Blue By Ninety - In The Big House Ep. 4: Biggest Test Yet!

Episode Date: September 29, 2022

BB & Tyler discuss Michigan's struggles against Maryland, concerns going forward, recruiting & the matchup with Iowa.

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 Michigan fans welcome to episode number four of In the Big House. Brian, how are you doing tonight? I'm doing great, Tyler. How are you? I'm doing great. Michigan with a win over Maryland. A tough spot game. Michigan did pull away at the end. We're just going to get right into that. Brian, what were your thoughts on that game?

I mean, it reminded me a lot of last year's opener against Rutgers, right? I mean, 2013 win over a team that nobody expected a whole lot of out of Rutgers. And, you know, Maryland is a pretty solid team. So you compare those two games, I think Maryland is going to be a tough out for everyone they play this year. I was really impressed with their entire team. They were solid. Yeah, I agree. I was impressed with Maryland. I did think that this was going to be a little bit of a tough game for Michigan, but I'm glad they got punched in the mouth. They did, and they may have caught in some breaks on that interception. They may have caught in the breaks on the muff punt there that hit the returner in the helmet there.

But, I mean, when push came to shove, Michigan adjusted at halftime, and I thought they did a good job in terms of when they got punched in the mouth by Maryland, they responded. And we were waiting to see that. Now, was it the cleanest game in the world? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. Absolutely not. Yeah, no, I mean, a couple of those where they put a few balls on the turf

and fell on all of them, and any one of those goes the other way other than Stokes' one when they were on the 25 there. But, you know, we put the ball on the ground a couple times, and fortunately picked it right back up. You can't – and we'll talk about this more as we talk about the next test for Michigan. But you can't put the ball on the ground if you're going to beat these teams in the Big Ten. And that includes Maryland. That includes Rutgers.

That includes all these teams. These teams are in the Big Ten for a reason, and they will make you pay on turnovers. So to me, it was a game where Michigan, they responded. And like I said before, it wasn't the cleanest game in the world, but they did what they had to do to win that game. And, you know, like I said, it wasn't pretty, but it was a gritty win. And we wanted to see that from this Michigan team. I watched a breakdown earlier today of Devin Gardner talking about some of those

long throws that JJ was making. And it was that he made the same error on each throw. And it was a very coachable deal. So, I mean, you know, that game, how many deep shots did he miss? Five, six? The guys were open, would have been walking touchdowns that he missed. You know, you watch the tape, you correct that. I mean, he's always been a very accurate deep ball thrower.

So, that's not something i'm concerned about how many times in the shea patterson era do we have guys wide open deep and you grossly under throw them so uh you know you throw them a little deeper uh you know you make them the defense respect those deep shots even though they didn't uh convert the fact that they keep took they kept taking those shots shots keeps the defense off honest. Well, he converted the one, was it to Roman Wilson for the touchdown? Is that what that was? The one to Ronnie Bell late was a touchdown. That's right.

The one to Ronnie Bell was late. That's right. Yeah, I mean, it's hard to see, but, like, it's one of those things. It's like once you do hit a shot like that the defense the defense is going to do what what a lot of these defenses are going to do to Michigan where they're going to play that shell defense kind of like you see the teams play against Ohio State where they're not going to let anything go over the top kind of like Notre Dame did to Ohio State in the first game of the season like you can't and Michigan didn't adjust to that, I don't think,

until halftime where, you know, Maryland was playing that shell defense where they just keep guys – they just play guys in coverage. They're saving 25-24. And Michigan wasn't taking advantage of that. They weren't playing – throwing the underneath routes. They weren't doing anything like that. So J.J. is scrambling in the pocket like, what the hell do I do? What do I do?

And then finally they found the running game. And Blake Corum, I mean, 30 carries for 243 yards, two touchdowns, along with 47. I mean, he was the reason why Michigan won that game. He put the damn team on his back. No doubt. He was named the dope Walker running back of the week. Yeah, great performance. You know, one thing that I've always been a huge Blake Corn fan in last year, there were times I just felt like he'd missed the hole and there were big plays to be made and he would just miss them. And

I feel like I rewatched the game yesterday and he didn't miss any holes. I mean, he made the right read and that's just such a difference maker. I think that's one of the reasons where Haskins was ahead of him last year is I think Haskins typically made the right read and there were a lot of times where Foreman would just, you know, be a little bit slow to make that read or just not make the right read. I think he's made big adjustments there. And, man, he was awesome. Yeah, and Luke Schoonmaker, you know, without Eric All in that game and possibly for the foreseeable future, Schoonmaker played a fantastic game. I mean, he was everywhere. He was blocking well.

He caught a couple balls. I mean, he was a really good tight end. And, I mean, they're really going to need him and Max Bredesen going forward if all is going to be out for a significant amount of time. Now, we don't know that for sure, but we've seen rumors and stuff like that that could lead to believe that that's going to be the case. Yeah, the word out of spring and fall ball was that Schoonmaker was playing right there with Eric All and that

they felt like they had two all big 10 caliber tight ends and I of course was a little bit skeptical of that because we hadn't seen that from Luke but he was fantastic on Saturday and he made every catch and runs after the catch I mean he was you know there were a couple times early in the game where we looked shaky that he was the guy they went to and so I think you you alluded to it earlier in the second half, they started going to more cross crossing routes. And that's where that defense was vulnerable. And once they sorted that out, they had a lot more success. He was a big part of that. Yeah, you know, we talked we talked about that, that take with the defense gives you especially when you have, you know, teams playing coverage like that, or playing that that shell kind of defense.

You've got to take those underneath routes. You've got to do kind of what they did. I don't remember if it was Hawaii or UConn, but they had a lot of bubble screens to Eric All. Not Eric All, I'm sorry, to Ronnie Bell and Cornelius Johnson. They need plays like that, and that will make the defense suck up, and then you can take a shot downfield. You know, it's a very – I mean, it's a very simple game in that aspect,

but then, you know, it comes down to reading the defense, and that's going to be up to J.J. McCarthy to be able to do. The one thing that was interesting about the game plan on Saturday was that I don't think they ran a single jet sweep. Like I kept saying – I was texting you and all my buddies, like, we need an A.J. Henning sweep. You know, maybe they're holding those things when Donovan Edwards and A.J. Henning both get on the field. But I just feel like, particularly with C.J. Stokes fumbling and they had to put such a heavy workload on Blake Quorum, I would have thought bringing A.J. Henning in, Roman Wilson, Ronnie Bell,

and some jet sweeps, it could have given them a little bit of a running game without stacking on that workload on Blake. And I was really surprised they didn't do any of that. I don't know if they're saving that for Iowa or what it was, but that's been a staple for the last few years. And I don't think we ran a single jet sweep play. No, they didn't. I mean, and we'll get single jet sweep but no they didn't I mean and and and we'll

go we'll get into the snap counts in a minute but AJ Henning only had 11 snap counts and eight of them were on running play so maybe they were trying to get them to respect that but I don't even remember seeing him in motion for a jet sweep now here's the other thing that aggravates me and I know that I've heard other people talk about this already, and so I'm not trying to steal what they have, but I 100% agree with this. I don't know where this whole idea of keeping things close to the best came from and not showing your playbook. Does Ohio State do that? I don't think so. I think Ohio State goes out there every week and they show – and, of course, teams do have a couple gadget plays that they're not going to show or a couple formations that they're not going to show. But for the most part, on Saturdays, Ohio State and these – Georgia and these schools, they'll go out there and they'll show you the playbook

and they'll just beat you with their athletes. Michigan has enough athletes that they can go out there and they'll show you the playbook and they'll just beat you with their athletes Michigan has enough athletes that they can go out there and they can do the same thing I don't understand I don't know if it's Jim Harbaugh I don't know if it's Sharon Moore and Matt Weiss right now that that are just kind of hesitant to do that but it was the same thing with Gattis so it leads me to believe that it's Jim Harbaugh that is, I don't know if he's scared or I don't know if it's just an old NFL trick, but I don't see the value in trying to trick people. I understand that football is a game like that, but I don't see the value of keeping everything tight to the vest. Why do you need to run the ball up the middle? Run the ball outside, run some play action, run some RPOs, pull the ball with JJ once in a while. I know you don't want to get him hurt, but

that's my soapbox moment for a minute. Yeah. I mean, if you think about last year, to your point, last year when JJ was in the game, he would run the read option. He would keep it, you know, three out of every four times. This year, you know, they're running very little read option. And when they do, he almost never does it. And it seems like he's had a challenging time there. I heard somebody say that the read option is actually a pretty complicated thing on a young guy. The ball handling, there's just more opportunities for errors. And it just overwhelms, you know, the whole mindset of just trying to prepare for that.

And so I don't know who I heard say earlier this week, but it was just, you know, keeping it a little more simple for JJ, you know, that taking a little bit off his plate and by just having him hand the ball off and then go through his reads on pass plays, it was just less for him to think about. I don't know if that's part of it. You know, I don't know. But it's just, to me, from what I've seen in terms of being a Michigan fan,

especially in the Jim Harbaugh era, it's always been a vanilla game plan until it doesn't need to be. And I don't quite understand that. It's like you don't see Ohio State going out there and saying, oh, we're going to run the ball down their throat until they can't stop it. Like you see Ohio State, and obviously you've got to take what the defense gives you. I already said that.

But, you know, dial something up. You're playing Maryland. This is not Hawaii, Colorado State, or UConn. This is a Big Ten opponent, and you're in a dog fight or a bar fight, whichever adage you want to use. And, you know, you needed one of those plays to kind of put that game away. I think if they hit on one or two of those long pass plays that they overthrew, you know, you might be saying a little bit different story.

But, you know, I do think that Harbaugh's a smash mouth guy, and I think he loves a 24-17 game. You know, I think he has a hard-fought smash mouth, but when we have the weapons on the outside like we do and you have a quarterback like JJ, I think you're not alone. And with a lot of fans that would love to see them air it out, spread it out, and throw the ball over the field, because I think we all feel like the team's capable of doing that.

And so I think the best is yet to come, but I think that's warranted. I think Donovan Edwards coming back is going to make a big difference. I certainly hope so. Now we're going to switch gears to the snap counts and the PFF grades, just because this is one thing that we feel is important. We're going to kind of gloss over JJ. We know the first half wasn't great. He got better as the game went on. He had a 49.1 grade and a 66 snaps. So obviously he took all the snaps in the football game

because there was no other quarterback. Worth noting there, though, is it was not his best game, and I think it fell short of many of our fans' expectations. But he was 18 for 26 for 220 yards, two TDs, no interceptions. You think of the last 10, 15 years of Michigan football, that's a pretty good day for a lot of guys. And if you really take a look closer at, they grade every play equally on PFF, right? But he took a couple of really long sacks, but each of those long sacks he took were on third and long.

So we were punting anyway, right? So it's like, it's smart, right? He doesn't take that sack, he gets rid of the ball on first, second down, lived the fight of their day. But third down, you're punting anywhere and you're puntingting anyway and you have one of the best punters in the country i mean it's not it wasn't the biggest risk but that's a big negative play from a grade standpoint he obviously uh you know the one uh near interception he threw towards the goal line you know obviously that was a bad grade that could have easily been a big leg gets a foot down but overall i thought he got better and i think uh you know he's missing on those deep shots will be better in weeks to come.

Yeah, I think that's something that can be worked on in practice. And the one thing I just want to switch to with J.J. McCarthy, and then we can move on, is the fact that he was kind of running around in the pocket, and he did kind of get lucky. He got a first down with his legs. But Sherone Moore took him aside and was like, that ain't going to fly. We're not going to do that again. He said it to the presser afterwards. JJ said it to the presser afterwards.

He's like, yeah, I can't do it. He knows. He'll watch that tape and he'll be horrified. I don't think you're going to see that. Yeah, that can't happen in the game that we're going to talk about in Iowa City on Saturday. So switching gears to the running backs, Blake Corham took 98% of the snaps. I'm no math guy, but 62 snaps, and I think there was 64, 68,

70 snaps for the running backs. So he took 62, and then his PFF grade was 80.2. That's pretty damn good so and cj stokes to to we talked about um he put the ball on the carpet so you can't do that and he didn't see the field again so no i mean i think you know as great as blake's performance was and it was one of the best we've seen uh you know that's some you see what they have behind him with donovan edwards out they need to get a couple of those guys up to speed because you know all those carries it's tough to do that all season long so yeah they need to they need to coach those guys up behind him definitely and that's that's why i mean isaiah gash i think, had one running play and two snaps.

I mean, that's just – you can't – I'm not saying Blake Corham's not the bell cow kind of guy, but that's asking an awful lot of a shorter running back. So switching gears, we're going to go to the linebackers. So Junior Colson, I thought, had a down game compared to where he's been in the past, having a 64.7 grade and 70 snaps. He took the majority of the snaps at linebacker along with Michael Barrett and Khalil Mullings. Khalil Mullings was not good, to say the least. Well, I think in the first half, I was screaming at my TV. It seemed like both Colson and Mullins were trying to tackle.

They're, you know, Littleton and Enby, both big guys. They were trying to tackle him up high. I think Harbaugh mentioned it in the presser afterwards, too, is he's like a coaching point. We told those guys to stop trying to tackle those guys above the waist. They were too big and too strong. And I think he didn't see as much of that in the second half. But, yeah, in the first half, it almost seemed like they didn't want to hit anybody.

They were trying to hit those guys up top, and they were bouncing right off. That first half was not a tape. I'm sure the linebacker core is going to be real proud of it. No, yeah, that was certainly not one of their better games. We're going to gloss over the wide receivers because we know Ronnie Bell and Cornelius Johnson took the majority of the snaps. Roman Wilson taking only 21.

Now, I think the most glaring thing here is the bottom. No, maybe not Darius Clemens, but A.J. Henning only with 11 snaps, eight of them being on running plays, three of them being on passing plays. Then Andrel Anthony with 19 snaps only, and he was only targeted once. He did make the catch to his credit. But Andrele Anthony, if we're going to be this take shots downfield, I'm not saying that Ronnie Bell isn't that guy, but Andrele Anthony has more speed than Ronnie Bell,

and potentially Roman Wilson. I think it would be pretty close between those two. But if you're going to take shots downfield, those are the two guys that I look to, not Ronnie Bell. I mean, Cornelius Johnson, Ronnie Bell, you can take shots to. But I would say Andre Anthony. We saw in that Michigan State game last year, he kind of put the team on his back in terms of those two touchdowns. And Roman Wilson has been fantastic all year long.

And for him only to get 21 snaps. He hasn't gotten that many snaps I think I don't think uh I think Ronnie Bell, Cornelius Johnson, Anthony and even Henning are much better blockers than Roman Wilson I don't think he's as willing as a blocker as the others and I think that's the reason you're not seeing the snap counts yeah uh John Jansen interviewed Ron Bellamy this week and he went through his whole receiving core, and he said nothing but positive things about each guy. But it was what he didn't say that stood out to me about Andrew Anthony. He asked him, you know, he complimented each player. And when he got to Anthony, he said, I think the sky's the limit for him.

I think he can be a superstar. He said it's all about learning for him. I think he can be a superstar. He said it's all about learning for him. And so I get the sense that there's some coaching points that they're working on with him that he's just not doing that. We're not recognizing his fans. I don't see it on tape. I feel like I think everyone sees his potential and wonders why he doesn't get more targets. But there's obviously something of any and they've always come from anybody's blocking. So there must be something about reading defenses. There's something that I'm missing. And I think a lot of us fans are missing with him that he, there's some, there's a learning shortfall there that as soon as he

picks it up, I bet you, you see his snap count jump. I hope so. And I certainly hope that the route running is better on Saturday than it was this past Saturday because they couldn't get open against UConn and they certainly didn't get open early in the game against Maryland. So they need to do a much better job of fighting their way to get open. Sorry, McCarthy is going to give them an opportunity by extending plays and stuff like that. So I thought McCarthy was better when he rolled out and that also helps the receivers to get open more. So I look to see that. We're going to switch gears to the tight ends. We talked about Luke Schoonmaker was fantastic in the game. Max Bredesen also was fantastic. We saw four tight ends get – three tight ends get significant amount of snaps,

and then Colston Loveland, the true freshman, got five snaps. So I'm really interested to see where the tight end look goes from here. I wonder if you see some two tight end sets when you're trying to block a little bit, especially Max Bredesen's coming on a little bit. Yeah, I think there are two tight end a fair amount. You know, the other thing about tight ends that doesn't show up the snap count or the grades, but two of the biggest plays of the game were made by tight ends. First, the opening kick off, Hibner's the one that recovered that. And then the onside kick at the end, Loveland caught that. So, and those guys, if you watch the tape again on special teams, Hibner and Loveland in particular are always around the ball.

Yeah. Punt defense and kickoff defense, they're both big-time players there. So, that's a solid room. And, you know, who knows how long Eric Hall's out, but I think they're in pretty good hands without him being out there we're going to see like you mentioned Bredesen's so much better than I think any of us could have expected and the young guys I think the potential we see and they're going to get a lot more playing time absolutely and then that's that's kind of what we look to I wonder if Colson Loveland will get some more looks as the season goes on. I'm sure he will. He's so talented.

I agree. So this is my concern for this team right here, this position that we're going to go into, the edge position. Jalen Harrell I didn't think had a fantastic game. I think it got better as the game went on. Jim Harbaugh already says that Derek Moore and Iyabi Oki are going to get more snaps as the season goes on. We're all excited about that one.

In Iowa City on Saturday. Because, I mean, Yabe Oki just came to school, what, three, four weeks ago, and he only had 11 snaps. But it feels like every time in hockey they have a stat called high-danger scoring opportunities. It feels – I don't know if this is a stat. I don't think it is. I've never heard of it before.

But it feels like every time he was on the field, there was an opportunity for him to make a play. And, I mean, that kind of shows with a 61.8 overall grade in PFF. I thought he was good every time he was out there. Same with Derek Moore. Those guys were disruptive. A hundred percent. They flash.

When they're out there, like you mentioned, they're not there for a lot of snaps. But when you're watching, both those guys are force multipliers. They definitely were in the backfield quick. And like you said, they're going to be on the field a lot more, and I think we're all pretty excited about that one. Yeah, I think the pass rush is certainly an issue. If you don't get to the quarterbacks here in the Big Ten, that includes C.J. Stroud of Ohio State. That includes Peyton Thorne of Michigan State,

although he didn't have a great game on Saturday against Minnesota. But if you don't have a pass rush, I'm not saying you have to have the pass rush that you had last year. That was legendary. That may never be seen again, or at least not for a while. But you need to put some pressure on these quarterbacks. And if that doesn't happen, you're going to be in some big trouble getting off the field. I was very impressed with Tagovaiola.

He was much better than I expected. He was on target. He made good decisions. I didn't realize how well he moved around. He's a nimble dude. He hit a couple of really big runs that we should have stopped. They were really frustrating, actually. I think they're going to smoke Michigan State on Saturday.

I really do. I think Michigan State's in some big trouble. We could talk a whole bunch about Michigan State. They're in the hurt locker, and I think it's about to get worse these next few weeks. We're just going to switch. The offensive line, I thought, was pretty good. Defensive tackle, Mozzie Smith, good again. Chris Jenkins, he can pick it up, but I thought he was pretty good. Mason Graham, I think he deserves more snaps at this point, only with 17. But still a really good rating at 71.3.

Now, I'm going to gloss over this, but I'm just going to do it for time's sake. DJ Turner, another great game. The whole defensive backs, I mean, Mike Sanders still fantastic. Again, Rod Moore, really good again. Kari Page, RJ Moten, Jermon Green. I mean, all these guys were fantastic. He dropped a couple of really easy picks last year. It was like, this guy can catch anything, and then he makes that play.

And I love the video of him on the sideline wearing the bluffs. That was awesome. He lost over one thing, and I think it's worth noting. The offensive line, they played without Trevor Keegan. Giovanni Elhadi played, and he did – he was serviceable. But the first two weeks of the season, Trent Day-Jones, the new starting right tackle, he didn't look that great. And it showed up.

For two weeks in a row now, he's the highest graded offensive lineman. So when – hopefully Keegan comes back and we can have a five-man unit that can start playing consistently in jail, but I think that you're going to see more out of the offensive line in the weeks ahead. I'm excited about that. Yeah, I think the offensive line certainly can improve. I think overall it's been pretty good,

but especially I think it's gotten better as the weeks have gone on, which typically happens in a football season. We're going to go into the injuries um report here donovan edwards um it seems like there's a shot that he's going to play eric all we don't really know about kade mcnamara obviously is out for another couple weeks mckay hill green jim harvoss seems to be pretty confident that could go. Keegan, did he say anything about Keegan? I didn't see anything. I think they're all – other than Eric Aldonovan, Edwards, Trevor Keegan,

and Mekhi Hill Green, I think those guys all are possible to play. I don't think – you know, Mishka and Harbaugh is never going to tell us, but I think there's a – you know, I don't have any inside information on any of those actually, but I think there's a decent chance that at least two of those guys play. All right. So we are going to move on just quickly through the recruiting. There's not a whole lot on the recruiting trail right now. Nicholas Harbor, the Archbishop Carroll five-star athlete, who is an absolute freak, by the way, Yeah, he's a monster. He took a fantastic picture in the big house, and it seemed like it went well. He stayed until Monday, so I know, Brian,

you've talked about him being one of those guys that maybe just kind of talks up every place that he's at, but it seems to say that Michigan has climbed up his list. Yeah, I mean, I think they definitely help themselves, I do think, because I mentioned last week and before. I think Harber's the type of guy that hypes up every place he's been. So I just, you know, until he signs a dotted line, I have a hard time being real excited about that one. But we'll see.

Yeah, I think it depends. I think there's a lot of potential good to come out of it. I think there's also some situations where he could end up at Michigan. There's a lot of situations where he could end up elsewhere. So we'll see where that one goes. Nathan Afobee, the three-star of South Forks, that's in Georgia, right? Yeah, so it seems like he's not a lot, but it seems like he's getting ready to make it. On threes, EJ Holland, 247's Bryce Marich,

and rival Zach Libby all put in picks for him this week. You know, he's a three-star. The pictures of him, I mean, he just looks like he's got the build and frame to play any of the positions. And that's what Sharon Moore told him is we see you as a guy that we can move all up and down that line. And I just think he's got a frame that can really, I mean, you look at him, he just looks the part. It looks like he can come in and play right away. So, you know, I think he's a guy that can grow.

He's a guy whose ratings are different all over the place, too. So, you know, some sites have them much higher than others. So I'm more excited about him than his 247 composite reading. Yeah, and, you know, just the recruitments to keep an eye on as time goes on here. Chris Peel, Providence Day four-star cornerback. We've talked about him. That's certainly something to keep an eye on. Spencer

Fano, the Tim Pugh Provo, four-star offensive tackle. Seems like there's an interest there with Michigan. And then Ronnie Bell's brother, two-star athlete slash quarterback out of Park Hill in Kansas City. There's some interest there. Those are kind of some things about the recruiting trail. There's not really a whole lot. Me and Brian are going to get real deep and far into the recruiting when there is things to talk about. But when there's not, we're going to talk about other things. And this is one of those situations where we kind of just gloss over it.

So we're going to talk now about the elephant in the room, the big game coming up here on Saturday. Michigan, Iowa, you can find that game on Fox at noon with Joel Platt and Gus Johnson, the best in the business, for a big noon Saturday. Michigan comes in as a 10.5-point favorite at Iowa. Don't touch it. I wouldn't touch it with a 5-foot pole if I were you. The over-unders, 42, again, would not touch that,

especially games in Kinnick seem to be very scary at times. So to me, it's one of those situations. It's like you're going into a hornet's nest there at Kinnick. Michigan historically has not had a fun time at Kinnick, especially recently. Although, you know, as you mentioned, we don't really play in the Big Ten West every single year. So I guess it kind of depends on the year.

But, I mean, it's a house of horrors. Yeah. Jim Harbaugh said Kinnick Stadium is where top five teams go to die. I love that quote. It's damn true, man. I mean, it's one of those situations where you're going to that place where, you know, in most situations you'd be like, you're playing Iowa, you're playing at Iowa, you're a top four team, you should go in there, you'd be like, you're playing Iowa. You're playing at Iowa. You're a top-four team.

You should go in there. You should roll them. But, I mean, Penn State in 2008, Michigan State in 2010, Michigan in 2016, which we all know very well in that game. Penn State was the only one. So the stat that I'm going by is in the last six home games against a top five AP – top five, the only team to win in Kinnick as a top five team was the number four Penn State in 2017. That's a very good Penn State team that, you know, won there.

But, I mean, we talked about 2016 Michigan. That was one of those of the number two in the country the number two team in the country and that was everyone talks about the spot at ohio state in in 2016 if you don't lose to iowa at iowa that that's a moot point you're probably in the in the college football playoff or in the big 10 title game and then potentially in the college football playoff so um it's a hornet's nest at kinnick stadium thankfully it's not a night game we i think we luck out a little bit with that i think we definitely luck out with that i think they're you know iowa stadium for those that don't haven't been there they're right on top of you i mean you can hear the fans they're they're the way their stadium structure it's a great place it's it's right on, they're right on top of you. I mean, you can hear the fans. The way their stadium structure, it's a great place.

It's right on top of the field, right on top of the benches. So it's a loud place. They're nasty. They're proud of being nasty. You know, it's a very tough place to play. Yeah, their offense, as we've talked about, not the greatest offense in the country, certainly. But it seems like they've kind of gotten things on track since that Iowa State game.

Now they've played Nevada and Rutgers for what that is worth, excuse me. But they put 27 points up the last two games. So, you know, and I don't mean combined. I mean the last two respective games. So, I mean, Spencer Petras, we all know not the greatest quarterback in the world. But when you have guys like Caleb Johnson and LaShawn Williams running the ball, I mean, they're certainly guys. That's what I was going to do. They're going to line it up and they're going to run the ball down your throat. And if you can't stop it like you couldn't against Maryland, you're going to be in a heap of trouble.

Yeah, I think it's a battle of strengths, right? Michigan's offense is number six in the nation in yards per play, and Iowa's number two in the nation in yards per play allowed. So it's going to be kind of a test of who gets to dictate the style of play. I think when you watch them play, like you mentioned, Caleb Johnson, their fans will tell you that he's every bit as good as Blake Horne. He's a shifty. He's very, very good.

But their teams, the best player on the team in what I've seen is their tight end. Sam Laporta is a stud offensively. He's their number one target. He leads them in targets. He leads them in yards. He is a force, and I think probably going to see a little bit of Rod Moore and R.J RJ Moten on him, trying to take care of that.

Unless they put McCurry Page who's had success against tight ends, maybe that's where they go. But I think you stop him and contain their run game. You know, you're going to have a decent time shutting it down because Spencer Petras isn't scaring anybody. Yeah. I mean, like I said, it's,

it's going to be a situation where, you know, we have a rookie quarterback going into a hostile environment that he's never gone into before. You know, a lot of Michigan fans, I see this all over social media and I see this all over, you know, just people talking in general and Discord and all that stuff saying that, oh, you know, Iowa's offense is terrible. They're not a particularly good football team. And I do terrible. They're not a particularly good football team.

And I do agree that they're not a particularly good football team. But I will say one thing. On the defensive side of the ball, they are well coached. They are well schemed. It's going to be a situation where they're probably going to play that shell defense where they're not going to let big plays happen over the top. They take the ball away a lot, so you can't turn the ball over against them. And like I said, they're well-coached.

They tackle well. And, you know, it's not indicative of what happened in the Big Ten title game last year. They're so good at all three levels. They have probably the best linebacking core in the country. Their cornerback, Riley Moss, was first team All-Big Ten. I think he was All-American on some polls. And then Lucas Van Ness, their edge rusher, had the number one score

and the most pressures according to PFF last week. So they're good at all three levels on defense. They beat you with execution. They beat you by slowing the game down, limiting the number of possessions, and they try to force you into mistakes. They're very disciplined, very sound. They always have been. Kirk Frampton's coach teams have always been very solid, very stout, very hard-hitting defense. And so it's something that Michigan has not seen this year, just that level of execution, that level of intensity. They're going to punch you in the mouth in Iowa City.

So it's going to be a real test. Yeah, and like I said, they're going to need to go in there, and everyone keeps saying that Michigan's offense is going to go there and boat race Iowa. I mean, is it a possibility? Sure. Is it a possibility? Absolutely, especially if it's one of those games where Michigan starts Iowa, I mean, is it a possibility? Sure. Is it a possibility? Absolutely.

Especially if it's one of those games where Michigan starts grinding them down by running the football and they can't stop it, and all of a sudden they're on the field, the hands are on the hips. You know how it goes. And, you know, all of a sudden, you know, you're running the ball down your throat, you're up 14-0, and now you take a deep shot and now you're up 21-0. And at that point, you know, Iowa's not coming back from that. They don't have an offense built to do that.

So, but again, it doesn't have to be a perfect game, but in terms of the turnover battle, you need to keep the ball. You need to take care of the ball. And like I said before, they tackle very well. They have a lot of guys that hit hard. I mean, in that Rutgers game, you saw that the other night. They forced two turnovers. One was a pick six, and the other one was the hardest hit I've ever seen.

So that jars the ball. So they're a good team on defense where it kind of reminds me a lot of the Wisconsin game last year, right, where Wisconsin had a really good defense. Jim Leonard's defense is, you know, historically a really good defense um jim leonard's defense is you know historically a very good defense and michigan went in there and yeah it was kind of a bar fight at the beginning of the game and michigan pulled away and and that's kind of what i look to in this game but again you know i was going to try to beat you into one of those games where it's it's a tight you know it's a tight game

and turnover battle is going to be important. They've had success this year by winning the turnover battle. Michigan's been very fortunate. They have not turned the ball over much. They have the C.J. Stokes fumble yesterday. I think they had the one interception in week two. Other than that, they've been turnover free, and they've had some opportunities to turn it over.

So if Michigan cannot turn the ball over, I think they win easily. Yeah, I agree. But Iowa has a way of not letting that happen. And so I'm not confident that they can do that. I still think they win, but I think that it's going to be closer than Vegas thinks. Yeah, I know we talked about, you know, the game last week and, you know, how this is potentially – that was potentially upset alert.

I know at one point you texted me upset alert. I'm like, I'm not reading Brian's shit again until after the game. So I'm like, I believe in good vibes and bad vibes. I'm like, that's bad vibes. I'm not going there. But, no, I mean, this is one of those games where if you protect the football, you tackle well, you, I mean, I think your defense can handle what Iowa has to offer on offense. I think your offensive, your defensive front, if they can

get home and like we talked about Yabayoki and help me out here for a second. Yeah, if they can get home, I mean, you know, this is going to be a miserable game for Iowa. But, you know, you got to take care of the ball. And we talked about that as something that sounds like cliche. But if you don't take care of the ball, you can end up in a 17-14 game late in the fourth quarter where you're on upset alert so we don't say this to scare people but you know it's certainly we've seen this before 2016 we've

seen it in 2013 so it's certainly uh something to keep an eye on now iowa is three and one we talked about um you know there being a pretty big history between i and Michigan. This is the 63rd meeting, the last, obviously, in the Big Ten title game with a Michigan 42-3 win. I do want to get your prediction for this game. Absolutely. So, wait, Michigan's favored by 10.5, over under 41-42. So they're basically saying 27-17, 24-14, a game like that.

And I think, you know, I said it last week and I was pretty close. I'm going to trust Vegas on this one, although I think it's going to be a little bit closer than a 10. I like Michigan winning 24-17. Yeah, I kind of echo what you're going to say, but you know what? I'm going to go the opposite way because most of the time everyone's saying it's going to be a low-scoring low scoring game, low scoring game, lower scoring game, 10 point spread. I think Michigan wins and I think they win comfortably. I do think that JJ

McCarthy has a really good game. I think they relatively play a clean game. Penalty, not penalty free because of course in a Big Ten game like this, you're not going to play penalty free. Unless you're of course Maryland last week holding everybody. You saw that, right? No fucking penalties. It's unbelievable what they were getting away with. But I kind of echo similarly to what you're going to say, but I'm going to say it's going to go over 43.

I think Michigan wins comfortably. I think it's like 38-13 or something like that. Wow. It'll be a lot more enjoyable Saturday if you're right. I agree. I agree. So those are our thoughts. I mean, like I said, there's not a whole lot more to talk about.

I think we've kind of talked this game into circles. Again, like I said, Iowa's 3-1, and Michigan's 4-0. So going into this game, it's going to be, it's going to be a hell of a game. People that continue to say, oh, this is going to be easy. This is going to be easy. I would not say that. But again, like I said, if Michigan plays a clean game, they should win. Yes. So I want to get your final thoughts before I take us out here. Yeah. Final thoughts is I want to see them play a good week. I want to see J.J. take another step. You know, on offense, I think if we just see J.J. execute,

convert some long throws, make good decisions, that would be great. And I want to see improved play from our front seven. You know, I mean, I think the defensive interior has been solid, but a bigger pass rush, and those linebackers need to come and play. They have a great tight end. They're going to rely on their running backs. I want to see a good game from those edges and the linebackers need to come and play. They have a great tight end. They're going to rely on their running backs. I want to see a good game from those edges and the linebacker core.

Just excited to see another game. Yeah, I agree. I think there's a lot to talk about here, and I can't wait to get back on here and talk more about it. My final thoughts here are just Michigan, go out there, play a clean game, and take care of the football, and good things will happen. Don't force shots downfield if they're not there. Don't throw the ball into double coverage. JJ, and I think things will be fine.

But that's pretty much it. You can follow me on Twitter at Sealdog91. You can follow Blue by 90 on Twitter at Blue by 90. And you can follow Brian on Twitter at Sealdog91. You can follow Blueby90 on Twitter at Blueby90. And you can follow Brian on Twitter at BBsBigHouse. Is it BBs underscore BigHouse? Nope. It's BBsBigHouse1. BBsBigHouse. Alright, there we go. So go blue and

yeah, enjoy the game, guys. Go blue.