Blue By Ninety - Michigan Dominates Nebraska In The Trenches

Episode Date: September 22, 2025

Justin and Tanner recap Michigan’s closer-than-needed win over Nebraska.

Welcome back to Blue By 90, presented by Feldman Chevrolet of Highland. My name is Justin. I'm joined by Tanner today. Big road dub in Lincoln this week for the Wolverines. Michigan goes to Nebraska. I don't, it's weird. Like, if you, for all the box score watchers out there, you're going to say they squeaked one out, but that was a pretty handily one game, I thought, you know, outside of just a ton of

weirdness roller coaster whatever like michigan was in control of that game for pretty much all of it outside of a couple plays yeah and they were self-inflicted too right um i i guess we can just talk about it right now the hill mary uh your third and 16 50 seconds left i think you take the time out there but if you don't you certainly take the time out on fourth and 14 with 20 seconds left because they have to punt because if they try to do a hill mary there and they turn it over on downs you're one or two plays away from being in the field goal range yeah especially was zavada hit a 56 yarder so that you know that goes from a potentially you know like a 20-yard drive it turns into a 75-yard drive with the 50-yard hill mary um you know and then in the second

half you get them stopped it's it's fourth and 17 and hillman just has a super dumb and he was doing that all game like I understand we talk about dbs and like just the the trash talking that goes on but you have to be smarter than that so that goes from what a negative you know seven yard drive into a 70 or like a like a 60 yard fuel drive right you've got to be better than that well and it's like listen i'm all for having an edge and trying to you know talk your talk on the road right like i think that i like that to an extent but you have to just like dude do first of all he was 30 yards from anybody else in the play. So it's like right right in front of the Nebraska

Beds, that's never not going to get called. Like that wasn't one of those like, oh, at their sideline. Yeah. Go celebrate with your team. What are you doing? Yeah, that was dumb. But ultimately, I was, I mean, honestly,

I was pumped about what happened on Saturday. I think, you know, there are a lot of people online. I saw that were just like, you know, first of all, there were a lot of doom and gloom. at halftime, which I know we went into halftime after the Hail Mary and you're, you know, at 1717 when it should be 1710, but like I was also pretty happy because think about the way that went, like you hold them to zero points in those first two drives that very well could have been 14, right? And at the very least three, right, at the very least six because, you know,

they go forward on fourth down and they miss a field goal. But just in general, I thought that we were playing really well. Like, I thought that, like, you know, Bip Pogi said it, which, I mean, first of all, is Bip Pogi not the most walking meme of all time, like walking quote? Just like, he's the godfather. He's unbelievable. Yeah. Yeah, he's, you know, wish, you know, Shron, hopefully, there's some things to learn in just terms of, like, game management stuff. Yeah. And Shron's not there. So we don't know. And we've seen issues, you know, last year the Indiana game was a huge talking point that we had in the show about not calling a timeout in the right sequence in the fourth quarter in that game

that basically lost in the game. And so we've seen those issues from Sharon and this in this staff. You know, yeah, Biff is funny, but that would have been a lot less funny if that came back to bite you because that is a game that Michigan, you know, for the folks that, again, I saw it with Bryce Underwood too. Bryce played a great game, I thought. He made some throws. I thought that was a catch by McColley.

The side judge comes in, rules of the catch. and then the other guys overrule him. And then it's so close. I still thought there was a strip of green in between his cleat when he first landed. How was that overruled by like the line judge there in my mind or what I don't know. Is that the back judge, line judge, whatever. The guy on the sideline that's looking straight at it, he's got to have the best view. He does.

I don't think I don't know how you could see it because you're on the other side of the sideline. I'm okay with somebody coming in there and say, hey, we need to talk about this. Like I think I might have seen his toe out. but to overrule it on the field. It was so close, and whatever was on the field was going to stand. But he had that, that was a dime. He had a, I mean, it was off of his fingertips. It would have been a great catch.

It was a great throw to Shannon Goodwin. Yeah. You know, I thought Bryce played really, there's some other drops that probably would have been some good gains. And so, you know, to your point about box score watching, like, oh, Bryce was 12 to 22. And it was like, no, he played a really good game. He was great in the run game. He had, you know, that last. drive. I thought he probably could have scored if he had gone to the pylon, but Link

completely whiffed. I thought he played a great game. He managed it well. And that's a loud environment. We've talked about it. I'd be curious to see what the guys say about this time. You know, maybe some guys that were on the 2021 team, you know, the kind of the difference. Those guys, if they were freshmen, they'd be 50 or seniors at this point. So, you know, what their experience was with Memorial Stadium this time. But yeah, the box score watchers, like, oh, it was super close. Like, our boy, Ohio's Tate was like, oh, when Ohio State, be some, well, here's the difference, Tate, is that we watched that game last year at the tailgate. Remember Ohio State Nebraska at the shoe? Ohio State looked like complete garbage.

They looked like dog shit against a freshman. Dylan Riola, they needed a bailout pick from him that was just a horrible throw. They needed a person goal at the block. Yeah. So I thought Michigan was thoroughly, you know, dominant throughout this game. There was just a couple moments of lapses and judgment that made this look a little closer than it was. You have, what was it, third and 22 on that last touchdown drive. And basically garbage time at that point. Because we knew Nebraska wasn't going to stop the run. So all Michigan had to do was

catch the onside kick. So I never really felt that threatened in this game. The only time that I really did was maybe when it was 10 to 10 and then Justice Haynes does what he does, you know, fourth, Justin, if you just take away the long runs, man, he's not very good.

If you just take away the long runs, he's averaging X yards per carry. If you take away the long runs and if you take away the big plays in 2020 at Ohio State you know i mean it's just if you take away all michigan's touchdowns they don't want a game yeah um but no what i was going to say too about biff is like he said it uh in his post-game press conference that he told the team at half time like hey we're tied but we're beating the snot out of them physically that quote by the way it's just a football so so football guy but um that that was how i saw it pretty much all game long i mean i think

that to your point, like overall, we'll dive into, you know, the running game and then the defense here in a minute. But just as a team, like, I think that I was very curious how this team was going to handle that road environment, right? I think that you, you know, we've talked about it a lot of how crazy Lincoln can get. And I'm sure, you know, thankfully, honestly, the, the fourth down stop on that first drive probably took a lot of the wind because if They score there, the fireworks go off, they start going nuts, who knows what happens. But just in general, I love the fight that our guys had because, you know, I thought that in Norman against Oklahoma, like, there were times where you're just like, man, I just don't know if they have that like oomph right now. They don't have the juice.

I think they were trying to, you know, manufacture it, but it never came out. So overall, I was pumped with a couple things there with just like, you know, be. being calm and comfortable in that environment. And also, like, when things did go wrong, they responded. It wasn't like, oh, the Hail Mary happens, the penalty happens, stuff happens, and they just, like, roll over and they're like, shit. It was like they responded immediately almost every time, which I love that. Yeah, well, and to your point about just, you know, the road environments,

I mean, those are the two toughest road environments out of the way by the middle of September. Because if you look at their schedule, the next road games are, At USC, I mean, Michigan has a huge alumni base. That will be mostly Michigan fans. That USC Michigan State game was, there was a lot of empty seats. And I think Michigan is going to take, you know, Michigan Alums have a huge base out there in Los Angeles and Southern California. You go to Michigan State and that, you know, we were there in 2023. It was, there was a lot of Michigan fans.

Now that's in the middle of a national championship run and Michigan State was really bad that year and they had fired Mel Tucker. So, you know, that'll probably be the toughest road environment left because after that, it's at Northwestern at Maryland. Northwesterns at Wrigley Field. I know a bunch of people. A lot of us are, we already have our hotel book, got to get tickets, but there's going to be a lot of Michigan fans there. And then Maryland, too, D.C. has a huge presence of Michigan fans.

So, you look at this schedule. Like, bro, I mean, I don't want to get it on myself. But I think this game kind of changes my perception of this team and the trajectory that they have because there are things to clean up, but you can tell that it's a very, talented football team. Yeah. I think there is a possibility they're 10 and 1 going

into the last Saturday in November. I mean, their schedule sets up perfectly. They had to get out of this first four games, three and one. And they did. And yeah, you lose to Oklahoma, but you are 1 and 0 in the Big 10. That's more important.

I would, if you were to told me, hey, you're going to be 3 and 1 and you can have your choice of which game, I'm taking Nebraska because that's a Big 10 game. And also, you know, I lived in Omaha for 10 years. So my, you know, I'm at the, I'm at a wedding with a do not deserve with my phone,

to watch the game in between things and come back to it and there's like 80 text messages. It probably had been 150 text messages of Michigan had lost that game. But I think that sets you up and you're going to be a contention for a Big Ten title spot. Yeah, I definitely agree. First of all, shout out to our guys at No Block, No Rock. It was fun to, you know, have them on our podcast and be on theirs this past week. I genuinely, like, I've got a couple other Nebraska friends too. Like, man, you know, I think that 99-9.

percent of Nebraska fans are very nice. There's some, like, bad accounts on Twitter that just annoyed the shit out of me this week. Did you enjoy the, uh, the, I quote tweeted it with the video of the play clock on that third nine on that big boy drive. Did you see that for, I think it was Husk guys on Twitter? And he's like, it was a full second or maybe even two. Bro, you look at it. It's literally like three tenths of a second and Bryce, like the ball is out.

So in that situation, people complaining about that, we know as Lions fans because we saw that in the Ravens game a few years. years ago and we've seen it other times across football the official is a human being they can't just be like oh it's zero and that we're going to call a delay of game no that's not how that works well they've actually the NFL has come out and said this too where it basically for it to be a delay of game they have to like look up at the clock look back at the snap and if it's not snapped by then so you kind of do get like an extra second there's a buffer period but they were like it was it was at least one full second maybe too. And I went back and I'd love to look at like the

like the cut of the video because it's it's literally less than half a second. And like an official can't just look, you know, like that's not how officiating works. Right. So that was just one example. No. But a lot of talk this week on on Twitter from from certain fan bases. I mean, it was a lot of people. The haters wanted Michigan to lose that one really, really badly. Ohio State fans had the buy week and so they were dialed in to Michigan. Oh, of course. I will be this weekend. I don't even know who they play. I think Washington, I'll be, I'll be hate watching. And then MSU with them playing it. I bet you there was how many, do you think more fan, more Michigan State fans watched Michigan's game at 3.30 than

their own game at 11 p.m. There's a stand. I got to say, we're not Michigan State fans. I do think it's ridiculous that they're forced to go out there and play at 11 o'clock. That is insane. That's just not good for their fans. I mean, I do feel for their fans because I got back from that wedding we went to, threw it on my iPad a little bit, you know, had a few beverages. So I'm like, you know, check this out. I was snoozing with like six minutes left in the first.

I was going to go to bed. Well, honestly, I don't feel bad for Michigan State fans very often at all. But I felt bad because they actually were in like a one score game in the fourth quarter. So it's like two in the morning. and you're like, okay, we can do this, we can possibly win this, only to lose it, you know, by like almost three scores if they didn't score a two-minute touchdown. But anyways, going back to Nebraska fans, like the, I genuinely, like, how many times can this happen to Nebraska where it's like, man, they're right there, a couple plays go

differently, like it's a different game, you know, obviously I think they all kind of looked at it as like, man, we got manhandled up front on both sides. But I do feel for Nebraska just because, like, man, 28 in a row against ranked opponents is really hard to do. So. And straight, I mean, that's almost 10 seasons going back to 2016. And that was a, I think that ranked win was against an Oregon team. I think that led to Mark Helfrich's firing.

I think they went like four and eight. That was not good Oregon. That was free NIL unlimited money. Uncle Phil, Oregon. Yeah, that's tough. Post-Mariota. It was, yeah, that was, so that's their most recent ranked win. And Matt Rule doesn't have a ranked win since he was at Temple.

Yeah. So it's not a good combination. By the way, I don't know if you saw Matt Rule's post-game quote about being hit with a hammer. Maybe that was the hammer. What was the context? Let me pull it up here. Which is so funny for him, of all people, to use.

use the phrase hammer after he bitched all last year. Yeah, he said, I don't like where we're at right now. I feel like someone hit me with a hammer right now. I wanted to win the football game, and I thought we would win the football game. Yeah, so, yeah, that was kind of the quote. I think it was probably, you know, in reply to a question of, you know, how do you feel about the state of the team, blah, blah, blah. You know, and they got to go to a by two.

So they got to hold on to this L for another week. I don't think that they're going to be bad, honestly. No, they're going to eight or nine games. I think that's an eight and four team probably. I haven't fully looked at their team. It's a Big Ten West champion probably four years ago. Yeah. But that defensive, man, that defensive line is, I mean,

it might be just barely better than Central Michigan. I mean, it is bad. And, you know, all the talk about year three, Matt rule, there's no, with the portal, with the resources that Nebraska has, with people, they're dying for a contender. They're dying to have pride in that program and in that team. Well, and I actually saw your boys, I saw our guys on No Block, No Rock saying this and a couple other people, like, they want to, they want their identity to be exactly what our identity is right now and has been, where it's like, hey, we're going to run the football all over you and our D-line is going to be so big and strong that you can't do anything.

I got to pay for those guys, man. You got to, I mean, yeah, you know, you can go get the receivers. And Key, I thought was, was great. hunter had a great game uh the other receiver um jacori barney had a big game on us but you got to go pay for those guys right like you got to go in and you got to pay a mill or two mill three mill for a few guys uh in the way that michigan did um because you know yeah it's not as good as last year's defensive line uh in terms of the interior but now you add bar ham into the mix at edge like you you you got to go pay for those guys in today's world and i don't think that they

prioritize that or maybe they weren't able to but you got to know losing tie robinson and nash hutmaker those guys you know major defense go last year you lose them and now you got probably a bottom five big 10 defensive line i mean it's really bad like it's on par with you know again i watch some of the michigan state u sc game those defensive lines are rough too it's right in there with them peru well i think here's my take on that um and we'll get to michigan's offense here in a second. But my take on that is what I think that a lot of the top, top programs in the country is they sit there and they look at their talent that they have on the field. And they're like, hey, where do we need to upgrade? And there is no like mercy on that. It's not like, hey,

this guy is like worked for us for three years. And, you know, we really think that this could be the year. The teams that are at the top of the top go pay for. for somebody in the portal at the positions that they need. And it's not, and it is no, no feelings about it. And I, I wonder a little bit if Matt Ruhl is like, man, we want our homegrown Nebraska guys that have been with us. And like, that's where you're at then. I, that's kind of what I've seen from some guy.

Like, you look at Signetti, you know, I think Signetti is kind of a dickhead, but he, he has zero feelings about, like, who's loyal to him, who's whatever. He's like, no, I'm going to go and get. the best talent that I can at every position and it's working. Well, and they tried, I mean, they tried to do that in the offensive line, right? Because they went and got Rocco Spindler. I think he played every snap.

He wasn't great. He was down to Michigan and Notre Dame at the end of his recruitment, right? I mean, yeah, and coming out of high school, and it was kind of initially in the portal, it was like, Michigan's going to go get this guy. Truthfully, I would take a phobia

and Guanera over him right now. And then they also went for Elijah Pritchett, I believe, who's from Bama, I want to say. And he hasn't played much at all. They're still throwing out Turner Corcoran. I mean, he only had five stats, but that's crazy that he's still in college football. He's been brutal for them. A lot of my friends, like, they, I could probably search his name and my messages on my iPhone

and, like, find a lot of negative things about him. So they tried to do that. But, yeah, I mean, I think just in the trenches, that's Michigan's identity. That's who they've been. That's who they want to be. You can see the way that they recruit. I'm really excited about the guys that are. coming through the program right now. You're seeing a lot of growth again on the interior line.

Greg Crippen was a dog. Yeah, let's talk about the office. Go into it, his ability to, on those stretch plays, those outside zone plays, to just his quickness and his smarts, able. So on the Jordan Marshall touchdown run, and we'll talk about some of his big plays, because he sprung a couple long ones. Like he, he's going to, I think, I think I saw the PFF grades. I think he should have graded it a lot, a lot better than he did, because, you know, you spring a couple, you know, long touchdown runs, that's worth 14 points, right? You're right.

But on Jordan Marshall's run, you know, he gets, he gets, crosses to the defensive line, who's kind of slaining down for that stretch play. He blocks him, and then he gets to a backer, seals him, gets him. And then there's another backside linebacker coming, and he gets blocked by the guy that he's blocking. So he gets three guys and Marshall's gone. And then on the Jordan Marshall run, I believe it's a stunt by one of the defensive tackles, he just gets him completely out of the.

the way. And then Marshall has a one-on-one with Beaufort, who has no idea which way he's going to go. He stutter steps and he sprints and he's gone. Yep. Like the offensive line I thought in the run game was, I mean, there's no other way that you're running for 31 carries for 29 yards, nine yards, an attempt without your offensive line dominating. They were absolutely dominant. Well, and I think that like obviously you look at the long runs and you're pretty pumped about those. And a lot of people are like, well, that's, you know, just a couple of plays, like you said, but I thought that they played really well, not just in the run game for the whole game, but also they protected Bryce like 90% of the time. I mean, obviously you have the

one sack where Bryce fumbles, which, again, self-inflicted. Like, I think the one criticism I have of Bryce right now is, you know, go down. He's got to learn. That's a tough one, obviously, like you're in the middle of everything. But even on the one run, where he had, where we're very close to the end zone, and he gets tripped up. I know he did. That's why I think he was trying to fight so hard on that phone. I know. Because he almost got a first time, and he might have had a lot more.

I mean, we saw that was a great play call, by the way, on his touchdown. The offense line did a great job, but then he's gone. Oh, my God. Is he a four or five guy? Dude, he's so fast. And so big. I looked to my father-in-law because we were watching it before the wedding reception at the Airbnb. And I was like, I was like, dude, he's Cam Newton.

I mean, he runs just like him. And I love that play call for us, too, right after the turnover, right? I mean, you just go right at it. You know, I think, honestly, I would have loved to have that play call three more times in that game in the second half because you never saw it again. But, no, I thought that honestly, the O line deserves, every single one of them deserves a game ball, especially after the criticism that they've had over the past, you know, a few weeks. I think I love everything for Greg Crippen because, like, there are a lot of people talking about, you know, hey, after that Oklahoma game, we got to bench him.

We got to, you know, get him out. And he's come out with a vengeance the last two weeks and played his ass off. And so love that. The best part about it, you went and did all that without Gio, right? So you have no Gio Al-Hadi and, you know, you play what I thought was your best game as an offensive line. So you have to think that they're only going to get better. Bryce is only going to get better. I mean, I think that, you know, the funny thing about Bryce's stat line,

like that's a J.J. McCarthy stat line so much, you know, of, what was it, 12 for 22, with a little over 100 yards. You should have had a couple hundred yards, man, to be honest. Like, I mean, they just left a lot on the field. Well, let me ask you this, too. I think the one thing, I know you didn't have to in the second half because you were running the ball, so well but like why not take a couple shots downfield or see see what can happen i i don't know i would have loved to see them just like all right let's push it downfield a little bit and also hey

let's bring out that quarterback run again i mean did what were your thoughts on that yeah i mean i think the the issue really is and it boils down to hogan hanson's out marlin klein's still a little banged up so you know just looking ahead you get through the by week get those guys healthy because they're two of your three best pass catching options, right? Because McColley is clearly the best receiver you have. And I've had a lot of people like, oh, he's, you know, I thought he'd do more. Well, it's really difficult when you're the only guy that is a real threat when you catch the ball, two, one, catch the ball and two make a play.

You know, Samaj had some nice things. He had some drops. Chan and Goodwin, again, that, you know, potential touchdown throw, I give him a little bit of grace because that's off his fingertips. It's a difficult catch. you're trying to look over your head and you've got a DB right on you. It's not easy. But man, there's some underneath drops. Yeah. I mean, that that play is not easy. It's one of those things that like,

it's not easy, but it needs to be made. You know what I mean? That's a play that certain people watching are going to make some calls in December and say, let's go get X, Y, and Z. Correct. Because I think if you have, you're going to have a, first off, you know, I'm very excited about 205, Michigan, by the way. Like, again, this game changes their trajectory. in my opinion, the way that they want it. There's things to clean up, but this is a team that can compete to get to Indianapolis.

But I think you're just going to see a lot of interest in the offseason and wanting to play with Bryce Underwood for the next year, two years. So I think that those, you might have to overpay a little bit for some wide receivers. Not as much as before. You're very correct. I think that price may be coming down a little bit because you're, you know, you're understanding that you're going to play with the top flight quarterback. I agree.

But I do fully expect them to. to open up the checkbook for two, maybe three wide receivers. You have to. I mean, you absolutely have to because you're going to lose McCullough. He's out of eligibility. Marlon Klein, I think, is out of eligibility. I don't know exactly. He is.

Yep. Yeah, so you're going to lose some guys, and I think you're just going to have to recruit your way out of this problem. But I do think that this is kind of the biggest weakness on this Michigan team is just the ability to get open and catch the football. Like, that's keeping this team from, like, being able to be better than 2021 Michigan. Right? Because everybody was like, oh, just be K'd.

He is so much better than 20. If you put Bryce Underwood on that 20-21 team, are you kidding me? I mean, they are literally national champs, I think. You know, I don't know. Do you see Jordan Davis run that field goal back yesterday, by the way? He gave me PTSD when he came down the line on an outside zone with Blake Corum and caught up to him. And I'm like, all right, we're losing this game by 100. That there's no way that it should be physically possible for Jordan Davis to run as fast as he did during that.

But like if you like, like even because they got better obviously 22 to 23, but if you put CJ and Roman on this team, like dude, like there's just not like Tyler Morris would be a great option. I literally was thinking about that, dude. Tyler Morris would be. But I think he got hurt again, didn't he? Yeah, well, he had IU unfortunately. He tore his ACL in the summer, unfortunately. But, I mean, let's say that doesn't happen and he stays. Like, that would have been.

Butterfly effect type stuff. But yeah, you just, that's like, you need Andrew Marsh to really, like, arrive. Like, that's your one guy. Because you, like, you look at the guys that are kind of not playing. Like, Anthony Simpson comes in from UMass. Like, I don't know what they're seeing in practice. I'm sure there's a reason he's not playing much, man. You got to, like, you got to try something.

because there's just too many drops. There's not enough separation. There's too many drops. You know, Marion Stewart's in his second year. I haven't heard of peep from him. I was excited about him. He hasn't, I don't think he played anything other than special teams. Like, there's just not anybody that's going to come through other than Andrew Marsh.

I was just going to say, I think you have to just see what Andrew Marsh can do if he gets more touches because he's shown flashes already. Absolutely. I think, like, I'm struggling with Samaj because I think Samaj does some good things. you know, his play to get that first down and breakthrough was a huge play in that game towards the end. But you're sitting here like this is junior Samaj Morgan, correct? And so I think he has played a lot of football for Michigan already as a third year

player. And I don't see him like breaking through to be this next level guy. And that's what I think we were all hoping to see. especially with the quarterback play being what it is. You know who I think would catch the football? Maybe not that explosive, and I'm not joking. Peyton O'Leary. Like, do you give him run?

Like, he had run last year. The only thing with Peyton is can you get open? Are you quick enough and fast enough? Because I think that that might be our bigger issue than catching the football right now is just like having guys that are quick enough. You know, I watched a little bit of that USC Michigan State game, and I forget who it is. is to be out this is bad but i forget who it is for u sc but like they've got some dogs at wide

receiver that just straight up run by guys and we just don't have that right now yeah yeah i certainly think it's going to be an easier sell in the off season but i mean i that might be other than andrew marsh showing up and um yeah i mean because i keep people keep stop doing this by the way people could keep tweeting scyler bell stats and i'm like dude stop because you know he was going to come to michigan and then he didn't um and it would have been admissions or something No, it wasn't that. I think you count people say they just paid more. I don't think that's the case.

That's insane. There's just zero percent chance that's true. I don't think you have any left number of money before, you know, after it goes to basketball and Danny Hurley. But yeah, man, I, you know, that's like my biggest concern. But again, you get Hansen back. I don't know what happened because he was hurt early in the year and then he played and he looked great against TeamU and then he was hurt. I think he's probably your one guy you can split out wide and kind of. to be a pseudo wide receiver with Klein line up inline.

That may be your best option at this point. But the receivers have been my biggest disappointment. I mean, the tough part, too, with Marlon, I love Marlon. I think he's probably our best, you know, one of, if not our best player on offense right now from a weapon standpoint. But he's not Colston and that he can't, like, he's just not as quick and shifty as Colston. So where Colston was able to literally be a wide. receiver and you could still have Marlin in tight last year. You don't have that option.

That's where I think Hansen can maybe be a miniature version of Colson. That's where I think you have to hope that that comes to fruition and that he's able to stay on the field because he probably is the most likely guy to be like an outside receiver other than, you know, if Marshall has been surprisingly decent is Zach Marshall. Yeah, he had a nice catch on that on that three played passing drive. that you hated those 51 seconds off the clock. Yeah, so, yeah, man, again, I thought the offense was, you know, did its job. It had the one turnover, but I think Bryce has continued to improve.

I thought he looked very comfortable. I didn't think the moment was too big for him. And again, we talked about that's a tough place to play. He did a great job of, you know, despite what some people on Twitter say, he did a great job of looking at the sideline, getting the play call, alerting his offensive lineman, getting that to the receivers, and getting the play off before the clock. at zero so we again that that improvement just from the spring justin that i mean that kid just picks things up very quickly i mean i don't think i think people are taking for granted how hard

that is for a freshman quarterback to come in and basically be mistake free in just the game management part of the game like there were no miscommunications he was able to change plays at the line in an environment like lincoln on the road and you're for game ever, you know, freshly 18, as we've all said a thousand times. Like, I think that, you know, go around the country, watch college football. Older, more experienced guys screw up a lot. And I think for him to, you know, do the game management part as well as he does. And also, to your point, like, never once look rattled. Never one time does he look like he is not completely under control.

And that's why, like, even while he's, you know, getting pressure and things like that, like, I think we are already taking it for granted four games in because we have not seen him have any of those issues. Yeah. No, I'm 100% with you. And so let's talk about that, too, because I wanted to talk on this before we get to the defense, unless you have anything otherwise offensively. Go for it.

So 2720, you just had gone three and out on the drive that Justin hated with three pass. is you force the three and out from Nebraska, you get the ball, what, like 11, 12 minutes left. And so those moments where he's looking to the sideline getting the play called like 12 seconds left, alerting his offensive lineman, you know, Justice Haynes is switching the side that he's on, they're getting the playoff. You come into that drive. You have one conversion on third down in the game. And on that drive, you have three.

And two of those moments where he's able to get the play off and change the play are on a third and five. that they get what they want. They give it to Samaj. Samaj makes a great, great cut, makes the guy miss, gets the first down. And then the other one, this is the one that folks thought there was seven seconds after the clock hit zero

before they snap the ball. They changed the play. They get a screen. Haynes makes a guy miss. He gets a first down. And then you have another third and 10. And this was maybe one of my favorite plays of the game, Justin.

Just a third and 10. Got to throw it. Got to get the first down. Nope, right up the middle of the Haynes. The blocking on this play, our boy, Jay-Doo, shout-out J-Doo, always love watching his recaps on Twitter, but he had the replay shot from, you know, the end zone. And I mean, the way these guys are blocking, like Samaj is getting in there, you know, guys are chipping to a backer, Haynes almost busted all the way through.

And that's during a 16 play, 77-yard drive that takes eight minutes and 46 seconds off the clock. So what Oklahoma did to Michigan two weeks ago, Michigan returns a favor, Nebraska and, you know, just is a man-ball, big boy, I call it a big-ass boy drive. Like, that's just your big boy. I mean, I tweeted it at the time, but, like, that was the most Harbaugh drive ever, where you just milk every possible second you can of the clock. You know, you go back to 2023 versus Ohio State. That was exactly what they did there was you just, you suffocate everything.

You take everything. It was the boa constrictor. It was the bow constrictor. That was exactly what it was. So I love that from Biff. You know, Biff taking it from Sharon, who's taking it from Harbaugh and all this stuff. I mean, well, shout out to Chip Lindsay. I thought he played a great game.

I mean, that, that, I think there are things when I'm watching Michigan, like, and I'm sure other teams are seeing it when they're scouting Michigan, but like there are things you can see that are being set up. And so now, like the power, the QB power with Bryce, they run that out late in that 16 play drive. Should have had a touchdown on the third and goal. I don't know what Link was doing. Also, I don't think Bryce saw that he had the corner.

But on those QBee powers, like, there's going to be something set up off that. They have it off the bubble screen early in the game. Should have been a touchdown. Yeah, I think that I love that play calling. I mean, honestly, I was a little bit shocked just because Chip Lindsay is not that not Sharon Moore. Right. And so I think, though, that I love the. I'll be honest right now looking at the four game spread I think that I you know I wasn't a fan of how we called the Oklahoma game obviously but we're four games in and I love the combination of Sharon Moore's you know expertise into the game calling play calling and Chip Lindsay I felt like the Nebraska game was like the perfect mesh of them to where it's like hey we're still going to open it up a bit but when they give us the run we're going to take the run.

run. So I love all that. I mean, that drive, you know, was it Gary Danielson, I think, that said that's championship football, right? Like, that is championship football. And so love that. That is just like, that's how you win football games right there is when you need to go get first downs. You go get first downs. Because then you give up the touchdown drive, but it's like, okay, recover the onset. I can't get a first down. It's over. It doesn't matter. It's essentially a garbage time touchdown because you go up two scores. So, um, Last thing I want to say on the offense, we'll talk about the defense because that's another fun conversation. Justice Haynes through four game already has more yards than he had at Alabama on 13 less carries.

He's at 8.1 yards in attempt, 6 touchdowns, 134 yards per game, four plus or four rushes of 50 plus yards so far. Basically one in every game, although I guess the one was called back against him. So his stats would be even crazier if we didn't have a holding on one of his touchdowns. And then Jordan Marshall, you know, kind of what you saw in the Alabama game. game. You know, he has that, like, eight-yard run where he's basically wrapped up and just breaks a tackle. Fobie keeps blocking, gets his guy to the ground, and then Marshall's able to push off. And then the next play, that's the one I talked about with Crippin, get into a linebacker, basically blocking three guys on one play, and he's gone. So really great to see

Jordan Marshall. I thought a lot of people were like, oh, 1A, 1B. No, Jordan Marshall is an extremely talented running back. And the offensive line is getting better every single week. It's just, that is, it's simply like Justice Haynes is too good to take off the field at times otherwise a walking 75-year touchdown i mean you're not going to not play justice a with what's going on right now um but i truly believe that like if we had to go to jordan marshall like he is capable of doing every single thing that justice is um i will say justice is so fast i mean shot out of a freaking like fastest running back michigan's had and like especially like featured back because like carlos brown had some you know runs back

But the top end speed, like Blake never really had that top end speed. Not later in his career. Like, yeah, as a freshman and sophomore, he did, he had some runs that he had the burst. But I really don't know who you've got to go back to because he's certainly faster. Yeah, I mean, he's certainly faster than Chris Evans, Charbonnet. No, Chris Perry wasn't. No, he's much fat. I mean, you might have to go back to Ty Wheatley.

And that's before our time. I don't think we're born yet. But I mean, it's impressive. To your point. though on the on his big touchdown run um you know the the ability to literally go outside put your foot in the ground and basically be at top speed within like two steps is just unreal while making a move his stop start is impressive um but i think his ability to just just change gears right to go from fifth to fourth and just that hesitation view for the safety for nebraska

just didn't know which way he's going and then he's back to fifth sixth year right you know 25 miles an hour down the sideline, whatever his speed was. Super impressive. So, yeah, really exciting stuff from the offense. It was great to see. And, again, if you just take the big plays away, man, like Haynes isn't that good. He's only the third-leadersher in the country.

Last thing on the offense before we get to the defense here is I very much love that we can go and win a big game without Bryce Underwood playing, like, unbelievable, too, right? So I think that that proves like the ability to go win a lot of games because for Bryce, listen, I know Bryce and Bryce wants to be the guy that throws for three touchdowns and 300 yards for sure. But I think it's probably helpful for him to not have the pressure on him to be like, hey, I've got to run around and be Caleb Williams for the Bears or USC or even, you know, you look at what Aidan Childs had to do for Michigan State and he's literally got to do everything because they have nothing. nothing else really going. And so I think that that just helps for the balance of the offense. And Bryce's progression is like, hey, when we need you to, go do it. But you don't have to do everything. We can do a lot to get you there. So I really like that for the,

you know, the rest of the year here. Yeah. This is my last thing before we get to the defense. They do have. We've said that five times. I know. I know we have. Charles does have a guy that I wish Michigan would have recruited at wide receiver. Oh, my God. He's a stud. You're saying March? Yes, he's a dog. You said Childs.

No, I said in addition to Childs. Oh, okay, okay, okay. Yeah, I'm talking about March. Yeah, he's a stud. Yeah, they have something other than Childs. He has one guy to work with. I guess they're a passing game. Yeah, yeah, it's just the passing game.

It's the run game's not there. Defensively, dominant. I mean, upfront dominant. I mean, they ran for 41 yards at seven sacks. And again, we kind of talked about this pre-show here, and I'm just going to read it because, you know, again, the plays happen and I'm going to do what I, you know, is just making fun of Nebraska fans for if you take out the big runs. But a lot of this was self-inflicted by Michigan because, you know, they had the seven-play, 75-hour drive, which ends in a hill Mary. You know, Michigan is able to just, you know, call a timeout after the third down or even just the fourth down. You get the ball back and you can run out the clock. You make them punt instead of having a free Hail Mary. And then they had a 12 play, 55-yard drive. I would have ended at, like, negative 7 yards if Hillman didn't do whatever

would just, you know, super dumb. So that's like 100 yards right there. You know, Michigan gave up 351, you know, 75 yards on the last kind of garbage time touchdown drive. They had them at 3rd and 22 or 3rd and 19, something along those lines. So just a lot of missed opportunities for Michigan's defense to just kind of blow this game wide open and just kind of make it look a lot worse because it felt more like 30 to 13 than it did 30 to 27 right um at least in my 100% it felt more like a three score blowout than

it did like a three point sweat it out i never i never really got that nervous um no and i think if if they if they don't go like yeah i mean this definitely this should have at least been a 10 point victory right like without i i i call it a garbage time touchdown um i do too i mean um you're not getting you're not getting the outside kick yeah i mean um yeah i think that like Going back to what Biff said at halftime, I just felt like our defense looked like 20, 23, 24 defensive line of just like there is, you can't do anything against them. You can't run the ball. You are, you know, Ray Sean Benny, we're rushing three guys and still getting to Riola. I mean, what I think that where I'm like, if I'm that rule, if I'm Dana Holgerson, you're like, what do you want me to do here?

Like I, you know, we can't do anything because our O line just getting absolutely pushed back. And, you know, going back to the Oklahoma game, like, I felt like there were times where we did not look like the more physical team in the stronger team. Whereas like this Nebraska game, there was never a moment where we didn't look like the better team in the more physical team. No. And I think it's interesting too because our friend Mike, shout out my boy, Mike Delaware from No Block, No Rock. What a great last name, by the way, just a state. I love that. But, you know, one thing he said, and it didn't really turn out to be true.

I don't want to throw shade or anything, but he talked about Dylan Royola. If you just sit in zone, he's going to dice you up. That didn't really happen. Like, that first drive was just a bunch of busted plays that kind of they got fortunate, you know, that it wasn't a sack or a fumble or a pick on a couple of those plays. Like, he threw a pick on the cover two that Michigan didn't really disguise.

They just straight up were in cover two. and Jair broke on it, you know, I thought initial was like, damn, I wish, you know, Jeyer would have made the play and had to pick six, ended up being a moot point because Bryce scores the next play, but he, you know, he bumps the receiver right as the ball gets there. Cole Sullivan is a stud, by the way. I mean, that Cole Sullivan's emergence, and that was a fantastic play in the interception, but his emergence allows you to play J. Sean Barham at Edge basically full-time.

Yes. Right? Because you had Jimmy Rolder, who, yeah, he, you know, he hasn't been perfect necessarily. He's, I've noticed some things wrong. like, man, I wish you would have, you know, scraped a little bit better, done something differently. But he's playable. Like, he's average plus. So you have now the ability to play Jashon Barham at Edge.

And remember what we said, and I think I said it specifically, so not to, you know, hurt my arm here. But he used the X factor. Like, he opened up rush lanes for other guys. He was the guy that on that play that I'm talking about, where Raola just kind of flips it to the running back, and then Jayon Sanders lights him up. Barham's getting pressure there.

They made him uncomfortable all game long. They had seven sacks. They got held at least a few times that I saw that weren't called. I mean, when you get seven sacks and don't have a holding call, that's kind of crazy because they were beating, they were lining up and just getting off the ball and beating their guy, I mean, immediately. So it was super impressive from the front four. And to your point, the Russian three, they're dropping the, they have the two linebackers

look like they're coming off the edge and then they drop, confused the hell out of Royola. I mean, he's getting, that poor kid, he got lit up, dude. I mean, he was getting smoked back. So here was, I mean, just an insane, insane stat on Michigan generated 36 QE pressures and seven sacks. Riola had 41 passes. So, I mean, just pretty insane that Michigan, and it looked like this. It wasn't just like the stat.

Like, it felt like they were literally getting pressure almost every time to him. I mean, the one where Derek Moore gets to him, he, like, swipes him by, which I thought was a really cool thing by Riola, to be honest. But then I think it was Sullivan, it was either Sullivan or Roller, who got to him like immediately and just drilled him. It's like, man, if you're getting past somebody, the next guy's coming. And I just, I felt like, you know, that was, obviously the run game was unbelievable, but that was the difference for me in this football game.

because, you know, I just thought that, like, man, we talked about that of, like, you need to be able to get Riola uncomfortable, and you need to go get him. And he, I don't think he was comfortable for a single down of that entire football game. No, he wasn't. I think, you know, they had the one touchdown drive that, with that post throw that Michigan was in, I don't know if they were trying to disguise something. They just got out of position, and you've got Jire Hill trying to run back. You've got no safety.

I don't like going cover zero, especially like third and eight there. I just didn't, did not agree with that at all. But they made his life a living hell. I mean, again, you couldn't run the ball. I mean, on their first drive, I think that's probably where most of their success came. Like, they had like a 15-yard run on the first play of the game, and then they were just stuffed. I mean, Johnson, you know, the rushing stats are skewed because of the sacks. I think Emmett Johnson had like 60 yards.

Still, they got smoked up front. And I thought, you know, even with the 300. George's passing. I thought the secondary held up. I mean, I was never, again, really concerned. You know, again, I mean, 150 of Nebraska's drives are coming on a Hail Mary drive, which self-inflicted Michigan should not have been in that situation, and then

the last touchdown drive, which is essentially garbage time. So I thought throughout the game, like, Michigan was fairly dominant, you know, and I never felt threatened. So what does that make for Iola stats? You know, if you don't have those, he, again, I don't want to be this guy that's like, take out these plays, and then,

you know, that's what it gets because I think you can with a Hail and Mary because it's not like is Michigan played it horribly from just the game management and then also like why is TJ guy back there? They clearly don't look like they practice it. Which is that like a special teams play then? I don't, I don't know. I mean, I will say. No, that's on the defensive. That's on the defensive staff. I think our special teams does need some work still.

It was better, I thought. It was better. Zavada's money. you know, that's nine points from Zavada. Holland Beck was much better. In that first punt, like, I don't know what goes into getting the ball to spin like that. Like, that's a punt that you pull out when you're putting from the 47, not from your own seven, right, and you're in the end zone.

You know, thankfully the defense got, you know, they got a sack and pushed Nebraska far back enough from their missed field goal. But other than that, though, I did think the special teams was better. I mean, Nebraska made a blunder on in the second half. they caught it at like the three-yard line and Michigan was there immediately to make a tackle. I believe it was our boy Joe Taylor. Yes, sir. And then, yeah, I don't think I remember anything from Samajal on the part return.

So I thought it was better. Like I was extremely upset after that first punt. I'm like, here we go, gifted him at least three. You know, Michigan gets a little bailed out with that miss field goal. But I thought special teams overall was better in this game than it has been all year. So I'm hoping that's going to continue. I thought Hollenbeck after his first punt was solid. they'll have punted a few times that I remember.

So, yeah, man, I think, you know, defensively, there's a high ceiling for the team. And I think as Barham continues to get comfortable, because you see, too, like, there was a counterplay or either the guard or the tackle's pulling, and Barham just gets upfield. Like, he doesn't set the edge. He just gets up field,

and the running back just runs right behind that block. So as he continues to get more comfortable with the run game at edge, because pass rushing is pass rushing. Right? Like he's done that his whole life. But once you get comfortable and just being able to have your run fits, you know, counter those run fits from the offense, like I think he's going to be, I mean, he might, I think he's going to be all-beattended defense event. Like he might be even, you know, I don't know how many they give out now with 74 teams

in the conference, but, I mean, he's got, his ceiling, Justin, this may be ludicrous. I think his ceiling at edge because of how freakishly athletic he is and how smart of a football player he is, I think is all-American at defensive end. Like I think they should have done that when they talked about it last year. And but hard to know, you know, until you turn the lights on what Coles Holden is going to do as a redshirt freshman. But again, his emergence at linebacker is going to allow Michigan to do a lot of different things with Barham. I'm super excited about that. And everybody ate on the defensive line for the most part.

Derek Moore had a sack and a half. Ray Sean Benny had a second half. And no, Edda got in there. There wasn't anybody that played poorly, honestly. I think that so I did I went back and looked at it for the second half it was if you count the sacks I believe there were two sacks for seven yards apiece if you count the sacks then Nebraska had zero rushing yards in the entire second half if you don't count the sacks it was 14 yards in a game that again we don't feel that it was that close no score was though it's 17 17 they didn't need to like chuck the ball in in I couldn't run the ball. Like, that just speaks to Michigan's dominance up front. They could not run the ball.

The linebackers played great. I thought Houseman had a hell of a game, homecoming for him. You know, I guess second game at Nebraska is a Wolverine. But, yeah, I, again, I was really impressed. I thought Jerry had a really good game. I thought, so what were your thoughts on that, on that last touchdown drive for Nebraska? I thought the Earl's PI was weak as hell. Yeah, I thought so.

I thought he played it great. I did, I did too. I mean, there was one, I think it was. Jayer that got he got there early I mean it's a slant so you take that and DBs played all the time you see that out the left

hand or the right hand depending on what side of the field and you're you're grabbing the back you know you're grabbing his side and then you're trying to come over top and break up the slant so I'm good with that because it was I think a four yard penalty. Yeah right that's not like a game changing penalty right there I think that what honestly though the I will

say the um what you may call it the touchdown where it's illegal touching thank the lord for that because that was not played very well dude do you remember last year the Purdue guy which one when he went out of bounds no against Penn State he just went out of bounds I don't know if I remember because they have one white stripe and then it's the same colors or ends up why do they do that who has natural grass so they can fix it Nebraska just I mean I know they can paint it so I'm sure they will um what are we doing we got the same color end zone out of bounds same color yeah it's crazy either way um i do like how our young dbs played as well um i thought that like you know for for as i mean with riolla passing it 41 times and i didn't think

outside of uh the one touchdown play which was a broken coverage um it looked like that the safety needed to get back he ran into the ref um you know i just don't really I'm not trying to disguise that. I don't know why you're having Brandon Hillman run back. I mean, that's just you're never going to get there in time. Brandon Hillman is fast but not that fast, so I don't love that. But I thought our young DBs played well for all things considered. So, yeah, man, I mean, dude, this defense, listen, I don't know that we're going to dominate the line of scrimmage like that in every game.

but yeah, I mean, I'm a, I'm pretty, pretty pumped because the way that I put it out there was like, if you can dominate that line of scrimmage, that significantly elevates the ceiling of this team, right? Because then it doesn't have to be Bryce going crazy. It doesn't have to be Justice Haynes like, you know, shedding tackles. It doesn't have to be the Jaya Hill making unbelievable plays. I mean, this, if you can just, like, dominate the line of the trenches like they did, like, I mean, that is, that puts you at nine, ten wins right there, you know. And let's, uh, let's actually talk about the schedule now moving forward for a second.

Um, you've got to buy this week. You go, then you have Wisconsin at home for homecoming. Dude, how is this Wisconsin program so bad? Because they got away from who they are. I mean, just, it's sad to see because that is, is like, I feel like the classic Big Ten football is gone right now outside of a couple, you know, outside of Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, right? Like there's really, I mean, Oregon, but they're not classic.

You know, I don't know. Wisconsin, if we struggle with them, I'm going to have a bigger problem. But then you go to USC who will see what happens to them because they play at Illinois this week, who, Illinois, I don't think anybody was expecting a, I mean, blowout like that. But can I say when I saw that, I was like, okay, right? Like is, I don't know, like, you know, Indiana. So Nebraska last year is five and two, and that's a big game against Indiana. Indiana does the same thing to them, right?

And I'm not saying, you know, because Nebraska struggled down the stretch. but like is 2025 Illinois substantially better than 2024 Nebraska? I don't know. So like when I saw it, I was like, okay, yeah, that's crazy, but also like, that's not that shocking. Right. I don't know. It was that for me was like Bilema versus Signetti, I despise them both. They're both annoying. Yeah, but Signetti's never been like that annoying towards Michigan. So I'm like, yeah. Bielma is significantly more annoying, especially towards Michigan. So I was happy to watch that happen.

But no, I mean, I guess I'm talking about the schedule all in all to say I, there is a path to, you know, win every single game until you play Ohio State in Ann Arbor on November. What? And then win that one. And then win that one because why we haven't lost in a while. What happens if we went out, huh? I mean, and all see, like, it's, again, this is such a roller coaster of emotions here, right? because it's like after the Oklahoma, after the New Mexico game, you're like, Bryce is unbelievable, we're going to be, you know,

we're going to be so good. Then you lose that Oklahoma game. You're like, okay, we're actually not that good. We're going to win seven games. Then you come out, you beat Nebraska, and you're like, all right, we're back to 11 and 1, you know, but there's a path. I just want to like be realistic. Like there, you know, you look at the schedule.

And if you can win that USC game, which will be not a tough environment, And I think that their defense is not good. I just think that there's a chance to go, you know, 10 and 1 going into that game against Ohio State. I think the two things from this game that really kind of changed, like, changed my opinion on Michigan's trajectory this year and where they can get to is, again, Barham at Edge, I think just opens up so many possibilities for this defense because you have a real true speed rusher on the edge to pair with Derek Moore. Derek Moore is more so like Mike Morris, right? And Barham's like a, I mean, I don't, I'm not going to say it yet, but he could end up being like a souped up David Ojava, right? Yeah. So you have that strong side edge and then you've got the weak side with the speed to pair together.

And your linebacker room doesn't really fall off that much. And I mean, Colesolva might be a better pure linebacker than Barham, right? Which is crazy. And then the run game against bad defensive lines, right? Like, I want to see it. And Oklahoma is maybe one of the three best defensive lines in the country, right? And Brett Venables is leading that defense. and he's been a top defensive mind in college football for two decades plus.

But I just think the ability for Michigan to run the football and to play defense like that, I think that gives you, you know, over the next six games, seven games, a lot of winnable games in there, a lot of games you should win. USC is the only ranked game left at the moment until the game on November 29th. Well, and I think that, like, that is, I mean, let's go back to our thoughts for 2025, right? Let's just say it's a 10 and 2 season. I mean, that is exactly whatever we want to be for, you know,

setting up 26 and 27 with Bryce Underwood as a sophomore and junior, right? So, you know, obviously we're not going to say, oh, we're okay with like losing to Ohio State or we're okay with, you know, losing at all. but I'm just saying I don't think we are ever looking at this this team as like hey you're going to be the national title contenders so if you can go 10 and 2 squeak into that playoff I mean that is you know really really good and that's exactly where we want to be then you gear up for you know you hit the portal and try to you know give yourself a contender for 2026 so I just wanted to say that obviously again we're you know, I'm not saying, I'd still think that this team, the progression that you've already seen in four games is really, really good. I'm very impressed. I know a lot of people have a lot of things to say about this coaching staff, which I don't think that they're all like unwarranted, right? A lot of it is warranted in terms of, you know, the game management and stuff like that.

But I'm very impressed by how they've cleaned up a lot of stuff through four weeks already. Yeah, absolutely. Again, the offensive line has continued to improve. And I've heard that Sharon has spent more time with the O line, which makes sense because I think Grant Newsom is going to be a really good coach. He's a great recruiter already. But that's a, that's a, you know, a position group that does take a little bit of time, just like the players in that position group. It takes time to kind of develop as a coach. So, you know, with Sharon spending more time, that makes a lot of sense. And the improvement from week one to now, I think, has been, I mean, it's been big, in my opinion. It's been a big jump. So I have really liked what I've seen from the O line. I think, again, Crippin has been great. Gornair has been great. I think Fobie's gotten a lot better, even just the last two weeks. Link has improved mightily compared to last year. So got some past pro stuff.

And then I think Sprague is tracking to be kind of one of those guys in the next, you know, potentially this year, but then in the next couple of years, I think he's going to be a guy that Michigan is very glad that they're able to snag. I mean, he's a recruit. you're looking at this offensive line as you really like links progression you really like sprags progression and then you have babelola and tie haywood on the outside here in the future and it's like man that that's pretty good um real quick on the offense i just saw this uh because you know i's got tabs up going back and forth making sure i'm correct in what i say on stats and such like that um the sixth fastest

according to real analytics, the six fastest college football player this past Saturday was Bryce Underwood, 21.3 miles per hour on his touchdown run. And the fourth fastest was Justice Haynes at 21.5. So Bryce is maybe a lot faster than we think because of the long strides and he's bigger. That's elite speed, let alone quarterback, but at any position. Well, I will say the two, you know, the two runs that he's had in the past, two weeks, nobody was catching him, right? So I mean, he had a great run on that last drive, too, to get him into first and goal on that quarterback power for like, I think it was 12 yards.

Yeah. He's just different. Kids different. And we haven't even seen it all. We have not seen it all. I don't think that they have, I just, I don't think we have seen the full Bryce Underwood experience yet. I'm so excited. I also think, like, I know that there's the whole green light and unleashing, you know, Bryce and all this stuff. I think that they're playing it well, though, like, you don't want him to just like, you know, you've seen, you watched what happened to J.J. McCarthy with the Vikings in that game. And it's like, man, you don't need to have them run wild right away, like slow it, slowly, you know, work into it. And I like the way that they're working, you know,

Bryce into this. It's not, hey, do it all in week one. from day one all that so um i mean you just have to love i i really i do think we need to get to a point with bryce um where he's throwing for 200 yards every single week i do think you probably you know obviously uh goal number one is to win every football game um but i think for his progression like hey we need to throw it you know he needs to be like 18 of 25 for 200 yards here that's that's got to be the goal every single week yeah and i mean again his receivers help him out he's at 200 yards he's probably like 17 to 22 200 yards you know a touchdown um again i you know that one to mccoli that was that's one of those throws right yeah and you're seeing for those every week he's making

those throws where you're like okay like he has another one on a crosser to is it mcculli where he's he flips his hips rolls to his left fires um yeah the kid just got it man i'm i'm i I'm so excited to see him progress throughout the rest of the year. This is a big, hey, improvement week. It's not an off week, man. I mean, that's, you know, I'm sure that's going to, you know, continue even after Jim Harbaugh left. Like, it's a work week. And, you're excited to see.

I think there's going to be some guys getting healthy. And, you know, like, going back to the defense, I think, you know, Zeke Barry's been out since Oklahoma. And Jayon Sanders has been a dog. Yeah. But he is, I mean, he has been phenomenal. So you've gotten a lot of guys, a lot of experience. You're going to have another few games, you know, before and after.

the USC game where you're going to be able to get some guys some run because I think Wisconsin is just broken. He may be fired by the time that game gets here. Purdue, you know, they looked, I mean, offensively, they put up 30 on Notre Dame, which I think says more about Notre Dame, that does them. But, you know, they get 56 dropped on their head. So you're going to have some opportunities to potentially, you know, get some big leads and get some guys some experience because that's going to pay dividends come November. So, yeah, man, good win. Love beating Matt Rule. wait for his podcast. I'm going to go check it out. Dude, having a podcast as a coach is so funny because, like, I mean, just obviously

there's so many reasons for it being funny. But, like, the fact that you have to go and literally, like, talk like we are right now after you get beat, like, I mean, just not a good idea. No, I mean, that's why Jim Harbaugh got rid of his, right? Yeah. I'm surprised Jim didn't get more flack for his podcast. I mean, it was his dad. it was mostly them just like chatting about life and football it wasn't like i feel like matt rules is like breaking down the game a little bit more yeah which is crazy yeah i mean but um oh last thing i wanted to say too um that oklahoma loss they go out and beat auburn like they're top 10 team right now too so um you know you look at the schedule and it's like

okay you go and win the games that you're supposed to now for the rest of the year um and it's like, okay, you don't have a, you know, that loss looks really good. They look really good. Mateer continues to look like that's making me feel better about what he did do us. And also, their defensive line had 10 sacks on Auburn on Saturday, right? So I think that that is making me feel a lot better about our offensive line as well. So I don't know. Yeah, I think they're a top 3D line in the country.

And I think the other thing, too, to think about is, again, like, Barham, I think in that game makes a big difference in the first half, especially if they had, again, gone back into Springball, if they had said, all right, Barham's at edge, Sullivan and Rolder are going to kind of rotate alongside Ernest Hausman. Right. I think he makes a huge difference in that first half, and that game maybe looks a little bit different. But, you know, it is what it is. It's in the past, and it's a non-conference game. You've got a 12-team playoffs, so it doesn't really hurt you that much. would have been great to have. But again, man, I feel like we looked at that schedule. I mean, we talked about it earlier in the year. One of our more higher-viewed shows was

literally just Michigan has a favorable schedule as a title. I mean, it is. I like where we sit, going into the bye week, get back home, tailgate pre-Wisconsin. Well, obviously, I have some shows before then, but, I mean, I'm excited for a week off. This weekend, by the way, is insane. So I'm kind of glad that we have a bye week because Ole Miss LSU, Penn State, Oregon. I'm sure there's some other games. But this Saturday is going to be incredible. You know, enjoy some Woods and Whiskey. And then we'll get back on the Tailgate Saddle on, you know, early October. Absolutely. I poured myself a little victory, Woods and Whiskey on Saturday. I had to leave my bottles in someone's car because I was going into the stadium and then I didn't come back to the tailgate.

I have to bring those home after the Wisconsin game because I've been I've been itching for some of that that maze and blitz. And I'm going to be honest, we're partnered with them. I don't want to buy it. I want the perks of the free stuff. You know what I mean? I feel you. I feel you. No.

So yeah. So shout off Feldman Chevrolet of Highland. Working with them is amazing. Go check them out. And yeah. And of course, wits and whiskey. Also can't vodka water.

So we will be back. I don't know if we'll do another podcast this week with it being a bye week. We'll have move out of the numbers. We'll have Strack and Worm. I've got all the thumbnails and stuff for that. Those we got this week. Maybe we get another guest on.

Just shoot the shit with some people. Yeah. Maybe Ryan, DJ, Ray, just come on, you know, chop it up just with the homie. You know, we need to get Belino on the show, man. Oh, I like that. You know who we don't need to get on or not because I wouldn't love to talk to him. Zach Winfield would make me so depressed about the Detroit Tigers. So maybe wait until at least after.

they blow this for like a couple weeks and then we can get Zach on blue by 90 alum doing big things as the PA guy in camerica but uh that's tough that's real tough tough situation hopefully the lions tonight uh against the ravens uh do a lot better that's a huge game for them um but all right well for us you can follow us at blue by 90 on twitter it's here on facebook at blue by 90 podcast on youtube and blue by 90.com we appreciate you go blue go blue