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.
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.
If Michigan wins the national championship, was the Rose Bowl still a bigger game? It was a real Rose Bowl. There is almost no piped in music so you can actually just hear the ambience of the crowd. It's the most beautiful stadium in America and you couldn't build it today. There are no stadium gimmicks, just the existential dread of playing Alabama in the most important game ever (this is a compliment). Michigan wasn't ready to be at this level two years ago, but now they're The Man going into the national championship game.
2. Offense vs Alabama
Starts at 21:21
Michigan puts up nearly 400 yards of offense and it feels like they left a lot on the field. Aside from TCU, the only game where JJ had to put up a game winning touchdown drive (featuring the dumbest Roman Wilson penalty of his career). AT LAST THEY RUN PLAY ACTION. Roman Wilson makes up for it by not only having a truly heroic catch but landing on his feet and he keeps going. Michigan had a great gameplan and schemed a lot of open receivers. Michigan didn't run dig but Alabama was trying to account for it. Michigan had counters to a lot of the stuff they've been putting on film all season. How did you feel about the trick plays? Overall, hard to criticize the gameplan. Mullings can catch! Blake's OT touchdown run is insane, shout out to Karsen Barnhart and Trente Jones. Semaj Morgan was probably in his own head a bit in this game but still had four catches.
3. Hot Takes & Defense vs Alabama
Starts at 1:03:25
Takes hotter than your blood pressure in overtime. You have to go after Milroe and Michigan did it as a team, that's how you stop Alabama. "Khaleke Hudson vs Minnesota" gameplan paid off. Josh Wallace was such a perfect fit for this defense - a senior with a billion snaps who is disciplined. Keon Sabb didn't get to play most of the day and then gets a huge hit. Josiah Stewart looked great. Michigan did a great job on their stunts.
4. Game Theory, Special Teams, and Washington Preview
Starts at 1:48:48
Jay Harbaugh was suddenly replaced by Parker Fleming. If Michigan lost this game, it would be because of special teams. Jake Thaw should've just let that punt go. Semaj Morgan had the yips, but he's a true freshman playing in the Rose Bowl. Was playing for a long field goal correct after the botched flea flicker? Let's just not talk about the last 40 seconds ever again. We briefly laugh about Ohio State. Brian can't stream a game from his phone in Michigan Stadium but he can stream a game on his phone on a plane. Penix played out of his mind against Texas. Michigan probably matches up better with Washington than Texas. Washington's offensive line won the Joe Moore award via pass blocking, not rushing. Should you blitz Penix or just play coverage?
Milroe is a challenge—baby Vince Young who will destroy you with your legs if you let him. Georgia spied him and held him down; Brian wants to attack him, get got a few times, and keep them off-schedule. WRs are not as threatening as some we've seen; the Gattis generation is gone now. OL has blue chips but the center is wild and the left side is young, especially the left tackle. They use three TEs, one's a fullback, one's a Funchess, one's a Maryland transfer who's meh at both.
2. Alabama Preview: Defense
starts at 25:17
The secondary is the best in CFB; the guy opposite the headliner is even better, and Seth loves their nickel-hybrid. True freshman safety is also excellent, free safety is just out there to be the help. They went back to basics this year with Saban's Pattern-Match hybrid system; Georgia really put it to the test and found the LBs are the most likely to break down. The DTs are not so scary, the pass rushers are: Do not get in long downs against these guys because they'll bring in both 1st rounders. On standard downs they'll play a 290-pound SDE instead. Linebackers are the weakness; they're athletes but mistake-prone. Brian wants this to be the Donovan Edwards game, Seth wants to run down the middle with Corum and Mullings.
3. Iowa After Review
starts at 48:15
It was Iowa.
4. Texas/Washington Preview
starts at 57:04
Hard to figure out this game. Texas is probably the better, Washington is the better big game team because Michael Penix is a big game quarterback. We'd rather face Washington because Texas has the two best DTs in the country and that's how to beat Michigan. They'll also have Xavier Worthy back. Quinn Ewers is really more of a true sophomore—think last year JJ—than the guy ready to take them to the pinnacle, but our Texas friend says they're having a This is the Year season and Washington is the last foe to vanquish on the Revenge Tour.
This year we are partnering with The Blind Pig for bumper music, since that's where I've seen most of the bands I've been pushing anyways.
Ypsilanti's David Freund didn't mean to start a band; he was just learning to play guitar during the pandemic. He started posting his songs, which are bluesgrassy with clever lyrics, on social media, gave himself a goofy name, and started picking up a following quickly. People wanted to see him perform the songs live, so he got some mates to play with him, and now they're a band. They recorded their first album, Wonder Out of Your Mind, over at Grove Studios a year ago Christmas, and put out a new song a few weeks ago. They're playing the Pig on January 31st wsg The City Lines and Good Man's Brother if you want to say you heard about them first.
Note: No Brian today; we got John U. Bacon to fill in.
Things Discussed:
Recruiting: Sam: look at the portal too. Seth: Barham is a GREAT pickup.
Mark my words: in 4 years Michigan's 27 players are going to wind up providing more value to Michigan than Miami's 27 players are going to provide to Miami.
But I would like to see us get better at the up-front bag game for cornerbacks and wide receivers and quarterbacks who have a lot of value on the open market because the skills you see in high school are more likely to translate.
You aren't winning a 5-star who takes the bag to go to A&M. You should be winning 5-stars against Ohio State and Georgia and Alabama who know they're going to win and get developed AND get paid. Up-front payments are a line we won't cross, and I wish that wasn't the case, even if it does lead to stress-free signing days.
Burgergate: Congrats to Ohio State for getting the #1 player in the country without using NIL as an inducement, because if you buy a cheeseburger and try to cover it up the NCAA is on the case. Releasing the NOA on signing day should erase any doubt whether this investigation exists for any reason other than a vendetta.
Harbaugh NFL Round Whatever This Is: Yes be afraid of the Chargers, be very afraid if by some chance Las Vegas doesn't stick with their guy, don't be so afraid of the Bears.
Contract: Craig says there's no point unless there's an assumption of reasonableness.
Seth: It's not Michigan or Harbaugh we're worried about being reasonable, it's the Big Ten and NCAA, who have demonstrated conclusively that they are going to use any means at their disposal to hurt Michigan as long as Harbaugh is around. Is that hate ta Michigan problem or a Harbaugh problem? That's the question they need to resolve, because there's no way to keep Harbaugh unless Michigan has his back.
Opinion: They'll probably hate any other coach who's as successful at Michigan as Harbaugh. Also this probably has more to do with how much Warde and some of the regents are tired of dealing with it than what's right for Michigan.
This used to not be so boring, but Michigan put this class together awhile ago. We launched at the same time Jaishawn Barham and Lugard Edokpayi committed so we're going to do the defense first.
Edge: Michigan lost a bunch of guys and still ended up with one of the best classes in memory. Baxter and Edokpayi are basketball player/Taco Charlton-David Ojabo like potential 1st rounders once they develop, and they got a Mike Morris in Dominic Nichols as well, and teams like Wisconsin were coming for him late.
DT: Owen Wafle was a big ND flip, has a Kris Jenkins get-off/body, was a sneaky good pickup, didn't wear a jacket for the OSU game because he doesn't get cold. Manuel Beigel is a freaky German they need to see in pads for awhile. Ted Hammond committed so early we don't remember him but he was supposed to be a 3-4 DE or off-tackle. Deyvid Palepale had a weird recruitment, got booted from his team in Pittsburgh for a tweet, committed to USC over Michigan and PSU who both thought they were getting him, is Penei Sewell's cousin and grew up in Alaska. Story goes he got back in touch with Michigan after Kenneth Grant ran down Kaytron Allen.
LB: Missed Aaron Chiles, got their Josh Ross in Jeremiah Beasley. Played a ton of football for Belleville, might also be a running back?
DB: Only three guys after they couldn't pry two dudes out of Ohio, but moved on immediately to Jo'Ziah Edmond who was committed to Ryan Walters at Purdue and shot up to a 4-star after. Also got CB/Nickel Jeremiah Lowe after missing on Boo Carter, think if they bulk him up they have their feisty nickel with outside versatility. Jacob Oden is a safe safety in the mode of Tyree Kinnell.
ATH: Don't sleep on Cole Sullivan, who's probably ticketed for the Jaylen Harrell position, because he is a crazy athlete, going to be on the punt block team immediately. Mason Curtis maybe was supposed to grown into an edge or stay a safety but isn't a linebacker. Don't forget about Jaden Smith (Brian did), because he's got Uche-level bend and the speed to play linebacker or safety—could be a Micah Parsons Lite.
2. Offensive Skill Positions
starts at 40:57
QB: Everyone has their take why Jadyn Davis fell from 1st overall when this class started to middle 4-star. Height, time, doesn't make enough big plays, doesn't have THE arm, isn't as high of a pro prospect. Very cerebral player. Brian thinks he's a slightly more athletic Cade McNamara.
HB: Jordan Marshall is a dude. Not quite Blake Corum twitch but a bigger version of the same Mike Hart-like guy with great vision who churns. Micah Ka'apana is more of a home run hitter, like him in a stretch offense because he puts his foot in the ground and goes. Donovan Edwards as a running back.
WR: Hard to recruit when you don't use them. Channing Goodwin is a legacy, sort of a Greg Mathews possession receiver who isn't that fast; Michigan wanted his teammate Jordan Shipp. But Goodwin is good enough that people knock Jadyn Davis so which is it? Seth is higher on I'Marion Stewart, who's a Roman Wilson or Ronnie Bell (7v7 star, can jump) fast guy who may figure early as a returner if that's not Semaj Morgan's role.
3. Offensive Line and Tight End
starts at 1:08:08
TE: Brady Prieskorn and Hogan Hansen are more highly rated Michigan tight ends but still Michigan tight ends so they'll be great. Hansen is the guy Lorenz is stumping for; he plays in a Wing-T offense so he has a lot of blocking experience. Prieskorn is the more Lovelandesque as a 6'6" receiver who wins contested balls on the regular and needs to learn blocking.
OL: Payoff for back-to-back Joe Moore awards. Headliner is Andrew Sprague, a Jake Long-prototypical left tackle prospect except Michigan suggested having him at RT and Blake Frazier, son of Steve, playing LT. Frazier is athletic and would work well if they want to do more zone. But the interior guys are not that. Ben Roebuck plays at St. Ed's with the Armstrong twins and that tells you the difference between what Michigan (brainy maulers like Trevor Keegan) and Ohio State (light-footed and lengthy pass protectors) are looking for at guard. Luke Hamilton is another pure Ohio mauler who's changed his body shape and helped them win so many battles in Ohio. Jake Guarnera was the #1 center on their board, is taller and stronger than the other guys they were looking at.
4. Lightning Round and Transfer Portal Targets, plus Gatlin Bair
starts at 1:31:14
Best player, sleepers, top draft pick, guys who got away. We also discuss Jaishawn Barham who committed today, and Michigan's other portal targets and positions of need. Also discuss Idaho WR Gatlin Bair, a Xavier Worthy-level athlete who's probably deciding in February and then going on a two-year Mormon mission.
About the Featured Musician: THE CHAMPAGNE SAINTS
MGoReaders who haven't played a show since 2013, the Champagne Saints don't have a website, have two albums on Spotify, and a handful of mp3s have been in my Winamp rotation for ages. They've got a cool spacey thing going on in the empty spaces between the rock. I'd say check them out but I don't know where you could. Maybe in those wooden racks at Wazoo?
Iowa takeaways: 26-0 was good. Can't be 26-3, needed to come down after the intensity of OSU.
Offense missed some opportunities: get a catch from Barner or Loveland and it looks different.
Love that they gave Semaj Morgan another chance to get on the mic.
Using Edwards: get him running, not reading.
Sainristil: He's going to be drafted. Iowa: yes, but there were non-Iowa moments. He's playing cornerback very well.
Portal talk: Not worried about Trente anymore. Walter Nolen? Sam says they need clarity on whether he's even in the portal. Hard to move on a QB when you don't know what you've got. They're in on the OL from A&M. Can't offer starting spots.
CFP: Absolutely got it wrong. FSU had a better end to the season than Alabama, their 2nd string QB will be back, all of the arguments for Alabama are ridiculous post-hoc excuses for putting an SEC team in the Playoff. Michigan ends up better off because Texas is a tougher matchup than Bama for Michigan.
How good you are is what you've done this season. They put Cincy and MSU in the Playoff; they've never chosen the S&P+ teams—always the most deserving.
Brian: If Michigan wins out Harbaugh should offer to split it with FSU. If Alabama and FSU win out, FSU should be the national champion.
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 College Football Playoff committee putting in Alabama over Florida State is just awful. This isn't a Michigan thing, it's a college football thing. They're a 13-0 ACC champion team. Florida State did everything they could. This Alabama team has been erratic all season. Their defensive tackles are just guys but they have an outstanding secondary and two really good edge rushers. Michigan probably has an advantage in both trenches. It feels like Michigan should win this game. There's no clear monster in the playoffs (besides maybe Michigan?).
2. Offense vs Iowa
Starts at 25:15
This wasn't nearly as bad as it felt when you rewatch it. Trente Jones keeps picking up the stupidest holding calls. Colston Loveland dropped some passes he never drops. They played very conservatively because once you go up by 10 points in this game it doesn't matter. JJ only goes 22/30 for 147 yards, if his tight ends don't drop some we're playing the incompletion game again. Michigan did some simple trick stuff but it's not the kind of thing that can fool Iowa, they're a very sound defense. They need to do some soul searching with Donovan Edwards before playing Alabama. Instead of "JJ's incompletions" we play "JJ's sacks".
3. Hot Takes, Defense vs Iowa
Starts at 52:40
Takes hotter than every single Florida State fan until the end of all time. Brian should've just put "no" as the preview. Was it a fumble or an incomplete pass? Let's talk about how good of a human Mike Sainristil is (he's going to be president one day). Who's on the Mount Rushmore of these past three seasons? Kenneth Grant continues to consume. There's not much else to say about how Michigan's defense did against Iowa's offense.
4. Game Theory, and Special Teams
Starts at 1:20:45
Michigan normally goes for it on 4th and short but when you can kick a field goal to go up against Iowa, you just go for it. How is Iowa so bad at QB sneak? Semaj Morgan did a thing, the guy who tackled him might be the most athletic person on the field, though. Jake Thaw was the "just field this punt" guy. How does James Turner compare to Jake Moody?
Defensively it was an NFL game. Michigan unleashed a dizzying array of coverages to hide McCord's leverage from him, and Ryan Day had all kinds of motions and switches to uncover it. The game turned on Mason Graham, who allowed Michigan to keep the pressure on McCord and play with an extra defender in the secondary because OSU could not run on him. Hutchinson-level? Not yet, but Hutchinson before his injury in 2020, where this guy is an All-American. Rod Moore was back to himself. Sainristil isn't a vet at outside cornerback, McBurrows is a good nickel.
Offensively there was a lot left on the table. Michigan maximized its RPS wins, Corum's run was RPS+1 but also the biggest play in Michigan football history? JJ almost had a TD on the throwback to Johnson, who didn't recognize he had a Daylen Baldwin opportunity. Run game limited because Tyliek Williams played out of his mind. Going to be a negative in the run game charting for the first time in years, Barnhart especially. But he was their best in pass pro. Do. Not. Leave. JTT. Unblocked.
2. Iowa Preview: Offense
starts at 22:44
Abominable, worst in the Power 5. Their receivers are a bad match for their QB, who needs a big target more than a good route. Injured TEs and OL who run a lot of stretch and counter trey: the kind of team Michigan should be best able to defend. Mitigator: Michigan likes to leave their safeties back and subject their DTs to doubles, while teams have been suffocating Iowa specifically because you can bring down your safeties and their RB will break a tackle for 50 yards once every three games.
3. Iowa Preview: Defense
starts at 36:59
Excellent as always, with a lot more talent than we're used to. Five-star safety is playing like one, safety-ish linebacker from Virginia is athletic and their best pass-rusher. Plus the usual array of Iowa types. We wonder if their big-butted WLB is grading out so well (87 to PFF, over 90 in coverage) because he's more than a match for Big Ten West competition, but will get dusted if he has to keep up with Donovan Edwards. Missing Cooper DeJean but CBs have been fine. Again: competition question mark, and their DL isn't great at pass-rushing, so there's an opportunity for explosives except they take that away by playing soft cover 2. If they do that Michigan will have to grind them down like last year, but can they without Zinter?
Their punter is incredible. Their backup kicker had to kick the game-winner against Nebraska.
4. The Other Conference Championships + Playoff Talk
starts at 56:41
We go in order, starting with Washington-Oregon, which is not a 10-point game like Vegas has it. Oregon has been playing fantastic of late and Washington keeps needing to TCU its way through Pac-12 teams. But remember back when they played Washington had that game until Oregon surged back. Texas-Oklahoma State is the biggest spread, want to root for our old friend at QB but also rooting for Texas to get in to keep out the unwanted SEC teams and Ohio State. Georgia could lose to Bama, which is chaos, and we talk more about the committee's choices than the game. FSU beating Louisville would mean FSU goes ahead of any 1-loss team, and if Georgia complains about getting Oregon as the 4-seed they should pound sand. We don't believe in conspiracies; the committee cares about who wins the games, not what ESPN talking heads say to prop up the SEC. A Playoff without any SEC teams would be right, glorious, and absolutely deserved.
About the Featured Musician: 8-BIT BAND
We're back to letting Seth pick out the songs, so I'm going to nerd out and show you what I've been writing to for a lot of the year. It is this 25+ member orchestra of amazing jazz musicians who come together off their various projects to compose and produce big band versions of videogame music from our childhoods. I could describe further but Adam Neely, who's one of my favorite video essayists (one of the people worth getting a Nebula subscription for), has a 30-minute video on it. He also plays bass.
The 8-Bit Band is playing December 15th at Sony Hall in New York, and January 13th at the Ferguson Center in Newport News.
The Game post-op: OSU was closer because they didn't play insane. Were conservative and that worked for them.
Payoff for the light boxes all year.
Seth's monologue: Ohio State has plenty of hate, Michigan swerved to love, and I'm so happy that they won so we can talk about how the players love each other and love Harbaugh, and how the fans uplifted them.
Ari Wasserman comes clean: Signsgate was always just about hurting Michigan by changing the narrative.
McCarthy runs: obviously injured, OSU had some ideas to stop QB run, but M didn't plan the counters for that because they weren't going to run with him.
Michigan didn't learn the lesson of JTT: If you leave him unblocked for a second he will kill you.
Play-action is still missing. They are using it wrong.
Orjicat: OSU doesn't have numbers with a safety high.
McCarthy's read: He studied film on the robber, knew that guy was turning.
Last TD: Wasn't a bust, was Ryan Day adjusting to Michigan's Palms coverage.
Michael Barrett: shoulda been 1st team All-B10. Tommy Eichenberg was the soft spot Michigan attacked to win this game, and all the other coaches picked on him too.
Next year? Let's see what the portal brings, what the NFL takes. Michigan's D will be very good. Will JJ return? (25%?)
Sam: Michigan will only be going after guys who are proven commodities (not Tobias Merriweather).
Iowa: Atrocious offense, respect their defense minus their best player.
