Blue By Ninety - Blue By the Numbers: Michigan looks DOMINANT in Lincoln

Episode Date: October 4, 2023

Tanner and Brian break down Michigan's impressive 45-7 victory over Nebraska in the Maize and Blue's first road game of the season.

All right, and welcome back to Blue by the Numbers. I'm Tanner Wooten, joined by my co-host, Brian Bouton, as always. Brian, how are you? I am doing awesome. 5-0 feels good. It sure does, man, especially when you go on the road. Hostile environment. Granted, it wasn't hostile after about 10 minutes of real time, but for those few moments that it was hostile, it was loud.

I mean, that place, they get loud. I was there on the visiting sideline. I was row 18 on the 45-yard line behind the Michigan bench. Incredible seats. Yeah, I had a really good hookup from a friend of mine that was able to let myself, my wife, and two of my other friends, a couple of ours, a friend of ours that are a couple, be able to go and enjoy the game. And yeah, pretty dominant in person. This is the best this team has looked. But yeah, it was a great trip, man. Great to get out there. I know you went out West as well. Yeah, I was in Colorado. I was really hoping that the

USC Colorado game would have been at a later time. So I was out there for a golf event. So I was playing golf in the morning and I was hoping for a night game so we could go primetime so I could see primetime. And ironically enough, staying in my hotel room Saturday morning, I go to get on the elevator at like seven in the morning and get on the elevator. And there's Deion Sanders in the elevator with me, him and some massive human being, I'm assuming it's his bodyguard. And we had a really brief conversation because he clearly

wasn't in the mood to chat, but I said, hi, and good luck. And that was basically it. He was nice. He smiled, but he made it pretty clear. He wasn't in the mood to chat at seven in the morning. So, but still, I, you know, I was hoping to see the team play and I got to meet the man himself. So that was very cool. No, you texted me that on Saturday I was a couple beers deep at our live show that we did with the no block no rock guys from Nebraska definitely check them out for the Nebraska perspective on things but I had had a few beverages and I had to read that message twice I was like met Dion coach prime which is funny because I'm such a football nerd I love the history of football like I think of Dion Sanders sanders i don't think of coach prom i think of the greatest corner in nfl history even though it was before my time like seeing his highlights i mean all the quotes you know i i mean

hell remember him on nfl network is just an analyst so it's been interesting to kind of see his career evolve um and you know i mean it's almost like the taylor swift stuff with the nfl it's like at some point You just get tired of hearing about the same Content over and over again But I really do like Deion I don't think they are I think the last two weeks Has kind of shown that hey they're not there yet

There's a lot of hype about them in the First three weeks of the season but I think he's going to do a really good job And we'll see what their recruiting class is not the Best at the moment in 2024 But you know they're going to hit the portal hard get that louis luggage that he loves to talk about um but i want to speak of some some louis luggage man you know i know you always start with the offense and we can certainly do that but i really wanted to give a shout out to josiah

stewart transfer coming in had his best game two sacks was a monster out there and was really uh ernest houston played well A lot of those guys, AJ Barner. So you talk about, you know, the Louis Vuitton luggage, like Michigan's got some transfer guys coming in, playing some damn good football right now.

Oh, absolutely. Josiah Stewart was the co big 10 defensive player of the week. It's the first time this season we've had someone win one of those awards. So yeah, he led the team, he had two sacks and led the team in tackles. I mean,

just a great game by him. Yeah, man. And I thought there was a lot of guys that played their best game of the season so far. It's week five, very early, although it's not. I mean, we're, you know, this time, what, this, here in a few days, they'll be getting ready to play their sixth game of the season. It's halfway mark of the regular season.

I mean, you wait all year, and it goes so quick. And so try to cherish all these football games. I've been very fortunate to have gone to every single game. That run stops for me Saturday, Brian. I got a wedding in Maine. Not complaining though, Maine in October, lobster roll, find into Boston, going to be a beautiful weekend. But I'll have to figure out a way to sneak in the Minnesota game somewhere on my phone. If there's Wi-Fi, we'll figure that out. But, yeah, I mean, you know, week five, it's in the books, and I just thought Michigan looked – it really kind of instilled

even more confidence in me that this team is who we think they are. Again, Nebraska, we've talked about it. It feels like ad nauseum on different shows that we've done and that I've been a part of and Michigan's schedule. But the things that they're doing, regardless of opponent, I mean, if you put this schedule in front of a lot of other teams, they're not this dominant. They're not this impressive. They're not making it look this easy. I think Michigan is primed and they are playing some of their best football right now. And so hopefully they can keep that momentum going. But this is one of the most dominant performances.

Obviously, you know, there were some games last year that were really impressive. But just from a – just flat out, just beginning to end, I mean, no real concerns of mine. There was a couple things in the secondary in this game. But otherwise, I mean, the O-line looked fantastic. Felt like with Henderson at left tackle, Barnhart at right tackle. I mean, Henderson's pulling out, helping Blake pick up a couple extra yards on a few different plays. And, man, they're just playing some really good football right now.

Yeah, it's funny, you know, your comment about being solid and dominant. When you slow things down, and I try to watch each position group when I rewatch it, and, you know, you start to see some things and some tendencies. And the first thing that you said is some hiccups in the defensive backfield. I would say that was a unit that going into the year we thought was going to be one of our strengths. And I would agree. To date, it hasn't been that impressive of a unit. I mean, I know they've been really banged up, but, you know, that unit has not lived up to the preseason billing.

And I think if you're an opposing team looking at us down the road, that's scary because the team has been dominant, like you said, in our defensive backfield, one of the strengths, one of the stronger units in the country, allegedly, and they haven't hit their stride. The other thing you notice when you kind of slow things down and watch it position by position is you see, particularly defensively, they're not showing a whole lot. You know, we've talked the last few weeks about the linebacking core not doing much. You know what? I don't think that other than Michael Barrett one or two times last week,

I don't think this past week they sent those guys at all. You know, so they're kind of letting those guys drop. They're playing a ton of zone, which is kind of new. And, you know, they're just asking those guys to fill space in the secondary. And, you know, that's going to change. You know what I mean? You know, when we get into cover, they're going to bring those guys. Oh, absolutely.

And I think to your point, too, the concerns about the secondary at the moment are, you know, Rod Moore's rusty. And Will Johnson might be rusty, too. I mean, you know, he hasn't played a ton of snaps this year. So I have a strong feeling that these guys are going to get right. If you need to get right game, play in Minnesota and this passing attack, maybe the one of them, selling Nebraska, had a great passing offense. But I do think that these guys are going to continue to work in and hopefully work through some of those injuries and shake off that rust because, you know, Will Johnson is a true freshman and it's different than what it this year versus

last year where this year he's coming in as an All-American. Last year, you know, a freshman All-American probably. But, you know, it took him some time to kind of get established and become the man-to-man monster that he was in 2022. You couple in an injury with that this year. I just have a feeling these guys are going to get back to playing some really good football. So, yeah, I mean, you know, kind of switching gears,

we'll talk about the offense. J.J., extremely efficient again. Made some, you know, awesome throws. The throw – the second touchdown to Roman on the run to his left, that came right towards our sideline, and it was a bullet. I mean, and that had – I can't remember exactly because I've watched the game a couple times. That had to have been about a 40, 45-yard throw

because he threw it towards the back of the end zone. It was on the money. That kid's just playing really good football right now. Yeah, I mean, he leads the nation in total QBR. He's fifth in quarterback rating and sixth in PFF grade. I mean, no matter how you look at it, he's unequivocally playing elite football. And I just think he's really evolved. He's playing so solidly.

One thing I was interesting is here's a question, and I bet you you'll be surprised about. This year, run to pass when JJ's in the game, 46% of our plays are pass plays. 46% of our plays this year with JJ are pass plays, 46%. What do you think it was all of last year with jj trick question trivia time probably 35 percent pass that's what i would guess i i would have guessed the about the exact same number it was 45 wow okay right so the percentage of the

plays the same right the the play calling similar execution not similar right 55 last year 48 percent of our yardage when jj was in the game were passing plays 55 this year so i mean he's being it's it seems like it's a lot more because it's been a lot more effective well and i mean i think the crazy thing to me brian is when you look at some of the throws he's completing, there's so many dig routes, and those are not the easiest throws in the world. You've got to find it between the zones and put it on a rope. I mean, hell, the flea flicker, the safety takes away Roman deep, so he just throws it under. I can't remember if it was Johnson or Clemens that caught that one, but he just waits in the pocket.

The dig comes open. He just fires it in there. It's not like he's just dumping things off and letting his receivers go, although it was nice to see Cornelius Johnson kind of had a drag route that he picked up a first down on on like second and 13 in this game. But J.J. is making some more, I would say, intermediate throws that are not necessarily easy, and he's making it look easy. He's running the ball very effectively. I mean, decides to run he's been decisive i mean he's he's made really good decisions there he's playing at elite level i mean that's that's i think you

know looking at this team last year and even the year before i think the quarterback position play is just lights lights out better than it was the last two years i mean he's a difference instead of having a you know a quote-unquote game manager back there and someone they're afraid to open the playbook for you have a guy back there that's playing that clearly has a ton of confidence from every play caller all the way up to coach arbaugh and you know the playbook i love all the wrinkles the playoff you know they go in the playbook rather you know they go the shuttle pass to barner that was such a cool play and then the very next, in the playbook rather. They go the shuttle pass to Barner. That was such a cool play.

And then the very next play was the flea flicker. I mean, they're just keeping people guessing, and it's a fun team to watch. It is, and I think the most impressive thing, and you know this team has it in them because last year they were very explosive. This year they haven't had as many explosive plays, but they're just moving it so efficiently down the field I mean that first drive again when that environment was pretty hostile they come out first play quick four yard out to Donovan Edwards and then from there they're just

picking up five six yards a chunk until JJ finds Roman for just a ridiculous catch I saw that happen because again I mean I'm right there I'm watching the end zone as J.J. is scrambling because he likes – he does a great job of keeping his eyes downfield and knowing when to throw it and knowing when to run it like he did on his touchdown later. But I see Roman, and I'm like, oh, he's going to be open. But then J.J. kind of floats it. I'm like, oh, I'm not a quarterback, but if I was playing Madden,

I may have held that button down, rifled in there with a bullet. But he lets his guy go make a play to his credit, man. That DB had his back turn. JJ knew he wasn't going to turn around. I've seen some people say, oh, it was a risky throw. Oh, you let your guys go make a play. You let number one be number one. And so I think that's going to be something that you'll continue to see from him,

maybe being a little bit more risky. And sometimes interceptions will come with that. But outside that Bowling Green game where he's just kind of struggling a little bit more risky. And sometimes interceptions will come with that. But outside that Bowling Green game where he's just kind of struggling a little bit, he's been really smart about picking and choosing his spots of when to let his guys go make a play. And that was just an example of it. But he's playing fantastic football. He's a great leader.

He's a great kid. He runs for the touchdown, and he thanks his offensive lineman, eats the corn, which is hilarious. I love having that in my GIF database for my Nebraska boys and my wife. Oh, I got it. Yeah. So, you know, J.J. had a great game. He grades out at an 80.

I thought the rest of the quarterbacks, pretty solid. You know, Denigle has a touchdown. Tuttle, I think Tuttle, if God forbid anything were to happen, I still think Tuttle would be, you know, fine. I don't know if the offense would be as explosive, but I feel much better about where it's at, watching him play a little bit more extensively than we – I don't know about you, but than we did earlier on in the season.

Yeah, I agree wholeheartedly. Tuttle looks solid. I think he's back to what we had at the start of 2021, early Kate, like game manager, and we've proven we can win with that. I mean, obviously the ceiling dropped significantly without jj of course but the guy that really impressed me was jayden denigal you know i got 65 235 he ran it well he had the one run on third down and he just ran over that i don't know if it was a defensive back or safety but you know just ran him over

pass well he looked really solid in there and he's a big kid so yeah i like them getting them looks getting him more looks because we haven't seen you know obviously we haven't seen enough of either him or tuttle uh both appear to be better than uh davis warren in my opinion but denning golf we had to go to him and he looks like a competent guy back there and very limited action but well and alex orgy is still banged up too so who knows how much stride he's how much progress good point progression he's made in his strides as a quarterback i think he's a freak athlete and a guy that i'd love to you know if he's healthy to get him on the field in some capacity um you know the the running back grades you know there's a couple guys we gotta talk about i actually so donovan grades at a 53.8 but i thought this was his best game i

thought he was very decisive i thought he ran with authority he was finishing runs and i think that that was a really good sign for michigan to see donovan edwards uh you know look as good as he did uh i agree and i feel like i'm making excuses for him when i say this but i'm a huge Donovan Edwards fan, and I've watched every run of his this season like three, four times because I'm trying to figure out like why hasn't it popped, and this is going to sound like an excuse for him. He has been put in so many tough situations. Like he needs some easy ones. You know what I mean? Like every running back that starts, any running back that gets significant carries, get some easy ones. Huge hole,

someone kind of takes a bad line he runs into uh and and you know i asked myself and i watch again is he making a bad read there's been times that's happened but he's just not been he hasn't been given any layups like no breakaways you know what i mean and so uh i feel like fans are you know coming in the year the best you know the rhetoric about you know being the two best backs in the country and all that. And so people have high expectations, as do you, as do I. And he's without question been a little disappointing, but he hasn't put the best situations. On the flip side, Khalil Mullings is our short yardage back.

He looks great. Like last year when he was getting carries, I questioned it all last year. Like I like Stokes and I I like some of their backs on the team, but when you look at his runs, and I've watched them a couple times, is he makes the perfect read. It's not like he's a real flashy, really fast, really strong, although he has a little bit of those elements and everything. He makes the near-perfect read every time.

And in short yardage, that's what you get. And then when you make the perfect read, sometimes it pops for a long one. So, you know, I feel a lot better about having him back there. Yeah, I thought Kalel played great, Brian. He looked like he was running with authority, sitting the hole, had the touchdown for 20 yards. Just thought he was fantastic on Saturday. So I think that gives Michigan now three viable options at running back.

Obviously, as we've talked about, Donovan's had a slower start, but we've seen what he's capable of and what he's capable of his first round pick level of talent. So, I mean, and you couple that in with Blake Corum, potentially a three-headed monster at running back for a team that does like to run the ball. That's scary for opposing defenses in the Big Ten. Yeah, and on Mullings' long run, his touchdown run, he read it perfectly, but that was fruits of some of the things we talked about earlier in the year of J.J. keeping it and running the outside. On that play, the linebacker and the edge both busted down

to stop J coming out. And then he ran to that side. And so there was such a big hole there because they were looking at that. If you look at early in the season, late last year, no one thought JJ was keeping that, you know, and you know, some of the credit criticism of Shea Patterson earlier on, he never kept it. And then when he started doing it, some huge plays. Now we're seeing kind of the opposite, some benefits of him keeping people honest with that. So if he doesn't keep it the rest of the year, just people thinking he may, is going to continue to pay dividends for those in the running game.

Absolutely. And we know he's, you know, number nine is a good enough athlete to make you pay with his legs too. So, you know, I think we'll see that in the bigger games left on Michigan's schedule. Blake, I thought Blake had another fantastic game. I thought he, you know, he didn't have any big runs, but he was, he was powerful. He was decisive. He, the jump cut looks great. You know, interesting grading. He comes in with a 68. You know, I know their baseline is what 60. So, but I thought he played very, very well. He had a touchdown.

I think 14 carries for 74 yards or something along those lines. So, you know, pretty ho-hum from, from the guy who should have won the Heisman last year if he doesn't get hurt. He tied Tyrone Wheatley for number four of the all-time UM rushing T.E. list. He needs one more to catch Mike Hart. He needs one more to catch Mike Hart. He needs two more to catch Denard, who would be tied for second,

and only nine more to catch A-Train. We have at least eight more games this season. So the pace he's on, that's a very doable thing. I think he can do it. And so what's ironic is Corbin didn't really start playing a ton until his third year. Darrell Wheatley was playing from the jump. So it's been very impressive, the clip he's going at.

It has been, and I was just thinking know, I was just thinking that too. 2020, he gets six games. 21, he's banged up, and he's splitting time with Haskins, and he's still almost – I think he almost cleared 1,000. He got up to like 900 yards, I think, his sophomore year. He cleared 900, correct. So – and that was with missing quite a few games, and he had the bum ankle.

Otherwise, he may have scored against Ohio State on that long run that he had early in the second half of that game. I've watched that game probably a thousand times, so I know probably time stamp before if anyone needs it. But, yeah, just an impressive career at Michigan and a guy that is so easy to root for. Just a great, great player, great ambassador for Michigan. So, you know, great to see him continue to play.

And I think you're seeing a, you know, kind of a concerted effort from the Michigan coaching staff. Like, we don't need to put 30 – he carried the ball over 30 times against Nebraska last year 14 this year I think you're seeing a clear message that we're not going to run him into the ground we need him in November we may give him 30 carries in November against Penn State and Ohio State if we need to right but in these games that's not what's going on so uh yeah great day from the running backs uh you know ran for 249 yards on the number one, previous number one rush defense in the country.

And, you know, they hadn't played anybody. But that's still impressive to me. You still got to be pretty well coached to be, you know, give it up 60 yards a game, even if it's just after the first four games, man. Especially with how rough that offense for Nebraska has been, for them to probably be in some bad spots at times to be that good. I think that's a team on the rise. I don't know if it's going to happen this year with Matt Rule, but I think that's a well-coached team. And so for Michigan to be as dominant as they were,

I think it just makes me feel really good about the rest of the season. And again, we talked about it a little bit ago, the O-line, I think that's your best five. I think that's your five. They look so much better together. They were gelling. I mean, they were mauling. The holes were just opening up for this run game. You know, a couple rushes in pass pro that I didn't look at too in depth. But, man, I thought it was their best game by far. You talk about Michigan having its best game.

I thought the O-line was a big part of that. Yeah, I mean, I think you nailed it. That is the top five. I think it's clear. Miles Hinton didn't log a snap, so he's clearly banged up. But, you know, it was interesting on the J.J. past Roman Wilson, the catch. Nebraska sent two there. Like, if you're a Nebraska fan and you watch that play, J.J. had all time.

And, you know, sometimes that's a hard throw to make when you have all that time. But, you know, some of the play calling on Nebraska made it maybe a little easier on the offensive line, but I do think it was a really good game for the unit. And, you know, we were talking last week about grading and wondering like, gosh, we're seeing some really good play. So I looked into a little bit. Barnhart is the number five, a power five graded OT, number three in the big 10. Zinner's number three in all of the power five for guards, number three in the big 10 center's number three and all the power five for guards number one of the big 10 keegan is seventh in the big 10 new gen is number three graded center in the country you know number one in the big 10 so i mean we have four of the top

you know 20 offensive linemen the big 10 according to pff i mean you know regardless of what you're seeing the grades and the grades that we've seen that don't look like, you know, A-plus grades in high school or whatever, they're grading out very well. So, yeah, this unit is continuing to get better, and it feels like they're starting to gel more and more. I mean, just very few errors, you know, very few missed assignments, it seems. And I'm sure Sheryl Moore could point out several. But from my novice eyes, it seems like they're playing really, really well.

Yeah, I mean, Henderson, you know, he brings that athleticism to left tackle. I mean, he pulled. I can't remember what play it was. It was on the first drive, I think. Might have been. It turned into a third and one from Blake where he gets about seven yards. But he pulls all the way to the other side of the line from his left tackle spot and gets a seal block, lets Blake get loose for two or three more yards.

He's playing really good football. And Trevor Keegan I thought was mauling, and those are the two lowest rated guys, right? Right. We don't need to go into the numbers and bash PFF as I have done in the past. But those guys are playing really, really good football, as is the rest of the offensive line. I think they're starting to mesh together.

And I think you're starting to see that, hey, sometimes when you bring in two transfers that come in over the summer, it's not going to be overnight. You know, Olu last year came in in the spring, came in in January. That showed. And I'm thinking that you're probably going to continue to see this O-line get better and better each week, just because they're going to have more reps to play together.

You know, so the O-line looks great. You know, I guess we can talk about tight ends and kind of come back to receivers. Barner and Loveland, man, that's a hell of a duo. And I guess we could throw Max Bredesen in there. Max Bredesen is playing some really damn good football from his position. He looks – it's not that he was, you know, necessarily, you know, bad last year. He just looks so much better in 2023.

I mean, he is – I mean, I see him out there, you know, when they go out of the eye or if they have him in motion, like he is, he is getting on a dude and you're not, he is blocking you. You're not getting free. Like he is playing some damn good football. All these guys are the H back tight ends, whatever you want to call them. The big guys outside of the old line are all looking fantastic. Yeah. I mean, you know, anyone that questions the PFF grading system, right? The number one graded quarterback in the country is Caleb Williams.

The number one graded tight end is who some think is the best player in the country in Brock Bowers. He's the number one graded tight end in the country. You know who's number two? A.J. Barner. So I know they don't throw to him a lot, but, I mean, obviously every game we've looked at the score and his grade, rather, and it's been really, really strong. I mean, all the talk is about Loveland and what's not to love about the guy, but Barner has lived up to every expectation that we had coming in from Indiana, and he's been a star in his own right.

You can't not like how diverse, solid, and well this unit plays. I mean, elite. Yeah. Yeah. And in the pass game and in the run game, I mean, both phases of the offense are fantastic. Barner is a dude. Dude.

Like, I mean, just a dude. Again, I listen to a lot of Michigan podcasts. One of the ones I was listening to driving around this morning between meetings was those guys were talking about Eric all and Eric all looks really damn good for Iowa. It's like, I feeling pretty damn good with AJ Barner on this offense too. You know,

I think he might be a more consistent blocker than, than Eric all, which all was really good, but yes, and Barner is, is just playing some really good football and he's a guy who's got potentially another year. Yes. Though, if he's a guy who's got potentially another year. Yes.

Though, if he's playing this well, maybe hearing his name called in April sometime. I mean, he's playing that good. And I think he's shown a lot in the passing game. And I'm hoping that they'll continue to get him involved because of how well he's doing in the passing game or in the run game. You know, kind of throw you guys a bone.

Same with Bredesen. I love when they get him the ball if they can. He's just playing really good football. We've already talked a lot about Roman, highest graded receiver. CJ had another really solid game. Yep. Yep. Looking very good. It was nice to see Darius Clements because I think we had seen him a little bit early on. He was still banged up. He looks like a kid. I mean, look, he's not going to come out and, you know, have a thousand yards this year, but I think he looks like a kid. I mean, look, he's not going to come out and, you know, have 1,000 yards this year. But I think he looks like a kid who's kind of showing that, hey,

he's going to be a player in the future and potentially later this year because you're going to need some guys to emerge. And I think he's looking really, really good. Oh, yeah, he looks really good. It was nice to see him. You know, he was kind of pegged as a deep threat guy, big play, deep ball guy. A lot of the catches he's made so far have been inside routes you know so he's he's got some diverse talents there and a well-rounded

uh guy you know what the other thing is Cornelius Johnson he's not you know he's in Roman shadow uh but that guy does so many really good things for this football team in the long JJ run that doesn't happen unless he recognizes that he's running. He turns and he blocks his guy. And if you watch that play, JJ runs right off the back of Cornelius Johnson. And, you know, how many times do you watch runs, whether it's the NFL or college, where a run doesn't happen because some wide receiver down the field doesn't make a block? We see that so often, whether it's on Blake runs or JJ runs.

He just does. He runs. He catches everything. He runs great routes. He gets, I mean, he just not flashy, not, you know, he's not putting up huge stats this year, but that guy does so many good things for this football team. Yeah. I mean, he's, he's a guy that, you know, came back for his fifth year, obviously had a massive game against Ohio State last year, and hasn't had as many opportunities to make plays this year, but he's going to be a big part of Michigan potentially achieving their goals because he's going to be a guy that's going to be called on in a lot of these big games as we get towards the end of the season. He's been very reliable this year. I think the blocking has improved. Week one, I was like, I kind of miss Ronnie Bell. And now it's like, these guys are playing. And that's the thing that within

Michigan's program as a receiver, you need to be able to block. You need to be able to give effort and spring those long runs. And so I think that's starting to improve. And I'm hoping we get to a point where it's like last year, where they're really damn good run blockers at the receiver position. And that starts to spring some of those big runs that Michigan's had in the past. So, yeah, I mean, I liked what I saw out of CJ. I liked what I saw out of Darius Clemens. You know, a lot of guys got snaps in this game. You know, I mean, everyone.

I don't know who traveled and didn't get to play. You know, Hinton, he dressed, but he was banged up, like you said. I wanted to throw it out there, too, because we talked about this and I noticed it. Zeke Berry dressed. Yeah, I saw that. Yeah, I was like, oh, that's nice. I don't think he played. I saw him on the outside of the huddle.

I don't know if it was special teams or defense in a commercial break, but that was nice to see, you know, that Zeke is potentially going to be back by the end of the year. So I was just looking over at our spreadsheet here that Miles did not play. But, I mean, man, everybody played. Peyton O'Leary got 12 snaps. English gets 17. Samaj Morgan continues to get run.

Tunnel screen, eight yards, nine yards. That kid's going to be a player. No doubt. He's going to be a fun one to watch, man. So, yeah, offensively, really great day. You score on five of your first six drives. You pull everybody, and then you still go get 10 more points. Nice to see.

We've talked about this. It's nice to see the second, third-string offenses be able to move the damn football. Again, Nebraska, whatever, but they looked much better, much more comfortable in this game as a unit behind the first-string offense to be able to move the ball and score twice. So, you know, not like they were world beaters, but still very nice to see.

So defensively, again, you know, we talk about the ranking. Chris Jenkins was on – I don't know if Nebraska blocked the guy. I don't know if they could – and he gets a 72. I'd give the man 99. He was a monster out there. I mean, they couldn't do anything. You know, those option runs, Michigan had stuffed. The linebackers played those fantastically. The edges played those really, really well. You know, great day for Michigan's front seven, really. You know, there were some hiccups in the back end. We'll get to that when we talk through the DBs. But, I mean, man, I'm looking at this D line without Mason Graham.

Whew. I don't know. It's going to be fun to watch once he gets back healthy, which I heard through the grapevine that he may or may not be practicing this week getting back. And I don't know if he'll play Saturday, but I think they're ramping him up for maybe the week after the Minnesota game. So, this defense with Mason Graham, I mean,

these guys are playing their tails off and potentially just going to get better again when he comes back. Yeah, a couple of thoughts on both the interior, the defensive line, the edge guys. We talked about the grades, and again, this is another one I looked into. Among the Power Five this year, Jenkins, we see the grades, and you think, that's not that high. He's the number three graded defensive tackle among the power five in the country mason graham's number five kenneth grant number 17 so among 68 power five teams we have three of the top 17 highest graded interior guys in the country right the other observation i had was rashaun benny's playing much better he's showing up more like he's always played and you want to see him flash.

He had a couple times out there where he looked like a big man, a big stud out there. It was good to see. I think the other interesting thing is in the young man rotation, the highest rated guy in the class last year, Etta didn't play, and Trey Pierce and Cameron Brandt played. They're all similar sized guys. I know Etta's a little bit allegedly a better athlete

and has some potential to play out on the edge, but that was interesting because I've been excited to see him play, and it looks like Pierce and Brandt are ahead of him right now. And then the edge, I don't know if you thought of me when you were in Nebraska, but maybe my favorite play of the year happened on our defensive line. Was it the fourth and one? No.

Well, that was awesome, too. But I had teased a couple weeks ago. I said, it seems like every game I watch, Braden McGregor is so close to tipping the ball. You know, it's like he's right there. He's right there. What was his tip that led to our second big man interception? Big man pick.

And, you know, so that finally paid off. And it was like I knew it. I said he was going to – he was finally going to tip when it was going to turn into a finally paid off and it was like i knew it i said he was gonna you know he was finally gonna tip when i was gonna turn into a big play and it happened and then you know you talked about aj barner being a dude derrick moore is a dude i mean that guy is every game i see is uh he just makes more plays seem more well-rounded and the other thing is him and stewart were dropped into coverage several times in that game so they're putting putting a lot on those guys' plate, on their plate. Part of me feels like that's, you know, much like I said, the linebackers aren't blitzing a ton. Part of me

just wonders if that's putting something on tape for teams to prepare for, because it just seems odd. You know, they're playing all this zone and I don't know if that's a result of the secondary being banged up and start putting more on those guys' plates. But, you know, when they can, when that secondary is healthy and they can go back to man and they can set those edges fully loose, look out, you know. Yeah, I mean, you know, I want to talk about Brady McGregor because this was his best game of the year by far. So not only does he have the deflection,

he has a sack that forces Nebraska to kick a longer field goal, which they missed. So that's three points that he takes off the board with that sack. And then the play on the fourth and one where Nebraska, I think it's their second drive or third drive. No, second drive because Michigan's up 14-0 after the early pick. It's fourth and one. So Nebraska goes.

They try to get Michigan to jump offside. They call a timeout. And you're like, okay, they're going to kick a field goal. Well, they come back out and they wind up in a shotgun formation with the running back to the side of the quarterback. And they've got basically just all tight ends up there with the old line and McGregor just blows his dude up. And that's what allowed Keon Saab to get in there and drag the quarterback Harvard back from getting a first down. That was a tremendous play play that is a great football play he's a guy that we've talked about man we want him to get there and i don't know if this is what

that looks like but if it's even if he's close and he's still got more to go man this kid's gonna be a player he you know we talk about it you know blonde hair tall kid from michigan you know kind of uh similar bill you don't want to say it, but it's hard not to see Hutchinson out there sometimes when you watch him, right? I mean, you know, very, you know, I think he was two classes after Hutch. So this is his fourth year in the program, a guy that, you know, unfortunately came in with an injury during COVID, right? So it's a double whammy. But man, he's just, he's turned it up a notch since we kind of complained about him. I can't remember if that was the BGSU game, but it feels like over the last two games against Rutgers in Nebraska, especially against

Nebraska, he is playing lights out. And also on Derek Moore, he had some bend on his sack where he cuts around the corner and that's on Ben Hart, who is not nearly as bad as Corcoran. I hear all about the bad offensive lineman at Nebraska from my friends, but Ben Hart was a big time recruit, guy Michigan wanted, Notre Dame Nebraska from my friends. But Ben Hart was a big-time recruit. Guy from Michigan won in Notre Dame, won it out of Minnesota. And so he gets a sack there. I mean, yeah, these edges. Stewart, you know, two sacks. Harrell is going to play really damn solid football.

Like, really a lot to like from these four guys. So it's a really strong unit. It's exciting. And they're just getting better. They're getting better. And I really do believe that it's not it's exciting and they're just getting better they're getting better and i really do believe that it's not just hyperbole i really feel like they're holding them back a little bit like they if you see how often they drop into coverage like when when i watch it the

first time you know you're watching so much everything's happening so fast you don't realize or i don't maybe i don't have a keen enough eye for that but when you watch it again you realize like how many tackles derrick moore and jos Josiah Stewart are making eight yards off the line of scrimmage. It's like, what are they doing back there? I have to think that when we get into situations where teams are passing, where we really need to get stops late in games, those guys are going to pin their ears back and make some huge plays like we've seen in the past. That's a unit I'm feeling a whole lot better about. Is it true that Josiah Stewart only played three pass snaps? I see that on the about. Is it true that Josiah Stewart only played three pass snaps?

I see that on the spreadsheet. Is that true? Because if so, two sacks on three pass attempts. Unbelievable. That's what it says here. I don't know if that's true. But either way, these guys are all getting in there. I think Harrell might have almost had a sack, but he got held.

So potentially a game where all four of your edges get sacks. And again, no Mason Graham on this D line when he comes back. He provides another element to that pass rush from the interior that Jenkins and Grant are great players, but I think Graham's got more of that twitchiness that's going to allow him to bring pressure up the middle. So this D line is just going to get back to full strength to be even tougher to run and throw on. So, you know, really

great day from the front four as a unit. Moving on to linebackers, you know, nothing egregious. I thought Mikey had a great game. Barrett, I thought he played a really solid game and PFF agrees with me there. You know, I didn't see anything from Colson or Hausman that was, you know, too, you know, too eye-popping, but I didn't see any big mistakes either. I thought they were solid and really had no complaints from the linebackers. I don't know what you thought, but I thought a pretty solid day for those three guys. Yeah, and again, looking at it because we were both kind of baffled

by some of the grading. In the Big Ten, Barrett's number three graded. Colson's number four. House was number 18. Again, 14 teams. They have three of the top 18 linebackers. When I watch it, they're in zone primarily, it seems like. And they just ask those guys to drop and fill space.

And so they don't blitz. They're not asked to do a lot. Again, you know, this team is executing at such a high level and showing so little. They're not doing anything exotic. And we know, you know, the later parts of last year, some of the exotic play calls that Minter called that aren't being played. I mean, when they unleash all the play calling and send those guys, I do believe that when the secondary gets healthier

and they can go back to running man on a more consistent basis, it's going to free up these linebackers to be absolute monsters. So I think the best is yet to come. They're playing really solid. I agree with you. man on a more consistent basis, it's going to free up these linebackers to be absolute monsters. So I think the best is yet to come. They're playing really solid. I agree with you. You know, it's a solid unit, but they just haven't flashed because of the responsibilities of being asked to do right now. Yeah.

And Christian Belvian has maybe the hit of the game on the kickoff coverage late in that game. I actually didn't see I was I was gone. Brian, I have to point this out. I made this joke like four times, but I'm going to keep making it on different shows. But I'll tell you what, man. Second quarter, a couple in front of us leave. I'm just looking around.

It's maybe 21, 28, nothing. I'm just like, these people are leaving, man. And my wife looks at me with a straight face and says – she's like, we should leave early fourth quarter to beat the traffic. And I'm like, we aren't going to beat the – we're just a free flow of people that are left in the first, second, and third and fourth quarter. We're not going to beat these people out of here.

It's just a free flow down I-80 getting back to Omaha or wherever people are going. So, yeah, I didn't get to see his hit in person, but on the replay it was great. And then obviously, I don't know if you saw, but JJ is loving it. Just, again, a great leader, great kid for this team. So it seems like everybody had fun on Saturday. Not as much fun were a couple of the pass plays. You know, they have a shot over the middle that on their –

I believe that was their second drive where we talked about the fourth and one stop that ultimately ended that possession for Nebraska. But they get a – I think it was on the third down. They get a quick hitter over the middle to one of their, they had some solid receivers actually. I think they've got some athletes. And Michigan got burnt a couple of times. They get burnt coming out of halftime. Will Johnson on a slant. That ball is placed where it should have been placed. It might have been six, if you know the play that I'm talking about. Oh, yeah. Right between him and Sam.

Yeah, so potentially some rust. There were some things I liked I saw from Keon. There were some things that I didn't love. So, you know, we've already kind of hit on it, but I guess we'll just kind of talk through it a little bit more in depth. Interesting day from the secondary. You know, Mikey only plays 16 snaps. Definitely not his best game, especially after his game against Rutgers. But we know what Mike Saner still is,

man. I'm not sitting here worried. You know, Rod Moore plays 17. You know, Will Johnson plays 33. So it feels like they're trying to just shake that rust out of him. And I think with Rod, it may just be a, hey, we got to work him back in, man. We can't give him 45 snaps, you know, where he's at right now. He's got to get back into game shape and kind of get back to where we know the level that he can play at. So we'll have to get your thoughts on the secondary. One quick note I wanted to make, Amarion Walker played four snaps. Just great to see him out there because we know his potential and the sky's the limit with that kid, not necessarily for this year, but just in the future. So great to see him work through his injury and get back on the field. So, you know, some positives and some things to work on.

Yeah, I think, you know, we've talked about Will Johnson a few times, and I've mentioned it a number of times, is they're playing a lot of zone. And Will Johnson's a man-to-man cover. Like, that's his deal. And so we're not seeing the flashes. And I don't think it's – I mean, I don't know for certain, but I don't think it's because Will Johnson isn't Will Johnson. I think it's that we haven't played a scheme that fits his skill set, right?

And we're going to see that later in the season. I don't have much concern there. I think we have to leave it open for possibility that Keon Saab has passed Rod Moore as a starting safety. You know, if Rod Moore's your number three safety, even an 80% Rod Moore, that's a pretty strong unit in theory. I think they've been banged up, and I think it's limited what kind of coverage. I think it's impacted the whole team, and I think the exciting thing is that

this defense has still been two weeks in a row they've played 45 snaps, 46 snaps, something like that. And, you know, there are issues in the secondary. But, again, what defense doesn't give up a few, we've gotten to the point where we're expecting near perfection, right? Like they give up the one, you know, the two long plays that you mentioned and then gave up the big long play to Rutgers to open the game last week, but then they don't let up anything else. Like if, if we're the offense playing that kind of defense, we're saying,

okay, well, why can't we throw these long passes all the time? I mean, I think we're just, and I'll speak for myself. Like you just expect near perfection from this unit. When I give up a long play, you're like, what's going on? The world's falling down. And then three plays later, the team's punting. You know what I mean? Like it's, it's so big plays are going to happen.

I mean, you know, there's the division one athletes. like you mentioned there's plenty of guys in nebraska that michigan would have loved to have on their team and so to hold uh them to a few big plays and they had a few uh and then completely shut them down afterwards okay you know if if again i said it earlier if our secondary which we thought might be one of the strongest units you know from a pre-season all big 10 standpoint, I mean, they had three guys in all big 10 teams to be kind of our weakest. You know, you can see, look at a glass half empty and say, okay, that could be a potential problem down the road, or you look at glass full.

This defense has been elite without them playing at a high level. I'm going to choose the moment to think the latter and think that, you know, the best is yet to come from this unit. And this team's going to get more and more impressive. Absolutely. And we know what Steve Klinkscale's track record is as a secondary coach. I mean, this guy has turned water into wine at Kentucky. I mean, I saw a tweet that it was like, how did Ohio State not win a national championship and you

look at the i mean obviously cj shrub but you look at the receivers chris alave jackson smith and jigba and mecca buka marvin harrison juniors on that team like and he did that with you know dj turners are very good very very good college corner you know second round pick he's in the nfl great player uh and vincent gray right and so I've seen in a freshman Rod Moore, right? Like I've seen what Steve Klinkscale can do. And I think where I get out in front of myself a little bit, I guess is when I'm watching these games, I'm looking at it through a lens of Ohio state. Right. And,

and, but knowing that they're not going to play this Nebraska, the same that they do Ohio state. Right. And so knowing that, Hey, there may be some bus, but when it, when push comes to shove in November, this team's going to be ready to go and they're going to minimize the mistakes and they're going to have, you know, we're still almost a little under two months out from that game. Right. There's a lot of football to be played and a lot to work on and a lot of practices to go through and a lot of film to watch.

Right. So I think this is, um, this is a fantastic football team. I think they're better. I think this is the best of the last, uh, of these three teams, you know, of this level. I think this one looks to be the best. Now, obviously they got to go win and get the same accolades as the other teams. It's hard not to watch this team and be like, I haven't seen that. You know, I mean, if this team had a elite edge rusher like Hutch or Ojabo, man, but even without that, I, they still look like they can win the national championship. And they look like they may be the number one team in the country at the moment.

I mean, that's how good they're playing. Schedule B damned. Yeah, I mean, and plenty of AP voters did vote him number one. You know, I just hope fans, we've fallen short the last couple years. And regardless of that, I just hope fans are appreciating what we're seeing. Like anyone that's been a fan for any number of years, we've had some challenging years. We've had years where we,

you know, we are periods of times where we just can't get over nine, 10 wins since the beginning of 2001, right? Two seasons. And the first five weeks of the season, the only team that's won more games in Michigan is Georgia, but Michigan's won two more games than Alabama,

four more than Ohio State. You know what I mean? This team is – we're looking at one of the best runs the team has ever had and appreciate it, folks. Appreciate it. Absolutely. I mean, this team, you go back to the start of 21, they've won 33 of 36 games.

I'm not a math guy, but I can tell you that's three 11-1 seasons in two and a half years of football right now like that's that's so impressive it's so hard to be consistently good in college football unless you're you know alabama georgia ohio state i mean even clemson's falling off right and even ohio state has had moments of oh no we need to make a change right even alabama right now they're not looking super hot like it's it's it's tough to do this is is my point and i think that's the point you're making too so i'm very just appreciative of this team i mean i went to eight games last year i've gone to five so far this year like just really enjoying the the opportunity to be able to say i've seen blake quorum play you know and hopefully in 20 career games or however many games i'll get to this year um i was able to see jj you

know in this minute like that's That's the part that's really cool about this team and that I try to appreciate because I remember 07, 08, 09, 2010, 2011, 12, 13. I can keep going. So I think you're right in that point that this is a very special group and they've been very special at the moment since they've gone on campus, you know, whether it's Blake Corum in 2020 or JJ McCarthy in 2021, like these guys are different. They've helped reimagine the culture at Michigan and obviously from, you know, Jim Harbaugh from the top down, it's just been an impressive,

you know, kind of reshaping of the Michigan football program. But yeah, this is a fun team, man. And I hope we get to do 15 of these after wins. That's what I'm hoping for. We're a third of the way there. Yeah, I haven't seen Minnesota play much, but I know they're struggling, and I know they've been in dogfights every week.

They're not great. Yeah, they're not great. Yeah, I think this Michigan team may be very similar to the Nebraska game. It's going to be – I'll tell you what, though. We didn't talk about it, man. That 95 degrees in Lincoln, Nebraska was no joke. It was hot. I don't know if you got that same.

I know a little elevation maybe cools down a little bit, but it seems like the Great Plains got smoked by the sun this weekend. Yeah, we had perfect weather in the mountains, but it wasn't like Lincoln, Nebraska. Dry fit polo, you know, had my Johnny O Michigan polo. That was crucial. Kept the sweat off me. I had some friends wearing black, you know, for Nebraska. I dry fit polo, you know, have my Johnny O Michigan polo. That was, that was crucial. Uh, kept the sweat off me. I had some friends wearing black, you know, for, for Nebraska. I'm like, I, what are you doing? That's rookie move. Um, but I say that because Saturday in Minnesota,

I think it's going to be in the forties, the forties and raining. So, uh, you know, you, you, you get, uh, right weather. Right, like their running game. Yeah, Darius Taylor. He didn't play against Louisiana, though. And he has been very, very good. He did not play against Nebraska. I know that. But he's a kid out of Michigan, the Detroit metro area, that I really wish Michigan could have closed on

or recruited maybe a little bit earlier. But he's a guy that's playing really good football. I don't know how severe his injury is. I can't remember how to say the kid's name, the quarterback. I think he was 50% against Louisiana. They were in a dogfight. They were losing like 10-7 early in that game. I think you'll probably see another dominant performance from Michigan as they head into the halfway mark of the season in Minneapolis on Saturday. So, like I said, I'll be at a wedding. I'll be YouTube TV, something on the phone, you know.

By any means necessary. Absolutely. My guys get it. They understand. So, you know, I'll be dancing, but I'll be looking at the phone. So, it'll be fun. But, yeah, man, I mean, hard to believe we're five games in already. And, again, still got a lot of football left,

but it's going too quick for my liking. Agreed. All right, well, that's going to do it for this episode of Blue by the Numbers. Thank you so much for listening, and we'll tune in. We'll check in with you guys next week. Go Blue. Go Blue.