Blue By Ninety - Blue By The Numbers: Assessing Michigan After Second Bye Week of 2025

Episode Date: November 12, 2025

Brian and Tanner recap Michigan's last two games and look ahead to the last quarter of the season.

All right, welcome back to Blue by the Numbers, part of the Blue By 90 Network, presented by Feldman Chevrolet of Highland. I'm Tanner, Joe, my Brian. Brian, it's been a couple weeks, a little hectic, a lot of weekend there. I was traveling, so, you know, unfortunately I haven't been able to talk about the most recent two games that Michigan's played, but, you know, they go two and O in those two. And how are you feeling as we're coming off the last buy of 2025? I mean, I feel like I probably feel a lot.

like most of the fan base, right? Like we were hoping this last game that we'd come in against Purdue, one of the worst, if not the worst team of the Big Ten. And we'd show kind of everything that we'd been hoping to see and that Price would throw it all over the yard and we'd see some progression and we'd run away and we'd see some backups making some big plays. And it just wasn't that. And, you know, the overreaction would be like, oh, my gosh, it's a huge regression and a disappointment. A pragmatic way to look at it. It'd be like, you know, tough game. happen on the road, you know, they happen. They're part of every championship team that's ever happened. And so I'm a little uncertain about kind of who this team is, what they are,

and what we're going to be looking at these last few weeks. I mean, I think what they are is Michigan football. Yeah. I mean, the running game, the offensive line, I mean, they ran for over the last couple weeks. I mean, they've been very efficient in the run game. 253 yards against Purdue, you know, 276 against Michigan State. Jordan Marshall has emerged to what we thought he would be. And I think with those additional carries and the additional responsibility for him with Justice Haynes injury, he's been as advertised. And I think a lot of people compared him to Blake Corum as a recruit.

And I don't know if he's exactly that, but man, he's got some of that in him. You know, he's falling forward. He's getting you to second and five, maybe when another running back might be second and eight i think the run game as a whole with all the components the offensive line jordan marshall brys underwood's been involved in the run game on scrambles more so than design runs but that's still getting you some yardage it feels like a michigan football team and there's some things in the past game that you'd like to see some improvement on but at the same time with the true freshman quarterback you know not all not all growth is going to be linear

like it's it's going to be up and down just like life right like you think When you're younger, you think it's just going to be a straight line up, and that's not always the reality. So I think after the first buy week in 2025, I thought Underwood made some strides and had some of his best games after that. I think if that happens again, Michigan's certainly contending for a spot in the playoffs. Yeah, you know, it's funny as you're talking, you made me think of something is there's been so much emphasis by everyone on Bryce and the passing game and the ride receivers. And because that hasn't materialized to the extent that we'd like to see it, it seems like a disappointment. But just imagine a world where that was humming, that Bryce was lighting it up. Our receivers were lighting it up, but the run game just wasn't there.

You know, we could blame it on Justice Haynes being big banged up and not having a lot of depth. And we weren't running the ball like we have. And our defense has been pretty stout. And if that took a step or two back after losing Mason Graham and Will Johnson and all the guys, it wouldn't be a thing. So just imagine the score differential in RLR games were identical to what they were, but the makeup was different. You know, the passing game was, you know, top level, running game was weak, defense was weak. Would the sentiment among the fan base be the same? I wonder, you know what I mean?

Yeah. Yeah, I mean, there's a lot to like about the defensive performances the last couple of weeks. And really since the USC game, the defense has tightened up. And then, you know, look, we're always looking down the road to. the last game of the year, and Ohio State is coming to town. I mean, it's November 11th, 18 days out from that. It comes up on you quick. And so, yeah, you know, they beat Purdue 3410, and that's what's important. But when you look at it, funny enough, Purdue average 4.2 yards per play against Ohio State. They did the same against Michigan. Ohio State average 6.2 yards

per play on offense. Michigan average 6.5. So, you know, obviously the scores are different, and Michigan had some self-inflicted wounds that kept that game looking closer than it actually was. but and obviously you've got to convert you can't just put up yards that doesn't convert that doesn't you know translate to points um so you got to be better in the red zone you got to take of the football got to make better decisions um but ultimately I think there's some really good things to take away especially from the Purdue game um when it comes to that offensive line and I've really liked what I've seen out of the younger guys they're playing very well you know I think Blake Frazier man when he puts on some weight like this is going to be a competitive

camp in 2026 with all these guys with Babelola coming back from injury and link coming back like there's just going to be a lot of competition for these five spots and i think that's a lot better than where it was you know maybe last year when you lose all those seniors and you don't have the talent to backfill uh sharon has done a great job of addressing that some of the guys that they've brought in um like Andrew sprague i've been excited about since the moment that i kind of watched his film as a recruit and you're seeing it right guanera you know michigan has done a really good job on their center evaluations um and as you know centers aren't always the guys that are going to be ranked in the top 300 or top you know 150

so guanara i think he was maybe a top 400 500 kid but he's coming in as a redshirt freshman playing very well he's going to be your center for the next three years so i just i've seen a lot to like about the future but also the here and now i think this team you know they've got to play a really good in Ann Arbor in a little over two weeks, but I think that there is an opportunity for them to win that game. And then I don't know what the Big Ten standings could look like if Michigan were able to get that done. But, you know, you either go to the Big Ten Championship

where you basically lock yourself in the playoff. I think the Big Ten Championship might actually hurt Michigan, which is the dumbest thing in the world when it comes to college football. I don't understand that at all. But you'd have a win over number one. I certainly think they can get it done, man. And they're not, you know, we saw what happened last year on the road with our boy Davis Warren, you know, no kind of a real passing game. And I think that this team, I'm getting ahead of myself, got to win those next two, but there's a path.

There's definitely a path. You know, I think one of the things that plays in our favor is that Ohio State's killing everybody. Like it seems like I've seen a couple Ohio State talking ads, you know, out there saying how the season's been. it's sort of boring because, you know, A, they haven't, you know, there hasn't been a game where the outcome is in doubt, and Ryan Day has played pretty conservative, slowing things down, you know, if, if Jeremiah Smith was catching 300 yards a game and, you know, they were going crazy, but Ryan Day hasn't been doing that. So it's been kind of a boring game for them. I think the potential positive of that for us is, you know, we take him into deep water,

as they say, he's got to come and play in the big house and make that game ugly. They haven't been tested all year. And so how do they respond if you haven't been tested? I mean, the benefit of having an ugly game against Purdue is that your starters run the fourth quarter with some care in them out there. You know what I mean? And some have to. They haven't had that have to. Like, we've got to get this third down.

We're in serious trouble. We have to get this up or we're in trouble. Julian saying hasn't had a pass that has, Julian San has a pass this season where the game was on the line, not one in his career. As he had a pass or a play where he knew the game was on the line with. And if Michigan can get off to a good start and take that game late and put them in scenarios that they have a faced all year, you know, that's where we give ourselves a chance. I mean, they do seem like the best team in football right now. I mean, they seem outstanding. They've done, you know, as much as it pains me to say that, I mean, they've put together a monster.

You know, they're so good. Yeah, it's a very good team. I just, to your point, they've not really been tested. I mean, I mean, say it's completely 81% of his passes. He's been sacked five times in, what, 10 games? games. So, yeah, it's one of those things where they're very good, but it's a rivalry game and as corny as it is. This is truly, this is probably where the saying, throw the records out, really came from, you know, I mean, even during Michigan's down years, they were always,

last season. We were horrible. We throw out on Davis Morgan out there, right? Yeah, when they were, you know, in the midst of that losing streak, there were some, some type games, the same in the 90s, right, with Michigan, Ohio State, when Ohio State was on its losing streak. So, you know, I think even when Michigan was, you know, you look at like 2017, you look at 2013, even 2014 was tied and I think going into the fourth and then it just got blown wide open. So you have a history recently of this game where it is, it is extremely close and it is going to be extremely physical. And I'm very excited for that one. It's going to be a fun, hopefully cold and snowy day in Ann Arbor. You know, we got some of that weather up here and I'm looking out some white snow right now.

So, but yeah, I think there's some positives to take from the last couple of games. And, you know, in the moment may be hard to think that. I certainly am an emotional watcher. And my emotions swing like a pendulum from good to bad, depending on what happens. I live by every play. So, but I'm very excited about the next three weeks, especially with this game at Wrigley coming up. You know, Northwestern kept it a little close against USC in the first half, and then USC kind of pulled away.

But, you know, I think this is certainly a very winnable game. And playing in Wrigley Field has got to be a pretty awesome experience. Yeah. So what do you need to see these next couple weeks? What does Michigan put on the field these next two weeks to give you and everyone else confidence that, you know, that game versus the Buckeyes, you know, we give ourselves a chance? What do we need to see these next couple weeks? I'd like to see some improvements on the special teams. It's a huge one.

I mean, I'd like to see that. I thought Hollenbeck had a better game against Purdue. He had a couple nice, nice kicks that you could actually see rotate and spin, you know, with a spiral. There were some that were not great. Not as bad as the Purdue punter, though. Oh, gosh. That, I was nice to have the better punter for a game.

Yeah, I was sitting behind the tunnel. I had some really good seats and courtesy of our friends over at the graduate hotel. Shout out to the team over there. But, yeah, when that was to my left and I watched it and I was like, I was looking up. I was like, that thing is, that's going to be out of like the 15-yard. I think it was like the night.

I think it was like the 20. The official stopped very quickly. So improvement on special teams, I mean, across the board, punning, kick returns, got to make better decisions. I mean, at this point, and I'm not going to turn this into a Samaj conversation,

but like, you know, we all know about the drops on offense and the issues there. I'm not sure how much I blame Samaj on the punt returns when Andrew Marsh is like doing the dumbest things possible on kick return that just seems like a coaching issue at this point i just i don't i don't get it uh it's i don't know it's been two years of this you go from the entire jim harbara era having fantastic special teams you know and this has been a staple of michigan to um basically be souped up iowa right because you have the special teams you have the defense um and man they

just have been brutal the last year and a half so need to see some improvements there On the flip side, though, defense has been playing extremely well. I want to see Wink continue to be conservative with his, kind of his, keep running the base defense. I mean, obviously there's no Mason Graham or Kenneth Graham. We've talked about that all year. But Ohio State's not a team that really can rely on the run game to be very consistent for them and turn out yardage.

You know, they've rushed for like 4.5 yards in attempt this season. So I think if you're able to keep your best guys in there, I hope the reason they've been rotating all year long is so that Derek Moore and T.J. Guy and Barham and Benny and whoever else that are kind of the leaders up front play 95% of the snaps. That's what I'm hoping that they're doing that for. Yeah, I think, you know, and the good news, it sounds like from, you know, the press conference and the stuff we've been hearing is it sounds like Barham will be back this week, sounds like Cole will be back this week. Jimmy Rolder seems like he's working through it.

I don't know if he's back this week, but they feel like you can be back in Maryland. I think Rod Moore, we're going to see Rod Morgan this year or not? I don't know. Sean Moore said in this press conference he's working through a knee issue. So at least there was some transparency of what the issue is. But, you know, when he says he's working through it, I think Coach Moore is pretty transparent on the injury front in terms of, you know, he gives signals of, hey, I think we're going to see this guy.

We see him. He says, I don't know. But the defense should be healthier than it's been in a minute. And, you know, the good thing is, is as bad as that Purdue, you know, outcome looked you know we got a lot of young guys a lot of snaps on the defensive side of the ball so um you know having those guys back and two weeks to prepare and scheme up this uh these stretch run here i think i'm excited to see the defense i feel confident that they'll be better because i think wink you know that and i'm basing that a proof of performance last year this

defense got better each week like we got better throughout the season and uh you know piqued at the end and you know coming off the buy you sure think they should be able to self-sense scout and see where they're vulnerable and be able to twist, shake up some of the looks they've been given people to confuse folks. So I'm optimistic on the defense. As I look ahead, my concern isn't really with the defense at all. I think, you know, we've played so many young guys, particularly on the back end, that they're getting better and, you know, more continuity out there. They found their mix situationally of, okay, here's the guys we can trust in these situations. Here's the guys we can trust in others. But I feel like, you know, defense, it's really

special teams you hit on a really critical one because it's been the worst special teams, of my life. Yeah. And then offense, we just need to be, we need to have a reliable passing attack. Yeah. Yeah, that was what I was going to kind of get to when it comes to the offense. You know, I want to see, and I'm sure in the Ohio State game, there's going to be more Bryce designed runs and, you know, designed options for him to pull the ball when it's there.

But yeah, I'd love to see them try to get him in a couple easy throws, get into rhythm over these next couple of weeks early in the game, you know, let him kind of see the ball go through the the hoops, so to speak. But yeah, I think, you know, with the way the run game's been playing, if you're able to get some production on the ground against Ohio State, you're definitely looking to build off that in the play action game and incorporate, you know, a way to get those linebackers sucked up a little bit and hit some stuff over the middle.

That seems to be something Michigan hasn't done a lot of this year, is any sort of crossing routes or, you know, any sort of levels concepts or any digs or mesh routes, they have been fairly conservative when it comes to that. And I understand that because that's typically the most dangerous place to throw the football. But if you're able to have some success in the ground game, be able to run play action off of that, you may have some openings that allow you to get some chunk plays. So I want to see, I just want to see Bryce feel comfortable. It doesn't feel like he's felt comfortable in a game since Washington.

So I want to see him. And that was his best game of the year. And then sort of follow that up with the last couple of performances has been frustrating, but also understandable, right? You see a lot of true freshman struggle at quarterback. So I just think the experience he's had is invaluable. And I'm hoping that these next couple of games, I mean, by the time, noon on November 29th, it was around Bryce Underwood will have played and started 11 games at quarterback in college football.

So, like, obviously he's still a true freshman at that point, doesn't have it a whole. offseason to, like you will, going into a sophomore year, but essentially your sophomore now. Right. So we got to start making, we got to start seeing some of those, those, you know, higher level decisions and throws from him. Yeah. But I think you got to go on that one, right? Like, you know, if in, I think one of the coaching points might be, hey, if you've got

an opportunity to get a first down with your legs, just do it. Unless it's a wide open touchdown or, you know, wide open 25 yard plus gain, like don't try to force something right like he did against Purdue throws a pick that's the last thing you cannot do that well I guess you could actually Brian you could do that and still beat Ohio State you can throw an interception in the end zone right first and goal and still win yeah so I don't want to do that though I'd rather you know not turn the ball over and try to play a clean game but you do have to take some shots um so yeah go ahead well I'm hoping that this by week you know we've seen so many different cast of characters in the passing game.

You know, if you look at tight ends, you have Zach Marshall and Deacon Tonnelli and, you know, Hogan Hanson a little bit, Marlon Klein, a little bit. But all those guys bring something a little bit differently. And, you know, I think Hogan Hanson, as least, has been practicing this week. So you can find the situations. Guys don't need to play every down. It's okay. You have different guys with slightly different skill sets.

And then you bring in, introduce Jamar Browder and Channing Goodwin and some of these guys that they can figure out the concepts where each one of these guys can thrive and call it that way. You know, I mean, you roll different sets of packages, Northwestern Maryland, Ohio State until we put it on tape, have no clue what different combinations are going to represent. And I think if you can, you know, if the passing coordinator and the, you know, OC and they can all look and identify where these guys can do their best work, we have a lot of different guys that we can roll out there. It's just putting them in a position to win and then, you know, block it up so that, so Bryce has time to let the play develop and make it happen.

Yeah, well, and I really liked what I've really liked what I've seen from Chip Lindsay's offense so far. I do. I think it's called a lot of really good games. I think he's called some really great games. I agree. And I think, you know, there's probably some frustration from the fan base against Michigan State against Purdue, but I think you probably have a true freshman quarterback that's like, what am I seeing out here? Yeah.

And so I think Chip has done a really good job of kind of, you know, for the most part, making sure that he's not going to make a back break and turnover. And sometimes that comes with running three straight times And maybe you go three and out But it's better than giving them short field You know, I was going to say punting is winning Sometimes, sometimes Holland Beck has some great kicks, man You know, and it's not it's not Hudson's fault

Just, you know, they've had some issues trying to get punters in So but that goes with what this team is good at It's playing defense and keeping the ball, right? Not turning it over. So yeah, man, I think it's a, I think it would be a fun stretch. This is the best time of year, in my opinion. With all the sports that are on, I mean, we just finished up the World Series,

which was amazing. I watched it after the Purdue game. I caught the last couple of innings getting home from that. And, yeah, this is just a fantastic time of year with football and college basketball. I mean, we don't talk about college basketball. My goodness. I mean, we might have to just start keep the show going to talk about college basketball. I mean, this team, you know, and you can say Oakland's bad,

and then Oakland goes in there's pretty competitive with the number one team of the country at the time. But yeah, just a great time of year. It's the most fun. Conference championships are coming up, you know, Thanksgiving, Macon, probably Maxion tonight, I'm sure. Although I don't get to watch it, Brian, because I got YouTube TV. Oh, I can't believe, like, you know, this is my kind of area.

And when it first happened, it was like, they're not going to a lot of football weekend come and go. And now we're not going to do. And we're headed to number three. There's no sign of them getting a deal struck. That's crazy to me. Yeah. I mean, YouTube TV, not to get two of the ways,

YouTube TV has like a market penetration across the country of like 5, 8%. So this is losing $5 million a day. Yeah. Is what I read. Yeah. I mean, I think that might be overstated. And I'm inclined to. I know plenty of people have YouTube TV that left, you know, because.

I intend to side, you know, I'm inclined to side with. YouTube TV. I mean, because there was the dispute with Fox that got resolved before the deadline. So obviously YouTube has shown they can play ball. ESPN has had this now with DirecTV last year. And I'm sure that we'll see it moving forward. It's funny. I see a lot of people going to Fubo TV. I believe Disney has a large stake in Fubo. So I'm sure that's not playing a role in this at all. So, yeah, care of me if I'm wrong, but I believe I read that. I know a lot about this content. I don't know the weeds on it. So I'm going to It's all right, man.

But like, think about Disney owns Hulu and what you do with YouTube TV effects. All I'll say is Hulu, what they do with YouTube TV effects Hulu. And so part of their holding strong is to protect Hulu and protect themselves. And there's a lot in play there. You know, that's why this hasn't happened. It's very interesting. So, yeah, I mean, Maxion's amazing, but unfortunately, you know, so thank goodness that the basketball game is on. FS1 tonight.

Yes, yes. much prefer the experience on Fox anyways. But yeah, it's going to be a good time of the year, man. I mean, we're not doing the normal recap into kind of the position-by-position stuff because we've just been out of sorts here. I've traveled for work. We've had, you know, you had some stuff going on. So, I mean, what else do we want to kind of touch on here in terms of where we're at in the season?

What we're looking to see more of? I mean, let me ask you this, Brian. what are your thoughts on the amount of rotation defensively that we've seen this year? I love this. I mean, it depends what your goal is, right? I think the staff knows they're not winning anything this year. You know what I mean? They want to win games, but they, I think they realize they don't have a team, you know, that's set up.

And when I look at the contributions across the field, I mean, it's been well documented that Michigan's the youngest power team in the country in terms of the percentage of snaps played by underclassmen. And so from that point of view, when I look ahead to 2026, 2027, it's like, yeah, bring it. Like, where I play the fifth year senior just to, you know, get a little bit of advantage. The rotation I love when you step back big picture, you know, has it hurt with continuity a little bit and getting comfortable? Probably. But even if we had a much tighter rotational players, do we beat USC? I mean, we got beat pretty good in that game. Do we beat Oklahoma?

We got pretty beat in that game. And then the games that have been close, we won them. care. So I think, you know, I get anyone that has a problem with it. I tend to look at it for looking ahead of 2006. They know who they have. Because let's face it, this roster, guys that have played minutes for us this season are going to be processed. You know what I mean? One way or they're going to look for better situations or the writing's going to be on the wall that they're behind three guys. So many of the guys that we've seen play and some that we really like are going to say goodbye. And so at least I feel like by playing all these guys, the team, their coaching staff

have put themselves an opportunity to evaluate it better in game situations. So from that standpoint, I have zero problem with it. Yeah, I don't know. I just think that you're seeing it just so often that it is causing issues on the field. I mean, there are times, I mean, in the drop off from Guy and Moore to Brandt and Nichols is pretty substantial. And I think Nichols is a that I'm still excited about what? He's in his second year in the program. He's a guy that I think coming out of high school was a pretty big get for Michigan

and still very excited about his future. I think Brandt has really struggled at times. And so I just wonder, now with the linebackers, that's obviously a different situation because Rolder's out, Solvin's out. You know, Bulls gets 43 snaps, and I think that was probably very valuable for him.

Ousu Botang gets 25 snaps in this game. I mean, it was a Wusu Boutang and Chase Taylor on, I believe, that fourth and one at midfield that they got a stop on. And you're just like, okay, I mean, I would prefer to have Ernie in there, right? You don't know, you're senior. But, you know, they made some plays. I guess I don't understand necessarily the amount of snaps for Caleb Anderson, because he's a one-year portal guy, right?

I don't know. I just feel like if we're going to play anybody, I don't know if she's Shamarri Earls. Yeah, agree. The linebacker, who watched the game with. Yeah, they looked lost. They look. I mean, when you watch the, it's a tough, that's a really, they look lost off there. Well, you know, when they say they're the quarterback of the defense, they're not lying, right?

They're the guys with the green dots. They're the guys that are getting the plays, getting everyone set. And so, you know, we saw that with Junior Colson. I mean, even as a junior, junior Colson was, you know, out of place sometimes. But it just takes a while. Not everybody's Devin Bush. Right, right, that comes in, immediately gets it, you know, his dad played the NFL, dad played at Florida State, right?

Like, it's just not how every linebacker comes in. So, you know, a lot to be excited about, you know, and if I think, you know, they're talking about Chase Taylor the same way they've been talking about Cole Solman last year, right, like coming in, underranked, a guy that's got a lot of upside, a lot of ability. So a lot to like in terms of some of these young guys that are playing. So I do, I do understand it from a certain point, but, like, when there's like third and fourth year guys that are playing and just making mistakes it's

like are they going to be that much of a contributor in 2026 or 227 that's where I'm like I don't necessarily that's valid that's valid yeah I see there's where I would be totally contradicting myself if I said yeah that makes sense like yeah play bowtang and chase Taylor all you want playing Caleb Anderson yeah I mean I guess maybe they the one thing I would say about Caleb Anderson is I don't feel like you know we have a lot of depth that safety and nickel. I don't think we have a lot of depth in coverage, guys that if you had to be on island in coverage. And, you know, one of the descriptions of Caleb Anderson when we came here was that he was good in man coverage and was good in press man. And so I think putting him

out there, when you look at all the talent we have in that secondary, if we, you know, if Hill got hurt and we needed someone to really be on an island out there like they put him on, you know, he may be best suited particular head to our state. So if you think of it from that lens, you know, and to see him in game time action against higher level competition than he was playing, I guess that makes sense because, you know, you know, I don't know, I'm trying to, you know, glass half full on that one, but he also played, he also played for Lamar Morgan and Louisiana. So, like, obviously, is that connection. Yep.

And maybe there's some kind of relationship there that he's trying to do the best he can for his guy because he convinced him to come here and probably they both envisioned a bigger role for him and that just hasn't materialized. And so maybe there's some loyalty there that he feels, like, hey, you know, the guy transferred here when he could transfer a lot of places and give us some opportunity. That's, I hadn't really considered that. That makes sense. And I don't know if Anderson's as good as Amir Hall, but we saw Amir Hall make a huge play against Ohio State. And he had, I believe, in there you go,

exception against Northwestern before last year. So, yeah, I mean, I can see both sides to your point, too. I don't want to, you know, straddle the fence here, so to speak, but I do think that there is some valid criticisms, but also some valid reasons as to why you would have as much rotation as you do but i'm again against ohio state i do not care about anything but that game for three and a half hours at noon on saturday november 29 that's all i care about i don't care about the future i don't care about anything else has happened in the season so i hope that the coaches have that same and i know they will but i want to i don't want to see derrick more come off the field i don't want to see barham houseman jaire i don't want to see any of those guys come off the field

co-signed buddy i'm right there with you like play your best dogs your best situation don't worry about rest to lay it all out there and yeah yeah yeah don't don't go home that night one wishing you to catch your better guys on the field longer like don't have that be the reason that you know things can't take them with you right like like a redshirt situation like you got to play them you've got to play them so but again I think that this team has the ability has the talent and I hope that I'll be honest I hope that they spent this entire last week obviously getting guys healthy and and do some self scouting but I hope that they were preparing for Ohio State. I bet they were. I'm sure. I'm sure. You got to think Ohio State was doing the same thing

when their by week was going on. I think the unique thing too is these next two weeks, Northwestern and Maryland may be similar in kind of the level we view them as opponents. You know, probably be a 15 point favorite each for both, you know, kind of. But they're two totally different teams. You know, Northwestern is a poor man's Michigan. They want to slow things down. They want to run the ball. They run quarters, 4-4 defense. Maryland, you know, they spread out there, run the ball they try to throw it all over the place they have a really good young quarterback um and they're they play more of his own coverage on defense so they're so different on both sides of the ball that it gives us two opportunities to show two different things like the the scouting report the game planning

for both looks different i mean you stay true to your identity of course but that the way you go about it um i think it's be interesting to see you know what i mean i think i think i think northwest we're going to see a ton of play action on offense i think you're going to see a real conservative defense with guys in the box, Maryland, I think you're going to see us spread it out and, you know, go try to throw it and on defense see a lot of pressure. So it'll be, it'll be interesting to see, you know, I think, you know, it allows for the defensive staff to really game plan to completely different scenarios there. Yeah, and similar to last year, you have an opportunity against these two opponents to really hit your stride. Remember that

northwestern game and how brutal the season had been up to that point. Michigan goes out and wins. I think it was 50 to six. Yeah, it was crazy on senior night. For some reason, that was like a three, I think it was a 330 kick and it was just cold and dark for no reason. Like, why is that game at 3.30? I don't know. Thank God, this game's at noon on Saturday. And really 11, right? It's really like 11. 11 local time. Yeah. You know, I lived in Nebraska for 10 years, so I'm very used to the central time zone start times for college football and 11 a.m., you know? you get some kegs and eggs right that's what you do have you ever been in northwestern no i've been to a northwestern game and you know they're in a year where they were decent and there's a lot of michigan

fans there there's a ton of michigan people everywhere but in the chicago area i wonder at rigley field if that'll feel like a home game for michigan you got at least yeah i mean i mean northwestern's not having a great see you know northwestern half hour drive yeah right we got all the alums in Chicago right right and so you've got even the people that are living in other big metropolitan areas it's direct flight to O'Hare right yeah you have more options to get to this rogue game that I see at Wrigley what's this capacity 40 something that's not I've been to games at rigley I don't think it's that big so you know it's gonna it's 41 41 and change which northwestern when I went there I feel like 38 or so that's like a northwestern did not seem like a big 10

game when I was there um so they don't they're not used to have a big crowd their place but that'll be cool yeah I'm excited this would be the second time I've been at Wrigley never for a baseball game that's so funny been for a concert now for football game so it's going to be it's going to be a cool environment though we're going to be doing some stuff at sluggers in Wrigleyville on Friday um which champion circle I've heard this guy that found a barstool sports might be there that that's just what I've heard I don't want to over promise anything but I believe he posted something on his Instagram about it recently And then I want to say Saturday, I think Saturday we're doing something with Duffies,

which is a big Michigan bar in downtown Chicago. So there will be some information on the Blue By 90 social media pages. Go check it out. I should have been more prepared for this component of the podcast, Brian. I just was very excited about the Friday night. Thank you. I'm just excited about the Friday night event. We're going to be doing a live podcast.

Going to try, you know, our best to have some guests. I know Chris Wormley is going to be there. Jared Wangler from Vali. It's going to be there. A couple former Michigan players from the Harbaugh era. Very excited. Obviously, Chris Wormley does the show with George Strack on our network. Chris Wormley is the man, by the way.

He just is a behemoth of a human being, but he's so kind and just an awesome dude. So love having him around, and Jared's awesome, too. So if you're in the area, sluggers, Wrigleyville, Friday night. If you want some more information, I don't have it. I'm not your guy. Go check out the social media pages. Go check out the Twitter. Instagram, Facebook. We'll have all that there. Brian, we're, hey, man, three games.

Three games. I was looking to think the Bears were at home this weekend and see if we get some posted level appearance, but they're on the road. It goes very quick. I'm sure that there was, they figured out the schedule to make sure that did not have it. That would have a bit a nightmare. Right. So any, any parting words here, I mean, we're three quarters of the way through the regular season. It's hard to believe. I'm cautiously optimistic. Yeah, this year from the passing game has not been what I hoped it would be. I think, buy week really helps you know that that freshman year has to go so fast you know anytime you start something to just go on a breakneck speed i'm really hoping that there's two weeks

allowed you know bryce to step away a little bit let the staff kind of work with him look at film you know a lot of his problems have not you know have not been processing it's been the simple things his footwork his eye discipline all all the little things he's just you know his fundamentals of kind of lacked at times so hopefully they got sometimes to focus on the simple things you know I don't think his issues are real big, complex issues. I think it's being done, I think. It's simple things. And so I'm hoping to see, you know, I have zero illusion of him coming out throwing for 300 yards.

You know, Maryland's defense can get pretty sloppy. But Northwestern is not that type of team. I just want to see good, smart decisions on third down. I want to see us move the ball. I want to see us stand every possession with a kick. You know, I'm hopeful that we see a big step from Purdue to Northwestern from Bryce on Well, do you remember 22 and J.J. McCarthy and kind of as a second year guy, as a guy that had been in the program for a year and a half at that point, I mean,

if you look at his stats, they kind of started to fall off a cliff. I mean, you know, against Michigan State, it's 15 to 25 for 16 yards in the touchdown. Against Rutgers, it's 13 to 27 for 151 and two touchdowns. Against Nebraska, 8 for 17 for 129 and two touchdowns. Now he's, he's, he's, you know, he's throwing some touchdowns in these games. But then against Illinois, the game before Ohio State, 18 to 34, 208 yards. And that was that super cold game. Quorum gets hurt. You're just trying to find a way to win.

But then, you know, you go and the completion percentage isn't there, but 12 for 24, 263, three touchdowns, six for 27 on the ground and a rushing touchdown in the show as a sophomore. Right. It's there, right. Right. And you can turn that around. And I think most people will probably look pretty fondly on that 2022 season and even

looking at JJ McCarthy without looking at this. but yeah, he played pretty good. That's because what he did in the last game of the year. Right? So you can turn it around. You can continue to make those improvements as a quarterback, especially when you're in your first year. I mean, JJ was in his second year, right?

And then when you look at what JJ did from sophomore to junior year, that's where it really turned on a little bit. But yeah, I mean, you know, Bryce isn't, I don't think it's probably not going to end up close to where JJ was in terms of passing years that game that year. But, you know, JJ was 64%. Bryce so far this year, 60% on, like 60% on the dot. So I just am saying all that because we've seen it happen with young

quarterbacks being able to go into the Ohio State game, make big plays, win a game. Yeah, it's all right there. And if it's not there, you know, the future is very bright. Like, yeah, she reminds me when they get all doom and gloom. This team's really young. And next year, they're not going to be so young with a ton of experience. So, you know. Oh, man.

I know you don't want to hear that. You're just going to be in the next three weeks. Look, I think in the big picture, but my heart is with three games. Of course. So I want to win every single game. And again, you have a chance to get to 10 to. And if you don't beat Ohio State, you can be anybody in the country, right? Yeah, no.

Let's get to the playoffs. That's see what happens. That would be amazing. So we've got three more weeks, maybe four. And then, you know, we'll see what happens. We'll be here for the whole ride. I'm excited, man. Well, Brian, it's great to see you again.

I appreciate you helping on with us. Thank you so much to Feldman Chevrolet of Highland. Just fantastic partners. We'll be tailgating one last time at our spot on South Maine, just northwest of the big house right next to the maize and blue house. They're on Main Street, and they always bring out some phenomenal-looking vehicles. And I always ask the sticker, and then I walk around. I don't need a $77,000, $2,500, Silverado.

But if you do, Feldman Chevrolet of Highland is going to hook you up. They've got some great deals on used vehicles, certified pre-owned, all that stuff. They're a lot has a lot of cool stuff in it, a lot of corvettes, cameros, if you want to go that route, although maybe not the time to buy one right now with all the snow, but the trucks, they're evergreen. So thank you so much for Feldman. Thank you to Woodson Whiskey as well. Love having them at the tailgate.

The products are just phenomenal. Shout out to Charles Woodson. What a guy. Just still can't believe we had them on our podcast, man. So I'm just, I'm rambling at this point, but I'm fired up now. It's Tuesday, but I'm ready for Saturday and I'm ready for the next three games. So Brian, thank you so much for hopping on. For us, you can follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Blueby-90, and Blueby-90.com.

We appreciate you. Go Blue. Go Blue.