Blue By Ninety - E87: Trevor Woods

Episode Date: September 22, 2021

The Boys welcome lead Michigan Football voice for SB Nation's Maize N' Brew, Trevor Woods, to talk the wide open Big Ten, expectations for Michigan the remainder of the season and this week's upcoming matchup with 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. And today we have another special guest on, another member of the media, Michigan reporter from SB Nation's Maize and Brew, Trevor Woods. Trevor, how you doing? Thanks for coming on, man. Hey, great. Just happy it's football season. Happy fans are in the stands and humans are in the press box and Michigan's 3-0. Everything's a little better in Ann Arbor when Michigan football is winning.

Absolutely. Absolutely. And so what has been, we'll jump right into it I guess now that you mentioned the press box I know that can be you know a little dicey I heard some uh some fun comments uh at the GM's press conference on I believe that was Monday too but what's the vibe been in the press press box during these games so far well I mean when you see ass kickings like last Saturday, where Michigan beat Northern Illinois 63 to 10, and Cade McNamara had a good showing, showed some good deep accuracy, 8,1191 yards. Then when you lead the nation in rushing, and when there's a defense that is now getting the pass rush home and the secondaries playing at least adequately to this

point. There's not a whole lot of shade being thrown Michigan's direction or Jim Harbaugh's direction by media or fans alike. Things are fairly positive, fairly objective, I'd say, through three weeks in the season. The production, the output of Michigan has been pretty good. Of course course it's been a non-conference play so we're going to see in the upcoming weeks ahead their schedule gets tougher Big Ten season so we'll find out but I guess to put it in one sentence so far so good. Now Trevor when you're up in the press box I know we had Chris Breiler who works with Brandon Brown and si we had him

on a couple weeks ago and he was like he's like man when there was what the first touchdown of the game or something what for his first game up there he's like i showed a little bit of emotion and nobody else really did anything because it's kind of frowned upon are you kind of the same way are you are you quiet or you kind of release a little bit of emotion when michigan's doing well up there you know what when there is a wow play um you know might rock back in the seat a little bit but uh through the years even be a fan just i can only speak for me personally that's kind of how i am and the teams i root for anyway that you know you don't get too high you don't get too low because uh a lot can happen in a three-hour span right? I've seen some crazy games, not Michigan and Michigan,

where, you know, down 17, nothing, things look really bad, and then things turn around. So, yeah, you will see some people showing emotion, but overall, pretty subdued, pretty quiet atmosphere. Obviously, the fans, the fans are rowdy and uh we're a little uh muffled in there these big windows so for example the Washington game that was a rowdy crowd uh there's not a whole lot of games where the fans it really penetrates through that glass and we can feel it but that one I actually say we could. So that game in particularly is one I'll remember is definitely a rush, you know, and but the bottom line being up there is cool. We're all very fortunate.

We're very fortunate to have a rule that, Hey, you know, this is a working press box. They'll give the warning before the game. It's a working press box and basically telling us don't share. uh you'll be asked to leave if you continue to do so so uh we uh follow accordingly so sounds like i'm not sure if uh if we'd be allowed in there we're usually screaming at the tv or something when we're watching people probably the only ones that were not allowed. Yeah, exactly. No, I got a quick funny story for you. Actually, a few years ago, it was a night game. I can't recall who right now, but it's a night game at Michigan. And the press box, just like I depicted, very quiet.

And Michigan scored a touchdown. We hear these cheers in the press box and who I'm around. We all look to the left. And there are a couple of fans in there for a moment and they're just, they're just sitting there where the media is. And they realized at that moment that they're, we're in the wrong spot. They want to level up and you're not supposed to be cheering there. And then they very awkwardly walked out of the area. So I'll never forget that one

that's awesome that would be us like oh you're like drunk or something and supposed to be in a suite or something so it's supposed to be somewhere else and we just wander into the wrong place uh that yeah that you could see us at some day. But, yeah, I mean, you're definitely right. This Michigan team has shown, you know, really good things through three games. And so, you know, we're going into the Rutgers game this Saturday. Big Ten play is upon us, which is, you know, a pretty big deal. I just – I think actually the Rutgers game is a perfect, like lead into big 10 play. You don't, you know, I think Wisconsin versus Penn state, they both,

both drew short ends of the stick, you know, week one or two, that was, I believe two you know, I'm glad that Michigan doesn't play big 10 games right away. But, you know, going into the Big Ten season, what do you think Michigan now needs to do in order to prove their legitimacy as a, you know, contender in the Big Ten East? Yeah, that's a good question. And I think, you know, at its core, a simple question, just keep playing the way you have, but obviously against better competition. Do the same things. You know, they have been fairly fundamentally sound. I mean, not turn the ball over on offense, not committing an abundance of penalties on the other side of the ball on defense, which absolutely plagued them a season ago.

And then just the hustle. You're seeing hustle on defense guys are flying to the ball offensively look at that offensive line they're looking the best they have since perhaps even like 2016 just as far as a strong start to the season leading the nation in rushing but what do we got to see out of Michigan just it it's all in prove it territory now, right? I mean, Brad Hawkins said the other day, safety Brad Hawkins, that fans, people are just waiting for them to slip up once to tell them they suck. So they're paying attention to the outside noise. They can say whatever they want, but they're fully aware through the years especially the past couple the

paul fine bombs of the world uh they're ready to talk trash and shove some negativity down their throat so it's their choice and uh to this point they've been using it as fuel uh they're going to keep having a chip on their shoulder no matter how good they get uh they're crapped on and they were so crappy a year ago that, you know, that's something that doesn't get wiped away real quick in the memory. So I think that their past failures are fueling them to this point. Yeah, I mean, a couple quotes that I've seen, not just this week, but there was one particularly, I'd have to go back and check the exact quote but it just seems like they are not satisfied with mediocrity which you can say that year in and

year out that guys you know want to succeed and they obviously want to go 12 and 0 and beat Ohio State and beat Michigan State blah blah blah but it just seems right now like even with the success they've had in past years what we've seen from a Michigan team is kind of getting that big head a little bit and thinking already that they've done, you know, done something. This year, they're kind of like, this doesn't mean shit to us right now. We're 3-0, but what is that? That means nothing. We need to go in week in and week out, win that week. And then it starts, you know, a clock starts over and then you win the next week and then you keep going.

And so I don't know. Have you felt that from the players in press conferences and, you know, the coaches alike? Because I do think it's come from the coaches on down to the players as well. Yeah, I'm glad you just mentioned the coaches at the tail end of that question, because I think you're exactly right. Every single year, you're going to have a coach speak to a certain degree or, you know, the same type of mentality reshuffled a word here or there, but the same overall premise, but it's all about do they buy in or do they not buy in? And that starts with coaches and, you know, how they're able to, you know, get the best out of their guys. And credit to Jim Harbaugh for taking that pay cut and trying to get in what

he thought was the best hires, a bunch of young, energized guys with some NFL experience and defensive coordinator Mike McDonald, quarterbacks coach Matt Weiss. Then you've got a former stud, one of the best running backs in Michigan history. And Mike Hart is the running backs coach now. You've got a bunch of guys who they don't want Michigan and being an assistant coach on Michigan to be their last stop. They are ascending coaches who have head coach or coordinator aspirations, and they want to get there as quickly as possible. Michigan's a great platform for them to do that, succeed at Michigan, and you can succeed elsewhere down the road. And Mike Morris, I believe it was him yesterday,

but talking about in practice how they'll get chewed out, but it's in a different way. And these coaches just, they're demanding more from them on a rep to rep basis in practice, appointing things out just, Hey, no, you're doing it wrong. This is how you should do it. Or just not telling them they're doing good when they're not doing good. I mean, there's so many elements to even, let's just say, a good outside pass rush, right? And the best, there's so many different fundamentals that play within a two-second span. So there's always something more to coach. Blake Corum, for example, running back Blake Corum, was saying how he'll go to the sideline

and ask Mike Hart, hey, what did you see? What did you see? And then Hart will tell him just from Hart's perspective, oh, you know, if I was you when I was a player, I would have done this. So you're having a whole lot more of that. You're having a whole lot more energy from Jim Harbaugh, who says he is at playing weight now. He looks as good as he has in years. So you're just seeing energy from the top down. And I think that has a complete ripple effect.

Yeah, I mean, it's like you're seeing the energy and it sounds like the whole team, coaches, players, all the staff included, just has that not satisfied mentality. And that's huge. You gotta love it too, right? Because it's definitely that sense of like, the players pick up the energy that to love it too, right? Cause it's, it's definitely that sense of like the players pick up the energy that the coaches put off, right?

Like you play the way your coach like tells you to play in a way, I guess. And I don't, I know I see it at least from TV, but can you feel that at the press conferences and when you're interviewing players and things like that? I can't Harbaugh in particular. but can you feel that at the press conferences and when you're interviewing players and things like that? I can't Harbaugh in particular, like I said, it stops from the starts from the top down. And he is obviously the lead man. This guy's definitely has his chin out, chin up, you know, chest out and definitely a little more swagger and confidence to him this

year and not letting things beat him down. And Harbaugh used to be a guy at University of San Diego to where he would run with the players. And that was a time in his life where he would whoop them. He was a player in the NFL a couple of years before, and they'd be the ones getting tired, not him. And then fast forward his time at the 49ers, and there is a practice where they're down some quarterbacks and tied in Delaney Walker sees some guy coming out. And who's that? And it's Jim Harbaugh and pads fully padded up with a helmet on.

And he took reps the whole practice at quarterback. And Walker said he did pretty good except for the deep ball and my point is this year Harbaugh is back to trying to show toughness with the team there is a video of him a month ago pushing sleds after practice and that's the type of thing that resonates with younger players. You know, you got this middle-aged man trying to fight for you and trying to do what you're doing. And I know they get a kick out of it, but like I said earlier, things like that have ripple effects. You know, if this guy is doing it, maybe I should do it a little harder and do a little better than the guy pushing 60. Yeah. I mean, I think that the coaching staff

changing their attitude a little bit and Jim Harbaugh specifically changing his attitude, it seems has made an impact on everybody. You know, I think that going specifically to the quarterback position, we've seen Cade McNamara kind of take on what Jim was when he was you know and even JJ too you know they have that that Jim Harbaugh mentality too of uh they're they're the same quarterback that Jake Ruddock and Wilton Spate were um you know Cade specifically where it's uh you're not going to make mistakes very very smart very smart. Game manager. You're going to show some grit as well, but you're going to mostly lead your team. And even with Cade not having the stats that, you know, obviously C.J. Stroud has, you know, he still is that team leader. And so, you know, the one thing I would ask, though, is obviously Michigan's number one in rushing in the nation, but I just looked it up and Cade McNamara is 114th in passing in the nation.

Does that concern you at all, even with how Michigan's offense has clicked? Does it concern that it's so run heavy and Cade has not shown those unbelievable stats. Well, part of that you could say, yes, is the rushing prowess Michigan's showed to this point, which has been very productive and very stout. But McNamara, you know, he didn't play a whole half against Northern Illinois because it was a blowout. He was very efficient, 811, 191 yards. There was a PI call and a couple near misses on deep balls, and stats could have been even better.

Of course, the week before he threw for 45 yards when Michigan rushed for over 350 yards. But then the week one, same thing. McNamara, you know, he played a little over two quarters. So it's a little bit of a truncated stat line there for him. But the bottom line is, I think with the injury to Ronnie Bell week one, it was smart to lean on the running game to this point. But I think we'll see more production out of the passing game as weeks go by you're not going to continue to see such a discrepancy you know a 70

30 split pass run ratio it'll end up balancing out by proxy but against Northern Illinois I liked what I saw from McNamara. I was a little concerned the week before with his deep ball accuracy, but McNamara went out against the Huskies last week, Northern Illinois Huskies. They should play two Huskies in a row. That's kind of funny and got to be a record, but he did just fine. So I'm not in the camp that Michigan has a passing problem. And I think they do have some playmakers at receiver.

Dylan Baldwin, he had a little bit of an injury to start the year and needed to be caught up on the playbook. He'll come around. Cornelius Johnson, he could be a difference maker down the field. And we obviously have seen what A.J. Henning can do and Roman Wilson, definitely two fast electric guys in the open field, Eric All tied in. He's coming around. I do think they have some weapons at receiver.

They're kind of deep at receiver. So, yeah, I guess what I would say is blame Michigan for having a good running game to this point and blame Michigan for blowing a couple teams out to where McNamara is seated way to back up J.J. McCarthy for some reps. McNamara will be fine. Yeah, and were you at Harbaugh's press around Monday? No, I was not, but I know all about it, and I know every word. Okay, Yeah. Well, I, I'm not sure who, I think we all kind of know who's, who asked a particular question. Um, but the question was from one of the reporters there, what are the recruiting implications on running the ball? So

heavy, you know, essentially implying that you won't be able to recruit a quarterback or a wide receiver. And Jim had quite the answer, basically completely blowing it off and throwing it back in the reporter's face a little bit. But, you know, what are your thoughts there on, A, the question, B, Jim's, you know how jim's responding there too your description to the question you asked me that question right there was still shorter than the question that was a bad that was a bad question but uh yeah okay yeah in all honesty i thought jim's answer to the question was absolutely hilarious that's what uh kelso on that 70s show would call it burn. Yeah, yeah.

So, no, my reaction is kind of Harbaugh's, man. I don't get it. It sounded like it was for some 97% complete article. Had to copy and paste Jim's quote, throw it in there. And like Jim said, man, they want to win. So whatever you can do to win is going to help recruiting. It is not rocket science. And it's really not worthy of a question if you sit there and think about it for more

than three seconds. Right. Yeah, I was laughing. I honestly, I mean, it was a terrible question a and the delivery B and the, you know, contact, content of the question. But I almost loved him asking it because it gave Jim Harbaugh the opportunity to, to stop all over it. Right. So no, it was, it felt like that was like kind of older Jim coming back out in those press conferences

where he'd be funny and weird a little bit and stuff like that and quirky. And so, I don't know. We asked Dan Velary last week if Jim had been any different this year than other years. And he said, actually, not really. He said it was pretty much the same actually i was surprised to hear dan say laid back jim did don't you guys think that was kind of how he he said he's pretty chill and doesn't like freak out on people often i i don't recall that but i do remember him saying he's basically the same dude this year

as last year that's what i remember from that right that was the impression i got yeah well either way i would well that's bad journalism on our part to take our own interviews out of context but um yeah um anyway so um you know looking forward to the rest of this uh this season too know, I think the big headline right now is that the Big Ten is wide open, right? You've got, you know, from everybody assumed that Ohio State was going to plug in, play C.J. Stroud, and they'd, you know, do the exact same thing. But all of a sudden, you've got five, six, seven teams

at the top that are legitimate contenders and you know Wisconsin Iowa Ohio State's still going to be a contender but not as as dominant as before Michigan State Penn State Michigan and then you throw in I think what what are going to be the x factors are teams like Maryland even Purdue through, you know, through some, some wrinkles at Notre Dame. Nebraska, after looking terrible, all of a sudden had a run at Oklahoma last week. And so, you know, what are your thoughts on the Big Ten right now? And what's going on with those top teams and how it could possibly shake out throughout the rest of the year? Yeah, I'm actually going to use a Michigan State head coach,

Mel Tucker quote of, you know, he's saying to his guy like the three and oh, but yeah, that sounds good. But how does three and nine sound? So I kind of get that. And that's probably the only parent back up ever going to give Mel Tucker good coach, but it's just, it's not what I'm paid to do. It's hand compliments to him, but he's right. You know, it's still early. We're just entering big 10 conference play for the most part.

And a lot to be determined. Some of these three and O teams like Maryland, for example, they could end up having one hell of a year, right. Or they can be what Maryland has been in the past. I go six and five something like that uh penn state's looking good but uh will that last ohio state not has not looked as good will they figure it out or is ryan day going to keep on you know just setting a dumpster fire and uh creating distractions with throwing uh defensive coordinators and the defensive staff under the bus.

You know, there's a lot of questions. IU, on the flip side, they've had a hard schedule to start the year, one and two. I don't expect that to continue. I think they'll turn it around. I think Tom Allen's a great coach. But, yeah, this is still a good start to the year for the Big Ten. And just as far as the

Big Ten is concerned, one of the more unpredictable Big Tens through late September, we've seen in quite some time to where is there a major difference between Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State and Michigan? It doesn't really look like it to this point. They all can be vulnerable in some ways and have shown quite a bit of strengths in others. So as fall progresses and snow starts to fall by the end of the year, which I hate saying, it's always a gray day when Ohio state and Michigan plagues, it's never a sunny blue sky day.

It's always, you know, abysmal. So maybe it would be a bright, sunny day and rainbows this year, but we'll see. But, yeah, just to answer your question, I don't know what the hell is going to happen in the Big Ten. I don't think anybody really does, and it's going to be fun. Yeah, I mean, this is what I think that it is going to be one of the more fun uh fun conference schedules this year just because nobody knows what's going to happen and honestly my prediction is that there's going to be these big dogs that go against each other the you know

Iowa's and the Wisconsin's and the Penn State, Michigan's and Michigan states. And the, you know, and obviously Ohio state against everybody too. And, but then I think that those X factors, the Maryland's, the produce, the Indiana is the, you know, those they're going to like go out and beat some teams that they aren't supposed to. That's going to end up defining what, what happens in this race. And that's going to be the, the, almost the more fun part and as a Michigan fan after watching Michigan over the past decade you know watching them do what

they do and then Ohio State go 11 and 1 or 12 and 0 every year I want everybody to beat up on each other that's Michigan's best shot I think is for everybody to have a couple losses instead of, you know, everybody except for Ohio State having a couple losses, right? Oh, I couldn't agree more. And to your point, Wisconsin, Wisconsin, Michigan is always a tough game through the Harbaugh area. Wisconsin's definitely got their licks in and Michigan has roughed them up a time or two as well. Point being, Wisconsin, they're playing Notre Dame this week at Soldier Field, and that's probably going to be a pretty hotly contested game, a physical game. And then they got to go play Michigan or Michigan's coming to them in Madison, but they got to

play Michigan the following week. So I like how Michigan's schedule shapes up in some certain respects. And to your point about Ohio state, they already have a loss, right? It might not have been in conference play, but it's still a psychological thing. They're not undefeated heading into that final game of the season. And the big 10 is pretty good this year. So it's not inconceivable that Ohio State has two or three,

something like that, losses heading into the game. So just as far as Michigan's concerned, the more these other teams be on each other, the better as long as they are able to go away from their matchups unscathed on the loss column. I know Ro mentioned a bunch of these X factor teams, but he didn't mention Rutgers. Rutgers had a lot went against temple. I mean, they're free and oh, I mean, what do you think about that game this weekend? Do you think that's kind of a trap game for Michigan or.

Yeah, I guess let's talk about Rutgers. Right. And you know what? Like Ray Shiano, he's a very good coach and a very good motivator, but the pass protection has been quite bad for Rutgers. You know what, Graciano, he's a very good coach and a very good motivator, but the pass protection has been quite bad for Rutgers to start the year. And Michigan, as we talked about earlier, their pass rush has looked pretty good with Aiden Hutchinson and the rest of the guys. Definitely a lot of times where that quarterback is under duress or getting hit if it's not a sack. And then today the best cornerback of,

yes, let's talk about that for a second. Right. I didn't realize that. Yeah. So, so Max Melton, their brother receiver records receiver, Bo Melton, he was arrested with Chris Long, who was a reserve cornerback, but still deaf at their position. Arrested with aggravated assault and possession of a weapon for unlawful purpose. It was a paintball gun. So I'm not going to sit here and say it was very severe.

We don't really know the finer details of it, but the bottom line is they've been suspended. And I really would doubt that they'd play this Saturday after being arrested. So that would be a major blow to a Rutgers secondary that was playing pretty good this year. They were, I believe 15th in passing yards allowed and six in team passing efficiency for defense so uh that was one of Rutgers main strengths and now that's taken away um yeah I'm not overly concerned about this game but I'm not a Michigan player so I'm allowed to say that some people in the comments you know tweet at me like oh hey fall down one game at. One gave it a time. I'm not going

to suit up on Saturday. So that's my opinion. I think Michigan is probably going to beat up on Rutgers a bit. This is not last year. And Greg Shiano actually said that. They said, we'd like to think we're a different Rutgers team. And he said, you know, how Michigan's a different team and Michigan's back to being Michigan. So I think Chiano, he tempered expectations this week a bit. He was even saying, Hey, you know, we're three and oh, but we're not back yet. We haven't done a thing. Big 10 plays upon us. But I think it's going to be a welcome to the big 10 once again, for Rutgers against Michigan.

And I would be surprised that this was a close one. This isn't going to be some 48,42 triple overtime game, in my opinion. Now, what about in terms of the Rutgers offense? I feel like I've been seeing the same names there for the last 10 years. Isaiah Pacheco has been the running back there for I have no idea how long at this point. Do you anticipate the Michigan defense giving up some more points than we might expect to Rutgers? Or what do you see on that portion of the scouting report? Yeah, so to me, once again, it still boils down to the offensive line.

Noah Vedral, their quarterback, who Michigan's seen before, four touchdowns, no interceptions, a 71% completion percentage, but has not been protected, sacked four times, but has been under duress a ton. And this is against teams that weren't as good as Michigan. And then Isaiah Pacheco, he, you know, had a real long run against Michigan a couple of years ago and definitely a very fast guy and asset, but he's only averaging 3.4 yards for carry this year. His longs only went for 20. And I just am not a believer in the offensive line and their ability to do enough to fend off a Michigan pass rush

or the Michigan run defense. I just don't see it. I think the talent gap has widened compared to last year between Rutgers and Michigan and brighter days are ahead for the Rutgers program with Greg Chiano. You know, Chris Ash was an embarrassment to the game of football, but it's still not going to be Rutgers day in my opinion. Yeah. I wish I felt as confident as you did. I don't know.

I definitely get the trap game vibes a little bit. I think you always, you know, as a fan, your mind always goes to that right before a big opponent like Wisconsin. But it does seem like these players are almost, like, too level-headed to think about that, right in this moment at least. But, I mean, I agree with you, Trevor. I think that Michigan's probably just going to be too overpowering in the end. There could be some back and forth in the first quarter or something.

But, you know, with the forecast, we tweeted it out today, the forecast is rain and 60 on Saturday. Their running back has only ran for 150 some yards in three games. Our running backs run for 403 games. You know, so I see that going in Michigan's favor. They rely on Noah Vedrill to do basically everything. And so, you know, now I think the only question now is with what they were probably going to plan on just running the ball a ton. Do they open it up a little bit with those corners out and expose that secondary a little more? But, yeah, I agree with you. I think that I think Michigan will will probably win pretty handily.

I mean, what do you think about the spread, though? It just went up now with the news of those corners. I think it's over 20 uh in favor of Michigan now well that's the type of thing that you know it gets over 20 I would stay away but uh at the same time I think Michigan probably will win by over 20 especially if Blake Corum is able to rattle off long runs and just about the secondary and now the hole and the Rutgers secondary because of Melton getting suspended, I definitely think Mike McDonald and the defensive staff are already at work trying to see what matchups they can exploit or what this corner specifically does bad,

that they can nail him on one play for a big game or a touchdown so I do think McNamara is going to have some success uh and running game alike so if you if this turns out to be a big blowout this is going to be a fourth game of the season do you think that McCarthy will play or do you think that there's any plan to try to retain a red shirt for him or anything like that? Yeah, that's a great question. Um, I think they would like to, at this point, uh, Harbaugh said last week that he keeps track of all that personally. Uh, you know, basically Harbaugh was's saying it's on him to make sure he don't screw it up and exhaust some redshirt eligibility um I think you want to save McCarthy and keep that intact unless you know the unfortunate injury to McNamara. So yeah, I don't think they anticipate, you know, some, we're going to have

give JJ the keys the second half or anything like that. I think they're prepared for this to be a tough, tough matchup. That's, that would be bad going into a game already thinking you're going to blow them out, right? The Harbaugh can't be thinking like me um so that's a really good question though about McCarthy in general and it's it's kind of a philosophical one at its core um but he's played enough to this point in the year that uh I don't think they need to do that necessarily right now I mean go ahead I was gonna say I'm for me I don't see McCarthy I mean if he's as good as we all think he is I wouldn't see a red shirt really affecting anything to do with his career at Michigan I think once it's time for him to go and he's played well he's gonna go in the draft right so I mean what's the point of trying to preserve a red shirt for him when I mean he's

gotta wait maybe one more year depending what happens with Cade I mean I'd share for him when, I mean, he's got to wait maybe one more year, depending on what happens with Cade. I mean, I'd say keep getting him in games and keep his momentum going. And, you know, if something does happen with Cade, then you've got a QB ready to go. The weird thing for me that there's going to be an awkward situation, a tough situation for Jim Harbaugh come next season, I think. I don't want to obviously look ahead to next season, but let's say Cade continues to play the way he has through three games and

he's efficient and he gets the job done. He doesn't do anything special, but he doesn't make mistakes. Jim Harbaugh loves those guys. Do you think that Jim Harbaugh is going to not start Cade McNamara next year after what happened, you know, through that, I don't know. That's going to be the weird thing is if JJ is like ready to go as a sophomore, but Cade has done everything you've asked him to, what do you do then if you're Jim Harbaugh?

Yeah. I mean, I honestly think this is the type of stuff that Harbaugh specifically Harbaugh, he, he just don't think like that. He's too much just whatever's right in front of him to this is more just what guys like us talk about you know at the uh tailgate I'm gonna see you at on on Saturday you know so uh it's a good thought but uh in my opinion you know McNamara, his chances now, and it's all about right now. It's a, it's totally still a week to week thing that it's a continuous prove it,

prove it. And I guess the same can be said for McCarthy and you know, maybe I'm wrong and maybe he will play a ton and they're not worried about the red shirt at all. Right. I mean, that was point you know he when he's ready he's ready and when he's going to go with the NFL he's going to go to the NFL if he's as good as they say he is it's not like he's going to be here five years so I totally get everything you guys are saying but just as far as next year's concern McNamara is going to have to kick ass the rest of the way. And then that's a good problem to have. That's the type of good controversy you want going into another year that could be reminiscent of, you know, the Henson-Tom Brady debate. Well, yeah, I mean, that's like the, it's the same, you know, how many times over the past 10 years has Michigan had a QB debate, but both of them

are, are unproven, right? It's all about potential. It's all about what could they do, but none of them have really proved it. Now you've got two guys, you know, let's say this, you know, hypothetical situation does happen. You've got two guys that have proven that they're ready to go and can do it. And so that's where I, I would, you know, look to next year to be pretty excited. Um, but I know we're, we're, uh, we've got a long way to go this year too. So I think there are a lot of Michigan fans out there, us included that are pretty pumped about what's going on right now. Um, you know, in, uh, in Ann Arbor and, and, uh, in Schembechler. So, all right, we'll end it with,

if you want to give us a prediction for Saturday, score prediction, you've already given us how you think the game was going to go, but we got to, you know, really nail it down and hold you to something here. Yeah, just for you guys, because you're cool enough to be cool. So I'm going to say 51-17 Michigan. All right, there you go. That's all right there you go that's a lot of points that's a lot of points um yeah it'll i i'm bummed that like the last of the uh game of this

month of home games is a rain game maybe it'll change by you know so far i'm hoping for perfect tailgate sunny 65 that would be fantastic that's my goal uh it'll be a real test of the uh tailgate, sunny, 65. That would be fantastic. That's my goal. It'll be a real test of the tailgate tent this week. That's for sure. We'll see if that's good. We got the weights on there and trying to get it to not fly away. We'll see. All right, Trevor, go ahead and plug where everybody can read your stuff and listen to whatever you got going.

Yeah, well, Twitter would be at Woods Football, and then SB Nation's Maize and Brew. Just give us a follow, take a look. There you go. There you go. You guys got anything special? I saw Anthony just put out an article right before we hopped on here. You got anything special that you're working on coming up

that people should look out for? Man, just coverage, working like a dog all the time. So, you know, whatever pops up, whatever the players say and do, quote-wise at a podium or on the field, that's what I'll be covering. Always constantly evolving. Love it. Love it. Yeah, I love looking at your guys' stuff. I mean, I always have said it um to you to

anthony to these guys you know for listeners of us that like the from the couch type of stuff you know you guys are are similar but actually professional about it you know you it's not totally you know you know just it is objective analysis but it's not, you know, cut and dry stuff. It's like, you know, you're actually giving some insight and, you know, some personality to it, which I I like. So go check out their stuff at Maize and Brew. Obviously, we had Anthony Broom on here earlier this year. We'll probably have him on again, but we love you guys there um and then for us you can follow us at blue by 90 on twitter instagram and facebook at blue by 90 podcast on youtube um of course thank you to

the people at truly uh that are sponsoring the tailgate uh in this podcast uh and our social media to to give us uh some love there so go grab a Trulia and crack one while you watch the games this weekend and everything. But other than that, we will see you later this week. Go Blue. Go Blue. Go Blue.