Blue By Ninety - In The Big House Ep. 12: Beatdown at the Shoe

Episode Date: November 29, 2022

Tyler and Brian discuss Michigan’s resounding victory over Ohio State, Preview the Big Ten Championship Game, give thanks to Cade McNamara, and much more.

Michigan fans welcome to in the big house with your host Tyler Sealy and BB's big house from game day recaps recruiting player evaluations and all the latest buzz around the program we've got you covered now here's Tyler and Brian what's going on guys and welcome to episode 12 of the in the big house podcast we have a big one here brian how you doing tonight i'm doing great you oh i'm doing as great as i have done in a while here um michigan with a resounding beat down in the shoe against ohio state they won 45 to 23 michigan moves to 12 and 0 for the first time since 97. Brian, we're just going to get right into it.

What are your thoughts? I mean, I know they're all positives for the most part. What are your thoughts on the game that transpired on Saturday? That was just so much fun, right? I mean, it started off a little rough those first few moments, those first few series. It looked like they were outmatched, but then Michigan kept answering. I mean, in short,

they went to the halftime feeling pretty darn good. I felt pretty good. Thought, man, we got outplayed and we were right in it. And then that second half was just like most of our games this year, that second half was just dominant. And it was so much fun to see us put it away and just kick their rear ends. It was as much fun as I've had watching a football game in a while. I agree. Michigan wins there for the first time since the year 2000. I know I'm not going to give myself too much of a victory lap here, but I was

the one that said that Michigan would win. Brian said he was hoping that I would be correct, and I was. Not going to take credit for the win, but, you know, a little pat on the back here. There you go. You know, Michigan played a great game. I mean, yeah, it was kind of a tale of two halves, right? I mean, Ohio State kind of dominated the first half, you know, but Michigan stayed in the game, you know, some big plays.

And, you know, I mean, the biggest thing is Ohio State did exactly what we said on the podcast. They're going to stack the box and make J.J. beat you. And boy, did he ever beat you. Yeah, he certainly did. So the biggest thing to me is J.J., when the throws were there to be made, he made the throws. I know early on he was a little rough, but it certainly got better as the game went on. You know, those two, the first one to Cornelius Johnson was a good play,

and you guys saw the broken tackle, which went for a touchdown. But I think the even better one was the double move where, you know, he cut inside or cut outside and then cut back in, and he was bare ass, as I like to say, wide open. And all J.J. had to do was put it on him, and he fucking did now, didn't he? We had two guys. Roman Wilson was wide open on that play, too. I mean, it was their secondary.

We dominated that secondary. You know, I think JJ was just everything you want out of a quarterback, just a gamer. He made good decisions. You know, he admitted early on that he was nervous and all amped up, and that's why he had some overthrows early. But, you know, not only did he make huge plays, I don't really remember many instances in that entire ball game where he put the ball in jeopardy, either when he was running it or his decision-making.

I mean, he missed some throws, but there weren't any balls that, you know, were really in jeopardy of being turned over or, you know, going the other way. And so he just – man, everything we hoped for in him and a lot of stuff we thought didn't happen. And I don't know if there's a whole lot of meat left on the bone. He kept talking about that all year. And he made a lot of really big plays and was that guy for that game and earned every bit of it.

So much fun to watch. Well, we always talk about intang know, discipline and everything like that. And, you know, he, again, like I said, former hockey player, you know, very disciplined player. You know, he's learned from a lot of the mistakes that he made last year. You know, he put the ball in the carpet twice. I think it was against Michigan State. And, you know, that almost, you know, I don't want to blame it on him, but it almost cost him the game. But he did not do that on Saturday. He played a very clean game.

I know, you know, the stat line isn't going to look sexy. He went 12 for 24 with 263 yards. But three touchdowns, you know, those – the ball to Colson Loveland was put right on the money too. So, I mean, again, like I said, you know, not the most perfect game ever, but certainly, you know, something that people are going to remember for a long period of time here in Ann Arbor. Yeah, if I had told you before the game if J.J. McCarthy would clearly and unequivocally outplay C.J. Stroud, you'd like

our chances, wouldn't you? Oh, I agree. That's exactly what he did. I mean, that's exactly what he did. I mean, they threw double the times we did. You know, C.J. Stroud went 31 of 48 for 349 yards, two touchdowns. But the difference maker here is two interceptions, too. And the one that he made at the end of the game was a total bad mistake by C.J. Stroud. It was horrible. Grambling. He's caught.

Was that Taylor Upshaw? It was. Upshaw made the interception. But who made the pressure? Was that Braden McGregor, I believe? Possibly. Either way. I mean, you know, a very, very strong performance by the defense.

That's another thing I want to talk about. I mean, this defense, I mean, it looked – they gave up plays, sure. But it was a lot of bend, don't break again. They let them do whatever the hell they wanted in between the 20-yard lines. And they really fucking sacked up after that. They really did. You know, the one sack that they had in that game by Okie,

that was a strip sack. That was a fumble. And they didn't call that. I mean, you know, if the game would have gone a different way and momentum would have turned, we'd be talking about that play that had very similar shades of the, um,

Aiden Hutchinson strip sack versus Michigan State last year. For sure. The replay I saw, that was a fumble. They didn't say it was a fumble. They said his forward progress had stopped. Yeah, that's bullshit. Yeah.

That's total bullshit. I mean, that's a 50-burger if they score that. Yeah. Go ahead, Brian. Sorry about that. No, it was just immaterial. But, yeah, I think some of what we talked about last week is, you know, I think it's just what Minter's strategy is.

But we had said that he kind of plays it vanilla and trusts the back of the defense to do their job and send three, four. And that's what he did. You know, we talked about maybe we'd see some new blitz packages, but we really didn't. He played it pretty straight. I trusted his guys. And, man, Will Johnson is a true freshman, and that guy is going to be –

he's already fantastic. That guy is going to be an All-American high draft pick. He is a stud. And that hit he had on Stroud, his willingness and eagerness every time he gets an opportunity to lay the wood is impressive. You know what I mean? He does it. He's – so many great parts of that game.

I will say another thing, you know, we talk about a situation where the game kind of could have could have gone off the rails there. And, you know, I just kind of watched it before we started this podcast again. And basically, you know, the one thing that was that I I kind of felt that we were in the game, you know, even though we weren't moving the ball in the first quarter and, you know, really kind of in the second quarter either, really the first half. But the one real play that I just remember that I was like, okay, we're in this. JJ's come to play was the, I think it was third and seven, right after Ohio State just went right down the field

and scored. JJ on third and seven rolled out to his left, I believe, and hit Ronnie Bell down the sidelines for 20 yards or so. And that's where I was like, okay, he's come to play. We're all set here. He's going to make those throws. And he did. He really did. You give him all the credit in the world. Yeah, if you think about it to your point of not really looking good, at halftime, Ohio State had 16 first downs to Michigan's four. I mean, they controlled the clock. They had double the time of possession. I mean, they kind of felt like the anti-shades of the Penn State game.

I was about to say that. Yeah. Ohio State dominated that game. But it was 20-17. You thought, man, we couldn't play much worse. And we've been a second-half team all year. And, you know, that didn't prove itself out. 28-3 in the second half.

I mean, it was total domination in that game. And that's what it was. It was pure domination in the second half. Michigan did everything that they had to do. And Ohio State was still in the football game. And I think one of the key real moments of the game, I mean, obviously we talked about the two Donovan Edwards, you know, runs that were, I mean.

Ridiculous. Ridiculous, fantastic, whichever way you want to look at it. I know that I'm not one to go to the bathroom during the game but um i was in a bar watching the game and so i'm i'm watching the game and i'm coming back from the bathroom and i'm standing in line for a beer um and i look up and donovan edwards is alone i'm wait a minute, what's going on here? And he goes in for the touchdown. Then the second one happened.

I'm like, is this really happening? This is like, I know I wasn't alive for the Charles, or I was two years old during the Charles Woodson and I wasn't alive for the Desmond Howard one. Jabril Peppers had a couple big returns, but they weren't for touchdown. I mean, that felt for me, particularly as a younger Michigan fan, it felt like a Charles Woodson or a Desmond Howard kind of moment.

I would, you know, it would be really cool if it was Blake Corum because that probably cements his Heisman. If, if you know, if that's the case, but again, Donovan Edwards did that with a broken hand or reportedly a broken hand. Carrying the ball with his left hand on both those touchdown runs. Where does that go? Like, you know, a lot of people were talking about this on Twitter. And, you know, I guess my question to you, like, where do you think this fits in his performance in the ranking of this rivalry?

Oh, legendary. I mean, it could have been the biggest win in the history of the program in terms of regular season i mean uh number two versus number three to go be on the road and to just smash them i saw one of the greatest things i saw was uh cornelius johnson's dad put out a tweet and it's him and donovan Edwards' dad. And he said, every time that Mr. Edwards and I sit together, both our sons score 260-plus yard touchdowns. It was awesome. You know, just, yeah, Cornelius Johnson and Donovan Edwards forever,

forever will be legends for that game. I mean, all time. Much of the way that Aiden Hutchinson and David Ajabo were in last game. Tim Biak-Matuka. That's on Haskins as well. Yeah. Yeah, Haskins, Biak-Matuka's 300 yards. I mean, yeah.

And this is what it takes. We always talk about the measuring stick is Ohio State. This is what it takes to beat the Buckeyes. Legendary performances, good performances good defense clean good specialty teams besides sorry special teams um you know and then also I mean yeah I guess the besides the the missed field goal there by Moody but I mean I would agree yeah I would agree I would um you know say that he probably shouldn't even kick kicked that. No, I didn't like that decision at all. I hated that situation. And, you know, the other thing I want to credit to,

and I don't like to particularly talk about officiating for the most part, but I think for the most part they did a really good job of staying the hell out of the game. Yeah. I mean, I think there was a couple calls i think ohio you know the uh i agree but i think if you're an ohio state fan that pass interference play call which was the right call ronnie bell got his hands on it but in the back ends and when he jumped up it was a little high when i saw at first i said i thought that may be

uncatchable but you can't call something uncatchable if the receiver puts his hands on the ball and he did and so um yeah i true. And so, yeah, I agree. I think they started away. If you think about every phase of the game, like you started to say, but even break that up into smaller chunks, you know, the rushing offense, the passing offense, the rushing defense, the passing defense, the special teams, and then just the mental fortitude and staying focused in the game, every element of what goes into being a good coach and a good coaching staff.

The knucklehead Ohio State guy that head-butted our guy for 15 yards when they're trying to come back. I mean, imagine if a Michigan player did that and we were in that situation behind. I'd lose my mind. That player I would be so frustrated with. Michigan didn't have any of those. Michigan had five penalties for 30 yards in that game.

No turnovers. I mean, and talk about, you know, if you saw the skull session, which is the pregame prep rally that Ohio State always does. Get the pom-poms out. Oh, yeah, right. They all talked about, we've been working on this. We've been in the weight room. No, you haven't.

Your guys were undisciplined. Your guys turned it over. Your guys made stupid plays out of bounds. You want to see how disciplined is you win every phase of the game and keep your head on your shoulders. Yeah, I'll tell you what, Ohio State needs to worry more, less about pom-pom waving and less about, you know, bulletin board material and all this stuff and really look their program in the mirror and say, you know, this is going off the rails really quickly and i know i know we said before we're

not going to talk about ohio state but i do want to say one thing about ohio state yes they're still recruiting at that high level as they did under meyer but i will say one thing that's not the same football program as as it was when urban meyer was there it's not the same football program as it was when Urban Meyer was there. It's not even close right now. There are a couple things with what you just said. One, they recruit at a high level, but if you look at the recruits, they're a wide receiver at you. They have great receivers.

I mean, look what Garrett Wilson and Chris Olavi are doing in the NFL. It's amazing. I mean, the receivers they have, they're now amazing. But football's not won by wide receivers. You know, never won in the trenches right it's one of the trenches and it's amazing the other part the part two of that is it's amazing utterly amazing that in 12 months from the win last year in ann arbor to the win last saturday in columbus how many narratives both in terms of local narratives, conference narratives, and the national perception of both programs

and both head coaches, how much they've changed. All the shows and talk heads this morning, we're doing this on Monday. On Monday morning, we're talking about how they were admiring and keeping praise in Harbaugh for kind of staying the course and staying true to his roots and being tough-nosed, hard-minded, in-the-trenches team. And everybody's questioning Ryan Day, what you said, the recruiting, the types of recruiting he's doing, the culture of that program. I mean, you know, all the stuff that we've said as Michigan fans saying they're soft, well, that's the narrative around the country now. And so it's amazing what's changed. And what's crazy is, you know, they seem to,

every time that they seem to, you know, become a difference-making program, they have an edgy coach, kind of a pain in the ass, unlikable head coach. I'm not saying Ryan Day is likable. I don't think he is. But, I mean, you listen to his post-game press conferences or pre-game press conferences. He's not talking about how he hates Michigan.

He's not talking about how, you know, all this other stuff. He's kind of humble in a way. I know he said to hang 50 on them or whatever, or 100 on them or whatever. But, I mean, for the most part. Big Ten's going to need a mercy rule because we're going to hang 100 on him is the quote. Exactly. So he's not doing that.

And there's no bulletin board material. It's not like Urban Meyer or Trestle where, you know, there's an edge to him. You know, there's no edge to Ryan Day. He's kind of a pussy, right? You know, kind of a soft guy. So, I don't know. I mean, enough about Ohio State. But, I mean, that's certainly something to think about.

And I will say one thing. I mean, enough about Ohio State, but I mean, that's certainly something to think about. And I will say one thing. I mean, the narrative certainly has changed around the country and around how the perception of how Ohio State, you know, maybe has fallen of grace here in the Big Ten. And, you know, there's a new giant above here and it's, you know, resides in Ann Arbor. So we'll see where it goes from there. One thing I want to say about that, because it's one thing I admire the most, is Jim Harbaugh has gone from being questioned at every turn by every person that has a microphone on their face to being pretty universally respected.

And he's done it all. I mean, all with zero self-promotion. You know, out of the gate, he did some of that when he first got the job, some of that who's got it better than us. He he's done. He, since he came back, since the flirtation with the Vikings and this whole season, he's had his head down and every turn he pushes his coaching staff to the front. Like he,

he could have wanted the flowers all dumped on him at the end of that game for all the right reasons, and he deserved it. And he pushed J.J. to the microphone, ran away, ran 15 yards on the field, grabbed Donovan Edwards, and dragged him back into the interview and then ran away. And Edwards and Donovan both laughed like, yeah, you're not going to get him. He's done it. He's changed his narrative and gained a ton of respect without putting out any effort publicly to do so.

And I think that's so admirable, and we're so fortunate to have him as that coach. I mean, we've talked about the program and how it's certainly healthier than it was before and how the narrative has kind of changed between Michigan and Ohio State and the rest of the Big Ten. But the other thing that you don't really mention here, but I mean, they said after they lost to Georgia that this wasn't a blip on the radar. We're going to be back. Jim Harbaugh waved the pom-poms basically saying that, you know, they were going to be a better defense. And I mean, they were, right? And considering losing David Ajabo and Aiden Hutchinson and losing your defensive coordinator to the Ravens, Mike McDonald,

and losing your offensive coordinator, who a lot of people gave that credit of the new offense to in Josh Gatton. He won the Broyles Award. He won the Broyles Award as the best coordinator and coach in the country. And you lose both of those guys. And not only do you go 11-0, you go 12-0. Or sorry, not only do you go 11-1, but you go 12-0 with a win over Ohio State, a win over Penn State, a win over Michigan State.

You've done all your goals. You're one win away from the Big Ten title. And then, you know, I mean, a trip back to the college football playoff, which a lot of people said wasn't possible. A lot of people said, oh, it's a fluke. Ohio State fans, same thing. It's a fluke. They'll never do it.

Blah, blah, blah. What are they thinking now? I mean. Not only did he beat Ohio State, Penn State, and Michigan State, he beat each one of them by over three touchdowns. His three biggest in-conference rivals by three plus touchdowns. That's, I mean, that's dominance. That's everything you want. And everything's right there in front of us more than it's ever been. And I will say one thing. We talked about it being one of the biggest wins in Michigan football history, and I agree with you there.

But I'll tell you one thing right now that was more sweet than anything. I know we try to be objective on this podcast. I know we show our fandom too, but we try to be objective. And I'll tell you what right now. I knew it was over as soon as you looked at some of the players on Ohio State, their defense, their hands on their hips. They show Ryan Day, he looks kind of scared. Like, you know, kind of a deer in a headlight kind of look. And I'll tell you what.

Here we go. It looked like us, you know, prior to 2020. It looked like Michigan. A thousand percent. Yeah. And, you know, that's just a testament to how the culture has certainly changed. And I will say another thing as well. I mean, you see some of those fans, how they looked?

They wanted – you know that they came into that game thinking, we're going to fucking kill this team. We're going to beat this team by 40. And, you know, I mean, they had the right to think that. You know what I mean? They had a high-flying offense that pretty much beat the shit out of everybody else outside of the northwestern game and the notre dame game but i mean it couldn't have gone worse for them and i'll tell you what to see their face and and to see some of these just fans just leaving you know late in the fourth quarter. It was beautiful to see because the contrast of what that would usually be

is the game's over and they're storming the field and they're playing their fight song. But instead, we're planting the flag at midfield. That was so incredible. In the shoe. Yeah, think about just Michigan playing spoiler in Columbus. C.J. Stroud was the hands-down runaway favorite for the Heisman. He didn't have a chance at that now.

Jim Knowles, our defensive coordinator, many people thought he was the favorite to win the Royals award that now Jesse Minter may win, but we destroyed that. Ryan Day is now 1-2 against Jim Harbaugh. C.J. Stroud is 0-2 versus Michigan. And will never beat Michigan because he's going to the NFL. He's gone, yes. I mean, that game was just incredible for everything it meant for Michigan and everything it meant for Ohio State

and just everyone that cares about the program as much as we do it. Yes. All those juniors that are in C.J. Stroud's age never beat Michigan. Right. And so that's certainly another thing. You know, I mean, the guys that did beat Michigan are going to age out after this year for the most part, I believe. And you're going to have a program there at Ohio State that most of the guys there outside of Ryan Day and

some of the the players people on the staff and some of the super super super seniors never beat Michigan right so I mean that's again a credit to what Jim Harbaugh has done and and really kind of how quickly it's all come together we've talked talked about the culture. We don't really need to do that. But in terms of where this is all headed, I mean, the sky is the limit for this team, and we can talk about that in a minute. The other thing I just want to mention too, I mean, J.J. McCarthy, we talk about culture. We talk about another thing, culture, and then the fact that some of these guys are playing through injury. Donovan Edwards playing through the hand injury. Schoonmaker was out there. Blake Corham tried to give it a go.

Mike Morris tried to give it a go. A couple of years ago, are those guys playing in the game? I'm not going to name names, but are some of those guys playing in the games? I will say one, is Jabril Peppers playing in that game? If he's injured like he was in the Orange Bowl? I don't know. So a lot of those guys had the NFL on their future. And I think Jim Harbaugh has recruited a lot of guys that are football players that want to be at Michigan. And then when you have a culture like that, I mean, that's strong, you know,

and even Hutchinson started it and Cade McNamara, who we're going to talk about here in a minute, you know, they started it and it's continued. So again, the credit to that. Also, JJ saying what he did in the postgame press conference saying that, you know, taking the hat off. I'm not wearing this. We don't need to wear this. It doesn't matter. Have you ever heard a Michigan player say that a win over Ohio State doesn't matter? You know, it's not just that he said it. There's a lot of people that put that bravado out there,

that false bravado of saying something cliche and saying something with their chest out. He conveys just a confidence and an inner drive that makes it seem real. And we'll see if it's real. But to me, and I don't consider myself a very gullible person, it comes off as about as convicted and wholesome as you can be. He believes it. We're not done yet. And he's trying to, as a 19-year-old kid, really trying to embrace that leadership role. I don't know how much, what I don't know is how much he's viewed as a leader among the team, because he is only a 19-year-old kid. The quarterback obviously takes the leadership role, but the way that he talks and the way everyone talks about him,

I mean, he's embracing that part of the game too. So it's just – it's great to see. Certainly. I mean, again, like I said, you can tell he's got to be up there on the totem pole in terms of leadership on the team. I mean, you see, you know, after Michigan got back to Ann Arbor, he went to – the whole football team, basically crashed the hockey game. You saw that, right? And, you know, JJ goes up to Eric Portillo

before the refs telling him to get the hell off the ice. He goes up to Portillo and he's giving him hands and everything. So JJ is certainly the star of the show and he's only going to get better. I'll tell you that right now. Yeah. We're going to switch gears here in terms of where this is all headed. And, you know, we talked about how this impacts Ohio State off in Michigan off on the field. Now we're going to talk about it off the field. Michigan securing what four commits from the state of Ohio after the game. Yeah. You know, a couple of You know, one thing about pass recruiting, one of the more memorable recent recruiting battles with Ohio State

was with Zach Harrison, a five-star defensive end, who during his commitment they asked him why at the end did he choose Ohio State over Michigan. He said, because I don't want to lose this game every year. And since then he's gone 0-2. Oops. You know, we look at guys that get overlooked. I mean, our last two Heisman trophy winners are from the state of Ohio, Charles Woods

and Desmond Howard from Ohio. Rod Moore, who's been one of the biggest stars, looked up in the crowd saying, you guys didn't recruit me. You know, you guys screwed up my house. It was my house. Right. And so in the four days since the beat down in the shoe they've secured commitments from four ohio native kids uh as as high school recruits which is just awesome uh and three from three from the class of 2023 a couple guys that i'm really excited about uh four-star hybrid linebacker jason hewlett the only reason that guy's not ranked a lot higher is the end of his junior year he broke his leg and didn't get to play a lot and didn't go to any camps, didn't do everything. But everyone that's seen him play, he's a special athlete,

plays on both sides of the ball, plays multiple sports. Three-star cornerback Cameron Calhoun, who is barely a three-star, one of those three-star, four-star kids, really talented kid that everyone really likes. Linebacker Breon Ishmael, who is a big, strong, fast kid that they just say could play a multitude of positions. And then for the class of 2024, Luke Montgomery, who's when it's all said and done,

is going to be one of the highest rated offensive linemen in the country. So that's just the tip of the iceberg. If you follow rivals and on three and two, four, seven, several crystal ball picks have come in for more guys. One of the more notable guys, 2024 high four star edge, Brian Robinson. So there's just the tidal wave of impact of this game is going to go on for four years in terms of the lore. But in the short term, it's going to help build this program up in the recruiting trail, which is just so exciting. Yeah, no doubt. No doubt. I mean, that's certainly huge. I mean, especially Jason Hewlett, who I saw was an athlete. And, you know, you said that, you know, he's a fringe four star,

could be a five star, you know, if he didn't get hurt like that. I mean, that's certainly the kind of players that Jim Harbaugh wants to bring in here and, you know, if he didn't get hurt like that. I mean, that's certainly the kind of players that Jim Harbaugh wants to bring in here and, you know, make them play to their potential, you know, I mean, that's, or even higher than their potential. And one, you know, the pièce de résistance of this whole thing was two of the guys I just mentioned, Luke Montgomery and Cameron Calhoun on Saturday were both on visits to Ohio State on the side, on Ohio State's sideline wearing scarlet and gray. And within hours of that game, visiting that game in Columbus as guests of the Buckeyes committed to Michigan.

So not only are they Ohio natives, but they, you know, the sour grapes that they may have, we didn't want them. No, they were on your sideline for that game. You were entertaining them, trying to get them to come into your program. And they saw the type of program that you have, the type of product you're putting out there, the type of culture that you have. And they said, no, we're going to go out the other sideline

and go play for that team and that coach you staff. Right. I mean, you know, you can go back in the rivalry. I mean, Ohio state's had fantastic players from the detroit area that that you know probably had had visits to michigan and said no no no i'm going to ohio state i have a better sure and um you know if michigan can get to the playoff again which i mean it's almost a foregone they're there they could lose and they're there um i mean that's you you can sell people on – you come to Michigan,

you have a chance to win a national championship every year. See, we've been to the playoff twice. We always talked about before this, and I know we didn't do this podcast before, but we always talked about you got to start putting this program in a better situation because if you don't i mean the guys previously of braylon edwards and charles woodson and desmond howard and even denar robinson i mean some of the kids in high school never saw those guys play so you know you went a whole almost not generation but a whole high school recruiting class for sure more than some yeah where you know none of those guys ever seen

michigan be relevant for more than one year at a time um so you know again we talked about this before you know ohio state did what they did for a long period of time but what people don't talk about is michigan's program was down for between when car left until harbaugh took over. I mean, and you can even say it was a down year in 2015 for Michigan, you know, considering what we're used to and what we wanted. But again, I mean, you know, you always talk about the best players at Michigan. It means more for these guys, especially the guys that come from Ohio. You know, one thing that's worth noting, too, is, you know, we talked about narrative and reputation.

The Michigan-Ohio State game this past Saturday, 17 million people tuned in and watched that game. It was the most watched regular season college football game in 10 years, 11 years, right? The second highest rated game in the last 11 years was last year's michigan versus ohio state so the two most highly watched regular season football games of the last 11 years they got to see michigan smash a dominant ohio state program no and so you know talk about talk

about mindset change of who you know you talked about how a couple high school class worth of people never got to see a dominant Michigan. Well, in the last two years, more people tuned in to watch an incredibly dominant Michigan program. And so the benefits that starts to build for kids that are 7th grade, 8th grade, 9th grade. J.J. McCarthy has joked, you know, I know we lost a lot, but all Donovan Edwards and I know is beating this team, you know?

And so high school kids, they're freshmen and sophomore. All they know is Michigan being the dominant program in the big 10 and a college football playoff participant contender. And so that changes. That's the benefits and long-term value of this run is substantial. It is. No, it absolutely is. And, you know, again, like I said before, it's certainly something that, you know,

we're going to continue to watch and, you know, hopefully it's going to continue to go that way because the only thing is, and we're not going to get into the whole NIL discussion. We can get into that at another point in time, but Ohio State certainly with the whole nil situation and everything like that they have it kind of figured out where michigan's still kind of fumbling on on it so i mean hopefully they can get it squared away and you know again we're not going to get into that but we can move on from that um the other just quick note i want to throw out there

um ohio state had 14 five stars out there on the field in that game. Michigan only had two. And, you know, Donovan Edwards, who had two touchdowns, two long touchdowns, and J.J. McCarthy, who threw for, what, over 260 yards. You're forgetting one, Iyabi Oki. Oh, Iyabi Oki. And he had the strip sack, so they all made a big impact. Oh, wasn't Will Johnson a five-star as well?

Will Johnson was a five-star, yeah. Okay, so we got four. Okay, so even then, 15-4. I mean, your talent's supposed to win out, and it did not. And, you know, like I said, Michigan kicked their ass. But enough of that. We're going to go into a situation where Cade McNamara has entered the transfer portal. I just want you to give your thoughts quickly just on that.

Yeah, I mean, as far as I'm concerned, the guy's a legend. You know, he takes over two years ago. We're losing 17 to nothing against Rutgers and comes in and leads us back to victory. Has his what if we went out speech, leads the team to the playoffs, played an enormous role in the culture change. The culture shift was an amazing leader and played a great role in the community for, you know, great ambassador of the program. I don't know if there'll be a more celebrated guy to ever leave the program in the transfer

portal. I think we'll all be rooting for him. You know, one of the, you know, his legacy is secured. And he's handled, you know, this season he lost the job. He didn't pout. You know, he handled that about as good as you could. Handled it like a man, you know, said he was disappointed, said he thought he was the better player, thought, you know, like he should,

like he'd want a guy to play. And, you know, the buzz started circulating this morning, at least publicly. I think some of us knew about that a little bit earlier. But, you know, that came out, and he was universally just heaped on praise by current teammates, the fan base. I mean, he'll be celebrated. And wherever he lands up, you know, there's been a lot of buzz and speculation that he's on his way to Iowa.

And thankfully Michigan doesn't play Iowa next season. But I think wherever he lands, they're going to be lucky to get a great leader, a great kid, and just a guy that meant a ton to the Michigan football program. My guess is it's somewhere closer to home, somewhere like UCLA or maybe somewhere in the Pac-12. I guess it could still be Iowa or maybe even Nebraska with them hiring Matt Rule. There's been speculation that Sharon Moore is a candidate for the Colorado head coaching job, that they could go there together maybe.

Right, possible as well. So, you know, the other thing I just want to mention, Jesse Minter is a Broyles Award finalist. And now we're going to get into where Michigan goes from here because they have a date with the Purdue Boilermakers in the Big Ten Championship game on Saturday. That game will be found on Fox at 8 p.m., so primetime. So, you know, all the kids we just talked about in recruiting could go hopefully watch Michigan, you know, win another Big Ten title. Knock on wood, hopefully that happens. Michigan comes in at a 16.5 point favorite

with an over and under of 51.5. What do you know about Purdue? You know, I mean, they've been scrappy all year. You know, if you look at their games, all their games this year were close, could have gone either way. You know, they weren't – not once this – not one week this year where they ranked in the top 25, but they were right there, you know. They were scrappy.

Their whole season was one-score games for the most part, a couple of exceptions, but they were scrappy. Their quarterback, Aiden O'Connell, you know, he likes Stetson Bennett and Hendon Hooker and Sean Clifford, you know, 35-year-old quarterbacks. Been around for a while, but he was one of the most efficient, good quarterbacks in the Big Ten, very solid. They have arguably the best receiver in the Big Ten in Charlie Jones,

the Iowa transfer, a great freshman running back in Devin Mockaby. I mean, they have talent. I think the reality is they play a style of football that Michigan should be able to take care of. They're like a poor man's Ohio State, kind of, and very poor man's. I'd have been more afraid of an Iowa or Illinois, quite frankly, because of the style of play they have. One game, you know, you never know. But, you know, the game is in Indiana just a couple hours away from Purdue, so I'm assuming their fan base will show out and have a really good presence in that game.

But I feel like, you know, this team has been focused all year, and this is a typical game, particularly when you think of the fact that, you know, the pundits are saying that Michigan can lose this game and still be in the playoffs, so what's really at stake? But I think, you know, we worried about that with the Iowa game and the Big Ten Championship game last year, and Michigan rolled. So I have no reason to believe that that doesn't happen again this year. Yeah, I agree.

I mean, I think, you know, we talk about predictions, and we'll get into that in a bit here. But, you know, Michigan has won the last four meetings against Purdue. It feels like forever since they played them. I just had to look it up. They haven't played since 2017, which, you know, that game was in West Lafayette too. If you remember that game, that's the game that there was the cheap shot

of Wilton Spate, and there was all the hub-a-loo about their medical facilities and the care they took care of Spate and just all the back and forth. There was some bad blood there for a while about that, but like you said, that was a while ago. Right. That feels like forever ago. Michigan's on a four-game win streak against them. They haven't played them in a while. It seems like a game that Michigan should win.

I mean, Blake Corm's probably not going to play from what we understand. We don't know the status of Mike Morris or Luke Schoonmaker. Jim Harbaugh did say that Luke Schoonmaker is going to go to the NFL after this year, so that is another quick note there. And by all accounts, Eric All is coming back. So that's, you know, that's pretty exciting. That is fantastic. You know, if you have Colston Loveland and Eric All and Max Prentice

all together, I mean, that's a fantastic tight end room. You know, Purdue's last three games they've won. You know, besides that, they lost to Iowa 24-3. How do you only score three points against Iowa? They lost to Wisconsin 24-3. How do you only score three points against Iowa? They lost to Wisconsin 35-24 against as bad as I've seen Wisconsin in a long time program. And, you know, I don't want to say this. I mean, we kind of get the narrative that it should be you know michigan and ohio

state again in the big 10 title game and you know a lot of people keep talking about that but you know what purdue won the west they did what they had to do and uh you know it it kind of seems like a mismatch for purdue i i think that you know they're not fantastic at stopping the run and um you know but they do have a good quarterback and he's certainly what, over 3,100 yards this year. So, I mean, that's another thing. I mean, can can you get to the quarterback and can you make sure that, you know, you can keep everything in front of you? Because if you can, I mean, you win this game easy, I think. Yeah, I think Purdue will be playing, you know, Aiden O'Connell.

Sad news, lost his brother, his oldest brother a few days ago. And so, you know, I'm sure that team's going to rally around him. I'm sure his family, the coaching staff, the team's going to rally around him. And, you know, that's kind of one of those inspirational things that can lead to some real promising things for a team. So, you know, Michigan's got to stay focused and, you know, not take them lightly and keep their head on straight. But it seems like this coaching job's got an A-plus

for 12 straight weeks of doing that. Yeah, you can't look ahead to the playoff, but again, we can look ahead. We usually do. We're not part of the team, but I will say one thing. Purdue is going to come to play. They're in the title game. They're going to want to do everything they can to beat Michigan. Like I said, it's going to be an interesting game. I think we can get into predictions here. It's going to be a situation where I think it's similar to last year.

I want to get your thoughts on the predictions. No, I agree. You know, I mean, I feel like every week on the picks, I've been pretty conservative of, you know, kind of been more conservative in the Vegas line. But this is one where I just think that saying, styles make fights, I think matchups make football games, and I just think this is not a matchup that Purdue wants to get into.

They've won relying on a dynamic wide receiver in Charlie Jones. This team just shut down the best wide receiver in the country. So schematically, everything they want to do, Michigan's proven to be able to stop, and nobody has been able to stop Michigan on the other side of the ball and produce defenses middle of the pack in the conference. So I think it's – I like the over, and I like Michigan in a big way. I think it's 42-17 Michigan, 42.

Yeah, I think it's another big Michigan win. I don't think they put up as many points as you say, but I say it's like a 37-13 kind of game where maybe Purdue hangs around a little bit and then it kind of gets out of hand close to the end of the game. 37-13 is where I'm going to go with that. Again, Michigan in the Big Ten title game for the second year in a row. It looks like they're on their way to the college football playoff.

If things hold serve, and it should be Georgia 1, Michigan 2, TCU 3, USC 4, if I told you six weeks ago that Michigan needed to beat Purdue and TCU to get to the national title game, I think you'd have been pretty excited and optimistic. And so that's that's where we sit now. I mean, TCU has to play a tough, you know, a team with a upset history like crazy in Kansas State. USC plays a hard nose, Utah. So things can change. But, you know, Purdue, then TCU to face, you know, rematch with Georgia. And give me the title game and I'll – I like my chances. But the road and the path for the Wolverines is very promising right now. Yeah, this is a situation where, again, like I said, I mean,

two years ago after, you know, the 2018 game and then – sorry, not two years ago, but after the 2018 game and the 2019 game, I lost hope. I'm not going to lie to you. I lost hope that – I thought the ceiling for this program was 11-1 with a loss to ohio state and then a whole game and i was wrong i was wrong and i'm glad to be wrong so i mean the narrative is certainly flipped on the program you know they're they're certainly have a chance to win another big ten title and and really cement themselves here at the top of the big ten for the foreseeable future um yeah i think they they're they've got to take care of business on Saturday, but they have definitely established – again, we talked about

the top of the show is like it's narratives, and they've changed the narrative. They are – they have a chance with a win to solidify their place as the alpha program of the Big Ten Conference, which by all accounts, I mean, I think even the most diehard Big Ten fan will give some props to the SEC as being the top program the last 10 years. But Big Ten has definitely been second. And to be the top program and the second best conference in the country, that's a good place to be. Yeah, I mean, I said this two podcasts ago and then we almost lost to Illinois. But, you know, I firmly believe that there's a chance

that Michigan doesn't lose another football game this year. I mean, I could be wrong. I've been wrong before. But, I mean, the balls that they showed to go into the shoe and beat Ohio State the way they did, you know, after the whole year of Ohio State talking about, oh, you know, that was a fluke last year and all this bullshit, and Michigan goes in there and mollywops them.

I mean, you know, the sky is the limit. If you can go to the shoe and beat Ohio State, you can certainly beat Purdue, and you can certainly beat TCU or USC. I don't think that Ohio State's going to get in, barring some,. I mean, I know Tennessee, they have two losses though, right? So they would be out no matter what. What is the scenario for Ohio State to get in? I think if TCU or USC loses, I think Ohio State's in. I think Ohio State gets in over Alabama. Tennessee's done. That lost South Carolina.

And, you know, the committee has said they pay attention to injuries and the impact. Tennessee, with the loss of South Carolina and the loss of Hennon Hooker, they're done. So then it comes down to if TCU or USC slips up, is it Alabama or Ohio State? And Ohio State's best two wins are over number eight, Penn State, number 19, Notre Dame. Alabama's best two wins are number 21, Texas, which if KG Ewers doesn't get hurt, they lose that, and the number 25, Mississippi State. And they have two losses. Ohio State's only loss is the

number two team in the country, Michigan. So I just don't think there's much of an argument for any team other than Ohio State. So there's a chance that, you know, we have a chance to go 15-0 and play Ohio State twice. Please don't do that to my psyche. Please don't do that because, you know, like I said, I mean. I don't want that to happen. We don't need that a second time this year because it's damn hard to beat a team a second time. For sure. I will say another thing, too, and we can get out of here after this. We don't need that a second time this year because it's damn hard to beat a team a second time.

For sure. I will say another thing, too, when we can get out of here after this. I mean, you know, to say that we have to play TCU perhaps or sorry, Purdue, TCU, and then perhaps Georgia or USC or Ohio State. I mean, the lesser of all evils, I think. I mean, I guess not the lesser of all evils, I think – I mean, I guess not the lesser of all evils. The team I'd rather see again is Georgia, honestly. I mean, go back and, you know, you have some bad blood there. You got blown out last year.

You know, you think you've closed the gap, maybe not recruiting-wise, but you've definitely closed the gap in terms of – I mean, they don't have six guys on their defense that are going to the NFL. Right. Or, you know, that are going to be, you know, drafted high. So, yeah, we'll see. I mean, like I said, there's certainly a chance that Michigan doesn't lose another football game. I want to get your final thoughts and we can get the hell out of here. Yeah, I mean, I think the glow is still on.

You know, it'll probably last for a while, regardless of how the season plays out. But it's a great time to be a Michigan Wolverine football fan. Yeah, I mean, it is. It certainly is. My final thoughts are, you know, you beat Ohio State. You know, you said at the beginning of the season that, you know, the four goals were to beat Michigan State, beat Ohio State, win the Big Ten Championship, win the National Championship.

I mean, you've done two so far. You're on the verge of doing the third. And then the fourth one is going to be the hardest one that you've ever done because it's probably going to be against Georgia. But guess what? It may not be Georgia. It may be USC, who doesn't have much of a defense, I don't think. It could be Ohio State again.

And, you know, I mean, the psyche of that defense, I don't think. It could be Ohio State again. And, you know, I mean, the psyche of that team, after you just got blown the hell out, you really think they're going to come back and beat you again? I mean, they could. It's on a neutral site at that point in Los Angeles, right? So, I mean, it's great to be a Michigan Wolverine. I know Jim Harbaugh says it, but it's true. I mean, and that's kind of where I'm going to wrap it up here.

But for Brian, I'm Tyler. We beat the hell out of the Buckeyes. I know it went a little long here, but, you know, we wanted to get everything out that we had to get out. Again, it's great to be a Michigan Wolverine, 12-0. Go Blue. You can follow me on Twitter at Sealdog91. You can follow Brian on Twitter at BBsBigHouse.

And you can follow Blue by 90 on Twitter at Blueby90. You guys have a great night. Go Blue. Yep. Just beat Purdue. Just beat Purdue.