Blue By Ninety - Is Michigan Football in trouble? Wolverines lose first B1G game in three years

Episode Date: October 8, 2024

Michigan loses its first Big Ten game in nearly three years. Justin and Tanner talk their concerns regarding the program.

All right, welcome back to Blue by 90. I'm Justin joined by Tanner today. It is October 8th and I don't know. I don't know where we're going to start here. I don't know where we're going to start. Michigan loses to Washington 20. What was it? 2717 and we're on our third quarterback of the year, and we look lost. Tanner, we look lost. Yeah, I mean, guys are slipping all over the field. Guys are out of position. Defensive back is getting turned around. I don't know. I really don't know where this team goes from here. Obviously, we have a bye week coming up,

which with that injury report against Washington, little startling before the game yeah let's start there because I mean you get through the Minnesota game and I know we had a cut like Josiah Stewart was out in that game Will Johnson's out in that game Samaj Morgan's out in that game. Samaj Morgan's out in that game. But there weren't any, like, big on-field injuries. Like, I'm sure guys get tweaked, you know, get banged up week to week and whatever, but all of a sudden the doubtful side of it was 10, 15 guys long. So what happened leading up to this week in practice yeah i don't know i mean michigan's been pretty fortunate over the last number of years you know with ben herbert leading the strength and conditioning program you know have really had a lot of injuries um you know other

than kind of like freak stuff right like last year's inter goes down with a fractured leg year before that quorum goes down second to last game of the regular season with you know he takes a hit to his knee that that causes some damage otherwise michigan's been pretty pretty healthy if i recall correctly so a little jarring to see i mean amir hall was out derrick moore was out um i know will was listed as questionable he still played um jadis didn't make the trip hitton didn't make the trip um i think there was a few other guys that i have in front of me but yeah i mean that's that's a lot of guys and you know just speaking of amir hall for a secondary that looked kind of lost might have you know probably been pretty nice to have him on the field at some points during that game um but yeah it was really

really like i said jarring to see i mean the list came list came out, and you're like, oh, my gosh. You had no idea these guys were hurting. You know, obviously they practice with pads throughout the week and run their drills and do some live stuff. But, yeah, it was really surprising to see the amount of players just on that list. I don't know how much of a difference it would have made. Yeah, but, I mean, you want to be full strength

going into your first road game of the year right for sure so but it's football i mean that's you know and that's the thing that we talked about all all offseason was yeah there's a lot of talent but the drop off and the lack of depth may be something that comes back to bite them and it you know certainly did in this game look look at just the offensive line there if you have jadis out um which obviously him and crippin have been have been sharing time so that one's not If you have Jadis out, which obviously him and Krippen have been sharing time, so that one's not as bad. But Jadis and Hinton both out on an offensive line that has already struggled majorly

and is the least deep position spot that we have on the field. So that right there. And then, I mean, let's just get right into it. You start with Alex Orji right there. And then, you know, I mean, let's just get right into it. You start with Alex Orji out there. The offense goes absolutely nowhere for three straight drives. You basically, in my mind, dig yourself a 14 to nothing hole. You know, Washington obviously goes down, probably should have been 17 nothing hole because they miss a field goal on the first drive thankfully um michigan's offense doesn't do really anything at all uh and then that you know right from the get-go michigan's defense is getting you know washington is is

going down the field like it is nothing um Like it looked very similar to Quinn Ewers and that Texas team. And this Washington, Will Rogers has been playing well. He hasn't been playing that well. They should not be covering up our defense. I think, you know, Jair Hill really struggled on that first drive. They were definitely picking on him all day. But to start there, you know, we'll talk about the defense. But, you know, I just think from a coaching perspective,

what are your thoughts on coming out with Alex Orji? What were you going to see from Alex Orji in those first three drives that you hadn't seen the last three weeks? And then you flip to tunnel and things change immediately like that just i i don't know i i don't know how i feel about that yeah i mean i think they mismanaged that all all year um it didn't look like they installed anything as far as the offensive game plan goes that was going to cater to alex orgy strikes um and what he brings to the table because yeah look he's not a he's not an ideal

passing quarterback but he does have a lot of talent and I think you can utilize him in a way that can win you football games I mean he's you know two and one is a starter and you know comes out in the was it the second quarter when they put in Tuttle so you know he didn't get a full game but I mean he was three or seven 15 yards I mean if you're two yards in attempt that's that's not ideal so i i don't know man um i really don't know i think the offensive line is is a mess um i think the play calling is a mess um i mean i just think here like the a qb under your third quarterback in in six weeks is good. And zero of it is because of injury, right? So, you know, in 2017, right, when Jim Harbaugh was down to John O'Korn, like was down to Brandon Peters, and that was all because of injuries, right?

And at least you can say that. But, you know obviously Michigan needed to address things in the offseason that they didn't I know that the situation with when Sharon Moore actually took over was a huge issue for sure um but uh you know they sat there and said you know in the spring portal I know there's there isn't much left i i know that there there were very very few uh guys left but you know okay we'll just leave it at that that it wasn't addressed um you know there are a ton of variables but then the lack of development the lack of game planning uh you know i don't tunnel's been injured but, but then Sharon Moore comes out and says, yeah, he's been ready for a few weeks and they still weren't going with him. So I'm, I, and now I'm like, if you would, if he would have came out and said, this is the first week that we felt that Tuttle was healthy enough to actually go in the game, then I can deal with that. Right. It's like, okay, he was obviously our best chance to win,

but we weren't able to put it in. Sherron comes out and says he's been available for the past few weeks. What were we waiting for? Well, the offense was not humming by any means. Yeah, I don't know. I think that you're just seeing the kind of in real time, the inexperience of Sherron as a head coach. And, you know, I think we maybe should have been more prepared for this. I think, you know, maybe a lot of copium, as folks love to say on Twitter of, you know, expecting that, hey, this is a program that's, you know, been recruiting at a really good level, not at a greater elite level, like some of the other programs in college football, but at a good level. And so you think that with the talent that they brought in with Sharon kind of being Jim Harbaugh's understudy that, Hey, you know,

this is going to be okay through the first six weeks. I mean, you know, you're potentially looking at a team that could have could easily be two and four, by the way. I don't even think it's could. I think it's should, right? Like outside of Kalel Mullings being superhuman against USC, they did not deserve. We said it right on this podcast right after the game. Probably did not deserve to win that game.

And then Epic collapsed in the fourth quarter versus, I mean, now Minnesota goes out and beats USC. So that's, I mean, I don't even and beats usc so that's i mean i don't even know what to think of that but they aren't a great football team um so very well could be should be two and four right now yeah um and the thing that is concerning to me too because i've seen a lot of comparisons to 2017. The thing with that is, is, you know, if you subscribe to analytics and algorithms that are out there, you know,

my favorite is SP plus from Bill Connolly over at ESPN used to be at SB nation. So in 2017, Michigan finished the year as the 13th best team in the country with the 49th ranked offense and fifth ranked defense. Right now they are 27th with the number 68 offense and number 12 defense and that defense feels kind of high still um and this is outside of the covid season uh this is michigan's lowest ranking uh to that algorithm since 2014 and that was brady hoax final year going five and seven so it just it doesn't feel good And because you have three first-round picks on defense, potentially four, depending on Josiah Stewart, right?

And you have other future guys that are probably athletic and skilled enough and talented enough to play in the NFL. I counted it yesterday on the depth chart. Like, probably at least seven guys that are going to be in the NFL in a year from now, at least. And that was going to be in the NFL in in a year from now at least and that like that was being on the conservative side like not even saying like a Jair Hill could figure it out or Macari Page could be you know guy like so yeah yeah so it's just it's just very frustrating um the I mean the defensive line has played really well otherwise i mean the linebackers have been inconsistent um you know brian john mary like i i mean it's tough to blame any

singular person or be mad at anybody for the 2020 season it was just kind of an epic collapse but like i don't know i just feel like going out and getting the linebacker coach of your worst season and however long um maybe it wasn't wasn't the And then also, I think Lamar Morgan is a really good coach. I'm really still excited about him. But having him coach the entire secondary, when you have a special teams coach, like the special teams, yeah, Dominic Zavada is really good, but like how much of that is on the special teams coach, right?

You have 10 spots, and you have one guy dedicated to special teams, and you've got Lamar Morgan coaching the entire secondary group. So I don't know if maybe he's stretched too thin um and then just the play calling defensively i think is just again something that we've continued to have issues with um and we're not going to sit up here and pretend like we're you know we're x's and o's guys i mean you know i watch football at a very basic level uh basic understanding but it just seems like guys are out of position guys are not coached well to rally to the ball the amount of times that guys just fly in without any sort of like recognition of hey i may have help so let me let me take this angle like they just fly in and and

get you know beat and slip um on saturday it was atrocious it's just yeah i don't know what i don't know how to explain it justin but it's just there's just so many issues uh and we can obviously talk about the offense too but like there's just so many issues that i i don't know man i really don't know what this is going to look like moving forward i don't have the warm and fuzzies i'm i'm shivering in in terms of the warm and fuzzies not being there absolutely shivering um i think that you know it if you told me we were talking about this a little bit pre-show if you told me that the offense was really going to struggle this year oh i can deal with it right because i know everything you lost and you know we kind of went into the season thinking like,

all right, our defense is going to carry us. We probably can go 10-2 just based off of how good and how talented this defense is, right? Like that was pretty much everyone's analysis going into this. It's like 9-3, 10-2 based on, you know, the quarterback situation, blah, blah, blah. But the defense is going to carry it. Okay, well, then all of a sudden you have the offensive issues that you've had.

And this defense, I think Johnny Bacon is one of the guys that's like a – he's a guy that's pretty level-headed in terms of Michigan and gives like – all all right pretty unbiased and not firing from the hip analysis and i thought that he put it pretty bluntly um expecting um's offense to struggle after losing their starters but this goes beyond that most surprising is the weak fundamentals on defense including tackling and stupid penalties coaching is an issue so everything that you just said i i totally agree with in the fact that it's like you know if we're just getting beat at times or guys or you know the other team's making great

plays sure but like it looks this defense looks lost a lot of times. I tweeted out one specific play where it went for a first down over the middle. McCurry pages one guy trying to guard three receivers in a trio formation. We're in trips. Yeah, the nickels on the other side where there's covering nobody. And the running zone, right? So it's like you got to get guys to your spot your to your spot but um yeah that was an easy first down well just unless this was texted into our group chat let's just go ahead and read these off because uh defensively and offensively because it's kind of uh sickening uh pass defense nationally 114th uh third to last in the big

10 at 16th rush defense top five in the country three in the Big Ten, but if you're able to just throw the ball, then why would you run it? Third down defense, brutal, 16th in the Big Ten, 90th nationally, give it up 41% conversion rate on third downs. Scoring defense is okay. They've kind of been don't break mentality, but 56 in the country and 16th in the Big Ten and total defense 48th nationally 14th in the big 10. This is a team. How many other teams have three first round picks on defense, two on the interior D line on one corner. Those are some of the most impactful players in football.

And you've got another, you've got another couple of guys on the edge. Josiah Stewart certainly can play his way into a first round pick. Derek Moore was almost a five star come out of high school. His flashed a lot, his played really well. I still like, again, the defensive line, line I think I have no problem defensive line I'm really liking what I'm seeing from TJ guy um I think he's gonna be a good player for us this year and next year um the defensive line has let's let's put it bluntly it saved this defense's ass from not being even worse than what's what's going on right now it right now. It's mind-boggling. And Will Johnson, as talented as he is, is just not looked –

I mean, he's made plays, right? He's had the big pick sixes. But, like, you know, you look at the third and whatever that they convert on a penalty. And I'm not going to put all that on Will. That ball was tipped, by the way. But Will didn't really – had no chance to be able to even see the ball um and so it's just like just you know reckless plays a lot of penalties a lot of drive extending back breaking penalties um it's just tough to watch when even when Michigan

wasn't winning national championships or big 10 championships the defense always came to play 90 of the time right and there was a couple times they got got against ohio state but otherwise that defense from the moment jim harbaugh got here whether it was dj durkin or don brown um you know through the covet season like the defense was always pretty consistently good uh up until 2020 and so it's just kind of jarring because there's a lot more high-end talent on this defense than there were on those teams, except for maybe 2016. So I'm just wondering, what's the issue? You know, is it the coordinator that got fired from his last two defensive coordinating spots in the NFL that's making $2.3 million right now? I don't know.

Maybe. It starts there, no doubt, right? It absolutely starts there. You know, I think wake is i yeah yeah i i don't even know what to say because again you know i for for us we i'm not breaking down every single play like hey this is where this player should have been lined up and and this is what you know this is where that the coverage broke down but from the the general, like, what is – what's going right, right? I think the defensive line is getting to the quarterback by themselves,

which, again, not sure why you need to blitz seven guys then consistently, seven, eight guys. So I'm not really sure there. But, you know know you run down the line of okay not getting the play in time ever guys are looking around not knowing where they're supposed to be um busted coverage is constantly they're on the wrong side of the field the fundamentals of slipping not being in a good position tackling is an issue like you just keep going down the line and it's like okay this t this defense won a national title last year they held one of the best offenses

in washington that washington had one of the most ridiculous offenses in the country they held them to what 13 points right it's nearly the same defense outside of a couple guys and let's be honest you know rod moore mike stainer still mike barrett junior colson those guys you know chris jenkins those guys are very very impactful but you still have like we've said seven nfl talented guys so i, I'm going to put it this way. What happens after this season when you lose all of those guys, you have to go to the portal. And I don't know if Michigan is built to recreate a ton of impactful guys out of the portal. They've been very good at complimentary pieces, but you kind of see it right now where they didn't really –

they weren't able to go and get a receiver. And there's some things that are probably outside the program's control and Sharon's control. I get that totally. But, you know, you're going to have to pray that guys develop. And from what I'm seeing right now and the way that the juniors are playing, I don't know if I can bank on that. I don't go to church enough for God to give me that.

I need to go to church a lot more. This is on you. Yeah, this is on you. You stopped going after last year, and this is what we get. Well, I did go to church that one morning to thank the Lord for Columbo. But other than that, Saturdays have been a lot, so I've been tired on Sunday mornings. But I just – I don't see how it's working. And, listen, I don't want to be – I truly don't want to be this guy

where it's like overreaction through six games, right, and with Jerome Moore and Kirk Campbell and Wink and wink martindale and say oh you need to like it's fire everybody sees it right i i'm not there quite yet but you know i do think that these this needs to be addressed and it's honestly both the defensive coordinator position and the offensive coordinator position needs to be addressed. It needs to be evaluated. And this is what Jim Harbaugh like was so good at. He, he said, all right, you know, obviously the Don Brown thing he held on to way too long for sure.

But when, when an issue needed to be addressed, he usually addressed it and then it changed. And so, I don't know. I do think that you're realizing how good of a hirer Jim Harbaugh was as well, because every single time that you lost somebody, then he replaced them with the next greatest thing, right? And obviously, Jerome Moore has not had to hire anybody. This is his first time hiring anybody. And, you know, some things, people are comparing wing to, to Don Brown. I get that. But, um, even Don Brown didn't lose these games.

He beat the shit out of inferior teams. And so, you know, I, I just, I, I think it needs to be addressed. And especially like you said, he's, you know, the second highest paid defensive coordinator in the country. Right. It, it absolutely needs to be addressed. It does. And to your point about Jim Harbaugh, I think part of the reason he's so good at identifying coaches to hire is that his Rolodex is just so deep, right? It comes from a coaching family.

His brother coaches the NFL, his dad coached for a long time. He played in the NFL for a long time. He's been at a lot of places. And so this is probably the growing pains that you're going to see with Sharon, where Sharon's a young guy. And so he has, you know, not as deep of a phone book to reach out to guys with, right? Cause you look at the staff hires this year,

Steve Casullo was an analyst at Michigan for three years. Wink Martindale coached under John Harbaugh, right? Brian John Mary was here in 2020. Esposito is a great hire. Again, I love Esposito. And I think Lamar Morgan, again, I think, you know, it's tough to coach safeties and corners, right? And so, you know, having a fully dedicated special teams coach when you're returning punter is 71st in the country on average per punt is tough, right? Like if you're – because Jay Harbaugh did special teams and whether it was running backs and Chris Partridge also did it, whether it was, you know, Chris Partridge coaching the safeties of the linebackers, you know, with Jay Harbaugh, he was coaching running backs, tight ends, I think safeties as well. I mean, you know, and that's the thing too.

Like I think people are maybe starting to realize too, how elite the coaching staff was. I think we kind of knew, you know, in the off season, we're all pretty bummed when a lot of those guys left, but you know, you think about Jay Harbaugh, a future NFL head coach, in my opinion, I think that he's going to get to that level. Jesse Minter, future NFL head coach, Mike McDonald's already obviously doing a really good job with the Seahawks. He was on the staff in 2021. So yeah, I just, I wonder, like, I'm with you that they need to be evaluated. What are those hires going to be? Because if they're not going to be a marked improvement, then it doesn't matter. Like if we're just going to see the same type of guys, right you know going and getting wink i mean i think we all kind of talked ourselves into it this offseason but i didn't love it at the time um i mean you ask any giants fan and they're like what do you i i have uh a friend who's a michigan and a giants

fan and they're like this is the worst thing ever right so um you know i i think what i had hoped was all right you struggle at the nfl level and then a lot of people do come back to college and they can out coach other college coaches right um you know one thing i do want to say though it's like you do have to give it up to jet fish jet fish i was just gonna say he outcoached the shit out of michigan staff oh oh by far and that you know what he is part of the harbaugh tree right so it's like you kind of have to have to put that up there i mean but i i think i i look at what what where what's frustrating to me honestly right now is you look at what Washington's doing, and obviously they have been undisciplined at times too. They've lost close games that they should have won.

But they turned everything over, everything over, and still were able to, you know, all right, we're going. Hey, Tanner, I don't know if you know this, but we played them in the natty too. So timing was of the same essence for them but yeah and they lost everybody as well literally everybody right it's this it's the nearly same situation and they look competent they looked at least put together right like they have their issues for sure but they went out and addressed the the quarterback situation.

And like, I, I just didn't under, I don't understand how we can look like we did while they look like they did. And so I think that's one of the more frustrating parts to this for me. And then I don't know. The, the other thing is just like, we don't look like we want it, man. I just don't see any, like, true will to be, like, the way that I was putting it yesterday, actually, as I was just talking about it with some people is like in 2023 michigan went out every week and played like it was do or die we are going to win this game or die trying

like i know jim harbaugh said that and it literally they lived that they lived up to that and it was like we're gonna go out here we're gonna play to the absolute best of our ability and leave every single thing on the field every week that's how they played the way that michigan in 2024 is playing is even when they got out obviously you saw it in the minnesota game of like they went into coast mode immediately. And we've seen that all year now because the second halves in the fourth quarters have been so bad. But, dude, even when we took the lead, it felt like we took the like that was when we fell apart. And it obviously wasn't a big lead, but it just looks like, you know what, like if we go out and win, great.

If we don't, I'm going to get my postgame meal and get on the plane and fly back anyway. You know, again, it's hard for me to sit here and say that I'm not in the locker room every week, right? I know these guys want to win. There's no doubt about it. But they just don't have that same mentality that you saw from last year where it was like we're gonna do this or or it's over like we we're gonna

do this at all costs you know who else plays like that that just you know we've been watching over the last couple of months is the Detroit Tigers is they bring their own juice right you see Spencer Torkelson you know catching, catching a, you know, the second throw of a double play and just fired up. Tarek Skubal fired up, right? Like, you know, I don't need you to be, you know, overzealous with your celebrations, but like, give me something. Like get excited, man.

It's supposed to be fun, right? Like you're in a road environment and you're making plays, you know, you didn't make enough to win, but you're making plays. And it's just like, just, I don't know. It's like a golf clap sometimes with these guys. I don't get it. You want to know what actually came up on my, it was, it was this week, two or sorry, three years ago was 2021 at Wisconsin,

Wisconsin at Wisconsin, which was like the precursor to the Nebraska thing where we took over jump around for them. And it was, you know, at that time, Michigan hadn't won a big road game like in ever, right. That was like one of our most thing, right. Was he hadn't beat a decent team on the road. We hadn't won in Madison and forever. then michigan goes out and plays incredibly well right and and they had the most juice ever aiden hutchinson was leading this team they take over jump around we're going nuts on our sideline wisconsin was like what the what the fuck what do we do now and it was the opposite yesterday where like we felt like i i don't know i mean just multiple

videos that you see multiple things where guys just you know i know donovan came over on the sideline and did like a players only meeting you know on the sideline trying to get guys uh trying to get guys fired up and i i gotta give props to donovan because like for a guy that has been up and down and struggled and all that like he is still doing everything he can to be a leader his attitude is awesome like we talked about it last year when things weren't going his way like just a great kid and um had a great game by the way on saturday and he's you know one of the bright spots right yeah i mean you get a really good game and um i don't know man it's just yeah it's really frustrating because you go from like you think about you know 2021 right

michigan taking over jump around and then nebraska is their light show and michigan's getting after it and um you know just having a lot of fun and you've got a lot of you know natural leaders on those teams right you think about hutch is on the 21 team jj even as a freshman as a guy that was you know pretty it was a perfect bookend right like you had the young the young buck and the in the old vet that were both your leaders which like yeah i think just rounded out the line in 22 you got mikey saver still talking on the sideline at ohio stadium like we have them right where we want them right and then 2023 against ohio said the moment that comes up is zach center goes out, you know, the Michigan crowd really kind of rallies the team.

But, man, they just from that moment when Trent A came in, right, I don't foresee that ever happening with this team, which is just completely strange to me. I think that, honestly, what it comes down to here, I have had long talks with Mikey Sander still, and that, like like humble brag for sure because he's on the he's on he's goat talk right he's like on the on the the hall of fame for for michigan players but like even after okay here's something that i point back to after the tcu game

he he and i sat down we chatted for a little bit after that TCU game where obviously it was a you know very very painful end to the year right he told me he's like we all thought he's like in my brain I thought we're just gonna go down and score that last touchdown and JJ was gonna do it and we're gonna go win he's like I was 100 convinced of that until the clock hit zero and that was he believed that even when they were having the worst game ever right so that's the difference to me right now is the 21 22 and 23 team they were so confident in themselves. They knew they were going to go beat people.

They were, and what does that come from? Being ultra prepared, being very disciplined, having great leadership. But they just knew, they're like, we're going to go do it. And there's no reason to think otherwise. I think right now, there's so much doubt in all these guys' brains and it's, it is very, you can see it on their faces when it's like, I don't fully know if I can do this right now. Right. And I just think, you know, that starts with Blake. It starts with JJ where it was like, they just, they went about themselves in a way that it was like so confident in their own abilities. And we just don't have guys with that currently.

And I even like not, this isn't a shot at Will Johnson, but like right now it even looks like he's doubting himself. And he is probably the most talented person, Michigan football player to, you know, come through in a long time. Right. Just from a talent perspective. And so there's something mentally right now that I think that like, I just, you know, I think you see it in the coaches too. Is Kirk Campbell really confident himself with what, what he's calling, right. Is Wink confident in himself?

They don't feel prepared so i mean there is a ton that goes on mentally in in the sport of football and in sports in general and right now they need they need a mental coach more than ever in my opinion yeah man um yeah it's like any any walk of life right any profession anything you do at a high level, um, you don't always want to have confidence and to your point, it's about being prepared and being ready, but also having that, that belief within that, whatever you were trying to accomplish that you can do, you know, last year coming in, I think not just the team, but everybody, you know, at least around here and maybe in the country thought, Hey, this team's good enough to win a national championship.

Um, and maybe, you know, you have a lot of guys leaving. It's like, well, we did that and I don't know if we can do it again. And that starts to creep win a national championship. And maybe, you know, you have a lot of guys leaving. It's like, well, we did that. And I don't know if we can do it again. And that starts to creep in a little bit. So yeah, it's, it's tough, man, because I really did think coming in, I mean, on paper, this should be a team that can compete for, for a playoff spot, right. With the expanded playoff, you know, you get a win over USC, right. That doesn't look so good right now, but like, you know,

if you told me coming in, Hey, they're, they're four and one heading to Washington. Like, yeah, that's kind of where I would expect. Right. Cause then you potentially, you know, get to Oregon. Like I said, last week I thought they could get to Oregon and be seven and one going into that game with, with games against Illinois and MSU. Right. So, you know, it's just frustrating because this team is so talented on paper for them to kind of crumble like this. And, you know, it's just frustrating because this team is so talented on paper for them to kind of crumble like this.

And, you know, the one stat that I saw from Sam Webb on 247 is pretty damning about the defense, just going back to this. They are 133rd in the country giving up pass plays of 10 more yards. There's 134 FBS teams. That's insane. That's absurd. I don't even know how to, like, quantify what is going on here. So it's just really frustrating.

But like I told you before, you know, maybe if this is – look, look, look. If you told me, hey, look, buddy, 2024 is going to be ass, but you're going to get a natty? I'd be like, hell yeah. I think – listen, i know i not to give credit to the no block no rock guys because i want more damn it but like it is like i'm i'm go ahead no i was just i mean it is like one of those things where it's you take the you take the great and you take the not so great sometimes right i mean i get it not every like i i think

i'm very realistic that not every – there are some people who are like, oh, yeah, we need to go 15-0 every year. That just doesn't happen. But I think that I'm a little bit over – hear me out. I'm over like, hey, we got a natty and we can just suck forever. Or maybe not forever, but we, we can just be like six and six. I don't think it goes that far for me.

I think it would have gone far enough to like, be like nine and three. If we're, if we go nine and three this year and then we're feeling good, like, all right, we're going to build back up. Like it was like a little bump in the road and then we're we're trending back up i'm okay with that i'm not okay with how this is looking right now where it's like just a oh no no no i meant just like my personal feelings yeah right i like taking just the loss in a vacuum it's like cool looking at the overall picture i I don't feel so great. I don't feel great.

And I don't know if it can get rectified. Well, I mean, I know we're talking more like big picture right now, but like going back to some stats here, scott bell put this out there there are five big 10 wide receivers that have more catches than all of michigan's wide receivers combined this season 15 different big 10 wide receivers have more receiving yards than all of michigan's wide receivers combined this season and 14 have more receiving touchdowns hey have you heard of this really cool thing that they have in college football i don't know really cool uh it's called the transfer portal you go get guys that that are like current college players that are leaving their school and so you could probably go get some wide receivers there if you didn't have faith in your room but again the

quarterback situation is kind of trumping all that so it's like how much is that is on samaj and tyler right like those are good players. We've seen those guys make plays with a great quarterback, right? So I guess – I don't know. It's all connected. You're right on that for sure. It's all connected. But then Spath put this out there too,

that Michigan's leading wide receiver Samaj Morgan is on pace for 26 catches in 156 yards on the season that 156 yards should be what we you know what team's doing a game right what one player does in a game you get that in two catches like that's where you know for me i agree with you on like the natty has me. I'm okay for a little bit, but it doesn't cover for this bad of a display. Can I just say real quick, because I just said it could happen on two catches. I think what Cornelius had back-to-back catches on two plays from scrimmage for, what, 144 yards, if I do the math right, against Ohio State in two plays. scrimmage for what 144 yards if i do the math right against ohio state

in two plays took like three minutes from a handoff merchant too you know like oh my god how do you do that i mean i'm just making myself sad now so i know i i struggle i i think that like the biggest question for us that we have is like, okay, where do you go? You have a bi-week now, right? So thank God I'd say, thank God for the bi-week. Right. I guess, except for the fact that we just for me, well on this, but I got to go to a pumpkin patch or something on the bi-week. I mean, this is my mind off. This is definitely like the time that you say, hey, honey, let's –

Well, this week, though, is crazy. This is, like, no week, right? I know. So – but, yeah, let's go in the morning. Yeah, if we do it at 9 a.m., let's be back by, like, 1130, you know. But we get, you know, silver lining. We get to watch all these amazing games this week and not have to stress. Potentially about the Tigers if they go to game five on Saturday.

We do have the Tigers. The Tigers are a bright spot for us right now. How about last night? That was unbelievable. Hey, I do love seeing a stadium in Ohio leave just absolutely silent from a team in Michigan coming in and beating their ass. It's happened. It's happened before.

I have seen it. So I'm going to be at Comerica on Wednesday for game three. I would like to, but, you know, it's expensive and I have obligations. So you have fun for me. Enjoy the $1 beers. Dude, Detroit's going to be incredible. So I'm excited about that. But I think for this michigan team man like

you know we've kind of said it every week now it's like okay the trajectory of of this team is based on the next game right and you know we you win the usc game and it's like oh shit we can do this and then you barely beat minnesota and it's like okay where do we go from here then you go out and lay an egg against uh washington and it's like okay where seriously where do you go from here if your team and i know i i was made aware that they called like a an emergency meeting on monday morning to figure some shit out, I would assume. Like, hey, who do we want to be from here on out? But you look at the strength of schedule for the rest of the year, right?

All of a sudden, you have to go to Champaign and Illinois looks good. You have to play Indiana. They look good. Oregon comes to town. Ohio State, you got to go to columbus still right so it's like all right how is this gonna end up and you know if if you go out and you're sitting i don't know if you go out and go six and six this year i mean man that is tough that is tough do you sandbag for the two rivalry games you yeah i didn't even name michigan state right now but like i you know they've gotten their ass kicked the last few weeks but uh you know it's gonna be

a rock fight it's gonna be probably the worst football game ever just like undisciplined and turnovers and but like this is where msu has always had michigan's number in these types of situations and so like if you're sure more you cannot lose to michigan state this year yeah we'll yeah we'll we'll get there when we get there. I don't want to get there. I'm with you on, like, they should be game prepping for MSU right now, if I'm being honest. But the problem is they're not good enough to just, like, not game prep for Illinois, right?

They're not nearly good enough. So, I mean, it feels like it's a very negative time right now and you know i just think that you had chances to win the game tunnel we haven't even talked about tunnel uh you know fine i mean i i think like you know the fumble is just like a weird play where like he should have rolled right his his right tackle had the leverage to collapse the defensive player towards the pocket. So if he rolls right, he probably can look downfield or at least scramble for a few yards. Because I think it was first down, wasn't it?

It was right after the Mullings conversion, which called Mullings gets 14 carries. Four of those are on that drive where they fumbled just consecutively to get a first down. Which, again, Donovan was 14 for 95 with a touchdown so like he's having a really good game but and then yeah I mean the interception you're down seven you're just kind of forcing it to your best player yeah he's just trying to make something but the offense did look a lot better and it's like it is kind of crazy what an offense that kind of is predicated on running the football

looks like when you can't have 10 guys within five yards of is predicated on running the football looks like when you can't have 10 guys within five yards of the line of scrimmage so like they actually had two safeties and they had a little bit more depth jen fish literally say word for word he somebody said like what did you have to change when you when tuttle came and he's like we had to play a normal defense that's what he said no shit like it i mean dude they just had a single safety and then like you looked and everybody's within like seven yards and you've got like seven guys you you have uh you know defensive backs on the receivers everyone else is in the box that's literally it against alex orgy and the tunnel comes in and they start moving the ball

and to his credit they went on a 17 nothing run right and just the turnovers were killer um and you know a game where yeah you uh you know ernest house makes a hell of a play on that deep drop to get that interception and then you turn it over and they have great field position and then they get a 30 yard run to get down inside the five. And then you have a third and goal. And you just get. I mean. Because they overturned it, right? On the second.

And so you have third and goal to one. And it's like, that was that easy? Like you just, you know, nothing? Nothing. That was tough, man. It was definitely tough to watch. But we've got a bye week. So I'm'm gonna enjoy that it's just stressful i mean i am too i think that you have to look at it like all right we've got

a quarterback that can competently throw right and so it does change the offense and so you have to look at it like all right let's build on what we saw from that 17-0 run, right? Let's look at just that and say, all right, can we go do that for four quarters? Once again, though, this team has not played four good quarters, right? No. And so that's obviously an issue. But can you build on what Tunnel brought to the table

and still establish a running game? I think that there is a possibility. Now, there are tons of things to address. There's no doubt about that. But there's a possibility that you can build on what you saw from that 17-0 run. So, I don't know, man, I, uh, it, there's, there are too many negatives and not, not enough positives. There's that's for sure. And so, uh, you know,

I'm looking for them to go into the bi-week and see what happens from here. And, you know, who knows, uh, who knows it's, it's hard to say. It's hard. You know, you know what, you know, what uh who knows it's it's hard to say it's hard you know you know what you know what else is coming up though and i'm obviously not giving up on the football season football's my favorite sport but dusty may and the boys exhibition october 20th against oakland very excited to see these guys play so you know um it's the best time of year man regardless of all the stuff going on with our team you You know, you've got baseball postseason. You've got NBA, NHL, starting college basketball is about to start. Obviously, NFL is a full swing.

You know, hockey, like, it's a great time to be a sports fan, man. So, we've got to be thankful for what we do have. Yeah. Hey, I appreciate your outlook. I'm just trying to bring it up, brother. I appreciate your outlook. So, all right. Well, we'll be back to talk some more about this

as Michigan goes into the bye week at 4-2, right? Yeah, 4-2, 2-1 on the big time. All right. Well, we'll see. We'll see. All right. For us, you can follow us at Blue by 90 on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, at Blue by 90 Podcast on YouTube and Blue by 90.com.

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