MGoBlog: The MGoPodcast

aka The 2025-26 Men's Basketball Preview, Part 1 2 hours and 26 minutes The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. The Backcourt Starts at 1:00 Out: Tre Donaldson, In: Elliot Cadeau, who is a much better creator, and that's what this team needs. Cadeau and the general UNC'ness of North Carolina are hard to separate but he was a five-star who plays hot and should benefit from not having to fight for usage with RJ Davis. Defensively his size puts a cap on what he can do but he gets after it: more Xavier Simpson than Eli Brooks. LJ Cason is the backup point, we guess, though he may defer to Gayle as the on-ball player in those sets just because Cason is more of an off-ball threat than Roddy. Cason was a three-star because he was coming in unready, but could take that huge jump. This year is the freshman Jordan Poole year, not the sophomore Jordan Poole year, IE frustratingly forgivable. Gayle isn't going to shoot 9% in the Big Ten again, but he's what he is at this point: a guy who can get to the rim and create fouls/hit his free throws. We kinda want him coming off the bench since he can fill in for a lot of what any given starter leaves, but isn't a great fit with the other projected starting four. The other wild card is their new five-star. Trey McKenney lost 20 pounds in the offseason so he might not as much of a burly 2/3 as he seemed at OLSM. He's still Gayle at this point in his career, though with some big point upside. Not a one-and-done but should be ready by Tournament time. [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP] 2. Hot Takes, Wings and Frontcourt Starts at 32:15 Starting at the three again will be Nimari Burnett, who is Nimari: a usage soak who is there to end good possessions not start them. He began to show a bit of creation late last season but that only got him from 90% points assisted to 84%. He is very good at what he does, and unlikely to do more. His backups are extra guards, and Winters Grady, who should be Just a Shooter at this stage, and more down the road. Oscar Goodman arrived midseason last year, but he's supposed to need another year of development. Patrick Liburd is the kind of guy we wish was 2 years older right now. At the four is Yaxel Lendeborg, the #1 player in the portal, who is going to be a cross between Danny Wolf and Johni Broome, though not better than either of them. He is very strong and impossible to stop once he has you off your feet, but he's coming from an offense where he had to be the alpha creator every play and he's better as the second option. Can he guard up to three? Probably in the Big Ten; there was some distance at the Combine between him and Wolf in the agility drills, but Yaxel came out like Johni: agile enough to be among the who can play the four in the NBA. Backup to Yax is Will Tschetter, the rarest bird in college basketball these days as a five-year player who stuck around despite the likelihood of less playing time than last year. They were working on making him a shooter on the move. He has to be hidden away defensively, but this lineup has plenty of defenders to do that. Frontcourt is two guys instead of 1.5 now. We are obsessed with the upside of Aday Mara, who is 7'3" with impossible length. He would have had the highest block rate in the country by some distance if he played enough to qualify; he didn't because he got sick (Mono?) but when he returned they had him playing 21 mpg and UCLA got much, much better. Then he got benched. Sometimes he plays soft—was that a sick thing, a Cronin thing? He's also got a soft touch and a good feel for passing. May be as good as Yaxel if he hits his ceiling. Mara's platoonmate, and the probable "starter," is Morez Johnson from Illinois, a crazy rebounder with great ups and shot-blocking ability. Offensively he's a finisher. Defensively there's some hope he can be switchable. Going to make it very hard to go inside and give Michigan an edge from the five that they haven't had since...? 3. How It All Fits Starts at 1:11:34 Can they play the bigs together? Matt D says the NBA is going back to three forwards, and Michigan's best attribute is they're Old North Carolina, where they're just going to out-size everybody. That's doable if they can get Mara to be the player we think he could be, since he can create and so can Yaxel, and you can get

Note: I wanted a photo of Crippen but Flickr has a bug right now that won't let us access most of our images. Things Discussed: Nebraska: Hero is Greg Crippen, stretch blocker extraordinaire. M is a stretch team, which emphasizes your center. Playing two backup guards but they were good too (mostly—2 errors for Guarnera, 3 for Efobi). Link…sometimes he just doesn't know what he's doing, still leagues better than last year. When El-Hadi comes back who plays? Bryce Talk: Getting him rolling out, getting him comfortable, defenses are screen-hunting. Lindsey: Great gameplan, was calling it well, got Michigan a lot of Ws. Defense: Seeing young guys step up. Trey Pierce is a star in Run D, ended the first drive himself, was a big part of M's stretch defense. Cole Sullivan is a wow player who still makes mistakes but is going to be crazy good. Jayden Sanders: maybe he's just a starting cornerback. Worthy of trust out there. Gotta talk to Wink: It's not just the big things; what he was doing on the Hail Mary was far too cute. There were 14 RPS-1s in the charting, which means he was trying to be the playcaller who won the game. It shouldn't be about the playcaller. Ohio State at Washington: UW has a shot because they have those great skill position players. Jonah Coleman is the best RB in the Big Ten, Boston is the 2nd best WR in the country, and teams struggle going out west to that slippery field. But OSU tends to win these games, and they're a more complete team, even if they're not the same offense they've been, because UW has worse lines. Oregon-Penn State: Franklin will find a way to lose, PSU's season has holes that the scores don't tell.

2 hour and 26 minutes The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. Offense vs Nebraska Starts at 1:00 Is yogurt, honey, and granola a snack? Dave Nastersnacks will give us the answer. Oklahoma was a 24-13 loss but it felt worst than that, this was 30-27 win but it felt better than that (but also worse!). The domination on both lines was more notable than some of the silly, bad things that happened. Between Oklahoma and Nebraska, Michigan hasn’t had a complete touchdown drive (but this game had an 8 minute drive to go up by 10). Caveats aside, we’re on the verge of saying Greg Crippen is good after he blocked three guys on one play. Running stretch is hard and they’re running it quite well. McCulley had a great game but was to blame on Semaj’s throw being incomplete. Zero drops otherwise and ran guys over. Everyone else? Not so great. Gotta catch the ball on a slant, get used to passes from Underwood. Should they throw it to Peyton O’Leary? The running backs sure toughened up in this one. Max Bredeson blocks everyone like they’re Caleb Downs in the Rose Bowl. Not many Bryce critiques. Catch the ball. Guarnera is just not making mistakes. What’s the next good defensive line that Michigan will play, Ohio State? Michigan consistently got a play in, saw the look of the defense, and got a new play in. 2. Defense vs Nebraska Starts at 46:58 Time for a Wink Martindale argument? He doesn’t need to do anything fancy. Just run the Iowa defense, you’re not going up against an NFL offense. Brandyn Hillman is being asked to do things outside of his base job. 27 points, seven are on Biff, seven are on Hillman taunting, three are on Mangham missing a sack. Otherwise it was pretty good? Raiola was getting sacked every other play. Too many safeties missing sacks. Complaining aside, they got to the quarterback a lot and tackled well. Sanders has been playing a lot and there haven’t really been any negative feelings about him. Wink would be a better poker player than Mike Debord but not as good as Jesse Minter. This game felt like Trey Pierce arrived. Cole Sullivan has absolutely emerged, he’s little bit of everywhere and has freaky long arms. Defensive backs played well. The Shamari Earls PI was a bit weak. Brandyn Hillman needs to grow up, that was the most obvious personal foul in a minute. Brian usually defends players celebrating and even he says that’s an obvious foul. Was it a targeting call at the end of the game? Let’s talk about the Hail Mary. Why was TJ Guy dropping? Why was there a spy? 3. Hot Takes, Game Theory, and Special Teams Starts at 1:25:17 Takes hotter than a Wisconsin fan looking at whatever the shit that was on Saturday. If you’re Nebraska, would you go for it on 4th and 2 on the opening drive? Should Michigan have called timeout at the end of the first half? Maybe Sherrone could make a better call here but we can’t know that. Zvada hit a 56 yarder and a chip shot to seal it, yay. Punting was okay, how do you recruit punters? What’s with Semaj at punt returns? Punt returning has been a problem for a couple years now. Kendrick Bell got the onside! Gary Danielson and Brad Nessler are washed. The turf was a little slippy? 4. Around the Big Ten with Jamie Mac Starts at 1:51:48 Indiana 63, Illinois 10 This is the most points a top 10 team has been beaten by. This looks like Michigan’s boxscore against Central. Cignetti is vindicated. How much is this Indiana being legit and Illinois never being top 10 team? Maryland 27, Wisconsin 10 The boxscore shows a relatively even game, BUT Maryland blocks a punt, field goal, and gets one of the easiest interceptions you’ve seen. Luke Fickell is done. The boo birds were just apathetic, which is worse than booing. 61 rush yards for Wisconsin on 42 attempts. Oregon 41, Oregon State 7 Oregon State has fallen on hard times since college football ejected them. This game looked like a controlled scrimmage. Is Oregon really good or just beating up on bad teams? We’ll see how Oregon does during a whiteout at Penn State next weekend. Notre Dame 56, Purdue 30 Purdue’s defense is really bad. Purdue is Purdue. Iowa 38, Rutgers 28 Iowa returns the opening kickoff for a touchdown and could not stop Rutgers’ QB. Both teams went up and down the field, what is happening?? USC 45, Michigan State 31 The boxscore looks a little close but MSU

Special Guest: John U. Bacon. The Sponsors We want to thank Underground Printing for starting this and making it possible—stop by and pick up some gear, check them out at ugpmichiganapparel.com, or check out our selection of shirts on the MGoBlogStore.com. And let’s not forget our associate sponsors: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklar Brothers, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Radecki Oral Surgery, Long Road Distillers, and SignalWire where we are recording this. Featured Musician: Karl Kingson THE VIDEO: [After THE JUMP: Things discussable.] --------------------- 1. Nebraska Preview: Defense starts around 12:15 pm Play a weird nickelized version of the Rock Long 3-3-5 that has a 235-pound former Indiana linebacker at edge and moveable guys who like to get upfield up front. If you get them blocked up correctly there are ways to gash them. The best team to use against them would be 2023 Michigan—definitely think El-Hadi being out will have an effect. Run the QB? 2. Nebraska Preview: Offense starts at noon Dylan Raiola is a year 2 five-star but hasn't taken that next step despite Nebraska spending a lot of money to put talent around him and gave him Air Raid expert Dana Holgorsen, but they weren't that impressive vs Cincy. Their transfer OL haven't worked out, and they're not sure who's their LT. Those receivers are legit though. 3. Interview w John U. Bacon, author of The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald starts around 12:30 pm Bacon has a new book, so we have him on to talk about the haunting story of the Great Lakes' most famous shipwreck, and the lives, loved ones, and Dodge Chargers that were left behind. Pre-Order Link: http://johnubacon.com/ 4. CMU After Review starts when we're done with Bacon They put the air back in the ball. Underwood runs make the whole offense easier. CMU offense wasn't much of a test, but we got to try out the Barham at Edge thing, and want to see it transitioned to the next phase. Also need to talk about QB runs and why Michigan hasn't been able to fit them. Featured Artist: Karl Kingson Karl Kingson is a Detroit-based multidisciplinary artist whose work blends music, film, and visual storytelling into cinematic experiences that move both the heart and the body. With a sound rooted in R&B, pop, and alternative scores, Karl creates songs that feel like stories — romantic, mysterious, and timeless. His debut single STARE exemplifies his vision: a fusion of soulful vocals, striking visuals, and performance art that transforms love into a cinematic universe. Beyond music, Karl is a visionary creative and cultural architect. His projects span bold promotional campaigns, immersive live events, and fashion-forward collaborations, always grounded in the energy of Detroit and the underdog spirit he represents. His brand essence is motivation — inspiring audiences to embrace their value, chase their dreams, and connect through authentic artistry. Songs: "Open Medium"—Karl Kingson "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald"—Gordon Lightfoot "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)"—Looking Glass Also because Across 110th Street will get our Youtubes taken down, the opener and outro: “The Employee is Not Afraid”—Bear vs. Shark “Ruska Vodka”—Motorboat

Things Discussed: Biff Poggi love: We don't often get honesty about what they did wrong. Let Underwood cook? Not sure if it's going to hold up because people revert to learned behaviors when stress gets high. It's easy against Central. We saw enough that Oklahoma should be a blip: the RPOs are real, the zone reads are real. QB run game: Forces defenses to make themselves easier to read, because they have to play 11-on-11 unless they can two-gap at the DT spots. Oklahoma and Nebraska are good at messing with a quarterback's reads, and Bryce wants to make them quickly. Take away their options and you give Bryce a true read. Nebraska's defense is all about generating confusion. Bryce running early on pass reads: good thing, do it. When he's hitting a DB he's the one causing punishment. Also nerfs pass rush: remember how Michigan played Sean Clifford in 2021 and teed off when Allar came on. Haynes: been good but frustrating—sometimes he's great in pass pro but he had another handful of purse-swinging. Guy got sick of blocking for his QB at Alabama? I'm sure part of the reason he came here in the first place is he was sick of being a lead blocker for Jalen Milroe. Defensively: Barham at the Jake Ryan job was eye-opening. If you can't roll out against a defense they can front the edge on stretch and the running game is dead too. Replacing Nichols snaps with Barham at edge also gets Rolder/Sullivan on the field. Favorite Barham play: he grabs the RB as he's forcing a give on zone read so he can go back to tackling that guy. Caveat: that's the worst running back we're going to play this season. QB run game vs Michigan: isn't any one thing, but biggest issue was Rolder not fitting it. He had an up and down game where he (3/6 first downs, maybe 4 were on him), while Sullivan found the guy to hit, but had a few looks at it first. If you're a senior you can't be ahead of that guy and be making mistakes. Nebraska preview: They played Cincy (no pass game) and two teams CMU would trounce. Their run D is permeable: defense plays very small, wants to confuse you, make your RB slow down to find his gaps and blocks, and rally from the secondary. You can really gash them. It's a bad matchup for Nebraska: Michigan's OL is good at ID'ing their blocks and wants to play heavy and hit you quickly in the run game and confuse coverage reads. The 2023 game was a blowout because if you have linemen who can ID their blocks you destroy the basis of their system. Would be a good game to have El-Hadi back; Efobi is probably going to have a rough outing.

2 hour and 25 minutes The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. Offense vs Central Michigan Starts at 1:00 Michigan's biggest blowout since the 2016 Hawaii game. This game was trending towards a total rutger for a while and was a nice palette cleanser. More Biff Poggi interviews, please. Listen for the Chip's chips. Do we think "Sherrone's not here so let's play with the kids"? Who's your Crippen comparison, Andrew Vastardis? David Molk? This is what Bryce Underwood looks like when he's not under siege. What did Bryce see on the interception? He had someone open. One of the special things about Bryce is he can just go and get you 20 yards on the ground. Is he putting a little extra zip on the ball? McCulley had a couple nice catches, other guys need to catch the ball. Running backs did a better job of re-gapping in this game. The offensive line had a nice day with some [redshirt] freshman mistakes. Jadyn Davis played several drives with no passes. [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP] 2. Defense vs Central Michigan Starts at 44:32 Couldn't quite get a total rutger but felt like it would for a while. They played a 3-4 for most of this game. Jaishawn Barham found the backfield a lot. Manuel Beigel had some meaningful time in the first quarter. Central Michigan ran a lot of down G. A lot of guys were hurt in this game but backups looked good. Michigan has a little Channing Stribling now. Rolder was up and down but had some good stops. Does Biff even understand Batman's hero abilities work?? 3. Hot Takes, Game Theory, and Special Teams Starts at 1:05:11 Takes hotter than the Georgia Tech radio announcer after the bees hit a fire drill field goal from 50 yards and they SOUNDED EXACTLY LIKE THIS. There's a list of things you can't bring into the stadium but they're handing out versions of the thing! Someone teach the students how to do the wave and when to do it, we didn't even get a fast or slow wave. And not when the game is happening! We like Jake Butt as a commentator. What's Semaj's plan when he's fielding punts? Definitely a sad field goal. 4. Around the Big Ten with Jamie Mac Starts at 1:38:31 Too many Big Ten teams so notes are reduced. Nebraska 59, Houson Christian 7 Maryland 44, Towsend 17 Penn State 52, Villanova 6 Penn State is struggling to convert on 3rd down on Drew Allar's arm. Rutgers 60, Norfolk State 10 Iowa 47, UMass 7 Indiana 73, Indiana State 0 ISU with 77 total yards, not a total rutger. Oregon 34, Northwestern 14 Most of Northwestern's yards were in the 4th quarter while down 34-0, but Northwestern had a pulse at times. Alabama 38, Wisconsin 14 No Billy Edwards in this game. Wisconsin couldn't do anything, this was a debacle. If they don't beat Maryland, do they get a win the Big Ten? USC 33, Purdue 17 It wasn't particularly close, but Purdue had some long drives (that ended in picks). Michigan State 41, Youngstown State 24 This was a bit of a game for a little while?? Michigan State was always in control but gave up some big plays. The Spartans lost some starters to injuries. Ohio State 37, Ohio 9 The score looks close but it was not. Ryan Day's decision making kept the scoring low. Illinois 38, Western Michigan 0 Is Illinois really a top 10 team? Which Memorial Stadium is the real Memorial Stadium? California 27, Minnesota 14 A game that was fairly even statistically except for a couple turnovers. New Mexico 35, UCLA 10 UCLA is BAD bad, and they fired their coach. This was not a fluke. New Mexico got pressure on 52% of Nico's dropbacks. The Big Sky says "no thanks" to adding UCLA.

The Sponsors We want to thank Underground Printing for starting this and making it possible—stop by and pick up some gear, check them out at ugpmichiganapparel.com, or check out our selection of shirts on the MGoBlogStore.com. And let’s not forget our associate sponsors: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklar Brothers, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Radecki Oral Surgery, Long Road Distillers, and SignalWire where we are recording this. Featured Musician: Jim Cherewick THE VIDEO: [After THE JUMP: Things discussable.] --------------------- 1. CMU Preview: Offense starts at noon They rotate a LOT. Get ready for two offensive lines, three quarterbacks, and a lot of Iowa from the former Army OL coach whose YouTube clinics have been a staple of my learning diet. Fullbacks! 2. CMU Preview: Defense starts around 15:02 MAC version of Hutch, or a poor man's Braden McGregor is Holdman, the SDE who has to play B-gaps because they don't have the size. They're in a 404 Tite and they're aggressive, so expect something like the Army 2019 game. 3. Oklahoma After Review: Offense starts around 26:10 What it looked like on first watch. Frustrating that we don't have answers for Dantonio stuff. Felt like Hoke era offense. OL was okay save for Zack Marshall; he wasn't ready and we missed Marlin Klein. RBs were not pressing gaps, Haynes missed blocks in pass pro. 4. Oklahoma After Review: Defense starts at 44:43 Couldn't fit the QB run game. A lot of that was unbalanced, and Michigan didn't use the same response to that as usual, probably because Jayden Sanders was at corner and they didn't want him to be the free safety. Some Dammit Wink but I expect Guy to chip. Weirdly bad games from Benny, Guy, Moore. A little worried that Tre Williams still thinks he's a Clemson d-tackle. Featured Artist: Jim Cherewick A local artist, writer, and musician, Jim Cherewick has been involved in a lot of projects around town—Gymsee, False Figures, Best Exes, Piner, Wicker Chairs, and Congress. I discovered him because I liked his watercolors, and then saw he's playing at the Pig with Cattywampus in October so I started checking out his stuff and have been writing to it all week. It's all indie but all sounds different—the best way I can describe it is you start with a guy and a Fender and add a My Bloody Valentine slider that goes all the way up (Congress) or down (Wicker Chairs). I chose a spread to show what I mean. I'm still in discovery mode here but hope you'll join me. Songs: "Death Wagon"—Jim Cherewick "Urgency"—Wicker Chairs "Pile of Me"—Congress Also because Across 110th Street will get our Youtubes taken down, the opener and outro: “The Employee is Not Afraid”—Bear vs. Shark “Ruska Vodka”—Motorboat

Things Discussed: Story time with Craig: Where the name Sooners comes from: it's the guys who cheated to get to the land stolen from the Indians. Oklahoma: Ultraconservatism made it feel like they're not trying to win this game. Every time they got to a decision point they made the conservative call. They ran on 3rd & 6, got four yards, and kicked a field goal. They punted rather than give ZVADA a shot at a 55-yarder. They kicked (and missed) a FG with 3 minutes before the half on 4th & 2 instead of trying to end the half. You've got 7 guys on the LOS and the CBs are off: you have to take that. Probably going to be a blip: you have to have a lot of confidence in your defense to play the way Oklahoma did. Michigan's gameplan: do all the things you do with a freshman QB. Oklahoma's gameplan: take away all the things people do with a freshman QB. It felt like a Dantonio Quarters where they have a safety who only cares about your run game and our disjoined offensive gameplans from years past where we don't have a plan to deal with aggression. Defense: Every vet played worse than his norm. Didn't know how to fit their gaps vs a +1 run game. Brian: That's the +1 run game. They ran Mateer 19 times—that is going balls to the wall. PFF scores: We don't agree with them. Grades for OL: Crippen and Norton were okay, Efobi okay, Sprague 2 big bads, Gio was good until he got hurt, Z-Marsh is not ready—Klein was a big loss as a blocker. Underwood: worse on the review than we thought. He missed some early reads and then Oklahoma sped him up. Also had major fetters on from his coaching staff. Once they're more confident in what they're seeing they'll trust him more. He can't read a smash route right now, so it's a pickle. Disappointed with Chip: You're supposed to be the guy who Malzahns our offense. Sam: they're playing the 2023 Penn State game. Difference in that game was Michigan had the top two defenses in the country. But that 2nd defense is on the field: Benny, Guy, Moore, Hausmann: That's the 2nd team! Defense: Predictable response: put 12 personnel on the field and go 4-wide. Wink needs to learn he can get away with regular-ass nickel unless they have impact blocking TEs. When you're missing tackles and chips and have vets busting there's too much on them. "Too much" may have been Game 2 with injuries piling up at cornerback, Barham out for a half, and playing in Oklahoma.

1 hour and 48 minutes The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. Offense vs Oklahoma Starts at 1:00 How bothered/upset are you right now? Seth says this game was 2004 Notre Dame. It feels like they're playing for 2027 but you need some momentum if you want to get more wide receivers. You want Bryce Underwood to let it rip but instead the offense played way too conservatively. Michigan didn't keep it close, Oklahoma kept shooting themselves in the foot to keep Michigan in this game. Oklahoma knew Michigan would run a bunch of freshman quarterback plays and blew them all up. It's possible that Michigan didn't drop back much because they offensive line couldn't give Bryce enough time and the coaches knew this. Maybe the coaches are just trying to keep Bryce from getting hurt and that means playing conservatively in a non-conference game. Why are there so many runs and screens on 3rd down? Just throw it on 3rd and long and see what happens. How much of the Jim Harbaugh stuff is sustainable without literally Jim Harbaugh? Sometimes Crippen just isn't strong enough for his assignment. [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP] 2. Defense vs Oklahoma Starts at 29:45 That felt like it should've been about 24 points. John Mateer also did some incredible things and came up positive in the random number generator game. Michigan wasn't able to get after Oklahoma's freshman left tackle. There was some cute Wink stuff again that the personnel couldn't execute. He reverted back to some of his ways from early last year. When Oklahoma did run it up the middle the defensive line was what you wanted it to be. Overall, the defense was okay, just not #1 defense in America okay. TJ Guy getting shut down by a true freshman tackle says "we're just not there." Was there much of a difference with and without Jaishawn Barham? Oklahoma seemed to adjust to his absence but Michigan didn't. 3. Hot Takes, Game Theory, and Special Teams Starts at 53:11 Takes not quite as hot Billy Napier's hot seat. Number changes must be approved by a sickos committee (unless it is to make the quarterback #98). Michigan elected to kick from the plus 38 yard line, this is indefensible when you have Zvada. The point of being Michigan is that you can get that 4th and 2. Sherrone should be old and young enough to have played Madden from the age of six. Go let Zvada (and all the guys who make plays) go make the plays they're supposed to make. There was no mention of Semaj getting targeted and looking woozie. In case you're wondering the difference between running into the kicker and roughing the kicker... that was roughing the kicker. 4. Around the Big Ten with Jamie Mac Starts at 1:21:51 Too many Big Ten teams so notes are reduced. Penn State 34, FIU 0 Indiana 56, Kennesaw State 9 Minnesota 66, Northwestern State 0 Minnesota running back Darrius Taylor went out with an injury. Ohio State 70, Grambling 0 Nebraska 68, Akron 0 It should be a little bit easier to run against Nebraska than Oklahoma at least. Wisconsin 42, Middle Tennessee 10 This game was actually close for a while. Wisconsin couldn't run the ball well at all. USC 59, Georgia Southern 20 USC with 11.3 YPP through two games. They have one touchdown per 6.5 snaps. Washington 70, UC-Davis 10 Northwestern 42, Western Illinois 7 Purdue 34, Southern Illinois 17 Illinois 45, Duke 19 Duke is not a terrible ACC team, they outgained Illinois. How valid is Illinois being ranked #11? Duke had five turnovers. Illinois got a first down after Duke had two guys wearing the same number on a punt. Iowa 13, Iowa State 16 This was a perfect rendition of ¡El Assico!. Zero explosive plays between both teams. Neither team got to 300 yards of offense. The same guy kicked the same game winning field goal for the 2nd year. Rutgers 45, Miami (NTM) 17 Rutgers has scored on 12 of their 16 drives this year. There's a legit passing attack here. Oregon 69, Oklahoma State 3 Mike Gundy complained before the game that Oregon spent a lot of money on their players. Then oh no! Oklahome State is an OSU that looks too much like Oregon State apparently. Michigan State 42, Boston College 40 (2OT) Aidan Chiles can be anything in any given week and this week was Good Aidan Chiles. Is Michigan State's pass defense worse than Fordham's? UNLV 30, UCLA 23 Going to UCLA is telling

The Sponsors We want to thank Underground Printing for starting this and making it possible—stop by and pick up some gear, check them out at ugpmichiganapparel.com, or check out our selection of shirts on the MGoBlogStore.com. And let’s not forget our associate sponsors: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklar Brothers, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Radecki Oral Surgery, Long Road Distillers, and SignalWire where we are recording this. Featured Musician: Booster THE VIDEO: [After THE JUMP: Things to be said.] --------------------- 1. Oklahoma Preview: Offense starts at noon It's John Mateer doing Tate Forcier things in an RPO-heavy system that meets its greatest challenge yet in a defense that doesn't give you any easy reads. Can their haphazard OL with one or two true freshman hold up to Michigan's DL? Can Michigan force Mateer into mistakes? Are his receivers enough to get open for him? Fascinating matchup. 2. Oklahoma Preview: Defense starts around 12:20 The other side of our Spiderman Pointing: their defense is Legit. Venables defense is the older cousin of the Don Brown system: it's 50% Don Brown's cover 1, which he calls "Brown" and 50% Dantonio's quarters. The DL get upfield in a hurry and the LBs have to make them right, but there's always a safety or two involved in the run fits to collect when you break outside. Best way to attack it is CJ Stroud and NFL receivers but we're probably not there yet. He has two hybrid OLBs so he doesn't get Devin Gil'd but those guys might be susceptible to some Bredesoning. 3. New Mexico After Review: Offense starts around 12:45 This is where we talk about Bryce Underwood. 4. New Mexico After Review: Defense starts around 1:10 PM This is where we talk about College Crappe. Featured Artist: Booster Detroit born (East side in August 1990), and Detroit educated, Booster was exposed to music from an early age from his artist/performer mother, which you can tell because his music is dripping with 1960s (you'll hear that Motown cooing in All Night Long) and 1970s (the funk in Real City) Detroit, and honed himself at the Detroit School of Arts and the music program at Kentucky State University. He's changed his approach several times in his career, but the throughline is his creativity. A musician's musician, Booster is the guy a lot of local creators get their ideas from—like how all the rock bands in Ann Arbor in my day were obsessed with At the Drive-In. You can read more about him here and check out his socials: Ig: @imyourboost YouTube: imyourboost Facebook: @imyourboost Songs: All Night Long Box Real City Also because Across 110th Street will get our Youtubes taken down, the opener and outro: “The Employee is Not Afraid”—Bear vs. Shark “Ruska Vodka”—Motorboat

Things Discussed: Bryce: NO CEILING. Most talented quarterback in the history of the program. Offense will need to mitigate pass pro, Link was okay against a Keyshaun James-Newby. Think it'll be like 2023 offense. OL? Crippen's kind of game: more of a mental test than a physical one, because New Mexico had to slant and stunt etc. Will need to use Bryce's legs in Oklahoma. Chip: Made Michigan's normal stuff work. Everything is packaged now. Did a good job of keeping Bryce calm. Defense: UNM wasn't running sustainable offense. Payne and Etta took advantage of physical matchups, a little disappointed in the other DTs (UFR is coming at noon). What UNM was doing was playing 2-3 TEs to get Michigan's 5-2 personnel on the field so they could spread them out and attack Guy. Jyaire: Really good but for two bad plays. Eyes on Cole Sullivan and Nate Marshall. OKLAHOMA: Mateer is a Tate. He's going to have to make plays because their OL has some if's: both Ts should be back—sounds like those were both precautionary—but they might have to play a 2nd true freshman at RG (moving the RG to LG). Oklahoma offense is an RPO-fest: They find where you're outleveraged and make that guy's life hell. Can they do that against the Amoeba?

2 hours and 40 minutes The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. Offense vs New Mexico Starts at 1:00 When's the last time you've ever seen an offensive lineman run away from a fight? Probably the funniest thing all night. New Mexico came out like they wanted to make a statement for a new era of New Mexico, and they may have an endless well of College Crappe that they can run. Let's talk about Bryce Underwood, it took one game for Brian to become a believer. Bryce just turned 18 but we're making critiques that you would make about juniors and seniors. He's got a thing for parabolic arcs. We're finally seeing the Semaj Morgan we hoped to see when he was a sophomore. The whole stadium stopped and turned to Brian on the play action pass to Max Bredeson. Bryce is very accurate when he can throw in the pocket, if Channing Goodwin hadn't put his hands up the ball would've just gotten stuck in his facemask. They're not running Bryce but then he's throwing a monster block with his throwing shoulder. Offensive line kept Bryce from getting lit up so that's a W, especially against a couple decent transfer edges. So was Justice Haynes worth the price? Overall, Channing Goodwin was encouraging. Fred Moore had a bad drop. [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP] 2. Defense vs New Mexico Starts at 51:04 A little tricky to grade the defense. They gave up some stuff but some of it was aided by the officials. Wink seemed to struggle with the College Crappe a bit, but Ohio State doesn't run that and you need Wink to beat Ohio State. QB Jack Layne was a fearless dawg who kept getting back up all game. Michigan had a lot of rotation all game. Brandyn Hillman hit a guy hard enough that you didn't need Grapentine to tell you who it was, Jyaire Hill got beat. Enow Etta played more than was expected. Seth got deported from the Vatican once. Jaishawn Barham is probably the worst person to get hit by on this team. The defensive line doesn't have a superstar but it's deep like the 2022 line. 3. Hot Takes, Game Theory, and Special Teams Starts at 1:17:56 Takes hotter than Michigan Stadium after Jaishawn Barham got ejected. Michigan punted on 4th and 1 on their own 49, three thumbs down. Andrew Marsh fumbled a kickoff and hesitated on one he brought out but he's a true freshman so it is what it is, it'll get better. Hudson Hollenbeck was fine, there's room for improvement. Discussing the targeting call, note that this was recorded before the "upheld" decision. Oops, we've been pronouncing "Sprague" wrong apparently. Maybe we midwesternized his name. 4. Around the Big Ten with Jamie Mac Starts at 1:58:00 There are too many Big Ten teams so there are fewer notes for some games. Purdue 31, Ball State 0 Maryland 39, FAU 7 The Maryland freshman QB looks pretty decent. Total yardage was somehow even. Penn State 46, Nevada 11 Penn State might be a boring team to watch until they play Oregon. Iowa 34, Albany 7 The Iowa QB was still pretty pedestrian. Oregon 59, Montana State 13 USC 73, Missouri State 13 Welcome to the FBS, Missouri State. Illinois 52, Western Illinois 3 Northwestern 3, Tulane 23 Preston Stone had -42 rushing yards. The Northwestern head coach says to "believe in this quarterback". Indiana 27, Old Dominion 14 This Indiana team feels less explosive compared to last year. Washington 38, Colorado State 21 Jonah Coleman had 177 rushing yards on 24 carries, the Huskies are looking more explosive this season. They could be Pacific Chaos Team but their defense is still suspect. Utah 43, UCLA 10 "Committing to UCLA is telling on yourself", Nico Iamaleava was 11/22 for 136 yards, 1TD/1INT. UCLA is still who they've been. Utah was 14/16 on 3rd down conversions. Michigan State 23, Western Michigan 6 Michigan State struggled to stop Western's edges. 138 yards in the last nine drives isn't great. MSU did get a 21-0 lead early, though. Rutgers 34, Ohio 31 Not a great start for Rutgers. Overall, an exciting game. Minnesota 23, Buffalo 10 This is much more of a blowout than the score indicates. Minnesota QB is 19/35 for 290 yards (2TD/1INT). Buffalo is a good MAC team, too. Wisconsin 17, Miami (Oh) 0 Billy Edwards is injured and Wisconsin struggled to move the ball. But Miami struggled more. Nebraska 20, Cincinnati 17 Dylan Raiola was 33/42 for 243 yards but it was mostly to th

The Sponsors We want to thank Underground Printing for starting this and making it possible—stop by and pick up some gear, check them out at ugpmichiganapparel.com, or check out our selection of shirts on the MGoBlogStore.com. And let’s not forget our associate sponsors: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklar Brothers, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Radecki Oral Surgery, Long Road Distillers, and SignalWire where we are recording this. Featured Musician: Magic Toaster THE VIDEO: [After THE JUMP: Things to be said.] --------------------- 1. New Mexico Preview: Offense starts at the top They've got a very 2022 Colorado State vibe after importing a Big Sky team. We like their Big Sky RBs better than MSU's. Mikey Keene-ish QB wasn't the reason they gave Oregon trouble. 2. Preview in Review: Defense starts at 11:24 The wily open defensive end is. The rest of lines and their secondary are terrible, save a Bruce Feldman Freak who had six kick return touchdowns in the FCS. 3. Preview in Review: Defense starts at 22:58 We're so into Metcalfs. Shark Teeth mode now with players behind players. Only thing is they don't have so many superstars—just good guys all around. Can Jyaire Hill step forward into one? Benny? Derrick Moore is the one EXTRA guy that we can't lose. 4. Preview in Review: Offense starts at 35:50 Surviving Evan Link. Featured Artist: Magic Toaster Songs: Saturday Night Anything's Fine Blue Night Oberon Also because Across 110th Street will get our Youtubes taken down, the opener and outro: “The Employee is Not Afraid”—Bear vs. Shark “Ruska Vodka”—Motorboat

Things Discussed: Craig Ross introduces the MGoBlog Rub Some Dirt On It player of the week. What's the offense look like with Bryce? Not a spread, some RPO, some downfield passing, most of that off play-action. Opponents are going to bring safeties down—Oklahoma runs a Venables defense that wants to attack, so you have to punish that. Remember 2021 Georgia when JJ came in? He had some simple reads, but things opened up because he could physically get certain types of throws further downfield, increased the spacing between receivers. RPOs? Chip Lindsey's job is to make what you do work, not rewrite the offensive script. There will be tag RPOs where the read is more of a "run-unless"—it's not going to be like Stanford's long mesh where the read is the point. It's a check on bad behavior so they can do their thing, which is run off-tackle. Sam: Program philosophy isn't to allow the defense to set what you're going to do. Brian wants to see Bredeson used on those Aaron Shea dumpoffs more often because you freak out when he's coming your way. Mikey Keene? He's got a shoulder injury. You don't get to choose when the injury is healed; he will probably be the QB2 when he's back. Brady Norton: Not like last year. If they were down to two RGs and they were Efobi and Hattar and Norton won it would concern us, but it was Efobi-Norton two weeks ago. Concern is left tackle; they were talking about replacing Link with a true freshman before Babalola got hurt. Evan Link will start, Blake Frazier will play; Blake has to prove he's durable because he's coming off a knee injury, and he has to be stronger in the run game because he's 290-something. If Link isn't clear of Frazier right now that's an issue. DT depth chart: People were surprised that Trey Pierce was ahead of Damon Payne, but we've been saying that all offseason. You want that: Trey has eligibility next year and showed some talent. Opening weened for CFB: What's up with Ohio State and their new coordinators? Probably going to be fine with Hartline because he will just say throw it to Jeremiah Smith and…yeah that works. Matt Patricia has two great players in the back-seven but they are going to be just okay at D-tackle (I like the end they picked up from UNC). Maybe Matt Patricia is here to bottom out the culture, because as soon as he left Detroit and Philadelphia those locker rooms become two of the best in the NFL. Quick New Mexico preview: They have a 246 pound defensive tackle and a backfooting QB who's going to punt it up to a former Iowa receiver that might be injured.

2 hours and 13 minutes The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. Noncon and Big Ten: The Bottom Four Starts at 0:54 New Mexico. Former Wisconsin player who was at Idaho takes over, brings the QB and the DE who gave Oregon problems last year. Keegan Johnson used to play at Iowa. Oklahoma. Spiderman pointing game. Their defense was great and their offense just as terrible. Mateer the savior doesn't have WRs and his OL is highly recruited and young. They spent a lot for Damonic Williams at DT, have a great FS and iffy corners. Punting and arm-punting is winning? CMU. New coach is the former Army OL coach, interesting dude who sends his coaches home at 5pm, got all local coaches because he wants to be there a long time. Got an Iowa QB. #18: Purdue. Odom: Why? Team was falling apart already under Walters and got gutted. Multi-year rebuild. #17: Maryland. Walking Locksley to the gallows season. Inexplicable receiver depth is gone. Jalen Husky (from Bowling Green) and secondary is the relative strength of the defense. How much will Maryland seriously try to compete in this sport or just throw their House money at basketball? #16: Northwestern. The2021 running backs are still there. Caleb Tiernan how do you not come home? Edges Hubbard and Anto Saka (getting draft hype) are good. Dillon Tatum late transfer followed Harlon Barnett. Receivers are gone though. #15: UCLA. Encouraging second half last year, new belief in Deshawn Foster. But they're back to rebuilding from the portal, look like they have to do that every year. Only 2/15 players with 200+ snaps returned. Did get Nico Iamaleava. They have some access to money, but where's it going? Jalen Berger is their RB! [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP] 2. The Big Ten Middle Starts at 34:54 #14: MSU. Defense takes a step back, offense takes a step forward, Aidan Chiles could be a budding star. Jonathan Smith probably didn't understand what kind of fanbase he's walking into. #13: Wisconsin. Is this the last hurrah of Fickell? They dumped the spread and their best player is a huge RT so that's good; their defense is kind of falling apart so that's bad. #12: Rutgers. Schiano has done it: Rutgers is a perennial bowl team! No more Monangai but plenty of parts are back, especially on the OL. #11: Minnesota. High-variance offense, Koi Perich is an All-American. If a few of the transfers hit it's a strong defense. Could win 10 games vs a bad schedule, could also be just fighting for a bowl. #10: Nebraska. Raiola year 2 has a lot of weapons. They really spent to get him some WRs, Dane Key and a contested catch guy from Cal. Still going to be a 3-3-5 but playing tiny. The problem is their DL coach left and took the DL with him. #9: Washington. Only Big Ten RB to return, really like them. Also got back Boston. Upgraded from Stephen Belichick to Ryan Walters at DC, have a dual-threat QB who took over last year. Opposite Michigan: no kicker, weak in the trenches. #8: Iowa. Mid! Offense improved quite a bit under Tim Lester, rose to 69th in SP+, had fewer wins because that's not Iowa. "We have a quarterback now!" /runs a waggle. #7: Indiana. Cignetti is tough to play for but he was able to rebuild through the portal again with guys who don't have to get to know Cignetti, including a new QB who might be pretty good. 3. The Contenders Starts at 1:10:38 #6: Illinois. Brian is wearing an Illinois shirt after a 10-2 season that was really lucky. Lose their playmakers from a team that was really lucky last year and did most of their work. Paid all these guys to return because they have a very weak schedule. Circle Illinois-Indiana. #5: USC. Ewebwuddy Woves Waymond. Scott Frost season where they lost to Maryland, banking on a massive, sorta overrated 2026 class. Have their choice receivers, have their QB in Maiava, have a magic wand to turn their secondary into poop. (#4 is Michigan) #3: Oregon. Dan Lanning is our top coach in the league but in-game management in Rose Bowl scares us. Doesn't lose bad games. Will be some talent drop-off, do we trust Dante Moore? He's had a year in the program and they didn't import someone. Probably spent the most of anybody in the portal. Bear Alexander at DT is a reason to doubt them; this team has a big potential to come together or completely fall apart with locker room issues. E

EVENT REMINDERS: Come see me in CHICAGO TONIGHT at 6PM. U-M Club of Fairfield is hosting an online Q&A at noon tomorrow. And then Monday, August 25 is U-M Club of Greater Detroit's kickoff w/ me, Isaiah and Henschke, and hosted by Ira. Things Discussed: The NCAA's NOA: Not surprised it was nonsense; not surprised it was just money because they can't risk operating this anywhere that facts matter. Surprised how little they actually had. They only had one two witnesses, both of them whom the report called liars, for Signgate, and one witness, whom the report also called a liar. Whenever evidence was presented it undermined their conclusions. This was, from the start, about getting Harbaugh out of college football, because he was not wired for putting up with their bullshit. Sherrone--and this comes off in the report and in his response--is one who knows how to play ball. That's all they want: is for you to tell them they're relevant. If you play ball (Sherrone, Compliance, Partridge) they praise you; if you expose them for the frauds they are, they'll do all they can. Nobody still staying it mattered is someone you ever have to listen to again. Michigan got better without Stalions. They were that good because they were better football players. I never want to hear Stalions's name again, because it just takes away from the actual accomplishments of Mike Sainristil. Game in Germany? Not 100% sure it's happening. Me: whatever. I'm not gonna go to Europe to see one of my teams; I want to go to Europe to see Europe. Savion Hiter: The balance stands out. He has a Beastquake on his highlights: Reminds me of watching Ricky Powers as a kid. Comp will probably be Corum. Big Nickel: The math is when on offense removes a slot for a TE they still have a lot of receiving ability on the field; when Michigan matches by removing a DB for a DT they now have to match the TE with somebody else, and thus far it's been the SAM: Harrell, Stewart, Guy. Offenses in the NFL have been exploiting that so defenses have come up with big nickels (e.g. Kyle Hamilton) in place of their SAMs who still have the length to hold an edge in the run game against a TE but can also cover a TE down the field. Mason Curtis has the perfect build for it. Questions people ask on the road? How good is Bryce, what will the offense look like, who is this guy Craig Ross?

2 hours and 8 minutes The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. Quarterback Starts at 0:54 Quick rundown of all the options: it's Bryce. Expectations for Bryce: Vince Young as a RS freshman, who doesn't quite know what to do with the ball and gets jumpy when the pressure's on, but you can see the talent. One thing in his favor: he isn't jumpy at all in the pocket, and the overthrows in the Spring Game were out of character. Michigan has to roll with it, but Big Ten average with huge swings. Will he be more like a sophomore by Ohio State perhaps? [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP] 2. Skill Positions Starts at 35:36 Running back has two really good players and then a drop to ???. On the very goods, we love Jordan Marshall and might be underrating Justice Haynes—he's got a lot of Corum in him. He's also got a lot of experience as a lead blocker for a running QB, but that's probably not what he came here for. WRs are Donaven McCulley and then a big drop to Just-Guys who probably were better than they looked last year. Think Semaj Morgan should be the #2 since he gives you something—F.Moore, Bell, O'Leary just guys, hearing things about the freshmen doesn't give Brian happy feels. Tight end is the strength of the offense. The spectrum goes fullback: Max Bredeson, h-back: Jalen Hoffman, inline: Marlin Klein, flex: Hogan Hansen. Bredeson kickouts force defenders to overcommit, create bounce opportunities. Klein is an underrated blocker (watch the Reliaquest Bowl). Hansen was open last year, Davis Warren was allergic to throwing at him. Hoffman might be Underwood's secret binkie, can run WR routes and block like an OL. 3. Offensive Line Starts at 1:18:36 PLEASE do not activate our rule that if two guys are battling for a job and it's won by a third guy it's a very bad sign. Concerning that OL was an issue, and player evaluation was an issue, when the HC was the OL coach. It's not a hot take that Andrew Babalola is going to start at Ohio State, Brian. If Evan Link gets fixed and Gio El-Hadi truly feels more comfortable at LG that'd be great; the latter is more likely than the former, but they don't have better options so Link to start. Crippen is who he is; if his issues were mental then could see Juan Castillo having an effect, but Crippen is mentally there and just gets physically dominated. RG and RT are two really good stories for the future, as Efobi and Sprague (especially Sprague) are on track for excellent careers. Depth at G. 4. Hot Takes, Special Teams and Chip Starts at 1:46:36 Takes hotter than Sabrina Carpenter. Thank you to the Michigan fan who left Dominic Zvada out of the Groza semifinalists so he would come back to be the best kicker in Michigan history again. Punter…wasn't great last year but it's not like Hudson Hollenbeck was better in the one game we saw him, and attempts to get more guys in the portal is a little concerning. Returns should be Semaj, I'Marion Stewart, and hearing things about the UMass transfer Anthony Simpson. Chip's offense is about building his passing game onto your running game. They'd like to be an outside zone one way/rollout the other way team but they probably can't run outside zone. Need to hit the downfield shots to keep safeties off their screen game; last year they were set up at 7 yards. MUSIC: "Small Worlds"—Mac Miller "Memo from Turner"—Mick Jagger "Is the Hugeness Translating"—Floating Action “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

1 hour and 53 minutes The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. We have to talk about the NCAA NOA Starts at 0:54 A great exercise in bad faith, and deeply insulting to Mike Sainristil. NCAA doesn't want to go to court because they'll lose, so they produced a blustery document to make it about money. Clearly Stalions should not have been part of any organization. If Jim Harbaugh is still the head coach when this comes out they would have had to fire him. But these are clearly minor violations hopped up as an extension of Harbaugh's reaction to telling them to go to hell for Burgergate, and part of a pattern of the NCAA coming after him personally. We're actually shocked at how bad all of their evidence is: 1) Stalions who's a liar. 2) Joey Velazquez, who recorded Stalions, tried to entrap Partridge, and Partridge proved was lying about their interaction, and for the Level II recruiting violations 3) a player who was broomed from the class whom the NCAA also admitted didn't have his stories straight. The only evidence they had of an atmosphere of noncompliance was an assistant (likely Stalions) saying screw Compliance. When they say the benefit was not marginal they don't even try to justify that take—Michigan got better without Stalions. The report makes its conclusion on the value of this entirely on the basis of the lengths that Stalions went to trying to get film when the guy goes to extreme lengths to pump up his own importance as a rule. Their defining piece of evidence is Harbaugh gave him a game ball, when they also say they found Harbaugh gave out 15 game balls per game to try to make sure everyone on staff got one, and Connor's value was so little that he a defensive ball from Iowa. [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP] 2. Defensive Line Starts at 16:16 Rayshaun Benny was grading out like Mason Graham—see: the end of the OSU and Alabama games. He is not Mason Graham, but should be able to keep up that sort of ratio because they are so deep they can keep him fresh at the end of games. Tre Williams is a Mazi Smith, M valued him more than Clemson did; he isn't a pass-rusher. Damon Payne is an innings-eater. Ike Iwunnah too. Trey Pierce and Enow Etta are the ones we want to see emerge because they have eligibility for next year. Pierce is on that track while Etta gained weight after getting pushed around last year, is ticketed for the Jenkins role. If a 7th DT plays we think it's Palepale, who looks huge and athletic. Edge has a floor of All-Big Ten and a ceiling of Derrick Moore turning into a Day 1 pick. He is that freakish combination of technique, length, and athleticism, got better at dropping into coverage last year, has a Mike Morris style of pass rush that should work. Last year he was getting to the quarterback but everyone else got there before him. TJ Guy is possibly the smartest guy on the field, had the most dip of last year, underrated strength, lots of versatility, though hit a ceiling when it came to carrying Flex TEs. Saved Michigan vs OSU. Cam Brandt is the established backup to D-Mo; we're a little iffy on him, but he might be on the Morris track. Backup to Guy is Nichols—clearly the program likes him but unproven. Would like to see Nate Marshall used in a pass rush only role this year. Would like to see Baxter and Edokpayi playing more this year too. 3. Linebacker Starts at 50:02 Everybody came back/is healthy after they prepared to lose everyone, so there's a lot of age and a lot of depth. Ernest Hausmann is the glue of the offense, another very underrated player who moves like a nickel and reads plays well. Had to get in better shape because when you're the button you can't be breathing hard between plays—you have to yelling. Barham is the Problem for offenses, because you can't block him with a RB and you have to block someone with the RB. Been caught "covering grass" as we say but has the ability to blow up. Can also spend time at edge if need be. Depth is incredible. Rolder is your Braiden McGregor-memorial back-from-injury senior who's going to play plenty and play well but start losing time to Cole Sullivan, the next Barham who's rocked up and earning a ton of practice hype after being under-ranked out of high school by 247 and ESPN (On3 moved him up to #112 so I couldn't make him the Sleeper of the Class)

Things Discussed: What kind of offense should Michigan be? They’re really built to be a 1990s team: strong TEs and FBs, run-blocking OL, big-armed quarterback who doesn’t have to make super-hard reads. Chip Lindsey is a balance guy, not a screen guy. He comes in, looks at what you’re doing, and builds a functional passing game around it. What does that look like this year? Their base two plays can be the stuff that worked for 1997 Michigan/Kirk Ferentz: Run off-tackle to one side and rollout flood passes with a side of Bryce running out the other way, and some screens and play-action deep shots to keep them honest. The Left Tackle conundrum. Seth says it’s Evan Link until Andrew Babalola is ready, Sam says don’t count on that, but it sounds like that would be a mistake—shades of the 2017 tackle problem when their best player at RT was Juwan Bushell-Beatty but he couldn’t pass-protect, and instead of changing what they do around that they went with Nolan Ulizio to start the season. They don’t look like a run-first team in practice, says Sam. Well, they’re probably having to practice passing a lot. Remember you can have a 400% increase in passing from last year and still barely hit their 2021 level. Sometimes you gotta be you and let the cards fall where they may. News hits mid-show that Michigan will receive their NOI tomorrow. Expectations? Brian: removing wins etc. is off the table. There will be a show-cause for Harbaugh and Stalions because they refused to participate—Harbaugh probably has a lot of unread text messages. Guessing a two-game suspension (which games?) for Sherrone because all they really have on Michigan is the “deleted texts” that he apparently retrieved immediately from an image. The math here is Michigan didn’t really do anything. They had a signs guy; everyone had signs guys. They scouted Georgia; Georgia wasn’t on the schedule. The NCAA needs to make it look as big as possible but they really aren’t working with much because Michigan didn’t cheat, Michigan didn’t harm anybody, and Michigan didn’t cover it up. So the NCAA will absolutely maximize the infinitesimal infractions: completely ignore any time served from the Big Ten’s overreaction in 2023, punish Harbaugh for not being present, yeet Stalions, fine Michigan because money isn’t real, and penalize Sherrone for the appearance of hiding evidence. Ohio State will be mad because this was their show from the start and they didn’t get the lynching they wanted, but even when the NCAA is doing their best to be as unjust towards Michigan as possible, but Michigan really didn’t give them anything to work with.

Things Discussed: Underwood v Keene: Craig tries to make the case for Mikey Keene if he's at all better than Underwood; Sam and Seth jump all over him (with history!) Sayin v Keinholtz: Ohio State tries to make the case for Keinholtz, we jump all over them and prove they're going to be fine (with history!) Young Coaches v Old Coaches: It's good to have a mix. That's really all we talked about, actually. Enjoy the history.