Blue By Ninety - Michigan Has a Very Favorable Schedule in 2025

Episode Date: December 12, 2024

Justin and Tanner breakdown Michigan's schedule in 2025.

All right, welcome back to Blue by 90. I'm Justin, joined by Tanner today. It is December 12th, and we are looking ahead to 2025. Let's be honest, not naming names, but some people have been looking ahead to 2025 for a little bit now. I mean, how excited are you for the Relya Quest Bowl? I am so excited against a Bama team that was one day arguing that they were going to be in the college football playoff. The next, they're playing Michigan. And in... Are we the 14th team? People are talking. We were a college football playoff snub. That's where I'm at right now.

It's very... You know, just the reaction from the announcement of people freaking out so first of all doesn't matter okay these i don't know it's been a long time since michigan hasn't been the playoff so maybe our fans are not you know cognitively they need to recalibrate of like it doesn't matter yeah like the bowl game against florida in 2018 who gives a shit the citrus bowl in Bowl in 2019 against Bama, who cares, right? Like, it just doesn't matter. What's the most important thing is that they get 15 practices. I think Michigan has, like, 16 early enrollees. So as we look ahead to 2025, a lot of guys are going to get an additional 15 practices

beyond just spring ball and fall camp next year. So this is important for Michigan's development, especially when you're talking about Bryce Underwood. So it's the practice. it's all that matters quick question for you actually before we talk about the schedule that was released who's getting the snaps in those bowl practices i i is it jayden davis is it davis warren is it bryce underwood is it you know who i i'm just curious honestly i know that you don't know that answer but i'm just how would you handle that if you were if you know more if it were me chip lindsey

can work exclusively with bryce underwood while steve casula who's the interim oc for the bowl game works with whatever offense they're gonna try underwood in the 2025 offense is like a whole different uh field or something. It's just all the guys that are maybe not ready to play right now that could be ready for 2025. I don't know if that's what it's going to look like, but I would assume there's, it's going to be a lot of individual coaching with Bryce Underwood off to the

side because it's probably going to be Davis Warren and Jaden Davis because Denigle's in the portal Tuttle's hurt or retired I don't know Alex Orji has not entered the portal I would love for him to stay I think he can be an asset for Michigan outside of being a quarterback so now with Chip Lindsay I mean I feel like you know and Alex Orji could be perfect for him. Yeah. Honestly, though, like the snaps that Orgy got, not as a starter, but as, you know, coming in throughout the game in 2025 and Bryce Underwood is not the starter, those need to be his snaps. Yeah.

He's more – I would say he's probably more athletic as far as, like, straight-line speed than Orgy, which, by the way, I don't know. I mean – Wait, sorry. You're saying that those need to be bryce's snaps that orgy step you need to treat bryce the way you did in 2021 with jj mccarthy where he comes in not just in mop-up time but in pivotal moments in 2021 if you remember jj mccarthy against wisconsin scored on a fourth and one quarterback sneak. He came into the Ohio State game.

He came into the Ohio State game. Did he use JJ similarly to how Texas is using Arch right now? Yes, exactly. That's a perfect comparison. So Bryce needs to get those snaps. I think Orgy potentially could maybe be a running back if he were to slim down and pick up some of that speed. It's funny.

I watched the 2023 Michiganigan ohio state cut up orgy looks so much more athletic last year yeah this year like when you watch him i know caleb downs is a really athletic guy but when he gets caught like that it's i don't know did he put on more weight going into 24 what i was confused about was the turn that he took it was like he was banana peeling a first base like you know going from first to second it was instead of like okay here's a huge hole let me you know jab step and cut up like it was like that that was the weirdest part to me it made you know one thing it was really cold and he was standing on the sideline for a long time maybe he was super stiff yeah um but yeah anyways to your point i think it's

interesting it'll be interesting how cheryl moore attacks this these bowl practices because i believe in just a couple days bryce underwood arrives on campus if i'm not mistaken so um you know he will be part of a lot of these bowl game or bowl practices i also you know i'm gonna be honest with you guys the listeners don't expect anybody to play of anybody of significance um you know i think that anybody that even is like a makari page or a quentin johnson that are going to go test the nfl waters and see you know they're going to try and make a team I think that they're better off right now going to train you know at some NFL type academy like a lot of these guys do so I just I'm trying to you know temper expectations for people you know you're definitely

not getting Mason Graham or Will Johnson or Colston Loveland or those guys, but even some of those late-round draft picks, I just don't expect to see. Yeah, I'm with you. We saw that in the 2018 bowl with Karan Higdon and Juwan Bushel-Batey, both guys that I think went undrafted and opted out of the bowl game. So, I don't know. It's tough. When you're a first-round pick, I totally get it, but when you're a fringe 6th, 7th, that can be all the difference in the world is having a breakout game

and you know being able to showcase your skills one last time and put that helmet on put that uniform on I mean you know we didn't obviously didn't play in Michigan but I assume that's you know that for those guys that's a special thing so we'll see what happens there but 2025 we'll see what they do in the portal it's tough to project all these teams but just from like a name brand recognition side of things the schedule is a lot easier this year than it was in 2024 so let's take a look at it uh hold on let me hide this for you um so yeah i i mean my first reaction like gut reaction when i saw this was like i'm we can go 12 and up absolutely like that and that's not like me crazy drinking the juice like bryce underwood juice or whatever

like this is a very favorable schedule for michigan um i mean i think whatever however many years ago when we scheduled texas and oklah Oklahoma in back-to-back years, it was like, oh, holy shit, we got to go to Oklahoma in 2025. All of a sudden, there's a chance with the portal that they look a lot better next year, but they were a bad football team this year. Yeah, and they go out and hire Ben Arbuckle, who was the office coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Washington State. Washington State had a quietly good year. Kind of fell apart down the stretch, kind of similar to what they did last year where they were ranked fairly highly. Five straight losses, I think, to end the year last year.

Yeah, and then they were, I think, 8-1 and finished 8-4. So we'll see, but I think that that quarterback from Washington State, it's rumored that he's following his office coordinator to Oklahoma. So we'll see. But I think that that quarterback from Washington State, it's rumored that he's following his office coordinator to Oklahoma. So we'll see, though. I mean, the Brent Venables era has been underwhelming, to say the least. That's a program that was very consistently in the playoffs from 2014 onward. I mean, look at the quarterbacks that they had. It went from, like, Baker to Kyler to Jalen Hurts.

I mean, they were cooking. And then Venables was supposed to be, I mean, he obviously was unbelievable at Clemson for them, and I still think a pretty big reason why Clemson has taken a step back over the past few years. But we've said this on the podcast multiple times about a bunch of different coaches. Sometimes it doesn't work out to be the actual head coach.

You're just an incredible deep coordinator, right? And so there's a chance that that's the case for Brett Venables. I'm not totally sure, but that's an interesting one. Obviously early in the season, the other gut reaction that i had uh no back-to-back home games yeah i think our wives are probably happy about that i are my liver claudia she was stoked she's like all year and i was like no there's no back-to-back home game

she's she just was like nice we i mean i'm so used to four or five home games straight in the beginning of the year and my liver is just like screaming at me like you cannot have another hail ipa this weekend otherwise you're gonna die and then i go out there and have like a bunch of them a bunch of suncruisers and truly yes you'll buy 90 beers and so um yeah i mean i also think i just like it from a fan's perspective of just like all right we're not gonna we don't have five in a row or four in a row or something and then we don't have a home game yes month that is nice that was that was the problem this year uh what five home games to start and then three the rest of the year so um the one thing i will say too is i like how the

buys set up because you have four games you've got five games and then you have four games uh including the big 10 championship maybe i'm getting a little ahead of myself i mean i like to go back to indiana i want to be back in indy i want to be back in any man so um yeah it's up nicely right like your toughest road test is at Nebraska. Um, as far as just a pure environment, maybe Oklahoma too. I'm sure that place will be rocking. Um, but I I've been in Nebraska. I'd like to go to Oklahoma this upcoming year. I think that'd be a lot of fun, but man, Nebraska is one of the best environments in college football. And I've been to Michigan, Ohio state games. I've been to a number of big 10, uh, campuses

and watch games that that place in lincoln man they they are loud um and i have to imagine like that's an early in the year so i don't i don't know what um their schedule is off the top of my head um but you know there's a chance i'm sure that there's three and oh going into that uh as well we're three and oh going into that they've got dylan raiola in the second year right like they're gonna be hyped up i imagine for that their schedule so they play cincinnati at lucas oil so they're going in they are going to indy so congratulations hold on hold on congratulations to nebraska for making it to Indianapolis. Pretty exciting stuff there. Some teams don't make it to Indy. Some teams haven't been there in like five, six years.

Yeah, some teams haven't been since COVID, and we all know that was a fake football season. Exactly. Do you want to know their schedule leading into Michigan? So it's Cincinnati, as I mentioned. Home against Akron. Home against Houston Christian. I mean, come on.

Come on. I never heard of Houston Christian. No. I heard of Houston Christian. I mean, come on. Come on. I never heard of Houston Christian. No. I've heard of Houston Baptist. I'm not even sure that that's an FCS school. I feel like that's like one lower. They are FCS. They started football in 2013.

Nebraska's not helping our argument against the SEC about playing all these episodes. I'd rather just... You might as well just play a Mac school and then it's like, alright, whatever. Still going to win, but Houston Christian, they're probably going to win 70-0. Their old record

in the history of their football program is 31-91. Oof. What are we doing? I'm going to be honest. I'm shocked that they have a football program with that going on. All right. Our schedule is more important.

That's what the video is about, but that's absurd. Are they satisfied with just beating Houston Baptist baptist here's houston christian so yeah uh i don't know man they played a lot of sinkers uh over the years so that's they they schedule very interesting all right um so i you know obviously i think you you're looking at the oklahoma game is an interesting one to get off the bat right you don't know what they are we probably we don't know what we are so it's two teams with a lot of unknowns going into that one um I do think that you know that's going to determine how this season goes right from the get-go right if you go in and win that game even if it's against a

eight and four let's say Oklahomalahoma ends up eight and four on the road against an sec school that's a big win right and so um i'm looking at that then to your point about nebraska like that's going to be a raucous environment i wouldn't be shocked if they try to make that a night game uh and you know that's a prime timer um and nebraska's going to load up like they have the same way that michigan has a three-year window right here with bryce underwood nebraska's in year two of their three-year window of dylan raiola right and so they are definitely you know going they're gonna go for it they're loading up in the portal right now i have to imagine um also i'm gonna stop uh shitting on nebraska right after this comment but did you see dylan

raiola's signing autographs at the chiefs game yeah as like essentially as patrick mahomes he's just cosplaying like i mean that's strange and then when he talks about like no i just i wore 15 because of tim jiba brother you were like four when he played right like, no, I just, I wore 15 because of Tim Tebow. Brother, you were like four when he played, right? Like you were watching Rugrats or something. Like I was in middle school when Tim Tebow was in college. Yeah. And I'm almost 30. So yeah, I don't know. That's

a very strange thing. But you know, so you have a chance to be 4-0. Hit the bye week. Hit the bye week. I love how Earl's about it. Right. Hit the bye week. Hit the bye week. I love how Earl's about to be. Right? Wisconsin has not been great under Fickle. I think that's been a really weird tenure.

You know, he hires Phil Longo from North Carolina, who was the office coordinator at UNC before Michigan's office coordinator, Chip Lindsay, was. But, you know, he leaves North Carolina and goes to Wisconsin. Luke Fickle's, like, trying to do this this air raid thing and then they're trying to get back to like wisconsin football i don't get it um that should be a game i mean we'll see what they do in the portal but i think that should be a game that michigan's able to win and that sets up a potentially big matchup in the coliseum yeah i mean i think that listen a lot of people are down on USC and, you know, they obviously had a roughing show in ann arbor where it didn't look like i mean michigan had no business winning that game and colal just breaks off one of the craziest

runs i've ever seen was i my point being usc is going to be good next year i don't know who their quarterback is going to be i'm hoping miller moss is our quarterback uh or one of them um right and so i don't know what their their situation is going to be but going to the coliseum i have i have to imagine at usc is going to be a lot of michigan fans a lot of michigan yeah los angeles and you know when like when michigan plays in the sweet 16 in los angeles or you know the case. There's always a lot of Michigan fans. There's a lot of Michigan alums in Los Angeles. So I know when Nebraska went there, I saw a lot of Nebraska folks, and I know that it traveled out there.

So I think you'll probably see something similar with regards to Michigan taking over the Coliseum, especially if they're not great. There's not a lot of expectations at this point coming off the rough season. A lot of folks are wondering what Lincoln Riley will do. The sentiment is he's maybe trying to get an NFL job, but at this point, I say that, but Cliff Kingsbury got an NFL job after getting fired from Texas Tech. So never say never, but it feels like the honeymoon's certainly over. And I think a lot of USC fans are getting pretty tired

with some of the ways that they recruit, some of the issues on the field, some of the in-game coaching mess-ups. So that's going to be interesting. I think USC's fan sentiment is probably down for sure, so I think you'll probably see a lot of Michigan fans there. It might look like a Michigan-Maryland game where it's just like 50 50 i agree i agree with that um and then washington comes to town um you know obviously another 2023 national championship uh rematch um you know i don't know

i i don't know where what is washington where are they going to end up in the Big Ten overall? Right. That's that's my question. And I say that more of a in a broad sense of like over the next five, five years. Right. Are they going to be towards the top with Ohio State, Oregon, Michigan, hopefully. Right. Or are they. I mean, I could just could just see them you know faltering a little bit obviously they had the same exact situation that Michigan had this year with just way too much turnover to put together a program um and so I I don't know I I like Jed Fish a lot I think that he is a good football coach and I think that he'll be able to build. I don't know. I just it's hard for me to to see them atop the Big Ten. Yeah I think they'll you know consistently be around that seven to nine win mark. I think very very highly of Jed Fish. I mean you look at Arizona football not a lot of history and one one year, he was accomplished. Terrible before he got there. I mean, they had some success with Rich Rod.

I know they had some success back in the day. Speaking of Rich Rod. He's back. Back at West Virginia, that is a wild hire. I mean, sometimes you got to go back to moving forward. Absolutely. Matt McConaughey. I mean, I just think that, like, it's been over 20 years since he coached there last.

Like, he, it's a 17-ish. So, I don't know, man. I just think that that's a wild hire. But UNC just hired Bill Belichick. So, I don't know man i just think that uh that's a wild hire but unc just hired bill belichick so i don't know what college football is anymore right yeah i have no idea it's it's interesting but yeah i think i think very highly of jet fish i mean you know with what he was able to accomplish at arizona i mean it didn't start off great uh but he by the end they were a 10-win team and you know they should have been a lot better this year. I think that is a lot due to coaching with Arizona's fall off, with him going to Washington.

So I think they'll consistently be a 7-9 wins. They were, you know, they signed the number 23 class in the country. I don't know where that ranks in the Big Ten. But, you know, that's pretty solid. And they certainly have some appetite for success out there with the season they had two years ago. That's a program that's made the playoffs twice during the four-team era.

That's really impressive. When we were younger, they went 0-12 in 2008 with Jake Walker at quarterback. That was a top-ten pick. They were 80s and 90s. They were really good. They beat Michigan in, in i think a couple rose bowls just before my time so i'm going off memory here um but man that tooth in the 2000s they were

brutal and so when chris peterson came in did a great job i think that's a program that can sustain some success now i think michigan you know this game's at home they don't have to travel all the way to seattle um you know now that they've got to travel from seattle to ann arbor that's a long flight. All those things that we talked about during the course of the season with teams traveling east and west. But that's going to be, you know, probably one of the more difficult games on the schedule.

I mean, outside of Oklahoma, Ohio State, they're probably, you know, and USC maybe, they're probably one of the most talented teams on the schedule. Yeah. Yeah, and it's hard to say i think to our point here it's hard to say just with the portal what these teams are going to look like in 2025 right you can flip an entire roster so um next on the schedule michigan goes to east lansing um i think this is an interesting year for msu because everybody, you know, you bring in Aiden Childs, right? And I liked Jonathan Smith. I thought it was a good hire. I think that,

you know, Michigan State fans were very excited for him. And then things just did not go their way this year. And after, you know, they beat Iowa, right? And it looked like, holy shit, they're, you know, they're going to take off here and they're making a huge lead forward. Then they lose that Michigan game, right? They lose in Ann Arbor and to it. I mean, let's be honest and not good Michigan team that once again, couldn't throw the ball for most of that game. Well, so, you know, a lot of,

a lot of teams lost to not a good Michigan team that a a lot of rivals a lot of other rivals except all for no blame yeah it's a good point um so i just think it's i i don't want to say it's do or die for jonathan smith and msu this year but kind of like i mean you know you you follow the msu people you see it on your twitter your timeline They're not happy. They understand losing games because of talent, but I haven't watched a ton of their games. But when I have, I feel like there's just a ton of shooting themselves in the foot, and there's a lot of malpractice as far as coaching goes,

and a lot of those fans are not happy with it. I think they understand that they're going to be at a talent disadvantage the majority of the time, at least initially, until he could start to build and recruit identified players, maybe the way that Mark D'Antonio did, because they didn't recruit five stars in the 2010s, but they found a way to find good football players. I think it's a very pivotal year for Jonathan Smith. Aiden Childs is going to be a junior.

You have Nick Marsh. I don't know if any – Which side of the ball is he going to be a junior um you know you have nick marsh i don't know if any which side of the ball is he going to be playing on there uh is he on the michigan sorry which sideline is he on the michigan sideline or is he on the michigan state sideline yeah i've seen a lot of rumors i think they've kind of cooled down at this point i don't i'm not expecting anything like that to happen let's keep that rumor going because it riles the shit out of the Michigan statement. Hey man. Um, it didn't, it didn't come from this random podcast.

It did not. It did not. Um, but I, I agree. I think, I mean, you're looking, does Aiden Childs make a big step, right? He's obviously got, that's what you're expecting, right? That's what you're hoping for. You know, second year as a starter, third year in college football third year under jonathan smith you're expecting him to take a leap to minimize turnovers to be able to make plays and you're expecting him to again take care of the football that's the

biggest issue with him so yeah it's it's a pivotal year for him too right like he was hyped i mean he was one of the best players in the portal you You know, I thought he looked really good at Oregon State in limited time. I mean, he was a big-time recruit. And he's a young kid. I mean, I think he's going to be 19 next year. So, he's a young kid. So, we'll see if he's in. That's still crazy to me.

Like, yeah. He was 17. Yeah. Yeah, that's, I mean. So, yeah. I think, you know, that's what Michigan state fans and a lot of people are saying like okay yeah he's still young still young okay he's still gonna be in his third year playing football right like at some point you have to turn the corner so um you know i think it'll be interesting to see if if this year is that year for them. And then you have two buys in a row, Purdue, and then a real buy.

So that's nice. So we're going to just hire Barry Odom, who is a former head coach at Missouri. Good idea. You know, it's another defensive guy. So I don't know if his offensive coordinator with the go-go offense is following him. I haven't seen anything.

I haven't kept up with Purdue's coaching search. But it's another defensive guy. And the last time Purdue had success, Jeff Brom is an offensive-minded coach. So you've gone back-to-back defensive, you know, guys with defensive backgrounds. I feel like if you're Purdue,

you gotta be like that, you know, we're running interesting shit all the time. That's what Brom was doing. Remember the fake flicker run that they did in the big 10 championship against michigan you gotta do stuff like that braum was bringing xfl shit because he has he's the most iconic clip from the xfl of all time with this concussion do i or do i not have a heartbeat or whatever he says just fully concussed cte out of his body he's like looking cross-eyed in the video it's unbelievably dead um the other thing for purdue though that i i don't know if this is fully true but i thought i

saw the the quote from ryan walters that they had like four hundred thousand dollars total of nio i think that was real um you know they gotta get they gotta get into the pockets of them engineers those aerospace i mean engineer i'm sure that those guys are donating to basketball or football, but you're at $400,000. That is literally one player right now. It's like one four-star. Correct. It's not even like a top guy, if I'm being honest.

So pretty crazy for them. That makes sense why they're 1-11, right? Like, if that's the case. But they still have some talent, right? Like, Dylan Thieneman is in the portal. I know he's looking at Ohio State. I think Michigan's involved there. They would line him up 30 yards off the line of scrimmage.

It was like Jabril Peppers when he was with the Browns, and they would just line him up, and he just couldn't make any plays because he was just lined up so deep so um yeah they've had some talent um but yeah if you're not gonna have nil in today's landscape you're gonna so well it's gonna be nearly impossible for a basketball school that has seen you know very limited success outside of one Big Ten championship appearance in 2022, and that was just because they were in the Big Ten West,

let's be honest. It's worked down the road at IU, who's also historically had a terrible football performance. He's historically better than IU in football, but IU has Mark Cuban.

I want to say John Cougar Mellencamp is like an alum or a fan. He's worth it. They should have a ton of money. So they have a lot of wealthy alums. Purdue should as well. But to your point, I think if Barry Odom can come in, and the way that Kurt Cignetti, and the way that we talked about Dusty May coming in

at the University of Michigan and really taking NIL uh you know control of that entire process and getting with donors and getting his face out there I think that's something if you're the head coach of Purdue or similar school you're gonna have to get out there and have those conversations present in front of those donors you're gonna have to shake hands you know rub elbows all those things so if that's what he to do, because I think that's what Cignetti was really good at, was being able to build the roster he wanted. Because he went out and got those donors to come in and have those conversations, say, this is my plan, this is my vision,

this is what Indiana football can be. Somebody's got to do that for Purdue. So we'll see, but I can't imagine that in year one they're going to be very competitive. I'm assuming that's a game we're probably having you know having a lot of fun at and uh you know going to hail ipaf that that's one that probably the tailgate's probably going to go till about midway through the second quarter um because there is going to be no rush to get into that one um but then uh fun one next going to wrigley to play north western i mean you want to talk about we talked about uh michigan fans taking over the Fun one next, going to Wrigley to play Northwestern.

I mean, you want to talk about, we talked about Michigan fans taking over the Coliseum in L.A. This is going to be 90% Michigan fan, I have to imagine. That trip west on I-94 is going to be just backed up of all of us going to the game. I think we're all planning on going to Wrigley for that. Northwestern, again, probably a program with regards to NIL kind of hamstrung as far as how much talent they can accumulate. So, you know, probably more of the same of what we saw Michigan,

Northwestern, and the Big House a couple of weeks ago in Wrigley. But, you know, friendly confines. That's a cool environment. Excited to check that out. I was, to be honest, though, I was hoping that this game was was to be honest though i was hoping that this game was going to be at least in october you know i thought you were saying you were hoping it was going to be like their other home stadium that's on the water and there's like 2 000 seats

that would have been absolutely incredible um but uh yeah i was hoping for a decent you know weather game for wrigley uh but it'll be an awesome environment I mean Chicago is home to so many Big Ten alums that uh and specifically Michigan alums that it it's going to be uh it really it'll be a home game at Wrigley Field for me yeah and any you know any chance I have to go to Chicago I'm gonna take it it's an awesome city so much food and culture and things to do and um I'm excited to go watch a football game at Wrigley. But yeah, I think that's probably going to be a blowout as well. You know, regardless of anything we don't know about the portal for either team,

I just have to think that Michigan is going to go in there, take care of business and get on to go on the road at Maryland, which Maryland is an interesting topic. I don't know much they weren't great this year I thought Billy Edwards was solid at quarterback uh he took over for Talia Tana Bailoa I mean do we have I don't know how much we know about Maryland I don't know anything about Maryland if I'm being honest I think that they are another one of those teams that unfortunately in the new Big Ten they just get kind of lost

in the shuffle. Right. You know, when you're talking about talent and where guys are going, whether in terms of recruits and portal guys, like I feel like they can get lost in, in, on the map there. Right. And so, um, yeah, I don't know. I mean, again, they could become, you know, really all, if they can land a quarterback, right, like that's really half the issue. So who knows? I just, I mean, I have to imagine that the same thing with Northwestern, probably not as, you know, dire, but I think that Michigan just going to have way too much talent for them. And so that's our only time going back to back on the road.

Right. And it is right before Ohio state. So the only thing that kind of stinks in this schedule is from November 1st to November 29th, you have no home games leading up to Ohio state. So I kind of wish, I don't know. It's very fun when you're leading up to Ohio State so I I kind of wish I don't know it's very fun when you're leading up to the Ohio State game that home game before it right and you're getting some beat Ohio chance and you're revving it up like that's super exciting so that's

the only shitty part about this uh this schedule but yeah then you you know ryan day's coming to ann arbor and is he i i mean that's a good question i don't know if i see it if he loses that to tennessee i don't know it where's the small yeah what is what is it what is ohio city going to look like next year because will hollard's gone you're either going to get a portal quarterback or maybe you go to Julian saying who is like five foot, 10, 180 pounds, very, very small stature quarterback.

Um, Jenkins is gone. He already put on Instagram last one at the shoe. So I'm assuming he's going to the NFL. Henderson's out of eligibility. Sawyer, JTT, Denzel Burke,

ransom. All these guys are out of eligibility. So, you know, I'm sure that, yeah, obviously they have talented guys waiting in the wings but you know when you look at the 21 22 recruiting class especially the 22 recruiting class is brutal if you go look at it like i don't think there's any contributors on that within that class i'm really curious to see what they look like next year i agree and i think that i i mean i have to imagine he's going to be aggressive in the portal

right like i i have to imagine i don't listen let me actually be on the record i do not want mike vrabel to be their head coach because i don't give a shit if mike vrabel's at the head coach because i don't i think he's a good nfl. I don't think, first of all, he's going to take the job. But I also – I mean, what, are they going to turn back into Trestle, Ohio State? I think Grable's the guy that can bring the culture back because he's like Dan Campbell-esque where he's just tough guy mentality. Right? Like he is –

It's easy to do that when you have Derrick Henry, by the way. Yes, I know. I know. I just – I mean, first of all, I don when you have Derek Henry, by the way. Yes, I know. I know. I just, I mean, first of all, I don't, I'm not that scared. The Titans should have never fired him if I, if I'm being, but, um, either way. So Ohio state hasn't won this game in four years and they have to come to Ann Arbor and play the number one quarterback in the nation, possibly. Right.

Uh, a new OC, um, oc um you know i i think again michigan has to load up in terms of defense there's no doubt about that they have to load up on the offensive line i've seen a bunch of different offers to wide receivers right now but you have to imagine that you know that game circle for everybody right uh for a lot of different reasons right and so um i don't know i i all i'm gonna say is i love that that game's in ann arbor that's all i'm gonna say i will say i think just overall looking at the schedule i think it would be a real disappointment of michigan is any worse than 10 and one going into that game i def i i definitely agree with you i I think that, you know, what are the games that you're looking at

could be that one? Would it be Nebraska? I mean, certainly Oklahoma, potentially Nebraska. I mean, Ryle is second year. Quarterbacks take that big leap from year one to year two. He has a lot of experience now under his belt. See what else to do in the portal. Ultimately, though, I think Matt Rule is a big stinky loser

when it comes to coaching football games. I'll be honest. You know, USC will, you know, that'll be interesting going, going all the way out there. You know what? I don't know. I don't, again, I just think if you're any worse than 10, I think it was a complete disappointment and especially, you know, because it's, you know, I'm sure if anybody has the rebuttal of, well, you don't know what the team's going to look like.

Well, if it is worse than 10 to one, then I think the portal part of the season was a complete failure. Well, this is the year that you should dominate the portal because, A, you are losing a bunch of guys that were very highly paid, right? And like Mason Graham and Will Johnson like you lose guys like that so i'm not it's not like a salary cap where you know all that money is just freed up but i'm just saying you can you have the funds to go get new portal guys and also you knew this season was over by mid-october right or at the very least early november right and so um i think that like if they weren't looking at the portal during this entire season i don't know what they were doing so i definitely agree

with you you know this is the year that you have to load up and we've said this a number of times you have a three-year window with bryce underwood and you have a super favorable schedule which i don't believe you're going to have next year. I mean, to not have Penn State, not have Oregon on this schedule, and have Ohio State at home, I mean, you have to take advantage when the schedule lines up like this. Absolutely. This is an opportunity to get back to Indianapolis,

to win another Big Ten championship get a first round buy in the playoff you have to you have to go swinging right and at least at the very least 10 and 2 gets you a playoff spot for the i mean i i don't know that for sure but i have to imagine it does right i think you have to beat ohio state in that scenario though because otherwise your best win is oklahoma and who knows they were six and six this year so who knows what the committee will look at but it's michigan so maybe we'll you know we'll get a bump maybe can't lose three like bama did though yeah definitely not um i think if you if you lose to let's say you lose to ohio state you're tending to you lose to ohio state and like either nebraska or usc i don't know i still you're gonna you're at least in the conversation i don't know

so michigan doesn't lose to ohio state so we're gonna worry about that's a good point that's a really good point so um yeah i mean i think right now if looking at it all in all it is a you know the floor i would say is 10 and 2 uh i would say at the very very lowest it's 9 and 3 right we said that last year we did say this last year but also we didn't understand how poor the quarterback room was going to be in miss in the offensive line yes and receivers and receivers so i think we we forgot how good J.J. McCarthy and Zach Senter and Trevor Keegan and Cornelius Johnson all were. Right?

We forgot how good Roman Wilson was. Well, I didn't forget. It just, you know, I was in. I was coping. I think we were just taking it for granted. Not forgetting, but we took it for granted. Yeah. We were being complacent. We're being complacent for sure i think that though i mean there's a very

real very real opportunity to go 12 and 0 which is crazy um you know i'm sure we can look back on this come next december and and who knows what you know how stupid or smart this podcast will sound. But, again, when you look at how favorable the schedule is for you, how the opportunity, I think it is not like to put 12-0 as a goal is not crazy. I don't think. It's not crazy for Michigan to put that up on their goals, their board of goals this year. So, yeah, man, I'm just looking at it like, man, this is this is this is exactly the schedule that you want when you're bringing in the number one

quarterback in the nation. Yeah, no, absolutely. I absolutely man you have an opportunity to be able to get him some run later in games and you know your your toughest road test is either oklahoma or nebraska and those are in the you know first month of the season so it shapes up really well i really like this schedule there's no oregon there's no penn state so you obviously have the big one with ohio state um and then your second tier games are not cupcakes but again oklahoma we'll see what they look like um but i think certainly those two road games in the month of september are very very winnable and if you get out of that you're four and oh going into the bye you're setting yourself up for a really good definitely agree so all right we both agree 12

and oh national championship coming uh very excited for it it's happened before it has happened before i mean she forgot now uh yeah 12-0 and then 15-0 and then what if we just win all of our games you never know yeah and then i can get where's which way am i pointing that book i don't know how to get to it that book i can get another national championship commemorative book uh from the detroit news so it's going to be great. Yeah, I would love to have another one of those. Those are fun to read. Very fun.

I haven't read it once. It just sits there, I'll be honest. It's on display. Just let people know that I, you know, that I remember that Michigan won the national championship less than a year ago. They did. They did.

All right. Well, for us, you can follow us at Blue by 90 on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, at Blue by 90 Podcasts on YouTube, and Blueby90.com. We appreciate you. Go Blue. Go Blue.