Blue By Ninety - E86: 63-10

Episode Date: September 20, 2021

Down goes Rocky! Michigan beats NIU 63-10 and continue to run the ball down opposing teams' throats. The boys recap the victory, talk about games across the country in week 3 and look forward to next weekend vs. Rutgers. Crack a cold one and enjoy the show. 

This is the University of Michigan. Touchdown, Michigan! The Beats of Michigan! And they've caught extra pass. And it goes for the win! The three-pointer by Jordan Poole! Down the sideline! Peebles-John!

Touchdown, Wolverines! All right, welcome back to Blue by 90. I am Justin, joined by Jack and Kalen as always. It is Sunday, September 19th at 5 p.m. And Michigan just scored again. Took me a second on that one. Yeah, there you go. I know, I'm pretty funny, right?

But it was, I mean, a field day for the Wolverines yesterday, just scoring at will. I mean, that was one of the best offensive performances that we have seen in quite some time for Michigan? Well, they tied the rushing record. Oh, no, they didn't tie the rushing TD record because they got called back. But they had, what, eight rushing touchdowns and then that big passing touchdown from Cade Cornelius Johnson. They looked awesome on offense, man.

It was great. Obviously, again, it's NIU. They haven't really played anybody yet. But they looked good. Yeah, it gave me flashbacks of the last game where we scored 70 points, basically. It was, what, Rutgers? Rutgers.

2016? Yeah. What was it? 79 points or something? 78? Yeah, something like that. That was insane. But, yeah, something like that. That was insane. But, yeah, I mean, I don't know.

It's a familiar feeling right now to past years where Michigan, in the first three to four games, absolutely dominate. And they have me all the way bought in that they're a good team. And then, you know, in a couple of weeks, we travel to Madison and we might be humbled a little bit. But for right now, I will soak it all up. It does. I mean, this team looks a lot better than we thought that they were. I think nobody really knew what they what they were going to be totally. But I think people

had some reservations but right now they look like a legit top 20 top 15 team right oh 100 right right now yes they do yeah exactly i think they're uh the the defense really is what i think impressed me the most yesterday. Because I know somebody said something. I can't remember if we were talking to somebody at the tailgate or one of you guys said it on the podcast earlier. But they're a bend, don't break defense. And I feel like we saw that yesterday. There wasn't like too many like really big plays.

Obviously, there was interception. I think there was a few plays in the backfield. But other than that, I mean, they're just kind of like going out there and they're not letting up any big plays yet. And, like, that's all you can really ask for, especially from what we've seen from Michigan defenses the past few years. So I'll take it, man. I'll take it.

If it keeps them in the game like this and the offense can keep scoring, I mean, that's what Michigan needs right now. Yeah, overall, the defense played very well. I think outside of two runs or something from Rocky Lombardi, they pretty much kept the rushing yards down. Fucking Rocky Lombardi. I know, man. Talking the crowd down 60.

Down 60 literal points. Like, bro, I mean, he's obviously got something to talk about, right, since last year. But, I mean, come on now. God. But they held him to 46 yards passing. His stat line was Brian Lewerke 2018 type stats during the Devin Bush Spartan stoppage.

Yeah, I mean, first half, he only had 18 yards passing, I'm pretty sure. But also, your boy, Cade, over 100 yards passing, 191. There you go. That was my hot take, right? I love it. That was my hot take. Beautiful. I mean, this offense looked a lot – I'll get to the defense in a little bit, too.

But this offense looked a lot like game one, right? Which I think that is just honestly more than anything. It's a bit of a sigh of relief for us because we're all a little worried that after that Washington game, they just like run it forever and not try to pass but uh kate got back into a pretty good rhythm there i'd say yeah yeah there's definitely a couple throws that he had um where he had there's at least one that i remember that cornelius johnson you know had five to ten yards of separation from the defender and there's he i mean he was behind the entire secondary that where he was wide open and kate missed him. By six inches or something. Yeah, I mean, he had to dive for it and he got his hand on the ball.

But, I mean, he was that open for him to be missed. I mean, that sucked. It's nitpicky. But in games where, you know, you need a touchdown, that's the difference, that's a big play. So, I'll be nitpicky and say that I'd like to see that get better going forward. But other than that man i kind of loved it i mean you got everybody you wanted to in the game basically all of michigan's entire

depth chart played which is great to see um and blake quorum man just still doing the same shit him haskins even donovan edwards he had that big huge burst for a touchdown i mean i went back you saw him kind of like patiently waiting for that hole. And then as soon as it opened up, he was like, took off like a fucking rocket, man. That was really cool. Yeah. Donovan Edwards did that little like hesitation, like you just said.

And then when he turned it on, holy shit, I didn't know Donovan Edwards was that fast. I mean, he flies. He flies, man. I think it was really cool to see him get in the game, obviously, but then get – you know, he had two touchdowns. In the second half, we saw the future of Michigan football with J.J. playing the entire second half, you know, outside.

And then our boy Dan Mallari got in too. It's not one for one, though. Unfortunately, he still didn't throw it. He was right around the 50, man. I was waiting for that Omaha. I know. I know. He should have.

Should have just chucked it deep. But they need to throw it at least one time with him. Come on now. I know. Let the people see the cannon that he's got. He's hiding it. Exactly. I felt like we got to see the athleticism out of like literally all

the running backs right like you got to see both donovan and um and blake kind of like had that patience and then they hit the hole with some burst you saw hasan hit like a few shimmies on some guys and break some ankles you even saw some guys i don't even remember their names like look pretty solid i mean yeah it's definitely and can't forget about mccarthy either he had a nice little run bring it down to i think about five or ten yard line uh where he took it on a read i mean that we don't see that ever where the qb actually takes the ball on the read option so and it looks fucking great i love to see that actually happen in a game for Michigan. For sure. I mean, Shea Patterson, like, never, ever, ever took it, you know,

outside of a couple. He had that long run against Wisconsin, I remember. But he really was a give guy. And I think J.J. You know, even Cade, obviously, is a give guy, too. He's pulled it a couple times. But when J.J. gets in there and he pulls, it makes the defense have to adjust for that

it throws in a a whole new dynamic but Kalen to your point I mean I really truly think that we have three running backs that would be RB1 for 75 percent of the country. Oh yeah, 100%. Agreed. They are really that good. I think that what I love too about how so it was a little concerning when you saw Donovan Edwards come

in just because of the whole three-back rotation last year. They couldn't figure it out, but I thought that gaddis and mike hart have tied it down perfectly this week as well where they would put in donovan edwards but for a whole drive so that he could stay in a rhythm right whereas last year it was like charbon i am for one play and then has to work in for one play and then quorum in for one play so it's like it felt like that rotation was a lot better um i mean they ended up with what was it the stat

wise was 13 carries for quorum eight for edwards and nine for haskins which i think is a really good uh balance there for sure yeah yeah i think quorum obviously should be the leading leading ball carrier um and then and i think haskins which he was only by one carry but i think a lot of it um the score had a lot to do with it with edwards getting a little bit more carries but i was i was shocked to see how early edwards got in to run the ball yeah i correct me if i'm wrong i think it was the second quarter but it might have even been the first quarter where he got in and he was running it. I'm pretty sure it was the second quarter, yeah. But, yeah, I didn't expect him to get in that early.

We haven't seen him really at all except for garbage time until yesterday. But I liked it a lot. I mean, he's legit. He's going to be very good in the future. He's already pretty solid right now. And so the other thing is, so Spath tweeted this out, you know, Corum has three straight 100-yard rushing games. I didn't – I forgot about this stat,

but Mike Hart started 2007 with seven straight 100-yard rushing games. And so that is just an insane stat, first of all, but Corham's got a shot. You know, I think he's got a good shot at it this week against Rutgers. Wisconsin's going to be the tough one, but he's got a chance here in the next four games to match that, which would be really cool. Well, if Michigan sticks with running the ball,

the way that they have been these last two games, where they're really reliant on that to get the offense going, I think it's pretty safe to say Corham's going to be the leading ball carrier moving forward. So I think you're – I agree. I think he's got a really good shot at it, as long as the offense stays going the way that it is. Yeah.

Oh, 100%. It just depends on what kind of defense they come up against, right? I mean, Wisconsin has obviously a very good defense. yeah it just depends on what kind of defense they come up against right i mean wisconsin has obviously a very good defense and uh so do a lot of these other big 10 teams it looks like this year so i can't sleep on ruckers either you can't sleep on ruckers it's not a gimme anymore so big 10 opener next week that'll be a good uh indication of where the defense is at against a legitimate big 10 opponent yeah i i mean this is that i i'm i'm a little bit concerned about next week too um i mean the line came out it's minus 19 for michigan against ruckers ruckers is not bad i might i might take

ruckers points there i thought thought this defense was really incredible. Flying around the ball once again. They're the heartbeat of this team. I know that everyone gives praise to the offense when you score 63 points, but I think this defense, you know, giving up 10, 14, and then 10 is really incredible. And, you know, I thought that thought that they you know could have went up without giving up a touchdown to washington definitely could have went without giving up

touchdown last week or this week because um you know lombardi had a run long run and uh in the fourth quarter and it was kind of a garbage time TD, but they're doing pretty damn well in terms of holding teams to low points. Yeah, and that was a big thing, too, we were talking about right before the season started. It was the question marks for the defense and the offensive line, and those are two of the strongest parts of Michigan's entire team right now. So, I mean, that's awesome to see. It feels like a lot of questions are being answered.

I know the hype for everybody is building right now, especially looking at Ohio State playing like dog shit, which is amazing to see. I don't know, man. There's hope. There's hope in Ann Arbor. Yep. Right. At least for now. At least for now. Yeah, I don't know if you guys saw that Penn State game the other day, though, but or last night. But I mean, they look pretty good too so i mean if you if you make it past michigan state then you're gonna have to make it past you know penn state then you got to make it to ohio state so it's a gauntlet for michigan man well and even msu looked pretty solid as well i thought um i mean it was, they were, the score did not indicate how close that game was.

You know, it was a 24-17 game. And then MSU scored with like six minutes left and then two minutes left to seal it. But still, you go down to Miami, who's, you know, ranked in the top 25 at the time. They're not anymore. But MSU is looking not like a 3-9 team, which a lot of people thought that they were. So, Kalen, yeah, I mean, I think this, as good as we think Michigan is looking right now, the schedule is still not easy.

And I agree, Jack, that the schedule or teams are not playing that well um in the big 10 but still i i i don't know i'm not gonna say that michigan is like all of a sudden the favorite in the uh in the big 10 uh oh no and neither am i i'm gonna say there's hope against ohio state i agree this is definitely more than normal yeah I was going to say, this seems like the best scenario that we've seen from a Michigan and Ohio State perspective in quite some time, where Ohio State is looking at their lowest that they've been, and Michigan's looking at the highest that they've been, probably since 2018.

But still, you never know how that's going to go. I do want to bring up A. up AJ Henning on punt returns. He is doing a fabulous job. I know I've made a vocal, at least last season we were recording or no two seasons ago. I fucking hated DPJ punt returning. He, he, I did not, I did not think he was that good as a punt returner. Obviously a great receiver, doing great things. I don't know if he's returning punts in the NFL for the Browns,

but it seemed like any time he was returning a punt, he was going east and west and wasn't picking up any yards. A.J. Henning had at least a couple really nice punt returns on special teams last weekend. I think he had a couple, maybe a couple already earlier in the season. But, I mean, just to see such a well-rounded team, again, we're playing like – we're not playing the solid Big Ten teams, but just to bring some confidence to those position groups right now

is really encouraging. Oh, yeah. And I think it's a big, too, underrated coach, I think, is Jay Harbaugh. Every time he's coached special teams, they've been like pretty solid. Take it. Yeah, I really like this coaching staff all around right now. You know, it feels like Jim is back a little bit. I mean, well, again, we're saying that now and the whole tune could change in a couple weeks here but I think Mike McDonald and his defensive staff has done a great job in in year one you know they've turned that defense into something very different right now than what it was

in a very short time span so that's pretty cool I mean this offense too Mike Hart I think was probably the biggest hire they could have had um right now I mean if you're Mike Hart you're probably walking into Jim's office saying hey I know you're paying me a decent amount but you're gonna have to double that right now um because they are number one in the nation in rushing at like 353 yards a game. That is incredible. And I know, you know, it just – even with them airing it out more this week, they still dominated in the run game, and that was really, you know, a big piece of it. So, I thought this offense in general just like it looked very dynamic. I'm not sure how you're supposed to defend it.

I mean, obviously, you know, people will figure it out. But when you've got the trio and even just the duo of Haskins and Corum, and you've got to defend Haskins up the middle, but Corum around the edge, and then with – I thought Cade made every throw he needed to. I actually kind of, I know you're nitpicking, Jack, but I disagree with you. Like, I mean, he dropped that dime to Cornelius Johnson. He had a couple great throws to Eric Hall.

I thought that he played really well. And honestly, I'd love to see him take a couple more shots. But there are some people that are like, you know, we need to see JJ out there because he can make all the throws. I think he can make all the throws, too. So I'm really impressed with this offense all around. First of all, I did not say Cade did not do a good job. I said there were a couple of deep balls that, you know, he that he missed where guys were wide open. And it's true when you I mean, especially if he's hitting those,

that opens up the offense even more, and there's more room for everybody else because the defense feels like they need to defend that. But again, I think he played very, very well. I was just being nitpicky. And you want to see the deep balls. You said he sucked. That's what I heard.

Selective hearing. Selective hearing. Selective hearing is what we have. Yeah. Bad connection over here, I guess. You sound a little bit like a robot. No, I... Oh, my bad. I mean, that might just be my voice, too.

Could be. I am Justin Rowe. I mean, let's talk around the Big Ten, though, as well. We kind of did. You know, MSU beats Miami. Just in general, I think that's a huge win for Mel Tucker, winning his first ranked road game. We know how Michigan has done in ranked road games as well. So whether Miami is actually legit or not, still a big win.

Still a big win, I agree. Still a big win. Let's see. Indiana loses by 14 to Cincinnati. Cincinnati, you know, top 10 team right now. Still not a, you know, power five. Indiana is not as good as we thought they were, I think. People had them as like a top 10 team.

I'm not sure they are. What do you guys think? Yeah, I agree. They haven't played like it. And I know they were, I mean, I was expecting them to be one of the better teams in the big 10 but they do not look great so far yeah they sorry they suck that's what i'm saying i mean yeah what the one two right now yeah one do they have a win yeah they do i think they won their first game but lost the second, I want to say. Well, no, their first game was Iowa, and they got trounced. Yeah, you're right.

I think, right? Yes, you are correct. By the way, did you guys see Western beat Pitt? I did. 44-41. Makes that win for Michigan look a little bit better. Yeah, for sure. Let's see.

Nebraska only lost to oklahoma by seven i mean that's fucked me dude i had a i had a five team parlay and i picked oklahoma minus i think 23 whatever it was and that was the only one that didn't hit so oklahoma what the fuck are you doing this year yeah i mean you're winning games but you're winning a lot closer than I expected them to yeah uh and then Minnesota blanked Colorado 30 to nothing I don't I can't figure out Minnesota if they're good or not they were like I don't know very competitive with Ohio State uh and then you know go out and they beat Miami of Ohio by five and then go out and blank Colorado. So I don't know what's going on there. Let's see.

Notre Dame only beat Purdue 27-13. I wish that we played Notre Dame this week here because I think they stink. The game was actually closer than the score indicated, too. Really? Yeah, kind of like went later into the fourth quarter and then Notre Dame scored twice. And it was kind of like, oh, all right, there it goes.

Yeah. Well, there you go. Iowa beat Kent State 30-7. I think Iowa's good. I'm still not sold on them as the fifth team in the nation, though. I'm not sure they're that good. They must have a pretty solid defense, though. I don't think they've let up any more than

seven points, have they? Do we know what happened with them in week two? Let's see here. Yeah, they gave up 17 to iowa state okay still i mean they're not i mean they're kind of right where michigan is at as far as letting their points yeah and i i mean the iowa state is a top 10 team as well so yeah supposedly right. Ohio State, I mean, that score was 41-20. It was not a three-score game. It was like a one-score game the whole time until like two minutes left. I had hope, yeah. We were watching that game and I was like, fuck, Tulsa. Let's go. Would love an upset here. Would love for Ohio State to be 1-2. That would be incredible.

Rutgers went out and beat Delaware 45-13. I think Rutgers is legit. I don't know. I'm a little scared about next week, to be honest. Yeah. I mean, after that week one, we were like, Rutgers is back. Greg Sciano, he's got them moving. Yeah.

Do you think that's just like Michigan cognitive dissonance right just going like Rutgers is pretty good and then like we crush them and they go like all right they're the same old Rutgers yeah probably um I'm just trying to hype them up so when we do win that it looks better or it feels feels better to me. Yeah. And then Northwestern lost to Duke 30-23. People at Northwestern has, like, a great team this year, too. It's like, all right, they lost everybody. They stink. That's no longer a big game for Michigan, unfortunately,

which was, like, one of their only big home games in the Big Ten. Well, Indiana was supposed to be, too. Yeah, you're right. Trash now too. I'll take teams being bad so that it can help us rather than having them be big games. Yep, all four.

Let's see. Penn State, you said it, Kalen. Penn State, I mean, they've got two really good wins now already in three weeks, beating Wisconsin and beating Auburn now. By the way, the whiteout, it's sick. It is really cool.

It's just an electric atmosphere out there. It is. Yeah, that is an incredible place to go to watch a football game. I'll tell you that. That was about it around the Big Ten, I think. By the way, UCLA, after they've been, like, surprisingly dominating, lose to Fresno State. Like, what the heck happened there?

Fresno State, I think they're top 25 now, aren't they? Yeah, they did get voted in. But, yeah, I know I like – man, I like UCLA, Charbonnet, DTR. I like the way those guys play. So I hope that they, you know, hope it's just one game and they come back and still win the Pac-12. I'd love to see a nice game between them and Oregon. The Fresno State team is kind of wild, though, too.

Like, their QB already has 144 passing attempts and over 1400 yards what wait is that a real say that again his his stats for the season so far he has 1464 yards 464 yards and 144 attempts in three games four games they played four games four games still oh my god i mean right now he's on pace for 4500 yards over that in the season that's insane Holy shit. 144 passes in four games. And he put up, I mean, 330 against UConn, 298 against Oregon, 380 against Cal Poly, and then last week, 455 against UCLA. So I'm pretty sure Fresno only passes. Well, no, they had a running back with 136 yards. Well, sure. good for fresno they do the dude completes passes yeah i mean he's his completion percentage is 73.6 percent i mean talk about a sleeper team take these guys on the uh on your best yeah all right so that's kind of

what we got around the the country um by the way this stat, I think I said this to you guys after week one, but they had – after week one, they had 13 – Michigan had 13 plays of 10 yards or more. This week they had 20. 20 different plays of 10 yards or more. That is like – I'll end it on this kind of statement, I guess, but like this truly feels like what Josh Gaddis was looking for in speed and space.

But they're explosive as hell, I'd say. Dude, yeah, they showed a stat on when I was watching a little bit of the highlights today. It was something with the big plays. It was like 40 plays or more, 50 plays or more, or 50 yards or more plays. And Michigan, through two and a half games, already passed up everything from last year as far as big plays. We're finally seeing big plays. Last year, it's amazing how awful that offense was last year. Like, two and four, like, doesn't even really, like,

justify how bad it was. Yeah. I mean, in a real – like, in a 12-game schedule, we would have went four and eight probably. Probably. Yeah, if that. I don't know. I agree with you. it just feels like this offense is back on track um i think they have a ton of weapons i think this team in general just like i don't know man i love the vibe i know we keep talking about it it's probably annoying but like i don't

know there's just this is classic after three, just overreacting and being like, this is a great team. One thing that you can definitely feel is like, this is not just a great team, but it's like an entertaining team to watch. Right. Yes. Like the number of times in the past, I would be like checking out what Ohio state's doing. And they're like letting an athlete get out to the edge, juke someone out and make a play. I'm like, Holy crap, man. Like we should be doing that.

And now I feel like we're actually seeing that play out. Yeah. A hundred percent. I couldn't agree more with that. Yeah. I mean, honestly, they're also like likable guys. They seem to be right. Whereas in the past, like we didn't have the most likable guys sometimes. So I totally agree with you. Truly, I'm enjoying watching Michigan football right now, which, again, ask me in two weeks, I'm probably going to be like,

I fucking hate watching Michigan football. But for right now, everything that they do, I I'm really liking. And I just like, I don't know. I'd like the direction that Michigan football is going right now. We'll see what happens, but yeah, you guys got anything else you want to, you want to leave it with for today? I think that's all I got. I know we'll have probably a couple more episodes this week, so we'll be able to talk more, have a couple of cool people on.

But as of right now, I think we were able to wrap the game up pretty well. Yeah, no, nothing to add. Cool, yeah. All right, well, yeah, like, we're going to try and get some guests on this week, like Jack said, so we'll have a couple more things

coming to you for Rutgers game. You know, we'll be out there for a tailgate again. I'll say that every week. But we had a great tailgate this week even for a nooner. 3.30, I'm pumped for 3.30. I'll tell you that right now. This is going to be the best tailgate of the year so far. Washington was lit.

3.30 is perfect. 3.30 is perfect. 330 is perfect. I couldn't agree more. I'm hoping to not totally black out this time. Hope for the best. We all kept it together really well this week. I'm proud of us. I think so.

Yeah. Alright, I agree with you. 330, be there. Party will start at 9 a.m. on Saturday. So I'm excited for that one. But you can follow us at Blue by 90 on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. At Blue by 90 podcast on YouTube. We're going to try and start posting some more on there, too. So check it out. But, yeah, appreciate all of you. Appreciate Truly for sponsoring us and the tailgate. You know, I had plenty of Truly us and the tailgate.

You know, I had plenty of Truly's on Saturday as well. They stocked us up once again. So it was a great time. We will see you later this week. Go Blue. Go Blue. Go Blue.