Blue By Ninety - Citrus Bowl recap and Review of the 2019 Football Season.

Episode Date: January 12, 2020

Listen to our recap of the 35-16 loss to Alabama in the Citrus bowl + our take on the whole season overall.

Welcome to Blue by 90, your Michigan football podcast. We are three dudes who talk amazing blue. I'm Kalen, joined by Nate and Jack. Heyo. What up? And we took a little bit of time off, but today we're going to start off recapping the Michigan vs. Alabama Verbo Citrus Bowl, where we kind of got shellacked, guys. I think the final score was 35-16. Sounds right. Yeah, trying to forget it. What do you guys think about that game? I am so glad that Shea Patterson is gone.

That is my thought of the game. There were rumors that he technically could in his freshman year. I sure hope not That is my thought of the game He had at least 7 overthrows To wide open receivers That I mean

Would have gained Bunch of yards after the catch And would have set up the run better in the second half And even the first half The run game was terrific And they just steered away from it in the second half Let's try to first half, the run game was terrific, and they just steered away from that second half. Let's try to bring it back to the kind of highlights of it, right?

There were some good things that happened there, right? The game kicked off. Giles Jackson, 50-yard return. Young guy. Right? That was pretty cool. I was hyped up. I was off the couch, ready to go, right?

He slipped. He slipped right away, and I was like, oh, shit. He gets to the 50. I'm like, okay, here we go. Got something. Nice little flea flicker style toss back. Shea to DPJ, 32 yards or something like that. Creative play.

That was kind of a cool little play, right? So, I mean, overall, there was some good stuff to see in the first half. Pretty much that was the only place in the game where there was good stuff to see, right? Nordean, man, was 3-for-3. That's a first. I know I'm shocked, but yes. That was very good to see. He's coming back, I think.

That's a positive. In terms of the lowlights in that game, second half, the moment Alabama stepped out on offense, it was pretty much downhill, right? One offensive play from Alabama, 75-yard pass. They're up 7-0.

Jerry Judy had a career day on us, right? Over 200 yards. Yeah, it was something like 230 yards. I mean, second half was the Najee Harris show. We literally couldn't stop him. I think he carried the ball every down for like 75 yards. And then, Jack, you already said it. Shays overthrows multiple receiver drops.

We just couldn't get it together, it seemed like, in the second half. We ended up getting shut out, right? Yeah. Nate, any thoughts about the Alabama game? I mean, I thought it was a solid game, but it's just when Shea can't connect on any of those passes, it pretty much ruined any ability for them to try and get some of these drives rolling and get going, and then maybe it would set up the run a little bit. Maybe they could start spreading the ball out a little bit.

But, I mean, he just misses every single deep ball. And there's really, I mean, if you can't connect on seven of them, like at least two of those would have kept the drive going. It's the inconsistency that killed us all year. Yeah. I mean, yeah, this game almost was the story of the entire year, right? I mean. We're able to run the ball dominantly at points in the season.

Yeah. And then Shea couldn't hit a deep ball. Shea's feet got, you know, he got antsy, had feet. And... Yeah, it's like the... Big plays on defense. Exactly. Yeah.

Letting up big plays on defense. I mean, this game is a perfect way to wrap up the season. Yeah. Does anybody have anything else to say about this game? Because it's almost just like what you saw was the product. McGrone. Monster. Cam McGrone.

Dude, I love Cam McGrone. He's Devin Bush 2.0. I know I've said this like multiple times. God, like that dude just like keeps like busting his ass. You know, dude, Aiden Hutchinson I thought had a great game and seemed to like get that, set that edge like pretty well. So I think even despite Jerry Judy making a lot of these deep plays, you know, they just had two guys who were studs on their team, right?

Actually Najee and Judy. And then other than that, I feel like we were able to compete with Bama. I think some of the young guys who got an opportunity early, especially early in that game, like Chris Hinton, you saw the kind of difference they can make. Right. Because we were able to stop the run, for the most part, in the first half. And so that was huge.

If we could play like that against an Ohio State in a regular season, that would be massive for our team. Yeah, I think we kind of all agree that the young guys stepped up in the bowl game and that was awesome to see. Charles Jackson, the guys that have grown, Hutchinson. It was great to see the young guys do well, especially guys that are going to be coming back

next year and the guys that were liabilities are going to be gone which is great yeah like do you do you guys think

that if we had any other quarterback in that game like who could hit some deep balls and just be like

pretty consistent like who's the Notre Dame quarterback Ian Book Ian Book. Ian Book. It would have gone four quarters. It would have gone four quarters, yeah.

100%. 100%. He's just so inconsistent, man. He's so inconsistent. I remember somebody, I think you sent something from an Instagram account. It was like college football flashbacks, something about the highlights of the year, and it showed the big hit that McCaffrey took that was targeting against Wisconsin. And that was like – that could have been a turning point in the season

where he could have taken over that team. And he got hurt, and Shea went back in. I mean, it was something where Shea kind of turned it around after that game, but that could have been a game where, you know, McCaffrey could have been the starter for the remainder of the year if that didn't happen. So, I mean, we could have seen a different outlook. I mean, but it's crazy to look at.

It's crazy to think about. And I do believe if we had, you know, one of those guys for the entire year at starting quarterback, just because I feel like they played a more consistent level, it would have been a different game. And I'm not saying that we would have won the Bama game, but it would have been so much closer. And I feel like the first half we were up.

We were up at half. Right, but it was the Bama game, but it would have been so much closer. I feel like the first half we were up. We were up at half. Right, but it was the same old story, right? Can't finish drives in the red zone, and then whatever. I don't even know what to call the second half, because when you're getting shut out, and you can't stop the other team's offense, and their defense is smothering you to the point where you

have not even a semblance of a pulse. It's like, is this even a game anymore? Like, what's going on? It felt like a scrimmage in the, like, end of the third quarter. Right. It was like, they don't even want to play, it feels like. So, that's just frustrating as a fan to see that kind of, the season end that way, you know. But, life as a Michigan fan goes on yeah so I mean I think that

game was a really good way I'm going to segue here into that game was a very good representation of what the entire season was right so I kind of like to talk a little bit about how do we reflect on this season and this particular team? Just kind of general thoughts. I'll go positives. I'll go positives. We've said enough negatives. Gattis, I think we can all feel comfortable going into next season now with him as our OC.

I agree. So that was good to see, reflecting on this past year. Young guys, seeing the young guys kind of step up, Hinton getting some time on the D-line, being able to get some more big bodies out there. Hopefully Mozzie Smith will be ready next year. McGrone having a good year.

Our young receivers, we know we've got a bright future for that now coming up. Even Dax Hill, man. I thought Dax did a great job this year. He stepped up and looked real good. Ended up being a starter end of the year, right? So being able to look back at the young guys and see what we have for the future coming up

was really good to see. And then now I'm going to go back to a negative. Don Brown, two years in a row. Letting up 50-plus for Ohio State. I mean, it's just hard to see. He's letting up big plays against good teams and just in general

can't seem to stop the good teams. And you just can't do that at Michigan. You just can't do that if you want to be elite, which is what we claim to be. If you're looking to hit those expectations that are in front of you, that can't happen.

If you just want to hit those expectations that are in front of you, that can't happen. If you just want to be good, then who cares? Just keep doing what we're doing. Any input? If this continues in the third year of him being the D.C., He's gone. He's fired right after that. Actually, I think this is his fourth year. If it's another season like this where you have games that start like the Penn State game or like the Ohio State game, then I don't know what to say.

I mean, that just cannot continue. And even in the Alabama game, you're just like, oh my gosh, again. Can we just do prevent defense to start the game? Like, for real. Right, because you can't start on that kind of a note, right? Yeah, I'd say ultimately, right, if you're going to look at the whole season, it's unfortunately, but truthfully, it's considered a failure because we couldn't beat Ohio State and we couldn't even win our bowl game, right?

Yeah. And unfortunately, that's kind of the standard at Michigan, right? Well, third year in a row, right? We've lost our last, or fourth year in a row? We've lost our last two games of the year? Yeah. But I think the season showed, like, nothing could work right at the beginning of the season, but as it progressed, you saw the team definitely grow and get better,

and they at least gave us some hope maybe for next year. And I think everybody recognizes that this season was kind of a developmental year. I think people's expectations going in were like, we're going to be so great. We're going to be awesome. Kicked to win the Big Ten. All that. So much hype. Anytime you go into a Michigan season, you just have to go like,

let's just quit all the crap before the year. There's going to be the hype train. And let's just see what they do. And that's what I'm excited for next year. Not to go too much into it. But new quarterback. We don't know who it is yet. Young guys. There's going to be no'm excited for next year, not to go too much into it. But new quarterback, we don't know who it is yet. Young guys.

There's going to be no hype for Michigan next year. And I'm very excited about that. That's what I'm excited about too. I thought it was really interesting. You guys know Chris Fowler, ESPN reporter. He said, somebody asked him about Michigan, and he said, well, nobody's going to pick them next year, which I think is exactly what they need.

It gives the whole program a clean slate. Nobody's going to be like, oh, Michigan's going to win it all, blah, blah, blah. So the kids get an opportunity to kind of write their own story, which is exactly what this team needs. Does that agree? Yeah. But ultimately, due to early struggles on offense, I mean, it, due to, like, kind of early struggles on offense, I mean, it hindered us going forward.

Defense, just my opinion, didn't have the right bodies to kind of beat elite. They couldn't stop the run. The run set up the pass, and they just got kind of dogged by these really good teams. So I don't know what you guys think the key to kind of improvement is here. I mean, it just seems like you need to develop, you know, talent at all position groups. And like you said, his body is, you know, on the field. So, I mean, we're getting killed by the run, which then turns into getting killed by the pass.

And it's just, you know, we're getting murdered out there. So, again, not looking too far into next year, but having, hopefully, Mozzie Smith and Chris Hinton ready on the D-line with Aiden Hutchinson there, Quiddy Paye there, we should have a good, hopefully, two big guys in the middle to kind of help that out and move forward

and then help out with everything else. That would be huge. And hopefully just a general improvement on that D-line, right? Because we're going to have some young guys. We'll get into that in a different episode. But what was your best moment of the season? Best moment of the season? That's a tough one.

Yeah, it's tough, right? Do you have one off the top of your head? I would just say just beating Michigan State and knowing that it was like, okay, they're just done. They're like little reign of... Their period of time that they had

where they were a good team, it's done now. And things are back at least to the way that... It should be in the state. It should be. I think actually the highlight for me was just the annihilation of Notre Dame. That was so unexpected.

For me, when I saw that, I was like, this team gets it. Whatever was the problem, because we had just gone through that whole period of like, oh, Shea can't hold on to the ball. All these issues, blah, blah, blah. And then all of a sudden it just clicked. Hassan Haskins was running. And I was just like, whoa, what happened overnight? This team just is bullying supposedly an elite team. Yeah, there was that point where Gattis came on the field, I think.

What game was that? That was Rutgers. That was Rutgers, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, after the Rutgers. That was Rutgers, right? Oh, after the Wisconsin game. Do you have a moment for the season, Jay? I'd say, not to say the same thing, but kind of piggyback off what you said,

Haskins, kind of coming out of nowhere and establishing himself as a top two running back on the team was really, I mean, it's great to just, again, be like, you know, Michigan's overhyped every year, we can never meet expectations, and there's this guy that there's no expectation for, kind of comes out and stands for himself as a leader and a top rusher on the teams.

That had to be my top moment. I think another, like, sleeper moment, which kind of comes behind, is any time Michael Barrett was on the field with the ball in his hand. It's exciting. Yeah. Even though it's very few, those are like two places, but they were so sweet.

Dude, Giles Jackson as a returner just was like, whoa. That was really positive. That return against Maryland or whatever it was. Yeah. Get off the game. Yeah, that was sweet. That was awesome? Yeah. To get off the game? Yeah. That was sweet. That was awesome.

Yeah. I have some overall grades for offense, defense, some different position groups and stuff like that. Do you guys want to go through them? Let's do it. Let's hear what you got to say, yeah. All right. Well, so I was thinking about QBs, right? The QB room in general, they weren't bad.

Bad would be like, you know. Rutgers. Rutgers, right? So they don't get a D or anything, but I give them a C+. I think they were kind of just above average because there were so many drops from Shea, so many issues about not taking in on the read option, missing deep balls. There were so many issues, but taking in on the read option, missing deep balls.

There were so many issues, but they were just good enough to win against the Notre Dames even and the Michigan States. He had a great second half against Penn State. He did have. It's just the inconsistency, right? Flashes of brilliance, but also just too inconsistent. Running backs.

I give them a B-. What do you guys think about that? Yeah, I mean, B, B-. I mean, like I said, like, Haskins kind of came out of nowhere. Charbonnet was solid all year. I mean, it depends a lot on the O-line, which I think played well, which I'm sure we'll hear that grade coming up. But, I mean, I agree.

I think they did as good as they can. I would say B too. Especially because they're so young. I'm not going to say they were amazing. I would say B generally was like, this is

a good running back crew. I honestly think that... And they have depth. They have depth now. I think kind of going forward, I see that grade improving. Potentially a lot. At the beginning of the season, it was like, yeah, this is going to be the one area that's lacking the most.

Yeah, because we weren't really sure. We thought Christian Turner was going to be the starter, right? And then Drew Wilson, and then they kind of both fell off. Took a back seat. But even with, you have Haskins and Charbonnet, even Drew could go in there and make some plays. He had a couple of jukes, and I think he... He had a couple of tough rounds.

Illinois, I think he played pretty well. Yeah. But yeah, I mean, overall, I was kind of like, they're pretty good. They just didn't perform at that elite level. They're not, you know, Travis Etienne or nothing. Right, they're not part of the Clemson, Bama, Ohio State. There's no J.K. Dobbins. Nothing crazy, yeah.

Now, the O-line, I give them an A-. I think they performed very well. They just didn't have the players around them to make you go like, whoa, the O-line's doing really good. Right, nothing to make them really shine. But, I mean the O-line's doing really good. Nothing to make them really shine. I mean, that Ohio State game really made where it clicks for me. I was like, damn, this is like, they held their own as they needed to.

They gave Shea enough time to make plays. They gave everybody else enough time to make the plays they're supposed to make. They were able to hold Chase Young. That was the one game where I was so nervous going into it because it was like, oh crap, if he has a couple big moments, he has a shot to win Heisman as a defensive player. And that would have just crippled me. I mean, they even held their own at that Penn State whiteout, right? With the big DM, that Gross Matos guy at Penn State.

I mean, I think he had one sack in that game, which is pretty good considering. I think they deserve a lot of credit for this year. Yeah, they did great. Ed Warner did a great job. So I'm looking forward to what they got going forward. Wide receivers. I give them a B.

I think the wide receivers were good in general, and we saw some guys break out like Ronnie Bell or even like kind of Saner still and Giles Jackson, right? Nico had a good year. I think DPJ didn't live up to his hype, but, I mean, he was still good to have him out there. I feel like there's, for me, there's guys where it's like overall maybe like B-

and some guys were like C, other guys were like A. I would say like for the young guys like Sanders, Stoneman, Giles, Jackson, like dude, they were – They killed it. They killed it way above any expectations I had going into the season. And then guys like DBJ, it was like, dude, we're... I know he was hurt at the beginning of the year, but it's like, it just seemed like he was dropping balls. He was dropping balls, yeah.

And guys like Tariq were pretty much... Didn't have any... No way. Non-factor. Non-factor. But I think guys like... It's like Ronnie, I would give him a B, but he definitely needs to work on some of his hands, dude, because he dropped some balls.

He dropped some important balls. Yeah, I mean, I'll agree. I'm going to say B-. Just inconsistency, dropped balls in big games. I mean, obviously, Ronnie Bell against Penn State. Love the guy, but it was a touchdown pass that was right in your gut. And Ohio State, I mean, too many drop balls. That could have been a way closer game than it was.

But we had a lot of talent. Like you guys said, DPJ never really lived up to the hype of his career at Michigan. Never mind. But yes. Do you want to talk about it? Okay, there's... This is mine. I want to talk about the guys who are

leaving. My opinion and number one, I'll say this. If a guy wants to go to the pros, I'll support it. You can do what you want. Hey, I don't understand maybe your financial situation, so do you and go to the NFL if you want to. But I do think that we've seen guys who go to the NFL early and then it doesn't pan out because I think there's this whole notion of like, yeah, I'm the best player on my team. And then you go to the NFL draft and you're like, oh my God, there's all

these other dudes here. And I think having that extra year is a really huge benefit. I think Chase Winovich getting drafted in the third round, he would have been maybe like a fifth or sixth round pick had he had left his senior year and not stayed for a fifth year. Like there is always the chance that you're going to get hurt, right? But there's also the chance that you go to the NFL, day one you get hurt, right? Like, I think that it is more beneficial to get the experience as much as you can, learn as much as you can, get yourself a higher draft pick. And the whole point to me sometimes of college football is to, like, learn these skills as best as you can, work as hard as you can. Build your weight up as much as you can so that when you go into the pros, it's smooth. But if you just go in too early, you might be rushing it, and then it could end up being bad. And I hope it's not for both of these guys because I definitely really like them as players.

But I really just think that they should have stayed for a senior year. I think DBJ really has stayed for a senior year. I think DBJ really has not shown us really anything. And is he a good player? Yeah, he's a great player. But is he, like, you know, best wide receiver in his class, five-star? Like, no, he was not that. Like, we can all say that, honestly, he was not up to that amount. I think Nico and Ronnie were bigger impacts throughout the entire season.

And then guys like Cesar, it's like, again, you're going to be a fifth-round draft pick, but you have more potential. Right now he's rated as the fourth center in the draft, but there's no guarantee you can take a second, third-round pick. And if you're getting taken in the fifth round, there's no guarantee you get taken second, third round pick. And if you're, if you're getting taken in the fifth round, there's no even guarantee that you even make the cut. Like if you're a second round pick, which you could be, if you stay another season, then you have more ability to ensure that you'll be on the team for one year. Right? I just, I do. This is,

it just really upset me that these guys decided to leave early and I'll I'll say hey man I wish you the best but I thought that they should have stayed another year and that's just my thoughts on it yeah I mean just to play some devil's advocate in terms of DPJ like you're saying like he wasn't a big playmaker and things like that but we also talk a lot of smack about who's throwing the ball to him. That's true, yeah. So, I mean, do you think that maybe in the NFL, they always talk about DPJ, he's got an NFL-ready body,

he's basically a clone of Julio Jones, all these kinds of things. Do you think, okay, now we put him on the Seahawks with DK Metcalf next to him and Russell Wilson throwing the ball to him. All of a sudden, DPJ starts putting up monster numbers. What do you say about something like that? The reason I don't believe that would be the case, I hope it is for him,

is guys like Ronnie Bell and Nico Collins were still able to stand out with Shea Patterson, the quarterback. Yeah. And to go back to kind of what you said about, you know, you can come back the next year and like improve and get better and like you understand you know there is always a concern you might get hurt if you you know you don't go to draft but if you do go to draft and you get hurt that first year in the NFL you're still getting paid you got like luckily you got you got your paycheck so yeah I'm you. I think DPJ should have came back.

Personally, I believe he didn't really prove anything. I think having him on punt return, honestly, I think hurt him more than anything. Yeah, I agree. He did not do a great job at that at all. It really was like, wow. Is he even talented? Now that I think about it, it's easy to say that because some things in my mind stand out when he made mistakes.

But when I think about it a little harder, there's a lot of times where he made some really awesome plays. Against what teams? I only remember against the really shitty teams. He made nice plays. There's times where he's out there and he's stuck in space and he doesn't know where to go. I was never a huge fan of DPJ.

I mean, I like him as a kid. I mean, it sounds like, I mean, I'm glad he's winning the NFL. He's going to get paid. Wish him the best. All that good stuff. But I'm with you. I think he could have improved a lot with a second-year system with Josh Gattis having a more solid quarterback

where maybe he's getting better balls and he can have a bigger year. And maybe he could have been like a, who knows? I mean, if he's being compared to Julio Jones and he has a great senior year, maybe he's a top 15 pick. So I think he could have drastically improved his draft stock. But again, you never know if you're going to get hurt. Get paid while you can.

The thing is, though, that paycheck, say you get hurt maybe day one, I don't know all the amount of money. But if you're a second rounder or a first rounder and you get hurt, you're guaranteed you're going to be on the team. And guaranteed probably next year. They're not going to say, oh, we spent a second round guy. A second rounder on this guy. You're a fifth-rounder.

Right. You're a fifth-rounder. Even if you're in the fifth round and, say, you're making, like, $500,000 or $600,000, like, I mean, yeah, that's good money. But that's not, like, life-lasting money. Right. Where it's, like, if you go to the, if you get second or first round, like, and you're smart with your money,

you're done. You're set. But if you get $600,000, like, and you don't have plans, or you don't have a degree, good luck, dude. So I think, like,

it does, and I want to say this too, the draft this year has a ton of wide receivers. It's known this year as being one of the most, one of the best drafts to get a wide receiver in. There's so much depth at that position this year. That's where it goes like, you're not even now in the top five.

Who are the top three wide receivers in this class? Judy, Jefferson. Jamar Chase. Is he gone after this year? From LSU. I think he's a sophomore. Chase is a dude from Texas. Oh, yeah.

I think there's two guys from Alabama. Johnson or whatever from Texas. Everybody in Alabama? Anybody who wants to go to the draft? Would you take DPJ or would you take Waddle? Waddle's the number four. Oh, 100%. I'd take Waddle.

Right? He's such a great return guy, right? Right. Judy. I mean, like, dude, it's like I'm just disappointed because I feel like, you know, these guys have so much potential. And I feel like they're just – they could have gotten more out of one year. And I just always want – that's just my opinion though. I love your sales pitch for like, come to Michigan and stay here for the extra year.

Don't go to the NFL just yet. And it's not even the extra year for like, well, you know, these guys should get a degree and they should blah, blah, blah. Like, screw the degree. It doesn't they should blah, blah, blah. Like, screw the degree. It doesn't matter. Like, whatever, dude. It doesn't matter. Yeah. Like, seriously, it does not matter.

Like, you're not getting a degree that's going to be worthwhile anyways because you're going to be spending your whole time in football. Yeah. Right? True. So if you're going to be getting a degree in football, you might as well stay four years and get that degree in football.

And you're talking about the guys that have the opportunity to improve. Improve. Exactly. Guys like Judy, go. Yeah, go. You're the best. If you're going to be a first round pick, even guys like Jabril, you go like, that was a smart choice.

He was a first round, solid pick, done. I think Nick Saban said what he always tells his players is, if you're not going to be a first round pick, come back. Yeah. If I think that you can be, then always tells his players is, if you're not going to be a first-round pick, come back. If I think that you can be, then I tell you, you should probably go. Which I think is great advice. Because that makes total sense, right? So, 100% agree with you. We're getting off track.

Onside, let's go. What do we got? That's good stuff because we're going to come back to it in another episode. But anyway, so we were talking about wide receivers. Overall, I give the whole offense a B- on the season. I think that, you know, they started off slow, but they picked it up and they showed some glimpses where I was like, whoa, this offense can be high-powered.

This offense can be really good, but they just need to, you know, dot the I's, cross the T's. All of a sudden, they got an A, right? I don't know if there's any takes on that. Let's move on. We can all agree. Offense beginning of season F. Yes. F.

Yeah, I can agree with that too. Right? At the end of the season like C plus B. Oh, okay. Besides the one position. How do you round out the offense? What's your total offense grade whole season?

Oh, dude. I don't know. I like C. Probably C. Okay. I give it a C plus. Average. Okay.

Yeah. And then, okay, moving on to the defense. I give the defensive C+. Average. Okay, yeah. And then, okay, moving on to the defense. I give the defensive line a C+. Because I only like Aiden Hutchinson. Aiden Hutchinson's flying around the field. He's making plays. He's batting balls. I'm like, dude, this guy is a monster.

Everybody else, I don't even really know their name. Yeah, dude, I didn't hear much from Carlo Kemp at all this year. No. There's so much room for improvement in the defensive line. Why are we running three guys up front and then bringing a linebacker in? I don't know. Defensive line can improve. Put Chris Hinton on there and let him gain 25 pounds

and just stand in front of dobbins or something that's the thing to note though too is that he's a freshman usually like we've seen michigan post those uh a lot of the players posted you know their like weight gain throughout the season it was like i remember it was like joe milton yeah it was like 215 now it's 245 like holy crap like to think about a guy like Chris Hinton who's already big, maybe he'd get bigger in his first offseason. Maybe we can get some guys who are getting close, pushing 300 pounds. That would be huge.

We need it, right? Linebackers. I say linebackers B. I thought Josh Uche did a good job. Who else am I? McGroan. McGroan. I thought McGroan was just a...

Glasgow was running like he's in molasses, but he was decent enough. Glasgow, he gets some flack, but, I mean, the guy's got a high motor. He's out there, you know. Plays hard. Dude, his pump block this season was insane. That was great. I feel like that guy, he'll get on an NFL team and he'll just be such a hard worker. And he'll be playing on special teams.

You know who he reminds me of? Chase Winovich. He's just a guy who's just all in. Bust his ass. You say jump, he says how high, and then he doesn't do it, but he tries. I'm with you.

I give you a B for linebackers. Glasgow worked his ass off. I think all those guys worked their ass off all season long. It's really sad to see Josh Ross get hurt, but it is a positive that we got him next year. I think he's going to do a great job. Hopefully he stays healthy.

He got Wally pipped, right? Wally pipped, yeah. Well, he's going to have a role on the team next year. Oh, for sure. He's going to find a spot for him, for sure. With Kalik and Glasscar being gone, too. I mean, he's going to be in the regular rotation. Corners.

I give Corners a B-. I think they did fine but they you know they got burned on some big plays out of position stuff like that

and I think it has something to do with the scheme they're calling it's hard to grade those kinds of things they most of the time

I feel like they're doing their job but when they're not doing their job you see it right everybody takes advantage of it. Right.

But I'm excited to see more of Vincent Gray next year. Yeah, I think that's it. He had some bright spots early on in the year. Yeah. Yeah. But moving on to the safeties, I give safeties a B. I'm tired of seeing the back of Metellus' jersey. And I think he's going to be gone.

I think he's a senior. Although he did have some good plays this year. He, yeah, I mean... But when it comes to, like, playing against

elite players, like, it's... Well, yeah, I mean, KJ Hamler, I'm reading Metellus' number off, you know, that kind of stuff.

I'd give him a C+. I'd say they're above average, but yeah, too many times we're getting burned. Deep balls, I mean. And that C+. I'd say they're above average, but yeah, too many times we're getting burned. Deep balls. I mean, killing us.

And that's where I struggle, too, because like you're saying, it's a scheme. They're going. It could be anything. So it's hard to grade. I give them defense overall. C+, B-, somewhere kind of in between that. You know, same old story. We beat up on crappy teams, and we can't beat really good elite

teams so something needs to change yeah um moving into some coaching oc i give them a b minus gaddis you know we already kind of touched on this struggled early came back and showed some good things um i think after a year of people learning the system developing talent bringing in some guys that match his scheme i think next year will be the real kind of bright spot hopefully knocking on something and i think too his argument at the beginning of the season was that there was poor execution. And I think we can say, yeah, he was probably a little bit right on some of that. There were some bad play calls, but there was some bad execution, man. But the play calling, I believe, improved throughout the year.

I think so. Drastically. But the execution was just something that could never really get ironed out. So I give Gattis a, I mean, if he could have, if play calling looked as good at the end of the year as it did, or at the beginning of the year as it did at the end of the year, I'd give him A-. Yeah, I think it's one of those things where he became, like people became more comfortable with him calling plays,

and he also became more comfortable with the players, right? Yeah. Where he felt trust, you know, okay, I'll give Hassan the ball. I'll give Ronnie the ball. Those kinds of things. That makes me excited for next year. Right, exactly. Honestly, offense I think can really only go up.

Unless we have a solid quarterback back there, we'll be good. Defensive coordinator, I'm giving them a C. Like we're saying, It's the same story. It's the same story over and over, yeah. It's tough. What was the story we were talking about? That he needs a co-OC to, like, reel him in, right?

I'm all for that, so whatever. I got my Jimmy grade. Jim Harbaugh, I give him a C+. I give him a plus because he had to hire Gattis, but he gets a C because he's just doing an average job, in my opinion. Any thoughts? God, so I still love Harbaugh. I don't want anybody else right now.

Yes. But I don't know. I'm fine with what he's doing. I'll give him a B. Gattis was a great hire. Gattis was a great hire. That's why I gave him the plus. I think maybe he needs to get ballsy

and make a decision on Don Brown. And I think maybe it takes next year and if Don Brown can't figure it out against Ohio State for a third year in a row, I think that's something where you've got to cut him even before the bowl game. Just, you know. You've just got to nip it in the bud. Nip it in the bud. Like, sorry you're not

doing what we need you to do. Yeah, well. And again, I'm not a guy to like, hey, get rid of him, get rid of him. But it's like, you know, that's the expectation that we're kind of shooting for, right? Like, you don't even give us an opportunity to win. Yeah.

50-plus points. We've had five years to figure it out. You know, it's tough. Like you said, we're taking advantage of the mediocre teams, but once you play a good team, you can't keep it close. So, yeah. I think some of the, there was points in this season, like, during the games, like, why are they calling a timeout, like, the games, like why are they calling a timeout like now?

Like what are they doing? Like or it was like you're not even – like play number one at Penn State, they weren't even ready. They went out there and they had to call a timeout. I think it was a delay game. Delay game. Delay game. And there was another game where they had to call a timeout at the beginning.

I'm just like how are we not ready? Like that stuff pisses me off. It's scripted. And there was another game where they had to call a timeout ready at the beginning. I'm just like, how are we not ready? Like, that stuff pisses me off. Before the first 15 plays, it should be scripted, right? I mean, that stuff is tough at Penn State where it's so loud, and I understand some of that. But I'm also like, you know you're going to Penn State. You know there's a whiteout, and it's going to be loud. Why are we not? First play of the game.

We should be in Glick Fieldhouse with the speakers maxed out. Yeah. Practicing, right? Yeah. So, like, some of that stuff, you know. But you give Jim a B-? B-. I thought he did the best job he could with some of the, well, not the best job.

I would say, like, it was okay. It wasn't great um but there were some limitations alright and I don't think

that's all on him overall grade on this year Jack C plus okay Nate

I'm gonna go B minus I went B minus as well only reason I went B- was I said, well, you know what? Jim has now, in my opinion, established we can beat Michigan State. And we can beat them soundly every year going forward.

I have to feel comfortable saying that. So I'm like, that's one rival down. And now we beat Notre Dame. If we can start making that a habit, that would be two rivals down, right? And it's that last hump. It's that last, okay, now we've got to beat Ohio State. And if he could beat all three next year, I don't know if we'd play Notre Dame next year. Not until 2033.

Got a few years in between. If we could beat Penn know Penn State, Wisconsin that would be big and Michigan State and beat Ohio State next year then I would be like if we can compete

in the Big Ten at least up to Ohio State right then it's something right but Ohio State still needs to be something that we need to

be able to accomplish right but my expectations for next year not that they beat Ohio State my hope for next year, not that they beat Ohio State, my hope for next year would be like, okay, they beat Penn State, Wisconsin, and Michigan State, and they play a close game against Ohio State.

Like, I would be satisfied with that. Well, we kind of, we got close to that last year, right? We beat Wisconsin, Penn State, Michigan State. Yeah, then we got crapped up. And then we got destroyed by Ohio State. But he's kind of been tiptoeing that line where he's kind of like, well, I can beat a lot of these teams most of the time. Some of the rivals have kind of turned the tide on,

and I just need to build that consistency and then compete with the elite teams. That's a hard hurdle to jump, but that's where we're at. One thing, and I know we already touched on the young talent, but when it comes to Jim and the team, the recruiting class from this year that came in, they did a great job. I would rank them pretty highly overall. We had so many guys, freshmen, having roles on our team for the first time in a long time right yeah like first time a long time it always felt like yeah freshmen came in they red shirted they maybe

played a little bit and then junior year they were starters but this year i was like oh there's dax hill you know blowing up someone on punt return. There's so-and-so, right? That feels great. And I think that actually does really well for our recruiting going forward where it's like, if you're good, you'll play. You can play right away, yeah. Yeah.

So hopefully we see that go somewhere. But otherwise, yeah, B-minus, C-plus on the season. It's kind of unfortunate. Final record was what, 9-4? 9-4. But, dude, we got Bama in the bowl game. Penn State gets Memphis. Dude, we should have just won another game.

We would have played Memphis. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Dude, you had a better season and then got rewarded with a easy fucking bowl game or you could have played

a USC like Iowa right yeah and Iowa ran through them yeah that was shocking to me

I picked USC in that game I thought Keaton Slovis was about to throw all over Iowa but but the thing about that bowl game when we were playing Alabama

I was like we're pretty like, we're pretty good. Like, we're pretty good. Yeah, we look all right. We just can't get things in sync for a full game where it's, you know. That's where it's tough, right? I mean, that last step, it's so crucial, but it's the most difficult part, right? I was listening to the Indiana-Tennessee, I was watching that game, that bowl game, and the guy made a comment that said every one of these teams is always trying to get over that hump,

and they always seem to have issues, right? Indiana can't win a bowl game. They've been to the bowl game. They're up in that game by 15 points with five minutes left in the 4th quarter something like that and they lost. They couldn't get over the hump. So it's like you've got teams like Indiana that can't get over the hump.

Tennessee I guess can't get over the hump but there's all these different teams out there that just can't make that extra step. And I feel like michigan is so close right and so and they just they and they can't take that episode i agree with you uh it's almost like oklahoma right they're on the similar by principle right only their last step is winning college football playoff right they make the game, they can have a Heisman

QB with top-round draft pick receivers. Their defense is suspect, but they just can't, whether it's Georgia, whether it's LSU. Yeah.

Stuff like that. Now we're talking about bowl games. What do you guys got for the natty. Yeah. Yeah, stuff like that. Well, now we're talking about bowl games. What do you guys got for the natty? Yeah. I got LSU, honestly, but don't sleep on Clemson, you know? Yeah. Dude, I have no idea. I don't know.

I just hope it's a good game. I really could give a crap. What do you got? I got Clemson, man. You got Clemson? I got Clemson. Wow. I got Clemson? I got Clemson. Wow. I think I'm going to go Trevor Lawrence train.

After seeing them beat Ohio State, it's hard to go against them just because they've got the experience of being there. They have Trevor Lawrence. They've got such a talented team. I don't know. Kingsden, Baton Rouge, too. I know. It's a home game for LSU.

It's a home game for LSU. I don't know. I think Dabo does something with that team, man, where he gets them ready to play. It's going to be a great day for the state of Louisiana. Dude, I don't like that. Oh, I love him. Dude, I don't like him at all, man. I changed my mind on him.

He just seems obnoxious. Yeah, a flip-flopper. Oh, my goodness. Dude, the whole, like, roll tide, what the? Yeah. I loved it. Oh, my God. I liked it. Roll Tide, what the, like, I loved it. Oh my God. I liked it,

but then it changed my mind on it. It never should have been, like, he didn't know that. Yeah, it shouldn't have been out there, right? You know?

But also like, it's not like he's like, hey, hey, record this. Yeah, I know. But,

I mean, if we beat Ohio State, I'd be like, you know, and I was the coach, if I was Jim, I'd be like, go Bucs what?

Yeah, go Bucs what? Yeah. I don't know. No, I mean, I'd be like, go Bucs what? Yeah, go Bucs what? I don't know. No, I mean, I think it'll be a good game. I think, I don't know what the score will be. That's a tough one. I think it'll be high scoring. I think it'll be like 30s, 40s.

Yeah, something like that. 40-something to 30-something. I agree with that. I don't think anybody's going to just clobber the other guy. No, I don't think it'll be a blowout by any means. I think it'll be a shootout. 35 to like 33 or something. You think like Burrow will throw like two or three picks or something like that?

I don't know if it'll be a sloppy game. Something out of character for either team? I don't know. Dude, they both just seem so like, they both seem so dominant, right? Right. They're always very in control of the game, both of them. Yeah. And just play a very clean game.

Well, it seemed like Clemson had a slow start against Ohio State, and then they kind of picked it up. Picked it up, put it together. Some people would say that they got some calls. Yeah. That's if you're at Scarlet and Gray.

Yeah. And I think that targeting call is bullshit. Yeah. I'm 100% and I think that was the worst call ever. What with that fumble too?

Or what did they... Yeah, the guy clearly caught it, had possession and Okuda knocked it out and they took him back for a touchdown. I don't know. And it was ruled on the field that it was a catch and a fumble. How they overturned that amazes me.

Dude, here's what they were saying, though. Amazes me. Based on the rules, he didn't make a football move. Like, that's how it's determined. Right? So since he didn't make a football move, but here's the thing, if you look at it

in slow motion, yeah, it's a catch. It's a fumble. If you look at it, like, at real time, it was like, catch, hit,

and he didn't even have the opportunity to, like, make any sort of move. It was literally like, because the guy was on him. So it's my fault

for covering you well? Yeah. Right? Like, that's horrible. But that being said, the Ohio State fan base wants to complain about all those rules. Where's my JT was short? Oh, you know? 100%.

Where's the, like, slapping the ass of J.K. Dobbins as he's walking out of bounds? So I'm like, you know what? You got it. You got what you had coming to you because we got screwed in that game. Yeah. And like all the other games. They only like the rules

when they benefit them. Yeah. But to look at it neutrally, they were awful calls. I'm glad it happened to Ohio State. I don't think they were the wrong call. I just think that the scenario, well, technically,

it was targeting. Like, he did lower the crown of his helmet and hit him on the head. He didn't launch. He literally was like, it looked like he was giving him a hug and accidentally hit. Like, it was, that was awful. I don't know. Maybe roughing. Maybe roughing.

His, like, head hit first, I think, right? And then he wrapped him up. But, like, it was, it's one of those things where you go like, if it was 15 years ago, it would have been like, yeah, great call. They just have to call it now. Here you go. And that's unfortunate.

It's unfortunate. Or they reviewed it, right? And it was like, even now it's like, you can't. Well, all right. We'll try to wrap it up here. So we're recording on Friday. The national championship game will be Monday night. And then I think either next weekend or the weekend after,

we'll try to make another episode talking about recruiting, some general news, recapping the national championship game, and just some, you know, maybe we'll transition to basketball even. Who knows? We'll just look forward to next year. So keep an eye out for our next episode. Follow us on all social media. If you have any comments or anything like that, we read the comments,

so please leave a comment, like, share, subscribe, all that good stuff. Other than that, go blue. Go blue. Go blue.