Blue By Ninety - Blue By the Numbers: Home Stretch

Episode Date: November 15, 2023

Tanner and Brian discuss Michigan's emphatic 24-15 victory in Happy Valley. Michigan runs the ball 32 straight times against Penn State in their victory, as the team moves to 10-0 with a second straight undefeated regular season in their sights.

All right, and welcome back to Blue by the Numbers. We are recording here on November 12th, so just a day after Michigan's 24-15 win over Penn State in Happy Valley. Brian, how are you, my man? I'm doing spectacular. Day after biggest game of the year. Feeling really good. Feeling very happy.

Feeling very lucky to be a Michigan Wolverine football fan. Yeah, it was very satisfying. You know, we talked about it on the main Blue by 90 podcast. Go check that out. But, you know, being at Pretzel Bell with a number of Michigan fans, we had a Blue by 90 watch party hosted by, you know, essentially North Peak was hooking us up. You know, had some Hale IPA.

You know, none of the game day ale, unfortunately, because we're in the bar. You know, we want to pay for what we're drinking. So we had a lot of Hale IPA. But, man, I can only imagine the environment in the bar. We want to pay for what we're drinking, so we had a lot of Hale IPA. But, man, I can only imagine the environment in Happy Valley. It sounded like – it wasn't the Michigan State game, but it sounded like there was a pretty big contingent of Michigan fans that were making some noise for the Wolverines on big plays.

And when I watched some of the videos, a lot of the folks that had trickled out, it seemed like there was a lot of Michigan fans that had stayed to celebrate and show their love to Michigan with everything going on around this program for them to come out and essentially say after the first two drives, we're going to adjust our game plan and we're going to run it down your throat and you're not going to stop us. That's basically what Jerome Moore did, right? Because the first couple drives a little rough for the tackle, specifically the right tackle, which I think has had a solid year, but chop Robinson's a day one NFL pick. In my opinion, I think I'm not the only person that, that holds that opinion. I'm sure there's a lot of football people that know a hell of a lot more

than me that have that opinion. And he, with the speed rush was unbelievable. And it seemed like, I mean mean he was just blown by by barnhart you know and michigan had to make that decision of we've got to attack their speed the way that they're rushing upfield and they did a great job of that they sprinkled in some screens i would have liked to see more screens throughout the game to kind of take advantage of that because they work with samaj um but you know in this game jj mccarthy throws it eight times in the first half, doesn't throw a recorded pass in the second half, right? They have one play action on fourth and one where

he scrambles for nine yards, and then they have the P.I., so the stat doesn't count, even though it was an incompletion. And Michigan just made the concerted decision that we're like, hey, we're just going to come out, and we're just going to run it down your throat, and there's really nothing you can do about it. So, you in during the game a little uh a little scary right because it was always kind of a one point game or a one score game rather uh until Blake's uh final touchdown to put the nail in the coffin for Penn State but I mean after the fact like very very satisfying to know what Michigan lined up and did and just you know they're just going to punch you in the mouth and you're not going to have anything you're not going to have anything in place to be able to stop us.

And that's kind of what they did, Brian. So what were your thoughts on the game plan, kind of the adjustments that Sheryl Moore did in his second game as a head coach for Michigan this season and under the circumstances that he had to obtain that role? Yeah, you know, throughout the game, I think any Michigan fan watching was like, hey, we have a five-star first-round pick quarterback. Let him cook, right? Like we're all thinking that.

I think every person that I care about and watch Michigan football with and communicate with, I'm getting texts like, what's going on? Let JJ cook. But wouldn't you love, wouldn't you absolutely love to have a conversation with Sherron Moore and say, you know, at what point did you decide we're just going to run down their throat? Or did you not make a decision? Did you just go play-by-play, scenario-by-scenario, and just decide, you know what, runs the best play here, runs the best play here, runs the best play here, runs the best play here? You know what I mean?

It was just win, baby. I mean, there were times where I felt that way too. Like, man, play action would be so great here. Man, get it to Roman Wilson. Man, let's get Colson Loveland cooking. But when it's all said and done, to know, particularly with all the sign-stealing stuff, like here's your signs. Here's the game plan.

We're telling you. We're going to run it, try to stop it, and they couldn't. Yeah, yeah. I mean, you know, picture of blake corham really encapsulates this game uh of him all bloodied up and it looks like he's it reminded i don't know why man it reminded me of the of the first reboot of 007 james bond with daniel craig and and one of the villains is like crying blood i just i was like 10 when i saw it that's what he reminded me of man it looked like he had tears of blood and And that picture just encapsulates who Blake Corham is

and who this Michigan football team is, man, because they're willing to lay it on the line. They don't care who gets the credit. You know, J.J. McCarthy, I mean, you saw him after the game. I mean, just absolutely ecstatic to get that win. And I think it just shows that this type of program that Jim Harbaugh has built is a group of guys that are willing to risk it all for each other and don't care what happens to them. I mean, you know, I'm sure Blake just had that helmet come

up against the bridge of his nose, right? And cause some of that bleeding. He didn't care, right? He didn't care. And he went out for 145 yards, two touchdowns. I mean, you know, not, not many times have I felt this proud of a Michigan football team to go on the road, to do what they did, and the manner in which they did it with every distraction known to man kind of coming at them from the outside, all that outside noise. And we texted about it this week, man. We were concerned, and shame on us for doubting these kids

being able to compartmentalize all this stuff and go out and play their ass off. I mean, that's kudos to this coaching staff. That's kudos to these players. It's kudos to these players' families, right? All the support systems that these kids have to be able to raise them into these kinds of grown men, young men that are able to just put all that aside and go play ball is, I think, something that's kind of been missing in some of the discussion around this game

and is really impressive to me. No doubt. And also, shame on us for forgetting who's the head coach of their sideline. That guy makes every game I watch of theirs. You know, they have tons of talent. They have a bunch of great kids on that team. They, you know, for all intents and purposes, they should be a really good team. And every time I watch them play, every single time,

he makes some decisions that you think, what? Going for it for too early in the game, silly. Going for it for too there at the end when they had momentum, keep the hope alive. Knowing that if you don't get that two-point conversion at the end, the game's over. Keep the hope alive. Keep that guy's fighting for something.

And it just made zero sense. And, ugh, that guy, I don't know. He's a really solid coach, right? Like, they're good every year. They're a top 15 program every year. But at what point do you say it's not good enough? You know what I mean? It's not good enough.

And so they'll have, I'm sure, some interesting conversations going on there. But as it pertains to our guys, our coaches, the Michigan football program, yeah, I was on cloud nine. I'm still on cloud nine. But, I mean, literally heart rate up all afternoon, just so proud of the group of guys and that performance. Yeah, yeah. And it's funny, my uncle, who's a big Michigan fan,

him and I talk a lot during the season and just in general. But his comparison is always that James Franklin and Matt Painter are the same coach. I actually think that might be disrespectful to Matt Painter. I might have to tell him that because what I saw yesterday was coaching malpractice. I vehemently disagree with the decision to go for two at the end of the first half. I actually – I subscribe to the thought of analytics, and I understand this.

I think the second one makes more sense because the thought process is you're going to have to get the two-pointer either on the first touchdown or potentially the second touchdown. And if you don't get it, then you know, okay, we have to score two more times, and that dictates how you manage the clock and things and things like that that scenario probably it didn't matter i mean even if they had gotten it or they'd kicked it like the game's over right um but i do understand the second one way more than the first one also going for it you have two timeouts there's four minutes left you're at your 30 yard line fourth sixth, and you decide to go for it with a quarterback who had 3.2 yards per attempt

on the day. That one, I mean, I don't know what you do really, but at the end of the day, that's his program. It's his players. It's his coaches. I will say Manny Diaz came to play. His group of guys fought. No doubt doubt and uh they're tough man they're definitely tough but that offense is just not good and for you know having a first round nfl left tackle allegedly um you know they they

held up for the most part uh you know michigan was getting some free rushers uh towards the end of the game but i thought they did okay in the run game and their two successful drives before that late you know garbage time I think it's a garbage time touchdown to be truthful kind of just like it was against Ohio State right where you're down right uh you're down eight in that game you're down nine in this one um but I just yeah I was just coaching malpractice all over the board offensively. You know, they're fortunate that Barnhart didn't have such a great game because I think Michigan would have been able to, you know, score even more if they would have been able to incorporate the pass game.

You know, because, again, in the second half, you know, we're sitting there at Pretzel Bell in the basement getting a little antsy, a little nervous. But that – and we'll switch gears here now. And I know we'll talk about the grades too, I guess. But that Michigan defense, man, just lights out. Yeah, the grades let us kind of talk about some of the moments. You know what I mean?

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, the Michigan defense was ridiculous. The coaching. Yeah, the Barnhart issue early, they're – I mean, and like you said, they have some stellar pass rushers, right? But the fact that we adjusted – because it was scary early. And like you said, they have some stellar pass rushers, right? But the fact that we adjusted, because it was scary early. It was like, are we going to be able to protect JJ today? And they said, you know, we don't need to protect him. We're just going to run right at that pressure,

run right at that. And it was a winning strategy. And that adjustment, I doubt, was in their game plan. Although JJ mentioned that they knew that that might be an issue and that they had practiced for some scenarios if that was an issue. So, you know, they were prepared and they switched at the right time and, uh, you know, awesome. Yeah. So, you know, um, JJ comes in with a 74. Uh, he did what he needed to do, man. I mean, in the, in the, in the, the, the one, the one incompletion, he had tremendous pressure and just kind of sophomore year, JJ just kind of threw it up. But, you know, nothing hurt there. Gets swatted down.

But when he was on the run, he was making throws. He was a ball player yesterday. I mean, he was a football player. And, you know, that fourth and one that he had was huge. You know, helped keep the drive alive, led to a field goal. You know, he did what was asked of him. And, you know, there's the drive alive, led to a field goal. You know, he did what was asked of him. And, you know, there's going to be a lot of trolls and people who think their thoughts matter that are going to say, oh, you know, they don't trust JJ. No. I mean, if you watched him,

he wasn't shaky. He made the throws that were there. And they just made, like we talked about, the decision that they're going to run the ball, which, you know, when you got guys like Blake Corman, Donovan Edwards, not a bad when you got guys like Blake Corman down to Edwards, not a bad move because those guys were fantastic. We've talked about Donovan X factor, you know, didn't get involved in the past game too much, but had a couple massive runs in the run game. And even when stuff wasn't there, he had the ability to be, to be,

you know, to be able to wiggle through, maybe pick up a couple extra yards here and there when, you know, maybe it would have been a loss otherwise. But those two guys really did a lot of the bulk of the heavy lifting on Saturday. Donovan had the big touchdown on third and 11. He had another big run where he was following Zinter, and he just decided, there's a lot of green grass to my right. Let me just go this way. He picks up, I think, 20 some odd yards. And then Blake looked like Blake Cham, man. The jump cuts, the jukes, the vision, you know, he looked like himself. I think that's the most he's looked like Blake Corham all season, in my opinion.

I mean, he was dominant. I mean, 145 yards, two touchdowns. He was fantastic. And, you know, he really put the team on his shoulders for the most part. Yeah, no doubt. I mean, you know, J.J., he was seven for eight you know it to you you had mentioned trolls his quarterback rating was 96.1 that'd be kyle mccord of ohio state's second best game of the year so they didn't ask him to do much but what they asked him to do he did exceptionally

well um you know and for those as it comes to running backs i think a lot of fans besides the touchdown numbers have been surprised that bl Blake hasn't put up bigger numbers. And he hasn't put up bigger numbers partly because they haven't used him like they used him last year. And now that we're in this stretch run, I think we're going to see why that paid off. To your point, his burst seemed back. A lot of people have said and speculated, well, maybe he doesn't have that first step. He certainly seemed to have it today. And I think every Michigan fan that cares about these players was so happy to see Donovan Edwards have the game he had

and have the impact on a big game. You know, talking to the third person, calling himself big game Don was special. But he had a great game and showed up when we needed him. And that's what we've been saying all year. You know, wait until we need him, wait until the game that matters, and he'll be there, and he was absolutely there. So, yeah that's what we've been saying all year, you know, wait till we need him, wait till the game that matters and he'll be there. And he was absolutely there. So yeah, just awesome. Yeah.

I mean, you know, and Blake had a lot of tough yardage where he's able to get five, six yards. I mean, he was pushing piles with the, with the lineman helping him and yeah, just a great one, two punch in the backfield. You know, Cole, I think had, had he was he was on the field for three snaps i think he maybe had one rush um you know still maybe nursing that hand injury i know he's got a cast so hopefully he can get you know uh back to to close to 100 as close as you can be in november during a football season right as we always talk about it so it's a long season you're gonna get banged up but uh yeah running backs i thought were fantastic uh receivers you know

didn't really have a chance to shine in the pass game for the most part. CJ caught a couple balls. But Samaj had another really solid game in the screen game. He had a crucial third-night conversion on kind of a tunnel screen that they had dialed up. And I thought that they were impactful with their blocking. CJ, you know, he maybe got away with a hold on one of JJ's keepers,

but, you know, was able to pick up a first down with that block. Roman let go of a block on a kind of a sweep to Donovan where he was coming in motion. And I think if he had held that block, Donovan maybe gets at least a few yards instead of a two-yard tackle for loss. So not a lot going for the receivers just due to the game plan but you know i thought they did their job well as far as blocking for the most part i didn't notice anything egregious other than roman uh you know not being able to finish that block and you know roman's a buck 90 so you know that's a tough tough job for

a guy like roman yeah and that's what during that during that play to justin i was like man i miss ronnie bell for moments like that right one of the best to to Justin, I was like, man, I miss Ronnie Bell for moments like that, right? One of the best to do it from the receiver room as far as blocking goes at Michigan. But I thought – so CJ has a 73 grade. Blake, 64 grade. We talked about pre-show. I disagree with that. I thought he was phenomenal.

But other people are going to disagree. And he had a fumble. And there were some moments where he just didn't have anything to to be able to to kind of find uh in the run game but not always his fault and i thought he was fantastic i gotta give him the mvp uh of the game just from you know his ability to to pick up tough yardage so interesting grading on that front but no doubt so cj with a 73 to lead the receivers. Actually, Samaj also had a 73. So both those guys graded out pretty well.

Samaj only had five snaps. Would love to continue to see him get more run. He's shown to be a really good playmaker. Reminds me of Steve Breston from the mid-2000s for sure. I don't know. I'm sure probably a lot of people see that in his game. Yeah, I think Breston had him by a few inches. But, yeah yeah, I can see the shiftiness and they're very similar. I agree. And then moving on to the tight ends. I think when you look at the offensive line, yeah, man. Oh yeah. Tight ends. Yeah. Hello. Yeah. Yeah. So

tight ends I thought was a really good day for Barner. Didn thought he did his thing as well as Loveland, I thought, wasn't really involved in the pass game. He had the one catch that was – it was kind of like a set-up screen. I thought the play design was really good, but their defense just read it extremely well, and he gets stuffed at the line when he catches the ball. And then Bredesen as well. I thought all three guys did their thing in the run game.

You know what's funny? We've been talking so much about knowing what's coming in football. How many times do you see Michigan motion the tight end in and it's not a run? I mean, they're really just telegraphing exactly what they're going to do when they bring those guys closer to the line. And it still works, right? You know, it still pays off for them.

So I'm wondering if maybe they're going to have something in the Ohio State game that plays off that where – like that tendency I have to imagine is close to 100% run when you bring that tight end in motion to be able to come up in between the A and the B gap. Like that's every time that's where the guy's going. So I'm wondering maybe they're going to have something to play off that, but, you know, tight ends I thought did their thing.

Yeah, speaking of tendencies, what isn't a tendency but a certainty, Max Bredesen, when he's in the game, they're running the ball. He played 20 snaps against Penn State. In all 20 plays, they ran the ball. So, you know, you talk about setting stuff up for down the road. You have to think that they're going to, you know, if you and I can see that tendency, Ohio State and Maryland coaches can see that. So they'll definitely be setting up some stuff down the road for that.

But, yeah, the tight end might be the most reliable group on the team, and we have a lot of reliable, very good groups, but the tight end group is really, really solid. Yeah, yeah. So switching gears to the O-line have a lot of reliable, very good groups, but the tight end group is really, really solid. Yeah. Yeah. So, so switching gears to the old line, which, you know, they're not going to grade out as well, but I thought in the run game, just specifically the run game, I thought were really, really good. Like the pin and pull on JJ's third and 10 where Carson Barnhart gets out in front, leading the way was really good stuff good stuff. And I thought Zinter had a really good game. I thought the guards had a pretty solid game. I mean, that's a great defense they're going up against.

And so you've got to take some of these gratings with a grain of salt because they're playing one of the top three defenses in the country. Well, and I thought the extended offensive line made a huge difference when they would bring in Trent A. Jones and Miles Hilton on those jumbo packages. And when those guys came in, those plays were winning plays. Those guys made a big impact. And, you know, what you have to love about that is both of those guys were competing for starting jobs, right? And for whatever reason, they didn't get them.

But they're still seeing a role. And how many teams do offensive linemen lose their job and still play well the university of michigan they do i mean trenta jones played 17 snaps and miles hinton played 13 they both contributed in a big way in on big plays and i think we'll see more of that the rest of the year i think that's a tough you know you have that many big guys and and the skill we have at running back but i think we're gonna see a lot of that. Yeah, I mean, those guys come in as the second and third highest graded O-linemen with Trentay and Miles behind Zach Zinter, who led the way at 75 per PFF. So, yeah, those guys, that jumbo package, you know, bringing in number 93,

Trentay Jones, which is always fun to see. You know, he's technically eligible, right? He is technically eligible when he comes in he is he is an eligible receiver yeah that's why he has the 93 on instead of the 53 with the no nameplate which is hilarious uh because he would come in early in his career with the number 80 uh so you know i was watching i was watching somebody and they they said that michigan brought in a defensive lineman, and I was like, nope, that's just Trent A. Jones wearing number 93. So, you know, bring in the meat on those packages, man. You know, bring in the big boys up front. And they had a lot of success out of that package.

I will say one of the funniest moments, I thought, because Patrick Barron, who does a lot of photography for Emgo Blog, he posted a picture of James Franklin getting very upset during this play. But Blake Corum on that jumbo package, if you notice the linebackers are to the right of that side, if you're looking from Michigan's point of view. And all the jumbo package guys are to the left. And where does the ball go?

To the left for 44 yards. And in the middle of that play, James Franklin is freaking out at somebody on the sideline. Not sure if it's Manny Diaz or who, but you could see that. I was like watching it. I was like, linebackers are not to the strong side of the formation here. And then Blake just, yeah, makes a cut and gets out and scampers for 44 yards. I believe that was on their second touchdown drive of the day. So, yeah, that really paid off, and I'm curious how much they're going

to utilize that package moving forward, especially against Ohio State, which I'm sure we'll be talking about that game after the Maryland game as we get closer. But, yeah, I like that package. There were some times they got stuffed out of it because you very much know what is coming out of that, right? I mean, it looks like when Trenta Jones and Miles Hinton were in the game, they, there were two pass plays. And then for Trenta, there were 15 runs and for Miles there were 11 runs. So I don't know the exact breakdown of that. I don't know. I can't remember if there were any passes

out of the formation when both were in. There were seven offensive linemen on the field, but that's going to potentially be a tendency breaker as well for Michigan moving forward. Well, the hard thing, I mean, I think we are going to see a lot more of it. I think the problem with that play, being able to pass out, is you're going to have to do something quick because we load up whatever side it's on and we leave the other side pretty unprotected. So the motion goes that way. If you're going to set up for a pass,

you're gonna need something on the weak side to pick up some, some rusher because JJ is not going to have time. So if they're going to do something, it's going to be some quick hitter. And I'm sure it's coming and, you know, the offensive play callers and designers will call up with something there, but you don't have a whole bunch of time there. I feel like it's a formation. If everyone does their job, it's pretty tough to be, you know, not necessarily for 30, 40 yards, but if you want six, seven, eight yards, that's a pretty unstoppable play. If everyone does what their responsibility is. Yeah. You know, and, and Brian, perfect timing here. I don't know if you, if you saw, we don't go on YouTube, I don't believe, but we go on, so we're not a visual podcast, but I don't know, Brian,

if you saw me kind of touch my chest here, look at my phone. Nothing pertaining to Michigan. I'm sure this will be, you'll know this when this goes up, but as we're recording here and we're switching to talk gears about the defense, just saw from the beat writer for Penn State football and men's basketball in Happy Valley just tweeted, sources, Penn State has fired offensive coordinator Mike Yurchich. So as we're recording here, they just announced. Wow. Yeah, just a report came across.

Wow. So as we talk about, we just talked about 20 minutes ago, the coaching malpractice somebody had to pay and it's not gonna be james frangel with a 70 million dollar buyout brian that's that's for sure scapegoat you know uh i mean interesting that's uh your trickster is a guy that's been around the block man he's been at ohio state he's been at Oklahoma State, obviously Penn State. I think a couple other stops along the way, but yeah, interesting. I mean, they were, you know, I've been talking about it, though, Brian. I've been calling Penn State out because they were top 10 in points per game, but a lot of those were

fake blowouts where their defense leads to a lot of those points because they give them short fields, but they were averaging 41 points per game coming in, so Michigan, you know, played so well defensively that Penn State fired its offensive coordinator. So that is interesting. But, you know, I got ahead of myself earlier, and Brian, you kind of had to pull me back out. But I'll tell you what, I watched the cut up from Wolverine Devotee, who does a great job of getting like the, you know, majority of the meaningful plays into a highlight package on YouTube. It's about 30 minutes typically every single game, sometimes longer for some of those more fun beatdowns of certain schools. But I was watching

that, doing my cardio today at the gym, and I found myself for the first time watching those, I was like, man, I can't wait till we get back to Michigan being on defense to watch these highlights. Normally, I'm all about the touchdowns, the big plays on offense, but I found myself just gravitating towards wanting to watch this defense because they are lights out. And even though they gave up their first, first and goal to go scenario this year, first time they faced that situation all season, what did they do? They, they bowed up, man. And they, they made Penn state kick a field goal.

And I would like to say, I brought this up a couple times on the Blue by 90 podcast earlier today. Your third and goal at the two-yard line play is to test Will Johnson on a fade? Are you kidding me? That's not Marvin Harrison over there. I mean, come on, man.

I was very surprised. I mean, come on, man. That's, I mean, you know, maybe there is some, you know, credence to why Yorkshire just got fired. But I can't believe some of the play calling again. But, you know, Michigan's defense showed up in the biggest way. They were dominant. They didn't have a lot of help from the offense for large stretches of this game. And, I mean, Kenneth Grant was a monster.

Monster. Not only on those, you know, either those, you know, zero one-yard gains or some of those tackle for losses, but the play that we've all seen and we've all talked about, him tracking down Katron Allen from behind, you know, not only maybe stopped him from going at least another 20 or so yards, maybe stopped the touchdown, right? And, you know, that was a really great play from him.

And, you know, really, really proud of, you know, the effort that these guys put forth. I thought Rayshon Benny had a hell of a game. He obviously had a couple TFLs. He had the strip of Aller on the third down that Makari Page recovered. The DBs were phenomenal. You sent me the text. It was, what, five catches for Penn State wide receivers for 29 yards on Saturday?

I mean, all over the field. All over. I think the play, to me, the biggest play of the game was the strip stack or the strip fumble that McCarty paid. I just think, you know, number one in the first half, the one play that was really giving us fits was Drew Allers running. You know, he hit those off, you know, some scheduled, some off schedule. But that was really creating problems for us. And, you know, the going into the third quarter, neither team, either Michigan or Penn State, held out any points. Right. So he thought, OK, who had searched their will in the third quarter, neither team, either Michigan or Penn State, had allowed any points, right? So he thought, okay, who had searched their will in the third quarter

and who continues that has a really good chance to win the game. And so they come out, they have a drive going pretty well, and that fumble recovery was huge because, number one, I think it really shook Allard's confidence. The one thing he was able to do against the defense was that running play. Now he can't even do that. And it turned the momentum and it took away their ability to kind of seize momentum for the game.

I thought that to me, that was the play of the game. And, you know, at that moment I thought, okay, we're going to win this thing. And obviously there were some ups and downs along the way, but that was the moment where I was like, okay, this is, this is, this is where we're going to win. And this is, and that turned out to be true. Yeah. like, okay, this is where we're going to win, and that turned out to be true. Yeah, I mean, they had, you know, I've been critical of Drew Aller,

and not so much him, but the notion that a guy who graduates after throwing for over 10,000 yards in his career is going to be replaced by a five-star sophomore and be an upgrade. I mean, that's just disrespectful to Sean Clifford, in my opinion. And I think that's where some of my thought and logic came from, being a little harsh on this offense. But I've seen this all year long. I've said it all year long.

If you look, I mean, it's not even an advanced stat, man. It's just yards per attempt. Like, how many yards do you gain versus how many times do you throw it to get those yards? He had 3.2 yards per attempt against Michigan. Um, but he's had games. I mean, he had 4.5 against Ohio state. He had some earlier in the year, and this is just a trend of one Penn state doesn't trust him. I mean, he has 20 touchdowns, one or 21 touchdowns, I guess now in one pick. And it's like, I said this when I was talking on the voice of college Football, talking to a couple different Penn State guys, and I'm like, man,

if I'm a Penn State fan, I'm pissed because they didn't let him make those mistakes earlier in the year in the games that didn't matter. And now he doesn't know how to play kind of, you know, reckless when he needs to be reckless, right? And it just feels like, again, coaching malpractice from the Penn State side. But, you know, for Michigan, they didn't make his life easy at all. You know, they weren't getting a lot of pressure in their kind of, you know, standard looks, but they would bring guys and they'd get free rushes.

I believe there was – he had the flea flicker where he threw it away, which I learned that you're not allowed to do. It has to go to a receiver. You can't throw that away. Even if you're outside the pocket, like, you have to try to get it to a receiver because the ball switch i did not know that rule either um yeah that's i read on the internet i don't know if it's true or not but i believe i think no the announcers yeah it's got to be true who would lie about something like that but yeah to your point i think they tried to kind of allude to it but

didn't really break it down very well and then then when I read after, I was like, that makes more sense. But they get the pressure on that, which you dial up a flea flicker and nobody's open. I mean, that's kind of tough. But you also have to have a little bit of success running the ball to make that play work. Well, I texted you right afterwards. That was another big play, big moment of the game

that really wasn't a big moment. But when you're dominating an opponent like the way Michigan's defense is the one thing that can hurt you is you know you're over committing to stopping one thing in a big play and I thought you know the one thing that could really hurt this team or change this game is for them to do some trickeration and and go over the top and hit something and so when that play didn't happen it was like okay there was an opportunity for them to do something and it didn't happen. And I thought, okay, that, you know, they're not, they only have so many chances to do that. So the fact that that one didn't work felt like a, a big win. And, uh, you know, I'm sorry, but I'm still thinking of, you know, uh, after the game, James Franklin was extremely complimentary of Michigan's defense. So he said that defense is

exceptional. They're really, really good. And, you know, he was, he was pretty emphatic about how good the defense was. And obviously, you know, the stats and the outcome of the game proved that to be right. But to say that publicly, to be the one thing that you focus on in your post-game press conference, and then fire the guy that had to face said really, really tough defense just speaks the type of guy James Frank is. I'm just, I've never been a fan. Well, maybe his wife wasn't attractive enough, Brian. You know? For anyone that wants to, you know – so to give context to that,

James Franklin has been quoted as saying he only hires assistants with attractive wives because he thinks they're better recruiters. So if that tells you the kind of person that he is, yeah. So – but I also think you know they always have uh keegan michael key who's a penn state grad you know uh look just like him i think he might be a better game day coach than james franklin if we're being honest yeah i mean he could at least pretend to be a better one so uh but yeah defense man we'll just kind of talk we'll hit on some of the grades here rayshonon Benny leads the way at an 89. He was very impactful in his snaps. He only had 14 snaps.

But I was a little concerned with Benny because I think he's a little bit more slender than some of the other guys up front. But his ability to shed blocks in this game was unbelievable. He had multiple tackles for loss, I believe. He had a massive strip of Aller and just was all over the field in limited amount of action. But he was really, really good. And that just goes to show the depth that this team has, right?

I mean, anytime I go on to a show, I talk about the fact that Michigan is nine deep across the board on the defensive line. You know, they have five defensive tackles that they're comfortable playing any combination of. And they have four edges that they're really comfortable playing most combinations of. I mean, that just speaks to the way this team is built inside to out,

and that's how you should build a football team. But they lead the way. They set the tone. Not a lot of flash plays from Chris Jenkins and Mason Graham, but I will tell you, Mason Graham, you texted me this, and we agree. We love former wrestlers that play defensive line because their ability to be in awkward positions and still make plays like so the third and one that Aller uh almost converts

Mason Graham is getting pushed back because he's off balance he strips he kind of rips through the blocker gets gets his hands on Aller and then Ernest Houseman comes in. And I think Ernest Houseman was a wrestler in high school as well. I think so. You know, I can tell you he's from Columbus, Nebraska. In Nebraska, you play three sports, man. You don't have big enough schools to specialize, right? So I think he probably wrestled or maybe did a little bit. But, man, if you watch that replay,

not only is Mason Graham making a hell of a play to get to it, but Ernest Houseman is like two inches off the ground with his feet dug into the turf. It's one of my favorite plays of the game. I mean, just, again, goes to show the determination and grittiness of this team. I mean, that's a big kid, too. Aller, 6'5", 230.

He's a big, strong kid. He showed he's pretty mobile. I mean, he had some success running. He obviously had the rushing touchdown on the draw. and that's how they were kind of picking up some of their their first downs was him you know just getting up and and running towards uh you know trying to get the first down right it was either the draw or maybe it was off schedule runs um or on unplanned runs and uh but that play was was unbelievable and then i believe that was what led to michigan's second touchdown drive uh because right when they got the believe that was what led to Michigan's second touchdown drive.

Because right when they got the ball, that was the quorum run for 44 and then the Edwards 22-yard touchdown. I believe that was the stop that led to that drive. So, you know, the linebackers, I thought, you know, showed up. Again, Ernest Houseman, I thought, played well. He only had 17 snaps, but he was impactful when he was in there. You know, I thought, I will say, I thought played well. He only had 17 snaps, but he was impactful when he was in there. You know, I thought – I will say I thought there was a couple times I saw a junior get, you know, kind of let his eyes – you know, he got fooled a little bit on a couple runs. But for the most part, man, the front seven was dominant. I mean, they weren't really doing too much. Oh, yeah.

And it was fun to watch. Michael Barrett I thought had a really – I mean, he's pretty – you know, I think coming into the season a lot of people still you know people view you through a lens of what you their original version of you was right Michael Barrett came in as really more of a defensive back and I think a lot of people continue to view him as an undersized guy that's playing out of position but man that guy has had a heck of a year this, and I feel like the last few weeks have been better and better and better. He had a few plays where he's, you know,

it's a spread run down either side that he scrapes off his, you know, just how they draw it up, scrapes off the edge, scrapes off, you know, the tackle that he's supposed to kind of fill that hole in and stop plays in their tracks. I thought he had an exceptional game. You know, I think Hausman made a couple of plays that were really big that showed his, you know, that thumper mentality and, uh, Colson, you know, he had some up and down moments playing with the club. I don't think helped him a whole lot, but,

uh, you know, I thought it was a great game for our linebackers. Yeah. Yeah. And this was a game that I kind of, uh, talked about leading up to that. I thought the linebackers were going to have to play a good game and they did. Um, you know, they didn did. There weren't too many times where they let a five-yard rush turn into a 40-yard rush. They were closing in and any time that they were able to get upfield a little bit, the running back from Penn State, they were able to close most of that down. So I was very happy with the linebackers. And then the secondary, I thought, again, they didn't have too much to be concerned

with, but when they were called upon, they made big plays. I mean, Will had the coverage on the third and goal. I thought his PI was a little bit weak. I think that could have gone either way. He had his hand, you know, for a split second on Keandre Lambert Smith's side. He was making a play on the ball though. Yes. Usually when you're making a play on the ball, they let that go. It's when you turn a guy in that moment and you don't make a play on the ball. He's got every bit of right at that ball as the receiver does. I agree. I thought that was a little ticky-tacky. There was some interesting officiating in this game, and I think we'll see that moving forward. I actually kind of want to touch on that after we talk about the secondary. We'll talk about that. Also, I want to talk about

something basketball-related real quick, Brian, after we talk about the secondary. So we'll talk about that. Also want to talk about something basketball related real quick, Brian, after we talk about the secondary, because we had some good news come in for Michigan basketball. But again, I thought Will, you know, held his own. I mean, not like these guys were going to test him, but he had the breakup on the second two-point conversion late in the game. So that basically he had the game-winning play essentially, right? He had great coverage.

I think that was Theo Johnson, former Michigan target from Windsor, who decided to go to Penn State rather than 45 minutes across the border. So I thought Will played well. Rod Moore had a huge play on that kind of that bubble screen, that Aller almost airmailed. That caused the receiver to have to go up and get it. And then Rod comes in for a TFL. Makari obviously had the fumble recovery.

He's Rod Moore. I'm sorry. Yeah, Rod Moore is like 11, 12 yards off the line of scrimmage there. I mean, he's not playing quite deep safety. And he makes a tackle for a two, three-yard loss. Like, that was a remarkable play. That's Rod Moore that we saw the last half of last year that we've been waiting to see this year.

I mean, awesome play. Good to see him catching the stride as we had to, you know, face two quarterbacks that like to sling it. So, you know, that secondary is really rounding into shape. Yep. Yep. And, you know, Rod, I think, like you just talked about, is really kind of coming into his own again. He's starting to look like the Rod Moore we've become, you know, have become accustomed to over the last couple of seasons. So very great to see him playing well. I mean, just one of, you know, we talk about, he's one of our favorite guys on the team.

I love his story. You know, three-star, under-recruited. Ohio State didn't offer him. A kid out of Ohio and he comes to Michigan. And what has he done? He's going to be, you know, a day two pick, most likely. I mean, he's just a great football player. So, yeah, Makari, I thought, you know, played well,

had the fumble recovery. And then Josh Wallace, I thought, had a really good game as well. So, you know, again, we talked about it. The receivers had five catches. You know, they've got some good tight ends too. And they – I mean, he only completed, what, 10 passes? 10 to 22 for 70 yards, I want to say. So, yeah, the back four really did a great job too.

You know, and Mikey, And Mikey, Mikey was Mikey. He had the one fourth down conversion, but that was a great route by the receiver there on that fourth and sixth that ended up on that drive that led to Penn State's first touchdown. But Quinton Johnson almost had a pick as well. He almost had two picks. The first one where he trapped in the second one was a rifle from Aller that comes off the Titans' hands,

and then it was still smoking hot off of his hands, and Quinton unfortunately couldn't catch it. But, you know, thought it was a good game for him. Keon Saab gets in a little bit. He actually has second highest grade behind Josh Wallace at 72.1. So, overall, a really good day for the secondary. And like you said, they're going to be tested the next two weeks. So, hopefully they're going to be ready to go because this, you know, Maryland is Maryland

and, you know, they just come up with a 13 to 10 win over Nebraska. So maybe not as big of a test as anybody thought heading into the season, but, you know, still a quarterback who's got a lot of talent. And so I think it'll be a good precursor for the Ohio State game, hopefully to get those guys ready to go for that one. Yeah. A bit of a hot take, and I love our secondary, but as much accolades as Mikey has gotten, as much NFL stock as Will Johnston has, Josh Wallace might be our most consistent, most reliable guy back there. I mean, what a find out of the portal.

And amidst that early start of the season where we were all banged up and we're missing guys, he's been just the stable, solid presence back there. And man, that guy is solid. He makes, you know, not only does he grade out really well in coverage, it seems like, I don't know about every game, many games this year, he makes a big run stop, you know, it's 37 and he comes up and tackles them for, you know, just shy of the sticks. I mean, he sticks his nose in there. He's turned into, you know, it's 37, and he comes up and tackles him for, you know, just shy of the sticks. I mean, he sticks his nose in there. He's turned into, you know, seems like a leader on the team too. Like the way guys respond to him out there. I mean, that guy has been such a find in the portal.

I mean, I think, you know, Olu was huge last year, but this year, that guy, him and A.J. Barner, I mean, just Drake, you know, all due respect to Drake Nugent, who's played stellar too. But, you know, man, respect to Drake Nugent, who's played stellar too, but, uh, you know, man, he's been really, really good. I think our secondary start, if you think of the start of the season, it was like, man, we're really good at everywhere. Secondary, you know, we're banged up. Who's going to play CB2, you know, can they get back now? They're all healthy and man headed to these last few games. I feel like there is a good shape and probably as strong as we've been in a few years, and that's saying a lot. Yeah, I feel really, really good about the secondary right now,

and also the fact that they got a lot of guys that had valuable playing time in big moments this year. I mean, you know, you think about a guy like, just for example, Morion Walker, he didn't play against Penn State, but he's gotten some run in some Big Ten games. DJ Waller's gotten a lot of run, right? Jair Hill got some run earlier in the season. Haven't seen him as much lately. I don't know if he's banged up or not, but Keon Saab as well. I mean, you get a lot of young guys, valuable experience, and not only for next year, but also just this season for them to be able to have the opportunities they've had is going to really help in case of some sort of emergency, right? Or just being able to have guys come out for a quick moment to catch a breath.

Having those guys have experience, I think, is going to be extremely beneficial for Michigan down the stretch. So maybe those injuries were your blessing in disguise early on in the season. Yeah, I mean, I think it's a great unit that has a lot of depth and I think ready to handle these last couple of weeks. No, absolutely. So that's the breakdown of the PFF grades. Like I mentioned, I want to talk about efficient because I have a couple of things to say and a question as well. So the, the question I have,

which I find this extremely interesting is that on the interception, we just talked about for Quinton Johnson, that was called an interception on the field, they overturn it. Michael Barrett gets an unsportsmanlike penalty for taking his helmet off on the field, which would have been enforced if Michigan had taken over 15 yards. They enforce it still, even though the interception was overturned, so he gets penalized for celebrating a play that never actually happened yet Penn State

gets 15 yards added on offense I find that really weird I don't know I just find that just I'd never I don't know if I've seen that I'm sure that's a rule I just find that weird that the offense kind of gets bailed out that the turnovers overturned and then you still enforce the 15 yards for the offense like I, I don't know. There's something about that just doesn't sit right with me. Yeah. That and the running into the kicker, you know, that was just a horrible call.

I thought early on, I probably texted you and I was, I'm like, you know what? The big 10 does not want Michigan to win this game. Like let's watch how these roughs call this game. And, you know, early on, it certainly looked that way, you know, the two calls, the two plays we're talking about, but I felt like as the game went on i thought you know when we got into those critical moments every time a tight play would come and i would be looking for flags thinking okay here they go and i didn't see that so as much as i really really thought that was going to be a factor i still think it could be going down the stretch uh you know it's not

something that i typically look for but just under the circumstances and i thought all in all uh you know you mentioned earlier the cj hold that could easily call that absolutely you know and there were a few plays that you know they looked like there was some holding on some of our runs that they could have called so and and holdings missed on every play i felt like so many times they were holding our our defensive linemen and uh you know all in all i I don't think I would complain a whole lot about the officiating. No, the only – yeah, there was just more of a question, not necessarily pertaining to this game, but I just – yeah, I find that weird that you can celebrate a play and, yeah, you get a penalty,

but then that play's overturned, but you still get the penalty added for the offense. I just – I don't know. It just seems like – I don't know. I just feel like you should be rewarded for that for Penn State because that gave them 15 yards. And then they had, I think, one or two more penalties that helped them get down and score eventually, which ended up being just a garbage-time touchdown.

But, yeah, like the Mason Graham getting tackled, that wasn't called. But, yeah, like you said, you can call those. I thought for the most part, you know, better than I expected on that front. I already mentioned the Will P.I. I thought that was pretty weak. I think you could have gone either way on the P.I. on Penn State on the seam throw to the tight end. I don't remember if that was Barner or Loveland.

But, you know, it was overall, you know, pretty fairly officiated, I thought. Just, you know, thought it was interesting on that unsportsmanlike conduct. Switching gears, last topic here, Michigan basketball. Not only are they off to an awesome start, very fun team to watch. Just got a commitment for 2024. Connie Roos out of IMG Academy, number 25 player, according to the 24-7 sports composite, a five-star. Listed as a power forward, he's 6'8", 200.

Seems like he's more of a tweener. Don't know too much about him, but anytime you get a five-star, that's pretty good. Yeah, he's a consensus across, you know, on three has him as the 19th overall player in the country. That's the highest he's ranked. The lowest he's ranked is on rivals as the number 33 player in the country. He's the highest rated Michigan commit since since 2001 so this is the 2004 class so he's higher

ranked recruit than anyone we've had the last three years so that's very exciting news and you know they have a couple of under ranked guys in the class christian anderson is a guy that started as a three star because he's was five seven the last two years, he's grown a few inches. He's just tearing it up for Oak Hill Academy. So, you know, it's a good glass. To your point, how exciting is the basketball team to watch this year? They're coming in with low expectations

and they've looked really, really good. It seems like every guy is kind of taking their game to the next level and it's been really fun. I mean, Doug has been unbelievable. Olivier Camois, is that how you say it? Camois. Monster.

Monster. I mean, he's averaging 22, 23 points a game right now. I mean, he's an older guy, right? So I was listening to I think one of the EMGO blog podcasts, and they were talking about – or maybe it was the EMGO blog round table on WTKA where they do a Sam web, which I listen to all that stuff. But they were, you know, Brian Cook who does Emgo blog was talking about, you know, taking one and dones out of college versus high school players. Right.

So you take a one and done who's played for a really good program, played three or four years for a really strong defensive team. I think that's a great point and it's more impactful than maybe some one-and-dones that come out of high school who are not ready for the physicality, who are not ready for the level of communication required to play defense in college basketball. And I think you're seeing that with this year's team. Their two best scores aren't absolute liabilities on defense like last year, which is very nice. This team plays their tail off. Will Cheddar had a great game the other night against Youngstown State.

It's really fun to watch. And I'm not adjusting my expectations to Final Four, but I certainly think this could be a team that gets to the four or five seed line in the NCAA tournament if they continue to play at this level. You get Jalen Llewellyn back as well to take some pressure off of Doug McDaniel. They're still awaiting the player from Europe. I can't remember his name, but he's coming in potentially at the midway mark after the spring semester starts.

I don't know if his credit's transferred. I can't remember the whole ordeal, but there's another player potentially coming and joining this team. So a lot to be excited about. You know, Juwan Howard's still sidelined. Phil Martelli doing his thing. So I know we're a football podcast, but, man, it's fun. When Michigan basketball is good, it So a lot to be excited about. You know, Juwan Howard's still sideline. Phil Martelli doing his thing. So I know we're a football podcast, but, man, it's fun to – when Michigan basketball is good, it's a lot of fun.

Like, it's a lot of fun to watch. Yeah, and the fact that, you know, kind of coming in this year, they were supposed to not be very good. So when your expectation level is what it was, at least I'll speak for myself, for me, to see them play so well, it's really exciting. I never miss a Michigan basketball game. They're really fun.

But, you know, we'll see. We'll see what lies ahead when they start playing some real opponents. We need Jalen Llewellyn to come back healthy. You know, when you watch as good as Doug played, you need a backup point guard that can give you solid minutes. And George Washington III has played well in spot duty, but he's not ready yet. He's going to be a really nice player for us, but when we get into the stretch of playing Purdue and Michigan State and Illinois and Wisconsin,

we need a competent and solid backup point guard who's hopefully well and can get healthy here quick and play big minutes for them. Yes, and I want to go back to what I was talking about so I don't sound like an idiot because I couldn't remember the guy's name. But it is a player from Argentina, Lee Aliyah. So he is a guy that averaged 17.1 points, nine rebounds, and 2.1 blocks per game at the FIBA U19 World Cup in July. Six foot nine, you know, kind of a four or five.

So maybe some front court help for Michigan coming here in the form of Lee Aaliyah. It'll be nice to have some more depth there because beyond Terrence Reed at the five, pretty stacked at the four. But Terrence Williams has played phenomenal so far this year. I'd love to see him continue. He's gotten a lot of crap from Michigan fans during his career.

And it would be just awesome to see him have a He's gotten a lot of crap from Michigan fans during his career, and it would be just awesome to see him have a great senior season, a guy who's stuck with the program and has been a part of a lot of big games, been a reason Michigan's won some games in the tournament too. So let's not forget that. Hopefully he can continue to have a big year, but man, I'm thinking some help with the five coming once his credits are able to transfer here at the start of the next semester for University of Michigan. That could be a really, really big boost for them heading into, you know, their run in February and March. Yeah, you know, you mentioned we're a football podcast, but man, you know, talking about other sports, I don't know if you saw it or if anyone saw it, but,

you know, when Michigan arrived back in Ann Arbor, they went to Yost, went to the hockey rink, and went to the reception they got for the team in Harbaugh. I mean, it's just special times at the university. And, you know, we didn't talk about everything that's going on with sign stealing and all that, nor are we going to today. But it's just the fact that this university, I feel like it's a tighter group than they've been in a while. Yeah, we're all in, right? We're all in, right? We're all in. From folks like me who I never attended the University of Michigan, but I feel a strong connection just from going to games as a kid

and growing up in Michigan. And alum or not, it feels like everyone's connected, from the non-alum fans to the alums to the regents to the academic side with Santa J. Ono really leading the charge, the athletic side, Ward Manuel having the back of Jim Harbaugh to this team, to all the teams. And that's not just a Michigan thing, but that's the best part about college sports, man, is that continuity from team to team, right?

You know, the athletes at any university are always typically co-mingling and are friendly, and I think that's a really cool part about college sports that is absent from any other type of sport like it. So them coming back, going to Yost, getting the cheer, that was really cool. Yeah, and it's just a special time. I mean, amidst the scandal, while we were recording, the AAP poll came out. Michigan's still at number two,

although we know their college football play rankings are the ones that matter. But that's 27 straight weeks the football team, 27 have been ranked in the top five in the AAP poll. I mean, that's just a special time for the program and hopefully get through all this nonsense off the field, and they keep winning. They do. They do.

So, you know, last game before ohio state i will that's how i'll phrase it uh coming up in on the road against maryland so another opportunity for a business trip um you know kind of uh i think going on the road too sometimes lets you block out the noise because you're just with your guys right you're at the team hotel and yeah you're you're on the road and and yeah hostile environment maryland's going to be probably more than half Michigan fans, let's be honest. So they always travel well to the D.C. area with a lot of alums there. But I still think it's nice for the team to be able to just go on the road, play a team that they should beat by a few scores

and just go and play football and hopefully just have fun, man. They had fun on Saturday, it looked like. I mean, J.J. was so excited coming off the field. And so I think that's a really good setup for them. It's just to kind of be on the road. It's the exact same schedule it was two years ago when they played Ohio State at home. It was at Penn State. It was at Maryland.

Then it was the Buckeyes to finish it out. So same scenario setting up potentially. And yeah, two more regular season games, man. We'll see what happens, but been a joy to cover this team so far. And I can't wait for the next couple of weeks, man. It's sad that it's already almost here, you know, the end of the regular season, but this is the best stretch in football as a fan, just watching all the games. I mean, last yesterday was awesome. There were so many good games on. And, you know, we're getting to the home stretch, which is bittersweet. But the big one coming up on the 25th, man.

I know we're all ready for it. So it's going to be fun. Yeah, no doubt. All right. Well, that's going to do it for us here on Blue by the Numbers. Thank you all so much for checking in. And we will see you next week. Go Blue.

Go Blue.