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.
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.
This was a Fetty Wapping at the hands of Oregon. Davis Warren didn't really have negative throws but he's missing receivers and not pulling the trigger on open guys. Oregon's linebacker said in the post-game that when Orji is in the game it's pretty simple. Michigan isn't running stuff that looks like the other stuff they run, it's more of a grab bag. When was the last time they threw over the top of a safety? They don't really have packages, they just have plays. Gotta talk about The Razzles.
[The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]
2. Defense vs Oregon
Starts at 35:15
Twitter had some harsh comments about Wink! But by the end of the game it was okay in context, especially with only one cornerback. Oregon has an extremely efficient offense that doesn’t have to attack downfield so they didn’t (much). You know it’s a good catch by the away team when they show the replay and the big screen and the home crowd goes “woah!” Linebackers/safeties missed some tackles but it was a much better performance than against Michigan State. You have to take this defense in context with all the injuries and transfers.
3. Hot Takes, Game Theory, and Special Teams
Starts at 1:01:08
Takes hotter than Jason’s immune system which is working overtime to make him better. Accidental hockey segment! What is the point of video replay if you’re not going to use it, Big Ten?? Is Dan Lanning scheming some of these miscues that Michigan had? Did the boos from Michigan Stadium convince Sherrone to challenge the Loveland drop? Shout out to Joe Taylor on special teams.
4. Around the Big Ten with Jamie Mac
Starts at 1:29:51
Indiana 47, Michigan State 10 9Windiana has finally happened! Kurtis Rourke is back despite the injured thumb. They just played good, solid Indiana(??) football. Michigan State finished with -36 rushing yards.
Ohio State 20, Penn State 13 We’ve seen this game before. A lot of weird things happened, though. There’s always time on the clock for Frames Janklin. What was that goal line decision making?
Minnesota 25, Illinois 17 Luke Altmyer didn’t put the ball into danger but didn’t add much. This was like the Michigan Illinois game but not stupid.
Washington 26, USC 21 USC throws three interceptions, they’re 0-3 when they throw more than 50 times. Are they even going to make a bowl game?
UCLA 27, Nebraska 20 This came out of nowhere. Here comes the annual impending collapse of Nebraska.
Iowa 42, Wisconsin 10 Before the season started, we thought Michigan was good Iowa. Turns out Iowa is good Michigan. Wisconsin had only a 5% havoc rate and their linebacker factory is dismantled.
Northwestern 26, Purdue 20 Purdue gave up 302 passing yards to Northwestern!
MUSIC:
"I Don't Love Anyone"-- Belle and Sebastian
"Our Hometown Boy" -- The Hard Quartet
"Mystified" -- Same Eyes
“Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra
They got a quarterback in the portal, they did. Jordan James was a backup last year, already broke out but now he gets the carries to show it. Two great OTs especially Conerly, and a squirrelly slot. They normally run tempo and pass around but against OSU they went max pro and tested whether the WRs could beat their CBs one-on-one (they could!) Several TEs if they can't get Ferguson back but he's a difference-maker as a blocker. Interior OL might be a little sketch—IU transfer Matt Bedford was supposed to be their RG but has been out all year.
2. Oregon Preview: Defense
starts at xxxx
Dan Lanning knows what he's doing; Michigan does not. They run a 3-4 Georgia system (Lanning was the DC when we faced them) and have a lot of talent. They went to the portal at DT and got a couple of good ones but the old DTs are beatable if you can get to them. Is Jordan Burch going to be available? He's a major pass-rusher, but they've been blitzing successfully to cover for his absence. Excellent in the secondary. LBs rotate through three good ones. Special teams: dangerous returners (Noah Whittington and Tez Johnson) but not great kickers—Ross James 100th in FEI, kicker Atticus Sappington has a career long of 48.
3. Seth's Hockey Segment
starts at xxxx
Big series with #5 BU starts tonight, and Big Ten on the docket. Better team defensively but looking for chemistry. Last two series Night 1 has been good, Night 2 has been the same game but nothing goes in the net and they blow it. Hage is their one skill guy, next most skilled player is Schifsky. St. Cloud State game was an extreme example of that but shows they really needed Rutger McGroarty. USNTDP game.
4. MSU After Review
starts at xxxx
Quarterback wasn't as good as it looked—only a few downfield passes, concerning play given State has no pass rush to speak of. MSU was playing Dantonio Ball against the run and this led to a lot of going nowhere even when things were blocked up well. Defensively they're fine until 3rd & long, when Wink tries to do something. Tackling is an issue because they've moved usage to Paige and it's exposing his issues there.
Drawing from the pain of love and loss, Mark Zhu (pronounced "Joo") explores relationships, mental health, and identity through his songs rooted in healing and emotional vulnerability. A Chinese American artist from Ann Arbor, he studies data science at the University of Michigan by day and plays shows by night. As an award-winning pianist with three performances at Carnegie Hall, Mark leverages his classical training in his production, creating piano-driven ballads, synth-driven R&B, and fearless pop anthems. Links: Website. Instagram. Spotify.
Song choices:
Dead or Alive
Paint the World Red
Slayin'
Also because Across 110th Street will get our Youtubes taken now now, the opener and outro:
MSU: Craig is done playing them. Seth says that's crazy talk.
MSU internet fans are off their rockers again. They've got their AD from RCMB adding up made-up malfeasances. They have beatwriters like Graham Couch and Chris Solari making up a stomp and when they're told it's not true they double down.
The football: Played conservatively, Warren had three downfield passes. Oregon is going to have hard-triggering quarter safeties with better players. At least they ran Orji+1.
Wink Talk: He brought back the thing that didn't work against Texas, and it didn't work, and didn't work again, and didn't work again. You know the Fry meme: Not sure if serious? That's his playcalling modus operandi. If you run the thing that looks obvious, you've got him. Mattison had a similar formation in 2012 to beat Northwestern, but it was a trap. Wink's bluffing when he has bad cards and slow-playing good ones, and once you figure that out you can wreck him.
His results on 3rd and long are so bad that if he ran the same Cover 2/Rush 4 every play he'd be doing better. First of the long runs D-Mo was supposed to be in that gap but it's so wide that he wouldn't have been able to help unless he's slanting hard.
Oregon? Their weak point is backup DT, but Michigan doesn't have the guys to 2023 Penn State them. Sam: only shot is their front four eat and M gets off the field. If you try to get exotic with these dudes. They went max pro and took shots because they thought they could run by Ohio State, and they could.
Dan Lanning's a good coach. Reminds me of Michigan last year: You can come up with what-if-we…'s but they have answers for it. What if we're 2022 Illinois?
Will Bryce Underwood be at the game? Does Michigan have a shot? Sam isn't committal.
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.
What happened after the game on Saturday was a kerfuffle. It felt like Michigan State came into the game with a solid plan while Michigan was struggling. Suddenly, Michigan was leading at halftime. Davis Warren's job was to not lose this game and he didn't, the ball wasn't put into danger and it worked. Donovan Edwards is no Tom Brady but he's got a perfect QB rating.
2. Defense vs Michigan State
Starts at 35:15
Defense only gives up 17 points but it doesn't feel super great? But for the most part they did okay. Junior Colson set the bar for consistent tackling and now missed tackles are weird. They put Mason Graham at edge and got weird and then got beat by Michigan State 3rd down frippery. They're preventing their best players from making plays. Michigan State didn't put this game on Aidan Chiles' shoulders so we didn't get the full Chiles experience. Brian finally has a nice thing to say about Cal Haladay. Maybe Jesse Minter was just so good that no matter who was the defensive coordinator this year they would be perceived as bad.
3. Hot Takes, Game Theory, and Special Teams
Starts at 1:01:08
We gotta have a brewhaha level of takes at least. Tommy Doman has continued to be inconsistent. Was State's on-side kick a good idea? The weird fair catch rule is something a lot of us didn't know about. Going for it on 4th down, tougher decision than last year!
4. Around the Big Ten with Jamie Mac
Starts at 1:29:51
Indiana 31, Washington 17 Yardage was fairly even but Indiana grinded it out very consistently. They're 8-0 for the first time since 1967. Kurtis Rourke had surgery on his thumb and might be back this weekend.
Ohio State 21, Nebraska 17 Indiana beat Nebraska 56-7, JUST SAYIN'. Ryan Day has a meltdown on the field and then tells fans to be happy about this game in his press conference. Ohio State fans are comparing their tackle situation to Michigan's QB situation.
Penn State 28, Wisconsin 13 Drew Allar went out around halftime. It doesn't look like it's happening for Luke Fickell at Wisconsin. Penn State pretty much dominated down-for-down.
USC 42, Rutgers 20 Pushed back til 11pm EST kickoff to accommodate the World Series?? How many of you sickos (me) watched this?
Iowa 40, Northwestern 14 They benched Cade McNamara! Northwestern only had 163 yards of offense.
Oregon 38, Illinois 9 Eek.
Minnesota 48, Maryland 23 Never competitive.
MUSIC:
"Rubberneckin'"-- Elvis
"This Is Why We Fight" -- The Decembrists
"When They Fight, They Fight" -- The Generationals
“Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra
MSU goes as Aidan Chiles, which is in all directions. Some of those interceptions are freshman; some are just really not accurate. They're bringing him along in an interesting way, which is max protection and letting him look downfield. He has a threat in Nick Marsh who's really emerging in the back half of the season. Other targets are just dudes. OL has some big issues on the right side, look cobbled together. Alarming how well they were able to run the ball consistently against Iowa. Michigan needs to keep Chiles in the pocket.
2. MSU Preview: Defense
starts at 19:01
They're weak at defensive tackle but cover it up with their burly LBs playing downhill. Other than play-action pass, what can we do Alex? Probably need to get creative. Consider beefing up if they have Hinton back and can run out multiple OTs, but Evan Link as 7th OL? You don't have the dudes who are going to win those matchups as much anymore. They do give up a big long run per week so many we'll have a Mullings beastquake again. Or maybe just once we'll get an Edwards vs Cal Haladay throw.
3. Illinois After Review
starts at 34:30
Brian is NOT as mad at Kirk Campbell as he was before going over the film. There were a lot of good ideas in there that his quarterback just couldn't execute. Offensive line seems to be coming together—Gentry was actually *Good*. Priebe is rounding into a 2nd team all-B10 kind of player. Crippen eh but not terrible. Persi might just be what he is. Tuttle was BAD. The overturned interception was to a guy covering grass—it's not even *at* a receiver. Defensively, yeah, don't put them in a terrible situation. Barham had a great game, they covered a lot of the weird stuff that Bielema dumped on them, but were constantly starting drives at midfield or in Michigan territory. Dammit Wink things have largely disappeared save for 2-minute drills, where they're rushing high and playing soft man.
4. Hoops vs Oakland, and Toledo Preview
starts at 59:56
Exhibition showed what we wanted to see, which was not many bad shots against a tricky zone defense. The ball didn't stick: when you can see all of these former PGs together they can all get a little creative. It's not going to be no-turnover but they get very good shots, including free throws.
Says my friend Nadim Azzam, "You've got to hurt to heal." Through painfully honest self-reflection, Nadim Azzam addresses depression, addiction, and the dysfunctional realities of our times with his songs rooted in hope and connectivity. A Jewish Egyptian-Palestinian American born in Vermont, raised in Southeast Michigan and sent off to the Arizona desert, Nadim’s life is hard to pin down - as is his music. A singer, rapper, and songwriter who makes his own beats and plays multiple instruments on his tracks, Nadim's new single "$20 Gold Piece" is out now.
Nadim was voted Detroit's finalist in NPR's Tiny Desk Contest by WDET, performing at the Concert of Colors. He has opened for The Kid LAROI at Eastern Michigan University, Robert Glasper, Yebba, Raheem DeVaughn and Bilal at the Aretha Franklin Amphitheatre. He has previously traveled the United States with Grammy-nominated reggae artist Matisyahu, on a unity tour to promote peace between Pro-Palestine and Pro-Israel students on American college campuses. Nadim's music video “The Come Up” won Best Hip-Hop/Rap Video and Audience Choice Award at the 2024 Michigan Music Video Awards.
Dusty May's recruiting: A+. Grady should be Wisconsin-level hateable. Oscar Goodman has the most beautiful line in a shooter's scouting report: good not great athlete. These guys will be around 3-4 years
Craig: Grady has some Roddy Gayle, can shoot a midrange. Have pole position in the recruitment of impact Trey McKenney, fighting UNLV and BYU for a center who does everything they want.
Oakland Exhibition takes: The ball does not stick on this team. Three guys are point guards, and then Danny Wolf also sees the court. It got a little sloppy as they got to know each other.
Roddy Gayle's defense stood out. Sam Walters stood out, role this year is going to be a JAS.
Question: do they wear out their centers? If you want to play fast you're going to wear out your bigs, which is fine if you're going to play Wolf at the five for 15 minutes, but now you need a four. Think that will be matchup-based whether they roll with Walters or Tschetter or Jones in those situations.
If someone gets in foul trouble they can weather it. Weird to see a guard foul out (Cason) and not be worried. Means they can play more aggressively. Defense was impressive. They did play drop, but being able to flat hedge is important, and having huge guards is going to feel very different. So many arms!
Another takeaway: Wolf's rebounding is very underrated.
Toledo preview: they're a five-out team with a 6-7 center so we'll get to see a different configuration against a different challenge than Kempe's big guards.
Babalola: Good to see Sherrone Moore's recruiting is what we hoped it would be. Way more athletic than most guys we've had, reminds me of when the early internet sent around a video clip of Jake Long dunking.
Illinois review: Offensive line was better, Gentry had a couple of pressures given up (PFF missed one) but he moved people and it's hard to understand why he wasn't playing over Link. Crippen it's more clear why they were trying Giudice because Crip tends to get bulled back. Wasn't terrible. Tuttle was—some of his mistakes weren't on him but he fumbled, had two HORRIBLE interceptions, can tell he hasn't practiced much this year.
They found a major: split zone. Then they went away from it. When they play-action they get the reaction they want, but can't complete the pass. Game over.
Who's QB: doesn't matter.
Illinois had a good gameplan, but defense was good. Game was lost on offense, which is 94% the quarterback, so it's hard for us to break this down. Everybody can see this.
Special teams is the other issue: Doman's punts are giving up 30 yards on the exchange. Everybody knew Illinois was going to fake near the 50 except this team.
Defense: Got a better Wink. Starting to build blitzes around his players, and they're more effective.
Michigan State: Michigan has better players, MSU has better coaching. They got Chiles to not turn the ball over against Iowa and suddenly they look good. Fancystat numbers are based on horrible interceptions; down to down they're a decent offense. Marsh is a dangerous WR, wish we had a healthy Will Johnson. MSU's OL is not good, especially on the right side.
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.
It’s a lot worse than we expected. There are Dungeons and Dragons references and they aren’t even coming from Seth (we’re rolling 1s, folks). They’re not doing any of the things we thought they’d be good at in the off-season. They don’t have a plan and they never had a plan. Sherrone Moore isn’t getting fired after one year, so how do they get out of this hole? Kirk Campbell is in trouble. Is there something going on with this team in the background that we just don’t know about? Neither side of the ball is getting better throughout the season. What would YOU do if you were Sherrone Moore?
[The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]
2. Defense vs Illinois
Starts at 26:59
All things considered, the defense did pretty good. They held Illinois to under 300 yards and Luke Altmyer only had 80 passing yards. Illinois’ draw plays worked really well. The defensive line has been struggling with mobile quarterbacks this season. The refs got Michigan for all their holds and DPIs.
3. Hot Takes, Game Theory, and Special Teams
Starts at 40:00
Takes hotter than a random post on any message board. Do you think you could punt a ball 33 yards? Welp, let’s talk about the fake punt. Michigan plays too slowly to be down two touchdowns. What is the maximum you’ve ever seen the refs get the spot wrong? Big Noon Indiana is a silver lining!
4. Around the Big Ten with Jamie Mac
Starts at 59:38
Indiana 56, Nebraska 7 495 yards to 304, one turnover to five for the Hoosiers. Indiana’s backup quarterback comes in and it doesn’t matter! The Hoosiers have a 51% chance of going 11-1 according to Bill Connelly.
Maryland 29, USC 28 USC was up 28-14 in the 2nd half. They are now 1-4 in the Big Ten and have lost all four games by a combined 14 points (they led all of these games at some point in the 2nd half).
Michigan State 32, Iowa 20 Aidan Chiles is pretty good when he doesn’t turn the ball over and he only turned it over once. Iowa scores a 75 yard rushing touchdown and that’s about it for them.
UCLA 35, Rutgers 32 Congrats to UCLA for their first Big Ten win. The passing stats in this game are upsetting for Michigan fans.
Wisconsin 23, Northwestern 3 Just lean on Northwestern and they’ll fall over.
Oregon 35, Purdue 0 Yeesh
MUSIC:
"Losing It"--Fisher
"Heel Highway"--The Hard Quartet
"Casimir Pulaski"--Sufjan Stevens
“Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra
UM Athletics recently put out a survey that fans found pretty offensive. Rather than have this out over Twitter, we invited a regent to come on and discuss what they're seeing as revenue tradeoffs versus what the fans are seeing in terms of asking us to pay more for a cheaper product.
2. Illinois Preview: Offense
starts at 37:46
They've got a quarterback and a receiver, but maybe not so much an offensive line.
3. Illinois Preview: Defense
starts at 49:39
The 5-1 defense is still alive post-Walters, and still has lots of cornerbacks playing man coverage. Can they stop the big run though?
4. Washington After Review
starts at 1:03:13
Coverage was wore than we thought. What can Tuttle do for the offense?
About the Music: King Lynxx
The latest album from socially conscious Detroit hip-hop artist King Lynxx, featuring Tez the Don, is a lot like Lynxx himself: grown up, witty, earnest, and honest. King has his own studio that rents out to a lot of local Detroit artists across genres, and has helped a lot of bands perfect their sound, so it's a bit of a local celebration whenever he comes out with a new album of his own. We've shared the radio versions.
Song choices:
"God Body"
"Walk It Better"
"Step Daddy"
Also because Across 110th Street will get our Youtubes taken now now, the opener and outro:
