Blue By Ninety - It’s Gut Check Time for Michigan Football

Episode Date: October 15, 2024

Justin and Tanner break down week 7 of the college football season and Michigan's second half of 2024.

All right, welcome back to Blue by 90. I'm Justin joined by Tanner today and we got a stress-free weekend for Michigan fans. We're off the bye week, didn't have to worry about anything, just, you know, enjoying a lot of really good college football. A certain team that we don't like lost in dramatic fashion which i loved as well so hey great weekend great weekend i'm gonna be honest i was stressed because in my heart of hearts i am a hater and so i'm watching and i basically adopt i'm living vicariously through the ducks saturday night yeah right that was glorious that was just amazing the nice thing too is that you're living vicariously through the ducks but it's not because we can't beat them because we have beat that was true in row some

teams like teams maybe in east lansing like need to you know root for certain teams because they can't beat those teams themselves that's not the case here or teams in columbus ohio or teams in columbus ohio that's correct that's correct like using like you know uh going to the rose bowl wearing like you know alabama shirts when you're an ohio state fan crazy uh yeah i would never do that um i'm not that i'm a hater but i also have some dignity um So I will root against those teams, but I will not. No. I'm not wearing their colors. No, I'm not wearing TCU to a basketball game when you got smoked by them.

Yeah. So, no, that was a fantastic Saturday. A lot of good games. I'm going to be honest. I didn't catch a lot of the early slate. I was watching the Tigers game. And, you know, just a great run by the boys. And, you know, this is obviously a Michigan podcast. We're not talking about too much,

but just a frustrating, frustrating way to lose, you know, especially considering they should have won in game four if they had some, you know, some better bats. So I'm sure I, I've been a little pissy about Chris Illich because, you know, great, great run by everybody in that clubhouse. No thanks to literally anybody else in the organization uh they tried to make the team as bad as possible yeah and i don't put much of that on scott harris uh vp of baseball ops but you know so i'm not i'm not mad at him or anything i'm sure he was given direction to sell

and so the fact that they continue to to play well and make the postseason and be you know one home run away from making the ALCS is just credit to everybody in that in that clubhouse but yeah I didn't watch a lot of the early games and so once that grand slam went out like the moment the ball made contact with a bat I told Claudia before the game I was like hey I'm gonna go to the gym after and then run into some errands get some stuff for dinner And the moment that that – I just heard that sound. I was like, I'm going to go to the gym now. You were out the door. So, and I watched some of the games on my phone and on TV at the gym.

I kept up with the Tigers game still because, you know, you never know with baseball. So, yeah, it was a great Saturday. The Alabama-South Carolina game was crazy, that onside kick. And then, dude, Saturday night night like obviously we're going ohio state i mean tennessee florida wasn't a great game but it was close and it's overtime and then yeah i didn't even know what that was going on i'll be honest i was like they scored produce scored 40 points with their backup quarterback and in the second half alone like crazy to a team

an illinois team that has had a great defense over the past three years right like they've been great so yeah and then obviously Oregon uh Ohio State at night just comes down to the last play unless you will miss uh walk off touchdown by LSU so just a great slate of college football. Oklahoma-Texas was disappointingly boring. Kind of expected that. Made me feel a lot better about myself personally, Justin. I was like, hey, all right, cool. You know, not just us.

Texas is really good, it turns out. Yeah, that's the best team in the country right now. 100%. But, yeah, it was a great slate, man. I had a lot of fun watching it. And like you said, no stress. Just enjoying some boneheaded decisions by Ohio State down the stretch. Seems like that's their M.O. And you know what? Honestly, Justin, I think that the reason Ohio State lost can probably be.

You can bring it down to one person, and that is Connor Stallions. He probably had something to do with that. It's the only reason Ohio State loses football games. So, you know, and they also, Ohio State got pretty lucky that it wasn't even worse because they got gifted a 32-yard completion that should have been an interception. Yeah, but the OPI, dude, the OPI. I mean, he shoved him, like a full extension. Literally fully, the guy was, he fell like three, four, five yards down the field.

Why are you throwing the ball in this scenario? You have a timeout. You're at the 27-yard line. It's going to run the ball and set up for the field goal. He gets too cute. It's crazy how you have – what Ohio State fans have been saying are the two best running backs in college football. That's what they've been saying all year. they have the best running back room right and so if that's the case how can you not at

least run the ball to get you eight more yards and get into field goal range it's crazy to me i mean that is really their mo man i mean that you know, that is what they do. When push comes to shove, guess what? They've got that stable five star wide receivers, and they're good. Jeremiah Smith, why didn't he go to Miami? Just for my personal feelings, I wish he would have gone to the University of Miami. Can you imagine him and

Kim Ward right now, by the way? Obviously, he's going to ball at Ohio State, so he made a good decision for himself, but for me, I hate it, personally. I don't like it. I wish he made a good decision for himself. But for me, I hate it personally. I don't like it. I wish he would have thought of my feelings before signing his letter of intent. But, yeah, I mean, Henderson, you know, he has 87 yards, but how many came on that one big run that they got?

Otherwise, you know, for the most part, I thought Oregon did a really good job. How about Derek Harmon, by the way, from Oregon? Junkin didn't have a single broken tackle all day so i thought you know i i thought that honestly if i'm if i'm being dead serious now like we'll we'll trash on ohio state for sure but i thought that both teams played pretty damn well it wasn't like anybody like truly blew the game it's like two really good game really good teams going back and forth all day long um but i mean i think that if you're an ohio state fan you are yes you're going to overreact because that's how sports fans are but you're looking at ryan day a little bit like hey man one of these times you got to figure out how to win one of these winnable games

right like it's one another game down to the final second and it's like okay it was Georgia in 2022 and then it was Michigan in 2023 and then now it's Oregon in 2024 and it's like okay you you're really really good you have your team at 11 wins every single year, and you're playing with the number two, number three teams in the nation, the number one team in the nation last year, right, in Michigan. But, like, man, at some point you've got to figure out how to win the freaking ballgame. And, you know, it's one of those things that just, like, some guys,

they just kind of shit their pants when the moment comes down to it. And there are so many variables, it's hard to put it on one guy. But at the end of the day, you're the head coach, right? And like, I think making that decision to throw the ball three times when you're pretty much already in field goal range is crazy to me. I don't know. It's just crazy to me not to be able to run the ball, get down to the 30-yard line and kick a field goal.

I mean, you're already at the 27, right? So then that 15-yard penalty puts you back at the 42. And, you know, honestly, outside of, you know, the bonehead of play, I mean, I don't know how much I blame him because you're just in an impossible scenario, right? Trying to get to field goal range. You do have a timeout. You should probably run a quick out or something on that last play.

And instead, I don't know what the routes were, but Will Howard pulls it down. But I thought Howard outside of that played a really good game. I thought the receivers were really good. His stat line was crazy. Yeah, he was 28 to 35 for like 280-some yards. With no interception. No, I'm sorry, 326 yards. So he's almost 10 yards in attempt.

He played extremely well. And, you know, it's just, again, to your point, they just cannot in these big moments seem to find a way to come through. I think a lot of it comes down to coaching at the end of the day. So no pun intended there, but it's, I don't know, man. It just seems like they can't do it. I mean, they've lost their last five top five matchups, three against Michigan, Georgia in 22, and then Oregon on Saturday.

And it's like, at some point, you got to start to be able to win those games because it feels a lot like 2000s Ohio State, right? Where it's like, yeah, you know, you're rolling through the big 10 and you lose the big game at the end of the year. You know, our bowl game, we know, we know Michigan wasn't causing many losses in 2000s, but it's just, it seems like that's where they're at right now. And they're so much more talented than they were in the 2000s, right.

Under Jim Trestle. So I don't know. I mean, if I'm if I'm an Ohio State fan like you know I still like where the program's at but it's just like yeah dude they're different they're different I'm not saying that we're you know we're complacent right uh of course but um but I do think that like at Ohio State the fan fan base is just, is, is naturally insane. And it's like, you lose one game and everyone's like calling for everybody's head. Like Will Howard needs to be benched, even though he put up crazy stat line. Right. But you make one mistake. And I don't know, is it even a mistake?

Like, it's just like, you know, you trying to make a play. But the one guy that honestly, like I like like to clown on Ryan Day no matter what. There's no doubt about that. The one guy that actually does deserve it right now is probably Jim Knowles, right? That defense is stacked, absolutely talented. Like, they are just as talented as Michigan right now, if not more talented on the defensive side of the ball. And both teams are seeing

the same thing uh i mean michigan's seeing it against lesser opponents in washington but in no doubt dylan gray gabriel played really well but like you know i'm looking at replays and there's one are you gone i accidentally hit the display we should leave this in here i accidentally hit the space uh or the uh the space button here on my uh my computer so uh my bad just continue you're good you're good um but there was one screen or one play i can't remember exactly when it was but he like dropped 10 guys or nine guys had two guys rushing but five of them are covering uh grass and then it ends up in a deep shot touchdown uh from gabriel and so i i think everyone's kind of looking at jim knolls like hey man you know we literally got you every piece you needed to in the portal in the offseason and

they still didn't get home gabriel did not get sacked i don't believe a single time they you know they were able to to throw all over that team so I don't know it'll be very interesting if they can figure it out now you know Michigan's offense I don't think unless unless Jack Tuttle becomes a Heisman contender really quickly you know probably isn't going to give them too many problems I have to imagine we're going to have to figure it out on defense and win it there. But, you know, there's a chance that they go to Penn State, lose that one in there and two losses, you know, it'll be two losses to top five teams, no doubt. But but yeah, very, very interesting times now for Ohio State, where if you win that game, you feel like you can run the table completely in a 15-0 national championship

year is there. Now all of a sudden it's like, okay, now what do we do? We got to figure some things out. But, yeah, I don't know where they go from here. Yeah, don't forget they got the Hoosiers on the schedule as well, and Indiana's looking pretty, you know, competent. So we'll see what Indiana does against tougher competition. But so far, so good under Kurt Cignetti.

But, yeah, I mean, Gabriel goes for 341 yards, two touchdowns, no picks. Should have had another touchdown. He missed. I don't understand that play on fourth and goal. I believe it was Tej Johnson is in motion and is wide open in the flat, and Gabriel never looks. And it's like, how is he not the primary read on that? If he's the guy motioning, you think that he's either doing one of two things. He's drawing people to him to go to somebody else. Right. Or

he's the primary target, but like either way, I think you have to look at him because you, if you look at him, then even if he's the the decoy guy then people are going with him right so yeah i don't really know what what the deal was with that but um but yeah uh i mean fun game fun game to watch again stress free uh without having to worry about our own team uh i very much enjoyed it and enjoyed very much how it ended. That's for sure. Do we start to now, in this part of the podcast, worry about our own team? Is this where we talk about Michigan? I was going to start worrying.

I was going to get into that. Now, you know, but I tweeted out this morning. I chose, you know, I think we've been pretty negative on this podcast uh for michigan which let's be honest deservingly so in my opinion um but i think that um i i'm thinking like i'm trying i'm trying to believe that these guys can rally around it you know i do think coming off of a bye week it it came at the perfect time, right? You have now a new QB. Jack Tuttle is QB1.

And you have a chance now to get him. All right. He had only had three practices before that Washington game. Still played pretty dang well outside of a fumble and an interception. And so, you know, can they put it together? And it's like, all right. You know, sometimes when you make a change like that, I know we've already made one, so this is the second one.

But when you make a change like that midseason, it's like, all right, everyone has a little more juice. They had a little time to breathe and figure it out. And I don't know, how do you feel about this offense going forward with Tuttle at the helm? Can it change enough? Can it improve enough to make Michigan be somewhat of a contender here down the road? Well, I thought when he came in against Washington that Washington wasn't able to have 10 guys within, you know, seven yards of the line of scrimmage, right? So they actually had to have two deep safeties.

And that opened the run game for Michigan. Now, you know, they had a few good drives when Tuttle first came in in the second quarter and going into the third quarter when they took the lead. But then they just weren't able to really move the ball at that point. And I thought the offense lacked creativity once again. I thought Washington adapted well defensively. So, which I mean, I hate using the transitive property, but I also think that when you look at a team offensively that is anemic as iowa is putting up 40 i know it's a new it's a noon kick also it's 90 local time for washington they just got a huge win revenge from the national

championship whatever still got the ring so i don't know why they were so happy about it but i digress and so when i watch iowa just put it on washington i'm like oh that doesn't give me the warm and fuzzy right um but then you know usc battles penn state in a game that usc probably should have won if maybe their coach wasn't lincoln riley um speaking of a team with coaching issues like you know they're right there every week, but then also so far as well. They're like two plays from 6-0. But also like five plays from like 1-5. It's crazy.

That's true. Yeah, they could be sitting at 2-4. They could be 6-0, you know, that win over LSU. So, yeah, so I just – I hope that with him having more time to get comfortable, I'd love to see more and more on Walker. You know, they about how he's not ready and it's like well i the throw to him on the dig route over the middle for 25 yards like nobody else on the team is doing that right now um well so i want to talk about that just for a second just in general of like trying new guys in my opinion you know uh i saw uh there was something with sharon this morning

when he went to his monday morning press conference um that uh they might be trying jeff percy at right tackle instead of evan link and between that between amoreo walker getting in there and it's like you know i we're not there in practice right so we don't know what's going on but like what, tell me what it's going to hurt on the offensive side of the ball. If you try some new guys in there, you have to, to, to just stick with it. And I, you know, I know you don't like, I don't want you just sitting there like, all right, every single time somebody screws up, you're gone.

And we're going to try somebody new. You got to stick with some young guys to get in there, but like, all right, you went and got a Mor on Walker back in the portal and how was his first serious snap in week six right like I don't know as with the offense going the way it has zero receivers have shown out like they can beat the guy you might as well give him a shot yeah because if he can emerge as a deep threat and if somebody you have to take seriously, that's going to open things up for Samaj Morgan and Tyler Morris underneath, right?

And obviously you have Colson Loveland, so you've got a tight end that you can play all over the field and do different things with. And I'm continuing to like what I see from Marlon Klein. I mean, he hasn't had a lot of opportunity, but when he does get a chance, I feel like he makes the most of it. And I'm excited about his future with Michigan. So I think with Amarion, to your like, what is it going to hurt? Right? Like,

yeah, sure. He's probably not a great blocker because he's, you know, he's, he's lanky. Right. But I just feel like you have to have some presence of some sort of threat that Michigan can throw beyond the sticks. Right. I mean, I would love to see their passing chart this year. They've probably taken four deep shots, right? So having Amarion Walker, who can blow the top off the defense with his speed and his size and athleticism, yeah, give him a shot. And I thought, too, I haven't – I don't know if I've watched the replay, but I just remember in real time watching when Jack Tuttle threw that pick when he's going to Colson Waddle and wait in the Washington game,

I thought Amarion Walker had burnt his man off the line and maybe had an opportunity. And so you hope that with a couple of weeks, you know, off from playing an actual game, I should say that Tuttle's able to kind of find some things and fine tune with his receivers, right? Cause he missed all spring ball and all fall camp. That is really important for reps with your guys, because you're not throwing the same ball to every receiver right like you have to be on the same timing and know hey if i'm going to number one here i gotta put some air into this let him run under it because he's so damn fast um and i can maybe put it out there for him right so

it's just getting that timing down with the receivers is so important on those on those intermediate to deeper routes than it maybe is on some of those dump-offs to, you know, Colson Loveland or, you know, some running backs. The one other thing that I thought was kind of crazy, but I loved it as well, is, like, tell me how Jack Tuttle has better runs than Alex Orji ever did in his first like three series like crazy I mean which is frustrating and good at the same time right it's frustrating on how we couldn't figure out for Alex Orji to be able to do anything like that but also I just love how

you know 25 year old Jack Tuttle, he's working his arm, but also can scramble and use the legs as well. And so I think there's a chance that maybe you're still dynamic of an offense and still can do some RPO-type stuff, some read option, get him moving. And if that's still a threat, if they can do a couple read options at the beginning of a game against Illinois, and Illinois now has to account for it, that opens up Colson Loveland over the middle right the linebackers come up that opens up Samaj Morgan over the middle right so it I you know I'm trying to be as optimistic

as possible here but like maybe Jack Tuttle changes the way this offense moves man I mean that's what you have to hope for right like this team is so talented still in my opinion and if they can get some things figured out there there's no reason that they can't win uh they should be able to be in contention in every single game down the stretch right i mean obviously you'd hope that they should be able to beat illinois and michigan state which just announced 7 30 p.m kick nice that's what you were looking at so it is what i'm looking at yeah yeah just just came through so gonna be a rowdy one on the 26th here and i can't wait can't wait for that tailgate baby oh god yeah let's get clayton anderson out there again

it also might be let's be real like that game might set college football back like decades. You're not wrong. It might be a rock fight, but, again, Michigan just has more talent, and I'm still kind of going off on paper, but we know what we've seen from these guys, and this is kind of my point. We've seen Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant and Josiah Stewart and Derek Moore be game wreckers. We've seen Will Johnson lock down some of the best receivers in the country, make huge plays, momentum-shifting plays in big games.

We've seen McCarty Page make a lot of big plays in his career. We've seen Jair Hill kind of struggle but, you know, make some plays. And so it's like it's there. And I'm excited for Amir Hall to come back, who was out for the washington game i think might have made a difference in that game for michigan and so to your point about the offensive line too it's like okay if jeff percy can just be middle of the road just just hold your guy for three seconds right like yes and and give michigan the opportunity to have at least a

short passing game right i'm not even talking about taking deep shots all the time but like just give tell time to progress through his reads because we've seen that he can do that probably let's be honest he wasn't it what he wasn't making incredible throws against washington when they when they led that 17 nothing comeback comeback. Right. It's like, he was just hitting the guys in middle, you know, mid-level routes. Right. And it's, you move the, until he was moving the ball down the field without us turning the ball over, having negative plays. We've said that all year long, that this offense doesn't have to be unbelievable. You just have to take care of the football and move it down the field well then you know when we got into got ourselves into trouble was another freaking turnover

that killed us changes the ball game and probably loses it right and then you lose it on a pick um so yeah you know you're definitely right and then i think on the defensive side of the ball yeah you know um jay hair jay air Hill really, really struggled, really, really struggled against Washington. And, uh, you know, I know he's young and people are picking on him cause it's either him or Will Johnson. And so you're going to go at him, but you have to figure that out. But I mean, what do you think? Like, obviously we've been frustrated with wink, uh, through six, six weeks here. Um, and I think that Michigan, you know, we had a lot of pretty big expectations for this defense.

What do you think that they can do? Can they do anything to turn this around and the back half of the season make adjustments and say, all right, we've got the talent. We just need to figure it out. They've had two weeks to do it. Can they make a turnaround here? Yeah, I mean, I think Wink Martindale really needs to just take a look in the mirror and say, right we've got the talent we just need to figure it out they've had two weeks to do it can they can they make a turnaround here yeah i mean i think wink martindale really needs to just take a look

in the mirror and say this isn't because clearly it's not working right and it's not like michigan's giving up you know tons of yardage they're middle of the road but like when you look at this defense and you've got three surefire first round picks potentially another first round pick and josiah stewart and a guy like derrick moore on the defensive line who i don't think has had the And you've got three surefire first-round picks, potentially another first-round pick in Josiah Stewart, and a guy like Derek Moore on the defensive line, who I don't think has had the production to be a first-round pick, but, like, talent-wise I think could get there maybe as a senior. For a college player, too.

Right. Like, he is a top-tier. And Jay Sean Barham played really well at Maryland and has, you know, kind of struggled in this Michigan scheme. Houseman's been up and down. He had the big pick against Washington, but, like, has been kind of hit or miss. And, you know, you see a guy like McCurry Page it's like I'm like I don't know if he's out of position if they're trying to have him play Rod's spot it's like

this team has so many guys that it just doesn't you can't comprehend why they're just so lousy a lot of the time and are just able to just you know you could just move the ball on this defense that you shouldn't be able to do that. Right. Because, you know, beyond just those front four guys on the D line, TJ guys having a really solid year. He looks really good. Ray Sean Benny looks like he's at full strength in his plate. I mean, we know what Ray Sean Benny is and he's a guy that comes in and he makes plays for how many snaps he gets a game. So I just, I don't know, man. It's,

I really don't understand a lot of the struggles i mean zeke barry is a guy who's playing as a starter for the first time we saw him a little bit last year uh when some guys were nicked up alongside kian sab when when rod was out with a minor injury in 2023 so yeah i don't know it just seems like a lot of guys have regressed and so it's like is that scheme is that coaching like you would think for a guy like for example will johnson like there's no coaching that's going to set him back right because he's basically finished product at this point and that finished product is a top five pick in the nfl draft now his stock may fall because of the way that the defense is

playing and maybe he's not having his best year at michigan but i just it's hard for me to understand why these guys just aren't able to get stops get off the field and not give up they give up some they're I don't know where they're at in the country Justin maybe you can pull the stat up but they are among the worst in the country for plays of 10 plus yards I mean they're giving up chunk plays all the time for a defense that did not do this at all last year and again you, you lose Mikey Samuels, Chris Jenkins, Michael Barrett, you know, Rod Moore's not here. I totally get all that stuff,

but you would think with the way Michigan's recruited, the way they went after defensive backs in the portal, that they'd be able to continue that kind of success that they've had over the last three years. And it's just very frustrating to see that they, they are not able to. And so I don't look, I don't know if that comes down to Wink's aggressiveness. You know, Michigan's blitzing 20% more than last year, you know,

from 29% to 49% or wherever. That was a couple weeks ago. I don't know what it's at now. But it's like, do they just need to sit in zone a little bit more? Do they need to stop bringing five- and six-man pressures? Like, I don't know what the answer is. But Wink Martindale gets paid $2.3 million to figure it out. So, hopefully, he can find the answer. He gets paid a lot more than we do to figure that out that's yes i'm not going

to think about how to figure it out because i'm just a dude i just watch the games so uh i i agree and i i think you know the thing that michigan was so good at in the past was the adjustments right was even when a team would figure it out and everyone in the comment section i'm sure is going to say well once you knew their signs and that's how you adjusted right you know blah blah blah that's fine um but i i think that making the adjustments was jesse minter's specialty it was mike mcdonald's specialty right and so um you know you're looking at minter who stepped in for uh for for Jim Harbaugh yesterday as a head coach. Colin plays, too, which is crazy to me. But, you know, where that's what I think has been one of the most frustrating things that we have not been able to do, especially on the defensive side.

But this coaching staff has really struggled with, hey, this isn't working. What are we going to do to combat it? Right. What are we going to do to figure out how to, how to make it work? And that's where Michigan strength over the past three years, it's been Michigan. And that was even beyond, you know, the, the three-year run that Michigan went on. Jim Harbaugh was really, really good at that too. He would figure it out and they'd make adjustments when they needed to.

And so i think that it's been really frustrating to see that not only is it not a strength for michigan right now it is a weakness that there are zero adjustments being made uh from a from a scheme standpoint and guys are not learning week after week right i you know I think that we all would have been okay with Jair Hill struggling in the first two, three weeks because it's his first time out there, you know, playing meaningful snaps. But he's not only not getting better, it seems that he's getting worse at times, right?

And he's not being put in the position to make plays. And so that's, I think, where I struggle the most is just like, you know, like you said, it's regression, not progression, where if they were making progress each week and looking like a better team and it's like, all right, we had a ton of turnover, but we're building, building, building, then I could get on board with what's going on right now. But the most frustrating part is it's been inconsistency. You know, it's been lack of discipline. It's, you know, guys have regressed.

And so, you know, I hope that there are a lot of big talks that happened in, you know, in this bye week and say, all right, let's figure it out. They sat down. They got in the lab, got to work. You know, that's what needed to be happened needed to happen um i think tanner if we see uh michigan come out in this illinois game and play flat it's gonna it's gonna tell us all we need to know for the rest of the season right if they come out in the first quarter and it's like all right right, you, you are not ready to play. Then it's like, all right, this team doesn't have the juice. They just don't have it.

Yeah. And I mean, you're, you're really fighting for your season at this point. So if that's the case, then I don't know what to say. I don't know what we'll say if they come out flat and, and, you know, looking uninterested in playing football. So, you know, this is a big game. It's a ranked matchup, you know Illinois has, I think they've only had one loss this season. So, you know, this is a big game. It's a ranked matchup, you know, Illinois has, I think they've only had one loss this season. So, you know, a team that's playing pretty good football and has, you know, definitely exceeded expectations after losing Jerzan Newton.

But it seems like, you know, they typically, you know, 2022 going into last year, they lose the best corner of the country, Devin Witherspoon, and they just kind of reload. So I think Brett Bielma has done a really good job building illinois up um i think a lot of people probably made fun of him or mocked him for going to illinois after the disaster at arkansas but you know quietly building a pretty solid program and you know what there too is building a solid program in a really really hard big 10 right like i you know i think that you look at how hard it's been for nebraska right you look at how hard it's been for a lot of teams that are not the penn states the the ohio states the michigans of the big 10 uh

and now of course the oregons and the washingtons and and whoever else um it i i think it's i'm i'm pretty uh impressed by what belem has done well and their offense too i mean luke allmeyer last year was not great i mean 13 touchdowns 10 picks 1800 yards uh this year he's already uh he's 68 1400 yards and 14 touchdowns pick. So a guy that's playing some really good football. So Michigan's going to have to, again, this is another game where the quarterback has not tripped with the ball in harm's way. He's played extremely well. So can Michigan try to find ways to cause havoc, to create turnovers, to get in his

face, to cause bad throws, bad decisions. They didn't do a great job, um will rogers at washington they got the one pick but otherwise you know he kind of had his way with michigan so i mean if they come out and they get lit up you know by luke altmeyer i i don't know what we're gonna come on here and talk about maybe we can just talk about the tigers offseason or the lions um you know maybe we'll talk about the pistons i think that might be if that comes to maybe we'll talk about the Pistons. I think that might be – if that comes to fruition, I think talking about the Detroit Pistons might be more fun just. I don't know.

That would – I don't want to get there. I'll just say that. No, let's not get there. I really do not want to get there. But I need them to show me something defensively, right? Like, I need – because, yeah, you're carrying a ton of weight on one side of the ball. Because special teams are just whatever, right? They had the block play against Minnesota,

but otherwise they've been nothing to write home about. They've been fine. And so for the defense, you're really carrying the other side of the ball on your back, and I understand that there's been a lot of pressure and they haven't probably been put in the best situations. They haven't gotten a lot of rest because the offense is going three and out or four and out or whatever so for the defense i understand you know why it may be not as great as last year from that perspective but with the talent on this team and all these guys in their

last year and basically a contract here to try to get as drafted as high as possible to get as high of a signing bonus as possible i want these guys to come out and bust some ass man like and they they have here and there but like me like you're again they're national champs right so like not saying their legacies on the line but like hey how do you want to be remembered like oh you were part of that team that won the national championship but then the next year you struggled and were fine and just went to the nfl like or do you want to say no we, Michigan still has everything in front of them at this point. You have one chance to have a loss.

I agree, which is hard to – it doesn't feel like that because you felt like you've already – with two losses, it feels like it's all done. But you have a chance to go beat Oregon. You have a chance to go beat a ranked Illinois. You have a chance to go be possibly ranked to Indiana. You have a chance to go be a ranked Illinois you have a chance to go be a possibly ranked to Indiana you have a chance to beat Ohio State at their place like yeah you absolutely can still go be in the playoff I I want to know to your point what kind of heart does this team have

right the heart and the will to win was one of the biggest factors for 2023 Michigan, right? They weren't Rod Moore. Isn't the most talented guy in the country, right? Mikey Sainer still who's balling out in Washington is not the most talented guy, but he had the biggest heart out there. Mike Barrett, same guy. What, what does this team have in terms of inside? Right. That's what I want to know. And I think to your point, like I hope they looked inside looked in the mirror a little bit in this in this bi-week and said hey what kind of team do we want

to be going forward and you know i hope that they said all right we're gonna have two great weeks of practice maybe take a little reset everybody you know take a couple days go home visit your family i think that can be good breath of fresh air. Right. And then it's like, all right, let's go, let's go be some road warriors the same way that we were road warriors the last three years. That's what I want to see. You know, you saw it a little bit with Donald getting guys fired up on the sideline, but there are a lot of times too, where it was just like,

everyone's just dead, you know? And so I think that like in college football, that has such an impact on the game, man. Like at the NFL level, yeah, you still need some juice for sure and you need the will to win. But like at the end of the day, 90% of the time, the most talented team wins. But like in college football, when they're younger guys

and with the environments out there, like, yeah, that's probably going to be one of the crazier Illinois crowds that you've ever seen. Right. So let's go and frickin win. So I think that they got to be able to be mentally tough and have the will to win. Like, honestly, more than scheme, more than anything, I'm looking at that because that'll show me how this season and how this coaching staff, how this team is going to, you know, play this season out. Yeah, well, and I think to your point about the NFL, like those guys are professionals for a reason. So if you're not fired up to play in the NFL,

like you're getting your ass kicked, right? You have to have your own juice. And so for these guys, yeah, you could probably skate by against some teams and play lackluster and not be fully into it but um yeah i don't know so like some guys got to step up man and like maybe some guys who are as vocal uh you know their their leadership style isn't as vocalized may need to you know kind of step up and and you know say some things um and have a heart-to-heart with this team so because again there's so much talent on this team. And yeah, the offensive line is struggling.

Yeah, they haven't found a quarterback, receiver, whatever. There's still a ton of talent on this team. And you can find something that works for you and potentially have some success in these, you know, these big games. I mean, Michigan's got three ranked matchups to out of the next six games, two of those on the road, one at home against Oregon. And so you've got plenty of opportunity to get back to where you want to be as a team and as a program. So yeah, I'm with you,

man. You just got to, you got to dig deep and find something because this, this shit ain't easy. Football's not an easy sport, man. And if you're not, if you're not fully into it, playing football and the other guy is like, you're gonna have a rough day at the office right like you've gotta be able to channel something beyond just the crowd or the home crowd or whatever like you've got like then to your point that's what this team and this program have been the last three years right you talk about the wisconsin jump around the nebraska thing like they're going and they're snatching souls and i haven't seen that from this team yet and that's some that's that's when it's the most fun as a fan you go on the road and you just break an opponent's will unfortunately a

couple teams have broken michigan's will this year so it's like do you want to flip the script now and be that guy that's my that's my question you still can i agree i agree so a lot of opportunity ahead for sure um i mean this is a great opportunity, if you want to look at it that way, right? You can look at it one of two ways for going to Illinois is, you know, while they're – even though we're favored, they're like a better team than us. Right now we're down. We don't know what we're doing.

Or you can look at it as like, okay, you go win this one and it's a ranked road matchup that you win that can change the outcome of your season right so if they're looking at it like that like then i feel good about it and so um you know it looks like michigan's favored by a point or so right now um which honestly is a little bit shocking if i'm being dead honest um but i i like the opportunity that's that you can get right back on the horse after a loss and get out there and prove it to yourself and prove it to the world, um, that you, you know, still can, can play with the big boys. So, um, all right, well for us,

we'll have a, we'll have another pod coming up this week to preview, dive a little bit deeper into the actual matchup between Michigan and Illinois and we will you know we'll be hanging I'm sure throughout the week we won't be you know no tailgate or anything this weekend because it's a white game but I know for a fact this week

I'll be at Pretzel Ball having a drink at some point having a hail IPA rocking some Sun Cruiser and Truly Hard Seltzer as um so and we're gearing up for uh for this msu tailgate which now that it's a night game just makes it all the better msu night game next week oregon i mean it's back to back you gotta think of michigan wins these next two games you're probably gonna have big new kickoffs um in town i would think so uh you know or or maybe you know i don't know maybe game day i don't know what that slate looks like but you know a couple big matchups for

michigan with the night game and then oregon so and that's that oregon game and obviously we're i don't want to get ahead of myself but again i still think this team has the pieces to be able to contend with some of these top teams in the country. It's just got to put it all together. I agree. All right. For us, you can follow us at blue by 90 on Twitter, Instagram,

Facebook, blue by 90 podcasts on YouTube and blue by 90.com. We appreciate you go blue. Go blue.