Blue By Ninety - “Be there for your brothers” | Michigan OG Jake Guarnera talks Michigan’s win at Wrigley

Episode Date: November 18, 2025

Chris Wormley and Jordan Strack are joined by current Michigan OL Jake Guarnera after Michigan’s walk-off win at Wrigley. 

All right. Welcome into Stadium in Maine with Big Worm and Strack. I am Jordan Strack. That is Chris Wormley, former Michigan captain. I think this is episode 12. I don't know. I lost count. New episodes, though, do come out every single Tuesday during the football season. We're teamed up with Blue by 90. Make sure you go share the pod with your friends. We can keep building this thing up. Follow us on Instagram Stadium and Maine pod. It is a big week. Before we do anything, Worm, I think we have to, we're going to attack this thing. right off the top. You finally got a job, man. I'm so, I'm so proud of you, so happy for you. Now, you have signed with the Indianapolis Colts for their practice squad. You have been waiting anxiously for a call, and you are back on an NFL roster. What's that mean to you? Yeah, it means everything. I mean, it's been the longest offseason of my life. It's been, you know, 10, 11 months now. I remember starting workouts right after, or actually right before the Super Bowl this year, which was kind of the earliest I started. And I just never, never wavered from what my mission and what my goal was, even when it

seemed like I wasn't going to get a call. But yeah, it happened. And I'm going to be a cult for the season, which is really exciting, not too far from home. So the family can come and support and just hang out. I'm excited to explore the city a little bit. But just to be able to get back into a locker room and be around the guys and, you know, talk shit and all that fun stuff that. that comes with being on a football team is I'm really excited.

And just to be able to help out the team. Obviously, they're in a position to have a lot of success for the rest of the season into playoffs, Super Bowl run. Danny Dimes have been playing some great ball. Obviously, Jonathan Taylor, too. And I'm just there to help out any way I can. So I'm excited for the opportunity. All right.

I want to ask you one more thing before, and then we'll get into this thing. I know you have been training and trying to stay up to speed when you're coming into an NFL season like halfway through like this. And I mean, you mentioned it, but like you're getting to go on one of the best rosters and best teams in the NFL. How do you like try to go get yourself infiltrated into this locker room and just kind of be one of the guys and chip in when you haven't been around them? Yeah, I mean, you got to jump and hop on a moving train.

And then that's what it is. And, you know, I've done it the last couple years where it wasn't, you know, during camp or even OTAs. But, you know, I've been around this game a long time. I know what a typical Wednesday looks like, a Thursday, Friday, you know, traveling, home games, all that type of stuff. So I have an idea what it's going to be like. But every team is different. I'm excited to, like I said, get to work. But, yeah, I'm just going to, you know, go with the flow and try and cement a role here these next seven weeks of the regular season into the playoffs because this team, I think, can go pretty far.

And I think they're bringing me in to help out, and I'm looking forward to it. Well, I'm so freaking happy for you, man. Like, I know the work you have put in. I know that you have been just waiting for that call. And you are still going to do the pod, right? Like, we're still going to. All right. Do you guys have any Monday night games?

Have you looked at the schedule? Because we tape on Monday nights. Like, there's one Monday night game. So we're going to have to figure that out. But yeah, we're still doing this pod, man. And it's, especially these next two weeks are huge. And I'm excited to continue to talk Michigan ball. But it's nice to have a job that actually pays.

This state of the main pod hasn't. I have not received any funds from this yet. But it's coming. And I'm excited for that. But no, we're still doing this thing. It just might be a day later in a couple of weeks here. Absolutely. We will find a way.

We will work around your schedule. We will make it happen. So happy for you. The news came out earlier today before we tape. So I wanted to make sure we, we knocked that out and addressed that right away off the top. There was already one guy on Twitter that was like, hey, hopefully he doesn't forget you, Strak. And I'm like, no, he probably will. I'm just happy you return my text today, you know?

You're big time. I always text you. I know you do. I know you do. I know you have, you always have. All right. So you can see the gear. We've got the gear here.

Hey, that's what you should do. Hey, can you spread some of this gear around the Colts locker room and maybe we can get some more guys to hop on? I'll definitely get at least at least give it to the Michigan. guys for sure. Who are the Michigan guys on the Colts roster? Do you know? We got Quitty Pay, who's having a great year. He's balling out.

And we got Sean McKeon, tight end a few years ago in Michigan. I think he's on the practice squad. And there might be one other guy, but definitely, definitely Quddy and Sean. So I'm excited to see those guys played with Sean my last year. And then Quitty is just one of those guys that is continuing on that kind of Michigan defensive line kind of legacy in the NFL, which is fun. I like it. I like it.

and you can get your gear, jersey's gear, equipment, team pride, BSN sports has it all, the one-stop shop forever, you coach, athlete, and school across America. BSN sports makes it easy to design, order, and deliver everything your team needs to play like champions. Visitsonsonsports.com today. BSN sports, the heart of the game. If you'd like to get some gear, we've got it up on our Instagram page as well, the link there, we've got a shop.

You can go buy your stadium and main gear as well. All right, let's get into this thing. Michigan improves to 8-2 on the season with a nail-biting win at Wrigley against Northwestern 24-22 on Saturday. Obviously, the game-winning field goal from Dominic Zavada to exercise and demons. Worm, how would you kind of surmise what the hell we watched on Saturday? You said improved to 8-2, but I don't know if this team improved, you know, especially on the offensive side of the ball. And, but when you look at it without the turnovers and the two miss figgles, like this team dominated.

Yeah. They dominated in total yards. They dominated in, uh, in, in first downs and rushing yards and third down. It's like all these things, uh, 280 yards passing from Bryce. But then you got the two, you know, the two interceptions, the two miss field goals, a couple fumbles, uh, the weird trick play. And it's like, it kept Northwestern in the game. Northwestern is a, is an older team.

They're very disciplined. they took advantage of those turnovers but it's got to get cleaned up you know that that undisciplined type of ball that we've seen is something that has to get changed and has to get changed fast.

It's funny because literally on this podcast last week we feel like we've said this a lot you have to show up and you're going to have to play these games and again I promise you Saturday afternoon at Maryland they better show up and play because if not, you're going to get beat. Michigan just isn't good enough.

They don't have that margin of error where they can not play well and get away with it against another team. They have been, I mean, hanging on by a thread right now. And they did not play. I don't want to say they didn't play great because let's break it down. Total yards were 496 to 245.

First downs were 25 to 11. rushing yards. They outrushed them to 16 to 61. If you look at that stat alone, you would think they would have dominated and ran away with the game. Third downs, they converted 9 of 14. Northwestern was just 2 of 12,

so Michigan was getting off the field, and then they were staying on the field. Every single way you slice and dice this thing, Michigan dominated the football game. That's what makes it so frustrating that they needed a game-winning kick at the end to win it because they had dominated and played so well accept those five turnovers.

But that's the thing is like it's five turnovers. Like I saw a stat, no team has won a game with a minus five turnover margin in college football history. Michigan is the first one. So when you put that stat out there and it's like, okay, Michigan is now teams are won for whatever the number is, it's like they, I don't know, I wouldn't say they got lucky, but like that game could have been, if, you know, if they didn't run the ball like they did, if they didn't convert on first downs like they did, if they didn't dominate

and every other stat and category in this game, it would have been a gross, gross loss to a team that they shouldn't have lost to. And all those things that are going on, it's like, how do you fix this? You go back to basics after a biweek that they already should have went back to the basics and cleaned up those things.

But the one thing that I will say is like, I feel like that's a resilient team right there. Like all of those things that happened, Bryce throwing two picks back to back to come back and lead that game winning drive you know hats off to him because there's there's there's there's you know

guys in the NFL there's there's seniors in college football that crumble after that happens and he never wavered he went back out there and he got the job done and I think that shows a lot of resilience not only in Bryce as a freshman but the entire team so that's one like I guess silver lining

to this game where they had five turnovers is they went out there And when it was on the line, they let it, they let it loose, you know, and got the job done, Zabata, missed those two kicks at the end of it or at the beginning of the game and came back. I don't know if I was a fan of them hoisting him up on their shoulders like he was Rudy. But, you know, I don't know. He should have said, get me off. I don't want to be on your shoulders. Like, I missed two kicks before.

Yes, I just made a game winning kick. But he's supposed to do his job and that's his job. But they got the win And you can look back and feel a little better Knowing that you got the dub But it's got to change for sure For sure And here's what I'll say

And after I took some time to sit and reflect The way that I looked at it was They dominated the football game Yes, they turned it over But if you want to go and you want me to spin this thing And kind of give you the sugar coating of it they didn't play a good football they didn't play good complimentary football they did all these things wrong when they had a chance to fold they still found away you you still found away

you got the win you move on and it like dude it is hard to win football games I don't think people fully appreciate just how hard it is to win I don't like and especially when you've got a team that's this young I mean you're talking like like six guys making you know, they haven't even made 10 starts in college football that are playing and you're being led by true freshmen in multiple positions. You're without your Heisman candidate running back. Your stud running back goes down in the middle of it. There were a lot of ways and a lot of reasons for Michigan to fold and they didn't.

So like, yes, if they lose that football game, we're talking all hell's breaking loose on this podcast today probably. but like they found away and there's something to that like there is there's something to be in gritty there's something to finding away but they can't keep letting teams like Purdue in Northwestern hang around there's just there's no they have no business being in these football games you have to go and beat these teams and take care of business and like listen that is not going to be good enough against Ohio State you turned over five times against Ohio State they're getting beat by 40 and it's going to be ugly

And you're going to have to sit and listen to OHIO all the way around Michigan Stadium for the whole fourth quarter. So get it cleaned up, get it out of your system. Hopefully, hopefully, there were a lot of lessons learned this week that they can use going forward in these final two. Yeah, and I think one of those, you know, when you, just the team in general, like, I give a lot of credit, even though it was, you know, maybe one of their worst. I mean, five turnovers is unacceptable, no matter, we can say whatever. They're resilient, whatever they came back. They fought. They never gave up.

All that stuff is great. But when you look at the team, and like you said, in two weeks, unacceptable, going to get blown out by 40 points. Everybody knows that. So what are you going to do in these next, you know, it's Tuesday? So five days from now, what are you going to do to make sure that that doesn't happen again or four days, whatever it is on that Saturday, to make sure that you don't let that happen again against the team that they should be. They should beat Maryland, just like they should have beat Northwestern and Purdue, and they did, but they didn't do it in the fashion that we all expected them to. And I know that in that building, too, they expected to beat Purdue and Northwestern by, you know, I went on the pod this last week and said 31 to 10 is what I thought the game was going to be.

And there was a moment where it was, where it was close to being that, like if they were scored. Should have been. Yeah. And, but it's, we can't keep sitting here. And we're on the outside. We're on the outside just saying, you know, this can't happen. This five turnovers, the undisciplined stuff. So I can only imagine what they're saying in the building,

but at some point it's got to change. And as these kids, these young kids, these freshmen continue to grow and playing these games, at some point they're not going to be, they're not going to be able to use that excuse of, oh, they're just freshmen anymore. They're going to have to play like upperclassmen because they are the best players. Yeah. You know, those freshmen and those guys are, you know, the best players on the team. They have to show up like that, especially, you know, in two weeks.

it's it's it's it's it's paramount i will say this when you roll out on the saturday after thanksgiving ryan day does not give a shit how young you are they are going to absolutely come out and try to kill you uh especially after the last four years like you know he's stewing in it they they will they are not going to let up so you better be ready for uh to get punched in the face and deal with it. Regardless of that you're supposed to put up a hundred. They're supposed to put up a hundred a couple years ago. So it's, I'm waiting.

I'm waiting. So I get it. I get it. All right, let's go back early on in the game. So I thought early on in the game, that first scripted drive was outstanding. Outstanding.

There were the RPO's that were, I thought, really creative. It allowed Bryce to do. Connor Stallions has actually been saying this on Twitter for weeks. Bryce is unbelievable in the RPO game. Early on he was. He made some mistakes later in the game, but early on looked really, really comfortable. The one play that I loved, I thought it was the most creative thing they've done all year, putting Andrew Marsh in the backfield, having him run out on that wheel route. It was, it was not a gadget, but it was the most creative thing they've done all year. You take your best skill position player and have him

go be great. And it was, it was perfect. I'd love the rhythm. got Bryce into on that first drive, it felt different. It felt like they had a little bit of an identity. And I thought, all right, you came out slinging this thing. The run game's going to open up. And it did. And it did eventually. And it's like, I need that, but I need it more, you need it more consistently.

That's been the head scratchers. When you can come out and do that, why can't you do that consistently? Yeah. And like you said, that first drive was beautiful and then it kind of stalled. And then they missed the field goal. And they, you know, that, I think it was maybe 10, 10 play drive stalls into zero points is, that's unacceptable. And then when you see the creativity with Marsh and obviously he's, besides, you know, Haynes has now hurt for, you know, probably the rest of the season and now Jordan Marshall, who knows. But Marsh is a bona fide star at as a freshman, you know, and that, that duo of him and Bryce is like, if those kids stick together for another two, three years, like, man, it's, you know, it's like the receivers down in Alabama, the receiver down in, and.

Columbus, like, that's the type of player I see Marsh being. And he wasn't, I don't know if he was highly recruited or not, but like, he's having those type of performances and catches on a weekly basis where you're like, man, like, this kid can be special. And it seems like he's, yeah, he's a dude. So when you see them getting in that rhythm and then it stalls and then, you know, they kind of come back and just kind of this back and forth and they start to run the ball a little bit, it's promising, but then like, where are the points at, you know?

Yeah. Where are the points? Where are all these, you know, they're converting first downs. They're doubling Northwestern's totally yardage, but it's like, where are the points? Like, yeah, you can do all that, but I need points. No, 100%. And the other thing is like, so there has to be this balance, too. Like, you know, we've all talked about, well, you got to open it up.

You got to let Bryce go. You have to let him go, you know, you have to let him go play. It has to be the balance, too. And I think we finally saw it this week where in that at the end of the third quarter into the fourth quarter, you take the 21 to 9 lead, and then Bryce throws the two picks. I think, and I think on the second one, I think Bryce was like, I got to make up for that pick. So it's like, there's that balance. There's going to be a balance of, are you going to keep it wide open and let him sling

thing all over the place? And then, but listen, when it mattered the most on the final drive of the game, when you absolutely had to have it they go 11 plays in two minutes and 10 seconds they run out the clock the throw and catch on third down and 10 from the zone 37 um i tweeted out the video yesterday uh from the the high end zone look it was as good of a throw and catch as you're going to see anyway it was it was unbelievable the other thing that i want to mention up from that last last drive and i know we're going to get to jake guarder in just a moment one of the starting lineman for Michigan.

He is waiting. We're going to get to him in just a moment. The other thing I want to mention, though, Bryson Custle having to step up and come in, and the way he ran the football on that final drive. Yeah. I don't want people to forget about the effort and what he gave at the end of that football game

because they leaned on him a lot and they needed him. And he played his ass off. Yeah, I'm excited to get Jake's perspective on that because, you know, basically there's two starting winningbacks were out of the game. You know, Haynes has been out and Jordan went down. I'm giving a lot of credit to that offensive line. You know, they were moving people, not just in that fourth quarter, in that last drive, but that whole entire game.

They were moving dudes. And, yeah, I'm excited to see what Jake has to say because no matter, it seems like whoever they put in the backfield, it's like in Cuzzold, he runs hard. Like, he's not looking to duck and dodge. He's looking for contact, and especially as an offensive line, and I bet you they're excited to have that guy been in the backfield. And he stepped up big. You know, as a former walk-on, as someone that probably wasn't going to be relied on too much this season,

he stepped up in that fourth quarter on that last drive and was to toteing that rock. So that was fun to watch that last drive for sure. All right. Let's bring Jake in here. Jake Warner, how are you? Appreciate you hopping on here with us, man. How are things? How's it going?

I'm doing good. How are you guys? What's up, brother? We're great, man. Appreciate you making some time for us. first off let's just keep talking about what you're talking about the end of the game the other day to have bryson kuzdil come in and play the way he did at the end of that thing how cool was that for you guys to see him in that big moment step up yeah it was great to see uh cosdahl come in and perform

how we how we thought he would um you know just we see it every day in practice when those guys are ripping just how hard they run and we had all all the faith in the world and bryson to come in and execute what he's had to do. Yeah, what are those conversations like, especially that last drive where, you know, you guys are down, you got to get a, you know, a game-winning drive. What are those conversations like on the sidelines?

Because you guys were rushing to run the ball, you guys were playing well, but you guys had those turnovers. What's that conversation like on the sideline before you guys step on the field for that last drive? Yeah, and I think it even starts before the game, just knowing that you have trust in all your teammates to do what they need to do to win. and knowing that all the guys on the field are trying their hardest

and playing their hardest to win the game. But on the sideline, it's just be there for your brothers. Like when someone messes up, you know, be there for them and just move on to the next play together as a team. It looked, I think from an outsider's perspective, it looked like a game where you guys absolutely dominated and it wasn't reflected on the scoreboard. how did you guys kind of stick together there at the end

in those tense moments? And what did that say about your group to be able to find a way to get that thing done at the end and keep the season alive, basically? Yeah, so one of the coolest things, I think, out of that moment for me, was when we were on the silent for the two-minute, two-minute warning, and the defense all comes up and they're standing there with us, they're like, yeah, we're with you guys, you know, keep pushing,

we believe in y'all. And so I think our mindset was just like, this has to be, we have to give everything we got on this last drive. And you can't, can't leave the game with any regrets. So just go out there and play with you all. I want to ask you about the throw that Bryce made to Marsh on that drive, that final drive. When you guys went back and watched that thing on film,

because I'm sure in the moment, like, you couldn't fully appreciate it because you're blocking your ass off. What did you guys all kind of talk about after you went back and we're able to finally watch that throw that he made and then the catch that Marsh made. I mean, yeah, I was pretty sick because right after that play, they reviewed it. So he tried to go get up to the ball quick,

then they blew the whistle. So I was watching the replay, and I was like, oh, my gosh, that's insane. I just, I couldn't believe that he caught that. And, you know, that's just big props to Andrew Marsh and Bryce for that making that play. Did you guys see that in camp with Marsh? Like, did you see him making, like,

those, you know, the crazy sideline catches? Did you guys know that he was going to be a bona fide star in his freshman year? Yeah, so it was really fall camp when he started to break out. And then obviously it took him a few games to get it going. I think it was like maybe one or two games. But yeah, we really saw that all throughout fall camp and just the way he works, coming in with a more mature mindset than he actually is. So it's coming in every day with that mindset and being ready to work.

For you, obviously you got a shot after there were some injuries and you kind of never really looked back. What has that been like for you coming into the year? Did you come in with a mindset of like you were going to go in and earn a spot and play this much? And how has that kind of shifted? And what's this year been like for you? Yeah, so beginning of the year, I was battling for the right guard spot in camp.

They don't win it. Then just knew I had to be ready for any of those. guys go down just to be able to step in and you know not miss a beat um so i was just preparing every day like i was the starter then eventually that that day came central michigan and i think uh just asking great great crippin questions and learning from the older guys and the people that are in the game really helps me prepare for when it was my opportunity to play how do you uh how do you lean on coach newsom because i played with grant for two years and uh i thought he'd be like the president by now. Like he was one of the smartest guys that we've ever been around and he was

a lot younger than I was. I feel like especially being a younger guy, how do you lean on him? Because like I said, I think he's primed to be one of the, you know, a head coach in the near future. Yeah, so one of the ways early in the season that Coach Newsom helped me out with was how to watch film on defenses. So he helped me put together a plan, showed me what I should be doing every night um what like milestones i should hit so like one night we'll watch the normal down and like third down and et cetera so just being able to do that and understand the game mentally he's really helped me with yeah it's awesome how have you guys kind of gel i mean there's a bunch of young guys playing right now how have you guys gelled and figured it all out uh and

does it help that you're all kind of learning all of these things together yeah um So it was actually kind of crazy that there's three 2024 guys playing. You know, it's we didn't, we couldn't even imagine us playing this really. But, you know, it happened and we all kind of stepped in and embraced our role with the team. So I'm just really happy for those other two guys. And I'm just looking forward to finishing out the season strong. Yeah, going off of what Jordan was just saying, like a lot of, a lot of freshmen, a lot of sophomore, a lot of retro freshman playing right now and expected to, play at a high level. How fired up are you? You guys are having a good season now, but

like in the next, you know, one, two, three years, how excited are you to continue to gel and mold and kind of, you know, continue to rise with these guys? Because I think, you know, this guy's limit for this kind of, this younger class of guys. It's been fun to watch you guys ascend, but continue to take those big steps year in and year out. How fired up are you for that? Yeah, I'm really excited. I think just having those years, to be able to develop so most of us or the six younger guys we all have like two to three more years at least and just being able to develop and uh seeing that development week by week month by month and being able to excel with whatever we've messed up in the in the past especially

like technique wise just being able to fix that is really encouraging to see i think the craziest part is that like there are also guys like tie haywood Andrew babylola like there are like blue chip guys that are still waiting in the wings too. Like how much does all of that competition kind of push all of you and make all of you better? I think the, yeah, the competition is really the main thing that's pushed us to be a good old line this year. Because every day in camp, you're just trying to perfect your technique,

making sure everything's perfect, making sure you're driving guys off the ball, trying to earn that spot. So I think the competition plays a very big role in how we're playing right now. When you go back to your recruiting process, what was that, what was that like? And how did you eventually end up coming to Michigan? Yeah. So at first it was really fun and just kind of going to see all these schools, talking to these coaches. And then once you get up there and start talking to a bunch of different coaches or texting you every day,

it gets a little stressful when you're trying to decide. But really for Michigan, it came down to the development of the offense alignment. that they've had in the years past, and then also the academics that they had. So I'm actually in the raw school of business, which was a big, big thing for me coming here. And then, yeah, those two things together really pushed me towards Michigan. Did Harbaugh recruit you at all? I know you didn't play for him, but he was kind of, you know, maybe your junior, senior year of high school, was he recruiting you at all? Yeah, so he recruited me for about a year and a half.

And then when I signed, he was still here. Yeah. I was early enroly. So he was the guy that recruited me along with Coach Moore. Do you have any, like, fun recruiting stories? Because when I was at Michigan and I was a retro junior and senior when he came, and you would see stories of him, you know, having sleepovers with certain guys and recruiting at their house, like sleeping on their floor with, you know, like a sleeping bag.

Do you have any, like, fun, hardball recruiting stories? Yeah. Yeah, so actually, we took Coach Harbaugh and Coach Moore on a golf cart ride around my little town. And so my friend's dad's like, oh, no way, Coach Harba, how's going? Because it was his golf cart. He's like, oh, I need to get a picture of you on the golf cart, just him by himself. So I think that was kind of funny. That's awesome.

That is so cool. When you went through the process, it was, I mean, there were big schools that were after you. but it wasn't like you were some five-star guy. I think guards, interior offensive linemen rarely are. Did you ever look at recruiting rankings and did you ever care about that kind of stuff? It's about half and half. I mean, for high school, I mean, the more stars you get, it's really like coaches don't care, but also some coaches, like, they see a four-star and they're like,

oh, yeah, we're going to offer that kid because he has a four-star rating. but honestly i didn't i didn't really care to be honest i was just trying to play my best i could for my high school and then also i was happy with where i was at with michigan so it didn't really impact me once i committed i'm not just a star watcher get out of here with that like listen i'm not just a star watcher do i like do i like high stars yeah who doesn't like five stars right like you know we we had we had colan a couple weeks ago Jake and he was saying he was like a three four star I was a three or four star kind of guy and like I play with a lot of five star guys that came in and didn't make it they either

transferred after a year or just didn't have what it takes so I'm not in the camp of you got to get a bunch of five stars I'm in the camp of like let's find some dogs let's find some guys that are willing to put in the work and see what happens and obviously that's what you've done this season and it's been fun to to watch you not only fill in and come in and just be serviceable, but, like, you guys are moving dudes off the ball. And that, as a defensive lineman, I hate watching it if it was me. But, like, watching, you know, the Wolverines do that. That's fun, man.

It's, it's, it's, as you continue to, as the game goes out, it's like, you just wear those dudes out. And we saw down that last drive. Yeah, thank you. We're just moving, dudes. It's fun. It's fun to watch. Thank you. Yeah, and even when you get here, I mean, I couldn't tell you what half the people were

rated on our team. Yep. from this point. So it really doesn't matter once you get to college. Once you get into, once you get on a roster, like none of that stuff matters. I get it. I understand that. All right. So you've got Maryland coming up. I think the question that everybody always asks at this time of year, how do you not overlook Maryland when you know what's coming up the week after? I mean, every game now is a big game. So we just got to keep winning. And then we got to, you know, we control our own destiny so we can't overlook this team.

Because if we lose this game, you know, we're probably not getting in a playoff. So we got to take a week by week and just win the next one, whatever opponent that is. I'm going to ask you about the Ohio State game, and you might evade it, but maybe you won't. When did you learn about the Michigan, Ohio State rivalry? And how did you kind of figure out what it was all about? Honestly, back in high school and like before that, I didn't really watch college football that much. I was more than a child guy. Okay.

And then when I started getting recruiting, I started learning more about college football. I say probably like my sophomore year is when I really learned about it. Just because I, you know, like I said, I didn't really watch college football, except for Rutgers because my dad was a Rutgers grad and he's an alumni there. So, yeah, to learn about it probably like my sophomore year of high school. And I think it's a good rivalry and I'm excited to be able to play in it. How did they kind of walk you into this? Once you get on campus and everything, how do they kind of warm you?

up to what that game means yeah it's really uh well when you go into the football facility you can't wear any red or green so i think that's a something there and then just learning about the the history of the rivalry during fall camp was something that we did as well i love it i love it that's awesome uh all right how do you guys what do you guys got to go uh how do you take care of business this week uh up at maryland how do you go on the road once again and kind of get this thing figured out? Just preparing and practice during the week and limiting the mistakes we make during the game. Just staying together. Just next play mentality, you mess up, go to the next play hard. I do want to ask you one more. I apologize. I'm going to ask you one more. After you

guys turned the ball over five times as an offense, what have the conversations been like since you guys came off the field the other day to this point? It's just being together and trusting your teammates. You know, obviously we addressed it in the offensive meeting. Yeah. Just limiting those mistakes. But yeah, just staying together, not getting down on each other, and just staying as a team. Worm, you got anything else for him?

No, I was going to say, that's the beautiful thing about playing football is like it's not, it's not always going to be perfect. It's not always going to be pretty. But, you know, if you have a chance at the end of the game to get it done, you got to take advantage of that. And obviously, you guys as an offense that did that, the defense got the ball back. Defense played solid ball. And Zavada redeemed himself.

So it's, like I said, it's not always pretty, but that's the beauty of football is that, like, you can mess up, make mistakes. But when it comes down to it, what are you going to do? And I think that shows a lot of resilience, not just from the player, but from the coaches and everybody on that sideline. So I give you guys a big round of applause for just sticking with it, not getting down, and finishing the job. thank you all right jake we appreciate it uh good luck this week go finish this thing out strong and uh thanks for jumping on with us ma'am yes sir thank you for having me i appreciate it absolutely absolutely that's jay garnera the one of the starting offensive lineman for the university of michigan really appreciate him hopping on here with us tonight and there's you know

we talked about this um throughout the year there are so many young guys and I think it kind of goes right into my next point as we wrap up last week. When you're playing this many young guys, you have to learn how to win. Like you just, you have to figure out, you're getting put into situations where you've never been in. And you're trying to, you have to figure out how to close games out, how to win. And they're learning and doing all of those things right now kind of on the fly. Yeah, I mean, and now being in the NFL for nine years since I just signed with the cold. it's like you win by you win by three points in the NFL and like you won the game like

yeah it's all that you open up a couple you know you crack up on a couple beers if it's a if it's in a way game and you know you hit the bus to the hotel or from the airport you crack up with a couple beers and you're feeling good you know a win a win anytime is great in in college you know you're expected to go 12 and oh like that's that's that's the that's the standard um but yeah it's like we talked about this whole this whole pot is like just the resilience of that team a young team that is still learning how to win, they found a way to win, and that's all it matters because they got two games left this regular season. They win these next two games and they're in the playoffs, and you kind of let it, let it roll and see what you can do.

But anytime you can get a win, it's huge. Obviously, you want to clean up the mistakes. Obviously, as a fan, you want to win by 55 points. But I think as this college football kind of evolves into more of a pro-style football game. It's like, do you, do you, do you, I mean, obviously you want to win by a bunch, but like we talked about with Wink being the de-coordinator in the NFL for a while. Like, he's coming from a different philosophy and mindset of, I'm not going to show you everything. We're just going to do what we can to win and move on to the next game because there's

going to be new things that are presenting themselves. And, you know, you want to clear up the things. You want to win by a bunch, but a win to win. And as a fan, I'll take it. I'll take being eight and two with everything still right in front of them. That's the other thing is like I don't want us to lose, completely lose sight of the fact that like you're still playing meaningful football into late November.

If you go win these next two games, you're in the playoff. Like that's, I think that's a foregone conclusion if you're 10 and 2 and you beat Ohio State, like you're going to get in the playoff. But one situation that was that was kind of frustrating in the Northwestern game to me. Michigan goes up 21 to 9 at the end of the third quarter. And then Northwestern immediately goes seven plays, 75 yards, and scores. And then Bryce throws the pick at his own 26. Northwestern scores right away.

In three minutes and 30 seconds of gameplay, you had gone from a two-possession lead to now losing. That's that moment where like, and I tweeted about this the other day, It's like, that's that moment where you want these young guys, you have your foot on their throat, you have to finish them. You have to. And I think that's part of what they're learning. And that's part of like getting that killer, killer instinct, that mindset of you got to go bury a team.

But they just, right now, for some reason, they're just lacking a little bit of that. Do you think that's something that comes with time? Or is that something you can learn and eventually develop? I mean, obviously it comes with time. but also like if it's happened more than once, you kind of have to notice that it's happening before it actually happens.

And, you know, when you're up by a certain amount and you're like, okay, maybe we can take the foot off the pedal. It's like, you can't. There's good players on both sides of the ball. Northwestern's an older team. They're disciplined. They had some playmakers on that on both sides of the ball. And when you're in that moment,

you have to realize like, hey, if we go down and we score or we hold the ball or we bleed the clock out. There's different ways you can dominate the end of a game. You can score a bunch of points and just, you know, make the lead so big that they can't come back or you just hold the ball. There's times where this is like 2019, Lamar's second year, his first MVP, and they would run the ball. And the Ravens' offense would have the ball for 10 minutes.

And they would just run the ball. And Michigan can do that too. Yeah. Michigan has obviously two, you know, Haynes is out. and we'll see what's wrong with Marshall, but like a great running game, offensive linemen that can lean on guys and wear those guys out and a mobile quarterback.

So that's kind of the thing that I'm looking forward is like, can they finish games out? Because if Michigan went and would have won 22 to 9, I'm like, cool, that would have been a solid win or if they would have been able to march down the field, bleed the clock, and then score, I think people would be very happy. But it's one of those things where you look and you're like,

how can we finish games? Because you don't want to be in these, you know, one possession games or have a lead and then lose it. Because that just makes for an uneasy, you know, rest of the game. When you have the chance to finish the game, you finish it and you take the other team out of it. Yeah.

And I think, you know, hopefully this was another one of those lessons that you learn. And going forward, yeah, it gets better. let's you know you talk about leaning on the running game you talk about you talked about justice haines it sounds like he's not going to be back unless there's potentially a playoff game and that's even that probably is a long shot um it didn't sound like jordan marshall would play this week at maryland uh it sounds like potentially he would be back for the ohio state game can michigan go on the road and win a game at maryland

with Bryson Custle and Jasper Parker as the two feature backs. Is that something you've seen enough that you think they can go do that? I think so. Just because obviously Custle went and kind of had the bulk of all the carries, you know, that third and fourth quarter, if you would have told me earlier in that game, I might have said no, but just seeing how Cusdell, when he got his opportunity,

he went out there and was running dudes over. he was looking for contact, he was gaining the yards, he wasn't, he was very decisive. And then when you think about what Bryce and Marsh, that connection that's continuing to grow, let Marsh have another huge game and kind of play that complimentary offensive football that we saw for, you know, most of the game, minus the turnovers. So I think Michigan can go in there. I think their defense is playing really good ball. They are.

I would love for them to, once teams get into the red zone, that's holding to three points, that's always a, I wouldn't say a bend don't break mentality, but once, you know, teams are going to get into the red zone. How can we eliminate, you know, the seven points versus three points? Like, field goals, you're not going to, you're not going to beat a lot of teams just kicking field goals. So I think demons playing great ball. I think Bryce and Marshall's connection has to continue to grow. But I think those two running backs can get it done. Now, if it's against Ohio State, maybe not. But for this Maryland team, which is a good team,

I still think they can take care of business. So as a defensive player, when you see Andrew Marsh have that breakout type game, from a defensive perspective, will teams now start to try to take him away? And will that open things up for some other guys, in your opinion? I mean, hopefully it opens up the run. game even more than it has you know yeah that's kind of what i'm getting at yeah yeah especially if

they're going uh yeah if they're feeding marsh you know early early in the game um they're they're going to have to play a lot of too high safety looks that those defenses and it's going to it's going to it's going to make for um you know not as many guys in the box and that'll give kuzdl uh and parker a chance to let it loose um but then also maybe you know Bryce with with the r p l rpos if he sees two high safeties like let's let's let's keep let's keep the ball and run and, you know, get five to ten yards a chunk in, you know, calculated, QB, you know, driven runs where he's not taking a beating. But as that past game continues to evolve, and we saw some creativity, we saw Marsh obviously continue to explode in the past game, that just opens up the run game even more. It's that complementary football that you want to see that can really benefit these guys these next two weeks.

that that's kind of where it's like i i just think that there's so many things potentially that can be opened up now i think and and i don't want to act like you know they've they've cracked some code here because they haven't but like i do think with with the emergence of a true number one and it's something that they haven't had this true number one superstar receiver in a minute and i think andrew marsh is that guy like I think he's at I think he can be a I don't want to put him in this category but like he can be a Brailin Edwards type guy like he can be that good and when you when you start looking at it that's something they've lacked it really is and I'm hoping now that with

the emergence of a guy like Marsh it does take some pressure off Donovan McCauley and it does give him some better matchups it does give you some better matchups for the tight ends I hope all of, I hope that's what this development is going to give them for the last couple weeks of the season. Yeah, it's just going to allow, you know, defenses are going to have to game plan. Whether, whether Marsh gets 15, you know, passes thrown to them or not, like, teams are going to have to game plan for that now, which, like you said, is going to open up for McCulley, it's going to open up that run game more, and let's get these tight ends going, you know?

Like it's been quiet for a while. And you've got to be able to let it loose, open the playbook up a little bit. And we saw that, but continue to take those steps. Because once we see a little bit of that, like the fans want more. They want more explosive plays. They want more creative plays. And I think with a guy like Chip Lindsay and with the quarterback that we have, that the Michigan has and the receiver marsh it just opens up the playbook and the field for

for other guys to succeed all right michigan uh at maryland this saturday four p m kick uh on big 10 network uh worm we're going to end it there tonight because listen you need to get in the playbook and you need to get some rest and i need you to take care of that body and and get ready um because you have to go back to work okay you have a job yeah we uh we got practice on wednesday and it'll be my first time put out a helmet in 11 months. So it's good.

I'm going to be sore. I'm going to be sore. Wednesday and Thursday. Friday, get a massage. You know, we got the Chiefs this week. So that'll be a huge matchup. Hey,

please go beat the Chiefs, man. You know how I feel. You know how I feel about the Chiefs. I've played the Chiefs now, I think three times and I haven't won yet. You know, we talked about Chad. When Chad was on the team, we lost them in the playoffs.

So, yeah, it's time for Big Worm to get a win against the Chiefs because it's been a long time. It's not in a long time. It's never happened. So I'm excited to get on this team in and see how the guys are. It's a Midwest culture team, which I love. It should be a fun rest of the season. I'm so happy for you. Is the family going to be in town this week?

Or is your wife just kind of have to handle the kids now? and you just kind of pass that off and she could take care of everything. I kick her to the curb for another two months and I'll get her some flowers at the end of the year. No, she's, you know, we haven't done this now. He did, Lex. I didn't say it.

It was all him. We done this now. This will be the third season now that they've stayed back. This is the closest I've been, you know, being only four hours from Ann Arbor. So we're going to come, I think, for Thanksgiving. You know, my daughter has some time off for school. And, yeah, we'll make it work.

We made it work the last two years. And that's just life is such as a dream of now in the NFL. So we understand that. We understand the mission. I'm so freaking happy for you, man. Thank you. Go out, crush it. And we're happy for you.

We'll make this pod work no matter what the circumstances are. The show goes on. The show goes on, baby. All right. That's going to do it. Michigan playing at Maryland this week. We will be back next week to break this thing down. And it's going to be a big one.

We've got Michigan, Ohio State next week. That's going to, we can't wait for that show. That's going to be a ton of fun to do. And I'm sure, and the way that I know Ohio State fans work, if you have a feeling Ohio State fans will even be tuned into the pod next week. I hope so. Yeah, we'll have to mind our P's and Q's with them tuning in next week. All right, Worm, appreciate you.

We'll see you next week. Yes, sir. Go Blue. All right, go Blue. Thanks so much for watching.