Blue By Ninety - Michigan > Ohio State

Episode Date: February 24, 2021

Juwan Howard has the basketballl team rolling! Huge W over that team from Ohio in a top 5 road matchup for the Wolverines. The boys share their reactions as well as follow up on some transfer news from the football program. Crack a cold one and enjoy the show.

This is the University of Michigan. Touchdown, Michigan! The Beats of Michigan! And they've got one extra pass. And it goes for the win! The three-pointer by Jordan Poole! Down the sideline! People jump!

Touchdown, Wolverines! Alright, welcome back to Blue by 90. I am Justin, joined by Jack and Kalen as always. It is Tuesday, February 23rd, and the sun is shining. It was like 45 degrees today. Beautiful day after it was in, it was what, 10 degrees all week last, uh, last week. It seemed like here in Ann Arbor. Um, but, uh, you know what? It feels like the sun's been shining for like a week straight. And I think that half of it is just my mind playing the games on me because I'm in a fantastic mood after Michigan beat Ohio State on Sunday. What a game.

What a game. Blowout made some money on the game. Lost it all yesterday, but I made some money on that game. So it was great. It was a great, great fun time on Sunday. It was funny because I joined Jack to watch the game and like we were pretty hyped up in general for the game, but it wasn't until it ended that jack was like yeah hell yeah like won all his money i was like damn i haven't seen you

move that much since we used to play baseball i i placed a dollar bet and it was uh plus 3300 odds that what that both teams would score over 85.5 points. So once that dude hit that three at the end of the game to get to 87, I was just like, fuck it, let's go. They hit like seven threes at the end of the game, too. That dude just straight up could not miss. And you're like, I mean, first of all, you should – that's a wild bet. I was rooting for Ohio State.

Oh, yeah. I was like, I'll put a dollar on it. I'll be fine. And I was rooting for Ohio State to score at the end because Michigan was up already like way over 85. So I was like, come on, shoot it, shoot it. He hit it, and I just went fucking nuts, man. It was – gambling's taking over.

I held off. I actually didn't bet on it. I don't like to bet on games that I, like, truly care a ton about because I'd rather just, like, focus on my team. But, yeah, I mean, that was one of the best basketball games I may have ever watched, like, in general. It was just neither team could miss, but it still wasn't like sloppy defense it was just both teams were shooting the absolute lights out and then you know especially in the first half and then in the

second half hunter dickinson just is a man amongst boys and oh my god the one dunk where he's in the middle of four dudes loved it just slams it home. I was like, you are a god. Dude, Hunter had a huge game. That got me hyped up, man. That got me so hyped. Oh, it was awesome. Yeah, he was in the paint. He was doing it all, man.

I also just loved seeing some of the guys on the perimeter get their shots in, too. I mean, they seemed to be just, especially in the first half, like you're saying, they couldn't miss. I think they showed the the stats and it was something ridiculous they were like eight for 11 yeah um so we i tweeted it out the other day too it was unbelievable like ohio state shot 47 percent from uh the field and then 50 percent from three 92 percent from the free throw line and still lost honestly it was like that was one of the best losing performances by a team i don't want to give ohio state credit because fuck them but that was one of the best performances i've ever seen from a losing team and michigan like that's what make made it all the more impressive to me.

Michigan didn't go into Columbus and beat a team that was, like, off that day. They beat that team who played probably their best game all year, right? And Ohio State runs and guns. That's their game. They're going to try to outscore you. They really play very similarly to their football team. But thankfully, Michigan basketball could keep up and actually score more points than Ohio State. But, I mean, that was the most impressive part to me was that, like, they actually went in and beat that team that played one of their better games.

It wasn't like Ohio State had an off day. What was your guys' most impressive thing or thing that stood out to you guys in that game? Because there was a lot. I'm not going to lie. I got a little nervous at first when it felt like Livers was kind of forcing some stuff. That made me a little bit nervous. I was like, all right, if this is going to happen the entire game, I don't know how great of a chance we have to win. Then he started passing the ball a little bit. He made was like, all right, if this is going to happen the entire game, like I don't know how great of a chance we have to win. Then he started passing the ball a little bit.

He made a three, got in the right rhythm, and everything was just like great. I mean, the shooting from three-point was insane. They just played the best. They played their best game of the season. Man, I just loved it all. I loved that they just stayed in it and fought. I think they led majority of the game 80 like 90 of the game i i would love to go back and see usually they put the little stat up but there

had to be like i think there's no lead changes right i mean it was back and forth a close game yeah yeah but yeah for ohio state to score that to do that well on offense and still lose is just awesome because you know you're going to see teams like that like gonzaga and baylor in the tournament and it's can you keep up and michigan kept up against ohio state yeah that was great to see yeah i mean there's for me there was a maybe some moments early in the second half where we were taking some shots where i was like there was maybe two consecutive shots uh deep threes or something, and I was kind of like, eh, I don't know. And now that we missed, they're kind of back in the game a little bit. I thought the same thing, Kalen, there.

Sorry to interrupt you, but I thought the same thing. I was like, okay, there's no chance that we're going to shoot as hot in the second half as we were in the first, but we're still chucking them up at the beginning of the second half like we were in the first half. So I was thinking the same thing yeah but i mean then you know we went right back to our you know bread and butter moving the ball around getting the ball to a big guy in the paint we're able to kind of capitalize so i was i was glad to see us able to kind of you know struggle

in one part identify that we were struggling and move into something that worked so i want to bring up something for a second i just on social media i mean we put up the basketball school um shirts and hoodies and whatnot did do you guys see any other like backlash about that i just like football people like oh we're still a football school but you know basketball is just hot right now. Just people, like, kind of hating on the fact that basketball is having success. I saw on Twitter it was, like, Spartys that wanted to chirp in and be like, Oh, you've only got four banners? Like, shut the fuck up, personally.

But, yeah, it was just because, like, Spartans were just feeling really irrelevant on Sunday because not a single person in the whole world cares about Michigan State basketball right now. But I did not – I saw – I think it was on our Instagram, right? Like, a couple people commented, like, okay, what has football done for you? Like, why do you give a shit about our football? Especially half our followers are probably 15 years old. You haven't seen a good Michigan season in 21 years? No shit.

In your entire life. I'm like, come on, man. That just kind of bothered me. But when you're talking about Michigan State being irrelevant and whatnot, I'm kind of rooting for them tonight against Illinois. I know. It's like it's this thing, it's an inner battle for myself, because obviously I want Illinois to win, because that essentially, like,

if Illinois loses one more game, I mean, it would be really difficult for us to not, for Michigan not to win the Big Ten Championship. But the last thing I want is for Sparty to like squeak into the tournament somehow at the, with a late March run here, that would, that would hurt me. I think.

Oh man, I'd be fine with them getting into the tournament. We, I mean, as long as they don't play middle Tennessee state, that might be all right. But, uh,

I don't know. I think I got a route for a Sparty win tonight. Yeah. It's, it's, uh, it would definitely help. It would definitely help. It would definitely help Michigan. It would help us.

I mean, like, that would seal the deal, essentially. Not officially, but essentially would seal the deal for Michigan in a Big Ten championship. Because then Michigan could even go out, lose to Iowa, lose to Illinois, and they're still a game ahead of Illinois. You know, so that's where it would be huge. So, yeah, but, I mean, this, you know what, why don't we, why would we not want to be a basketball school right now?

This team, give them pride. This is the most fun team to watch, like, ever. If you think about, let's go go let's put the two sports together let's rank the top five most fun teams or best teams to watch and out of the last 10 years or something i'm gonna say 2020 basketball this year i'm gonna say wow is that number one no i'm gonna i'm this is gonna get top right i'm just giving like all right i'm naming i'm naming Wow. Is that number one? No. This is not ranked. No order. I'm naming some of the best teams.

2018 basketball. For sure. 2013 basketball. Maybe 2014 basketball with Stauskas too. Big time champs. And then the only thing that comes to mind for me is like in terms of, I mean, 2016 and 2018 football.

Not 2011? Yeah. That's 10 years ago now. I do like the 2016. I do like the 2016. Because they at least were close in like their last two games. Or in all their losses. But I mean, I haven't had to put 2011 in there over them just because Denard.

True. Other than that, I agree with Thresher. I didn't feel like, I mean, for football, I would say I didn't feel in 2011 like Michigan was possibly going to win the Big Ten and possibly going to go to the National League. Go to the playoff or something. Yeah, okay, I'm with you. But either way, in terms of fun to watch,

all these basketball teams are so fun to watch. Dude, so fun. And the guys are so much more likable than some of the guys on the football team, too. And we're getting so many more athletic, way more athletic guys coming in.

If Juwan Howard can get them to play like this team is playing now, plus all that athleticism, it'll be like a fucking all-star weekend watching these guys play. Dude, talking about likable guys on the basketball team, can we talk about Chaundi Brown? The most likable guy of all time. Oh, my God. That's like my favorite wolverine right now when he had that play where he was he like tipped the ball he had like three rebounds and one possession i was literally like dude this is like watching dennis robin yeah fuck yeah it really was that's a great comparison i love that comparison especially because he was rebounding those in Ohio State's big men.

They had like three big dudes right around him, and he's still out rebounding them just because he's a freaking ball hawk and he doesn't give up. It's really impressive. And then he goes on his IG Live after the game. Fuck the Bucs. I'm like, dude, you are sealing the deal as the favorite wolverine right now would you guys want to see michigan play ohio state again this year like big 10 tournament or or the ncaa tournament i would i mean that game was so fun to watch oh yeah yeah i would have hated to lose that game though that would have been right that would be the only thing that would

make me not want to watch it would be the fact that I think they're good enough to, on the right day, come out on top. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, if Michigan doesn't keep up and shoot those – it's crazy to say that because both teams shot the absolute lights out, right? So you could say it for both teams. If they meet again, I highly doubt they're both going to shoot 50% from three.

Right. So it would be interesting to see them play again and see how that game would go if they even went, like, 35% or 40% from three, if it's different. And something else I want to talk about, too, is, like, I feel like we've seen Jawan really solidify his rotation on the basketball court, too. We haven't really seen Zeb Jackson, Terrence Williams, who's another. I mean, really, those two guys were kind of like the last in line to get on the court. Brandon Johns even hasn't seen much PT lately, either. Not as much but when he does he does well i wish he would have there was one where he was wide open at the three and he kind of hesitated and then pulled it and he missed but if he plays confident he's so

good yeah yeah that's what we were saying jack that he just seems to lack that confidence and when he is confident he just you know he's a baller so good so good yeah i mean those guys i still think that he's going to be he could work himself into the rotation a lot more even next year um it's tough it's tough for him just because he's a tweener he's not he's not a five but he's not a four like livers Livers plays a much better four than he does. So maybe he can step in when Livers goes to the league, and he could be playing some more at the four. But he's just a tweener.

You know, it's really tough. But, yeah, I mean, there's a chance. So the other unsung hero, I mean, first of all, I think there's a couple things to talk about in the game on Sunday, which was how about just the fact that, like, Livers only went for 12 and Franz only had nine and Michigan still won by scoring 90 some points. Dude, Eli Brooks quietly had 17 points. Yeah, like I looked up the stats in the fourth or late late in the second half, and I was like, he has 17? I knew he hit a ton of threes right away, but, like, it didn't seem like he was, like, drilling threes all game long, you know? No, it was right away.

I remember he, like, I mean, nothing but net, fucking just wet right in the rim. I was shocked by it, but, I mean, it gave Michigan such momentum and confidence going into the rest of that game because, I mean, you miss those shots, and, you know, Ohio State probably goes on a huge run. Hey, I'll take them. That's one of those surprises that you're glad to have. Yeah, and it's another thing, too, that we've said before is, like, one guy, you know, doesn't play as well as they normally do, and the other guy steps up, and that's what Eli Brooks did. I mean, it's huge. too that we've said before is like one guy you know doesn't play as well as they normally do and the other guy steps up and that's what eli brooks did i mean it's huge

and mike smith too he had some big shots in that game so that was who i was gonna say was the unsung hero is mike smith is just that dude because he never it's never about mike smith right but he is involved in every single play he's so important to this team uh you know he had a ton of assists he i this is a knock on wood situation but yeah i i would love to go back and look at his stats he's got to have like one or two turnovers a game like it's that low it's very low in terms of turnovers which is very impressive for a team like michigan that is trying to run and gun and they push the ball a lot but he is he's special and i think that there's a chance that he comes back actually next year so i didn't i didn't realize that he could

come back until i saw something like i think aunt right put it out that he could come back for a second year i just thought grad transfers had one year and they were done no so i mean this is the situation well the re it's this year only because this year doesn't oh i thought it was last season for basketball well they did it for this they did it for this entire calendar year for to be fair across all sports because they didn't know how each sport would be affected but they did it for every sport for the entire calendar year for for uh you love it love to see it wild if he comes back because i don't i but at the same time i would love to see zeb jackson because i think zeb jackson's gonna be sweet but is he gonna be ready and the best yeah i was gonna say is he gonna be ready

like he he's got definitely a bunch of talent but is he gonna be ready next year and if he can have one more year with mike smith there just kind of like groom him and that'll be great and honestly i don't know man i don't know about that i think he's talented but he didn't really you know show a whole lot this year and you got frankie collins coming in next year who's super highly touted kobe buffkin i don't know if he's a point guard or shooting guard but he's a mcdonald's all-american i mean there's a lot of talent coming in at the point at the guard position so you never know what's going to happen so i heard kobe buffkin fractured his wrist or has like a hairline fracture in his wrist really i didn't hear that that sucks um but i did see so the

mcdonald's all-american rosters came out today three of michigan's incoming freshmen next year and they hadn't had any in the last 17 years and there's only one in the rest of the big 10 how about that that is a wild i mean you're you've got the best one of the best teams in the nations and then now you're you're coming like this is what you have coming in it's like we have space for them i don't know who cares stock up we can be the alabama of college basketball we just have like depth on depth on depth that'd be amazing dude if we can if we can just run at least just run the big 10 then we have something then we're really just a fucking basketball school and people just have to accept it we all want football to do well but i mean like basketball's clearly been running away with it for the last decade why can't like why can't people just accept that and be okay

with it yeah i don't know i don't understand why anybody would say like no we're not like what i didn't see any of the comments or anything so like i i guess i'm well we got called fair weather fans for calling for saying it's a basketball school fair weather fans oh man i don't even know what that means we're only fans of michigan football when they're doing well it doesn't mean that we don't like michigan right it's just that first of all it's killing it it's not like we reported on it every week while they went two and four so yeah no shit yeah and uh and you know what they we are a basketball school like tell me over the past decade who's had more success tell me over the past 15 years

like dude there's i mean come on you can't tell me that this is like that it's even up for debate like yeah michigan will always be somewhat of a football school just because it's in the tradition and all that yeah but like this is not this is no longer just like three or four years of success for basketball we're going on 15 years since beeline first came in and they've not had a ton of success isn't that crazy that literally they hired one coach who seems to have shifted the entire paradigm of the program that's insane well who are you referring to there i was thinking beeline okay good good yes yeah beeline laid the groundwork and juwan just accelerated it right right like it's it's awesome well that's what i was gonna add to that is like

it's just truly incredible that we were able to go from beeline to Howard without striking a beat. And I mean, the fact that when you do compare it to football and go back to rich rod, Brady Hoke, like, and even now into Harbaugh, like still struggling to find the guy.

And then on the basketball court, you're able to find two unbelievable guys that are, you know, not only just great men. Like, there have been times where I'm, like, watching Juwan Howard in the locker room of a couple of the videos we've posted on Blue by 90, and I'm, like, almost tearing up a little bit. Like, dude, it gets me emotional. Like, just because it feels like he's, like, truly that good of a guy. And obviously a pretty good coach knows what the hell he's doing, too.

Doesn't hurt. Doesn't hurt that he's a good coach as well. So I had a question about Juwan Howard in terms of coaching. And maybe you can kind of shed some light on it for us here, Justin. Like, when I was watching the game, there was a number of times where Juwan was kind of, you know, on the side of the court and he's like yelling at his players, blah, blah, blah. Like, what kinds of things is he telling them? Is he telling them where to be on the court? Is he telling them, like, what play to run?

Like, maybe you know more than I do. Yeah, I think a lot of it is the plays um so I know that you know there was a whole thing where he like took something out of his pocket that was a rectangular shape that people thought was his phone but it's actually his little play sheet so they definitely have plays that are specific to the team like they have their plays that they would run anyway um but they have sets that they're running against Ohio State so I think he's yelling at them for, to like get in position, run the offensive plays. And then, but also like on the defensive side of the ball, if they're running a zone versus a man, uh, that, you know, who's guarding who, especially with, uh, different lineups

in. Um, and then I think half of it is just like, he's yelling to keep the intensity up and just be like, hands up, hands up, move, move, move, like those types of things too. Because he's super into it on that. Like that was his whole, the Pat Beverly. There's a Pat Beverly that he was, that he held a picture of last year. That was like PJ Tucker. PJ Tucker, that's right.

Where like, he's like telling them to communicate, communicate, communicate. So, yeah, I mean, it's a combination of all of them. I would say on the offensive side, more play running. On the defensive side, it's, like, get your hands up and, like, you know, keep moving at all times. For sure. The more you know. The more you know.

And I'm not, like, I truly am not a huge like basketball x's and o's guy i could do x's and o's for football a lot but i i'm not huge into the basketball x's and o's when i play basketball i usually have no idea where i should stand so just throw it up to the hoop i just dug it up from like 30 feet and then sprint to go rebound because it's not going in. I just like yell Euro step. And then I like run to the rim from the free throw line. Sometimes tear an ACL or MCL. Yeah.

Then I just fall like Peter Griffin. So, all right. Well, so Hoops, they play Thursday night, right, against Iowa. So, Iowa's still a top ten team, even though they dropped a few. They've actually played really well, especially on the defensive side of the ball, lately. So, you know, I saw something where they were like earlier in the season giving up like 90 points a game, 80, 90 points a game. And then in their past five, I don't think they've let anybody pass 70.

So they've really stepped it up. I think that people are kind of overlooking them a little bit just because it's like between Ohio State and Illinois and Michigan for the Big Ten because Iowa has lost some of those games. But it's not like Iowa is some chump team. Yeah, they're not a cupcake. Right. And they've got a couple shooters, too.

I mean, if they get hot, they can really go off on a team. It's going to be a tough game. That's for sure. I feel a lot more confident after the Ohio State game. But it'll still be tough. And we've still got Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Indiana is always a tough game right after. I think it's like 48 hours after the Iowa game. So it's traveling to Indiana, getting the team ready.

And then you got Illinois after that. And then, I mean, Sparty is always a rivalry game. And I'm almost kind of like maybe we split those. I wouldn't doubt I wouldn't doubt it if they split them. I also wouldn't doubt if Michigan wins the first one, and then it's like if that wins them the Big Ten title or something, maybe Juwan sits some guys. It's tough.

I don't know if he will because it's a rivalry game. Yeah, just because it's a rivalry game. But I'd be okay with it. If it was anybody else, he probably would. You know, but especially just because by the end of that, they're going to be tired. It's a lot of games that they have in the next two or three weeks. And then leading up to, obviously, a crazy tournament time, too.

Oh, yeah. So we'll see how it goes. But either way, it's – dude, I don't know about you guys, but Sunday I was, like, fired up leading up to the game like it was a football game day. And then I'm not going to lie, I Sunday fundayed harder than most football tailgates. So I woke up Monday morning not feeling great.

I agree. I'm right there with you. Yeah. So um all right so now since we are still i guess a football school according to some instagram commenters uh we will touch on the football team still uh here there is a lot to talk about you know they they started off spring practice uh yesterday monday uh and then um you know there's some some transfer news there's some coaching news things like that there's there's a lot going on so the first one that i want to talk about is bringing in a quarterbacks coach who has never coached quarterbacks i know one day

before your five-star quarterback starts his first spring practice. Anybody else like, what the hell are we doing? I don't love it, but honestly, I haven't done enough research on this guy. Was it Matt Weiss? Yeah, he's been with the Ravens for 12 years. He was their RB coach, right? Yeah, but he's been an offensive analyst. He's coached the safb right yeah but he's both he's coached like he's been like an offensive analyst he's coached the safeties the linebackers he's coached like all over the place so i get it

i mean if you're a football guy you know a lot of things i think he's also more like an an uh analyst guy like um using data and like stats and tech you know all that stuff which maybe that helps i don't know. Well, I feel like I saw a bunch of, like, accounts put some information up, but Umich Football, like, official Instagram said, welcome our new QB coach, Matt Weiss. So then I was like, oh, shit, like, all right, well, then he's the guy. Not saying he's going to be bad, not saying he's going to be great, but it's just interesting to me that he uh

is a running backs coach that's gonna coach quarterbacks yeah i'm curious if this is kind of like a title in name only like is he really gonna be coaching quarterbacks like on the floor coaching the quarterbacks because my understanding was that he coached uh receivers and qbs with the ravens in like 2016 2017 then he was put in this category of like uh like football strategist like uh coordinating strategy or something like that so i was like maybe he's really going to be one of these guys who's just young brings a bunch of new ideas to the staff, maybe helps out Harbaugh with the quarterbacks. But beyond that, he's helping coordinate a lot of the game day play calling, which they seem to have struggled tremendously with for the last couple years.

Well, that makes me wonder why they wouldn't just name him an offensive analyst or something. Well, if you're an analyst, you can't be on the field. Oh, really? Oh. The more you know. You only get 10 coaches on the field. Kaelin with the facts. I did not know that. No, I didn't either.

But so the other move that I thought was weird or interesting that I don't think they came out and said, but it's been rumored, is that bellamy is moving to be a defensive coach and coach like the corners or something yeah what about mo i don't know obviously he's still the safeties coach but i don't as i don't know he was the safeties coach okay i don't know i think they had him. I think everyone assumed he'd just be defensive backs in general. I don't know. I think they were lopsided. This would have put them lopsided, like they had way too many offensive guys and not enough defensive guys.

So maybe they said, okay, Bellamy, you're really just a glorified recruiter anyway. Well, I feel like going from wide receivers to DBs is a good transition at least, right? Like you know the other side of the ball they're trying to defend. It might be a good spot. I don't hate it. Yeah, so what? Bellamy is going to assist Mo with the secondary? Is that correct?

Apparently, that's what it sounds like. Yeah, I don't know. I honestly don't know. And so what? George Hilo is moving to the linebackers, I guess? apparently that's what yeah yeah i don't know i honestly don't know i feel like george helos moving to the linebackers i guess well that would make sense because we got to replace uh brian g mary um but i don't know honestly it seems like this is kind of a thrown together staff and he was just like hey let's take six of the ravens coaches and just kind of seriously yeah i swear jim harbaugh just put like some of those like ads out on like

like football recruiter coaching websites like are you under 30 and looking for a new gig like or under 40 whatever yeah not one person on the defensive staff has coordinator uh experience not even just play calling experience coordinator experience so that's where i'm like what the heck is going on and i'm just so how i've kind of thought about it is like, okay, I'm okay with like taking a shot on a couple young 90% of your staff is going to be Joe Brady. And there's a slim fucking chance, dude. This is that 12 team parlay with all the underdogs that like, you're probably not going to hit. But if you do, you're winning the fucking national title. Exactly.

Jim Harbaugh put a dollar out there. He's like, no, I put down a dollar but if i win i get three million so let's just go for it well it's like 300 000 right oh man oh my god i swear because if you're one of these coaches this is probably an odd coaching staff to be on right because generally all of these guys have probably been the young buck on staff and now here they are and it feels like summer camp right hey i'm here with all my buddies everybody's you know my age and they understand me like maybe there's something to be said for that kind of atmosphere, too. Well, one thing that I do like about it is that, and this is one thing out of a bunch of important things, but you've got to assume they're all going to bring great energy every day and be excited to show up to work and try to be the coach that makes that difference where Michigan kind of turns it around. So that gives me hope. Obviously, every offseason, like, I have fucking too much hope,

and then I just realize our basketball is cool. But I don't know. We'll see, man. I think Michigan will start off hot in September, and then we'll probably see what we normally see every other year. Yeah. I mean, unfortunately, like, I don't want to say this because I probably will get hyped up but like

i just feel like i'm gonna have a hard time getting myself excited about this football team because like i don't know there i'm gonna have to see something from jj mccarthy like he's like truly unbelievable or something to get me hyped because i just don't have that much faith in what's going on right now because I don't understand it quite do you think McCarthy's gonna be a starter no but I'm saying like I would I would have to like in order for me to really get in is think this team would be that he would have to come in and just be like unbelievable and good enough that he's going to get the start so man i know it just takes it takes me back to last offseason when we're when the coaches are saying like milton's just making

amazing throws and da da da da we all got excited and we're gonna hear it i'm gonna do my best not to believe any of it but i gotta imagine mcnamara is gonna start the season and he's dude he played well he played really well last season, I thought. I mean, until he got hurt. Honestly, he's solid. I'm pumped to see him start off and be that guy. Dude, I texted you guys earlier in the week or last week, whatever, and I said this is the least exciting version of the quarterback battle.

I mean, we all know Dan Villari is coming out on top. That's right, baby. So don't even watch. Hell, yeah Dan Villari is coming out on top. That's right, baby. So don't even watch. Hell yeah, Villari. Villari, Villari, Villari. We need a new song for that. We need some hype songs for Villari. PT Records needs to make a comeback.

Instead of Versace, it's Villari. Versace, Versace. Villari, Villari, Villari. All right. Or Amelie. Amelie, Amelie, Amelie. Valari, Valari. Well, shit, while we're talking about quarterbacks, obviously big news,

Milton in the transfer portal. Yeah, I mean, we had to see that coming, right? I was a little bit thinking he was going to sneak it out. Yeah, I wasn't too shocked, but I don't know, man. I mean, good for him. He got his degree. I mean, they said he's a grad transfer, so he got his degree and got out. Great.

Good for you. You have a degree from a top university in the country. Go play football now. Good for him. Three years of LSU. Exactly right. Yeah. Where do you guys think he'll land?

Place your bets. Probably like FAU or something like that. I was thinking like UCF or something. Yeah. Somewhere home like Orlando. I think that's where he's from. Pahokee, Orlando. UCF is in Orlando, right?

Yeah. Right. I can see that. Go play for Gus Malzahn. I was just going to say Gus Malzahn is there. They're definitely trying to get him there and just fucking sling it. That'd be amazing. I'd be a fan.

That's the thing, right? Like NFL will take a chance on a guy with just a huge arm. Right. So like, I don't doubt that Joe has a chance no matter where he goes. I, I still think I would love to see him go somewhere where they have like a

good history of like developing quarterbacks. So I would love to see him go somewhere where they have like a good history of like developing quarterbacks so I would love to see him at like uh um I don't know like an Oklahoma or something crazy right yeah but that's where I'm like I got I'm with you Kaelin where he like if he was put in a spot like that but he might not get playing time if he goes to Oklahoma oh that's true yes I mean they get so many and they get so many like top quarterback recruits like if he goes somewhere like ucf where he's like still a big quarterback recruit and a big talent and maybe he just you know kind of figures it out he throws a good deep ball starts hitting like all of his receivers and kind of just can go crazy i think that might be a better spot for him but i'm with you if he if he did have the opportunity

to go to like an oklahoma and they can you know really fine-tune him i mean he might be a better spot for him. But I'm with you. If he did have the opportunity to go to, like, an Oklahoma and they can, you know, really fine-tune him, I mean, he'd be a fucking monster, man. Yeah. Yeah, if it wasn't that, then I'm like, just go somewhere where you can play a whole bunch and put out a ton of game film. I mean, sure. Remember when John O'Korn went to fucking Houston and we thought he was the greatest quarterback of all time? And then he, you know, came to Michigan and, you know, didn't play as well. He was probably better off staying at Houston. Joe should transfer to Mississippi State and play under Mike Leach where he's just going to throw the ball 8,000 times a game.

I would agree with you before last season happened. They started off real hot and then, I mean, fucking. Well, you don't have to win. You just have to put out game films. Just got to put out game films. Good point. At game films yeah he does a good point at this point he could care less if he wins right he's just trying to make it to the league yeah yeah i don't know i mean it's just kind of wild i put this out while or we you know we had it on our twitter right away when um when milton transferred but when Milton transferred. But last year, dude, I'm so annoyed and sick that we spent an entire fucking offseason

talking about McCaffrey versus Milton, and neither of them are here at this point. I mean, dude, literally every podcast we talked about it. Every single fucking episode. Every guest we had, we had to ask them, who you got? And then neither of them you know panned out we'd like to apologize to our listeners yes yes we deeply apologize we are sorry

but uh do you guys see luke mccaffrey speaking the mccaffreys transferred from nebraska to louisville yeah so interesting i was wondering why he wasn't going to go to with his brother to play for his dad. I'm shocked he didn't stay at Nebraska. I mean, it would have been his job, I think. Yeah. I don't know, man. Interesting. I don't know.

Yeah, but, I mean, in more transfer news, I mean, Ben Van Sumren. Yeah. Transferring to the old Sparty. Got some people worked up. Sure did. Sure did. I mean, some accounts went kind of like, they kind of went in on him. I'm like, guys, like, relax.

He's a fucking kid. Literally, he's fucking 20 years old. He's a fucking backup. Like, he wasn't going to get any playing time. So, not that big of a deal. I mean, people were, like, talking shit. I'm like, Jesus, guys. Like, I get it. Like it like all right you're transferring to sparty whatever it's a rivalry but people were like going in pulling game film it was kind of crazy on twitter for a couple days i didn't see any of that but i mean that's pretty wild you, transferring to your in-state rival.

I mean, I know he's from Michigan, though. It's probably still close to home. I'm sure there's a lot of good reasons for it, right? And, Kaelin, I liked what you brought up, you know, kind of over the weekend when we were talking about it. You know, like what is, you know, maybe he just really hated, you know, the environment at Michigan and he has had to get out. Yeah. I mean, maybe he really disliked what the new coaching staff was doing and he was and he really didn't like how they were utilizing him and he just went man you know what fuck this i'm going to the arrival you know

i mean yeah there's always that possibility i mean i was trying to ask myself like man you don't see guys from ohio state doing this but then i was like they they have nowhere to go right in state and i also i mean the only thing is i agreed with ant right on twitter where he said like i what he said is like as a as a former michigan athlete he would he couldn't ever like sing the fight song at Michigan, wear those colors, buy in, and then completely flip and go wear those other colors and sing that fight song. When you should have learned in your three years here to hate that team.

So I don't know if that's a shot at Van Someren. A little bit, I think. But it's also a shot at Jim and the culture to say, hey, how do you guys not fucking hate MSU at this point? Like, that speaks to what happened on the field this last year and, like, how they don't even seem to care that much. So whatever. I think there's something to look at there.

I agree with that that's a yeah great point great point yeah i just i mean i i agree with ant like you shouldn't be able to it's the same i for um who was the who was the fullbacker or linebacker that went and grad assistant at Ohio State a couple years ago. Or even Greg Madison. I know that's a job and they doubled your pay so there's more to it, but

you don't see Ohio State coaches coming to Michigan, man. Warner. Warner did, yeah. No longer here, but – Yeah. He took a hiatus from Ohio State before he came here, though. Yeah, it wasn't a straight.

He had a cool-down period. Oh, I didn't realize that. He was at Minnesota, right? Yeah, he was at the P.J. Flex. Fighting P.J. Flex. Yeah, I don't know. I just – I do think there's something to say there like of the culture either Vance Omeren wasn't bought in and or he like hated it so much that he wanted to say, fuck you. I'm going to MSU where I mean, again, it's probably a great fit for him because he's going to probably play right away at it you know but i still just think like i would hope here's my hope as a fan is that most guys that go to michigan if somebody said like oh would you want to ever go to michigan

state and they'd say fuck no like that's my hope i would love to instill in in this in these players right yeah you want the player to go like why would you even ask me that question right like don't even this interview's over exactly exactly like it why why can't jim harbaugh get these guys to that point that's my question about it like and you can't get that into every you know all 120 guys on the roster every single year. I understand that. But it seems like more times than not, it's just kind of like eh, they're there, but there's not a ton of hatred where there should be.

Yeah, big rivalry. So. Alright, anything else we should touch on before we sign off today? I know this was kind of a short episode, but we'll try and get one out maybe later this week or this weekend when we watch Michigan basketball play again

because I'm excited to watch them play again. They're going to end the season with what? Every game is going to be a huge game. Yeah. I mean, Indiana is technically looking to schedule. It's not really a big game, but that could be an easy trap game. So it makes it a lot more, you know, exciting to watch. You guys got any zero to 90s?

I got nothing. I'm pulling something out of my ass my zero to 90 last time was that they're gonna finish the regular season undefeated and so you're on track so far knock on wood again yeah i got a good one i think or an interesting one i'll say all right do it do it for the for the three of us there you go all right so we're we've all become degenerate gamblers now that Do it for the three of us. There you go. All right. So we've all become degenerate gamblers now that it's legal in Michigan. And now, after I heard that Jack was putting dollar bets on European soccer, I was like, okay, maybe there's something here.

I need to, like, read up on this. So I read up a little bit on English Premier League soccer, and there's something interesting called need to like read up on this so i read up a little bit on english premier league soccer and there's something interesting called promotion and relegation if you come in last place in premier league soccer you get dropped down to the championship league and if you come in first place in championship league you get bumped up to premier league i said let's do that in like fbs and fcs i like college football so you know the north dakota states get bumped up and they become fbs teams i would love i like that a lot that's a really interesting idea, right? I would love – first of all, it's very cool. It's like it makes the stakes unbelievably high at every level because the owners are the ones most affected

because you make like a fraction of the money in the Champions League as you do in the top one. So it's like from top to bottom, it's like a huge deal to be in last place and it's a huge deal to be in first place in the champions league and so um that aside though i'm thinking big 10 in the mac fractured up in conferences why not illinois or something well it's gonna yeah put them like regionally i mean big 10 mac right there yeah we do pack 12 mountain west you know yeah i like that i wasn't exactly clear on it because this structure goes like all the way down for like 11 levels and i was like so if

you're at the very bottom are you like a kid in high school like i don't i don't understand that part of it but like you know i think in if we brought that concept to college football it would tremendously impact the stakes yeah maybe we leave it at two tiers for now you know power five group of five and then we you know you know maybe we implement fcs in there too i'd like that that would definitely make it um more high stakes that's for sure yeah so there you go there there's your uh new idea of the day thank you for contributing that for us yeah thank you so much no i love that i think that's a i would that would be imagine like watching an illinois rutgers game at the of the year. And one of those teams aren't going to be in the big 10 right here.

Battle for last place. And then, and then at the same time, you're watching Mac shin on a Tuesday night. And it's like Northern Illinois versus, uh, versus Akron. And one of those teams is going to be in the big 10 next year.

That'd be amazing. Think about the level of momentum a team could gain like you could have a mac team that wins the mac joins the big 10 then gets a good recruiting class and then like does well in the big time dude possibly could happen or they get absolutely crushed or they get crushed you know you hope for the best in that scenario. Yeah. Yeah, that Michigan playing Ball State or something. Yeah, exactly. So, all right. Well, that is about all we have for today.

So, short one today, but we got a lot of info in there. We'll be back later this week or this weekend or something to talk about Michigan, Iowa. And then is Michigan indiana right after that yeah it's thursday then saturday thursday saturday so yeah only one day in between um i mean i i'm gonna be tired from watching i can't imagine what these guys are doing they gotta be they gotta travel to bloomington i think on saturday so that's a geez that's a tough schedule um so all right um but yeah we'll have i'm thinking maybe maybe this weekend after those two games we'll have another podcast up and we can uh talk about hopefully another two w's from the wolverines

uh as big dickinson energy is leading the charge obviously so. So check out UmichG's and UmichStore.com for all the merch. We've got some new stuff out there, basketball school and some other things that our guy Tristan has been putting up for us. So we'll be putting up more and more there too. So you can follow us at Blue by 90 on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook at Blue by 90 Podcast on YouTube. And outside of that, we will see you next time. Go Blue.

Go Blue. Go Blue.