Blue By Ninety - The future of Michigan Football

Episode Date: November 10, 2020

AP sports writer, Larry Lage, joins the boys to discuss last week's loss in Bloomington, Jim Harbaugh, the current state of the Michigan football team as well as what to expect in years to come. Crack a cold one and enjoy the show. 

This is the University of Michigan. Touchdown, Michigan! The Beats of Michigan! And they've caught extra pass. And it goes for the win! The three-pointer by Jordan Poole! Down the sideline! Peebles jumps!

Touchdown, Wolverines. All right. Welcome back to Blue by 90. It is the, what week is it now? Wisconsin week. Wisconsin week. We'll just go with it. Hopefully COVID week. It's COVID week slash Wisconsin week. The football team is in absolute shambles.

The whole program is over with. But I'm going to start us out on a positive note, boys. The basketball program is at unprecedented levels. Like, we are rolling. Business is booming for Juwan Howard and the boys. So, I'm feeling pretty good. Like, so, Calebston committed last week five star and then how do we say this dude's name now that he this guy this guy came out of nowhere i had no idea what was it diamante something i'm about to look it up right now because i feel like an idiot

i'm not even gonna try i want to say Musa Diamante before I confirm it. Sure. That's his name. Is that right? Now it is. That's what I'm saying. It sounds good to me. Mr. P, dude.

I mean, frick. Like two five stars in two weeks. John Howard just single-handedly saving Michigan athletics. Literally. With just the shambles that Michigan football is in. I mean, this couldn't have come at a better time. Let's be dead serious. Like this football program,

this university, the fan base was literally like at each other's throats on social media, this whole week, last week and a half, two weeks, whatever. And then it, that came out of nowhere.

And now we're all like, all right, nobody gives a fuck about the football team anymore but basketball is you know coming up in uh you know a few weeks or a month i don't know when their actual season is starting at this point but i don't even think they have a date honestly um but either way it's basketball season michigan is a basketball school let's face it what did you say caiten? it's a basketball school with a couple good football seasons, right? that's about right that's how it feels these days

yeah, I mean, look at the recent history I mean, Michigan, ever since the Fab Five Michigan football hasn't really done anything I mean, they had a national title, right? but that was a fluke they shared it with Nebraska it wasn't even an outright title we're a basketball school we are a basketball school That was a fluke. They shared it with Nebraska. They shared it with Nebraska. It wasn't even an outright title.

We're a basketball school. We are a basketball school. Ever since I've been a boy, we've been a basketball school. Ever since I was a wee lad. I thought you were going to be like, yeah, ever since John Beeline got here, it's been a basketball school since the early 2000s. But you got straight back to 1990 yeah it was a fluke year in 97 okay i'm i'm i'm just gonna say that all right all right sounds good we really turned on the football program really we have two bad games and all of a sudden the industry of Michigan football is not valid that's all right

Jack's a big uh big Ian Book fan throwing his party now that they beat Clemson my Irish my Irish baby but if but if we want to go back even further then we can talk about Michigan being a football school we can go back to the the late 1800s you know early 1900s we can do that. Those teams were good. Don't mess around, man. Tom Harmon back in the day. Reconstruction era football. That was our highlight. Legit. They played in grass fields with dirt behind them.

I don't even know if they had yard lines back then. No mouth guards. You just put a handful of dirt in your mouth. Absolutely. Leather helmets. All right. Well, that is good news, though. I do feel like, I mean, so now Michigan already had the number one recruiting class for 2021 in the country, not only the Big Ten.

And now they just add it to it. So there's really the only way that anybody is going to catch them, I believe, is if Imani Bates does reclassify to 2021 instead of 2022, then maybe they'll jump them because he's, you know, obviously the highest five star, you know, number one rated kid in the countries um but still i mean juwan howard is in year two and had you know didn't even play a full season um and now he's recruiting at the highest level like that's not like legitimately number one actually yes number one the highest level that's not us like handicapping him and being being like oh he's doing pretty good for a new guy that's never been a head coach, never even been in college basketball. He legitimately went straight to the top. And in my opinion, when it comes to like basketball versus football or some other sports, recruiting is so much more important because basketball is kind of, you know know it's definitely a team game but like when you're when you're in the one and done era that we are you have to get these really really good guys and try and get them for one year and those types of guys can carry you a long way even in just one

year yeah i mean i i'm not gonna go that far but definitely talent is huge coaching can get you certain spots. We've seen it in the NCAA tournament, right? We see a Cinderella team every year, but it's easier for a coach to not have to worry about being a good coach if you've got that much talent. So, I mean, Jawan Howard, I think he's a good coach. He's bringing in talent. michigan basketball is going to be fucking on top of the top of the college basketball scene for next decade if howard can keep this up yeah howard's definitely building up the program and making that the team to you know circle on your schedule uh doesn't matter if you're

ohio state or michigan state or anybody in the big 10 anybody who they're playing i would circle michigan and be like hey this is to be a tough game, guys. So, hey, I love seeing Howard, you know, come in and after one, you know, one short season already make a huge impact. Yeah, and I think the big thing about that 2021 class is this 2020 class was really good as well. You know, it wasn't, he came in and already, he made a dent in that 2020 class, even, you know, recovering from John Beeline leaving. It wasn't like he came in and there was this big dip.

So there's no like gap, I would say, in talent levels on that, in this recruiting class, in a couple of recruiting classes that John Howard has done. So the guys that are coming in, so that's why I'm excited about 2021 and beyond is because they're adding those five stars to an already talented roster. You know, I we're, we're going to assume that Franz Wagner and Isaiah livers are gone after this

year, as well as probably Austin Davis. And, I mean, probably Sean D. Brown, too. I don't really know where he's at academically. But they're going to lose some of these guys that they've had in the program for the last couple years. But these new guys, I think, are going to make an impact. Hunter Dickinson is probably going to start this year um seven foot two and everyone is is pretty high on him uh and this kid uh this this kid that just uh committed can play center as well and he's

super athletic so um i think joan howard's gonna have a lot of options. And what really has been a big thing standing out to me is the culture that he's brought in already. He has established this family feel. Like, Shaundi Brown came in after just six months and said, wow, this is like the closest I've felt to any teammates in my entire life and it's like how do you do that in just six months i think sometimes transfers can come in and feel like they're an outsider for the entire time that they're with the new program and so i think it has a lot to say for juan howard you know he's bringing that heat culture up here and i think so plus uh the the coaching staffs that he's uh surrounded himself with for the x's and o's and then on the recruiting side michigan basketball is in going in a really

really good direction if only we could say the same thing for the football team well we might as well go into it that was our one positive for the day. Trying to be bought back to reality now. Yeah, wanted to start with it at least and give us a good start here. But Michigan did get throttled by Indiana on the road. I want to start with, what do you guys think about Indiana? Is that a legit football team? Or is Michigan just that bad? or maybe a combination of the both i think it's a combination of both i mean michael penix has done it for

three weeks now three weeks in a row and he's putting balls where they should be he looks at his vision 99 of the time um i mean there was a couple of touchdowns where michigan dbs were right on the guy but the ball was just placed perfectly and those wide receivers went up and got it so fucking you can't win when you're committing penalties and have off sides constantly throughout the game or at least the first half i mean you can't the dude's just clapping and you're jumping off sides and he's got you five times i mean guys on offense were dropping passes it's just clapping, and you're jumping off sides, and he's got you five times. I mean, guys on offense are dropping passes. It's just, I mean, if you can't play clean, you can't beat anybody. So I don't know.

I do think Indiana's good. I think Michael Penix is that talented. I think they're going to go 4-0. It's going to be two undefeated teams going into their Ohio State game. And I think Ohio State should be on upset alert, man. Indiana plays tough teams close every year. So I'm excited to see that moving forward. Yeah, Jack, I think you hit the nail right on the head, honestly, there.

I mean, we played poorly, and they played pretty, you know, relatively well. They had, what, those three receivers slash tight ends who were all, you know, pretty solid and panic. Yeah, dude. Panics made a couple throws where I was almost like he's doing a little sidearm almost look like Stafford a little bit there, you know, so I can't be totally pissed that we lost to that team when we've seen that every year they've been growing, but I can be absolutely livid against our performance when I know what we're capable of. That to me is just like totally unacceptable. So I, I'm,

I'm in agreement with you guys. I think that Indiana team is pretty legit. And, you know, Paul Gable came on with us last week and said that, right. He was like, this is not a fluke. And, you know, Paul Gable came on with us last week and said that, right. He was like, this is not a fluke that Indiana, you know, beat Penn state, even though Penn state obviously didn't come out and play good against Maryland either. So maybe they're not that good, but that team plays pretty legit. That defense is good. Just like he said. Um, and,

and Pennix is the real deal. Stevie Scott that dude's gonna be playing on Sundays their running back was legit he's 230 pounds and I mean that dude's gonna be they've already put running backs in the league and so he's gonna be the next one that that I think it goes to the league um now with that being said I went back back and rewatched the game and it is, I think it was a closer game than it originally looked like. If we don't jump offside seven times, that's just right there as a game changer. They were able to, like, we had, we knew our weakness going into that was them throwing up balls to the, to the corners, you know, at the corners. And then we gave them free plays. We gave them literal opportunities to do that.

And it's like, okay, could you make it any easier for them? You know, I'm like, gee, you know, it's, I think that right there, it was a big game changer, especially in the beginning of the game. And then, like, when that stuff happens, you start pointing fingers. And, like, that's when, you know, the chemistry really starts going down. So that was frustrating. But, you know, there were just a couple plays on offense, you know, the Ronnie Bell where Joe Milton overthrew him once again. That's seven points there was a couple plays on defense where it's like you know third and 15 and Vincent Gray still gets a pass interference and it's like all right man you are actually running with the guy you

don't need to to grab him we talked about this and so I I, it's just, um, I don't know. I think it was closer, closer than, uh, than it looked originally. Obviously we were all pissed and in Indiana looked like the better team all day. And I think they were. Um, but yeah, I thought it was, I thought it was actually closer when you look back on it and identified the mistakes that were being made by Michigan. And if Michigan plays a clean game game I think that it's a probably one score game or or maybe they win you know um so um yeah what do you guys think was the most I mean where do you think the bright spots were for Michigan if any and where do you think was the biggest problem was it the same thing with the secondary or were there other things that came about in this game than did uh during or against michigan state for me i think

the defense as a whole looked terrible i mean you're you're not disciplined on the defensive line you're not disciplined in the secondary the only guys who showed up to play on the defense were dax hill and shit maybe just dax hill man like i can't even think of anybody else really quitty pay had a couple of nice pressures a couple nice plays but um i mean that's that it's just so tough to watch i mean i finally got to a point where i texted you guys later in the day or the day after and and I was like, you know what? I just want to see talent at this point. I don't even care about wins and losses. I want to see Joe Milton, you know, spread the ball around on offense. We're clearly not a run first team, so that just needs to be scrapped. I mean, every time Michigan

started throwing the ball, we're actually moving down the field and getting points. So I thought Corum played well. I think he's our number one running back right now. I think Milton, he's, he's slowly getting better every single game. I think he threw for over 300 yards and, um, yeah,

my expectations are at a minimum right now, but I just want to see talent. That's it. Give me something exciting to watch at least. Yeah. Yeah. In terms of bright spots, I would maybe say like Ronnie Bell.

I think Ronnie Bell managed to rack up a number of yards. And then, you know, just saying, Ronnie Bell, man. I've been said it. But anyway. Yeah. He had a nice little catch in the end zone too. Went up and got a ball. Yeah.

Ronnie's legit. I'm telling you, give the kid a chance. He's the real deal man i i that's another guy i honestly think he's going to play at the next level and um so one one thing let's talk about the offense while we're on that on that um on that uh topic and ronnie bell was one person who in the second half even when we were down 24 to 7, showed fight. He all of a sudden stepped up as a leader. I loved the one, you know, he got two big catches in a row when we went on that run for a minute in the third quarter.

And he was like, you know, ah, you know, let's go. And it felt like we hadn't seen that from literally anybody on this football team since first half of the Minnesota game. And so, cause the second half of the Minnesota game, I felt like they were just coasting and cruising anyway, but like, I hadn't seen that since it, since like Donovan Jeter, you know, picked the ball off and went into the end zone. And so it was nice to see that from somebody i would have i would have guessed it was coming from ronnie because he's the man he does play like that i think he plays with passion but it to me that's where if i'm jim harbaugh i'm going in and to the to meetings

this week and saying showing ronnie bell tape to say play like this guy all the time, every single snap. So like, that's where I think I'm frustrated. And I hate to be like, Oh, you know, talent saying that guys aren't playing hard. Cause I know that all these guys play really hard on every snap. Like that's a dumb thing to say that they're just lazy. But at least they, there's, there's a next level of fight and fire that you can play with. And Ronnie had that even when we were down.

And I felt until Joe, unfortunately, threw that pick, I felt like he was the turning point and going to lead us back to a spot in order that we could have had a chance to win that game. What do you guys have on Ronnie Bell? And maybe were there any other guys that you thought had the same thing? I mean, with Ronnie Bell, like Caelan said earlier, I mean, he's the guy. You guys both mentioned it. He played with passion.

He had a big game. I loved seeing Cornelius Johnson make that nice catch for a touchdown, I think, in the first half. I mean, that was a fucking – that was Joe Milton's first 20-plus yard completion of the season. And it was a dime in the end zone, and Cornelius Johnson was a fucking that was joe milton's first 20 plus yard completion of the season and it was a dime in the end zone and quinnity johnson was just fucking flying the dude was just running as fast as he could and he ended up catching up to the ball and uh it was a beautiful touchdown grab sorry sorry to interrupt but like that was what we thought we'd see yes five times a game this year right that was what we were so excited and it it is tough that it took till game three for us to see that but i hope maybe it happens more in the future

well i'm curious too if we didn't already if we didn't plan on seeing some more of that uh if nico hadn't gone right i think maybe nico was part of the game plan and, you know, his absence from the program. Now we're really seeing some of that and some of how it's hurting us. Yeah, I definitely agree with that. I mean, even though this wide receiver room is really talented, being able to just throw the ball up to Nico Collins is, you know, a gift for any quarterback out there. So I think it definitely still hurts that we, that we don't have Niko Collins, especially just another veteran guy. You know, the fact that even though Roman Wilson and Cornelius Johnson are studs,

they're still in their third game ever in college football. So like you can't expect for them to you know just be you know top receivers in the country like nico collins is right away um i did want to real quick before we move on you had a chance to re-watch the game i don't know jack if you had a chance either i haven't looked at it but one thing that stood out to me was i felt like there were a lot of drops. And I was unsure, was it just wide receivers dropping the ball? Or is it Joe not putting touch on the ball and just throwing a missile at you when you're five feet away? I don't know if you have any insight on that. The one to Eric Hall literally hit him in the numbers.

Literally couldn't have been a better pass. And that's where you just catch the ball with your hands dude and so it's a little frustrating because i think eric hall has a ton of talent and could be really good for us but he's got a problem he's got an eric ebron problem right now and it's not voting well for for michigan and so that's frustrating um there was a couple other ones uh nick eubanks had a drop. It's tough to say it was a drop. He just didn't haul it in. The ball was right on the money to him. The defender made a really good play to kind of get his hand on it,

but Nick had a chance to still reel it in, and he kind of let it slip through his fingers. There was one more to A.J. Henning. It was a tough ball from joe but he got his hands on a little high yeah i i actually don't think that drops were as bad uh or as big of a problem in this game as they were uh previously um so i i wouldn't say that um i think they're an issue though because they are kind of like adding up right because i think like last year there's maybe only like in the wisconsin game last year a handful of drops

but other than that i couldn't even tell you about a specific drop maybe besides ronnie bell oh fucking but i mean state ohio state there was like five drops we could have been in that game if you guys caught the ball. I mean, DPJ at the end of the first half, Nico. I mean, everybody was dropping the ball against Ohio State. Well, maybe I'm just misremembering. Maybe I'm just misremembering, but I feel like this season, every game, I'm like, there's a very catchable ball, and it was like botched drop. You know?

I don't know it also it also just seems i think it is uh it's magnified because we can't run the ball so that's our only option so you're looking to make every single catch in every single play and then also on the other side of the ball indiana and michigan state both now have caught literally every single ball and made unbelievable catches against us. So it's magnified both ways there where I don't know. I don't disagree with you that it still is a problem because these balls, they have to they have to be caught. And and I think that is an issue. One thing I did want to talk to you guys about, though, is Joe Milton.

I still think he is going to be very good in the future. I don't think he's there yet. I think he struggles with his reads still. I think that he can't go to the second or third read all the time, so he's stuck on that first guy. That was pretty apparent after rewatching the game. His head is not really moving from side to side. It's definitely stuck sticking on one guy. I still think he's going to get it. He's going to get his touch at some point. It it's different in practice than it is in the game.

And at some point he's going to feel that um one thing i wanted to talk about though was his leadership style he is not ronnie bell fired up at any time whether they have a touchdown whether they have anything do you guys think that or do you wish that he would be a little bit more fiery especially when this team seems down in the dumps when they need a little bit of that leader leadership fire i feel like most people just expect the quarterback to be a leader and show that fire and we didn't see it out of shea and that was always something that i was hoping to see out of whoever the quarterback was going to be this year now we obviously know it's joe

um but joe's a pretty quiet guy from what we've seen. I mean, he kind of goes out there, does his job, sits on the bench. I mean, he doesn't show a whole lot of emotion. And I'm not saying it's a problem, but, I mean, I feel like that's kind of the guy that the whole team is supposed to be looking towards to kind of get their energy going and get a feel for the game and where they're supposed to be at and where their emotions are supposed to be. So I'd like to see out of a quarterback and i don't know man it's uh i don't even remember the question you asked i'm so lost i'm lost at all times i mean i i get the impression more that joe's one of those like quiet confidence kind of leaders right he's like a a guy because when

when he first stepped on the field i I like felt the confidence through the TV. Right. Where I was like, man, this guy has so much swagger, like it's over. Right. And that's more the leadership style I get from Joe. And I'm not saying everybody has to be like a Tim Tebow, like fired up screaming in your face. But I mean, I do think it would be nice to see Joe maybe like pick up a teammate or just like, you know, lead a huddle or something like that. And maybe then that would at least give him like a guy to rally around. Yeah, I think he's the calm, cool, collective, cool guy. Right. He's almost like too cool to show emotion.

And but I think that works for him. And it's he's obviously felt calm in the pocket, even when things aren't going well. He still looks calm, at least from the TV. But I think as a leader of a football team, you have to also feel out your other guys and see, oh, do they need a pickup? Because then I have to be the one to provide that. That's part of being a really good

quarterback and leader. So it's not something that I think is like, oh, he's not going to be really good because of this. It's just something that I think he could improve on, especially where where this team as is right now, especially like obviously now we're playing for 2021. So I'd like to see him do that a little bit more and become a bigger leader. And then let's move over to the defensive side, too. Jack, you said the whole defense played terrible. It's hard to disagree with that statement. Now Aiden Hutchinson is out with a fractured foot for the rest of the season, I'm assuming.

Quidipe went off for a little bit. I think he did come back um but I wouldn't doubt if he maybe opts out if he's banged up too who knows um but Don Brown played zone he did he played zone for pretty much the entire game I don't know if you guys noticed that but he did and dude he had no other option it was either get absolutely blitzed on the fucking sides or or do something and like have at least a chance and i was glad to see that he at least was something but i was also just like don i'm gonna be honest it's a little too little too late here, you know?

Yeah, that's that's the thing is like, OK, now we're just going to go 100. I don't think anybody was asking for 100 percent zone. It was just throw zone in there sometimes throw a couple zone concepts to help your guys out. But instead, they went to 100% zone and it couldn't have been more apparent to Brad Hawkins, Vincent Gray, Dax Hill, that they had literally never played zone since they've stepped foot on campus. I mean, so what it literally would look like is they, you know, when you're in zone, you cover a patch of grass, right? You cover a literal zone. And then if a guy is coming through your zone you have to cling to him you have to pick him up they weren't picking the guys up they were just covering grass and so a guy would come in their zone and they'd kind of be like uh i got my i'm right here i'm

right here but like you have to get to your guy and so there that was what we we always called it when i played was you covered grass we're really that 30 yard line right there you had it fucking covered man and that's what i saw out of vincent gray and brad hawkins specifically i think dax got it pretty pretty he played a lot better than the other guys but um it was very apparent that they had never played zone in their lives um or at least since since they've gotten to michigan and so like that's frustrating too because it's like okay did jim harbaugh just say hey don we have to go 100 zone or you're fired and then don's like okay sure i'll show you how it looks when we do zone or did they have a fucking conversation like hey jim i don't know

how to play zone. Like, we've never practiced that before. It's going to look like a shit show. Or how about you watch the Indiana tape and you go like, oh, this is the kind of way they play. Maybe we can get some favorable matchups on our end and come up with a game plan by mixing some zone and some man concepts in there. Like, I feel like at this point that would make sense but it's definitely not what michigan did whatever they did was it looked i mean bro you said they played zone majority of that game and i i i get why don would be like you know what fuck everybody

forgive me shit i'm gonna put him in zone and then just look what happens that's what happens when we play zone man was the best thing that we could do and he probably never practiced zone before so he's just like whatever this defense is gonna get shredded either way i don't really care how it happens it's probably it's a big fuck you to all of all of us michigan fans for talking shit i really think it it seemed like that because there was, again, no adjustments from zone back to man either, which I mean, he's probably like nothing's going to fucking work. So I was trying to do something that we actually at least know, you know, and maybe he was right in the sense that like if these guys played man enough that at some point by the end of the year or through some experience, Vincent grain, Juman green,

or whoever else was playing corner will be decent man to man. But now I think they're all lost. You're trying to throw way too much at them and it's fucking over. So I, I mean, it's, well, it's definitely over.

The whole thing is over. Blow it up, blow it up completely. But I think i mean don brown is it i i don't know do you why not fire him right now what what good do you get from from having don brown as a coach for the rest of the season no can't get any worse i mean ohio state's literally gonna score 100 on us oh yeah 100 like they the whole the whole ryan day saying i want to hang 100 on them they literally are gonna hang 100 on us that's no joke um that i i mean they're gonna be they're they're gonna be like spiking the ball with 30 seconds left up 90. To make sure they get that play. To make sure they get a last touchdown.

I don't know if you guys have seen Justin Fields' stats. Justin was last year. He has 11 touchdowns this year in three games. He has 11 incompletions this year in three games. He's 72 for 83 for 11 touchdowns like dude that's ohio state man i mean i i don't the thing the thing that at least makes me feel a little bit better is like yes this michigan team is a shit show and this defense is dog shit but even if they were really good they're not stopping that are they no you can't

stop justin fields i mean we had a good defense last year and they got fucking torched by him yeah so yeah we had a good defense we had a really good defense in 2018 and it wasn't even justin fields and we got they put 62 on us yeah yeah and jim even said i mean in his presser he's going like hey we're we're seeing it in practice uh we're just not seeing it in the game i feel like we're gonna turn the corner honestly at this point i'm hoping either like games start getting canceled for some reason or i hope that it's like uh what 2019 where he was like we're turning the corner and we were all like jim you're full of shit and then we turned the corner yeah yeah right now i don't believe a word that comes out of his mouth how can you coach speak he well he's also speaking it so like so

passively like he could give zero fucks but i i i also don't want to put that on him because, like, I think it was Vistardis came out today or Stuber maybe in their press conferences. And he was like, the last thing I'm going to do is question my coach's love for this university and, like, how bad he wants it. And I believe that. I think Jim, like, literally bleeds for this that his ego like wants to be michigan's guy so bad he would be the hero the savior and he wants to be that guy so bad and so like i'm not gonna say that he doesn't want it but i think he's just not the guy that he used to be now and so we'll we'll talk about that in a little bit coming up with larry lage too um i'm sure with kind of the state of uh of where this administration is at and everything like that but um i is there anything else you guys want to touch on with the game

kaylin what else do you want to vent about man there's there's so much to vent about with this football game dude i'm like i'm so angry about joe milton's performance not because of the way joe played but because of what we see throughout the entire country right we see like all these guys who play backup who are able to step in and just fucking kill it right you see like oh felipe franks is hurt oh just put kyle trask in oh there you go potential heisman winner right oh you see freaking graham mertz we saw ohio state do that with uh you know win a national championship with cardale jones third string backup quarterback why can we not take our backup quarterbacks and develop them so that when we put them in we're

like holy shit these guys are legit. They've been practicing. Evidently, it wasn't until, you know, Devin Gardner came in. Sorry, Jack. I know he's your favorite guy, but frankly, he was not that great at Michigan. He didn't win a national championship. He didn't win a Big Ten championship. Nobody won a Big Ten championship or a national championship.

But those are the those are the scales that we measure our players by in today's era so unless you either want to change the scale for michigan and be like hey we won nine games great job you know so it's i'm pissed about the coaching for joe milton i want them to develop the quarterbacks so that we put them in games and they execute and play really well and And I feel like they, you know, did Joe Milton a disservice. I mean, he's got plenty of room to improve, plenty of time to improve. So I'm not like worried. But I just look at a guy like Jim Harbaugh and I'm like, you're supposed to be the quarterback guru. What happened?

Agreed. A hundred percent. And it is coaching. I mean, that's what it's been the entire time that Michigan has had. You know, every other team in the country has got a quarterback that can make these throws. And Milton's shown flashes of it, and he's improving. But it's like, dude, why is he not ready now? You only have three, four, five years with these guys,

and Milton's right now in year three or four, and he's not ready to throw a deep ball to a wide-open guy? Like, you're supposed to be the quarterback guru like you just said i mean the the coaching it's it's evident that there's something something missing it's like you've been there for two years and you mean all it took was a summer with devin gardner to improve you from not ready to ready jim what the hell like yeah how that is a great point caitlin because like what are what are they doing in Schembechler Hall if all you have to do is go out? And note, you know, Devin, I think, is probably a pretty good quarterbacks coach, right?

He knows what it takes to win and not lose at this level, especially at Michigan. But if, I'm sorry, if at Michigan you don't have a better quarterbacks coach in your facility than Devin Gardner, then that's a problem. If you can't have somebody take a six foot five, 245 athletic phenom with a cannon arm and mold them into something serviceable enough that he's going to make plays and and be a game changer for Michigan well then you know you need to go out and hire somebody else right like that's plain and simple if Devin Gardner is that guy then fucking hire him right like I don't know if the guy's in your backyard what is I I don't I think I thought Josh Gaddis was going to be the guy and he'd bring all this up-tempo thing. I'm not totally sold on it now. I think Ben McDaniels is the quarterback's coach, right?

Or the passing coordinator, whatever his title is. Shit, dude. You're not going to get much more talent than here. What are we missing here if you can't develop one out of dylan mccaffrey joe milton shay patterson all four plus stars with unbelievable talent then if i'm jj mccarthy i'm like i'm good man probably gonna go to bama probably gonna go to ohio state to be honest and fucking win a national title and then become the number one draft pick. Yeah.

Why wouldn't you? That's so frustrating, man. I just don't understand why we can't be on that same level. We literally have the same amount of money, the same facilities, play in the same conference. They're our literal rival. Like, it just – i don't understand the resources are all there so tell me what's holding michigan back to go out and hire those types of

people that are going to change this program and it's tough too because i'm almost like as much as i just complained about coaching i almost can't even complain about it because Ohio State's stealing our coaches. So, like, I have no idea. There's a reason they're getting them. Would you rather coach at Michigan or Ohio State? I'd rather coach at Ohio State for a million reasons. You know, and a lot of people have said it's something about the culture at Michigan

and the tradition that they're holding on to and just the inability to adapt to the new age and i'm hoping larry's got a little bit of insight into that when we talk to him definitely i i think that is that is one of the keys i think it's it sounds like it's deeper than just just the one coach's problem this it's not just this uh this coaching staff or something like that um so let's uh with that being said why don't we take it right into larry here and we'll bring him on and he can uh hopefully give us a little more insight into that all right now we welcome on larry lage sports writer for and Ann Arbor native, as well as a Michigan State Spartan, correct? Well, I am a Michigan State graduate.

I don't know that I would go as far as saying a Spartan, but I've lived in the two towns my whole life and very proud of that. And also proud of the fact that I am an objective journalist, particularly when those two schools play. Even if no one believes me, it was well chronicled in Divided We Stand, a really cool documentary on the Michigan-Michigan State rivalry that Fox Sports did last year. Yeah, that was a very, very cool spot that they did there.

And so, well, thank you very much for coming on. Obviously, you've got, you know, you've been in the media for a long time, especially here in Ann Arbor and covering the state of Michigan as a whole. And it's not a great time for the state of Michigan as a whole for sports. They've definitely had some better times. Coming from the media, whether it be from the Michigan side or the Michigan State side, what is the feeling around both athletic departments? Obviously, Michigan feels like they're at somewhat of a crossroads right now and not sure where they're going. And then Michigan State is trying to figure out where they're at with their football program

under Mel Tucker, too. Yeah, both programs definitely had a Saturday to forget. Michigan State getting routed at Iowa and Indiana beating Michigan for the first time since 87 and really controlling that game throughout. You know, now now they think about michigan hasn't led a game since that they beat minnesota right um so kind of tough to win when you never lead uh and you know michigan was ranked 16th in the preseason um maybe in hindsight when you look at all the players they lost one way or another, maybe that was

inflated. You know, we'll certainly see by the end of the year, but, you know, expectations were certainly higher than the reality of Michigan getting off to a one and two start. I think most people thought Michigan State would struggle this year, no matter who the coach was, and I think that'll be true. But, you know michigan state will have that victory over michigan to uh point to even if it's the only win it has all year long um i don't i don't think that'll be the case but you know who knows in this eight game sprint um maybe six games for wisconsin uh how it's going to all shake out yeah um it definitely the Spartans if they're even if they're one in seven they're going to be pretty proud of that victory over the Wolverines yeah they won they won their

Super Bowl at the big house absolutely absolutely um so let's talk about where where you think Michigan is at right now um it's year six of Jim Harbaugh. They have definitely, you know, digressed. They have not done well here in this last couple years. I would say, honestly, his best year was 2016, and they haven't really, I mean, end of 2018, they were back to kind of that height right before the Ohio State game. Where do you see this program at right now as far as comparing them to the rest of the Big Ten and nationally? And where do you see the administration trying to get them in the next few years here? Well, let's take that backwards. I think the administration from President Mark Schlissel to Ward Manuel, the athletic director,

I think Jim Harbaugh still has the support of the people who matter in terms of firing him or keeping him or extending him. So let's say that first, that the decision makers at the university and in the athletic department, I think still believe in Jim Harbaugh and think he's going to turn this around. That might be political spin, and only time will tell. Clearly, Michigan is fighting for space behind Ohio State. It's kind of like the big one and the little 13. It might be a little dramatic. There's probably different layers to this,

levels to this, as they say. But I think Michigan is in that second cut of Big Ten teams behind Ohio State, fighting for its place. I think everybody thought in year six that Michigan would be farther along. I think if the pandemic didn't hit and they didn't have the departures, you know, chiefly with like a Nico Collins, you know, a player like that that could have made all the difference in the world. I mean, you think about what this receiving core would have, could have, should have been with Nico Collins, I don't know, Peoples Jones and Tariq Black.

All of a sudden Ronnie Bell is the number four receiver, maybe the best number four receiver in the country. But that's not the reality, right? That would be a spin. Avery Thomas, another huge loss. So we won't know. And other programs had to deal with the same thing to some degree, especially in the Big Ten, after they postponed the season

and then brought it back. So long story short, I think Michigan is at a crossroads, to use a word you used earlier, and I don't think that's a place anyone thought it would be in year six of Jim Harbaugh. And when you look at the rest of the season, it's not hard to project, you know, four and four, maybe something like that. Maybe at the top.

Yeah, maybe a win on either side of that. You know, and you want to say, like, this is the pandemic year. Let's just throw it out. It's an aberration, whatever. And that's true to some extent. But, you know, the bowl games and the Ohio State games have shown that this program has been in decline, as you mentioned, from the start of the Harbaugh era when there were some legitimate reasons for hope. I think his contract situation, no matter what

the university says or the athletic department says behind closed doors or pointing to, you know, months old comments, it can't be good in recruiting. You guys could probably speak to it more than I can because it's not my job to follow in recruiting, so I don't. But it's just not a usual situation for a major college football or basketball coach to have one year left on his deal after the current year and be out recruiting. Now, you could say, you know, no coach knows that he's going to be there in three or four or five years to tell a mom or a dad that in a living room or on a Zoom or a Skype. But I don't think anyone thought year six of Jim Harbaugh would look like this. Obviously, the pandemic is a factor, but I think

that would be an excuse just to chalk it all up to pandemic blues. And when we're talking about Harbaugh, too, I mean, we've talked about it amongst ourselves in previous episodes. And I mean, he doesn't look to us like the same guy that came in in 2015 2016 even 2018 going into that Ohio State game where Michigan was actually favored to win I mean do you what have you seen a difference in Harbaugh I mean this year compared to previous years and I know obviously it's a little bit harder through through Zoom and with COVID and everything going on but what's your take on Harbaugh and where he's at and how he's feeling you you know, compared to past seasons? Do you think he's still got that fire?

From what you can see and hear, it does not seem that he has the fire or the passion or the energy that he had a few years ago, earlier in his Michigan tenure. There was a moment against Michigan State where he briefly argued a pass interference call or defensive holding and gave up pretty quickly. And, you know, you could see Jim Harbaugh three, four years ago, you know, throwing his play sheet and his headset. And that doesn't lead to a win by any means. But when you're looking for clues of, you know, is he into it anymore as much, it's hard to see. And, of course, as you mentioned, you know, it's hard to pop on a Zoom. Like, so, you know, that's a factor as well. He seemed to go out of his way today in his weekly Monday news conference going into the Wisconsin game to say, I've still got energy and passion and fire to do my job.

But he's a politician sometimes like talking about things that no one else is seeing and speaking of his press conferences and how he's presented himself to the media you know after week one he came out and he talked to the you know he was on inside michigan football and he was talking to the media and then it seems like he's done this in the past and now he's done it in back-to-back weeks on Inside Michigan Football after the Michigan State game. He sent Josh Gaddis to Pizza House.

I don't even know what they're doing it now, but for that Inside Michigan Football segment, he sends his other guy, even though that's in his contract, to be doing those types of shows. And so I think this week it was cornerbacks coach Mike Zordick on it today. And so to me, that looks like, all right, I'm deflecting the blame to other people or I'm not accountable for this or I don't want to take the accountability in front of the fans, in front of the media and the press. And so that's a little bit odd to me. It's tough for the fans to see that and say, yes, this is a leader of this team.

He's taking the accountability. He's going to get it turned around instead of when things go badly, Jim Harbaugh kind of goes into hiding. And then also on top of that, I think it is a job of Ward Manuel to say, Jim, this is in your contract. You can't just go into hiding when things don't go well for you. So where do you see that from the inside, from either Ward Manuel's office and then from Jim Harbaugh's office? Is he kind of hiding when things don't go well? Well, I'll go backwards again on that. I think, number one, I don't think there's anybody at the university that really tells Jim Harbaugh what to do. And you could argue that's a problem. I don't think there's anyone that's going to hold Jim Harbaugh to the letter of the contract and say, hey, with IMG, you're supposed to be on this radio show or you're supposed to make this appearance. You're supposed to go to or have a Zoom with the M Club or, you know,

whatever they used to do with the Monday afternoon lunches that kind of have faded away. So I don't think anyone's going to tell him what to do. I think it's legitimate to question those things. I think you could also observe that Jim Harbaugh does what's required of him in terms of the media and does not do much, if any else. I challenge you to find a one-on-one interview that isn't part of his compensation package, like maybe Rich Eisen. Very, very infrequently does he do that. A, he doesn't have to, and B, I don't think he wants to. And I don't think he thinks the media is on his side, so he just kind of puts up his blue wall.

I don't know if you saw today's press conference, but Angelique Changelis from the Detroit News, Angel the Big House, got into his contract situation, which I asked him about going into week one. She brought it back up today and kind of pressed him like, do you want to stay? And where are the contract talks? And he would not address it, saying, whatever I say, you're going to write what you want to write, so I'm not going to say. So he's just going to kind of submarine that topic, I guess, and we'll just have to wait and see, and hopefully the AP will have the scoop when there's news. And going into that – Sorry, go ahead, Jack.

Well, as I was saying, going into that further, when we've kind of talked about it like we get the feeling as well that the administration will keep him around but i kind of get the feeling that he might just be done after this year like he might say you know what i'm done with michigan i've you know the fan base is just not on my side i'm not doing what i wanted to do or what i expected to have happened i'm going to move on to a different, you know, whether it's NFL or maybe some other thing in sports. I mean, what do you think will happen with Harbaugh after this year? So I don't think Michigan or Jim Harbaugh has another option that either side is looking at. Despite some rumors that you see, I cannot imagine that NFL teams are lining up to hire Jim Harbaugh right now if he's ready to leave. Maybe I'm wrong. Number two, I don't think Ward

Manuel can pull out the drawer and have a short list of people that he thinks will make a difference, a Michigan difference, and finally beat Ohio State and turn the tide. Like, I don't think that coach is out there. I think Michigan knows that. And I don't think Jim Harbaugh wants to leave. I think he likes raising his family here, growing up in Ann Arbor, which I would argue is the greatest city in the world to grow up in as an Ann Arbor Public School graduate and resident and father of two Ann Arbor pioneer students, fourth generation at least. So I don't think Jim Harbaugh wants to leave.

I don't think Jim Harbaugh has a great option to leave if he did. And I don't think Michigan is entertaining the option to fire him because I don't think there's a coach out there that Michigan could hire that could come in and make a difference and turn the tide against the Blue Jackets, the Buckeyes, and Columbus. I just don't think like, okay, fire Jim Harbaugh, hire this guy, he makes the difference. 15 out of 16, spanning four coaches, I think. You know, it's a systematic problem. It's a recruiting problem. Ohio State has a lot of advantages in recruiting. I think Ohio State can get in more questionable academic kids. I think Ohio State has a state to draw from that is richer in talent than Michigan, if you're talking about high school football, and they flat out have it rolling.

So I think Harbaugh is here to stay, I think. I certainly wouldn't bet on that. But I don't think Harbaugh's itching to leave, and I don't think Michigan's itching to fire him. And so you talked about some systemic issues with Michigan that maybe go beyond the coaching staff. And so Rich Rodriguez came out in his podcast, right, and said – I heard that after J.D. shared it on Twitter.

I actually listened to it i wish you would have actually said as somebody i think tweeted to you jd like like what because he didn't say yeah i know i wanted him to to go deeper into that because i'd love to hear what his examples were um i think i think you talked a little bit about it and john you bacon chronicled this really well in in three and, where he said, you know, if we would have gotten support from within, maybe things would have been different. A, I believe that, but B, I think Harbaugh has that support from within, and we're not seeing results that michigan fans want um i also think that rich rod put himself in a situation to not get support because he was an arrogant stubborn asshole that was trying to change everything too yeah well i would probably drop the a but word but you can argue stubborn i

mean but any coach that is confident and has had success and turns down Alabama is going to think he's pretty good. But, you know, hindsight being 20-20, what if Michigan would have let him bring the defensive coordinator he wanted from West Virginia? What if he would have gotten support behind the scenes and publicly from key Michigan people? What if, what if, what if? We'll never know. But, you know, I think I think Rich Rodriguez is a good coach. I think he's a pretty good guy. You know, I'm certainly not with him behind closed doors, you know, 24-7 by any means. But I'll always be curious to know or think how that could have would have been different if he got support but he didn't um but jim harbaugh does have the support and to the point

we're making it's still not making much of a difference and you know um it you know brady hoke was probably somewhere in the middle um and you know know, Lloyd Carr, going back to Lloyd Carr, he probably stayed a year or two longer than he wanted to. You could also make the point that there wasn't an assistant from his tree at Michigan that Michigan could go pluck from. Maybe if Mike DeBoer stayed at Central Michigan and won, maybe it would have been Mike DeBoer stayed at Central Michigan and won, maybe it would have been Mike DeBoer. Maybe if Ron English was at Eastern and kept winning there and getting

extended, maybe it would have been Ron English. But, you know, there just wasn't the assistant to elevate when Rich Rodriguez was hired. And then even, you know even when Brady Hoke was hired. Brady Hoke was a former assistant, but obviously that didn't pan out either. It's an interesting situation. And I think a lot of Michigan decision makers and I think a lot of Michigan fans are okay with Michigan being good, having guys that appear to have good character and care about school, even if they lose to Ohio State. But losing to Michigan State in a rebuilding year, getting drilled at Indiana, I don't think is okay with Michigan fans. And I don't blame them for being upset and questioning what is going on with Jim Harbaugh's program. And so speaking of the fans, and obviously if you've been on social media in the past two weeks, it's the fire – people are already past the should we fire him.

It's the let's look for the next guy type of conversation that's going on with fans. And so let me ask you this. Is the pressure from fans felt by Ward Manuel? Or is it more he's listening to the donors and the top alums in the university? Obviously, the fans have felt, you you know the fire harbaugh train has been on since he stepped to foot on campus right um and it was the fire beeline train was it was ready in 2007 after um you know after they lost a couple games too and obviously it worked out with sticking sticking with him um is that is that pressure felt by Ward Manuel and Schlissel and even Harbaugh?

I would say in a word, no. And I would say that Harbaugh probably got a two- or three-year honeymoon before anybody was talking about firing him unless there's some really out on the edge fan um but i i don't word manuals deal right like president slissel is not worried about the football coach when he's got a pandemic to deal with and other issues uh related to provost and former team doctor and lawsuits like Schlissel used Harbaugh's term had bigger fish to fry his phrase which is what he said to me going into week one so I don't think I think they hear it I don't think they listen or pay attention or that it matters to Ward Manuel he played at Michigan he knows football he knows how to run an athletic department

um and i don't think you know he rises and falls week to week and listens to what fans or donors think because if he did harbaugh would not be the coach at michigan yeah and do you do you think if well i i think that if if uh if jim harbaugh was not named jim harbaugh um he probably wouldn't have been given this long of a leash at michigan um but in the same sentence uh jim harbaugh was hired because he's jim harbaugh so that's why he has the long leash right right you, and I had a fellowship at the University of Michigan. It's called the Knight Wallace Fellowship. It's a mid-career sabbatical for journalists. We get to take whatever classes we want at the university,

no credit, no grade, travel the world, work on a project. It was amazing. One of the things that came out of that, if you've noticed during the National Anthem in recent years, there's someone signing the National Anthem in the corner. My mom and dad are deaf and my nephews. So I worked on access and ASL. So I got that done with Jim Hackett before Harbaugh was hired. My point in all this is one of the things I learned in an MBA class is in negotiations or in any business situation, know what your BATNA is. Best alternative to a negotiated agreement. I don't think Michigan has a BATNA. I don't think there's someone there for Michigan. And conversely, I don't think Harbaugh has a BATNA. So I think this is a marriage that Michigan has to make work. I don't think results Michigan fans are looking for are going to happen this year. or have some reasonable amount of hope that it could be there next year in Milton's second year with a lot of returning players that took their lumps this year in year seven of Harbaugh. But will Michigan be to the point that it can beat Ohio State? I mean, crazier things have happened,

but I certainly wouldn't bet on it. Yeah. And what's your take on, on Milton so far this year? I mean, personally, I think he's improved from game to game and, you know, I mean, obviously it's a weird year and, you know, it's, it's only game three of his, or going into game four of his college career. What's your take on Milton? I mean, do you think he's going to improve? Do you think we've kind of seen what he can do or what, what do you have on him? So I think he had a spectacular start at or what what do you have on him so I think he had a spectacular start at Minnesota I mean just about flawless I think in the next two games the lack of a running game put too much pressure on him to make throws down the field in third and

long and I just don't think he's ready for that right now. Even though we heard a lot going into the season about his touch improving, we saw at Indiana that it still has a ways to go. I can still see the receiver running wide open down the field. Who was that? Was that Cornelius Johnson? Ronnie Bell. Ronnie Bell. I mean, wow. You're never going to have a more wide-open guy down the field than that. And certainly that can happen. I don't think Joe Milton's the problem. I don't think he's going to be the solution by himself to turn the season around. And I think the big key is getting the running game going,

which starts with the inexperienced and now reshuffled offensive line. Because, you know, if Joe Milton's facing third and nine, third and 12, third and 13, like that's not a formula for success. he also needs to improve a little bit in terms of staying in the pocket and and waiting for reads to happen before tucking it down and running because he's not that fast uh really he's not a running quarterback he's not slow but he's not a guy that's gonna like beat a linebacker to the edge and get come up the corner uh or even scare anybody with his legs uh again i'm not saying he's john navar um but um john navar is a good guy who got a lot of crap by the way that's my number one michigan quarterback man yeah really good really good guy too who got a lot of crap and you know you look at the success he had but

i mean i even john navar would say he wasn't fast and so I'm not saying Joe Milton is that slow but he's not you know he's certainly not um uh Denard Robinson he's not Devin Gardner um I'm not even sure he's Tate Forcier in terms of foot speed so I think he needs to be a little bit more patient and stay in the pocket. And that is to assume that guys are getting open. Like I'm not breaking down the all 22 film either. So, so I think he's been okay. I don't think he's been horrible. I don't think he's been great. And I think, you know, there is a reason to be optimistic with him because with every snap, you know, he should be getting better. So we'll see. I think you could argue that Michigan's one and two start is not because of Joe Milton. I think that's a pretty good argument, you know, where it is as much as

people think that college football lives or dies with the quarterback, and it does to an extent. But he's been, like you said, he's been pretty average, and he hasn't been the reason that they've won any games. He hasn't been the reason that they've lost any games. So let's take a look on the defensive side where it does seem like that's where they've lost the last two games. Without a doubt.

And I was going to say, I would think the number one problem with this team has been the secondary. Very shaky. Number two, I would say the running game. And, you know, now the pass coverage is going to be even more challenged because the news of today was Aiden Hutchinson, standout junior defensive end, is going to be out probably for the season with a broken leg

and he needs surgery. So, you know, Quiddie Paye, who can be spectacular and has been banged up a bit and has played through things, you know, they really need him now. You know, and a guy like taylor upshaw who has been chomping at the bit to get an opportunity he's going to get it this week um and we got to interview him today um and he popped off the zoom about as much as a student athlete you know could he's fired up to play um you know so there's going to be opportunities for people to step up, but the

secondary is a problem. And the scheme arguably is a problem. So, you know, we'll see. Dax Hill has been good, I think. To some degree, he's lived up to his billing um i think cornelius johnson on the offensive side has been a bright spot um um so to answer a question you haven't asked i would i would point to those two guys as uh as reasons for hope or um you know a player on each side that i think has played well um i would point to those two players, but there have not been too many, and that's why Michigan's one and two. And so speaking specifically to the defense again, you spoke of the schemes, you spoke of the players, and Don Brown's obviously gotten a ton of heat in these last two games. And he did play zone in game two, and it went just about as poorly as his man in game three as his man did in game two.

Now, he's also put guys out on the field that just haven't played well. And so do you think it's more a problem of Don Brown's schemes or a problem of players not being able to make plays? I think it's a combo. I think it's both. I think the personnel is not there, A, because of defections, B, because of good, not great recruiting classes. And I think the scheme is a problem. I mean, how many times did Vincent Gray need to get burned against Ricky White to give him some safety help? Apparently more than we saw, because there was no safety help,

and I just don't understand that. Don Brown has forgotten more about defense than I know, but I don't understand why he doesn't adjust. And if you have studs at corner, by all means, you know, jam them, play man to man, blitz, don't give them help. can't i think you have to coach to the players and the personnel you have and i think so far defensively don brown has not yeah i i think that um it we were talking about this before because it kind of seemed like when they played pretty much all zone in game three compared to his usual man, it was almost like an FU a little bit to the people who are saying, come on, Don, play zone.

And he's like, you want some zone? I'll give you a zone, but it's not going to look any better. Well, part of the problem is going to zone is philosophically against what Michigan does under don brown so you know they worked all during camp and the extended camp on you know the fundamentals and techniques chiefly i would think to play man-to-man defense and zone defense is it's not easy to play well because obviously there are going to be zones you cover and zones you don't. So just to say we're going to go zone and not have a ton of practice in it at full speed,

you're going to have growing pains too. So it's kind of a catch-22 situation. Yeah. All right. Well, we've gone on a little bit here past a half hour. So thank you for staying on with us. But everybody gets one question. Everyone. Yeah. Everyone gets one more. Come on, Caitlin. What do you got? Light lightning round. Don't freeze them out. Yeah. No, I'm curious.

We were just talking about Don Brown. Obviously, he's got a lot of pressure on him from the fan base. Now, have you heard anything from inside the program putting pressure on Don Brown or any of the defensive coaches? I have not heard that. And, you know, I would be stunned if Jim Harbaugh made a coaching change on his staff during the season. I think he believes in these guys. I think he's pretty loyal. Lightning round answer, no. I haven't heard it, and I don't think it's happening. So, Larry, I've got a question for you, and I know you and I have gone back and forth on some score predictions, and we've kind of been right in line with each other, but not very close to the game of what the actual score is.

I did call the Indiana win, but I was very close to the game of what the actual score is i did call the indiana win but i was very wrong with the michigan state game it's yeah you and i were both i think we both had it what 40s to like 45 10 michigan state i thought it was gonna be like last year i was very wrong but i did think indiana was gonna win i thought indiana was a better team and indiana is a better team as nick baumgartgartner wrote or tweeted, read that out loud again, because it's true. Yeah. Well, what do you think, after looking at these past three games, Michigan at one and two, looking out to the rest of the season, what do you think is a realistic prediction for Michigan's final record? So I think the lose to Wisconsin,

I think the lose to Ohio state and when the rest, so we'll go four and four. All right. But I don't want anybody to bet their rent or mortgage on that. The way that we've been, we've been predicting. I wouldn't either. Right.

All right. I'll end it with this. So let's say things don't happen as you predicted, and Jim Harbaugh is let go after this season. Give us a couple names that maybe would be out there that Michigan's going to look for. If that happens, and I don't think it will, but I'll go with Luke Fickle, number one.

And number two, Tom Allen and the whole Indiana staff, which includes Nick Sheridan and Mike Hart. I would love that. That would be crazy. That would be crazy. That would be nuts. And Larry Foote as an assistant on defense coming up from the NFL. That would be amazing. And maybe the best recruiter Michigan's ever had if Larry Foote is ever on the staff.

And not just because he has a great first name. Well, there you go. The greatest first name out there. Larry Lage, AP sports writer, Ann Arbor native. Thank you for joining us, Larry. We'd love to have you on. We'd love to have you again.

All right. Thanks for having me. Thank you, Larry. Thank you for listening to this episode of the Blue by 90 podcast. Don't forget to like, share, and subscribe, as well as follow us on social media at blue by 90 on instagram and twitter and blue by 90 podcast on facebook as well as youtube go blue