Blue By Ninety - Blue By the Numbers: Finally! The end of non-conference play

Episode Date: September 19, 2023

Tanner and Brian breakdown Michigan's 31-6 win over Bowling Green and what it means for the rest of 2023.

All right, and welcome to episode three of Blue by the Numbers. I'm your host, Tanner Wooten, joined by my co-host, as always, Brian Bouton. Brian, how are you? I'm doing great. How are you? Good, man. You know, it's sitting here. It's Monday, September 18th.

Hard to believe we're already halfway through September. Weather's starting to turn a little bit, probably not for you, although maybe. I mean, is it still swampy? Is it getting a little cooler down in Florida, or what's the situation like? It's cool down to the high 80s, if you want to call that cool. Yeah, well, we'll have this conversation hopefully after an early January game. And I'll ask you how the weather is down in Florida, and I'll tell you what it is up here in Ann Arbor.

Oh, yeah. Tradeoffs, right? Tradeoffs, yeah. Yeah, so Michigan won. They played and won a football game against Bowling Green, 31-6. Interesting game, man. Like the flow of the game, JJ. And it seemed to fall in line with everybody else in college football too.

Like interesting weekend. Yeah, there was something in the water that Saturday. At one point in the first half of the Georgia-South Carolina game, South Carolina leads going into the halftime, and I'm thinking, man, Michigan takes care of business today. We could show up Monday morning and be the number one team in the country. Georgia took care of business, and Michigan did their thing,

but Texas was shaky. I mean, the whole country was shaky. So it was an interesting weekend. Yeah, Florida State blew a big lead. They were 31-10 won 31-29 Alabama Tyler Bunker gets the start and then I just saw today Saban already announced Jalen Milrow will be the starter for the next game 17-3 win for the Crimson Tide they had a players only meeting which is not a good sign um in you know week going into week four of the slate

of college football uh Tennessee lost I mean I think we all kind of saw that. At least Michigan fans kind of saw that potentially coming. I'm not a guy who's going to sit here and root against former Michigan players by any stretch. I want them to do well. I hope K does well. I hope Joe Milton does well. But, man, kind of who he is at this point for Tennessee.

So a lot of weird games, a lot of upsets. I don't know if you stayed up until 2 a.m. like I did, but I did watch the end of that Colorado State-Colorado game. Colorado State gave up a 98-yard drive. I mean, Colorado State should have won that game. I mean, no question. They should have won that game. I was kind of delirious at that point of watching football

and drinking for 14 hours. But watching that and what was left of my functioning brain, there was a lot of moments where I was like, man, Colorado State's a better team. Like they couldn't defend the mesh, whatever. So great weekend of college football. You know, even though there was no top 25 matchups, this weekend's crazy.

So I'm excited for Saturday, watch some of these games. But. So it's the first night game. First night game with the new lights and scoreboard. You were in the building. Tell us about it. Yeah, it was a good experience. You were in the building. Tell us about it. Yeah, it was a good experience. We started tailgating around 12.

Myself, Justin, and Kalen were part of a commercial shoot for North Peak, which Hale IPA, the Blue by Nighty Ale. So not a movie star, but it was pretty cool. We did some shots at the Pretzel Bell in Ann Arbor. So we rolled into the tailgate around 12.15, got set up. I started getting after it. And, you know, it was feeling pretty good by the time I went to the stadium with a couple of my guys that came up from Indiana

to come watch the game and hang out. And, yeah, it was cool. The environment was good. I mean, I thought the student section was pretty filled up for the most part from what I saw. I think I saw some people comment on Twitter that it was pretty full beyond halftime. The lights were great. I will say, I think they're better in the stadium than on TV. Like on TV,

it's just kind of jarring. I don't know what you thought, but it was just kind of great on TV. Yeah. I mean, it was interesting. I mean, I thought in person it was really cool and they did a really cool thing with the lights for Mr. Brightside in the fourth quarter. Although at that point I was kind of pouting. Although after rewatch, it's fine. It's okay. But, yeah, it was a good environment. It was a lot of fun.

I think they finally got the speakers figured out too. Like it was bumping. You could actually hear it. But I also – so the UNLV game I mentioned last week, you couldn't really hear the speakers very well. And I don't know if they got them dialed in or if I was just – I was on the opposite side by the speakers this time. So I don't know if that got them dialed in or if I was just, I was on the opposite side by the speakers this time. So I don't know if that's why,

but it felt like I could hear everything better. So I know they don't have, so they don't have speakers on the South scoreboard because they don't want it to go into downtown Ann Arbor. So they're only on the North side. I don't know. Maybe they can do something there, but yeah,

overall good experience. You know, it's a night game at the big house, and I was liquored up, and I had a great time as always until the interception started flying. So, yeah, we'll talk about JJ. I mean, you look at the first one. I think I've seen a lot of kind of conversation around the first one on whether or not AJ Barner needed to not get so deep into the end zone

and kind of make sure his defender doesn't get sucked back towards that route that Roman was running that JJ was trying to hit. Looking at it, I thought JJ, if he held it a half second longer, it would have been a touchdown if he just floated it to the pylon, kind of the back left pylon there. Or he probably could have just thrown it to Barner. Barner's 6'6", 250 pounds. Seems like he was kind to be between things.

He did. Having watched a number of times, I'm convinced that he didn't see Barner or the defender on Barner. He was locked in, Roman coming across the middle and didn't even see that, thought he was running wide because he had Roman Wilson beating his man and coming across the back of the end zone. I don't think he even saw those two.

Yeah. At that point, Michigan was up 7-0 thanks to the run game on the previous drive. You know, kind of the air came out of the building a little bit of like, oh, he is human. He made a mistake. It is what it is. I think – and, you know, I've listened to a lot of different podcasts

yesterday and today. I listened to the Emgo blog podcast. I listened to Sam Webb on WTKA with webb on wtka who all with devon garden who all do a great job so i don't want my opinion to you know i want to form it off what i saw but i do think a lot of the things that they mentioned make sense of it felt like jj was trying to get it all back right immediately right like he's trying to hit cj on that next deep shot and we texted about this cj kind of came up a little bit he kind of let up on that because roman was so open that that ball should have went to roman um but when you you know you

have the third interception too we'll just group that one in there i would prefer just sling it out of bounds because it's second and five right and you've got you've got the third one's the worst one the third one's the worst one but also i don't hate you know the guy he's throwing it to in that situation if you're gonna make that type of throw of trying to let it jump ball colson loveland's the guy it just got a little away from him because he's rolling away he's trying to he's rolling left he's trying to throw you know down the left sideline it's a very tough difficult throw and obviously the kid's got a cannon and we know that he can make those level of throws that are

difficult but i don't know i I see both sides, right? Like it's 31-6. It didn't affect the game. But I don't want to see that later in the season against Penn State or Ohio State. And I think that's where people probably get a little up in arms of like, what are you doing? Flashbacks to some moments last year where he scrambled around.

But I think, you know, you look at those three plays and, you know, I guess there's an explanation. You want to call it an excuse? Sure. But I think there's some those three plays, and I guess there's an explanation. You want to call it an excuse? Sure. But I think there's some reasons that maybe – yeah, he made some poor decisions, but nothing that's really deterring me from still being very excited about number nine moving forward and the outlook of this team because I think – and I'll let you get your piece in on JJ here,

but I think in kind of the totality of this game, I was very happy with the run game. It felt like they kind of went back to the roots, ran a lot more power, and Blake looks like Blake Corum. So overall, I think you had moments in this kind of non-conference, people would call it the preseason, which I don't disagree with. I think you've seen moments of like, yeah, this is where it's coming together. Now it's just a matter of getting everybody on the same page

and having those moments in the same game and not have them spread across three. Right. I think, you know, a few things. One, much rather have this game now than, you know, in a few weeks. It's going to happen. Flashback to about this exact same week last year, September 24th of last year, Georgia defending national champion looks like they're going to be unbeatable, and they have a stinker against Kent State that's a six-point game late in the second half. Stetson Bennett plays his worst game of the year. Georgia turns it over three times.

They beat them, but not by as big a margin as Michigan beat Bowling Green. But everyone's like, well, maybe Georgia isn't what we thought they were going to be what they were last year, and it was just a hiccup. And so I'm choosing to look at the hiccup. The other thing is, since the first week of last year, the first week of the 2022 season, two teams have been ranked in the top five in every AP poll, 19 polls, Georgia and Michigan. So the fans that think the sky is falling, everything's horrible. It's where the number two team in the country and just had a rough game and still won by 25 points. So yeah, JJ, I'd rather have this game now than ever. I think one important point is maybe one of the biggest instances of missing Jim Harbaugh, you know, those, those

famous sideline shots of him on the sideline with the quarterback. You have to think that J.J. Tho is that first pick. Harbaugh's pounding him on the shoulder pads and slapping him on the helmet and getting his mind right and setting him, you know, in the right mind frame. Not having him there. You know, Kirk Campbell's up in the box. I know he can get on the phone, but, you know, having Harbaugh on the sidelines to kind of just grab him by the face mask and give him some words of encouragement

and set that mind right. What he's done so well for his entire career, you know, I think that was a sign of missing him. So excited to have him back this upcoming week. Yeah, I mean, and you think about it too. I mean, Sherell Moore is the acting head coach. He has a lot on his plate, right? I mean, he's the O-line coach. He's the officer coordinator.

He's the acting head coach. I mean, yeah, I don't know how much of a difference it truly makes on game day when Harbaugh's, you know, in Schoenbecker Hall six out of seven days in the week. But I do think there's something to that as well. And I think that you're going to see hopefully in the next Saturday in the big house that this team comes out. I have no real concerns still. I mean, this team has won 28 out of their last 31 games, right? And two of those losses are in the playoffs. One of those losses at Michigan State in a game that they probably should have won. So I think they've earned the benefit of the doubt at this point in 2023. And still, I was listening to Devin Gardner talk about struggling as a quarterback and how that can sometimes bleed into other games and you just don't feel the confidence.

He talked about his game in 2013 against UConn. He struggled mightily. I think he maybe had a pick six, and it's been a decade. But what he was talking about – I love D.J.'s stuff. Yes, he's awesome. I mean, and also, you know, I think if he played with Harbaugh, it would have been a really good quarterback at Michigan and had some great moments. But, unfortunately, the staff around him wasn't the best at the time.

No disrespect meant. But what he was talking about was in that game against Akron that they almost lost. Akron has a play at the end of the game in maybe within the 10-yard line. I try to block it from my memory, but two points there. I think JJ is a guy with a ton of mental fortitude, a ton of mental toughness. I don't think this is going to affect him. I mean, hell, we saw in the TCU game, two pick sixes and comes back in that second half and plays his ass off to get that to a three-point game early in the fourth quarter.

And then, you know, eventually they end up losing, but he played his tail off in that game. But also my point is Michigan won by 25. They didn't have a four-point squeaker against Bowling Green here like Michigan did 10 years ago, right? And so that shows how talented and deep this team is. I don't have any real concerns at this moment. So with the numbers, JJ, 42.3 grade, no argument from me.

I mean, 8-13, three of those are picks. So what are you going to say there? But I do think, and we touched on it a little bit, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the run game, but I thought Blake looked back. I know Donovan honestly running between the tackles, he had a couple nice, you know, seven, eight-yard gains that I think he hadn't been getting earlier in the season. So they're still working him back.

It feels like one of the things after Blake's big run on that first play from scrimmage for Michigan in this game, they had a handoff to, and I don't remember the exact type of concept that was, but it was a handoff to Blake and he pitched it to Donovan and it picked up eight yards. And I love that. Like the creativity, getting those guys on the field at the same time

because there's a lot of stuff behind the scenes that we haven't seen yet that are going to be pulled out for the big games. I love that they're kind of putting some of this stuff on film, making these defensive coordinators think about different things they're going to see later on when they actually play Michigan. I thought the running backs looked great, especially Blake. I mean, Blake felt like 2022 prime Blake, and it felt like that rust has really been shaken off.

Perfect timing heading into the Big Ten opener. Yeah, I thought Blake looked great. I mean, he was the number one graded running back in the Big Ten and sixth in the country through this point of the season. So, I mean, last year he was the highest graded running back of all time, and he's certainly with the 87.3 this week on trending in the right direction. He only six more rushing touchdowns to pass his running back coach, Mike Hart and Denard Robinson for second all time, 13 more to pass the A-train. So, you know, the pace he's on, you know, they're

going to need some post-season play, but he stays healthy. They look, he looks like he could break that, which seemed like an untouchable record just a few years ago. As for Donovan Edwards, yeah, I watched every play that he had really closely, and I watched it again on Sunday and a little bit more today. And when he ran the ball, he was decisive. He just didn't have the best situations. I feel like he made the most of the runs he had. He ran hard. He ran fast. He was decisive. I feel like he made the most of the runs he had. He ran hard.

He ran fast. He was decisive. I thought it looked really good. I think, you know, we talked about last week. One thing that I've raved about watching him is how well he passed blocks. He struggled in that game. You know, J.J.'s second interception or his first interception, part of that was on him missing a block.

He missed a number of blocks. He graded out really poorly and passed block in the game. That sack that gave up? Yeah. I don't know if that was a miscommunication on the line. It felt like it. Could have been. Yeah, that linebacker came free at JJ. So definitely some things to iron out on the offensive line, as we've talked about. But I mean, overall, I thought they played pretty well. Interesting here. And I don't know, did they mention anything about Miles Hinton with a potential injury, or was this a true just we're putting Ladarius Henderson in and we're sliding Barnhart to right tackle?

I think it was a performance thing. I think he missed a couple of really key blocks. I saw him on his back once or twice too, which is not good. Well, on his back, I mean, he got tripped up the one time. The other time, you know, he tried to slide over. twice too yeah which is not good the bond is back and he got tripped up the one time another time you know he tried to slide over he was on he was on the defensive tackle that and that got picked up so he tried to slide over to the end that was coming and he just didn't get there in time and was out of off balance and i don't think it was as bad as it looked when i watched it again um i

think that was a change you know yeah but yeah the running backs as a whole uh Cole Cabana uh gets his first action that was exciting to see and we need that we need some backup running backs to to carry the load so far this season uh Blake and Donovan have carried has had handled 80 percent of the attempts that's too much in these three games you know I mean 80 percent's fine Penn State Ohio State for sure against this lineup I would be a lot more comfortable with 55%, 60%. And so they need to get healthy and they need to get ready to go. Yeah. Yeah, no, definitely with you.

Although in this game, interesting, like we talked about, though, I think 44 offensive plays. So super interesting that, you know, a lot of it i think you know once the uh and i and i heard that this um their their linebacker is going to be okay um but i think once that happened it felt like scott leffler's like hey we're getting out of here right yeah just they just kind of started running the ball and so you know michigan had a lot of backups in and and they were i think they were running the ball not at a great clip but they just managed to to get first downs late in the game. And so Michigan didn't have a ton of opportunities to get really many guys in. And so part of that, the new rule, everything we've already kind of

talked about, I don't want to talk about that too much more. But, you know, just kind of an interesting game all around for the offense. Talking to the receivers, CJ graded out really well, thought he had a really solid game. He had the touchdown. That was all him. We didn't talk about that with JJ. Probably, again, one he should have thrown to Roman. I think Roman was more open. But he also kind of – I don't know. It was a little short, and CJ had to play defensive back,

and then he tipped it to himself and caught it. That was in our end zone. I honestly was – again, I was a little bit in a prissy mood, if you will, just with how the game had gone. People were high-fiving and I just stayed sitting because that was such a bad throw. I don't like to be a negative Nelly, man. I'm very optimistic. That's just who I am as a person. It takes a lot for me to be a negative Nancy. Again, drinks, long day, maybe as a person. And so it takes a lot for me to be like a negative Nancy.

Again, drinks, long day, maybe that has something to do with it. But CJ had a great game. I thought Roman had, I will say JJ's throw to Roman on his touchdown was a laser. Really nice throw. Right after he had come to Colson Loveland on a nice throw and catch. So there were some good moments from the offense all around. CJ was the highest graded receiver. What did you see from kind of the receivers and the tight ends? Thought it was a solid day, all things considered.

I saw some really good. I saw some things that are concerning to me. The really good, Roman and CJ both caught touchdowns, moving them tied with Donovan Peoples-Jones, the second most touchdowns in the Jim Harbaugh era. Pretty awesome. Can you remind me of the date again, Brian? Did we say it's September 18th?

Yes. You sure that's right? Okay. What's it? Wild that that's okay. Yeah. Clearly haven't thrown the ball a lot in this era, but. No.

Here's my concern is three guys caught balls in the game. Three. Cornelius Johnson, Roman Wilson, Colsonson loveland we need to get more guys involved three i mean we didn't throw the ball a lot they ran 44 offensive plays so not a lot and ran the ball time so not a lot of opportunities but still three guys catching balls uh we need someone to step up in the slot position and play more you know one thing one guy that we were both really high on week one, Frederick Moore, played a ton of things. He played like 20 snaps the first week. He played one snap on Saturday night.

So I'm not sure what's going on there. I don't know if it's a health issue or a performance issue, but, you know, we need some – you know, I've liked what I've seen from Tyler Moore. Samaj Morgan seems like he's got some real good wiggle. He had a nice run on the end around. He trucked a kid. Yeah.

Yep. And so – but we just need some more production there. In terms of PFF grading, Roman Wilson's the second highest graded wide receiver in the Big Ten. CJ's third. So they're, you know, doing everything right. They're solid. They're performing much higher than I think most of us expected,

playing at a higher level than most experts projected. But, you know, the units as a whole, both the tight ends and wide receivers, you know, we just need to get more guys involved. Yeah. I mean, again, I think it, I think you kind of touched on it, but I think it kind of comes back to just the weird, it was just a weird game, you know, just all around and not many snaps and, you know, Hey, JJ throws three picks. I'm going to my guys. I know can catch the ball. Right.

So maybe that's part of it too. But I think in the first couple of weeks, I mean, we, we both liked what we saw from Tyler Morris. Um, you know, I definitely like what I saw from, from Freddie Moore week one. So I think we see, we've seen guys are capable. It's just a matter of getting the offense in sync, being in rhythm, having probably the full playbook at their disposal as well. Um, you know, they keep it very vanilla. And one of the things that I heard on the MGO blog podcast, I listened to it religiously. They do a great job, but they're like,

Michigan just doesn't take these games seriously. And I find it really hard to disagree. Like they just, they just play with their food and they just don't care. And they're going to just body you anyways. And we're going to move on with our lives because they're just so much more talented and it feels like it's been that way the entire harbour era like yeah there's been some blowouts and yeah i know last year it looked a lot prettier but like

then they really cared what these scores are you know they have they have goals and objectives they want to reach in these games and it doesn't necessarily line up with looking good so people on twitter can talk trash. You know what I mean? Like it's just they go into these games, they need to find things out about their team, and they want to try scenarios in different situations. So, yeah, again, it's all good for me. Like I have no real issues.

Max Bredesen grades it an 83.7. I don't know if that fumble. They only grade offensive and defensive plays. So the special teams is not part of the offensive grade. That's an offensive grade. You know what? Speaking of that, he had a great game. He's a good football player, man.

Just fair catch it or go down. I don't need you in space, buddy. Like, I love you. I was watching that and I was like, so we were in the corner opposite of the broadcast. So we're watching it go away from us towards the other end zone, and I'm just like, just hold on to the ball.

Like don't do – and it comes out, and I'm like, you've got to be kidding me. And then the next one goes to Braden McGregor, and he can – thankfully Michigan hops on it, but it's just like, goodness gracious, guys. Just fair catch it, or I don't know. But, hey, he looked, I mean, he's a great blocker. He's a great H back. Um, he's really what you look for in that type of type of position. And he's probably going to be here another couple of years. So very glad to have him. And yeah, I thought he played well outside of the big issue. Yeah. The tight ends, you know, the more you watch and the more you study and the more you slow things down and watch the tight ends are such a huge part of everything the team does.

You know, in that 54-yard run to start the game, it was Colson Loveland that set that up for him. He even had a huge kick-out block there that opened that hole up and, you know, Blake took off. Almost every run design they have is started by the tight ends. And when they run big plays, they use those, you know, because defensive coordinators are seeing the same things we're seeing and they use those tendencies to throw people off it's not it's not the wide receivers not the front back it's everything i mean the tight ends kind of run the show there and i think you know they've been recruiting that position extremely well and i would think if you know anyone recruiting a tight end put on the tape and just see how involved they are in every aspect of the game and the tape they can put out for NFL scouts. I mean, they're just,

Barner had a great game. Loveland had another really good game. Tight ends are, you know, the huge strength of this team right now. Yeah. I mean, you know, and I'll just watch a football in general, you know, a game that they lost, but on Sunday, I'm a big Lions fan watching that game. Sam Laporta had a huge down block on one of their rushing touchdowns that was just wide open down on the goal line. And tight ends are just so important in the run game because if you have great tight ends who are also great at running routes,

I mean, it's just such a luxury to the offense. But Michigan, to your point, really has built their identity on having tight ends who are really good at both jobs. Also, just a side note, Luke Schoonmaker had his first touchdown with the Dallas Cowboys. So love to see that. Speaking of Michigan tight ends, O-line, again, I thought looked pretty good, switching back on to some of the more power concepts. I know they've been working on some outside zone.

I think they're just, you know, it felt like Michigan last year in the run game for the most part. I mean, Blake had a big run. Again, I thought Donovan had some solid runs and I think the O-line did a pretty good job. Run game wise, I thought it was great. Again, it's about Michigan really just honing in and being at that high level in every facet of the game. The pass blocking was not great, which is weird because the first two games pass pro was great, run game was eh. But this time, a lot of pressure, a lot of pressure up the middle,

which again could be communication, could be misaligned, whatever it is. What was your thoughts on the OLL? I know we've already kind of touched on it, but just any last thoughts you have on that group as a whole? I thought generally speaking, they were fine. I still don't feel like we're seeing what we got spoiled by the last couple of years, just absolute dominance. I think they're solid. They're a really good unit. I think some of the issues, as I mentioned earlier, in the pass protection, I think there were some serious missed assignments, but neither Blake or Donovan graded out well in pass block. They graded out exceptionally well everywhere else, but in pass block, I think there

was a lot of missed assignments there. And so that expo, you know, a lot of times a free rusher comes up the middle and, you know, the running back picks up and you don't see anything. Well, the running back, you know, goes to the right instead of the left and picks up, you know, doesn't see the blitzer coming in. It looks like the line missed something when that's not the case. So I feel like part of that last Saturday night's game, not a lot of it, but a fair amount of it was on running backs missing assignments. That's something I'm sure Mike Hart's going to have a field day with this week. And, you know, those guys are both such, you know, pros playing at a college level that I don't expect that to continue because historically they both block so well.

But I feel like either one of them had a great game. And maybe it's some of that that you alluded to, you know, looking past the opponents and taking them lightly and not taking that responsibility as seriously as it was if it's Ohio State or Penn State or something like that. Well, and the old line coach has three jobs on Saturday too, right? So, again, I mean, I don't know. I've never been a college coach.

I've never played college football. I don't know how much goes in. I know a lot goes into it, but I don't know the intricacies. I can only imagine. That's got to have a little bit of an impact at the very minimum, you would think. So, overall, again, a weird day from the offense. Not a weird day from the defense, aside from a couple great catches from Bowling

Green. Otherwise, pretty dominant. Pretty much what we saw the first two weeks of the season. day from the defense aside from a couple great catches from bowling green otherwise pretty dominant pretty much what we saw the first two weeks of the season um what were your thoughts on the defense overall on saturday i mean you know got kind of kind of backs against the wall a little bit you know with some of the turnovers but i mean four turnovers and only gave up six points i'll take that every day absolutely a little bit of bizarro world we had defensive backs making sacks and defensive tackles making intersections. You know what I mean? But yeah, dominant, dominant performance by a lot of people. We're going to talk about some areas of concern as we get deeper into the defensive analysis here. But, you know, the defensive tackles, I mean,

I think we said it last week. I think this is the best defensive tackle unit we've had. I mean, there's a lot of football to be played. But, man, that group is really special. So, Chris Jenkins, soft hands. Wish the big fella could have got the end zone. You know, I'm a big guy. I love big guy touchdowns, man. Who doesn't? I feel like it's been a while since you had one.

I think the one that comes to mind, and correct me if I'm wrong, is, gosh, Willie Henry against Utah back in 2014 had a pick six at defensive tackle. Is that the last one? I don't know. I can't think of any others. But, I mean, heck of a play, heck of a read, and great hands, soft hands from the big fella that they call the mutant. No surprise, highest graded guy, 84.6. I mean, you have the numbers in front of you. I'd love to know if any, but if you could have guessed, I don't know if you would have gotten it, but Cam good, man. I thought Cam played a great game. Him and Kenneth Grant in there, we're in there a little bit together. He was the beneficiary

of some pressure from Grant that he got the sack on. Yeah, just a great day from the interior. I mean, Mason Graham is Mason Graham. Like it's hard to – I don't want to take him for granted, but it's just like ho-hum, and he's still just very dominant for the most part. Just, you know, just an awesome group of DTs that this team has, which, I mean, man, I was, you know, thinking about 2018, 2019, we had Ben Mason at DT. And Carl O'Kemp, who's a fine football player, very good football player, not a defensive tackle, not a defensive

tackle, not a nose tackle. So, you know, Jordan Glasgow, thank you. Come on now. I love Don Brown, but man, yeah, it's a far cry from where Michigan was in, you know, in the Don Brown area. That's just three years ago. So the overhaul of this defensive line has been so impressive and I just continue to be just astounded at how good this interior D line is. I mean, you know, I didn't watch the whole replay. Again, I don't know if we talked about this on air or off air last week, but I've been having trouble finding like the full replays that aren't like glitchy or they're kind of laggy.

I don't know what's going on. So I have to watch like the 20-minute condensed highlights, which don't show everything. So they're not showing Bowling Green's, you know, one-yard gains or two-yard gains that aren't highlights but are great plays by the D-line. So I didn't get to watch the whole thing outside of being at the stadium on Saturday. But overall, from what I saw, I thought the interior looked great.

Thought there was some good pressure. Jalen Harrell had a nice, uh, nice trip sack in the third quarter. Um, just thought it was a solid day from the D line overall. There were, and I know you're probably going to talk about, there were some, some times where I thought, uh, I noticed McGregor sucked in a little bit, uh, on a run play that got them about 10 yards that he probably should have set the edge on. Um, but overall, yeah, there were, I didn't think there were a ton of issues that I really had. But, again, you know, you're playing Bowling Green,

so there shouldn't be that many. But I thought it was a good outing. Well, Spans, you know, we talked about the defensive tackles first. You know, the hyperbole of a fan base thinking they have the best position group at anything. But saying our defensive tackles are the best in the country isn't just hyperbole. Mason Graham's the number one graded PFF defensive tackle among the power five. Kenneth Grant's ninth. Chris Jenkins is 15th. So, you know, 69 power five football teams, three of the top 15 play for Michigan. So it's just a really good, not bad, not bad on the edge. You know, I edge, I thought Jalen Harrell, he's got more and more snaps every week.

He was third on the team the first week, second last week, first this week, the exact opposite of Braden McGregor. One concern, the team has nine sacks in the season. Only three have come from our edges. We talked about the edges starting slow a few years in the past, but we need more production there. Braden McGregor's snaps have gone down each game, and you alluded to it, mentioned it. He got sucked in a lot. Bowling Green had like three runs of over seven, eight yards. Two of the three were him. He didn't contain the edge, and he got sucked into the inside move by the fullback and uh cost us i i think he's been losing time derrick moore continues to play really good

seems to you know getting more responsibility and it didn't show up the stat sheet but when you watch closely they're putting a lot more every week on josiah stewart's plate he wasn't he dropped him you know the first week he came in on just pass downs, went at the passer. Saturday night, he was out in coverage a few plays. He had gap responsibility on runs. They're putting more and more on his plate. I don't know if all of the more snaps from Harrell and Stewart, because they're both playing really, really well. I think that's part of it. The other part of it is Braden McGregor didn't have a great night Saturday night. I other part of it is Braden McGregor didn't have

a great night Saturday night. I'm a huge fan of Braden McGregor. I love his motor. I love everything he means to the university. So I don't mean to disparage the kid, but he just didn't have a very good night. Jalen Harrell graded out at a 90.5. That's our highest for the season for defensive end. Derek Moore at 81.3, really solid. Josiah Stewart, 78.4. And Braden McGregor didn't grade out that poorly at a 67.2. But, you know, we're lucky we have four guys that can play the position. But I think Harrell and Stewart and Moore are playing a little better than Braden McGregor right now.

Yeah, which I think Derek Moore is playing really good football. Jalen Harrell just is a guy who knows where he needs to be. I mean, he's another coach on the field. He's very similar to Mikey Sanders. So I'd say he's probably the Mikey Sanders of the front seven. Just a guy that knows everybody's position, knows where everybody needs to be, and he's just a great leader, which he's just been a really solid football player.

And I think he's starting to flash. I feel like we know what he is at this point, and I would love to see him have another gear. If he could ever develop that ability to just get off and get to the quarterback, he would be an NFL player for a long time because that's how solid fundamentally he is otherwise. But he did have the strip sack on the quarterback that caused the fumble that Michigan recovered.

I think we've seen flashes from McGregor, and it's like you want it to just happen, man, because when he – like Ohio State last year, he was a wrecking ball. I mean, he had multiple tackles for loss. He almost had two pick sixes on those screens. I mean, he was a monster. And you just want to see that level of consistency. I know he came in – this is his fourth year in the program now.

He came in in 2020 during COVID with a busted up knee. So obviously it takes some time. I would just love for it that I don't know if it's a if it's a Swiss that needs to be flipped, if it ever connects for him, like athletically, physically, it's all there. I don't know what it is that it just feels like it's a lot of ups and downs from from number 17. And I like the kid a lot. Seems like a great dude and just works his tail off i want to see it come together for him but i do think you're right i think josiah stewart's starting to eat into some of those snaps and i think that he's going to be a guy uh that's going to play a lot of meaningful football for michigan they all are but i think i think stewart's probably going to be

one of those first guys uh up next on the on edge rotation uh linebackers i don't know what you think because i thought there were some okay moments but i also youers i don't know what you think because i thought there were some okay moments but i also you know i don't know it's kind of tough to gauge um i thought it was interesting game from from the linebackers all together and it was the most quiet day for the linebacker like not good not bad it was like the linebackers play like yeah the bubble recovery and had that one big hit houseman i i, I don't remember him playing. He graded out okay. He obviously played good. You know, it's like I don't remember any really big plays by the linebackers.

I don't remember any times where, you know, I watched a few times now that they looked out of position. It just was kind of just a day where they were out there, and, you know, we didn't play a ton of guys. We played our three main guys, mostly Junior Coulson. Didn't come off the field really until the end. And, you know, he's stellar and phenomenal and graded out really well. But just like you said, kind of a quiet day.

Junior Colson this year's PFF grade. He has the identical run grade and pass defense game. Pass defense, run defense grade at linebacker. He's just a complete NFL linebacker. He's really good. I want Jimmy Roelder to come back. He was showing such flashes at the end of the last year. You talked about Braden McGregor on the edge. Jimmy Roelder, I thought, was coming on strong at the end. I really would like to see him out there. I'm a big fan of his. You know what's funny is I was with rivals at the time for a brief cup of coffee.

But one of the things I did was I watched his film as a high schooler, and I remember his recruiting profile. I was a big fan of his coming in. And now that I know how awesome Ryan Walter is, the current head coach at Purdue, who was the defensive coordinator at Illinois at the time, who I believe he was committed to for baseball and illinois wanted him bad like knowing that i'm like this dude knowing that now like this dude's

gonna be a stud i'm excited to see i don't know what his injury is um i know he's just kind of been banged up but he flashed a lot last year he played a lot in the ohio state game as a true freshman like he's gonna be a player for us i'm very excited to watch him continue to develop but yeah five linebackers get snaps. You know, Ernest Houseman was the lowest of the starters at a 58 grade. Kind of like you said, ho-hum. You know, didn't really notice anything egregious. Didn't throw my hands up in the stadium saying, what the heck are you doing, so-and-so. So we'll count it as a win. You know, I think there's going to be some more opportunity for these guys with some of the games coming up, especially if you think about some of the running quarterbacks Michigan's going to be some more opportunity for these guys with some of the games coming up, especially if you think about some of the running quarterbacks

Michigan's going to be facing with the kid from Rutgers and Nebraska. I don't know if they're going to be starting Sims or not, but more opportunities should be coming for these guys to flash. Defensive backs, you know, a couple catches that were just, I mean, the first play of the game, interesting to overturn that. I don't know what you thought on the throw on Keyshawn Harris. I mean, it looked like a catch, but it also, the ball came out when he hit the ground after like a second, and then they overturned it, called it a catch, or they had called it an incomplete pass on the field.

And then there was also one where Mikey Sanders still had great coverage, and he swatted the ball away and it just ended up bouncing right into the bowling green receiver's lap so those are about the only two real big pass plays that I noticed otherwise I thought the DBs played well um Quentin Johnson had a pick uh saw some DJ Waller who I think is a very intriguing option at corner true freshman gonna be a ball player I said it in the same way. I think he's going to be a player. So a lot of guys played. Grading's really all over the place.

But I thought overall, again, nothing – I mean, they made some plays. Don't get me wrong. The Quinton Johnson pick was great. I mean, they made some plays. I didn't really notice anything too particularly concerning. I think – I might disagree a little bit. Okay, go ahead. I think Josh Wallace is a. Josh Wallace, he gets better and better each week. I'm liking what I'm seeing there. He's been a real presence the run game. He made some really nice tackles out in space Saturday night

that I was really impressed with. I think he just keeps getting better and better and really solid. You don't really see him in any of the plays that go positive for the other team. You see him making good plays in the right spot. Keyshawn Harris, the more that I watch him, you know, shades of, you know, not disparaging a guy, but like Jermont Green last year, there were times the year before where it was like, what's he doing out there? We need Will Johnson back. You know what I mean? Yes.

The pick that Quentin Johnson had was a stellar play. He covered so much ground. But Keyshawn Harris was beat there. Like, if Quentin Johnson – if Bowling Green's quarterback makes the right throw and Quentin Harris doesn't bail him out, that's a touchdown. He's beat. And so that's a concern. You know, we didn't have – Jaden McBurroughs didn't play.

Maureen Walker sounds like he could be out for some, you know, extended time this year. So, you know, we need Will Johnson back because I don't think we have a lot of depth there. We have young guys, but not guys we want to trust out there and vital key parts of the game. As for the safeties, again, Rod Moore, we say it every week, Rod Moore is maybe my favorite player on this football team outside of Mikey Saner still, and we need him back.

He's such a presence out there. Kian Saab had a really good game. Love him. He's going to be a stud. He's already kind of becoming a stud. Makari Page, he just doesn't seem to be himself this whole season. And when you go into this season and you look at the preseason All-American type accolades and All-Big Ten accolades,

you're looking at a preseason All-American type accolades and All-Big Ten accolades. You're looking at a preseason All-American in Will Johnson and a returning All-Big Ten and first-team preseason All-Big Ten safety in Rod Moore. I mean, you have two of your best players on this football team that haven't played a snap. I mean, Will Johnson played a couple snaps the other two weeks ago or last week. But, you know, we're not seeing the best version of this Michigan football team. And so despite the struggles, I think you see some of our very best players out there uh you're seeing a different look on defense well and that's where i say not no real concerns under the assumption

that those guys get back before the that's fair yeah right i mean you know um kehawn Harris, he's a walk-on. He's been serviceable, man. I mean, hats off. I mean, he has played – I mean, I don't think he's played awful. I think he's been fine. No. But I think you're right. I mean, I think Michigan – I mean, obviously, if Michigan wants to win the national championship, it needs Rod Moore.

It needs Will Johnson. It needs Makari Page healthy. And, you know, Keyon Saab's emergence has been huge, not only for next year but for this year. Having another guy that can play there, especially if Zeke Berry is going to be out for any extended time. So I'm with you. My concern truly isn't on the field at the moment.

It's just the guys that are not on the field. It is getting Will Johnson back. It is getting Rod Moore back because I think when that happens, this defense takes another step. And, man, if they can just get back by October, it would be great, right? I mean, Will Johnson I think is probably closer to playing than Rod, it sounds like. I mean, Will doesn't have a brace on.

Will played last week. He's gone through warm-ups. Like, I don't know what the holdup is there. They're just being very – just very cautious. Rod, I think, has had a brace on in the pregame, so I think he's probably not as close. But, man, if you can just get Rod back by October, I mean, look, this is a two-game regular season, and it's a three-game postseason

with the Big Ten Championship and the two playoff games. Like, that's what this is. And so, hey, if Michigan decides that's their best shot, is to keep these guys out, then I'm all for it. But it would be nice to see them get some run because, you know, game shape is a real thing, man. Like, you know, it takes time to get into the shape that you have to play a college football game in. Maybe not as much this year with the new rule change. I don't know.

But, like, you've got to be, you know, got to have some experience in the games to be able to just be in shape just in general, let alone just, you know, getting used to being hit and getting used to different, you know, for, for Will Johnson, getting just,

you know, back into, you know, get that game mindset of different routes and, and the coverages you run, all that good stuff like that is so much more important in a game. You can't really simulate that in practice. So I'm with you.

I mean, it'd be great to get these guys back and healthy and, you know, I don't have any inside information on the subject, but I fully expect Will Johnson to start Saturday. I think we're still a couple of weeks away, but from what I'm hearing, but I expect Will Johnson, again, no inside information on this particular subject, but I fully expect him to start this week. Yeah. Well, we're about to wrap up, man. Any thoughts on special teams? I thought James Turner had a nice kick. Any real concerns I had after week one?

I feel fine with James Turner. I don't have any real issues at this point. He's been solid. Doman is a monster punter, NFL punter, probably for a long time. With that leg, he looks really good. Partner Turner looked like the alternated thaw. And Tyler Morris. Tyler Morris, Samaj Morgan had a nice partner turn. Yeah. the alternated thaw and tyler morris tyler morris samaj morgan

had a nice punt return tim morris both looked really good like so much more explosive than thaw like i get catching the ball is fire number one and thaw has been very solid there but you see the shiftiness of morgan and uh tyler morris and it just makes you want to see that more um you know fumbles aside you know i think think under the Jay Harbaugh era, we've had arguably one of the best special teams units in the country, not even arguably, statistically, and by every measure, it's been one of the best in the country. And those fumbles, you know, are atypical,

but I would imagine we're going to see a lot more short kicks the rest of the year until they prove they can handle that situation well. Put a receiver in there. I don't know. Right, right, right. You know? So, but nonetheless, man, Michigan, right. You know? Yeah. But nonetheless, man, Michigan wins 35-6.

Feel good. Ready for Big Ten play. Ready for, you know, look, Rutgers is 3-0, man. 3-0 is 3-0. Three dominant wins, by the way. Yeah. I mean, they beat Virginia Tech, although Virginia Tech is a shell. My brother-in-law is in his senior is a shell my my uh my brother-in-law is in his senior year at virginia tech and my father-in-law used to teach at virginia tech

and so my wife is a is a hokey and uh man it just stinks to see what happened to that program i mean i blacksburg is an awesome town great college campus like a beautiful place and i just i don't know how they let it fall apart so bad i mean mean, just, you know, the moment Frank Beamer left, they just brutal, but I did see Brian and I don't know how much you, you kind of subscribe to the thought of advanced statistics and expected, you know, points gained or whatever these different stats are. But I did see that Rutgers actually had a worst, they had a worse, there's no T on that word um like one of the advanced statistics showed that virginia tech down by down outplayed rutgers but there was turnout like i think uh gavin wimsett was like under 50 completion percentage for double digit yards so like

not i mean it was dominant in the scoreboard but i haven't watched that game i don't know i mean i'm assuming you didn't either i don't if you're watching rutgers virginia tech you're not a fan you're a sicko. But so it'll be interesting to see Rutgers coming to town 3-0. We saw them come to Michigan Stadium in 2021 at 3-0, and that was a much closer game than I would have liked, but Michigan won the Big Ten that year. So it will be interesting to see them come into town. Real opponent, man.

Finally a Power 5 opponent on the schedule. So I'm very much looking forward to that. That's going to do it for Blue by the Numbers. Brian, thank you. Everyone else, thank you so much for listening. We'll see you guys next time.