Blue By Ninety - New Powerhouse Program in the Big Ten? INSANE B1G matchups in 2024 | Big Ten Coast 2 Coast

Episode Date: July 11, 2024

Justin and Tanner talk the new-look Big Ten and the four newcomers (Oregon, Washington, USC, UCLA) in an all-new Big Ten focused show from Blue By Ninety!

All right, welcome to Blue by 90. We've got a brand new show coming to you on YouTube that myself and Tanner are going to bring to you. My name is Justin. I've got Tanner next to me. We are from the podcast and blog Blue by 90. We're going to bring you a new show called Big Ten Coast to Coast, where we break down all of the Big Ten, all the schools. We're obviously a Michigan podcast here, but we're going to be bringing on guests from each different school, breaking down Michigan's schedule, breaking down each team, their roster, their schedule. And we're going to start here in the middle of July and go all the way through the season. So I'm pretty excited. Tanner, how are you doing, man? I'm good, man.

You know, I texted the group chat today. It's like 60 degrees, kind of overcast. It's been raining. We got some of the bands from the hurricane that hit Texas and Louisiana, which is kind of crazy to think about. So a lot of rain, very cool. It's going to get back to the 80s here soon. But it felt like football weather.

It felt like early, mid-October, big house, tailgate, overcast, Michigan's playing somebody at noon. I mean, I don't know. It just feels like football, and we're July 10th as we record this. So I'm feeling really good, man. I'm very excited as we get closer to football season. It's – it always – it never fails to amaze me, like how long I spend longing for football. And then the offseason just blows by.

I remember telling you last year, I was like, damn, football's here. And then in the blink of an eye, it's gone. And then you wait so long, and we're getting so close. So this is my favorite time of year here coming up. And excited to talk about the new look Big Ten, man. It's definitely different. Yeah, I agree. This is, I mean, the reason for the name is, you know, Coast to Coast because this new Big Ten,

this new conference is truly Coast to Coast. Michigan's making a trip out to Washington this year. Oregon and USC both coming to the big house. So why don't we start there with the new additions, the newcomers. If you're watching this and you're a Washington fan, we got to meet prematurely, a little prelude to the new Big Ten. But I want to start off on a nice note actually washington fans were awesome last year at the national championship game they were super nice

um so i've got nothing against the the huskies over there yeah i mean i wasn't at the game uh i wasn't able to get down to houston but i heard nothing but good things about them i thought for the most part like the exposure i had to them on social media was pretty positive. I thought they were a lot nicer than TCU fans. TCU fans were wild. I agree. I went to the Fiesta Bowl. They were not the nicest people in the world.

The guy I sat next to was pretty cool, but they were – I mean, they beat Michigan, so they get to rub your face in it. But Washington fans, for the most part, no in-person experiences, but, you know, online, they were, for the most part, pretty chill. And I like Jed Fish a lot, man. You know, first-year head coach with Kalen DeBoer heading down to Alabama. So, obviously, Jed Fish had a couple of years in Ann Arbor as the offensive coordinator.

A lot of us missed him when he left and really glad to see him pan out at Arizona, make the move up to Washington. I think he's a star in the making in the coaching profession. So but Washington really wasn't able to bring a lot of those guys from Arizona with Fish. So it's going to be extremely interesting to see who they trot out. They lost a lot of talent. Penix obviously is gone. Adunze, you know, a couple top 10 picks there, top 15 picks. So Washington is an extremely interesting team this year, but I do think that they're going to be positioned to be a strong contender for, you know, maybe like eight and four, nine and three type seasons and maybe sneak into the playoff depending on what their recruiting looks like moving forward. But I just have a lot

of faith in Jed Fish. That's where that confidence stems from. Yeah, I do too. I mean, obviously, Michigan fans know Jed Fish a little bit from his time as an OC, but I think he did a great job at Arizona to turn them around from what Arizona was one of the worst teams in the country, you know, not too long ago. And so turning that program around, I think he's they've got a good leader in him. But I definitely agree with you. I think that there's no secret. There's going to be there are going to be some rebuilding years for Washington. You go, you know, a lot of people talk about Michigan losing a good portion of their roster to the NFL and having, you know, 17 guys go. But Washington lost just about everybody. You know, the one person that is still there, Giles Jackson, I believe he's, he's running it back. I didn't even,

he's older than me at this point. That's not how time works, but I think he's older than me. It feels like it. But, yeah, I think that it's hard to even break them down from a roster standpoint because there are just so many new faces for them. But I'll say this. I'm very excited. I'm trying to figure out how to get out to Seattle this fall. I need to sailgate.

I absolutely need to sailgate. So I might need to make that trip out to Washington. I was trying to go in 2020, and then something happened and derailed a lot of plans for a lot of people. So I don't know if I'll be able to make it this year, but that's definitely now. I used to be able to say I think I've been to over half of the Big Ten stadiums to see Michigan play. Now that number is drastically reduced because of the new additions.

I would love to get out and see all of these West Coast teams and their campuses and their stadiums. Washington's definitely at the top of that list. Seattle's awesome. And I would love to experience sailgating myself too. Yeah. All right. Let's talk through USC. So USC is the first new addition from the big 10 that ends up on Michigan

schedule. I believe it's week four that Is it week four, right? Yes, Saturday, September 21st, 3.30 on CBS. So week four that they come to Ann Arbor. So we don't get the November. Are we going to do the Notre Dame thing where they come to South Bend in October and then Notre Dame goes to USC in November? Is that what we're going to do? Are we going to do the Notre Dame thing where they come to South Bend in October and then Notre Dame goes to USC in November? Is that what we're going to do?

Are we going to coddle them? I don't want to. I want the LA, the Cali, the Beach Boys to come see what Ann Arbor is all about in late November. And if you thought that Ohio State was shivering from the snow a few years ago, I've got some bad news for the cali boys i want to see it too man i don't want to come i mean it's interesting and this is a broader conversation that we can have later on uh but it feels like some of these i don't know

it feels like there's some coddling going on from the big 10 around here because michigan plays three of these four teams certain schools certain established Big Ten schools may only play one of them. I don't know where that comes from. Who would that – is there somebody in particular you're thinking? I think it's the team that Michigan has beat three years in a row. Okay. There's quite a few of those teams though. I was going to say.

It doesn't really narrow it down. I'm sorry. There is one that comes to mind. But anyways, go on. No, so I definitely would like to see more of these marquee matchups. I want to see Ohio State-USC. I want to see Ohio State-Washington. We're getting Ohio State-Oregon this year.

But it just feels like some of these schedules are super imbalanced, which is really interesting. But when you look at USC's schedule, they start out on Sunday, September 1st of Labor Day weekend against LSU in Vegas. So brand new starting quarterback, Caleb Williams, is gone. Going to be extremely interesting to see Lincoln Riley. Well, you know, they're basically the same team, USC and LSU. Like they don't play defense at all. So I don't know what happened

to LSU because they were always known for being very stout. And now they're just, you can run all over them. You can score 50 points on them, but they may score 60. That's the problem. Well, let's talk about that. I think that's a recurring theme of these Pac-12 teams is the lack of defense. And you're coming into Ann Arbor to start it off, but just the Big Ten as a whole, where Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, right now, yes, they're somewhat known for their offenses, but defense is the key valuable piece for all of those teams. So when you look at, at all right USC's offense is

going to come in and try to go up against Michigan's number one number two defense in the country how do you see a post Caleb Williams USC offense faring there it's going to be really interesting I think this is probably going to going to be one of the tougher coaching jobs for Lincoln Riley since taking over at Oklahoma, right? Like he's – I mean, maybe he'll turn water into wine because he's done it before. But at the same time, I mean, you look at the quarterbacks he's had and you've got to give him credit for those guys at the same time.

But when you look at his tenure at Oklahoma with Baker Mayfield, with Kyler Murray, Jalen Hurts, Spencer Rattler. I mean, Spencer Rattler, you can say what you want, but in 2020, dude played lights out. And there was a reason going into 21 that he was Heisman's first overall pick chatter about him. And then Caleb Williams. So, you know, it's going to be extremely interesting.

I know they've probably got some five stars on their roster at quarterback that they've recruited. But I think it's going to be really interesting. Like I said, they've got LSU week one. Their third game is Michigan coming off of a bye. You know, they do have Penn State coming into the Coliseum. And they've got Notre Dame still on the schedule as well. So it's going to be really interesting. They have four ranked opponents, at least to start the year, or we'll assume that are going to be ranked with the teams that I just mentioned. Otherwise, they've got Wisconsin at home. They go to Minnesota in October. They go to Maryland. They've got Rutgers at home. They go to Washington in November. They've got Nebraska coming to the

Coliseum in November, which will be extremely interesting. They've obviously got their game with UCLA, and then they finish the season with Notre Dame at home. So it's going to be really interesting. I don't know. I mean, it's just such an unknown at this point with these teams coming into the Big Ten with the difference in play style. I don't know what to expect. I mean, I think Oregon's going to come in and be pretty good,

but I don't know. I agree, and mean, I think Oregon's going to come in and be pretty good, but I don't know. I agree, and we'll get to Oregon in a second, but I think they're another example of it where we talked about USC's offense versus Michigan's defense, but nobody's talking about Michigan's offense right now for a lot of reasons with how much they lost um but you know i i just i don't see a usc defense coming in and just stopping you know michigan's run game right so even even though there are question marks at the quarterback position for michigan do you like when michigan goes you know i formation with three tight ends in you know, I just don't see USC, let alone any of

the Pac-12 teams coming in, being able to come in and say, all right, yeah, we're going to line up and go head to head with you and smash. Michigan's going to have the advantage 10 times out of 10 in that situation. Yeah. I mean, we talked about this pre-show. It really comes down to Michigan, I think, is the offensive line. You know, you lose Zinter, you lose Keegan, you lose Drake Nugent, you lose Ladarius, Trentay, right? But there are guys that have played a lot of football. You know, you have Miles Hinton, you have Gio Elhadi, you have guys waiting in the wings that have been kind of waiting their turn that are third and fourth year guys so for michigan in just perspective of these pac-12 schools that are coming in it really comes down to the quarterback obvious it always comes down to a quarterback

right but then it comes down to the offensive line for me because otherwise i think tight end got the best tight end in the country yeah the receiving group i think samaj is destined to be a star i think tyler morris flashed in the rose bowl i think f I think Samaj is destined to be a star. I think Tyler Moore's flashed in the Rose Bowl. I think Freddie Moore's going to be really, really good. Obviously, the tight ends in the pass game are huge. You've got Max Bredesen, who might be the best H-back fullback in the country. Donovan Edwards, we talked about it on the main podcast. We know what he can do if he can find that consistency that he had as a sophomore. And then you pair that with kalel

mullings um you've got the the four high four star jordan marshall coming in from the state of ohio at running back um there's a lot of weapons on the offense it's just can michigan find a guy whether that's alex orgy davis warren jack tuttle uh jay denigle to get the ball to those guys and not make mistakes and keep moving the chains. That's what Michigan was so effective at last year was their ability to be in third and twos because of Blake Corum. So can you find that with, again, Donovan and Kahlil Mullings? I do think, though, to your point, you could just run duo against USC all day long. I don't think that they have the bodies to be able to stop that, nor do I think that USC – I mean, I know they got rid of Alex Grinch.

DeAnton Lynn's a really good defensive coordinator, but I don't know how quickly they'll be able to turn that around in game three. I think Michigan, if they really want to, can Penn State them to death, honestly. Yeah, I agree with you, and I think that's going to be the major transition for USC and the rest of these Pac-12 teams coming into the Big Ten. It's like, all right, when it is third and four, Michigan's not throwing that ball, right? Even third and five, they're still running.

Because when you get to fourth and one, you get to fourth and two, and then you can go for it. Your whole line's getting that push. I mean, I watched the Alabama-Michigan rose bowl highlights today when i was at the gym that fourth and one i mean i mean again these guys are gone but man if chiron is you know still involved and you still you know you have um right and you got grant newsome who played old line at a high level until they got hurt in college for michigan like you have basically two O-line coaches now. So if you can continue to develop these guys, you know,

you maintain the level of strength and development that Michigan has had under Ben Herbert with the new staff. Like, again, I mean, that play, most Michigan fans don't talk about, fourth and one, it's on their first touchdown drive. I mean, they just mauled. I mean, it was four yards of movement and so Michigan's able to you know again they've recruited really well in the o-line they've gotten transfers they got the Josh Prebe kid from Northwestern who was all big 10 so they have they have some guys that can plug and play

like I think Michigan for sure can bully USC we already saw them bully Washington again different teams but you know same mentality like right they're gonna bully them then it comes down to I know we're gonna get to them probably last but Oregon's really the one of the four that's like okay yeah for sure well um yeah we'll get to them in a second I want to jump on uh on UCLA the other team from LA um which I think is probably it's as far as right away going to have the toughest time coming into the Big Ten just because they have not had great success here in recent years. But I just took a peek at their schedule before we jumped on here. And so they start out at Hawaii.

First of all, I love that going to hawaii that's kind of cool actually coming from la which i don't is hawaii actually i believe they do not play at the honolulu on how no a lot a lot who's um aloha stadium no it is um i think abandoned i'm not sure if i'm not sure where they're playing i don know. I believe they were supposed to be building an on-campus stadium. But, yeah, I mean, there's worse places to go than Hawaii. I was going to say, in September, August 31st, there are very much worse places to be than Honolulu. That feels like that should be a week zero game, though.

I agree. I agree. That would be a fun week zero game. And and also we've talked about this on the podcast hawaii needs to wear throwback rainbow jerseys there too um so every that should be their suit that should be their uniform all the time 100 um so they go to hawaii i'm gonna chalk that up as a win then they play indiana at home also the hoosiers in september going to la not terrible um but they play the hoos Indiana at home. Also, the Hoosiers in September going to L.A., not terrible. But they play the Hoosiers at home. I'm going to chalk that up to a win, right?

So they start off 2-0. Then at LSU, home versus Oregon at Penn State. That's a rough three-week stretch. There's no bye in there either. That's consecutive rough three weeks. There's no bye in there either. That's consecutive three straight weeks. And you start your Big Ten schedule week two, so you don't even have like a preseason. You're out of conferences at LSU,

and then you go home versus Oregon at Penn State. So UCLA, if they don't start two and three, I'll be shocked. But that's a pretty good hello, welcome to the Big Ten. I mean, dude, and you think about the travel too, right? Because that may take a toll. You have to fly into Baton Rouge. I don't know how quick of a flight that is. I'm assuming that's like three or four hours from LA.

Then you're back home against Oregon. Then you've got to go all the way to Penn state and happy Valley. And that's like a five. That's probably like a five hour flight. Then you're back home against Minnesota the following week. Then the next week you got to go all the way to Rutgers. You're cross country. And then,

and then you're off and then you'd go to Nebraska, which is like a four ish hour flight. I, I, and then and then you're off and then you go to nebraska which is like a four-ish hour flight i i i'm really curious to see what the feedback is um and to be honest like okay that we're talking struggles for the team but honestly shout out to their fans i feel bad for you ucla fans because you're never making any of those games right you? You're not going to make the trip. It's just a rough schedule. And let alone, you know, what if that Penn State game is at noon in Eastern time? Absolutely. It's a 9 a.m. start.

I have no idea how they're going to do all that. I think the one thing that UCLA – I'll say the one thing that UCLA has in their advantage here is that Fox loves the noon slot for the biggest game of the week. I don't think, no offense, that UCLA is going to be in that big noon kickoff slot. True, true. That's fair. That's a fair assessment. All right, so last but not least for the new additions to the Big Ten is Oregon, who does come to Ann Arbor as well.

There's a chance that that is a pivotal game in the Big Ten, let alone the entire college football season. Absolutely. I mean, you look at their schedule. They start with Idaho, boise um or at oregon state so nice to see um washington also plays washington state that same week that i believe yep that they play uh that oregon plays at oregon state so nice to see the apple cup and the civil war uh remain alive for at least this year i don't know how long those are going to be

continuing to go on for uh but then they have a bye. Then they go at UCLA, Michigan State, and then on Saturday, October 12th, the Buckeyes come to Autzen. That is going to be an awesome, awesome day. Like that is going to be just so much fun as a college football fan to see those programs going up against each other. Autzen is an awesome environment. I've never been in person, but just from seeing it on TV, that place is always rocking.

And I'm always surprised because it's a little bit smaller, but they get absolutely after it. That's going to be one of those games that just circle. And I will say, as weird as all this realignment stuff is, off topic real quick, some of these matchups are just unbelievably awesome. It is. It is like you took NCAA and just put it into real life, life like whatever i don't care i just want to see these you know what i mean like i want to see these games damn the flights damn the travel expenses damn

the the non-revenue sports i gotta go to piscataway from eugene let's just get these football matchups in here because that is going to be one of the biggest games of the year. But then, like you mentioned, a few weeks later, first Saturday, November, Oregon comes to the big house. We're going to be there. I'm going to make that one happen. I don't care. I'm saying it now. That is going to be an absolutely electric atmosphere. You know we're going to be getting after it.

Probably going to be big noon kickoff. We're probably going to get there at 5 a.m. I don't care. I mean, we might sleep there on friday night you never know um but i think it's it's it'll be interesting you know oregon now dylan gabriel transfers in right so it's going to be uh i mean they're being touted as one of the top five teams in the country. So talking about their schedule, it'll be interesting to see how they play out coming to the Big Ten. You mentioned the game when the Buckeyes roll into town

and then they have to come to Ann Arbor. So I think that, here's what I'll say. From an East Coast guy, right? We've been here in the Midwest, on the East Coast, we're in the Big Ten. For us to think about, all right, we have not really had to pay attention to these West Coast teams until either early on in a preseason type game or later in the college football playoff. And now, you know, I just don't know how an Oregon team stacks up in a season full of 12 tough games, right? And I'm not saying the Pac-12 was a slouch. I'm not saying it.

And I'm not saying they have 12 tough games. There are some slouches in the Big Ten. Their schedule is actually pretty favorable. Outside of Ohio State and Michigan, some slouches in the big time their schedule is actually pretty favorable outside of ohio state and michigan i think the most difficult game they will have is either at wisconsin or washington at home all right well so even a little coddling going on even at even at wisconsin though that's not it i mean i don't know who knows what that game's gonna look like and it's in november it's gonna be cold i've been to camp randall in november that place is going to look like? And it's in November. It's going to be cold. I've been to Camp Randall in November. That place is freezing, by the way.

So I don't know. I think just for speaking in terms of the Pac-12 teams coming to the Big Ten as a whole instead of just Oregon, it'll be interesting to see how they pair up with these teams week in and week out. I'm going to be honest. Is it the SEC that's tough eight teams deep, nine teams deep? I'm not so sure. But you've got 16 teams now, right?

There are a lot of teams. 18. 18. Jesus. That's ridiculous. Remember when it used to be 10? It used to be 10. Well, no, I don't remember.

Then it was 11. It was 11 when I was born. It was 11 for a long time. But, you know, it used to be 10 plus 1. Yeah. And we've got 18 teams with four on the West Coast. That's crazy. We've got Maryland and Rutgers in the Big Ten.

I don't know. Like, again, I'm very much a traditionalist. But at the same time, i am very excited to see these matchups like i'm excited to see how these teams stack up in the regular season and not necessarily in a bowl environment where guys are opting out like you're still in the heart of your season you're still fighting for a big 10 championship and a national championship and a playoff berth and all those sorts of things that come with it so i think it's going to be extremely fun still a little weird still you know i may yell at cloud i may yell at the clouds for a little bit more um you if you see me on college football 25 i

may go back to the old conferences like i may throw nebraska back in the big 12 that's just for nostalgic purposes i am very excited for these and even in the sec with texas oklahoma big 12 is going to be interesting. You know, just getting outside the Big 10 footprint, which now just covers the entire country. But when you look at the SEC, Texas OU is really intriguing, I think. The Big 12 now. What is ACC going to do?

What are Florida State Clemson going to do? Like, there's so many moving parts still that we're not done with this. I mean, this kick started all the way back in 2011 when texas pissed off the entire big 12 that domino has continued to fall up until today and i think you're gonna see more movement maybe not every year but i think you're gonna see you're gonna hear rumblings every every year and every off season well you're gonna it. It's kind of like the portal. It's kind of like the transfer portal a little bit where it's like, obviously, they're bigger contracts. I'm sure they sign them for five, ten years at a time.

But still, to your point, all of a sudden, if Texas doesn't like how the SEC is handling themselves, Clemson doesn't like how the ACC is handling themselves, they're going to be like, hey, we can pick up and leave and go to the SEC if you want. The precedent has been set. Problem is, they've got to pay a lot of money. That's why Florida State

and Clemson haven't left yet. It's because of the grant of rights that they signed off to the ACC until 2036. I don't know what Texas and OU looks like, but at the end of the day, you know this. It all comes down to money. That's, that's the only thing that we're doing here is it's all about the money. It's all about the matchups.

How much ad revenue can we generate for a Michigan, Oregon and Oregon, Ohio state, Michigan, USC. That's all it comes down to. It is. So I don't like where your head is at because it's all about my fandom and how I feel. So we've got a bridge to sell you. Oh, man. But, hey, I enjoyed breaking down the newbies here that are coming to the Big Ten.

Welcome. Welcome. Welcome, USC. Welcome, UCLA. Welcome, Washington. Welcome, Oregon. It's going to be fun. It's going to be a great college football season.

And on this show, on Big Ten Coast to Coast here, I'm excited for us to bring on different reporters, different journalists from all the schools in the Big Ten, and we'll break down their schedules. We'll break down matchups with Michigan. We'll break down how they're looking in the entire college football landscape so um Tanner uh I appreciate you coming on with me and being part of this uh sure you can follow us at blue by 90 on Twitter Instagram Facebook at blue by 90 podcast on YouTube and blueby90.com we appreciate you go blue go blue