Blue By Ninety - Michigan Taking the Next Step

Episode Date: September 14, 2026

Michigan answered a lot of questions Saturday with a huge win over Oklahoma.Trevor McCue and Darnell Porter break down what changed after the ugly opener against Western Michigan, how Michigan finally tailored the offense to Bryce Underwood’s strengths, and why the Wolverines’ defense is quickly becoming the identity of this team.We’ll also get into the concerns that remain — penalties, an inconsistent traditional run game, the need to get Andrew Marsh involved and a passing attack that Kyle Whittingham admits still needs to develop.Michigan is 2-0 with UTEP up next. What did the Oklahoma win tell us about this team, and what needs to happen before Big Ten play?〽️ Rise to the Victors🎙️ Trevor McCue & Darnell Porter📅 Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday⏰ 10:30 a.m.📺 On the Blue By 90 network#MichiganFootball #GoBlue #MichiganWolverines #BryceUnderwood #KyleWhittingham #CollegeFootball #BigTen #BlueBy90

Welcome and rise to the Victors Blue By 90 Podcast Network. It is a victory Monday, the best Monday around not only just a victory for Michigan, but a victory for karma and all that is right is Oregon and Ohio State also lost on Saturday. It's been a good weekend, Darnell. How you feeling today? Man, I feel fired up, man. Like, it's been a great weekend. I know we only got two people in the YouTube chat.

I'm waiting for all the haters to pop up. All the Bryce Underwood naysayers, all of the, this team sucks naysayers. I believe there was a quote, and I hope Bryce uses this down the line. Still a little bit too early for the young fellow, but reports of his demise seem overly exaggerated. And I can't wait to get in to talk about Witts press conference because we talked yesterday about how it's. seems like Whit and Bryce is getting fed up with the media. So I can't wait to get and dive into all of that. But the weekend was great.

Yeah, my Rams lost. You know, I got to throw the Rams in there. But I'll sacrifice. I felt like Thano's Saturday, right? So you remember in the Avengers when Thaino's had the son of the soulstone and they asked them, what did it cost you? And he said everything. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, I felt like me losing to the 49ers. Oh, my God. I had to sacrifice that win. to not take a loss on Saturday. So I'm feeling pumped up, man. I can't wait to get in and break this stuff down with you. And man, let's get to it. You see, I'm dressed for the occasion.

I'm gold chained up. Got my buffs on. You got to put your buff on. Anytime we get turnovers y'all in games, y'all are getting buffed up darn hell on Monday. We win and we get turnovers. I'm with the team. I'm buffed up, as y'all can see.

Let's get to it. I went no man button today so you can see how long it is. Yeah, okay. Yeah, yeah. I look like my dad. I kind of hate it. I got old quick, son. All right.

Look, Michigan is 2 and O, and that's all that matters. No apologies necessary. I could do an entire rant on this show about AP voters. I'm not going to do it. You are all are embarrassing yourselves. It doesn't matter. Michigan controls what they can control. I told you I heard a lot of positive.

talked about on the boards. I was hearing all this positive stuff about practice during the week. And I was so hesitant to post it because it just felt like after the Western game, guys, everybody's fired up and things are going, you know, it's like, let's see what happens. And I think the team kind of took that approach too. I think you could see that. Again, full context now, looking back on Bryce's press conference, you could see he was like, okay, whatever, you know, I'm going on the field where I'm worried about the team.

And he knew the team had his back. That was another thing I kept saying, too, is, He got voted team captain for a reason by the players, right? This isn't a situation where the coach was like, I'll make this due captain, and hopefully that, you know, sparked something with him and the team, whatever. So coach had his back. And we talked about off air this weekend. I think Whittingham is learning.

He's not in Utah anymore, Toto. Michigan is bigger. The spotlight's bigger. And yes, his full context answer to the question. about Bryce included nobody's job is infinite and everybody has to show progress and it's all about winning. That's every player, every coach, whatever. That obviously wasn't the context that got shared out, right? Bryce's job is an infinite.

So I really appreciate he obviously supported Bryce pretty sternly after the game said it was a great response from him, really pushed back on the idea that he opened up this can of worms about Bryce's job being in jeopardy. here's the quote that I think probably he wishes he would have said last week. Bryce is our quarterback. That's it. And he showed it. Look, it's not perfect.

I'm not sitting here to tell you Bryce is a Heisman candidate. He has arrived. But we saw what we wanted to see, which was somebody bounced back from the worst game of his career with all the negative attention, everything going on in a big game and be the reason, a reason, Michigan one. There's things that got to get improved. We can talk about the close calls and the missed things here and there. The penalties, all that stuff.

It's got to get improved. But Bryce Underwood went out there and won a football game and beat Oklahoma. And this is year one. We keep talking about it. The year zero reset and putting the year in the past, you know, the past in the past. Yep, Bryce just turned 19 a month ago. Let's remember that. You know, props start for what they did against Ohio State, obviously.

But it's been a long road for him, too. So I'm just happy for Bryce, dude. I'm so happy for Bryce. Yeah, I want everybody to remember who told you this first. I said this in multiple, multiple videos with you, Trier, and I believe with the preview with Toski, when we talk about offense than all 22, right? Second year quarterbacks in Jason Beck's offense,

some make it to 30 years. But second year in particular, they're different quarterbacks than they were first year. Dampere first year at New Mexico State looked totally different than Dampier second year at Utah, even though it was technically first year in Utah, it was second year in offense. You can go back to some of his Syracuse quarterbacks

and look at that. So I think the other quote that Whittingham said, which I think is important, he said, so wait, nobody thought this kid was going to come out and look amazing or look like a Heisman candidate in year one of an offense that's just being installed, like there's going to be growing pains with year one in an offense. That happens. You're seeing this now.

You're seeing this now around college football. For all of the people that was in the chat last week, and I'm sorry that I'm raising my voice, but this is how pissed off I get about it because I don't see them in the chat today. day for all the people that was complaining about Bryce not being able to read coverages and not being smart enough to read coverages, are we having those conversations this weekend? I mean, today about Dante Moore? Because he looked horrible against Oklahoma State. He's supposed to be a number one draft pick.

Are we having those conversations about Arch who played, I would say, not that great for the first three quarters and then 440, he had a great game? Like, quarterbacks are going to struggle, guys. It's a part of the game. But what I love that they did this week, that they didn't do last week, and I'm pretty sure we're about to get into it. I'll let you lead us off trip. They finally built an offense that we were sitting there watching the game together, and we was like, this fits Bryce.

Yep. They're not asking Bryce to do too much. Bryce is doing what they're asking. And even when the only one that I'll bring us. that I'll probably say I knock him on because we were yelling at the same time is when he rose out the pocket and he took that three-yard loss.

And we was like, he had to, he took the three-yard loss and we was like, he got to throw the ball away. Just chunk it out of bounds. But outside of that, Bryce was decisive. He threw balls where only his guys could catch it.

I thought the JJ catch and the Browner catch Give me more, brother. Like Bonner, like those guys, they're going up getting it. Now, they didn't come down with all their toes, but they're going to go getting it. So I like that. Let's get into the offense because I thought that was impressive. No, I, on that note, though, what did we talk about with the Urban Meyer things that we did like, right?

Which is always, give me my 11 of best. And if there's a dude that can make a play for me, if he's not playing 30, 40, snaps. But if I play him three and he can make a play for me and help him help us win, I want to give him a chance for that. And that's what Mason Bonner was. They put him out there and said, go make a play for us, Big Fellow. And he almost did.

Right. Yeah. Great grab. And I know the staff looked at that and goes, okay. Right. And the JJ toe tap, very close as well. Some people still think that was a catch. I get why people, whatever.

I'm glad that we're debating whether that's a catch at the point of contact and not talking about whether the ball came loose when he was rolling on the ground two seconds later. We've made progress with what is a catch. So that is good. The Marsh deep PI. And then I keep pointing to that JJ Buchanan play where he cut up and Bryce through the back shoulder and Bryce absolutely made the right read. That's something both are going to watch the tape. Communication be better next time. So again, Bryce wasn't perfect. But that's four big plays that are literally inches away from happening in the passing game. And I loved, look, dude, we nitpicked the dude for the quick moments they show on TV that are bad.

When that marsh play happened, his body language of, oh, man, this close, oh, you know, I thought that was a big deal. I really did. And look, mechanics-wise, footwork looked great. The way he was delivering the ball, these quick throws. And to your point, the offense. Rino wasn't going away. It was there, but it felt more deliberate. The passing game, JJ is your 50-50 deeper threat outside.

Marsh is your shorter, intermediate, get in the ball in space so he can make some yards after the catch. I'd like to see the wide receiver three role actually exist and get some more mola out there. And all these guys we talked about with wide receiver three, I think that's coming. But until they get the run game figured out and some of the stuff with the offensive line, I think that's step one. And then the passing game is going to expand. But man, you could see Jason Beck say, I messed up last week. This is what we need to do.

Hey, this worked. Bryce running the ball, et cetera, et cetera. Let's build on this. I think what they wanted to see was when they play at top, everybody coming in to this day. I just saw Jake. Yeah, I laughed at that earlier. Look, Jacob, I don't know if you're going to be available in a couple weeks, but we will. It's a conglomerate of us that will be at the tailgate, including myself.

I think he said, that's a buddy of mine. That's not some brand. Yeah. I think I miss you. He's a, Jacob's a great sports writer in his own right. Maybe not me. I'm just kidding.

No, he's a great writer. He covers a lot of stuff. He's contributed in the past on the Amazing Blue Review site. So hopefully in the future, he's a part here too. But he's doing good things. Yeah. So my thing is you're seeing them iron out. You're seeing them iron out the issues in the run game, right?

You even heard winning him say Bryce had a few zone reads. And this, I'm glad that he brought this up, right? Because a lot of times I see Michigan fans on the timeline. I see them in the group chat. I see them on the board yelling out. Bryce got to keep that. Bryce got to keep. He's not reading the zone read.

Well, what did you hear from Whittingham this week? He said Bryce had a few that he would have liked to have pulled, but Hider was kind of excited and his grip on the zone read. He was squeezing too hard so Bryce couldn't pull it out and it's blown up, right? That'll get fixed in practice. That's a young freshman, eager to make a play. and not understanding what he's actually seeing in that zone read, right? Not trying to make sure he don't fumble the ball in a big game.

I'm pretty sure Haider was a little bit nervous, right? So he's like, I'm holding on for dear life. I think once you kind of get that identity of that running situated, I think then it opens up lanes for passing because now teams are going to come in and say they can run the ball. we have to stop the run. Well, now those one-on-one pass lanes, those deep balls to Marsh,

Buchanan, some of your tight ends, it opens up. And so I suspect it seems like with hinted towards it again today, he said it in the press conference after the game, and then he doubled down again this morning and said, we have to get the passing game going, more efficient.

He identified Andrew Marsh by name. So, guys, he's not oblivious that we have a superstar at wide receiver that we have not got activated in these first two games. I think the staff will work on that this week. And I look to see them keep their identity with running the ball, but also get the past game going against YouTube. So, man, I can't speak enough about how proud.

I know somebody in the chat said he's Bryce. still wanted to throw it. Yes, but wanting to throw it and throwing it, that should be the biggest thing you hear, right? He wanted to throw it, but something was clicked in his head and was like, no, I can't throw it. Right?

That's the type of price we need. We don't need them trying to make a play running out of bounds, throwing it then throw a pick. Because imagine if he did throw it and it was a pick. We saw in that game, when we don't turn the ball over and we turn the other team over, good things happen. Right. So I'm just thankful that Bryce didn't throw it, even though you could say he wanted to throw it. And then back to that deep ball with Marsh, the one thing I hope Coy and his other QB coach Palmer is talking to him about this week.

I think he was a little bit scared of David Stone coming after him because he was kind of get rushed. But I almost feel like if Bryce just kind of sets his feet there and lets that ball go, I don't even know if the interference matters because I think he delivers a more. catchable ball and I think Marsha actually catches it. And so at that point, you're at the three instead of it being a 15-yard game. Stupid thing to even mention right now. But like I hate that that's not a spot foul. Yeah. Because like I think about holding, right?

Holding not only says, hey, without the hold, the play ends here, but I'm also backing you up 10 yards, right? where past interference gives an opportunity for somebody to basically commit an intentional foul, right? And then it's only a 15-yard penalty. I know in the NFL you can do spot, I hate, I thought about like maybe you make it like a judgment call where like if the ref thinks it's intentional. But the last thing we need is more judgment calls from the rest. So it is what it is. But like it does kind of suck that like, you know, Marsh is right there.

You've got the play. And it's like, it's just part of the game. I was like, I wonder. But anyway. Um, yeah, and again on Bryce, I thought, you know, kept clean. He was eight to 14, six yards per attempt, not lightning, right? But time to throw. We talked about this last week, 2.2 seconds in a clean pocket.

Under pressure, still over three. That's an issue. Um, but again, with the offensive line, some negative news today, we talked about also this weekend, um, you know, Babelow was held out initially after that foot injury and they were being kind of using some precaution. And then last week he practiced a little bit. And then Whittingham did confirm that it seems like he reagravated something with the knee.

So at this point, I hope we see Babeloa play football this year. But it's obviously just bad news for the kid and concerning that he hasn't been able to get healthy coming off that ACL injury. But the guy that hasn't played a ton of football even prior to getting to college. So not going to be part of the plan moving forward, which makes things interesting. because again, I did want to see maybe this week even, a little pressure on some guys out there. The guard position, obviously, we saw the heavy rotation last week.

This week, no Evan Link, so it was just a phobia and Norton. And I know the staff is smarter than me and they see this too, but I talked about in my grade sessions, I can't believe how little they're running up the middle. This year is like five. It's crazy. especially because for years, how many times have we pounded our head against the wall? Jim Harbaugh, run, do something other than runs up the middle.

There's got to be another play you can do. You know what I mean? And now it's like the opposite. I think you just got to get Jordan Marshall quick going up the middle, let him do his work between the tackles. These, you know, motioning him out and then having him come back in for an outside run. I don't think that's the right route per se. But again, I trust the staff.

And I'm with you. I think the run game will improve. O-Line will continue and improve. The point is we talked all year about, let's see you at Oklahoma. Let's see at Oklahoma. Let's see after Oklahoma. This is why I say you don't have to apologize.

You're 2-0 after Oklahoma. And you've made progress. You have some good things and you have some things to improve on. But now you've got U-TEP that Iowa game, which again, AP voters, keep that energy. That's going to be, if Michigan wins that game, that's beating a higher-ranked. opponent.

And then your first row game, you go to Minnesota before the buy week. So, of course, the goal now is five and no going to the buy before the big matchup with Penn State following that. So I like that the team responded. And I don't care that they have stuff to work on because the stuff they have to work on, I feel is fixable. But the penalties, man, the penalties were frustrating. And I know Whittingham was obviously frustrated as well.

I think I have the quote here. maybe I don't. Oh, I guess I don't have the quote. I thought I did. Clean up is easy to say with penalties, right? Sometimes teams are just undisciplined. But man, we're talking about formation penalties. And just the face mask thing on Nichols, I thought was weird.

Some of the holes that aren't necessary. Clean up some of that. And, man, I hate doing the what-if thing because I'm sure Oklahoma fans are doing the same thing. darn out, but man, the penalties again kept the Oklahoma on the field a couple times and resulted in points, stalled out some offense. I mean, Michigan could have won this game comfortably with a cleaner game. So the penalties thing is a little worrisome to me because penalties are pure lack of detail. And when you are a team that is supposedly, the whole reason we brought with him here was to button up accountability discipline and we're getting if you get so let's just because

i don't think we had as many formation penalties this week that we had the first week okay so that went down but let's talk about the i think the four biggest penalties that to your point would have changed the scope of the game. First, special teams. We get a stop and we run into a kicker. I get it. You're trying to make a play to block a punt. But I'm almost certain that when you get, if it's more than five,

the block is on. And if it's less than five, you hold off, right? Because even if you inadvertently run into the kicker, it's five yards, it's automatic first down. So we're in a fourth in three or fourth and four situation. We're trying to block a point. That makes no sense. Your defense has done what it's supposed to do. And now you're putting them back on the field and you're asking them to replicate what they just did.

Well, that's why I think it's fixable. I mean, that's Kendrick Bell out there making that play, right? But as a coach, we talked about this during it. I know Kerry Coombs knew this dude at a leg and was like, we got to go out there and try and get a block. And he was sending dudes. That's on the coach, in my opinion. It is. It's on the coach.

And you saw, you saw Witt had some words for him after this. Oh, yeah, very colorful. Because we got two on special teams. And I love Jair Hill. I think he's going to be a great NFL point. with it. But take this as a learning moment, young man. You didn't have to do that. You're lucky that all they did was give you a 15 yard unsportsman like penalty. Because imagine if, remember, this is not a big team of crew. This is a SEC crew. Imagine if they would have looked at that

and all of a sudden we would have heard a targeting or whatever. And now you're thrown out the game and instead of you having that chance to make that big interception that turned the game, you're not even in the game. It just didn't make any sense. You had done all you need to do. The play was over with.

And props to him for his atonement, I guess. Yeah, you're trying to enforce your will on a kid that you've been locking up all day. Jair and Smith Snowden had Satania in hell all game. Zero receptions when targeted. They could not get him to ball. He could. I don't care what these, oh, I'm starting to see these Oklahoma fans saying, yeah, our receivers, I heard Brent Biddleboe say on his press conference, yeah, our receivers was one-on-one with these guys and they were getting separation.

And we just couldn't get him the ball. It's like, no, you couldn't get him the ball because those corners was running stride for stride with him. And if he were through it, just like he threw on that pick, it's going the opposite way. So you don't even have to do that. And I saw somebody just putting a chat, yes, the Shamari Earle's face mask. Like, these are lack of detail plays. You're not, you are not laser focused into what you have to do. These are things that can kill a game.

we should be thanking our lucky stripes that it didn't go the other way because here's the thing just like we can say we missed on a lot of points they missed on a lot of points too from our mistakes and this is now the second week where we've done dumb penalties that could have cost us the game so i'm hoping that this morning i heard they were in the building at 630 i know when my cousin played for Michigan in the late 2000s, you got penalties. You ran the next morning. Monday morning, before anything happened, you ran.

And so I'm hoping that Witt is holding them accountable and saying, we cannot have this. Yeah. I'm sure. It's a self-discipline thing too. So like I said, I'm just not, I'm not over like in my rank of concerns,

the O line. and some of the running scheme is definitely higher for sure. Because the defense itself has quickly become the identity of this football team. And people are asking me, hey, do you think this can be a top 10 defense? I was like, yeah, I do. We're talking like when you really think about it here, that defensive front, which again, sorry, I was excited about all offseason. I didn't understand too much of the worry there.

We're seeing it already. Nichols is that dude. healthy John Henry Daley is that dude. Nate Marshall has already taken Cam Brant's role. We saw a complete flip in the snap count there. And Nate Marshall is on the field in the most important play of the game and delivering the sack that ends it. Props five star going to five star. Again, keep in mind where that kid was in the spring in the doghouse.

Whittingham gave him his props for what he was able to do to bounce back in the offseason. Now he's giving him a chance to make plays and look at that. rewarding the head coach. I mean, that's, Bonies out there. Yeah, Carter Meadows. Yeah. Unlike Babeloa, Carter Meadows,

I do expect to see this week. I heard from one source after the game. He looked like he absolutely could have played, wanted to play. So excited to get him out there. The three defensive tackles that are leading the way with Pierce and Edda and Jonah have been great. And again,

they're continuing to use. I do like when, And it's like you see something and you're like, I hope they do that. And the coaches do it because that shows it's a smart staff, right? They're not, they're not, they're not sticking to their own smartest guy in the room. They're looking at what's happening and responding.

So seeing more defensive ends on the interior. Great. We just touched on the secondary with Hill and Snowden. My God. Smith Snowden was zero receptions on five targets. Set the edge when they were trying to get on the perimeter run all day, blew up some run plays, big hits when available. And Snowden's got some Mikey-esque vibes.

I said that. He is, he is it, dude. He is so good. Zeke Barry seems to be thriving in his role now, too. I was like, don't forget about my boy, Bracey. He's patrolling. Yeah, you get in the back. Bracey's doing great.

Man, Rodmore, you can tell. Rodmore is Rod Moore, but, like, seeing him missed tackles. You get missed tackles is so weird. Yeah. It's a dude that hasn't played football in two years. So that that's going to get cleaned up. But Jordan Young got a lot. a little bit more run in this game too.

We saw Mason Curtis in that kind of hybrid role, we thought. And then at linebacker, put some respect on Troy Bowles' names, man, name. I told you guys, like, this is a guy in his senior year who spent two years in the best linebacker room in the country at Georgia, coach his son, look good when he played last year, killing it, leads and tackles again for the second game. Nathaniel Staling continues to be a high floor guy doing his job. Shout out to Moa's brother, man. like he's found a role too and he's doing good and chase taylor much improved in this game i know

people want to pick on him because of some of the coverage plays against rocky beers uh a lot of people are going to look silly guarding rocky beers this year yeah like that's an assignment bro so he a unit for sure yeah so he looks much better in this game in o a or n o a or n o a n o b thank you yeah he did so much he did so much better i'm upgrading him to an a that's what happened he's anyway you know uh n obi look at you so that defense man i it's michigan jill huh said mike mic mic micdano bids mentor from 21 it's 23 for me it has been since he got hired the reason i know what you're saying with 21 i think maybe 21 personnel more yeah maybe that maybe that maybe that's what i'm thinking yeah i agree with that i think so but but scheme wise um

see it. And that third quarter, when Oklahoma came out, I was really concerned. I'm like, oh, what do we sit up? You know, what do we switch up? What do we do wrong? I can't believe it. But when I went back and I rewatched it and I charted it out for the grade session, Michigan threw a bunch of multiple looks. Yes, there was some zone in that drive when they had been in man primarily. But it wasn't like this complete miscalculation. Oklahoma came out, found a couple plays. So that made me feel a little bit. better than I did watching that live. But yeah, defense is elite eight quarters. They've only allowed one touchdown. It was that third quarter drive, right? Held the Western team to

the four field goals despite having really no offense to bail them out. So which shouted out Jay Hill, shouted out his scheme, is called the defensive players, et cetera. So with with this locker a room where it's at now where we're already at a half hour i knew this one would be tough to get through quickly so with the offense progress strides working on what they got to work on excitement we feel better there right it's not where it needs to be but we feel better defense either matching or exceeding expectations depending on how hype you were coming into the year is where it is special teams that punter is up what a weapon and we got them to three more years.

I'm excited. What a difference that makes. I've never been excited for more special team, probably since our kicker from a couple years back on the Natty team that was automatic. But, bro, to have, that is a weapon. Like when you get into those games where you're playing an Oregon, you're playing in Indiana, you're playing in Ohio State, and you got a punter that can punt it and put it inside to 10 consecutively, that's a weapon.

With this defense? Come on, man. Yeah. So we spent a lot of the offseason with the hype. Money moody, right. Sorry. Yeah. We spent a lot of offseason with the hype and talking about projecting out.

Everybody said the same thing. Wait to Oklahoma. Wait to Oklahoma. Wait to Oklahoma. That's going to be a lot of this week now. It's kind of resetting, right? So I don't want to get too deep into this. We'll probably talk about it more tomorrow.

And then I know Boutros and I are going to talk about it. So not only where Michigan is, but an Oregon team that has struggled in both games, like remember, you know, they're trailing boys. He had to come back. That lost to Oklahoma State is, it's what's great. I mean, it sucks for Oregon fans. We've been on the opposite end of this, right? Like when Michigan lost half state, okay?

but that's what makes college football great, man. For Oklahoma State to get a new coach and snap their losing streak like that, big win at home, just awesome. But for the Big Ten, you look at that, and Ohio State loses to Texas, and it's less that they lost to Texas and how they lost to Texas.

That kind of makes to go, oh, right? Like, those feel like more winnable games now. That's just truth, right? And Michigan is, again, I didn't think we'd be talking about the run game struggling. So that's still kind of like an eh. Yeah. But I like where Michigan's at because they're two and all.

They've got this U-TEP week now in this game. And the Iowa and Minnesota games. And it's like that scenario of 5-0 to the buy is absolutely right there. And maybe a couple other games on the schedule. You start to go, huh. You know, you're back in that is 10 and 2 CFP conversation. Right. And that's what I predicted.

at the beginning of the season. I still have us losing the two bigger games at the end. Now, maybe it's Indiana. You win Michigan State. I mean, you win Ohio State, but you lose Indiana, Oregon. I just think it's going to be a talk. I know how bad Oregon looked, right? They have some offensive line problems.

They have some offensive line problems. I think they'll get that type of stuff figured out. The problem is part of the reason why, and I don't want to get into other teams on this show, right? But I'll just say this on why I think we can lose that game. I told Oregon fans last week, when you are a West Coast team coming east, there's always issues with that.

It's the same way on the opposite, when you're East Coast going west. And so we played at Oregon, right? We played at USC last year. It's always an issue for Michigan teams. I know we won in a Rose Bowl. but it's going to be a tough place to go get a win, right, unless they just completely fall apart, which they could because they have some big games coming too.

It's going to be a tough thing. So I still think 10 and 2, like you said, is definitely on the table, playoffs. I've seen some exciting matchups, Trev. I think we might have to pull up at one of those matchups because I saw today they either had us going to the Grove and playing hidey-toddy and Ole Miss. And now to our good friend Blake's favorite SEC team in Knoxville and playing Tennessee. I would love to go to pull up to either one of those things for a playoff game. I think that would celebrate Charles Woodson the rightful Heism.

Oh, that would be that would be a chef's kids. Watson whiskey. Shout out. You know what? We bring Woodson whiskey with us and offer it to the Tennessee face as like a piece offer. Yeah, there we go. So good. And look, it's a way out.

We don't know what Michigan, those are November football games. We don't know what Michigan football team, what Oregon team will be there. I just, again, with how down everybody was last week, I think that's my biggest message here is this team answered, man. They were put in a really, to win a game with a Hail Mary that could have been like a, not that they were going to celebrate. They knew they played poorly. but that could have been something positive. And because of the way that game has been treated, it became such a negative thing.

And it's so tough for JJ Buchanan to go out and make this huge play in front of 110,000 people and then be treated like he did something wrong. You know what I mean? And everything on the outside talking about benching Bryce Underwood and just all the stuff out there to respond to that and then win this Oklahoma game. just the vibes are good. This locker room is strong.

I love the stay on that side. Like don't, you know what I mean? We know where you were. Haters. You know, so like, uh,

I just, I like where this team is at, given where they were. That week one to week two jump. And again, I'm seeing something we wouldn't have seen last year, which is a little bit of some self-awareness, man, from coaches and players,

right? So I always tell fans, you're not more mad than they are. I promise you. You're not, right? So the response in what's going well and what still needs to be worked on, I'm just, it's good to feel good, man, just telling fans, it's okay. Enjoy this.

It's good. So we'll see. We'll see. I don't want to predict or preview the UTEP game, hardly at all. I'm sure we will later in the week. Obviously, God, if that's a close game, we're

boop. Back off the DPN. We're on the emotional roller coaster. I will say that ESPN, I just went through it real quick while you were talking. ESPN still has us nine and three, which I can see that, right? Still got us losing our three biggest games with Penn State being a toss up at the house.

That is weird. Yeah, I think it's like 60, almost 60, 40 for the Penn State game. You have us losing the Indiana, Oregon and Ohio State. So, yeah, 9-3 is the logical, yeah. Yeah, I mean, but what you just said made a lot of sense, Indiana and, oh, all three of those games can become 50-50. We don't know what those teams are. Well, we know what Oregon is, right? Or at least we think.

We kind of think we know what Ohio State is. We don't know what Indiana is because they haven't played anybody with a post. They won't play anybody with a post until next month when they play Ohio State. I doubted, I doubted, Signetti and his, uh, his crap talking when he first got there. And I won't make it again. I mean, until he doesn't back up his talk, we'll just assume he's going to as a wild man. Well, I mean, that's why I said. They play, they have to go home against Ohio State away against us.

So we're going to know in those 14 days what Indiana is. Um, I, I told myself I was going to mention this in the beginning because I don't think I provided enough context in my offensive recap. Oklahoma has, and every media member was saying, a top three defense in the country. We all knew this was going to happen if Michigan won. Oklahoma sucks, actually. We all knew it was going to happen.

Don't let him get away with it. But that is... This is not as good as what is supposed to be. Yeah. But that is fair to remember in the context of this Michigan offense conversation, they were going against a really, really, really good defense and remember what Brent Menables did to Bryce Underwood last year.

Made them look silly. I was there in person. Part of the conversation for sure. So good to include that. Hey, Treya, I want you to listen to a song today and have you a Coke on the side. It's by Chris Brown. Oh.

Yeah, it's called the grass is not greener on the other side. That's probably what Cole Sullivan is listening to right now. They were all very friendly. Sorry, I had to throw that. Sorry, I had to throw that. They were all very friendly and saying hi to each other after the game. Who was it the film? Was that Chuck that we were watching?

Oh, yeah. I don't even want to say that because I got respect to those of Sullivan's parents. And there's seven yards, thanks to call Sullivan, send him a thank you, you know, or whatever you would say. Dude is so mean. I like Cole's dad, his dad would come into the spaces a lot, the Michigan spaces. So out of respect for that, I won't say anything crazy. I'll just say the grass is not always greener, right?

Oh, I got off turn. You said the mature thing. That drives me nuts too. Oh, then he sucks now? He 100% sucks. I was listening to their spaces. I said last year what the game plan needs to be and why. And I said it this year.

How many times have you heard me say? John Mateer, more than any top quarterback, has the sharpest gap between clean and pressure that I've seen. When he is under pressure, his completion rate drops like 20 points. His turnover worthy plays go up, which means his interceptions go up. That has been on him since Washington State. He is terrible under pressure. Is that so? Is that so?

Yeah, so guess what? A Michigan defensive front built for and a coach focused on creating pressure. You said he's four? Is he five or is he four? I'm not sure, but four. I think he might be. Oh, my God. So how many years is he played?

How many years is he played in that that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that's the same, uh, oh, see, so three at least. So three minus two. Sorry, I'm laughing because I was searching his name. Yeah. To see, uh, which, if this was his fourth or fifth year, because I wasn't 100% sure. And this picture popped up.

He looks like Jack Miller when he was in, uh, the Joker, but, uh, I can't do it. Great for the audio podcast, by the way. You're just going to have to take my word for it. It's a funny picture. Somebody said 2022. So for all of the haters that's in the chat that was talking crazy about Bryce, they all see what Trevor just said. He said the book is he's horrible under pressure.

He doesn't make good decisions. And whether he's a year four or year five quarterback, this is his third year in offense. And y'all were ready to. right Bryce off. It's his fifth season. Okay. Even worse. This is a guy that people are projecting the goal. Third year is a

starter, but yeah. This is another guy. I thought he was a senior. He's making the second, third round quarterback. And he's making the same same dumb decisions. That pick that he threw to Jair Hill, hey, Michigan fans, did that look familiar to y'all? Because that was the same

pick just about just a little bit more on the inside that Bryce threw the week before the Western. Yep. Like, cut the man some slack. I don't hear the think pieces from the Michigan fans this week about how John McTeer's not smart enough to read a defense. Yeah, be careful with that.

I got a little uncomfortable last week with some of that. Yeah, that was just great. That just made me upset, man. I'm glad that we can get past it. Bryce bawled out. He did what he needed to do. He had some things he's got to work on. Pretty sure they're going to work on it this week.

And let's just move forward. But I just want people to understand, like, these quarterbacks go through issues, man. They go through growing pains. Give them some time. Everything will be okay. All right. Let's get out of here. Like I said, Victory Monday.

Everybody enjoy wear that maize and blue all week. Talk your smack online, if that is your prerogative. Get to the site, too, man. Oh, yeah. I don't even hide. You want to see you guys over there on the site. I'm still running that promo, too. Anytime you're watching Rise to the.

the victors use promo code rise on the website to get your first month free if you want to just give us a shot first otherwise if you do annual that does give you two months free out the gate if you just want to buy in but um my grade session breakdowns of offense and defense are both live on the website right now i think that's a good representation of what we're we're hoping to do content wise in terms of fan focused unique different than what you see out there um that's on the site. Now you can check out. Message board. Thank you to subscribers. I know the community's building, but like board was hopping during the game. It was really excited to see that live thread going. So that's continuing to pick up, excited about the message board, some familiar names in there,

some names coming. We're working on it. And then, yeah, we're going to expand an idea we've had pretty soon. I'm excited to announce that for subscribers, we're going to take advantage of, some stuff we got. I'll put it that way. And spread that stuff to you, folks. So please, please, please. If you're watching here, YouTube views too, again, Blue by 90s following has been huge everywhere. Kind of surprised with the Blue By 90 podcast views.

But now, I mean, those are rising and rising. So thank all of you. Like, subscribe, notification bell when we go live. You know we're loaded two shows a day every day with us and me and Boutros and Dennis. And of course, the OG, Justin Rowe, the man, Blue By, 90, Mr. Blue 90 of himself. That's what we're going to call him. Him and Joel Honigford.

We got Wormley and Strack back. I feel like I'm forgetting somebody. You and Toskey cut-ups, that's going to be fun. Tomorrow is going to be exciting. Electric. We got some things for you guys. Looks like Trev, early. I know we hate this because I would have loved the 330 game,

but it looks like our trip for the Iowa game will be a big noon kickoff. That big nude rink. all over it, dude. Yeah. Had a big nude written all over it. Well, like I said, when it works out, like this week, there is nothing like getting a win at noon and hate watching for the rest of the day.

It's it. Just be unstressed the rest of the day. It makes you want to do things. You don't feel icky. You don't be like, man. Oh, I felt icky. Because I pajama pants and beverages. Oh, wait a minute.

Triv, true. All right, it's time to get out of here. It's time to get out of here. You got to relax, brother. You got to relax. The fans don't need to hear about. That was comfy. We appreciate all you guys for popping in.

If y'all can do me a favor because me and Trevor track this. We're kind of madman when it comes to this. If y'all can like, subscribe, and share this to other Michigan fans. We're trying to build this thing up. We want this thing as big as possible. And we want us to be one of your main sources to get this type of Michigan content. So if you like what we're doing at Rise, if you like what we're doing at Blue By 90, like the video, subscribe up on my YouTube. I mean, my podcast people that listen to audio.

Subscribe up. Send the podcast to your Michigan fans. Let them know we're here every day with new content, whether it's me and Treb or any of the other guys. I look forward to tomorrow, Trev. I'm pretty sure we're going to have a jam-pack show. Excite. And I'm excited. And make sure you go where it's.

started at all, man. Stop by the tailgate. I apologize that I was not there. But tailgate's always hopping. You never know who's going to stop by. This week, it was Denard Robinson hanging out at the tailgate. So definitely stop by the blue by 90 tailgates. We're right by Michigan Stadium. There's VIP packages available if you want to bring a group. Otherwise, stop by. I know it's getting tougher and tougher with the prices at some of the tailgate spots. And I know other tailgates are literally frauds. So that guy said some crazy stuff. Oh, I know.

I know. I tweeted. I tweet it out too. I had out back. All right. That's enough plug. That's enough hype. Thank you for those joining in on a live conversation.

If you're watching back later, appreciate you, podcast, appreciate you. The message, guys. Enjoy. Have a great week. It's Go Blue every day.

Thank you for being here. Rise of Victors. Blue by 90 Network. We'll see you tomorrow.