for Atlantic (the buddy who went on to found Metalsucks) and others he knew from work, but that's all I remember about its acquisition. The back cover says they're four guys: Marc Andrew (vocals/acoustic), Joe Brannan (electric guitars/keyboard), Don Donnerund (drums), and Frank Ruso (bass), and then there's a fifth name: David Geschwendt and a fifth guy in the photo further down. It says it was recorded in Astoria, NY, but mixed in Copley, Ohio. The website is offline. The internet has one other CD by them, but Brannan is now "guitar, keyboard" and Geschwendt is replaced by a guy named Fatcat. They're here on Spotify.

Songs:

Versus       

Good Day for a Change       

Stray Time Bomb

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:

Iowa: are they going to zone us? We think Michigan has that in the arsenal, just haven't had to use it yet.

Michigan's run game: TEs and RBs have often been the guys screwing it up. Problems haven't been moving guys off the LOS. Tactical issues with one-man power because defense isn't buying it.

Offense hasn't punished safeties triggering on run action either, because they haven't really had to. Hardly any shots downfield at Buchanan vs quarters safeties.

Attacking Iowa: they can really key down on your best WR, might not be able to hand two.

Hansen's return: looked good. Might be a difference-maker with Beigel out.

Tariq Boney: HOLY COW. He was blowing up runs at the EOH drive to give Michigan a chance to drive for a lead at halftime. He got to the QB before Meadows. Sam: He's just a dude that plays angry. NFL has been underrating smaller guys because they've been obsessed with measurements, and then B-Graham wins a Super Bowl.

Against most defensive lines Michigan should be able to move people. Wish we had Sprague and Beigel for this game. Hoffman struggled early in the year, next man up: Eli Owens?

Roddy's trial: Don't know. Think he gets good news this week, could be bad news next week. NCAA is just shooting themselves in the foot trying to fight this: they gave everybody a 5th year who was on a roster in 2020, and they give everybody a 5th year in the 2023 class and beyond, so it's just the 2021 and 2022 guys who have to live by the old rules? Why stand so hard on this? It's just a small class of players who make your product better.

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, 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 UTEP
Starts at 0:54

Well eventually that's what it should've looked like. UTEP had a lot of their yards on one drive but negative yards in the second half. If the events of this game had happened in a different order, it would've felt better (Michigan's win % on ESPN only got down to 92.7%). Beck made some nice technical decisions, the offense adjusted a lot to what the defense was giving them. From experience, Brian thinks Sprague has Norovirus. This would've been a nice game to give Babalola a chance. Michigan simplified things to reduce the frippery in the run game. UTEP tried to be Oklahoma on defense and it worked for about a drive and a half. Michigan saw a stacked box and started throwing it. Travis Johnson saw his first real play time and looked nice. Even when Bryce's throws aren't perfect his receivers are night and day from last year so let them go and make a play. Is some of the blocking a result of Playbook-Itus? Andrew Marsh wouldn't have been practicing sweeps much last year. Is stretch also an under-practiced play? The Marshall-cat worked all three times. How much of Hiter's fumble was his fault? It was helmet to ball but his posture was high. Bryson Kuzdzal came in after the fumble because Jordan Marshall was dinged up and on a pitch count. There was an Owens cat! Beigel does move people but doesn't combo. They were eventually so good at stretch last year and it feels a little bit like they threw away its development. Their best lineman isn't utilized in power. It seemed pretty clear that they were intentionally trying to give Andrew Marsh the ball, he's not been targeted much in the first two games. Catch and run slants could be a dangerous tool and help out the rest of the run game. We're seeing the extent of the wide receiver depth chart and getting more guys involved. Poor Ffrench. Tommy Carr probably would've started on either Sherrone Moore team. 

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

2. Defense vs UTEP
Starts at 56:43

Defensively that was what you would've wanted to see. There were a couple big plays and other than that UTEP didn't do anything. Michigan's defensive line got held up a bit in the first two drives and then after that the defensive line had free paths to the quarterback. They run into Tariq Boney twice and he blows up the play. Is he more like Josiah Stewart than Josh Uche? Cam Brandt is a defensive tackle now?? Suddenly the defensive ends are like seven deep? Lea'ea touchdown because he back-tracked on a screen! We will still be complaining about Wink Martindale 20 years from now. The Mouton comp of Troy Bowles is prevalent. The linebackers had a slow day since the defensive line was having their way. Zeke Berry was injured so Shamari Earls started, he's almost there. You can see why Snowden was a star. Was the second UTEP touchdown supposed to be Bracy's guy to cover? Give Tommy Carr a number that looks like Cam Brown's so you can do a fake punt.

3. Hot Takes, Special Teams, and Game Theory
Starts at 1:20:15

Takes hotter than Michigan's offense in the second half for the first time all year. 49 yard field goal feels good, we thought Butkowski would max out at 45 yards. That was a silly opening kickoff where Kuzdzal had to field it. Andrew Marsh fielded a punt over his shoulder with a gunner that could've gone poorly. UTEP, you can kick a field goal or onside it but don't do both! Michigan had nice time management in the first half. Only four penalties! Most of these holds wouldn't be called if Aidan Hutchinson was on the field. It's fun that the kickoff team pumps up the crowd now. What was up with the roughing the passer penalty? UTEP went through all of their timeouts faster than we've ever seen. Let's talk about Ole Miss going for two against LSU since it's interesting. 
 

4. Around the Big Ten with Jamie Mac
Starts at 1:54:59

Lightning Round:
Minnesota 41, Akron 7
Penn State 55, Buffalo 13
Wisconsin 54, EMU 10
Ohio State 59, Kent State 3
Illinois 48, Southern Illinois 10
Iowa 55, Northern Iowa 0
Washington 48, Eastern Washington 16
Indiana 38, Western Kentucky 0
Nebraska 34, North Dakota 7
Oregon 84, Portland State 0

USC 43, Rutgers 35
This was... not a fluke?? Rutgers was moving the ball all game. USC won this because of a pick six at the goal line. This might be the most stunning indictment of Lincoln Riley's ability to build a defense. We're comparing USC to Boston College and UMass?? This seems to say a lot more about USC than it does about Rutgers. 

Northwestern 41, Colorado 7
This was not listed in the lightning round because the yardage here was much closer than the score. Colorado was -3 in turnover margin. If Aidan Chiles can throw the ball then that changes things. This was Northwestern's last game at the beach stadium!

Michigan State 10, Notre Dame 27
Closer to what we expected from Michigan State this year. MSU had 167 total yards and 53 of them came off of one pass play. They're running the right plays, they just don't have the athletes to run them. 

UCLA 52, Purdue 38
Nico Iamaleava is a gazelle of a human. Purdue's defense looks abominable. Semaj Morgan had four catches for 72 yards and two touchdowns. This game had 1133 total yards of offense. UCLA's defense looks as shaky as USC's. 

Maryland 26, Virginia Tech 35
Maryland has 2.8 YPC with their running backs. They can't get away from James Franklin. Sorry Maryland, this is just who you are.
 

MUSIC:

"El Paso"—Howdy

"Backyard Lover"—Merce Lemon

"Indu"—Greg Freeman

“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: Natives of the New Dawn

THE VIDEO:

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

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

1. UTEP Preview
starts at the top

Offensively they're a Rich Rod spread 'n shred with a running QB and not-good guards. Did some nifty things to Oklahoma but once they run out of ideas they're not much of a threat. Defensively they're a 3-3-5 Tite or 3-3-5 that is probably going to play like TCU did to mitigate a very small DL. Problem is they can get crumpled. Also their secondary can get ripped. Start with PA, practice your stretch, maybe figure out some counters to the ways they will take away the QB run game.

2. Oklahoma After Review: Defense
starts around 19:41

The Oklahoma offensive line was butt, maybe. This allowed Jay Hill to play 3-3-5 and trust JHD/Nichols/Pierce/Etta/Lea'ea to dominate. Review of the young DEs is positive, with caveats. Linebackers are doing too much, Staehling is coming out positive but he's limited. Bowles is Moutoning it out there. Is this a 3-3-5 thing? Chase Taylor still a puppy, Beers was too much for him. Hopefully that's a Beers is Good thing (he got Bracy as well). Secondary is as advertised except Rod Moore. Advertised is VERY VERY good. Last talk about the switching issue.

3. Oklahoma After Review: Offense
starts around 40:13

Fixable issues. They made things easy on Bryce and ran him, which was playing to win, but he's still someone they have to shepherd along and Venables is excellent at doing the aggressive things to shut that off. Lots of "I don't know how that was supposed to work" plays, and people not climbing. Next step week. Running back: DO SOMETHING!

4. The History of College Football with Greg Dooley
starts around 1:05:47

Dooley's course has long been a favorite among students; now you can come too. Got all the Michigan history nerds to come in and do our parts. We discuss some of the parts I came in to speak about, and what Part II might entail.

Featured Artist: Natives of the New Dawn

I used to work the merch table for my best friends' band (Oblivion) and would often trade their CDs with the other bands for their albums. After a few years of this I had quite an extensive collection of the Ann Arbor/Detroit music scene of the 2000s. A die-hard Tally Hall fan sent me rummaging through the collection, and while I still can't find the damn CD she wanted that I took a photo of when I put them all on iTunes, I've have begun transferring the collection to .flacs, and figured I can get a season out of sharing my finds as they come up.

There was little question which band I'd feature first, since their literal tagline is "Your favorite band's favorite band."* Natives were kind of a Super Band. We played with Vince Mann's prior group really early—I want to say Move-In Day on Palmer Field in 2001—and then caught his new funk/hip-hop/rock fusion group Natives of the New Dawn a few times after he formed it by picking up a couple of session musicians, a local DJ, and other well-regarded musicians from the area. I remember them being the best dudes, and I remember they were blowing up quickly in 2006-'07, which was after one of them finally stopped wearing a Spider Man suit to shows.

This was a weird era after Napster but before legalized streaming, when Payola ruled the airwaves and major labels only wanted Nu Metal bros who were too dumb to read their contracts. The result were these super-groups that formed out the glut of local talented musicians all trapped together at various 200- to 300-person venues like St. Andrew's, the Magic Stick and the I-Rock in Detroit, the Blind Pig in Ann Arbor, Clutch Cargo's in Pontiac, Ypsi's Tap Room, and of course The Sanctuary in Hamtramck, which was where the bands all would go to play for each other.

The songs here are all from Bliss, which the internet says is from 2007, which sounds late to me.

* [Actually it's At the Drive-In].

Songs:

Your Boy

Good Day

People   

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