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.
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:
Basketball talk with Seth: They're a fascinating portal team because they're not just the best players they could get; they're players who fit the kind of team May wants to coach.
How much do we take preseason rankings seriously? Torvik and Kenpom have good numbers but the more transfers you have the dirtier their data. Projection is a larger component than it was in the past.
Basketball talk with Brian: The one interesting spot is the four, because they want to play Wolf there, but not sure they can play against a small lineup.
That's the thing about this roster: they can morph to play any kind of team. Rubin Jones gives them the flexibility; he can be a point in a huge lineup or he can play the four against guard lineups. Use Wolf against Iowa, use a small lineup against IU, etc.
Basketball talk with Craig: Wolf and Goldin should work very well on the offensive end because Wolf has ball skills. Can Wolf guard a wing though? We'll have to see.
Tschetter is more important than you think: he's slimmed down, is a skilled offensive player. Seth wants him to be the microwave off the bench, but if he can keep in front of wings a little bit more he's your other 3/4.
Freshmen? Cason is going to be a starter next year probably so they're going to bring him in. Players might want to redshirt if they're D-I players who aren't NBA players (e.g. Brooks). Different math for Pippen, who could blow up this year or next, and is unlikely to stay in college if he becomes the player we think he'll be. Bigs should redshirt now.
OSU-Oregon: Glad OSU lost because it fixed a rule hole and both OSU's schedule's a joke. Penn State's schedule's a bigger joke. Seth: they're flat track bullies.
Football Talk: The coverage is in bad shape. Zeke Berry has me very worried.
Could have been more about the Washington surface as guys were taking 3rd steps to gather themselves instead of moving like normal. Last time that field was tested for traction they were right on the border of acceptable, especially mattered when Giles Jackson is stopped and Berry is still in motion.
Craig thinks Evan Link did better, Brian thinks the body of work says he's still the worst FBS right tackle so how much better can he get?
Iowa-Washington: UW always comes away with 0 points in the redzone, but turnovers were the difference, and that came from Iowa knowing their defense versus Michigan giving away early open outs to Rogers. After watching Rogers vs Michigan I wasn't surprised a defense that knows who they are were able to exploit that.
Guys coming along? Offensively no. Brian hasn't seen anything from the OL to think they can turn a corner, Orji stuff is tossed out the window, Tuttle's gonna get hurt. Brian is pretty checked out on football. Feels like modern college football has undermined how we invest in our teams, because once you lose a few games you're just looking at the portal instead of wondering who on your team you can develop.
Defensively: Seth thinks Brandyn Hillman is going to be a really good player.
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: Ice Devils Melt
Opener
Goals in all different ways
Finally an Ice Devil Goal
Very Good First Road Game
Segment 2: 59 Minutes and then 1 Minute, plus scores and Preview
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 bye week which means basketball preview with Craig Ross! Dusty May inherited a roster with ~two players but hit the portal hard. He built Florida Atlantic into a Final Four team from nothing and it wasn’t a fluke. He wants to play tempo because he thinks it works but also because the players and fans will like it. May plays a different game from Beilein but the Beilein vibes are immaculate. He’s analytical in shot selection but also believes in player specialties. And he’s really into basketball podcasts!
[The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]
2. The Back Court
Starts at 24:59
This will be an interesting arrangement of dudes. Rubin Jones is a fun pick out of North Texas, he’s 6’5” and can switch onto bigs. Dusty May went for the guys he hated to play against. He also wants guys who can play multiple positions. Roddy Gayle has a concerning turnover rate but gets to the line a lot. Tre Donaldson III comes in from Auburn with a very efficient jump shot. Nimari Burnett should play as only a three and may start some games. LJ Cason is the most likely freshman to contribute.
3. Hot Takes, The Front Court
Starts at 1:01:50
Takes hotter than Will Howard’s social media mentions. Vlad Goldin comes in from FAU and is what we want to see from a 7’1” center. He takes hook shots! Danny Wolf comes in from Yale and is the most interesting guy on the team (center sized with the skills of a point guard). He could get 5 minutes per game at the 5 and 10-15 minutes at the 4? Sam Walkers is Just A Shooter. Will Tschetter returns as a mini Danny Wolf.
4. Around the Big Ten with Jamie Mac
Starts at 1:42:28
Oregon 32, Ohio State 31 Ohio State will be fine in the playoff implications race but in the meantime lolol. Oregon faced a tough choice taking the lead by kicking a field goal from the one yard line because Ohio State could easily get into field goal range (until they didn't).
Penn State 33, USC 30 Tyler Warren (a tight end who wears 44(!)) had 17 catches for 224 yards and took the snap for a play where he had the receiving touchdown. Is USC the new Nebraska of the Big Ten?
Wisconsin 42, Rutgers 7 Rutgers kept threatening to score and then turned the ball over. They had a lot of injuries on defense.
Iowa 40, Washington 16 Washington outgains Iowa in this game but just cannot put points on the board.
Minnesota 21, UCLA 17 This was a comeback victory in which Minnesota scored all 21 points in the 2nd half. A third of Minnesota's total yards came off their game winning drive.
Northwestern 37, Maryland 10 Maryland turns the ball over four times. Northwestern didn't look amazing but capitalized on their opportunities.
Illinois 50, Purdue 49 Purdue scored on every drive in the 2nd half. What does this mean for Illinois?
MUSIC:
"Roundball Rock"--John Tesh
"Roundball Rock"--SNL
"Roundball Rock Big Band Live"--John Tesh
“Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra
