MGoBlog’s channel featuring the very professional, very visual, podcast with Brian Cook, Seth Fisher, David Nasternak, and Alex Drain, plus The Teams history podcast with Seth and Dr. Sap, The Michigan Hockeycast, the MGoBlog Roundtable on WTKA.
Seth on early to talk about Lions injuries, Ira gives us a short history of Detroit-Buffalo friendship.
Oklahoma: Yes they got absolutely jobbed by Szelc. Yes, it's the #1 story of the game. Pushoffs, moving screens, 75 percent of Fears's free throws, and then a soft whistle at one end while ignoring a two-handed shove at the other end. Both of those were Szelc calls. Michigan won't get a fair whistle against this guy tbut what are you gonna do about it, have Warde complain to the Big Ten? They don't care.
Rest of the game: Thruck was thruck. Michigan is a good team that gets the best shots in CBB. They're doing it with the big-on-big, and they're starting to know each other. Seth: pay attention to where Goldin gets his passes, where he likes it. Gonna need a team with extreme athleticism and NBA shot-blockers to contest them.
Portal: Sam runs us through the QB options. DQ is a good one, Brendan Lewis is the one we like the best, Mikey Keene is a decent floor—he played for Lindsey at UCF—but you don't want a pocket-bound popgun arm before Bryce, do you?
Lindsey connection got us the Arkansas brothers. Good athleticism and presence, but see TJ Metcalf as a high-floor Walker not a difference-maker. Always want a 5th year guy at nickel from now on.
Brian: Can Morris come back? Sam: It's possible; he had concerns about the offense so if they have an OC and a QB now things could change. He hasn't set up any visits.
Offense needs some bodies at OL: the guy they got is a development prospect. They're all in on Josh Thompson, who's checking out Auburn and Tennessee.
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.
Thank you toUnderground 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.
The first half of this podcast is not just talking about how Michigan beat Ohio State 13-10. Imagine your season ending on December 21st in Columbus, Ohio. Mark your calendars for Davis Warren day on October 13th! Chip Lindsey is the new offensive coordinator out of North Carolina. The run game will be the run game, he's going to be the passing game coordinator. We are feeling exactly whelmed about this hire. Donaven McCulley comes in at wide receiver from Indiana, he's a legitimately good Big Ten receiver. Still need at least three more receivers. Billy Edwards comes in from Maryland and the worst offensive line in the country, he's a big guy. On the offensive line they bring in Jordan White from Liberty, need a tackle. It's been frustrating that Michigan hasn't brought in as many new players as we'd like to see. Derrick Moore and TJ Guy are back next year.
[The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]
2. Basketball vs Arkansas
Starts at 36:36
Arkansas 89, Michigan 87. This basketball game was three different basketball games. Michigan goes from a four point lead to an 18 point deficit once they start turning the ball over in the 2nd half. The boxscore is fun at least. There were some desperation zones. The shot distribution was as good as you could expect. Goldin's usage has finally gone up and Wolf is making the plays he needs to make. Roddy Gayle has been making some bad decisions. Should Michigan slow it down a bit? Are the turnovers mental because they tend to come in bunches? Wolf is the alpha on offense (get it?). The rest of the non-conference should be wins and then they ease back into the Big Ten conference play against USC.
3. Hot Takes and Hockey vs Wisconsin
Starts at 1:03:45
Takes hotter than the Heisman voters who got it right for once. Hockey finally scored a goal! And they're still 9th in Pairwise. Take a breath into the break and say "it's fine." Michigan probably isn't winning the Big Ten but they're not bad, they're half of a gritty hockey team. Wisconsin is a good team, they've just been unlucky on their shots this season. Right now Michael Hage is really the only guy driving plays. 3-on-3 overtime needs a shot clock! They're good enough to be a tournament team and the shooting will probably get better.
4. Gimmicky Top Five
Starts at 1:30:24
Gimmicky Top Five worst bowl matchups! Marshall entered the transfer portal and opted out of their bowl game and now Louisiana Tech has to face a furious Army team.
Seth has real world bowls, Brian has hypotheticals. Don't play BYU in Miami. A bowl game in Middle Earth. PLAY A BOWL IN DUBLIN.
MUSIC:
"Q4" -- Father John Misty
"Love Town" -- The Glands
"What's The Rush?" -- Jesse Woods
“Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra
The Book: It's what we would have wanted. Kickstarter backers: I wrote an update but the gist is tracking numbers might come after the books because USPS.
Ohio State is Flag-Mad. Brian: 11W and MGoBlog diverged in business models a long time ago: they do clickbait, we make big books.
Seth: The reason this hits Ohio State so hard is they have nothing else to be proud of anymore. They bet everything on beating Michigan and then got absolutely punked again. Symbology is all that's left.
Chip Lindsey: Came up through high school so he's got a lot of different ideas. Lots of coordinator experience. He develops somebody else's quarterback. QBs take fewer sacks, run less (more scrambles than called runs).
Lindsey's philosophy, if there is one, is to run what works best for the players he's got. He doesn't want to have a "blob" on usage distribution—wants you to worry about screens and downfield, outside runs and inside runs.
Portal? UNC guys of interest (Hampton is probably going pro).
Michigan's portal strategy: looking for guys they can get value. ZVADA is the epitome of portal success: a guy who's going to be more valuable to you. Part of that value is seeing if you can make more out of a player (Barham, Stewart, etc.) than he is.
You're in a salary cap world.
Kentucky guys? Miller Moss? Feeling different because he's getting big portal offers. Brendon Lewis—that would be a dude; he's a Year 6 guy, probably will come down to dollars because it's not certain there's an NFL future. Don't be too worried about Underwood in Year 1 because he's not turning 18 until August. Billy Edwards? Sam nodding. UMD had the worst OL, Edwards is a perfect example of a guy who looks a lot better as a 25x/game thrower.
Hoops: Danny Wolf is the tallest 5-10 guy we've ever seen. Sucks to lose to Calipari. Craig says hit your free throws. In a dozen years we'll say "I remember getting beat like that by Boogie Fland in college."
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.
Thank you toUnderground 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.
The first half of this game was a battle of mid-range jumpers and not turning the ball over (Iowa) vs going to the rim aggressively but turning the ball over a lot (Michigan). Michigan's amplitude of proficiency changes throughout a game are huge. This team is dead set on not taking mid-range jumpers. Addressing Michigan's rebounding woes. Did they play great against Iowa and Wisconsin? Not really. Are they still 2-0 in the Big Ten, though? Yeah. Danny Wolf turns the ball over too much by throwing the ball too hard. The play of the game played off of the big pick and roll. Michigan vs Iowa is an oddly friendly rivalry. Be careful with playing neutral site games when it comes to NET rankings.
[The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]
2. Transfer Portal Needs
Starts at 35:24
Michigan needs an offensive coordinator first. Jason Candle (Toledo head coach), Dan Mullen (former Florida head coach), and Joe Craddock (Tulane offensive coordinator) are among the biggest names rumored. Scott Frost mentioned! Michigan needs a quarterback and multiple wide receivers. Running back might be okay? Offensive line is a lot more interesting. Would like to get a defensive tackle since you're not getting either starter back. Linebacker is probably okay.
3. Hot Takes & Transfer Portal Names
Starts at 58:13
Takes hotter than the fact that Georgia should not be in the playoff because they don't have their starting quarterback. Miller Moss would be the ideal scenario at QB. There's a case for Billy Edwards out of Maryland! The list falls off pretty quickly after that. Ideally you want someone to start for the year and then Bryce Underwood gets ~100 snaps. Michigan has some connections with Oklahoma Wide Receiver Nic Anderson. Michigan needs to get as many as they can. A biomechanical engineer out of Rice would be nice. There will be some players from playoff teams that hit the portal later.
4. The 2025 Recruiting Class
Starts at 1:39:02
Bryce Underwood is not allowed to be the answer to any of these. Favorite guy in the class? Most unlikely to be in this class? Sleeper of the year? Most Important?
Michigan is 9th in recruiting but recruiting at the same quality as Ohio State. It revolves around one guy.
MUSIC:
"It Ain't Easy" -- 2Pac
"Vaping In Vegas" -- Wolves of Glendale
"Let's Go Back" -- Jungle
“Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra
Michigan Hockey watch-along tomorrow night. Be here.
Kickstarter backers: look for a shipping update soon. Short version is yes you will have them by Christmas but most haven't shipped yet because of Thanksgiving.
Michigan 13, Ohio State 10: You gotta play the game not the board. OMG and KtG are two guys apiece, so if you're seeing five in the box you're running into a seven-man box; you just don't know it.
Wink didn't do Wink stuff, OSU's gameplan was to use those opportunities. There were checks on his blitzes and looks all game—he just didn't give them those opportunities. Chip Kelly like Urban Meyer looks where he has numbers and run the ball into light boxes, which is what they did all year (this was their passiest game of the year!). But Urban brought in Ryan Day to not be that.
It's not like their pass game was that effective either. It comes down to blocking and tackling. It shouldn't have come to that, but fundamentally is Ryan Day going to catch up to Michigan?
Brian's main concern: Michigan's had Hutchinson, Mason Graham…when they don't have super-elite defensive lines can they continue that going forward or do they have to play Ohio State like other teams do?
Keep Ryan Day? Would you rather keep beating up on this guy (like one more time) or let Ross Bjork give him a $34 million buyout and hire his definition of a good idea? Brian: It's not like they're going to hire Urban Meyer. Seth: They could literally hire Urban Meyer.
Michigan got better on defense when they moved Zeke to cornerback and Paige to nickel. Rod Moore could be the most important guy for next year.
Hoops vs Wisconsin: Did Danny Wolf make himself an NBA guy over the offseason? Not ready to say that, but it worked against a John Tonje.
Offensive coordinator: Tulane OC Joe Craddock has a good track record of fixing dumpster fires (e.g. at Troy). Toledo HC Jason Candle is in a weird spot where he's too successful in the MAC to move up but not successful enough for more than a Purdue job. Dan Mullen? Pro names also on the list: do they talk to Brian Griese (not an OC) or Byron Leftwich (not currently coaching)? Michigan's priority is finding a guy who will develop Underwood.
PEOPLE OF INTEREST: Jayden Sanders will sign tomorrow; that's just when his school does that. Olesh might get caught up in Oregon's big day, since he's their final target. Good that he's held out, Michigan's working the phones. Lean? Who knows. Derek Meadows: sounds like Alabama came in with a bigger NIL offer. Ty Haywood: 5-star, as long as he makes it up to campus we're in good shape.
QB BRYCE UNDERWOOD: The cackling segment. Been a five-year recruitment—there was a Bryce Underwood recruitment paragraph on every QB target since Dante Moore was on their radar; shows M is serious. Steve's comp is Trevor Lawrence, but runs like Vince Young. Ivins thinks the distance between #1 overall the the #2 and #3 guys in the class is massive.
RB JASPER PARKER: So underrated he can't be called underrated anymore. Not fast but is Hart-But-Big.
RB DONOVAN JOHNSON: Freaks list, early 5-star because IMG, big injury drop and other schools dropped out, but made Freaks list after recovery.
WR ANDREW MARSH: Elite WR. How? Bellamy did work. Seth comps to Cornelius Johnson, because elite double-moves and intellectual family.
WR JACOB WASHINGTON: Never wavered even though big Sr season and had Washington come calling. Bellamy's HS, his HC is still the HC. Adrian Arrington/Marquise Walker tall possession type, but needs a redshirt.
WR JAMAR BROWDER: Might be 6'5"—flipped from NC State and big riser, contested baller. NC State thought they had a dude. Common pick for class sleeper. Nico? Nico was a unicorn because of his speed. Bellamy recruiter of the year? West Bloomfield legend, Louisiana legend, and owns North Carolina since brother-in-law Biakabutuka lives out there.
FB ELI OWENS: Wants to be Max Bredeson!!!!
LT ANDREW BABALOLA: Comps to Stanford guys don't work; Jake Long in that he's a bit raw, basketball, length.
OG AVERY GACH: Yay Groves, Yay Seth's Temple. Zinter/Sainristil of the OL who led Groves to the greatest season in school history (along with Barry Sanders's son). Why hasn't been bumped up? Nobody was at his games.
C KADEN STRAYHORN: Funniest commit; dad is the color guy on MSU radio, but MSU was out a long time ago, won over OSU. IMG center, might be a little small.
2. Defensive Line and Linebacker
Starts at 43:25
DE/DT NATE MARSHALL: Most surprising commit x2. Big win out of Chicago. Steve sees him growing into a DT but has the athleticism to stay outside.
WDE JULIUS HOLLY: Injury meant nobody got to see him after a killer start to his Sr year but great measurables, guy Michigan sees as next Dom Nichols.
DT BOBBY KANKA: Matt Godin.
SDE BENNY PATTERSON: Might be the Wormley of the class. Build-a-bear rose late, should have been a 4-star. Edge for sure. PSU and USC were also trying to flip off senior tape.
DT TRAVIS MOTEN: Wrestlers have the stamina as well as the leverage. His Hudl looks like Chris Hinton. Might be 280 already. Seth comp: Rayshaun Benny.
MLB NATHANIEL OWUSU-BOATENG: Another early highly ranked IMG kid, injury hid him as a senior, probably much much larger than his listed 6'0"/200. More of a MIKE to Michigan.
WLB CHASE TAYLOR: The Sullivan-esque super long athlete, outside linebacker with crazy athleticism and length, finally rose late.
3. Secondary and Class Wrap
Starts at 1:00:40
CB JAYDEN SANDERS: Legit 6'3" and long. Ceiling is insane. Amorion Walker but this time he's starting as a CB. Freakish ability to move—if you can play cornerback at that size…
CB SHAMARI EARLS: Will Johnson Memorial Hey Elite Cornerbacks Are Good. Sam Webb all over this recruitment. Expect the 5-star cornerback track.
ATH ELIJAH DOTSON: Pat Narduzzi complains about Michigan throwing around money. Freaky athlete, late riser, CB-WR-S freaky athlete type. Might be best as a CB (think Jeremy Clark).
FS JORDAN YOUNG: Clemson decommit because "their recruiting class wasn't that good." Michigan operating in the real world. Flipped him after we lost Ike Taylor, similar ceiling, similar profile (think Zeke Berry) but he's right that he needs some development.
NK KAINOA WINSTON: Reminds Brian of Quinten Johnson. Reminds Seth of Rod Moore and Mike Sainristil in that Winston is a football savant. Also a sprinter.
THE CLASS AS IT STANDS: Talent parity with Ohio State! What happens when Michigan isn't disadvantaged by rules they follow and their competition doesn't? Look at 1990s: they had a LOT of talent on those teams. Now they just need to get an OC who isn't going to run 80% of the time when he has Tom Brady. Class put together in adverse circumstances: Yes a natty run but also Will Harbaugh Go to the NFL? Their slow walk to taking NIL seriously. Their rough 2024 before winning The Game.
What did we learn? We learned WOLF! He wasn't playing like this at Yale—he was a point center but not a point GUARD. Finding that 14-foot pick-and-roll and Wisconsin has no answer. Defense is also this team's calling card, because Wolf can stay in front of a 6'5" guy. Rebounding? Maybe they didn't focus on it because everyone is still playing icebreakers to get to know each other, maybe they didn't practice it because Wisconsin and Gayle used to guard PGs.
Songs:
“Hi, Hey There, Hello”—The Mowglis
"Strawberry Letter23”—The Brothers Johnson
“Mr. Fear”—SIAMES
Also because Across 110th Street will get our Youtubes taken down, the opener and outro:
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.
Thank you toUnderground 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.
lol. lmao. An NIL booster in Dayton has no soul because MICHIGAN SUCKED IT OUT OF HIS CHEST. THE PUNTERS MOCKED YOU. There has never been a season like this that we have experienced. This is the most surprising win since we've started watching Michigan football. Ohio State probably wins easily if they just play their game but they played too conservatively. WE IOWA'D THEM. It was a little windy :( Michigan didn't get to knock them out of the playoff but now they have to regroup and win four playoff games instead of three. They should've gotten that QB that went to Syracuse. Ryan Day's insecurities are coming back to haunt him and they snowballed in this game, he's never had to learn how to lose. Ohio State is 10-2 and their fans are miserable.
[The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]
2. Defense vs Ohio State
Starts at 32:56
Let's all apologize to Wink Martindale. Mason Graham does not play defensive end, so thanks for that. Was all the weird stuff all season a rope-a-dope?? Kenneth Grant had the best game he's ever had in a Michigan uniform. Ohio State's offensive line is one of their biggest issues and they played into Michigan's biggest strength, the defensive line. They didn't run their running quarterback. Quinshon Judkins was supposed to be that guy and Makari Paige cancelled that. Who on Ohio State has dat dawg in them? Ohio State probably could've dumbed down their offense and scored more than 10 points. Rod Moore was still the Sainristil of this defense even though he didn't play. They just didn't call holding in this game.
3. Hot Takes, Offense, Game Theory, and Special Teams
Starts at 59:36
Takes hotter than anything Ryan Day sits on. Kalel Mullings had the most hoss-like game since Chris Perry. On 3rd and long they still give it to Kalel even when the percentage of success was low. Michigan's last two drives before the kneel down ate up almost a whole quarter of time. Where will Davis Warren be next year? No matter what, he's entered the lore of Michigan football. Was Michigan playing too safe as a 21 point underdog or was their bag of plays just not that deep? Zvada is the #1 FEI kicker by a billion. Tyler Morris caught the punts, woo! College kickers are back and Ryan Day is haunted by them! Ohio State still just doesn't have it in short yardage. Ryan Day doesn't believe he can get that one yard, but he keeps trying. The first incident is a kerfuffle, the post-game was a level 4 melee. With respect to the pepper spray - now the wind is important! Michigan turned Ohio State into Michigan State. Gus Johnson had a horrible game. Three controversial non-PI calls that went against Michigan. Jeremiah Smith is going to be a physical athlete that drives Seth and Craig crazy for the next two years. Need a seppuku touchdown celebration.
4. Around the Big Ten with Jamie Mac
Starts at 2:16:55
Indiana 66, Purdue 0 This game was one yard away from a total rutger. Ryan Walters was fired immediately after, he was 5-19 at Purdue. If you're Indiana, who do you want to play in the playoffs? Who does Purdue replace as their coach?
Iowa 13, Nebraska 10 Iowa wins with five total first downs and 49 rushing yards. Nebraska dominated this game all the way and still lost by one score. Michigan ended their season by finally being Iowa with upside. Cade seems to have left the program.
Rutgers 41, Michigan State 14 You've gotta really be nervous about Aidan Chiles moving forward if you're a Michigan State fan. After the game Chiles had some spicy quotes about the fans. Michigan State might not be able to just portal fix things. Jonathan Smith might not be mean enough to coach Michigan State.
Illinois 38, Northwestern 28 Northwestern outgains Illinois but turns the ball over four times. AJ Henning has 119 receiving yards.
UCLA 20, Fresno State 14 UCLA gets to 5-7 after looking absolutely terrible at the start of the year. They're a team to watch out for in the portal, though. It'll be a whole new team.
Penn State 44, Maryland 7 Maryland goes up 7-0 and then decides not to do football. They're a dead fish right now but hey they still beat USC. Penn State earns a spot in the Big Ten championship game in a year where they don't beat Michigan or Ohio State. Would they be the #1 overall seed if they win the Big Ten??
Notre Dame 49, USC 35 Notre Dame gets TWO ~100 yard pick sixes. Does USC need to think about moving on from Lincoln Riley?
Oregon 49, Washington 21 Oregon is the team that combines the west coast passing attack with a running attack better than anyone. The ducks crunch the OW game. Oregon gets 10 sacks!
Minnesota 24, Wisconsin 7 A slow motion blowout. How does Wisconsin recover from this season? Fickell is on contract until 2029.
MUSIC:
Carry Me Ohio"-- Sun Kil Moon
"Crybaby" -- Cults
"Bloodbuzz Ohio" -- The National
“Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra
