Blue By Ninety - In The Big House Ep. 9: PAUL SECURED, Goals Still ahead!

Episode Date: November 3, 2022

On this edition of In The Big House Podcast Brian and Tyler talk about the win over Michigan State, Tunnel gate, and much more around CFB.

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 nine of the in the big house podcast the jj mccarthy donovan people's jones episode brian how you doing tonight i'm doing good how are you i'm doing good i wish we could talk about a michigan blowout victory over michigan state but we have some other um bullshit to talk about for lack of a better term. But we're actually going to get into the Michigan State game first.

We're going to try to go with some positives before we start to talk about some of the negatives of what transpired in the big house after the game on Saturday night around 1030 or whatever the game ended. If you... Who was that? It's a good question. I think they might be doing work downstairs because the people are moving out

potentially. And that's exactly what's happening. So hopefully that doesn't come on the podcast. Let's say... Do you want me to just totally start over? Yeah, go ahead. All right.

Yeah. So just mark it down, or I'll mark it down at 1.30. We'll start at... Okay. All right, what's up? And welcome to another episode of the In the Big House podcast, Okay. really good. You? I'm doing pretty good. I wish we could talk about a blowout Michigan win over Michigan State or Sparty or whatever you want to call them, except we have to talk about some bullshit, which we'll get into in a little while. We're going to start first on the positives before we touch on the negatives and what transpired in the big house on Saturday night after the Michigan win. Michigan, if you live under a rock at this point,

Michigan won 29-7 over Michigan State. It really wasn't that close of a football game outside of a couple big plays by Keon Coleman for Michigan State. You know, it was one of those games where it was kind of a boring game. I actually watched it at a bar without Sean McDonough calling the game. So it was like a bar slash club. So I was watching the game pretty intently with a couple friends. They're also Michigan fans.

So that was fun. Michigan now improves to 8-0. Michigan State falls to 3-5. Michigan State's season, for all purposes, is over. The only thing that they had to play for was to try and beat Michigan, and they didn't. It wasn't very close either. So, you know, it's one of those games that, I mean, you take it.

I was kind of hoping, I don't know about you, that they were going to blow them out. But I want to get your thoughts first. Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, to start off, we couldn't stop Keon Coleman. He was a monster up there. you that they were going to blow them out. But I want to get your thoughts first. Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, started off, we couldn't stop Keon Coleman. He was a monster up there. But once they shut him down, I mean, I think, like you had mentioned, the 29-7 score isn't indicative of how dominant Michigan was. I mean, all those Jake Moody field goals, you convert a few of those, and it's a much uglier score. They totally dominated 26 to zero after the first quarter. I mean, that was total domination. Michigan State couldn't,

the second half, Michigan State, how many three and outs did they have? I mean, they just could not move the ball. They couldn't do anything. I mean, it was almost getting boring in the best of ways. I'll take it. Yeah. You know, I was kind of hoping it would be more like the 2019 Michigan, Michigan state game, D'Antonio's last game where I think it was 49 to 10 or something like something ridiculous. I forget what the score exactly was.

I could check that in a minute, but it was one of those games where like Michigan won the game because they had more talent on the football field, not because they – I mean, I guess because they dominated the game, but because they had more talent, not because they played a great game of football. They really didn't. They just kind of executed the game plan.

They were just going to run the ball until Michigan State couldn't stop it, and Michigan State didn't stop it. I was appalled at the fact that Michigan State didn't stop it I was appalled the fact that Michigan State didn't load the box at all they just played that double high safety and just tried to say you know what you're going to drive the length of the field and that's what's going to happen and so that's why I'm convinced did Michigan State even want to win this football game did they have any inclinations of trying to win this football game because I, I mean, I guess in a perfect situation, you make J.J. McCarthy beat you.

That's what I would do if I was Michigan State. I said that on the last podcast. I would have loaded the box with everybody and just say, you know what? Beat us with your five-star sophomore quarterback. You know, it's, I think all the rivalry stuff, right. It's all fun. And I want to crush Michigan state every year. And I have tons of people I go back and forth with that are Michigan state fans that I relish in the fact that we crush them and we have bragging rights for the year, but you know, the larger picture, if you're a Michigan state fan, and I really believe this is

they came into the game with a game plan to try to go over top with Reed and Coleman, and that worked early on. Michigan's coaching staff adjusted, shut that down, and Michigan State didn't have a second option. They didn't have a, let's go to plan B, they're a plan C, you know, and I think that's what really stood out to me in that game. I mean, clearly Michigan has a talent advantage. They're clearly a much better team. I mean, the records indicate that. Everything, you know, every analytics says that.

But just moving forward, you know, whether it's Scotty Hazleton or Jay Johnson, you've got to ask yourself, they never adjusted. To your point, they stacked the box on defense and offense. They couldn't do anything after we shut Coleman down. You know, there's some serious concerns of the quality of staff they have there. I mean, was last year just a mirage if you're a Michigan State fan? I know this is smack talk aside. Yeah, it's a legitimate question.

You know, it's a legitimate question. Well, I think Kenneth Walker helped a lot for Michigan State. I think that that was certainly indicative of one of the reasons why they beat, actually the single reason other than some refs, why they beat Michigan last year at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing. But I mean, at the end of the day, like, yeah, I mean, you started to question, I mean, if I'm a Michigan State fan, I'm starting to question, is that contract that we gave Mel Tucker really worth it? I mean – You know what I would say about that too is like, again, it's hard because it's a rivalry, right?

Taking that aside, let's just – for the benefit's sake, Mel Tucker certainly does a really nice job on the recruiting trail, seems to do pretty well with their fan base. And Michigan's – University of Michigan, Jim Harbaugh, he had a tough time in the middle of you know the last seven years with his coaching staff and so I think before you totally you know hit the eject button on Mel Tucker you look at what Michigan did when he moved on from Don Brown and he added Mike McDonald and went you know went Josh Gaddis I mean I think the question the

Michigan State leadership has to ask, and Mel Tucker's got to ask, is do I have the right staff around me? And you've got to give him a chance to hit, you know, just like Michigan gave Harbaugh a chance to reset. Two chances. A couple of chances. And so you give him a chance to, you know, make some adjustments there. And, you know, he's publicly kind of said that he likes his guys

and he trusts his guys. What else is he going to say midseason? But, you know that the proof will be at the end of this year if he can make those hard decisions one and two can he bring in the right guys like harbaugh did you know and i think that's the question i mean all the rhetoric and all the talk of the 95 million dollar all the criticisms towards mel tucker michigan state's warranted but I think it's too early to say he's a total bust. I mean, he's done some good things there. No, I don't think he's a total bust. I think he's a good football coach.

I mean, he's come from some great universities and everything like that. He seems to be a good speaker and everything like that. Like you said, he's good with their fan base. He had a great year last year for Michigan State. He was 2-0 against Jim Harbaugh. And the fact that that terrible Michigan State team came into the big house, an empty big house in 2020, and beat Michigan, I mean, that was impressive. We didn't see that coming. I think the line in that game was 26 and a half or something ridiculous like that.

And, you know, Michigan lost a close game to Mel Tucker. And that was after Mel Tucker and Michigan State barely got a chance to even see their guys because of the pandemic. So that was just like a, you know, hit the ground and here we go. We're playing football games. My biggest issue with Mel as a Michigan fan so I'm clearly I'm wearing the uh Michigan State apparel head to toe with this comment but I do my one biggest point of potential with Mel Tucker is he does seem to make it a lot about him a lot of pictures of him with the cigar most of the pictures with dogs like Like that's, I don't know. To me, you know, he posted on social media, when he's on social media, it's pictures of him.

I mean, I think the video that he put out on his socials right before the Michigan State game was him getting off the bus in a suit and like strutting, not about his team, not about preparation, about him looking good getting off the bus. I mean, I think that's, you know, to me, I can do without that. Early on, I think Jim Harbaugh was kind of like that. Maybe not just about himself, but he was more about like, you know, posting stuff on social media and, you know, sleeping at, who was it, Gwynn or Dean's house or like doing the

belly flops in the pool and doing all that stuff. And like Harbaugh's gotten away from that. He's adjusted. He's done a lot of what Nick Saban's done. I'm not saying he's as good of a coach as Nick Saban, but he also doesn't have the opportunity to get the same talent as Saban. Now we're kind of going off on a tangent, but just kind of reel it back in a little bit.

I mean, Mel Tucker is a good football coach. I wouldn't quit on Mel Tucker, but I will say one thing, and Michigan State fans are going to hate me for this, but if Auburn comes calling, see you later. He's gone. He's an SEC guy. I mean, I know he went to school at Wisconsin and all this other stuff, but he got his footprint with Alabama, correct?

Yeah. I just think the shine on him, there was so much shine in him last year. and all this other stuff, but he got his footprint with Alabama, correct? Yeah. I just think the shine on him, there was so much shine in him last year. I think the state of that team and then how you hire a guy now after what just happened in the tunnel that we'll get to, but with his record this year, I don't know how you sell a fan base. Hey, we fired Brian Harsin, and we're going to bring a guy that's won three games this year, just had to spend half his team for disciplinary issues.

That's going to be a tough sell. Yeah, well, I'll tell you one thing right now. If Auburn or, say, Ole Miss, if Lane Kiffin goes somewhere else, comes calling, the answer is not no. I'll tell you that right now. The answer is how much are we talking? And I think I'm not saying that mel tucker would absolutely leave michigan state for any other program but if it's a program that's above

where michigan state is see you later i mean auburn is certainly not above where michigan state is right now but with mel tucker coming in that's certainly a possibility auburn's ability to recruit higher end talent than Michigan State, that's an undeniable fact. He's a guy that believes in that and does well with it. That would be a tough thing to turn down. He could offer $95 million to him. I guess he turned down LSU though, didn't he this past year? I mean, did he? Kind of, not really. If they wouldn't have hired Brian Kelly, I he? Kind of, not really.

If they wouldn't have hired Brian Kelly, I think there could be something to that. But I think they identified Brian Kelly when they got Brian Kelly. I don't think they ever talked about that. Yeah. So to reel things in, Michigan with a huge win over Michigan State could have been a lot better than it was. J.J. McCarthy was 15 of 25 for 167 yards, one touchdown, an average of 6.7 yards per play. Blake Corham was fantastic again, 33 carries, 177 yards, a touchdown,

a long of 17. We didn't see a whole lot of Donovan Edwards in this game. I wonder if that's just like, okay, we're not going to show a lot of this because we're going to win this game anyway. I think they tried to. Ted Carey's caught a few balls, and he was active, I think. You know, it was just – you could tell they wanted to – they wanted to win that game. They wanted to win by a lot. Clearly by the end of the game reverse, they wanted to put it on them.

But I'll tell you, we're going to miss – this will be a lot of years before we have someone like Blake Corham. I've been a fan for a long time. He's a special dude. He runs hard. People that would want to say he's there because he has a good offensive line, look at some of those third down carries where he's carrying three guys for four or five yards, and he's just a special talent.

Absolutely. I agree with you but I will say one thing I think Donovan Edwards is certainly capable of maybe not doing what Blake Corham is doing now but doing it in a different way kind of like Hassan Haskins did it last year and now Blake Corham is doing it in a different way even than Hassan Haskins did I think with an offensive line as good as Michigan has and how good they're going to continue to recruit, I think that you can't just put anybody back there. But if you put someone super talented back there, I mean, they're going to be really good.

And the other thing is people that say Donovan Edwards can't run between the tackles is absolute bullshit. So I don't buy that for a second. So in terms of the PFF grades, we're just going to kind of run through these really quickly. The wide receivers, not much to write home about at all. I believe in Luke Schoonmaker was the guy that had more receiving yards than any of the receivers.

Five for 70 with an average of 14 and a long of 24. So, you know, I think we all want to see JJ throw for 400 yards and we want to see Roman Wilson, Andral Anthony, and Ronnie Bell running up on the sidelines. And I get that. And, you know, there's times I want to see that. But it's hard to argue. They hit the ball for 40 minutes in that game, you know, there's times I want to see that. But it's hard to argue. They hit the ball for 40 minutes in that game, you know.

And if you can impose your will running it and throwing it to the tight ends, why wouldn't you? You know, it's fun. You know, they do shots. I'm not saying they can't get better there. That's fun to not really key in. But, you know, that was about as dominant of a performance as you get. It just wasn't as exciting, you know, as it would be

as if they were throwing it down the sidelines and guys making catches. But I thought J.J. Flake – I thought J.J. Flake fantastic. I agree. He didn't make any mistakes. You know, he kept the ball clean. He didn't put it on the ground, anything like that. So he deserves credit for that. I just wish that – and we'll talk about this in a second,

but the red zone offense, man. I don't know if they were just comfortable with just settling for field goals and they knew they were going to win this game no matter what. But, I mean, that's just not the kind of, you know, habit you want to get into. That's not the habit you want to get into. You want to be in a situation where if you need Jake Moody, he's there for you.

But you don't want to need to start relying on him to put up three points every drive. Because I'm not saying he's going to miss. He might be the best kicker in the country. He is probably the best kicker in the country. But, again, that's not, you know, kickers are hard to rely on at you know every drive or every other drive so you need to start punching those in the good news is for michigan they did a good job at adjusting last year when they needed to down the stretch they started scoring touchdowns

in the red zone so that was a problem that they have already addressed previously and hopefully they can they can kind of move forward and do that um but going back to the pff grades just real quick ronnie bell is as consistent as it gets a 62.4 pff grading played all they put 71 snaps out of 81 i believe so he played you know almost all of them cornel Johnson, I mean, are we disappointed at this point? Yeah, I mean, I think the one thing that's missed is I asked myself a bunch in that game, why is that guy playing over Andrel Anthony? And I don't know what the answer to that question is. But I would love to know the answer to that question because it just seems –

I wonder if it's blocking. I wonder if it's blocking. It might be. But I've always thought of anthony as a plus level blocker you know i mean he's out there he does really really well but i don't know what it is but you know what's shocking too and we talk about the wide receivers you bring up a good point in andrell anthony or andrell anthony however you like to say it 25 snaps a 56 a 56.9 PFF grading, which is fine. I mean, but 25 snaps, and then you give a guy like Ronnie Bell 71, where is the consistency here? Like, I know you like to run a lot of two tight end sets and run the ball and impose your will and all this stuff, but you're not going to be able to do this against Ohio State. This is not how you can consistently beat good

teams. And even if for some reason you are tougher and more just ready for a fight against Ohio State and you win that game, is that really going to be sustainable in the playoff against a team like Georgia or Tennessee or Alabama, God forbid, or even Clemson, I mean, you need to start spreading the ball out. I'm not saying you need to run five wide and run a spread offense or anything crazy like that, but we need to start getting the ball into these receivers' hands because you know what? They can make some moves and they can cause some havoc as well.

I'm not saying do it all the time, but it gets to a point where your offense is one-dimensional. I know they run a lot of different schemes at the offensive line, and you people can do that on your own time that follow the offensive line and, you know, the twists and, you know, all the stuff like that. But, you know, in reality, they do run a lot of different things on the offensive line. So there's a lot of different looks that they give and everything like that. But moving forward to the tight ends, Luke Schoonmaker was good again.

You know, like I said, he led the team in receiving yards. He played 74 snaps, which is pretty much almost all of them. Yeah, 81 offensive snaps. That's the majority. Colston Loveland only played 26 snaps. Only a 44.4 pff grading one of probably his worst games of the season uh Horningford a 60.3 uh and Max Bredesen only played 13 snaps but a 52.4 we don't really have to go too much more into that I think overall the tight

ends were pretty good and blocking and everything else. The biggest story to talk about in PFS this week is Rod Moore was the highest-rated defensive back in the country this week. He was a stud. Absolutely. 90-pointing. Number one-rated defensive back in the country this week. DJ Turner was good again as well. Absolutely.

He's been good a couple weeks in a row now, if I can remember correctly. 52 snaps. And, you know, the defensive backs, I mean, man, they're just – Will Johnson came in and made a couple really nice plays. That tackle on that screen pass to Jaden Reed was awesome. He seems to be a thumper at that cornerback position. And I got to be honest, I'm starting to like Macari Page's game a little bit more.

Yeah. Yeah, for sure. So, Junior Colson, we talked about the linebackers being a an issue i don't think michigan state's offense you know presented that much of a a challenge for the linebackers but you know junior colson with a good game michael barrett with a solid game as well colell mullings in the six snaps played pretty well as well. The edge guys, do they have any sacks or just one? Yeah, they have sacks, I think.

Yeah. So, I mean, they weren't super disruptive, but they were disruptive enough. Mike Morris had another solid game. Yabayoki only had 22 snaps, which is kind of shocking, to be honest with you. But I guess it depends because Michigan State runs a lot of that tempo stuff too. So that's a little bit difficult. Derek Moore only had eight snaps.

That was a little surprising, I thought. Yeah, they kept it tight. They definitely kept to me. Look at the guys they trusted the most. You know, I said earlier that they wanted to get their guys out there. They did. You know, and so they kept the rotations pretty tight. Yeah, and just to sum it up, the defense as a whole was good.

Very good. Very good. Overall, everything was pretty good. The offense, we can nitpick a little bit, but, you know, maybe it's just kind of not showing your hand because you don't need to kind of thing. And then if you got into a situation where you absolutely needed to, well then I'm sure they could,

they could kind of get into that. They got Paul back. They got Paul back. The blue out looked really good. I know we forgot to talk about that on the last podcast, but the blue out looked really good. It didn't look as good on TV as it probably did in person. It kind of looked like a blackout on TV, which I wasn't much of a fan of.

I thought the maze out was a little bit better. But, I mean, hey, you know, I like to try. And like I said, we've talked about how far this fan base has come in terms of wanting to do stuff like this. I would love to see the light show like Nebraska does or Wisconsin does. I think it's coming. I think one of the telling things on TV was there was no green and white in that stadium.

I mean, they knew they were going to lose. I mean, there were plenty of shots. They were trying to show everything that was going on in the stadium. Normally you see the section of a bunch of green and white. It was like they just decided. They knew they were going to get clobbered, and they decided not to show. And so it was very void. And the few highlights that Michigan State had, you know, in that rivalry

because the schools are so close to each other, there's always a loud contingent when good things happen for either school. When Michigan State would make plays, you didn't really hear much. The other thing is, too, when Michigan State's a good team, you know, their fans come out. When Michigan State's's a good team, their fans come out. When Michigan State's not a good team, it feels like they don't give a shit. So that's the difference between Michigan and Michigan State, just in case you guys want to know.

So we've kind of been not talking about this purposely, but we have to talk about it, unfortunately. So Saturday night in the big house, there were a couple different situations that transpired in the tunnel after the game. It was, what was it? Jermon Green went up because his dad is a truck driver and basically only has limited time to see Jermon Green and German Green.

Is that his brother's name? Yep. And basically Jermon Green and German Green try to get up there as quickly as possible so they can see their father before he has to leave and drive back down to Texas because that's where they live. And he's done that all year, every game. He's been in the tunnel with other teams. He's done that all year.

And then what is it, Jalen McBurroughs? Is that the other one that was injured? So we had a couple injuries. Brian, I guess you could probably speak to it a little bit better. I haven't really watched all the videos. It's kind of graphic. I know Jermon Green was hit in the head with a helmet by a couple Michigan State players in the tunnel.

You know, we have the benefit of doing this on Wednesday, right? So a lot of this has already been litigated in the press and litigated in the fan bases. And, you know, it was a horrific scene. Michigan State was clearly in the wrong. Like, you know, to try to say someone shouldn't be there and shouldn't skip and celebrate, I mean, come on, this is football. This is, you know, if anyone has played sports,

you walk off the field with people all the time and there's a little smack talk. You just put your head down and take it when you've lost. Michigan's been playing football for 95 years using that tunnel. And we haven't had an incident like that. Now, all that being said, do I think it's some indication of a culture problem at Michigan State? Do I think Mel Tucker's creating some type of issue there? I don't. I think a couple of people lost their cool. It got out of hand, and it can't ever happen again. It was despicable.

But, you know, you take your fandom and put it aside for a second. Michigan State's acted pretty swiftly and suspended eight guys, a few of them very prominent players. You know, Jacoby Winman, they're starting defensive end, starting nickel, starting offensive lineman. I mean, you know, their season was already on the rails, but this is just, you know, it's going to taint, you know, Mel's legacy. It's a tough situation, but I do think that, you know,

I mean, we can start to put it aside because it's fun to beat up on Michigan State as a fan, and we beat them, and then all this has happened in their program. But I do think that university has done the right thing the past couple days yeah i think both both organizations are not organizations we're not talking hockey here we're talking football uh both programs have done a good job of kind of um you know maneuvering and and you know i guess getting through this as best as possible you said michigan State has suspended eight players. I think that's pretty much everybody that they need to suspend at this point. I will say one thing

before I go into what I'm going to say about this situation. I feel terribly for the Michigan players. I also feel terribly for the Michigan State players because I've been an athlete and I've been in situations where I did something where I wish I didn't do it. And I wish I could take it back. And I feel bad for those kids because their life is ruined. Maybe not ruined, but certainly put in a tough situation. But, you know, when you're in college, you're an adult and you can pay the consequences just like everybody else does. I don't know what's going to happen. I know that Jermon Green is pressing charges and hopefully that they get what deserved to be coming to them. I will say one thing.

So while this was horrible and this can never happen again, this is going to create a process. And if there wasn't already a process in play, there's going to be now. Whether Jermon Green's dad comes or not, I mean, maybe Michigan goes up first and then there's refs and cops and everything else. And then the other team goes. But I'll tell you what, you won't see players walking side by side ever again in the big house or any other stadium in the Big Ten. I doubt it. I'll tell you that right now. I it's too bad. And you know, it's not Michigan's fault, but you know what they, there's always been the saying that one person ruins it for everybody else. And that's, what's going to happen here. Um, most of the time when protocols are put into

place, it's not because they're trying to prevent something. It's because something else already happened. And this is, this is their, you know, you know, trying to, you know, get through, get through it or maneuver it as best as possible. So that's going to happen. I'm, I'm, I'm assured of it. I've heard some stuff already. I'm not sure exactly what it's going to be, but something's going to be done about it. It's not going to be another tunnel. They played 600 games at Michigan State. Nothing like this has ever happened. So stop blaming the tunnel. Michigan State fans, you.

The other thing that I hate too, Brian, I don't mean to cut you off here, but the fact that some people, and I'm not going to name names, but some people feel the need to go on their platform and start talking about how the fact that this rivalry has gotten violent to the point where it's not fun anymore. It's not violent because Mark D'Antonio made

it violent. It's total, utter bullshit. Because a couple of guys, and I'll say eight guys on Michigan State, made a mistake that I'm sure they wish they could take back. You know, because that happened, now people are going to overreact and say, oh, well, this rivalry is unhealthy.

There shouldn't be a rivalry like this in college football. This is what college football is all about. Michigan State moves that game by a point, and there's not a single Michigan State fan saying, this rivalry is not any fun anymore. They're reveling in the hate. They're reveling in being able to talk trash. They got seal clubbed.

They got beat. And then this incident makes them look bad, and so they're pouting. You know, I try to be as diplomatic as I can be, but, I mean, come on. To say the rivalry is not fun hasn't been heated, hasn't gone over. Just to correct you, Brian, that was actually a Michigan person, personnel. I'm not going to say the name, but a Michigan person that decided to to go on their platform and say that the rivalry is not healthy. And Mel Tucker and Jim Harbaugh have nothing to do with this. But this goes back to D'Antonio and this goes back to those times.

I'm just like, give me a fucking break with that. I just don't buy that narrative that the rivalry is unhealthy because nothing like this has ever happened before. What happened at Michigan State in 2018 or whatever, or was it? Yeah, 2018, where Devin Bush went up to the middle of the field and started scuffing it. Big deal. Big deal.

Michigan State prompted that by doing what they did with their you know d'antonio marching behind them and these football players with their helmets on walking to the middle of the field and cleek hudson would have beat that ass that's part of a rivalry not people smashing each other in the head with helmets that's that's not cool that's not part of the game. And, and certainly not something that, that we want to see going forward or hope to ever see again.

Again, like I said, I don't think that it's fair that we have to put a protocol in, but that's, what's going to happen because that's what happens when stupid things happen. You know, I mean,

you, you watch baseball, you saw what happened with the whole spider tax stuff stupid things happen. You know, I mean, you watch baseball. You saw what happened with the whole spider attack stuff last year where, you know, after every inning, the pitcher's getting, you know, looked up and down by the umpire. And it looks like something that should be done in Little League, not Major League Baseball. People act like children.

They get treated like children. So that's kind of where I'm going to leave that. But, you know, like I said, everything's warranted. You know, hopefully the Ann Arbor police does their thorough investigation and the people that have to be charged are charged. And whether that means jail time or community service or whatever it means. Whatever that means. We're 8-0.

That's in the rearview mirror. We've got bigger fish to fry. We have four regular season games left. We have the college football playoff to try to make. We have Ohio State to try to beat. First up is Rutgers. Absolutely. And actually, that's where we're going to move on to

because we're getting short on time here. I'm actually going to the Rutgers game on Saturday. I'm driving down to New Jersey from Massachusetts for y'all that don't know. That game will be found on BTN at 7.30. It's going to be in Piscataway there at High Solution Stadium. Or no, there it is. It's Chi Stadium. I apologize.

That game, like I said, can be found on BTN. The spread is 26 or 26. a half i guess if you look at vegas um the over under is 45 uh rutgers comes in as a four and four team one and four in the big 10 so they're not a very good team but greg sciano always plays mich tough, especially last year in Ann Arbor, a 20-13 Michigan win. And that was a tough game. That was probably Michigan's worst game in the last two years, including the Georgia loss. So that was a tough game for Michigan. Michigan's won every matchup except for the one back in 2014 where they lost 26-24 in New Brunswick or Piscataway, whatever you want to call it.

What are your thoughts on the game here against Rutgers? I feel like it should be a little bit of a laugher, but I want to get your thoughts. Yeah, I mean, every analytical thing that you look at, like you said, they're a 4-4 team. If you look at them in the bottom of the Big Ten, rushing defense, passing defense, passing offense, rushing offense, they lost 31-0 last week to the Minnesota

Gophers. The big story, I think, with Rutgers this week is they're made to change a quarterback. They've gone to a very highly recruited, probably one of the highest ranked recruits they've ever had there, other than Tua's little brother. Tua's, brother. Or that Tua's – no, I'm sorry. One of the highest-rated recruits they've had there. And a four-star kid that Michigan offered or Dame offered or Oregon offered at Gavin Wimsatt. But this is going to be his first start, I believe.

It is. It's going to be his first start. Gavin Wimsatt, is that his name? Yeah, Gavin Wimsatt. Dynamic guy, you know, 6'3", 200-pound, looks the part. Again, highly recruited guy. But having to make that first start against a team that's going to come at you like Michigan's going to come at you

and just has a talent advantage across the board. You know, the line – I mean, let's face it. The line versus Michigan State was 22-and-a-half. They're saying we're only going to beat Rutgers by four more than they expected us to beat by Michigan State. I guess it tells you a little bit about what Vegas thinks about Michigan State. But, you know, if it's not at least that, it's a total position where it's a letdown game, right?

I mean, coming off Michigan State, you know, and coming off, you know, winning eight in a row, you're bound to have a letdown. But I just don't think Rutgers has the talent, even if they do have a letdown, to pull it off. I think they win it easy. I think they cover – I think we're going to see a lot of people play in this game. Yeah, and what's the guy's name that they had last year

that's in the NFL now? Aaron Cookshank? No, the other one. Running back slash – Oh, Isaiah Pacheco. Yeah, Isaiah Pacheco playing for Kansas City. So, I mean, they don, Isaiah Pacheco. Yeah, Isaiah Pacheco playing for Kansas City. So, I mean, they don't have Pacheco. They do have Crookshanks, though, right?

And then, you know, they had Noah Vedrill as a quarterback last year, and he played a pretty good game against Michigan, but so did Isaiah Pacheco. So, you know, to me, this is a game where you can't quite name your score, but I think it's one of those games where if you come out and you're prepared to play the game and you're not thinking about the bullshit that transpired on Saturday against Michigan State after the game

and you're not thinking too much about the win against Michigan State, I think this Michigan team is going to come out there and pound Rutgers. I really do believe that. I think Michigan's due for a blowout victory against somebody, and who better than the piece of shit Greg Sciano himself to win that game? I really do think it's like a 49-3 type Michigan win. And the reason I say that, they're going to be pissed. They're going to want some retribution after what happened against Michigan win. And the reason I say that, they're going to be pissed. They're going to want some

retribution after what happened against Michigan State. Obviously, you're not going to go and hit someone in the head with a helmet, but you can go out on the football field and make that feel really good by beating another opponent. And I think that's what Michigan's going to do. I really think they blow them out in this game. Yeah, I thought on the eve of, you know, I said to a bunch of my friends and, you know, well, that I talked about Michigan football is I was hoping Michigan was going to come and be fifth or sixth in the college ball playoff rankings. I think that they're a team that's proven that plays better when they feel disrespected, feel better when people doubt them.

And so, you know, them coming out and being passed by Clemson being number five in those college ball playoffs, they're going to want to show that that committee got it wrong. And so I think, and Harbaugh's definitely going to want to make them feel like they got it wrong. So, you know, I tend to lean towards what you're saying, that they're going to cover that spread handily. I just think that it's just too much.

It's too overwhelming for Rutgers to try to contend with. Yeah. think that it's just too much. It's too overwhelming for Rutgers to try to contend with. Yeah, and the other thing is, too, I mean, we have a lot of games with playoff implications this week that could change the whole narrative right away. You could slide up. If Clemson loses to Notre Dame, that game, I believe, is at Notre Dame, or is that at Clemson? We can just cut this out. Where are you at right now?

I'm looking at schedule. Time is at 36.55. This week's good games. I'm pulling that out right now. The game is at Notre Dame. Okay, so the game's at Notre Dame. Then you have Tennessee and Georgia that could, for all intents and purposes,

knock Tennessee right out of the rankings if Georgia blows them out, which I think is possible, by the way. Georgia's an eight-and-a-half point favorite in that game. And like I said, I mean, it is possible. It is certainly a situation. There's a lot of playoff implications games. There's Alabama and LSU, which apparently the playoff committee thinks is the 10th best team in the country, which is absolute bullshit as well.

Yeah. That's the word of the night, I guess, huh? Yeah. But in case you guys haven't seen the playoff rankings, we have Tennessee one, Ohio state two, Georgia three, Clemson four, Michigan five and Alabama six. And that is the top six for the top seven. What is it? TCU, USC and who's nine. It's a seven TCU, eight Oregon, 9 USC, 10 LSU.

There we go. There we go. So those are your rankings. Again, I mean, initially I was pissed just because I think if Michigan and Clemson played regardless of neutral field or, you know, playing home or away, I mean, I think Michigan would win the game pretty handedly against Clemson. They haven't looked that good. They don't know who their starting quarterback is.

And yet they're called the fourth best team in the nation, which is BS. But yeah, I mean, like I said, I think that, you know, I was talking to my dad about this last night and, you know, you win and you're in. So you just continue to win and let everything else take care of itself. And regardless of the situation, I'll tell you what that told me last night and Heather Jenich said this for ESPN as well last night. This makes it awful tough if Michigan doesn't win in Columbus. Yes. The last game of the season. That's pretty much telling you that if Michigan doesn't

beat Ohio State or somehow Ohio State trips, doesn't trip up and they both go into that game undefeated, Michigan loses. They go to 11 and one, not a big 10 champion, not in the playoff. There's really no chance unless, you know, hectic stuff happens and, you know, we don't need to go into that. We, you can kind of go back and listen to the podcast that we had, what, last week or the week before. But, yeah, I mean, that's pretty much where we're at. We need to win every game. And, you know, like I said, winning against Rutgers by a large margin will certainly help their case. I'm not saying that Rutgers is a good football team, but also that Illinois game right before Ohio State,

if you could boat race Illinois, I mean, that would be certainly their best win probably outside of Penn State, right? Mm-hmm. So the other thing is – I think, you know, Tennessee has Georgia this week. After that, if they can get by Georgia, they play nobody. They play Missouri, South Carolina, and Vanderbilt. Those are three horrible teams.

Georgia has Mississippi State after Tennessee. They play nobody. They play Missouri, South Carolina, and Vanderbilt. Those are three horrible teams. Georgia has Mississippi State after Tennessee. They play Kentucky. So they have a couple games they could lose. Clemson has Notre Dame. They have South Carolina, a rivalry game. They have Louisville. They have Miami. Miami's been so hot and cold this year.

I don't believe TCU's going to run the table. So Michigan just needs to handle their business business and they're going to be fine. Yep. And again, like I said, I mean, you lose a close game in Columbus, which, you know, we hope that that's not the case. We hope at some point we can get the balls to roll our way. I know it just seems like in all these sports, if you're following Michigan in all sports, we never get luck.

We can never just be that one team. I mean, last year in hockey, you have five guys in the first round of the NHL draft and you lose in the second round of the Frozen Four. And like, you know, it just seems like it doesn't matter what you do. If you're a Michigan athletics team, you can't win a national championship. And I think we're really clamoring for that. I think this football team has a chance to do that. And the narrative will certainly be written on that Sunday or Saturday in Columbus.

But I want to get your final thoughts because I think that's pretty much it. Yeah, I think, yeah, I'm excited for this week. Night game, Piscataway on the Big Ten Network. After coming off a rivalry game, there's not a lot to be excited about there. The one thing worth watching besides that is Blake Korn. What did they use? Through eight games, he has more yards

than the last two Heisman Trophy winners had. He has more touchdowns than the last two Heisman Trophy winners at running back have had. He's going to have to really turn it on here. Is that what's best for the team? Is Harbaugh going to allow him to do that? Or, you know, if the game is as lopsided as we think it is versus Rutgers, we're going to see a lot of Donovan Edwards, a lot of C.J. Stokes,

and some other guys. I think that might be the case. I mean, after 30 carries last week, I think he might – he's due a little rest. So, he's – you know, the one thing with Corham, though, is he's an East Coast guy. He's a Maryland kid, so he probably, you know, wants to do good. Probably going to play – I would guess there's a bunch of guys he played against in high school in that game.

So he'll be motivated as he always is. But, yeah, it's an exciting rest season. Excited to get Paul Bunyan back in the trophy case and ready to roll. Absolutely. Yeah, you know, my final thoughts are, I thought what Blake Corham said was hilarious after the game. I thought tuck was coming. All I saw was him running.

So that's pretty much my final thoughts. Hopefully Michigan can come out with a strong performance against Rutgers, put themselves in a good situation going forward and just go from there. But those are my final thoughts. You can follow me on Twitter at seal dog 91. You can follow Brian on Twitter at BB's big house. You can follow blue by 90 on Twitter at blue by 90, but that's all we have for Brian.

I'm Tyler go blue beat Rutgers. Go blue.