Blue By Ninety - Blue By The Numbers: Michigan Back on Track?

Episode Date: September 26, 2024

Tanner and Brian break down Michigan's win in their conference opener against USC.

All right, welcome back to Blue by the Numbers. I'm Tanner, joined by Brian. Brian, it is Tuesday, the 24th of September, and Michigan is 1-0 in the Big Ten, man. How was your weekend? How were you? How was the game? How'd you enjoy it? The game was so stressful, so fun. I mentioned to you earlier, I had a house full of college students at the crib and did a little watch party. And so it was, you know, enjoying the game and the stress of the game and stressing about watching my tongue a little bit when that game got tight. It was so fun. I mean, it was so nice to kind of get back on the winning track, beat a top 25 opponent, win a Big Ten game, beat a Blue Blood.

Like, there are so many great things about that game. You know know there's some things that were very frustrating that kind of project the rest the way that are concerning but uh you know that game was as fun as i've had watching a michigan game since the natty for sure yeah that was a really you know hey look that's the first time michigan's beaten a ranked team in eight months you know a long time coming for us um just you know outside the game i thought stripe out looked amazing. It did.

I didn't think they'd pull it off. I was surprised. And it looked good. You know, the sections in the stadium make it look a little bit weird because it's not just like they're just straight sections down to the field. But I thought it looked pretty awesome from the aerial shots. A plus. I had a lot of people that were at the game tell me that it was about as loud

as they've ever heard it, which is awesome. You know, we were at the Texas game, and it was loud in the first couple series, but it was nice that, you know, Michigan fans had a reason to get loud. And I think USC had four false starts, so shout out to the Michigan crowd. I love when they tell us how quiet we are. Yeah. It gets loud, man. Like, what are we talking about here?

You know, it's not Penn State, but it gets pretty loud. mentioned it he's like that's his electrical crowd he's like keep that up you know yeah absolutely man i'm i'm uh i'm gonna be going on on this saturday to the minnesota game so excited to get back in the big house and get after and you know try to do my part to to disrupt the game for minnesota yeah but the you know the nation loves the blue buds uh you know the big 10 goes to CBS at 330 and the audience at CBS was the largest in 10 years for week four uh and the three just means more Brian it just means more so I saw Scott Bell tweet that I stole that but you know that's a very very that's very good yeah yes uh very good comment from from Scott as he always does yeah I honestly though, though, I watched it at a wedding, so I didn't have sound basically the whole time.

Shout out to YouTube TV. If this was 10 years ago, what the hell do I do? Watch it on ESPN Gamecast. But, man, ever since Nestler left ESPN to go to CBS, I don't know when that was, but Nestler is, I think, is one of the best to do it. And so, you know, people have their thoughts on Gary Danielson. I think he's fine. But I just feel like, you know,

Brad Nessler really brings that big game feel. So just, you know, all the pageantry and everything I think is awesome. It's still a little weird hearing the CBS song. So used to that coming from Baton Rouge or Tuscaloosa or Gainesville or Athens, but you know, I think CBS does a really good job. So, you know, I'm glad that the Big Ten has partnered with them. And, you know, we get the premier broadcast group on that 3.30 game. Because, hey, you remember, 3.30 used to be the big kickoff.

Oh, yeah. Right. At least for Michigan. That was the big game. We get Gus and Joel. We get, you know, those guys. I mean, now that Big Ten's everywhere, we get all the big crews. You know, we get some ABC action.

We get some CBS action. We get some CBS action. We get more diversity in our coverage, which is great. Absolutely. So Michigan wins 27-24. Gritty game. Gritty performance. Gritty from both teams, man. I just want to say, because we're obviously going to talk about Michigan in this,

but, man, I have a lot of respect for Miller Moss. That kid was getting his ass kicked, and not through any fault of his own. I mean, that left tackle. Josiah Stewart, we'll get to Josiah. I mean, oh, my gosh, just dominated him. I'd love to see the USC grades from PSF. But that kid stood in there, and they played tough, man. I mean, I thought they were out of it, and they made a run.

But to Michigan's credit, they were able to kind of bow up when they needed to. You know, they were down three it and they made a run, but to Michigan's credit, they were able to, to kind of bow up when they needed to, you know, they were down three and USC had the ball and they got to stop to get the ball back, which led to the eventual go ahead, touchdown. And then they get a stop on fourth down to end the game. So, well, I mean, this is everybody wants to know. I don't know if everyone wants to know from us, but this is what everyone wants to hear about. What did you think of the offense with Alex Orji as its starter?

I mean, it was what I thought. You know, on the pod last week, I said Michigan will win 24-20, 23-20, which is a three-point win. And I said we have to get comfortable with watching ugly and cheering for ugly. And that's what we got. We got kind of what I expected. It's maddening when you know that it's,

you know, when they stay on schedule, it's fine. When it gets like third and seven, third and eight, you're like, what are we going to do? You know what I mean? What are we going to, we got to hope that one of these backs breaks a tackle or yeah. Thrilled with the outcome. It's fun winning bully ball. Like I've been a Michigan fan long enough to appreciate like when we can just line up and tell you we're coming at you you know shades that penn state game last year but i i would like to see some more creativity like as much criticism as you might want to have on you know the wide receivers and the quarterback play like just some creative creativity to get

some guys in space more motion more you know across the middle so he so orgy doesn't have to throw it 30 yards. Throw 10, 15 yards, but have a guy moving so he can turn 8, 10 yards into more. I kind of thought the playbook lacked some creativity. Was it effective? Yes. And I think the more they commit to the run, the better. The offensive linemen will get it gelling, and we've seen improvement week over week over week and there's still some serious issues there but um you know i have questions how sustainable that'll be against a war again against ohio state but you know for now uh

it was fantastic yeah i mean i think i agree that i'd like to see more creativity but there were a couple moments that michigan had something designed really nicely and there was no execution. Right. I think about the play. I saw the clip from the, you know, from the end zone view where Orgy takes it. And if he gives it to Mullings, Mullings might still be running at this point. That would have been a touchdown. There were a few of those. He had Samaj Morgan. I mean, and we'll talk about the receivers, but I think this, this route, and obviously it's got to be more consistent,

and you've got to be able to get him the ball. But Samaj Morgan on the second-to-last drive, it was the third down where Michigan had to punt to USC before they got the ball back to go on that game-winning drive. Samaj Morgan completely just cooks his man and is wide open on the post. There's no deep safety because there's no threat of michigan throwing the ball but like i could make that throw right you could make that throw and so it's it's just for alex it's just you know seeing those those opportunities downfield and taking advantage of them when

they are there um and then you know it was samaj as well on that screen and i think it was in the fourth quarter it's a third and eight it's a tunnel screen he tries to bounce outside if he cuts inside yeah i don't know if you've seen that still i i did i did yeah because he's got alignment coming to block a camera if it was brettison or alignment he's got somebody coming to block he's got nobody deep yeah there's nobody deep he's right he's so it's just you know same thing with the defense it's it's execution and look it's just, you know, same thing with the defense. It's execution. And look, it's college football, and you don't get a preseason. And, you know, you're in game four, and you're just trying to win and make plays.

And so those are things that you would think would get ironed out. But I agree with you. I'd like to see a little bit more creativity with Orji. I just don't know if they've got enough time now. Think about this with Orji. He played about 400%, 500% snaps on saturday than he's played in his career and so that growth curve should be pretty steep when he goes back and be able to watch actual film of game action just kind of see where he missed you know hopefully

sounds like he's a really smart kid um that's going to put in the work so you have to think that there's going to be some significant growth it It's just, does he have, does he have it in him to make some of those plays? And if he doesn't, then it's up to the staff to be creative in ways to utilize what he can do. Yeah. And at some point, I don't know if it's this week, next week, they know they go to the buy, but you think Michigan be able to win these next two games without him. But if Colson Loveland comes back, that's kind of a built-in safety blanket, right? I'm like, Hey,

I can't just fire this over to 18 and he'll make a play 90% of the time. So having Colson back, but at the same time, I thought Marlon Klein had a relatively solid game. I think that was probably good for his growth and might be beneficial to Michigan's goals for the rest of the season with him getting some run and you know what Colson Loveland is. He's a first-round kind of guy.

So yeah, with Orgy um i thought it was very interesting but to your point winning bully ball is a lot of fun and a lot of that was the running backs and i know you know we want to see more colel but i want to give donovan edwards his flowers i know he had the fumble the db just punches it out makes it just a fantastic play i thought both guys were really good obviously mullins was the star of the show, but Donovan had a really nice touchdown run. So was really encouraged by the running backs and their ability to pick up yardage. And especially Colell, I mean, he has the big one to start it off.

And then he's got the touchdown to end it. And in between, I mean, he only had 17 carries. You know, I would love to know the number of carries he had going in that last drive because he might have carried it eight or nine times on the final touchdown drive. I think the staff knows how explosive Edwards is, and they fall in love with the potential of the big play. And he's shown time and time again in so many big games

that when he gets that hole, he's housing the thing, right? But in an offense where we just cannot afford to get behind schedule, you know what I mean Mullings is more of that traditional successful Michigan back whether you know from Mike Hart all the way to Blake Corham where if there's two yards in front of you he's going to find a way to get two and a half three we can't afford for that patient kind of style that puts us in second nine like we need that running back that's going to get us positive yards on just about every carry we can't afford to you know fall behind and so that's where because of us positive yards on just about every carry. We can't afford to, you know, fall behind.

And so that's where, because of that, I think it just has to be Mullings' RB1. And, you know, Sharon kind of alluded to that. I think anyone that watched, you know, can recognize that. He's the guy, man. He's amazing. It's amazing how a guy like him and Hassan Haskins, a guy that comes in, you know, with three or four guys much more highly rated in terms of recruiting rankings with higher expectations.

You know, they both linebackers. Just because they come in as one thing and we have a perception of them as one thing doesn't mean that they're not something entirely different, entirely different, just different. I mean, you take you put high four star recruit on him and take away the linebacker label, and he just looks like a great Big Ten running back. And so that's what he is. He's awesome. Yeah, he was phenomenal. No surprise, highest graded guy, according to PFVAP,

with a 78 rating on Saturday. Probably could have gone higher. Yeah. Probably, you know, I think breaking that tackle to get down close to the red zone with two minutes left might be worth about 10 points. I don't know. The only thing that stopped his grade from being in the mid-80s was he had a horrible pass blocking grade.

So, I didn't notice anything that was glaring, but he has a body. It's tough as a back-to-pass block when you've got three guys. Yeah, right, right. I wonder what that grading does. Receivers, I mean, not super involved. I thought I liked Freddie more on his end arounds. I mean, Samaj, again, he had a couple nice plays. I thought just – we don't talk special teams really but i i think i know he had kind of i don't know if you want to call him muff i'm okay

with that when there's enough space where you if it bounces i mean we've seen jabril peppers do that you see that in the nfl he makes he makes a play i think i thought samaj was uh was solid and um especially in the return game man i feel really comfortable with him back there i feel like he's improved a lot since last season. So even if it's not offensively, he's impacting the game in positive ways because Michigan was winning the field position battle early on and it was a little bit of a back and forth that ended up leading to Mullings' 53-yard touchdown run in the first quarter.

Speaking of Smosh, Smosh had the highest run blocking grade on the team. So, you know, tiny – You got to get in the ball. Yeah. Get in the ball. Get in the ball ball he was wide open on that post route man i mean just just wide open so um you know we'd love to be able to try to connect on a deep shot to samaj i think he's more than just a gadget guy i think he needs to be given real opportunities to play receiver and run routes um and give him something you know easy for for both him and orgy right just get him on a drag route uh get him on an out um you know get make make both those guys have an easier time

connecting was there anybody that stood out aside from samaj uh for you on saturday when it comes to receivers in it you know very limited i would maybe in past or in uh run blocking or well no i mean they're kind of you know it's tough it's tough to grab them, right? It's tough. It's like an incomplete, right? They weren't impactful enough on the game plan. Gotta be tough coming into a school like Michigan and thinking, you know, going from JJ

watching Cornelius and Roman have their kind of success behind JJ and think, okay, now it's my turn. And then to resort to the scheme plan that we have, that's gotta be tough. And so respect to those kids for finding a way to be team guys and do what's best for the team. And, you know, you see all the rest of the way, but yeah, kind of incomplete on the wide receivers.

Yeah. I mean, you just think about the consequences of that, right? Like you want to win, but it's also like, well, now we've got to tell our recruits like, Hey, we are going to look like a functional offense at some point. I'm as concerned about that as many others for the sole reason of, yeah, JJ, light it up. They have Jaden Davis, five-star freshman, incoming freshman Carter Smith, one of the top great quarterbacks in the country. And then right by him, Brady Hart, one of the top grade quarterbacks in the country.

And then right by him, Brady Hart, one of the best high school prospects, you know, that'll come to Michigan in a long, long time. You know, every bit as highly rated as JJ. And so you just point to recruits in that fashion. Like, listen, we kind of got in a pickle between JJ and Jaden Davis, and we have this situation where we're on, but by the time you get here, we're going to be humming with quarterbacks for the next seven, eight years. So I'm not as concerned about that. i know i'm sure our rival you know

coaches will be pointing that out you know our wide receivers aren't doing anything but you know a decent recruiter can kind of point to it what's what lies ahead no absolutely uh tight end so i mentioned it earlier no colson loveland marlon klein is your starting tight end he did have a catch uh try to hurdle three guys. Brad was for Mullins' long run in the fourth quarter. But I thought, you know, he had some good moments in the run game, blocking. Max Bredesen, I think, criminally underrated in his grading. I thought he was Max Bredesen, right?

That guy did his thing. I was impressed with zach marshall he was in there on the last uh last offensive play for michigan that was the touchdown to take the lead um i've never seen a fan base complain about a guy holding when he has a full club wrap on his hand an enormous club um not sure if anyone's ever trying to play football with that, but you can't grab anything. Right. But I thought, you know, he was a guy that, you know, redshirt freshman, he's going to take some time to bake,

but he's a guy I thought impressed from what I was able to see from him. Yeah, it shows you that you can't, you know, he played kind of a wide open offense out west and was kind of an undersized guy for a Michigan tight end coming in and was the lower-rated, you know, we had Deacon Toninoli coming in with him and just a lot of highly-rated tight ends coming around. He's a guy that, you know, you've got to give respect to the staff for seeing what they saw in him and seeing his work ethic and talent

to put on the weight and kind of contribute because, you know, he's there when other people, you know, higher rated on the team are not. So, yeah, a big fan of that guy. And seems like a really likable guy. Like if you're watching the Michigan football socials and his own social, he's like a – he's a fun-loving guy. And it seems like he's great for the team. So, yeah, he looks great.

You know, limited action, 13 snaps, but looks really good. Yeah, and then Hogan Hanson gets a run. And Jalen Hoffman got a couple snaps who they kind of look at him as the next h pack uh although i hope max uh max is a friend of the program and max if you ever listen to us which i don't recommend because you've got more important things to worry about come back next year come back for a fifth year we appreciate it um yeah tight ends you know again similar to the receivers but in the run game I thought they were exceptional. And a lot of that's because of Max Bredesen.

And, again, I thought Marlon Klein was very solid. Very solid. He was the in-line tight end. And I think you bring Colson back, dude. I mean, if Zach Marshall continues to develop, you feel good about that, I think you maybe just have Marlon Klein most of the time be your in-line tight end and then just play Colson Loveland out in the slot or outside and just move him around the formation and the offense to get him to ball in different ways

and let him maybe manipulate the defense in different ways. That may be something that they can look at when Colson is healthy. I think they're going to have to. Plus, would you rather have him or C.J. Charleston blocking a line? Right. You know what I mean? When you do run. So I think they're going have to plus he gives you i mean would you rather have him or cj charleston blocking a line right you know i mean if you do run so i think they're gonna have to look at that i'm sure instead of motioning bready out let's just motion colson out wide right like that's that's where i'm at with this so um we talked about this pre-show offensive line pass pro not great but interesting to see some of the grades considering Michigan did run for 290 yards against a mostly stacked box. Typically, you had nine or ten guys within ten yards of the line of scrimmage,

and I thought they handled that very well in the run game, and even the run game grading from PFF was not overly complimentary of the Michigan offensive line. And Miles Sitton had the highest run grade for Michigan. I thought he was phenomenal. I thought Preet was really good. I thought Evan Link in the run game was a lot better. Past pro issues are still there.

Was there anybody that stood out to you? And, again, I want to mention this. Jadice and Crippen, not 50-50, but they do split a lot of snaps in this game. Crippen does grade out about 17 points higher than Jadis. I would be curious what Michigan's internal grading looks like when those staffers are reviewing the film on Saturday night and the Sunday morning. But would love to know what your thoughts were on the O-line.

I thought run game, pretty damn good. Pass pro, maybe not so much. I feel like, you know, know as much think of how fast that game is going particularly when you pass for orgy right like just doesn't have that many opportunities so you know i always talk about the game slowing down for guys that game had to be going 100 miles an hour for him and uh it when he's when the pass pro has been as weak as it's been it's going even faster like i can't remember really any time where he got to set his feet and make a decision where he throw it you know he was on the he was on the run all the time so you know they got to clean

that up to you know help the game slow down for orgy i thought the line at times looked really good there were times where you know you'd watch the replay and it was just weird turn style you know and the plays were there had just one guy made a block and um you know again i mentioned earlier we got to stay on schedule and so when a guy totally misses a block, we get tackled for a two yard loss. That's brutal. So they just got to clean it up. I mean, I think, you know, whether it's getting Crippen in there, I can't believe Evan Link's our best option. Like, I know that, you know, they'll get better and they're getting good coaching.

But, gosh, you know, all the great talent we've been to have a tackle starting in michigan and playing this many stops struggling as much as he does is definitely frustrating yeah there's no way there's no way to hide it like you know i like to be the positive guy as much as possible but like that's that's a glaring issue that um yeah i wish we didn't have yeah i mean we've seen guys make big leaps in season before you think about about John Runyon Jr. Great example. Was basically Evan Link right now. Now it's gone on a little longer than it went on for Runyon.

And Runyon is still in the NFL. I believe he's a starting guard for the New York Giants at this point. Very funny that he's playing for the Giants as an Eagle. But you'd like to start to see some progress. You'd like to start to see some light bulb clicking for Link in pass pro. Because, again, I thought in the run game, I thought he had some moments. I was like, okay, I kind of see what they're talking about. I kind of see what they see out of him. I got to see it in the pass pro too.

Got to see it in the passing game because, I mean, Michigan's not going to throw for 200 yards, let alone three. But I need to see like 125 right 100 triple digits And part of that's going to be For orgy's sake a clean pocket Right because we know But not everybody can make throws on the

Run in the way that JJ McCarthy did last season For Michigan that's a that's a Very developed skill so I don't know Alex orgy's got that in his repertoire So but hey You grind out 27 points That's a very developed skill. I don't know if Alex Orji's got that in his repertoire. But, hey, you grind out 27 points. 27 points. A little help from the defense, though.

But you score three rushing touchdowns, and when you had to have it, you got it. That's been Michigan's M.O. the last four seasons. When you need it in the run game, you're able to get it, and they continue that on Saturday. So I'll give the offense a B-plus, man, honestly. That's fair, Greg. You know, pass game, whatever.

It's 1947. Who cares? Who cares, man? Let's talk about something more fun. Let's talk about the defense. Let's go. Mason Graham, best game of the year. Dominant against his home state, USC Trojans.

Just all over the place. Kenneth, Grant, let's not try to stiff arm. Let's corral the ball. Let's get an arm around it, two arms around it. Maybe try to truck the guy instead of stiff arming him. But hell of a play to pick it up. Go down with the ball but he was yeah yeah rationshaw benny had a really strong game um that drop off is not that steep i don't think he's just not as big as those guys but he's he's a ball player man and i think he's been coming on every every year he's gotten better

at michigan so and then ike you know i i don't remember seeing, I remember seeing him, but I don't remember too much of an impact. But he's a warm body. The fact that you didn't see an impact means that you didn't see the drop off, right? Like, you know what I mean? Like, I can't remember a play that he made either, but I also don't remember a play that I thought like, oh, I wish, you know, your grammar in there. So I think that says a lot about him. You know, as it comes to the Grant fumble, I don't blame him. If you watch that replay, if somehow he holds in that ball,

that guy falls down, there's nobody else there. I know. I was thinking, I was like, he's going to house this thing, man. We all wanted it. So, I mean, big man touchdowns are fantastic. And so I'm not going to, you know, he's not used to carrying the ball. I don't think they're doing the rip drill with the defensive tackles much in practice.

So, you know what I mean? It was like, yeah, awareness, go down. But, like, he's a big guy. He knows he has speed. Like, that's his chance. And, you know, do I love the outcome? No, but I'm not going to hate on him. Yeah, I thought him and Graham, you know, we've talked a bunch the last few weeks.

Those guys really haven't had that performance that we expected on a week-on-week-on-week-on-basis this year. Excuse me. They were awesome. They were dominant. They were everything. They were built to be. They were just a force. And, you know, they welcomed the Big Ten USC because those two

and Mr. Stewart were just a menace. Well, before we get to defensive ends, I just want to ask if you noticed on the last play of the game when Miller Moss throws it and it's short of the sticks, you know who's celebrating more than anybody on the field? Big number 78. And I think that's probably because now we can laugh at it. You know, because that was a moment where I was like, oh, no.

This is a typical back to pre-2021 Michigan where Michigan loses a game that they were in full control of. That's how I felt. I'm sure a lot of us felt that way. But they get the job done thanks in part to Josiah Stewart who had – what did he have? Four tackles, three from loss, two sacks, a forced fumble, like five quarterback hurries, a couple quarterback hits.

Zero was – let me just say this too. I don't think – I i you know look you could put zero on will johnson you put zero on on 55 but i think you know very well deserved uh for for the new number zero with a josiah stewart i mean he's just made such a leap um from last year where he was really good but i tweeted this he's playing like a first rounder and he may not have the measurables they may say he's too short they may say his arms aren't long enough i've heard that about guys before but this guy it was a wrecking crew on saturday super impressive big 10 defensive player of the week chuck bednarik award winner for the week like right it wasn't just michigan fans noticed big 10 media uh the

bednarik award um folks they you know they noticed he they noticed. As it stands right now, Josiah Stewart is the highest-graded PFF player in the country. So as far as PFF is concerned, Josiah Stewart has played the best football of anyone in this nation. Wasn't he the highest-graded player his freshman year at Coastal Carolina too? He might have been. He had crazy grades for sure. Yeah, he had like 15-plus sacks as a freshman.

Then he fell off a little bit. Comes to Michigan last year, and now, I mean, just all over the field. I thought – I mean, the Fresno State game, I thought he was all over the place. The Texas game, I know Michigan gets blown out, but I thought he was maybe their best player on defense during that game. Yeah, just a stud. Just so excited. That's why i love college

football because it's like these guys aren't finished products right like so you see them grow and develop and and you know mature and i think you're starting to see him coming to his own and you know maybe i'm being a little bullish with the first round pick tweets but definitely day two pick right for sure i mean if he's there in the second round you take a shot you take a chance with him um derrick moore was was very highly graded as well he was great i don't remember any necessarily standout moments but i know he got some pressures i thought uh he was very very sound um he had a couple one-armed tackles like in space where if you had the guys going seven eight more yards i mean you know one thing about that game is I've watched it, I think, like three times now in pieces,

not that big of a degeneration to watch the game three times, but just in different, you know, segments. And it's amazing in that game on the defensive side of the ball how many times we were so close to wreaking havoc for seven, eight-yard passes. And as you mentioned, Miller Moss was great. His receivers were studs. I mean, how many times he was about to get crushed. He throws a ball, and the receiver either throws a great pass

or his receiver makes a great play. But, you know, we were so close to that game being a really bad blowout. But, you know, shout out to them. You know, them being USC, making some really stellar plays, and Miller Moss, stud, warrior. Tons of respect for him. That, no,

I said that in the beginning, man, that kid, that kid stuff linebackers. I mean, you know, some missed tackles here and there. But I,

I feel like Hausman had a, had a solid game. You know, his grade is only a 60, 30. But I thought, you know, he's better.

Well, that houseman played great. I thought he might have played his best game as a Wolverine. I thought he was really solid all around. Yeah, I remember hearing his name a lot. He gets dinged because I don't think, you know, like in the full toolkit of what a linebacker does, he's not really a pass rush guy. And when you look at the PFF grades on a week-on-weekend basis,

I can't say that today. Week by week? Week by week week by week thank you gosh english is a tough language it is you know uh he always gets dinged in the pass rush like it's just not something he's done but he's tackling grade great his run defense great he just you know he gets dinged there and i don't think the scheme really calls for him to be effective in the pass rush per se so i thought thought he had his best game as a pro. I thought he was, you know, right there in a lot of those cases, you know, some of those instances where, you know, we were super close with him. I do feel like in this scheme, he does get put in some tough spots.

Like he's out in coverage on some skilled players, and you're thinking, why is he the closest defender to number eight? You know what I mean? What's going on right now? But I thought he played his best game as a Wolverine. No, absolutely. Well, let's just talk about another fun group here. I mentioned before just a little bit ago that typically guys are not at their

potential or not the finished product. I think Will Johnson might be as close to a finished product as you can get. He's still good. In the college game, I mean, he's quick. He's athletic. He's smart. He's rangy. He's long.

The kid is just – He's tough as hell. He's got the lineage. I mean, he comes up in the run support. But that pick six. I mean, you saw – like, you know, when I was at the wedding watching it, the best man at my wedding was also at the wedding, my best friend. And he's like, hey, have they started at Will Johnson lately?

And I was like, I don't think so. And the next play, kid you not, the next play, he baits him. And it was just like the Minnesota game last year that everyone cried about signs. And it was not the same route, but it was a cover two look. And the moment Will saw him wind up, he just steps right in front of him and takes it for six.

And that was massive because you could feel the momentum slipping away from Michigan. And it really, you know, USC does end up taking the lead, but it delayed that for a little while and allowed Michigan to regroup and get some momentum and get the crowd back into it. It was such an important moment in this game that you're just very, very happy, very glad glad very lucky that you have Will Johnson on your team because that was an NFL play yeah he was I mean he's him you know

I mean CB1 uh he it's great when you have players too that come in with a lot of hype you know Don Venable gets the cover of a video game it hasn't really lived up to that you know you hate to see that happen but it's nice to see a guy you you know, Will Johnson, I think is the highest rated guy in that game in terms of, you know, the player grades. And he's looked that part the whole season. I mean, he's got to be a top five pick most likely. I'm assuming he'll test like crazy. And, you know, as long as that guy stays healthy, he's going to be –

he's fun to watch. We're lucky to have him. Yeah, I think he's going to be an all-pro in the NFL. You know, I think his immediate impact, not the same player,. I think his immediate impact, although I'm the same player, but I think his immediate impact is going to be like another Detroit guy, Sauce Gardner, right, where he steps in day one. He's one of the best corners in the NFL. I mean, that's the type of guy that he is.

It also should shut down any conversation about who the best quarterback in the country is. And here's the thing, too. Will Johnson, you'll'll notice he tries to bait plays right like if he wanted to just lock up man up and just not allow any past completions he could probably do that you know he maybe give up one here or there but no he's trying to make big plays and i i take the you know the risk taking from will johnson and getting seven points and it's a 14 point swing potentially versus just locking a guy up, right?

Like, yeah, you may give up some plays, but you're trying to bait the quarterback and get the ball back for your team. I take that all day long. So, yeah, that should shut down any conversation about who the best corner in the country is because I've heard some people talk about Travis Hunter. Travis Hunter is a phenomenal athlete, great football player, not even close when it comes to the NFL. I'm sorry.

He's a great receiver. He should focus on receivers. He should play receiver in the NFL. Not even close because Will Johnson, there's nobody close to him in the country in my opinion. Morrison at Notre Dame is pretty solid, but, yeah, I think. I'm being a little hyperbolic here, but I want to emphasize my point. Will Johnson is my favorite.

I'm on team Will for sure. I'm with you. Michigan CB2, Jair Hill flashed. There were some moments where, like, Jair, what are we doing? But there were some moments where we're like, no, I see why he locked this job down pretty early. And he made some big-time plays, not just some pass breakups. He came down on that tight end and was able to get a nice tackle.

I hope that tight end is okay. Unfortunately, as somebody who's like 6', like Jairos Jair Hill is, you kind of got to go low and make that tackle, but man, he was all over the field. He had multiple pass breakups. Um, you know, the one, the last touchdown, and we'll talk about the other guy involved in this play. Um, I think both were a little bit of fault. I thought, um, Jair maybe should have got a little bit more deep on that. Um, I saw Brian from M go blog, talk about it, where a mere holes on the other side of the field getting very deep uh with that receiver with you know third and 16 so you know and then and then

makari doesn't come over looks like you could either picked it off or with the receiver up to to break it up but other than that i thought johnny hill grew up and you you see why he was rated so highly as a recruit you see why he won the job so early. You see why the coaches are so excited about him. You know, you talked earlier about, like, you're hoping to see that light go on. You know, I said about Ernest Housman. He'll have his best game by far.

He's the highest graded defensive back in the Big Ten this week. But you saw the traits, right, on that long run late in the game. He's the guy that ran him down. Quentin Johnson misses the tackle. Amir hall can't catch the guy and hill comes from the other side of the field and runs that down uh it shows you you know there's a lot of guys that you want to ascend to the top of the depth chart because you can't replace physical traits right speed size strength and you see why it's good for us long term even though we've had some kind of bumpy spots along the way he's fast he's strong like he hits guys he's fast and so when you see the skill

and athletic traits come together with kind of the game slowing down for him yeah i was i'm pretty excited about him like and i think our whole fan base has been pretty down on him early but you see why this is where you know you you trust the coaching staff at times over all the time over the guy on the couch with a clicker right like you know they saw something they saw the traits new like hey there's gonna be some bumps along the way but this is a guy if if it all goes right can turn into a star and that's happening and so let's hope that the ascension continues because i'm excited there. Yeah, I agree. Now, of course, I'm not so positive.

I thought Macari Page was maybe one of his worst games as a Michigan player, unfortunately. Love Macari. He's a captain and he's made a lot of big plays for Michigan over the years. But, you know, just not his best game. And maybe that's a product of playing a team with such good receivers. But, hey, newsflash, there's some teams in this conference that have really good receivers that Michigan is going to need

Makari Page to play a lot better. Yeah. Yeah, I think he had his – I mean, the way he graded out, you know, the high test, he definitely has – and I'm a big Makari fan. Yeah, I love Makari. He did not have a good game. I mean, there's no other way around it. He was out of place.

He missed tackles. He just did not have a great game. And luckily, they won the game and he moves past it. So, you know, if you're him and you look in the mirror and you watch the tape, you say, you know, I didn't have my best game, but it didn't cost the team a win. So just clean things up, get better, you know, keep your chin up, chest out, and let's go on to next week and be the leader that he is. So, you know, I'll chalk it up as he had a bad game.

I think, yeah, I think, you know, Quentin Johnson had a pretty solid game. I think Zeke Berry has his moments. I mean, I think he's still, you know, it's funny Zeke Berry started off ahead of Jair Hill early in the season. He looked more ready game one, but that seems to have switched. Like this game seems to be slowing down at a quicker rate for Jair Hill than it is for Zeke Berry.

I'm excited about those two. What's exciting about that group is they're so athletic and so fast. As athletic and fast as any combo of guys we've had in a while. So if that all comes together at the right time, you know, the Oregon game, the Ohio State game, that's going to be a pretty potent group back there. No, absolutely. I thought Brandon Hillman played well also.

I liked what I saw. Yeah, another second-year guy like Hill. You know, Barry's in his third year, but a young group. And you lose Mike Saver still. Saw Mikey make some plays last night. They tried to run a screen against him. I mean, just he blew it up. You know, also, he got toasted by Jamar Chase.

What are we doing? Washington. He's not an outside corner. What about a slot guy? You know, don't let him get beat deep like that. But I digress. Yeah, I thought, you know, one thing I want to point out I thought was interesting. You know, they bring in Wesley Walker from Tennessee who's played a lot of football.

Right? And he's a guy that's got a lot of experience it's like all right this guy's probably gonna play a lot and this is not necessarily this isn't a shot or anything but i think it's a good sign that a lot of these younger guys are getting he only had eight snaps i think it's a really good sign that um one of these younger guys are playing i think you know they probably went in the portal like you know break in case of emergency and when rod Rod went out, I was like, all right, well, we got to go find some guys. I think it's a good sign that a lot of these younger guys are playing and are flashing potential. I like the Brandon Hillman's always around the ball. He's always hitting.

He almost had an interception on Saturday. Like I like these young guys getting some reps, man, because, because Michigan's going to need them at some point later on down the road, this season, next season, whatever it is. So for them to get reps in meaningful big games right now, that's huge. And for them to, you know, hold up, that's a really good sign. So I'm really excited about the future of this defense, starting to see some of these guys, you know, get us excited again, man.

Yeah, absolutely. Rough couple weeks there. We were kind of down, and it's nice to be excited. And maybe it's misguided. I don't know. But I just felt like, yeah, it was ugly. Yeah, it wasn't pretty. Yeah, there was some coverage busts.

You know, Zeke blitzing on the zero blitz, and there's nobody there. I don't know what happened there. But it was just, you know, it was nice to see. It felt like they were just flying to the ball. They had their swagger back. They were excited. There was energy that I haven't seen all season. Yeah.

And you know, one thing that, as you know, I'm a big Sharon Moore fan, the Dennis Dodd national coach of the week this week, shout out coach. You know, we, we don't know, you know, what type of legacy he's going to leave and what he's going to do, what his imprint on this team long term is going to be. But, you know, he's pretty stoic there. You know, I mean, you watch a lot of first year coaches and kind of losing their cool and losing, you know, their kind of composure. He kind of seemed locked in the whole time, you know. And again, that's not me saying I think he's, you know, new rock

here or anything like that yet. But he does seem to kind of control himself and seems to be kind of locked in in a good way the entire time. And so I think that's positive in terms of keeping a team together that's kind of really struggling to find an identity. You know, and I think we're seeing that identity kind of reveal itself. And, you know, if we can clean up that offensive line and clean up some of those defensive back stuff. I mean, you know, we have a lot of makings for a powerful team. Whether it's good enough against well-rounded, really talented teams down the road, we'll see. No, absolutely, man. I mean, hey, look, we're through the first third of the season.

We're almost through September. Shout-out to the Detroit Tigers. Their magic number is five after today. Shout-out to Tarek Skubal. Eight and two in the last ten. T tied for the best record over the last 10 um just want to give a shout out to the tigers man because we haven't had a chance to really root for the tigers like that in a long time and have meaningful baseball games in september leading in october and that's when football gets really fun too right so this i mean this next stretch next month, is my favorite time of year for sports.

It's unbelievable. So excited to see Michigan against Minnesota. You know, the last of five straight home games to start the year. Always interesting. And then they go on the road to Washington, and we'll talk about the Minnesota game next week. Tanner, can we just do one shout-out? Yeah, let's do it.

One guy that we've both been like scratch our heads on the first few weeks i know he's gonna say yeah is he was phenomenal big 10 special teams player of the week tommy doman he dropped some bombs it was money you need to we need to feel good i mean again when you have guys you know when you have the quarterback situation you need other guys to step up and make plays and a guy that's kind of been disappointing the last even the back part of last year and the first two games this year has kind of been like where's his leg been he was it i mean he was the big 10 special teams player of the week for how well he played so shout out tommy because uh when we needed you most you came through thank you absolutely the field position was huge um michigan won the field position game for sure

yeah and that was a big reason was the defense and was Tommy Dillman. So you can win a lot of football games doing that. You know, you can lose a lot of football games if you don't have that. Yeah. So, hey, 1-0 in the Big Ten, 3-1. Have a chance to go to 4-1 on Saturday. Big noon kickoff. You got to think the slate's pretty stale.

Michigan-Minnesota is the big noon kickoff. No offense to Minnesota, but, you know, they just got to beat my 17 by Iowa. So, hey, it's nice toale. Michigan, Minnesota is the big noon kickoff. No offense to Minnesota, but they just got beat by 17 by Iowa. Hey, it's nice to get a win. Nice to get a win in a big game. It's been a while for us. Like I said, Bryce, we're about eight months. I was fiending a little bit for a ranked win. Finally got one. We appreciate you guys so much for tuning in. You can follow us on Twitter at Blue by 90. Check out our podcast, YouTube, Apple, Spotify. Go to the website, blueby90.com.

We certainly appreciate you, and go blue. Yep, bring on the jug, baby.