Blue By Ninety - SMELL THE ROSES

Episode Date: December 29, 2023

The boys are gearing up for the Rose Bowl and breaking down the Alabama-Michigan matchup.

All right. Welcome back to Blue by 90. I'm Justin joined by Tanner and Kaylin today. It's been a minute since we've since we've talked to you guys. I hope you guys had a very Merry Christmas, a good holiday season. wait, I would say, from December 2nd, I believe, was the Big Ten Championship. From that night until today, it is December 28th. We're coming at you before the Rose Bowl. It feels like it's been three months since we've watched Michigan football play, but holy shit, am I ready.

Kind of snuck up on us a little bit, right? I feel like I was kind of it's like oh we got like a month and then i'm like oh it's five days from now like or four days or whatever it is it's today's thursday so um yeah it's uh it's exciting i know everybody's fired up uh i told you i was gonna share this real quick when so i went to hawaii over christmas which was amazing but i was uh down at the bottom of a caldera at the hawaii uh volcanoes national park and i got i had a michigan shirt on hiking with my uh brother-in-law father-in-law and uh got like three go blues down at the bottom of a volcano so it's just it's everywhere uh we went to go swim with manta rays at night which was if

you ever have the chance you have to do it it's unbelievable wow but the guy had a michigan hat on uh he he grew up in canton uh and uh he went to um and so we were just chatting and i sat next to him on the boat talked to him him and uh his wife and his kids and they're all michigan fans and so they're going to be watching the game from maui so i told him to check out the pod and i told him if he's ever in town for a game to come find us at the tailgate spot um but uh shout out to that dude he was super cool and uh yeah just i mean michigan everywhere man like even when i was on vacation like relaxing not really think about the game it's everywhere it it truly is everywhere that's that's super cool i mean i i think i shared this with you guys when i

was in barcelona we got a go blue um from somebody there which was incredible so yeah i'm still on my uh my christmas break down here uh i stopped and visited some family in orlando uh we went to universal and i made sure to wear my michigan shirt and uh got a couple go blues i got an interesting one i got somebody said mich, Michigan rocks. And I was like, huh, never heard that one, but go blue. All right. Okay. Thank you. Okay.

Oh, hey, I did. I was at the Kona. So some of the Hawaii airports are wild. Like it's all just outdoors. Like it's not like a normal terminal, you know? So I see a gal with a Michigan like quarter zip on and I see it and I'm just like, go blue. Nothing. No response. gal with a Michigan like quarter zip on and I see it and I'm just like go blue nothing no response and I just like kept it moving because I'm not gonna sit there you know it's like it's like you don't give yourself a high five I was like I hope nobody saw that um I just got it definitely is

like one of those situations where you're like all right yep go blue myself yes it's like they just look at you and you're like do you know what you're wearing we've said it we've said it before that is like literally my biggest pet peeve it I don't know why but it I will say it used to be like shameful like people didn't want to say it but now like I literally had two little kids like go out of their way to go like go blue I was like this is amazing I I do agree and I've you know just in the past few weeks, past month and the month of December, seen so many Michigan flags hanging from people's houses. And, you know, everyone's rocking the gear.

A lot of Michigan versus everybody's as well. So love that. I mean, I do think, like, it's just cool to see everybody all in on it. And, you know, it's nice after years of, to your point, Kalen, after years of like, all right, you know, come December, it's like, all right, I'm not wearing my Michigan hoodie for a while after an Ohio State loss or something like that. But now we can wear it proudly.

Not that I was never not wearing it, but you know what I mean. So, yeah, and I want to give a plug real quick. We'll talk about it, I'm sure, in a little bit. But to North Peak Brewing, obviously, for Hale IPA and Blue by 90 Beer and Pretzel Bell, we will be having a watch party at Pretzel Bell again on January 1st. So I think there's a game that day or something going on that some Michigan fans might want to tune into.

But the big deal is we'll have $1 Blue by 90 beers at Pretzel Bell. So come and that, you know, $15 gives you 15 beers. So I'm not a great math guy, but I can do that math. That seems like a pretty damn good deal. So very excited about that. So, yeah, come on down and come hang. And, yeah, I know you guys, I believe, will be there. I am flying out to Pasadena in two days.

And I do want to touch on that of just how I'm like a little kid, like so giddy to go to the Rose Bowl like this is lifelong dream stuff I'm talking to all my friends fans all this stuff and everyone's like the people that have already been there are like it's going to be the greatest thing you'll ever experience legitimately they're like it is top five sporting event in the entire world up there with the Masters and Wimbledon and all those types of things. The Rose Bowl is that cool.

And I am just like dreaming of the moment, you know, LA, sunny skies. It's 65 degrees in Pasadena, maize and blue everywhere. There's red roses everywhere. You know, the parade's going on. I hear the victors, the band coming down the Rose Bowl parade. And then we get a let's go blue chant going into the stadium. Like, holy shit, is that going to be a moment? I am on top of the world already just thinking about it.

Yeah, I mean, I'm looking at the weather. It looks like it's going to be uh zero percent precipitation high of 62 so they're going to be beautiful weather well they do say i'm sorry to interrupt you but they do say that god doesn't allow it to rain on the rose bowl so that's a good phrase man uh but yeah like you know i've been to southern california a couple times you know i used to work for a company based in Newport Beach. And every time I went, man, like it's, you know, it's just, it's absolutely gorgeous. You know, the ocean and the weather. And so I'm excited for you, man.

That's something that I'd like to do, you know, right now. After going to the playoff game last year, I was like, I'm probably going to wait. And I've always told myself when Michigan goes to the Rose Bowl, I want to go. And so hopefully there'll be more in the future. So I'm definitely jealous. But yeah, the Rose Parade, man, that always is fun to watch on New Year's Day. Always kind of a little tradition. And it's a nice win. Michigan is in the Rose Bowl because this is the first time since 2007.

Yep. So 16 years to the day. And we'll hope for a better outcome this time. But man, it was, yeah, I'm, I'm super stoked for you. I'm very jealous, but in a, in a, in a good sense. Yeah. I'll just be living vicariously through you. We'll be dependent on your, your tweets and picks and whatnot. My chest is safe though. I will not get punched.

I'll leave the puffer vest at home. That punch during that Penn State game, though, I think got us to a victory. So, you know, I don't want to take too much credit. That's true. And then after the Ohio State game, got a couple one-two combos. I was, again, on top of the world after that. So, I mean, listen. I don't blame you. I'm happy for it

i hope you come back like you come back and like we see each other in like the fourth or something and you just punch me like i'm hoping for that oh god uh yeah i will be like i don't know i'm not nervous yet i'm anxious to get there and be all about it how are you guys feeling about this game? I mean, the reality is that not many teams in the past decade or two decades have beat Alabama. Legitimately, you can count them. It's probably an average of one per year, right, is where they're at during this Nick Saban dynasty. And so I'm still on the train of, you know, I'm not going to bitch about who our opponent is in the playoff because you're in the playoff. You're going to play a good team. You're one of the last four teams standing. Guess what?

Your prize is playing a really good team. That's the reality of it. But, you know, I mean, to slay the Bama dragon is not a, you know, it's a pretty tall feat, right? It's, it's something that not many teams have done out there. So how are you guys feeling going into this one? When, you know, it's an interesting Bama team, but it's still Bama. Yeah. I think there's a lot of folks who are scared because it is Alabama, right? More so than the actual team. And look, they've got, what, 18 five-stars I think I saw on their roster. They've got a ton of talent, right? Like we're happy if Michigan gets one a year, right?

If you can just get one a year. Everybody's happy. There's only 35 in each class, you know? That's insanity. Yeah, so – but, you know, I do subscribe to the theory of advanced statistics and I really do like SP plus. I know Michigan is nine points better this year and SP plus in Alabama is now that's not gospel.

That's not foolproof. Like that is just an indicator of success, right? And a predictive, you know, just a predictive algorithm that, that Bill Connolly and ESPN utilizes. And it's typically pretty spot on right like i think it had michigan 27 ohio state 20 or maybe 26 20 so michigan wins by six it's it's it's dead on right but um so this is an alabama team that's not otherworldly like it was in 2020 for example or some of the national championship teams but it's still alabama it's

still nick saban um but i you know i don't think the nerves have set in for me quite yet. I think as we get to, like, Saturday, Sunday, and then obviously Monday, yeah, I'll start to feel it. But I'm just still enjoying this season, enjoying looking back on the 13-0 record, and just hoping that the boys are going to come out ready to go, man, because there's nothing you can do to control it. But I don't know.

Like, the Ohio State-Michigan game, man, I don't know if it was because I was in the stadium or what, but I was never nervous. And I think it's because this team just has such great leadership from its players. I just felt like they were going to get it done. And that's how I feel about Monday as well. Yeah, this is an interesting one. Because like you were saying earlier, it's easy to get lost with that like long time period from the last game to this one. So I'm still going like, isn't there like a month to the game a little bit? So I honestly,

I probably won't feel anything until the pregame show starts. But just looking at some of the stats and things like that, honestly, I'm trying to not get like wrapped up in that because then that will make me more nervous. Yes. Yeah. So they got five stars we got a couple

um and i i think the scariest thing for me is the fact that it's the trajectory of the alabama team the fact that they've been like improving um but like you said right you you know you're going to play a good team in the playoff that's why you came to Michigan. So I feel like these guys are going to be very, like, tuned in and ready to go, especially because so many of them haven't won a bowl game, right? I mean, even going as far back as, like, Michael Barrett, right, guys like that who've been there for a long time, who've even played Alabama before,

they're looking for their first bowl win. So I think these guys are going to be tuned in and kind of ready to go. Yeah, I agree. You know, they, it's been talked about that they have taken a different approach this year as well. I know in past years, they've used this month to be physically ready, you know, hit in practice and all that stuff. And I know that this year it's been a lot different. It's been majority walkthroughs really, you know, with lifting and a lot more meeting wise, a lot more preparation, a lot more film. So I wonder how that's going to affect these guys.

A, will they be ready to pop right from the get go? You know, there's sometimes when you take a month off of hitting after a 13 after 13 straight weeks of hitting that it's like oh shit like I forgot you know what it what it's like to get you know dinged up or something like that sometimes there's that but I think that um you know how they're approaching it this year is definitely more like they were super confident last year almost to the point of arrogance a little bit. Now it's more, they've told me like reserved, you know, confidence. They're confident in their ability, but they want to make sure that there's not overthinking it. Right. And, you know, over,

overdoing all that. So yeah, they know what's on the line. I think there's no doubt that they all are aware of what happened the last two years. They all know that. They all know there's uncertainty about the future, right? Some of these guys, obviously, Mikey, Sainer still, you know, Blake and Chris Jenkins, and you can go down the list. This will be possibly their last time suiting up right so they know that but even guys that the younger guys are who knows what Jim Harbaugh does who knows if JJ you know leaves I think that they're all taking that in stride as well and it's like all right right here right now is everything we've got to give it everything we've got because you never know what tomorrow brings. Yeah, I could go without last year's talking about we're going to come out and run all over them and that stuff.

I never really liked that last year. That was you, Tanner. That was all you. Probably. I was. Yes, I did wave at the crowd on Donovan's first run. If Ronnie Bell could have got a block, maybe we have a different

outcome in that game. I think being reserved and having that silent confidence is dangerous for a team that they've taken a lot of lumps this year for whatever, all the outside noise. There's still stuff being done by Alabama,

which makes no sense. I don't know if you guys saw the stuff about the iPads. You hired George Hilo, but you're concerned about your iPad. Come on, man. We're talking about Escanaz-level tactics. What are we talking about here? All right. I'm sure that most people, by the time this is posted, will have seen this.

But for people that haven't seen it, got to give a shout out to our guy, CJ, who is already in Pasadena at practice. Absolutely crushing it with the coverage on blueby90.com. If there's something out there, it's on blueby90.com, and CJ is writing the article. So I want to give him a shout out. He is honestly one of the best out there and has been killing it for us. And so he was at Bama's presser,

Isaiah Bond and Tyler Booker, two Bama players said that Alabama has not been able to watch film on their at-home tablets due to the sign stealing allegations. Booker added that Bama wants to keep anything more in house. And he said, this is a rule from the Bama coaches. Bama is still watching just as much film in groups. And they insisted this is a precaution. He said, hold on, sorry, real quick, I'll just end it here. Players are largely unconcerned with the allegations, but playing, playing things safe. So my response, my tweet that I said back to, to CJ was, how did we get from an iPhone video in row 40 to all of a sudden we have a

computer iPad hacking operation. Like, how do we jump? That's a hell of a leap. You know, and the funniest part is that sign stealing is not illegal. I feel like we're beating a dead horse, but we have to remind some of these folks with smoother brains than others that you can utilize film from the different services. They don't use Huddle, but they use something similar to Huddle.

I can't remember what it's called. Catapult. That's right. We had a conversation about Catapult, which is interesting. I don't understand, like, what are we talking about? Because that film is available, right? That film is 100% available. I mean, I guess the only thing would be their own practice film.

That's a hell of an allegation, by the way, which has been thrown out there by message board rumors. I have a great idea. We've now established it's okay to poach previous coaches for things like that. So why don't we just start, instead of the one more year fund, we start the big game fund. And it's just a fund purely dedicated to, you know,

hey, they're paying you $700,000 a year. We'll pay you $700,000 for a week. Just come here, help us prep, and then we'll beat you. My thing with that is, again, I think we talked about this when it happened. I don't really care that George Hilo got hired by Alabama, but I find it really weird that in the middle of the season you can just hire a guy on additionally as an analyst, as a low-level staffer.

That term is big time. But that's weird. Like, you can just go and do that. Like, you know, in Michigan when when chris partridge uh was dismissed they brought on uh jesse mitchell's dad to be the linebackers coach because he was already on staff right i find it really weird though in the middle of a season that you can go and hire somebody but i'm pretty sure this has happened in the nfl hugh jackson when he was fired by the browns went to the bengals the season. That's weird, right? Super weird.

You should have to go into battle with the guys you have. There should be clauses for sure that you cannot go to somebody on your schedule in the next two years or something. I don't know, something like that. A lot of these things, especially with the transfer portal now, how does anybody keep their playbook in-house? True. I mean, how many how many thousands of kids are in the portal right now guess what every single one of them has a physical

playbook you know and i'm sure that they have to turn stuff in but they could have been taking pictures of it all year long and then they transfer to an in-conference team it's like okay well they have all their plays right so yeah the whole thing is just it's a joke what are we doing what are we doing yeah it's a joke um you know we won't continue to beat this dead horse but yeah the whole thing is a joke um and the fact that Saban is having his players talk about this um maybe maybe some uh you know some nervousness coming from Tuscaloosa. That's not the Saban I know. Right. Honestly, the Saban I know is like, I'll give you my playbook.

I'm still better than you. I'll give you a Hellcat, and we'll keep it rolling, right? That's the Saban I know. That's the GOAT Saban. He was giving NIL deals two decades before this stuff started. So, yeah, it's just interesting to me to hear what certain people have to say. But, yeah, I thought that whole thing was just really weird and just kind of, you know, a little bit of insecurity.

I don't know, which is crazy to say, almost blasphemous to say about the University of Alabama, which has won six titles in the last 15 years. Totally. But like, why are, why is that the talking point here? Right.

This is, it feels like somebody read a headline somewhere and just totally ran with it. Versus if somebody actually like followed the story, they would be like, oh, okay, this is nothing for our team to really worry about.

Yeah. Yeah. I, I mean, I don't know. I, maybe they, I,

I don't know all the context. Cause who knows what they were asked, you know, I don't know. I, maybe they, I, I don't know all the context cause who knows what they were asked, you know, and all that stuff. And they might've just been answering a question. But yeah, I would, I'm, I'm surprised that that had, even if it was happening, that it got out there. Right. Cause it does, you know, show a little bit of that insecurity or nervousness. And so, I don't know, man. It does feel like the script has flipped a little bit where in past years, and it still is like this. Like, Bama still is, listen, until Nick Saban retires and they don't win a title once every three years or whatever,

once every other year at times, they're going to be the team to beat. But I do think that like, there's a, there is a piece right now that Michigan is the team to beat. I think our own guys think that we're the team to beat, you know, in this and, you know, Vegas does think that I think there are two different narratives. One, it's a very different thing from being favored in Vegas to people actually thinking you're going to win. And that's where, like, I've had a lot of discussions with my Sparty friends and whatever, Ohio State friends that are like, why are you guys playing the underdog card? You're favored in Vegas.

I was like, that's literally a computer system, you know, putting out stuff. When every talking head says that they don't think we're going to win, that's why we play the underdog card. But I still think that our guys, our team, they're like, we're the top dog here. We're better than you. We're going to go win this game and go take it from you. I think that's the mentality. So I love that by the way. Yeah, I'm with you, man. And, you know, as we talk about this game and as I've thought about it leading up, you know, I think the thing that I keep kind of coming back to is, you know,

the fact that you can confuse Jalen Milrow with coverages. And when I hear a guy like Marvin Harrison Jr., obviously wide receiver to quarterback, different position. Quarterback has to know a lot more, but the fact that marvin harrison jr whose dad was one of the best to ever do it in the nfl played with a guy who's one of the best at diagnosing coverages for him to come out and say they showed me coverages i had never seen before i have some confidence that the defense can do what they need to do and confuse him obviously he's a threat coming out of the pocket and and running the ball uh but he takes a lot of sacks, too. I mean, I'm looking at his game-by-game log here on ESPN.

There's multiple games with five sacks, six sacks, a bunch with four sacks. That has been cleaned up recently, although he took four against Georgia. So I just, when I think about this matchup, I think it comes down to, at least from the Michigan defense versus Alabama offense, it's all about Jalen Milrow. And can you confuse him? Can you force him to hold the ball? Because the longer he holds the ball, the more inaccurate he is when he has to progress through his reads and make a decision.

And maybe it's not exactly what the route tree was supposed to be. He's got to make a play. That's where I think Michigan can have some success. So that gives me some confidence. But I don't know what you guys think about that but as I'm just thinking about the game like that's where I think the key matchup is for Michigan defensively is just forcing Milrow to make mistakes because he has gotten better but he's had moments where it's like what even that Auburn game like they needed a fourth and 27 or

whatever it was um a fourth and goal from the 27 to win that game. I mean, they were a miracle away from not even being here, right? Right. So. Yeah. I mean, Jalen Miller was probably the key wild card for this game, right? And as a Michigan fan, I definitely have, like, flashbacks versus Mobile QB. So that's where, for me, I get pretty nervous.

But this is not the Don Brown defense, right? Yes, that's the exact other part of that equation. This is not Don Brown's, you know, blitz everybody. Well, that Don Brown defense against mobile quarterbacks, though, like that was pretty good against JT Barrett, against Trace McSorley, right, against some of those more mobile quarterbacks. A lot of losses in there.

True. I get that. But that's when the pro-style quarterbacks at Ohio State came up, and that's when Michigan's defense started to get shredded. But, I mean, I'm with you, though. I go back to, like, even, like, Kirk Cousins, like, Connor Cook, like, they ran all over us somehow, you know? I mean, you can even go as far as last year versus tcu

with max duggan so i mean you don't have to go that far to feel bad as a michigan fan versus mobile qb so that's where i get pretty nervous but i think that one uh i think the interior defensive line for michigan is really good so we can plug up the round um which is going to force milrow to like run left or, and that's where I go. I really trust our defensive backs in that sense, and I think Junior Colson is just, and Mike Barrett for that matter, is just crushing it these days. I have a lot of confidence. I think one of the keys to this game for Michigan in

winning it, especially on the defensive side of the ball, is what they've done all year, got to create turnovers. And I think he's – Milrow is that guy that is, you know, that's possible. Right? He's not going to just take a sack and, you know, play another down. He's going to try and do the Johnny football spin out and do crazy shit. You know? And he's

good at doing it a lot of the time, right? There's no doubt. He's probably, you know, let's be honest, he gets on the field, he's probably the best athlete on the field, right? Him and JJ are probably two of the best athletes on the field. So, you know, I do think, though, like you said at the beginning, Tanner, like if we can get to him and get in his face, get him on his heels early, and then all of a sudden he's throwing off his back foot,

he's unsure of his guys, I think that makes a huge difference. And, you know, I mean, listen, how many games have we not had a turnover in? Are there any? Good question. Maybe here or there. I don't know. But, you know, the thing going back to the mobile quarterbacks, I'm just thinking about it.

Like I'm trying to think on the schedule who Michigan has played with a somewhat mobile quarterback. I mean, Maryland, Nebraska, right? Like he didn't really do much. Wimpsat. Look, we're not comparing these guys to Jalen Millero and the Alabama offense. So if anybody's going to clip this, please don't. But I'm just thinking Michigan has been very disciplined in their rush lanes.

You don't see quarterbacks a lot of time for Michigan. Like Mason Graham, Kenneth Grant, Chris Jenkins are very disciplined. And so when that pressure comes and that pocket starts to collapse, most quarterbacks want to get up in it. I feel like Michigan has the guys that will stay disciplined and be able to make a play or at least let their guys rally to the ball and make the quarterback, you know, not just have a free lane to rush through. So that's where I think Michigan's defensive line is going to have to be big. Right. Because you want to be able to get that classic pass rush deep past the tackle, but you don't want to lose contain on him. So I'm sure that's a coaching point.

I'm sure that's something that's going to be very heavily emphasized. But yeah, I just feel like this defense with the guys in the back end, and they've all been playing amazing football. I mean, how many times do we talk about Makari Page? Never. And that's a good thing for his position, right? Like he is the last stop. He's the last line of defense. He's played fantastic. And then obviously we've talked a lot about Will Johnson, who's had a really strong close to the end of the year.

Rod Moore, Mike Sainer still don't need to talk too much about him because we know he's a stud. And then Josh Wallace as well. So, and look, this Alabama offense does not have a Jerry Judy. It does not have a Jalen Waddle. It does not have a Henry Ruggs, right? So I just feel like this is going to be a good matchup for Michigan's defense. And I think they can hold them to, you know, maybe 20, 24 points. And then that puts the onus on the offense. Can they get back to running the football? Can JJ get back in rhythm?

What does the O-line look like with a month to prepare with no Zach Zinter, right? Like, you know, we talked about the Iowa game and how frustrating it was to not be able to run the ball. And, yes, against Iowa you can do that, but what does the last month of practice look like for Carson Barnhart at guard and Trent at right tackle? Like, those are things that I think about when it comes to the offensive side of the ball for Michigan to be able to move the ball,

stay ahead of the chains, you know, get those quick hitters out, and then also be able to take deep shots. Like JJ needs to be able to sit in the pocket for at least a couple seconds. It can't be the Penn State game, right? Totally. And so to answer my own question there, we had one game without a turnover forced, and that was against UNLV, game two. We've had a turnover in every single game other than that. So, you know, it'd be shocking if we didn't get one, right? And I think that you could point to that, you know, as that's going to be an X factor in this game.

But, you know, to follow up after you, Tanner, I do want to talk about this offense now. To me, it was the first thing you said. We have to run the ball. You know, this Bama front seven is said. We have to run the ball. This Bama front seven is going to be a Bama front seven. I don't think they're the Georgia 2021 defense where they only have 11 players on defense, somehow have 15 first-round picks.

They're not that good, but there's still a lot of talent and a lot of beef on that front seven but you know what that's the reality again that's what you that's what you're playing against and if you really are you know a joe moore type offensive line you're gonna have to move those boys and you know in those last three games let's be honest, they didn't in the last call it four games with Penn State, Ohio State and Iowa. They weren't able to establish the run all that often. Obviously, they found a way to run to win those games. But, you know, I just think that you're going to be you're going to have to be able to get chunk yards on on runs, especially early in this game. Otherwise, it's going to be tough for J.J. to put this entire game on his back. He can't be second half versus TCU J.J. against the Alabama defense.

I would love him to, but I think you're going to need to establish and get Blake going right away if we want to win this game. I'm also looking forward to seeing some of our other skilled position players like kind of change the the national narrative on them. Right. Some of our, you know, Roman Wilsons or Cornelius Johnson or even big game Dono to kind of show up. Right. Some of these guys are going to need to play really well. And I think they're really good players and they have that ability, but I think this is the stage that they want. And this was a stage for them to really display it on.

And also like I was saying, Donovan Edwards, I just, I think he's got to have just a day and he should, this is like, it's kind of game done baby. They call it the money game for a reason, right? That was what the guys say. like his kind of game. Big game done, baby. Big game done. Yeah. They call it the money game for a reason, right? That was what the guys say. It's a money game. This is where you're going to – you can go from a third-round pick to a first-round pick or a fourth-round pick to a second-round pick

if you have a big game and vice versa, right? And so I agree with you. I think that a lot is going to be determined on what happens in this game for these guys' futures and everything like that. If you want to be the big dog on campus, you got to play well against the big dogs. And I think some of these guys are slept on. So that's where I go like, you know,

they have a real opportunity here to really display their talent. It's going to be tough, right, when you're going up against Kool-Aid McKinstry or something. Yeah. But don't – you know what? Don't sleep on my guy Peyton O'Leary as well. Don't be shocked if you see Peyton O'Leary in this game getting some ball. All right?

I'm all in on it. I think – I like what you're saying, Kalen, of just like, you know, they may have five stars. They may have all this stuff. We've got dogs too, right? We've guys that they're not going to be first round picks, but they're just as important, if not more important to this game and to this team. Like, don't be shocked when, you know, even Roman, he's not, he's not talked about on the national level anymore after, you know, their first seven-game stretch where he was catching two touchdowns a game.

He's a hell of a ball player, right? CJ, Cornelius Johnson, I still go back to it. You go back to that Ohio State game. My dad and I watched it on Christmas morning together. And there was the one fourth down down or was it a third? No, third down play where JJ's like scrambling to his right. He throws an insanely dangerous pass to the left and CJ goes completely sideways this way to catch the ball. Like there, those types of plays are going to win Michigan this game where it's just, you're not doing anything flashy, but they do what they need to do to win the game. And every single guy on both offense and defense

is going to have to contribute. Yeah, I mean, when you look at the Alabama defense, not only Kool-Aid McKinstry, who is mocked in the first round, you also have Terryon Arnold on the other side of the corner, who I think I've seen be mocked higher than Kool-Aid McKinstry. So two studs at corner. The receivers are going to have to be big. And then also they have Chris Braswell and Dallas Turner, both really, really good edge prospects. Dallas Turner was a guy I think Michigan finished second for in his recruitment.

Probably got a hellcat out of that. So you look at this defense, and to your point, Justin, guys got to make plays, man. You got to win your individual matchups, right? I mean, Roman Wilson, this is a potential big opportunity for him. Hell, if he has a great game against, you know, whether it's McKinstry or Arnold, who are both first-round picks at corner, like that could propel him into the second round,

maybe even the late first round, right? You always see a big run of receivers in the draft in recent years. I mean, I think there's been, what, eight, nine, ten guys in some drafts. So there's an opportunity for him to play himself in to that first round in the draft. But I also think about CJ. I think about Donovan, right? Justin, you made the point. Michigan against Penn State, they ran for 227 yards in that game. I think a lot of that was people were know, people were kind of, you know, it was a maligned, you know, play calling performance in the second half from Sharon. But when you look at that game, like remember the third and ten that JJ, it was just a design like sweep.

And he had Colell out there blocking for him, maybe Donovan blocking for him. It gets a first down. Donovan had a – didn't he have a touchdown on like a third and 13? Donovan had a big run. So Donovan's got to be involved in the run game but they also got to get him involved in the passing game like I I feel like we've been beating this drum for the last three seasons you have to utilize him in the pass game and this is another guy who could play his way up the draft boards if he has a big game like this should be a game where he gets at least eight targets in the past games honestly Honestly, like get him the ball.

Obviously you're going to run Blake. You're going to run Donovan in between the tackle still. Cause you want to have that threat, but you've got to get him involved in the past game. Like if you see him and I know that they like to try to get him out wide Donovan and bring him back in to see if it's man or zone, man, like let him line up out there.

Why not? Like I want to see, I want to see two back packages with Blake and Donovan. I want to see Cole in the game to not only run the ball ball but to be a lead blocker whether it's for jj for blake or donovan like he's michigan's best blocker at the running back position um and then the tight ends obviously like you need colson loveland to come up with big plays like he has in his career like you talk about big games colson loveland comes out in big games and plays his ass off like you have the Purdue game.

He had the touchdown against Ohio State last year. Obviously, Ohio State this year, he had, what, five catches for 100 yards. A.J. Barner hopefully gets involved. And Max Bredesen, too. Shout out to Kid Bredy. We need to see him mauling dudes in the run game. Absolutely. And Barner's a guy I think is like the perfect example of there.

I bet you 99 percent of Alabama fans don't have a clue who A.J. Barner is. Right. But you look at him in that Ohio State game and all year long, like he is a huge piece of this offense. He's just as capable as Colston Loveland at this point. He doesn't quite have the speed of Colston, right? And the athletic ability, but like he is a huge piece. We can go to AJ Barner all day long. So it's those types of guys that I think are like the X factors where, you know, Bama, obviously they're watching him and they're watching film, but they're not focused on AJ Barner, right? And so maybe you have him as a, you know, key piece to this. And, you know, I think that the last thing that I want to touch on here, that's probably

the most important thing that we've noticed in the last two years is you can't be shocked in the first two drives of what's happening. You can't, you can't have the lights be too bright here, right? You can't be like, oh shit, we're down 10-0, and now we're, all right, now we're getting in our rhythm, getting ready to play. You know, that was, even when we obviously had a success last year in those first two drives,

where we got down to the one yard line and that's when it happened, but, you know, you've got to be ready to go from the moment the ball is kicked, that first kickoff, right? So, you know, I do think that they'll be more ready than the last two years. Year one of, you know, against Georgia in 2021, first of all, that team was maybe the greatest team of all time in college football, right? But they were not ready to smack and hit with those guys.

Last year, they're too confident, right? So when things all of a sudden went wrong for the first time all year, it was like, oh, shit, we got to figure this out. This year, you have to come out and be like, all right, we're playing super disciplined. We're not making mistakes from the get-go. You have to go out, hit them hard, come out with a trick play or a special wrinkle right from the get-go, put them on their heels.

I think back to 2021 Iowa in the Big Ten Championship game where it was like we were shot out of a cannon in that game, right, where you have the throw from Donovan to Roman. You have the Blake run where JJ's running in front of him and Lee blocking. We've got to have that kind of a jump start to this game and get out in front and get some momentum with that big Michigan crowd as well.

I love that take. It would be so nice to be on the other end of that, right? I mean, you think back like last year, you know, the Phillies. I mean, Michigan started great, right? We talked about talked about we joked about it the donovan run uh could have scored there i mean you know right up the middle um and then you get down and jj makes a hell of a play to almost score to get it to what fourth and two and then you run the philly special thanks matt appreciate that buddy uh but you think about 21 right like shell shock like oh shit it's 14 nothing and they're moving the ball at will.

And then you got Jordan Davis at 350 pounds chasing down Blake Corum on a stretch play and you're like, oh shit, right? And then you even go back to 2019, Jerry Judy burns Dax Hill, first play of the game. Shout out Don Brown. 2018, you get shell shocked by Florida. 2016, Florida State comes up to a huge lead, right?

And then 2015 was the first year with Harbaugh. So it's like, can we be on the other side of this, right? Like how much fun would it be to have that Big Ten championship experience against Iowa two years ago where it's like, oh, Blake Corum, 70-yard touchdown run. Donovan Edwards, 75-yard touchdown pass. I want to see a Donovan pass, by the way. Bring it out.

Like Donovan, if he could have got one more step, that would have been six. Can you imagine how electric that place would have would have been if he had thrown a touchdown to go up two scores i may have levitated out of there to be honest but like yeah sharon jim everybody involved kurt campbell like it needs to be the best scripted opening drive of your lives like it has to be you need to go and get points like i like last year i think the momentum just got just just drowned out at that point i mean in tc i don't think tc went down and scored i think michigan forced a punt because will johnson had a great pass breakup um again i have like weird memory when it comes to sports like it's like

rain man like a savant yeah we joked about that at the Super Bowl last year, or this year. But, yeah, like I think for Michigan, it really is about coming out, starting hot, and I have no doubt that these guys can do that. If you go back, there's one game, speaking of having a weird memory for football, 2022 at Iowa. Go back to that first drive. We had like an 8 or 10 play drive, something like that. It was like perfectly scripted.

Ronnie Bell, you know, we're just hitting every out route, every crossing route, every run was like it worked to perfection. That's the kind of drive that you have to have. So if you're listening out there, go rewatch that game, go rewatch that first drive. That's what I want to come out to. It doesn't have to be a 75 yard touchdown. Listen, I'm not going to be mad if it is.

I promise you that. But go and prove to Bama, prove to the world, prove to yourselves that, hey, we can run with these boys. You know, we can push them around. We can establish the run. We can establish the run. We can do all that. That's what I want to see. And at that point, if that happens,

I think the confidence will be flushing through these boys. It's like, all right, here we go. Now we're settled in. Let's go do that same thing again. Speaking of running with these boys, I think what would make my 2024 start in the most incredible way is, you know, we have a running package with Alex Orji. Haven't seen him throw the ball.

So nothing would make my year more than a little Alex Orji flea flicker for 60 yards in maybe the third quarter, right? Nobody really sees it coming. Oh, man. I'm excited. I think you will see an orgy pass in this game. I agree. It just makes too much sense.

But also maybe, you know, we're Michigan fans, Michigan self-scouts. Maybe they're like, well, we haven't done it. They're going to be expecting it. So maybe there's something else. It's like a game of chess, right? It's like, what do I want to do? What does the opponent think I'm going to do? What i do to play off of their you know so there's so many different ways you can take that how many how many times back and forth you go right yeah

yeah i know that you know that i know right like that thing but yeah yeah i mean i'm with you that iowa game is a perfect example it really set the tone ronnie bell gets a touchdown on that on that sweep i'd love to see more motion michigan has not a ton of sweeps Samaj could potentially be a guy hey look he's from Michigan maybe he doesn't have that SEC speed but he's a 4-3 kid right we saw it in the Big Ten Championship we saw it against Purdue we've seen him make big plays with the ball in his hands he's got a full season of college football under his belt right maybe needs a couple more seasons of media training but we don't need to talk about that right now. But the kid is going to make a play, in my opinion, in this game. I just think he's too talented, and I think he'll have some

opportunities, whether it's a screen. I mean, they ran the screens to perfection against Penn State. So I think Michigan needs to be able to keep Alabama off balance. And I just, yeah, I think you're spot on, man. Michigan needs to come out and get to a hot start. One thing I do want to see, real quick, I'm going to add this. I want to see Roman Wilson utilized in motion more. Like, against Michigan State, against some other teams that I can't recall right now, I don't have that Rain Man ability at the moment. Like, get him in motion.

Get him going, you know, get the defender going one way. Get him a, just a quick, you know, five-yard whip route. Like, just get him the ball in space and let's, you know, five yard whip route, like just get him the ball in space. And let's, you know, let's see if our athletes can, can match up with their athletes, you know, because everybody thinks that they can't, but we all know they can. A hundred percent. I love it. I love it. And I, I, you know, a lot of people are like, oh, I'm so scared because we're giving Nick Saban 30 days to, you know, an entire month to prep for us. How about Jim Harbaugh a month to prep? He's a pretty fucking good coach. He knows what he's doing. You know, obviously saving is

one of the greatest of all times, but when you put it all together, Jim Harbaugh is one of the greatest of all time too. And, you know, I love our assistant coaches. I feel like we're going to go into this with a great game plan. You know, even if what we just talked about doesn't happen, even if we do get down 10-0, something like that, you know, where this team is different, where these last three teams were different than the previous decade was if we get down in this game, we're not scared. We're not curdling. You know, the first four drives, you know, of the Ohio State game,

our offense wasn't doing shit, right? And then Will Johnson gets a pick, and you make a play, and you're fine, right? And so I think that, you know, just staying level-headed, no matter what happens in this game, and not ever counting yourself out, no matter what happens, or if you're up not coasting right you gotta pedal to the metal and know that they're gonna you know you gotta play four quarters there is the reality um so i think that's all i have do you guys have anything else you want to touch on before we uh take off i would like to quote a very well-known man, Ric Flair. To beat the man, to beat the man, you got to beat the man.

I messed it up. But I think for what Michigan has kind of gone through the last few years, it doesn't matter, right? Like, oh, they can't win in the playoffs. I've heard that a lot. I have Notre Dame fans that are friends, and they love to be like, oh, because everybody gets on Notre Dame right when they get in the playoff, and so now it's starting to be the same thing with Michigan

yeah but although all the stuff that's happened the last couple years in the playoffs for Michigan to come out and you beat Alabama like that's gonna feel even sweeter than it would it's gonna feel amazing if they win either way but like it would feel a lot sweeter than beating Florida State because then I would be like oh they didn't have their quarterback blah blah blah right so to go and play Alabama could be a blessing to just kind of get that proverbial monkey off the back and then you go into houston potentially and you've got everything on the line and you know you've already slayed you've already slayed the dragon right like alabama is that team georgia's won the last couple but alabama has been that team for the last 15 years since nick saban's been there so that's my take

man i can't wait i'm excited nervous anxious all the emotions, and it's going to be a glorious day at Pretzel Bell. Just us talking about it has me now anxious and not nervous but excited, which I think is – I'm much more feeling – going back to what you said, the Ohio State game, I was way more excited than I was nervous ever. I wasn't nervous until, to be honest, that last drive. Thank God it ended our way. Shout out Rod Moore.

Trust in Rod we trust. So, yeah, man, I'm pumped. Listen, I've said it before, and I'll end it on this. If there was ever a team that I believed could do this, it's this team right here. It's absolutely this team. They've got all the tools. They've got the coaches. They've got the culture. They've got the guys that they want

to do this. I feel like Jim Harbaugh feels the exact same. I trust in Jim. I trust in these guys. Let's go get a dub, man. Let's go win the fucking Rose Bowl.

You got any score predictions or anything? Score predictions? I can't even do it. I don't think I'm there. We could win two to nothing and I'd be the happiest man on the planet. You and Kirk Ferentz both, my friend. We'll end it there uh for us you can follow us at blue by 90 on twitter instagram facebook at blue by 90 podcast on youtube and blue by 90.com

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