Blue By Ninety - Rise to the Victors: Football is finally here

Episode Date: September 4, 2026

Football is finally here.Welcome to Rise to the Victors, your daily start with Michigan sports on the Blue By 90 network with Trevor McCue and Darnell Porter.On the final Friday without Michigan Football, Trevor and Darnell look back at one of the strangest offseasons in program history — and how months of chaos eventually gave way to something Michigan desperately needed under Kyle Whittingham: calm.The coaching staff was rebuilt. The roster stayed together. Spring football came and went. Michigan worked through summer and fall camp without another crisis. Whittingham has spent the last several months establishing exactly what he wants his program to become.Now we finally get to see it.🏈 IN THIS EPISODE:• Michigan Football is finally back• Looking back at a wild nine-month offseason• How Kyle Whittingham brought stability to Michigan• How we feel about the Wolverines entering Week 1• Bryce Underwood finally gets to control his own narrative• Andrew Marsh, JJ Buchanan and the receivers• Our first look at Jim Harding's offensive line• What Jay Hill's defense looks like on Saturdays• Players we're most excited to watch• Final thoughts before the 2026 season beginsRise to the Victors is your daily start with Michigan sports on the Blue By 90 network.Join Trevor McCue and Darnell Porter every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday morning at 10:30 a.m. for Michigan Football news, analysis, recruiting, basketball and conversation about everything happening around the Wolverines.Subscribe to Blue By 90 and turn on notifications so you don't miss a show.〽️ Rise to the Victors🎙️ Trevor McCue & Darnell Porter📅 Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday⏰ 10:30 a.m.📺 On the Blue By 90 network

Welcome in, Rise to the Victors Blue By 90 podcast network here on a football Friday. It is finally here. Finally. I mean, that's the point of the show is finally. We're going to look back a little bit on how crazy this offseason has been and narratives and the calmness of the Winningham era. But most importantly, we have a football game Saturday, Darnow. And I'm just excited to sit down and watch football. And then obviously when we come back, we'll talk about football.

next week and games and blah blah, but like I'm just so excited. Even like that Colorado Georgia Tech game last night, somebody in one of our group chats said, that was like the best terrible game ever. Right. But it was just so good to watch football, Darnell, football. Man, I'll say it again. It's like the woman from the Titanic, right? It's been 84 long years.

And I'm excited that football's back. just seeing football that mattered yesterday was enough to bring like a smile to my face yes there was some bad games but that was some pretty awesome games i mean um musk upsetting um ruckers i know that don't look good for the big team but come on man how can you not get excited about that uh the georgia tech game i've never seen a team uh block a field go right and And then they get their field go block to win the game, right? Just craziness. I got some hot takes from that game, but we can get to that, you know, down the line.

But I got some hot takes from that game because I saw a thing. I got Brennan, the go-go offense. It's showing. I know a lot of people doubted the man. Can the go-go offense work in the power for it? It looked like it held up pretty good against Georgia Tech. And no disrespect to Dion, right? But if Brandon Miriam, maybe Brandon Miriam would have made that Michigan office look a little bit different?

Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, not looking that far back. Just nine months, okay. But, yeah, so excited to get into it. Well, like I said, can I talk Michigan football here heading into game day Saturday? I am tired again, and I apologize. This should be the last week of bizarreness, high school football. has been on Thursdays, my neck of the woods because of Labor Day. So

with the coverage and photos and stuff, I got to do. I've been up till four. So I was just joking with Darno before I got my breakfast here. I got coffee and Coca-Cola going side by side. Hot and cold. Hot and cold. Not the wrong with that, man. Hot and cold. And that coffee is heavy creamer. So that's

coffee-flavored milk. I'm drinking this. But, all right. Speaking of back, I've been teasing this or talking about it. Darnell knows I have been working behind the scenes for longer than I wanted to, but it's done and it's out there. And I'm excited and proud and happy. Blueby90.com is back online. We have launched a new website for Blue By 90 where I have a place now to put my articles again in content, game previews, analysis,

you know, things that we're hearing information. Of course, all the news that's out there on Michigan, all in one spot. We're going to have it available. And it's the Blue By 90 Hub as well. So you have access to our merch, all of our tailgate information. You've got the schedule widget built to in right there. If you're looking for games and interested in purchasing tailgate packages, you can click right on the game and it takes you right to it.

We're going to have our podcasts all centralized there as well. And then as we continue to grow, you know, Justin's got to, an event Sunday that he's at hosted by Jake Butt featuring a bunch of Michigan football players. I'm not going to be there. Unfortunately, but in the future, we're going to have full coverage of these events. So the live podcast like you've seen, but we're going to do behind the scene vlogs, more interviews with the players before and after these events, photo galleries, just elite access here at Blueby 90.

And you can get more access to all of that premium content as well with the introduction of club 90 so club 90 is going to have the premium content articles it's going to have access to our message board uh that's probably the thing i worked on the hardest was making sure i had a message board that felt easy and familiar to people that have used message boards across you know all the different platforms that are out there i know we're not the first or only site never trying to say that but i wanted something that felt comfortable to everybody and we're going to have tons of people on that message board that's going to make that the best Michigan community on the internet. So we're going to be excited as that continues to grow to let you know some of the folks that

are joining us and in there talking. Obviously, I'll be in there. Darnel will be in there. I've told you guys from the beginning, I've seen behind the scenes. I know where the intel and recruiting coverage map is at right now. And that's not this. We're not doing the clickbait intel trade for transaction thing that's that's not what we're doing um i know you guys are sick of where that's going and that's training and we'll be able to talk about that for months and years to come as we continue to build this and evolve but for now i'm just just so excited to have that platform out there for you guys to go there and take a look at it and hopefully join us and be a part of the community that

obviously justin has been building for years and now we're expanding and just putting it all together to have the tailgates the football and basketball and sports coverage all in one place. I'm just super, super excited. And obviously, like I said, we're just getting started, man. But the podcast network, the website, the tailgates, the access to players that we're, you know, we've seen already, if you've been looking on the Blue By 90 podcast network, the folks that we've been able to have come on the show, that's going to continue and only escalate.

And then, of course, you know, we're so fortunate. We're able to do this because the sponsors like Feldman, obviously Chevy of Highland, Woodson Whiskey, having the goat part of it. Shout out to the goat, man. Absolutely. But yeah, just the partners we have involved in everything coming together, man. I'm just super, super excited. So for those that have been waiting and supporting and been a part of the ride, thank you.

And yeah, absolutely, man. Justin is the absolute man. I think anybody that was here, like when I first brought the episode back, I told you guys, like when I knew where things were heading with, the on three stuff. Justin was the first person I reached out to because I just, I knew he was the right guy I'd want to partner with to do this and kind of change the game, if you will. And I'm excited to show you guys what that means as we move forward. But for now, there now real quick before we move on a football. Thank you. Got a great friend and huge support as I've been going through this and allowed me to vent on some rough nights. I close my eyes and I see website code. so but man we're here now we're here we've been talking about this for months and I'm just glad glad we're here now we can really do do the thing we came here to do yeah first before we move

on because I think it it goes unnoticed and I think it goes to say it a lot um I want to thank you because you I've seen the work the crew that we talk to every day when we're talking about whatever, whether it is information, whether it's just football, we're talking with the boys. We see the timeless effort guys. This man would be in a Discord call with us, actively paying attention to the conversation, but coding on the back, right? He's put his heart and soul under this. And I want to help him make this the biggest community that's out there for Michigan fans.

We want to build a community of family. Like Trevor said, we're not here to give you a bunch of insider for money tradeoff type thing. We just want to have a spot where everybody can come, chill, talk about the team, whether it's football, basketball, hockey, baseball, whatever. It's Michigan. If you love Michigan, we want you to pull up. You never know who you might see in there talking about Michigan. You'll be people that you saw that you were cheered on Saturdays who are now in this. club 90 saying, hey guys, I'll be at the tailgate.

It'd be great for you guys to come by and, you know, take some pictures or whatever. The other person I want to shout out is Justin, man, because when Trevor called me and he told me that on three was, they were going their separate ways. And I told Trevor, I said, man, I think you need to create a community for the Michigan fan base because they crave it. me and him went back and forth. The first person, he says, I need to call Justin. Before I can do anything off to the side, I need to call Justin.

And I remember when he called Justin, he called me right after he said, man, Justin's fired up. Justice's ready to go. And I knew then, I was like, this is a match made in heaven. Like, I've heard nothing about, but great things about Justin. Of course, I've always admired him from afar, watch the shows way back when Blueby 90 first started. And so for him to welcome us in with open arms and really accept what we brought to him.

And he's like, hey, this is a great idea. Let's run with it. That makes you feel good to go into a partnership and actually work for somebody like that. So appreciate the Blue by 90 leadership, which now, I guess, includes the big guy, Trem. But appreciate you guys. Of course, to the sponsors, Phelman. I can't wait to get up to Michigan to buy some

what's the whiskey. Like, I'm going to bring some back to Texas. You're laughing, but I'm going to pack some up. I'm going to bring it back to Texas. And while I'm watching the games and I can't be at the tailgates, you guys will see me send pictures to my Twitter with me pouring up a shot of whiskey getting ready for the game. So I'm excited, man. I'm excited. But just had to get that

off my chest because I've seen like y'all was missing us we was missing you guys but that's because Trevor was putting in this work to make sure that this website was here and I'm I can't wait to get on it and start to interact with you guys no I appreciate man yeah I'm excited uh no and the the thing I love about Justin and why this makes so much sense to us and like when I say the like insider intel thing Like, let me be clear. Like, we're going to be posted on the message boards and stuff's going to be there because we know things, right? And like, but like you, Darnell and I'm not going to say it because it defeats the point. But like you have really good connections, but you're not out there talking about him bragging it because those connections are actually like people and friends and relationships, right?

Justin, we were talking about how he's like, I tried doing that insider thing for a little bit. man, he's like, I hated it. Right? Because. Slimy. Well, and Justin is arguably the most connected person there is right now with Michigan stuff. But like, again, those are friends and relationships. And he's just not going around and trying to like capitalize on that, right?

And it's just like, so we want to use that as a benefit to you guys in terms of like access and giving you information about Michigan football. but I'm not I'm not putting out the articles like oh you're not going to believe this and all the blah blah like and he talked about on the last show too like I'm glad I didn't have to do what I normally would do this off season like with the on three stuff because the the coaches aren't talking to like beat people but they are talking at press conferences right so you got to go out there and try and pretend like oh you're not we just heard this you know dig for every little nugget when the coaches are out there telling you everything. You know what I mean?

So it's like, oh, I'm so glad I didn't have to like pretend that this was new information, but it's like literally out there. But anyway, okay, we're 12 minutes in. We haven't talked to Michigan football. I'm sorry, guys. I appreciate it. Thank you. Okay.

I just put an article up on blueby 90.com about Bryce Underwood. We've talked about them all offseason. The thing I'm most excited for is he can let his game do the talking. I've told you already that I think the people that have been trying to put him down and have been haters have already started to raise the bar in the last couple weeks because they're like, man, I can't ignore this chatter. Like I'm hearing people who aren't Michigan people that I trust saying, you need to watch out for this team. So now they're raising the bar. And I promise you if he goes out there and plays well, all this nine months of hate and bashing his last year, gone and now the bar gets raised even higher it because that's what they're going to do.

They're just going to keep raising it on him and vice versa. If he makes one bad pass, one bad drive, whatever, they're going to be quick to turn around and bury him again. So I'm going to be rooting hard for Bryce because I know he's been putting the work in. We've been talking about it all of season. He gets to go out there on Saturday down actually throw a football around and let his game do some talking. Yeah, shout out before I get into my little spill. Shout to my sister in the chat. He's a panel.

He's going to try and act cool now. My little sister is in the chat, and apparently she started a fan club. So there we go. Shout out to her for pulling up to the show and supporting me. I definitely appreciate it. I love you for that. So the Bryce thing is kind of interesting because I remember Trev can attest to this. We didn't get the chance to get on because our schedules kind of didn't align Tuesday and Thursday, right?

But I remember texting Trev in the group. group and I said, hey, this Jordan Palmer video is giving me chills. Like, this dude is, this dude might have unlocked something. And now that he's unlocked it, I don't know if we can bottle this back up, right? I just love good content anyway. And that was like really well put together. But like, I say I'm like, dude, if you're a Michigan fan, you got to watch this because it's so good. Yeah. So like, I, it was so, it's funny. it up. It was so good that I watched his other two videos. Like I watched the video on the kid from Auburn, the quarterback from Auburn, who's a- You were hyping him up after that too. That's right.

But he's like, so now I get to see Palmer in three lights, right? I got to see him with a quarterback that's a senior, so a higher level guy. I got to see him with Bryce, who's a sophomore. And then I got to see him with the way kid, who's the number one quarterback for 20. 28, right? So I'm getting to see them all three levels on how he interacts, how he teaches, what is he teaching at each level? And what I found is it's very consistent across the board. It's just as you get higher, he's unlocking different preps for you. So like he's not prepping Bryce on a Heisman ceremony to the playoffs to NFL draft. He's just prepping Bryce on season playoffs, maybe, if you do. do get in the high decide so as bryce matures he's going to continue to prep him on that journey which i think it's important and i think bryce i said this last night when we was in discord trev you was that you know uh the high school game right but i said this i said brice has a quiet confidence about himself right now and i don't think anybody's like paying attention to it

he's realized that he doesn't need to talk. You don't need to go out here and create the videos that he's taking over Ohio and he's going to do this. And he's, somebody has gotten in his corner and said, hey, guys, look, let your game do the talk. Go out there on the field on Saturday and prove everybody wrong. And now all you get from Bryce for the, if you really notice, Trevor, the last like two months, it's all been like,

like the team, I want to be a better leader. I want to show my teammates better than I can talk about it. It's been Bible verses. It's been him in the Bible. That tells me that this guy is starting to mature. And he's starting to realize that if he goes out and has the type of season that we think he's capable of, that's going to do all the talking he needs. He's going to be able to let me and you talk for him because we're going to be so excited that we're going to be running around like,

man, did you see that game yesterday? Did you see what Bryce did? He's not going to have to say anything. So I love that he's taking that approach so young because usually quarterbacks, they take the like they junior year. Senior year, that's when they get to that point. He's already getting there as a sophomore.

Well, and he was all, I mean, that was one of the things we heard all the time was how mature he was. And, you know, so I'm not shy. And you brought it up that the first thing I thought again, just thinking about the narrative changes. when he was talking, everybody was trashing him for that. And then this year he's a little bit more reserved when he's talking about Iowa State or whatever, and people are trashing him for that.

And it's like, you're never going to be happy. Like, just admit it, you know. But, yeah, I think I like admitting when I'm wrong. I, for a long time, have looked at Jordan Palmer. We talked about this already, but in the context of the whole KJJ thing, right? that was obviously a very, you know, toxic moment among the Michigan fan base, the way the whole Cade situation ended where he obviously was not pleased with the competition bleeding into the season, him losing the job, and Jordan's out there.

And, you know, they won't call JJ his name. And that was always the thing I told people, like, even before that, like in press conferences stuff, Cade never said his name, right? And the whole nine thing, right? So I'm calling him the other guy and whatever. Like that was the context that I viewed him in and I didn't pay a ton of attention after that. So, you know, since 21 and 22, you see the guys that Palmer's been working with. And, you know, you find out that the switch flip for Josh Allen was the work he did with Jordan Palmer.

Right. And you probably know off the top of your dome better than I do some of the names that Palmer's been working with. but I was like, okay, you know, this resume has been built up. Cool. And then again, watching that video in that context of not talking about a toxic moment with his dude, Cade, who's obviously upset, but watching him talk about the guy that he's working with, his process, and then seeing the clips of them actually working. And you and I talked about it was really cool.

Some of the footwork stuff they were doing without the football and specifically like how to spin out of the pocket, we went back and watched Michigan, Ohio State tape, and we were able to find exact plays where like this is what they're talking about. This right here, if he would have done what Mike was talking about, he's stepping up here, and there's Andrew Marsh wide open across the middle, right? So it was cool to see them, I think somebody talked about the minute details in the comments, them standing there doing stuff without a football and just talking about the minor footwork,

and I can go and look at the tape and go, that's the moment right there, where that's a game changer. And Palmer talks about it's like, do you start doing the math in your head, right? All of a sudden, now six more completions, however many more yards, a couple more touchdowns, times 12 games. Like you can see how these little changes are going to really stack. And of course, what we care about is hopefully the equal wins, right? But along with Bryce, I'm excited to see these weapons, man.

We've been talking about Marsh. We know what Marsh did last year when he was given the opportunity. J.J. Buchanan and I was excited before he. came here and it's that hype's only continued to grow to the point where we're like we got two wide receiver ones there's no the staff has been clear about that week there's two wide receiver ones on this football team and then obviously we've talked about depth at the wide receiver position in the past in terms of numbers and guys who are going to play and have an opportunity but i don't think we've ever been like okay goodwin's going to play and he's going to do blank and

man i'm excited about moa this five-star receiver and oh yeah, Travis Johnson, the dude that's, you know, been locked into Michigan for a while, this big X receiver is getting run. And oh, yeah, we got Jamie French, the guy who's getting a second chance, former top receiver that was at Texas also in his sophomore year. And, you know what I mean? Like, it's just, it's not the same because you know you got the two dogs at the top and you've got depth and so much potential in this room. So it's like, okay, Bryce, let's see what you can do. And oh, by the way, here's some toys to play with, buddy. I'm excited to see it.

And it's not, and we're not going to see the full open offense, obviously. it's Western. But I'm just, I'm just excited to see these dudes. Well, it goes back to once again, Bryce has a sneaky calmness, but excitement. I watched another video yesterday, the 100, 100 yard world. She brings up the past game. She brings up the receivers, and he immediately lights up like a Christmas tree. Yeah.

He like, oh, y'all don't even know what's about to come to pause. but y'all don't even know what was coming like i'm about to i got some guys now that i feel comfortable that when i throw it as long as it's in the radius they're catching it that's a huge confidence builder to your quarterback right and so it's little stuff like that i remember and i tell this quick story so that we don't get too much off that but i remember when we was back Trev and we was like breaking down the Bryce recruitment. It felt like dating, right? And I remember

our good friend Lee talked about Sam Webb and he was saying, man, y'all seen Sam video today? He said he was grinning his ears off like he knows something about this recruitment that we don't know. He's got the inside plug

when it comes to this. And we was like, we go back and watch the video and be like, yeah, he is kind of grinning like he knows. That's kind of how I feel like with price. Like, I think he's seen enough in practice with these guys where he's like, you're going have a hard time shutting this down. And because they're so versatile, because Travis Johnson is your ex, right? We know he can go outside. But if I put Trevor Johnson on the outside X and I put Buchanan on the other outside, I can now move Marsh on the inside. And now Marsh can take advantage

of a of a mismatch. Or I can take Marsh, put him on the outside, Buchanan on the outside, now I can bring in Jesse, I mean French or I can bring in Moa on the inside, right? Or I can go Trip set with these guys, man. Correct. And we still got Chana Goodwin who, Trev, you've been ringing his name for quite some time.

Great route runner, physical when it comes to block it. So now I know when good ones out there, It could be a pass or a run, but you best believe if they're running outside, good one is about to put a DB on his ass. Excuse my language, but you're about to put him on his ass. So it's just, it's refreshing. We haven't even talked about the tight ends. We haven't even talked about the runnerbacks out of the backfield.

There's a wealth of riches. And it goes back to what I told you earlier this week that I heard directly from somebody who is very much so in the know with the staff. They said when they left Utah, when this is the reason why, they all followed Kyle here. When Kyle made the call, they thought about it. They said, no disrespect to what we have in Utah. They won

yesterday. They put up a lot of points. That's ash, gosh, be gosh. They pulled up here and said, oh, we got Louis Vuitton, we got Gucci, we got and it's okay. But it ain't the same, right? The famous

connection, I like the, I love, I'm a big Jay-Z fan. Going to go see him in October in LA. Totally. I said in a rap song, he said, once you go to filet mignon, you can't go back to him. It ain't the same.

It don't even taste the same. Your palate is different. And that's what these chutea saw what they have here. Well, Jay-Z had Beyonce and he still went for some hamburger helper. So I think he's lying. Stoufers. Stoufers. He went for Stoufers.

See what for Stoufers. Becky. Yeah, dude, you're right on that. I mean, we could do a three-hour show because there's so many people that deserve credit. Like, Zach Marshall, Boutros and I talked about this a little bit. People will never know the full story of Zach Marshall. But that dude's a dude. I'm excited to see what he can do. You brought up Goodwin.

I hope Goodwin gets a couple targets early, and I hope he makes some big catches. I just, I want to see that dude's confident skyrocket. He deserves it. Hider. We don't need to spend time on Hider. Everybody knows who Saving on Hider is and what he can do. And the offensive line, I think,'s been beat to death at this point.

But I'm excited to see that group and hopefully some strides there. I mean, we love all the players there. Like we know Frazier and Spragger dogs and Jake Garnera. What he was able to do is stepping into his role. A phobia, like I said, when he was at his press conference last week or two weeks ago, I was really surprised, man, just what he looked like.

I'm like, okay, this dude's ready to be a beast and Link and Lee and Avery Gatch and Norton and all these dudes, man. I'm just excited to see that group. But we're only got a few minutes, so I want to give some defense some talk to. You know where I'm at on the pass rush. And I think the defensive end might be my favorite position group on this team right now. in terms of my excitement and potential.

I don't think people know how good John Henry Daly is and can be, obviously coming back from an injury, so we'll have to see, but I think some people are going to go, oh, okay, right? Like, I think Michigan fans are used to these transfers that are, you know, coming in and filling spots and helping roles. and the occasional like Justice Haynes, who comes in and has a big role. And I think they're going to be shocked when they see how good J.H.D. is, how good Smith-Snowden is,

how good Chris Bracey is, how good Nathaniel Staling is. Like, this transfer portal hall looks incredible. But yeah, defensive end, I'm really excited for the pass rush. And then defensive tackles probably a question mark. And I don't think linebackers as big of a problem as some people have talked about, but how those guys all handle the run. game too because Western can run the football. I know, you know, whatever.

I'm not, I don't want to get into giving Western too much credit or blah, blah, whatever, but like defending Mac champions, they can run the football. So I'm going to be excited to see that whole defensive front, how they work together as a unit with the linebackers too. I said, so for the sake of time, I'll just say that I'm excited. Crazy storms here. That thunder's wild. Yeah, we had storms here yesterday.

I'll say for me it's a corner. I want to see what the seat berry looks like in the nickel at his more natural position. I have no no questions on Smith-Sowden. If Jay Hill and the quarterback's coach say that Smith-Sowden is our number two and he needs to play on the outside, I'm rocking with them. Yeah, how they use those guys and rotate them? That will be a good storyline. It's a good point. Yeah.

I know what I'm getting with Jair. Facts. And so he got to take back to you. See, no, you're right. That's another pat on the back moment for me, by the way. I have been saying Greg Shiano is the most overrated coach in college football for a decade. And whenever I would put out my clickbait, you know, fill the summer articles and do the head coach rankings, I literally, because I'm a nerd, I would come up with like a point system based on

record and big 10 titles and award accolades and whatever. But I'd always have him like bottom four coaches and people be like, no, Shiano's got to be higher. And I'm like, why? Because he did something good in 2006 one time. Like,

what are we talking about? Anyway, go ahead. Off the topic. Sorry. The fireworks show after the game was hilarious, by the way. You see that?

I had to watch a fireworks show after that game. All right. Go ahead. Sorry. Corner. Zieg Barry Snowden. Yeah, I want to see what that secondary looks like, because to me, and I'm giving some early talking points for next week. But to me, the test won't be, can we stop mater in that run game on the ground?

Because I don't know if Oklahoma has a good ring game. I won't be able to see it into next week because even if they can run the ball on YouTube, it's not going to be convincing enough for me to believe they fixed the ring game problem because they couldn't run last year. where we're going to get tested against Oklahoma's through the air, right? We know Mattier can spin it and he can run. So I want to see what these guys look like against a team that has a post. This is the defending Mac champions. They say that they may win the Mac again this year.

But Utah, I mean, UMass might be able to win it now based on what we saw yesterday. But I want to see what they look like protecting that the patrol in that secondary. And then I want to see What type of coach do I really have? I've seen the videos. I've seen Whittingham get fired up on the sideline. And so quote-unquote talkish, I want to see that. Like, I want to see that firing.

It's the first time he's going to run out the tunnel. That crowd is going to be an electric crowd because it's at night, right? This light show going to be on. They probably go, you know, I'm just ready to hear the, James Earl Jones. This is Michigan. And that video pops up on those brand new scoreboards that look amazing.

And I'm just ready to get after it, man. Like, I want them We are the number. Yeah, I want them to come out. Like, I know Penn State got the Mo Bamba, but I want that DJ rocking something. I want that DJ rocking something.

Like when Bryce came out last year, that crowd was kind of crazy. Like, I need that type. of energy tomorrow night. I want to feel that through the through the screen and be like, okay, we back. So that's that's what it is, man. I feel good. I'm excited. Football is back. And Trev, did you, do you realize that we're about to go on an unprecedented run for football over the next 14 days? What? Have you paid attention to that? So we get, we got football yesterday. We get football

tonight. We get football Saturday. We get football Sunday. Oh. We get football Monday. We get Tuesday off. No. We get NFL Wednesday. We get NFL Thursday. We get NFL Friday. I'm the wrong man for this argument.

I'm an old man with a kid. I think it's absolutely stupid how much they've spread out the schedule. It drives me insane. There should be no Thursday games until Thanksgiving. College football should never be played on Fridays. That is a day designated for high school football, unless you're Michigan State. Scott Bell already had his, he's so, so, so good at. He already had a tweet talking about

connecting Michigan State to high school. I thought was funny. Monday night football, fine. I'll do some Monday night, but this, this is crazy. I want to address a couple things in the comments. You thought of it are? Number one. Guys, I had to listen to the student section. Do the Blues Brothers freaking thing for how many years? It's not the song, right?

Like, the song has nothing to do with anything, right? And it's weird at a football game. I get it. It became a tradition because of when the guy first played it and it got the crowd woke up. and I'm sorry, if you were at the Michigan, Ohio State game in 2021, and you were standing right here in that crowd on that field, when everybody was singing that song,

it was such a cool freaking moment, man. So, like, get over the song. It's about the moment. I know it's stupid, but you get the whole stadium to sing a song. It's cool. I don't know. I might be in the minority on that. I'm also a killer's fan, so that might be part of the problem.

Yeah. I know that's probably a take. but another pat on the back moment, Antoine Michigan did not drop the Texas game. They were never dropping the Texas game. I tried to explain to everybody when they put out, oh, the Eastern Michigan game got moved. What does that mean? It's the same day as Texas. I said, guys, everybody's playing week zero next year.

I don't know if people know that. The NCAA came out. They're moving the season up. So week zero becomes week one. Everybody plays that first week now and then they'll have double buys. So they were just adapting that schedule. Michigan and Texas and the TV networks made a deal. Remember those games swapped locations.

They made a deal with ESPN and Fox so that Texas and Oklahoma could leave for the SEC a year early. That game was always happening. If not, there was going to be an absurd amount of money, probably lawsuits involved. Like that game was always happening. So yeah, yeah, yeah. The jersey comment. Yeah. I saw that too.

The what? The jersey. Everybody's all looking. Oh, yeah, the maze. All maize. I'm a uniform junkie. Yep. And I care a lot more than most people.

Anybody that knows me knows like I'm obsessed with logo branding, design, like, whatever. So me personally, I don't like it. I don't like the look. but I understand players have been wanting it for a while. I know, you know, Whittingham is a little bit more open to the uniform changes than maybe other coaches, especially, you know, Harbaugh would have been. So I think we're going to see the blue on white at some point as well. I know that's a look that Bryce and some other guys have liked as well,

the white pants with the blue jersey. So I, you said, why are they doing? doing it for Western. I kind of agree, but I also feel like maybe that's the point is, look, the players want to do this. We'll let them wear it. But we're not going to do it against Oklahoma or whoever. I think if anything, Oklahoma would be big game blues or just a traditional.

Yeah, I just, I don't know. And I've, I've warmed up to the blues, obviously because of the games they're tied to. I prefer when it's all blue with May's accessories. Because to me, that just looks like a more modern version on the typical Michigan uniforms where you've just swapped out the maize pants for maize everywhere else because obviously the monochrome look is pretty common. I'm still a uniform junkie. I will continue to be, but I am very close, like shading more and more to I don't care what you wear if you play well and win. I'm just starting to get to that point. But anyway, the jersey sponsor.

Um, Boutreau shouts at him. He's been on top of this. Him and I have been talking about it quite a bit. Michigan was talking to somebody else for a while and they didn't want to get to the number that Michigan wanted to be at. I think you guys can put two and two together to figure out what that number is pretty easily, Notre Dame, Ohio State. I'm pretty confident Michigan already has that deal in place, but like getting them on the jersey. this year, I don't think it's going to happen probably. And I think, too, just so people understand, like, excuse me, you see, you know,

$20 million, $18 million, whatever, and you think, oh, that's money you're getting right now. If you're not doing the Jersey Pats, that's money you're not getting. It's that simple. For some schools, yeah, they're paying for literally just the Jersey Patch advertisement, and that's it. I can tell you when you look at some of these deals, like a Notre name Ohio state's doing and what Michigan is doing this isn't just a straight let me put your logo on the patch there's a lot more partnership behind the scenes where yeah michigan is doing business

with these people are utilizing their services in a much larger scale right so it's not just straight here's you know 20 million patch so uh what i'm trying to say is michigan's not missing out on money they would otherwise be getting like those things are happening the patch just probably won't be on there this year. Yes, I believe it is Gemini, and I hope it is, because if they can get away with just doing the little diamond logo, it almost looked just like a, no different than having like a Nike or a uniform logo. But what I'd like to see is small jersey patch, move Jordan logo to the collar, big 10.

So at least it's spread out a little bit and not stacked on one side. But, yeah. I mean, you also got to. to understand, bro, this is Michigan guys. The 20, 30, whatever that number is, a million that we're going to get from the patch. We don't really need it right now. Like, their recruiting budget for 2027 is set.

They can get into the weeds with champion circling and get the guys they want. So to get that influx of money at the end of the year, after the season's over with, start putting in your 2028, 2029 budget, I think is more. Yeah. Michigan doesn't have a money problem. Like, like athletic departments budget to break even because if they spend too much money,

it's a problem. And if they save money, then their budget gets cut. Correct. Okay. Michigan's got the money they need if they need it. Like, I'm just going to put it that way.

This is a good point to your average fan. And this is my biggest concern with the jersey patches. He said, I was watching Tech versus Colorado and I didn't even notice it. Remember when the NBA first started their jersey sponsors? And it was like GE, Motorola, like all these big names. name companies, right?

Same thing with baseball, too. What are they now? Companies you've never even heard of a lot of times, right? Yeah. Or like a local insurance agent or something, right? The Jersey patch thing isn't, I think businesses figure out pretty quickly, like, they don't really get anything for it because people don't notice it after a while or it's small and, you know what I mean?

Like, it's just like, that's why I hate it is because at the end of the day, I don't think it really does anything. thing. And I just, I don't want to see, like, I know the monster, you know, looks bad already. The Big 12, which they got to be regretting that deal. They're getting as much money for the whole conferences. Some schools are getting by themselves, right? That's my thing. Is it just, you start to look like those old NASCAR cars where they had all those little sponsors around the wheel well or whatever. I think Michigan is too big of a brand to have the smaller ones to worry about that. I agree. But there's going to be some that do. And it's going to

to look bad and that sucks but i think the more valuable is on the field like you saw what organ just deal with edward jones like on the field to me logo is more important yeah so yeah i'm with you when they like when they go if it matched the school colors but they don't want it to match because then you won't see it yes i stand out what who is georgia tech sponsor i didn't even see that on the jersey i was going to say you saying that i'm sitting here trying to think i don't even know who it is um yeah well and i hope to like notre dame when they put out their patch on like their practice jerseys the colors were reversed right so in the blue jersey i think it was white patch with blue text and i was and i did like a quick you know

a i flip or whatever and i was like if it's blue with the white text that looks a lot cleaner and like well they probably don't want it to they want it to be noticeable and that's where when it looks like you just stuck it on there it's like it just looks tacky but But I always laugh because I bet, well, you follow soccer. So you know, like, European soccer fans are probably laughing. Like, we don't even have team names. All we have is sponsors across the front of our – Who cares about jerseys, blah, blah, blah.

But I do. All right, we spent 10 minutes on Jersey talk. So that's cool. So before we get out of here, Tram, let's do something that I think we should start as a tradition, we can, I won't do it this Friday because I thought about it once we started and I'm like, okay, I think

that's something me and you could do. That'll be pretty cool. So we'll start next week, right, where we'll do our five games of the week and we'll do predictions, of course, we'll keep it Big Ten, and we can keep our record and see, you know, who picked a right about the games.

But let's just give a loose prediction tomorrow. What do you let's start with what do you want to see one thing from offense one thing from defense in your score yeah um offense i just want to see efficient i want to see play calls getting in on time everybody being on the same page you know i don't want guys not sure where they're supposed to be lined up i don't want pre-snap penalties um so yeah i just because i i don't know how much of the offense they're going to be willing to play with tomorrow so i can't

come out and say like specific types of plays or the way I want the offense to run because I don't know what their plan is for Western. But I do want them to look competent and organized, Bryce to look comfortable. And then some plays. You know, it doesn't have to be crazy, but like these dudes we've been talking about, let me see Marsher, JJ, make a great catcher, get some big yak. Let me see Hyder break a long run. Let me see Jordan Marshall look like the Bulldog we think he's going to be. Let me see the whole line looks stronger, you know, you know, the stuff we've been talking about. But generally speaking, I just want to see the offense look competent and organized.

Defense, defense, I might, it's weird. I might be a little higher bar on, man, because I think there's a lot of dudes over there. We didn't even talk about Jaya Hill when we brought up the corner conversation. That you could be a first round corner. I, I, I want to see. The Michigan defense, that was the turning point for Jim, was getting Mike McDonald and getting Jesse Minter. That was the turning point in that 21 to 23 runs. So Hills talked about the 23 defense a lot. So I want to see dudes getting after the quarterback again, and especially it's a lower opponent.

They should be putting pressure on the quarterback and making them uncomfortable. They should be getting tackles for loss. They should be great in coverage. and breaking up passes and hopefully getting some turnovers and, you know, minimizing long drives and not giving up points, blah, blah, blah. So that's what I want to see from the defense. What was the other one? Prediction, score?

Yeah, pretty score. 387. 387. Yeah, I think, um, uh, Boutrest and I talked about this a little bit. I think Western's play style is going to limit possessions a little bit. So I don't know if Michigan can get into like a 40 or 50 type blowout. that would be freaking ideal if they could um i don't want it to be a close game obviously because it's be like uh um but i i think they can get to 38 and i will never predict a shutout probably

but that's i'd love to see that obviously um but i think westwood i wouldn't be i don't be surprised if they get into dig judges why am i that was that was weird how was echoing um anyway but yeah i I figure Westman's going to get in either late or just at some point in general. But, yeah, I think that'd be a nice, comfortable win. And even if they're in the 30s, but we felt like the offense did what they were supposed to do. That's what I'd like to see. Yeah. So for me, on offense, I'm a complete opposite of you.

I want to see when you play a team like this, go run the score. Yeah, you want, yep. I want to, because I don't expect you to be able to run the score against, the better teams. I expect you when you play the better teams, I have to be a little bit more conservative. So these are the games that I want you to take advantage of you playing lesser competition, right?

And try maybe one or two things that you can see if you guys do it well against live action to see if you can use it in a big game down the road. Right? I want to see, like you said, efficient football. I want to, I want Bryce to play with a clean play. sheet. Not saying he can miss throws or that type of thing, but just don't turn the ball over.

When the back, the ball and your hands, I want to see the receivers, make some plays, tight ends, make some plays. And I want to really hope that that offensive line looks like it's a cohesive unit, right? Keeping Bryce clean. On defense, you brought up to 2023, and I had to go back and look. What made that 2023 year so special, if you were in. remember we started out with eastern Carolina. The defense was flying.

They were flying around. I want to see that type of focus from our defense if they're truly what Jay Hill is saying to be 2023. And for predictions, I got it 45 to 7. So you got one more score than me. Yeah. That'll be an Andrew Marsh kickoff return for a touchdown. How's that? There you go.

Actually, that's another one. I mean, we didn't even bring it up, but special teams, too. We were so happy with that leap the team took in just three weeks with Carrie Coombs going into the Texas game. So obviously, different kicker, punter, and whatever, there's going to be some changes. But yeah, give me some special team's efficiency as well. Absolutely. So real quick, will Michigan State lose their coach when the season ends? Yeah.

Taylor's getting hired somewhere if he wants to go. Unless this year is like a shocking collapse because then everybody's going to give. is it Chris O'Leary, right? Give him all the credit. Their D.C. that was Jesse Minter Jr. made his way back to, look at this. One little hair. These gray hair suck.

Made his way back to Jim Harbaugh. Yeah. And the Chargers. But yeah, we'll see. Make sure you guys drop your, for the people that's watching this back, people that's on podcast, make sure you drop your prediction under the video. Yep. When you're like and in comments, subscribe, we'd love to go back

can see what we think. And I think we can come up with some neat things to do with them, too, Trevor. Maybe a giveaway for the people that predict the exact score or something like that. Yeah. We can figure out some cool things for them too. And we're excited, bro. Yeah, we're working on that, obviously, with Club 90, just and I talked about it briefly.

Obviously, getting the season going and everything's been tough. But we are hoping to be able to do a lot of stuff with memorabilia and giveaways and things like that. So all right, guys, the conversation is going to continue here on Blue By 90. Make sure again, please subscribe to the channel. I can't get over how low the subscriber count is here compared to the amount of followers we have everywhere else. So we got to get the subscriber count up here. We've got shows every day. Dennis Fithian, it's going live in about two hours with his show here. He's going to preview the game as well. And he'll be live tomorrow with post game live following the michigan western michigan game want to be a part of that

uh the o g blue by 90 shows with justin and joel are up obviously they've been talking with some players on the shows as well you want to go back and check that out uh strack and wormley are back as well their shows up on the podcast network so tons of blue by 90 conversation here on youtube and continuing over at the now live blue by 90.com inside the club 94 and we're going to be talking about the game obviously all day leading up to it and then we'll have a live game thread going on the message board as well and then plenty of content available there too so all right excited i'm sure you guys are too uh we'll uh have a football game to watch on saturday and we will be back monday with rise to the victors to recap the western game and start talking oklahoma the game

everybody's had circled on the schedule this whole time so thanks a time guys blue by 90 we'll see you on monday