Blue By Ninety - Michigan football turns to another quarterback...

Episode Date: September 17, 2024

Justin and Tanner react to the news that Alex Orji will start over Davis Warren in the Big Ten opener vs. USC.

all right welcome back to blue by 90 i'm justin joined by tanner today it is monday september 16th that we are recording this and michigan is on to its next quarterback we've got a quarterback change for the michigan wolverines we are heading into week four i i will just should we just start there i feel like there are a lot of things we can talk about we haven't even you know fully uh gone over the arkansas state game which i think that will obviously parlay into what we're talking about with the quarterback change um but i think just in general i want to talk through the vibes of switching your quarterback after week three after a national championship run yeah i mean it's interesting um is that what it is it's interesting like so this whole thing is

weird with the quarterback situation right because no starter gets officially announced before week one against fresno State Davis Warren obviously comes out and he starts the first three games of the year which actually let me let me sorry I had something in there that like everybody and their brother thought it was going to be Alex Orji until three days before and then it was like yeah everyone's it's like oh it's the davis warren show it's the day so that adds to it a little bit yeah so dude i don't even know where to start with this like i have so many questions um kind of some concerns like not actually not kind of i use qualifying words way too often yeah i have concerns because i and it's the whole thing, going back to whenever Sharon took over,

and we talked about this, and to your point, slim pickings in the spring portal. So who can you go get to play quarterback that's transferring after spring practice, which is not ideal, right? You want that time to be able to get those 15 practices in February and March, April. And they don't get a quarterback. And all offseason and all the fall camp all the insider sites 247 on three and rivals it was alex orgy it was alex orgy and he is you know he didn't pull away with the job but they said davis warren was playing really good but all the tea leaves

pointed to alex orgy taking over as the starter i mean multiple outlets were like it's a done deal with that yeah without saying as many words that that's what they said right right so you know you texted me a couple days before the kickoff uh the opener like it might be davis and we love davis we've had davis on the pod he's a great guy obviously everyone knows his story he's he's just a phenomenal kid um really really awesome dude to be around so we were all excited for davis you know just personally but still in the back of my mind like what the hell happens right right like what what went down and obviously we've seen the performance over the first three weeks and look saturday there was a

lot of really good mixed in with some really just bad right the three picks i i want to talk about that for a second before we talk through the change i let let's recap the arkansas state game for a second because we when i when i met up with you on sunday to to uh get some tailgate stuff. Shout out. I'm drinking a North Peak Switchback. So this is the Clementine wit. Phenomenal. Phenomenal.

Got a lot of those in the bed of my truck still. They will be at the tailgate this weekend too. So come by the Chrysler parking lot and come hang out with us. But shout out North Peak Brewing. Head to Jolly to jolly pumpkin pretzel bell grizzly peak any of those spots uh and you can grab one of these this is one of my favorite beers that they have the switchback um got a nice little orangish taste um but davis like outside it's weird to say like outside of the three picks right like you know okay obviously the three picks had a huge impact into the outcome of the game they end up winning um i don't know it there the chart came out today of like how bad did you really lose or how big

did you really win michigan was like the fourth team on how how how much you really won by right and so they they like they dominated the game if without those three interceptions in the turnovers and the penalties which again i'm not saying those aren't a huge part of the game because they absolutely are and that's why michigan's making a change but like date without those three davis is 11 for 11 for you know 120 some yards and like and michigan's running the ball the offensive line is playing pretty well like those three interceptions just overshadowed an actually great day for Michigan football, which is weird to say, but like, I don't know. So do you, do you have a comment on that part too? Yeah. I mean, you know, without those two picks in the first half, Michigan might be up

35, nothing into halves. Right. And they're driving to go up 28 to three. Um, you know, they have another drive in the third where he throws his third which you know marion walker falls down but it's double covered to samaj the first one to the first one like dono should have picked up the the block but david should just take the sack instead of trying to throw it out yeah the second one his elbow gets hit and it like goes straight into the guys you know straight down and so like it i'm not trying to be the guy that's like, you know, oh, if this would happen, they'd be good. Or, like, they're only a couple plays away.

But it is like a weird, you know, a couple things go differently, and we're talking about this game very, very differently. Yeah, I mean, you know, it wasn't perfect, obviously, turnovers. There was a lot of penalties on the defensive side of the ball, too. But I really kind of saw what I needed to see. I mean, Michigan runs for over 300 yards. They did that in 2022 against Penn State. Last year against Washington in the National Championship.

So, like, that's not super often that they're rushing for over 300 yards. I thought, dude, I got the pff grades in front of me clom always have 20 snaps 15 for a buck 50 and two touchdowns i mean you cannot ask for better than that right so the run games you know the run game is doing its thing and davis has his his terrible issues so they pull and made it seem at least from what i saw and heard it seemed more like a teaching opportunity. Well, then here today on Monday, Sharon comes out and says, Orgy's starting.

And it's like, it's just been handled really poorly, in my opinion. Look, Davis has six picks in three games. Not great, right? Like, not ideal. Like, I agree with you there. Like, I don't know that it's been handled in the best way. I don't think that either quarterback right now has confidence going into. Exactly.

Like, you flip-flopped it. Like, now, like, because what happens if Orgy doesn't play well? Do you go to Jayden Denigle or Jack Tuttle? Like, I just. Is Jack Tuttle even healthy enough to play? Like, are you going to, you know, Jayden Denigle, Jayden Davis? Like, you're going to guys that have zero starts now rather than, not even zero starts, like barely any experience.

No snaps, right? No real snaps. And so, I mean, I think that I just, I wish it was handled differently. I don't know. I think that this offseason had a lot of just like uncertainty, you know, for the first time in a long time, for the first time in three years, Michigan didn't know who it's, you know, who's going to go with. Because even let's be real with ourselves, even during the Cade versus JJ stuff, we all knew it was eventually going to be JJ. It was just when that they were going to do it. Right? And so, I don't know, man. I think that it's been interesting, to say the least, on how it's been handled.

And now I think you kind of backed yourself into a corner a little bit by making a change in weeks four. Leading into the Big Ten conference slate with usc coming to town so here's my thing if you ever thought you were going to turn to orgy then why did you not give each guy a half against fresno state and why did you not give each guy a half against arkansas state and when orgy was in the game on saturday i'm looking at a snap count five pass plays to 12 run plays right so is that going to be the offense because it's not creative enough to just run Alex Orji consistently there's

not enough in this playbook and in this ski right now I saw Alex here's a here's something that I have a problem with why is Alex Orji under center what are we doing it's almost even more egregious than having Denard Robinson under center with Brady out because you take away the one thing that he's really, really good at. And that's the quarterback run. And that's putting a defense into a situation where it's 11 on 11 and you have to account for the quarterback.

And so your running backs are able to get through the line a little bit easier. You have to account for Alex orgy. So you put them under center and it's like, all right, we're just going to bring 11 dudes. Well you put him under center and it's like, all right, we're just going to bring 11 dudes. Well, I think I also think, you know, okay.

They make a change mid game, right? Because Davis throws his third interception. First of all, in the moment, I don't think that's the wrong move. Right. Because I think that anybody who throws three interceptions, whether like you've got a half interceptions, your hand is forced. No matter how it works, obviously there was a lot of frustration with the fans, with the team, with everybody. I think you're forced to do that.

But to your point, if then you're going to go with Orgy, you're not going to lose that game against Arkansas State, right? So let him throw. Let him air it out more than anything. We know he can run. You don't need to prove to me or prove to yourselves that Alex Orgy can run the read option against Arkansas State. But you do need to prove to yourselves more than me, even, that Alex Orji can throw.

And so why, honestly, you said 17 snaps? All 17 of those, in my opinion, or close to it, should have been passing plays. Get him as many in-game reps as you can, because if you're in your mind going to trot him out there, or if there's even a chance that you're trotting him out there as the starting quarterback in week four when usc comes to town who's played well by the way this is not a this is not even like a caleb williams like caleb williams is the number one pick and their team was was not good this is a good usc team who beat you uh lsu right and so if you had any inkling

that you were going to try alex orgy out as a starting quarterback this week you have to see okay let's see what he can do when we do have to ask him to throw the ball yeah i don't think they had any inkling and i think they're just flying by the suit of their pants right now. Like that's what it feels like. Like, it doesn't feel like there's a plan. It's the same thing that we talk about with this offense and not like Donovan played well, right? Like just here's a point that I'd want to make.

Donovan played well. I thought he ran hard. I thought he did a good job of finding the hole and picking up yards. And he did a good job. But Kahlil picking up yards. And he did a good job. But Kahlil Mullings clearly is a difference maker and is a guy that can break tackles and can bust long runs. And he gets 20 snaps. And he gets 15 carries.

So, you're tipping your hand, first of all. But secondly, there's an issue in the wide receiver room. I said it last week. Line him up as a slot. Like, there should be, here's my thing. Don Edwards club Bowling's and Max Bredesen are three of the best skill players on your team.

I want them to get more snaps than anybody else. I don't need to see Michigan go five wide with four wide receivers and Colson level. You got to work. You got gotta work with what you got right play to your strengths absolutely right you don't need it listen jim harbaugh didn't go five wide with you know when he knew jay nico right like even though i wish you i wish you would have after watching cj stroud throw to nico coll But he, you know, my point being, like, in 2021, right, that was no spread offense.

He knew what he had, and he played. He's like, I know that we have a damn good offensive line. We have a bell cow of a running back with Hassan Haskins, and we have an average quarterback in Cade McNamara. So what did he, except for that Michigan State game where he knew that the MSU defense, that secondary was terrible, then they tried to throw the ball all over the place.

Outside of that, they ran the ball. They did what they do really well. You don't need, like, to your point, like, we're thin at the wide receiver position i don't think anybody's gonna try to tell you differently so then don't try to throw the ball all over the place i don't know i don't know i don't know man it's um i mean michigan it's very interesting it's you know it's feels almost like a year zero now which it shouldn't with all the talent everywhere but now it feels like a transitional year and it feels like a year where michigan should on paper

be poised to make some noise and do something and maybe upset a team or two that all the media folks love now it's like can they even get to seven wins like i don't know again if orgy was going to be the guy all the way up until August 28th, then why is the offense the exact same? Because you cannot run last year's offense with Alex Orgy. What you should have done is had an install over the off season and in spring practice and in fall camp to make the offense take advantage of what Alex Orgy does really well and make his life easier and make him, put him in an offense where he can you know make the throws he needed to make if i'm usc i'm just loading the hell out of the box until he makes a deep throw

right and then also honestly honestly even if he does just keep on the box is he gonna do it twice right like i i don't know i probably would take my chances here's my other point why they announce this i i i thought about that that's like so not jim harbaugh ask like he would go in until you know 329 on saturday with nobody knowing what's going to happen right and actually it you know as much as that annoyed me over the years because it was so jim harbaugh and he did it to the extreme if there was ever a time to do that it's now because your two quarterbacks are so completely opposite right and you want them so i mean i understand like if you want to if you want to have your team feel confident in orgy right if you want to have orgy feel confident in himself like i get that part but if there's ever time just to keep it inside

champ beckler hall let everybody there know but not let usc know like i i don't know there's just don't see the upside to it i agree and and to your point i i wanted to ask you like what will this offense look like they installed it can't be the same offense with davis warren because you know it might be justin it might be it might be if that's the case i'm going to be probably pretty disappointed because i don't know, again, I'm not trying to be this, like, Davis Warren stand that will die for him. You would. I would.

I love him. I love him to death. He's an awesome human being. We're Foxhole guys. Remember. We are Foxhole guys. But, like, dude, when he was on, he was on. Right?

And they were kind of slinging it all over the place at times. Right? Obviously, the running game was working really well, but he was throwing it all over the place. I say that for the reason of is that the offense that they're going to run on Saturday? Can they run that offense? I don't think so.

So then, like, are you now in week four installing a completely new offense? Or what's the plan here? Tell me. Tanner, help me out. I have no idea what it's going to look like, right? Because basically what we've seen from Alexlex orgy this season is zone read zone read zone read maybe maybe we'll motion the running back out and there's no threat to pass and we'll run a qb power and i'll get stuffed um which is very disappointing because i've watched teams around college football i'm gonna

be watched much of the uh if you got to catch any of the lSU, South Carolina game, Lenora sellers, they ran a, they ran a power read. Right. So when he keeps the ball, instead of bouncing outside, he was right up the defense and he torched them. And it's like, where is that? Where's that play? Right. Like there's so many plays I watched a lot of college football in the NFL where I'm like, I used to watch Michigan be like, wow, Michigan is creative. Like they're doing cool stuff you know interesting things i mean all right let's let's just go back it wasn't that long ago i remember it vividly the rosemont last year i felt like we had the game plan of a lifetime

against alabama every single play had motion in it they had no fucking clue what was coming at them 90 of the time and it was still let me tell you it was power 90 of the time right but like they didn't we ran it so many different ways. And that was like, that was the thing with Sharon Moore and Kirk Campbell at the helm was that everything was so creative. And so my question being, where did that go? It's only been nine months, right? And it feels like a completely different offense. I understand Jim Harbaugh has gone.

Was he super involved in the play calling at the time or building the game plan? I think more from a game plan perspective, I think, you know, early on in his tenure, it was that, you know, we were pissed because there was three guys involved. It was Jed Fish. It was Tim Dreven and Jim Harbaugh. It was like, you know, they're going down to five seconds on the play clock

and, you know, it wasn't super efficient. And so, you know, Jim in 21, or I guess 19, but 19 through 21, hands over the reins to Gattis, right? And he's still involved. He's still involved with the play calling and the game planning and the scripting and all those sorts of things. But, yeah, I'd be really curious because, man, last year year was charone is the head coach against penn state i mean look they run it a ton they can't block in the past game and they're running qb stretch with jj on third and 13 picking it up they're

running a draw because penn state's defensive ends are just pass rushing the entire game i mean it was unbelievable because that was that's a great example as well where penn state throws stuff at us right that we can't stop can't stop but immediately chiron more pivots and figures it out like in an instant it feels like right like it was mid first quarter early second quarter he figures it out and adjusts the game plan. And from there, to your point, we were moving it and making shit happen. And I don't know. I have not seen the adjustments.

Yeah, so I don't know what the hell the offense is going to look like on Saturday, man. Like, I'm very curious. Maybe morbidly curious. Like, I'm sounding very negative um i know we're we're bitching we're bitching my background dude i will not bitching but like just raising some concerns with what's happened because i'll set all this right like let's forget the quarterback play subpar and offensively has not been great and the situation at running back is still very murky and it's like i don't know how it's not clear just think about the defense and how many times these guys miss tackles they hit guys i mean quinn johns has been

here since 2020 and maybe even 2019 i don't even know and hits a dude on the third and 20 out of bounds and you have a bunch of you know penalties that are sending drives for arkansas state and you have guys just missing tackles in the open field um now granted starters on defense i thought played their ass off i think by the time they were pulled out they gave up 110 yards you know and then the first one they gave up was off the interception that for the first time felt like to me this defense doing what they were supposed to do yep right where like last year this team both sides of the ball it was always like oh they've got a soft schedule they're doing this that like they are they really that good but then we'd leave every single game being like yeah they just pounded the shit out of

nebraska at nebraska they did you can call their schedule soft but they did what they were supposed to do on saturday yeah and i didn't see that in week one i definitely didn't see that in week two this defense for the first time in week three i saw that so if you want to take away a positive that's got to be your positive right it's like it felt like the defense got in their groove now can you do that against a high-powered usc offense i don't know but i'd rather see them get into some type of rhythm going into this game yeah i mean you know there was a lot of folks on twitter that were like oh michigan won 28 18s like dude they give up two touchdowns and garbage time to guys that were getting 40s in the pff grading

uh you know with five minutes left so you know pretty dominant from the defense um again offensively you know i guess we can move past this quarterback thing spent 22 minutes on it but you know offensively i thought um you know i thought there was some some movement uh with crippen in there i know jadis slid over to right guard l hoddy had some um assignment issues but overall i mean dude outside of the right tackle uh but the old line played pretty good there's just again more and more pass pro issues that are like you want to ask you want to you want to know why dav warned through three interceptions? At least two of those were pressure issues. First one, definitely don't throw it.

But I don't know if he's trying to get out of bounds and have the arm strength to get there. But, I mean, dude, he's just – guys are unblocked coming in. So, I don't know, man. Like, I have no idea. Andrew Gentry played 14 snaps as a jumbo O-line. Jumbo tight end, excuse me, 6-0 six alignment. Like, I don't know, man. It feels like they're kind of just like, we don't really know. And they do know, but you see it on the field. It's like, really?

Like how much better is he in practice to come out here on Saturdays? And then you switch somebody out. It's like, Whoa, that Crippen was in for the two long drives that were touched out. So it's like, I don't, I just it's like, I just don't know, man. I'm confused. And again, I'm not as smart as anybody in that building. That's for damn sure, right? That's for damn sure.

I'm not going to act like it. And they see things that we don't see a lot. But it did feel like, I don't know, sometimes it's like, you got to ride the hot hand, right? Like if something's working with Krippen in there, you got to, you know. I'm sure they both showed, as Sharon said in his press conference today, I'm sure they both showed good promise and they've battled. But I have two questions one like to my dumb eye i'm i'm not i i

i know football pretty dang well right but i'm not a savant i'm not you know i'm not an offensive line coach um but it just seemed things were clicking a lot better, in my opinion, when Krip was in there. So there's that part. Number two, how deep into the season can you go with a center battle? I mean, that right there. Friday before the first game, brother. I think, you know, I asked Seth Fisher this as well. And, like, dude, at some point, don't you just go with one of them? If they're that close, then you need to just make a decision and run with it.

And you're not going to have that big of a drop off either way. Right. You have to make a tough business decision. And you know what? I'll say it right now. Like, that's what Jim Harbaugh was best at. Love him or hate him for it. Some players hated him for it because he is cold as ice sometimes but that's why he's a good football coach because

he made business decisions yeah I'll tell you what that's what Nick Saban's done his whole career that's what Bill Belichick has done his whole career. Nick Saban benched his starting quarterback at halftime of the national championship game. Yeah. He also started Notre Dame lacrosse star Tyler Buckner over Jalen Millero last year. And look what Jalen Millero did. Shit happens. I don't know. You got to have like got to have some juice to you.

I'm not like again, i don't know what's going inside that building like i i don't know but it feels like they're you know we're we're being too nice a little bit and sometimes you just gotta say hey you're not getting the job done we're gonna go to the next guy and it feels a little bit also like we don't know what's going to work, so we're going to try all of it. You know? I don't know, man. Again, we're being pretty damn negative for a 2-1 team that won on Saturday, for sure.

But I think, like, and again, I do want to go back to, like, I'm being negative. We're bitching a little bit. We're doing all that if davis's arm doesn't get hit on that throw if he takes the sack are we let's let's say he even just has one interception i feel that we're thinking about this game a lot differently yeah and we're not talking about the quarterback change which is just crazy to me um yeah i don't know um this year's been weird so far dude it's only since ever 16th

and it's been very strange shut up time for Michigan. This early, game four. It does feel like the season's on the line. Right? We said it at the same time because that's what it feels like. Right? Now, look, they lose to USC, and it's a good game. It's not the end of the world.

But, man, for all the talk, all the bravado coming out of the building, this defense is going to be better than last year. These guys are balling. I think, dude, let's be real with ourselves for a second. That was, like, I love Sam. That was the Sam Webbs of the world who's just, like, trying to pump up Michigan as much as possible. That's my opinion.

I, you know, I think he's Sam. Sam knows ball. There's no doubt about that. Right. Like he knows what he's talking about. He gets great information. Right. So that's not even Sam saying that.

That's coming. Sam's not a practice. It's coming from inside the building. But I think that. I think we were all drinking the juice a little bit let's be real let's be real with ourselves for a second but um last thing i want to ask you is like we've already talked about it a little bit but what are your realistic expectations for orgy on on saturday dude i honestly i have no idea like do you want like optimistic hopeful copium projections for me i don't know how to call it we've ever done honestly i don't know how to call

it bro like i really don't um you know he's thrown one pass beyond five yards this year And that was to Freddie Moore Which, by the way, you know, I know Jake said Freddie was jogging out of his break I kind of saw that too because he sped up at the end Maybe he sprints, he catches it I don't know why he's jogging out of a double move on a post when he's very clearly wide open But man, Freddie Moore, I thought, had some nice plays on Saturday Like, probably looked like the best.

He looked the most like a wide receiver of any of the wide receivers this year. Right? Like, he was making some plays. That's another guy that we heard leading into this year, like he's going to be one of the guys. And then we've seen very little. Right, like was he hurt? He had three snaps against Fresno State on Saturday.

He had 25. I don't remember what he had against texas but which i don't remember out there i i think like if i'm being very honest i i'd rather see that but they're especially in that wide receiver room there's not much to lose right so go try it like that's where i'm talking about the j Harbaugh being cold, right? Like, you know, like, that's what it takes to be a great coach. Hey, if you can't get it done as the top guy, we're going to the next guy. That should be the expectation. You're Michigan, man.

Even more so, these guys are getting paid now. So, like, sorry about your feelings, but this is the defending national champions right like this should not you want to be a big boy you gotta play big boy ball right exactly like i told you i'm at the point where i want to see a marion stewart dude true freshman wide receiver why not four star like i just want to see something resembling what a wide receiver looks like you know tyler morris was out so you know we'll see i mean we know we know he's got potential i mean i don't know if he's got the ability to put

up big numbers over 12 games but we know that he has potential to be you know a decent wide receiver that's all we need is decent right we just need decent quarterback play decent receiver play decent center and tackle play i mean that's what isn't that what we said leading into the season was this offense doesn't need to be unbelievable they need to take care of the ball and they have not done that and that's the unfortunate part and the penalties so i i guess i might um uh we'll end with this now too my my biggest concerns i tweeted this out yesterday, I believe it was, as well, which was the discipline side of the board. I think that that's probably my most disappointing piece of this. Listen, I get it.

There's a talent drop-off. We have inexperienced QBs. We've got an inexperienced offensive line. There was an entirely new defensive staff, right? The one thing that will drive me up a wall is when you have false starts. I love Marlon Klein, too. Cann starts of a false i love marlin klein too cannot do a fault you cannot jump off sides right you cannot twitch there and

that and in turning over the ball what did you pull up the tweet at all or what were you looking up no i was just looking at the pFF grades over there on my second monitor. No, dude, I'm with you. I'll pull it up while you talk. Go ahead. Yeah, I mean, you can't have false starts at home. Can't have holds. Defensively, can't have late hits out of bounds on a third and 20

when the quarterback scrambles for eight yards. You just cannot have it. Can't miss so many tackles. You know, like, just a lot of things you did not see last year from the same guys. From a lot of the same guys, you're seeing issues. And it's like, where is that coming from? So, the tweet, I put it out.

Michigan football in 2023 versus 2024. In 2023, for turnover margin, they were first in the country. 2024, 115th. For penalties per game, tied for first in 2023. And in 2024, 43rd. Those, that's not going to win you football games.

Right? I think that my follow-up to that, Those, that's not going to win you football games, right? I think that my follow-up to that, to those stats was, yes, was Michigan ultra-talented last year? There's no doubt. You saw that by the NFL draft with 13 guys getting drafted for UDFAs. You can talk about all these guys, right? but how Michigan won was by taking care of the football and not committing penalties being first in both those categories I think if you ask Jim Harbaugh he would tell you that's the key to us winning a national championship is we were smart and

disciplined and that's not the case right now no man and you know you think about last year's team they needed to be number one in both those categories right they don't recruit five stars at every position to be able to just out talent you yeah they had a lot of great talent but they were extremely disciplined they were technically sound fundamentally sound uh their position groups um and they took care of the football right so i think if you if you look think if you take those numbers that you just read off and put them on last year's team, that team goes 9-3. Seriously?

Think how many close games you're in, right? Think of – you know, you beat Iowa, what, 26-0? Think of what happens if you have a couple penalties here that extend the drive for Iowa when they're not moving the ball and they get a little momentum and think of, hey, you know, you're marching down, you turn it over, and that turns into points for Iowa, right like just thinking of that game even those like i mean everything is within like even though you go 15 and 0 every single game is within the inches because of the way the ball i know not every not the ones in east lansing but some of all

that one we could have fumbled 25 times and still won that nebraska minnesota yeah but yeah later in the season right like that's in those big games um did did michigan michigan turned over uh jj threw a couple picks against maryland which made it closer but penn Penn State, Ohio State, they didn't turn the ball over. I don't believe so. They turned it over once against Alabama on a muffed punt. Did they turn it over against Washington? I don't believe so. I don't think they turned it over against Iowa either. Yeah, I'd love to look.

Actually, what I should go back and look up is their turnover margin in just those four or five big games last year honestly if you just if you like if you take out jj's three picks against bowling green last year they what turned over like a few times literally it's like you can count it on one hand yeah they were elite in that department so this year obviously you turn the ball over i mean dude football coaches are so cliche and it's so but it's like it's tried and true right like you cannot turn over the football and expect to win like it decreases your win probability by so much each time you do it right so and then with the penalties

not a recipe for success well i mean let's let's look at Saturday this past Saturday as an example yes Michigan overpowered them because they were an inferior opponent and they ended up winning that ball game but to your point without those turnovers it's 35-0 at halftime yeah

and we're rolling and Alex Orji gets in the game as a backup because they sit Davis Warren because they don't need to play him anymore. Like that's the case. And it's, you know, again, we're being very negative and there's a lot to be positive about.

There's a lot to be negative about with this football team. But there are a couple just discipline issues with this football team. And we said it leading into this year, like, you know, going to that Texas game, right? Like the way that they could win that bowl game is that you don't turn the ball over and you play good defense and you just, you know, let's try and run the ball and get going. And they turn the

ball over and it turns from a 10 to 3 game to all of a sudden what was it at halftime 24 to 3 you have on the first drive you have a false start so when donovan gets six yards it's second and nine instead of second and four right like yeah texas kicked michigan's ass right don't get it twisted but that's a game that they really helped tex Texas along the way you know they made it a lot easier Michigan beat themselves still like both things can be true so that would have been a much more competitive game if Michigan didn't turn it over in the way that they did um but would they have been able to move the ball enough to score who knows um but there's a lot of football to be played and there's a lot of teams that michigan can be if they take care of the football even if you're punting which what's going on tommy

dillman like what is the monsters take his ability i don't understand there's a monster last year we need to like can we phone iowa i need the guy with my favorite t-shirt at the Big Ten Championship in 2021 was at Brothers when the guy's shirt said punting is winning. There is not a better t-shirt out there. Well, he's doing a lot of punting with the Chicago Bears now, Justin. Well, we need to get some of their superpowers down there but i like that's another one to be honest that to me that's part of the discipline side of things is michigan also won the last three years by having the best special teams in the country hands down yep never made a mistake right you have moody that's just dominant right and and then brad robbins is a star

and then you go last year like now you have zavada who's falling out in the field like but what if you can't get you know if you especially if your offense isn't working like it has in the past three years you need to be able to play field position absolutely michigan has not been able to do that. They don't have to play field position on Saturday. Like, I think defensively Michigan will be able to match up with USC and cause some issues. But if they're giving them a short field

and Michigan's defense is on the field the entire time, then it might be a moot point. So, yeah, I mean, I don't know. And I don't think we're being that negative. I think we're just being pretty damn blunt about it. Right? I agree. We're not bluffing at all. Right? I don't think we're being that negative. I think we're just being pretty damn blunt about it. I agree. There's nothing here that's

turning an ant hole or ant hill into a mountain. It's very real. It's on the field, man. This is what we see. We're talking about what we see. Although, Andrew Vistardis said I sounded like I know ball.

I appreciate that, brother. Big 10 champion Andrew Vistardis came by sounded like I know ball. I said, I appreciate that, brother. You do know ball. Big 10 champion Andrew Vistardis came by the tailgate and plays flip cup. What a guy. Dude, by the way, no one cares. I talked to him about it. No one cares about this that listens to our podcast. But I've gotten a lot better at flip cup this year.

Like, I just want it to be known. Like, I'm kind of balling out there. And it feels great. The couple times during the Texas tailgate tailgate you said it to me you're like dude i don't want to say it right now but like i've i've won most games i've been like i know i've been locked in like we were playing on saturday i was getting one flip dude because there's nothing worse you're just like fuck you're just flipping it you're just getting stuck and everyone's looking at you that's the worst i feel like okay being being stuck on flip cup it's kind

of like when you're going through the airport security and you know how as soon as you get there, you're trying to get everything out. I feel like it's kind of like that. But I think being stuck on flip cup is as close as we will get to feeling the pressure of like 100,000 people and being the QB coming into Michigan. For sure, man. You know? But yeah,

that's just the opinion from somebody who doesn't know ball at the highest level, but you know, knows, knows a little bit. We got to give ourselves more credit, my opinion, bro. I don't know, man. Like we're not analytics guys. We're not, we're not in depth review guys like go blog or anything, but like, I've watched a ton of football in my life and played a lot. We're reporting on what we're seeing. You know what I mean?

It's like – and I think it would be easy for us to fluff it up and say, oh, it's not that bad. You'll see it. But I don't know. I need to see more. I need to see better. Yeah, man. you i'm with you so uh and i think what real quick on that too like i want it to be known as well like i think that the players and the coaches feel the exact same they want to get it right dude like they care more than literally anybody the couple hundred people at jimmy cagall they care more than all of us

combined let's be real that's what i i think that like if there's one take that pisses me off the most is like that guy just looks like he doesn't care out there or like whatever like okay if he didn't care that he wouldn't have been at 6 a.m waits every day this summer right he wouldn't have put in the issue the work like i've been that guy unfortunately in the past but it's like when they're like you know it's like a 2020 season i think i kind of okay that that's like an anomaly right i haven't said in a long time yeah but like i these guys care they want to get it right you know davis warren himself like there's nobody that wants to beat himself He's beating himself up over this, man.

It sucks, right? Because he busted his ass just to even get here. I know he's sick of that story. But, dude, the obstacles that he had to overcome to even get to this position in the first place, not even the position of being a starter, but just getting to play football at Michigan, playing football in college, it sucks, man. You wanted him to succeed.

But at the end of the day, for me, I just – it sucks, man. You wanted him to succeed. But at the end of the day, for me, it's about Michigan winning football games. And whoever gives them the best chance is who I want them to roll out there. Right? Like, we love Davis. He's the homie. And, you know, I hope that he has, you know, continued part of Michigan's success moving forward. So, you know, I just want it to be the guy that's going to win Michigan

the most football games this year that they can. That's all I care about. Couldn't agree more. Couldn't agree more. And I think all those guys, as much as they want it to be themselves, like Davis has told me that him and Alex are really, really close, and I think he's rooting for Alex's success this week. He didn't tell you that.

And that's genuine. As much as he – i'm sure he'd kill for it to be himself out there succeeding but he wants his brother to go win us a ball game and so we're on to usc we'll see what happens we'll have another podcast out for you guys later this week um so we'll uh you know i mean we'll see i i don't know i I don't know how much more we can say other than, like, let's see what happens, right? You know, if it goes well, it could be awesome. It also could go really poorly.

But we'll see what happens. So, for us, you can follow us at Blue by 90 on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, at Blue by 90 Podcast on YouTube, and blueby90.com. We appreciate you. Go Blue. Go Blue.