Blue By Ninety - Michigan Is 3-0 Whether You Like It Or Not

Episode Date: September 21, 2026

Michigan is 3-0 after a 52-17 win over UTEP.

All right, welcome back to Blueby 90, presented by Feldman Chevrolet of Highland. I'm Justin, joined by Joel Honigford. Joel, it's good to see you again. Another victory Sunday for Michigan. And Michigan, 3 and O, whether you like it or not. That's kind of, you know, a lot of people don't like it. Don't get me wrong. Maybe even some Michigan fans don't feel, you know, amazing about it.

But you're 3 and 0. Come on, let's go. Yeah, 3 and 0. It's, you know, like March Madness, they say survive in advance. Well, to be honest with you, the football season is not really much different. Like, you are guaranteed 12 opportunities to go out and play and win, and we have done that three times. And so maybe you don't like the way that it happened, like, especially the first game. But at the end of the day, like, we are legitimately 3 and O, whether you like it or not.

That's where we're at. We're in a good spot. We're rolling. We're back in the AP top 25. We were sitting in 19 this week. we'll see kind of how we trend, but you can't complain about 3 and O. You certainly cannot complain about that. No, absolutely not.

You know, I think to your point, you win any way you can, right? And in sports, we've been around it a lot, and it's like, listen, I don't care how you win. You go get the dub and then move on and figure it out later. Right. I would say that happens so much more probably in a college basketball, you know, or something like that than college football. But I think you're sitting here and you're like, all right, we're going into Big Ten play three and O.

I think if you told me that that was the case at the beginning of the season, I don't care how it happened. I'm all in. You know, that's the exact, you beat the, you won the one big game that you've had so far in Oklahoma. And so now you're rolling into Big Ten play, man, and like, all right, we can, the whole season is in front

of you. And so I hope that the guys are looking at it like that, this, where it's like, all right, man, like their college football playoff is in sight, right? Like, that is the goal. And I really do think that that's got to be their mindset of like, man, we are

a top 10 football team. You know, let's go, let's go prove it. And so, you know, looking at what happened this Saturday, I would say that they didn't play like a top 10 football game in the first quarter and even maybe the first half. And the only thing that I would say, we're, you know, this is a positive podcast. We've been really, you know, focusing on the positivity lately. But I would just say, man, like, I would love to watch this team just get shot. out of a cannon right away instead of having a slow start. Right, which we see the first drive of Western Michigan, right?

We see them just pop off right away, drive down the field, score touchdown, obviously kind of lay an egg the rest of that game. Oklahoma, we played it the way we had to. But then you step into Utep, who you know that Oklahoma has already played, who beat, you know, 53 to zero, and you're feeling confident, and we start the way that we do. Now you can attribute to part of that to turnovers. I mean, really most of it, quite honestly. Basically, all of it, to be honest.

But I completely agree. I would love to see this team just be absolutely shot out of a cannon where you could be a Michigan fan watching the game from your couch. And you're able to lean back and relax and maybe enjoy some woods and whiskey while you're watching. Yeah. I did, I'll be honest. My head is struggling this morning because I did enjoy quite a bit of Woodson Whiskey yesterday, which was great. I also, our gypsy spirits, Blake's apple pie vodka, I mean, ridiculous. We did.

It's so dangerous. And then the Woods and Whiskey, we got shooters that came in the little mini bottles this week. somehow that is like more dangerous than a normal bottle with shots. And so yeah. So and then, but to your point, like I, my whole goal, I'll be honest, was to be sipping on Woods and Whiskey in the second half and just like watching us cruise to, you know, what ended up being a 52 to 17 game. But man, I was, I think my goal for this week was like, go look like you are a top 10 team from the get-go. And again, we'll take the win however you can get it.

And by the end of it, you do, you know, after four quarters, you do look like you are a top 15-10 football team. But, man, I would just, it didn't look as dominating, I would say, as I had hoped. You know, when I'm watching our offensive line, you know, kind of struggle to run the football still. against U-TEP. You know, I'm sitting here like, man,

we've got Jordan Marshall and Savian Hyder, two really, really good running backs. And they're seemingly being met in the hole by one to two U-TEP guys every play. I'm like, man, I keep just trying to think, like, what are we missing here to take this next step? Yeah, and I think I'll grab a positivity on this spin. There we go.

I like it. I like it. The offensive line yesterday is a whole new, configuration to what we've been running all season, right? So we move Evan Link over to left tackle where he's used to. He played over a hundred snaps there last year. And then we also find out about some injuries. Like my understanding from what Whittingham said is day of game, we're finding out that, hey, like some of these guys can't go, which is very strange to me, especially after he talks about them taking all the reps during the week. I don't really understand that.

I don't know what happened. I mean, I mean, what, Joel, what could you do on Friday night that, I mean, you, you, as a player, you guys go to the hotel. Yeah, you know, you're locked down. You're a lot down. You get stretched out. Like, you get treatment. Like, it's, Friday's a walk-through day. You know, you're taking pictures with the donors that are coming to practice and, you know, et cetera, et cetera.

There's really not much that can happen in the 24 hours before a game for you to not be able to go. And maybe they are of the mindset, which wouldn't add up. But they're thinking, hey, you know what, if this is something that was nagging through the week, we're playing U-TEP, let's not maybe push it. But that doesn't make sense because Jordan Marshall is a guy who had a nagging injury going into U-TEP and then re-agrubates it during the game. So I'm having a little trouble understanding that. it's hard as an offensive line to play at a high level when there's no consistency in the way that you're organized. Right. So when you don't know who's going to be next to you on that Saturday, it makes it a lot harder

because you understand the tendencies that they have the way they like to set, passing off any like sort of tackle end stunts, anything like that. You kind of have to throw it out the window when you line up next to somebody new. But with that being said, this is Michigan. We're at Michigan. Like anybody should be able to hop in and perform at high level, which we are not seeing. And I completely agree with you on that point. The offensive line is something that makes his team go.

And right now it's not as dominant, especially against a team like UTEP, as you would think that it should be. Well, and I'll be honest, in the offseason, I was told, I was. I was sold a product that this offensive line was going to be the machine that makes this whole team run. You bring in Harding, who is as a reputation of one of the best offensive line coaches in the country. You know, you have the talent on the O line. You've got Blake Frazier and Sprague who have been there for multiple years. It's not like you're throwing out three freshmen on the line that just don't have the experience quite yet, and that's the issue. That's where I'm sitting here like, what are we missing here?

Because, you know, you're going up against Utah. And there was times yesterday when I, you know, I love Blake Frazier. He is an unbelievable kid. I think he's a really good football player. And I think he would acknowledge this if you were sitting here talking to us. He got straight up beat multiple times one on one, you know. And I keep seeing that where, you know, I go back to when you were playing. And it's like, I mean, Zach Zinter didn't, you know, Trevor Kagan didn't get beat one-on-one very often unless it was against a top, top-tier guy.

And so, you know, individually I'm seeing guys that are just like not making the plays that they need to. But then to your point, as a unit, it just, it doesn't feel like they are, you know, really, you know, moving and shaking at a high, high level and all together. Yeah, and let me ask you this question. This is something I thought of even watching the game yesterday. So reflecting on our last three games, we play Western close, we play Oklahoma close, and then we play U-TEP close in the first half. Do you think that this Michigan team has a severe problem with playing at the level of their opponents? I 100% do.

And I'll be honest, being in the stadium yesterday, you could feel it. Like, it was a rainy, sleepy 3.30 game after it was so hype last week against Oklahoma. And I think you could sense it from the fans and you can sense it from the team. And last week we talked about how the team or sorry, the fans gave the team so much energy because everyone was up and ready to go and, you know, loud from kickoff. But this team needs to provide their own energy, you know. And I think that that's where you're struggling, obviously, against U-TEP and Western Michigan, you know, where it's like, all right, you can't only get up for the big games, right?

You have to, and somebody, I mean, you almost, maybe you did have it against Western Michigan, where somebody's going to come get you, you know? And guess what? You've got Iowa coming to town who's a ranked opponent. And I wouldn't say that's like the biggest matchup. of the season. It's probably the sixth biggest game on the schedule. But guess what? They're going to come in and try to take your lunch. You know, they're a good football team. And so I think that to your point, like, man, I'm looking for somebody, you know, I will say

by the end of the game, finally they were like, all right, let's, they're like trying to hype up the crowd. But I mean, in quarter one, I'm like, come on, man, you only get 12 of these opportunities every year. Let's go. I don't give a shit if it's UTEP at 3.30 and it's been pouring rain all morning. You know, like, come on, man. That stuff pisses me off, to be quite honest with you. I completely agree with you. And I think that's why we're not seeing the shot out of a cannon in Michigan who plays with their hair on fire until it's, oh, crap, we need to. You know what I mean? We've talked about before. Hopefully, we're good at making halftime adjustments. yesterday, whether that is a strategic half-time adjustment or just a mental, hey, this isn't

enough. I don't know what's going on. You guys need to figure it out adjustment. I'm not sure, but if we continue to play this way, if we continue to play at the level of our opponents, at some point in time, we're going to underestimate an opponent who's a little bit better than we actually think they are. And if we look at Iowa, who we have next week, Iowa is a team that I believe yesterday put up 49 points. Which, I mean, I mean, that's got to be a high for Iowa. Career, a program record for Iowa. I'd be more, I'd be, I, it would make more sense that they had 49 punts than 49 points.

Yeah, exactly. A hundred percent agree with you. But this is like, as of right now, this isn't the Iowa of the past who's, who's one in, you know, 10 to 3 or 13.7. They're putting points on the board. So, and I would say that I don't think that it is a defensive problem. We have seen time and time again that our defense bails us out. Now, if you're one to say, well, how does UTEP put up 14, or they end up with 17?

17, yeah. Against Michigan. Well, we turn the ball over to them and give them gifts of field position. That is how U-TEP turns into a 17-point team against Michigan. Well, it was 14 to 7 at one point, you know. And here's, I mean, this is one of the most insane stat lines of all time. Their quarterback was seven for nine with two touchdowns. Yeah.

I mean, he only threw the ball nine times and threw a touchdown pass on two of them, you know? And so, I mean, that's just the, there weren't as many penalties, I would say, but there were a few. But, man, you just can't put the ball on the ground. That is just that it's going to kill you at some point, you know, and it almost has, you know, but like in the first half, you know, I think it's probably a 21 to nothing game if you don't turn the ball over, right? And instead you're going in, you're around, it's 14, 14, 14, I believe, at half.

And so, you know, I just, those, the self-inflicted stuff, is something that just it boggles my mind with this team because I feel like it should be a very disciplined team. But, you know, maybe they still have a hangover of this last coaching staff where, you know, that obviously was not an emphasis. Right. Yeah. I mean, you can be absolutely right about that. And I think that it's a blessing and a curse that it's self-inflicted. We're not a bad team.

Right. And they know that, you know, like I think inside they're like, we're good. And then they, I don't know, it seems like they think that it's just going to happen instead of like, all right, we got to go make it happen. Yeah, but six turnovers in three games is that bad. That is bad football. And it's not a winning recipe. It should have and could have been worse than six turnovers in three games. I mean, we got one back, right?

Like I think we got one or two back yesterday, too, that we, after review, you know, it was like, I'm sitting there in the stands. And after a review that is, you know, the runner's knee is down, you know, and then the next one was a penalty. And then the next one was the marsh catch that he gets his toe down, which was an unbelievable play. But that goes to review. and it's like, okay, we just got like three gifts in a row to put together a touchdown, you know, drive against U-Tap, you know, to take your first lead of the game. And I'm just like, man, it feels like this is way harder than it needs to be right now. Right.

Yeah. Which, you know, considering the things of the past, that's not an uncommon Michigan trait. Like, even my playing days, I remember playing people a little bit too close. and then turn it on the second half. It's not where you want to live, but you might be right. There might be that hangover from the previous staff and whatever that is. I don't know if you can make anything tangible from that, but it's got to be solved.

And I would have an incredibly hard time imagining that Whittingham and the staff are not addressing the ball security and the sleepy starts. So, I mean, we're three games in. That's a lot of time to figure a lot of things out. Some of those problems that we're addressing are reoccurring. But as you just put up, let's focus on the positive things, which the defense, man, another solid performance. Like you said, seven for nine, like nine passing attempts from their quarterback. I mean, like obviously seven for nine is a good percentage, but nine attempts is not.

Now, if we look at their rushing, they have a total of 32 rushing attempts to our 42. So we were in control of the game in terms of, you know, possession and just the amount of plays that were run. But yeah, shout out to our defense for getting in the back. for getting takeaways, right? You got to love a big man touchdown. I mean, big man touchdown, and he saw it the whole way. That was right in my corner of,

and it's just like, there's nothing better than he sees the ball. It's almost like a gift. Like, holy shit, I'm going to catch this ball. It's right to me. And then you see an open lane to the end zone. As a big fella, you're like, I can't ask for anything better than that.

Right. And I don't know. I'm just, I don't want to sit on this, but then you think about the fact of the defense is made up of a lot of guys who were not with the previous staff. Right. You see what I'm saying?

And they seem to play at a high level, regardless of who we're playing, where the offense is kind of riding the struggle bus right now. I don't know if that has anything to do to it, but it certainly seems like an indicator. Well, I mean, let's be honest, like having the mental, you know, the mental capability to not make these mistakes, that doesn't happen overnight.

That is, that has to be instilled in you, you know, over a long, long period of time. And so, you know, you're not going to from last year, you know, make these mistakes and then just be like, okay, I'm not going to make any mistakes anymore. You know, you don't just wake up and say that even, even in a nine month off season or whatever, you know, so, yeah, it definitely feels like that. But, you know, focusing on positive, yeah, this defense is still proving to be a top 10 defense, in my opinion, you know? And so I think that we might be sitting here just about every podcast on Sunday is like, all right, well, the defense did it again. And we're, you know, it didn't look pretty, but we got it done, you know,

but this defense is going to keep this team in pretty much every game, I think. And so I love that because that gives you a chance, right? Like, I mean, there's going to be opportunity for Bryce in this offense to be like, all right, you know, we're going to have the opportunity to go win every football game. And so, you know, again, we'd love to see them get started a little bit quicker and a little bit hotter. But, man, I do love that. I think a big positive is Bryce Underwood having another very efficient game. I don't think that there was much sexiness to Saturday for Bryce Underwood's game,

you know, and it's not like he's like flashing, you know, oh, he's going to win the Heism, but you're looking at a 19 for 25 or 223 yards and two touchdowns with zero interceptions. That's exactly what I'm looking for, Joel. Right, yeah, I completely agree. Played well, and to see the completion percentage go up is a good sign, right? That's all I'm asking for, man. I don't need you.

I mean, 223 yards is a great day, but you don't have to throw for 304 TDs every game, but I do want you to throw 19 for 25 every day, you know? Right. And if we can complete a healthy majority of our passes, it's going to open up our run, game, which speaking of the run game, three touchdowns there between Savion and Jordan Marshall. Shout out to Savion, man, two touchdowns. The guy runs the ball like an absolute man. I mean, there's no other way to describe it.

Finally, I'll be honest. I was telling my dad, my mom and dad were watching the game with us in the stadium. And I'm just like, can we, I think I texted you this. Can we just line up under center and just let this? run through a linebacker's mouth. Right. To me, I want to see that more. And by the end of the, you know, his touchdown run there at the end, like, I'm like,

all right, he ran through about four guys when he got going north and south. You know, and I'm like, man, I just, it just seems to me like you need to try to get Jordan and Savion doing that a little bit more than having everything, you know, I just lining up in the slot, motioning. back. You don't get the time to view, you know, where the, where the linebackers are and the alignment and you don't get to see your hole. And you just don't get the momentum, I think, of just like, all right, let's just get downhill. Right. No, I completely agree. And, you know, with Savion and Jordan having 11 and 12 attempts, rushing attempts, respectively,

I think the key stat there is Savion's averaging 5.6 yards of carry. yesterday. Jordan's averaging 4.9, so just shy of five. That's a great spot to be in. 100%. Anything over three yards, like you're living in a good area at

running back, and that's a huge positive to see. Bryce Underwood with six attempts for 25 yards, averaging 3.7 a carry is also a great statistic. So the running game, it's coming along. Now, we

need the offensive line to come along with it, right? We need to have some variability in what we're going to do. And why don't we just line up under center, right? If we're going to, if we're going to play in Rhino and we know, we know that he is not going out for a pass, how about we just line up under center and run the ball downhill? Just one time. Everybody blocking down. Let's get the guard pulling around, the tight end leading up through. And hey, listen, we got some great football going. So I would love to see that as a fan of Michigan football in previous years, where that was kind of something we hung our hat on,

running the ball against Penn State 32 straight times in the second half. Let's get under center. I want to see it as an option. I'm not sitting here saying, oh, you need to run power every play, although I think you and I would kind of love that. But I want to see it as an option when you have two lethal running backs. Like there is, I mean, this sounds so stupid simple, but like there's a difference when you have, you know, three to four yards of running runway, you know, before you hit the hole.

You know, you're going to hit it harder, which, by the way, a guy who does still run the ball really hard is Bryson Cud's doll. And we saw him, you know, we have some. some fumble issues and they, I think they throw him almost in there as like, hey, we don't have to start you, you know, it's like we can go to our third guy too. And he, you know, I know his stats don't show it, but I thought that he still ran the ball, you know, hard and well. And so, yeah, I don't know. I mean, I, I just think that I, I'm sitting here like, man, you're going to go up against an Iowa defense that is not going to get pushed around, you know, and, and, And I'm like, all right, man, you're just going to need to, you know, basically muscle up sometimes and put six linemen out there.

You know, and if it's the rhino or whoever, like, let's just, you know, man up and say, all right, we're going to, we're going to line up with the same amount of guys and we're going to be stronger than you. You know, that's what I want to see sometimes. Again, not all the time, but sometimes. But, yeah, man, I still think, like, it's kind of funny. You look at the stat lines here. and it's almost like it doesn't match what you watched on Saturday. Yeah. You know, both on the offensive and defensive side.

Yeah, I think we're used to seeing like a 120-plus yard rusher in our games with Donovan and Blake. And obviously, we haven't had that up to this point. But then you look at the score right at the end of the game, 52 points is a lot of points. Now, it's not as much as Oregon's 84-point victory over Portland. State, which is... Dan Lannings, I mean, come on, dude. Like, I know you're trying to... I know you're trying to make a point, and, you know,

you lose Oklahoma State last week, so you have to be like... But, like, they were going, like, no huddle with, like, 30 seconds left to get to 80, whatever. I'm like, come on, man. Yeah, a little excessive. But we should also note some of the young talent that showed up late in the game. obviously Tommy Carr, right, through a dot. But one guy that I've always been high on is Celeste Moa,

who made an insane catch. Like, to go from looking over one shoulder, to switch, look over the other, and then almost instantly catch the pass where you are going out of the end zone. Like, I can't convey enough how difficult that actually is. And that was a sweet connection between two freshmen. So shout out to those guys as well.

I love it. I mean, the corner angle of that was like, I mean, it was impressive on the, you know, on the regular broadcast. But then you go to the corner and you see how quickly he has to turn. And to your point, like, when you take your eyes off of the ball and have to, you know, find it again after getting your head turned around, it's like it's almost impossible to do that. Right. And so really, really impressive. Also, to your point, man, Tommy Carr, I know he only comes in and throws it twice, but he made a hell of a throw there, puts it right on the money.

I'm going to be honest, I don't know if that helps our starting quarterback's ego, you know, and his mental, although I did love Bryce hyping him up so much on the sideline after that, you know, and so that does give me like a really good thought process of, all right man he you know i think we've had some questions about is brice you know how's brice's leadership and et cetera um that's exactly what you want from your starting quarterback who's a captain when the backup comes in and performs like you're hyping him up instead of being like oh shit like he's also pretty good too you know so yeah yeah yeah um you know we spoke before the show here and to your point of this isn't going to maybe won't help Bryce Underwood in more of the aspect of the media, right?

Because at some point in time, maybe it's a quarter, maybe it's a half. He's not going to play to the standard to which we think we should. And the fans are undoubtedly going to say put in Tommy Carr. And I get it. I certainly do. I will say it's a lot easier to come in and go two for two when you have. you know, a 40-point victory or a 40-point lead on a team. But I would like to note that this has been a constant battle in the history of Michigan football

of the starter versus the backup. I have a list here going all the way back to, let's start at 2017, where Wilton Spate was our starter. Now, Wilton gets hurt. We bring in John O'Corn. People want Brandon Peters. People ask for Brandon Peters. Brandon Peters comes in. He does a good job. Eventually, people don't like Brandon Peters. We then

get Shay Patterson. People love Shay Patterson. Until they don't love Shay Patterson anymore and then they want Dylan McCaffrey. Now, Dylan McCaffrey ends up leaving because Joe Milton steps in. Now people are like, Joe Milton's a savior. Ultimately, he decides to leave because Cade McNamara comes in. And now we have Cade. And people are like, you know what? We don't want Cade anymore. We want JJ. And then we take JJ and we we we like JJ for. We finally break the cycle there with JJ. But yeah, it's a, it's certainly a recurring theme. But back to before we even started the season, we had mentioned why don't we trust that the coaches are put in the right players in the right position. And I think we need to stay in that pocket. Bryce Underwood is a

phenomenal football player. We have seen him in these past three weeks come along and develop this season so far in an immense manner that he is our guy. Now, Tommy Gar, Carr could be our guy for the future, but right now it's Bryce. And like we said last episode, like we have to support Bryce. We have to be behind him and support him because we know that that's what he needs to go out there and perform at high level. 100%. It was a really cool moment, I would say, when they pan up to Tammy and Jason Carr, you know, Tommy's parents and Lloyd's sitting up there in the box and they're all going crazy.

That's a really cool, cool moment for the cars. And they're going to have cool moments, I think, in the future at some point. Probably 2028 is when I'm honestly hoping for his, I'm hoping that his time is 2028, right? Because right now, to your point, it's Bryce's time. And I don't, I, you know, as much as I want to, you know, be excited for. Tommy Carr. I don't want this to become like, oh, well, every time he throws an interception, you know, or every time he makes a mistake, it's like, all right, let's get Tommy in there,

you know, like, that is the blessing and the curse of Michigan fans of like, we want to be so great that it's like you're looking to the next guy after one mistake, you know? And so I want to, I still want this fan base to be riding for Bryce, you know, and he had a great game. He's now put together, I know that we were not happy with week one. He's now put together two good games. And Joel, it's exactly what we were saying, what we wanted. The 19 for 25, I think we said sometimes it was going to be 12 for 19 or whatever. But like the zero interceptions, you get your two touchdowns.

Like, that is exactly what I'm looking for. He kept the offense moving when they needed to keep moving. He made a few plays with his. beat as well. This is what I'm looking for out of Bryce Underwood. Yeah, yeah. It's nice to see

as a Michigan fan who was a little concerned after week one. His ability to truly lead the team to two more big victories. But we cannot acknowledge Bryce without

acknowledging his two I think Coach winning. Ham said 1A and 1B receivers in Andrew Marsh and then JJ Buchanan, who are both obviously dogs. Those guys are big playmakers for us. And, you know, we were unsure after week one because it was all JJ Buchanan, but Andrew Marsh has now stepped in, made some phenomenal catches and big plays for us.

and, you know, better than having one-star wide receivers, having two-star wide receivers. And then we continue to move and we bring, you know, three and four guys along that can also contribute in the past game, which we're not seeing yet. Big emphasis on yet. But, yeah, it's a lot of fun to watch those guys go out and play ball and be able to catch virtually anything that comes their way. it is it's funny you know i was watching uh bryce drop back a few times and he's definitely there he has a thing where it's just like all right if if the if the play if the read is not there find j jr andrew like he's just like all right i know where those two are and i'm just going to find where they're at and and chuck it their way and more often than not they're going to make a play

you know so i i do think it is really really good for for Bryce's progression here that he's got those guys that he can essentially use as bailouts at any time. So I love that. Let's go back to the defense, man. I mean, this defense, I think, again, it wasn't as sexy as it was against Oklahoma where it was just like, man, they were swallowing material up. But, man, they were suffocating, you know, to the U-TAP offense. And that quarterback was solid. I thought he played really well, you know, for what he was able to do.

But this, this defense is just, man, the secondary doesn't give up really anything. And, you know, when you have that, you give that extra second or two for your D-line to get to the quarterback. And it's like, it's so complimentary. Yeah, completely agree. one guy that I was have been really impressed with Chase Taylor. He obviously led us Saturday with five total tackles. Rod Moore stepping in with four. Troy Bowles with four as well along with Max Alford.

But it's nice to see that our defense isn't reliant on one person. Right. The success of our defense does not depend on John Henry Daley getting to the quarterback because we know other guys are going to come up and make place. And we're seeing that time and time again. They are consistent. They seem to be other than a blown coverage against Oklahoma, very dialed into what they're doing.

And they're getting to the quarterback as well, which will always be a big emphasis for any team at any level in order to be successful. And another thing is that we have depth on our defense, which is very nice. Depth on the D-line. In the secondary, obviously, we have a certain level of depth. And those guys just play the game at such a high level. Shout out to Jay Hill.

He's obviously doing what it needs to be done in order to win. And we have been reliant on our defense, which I don't mind. I know it's not as sexy as you would say, right? because, well, they did score points on Saturday, but our defense is ultimately what's going to allow us to win football games and clearly has up to this point. So if we can stay at that kind of area of leading the team and allow our offense to come along and develop into a point where it's a two-headed

snake where we got both sides of the ball leading at equal levels to where maybe the defense has an off day, right? Maybe we're playing a freakish receiver or quarterback, which we have already done. And our offense needs to step up and then they do. But I have a great appreciation for the consistency of our defense. Yeah, I mean, you talked about depth. Well, we've got Tariq Boni as a freshman coming in and playing really well at a high level. I mean, that right there shows you how deep the D line is when you've got a freshman that's able to come in and make

plays right away. He's been a standout to me early. I've seen Eno Eta. He's in on almost every play, man. You know, it's not like he's going to make the gigantic sack coming off the edge, but he's definitely, you know, he is plugging holes and doing the dirty work in the middle there. I love that. I'm going to give Jair Hill and Smith Snowden another shout out. I mean, those guys have just been unbelievable on the back end. I think their stats are ridiculous. There was some, I don't even remember exactly what the stats were, but I think Jair had allowed negative yardage somehow through a couple games. So, love that. And yeah, I mean, I think you see Max Alford getting in there on Ousu Boutang coming in. You know, I, Jacob Oden as well getting in there. I saw Bulls. I think

Bulls came off at some point. I think he just got banged up for a second. And the ability to throw Ousu Boutang in there and basically not miss a beat is pretty impressive for this defense. And then big man, Jonah La Leia, I don't even know how to say. Yeah, I don't know. But I love it. Obviously, I mean, that's the play of the game, in my opinion.

So you love to see those guys balling out. Yep, we are certainly developing in a way that we would like to see. Our defense kind of started there, and our offense is trending that way. But it's nice to have them pick each other up, and then obviously special teams as well, right? We've talked about that. Not a huge day for special teams in terms of any game-changing things. I mean, you kick the field goal going into. half, which gives you a little bit of a momentum boost going in.

And that was, what, a 49-yarder? Yeah. So you got to give him his flowers there. Yeah, absolutely. So I would say that if we can get over the hump of playing to the level of our opponents, that we will see the version of Michigan that we all want to. the type that's hopping off the stool first, punching our opponent in the mouth, and then just staying on top of them and allowing it to be one of those games where we can sit

back and just enjoy the game, where we're not feeling so tense and worried about what's going on or wondering, oh, is it happening again? Are we going to make this close until the end again when it shouldn't be? So, yeah, we've obviously noted some positives. and some negatives, which those negatives, I think rightfully so, like you got to hold onto the ball. But I do think that we are trending towards that college football playoff team that we want to see ultimately competing for a national championship.

Yeah, and I put it here on the screen. I think this is your three weeks in. You are three and oh. Like you said, you've put good tape out there. You've put some bad tape out there. Right now it's about stacking good. days on top of good days, right? And so you had a pretty good day on Saturday. Get into the facility on Sunday, stack another good day. Get in the facility on Monday and get back to practice. Get a good

day going into Big Ten football. You know, this is right now how I think they have the opportunity to go from a good football team to a great football team. Absolutely. And it's obviously they put in a ton of work in the offseason, but the reality is right now is when you got to go prove it. And so you've got a good Iowa team coming in. And so it's like, all right, what kind of team are you? You know, keep getting in the facility and don't take a step back. Don't take a day off. You know, I think that we talked about it when we were, you know, in camp.

It's easy to, you know, just run the tires and say, all right, it's another day, whatever. It's kind of like that right now, too. You know, you're three weeks in. It's your fourth. Now it's going to be your fourth of four home games. You know, you haven't changed it up, really. You haven't been on the road, so there's no, you know, nothing changing there. You got to stay laser focused.

Yeah. And so I really am looking forward to watching this team, all right, how are we going to get dialed in? You know, Big Ten play. I mean, I want to ask you about that. How does that change? There is a little bit different mindset in a buzz in the locker room when in the facility, when it's all of a sudden big 10 play is here yeah and i think the benefit that we have uh from just a mindset perspective is that we at this point in time there's really no weeks off

like everybody is a high quality opponent starting off with iowa here um who has as is proven this year that they're going to put points on the board um but it it it does mean something to you in the sense that you are seeing these opponents almost every year like you're out of conference it could be anybody. You're not really sure you, you know, you pick one big game that you're going to play and then two other games that you would expect to win. But your Big Ten play, these are guys that you are hearing about all offseason, during the season, and there's their own little intricacies to each game

that means something to you. Now, Iowa, what we know is a tough football team, a detailed football team. And so it's a matter of can you play? with, you know, the same or greater level of attention to detail and discipline, but then also execute when you need to at a very high level to put points on the board and stop them from doing so. But Big Ten play is its own beast, as you're saying, in terms of, like, there's no weeks off here. And now we're playing for a Big Ten title at this point.

You know what I mean? 100%. What we've done before is not for the title. Now we start the journey towards the Big Ten championship, ultimately catapult ourselves into the college football playoff. Yeah, I mean, you know this better than I do, but I know being around that facility, Big Ten football comes around. Once you're playing some conference opponents, and it's like, all right, time to strap it on. Like every, you know, you know how the Big Ten is. You're hitting, you know, like guys are smacking around. You know, so it's kind of like, all right, it's time to put our Big Boy pants on.

I know you obviously already played Oklahoma, which is a huge game and played well in it. But there's just something a little bit different about knowing that it's a big 10 team because you know that they're going to bring the wood. And so it's like, all right, let's get my body. You better have a hard that, you know, you better have a hard body ready to go because they're coming for you. Right. And so I'm excited for that. I mean, to your point, it is the, you know, know, the teams that you see every year.

And so even if it's not a rivalry, there's a little bit of extra juice there. And yeah, this is your first opportunity to go, you know, one and oh in the conference on your way to hopefully get into Indianapolis. Yeah. And I would say another thing that comes along with it. Now that obviously Oklahoma also fit into this category, but with playing Big Ten teams, they are going to travel fans. If we're playing at home, they're bringing fans in.

So instead of a Utep or Western Michigan, where a majority of the stadium is rooting for you. And when, you know, Western scores or U-TEP scores is kind of just silent, now they're actively going to be people rooting against you in the stadium, which is a whole other aspect to it, right? The momentum shifts get a little bit larger. And so it's a matter of weathering those storms as well. Because, you know, when you're walking down in the tunnel,

people are chirping you a little bit and they have something to say about, you know, who they think you are, especially a guy like Bryce Underwood, they're going to have their own comments for. But that's also a whole other aspect that you don't get against the U-TEP or Western Michigan. I don't think it's a game-changing aspect, at least for right now, but it's an aspect nonetheless. For sure. I think we had said it before. I think it's really important that this team focuses on itself more than anything.

You know, Bryce did say it about Ohio State, you know, got positive and negative feedback. But they're just like a nameless, faceless opponent. They're the next man up, right? Like, they're the next team that we're going to try to beat. And so I think that, I think this team, that is the best way that they can think about, you know, each week, week in and week out. So, yeah, all right, around the league, around the college football universe, you know, I hate to say it right now. for the haters, but Ohio State is not undefeated. Michigan State's now not undefeated.

Michigan is. So, I mean, sorry, not sorry, but, you know, that's just how it goes. And, yeah, Notre Dame beats Michigan State 2710. I'll be honest, that was closer than I thought. It was going to be. I was impressed by MSU that they kept it tight. They played tough. You know, I know that they weren't able.

Their offense is just not that talented. And obviously Notre Dame's defense is really good. But they played them a little tougher than I thought. And then, I mean, the only other, the Big Ten schedule this week, by the way, was like one of the worst weeks of all time. There was not a single good game out there. The only one that ended up being a good game was USC Rutgers. USC, you can't be a legitimate Big Ten football team giving up 35 points to Rutgers

and you're ranked in the top 15. Go back to the Pac-12, man. I'm so over it, dude. I'm so over it. I will say a game that I guess two teams that interest me right now, one is Northwestern puts it to Colorado. I mean, spanking. Unbelievable.

I saw a clip before the game of a Colorado player saying, man, this place sounds like a library. And then the next clip is like the final touchdown to put them up 41 to 3 or whatever it was. But the second team is Penn State. And Penn State confuses me. I agree. They're ranked ahead of us. They have played Marshall Temple and Buffalo,

which all they have, you know, one reasonably handled. the late temple was 27 and 9. Their schedule is not as strong as you would probably like it to be. Obviously, they have us. They play at Washington. They play against USC at home. They play at Northwestern. And then, oddly enough, they play Wisconsin at 5 p.m. this Saturday, kind of a strange time.

Weird. But I have no idea what to make of Penn State or what. I mean, they low-key could be like 10 and 2 or 11 and 1 by the end of the year, and we still don't know if they're good. Yeah, we still have no idea. Right? Like, I mean, what a gift to Matt Campbell for his first season there to be able to get the ball rolling with that schedule. I mean, this is where I'm like, I know we're at 18 teams now in the Big 10,

so it's like impossible to, you know, keep it equitable across every team. But the scheduled difference of Michigan versus Penn State this year is assonite. You know, I mean, Michigan's going to end up even just in the conference with four teams that they play within the top 15 probably. You know, and two of them being Ohio State and Oregon that are going to still be in the top five probably by the time they play them. You know, it's like, I mean, just insane that Penn State is going to go out and really, I mean, USC and Michigan are there going to be, their only ranked opponents the entire year. Right. So, yeah, I agree with you.

It's like they're going to be like knocking on the door of the college football playoff and everyone's like, I think they might suck. I don't know. Yeah, exactly. One thing, and this is not attributed to Matt Campbell at all, it's James Franklin, is when they're determining, hey, who do you want to schedule in the coming years? Like Ohio State Michigan would say, you know, we have to play Ohio State at the end of the year. And pretty much every team puts in some stipulation that they need to play

a certain team. Right. Penn State did not put anything in that. They didn't say we want to play Michigan. We want to play Ohio State. Michigan State. They didn't put anything like that in their schedule. And James Franklin actually took a lot of heat for that. Right. Because you would say that he's likely dodging opponents. Like he doesn't want to schedule the best of the best, which we're seeing obviously Michigan does Ohio State does Indiana as well so they played Indiana last year they don't play them this year I mean they they keep playing Pitt which I know is what is it like the backyard brawl or something like that which is obviously a rivalry that's outside of the conference now has been for a long time but yeah I mean to your point like they got they're they're a top-tier big-10 team.

They need to play top-tier other big-10 teams. Right. And so I agree with you. It's like you want the big boys. If I'm a college football fan, I want the big boys to play the big boys. You're going to always have the Rutgers and whoever on your schedule at times. But man, I need the big boys to play the big boys.

So, yeah, we'll see. But all right, we've got Iowa on the clock here. Big Ten play is. coming up. I'm excited. Another 3.30 game. So we'll be back out there for the tailgate. You know, I got a shout out. I had two, two fans, two Michigan fans that came to the tailgate, flew in from New York, said that they were listeners of the pod. And they came to the tailgate. And even in the rain had a great time. Like they were, they were just warriors through it all. So I told him, I was like, it was tough.

I was like, you're probably not going to get the full big, you know, big house experience. They'd never been to a Michigan game before. I was like, I wish you would have came last week. You know, it's, you know, whatever. But I hope that they had a great time because they, you know, shout out to them. He said they've been listening to the pod for a long time.

Had to come through the tailgate. So I always love that. My boy, Caleb Martin also, he's an OG listener from, He came to the tailgate and hung out. Fun fact, back when it was me, Jack and Kaelin on this podcast, which was in 2020, he called in. We did like, it was 2020, things were not going well, obviously. I think he was that.

I can't remember what game it was after, but we did like voicemails. And he left a voicemail. He's like, Jim Harbaugh's got to go. We got to get him out of here. just going off. And I think we talked about it on that podcast for like 30 minutes. And I'll be honest, everybody was kind of thinking that at the time. But we were laughing about it on Saturday of like, you know,

the hindsight's 2020 now. But like imagine what would have been if that would have been the case. But no, great tailgate Saturday, even with the rain, hoping for sunny and 75 this Saturday. And yeah, man, I'm just excited for this team to have another, opportunity to go prove themselves. Yep, couldn't agree more. And against another good opponent, right? It is another opportunity for us to display who we are. I think maybe some people right now might be in the category of saying, well, is Oklahoma actually that good? Right.

Because they play New Mexico close yesterday. But Jason X. A baller. Their head coaches, he's the man. He absolutely is. And so I think maybe some people are saying, you know, well, maybe Oklahoma is not that good. And then Michigan plays them close at home. So maybe Michigan's not that good. This is another opportunity for us to say, no, we are a good football team. We play at a high level. We beat who we need to beat and, you know, we beat people who we're not supposed to.

And we beat people who we are supposed to, which we have done thus far. and against a good Iowa team with a head coach and Farrants who's been there for, it seems like centuries at this point in time. But, yeah, it's a different Iowa team. Their starting quarterback is Hank Brown, who was, it was back and forth at the beginning of the year, ultimately settled on Hank Brown, who puts up points for the Hawkeyes. And then their defense is probably one of the more dialed in defenses that will play all year. I mean, you know, you just know when you're getting a Kirk Frenz, Iowa team, that their defense is going to be stout, right?

You know exactly. They're going to be tough and physical. They're not going to make mistakes. They're always going to get after you. So going to be, you know, interesting to watch Bryce against this defense. I think, you know, again, I'm seeing it as an opportunity. You know, how many teams, there probably aren't that many teams out there that would be able to say that they have two ranked, wins in four weeks.

You know, so I think if you're looking at the overall outlook of a college football playoff resume, this is a huge game for Michigan to be able to prove it. So, yeah, I'm pumped, man. So, all right, well, appreciate you, Joel. Again, 3 and O, whether you like it or not, you know, it's a victory Sunday. We're celebrating here. I love it. So for us, you can follow us at Blueby 90 on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, at Blueby 90

podcast on YouTube and blue by 90.com. We appreciate you. Go blue. Go blue.