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.
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.
Beck'd. When he wasn't fired on Sunday it became a Whittingham problem.
Best playcall: Counter Draw in redzone, but the OL can't pick up a stunt. That's something IU does all the time.
What was different at Utah? They had a base, and their players were prepared to run their base against all sorts of tricks, so their opponents had to play them honestly.
Stretch? It works against stunting—you can see that when Michigan stunted—but Michigan didn't teach how to deal with other counters, so when they ran it and got something other than stunts they were defeated by all the little tricks of a team that prepared for it.
Offensive coordinating is not pressing the right playcall button, and it's not chess either. In chess you don't have to teach the pawns how to execute an en passant. Beck's job is to put together a gameplan based on what the other team does and you do, and then have the assistants prep to that gameplan.
Rhino: was a disaster in this game, because Beigel is a German DT who's been out for weeks, and doesn't know what he's doing.
No, we didn't talk about anything else. What else is there to talk about (unless it's basketball or hockey, but we ran out of time, sorry).
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
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.
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
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:
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.
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.
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.
One of Brian's absurd score predictions almost hit. Opposing Penn State fans were quite pleasant because they were also complaining about their team. In 2014 Devin Funchess was the difference, in this game it was split stretch. Just get out of your own way with the pre-snap frippery. They're finally running the plays they're good at (stretch) and it took six games, three horrible, to figure it out. If Jason Beck can take a step back and look at this game as an example of how to simplify things then he might be okay. Tommy didn't seem like a tremendously better QB than Bryce but the play calls were a lot better. Bryce was going along fine then had a bad series, started spiraling, and it was gone. They needed a change on offense and the best way to do that in football is change the QB, it sucks that it's a true freshman. Tommy didn't go out and win the game but he certainly didn't lose it. Curt Cignetti is probably excited to scheme against a true freshman QB. Does Bryce still have the higher ceiling on the season? It's hard to judge anyone based on what's happening tactically. Kuzdzal's touchdown was well blocked, Goodwin has that JJ McCarthy "how are you that fast??" speed. Hiter looked pretty good. If you have the defense thinking about stretch and then you run duo you can catch them off guard. It's not the offensive line's fault that they can't run the ball, which is an insane thing to say. There's a time and a place for the rhino, but it can't be half of your snaps.
[The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]
2. Defense vs Penn State
Starts at 51:33
Cornerback play was a little disappointing, Penn State was getting a lot of contested balls. WR Chase Sowell is a dude, though. This game didn't bode well for having to face and bracket Jeremiah Smith. They don't jump routes when they're in zone, they look less confident. Penn State ran well on the first drive and then it disappeared. Palepale came in and made a great play. John Henry Daley looked really good, he danced around a lot to make a play on a sack. Carter Meadows saw some play time. Troy Bowles had some nice plays and is the blitz guy. Chris Bracey was all over the place and had an amazing game. He had an interception and made up a lot of distance to break up a late pass play. Rod Moore injured his ankle after his interception and had to be carted off but came back with tape. How will this defense hold up against Indiana? Did Josh Hoover get injured? This is not a shut-down defense but they're hard to crack.
3. Hot Takes, Special Teams, and Game Theory
Starts at 1:18:20
Takes hotter than split stretch in the second half. They correctly used a timeout to get the ball back which was correct. It doesn't feel good punting from the +35 but do you think you can hit a field goal there? Should you go for it on 4th and 1 from your own 35? Why don't they have a short yardage package with Bryce? JJ Buchanan's hold was legit, sorry bud. Most of Michigan's penalties were legit. Why wasn't there a delay of game? It seemed egregious. Cam Brown's punting was not from where he's most efficient. Kuzdzal's just always going to bring one out every game apparently, but if the offense can't move the ball maybe just try it.
4. Around the Big Ten with Jamie Mac
Starts at 1:52:16
Editor's Note: The audio became distorted in parts of the recording in this segment, some discussions are missing.
Ohio State 19, Indiana 14 Indiana's win streak is snapped despite outgaining Ohio State. The Hoosiers had a game winning pass on 4th and 1 but Nick Marsh's foot was about 3 yards out of bounds. Julian Sayin gets injured and will miss "several weeks". Even when he was in the game this was not a vintage Ohio State passing attack.
Oregon 17, Nebraska 14 A real rock fight. Neither team cracks 300 yards, this was like Michigan playing themselves. Oregon starts Brock Thomas over Dylan Raiola and only goes 9/20 for 54 yards. Dylan Raiola comes in and goes 11/18 for... 59 yards. The Big Ten West has gone all the way out west. A Nebraska playoff possibility path??
Northwestern 24, Michigan State 23 Aidan Chiles throws no interceptions! No ground game for either team. Northwestern outgains Michigan 360 to 305, MSU has one turnover. MSU gets a field goal blocked and Northwestern drives down the field to win on their own game winning field goal.
UCLA 17, Wisconsin 7 UCLA is the only undefeated team left in the Big Ten. This was much more lopsided than the score, Wisconsin can't move the ball. Semaj Morgan threw an interception. The last time UCLA was 6-0 was in 2002 under Chip Kelly (yes, that Chip Kelly).
Washington 38, Purdue 26 Washington has five turnovers but more explosives than Purdue. Washington switches to Elijah Brown at QB and he looks far more competent.
MUSIC:
"Love Takes Miles"—Cameron Winter (live at Carnegie Hall)
"I'm The Man"—Joe Jackson
"Shake It Up"—The Cars
“Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra
OFFENSE: Meh. Becht has been starting for Matt Campbell for four years, is decent at reading out a defense but his level of play has dipped as the competition surpassed his ability. He's not a Brock Purdy sleeper NFL QB. Both RBs are just guys. WR Chase Sowell is on his 4th school but has been ranked higher in the portal every time, is now their most important offensive player because downfield threat Koby Howard is injured. OL doesn't scare us; Malachi Goodman is not ready for Big Ten pass pro and the other guys don't move people. Their TE room is pretty okay—they did work by playing a bunch of them together.
DEFENSE: D'Anton Lynn is one of the Ravens guys, the safeties coach Baltimore hired when Minter left for Vanderbilt. After the system didn't take in SoCal he's brought it to Happy Valley, and brought along players from UCLA and Iowa State to run it. One difference: the HEAVY OLB becomes the END in their 5-2 sets, which effectively means they're adding a DE not a DT when they go out of nickel. For Michigan it might mean they can try to plow against a defense that is built to not allow that first and foremost. For PSU it means they've been a little sus against quick-hitting offenses. The Wing-T blew them apart. Experienced LBs make it work most downs however. Hope Beck's finally got his head out of his ass. All-Big XII safety Marcus Neal got benched, and might be moving to LB.
2. Hockeytalk, and a little Hoops
starts at 26:52
A 4-0 start for the icers goes on the road to the defending champions with the #1 ranking on the line; does their weird juju apply to the regular season as well? Most impressive performance so far might be that return game at Bowling Green, where they were outplayed for a period then roared back. Ivankovic has been better than anyone realizes. Jayden Perron has been outstanding. Landon Dupont everything advertised.
3. After Further Review: Minnesota
starts at 41:49
Unnnnghhhh. Jason Beck's offense is all counters, no meat, and does nonsensical things like pull a guard on a passing down. Avery Gach had a rough outing IDing his blocks, which is understandable since he was a guard until thrust into duty, and those blocks are unique to TEs. But everyone wants to know about the defense, right? Tackling was an issue because they got tired. Tariq Boney met his match in lengthy OTs who can grab at will and don't have to dropback pass pro.
4. Sklars!
starts at 1:04:41
The brothers are in town all weekend, with shows last night, tonight, and two on Saturday (they'll hold the start of Show 1 for people coming from the PSU game).
Featured Musician: Canada
They call themselves a "seven-piece chamber folk-pop band." I call them a perfect distillation of the kind of music coming out of Ann Arbor in the mid-2000s, when they put out the How Dare You EP, which I had in the band box. I think I actually bought this one when they opened for Saturday Looks Good to Me. Unfortunately it's scratched to shit, so I went on Spotify, found their 2021 album "Put Singing Birds Into Your Messy Hair," super dug it, and used songs from that. If you do want to check out their early stuff, start with This Cursed House, which includes some of the songs from the EP but better recordings. Fun story I found googling: They produced that album in a barn, using a soundboard that they presumably got from ILM, since it was used to mix the original Star Wars trilogy.
Canada got together with some other bands to create Quite Scientific (Qui-Sci) Records, so I still think of that whole group "Qui-Sci" (rhymes with Phi-Psi). They also have weird names. One of them is Aaron Saul, another is Aaron Shaul, and another is Ryan Howard (no not THAT power hitter for the Phillies). This isn't the first or last time I feature Qui-Sci bands—the label was pretty important in local music in my era—but I think Canada is their definitive act.
Songs:
"The Farthest Shore"
"Homes and Jewells"
"Half-Hearted Laughter"
Also because Across 110th Street will get our Youtubes taken down, the opener and outro:
Tactical issues: They run constraint plays without establishing the base, so they overreactions to what they're doing.
They don't punish the safeties being at 8 and 6 yards.
Two different OC types: Lindsay type attaches his stuff to what you're doing; RR/Beck types want to install their offense.
Watch Utah last year: Beck last year would not like what Beck does this year.
Feels like Jason Beck is on tilt; he's trying to win the game with every playcall, and he's not getting the homers.
You can put Max Bredeson on the field but he's got to be at least a little bit of a threat.
Alex Bauman? He's a blocking TE who makes good reads so he might be an answer. But Zack Marshall was that guy.
How many seams have we thrown this year? None. How did Purdue get a big run vs Minnesota at the start of the game, threatened the seam, safety steps back, blockers win.
They don't run Dagger. They don't throw to anyone but their first two receivers.
Brian got a QB running game and the monkey's paw curled.
This is probably the biggest disconnect between expectations and reality we've ever faced.
Hockeytalk: Michigan has an incredible concentration of talent, they're not the only ones. Heady time to be a college hockey fan because there are some great teams out there because CHL players are now in the Big Ten. Think the season will be less frustrating but the Tournament will be brutal because several schools (MSU, Denver) have their best team ever.
Hoopstalk: Not last year's team but pretty good. Trey is the star but he's a shooter; his offense should be shoot or go downhill. Expect them to do some shooting, work in Quinn Costello as a movement shooter, and OREB. Thiam has to learn better shot selection, develop a two-man game with Cadeau. He can't be taking the bad shots because the other guys should be taking those so Thiam and Estrella can put them back.
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.
Michigan beats Eastern Michigan in an exhibition game 87-62. Getting Elliot Cadeau and Trey McKenney back should form one of the best backcourts in the Big Ten. McKenney was a 6th man last year but was dripping with talent. Cadeau's room for improvement is suppressing the turnovers. McKenney you'd like to see improvement as a movement shooter and a finisher at the rim, it's okay for him to take mid-range shots (which aren't very prone to turnovers). The sky's the limit for the backcourt. Kenny Noland comes in from Columbia as a backup, he brings some Mike Smith vibes. His assist and turnover rates could've been better but you got to grade him on a Columbia curve. He brings beating full court ball pressure to the table as well as a structured offense. Roddy Gayle is your projected starting small forward, his 3rd year on the team. He's a glue guy and one of the better ones in the league. His three point shooting had a lot of streakiness to it. He can be aggressive going downhill, also he's an older guy who you can't intimidate. He shows his chest at the rim and makes his free throws. Brandon McCoy is out for the year. Ricky Liburd is most likely to get the backup 20ish minutes per game. He's projected to be a good 3 point shooter. Joseph Hartman might not be an impact player but he has a good bit of polish and is a play finisher. He has comparisons to freshman Isaiah Livers, maybe? Malachi Brown is just a little too small to be viable in conference play this year.
2. The Frontcourt
Starts at 28:08
Moustapha Thiam comes in from Cincinnati and was the anchor of one of the best defenses in America last year. This was a vital addition to the roster. He's an anchor and a rim protector and looks the part. He takes a lot of bad shots but somehow makes them while having a low turnover rate. He'll have a better offense around him this year to hopefully make better shot opportunities off of. Thiam's a good defender but he's no Mara. J.P. Estrella comes in from Tennessee as the projected 4. He played a lot of 5 overseas but didn't look the part. Estrella was a great offensive rebounder at Tennessee but has some defensive issues that you hope Thiam helps mitigate. Estrella has been very efficient offensively but what happens when he gets extended play time? There are a broad range of outcomes here and we don't really know what to expect. Freshman F Quinn Costello was an excellent shooter in high school, even as a movement shooter. Can he handle all the switches on this Michigan defense? Marcus Møller looked fairly promising overseas. He's a bit underweight but give him a year and his skillset could be really good. He had some Mara vibes. Jalen Reed comes in from LSU, where if he stayed he could've been a starting anything. He reminds us a little bit of Morez Johnson. He's got the muscle mass and the skills if he can just stay healthy. Oscar Goodman has a Will Tschetter vibe - good glue guy but just not quite an established player. He's a guy for a different age of college basketball.
3. Hot Takes, Season Expectations, and The Big Ten
Starts at 1:00:02
Takes hotter than the entirety of Michigan's 2025-26 basketball season. We are going to have to come back to earth a bit. They still look like a clear tournament team in the 4-6 range but it's not fair to compare them to one of the best basketball teams in the last few decades. There are a lot of Big Ten teams with high floors but not many that look like an amazing team (besides maybe Illinois). Michigan State is pretty much the same team from last year. The non-conference schedule is pretty brutal, including UConn, Marquette, Villanova, and Louisville. What will Boynton's coaching style be? The biggest conundrum is what does he do with Estrella? Last year's team needed to win a national championship, this year you need to just build a program. What's their Big Ten Tournament seed and NCAA Tournament seed?
4. Around the Big Ten with Jamie Mac
Starts at 1:34:30
Indiana 20, Nebraska 17 Nebraska outgains the Hoosiers 391 to 365, Indiana just couldn't run the ball. Nebraska Jim Knowles'd themself and it came back to bite them. The winning touchdown was a rhino play! Colandrea is an annoyingly good QB at Nebraska, he's always doing something positive. Nick Marsh had 57% of Indiana's yards.
UCLA 17, Oregon 15 Oregon only gained 265 yards of offense, 179 of that was on their final three drives in the last eight minutes of the game. Oregon has to feel disturbed that this is the way their season is going because of a dirty hit against USC. Oregon did their "go for 2" on their first TD but missed it and it came back to bite them. The Ducks had seven (7!) turnovers in this game.
USC 31, Penn State 23 Penn State's run game is absent, will the Michigan game be "who has to rush less"? USC does not believe you need to cover tight ends (this would work well againt Michigan). Penn State's running backs don't have a run greater than 8 yards, Rocco Becht is the only one with double digit rush gains. Their center looks like David Molk with one foot.
Illinois 38, Michigan State 37 Ref outrage!! Pat Fitzgerald flips off the field. Fred Moore is Michigan State's top wide receiver.
Purdue 41, Minnesota 13 Purdue ran for 305 yards, that feels bad! Minnesota ran for 27 yards. That also feels bad! When is the last time a Michigan team lost to a Big Ten team that didn't make a bowl game? Could Purdue make a bowl and be competitive against Indiana?
Iowa 41, Washington 24 It was 27-3 at halftime, this was a blowout. Washington had -3 rushing yards, and this was a home game.
Lightning Round Northwestern 45, Ball State 14 Ohio State 45, Maryland 16
MUSIC:
"Opening Night"—Arctic Monkeys, War Child Records
"Backseat"—Balu Brigada
"Crush"—Indigo De Souza
“Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra
