Blue By Ninety - Blue By The Numbers: Michigan Sees Continued Improvement from Bryce Underwood

Episode Date: October 8, 2025

Brian and Tanner recap Michigan’s 24-10 win over Wisconsin as the road trip to Los Angeles looms large.

All right. Welcome back to Blue By the Numbers coming off a 24 to 10 win over Wisconsin. Brian, how you doing? I'm doing really good. Nice to see us beat Wisconsin. I still, I'm old enough to still hold Wisconsin higher guard than they probably deserve. But it's always nice to beat the Badgers. It's the team you see on the schedule. You're like, well, might be tough, physical. I think Luke Fickle kind of threw that all out when he hired Phil Long ago. Yeah. years ago. Yeah. It's, you know, my whole life, for the most part, Wisconsin's been a powerhouse, and it's disappointing to see what they've become, but I still savor and enjoy the win over, nonetheless. Yeah, I mean, kind of, you know, obviously a bigger margin, but a little bit similar to the Nebraska game in that it felt like Michigan was dominant, you know, 450 plus yards of offense,

I think Wisconsin at 252. Outside that first drive, they didn't have any real success until the last sad field goal drive, which, I mean, we're going to talk about Michigan, but real quick, I feel like this may be the time to talk about. What the hell is Luke Fickle doing? Wasting all that time, first off, when you need three scores, right? I'm a big proponent of that fourth down, that first fourth down, they probably should have went for it, kick the onside, right? Because you're going to need those scores.

You need more time to get those possessions in there. And then you just don't call any time out. It's like, I guess that's a guy trying to get fired to. collect a huge paycheck look if you were going to tell me i can make you know tens of millions of dollars not have to work i mean i just can't imagine that's it i don't know what it's something just is off it's just not working i think he's a decent coach or just something about that fit i thought he was a home run hire i think everybody else said anybody who's trying to you know revisit it revisionist history this thing like oh it never was going to work everyone in their mother thought

that was a good hire home run no doubt i thought oh gosh we have a problem on our hands here and yeah it's uh you know i i thought during the game is he trying to make the margin not bad like is he conceding defeat and trying to just and then michigan almost goes and scores i know i know i mean you know the score i think you see the score and you alluded to it you see the score 2410 you think yeah but the reality is is you know i never get too concerned when you play a team they get the ball first they go down and score because it tends to be like the scripted plays, that they've practiced a bunch, they're ready for it. That's rarely an indication.

It's sometimes indication, but it's not an indication really to me that, okay, we're in serious trouble. It's like, okay, let's see what they do after that. Yeah. Well, what they did after that impressive opening drive was six plays, 22 yards punt, three plays, five yards punt, five plays, 19 yards punt, three plays eight yards punt, four plays, 23 yards punt, three plays one, yard punt three plays five yard punt this is long but it's fun three place 31 yards i and t three

plays five yards punt and then on the final drive they kick the field goal fine but i mean you know 24 10 does it sound good but when i just rattle through that that sounds pretty down i was i just pulled up the the all plays uh drive chart there i read it yesterday on our show with justin so i'm glad you dove into it because I'm sure the people that listen to both shows did not need to hear me rattle those numbers off. But it is, I did the math outside of the first drive and the last drive that gave up 122 yards and nine drives. Yeah. That's 13 yards of drive. That's pretty good. Pretty good. Right. There were some moments where I thought Wink, you know, I think this is who Wink is and sometimes he just, you know, sometimes that late blitz from a backer that doesn't get there.

You're just like, ah, like people were, people were upset with Zeke Berry on, he gave up a decent sized gain, I think it was maybe 15 yards. I didn't think that necessarily was on Zeke. I thought he had no help over the top. And it's like, why are you doing that? Yeah. Anyways. I thought he looked really good coming back from injury.

You know, that just, you know, we had Charles Woodson on our podcast. Go check that out on the YouTube. That was awesome. You can see behind me, one of the signed helmets there and signed Woodson Whiskey. so I forgot to thank Feldman Chevrolet of Highland at the start. I need to get better at that. Justin normally does it, Brian.

But shout out to Feldman. They were at the ticket. Shout out to Charles Woodson and Woodson Whiskey. And one of the questions I asked him was, you know, he started, Charles Wilson, when he was a freshman, started the second game of that year in 95, and went on to start every game the rest of his career. So I asked him with, you know, kind of a similar situation.

There was injuries. And so Charles was thrusting in the lineup. And same thing with Jayden Sanders. you know, it just, and in his point was it just those reps are invaluable. Like, you can't replicate that. So to have Jaden Sanders play as much as he did and look good doing it, and especially you look ahead to USC in that offense, just having Zeke back healthy, Rod Moore.

I mean, we'll- Jason Curtis healthy. I mean. Right. You're just getting a lot of guys back in the secondary at the best time of the year when you're playing USC, and you need these guys to continue to get reps and play together because, you know, that schedule at the end of the year, that game looms large every year.

And this could be, you know, for Michigan an opportunity to get in the playoff at home in Ann Arbor, November 29th, 12 p.m. So all these things lead into that game, right? And we talk about it year-round, and it's the most important game on the schedule, no matter what. So getting these guys in, getting Zeke back, Zeke looking so good, Rod Moore. Can we, I mean, we normally go offense to defense, and I guess we're already talking about defense. Let's go reverse. Let's go back. Rod Moore, I mean, you can see it on TV, but man, the straight line closing speed,

and I did this on our show yesterday, but I'm going to do it again because I want to talk to you about it because I know we all love Rod Moore. When you come back from an injury after being off 18 months, I mean, against Nebraska, that was the first time he had seen the field in the Michigan uniform since the national championship, right? And he had watched surgeries, and no one knew what was going on. And so you expect him coming back, like, I don't know. know is he going to have that ability he looks faster than he's ever looked in a michigan uniform brian that's a one yeah i mean the closing speed on the interception brian i'll tell you this i'm i sit i sit behind the michigan sideline typically when i get my

tickets that reverse i don't know if they showed the overhead view i don't know on the tv copy if it if you could really see rod just just shooting out of a cannon he's on the complete opposite side of the field on that reverse and the entire defense is flowed the way Wisconsin wants them to flow. It's set up. It's a touchdown. And Rod Moore flies in there. I'm telling you, I'm like, who is that?

Who is sprinting over there? It's Rod Moore, and he not only gets over there in time, there's a guy to block him, just falls down. I don't know what happened. And he makes an open field tackle that saves a touch. I mean, that would have been six. Yeah. And just, I don't know if I've seen,

he's always been a good athlete, but man, he looks like a second day pick now. After the 18 months, it's crazy. Yeah, it'd be interesting to see, you know, we need a 10 out of 10, Rod Moore is a huge asset and one will need against USC's passing him. I want to see that hold up against USC. I want to see that hold up against Ohio State. I want to see that hold up against Washington a week's ad.

If it does, yeah, I agree. Very cerebral, a leader. You know, when he picked that off, I tried that, and I thought about it just a few minutes ago was like in the last five years besides winning big games that sort of thing is there a play that brought you like as much like deep heart joy as seeing him pick that off like just knowing his battle knowing what he's meant to the program knowing what he means to the team and our fan base like it's hard to pinpoint a moment that was more celebrated for not necessarily for absolutely not its impact on the game, though it did have a significant impact on the game.

Just what it meant to him, to the program and to everyone that's kind of supported his journey, I thought, I mean, that was not as cool thing that I can remember happening in Michigan game and do a Michigan player in a while. I mean, it was like, you know, obviously you stand up celebrating interception in the crowd, but it was also like a tip-your-half kind of deal, right? 100%. Yeah. You know, not to equate this at all, but the same way that people, when they start talking about

the hero of the game, right? And I always get missy-eyed in those, man. It's so cool what they do and bring those veterans out. And I mean, you know, like some of these guys, it's the, you know, the guy on Saturday was a ticket holder, season ticket holder for 50 plus years. And it's like just the coolest moment. But it's the same kind of thing in terms of like just seeing the people around you take their hat off. And like, again, not equating what that is, but just the reaction in terms of just seeing people around you and you're like tipping. I'm with you. I understand what you're saying. Yeah. I'm not trying to, you know, I'm trying to overemphasize that point. Yeah. No, you know, I'm not saying. you know and but yeah he did fight for the wolverines and did uh well for bad injury doing it so well and here's the thing too brian like you know there are guys on this team that we're here in 21 but they're not there aren't any contributors from the 2021 team except for rodmore right right um and so you know i always talk about i have over my left shoulder the picture of him and jackson

smith and jigba who's a hell of an NFL rod receiver by the way but just getting each other grill. And I think that is really an embodiment of what this program has been over the last four years of just not backing down. I don't know what that means in terms of like, I just, I think it's really cool that he's still here. And I hate that his season was taken away from last year, you know, another year to get to the NFL, right? You never want to have guys injured. But I think it's a true blessing that he's on this team. And he's here in 2025. He's the only one. He's the only guy still here that played meaningful snaps in 2021, saw the culture change, saw that gradual culture shift from, you know, he committed in like 2019. He stuck through the 2020 season. So it, I don't know,

man, it's like, you know, in college now, some guys played nine years. I don't know how that makes sense. You should have a doctorate at that point. But for Rod to be here in his fifth year, and man, I mean, you know, he's played nickel. He's played the hardest position on the defense. right tj metcalf is still kind of figuring that out um and they're moving him around but having rod more back there is basically like having a coach in the secondary i just i can't speak enough to how awesome it is that he's back and he looks again like he's going to be drafted on the second night of the draft i hope so yeah if he plays like this yeah we get you know i'm eager to see it you know we need him this week i think uh usc poses all kinds of problems we're blessed as uh you know

just people from Michigan who sports teams, football teams, have great safeties. Shut up Krivrave, just a big interception against the Bengals. I think they're kind of similar players. Yeah, I agree. Yeah, so Rod Moore coming back was huge. Zeke Berry coming back. I think he had a great game. One thing that we didn't say about Rod Moore is, you know, we often,

we're called Blue by the Numbers and talk about PFF upgrades. Rod Moore, not only was he great to see, he was the highest graded safety in the country, according to PFF this last week. So, you know, not just passing the eye test of fans that want to see what they want to see, the grade that PFF gave him. He was the number one grade in safety in the country. So, yeah, he made a pretty cool. It's like that screen play, great play design where tight-end blocks and then kind of,

it's like, I guess it's a tied-in screen, nobody's pulling out the block because they're all faking to the right and they throw it back and Rod just, if he doesn't get in there, like he affects the throw, he almost has a, pick six, but he affects the throats or where he can't get it there. Otherwise, that would have been, you know, 20, 30 yards. Yeah. So he just made a lot of big plays throughout the day. Probably some ones that you don't, it just is, you know, a fan you don't notice that I'm sure people who know X's and O's inside and out see on film when you watch Y'L 22 and everything. But he had a, he had a magnificent day playing safety. It was just, again, great to see him back

there. We're in number 19. It's talking about number 19 with this Michigan team. I don't know. We'll talk about that other kid here in a little bit. But overall, I mean, you mentioned the drive charts pretty, pretty dominant, never really felt threatened. I think Justin made the point yesterday that because the game was 10 to 7 for so long, then it was kind of like, you know, but the defense was the reason that that game was. I never felt like, oh, man, Michigan is going to, you know, lose this one. It just, you could tell the dam was going to break offensively and the defense to just war lights out. Yeah, I mean, I think they're solid on all levels.

You know, it's funny going into the season, even those first few weeks, and we'll see these next few weeks, but we're concerned. Sorry, I almost had a casualty to leave myself here. You know, the benefit of playing Sanders and Shamari Earls and playing so many guys and now we're getting people back that I feel like I'm starting to feel better about the secondary quite a bit. And, you know, I'm a little muted because I know that we're Lincoln Riley who likes to toss it all over the place. And so I want to see them hold up this week when they travel across three time zones. But, you know, you look at all three levels.

and how this defense has evolved. We knew we'd be good up front, and I think we're good up front a little bit different than a lot of us expected. The linebacker, Corey, you know, Cole Sullivan and Rolder emerging, allowing Barham to go to the edge, and now these defensive backs kind of jelling

and finding the right unit. They have so many guys there that hopefully Wink and Lamar can figure out the right guys to put into the right places and the right times, but I feel a lot better about this defense that I did four or five weeks ago. There's no doubt about that. Yeah, yeah.

I think Jayshan, you know, I think there was a couple moments on that first drive where he might have gotten up field a little bit. But I think he kind of, it's just going to take time, right? You don't just go from playing linebacker to playing Edge in college and just pick it up overnight unless you're an absolute freak, which he is, but I do think it's going to take a little bit of time of him just kind of learning when to, you know, use that outside, outside leverage versus just cutting up field. Those are some things that I just noticed from watching in the stadium and then also watching the replay. So, but he was all over the place. I thought the edges played really well in this game. I mean, it wasn't really like a

pin your ears back and get after the quarterback kind of game because they were on the third string transfer from SIU, Southern Illinois, sorry. And I don't think that Wisconsin was going to go with Luke Fickle's initial plan for the program of airing it out. And it seems like they wanted to run the ball a little bit more, protect the quarterback. But when they did, I mean, they had a little bit of success, you know, in the intermediate game, but they were, they were very sound in the run game. Derek Moore had some really nice plays for tackles for loss in this game, coming off the edge, coming down the line. So, you know, it wasn't really a, hey, we're going to get seven sacks type of game, but it was more so, play your keys, be fundamental, be sound in the run game,

and, you know, get after the quarterback when you can. And I thought they did a great job of that. Yeah, I thought it was, I thought the defensive line had one of their better games. again, you know, Wisconsin seems so, you know, kind of one-hand time behind their back with that quarterback, you know, the third-strain quarterback. So it's, like, hard to get really excited about what we saw. Again, like I said earlier, kind of muted knowing what's ahead. I mean, I feel like, I feel like this game this week against USC is so big because after this game, I feel like we have a little bit of easier schedule.

That Washington game looms big. I think, DeMont Williams is very scary, but I just feel like we're a better football team than them that if we can win this game, you know, we're beating USC on the road as a clear path to a shot at the playoffs. I think we lose this game, you know, and it's a much more grim look. Still we can get there by beating Ohio State. But I think winning this game puts us on a really clear path, you know, as long as we stay healthy and keep improving to get to the playoffs. So this game is, you know, a very big game. Biggest game on schedule is so far this year. Yeah, absolutely. It's a Big Ten game, right? And so you're in Big Ten play. I keep saying,

to anybody who'll listen that if they get through these next two games, that they will be 10 and 1 going into Ohio State with a chance to be 11 and 1, 9-0 in conference. So we talked about, I think, two weeks ago after the Nebraska game, would you rather have gone into this saying, hey, I can get one of these two, which one would you rather have? Oklahoma is the better win. But in terms of just trying to get to Indianapolis,

beating Nebraska is the bigger win for this team this year. So I think it's going to be imperative for Michigan. If they want to make the playoffs, you at least, I mean, you got to win one of these two, right? Ideally, you go two and oh. They both have dynamic offenses. Washington was a little bit weird seeing them down 20 to nothing late in the third, and then they rabble it off 24 straight points, three straight touchdowns in the fourth quarter to beat Maryland, but probably coming off a little bit of a hangover after that loss to Ohio State at home,

kind of dropping a little bit of a dud there in Seattle. But you look at these two games, and to your point, it's, again, couldn't ask for a better time to get a lot of these guys back healthy in the secondary and then also the continued emergence of J. Sean Barham at Edge. Like, I think it's kind of a perfect storm for Michigan. I think Cole Sullivan in these types of games, especially against USC Washington,

is going to be a difference maker. I think he's more able to be a better lineback. He's better in space than, yeah, he's a better in space. It was fumbling all over trying to figure out how to say that. So thank you for saving me. So, yeah, I think this was more of a Jimmy Roller game. I thought he played well. I thought Ernst Houseman played well.

He almost had a pick. He kind of tipped it. And was it J. Sean that almost caught it or one of the defensive linemen almost caught it in the, I think, late there on a third down in the game. So, yeah, I thought the defense just was, again, pretty lights out. You can't take away drives just in the same way people are like, oh, if you just take away Justice Haynes long runs, well, can't take away the fact that they scored. But outside of that first drive, they were kept in check. And the last drive is like you're down 17 points with six minutes left. So go ahead.

You know how I think some defensive coordinators and, you know, offensive game play callers are better, you know, going into the game. It seems like this year and through five games this year that winks more of an in-game adjustment guy. It seems like we don't always get off to the fast starts. But it's almost like whatever they're doing to you early, This was even true last year when we weren't that good. It still seemed like the defense got better. He would sort out what offenses were doing through the game and just make adjustments.

I feel like that's been the strength of our last few defensive coordinators, actually, like McDonald and... Jesse Minter. Yeah, Jesse Minter. We're great at the halftime and making adjustments. And he's got better as the game went on. And Wink definitely seems to do that. So, you know, I'm prepared to be a little frustrated early on that USC game and just hope that he makes the adjustments. the offense comes through to, you know, match their points because I think USC's going to put points

up on us. And so, you know, we underwent to play kind of mistake free and turn over free. Yeah, yeah, he really has. I'll talk about Bryce when we get to the offense. I'm very impressed by him again. But, yeah, I think last year's USC game was almost an inverse too, right? Because it's, what, 14, 3 at half? Right, yeah. So, and then, you know, they score and you're, you know, Will Johnson pick six kind of flips the game on its head. Otherwise, they were having whatever they wanted in that second half.

And I don't remember, you know, that's a year ago. I haven't watched that game in a while. So I don't, you know, remember what the cause of that was. But, you know, I think to your point, USC, they might go out on their scripted drive and have some success and people will freak out and then maybe it'll calm down a little bit. But that's a really good offense. I mean, they're number one by a lot of metrics. I know SB Plus from ESPN's Bill Connolly, which is not the FPI, the football predictor

indicator, whatever that is. Football power index, sorry. Yeah. I see people that do, no, Bill Connelly's algorithm's really good. It's really on point typically, especially as we get further into the football season. So he's got them as the number one offense in the country. Now, had they played a good defense? I mean, I guess before the season you could have argued Illinois, but they got 63 dropped on their head by IU.

So I don't know what that looks like against, you know, one of the better defenses in the country, which Michigan is according to the SP Plus predictor. I don't know what this matchup's going to look like. It's going to be a little bit like a boxing match of, I think, of feeling each other out. Right? You know, because, you know, Maya can move,

but you also don't want to leave him open to Derek Moore or T.J. Guy or J. Sean Barham coming off the edge. So, you know, it's not a really big guy, is he? He's like, no, I don't think he's a big guy, but he can move. Oh, yeah. He moved. I really like him.

Yeah, yeah. I don't understand. I mean, I guess they replaced Miller Moss with him last year, but I think, you know. No disrespect to Miller Moss, a guy that Michigan may be coordinated a little bit in the portal, but Maiva is, I think, you know, pretty damn good quarterback. Yeah, oh, yeah. But we're going to.

Lincoln Riley said, you know, it's nice to have a guy that does what I want him to do. Like, you know, and operates in the way, you know, kind of imply that can do what I want to do, implying Miller-Moss really couldn't do what he wanted to do, and that Caleb Williams would just go off script all the time. So it's like, I think I think that's a match made in heaven for it. Well, and Maiava is more in that mold of like the, Lincoln Riley quarterbacks, right? I mean, you look at the guys that he had at Oklahoma.

It was Baker Mayfield. And Baker's a good athlete. We've seen that in college. You've seen in the NFL. Kyle Murray obviously could move. Jaylor Hurts. I mean, that's what he does in the NFL, right? And then, you know, you go to Caleb Williams.

So, you know, Spencer Rattler, not so much, you know, the best athlete, but I don't think played a ton for Lincoln Riley. So, yeah, it's going to be interesting to see that matchup and kind of what Wink does to, you know, again, second time now going up against Lincoln Riley and vice. first. I mean, Lincoln Riley's got, you know, one game under his belt against a wink Martindale defense. So it's going to be interesting, but I think Michigan, they're doing things a little bit differently because you don't just have two first round picks in the interior anymore, right? And you have some really good guys, like Ray Sean Benny's coming on strong. He had

a slow start of the season from, I think, what people expected out of him. He's really turned it on. Trey Pierce, he's going to be good. He's going to be good. He's going to be, like, he's, I'm excited about his growth. And then I think I think Damon Payne has been playing really well. And I think Trey Williams had, again, slow start, but I think he's been playing very well, too. They're just deep there. It's just finding the right guys, you know, like situationally having the right guys on the field. I think it's important because I think they're, you know, they're a bunch of really big guys.

But when you watch closely, they all play a different game. They have different body styles. They have different strengths. And so if you can get the right matchups in there and get the right guys in there at the right situations, I think it's a scary group. You know, that front seven is really scary. Yeah, yeah, they started to kind of turn it up a little bit late. Derek Morgan's a sack on that last drive, forces a field goal. So, yeah, pretty happy with the defensive performance overall.

Now, let's talk about the offense. Okay. Start with. Deal. Let's start with what everyone wants to talk about. Bryce Underwood. Kids got it, man. I don't know.

I watch him, and you can just see the growth. You know, I mentioned this on our other show, but Jay Doo on Twitter, former Michigan player, does his cut-ups on Sunday mornings. That guy gets up early. Like, I'll wake up at like 7.30 thinking I'm up and it's like two hours ago is his tweets on my timeline, so I've got to go back and watch them all.

Yeah, so he put it up on his Twitter. And I was at the game, so I didn't see it. I mean, it's hard to see quarterback's eyes, right? But his head moves four times before dumping it off to the running back. So just how quickly he's getting through his reads. You're starting to see him be more comfortable. he's what 19 to 28 for 270 yards almost 10 yards in attempt how many yards did he have on drops i mean at least maybe 50 i mean samaj might have taken that to the house and kenny bell had

nobody within 20 yards of him right and look i'm going to talk about this too if max bretison drops a ball i don't care that's not what he's here to do right like obviously like if i if you're going to get him the ball get it to him where it's like he's wide open right don't make him catch a ball with a defender on him and another one coming down. You know he wants to catch the ball. You know he's mad at himself, but I'm not going to get up in arms over Max Brennison dropping a basketball.

Not at all. Is what it is. But I think you're seeing just the development and the maturation of Bryce Underwood, and it's a little scary to see, man. It is, you can see it. Again, the bi-week helped, but you see it week over week over week.

And, you know, he should have had a 300-yard game, you know, almost had another touchdown. He threw to McCulley. McColley gets down at like the one and a half. Does a great job of fighting for yards. But what did you see from Bryce Underwood in this game? I mean, a lot of stuff that you said. I mean, just seems like he does not look like a young quarterback.

Like I think of JJ didn't start until a second year. And he already looks, and I'm a huge JJ McCarthy fan, as you know, he already looks more poised. He looks just so in control. He doesn't seem rattled at all. I mean, when do we ever have four? late you know delaying game penalties

like he's just got everything under control he just seems so poised you know is there areas he needs and proof of course there are but he just seems you know very very mature for his years and obviously all the tools are there like when you see him run

you see him throw that missile I mean he just it's exciting to think about what can be but I think this team I don't think this team's winning a national title or anything like that this year. I just don't think we're there yet. But I do think that if we play smart and play well and stay healthy, we can win the Big Ten, we can go the playoffs. And so, you know, I just want to see him keep growing, you know, and I think that he will. I mean, he just seems so dynamic

and I still feel like they have a little bit of the training wheels on him, you know, which is probably smart, right? Like, he still, there's probably things he doesn't see. I watched Devin Gardner break down kind of how he's doing his reads. and what the difference between a young player is to an older player. How he explained it is in the play that you mentioned the four reeds, is he, Davagher called it pure progression, meaning he started on the left, went left, left, left, left, works his way across, where a veteran quarterback in that situation would already know

that a couple of guys were going to be covered and he wouldn't have to go through that progression. Like he would eliminate the four targets. He would know by what he saw pre-snap that, you know, option two and three, weren't available. So as soon as one wasn't there, you know, if you look at the play to Max Preston, if he gives Max Preston that ball a second earlier, he doesn't have that guy barren down on him, you know, and then he doesn't have to throw such a hard ball. So, you know, just developing steps there, I think, for him. And yeah, it's exciting to watch. Yeah, it is. I think I think when you watch him, just the, again, the physical tools are just, they pop out.

right i mean i love when i see people who say he he just throws fastballs by the way like i heard that and you can tell me because i again i i watched replay but i i threw it on mute or whatever i just watched cut up so but they i i guess they were uh joel clatt and gus chons were talking about he needed to take some off of his off of his throws but the one was to bretison and it's like to your point yeah maybe he needs to get it there sooner but if he doesn't fire that in there like that might be a pick might get yeah oh yeah but you watch him like the the back shoulder throw to Marsh, give his guy a chance to go up, get it, makes a great catch. Same with McColley, throws it up.

Like, you know, he knows when to kind of rocket it in there on the RPO touchdown to McColley. It's got another one, lets his guy go make a play, throws it a little bit higher. But McColley's that kind of guy to go catch it and make a play. He almost gets another touchdown late in the game. Yeah, a touchdown. Yeah. Earlier, yeah.

So I think you just see him layering the ball, you know, making good a touchdown. throws. I thought he missed, if I remember right from the, from this, Washington the stadium, I thought he had Marlon Klein on the first play on the flea flicker, but then he goes to McColley and McColl, you know, it's a bit of a jump ball and then McCoy gets the, the PI called and his 15 free yards. So I think you're just seeing him learn on the fly. Like, he felt pressure really good in this game. Yeah. Like, did he get, I don't think he got sack, did he? I don't have off top of my head. I don't think he did. He may have one second. He was running to the line scrimmage you got tackled like right at the last scrimmage might have had

yeah but he did a great job he had the one that kentric bell dropped where he gets outside and is looking to throw he has another one that somage almost drops juggles it bubbles it but it's still completion but he gets outside of the pressure both like both tackles have have pressure from each side and he kind of plans the path and gets out and then he throws it across his body like reminds me if jj made a throw against i think yukon his first year and he did the same thing. It was a little further downfield to Schoonmaker, but he got out and made the throw across his body. So just the physical abilities, I think you're starting to see the mental kind of, because it takes time. Like, you don't come in as a quarterback and just have it all

under control. Like, it takes time. That's what you saw JJ's jump. Year two to year three. Like, JJ was so much more control of that offense. So much more. Right, compared to 22, where it was just a lot of, like, handed off the Blake and, you know, I mean, he missed a lot of deep balls at year. So you're just, you're seeing, I think, a quicker progression of a quarterback in his development than we've ever seen at Michigan. Like, I don't know if I've seen that from a kid as a true friend. Like, because I remember Henny, but I was like nine when he was a freshman. I mean, obviously the physical skills in terms of running ability are not the same.

Right. And Henney was good game one, man. Heaney was. Yes. But other than Chad Henny, I don't think. Like, you know what, maybe Tate 4CA initially, and then I think defense has kind of figured out what he wanted to do and it was game over. But, like, again, I just, I don't think I've seen a kid develop this quickly. Yeah, I think, and what's going to help the development is I'm so excited. I know everyone that follows the team is excited, you know, that we finally, McCulley is a clear number one. I think he's the best receiver we've had since Nico Collins. And Andrew Marsh, as you just see all the tools, like, and the light seems to be going on.

for him. He played 52 snaps on Saturday. So he's clearly emerged as wide receiver too, and that's what we need. We need dynamic playmakers that catch the ball, which he does. I really have a guy that misunderstands his assignment, but makes a play when a plays there to be had and can expose defense and turn a five-yard out. You know, for two years, I've been the biggest defender of Samaj Morgan, but, you know, my patience was running thin with him. And I think, you know, his snaps just need to go to Marsh and, you know, give Goodwin his seems like Browder's on the cusp, you know, and I think you mentioned last week, I think this offense is best when you have Klein, Hanson, Marsh, and McCulley out there.

Yeah, you know. That's what it's got to be. That's what's got to be. I had a moment in the stadium internally, internally. I did not vocalize it, but I just was so frustrated. And I think, I don't know, it's tough because I think Samaj can be a difference maker. He's got all the physical tools, just have to catch the football. Because when, I mean, on that little, the thing that the Vions run, like, sweep where they just pitch it to Amman Ra.

Wisconsin had that blown up. And he made a play and he got eight yards out of it. But then you see the other stuff where he has the drop. He's got the, he bibles the ball and then thumbles it. Like, it just is so frustrating because he doesn't. everything else right like i think we talk i think i made this analogy maybe a couple weeks ago it's like he does everything else when he gets the ball in his hand he can make plays it can be explosive but it's like you know million dollar move one dollar finish right you miss the rim after after blowing

somebody by on a crossover like it's the same kind of thing and it just you know i think i think a lot of people have been down on somage basically his entire career i mean even as a freshman like people yeah and i've defended him but it's like i don't know how much longer i can do it you know it's tough man i'm not i'm definitely more of like i like to be uplifting but it's been frustrating. Man, how awesome would it be if he were able to turn? Because I think a fully competent, not competent, that sounds mean. Like, just a fully functional Samaj Morgan catching the football and making plays

makes this offense a lot better with Andrew Marsh, with Hogan Hansa, with Marlon, with McColley, with the running backs, right? Like, it just, you, if he could get there, it would make everyone's life a lot easier on this offense. Because when he does get the ball on those bubble screens, he can make plays. He can get you eight yards, 10 yards. He made a huge play in the Nebraska game. And then you have a performance like this, and it's just frustrating.

Well, I think to, and I think we're going to get that for the sheer fact that, you know, he's kind of forced into the role of wide receiver two for much of the year because of injuries, because of an experience. Now Hogan Hanson is healthy. You know, and now these young guys have the experience to play. So now we go from, you know, a team that's featured Samaj Morgan is receiving option two to possibly receiving option five. And I like a Michigan offense that has Samaz Morgan as receiving option five or six

as opposed to two or three. Does that make sense? He's a gadget guy, right? Yeah, right, right. He's a gadget guy. He's not an every down guy that can, you know. Yeah, he gets a lot of run about, I don't think he's a great route runner. I don't think he, you know, he understands a lot of the schemes when you, when you watch

like some of the, you know, J-Due stuff and some of these shows and break down the film of play by play. It seems like he just misses a lot of stuff, you know. Yeah. Well, regardless, where Michigan doesn't have any questions, is it running back? No, gosh. Wisconsin coming in, number one rush defense in the country, how much of that is because their secondary is not very good?

I don't know, but I do know that that front is pretty damn good, Brian. Oh, yeah. There were some mental mistakes. Andrew Sprague, redshirt freshman. See, this is a thing, though. Normally, he wouldn't be playing. He would have another year to grow and to learn and develop and to get stronger. and to learn his role.

And so he's played really well, in my opinion, up until this game. But even then, after some of those mistakes, he figured it out. And that's why the run game started to click more late in the second half. But, man, that first drive, you're like, wow, this is going to run for 300 yards again. Yeah. And they didn't. And there were some things that they shot themselves in the foot on. They definitely did.

But I thought Justice Haynes, again, he was second this week in the miles per hour, charting or whatever the folks that's a cool site the real analytics yes um 21.4 i think it was slower than what he was at Nebraska but um you know he's a 43 yarder he finishes with 117 or 119 yards um really great performance from him two touchdowns man i just he's been awesome and then you know jordan marshall didn't play a lot until later in the game and then he's running he almost scores a touchdown late in the game with like 30 seconds left so um you know there were some moments where i was a little because it was run, run pass. And again, I'm sitting in row 82, man.

I can see the whole field, but I can't see the specifics like you can on TV. So I'm tweeting stuff. You know, I need to stop doing that. They should have taken away service still at the big house, so I don't emotionally tweet about things. I hate run, run pass. Everybody hates run. I think Michigan's a lot better when they are play action on first down,

or at least a mix, right? Even if it's 60, 40 run play action pass on first down, I think you just keep the defense a little more honest and off guard. because there would be times where Michigan was moving. And if you look at the drive chart like we did for Wisconsin's offense, for Michigan, it's a lot of moving the ball. And then it's a misfield goal. It's a turnover on downs.

It's a whatever. And it just felt like they couldn't find a way to finish these drives because they moved the ball. They almost had, you know, they almost had 450 yards. Yeah. Like this would have been last year's best offensive performance by far. Yeah. But it just felt like there were moments where, you know, it'd be first in 10 and they'd run. And there was one sprag just, you know, got completely just whiff.

and then a second and 13. And then Haynes comes back, gets three yards, and then it's third and ten for your freshman quarterback, right? So, but I think in the grand scheme of things, I think this was a good rushing performance. Bryce didn't really have to use his legs. And it really, I don't think they designed, ran him once. So I thought Haynes and Marshall carried the load and did a great job. Yeah, I mean, the running game is, I feel like we've been blessed for a lot of years to have a good running back tandem. it's hard it's hard to argue that at least i mean just insane is he the best i mean through five games is the best running back we've seen a long you know in a really

long time so the season is not five games long but uh you know i think he is a home run hitter you know like i think of mike hart who would have the long runs but man that guy never was stopped him back yeah he was three four he was more so he he may be best best a long one but he'd be caught he wouldn't take it the distance i mean i know haines got caught with guy had the angle you know um and he paid it off uh like heart used to do but um yeah i mean because like when i think of blake quorum i think of two different blake quorum i think of his last two years his first two years he was the home run hitter right like he had the big long run against ohio state he had the long run against washington he had the long run against iowa right and then he

and then he put on weight because he knew he needed to be able to get three yards on third and three And so his last two years, he would still take it the distance, like 2022, Blake Corm, that dude, I mean, he, that Maryland game, he had a couple long ones. Indiana, yeah. So, but I think in terms of just straight line speed, I don't know. I mean, honestly, not a guy that's even in the stratosphere, but just straight line speed like Carlos Brown. Yeah. I don't know. Like, I remember him buses and long ones.

Yeah, before your time of Tyrone Wheatley, like he was the big-time team in the one time. I at least know that. So, yeah, you've got to go back a long ways, right? A guy that just runs this many, you know, rushes over 40, 50, 70 yards. Like it's, and again, I love the people that are like, well, if you just take away the longer. Well, he's like seven of them. That's not a, it's a trend at this point. Right.

Yeah. Like he's going to have another, you know, 30, 40 yard rush against USC, maybe longer. Illinois ran it down their throats. I think that, you know, barring a mental collapse and all the, or just the greatest defensive game plan ever. Michigan is going to have a big day on the ground? You know, it's just, is that going to be enough to keep up with USC? We'll see.

I mean, I feel pretty confident about the game other than what common sense tells me, and that is if you look at this season, how many upsets we've seen with teams traveling time zones like that. It's just tough. You know what I mean, it's like you can't ignore that. No matter what you want to see and want to believe, that's a significant factor that, you know. But the two best teams in the Big Ten, at least right now, did this. They went three time zones and they won, right?

Ohio, they went to Washington, and Oregon goes to Penn State. You know, Penn State's Penn State, man. Not much more to say there, right? Yeah, I think. Yeah, I think Shrone is going to have his guys ready to go. Yeah, I do too. So, yeah, man, I mean, I don't know, because I don't like to use the transitive property,

but I think it does sometimes if you just look at who teams play and how they perform, not necessarily just the winning on, you know, on the scoreboard. But, you know, MSU goes out to USC. Talk about time zones. My goodness. But a couple weeks ago, and they run for 112 yards. You know, nothing crazy. Wasn't a great necessarily performance. But they were down so early, though, the game playing kind of dicky to throw the ball. So that's not. They ran for 62 yards against Nebraska. I mean, I guess maybe that, again, I'm doing this transitive thing in my head, but like maybe Cincinnati's better. So it's like, okay, they ran on Nebraska, whatever.

I don't know, I don't know how good, I'm saying this because I don't know how good USC's rush defense is going to be. I mean, Illinois ran it right down the throat, right up the middle. Try to stop us. And Illinois couldn't do anything. It's Indiana. I'm doing the transit property thing again. I'm sorry.

But like I just, you know, there's like what other barometers do you really have until you get later in the season where it's like you really know what teams good because like some teams haven't really played anybody. USC plays one of the easiest schedules in the big 10 so far. Yeah. So this is to your point, this is one of those games. where for Michigan, you can go and you can clean those things up, right? Like, it wasn't like they got overpowered.

It was just you got to clean up some of the mental stuff. And you got to be on your assignment. Well, I think, yeah, go ahead, sorry. No, you go ahead, you go ahead. Underwood has not had his coming out party yet, and he has not really, the Oklahoma game, he didn't have great stats, but that was more of the coaching staff holding him back. They've acknowledged that. And even when I watched the game, can I see that?

He hasn't had his like, oh, shit game, you know, excuse my language, where it's like, I really screwed that up. And he really hasn't had that coming out party. And so those both are probably coming at some point, you know, hopefully the bad side of it doesn't come in a game that it costs the game. But, you know, he's still, I'm still waiting for him to have that game that, like, hello world, I'm here, you know. And this seems like the type of game that all USC is going to hear all week is that they're

not going to go stop Michigan's run, right? That's all they're going to hear all week because that's what Michigan wants to do. They're one of the better running teams in the country. that's a beat them last year. And I just feel like this could be a game that, you know, conventional wisdom tells you that we're going to run it 35 times and that Justice Haynes and Jordan Marshall are both going to be near over 100 yards and Bryce probably runs for 60 yards or something like that. I just feel like he's got to have that coming out party soon, and this could be the week.

Well, if you're wondering, Illinois put up 331 passing yards on USC, 5002 total yards, 8.1 yards per play. And they also fumbled at the goal line twice, twice. They fumbled once at the goal line going in. They fumbled like the five. Right. Something like that. Yeah, it could be worse.

So I don't know. I think this is maybe a great opportunity for a coming out party for Bryce Underwood. You know, it's going to be a night game. People are going to be interested. You know, it's USC. It's a blue blood, blue blood matchup, right? awesome uniform matchup, by the way. I love seeing him in the big house last year.

Yeah. So it's going to be... I wish we'd wear the home uniforms out there. It's such a good color combo. It is a great color combo. But, yeah, I mean, we kind of touched on everything, man. I mean, I think to your point, and we said this multiple times, but I'm going to bring this up.

So I think in that third quarter, I think Michigan really went tempo for like the I don't know how often they're at least quick, maybe not substituting. I think you mentioned this lineup, but I think if Hogan Hanson and Marlon Klein are healthy and you've got Andrew Martian, Donovan McCloy, and then either Haynes or Marshall, you can go up tempo and you can do a lot of different things with it. You can just go straight up both tight ends in line. You can split up one of them out wide. You can have one of them be in like an offset eye.

Like you could do a lot with motion. You could really take advantage of the skill set of those guys, still be able to run the ball, the threat of passing. I think that would be an interesting, you know, kind of 12 personnel that they could go with. I want to see it so bad, buddy. I think that, you know, I mean, I think that's, we need everyone healthy. You know, Hogan Hanson seems like he's kind of been in the hurt locker all year a little bit. But I, it was a healthy scratch. They said he could have gone. Right. So I think probably that's concerned about his, right? Well, one more we get healthy, right? No, probably smart plan. I want to see that lineup. I'd love to see an up

tempo, come out of halftime, go out, you know, ideally we have the ball first coming out of the halftime, and they go up tempo with that unit, and I'll live with whatever outcome has. I just want to see it bad. I'd love to see him go up tempo for a series of that group, and then let's see how it rolls out from there. Again, I mean, this is the USC team. And that's, and that's Chip Lindsay what he wants to do. You know what I mean?

Chip Lindsay wants to play fast. So he's, it's not like he's, you know, I don't think sure Moore's going to stay in his way, although ball control may be the, this may be the game where he says, you know, the Penn State game plan. Let's take the ball out of Lincoln Riley's control and just eat up the clock. I can see that too. Yeah, I mean, this is a team now 4.8 yards per play, but gave up 377 to Georgia Southern as well. So, you know, it is very interesting. I mean, they give up 357 to Purdue on 5.3 yards per play. So this defense can be had, right? Like it's 100%. Yeah. I mean, I think DeAnseon Lynn is a really good defensive coordinator. I think last year was, you know, a bit of a year's

in terms of him coming in and, you know, cleaning off some of the stink of the previous staff. I do, I mean, I really do think he's a great coordinator. I think what he did at UCLA, he's been with the Ravens. Like, he's a guy that's going to get this defense right. I just don't know if it's this year. I don't think that they have the horses to be able to stop Michigan's run game. I think Haynes is going to, I think, here's my hot take. I think Haynes is going to go for 200.

I was going to say 150, but he's done that like four times this year. So it's like a couple times. So it's like, that seems kind of lukewarm. 125, 117, 159, 149, 104. That was close. Almost 2, yeah, yeah, right. But still, I mean, he's been pretty consistently averaging about a buck 25. He doesn't, you know, the thing is we talked about a little bit earlier is I think

some of those two-yard, three-yard runs are going to turn into four or five, six-yard runs, and then those all add up and, yeah, the dam will break. I don't think that's an outlandish prediction. He's starting to finish runs, too, right? Like, I think you've seen it a little bit, but I think I'm starting to see him fall forward more. He's becoming more physical when he finish his run. So, you know, again, to your point, you get into, you know, that's why Blake Corm's so great. Those two, three, four yards that up. You're in, you're instead of in second and seven, you're second

and three because the dude just like turned his back and started driving his legs somehow the way that Blake Horn would do. So he's obviously not Blake, but I think the way he's been running, I'm really excited to see him throughout the rest of the year. I think, you know, one thing that's interesting as we're talking about the running backs is, you know, when you have someone like Justice Haynes, you want and you, you know, love the team and love college football, you want to see him eat, right? So because he's in that Heisman conversation, all-American conversation. So you want to see him eat. But you also realize that you need to get Jordan Marshall's run. I think the really interesting thing is these last couple weeks, we've tried out two backs and two backs only, right?

And I question that because I think we have an up-and-coming star in Jasper Parker. I know they like the other guys on the roster. I think it's a mistake because Justin Haynes goes down. I think that, you know, Jess, I would have liked to see Jasper Parker these last couple games get five, six carries and 10, 11 snaps. And it's interesting that, I don't know if that's a Chip Lindsay call, Sharon Morris call, or Tony Alford call, but, you know, just an observation by me of, you know, should something happen to one of our top two guys, it'd be nice to have Jasper Parker

getting some run in these games. Yeah. I'm afraid of what that might look like. Yeah, I think, I think Haynes has kind of separated himself as very clear number one. No doubt. But then, but then, so he's playing so much. And then you want to, you know, Jordan Marshall is a guy that, you know, we want to see stick around here, right?

And so you might give him as many carries as you can late in that game. It's probably a Tony Alford decision. To your point about Jasper Parker, I obviously want to get these guys some run. I mean, it is weird because they have rotated everywhere else. Right. I mean, even if it's like, one, four, five backs, like, you know. Yeah.

But then, you know, you think about next year, Savinghan Heider coming in, it's a log jam, which is a great problem to have. Great problem. I'm assuming Haynes is off to the NFL for this year. So, yeah, I don't know what that looks like, but you just, you know, it's football. And if there's injuries, you've got to deal with it, but you just hope that you can get through unscathed. Then, I mean, hell, there's not a lot of guys that are really tackling Ames.

I mean, you know, I just talk around on finishing runs, but, like, it seems like he's just kind of getting to the end zone. You can't tackle him. So the injury risk is going down with him, knock on wood. So, yeah, man, I don't know. I think the two backs you have are two of the best in the country. I think Marshall, I think what he did against Nebraska, they kind of reintroduced himself to Michigan fans.

He had a great bowl game. Hasn't had a lot of opportunities. So I would love to see him. I think he's certainly more of the powerful of the two can, you know, really break tackles and keep going and get those extra yards. So I think that's what worked for Illinois. So I can see him getting more carry, you know, But as much as we want to see Haynes and your 200-yard prediction payoff,

I could see based on the success that they had, Illinois had, because they have Fagan that they rely on mostly. But they have a one-two punch there. And they had a lot of success, run it between the tackles and run it in the A-gap and say, hey, trying to stop this. So I can see that happen. I can see Marshall getting more run against USA. Here, I retract my prediction of 200-yard-resres against Haynes,

and I predict that there will be two 100-yard rushers for Michigan on. There we go. I like that prediction better But you know Because maybe rice I'll take you know door number one or door number two I'll take either one Yeah I'll take either of those outcomes

So right No man it's uh I think it was a good game I mean in the stadium You're just always a little bit And even when you're watching it live Like you were on TV you're just kind of like well You know you're kind of a little pissy for some reason

And then you're like think about it And you watch it back and you're like no it's good That was fine That was perfectly fine Yeah You know it was really hot Uh The maze out looked

awesome on TV they good job to the fans yeah it was it was great um love seeing the maze out i'd like to do like a stripe out it's just tough as it gets colder you know because not everybody has like i don't i mean i don't have a maze like winter wearable outerwear thing so it's like you had to do it early in the year so i don't know if they could do it against w maybe washington is a stripe out because i think the striped out looks awesome oh yeah i think it looks so cool so um you know you got to go to that so i didn't get a you know experience that of like you know making sure i have those shirts like you know because something like i've been getting my tickets at the tailgate because they've been cheaper so i was like waiting it's like well i have to bring two shirts you know um so we'll we'll see but um yeah

four and one two and o in the big 10 i'm very excited for this USC game night game eyes of yeah we have we have wolverines on saturday night primetime the lions on sunday night prime time like how could like get any better tigers tonight uh this will be up tomorrow. So we'll know if we're up to 1 or down 1-2 in the series. I wonder if that game started yet. No, it's going to start at 7. Okay. So it's going to start about 40 minutes here. But we'll see, man.

You know, you lose the school ball start. It's tough. Real tough. You battle back on top of the 8 just to give up two doubles in a row. Hockey's back here on Tuesday night. I don't know if the Red Wings play. I'm going to be honest. I've not looked at their schedule. So this is the best time of year, man. They start their season on Thursday, so they play the Maple Leafs, and then the Pistons will be back.

So I'm going to be very interested to see how the Pistons look after making the playoffs last year. You know, giving the Knicks all they could handle. Is there a better time of you, Brian, than when there is every sport on TV at the same time? You have your pick. Nirvana, dude. It's incredible. I think the only thing that rivals in is when there's like 55 straight days of football. Yeah.

Like as we get, you know, Max, and we got Bowling Green in Western Michigan on a Wednesday. night in November and it's snowing and it's cold and I'm sitting at home bundled up watching it. That's, that's, now you're talking, you know. We're getting off topic here, man. It's just a great time of year. Michigan's 4-1. The leaves are changing colors. It's finally starting to cool down up here. And, you know, we're very excited about the rest of the year. So we are. Any closing comments from you? No, I'm, this is as excited. I've been about a game as anxious as I've been because I think it's a matchup, whoever controls the, you know, styles win fights, as they say, and I think whoever kind of dictates their style is going

to have that brand here. So, you know, excited for it. Yeah, well, I want to say thank you again to Feldman Chevrolet of Highland. Thank you so much to Woodson. Whiskey. If you haven't watched the Charles Wilson, it's like six and a half minutes. It's all the time the man could give us and we're so grateful for it because he was there with his son on a college visit, doing big new kickoff, trolling Urban Meyer. So shout out and happy birthday as well to Charles Watson here on Tuesday. It was his birthday today. So shout out to the son with him, future Wolverine commit Charles Woodson Jr. with him. He was not, I don't believe he was there. I didn't see him at the

podcast. He was at the game. Yeah, he was at the game. I didn't see him when he, when Charles did the show with us. But I will, I'll leave everyone with this, Brian, and I said this on our last show and it's on the podcast. But I asked him, I said, is it hard to take off the Michigan legend hat and put on the dad hat? Or are they? you know one in the same like how does that work he's like the lines are blurred and he said that's an honest answer so many guys say so many guys say the opposite like no it's their decision like i like the honesty yeah so his son he's a four-star recruit in the 2027 class so you know good resource at home to have hey dad how do i how do i cover this this route so

but again thank you so much charles witson and witson whiskey they've been great great partners for for us this year. We'll have all their whiskey at the tailgate. And again, thank you so much to Feldman Chevrolet of Highland. For us, you can follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, at Blue by 90. Check out our podcast at YouTube, Spotify, Apple, Blue by 90. We appreciate you. Go Blue. Go Blue.