Blue By Ninety - Onto Minnesota I Stadium & Main

Episode Date: October 1, 2026

Jordan Strack and Chris Wormley break down Michigan's loss to Iowa and what it means for the rest of the season, along with looking ahead for Saturday's game against Minnesota for The Little Brown Jug

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With a great selection of a team that's ready to help, and a name you know and trust, Feldman makes finding your next Chevy easy. Feldman Chevrolet of Highland, where it's fun being number number one. number one. And today's podcast is sponsored by Meltdown, the luxury clear ice brand. The Meltdown Ice Press is the finest ice press in the world. It's the perfect gift for the person who has everything. You all of Meltdown's products at Meltdowneis.com. All right, welcome in to Stadium in Maine with Big Worm and Strack. I am Jordan Strack. That is Chris Wormley. Worm, I see you've got the little brown jug over your shoulder and that means it must be

Minnesota Week. Yeah, I had to bring them out. It was actually a, it was actually a, it was was in the basement. It was dusty in storage. I was like, man, it's Minnesota week. Michigan hasn't played Minnesota in a few years. But, man, I got this back in 2015 when we went down to the Japanese. Jim Harbaugh gave you guys like replicas. Yeah, so obviously, you know, Little Brown Jug, the Paul Bunyan, whenever you would win one of those games, you would get a little commemorative trophy, I guess. And this is one for the Little Brown Jug. So in about a month and a half or so, I'll bring out the Paul Bunyan trophy as well and show the fans. But yeah, I figured I'd bring it It's pretty cool.

Yeah, I like it. That's sweet. Get that thing. My makeshift, my makeshift thing up there. That stand looks like it was made for that perfectly. It's perfect. Well, it's two like bar side tables that are in my basement and stacked them up on top for each other.

So no bourbon. Ingenuity at its finest, baby. I mean, if it was Friday or Saturday, I'd have my meltdown press, you know, with a nice bourbon. But for Tuesday night. it's just a little brown jug, but I like it. I like it. That's very good. That's using that Michigan

degree, uh, perfectly right there. Ingenuity, yes. That's right, man. That's great. All right. So, I'm glad we've had a couple days to digest because if we would have recorded this thing on Saturday night, uh, after the loss to Iowa, um, I, I don't know, I don't know if I would have been, uh, this cheery or happy. It was a really, really frustrating day.

I'm not sure exactly where to begin. There is no guest tonight because we are just going at this Iowa loss and looking ahead to the little brown jug. So there's no good place to begin. So let's just do this. It was a heartbreaking loss. It is in the one or two, I think the only time I had ever felt like that following a loss

was probably trouble with a snap. Sorry. I think that's the only time I've ever felt like this after a loss. I mean, there have been some times where you're heartbroken or you're disappointed. This one, you were just pissed. And because it was a game that Michigan absolutely should have won. How do you even go about flipping the page and after a loss like that one? I think if, you know, every other game except for the last game,

there's always another opportunity. So for them to be able to, you know, it's already, you know, Tuesday, the show will drop on Wednesday. By then they'll already have two practices down, have already watched the film, already reviewed it, already seen what they did, what went well, when obviously went wrong. And they get to play another opponent,

another Big Ten opponent to kind of get that taste out of their mouths. But man, when you, you know, I was at the game, I watched it probably more closely than I've watched a football game in a long, long time. And if you just look at the stat sheet, right, you know, 400 and almost 50 yards for Michigan, less than 300 before, I think that final drive for Iowa. Lost to 200 before that final drive, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Iowa had 58 yards rushing. If you said, hey, Michigan's going to have 400 and almost 50 yards total offense, and Iowa's going to have 58 yards rushing. I said Michigan's winning by three touchdowns. It would have a blowout, yes. It would have been an absolute blowout. And then when you actually look at the game and see how things, kind of unfolded, especially that last quarter and a half.

I'm scratching my head still. Because they did so many things, right? So many things well. The offense looked like they were clicking. It looked like they could do almost any and everything that Jason Beck was dialing up. The defense was flying around, creating havoc. But, you know, when you take the bigger picture, there was just too many little things that added up to them losing the game on a last second play.

No question. You have a unique perspective because you were on the field for trouble with the snap, which was one of the, obviously, going statistically one of the two or three worst, you know, toughest losses in Michigan history. Do you remember the feeling after that game and then B, how did you guys flip the script the next week after that? Yeah, I mean, I guess I could talk about it now, but we were supposed to have like this massive party at our house.

we had ordered like two kegs and we had this back of then it was like big Facebook event you know we had like 400 people say they were coming uh lex my wife my girlfriend my wife now at the time was in town my best friend mike was was coming in town he was he was he went to bg at the time so it was going to be a big thing and uh i remember right before the punt i was on the field for the punt i was part of the punt protection Kenny allen and i the former punter kicker at michigan we were sitting on the sidelines like man like like showers let's get ready, just go to the house right away. And at the time, I had lived right over the stadium bridge in Ann Arbor.

Yeah. I was going to be home. You know, the parents were going to just take their cars and go, and we were going to get it going. And it was when it happened, like, you just, I just couldn't believe. And we're just, you know, we're walking off off up the tunnel, silence, the locker room, silence. Walking, walking with my wife and my friend over the bridge after the game, silence, didn't say anything. that was, I mean, definitely one of the top five losses I've ever had, you know, top two, besides the JT was short. That game in 16, but man, there is that, I bet you those boys felt pretty similar in terms of that because at one point, that Michigan State game, we were up by 10, I think.

A bunch of stuff went wrong, the special teams play with Iowa, the kick return, losing on the last second. There are a lot of similarities there. Some questionable calls. I remember Joel Bolden are starting middle linebacker gets thrown out of the game pretty early for a questionable targeting call. Yeah, I feel for those guys because I've been in that position more than once. And it's devastating. But to get back to work, you have to do that.

Like there's no sulking. There's no pity me. There's no, nobody's going to come and save you. That's the thing, too, about football is like 50% of the people are at, you have the problem and 50% and then the other 50% just don't even care. So get back to work, you know, practice. They had practice today. They're going to practice, you know, throughout the week.

And they can take their frustration out against Minnesota. Yeah, it's, that's what a crazy, what a crazy story. I, you had never told me that one. I didn't know that one. So as you look at the game and you mention this, Michigan dominated the football game. in almost every conceivable way. When you look at it, and I think that there has been like this narrative

that has spun out of the game the last couple days, like, oh, well, and this is from Iowa fans mostly. Like, I have fans like, well, football, you know, there's three facets in the game. And if you account for special teams yards, that very important, blah, no, listen, when you account for the football game and take away the kick return and that final drive,

Michigan, it was varsity versus JV. I mean, Michigan dominated that football game in every conceivable way. That to me is the hardest part of this. And I kept tweeting through the game. I had that weird feeling, man. It was like, I think I said it two or three times during the game in real time. I said, you're letting Iowa hang around and I'm telling you it's a bad idea. but you're giving them life.

You can do that against some teams and you're going to find a way at the end, like whatever. Iowa loves to play that kind of game. It's very much a pig loves mud type of situation. Like they love to drag you into that kind of game. Like that is the way that Iowa can beat you. And Michigan let it happen and they played right into it. The only way Iowa can win that game is if you give up a special teams touchdown,

they had like three fluky catches where balls were tipped and then right into hands. Man. And that's the only possible conceivable. And Michigan had to make some of their mistakes of their own. They did it on the fourth down. They did it on the interception. That's the only way that Michigan could lose that game. And they freaking did every single one of them.

And that's the hardest part for me. It's one thing if you go out and get beat and Iowa was better. Iowa wasn't better than Michigan by any. stretch of any imagination. And that to me was the part that sucks. Yeah, I mean, I agree with everything. You just said the thing that was frustrating to me, I think the most, was when the offense was absolutely cooking,

Andrew Marsh, J.G. Buchanan, both had over 100 yards. And then there was a drive, which is very Michigan-esque. I'll give it to him was what they ran the ball like nine or ten times in a row. I think they ended with a field goal. And instead of, you know, trying to like, stomp on their throats and take the air out of this entire game with what they were doing and through the air i get you're trying to run the clock out waste some clock all that stuff all that all that but like people maybe this coaching staff just doesn't understand what iowa is

or what the what type of game they were trying to play because they're new to the big 10 but man they what they were doing so well all game was throwing the ball to to jj and marsh and getting Bryce out of the pocket. And Bryce even in the pocket was having a hell of a day. The run game just wasn't there like we were expecting it to be still. It was better. But for them to kind of flip the switch and not continue to do what they were doing so well for the whole entire game, to me that was the most frustrating part.

The penalties, obviously frustrating. Bryce jumping over on the fourth and one thinking it was going to be like a touchdown. That's the only time when you jump over a pile like that is when it's on the goal line. Because as soon as you cross the goal line, no matter what, if you fumble it, whatever, it's a touchdown. Because if I'm 6'5, 230 pounds and I need to get a yard and I have an O line like we think that Michigan has, I'm could be sneaking it every single time. Like there's no question. Like I'm going to get a yard.

But the most frustrating thing to me, was when I saw those those two receivers not being utilized on that drive where they could have put the nail in the coffin and sealed the win. I, yeah, 100%. And I think I said that during the game, too. I could tell at halftime. And I said this in my first half thoughts. I always do that every game.

I give like a first half thoughts thing. And I said my first, I said, don't get conservative here. I could feel it start to creep in towards the end of the second quarter. Like you kind of felt like they were like, okay, hey, we got a lead. we don't think Iowa can score. They kind of started to let them get back into it. And it was like, gosh, darn it, you just started to feel it. And then they came out in that second or in the second half,

it started to creep in where they started thinking, all right, hey, let's not make the big mistake here. We think our defense is probably pretty good. And they were. Like, you know, the defense was very good. It took some fluky stuff, some penalties, some stupid stuff to get them back in it. But I just felt like there were so many. crazy things.

I'll just, I'm going to skip ahead in our rundown to get to that point because we're on it. If you can't trust Bryce Underwood in the second half of the game, there was a third and five towards the end of the game, they were trying to run the clock out and not give the ball back to Iowa. If you can't trust Bryce Underwood to A, make a throw or B, not turn it over on third and five with a chance to kill the game. why are you paying him $3 million a year? If you can't trust him, then you shouldn't be paying him that kind of money.

And I'm not saying that they shouldn't be. I'm saying you have a guy here who is a five-star talent who's in the midst of his best game and his career at Michigan. If you can't trust him on third down and five to make one throw to end the football game, that's a problem. There is no chance in hell that Ryan Day. wasn't thrown, wouldn't have thrown that ball. Ryan Day would have thrown it all day long.

I get he's got Jeremiah Smith, whatever. But Michigan's got pretty good receivers, and they admit making plays all day. You have to take a chance there and to go win that football game and end it. It didn't work out. And that to me is that that's a major, major issue. Yeah, I mean, put the money aside.

It's like the passing game was what was working all game anyways. All day. Best ever. Yes. The run game was fine. It wasn't what I'm used to for Michigan football. It's not what Jordan Marshall is used to. And I know they're probably having those conversations.

But yeah, to get five yards, you got to put it in Bryce's hands. You got to put it in the playmaker's ability, at least have an option, RPO something. Yes. Get them rolling out a little bit. Get them in space. If it's not there, you take your chances with the 6'4, 230-pound freak athlete to to get you five yards, especially after what they were kind of doing all game. It was just one of those things where, like, Iowa just stuck to their guns,

stuck to what they were doing, never wavered, never flinched, and just steadily were just chipping away, chipping away at what was, you know, a great performance for the whole entire team until that last, you know, really like probably 12 minutes or so. And that's what's frustrating is like you've got to be able to finish. because when you look at the schedule, man, it's not getting easier. When we looked at the schedule before that, you know, when we did our kind of our previews episode,

this was one of the wins that they had to have. Like, obviously Oregon's not what we kind of thought they might be. Indiana looks a little, little streaky. Penn State looks damn good. Penn State also lost. They lost. Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

They blew a 17 point lead, but, you know, this Iowa game was the one we were like, man, they got to have it's a home game. There's eight of them. You should try and win all your home games, but we're going to look back at this one at the end of the season. If they don't make the playoffs, you know, they're sitting like nine and three out of the playoffs,

looking at like, you know, ranked 14 or 15, be like, damn, we should have had that one. 100%. 100%. Okay, so you're a guy who spent almost a decade in the NFL. You're a defensive guy. Walk me through the final play. Because the first thing,

you know, Connor Stallions tweeted about it right after the game, and I had said it, I was screaming it like during the play. They were basically playing man press. Like Smith Snowden was almost on the line of scrimmage. They had Nate Staling spying the quarterback in the middle of the field. I can't for the life of me understand what that was. Like that makes no sense to me. I don't understand what the concept was on the final.

final play. I am like tip your hat to Iowa on the final play like the throw was unbelievable. The catch was unbelievable. Great. It took it took a special special play to beat that coverage. But it shouldn't have been in that they shouldn't have had that opportunity. If Smith Snowden and if they have six defensive backs along the goal line, that play is not possible. It's physically not possible. you knew that they had to throw the ball to the end zone. They're not throwing it short. Walk me through those situations. What are you taught?

And what did you think of the final play? Yeah, I mean, as a defensive lineman, like your job is to try, especially since he's a right-handed quarterback, you don't want him to run out to his right. He's just, I mean, in that play, he was just in the pocket. But you're trying to speed up his progression. You're trying to get that ball out as fast as possible, make him uncomfortable.

hopefully maybe he rolls out to his left so it's harder to turn his body, his shoulders and hips to get a good throw. And as a defense as a whole, because you're not going for a Hail Mary, you can't really play pre-vent defense. So you play a defense that's kind of the generic call is called picket fence. And there's usually four or five guys right on the, you know, maybe even a yard, you know, on the one yard line. And then there's like two or three other guys that are kind of there to like kind of reroute and press and push them guys off the way. and then you pick those guys up. It's almost like a man, like a zone that becomes man if those guys come to you. But man, yeah, playing man press with two seconds left on like the 17-yard line is really is almost negligent.

I would love to hear what Jay Hill says, what his thought press says. And hopefully somebody in the press for this week asks that because that's a great question for him to be able to answer. But yeah, if I was a decorinator, I would kind of run the typical kind of picket fence where there's a bunch of guys standing right there on the line. And that place should not have happened if that was the call. Yeah. And having a spy in that situation didn't make sense to me either. Like if you go back and watch it, Nate Staling literally stood in the middle of the field, seven yards downfield from the line of scrimmage and didn't move. I mean, didn't move.

It was a true spy. Yeah. Hank, I mean, Hank Brown is not a dual-bred quarterback. Even if he was, he's not going to run. As soon as he took a foot a step off out of, you know, past a line of scrimmage, 10 guys are hunting for his head. And the game's over. Yes.

The game is over. So obviously, I know there's a lot of things that this team probably wish they had back, but that one, obviously the fourth and one, the personal foul, unnecessary roughness on the sideline. And yeah, I mean, there's a lot. As well as they, as well as this team play, they still had a long list of things that that need to be better. Well, I mean, you go through it and you look at all the luck that it took to get to that point.

Including, I mean, they had to, they had to go a long way on that final drive. And they did. So like, you know, part of the, you know, there's a little bit of credit that goes to them there. But the incredible amount of luck for a guy to have a twice, there were tipped paths. that should have been probably picked. Well, one should have been picked. One should have been an incompletion if all things go right. But the amount of luck that goes into everything that had to happen for them,

it was the tip, it was the penalty, it was the second tip, and then it was John Henry Daly getting hurt on the final play when, you know, I will probably shouldn't have even been able to get a spike off. the amount of things that just had to go wrong, it just felt like the football gods were working against Michigan or something. Like, and I don't want to say that it was, I don't want to say it was karma for the Western Michigan game.

But like, damn it, it felt like it. It feels like it today. Like, man, it's a frustrating head. That's what Whittingham. Winningham's like, man, I feel like we're two and two. We could, we should be four.

We could be four in O, but, I mean, we're three and one. Yeah. So that's, sometimes. that's how football works man and um i hope this is a learning a teachable lesson learning lesson for for the whole entire team right you don't let teams hang around you don't let teams who um like that type of football to to stick around and and make it a game and eventually you have a chance to win um yeah there's just there's a lot man but you know thankfully they have a full season you know another you know eight weeks of a ball to play and they can write a lot of wrongs but

man, they got to clean up some stuff. So all these things that they're continuously getting better at are worthwhile. Yeah. And so I think the biggest lesson to come of all of this is when you have a team down and out, you have to step on their neck. Like you have to kill them. And there has to be a killer instinct that comes and you have to end it. And, you know, it has consequences when you do.

don't. You think about Bryce's sneak. Michigan had three trips where it was first and 10 inside the 27 yard line, three times, first and 10 inside the 27 and came away with a total of three points. Those things all add up, especially in a game where points are at such a premium. And you knew going in that points were going to be at such a premium. That's the hardest thing is, you know, I think that the interception, I think Andrew Marsh ran the wrong route. I'm just judging kind of by the reaction from what I've seen. It looked like I think Andrew Marsh probably ran the wrong route there.

Bryce was trying to throw a back shoulder on the sideline there, I believe. And then you think about the fourth and one. You think about like just all the things that it took. But the lesson that comes out of all of this is that if you don't end a team when you have a chance, there are consequences and it's a lesson it's listen you've learned it now now and hopefully this doesn't repeat itself at any point throughout the season

yeah I mean all the mistakes that we saw during that game they weren't because of a lack of talent it was all mental errors right yes you know if Andrew March did run the wrong route that's just knowing what route to run that's not him not being fast enough

or or twitchy enough or skillful enough the personal foul on Zeke That wasn't because he, you know, slipped or tripped. That was because he had a mental block and knocked a guy out when he was two yards outside of bounds. Bryce is fourth and one. You have to be situationally aware that, hey, we're not on the goal line. I can't just stick the ball over.

I have to go get a yard at being my size and frame and athletic ability. So all those things add up, obviously. And it's just one of those, you know, the pre-snap, penalties in terms of the false starts and the offsides and all that stuff. That's frustrating too. And that all has nothing to do with talent, which is a positive, you know, you can look at at kind of the glassout full. Like, okay, we can just fix that.

It's like we don't have the talent to be a better team. Where's the, where's that, the mental awareness, situational awareness, where is that at? And that's what I want to see moving forward. And that's, you're leading right into the next thing that I have on here. And I wrote this down, listen, I know this is going to sound like. like the biggest Michigan Homer loser talk right now. Okay, I get that. But was there something at least like semi kind of almost encouraging coming out of this?

You sound like Dave Portnoy. I know. Now hear me out. Hear me out. Okay. Hear me out. Uh-oh. When you think about it, Bryce Underwood played his best football game.

Yeah. Against, they won't play a defense better than this the rest of the year. I thought, I thought Bryce played his two best games of the year. Again, I thought he played a pretty good game against Oklahoma, okay game against Oklahoma. And he played his best game of his career against Iowa, who is probably the best defense they'll have remaining the rest of the way. There's more talent on the Buckeye defense, but I think Iowa's defense is better. But what I think is, I'm thinking through this thing. And what you just said is kind of where I'm going is this is all stuff that's fixable.

Bryce's going over the top. That's coaching. Like that is a moment for a 19 year old kid who has to be coached and told, hey, in this situation, don't go over the top there. It's lining up properly. Those are the penalties that are inexcusable to me that make me bang my head on a wall. When you're not lining up properly. Like that stuff needs to be drilled and coached and it should be second nature and it's not even a question. There's talent here.

They're doing things to put themselves in position to win football games. and now it has to translate to Saturdays, and you have to finish these things. But I think there's encouraging signs there. On Saturday, listen, the roof was caving in. The sun was never coming out again. It was the, you know, everything sucked on Saturday, okay? But now that the sun has come back up, I'm like, all right,

maybe I'm being a little bit of a homer, but like, there's encouraging signs there. Yeah, especially for the people that were dissing this offense, right? you know. Sure. Jason Beck doesn't know what he's doing. This is different than, you know, Pac 10, Big 12, that type of stuff.

But yeah, every single week for these four weeks, Michigan's offense has gotten better. Is it perfect? No. Is it what we all are expecting it to be? No, but it's continually getting better. And what's, I guess, the encouraging part of it is that Bryce's two best games we're against probably the two best defenses they'll see all year.

and, man, Andrew Marsh, these last two weeks coming on, obviously JJ Buchanan is forming into a star right before our eyes. We didn't really know what we're going to get with him this season, and he's been a star this whole season. You know, we get this offensive line healthy again. We get these running backs kind of continually getting better. Jason Beck is going to continue to have a better understanding of what his players are and what they're really good at. And then just clean up the penalties, clean up the unnecessary things that have kind of stifled this team. And I think we're looking at a team that can compete with anybody.

Yeah, I agree. All right. So there's a couple other things I want to touch on here before we wrap up the episode. I think the amount of heat that Bryce Underwood has taken, for him to bounce back the way that he has has been incredibly impressive. There has never been a, I don't think a Michigan player with more pressure on them than what Bryce Underwood has dealt with.

I don't think anybody may be outside of Drew Henson. I was to say Drew Henson back in the day, but there was no social media. And there was no money attached. There was no money attached to that either. There wasn't a $12 million. figure hanging over his head. Bryce Underwood has had to deal with a ton as a young kid.

And the way that he has responded to me gives me so much, like, I'm so encouraged because I think there's a lot in there. He's still, like, listen, there are still moments where he does things where you're like, oh, Bryce, what are you doing? But there are so many more moments where you're like, like, the drive where Michigan went, the length of the field and scored the touchdown. He escapes the pocket, the long throwdown field. That was a big time five-star moment.

Yeah. Those were the moments where you're like, that's it. That kid's got it. And I'm telling you, I think there's a lot more left that he's going to accomplish. I mean, we're still talking. He's like, what, 15 games into his college career or whatever it is. Mm-hmm. He's halfway through it.

I think not even halfway through his college career. I think there's a lot more in there, man. I think I think he's got some ability and he's showing some things where I'm like, all right, this is the guy. This is why they paid him the money. This is it. But now the coaching staff has to trust it and let it rip. And I think you have to live and die now by what he brings to the table.

And I would love to see that going forward. Yeah, I've seen so many guys come through Michigan, the NFL. where the pressure was just too big for them and they never lived up to the hype and they never even scratched the surface of what they could be. And Bryce hasn't even scratched the surface. But for him to respond the way that he has

is so encouraging as a player that, as, you know, I feel like I was never like the big star, but I kind of outplayed kind of what a lot of people were expecting of me. And then as somebody who's been rooting for Bryce to play and to continue to evolve. It feels good that I'm kind of, I was one of the few people that were sticking by his side

because there were a lot of people that were doubting him. And for him to continue to take these steps forward should make Wolverine fans feel a little better going into the next, you know, three quarters of the season. Yeah. One other thing, the special teams, I, coming into the game,

there were only a couple things you couldn't do. You couldn't turn it over and you couldn't give up a special teams touchdown. I don't ever even want to know who the special teams coordinator is. I don't ever want to know who anybody that is playing special teams is. I don't want to know.

I want it to be so clean and so boring that we never know. And unfortunately, Twice this season now, we've had to call out the special teams unit for plays that were coaching things. I don't understand why you're even giving Iowa a chance to return a ball. It doesn't make sense to me. Especially given how bad their offense had been, I don't understand why you're even giving them any, give them a chance.

Michigan's defense was controlling the football game. It's not like you had to pin them back or any of those things. You shouldn't even give them shot to return a kick. But for some reason, early in the game, Michigan did, and it burned them. So like to me, and then earlier, obviously in the year, they had the roughing the punter that extended a drive and almost had a second one on the same drive. Those are coaching things that that's not on the players. like that that's not has nothing to do with the players it is 100% a coaching thing that just can't

happen and that to me is is inexcusable and it's frustrating yeah for someone i mean even cam brown i didn't think have had his best day the punter when he had really excelled the first three weeks um but yeah those i mean the special teams is is a big part of it they they call it the hidden yards and Iowa definitely won the hidden yardage battle when you talk about penalties and you talk about special teams yardage. But yeah, especially into especially when you look at Michigan's defense, it's like why even give that team the opportunity to return and create some momentum? Kick it out of the end zone, put ticket to the, what is it, 25 or 30 and let the defense go to work. And coach, Kerry Combs is a great special team's coach. He's, he's, you know, highly regarded throughout

throughout the college football landscape. But two out of the four games, there's been some pretty big miscues in terms of what this special teams unit is. And it starts from the top and works its way down. But I know he's he has a lot of, he's taken a lot of pride in that. And he's a prideful guy.

And he's going to try and get that fix. Because I know Whittingham is probably, you know, having conversations with Coach Coombs in terms of what that special teams unit is like. and they're going to look to try and get a fixed. But, man, if, like you said, you want to be nameless, gray faces on the special teams. It's a, it's a thankless, it's a thankless position. It's a thankless job.

If you make it to the NFL and you're a special teams player, you know, a good special teams player makes 10 tackles a year out of 17 games, which is crazy to think about in the NFL. And some guys can stay in for 10, 15 years and play a long time, like a Matt Slater type of guy or a Miles. kill a brew. But in college football, man, you got to have some pride when you're on that special teams unit and get that cleaned up in a big way. 100%. All right. So going forward, obviously it's a little brown jug week. Let's look at,

let's look at this game. Minnesota's feeling good. And I'm telling you, I came away really that win going out to Washington is not easy. Huge. Playing a night game. And it was 11 o'clock here. Yeah. It's crazy. Yeah. playing that late game out there. That's freaking hard to do. Michigan learned that a couple years ago. It's not an easy thing. Minnesota's got an NFL quarterback.

They're three and one. They're feeling good coming off that whim. All of that to say. Michigan needs to go and take care of business and find a way to get this thing going. Of course. Of course. The other thing I will say is

Michigan losing to PJ Fleck is probably the worst thing that could ever happen to me. I personally, he is the most performative, gimmicky, just blah football country. Wait, wait, you didn't. You didn't like when wipe the blood on them? I mean, I legitimately, it was one of the most embarrassing things I've ever watched on a football field. Like, legitimately, that was, that was so stupid. but that's who he is. Performative theater all the time.

Gimmicks. That's just, that's what he does. Trust me, I've got, I've got stories and stories to back it up for years. I was going to say, when he was at Western,

I'm sure you had some story at your time. And I have, trust me, I've talked to plenty of college football coaches across the country that would never want to go on the record, but like, trust me. It's,

uh, anyway, all of that to say, Michigan cannot lose this football. game. I'll put it this way. If there has ever been a must win football game in the history of Michigan football, this is as must win as it gets. Oh, listen, if you lose this football game, the season, worm, the season is derail. Layton, clip, clip that right there, man, clip that part right there because that's correct. Must win in Michigan college football history. Outside of a

playoff game or national championship scenario, this is the most, you know, most, you know, the most, you know, This is as much of a must win as you can get. This season is totally derailed if you don't win this week. Pack it up. It's done. How is that wrong? Tell me. It's just, I don't know.

There's just been bigger moments in Michigan football history. Not sure. No, I don't disagree. A must win? A must win. You have to win this football game. Have to. Have to.

I mean, I'm expecting Michigan to win, but for me to, If they lose, I feel like it's an embarrassment. Like I would be embarrassed. I've lost in college. I've lost in the NFL and I've had some embarrassing losses. So I know what that is. I know what that looks like. I know what the narrative is when that happens.

But I mean, I'll let you have that take. I'll let you have it. But I want Nathan to clip it. I want Ethan to clip it. All right. Good. All right. You want to give a prediction before we go?

Because those always work out really well for us. I was close, man. I was close. Yeah. I'm going to say Michigan wins 34 to 13 or 17. I don't know that's going to. Ooh. Go ahead with another.

I don't look at Vegas. I don't look at lines. This is all from the heart. I'm not looking at lines. I'm looking at how many points Minnesota has given up this year. Mississippi State scored 38. They've got obviously one of the best quarterbacks in the country. Yep.

Mississippi State scored 38 against. him. Washington scored 24 against him. Akron's terrible. Eastern Illinois is terrible. I don't care about those games. Yeah. I think Michigan comes in mad, angry, wanting to prove something. You know, like it's PJ Fleck already wiped blood on him. There's not much more he can do. That's at the top of his like his antics. What a clown.

Are they going to bring the boats? I don't know. That's kind of his thing, right? I never met the guy. I just see what I see on TV. I don't have any ill will towards him. I just think Michigan, I think Michigan rolls and tries to write some wrongs this week. Okay. I'll go, I'll go 3123, Michigan.

3123 Michigan, moved my prediction. You think Minnesota's offense is better than in Iowa? Do you think it's better than Oklahoma? I do think it's better. Yes, I do, I think Minnesota's offense is better. than Iowa's yeah. I think they've got an NFL quarterback like Drake Lindsay's and he's a legitimate NFL quarterback. Yeah.

I think I think they can run the football. I don't know that they'll run it great against Michigan. But like I can't trust Michigan's full units to not give up some points somehow. A turnover. I'm good. I just. Yeah. That's 31.23 is where.

I'll go. I don't know how they'll get there. I don't know why. But stupid weird stuff has happened this season already. It's been off the rails crazy. So yeah, that's going to do it. I'll be watching regardless. You know I'm going to be, listen, I'm going to be locked in like always, like always.

All right, Worm, appreciate you, and we will do this again next week. Absolutely, go blue. All right, make sure you tell your friends about it. Follow us on Instagram, Stadium and Maine Pod. Of course, we're teamed up with Blue by 90. We've got a ton of cool new stuff all year long. Stick with us.

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