Blue By Ninety - Michigan Weekly: Carr Offense

Episode Date: October 22, 2026

Michigan beat Penn State, Tommy Carr took over at quarterback, and the Wolverines finally found some life offensively. But was the second-half turnaround really just about the quarterback?Welcome to Michigan Weekly with Trevor McCue and Nick Coston, aka Big Boutros.This week, Trevor and Nick break down Michigan's 21-18 win over Penn State, the decision to bench Bryce Underwood and what Carr's performance means for the Wolverines moving forward.We'll also dig into the numbers behind Michigan's second-half turnaround. After managing just 80 yards and zero points before halftime, Michigan exploded for 174 rushing yards and 21 points in the second half. What changed with the running game, why did five of Michigan's six explosive plays come from 11 personnel, and why isn't Jason Beck making more consistent use of what's working?Then we turn our attention to No. 6 Indiana, the defending national champions coming off a loss to Ohio State. The Hoosiers bring one of the country's best run defenses to Ann Arbor, setting up a major test for Michigan's new-look offense.Is Tommy Carr the answer? Can Michigan's defense keep the Wolverines in another fight? And did the Penn State comeback reveal a formula that can actually work against Indiana?〽️ Michigan Weekly🎙️ Trevor McCue & Nick Coston (Big Boutros)📅 New episodes every Wednesday📺 On the Blue By 90 network

Welcome in to Michigan weekly here on the Blue By 90 podcast network. I am Trevor McHugh. Join as always by his Nick Koston. It feels like a lifetime, brother. A lot has changed in the world, in our health in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Geez, Louise. Yeah, we thought we could just take the bye week and whatever. So, yeah, just chill out for a little bit.

And then now, yeah, it's crazy. How much has changed? Absolutely. So part of the context. So, yeah, the part of the apology is both Trevor and I, even though, you know, whatever it is, 750 miles apart, the same horrific illness lasting two weeks apiece. Yeah. Virus turns into bronchitis. Trev, you can still hear it.

But we're on the mend now. So thanks everyone for your patience. Yeah, I appreciate. I was going to say, yeah, I still have some. in there but like i've gotten used to it my kid's been dealing with it too um Isaiah ol he's also yeah so yeah there's something going around it's been stupid it's been absolutely but there's too much to discuss we now we now we got a power of yeah if we're yeah if we're gonna come back this we could skip a minnesota loss but we can't skip this well and that's what's

like too is i'm like people probably think we're doing it on purpose like we already we're already uh well on the wings. So, you know, I think this, that was our punishment. Like, the last time anybody heard from us, we were, we were welching on a bat and we paid the ultimate price. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry, you guys have been second.

Thank you, David. Thank you. Michigan beats Indiana. We eat super spicy wings. Just throw it out there. Yeah, sure. You know what? Let's bring it back.

All right. Michigan Money Line. Michigan beats Indiana. What is it? Six and a half, seven and a half. Michigan beats Indiana. We do the fireball. Fries.

So I have been so conflicted. I felt very conflicted Sunday. You know Saturday we, I don't remember if we text right away, but like you have been, people don't know this because we haven't been around a ton. You have been way out on Michigan situation. Like you're fed up. Are we publicizing that? Okay, I was going to be professional.

I just, well, no, it's okay. But like, you've been far more pessimistic than I have for the long-term situation. That's a fair way to put it. Totally fair assessment. I, yeah, like you said, as leading into the Penn State game, I was texting you, like, I think the Penn State game unfolded exactly as we thought it would. And that wasn't really a, that wasn't really a feather in the case. app for me so I kept texting you.

So that's where you were ahead of me was you were like, I don't care because this is what's going to happen. And I was willing. Right. And I was willing to say, okay, let me see the bye week. Yeah. Let's see what comes out of it. Yeah.

And I tweeted at halftime and we'll obviously get into this. But when I said, okay, you know, obviously now's the time to change the quarterback. Everybody asked like, when do you think the moment is? And I think it's hard to predict out. But when you're in the moment, you know it's the moment. And I know you don't make decisions based on fans. But I think when you've got to the point where they're booing possessions and you know Michigan's coming out with the ball, down three nothing. If Bryce had come out and not had the best drive of the Michigan season, you just screwed him.

You screwed yourself. And then to switch to car. Like it was time. It was time to switch to him. Right. We'll get into more details. But anyway. I said I almost don't care if they win the game at this point.

Because the biggest, yeah, because the biggest indictment for me was everything you've said at the podium about the offense being under the microscope and everything being willing to look at and leaning into what's good and scrapping what's bad and all of that. And then to come out of the by week and have your worst offensive performance of the season was just, inexcusable to me. So at that point, I was so just like, I don't know, distraught, given up at that point, that even the victory, the positives were there. And I'm like, okay, cool. I still now have this pessimistic attitude. I'm trying to get over it.

What it is for me is, cool, you've made the change at quarterback. What about the other changes? Are they sticking? What am I going to see against Indiana? Yeah. There's two paths here where I can talk myself into not only this season getting back on track, but the vision long term beyond it for this regime. And then another path where this was all a mirage and it means nothing.

Right. The mirage being the second half Michigan rush offense versus Penn State. That's simple. Yeah. Yeah. So I think the reason, the mathematical reason behind your frustration, my frustration, and the thing that we all shared, like you said, Michigan came out of a buy week. The byweek is the opportunity to tweak.

We've said all year, Michigan's problems are hypothetically more fixable within a season than a lot of teams with these big, big problems. Like Penn State, this is not a Penn State podcast, but I really have a lot of observations on Penn State because I think that their whole is a lot deeper than Michigan's, like institutionally roster-wise. the reason I felt so comfortable predicting a Michigan win is because I didn't think it would take a lot of adjustment to put the Michigan talent in a position to beat the Penn State talent. Penn State is light years away because their defensive tackles are 285 pounds.

They've imported a huge percentage of their roster from like a 500 Big 12 team. and you saw Rocco Beck to the Penn State quarterback give Michigan three short fields, all of which they capitalized on. But I think to your point, the frustration came from the fact that Michigan had this opportunity. And I don't know how else to put it. Did nothing.

The first half against Penn State was exactly the same as the second half against Minnesota. You had all this time to chew on it. And then to a lesser extent, so that's the primary frustration. To a lesser extent, there's a confusion and a question,

an open question for Jason Beck and the Michigan staff, which is, we have a card about this, but the personnel was mostly the same for Michigan against Penn State in the first and second half. They were both roughly 50% rhino, which is what we can now call as the base personnel. The only difference, well, I shouldn't say the only difference, but the primary difference in the two halves was that Michigan had six explosives in the second half,

but five of them were non-rino personnel. And so that's the question, that's the confusion, is like, we medium ball knowers have been able to watch this unfold and were able to sort of perceive what should be the base offense. Michigan refuses to make it the base, but they pull these little nuggets out in the second half. It works to the tune of, what did you say?

It was 14 interior runs for 141 yards, 10 yards of carry. And you can identify them, you know, if they're duo or whatever. Right. And the six carries, they ran perimeter in the second half, went for 35 yards as well. So those perimeter runs worked better when you have. had more of that interior run. Right.

So I think, so let me start with this, the rhino thing, because I think that becomes the, the big piece of the dartboard. And it's misunderstood in a lot of ways. And I'm almost willing to accept it at this point compared to some of the other things. Right. So rhino, like you said, is not an offense. It's not a scheme. It's not a play.

It's a personnel. Right. Right. all rhino is is i'm substituting an inline tight end for an offensive lineman that lineman is technically still an eligible receiver that's why they have them where we're right changed their numbers yeah but we haven't seen them do it yet but that's all it is i can run rhino in 11 so with three wide receivers i can run it in 12 or 13 and go jumbo and add extra tight ends i can go 22 and go all running back tight end and full goal line package i can go under center i can go pistol i can go

right all rhino is is swapping that one spot right and that's why i think some people were confused when you know i came out and said hey the second offense second half offense beck was doing things differently and people like no it's the exact same what are you talking about oh there's still the same amount of rhino and it was like no there was significantly more interior runs for the first time ever this season right was the first time they ran the ball inside between the tackles more than east-west perimeter runs. And it was also the first time all season. They had more zone blocking schemes.

Right. Then gap. Didn't you tell me? Didn't you tell me prior to this game, we were, or Michigan has been a two to one ratio gap to zone. And in this game, or certainly in the second half, it reversed. It was two to one zone. It was the exact opposite, two to one zone.

Right. And the first two games of the year were even more than. that it was like 26 to 4 or something like that against western it was significantly gap right and you brought up the explosive place so we've got it up on the screen right first half the 80 total yards 37 rushing the two turnovers and that's why you had to make the change if you're michigan right um because you said it the first half of penn state was the same as the game against minnesota right Bryce wins Oklahoma with his legs primarily, but he did what you asked him to do.

U-Tap rough first half, the whole team's flat. He looks really good statistically throwing the ball. They actually ran a ton of three-wide receiver. Rino set, something Beck's talked about. It's really funny. But the vast majority of their Rino and three-wide receiver plays came against U-Tep. Bryce looked pretty good statistically. Iowa, he comes out, has the best game of QB has had against Iowa in a decade.

Obviously, there's points. there that hurt him, but like Michigan got Iowa, they hurt themselves. And then Minnesota, we see this reversion back, right? He starts the game out six for six. Marsh has the drop. And it goes back to we're locking on to receivers. We're missing open receivers. We're not making the right reads, our body language, et cetera.

So to have that first half after, after Winningham said, the number one thing hurting us is turnovers. And both of those picks. we're technically not classified as turnover worthy plays because the first pick takes a funny bounce. The second one, the defender makes an incredible play. Here's the problem. If Bryce throws that ball where it should have gone on the first one to Marsh, it's a

touchdown. He underthrew it. So yes, funky bounce underthrew it. Second one, yes, miraculous play by the defender, but still another one where it's like, we are in the range of scoring and instead we turned the ball over. Right? Yeah. So you make the switch to.

Tommy Carr. Second half, 221 total yards, 174 who were on the crown, right? You score 21 points. You win 21 to 18 and you're like, car is it. Carr is the savior. We would have been six and no without him or with him. And that's where I'm trying to just pull narrative and stuff back into the middle, right? Because Michigan's defense has three turnovers in the second half that set up short

Fields, all three touchdowns came off of the turnovers. One was the 11 play drive, which was fantastic. But Tommy Carr didn't do a ton. And again, they didn't ask him to. He went five of seven for 47 yards. But I think that crosser to Hogan Hanson, where he stood in the pocket and waited and really delivered a strong throw, missed on the two deeper ones, whatever. But again, did what he needed to.

But from the run game. interior runs more zone than gap and a quarterback that you were letting be a game manager and not the supreme athlete that has to read and react to everything that you were trying to do with bryce so coming into indiana this is where my question is are we going to have a game manager quarterback and tomby car who can make things happen with his legs we've seen it obviously but are we going to have game manager tommy car and an interior run game where we're taking our three and four yards in a cloud of dust and then eventually breaking these explosives we wear it out of defense peppering in some of the

perimeter stuff and taking advantage of our speed because if we are that's michigan 21 that's Michigan 23 and sign me up for that right now. If that's what you're going to do, I'm in 100%. I think previewing Indiana, the quarterback change from the Michigan-only perspective is borderline immaterial irrelevant, right? It's all about the second half, those yellow numbers, 174 on the ground at 7.5 yards per play, not because of Tommy Carr, not because, not in spite of Tommy car, but not because of Tommy car, right? A lot of those interior runs were not reeds. They weren't RPAs.

They weren't options. They were handoffs. So if Michigan's offense is capable of that rushing attack, regardless of the quarterback, if Jason Beck is capable, see, this is part of the rhino confusion is, like you said, it's not an offense, it's a personnel. if Jason Beck is capable of calling 10-yard Michigan runs out of his preferred personnel, why did it take five and a half games to do it? What does that have to do with Bryce and Tommy?

So I think Indiana is going to pin its ears back. And if there's any sort of conventional five, seven-step dropback pass attempts called for Tommy Carr, they're going to come after him, the way that they went after Julian Say it. But on any standard down, on any first and 10 or second and short or whatever, to me, the question against Indiana and the question for the whole second half of the season is like, regardless of Michigan's quarterback, are they capable of a base interior running game? Right.

Yeah, and that's where I, that's where. You're right. That's the big question because Tommy Carr can come in and potentially change things for you, right? But if he's put in a situation where he's doing the same thing Bryce had to do against Minnesota, granted, you want to make the argument to me he might make this read better or, you know, wait longer on this. I don't know. We're going to see. That has to play out. Yeah, we'll find out.

Yeah. And again, I always reference Overton Window, but like this happens so often with me where like, I was like one of the most pro Tommy Car people early. And then the hype got so high that it was like, I drifted to this other side where it's like I become Tommy Car Hater. And I'm like, no, I don't want people calling him the savior and putting the same pressure on him that we did on Bryce when he first got here. And I don't want Bryce who made his mistakes and is not without blame here, but to become the only scapegoat for an offense that's been, you know, bottom seventh of the country all season, right?

Yeah. You mentioned this earlier about making decisions like a fan. And I think from where I sit, one of the one of one of my. concerns or discomforts is like a lot of decisions are sort of being made on the fly as if as if the stakeholders were fans you know um yeah so much changed in the second half unrelated to the quarterback i really i'm just i'm holding my breath to see what michigan runs against indiana yeah for a couple of reasons one is was was it was was it a halftime wake-up call for Jason Beck,

and now he's going to take these lessons learned and apply them to the rush offense moving forward at a greater volume. But also, again, it's not a Penn State podcast, but, like, dude, I dove deep on Penn State. They're awful. And it's, I'm. They weren't very good, and then they got decimated by injuries,

and now they're awful. Yeah, I'm pretty concerned. or again, just braced, holding breath, whatever you want to say, about Penn State as the opponent being Fool's Gold. And it's such a whiplash to go from an opponent that got paved by Northwestern to the tune of 400 whatever yards on the ground to Indiana. Like, the sample size in college football is so small, even on a good day, right? Even on a regular basis.

You get 12 regular season games. but this whiplash in the course of seven days I have no idea what to expect and I think it takes me back to our conversation after Western after the opener where we were like wow that didn't work wow that was like how quickly can this staff pivot how quickly can you learn

from a complete mess because it's tempting to say, well, in this case, they learned at halftime. Because really, it was a tale of two halves. The first half against Penn State was Michigan's worst offensive half of the season, which ranking 120th or worse in basically everything, that's kind of hard to pull off. It's hard to imagine that a home game after the buy against a bottom four Big Ten opponent would be your worst offensive half of the season,

and then the second half of the same game is your best. So if that's, if that's, sustainable, if that was some true, like, light bulb moment, great. Here's an opportunity to really demonstrate that. If Penn State just stinks that badly and they ran out of gas, I guess we're also going to find that out, because Indiana has a lot of gas. Yeah, and I want to give credit to Tommy Carr coming in was a spark, right? Whatever, you and I talk about this all the time, the non-tangible clutch momentum spark, these things we it, right? Like these things we say with sports at the time, maybe I can't touch it.

I just know it when I see it. He did provide that spark. You could see it. Yeah, look, these are people. They're people. Well, the crowd cheering versus booing. Yeah, it was a level of tension that was so coiled and built up. That's the word.

Absolutely. I agree. I agree. You can't. That was the word. He cut the tension. That's the word. And to be fair, too, with the offensive line, the offensive line played great.

This was another part of the problem, I think, for someone trying to defend Bryce. Oh, yeah. Was it zero pressures? Zero pressures allowed in the first half. Yep. And I think they allowed one in the second because Tommy took the one sack, right? Yeah. But they played phenomenal.

Oh, yeah. But even that, that was a weird. I think I know exactly which play that was. It was supposed to be like the old-fashioned, like, QB-O-Nose. If you remember that, but it was like a deep shotgun snap, quarterback sort of creeps towards the line. It's going to be a pass attempt. But then he just, he just ate it. Yeah, but, and that's, that's going to happen with a true freshman QB.

There's going to be some of those. But again, if I'm trying to buy into the optimistic path, we'll touch on what's on the screen. in a second here. But O-line, I thought, looked great. Both halves. And they looked really, really happy in some of that zone-blocking scheme. That touchdown for Coosdall, dude. Pistol formation. Thank you. First pistol snap of the year. Straight give to Coosdall, no read, interior run to the B gap. And the offensive line, we had picks second level. Yeah. right and we get alignment to the second level we get exactly what we want kuzdall in a one-on-one he wins the one-on-one turns the corner touchdown michigan bread and butter for years yep right

and it was like oh right um you've got it on the screen perfect split stretch yep hiders long run stretch run right even the touchdown car scored yeah Penn state didn't play that great and so at the third and not me. Yeah. And then he ends up scrambling inside for the touchdown. Jordan Marshall points to him. Like, go.

Yeah. Go inside. Turn up field. Because not only is the guy who's supposed to be covering me upfield, so are two other guys, including the linebacker that's supposed to be covering you. Go. And he did. Right.

That's one of my Penn State like, hmm. This opponent might be UTEP. Yeah. So I do agree with the people who. thought Tommy looked, I thought pre-snap more in control. It's always so tough too because like when he's making calls, we don't know what he's killing to, right? Like how much control was he given?

Because there was the, I believe it was the Cusdall run. There was, he made a call. And people said, well, he killed to that. To what? To which side to, you know, pass to run? We don't know, right? but you could see he felt more in control.

And that's something people have talked about. It's football IQ and being able to process, whatever. Yeah, personnel-wise, look, the rhino, when I did my article on the rhino two weeks ago, I was surprised that the gap between rhino and non-rino plays wasn't as significant as I thought it would be. In terms of success rate, you know, yards per play, blah, blah, blah, whatever. What it was clear of was some predictability, especially on, you know, Rhino on first down is a run 75% of the time, right? There's some elements of that. But what it was is Rhino is actually surprisingly efficient in terms of getting three or four yards to carry and being able to do that on schedule offense with no explosive.

So what was happening to Michigan is that. these penalties when you get a holding, when you get a formation penalty, whatever, and pushes you back, you don't have an offense to get you the 10-yard chuck play that you need to get back on schedule. And then I also felt like Jason Beck,

hey, if you're going to run the efficient plays and run up the middle, you have to do it over and over and enough that you eventually wear down the defense, and that's where the explosives come from, right? Another Michigan blueprint for years. So, yes, I'm going to continue to scream.

I don't get why you don't just run 11 personnel because I'd rather have Hogan blocking as the six-night going out for a receiver. But if you're going to run Rhino with three wideouts, whether that's literally a Mola or French or Travis Johnson or it's the other wideout is Hogan Hansen. Like a primary base offense where it's rhino. and then Marsh, Buchanan, Hogan, Hogan, Hansen, and running back with a lot of interior runs, a lot of zone blocking. And hey, I'm about to call him JJ because that's what I'm getting to here is with Tommy Carr being JJ-esque in terms of game manager, that will work.

I'm very, I think that will work because I believe in the offensive line in that scheme. I believe in the running backs. I believe in the receivers being able to get open enough on the short easy throws to make Tommy comfortable. And then they can generate yards after the catch. That will work if they do that. That sounds like a fine recipe. I'm going to say one thing in response, which is not a disagreement, just my perspective. Because I've texted you this a thousand times.

Manuel, Manu, whatever, sorry. Manu Beagle and Avery Gotts. are both 6-5-3-10. The rhino is not a position that requires like a body recomposition. Like, okay, this offensive lineman has to drop 75 pounds in order to play it. It's not an H-back.

It's a sixth offensive lineman. And Jason Beck has publicly specifically credited PFF, which a bunch of ball-knowers were like, why is Jason Beck reading PFF himself? You should have a thousand analysts. Oh my gosh, yes. But he has said, like, look, look, these guys are our highest graded blockers, whatever.

So to that I say, Hogan Hansen's healthy. We've seen enough snaps from him. He is tight end one. Hogan Hansen looks fantastic. Agreed. There's your starting tight end. If you are super happy with gotchen bacon and not happy with your guards, then make them your guards.

That's all I have to say. We're not the only people that have said. And to be clear, before I move too far past this, even the interior runs and the rhino, these conversations we're having, the zone blocking. This is not fans who think they know ball. This isn't medium ball knowers. This isn't Twitter talk. I have heard Kyle Winningham for weeks talk about Michigan strength being north, south, and they need to do less of the east-west. I've heard him talk about the rhino and maybe they ran it too much in those first.

few weeks. I've heard Jim Harding talk about the disconnect between him and back in the scheme and the old line adjusting to some of the gap stuff versus zone. They've talked about this, which is why if I have one frustration coming out of this game, them pretending they didn't do things different in the second half is insane to me. You made adjustments you said you were going to make and they worked. That's a good thing. You've reached. the point where I get fired up. I don't get it. So then I have people arguing with me. Like, see, they didn't do anything different. No, I know the rhino was still out there. I'm not claiming there's a sabotage of Bryce Underwood. I'm not claiming there's some giant

conspiracy. I don't think there was a secret Tommy Carr playbook. I do think they ran the ball up the middle more out of 11 personnel more. I do think they did. more zone blocking than gap because that's demonstrably true. And it worked. So good job. Do it again. Like what are we talking about? The percentage of public comments, I'm going to get a little bit risky.

I'll articulate it, I think, as well as I can. The percentage of public comments made by Michigan head coach Kyle Whittingham that make it sound like he's watching this team on television. is alarming. Like so, like, so many times he will remark upon something happening,

like it's happening to someone else. And, yeah, yeah, this is another weird example. This is an opportunity to, to take some credit for, like,

making adjustments that needed to be made. And instead, I don't know, you're just, like, leaning into the, the old, the,

the, the status quo that didn't really survive halftime. The chat is starting to dive into what has been existing all week. And it's this lack of nuance, I guess, because we live in a world of tweets. So everything has to fit into a 280 character thing. Like, multiple things can be true at once, right? So Dave, yeah, Signetti said they didn't really change a lot. Schematically, they didn't.

Again, Michigan didn't come out and do drastic new place. I'm not suggesting that, right? Yeah, this, that's, this is not at odds with, Signetti's observation and ours are not mutually exclusive. Right. The formations were the same. Yes, we know that. And I also said, if you weren't here before, but like, Bryce, this isn't saying

Bryce didn't, I literally said it was time to change from Bryce. He did make mistakes. He did misreads. He threw the turn, like the two picks. Yeah. So like, all of these things can be true. Right. I, I don't know.

confusion but yeah so then the let so okay so that's addressing two of dave's three uh comments the third one am i are we smarter than coach signetti no so you're doubling down on this maybe sygnity's wrong i'm not i'm not disagreeing with what signetty said like oh my god okay asked and answered moving on yeah anyway yeah good point can't even spell his name right that's okay so what we're talking talking about again the downhill running versus primarily the east west the and there were still reeds right but a couple straight gives and i don't mind reeds being there they just can't be so slow developing right i think that was and that you can tell me if that's on bryce you can tell me

if that's on you know we've heard the back and forth early in the year those where they stayed in mesh for too long. It was like, oh, Heider took it from him and he was mad. And either way, it's not working. Right. So that's the problem. The line, I want to touch on this too because, again, I feel like this is, you put this up. I'll let you touch about this a little bit.

The offensive line picking up, right, and playing well throughout the game. This wasn't the first half versus second half. right but the second half definitely they were a little more physical i thought especially on the zone scheme again they seem more comfortable but across the game they had a great game and this isn't some weird talking point because like you said kyle wittingham himself brought it up players themselves brought it up yeah the offensive line even though it's been through so many different iterations because of injury throughout the season this was its best game like But this was probably the best game for the Michigan offensive line since, I don't even know, like what, Washington last year or something.

Like, gotch, sort of a revelation. Garnara playing on one leg, super injured, but getting his reach blocks. Like absolutely baller. It's one of those reminders, these guys are human. Like if they needed a spark, if they were feeling sludgy and sort of bogged down and, and, like nothing was going their way and you make a change and it just it lights a fire. But the offensive line showed up for all 60 minutes. I think that they were the one part of the offense that even was doing its job in the first half.

But I guess the consistency of the offensive line from first half to second half is part of the evidence for making the quarterback change. Because they were doing their job. Yeah, that's what we were saying. Yeah. They were hitting their assignments in the first half. nevertheless 80 yards no points they put they put together that same consistent even dominant performance in the second half and it and finally it translates so uh Bryce is five of 11 for 40 something yards with two two picks from a clean pocket

super clean yeah this was the best past production day this was obviously in the second half the best run blocking day I really I am the last person who should be grading offensive linemen because it's probably the hardest task of any sort of like film review but I you know this this on offense this has been a season sort of marked by missed assignments post snap

and formation penalties and and you know slop pre-snap and neither of those happen the only the irony is that there was one formation penalty in the second half that turned a third and four in the red zone into a third and nine

and it gave Tommy Twinkletoes just enough space to operate and run that speed option into the end zone. So like Triple T it's just one of those things where you sort of throw your hands up

and you know they're just mojo is different. You know? Yeah. You get a pre-snap penalty like that on third and short turns into the third and long any of the previous weeks. it's like, well, here we go again. Now we're going to miss the field goal or throw a picket, whatever.

And it's like, no, he took those extra five yards and turned them into a highlight reel for himself. So anecdotal, small sample size, but really nice. You made this point, and I didn't make what I wanted to make as a follow-up point after. And Bryce from Michigan Insider, Bryce, what's up, dude, asks, Gatch plays with a nasty streak, Marles dudes, big fan of his game. What did you guys think of his performance? You brought it up. Revelation.

Well, I'm going to go further back. His name was brought up in the fall often as somebody that could compete at guard. And then I was told multiple times by different people, different variants of he's kind of a funny cat. I remember having this conversation.

I had this conversation with you where I'm like, okay, are they are saying like he doesn't fit in with the other guys and that creates continuity on the offensive line. Like, what are we talking about? And then it was this whole perspective of they feel good with the offensive line. We have our five.

And then it was abundantly clear that they didn't like where they were at guard because the first game, they're not rotating just one guard spot. They're technically rotating all three because of phobies bouncing around. Yeah. Right. And then when you have the injury to sprag, you're moving link to left tackle,

Frazier to right tackle and you're getting by with Norton and a phobia. So one thing I said throughout about the rhino was Manuel Beagle was not the problem. It was never the player. That's right. That was the issue he was playing well. And then he gets hurt. And Avery Gatch is phenomenal. And you and I and you just said this like 10 minutes ago, that's what I was saying,

your point were like, then put them at guard. Yeah. Right. If your frustration is guard play, instead of adding another, you know, offensive line with the rhino let's put those guys at guard and i don't like using the word luck but by circumstance norton is hurt gatch gets the start at right guard and looks phenomenal yeah it's sort of like guarnara getting forced into the center right guard last year that's such a good point yes yeah such a good point every gatch is my starting guard for the rest of the season he locked up the job

uh if norton has to go to left to take a phobie spot because you want norton on the field that bad, okay. That's fine. That's totally fine. But from the moment he signed as a high school prospect, everyone has told us Avery Gatch is the meanest SOB in the state of Michigan. And some of the chatter stuff that we've heard in the earlier half of this season was like, you know, buy-in stuff or sort of passive, you know, personality.

Non-football conversation. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And Gatch, by all accounts, like, solves that. Gatch is a killer. Yeah.

And I guess the question was always like, man. Yeah. Can you put that together like on a snap, on a real play? Can you execute that in a, in like a crisp football context? Answers, yes. He crushed it. He was, he might. have been our best offensive lineman on the whole day.

Him and one-legged Jake. Yeah, Jake's a badass. The one word that has stuck out to me this season because players have said it and coaches have said it is soft. Right? And I think about, like, Zach Zenter was an NFL player who knows what his career arches without that injury. But him and Trevor Keegan were mean.

yeah like they were intimidating dudes at guard right the i i talked to Trevor kegan after the 23 season we talked about the Ohio state game in 21 when that was all kegan yeah why can't i think of his name i forget the opponent yeah the helmet ripper but kegan got up in his grill kegan got right up in his face yeah and i was like that's when i was like you guys are waiting this game i knew it that was different you know um i personally this i'm going to go off real quick just on the offensive line conversation. What I've seen and what I think I know, because this team has made it very clear to me

that they want Andrew Babaloa to play left tackle, and he's finally practiced for a week and now heading into another week of, like, contributing level of practice. I don't know that you do it against Indiana. Well, we're throwing Tommy Carr into the fire. Why not, you know, Why not does Blindside have a new starter too?

Heck with it. I think this staff would really, really love to have Babs at left tackle, link it left guard, Jake at center, gatchett, right guard, Frazier at right tackle. And if Sprague is able to come back from his, anyway, if Sprague is able to come back from his injury, if not, whatever, but if he is, then there's more to that equation. But I think that's where they want to go and it solves your guard problem. I know people hate like losing your job when you get injured, but man was Avery Gatch good and deserves to stay there.

Yeah, he earned it. He played his way in. I have a quick question for you just to revisit like spring and summer. Is it correct that Andrew Babolola, when healthy, only practiced at left tackle, never guard, never right tackle, and never rhino? I don't know. I don't think it's fair to say. he'll only practice at left tackle because they did move guys around okay but they've made it explicitly

clear even this week winning him said he's going to play left tackle okay they they haven't considered him at guard i think they've talked about him in the same light as the two tackles they just had to get drafted at utah right like i think they really wanted him to be the starting left tackle this year. And then when he had a setback and fall, it was like, it's okay. It will still be able to move in. And then once it was clear, like, oh, another setback. That really threw a wrench and everything. I think there was probably the, they would have been very, very happy if the year started out, Babs, Link, Jake. And then I've heard mixed opinions on whether Blake Frazier or Andrew Sprague would have played right guard. And then the other would have been at

right tackle. That's what they wanted. So if Babs is healthy and that able to push and create that opportunity and then you're basically having a position battle in season between Gatch

and Link and Norton and a phobia. And I think Gatch and Link have shown they're the better. Link has been better at left. Actually, was it this game or the one before? He had a rougher game. at left tackle.

Had to be the one before because, yeah, Minnesota. He was surprisingly doing better at left tackle than left guard. There was all this to talk about that. But anyway, I think I'm going to skip. Yeah, let's because we've kind of touched on. Yeah, we've kind of touched on a lot of this. Let's get into Indiana. Is that work?

Okay. Yep. Yep. Yep. I don't know. I don't know if this is my big picture view of college football, which I touched on a little bit with Darnell on our episode of Rise of the Victors on Monday. But every team feels beatable.

Every college football Saturday feels like any given Saturday now. It is much closer to the NFL because I believe the transfer portal has created a situation where even the best teams have depth issues and they're relying on less experienced players than they have in the past, which means there's inconsistent players. consistency. There's lack of continuity. There's not, you know, a guy's a third year and it's in your system and the positivity that comes from that. And then injuries are more significant because now you don't have another five star in the bench waiting.

Indiana feels beatable to me. Oregon, obviously, Ohio State, all these games we marked at the beginning of the year. Granted, Michigan is obviously lower than we expected because of the offensive output. But other than UCLA, every team is arguably worse than we expected, or at least less threatening. I shouldn't say worse. Like Indiana is still a national championship contender. I'm not trying to knock them down or anything. They feel beatable, but I don't know what Michigan is or is going to do.

Right. So. How do I put this? There, I fully believe in an alternate universe. where this exact Michigan roster can be led to 10 and 2, 7, and 2. This roster is capable of it. Am I filling in that gap or what? No.

That's, you know. Talent's never been the problem. We've said that from day one. Yeah. Right. So look, I agree with, I agree with this. I don't think Indiana is blowing Michigan out. I don't think, I think the defense, I know Jire Hill and Witt talked on this too.

They were giving a lot of extra space against Penn State. They took advantage of that. It did feel like they were able to move the ball more than we would have liked in terms of the bend don't break stuff. Yeah, that didn't really bother me. But it didn't bother me either. This is a top three defense in the country depending on what stat you use. Yeah, and I would say even in like, even in that McDonald-Minter era, it was, I think, like, the most common method of getting yards against the Michigan defense was like 50-50 prayers to your top-wide receiver.

That was basically the Penn State game plan was like Rocco-becked 50-50 heaves to chase Seoul. And, you know, he had like a great fantasy stat line, but their offense didn't do anything sustainable apart from their drive. And they were lining up if, if hell is playing off, then they ran a 10-yard comeback route. Yeah, I basically have no notes for the Michigan defense, like, well and truly. I'm not just, I'm not just trying to, like, sort of viciously contrast the two sides of the ball. I really, I really think Jay Hill is, is sort of painting a season-long masterpiece because, uh, the, the raw talent is higher on offense. Well, yeah, so your average, so you've highlighted a.

You've highlighted the other. Yeah, we're not disagreeing Indiana doesn't have a path to victory. Exactly. Exactly right. Exactly right. They can run the Jay Hill beating offense. I just think we're going to say a lot of the same things, which is Josh Hoover, regardless of his health, is like most college football quarterbacks.

It is like specifically the two earlier in the year that we highlighted, three, I guess. Yeah. When we talked about John Mateer, when we talked about Hank Brown, who has been benched now, ouch, that makes that loss fuel even worse. That aged pretty poorly, yeah. And then Drake Lindsay was that gap between clean and pressure is even larger than most quarterbacks. So.

Oh, I didn't know that about Hoover. That's interesting. Yeah. So it's not significant, but he's not great under pressure. So pressure him and you should be able to force turnovers. and that's where you get into the, okay, we're already running. He has no turnovers all year, bro. I know.

We're already running the 23 formula on defense, and maybe that's what you're trying to do on offense, right? Like, can you somehow win the turnover battle in this game? The pass rush hasn't been as good. I have, I mean, if I did have a note on defense, it would be Dom Nichols is clearly not still healthy. He's hurt. Yeah, we, I don't like John Henry Daley playing 60 snaps again.

game. I don't know if Nate Marshall's back in the doghouse again, but, you know, I don't know why Lugard's not getting snaps. There's still weird things happening there, but here's a hot take for you. Here's a hot take. Dom Nichols at 100% or not is the difference in a massive upset, which is to say, if Dom Nichols, if Dom Nichols can play a whole game at a hundred percent healthy. Is that true? Would absolutely beat Indiana or Oregon or Ohio State. It would win one of those.

If Dom Nichols cannot get to 100% health, it takes those upsets off the table. I think he's that important. I think that the edge room is deep. It's solid. It's deeper and more solid than the interior defensive line. I think that, look, Indiana is the favorite for a reason. They have more paths to victory. It could be the jump ball stuff to Becker and Marsh,

or it could be the two-headed running back, sort of exposing Michigan's interior defensive line. But I really think that Dom Nichols, at full health, is a superstar. He's a game wrecker. And if he's, like, if he's fully healthy, he would ruin Oregon, because their offensive line stinks and their quarterback situation stinks. he could absolutely blow up that game. And if he's not healthy, the guys behind him, again, good, young, solid.

It's a great room to have, but they wouldn't, they couldn't wreck the game the way he can. So I think the floor is the defense probably gives up numbers between the 20s, but does a pretty good job of holding to field goals and not giving up a ton of touchdowns, right? Like, I've talked about in the past, like in the 21 to 23 run, the number was 30, right? Where every single game, Michigan scored 30, how defensive or held their opponent under 30, they won the game. It was when they gave up more than 30 points that they struggled, TCU, Michigan State, right? That number might be 20 this year because you, you don't know how much you can get out of the offense and the defense has been good enough where other than in the

fourth quarter where they've kind of been giving up late points and drives which i think could be because the defense is gassed right if the defensive floor is what it has been which is keeping indiana to around 20 maybe getting a turnover um but like just not allowing explosive too many explosive play is not allowing a lot of points. If the offense can come in and what you just said, if the inside run game and everything that happened in the second half becomes part of what this team does, I think they can sustain longer drives, which means the offense is on the field longer. Maybe they're in more positive field position throughout too, because that's been a huge

knock. What's helped them in the second half was the turnovers gave them short fields. Right. So if they're able to run six, seven, eight, nine play drives and get field goals on drives they've been throwing interceptions and get touchdowns on drives, they've been getting field goals. And some of those run games explode. If you can get the four or five bigger runs and maybe a one home run, right, you've got

it on there, the four point five yards per carry between the tackles. I agree with that 100%. If you're over that, to me, that means you're getting the three or four yards on first down. You're in second and manageable. You have third and shorts where Tommy Carr is able to not have to make a play on third and nine and deal with that pressure. And hopefully you have 25 or 30 carries for Jordan Marshall and Savion Heiter because Tommy Carr is not carrying the ball 15 times himself. And these guys are getting warmed up and breaking some runs late. Look, Indiana's what?

a six, seven point favorite right now, depending on where you look at home with the new quarterback starting or practicing all week. And I don't even want to call it a revelation because the interior runs have been better all year. You've been talking about it as a coaching staff and you've been talking about the zone scheme. If you simply just do it, I think Michigan can win this football game. So there's a, there's a comment from your average fan.

that we should highlight. No idea how Michigan's going to score. So you just spoke to it. I'm going to be, here's as specific as I can be. Hogan Hanson needs to be spammed. He needs eight catches. He needs to be a zero-read,

zero-pressure safety valve for Tommy Carr. Tommy Carr needs to have a huge handful of completions without getting sped up. So that's the tight. 10 delays in simulated pressure, that's, you know, mesh with the slot, like automatic stuff. Then, in addition to that, because eight completions to one tight end is not an offense, it's eight plays, right? Whatever. Ten targets.

Basically, the second half debut of the Michigan rush offense versus Penn State, it has to be real. that is what we're all holding our breath about because the Indiana Rushdie is really good and you have to it's it's going all the way back to that conversation after Westerns like how much can you fix in a week because Oklahoma's coming to town well to Michigan's credit they did it like they did exactly what they had to do to win that game that is the only this is pretty weird Oklahoma is the only game all year that Michigan has covered one four and one pushed against utep o and four against the spread in every other game so was it a push i thought they yeah it was 35 right it was one four and one either way either

even if it was a cover it was crazy right the way they got there so right it was because of tommy car if they got that's so funny they weren't they weren't covering until tommy car through that touch that anyway anyway that's so funny that's so funny that's That's the path. The path is that that, like, this is, like, Jason Beck is a dude in AP physics, and he is cramming for the exam, and he's just one of those guys that cramming works for. Half Penn State Rush offense is real and sustainable and repeatable, and you give Tommy just enough to keep everything honest, keep those safeties back. Yeah. But everybody has said, even publicly, even like coaches,

Signetti, whatever, said like, if you give Tommy Carr, like seven-step dropbacks, scan the field, make four reeds against this Indiana. He's going to, they're going to split him in half. Like, you cannot put him in that position. You cannot. Well, and the one number that I didn't like for him coming out of the game

was his time to throw is 3.18. And- You wanted under third. three. I want it under three. I want it two point seven. Now, to be fair, this wasn't him struggling. Why was it 3.18? This isn't a guy struggling to read. This isn't guys not getting separation. A lot of times that time to throw goes up because players are under pressure and they're leaving the pocket. Right. He was in a clean pocket. So this was him arguably just taking advantage of the extra time. he had, right?

He threw seven passes. There's just, there's not enough there to make any huge declarations. Right. But what I like is the idea of, again, when I say the game manager, I don't mean that in a bad way. Tom Brady was a game manager.

I'm turning into Cam Newton with this debate, right? Um, I don't mean it in a bad way. You did not just, Tom Brady was a game manager. Time out. You don't know what I'm talking about this whole debate? Cam Newton was talking about proceed

Proceed Anyway So if you create an opportunity Where Tommy Carr Just doing that Not turning the ball over And hitting the quick easy throws And your playmakers being the one

That are expected to get the yards After catch and extend But leave the door open For him to make plays Right taking the deep shots when they're available. I mean, that throw to Moa,

I know it's kind of funny the way hit is helmet you just brought up where they might have covered it. It's a great throw, right? The kid has the talent. What I want is those plays to be difference makers in Michigan's potential victory and not something Tommy Carr has to do for Michigan to win.

Right? If he can do those things and that brings you to another level, that's excellent. but what I want is Michigan able to run the football. I think it all starts there because if they can't, whatever positivity is up there for Tommy, if they're able to pressure him and he's running around and he's being forced to throw quick and all, you know,

again, not defending Bryce, but as much as there were plays where maybe he made misreads or missed open receivers, there was also plenty where he's dropping back and only four are creating pressure and he has two eligible receivers that are both double and triple covered, right? So. I have a stupid question.

Are you ready? Go ahead. So what happened had to happen, the benching, the replacement, fine. And it was inevitable once the change was made, Tommy was going to start the next game. Would you prefer the situation that we have before us,

Tommy Carr making his first start against the defending champion Indiana Hoosiers with an elite defense. They're mortal, they just lost, they have cracks, whatever. Would you prefer this level of challenge? Or would you prefer Tommy Carr gets his first start against Owen Sixth, Northern Illinois?

And you have, closer to a guarantee that he's going to, like, ball out, there's really no, I guess what I'm sort of asking is in 22, when the quarterback battle between Cade McNamara and J.J. McCarthy went into the regular season, Jim Harbaugh said, okay, we're going to exchange starts. Cade's going to get the first start. J.J. is going to get the second start.

And J.J. St. came against, came against, like, the worst Hawaii team in FBS history. What do you prefer? I mean, I can't compare those situations at all. only I think Jim Harbaal knew what he was doing, which was he didn't want to bench a Big 10 champion quarterback coming out of fall camp, but he knew JJ was the option. It was the starter.

So he was like, hey, you play Cade and then you play JJ. And they let JJ go off in that game. You remember I don't know if he ever was allowed to be more free throwing the ball than he was in that Hawaii game. Because at the end of it, every single person, well, Cade got hurt too.

just brutal. But every, there was no denying that J.J. McCarthy was the starter, right? So, but yeah,

I mean, I'd obviously rather have Tommy. Heck, I guess at this point, would I have rather had him have the entire biweek and start against Penn State? Wow.

Now that we're here, right? You know, that was on the table. It was on the table. I think, they said it was. They said they evaluated it.

I don't know if you and I had the same source on this, but going into the Penn State game, I was told that the leash on Bryce was extremely short and that a turnover was going to send him to the bench. And it played out in the most freakish way because there was two turnovers. They weren't super his fault, but whatever, pay the price.

So it was on the table. I'm going to answer my own question. I'm glad, like, let's see what you got. You know, I think that if you just ball out, against a tomato can. It's kicking the can down the road. There's six hard weeks there. Let's see what we got.

Well, and look, I, I am not, I don't want to crown Tommy Carr anything yet. I don't want to put unnecessary pressure on him. And not everybody knows this. I feel like I bring it up in multiple pods. But like, again, I was very pro Tommy from the beginning when he was at Miami, or excuse me, when he was at Singleton and committed to Miami of Ohio and seemingly not be recruited by anyone else, a high school coach I trust greatly played saline and said, look, I'm not telling you who's going to be better.

I don't know. I'm not in that market, but I'm telling you at the time we played them, senior Tommy Carr is better than what senior CJ car was. I was like, whoa, right? And then Brady gets injured and it's like, okay, well, we need another quarterback in this freshman class. And there's some backdoor conversations and Tommy Carr ends up at Michigan. And I'm thinking, okay, this is a guy that, you know, two or three years down.

the road maybe he's in the conversation and then he shows up six four and has the spring that he has because he was literally the only other quarterback with bryce underwood that could throw the football they were the only two wow i'm realizing you're right the only so tommy car is starting for michigan this week because brady smigled tore his knee yeah that's how we got here well and because the um i can't even think of his name now who was the kid from LSU. Oh, Colin Hurley. And whatever happened there.

And then, you know, so. It's funny. Out of every, out of all these names, Bryce, Carr, Braden Fowler, Nikolosey,

Brady, and Colin Hurley. Like, Colin Hurley's kind of the most Jason Beckian quarterback. Yeah. I've seen some people make that argument.

It would have been interesting. Could have seen what we got. Oh, well. Yeah. And I'm not even going to get into that. But yeah, so Braden not being here.

here in the spring, allow Tommy to get all these throws, get familiar with the offense, make his impression known. There's a ton of butterfly effect here. Yeah. And look, here's the thing. You know, Bryce and Tommy both played in the Detroit area, okay? But Celine, sorry. That's okay.

The comments like it, actually. They like your cola. I saw the ASMR on it. Yeah. That is a great sound, isn't it? So, Celine, you could argue play is the tougher schedule. They got to the state semifinals two years in a row with him. But look, this.

God, this is depressing, slicing it so thin. We're talking about like Celine strength of schedule. But no, here's where I'm getting at. There isn't a lot of strong Michigan programs. especially like quarterback wise anymore like we've seen the the drop off with some Michigan recruiting in state not the the program but the state high school I see I like Tommy Carr coming from Salem I like Tommy Carr being the son of Jason car and I like Tommy Carr being Lloyd Carr's grandson sure that was a beautiful that

was like truly like what is sports about when they cut to Greasy and Lloyd sorry yes go No, I agree. But like, when we talk about, you know, the stuff where this is what you dreamed of in your backyard and blah, blah, blah, blah, like. Yeah. Tommy Carr winning football games in the big house was a matter of time to him. Right. Like, it was just, I don't care if you want to talk about the, you know, the boards where you, like, you know, you made, what's it called? You make things manifest, blah, blah.

whatever. Yeah. It was way more realistic because he was in the big house every Saturday because he had his dad, because he had Lloyd Carr, like, this was a matter of time for him. And there's a level of confidence that Tommy Carr has that, like, makes me think he doesn't give a crap about Indiana being the defending national champions or any of that. Sure. Even that's as far as I could go, I guess.

Yeah, I mean, we'll see how far. far that even being even being thrown out in the second half against Penn State and taking the spot of the five-star quarterback that everybody annoyeded the Savior whatever he just he seemed completely unaffected by it and then to Bryce's credit yeah cheering him on and celebrating with him I think Bryce, I mentioned the word relief. I think there was a level of relief for him just because this dude's not had a break since he committed to Michigan. Yep. But yeah.

I thought, yeah, I thought overall it was, it was not the first person to say. I get Hagrid. I also get the, uh, relief the fat guy from Lost. I get that one a lot too. Ooh, ouch. That's your, I guess the, the, the. the grooming. The lack of grooming.

Go ahead, sir. No, I want to say this in a way that's not like Eeyore, but every season needs a nice moment, you know, needs the whole stadium to feel good. And that, that,

it felt great seeing, first of all, first of all, in a pure football context, I think you're right. I think it was a relief for Bryce. I think it's like, enough is enough. Like the pressure has gotten to everyone. Yeah.

So release the pressure, fine. And then for Tommy to come in, and again, I think Penn State stinks, so this wasn't like a huge risk. But thank God it wasn't like, oh, immediately strip sack, fumble, shoulder pops out, or he throws like four picks. And he's just, does that, no. you know Tommy Carr's offense won the game

great so all good things all good things if I'm holding my breath it's like is that is that the Stephen 3 80 yarder against Wisconsin what a reference

yeah what a reference we'll see now that we're now that we're both like alive again and healthy and we're going to do this next week yeah you know this Indiana post game could take a number of different shapes.

Yeah, because look, I think there is a highly plausible scenario that Michigan's run game can't do anything, whether it's pro Indiana's play or whether it's Jason Beck's insistence to not do what was working previously or whatever. and Tommy Carr is asked to do a lot and maybe doesn't have a great game. Like that, that's obviously a real possibility. It just is. So, all right, let's figure out where we're at here and then we'll get out of here.

Okay. Indiana hasn't won at Michigan since, what, 1967, which is crazy. I also don't care about that because, like, what no me neither done in indiana like you can't even put that this isn't those indiana teams i don't care about that yeah and it's got to happen sometime you know the same thing with um michigan's first

loss in minneapolis since 77 it's like well you know what might as well just might as well get it over with yeah so i don't care about those things no um yeah the the the things that stick out to me And again, that's about trying to get people to bet one way or the other. 41 and a half, again, to what we talked about earlier, right, I think the number is 20. I think it's a race to 20 potentially. Yeah, I agree. Right. That's probably my biggest takeaway.

I don't see Indiana, even with everything we've talked about with Michigan potentially struggling to run it. I don't think Tommy's going to throw four picks or anything like that to turn this into a blowout. Yeah. You know, I, I want to be confident that clearly there's something Beck couldn't do or Bryce wasn't executing at a level for him that maybe he, like, this isn't all on Beck. He's not. This is another thing to you. The guy's not in.

Yeah, it is. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, you're going to be. No, but like, I think coaches can be stubborn and believe in their stuff too much and whatever.

there's some element of that but like there's a door open here with with bryce where it's like there's a pretty clear way where the offense can be successful enough um and then yeah the defense forces one of those turnovers for the first time if special teams doesn't shoot itself whatever um that implied score that's up there 2417 i'm guessing that's probably pretty close to where you're at no it's no no i just want to say about look The QB switch had to happen. But this offensive season, in my opinion, is mostly Jason Beck's fault. He runs an offense that no one else in the sport of football runs, and it's not working.

So I point that at him. Anyway, no, I sort of envision like a slow motion blowout. Like, Indiana is not going to race out to like 49-0 kind of. you know, pinball stuff. Yeah. But both their running backs are healthy. Like Indiana is getting healthier outside of Hoover. And so this, I think the scenario where like Michigan takes advantage of Hoover's shoulder

and Jay Hill has Hoover downloaded. He made him look like a fool last year. Well, I think Indiana knows that, right? So I think that they're going to be content. to exchange punts. They're going to be content with like 6, 7, 8 yard, or excuse me, 6, 7, 8 play drives. Maybe they're field goals, maybe they're punts,

but it's an exchange of field position. You've got your defense going against a true freshman in his first start. I think Indiana is perfectly content to win this game like 17 to 6. And I think that's what it looks like. I think that that's not a blowout. It's not, I don't know if it, I mean, what what humiliates you is is your prerogative like it's not it's not disgusting but i don't the paths to indiana victory are 75 and the paths to michigan are 25 do you know what i mean

yeah yeah i think that's fair i and look this could be two things. One, I'm a victim of optimism and giving faith to people, right? I do think because it would just be insane. It would be absolutely insane if Michigan comes out with Tommy Carr in the first half against Indiana and is running perimeter. runs with Jordan Marshall out of the rhino and it would just it would be insane so i i can't i can't wrap my mind around it happening um and the other thing i'm a victim of is the amount of indiana football that i have watched this year has been struggling against northwestern struggling against and i say struggling relative to what we would have expected right Barely beating Northwestern trailing at times, barely beating Nebraska, right?

And even that Ohio state game last week where, oh, poor Nick Marsh, that's so correct. I can't get over that. Like, he knew incident. I thought that the blame was placed totally on him. And it wasn't, I mean, Hoover had the entire end zone. I mean, Marsh dusted the guy. Hoover could have put that ball anywhere. He created a defender.

He created a defender out of the sideline. I don't think that was 100% Marsha's fault. So I think Michigan can be competitive in this game. I do too. For three quarters. Yeah. I don't think 176 is uncompetitive. Sure.

My fear is... 10, 6 going into the third and they score a fourth quarter touchdown. Yeah. Okay. I think it'll be closer than that. I wouldn't be shocked if Michigan covers or if even feels like they have a chance. But like, I just wonder, like, Is the defense going to give up a score in the fourth quarter or get a stop when they need it?

We've seen them give up points in the fourth quarter because, again, they're tired or this or that, whatever reason you want to insert. And even how efficient or explosive can Michigan be late, right? So I think it's going to be like 2014, Indiana. Okay. I think that I say this, I say this without malice or judgment. I think that an early fluke would go a really long way. I think that if an Indiana defender just falls asleep and busts and just like a 60-yard Jordan Marshall,

like we saw how sort of starved the Michigan team was for its own momentum, that second half change. Like it meant a lot to those guys. And I think that if you feed that fire, that's that's what gives the 25% chance a shot and in the other direction I just you and I I think we're totally aligned on this is like the last thing we want to see is here we go again right is like a three and out jet sweep to coos doll you're going to get rage texts for me and you know you normally don't I'm normally trying to talk you down I'm going to rage text you down I'm going to rage text you Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

My only fear in this game for it to get ugly is Kurt Signetti is an absolute madman. Yeah, he's a demon. And I don't like that they lost to Ohio State before playing. I agree with that. I don't either. I think, and I think that his public comments, like his Monday presser or whatever, about Michigan, it's not that they were disrespectful, but you could, like, he's locked in. Like he wants to

Yeah Make a statement Whoever was on their schedule After Ohio State Right like Yeah that's the only thing that That spooks me is I could see him going Absolutely ballistic

And like like you said trying to make a statement Yeah And Michigan unfortunately being on the other side of that So that's where I could talk myself into And even then That's close to what you said for me, or maybe like a 30 to 10 or something like, it's going to be a blowout like the Texas and Oregon games were.

Oh, those were pretty bad. I don't think it'll be that bad. No. Because they haven't pulled away like that throughout the season. And they are. I just mean where like you feel like the other team dominated, even if the score is not like, oh, my God. Well, I do.

That's funny. I think the second thing, but not the first thing. Like, I think it's going to be, like, an EPA victory for Indiana, yards per play, success. Like, I think they're going to win all of the stats, basically. And it'll be 10-6 going into the fourth, and it'll feel like a hangnail. Winnable, could we do it? And then, you know, the dam breaks. And that's not, that's, that's, it's not to disparage anything about the Michigan program.

I just think I don't like Indiana coming off a loss, same as you. Yeah, I don't like it. So, no, I guess I want a path to, because I think a lot of people were starting to accept six and six, seven and five. Right. So I want a path to nine and three, eight, and four. And that's either winning the football game or showing me a level of buy in or realistic change. out of Penn State that I'm like, okay, we're back to where I was at the start of the year, which is I'm willing to accept losses to teams that are simply better if I'm seeing

growth, progress, and a path forward. Yeah, I totally agree with that. At the end of that first half of Penn State, I'm like, what is this? There's no way up from this, right? So I'm going to hate losing the game if Michigan's losing to. Indiana, there's no way around it and I'll probably feel worse. But come Monday, if you give me something to find positivity for the rest of the schedule and the Tommy Carr era, then maybe we can start to, in the run game and everything we've talked

about the whole show, okay, I can start to talk into some stuff. Yeah, yeah. If Michigan wins this game and Tommy Carr is the reason, then get the hype train ready. It's about to explode. People are going to lose their mind. Right. Yeah, I agree with all that. Yeah, my pledge to you is like if this is 27, 24 Indiana and Michigan is there like until the final whistle, I will be very gracious next week. I think that it just can't be Indiana where you should have won, right? Well, I mean, look, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. If you and I are going to be texting, if it's the fourth quarter and it's like 30. to zero, that's a different conversation.

You know what I mean? Yeah. I'm back to how I felt in the first half of been state. Yeah. Yeah. So, all right. So my final, yeah. So my, I'm saying, I'm saying 176 final 106 after three.

It's like, it's, that's my, that's my number. Yeah. What did I say 2014? Something like that. You said 2014, Indiana. Yeah. Yeah. I think Michigan could be leading at times. I think, yeah. I think whoever scores first matters.

I do. Yes. I think that if Michigan goes up 70 and it's like the quarter break, you know, that 25 is going to creep up to 35 kind of thing, a percent chance. Or if it's 10-0 Indiana after one, we're going to. going to start texting about those those buy-in conversations because i think what was what was critical about the pen state game michigan was losing at half time but it was only three out right yeah the even even prior to the three turnovers the the michigan defense was doing a good job right everything they could yeah yeah yeah yeah so it it again if they come

out and they're surprised like stuffing Indiana and and if Hoover is hurt and uncomfortable then it's like oh wait a minute you know random just popped in my head but I think about like the 2017 Ohio State game where it was like

the game plan was really good and you were getting Ohio State to be off their game a little bit you were doing just enough to be in it and then Ohio State had the great drive and no corn through that terrible interception at the end. But to me, it's like you'd almost, Michigan would almost need to have like a two-score lead in the fourth quarter.

Because if it's close, I just feel like Indiana is going to find a way to get the final score it needs to win, you know? Yeah, I think that's fair because that's sort of the tale of two programs right now, right? Yeah, yeah. I mean, they're the defending champs. You trust them in those moments. Michigan's roster is really young, and it's going through a lot of turmoil right now. So maybe this is a chance to, like, grow up in a hurry or, you know, maybe the champs flex their muscle.

Again, I would have felt better if they beat Ohio State. I strongly agree, especially, like, the same run of play. Like, if it was 1915 sort of ugly close for a win, that's the only scenario where I think Indiana comes in, like, right for an upset. but because they lost in the in the closest possible way that's it i think they're going to be razor sharp yeah yeah as soon as i start talking myself into like a more positive path or outcome i'm like oh god but yeah kurt's gonna well i don't think there's anything wrong with it like you so you've actually you've in the course of this season you've turned me on to something sort of philosophically, which is like,

college football season is short. You get 12 guaranteed Saturdays. That's it. So you might as well try to enjoy them, look for good things. I wasn't always that way. You taught me that. And so the QB switch is a good example. Like I could have made all sorts of theories.

But no, like, Tommy Carr is like a sion of this program. He came in. He did what he needed to do to win the game. that was great. Let's see what happens next. Let's see. Maybe it's awesome. There's no evidence in any direction, so might as well hope for the best. But there's certainly evidence for Indiana being a good football team. So a good football team is going to stare them down. Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, look, what we just saw this last Saturday in terms of the upsets and everything again, I feel like I could do an entire show about the change that's happened in

college football and how we as fans need to change in terms of our expectations every weekend and every season because the goals, especially with the 2014 playoff, get through the regular season and get into the playoff healthy and playing your best football, right? like these losses that used to feel catastrophic and season ending just aren't going to be anymore right and I understand the the urge to want to be like yeah but if we beat Minnesota and the only loss is Iowa and with all the chaos that's going on or oh my God if Michigan was undefeated right now they're what ranked fifth second you know you know yeah I'm guilty of that I'm guilty of that if that I have I had haven't I haven't let this pour out of me on the episode, but if Michigan upsets Indiana, most of me will celebrate, but like, but like 40% of me will be like, where was this? You could, you could be winning the big 10.

Yeah. But whatever. I think, I think you just have, you can't, you can't change what it is. So you just have to accept where it is and hope. In the words of Matt Campbell grow forward. He took that job about. five years too late. Yeah,

no kidding. No jokearoni. Poor guy. Anyway, all right, that'll do it. It was good to see you again. Good to talk.

Yeah, likewise. Glad, glad we're both alive. Any, uh, any of these comments you like, uh,

last minute highlights? I, just SOB all by itself. All right. No, he, uh, our guy's got to be what he meant to say.

Uh, the penalties and, oh, that's a good point. We didn't even really get into that. but the penalties. Turnovers will determine this game. Our guys got to be sharp by you or some discipline.

Yeah. Tough S-O-B. Penalties were better against, so like, you know. Well, and even, like I said,

we had a holding call and just the one, third, and four pre-snap in the second half against us. And I was a little bit, I mean, the Zique Barry one was obviously really frustrating. But like, I'm still watching there's where I'm like,

guys, keep in the back of your head later when we're complaining about these penalties for Michigan, and that like both holding calls were crazy so often. But you know what I mean? Like there's some leeway where I'm like, oh, that the face mask that was a complete phantom call on Trey Pierce. And you know what I mean?

So there's still- Question. Question. Speaking of Zeeke, is Rod Moore going to be available? Is he okay? I would be shocked if Rodmore plays Saturday. Oh, great. Yeah.

I don't think it I don't think okay his career is not in jeopardy like I don't think we I don't think this is the last time we've seen Rod Moore by any means um I know he was in a boot early in the week but that is also very likely precautionary they put dudes in boots all the time now because there's just studies that show um the risk of potential further injuring the boots just a good thing um um I wouldn't be shocked if he's back next week. Rutgers? Who's after Indiana? At Rutgers? That's sad, yeah. Yeah. Not even 100% sure of the schedule anymore.

So, yeah, I don't expect him to play Saturday. I don't expect Sprag back. There will be an injury report today, right? Isn't the first one? I don't know. I believe the first one will be today. So I'm going to wait to say anything because I think there is one surprise on there. In a good way or a bad way?

Well, if there's a name on there, it's not a good thing, right? Oh, okay. But we'll wait and see. But, yeah, so I mean, Chris Bracey didn't leave the field. Literally played all 80 snaps with Rod Moore getting hurt. One interesting, my grade session defense, I haven't posted. did it yet but one really interesting takeaway when rod more was out of that game was mason curtis became the what i think we talked about early in the year um how do you say

his name at b yu number 11 that we were trying to get in the portal yes i don't i don't know satualla satchuala um he literally played that role so he played box safety free safety corner and nickel. He was used in pass rush. He was used in run defense. He was used in coverage. Super, super versatile defender. Ice Moa became a lot more of, I mean, he's been a Sam linebacker anyway, but he was almost like straight edge pass rush later. So even though Jordan Young came on the field is more of like that standard strong safety, they really, without Rod went to a more versatile look in terms of the way they were using. either three linebacker sets or using Mason Curtis in that super flex role.

I wouldn't be shocked if that's what happened Saturday as Mason Curtis plays a lot and plays that role. Okay. Which could be good. So he's literally the exact same height and weight as the BYU guy. Yeah. You know how I am. If I look it up, I'm to butcher even more because they read it phonetically. So that'll be an interesting piece.

Followed out, Satuala. Yeah, thank you, Satuala. Dom Nichols being on the better side of healthy, I think you're 100% right, is a huge X factor there too. Yes, we'll see. Yeah, the report will be out tonight, so we'll go from there. But I wouldn't be surprised if he's already listed as out or doubtful, like that heart of a designation.

If he's listed as questionable, then I'll have to send some text because that makes me think that his prognosis is even better than what it sounded like it was Monday. Cool. And it's just it's an ankle, not a knee, right? Correct. Yeah, it's not related to his knee at all. It's an ankle injury.

Cool. Cool. Yeah, that was the great news and there was no, from what I was told, there was no breaks. The x-rays were clean. So it's probably it's probably some level of sprain, you know, some of those can be a couple weeks. Some of those can be four.

That would be my guess. Again, I haven't talked to anybody in the last three days. So, on that. But, uh, Michigan beats Indiana. We do the, we do the demon wings. Yep.

That's a pledge. And I lose my voice completely if we do that. Hell yeah. Oh. Good for your sinuses. Sunday, West Michigan. Michigan's playing huge. Houston at Van Andal Arena, which is my neck of the woods.

Nice exhibition. I am tentatively planning on photographing that game. Very cool. Which could be a lot of fun, but there's some other stuff locally. I might have to cut. I don't know. We'll see if it works out. But my good friend Wadi text me about getting tickets.

They're charging. Like, the best seats are literally over $1,000. Wow. For an exhibition. for an exhibition game. Yeah. So even like shitty seats are hundreds of dollars. I was like,

what? Invite handle small. It only holds, you know, 4,500, 5,000 people or something like that, I think. Pretty cool. That's crazy. That's pretty cool.

Yeah. So that'll be fun. We'll see. Hockey teams killing it too. Number one. Yeah. Yeah. So if this doesn't go well,

maybe we'll just switch. We'll become a hockey. Yeah. I'll have to learn a lot about hockey in a short period of time. Just watch Mighty Ducks. It'll be fun. Oh, cool. There you go.

I'm getting distracted. Curtis has bad eyes and coverage. Yeah, I think that's why they like him in that versatile role is, you know, he's not lining up directly over a tight end as much as he did under Wink, where they basically made him. Remember when they made Mason Curtis like a big nickel and moved Zeeke Berry out to corner? And that was working really well. exposure for Curtis was a straight coverage one-on-one man because you have Snowden Hill, Barry, and then even Shamari Earls to an extent, you don't have to use Curtis in that way. He can be more of like a freelance player that's a potential impact on the run game.

And if he takes the run game out and you make them one-dimensional, then you can adjust what you're doing on the back end as far as, you know, heck, you can see Snowden wind up at safety. They've done that a couple times this year, too. They get versatile with those defenders, so it could be interesting. All right. Yes, Michigan beats Indiana. We eat the craziest wings next week. That's what's going to happen. I think everything else is back up and running.

Toski and Darnell had cutups last night, so that's on the channel if you want to take a look at that. Stadium in Maine went live this week. They had Demonte Thomas, former Michigan player on the show. Really cool episode. The

the OG show with Justin Joel has already posted. They'll obviously have an episode tomorrow as well, previewing Indiana too. And then head over to blueby 90.com. Got content available on that site as well as getting to the message board. Use promo code tailgate. That gets you the first month free. If you want to give us a shot,

you can check out the premier articles like the grade sessions. And then once I get on the message board where the Rod Moore thing and some other stuff like that has already been posted. You can be part of the conversation there. Other than that, Butros, good seeing you, buddy. Good talking to you as well. Glad to be back.

We'll be back in a week. Keep resting up that, boys. Keep getting healthy. I can feel it. I'm cashed out. And go have some tea. All right. Nice warm cup of tea.

All right. We'll be back next week here on Michigan Weekly. Thank you guys. Go, Blue. See you guys.