Blue By Ninety - Stadium & Main | Michigan Unleashes Bryce Underwood

Episode Date: September 16, 2025

Chris Wormley and Jordan Strack discuss Michigan’s dominant 63-3 victory over CMU and look ahead to the Big Ten opener vs. Nebraska.

All right. Welcome into Stadium in Maine with Big Worm and Strack. I am Jordan Strack on the other side of the screen. That is Chris Wormley. It is episode three. We are teaming up this year with Blue by 90. We will have new episodes coming out every Tuesday during the football season. Hope everybody is enjoying what we've put on tape so far. And we'll just keep getting better throughout this thing, Worm. And just like the Wolverines, who certainly got better this week. A nice win over Central Michigan. And that's exactly where we're going to start today. The Big win over CMU. Michigan out gained the chips 6-16 to 139 and all-around dominant performance. Did you have a good weekend, though, first off? Yeah, weekend was great. Obviously, any time the boys in Maze and Blue can get a win, it's positive. And sitting on my couch watching it, I enjoyed every bit of it. Good, good. I'm glad.

All right, let's talk about Bryce Underwood, first off. I think that was obviously the big thing, Michigan unleashing Bryce. Underwood. We had been talking about that the last couple of weeks. He was 16 and 25 passing, 235 yards. The big thing that stands out, obviously, is the nine carries, 117 yards, two touchdowns. What kind of jumped off the page at you about Bryce's performance in this game? I mean, I think as a freshman, as a first year starter, as a young kid, you're always going to, at least for me, I'm watching. How is he going to respond to the adversity that they were in last week.

Was he going to come out flat? Was he going to come out nervous, jittery? What was his mindset going to be? And not just him, but the whole entire team. So when I saw him kind of come out with the swag that he had that first game, and really, like you said, on Leash, it was positive to see. It was exciting to see him run the ball. I think everybody that follows the maze in blue wanted that to happen.

And it happened, and it was great to see. I thought there were a couple things that really stood. out in the game. You know, Jake Butt mentioned, I think this during the broadcast a couple of times, we all know the fastball is unbelievable. When he's winding up and letting it rip, it's as good as anybody in the sport. I thought the couple throws, the touchdown passes Samaj where he kind of floats one in, there was a layered pass down the sideline.

There were a couple things in the game that, that to me, really stood out. And I thought those were, those were two of the better throws. in the game. But to me, it was his decision-making. I mean, he did run the football. We've all, you know, we've all been clamoring for it. We've all been begging for Bryce to run the football. But there were only two designed runs in that game.

Everything else was his, just his decision-making. When things are breaking down or when he sees something, obviously the one touchdown run is a design throw on a rollout to the right. And he just sees everything as an 18-year-old kid kind of unraveling. He makes a decision to cut. back across the field runs in for a touchdown his decision making i thought was what stood out to me outside of the one interception where it was kind of a chuck and prey uh but that's what freshmen do like it's going to happen once in a while we just hope it doesn't happen a ton i thought his decision

making was really good and and that's when that's when he can be really dangerous yeah i think when you allow him to kind of use all the tools in his toolbox to to be dominant like he was on Saturday, you see those types of decisions. And obviously he's going to make some mistakes, and that's no quarterback's going to be perfect. And obviously that interception, I bet you he wishes he had back, and everybody on that team wishes that. But like you said, his decision making, his fastball throws to his kind of layered touch passes, I thought were really good. I thought they were on time. I thought they were the decisions that he made throughout the game, whether he was going to throw the ball or take off and run, I thought were really,

calculated. You never want to just run just for the sake of running because you want to, you know, feel like you're contributing to the team. He's out there, you know, taking and tucking the ball and running when he wants to. And it was, I thought, all of his runs, maybe for maybe one or two where he could have, where he should have ran and he made the right decision. So I think you're right with his decision making is really, really, I would say exceptional for a young kid, for a kid who, like I talked about you want that adversity you want to check and see how he's going to handle that adversity and I thought on Saturday back at home with 110,000 streaming fans I thought he handled it pretty well so there was a comment made after the game from Biff where he said they had made

the decision to take the air out of the ball at Oklahoma and they have kind of taken that into consideration and now the training wheels are off and all that going forward when you look back now at the Oklahoma game and you hear him say that was the case that the fact that they took the air out of the ball and that was all by design do you think a they regret it and B was at the wrong decision you never want to have regrets in life especially in the football world but yeah you got to look back and be like what were we thinking a you kind of have to you know we talk about you know him being unleashed or you know taking the bricks off of things.

And it's when you have a guy like him, when you have a player like of his caliber, you don't quite know what you have, but you have to test it out. You've got to test it out against, especially big opponents, especially on a road game like that where it was going to take a lot of things going well

to win that football game. But when you look back, it's like for a lot of the game, it was a one possession game. And they had a lot of opportunities. I thought to, you know, tie it up, get it closer. and when you see that, it's frustrating.

When you hear a quote like that, it's especially for a defensive guy, you're like, when I look at that quote, it's, I don't think that's on Bryce. I think that's on the defense. Like, you don't trust us to hold up an Oklahoma offense. Obviously, they're with Mateer and that offensive coordinator. They've been together for a while and can, you know, dial up some plays. But if you would have told me 24 points is all that Oklahoma was going to score,

I'd be like Michigan won the game. And when you hear a quote like that, especially as a defensive player, I would have taken offense to that. And maybe that's not what they meant, but a quote like that, taking the air out, it doesn't have anything to do with the offense, in my opinion. That was, I would have taken that as directed as the defense, directed towards the defense. Interesting.

All right, let's go back to this running thing. You're a defensive guy. You've played on the defensive line your entire life. When there's a running quarterback on the other side, what kind of pressure is that adding to you? as a defender I mean it starts in game planning from you know usually start game planning Monday and Tuesday of that week and you have to account for another runner an extra runner an extra blocker too because now the running back can can can can block for the for the

quarterback even if you don't plan on using you know running the ball a bunch with your quarterback whether it's you know I've talked about Lamar Jackson a bunch I know being playing against him and game playing against him and playing with him that it adds that level of of not worry but you have to you have to practice it in scout team you have to practice it against the scout team all all all week it takes away or it can take away from you know what that team's really going to do throughout that week and throughout the game so it adds a layer of game planning it adds a layer of x's and o's and scheming and who has the quarterback and who takes the quarterback, who takes the dive, who takes the read, all those things play into it

that you have to practice throughout the week. So it just adds another layer of game planning and scheming. And I mean, I remember, you know, playing against Lamar, it's you wake up, you think about it, you're in meetings, you're thinking about it. So it's on your mind all week. And it just it's a pain in the ass, I would say, to scheme up and game plan against. Yeah. That's exactly. I obviously am not a defensive lineman. But yeah, it feels like that's exactly. It's a pain in the ass to have to try to prepare for. All right, let's talk about the interception because,

and I don't think we'd be talking about it if it wasn't, if it wasn't one of those like, wait, what in the world was he thinking? Are those times where you just kind of, you know, you chalk it up to a freshman being a freshman and thinking that he's invincible sometimes and maybe those are some reality checks that are good for him? yeah i would say a reality check i mean it was quadruple coverage when you look at it it's like okay there was one blue jersey 50 yards down field with five guys uh five white jerseys it's like okay

that's that's not what you want but also it's like you got to take chances you got to you know throw it up to a player you trust and see if they can make a play because uh it could turn into something really positive um it was more or less a punt for the for the offense on that drive But you want to limit those kind of throw it up, Hail Mary type plays, especially when you don't really need to as, you know, they won by 60 points. So it wasn't like they were trying to get back into a game or, I mean, I would have liked to see that maybe last week against the Sooners,

you know, let's see if we can get a play going and throw the ball downfield and have one of our better players make a play. But you want to limit those mistakes and those kind of, I said I chalked it up to him just being a freshman. Like that, those are fresh mistakes. he's going to learn from it and as he progresses throughout not this only this season, but for the rest of his career, you hope those are at a limit. I am much more appreciative that that's on film against Central Michigan in a game where

they go blow them out and he has a chance to go back and look at it and say, all right, yeah, I probably shouldn't have done that. All right, let's move on here. So Biff as the interim coach, I mean, the guy with a microphone is unbelievable. He has, I mean, like, there's definitely like some Harbaughisms or tight responses from him. Right after the game, he called Bryce Batman, said that he had a Labrador retriever that could coach the guy. What have you thought of, of Biff as the interview? Yeah, I mean, he's great for clips.

He's great for those kind of one-liners. But Biff is maybe one of the most well-rounded guys I've ever met. I think he came to the program the first time, either my junior or senior year. And I've known Biff for a while. His son, Henry, played with me for four years at Michigan. So I knew him kind of just as one of the dads of one of my teammates. But when you dive a little deeper into what Biff is really about, he's one of a kind. And obviously he's really good at coaching football.

He's really good at making a lot of money in his past career. I think he was a hedge fund manager. And I got to spend some time with him in Baltimore as well. He went back after being with Michigan and was coaching at St. Francis Academy and got those boys to a national powerhouse. He did that before with, I think, the school was called Gilman, where Henry Pogi went in Baltimore. So he's a great person to be around, a great person to having your car.

And obviously, Michigan's in great hands until Sharon comes back because that guy loves ball. And I was just hoping he was going to wear his torn off V-neck, cut-off shirt on the sidelines. But I think being at a place like Michigan, Ward Manual probably said, hey, let's put on some long sleeves and let's get through these next two weeks. So I don't know if you noticed it on the broadcast. There was a shot of him on the sideline. And I think he had like a jacket on and he starts to take the jacket off.

Yes. I thought that's what was coming. I thought, oh, my God, he's literally going to have to put his hat back on. And like the back of the hat was like kind of wrinkled, folded underneath. And it was just, but I mean, when a guy like that, you know, is all about ball. He doesn't care what he looks like. He doesn't care what his hat looks like or what shirt he wears. He's about winning.

And, you know, they took care of. business on Saturday. So I think people kind of see like Biff the caricature. What does he actually like X's and O's wise and as a football coach? When I was with him the first year or whatever, he was more of just like Harbaugh's kind of confidant, I would say. And he wasn't really about the X's and O's. But when you look at what he does with each place he's been at, he produces, I think Charlotte, he got a bad rap. Just that program was. not, I don't think too many people would be able to succeed there. But everywhere he goes, wherever he goes, he touches gold.

And he not only is about the X's and O's, but he's about improving the young man to continue on way after football, life after football. He's shoveling out his own money. He's putting in resources to programs that needed a lot like St. Francis when he was there for a few years back in Baltimore. But he's about developing the man, not just about football, but for life and, and continuing to have success life after football. It's, it's really cool to be a small part of it.

Yeah, and now he's going to get one more week as the Michigan head coach before Sharon comes back. All right, let's go to the defense because I thought the defense was outstanding. I get it at central Michigan, like, whatever. But the big change was J. Sean Barham as an edge rusher. what was your impression it looks impressive i mean he looks it looks like he's a guy that is built to be an edge rusher and could be an NFL guy uh he has all you know he passes the eye test obviously what did you think of him as an edge rusher i thought he looked really natural uh when i saw him

the i think might be in the first play of the game he had the sack and then he had a sack a little later on in the game and i was like okay that is kind of like micha parsons i don't want to you know, compare him too much to Michael Parsons, but Michael Parsons back at Penn State was playing inside linebacker and then would put his hand in the dirt and go rush the passer. And you see the type of career he's having now. He's making $47 million a year as a premier, premier edge rusher.

And I think if Barham continues to progress in the patch rush, we could see a similar trajectory for him. Also, little side note, for all those people that were hating on wink, you know we saw him move barham to the edge i said i said it from you know the first episode as the weeks go on winks going to find places to put his players to be the best version of themselves and for them to succeed and i think that was you know the first of many successes that we're going to see of players not just fitting into one role and being an inside linebacker like barham now we're going to see him on the edge and we're going to see

him have a lot of success and I'm chalking that one up to me I'll take I'll take uh credit for that even though I haven't talked to week haven't talked to barham nobody but for all for all the Twitter people out there it was I'm taking credit for that is wink slide new checks or something like is he what's what's the deal every week you have to all right yeah keep it quiet I wish I wish no wink wings wings wings all his money on uh on golf so okay okay uh I just think that it the move to put barram there i think it also is aided by the fact that you've got some depth at linebacker um you've got guys that can step in there and play i mean jimmy rolder coles olivin obviously houseman um i think troy bulls looks like he's going to be an absolute stud

uh obviously he's got the pedigree but he looks like a freak uh when he got in there and had some free runs at the end of that game he looks like a guy that can play I think because you've got some depth at linebacker, you can do some creative things now. And, you know, even with Barham, like if you need him to drop in coverage from the D-line because you're disguising something, like there's a lot of possibilities,

it feels like, when you move him up there. Yeah, I mean, definitely when the more players you have that can contribute at a high level, like a linebacker room has, and Wink is a former linebacker's coach, so he understands that position really well, you can do a lot of different things. You can move players around and put them in the best position to win. But, yeah, I think the linebacker room is going to have success for the foreseeable future

next three, four, five years because of the talent that they have. But, yeah, when you have a guy like Barham who can do a little bit of everything, and then you see, okay, these younger guys can come in and produce at a high level as well, it's really exciting. Maybe you can have three, four linebackers out there. especially when it comes to some of these, you know, these teams in the Big Ten that like to run the football. It's going to be interesting to see how they use those four or five linebackers moving forward.

For sure. Obviously, let's touch on the injury issues right now. It feels like, you know, the injury report came out before the game, and it felt like the entire roster was on the injury report in one way or another. L. Hadi, I think, is a big deal. It sounds like he's going to be out again this week, and it might be a couple week thing for him. I thought Jake Gornera stepped in was really good the other day at Guard.

There's a couple guys, I think, that are getting some run right now that are getting shots. You know, the injuries suck. Like, there's no doubt about that. But right now at this point of the year, you're getting other guys are getting shots to step in and play. And, you know, that opens up a lot of possibilities for other guys to, that maybe otherwise wouldn't get a look.

if you're a player and a guy in front of you goes down kind of what is your mindset I mean I can speak personally from that my my best year as a professional player came after two guys went down for with with season ending injuries and I ended up having seven sacks that year and 50 tackle so I can speak personally of that you always have to have that mentality like it's always next man up mentality but you also have to have the mentality of, you know, I'm a starter, I can play, whether that's, you know, delusion or whether that's just having that mentality of no matter what happens, I need to know the playbook, I need to know the game plan, I need to know the scheme for the week, I need to know, you know, what's it

going to take for me to step in if somebody does go down. And when it's, it's exciting to see those guys kind of fill in and play at a high level. And it doesn't seem like there's too much of a, you know, a beat loss when it comes to, you know, the left guard spot with Alhadi being down. But also it gives you a chance to look at your players and kind of evaluate them in game and with live reps moving forward. But you never want to see a guy go down. You never want to see somebody get hurt.

But any chance that you get, especially if you're a backup, to prove what you have and to make plays and be productive is huge. Speaking of some of the backups, guys getting a chance, I don't know how close you were paying attention to the end of the game. I actually personally love those blowout type games because I loved some of these guys getting to get into the games and play that are the future and all those things. And, you know, we had heard about Jasper Parker as a running back throughout camp and everybody's kind of talking about, okay, this kid's going to be a stud.

And then he gets in and you see him and you're like, all right, yeah, I can see it. Like he looks like he's going to be a good player. Troy Bowles was the other one that really stood out to me. Georgia transfer, his dad is obviously an NFL head coach. He's got the pedigree. Were there some of the young guys that got to step up? And do you remember your kind of first time that you got to get into a game when you're at Michigan? Yeah, I mean, my first game ever playing at Michigan was against Central Michigan.

And, you know, it's the first time playing again, you know, in front of 110,000 people. All your adrenaline's pumping. when you're ready to go in and when you finally get in, it's like, your mind kind of goes blank. You kind of lose train of thought, but like it's like, okay, at that point in the game, it's all basic calls. So you've run the play a million times in camp and in spring ball.

So that's not really too big of a factor. But yeah, you're excited to get in there and show, you know, if you can make a play, maybe you get a couple more snaps throughout the game. But another guy that was really impressive to me was Marsh, the receiver, I think number four. If that connection can continue to grow over not even just this season, but the next couple of years because he's a true freshman as well.

I think that's going to be a huge, huge plus for Bryce moving forward. But yeah, there's a lot of young guys that impressed me, a lot of young guys. I mean, even Jordan Marshall, like he had a, you know, we knew kind of the player he was going to be coming off the bowl game last year, struggled a little bit the first two weeks. And now he, you know, it looks like he's kind of ramping things up to solidify. We knew he was going to be, you know, running back too. But to compliment Haynes in a big way, I think we saw a little bit of that on Saturday. Saturday. For sure. I think there's a lot of a lot of young guys in there that that got a shot.

It was good to see. That was one of those, like I, I kind of said at the end of the last week, it was, you know, you're playing central Michigan. You're coming off a loss against Oklahoma. Just kind of wanted like a no bullshit game. Just go out and kick somebody's ass and don't deal with any, don't have to deal with any of the stuff late. Just go win and make it look, make it look impressive and make everybody feel good going forward. And I felt like that that's exactly what they did this week. They took care of business. And there was nothing, there was no question about it. You never felt worried at any point. They just went in and won. And that's exactly what the doctor ordered in my mind for last week. Yeah, there was a lady at the gym this morning

was, she came with me, she was like, you're Wolverines. They put a beating on this, on, on the, on central Michigan, and they need to have compassion and they need to, you know, let up on the score. And I'm like, maybe if it was like my kindergarten daughter's like t-ball game you know everybody gets a trophy everybody everybody everybody nobody gets out but like this is i mean this is essentially professional football now with with nil and and you want to especially when there's there's been some doubts on you know a b and c of what was going on you know the week before with oklahoma it's like they wanted to come out and show like you said no BS no no messing around they came out they one by 60. Yes, it was a max school, but I think it put people on notice that this is going

to be a different looking Michigan, especially offense moving forward. But yeah, there's no compassion when it comes to, at least the score. You know, you want to be a good sportsman. You want to play fair and all that. But when it comes to the score, you're trying to run it up. Yeah, I felt very good coming off of this week. And we'll get in Nebraska in just a little bit. but first uh all right so you and i are are both northwest ohio guys i think a lot of people that probably follow us on social media are northwest ohio guys we've got a lot of bucky friends uh so we're going to do a little rivalry report each week uh i just added this in because i felt like it uh let's let's let's check in we'll talk about the buck guys a little bit we'll

talk about michigan stages a little bit but before we do any of that uh i don't know if people realize or maybe it's been a little while maybe people forget uh we go back to one of probably the most memorable play you've ever well one of the most memorable plays i was i know i i was just i it just kind of i it just kind of clicked with me that you were also in the michigan state play too uh that was yeah that was yeah i didn't drop the punt i'm not a punner but i was on the field yeah you i you were you were the one chasing him down at the end of that i forgot about that it all kind of came back it's like i had PTSD right there i can't imagine it for you i'm sorry i've always wondered how

that would have changed the trajectory of kind of everything that was going on and the way that the Harbaugh arrow was going and watching, you know, once one win happened, the way that the trajectory has changed the last few years. I always wondered. I was on the field that day covering the game. I was standing. I was on, ironically, the Michigan sideline. And I remember it. And I live, I thought 100% they stopped him. It's all. And I just. And then I, it obviously sucked the rest of the day. But, like, that was, it was one of those things. I've always wondered how it would have changed a trajectory for sure.

But let's check in with the Buckeyes. Obviously, they beat Ohio 37 to 9 the other night. They've got to buy this week, and then they go out to Washington next week. Did you catch any of the, the Buckeye game against Ohio on Saturday night? No. I try not to watch them. The segment's going great then.

That's awesome. No, I mean, unless, I mean, it was a close game up until, but wasn't a close game. And, I mean, Ohio's got a good team. They just beat West Virginia, you know, the week before. I think they're going to compete with Toledo for the Mac championship this year. But Ohio State has so much firepower, so many weapons on both sides of the ball. I think they have two of the best players in the nation in Caleb Downs and that receiver.

So it's Jeremiah Smith, yes. Jeremiah Smith, yeah, he's, they're two phenomenal, you know, going to be top 10 picks whenever they decide to come out. But when you have a team like Ohio State who won the national championship last year, they're not only the top dogs in the Big Ten, they're the top dogs in all of college football. So that's going to be a fun game in two months when they come up here and play in Ann Arbor against the Wolverines. But they are looking like the team to beat still. And if I was a betting man, I would put some money on them to win it all again.

It's hard to go up against a team like that when you have. so many so many weapons so many ways to to beat you to score to to stop you on defense the only team that has really beat ohio state uh the last few years has been michigan so i'm i'm looking forward to that game uh so i do i actually i watch a lot of ohio state football i don't know if it's a because i'm a glutton for punishment or because most of my family's buckeye fans but you know like i obviously i pay very close attention to what they do and they're legit they're 100% legit they are very good they do have some questions though i think they're starting to figure some stuff out too they i think figured out that they probably have a really

talented running back with bow jackson i think julian say and is going to continue to get better ryan day is as good of a quarterback developer as there is in the country uh they've got two stud at least two stud riders they probably have three or four really uh they've got maybe the best tight end in Big Ten. Is this a Michigan podcast or sorry? Hold on. Chill out.

Chill out. Is this a lot of podcast? I'll get there. But the point is is that they have all of that. And then I see the picture. Somebody posted this picture the other day of, you know,

the five Buckeye receivers all sitting around. And then I'm like, wait a minute. I've gone down this road and I've said all of these things about Ohio State in the past. Like, oh God, how do you beat them? And then they get to the Michigan game and they,

folded the last four years so like yeah i watch them and there's maybe a little hate watch but then they get to the michigan game and it's the same result the last few years i and i don't want to say it's setting up for that again but i feel like it could set up for that again yeah i mean it's looking like it's looking like they're going to go undefeated i think they play penn state this year so that'll be a huge game to watch i hope they're excited yeah i'm excited for that one um but yeah it's michigan's the only team that can that can that can beat them in the shoe. They're in Ann Arbor at the big house this year. Michigan's trying to make it five in a row against the, against the Buckeyes, which is something that I can only dream

of doing. But it's looking like they're going to be undefeated this year until they get to the last game of the year. We'll see how it happens. But anything can happen. But like I said, I think they're the team to beat this year in college football. Yeah. And as we get down the road here on this podcast, when we get to Michigan, Ohio State Week, we get the Michigan, Michigan State Week. hopefully we get some cool stuff planned for those uh michigan state by the way survived against youngstown state they have to play an 11 p.m game on saturday michigan state does out at usc 11 p.m eastern uh that's brutal by the way like for fans in east lansing that sucks yeah i mean i don't i don't know because in the NFL we would leave uh usually a day earlier

uh if we're playing a west coast team i've only played on east coast time teams. So anytime we would go out to Seattle, San Francisco, you know, the L.A. teams, we would leave a day early. I don't know how that works in college with class and whatnot, but it's a pain to, it's a pain to play three-hour time difference. But Michigan State's looking like, looking like they're competing this year. In the last few years, they haven't been as competitive as I know the Spartan fans would have wanted, but they look like they got a team this year that's competing, that's playing hard. And I think they're going to shock some people this year with, the final record of the year.

But it's a big test. USC is ranked again. They're a top 25 team now. So it's going to be interesting to see how the Spartans, you know, play against them. Maybe watch four plays before I fall asleep at 1115, but I'll catch the highlights on that one for sure. I think that's a game that kind of tells you the trajectory of the rest of their season. And that leads me right into Michigan against Nebraska this week.

Saturday 3.30, Michigan, a one and a half point favorite this week against Cornhuskers. And I think it feels like the same exact thing for me. It feels like, you know, for Michigan State going to USC, it's going to tell me kind of how the rest of their season is going to go. I feel the same way about Michigan at Nebraska. If Michigan goes into Nebraska and gets a win, I start thinking 10 and 2. That's just kind of like you start thinking 10 and 2 and 11 and 1 potential. If you lose it, Nebraska, it feels like, okay, maybe things aren't going to go the way you hope.

Nebraska's 3 and O, the schedule is not good. I don't feel like they've been tested quite yet since Natty was fine. Like, it's not, they're not world beaters. But they haven't been tested yet. It just feels like this is a huge, huge game for Michigan to figure out where they're going, going forward. Absolutely. When you have another road test, you get to play in Lincoln Memorial Stadium. I would have loved to have played there at my time at Michigan.

Another one of those kind of blue blood college programs, they pack 100,000 people in there. I think at their stadium, their fans are rowdy. So to be able to play at a place like that, I think, is really cool. It's another test, especially for the defense with a quarterback in Riola, who's supposed to be the next kind of big-time quarterback over these next couple years coming out in Nebraska. It'll be a good test for them. It'll be a good test for Bryce to kind of compete against another young kind of rising star in a quarterback. That's always kind of the game within the game that you play, especially as a quarterback. You know, you want to outshine that

quarterback on the other team. But I think their goal this week, especially the offense, is to run the ball. Not because we don't want, we want to take the air out of the ball, but I was looking at some of the stats and I think Nebraska's run defense is like 16th in the in the conference. I don't know how many of these are on 10, probably 16, but if they can get those two backs in Mains and Marshall going early and kind of open up things, I think that'll allow Bryce to play more free to lean on them and not have to play Superman, but you know, because he's Batman. But it's going to be a huge test.

I'm excited for the boys to go on in a high. into a hostile environment and come out with the win. I'm expecting them to win. I think the Oklahoma game certainly did them a ton of favors for this week. I think this is your first road test. I, you know, maybe I have a couple more question marks. The fact that they were able to go play in a really tough building in Oklahoma against a good team, I think that helps so much.

I think that's just a total game changer going forward. because I mean if you're talking this is Bryce's first road start and all those things I don't feel nearly as good now that he's checked a lot of those boxes I actually feel pretty good about going into this week I don't know what the pundits they're saying or giving Michigan a chance or whatever but like I actually feel okay about Michigan's chances this week yeah make no mistake this Nebraska team is is not anywhere near the type of team that Oklahoma is I think Oklahoma is surprising a lot of people you know, early on in this college football season.

Nebraska's defense isn't anywhere near what Oklahoma's defense was, and I don't think Ryola yet is what Mater is. And just in terms of experience and mature decision-making, I think he's got a lot of talent, Rayola. I think he has a lot of potential to rise up to be a first-round quarterback in a couple years. But Michigan should be able to go in there and learn from their mistakes from two weeks ago, build off of their successes from this past Saturday at home

and continue to kind of build the narrative or build their identity of who they're going to be moving forward because like you said, there's still some questions. There's still some answers or questions that need to be answered in terms of who this team is as a whole. And a win in Nebraska, I think, would check off a lot of those boxes and answer a lot of those questions that we still have. The difference between going into the buy three and one as opposed to two and two is astronomical in my mind.

It's a huge difference, huge difference. And in my mind, the trajectory of the season kind of can be determined in that three and a half hours in Nebraska coming up this weekend. All right, where am anything else you want to get out there before we say goodbye to the folks? I think that's it. we talked to you know we talked some good ball um i'm excited to watch bryce continue to mature continue to progress in in his his young journey but um it's going to take a team effort to beat the the cornhuskers and i'm excited to watch them i am as well it should be a good one that's saturday 3 30 it's on cbs uh all right every tuesday during the football season warm and i'll be here discussing uh whatever

the hell's going on on the football field and probably a little bit of stuff that's going on off the field. We appreciate you. Of course, make sure you're keeping your eyes on all the blue by 90 social pages for these podcasts to drop and share these things with all your friends and let them know. We will see you back here coming up next week. Go Blue.