Blue By Ninety - Michigan Bye Week and the College Football Landscape

Episode Date: November 11, 2019

Listen to our bye week discussion of college football and general banter about Michigan!

Welcome to Blue by 90, your Michigan football podcast. We are three dudes who talk maize and blue. I'm Kalen, joined by Nate and Jack. And this week, we had a bye week, or as Jim Harbaugh calls it, improvement week. We also had a lot of really great football games outside of Michigan football this weekend, guys. I mean, we had Minnesota over Penn State. Go Gophers. We had LSU over Alabama. Go Tigers. Yeah.

I mean, we had Illinois over MSU. That was pretty crazy, yeah. Go Brandon Peters. Yeah, go. This is one of the best, like, college football weekends. And I was actually happy that. Of the season, yeah. It was actually kind of nice.

Michigan had the bye week, and I just got to, like, watch all the games and just really take it all in and not think about my team and just look at everybody else and start comparing the field. Just have fun watching football. Yeah. Not just, like, yanking my hair out watching Michigan. But, yeah. So you want to start first – which game do you want to start first with?

I think – Let's start with the noon game. The noon game? The Minnesota-Penn State. I thought Minnesota was pretty good. When I saw this game on schedule, I was just like, I don't even care. Penn State is going to walk all over them. And then Minnesota started going undefeated.

And I'm like, oh shit,. This is going somewhere here, right? And then they showed up to play the game. I was like, dude, P.J. Fleck has this program rolling. What do you guys think? I mean, yeah, definitely. P.J. Fleck, I think he's got Minnesota going in the right direction. I also think Penn State's overrated. I don't know if I said anything about this on the podcast before,

but I was talking to a couple guys at work. And, I mean, you look at if Michigan could have played them the way they did in the second half of that entire game, they would have won by two touchdowns. And I think we were talking about the Penn State-Ohio State game. Ohio State's going to blow them out. I just think Penn State was I mean I can't believe they had them ranked

number four. That's ridiculous. In the college football playoff. That's ridiculous. But yeah go go it's good to see them you know win and

Penn State they might finish up like 10-2 I don't know who else they're playing other than Ohio State they're up to Indiana right? They might play

Indiana which is also another like little sleeper team. Another one that you know. But it also could be something where they're more focused on Indiana

now because it's not such a huge matchup against Ohio State. Oh, yeah. Or, actually, I guess it would be because if they had one loss, they'd have to beat Ohio State to go to the Big Ten championship. So, I don't know. Maybe not. Yeah. But, yeah, I think Penn State's going to get a role.

But, yeah, that Minnesota team just looked, like, fast out there. They were quick. They were running some interesting plays. I was kind of just sitting there watching going like, wow. Why are we not talking about this team at all? Now I know why. They'll be a top 10 team I think after this week.

They should. Undefeated. They had ranked in the top 4. I think they were 17 though. They'll have to move up 7 spots. Undefeated team and they have a real game that they won. They have to move up seven spots. Well, yeah, but I mean, undefeated team, and they have a real game that they won. So, I mean, they have to put them in there.

That's what I agree. I feel like the committee can't just be like, oh, yeah, we didn't put Penn State where they should have been, so Minnesota's going to still be number 17. Like, they're going to be top ten. They have to be. I agree. I'm shocked if they are. Okay.

Yeah. You sold me. What do you think, Nate? Yeah, I'm on the same page. I thought that Penn State team looked like their entire offense was based on just like a random big play. It seemed like kind of what I had said when Michigan played them. K.J. Handler was that piece that won them the game.

And I didn't really feel like they were some stellar team or had some great defense. But K.J. Handler was that piece that won them the game. And I didn't really feel like they were some stellar team or had some great defense. They gave up some big plays to Michigan. And then they did the same thing with Minnesota. They gave up a lot of big plays to them. Their quarterback did a really great job. He was 18 for 20, 339 yards and three TDs. It was pretty crazy.

They had a lot of big plays that they let up. And then Sean Clifford's performance was pretty bad. He had three picks, and he just seemed to throw the ball. On those deep balls, it was just too short. It kind of really sunk the ship for them. I mean, you can't win the game when you have three turnovers. It's just not going to happen. Pretty sorry. Hey, but you know what? Row the boat.

I'm a believer now. Yeah. I don't know. I'm just not a fan of PJ Fleck. I don't like the guy. He just seems kind of like a cocky douche to me. But that's my opinion. According to the spun, he's going to be coaching Michigan, right?

No, that's not going to happen. I think it'll be harder for him to have, like, I mean, I feel like where a lot of his success comes from is because he goes to, like, these not as big schools, like Western, D1 programs, like Western Minnesota, and he gets these guys to buy in and, you know, really gets them motivated. Where I think if he goes to, like, some people are saying, like, Florida State, like, I don't know if he'd be able to control those guys, you know, like a lot of egos on those big school teams where I think like Minnesota, you know,

they probably don't run into that issue. But again, I could be totally wrong. He could be great at any program, but I don't know. I think there's a difference of taking players or like teams that have bad players to good can instead of like and compared to coaches that take good players to being great right it's easy to take these guys who are like three stars get him to like actually focus pay attention care about the x's and o's teach them the fundamentals and more like a focused manner that's easier to get a team to go from three wins

to like eight wins, right? It's more difficult to get a team to go from 10 wins to 12 wins. There's no margin for error there. There's no margin for error, right? So I don't know. Maybe P.J. Fleck could be one of those coaches in the future. I'm kind of with you, Jack. I think it's kind of what you're talking about.

He's a very excited guy. He brings a lot of energy and emotion. It's just like, will that work in a big program? I wouldn't be surprised if he got a shot somewhere down the line here. Oh, yeah. I think if he didn't sign that extension, there's a lot of talk about him going to Sparty. Well, that's also a similar program where D'Antonio gets these three-star guys, kind of like, you know, whatever, and then they make

runs. Yeah, well, that's an interesting point you guys are making. I like that. That's probably true. But yeah, they play Iowa next week.

That could be an interesting matchup for them. Yeah, they've got some tough games, right? Iowa and Wisconsin, two games left?

Or who else? Northwestern. And Northwestern's sorry. Yeah. So, left. Or who else? Northwestern. And Northwestern's sorry. Okay, well, Minnesota. We'll see where they go. What else? That's pretty much all I had from the game. Honestly, it was pretty interesting towards the end

because Penn State almost had a chance to win, but then it was just like, they just farted. The game was like, well, that's kind of what they played the whole game. So it felt like Minnesota seemed pretty dominant the entire time. The environment seemed to be rocking there too. I was kind of like, oh, wow, Minnesota? It looked like a fun environment. Honestly, if I was in Minnesota, I would go into the game for sure.

I don't know. I don't really mess with Minnesota like that. Penn State's got to play IU and then Ohio State back-to-back after that loss. That could be kind of tough for them. Something to think about for all you Penn State fans. Otherwise, I mean, the real star of the show yesterday was LSU. Man. That is a championship caliber team.

I'll say it. Like, I can't wait to see them in the playoffs. Oh, man. Roll time. What? Yeah. I mean, yeah. Everybody get your Coach O impressions ready.

Yeah. Go Tigers. There you go. Go Tigers. It's a great day for State of Louisiana. I feel like Bobby Boucher or something is going out of the State of Louisiana. Oh, man. No, but that LSU team and even that Bama team, they both looked, like, really good. Jalen Waddell had that return on punt return, right? So, I mean, you just had to see the game because it was just, like, phenomenal.

Yeah, it was the most exciting game of the year. I guess I'll talk BAM a little bit first. I was really impressed by Tua for having the ankle injury because you could tell, like, towards the end of the game he was limping. He was not himself at the start of the game. It took him a little bit of time to get rolling. He had that fumble in the first possession. He had a fumble, which now you look back on it and go,

if they were to score that touchdown, those points were pretty valuable, especially going down the stretch. Najee Harris had a pretty big day, especially in the second half. He really came on, 146 yards. Honestly, from me watching the game, I don't think the Crimson Tide ran the ball at all the first half. Their offense looked like garbage. Second half, they really started going.

So I feel like he got 146 yards pretty much in the second half, which is pretty insane to me. But, yeah, for Alabama, Najee Harris was a stud. Tua, 418 yards, four TDs. And he's got a really accurate deep ball. Tua, yeah. Really impressed with him despite the fact that he had the injury. LSU.

Did that Chase guy? What was his name? Jamar Chase. Jamar Chase. That Chase guy. What was his name? Jamar Chase. Jamar Chase. Their receivers are just ridiculous. I thought the MVP of the game was Clyde Edwards-Hilaire. Oh, that guy. The running back, right?

Yeah. He had some nifty moves out there. Oh, yeah. He had over 100 yards, but I think what was really interesting to me is his power on those third downs. Because there was one play where they threw it out to the sideline. And he had probably six yards and he had a Bama defender literally right in front of him. And he pushed through him, managed to stay in bounds. And then that was the play that they converted the third down, went down, and then they got up by 12.

And I was like, wow, this guy literally put the team on his back. And then it was really interesting because they thought they had won the game, and he's on the sidelines, and he's crying. And his coach is holding him, and it was like, okay, wow, this is a great moment. And then Bama throws that crazy pass at the end, and now it's a five-point game again. They had the onside kick, and then they had to convert another third down, and then he comes back on the field and runs through, like,

three guys for an eight-yard run, and then they won the game. It was, like, he was the MVP for me. I think, you know, he was a guy, but yeah. Oh, man, dude, that was just a wild game. That was like old school LSU-Bama. They kept hyping up that game from eight years ago, right? But this was better than that, I thought. More offense.

More offense, yeah, for sure. But no, I'm with you. That was awesome. You think he's going to win the Heisman? Bro? Bro? I think it's safe to lose at this point. Yeah.

That game definitely helped him. Didn't help Tua, that's for sure. Yeah. I mean, I hate to sound resolved already, but I'm looking forward to seeing that LSU-Ohio State game. Yeah, that should be a fun game to watch. That's kind of a matchup that's perfect. It's like two offenses that are very similar.

I would say, though, if they do put Bama at four... Do you think they will this week? I'm not saying... I don't know what the playoff committee would think, but honestly, I thought that in a rematch, with Tua not having, or having some time to carry that display. I didn't know there was an asterisk there.

Yeah. Because he's like, he was hurt. Yeah. I thought their second half performance was pretty dominant. Yeah. Like, they looked really good. I would like to kind of see that matchup again, and see, I think after that game, now the committee's going to be going like, number one, this is going to be a huge game for views, right?

People would tune into another rematch. Yeah, how many points did LSU have in the second half? Like 13 or something. I think that's because they were up 33-13.5. And Alabama had 28. 46-41. Yeah, so, I mean, they kind of put their foot down in the second half, defense-wise.

Yeah. Kind of like Michigan half defense-wise. Yeah. Kind of like Michigan-Penn State. Yeah, exactly. It's really interesting to me, like, because you look back at these teams in 2011 they played, and the game was 6-9 during the regular season, then Bama won 21-0. But the talk that year was all defense and it's really interesting to see within just this decade that it seems like high-powered offense is the way to go and it was pretty evident to me in that game just thinking about this as a Michigan fan like number one you need a quarterback who's mobile and can throw a

deep ball and is really the stud on the team. Number two, you need the ability to spread the ball out on offense. And three, you need top five recruiting classes. You need like two of your classes at least to have like top five or top ten or something. Talent. Yeah. So what you're saying is we need to put Joe Milton in. What I'm saying is we do need some better quarterback performance

if we want to win a national title. We do need to keep this offense. I know some people are probably hesitant, but I think we need to keep this offense for next year, see how it plays out. We need to keep evolving with this offense. This is the offense. We've got to go with it, period.

Actually, I want to take that and kind of maneuver a little bit because there's some people out there saying like jim harbaugh's got a hold of the offense blah blah blah blah like he's taking hold that's why we're running the ball like we were last year you know but i've heard also some other things saying like well actually this is very similar in terms of the run game how Alabama ran the ball last year so it's very possible that this is Josh Gattis you know still calling but just recognizing where our talents are right now and calling run plays what do you guys think about that I hope it's Gattis otherwise what are we paying him for? I'm on the same page with you. I mean, I'm going to call bold prediction for next year.

If Michigan were to win out, okay, so if all their wide receivers stay, this class that would be, excuse me, this class is the number, out of four, was ranked number four in their recruiting class. All the seniors that will be returning for next year. Those guys,

if they go out and go undefeated, Dylan McCaffrey could win the Heisman. I'm calling it. That's my bold prediction for next year. That is a bold prediction.

Early prediction. It's way too early. Way too early prediction. Dylan McCaffrey wins the Heisman. Michigan goes undefeated. That's if that. But Nico's not going to come back.

Why not? Nico's going to do it. There's no good reason for him to come back. I've seen draft, early draft predictions for Nico. Yeah, him going first round. I saw third. Third. I saw third.

I've heard about a lot of teams that are interested in him. I mean, you can see what he does. I mean, he can jump up and get the ball. I mean, I don't know. I'd be shocked if he came back. I think Tariq could come back to boost his stock because he's been hurt so much. DPJ's just a genius. He's going to try to get into medical school or whatever it is.

I think he's coming back. And then we've got Ronnie. So, I mean, I'd love if Nico came back, but I'd be shocked if he did. Yeah. I just don't think there's any upside for him to stay. Yeah, I think definitely DPJ and Tariq are not, should not go. Are not? I don't know.

But, yeah, Nico, I think it's kind of up in the air just because you know how guys are. I mean, they might get a draft grade, like, projection, and they go like, I don't like that. I'm going to come back and try to do something else. Think Shea, right? And that definitely didn't go well for him. No. Maybe this is me just, like, talking out of, talking out of my butt, but I heard somewhere that the likelihood of you succeeding in the NFL because you returned for your senior year,

it's like creates some sort of like your probability of succeeding in the NFL goes up. I don't know. I see like Nico. I think he's a great player, but would you take him like in the first round? No. Like you got Bama wide receivers and LSU. You got Jefferson. You got Judy.

You got –. You got... I can't remember his name. There's so many good Bama wide receivers that I would take for... Devontae Smith, right? Yeah. I don't know. Is Waddle a sophomore or something? Yeah, I'm not exactly sure. I'm not sure, but

I would like to see them all come back. I think that's when you could actually... I don't know. My hopes are... I'm thinking too far in the future. I feel like if it's something we were talking about, like he's got to kind of match himself up with everybody in the class, then he's got to look at next year, too, like who else is out there. But I just don't see his stock improving any more than it's at right now.

Unless the offense dramatically changed. Right. But does that improve his stock, though? I think it does. Unless he gets a little bit faster or something. I just don't know. I think it does because it would give him more chance to show off his talents than he has right now.

You see the occasional pass to Nico, occasional jump ball. But if it was, like, think LSU, where now he's, you know, we're throwing the ball 40, 50 times a game, that's that many more chances for him to catch the ball in space. Show some other stuff. Yeah, you know what I mean? Create separation and all that kind of stuff. Yeah, so now a lot of that is out of his hands too, right?

So he's got to take that into account where he's like, eh, maybe I've shown off everything I got. Let me go to the NFL. I mean, you never know. But, yeah, that's a good point that you bring up. Nate, you got anything else? LSU-Bama? You ready for the Lions to take Najee Harris round two?

Lions already got plenty of bags. I told myself with the Lions I'd commit for watching 8 games and you know it's done you satisfied that requirement I love the Lions but I mean you're past the

midway mark and you're you're already you're not 500 like good luck. I'm close to 500. Like 3-6? 3-5? 3-5-1. 3-5-1 now.

So it's, season's done, you know. I think they've got a lot of things to look forward to in the future, but it seems like Matt Stafford, when he, something's never right with that team. Matt Stafford's always pretty good, and then the line will just be, will just suck. And then this year, the defense, the offensive line isn't terrible. They can run the ball. They can do a couple things.

Now the defense just. Can't do nothing. It sucks, dude. The defense, dude, they're like, what, 30th or 20th? It's just 28th. They're terrible. Oh, gosh. I'm sorry.

Back to Michigan football. Yeah. No, but what was the other game you wanted to talk about? Ohio State, man. Let's talk about it. Oh, I don't even want to talk about that. They're so... They're not the same that we've been saying all season. They're dominant.

They're dominant. They don't even need Chase, right? They don't need Chase. I think, like, the end of of the season it'll become more of a you know it'll show that they could you know he could probably help out in some situations but there's the team that can just plug the next guy in and they're fine i mean it's not chase young isn't the one scoring 70 points on offense like yeah against the teams that they're playing for this season they'll be fine without him like mich, Michigan, again, like, I'm, I think, in a real size, we'll get blown out, but it's

a rivalry game, and I think there's a chance that anything can happen. Yeah. So, what were you going to say? Oh, I was going to say, I heard there's a possibility of him getting a reduction to two games. Instead of four? Instead of four, because the way he's, like, cooperated with the NCAA. My personal opinion, like, I'm excited that he won't play in that game, possibly.

But I also think that he's getting screwed over, and this is like classic NCAA, right? I'm with you. 100%. I'm like, thank God he's not playing against us. But NCAA is awful. This is BS. The loan they had is $700.

Like, come on. That guy's gonna make how much money in the NFL? How many games was Irvin suspended for? Covering for a wife beater? It was like two or three. Spending three and then Chase Young takes 700 bucks

to fly his girlfriend out to the Rose Bowl? Oh yeah, four games. Nobody needs to figure it out. Oh gosh. He's making himself a joke. So, Ohio State was pretty dominant. I kind of want to talk about Mark D'Antonio a little bit. Because, to me, this is all coming back to him.

And all I think about is when there was the little brother game where Mike Hart made those comments. And then Mark D'Antonio said the pride comes before the fall. Now it's looking like he could possibly lose his job. I don't know. The AD has said that's just all crap, like he's going to be the coach next year. But the fan base is pissed off for sure. If Michigan wins next week, there's going to be a lot of talk. Cause now he's,

he's like in his last like 48 games, he was like, he's 25 and 23 or something. It's like pretty bad for where their expectation was at. What are your kind of thoughts? Do you think, well, what,

what was the record? Do we know what their record was after the three and nine season? Like last year? Was that last year? Well, I thought 3-9 was 2017. Three years ago. Last year.

Because they were 3-9 when we, in 2016. Oh, okay. 2017. Do we know what their record was? I'm not sure. Maybe like 7-5 or something.

I'm taking a guess. I'd have to look. Because I just think Mark Dantonio, Michigan State is a basketball school. Okay? Yeah.

I don't see them getting rid of D'Antonio. With what he's done there, I mean, what? He's got a Rose Bowl win, right? He's got two big teams. He's been to the college football playoff. He had one down year. He had a down year three years ago, and then he came back. I've got to figure out what their record was that year.

Yeah, I mean. If he has two bad years in a row, maybe they get rid of him. But I think he's somebody that will leave the program before he gets fired. We've kind of been talking about programs and how they've looked over our

lifespan. Ohio State has been dominant. Michigan has been decent and had peaks and whatever. MSU is one of those programs that has been pretty middle of the road. Kind of got cute

2013 to 2016. And then they're kind of falling back into their kind of normal eight wins, nine wins, which is not bad. That's, you know, very – that's where us Michigan fans are at right now.

And we're trying to figure out how to take that next step. So, I mean, MSU fans are suffering where they had great success and they're kind of falling back into that, you know, that valley for a little bit. So, Michigan State was 10-3 the year after 3-9. Oh, see, there you go. So they could come out next year and be 10-3, 10-2, 11-whatever. I mean, I don't see D'Antonio going anywhere. People were calling for Nick Saban's job yesterday after they lost LSU. Like, this is a ridiculous fan base start in general.

Like, I get D'Antonio's talking about they're having a bad year at story in general. They're spoiled, man. They're having a bad year at Spartan. But they're not going to get rid of D'Antonio. If basketball was tanking, maybe they'd get rid of D'Antonio. But basketball's fine and nobody's going to care about football once it's over. We've got to take a step back because you guys remember maybe a few weeks ago

when we were like, Jim Harbaugh's got to get this figured out. Oh, exactly. We were just like these. 100%, 100%. Oh, man. You know, it's just us as fans. That's just how it is. It's just awful.

We're awful people. I looked at Jim Harbaugh's recruiting classes and just overall performance, and I know he hasn't won a lot of big games, but if you look at where the program was, it was pretty bad. We're in a great position. We just need Brady Hogue to recruit. We just need Brady Hogue to be recruiting coordinator and then Jim Harbaugh to be coach.

I mean, if you think about it, right, Jim Harbaugh's year that they had the loss against Iowa and the JT was short playing with the terrible refs, still bitter about that. That was a great year for them. And I looked back at the recruiting class for the players, for Jabril Peppers, like those guys who were juniors, ranked 31st. That was the recruiting class. Are you serious?

Yeah, like Chase Winovich, like all those guys. Wow. They were bad. And Jim Harbaugh took that team and made them good. Same thing with Brady Hoek's, his first year, right? 10-3. Brady Hoek's guys, yeah. We're 11, I think we're 11-2.

Well, not Brady Hoek's, I talking about jim harbaugh's first year we took brady hoax oh i thought you were gonna say brady hoax 2015 yeah we did jake rudak and whatnot yeah but i mean honestly you go well it's easy for us as michigan fans to somehow think about the years prior and hold Michigan up and the brand as some sort of deity that, oh, it has to be great. And you're totally not thinking about, okay, it's a football program at the end of the day. Just because you have the name and all that stuff, you still got to go out there and play the games.

Right. Right? Nobody, I mean. Whenever people throw out that Clemson stab that it took Dabo seven years to really get him rolling, what do you think about that? Are you like, you know what? I'll hang in here with Jim for seven years to finally hit that 13-0. We have to.

What is the upside of us getting rid of him so we can start over again? And then go through four years and we're not satisfied And we get a new guy that just keeps happening. We have to – we have to ride it out. It's just – Same thing with, like, Notre Dame fans and Brian Kelly. It's the same way. They're like, oh, I'm not going to win a championship. Well, like –

Join a conference then. Yeah. Like, this year they have – well, number one, join a conference. They still have a better recruiting class than Michigan this year coming up. It's like – I think they're, like, six or seven or something. I mean, they're a top ten recruiting class. People just got to like, you know. You got to calm down.

Calm down. Honestly, I mean, my goal is that the team, my hope is that the team will win as many games as they can this year. If they lose Ohio State, like, I'm fine with it. I'm fine. I understand. They're just so good. They're just so good.

They're just so good. Like, I'm not going to be upset if they lose that game. I would prefer that they keep it close and not have a blowout like last year. But, I mean, look at it. It's just the way that the – here's what happened. Michigan lost to Appalachian State in 2007, right? They had lost five straight games to Ohio State back in the early 2000s, right? The program was trajectory downward, right?

And then guess what happened? They got Rich Rod, and then there was a lot of backstabbing from the three and out book, as you probably know. Players leaving. You had a guy, Zach Bourne, who went from Michigan to Ohio State. Who makes that move? He was going to be a senior, and he transferred to Ohio State. So Ohio State's program was trajectory upward. Michigan's going downward.

With Rich Rod, just things were not working. Couldn't get some solid recruiting classes. And then you had Brady Hoke who doesn't wear a headset, right? What kind of coach doesn't wear a headset? Are you kidding me? That's like a pilot just going like, I'm just going to go up there. I'm not going to talk to anybody. You know, it doesn't make any sense, right?

And so you have a coach who had pretty much the program and people in the back office going behind him with Rich Rod. Then you had Brady Hoke, who just obviously probably wasn't that great of a coach. And his recruiting classes weren't that good. And then now we finally have something where we're trying to get back on the upward trend. I'm actually pretty optimistic and pretty positive. If they can end the season on another 10-3-0, maybe next year can be the year. Maybe I'm going off too. I'm already starting to look to next year.

You look like Charlie in Always Sunny where he's got all the strings. And then this guy over here was doing this, and this guy. Oh, man. I love it. You remind me of Charlie in Always Sunny where he's got all the strings. And then this guy over here was doing this. And this guy. Oh, man. Nate's on it today. But you're right. You got it. You know what I'm saying?

If you think that Michigan can beat Ohio State this year, and you're going to be upset that, oh, Jim Harbaugh's not getting things together. Yeah, it's like, what is your solution then, you know, Joe Schmo? Yeah. Like, what are you going to do? Fire Jim Harbaugh and hire who? Who? Yeah.

Exactly. Yeah, that's always my question. Who do you want? Like, Florida State is in a good conundrum right now, right? Who are you going to hire to repair that program? They are in some, you know, deep stuff right I mean it's all just it's just a hype train yeah and people get on the train and they start going whoa yeah let's yeah let's get this guy he played you know yeah did

this and that and then people just going we're gonna be really good and then you know then you just take a fart again right and then you start and then you get pissed yeah then you start going out. And then you fire that guy. No, that guy sucks. He sucked. And then you go, that guy, that guy over there. And then you just start going up, right? Like, let's just wait this out as fans.

Let's not hold Michigan up to some sort of deity. Like, it's some unstoppable program. It's a football team and it goes through its phases, right? No, you're right. Wow. If you're listening and you're not on the Harbaugh train, you better be now. Because that was straight facts. No, Nate, you're right.

Dude, this is like, this is 26 years as a fan, man. It's just bubbled up. Bubbled up. Fire in my belly. You just spat it all out on the mic. Yeah, no, that's good. It's done. Yeah, to kind of, okay, we swerved off.

Yeah, sorry. Let's swerve back to some of the games last weekend. In terms of the MSU stuff, I would be curious to ask, like, an MSU fan, like, what's the outlook? Like, you're talking about the coaches and all that stuff like do you actually want to fire D'Antonio like cause we're all

saying like he's actually been really good are you honestly like fire D'Antonio are you honestly like is your season just done now and if it is like what do you expect next year I have questions for somebody who would be an msu fan that i don't think we were equipped to answer i don't know what you guys think though

you know i the their fan base has pretty much been crying for like some changes to their offense because that's been the one piece that seems to not click as well. It sounds exactly like Michigan. I think for State, if you're a State fan, your hope is that they actually make some changes on the offensive side. And if they don't make the changes and it continues to be this kind of trend, then, you know, I don't know. But I think he is also – it's also difficult – I'm going to say this. When Michigan sucks, they look better, right?

And they've won a lot of close games. Times where I think State is overrated and somehow, like, you know, the Ohio State game where they won and then went to the Big Ten Championship game. Guess what happened? They won off of a, like of a muffed punt against Michigan, and then they played Ohio State, and it was in the rain, and Ohio State was just not ready. They just seemed like a program to me, watching them over the past 10 years,

that has gotten pretty lucky in some close games. A couple of those games go differently. They're a different team. Their program's a different outcome. Totally different decade. Totally different decade. Totally different decade. Yeah. So, and when you look at Michigan, being as crappy as they were, right, that's been the

program in the state that has controlled everything. And when they go down, Michigan State goes up, right? And so, I think some of their success has been because Michigan has been so shitty. Yeah. I mean, that's... been so shitty. Yeah. I mean, that's – Not so shitty, but just not – Not to their standard. Yeah.

No, you're right. I mean, that's probably true. Jack, you got any thoughts on that? I mean, I'm with you as far as, you know, I think they need to make some changes on their offense because it seems like their defense is always kind of like right there in Michigan. You know, they have a good defense. They're tops in the country.

They always seem to have a good D. But it's like you don't hear anything about the offense because they clearly are not doing what they need them to do. So, I don't know. I think D'Antonio sticks around. I don't think it would be a good idea for them to get rid of him because who are you going to get? Yeah. Especially now that P.J. Fleck signed that extension with Minnesota.

I don't know. I mean, I'm sure they're all just looking forward to basketball season. They already are 0-1, right? They are, yeah.

The D'Antonio thing kind of reminds me a little bit of John Beeline type stuff, because we're kind of like reversed in basketball and football, right?

There was that year where Michigan basketball had like like, a down year, and people were like, far, big line. Like, it's like, it could be like that. Yeah, yeah. So. No, yeah. In terms of outlook for this coming weekend,

and the big game coming up for us, right, what are you guys looking forward to, any predictions, any sort of? I'm looking forward to dominance, man. I mean, you think this offense is going to be able to fly against this defense? What's your vibe there? I hope so. I mean, I'm going to say the same thing I've said every week for the past couple weeks on this podcast.

Quick outs to our receivers. Get them the ball. Offensive line, keep doing what you're doing. Let's run the ball. And just show why we've got better athletes than they do. And just get it to our athletes. Because you know what's going to happen, right? We're going to show up for this game, and we're going to start running the ball.

We're going to try to establish line scrimmage. And one of two things is going to happen. Either we're going to run the ball, run, run, run, run, run, two yards per carry, two yards per carry, maybe win by a touchdown. Or we're going to run very well and try to run the ball to the outside and, you know, five yards per carry, a couple big runs, and then Shea's going to be a game manager, throw a couple play-action passes to Nico or DPJ,

and we're going to win by two touchdowns. That's pretty much how hard ball goes. That's fine with me as long as we get a win. I just really want them to win the game. I don't care if it's by three points or 30 points. As long as they win the game. As long as it's a win. Yeah.

I mean, it's tough because I look at Michigan State and they showed up the first half against Illinois. It kind of makes me go like, I don't know what team we're going to see on Saturday. Yeah. My thought is, too, I really don't like bye weeks sometimes because I think, you know, you play a week or you have a week of practice, you play a game.

Week of practice, play a game. You're in that game mode and then all of a sudden, whoop, you're taken right out. Yeah, mental thing. And it doesn't seem like Michigan right now has some absurd amount of injuries that they need to get their players back. I think that's what Jim Harbaugh was saying on Inside Michigan Football. He was saying this bye week is about recuperating people's bodies. Because people get banged up, right?

Especially this late in the season. But he said, I want to recuperate bodies, but I want to keep everybody's mental state, like, focused. Right? And that's a challenge. Yeah. So I hope they can kind of do that. And I think he said they were kind of stepping back in terms of hitting that practice and stuff like that, but still trying to keep, hey, this next game is our biggest game, which I hope it works.

I don't know. We'll see on Saturday. Yeah, to me it comes down to, is Michigan State going to show up? And for Michigan, is Shea going to play well enough to not cause any turnovers or just keep things intact? I think if Shea plays okay, they'll win the game. I think their defense will show up. I think their defense has done a great job the last couple weeks stopping the run, making some big sacks, and I think they'll

be able to stop the run against Michigan State. And we've been solid at home. I think this is a good game for Shea to build some more confidence against a bad Michigan State team. If he has a big game, that could really help us out moving forward towards Indiana and Ohio State.

Yeah, huge. That would be huge just to play some devil's advocate. Like you were saying, Michigan State always manages to be kind of lucky, always manages to come into some game that they shouldn't even be competing in and just, you know, sprinkle their magic dust on it, and all of a sudden you flash it on it on Comcast, and it's like, dude, this game's like 27-29 with 30 seconds left. And Michigan State is on the two. What happened?

So, I mean, it's a rivalry game. Everything can happen. Yeah. Yeah, that was weird because I looked over to the state game when I was watching the Bama game and I was like, oh, okay, that game's done. I'm not even going to look at the score. Then my mom texted me. She's like, Michigan State lost. I was like, what?

It's just a strange program. What do you think about Brandon Peters, man? Jack, what do you think about him? Go blue. He's a Michigan quarterback, man. Go blue. That's awesome. I'll go Michigan quarterback, man. Go Blue. That's awesome. No, I mean, I'll go back to, what was it, 2017? We were, what, 8-5?

Right? 2017? Yes. With Brandon Peters, the quarterback? Yeah. Before he got hurt, if he wouldn't have got hurt against Wisconsin, I think we would have won that game. And what was another one? It was something. Because if he

wasn't hurt, he would have played against Ohio State. And that was a close game, too. We could have won that game instead of having John O'Korn in there. I think Brandon Peay, I think he's a solid quarterback. Yeah, dude. That could have been something where he could have still been quarterback in Michigan right now if he never got

hurt that season and ended up doing something crazy. And that was Harbaugh's first quarterback recruit. I mean, I don't know, man. I'm with you. I'm not saying bring back Peters. I'm not either. I'm not either.

I'm not at all. Not at all. He's better than he kind of looked when he was playing for us. Yes. He didn't really start a ton of games, right, at Michigan. It was only a couple of years. Just that year. Just that season.

And then he got hurt and then you know it is it is interesting to think Shea was the number one dual threat quarterback and the number three player in his class

and he really hasn't kind of like lived up to the hype I mean Ole Miss he was he looked good he was slinging it he was throwing to

DK Metcalf yeah like some big dudes out there but you know I think he had probably a lot more confidence back then, too. Or I feel like he's, I don't know, maybe I'm just saying it, but I just feel like he doesn't have as much confidence. Yeah.

He also had that knee injury, too. Yeah. That could be huge. That's right, his knee. And I wonder if he's still dealing with an oblique injury at all. Maybe this bi-week is, you know, something to help him kind of like fully recover over that if he hasn't already. Yeah, that's a good point.

I totally forgot about that. I'm interested to see how everybody looks this weekend. What do you guys – I know we're going on here for a while. What are your top – if you were in the committee, who would your teams be? Like top five. One to five. Or one to six. Let's go one to six.

One to six. Oh, that's you. Would be one. I'll have to say. Or one to six. Let's go one to six. Oh, that's you. Would be one. Ohio State would be number two. I mean, got to put Clemson, I guess, at number three. I guess, yeah, Vandal number four. Kind of makes sense. Oregon.

That would be number six. Fuck. Minnesota. Minnesota. Hey, I think that's not bad. I respect that.

I'm trying to pull it up to see what they have. Maybe Georgia's in there. You know, I think that actually isn't, you know,

Minnesota at six. They're undefeated. Georgia played pretty bad against South Carolina, who lost to App State last night. App State crushed the Carolina teams. Yeah, and South Carolina beat Georgia.

I know it's hard to like the comparison week to week, but Notre Dame, you look at them, they almost beat Georgia too. So Minnesota, in my mind, maybe they could throw down with the Bulldogs. Yeah. Maybe. Maybe. The AP has Minnesota at number seven yeah so that's yeah that's fair yeah I mean I think that's yeah top six LSU Ohio State Clemson I would put And then, before it gets tough, I'm going Oklahoma, Minnesota.

Oklahoma? I like Oklahoma. I like Oklahoma, too, but they almost lost to Iowa State. They almost lost. They could have won by one. They won by one point. They won by one. Iowa State came back, went for a two-point conversion to win the game.

The dude could, it was like literally right here, if they had two defenders on him, picked it off. I like Oklahoma. I think that Iowa State game, Kirk Herbstreit was saying, this is going to be a close game. Like, Oklahoma's going to win, but it might be by like two or three. So, I mean, I think that's kind of like one of those weird rivalry games that's kind of brewed recently. Iowa State, there's a lot of guys tough, yeah. So, I mean, I think that's kind of like one of those weird rivalry games that's kind of brewed recently.

Iowa State, there's a lot of guys tough, yeah. So, I mean, I'm not as surprised. But I think, you know, as the season kind of comes to a close and as it starts really ramping up, I think that Oklahoma team could be like a force. But also, you think after losing to Kansas State, they would not want that to happen again. And they, you know, can't just let up a lot of points again. That's true. You know, I just think if that's happening again twice in one season,

you can't put that team in the playoffs. Yeah. I just don't think you should. I don't think they deserve it. As much as I would love to see Joe Hurts and go up against Bama, I just don't think they deserve it at this point. That's why they're outside of the top four for me. Yeah.

What's yours? Honestly, just from, I guess, eye tests or whatever, I'd probably say OSU number one, LSU number two. I'd probably say Alabama at three and Clemson at four. Sorry. Alabama at three and Clemson at four. Sorry, but my hope is that it ends up being Ohio State versus Oregon and LSU versus Clemson. I'd like to see Alabama. I'd like to see Oklahoma wins out, Alabama wins out,

but Alabama doesn't get in because they lost and because their schedule is pretty bad. And I'd like to see the Jalen rematch with Oklahoma, which I think they would do because it's obvious, right? They both have one loss. There's obviously some sort of, like, you know, tune-in to kind of thing. They could sell that. They could sell that, right?

Like a New Year's Six game? New Year's Six game, right? And then I think Oregon having the one loss at the beginning of the season and they lost off of, you know, in like the last like probably like 30 seconds or something. It was a pretty insane game. It's like they still win their conference. Still win their conference.

They look pretty dominant against USC, and they look pretty good. I don't like to see this two teams in SEC all the time. Or two SEC teams in. Mix it up. Who gives a shit? Just stop doing it. They need to expand it, and they need to do conference champion from each power five, and then three at large. One of them maybe a group of five, and then three at large.

One of them maybe a group of five and then two at large. The best group of five and two at large. I heard Joel Klatt say something about he would like Michigan and Ohio State to play three games before the season ends so that if there was a conference championship

that they could match up without being a repeat. We'd have to get rid of the East and West Conference though. We'll put them in separate conferences, which I think they should. Just don't even do the sides. Do what the Big 12 does. Two best teams in the conference. I like that, yeah.

I think every conference should do that. I would like for it to be one non-F you know, non-FBS team, right? That's where you start the season with. And then you go play at a conference. Then you do a home-and-home with another conference. And then you do, like, you know, nine games where it's all conference play. I almost think just get rid of the conference championship. Who cares?

Like, I don't think it, like, provides anything extra. Like, I mean, for the Big Ten, you've been getting, like, Ohio State versus Nebraska. Fuck that. Well, that's why if you get rid of the East and West, that's the two best teams. So it could be Ohio State-Michigan, Michigan-Penn State, you know, Wisconsin. It'd be the two best teams, so it's not some BS game like last year. Yeah. Right? Because then it's a more, you know, Wisconsin. It'd be the two best teams, so it's not some BS game like last year. Yeah. Right? Because then it's a more, you know, exciting matchup.

And it could be a way for, I mean, you know, one of those teams to get back into the ranks. And it's exciting. So, if they get rid of the East and West, I think it's good to have conference title games. If not, it's just annoying to me. What do you think, Kalen? Do you think that the schedule should be – how do you think it should kind of be? Do you think they should go to eight or keep it at four?

Yeah, I think they definitely need to expand the playoff just because there's more teams that I think could compete in that system and potentially win. I mean, I always think back to that UCF team. I mean, they were good. They were good that year. And they got no shot. It was like, oh, they beat Auburn. Who cares? And then they were claiming themselves as national champs. And I'm like, I mean... You can't do that, but then you also should get a shot.

So I'm like, it's gotta be expanded. I say just make it like eight teams. I say do Jim Harbaugh's thing that he came up with. You guys see that? He like came up with this. Some reporter was like,

Jim, what do you think about a college football playoff? And he's like, oh, I got a thing typed up about it, reached in his jacket pocket. Fucking already had it prepped. I'm like, this guy is a nut, man. What was it? And then he had, I can't remember, but it was almost like NFL style,

where it was like, you know, it was it? And then you had, I can't remember, but it was almost like NFL style where it was like, you know, it was something like what you're saying, group of five and two at large. Yeah. But then the group

of five was like group of five slash independent. So then it was like a spot for Notre Dame, really. Notre Dame, Army,

whatever. But also, it's like having March Madness and you have just the final four. Right. You know? There's lots of fun in that. You know having March Madness and you have just the final four right you know there's lots of fun in that

you know March Madness is fun to see the teams all year round and you know for that whole month really kind of develop we're around 64

where you know we have four teams instead of 64 it's more fun more money whatever if you've got a shortened season do it

like yeah might as well see a lot of the best teams there yeah there's stuff they can do whatever if you've got a shortened season do it like yeah I think might as well see a lot of the best teams there yeah there's stuff they can do but

they'll have to tune in to Blue by 90 for the real real opinions I'm sorry alright I think we're gonna wrap it up here guys

yeah so check us out on YouTube we're on pretty much all platforms YouTube Facebook Apple Podcasts, Spotify. Leave us a comment if you have any input and like, share, subscribe, all that good stuff.

So thanks for listening and Go Blue! Go Blue! Beat State! Yeah, Beat State!