Blue By Ninety - Blue By 90: Corum 4 Heisman

Episode Date: October 13, 2022

Jack and Justin are joined by Zach Linfield, BBN contributor and play by play commentor for WCBN sports. Crack a cold one and enjoy the show.

This is a presentation of Blue by 90. Find us on Twitter at Blue by 90 and shop the merchandise at Blueby90shop.com. This is the University of Michigan. Touchdown, Michigan! That's the beat of Michigan ball! And they're going extra fast. And it goes to the wind!

The three-pointer by Jordan Poole! Down the sideline! Peebles-Jones! Touchdown, Wolverines! All right, welcome back to Blue by 90. I'm Justin joined by Jack and we've got another member of the of the Blue by 90 family here with us today. Zach Linfield, give us your give us your intro. How would you like present yourself if you're if you're going to shake somebody's hand? Where do I start at this point? The head of student radio for the football team. Um, and I'm also a manager for the football team.

So I work on the field with the team throughout the week, which makes it kind of hard once in a while to do stuff like this and, uh, try and toe that line between what I'm able to say and what I'm not able to say. But, uh, I believe I do a decent job the most part of the time, but, um, maybe what I do is I'm the play-by-play student broadcaster for Michigan football so I'm thankful to Justin and Jack they both help me out by boosting my videos that I post out every week of some of the calls that I put together from Saturday that I

stitched together Sunday and I posted my Twitter so that's kind of the short introduction I'm from Heartland Michigan I'm a senior studying sport management right now at the school. So kind of looking forward to that graduating year, but I don't want to stop calling Michigan football. So not looking forward to that coming to an end. Well, what's nice of you is that you agreed before you came on that you would give us every inside scoop from inside Schembechler. So if you wanted to just start there, you can just, you know, we can take it from there. I feel like you had a big missed opportunity there to be like,

I'm Justin here with Jack and Zach. Could have played that out. Could have had that. I know, but people wouldn't have known who Zach is right away. And then you introduce him after that. You think people are just going to be like, Jack and Zach, and they hear Zach, and they're like, oh, what the fuck is this? Let's turn it off. I don't know who they're getting.

I'm out of here. I kind of assume that they hear Justin and Jack, and then they turn it off. I mean, I would. No, but we appreciate you coming on. I mean, we actually i was traveling this weekend

and uh at clemson we had a lot going on so we didn't even do it a uh a recap jack yeah love that um so we we didn't do a indiana recap so why don't. So why don't we jump into that? I mean, I think it was, like, overall kind of a weird game, right? Like, I felt like the team didn't feel in sync at all in the first half. Obviously, you know, from what I, like, know, like the team was, like, actually really shaken up from uh from my heart situation so it explains it but then you know they turned it on in the second half all that stuff but i don't know did you guys feel like you know obviously the heart situation was a big part

but but even before that like they didn't feel like they were quite in sync right away i mean zach you were you were at the game, right? Like, what was the feeling like in the stadium when Hart went down? Because, I mean, even the Indiana fans, they know him. I mean, he was their running back. Right, right. He was their running back's coach for three and a half years, which is a little bit odd.

I mean, you saw all the coaches from Indiana go over, and I had my binoculars out for probably a solid two minutes. I couldn't find out who it was until I saw Blake and Donovan. They were hugging each other. And I was like, oh, Lord, it's got to be Coach Hart. And then I looked at the monitor, and we were watching Fox Sports at the same time as the call so that we could see the replays and such. And just seeing the emotion on the faces of dono and of blake and these are guys

like i mentioned as a manager that i work with every day dono more than than blake because once in a while we get to toss the ball around but um knowing how energetic and happy and spontaneous that donovan edwards is and seeing him shed a tear on the sidelines like that worked me a little bit and I'm standing on the top of Memorial Stadium outside and I can't see it from my view but I saw it on the monitor I'm like lord man like that's terrible and then I saw all the Indiana coaches run over I'm like it's it's my cart um but when it comes to the first half in general I was just talking with my dad about this, actually. It's a little bit weird to explain once in a while

when it comes to, like, the tempo of an offense. And Indiana, I think, shook Michigan in the sense that we weren't ready for their tempo right away, and that's something that we did practice throughout the week is going quickly and trying to get the defense to kind of jumble up a little bit, get that different look that Michigan hadn't really seen this year because no other team had really gone tempo going quickly and trying to get the defense to kind of jumble up a little bit. That different look that Michigan hadn't really seen this year because no other team had really gone tempo.

Maryland did, but it was at a little bit slower of a pace than what Indiana did because it was complete the pass, go to the ground. The receiver or the running back puts the ball on the ground. Referee spots it. They're into their next play. Like, it was scripted for them but I said at halftime that Indiana just provided blueprint for teams like Penn State for teams like Michigan State Ohio State to potentially hurt Michigan with that tempo as well but Jesse Minter's halftime

adjustments in the locker room and of course I wasn't down there but whatever he did whatever he said to change it up and get that defense to be coordinated in the second half that was masterful I mean I don't think I've ever seen a team get beat so badly in the first half with tempo and then turn around and absolutely shut it down I've never seen that happen before and that was special stuff from that defense too because obviously the pass rush started to step up big time in the second half and I think the two little injuries to Indiana's tackle certainly helped that out I think that kind of went as an underlying thing in Saturday's game is Parker Hannah their left tackle got hurt and then the backup Sales Jr. it seemed like he was roughed up a little bit too

when he came in to replace Hannah after a false start. But that halftime adjustment was something I've never seen, and that was special stuff from that defense. Yeah, for sure. No, I agree. It felt like, and I think the tackles were a big piece of this, but it felt like they finally just said, all right, we're throwing as much pressure as we can at this offense. And then once they got a taste of it, it was like they were just going to keep going,

which I loved. But, you know, I think on the offensive side of the ball too, you know, they found their rhythm. It felt like, you know, it took a long time for them to finally find their rhythm. We couldn't establish the run game. You know, it felt like we were running to a brick wall. And, you know, we felt that before as Michigan fans, I think, where you're just like, all right, how many more like off-tackle runs

can we run just right up the gut, you know, or whatever? And it's not going to work. But, you know, ultimately Blake Corum was Blake Corum. And, I mean, the run, we tweeted out the screenshot of it. Like, I mean, that screenshot is absurd. There's like five guys around him, and he's essentially on one knee. And somehow, you know, he definitely scored. They didn't rule it as a touchdown, but he 100% scored.

Also, shout out to Blake. he literally stole that like 10 minutes later and posted it on his own instagram which is fine you know and he can do whatever he wants but yeah i i you know i was pretty proud to of jj mccarthy you know after after he threw that pick he did not miss a beat you know and i think that was honestly a question i had for jj was like what happens when you're on the road even though you know indian is not this like top 10 team but you're on the road you make a mistake you're in a tight ball game how do you respond and he couldn't have responded better i'm pretty sure the stat was like he went perfect after that.

Yeah, went perfect after that, threw a couple touchdowns. So, like, he is, you know, I just think J.J. McCarthy right now, like, he's got to go in all the way around. I don't see, like, some big gaping weak spot where people are like, yeah, he's amazing, but, but like I don't know what the butt is currently yeah I agree too because there were two plays in that game and I think really turned the tide maybe even three and uh the first one that I'm thinking of is third down and eight from their own goal line and JJ's in his own end zone and he threw that pass across the middle to Ronnie

and that's the speed and space concept that we were hoping to see for years on years. But Ronnie does what Ronnie does after the catch. And that's go north and south. He doesn't mess around going horizontally a lot. And he protected the ball, got the first down. Another one was even the two window shots to Andrell Anthony. Everyone's been asking where Jarrell's been all year. And he's there.

He's very much there. Yeah. And with no Roman last weekend, it provided another opportunity for Andrell to show what he could really do. And he's one of the guys I'm closer with inside Shem and he's looking for that opportunity and he got it and he made the most of it. And so I was really proud of him for that. But the number one thing from JJ was, I believe it was a third down. I had to go back in the tape and look. But the scramble, we haven't really seen him scramble. And then also, like I mentioned with Ronnie, go north and south.

He's been scrambling around, but he's been staying primarily behind the line of scrimmage and looking for an open receiver, which is a good thing in a sense. But we throw it back to that Maryland game when he got sacked from behind. I still don't know how he didn't fumble the football. That's pretty veteran stuff from JJ. But his ability to tuck it. He saw one guy said, I'm faster than you, and I'm going to beat you to that spot.

And that was big time from a sophomore to recognize there is no pressure from behind which he hadn't necessarily done in previous weeks and then running to get the first down and do it safely too he didn't stay in bounds he made sure he got out of bounds after picking up I think three or four more and that was I think the biggest play of the game for JJ that I saw from him so I'm curious like you like you said you're a you're a field manager dude you're you're that turf is immaculate right you're looking you're watching jj every practice if if you could guess his 40 time i mean we saw in the big 10 championship game when he ran ahead of blake to fucking block a guy and he i mean he's scrambling all replaced what if you could

guess his 40 time what would you say it is? I mean, it's got to be sub 4'5", right? You see, I'm not good at that stuff, but I'd have to say it's got to be a 4'4", hovering right around that mark, and it might be even faster. I feel like he's one of those guys, too, that's faster on the field than he is in just a straight 40. Yeah.

Right? And he's shifty. He's got game speed. It's just like he turns it on. I don't want to be a fast guy, but you put me on the field, I'm moving, baby. Moving and grooving. Yeah, you definitely are. I might be the fastest guy alive.

I don't know if people will tell. You and Usain Bolt? I think I'm quicker than usain bolt you know like hop and speed he definitely the lateral lateral movement yeah i'll say this i'm a side to side guy i mean usain bolt has never beat you in a race that's a fact that is an absolute fact yeah nobody can dispute that and you know? If Usain Bolt is out there listening, you know what? Bring it on. Bring it on.

Can we tag him when we post this? Yeah. I mean, if he's too scared, then he won't do it. But if he's not scared, then he'll come do it. Yeah. Also, throw up some speed highlights or something. You got to get me on the field just like fucking just show like real quick shots which speaking of speed i mean let's give it a rate uh a rating

of my speed going down the hill at clemson you had the loudest feet i've ever heard in my life i don't know how the sound on that camera picked up those fucking elephant stomps you had coming down the hill but it sounded like they were in my head it was not not soft it's not soft feet coming down hey how was how did that come around was that the wife just said hey let me videotape you running down the hill or how'd that go no we told him on the podcast we're like you you gotta run down the hill yeah because he was like i've got to do my dabble thing was like you you have to you have to get it here's the thing i did it once and it didn't look good so i i did a video you're a fraud i'm i'm why is that a fraud you have to show the original video i it's probably you had it you still have it i'll check i'll check the tape you're. I just, I had to admit to that.

Nobody would know other than you and Jacqueline. Well, I'm an honest man. I have integrity. I have integrity. I, I, I had to, it didn't, it didn't look very athletic the first time. So I had to look very athletic the second time. Well, it looked worse the first time I'll tell you that. Was there, was there like a second in that time that you were running down the hill like I could face plant? Oh, yeah.

That was like, well, so the first time, the reason that it looked more unathletic was because I was going slower because I was like scared that I was going to face plant. So the second time I was like, all right, I got to commit. And once you commit there's no stopping and and then you hit that ridge there's like a ridge that like most guys like i think jump up or something like that on the red they jump over it yeah i didn't jump over it and it's like that thing comes up quick and it's it a little scary. We got to put those videos side by side of, like, Davo running down and you running down.

I think I should have done that. You know, I have a video of me doing it, too. I'll have to find it. Really? Yeah, I wanted to go to Clemson, and I got denied there, man. Oh, shit. Denied at Clemson, but you got into Michigan. That doesn't make sense to me.

I didn't get into Michigan, either. Well, you'remson, but you got into Michigan. That doesn't make sense to me. I didn't get into Michigan either. Well, you're there now. I had to transfer in. Hey, there you go. There you go. Listen, hey, whatever path you want to take, it's all good. Hey, at least you went to Michigan. Yeah.

Yeah. We also went to college in Ann Arbor. Yeah. I played football. You played football in Ann Arbor in college. Also an undisputable fact. That is a fact. Yep.

All right, yeah. So, I mean, I would say it's like a probably Jack, me, Usain Bolt type situation. That's fair. That's fair. JJ probably. Close behind Usain. Is that 40 40 is that 40 time or is that going down the hill oh i know you saying can't beat me down a hill because i'm i'm a big dude right i start rolling i'm going fast i'm rolling he can't beat me gravity baby helps me um i guess my adjusted my bigger question for you watching jj every day

is like i mean this is really everybody obviously jj is like the the number one you know guy that people want to see but like that offense has got to be pretty fun to watch when they're going at it in practice. Yeah, and, you know, I always get nervous because I – the turf nowadays, and the turf there is very, very nice. I know Jack pegged fun of me earlier about it. But I'm always nervous about injuries. And those guys fly around so fast, even at practice, against this practice squad that I'm like, no, you never know.

But that's kind of an outside chance that something like that will happen, knock on wood. But, like, they're just so fast and fun to watch. And, I mean, all I'm doing right now is holding chains because I don't have a game day role, and I go up to the broadcast booth and I call games. So I'm like, you know what? I still want to be a part of the team as a manager.

I'll just hold James and watch the offense develop. And it is one of the coolest things because I work for the tight ends and I'm like, okay, I know their assignment. I know what route they're running. If they're going out on the pass, I know who they're going down the block. But the creativity of Sharon Moore,

Matt Weiss and Coach Harbaugh is so much fun to watch. And I'm learning so much if I wanted a career in coaching, which a lot of fellow managers do. It's the top opportunity they could possibly have. But, Justin, as you said, watching J.J. in game and watching him in practice is like the same thing. Kid doesn't miss a beat.

I mean, we'd like to see him connect on more deep passes, and he's working on it. I mean, he knows he needs to be better connecting on those deep throws. We saw a couple, I believe, to Roman in the Iowa game, and there was one in the Maryland game that he should have connected on, and he didn't. But JJ, what you guys have seen in conferences and interviews is that he's a very happy-go-lucky kid, but he's confident,

and he's really motivated, which is something really good to see out of a really young quarterback. Yeah. I mean, knowing him, I think, like, those – missing those throws just eats at him. He's like – that's all he can think about then. He wants to make up for it fast, and that's just not being a fully experienced quarterback

but i mean i'm confident that throughout this season and at the rapid pace that he's learning that it's a really good thing for him i'm curious zach you said i mean obviously we know you're a practice you said you work you know you're with the tight ends a lot are you ever up in the booth like calling the games and you have like a tony romo type you know what apparition is that what was it called or or vision or whatever and you're like oh i've seen this set up before i'm thinking they're gonna go read option here and then you just call it 100 or just absolutely fail and you're like they could fucking throw like a hail mary yeah no i i fully do do that uh and it makes me sound like a genius too so I wanted to provide

like a demo tape for myself or something and I'm like you know what I wouldn't be surprised if I see JJ keep this one here with the up back to the left I have no clue I don't know the actual play calls I just hold the chain just hope for the best I see the formations once in a while and I'm like oh you know what this is where that play could go because there's obviously multiple variations on every play. But, yes, fully I do, especially last year when we ran the flea flicker one time. I was like, you know what? I think Michigan might get really creative here on second and eight,

and they might do something special. And here's the flea flicker, the touchdown, the Clarence Johnson and the Wisconsin game. I hope that's on your highlight reel. I do have it, yeah. Beautiful. I just looked up apparition. It is a ghost or ghost-like image of a person.

So that was very interesting. Sounds right. Where did he go to school again yeah and uh in ann arbor i was i was pioneer pioneer high school we're talking about college i went to college in ann arbor i know i know i know um that's how educated i am smartest guy on the podcast no question so educated all right well let's talk about this week um because this is i mean probably the biggest game up until michigan goes to columbus you know obviously like we're not i personally for my for my personal life michigan state is a bigger is a bigger game because Michigan needs to win that game by a literal 100 points.

But obviously top ten team coming into Ann Arbor, this is by far the best home game that we'll have. I'm excited for the maze out. I think right now it's, you know, we need to start getting in the mental state for Saturday. That's where I'm at right now. Mays out. Got to get there early.

Maybe a couple extra drinks in. Get riled up. Do we shut down the tailgate early just to incentivize people to get to the game early? I actually think we do. I think we do. I will be going in early because I have literally like 50 yard line seats. That's my plan. Oh, big time.

All right. I know. I bought them. Yeah. Oh, you bought them? Yeah. Goddamn. You couldn't get a hookup between blue by 90 or Valiant?

I know. Tough. Tough. Okay. They shut me down. But – So that's my first thought is us fans, we got to do our part. What do you guys think about this game?

Are we confident? Not confident? This Penn State team is pretty damn good. I'll tell you what, and you've heard me on the podcast this whole season, and I've been like, I'm not worried about it i'm not worried about it this game i'm fucking nervous for i'm nervous i'm glad it's in the big house i'm glad it's at noon i'm glad it's a maze out like michigan's got kind of everything on their side right now but uh i haven't seen a ton of penn state but i've always appreciated Sean Clifford's athleticism, kind of like the way he plays,

and I know they've got a fucking sick running back. Freshman running back, who's like the real deal. Nick Singleton, he's pretty good. Yeah, and a fucking freshman. It's insane. He just comes in like fucking Derrick Henry Jr. That makes me nervous. That makes me nervous. There was one Penn

State reporter, it might have been a show like this, I have no idea. there and that makes me nervous that makes me nervous there was one Penn State like reporter I mean it might it might have been a show like this I have no idea what you know what it was um but the guy was saying that like Singleton is already more talented and like bigger than Corum and better I was like ah I don't like he's's good. I think he will be very good. But, I mean, I don't – I'm not ready to tell, you know, six games into his career that he's better than Blake Corham. Yeah, he's six foot, I think, 210. He's a pretty big kid playing running back.

But he's different than Blake Corham in the sense that Blake Corham's lateral movement is – well, I mean, generational talent. So, I mean, I don't think you can necessarily talk about him like that, but it'll be interesting to see how he does in an environment like this against a defense that's trying to get the ball out. So, I'm interested to see how he plays because

we know Sean Clifford can run, and that's been really a dagger in Michigan's back for years now as the running quarterback. So Talia showed it. Bazelak couldn't run last week because he was suffocated. But other than that, we really haven't seen a quarterback that can run. Petras has cement for feet.

Jesus Christ. I mean, really. But Sean Clifford is the best quarterback that we'll play so far. I mean, I think he's got the edge slightly better than Talia. Slightly. Just because of the experience. I think Talia's a really good quarterback, but without injury, I think Sean Clifford is a top four or five quarterback in the Big Ten.

I think it's fair. Oh, for sure. I mean, he's been there forever, too. He's got a lot of games under his belt um and i'm sure that they want to beat michigan after i mean penn state has this weird thing about michigan too like they want to be our rival so badly they want to be our rival so bad the whole like uh like there's people that go to like india and they're like you know penn state fans and they're like i'm all the way in

india and michigan still sucks i'm like i don't get it why are you thinking about michigan right now like you're our like fourth rival or something like what's going on here i love it i respect it man i love it i'd be like us going to like Traverse City and being like, I'm on a boat and Bama still sucks. It makes no fucking sense. I don't get it. Now, all right. So the game that they had against Northwestern was a rain game, correct?

Yeah. Okay. So that is why that was so low scoring. And they turned the ball over five times, but Northwestern couldn't capitalize. Northwestern's so bad. They're so bad. Yeah.

So I'm like throwing that game out, to be honest, just because, like, I mean, to be able to win by ten points when you turn the ball over four times is like unreal, to be honest. And to be honest, they didn't look great against Central Michigan. They were tied at half or something, right? Yeah, they were tied at halftime. And they played well. It was kind of like an Indiana situation for them

where they just kind of dud it out in the first half. And then second half, they turned it on. They made the adjustments they had to to beat a clearly inferior Central Michigan team. And that's not a knock on the first half. And then second half, they turned it on. They made the adjustments they had to to beat a clearly inferior Central Michigan team. And that's not a knock on the chip was. My sister goes there. Fire up, baby. Fire up.

But yeah, this is the biggest test by far until Ohio State. And I don't want to discount newly ranked Illinois. I've never want to discount Michigan State. Whoa. Newly ranked Illinois. Illinois is actually legit dude are they running backs good and devito is brandon peter still there nope tommy devito is their quarterback he got hurt last weekend so davido danny's tommy davido is he related to dan it's danny's. They're the same size. Shut up. Is it actually Danny's son?

No. Damn. I was going to say, I might actually root for Illinois in that game. Love Danny DeVito. No, Illinois. I mean, that Illinois-Maryland game was actually like, those are like two top, not top Big Ten teams, but like top of the second tier, I'd say.

Surprise teams, yeah. Respectable Big Ten teams. That was a fun one. The Auburn game for Penn State is what's like kind of throwing me off that I don't know what this team is like. Because you take out that Auburn game for Penn State, and I'm looking at this team as like, I don't know, kind of average probably, right?

Like above average, but like nothing special um but that auburn game where they just kicked the shit out of auburn down in you know in alabama that's what's wild i you just don't see that for the sec um and in auburn like yeah they've gotten they got beat by lsu who's who's really bad actually, and got their shit kicked by Georgia. Like, so would, you know, the Lions at this point, I think. So, I just don't know what to think about this Penn State team. I think, like, I wouldn't be shocked if they come out

and play really well on Saturday, but I also wouldn't be shocked if we won by two scores. Yeah, I think something with Penn State, too, that you guys can disagree with me if you want, but they lack the superstar this year. In years past, they've had that one guy. You look back, John Dotson was a guy for them, and he was banged up a little bit last year,

but you look before that. Hamler, Trace McSorley, obviously St. Markley, Allen Robinson. That was Miles Sanders. Miles even in high school, right. They don't have that superstar power this year. They still have a couple of good receivers, like Parker Washington is probably their best outside guy. As you mentioned, Singleton's a good running back,

but I kind of, whenever I look at an opponent and I start to scout him for the week, I kind of base it on the scale of how the old NCAA games used to be. You know, when you play Road to Glory and you can make them, like, really good, good, moderate, not great, and bad? I'd put this team, like, one level below very good because they lack the star power. I think the very good is something Michigan hasn't seen this year. We've seen a lot of moderate. Maybe Maryland would be in that good category, but there's just no star power on Penn State. That's not a diss to any of their players because they have some really good athletes like Johnny Dixon, the quarterback. That's a good cover guy but I think the star power is something that they lack this year as a difference maker and what they've done so far this year now the Auburn game as you

mentioned Justin is odd and it sort of reminds me a little bit of Michigan and Wisconsin last year where it was kind of close for it was close for the half with Michigan Wisconsin it was close in the first quarter with Penn State and Auburn and then Penn State forced a couple of turnovers Auburn looked atrocious on offense and then the game kind of got out of hand and went into Penn State's favor so I think that's kind of what we're looking at with this Penn State team but one thing's always true about them, and it's that besides the 2020 COVID years like Michigan, Penn State's always consistent and they're well coached.

They don't make too many disciplinary mistakes like penalties. They don't turn the ball over a ton typically. And like you said, kind of wrinkle it up and throw out the game last weekend. They obviously had the bye, but the weekend before that was Northwestern. But I think that's what we're kind of looking at when it comes to Penn State. You can expect, though, that James Franklin is going to make some dumbass clock move or something at some point in this game.

The fake punts last year against us? Yes. Two in a row. Two. Fake field goal, like on the, like, you know, six-yard line or something like that like bro what are we doing here um so we can count on that for sure which is nice to always have in our back pocket um but yeah i mean i think like looking at their defense too i think their front seven is really

really good i think their their secondary is is a little sus. So I, I, I would be which, okay. That's where I want to talk a little bit about like what happened against Indiana. It felt like it was like, all right, the run's not working. The run's not working. Can we just fucking keep throwing the ball? Cause we're really good at that. So that's where I could see that happening again, especially in the first half where it's like

hey you know they're selling out on the run because everybody thinks like if you stop white corn you stop this team which is true to an extent right obviously we we are still a run the damn ball football team but like I I really want to see you know, throw it deep and air it out in this game. And I feel like, you know, to me, on a suspect secondary, like, we have so many wide receivers. Like, I would just go tempo and just do a new set of three wide receivers and just keep going, you know, all the way down the field until you feel like you're there and i don't know it's not i make it sound way easier than it actually is but it just you know it feels like that's that could be a way that we really exploit teams well that's something i was

thinking about earlier too like i think i think zach you mentioned with uh or maybe it was you justin with um roman out mean, we have so many – bro, we've talked about this a million times on the podcast. There's an endless list of amazing receivers on Michigan's roster right now. Yeah. You could totally do that. You've got in three guys and then have them just run fucking four verts the entire way, and then you sub in the next fucking four guys

or whoever it is, right? And even you can get Mikey back in there there on offense right like you can catch passes it's uh i mean michigan's the amount of talent they have in those uh in those in those uh play maker positions is pretty insane right now and um i mean that's what i would do if i was like if i was like this high school coach, like if I was a high school coach and had this kind of team, I would just run like four verts every time. Nope. I'd be the no punt guy.

I'd be like, I'd play it like 14. I literally have like four verts. I have three guys go downfield and one guy run a curl. Yeah. You know, it's just fucking, you know, I got my check down. I mean, it's unstoppable. It's unstoppable. Am I the best OC of all time?

You know, I've never been outcoached. You know, just like Usain Bolt has never beat me a race. I've never been outcoached. We've been just speaking facts all day today. We're more talented than we give ourselves credit for yeah apparently yeah what was the question again i don't know i don't know i think i don't think i i don't think i asked a question i think i was just like talking for 10 minutes spew fucking information um and none of it's like actual factual false information.

But I think, I guess talking about the offensive game plan, what would you like to see Zach? Well, you know what actually kind of irked me was, I'll get to that question in a minute too. Do you guys see that interview that, that the Penn state podcast that they had idiots today, you saw that Jack about the guy that was talking about jj throwing like a baseball yeah i'm like what are you talking about have you never seen jj throw a

ball in your life oh yeah justin you're gonna love seeing this you didn't see that no you became too professional dude you don't even look at stuff anymore i literally all like half my day is scrolling twitter i don't, I do have, I'll shoot, I'll shoot it to you immediately after this, but essentially he said, JJ's form isn't great, especially under pressure because he throws the football too much like a

baseball. Yeah. And that he kicks his left. Cause he's right. He kicks his leg. That's what blew my fucking talking about. He was like, he kicks his leg on a first base.

I'm like, I was like, listen, what are you saying out. He's throwing a first base. I'm like, what is this guy saying? Two-year varsity pitcher in high school, and I also played quarterback. And I was like, you kick your leg out either way because you're trying to have your plant foot in the ground. But, I mean, okay. This is coming from a guy who's watched Sean Clifford throw for fucking five years. What are we doing?

Right. What are we talking about here? You know what it gave me flashbacks to? Is when we had fucking Matty Burns on the pod and we're talking about Michigan State. We're going to beat them by nine. We fucking lost. I don't want to talk about that.

I don't want to talk about that. I don't want to talk about that. That's what it gave me flashbacks to. I remember we went viral just like they did for that. I think somebody told me we were on Bleacher Report for being fucking idiots. And I just made my net. Okay, but seriously, here's the thing. I mean, when push comes to shove here, whatever his form is, he's got a fucking missile for a right arm.

In fact, your quarterback in college football. And is throwing for 80% completion percentage. So, you tell me, like, you're going to, like, that is, if there's one thing to critique for this team, like that's not one I would go for. Now, here, you're going to love this second part then. What he said in the second part was that by watching Michigan, I think, Jack, you might know where I'm going to go here.

He said, outside of Ronnie Bell, Michigan has no vertical threat. Oh, yeah. I don't think this dude has watched a minute of Michigan football this year. Now, all due respect to him, maybe he's a smart guy, but he hasn't watched Michigan football if that's the case. No. The biggest deep cut on the team is he wears 14, and he caught you for two touchdowns last year. maybe he's a smart guy but he hasn't watched michigan football that's the case no the biggest deep down on the team is he wears 14 and he caught you for two touchdowns last year so watch michigan

football that was what actually got me pretty upset so also i said this i think on our last pod too i was like i'm pretty sure we could line up like four or five guys on the outside and run go routes and they'd be like a top five ish wide receiver in the big 10 like outside wide receiver oh yeah so that is an absurd statement absolutely absurd statement um i love it i that's like i'm surprised we don't go viral for shit like that more to be honest because i think we accept the fact that we're fucking idiots and like people know about our thing. Like we're not like I mean, we're not like, oh,

this is facts, you know, other than the fact that Usain Bolt has never beaten me in a race, you know. That's facts though. You know, it's facts. Like when it's facts, it's facts. I don't know. I'm glad we aren't beating that horse too much. I'm glad that we haven't said that too much today.

Yeah. I don't know. What are we talking about? I don't know. The game plan. The game plan. All right, game plan. Game plan.

All right, that is – yes, please send that to me because that is – I will cloud you shit out of him. I feel like everybody was talking about that today. I'm sure he's already been clouded to a, you know. Oh, terribly. I think when I looked at the engagement, it was like 38 quote retweets and it was just all Michigan fans. Just ratioed to shit.

Love it. Oh, yeah. Love it. One thing I do want to say, too, while we're, I think when we were talking about JJ, he has to be the most slept on guy, shockingly quarterback in the country right now. Leads in completion percentage, plays for Michigan,

who's always overhyped, right? But you don't hear a lot of people talking about him outside of Michigan. Am I getting wrong there or what? I think that maybe the moderate play style of Cade last year kind of simmered that down a little bit. Because we had Shea, we obviously had O'Korn before him, and then Joe Milton for a year. And all the talk was Cam Newton is Joe Milton, and Joe Milton is Cam Newton. And then Cade came in. Apparently.

But then Cade came in and tempo changed obviously the team went from two and four to a college football playoff run last year behind a really moderate style of play very conservative not all that many downfield shots but the play action was there and it's kind of the same thing right now that jj's doing in place of k. He doesn't have to do all that special stuff that maybe quarterbacks down the line will have to do for Michigan. But they're still playing in a conservative play style that, I mean, I really enjoy watching. I mean, every team's kind of converting to the spread, going empty, running trips. And Michigan will do that kind of stuff. But I still like this kind of football because many defenses nowadays are getting ready to defend that spread style offense,

but Michigan still plays that punch you in the mouth offense once in a while. And Indiana adapted to that pretty well. But then Michigan was like, you know what, let's go modern and let's beat them at their own game. And I think Michigan ended up beating IU with their own medicine last week. I think that's something they can do this week. I'll tell you what, I'm pretty excited for Michigan to play Penn State. And like you said, you know, JJ, like, you know,

they're playing pretty conservative, whatever, right? Like they don't really need to do a whole lot. Like doesn't really, I mean, again, I love JJ. I'm glad he's quarterback, but you could put me a fucking quarterback for Michigan right now and they're still going to be undefeated. Right? Like, I think – no, I think – I mean, I think I could hand the ball off and fucking, you know, like they'd be fine.

But I think with Penn State, you get a top-ten matchup at home and they're undefeated. Like, I hope we have a close game and you – and J.J. has to make these tough decisions. I'd love to see him kind of have to grind out a game, show that he can make plays in crunch time, and win big games when you need them. Because that's what everybody wants to see against Ohio State

and, like, all this stuff, right? Like, you know, Big Ten Championship games, games against Georgia in the college football playoff. Like, that's what people want to see. And when you see that, that's when the hype really fucking grows, right? Like, I mean, if there's a close game with Penn State and J.J. like leaves a game-winning drive, like he shoots up in the Heisman rankings, right?

Like the J.J. hype is there and it's loud. But I'd love to see that out of J.J., like really like kind of push him, like get him into an uncomfortable position and see what he can do. I think, too, you know, going, Zach, to your talk about the play style of Michigan, even it didn't work, but Michigan went into a total NFL stretch run on Saturday against Indiana as well, where you see every quarterback in the nfl do that where it's like they stretch the line all the way out it's you know go hand the ball off way down the line i

i was shocked at that and i think you know what i think is is gonna happen is a lot of that is set up for bootlegs later down later on down the here. And this week is probably one of those. Because, you know, the one thing, like, I think JJ might be more accurate on the run to his right than he is just standing in the pocket. I've never seen a quarterback be so accurate on the run to his right. Never seen me in flag football. Well, other than you.

Thank you. But, yeah, I think that they're going to, like, set some things up here for Penn State and Michigan State here in the next couple weeks. Yeah, even if I wanted to spoil the game script for you guys, I couldn't because I don't know what it is yet. But I think it's true because last weekend Michigan did kind of do the same thing as you just mentioned, Justin, and that was run, run, run,

the play action is there. And they converted a couple times late in the first quarter on the play action, but then the run game got stopped and we couldn't set up the play action anymore because then they figured, oh, here comes play action. And we did a couple of times, a couple of dump offs to Schoonmaker. I mean, that's where he got the majority of his yards was on those arrows the the touchdown he scored was on an arrow pattern where he just kind of dips out in the flat and it's there plenty of tight ends do it and brock bowers the tight end at georgia is a master at doing that right now um but that's just jim harbaugh's style of play is

trying to keep everything tight. And then he just moves one, one player kind of scapegoat, scapegoat. That's the dude. And then that guy comes open and it, it works. I mean, you know, you don't fool with it if it's not broken. Right. And Michigan hasn't had it break since early last year. So I would consider Michigan to do the same thing this week that they've been doing and that's pound it, pound it, pound it, see if something comes open.

And then if it doesn't work like it didn't work last week in the second quarter, change it up. Find those windows. Take the shot. And I think that's something that we'll see probably early this week. So I would expect Michigan fans to see something different in the first half. And as I said, I have no clue what the script is like right now so I wish I could tell you but I'm not trying to get fired so

that's probably good call Zach I do have to ask you a question so I know when we're you know Justin and I are watching the games typically it's after a tailgate or whatever and we're you know not not as clear-minded as you are when you're up in the box but does Michigan run a lot under center with McCarthy, or is he mostly in the shotgun? I don't see McCarthy under center very much. No, but he's comfortable under center, though. And I think a lot of that has to do with how good Olu is

and how experienced in the veteranship, I suppose, of Olu and Timmy at the center position. Because Jada gets to learn from him, and last year he got to learn from Vistardis, who was another veteran. Right. But they do go under center quite a bit. And the number one under center play. I was actually – I've been surprised throughout the beginning of this year

how much we go under center because I felt like Cade even didn't really go under center much last year. Obviously, it's a different offensive coordinator, so that is probably a big reason for that. And I like it simply because of the fact that it's one more thing that the defense has to prep for. And, you know, I think what a good offensive coordinator does is you're able to run the same play out of like 15 different

formations right and so i think that's what cheryl moore and matt weiss do really well with is we can go pistol we can go shotgun um empty you know under center and still run probably a crossing route or a bootleg or whatever it is. And it's just a different version of it. So that's a really good way to disguise what your offense is going to be. And I love that. I think for everybody listening, you meant 15 different plays out of the same formation, right? What did I say?

15 different formations out of the same play. Yeah, I mean what you said. Well, I think that's too what so good at is you can spread it out and do as many different formations as you want and still essentially run the same play and i think that's something that we do i think we do that really well i think we look back to the iowa game when i think it was seth benson was the linebacker he's gonna going to play on Sundays. And Blake made a miss, and he scored that last touchdown. That was exactly the play that Justin was talking about,

and that's literally a play in Madden. It's running back stretch. Yeah. Stretched out the line. J.J. turned, took a couple of really big steps, handed it off to Blake, and now it's my guy and your guy who's better. You never see that and you never see that number two you never see that in college anymore ever no yeah I I've been I've been intrigued by

the offensive play calling I think it's I think it's really hard to to uh to prep for Michigan right now. And I think what Jim Harbaugh has always done, which is annoying to the fan because you want to see it all, but it works out hopefully by the end of the year, is he doesn't open up the playbook until it needs to be opened up. So I'm excited to see. I think this is like probably when, when you're looking at the schedule, you know, this is the coming out party, right? This is it. You're at home. It's a maze out. Um, you know, I, I agree with you, Zach. I think like, you know, some deep shots early or

some, something funky to get the crowd going, I think would be pretty sweet. And I, and I wouldn't be shocked to see that. So I'm excited, man. It's dude, maze outs are just different. I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm wishing that it was obviously at night rather than a nooner. But like, I'm ready here. Here's what I thought too. Like after the first four weeks, I was like, oh, thank God we got an away game. I need a little breather. We've been tailgating a little too hard. You know, the four in a row is tough.

But then immediately I was like, I'm so ready to be back in the big house. Yeah, I think the 21 days went by really fast, too. Like, for some, it probably went by pretty slow to get back. But maybe just for someone working inside Shem, the 21 days went really freaking fast. I'm excited to be back, but I'll tell you what, for fans that have tickets that are, are listening get there early because it, it really does have an impact on the guys. I,

I swear to you last year when the crowd was there early for Washington and of course it was at night. So you had a little bit longer to tailgate. But those guys feel that. And when they're getting cheered out of the field, when every single position group takes the field, that's number one. It's special for them, and it's a memory that will last forever. But number two, it provides that much more excitement for them when they come out of the field to get ready for what is the biggest home game of the year.

So you also got to think about it in terms of if Michigan loses this game, not only does it linger all the way until that Halloween weekend matchup with Michigan State, but Michigan's in a pretty difficult position in the rankings when it comes to trying to get back up in the top four before the CFfp rankings start coming out so and a 12th man is really important this weekend so i hope people will they will show up i just hope they're there on time absolutely i mean listen if if if i'm willing to leave the tailgate early then i think anybody should be able to leave the tailgate early because I live for tailgating.

So that's our plan, and I think everybody should do it as well. But, hey, Zach, thank you so much for joining us today. We'll have you back on regularly here. I'm excited to hear you again up in the booth on Saturday. Yeah, and hopefully I get my voice back. The broken nose has cleared up my sinuses. So let's hope that your voice comes back before Saturday. You're a warrior.

I tell you what. You're the biggest warrior since Tate Forcier back in the day. Oh, God. I was hoping you'd say, like, Jordan Poole or something to make it fun, but where are you? Yeah, you and Poole are in a similar situation right now. Oh, man. Yeah, we both got a black eye.

Yeah. He performed right after, too. He dropped, what, 25 in like 10 minutes? He was hooping, hooping. Thanks, guys. Of course, of course. And tell the people where they can follow you, too. Yeah, at my name, Zach Linfield.

Follow WCBN Sports on YouTube. We'll have the game broadcast set up on Friday night. I have the second half this week. So if anything important goes down in the second half, you can listen to the play-by-play there. I guess if I had to compare myself to anybody, I studied Dan Miller pretty religiously. So shout out to my guy, Dan Miller, the voice of the Detroit Lions.

And then I have the whole game for Michigan State. So hopefully people will be able to tune in. That's also on the FM Airways at 88.3. So hopefully you guys can tune in. I hope there's some innuendos on that one. There's a lot. Yeah, we'll see. There's a lot.

Got to get in that RG3 tier. Yeah, exactly. I'll just make sure there's a delay on the broadcast. That way Mel can't pick up anything. There you go. Right. Yeah. For us, you can follow us at Blue by 90 on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook,

at Blue by 90 Podcast on YouTube, and blueby90.com. We appreciate you. Go Blue. Go Blue. Go Blue.