Blue By Ninety - No passing game? No problem. Michigan gets back to its root in epic win over USC

Episode Date: September 23, 2024

Justin and Tanner breakdown Michigan's come from behind win over USC behind Kalel Mullings' monstrous day.

All right, welcome back to Blue by 90. I'm Justin joined by Tanner today and is Michigan back? Are we back just like that? I want to bring this up. I threw this in the group chat, but I saw Annie Agar, who I'm not a fan of personally, but she tweeted something about can't wait to see all the Michigan fans say we're back. Back from what, Annie? Back from our first loss in the regular season in three years. Back from our first loss after going 50-0 winning the national championship. Not sure what we're coming back from as Michigan fans. I agree.

You lose to the number one team in the country is what it is. But you beat number 11 in a game where you can't throw the ball defense has some issues uh later in the game but you know will johnson kind of bails us out with the pick six uh claude mullings needs to get 30 carries a game he might leave the country in russia if he gets that like oh my god so positives that i took away that we've been pretty negative the last couple weeks refreshing to see it absolutely is uh you know we were i think our last podcast that we did we were pretty negative right trying to um you know just figure out what the heck this team was you know honestly my biggest takeaway from saturday and we'll obviously dive into a lot of breaking down what happened exactly but my biggest takeaway was that felt like a 2023 Michigan game in the fact that like they had swagger they felt like

they were like all right we're better we're a really good football team and we're we're Michigan and we you know you're not gonna stop us no matter what is going on like we're gonna find a way to get it done right like they had their grit back they had like you know things go wrong and you can't you know it reminded me of the penn state game a little bit last year where it's just like okay this is not gonna be pretty and you know our past game is not going to be pretty. And, you know, our past game is not working, but we'll just figure it out. And we're going to be bigger, faster, stronger than you. We want it more than you.

And that's what I saw on Saturday, which like that gives me more excitement and confidence than anything else that I saw, honestly. Yeah, I mean, just you got to lean on your best players right like you gotta find ways to win um we know it's not gonna come with throwing the ball right like i think there's something i think there are certain things that you can do for orgy in this offense to make it a little easier um because look downfield passing wasn't great but drag routes putting it nicely drag routes though those five yard throws

i mean hey you know he hit marlon klein uh i saw i saw uh my my brother my long lost brother uh metawood peace uh shout out to justin um but he posted that uh video of him hitting marlon klein he's like this is a great throw and i know he's been a little sarcastic but honestly you can run you can again i want mesh um and you know, there are some things. And again, we haven't seen it with orgy, but Samaj Morgan, like he can be a receiver. He absolutely cooked that slot corner on that, on that post. Like, and he's jumping up and down, like wide open,

waiting for the ball. And it's like, no, there's, there's some, there's some positives with this team and and if you can get orgy to be i don't know what he's gonna look like right like trying to throw the ball but there's a way that this offense can be really successful beyond just running for 290 yards against usc right like you can have orgy throw for 150 yards potential maybe i don't know i might be talking out the side of my neck here on i no but i okay we'll get into orgy in a second but i i want to just take a step back a second and say like i think it was really encouraging to me with this offensive line that has struggled in in the first three weeks right we we looked at this offensive line and said hey you replaced six guys

on this offensive line and let's be honest with ourselves and through week three we didn't think any of them any of the guys that were replacing those guys from last year were going to be nfl prospects or were looking like they could you know put the bill right but those guys stepped up when we needed them to this week and all of a sudden it looked like they looked like a 2023 offensive line they looked like a big 10 championship style offensive line who even though it would it everybody in the world knew we were going to run the ball you still figure it out and it wasn't pretty at all times either right they made their fair share of mistakes too but you know the combination of colel mullings and donovan edwards with the

offensive line like i felt like they hit a stride and took a pretty big leap where you know it's yes you still have to figure out how to throw the football you know but that that just gives me a lot of encouragement because I think everything else on the offensive side of the ball it starts with that everything else will come after that and you're still gonna have to figure out how to throw it for sure you got to figure out a lot of things but before that you needed to figure out the line and I was very encouraged at what I saw on saturday yeah i mean as much as we've talked about the right tackle position i thought you know issues in pass pro again so he's got to figure out what in the run game yeah i mean he was he's athletic he can move he gets to a spot when he pulls um i thought evan link had his best game you know

definitely some issues um i may have put link had his best game you know definitely some issues um i may have put a tweet out that i deleted later because i'm i'm soft um and it was maybe unfair but i thought offensively the offensive line the tight ends brettison in the backs and you're without colston loveland absolutely i was gonna bring that up too that's your best player people kind of i mean obviously i think everyone knows what colston Loveland. Absolutely. I was going to bring that up too. That's your best player. People kind of, I mean, obviously I think everyone knows what Colston Loveland is to this offense, but everyone kind of brushed over that because of how it worked. But like you're throwing Alex Orji in there with, in his first start, who obviously, you know, is not going to be a past first guy and you don't have someone, you don't have your top target right so like I think

you forget about that a little bit and obviously you know the receivers I thought you know it was just hard for Alex he did not have an open guy very often even when we did try to throw the ball right and so um you know I I think that if colson loveland comes back it changes a lot of things with this offense because he is our best blocking tight end right i did think marlon klein had a great game and came in and blocked well um hogan hansen comes in max bredesen god bless you god bless you i mean just he texted me back this morning and said, he's never been more sore after a game than he was on Sunday after that game. Worth it.

Oh, worth it. A hundred percent. He said it was worth it. He'd do it again in a heartbeat. He'll probably do it again this week. But, you know, and then obviously like Kalel Mullings, just Greg Jennings put the team on your back though. Like, holy shit.

You cannot say enough about Kalel Mullings. That last long run on that touchdown drive to win the game. I mean, that whole drive was all Kalel Mullings, but I'm watching that. I'm like, oh man, like I'm watching him like, man like i'm watching like oh if he you know he might he might have had some room but they kind of played it well from the second level and then he's just dragging like they're like honest eyes he's just dragging these dudes spins around and runs for another 40 yards dude i we were in the stadium obviously for the game but then we watched

it back uh yesterday and i had to stop and rewind it and we were like marking off where he's where the guy started to tackle him and he literally dragged the guy you could see rubber pellets flying as the guy is his toes are dragging through the turf yeah and it was a legit 10 yards like it was unbelievable i've never seen and for 220-pound back who has already carried the ball how many times, right, throughout a day, to have the strength to spin, move, and drag a guy in that moment for 10 yards and then burst for 60 is like, I mean, I don't know how that's physically possible.

I really don't. Again, he should get at minimum 20 carries a game, ideally 25 to 30. And we, I don't want to be switching to the negative point of view now, but. And Donovan had a nice game, right? He had the touchdown. I thought he he runs you know I think the last couple weeks he's been really good at finding the hole and taking what's there you know but he has the fumble it's just honestly a great play by the DB like I mean he's

held up and he literally punches the football in the exact right spot so like right that one I mean there is like to me there's one thing you can't do in that moment right like we would have been better off with taking three sacks in a row and then punting from the end zone rather than fumbling the ball right right and so you have to like i i'm all for him fighting for extra yards and it actually was a great run on first down but like you also have to kind of know the situation like just go down um you know like i or at least cover the ball up as hard as you can are you talking about kenny grant or donovan edwards now because i'm confused that too it's like oh such a great play and it's like you're getting excited to see a big 78 run because you know he's quick but it's like yeah don't go for the stiff arm with the ball like a loaf of bread.

But I digress. I'm talking about the offense. I mean, yeah, that is like the most ridiculous thing of all time. It's like maybe the funniest thing. The fact that Michigan won makes it very funny. If Michigan lost, it's rough. It's not great. Yeah.

I definitely agree with that. But I guess, you know, I was okay. I think Kirk Campbell, as Michigan's offensive coordinator, he probably has some improvements still to make. But what I did like was I thought that our run game with Alex Orji in there changed up a lot. I thought that, you know, Orji opens up the run game. You still have to figure out the passing game,

but when you have to account for Alex Orji and he takes a linebacker with him almost every single time, then that, I thought, I was really impressed with the creativity in the run game. Now, we can come up with some maybe creativity or try to get some things going in the run game. Now, we can come up with some maybe creativity or try to get some things going in the pass game too, but I was pretty pumped to see just like from what I thought was very vanilla play calling in weeks one through three in the run game,

I thought that they hit their stride in a play calling scheme-wise in the run game as well yeah i i mean that first half was was fantastic that first touchdown um you know one of the usc defenders is really concerned with alex orgy and so that just split second gives colel the ability to get get going and get to the end zone um and i think you saw that quite a bit with, with orgies threat in the run game. But what you saw in the second half was safeties within 10 yards at all times. And so, you know, even if they're not complete,

like you got to take some shots, right? Like we're talking about this pre-show. Absolutely. We're talking about this pre-show. Samaj, the, the, complete like you gotta take some shots right like we have to make them back up absolutely we're talking about this pre-show samaj the the the third down before the touchdown drive samaj absolutely cooks his man i think he falls down um he looks like it looked like roman wilson it was defender against ohio state on cj's touchdown where he touchdown where he's wide open. You got to take those shots, right? You got to be able to see that. Well, and I think that on that one, honestly,

I think that our offensive line didn't hold up for even like two seconds, which is another issue. Probably, yeah. I don't think Orgy even had a shot. But, like, all of these things need to happen to your point yes the o-line needs to be able to hold him for literally two seconds as samaj is cooking him and then yeah you got to be able to take a shot there in that one like i mean anybody can make that throw right like you don't even have to hit him wherever the ball is it's not like he's got a defender on him.

Just throw it short and he'll catch it and run. And then I think to your point too, drag routes, anything. I thought that Michigan could have done a lot more. You don't have to. It doesn't even have to be a 15-yard route. But let's get Marlon going over the you know whether it's marlin or hogan hansen or whoever like you know samaj tyler morris fred moore like let's get some people going and make get orgy some rhythm in that where it's like hey i don't care if it's almost like a dump

off type of thing you have to get him comfortable to at least connect with his receivers no absolutely and i just want to throw this back to the to the offseason um i may have fallen in this trap myself justin but i remember there was a lot of us that were like what if he's just like jalen miller and then i watched jalen miller just drop it in the bucket it's like if he was jalen miller we'd be we'd be cooking with some with some grease here um no i mean i i thought for his first start look you know we know the stats what was it 7 to 12 32 yards you know um he had a he had marlon klein on a on a route that he missed him by a couple yards i mean if he puts that where it needs to be that that may be a catching run for the big fella um but overall for, you know, look, it was like you said earlier, man, it was absolutely

the furthest thing from pretty, but I simply do not care. Did you win? Yes. You won. Awesome. Don't care. I enjoy running for 290 yards on USC because that was very poetic. Like kind of just talk about the narrative surrounding the game real quick.

USC for the past couple of years, since knowing they were joining the big 10 is like can they hold up against michigan and and the teams that run the ball and the answer is no as of right now they're gonna have to get a lot bigger stronger in that in that uh you know the front seven in this conference but it's kind of poetic man like look again it wasn't pretty 32 passing yards and i loved it right like i was frustrated i didn't think there was any chance in hell that they were going to put together a drive at the end thank god for colel mullings thank god for colel mullings i also like until that run let's talk about that for a second like can i just ask what are we doing because until until he breaks a 60 yard run in the most improbable fashion possible like we're it's a two minute drill we're huddling

up like it's the first drive of the game like everybody knows that we're running the ball because we haven't thrown it in forever and we're like i i'm okay with running the ball creatively there because you know we're averaging six yards of pop in the run game you can but why are we not just get up to the line and go right like yeah i i was couldn't we're we're taking 30 seconds off the clock every play and like i i was just in shock and i honestly think like colal bailed us out in that sense because there there's you know it wasn't like oh we you know scripted that perfectly like it wasn't a rose bowl you know type drive where you're like okay you scripted it perfectly right there and drove down the field but i i was in shock that we were just huddling up taking plenty and plenty of time

um so i i think there are some things there that need to be like addressed of like hey guys you know and this is where i think you look at cheryl moore and kirk campbell having inexperience right of like game management and how to how to win a football game no absolutely i was losing my mind uh watching that last drive i'm like there's there's literally no way unless the thing that happened happens which colin moley's just superman carrying dudes you know but it was again it was gritty it was – you know, it was a great game. Just – you know, first half, Michigan's dominant, right? I mean, what, USC on their first four drive goes three and out every time,

I think. I think they had 11 yards through 12 plays on offense in the first few bit. And then they get that field goal. And then they have some momentum at the end of the half. They don't get anything out of it. but they get sacked at the end, but they move the ball and then they come out second half. Here's a question, Justin, because I think we can kind of pivot to the defense at this point.

Is there anything you want to mention about the offense that we haven't covered? No, I think that's perfect. So defense, look, you know, Will Johnson comes up with a huge huge huge pick six right um but that first drive coming out of the half the lineups were really weird like you would have you'd have mason graham kenneth grant and then like tj guy and then another backup edge and it's like they just came out of halftime they just had a 20 minute break right right like this is a huge

drive and you let them go down and score. I mean, Miller Moss. I mean, dude, that kid. I will say this. That kid, I thought he was done. Right? Like, he's getting hit. He can't make throws. And he stood in there, and he was gutsy as hell.

Talk about, you know, if Max Bredesen and Kalel Mullings are sore as hell on Sunday, Miller Moss is in the ice bath with them. Right? Like, oh, my. hell on Sunday Miller Moss is is in the ice bath with him right like oh my that I I pray for that kid because he took some licks from Josiah Stewart from everybody I mean we'll talk about Josiah in a second because that dude is an absolute animal but yeah I I want to give Miller Moss's credit because you know he stood in there he got up time after time after time, made great plays. I think to your point, though, of the like the lineups, you know, honestly, yes.

Is it weird? I spun it, though, as like what I thought was Ray Sean Benny, TJ Guy, Cam Brandt, a number of guys stepped up for Michigan, which I think they're going to need in the future. Here's what I saw versus Texas. We tried to go with our top guys with Mason, KG, those guys pretty much all first half. They were gassed, right?

We talked about that. So I wonder if Wink and, you know, whoever else is making the calls on who's, what the rotations are. Esposito. Like, I wonder if they're like, hey, you know, we need our second and third guys, those rotational guys in there so that we can have Mason and KG in, you know, in the fourth quarter to, to end this game.

So my thing though, would be, you've already, you know, cause the Texas game, I get it because there's just, you know, 10 play drive, 10 play drive, right? Like they're just moving the ball and you can't get off the field on third downs. But my question would be like, how tired would these guys truly have been? Because again, they played 12 snaps in the first quarter and a half, and then they got the field goal. And then, then you know they had a little bit of a drive

they got to midfield um when you're at 14-3 coming out of the half and they get the ball it's like one stop and you potentially you know go get a touch on an offense right like it's a key moment um the other thing with the defense that we talked about pre-show is that there were some busts. Zeke Berry comes on a blitz from the slot, and there's no one over there. And I'm assuming that's on Zeke because the guy's wide open. Well, as I was watching the game back, I kind of paused it and looked at where the rest of the defense lined up,

and there literally isn't anybody on even that three-quarters of the field. Every other guy in the secondary. All on the left side of the field. That's all from the hashes to the sideline of the other side of the field. And so there was no Macari back there that's saving the day. So he must have either gotten the wrong call or something. Yeah, but talk about, like, I think they said it on the broadcast. That is the definition of a busted coverage.

Yeah. So there's that. You know, I didn't think Macari had his best game. You know, he struggled. That should have been an interception. I don't know the angle he took. It looked like he could have got there on their go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter.

Either that or, like, I mean, blow him up, right? Right. I think it should have been a pick. I thought Miller Moss kind of let that ball hang a little bit, and he should have had the angle to undercut that and pick it and then, you know, probably get out at least to, like, the 20 or 30, have some decent field position because there was nobody down there. But, you know, and I was a little frustrated with wink at times on saturday but i

think overall um you know you put this on the on the bottom there i mean they definitely feel like a defense that is playing with some attitude i mean giant let's talk about jire hill i thought he grew up like he had his own fair share of mistakes as well, but I definitely agree with you. We're watching him week after week be like, okay, I'm figuring out a couple more things each time as a really young defensive back. Yeah, and I mean, this is a guy who has been targeted a lot, right? This is a guy who's been kind of picked on. And so Lincoln Riley is obviously going to see that

and try to go at him. And I thought he played really well. He had a few pass breakups. He had a really nice tackle. I hope the tight end's not seriously hurt, but he did a great job on that. I don't know if that was a screen, but he blew that up in the backfield. I mean, that's the only thing he can do, right? Like, you know, just off topic, we see a lot of guys talk about, oh, this guy's dirty,

that guy's dirty because they're defensive back and they're trying to tackle a tight end. And it's like, you know, this, this is what they say about Kirby Joseph. And it's like, well, I mean, they got, he's got 30, 40 pounds on him. So Jair did a great job blowing that play up. I thought he played extremely well. The defensive line, we've kind of alluded to it. These guys were unreal. I can't, I'm excited to see the pff grades i'm

excited to see um see what uh mgo blog and seth have to say about the defense because jesus i mean they were all over the place all over the place uh you know derrick moore on one side mason and kg in the middle i honestly thought tj guy had a really good game as well. And then Josiah Stewart, I mean, he literally looked like Aiden Hutchinson. Is he a first-rounder? I mean, he's playing his way up there. He's in the conversation. He's at least a day too big, right, at this point? Because physically, I mean, dude, just think about this.

His journey to Michigan is interesting because he's a kid from Massachusetts, right? So he knows Mikey Samuels. So he knows all these guys from the New England area. And I think Michigan was heavily recruiting him. But then they fired Don Brown, right? This is a Don Brown guy, right? This is a guy that would have come to Michigan if Don Brown was here. You know, this is another quitty pay.

Goes to Coastal Carolina, is a freshman All-American there. Sophomore year is okay. Comes here last year, really grew up in the run game early on, was not great. By the time we get to the playoffs, he's the guy that blows that play up against Alabama, puts J.C. Latham on his ass. Now as a senior, I mean, first-round pick, dude.

I mean, he just, like, I watched Hutch yesterday, and I watched Josiah Stewart on Saturday, and I'm sitting here like, he's like that stand-up guy with his ears pinned back, and he's lining up every time like I am about to crush the quarterback. Like, I'm going full speed gonna make one move and go and i talk about praying for usc but that left tackle i i think seth fisher uh tweeted out on saturday he is about to get tarmacked aka they're just gonna leave him at the airport like well usc has a history of that they do have a history of that

and i you know i just like that kid got cooked he was on skates all day and josiah stewart is like i mean again it was literally just like one move into the inside and go and miller ross i think it was actually uh so zach and i were in our seats talking about it at the game. That last drive, even though they have to go 80 yards in 40 seconds or whatever it was, they had to bring a tight end in to chip Josiah Stewart on every play. So they couldn't even get as many receivers out there to run what they wanted to because Josiah Stewart,

even with the four-man rush, is just cooking the left tackle so much Miller Moss can't get a ball out and I mean I just don't know if I've seen somebody like him in you know I mean I guess I say it since like last year right but like somebody who just impacts the game so much as one person where like, if Miller Moss, you know, has time the same way that Quinn Ewers did, like he's probably picking apart this defense, this secondary, but you have such an impact

on what this quarterback is able to do. I mean, I don't have his stats right in front of me, but like it was, it was ridiculous from what I saw with the number of pressures that he had. So I don't know if you just pulled it up. No, I know his PFF grade was like a 95 or something absurd.

I mean, this guy was just all over the field, four tackles, two sacks, three tackles for loss, four quarterback hits. And he forced a fumble that our boy kg uh carried like a loaf of bread so shout out to kenneth going back to that for a second honestly like again we're laughing about it now because we

won the game i was so mad i also think that i also think that was a pass like even in the moment i was like i agree yeah i said at least it needs to be reviewed like i don't but if cagey had gone down it would have been a fumble to me yeah so i i will i will be transparent but i think the funniest thing to me was just like looking at a football in kenneth grant's hands where it literally looks like he's carrying like a i don't know ping pong ball or something like it is shocking how small the ball looks because that man is just a giant and him running is like one of the more comical things man i uh yeah i was like go kg and then he tried to stiff arm and then the usc player man that was a heads-up play um but yeah

i thought you know m Mason Graham, I mean, it feels like we don't really ever talk about Mason Graham because you're just like, oh, it's Mason Graham doing Mason Graham things. But he was dominant. He was bullying that poor center. You know what? And Mason Graham, as we know, is from the Los Angeles area. I think USC was in his top three along with Michigan and Oregon before he

picked Michigan. So, you know, not like a scenario where like, oh, they didn't recruit me. They didn't want me. But like, you know, home city school, home state school. And they balled out too, man. I thought all four defensive linemen were phenomenal. You know, there were some – I will say I thought there were some issues with the linebackers, but I thought overall they were pretty solid.

And let's just talk about the man will jots i mean you want to know all right so we're at so i'm at a wedding and the so fall weddings yes it's my cousin love her dearly she's a michigan fan her uncle her dad my uncle is a michigan fan um he took me to my first game of the big house right so you know it's a family thing um when she booked the venue it was on a bi-week and then the pac-12 schools came over and they had to switch it up but so i'm watching and my best friend best man at my wedding was that was at this wedding as well and he's like hey have they targeted will johnson i was like not really and then the play, they tried that little hitch, and Will Johnson takes that thing for six.

And it was amazing. It was unbelievable. Honestly, it looked to me like he actually baited him into throwing that. I think he did. He's sitting there. And honestly, I was kind of like I actually had a comment like a few players prior to that of like Will's got to be better than that because he like was playing kind of soft off. He like let one of the crossing routes and I've kind of let him go.

And I'm like, man, he's got to clamp down on that. And then he goes from flat footed to full speed, picking that off in like half a second. And I think he sat back because if you actually break down the play so that Miller Moss is reading Will right so they have a guy so this you know the inside guy does a little out the outside guy does a little up and out uh they're out and up I'm sorry and so he's reading is Will gonna go back with the guy because then he's going to go under, or is Will going to come up? And then he actually, if Will did step up before he did,

there's a little window that he hits the guy down the sideline before Makari can get there. And Will, like, baited, sat back a little bit, and then just beelined. Like, I don't know, I'll never get tired of Will doing this where he just catches it on the run perfectly, and it's, you know, six before you blink, right? Well, I saw PFF put this out.

He has since the start of last year, he has three pick sixes and no touchdowns allowed. He also is now the school record holder for pick sixes. I didn't know that. Wow. Yeah. I feel like it's like but three is kind of low but i agree because mikey had two last year so it's true maybe i don't know i don't know who was the record holder alongside mikey i don't know if there's a bunch of guys with two but i think a little more too oh for sure i feel like well if people throw to him like people are just gonna never throw to him right like people are just going to never throw to him, right? That's not a bad thing. I agree.

I agree. But I feel like that stat of like zero touchdowns allowed, that's like if there was war, you know, the war stat in baseball, the wins above replacement, like he'd have the greatest war ever where it's like the nerds would love him yes yeah sabermetrics yeah unbelievable i mean again i think i wanted like ending here on the defense with just like they got their swagger back i i truly feel like they felt like all right you know if this is a Lincoln Riley offense. They're, you know, they're planning to throw all over the place. You know, this is how they win football games, right?

Is by putting up big numbers. And Michigan, I thought for the first time all year, maybe not the first time all year, but I felt like it was like, all right, we're here and we are one of the top defenses in the nation. If not, if not the number one defense in the nation. And like, you can do whatever you want, but we're going to we are one of the top defenses in the nation if not if not the number one defense of the nation and like you can do whatever you want but we're gonna figure it out and just looking at miller moss's uh stats too like when you throw the ball 51 times like i just don't know how many times you're going to win football games like that's yeah sanders ask and like there were like five five and a half yards

an attempt too right like that's not great no 28 for 51 you know if you throw the ball for 51 yards and don't get to 300 or 51 times and don't get to 300 yards he was at 283 yards like they were very inefficient you know and defensively they had the one long run and again man shout out to Jair Hill if if I don't keep coming back to this if KG doesn't fumble that ball we're talking about Jair Hill and that hustle to get him down before he scores and then Josiah Stewart forces that fumble right like you know ultimately they end up scoring on the next drive I guess I don't know how you would call that but other than that run which was caused by missed uh missed tackle i thought the defense in the run game was phenomenal um and yeah they gave up you know they gave up

quite a quite a bit of yardage but uh usc ran a lot of plays i mean they were they had to work for everything and i i'm encouraged by what i saw so well i mean what do you think moving forward i know we'll have another pod this week to talk about Minnesota, but I feel good, right? Because you have Minnesota and then you have Washington and you get to the bye week, right? So you should be 5-1. So, okay, yes, you should be 5-1. Again, I feel like Michigan needed something like this

to get their confidence back and be like, all right, we can win football games. This is not a complete hangover from 2023 where, all right, we can win football games. This is not a complete hangover from 2023, where I said it before on the last pod with Nico on, was like, this past game against USC was going to determine the trajectory of Michigan's season. If you win this game, you're going to go up and you feel like, right we can go you know

10 and 2 at the very you know 9 and 3 at the very least whatever if you lose that game and you're sitting at 2 and 2 i think the culture is gonna struggle right you're gonna struggle to have guys bought in for the entire year guys start looking at the nfl draft you know things start creeping into people's mind are we really that good or was it all blake corman jj mccarthy last year was it all that offensive line you know but all that stuff um so i do think this changes a lot of things now with that being said i was texting with clayton safety yesterday as well. And I, we were talking about like, I was like,

listen, I thought that this had some 2023 to it where, you know, like we said in the beginning of the show here, you figure out how to win football games, no matter what it takes, you just figure it out and you go week to week, right?

It's going to be this way this week. It's going to be a different way next week. Now, what he said to me back, which I actually very much agree with, was the way that Michigan won last year was they would, like they'd win in a different way next week, right? J.J. McCarthy would have gone out and thrown for three touchdowns or something and you beat Minnesota in a different way. And that's what I don't know yet if Michigan can do that.

And it's going to be tough sledding. Obviously, everyone's just going to stack the box if they know what's going to happen. And you even saw it yesterday or on Saturday in the second half where they're just playing cover zero. You said it. Both safeties are within 10 yards. It's like, okay, you know, you're not just going to be able to ride Kalal Mullings every single game like that.

He's going to die. You know, like. I don't know, man. I think he only had 17 carries too, right? So it wasn't like, you know, I mean, again, I would I think he only had 17 carries, too, right? So it wasn't like he, you know. I mean, again, I would like to make it to 20. He only had 17 carries on that last drive alone, honestly. So, yeah.

I mean, dude, just looking at the schedule, though, right? Like, again, you have Minnesota. You go to Washington and get a bye week. Illinois, sneaky good team right now, but also how good is Nebraska? How good is Kansas? How good is Kansas? How good are these teams that they've beaten, right? Because they've beat a couple of ranked teams so far that have fallen out of the rankings.

But then you have Michigan State at home, and then Oregon comes to town, right? That's the big one up until the last game of the year, as we know. So, like, I'm sitting here looking like, you know, IU looks pretty competent. They look decent, but it's like there's a world where Michigan's 10-1 going into the shoe, man. Like, there's a world where that happens.

You're looking way ahead. I do this. You're looking way ahead. I do this, man. I love doing this. I definitely – I don't disagree. Like, again, I think this win changes a lot of things for how you feel about this team of like, all right, all of a sudden,

you know, if you lose that game and then you're like, okay, we don't, you know, have a QB that can throw the ball. We, you know, all of a sudden, like, going to Washington looks tough, right? And I still think, you know, although Washington is not obviously what they were last year, they beat Northwestern 24-5. Northwestern, oh man, that program, I don't know what it... I put them as my sneaky trap game for the year just because literally the only reason was because it was before Ohio State.

But also they went to a bowl game last year scoring five points that's diabolical it's unbelievable um but i i think here's what i'll say yes i agree with you is 10 and 1 going into the shoe a possibility 100 they still have some shit to figure out. Oh, I'm projecting that as like, they find some answers. I think that you need to realize like, you know, I actually still have some questions in the fact of like, is Alex orgy still your best option? You know,

I don't know. I, you know, obviously we're Davis Warren guys. And I, I still stand by the fact that I thought outside of two really poor decisions against Arkansas State, he played really well. But like, is there a world where they still are both playing? Because I just don't think you're going to go 10 and one going into the shoe if you can't throw the ball downfield at all.

Right. can't throw the ball downfield at all, right? Like, you can't run an armed forces offense, a military school offense, and go, like, win in the Big Ten. You know, maybe you can, but, like, I just, I have a really hard time understanding that. And so you're going to have to, whether you at least try it with Alexlex orgy i don't know but like the teams are gonna keep figuring this out more and more right as the year goes on and so i don't know i i think you gotta at least see what happens there and you have to have an option

to throw the ball down the field but you know i do think minnesota is an inferior opponent if i'm you know being blunt right i think washington to be honest is very much in rebuild mode so i think you have and then you have a buy right and so i think you have a few weeks here to try stuff out and see what happens and if i'm answering the question below where does michigan go from here i think against minnesota like they need to come out throwing the ball a lot to see like and i don't care if it doesn't work right away you have to get the reps i do not want to see them just go run run run run run with alex orgy in and run like the spread option uh or read option like you have to see what if he has what it takes in order to

win football games from here on out well i want to see i mean i know they tried to the the flea flicker nobody was open um i want to see one flea flicker a game honestly at this point um i want to see majority of past attempts or past plays be play action um i would love to see in addition to the read option to have samaj or tyler morris or somebody as a pitch man if we're i mean i know that's a complex install because it's not just like oh you just pitch it right it's not it's not like the costable video game like there's timing and rhythm with that but i think adding another option to be a triple option to talk about the service academies um i think would just create a lot of uh conflicts for those defenses that michigan is going to face you you like you said

you you've got to be creative right like yes you're going to be able to throw the ball i mean michigan doesn't need to be it doesn't need to throw the ball for 300 yards right if you get to like 150 and yeah yeah 200 for this michigan team is like 500 for anybody else so i just want to see to your point you know like run play action like as good as michigan's been running the ball they don't run a lot of play action which is just mind-blowing to me um well okay you want to know that's a great call because there was a play yesterday i was watching the lions that i absolutely loved where it was jared goff you know they do run a lot of play action right yeah there's no doubt and i love ben johnson's offense you know golf needs to be better there's that's for sure too but there was one play specifically that I was like

damn this would be awesome if Michigan ran it and you have to run a lot of play action in order for it to work but he actually did it's just a stretch play but he hands it off and keeps running like it's play action and goes out and I'm like if you did that with orgy you'd have half the defense I think running with orgy right and like I agree with you I did that with orgy you'd have half the defense I think running with orgy right and like I I agree with you I think that they could spread it out and at least that like you know I at least that gives Alex orgy the option to move I I'm I'm betting on Alex orgy in the event that there's a linebacker that comes up to try and get him I'm taking orgy in the in that he's going to juke him out or figure out in space how to get by him and then it gives him time to see the

field because i don't think on saturday he really even saw the field downfield at all right and so um i think you need to be creative in all that i'd love to see you know them throwing some wrinkles and like even if it's like a seven step drop or whatever like get him back there and give him some time to survey the field and see what's down there 100 100 you gotta slow the game down for him make it easy um you know give him throws that that are that are close to him right like so colson loveland potentially coming back i mean i think he can rest um the next couple weeks in my opinion i i don't i feel like michigan should be able to out talent both of the

upcoming opponents yeah but i want to see i agree with you obviously if there's like any question i think you said yeah but i also want to see like he he we need to give alex orgy some tools to go oh absolutely absolutely but i thought i was impressed with Marlon Klein. I thought he was a great blocker. I think at this point, I'm good with him being an inline tight end and then just line up, just use Colson level like Devin Funches at this point. 100%. I mean, obviously, you can bring him in line every so often.

But, like, you know, if you're going to trot out some of the receivers you trot out, again, put Dono in the slot, have Colson line up out wide, and, you know, use Colell, obviously, but then Ben Hall as your running backs, and then Brennison as the H-back. And I'm like, okay, we can work with this, right? Give me Tyler Morris or Samaj out there, and I'm good. You know, like, you got to lean on the guys on your offense

that make this thing go. And that's those guys, right? Also, just real quick, because we talked offense, defense, special teams, I thought Samaj was really good in the part return game, man. I thought, you know, he had the one that kind of bounced to him, I think. Yeah, and then he fumbled like the first one, but picked it up and went crazy with it. That's always fine with me if it's enough time, right?

Like, you know, because Jabril did that, and I think he almost housed one. Maybe it was Penn State way back in the day. It like weirdly usually works out for the guys it does yeah but i thought samaj um i think he's grown a lot in that area i thought again i think you know if you could get him the ball i think he can be a downfield receiver yeah um so i i think i don't want to see samaj come off the field basically is what i'm saying because i think he gives you your best chances as a as a downfield threat i think him freddie moore tyler morris is the only guys i mean cj charleston and payton bring a lot in the blocking game so i guess i'm okay with that but i want those guys getting the majority of the snaps because those are guys that hey if we run mash we run a drag we run a

slant um could catch the ball and go and make something happen right and you make it less difficult on orgy to get yardage because you have yards after the catch versus him trying to throw it 50 yards outfield i i think as well like the other thing about colston being out like i saw max bradison running like drag routes multiple times as well and he's like trying to weave his way through linebackers and i love max bradison but you know i'll say this to his face hey you're not our best option at running a drag route right like we need you to be i don't see him in the face. Hey, you're not our best option at running a drag route, right? Like we need you to be in the flat. I mean, in the past game, get him on the flat. Right. Cause you can't, again,

we talked about it. I don't have the PFF grades up in front of me in the snap counts. You can't, you know, have him on the field 35 plays and you're running the ball 30 times. You just can't, you're going to be able to key off on that. So easy. Right. It's very true. It's very true. So you got to figure that out. But I think that like in that situation, you know, it's probably, I don't know, Marlon instead of Max if Colston Loveland's on the field, right?

So, you know, Hogan Hanson I think is playing well as well. You know, here's what I'm going to say. To end it here, we will not apologize for winning. We will absolutely not apologize. I will take the victory no matter what. You find a way. That was the mantra of 2023, right? Like, you know, that is not the most pretty, you know,

national championship of all time, right? Like, even in the Rose Bowl, you know, that is not the most pretty, you know, national championship of all time, right? Like even in the Rose Bowl, you know, you make mistake after mistake that you actually haven't made all year and you figure out how to win a football game. And so I felt like that was big, not only for this team and the players, but for Sharon Moore to be like, all right, we're going to figure out a way to win. He needed that himself too, right?

I think there was, you know, probably a little doubt in his own mind of like, damn, like can I do this without Coach Arbaugh? Like all that. And so he needs some of that too. I loved his fire that he had on Saturday. And I think that, you know, this team just needs to keep making improvements.

I think that what you saw in weeks one through three, we're a team that's trying to figure out who they were right. And struggling a little bit at times, but you're going to see this team continue to grow and grow and grow. What we had in 2023 that we didn't have this year was you had six seven eight games of just like plenty of time to figure it out and that's with a senior-led team right with guys that you knew were really good this team has been thrown into the fire twice in in what five weeks right and so i i think that I I'm not or sorry twice in four weeks and so

like you're just gonna keep seeing them get better and better in my opinion and you're gonna see guys grow you're gonna see this offensive line grow you're gonna see Jair Hill and Zeke Barry grow you're gonna see Alex Orji and Davis Warren or whoever you you know, it is grow. And I think the other thing too, is Davis Warren's got to be ready to go. If you're going to run Alex Orji, like you did, like there is a chance that he's going to get banged up at some point and you need to have him or Tuttle or whoever it is, come back in and win you a football game at some point down the road. And so I I'm very excited about what,

how I'm seeing this team progress even just you know a third of the way through the season and so i'm excited for what's to come i think you said it spot on of like you go into minnesota or sorry you minnesota comes to town but you play minnesota they're an inferior opponent you should go crush them build on it keep moving then you go to seattle you go to washington and say all right let's go win a road game for the first time this year and then all of a sudden you're going into the bye week at five and one and it's like okay well you know all of a sudden this season is like let's let's fucking go. We have a chance to go win the Big Ten. Yeah. I'm telling you that.

That schedule, I mean, teams got to go out and do their thing, and they got to continue to get better and improve and work on some of the things that are kind of plaguing them at the moment. I'm telling you, that schedule sets up to where they could be 7-1, go up against 7-1 or 8-0 Oregon in the big house. Big noon kickoff. It's going to be a little colder. It's going to be hostile. I'll take the big house big noon kickoff it's gonna be a little colder it's gonna be hostile i'll take i'll take the big house any day because the one thing we didn't talk about was how awesome

the big house that's what everyone said man i wish i was there bro it was i had friends texting me because again i'm watching it on my phone at the wedding so i can't really hear it or i don't really have the sound on but like i've got friends who are not michigan fans really dude you can't really hear it or I don't really have the sound on, but like I've got friends who are not Michigan fans who are like, dude, you can't even hear the announcers. Like it was phenomenal. Honestly, God, I could not hear the speakers coming from the video board. Like it was so loud. You know, it's hard to tell because you're in it,

but like people said like that was the loudest, like louder than some of the Ohio State games, right? Like, it's like, you know, this place, I tweeted it yesterday, but, like, it's different now. Since that 2021 Ohio State game, that changed everything for us here at the Big House. And I honestly, like, this is one of the harder places to play. It's not, it's no wine and cheese crowd anymore.

It's no, like, everyone sit down and, you know, let's go out for a walk in the park. Like when, you know, and now you have big teams coming to the big house, you know, every other week. Right. And so like, I love it. And I, to your point, you know, when Michigan state comes to town, that's going to be a big one.

I bet you that's a night game. When Oregon comes to town, that could be a night game. Like who knows? One of those two, I believe is going to be a night game or it Oregon comes to town, that could be a night game. Like, who knows? One of those two, I believe, is going to be a night game. Or it's big noon kick, like whatever it is. You know, I think it is, you know, Oregon's going to struggle. And, I mean, they're a super, super talented team. But just from a standpoint of having to come here and, you know,

Dylan Gabriel's going to have to go up against will johnson in this defense like you're gonna have a wake-up call and so i just love the way you know again i love the trajectory of this team of this program of you know our fan base we're back we're we were never gone but we're back i still i i'm just not i'm just not a fan of the gal i mentioned in the early part of the podcast if anyone is still uh still remembers what i said about 50 minutes ago um yeah what are we back from winning the national championship winning the national championship oh my bad sorry we took a one game hiatus to the number one team in the nation and we did not play well so hey what are you gonna do

man like i i again i i'm with you man i feel good i'm excited to be back live podcast friday at the pretzel bell the weather's cooling down again football weather it was 85 on saturday it was yeah hot bro we had an outdoor ceremony and i i mean i always wear a suit to a wedding i just feel like that's the right you know the appropriate thing to do dying you die just by ripping sweat on the inside but the the pro move is like my my homies were like why are you wearing a uh a suit coat i'm like no one can see me sweat dude exactly i just had the shirt on like yeah it might be whiter but you're just gonna see me just just putting through you're like you're like sean miller uh the arizona basketball coach keep the jacket on brother just keep the jacket on dude

yeah it wasn't that bad i will say also the uh the tailgate was electric absolutely electric 330 kicks 330 kicks are the best dude it's so good. Shout out to North Peak. I had a hail IPA in the stadium. Come on. It does not get better than that. And then we had plenty of Truly and Suncruiser at the tailgate as well. So shout out to them. It was great. It was great vibes all day.

Hey, look, we got a new kick on Saturday, big new kickoff, which is a little disappointing to me. But I got two weeks of tailgate need to catch up on in like five hours so we gotta get after we're gonna take a shot ski uh you know beer bong the bongzilla you know whatever um again my wife may kill me uh because i'm you know there's nothing better than getting to the tailgate the week after like a big win. You're just like fired up still. Hey, listen, if your wife is mad at you, you just read what's on the screen right now and just say, I'm sorry, honey, I'm not going to apologize for winning.

I'm sorry. I will not apologize for the success of Michigan football. You got to be held responsible. Absolutely. All right. For us, you can follow us at Blue by 90 on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, at Blue by 90 Podcast on YouTube Instagram, Facebook, at Blue by 90 podcast on YouTube and Blue by 90.com

we appreciate you, go blue go blue