Blue By Ninety - Episode 106: PFF Anthony Treash

Episode Date: June 10, 2022

Lead CFB Analyst Anthony Treash from Pro Football Focus joins the boys to cover the landscape of college football, Big Ten vs Sec and more. Crack a coldy and enjoy the show.

all right welcome back to blue by 90 i'm justin joined by jack and caitlin as always it is june 8th i personally can't fucking believe it's june i don't know about you guys but we're like it feels like halfway through summer i know we're not but it just feels weird it does are you thinking that it's like later in the year than it should be because i feel like it's like july right now i don't really i guess i'm just in an alternate reality where like it's still april but it's also like august at the same time i feel that we've had i mean we've had some fucking hot weeks man i think that's what's done it we've had some good weather some hot weeks i think it's supposed to be good weather the rest of this week i also how does fuck next week yeah i also think i have covid right now

so i think that's a little bit like you know getting to the brain a little brain fog there but you know i mean how many how many people out there are going to have covid and still be like no we've got to record a podcast we do it probably not many probably not many got your name right and you did the intro right so that's i think you're fine that's i mean we're that i got the date right uh thankfully it's right in the bottom corner of my screen so a little cheat sheet there but power i mean well we're for the people listen we we do things i've done this very drunk i've done this very hungover i've done it with covid i mean this podcast started through covid so you know true speak for yourself i was shouting to the people from the rooftops with shay patterson as the quarterback with all three listeners oh my god and all three

listeners were just us i'm pretty sure that was at that point of the podcast too when i started there were still it got up to like six listeners because i would listen every time on my spotify my apple podcast my google podcast youtube we were all i was just like I was going into Apple stores subscribing to us on every phone. That's not a bad idea. We should be doing that for sure. We really should. Oh my god. Please subscribe.

Actually, low key, if you are out there, I need you guys to put in a rating for us on Spotify and Apple because I went in there. I don't think we have any ratings. I think we do. I think it's just a bunch of Ohio State fans giving us one star. Probably. Let me check right

now. We need you guys to help us out. Give us a five star rating. Tell us what you love about us and then it'll bump us up and we'll get bigger and give you guys better content too. I guess we do need more rankings on Spotify. I know. give you guys better content too i guess we do need more more rankings on uh spotify i know maybe back on youtube again too we're back on youtube now so we're on the uh the blue by 90

youtube so check us out there new stuff coming out go ahead my favorite youtube comment was some guy telling jackie a dial-up internet. Dude, I don't remember that. Yeah, because you couldn't get it to load. Hey, 24 ratings on Apple Podcasts. I'm going to give it a 4.5 out of 5. Wow, that's not bad. What's the lowest? They're all five stars and then a one star.

Hold on. Let me see if i can see how many one stars we got oh they didn't even write a review let's give us one star if you're out there and you gave us a one star at least leave a comment yeah at least let us know what we can improve on yeah what do you what do you if you if you had to point to one episode or one thing you said, what do you think would make somebody give you a one star? Probably when I was talking about going commando. Or shitting my pants.

I don't know. I don't know if I talked about that on the podcast or not. I'll be honest. I thought about leaving the podcast after that episode too. Oh my God. I wouldn about leaving the podcast like after that episode too. Oh my God. I wouldn't blame you. No. Hey, that's perfectly on brand.

Yeah. That's what I bring to this place. I love it. I love it. All right. What's going on? Let's, first of all, I want to talk about how the world hates Michigan. The world hates Michigan.

Why? What did we do to the world? I don't know, man. It's not fair. Baseball got hosed twice. Two times. In what? Back-to-back?

Back-to-back plays? Are you talking about the strike call too? Yeah. Yeah. Mostly the reviewed tag at second, replay at second. That clearly showed the guy got tagged out after he was called safe. And his fingers literally went like that. Yeah.

And they were like, nope, yeah, he's definitely safe. And then naturally four runs score after that. Yeah. And then what? Double the score two runs and then that fucking terrible missed strike call next which is a fucking two-run homer i know i'm like bro what are we doing here it was it was so bad um and then it turns out the the umpire literally was umpiring in the offseason for like louisville scrimmages because

he's like close to the program so was it the home plate umpire no it's the second base ah okay so and still first of all i'm i'm more on the ncaa how do you let that happen because you know his background but also there's a clause somebody sent me the contract you have to sign to be an ncaa ump and you have to say like do you have any conflicts of interest blah blah blah so like i think that michigan should sue personally fuck i think we should go to a johnny depp defamation lawsuit. Johnny Depp versus Amber Heard and Michigan versus the NCAA. Oh my god.

That would be some quality content. And we're representing him. Oh fuck. We're losing that case. Louisville shit the bed. I saw them do it. Your honor, look at this shit. What? shit the bed i saw them do it that's what your honor look at this shit what uh also you've been talking shut up shut up let me talk for a second do we know how the review process works in college baseball yeah do you can i talk now or no now you

can i just want to get that question out for the last like two minutes you keep cutting me off wait what was the question? Fuck you. So the review process is that the umps go to the monitor, but it's all being done in the Chicago office or something. There's somebody there that actually makes the call and tells them, yep, this is confirmed or denied or whatever. That's what I want to know.

I want to know who made that call. i think we hunt them down manager ask for something to be reviewed good question or is it just like the i don't i don't know that's a good question oh you're expecting us to know a few things like i, I had the first one ready, and I sounded smart. I put it on a tee for you. Then Caleb comes in with, like, a 105-mile-an-hour fastball. Hey, Jules Amaya over here. Yeah, for real. Break your finger playing Guitar Hero.

Well, that was my one. That was your one. That was your shining moment. I felt bad for the boys, though. I did. It sucked, man. Especially for them to come back to come back into that game when it looked like they were dead to rights and they should have gotten the victory

but got fucked you know what uh what was the craziest stat though that out of the last every every single one of their last 12 games they were the underdog and they won eight of them it's pretty crazy that's an amazing stat yeah so that's pretty insane good for the boys though to make a run it would have been incredible for them to go to supers but hey you know i'm gonna be very honest right now i feel like that team already overachieved by getting to the uh to the regional final yeah they overachieved by getting to the regional and winning the big 10 win the big 10 tournament i mean that's huge yeah i mean that's a victory of a season you're

hanging a banner it's almost like a rite of passage just past year to like win the big 10 as a michigan sports team that's true that is very true very true um 13 of them i feel like if you're in the big 10 and you didn't win like a championship in any sport you should be kicked out i think you should be relegated to you should the to the mac relegate him to the mac relegated to the mac or just like relegated to like the milky way galaxy just get him the fuck out of here either or i would be happy for those who don't know we're talking about michigan state i don't know, we're talking about Michigan State. I don't know if you know this or not.

I may or may not have said this before, but Joey Velasquez has two Big Ten championships this calendar year, and Michigan State has zero. Wow. I knew that, but I forgot, and now I just remembered and got it decided all over again. I'm going to use that stat for the rest of 2022. Incredible. I'm going to put that on a tank top or something and like wear that to the first tailgate yeah we need to get him we

need to get him a shirt we gotta get a big 10 championships like and then joy v2 michigan state zero yeah you guys shirt that on it i like there you go i will i for the listeners out there just know i will never ever i promise you this ever pass up an opportunity to shit on michigan state i will never do that so if you think i'm a hater that's why we love you yeah um you know what else i wanted to talk about too jordan pool just being fucking unreal still like that buzzer beater are you kidding me launched it from fucking jupiter looked like houston all over again something about him and buzzer beaters yeah i don't think he didn't have very good uh first half either right he went off in second yeah and then he was like really struggling

and then he came out and he scored like at one point it was like uh jordan pool 16 points to um the the other teams like 12 or something like that damn so yeah warriors just have so many weapons man yeah i think i said it before that like I think that the Warriors will ultimately end up winning because of that like yeah it's just it just feels like it's a new guy every day that that comes out and is the guy that can't be stopped I also want to talk about this for a second and he's a Sparty so don't like you know it's hard for me to do this. But is Draymond Green, like, take scoring out of it? Is he, like, one of the best all-around players of all time? Oh, take scoring the basketball.

Take scoring. Which is the literal point of the whole entire game. Take that out of the equation. It's almost a joke question, but it's kind of serious. Like, he's so good at everything. Take scoring and dribb that out of the equation it's almost a joke question but it's kind of serious like he's so good at everything take scoring and dribbling out of it and he might be one of the best players of all time i really can't tell if you're being serious i'm dead i swear to god i'm dead serious put him put him in a handball league is he the best best player of all time

about this if you take if you take like being smart and being a being able to talk well then he would be the best lawyer of all time as well. I think he's smart, though. I think he's a smart guy. I think he's a pretty good speaker. I don't know what he does well. He's a great defender. But when he defends, he's just annoyingly like bodying you up too much and fouling every time.

That's how I always foul. And then when he has the ball, because he can't dribble and he can't shoot, so he just runs as fast as he can out of control towards the hoop and just flings it up. And then there's been a couple times where he flings it up and goes off the literal top of the backboard, drops in, and then he goes, flexes his muscles. You know, you want to know who my NBA comparison is?

It's Draymond Green. That's who I play basketball with. So that's why you were trying to convince us that that means you're good? Am I one of the best? Maybe. Maybe. I think that Draymond has gotten so incredibly lucky over his nba career that he's been with like seven hall of famers think about it they've had steph they've had clay they've had

uh durant they've had go down now it's going to be pool like go down the list and then there's just draymond in the corner that just like i don't i just like don't really know what he does and then he ends up with a stat line of like four points to assist and then six fouls and six fouls yeah i think the thing that bothers me the most about draymond's game not only the fact that he just can't dribble to save his fucking life but he shoots like he has a backpack on like how how would nobody fix that in the 15 years that he's been in the league he does you can't get him with a shooting coach so he can you know not look like an idiot when he shoots the ball that's a great comparison he

looks like the kid that like uh you're in pe and and your friend comes in from the other class he still got his basket uh backpack and flip-flops on. And then he tries to shoot, and it, like, flops up and down. That's him. He, like, leaned forward and, like, hunched down, and he's trying to carry the weight of the backpack. You know what's incredible, though? Like, you go back to him at MSU, and he was, like, a dominant scorer.

Yeah. Wasn't he player of the year? Like, national player of the year, I think. I don't think he was national player of the year. He might have been a Big Ten player of the year. Big Ten player of the year like national player of the year i think i don't think he was national player of the year he made a big 10 player big 10 player of the year maybe yeah i mean he i'm still i mean backs up my you know i think he's a great all-around player minus trembling and scoring and i love that i love that you were like you were so dead serious until you realized how dumb it sounded i I'm still serious. I still believe it. Take away dribbling.

Game's the entire sport of basketball. Okay, you can't move and you can't score. What do you guys think about this guy? Draymond's the best of all time. He's number one overall pick. Oh, my God. I really cannot do that. Take away. Go ahead that take away go ahead no go ahead

i was gonna say take away um i don't know take away throwing the ball and take away handing it off and mark sanchez is the best quarterback of all time i think ah but he doesn't i mean he ran into like a butt a butt, dude. Like he can't even, he can't even move his feet. We're supposed to go. If Marcus Sanchez was a dominant safety, then there we go. Then I would agree. What was the, if, if you take away throwing interceptions, Nathan Peterman's one of the top quarterbacks in the league.

Agreed. 100%. If he just didn't throw six picks a game, he would have been really good. I don't think he's still in the league. If he's still in the league, then I don't know what to say. I don't think he is. I don't know. So what's

the hockey up to? And then what's the, what's the, uh, what's hockey, what's hockey up to? And then what's the, uh, series for Celtics warriors? Um, Oilers, I think are getting spanked by family, Colorado, three, nothing. Colorado leads three, nothing. Then the Rangers are, are, uh, leading over the lightning-0. That's a boring playoff. Fuck the ass. I thought it was 2-2.

I thought series was tied. Rangers-Lightning? Oh, you are so right. Where the fuck did you get 2-0 from? I was looking at game 2. I was looking at game two sorry my brain is just not at its peak

eating my brain yeah tomorrow 8 o'clock tied 2-2 what a series what a great series what's the Oilers series is that actually 3-0 or is it like 3-1 no Colorado already won it 4-2 or 4-0 the Oilers series? Is that actually 3-0 or is it like 3-1? No, Colorado already won it. 4-2 or 4-0.

Yeesh. Poor Oilers. Actually went to OT on Monday. They were fighting. Yep. So that's hockey. What else were you saying? Playoffs?

I think it's 1-1. They play tonight or tomorrow? I don't know. You're supposed to know that. They play tonight or tomorrow? I don't know. You're supposed to know that. They play tonight at 9. Do they play tonight at 9? Cool. Yeah. So I want to... Let's all predict Draymond's

stat line. And then tomorrow, while people are listening to this tomorrow, or today, if it's you, then you can clown us or this would be the one time he has like 25 or something like that. I'm so pumped for this.

As we're doing this, I'm going to actually bet. It's that line. Well, what's the – portnoy put something out it was uh our friend our friend dave portnoy who uh commented on our instagram our boy comments on our instagram we are basically best friends now um but i do oh so here's another one where's the 25 you can't see damn there was a bet that was uh draymond over four and a half fouls in the game and i was going to take that over for sure but i can't find it right now um but there is a bet with dave celtics and red sox both to win plus 225 i don't hate that

don't do the red sox there's also a playoff boost for curry to score 30-plus, Tatum to score 25-plus, and Jalen Brown to score 20-plus tonight. Interesting. Plus 340. Interesting. Interesting. Might have to do a little. All right. So what's the punishment for whoever's the farthest away for Draymond's stat line?

What are we doing points i say points assists rebounds fouls okay and so it's like the the person who just is the most away like you just count it up if he has three points and you guys two that's one if he has four assists and you guys three that's another one so that's two total we just rally it up tally it up okay all right who wants to go first what's what what's the uh what's the punishment what's the punishment um shit that's a good question oh oh no should we have to do something at your bachelor party? Oh, yeah. I like that.

All right. Fine. Loser has to shave their head. I knew you were going to say something like that. That's awful. Don't worry. I have a million things in my cart on Amazon to get for your bachelor party. I'm getting this. Heather's actually going to hit diapers.

Oh, yeah. I'm going gonna order them like two orange theory so heather doesn't see it like all this shit yeah i'm gonna get some pit vipers and you get a bucket hat maybe some pirate bandanas i look at the pirate bandanas they do can you get an eye patch too or pirate do rags oh for sure i feel like you could pull off the pirate dude i'll do it i was i was thinking about shaving everything but the mustache too but i don't know if i can do that i'm 100 you have to you've got a good spash nice little jawline great shoulders stop hitting on me jack forgot to mention the baby oil in his cart as well blackout yeah i'm very worried now wait i saw something on uh on i think it was instagram uh when the barstool guys you were telling me how they did the um put in bay whatever and they were talking about it and uh i think it

was on twitter actually and there was a thread and like people were just like commenting like yeah i'm from ohio ohio that place is a shith was a thread and like people were just like commenting like, yeah, I'm from Ohio. Ohio, that place is a shithole. Like all this shit. I'm like, this is going to be a fucking mess. The literal. So the thread that Donnie had that actually works at Barstool and did the thing was like cons. The AC doesn't work. The TV doesn't work.

The lobby is a subway. Pros. When I'm blackout drunk, the lobby is a subway. Fucking love it. It's going to be outrageous. Oh, man. All right. Let's do. You got to chug like a 24-ounce ice house or something.

Okay. Or shotgun it. my god have you had we did uh we did uh tall boy roulette at my other buddy's bachelor party and you just do tall boy roulette with all like the terrible terrible beers like natty ice and uh like all these things and if you if you haven't had one in a while like at 21 or 19 but i did that but it was like whatever and and now i'm like this is going to end my life maybe we do uh whoever loses has to drink a four looko. Oh, God. I think they still sell them. I mean, obviously, they're toned down, but they're not the same. Yeah, that'd be fun. I really hope Kaelin gets that one.

Alright, well, drink of your choice. 24-ounce drink of your choice. You gotta drink it at the bachelor party. And buy it yourself. And buy it yourself, and we film it, and we put it on Twitter so that everyone can laugh at you. Deal. Deal. All right.

I'll go first. Stat line. Let's go. Six points. Are you writing this down? Yeah. I can't tell if you're actually writing it down. Are you writing it down?

Yeah. All right. Six points. Five assists. Twelve rebounds. Four fouls. Are you just reading off of what it says on Barstool Sportsbook or something? No, I'm literally

looking at you right now. Four fouls? Four fouls. Okay. Kalen? I'm going high on the points. Nine points. Ooh. We're not doing field goals, right? No. Assists.

Assists. Assists. Six assists. Eight rebounds and I'll also go four fouls four fouls okay I will go I'm gonna go

four points uh three assists. I'm going to go nine rebounds and six fouls. He's going to foul out. But if he just, like, doesn't play. Let's go. Rebound, rebound rebound rebound yeah if he doesn't play then we all we all he's like i'm just not feeling it then we're all fucked yeah wait i'm thinking i'm thinking instead of waiting all the way to the bachelor party we

got to just do this this weekend okay i'll be at a wedding but i'll see if they have tall boys yeah i got so sir do you want a suplassy affair but you want a pinot grigio or would you like this vodka soda uh do you have any for loco i really need a for loco if you got it hey they got it in kegs that's true that's true do that well yeah we gotta we gotta do that and film it this at some point this weekend okay deal all right well let's end it on that i uh we we've got anthony trash from pff coming on here to talk michigan football and college football. He was awesome to talk to. Dude, anybody that we've talked to so far from PFF,

and we're going to keep having these guys on because we've built a great relationship with them, they are like walking encyclopedias. It's insane. They can just like rattle off guys' names and stats and stuff like that. And so they're literally like literally like you know the 69 logo the what's it uh yin yang they're like the they're the yang to our yin because we we don't really know anything oh my god we're they're the into our yang because they know they actually like know things and we're just like kind of three assholes yeah so oh this is gonna come out on june 9th as

well happy six nine six nine happy six nine all part of the plan i like that i like that a lot um nice cool nice all right well we'll talk to you later. Go follow Anthony at PFF underscore Anthony as well. We appreciated him coming on. We had a great conversation. And here it is. We've got Anthony Treesh from Pro Football Focus on today. We appreciate you joining, man.

How are you doing? I'm doing great. great how you guys doing doing well doing well hanging in there yeah um so i i should have asked this before we started recording it is trish correct it's actually trash but honestly it's like that's a big debate in my family that i just don't even get involved with because everybody pronounces it differently um and no one gets it right the first time so don't don't feel bad for getting it wrong that's actually how like half of my family says it but I roll with trash so that's how I say it but you know it's kind of whatever at this point what's like the worst mistake you've ever gotten

oh trash easily yeah I mean I'll never forget it was like i think it was second grade you know end of the year award ceremony some teacher and never heard of heard of me you know reading off names you know anthony trash you know you're like eight years old everyone's pointing at you then it just sticks from that one but now i mean that's probably the worst one but um it comes up every once in a while so t Trash? Oh, no. Tony Trash. Oh, God. All right. We won't put you through that much misery here.

We like you already. But welcome to the pod. We appreciate you coming on. So you are the lead college football analyst for Pro Football Focus. Tell us how you got there and, you there and whatever you've been doing to get to that point and also what you've been doing while you're at PFF. Yeah, so I mean, I've been with PFF in some capacity, I think like five years now. Kind of grinded part-time there for a couple of years, doing some data collection, working behind the scenes on some of the preview packets that we do

for television networks. And I just happened to be at the Combine doing some stuff with Bomarito Performance Systems with Pete Bomarito, helping out some of his athletes while he was in town. And I saw Steve Palazzolo's seven-foot ass just walking around the Marriott. I was like, hey, I work with you guys. And then I had a good conversation with him. And then it was just by coincidence, they're looking for somebody and had a couple more conversations when they were in town and came to Cincinnati and ended up getting hired full time,

kind of working with media deliverables and, you know, kind of like graphic strategy. And then eventually, you know, writing on part-time the side, you know, like some of that stuff, like my analysis kind of been through the ringer with all the data collection and the analysis process. So, you know, and then eventually got promoted to content contributor and then PFF lead college analyst a couple of years ago now. So that's where I'm kind of like leading the process of all the college rankings, you know, the top 10 list, the, you know, all conference teams, you know, the quarterback rankings, you know, I see, you know, the top 10 list, the, you know, all conference teams,

you know, the quarterback rankings, you know, I see, you know, get some help there, you know, ask around because you never want to have one person's opinion on one thing.

You know, we are, you know, a whole company here. So, you know, I asked, we'll work with Seth Galena a little bit on those.

He watches those quarterbacks in depth quite a bit. Even Mike Renner, the lead draft analyst and Bruce Gretkowski, two are quarterback specialists, former NFL quarterback, talk with him about these guys, break them down and kind of help, you know, get these lists. And because at the end of the day, they are very important. You know, so that's the favorite part about my job, because, you know, while like some people, I think more often than anything, people like from the outside just think, oh, they're just doing this to piss people off you know they hate this team and all that but it's like no it's not it you know

that's my favorite aspect just because you get those guys that you know of course you know for Michigan right you know Blake Corum he's getting all the recognition in the world he's a superstar he's one of the best ringbacks in the country no one's going to argue that but like you know you look at some other guys that you know maybe at the group of five level this left guard from Texas State you know doesn't get a lot of recognition but he was first team all-conference of school his team's hyping him up you know maybe didn't get that for the media which is a pretty flawed process so I mean that's the best part you know you know kind of showing light on the undervalued aspect so yeah that's kind of been my timeline here and then just kind of you see what takes me on from here on out.

Love it. Love it. No, it's a cool thing, I think. I'm always interested. I go to your guys' site quite often, actually, to just see, especially during the season, I want to see who's grading out well because I think there are a lot of casual fans out there, you know, and it's not like I'm, like, you know, going through the film, you know, 10 different times.

Right. So I would consider myself still, even though I host a podcast on it, still kind of casual. Right. It's not like I'm analyzing that in depth, but I'm always interested to see like, all right, this person made one good play. And that was like the big highlight that was in the highlight reel for the game did they suck the rest of the game or did they actually play a good complete game and that's what I like to see from you guys and it's just it is interesting to see especially from from my perspective too as a Michigan fan sometimes where I'm like man they all played a really good game how did we lose that game or some or the opposite you know how did we win that game and vice versa so um I I wanted to ask you I guess in a in a roundabout way

here how much like how much do you put on actual like grades and stats and stuff like that or is there also just like simply the eye test like that that is a dude, and he can play at the next level. I'm glad you asked that because very few people ask that. They just kind of think the grades will be all in. They think because this guy is the highest-graded guy, they think he's the best player. That's not the case. I mean, the grades are very, very valuable.

They're correlated year to year. They're really strong in measuring player performance, maybe not so much player value. That's when you can kind of get into some other metrics. So I always say it's a leading indicator, right? So if this guy graded out well, why did he grade out well? You know, that's always the question. You should always ask why is this guy grading out at this level, right? And then you kind of look at the film and with our database that, you know, all 32 NFL teams use, every Power Five program uses,

and most of the group of five, you can burn through these plays, like, I mean, rapid fire. I mean, you can get through a game in minutes and really kind of see, and, you know, you can filter it in any statistic that you possibly could think of. If you want to see third down plays, you see third down plays. You know, for me, looking at the Y of the grade, you can look at the way we kind of divvy up these grades. Everybody knows it's like a zero to 100 or 99.9 technically scale. You can't get a perfect 100. You know, you look at that scale and what goes into that and formulates that

is a lot of grades you get, you know, zero grades or plus point five grades, plus one grades, plus one point five or plus two grades. And it goes in reverse to down to negative two. So you look at that, you look at all those grades and you kind of go through all the positives, all the negatives and look at how that kind of happened. And, you know, it's always like the I think the worst part of like I love every week of the college football season. I love it. You know, that's what I live for. But definitely the worst time is like after week three when you get these power five programs, just beating the hell out of these group of five teams and you get these like superstar graders. They're just, you know, elite level. Oh, this is his year.

And then next thing you know, he goes to an SEC school to get the SEC play. And he just falls flat because he's playing against lesser competition. So it's like, okay, sometimes you look at how they get those high grades, and it's like, I mean, if they're playing a power five school, that's not happening. Like he can't do that against this type of guy. So, I mean, you know, like your guys. That's Debra Heisman, right? Yeah, exactly.

I mean, your guys' podcast, Blue by 90, I love the name because it's going to be Blue by 90 each of the first three weeks of the year for it. I guarantee it. They're going to be off the charts in all kinds of metrics, but it's probably going to be justified in a lot of aspects. You'll get some of those teams in there that maybe aren't so much justified there.

So going back to your original question, it's not the be-all, all end all, definitely a leading indicator. Yeah, I hold a lot of faith in him, obviously. I mean, I'm biased. I work for the company. I think it's an excellent grading system. I think it's better than a lot of people give it credit for. But it's definitely not we're holding it up saying, no, this is exactly right every single

step of the way. You know, every once in a while you'll see a high grader that's probably not as good as you know one would think given his ranking there so it makes sense um caitlin you got a question well i was just gonna say i i love browsing the site like it kind of gives me the same appeal as like you ever been on like college football reference or something like that and like i just get lost and so many stats numbers whatever's going on and like there's plenty of times where i'm like how the hell is this guy graded so high oh he's only got like four pass attempts or whatever right yeah so i just love the the website layout um i i was kind of curious you have so many stats and it's year to year from like players and teams and things like that has there ever been any thought about like moving even forward

to like grading coaches yes so we actually have that behind the scenes and actually i mean i'm not sure if you guys saw but we have um Conor McQuiston, an intern of ours, the under flyer, the NFL head coaches. And, you know, he kind of used his own system there. You know, it's hard to kind of rank those types of players or those types of coaches, that whole atmosphere, really, in getting a firm answer. And I think we do have a pretty good system that's behind the paywall that teams do use. And we do consult with teams, you know, at the NFL level, sometimes at the collegiate level.

As far as, you know, they'll ask, who would you hire based off of what your data is telling you? We'll give our input. But we know it was very I think it's more valuable for play callers, you know, where you know what they're doing. They're controlling that side of the ball. When you have a head coach is kind of controlling everything. It's a little bit hard to pinpoint, but you can definitely get there. So it's, it's definitely in the works. We'll see if it happens and gets, you know, to the public eventually. But, you know, it's also difficult because you don't want to, you know, you don't want to put anyone in, you don't want to make anyone, you know, pretty pissed, right? Because, you know, someone's like, one team's got the worst

head coach in the country, and it's kind of a surprise. And, you know, we also work with them. So it's kind of a balancing of everything. And so we'll see if that gets, you know, released out in the public. It's definitely there. But, you know, I think it probably might be a little bit of a ways away, but that's a good question. It's definitely something, especially my guy, Eric Eager, the director of research and development here, he's been obsessed with over the years. And if you follow him on Twitter, his Twitter's interesting. He tweets some pretty outlandish stuff sometimes, but he will every once in a while give an update, like, you know, top five play callers since like this week. And we also work with the Broyles Award a little bit to get a good list of some of those play

callers that exceeded expectations. So I have to ask then, and this can be, you know, a little bit of your personal opinion mixed with some of your objective expertise. What's your opinion on Harbaugh? Because there definitely seems to be like a narrative on him. Curious if maybe you have, you know, a more statistical view on him. Yeah, you know, he's interesting. I don't think a lot of people could say they kind of had that same path for him. You know, people calling for his job and then all of a sudden making the college football playoff the next year. I think you look at what he did and you have, I do think that a lot of that

credit for last season has to go to the coordinators, right? McDonald and Gattis. I mean, they played a pretty significant part in getting those, those sides of the balls to, you know, exceeding expectations. And, you know, even Sean knew of the defensive line coach is now at UFC kind of helping develop Aiden Hutchinson, who was one of the most valuable players, most valuable non quarterback in the country. You know, so that I think those factors are closer to equal with the head coach than a lot of people would think. But definitely the head coach holds some weight there. And, you know, you look at what they did. It's kind of hard to measure the stuff that, you know, people like to say momentum a lot in games. Momentum swing, you know, and, you know, in our findings, it's kind of hard to measure that.

It doesn't really exist. It's kind of just out there in the ether where people just, you know, bring it up when the time's right. But with head coaching, there's that immeasurable aspect that, you know, some people in the analytics community will disagree with. I think holds some weight, that rah-rah nature, right, you know, where you can kind of effectively lead a group of people. And I think it's more, you know, prevalent at the collegiate level where these, I mean, they're, I mean, college kids, right? I mean, they're student athletes. They're not, you know, getting paid. Well, some of them are now. They're not, you're not getting paid millions of dollars over the course of a contract. They're not adults with kids. These guys are fresh out of high school, and some of them do hire their assistants. Harbaugh was featured in there. The one that stood out to me was Nick Saban. You know, he didn't care about the X's and O's. He cared about

how he controlled the room because he needed to, you know, the assistant needed to kind of show these five stars that they're not all that, like they've been told since they're the, you know, age of seven, right? That they're at a different level now. So there's definitely that immeasurable aspect that is important. And that's why I'm, I like Harbaugh. I think you can see with that, he has that special trait to form a team of good culture and a good group of people, you know, like we saw last year. So it's an interesting question. I don't think there's a right answer to it. Definitely not a wrong one either. But, you know, at least my opinion is I do think that, you know, despite even those head

coaches that are not play callers and, you know, honestly, we're seeing more and more of those just because these coaches, some of them that did have play calling duties, it's hard to manage a full roster. Right. And I think in the age of social media, you have to be more connected with your players than ever because they're constantly getting, you know, just the eagle eye, right? They're just watching them all the time. You know, they need to help kind of control that.

But also just with the nature of the game, you're spending less time with families if you're taking on play calling duties. So you're seeing more of those coaches give it up. So I think with head coaches in college football, at least, it's a little bit more difficult to measure. But there's definitely, like I said, no right answer, no wrong answer. And I think the culture plays a bigger part than most people think. So it's interesting that you brought up the Broyles Award too

because Gattis won that this past year. And it's funny as well that you're talking about play callers because I was in a Spotify live just yesterday with a bunch of Michigan fans uh and Ant Wright on on Twitter if you follow if you don't follow Ant Wright on Twitter you got to go follow him but there were a lot of people as we were talking about Gattis and now that there's a coaching change for the offensive coordinator obviously the defensive coordinator as well but on the offensive side of all those play calling duties and people were calling him the fraud of the offensive side of all those play calling duties and people were

calling him the fraud of the year instead of the coach of the year. So I think there is, there are a lot of people that like Josh Gaddis and what he did here at Michigan. Obviously the, the offense was last year, even though it was run heavy, still one of the best offenses that Michigan has had in a really long time. Right. But people question how much was he involved? How much was it Matt Weiss and Jerome Moore actually, you know, and,

and even Jim Harbaugh, I think that's been a big question is how much you know, has Jim Harbaugh actually let off the reins and that type of stuff or is, does he have his, his, you know, thumbprint still big time on this, on this playbook? And so my question there is, you know, do you think that Michigan takes a big step back post Josh Gaddis? Or was it not as much Josh Gaddis as it was what everyone around him did too

so they can plug in Matt Weiss and they'll be okay? I think that's a very fair question and i think with the way everything ended it's it's even more kind of this could be something so weird wasn't it like it was like all right you win the broils award and then you like i don't and then all of a sudden it sounds like harbaugh doesn't really want him back enough to pay him what he wants. And so then he's like, all right, fuck you. I'm out. I'm going to Miami. And there we are.

So that was so weird too. Yeah. Hopefully we find out one day. I'm not sure we ever will. But I think that, again, I think it's a very fair question to ask. And there's no doubt Josh Gaddis played a part. It's just like you said, how much of a part did he play? And he, I think he knows what he, I know, he knows what he's doing. Right. I mean, I think that's very, you know, well known out there. And I think part of it too, that,

that Michigan offense last year, like, like you said, very run heavy and running the ball in the collegiate level, a little bit different from the NFL level, it's very valuable. If you have those difference makers back there, Michigan did with Corham and Haskins. I mean, you can be a game-changing offense and lead by that. You can ground and pound the ball and be just fine, as long as you have a quarterback that's not making mistakes.

And Cade McNamara, for the most part, he was, you know, some people might not like this, but he was a game manager, but that's perfectly fine. And then you had those moments every once in a while with JJ when he was put in there. You know, what made that Michigan offense special, though, in my opinion, they kind of put them over the top and really came out in some big moments and key games were the trick plays. I mean, no team had more success last year on trick plays than Michigan, right? I mean, we saw it constantly.

Can I step in real quick? Yeah, for sure. That was my biggest, like, gripe with Michigan's offense in the past. They never threw a wrinkle in, ever. Never even, like, a misdirection. And then all of a sudden, there was, like, they connected on every single one of those plays. It was unbelievable. So I just had to say that too.

You know, that's a perfect point right there. And I may be wrong here, but I believe I saw something where, you know, I think some outlet tried to ask Carbaugh about, you know, how much pull do you have with the offense? And he said every once in a while, you know, let him know, give him the trick, you know, every once in a while. And that's where my head kind of goes there. I mean, I think guys played a part in it, but I don't think he was alone in that. So whether or not he was deserving of it is a very fair point.

I mean, personally, I'm probably not. I've already gave it to Jeff Grimes, the Baylor offensive coordinator. I thought what he did considering the talent he had, which is very little talent down there, that he was remarkable. But, you know, and also, too, he kind of had success in the past, made Zach Wilson the second overall pick, which is a whole other can of worms we can get into. But, you know, it's definitely a fair point. I think Michigan's offense this year is going to look relatively the same

depending on which avenue they go on with quarterback you know if kade does have a short leash and i imagine he probably will then i think it could kind of get interesting there but we could see another scenario where it's just like last year right where they're it's mostly kade we get jj every once in a while when they want to mix it up and kind of go for the big play you you know, some of the trickery. I think that's definitely a possibility. I personally would ride with JJ, just given his high upside. And so I think Michigan's offense could be, I think there's a pretty established floor,

given the run game that they're going to have. They still have a good offensive line, of course, like I said, with Corum. And you have some other playmakers there as well. You know, I still think you're going to have is they still have a good offensive line of course like i said with quorum and you have some other playmakers there as well you know i still think you're going to see the trick plays and i think you're still going to have success with those they're not going to be you know directly what they were last year but they're going to you know find a way to get you know diving outwards and aj hitting the ball in their hands in space and you know give them room after you um run run after the catcher you run in space in general. So I think there's a pretty established floor there. It's just kind of how high you go. And you look at this team as a whole, that defense,

it's not going to be what it was last year. That's going to be upside of the ball. It's going to see some regression. And I think we've heard the stories too about how under Don Brown, it was pretty vanilla. It was cookie cutter. Everyone knew what they were going to do. They just thought, we have the better talent.

We're going to beat you, even though you know it just didn't work. It worked against teams that they had better talent against. Exactly. Which was great until you play Penn State and Michigan State and Ohio State. Exactly. And so, yeah, so I think michigan wants to kind of repeat the success they had last year it's gonna have to be flip-flopped where the defense is serviceable

good enough um but the offense is gonna have to carry them and i think with jj that's how it's gonna happen you know we'll see what happens i still think like i said it's got a high floor i'm confident with their play calling abilities at hand and they're going to be able to know how to use their playmakers at every position. Makes sense, yeah. I think that it's a tough thing because, in my opinion, Josh Gaddis in year one and year two, he was not good. He was just not a good play caller.

He was thrown into a role that he had never done before, literally hadn't called plays before, and he didn't know what to do. And so that's where I thought that he like figured it out in year three. It took him a couple of years. So I, this is my concern for Michigan's offense going forward in this year is Matt Weiss is in the same boat. He hasn't called plays very often. Right. And so I think calling plays is this thing where you can play as much NCAA as you want, play as much Madden, watch as much film, have as many practices as possible. and a third and four situation and you have to know what you're going to run against that team you know depending on what you see for from the defense and so I I just don't think you get experience I I don't know if there are many people outside of like uh uh a Joe Brady that have come in and like immediately gotten it it's an immediately click so my my concern for Michigan

this year would be like that the play calling and the offense could take a step back possibly. But I think to your point, like I think that's when you can't – if the offense isn't like super prolific and it's not like high powered, then you need a J.J. McCarthy to come in and do that. You can't rely on Cade McNamara and just, like, ho-hum down the field. So I just – I'm a little bit concerned, but it'll be interesting to see how it goes.

Yeah, and, you know, it's interesting because, like, I don't think enough people – I mean, like anything in, you know, the sport of football, it's a lot harder than it looks. I mean, these guys are different. It's not Madden, right? It's not Madden. Yeah, even play calling, it's like it's pretty easy just to sit there and be like, well, that was stupid.

When you have, like, all the information in front of you or these guys are scrambling on the sideline, every once in a while, obviously, you can be like, yeah, this guy's probably not that good at what he's doing because of the consistency. Every once in a while, you'll get a stupid decision. Like, you know, the New York Giants are going to sneak on, you know, what was it, like, nine yards to go, 39 or whatever.

I don't know. It's stuff like that. But, like, there's a lot of people that just don't understand. Like, that's one of the most difficult things is just to nail the play call and, you know, kind of play chess there because, you know, the defense, they're watching film. they're studying you. You have to disguise everything to make sure they're not going to see what's coming there and don't get too greedy because this worked earlier

in the game and you think it's going to work again, you know. And think about it too because, I mean, I always think about this. When you – I played football and I know that you could have the exact right play call, but if you have 10 guys do the right thing and one guy doesn't, the play is blown up, right? And so it's so hard to get 11 20-year-olds on the same page with your coordinator, make it all go right,

and then also the other team can't just make a miraculous play. It is really difficult. So even – I know there are a lot of times where we went back and watched film, and it's like, oh, shit, we did run that right play call. They just ran the correct play call against us and hit the gap, and that was what did it. So it's one of those things that are tough. But I wanted to ask you this too uh and

that and then I'll let Kalen jump in here too give us somebody on Michigan who we're gonna be mad about that their rankings aren't high enough oh um it's I think Michigan's fan base is interesting because they're all over the place like You're getting so many different opinions there. You get some of those very passionate fans that everybody's great. Some of them are real and like, yeah, I think Cade's probably the one that stands out where some people are. I think there's a contingent out there that thinks he's the option and that he can lead them to success. I don't really see that at all whatsoever. Like I said, I think he's a ceiling game manager and that's it. So I probably have to say he's the

one that kind of stands out to me. Everyone else is pretty, pretty high. I mean, I'm really high on it. Pretty much everyone else on the offense. I mean, that's the best, that's the best, I think, set of skill position players in the country. One of the best. Need to be careful with that. But yeah, I mean, Corum, Henning, Edwards, Ronnie Bell, Andrew L. Anthony, Eric Hall, you can go on and on. I mean, all those guys have the potential to be special, special players. So, I mean, I'd probably have to go with Cade, even though I think that's a smaller contingent that thinks he's going to be something good relative to everything else. But yeah,

going back to the original thing, like I said, yeah, Michigan's fan base is interesting. I love it. It's one of the most passionate fan bases in the country. Yeah. You riled up the Caden JJ fight a few months early here. Yeah. A few months early. It's been going on since like two years ago, even when JJ wasn't even on campus yet. Yeah, I'm curious because Michigan finally got over the hump, beat Ohio State.

Now they have to go play Ohio State in Ohio, which obviously is arguably one of the toughest things in college football. And Ohio State is definitely not going to roll over. I mean, they are going to have a very bad taste in their mouth all year. And I'm sure they're going to make a lot of improvements on defense. And they might have an even better offense than they did last year. So do you think there's anything specific that Michigan has to do to come out and beat Ohio State on their home turf? Or is it kind of one of those just toss a coin kind of games? Yeah, I think we kind of have to wait and see to like get really specific at what they need to do.

Because I think there's a lot of wild cards with Ohio State specifically with that defense. I mean, obviously they got Jim Knowles from Oklahoma State it's a huge addition but how quickly can all those players get up to speed I mean he brought you know Tanner McAllister he's going to man the slot for him from Oklahoma State he was a transfer in you know he's going to be just fine obviously but it's everyone else I mean there's a ton of talent there you know Denzel Burke obviously the cornerback you know shined as a true freshman last year, was supposed to be a wide receiver, learning the position, looked fantastic. You know, the defensive line is great. You have some five stars that could break out. Jack Sawyer, Tyleek Williams, the interior defensive lineman, I'm

pretty high on him. You know, so there's a lot of talent there. It's just kind of how can they get active, you know, acclimated there? I don't know how quickly they can. I'm kind of expecting, you know, for a few years there, you know, that secondary at Ohio state, they called themselves BIA best in America. I don't think they're going to be that this year. I think they could get there. They have the raw talent, but I don't think it's going to be this year. And at that point, you kind of have to,

I go back to the quarterbacks because you're going to have to have a special quarterback that can put up points because like you said that offense is going to be nasty and I think too with that offense I still I'm still want to see more of CJ Stroud obviously he's a top five quarterback returning in college football you know he's great talent got a big arm my him is, like, not that he can't be a good quarterback. I mean, he's going to be a fantastic quarterback. It's can he be a national championship quarterback. And you look at last year, you saw the early season struggles consistency-wise against Oregon.

Oregon ended up going in the shoe and beating them and shocking everybody. I think there were a couple touchdown underdog and did so. And you look at C.J. Stroud, Stroud and you know I'm probably the only one that would say I think he played a bigger role in that than you know anyone else on the team there were some mistakes by everybody but I think he had some misses there and you look at I go back to his accuracy it's if you look at the numbers over the course of the year it's some of the best in the country but he has some outliers because he's very inconsistent with his mechanics. And I thought he tweaked it when he sat out that game because of the shoulder injury.

And I think he was kind of overcompensating a little bit. You didn't really see that core get used properly. And you saw some just wide, wide misses where a lot of people kind of panicked early on before we started to kind of figure some things out. Now he's still kind of, we didn't really, I didn't see that consistency. That worries me when you're playing a team

that's going to have a lot of, you know, force a lot more tight window throws. You know, they're not going to be wide open alleys there. Like some of those teams he was facing down that hot stretch. We did see some growth from him where I was very impressed, you know, kind of moving off his first read. You know, when he was going out there to have to make a play, make the right decision. And he did it.

And he made some big time throws in there. So I think he's a very special quarterback. I think there's just a little bit more because like right now we're seeing a lot of debate like who's the number one overall pick next year? Is it C.J. Stroud or Bryce Young? For me, it's like right right now, a lot's going to change. It could be completely different, but I think it's Bryce Young. And I personally can't can't see C.J. Stroud above Bryce Young

because I still need to see C.J. Stroud show he's a championship quarterback. And I think those kind of issues that I outlined is something I'm going to be keeping an eye on now. I don't want anyone to take this and be like, I don't believe in Ohio State. I think they're going to be – they're one of two teams that's going to win the national title. I just need to see that.

So that's something I would be looking for in the offensive side of the ball. But, of course, you have Jackson Smith and Jigba, Marvin Harrison Jr., you have Travion Henderson, you know, very good offensive tackle duo with DeJuan Jones and Paris Johnson moving over from guard back to his natural spot at tackle. I mean, this is going to be a very good team. So I think the questions I need to see before – because I think the line's probably out right now, but I don't know it off the top of my head. I imagine Ohio State's a pretty heavy favorite.

I think it was close to two touchdowns. I think it was two touchdowns, yeah. Yeah, and so I can see that based off of everything and outlined, I think a lot of people think C.J. Stroud's an elite quarterback, one of the best college quarterbacks that's walked this earth in the last few years, and that defense is going to rebound rebound I think those are two things where I could see happening but I'm very very cautious to say that's automatic going to happen

um this upcoming season but the defense probably being the one I'm least confident in um so going back that was a long long ramble I just did there. Going back to your original question, if I had to bet that right now, I would probably take Michigan. I think it would be a little bit closer than that. But, like, again, if Michigan's going to beat them, they're not only going to have to have Ohio State, those two issues I pointed out, be issues. They're going to have to have J.J. McCarthy as their quarterback,

and he's going to have to be the quarterback everyone's kind of expecting him to be. I think if Michigan wants to beat Ohio State this year, they're going to have to score 50-plus points, honestly, because Ohio State is going to score 40-some, if not 50. And so it's just going to have to be a shootout, which that game being a shootout is the last thing that Michigan wants right it's the last thing but it's you're going to have to play their game because it's in their house and that's what they're going to do the question I have about CJ

Stroud is how good is CJ Stroud because he never he's made some tough throws. 90% of the throws he has, the guys are 10 yards wide open. So I don't know. I don't see him all the time forcing a throw right into a tight spot and making an unbelievable throw. Yes, he has made those. And he's dropped dives and all that stuff. But it's not like he's doing that play in and play out. And this is me being biased for sure.

I'll admit that right away. But I just like, I just, I don't know if we'll know truly if he is like that elite quarterback that you're talking about, that championship quarterback, even until after he leaves Ohio State and goes to the NFL. And then he's going against NFL defenses with the Jets at wide receiver instead of, you know, three top five picks at wide receiver. You know what I mean?

Exactly. Yeah, it was good by you to clear that up that he has made those because you're going to get – if someone has to say that, you're going to see the throw against Indiana where he just piped it down the middle. But, no, I'm right there with you. I mean, most – he's made some incredible throws. He's been on time.

It's just, you know, like exactly what you said, can he do it at the NFL level? That's where I'm a little bit cautious to say it's a slam dunk automatic. Yeah, he's going to be a superstar. I think there's some reason. There's a case to be made to be doubtful. But, you know, he's still a very good quarterback but yeah I think you know I like I said I'm not as bullish on him as someone like Bryce Young who I think is well undersized his footwork is NFL coaches are going to have a field

day with this footwork they're going to puke they're going to call him every name in the book for it because they're going to be just frustrated. But it works for him at the collegiate level. And his talent is just absurd. And his natural processing ability is off the charts. So, you know, I think it's not so much a debate for me right now, even though for a lot of people it is. Yeah. And so we talked about JJ, too. Talk about JJ and Cade's, their form too,

and what they both bring to the table. Because I think a lot of people are just like, they want to see JJ's arm and his talent and all that stuff. And I understand it because there were a significant number of passes, like deep passes that Cade did not connect on. Whether it was short or it was long, he couldn't get it. But then, you know, there are a couple of deep balls that we've seen J.J.

drop in a bucket. So, you know, compare the two. You know, I'd say it's obviously we know it's the game manager versus the Johnny Manziel type unbelievable athlete, right? But, like, when we get down to form and what each of them can bring to the table, where do you see both of them? Yeah, I mean, they're completely different quarterbacks. I mean, just on different ends of the spectrum.

And like you said, Cade, you just can't hit the throws downfield. He cannot make those throws downfield, and that's an issue. He can take good care of the football. You know, he can be, you know, accurate underneath. He can hit the easy stuff. You know know he's going to take care of the football like i said and that's kind of if you have a stellar running game and an elite defense that's going to win you football games get you the cfb like you did last year um but when you have some deficiencies in defense you're going to need something to kind of help there with jj you

saw it last year like you said i mean he's just an absurd athlete. You know, I'll never forget that. I mean, that big 10, I was at the big 10 championship and that play where he's just running down the sideline, you know, striper side, like Corham catching him up. I'm just like, what the hell is this? I mean, I knew he was fast, but I mean, it was just absurd how he, how quick he was there. And so you, you look at what he can do there, the design run game, but also, you know outside the pocket on the run creating plays off structure um you know of course he had that he had that

awesome touchdown off platform against michigan state um you know of course that's kind of negated by the fumble which is kind of you can argue it's on the running back too but i'm putting that on to the side that's a rare mistake um you know, I think his ability from an accuracy perspective and hitting that deep throw, he's proven that. And two, I thought last year he had a couple of high-level moments where you're like, okay, this kid knows how to play quarterback. Some of these offenses in college football are propped up by scheme, and they're getting their hand held, right?

I mean, that's something, you know, I mentioned Seth Kalina earlier. Talked to him about it a little time. I mean, he's like, oh, he's getting his hand held. He's in a quarterback-friendly offense, a college-y type of offense. There were some times where JJ last year, you're like, wait a second. That was an NFL threat. He did some stuff that you don't see college quarterbacks do as far as understanding what the defense is doing. He made against georgia that one down the middle yeah that one that one

i was like i from that i was no one was a bigger fan um besides my guy dave lj jacarthy in the pff offices than me and that was a big debate Cause I remember we were getting shouting matches like, no, he's the guy, not Cade. And that throw, I was like, yep, that kid's going to be special. You know, I mean, George is playing rip Liz there and he fits it into that tight before passing it off that, I mean, that small window there. I mean, that's, that's elite stuff. So those are the differences between the two. So, I mean, Cade, I mean, mean for big 10 standards kade's a good quarterback because a lot of big 10 teams would kill to have a kade mcnamara there's like eight there's like probably eight to ten teams that would be like you're our starter day one right oh yeah i mean you compare him to i mean i don't want to like have guys catching strays like sean clifford at

penn state i mean it's Cade McNamara. You look at Illinois, Indiana, probably not Purdue, Minnesota, probably Cade McNamara. I mean, I think the only places he's not is Ohio State, Purdue, Maryland. I mean, those are really the ones that stand out. I think any other team would take it. If Thorn had MSU, I think, would have a good battle, maybe Thorn would come out on top, but still.

Yeah, I mean, it's – yeah, I mean, he's – again, he's a good quarterback, and I don't want to make it seem like I hate the guy that he stinks. I mean, he's good for college standards. But, again, if you want to be – if Michigan wants to be elite and want to be competing for national titles, he's not going to be you know the guy that can get you over that hump so I mean that's where it all kind of stems from yeah I I think that it's um it's a tough situation that Michigan fans are in you have this kid that won you the first

Big Ten title in almost two decades and you kind of want to you still want the next thing right but I think it's way more complex than that you can appreciate everything that Cade McNamara did for Michigan last year you can say that he was it you know very very good and he did the job that he needed to do but then you can also at the same time say that, hey, we want to get to the next level. We feel like JJ McCarthy, sophomore JJ McCarthy can get us there. And they're just like I think Cade McNamara himself would probably admit like there are certain things that JJ can do that I can't. Right now, with that being said, like I know that Cade's leadership in the locker room is unreal. Right. I know that he knows that playbook like the know that kate's leadership in the locker room is unreal right i know that he

knows that playbook like the back of his freaking hand so i think there are other things to it but you know either way we're gonna we're gonna debate this until september 3rd or whatever probably even later into the season anyway so yeah but jack welcome to the show we appreciate you taking the time to join us. I came right on time. Was Slander and Cade or what? No. No, Anthony was. Anthony was.

Anthony was. Modestly. Modestly. He's a good quarterback. Nothing special, but I like Cade. Dang. We were just talking about what they both bring to the table, to be honest. So, all right, let's do some power rankings of the big 10 here um so we talked a little bit already about ohio state um

who else who else do you got at the top of that list that you think could be competing in both the east and then the west for uh to get to indy yeah i mean i think it's Ohio State, Michigan. I'm not buying Michigan State. I think they're going to. Oh, it ain't coming? Talk ain't coming? Yeah. So, like Indiana, for example, 2020, unreal year. Surprised everybody.

You know, everyone's on the bandwagon. And they fall off a little bit last year. I can see Michigan State doing the same thing. I'm not saying they're going to go 2-10, but I think they're going to struggle a little bit more than a lot of people think. I think the loss of Kenneth Walker is significant. I'm not as high on Peyton Thorne as a lot of people, I think. So there's a difference in, like, flukiness and, like, having trick play success.

Like, Michigan had good offensive design, but they also had, like, special players that could pair with that where it's like some teams can sniff it out, but we just have better players that, you know, we're still going to beat you with it. With Michigan State, I mean, they still have good players. Jaden Reed, wide receiver, is exceptional. But, I mean, they had a lot of success off of flea flickers.

I mean, I've never seen anything before like it. I mean, they had, like, four 35-plus-yard flea flicker touchdowns. You just don't see that. That's not going to happen again. And, you know, that defense, everyone knows the secondary is not good. I'm concerned about the pass rush. They lost some key guys there. Jacob Slade, the interior defense alignment is awesome, but I think that front seven is a little bit weaker. I think they're going to take a backseat. I think the only team I would be thinking, man, I wouldn't be super surprised if they shocked everybody is Wisconsin because they're really a quarterback away. I don't think he's going to turn it around.

What if Graham Mertz is something? What if he's good? He was good for five games. He was like Heisman for five games. That debut was 2020 against Illinois. He didn't throw a single untouchable pass. His one incompletion was a drop. He's, he's, uh, ever since then, uh, it's kind of been rough. And so, I mean, if you can turn it around, then we're talking Wisconsin, probably, even though they lost the, I think their two most important players, um, defensively with Leo Chanel and Jack Sanborn, the off-ball linebackers, which those, for those, that scheme, Jim Leonard scheme,

those are the engines of that defense, right, with their blitz packages, their pressure packages. But I still think that they're going to have a lot of success there. So I think, you know, it's probably, you know, Ohio State, then Michigan. And I think there's a gap, but probably not as sizable as some people would think. And then Wisconsin. I think it's going to be wisconsin out of the west i think maybe someone could surprise them i don't see

iowa doing it again because it was a lot of just relying on coverage play and interceptions and that's not stable year to year that offense is going to be a train wreck. Oh, my God. Yeah. At the end of the year, that was like they were – that offense was so bad. Yeah. I mean, I think Minnesota, I don't think they're going to shock people by any means. I think they could be sneaky good, maybe just a tough team every once in a while. I mean, again, they did lose to Bowling Green last year. And, you know, Tanner Morgan's their quarterback.

And, you know, they they kind of rely on some some bad i don't know i don't want to get too deep i think jack actually looks like tanner morgan a little bit more athletic version though more yeah i think i think if i played quarterback from minnesota that would really bring them up you have the look they need you You have the look. That's the full notch they need. You do have the look. I did. Tanner came into the PFF offices one time, and he was a super nice guy. But now that you say that, I mean, it's a spitting image. I mean, if you showed up in the PFF offices, I'd be like, is that Tanner Morgan back in the end?

But no. Tanner started working out a little bit harder. You need some P.J. Fleck in your life. Right. What about, like, Boilers, right? I mean, I saw that they have a really highly ranked QB, like one of the highest ranked QBs in the country, which I found a little bit surprising, but interesting.

Yeah, they're a team, too. That's a sneaky team. I wouldn't be surprised if we're looking back and they're, I don't know. This is a loose record for that projection, but I wouldn't be surprised if they're eight and four, maybe nine and three. I could see them surprising some people because of Aiden O'Connell, the quarterback. I mean, that's a legit quarterback. He can do some special stuff. You know, the wide receiver room is a little thin with losing David Bell,

but they still have Milton Wright, the former four-starter crew. But offensive line is going to be decent. I think they're going to be good offensively. It's just the defense. That's where all the questions start to arise. Can they cover? So, you know, I think Purdue is going to be a sneaky good team as well. I still think, though, I would be pretty surprised if it's any team other than Ohio State or Michigan coming out on top.

And, you know, Maryland's also a sneaky team, but they're in the East. They're just they're not at the level Michigan and Ohio State are. You know, I think this is a conference that really, really needs divisions just wiped because the East is unfair. I mean, it's just super stacked to the point where it's just unfair to teams like Maryland, Indiana, and Rutgers is the other one, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it's just unfair. It's unfair to those teams.

How would you do the conference then if you got rid of divisions? I'm with you. Like, I think they should do what the Big 12 did or does. But, like, would you have the top two teams play or would you have some sort of different, different things? So it's not like Michigan, Ohio state playing each other over here. Yeah, I would definitely kind of do what the big 12 does. I think that's probably the right strategy. I think you keep those rivalry games intact and you know, I, it gets tricky if you

want to kind of do like those little pods where you play each other, you're guaranteed to play each other every year. Um, but I think probably that's the best strategy um and keep those special rivalry games intact um but yeah like i said you just wipe them i mean it needs to be done tell us about your uh do you have a you've probably had a lot of like good interactions with players and coaches in college football, I imagine. Is there one that stands out that's like you had a hilarious interaction or something, like a good storyline or anything? Oh, I got to think.

Some of them I don't want to say. Off the record. I think probably the funniest one was just like you know at the senior bowl and you know shooting the shit with pj flack and he was just so in on these wide receivers because he's a wide receiver guy he had his he was he's been on you know been over just like running these guys out just like look at this you see that right there and just he was just kind of breaking these guys down like he was like the the general manager for an nfl team it's like what are you doing like you're not gonna see these guys but he was just so infatuated with these guys he was pure football mode and that's who he is so that's probably like

one of the most recent like kind of funny ones there some stuff i can't say but you know he that was probably one where i was just like kind of caught off guard. And this guy's, this is a football guy. Like he's, you could tell like he's probably right now. I don't know what he's doing. It's football. It's going to be July at 9 PM on a Wednesday. He's thinking about football and any month of the year. So that's, that's the type of guy he is.

He does seem a little crazy, but which is like, but it's like football guy crazy where it's, it's normal then if you're a football guy. Right. Yeah. I mean, to be a college football head coach, you kind of got to have to like, you got to have the loose screw a little bit. I mean, that's just kind of the way it is. And those guys are some of the best in obviously in the industry.

So, I mean, that's, it goes to show what kind of like greatness is. And I think you can say that about any profession yeah right here's a truly truly difficult question for you oh what is a more difficult conference the big 10 east or the sec west oh, so I actually, I talked to Mike Loxley today, Maryland head coach. I saw that, yeah. I asked him the same thing.

And he, I mean, obviously he's going to say it because he's coaching in the Big Ten East, but he's like, yeah, I mean, coming from Alabama, he's like,

that's pretty similar. I mean, the Big Ten East can go toe to toe with the SEC. And I think they're probably about the same like i'm a little biased towards big tanks i grew up in big 10 country right and that's what i watched i mean i personally like a lot of guys at pff they hate like uh what was it penn state illinois last year they hated it they said it was horrible football what was that seven overtimes or something like that yeah i mean it was just pure disgusting said it was horrible football. What was that, seven overtimes or something like that?

Yeah, I mean, it was just pure disgusting Big Ten football. They couldn't score. Nobody could fucking score. I mean, I loved it. That's just what I grew up on. Everyone else is like from out west, from the south. They're like, what the hell is this? You want to know, actually, side note too,

one of the best shirts at the Big Ten championship game that I saw was an Iowa guy wearing a shirt that just said, punting is winning. And I thought that was the best shirt ever. I mean, that's some Big Ten football right there. I think the Big Ten East is probably closer than some of SEC. SEC Nation would be hard no. They're not even remotely in the same stratosphere.

I think they're closer than that but I don't know if the one's clearer than the other depends on the year I see you are a man of culture as well so I like it I like it I I feel like there's a there's an argument there for sure um but you know if you ask anybody in the SEC then it would be a different story I imagine so yeah um all right I'm I'm a lot of questions to be honest we've been going on for almost an hour now so I don't want to keep it too long yeah I mean thank you guys for having me I I enjoy this a ton um I'm not sure what kind of like college football stuff we're going to have coming out

going through some you know changing of strategies and stuff here but you know we'll have some PFF college football stuff up on the site we have a preview guide coming up too which kind of goes in deep on Michigan and it's going to say some positive things about Michigan even though the quarterback is kind of situations up in the air so we'll have that on pff.com but yeah thank you guys for having me on. I totally enjoyed it. Absolutely, man. And I was talking to Dave.

He said I had to talk about him to you because you guys are tight. Oh, yeah. I mean, me and Dave, we have some fun memories. Some long nights together. There's no doubt about that. But we have some good memories. I mean, Dave's my guy. That's one of my favorite people on the planet. There's no doubt about that. But we have some good memories. I mean, Dave's my guy.

That's one of my favorite people on the planet. There's no doubt about that. He's the absolute man. There you go. Well, we're going to have Dave Sofaro on our pod at some point here, too, coming up to talk Michigan. So we're excited about that. I'll tell you what.

I don't think there's a soul on this planet more passionate about Michigan than Dave. And it rubbed off on everybody um he's just such an infectious dude i love him but yeah that's that when you hear like that's die hard he's the definition of die hard i respect the heck out of it i love it i love it perfect he'll fit in perfectly here. So, yeah, we appreciate you, man. Honestly, we love PFF. So if you guys are out there listening to this, go subscribe. Go follow these guys.

Anthony Tresh. Is it Anthony Tresh PFF? At PFF underscore Anthony. Okay. There you go. So go follow him on Twitter and go read his stuff at PFF, doing all the good work for us so that we can pretend to know what the hell is going on in college football. So we appreciate you doing the dirty work for us.

So go follow them there. You can follow us at Blue by 90 on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, at Blue by 90 podcast on YouTube as well. We appreciate you. Go Blue. Go Blue. Go Blue.