Blue By Ninety - Michigan's Second Half Struggles a Cause for Concern?

Episode Date: September 30, 2024

Justin and Tanner give their thoughts on Michigan's 27-24 win over Minnesota.

All right, welcome back to Blue My 90. I'm Justin, joined by Tanner today, and the Junkers in Ann Arbor, we will take it. A win is a win. We will not apologize for winning, right? We said that last week. That was the first thing I said in the group chat. I will not apologize for a win. You did. We will not apologize for a win, but I think that there's a lot lot to talk about a lot to clean up for sure here um michigan goes in uh and beats minnesota yesterday in the rain 27 24 um so i i don't know i mean one i think that's just not a good minnesota team if i'm being really honest and michigan should have won by a lot more i also think outside of three drives all ending up in touchdowns towards the end for minnesota michigan played pretty dang well for three and a half quarters right um so i don't know man i feel

like unfortunately that game leaves a really bad taste in your mouth because of how it ended. But I see kind of two sides to it. One, you can look at the first three quarters and say, all right, there's a lot of good to take away from that. And then you can also look at the fourth quarter and say, holy shit, we have a lot to clean up, and this team, you know, isn't there yet, right?

So, I don't know. Which side are you leaning more towards? I'm leaning towards I need to see a complete game, right? I mean, this is how many weeks in a row? This is three weeks in a row where Michigan first half pretty dominant, right? Arkansas State, they're up 21-3. USC up 14-0. This game, they're up 21-3. USC up 14-0. This game, they're up 21-3.

And it's like you get to the second half and the wheels kind of come off, right? And you've been able to win all three games. Two of those three are the much more talented team. You know, the USC game was a gritty win that we talked about. But, yeah, I don't know. It's weird to see, you know, I mean, Michigan's a 24-3 going into the fourth quarter. Minnesota hasn't really been able to do anything all game. I was going to say.

Drive in the first half. At that time, I mean, I don't know exactly how many yards they had at that point, but we were just kind of going through it. Like, their drives in the first half are punt, miss field goal, punt, fumble, punt, punt, inter, miss field goal, punt, fumble, punt, punt, interception, field goal, punt. And it's like, okay, you know, so like they haven't been able to do anything,

but I'll let you keep going. Yeah, I mean, so that last punt was after Michigan's field goal in the third corner. That was a three and out for Minnesota. And then the next drive for Michigan is when Alex Orji throws the pick. Now, saw J.D. on Twitter this morning. Orji has to kind of reset his feet because pressure comes through. Shocker.

Otherwise, both Loveland and Donovan Edwards were wide open, right? So if he's able to maybe, you know, not have to readjust, that might have been a touchdown to Colson Loveland, but he has to move up in the pocket, and then the safety has time to get back over. Makes a great play. You know, and I don't hate the idea, right? Colson Loveland, let him go try to make a play.

I think maybe he needs to put that more towards Loveland. Yeah, he put it right kind of in the middle of the field, give the safety more room to get over there. You know, and Donovan was wide open as well. But he did say orgy did say in the postgame press conference that Colston was his first read which in that moment Colston is wide open right but to your to your point it's an extra one step up right which is an extra second and then the safety's able to make his way but go on yeah so i mean again the defense was was very dominant in the first half i mean they give up the 77 yard drive

at the end to uh to let minnesota get on the board with a field goal um but so if you take that drive and then they have in the fourth quarter a 14 playplay 76-yard drive to score. Michigan goes three and out. And then they get the short field with a great punt return by Corey Perchick from Minnesota, who I'm a big fan of his. He was a great kid coming out of high school, just a stud athlete. Minnesota kid, so wasn't going to leave. So then they score in three plays. That's when Michigan, you know, hey, you get a 14 a 14 play 58 yard drive um which potentially should

have maybe ended in a touchdown if cj charleston doesn't get called for for a hole that as you probably go either way there i thought it was a little bit weak um i also think for cj like i don't know if that's just a learning point but man just it's if you don't do that, it's a 25-yard run, and you guys have first and 10 – or first and goal on, like, the eight-yard line or something. Absolutely. Yeah. So I don't know what happened, man.

I mean, you know, like yesterday, as we all know, was kind of a sleepy day, rainy. Student section cleared out at half, and it was, you know, kind of an easy opportunity for Michigan to kind of sleepwalk, and they did in the second half. And so, you know, I mean, they have three long drives that, you know, probably make this game a lot much closer than it should have been. Also, it's 24-3.

It's a fourth and 11. I think it's a fourth and long. Minnesota goes for it. Michigan gets a stop. There's a hand to the face, and I don't want to be a USC Fan, but hey, when you win, you can kind of Complain about officiating a little bit more Because your team did win the game

But there's a hands to the face, and it's Mason Grimm's on his shoulder pads And so that completely changes it because you're talking Literally three minutes of game time later, it's a Touchdown game, but I will say credit To Michigan for going and getting a field goal Right, to basically put that game out of reach And then then i guess we're gonna talk about the onside kick i don't know what happened there i mean okay so i thought the broadcast actually did a pretty poor

job of pointing out what it actually was um which i believe it was actually a legal touching or it should have been i don't know why it wasn't offsides but they i don't know why they called offsides though because i don't i he was close in real time he's really really close to being offsides and the thing too that's gonna make them call that in real time is he started before everybody else he started running before everybody else on the kicking team so um that you know you have to realize all these refs are watching things in real time and they they they don't get the opportunity to break it down and super slow-mo on on the replay right um but i do believe it hit off of the minnesota guy at like nine and a half yards off his leg too so you know that could have been called

as well um i don't know man i mean yeah if you want to say justice for minnesota i i don't know you know you can there's there's an argument there i guess i guess i mean but if you want to do that then again you go back to the hands of the face that would have been michigan ball 24 to 3 backups probably get in the game right so football it's football, it's a game of momentum, a game of swings, right? And, you know, Minnesota gets blessed. And maybe you could say Michigan gets blessed, but it is what it is. And then Michigan, you know, is able to run the clock out there. Gets a little hairy with Alex Orji's.

I don't know what happened there. The snap was bad or it was way – I don't know what happened there. The snap was bad or it was wet. I don't know. It was weird because, like, Bredesen crossed his face obviously twice, but he didn't look like he was ready. He was, like, looking kind of to the side, it felt like, and the snap came, like, right here. I don't know.

I agree with your take on just like I feel that – and this has become a recurring theme in the second half is Michigan gets up and Michigan feels like – it feels like they want to coast to a win. Like they are actually going to put somebody away. And that to me is the difference between the last year and this year so far um obviously you can talk about a lot of talent uh is is different as well but just from a culture and mentality standpoint i feel like both this is on in my opinion both the coaches and the players i think think that in that USC game,

Michigan got really, really conservative with play calling in that fourth quarter. And in this game, they also did. There were multiple drives where I understand you want to run the clock out. I get that. But I think that Michigan needs to find their killer mentality. And when you have somebody down 24-3 in your home stadium and you're obviously better than them, you have to step on their throat. You have to make sure that nothing happens. And that's what I think that they need to find right now is,

and they don't seem to have that where late in the fourth quarter or in the second half when it's all right, you know, you watch what Ohio state did to Michigan State yesterday, right? Where it's like, all right, Michigan State actually was showing signs of life in the first half. They played pretty well. You know, they get a pick and all that stuff. But then at the end of the day, what Ohio State did was they said, all right,

we're a lot better than you in the second half. A, they make adjustments, and B, they step on your throat. That's what Michigan needs to figure out right now. Yeah, I think they need to be better. I mean, they got to be better coming out of halftime. I mean, that's the thing that over the last three years that Michigan was pretty damn good at was being able to come out. You know, it's important the last four minutes of the first half

and the first four minutes of the second half, right? You know, that's an opportunity to be able to swing a game in your direction. And I just, yeah, to your point, I haven't seen it from this team quite yet. They've gone in with some decent leads in their wins in the first half, and they come out, and it's just like, what's going on? What happened, right? Like where is – yeah, to your point, where is that mentality of like, no, we're going to go win this game.

We're not going to, you know, let the other team lose. We're going to take this game and, you know, continue to support on. That's the thing that Michigan did last year, right? Like, I think Michigan was up 24-10 at half against Minnesota last year in Minneapolis, and they went 52-10. This year they're up 21-30. So they've got an even bigger lead and then they just let Minnesota right back into the game and it gets very scary and

you start to get your stomach churning a little bit like oh god here we go like is this gonna happen and thankfully they find a way to to not let it happen but you should never be in that position in the first place so I, I don't know, man. I need to really go and watch and dissect. You know, I was at the game, and then I watched, like, the longer highlights from ESPN, or not ESPN, but Fox Sports this morning, just to get an idea.

I need to go really watch and dissect, but I don't know. It's really confusing from the first half to the second half and the struggles right the arkansas state game we could talk about hey you know they didn't score until six minutes off in the game and they had their backups in michigan did and so arkansas state was able to make some plays and it's like all right whatever but then the usc game you're dominating i mean usc has like 12 yards of offense and again it's just like the minnesota game their first long drive is right before half uh to go get go get some points and then usc had another drive that stalled out at midfield with uh with no time left but they were moving the ball and it's like so what's happening heading into halftime in the second quarter late to where you're dominating

right like you watch the michigan minnesota game they can't do a thing i mean they drive down miss a field goal that was the only success that they had until that that final drive in the second half where they do connect on the field goal so it's like what is what is changing from where you're getting three and outs and you're dominating and the stars are being stars and Mason Graham is making plays what changes as we get closer to halftime and then coming out in the third quarter like I don't understand yeah I mean to me I I still do believe that is like a killer mentality, you know, where it's like, all right, we need to absolutely come out here and make sure we finish, finish,

finish, finish. That was, you know, I feel like under Jim Harbaugh and Ben Herbert, that was their biggest emphasis as a team and as a program is we are going to be tougher, more physical, and stronger, faster in the fourth quarter than you are. You as a visiting team, you are going to be worn down in the fourth quarter. We are still operating at the highest level. Right now, we definitely don't have that in the fourth quarter, but to your operating at the highest level. Right now, we don't even have – we definitely don't have that

in the fourth quarter, but to your point, we don't have that at the end of the second half – or the first half, right? And so I think it starts there, but then I want to talk about second-half adjustments. This is where a season ago, Michigan dominated in the second half and to me that's what really really good teams do for a long time pre-2021 and even to be honest in this you know in this last three years uh outside of uh playing against Michigan this is what Ohio State has done they let teams kind of hang around for the first half and then the third quarter,

they just go out and dominate, right? Under Jesse Minter, well, you know, how many points were scored in the third quarter? It was a ridiculous stat all year, right? It was a long time before anybody scored on us in the third quarter. Right now, you know, we're letting teams get back into it in the third and fourth quarter. And so I think it's two things. One, teams are making adjustments to Michigan's game plan, right, where it's, you know, they're realizing, okay, we're going to stack the box or we're going to, you know, bring our safeties up or whatever it is. And then Michigan, so teams have adjusted for Michigan

and Michigan has not adjusted to the other team. I've seen it both ways. I don't think that Michigan has, you know, figured things out and made any adjustments. They're like, all right, this is working. We're just going to keep going with it. And I don't know what your feelings are about this, because I struggle to see, you know, from Wink and from Kirk,

like unbelievable things that are happening from the first half to the second half. Yeah, I mean, I feel like with Wink, I think it's just going to be a theme all season where he's just going to call things because they're cool. It's like we don't, you know i i i was i was at the stadium and again it was a it was rainy and it was like you know it's you i mean again michigan's a 24-3 so i'm like all right you know i'm just kind of ready to get out of here you know wait till it gets a little bit closer to the fourth quarter i'll head on out and then it becomes a ball game so i gotta go through and

watch it again but i just i feel like you know you're gonna, you know, you're going to see cover zero and you're bringing a lot of pressure. And it's like, again, do you really need to? Right. I mean, they were getting pressure organically in the first half. Even without Josiah Stewart. You know, Josiah Stewart's out on this game. TJ Guy played a great game.

A great game. He had a sack after getting his helmet ripped off, by the way. Also should have been a penalty. I don't know what else. If there isn't a more obvious thing to call when his helmet gets ripped off. And then he has to sit out a play, and it's like, why did his helmet fall? If it wasn't because it was loose, I can tell you that.

So, I mean, yeah, I think that, you know i i want to ask you a question on the offensive side of the ball um you know i have no idea how much impact chiron has right now on play calling um do you think that maybe he has to step in a little bit more and not completely hand the reins to kirk campbell i don't know i mean there was a comment made within the last couple of weeks and might have been after the texas or arkansas state game i can't remember but chiron made a comment where he is going to be more involved in the play calling on game days um yeah i mean at this point you would think right like and yeah you're limited by your quarterback but there were some moments that i really liked uh what i saw from

alex orgy he hit some guys some tight ends you know mainly colson and marlin um on some crossing routes and then there was a throw to colson where he had to step up and he fires it in there for a first down and you're like okay like this is not you know this isn't like baker mayfield at oklahoma but like hey this is something that we can work with. So yeah, I don't know. I mean, I think you got to make it easier on your quarterback again. Just, and I don't know. I mean, we've seen Michigan do this where they're not very creative and they're able to win games. Now,

last year it looked a lot better because you're just dominant and it wasn't the, you know, the, the greatest game plan in the history of college football when you're beating these teams like nebraska and minnesota by 35 38 you know 42 points last year right better than them right yeah exactly so i don't know you know maybe this is what that looks like where they're like we can just out talent we can save things for later which hey i'm on board with right i'm on board with and i also pray to god that that's the case let me say that um but i i don't i mean i do think you know everyone wants to focus on the quarterback and

i understand that that's football right the quarterback is going to be the the you know biggest key piece to your to your offense there's no doubt about that but i don't know that our qb play is the issue now i don't think that our qbs are you know great right obviously there's a there's there's a talent gap between top 10 pick jj mccarthy and what we have on the field currently right there's that's obvious but i also think, you know, I think the receiver play to start with is not great. We don't have people that can get open on a regular basis right now outside of Colston Loveland. And when you just have one guy that they can key in on, it makes it pretty easy for the defense.

So I'll stop there, and let's talk about that, and then I want to talk about the old line as well yeah i mean three catches for 36 yards for the wide receivers yesterday uh you know 35 or excuse me i i don't know man um this homage play i don't recall we had a good time at the tailgate you know i i had a great time at the tailgate so that's probably the best part of the day shut up it was you know some people are like oh i hate a rain tailgate i low-key love it because it just adds to the chaos everyone's just like in a panic and it's just everyone just like you know we're waterproof stuff you know we embraced it we embraced it too we're gritty we're playing flip cup in the rain which ohio state fans could never they're probably you know sitting in their car with the heat on warming up but you know we're out there and we're you know we're men of the people um i was drinking i was drinking ciders

and seltzers so shout out fans would like to shout out to sun cruiser and truly inhale ipa because they all made an impact on how amazing of a day you had. I'll tell you what, Sun Cruiser, you do that in the Blondzilla. That's a smooth. The hard vodka tea is in zero bubbles, zero bubbles. No, you're good. You're not getting any air in the stomach at that one.

So I also, I lost a couple shotguns, but I don't know if the the shotgun hole was regulation size i was at a disadvantage i did win on the bongzillas um so that was on the blue by 90 story i was i was out of there i was in and out um but so i say all that you know we had a great time at the tailgate so there are like intricate details that if i was watching at home completely sober i'd be like oh yeah i know exactly what's going on here and so um but i don't even know did samash play like i honestly i would love to see the snap counts um from pff but it it doesn't feel i i just outside of colson lo, it truly does not feel like there is anybody out there that is open on any type of regular basis.

I have a name. You have a name? I've been saying this for two months. Donovan Edwards. Because Kawell Mullings was on the field at the same time, and you motioned him out. We saw it. He runs a wheel route, and it's like, guys, you could do that. They did it, and it worked, and it's like guys you could do that they did it and it worked and he's

wide open and i know colston is open open too which ends up in an interception but it's like you can look at that and say oh it's you know it's an interception uh it's a bad play you can also look at that like holy shit we had two guys running down the field a long ways that were open, which how many times can we say that legitimately? The first time this year. Literally. And so, you know, I think you have to go back to that. I felt like I did like a couple ways that they had Donovan, you know,

come back in motion. There was one running play where Donovan comes back kind of like circles behind orgy then takes it uh to the left side I liked that play so there was some creativity I feel like there were there was creativity in the first half um with using Mullings using Donovan using orgy and you have to be able to use all three of those tools to your, you know, in your toolkit. Those are three guys that all bring people, you know, bring defenders to them. Do you think that there's a certain level of within the coaching staff of

like, okay, we're up 21, three defenses ball, and we're just going to let them do their thing. And we're just going to be very vanilla the rest of the way. Like, I mean, do you think that might be what it is? Yes, but I hate that. I hate that shit. I know, right? Get up what it is and then yes but i hate that i hate that i know right get up 38 to 3 and then it's like all right cool right you get a couple more touchdowns all right cool we can lay off the break we can lay off a little bit and also but also like you know if this was the 2023 team then sure because you know your team is that good and you

you know you're doing that we don't know they don't even know what they have as coach as a coaching staff i don't think they truly know what they have in their offense so you know i i get that if you want to save some stuff but you need to get your guys reps and playing well together and all that so if you want to say like sure we got up and and we went you know vanilla like i sure but i i hate that because i need like if we win this game 31 to 3 or even 31 to 10 you feel a lot better and they have a ton of confidence going into washington right but right, nobody has confidence because you let up and you had to squeak by the hair on your chinny-chin-chin a home game against a bad Minnesota team.

So that's where – Well, Colombo Mullings might have confidence. Colombo Mullings is – I went to church this morning and got down on my knees and prayed and thanked the Lord for Kalal Mullings. I thanked him for Kalal Mullings. So, man, I struggle. I just struggle with having that attitude of like, you know,

I feel like last year, you know, and under Jim Harbaugh, it was like a Blake Corham a J.J. McCarthy like these guys you know and enough you could go down the list of all these guys Trevor Keegan Zach Sitcher who are just like listen we're better than you we know it and we're gonna go out and show it and we're gonna we're not gonna stop until you are literally laying on the ground right and like you have nothing left there it's a lifeless team on the other side of the ball because you've taken their soul you don't have that right now it is all right let's get up a little bit and then let's just why don't we just chill out like

that's what i'm seeing and i i hate every bit of it yeah well can we talk about positive how about jire hill thought he had a great game I thought he had a great game. I thought he had a great game. He was the highest-rated guy from PFF on defense. Which is hard to do with how Mason Graham played, my God. Yeah, yeah. You know what's funny? Mason Graham was a 67 rating. I don't understand PFF sometimes.

I thought he was all over the place, but hey. I don't want to do that job, so I'm not going to argue. We agree with it when it makes sense to us, I thought he was all over the place, but hey. I don't want to do that job, so I'm not going to argue about it. We agree with it when it makes sense to us. And then it's a stupid – It's basically what Blue by the Numbers is. It's just me bitching unless it fits my narrative. It's a stupid analytic if it doesn't work for us.

But, okay, hold on. Before we get to the defense side of the ball, though, I do want to go back to talking about like qb play versus o-line you know i think our low o-line is getting better i i do think that that this o-line is a lot different uh right now after five weeks than it was after one week two weeks you know so they're getting better but i still think i am not putting the blame you know we talked about the receivers now I want to talk about the O-line like Alex Orji when he did have time to throw got to his second read got to his third read and played pretty well but as you're saying even the Colston Loveland even the

pick that was intended for Colston Loveland you know that's because he had to step up in the pocket. He shifted to his right, had to wait an extra second because he has to step up because there's pressure, and then he throws it a little bit to his part of the inside. And so, you know, I just don't think, again, RRQB is great. I'm not going to say that. But I don't think that it's fair to put it all on the quarterbacks, whether it's Davis Warren,

whether it's Alex Orji, or maybe it's Jack Tuttle in the future. I have no idea. Right. But I think that there is, there's what I want to say is there is a lot more that needs to be cleaned up on the offensive side of the ball in order for you to assess the QB situation with, you know, taking all that into effect.

No, I'm with you. Got to find a little bit more consistency in the pass, bro. I thought the first drive was really encouraging from the offense. I was like, okay, like, you know, maybe Michigan will go out here and take care of business. But, you know, hey, look, they got short yardage and they converted when they had that opportunity, right? So that's, you know, that's a low bar, but it's like, okay,

like if Michigan is going to create short fields for their offense through turnovers and special teams with blocked punts or, you know, maybe later in the season some nice returns from Morris and Samaj, like the offense can pay it off. That's going to be huge, right? So, you know, I don't know. I just continue to struggle with the thought that this is the best michigan has to offer considering how many guys

have been in the program for two three four years and it's like this is it right like and we've been spoiled right totally have been spoiled so i don't know man i just you know you want to see some improvement you want but again i think they're much better than they were week one right and so that's football i mean you're gonna get better throughout the year and you're gonna get better by playing football and who knows where they'll be you know against washington and then you have a bye week so you can get some guys healthy um you know get back to the basics maybe maybe work on some different installations of things that you want to run the rest of the year um before you've to play Illinois, which, you know, that's looking like a bigger game

than it was at the start of the season. So, you know, you get through, if you can beat Washington, which, you know, I think Michigan, again, it should be a similar situation where it's like they can out-talent Washington. Maybe you can get back to the drawing board a little bit in the bye week, get some guys healthy, and maybe, you know, simplify things

for the old linemen in the run game. I don't know. I agree with you, except for the fact that we are nearly halfway through the season if you're saying that i am hoping hard brother i know i know you're trying to find an answer to like hey maybe this will work out maybe we will figure it all out but the reality is is like if you're saying this after week two or three then i'm fine with that after week five and going into the bye week midway through the season you know that's where i'm struggling with it um but you know to kind of parlay the offensive conversation into the defense joel clatt i thought said it really

well on the broadcast after i watched it back to where he said this defense when healthy and rested right when they are when they are energized and aren't on the field for a long time they're unbelievable they're let's like you know i know that they give up three touchdowns at the end of this game but i i truly believe that that is a direct that reasoning is directly from the offense as well you know they were on the field a lot you know i look at the even the first half tanner like you go out you said that first drive touchdown 10 plays for 79 yards and you go for five minutes that is exactly what we want that's perfect right but then the next one is three plays for nine yards two minutes then the next one four plays for 10 yards a minute and a half then the next

one is you know you get short yardage into three plays for 16 yards for a minute and a half the next one three plays one yard a minute and a half the next one one play 11 yards a minute and a half the next one three plays negative four yards for a minute and 47 seconds you know like this defense by the time that fourth quarter comes around they've been on the field for 85 of the game right so like and i know part of that is because they're making plays and creating short yardage for michigan but michigan has to be able to move the ball and not just have their defense. Otherwise, this is definitely going to be a recurring instance throughout the year where they're coming down to stretch in the fourth quarter,

and this defense is just gas because they've been playing for way too much. Yeah, I can see that, but also, like, if you look at Minnesota's drives, like it's not like the defense is on the field that long until that field goal at the end of the first half, field goal drive, where they go 11 plays, 77 yards, 54. But otherwise, the longest drive that Minnesota had was their first drive, which was a six-play, nine-yard drive that ended in a punt. Excuse me, they had the eight-play drive that they ended with a missed field goal.

But otherwise, they're four and out, two and out with a fumble goal but otherwise they're four and out two and out with a fumble three and out three and out uh one and out with the pick so it's like well first of all i hate you for not agreeing with my take but um but it's like so it's like so my question would be like yeah like okay look michigan's not you know going out i mean you know they have the um they have a 13 play drive for 40 yards to get the field goal to go 24 to 3 and then they force a three and out so they're the – they have a 13-play drive for 40 yards to get the field goal to go 24-3. And then they force a three and out. So they're on the field for a minute 30, and then Michigan goes four plays, 17 yards.

That's where the orgy pick comes in. And then Minnesota goes 14 plays, 76 yards. So it's like I don't know how much of that you can really pin on, you know, Michigan's offense of not giving their guys enough rest. Then they go three and out, and then they get a three-play, 17-yard touchdown drive because of the short field. So can I ask you a question then is it, can it be possible that part of that is mental too?

I think that there's like a, there, obviously there's a huge mental part of the game. There's no doubt about that. Right. I think that there's something to that with the defense where maybe their legs are fresh but when you have to go back out there again right after a pick or right after three and out after you just made your stop it i think that can wear on you a little bit where it's like all right like oh my god where you know we just did this like can this offense make it you know capitalize on what we just did, right? I think there's a mental side to that as well.

Yeah, I don't know. I mean, 24-3, like, I still don't know what the – why they struggle so much in the fourth quarter because otherwise the defense was so dominant. Right. And it's like, again, they're getting off the field. So, you know, they're getting their own rest, right? Like, yeah, and, you know, they're, they're getting their own rest. Right. Like, yeah. And you know,

like Michigan, they have the 14 play 60 yard drive to go up 10 with a field goal late in the fourth quarter. And then Minnesota still goes 14 play 75 yards. So it's like, I don't know, man. It's like, you're up 24 to three. Like what, what mentality could be like, Oh no. Like it just, it just started out of nowhere. Right. And again, you know, that hands to the face really, really screwed them and extended that drive when it shouldn't have. Otherwise we're having a probably a lot better conversation of like,

Hey, we're, you know, we're chilling. Right. So it's like, you know, and that changes the perception of the team and the performance of the defense, the offense, special teams, all that stuff. But I don't know what the answer is of like why they keep giving up like, you know, long drives in the second half. Like it's, it's kind of crazy. I, yeah, I agree. I agree. of like why they keep giving up like you know long drives in the second half like it's kind of crazy i yeah i agree i agree it's something that that needs to be addressed that's for sure that that's got to be the one thing that michigan is working on the next two weeks right is saying all right how do we finish games how do we finish games but all in all i mean you mentioned jair hill i think that he is you know he he was thrown into the fire.

I don't know if anybody's been thrown into the fire more than being your second start against Quinn Ewers and the Texas offense, because whether it's Quinn Ewers or Arch Manning, that offense is unbelievable. But he's played really, really well, you know, the last two, three weeks now and is coming into his own. And so I think that, you know, at the end of the day, even though, you know, we are a bit sour at the end of that game, Michigan's defense is still – it is the bright spot of this team, right?

There's no doubt about it. And if Michigan's going to win – You can get a complete game, man. You just got to play a complete game. I definitely agree with that. I think that, like, the way that I've said it is two things. One, I feel like Michigan right now, it feels like, especially on the offensive side of the ball,

has nine or ten guys doing their job well on any given play but it seems like they're one to two guys off from breaking a big play or or you know one to two guys off from it being a a completion versus a sack right or something like that and so i think there's that thing there's that piece to it and then there's the play a complete game put four quarters together you can put three three and a half sometimes you need to put four good quarters together and play a complete game now to me is that coaching more than more than on the players probably a little bit of both right um i i don't know i mean you know you i think they just need to see it happen right as weird as that sounds i mean because we're not that far removed from this defense

and a lot of these guys that played a ton of snaps last year being one of the best defenses in the country uh one of the best defenses in recent memory uh and maybe one of the best defenses in michigan history and it's like i mean you got to see it happen with this group, right? Because you got new starters, you got transfers, you got different guys coming in. But, again, you know, your two best players are out on defense, by the way, and you're dominant through three quarters. And so it's like just put together a complete game because, hey,

if Will Johns is out there, like, probably don't go all the way down the field a couple of those drives, right? And Josiah Stewart's there, maybe you need to sack and push him back, right? So, you know, you do that without two of your best defensive players, and you got to clean that up, and you can't give up, you know,

three touchdown drives in the fourth quarter. Like, that's terrible. But to your point, at that point, they were on the field forever because Michigan wasn't really able to do anything until they got that field goal drive. So, yeah, I mean, I think this game coming up against Washington is a really great opportunity.

And, Justin, I want to know your thoughts, man. Sometimes going on the road is a good reset, right? Totally. You're 4-1. You know, you beat USC. We're 4-1 ranked. I mean, we're probably going to drop a little bit, but we're still probably going to be in the top 15.

I don't know, number 10 loss, number 6 loss. So, you know, the AP voters love to just move people up if they win, you know, I know that right now we're very used to being number one in the country and top, you know, and we're, we got really comfortable with being, you know, undefeated and being really good. I was pretty fun though. I had a great time. It was a lot more fun when we could just come out here,

talk about how we just beat the shit out of every team by, you know, 40 points. And there was like nothing bad to talk about. But, you know, I definitely think that you've been home for five straight games. It's a good change of pace. Let's go to Washington. Let's maybe like regroup, find ourselves, find our identity, right? That's what I want to do because want to do because I, you know, as negative as we've been on here the last couple of weeks, right.

I mean, we, we definitely bitched about Arkansas state because it was, you know, there, we had a lot of issues in that game. Should have won by a lot more. We bitched about the USC game because that one should have been, you know, a you're up way big early. You have to figure it out. Probably should have lost that game. And then this one, you should have put it away.

It should have been a 38-3 game, right? It should have been something like that. And so we've been pretty negative on here, I would say. I don't want to say negative, but more realistic. But I actually do think michigan's really close i think that they have all the pieces right now and at times all of those pieces are working but they have not put all those pieces together at the exact same time and so will they be able to figure that out i don't know i don't know right but can they figure that out? I don't know. I don't know. Right. But can they figure that out?

Absolutely. There's a lot of season left. And I think to your point, you go to Washington, they haven't looked awesome. So you have a chance on the road. We can go get a great win. You have a chance then for a bye week where you can collect yourselves. You can, you know, get healthy. You can figure some things out. And then you have Michigan state or sorry, Illinois, right. And then Michigan state. And so you have a really big test then in the middle of October. And so I just think that they've got some time right now to figure things out, but they are, you know, one to two pieces away from having everything clicking and it all clicked last year. Like it was just clicking from the start. It never didn't click.

I think these guys got to figure out the start. It never didn't click. I think these guys got to figure out what to do when it doesn't click and how to respond. And I just – I don't think they're that far off is what I – that's my big takeaway after five weeks. No, I don't either. And I think this is a perfect opportunity to regroup and, you know, us versus the world mentality on the road that a lot of teams embrace. And, you know, I think it might be good for them to get on the road and go to washington now i don't think michigan's done

too great uh going to like west coast uh teams you know or like pack old old pack what 12 teams like you know going to utah wasn't fun there's probably some other sprinkled in there um but you know this is a team that lost to ruckers on friday night and and I think Michigan again I'm going to keep predicting that they'll play a full four quarters in our Thursday podcast because I was going to be close. I said 34-3. I was sitting there in the fourth quarter like man this might come to fruition

for us and it didn't. If you say it enough it'll come true at some point. Speaking into existence man. We'll just keep speaking it into existence. I think that you i i think that um you know i i think that michigan has the opportunity to still to you know be a good to great team i really do um so all right well we'll see what happens i'm sure um you know i've seen it already on social media to yesterday and today that a lot of people are, are mad online. Um, but I'm going to choose, uh,

to look at the positives here with, while still being realistic, right? I'm not, I'm not saying there are zero issues. First place in the big 10. Um, you know, I, I did like, uh, I think it was M go bean. He said something about that. Um, one of our rivals just got absolutely mollywhopped by another one of our rivals and that first rival is like patting themselves on the back for playing like a good quarter and a half of football um even though that other team uh played three quarterbacks like emptied the bench but so at least we're not there you know we'll see but um could be worse hey could

be worse could be better michigan's got uh they've come a long way and even in five weeks they've still got a ways to go um but the opportunity lies ahead so we'll see what's to come uh shout out to north peak brewing and hail ipa Get yourself one of those inside Michigan Stadium. We won't be able to get one again for a while now, but you can go to Plum Market, Bush's, anywhere around Ann Arbor to grab a six-pack yourself. Shout out to Truly Hard Seltzer and Sun Cruiser. Hard Vodka Tea with no bubbles.

No bubbles. So they're great. They're great they they're great to spike as well great to spike as well you did that a couple times too so dude that was pick whitney and it was an electric combination yeah i love it all right for us you can follow us at blue by 90 on twitter instagram facebook at blue by 90 podcasts on youtube and blue by 90.com we appreciate you go blue go blue