Things Discussed: Wisconsin out, Texas in: Brian still wants the entire university excised from the Tournament. St Louis didn't have a second big, didn't have the guards to do what Wisconsin did. Good news for Sweet 16: ISU (minus Jefferson) and Alabama (minus Holloway) don't match up. Beautiful basketball: Dusty to Craig, no way to guarantee it's that pretty. Yax be a star time. A yard never looks that good unless there are major basketball feelings going on. Threes are random, five-out shooting teams (Wisconsin, Alabama) have random results, but you need a guard (e.g Nick Boyd) who can take advantage of the space created by pulling the center out. Labaran Philon is a dude, gotta fight through screens. Thing about Alabama is they only have one big—most of the team are 6-8 wings, and they can only play Sherrell 20mpg. Don't force TOs. Can't rebound! They should get ravaged in the paint. Texas, Georgia, Zaga, Purdue all got massive OReb rates. Long rebound luck game: where do the missed quick threes carom? Need to have everybody put up a poster dunk in practice and prepare to get back after. Also without Holloway they only have two guards on the roster. They play fast, might run Philon out of juice. Painful basketball teams: Will Wade back to LSU? Ben McCollum turns basketball into an Iowa football game. Funny how if you just asked, in a neutral state, if both Alabama's football and basketball coaches would rather be at Michigan they'd take you up in a heartbeat. Iowa State: Dead in the water without Jefferson, no way that injury is okay by Elite Eight right? He couldn't put weight on it. Tennessee are bullies up front, fear them more than non-Jefferson ISU. Hockey: This stupid tournament format means we can't make predictions because being the #1 overall seed doesn't matter—you go to Albany and get Penn State in the 2nd round. Women's Basketball: Like their chances to beat Louisville because we can pest them out of the building, but beating Texas in Texas is tough. Put a "4" over the quarter number on the scoreboard so Swordsy thinks it's the end of the game. UNC a threat to take Dusty? His new contract should be a $7.5M buyout (saw $4M reported?) but that's not as big as some others. Think if we survived Indiana we survived UNC, which is Job #2 in a worse conference than the Big Ten, where Michigan is Job #1.

1 Hour and 35 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1 There is no need for the NCAA hockey tournament selection show to be drawn out as much as it is. It took 20 minutes to find out anything interesting. It's just hostage-taking for fans just wanting the bracket. What are the pros and cons of neutral site games? Campuses are better atmospheres but at least it's fun to explore host cities if you travel. Hosting the tournament in smaller, less prominent locations makes the tournament feel like the minor leagues. Empty arenas diminish the viewing experience. Anyways, Michigan won the Big Ten Tournament. Some penalties felt controversial and rewarded embellishment. Michigan's depth and skill took over late. Hopefully Hage is okay. There's a perfect satisfaction that comes with beating Ohio State in the championship game more than anyone else.   Segment 2 What do the other conference championship games mean for the tournament? Bentley beats out Sacred Heart, Dartmouth beat Princeton, and Merrimack wins a surprising Hockey East title. Discussions of Pierre Maguire's broadcasting quirks. Denver was resilient in not blowing it in double overtime after having a big lead in regulation. Michigan should be a heavy favorite over Bentley but they're better than a typical low seed. Michigan's scoring should be sufficient if they keep out of penalty trouble. Are they more likely to play Minnesota-Duluth in the 2nd round than Penn State? Alex likes Western Michigan over Denver in a regional game in... Denver. Are there enough UConn fans to watch their hockey team play instead of either their men's or women's basketball games? Who is possibly going to come out of Sioux Falls alive? North Dakota hasn't made the Frozen Four in ten years. Michigan plays Friday at 5:30 on ESPNU.    MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "Wolf Like Me" -- TV On The Radio Ice Hockey (NES) theme

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. Segments 1-3 were in MGoPodcast 17.29a yesterday. 4. Sweet Sixteen Preview: Alabama Starts at 0:51 We hate facing three teams in the Tournament because of randomness. Bama is the Nate Oats show: he wad doing efficiency before it was cool. PG Labarn Philon isn't Aden Holloway but is lengthy can can get to the basket—Nick Boyd was his #1 comp on Hoop-Explorer. Darius Acuff was on that list too. SG Latrell Wrightsell is a shooter; he was 6/9 from three vs TTU, 38% career from three, hit 45% two years ago (on a team with Sam Walters). OLD.  Wing Amari Allen is a 6'8-205 and NOT JUST A SHOOTER. The book on Allen is don’t let him shoot from the left side of the arc: 47% on 47 attempts from the left wing, 4 or 10 from the corner. But 32% straightaway on 31 attempts, 24% on 46 attempts from the right side. He’s just 61% at the rim. The other wing is a timeshare between a JAS, a freshman, and an Egyptian stretch four.  At center they're lacking, sorta. Aiden Sherrell is a Detroiter—Seth sent a phot of him as a recruit to Brian once—McDonald’s AA—kinda reminds us of Morez. Had major struggles at the free throw line last year (46%) that he’s largely fixed. Backup is... can Charles Bediako play? No? Well Bucknell transfer Noah Williamson is actually Noa Viljamsons from Latvia; he was #1 in usage and #1 in defensive rebounding in the Patriot League but severe dropoffs all over the map in their few chances against better competition.  [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]  5. Elite Eight Preview: Iowa State or Tennessee Starts at 22:13 Iowa State spent a lot of the season on the 1-seed line. HUUUUGE loss (unless it's better than it looked) in Joshua Jefferson (KPOY #2), who's high-usage Yax and really gave ISU their identity. PG Tamin Lipsey is Tre Donaldson. Wing Milan Momcilovic is the sniper of the year. Three different SGs with three different skills, and then they have some decent but not world-beating centers. It's really about stopping Jefferson. If it's Tennessee that's an easier matchup but maybe not a great one for Michigan because Ja'Kobi Gillespie gets his own shot, Nate Ament is mini Joshua Jefferson, and they throw these huge bodies at the offensive glass. 6. Women's Basketball: First Weekend Recap and Sweet 16/Elite 8 Preview Starts at 43:47 Firsts for Michigan WBB under Kim Barnes-Arico: 2-seed, 16-win season at Crisler, 27-win season. Muppets! Rote beatdown of Holy Cross was rote; the WBB Tournament is even more chalk as the top talent is so much better than the rest. Michigan is the best of the teams that doesn't have an All-American, but some teams have multiple. NC State game was a fun matchup that Michigan took over as soon as their threes started going down. BQD-ass game where she took over at times by swarming a team that normally doesn't turn it over with the press. Looking forward: Louisville is NC State but can shoot—they're all large and can stretch, though not very quick. Laura Zeigler was the top recruit in the portal, Taj Roberts is a tall sniper, Imari Berry looks like an undead from WoW. If they get past Lville it's almost certainly going to be 1-seed Texas, which just rolled Oregon, which is a bellwether (when not in a legendarily badly officiated game). Madison Booker is WBB Yaxel, Rori Harmon is a thief, Breya Cunningham and Kyla Odacre are way bigger than anyone Michigan can put on them. MUSIC: "Sunday Morning"—Alcatraz "Video Life"—Chris Spedding “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra    THE USUAL LINKS: Helpful iTunes subscribe link General podcast feed link What's with the theme music?

1 hour 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. Men's Basketball vs Howard and Saint Louis Starts at 0:51 This is part one of a part two podcast! Which Robbie Avila nickname was your favorite? Of the last ten times Michigan has made the tournament they've been in the Sweet Sixteen nine. Were Beilein teams built better for the tournament than for the Big Ten? Howard shot 48% from three, the only reason they were able to get to 80 points. What Wisconsin nonsense is this? Michigan shoots 84% from two, one of those misses was from Oscar Goodman. Roddy Gayle was uninspiring in the Big Ten Tournament but returned to his March form. Moving on to Saint Louis, they're a dangerous offensive team but there was no way they were going to be able to check Michigan. Somehow Saint Louis was the #1 field goal efficiency defense in the country, it's a good sign that Michigan shot 1.35 PPP. Avila fell for Mara's fake pass. Since they started counting blocks Michigan is the first team to have all starters score 10+ points and have a block. The Mara we're seeing now is night and day from what we saw at the beginning of the season. Could you convince him to come back another year? What was up with that non-flagrant foul that ended up being a foul on Burnett? Technically it was a cylinder foul. High Point isn't a real school, you should only schedule real schools.  [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]  2. Spring Football Bits Starts at 34:37 There are finally enough bits coming out of the spring! Ron Bellamy is back as director of player personnel, which makes all the sense in the world. Apparently Whittingham wanted to come back to Utah but he wouldn't have as much control over decision making so he left. What exactly happened here? We thought he was retiring but clearly he didn't. Manuel Beigel moved to offensive line, this is concerning because there are plenty of offensive lineman and this team needs defensive tackles. In more positive news, Savion Hiter is already running with the ones. His built is like Jabrill Peppers. The defense will "resemble the 2023 defense" in terms of style, according to Jay Hill. It will depend what they can get out of Zeke Berry and Rod Moore. Injured guys are still injured. Receiver depth is Marsh, Ffrench, Moa, and Buchanon. Defensive tackle tea leaves are... uhhh... concerning? You need four decent defensive tackles, they currently have three and there's no guarantee that any of them are good. Maybe that's why Hiter is getting so many yards in practice. The NDSU linebacker captain needs to simmer for a bit, he just got here. If one of the best offensive line coaches in the country is excited then we're excited. If Babalola actually starts he'll be an All-American. Sounds like they're kicking Link inside?  3. Hot Takes and Hockey Tournament Starts at 1:02:51 Takes hotter than Howard for the last 10 minutes of the first half. Michigan gets the #1 overall seed in hockey, their reward is a game against Bentley in Albany. They also won the Big Ten Tournament after a 7-3 win over Ohio State. They get medals but not stoats. Playing a team with tournament lives on the line was really good practice. They were so excited to win a banner. Did you know Gonzaga used to have a hockey team. Bentley is 23rd in NPI which is better than their conference usually does. Doesn't look like a team that will threaten Michigan but anything crazy can happen in this tournament. The matchup is there against Penn State but the vibes are annoying since Michigan has already played them five times (and lost once). Will the building have 12 people in it? Minnesota-Duluth had a really good nonconference run but fell off towards the end of the season. They swept Minnesota which doesn't mean much this year. Congratulations Western Michigan, you are a #1 seed and you probably get to play Denver at altitude if you win your first game. The committee doesn't want schools to have home games but then they either give schools "home" games or play in empty rinks. This game should be at Yost and it would be nuts, Michigan deserves the home advantage that they earned. If Wisconsin gets goaltending they're a top four team, if not they'll lose in the first round.  MUSIC: "Hard Dreaming Man"—Drugdealer "Honey Drip"—Long Island Railroad, Smushie and Ryan Gebhard “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

Things Discussed: Howard preview: Their center isn't a center, but he's mini-Yaxel. Takeaways from BTT: Brian/Craig/Sam: The Purdue game was just a ref show—Oscar Cluff is a a) Buffalo, b) Oaf, c) deliberately running guys over and cheating on screens. Michigan doesn't have enough galoots. Seth: I've moved on. Biggest concern is Michigan vs Wisconsin: bringing too much help to the rim when we have some five-out teams (Saint Louis!) in the first weekend. Georgia and St. Louis. Georgia is soft—they have a shot-blocker and a lot of guards who can get their own points. Robbie Avila looks like Seth Fisher—he looks like a gumnut out there—but he's very skilled, especially at setting his guys up. I really like their four, Amari McCottry. Yaxel, take over man! Lots of opportunities to get him vs a mouse in the house and they didn't make the read. Michigan seemed to want to use Rez in that spot instead and he didn't have an inspired week. Pickin upsets: UNI over St. John's? Can slow the game to a grind. Kinda think NDSU? They've rediscovered the lost art of the defensive-invariant floater—not saying I am picking a 14 over a 3 but that's the one. Craig: Anyone notice they got Hurley, Izzo, and Cronin all in the same corner of the bracket? Poor Johnny Dawkins: what did I do to end up with these guys? Going further than their seed: Arkansas and Acuff. He's going to be a lottery pick, Arkansas paid for him and it was worth it. Calipari teams are kids at the start of the year (when they played MSU) but by the Tourney they're not freshmen anymore. OT: [BREAKING NEWS: Cade Cunningham will be out 8-10 weeks with a collapsed lung.] Billy Donlon in at EMU. Why did he leave Michigan? Not saying. In break: Does Michigan get an NIL discount? Champions Circle doesn't want to say so but yeah, when the money is close it's about lifestyle. Texas should get a Tournament ban for getting in last year and this year. Their best nonconference win: NC State. Bubble was terrible this year but that doesn't mean a mid SEC team should get in. Miami University is the perfect Tournament invite: They understood the assignment. Whom to invite instead of bubbly major conference teams? Mid-majors who won their conferences. Illinois in the Final Four? Yeah, they've got size and Wagler can shoot them to Indy (I had Nebraska taking out Florida). Houston takes such ugly shots, Illinois will make them uglier. Who can expose their frontcourt? Well, Florida.

1 Hour and 45 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1 How often do you get a haircut? Catching up on the World Baseball Classic, U.S. and Dominican Republic go down to the wire. Did the tournament structure itself for a U.S. vs Japan final? Anyways, Michigan dominated Notre Dame 6-1 in the Big Ten quarterfinals. A Notre Dame player runs into Ivankovic again, leading to a fight and a game misconduct. Credit Michigan for standing up for their goalie. Overall this game wasn't really close.   Segment 2 Michigan beats Penn State 5-2 to make it to the Big Ten championship game. Penn State was aggressive early but Michigan settled in. Michigan had a lot of penalties but the power play held strong, but eventually they had a lengthy 5-on-3 that gave a 4-2 lead. T.J. Hughes sealed the game after Michigan's goaltender almost scored an empty netter on himself. That goal might've been Hughes' last goal at Yost, many of the seniors stuck around on the ice late. Time to wrap up the season of our old friends. WMU will get a 1-seed but lost to Denver in their conference final. Still some conference tournament games left, let's talk NCAA tournament scenarios.   MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "Spark" -- Fitz and the Tantrums Ice Hockey (NES) theme

1 hour and 36 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 Tourney Draw, Midwest Region Preview Starts at 0:51 Overall a fine draw for the 3rd one-seed, with several teams that did not want Michigan as their one-seed. Alabama as a four-seed is a fine draw. They have some big wins because they can shoot their way to a W in any game, but they're also a tempo team that gave up 40%+ ORebs to the three teams they faced with major bigs. The 5-seed is Texas Tech which lost star center JT Toppin but shot their way to a win over ISU without him. We think they're a good upset pick in a 5-12 with Akron but we are impressed with the Just-a-Shooterness of Donovan Atwell. The 8-9 are Georgia and Saint Louis. We want Georgia, another tempo team that's a year away from its maximum and has a center who just makes buckets and blocks shots, versus Saint Louis which is where Robbie Avila went; they're five-out, #1 in the country in average 2PT distance, but opponents also get to the rim (Avila is no defender). On the other side is 2-seed Iowa State, which doesn't block shots but they turn you over and sniper Milan Momcilovic can shoot over guards—a team with three bigs might be their kryptonite (see: 79-70 vs Cincy). Joshua Jefferson is a Danny Wolf (28 assist, 17 TO) PF. 3-seed Virginia has a couple of ogres they rotate at center that might prove tough, and their own Yax-like in Thijs De Ridder, who's not from New Jersey. [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]  2. Hot Takes and Men's Basketball vs Purdue Starts at 33:39 Takes hotter than Brian when they refused to call a 5th foul on Oscar Cluff the fifth time. You're not insane; it was a ref show, and a clownish end to DJ Carstensen's career. But that only explains why Purdue won—they played Michigan evenly because Michigan had their worst defensive performance, unable to stop the PnR two-man game between Smith and TKR. M's offense is off the hook for the 1st half since Purdue was just fouling and getting away with it, but what's their excuse for not having any plans for a stretch in the 2nd half when Purdue pulled ahead? Hoping against hope that May has been saving all of his real sets for the Tournament. Brian's giving up on Gayle and his Knoblockian adventures at the rim. 3. Men's Basketball vs Wisconsin and Ohio State Starts at 1:01:40 Wisconsin goes 7/23 from two but 16/38 from three once they've given up on Boyd and Blackwell drives that worked for them in the first meeting. Their twos were earned—pushed back and forced to shoot over Mara. Only the Aussie going nuts from three got this competitive again, but we were still dismayed over Michigan's offense. They had a Mara advantage they only ran in the 2nd half, and didn't really give him help off of that. Tschetter minutes are not working. The OSU game was annoying for all the little reasons, but the big one is something from the whole Tourney, which was Morez Johnson not playing up to his standard. He got the first two series and second was a fallaway jumper. He's a bit limited when backing up people have found. Bruce Thornton was limited by length but his eyes lit up whenever he got Cadeau, who seemed to be tiring late, but Michigan is a TO machine without him. Maybe they're saving Yax usage for the Dance. 4. Hockey vs Penn State and Tournament Lookahead Starts at 1:22:35 They're now locked into the 1st overall seed with Ohio State knocking MSU out of the tournament, and North Dakota losing, which means YAY we don't have to play Denver in a Denver Regional (stupidest playoff format ever). Michigan-NoDak-MSU-WMU will be the 1-seeds, in that order, and Michigan will draw the worst the #16, IE the Atlantic Hockey champion (Bentley most likely?) and the worst #2 seed (Duluth? Cornell? Penn State?) in, likely, Albany. Penn State hockey is James Franklin Penn State football: can beat anybody except the big bads in their conference. Not afraid of facing them again after a thoroughly dominant semifinal. Good to see a snipe from Hage, and what Moldenauer has become. MUSIC: "An Ocean Between the Waves"—War on Drugs "This Could Be Your Lucky Day in Hell"—Eels "A Sentence of Sorts in Kongsvinger"—Of Montreal “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

Things Discussed: Fears: The Red Cedar Message Board are sacrificing their junk to get the bottom of this. Minus LJ: Roddy Gayle stepping up. Just need him to finish (read: no turnovers) at the rim. Trey McKenney doing it on defense. What teams scare you in the BTT? Illinois has the size and can shoot their way out of any problems with the softness of their frontcourt. Nebraska plays offense like an NBA team, and that allows them to get around Michigan's defense a bit. MSU is a bad matchup for them, however, because MSU has so much size on the perimeter. Purdue? They are getting 100% what they can from offense and they are limited on defense. Michigan? Can they keep Mara and Cadeau on the court? Cadeau is showing he's willing to shoot more and there will be a correction to that from defenses to bring back the dunks. Officiating vs MSU, what's the deal? Fears should have been thrown out of the game. The 3rd foul on Rez was 100% a foul grift and needs to be legislated out of the game. The only reason they called a tech on Mara is because they just gave one to Fears. They must like being yelled at by Izzo because they reward his behavior. It's just the one guy—Ron Groover—who shows deference to Izzo, is a notorious Duke friend. But this does not apply to Jeffrey Anderson, and DJ Carstensen, who's retiring after the Tourney, is the best at officiating bigs. The Fears foul can't be a Class B tech—that's what McKenney knocking the ball out of a guy's hands is. These should not be the same things. We saw that in hockey last night when ND ran the goalie twice; the Big Ten doesn't care about player safety. Izzo: Why should you go to jail for a crime someone else noticed? IU: What happened to you? Don't even think DeVries's kid is that good. NCAA Tourney? Duke lost their PG and might be without their C until the 2nd week, aren't as deep as Michigan. Arizona has so much size and depth; their offense can be stopped by three bigs but until they meet a Michigan they probably won't be threatened. Iowa State can shoot man—Mommy!—might be in our bracket because Michigan played a lot of the potential 2 seeds already. Good news all of these teams don't want to see Michigan.

1 Hour and 43 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1 Does Daylight Savings Time bother you? Does the World Baseball Classic have too many teams? The tournament does have a lot of national pride amongst the teams. Let's check in on some old friends across the league. Notre Dame sweeps Ohio State (Notre Dame's final conference record is 5-17-2). Michigan State clinches the Big Ten despite a shootout loss. Discussing bracket scenarios.    Segment 2 How are former Wolverines doing in the NHL? Updates on Luke Glendening, Jacob Trouba, Dylan Larkin, and Andrew Copp. Several deserving teams in the Eastern Conference may miss the playoffs. Player injuries and team projections. Michigan's pipeline is all over the NHL at various skill levels.   MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "C'Mon Down" -- Poor Man's Poison Ice Hockey (NES) theme

1 hour and 44 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. Men's Basketball vs Michigan State Starts at 0:51 Michigan is the best team in the Big Ten since the 1977 Indiana team. You can't say they didn't earn it, they had to win at Breslin, Carver, and Illinois. They would still win the Big Ten outright if you only counted the games that Michigan won by double digits. It was Yaxel's deep shooting that propelled Michigan when they weren't shooting well. Michigan felt mortal with Tschetter at the four but MSU didn't exactly take advantage of that time. There were a lot of 1-on-1 opportunities, Michigan only had 12 assists. 1.27 PPP is crazy against Michigan State. Where does Yaxel Lendeborg rank all time amongst all Michigan players? They had a reel prepared for when Fears would kick someone in the jingle jangles, and it did happen. Credit Dusty for keeping the team calm when things start to go wrong. How is Fears allowed to keep playing the way he does? Congrats to Nebraska for getting the #2 seed.  2. Men's Basketball vs Iowa Starts at 32:06 A very slow game and a very annoying win. Their thing is fouling you constantly and hoping the refs don't call it. They fired Fran and we hate Iowa basketball now. Michigan finally gets some calls in the second half and turns the ball over a lot. Bennett Stirtz's 4-14 from three feels optimistic for him given the shot quality. There was a "sink or swim" moment when Cadeau had to sit out and it wasn't great. Cadeau played 30 minutes but in an important tournament setting he'll probably play more than that. Roddy Gayle has some at-the-rim difficulties that have lasted most of the conference season. Fran McCaffery was a beautiful Big Ten coach and now he's in the Ivy League. 3. Hot Takes and Spring Ball - Offense Starts at 54:05 How excited is everyone for this spring practice? What will Bryce's role as a runner be? JJ didn't run much but in the championship season there were only 4-5 games where he would have needed to. Maybe Bryce looks a little better throwing downfield now that he has actual receivers. JJ Buchanan might have a Colston Loveland level catch radius. There was a moment of silence for Max Bredeson but we truncate silence on this podcast so you didn't hear it. What's the tight end depth going to look like? Evan Link to guard? We're expecting a big third year swing for Blake Frazier.  4. Spring Ball - Defense Starts at 1:22:09 Any sort of news about John Henry Daley being able to play would be high on the list. And Rod Moore. Also hoping to hear good things about Palepale and Cam Brandt. The North Dakota State linebacker (Nathaniel Staehling) transfer could be really good, he was a captain and these scenarios often work out nicely. Ideally he's the 3rd linebacker because that means some other guys popped off. How much much better will everyone look with better coaching? Unfortunately we won't be able to see if rotation on defense gets better in the Spring Game. Could Shamari Earls overtake Jyaire Hill? New kickers but kicking in April seems different than in the Fall. Looking forward to punting drills. Taylor Tatum for punt return?    MUSIC: "Any Major Dude"—Steely Dan "Believe"—My Morning Jacket "Broken Chair"—Luna “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

Things Discussed: Illinois game: Impressed that they not just shut down Wagler with Yax but they hunted Wagler defensively. They're not physical enough to play defense and not quick enough to guard point guards—Dent did it to them, Fears did it to them. Why didn't Illinois shoot us out of their building if they're five out? Mara was everywhere on defense, Boswell was left to shoot. When Boswell got downhill he gave Cadeau issues. That's something to watch out for because burlyguards on top of a five-out offense are able to score vs M. Yax went off-script to switch on defense. MSU the second-best team in the Big Ten; Illinois is going to get physicaled out of the Tournament. Rez was lit, and that maybe lit up Mara. When Mara gets himself to the rim he's unstoppable. What do you do when someone takes away what you want to be? Cason: Problem with losing him is ^. He was our answer. Best finisher on the team, critical in transition. Like with Rez last year, the play that he got injured on was the play that shows you who he is. Replacing Cason: Cadeau has to back off to play 30 minutes. Minutes-wise Trey and Gayle. Usage-wise, Yaxel can do more in transition and hunting his own buckets, want to run more offense through Mara. Gayle would be nice—he's been that before—but he hasn't been good this year. McKenney is not a creator at all at this point. If they play without Cadeau opponents are going to blitz the ball. When that's Mara...good luck. Who's the Big Ten PoY: Two different questions: Who's the best player in the Big Ten this year? Yaxel or Wagler, and Yax's defense puts him over the top for me. Who's going to win it? Probably Braden Smith, even though he's Iowa: Concern is we're playing a mini-Nebraska on the road. Stirtz and the Drakes make me nervous because can play like Nebraska but with more depth. They'll go with their stretch five and play small. Globetrotter-esque: duck inside the perimeter to pass out to duck inside to pass out until they find a cutter.

1 Hour and 33 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1 It's that time of year to speculate on the NHL trade deadline and what teams are about to be like. Checking in on the NHL playoff picture. College hockey - this was a weekend where it feels like everyone took the week off. In game one Michigan had the puck a lot but just didn't do anything with it. Naurato press conference drama, but he was right. Minnesota somehow wins off of 15 shots. It seemed like Michigan would come back to win and then they just didn't. This was just a poor showing all around and by far their worst loss of the year.    Segment 2 Frustration over what days and what times games actually start. Friday night was a better performance on senior night in a 4-2 win. TJ Hughes is one of the most productive four-year players of the 21st century and highlighted this game with a redirection goal. Malcolm Spence had a nice three-point night. A controversial hand pass waved off a goal but Michigan managed to kill a major penalty. Three points was disappointing in a weekend series that needed and expected six. Michigan is still in a solid national position.  [Player after THE JUMP]   MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "Mykonos" -- Fleet Foxes Ice Hockey (NES) theme

1 hour and 35 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. Men's Basketball vs Illinois Starts at 0:51 Hail to the Big Ten champions... before March! Dusty in year two has won at Mackey, Breslin, and whatever Illinois' arena is nicknamed. This was supposed to be a scary game and it wasn't even close, the players loved the energy. The major bummer is that LJ Cason is out for the year with an ACL injury. Can Yaxel check a top five draft point guard? Yes. No turnovers for Cadeau! But he probably has to go from 26 minutes per game to 35 and needs to be much more careful about foul trouble now. It just felt like Illinois had to work so hard to get anything in the second half and they weren't used to that. Illinois played their much better defender for only 10 minutes. Shot volume was similar for both teams but Michigan was able to win from 2-point shots. 2. Men's Basketball vs Minnesota Starts at 25:20 Minnesota comes in with basically no basketball team, they're down on their luck. But they played zone better than a lot of teams on Michigan's schedule. In the first half Michigan had trouble getting to the rim so they kicked it out for open threes. Parts of it felt bad. This game felt like playing Maryland the week before Ohio State. Niko Medved did a great job with what he had, Brian is still high on him. Early in the season Iowa seemed like it would be a really tough game, now Iowa is tailspinning a little bit. Iowa's defense is improved from Fran but not in a way that will stop Michigan. Michigan is still probably a #1 seed if they lose out. They should raise the banner in Michigan State's face at pre-game.  3. Hot Takes and Hockey vs Minnesota Starts at 43:34 Takes hotter than Morez Johnson sitting in front of that crowd and being like "I don't care, I'm gonna be the Kenpom MVP in a 20 point win spiritually because I'm Morez Johnson and nothing phases me at all!" Michigan splits against Minnesota, which almost didn't matter until Michigan State only got two points against Ohio State. This team is a little too Jekyll & Hyde. Starting the Thursday game 1-9 in shots isn't great. Powerplays used to be more whizz-bang and they've been lacking lately. Michigan's defense is like Nebraska running the triple option - they always need to have a 5'2" puck wizard defenseman. MSU's coach tried to chase down an official on the ice which is a silly thing to attempt. Michigan is up two points in the standings but Michigan State has two more games. Time for another year of complaining about the NCAA hockey tournament format. 4. Stickball and Gimmicky Top Five Starts at 1:15:10 Baseball - good Softball - not good Gimmicky Top Five Things You'd Change in the Winter Olympics. Normal guy Olympics. Mountaineering should include getting a kid into ski gear. We don't talk about ski injuries. Winter beach volleyball?    MUSIC: "Don't Fight It"—Kenny Loggins and Steve Perry "Better Way"—Motenko "Take My Heart"—The Teskey Brothers “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

Things Discussed: Minnesota game: Just shooting over zone. Credit to Medved. Duke: Shouldn't give Szelc an opportunity to give Mara phantom fouls. Want to see us using our size better. Duke was suped up UCLA. Dusty will figure it out. Illinois: Huge, best offense in the history of Kenpom. Don't have a defensive center. Ivisics are stretch bigs. UCLA beat Illinois: When you play the three game you add randomness. Minnesota: Their fans should be happy about Nedved. Ran a zone well, slowed the game down, never got a 2nd shot. Good strategy. In break: Talking great families/USA Hockey. Hockey: Split with Wisconsin means they can't win the B10 regular season crown. Lack that one elite talent. Will be shipped out East because all four 1-seeds are Western teams. Congrats ND for two key Michigan injuries and stealing some points to create this result. WBB crazy game. Shout out to Macy Brown for sticking around to be there in OT. Locked in a 2-seed.

1 Hour and 13 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1 Watching the gold medal game through scrambling flight delays featuring a mid-air celebration. Canada really underperformed offensively despite having a lot of star power. Finland's medal consistency is relentless, Sweden is disappointing. Remembering the Miracle on Ice. Anyways, Michigan hockey lost a frustrating 4-1 game to Wisconsin on Friday. Will Horkoff scored the first game and it was all downhill from there.The Badgers were desperate and just outshot and outmuscled Michigan.    Segment 2 Michigan bounces back 3-1 on Saturday, their five-on-five effort was much better despite penalty trouble and shot disadvantage. Cason Musser gets his first career point. Jack Ivankovic's 34 saves helped stabilize the night. Michigan is still a 99.6% chance of being a 1-seed in the NCAA tournament. Penn State had a wild 11-4 outburst against Ohio State, Gavin McKenna had eight points. Providence surges, Western Michigan pushes for a 1-seed. If Michigan wants to be perceived as elite this year then a sweep of Minnesota is a must this weekend.     MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "Can't Catch Up" -- Rehab Ice Hockey (NES) theme

1 hour and 43 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. Men's Basketball vs Purdue Starts at 0:51 The Duke game was annoying and non-impactful so let's start with Purdue. Purdue comes out to a 5-0 start, Michigan then goes on a 42-17 run. Mackey exploded no matter what, even when Michigan was up 16. Matt Painter is a dude who respects ball. Mara foreshadowed the Duke game by getting into foul trouble, but that wasn't until the 2nd half, otherwise he had a great 1st half. The other subplot of this game was they shot 57% from three, and almost all of them were good shots. Trey Kauffmann-Renn went off for Purdue, historically May has let him go defensively though. Michigan is doing a great job of making the non-contestable guys contestable. What was funnier, the Fletcher Loyer heat-check airball or Cadeau getting to the free throw line and not knowing what to do?  2. Men's Basketball vs Duke Starts at 22:55 A very frustrating game. Mara picks up three first half fouls, the first two of which were not fouls. Playing three bigs in the second half felt like an impulse. Will Tschetter has been a faithful companion for this program but this wasn’t the game for him. Duke went on their end of first half run when Michigan had their small lineup out there. Dusty is usually very calm but he was on the verge of eruption. The official in this game notoriously call more calls than anyone else and didn’t give us a proper Michigan Duke game. You can just give the coach an iPad to decide if you want to challenge calls?? Does Mara need a little more self-confidence? His body language is telling. Michigan didn't get a lot out of guard play. Their quality of looks in this game were nowhere near their looks in the Purdue game. They got out of balance with their lineup changes and shot 24% from three but still only lost by five to Duke so this really isn't that concerning. What was that travel call? LJ Cason is definitely a contested shot guy. Michigan's biggest win over the weekend was UCLA over Illinois. The Minnesota game is for a share of the title, two Big Ten wins means an outright title. Brian still can't believe how good Keaton Wagler is.  3. Hot Takes and Hockey vs Wisconsin Starts at 55:40 Takes hotter than yours truly after Mara's second foul against Duke. Michigan gets a split out of Wisconsin which ends any hope of catching Michigan State in the Big Ten standings. Wisconsin played their backup goalie and Michigan didn't do enough to threaten him. Kason Muscutt got his first goal. BTN+ has announcers that don't even know Michigan's roster. Michigan could get to 51 points after next week which would win the Big Ten in most years. They have a 99.6% chance of being a #1 seed, they would need to win the Big Ten Tournament to get the #1 overall. #2 overall could get Saint Thomas?  4. Potpourri Starts at 1:24:57 Hughe's got it better than us? Michigan shouldn't claim Jack Hughes. Great performances from Michigan hockey players in the Olympics and the gold medal game. Michigan doesn't have these guys on this team (Michigan State doesn't either, though). Canada was sad and then got handed a stuffed stoat. If you haven't seen the figure skating exhibition gala, you should. Michigan has a new general manager. Sean Magee sent Savion Hiter the wrong dollar amount for his NIL?? The new GM is Dave Peloquin who used to work at Notre Dame. Michigan baseball got another ranked win over Louisville. The vibes for Michigan softball aren't good right now. They're like Nebraska football.  MUSIC: "UFOs"—Phoenix and Alan Braxe "Evil Twin"—Cut Worms "Dug"—Dream Sitch, Michael Nau, Floating Action “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

Things Discussed: Seth on early: Ohio State has yet another former player admitting he didn't go to class. Mick Cronin doesn't record practices—he's Tom Izzo without being a good basketball coach. Seth gives a history of coaching styles, short version is the Bo/Woody/Izzo/Bear style of drill sergeant was just a post-WW2 thing that just worked in that era. Michigan tampered with [the locks that Mick Cronin puts on the dungeon] UCLA, and Xavier Booker sneaks in while it's open: ooh, more yelling! Purdue: Mackey was lit, 42-17 run after going down five early. Michigan took only one bad three; everything else was open. Purdue was the opposite, all movement. Not thruck. Matt Painter is the anti-Cronin. Explained the game so well: he helped every dive inside and forced M to hit open kickouts. Soon as they did there's nothing more to do If Mara is going to play like he did in the 1st half and Cadeau plays like he did in the 2nd half...yeesh. How would you attack Michigan? Start by pulling Mara out of the middle by going five-out, then survive their size on offense (e.g. Illinois). Duke Preview: Boozer is a suped up Yax, they have incredible length on the perimeter including a 6'8"/190 Italian they put on PGs so we're going to see if Michigan can keep up their scoring or turns it over a ton. Duke's weaknesses are you can get to the rim and get fouls on their young frontcourt, since they don't really have a backup five. Cason: best backup PG in the league? Not sure but turning a corner. Still misses a switch and doesn't have NBA spacial awareness, but he's a very valuable backup now.

1 Hour and 38 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1 A discussion of the evolution of language and phonetics. It's tough to broadcast a sport you've never broadcasted before. Actual hockey talk starts at about the 20 minute mark. It was a fine weekend getting five of six points. Your best penalty killer is your goalie. Ivankovic still seems a little rusty (except in OT), maybe there's a lingering injury. Friday night was one of the most insane three-on-three OT hockey games we've seen. This is what people wanted three-on-three hockey to be.    Segment 2 5:00pm puck drop is a weird start time. Michigan wasn't very sound on defense all weekend. The plays they run on power plays are really fun to watch, there are always new wrinkles. Why does there have to be pushing and shoving at the end of every series? Nothing happens anyways, they're just yapping chihuahuas. Is Penn State the fifth best team in the country? Catching up with teams from around the country. Team seeding and location predictions for the tournament - more teams should play closer to their home. Michigan is still more likely to be the #1 overall over Michigan State. Penn State basically needs to win the Big Ten tournament to be a 1 seed. Previewing the Wisconsin series.    MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "Kitty" -- The Presidents of the United States of America Ice Hockey (NES) theme

2 hours and 6 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. Men's Basketball vs UCLA Starts at 0:51 Brian gets three minutes to talk about Mick Cronin, he hopes he never gets fired from UCLA. He's like a jolly caricature of Izzo. He's Sideshow Bob stepping on the rakes. Michigan would be up by 10 in the first half and it would feel like they should be up 20. Tschetter's really improved as a defender but this game wasn't for him. UCLA was turning the ball over a ton, Michigan didn't have any until the end of the first half. This was a responsible game from Cadeau, some of his turnovers have been boneheaded. He's at around the same turnover rate as last year. LJ Cason is becoming a reliably effective playmaker. Mick Cronin might not have forgotten how to coach defense but he might've forgotten to scout Xavier Booker. If they play a bad game that means only winning by 10.  2. Men's Basketball vs Northwestern Starts at 28:10 Similar situation in this game where Michigan played a dominant second half. The difference is they were down 16 points. Kenpom still had them at about 30% chance to win even down 16 in the second half! Michigan missed so many bunnies in this one. They started running NBA sets in their second half rally and that works because they have the size for it. The big story of this game was LJ Cason. Cadeau wasn't doing anything so Dusty put in Cason who stepped up. Who's the most random guy you've ever been thankful for in a game? Probably Kam Chatman. Michigan is rotating nine guys and the ninth guy was the MVP in this game. The six game stretch to finish the regular season features Michigan State as the second easiest game. Alex isn't scared of Purdue. Duke looms.  3. Hot Takes and Hockey vs Penn State Starts at 55:44 Takes hotter than the genius that came up with the two-man luge. Special guest, Seth daughter's Mira. Michigan takes 5 out of 6 points against Penn State, this was their first overtime that they didn't win this year. Michigan made it hard on themselves in the Friday game, Ivankovic sort of deflected a goal into their own net. These officials were fine because they degraded the game of hockey but they weren't as bad as some other guys! Penn State split their goalies but the better goalie gave Michigan a couple easy ones. Michigan has first round picks but the only one that has the sauce is Jayden Perron. You look at men's basketball and you think they could win a national championship. You look at hockey and you don't see it. Wisconsin has faded enough to not make the tournament but their forecheck also seemed like Michigan's kryptonite. If you want to win the conference you need six points against Wisconsin. You might need to win out. Michigan is still 96% to be a 1 seed.  4. Potpourri Starts at 1:38:22 Michigan replaces defensive tackle coach Lou Esposito with Larry Black out of Vanderbilt. He checks the recruiting boxes. He helped get Vanderbilt to respectable on defense which even Jesse Minter couldn't do. His resume is really good and still isn't as good a resume as the rest of the staff (complimentary). Women's basketball fell behind big to UCLA and got it to within one score. They're so close to the elite teams. Stickball! As of this recording baseball is 2-0 against good programs. USC and UCLA baseball hate being in the Big Ten. Softball is 7-2 overall, Alex was down after the Florida game. If you have six pitchers on the roster you have no pitchers. Brian has only watched curling. Olympic skiing discourse. Sweden pulled their goalie while up 5-2 to get the goal differential (did not get it).  MUSIC: "Idol"—Mind Enterprises "YUHDONTSTOP"—De La Soul "Brand New City"—Snocaps “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

No Brian, no Sam today. Reminder to get your Dusty shirt for the Maize-Out. Things Discussed: Hoops vs Northwestern: Fell behind from a combination of dumbass play (Cadeau turnovers were brutal), missing bunnies, Northwestern shooting out of their minds. Why didn't Chris Collins stick with Arrinten Page? Third coaching staff that guy's played for that clearly hates him, played 26 minutes and was killing us (especially when he hit a three). Did the Nebraska thing to get Jayden Reid switched onto Mara, but they couldn't hit a shot in the 2nd half the way Nebraska could. Still not fixed? Or did they know Page and Martinelli are 15% shooters on contested threes and let them jack, eating bad luck in the beginning? LJ Cason game! Thought he had some howler possessions early but got his game in order and when he calmed down we got the best game of his young career. Trading threes with Martinelli was the turning point. Trey McKenney: Becoming a star. He's Nimari plus: great defensive anticipation, ice in his veins at the moment. Officials allowed numerous hook and holds, only called one because Dusty challenged it, and then they undid it by giving Mara a flagrant. Fourth time this season that they've gotten Verne Harris (PSU, Nebraska, Washington), and fourth time we've had to say the uneven officiating was a major reason Michigan struggled. Gayle: Underappreciated moment: turnover when he had the ball down low vs Reid, then they recreated it to get him a dunk. UCLA: Cronin built the softest team and then screams at them like they're most pugilistic sonsabitches in the conference. You recruited them man! Worry us because they're going to try to play five out—their three point shooting is a random number generator. Michigan has to crush them at the rim and convert if he brings help to Mara—not a Gayle game. WBB: Speaking of UCLA, Michigan was some made bunnies away. Third time this year they've had an opportunity to knock off a national title contender at home with their last possession. UCLA then obliterated MSU. Michigan is going to be a favorite next year, but they need to convert the easy things (free throws and shots at the rim) to take that step.

1 Hour and 31 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1 Curling mixed doubles on the quad box, biathlon, and why speed skating is faster than it looks. Downhill skiing is insane. The Friday night 4-3 OT game was insane. The game was even early, tilted towards the Spartans late in the second. Michigan came out with their backs against the wall and their hair on fire in the third. Refs swallowed their whistles and missed some egregious calls. Barnett's goal sent Yost back to the Old Yost days. Frustration about roster decisions and puck management but Moldenhauer and Perron have become consistent scorers. This game was what the rivalry is all about.    Segment 2 Well, let's talk about the second game. The press box at Little Caesars Arena causes vertigo and lower box hockey tickets are a scam. Michigan came out flat, sloppy, and chasing the game almost immediately. Dave spotted Ivankovic in the press box and then on the ice moments later... because it was the 4th string goalie who looks just like him. Michigan's top-end talent vanished as they gave up a 4-0 lead, the first goal was especially ugly. Perron and Moldenhauer gave some hope but a power play that couldn't enter the zone ended all hope. Michigan looks like the best team in the country on Fridays and deeply mortal on Saturdays. The Hage-Horkoff line goes quiet when Michigan needs them most. Too many statement weekends turn into split-series shrugs. MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "The Kids Are Alright" -- Barns Courtney Ice Hockey (NES) theme

2 hours and 23 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. Men's Basketball vs Penn State and Ohio State Starts at 0:51 Usually there's a segment for each basketball but that would just be silly. Michigan annihilates a short-handed Penn State team featuring two thunderous Mark Davis Kiwi dunks and a season high from Nimari Burnett. Is there anything else to say about this game? Michigan only had eight turnovers against Ohio State. Oddly they missed a lot of bunnies. Michigan is rounding into the elite offensive and defensive rebounding team we were hoping they would be. Nice to see Yaxel get to the rim, he doesn't do it enough. Another nice game from Trey McKenney. The balance of this team is insane. We're looking forward to what Mick Cronin says after Aday Mara stuffs him in a locker. A few more easy games before a brutal close to the season. Michigan State did Michigan a solid by beating Illinois.  [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]  2. Hockey vs Michigan State Starts at 25:16 Game one was one of the best college hockey games we’ve ever seen. Old Yost was dark and full of discontented engineers who just learned to swear. It was absolute hell for opponents and it’s just not that anymore in most games. Friday night felt like Old Yost. Michigan played great when they had their backs against the wall but you can’t just rally from down 4-0. Michigan could be the second best team in the country and still just not be as good as State. Michigan’s 4th string goalie looks just like Ivankovic and confused Dave in the press box. Why was Ivankovic suddenly ready on Saturday? Yost got HOT in the third period on Friday because of the missed calls. Michigan can still absolutely win a regular season title. Biggest concern in the NCAA tournament is also Michigan State, but the college hockey playoffs are weird. Has the modern era of college football reached hockey?  3. Hot Takes and Offensive Recruiting Class With Steve Lorenz Starts at 53:24 Takes hotter than Brian's face watching Seth come up with something that's hot. Usually we would do this on signing day but now nobody can remember when that is. Salesi Moa signed and enrolled at Utah and still ended up at Michigan. Brady Smigiel is one of your QBs but he's coming in injured, which probably effected his recruiting stock. He's a classic pocket guy, but Whittingham likes mobile QBs. QB Tommy Carr has Tate Forcier comparisons. Savion Hiter comes in as the most talented running back in this class, as well as the last few classes. What do you think Fred Jackson would call him? Jonathan Brown comes in as a generic three star RB but there's not much being said compared to Hiter. We'll count Salesi Moa in this class, he could play receiver and safety. He might actually be able to contribute in year one. WR Travis Johnson is just outside the top 100 but was very adamant about sticking to Michigan even after everything went down. WR Jaylen Pile also didn't waver but so far seems like just a guy, but with more scholarships available sure, bring him in. TE Mason Bonner comes in from Denver, might take a little time to develop. Should be athletic enough down the road. OT Malakai Lee comes in from Honolulu and might be the most excited about the coaching change. Comparisons to Mike Onwenu. Marky Walbridge is a late riser and offensive lineman late risers are often encouraging. Adrian Hamilton projects to center and centers don't rank highly usually. Tommy Fraumann is big enough to not care about rankings, born right after the 2008 Michigan Utah in which Kyle Whittingham beat Michigan.  4. Defensive Recruiting Class Starts at 1:45:41 Carter Meadows is a five star defensive end we're all excited about. He's not allowed to enroll early so he'll probably be a year two star. DE McHale Blade is one of the coolest names in this cycle. He has all the athletic traits, could be the sleeper of the defensive side. DE Tariq Boney is your Josh Uche, just let him go after the QB. Alister Vallejo looks like Mason Graham on the field and the kid from the Sandlot in his profile. DT Titan Davis is a Kris Jenkins guy, could be an anchor DE but will more likely fill in DT needs. Linebacker is where the excitement falls off. Nobody is anywhere near four star status. CB Jamarion Vincent is a developmental guy, expect him in year three. He was previously playing QB. CB Ernest Nunley is a former Cal commit and will probably be a safety. S Jordan Deck could me a sleeper, boring safety. Overall not a big fan of the back seven but it is the transfer portal era. It could be okay but it's sketchy.   MUSIC: "Bazooka"—Miami XO "Baby Steps"—Olivia Dean "Phish Pepsi"—Wednesday “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

No Sam today. Dusty shirt is maize; get it before we play MSU again. Things Discussed: Men's & Women's Basketball win at Breslin: 40 basketball wins. Jeremy Fears's instant karma for his dirty play. Impossible not to see all the extra stuff that guy does when you rewatch the games: yankbacks, pulldowns, more trips. Ira counted 80 yards in penalties and a targeting. MSU game: Brilliant defensive first half, all MSU could do consistently was get to the free throw line. Calling out their dirty play goes right to their heart because it's the best thing they can do. Going 2-3 zone out of halftime made good tactical sense but ball betrayed them a bit, good resilience to fight back. More tactics: Michigan was getting it down to Mara but he's not big enough on the block to make that. McKenney love: He's played his way to Michigan's best two—Burnett and Gayle are losing minutes to him. Anticipates screens, is big, and his midrange pullups are a good floor for possessions that help you against an elite defense. Really important for what this team needs to be going forward. Who's M's best draft pick? We'd take Morez. Who's the best five? Depends on opponent and context. Might not play Mara vs a 5-out team, can go three bigs against an MSU-like opponent. Who's the best team in the Big Ten? Illinois. They go to Breslin and host Michigan but the rest of their schedule are the mids Michigan already played, they got the best player in the league from the composite 250s in Wagler—worst scouting miss in history? Hope Underwood calls out MSU's assist lies so Wagler gets his laurels for his real assists. Michigan next year? Might only have to replace Yaxel (McKenney and Cason take Gayle and Burnett minutes), can go to the portal for a difference-maker and run it back. Penn State preview: They have Mingo back but Yuric played out of his mind last time and think he's not coming back from a 103-degree fever on Saturday to play like that again. Have a bunch of questionable guys tonight. Think University Park atmosphere is similar to Saline 7th Grade Middle School game. WEAR PINK (I can't; I don't have any). What's the reverse Dusty May for Izzo? Sing he's a jolly good fellow, or bring out the newspapers. Hockey: MSU series could be for the conference since Wisconsin is wilting and Penn State just lost McKenna to a bar fight. Michigan needs to get more than a split because MSU has Minnesota, Notre Dame, and Ohio State left, and Michigan still has to play the other contenders. Put me down for this: Mick Cronin is going to complain about Michigan buying players when he comes to Ann Arbor. Craig says he'll dog his own players.

1 Hour and 58 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1: Hockey vs Ohio State Alex has some curling takes. Game 1 was a barn burner. Game 2 was the opposite of that. Game 1 had a lot of goals and Peck didn't have the best control of rebounds. Ohio State isn't going to make the tournament so you could say Michigan escaped this weekend. Ohio State doesn't have goal scorers and yet they manage to score goals. The ice is not good quality in Columbus. Should goalies be fair game outside of the crease? Peck has some puck tracking issues. Saving 32 of 34 shots in game two is pretty good though, he gave you a chance. You need to score more than two regulation goals against a bad Ohio State team.    Segment 2: Around the League Providence is somehow 6th in NPI? Michigan could possibly draw them as a 2 seed. Bentley is sitting at 26 but could be a first round matchup. RPI is Not Good. Notre Dame is only getting ties against Bowling Green, but this was probably an improvement for the Irish. It feels like Penn State has hit their ceiling. The Big Ten is very top heavy but the bad teams are bad. Alarm bells in Madison. What's Michigan's gameplan need to be to get past Michigan State? The Friday night game is on FS1! Bonus Segment: Olympics Preview Begins at 1:12:44   MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "Knights" -- Minus the Bear "Nothing More" -- Guards Ice Hockey (NES) theme

1 hour and 49 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. Men's Basketball vs Michigan State Starts at 0:51 Where's Tre Holloman at?? Michigan's first victory at Breslin since 2018. They managed to blow all of their 16 point halftime lead but only briefly. This year didn't have the same "helplessness" vibe of previous years. The grifting from Jeremy Fears was incredible. Michigan State's offense ended up being generating bogus calls and then hitting free throws. Their roster doesn't have the best athletes in the world but they have guys that have stuck around for a while. Trey McKenney is becoming a much bigger piece of this team, if Michigan goes on a tournament run it could be because he steps up as a major contributor. Is he the 6th man? They're running a lot of offense through Mara, maybe that should be going through Morez Johnson instead. Michigan is back to #1 in Kenpom and is projected to win the Big Ten outright but the end of the schedule is very tough.  2. Men's Basketball vs Nebraska Starts at 29:17 The vibes here were considerably worse! Nebraska was getting an alarming amount of open looks. Michigan wins by shooting what felt like 70% from two. Some of Cadeau's turnovers were just inexplicable. We can't pronounce Berke's name so he's just Berke Boyband. The studies say that every conspiracy theory you have about officiating is true. Pass blocking is not actually allowed in basketball. Nebraska is legit, this was a tough game that Cadeau almost gave away. Shout out to Fred Hoiberg for coming in with a great gameplan for confusing Michigan. The overturn on the challenge made no sense, how was that possibly clear? Should Michigan be going inside more when the threes aren't dropping? Michigan was missing open threes. They beat a top 10 Kenpom team while shooting 23% from three, that's impressive no matter what. Was LJ Cason unplayable?  3. Hot Takes and Hockey vs Ohio State Starts at 52:18 Takes hotter than Yaxel Lendeborg at the free throw line. Michigan gets five of six points over Ohio State in a frustrating manner. Stephen Peck played a great game on Saturday until the last five minutes. They're missing points here and there against teams that they're better than. Wisconsin somehow went from #1 to might miss the tournament. Michigan State is only one point behind in the Big Ten rankings.  4. Gimmicky Top Five Sports Villains Starts at 1:14:40 We're born haters so it's time for a gimmicky top five sports villains. There are a surprising number of ways to define "villain" in this context. There's a lot of NHL discourse because you used to just get paid to hurt people. Which Big Ten commissioners make the list (spoiler: all of them). Not posting spoilers here but yes there is a certain Wisconsin basketball player. Who's on your list?   MUSIC: "Moody"—Royel Otis "Silver Joy"—Damien Jurado "Sweet and Dandy"—Toots and the Maytals “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

Things Discussed: Nebraska: Nearly won that game shorthanded. Got great performances from replacements but ran their starters into the ground. Craig's analysis: Hoiberg decided to play some football. Steamroller screens and the like. Nebraska just made contested threes in the first half that they missed in the second half. Sam Hoiberg is straight up good: understands basketball, understands how to organize a team, understands how to get the ball to his guys. Second half Michigan did press the press the edges a little tighter. Kenpom tracks 2 point distance. We're thrilled. Seth: The most important stats in basketball are two-point defense and two-point offense, and the most important component of two point percentage is distance from the rim. Michigan wins these games because they get to the rim better than anybody and push you away from the rim better than anybody. Hoiberg knew he had to shoot to win, but also drew up some excellent sets to get free twos when he needed them. Shout-out to Nebraska's Max Bredeson kickout and form tackling. Hoiberg messed so well with Michigan's switches: They want to switch one to four, and they want to leave Mara available to put his hand in the way at the rim. Nebraska's response was to run these double screens—the Rip Hamilton way—to get cracks open for their shooters, but that contributed to their shooters getting tired in the 2nd half. Turnovers: some are baked in, unforced. This game additionally had ref show turnovers but they're going to take chances to get to the rim because that's what's so important to them. MSU preview: They're such a Big Ten team. They can get around M's two-point defense because they shoot assisted other twos and those are good enough shots opposite the #1 defense. They get after you (not the ball: they jump on your back) on the boards. Kohler has really turned himself into a shooter, might be an NBA player. Fears was terrible early in the season but now he's an excellent guard. Gets after it (and you) on defense, isn't a great shooter but can find pockets to pass into and draws a ton of fouls then makes his FTs. Coen Carr = Brent Petway! MSU is going to play dirty. Nobody in the country gets better calls at home, and they are going to use that strategically. Expect them to be mauling Mara to deny paint touches, expect Cooper to have his arm wrapped on Rez and pulling him down. All the gritty trick that define Izzo teams. What's with Yax? Think he's drawing more defensive attention and that's creating more for Morez Johnson. That's a credit to Dusty May: when he built this roster he built in answers for everything you want to do to them. Credit to Trey McKenney. He's become the 6th man, because he will come in and give you whatever you need right then. Defense? He's big and athletic. Need to hit some free throws (vs OSU, or the three at the Under-8 timeout?) he's got you. Missing your threes, he'll knock down a pair.

1 hour and 31 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. Around the Big Ten with Jamie Mac Starts at 0:51 Indiana Football won a natty. We say again: Indiana Football won. A natty. The Ohio State fans are crying Signs, it's great! Putting this in context because there hasn't been a more surprising national champion in any sport? Maybe Leicester but IU had the worst W% historically of any champion. Arc of college football is the big schools consolidate their chances of winning—last time a new school entered the ring it was Florida, which represented a demographic shift. What does this mean? Not a secret sauce but IU built similarly to 2023 Michigan: a base of players who played together a long time and some elite pieces added. They get better ROI by ignoring HS recruiting, put a lot of time and money into scouting. Similarity to Dusty May in that Cig knows what he needs and scouts the hell out of the rest of the sport. [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]  2. Hot Takes and Men's Basketball vs Ohio State Starts at 27:20 Takes hotter than it's not outside. OSU game was annoyingly close. At one point Michigan was 2/16 from three and under 50% from the charity stripe. Biggest story of the game is the way Michigan held Bruce Thornton in check—the one hedge to center court that Mara got called for a foul was an awful call, but a proof of concept for how they defended OSU, which was to not give Thornton any space. Great Crisler crowd kept getting into highs and then a low-percentage event would derail, like their 17%-shooting big Christoph Tilly making a pair of threes (one a bank), 24%-shooting Amare Bynum making a deep contested jumper, and Mobley getting a bank three as shot clock is dying. Missed front ends made FT shooting feel extra annoying, somehow righted in the 2nd half. Big part of that was 21 good minutes from Trey McKenney. Liked Cason and McKenney more than Cadeau in this one: OSU has a 7'0" center and a 7'2" center but both of them are glued to the floor, which favors YOLO players. Annoying turnovers trying to figure out their zone. 3. Men's Basketball vs Indiana and a Nebraska Preview Starts at 54:03 Less annoying game, as Indiana was without Tayton Conerway for all but two minutes, and nobody else has the ability to get to the rim. IU couldn't even get the ball inside the three-point line. They finished 11/34 (32%) from three and that was because they made twice as many as they should have. IU only got five ORebs as they abandoned the glass to stop Michigan's transition game but terrible Nick Dorn shots that went off the back iron were their best way of getting the ball in the paint. Final score doesn't reflect the game because once Michigan got up 20-5 they put it in cruise control—this time it wasn't LJ Cason on the one drive for a layup. Will Tschetter's defense on Tucker DeVries was also a major factor. Nebrasketball is truly good. Very well-coached team, has a good system that turns everybody into Nebraska: 11th in taking threes, 6th in opponent 3PA/FGA. Have to slow down the game to protect stretch C Rienk Mask, who's the key to that offense. Might be without small four Braden Frager and been without SG Connor Essegian most of the year so there's a 23% shooting big in Berke "the Turk" Buyuktuncel that you can hide Mara on. The problem with that is it takes Mara out of the paint so you can't get away with playing as aggressively on the perimeter. Think we saw the prototype for how they want to play against Nebraska in that Oregon game. Might be able to do what Illinois did, was to take shots but then crash the glass because they don't have a lot of size. 4. Women's Basketball wsg Ira Weintraub Starts at 1:15:12 Time to get to know the best women's team in school history. Three losses were all similar: got way behind in the 1st quarter, fought their way back, came up short. Defense is fantastic, play the full court and cause a lot of turnovers which creates offensive opportunities. Get bogged down a bit in the half court and struggle to make their FTs. WBB officiating is beyond atrocious. Washington loss was a schedule thing after 2OT late game vs Oregon, but UConn and Vandy losses showed they can play with the elites and just need one more big basket from the super sophs. Hockeybear is blogging the team and making Team Sheets (key). It's not so easy is it? Super sophs: Holloway runs the offense and sets the defensive tone, Olson is a bucket, Swordsy is hero, and then they're getting a year from a growing Delfosse and UCLA transfer Dudley. Mostly a seven-woman rotation with Sofilkanich giving them some size inside, BQD a nightmare of a defensive pest, and then growth from Crockett who gives them some more size when they need it. Can they compete with the ELITE-elites? Nobody's unbeatable this year; Michigan is a solid two-seed, feel like floor is Sweet 16, has the make of a team that ends up losing a Final Four game en route to a big run next year.   MUSIC: "Getting Killed"—Geese "Forever Never Ends"—Jeff Tweedy "Downhill"—The Delivery Boys feat. Goldwood, Max Gertler & LOSTBOYBK “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

Things Discussed: IU national champions: Most unlikely championships in the history of sports. Credit Cignetti and top to bottom program management. How did they do it? Talent evaluation is elite. Built like 2023 Michigan: develop a lot of your own guys and then surgically found guys in the portal. Seth: Lesson for the rest of CFB is ROI: IU wasn't paying that much for their JMU guys, wasn't spending to have 5-stars learning to play on the three-deep. Focus shifting from Ty Haywoods (super talented, needs 3 years) to Blake Frazier (ready now) because there's no guarantee you'll get any return. Need to build your scouting department to watch all of CFB and know what you need. Sam: Can Michigan recreate the JMU Dudes with some of the Utah guys they got? Not a coincidence the Big Ten is winning championships and SEC isn't even in the game. Two reasons the SEC was dominant: they had a culture of paying players under the table and they had Nick Saban. Being able to develop guys (without them leaving or costing too much) will be the golden egg in the future. How sustainable? Maybe? Bringing in a veteran QB every year, DC might get Jesse Minter'd to a better job. Should remain a good team, very hard to repeat. Hoops: Shooting better? Maybe, but 3s are random and they're probably capped around okay in that department because they have guys like Gayle, Cason and Yax. IU lost their main guy who could get to the bucket and M could lock them down. Excellent defensive performance disguised by Kenpom. IU shut down M's transition game by abandoning the boards. Interesting decision by IU because those were M weaknesses. Yax okay? Think he plays off Rez—the scouting report is focus on Yaxel so that's opened up things for Johnson, since no team has enough big wings to last against both of them. Ohio State preview: OSU is an effort game—Thornton can shoot and they make a lot of floaters. CANNOT let them cut and get to the rim. They don't play defense so you have to put up 100 on them. Nebraska: Nebraska might be without their freshman winger Braden Frager, that makes them a five-out team. Can you play Mara against them? Break: Tatum to RB? Probably a Whittingham "gonna try that" thing. He's had success with that, but it's a bit late and there's no scouting on it. Like what it says about Tatum as a team player. Don't think he can play both AND baseball. That's a lot, and safety is the moon to him. Hockey: Michigan is #1 in Big Ten points percentage but they've got the hardest schedule of any team in hockey left to go. Let off the gas for 10 minutes of 120 against Minnesota and were unlucky not to get more goals. Have to protect Peck—this team can play defense like that, going to have to maintain that focus. Can't lose points against the OSUs and Minnesotas because the games vs MSU/Wisconsin will determine the league. Can you get Ivankovic back? Maybe? Haven't heard anything positive except they haven't ruled it out. Trey Burke: Top three player in M history? Yeah. Block was clean, and so was the team.

1 Hour and 16 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1:  Strong opinions about the Minnesota broadcast mis-pronunciating names. Top NHL storylines - everyone in the East is in the hunt and the west has several teams that could get under 90 points and make the playoffs. Teams just aren't interested in tanking anymore. How is Minnesota this bad? Six minutes into game one the shots are 10-0, the Gophers can't even touch the puck. Michigan absolutely shuts down the Gophers in the 3rd period. It was as easy of a third period as you could get to protect a newer goalie. Minnesota should have enough solid players to be a decent team, are they as bad as Notre Dame if they don't have the level of goal-tending that they do?  Segment 2:  After Friday night the vibe going into Saturday was simply "alright, don't blow this!" Michigan gets an early goal and Minnesota doesn't get their first shot for a while. Michigan dominated early but just couldn't get past the goalie and it's only 1-0 before Minnesota came out intense in the 2nd period. Penalty kill is now a bigger issue for Michigan. Minnesota's goalie wanted the 2nd goal back but you can't blame Minnesota's problems on the goalie. Alex thinks college hockey shouldn't have OT. You shouldn't feel mad that your team won. Around the league - Mercyhurst had a sweep! They have three (3!) total wins on the season. It's a big weekend for bye weeks. Michigan State is the best team to challenge Michigan in the Big Ten. Michigan feels like a much better team than Ohio State, they should just sit on them in a couple weeks.      MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "Buffalo Song" -- Chris Fayz Ice Hockey (NES) theme

2 hour and 10 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. Transfer Portal - Offense Starts at :51 The portal is closed! The only windows remaining are for a coaching change and for Indiana/Miami after the national championship game. Transfers, NIL, and contracts have been weird this cycle. Will Diego Pavia be in college until he's 45?? Thank you Davis Warren for beating Ohio State in the Funniest Game Ever. Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi is your backup QB out of Colorado State where he threw for over 7,000 yards. That's a "we don't practice f*cked" pick-up. Jadyn Davis's recruiting profile was a huge miss. Georgia Tech is a cool place for Justice Haynes, we're still not sure if Kuzdzal is returning. Taylor Tatum comes in from Oklahoma after a case of fumble-itus and several other ailments. Now he might actually have a good running backs coach. They retained Andrew Marsh - massive. The wide receiver room looks great, the only thing missing is a dedicated slot receiver but Michigan hasn't really utilized the role in a while anyways. Marlin Klein declared for the NFL draft but is he going to get drafted? The remaining tight ends and fullbacks should be good and viable options, they didn't get anyone out of the portal. JJ Buchanon doesn't count since he's being listed as a wide receiver. The offensive line is mostly retained which has star power potential. Overall the offensive line held serve besides losing Haywood, overall an A-grade. Would you give the offensive portal recruiting/retention an A all across the board? Could this become a... top ten offense?  2. Transfer Portal - Defense Starts at 41:41 Defensively is more of a mixed bag. Defensive end lost a lot of guys to graduation but only Devon Baxter to the portal. John Henry Daley is questionable based on his health, but if he's healthy you get Derrick Moore (but who actually plays more). Defensive tackle doesn't lose anyone noteworthy to the portal. You get back Trey Pierce and Enow Etta. Jonah Leaea was like a young Mo Hurst, he needs another 20 pounds. Defensive tackle has depth, just not star power, this wasn't a spectacular portal season for them either. This gets a solid B. Linebacker is the trouble spot. They lose Ernest Hausmann to eligibility/spirit quest, Cole Sullivan to Oklahoma, and Jimmy Rolder to the draft. The guys they bring in are uhhhhhh. Aisea Moa knows Jay Hill's system so he could possibly play but doesn't seem like he'll be all-Big Ten. This is a D, it's close to an F. At cornerback, you get Jyaire Hill, Zeke Berry, and Snowden. Jayden Sanders to Notre Dame stings. Let's.... talk about the allegations of sabotage and blackmail? Cornerbacks situation gets a... C+. Safety loses Brandyn Hillam and Elijah Dotson. Is Bryce Underwood the only guy to come from Belleville and last for over a year? Is Rod Moore going to play? Who knows. Chris Bracy comes in from Memphis, who comes in with a historic tale of a fabled fumble. Safety starters could be Bracy and Rod Moore, Mason Curtis to linebacker. You have six safeties? How many are going to play in a Cover-1? Defense overall gets a C, they probably didn't get better or worse. How much of the Wink disdain will have been warranted? If Daley doesn't get healthy who is going to be the star on this defense? Maybe they'll be like the offense last year - lots of potential but not quite there yet.  3. Hot Takes and Basketball vs Washington and Oregon Starts at 1:23:58 Takes hotter than Utah's athletic director on Twitter. Michigan basketball sweeps their west coast tour, they don't dominate but give a solid beating in both games to not-great teams. Michigan and Oregon were close to identical at the rim. You're starting to see the cracks in the armor of this team. Sean Stewart is an elite flopper. What did Dusty possibly say to warrant a technical? Elliot Cadeau was pretty efficient but gets too close to the face of guys on the perimeter and then gets beaten. He tries things that are just a little too ambitious too often, these things usually don't work. Indiana doesn't match up with Michigan at all, Trey Burke to get honored at the Ohio State game. It's about to get real for Nebraska.  4. Hockey vs Minnesota Starts at 1:54:54 Michigan gets an almost-sweep of Minnesota getting 5 of 6 points. It's hard to believe this is what Minnesota's hockey team looks like, they've fallen a long way. Minnesota didn't go into the portal or the CHL and just doesn't have the same talent as they used to. Even the announcers were saying "oh, don't do that!" Seven saves in one minute is pretty incredible. Michigan State is still the one team that can match up with Michigan. Michigan is probably in the best spot since the 2022 team when they were number 1. Is there anything Warde Manuel has done that makes you think Michigan hockey will be on a local television station? Four Big Ten teams are in the top 10 of NPI.  MUSIC: "Secret Loving"— Dry Cleaning "Dancing In The Club"— This Is Lorelei & MJ Lederman "Random Rules"— Silver Jew “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

Thing Discussed: Portal: You can't make an OL in the portal—keeping Guarnera and Sprague was huge. Wide receiver room is night and day from before. They put a secondary back together. Concern over LB and don't have an impact DT. Seth: After all that everyone is back where they were. Lucky for Michigan that everyone's a free agent but this is a terrible way to run the sport. Why does everybody forget Chase Taylor? You're going to learn his name this year. DT: Sam says PalePale was getting talked up during bowl prep. Put Crippen down a few times. Question is conditioning. Hoops vs Wisconsin: What happened? They got five-outed, pulled Mara out of the paint which was a key to how they were playing two-point defense, which is mostly drop. Played a lot more hedge vs Washington. Discussion on 3-point randomness. NBA studies prove the efficacy of closeouts. It's not totally random; what really matters is preventing open shots. No correlation between first half and back half three-point defense. Seth: Washington can't get to the rim and Wisconsin has guys who can take advantage of that. These European shootin' bigs are going to be a problem. Michigan is like Florida last year: they're big and they play fast. Slow them down and pull them outside and win a luck game. Response is to hedge more. Brian: We sometimes see Michigan playing live ball tactics that don't make sense against the team they're playing; the hedging was practicing for Illinois and Nebraska. Rebounding (especially vs PSU): Needs work. Big Ten doesn't officiate shoves in the back or the Wisconsin step-under, so you have to really focus on practicing rebounding in this league to be any good at it, and it's not the focus of this team. Hockey: Was it a cheap shot? If Notre Dame wasn't a goon squad we'd say no, but they've seen this guy run a goalie and Notre Dame is notorious for causing injuries—they knocked out M's best defender earlier in the year. Same referee was there for McGroarty's injury, Hallum's injury, and no calls on either of those either. Big Ten does not care about hockey, the officiating is atrocious. They don't know the game, and they're getting players hurt because of it. Can't self-regulate because there's no fighting so you need officials to do it, and they don't care.

1 Hour and 31 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1:  Have sports gotten too dramatic from a comeback perspective? The Bears are a team of destiny. "The Lions Game We Don't Talk About" is actually several Lions games. Anyways, Michigan hockey. Brandon Naurato has been extended through the 2029-2030 season. Notre Dame players Caeden Carlisle has been suspended one game and Paul Fischer suspended two games after the Michigan series (this will have no impact on Notre Dame's ability to win games, they're just bad). Naurato needed to make some changes going into this season but he's made most of the necessary changes. Coaching extensions have been the kiss of death at Michigan (see: Sherrone, Juwan). The Notre Dame series used to be a dreaded weekend but not so much anymore. It was nice to see not-the-superstars scoring the goals in the first game. That said, this was their worst defensive weekend of the season.  Segment 2:  Michigan won this game but people had a lot to say about it! Michigan was mostly in control but it was a sloppy game overall. "The Incident" though was the injury to goalie Jack Ivankovic. The hit didn't look very menacing but the end result was that he couldn't put any weight on one leg. He seemed so focused on the puck that he didn't see the Notre Dame player. Someone impartial who saw the video of the hit would think there's nothing malicious, but Notre Dame has a reputation of playing dirty and have lost the benefit of the doubt for a lot of people. There's a gray area in how hockey players treat injuries of opposing players. If Notre Dame always takes one of your players out, is it worth just not playing them even in the Big Ten semifinal if you're already a top seed in the NCAA tournament? The referees need to do something to help even it up after Notre Dame took out the goalie, but instead Notre Dame has a power play. That only antagonizes players further. Luckily Michigan scores enough that Stephen Peck could give up three goals per game and Michigan could still be in a good spot. Mercyhurst got a win! The rest of the Big Ten over the weekend. This team was on pace to win a national title before the Ivankovic injury and now we'll just have to see how Stephen Peck does.      MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "I Wanna Get Better" -- Bleachers Ice Hockey (NES) theme

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. Transfer Portal - Offense Starts at :51 Never doubt the law of conservation of vibes. The Penn State basketball game saved the offensive line. This was recorded on Sunday at noon so by the time you listen to this, things have probably already changed (hello, Jaime Ffrench). It would be nice to get a backup QB in the portal (hello Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi). Justice Haynes has hit the portal, might be going to Georgia Tech, and Oklahoma RB Taylor Tatum is in. So far he's struggled with fumbles and a hamstring injury but Oklahoma's RB coach is one of the worst in P4. He might be a Moneyball situation. Kuzdzal might be coming back? Jaime F-f-f-french is in and if JJ Buchanan joins then we have an actual wide receiver room. Still need a tight end? Offensive line got their guys back, we're un-mad now. Need some depth at center, though.  [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]  2. Transfer Portal - Defense Starts at 27:11 Not as sunny as the offense right now but it can change at any time. How we feel so far depends on the status of John Henry Daley's Achilles, he could be a Derrick Moore comparison if healthy. Defensive end looks pretty set. Defensive tackle... they get Pierce back. They do get Jonah Lea'ea from Utah who was a bit undersized and needed another year to develop. Enow Etta's return has turned from optimism to pessimism. Hopefully Alister Vallejo is ready as a freshman. At linebacker Rasheem Biles is off the board, they are hosting Cade Uluave from Cal, an all-ACC linebacker. Jimmy Rolder has declared for the draft and is #692 on the NFL Mock Draft database. The secondary isn't entirely in the portal but it's alarming, safety is now a concern. Surely we'll find out more about safety this week because you can't go into a season with three safeties. Per Trevor McCue, Jay Hill doesn't rotate the secondary at all! Kerry Coombs got his guys for special teams, they've got a kicker from Pitt, Trey Butkowski. This offense could be really good and not need to rely on a kicker who can hit field goals from the 37. Overall, get in a safety or two and ideally a good defensive tackle and this team is really close to being very competitive. When's the last time the offense was better than the defense, 2011?  3. Hot Takes and Basketball vs Penn State and Wisconsin Starts at 1:05:25 Takes hotter than Wisconsin three point shooting. Basketball is no longer invincible. This must feel the same as when Matt Painter had to play Mo Wagner. Michigan got out-rebounded pretty badly which feels like a major failing given the line-up. They need to play a little dirtier in the paint. Michigan and Wisconsin were shooting back-to-back threes until Michigan fell off. The offensive goal-tending ruling was the rule. Wisconsin doesn't send many guys to the offensive board, they tend to get back and trying to get transition baskets isn't worth it. A key for Michigan going forward is how stretch is everyone's five? Wisconsin shot 12 points higher than their expected for the number of threes they shot.  4. Hockey vs Notre Dame Starts at 1:28:57 Michigan escapes a bad Notre Dame team but loses goalie Jack Ivankovic for "some period of time" (possibly the season). The hit was unfortunate but probably not malicious. There are strong words said about these officials. Naurato has said in his press conferences that "I can't say what I want to say." Big Ten hockey is one of the best leagues in the world and the Big Ten treats it like the 4th most important sport. Freshman goalie Stephen Peck is now your starter. The defense needs to step way up to support their new goalie. If the season ended today they'd still be the number one seed in the tournament, though. Part of that is because of Ivankovic.  MUSIC: "One Tiny Flower"— Jeff Tweedy "Don't Do Me Like That"— J. Mascis "Falling Behind"— Laufey “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

Thing Discussed: Most excited about the hire: there are adults in the room. Spent 20+ coaching in one place with no scandals. Impressed that they stabilized the program so quickly. Portal recruiting happens in December; they're playing from behind because IU was setting up all of these visits weeks ago. Notice they're getting special teams guys because Coombs was already in his job. Whittingham as Crisler (Brian: [moans]), as an established outsider who locked down Harmon to survive the transition. That was the end of the Yost Cycle, and likewise this is the end of the Bo Cycle. What happens next? How does he develop ways to take advantage of Michigan's place in the new world. Money allocation is a big conversation going forward. Indiana puts all of its resources into the portal, Michigan will pay a NOB and also pay a Rolder. New offense: Not a whole lot different under Harbaugh? Utah fans: "get ready to run QB Power!"...okay! "Tell your TEs to prepare to be blockers." Sure. "Don't expect any Seth: More Urban Meyer approach where it's about efficiency more than explosives. Loaded at OL, have great RBs. Main feature of Beck is he plays a "tight end" who's really a receiver. Brian points out JJ Buchanan is 6'3"/225 and only played five snaps inline—that's just a wide receiver. Point is they're way more spread than people realize. In Break: Ryan Mallett (RIP). Craig says Lloyd tried to broker a conference with Mallett's dad and Rich Rod, neither side was interested. Jay Hill: Has the bona fides, knows where the hashes are, made Weber State a power. Schematically, going back to more of a Cover-1 look. Notre Dame defense is similar, also a lot like the Ryan Walters stuff where they turn their 4-2 into a 5-1 regularly. Really wanted to keep Cole Sullivan (as a WLB who can DE or S) and Jordan Young (as a nickel who can S or CB) for this system. Think Jyaire or Shamari would be good in that nickel role. Biggest hurdle for this staff? Probably learning how to recruit as Michigan instead of Utah.

2 hours and 5 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. Men's Basketball vs USC Starts at :51 Basketball gets to go first because they've earned it. They're the number one team on Kenpom by a full five points and the second highest rated Kenpom team of all time. Michigan shot 20% from three and still beat a top 25 USC team by 30 points. This was the Morez Johnson game. Michigan has three of the top five players in the Big Ten. What does a Michigan loss look like? Dusty May has done a great job working on Roddy Gayle, auto-benching with this team is fine. The cutoff for Kenpom to think you're a rotational player is 10% of team minutes, Grady and Goodman are both above this metric. The things that Michigan are good at are things that are very repeatable. There are different levels of Kenpom Time every time Michigan plays. It's weird to say this but it's good that Michigan gets Nebraska at home, they're spicy.  2. Football vs Texas Starts at 24:34 The Citrus Bowl came and went. We were hoping we could learn things about this offensive line going into the off-season then a lot of them went and hit the portal. Kuzdzal played an encouraging game but there were still a few moments of "I wish Jordan Marshall had hit that hole." Bryce Underwood did get some explosive runs, this will be nice for a new coaching staff that likes to run the quarterback. He was put in a lot of positions to fail towards the end of the game. Kerry Coombs did some things with special teams! Wow Michigan drew holds finally. We are done with the Wink Martindale era. Michigan had zero pass rush.  3. Hot Takes and Coaching Staff Starts at 40:11 Takes hotter than the basketball team, this will be the intro until any reason otherwise.  Offensive Coordinator - Jason Beck Came in from Utah, was at New Mexico before that. Has had some very successful offenses. Was a spread-heavy coach at New Mexico and became Whittingham-ized at Utah. Seems like a seamless fit, he should know what to do with Bryce Underwood. Running Backs Coach - Tony Alford It's working, good work keeping him around. Wide Receivers Coach(es) - Micah Simon and Marques Hagans Micah Simon doesn't have a lot of experience, he followed Beck. How much coaching does it take to get someone to catch the ball?  Tight Ends Coach - Freddie Whittingham He's developed some studs. Kyle Whittingham's brother, does not feel like a nepotism hire. Offensive Line Coach - Jim Harding Has two first round tackles this year. Probably could not have gotten a better o-line coach. Michigan has players trickling into the portal but you've got The Guy coaching next year's group. A lot of offensive linemen got recruited by Sherrone so it's not a shocker that some players are looking elsewhere.  Defensive Coordinator - Jay Hill Turned Weber State into a powerhouse. He has coordinator and head coaching experience, seems good. He has coached college his whole career rather than coordinate NFL defenses. Defensive Ends - Lewis Powell Specializes in Polynesians. Has a spectacular track record of developing defensive ends. Brian pledges to figure out how to pronounce all the Polynesian names.  Defensive Tackles - Lou Esposito Continued from last year. You can get more assistant coaches now so it makes sense to split DEs and DTs.  Linebackers Coach - Alex Whittingham Kyle's son, spent eight years with the Chiefs. Apparently Andy Reid played with Kyle Whittingham. This one is a bit more of a nepo hire but he has moved up the ranks.  Defensive Backs Coach - Jernaro Gilford BYU fans are upset that he's leaving which is a good sign. There aren't a lot of cornerbacks in the portal, hopefully he can find some guys.  Special Teams - Kerry Coombs Gets to keep the job he got right before Sherrone was fired. His previous Special Teams have been in the 30ish rank. He's not a slam dunk but should be solid.  4. Transfer Portal Starts at 1:42:43 It's Portal Takes season, we have not yet gotten to Portal Gives season. Guys who are in the portal are not necessarily gone. Jadyn Davis, Davis Warren, Ben Roebuck, Connor Jones, Devon Baxter, Semaj Morgan, Jaden Mangham, and Jasper Parker are guys who will probably get better opportunities elsewhere. Elijah Dotson, Brady Prieskorn, and Kaden Strayhorn are guys you'd like to keep around. Zeke Berry, Jake Guarnera, Andrew Sprague, Cole Sullivan, and Enow Etta are the "ouch" group. Some guys have left the door open. Would really really like to get Guarnera back, Sprague sounds like he's going to Texas. Most folks who are going to enter the portal have but we're not out of it yet. Keep an eye on Utah defensive end John Henry Daley, cornerback Smith Snowden, and safety Tao Johnson. Cole Sullivan would be a great fit in this defense, would love to keep him. They need guys (plural) on the defensive line, especially at defensive tackle. Even if you keep Andrew Marsh you would like to get a wide receiver or two. Might want to look into a punter or a kicker, maybe with a new staff we can finally move on from the 2015 Michigan State game.  MUSIC: "Nothing I Need"— Lord Huron "A Couple Minutes"— Olivia Dean "Cotton Mouth"— fanclubwallet “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

2 hours and 45 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. Kyle Whittingham Reaction Starts at :51 Brian can't make fun of the name "Kyle" anymore. Woah, Alex Drain is here! Did Kyle Whittingham get pushed out of Utah? He's 66 but could probably beat up several members of the current team, he doesn't feel too old. This might be the best guy to hit the ground running with Bryce Underwood. He's had a 20+ year stretch of success and it's mostly over-performing expectations statistically. Are there concerns about the way this would translate to Michigan? Utah folks are asking if we're prepared for limited media availability, a coach who can sound like a jerk, and a 300 lbs fullback. Yes, yes we are. Kyle Whittingham's risk for scandal seems extremely low. How many coaches in the Big Ten would you pick over him? His dad's nickname was "Mad Dog". A brief history of his success over his coaching career, which included two PAC-12 Championships. Kyle lets his QB run the ball, Bryce's output this season would've been the worst for Utah going back at least a decade. Harbaugh had a great hit rate on sleeper recruits, Whittingham should as well. He has some very Harbaugh-adjacent quotes as well. What's your letter grade for the hire? [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]  2. Assistants Starts at 42:48 The new staff is coming together pretty quickly. Jason Beck is lining up to be the offensive coordinator, coming in from Utah. Alex details his history as a coach which was mostly as an offensive coordinator and QB coach. He likes hybrid players and will love the tight end room. Jay Hill is lined up from BYU as defensive coordinator, BYU fans are not thrilled that he's leaving. He took a 100ish ranked defense and turned it into a top 25 defense. He also made Weber State a powerhouse while he was there. He'll play more man-defense than we're used to which might not be what we want against Ohio State. Jay Hill could also be a head coach in waiting down the road. It feels like the defense is going to be coached again. Jason Beck could be a QB coach but there are rumors that Koy Detmer Jr could come in as an analyst/QB coach. All signs point to Tony Alford being retained. Ron Bellamy will probably stick around, they still need a Michigan guy and he might be the most "Michigan Guy" on staff. Freddie Whittingham could likely come in at tight ends coach, he is not a nepotism hire. He could also be a recruiting coordinator guy if you want to keep Grant Newsome around. Jim Harding could be the offensive line coach coming out of Utah. Lewis Powell might be coming in as defensive ends coach out of Utah. Lou Esposito might stay at Michigan. Linebackers coach is the one area where we haven't heard anything. Whittingham has mentioned going after a coach that is still in the playoffs. Jernaro Gilford might follow Jay Hill as the defensive backs coach. LaMar Morgan is a good recruiter so maybe you keep him. What about Special Teams coach? Time to move on from Kerry Coombs already? How would you grade these potential hires?  3. Hot Takes and The Search, Revisited Starts at 1:38:48 Takes hotter than the Utah message boards. It was a wild ride getting from DeBoer, Fisch, or Dillingham to here. A lot of information was coming from agents getting names out there. A lot of people said "Biff Poggi could get the job" and it was never going to happen. Did Michigan really never go and try to offer Dillingham a job? It feels like his people really hyped him up. We might be having a very different conversation if that Oklahoma receiver would've just caught that ball. Everyone penciled in Dillingham after the Oklahoma Alabama game and then he signs an extension. Whittingham was unemployed, he probably didn't have agents hyping him up. Brian still likes Jeff Brohm. Interestingly Penn State never went after Whittingham but once the Michigan job opened up he said he was "in the transfer portal." Why was Biff Poggi on that podcast? He was shooting his shot for a job but it was never going to happen. How well did the "insiders" do and how clued in will they be on the new staff.  4. Michigan Football vs Texas Starts at 2:18:38 Oh yeah Michigan has a bowl game. The only opt-outs are El-Hadi, Derrick Moore, and Barham (and Ernest Hausmann). Maybe it's a good sign that a lot of players still want to play in this? Six of 11 defensive starters are sitting out for Texas, most of their offense is playing. Michigan's best hope is to watch Arch Manning turf five-yard outs. I guess we'll see Wink walk off the field as a Michigan coach for the last time. This feels like a zombie team right now. Does Michigan have a way to stop Ryan Wingo? The Ohio State game feels like four years ago. Are you excited for this game? A lot of big-name guys have at least remained in the recruiting class. The hope of the Sherrone era was "hopefully he just gets better at coaching" and it's a relief to just move on. What was the most enjoyable game of the Sherrone era? Not the highlight, but the most fun beginning-to-end? A lot of things about the last two to three years make a lot more sense now. A lot of paranoia and worry feels lifted, there are adults in charge.  MUSIC: "Medium Machine"—Sports Team "Inept Apollo"—Nation of Language "Where'd You Go"—Horsegirl “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

Thing Discussed: Women's hoops talk: This is the best team in Michigan history. They're tiny up front but they've got a lot of length on the perimeter and are generating a ton of steals. Hung with the best UConn team in a minute for 3 quarters. Reading the DeBoer comments: When someone's at a terminal job he gets to hog both lanes. Our read on it is DeBoer is making the comments you make if you're going to consider Michigan AFTER the Playoff. Timeline is our enemy: if Bama beats Oklahoma Michigan will probably move on to Dillingham and Dillingham will say yes. Dillingham: Meteoric riser, great motivator, Bryce seems to like, Sam thinks his offense is explosive. Concerns are young guys have yet to make their big mistakes. A little weird, but so was Harbaugh. Very ASU with a very Arizona staff. Brohm: Seems like a solid coach, won wherever he's gone but hasn't had that 11-win season; think people are wary that his DC is Ron English (probably can't come here after the EMU stuff) and Vince Marrow, who's said some things about Michigan. Brian: So did Jim Harbaugh. Seth: But Harbaugh was right. Brian: Marrow said Harbaugh was going to the NFL, so he was right too. Think concerns are overblown. Craig makes the case for Scot Loeffler: Michigan guy from Ohio who'd leave the Eagles in a second. Adam Stenavich: Isn't the playcaller, has never been a HC or a college coordinator. Eli Drinkwitz: Not a fan. Schedule winner (they only play 8 games in the SEC and he got an easy one). Personally find him off-putting, not a cultural fit. Gone out of his way to make uneducated comments about Michigan's 2023 season: hard pass. Clark Lea: Intriguing. Offense is 100% Pavia, worried about building an OL, but Seth finds his defense fascinating, seems to be good at putting together a roster. Don't know his buyout because you can't FOIA a private school. Seth: Roster construction is going to be critical in this age. Can you recruit your needs in the portal, build an OL at home, and keep your team together? Whoever they hire the GM is going to be the next most important position. Find the best.

1 hour and 54 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. What Happened Starts at :51 Sometimes in December we don't have enough content for a podcast... this week there is enough for a podcast. Michigan football has been thrown into chaos following the Sherrone Moore firing. This is the third out of five Warde Manuel hires in the three most important sports to have left in disgrace (also Jim Harbaugh depending on who you ask). There have been too many red flags on too many hires. There is no oversight within the athletic department and then you have to do an investigation instead of preventing one. The only reason the WiFi is better at Michigan Stadium is because of the Zach Bryan concert, not because they cared about the fan experience. Fans are just a piggy bank. Michigan is way too much in the news right now. If "a lot of people knew about this" then why didn't someone say something sooner? Warde lost credibility after his handling of Mel Pearson and he doesn't get credit for Brandon Naurato. Grandmas in Peoria know too much about the Michigan athletic department.  2. Coaching Search Bits Starts at 27:41 Michigan needs a new head football coach. How good do we feel going into it? Probably about a B-. There's not an obvious slam dunk candidate. The three big names are Kalen DeBoer, Kenny Dillingham, and Jedd Fisch. If Alabama wins their first playoff game then DeBoer is almost entirely off the table, if they lose to Oklahoma then there's enough smoke to believe he might think about it. Would DeBoer really leave Alabama though? It's not a place that coaches leave and he's a long shot even if they lose to Oklahoma. Kenny Dillingham played for Arizona State and has a lot of family and connections in Phoenix, he might just be a long shot to convince to move from home. Kenny Dillingham is young, he watches Stranger Things and doesn't understand all the references. What about Jeff Brohm? Jedd Fisch is good at roster construction and handling QBs, something that would be nice for Michigan right now. Jake Butt had a strong endorsement for Jedd. Some coaches wouldn't have former players stomping for them. Jason Eck is a fun name but he's never proven himself at a major program. Based on everything so far, it feels like it's probably Jedd Fisch (PENDING A BACKGROUND CHECK). Which assistant coaches/coordinators would you keep?  3. Hot Takes, Men's Basketball vs Maryland Starts at 54:31 Takes hotter than... actually we need takes about half of where they could go. We need to dial it back this week. Thankfully we can now turn our attention to basketball! Michigan 101, Maryland 83, a strange game. David Coit was hitting threes from every heavenly covered shot. When Michigan was down by 9 Kenpom still had them 76% to win. Maryland went 14-27 from three and Michigan still covered the Kenpom spread. This game was the script for Michigan to lose a game and won by 18. Brian reads Yaxel's boxscore poetically because it deserves it. Solomon Washington got ejected for two technicals. Michigan navigated foul trouble and you probably didn't even notice. Michigan is actually top 50 in three point shooting.  4. Men's Basketball vs Villanova Starts at 1:38:12 They went up by 30 at halftime and only won by 30?? What are we even doing here. You look at some of these top 50, top 25 teams on the schedule, could they beat Michigan in Ann Arbor? No way. Being #1 in two point defense with this schedule is insane. Michigan is identifying their weaknesses and working on them, that's terrifying for opposing teams. What is this team's weakness now? Hey, shout out to undefeated Nebrasketball!  MUSIC: "PH Suite"—Curtis Dro and Lamar Woods "Man I Need"—Olivia Dean "I Got Flavor"—LaRussell and Lil John “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

Thing Discussed: Proportioning outrage: Sherrone, the maximum. Athletics department? Don't know but suspect people knew for a long time and didn't react until they got information they had to act on. The assistant he had an affair with? We don't know—not exonerated but also let's be conscious that sharing her name and photo and history of an unfamous person irreversibly makes her famous for This, for life. It also has a chill effect on other women caught in illicit relationships with powerful men, and we have a public interest in making sure that math favors coming forward, not participating in the cover-up. What is going on here that we don't have a control mechanism? Brian: I don't trust Warde in this situation because we saw the process for Mel Pearson. No faith this was handled appropriately. Who lied to you Sam? Sam: for certain, Sherrone lied. That wasn't the only basis for his report. Michigan investigated or "looked into it" and they didn't have credible evidence until yesterday when the woman came forward. (He doesn't say this but I took it to mean she lied to the investigators originally).  Brian: Warde Manuel has done nothing in 11 years but bumble from one crises to another. Sam: A coverup did take place, between the involved parties. What could Michigan have done to reveal it? We don't know. What brought it to light was she came forward. Argument with Craig over the Wilmer Hale report over Mel Pearson: Craig doesn't like the report, argues for due process; Brian and Seth found the report credible and included you-have-to-fire-him level offenses, and Warde sat on it for months. Other Thing Discussed: Candidates Kalen DeBoer: If he'll listen. Minter: think we can work around the show-cause, might not be able to work around the fact he's in line for NFL jobs. Jeff Brohm: Proven coach, Louisville alum but would listen. Jason Eck: Former Wisconsin OL and line coach who's a cultural fit, only been a HC for 4 years and only New Mexico for one year. Think he's a Harbaugh after 1 year at Stanford. Wildcard: Jay Harbaugh. Bad ideas are bad ideas. Seth notes insanity is possible, e.g. John Harbaugh might come available. Also hiring a coach these days won't be on the AD; you bring in consultants for this sort of thing. It's a much better job than PSU right now, or the last 3 Michigan coaching searches when we were trying to replace Lloyd Carr without paying anybody, trying to find someone who will debase himself to work for Dave Brandon, or Harbaugh-or-bust with a program coming out of a Hoke low. Michigan job today is you get to pick your staff, maybe pick your AD, and inherit Bryce Underwood and a roster built for success with a top 2 or 3 (maybe even #1) NIL war chest. Will DeBoer listen? Math has changed: Alabama fans are holding him to an unreasonable standard based on what Saban did during a time when Alabama had more advantages over Michigan than they did now. Sam: Think DeBoer will listen. If not for that Playoff selection they were ready to run him out of town. People there are expecting him to have the success Saban had in a system that does not afford him the same advantages that Nick Saban had. Brohm will listen too. Sam: Loves Brent Key (also his alma mater), but how much of his success is Hayes King? Lea same thing; why not hire Diego Pavia. Floor: Jedd Fisch, is fine, not a high ceiling, or might be. He's done what we would want to see at Arizona and Washington.

1 Hour and 29 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1:  A discussion of Christmas decorations. Michigan played a strong defensive game to win the opener. Great shots from Spence and Park and Ivankovic didn’t have to do much else to nail down a shutout. Segment 2:  Michigan outscored MSU in the period they were dominated in and got outscored in the periods they played well in… that’s hockey! Michigan seems to be on an even level with MSU, which we would’ve taken before the year. A check in on the standings and national rankings. Not many past opponents played this weekend. Our outro discusses the WJC rosters and the Olympic rosters and which Michigan players may make either team    MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "Sibling Rivalry" -- PUP Ice Hockey (NES) theme

1 hour and 42 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. Michigan Hockey vs Michigan State Starts at :51 A very silly debate not worth publishing preceded the actual intro of this podcast. A split against Michigan State is a very fair result, the whole series was intense. The first period of the Saturday game was an onslaught that Michigan relatively survived, Jack Ivankovic has been solid. How many first and second rounders were in this game? The answer is in the double digits. Is the Big Ten the best hockey league in the world outside of the NHL? Most of the time this team looks dominant but looking back on that Wisconsin series and the first period against MSU on Saturday shows some concerning trends where Michigan can't get out of their own zone. Minnesota is surprisingly not what they've been in the last few years.  2. Men's Basketball vs Rutgers Starts at 26:05 Michigan is putting up demolitions not even predicted by Kenpom. If Michigan puts up a reasonable number of 3s there's just no way to beat them. What did Rutgers even do... get to 41% from 2? Well Michigan shot 72% from 2. They've played the 8th hardest schedule in the country, what even is there to say? Morez Johnson is shooting 3s now. Michigan had more offensive rebounds than misses from 2. Cadeau had an alarming turnover rate earlier in the season and most of those have gone away. Is Yaxel the alpha guy for scoring? Do you need one when you win games by 40? Roddy Gayle is rounding into the guy we originally thought he would be. The floor on this team is so high, if they shot 15% from 3 they'd probably still win by 10. The only teams that look mildly threatening on the schedule are Michigan State and Purdue. USC is also spicier than we thought. Michigan is now favored in every single game on the schedule.  3. Hot Takes, Football Offensive Recruiting Class Starts at 54:31 Takes hotter than Curt Cignetti walking off the field after beating Ohio State 13-10 to win the Big Ten Championship and reacting in NO WAY WHATSOEVER. Savion Hiter is the number one running back in the country and he has the tape to back it up. Brady Smigiel and Tommy Carr come in at QB, they won't see the field for a while but then you could have a redshirt sophomore starting after Bryce leaves. It's nice to see Michigan recruit like they have 105 guys in a class. Michigan loses a wide receiver but picks up Travis Johnson, also Brady Marchese and Jaylen Pile. Would've been nice to get a slot guy but nice to get a few receivers. They're all early enrolees. Matt Ludwig comes in at tight end and is the number one player in Montana, close enough to Idaho. Michigan should get tight ends from American Samoa and Alaska. Mason Bonner comes in from Colorado, keep an eye on him down the road. Malakai Lee is the headlining offensive lineman out of Hawaii, Bear McWhorter is an all-name nominee. Marky Walbridge is a quintessential under-scouted player.  4. Football Defensive Recruiting Class Starts at 1:20:32 Carter Meadows is the #6 overall player in the class, he could be the first overall player in the draft if he projects how he's supposed to. Taco Charlton comparison? Tariq Boney is the other edge, described as a violent high motor style. Titan Davis is Chris Wormley shaped but could move to defensive tackle, McHale Blade might be the most underrated guy in this class. Alister Vallejo, the Mason Graham comparison! He's a lot of peoples' favorite player in this class (a class with two five stars). Could he help next year? Many linebackers, mostly flyers and not an instant-impact class. Do not trust AI in your recruiting history research. The defensive back class is a little light, all four stars though. Jordan Deck is a Makari Paige kind of guy. They get a kicker who kicks and a longsnapper who long snaps, yay. Kerry Coombs comes in as special team coordinator.  MUSIC: "Train Love"—Yor Old Droog "MAGIC"—Vince Staples and Mustard "I Need a Lover"—John Couger “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

FOOTBALL v OHIO STATE Offense had some neat ideas in the run game, not so much the passing game. Problem with not running read options all year is Bryce blew too many of them. Sherrone is a run guy, had some great run tweaks, but it ended up costing them in the passing game as Bryce was cold—gotta throw on early downs if you're going to be a successful passing team. Defensively it was worse when we looked. "Only 27 points" is because they only had nine possessions and one of the killed the game in the 3rd and 4th quarter. Wink: Not great. Felt mailed in, no interesting ideas, and the ideas he did have were bad ones, like delayed blitzes that won't get to Sayin until it's too late, or showing his hand. Sayin was never confused: he read out what he planned to. Sam not a fan of spot-dropping. That was most of the defense this game; in the past Michigan's used a lot more switch and poach coverages. Wink is too easy to see coming, and that's not going to change. We're ready to move on, hope he is as well. Differences aren't all on Wink: Ernest Hausmann was a big loss, and a big difference last year. Josiah Stewart was and The Gifts were a big deal last year. Getting off the field on 3rd & 3 is when those playmakers have to do something, and Michigan didn't have those guys. SIGNING DAY Got interesting yesterday. Big money plays at Zion Robinson, Travis Johnson and (from UNC) Julian Walker. Michigan is either getting Zion Robinson (who got a big offer from Syracuse) or Georgia commit Brady Marchese—if Calvin Russell is serious then they'll work that out separately. Julian Walker is deciding today; his connection to Michigan in the first place was his dad, isn't sure he wants to leave home, which is understandable. If he goes to UNC it's just money. Hiter was just a misunderstanding when his contract came and they got it cleared up eventually. Underrated guys in the class: Alister Vallejo (we love), McHale Blade (fell too far after his injury) and Tommy Carr (we think he's better than Brady Smigiel, not better than Bourque).

1 Hour and 18 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1:  NBA Cupdates and Thanksgiving food debrief. Michigan largely hammered Harvard in the first game, scoring early and often en route to a comfortable win. Nick Moldenhauer has elevated as a playmaker and Josh Eernisse continues to score. So does Will Horcoff. Hobey? Decent special teams night, just a ho-hum win Segment 2:  Different game script from the first one, Harvard came out much more energetic. Michigan kept them to the outside for the first two periods and kept Ivankovic’s eyes clean, while cashing in on high-danger chances the other way. Harvard did control play and finally broke through when Michigan’s dumb penalties gave them too many looks. Horcoff redeemed himself after terrible 3rd period penalties. Okay with an OTW to achieve the sweep. Still 3rd in NPI. Many of our old friends took the week off… should Michigan take Thanksgiving week off? Huge clash with MSU this weekend, a team riding the Porter Martone and Trey Augustine wave but looking for depth scoring.    MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "Smarter Than You" -- The Undertones Ice Hockey (NES) theme

1 hour and 43 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 Ohio State Starts at :51 Good thing this is pivoting to being a snacks podcast. Combos are way up there as far as gas station snacks go. Every time Ohio State got into a 3rd down situation they would just drop back and throw it to an open receiver. When Michigan was in this situation, Ohio State would just man up and Bryce had nowhere to throw. Those substitutions that happened all season continued in this game. Is trophy done going brrr? You cannot have this many holes in your team and expect to compete with Ohio State. The offensive line didn't look as dominated as it seemed, if Jordan Marshall and Justice Haynes played the whole game they'd probably break some more big runs. It didn't seem like Chip Lindsey brought much into this game that was built off of what they had been doing all season. Maybe Bryce froze up (pun not intended) a bit. He only had five throws at halftime? Guarnera actually looked really good, Frazier and Sprague held their ground. The reasons this offense didn't shine this season weren't because of the offensive line. Who's even going to sit out on offense in the bowl game?  2. Defense vs Ohio State Starts at 29:05 Giving up 27 points to Ohio State seems not that bad but we're still done with Wink. Ohio State's 3rd down conversions were the easiest possible. Neither Barham nor Derrick Moore got anywhere near Sayin all game. The 5-2 came back... It's year two, the defense shouldn't be this simplified. Yes, simplify it early on but it cannot be simplified against Ohio State. He learned nothing from the USC game, Wink needs to get fired and if he isn't then that's on Sherrone. There was a 20 play 81 yard field goal drive that took 12 minutes off the clock. That goal line stand was nice, though. Ohio State was at their own 10 but the backups were in?? Also it's a Fox broadcast, there's plenty of time to rest your starters during tv timeouts! There's a lot of work that needs to be done on the defensive line going into next year. The waves of elite defensive tackles has run its course.  3. Hot Takes, Game Theory, and Special Teams Starts at 53:38 Takes hotter than... idk. I'm out of ideas just like Michigan's coaches. The first sign that it was over was when Ohio State declined a holding call and then held Michigan on 3rd and 5. Zvada made field goals and a mob didn't have to come after Brian (they would've been right to do so). Hollenbeck had an 11 yard punt. Keeping Andrew Marsh just to fair catch punts is a valuable skill, don't make him a kick returner though. Kicking field goals early on 4th down felt like the right thing at the time, it could've been a stupid blizzard game later. You'd trust Zvada to make these field goals more than you'd trust the offense to get six yards in the redzone. Apparently an Ohio State player had head butted a Michigan player and Barham was demonstrating - but also don't do that. Jeremiah Smith almost had the funniest application of the worst rule in football. There were a lot of Ohio State fans at this game, how does that keep happening? Were there Ohio State fans near you and if so what was the experience near them like?  4. Around the Big Ten with Jamie Mac Starts at 1:25:11 Oregon 26, Washington 14 Washington's hyped offense just never came true in any of their big games this year. Oregon locks up a playoff bid, they'll probably get the G5 bid or the ACC champions. Penn State 40, Rutgers 36 Congrats to Penn State on getting bowl eligibility. This was a shootout. Tamper with the Rutgers receivers.  Minnesota 17, Wisconsin 7 Wisconsin is not good.  Michigan State 38, Maryland 28 Jonathan Smith was fired after this recording. There might've been 10,000 fans at this game but the weather kept a lot of people home.  Illinois 20, Northwestern 13 Snow game!  Iowa 40, Nebraska 16 Just a first half blowout without much effort in the 2nd half. A very disappointing ending to Nebraska's season. Nebraska is 2-10 the last three years in November. USC 29, UCLA 10 UCLA lead at halftime and then USC ran away with it in the 2nd half.  Indiana 56, Purdue 3 A year after Indiana gave Purdue their worst loss in the rivalry they give Purdue their first home loss in the rivalry. MUSIC: "Colors Change"—Tanks and Bangas "Too Good Too Bad"—Jason Scott and the High Heat "My Girlfriend Doesn't Worry"—Jeffrey Lewis and the Voltage “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

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: Sunday the Band THE VIDEO: [After THE JUMP: The show notes.]  --------------------- 1. Ohio State Preview: Offense starts at the top Forecast is wind and snow, the real blizzard arriving after the game. Other than one guard they all range from solid to stars. They're back to what they were in 2021-'22, with a future 1st round QB in Julian Sayin who reads leverage on Ryan Day's standard multi-level drag routes and throws to the guys getting open. Those guys: Jeremiah Smith, the future #1 overall pick, and Carnell Tate, who will be a 1st rounder this year. Both have been banged up, but we think they're both going to play and more or less be themselves, with an excuse banked if they lose. Where they've advanced is they use a lot more two-TE sets, particularly Max Klare, a true blocky+catchy hybrid who may necessitate a hybrid response. They use the TEs in clever RPOs to create space for Sayin's throws, and are good enough in the run game with Bo Jackson to punish you for overplaying pass. 2. Ohio State Preview: Defense starts at 16:59 Be afraid. Illinois gained 295 yards on 4.2 YPP and Washington gained 234 yards on 4.4 YPP. Alex Drain does not like Matt Patricia, but he's slimmed down himself and his playbook and has Ohio State playing at an elite level. That's Caleb Downs, the guy Corum juked for a touchdown in the Rose Bowl, and now the best player in football, who's allowed to rove around and make plays while they man you with everybody else. It's also the play of their linebackers; Sonny Styles was the guy Corum juked on the 6-5 touchdown, but was always supremely talented and is at the peak of his game. Arvelle Reese was another big recruit; he came on last year and is in the conversation to go 1st overall as a grow-a-Parsons. He can be a safety, a DE, a linebacker, or anything. They can get away with all of that man and blitzing LBs because Igninosu, Matthews, and Styles are excellent athletes in coverage, and the Big Ten doesn't like to flag their grabbiness. The next generation of DBs is coming up—you remember trying to recruit Aaron Scott and Bryce West, plus #8 overall Devin Sanchez. They replaced four superstars on the DL with a superstar, a star, and two Just-Guys. Kayden McDonald is the lone member who wasn't a top-50 recruit but he's the star, and is probably a step too far Crippen and Guarnera. Caden Curry made the leap; he's Jack Sawyer 2.0, a strong pass-rusher and a force against the run. Kenyatta Jackson is equally strong against the run but is a block-and-done rusher. Tywone Malone has been there for ages. 3 and 4. Hoops in Vegas After-Action Report starts at 31:49 and 44:49 Beat Auburn by 30 and SDSU and Zaga by 40. Teams came into this thinking they could blitz Michigan's ball screens, Michigan came in having practiced their response to it. Zaga thruck? Look who took their shots—those aren't their shooters. The defense has been incredible; Morez allows you to be switchable when Mara is off the court and when he's on there's nowhere to go with the ball. Zaga had to take a bunch of push shots from 12 feet that are good shots for them, but that's not going to sustain an offense. Cason is coming around, though the offense is still much smoother with Cadeau. Turnovers are going to be the thing for this team again; when they get anything like even shot volume they're murder because their threes are open and they have all of these guys who score at the rim. Yaxel is becoming the Weapon that he was thought to be in the portal, but is extra dangerous because he doesn't have to be. Big-big actions are going to have to level up now that teams are sitting on them. This is where you bring in Tschetter, because a team that prepared for Johnson is out of sorts. Featured Artist: Sunday the Band If it wasn't for Brad Dumont I might still be in the Rose Bowl parking lot. Brad recognized us, let us in his car, and took us to Randy Sklar's place in time to catch Washington vs. Texas. He also put on the music of his then-14-year-old son Nate. Part of this had to be the fact Michigan had just won 26-20 in overtime in Nick Saban's last game. Also these kids rocked. It's relatable catchy stuff with a funky rhythm that's way more advanced than anyone ought to be at that age. Apparently in the two years since these high schoolers have picked up a following in the Pasadena music scene, but were getting in at the bottom floor; these are the two songs they've recorded so far. Trouble in Paradise was the one we were bouncing around to like middle-aged Mikey Sainristils. Rewind hits right now. Also give it up for a four-piece band when all the stuff that gets pushed these days are from solo artists and collabs. You can make fun of me now then turn this on for the ride home after we win. Songs: Rewind Trouble in Paradise 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

1 Hour and 17 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1:  Opener: discussing thanksgiving foods. Michigan was much better than Ohio State on Friday but had to grind for a 3rd period victory. Talk about possible soft goals. Good goaltending from Eberly. Nice pass by Valentini --> Hughes wins it. Segment 2:  Michigan scored a touchdown and got the 2 pointer on Saturday. 4th liners set the tone, skilled guys bring it home. Bad Eberly game. Sucked ruining the shutout. Discussion about B1G expected goals numbers and Michigan’s place in the conference hierarchy. College hockey’s west is way better than the east yet again. Checking in on old friends. When will Mercyhurst win a game? Michigan should pummel Harvard but Harvard’s goalie is really good. Michigan picked up a commit from Nic Sima out of the OHL so we check in on the 2026 recruiting class.   MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "Celebrate the Reckless" -- The Magic Giant Ice Hockey (NES) theme

1 hour and 45 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 Maryland Starts at :51 It doesn't feel good to just beat up on Maryland the week before The Game. Dave explains a soft and gooey snack for all of you to enjoy. Bryce was okay! He's worked on a nice seam route with an arc to Marlin Klein that he didn't have before the bye. And a dig route! There was one bad pass which was a tough throw to make anyways. Can he go and win The Game? Probably if the defense can do enough. This was never going to be a challenge for the offensive line but they exceeded expectations anyways. The Ohio State game might be a bridge too far, though. Kuzdzal is a step down from Justice Haynes and Jordan Marshall but he's got some juice. They succeeded on wedge! Andrew Marsh almost completed the Odell Beckham?? He's a star going forward. Marlin Klein hurdled a fool, Goodwin had a few catches. It was nice of Maryland to just run into themselves and let Michigan do what they wanted.  2. Defense vs Maryland Starts at 34:09 There was an opening drive touchdown with various guys being offsides again, but then there wasn't much until the backups came in. Pleeeease do not be rotating the back-seven against Ohio State all game. Derrick Moore has 11 sacks, imagine if he played more! Ernest Hausmann did not travel, Cole Sullivan was back (and possibly a little rusty). This performance didn't build confidence in holding Ohio State to 10 points again, a lot of Maryland receivers were running open. Brandyn Hillman had another good game, maybe that mini-suspension was the best thing for his career. He was even directing players into position. Some of Maryland's drops count as triple drops. There's just not much interior rush from this defensive line, maybe play Barham at linebacker against OSU so you can blitz him. Does Wink actually call plays without knowing or caring which personnel are out there? This year you don't have the two best defensive tackles in America and you can't bait Ryan Day into running into a six man box.  3. Hot Takes, Game Theory, and Special Teams Starts at 56:08 Takes hotter than yours truly after he got through the hot takes intro and had to re-do them because the Sklars dropped out of the call. Brian broke Zvada. Chase Taylor gets +4 on the onside kick recovery, that did not feel good. There was no punting from Michigan so we don't have to complain about punting. Marsh had some nice punt returns?? End of first half time management was less than ideal, Goodwin lined up in the wrong spot and they should've called timeout. Stop jumping offside! The late hit by Brandt was a weak call, so was the one on Bryce Underwood. Every replay angle was field-level and somehow they're contradictory?  4. Around the Big Ten with Jamie Mac Starts at 1:19:43 Oregon 42, USC 27 A close-ish looking boxscore but Oregon scored 28 first half points. Oregon has figured out some things after the Indiana game, they're in the 99th percentile in opportunity run rate. They're starting to look like the championship team they were hoping to be.  Iowa 20, Michigan State 17 Iowa pulls out a classic game that they don't deserve to win. MSU QB Alessio Milivojevic punted three times. Michigan State's 8 game losing streak is tied for the 2nd longest, the program record is 10. Tickets for MSU vs Maryland at Ford Field after the game are free!  Northwestern 38, Minnesota 35 An offensive explosion game! Northwestern wins at Wrigley for the first time in 8 attempts.  Wisconsin 27, Illinois 10 Neither team gets to 300 yards of offense. This was the first time all season that Wisconsin scored in the first and second quarter.  Penn State 37, Nebraska 10 The Grunk throws 12 times for 181 yards, that'll do it. Nebraska goes 1 of 6 on 4th down. Who is Penn State's number 1 coaching candidate?  Washington 48, UCLA 14 The Huskies continue to play without some of their stars but still blew out UCLA Ohio State 42, Rutgers 9 Ugh MUSIC: "Feel It Again"—Winyah "Drugs"—Philharmonik Live from NPR Tiny Desk "DBZ"—Your Old Droog and Method Man “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

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: The Band Feel THE VIDEO: [After THE JUMP: Things discussable.]  --------------------- Not necessarily in this order. 1. Maryland Preview: Offense starts at around noon They have a kid quarterback too, but Malik Washington doesn't have an offensive line or a running game to help him. He does have a redzone threat in Shaleak Knotts and a couple of other productive receivers. That offensive line is the problem—their left tackle is from Central Connecticut State and he's not even their worst OL. Their TE room is banged up and bad at blocking. The RB and TE are good receivers but don't contribute much to the run game either, and somebody on this team has to protect the QB. 2. Maryland Preview: Defense starts at around 12:20 PM They're very young—younger than we are. Remember when Jalen Huskey picked off JJ McCarthy in the endzone? Hint: it was the game JJ threw interceptions in 2023 and made us feel bad briefly. They're opportunistic in the secondary, and won some games early in the season because they pick the ball off. They also have some transfers who make the passing game tough sledding: an Ohio vagabond who gets the backfield, a true freshman pass rusher that M had its eye on. Safeties are the returning starters and the best part of the defense, but have to hang back and clean up after the kids. Prescription: pound 'em. 3. Hoops: TCU and MTSU After-Action Report starts around 12:40 PM This team can be maddening. They have eight to nine starters who will take over a game or throw it away on any given possession. Aday Mara can be inconsistent even when his height isn't, and that's why they're 6th in Kenpom. Team fixed its rebounding issues and sprung some major turnover issues that allowed MTSU back into a game they were out of, before they were out of it again. The Blue Raiders settled for a lot of jumpers—contested threes or pullup other twos, while M is scoring 1.4 PPP at the rim. That formula is going to work against a lot of teams, but San Diego State and Auburn are going to be real threats. 4. Northwestern After Review starts at around 1:00 PM Andrew Marsh, come on down. Already on star watch and boy do we like that. Bryce was pretty good except when he threw a REALLY BAD freshman interception and an only kinda bad OC interception because they went to the well one too many times against Robert Fitzgerald, who balled out. Run game: Jordan Marshall is special but Bryson Kuzdzal is playable. Offensive line continues to do well against this level of competition; got 70% of their available yards against a very good defense. Defensively Seth thinks he's figured out (finally) why Michigan's rotations are what they are, in part because Michigan finally figured out their rotations. They also tried a new 3-3-5 defensive strategy that uses Barham as a linebacker and Hausmann as a hybrid, but it suffered the same fate as a lot of Wink ideas when he springs something new. Fine games from Brandyn Hillman and Mason Curtis; not as mad at Bowles as I thought we'd be. Cam Brandt: that's still weird, at least in pass rush, but he did some things in the run game to justify himself again. Featured Artist: The Band Feel You know here at MGoBlog we're fans of the un-Googleable. The Band Feel, which will be at The Pig in a few weeks, looks, acts, and sounds like a lost act from the early 1970s. But man does it ever work now, and it's not like the psychedelic ideas stopped coming when all the Zeppelin knockoffs drank themselves into glam. The Band Feel picks up where Beck, Sabbath, Deep Purple, etc. left off, but they also work in all the threads that have been developed since. The hit is "Shoal Creek" which sounds like a long lost Led Zeppelin song, but I stumbled on "Fly Birdy, Fly" which weaves in some of the bluegrassy ideas that became country back into rock. Goodbye Virginia is off their 2024 EP but the others are from their newest album Into the Sun. Songs: Icarus Fly Birdy, Fly Goodbye Virginia 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: FOOTBALL v NORTHWESTERN When not being a terrible freshman Bryce was a five-star freshman. Some incredible throws in this one. Not that mad about 2nd interception because that was on the OC. Lindsey's gameplan of RPOs (ten Split Flows!) was perfect against Dantonio-style quarters. Got 70% of their yards, which is more important for future performance. RPOs were also good for getting Bryce feeling comfortable. We have a freshman but also a five-star, and he looked like one. Sam: Note the first drive was downfield passing! That throw to Andrew Marsh: wow. Shoutout to NW safety Robert Fitzgerald. Let's tamper with that guy! Andrew Marsh: What a perfect guy to be coming through. MARYLAND PREVIEW They're young with no running game to fall back on so they lose games. Gotta win jump balls against their big receivers. Malik Washington will be a good one, but no OL and no run game. Their defense is also young and mistake-prone. BIG TEN PRIVATE EQUITY DEAL ON HOLD, MICHIGAN AND USC FTW? Why the other schools want it: They're all in big debt because building debt (paid to their big donors) was how these non-profits made their revenue disappear while getting to keep most of it and making the ledgers balance for Title IX compliance (e.g. updates to Breslin are Women's Basketball expenditures.) Now you want to free the ledgers and the donors to pay players, so you need upfront capital to unravel the old system. Lock down a portion of Michigan's revenue. MSU, NW, IU, PU, RU, IL need to lock in a share of M/OSU revenue now because if the conferences break up for a super league they're not going to be invited. The length of the media rights contract is 20 years. This is CRITICAL. Michigan State has a real chance of becoming a mid-major. Ohio State wasn't on board until they got a clause giving them a bonus for selling more gear/stadium advertising. The way it's structured now they get more money than Michigan, which is all they wanted to hear. Why Michigan and USC don't want it: Michigan already got itself out of the debt cycle.

1 Hour and 14 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1:  Extensive discussion on the extremely mediocre NHL. Michigan got bludgeoned in the first period of Friday’s game yet ended it up 3-0. PSU quit after that and Michigan dominated them. Guaranteed a fierce response on Saturday? Will Horcoff has been awesome this season. Segment 2:  Michigan didn’t play a bad game but came up short. Good in-zone defense, less good rush defense. Didn’t love the 2nd goal from Ivankovic. Valiant comeback attempt included a sweet deke by Perron. More discussion of McKenna’s defensive effort effort problems. Overall an okay weekend. Should the Gophers tank for a good draft pick? How good is Ohio State?    MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "Sunburn" -- Fuel Ice Hockey (NES) theme

2 hours and 34 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 Northwestern Starts at :51 This doesn't even qualify as a top five weird Northwestern game (we list our top five). This week's snack of the week is organic pumpkin seeds. On one level, this kinda looked like Michigan's best game of the year on offense and defense. Michigan comes out slinging it and Bryce's confidence seemed like it was at another level, but he made young mistakes. What happened on Bryce's sacks? Playing Northwestern always kinda feels like they have your signs. Michigan was able to counter some of Northwestern's defensive counters. Most of the mistakes are coming from freshmen which is just something that happens. Missed cuts on zone is whatever but missed cuts on power isn't good. Bryson Kuzdzal came in and did just fine. Bryce's scrambles were pretty good and mostly improvisation, his interceptions were freshman stuff. Safeties were baiting him, can he anticipate that in the future? The first interception was not understanding how to read the coverage, the second one was just needing to throw the ball better. Andrew Marsh made the Michigan catch of the year, you have a dedicated receiver going into next year. You could have 12 of 14 boxes in a great position next year. Andrew Marsh is the best freshman receiver since... Manningham? How much does this performance mean against Ohio State? The reverse fumble is on Chip Lindsey.  [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]  2. Defense vs Northwestern Starts at 44:15 Northwestern came into this game with a pretty good ground game and they got stuffed. This was a good game to run the 5-2 in, Northwestern is on the opposite end of the spectrum from USC. Northwestern's gamesmanship cost them two false starts, Michigan tipped what they were running multiple times. The defensive backs got beat a few times but sometimes a receiver just makes a nice play over you. You probably don't want to put Zeke Berry on Jeremiah Smith, Jyaire Hill is getting his star back. Brandyn Hillman tackled with his arms! He's grown as a much more mature player over the season. They're defending screens now! TJ Metcalf body-slammed a guy.   3. Hot Takes, Game Theory, and Special Teams Starts at 1:08:55 Takes hotter than suburban Chicago in mid-November. There seems to be differing views on how much people liked this venue for a football game. The camera shots were weird. Seth and Dave think the inside of the stadium is magical, Brian not so much. It might've actually been 90% Michigan fans. They did the best they could with clock management at the end of the first half. What about timeouts at the end of the second half? Zvada kicked the ball into the street outside of the stadium. Brian takes responsibility for the missed field goals by changing the preview. Semaj got replaced, he's a better player than he's performed but he may be overdue for a mental health break. 4th down decisions. NFL calculator says there's a complete coin flip in decision making. It shouldn't be a holding call if you're getting your ass kicked. Semaj was on the ground with the ball but they didn't overturn the fumble? There's no transparency between officiating and the fans, other conferences and sports are getting better at it. 4. Around the Big Ten with Jamie Mac Starts at 1:59:37 USC 26, Iowa 21 Iowa jumped out to a nice lead but scored zero points in the second half. The Hawkeyes lost three offensive linemen. The universe is paying them back for all the 10 win seasons they had no business having. USC is now a legitimate playoff contender.  Indiana 31, Wisconsin 7 This was a sludge fart for Indiana in the first half but put it away in the second. Wisconsin is one of the worst Big Ten offenses ever contemplated. Most of Wisconsin's offense was off of a couple weird plays.  Penn State 28, Michigan State 10 A rock fight between two of the worst teams in the league. Michigan State had 15 wins over the last three years... well at least they did. Penn State won the very ugly trophy which might actually be the best trophy and they looked like they really wanted it. Illinois 24, Maryland 6 Maryland is not even trying to run the ball anymore. Illinois ground them to a pulp. Don't throw at Maryland, just run them over.  Washington 49, Purdue 13 Washington doubles Purdue in yardage and most of that was likely garbage time for Purdue.  Oregon 42, Minnesota 13  This feels like danger zone for PJ Fleck. They could lose to Wisconsin?? Ohio State 48, UCLA 10 UCLA is without Nico in this game, their backup has never thrown a college pass. UCLA is moving out of the Rose Bowl??  MUSIC: "Slow Burn"—The Rose City Band "Swans"—Maston "Optimism"—Jana Horn “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

wsg Rodger Sherman, founder of Sports!, formerly of The Ringer, coiner of "Fetty Wapping," college football hero. 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: Terry Klein THE VIDEO: [After THE JUMP: Things discussable.]  --------------------- Not necessarily in this order. 1. Northwestern Preview starts at the top They're fine. Their offense plods but for one good receiver or when their QB throws an INT, which he's got accuracy problems that were visible when he was a Rhett Ashlee QB at SMU. Their defense is decent, rotates, plays sound football of a Lloyd variety. Alex likes edge Aidan Hubbard more than Michael Kilbane (whom PFF prefers). Their DTs are a little undersized so they jump behind the line of scrimmage, which Nebraska was able to exploit down the stretch. 2. Northwestern Preview cont. wsg Rodger Sherman starts at 13:56 What's it like being a Northwestern fan these days? It's spending $800 million on an unnecessary stadium instead of players, because you can't put your name on players. 3. Wake Forest After-Action Report, and a short TCU Preview starts at 27:45 How many ways can we say Mara is a star? Defensive ceiling is ridiculous. Three-big lineup needs a name. We also talk about Matt D's findings regarding the defensive play of Michigan's guards, which was not at all what we expected. 4. Purdue Upon Further Review starts at 44:58 Young offensive line plus Zack Marshall and Jalen Hoffman continue to be good blockers—might meet their match vs Ohio State. Jordan Marshall is a beast. Bryce's second half wasn't great either—he was not feeling comfortable in the pocket, missed some RPO reads he made earlier. Need a bye to get right. Defensively, I wasn't mad about Wink. Don't say on the internet that I was mad. Defensively the kids were not alright and the defensive rotations were still weird, but more explainable given the injury circumstances. Long drives were explainable until Purdue figured out they were just running nail (where you insert a blitzing LB as a 5th lineman and play 5-1). Interested in Lugard Edokpayi. Featured Artist: Terry Klein I usually don't go for country music, but I do when it's made by Terry Klein (LSA 1995), a folk country artist from Austin who's been touring festivals the most hallowed singer-songwriter venues across the country for decades, and reading a lot of MGoBlog between stops. His last album Leave the Light On won a bunch of acclaim, making American Songwriter's list of the best records released in 2023. His fifth album, Hill Country Folk Music, just came out. Songs: I Used To Be Cool The Dirty Third The Job Interview Song     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: HOOPS Craig and the Half a Head story vis a vis Tarik Skubal. Aday Mara holy crap. He was last year's on-off numbers while playing 37/45 minutes. When he was on the floor Wake Forest was 27% at the rim. M needs to figure out the rest. Loosening balls but not converting them to turnovers. Have three bigs on the floor and none know how to box out because they were the rebounding alphas. Three Bigs? Don't think it's going to work because Morez Johnson taking a three in the flow of the offense isn't going to work. The point of Yaxel is to make him a four, so you're effectively using Johnson at small forward. Maybe if you also make Mara a Wolf-level assist guy? They won a game when they shot 16% from three; if they can be 33% from three and have Mara's defense it's over. Don't overreact to Lendeborg's start: injured hand and Wake was a weird team that didn't have big tradeoffs from switching only 6'7" guy on Lendeborg to another. Loose balls: not boxing out when they're not boxing out, the way they play is everyone can be aggressive on their man and you have a behemoth, so nobody's facing the ball when he knocks it loose. Defense needs to be more aggressive: You saw Gayle got it; he overplayed on the perimeter and got some turnovers because if they cut behind you you're still covered. Wake's first shots sucked. LJ's thing is he goes in the lane, but this team doesn't have a lot of perimeter shooting. Tschetter's defense doesn't match well with this team, but he can get you threes. Was hoping he could be on the court with Johnson and Mara but he can't unless Morez can take threes. Trey McKenney was a revelation on defense. He knows where to be, has that length. Can they run offense without Cadeau on the court? Cadeau also needs to be more careful with the ball—deserved six turnovers. FOOTBALL Northwestern Preview: Low-scoring game. They're good on defense, they're interception-prone, they're best at putting two TEs on the field and running OZ and Duo; Michigan might be able to play two-DTs. When they do well they get movement on the front. Caleb Tiernan: Always loved Northwestern. If we're in a match of who can out-1950s the other give me Michigan's OL and Jordan Marshall. If M gets an explosive they can look for it in the RPO game: NWern can't go to their 3rd safety and their SS is a 6'4"/220 hybrid guy. Maybe get him against Marsh? Barham at edge or linebacker? I vote linebacker, because that makes them tell you how they're going to set up. TONY PETTITI IS GOING TO END THE BIG TEN Trying to pass their their "pay-day loan" (thank you Regent Bernstein) over the objections of Michigan and USC is the way they get Michigan to leave when the Grant of Rights expires. When all of these are mid-majors in 20 years remember this moment, and the idiots trying to solve today's problems with a cash infusion that future fans will have to pay for.

1 Hour and 28 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1:  Miscellaneous opening discussion. Not a great game for either goalie but Michigan made the biggest plays in the biggest moments to earn a win. Top line delivered in the 3rd period. A good hockey game all around Segment 2:  Michigan caught flat footed by Wisconsin’s aggressiveness. Penalty kill problems and goalie problems. Scored a shorthanded goal but never got back into the game. Goalie interference discussion. Too much physicality too late. Neither WMU nor Providence are looking great right now. MSU clearly outplayed PSU. Probably aiming for a split this weekend. Brief Spengler Cup talk.     MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "Northern Lights" -- Kennie Ice Hockey (NES) theme

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. Men's Basketball vs Oakland Starts at :53 Everyone said "nice" at the halftime of this game. At first it didn't seem like the results meant much because Oakland looked really bad, but then they went and had a close game against Purdue. How much can you gather about Michigan fromhere? Trey McKenney was 6-8 from three and looked the part. He also had four assists and no turnovers, there were some Darius Morris qualities about him. Do they go with the very big rotation with Yaxel out? Will Tschetter seems to get more minutes when Yaxel is out, would like to see him step up as a four year player. Wake Forest was a bubble team last year and look like one this year, that game will tell us more about Michigan.  2. Previewing Men's Basketball in the Big Ten Starts at 21:31 In reverse Kenpom order Penn State They're bad. Rutgers How is this team even going to score a basket? They have seven teams scheduled in the 200s.  Minnesota Niko Medved's first year at Minnesota, but the roster does not look good. They'll compete with Rutgers and Penn State for the bottom spot. Oregon 35th in the preseason but have fallen considerably after a one point win over Hawaii and a four point win over Rice. They have a transfer from Elon, the Oregon NIL budget must be focusing on football.  Maryland The only Big Ten team with a loss. They shot terribly against Georgetown and were only in it because they scored 30 points off of free throws.  Northwestern They bring back Nick Martinelli, the guy who makes the worst shots you've ever seen (complimentary). They've blown out Mercyhurst and Boston, which would be impressive if it was hockey. Their center looks like Elvis. Washington Very young team starting two freshmen and two sophomores.  Nebrasketball Sam Hoiberg is still playing a majority of minutes, but at least the mustache is gone. They bring in the Icelandic Unicorn.  Iowa Ben McCollum's first year. Tavion Banks looked great at Drake last year but will probably hit a wall against the Big Ten.  Ohio State They beat IU Indianapolis 118-102, eek. They've retained a few players which is a big thing in college basketball now.  Michigan State More continuity and the best win in the Big Ten so far (69-66 over Arkansas). They're very experienced. They were awful at three point shooting a year ago and so far they're at 20% this year. This doesn't seem like a team that's going to win the league by three games but they didn't look like that last year.  Indiana Year one for Darian DeVries. They bring in a lot of new players and we don't know what to expect. This team is loaded with seniors. They're going to do what they do and then go away.  UCLA Mick Cronin is awesome, actually. How can a team starting Xavier Booker at center be? They have shooting but defense and rebounding are big questions. What if Mick Cronin yells at them more? USC Hey it's Terrance Williams. USC is surprisingly putting together a basketball program. Wisconsin They're 18th in Kenpom and looking at the roster doesn't make sense. There's no bench, either.  Purdue They bring back Braden Smith and Trey Kaufman-Renn. Fletcher Loyer is also back. Their 10 point win over Oakland was awkward. Jack Benter is an interesting freshman at guard. You can't second guess Matt Painter but they're missing their classic giant center that they build around.  Illinois This team is huge. They absolutely blew out Jackson State and Florida Gulf Coast. Pronounce Ivisic, or Petrovic, or Stojakovic, or Jakstsys.    3. Hot Takes and Hockey Updates Starts at 1:15:30 Takes hotter than the opposite of Kinnick Stadium, that looked miserable. Michigan split with Wisconsin over the weekend in a return to reality series. But it felt like worse than a split for what got exposed. Michigan couldn't get out of their zone but most teams on the schedule won't be able to replicate what Wisconsin did. Goalie Jack Ivankovic also just had a bad weekend which happens. Friday was such a fun game that was getting ruined by piped in music. They're being told to turn it down. Wisconsin seemed to really get under Michigan's skin and the frustration came out. The Big Ten is one of the best hockey leagues in the world and the league barely broadcasts games.    4. Around the Big Ten with Jamie Mac Starts at 1:45:28 Indiana 27, Penn State 24  Absolutely bonkers ending. The final two catches were amazing. This game raised questions about Indiana's ability to block next-level guys. Mendoza was pressured on 50% of dropbacks. Penn State did start the season with a group of players you would've thought would do that, though. All Penn State quarterbacks are now "The Grunk". Indiana was 2-25 against Penn State coming into this game and this was their first ever win in Happy Valley, the feels are still amazing for Hoosiers fans.  Oregon 18, Iowa 16 Oregon went into Kinnick during a rain storm and got almost the full Iowa experience (except that the safety happened to Iowa). The only stat that matters is that Oregon survived a November night(ish) game in Kinnick, survive and advance in that scenario.  Wisconsin 13, Washington 10 Played in similar conditions as Oregon vs Iowa, except this game sucked! Wisconsin's lead passer was the punter. This was a Big Ten West game and someone had to lose. If this wasn't in a sleet storm then Demond Williams probably gets more than 134 passing yards.  Nebraska 28, UCLA 21 Nebraska QB TJ Lateef goes 13/15 for 205 yards and 3 touchdowns. Dylan Raiola who? This was a very Big Ten game with limited possessions because both teams ran the ball a lot. Nebraska goes through so many running backs but might've finally found a guy. Rutgers 35, Maryland 20 Rutgers' running back Antwan Raymond rushed for 240 yards but Rutgers got outrushed. Maryland had six explosive plays and had a -0.4 EPA outside of those. Rutgers rescued their bowl hopes. USC 38, Northwestern 17 The boxscore is a blowout. USC had a fake punt pass that wasn't even legal. Why did they pull that out against Northwestern? It was close at the time. Ohio State 34, Purdue 10 merp MUSIC: "Feel For Love"—Michigan Rattlers "What's It All Mean"—Philharmonik "Sin Triangle"—Sidney Gish “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

Things Discussed: Bryce Underwood: Progress isn't linear. Jordan Marshall and the offensive line: The redshirt freshmen will save us! They're already playing at close to a Big Ten level. Defense: Purdue was very college crappe. I asked them to be vanilla, they were, and I'll take my lumps. Mad at special teams for not putting them back enough because the way Purdue plays they need to be able to take a TFL or a sack, or need to have a 4th down strategy. We're rotating an extreme amount, also there are extreme levels of injury: Any team that loses Rolder, Sullivan, and Barham isn't going to be great at LB. Protected the kids by blitzing them. Vance disappointed in the DTs: they were in the wrong gap sometimes on those LB blitzes. I saw Pierce do that once in the 1st half, haven't gotten to the 2nd half yet. DTs to me are Benny & Pierce, then a big gap to a lot of innings eaters, where Etta is more of a pass-rush option and Payne, Williams and Ike. You're playing a tempo team and they're only in there for three snaps. Running the DTs on and off the field is wearing them out as much as playing. Three snaps is three deadlifts of a 300-pound guy, then you're sprinting a 300+ pound body off the field. Too much rotation: They got on a 19-play drive with a quarter break and at no point in that drive did Michigan have their best available players on the field at over 50% of the spots. Brandt is not on Moore's or Guy's level. Ratios are way off. Brandt plays as much as Derrick, more than Guy. Are guys going to leave if they don't get PT? That's true but 1) That doesn't explain having starters playing 40% of snaps, 2) That's not the culture of this program. The culture of this program wasn't "You get yours" it was "Egos don't matter as much as the Team." That 2023 team had multiple "starters" because Harrell and Stewart could both play at a high level, sophomore D-Mo and McGregor could both play at a high level. If it's a program goal to get guys snaps against Purdue, go and beat Purdue first and then when you're up three touchdowns get your guys in. Offense and Bryce: He's young and doing young guy things like fleeing the pocket and forcing throws he's used to throwing. He had a terrible half and a decent half. Can't really blame Chip because he's giving him the reads, e.g. a wheel to Klein that takes advantage of Purdue taking away screens, and he throws it at Klein's feet. Also: he doesn't have receivers who make those plays for him when they're there. Klein should have caught that ball. Semaj had another one whistle through his hands. McCauley didn't adjust to a ball in the endzone. Go watch any freshman QB and you see the same things: Watch JJ in 2021. Watch Gardner when he was young. Go under center? Might help the run game but Crimes Against Man Panda. Craig talks about the 1939 Bears. Men's Hoops: Oakland was bad. Open corners were just there, they were missing two players, run a complicated zone with a new team. Trey McKinney is a knockdown shooter, and he has a little Darrius Morris (RIP) in his game. He's not Mike Smith, won't have short-arm turnovers. Good sign he can use his long arms productively. Cadeau: Wonder if he's going to have more TOs against Wake Forest. If he can keep turnovers under control this team will be very good. Defense has a very high floor. Michigan has three bigs instead of two this year, means their second-best lineup won't be a massive drop from their best. Didn't have Cason, might be that sixth guy of the year (or your starting two?) who can be Plan B for point guard and competently relieve Roddy when they full-court press him. Solution for press: Mara? Just have the freaky tall guy pass it without putting the ball on the floor. Women's Hoops: Very interesting team. They're five-out, swarming. Lots and lots of turnovers.

1 Hour and 0 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1:  Opener talks birds and peacocks. Henry Mews lost for the year, which is a huge bummer but Michigan has defensive depth. Matthew Mania will get a larger role. First ND game was a weird one, tons of penalties. Michigan got screened thoughts through well. Horcoff’s shot is popping much more this year. Ivankovic gave up one not great goal, then Michigan put it away. Segment 2:  Great game from ND goalie Nick Kempf. Michigan deserved the OT win. Nice game from Moldenhauer. 5 points on the weekend is mostly fine. PSU can’t keep getting away with it, but are underdogs this weekend vs MSU. Minnesota looks real bad and can’t score. Wisconsin comes to town this weekend, they look good and have fixed their goalie issue.   MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "Irish Dubstep" -- Green Lads Ice Hockey (NES) theme

1 hour and 55 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 Purdue Starts at :57 This podcast starts out telepathically but then Brian's intrusive thoughts got telepathed so it had to stop. Dave introduces the Snack of the Week. Would you rather talk about this game or Dunkaroos? Bryce Underwood - not good in the first half. A fumble on the sideline is usually harmless unless it involves the silliest rule in football. His scrambling was good but you can't build a business in this industry by scrambling, that will get you killed against Ohio State. Too many missed passes, he doesn't really settle in. By the Georgia game, JJ was probably where Bryce is now - many mistakes but you can see the talent. On the flip side, the offensive line had a great game. Purdue loaded the box but Jordan Marshall rushed for 185 yards anyways. You can't tackle him with just one guy, he will emerge from piles. This is the fourth straight game where Sprague has been incredible. Bryson Kuzdzal had some nice runs on the game-sealing drive. Tight ends were fine, more catches by Zack Marshall. There's not a lot of separation between Marshall and Klein. Semaj had way fewer snaps, Goodwin saw more time. You have six 2nd or 3rd year players on this offensive line that can absolutely play in this conference. The future of the offensive line is bright.  2. Defense vs Purdue Starts at 41:43 How do we even feel about the defensive performance? We've seen Purdue all season be an offense that moves the ball down the field but can't score. That happened but it felt bad. Cam Brandt was too far upfield on a couple big run plays. Why are the good defensive ends not on the field for 70% of the snaps that they should be out for? Why are the starters rotating out so much throughout the game? Assuming he's healthy, do you put Jaishawn Barham at DE or LB against Ohio State? Michigan didn't commit to a position for him and it's hurting his play. Way fewer three defensive tackle sets, yay. If your name is going to be "Michael Jackson" you need to go by "Mike". Jyaire Hill got sealed a couple times but was otherwise fine. The endzone DPI was DPI. Metcalf got sucked in during the touchdown.  3. Hot Takes, Game Theory, and Special Teams Starts at 1:06:04 Takes hotter than the amount of trouble Jason would get into if he did the Hot Takes voice at a golf tournament where he was during recording. Michigan has not been good at Special Teams Things, why are they running kickoffs out of the middle of the endzone? Another punt that Semaj didn't field that gave up 20 yards. Did Jay Harbaugh have a heat map for punting? We've never had to talk so much about shield punting positioning but now we have to. Clock management at the end of the first half was pretty on-point. Purdue's 4th down decision making was aggressive which you do if you want to try to win the game. Shout out to Michigan fans for feeding energy back into the team in the 4th quarter. The students did the shirtless thing that's become a college football thing. Also shout out to Barry Odom for getting the Purdue bench fired up.  4. Around the Big Ten with Jamie Mac Starts at 1:28:22 Indiana 55, Maryland 10 This is a typical Indiana game these days. Indiana's offense is a machine. The defense is... also a machine?? Every week, Indiana has some weird defensive stat that's historical and worth tracking. Mendoza threw and interception on his first play, the game was wobbly for about a quarter.  Ohio State 38, Penn State 14 Briefly competitive in the 2nd quarter. Penn State is the first top five team in the history of college football to lose five straight games. Julian Sayin had 14 yards per attempt. Ohio State finally catches a break and gets an obvious targeting call to not get enforced.  Minnesota 23, Michigan State 20 (OT) MSU benches Aidan Chiles for Alessio Milivojevic. The Spartans lose this game despite outgaining Minnesota by about 160 yards. The final two minutes of this game are worth watching. Northwestern QB Aidan Chiles?? Alessio had a better EPA than Chiles any other game this season. USC 21, Nebraska 17 If you like offense, don't look at this game. We are suddenly having feelings about Wink Martindale. Dylan Raiola is done for the season and USC is able to grind out a win. Raiola's backup went 5/7 for 7 yards.  Illinois 35, Rutgers 13 A solid victory for Illinois, most of Rutgers' yards are when it was 35-6. Bert: "I put us as good as any 6-3 team out there. That doesn't mean anything." Bowl eligible in consecutive seasons for the first time since 2011. Illinois is the new Wisconsin.  MUSIC: "On & On"—The Marcus King Band "Husbands"—Geese "Don't Forget That I Love you"—Pale Jay “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

No Brian this week 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: Grand Gesture THE VIDEO: [After THE JUMP: Things discussable.]  --------------------- 1. Purdue Preview: Offense starts at the top Injured Mockobee, injured, turnover-prone starting QB in a battle with Arkansas transfer. OL gets worse from left to right. Receivers drop more than ours. Tight end was one dude who's hurt and three weirdos. They move the ball with College Crappe: screens, GT Counters, lots of RPOs, and the occasional baller play by Ryan Browne. DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES WINK. 2. Purdue Preview: Defense starts at 25:22 That secondary is rough and getting rougher. They have one good lineman, plus maybe a second in Breeon Ishmail. Linebackers came with Odom. Do the Nebraska thing where they give you lots of weird fronts, 3-3-5, 404 Tite, Mint, etc. so they confuse your reads. Going to be fits and starts, need to take advantage of the cracks without Haynes. 3. MSU After Review starts at 45:51 Defensive UFR things: Jimmy Rolder was a star for more reasons than you think. Jyaire Hill took away their main thing. Chiles looks broken, MSU OL look broken, they are down bad. 4. We Solve the Coaching Carousel starts at 1:03:29 Open and soon to be open coaching jobs, person who has to approve, person we would choose. We ship LSU, PSU, Florida, Arkansas, VT, Wisconsin, UCLA, Stanford, MSU, Oregon State, and Oklahoma State, plus Seth has one more because we stole a coach from somewhere. Featured Artist: Grand Gesture (Spotify) We featured Grand Gesture on this show back in 2017 and I rediscovered their album I downloaded (for free) from Bandcamp. Reader Ryan Dembinsky (class of 2000) is one of the guitar players in this NYC band that promises "Protean fjord jam rock." I'd actually characterize it as a great example of the more interesting stuff that came out at the end of the garage rock era (other examples: Apollo Sunshine, Starlight Mints) that I thought was better than the genre that birthed it. Ryan also used to write the Ghosts of Wayne Fontes blog back when MGoBlog was young (2006-2009) and sports blogging was a budding industry. I'm not sure they're still together—the last show on their FB page was pre-pandemic—and even then they were all musicians on the side with full-time jobs. I wonder what would have happened if they took this professional though, because they're pretty good and got some buzz in the NYC music scene around 2017. Songs: Straw in My Sock Computer Love 1,000 Yard Stare 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

(No Brian this week—that was planned—and I overslept) Things Discussed: THE CRAIG ROSS HOUR Rudoph Verchow, most likely, I dunno. I wasn't there. Bredeson had a game—Sam explains what's going on with the blocking scheme. He's not reading on the fly; he's reading whether there's someone in the B gap, come get him! Run game cooking: MSU slanted into them but they had Bredeson to answer. Bryce: Concerned, not panicked. What's going on? RPOs are a comfort zone for him, but on 16 RPOs he only threw one and they were there for him. Coaches didn't have him prepared for nickel pressures. Gotta notice when the DBs are lined up over each other in the slot. THE PART I WAS THERE FOR MSU was pretty bad. Aidan Chiles has regressed badly. Guards easy to push around or just get out of the way. Jimmy Rolder had a GAME, though some of those events were just MSU bad. Jyaire Hill played great, shut down Nick Marsh and that was the end of what MSU can do. He had the one failed chuck on a long throw late. Okay, –2, but didn't offset a great night. Young guys make mistakes. Good gameplan from Rossi against a true freshman QB, Bryce is going to have to learn to trust his pockets and see the rush. TJ Guy: back to TJ Dude. Important because Cam Brandt isn't playing well, Nate Marshall is Not Ready. DTs are fine. They rotate so much it's hard for anyone to get traction. Benny and Pierce are much better than the others, but they were able to run their defense in a way that everybody just had to hold up to doubles and let the LBs make plays. Payne is fine. Williams is fine and gets one big play a game. Pierce is hurt or else they could play him more—warrior. LBs if Rolder and Sullivan are out: Move Barham back? I guess you have to. Bowles didn't have a good game; the 2nd & 19 one of the things you need is for him to drop back in a "V". Purdue: Old USC OC, don't Wink out.

1 Hour and 2 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1:  Opener discusses the Frozen Frenzy, among other topics. Perron’s skill provides the first goal. Ivankovic steals the day. Special teams good again. Too many penalties bogging down the flow of 5v5. Have you ever seen an empty netter like that one? Segment 2:  Another pretty even game, just didn’t go Michigan’s way. Called off goal might’ve been the turning point. First freshmen defensive breakdowns of the year. Felt like a trap game going in. Is PSU good? Is Wisconsin good? Is anyone in the B1G besides MSU good? ND seems okay but Michigan should aim for a sweep   MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "Bronco" -- Pigeon Pit Ice Hockey (NES) theme

2 hour and 30 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 Michigan State Starts at 1:05 They watch games in Craig's garage but to be clear it's a very nice garage. This game means different things based on if you're from Michigan or not. This game is like "Jerry Springer: the Rivalry". Michigan went back to the 2023 "we can just run the ball and get away with a win" gameplan. 'Road Bryce' seems to be a real thing. Every time they show Jonathan Smith he looks like he doesn't want to be there. Should there be an ingrained hatred of Michigan if you're going to be the head coach at Michigan State? Bryce doesn't have a good game but both backs go for over 100 yards. Bryce looked great last week, what happened? Or is this just the case of a true freshman in a road environment again? Sprague and Guarnera had great games, El-Hadi maybe not so much? The pieces for the 2026 offensive line may already be in place. Let's talk about Semaj... We're mostly out on Semaj, do you bench him now for his own good? Jordan Marshall: runs through guys and runs through guys. The Crippen high snap was unfortunate. Can anyone play fullback better than Max Bredeson?  [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]  2. Defense vs Michigan State Starts at 59:04 We've been down on Wink but this was a good game for the defense. You can't take much on this based on the performance of the opposition. Chiles was awful in a vacuum, Michigan was not forcing his problems. Hillman had a really good game, he's been given a lot of criticism but this was a chaotically good game. Jimmy Rolder was a little bit of everywhere, he's a playmaker now. Derrick Moore is pretty good, he should start! Everything around the defensive tackle position is fine but we're used to a defense designed around great defensive tackles. Defensive backs should have as equal right to the ball as wide receivers.  3. Hot Takes, Game Theory, and Special Teams Starts at 1:26:57 Takes hotter than the bacteria and/or virus that really got up in Brian's business this week. Glue the hat and pants on, Michigan State's not getting the trophy back. Some of us don't think that guy was off-sides... or was he? The hold on Crippen is not even remotely a hold. If that's a hold then we need to talk about Jaishawn Barham. Why are we accepting a fair catch on the 20?? We are out on J.B. Brown as special teams coordinator. Hollenbeck had a nice game at least. Semaj gets run over by Goodwin?! Should they have taken a shot in the endzone before the end of the half?   4. Around the Big Ten with Jamie Mac Starts at 1:51:10 Rutgers 27, Purdue 24 The Purdue QB catches his own pass and spectacularly hands the game over to Rutgers in dramatic fashion. Rutgers gets yards, not points. Purdue wins a game they probably shouldn't have. This game kind of saved Rutgers' season, they could potentially compete with Penn State for bowl eligibility.  Nebraska 28, Northwestern 21 Northwestern outgains Nebraska and Dylan Raiola was un-inspiring. That said, Raiola was still the better QB. Northwestern always seems to find the worst QB in the portal. Nebraska seems to think they can solve their offensive line problems with the portal but they can't.  Indiana 56, UCLA 6 There was a pick-six a minute into the game and that's all she wrote. Last year Indiana was a fun story, this year THEY'RE SCARY.  Washington 42, Illinois 25 Road Washington is a thing. The worst roughing the passer call we've ever seen is in this game. Could Oregon be a play-in for a playoff spot for Washington??  Oregon 21, Wisconsin 7 Wisconsin doesn't get shut out three games in a row! All things considered, the Wisconsin defense is playing their hearts out.  Iowa 41, Minnesota 3 Iowa had 274 total yards. How do you get 41 points on 274 total yards? It's Iowa. We need a Floyd of Rosedale pose on touchdowns in this game. Playoff Iowa??? No, that's silly.  MUSIC: "Chokkan Way"—Haku "My Girlfriend Doesn't Worry"—Jeffrey Lewis "Nausea"—Jeff Rosenstock “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

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: Chirp THE VIDEO: [After THE JUMP: Things discussable.]  --------------------- 1. MSU Preview: Offense starts at the top. What have they done to Aidan Chiles? He's dinky this year, and not very accurate as a dinker either. Be careful of his rushes. MSU fans are turning on their coaches already. Offensive line is a shambles of injury. Nick Marsh, enter the dang portal already friend. They're not even throwing to him deep. Sandbagging for this game? Please don't Wink out—they've been running a million screens. 2. MSU Preview: Defense starts at 20:26 Let Bryce cook, we say! A lot of cyans as yards are coming easily. They run both types of switch coverages—weird to see Dantonio's low safeties and press corners against a passing spread (it didn't work). Best thing to do is repeat last week's approach. 3. Washington After Review starts at 43:48 Waiting for Brian to tell us about Bryce and Frazier, but they looked pretty good. Drops were an issue, are an issue. Seth proposes a prospectin' name for Jordan Marshall. Defensively Washington contributed a lot to our scores, but credit Wink or the people who yelled at him for going back to the 2024 Ohio State gameplan. Long discussion on the rotations, especially at DL—Cam Brandt isn't Derrick Moore or a young Derrick Moore and it's unfair to be playing him as such. Also Jordan Young at the end of the 2nd half when you've got a 7-point lead. 3. Hoops and Hockey Check-In starts at 1:15:54 Hockey is undefeated after their best game in years vs WMU, game 2 is tonight and will be intense. Hoops has their 2nd exhibition, hopefully with a frontcourt this time, and this one has all the makings of an elite matchup. Featured Artist: Chirp Chirp is a four-piece band that hops around genres. I don't they've opened for Vulfpeck but they're part of that same progressive rock/funk and jazz-fusion scene. Formed in 2015, Jay Frydenlund, Brian Long, Sam Naples, and Patrick Blommel have been playing concerts and festivals all around the region. I saw them with Joe Hertler (featured here before), and got a notification in my email this week that they'll be at the Pig at the end of November (11/28), so I figured it's a good time to bring them up. I have them on my work playlist, mostly for their covers, but the songs featured are all off their 2022 album. Songs: "By the Book" (video) "Little Friend" "Fast Food Blues"       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: OFFENSE Bryce Underwood had has best game yet. Throws down the middle of the field can beat ANYTHING. His RPO reads are on point. Chip is doing a great job with him. How do they keep finding these TEs? Michigan made a lot of young guy mistakes but also overcame them because they have kids who can step up. Max Bredeson for Heisman? PFF numbers on him don't capture what he does. The split stretch trap TD was a *READ* by Bredeson!!! Offensive philosophies: One school of thought (Lloyd, Harbaugh) is if you option you let the defense call the plays. Other school of thought (Chip, Malzahn) is take what they give you. Post-Gattis, M ran maybe three RPOs/season. Blake Frazier: Still not super strong but that agility is visible. Ryan Hayes as a RS Fr would have looked like this. In the break: Sam Webb's football career, Craig praises Seth/Brian, Seth says there are MSU guys who would do this sort of thing (e.g. Chris Vannini) if they had the fanbase to support it. Michigan fans want to KNOW more than they want to believe. DEFENSE USC gameplan vs the Washington gameplan. This was the Ohio State 2024 gameplan: play four against the run, 75% two-deep, lots of QQH, and invite the opponent to screw up. Will Howard, Demond Williams: these are college QBs. If you give them enough opportunities to make hard reads they'll screw up and throw it at a defender. This has gotta be hard for Wink because if you play this way against an NFL team you'll get shredded. Vanilla defense unlocked fast play from their linebackers. Yay Michigan went away from Bear fronts against 2 TEs on the field. This is hard for Wink, but he's not good at disguising fire blitzes, and believes he does. Got away with it at the Ravens because he had great man coverage defenders. He needs to use less of them to keep them effective. They still got taken advantage of on passing downs in this game. Edge defense: only one Barham went too high incident, which is VERY GOOD! Hutch would have games with 1 or 2 and I'd praise him to the heavens. Need to calibrate. M mixing more man into their coverages. Jordan Young out there at the end of the half—that kind of stuff has to stop. Young is young Rod Moore, but at this stage it's Rod against Washington in 2021 not Rod against OSU—Rod needed time to become the guy who could start against Ohio State.

1 Hour and 16 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1: Thursday Escape and Friday Dominance  Opener Tight Game...On the Scoreboard Friday Night Beatdown Attempted Takeaways Segment 2: NHL, Scores, and Previews  We Dig Into NHL Storylines and Team Old Friends and Around the League Western Michigan and William Whitelaw Revenge   MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "People I Don't Like" -- UPSAHL Ice Hockey (NES) theme

2 hour and 10 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 Washington Starts at 1:05 Pay no attention to the background noise from the drag show at Venue. This game was vanilla and we like that. Bryce Underwood had a fabulous day despite losing about 50 yards from drops. There seems to be a big difference between Road Bryce and Home Bryce. Michigan didn't take many deep shots because the short stuff was working great and Washington has tall corners. The remaining road games shouldn't be nearly as threatening as the previous three. The game is over but they have a designed run for Bryce? Jordan Marshall isn't Justice Haynes but he gets a lot of yards after contact. He's still working on re-gapping but overall an excellent first start for him. Jasper Parker looked fine. Under Harbaugh not much changed between offensive coordinators, but with Chip Lindsey a lot has changed already. He was dealing in the first touchdown drive. When's the last time we came out of a game thinking "oh wow they nuked the defensive coordinator?" How do we feel about going for it on 4th down and passing it to Mr. Dropsies? Running it up the middle is probably a 70% conversion, throwing it to Semaj is also a 70% conversion but for different reasons. Evan Link looks to be done for the year. Bryce's first scramble was Frazier getting knocked backwards, he seems fine but doesn't quite have the oomf that Evan Link does. Zack Marshall had a great game, what happened to the starting tight ends? Overall the offensive line was fine.  2. Defense vs Washington Starts at 34:40 The defense only gave up seven points but everyone is still a little mad. Michigan runs a pretty vanilla defense and it works nicely because college quarterbacks are going to make mistakes. Oden did intercept the ball but uhh... it was not because of his performance. Washington shot themselves in the foot but also Jaishawn Barham was much more responsible. Wink is not forgiven but it was nice that this game plan was simplified and it was fine. A lot of defensive tackle rotation but not everybody is a play maker. Is Lou Esposito the one rotating the tackles so much? Maybe part of the chaos on defense is you don't get used to playing next to the same guy every snap. This will not be a -33 RPS day. Jyaire Hill is not getting targeted very much.  3. Hot Takes, Game Theory, and Special Teams Starts at 58:19 Takes hotter than the bangin' drag show going on during the recording of this podcast. Brian apologizes once again for changing "AHHH YOU PUT IT THROUGH THE UPRIGHTS" and disrupting the cosmic balance. Zvada misses another field goal but gets the game sealer. Punting was a 35 yarder and then a rocket. No major complains about Semaj on punt returns except that he hit the spin button at the wrong time. The 4th and 1 drop to Semaj was unfortunate. What about the 4th and 2 on the 6? The whistle blew too early. Max Bredeson's holding call is the worst holding call since that Northwestern holding call. Stadium vibe: some people could actually use their phones! It should not take nine minutes to get a $9 coke, the athletic department doesn't pay close attention to the small things. Apparently concession people at Yost don't get paid but the athletic department can finally install cell phone towers at Michigan Stadium after 11 years under Warde.  4. Around the Big Ten with Jamie Mac Starts at 1:26:57 Iowa 25, Penn State 24 The nicest thing you can say about Penn State is that a lot of big programs are in collapse. Drew Allar's career is over, Ethan Grunkemeyer throws for 93 yards and throws two interceptions. Iowa threw for 68 yards but ran for 245 yards, Iowa should just run the triple option!  UCLA 20, Maryland 17 You gotta respect Maryland's commitment to one Army drive and then not doing a thing after. UCLA looked like the better team all game. This was a Big Ten [wild wild] West game. This is Maryland's third straight heartbreaking loss, they can't finish games with a freshman QB. There's still a path to a bowl.  Indiana 38, Michigan State 13 Shout out to everyone who listened to this on Spartan Radio. Indiana's offense was extremely efficient. Fernando Mendoza was 24/28 for 332 yards and four touchdowns. Indiana football fans were mad that they weren't winning by more. Did Indiana give up enough passing yards to be concerned with playoff implications for the Hoosiers? Northwestern 19, Purdue 0 Northwestern gets one 76 yard scoring drive and that's about all the scoring in this game. Don't let the score fool you into thinking that Northwestern has figured something out.  Notre Dame 34, USC 24 USC takes a 3rd quarter lead followed by Notre Dame getting a kickoff return. Then USC just falls apart in the 4th quarter. This was frustrating to watch as a Michigan fan.  Ohio State 34, Wisconsin 0 134 total yards for Wisconsin and that's generous. Oh god they play Oregon next weekend. Minnesota 24, Nebraska  Dylan Raiola is sacked nine times, that's too many times. Nebraska had just entered the top 25 and has now exited the top 25. A left tackle was ejected for targeting! Shout out to Minnesota fans for really filling the stadium on a Friday night.  Oregon 56, Rutgers 10 14 different Oregon players went for at least 10 yards on a play. Oregon was very upset about their Indiana game. Somehow there wasn't a rutger. Oregon had 233 breakaway yards, Rutgers had 202 total yards.  MUSIC: "Brand New Second Hand"—Peter Tosh "It's Not Easy"—Ofege "Plain as Your Eyes Can See"—Jim Sullivan “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

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: Rawhide THE VIDEO: [After THE JUMP: Things discussable.]  --------------------- 1. Washington Preview: Offense starts at noon, we hope Massive respect for their skill positions, not so much their offensive line, which means this game will mostly be a test of whether Wink learned anything from last week, or cares to now that he's put his football career on life support. 2. Washington Preview: Defense starts around 12:15 PM Not the offense. D'Anton Lynn is on the Ravens tree but he's not having the same success, mostly because they can't seem to get the defensive line up to size. Devan Thompkins is 290, Jide Abasiri is 295. Edges were highly ranked (Anthony Lucas was a pre-Elston Michigan target) but sophomore Kameryn Crawford isn't panning out like a top-100 is supposed to. They added Portal #25 Keeshawn Silver from Kentucky and a 5-star freshman, but they haven't changed that math, and are getting pushed around. We do still like Kamari Ramsey, who came with Lynn from UCLA and has been playing nickel this year. Cornerbacks are tall. 3. Hoops and Hockey Check-In starts around 12:30 PM Hockey is off to a hot start after a two-game road sweep of Providence, though having to come back against Robert Morris last night put the first little damper on it. Basketball starts tonight with an exhibition against Cincinnati at Crisler that will be our first look at the transfers. Question #1 is how physical will they be up front, because Cincy has a brawler. Will they try three bigs? 4. USC After Review starts around 1:00 PM I had three RPS-3s, two for screens and one for the Power after the 3rd & 26 and TD, which were both Power, when Wink ran an exotic that had no chance against Power. If they can cut out half of their shit and get their best players (read: seniors like TJ Guy) on the field, they should be able to get righted. Offensively it was a better performance than 13 points. There weren't that many drives, and Bryce struggled. His passes might be flat because he's getting sped up (Gardner has been in that position). Marshall missed two big cuts that Haynes makes. OL was okay; El-Hadi's return wasn't great, there were some mistakes from Guarnera, but USC's defense didn't ask Sprague to do too much and he did well, and Link had MAs but wasn't straight-up beat. Brian doesn't blame Bryce for the interception—once the WR wins inside he's going to win the route—but the throw to Marsh could have put him in the endzone if Bryce is feeling confident in his throw. Maybe give him some max pro to Featured Artist: Rawhide (formerly Girl Fight) Last May someone was carrying a tom into Ziggy's with a bumper sticker that read if "If you don't like Motörhead Fuck you" with American and British flags on it. My one friend snapped a photo and sent it to our group for commentary from the guy who founded (and sold) an MGoBlog-sized site about metal music. This thread of college roommates/bandmates/best friends is like 10% Michigan sports, 20% Xennial parent shit, and 70% music shit, meaning music prompts can result in 42-message threads that the college football guy in the middle of writing a college football preview magazine might not get to until he's trying to clear unread notifications many months later. This is how I found I had missed the group discovering a new genre/EP called Michigan Fuzz Punk by Rawhide, a two-piece (Ellen Cope and Jacob Bloom) Michigan band formerly known as Girl Fight. What I know about them comes from this column. The EP is pay what you may ($13.10 is fair). Anyway this is me talking about Michigan Fuzz Punk, which is both an excellent description of the genre and the EP's title. I am a total tourist in this genre so I'll refrain from talking about it like I know shit about shit, except I'm super intrigued to see what this is actually like live since the recordings only hint at it. I'll say the song Reach Me kicks and it's hilarious that "Greta is a Punk" and "Paige's Song" are the same song. Songs: "Stone Cold" "Reach Me" "Clocked In"        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: RIP Zia Combs. Wink shit. Brian and I are done. Is it coaching or players? I say coaching, because there's no point in running the stuff, even if it's good stuff, if you don't have the coaching points down, and the #1 coaching points are not in. They're going to have to simplify, stick to some basics until they can run all of this stuff. Hillman: Unplayable at this bust rate, but too good of a player to not coach the bust rate out of him. Players going off-script? If it's seniors you gotta ask why they think they have to. Wink Shit: Never drops a DT into a screen. Plays three DTs. Expected long passing and got short. Had no way to defend power. It was all so easy; the only thing that stopped USC was a bad call and 2 redzone turnovers. Worst coaching performance since Rich Rod made Greg Robinson go 3-3-5 vs Purdue in 2009. Offense is young but you can see what they'll look like post-mistakes. Found a WR2 in Marsh, might want to try some max-pro to get BU confident.

1 Hour and 3 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1: Friday Beatdown  Opener Back and Forth Opening Period Second Period Drubbing Shutdown Third Period Segment 2: Saturday Sweep, Non-Con Shockers, What's a Bobby Mo?  Special Teams and Breakaways Series Takeaways. Feeling Pretty Good? Hockey Jaime Segement We Want Mo' Bobby  MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "Providence" -- Poor Man's Poison Ice Hockey (NES) theme

2 hour and 21 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. Defense vs USC Starts at 1:00 Seth reads off an ominous message from Brian from earlier last week. USC's success rate was typical of a good offense against a MAC team. This was the dumbest game plan we've ever seen a Michigan defensive coordinator execute. Wink Martindale coaches like he looks down on college and Brian is officially done with him. Is Wink just Charlie Weis?? What happened between The Meeting from last year and this year? Mike McDonald made a lot of the same mistakes in his first four games but he was able to adjust to what was around him, Wink can't change. Would things be better if they fired Wink Martindale and just made Rod Moore the defensive coordinator? His answer to the question "are you spilling or setting the edge" was "it depends on the playcall" which raises a red flag. How much actual player development is being done? They're playing their subs in the first quarter, Brandt had more snaps than Derrick Moore. USC was running a lot of really easy stuff but they may legitimately be one of the best offenses in the country. Why are they subbing so much against such a good offense? His buyout is head coach money to be one of the worst defensive coordinators in the Big Ten. It's not just younger guys making mistakes, it's older guys, too. At some point you gotta think "maybe this is a tunnel screen?" USC had a 66% standard downs success rate.  [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]  2. Offense vs USC Starts at 40:07 There was a limited number of drives in part because USC ran the clock a lot. Bryce Underwood just wasn't quite up for it in this one. His deep passes were too flat but he had some good moments too. Denard talked about how in big games we was so amped that he couldn't hit his targets, maybe Bryce is still a little nervous in big games. USC's nickel is nicknamed "the angry giraffe" because he's so tall. Andrew Marsh is getting better rapidly and is becoming the next best option #2, maybe that's why the tight ends got fewer targets. The pieces of a solid offense are there, they're still developing. The tackles weren't getting whipped consistently. Despite the issues, Bryce is developing as expected for a freshman, he has a lot of added pressure when the defense can't stop the opposing offense. Based on limited snaps of Jadyn Davis, maybe you can't run Bryce as much to risk injury. El-Hadi was back and looked fine.  3. Hot Takes, Game Theory, and Special Teams Starts at 1:04:56 Takes hotter than the eternal flame in the Los Angeles Coliseum (which does get put out at the conclusion of the game). The game might've been going a bit fast which caused the false starts. The OPI was a bad call. Michigan drew a holding call!! A lot of extracurriculars went uncalled. Hollenbeck's punting started promising but eventually resulted in a 28 yarder. Do you punt or try for a 60 yard field goal? That two point conversion is apparently the thing you do now? The USC cheerleaders were on the field when Michigan was running a play!  4. Around the Big Ten with Jamie Mac Starts at 128:41 NOTE: This was recorded just before James Franklin was fired. Indiana 30, Oregon 20 This was a defensive masterclass from Indiana. This is how 2023 Michigan would've beaten Oregon. How the hell does Indiana have one of the best defenses in America?? This was really the first game all year where Dante Moore was under pressure and didn't seem to know what to do. Indiana has signs of... a championship winning team?! Penn State 21, Northwestern 22 Drew Allar is out for the season. This wasn't a fluke, Northwestern just outperformed Penn State. Linebacker U has completely fallen apart and Jim Knowles doesn't seem to know how to be aggressive with this roster. Will... Penn State win a Big Ten game?? James Franklin was fired immediately after this recording so there's still speculation on what to do with this situation. The situation at Penn State just seems toxic all around.  UCLA 38, Michigan State 13 Michigan State scores on their first drive and then that's all, folks. October UCLA is the opposite of October Maryland. Michigan State can't move on from John Smith for stability reasons... can they? What do the Spartans do well? What Big Ten teams would swap their QB with Aidan Chiles? Nebraska 34, Maryland 31 Nebraska had control of this game down-to-down but Dylan Raiola threw three interceptions. October Maryland can't get out of their way again. Raiola isn't quite there yet but has a shot at it next year.  Ohio State 34, Illinois 16 Ohio State was never really threatened. Illinois outgains Ohio State 295 to 275 but three of Ohio State's first four drives started in Illinois territory.  Iowa 37, Wisconsin 0 Sim to basketball season. This wasn't even an Iowa offensive explosion, Wisconsin threw two interceptions and lost a fumble. You can't fire Fickell but you also can't afford not to? Washington 38, Rutgers 19 A fun first half but Washington blows the doors open in the second half. Total yards were 590 to 493. Rutgers is 0-3 in the Big Ten but had a halftime lead in each of those games.  Purdue 20, Minnesota 27 Minnesota is outrushed 253 to 30 rushing yards but Purdue throws three interceptions and loses a fumble. If you rewatch this game, we will have to call 911. MUSIC: "Au Pays do Cocaine"—Geese "See You Again"—Tyler the Creator "Havin' or Not"—LaRussell and Lil Jon “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

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: Syd Burnham THE VIDEO: [After THE JUMP: Things discussable.]  --------------------- 1. USC Preview: Offense starts at the top Maiva is getting 12 YPA vs blitzes, so maybe don't Wink so much in this game. They're using a lot more 12 personnel and splitbacks this year as well so it's not just your standard Lincoln Riley spread. It's still Lincoln Riley though, and it's been murder on a mostly bad offense. A big reason is the All-American slot/flanker Makai Lemon. There aren't as many outside guys as last year but they kept their two favorites; Ja'Kobi Lane is back and huge, but freshman Tanook Hines is getting most of the snaps at the other side. You do have to be wary of tight end Lake McRee and JUCO RB Waymond Jordan. OL might be better than they were against Illinois, when they had some significant injuries; we expect LT Elijah Paige to be back but not center Killian O'Connor, so they'll have to play 7th year senior J'Onre Reed. 2. USC Preview: Defense starts at 19:15 Not the offense. D'Anton Lynn is on the Ravens tree but he's not having the same success, mostly because they can't seem to get the defensive line up to size. Devan Thompkins is 290, Jide Abasiri is 295. Edges were highly ranked (Anthony Lucas was a pre-Elston Michigan target) but sophomore Kameryn Crawford isn't panning out like a top-100 is supposed to. They added Portal #25 Keeshawn Silver from Kentucky and a 5-star freshman, but they haven't changed that math, and are getting pushed around. We do still like Kamari Ramsey, who came with Lynn from UCLA and has been playing nickel this year. Cornerbacks are tall. 3. Wisconsin After Review starts at 36:56 Underwood is coming along, the RBs are elite, and Andrew Marsh is happening. Still have McCulley the #1 with a bullet, and it's nice to see they're giving him leapy chances now. Not sure where PFF (and Sam apparently) are getting the bad pass protection grades for the tackles, because we thought they were fine. The young OL have mistakes but they fix them, and they all have the talent. Fire blitzes were the order of the day. Weird seeing this defense spill but that's what they do sometimes I guess. Rod Moore's return was a bigger deal than you think. Seth's not as mad at Wink as you think.  4. Around the Big Ten starts at 52:45 There are some pretty big games this weekend (and that's more interesting than hockey vs Mercyhurst) so we previewed each of them. Indiana at Oregon: "…is a top-ten matchup" means Okay grandpa let's get you back to a home. Oregon by 7. If IU's OL is legit they can win and if they can beat Oregon there's no ceiling on this team. I can't believe in Indiana! Ohio State at Illinois: They'll lean. UCLA at Michigan State: What's funnier: MSU losing at home to UCLA or UCLA immediately losing by like 60 after beating Penn State? MSU fans are already saying Jonathan Smith doesn't have That Dawg in him. He seems like a normal human being, not an angry little dwarf. Nebraska at Maryland: Interesting game with what happened with Maryland last week. They are throwing many screens. Rutgers at Washington: Expect a high-scoring game. Would like this game on the opposite coast but Rutgers's offense is hit or miss and three time zones suggests miss. Northwestern at Penn State: PSU fans are already salty after the Eagles and Gavin McKenna/PSU hockey just lost to Clarkston. If you have one punt there could be a riot; OTOH Penn State fans respect Northwestern's big win over a tough UCLA team. Iowa at Wisconsin: euugh. Special teams malfeasance by Wisconsin will ruin them. Purdue at Minnesota: Vaguely watchable? Featured Artist: Marcus: Syd Burnham Okay reader who keeps asking: this is when I'll do Syd Burnham (now Osten; she got married this summer, but kept the performing name). Syd is an indie rock musician and graphic designer from Detroit who mixes a bunch of genres (jazz, singer-songwriter, etc.) to come up with a unique sound. She made an impact with her debut EP "The Yellow Album," at the age of 16, followed by her album "Timeline" at 19. She has since released hit singles like "Summertime," "4 A Grl," "Milky," and "By Then" but her live performances are what carved out a dedicated audience in the Detroit music scene. Syd goes up there with just a guitar and her voice but has a magnetic stage presence who incorporates her modern art into the music, and incorporates local themes into the artwork. Links: IG, YT, FB, Spotify. Songs: "A GRL" "Best Friend" "By Then"        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: Happy Yankees Elimination Day to all who celebrate, and Guardians Elimination Week to the celebrants. What do we talk about when we're off-air? K-Pop. Pass protection vs Wisconsin: Michigan thought they could do it—Brian and Sam/PFF disagree whether there were pass pro issues from the tackles. There were stunt issues on the young guards, but 15% pressure rate is fine, thought for the most part they handled the DEs pretty well. Offensive design was great. Stick and move: Wisconsin was ready to defend stretch and Michigan hit them with a stretch beater for a that big early gain. We like that they set up explosives because Haynes can pay them off. Michigan will also test man coverage with back shoulder fades, something they refused to do under Harbaugh. Right thing to do with McCulley, and you got one from Marsh. Things holding them back are youth: Bryce can't check out of a call like he will when he's not a true freshman, Efobi (eff-Oh-bee) and Sprague have mistakes but can hack it physically. Really impressed with Guarnera (g'wahr-NAYR-ah). Haynes for Heisman or Bredeson? Bredeson holding call was garbage. Michigan won't get a holding call this year; it's a problem across college football. Defense: I'm not mad. Fire blitzes were the way to attack the power run game and wound up getting a 2023 game: 1 TD drive, 1 FG drive and a whole lot of nothing. They gave up some chunks when they didn't get a guy covering where they blitzed from. Don't do that against USC—Maiva has 12 yards/dropback when blitzed. USC: They run our system but they don't have the DL to play how Michigan does. Offense is #1 to SP+ but only defense they've faced is Illinois. Think Michigan can push them around on offense, need to get to the QB with four on defense. Illinois ran the football. Are they playing to spill? Sometimes—it depends on the call. Barham isn't holding the edge, but sometimes maybe he's not supposed to. Maybe play spill? You've got speed at LB for it. Want to see less rotation on the DL. Derrick Moore should not be getting the same number of snaps as Cam Brandt; he should be on the field 67% to 75% of the time. Don't want to see Brandt over Guy against USC. Also a big drop between Benny/Pierce and the rest of the DTs. They will get their gaps, but they won't get 2 gaps every play. Rod Moore—not just the big plays (killed the screen and the reverse). He created the interception. He got guys lined up. It was like 2023. Hillman could play less recklessly, but he's still valuable. Brandyn Hillman is a dangerous safety. Jayden Sanders is a revelation. Doesn't make the same mistake twice, has the mind for Rod Moore stuff.

1 Hour and 7 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1: Friday and Saturday Beatdowns  Opener They score a lot of goals. They take longer to score a lot of goals. Some maybe Takeaways? Segment 2: New Friends, The League, Previews  How did M's new Non-con Teams Do? The League Scores In-Depth Big Ten Preview What Does It All Mean?   MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "My Way" -- SIAMES Ice Hockey (NES) theme

2 hour and 18 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 Wisconsin Starts at 1:00 Are Michigan fans turning beet red or was it just hot? This game looks better on rewatch and followed the preview fairly closely. Bryce Underwood took a leap forward in this game, he has the occasional accuracy issue and isn't testing the middle of the field, but he's starting to hit guys downfield. Andrew Marsh and Donaven McCulley also took a huge lea. This is encouraging considering Goodwin was barely targeted, Semaj has been having catching issues, and Frederick Moore is off the team. You can rotate most positions but not the wide receivers. Russel Bellamy has been getting unfairly judged for the receivers. Wisconsin has a very good rush defense and Michigan put up pretty good numbers. Underwood needs to get the ball out a little quicker. Sprague will grade out negatively but he generally does it well when he knows the right assignment. The offensive line is young, they need some time to get better. Lindsey plays off the screen game really well. Has Michigan gotten a holding call all year on defense? [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]  2. Defense vs Wisconsin Starts at 39:33 10 points from the opposition but three came from a sad field goal. They barely got to 200 yards of offense until "kill the clock mode". Rod Moore being back instantly makes this defense much better. Don't rotate him and just keep him on the field all game? Zeke Berry is back from injury, he missed a tackle but was otherwise fine. This defense seems like they miss a lot of tackles but we're comparing it to the best defense in recent school history. Jimmy Rolder was in his element, one time he almost picked up a fullback and threw him. Michigan goes cover zero in a situation that makes no sense. Everyone in the stands keeps turning towards Seth when this happens. Brandyn Hillman is reckless which is helpful sometimes, sometimes it hurts you. Please don't be weird against USC. 3. Hot Takes, Game Theory, and Special Teams Starts at 1:05:20 Takes hotter than Michigan Stadium this Saturday. Michigan missed a 27 yard field goal, was it the hold? They did (just barely) block a punt and almost blocked a second one. Hollenbeck was blasting them in this game. What is up with Semaj's punt returns? Is he being told not to take any chances? Should you run a QB sneak on 4th and inches near your own red zone? Luke Fickell is Brady Hoke. They weren't trying to win the game in the 4th quarter, you can't have a six minute field goal drive in this situation. Seth is about to start charting an umpire's spatial awareness. 4. Around the Big Ten with Jamie Mac Starts at 1:34:02 UCLA 42, Penn State 37 UCLA has been awful all season but they looked like the #7 team in the country in Pasadena. James Franklin partially blamed the travel. Coming into this weekend, UCLA never led in any of their four games. In this game they never trailed. Tim Skipper has as many wins over top 10 teams as James Franklin. Penn State was a playoff team but now they have to beat Ohio State to have a chance, Was this the biggest Big Ten upset ever?  Nebraska 38, Michigan State 27 In most weeks this would be the funniest game of the week. Michigan State ran for 2.3 YPC and Chiles threw two interception into Nebraska chests. Their backup looked pretty good so is there a QB controversy?  Washington 24, Maryland 20 Maryland took a 20-0 lead but road Washington dominated October Maryland. Washington is still without their best defensive end, linebacker, and defensive back. Mike Locksley is 0-10 coming out of bye weeks.  Illinois 43, Purdue 27 The Purdue offense is actually functional. Each QB threw for over 300 yards.  Northwestern 42, ULM 7 One day we'll have something to say about Northwestern, but not today. Ohio State 42, Minnesota 3 They let Julian Sayin cook. MUSIC: "Cobra"—Geese "God's Country"—Thomas Dollbaum "How To Kill Houseplants"—Spacey Jane “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

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: Marcus: The Apex Predator THE VIDEO: [After THE JUMP: Things discussable.]  --------------------- 1. Wisconsin Preview: Offense starts around noon. Hiring Phil Longo was one of those WTF decisions that destroyed what remained of Wisconsin's identity. Without one they're just a Big Ten team, even if they did hire Jeff Grives to run the old Wisconsin offense. Billy Edwards is hurt—one drive against Maryland showed he couldn't go—so they're playing Danny O'Neil, the SDSU transfer who's basically Nick Sheridan. OL is a mess, with Riley Mahlman coming in under expectations, Ryan Cory hurt, and RS freshmen starting at three positions. Not impressed with their skill position players either. Need to get pressure with four—blitzing them just allows them to dink it. 2. Wisconsin Preview: Defense starts around 12:15 Mike Tressel was the LBs coach under Dantonio and runs something akin to Dantonio Quarters, though his guys can't run it well. They do have a decent front four, with two good DTs protected by heavy LBs Christian Alliegro and Tackett Curtis (not good). But those guys can't cover, and you can run by Matthew Jung, the SS who adds himself to the run, and their corners are just guys. Want to see Bryce rip these guys apart. 3. Jason Sklar Around Ann Arbor starts around 12:35 The Sklar Brothers are hosting the Letterwinners homecoming event tonight and doing two shows at the Ann Arbor Comedy Showcase tomorrow night, where you can come up afterwards and give your Hot Takes. We just shoot the shit on Ann Arbor and talk about what comedians get offered to sell out to the Saudis. 4. 2025-26 Hockey Preview starts around 12:50 They have plenty of blueliners—perhaps too many—but not enough forwards. Got more of a mix in the top lines in age, but they're also a lot shorter. Plenty of centers, need TJ Hughes and Michael Hage to continue scoring at a high pace while they bring along some freshmen. Expect Cole McKinney to center a scoring line immediately. One of them (Hughes or Hage) gets Horcoff on the wing after half a young season with him last year. He's one of the best passers and we expect his line to be the top scoring one. Defensively they have depth! And a top four! But there's going be a lot of questions about playing time for the six guys vying to be the third pairing, including a senior captain, two guys who returned that didn't have to, and two freshmen who came to play. As for the backstop, they've got a draft pick freshman again, but he's not Portillo-sized. Featured Artist: Marcus: The Apex Predator The last time we featured reader Kevin Watts's postcore band on this show was right before the last time Wisconsin played before fans at Michigan Stadium. Shea Patterson kept on an arc read deep in Michigan territory to break the game open, and Michigan played Jump Around in the 4th quarter. It's been seven years, but Marcus has a new EP for us. Kevin formed Marcus: the Apex Predator in 2015 with his former drummer from Float Here Forever, Nick Marko. For FHF fans, this is like when Jonah started One Line Drawing to keep making Far songs, except Nick Marko is a drummer whereas Jonah's percussionist was an R2D2 unit. Marcus is a cat. Songs: "Lo-Fi"    "The First Summer"    "Newborn Fossil    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: Wisconsin preview: Edwards is injured, you can't snap your fingers and be a Wisconsin offense again. Penn State-Oregon: Drew Allar is Drew Allar. OSU-Washington: What happens when OSU has a better OL. Basketball: Program believes this team has F4 potential. Dusty appreciates the physicality of the Big Ten now: He's having the managers whack the kids with sticks. Spent the offseason getting rebounding and creation, guys around him should make any missed shot a good play.

1 Hour and 30 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1: Forwards...but Enough?   Opener In Depth on Who's Coming Back Sprinkle In Some CHLers and a Transfer Attempted Guesses at Lines Segment 2: Defense, a Goaltender, Some Expectations   How Can They Play This Many Defensemen? Can One Be a Forward? Goalie Import Ideal Non-Con Schedule? What Are We Expecting?   MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "Handlebars" -- Flobots Ice Hockey (NES) theme

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 away with blow-bys when you have a guy like Mara who blocks shots without leaving the floor. Speaking of floor, this team at worst looks like a four-seed, with considerable upside if a) Mara can play more and maintain his numbers, b) Cadeau cuts down on turnovers, c) Gayle finds his shooting, d) Cason blows up, or e) McKenney blows up. Think they can cut down on turnovers from last year because Wolf just had a bunch that were unforced, and because instead of forcing everything to the rim they can shoot bad twos and rebound them. They also just have more room to pass to. 4. Around the Big Ten with Jamie Mac Starts at 2:02:19 Oregon 30, Penn State 24 Penn State could do nothing on offense until the 4th Q when they had went on an Oregon-is-exhausted march, then hit a great PA shot. The INT that ended it was that pyramid formation Lanning loves. Frames punted from the plus-36.  Ohio State 24, Washington 6 Went about how you might expect a team whose OL/DL are their issues would go against OSU, IE they got six points out of three red zone trips and then it was 17-6 in the 4th Q and they had to go for it on 4th down. OSU did a great job containing the QB run. Indiana 20, Iowa 15 I know that touchdown; that's the Anthony Carter play!  Iowa had chances to win this but lost their QB near the end and also went Cover Zero one too many times.  USC 32, Illinois 34 This felt like two good teams going at it, though USC was short on guys in the secondary and played bend-don't-break until they either broke or Illinois pulled out a Philly Special. Coulda been a blowout but Illinois fumbled in the endzone twice. Minnesota 31, Rutgers 28 Rutgers hits their program high when they have to play a Big Ten West schedule. Good solid quarterbacking until Athan Kaliakmanis had to face pressure, which is like Pedro Serrano trying to hit a curve. Northwestern 17, UCLA 14 Down 17-0 to Northwestern was probably UCLA's best shot at winning a Big Ten game this year. MUSIC: "Surefire"—Wilderado    "See You Again"—Tyler the Creator "I Believe She's Lying"—Jon Brion “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

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 gets a 75 yard drive down three touchdowns. Mostly a blowout. The Spartans’ defense did not have answers to USC’s running game. Aidan Chiles had some explosive plays.  Washington 59, Washington State 24 Another Pacific Northwest rivalry that college football has ruined. Does Washington have the best complete package for skill position players in the conference? We don’t trust Ohio State’s run game.  MUSIC: "Wave Goodnight"—Jeff Rosenstock "Alien With a Sleep Mask"—Batboys "Big Dipper"—Built to Spill “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

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 on yourself. UNLV's first win over a "Big Ten" team in 22 years. Alex Orji's only appearance was one running play. Maryland 20, Northern Illinois 9 Would you rather take the Maryland job or the Virginia Tech job? Would you rather have mayo dumped on you or lose the Mayo Bowl? MUSIC: "What's the Move"—Friendship "After the Flood"—Jesse Woods "Take My Heart"—Florry “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

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 the backs. Former Indiana QB Brendan Sorsby was the Cincy QB that threw the final interception. Half the event was that Taylor Swift was here. Ohio State 14, Texas 7 336 yards for Texas, 203 for Ohio State. The Buckeyes can't really run the ball. There was some "oh no" from the Ohio State fans. Texas got stopped four times on 4th down, twice inside the 10. Texas also has two massive facemask penalties. Ohio State also had weird drops from the receivers. When's the last time Ohio State had less than 200 yards of offense? MUSIC: "Sunday Eve"—Bonnie Calista "Spin Me Around"—The Marias "River Song"—Dennis Wilson “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

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. Easy schedule: Play two OSUs but not THAT OSU. #2: Ohio State. Have the best player on offense (Jeremiah Smith) and the best player on defense (Caleb Downs) in the country, but do they have a quarterback? Their OL is kinda iffy, but the LT situation looks like a hit, and then two transfers are battling for RT. Run game is meh, trust the pass game. People underrating how much they lost on the DL, but we like Beau Atkinson pickup. LB and secondary have a ton of talent: Sonny Styles and Igbinosun are back. S&P+ #1 because there's talent everywhere. If you're looking for reasons to hate on Ohio State: Matt Patricia is there to ruin their defense. #1: Penn State. Drew Allar started very low in our eyes, has improved to okay or mid, and then had a great bowl game. RBs can run in a straight line. TE lost Warren. Receiver is a little iffy, but best OL in Franklin's tenure (not saying much). Kotelnicki is a factor in the offense though. Reasons they're not overrated: defense is filled with talent and experience. Think national pundits see last year, see Big Ten teams that returned their quarterbacks and a strong defense won the last two national championships.   4. Hot Takes & Lightning Round Starts at 1:49:41 Takes hotter than this summer. At seven hours of podcasting we are getting loopy but we still answer most important, breakout players, biggest x-factors, who's your dude, and final predictions. MUSIC: "None of My Friends"—Liz Lawrence    "Pages"—Credit Electric "A Cold Sunday"—Lil Yachty “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

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). Also got Troy Bowles who's got a role as the Coverage LB. And Jaydon Hood has shown he can play. AND they really like the freshmen: Owusu-Boateng is a future Hausmann while Chase Taylor is a Class Sleeper. 4. Secondary Starts at 1:16:28 Replete with options, but each has a question mark. Is Rod Moore going to play? Maybe 2nd half of the season—was 85% at start of fall, has to backpedal, IG video shows him jogging. Assumed he's a nickel but TJ Metcalf is stepping in for him; Metcalfs (Metcalves?) can obviously play, precognition is Sainristilian. Brandyn Hillman is a hit stick, the person offensive players are most afraid of despite Barham on the team. Free safety is either Jaden Mangham, a glider whom offenses didn't throw at when at MSU (probably because you could throw at anyone else), or Mason Curtis, who is a very weird player. Curtis has an extra role as a Big Nickel, i.e. a hybrid OLB who comes in for Guy against 2TE sets to take away those Flex TEs. Might see something from a young guy but unlikely. Cornerback is the iffiest position on defense but has a super high ceiling with Jyaire and Zeke both with considerable runway. Hill just needs to not bite on double-moves. Berry got comfortable last year, still can clean up his zones and turn getting a hand on passes into interceptions. Depth starts with Jo'Ziah Edmond, a Ryan Walters special stolen from Walters. We think Shamari Earls looks like an immediately viable corner but is on more of a Jyaire development track (also ran track) as opposed to Will Johnson, who was super developed at this stage. Caleb Anderson did not impress us as much as the two #12s who preceded him. Jeremiah Lowe showed some things in spring; Seth thinks Jayden Sanders is going to play more than Lowe. MUSIC: "Turning Heads"—Dem Franchize Boys "I Got You Babe"—Etta James "Needles in the Camel's Eye"—Brian Eno “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

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.

Things Discussed: Condolences and love to the family of Greg Glenn. If you recall he came here as the glue guy/energy guy friend of Jett Howard who was supposed to make Jett better. When you talk about losing a 22-year-old whose primary scholarship-worthy attribute was he made other people better, that's a big loss. Craig mentions he met him at media day, thought Glenn was naively honest and open for an athlete. New rosters/new weights. Bryce Underwood is 10 pounds heavier already than JJ ever got, will need it to be a runner. Michigan going to screen and RPO more? Sure but I think you play man on them, put your biggest corner on McCulley, put a safety in the box, and dare Bryce to beat you. Michigan can make that work by having Bryce hit kill shots deep and by making the high safety responsible for stopping Bryce in the run game. Kill shots: Chip likes to turn a route combo that he's shown before into a surprise deep shot. Jake Garcia? Was ranked around JJ as a freshman after an odyssey, played early at Miami (yes THAT Miami), but threw a lot of INTs, went to Mizzou then ECU, and threw a lot of INTs at ECU too. Got experience. Think Mikey Keene is a much higher floor than we got from Davis Warren/Alex Orji last year. Oklahoma: They're us. Great defense, I'm not as sold as everyone else on Mateer. I think their system really beat up on Mountain West cornerbacks, and he has a lot of moxie, but I don't know how that "you don't know what we're RPOing!" offense is going to interact with Michigan's "you don't know what our coverage is" defense. Probably going to be a rock fight because Oklahoma's defense is legit. They play aggressive, the LBs fill in the gaps, and they've got a safety who makes everybody right. DL dropoff? Think the edges are going to be the superstars, but Benny is very good and they can rotate. Teams are going to try to lock them on the field but good luck surviving the first four snaps against Benny and Williams. Derrick Moore: He was winning his pass rushes regularly but other guys got the stats, had a dropoff while injured, played a GREAT bowl game. Sam says Aidan Hutchinson; I try to tamp that down to "just" Brandon Graham. Players say there was a meeting before Indiana where Wink had to listen to the players about how they do things and some of the players had to hear some things, and they all really got on the same page. Defense was ELITE after that. I'm mad about Cam Brandt switching to #9, which looks like TJ Guy's #4 and Derrick Moore's #8. What are we doing here Cam? Some of us have to chart in the wee hours. We had a 91, 42, and 8, and the fans knew exactly what we were looking at. Blake Frazier at 295: His timeline was always 2026 not 2025; I think we were talking about him as an X-factor and he's got to gain more weight before we put him out there at left tackle. Sam's OL right now from right to left: Sprague, Efobi, Crippen, El-Hadi, ….? LT: I think they have to live with Link (who lost 4 pounds and looks leaner in a grocery store), until Babalola is ready. Note that Sprague came in very well developed needed until the bowl game (though he was injured early in the season). Receiver weights: Kendrick Bell is a sneaky pick for breakout player, Fred Moore is as well. Very encouraged by Andrew Marsh coming in at 190 because his thing is he played vs Texas high schoolers bigger than his 175 size; if he's going to make that work against 220-pound safeties in the Big Ten he's going to need that size. Center? I think Crippen is smart, knows all the calls, hit his strength/size ceiling and it's lower than they want to move DTs, and Juan Castillo can't add much more than that. What Castillo can do is get Guarnera ready to push Crippen, but with a freshman QB you want to get the line calls right first, not shoot for the stars. Crippen is our guy, he'll give us a senior Kugler kind of year, and we'll live with it.

Things Discussed: Pre-show: Talking Lions. Sam wants to be talked off the ledge because they let Frank Ragnow retire without a plan for center. Seth says jump, because they probably got caught flat-footed and are going to have to roll with a rookie or Graham Glasgow. Big Ten Meetings in Las Vegas: It’s a little too on the nose. Tony Petitti’s turnaround: He said Michigan had been punished enough. I think he’s a puppet and the TV people told him you’d better protect the Asset. I also hate that this is how it works—these cases should be judged on their merits and clearly the main considerations are money and power. Craig agrees. Sam asks who benefits from leaking this before Big Ten Media Days. I don’t know. Sam asks why would Petitti want that out there and I say probably because, like all of us, he thinks he’s a person, and that if everyone understood his viewpoint they’d agree with his actions. Football: What’s the offensive X-factor other than Bryce? I suggest receiver, since they’re only talking about McCulley being a difference-maker, and it’s a little concerning that Andrew Marsh is high on the list of names they bring up. The other guys say offensive line. Craig thinks they can be a lot better, and so does Sam. I say I think they’ll be fine but that there are too many ceilings for this year, versus down the road when Babalola/Frazier/Efobi/Guarnera/Sprague have really come into their own. We agree Link belongs inside. Who was Michigan’s best OL last year? Seth: Myles Hinton, even if he “liked fishing more than finishing.” Sam: nuh-uh, it was Priebe. Craig: Priebe. Basketball: Building with a lot of very tall men. It’s a good strategy to get the hardest position to recruit and develop, if you can get them all to stick around and wait to be developed when the portal is so hot. Seth: you only need one or two.

2 hour and 6 minutes This episode was recorded at Champions Circle's third golf outing, on a golf course outdoors, so apologies for the background noise. Huge thank you to Alejandro Zúñiga for his production assistance and for sitting in on the first segment while Brian was stuck behind a funerial procession. 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, the Autograph: Fandom Rewarded app, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where usually record this, and new this week the Ann Arbor Summer Festival, and the Aretha Franklin Amphitheatre. 1. MAX BREDESON, DOMINIC ZVADA, & MARLIN KLEIN Starts at 1:00 Zvada explains why kickers are so much better today: access to technology originally developed for golf that shows their spin rate and trajectory and distance, plus training techniques. Bredeson discusses The Game last year and how they went hunting for gaps, says anyone who plays TE can do all the things they do. Klein turned it up in the bowl game. We get a crash course in kicker and TE lingo.  2. BRYCE UNDERWOOD, JADYN DAVIS, & JORDAN MARSHALL Starts at 21:36 Underwood and Davis set up challenges for each other, how they make each other better. Marshall and Haynes were full go in spring, happy splitting reps. Least favorite guy to get hit by: Brandyn Hillman; Marshall was happy that he and Jaishawn were on his team in spring. What role the fans played in Bryce's recruitment. How does money play a role in the locker room these days? How they see the Martindale defense. [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]  3. MIKEY KEENE, DAVIS WARREN, & JUSTICE HAYNES Starts at 39:43 Keene on preparing to play Michigan: what they could teach each other. Haynes similar thing: what was it like playing against Michigan in the Rose Bowl. Thing they prepared for Michigan: wow, the blitzes! Haynes lists all the reasons he came to Michigan until we tell him "It's okay, the quarterbacks are aware we run the ball." On platooning: I want to be able to run around with my kids after football. Warren on playing Ohio State. New faces in the QB room: type of guys on the team. 4. DONAVEN MCCULLEY, SEMAJ MORGAN, PEYTON O’LEARY, & JOE TAYLOR Starts at 59:01 McCulley also shares what it's like to be a (true Fr) quarterback facing Michigan (not fun!). O'Leary and Taylor talk about the walk-on experience, what's going to happen with the 15 guys who used to be walk-ons. Other walk-ons who are impressing (Andrighetto at safety). Learning to play WR: you get a feel for where you need to be for the quarterback, playing in space. How much has the offense changed. Who's come along since last year: Tevis Metcalf for sure.   5. ERNEST HAUSMANN, TJ GUY, & DOMINIC NICHOLS Starts at 1:26:05 HONESTLY THIS WAS OUR BEST INTERVIEW. Ernest and TJ are starting a podcast. Guy on how many positions you need to know to play OLB. How he and Nichols feel about dropping into coverage. Hausmann shares he's got to be in better shape to be the dot because he can't be breathing hard between plays as he's giving the calls. What were they seeing versus Ohio State. "Ern was going crazy in that game." How do you grade LBs? It was quiet.     6. GREG CRIPPEN, GIO EL-HADI AND ANDREW BABALOLA Starts at 1:30:14 Crippen how it feels to be The Guy finally (not counting his eggs; he's got to win it). Why El-Hadi is just more comfortable on the left. Babalola on the difference between HS and college, and how he compares to the other guys as freshmen. What's it like being a five-star recruit. How they see the fronts and make the line calls. Why is OL hard: gotta learn the playbook first, including all the adjustments. How to make decisions on the fly: all about communication. Gio doesn't play with a mouthguard so he can communicate better. If Michigan football had to make a basketball team: PG: Semaj Morgan SG: Bryce Underwood SF: TJ Guy PF: Lugard Edokpayi C: Babalola/Sprague       8. ROD MOORE, ZEKE BERRY, TJ METCALF AND SHAMARI EARLS Starts at 1:43:41 Rod Moore recovery: 85%. Had to come back mentally before but he's staying as locked in as he can. TJ Metcalf on the portal experience. Zeke Berry on the transition to corner: switching up to #1 was a little iffy at first, but the look is the same, got used to it. Did he see the IU pick earlier in the game? No it was in practice the week before. Still a jack of all trades. Shamari on track, he's picking up all the calls. Receivers to watch? Marsh, Goodwin, Semaj. Who's the fastest guys out there. Who's the biggest hitter: B-Hill, then TJ then Rod. Transition to Wink last year: had to get comfortable with each other. 9. TRE WILLIAMSON, DERRICK MOORE, AND RAYSHAUN BENNY Starts at 1:55:39 Rayshaun going into this year: he's been out there, acted like a starter from previous years. Tre on difference with Michigan. He loves the depth, no other school had the type of talent he was playing around. D-Mo on playing Edge, started with two of the four positions (Rush, End, Buck and SAM). What would he say to his freshman self? Biff Poggi made this program the same program as at St. Frances. He was injured last year, the production was always there, leading the team in pressures early. Benny on coming back from his injury last year. MUSIC: "Intro (A Star in the Sky)"—Heavy Weighs the King "Stand Well Well"—Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 "It'll All Work Out"—Blake Mills “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

1 Hour and 29 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1: Lot of New Forwards   Opener Good Returning Core Intriguing Recruits CHLers Segment 2: Dmen, Goaltending, Non-Con, and League   SO MANY Guys Highest Drafted Goalie since... Ideal Non-Con Schedule? Big Ten Look Around   MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "Zen" -- X Ambassadors ft. K.Flay, grandson Ice Hockey (NES) theme

Things Discussed: Playoff expansion: SEC and Big Ten are trying to strongarm their 2-loss teams in without having those teams play anybody. Seth: Don't care anymore, because once you go past six teams it's an invitational and you've got a playoff champion, not a season champion. Did Team 12 have a better season than Team 1 if they get eliminated? If not you're not a season champion. What we should care about—and here's where our needs align with Puppet Petitti and the TV exec with his arm up Tony's ass at the moment—are better games. I like having a Big Ten Showcase where you play the best games that weren't played, and do that in every league, and THEN use that information to make your small playoff field. You can also expand that concept to a national invitational round of matchups. Just get rid of the bracket, which is too rigid, and say these are the matchups we think we need at the end of the season to make our field. The losers can then still play in the bowls, so you aren't stuck with Middle Tennessee State on December 31st when Tennessee ended their season in December in Columbus, Ohio. Is Penn State a fraud? Sam: easy schedule. Seth: Michigan's 2023 schedule was the same, with the gauntlet at the end. Just need to come up with a tinpot scandal for them—suggestion: go after them for tampering. Why is PSU a favorite? Seth: because Big Ten powers are spending to retain their best players, and getting players because their fans are their superpower. PSU is like us (cultish); Michigan won Bryce in part because he saw how awful LSU fans are to their team, and had been around enough Michigan losses like that to see that Michigan fans stay behind their guys. Penn State fans are the same way. They are behind their dudes. I don't think James Franklin is a top-five/championship-caliber coach, but Penn State fans are a top-five, championship-caliber fanbase, and when you have a superpower you can win. Michigan basketball: The issue is their best five lineup isn't a shooting lineup. Shooting from the guys who aren't shooters: via Dusty via Sam they *say* they can do it: Cadeau is a 40% shooter on catch-and-shoots, Gayle found his stroke again, Yaxel says he's going to show it, Morez and Mara also say they can shoot but weren't allowed to. We believe Grady can shoot, Cason can shoot, and Burnett can shoot, but you don't have any lineups with those three. X-factor is LJ Cason and whether they can maximize Mara by having him go hard for 20 minutes and letting Morez take the rest. Might want to figure out lineups instead of a five and backups with different players taking on more creation so they don't have to be shooters, while always keeping 2 guys on the court who will knock down an inside-out. Shoot more slop please; this team can rebound, so a 40% shot from two might be more like a 50% shot in reality, and that 1 PPP is a heck of a lot more valuable than the 0 PPP you get from a turnover.

THE BOOK: Is done. Yes you can still get in on The Kickstarter (but not the name/sentence levels). Also a Kindle Edition is now live. MGoBlog.com/25 Lineup: Sam, Seth, Craig, and Miz. Brian's still on dad duty; Ira's on a plane. Things Discussed: Wink Martindale criticism: The Emotional Rollercoaster sweatshirt from Sack the Stigma is great but Wink is cutting off the sleeves, which are the best part. Wink Martindale praise: His defensive approach changed to be much more college late in the season. Can't be in his head but we think he was having guys make reads that they were missing (examples: Zeke Berry nickel blitz from nowhere on the USC TD, or Barham leaving an RB wide open in the flat) and trying to play attention games with Mason Graham (see: the 3rd down sets). That's how the game is played in the NFL but in college it's much more straightforward. This is praise because he realized what was happening and changed what he was doing, which is extremely hard for people to do. Everybody was coming from success, so they had to get comfortable with each other. Was a big thing for the player as well. Will Johnson noted some of these players need the A and B explained before you tell them to do C. Rod Moore: Expect him to play, not sure how rusty he's going to be and what's the timeline. We'll hear from Rod when Sam interviews him. Mikey Keene vs Bryce Underwood: VERY different offensive planning. Kinds of passes are different, how you use his legs is different, how much pre-snap reading you're doing is different. Having Keene out in spring gave the offense clarity. Chip Lindsey offense: He uses RPOs and running QBs but he cuts back on the running and focuses on making the QBs more efficient. He also will turn regular routes into long bombs—they missed one to Channing Goodwin in the spring but it was open. RPOs and screens? Well you have to show you can beat man coverage to access those, and that means dropping back with a QB who can be safe in the pocket long enough to find his leverage and deliver an accurate pass all over the field to receives who create their own space. Do we have that QB, those WRs, that OL? OL: Sam's discussion with Sherrone started with Blake Frazier (because Sam asked) but he also said Andrew Babalola and Ty Haywood are more athletically talented than ANY guy they've had at Michigan until now. Link is battling with Frazier and Babalola for LT. Crippen: Not sure how much better he can get because his reads are spot-on, but versus top-of-the-line DTs who knew what's coming Crippen got physically manhandled. He's alright, but you need something on this offense that is better than alright if you want to take the pressure off of Bryce/his protection/his receivers. That said, centers pop late—how many times have we seen an Anderson or Bihl or Kugler or Vastardis have a great 5th year. WRs: Are probably a lot better than their stats last year (fewest WR yards since 1973, would have been bottom-third among Bo teams.) But there could be a player or three in there—they didn't have the passing. Warren didn't know what he was looking at half the time and wasn't accurate. Orji had no downfield accuracy at all. Defense knew it. Link vs Ohio State/Alabama? Did well, but the context was Michigan took dropbacks out of the offense.

THE BOOK: Kickstarter is still active. MGoBlog.com/25 REMINDER: Michigan fans won the Charity Bowl, so we'll be getting together with Spencer, Holly, and Jason on JUNE 28, 6PM at the Ann Arbor District Library, then going to Venue for drinks at 8:00. Signup is here so I can give them a final count (we're at ~200 right now), or go to pizzawestern.com. THE LINEUP: Brian still on break. Seth & Craig & Sam today. NO SHOW NEXT WEEK: July 4th. Things Discussed: HTTV 2025: Craig's article on 1898 has a surprise for Buckeye Fans, because the NCAA is going to vacate Michigan's 1897 wins ANY DAY NOW. Warde with Sam last week: Credit to him for being more transparent. Sam notes he specifically came out of his no-comment stance to put to rest any ideas of vacated wins/championships. Our favorite recent commits. Seth loves Alister Vallejo: he's incorrigible. Even has Mason Graham's baby face. Craig likes Bear McWhorter. Titan Davis: really good example of the type of player you see from Lou Esposito: good length and good burst. Marky Walbridge: Most Massachusetts name ever. He looks like a TACKLE—reminds me of Blake Frazier. Sam: I think Blake is going to be the starting LT. Philosophy for how to spend your money? Seth: Baltimore Ravens. Start by putting more money to your top players. Positionally, you look at what system you run and where you can get value. Michigan runs the Ravens system, which spent less on Edge and LB to get big-time athletes in the secondary. Spend on a cornerback. Sam: Spend on a cornerback every year, because Ohio State is a receiver team, and cornerback is mostly about talent. QB, Edge, and Cornerback. Seth: if you can develop edges you can save money there. If you're struggling to develop something you spend on it (e.g. OSU with (Break: Naming the people who are in our chat) NIL Clearinghouse. The ADs don't even know what the standard will be. Guessing it will be like every other NCAA enforcement attempt, IE they will ignore 99% of it and then come down hard on Michigan when they're mad. Next battleground is in legislatures. NBA Draft: Wolf slipped to 27th but only because the Nets had 1/6th of the picks and could slot him lower. Took another Jewish guy right before him. Top of the draft: Ace Bailey was the last difference-maker; if he won't play in Salt Lake they can trade him, but the value dropped after that.

Thing Discussed: Warde Manuel kindly filled in for us last Thursday so Sam invited me on this morning. We mostly discussed the article he wrote for HTTV 2025 (now Kickstarting) about Michigan's recruitment of Bryce Underwood, and all of the things that had to come together on Michigan's end to make that possible, as well as an assist from LSU and Michigan fans that nobody expected to close the deal. Also discussed every other feature in the book.

EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT: Once again Michigan won the Charity Bowl, so we'll be getting together with the Fullcastians on JUNE 28, 6PM at the Ann Arbor District Library, then going to Venue for drinks at 8:30. Signup is here so we can plan a good numbers count, or just remember pizzawestern.com. Things Discussed: House: We're in prime recruiting season but schools are starting to tell kids the distribution money isn't coming to recruit against Michigan. What's the holdup? In a vacuum liars will come up with B.S. to sell. We're sure Ohio State is pushing for some kind of system where they can go back to exploiting a black market and controlling the enforcement mechanism so that Michigan won't/can't participate in it. Best guess at what's holding it up: they're trying to make a clearinghouse that won't the agreement immediately sued out of existence, which is tricky because any regulation of what people can make without Congressional dispensation tends to lose in court. Playoff expansion: Why, who, will it? Petitti is a dumb TV suit and put out a dumb TV suit idea so he can make this end-of-year playoff to get into the Playoff. No this is not the Showcase (which is a +1 format to finish the season with the best games that weren't played and determine a conference champion by strength of season). Sankey is predictably honestly dishonest in that he'll keep saying and doing whatever gets more for his schools, and that means he's going to run absolute circles around Petitti the spineless moron. Why are things this way? Powers in control are approaching it from how much more TV inventory can they generate, don't think about where the value is coming out of except they're very protective of their own money. Schools imagining themselves #16 and dealing with opt-outs. Who really pays: fans. Fans who buy another expensive last-minute ticket, and travel. For years nobody in power has put any thought into what really makes college football valuable, so they're willing to cannibalize the Every Game Matters. Already happened with 12 teams, where Ohio State finished the season with a worse strength of record than Oregon and shouldn't have had a path to redemption. With 16 teams you're going to get a 3- or 4-loss champion who gets hot or beneficial matchups in a year with a team that went 14-1. Also guarantee Sankey will know how to get an 8-4 Ole Miss team that played three Sun Belts and an FCS with one ranked win in the SEC ranked above a 10-2 Iowa that beat nobody because they were in the "Not playing Michigan-Ohio State-USC-Oregon" tier when Petitti was making his schedules for inventory. Our dream: If Congress were to demand your conference can't have more than 12 members or you can't pay anybody. In the break: McKenna Yaxeltalk: Watching his film last year there was a lot more Buzz Williams ball where they would Iso then rebound. Hopefully he gets better looks with better creators on the court with him. Don't forget defense: Yaxel's length makes him switchable, and you have some major rim protection that won't have to get tired. Need to develop 36%+ shooting so opponents don't just collapse, because Yax isn't an off-the-dribble shooter at all. Can Gayle? Can Cason? Freshmen? Nimari is who he is. Kobe Assist team: have guys like Gayle, Cason drawing multiple defenders and there will be a lot of opportunities to "pass" the ball to the basket. Turnovers again? There are some Danny Wolf howlers from Cadeau but hoping they can coach him to better options.

Things Discussed: On early: Talkin Detroit Tigers. How this went down: Yax started with college as a fallback, Michigan visit shifted things. NBA side of it stayed—if anything the measurements at the Combine improved his NBA stock. But Michigan convinced him. Laid out the red carpet. Coaches went to the Combine to support him. Did we out-recruit the NBA? Yes, because the NBA wasn't recruiting him, and we are very good at recruiting. Good sign for the future: Dusty May knows how to convince a fringe NBA guy to come back to college. Going to have an advantage when they're the competition because we're always going to want these players more than the NBA for the same money. What does this do? Cross between Danny Wolf and Johni Broome. Danny measured 6'10.5, but Yaxel is 6'9", much better about turnovers, much better free throw shooter, better face-up guy, close to that level of defender. Team: Cadeau and Yaxel are your creators, need Cason to be a breakdown threat, need Gayle and Nimari to be your finishers, and then center is Johnson's defensive presence. Big Ten next year: Purdue is still #1, they are going to have a 7'3" guy from Belgium so they don't die whenever TKR gets in foul trouble. Michigan is in that tier with them. Proven shooting on this roster? Uh, Tschetter? Need three or four of Cason/Gayle/McKenney/Burnett/Grady to be that. Minutes? Cadeau most of them at the point with Cason taking some. McKenny backup up Gayle and Nimari at the SG spots, Tschetter backing up Lendeborg, Johnson/Mara at center. Upside: Team is all about creation: Cadeau, Lendeborg are creators, Gayle and Cason are secondary creators, McKenney has that upside. Rotation: 8+2 like Dusty likes. Think they'll work in the freshmen some but Goodman probably redshirts unless there's an injury, Grady gets maybe 10% of minutes as a spacer depending on how the others are shooting, Trey develops into a major part of the rotation by season's end but needs time to adjust. Defensively this team will be a nightmare to play against.

Things Discussed: Tigers: They go dormant for years but then they pop, and you gotta get a World Series when they do. Sign Skubal! Craig's long story about golf in Alabama. House Settlement: NCAA is going to relinquish enforcement to a commission/CEO run by the commissioners. Will it work? Without legislation they'll just get sued again. What some schools are going for is to have rules that nobody enforces except against programs they don't like. This was ideal for OSU/Bama/Georgia/LSU who could get a competitive advantage on programs that self-police, and occasionally could be used as a weapon against rivals. Who's the CEO? They said someone not in sports—so Condi Rice? Who's going to take this job who's not in athletics? Can they create a player's union? Why would the players unionize when they are getting everything they want. MLB unionized because their players were employees; NCAA doesn't control player movement because they want to avoid their athletes being employees. NCAA is getting out but it falls to conference commissioners, who are not at all equipped to handle this. They're serving needs of ADs who are complaining about different things. Ohio State wants there to be rules they don't have to follow and Michigan does. Michigan wants to be able to spend whatever they can raise. Purdue wants to have some player control so their cornerbacks don't get poached. Michigan State isn't thinking "oh I need to make sure Michigan and Ohio State don't boot me" and not even thinking about what's best for Michigan State; they're thinking how can we screw Michigan. You're expecting this mix to come up with solutions? Clearinghouse won't work because they'll get a flood of lawsuits. Player already have the money; they won't let you close the spigot. Answer is legislation that gives the NCAA some kind of anti-trust protection. Will it get prioritized at the federal level? Probably not this Congress, but the next one or the next one. State laws are only trying to make their own teams better. Sam: Can they make a special class? They had it in student athletes but that got blown up by the states, which is how we got here. The players have no incentive to change things because they're winning. NCAA is deathly afraid of the players becoming employees, which is why they can't regulate player movement even with NIL deals. The NCAA can't create a student-athlete class. The federal government can. The schools have real interest in getting legislation that cuts off the players' spigot, and that means the fans have leverage now that we've not had at any point in this conversation. What I want them to do (not saying it'll happen) is use that leverage to get things we want. What do we want? Guaranteed access to football broadcasts. Our old conferences back. A cap on student fees (this doesn't matter to us but it's a big deal to smaller schools). Schools can't balloon ticket prices by participating in the secondary ticket market. What do we want as Michigan fans? Our interests are aligned with PSU/Notre Dame/USC who want the buy-in price to be high but also some kind of cap so that the value of the education makes us the best option. Prediction: House settlement/clearinghouse will be a patch, it won't work, and they'll let it play out until they can get legislation. Could they get legislation now? Maybe but it won't do anything for the fans—it would be the schools buying up whatever votes are for sale and passing something they write, and odds are it won't be Constitutional enough to survive the players bringing it to court.

Things Discussed: Michigan vs Georgia recruitments revisited: things have definitely changed. We had to move heaven and Earth to get Will Johnson and that was a legacy. Sam shares a story that Harbaugh promised he was gonna be here and that got Will to pump the breaks on a USC-Ohio State decision. Remembering DJ Turner's recruitment. Yaxel? Is doing well at the combine. Think Michigan visit changed his mindset from "Michigan has to match" to "NBA has to match," but there's a very good chance that happens. Difference between early 2nd round and late 1st round isn't just money but end of the 1st round is where you find the best organizations, whereas early 2nd round could mean going to Phoenix. If a team promises they'll draft him in the late 1st he's gotta take it. If Yaxel comes: Big Ten PoY? In the conversation. Wolf-/Tonje-level impact. Forest view: plan on this happening every year, because one player can put you over the top and one way to get that one player is to get the best player in the country who's not in the NBA Draft. Speaking of best player in the country who's not in his draft…there's a LOT of positivity inside Michigan about Gavin McKenna. What does Gavin McKenna mean, non-hockey fans? He's the consensus #1 player in the Draft and in that tier with Connor McDavid, Eric Lindros, Mario Lemieux and Alexander Ovechkin where the franchise that gets him is instantly the team with that guy (Only tier higher than that is Crosby, Gretzky). Why is McKenna going to college? These guys used to play Canadian juniors, but that's a long season in a small town for money that Michigan could match, and for a player who's already guaranteed to be a top-5 pick there's no reason to slog through that when the Big Ten these days has higher competition. The example here is John Tavares, who was the CHL rookie of the year in 2005-06 and player of the year in 2006-07, and was the obvious #1 pick in the 2008 Draft then had to go back to the CHL for another year to no purpose. College gives that guy a step up in competition, a year in Ann Arbor instead of Oshawa, and the connections and future you get from association with a university. For us, that would make Michigan a focus of the hockey world for a year, and the rest of McKenna's career they'd be like "guy from Michigan." Meta discussion on last week's episode and politics based on the (overwhelmingly positive) responses we got from last week: We aren't planning to talk about partisan and identity politics that much going forward—there are certain instances when it's topical and we can't ignore it (e.g. Ono's departure), but mostly we choose to talk about ideas and values, and when they're not politicized nobody notices the politics. Penn State > Ohio State this year? We don't believe in Drew Allar. Ohio State's culture is clearly working for them.

Note: Do you hate it when politics are discussed in places you go for sports? Then skip this episode entirely or skip to 36:19. Things Discussed after 36:19 Leak to Thamel says NCAA told Michigan they'll suspend Sherrone for CMU and Nebraska. Sam: Leak is overblown—it's part of the back and forth with Michigan, not something that's been accepted. Would we take it? Brian thinks it's harsh but if this ends it, fine—you kowtow to the power and move on. Thamel aside, let's go over what Sherrone did. Facts we are relatively certain of: Sherrone deleted all of his texts off his phone around the time the Stalions thing came out, knowing he still has a copy of them. He then went and retrieved the texts for the investigators, and there was nothing incriminating on them. Seth: The question I have is whether he deleted those texts because he regularly cleans his phone, or was that unusual behavior? If it happens regularly this is just trying to make an innocuous thing sound as bad as they can. If it was unusual, then yeah, considering he's the coach now (he wasn't then), and considering how important we value transparency from people in positions of power, a two-week suspension (week->not an Urban Meyer suspension where you just sit out the game) is appropriate. Craig: Is it? If he did nothing wrong, why should he deserve a punishment? It's not a crime to not cover up what's not a crime. [Hit the JUMP for the rest of the discussion, the player, and video and stuff]  Things Discussed before 36:19: Santa Ono's departure and academic freedom (from start of the show): Turns out he was just another suit. Taking $3 million and taking his name of something he signed 2 weeks ago and go do what Ron DeSantis tells him tells you all you need to know. People are going to try to pretend this was taking a stand against the regents or because The Hammer is coming down or that this is about Warde's stance on NIL—whatever stupid narrative they want to believe in. People try to make everything fit the story they want to tell. You'd have to be a quisling to work at the University of Florida. Some empathy because becoming the face of something like that is a life-defining choice, and the nature of the job is you're going to have unreasonable people mad at you because, e.g., they think divesting Michigan from Intel will stop Netanyahu from killing Gazans to placate the far-right members of his coalition that are keeping him out of jail. Part of being the president of Michigan is you are going to have to take a stand for liberalism (as defined). Justice, knowledge, freedom of study: these liberal ideals are the foundational principles of our school, and our school is the best public university in the country. When those ideals are challenged, as they are now by an illiberal authoritarian administration in Washington, you have to tell them "No." And no, this isn't about their DEI policies either. The DEI Office was already was already the midst of being rearranged. And to be clear (Brian said, and I generally agree) we're in favor of that, because the expense of the university's bureaucracy (1 administrator to 5 students—don't quote us on that) is too much, and that money is better off being spent on housing, on improving the Go Blue Guarantee, and on more and better instructors. The most direct parts of the policy (e.g. student housing assistance) were also better off shifted, along with their funding, to parts of the administration that were already doing the same things, and the layers of forms and oversight were probably not the best way of accomplishing the admirable and necessary goal of taking responsibility for an equity of experience for students of certain minorities. Need to be clear: When the White House says "DEI" they aren't talking about Michigan's DEI office nor which books are in the library; they're talking about things like whether I can give a lecture to Dooley's class every semester on the history of integration in college athletics, or whether Women's Studies can be a subject matter. Next president, next on NIL (17 minutes) Next president: what do we want? Brian thinks it'll be another administrator off an expensive search. Seth thinks there are going to be big names calling the school because it's a prestigious job. We need someone who has values, someone who is going to stand up for the university, and (let's not forget) someone who is going to value athletics as an essential engine of the school's value. Brian's not concerned about that so much because the donors won't sit around long if we drop to 126th/134 teams in passing. It's not the donors worrying about that; it's the parts of the school that usually get lots of donations making that a concern. NIL: House settlement is going to include some sort of auditing process that is going to curtail the amount you can directly spend via NIL on players. Don't know how enforceable that is going to be. Congress is going to step in eventually to provide them an antitrust exemption or they're just going to keep getting sued. They might have done it by classifying the players as labor but that's unlikely if it happens now given the party in power who'd be crafting legislation right now is extremely anti-labor. We should say what we want in a president for Athletics: stand up for Michigan when the NCAA goes after them. Brian: Probably won't be facing any significant decisions since the big sports all have relatively new coaches (Why do you always say that?) What they need is someone who will have a spine. The Michigan community will support you. Seth: I'm not just looking for someone who'll rebel; I'm looking for someone who's going to win. Losing funding—which the government gave to the University not as a handout but because the People of the United States want, e.g., a cure for cancer and Michigan can put together the tools and best people to do that. Losing that funding would be devastating. It's not like they just stop doing the research—they already built the labs and financed it, so they'd be under water and lose capability to get it back. Brian: It's going to happen anyways. This is an administration of idiots making decisions based on wanting to hurt the people they don't like, and the University of Michigan is a bright blue beacon of every kind of value and kind of person they want to eradicate. Seth: So we don't just need a fighter; we need a uniter—someone who is going to get all the other institution's administrators (sorry, the faculty isn't the same thing), so when war comes they can win, or at least make it hurt. The towns that resisted the Danes got slaughtered and the towns that paid a danegeld just got more Danes; Alfred beat them by forming England. In the break: MGoBlog's readership, based on Google Analytics on how people voted for national offices, was about 55-45 Democrats to Republicans when I took over advertising in 2012. It's now close to 75-25, without shifting any other metrics about our readership, meaning we're still talking to (a lot more of) the same kind of (educated, hyper-curious) person, but that kind of person, if they ever were a Republican, is leaving the party now.

Things Discussed: Bryce Spring Review: Underwood actually made some JJ throws. Players who stood out on film review: Deyvid Palepale, more impressed with Jalen Hoffman, Avery Gach (pronounced "Gatch") had lots of +2s and –2s, Jordan Young is always around the ball, made the 4th & 1 stuff. OL thoughts by position: RT & RG: Sprague and Efobi were moving people—impressive when they do it Benny, not so much Bobby Kanka. Efobi is the high ceiling/high floor option, could be Hattar or Link. Gach was getting shoved backwards by Chibi Anwunah, who might be good. Think the battle in fall is Efobi the ceiling, Hattar the floor, Link the wild card. LT: ew. When Sam said Michigan should go in the portal for a tackle in spring that wasn't a hopeful statement, and that's how it worked out. Link is a D+, Babalola needs a redshirt, Brady Norton isn't going to happen, period. Ty Haywood, Blake Frazier might compete. Frazier was supposed to a 2-year build and it's been one year, so not expecting that yet. The way Gentry played out last year might have cost them their best option. C: Crippen has the job. Guarnera looked good but had some –2s in there. Strayhorn looked big and athletic but completely lost—at one point he stops mid-pull. WR: McCulley looked good on his one catch, a lot of opportunities to turn around and make a play when they didn't, think Goodwin is a fine 4th or 5th receiver. Semaj has been open, needs QBs to hit him. Haven't seen these guys with good quarterbacking yet so who knows: Bell, Moore, Morgan, Marsh—they could all be good and we wouldn't know yet. QB: We want to get Underwood running more—that 3rd read should be running not throwing a contested ball. RPOs: We're gonna see a lot more of them this year under Chip Lindsey, which means we'll see more man coverage, which then gets back to the receivers and who can win 1-on-1. CB: The flipside is JoJo Edmond was the guy in coverage on a lot of those passes, looks hard to beat, gave up the edge on the big Haynes run. Sug Hill? Sam says without saying that they want to keep him motivated to do things that aren't just his talent. DT and LB are STACKED. Will be very deep and strong this year and are set next year with Palepale and maybe Anwunah. Yaxel: Don't get your hopes up; pretty much every mock draft has him 35-38 and those are guaranteed contract positions so we think there's going to be an NBA team willing to put them on their roster next year. Hockey: Fascinating offseason as Michigan is trying to poach a goalie and most of their new top-six, including the #1 overall pick next year, from Canadian Juniors. Won't know until their playoff ends.

Special guest: Everybody wave hi to Mira. Things Discussed: Spring game: Craig watched the line, wasn't that impressed. Bryce was throwing flat; overthrowing McCulley is a sin. There's a guy across the aisle who's already mad. Seth thinks when the threw that small window past a dropping DE was good; Brian thought he didn't see the drop. Jadyn Davis: Didn't look that polished but much improved. Mikey Keene? Brian thinks he's not a P4 quarterback. Receivers? If you go in the portal you can get a bunch of CJ Charlestons at this point. McCulley had the one contested ball and did the George Costanza. Keeps the expectations for Bryce in context, because Trevor Lawrence had NFL wideouts to throw at as a freshman. Want guys to step up: Marsh, Browder: turn around and context that. Seth: comp is what Nebraska got out of Raiola last year. Need the running game to be the engine of the offense. Get to functional. Hey Sam, how many targets is Jalen Hoffman getting? Are they going to do zone reads for Bryce? OL: Sprague up, Link down—if they're not naming him the starter now maybe he needs to move inside. Sam thinks Frazier can get healthy and get back his agility. Seth thinks they're gonna survive until Babalola is ready, ETA midseason. Break: Sam talks about his colon (I left this out of the podcast version). Defense: Tackles go six deep with big dudes. With them it's more about who they're going against. Linebacker: We are RICH. Seth thinks we have two guys who are better than the top six guys in the Draft, AND Rolder made it through spring without getting hurt. Barham has many uses, Sam thinks he's going to be an All-American. Sullivan can do Barham things. Big Nickel Mason Curtis: think this is a thing. Seth thinks Efobi looked like he was moving them. Dom Nichols: not surprised that a guy who played a lot as a true freshman is getting talk as DE#3. Who's got bend? Sam says Barham is #1. Seth wants to see it from Edokpayi.

2 hour and 14 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, the Autograph: Fandom Rewarded app, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where usually record this, and new this week the Ann Arbor Summer Festival, and the Aretha Franklin Amphitheatre. 1. Spring Game Vibes and Offense Starts at 1:00 Michigan didn’t televise the spring game so now you have to listen to this one! Shout out to men’s gymnastics on winning a national championship. Blue team won 17-0, yay. Did Michigan have enough offensive players to reasonably fill out two offenses? Both QBs threw deep balls, most of them weren’t particularly close. Bryce had a few Freshman moments as well and everything over 10-15 yards was very flat. There aren’t very many receivers but Donaven McCulley wasn’t even on the same team as Underwood and was benched after the first quarter (along with most starters). Marlin Klein and Hogan Hansen didn’t play. The spring game is delayed on broadcast for a week because of the portal deadline. Haynes and Marshal are it at running back, Micah Ka’apana was slippery like Chris Evans but Michigan hasn’t thrown to a running back since 2016. Bryson Kuzdzal looked pretty good! The receivers aren’t adjusting to the ball much, Semaj also didn’t do much. The 2nd string fullback (Jalen Hoffman) has gotten more targets in a spring game than Max Bredeson has in his whole career and is the highest stock rise of the spring game. Maybe they can stack two wide receivers on top of each other like Vincent Adultman. When Michigan had three tight ends on the field they ran the ball pretty well. According to Sherrone, the three offensive linemen who are locked in are El-Hadi, Crippen, and Sprague. Babalola is big but made freshman mistakes (which is fine).  2. Spring Game Defense Starts at 50:17 Michigan looks like they'll be very tough once again and has a lot of depth. Defensive end is loaded with Big Ten starters. Rayshaun Benny is established where we want him to be at this point in his development. There's going to be a drop-off from Graham and Grant but it'll be fine. It felt like the lines were two good units going against each other. We like the way Deyvid Palepale is shaped, he might be Brian Mone. We didn't learn much about the linebackers but Cole Sullivan was in the backfield a lot. The defensive backs played really well without Jyaire Hill. Shamari Earls is wearing #2 and is looking like #2. All of these defensive backs seem plausible, McBurrows hitting the portal makes more sense now. The secondary might not have any real stars but they won't have any holes, even without Rod Moore. Safeties don't have a real rock like we're used to.  3. Hot Takes and Michigan Hockey Roster Starts at 1:14:49 Takes hotter than the one guy across the aisle at the Spring Game who is already mad at Bryce Underwood. The hockey roster is in a state of flux, we're all awaiting what will happen with the CHL kids. Michigan gets four defensemen back and brings in some transfers and CHL players. Ben Robertson comes in from Cornell after averaging 21 minutes per game. The defense has nine players on roster currently which is probably too many. They could use a goalie! Right now they have 10 forwards on a team that usually carries 14. They have a roster spot for McKenna (the Bryce Underwood of hockey), can they get him? The Big Ten might be top-to-bottom the best quality hockey in the country that isn't the NHL.  4. Potpourri Starts at 1:52:20 Danny Wolf is officially out and headed for the NBA, Aday Mara commits. They're waiting on Lendeborg but they'll still be a good team without him. One more summer of polishing Will Tschetter could make him a really good 4. In football, Luke Bauer comes in as a punter from Missouri - he's an average punter. They get CJ Hester at running back from UMass to replace Ben Hall. He's a little bowling ball. The concession lines at the Spring Game were long! Michigan Stadium isn't catering to the average fan who wants to bring their kids. There are now kids who have attended the Spring Game and didn't have a good time and now they probably won't want to go next year.  MUSIC: "Let's Get Down"—Toni Toni Tone "Bendicion Mami"—Fat Joe "Check The Technique"—Gang Starr “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

Things Discussed: Honoring the life of Mike DeBord. Long list of great players and coaches he created. Really kind man. Whoever you were, whatever you were doing, he wanted to make you better at it, and he leaves quite a legacy here. Bryce: What are you looking for? Want to see how he does against all the weird Minter stuff. I want to see him trapped against the right sideline, because that's how young Denard and JJ showed when they could do. Jadyn Davis: Sam says the confidence has been restored; the lack of confidence last year was a two-way street and they're a lot more committed to him. Seth says it was always a long-term project, but now we know he wasn't viable last year. If they weren't seriously investing him, showing confidence in him, he'd be in the portal. Chip and Sinagoga have invested in him. Perfect guy to have behind Bryce Underwood. Good thing for the program long-term that Keene got hurt in spring because they were able to get those two guys reps and put their eggs in the Bryce basket. OL: They miscalculated how bad they were going to be last year, can't do that again. Talked about going to the portal to get help at left tackle if they're talking about Brady Norton. Blake Frazier was hurt and that set back his physical development, Babalola has a lot to learn. OL is VERY hard to learn; you have to be able to ID what they're doing in a fraction of a second at this level or you're dead. "We're passing more this year." If you're going to do that you need to keep Bryce upright. Getting a receiver in the portal is impossible: in recruiting they're getting more traction because Bryce is there and there's time to see it. But they don't have anything to show, e.g. the guy from UConn, that they're going to have a passing game where they can be productive. Productive guys are NFL guys: big, fast, can catch, knows routes. Really hard to learn a new offense in fall. Defensively: Believe in the front seven enough that I would rather see the offense doing well against them. Not concerned about the DTs, DEs, LBs. Think they had everything break their way this offseason: kept both senior stars, Rolder is healthy, Sullivan is emerging, one of the freshmen (Owusu-Boateng) is showing out. Get Bowles back in fall. Want to see Mason Curtis at the big nickel position—haven't seen it since Michael Barrett in 2021 but it's a big deal in the NFL and addresses a thing that opponents have been hitting us with. TJ Metcalf is the leader at regular nickel. Brandyn Hillman has really come forward. Cornerback depth is a bit of a concern. Earls has a lot to learn, Sam: I wonder about Jyaire Hill—it's a matter of football maturation. Caleb Anderson might be dinged up. JoJo Edmond has the ability but he moved late from offense so he's got a long way to go. Might want to get depth in the portal.

I made the cover thinking we were going to talk about spring ball and safety rotation. We just talked hoops. Things Discussed: Craig stopped being a Cleveland fan when they traded Rocky Colavito and says nobody will get that reference, Seth goes: "I like hamburger!" Aside: If you ever see a copy of Baseball Anecdotes by Daniel Okrent and Steve Wulf, I highly recommend you pick it up. Dusty May is able to multitask, unlike Tom Izzo. Realities of building a roster in 2024-25. Cadeau vs Donaldson: Michigan lost its top two shot creators in their two bigs so they needed creation. Concern is you need to put shooting around that PnR game, and Gayle/Cason a bit questionable as knockdown spacers. We're in a weird transitional period where House hasn't been approved yet and people are trying to get all their deals done—"Mad dash to hand people cash"—before this clearinghouse is checking NIL deals to make sure they're "fair market value." Dusty May listened to Dusty May saying "we need to get tougher." Morez Johnson: 100% chance Craig Ross is going to call him a "brute." Love the Pippi Longstocking pigtails. Dusty's mindset: I'm going after the best players in the country. Aday Mara: could be an awesome pickup. 7'3" finisher who had norovirus and lost some conditioning in the middle of last year, but when UCLA made their run he was playing up to 31 minutes. Would be a great one-two punch with Johnson, in that you've got the big motor guy and the extremely tall/long rim protector, who both serve the same role in the offense so you're keeping your offense the same, but need to be defended differently. Bigs have a slower progression. We can beat 2nd round money. Chances of getting NBA fours back: 5% for Wolf since he's projected to the 1st round. 20% for Yax. Izzo is not allowed to retire until he's had ten years of Paternoing. Better yet: MSU basketball should be U.Chicago football: ride your legendary coach into total irrelevance. Honestly though: developing players is a very good strategy, so long as they can do it. Izzo's mix of tryhad bigs, athletic guards, and lots of defense and rebounding has a ceiling. Trey McKenney scouting report: super strong dribbler, creates his own shot and makes it, can score in the mid-range. Question whether he's got that explosiveness—can he jump, can he move his feet well enough to be a great defender? Won't be a guy who guards quickness but he can help you with the Lu'Cye Patterson bullies, which you're going to see more of in the Big Ten than the super-quick guards. Like Trey in an offense with Cadeau because if you switch on the PnR you're creating bad matchups. Projecting development: it doesn't just "happen." It's about what these guys put in their workouts and hours of exercises and shot development that we never see. Hard for us to project what that is.

1 Hour and 28 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1: Where is Everyone Going?   Opener Alex Loves Pistons Those Who Left... Who Do We Get? Segment 2: Frozen Four, Stick Ball, et al   Some Teams Are Still Playing Baseball Catchup Softball Update Someone Name the Athletics!   MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "I Think We're Alone Now" -- Tiffany Ice Hockey (NES) theme

2 hour and 14 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, the Autograph: Fandom Rewarded app, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, and Venue by 4M where usually record this. 1. Men's Basketball Transfer Portal Starts at 1:00 Yaxel Lendeborg sounds Belgian but isn't, this starts out as a World War I podcast. Cadeau is a former five star who started for UNC, he has a Xavier Simpson assist rate but is not the most productive shooter. He also has an elevated turnover rate. Why this move feels like a wash coming from Tre Donaldson. Morez Johnson Jr. fits in well with Cadaeu, also he can thunder dunk the ball into the center of the universe. Illinois' offense would take a slight hit when Johnson is on the floor, but they get a +10 rebound rate with him. His best basket is a dunk. Unfortunately, the day Yaxel Lendeborg committed to Michigan he gave an interview where he said he wants an NBA contract and Michigan is the backup plan. Theoretically he's Danny Wolf but mean. Michigan needs a backup center but is otherwise in good shape. All signs point towards Nimari Burnett coming back. Brian is mad that Duke went 20 minutes without a turnover. We discuss Michigan's projected seed with the Yaxel situation and without the Yaxel situation.  2. Hot Takes and The State of College Athletics Starts at 42:40 Takes hotter than the best night club in Yaxel Lendeborg, Belgium. The state of things seem a bit perilous. Tre Donaldson hit the transfer portal with a broken heart emoji, what happened? It sucks that you don't really get to know players for multiple years up until their graduation. Part of the joy of college sports is watching players step up that you didn't expect to step up. The Big Ten needs an angry coach now that Fran is gone and Mick Cronin will step up. They should give schools incentives for keeping/graduating their players. The 1-4 seeds are all getting better and fans might get frustrated that more upsets don't happen. People want the chaos. Even Michael Jordan played three years in college, imagine if all the best players did that. This doesn't effect football quite as much. Fans and coaches all want roster continuity. Dusty May seems relatively well-positioned to maintain a lot of players. 3. Spring Football Bits Starts at 1:19:47 Spring Football is still happening. Updates on the offensive line, Evan Link has turned a corner after the Ohio State game. Crippen will be just fine at center. Andrew Babaloa won't be ready because he's a freshman and that's okay. Donaven McCulley is the real deal at wide receiver and everyone else is competing for the remaining spots. The running backs are good. The defensive line is not replacing Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant but it has depth. Are the redshirt freshman defensive ends turning the corner? It's being said that they are. Safety updates, with and without Rod Moore. They'll probably look for a punter in the portal.  4. Michigan Hockey Updates Starts at 1:55:27 Who hit the portal and what impact does that have? Michigan needs to get high-end defensive players. Does Gavin McKenna come to Michigan? He could be the number one overall pick. Why is Cameron Korpi in the portal? Is Michigan trying to get a CHL goalie? Or other CHL players? The CHL isn't happy about NIL.  MUSIC: "Consideration"—Rihanna ft. SZA "I'm Allowed"—Buffalo Tom "When I Get There"—Grady Strange “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

Craig has an eye patch, Sam is ill. Things Discussed: Season Grade: A. Exceeded expectations, put up a banner, Sweet 16 after getting hosed by the committee. Dusty May is good at this: Michigan is really good in the last five minutes. They found guys they can use in ways other schools wouldn't have thought about. Knows how to put a roster together, which is critical in an age when you have to remake your roster every year. Why you have to rebuild your roster every year: The portal system isn't good for anyone. It's unfair to blame Dusty May (Tom Izzo!) for recruiting over Tre Donaldson because that's the game right now: they needed shot creation and went and got it in the portal. But this sucks for fans who lose the excitement of players getting better, sucks for schools that have to be constantly recruiting their own guys and everyone else's, and sucks for the players who have to transfer all the time. NCAA needs a holistic reboot based on contracts, and rewarding schools—perhaps with greater NIL cap space—for retaining and graduating their players. Are fans losing interest? They say they are, but it hasn't shown in the metrics yet. Maybe that's what has to happen? Craig: They need a collective bargaining agreement, and there's nobody to bargain with, and that's more than a year or two away. Michigan 2025-26: They have guards, need at least one more center and probably want to add another bench shooter (says Brian) or a starting four (Seth) because Johnson has a high foul rate. Depends which center they get and if he and Johnson can be on the court at the same time. Have Goodman to play some four, Grady to be that guy off the bench possibly. Nimari: Played very well down the stretch, was creating a bit as well. Big Ten Coaching Carousel: Think we won, think it's weird that everybody ended up in not the spot they were going. This time nobody made a bad hire: Nedved is a good fit for Minnesota, DeVries makes sense for Indiana, we like Buzz Williams (kind of a Harbaugh). Want to play at Penn next year to say hi to Fran and the Palestra. During the break: Craig grades all the NCAA Tournament officials. Football: Wide receivers got larger, McCulley sounds like he's going to be WR1 and nobody else is close. Still looking at a 6'5" guy in the portal. Need contested ballers and TEs this year to take pressure off Bryce Underwood. OL may be dodgy; they moved Link to LT and El-Hadi to LG. Like all the assistant coaches they added, hoping for a big 5th year from Crippen. Babalola? He might be a next-year guy because he's pretty raw. Defense: I need to make the Groves thing clear: I'm excited about Falcons on the roster but it's mostly a bit, and I don't want people to think my excitement over these guys is just that. Mangham is getting mention as a starting safety. Rod Moore's injury is holding him out in spring, which makes me nervous, but that could just be a precautionary thing. Quietest spring ever? The reporters are focusing on recruiting.

1 Hour and 59 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1: NCAA Tournament Debate   No Goal...ies for OSU and BU MSU Conundrum What Does Minnesota Have to Show? Allentown and Friends Segment 2: Let The Grading Begin   Two Second Lines Two Fourth Lines Goalies and Genres Roster Breakdown   MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "I'm So Tired" -- Fugazi Ice Hockey (NES) theme

1 hour and 46 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, the Autograph: Fandom Rewarded app, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, and Venue by 4M where usually record this. 1. Men's Basketball vs Auburn - Sweet Sixteen Starts at 1:00 It's times like this that make you think of Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem Ozymandias which has a passage about "when you're leading by 9 points with 12 minutes left don't give up a 20-2 run". Michigan made Auburn as dumb as Michigan for a half and then Auburn remembered they were the #1 overall seed. Michigan gives up 1.04 ppp overall. Turnovers were tied but Michigan was obliterated on rebounds. The season-long issues with the front court came to light in this game. This ended up being what you would expect in a game of Michigan vs Super Michigan. We'll miss Vlad Goldin, Craig has some nits to pick.  2. Looking Back on the Season Starts at 21:51 Dusty May comes into a roster with Will Tschetter and Nimari Burnett, most of his FAU squad doesn't follow him (besides Vlad Goldin). But he assembles this motley crew of a team. The question coming in was "can he assemble a good roster or did he just have one good recruiting class?" Turns out he can assemble a good roster. Brian hoped this could be a 6-seed coming into the season and people thought this was crazy. They probably should've been higher than a 5-seed. This season earns an A for exceeding all expectations, not an A+ but an A. Dusty May was the better choice over Niko Medved.  3. Hot Takes and Looking Forward to Next Season Starts at 42:43 Takes hotter than whatever Craig is about to say. Michigan loses Rubin Jones, Jace Howard, Vlad Goldin, Justin Pippen, and probably Danny Wolf, You now have a roster cap of 15, they can be scholarship or not. They'll be looking for centers in the portal. Get ready for an L.J. Cason glow up. Looking ahead to Trey McKenney as a freshman. If Sam Walters was going to hit the portal, wouldn't he have done it by now? There appear to be a lot of high quality centers in the portal. Transfer portal targets, Brian wants Magoon Gwath. What's the ceiling for next year? They'll finally have some continuity on the roster. Just find a guy who's 7 feet tall and put him on the roster.  4. Michigan Football Spring Practice and Hockey Starts at 1:26:08 The only QBs available are Bryce Underwood and Jadyn Davis, Mikey Keene is injured. Otherwise we're not hearing much of anything. Shamari Earls is supposedly turning out and is Charles Woodson sized. There will not be Jeremy Clark slander. Michigan hockey had a disappointing end to the season, how will they bounce back? How much will Michigan pay for hockey after football and basketball? What does the rest of the Big Ten look like? MUSIC: "Cradle The Pain"—Morgan Nagler "Back to Earth"—Manplanet "I Wish"—Skee-Lo “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

Things Discussed: Auburn: They're Michigan if Michigan was everything they wanted them to be. No turnovers, extremely high efficiency. Michigan's turnovers are mostly still Michigan's. Lately the first 5 minutes of every game they're on pace for 60 TOs and then they are not a high-turnover team the rest of the game. UC San Diego: Michigan was a terrible matchup for them. Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones is their top scorer and he was useless against Danny Wolf. They had a good shooting day and Michigan had turnovers to make it close. Texas A&M: Michigan put their effort into rebounding. A&M saying they couldn't score at the rim in the 2nd half but they've been a bad shooting team all year and the only thing that was working was Payne physically dominating. LJ Cason: Go ahead young fella! Dusty admitting he should have played him more during the season, but Cason wasn't very playable until recently. Gives Michigan a different attack because nobody's been able to attack the rim since Gayle's shooting issues began. It's also the way to break A&M, which wants to have one bad defender on the court for scoring purposes and can get away with it if you have an offensive weak spot on the court. Gayle: What a game! Not just the shooting; he was making big plays on defense and creating for others as well. But the shooting is the thing; he's been slowly getting his shot back, and that opens up all kinds of offense because letting him sit alone at the perimeter was the way defenses took away Area 50->1. Why didn't Nimari play much? Because he's not a rebounder and you're playing Texas A&M. Rubin Jones was a key player on the boards. Cason and Gayle were doing a good job of boxing out. A&M's rebounding isn't just the bigs; they get wings heavily involved and keeping them outside was key. Goldin tired? Put all of his breath into rebounding; flopped three times against Payne—as soon as Payne got tired A&M had no way to score points. Michigan scored 30 points in the last 10 minutes of that game. AUBURN: They're 8 seniors and a 5-star freshman who chased Tre Donaldson out of there. Maybe one of the best basketball teams the Tournament has seen in many years because they have these up-transfers who got a few years to play together and an extra season to improve their skills. Do we have a chance? They're an excellent team. They're better Michigan. They let off the gas a little against A&M and gave up 24 ORebs because Auburn had already clinched the SEC; before that their only losses were overtime vs (two-big) Alabama and at Duke. Brian says Michigan needs to use A&M's strategy—win a lot of rebounds and get 17 extra shots?—and shoot 40% from three. Seth thinks the key is make them pull Dylan Cardwell because the switching is forcing him to be an offensive nexus, and then have Goldin score on Johni Broome, who's more of a finesse center.

1 hour and 34 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, the Autograph: Fandom Rewarded app, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, and Venue by 4M where usually record this. 1. Sweet Sixteen Vibes Starts at 1:00 Oh hey! We didn't expect to be here! Roddy Gayle just made more threes in one game than during Michigan's entire Big Ten schedule. He has risen from the dead and Michigan out-rebounded the best rebounding team in the country so here we are! Michigan got hosed by the selection committee but made it to the 2nd weekend anyways. Brian 'Roddy Gayles' the sponsor read. Going into next year, Dusty May needs a center and a backup center but should otherwise be set. 2. Men's Basketball vs Texas A&M Starts at 15:26 Nobody expected this game to go the way it did. Michigan started 1-7 on threes and then started hitting a lot of great shots against a top 10 defense. Michigan got a lot of un-contested rebounds which was weird considering that's Texas A&M's thing. Goldin was probably getting more tired than usual, he got pulled early. L.J. Cason was a game-changer in this one, he could be special next year. Why did Nimari only have 13 minutes? All of Goldin's energy went towards rebounding, his performance would've been very memorable if it wasn't eclipsed by Gayle. Just don't pass to Patrick.  3. Hot Takes and Men's Basketball vs UC San Diego Starts at 37:20 Takes hotter than RODDY GAYLE. UC San Diego is such a weird team. Brian still can't pronounce their star's first name who fouled out in 25 minutes. Michigan should've had the bigs dunk at the rim but UCSD defended them well. Roddy Gaye and L.J. Cason played important roles, not quite as big as in the TAMU game. Michigan's shot parity is only -2 which is good enough. If Wolf played better then maybe Michigan walks away from this one. They hit the Kenpom spread exactly. How well will we remember this game years from now?  4. Previewing Men's Basketball vs Auburn Starts at 1:01:34 Michigan has drawn the #1 overall seed in the tournament. Auburn's greatest strength is shot making and are the 2nd best offense in the country (1st is Florida). They have some super seniors from the Covid year. Auburn has a similar Bigs setup to Michigan so they can handle Goldin+Wolf. One of their biggest weaknesses is that they foul a lot. Personnel wise, these teams are very similar and both coaches will likely match each other. Jahki Howard might be the worst teammate in the country. Auburn will want revenge against Danny Wolf after last year's Yale game. Everyone was watching the Michigan game on Thursday since most of the first round games were uneventful. This Auburn offense is 8 efficiency points better than the 2013 Michigan offense.  MUSIC: "Where Do We Go From Here"—Charles Bradley "Monstera Escalito"—Ciao Ciao Marigold "What do You Like"—Tommy Richman “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

Things Discussed: Michigan wins Big Ten Tournament, it doesn't matter for seeding, and then the get the strongest 12-seed in the history of Kenpom. UC San Diego preview: They figured out how to deal with a 7-footer in the third game against UC Irvine, the other good team in their conference of California state schools plus Hawai'i, but they haven't faced two 7-footers. Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones is their major usage guy who might end up having to play a lot of center because Nordin Kapic, their nominal big, is a 6'8"/245 stretch. PG Hayden Gray has the #1 steal rate in the country, and this is part from him harassing you from all angles all over the court, and part playing in a league of teams with bad handles. Need a plan for getting upcourt and warning when he's coming. Seeding: Proof that the Committee just needs to go, because they're trying to talk Kenpom now instead of rewarding seasons. Just use Wins Above Bubble like they do (with Pairwise) in hockey. Sam thinks they way overvalued nonconference games, which hosed Michigan given the context of Michigan's losses; some two-way thinking went on where close losses in the nonconference are a big deal but close wins in-conference are luck. The explanations offered up by the UNC AD were not inspiring. He was trying to make math cases but the guy is clearly illiterate in terms of math. Seth thinks they were trying to make a bracket instead of a field, using their own limited understandings of matchup stats to give top seeds easier paths, even though that's explicitly not what their job is. Evidence: they were talking about things like wins against Iowa State when their best player was out not counting as much. That's terrible. Round 2? Brian thinks Yale can beat A&M who can't shoot. They're the Iowa of basketball: they rely on Cooper DeJean returns. Seth thinks A&M rebounds too well and they always manage to hit stupid shots in the last minute. Nobotdy thinks we're getting past Auburn and Johni Broome, a point forward whose TO rate is 8. Louisville doing us a favor in Lexington? Chucky Hepburn isn't beating Auburn. How far is MSU going? "Cakewalk to Final 4" what? Auburn as well, unless ISU beats them, but their injuries are too much to overcome. Rooting for the Young Martellis (that's a 30-point spread). Remembering Giddy Potts. Theory: MSU has too many centers for Izzo. That's a great thing in the Big Ten where Our brackets? SEC-heavy. Florida, Auburn, Alabama…I mean I want to root for Houston but I hate their draw of upset specials and their slow pace that invites it.

1 Hour and 19 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1: What Happened Last Weekend?   Opener Old Friends and Around the League Pairwise Rankings and Rooting Interests Who Might Go Where Segment 2: Stick Ball Sports and the NHL   He Said/She Said Hardball Rundown Softball Catchup NHL Chit-Chat   MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "Praying For A Miracle" -- Dan Sartain Ice Hockey (NES) theme

1 hour and 28 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, the Autograph: Fandom Rewarded app, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, and Venue by 4M where usually record this. 1. The NCAA Tournament and UC San Diego Starts at 1:00 Michigan is your Big Ten Tournament champions! There was a lot of doom and gloom at the end of the regular season so not many people saw this happening. Michigan might be the most boned team in the tournament draw. Wisconsin is an 18 point favorite against Montana, Michigan is a 3 point favorite over UC San Diego. UCSD is clearly a top 50 team but they can't match up with Michigan's Bigs. Get familiar with the name Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones (in pronunciation and basketball production). The Tritons give up a ton of threes. Yale is a popular upset pick over Texas A&M, TAMU's thing is missing shots but rebounding them. Who would you rather play, TAMU or Yale? That's a tougher question than it would seem. Clearly the results of the Big Ten Tournament don't matter because Michigan is seeded like it didn't happen.  [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]  2. Men's Basketball vs Wisconsin Starts at 32:43 The shooting percentages in this game were... ugly. Wisconsin had good looks but just couldn't hit them. Goldin seemed absolutely gassed this game. L.J. Cason really helped bail out Michigan. Michigan only had eight turnovers! But missed on the boards.  3. Hot Takes and Men's Basketball vs Maryland Starts at 49:43 Takes hotter than your Big Ten Champion Michigan Wolverine Football Basketball team. This is one of the worst officiating games we can remember. Roddy Gayle had a great game... and MADE A THREE. He only had nine points but that level of production is what Michigan needs. The final play was a football play in its design.  4. Men's Basketball vs Purdue Starts at 1:14:01 A nice bounce back game that happens from taking care of the ball. Why does everyone want to kick Goldin in the nuts? Purdue gets more goonish when they're tired and they were coming off a tough game against USC. Michigan wasn't turning the ball over and was assisting well for each other, this was the Dusty May team we love to see. Michigan gets the night game on Thursday and will be played at 5,280 feet. Please fly over right now and get acclimated, you're invited to sleep on my couch (IT'S A NICE COUCH, SETH). It may be a 50/50 chance we preview Auburn next week.  MUSIC: "Take This Job And Shove It"—Johnny Paycheck "F*ck You"—CeeLo Green "MUTT"—Leon Thomas “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

SKLARS TONIGHT Mark Ridley's Comedy Castle in Royal Oak. Show's at 7:30, doors at 6:30, VICTORS books for sale and signing after the show. HOT TAKES segment during the show if enough MGoBlog fans are there. Tickets. Things Discussed: Basketball big picture: they're a good team, though they've been more of a 10-seed than a 4-seed since January because they hit their ceiling. Strategy has stagnated but tactics are good, wins close games. Take Michigan in the 1st round vs a 12 or 13 because they won't have someone who can stop Vlad. Tre Donaldson needs to play better—ball is getting stuck in Wolf's hands, also Tre's defense has fallen off. Cason? Very high upside: defensive athleticism, #1 on the team at getting himself to the rack, shooting is just bad luck—big difference between his shots that circle the rim and Gayle's shots that barely touch it. But he's not going to be ready this year. During break: Craig uses the F-word. Is something wrong with Tre Holloman? Seth: If that guy played for us we'd love him. MSU floor-kissing: mostly nothing. Seth believes the rule should be whoever wins gets the midcourt/midfield logo. That game was over. Women's basketball: Michigan's playing five guards, the game has gotten much better, incredible what KBA did after her roster was gutted by the portal. They can stick with anyone in the country. Hockey: Need help. No bid stealers. Comfortable that one of the many Big Ten and Hockey East at-large teams will win their tournaments, need Arizona State to go out, need Quinnipiac to go out early enough not to pass Michigan or win their bid. Naurato: This won't be a problem again. What does he mean? Maybe he's going to raid Canada.

1 Hour and 33 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1: Defense? What Defense?   Opener Puck Mismanagement So Many Goals for Everyone That OT Call Segment 2: No Bounceback Whatsoever   What Even Happened? Did You Expect That? Old Friends and Around the League Is There A Chance? Pairwise and Predictions   MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "Sports" -- Beach Bunny Ice Hockey (NES) theme

Sklars performing at Mark Ridley's in Royal Oak this Thursday at 7:30PM (doors open at 6:30) tickets: Supersklars.com We will be there having drinks with copies of VICTORS to sign after the show. If you can't make a weeknight they're performing 2 shows on Friday and Saturday night. 1 hour and 10 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, the Autograph: Fandom Rewarded app, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, and Venue by 4M where usually record this. 1. Men's Basketball at Michigan State Starts at 1:00 We still have to do a podcast. Dave went to go enjoy the weather instead. This game was over in the first half. 3/24 on threes is not good! Last year's team would've given up at halftime, this team at least fought back a little. What has this team improved upon since their trip to California? Michigan doesn't have a guard that can generate offense. We thought a lot of these transfers would've turned a corner by now. This team still exceeded expectations for the season, the way they got there was just not how we expected. There's the potential for Michigan to not win another game this season.   2. Men's Basketball vs Maryland Starts at 21:11 This game was similar to the Michigan State game in that Danny Wolf and Vlad Goldin were the only ones scoring. Maryland got to play a Maryland game and Michigan didn't have a plan.  3. Lukewarm Takes and Hockey vs Penn State Starts at 32:11 Just some lukewarm takes this week. Go see the Sklars in Ann Arbor this Thursday-Saturday! Hockey is now just 42% to make the tournament after getting swept by Penn State. Root for Western Michigan, Denver, and Quinnipiac. Friday's game was pretty fun at least! Despite giving up bad goals. It didn't feel like a super talented roster. Imagine if Michigan got goalie Trey Augustine instead of Michigan State. Goal-tending was unclear going into the season and seems like it will continue to be unclear.  4. Football Spring Practice Starts at 57:47 Spring practice starts soon! Is Bryce Underwood already the guy? Running backs have a top two, it's a battle for #3. Will the offensive line look similar to last year? There are some lower level transfers coming in but offensive linemen can flourish in the right system. Please hype up a wide receiver. Hopefully the two transfer defensive tackles come through. They'll be fine but it's still a huge downgrade. Cornerback will be an interesting position, we want to hear that Jyaire Hill is rounding the corner. How is Rod Moore's health? Who's the punter?? MUSIC: "Lie In The Gutter"—Peel Dream Magazine "Dollar Store"—Ben Kellar ft. Waxahatchee "Mr. Chill"—Friendship “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

Things Discussed: They say I look like Mick Foley? I don't see it. Maryland: Vlad has to make >50% from two or you can't lose the shot disparity by ten, but you can't have both. Lots of mental lapses: Vlad on defensive boards, Wolf has 4 turnovers on 5 possessions, then Tre does something similar. Teams do things well. Illinois put on a clinic of what they do: spread it out, shoot a lot, and rebound bricks vs your guards. Maryland put on a clinic of what they do: Queen and Reece block a lot of shots and they get you switched onto matchups to dominate you in the paint, with their guards hitting threes off the dribble at critical times. What does Michigan do? We had Area 50-1 but when teams adjusted to that we didn't have the next thing. It could be Wolf shooting pullup twos, it could be something else, but Michigan hasn't adjusted to the adjustment to them. Maybe they can't? Maybe they haven't had time because they've played every 3 days since January. Sometimes you just aren't good at the thing you have to do to punish the adjustment. Maryland kept Michigan in the game by taking a lot of midrange shots. Vlad isn't a hedge and recover defensive threat. You're limited by your team. Can Donaldson be a true PG? His turnovers are kind of lazy perimeter passes; he's got more than he's given. Can be the guy who hits the big shots; Ja'Kobi Gillespie did that to Michigan when they were coming back. Can they play a 3-man game in the middle? Think that was the plan if they had Walters. Craig: Go look at the workout tape for Tevis Metcalf, the younger brother. He says it's jaw-dropping. Is Wolf a 1st round pick? Probably, because he's got a weird skill. Question isn't whether he'll be a better player if he returns; it's whether he'll be a better NBA prospect, and he's probably not.

1 Hour and 20 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1: Low Event and OT Opener Nothing Happens Alternating Goals Finally, a 3x3 loss Segment 2: Almost Collapse Dominating Hockey Five Minute Review Old Friends and Around the League Ice Lions Again!   MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "Plant the Flag" -- Abronia Ice Hockey (NES) theme

GoFundMes to support victims of the fires in LA who are part of the MGoBlog community: General Fund. Reader's mother-in-law Anne Cohen. Reader Chef Robert. Reader Josh Bishop-Moser. Reader Mike on behalf of Mika Yoshitake & daughter Sora. Readers Liberty and Mark. 1 hour and 21 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, the Autograph: Fandom Rewarded app, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, and Venue by 4M where usually record this. 1. Men's Basketball vs Illinois Starts at 1:00 Michigan was asking for a game like this after the last couple months, you can't give up 19 offensive rebounds in a game and expect to win. Illinois got 9 more shots than Michigan and their young guys went off. Vlad Goldin was the only one who was getting an advantage. Danny Wolf is officially in a funk, this likely doesn't affect his draft stock. Michigan might be a popular pick to get upset in the first round of the tournament. They're fading down the stretch and not getting better in a lot of departments, especially rebounding.  [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]  2. Men's Basketball vs Michigan State Starts at 23:06 This was a "make your shots" game, Michigan State hit their shots. Also Michigan had an 11 shot deficit. Michigan now has a worse 3-point shooting percentage than Michigan State. Roddy Gayle has not hit a three-pointer since January, nobody is covering him anymore and that extra player is guarding the paint. Tre Donaldson might've had his worst game.  3. Hot Takes and Men's Basketball vs Rutgers & Nebraska Starts at 34:06 Takes hotter than yours truly after the 19th Illinois offensive rebound. These two games were polar opposites in what basketball is. Michigan had poor shooting and looked tired after the Michigan State game. The three-point shooting has come down tremendously. Seth thinks the worse three point shooting is mostly random except for Roddy Gayle, opposing defenses can always plan for Roddy not being able to shoot. For one half, Rutgers was the greatest basketball team in the world, then it came crashing back to Earth. Is it time for L.J. Cason to play more? Sometimes he looks great and sometimes he doesn't box out at all. Vlad Goldin is just not a passer in the paint. Who would you take for free throws to win the game, Roddy Gayle or Nimari Burnett? 4. Hockey vs Ohio State Starts at 1:10:08 Michigan steals four points from Ohio State and has their tournament percentage up to 85%. Michigan hosts Penn State in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament but Penn State is playing very hot at the end of this season. The "It gets worse" call is now legendary. Win this upcoming series and you're in, get swept and... you might still be in.  MUSIC: "You Don't Know The Shape I'm In"—MJ Lenderman "Loser"—Jerry Garcia "Whip Appeal"—Babyface “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

Things Discussed: MBB's shooting woes: they're at 27% going back to the last Rutgers game, Roddy Gayle is 1/24 in the Big Ten. It's a cascade: missed threes are creating runouts and Michigan has a massive difference between their transition defense (324th in the country) and their half-court defense (18th). Sam: Roddy's making them in practice. Tre Donaldson was their guy to get "bad buckets" but we think that opponents are taking even those away by packing the paint. Seth: Rutgers is a get-right opportunity because they'll need to help down low and that should create looks. RU preview: Dylan Harper is back, needs to be doubled. Their centers are two freshmen and a JuCo who was ruled out for the season at one point. Michigan's defense in the half-court has been really good, but MSU was getting a ton of offensive rebounds. Craig thinks that was mostly Vlad, and that there was an improvement against Nebraska. Also issues with the guards not boxing out MSU athletes. Will be critical against Rutgers. Dusty May retained: IU people are like "he didn't do a good job negotiating." Brian: I wouldn't be surprised if May's the Michigan basketball coach ten years from now. He turned down Louisville too; Michigan is his vibe. Sam: Where's Dusty in the conference now? Seth: the money isn't the matter. What's interesting is they mentioned NIL and program support, and then we heard from TMI's interview with Warde Manuel that 25% of the House settlement's $20.5 M is going to men's and women's basketball (don't worry; football can make money in other ways). That's a lot for a school like Michigan. It tells you what Dusty's priority was: he wants quality of life, and a commitment to being a basketball school. Is Michigan tired? Craig says kids don't get tired. Seth says Officiating talk part 1: Paul Szelc is the only ref to ever T up both John Beilein and Dusty May. What was the technical for? Sam heard it's for waving him off, but Szelc was 65 feet away on the other end of the court and Dusty was making the sign for a goaltend (he was correct). Incredible that this happens when Izzo is hurling abuse at them all game. Seth: Paul Szelc has conclusively demonstrated he's not going to give Michigan a fair shake, and should not be assigned Michigan games anymore, end of story. Officiating talk part 2: The awful replay rule got more awful because they can't call an obvious foul they missed that caused the ball to go out of bounds, so now their only option on review is to make the call worse. How is this not fixed when everyone has hated this rule since 2018. At the very least give the officials an option to wave off the review because they missed a call. It's absurd that we spend this much dead time to make the game worse. Baseball: lost some close ones, by 2 runs to potential #1 Arkansas and their 14-to-1 walk ratio at TCU was "suspicious" to Craig. Hockey: 11th in the Pairwise, so close to the Bubble. They're 70% to make the Tourney, finish regular season at #10 Ohio State and should get a home series vs PSU if they get points off OSU this weekend. Future: next year unknown because they're being quiet and might make a big splash from the CHL. The big class arrives in 2026-27.

1 Hour and 41 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1: Scores, Standings, Pairwise   Opener Old Friends and the League Last Look at Ohio State Segment 2: Professional Wolverines   NHL Regulars Fringe NHLers Minor Leaguers   MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "Memories" -- Thutmose Ice Hockey (NES) theme

Things Discussed: We believe MSU is likely planting diseases in Brian's kid's school. Michigan State preview: They can't shoot; they're 354th (I was wrong on the pod) out of 364 teams in 3P%. But caveat: Jase Richardson can shoot and has been playing more, Frankie Fiddler career-wise can shoot, Fears is at 35% and Kohler is at 34%. It's Hollomon and Carr and Akins who give them that profile, but when only one is on the court they're fine. They are physical. Purdue is physical too but MSU is that and DIRTY. MSU vs Purdue: great coaching job. Strategy was switching, throwing guard after guard on Braden Smith, getting the Purdue backcourt trapped down low and running on rebounds. Also got Breslin calls on Trey Kaufman-Renn. Szymon Zapala is the dirtiest player to come through the Big Ten since Brad Davison and whinier than his coach. MSU's process involves getting called (Zapala has 6 fouls/40) but they roll four-deep a the five when you include Kohler. Key: Do not turn the ball over against MSU. They're excellent in transition, in the half-court vs zone they have to take pullup 2s and go for rebounds. Tschetter's rapid elbow: he knew the head was there. By the way: change the wedgie rule. Wedgie should be defense's ball OOB. Sam gonna die on the hill that Bill Laimbeer was a "physical" player. He was dirty. Seth's quick study on teams that get more home calls (based on the idea that it's normal to get about 1 free throw per missed shot at the rim vs top-100 competition, and teams get about 10% more fouls at home): Purdue gets the worst whistle in the league, Michigan is 2nd, MSU gets the best whistle and at home it's off the charts. Does Dusty need to work the refs better? I think he just needs to get to know them better. Michigan strategy vs State: Wolf needs to take advantage of Kohler, Goldin needs to give it back to Zapala. Illinois? They shoot a lot of threes and go for rebounds. Craig's Baseball update: They're very good! 4-0 with an extra innings win vs #2 Virginia and wins vs Rice, Villanova and Stetson in the Puerto Rico Challenge. Jonathan Kim and Mitch Voight are hammering the ball, getting great pitching from Gavin DeVooght, David Lally and Kurt Barr, who've given up zero ER in 17-1/3 innings. Next is TCU, KSU, and Arkansas in Arlington.

1 Hour and 33 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1: Overtime Winner   Opener More Lack of Scoring Korpi to Stein and Goals Overtime Power Play Segment 2: Shootout Winner   Early Period Goals Cocaine OT and Shootout Old Friends and the League Four Nations Opinions   MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "Overtime" -- Cash Cash Ice Hockey (NES) theme

GoFundMes to support victims of the fires in LA who are part of the MGoBlog community: General Fund. Reader's mother-in-law Anne Cohen. Reader Chef Robert. Reader Josh Bishop-Moser. Reader Mike on behalf of Mika Yoshitake & daughter Sora. Readers Liberty and Mark. 1 hour and 42 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, the Autograph: Fandom Rewarded app, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, and Venue by 4M where usually record this. 1. Men's Basketball at Ohio State Starts at 1:00 Bienvenue! Recorded remotely this week because Seth’s 19 year old ski boots exploded. Michigan wins a defense-optional shootout, they rebounded half their misses which ended up being the difference (Ohio State just couldn’t out-rebound Goldin and Wolf). There’s a big difference between Goldin being the role guy and Tschetter being the role guy, so why did Goldin only get 24 minutes? Officiating in this game and how it relates to the Bo Ryan era. Don’t elbow someone in the head but also don’t put your head into someone’s elbow. Roddy Gayle returns to Columbus and silences the boos out of timeouts. Stop missing dunks. Neither team got a double digit lead, the game was tense the whole time.  [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]  2. Men's Basketball vs Purdue Starts at 24:50 Michigan avenges a terrible loss to become co-favorites to win the Big Ten. Braden Smith plays an insane 12 minutes to open the game for Purdue, making the first half extra frustrating. His mid-range shots weren’t even bad shots, necessarily. Rubin Jones and Roddy Gayle combined for 20 points and played excellent, annoying defense. They came through in a way that was required to win this game. Michigan shoots below their season 3-point average but only had 11 turnovers. They also got to the line a lot (off of some calls that weren’t great). Caleb Furst should’ve fouled out in the first six minutes! The physicality of the Big Ten is more than Dusty May realized. Purdue had zero bench points.  3. Hot Takes and Hockey vs Minnesota Starts at 49:12 Takes hotter than Michigan basketball in a three point game. Michigan gets slightly more than a split against Minnesota which decently increases their NCAA tournament chances. A split with Ohio State and a first round win in the Big Ten Tournament should do it. Minnesota was out-shooting Michigan 12-2 to start the game on Saturday, not great! Welcome back, Michael Hage. Tyler Duke played a nice game when everyone else was gassed. Bye week upcoming so we won’t know much about tournament chances for a while.  4. Tournament Outlooks Starts at 1:16:40 Men’s basketball is now projected to win the Big Ten but Wisconsin is looming with the easier schedule. Purdue and Michigan State both finish with a gauntlet. Of Michigan’s last six games, four or five of them will be against tournament teams. Finishing 3-3 could maybe be enough to win a share of the Big Ten and get a banner. It’s been a while since it’s come down to Michigan and Michigan State down the stretch. Torvik has Michigan jumping between 3 and 4 seeds, which takes win margin into account. Hockey is projected to play Penn State in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament. They’re now 80% to make the NCAA tournament but everyone ahead of them in the Pairwise rankings is pretty much a lock. The worst tournament in sports is suddenly in Michigan’s favor! There’s a regional in Toledo but Michigan probably doesn’t go there. Shout out to Hockey Bear.  MUSIC: "Real Life"—The Marias "MUTT"—Leon Thomas "THE BADDEST"—Joey Valence and Brae “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

Things Discussed: Ohio State hires Matt Patricia: Brian: He'll have a Wile E. Coyote year with Caleb Downs but he's not a good coach. He does have a weird beard though. Seth if the idea is to capture what Michigan got in Wink Martindale they forgot the part where he invented the defense that Michigan runs. Craig: Nothing in his resume shows he's a good coach. Purdue game: Michigan had to try at least four defenses against Braden Smith to wear that guy out, finally got Danny Wolf to work. Seth: the zone was the most effective because it was forcing him into even worse stepbacks. But Braden Smith, gotdang is that a good basketball player. Gives them a floor for every shot of 0.9 points per possession. Physicality: Caleb Furst and Trey Kaufman-Renn brought it, Vlad got chewed out but then he gave it back. Michigan: Massive effort, especially early from Tre Donaldson who led the first comeback by getting ball-dominant. Officiating? Craig takes the side of Szelc. Seth says it was bad; they let them play way too physically early on and then switched it up, which is how you get both of Purdue's forwards fouling out late after getting away with a ton early. Players hate inconsistency the most. Recognition for Roddy Gayle and Rubin Jones. Roddy filled the box score, can play the role of a secondary creator much better than the role of a fourth offensive option/spacer. You want him starting possessions not ending them. Shooting from either? Roddy's shot is broken—that high arc makes it travel further which means he's effectively shooting at a smaller target. That needs an offseason. Jones's shot looks fine; he's just got to keep taking them and playing as hard as he did. Dusty "inspiring" Vlad leads to two hard takes over TKR where he used his size advantage. Need that from Goldin. Dusty May's future: Brian thinks the pressure cooker in Bloomington with similar resources as Michigan makes Michigan the better job, but we all agree Michigan has to make an Indiana-level investment to keep him. At the outtro: congrats to Kim Barnes-Arico: the winningest basketball coach in the history of the University of Michigan.

1 Hour and 24 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1: BAD...but Lucky!   Opener Power Play Goals Korpi Wins It Is That Enough? Segment 2: Friday But More State Goals   Korpi Hangs On For 30 The Dam Breaks Old Friends and the League Gopher Redux MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "Get Ready For This" -- 2 Unlimited Ice Hockey (NES) theme

GoFundMes to support victims of the fires in LA who are part of the MGoBlog community: General Fund. Reader's mother-in-law Anne Cohen. Reader Chef Robert. Reader Josh Bishop-Moser. Reader Mike on behalf of Mika Yoshitake & daughter Sora. Readers Liberty and Mark. 1 hour and 28 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, the Autograph: Fandom Rewarded app, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, and Venue by 4M where usually record this. 1. Dusty May Talk Starts at 1:00 Welcome to the Plodcast. This game had the awkward undertones of Mike Woodson getting "fired" and Indiana wanting to hire Dusty May. What's a better job, Indiana or Michigan? Indiana is home for Dusty but there's also a lot of pressure there. If Michigan needed the money to match, they could get it. He did turn down the Louisville job so maybe the biggest thing that would bring Dusty May back to Indiana is that his mom still lives in Bloomington.  [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]  2. Men's Basketball vs Indiana Starts at 22:30 Once again it is the story of the season where Michigan gets a big lead and then suddenly looks like they forgot how to play basketball. Kenpom said Michigan would win by four so maybe we're overexaggerating. They've gone from a top 10 team to a top 25 team, so a 5-6 seed in the tournament. The turnover margin between the most turnovers and the fewest in the Big Ten is only four turnovers. Three point shooting was extremely frustrating. Gayle is driving to the basketball when he should be shooting a 3. Screwing up the foul on Goldin really hurt Michigan. Nimari Burnett's shooting percentages have simply fallen back down to earth.  3. Hot Takes and Men's Basketball vs Oregon Starts at 41:22 Takes hotter than the Indiana fanbase when Dusty May spikes a three hundred million dollar offer in their faces and says "I'm a Michigan man forever, babyyyy". Another game where Michigan had a double digit lead that they almost blew! Roddy Gayle got to the line a lot but also traveled enough that John Beilein would've ripped his esophagus out. Will Tschetter had a nice game and led the team in scoring. The bench players aren't quite ready and that's okay. Is Supreme Cook the best version of Brian?  4. Michigan Hockey vs Michigan State Starts at 1:13:28 Michigan picks up a split against the #2 team in Pairwise, getting one win was the best possible scenario. Both games were about the same but Michigan State actually scored in the second game. Michigan is a team of just guys. Nobody really pops besides Hage. The WWE aspect of these games in the 3rd period against Michigan State has become a bit much. Michigan has a 70% projected chance of making the field, which feels great right now. Is the most boring Michigan hockey team in memory? This isn't a bad team, they're just not the team last year that booted Michigan State out of the tournament. Pre-season expectation was to hopefully make the tournament and that hasn't changed. MUSIC: "Aston Martin Music"—Rick Ross "Waiting For The Bells"—Joel Alme "Vines"—Cameron Winter “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

Things Discussed: Signing Day: Got the most talent on offense since…1998? Down the list: OL: Two of the highest-ranked OTs in the history of the program, Gach was a Priority 1 for the program, Strayhorn is a center. RB: Jasper Parker the sites just missed; poorer man's Adrian Peterson. M thinks DJ is healthy. WR: Marsh was a big pull vs heavy hitters, Year 1 player. Browder needs development but Junior Hemingway upside. Washington is tall and can move well. TE: Owens is a Bredeson, really hurts that they missed on Olesh. DL: We love the heavy-handed build-a-bears that Esposito recruits. Remember his WMU guys? Moten and Patterson are going to be those guys too. Lou is convinced Benny Patterson is the guy. Kanka is a Godin. Marshall was a Priority and a big win. Can't expect them to get the scouting coup of the century with Graham and Grant every year but they can scout and now they can win the guys they scouted. Basketball: Every guy is good with a tradeoff, and that tradeoff is turnovers, e.g. look at the defense that Roddy Gayle (and Pippen) played on Ace Bailey. Rutgers: We got a break by missing Harper, who just shredded Illinois. Oregon game: the mental errors are baked in at this point, like they're not going to score at the rim as well as you want them to. Also baked in is the fact that they switch everything and play drop coverage, so your Shelstad types who make 50%+ of other twos after attacking a Goldin or Wolf are going to score. Sugarplum vision of a top-3 seed and winning the B10 is probably gone. All but one of their remaining games (all but Rutgers at home) are Kenpom A (top-50) tier, IE Q1 opportunities.

GoFundMes to support victims of the fires in LA who are part of the MGoBlog community: General Fund. Reader's mother-in-law Anne Cohen. Reader Chef Robert. Reader Josh Bishop-Moser. Reader Mike on behalf of Mika Yoshitake & daughter Sora. Readers Liberty and Mark. 1 hour and 9 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, the Autograph: Fandom Rewarded app, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, and Venue by 4M where usually record this. 1. Men's Basketball vs Rutgers Starts at 1:00 Brian returns after a week (or two) of trying not to die ala ice and norovirus. The Rutgers game was a weird game of two offensive-oriented teams not scoring much. Rutgers has 15 more shots than Michigan and still loses due to poor shooting. Michigan did a great job defending Ace Bailey. Rubin Jones made a two! Rutgers likely won't make the tournament but this was still a solid road win. Tre Donaldson is averaging 1.7 fouls per game, can't just pull him with two fouls. Things feel bad but Michigan has a tournament bid pretty much locked up if they stay the course.  2. Men's Basketball vs Penn State and Purdue Starts at 21:34 Penn State is the most Clingon team in college basketball. Tre Donaldson was the hero with 21 points, also the Vlad Goldin "empty tubes" game. Only nine turnovers was a great improvement against a team that forces a bunch of turnovers. Speaking of poop, the Purdue game! This was not a game from the start. Michigan can't handle Purdue's pace and then the second half is just coasting home for both teams. Every Michigan coach has to get their head caved in by Painter once. It was discombobulating to see Michigan so discombobulated. The final stretch of this schedule is a gauntlet, they're all quad 1 games (besides maybe Rutgers). If Michigan finishes .500 they'll be fine.  3. Football Stuff Starts at 41:23 Ross Dellenger got a leak of a portion of Michigan's NCAA response. Michigan is taking the route that the allegations are unsupported and should be level 2 allegations. In the past they've laid down and taken it for allegations. All the released texts about Connor Stalions within the program almost sound like they're annoyed with him. The portal has been pretty quiet recently, this might be it for the incoming wide receivers. All signs point towards Ty Haywood coming to Michigan. The NIL values you see are probably made up.  4. Michigan Hockey vs Penn State Starts at 56:09 Michigan is down to 14th in Pairwise and on the bubble. The remaining games are the hardest part of the schedule so they need to go at least 3-3 to try and get into the tournament. This is such a frustrating team to watch. In some years, the Michigan defense can do spectacular things while making mistakes, this year they just make mistakes. They're running out of time to figure stuff out.  MUSIC: "Alaska"—Maggie Rogers "Help Me"—Joni Mitchell "Don't Dream It's Over"—Crowded House “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

Things Discussed: Mostly we discussed the Dellinger Leak and Michigan's response to the NCAA re: Signgate. I'll have a UV later today on it. Michigan has a very—extremely—strong case that they did very little wrong. Most of the in-person scouting was for teams not on their schedule, all of the evidence for a coverup is flimsy: Sherrone deleted texts: Only off his phone, because he knew they had imaging, those were provided to the NCAA, and they were completely innocuous. Mike Hart was told that Stalions was "extra" which: yeah. That's it! That's all the evidence! Most of the report is just a glimpse into how sign operations worked—Stalions was sharing signs with Rutgers and Nebraska, who just used wristbands when they played Michigan. It also showed just how marginal sign-decoding was: Sherrone was told to change his signs before Ohio State and said he'll "think about it," Partridge yelled at Stalions about trying to use a team manager, etc. It has a name! Signal organization stupid thing, or S.O.S.T. NCAA's position is basically "We know we broke our bylaws and this isn't remotely just, but we need to humiliate you because look how mad all the Bielemas are." Michigan has requested a prehearing because the NCAA has at least one in-house source that refused to be identified, which we've just now learned is apparently against NCAA bylaws. No idea if the COI has to grant that prehearing The process is meant to be collaborative; it completely breaks down when the two sides have entirely different realities and goals. That's a big problem for Michigan because the NCAA's purpose here isn't to be reasonable or just. The fear here is NCAA's main motivation is relevance; they can't do anything about paying players, which has been their raison d'être, so this is the one field where they can demonstrate any kind of power. Legal challenge? Seems they'll go that route if things proceed as they seem to be. Guessing that's what the NCAA wants so they can placate the Bielemas by saying "it was the courts, not us." Seth: don't underestimate the difficulty of winning this case in court. Like the Tony Petitti thing, when it's not about constitutionality or the law, courts often default to whatever the agreement between parties is, and Michigan's agreed to be under NCAA judgment whether it's fair or not. With Tennessee: 1) It was their attorney general flexing power on behalf of the only thing his state cares about, which isn't who Dana Nessel is or how Michigan politics work, and 2) that was about paying players, which got into a constitutionality issue of denying the free trade of services. Guess how it plays out: NCAA goes overboard, Michigan takes them to court, court takes a long time, and when it's settled nobody cares because it's been too long and we all have more important things going on. Story Time: Just like 1928! Non-S.O.S.T. thing: Jim Knowles off to PSU for a lot of money! What does it mean? It means anyone who can is getting away from Ohio State fans.

1 Hour and 23 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1: Watchalong Collapse   Opener Scored Goals! Blown Lead #1 PK, Outshot, Goalie-ing Segment 2: Saturday Collapse   Gramme's Got Free Stuff Another 2 Goal Blown Lead, but the Extra Point! Old Friends and the League PSU Again   MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "Somebody's Watching Me" -- Rockwell Ice Hockey (NES) theme

Watch Party: Basketball and Hockey tomorrow night.    Things Discussed: Lions: You can't hurt me. Oh they lost—we lost the DPOY and everyone else on the starting defense. They're taking our coordinators—when's the last time a Lions coordinator left for a head coaching job? Wink to Lions? Sounds like he's a tertiary candidate, most of the positions looking at him have been filled. Why aren't OSU's coaches candidates for better jobs? Brian Hartline only. Sam: Pro position coaches don't make more than college anymore (except Jim paid his guys to come with him); you go pro to get away from recruiting. Coordinators don't recruit as much anymore. Sherrone does a lot of the recruiting himself. If no Wink: the "internal" candidate is Doug Mallory. Les Miles's old coordinator, has recruited the SEC. Called the coverages vs OSU 2021-2023, called the coverages in the national championship. Waiting as DB coach for Ravens but might be the rare guy (older, played for Bo) who would retire here. Sam adds they'd be able to elevate someone to a "co-." Danger of losing Wink is he might pluck some of his guys. Good news is he's probably not going anywhere right now. Staff is pretty intact. Would like to establish some long-term guys. Wanted Elston to stay forever. Want OL recruits to be recruited 2 years by the guy who will coach them 4 years and still be here when they come back to visit in 4 years. Pantsless Championship: They want to call a 14-2 season the best ever? They're the worst champions ever. They went 1-1 against Oregon who had a better season. They lost their most important game, at home to Michigan. The commemorative ball has all the game scores on it. Sam's buying it. Playoff system: Can you imagine designing a system where Michigan and Ohio State are both happy at the end of the year? Hoops: Teams are learning to take away the roll. Minnesota game was a bit of a fluke—Goldin went 4/13 at the rim when he's been the best finisher in the B10 for the last month—but Northwestern went all in on it. Need to find ways to punish that, either with Wolf following Goldin into the lane or shooting an open three. Goldin: quietly Michigan's best player lately, despite 4/13. His threes open up the offense vs teams like Northwestern and their paint-bound truck driver. Purdue: Will be a different challenge because TKR can switch. Need defense to show up.

1 Hour and 18 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1: Friday Night Points!   Opener That Goal Fighting Back TJ Hughes Talk Segment 2: Saturday Night at Munn   Down in a Big Hole Non-Gameplay Discussion Old Friends and the League Badger Rematch MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "On Melancholy Hill" -- The Gorillaz Ice Hockey (NES) theme

GoFundMes to support victims of the fires in LA: https://gofund.me/79ecde48h https://www.gofundme.com/f/ysggb https://gofund.me/79ecde48 https://www.gofundme.com/f/liberty-mark-need-our-help?attribution_id=sl:bdeebeeb-00cf-4385-9fae-567d43bae218&utm_campaign=fp_sharesheet&utm_medium=customer&utm_source=copy_link  1 hour and 29 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, the Autograph: Fandom Rewarded app, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, and Venue by 4M where usually record this. 1. Football Portal Starts at 1:00 Find out which MGoPodcaster almost ran over Craig. Michigan picks up UMass wide receiver Anthony Simpson from the portal, hopefully he can be Drew Dileo. They also get Louisiana cornerback Caleb Anderson, he played injured last year so his PFF grades weren't terrific. He's a great tackler. OT Ty Haywood has de-committed from Alabama and was set to visit Michigan over the weekend. Apparently he wanted early play time. Cade McNamara has committed to ETSU. Ohio State and Notre Dame is not a meteor game, the choice here is obvious!  2. Men's Basketball vs Minnesota Starts at 17:47 Lack of toughness was not the issue! Minnesota hit 50% from mid-range which was the difference between OT and a Michigan win, they usually don't make these shots. The Gophers also changed their lineup quite significantly. Nimari Burnett was held in check (and was in foul trouble), Roddy Gayle was having an off game as well. Giving up 71 points in regulation to Minnesota is concerning. Need Will Tschetter to be able to put up 6-8 points per game.  3. Hot Takes and Hockey vs Michigan State Starts at 37:22 Considering Michigan State is currently #1 in the country, getting some points over the weekend is nice. Michigan is giving up a lot of goals in the five-hole. They were was able to hang with #1 MSU but there is a skill gap, Michigan doesn't have a dynamic skater and is playing a lot of freshmen. There were three penalties in Yost on Friday and 21(!) in Munn on Saturday. TJ Hughes has 10 points in six games, How should Michigan approach player development moving forward? Need to win three of the next four.  4. Men's Basketball vs Northwestern Starts at 1:05:35 Attending this game in person was torture because you can't even see what they're reviewing. Can't have your foot too close to the jingle jangles. Goldin is 9 of 16 on threes! He needs to wear a cup or something. Is this Michigan's first game this season where they had fewer turnovers than the opposition? The offense needs to diversify because opposing defenses are collapsing on the center and Wolf has been having issues. Is Tre Donaldson or Roddy Gayle the answer? Gotta respect Chris Collins for having a competitive team every year. Purdue is smaller than we're used to seeing but playing them at Mackey is a tall order.  MUSIC: "Trouble"—Father John Misty "Never Ending Math Equation"—Sun Kil Moon "One Of These Days"—Michigander “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

Things Discussed: Hoops: We are still fascinated by Mick Cronin, even as he turns a top-25 road win into just another bottom-of-the-B1G team. Wolf back next year? Musselman clearly trying to talk NBA into existence, but NBA is listening. Big Ten MBB looks like a Michigan-Michigan State race with Purdue and Illinois on the 2nd tier, though Illinois can beat anybody—they're weird because they rely on the three. Brian: MSU is a better shooting team than they look: Akins is at least, and they hit free throws. Craig: MSU is really good, unbeatable when Izzo can browbeat the refs into letting them be handsy. Counter: they don't take many threes, with three primary players on the court non-shooters: using Jaxon Kohler as a shooter, using Jeremy Fears as a shooter, Xavier Booker as a shooter. Booker is a frustrating guy, more evidence that Izzo doesn't develop guys. It's also weird that Frankie Fidler hasn't been that good, and Calipari turned Johnnell Davis into a bench player. Shoutout to Dusty May, and what he's done with Nimari Burnett. Seth: he's not the 5-star Texas Tech thought they were getting; he's the guy Alabama thought they were getting. It's about anticipation; the game is coming to him so slowly. Brian: He's Bobby Hull! We eat crow for saying the two big lineup won't work—in our defense… https://twitter.com/EvanMiya/status/1879650374128447983 During break: Effort to bring Brandon Graham to Michigan; now he's going to keep playing. The guys do math. Speaking of Eat Crow: Wink Martindale NFL interest? Sam says they'll have to pay him; Seth says someone will because he's too good of an idea for an NFL team: NYG are 28th in DVOA and blitzy/1-high again with out him, meanwhile he's beating OSU with QQH. He's the guy who invented the most popular defense in the league, regardless if people want to claim Mac and Minter's defenses are "Fangio-style." But they're going to have to commit to him: he's not taking a pay cut. Michigan would have to put an extension in front of him as well.

1 Hour and 19 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1: Expected Win   Opener Another Rough Start Taking Control Shutdown Third Segment 2: Goals in 32 Seconds   Where's the Defense? 32 seconds of scoring...twice Old Friends and the League First Look at MSU   MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "Whatever You Say, Say Nothing" -- Makem & Clancy Ice Hockey (NES) theme

1 hour and 32 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, the Autograph: Fandom Rewarded app, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, and Venue by 4M where usually record this. 1. Football Transfer Portal Starts at 1:00 Wwwwwwelcome! To one of the internet's college football podcasts. We can't wait to talk about Mick Cronin. The defensive front seven looks pretty set for next year, now just need a cornerback (which happened after recording). OL Lawrence Hattar transfers in from Ferris State, he will likely move to guard. Still need a tackle but most plug and play guys are off the board. Everyone is nervous about wide receiver, this is problematic because Chip Lindsey wants a balanced attack. They might have to overpay for a receiver at some point. Michigan is good at tight end (unless it's one that looks like a wide receiver). WE HAVE A LONG SNAPPER.  [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]  2. Men's Basketball vs UCLA Starts at 26:22 The win over UCLA is probably not going to look as good by the end of the year. Michigan had an 18 point lead, then was down by 5, then wins by 19 (something similar may have happened under Juwan Howard?). Tre Donaldson has not had to put the team on his back until now. Which Michigan team was the best shooting team? This team is up there. Nimari Burnett has finally found his place. Vlad Goldin with 36 points, and now he's a shooter! Michigan is currently favored in all but two of their remaining games. 3. Hot Takes and Men's Basketball vs Washington Starts at 54:28 Takes hotter than Mick Cronin when somebody did something wrong that's not him. Michigan's bigs get into foul trouble early but collectively pick up one foul in the 2nd half. It was a parade to the basket. Great Osobor is tough to cover for anyone who isn't Goldin. How worried should we be about free throw shooting? Michigan matched their missed two pointers with their offensive rebounds! Michigan's turnover rating on Kenpom is out of the deep blood red (it's still red, just not the worst red). They're the best offense in the country if they can just stop turning the ball over.  4. Hockey vs Notre Dame Starts at 1:19:09 The hope for this team at this point is just to make the tournament. This has been a very good defensive team, giving up three goals in 32 seconds is nearly impossible. Michigan doesn't have top-end talent and especially doesn't have back-end talent. The Big Ten is a tough conference, need to scrap for points where you can. Michigan State got really good really fast.  MUSIC: "Can't You Hear Me Knocking"—The Rolling Stones "Unforgettable"—French Montana "Giving Up"—Michigander “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

Things Discussed: Hoops: Wolf is having a lot more creation put on him than he did at Yale, turnovers can still go down. Danny Wolf NBA hype. Officiating vs UCLA was about the worst we've ever seen: Wolf picks up two awful calls in a row that take him from 2 to 4 fouls. Cronin's presser: It's maybe the most program-destructive one we've ever seen. He's the guy who put a power forward against Vlad Goldin. Man is it going to be easy to recruit against that guy. Hopefully this doesn't break them so badly that this win doesn't stand up. Tre Donaldson star-making trip. Twenty points is his best output of the year, he wasn't even on the court because he got autobenched in the 1st half, maybe that was a good thing because he played the entire 2nd half. Weakness: Michigan needs one more creator: Gayle, Jones, or one of the freshmen, or else they need Tre or Wolf on the court at all times. Nimari Burnett: premier shot absorber. Michigan set up for a Big Ten title run: already 3-0 in their 6 toughest road games. Max Bredeson returns: HUGE. Bigger than Underwood for next year. He's the kind of guy you can build the offense around, need to develop him in the passing game. Portal: Michigan needs to figure out a reciprocity system for athletes like every other school does so you can complete a degree. I don't think it makes us a better academic school—the point of reciprocity in these cases is to let you get a better caliber of grad student by having them finish their undergrads. Playoffs: Craig does it by vibes. A cute exhibition at the end of the season, but it's hard to take this as a national championship when it's a bunch of 2-loss teams. Drew Allar wants to come back and be Hackenberg.

1 Hour and 15 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1: Outdoors, Cold, and Sad   Opener The Fun 30 Minutes The Bad 30 Minutes Korpi and Penalties? Nothing on 5v5? Segment 2: Points, At Least   What a Dreadful Start Clawing Back and OT Old Friends and the League A Preview of South Bend MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "Wrigley" -- Kid Copter, Cremini Jicket, and Morel Dilemma Ice Hockey (NES) theme

2 hours and 2 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, the Autograph: Fandom Rewarded app, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, and Venue by 4M where usually record this. 1. Retrospective Vibes Starts at 1:00 The second funniest game of the season, and our lives. After three first quarter turnovers (plus a turnover on downs) it was about to become frustrating if Michigan lost. What was the low point of the season for you? 19 is a fun number for Bryce Underwood. The defensive performance against Alabama is encouraging for next year, which should be set. Still some work to do on offense. Michigan needs to do a better job at developing relationships with guys hitting the portal.  [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]  2. Offense vs Alabama Starts at 23:58 All things considered the offensive line performance was encouraging. Check Sarah Jessica off your bingo card for this podcast again. Jordan Marshall - Blake Corum comparisons are made. PFF said everyone had solid pass protection except Sprague, but Sprague had the best run blocking. Where does Frederick Moore fit on the depth chart that would make you comfortable? Ben Hall was okay, he was less patient than Marshall. Davis Warren tore his ACL, if he's back in time for Fall camp would he even be an option? Expect the beginning of next season to have Bryce run packages but not be fully deployed.  3. Hot Takes, Defense, Special Teams, and Game Theory vs Alabama Starts at 54:36 Takes hotter than your 15-2 Detroit Lions. Michigan sacked Jalen Milroe 11 times in the year 2024 (six in the Rose Bowl, five in this bowl). Michigan's ends got in the tackles' heads and the blitzes prevented Milroe from escaping up the middle. Credit Wink Martindale for understanding how to coach college kids mid-way through the season. Alabama's run game was relatively non-existent. Bring on analyst Don Brown. Aamir Hall had some Will Johnson-esque plays towards the end of the season. Zvada remains very good. Let's talk about the timeout at the end of the first half. Do you kick that field goal to go up 16-0 or try for a touchdown? Any deviation from 1950s football would've lost this game. 4. Basketball vs USC Starts at 1:34:30 This game was frustrating, sometimes they had it together, then lost it, then fixed it, then didn't. Let's play the game of "did they have more offensive rebounds or misses from two?". Danny Wolf had a superlative game (please don't go to the NFL). The fouling was a bit out of control but that went both ways. Can two teams just agree to fire the refs mid-game and play without them? There are too many Big Ten teams now, we don't want to know about USC. How far do we expect Michigan to go into the tournament now? UCLA forces a lot of turnovers which will be interesting against Michigan. MUSIC: "Can't You Hear Me Knocking"—The Rolling Stones "Unforgettable"—French Montana "Giving Up"—Michigander “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

1 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, the Autograph: Fandom Rewarded app, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, and Venue by 4M where usually record this. 1. Alabama "Preview" Starts at 1:00 Welcome to the utterly meaningless bowl game we are less excited for than any Michigan game before. Now that we're paying the players, shouldn't they be expected to complete the season? Contracts would do that. Is Alabama interested in showing up? They have a few players like Milroe who need to show something. Michigan's offense was bad to begin with so what are they now? Jadyn Davis should play at least. Glorified spring game bits: looking forward to seeing Andrew Sprague, the running backs. [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]  2. Portal: Offense Starts at 19:59 Mikey Keene is a floor, played with Dillon Gabriel (and Chip Lindsay) at UCF so it's not the first time he's been with a talented dual-threat. Thrown a LOT of passes, can loft one downfield, isn't a run threat, was probably a scramble after Billy Edwards didn't want to compete with Bryce. When do you start Bryce, because Game 2 is in Norman and Game 3 is in Lincoln. They got OL Brady Norton who's an addition to the 2023 class, Donaven McCulley we like as that downfield threat. Wanted to see more WRs and a TE and better luck at OL: Josh Thompson chose LSU. 3. Portal: Defense Starts at 43:50 Hot takes segment has ideas for retaining the Outback Bowl legacy. Damon Payne is a very good pickup even though he's not flashy because DTs are a premium position and he's a decent SEC player. Troy Bowles was in a stacked LB room, comp is Hausmann. Metcalfs played at Chip Lindsay's high school in Pinson, Alabama, TJ is a high floor for the safety position and Tevis is a developmental cornerback. Don't have any glaring needs. Discussion of Barham's move to edge—think it's a Jaylen Harrell position thing in the 5-2, which is more about holding the edge than rushing it. Always get a 5th year cornerback, but they can get that on the cheap later in the process. 4. Basketball vs WKU/PFW and Big Ten Outlook Starts at 1:04:48 After the Oklahoma loss that we're STILL MAD about, the threes are falling, which makes this team utterly terrifying. WKU chose not to defend the perimeter, had a lot of injuries, and PFW was also super small up front so those are not great tests. Good news: Big Ten doesn't have a lot of NBA guards who can tear them up by driving. USC-UCLA road trip next week will be fascinating—USC is a bunch of power forwards even with T-Will out for the season and UCLA is all defense. MUSIC: "Antarctica"—Divorce "Cinderella"—Remi Wolf "Everyday Hustle"—Metro Boomin and Rick Ross     “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

Things Discussed: Seth on early to talk about Lions injuries, Ira gives us a short history of Detroit-Buffalo friendship. Oklahoma: Yes they got absolutely jobbed by Szelc. Yes, it's the #1 story of the game. Pushoffs, moving screens, 75 percent of Fears's free throws, and then a soft whistle at one end while ignoring a two-handed shove at the other end. Both of those were Szelc calls. Michigan won't get a fair whistle against this guy tbut what are you gonna do about it, have Warde complain to the Big Ten? They don't care. Rest of the game: Thruck was thruck. Michigan is a good team that gets the best shots in CBB. They're doing it with the big-on-big, and they're starting to know each other. Seth: pay attention to where Goldin gets his passes, where he likes it. Gonna need a team with extreme athleticism and NBA shot-blockers to contest them. Portal: Sam runs us through the QB options. DQ is a good one, Brendan Lewis is the one we like the best, Mikey Keene is a decent floor—he played for Lindsey at UCF—but you don't want a pocket-bound popgun arm before Bryce, do you? Lindsey connection got us the Arkansas brothers. Good athleticism and presence, but see TJ Metcalf as a high-floor Walker not a difference-maker. Always want a 5th year guy at nickel from now on. Brian: Can Morris come back? Sam: It's possible; he had concerns about the offense so if they have an OC and a QB now things could change. He hasn't set up any visits. Offense needs some bodies at OL: the guy they got is a development prospect. They're all in on Josh Thompson, who's checking out Auburn and Tennessee.

1 Hour and 19 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1: The Games   Opener No One Score Again A Lead Through Two Periods Blown Third Period with an OT Winner Segment 2: Takes, Everyone Else, Outdoor Preview   First Half Takeaways Old Friends and the League Wrigley Preview MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "You're Not Gonna Score" -- Untamed Ice Hockey (NES) theme

1 hour and 43 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, the Autograph: Fandom Rewarded app, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, and Venue by 4M where we recorded this. 1. Chip Lindsey and Transfer Portal Starts at 1:00 The first half of this podcast is not just talking about how Michigan beat Ohio State 13-10. Imagine your season ending on December 21st in Columbus, Ohio. Mark your calendars for Davis Warren day on October 13th! Chip Lindsey is the new offensive coordinator out of North Carolina. The run game will be the run game, he's going to be the passing game coordinator. We are feeling exactly whelmed about this hire. Donaven McCulley comes in at wide receiver from Indiana, he's a legitimately good Big Ten receiver. Still need at least three more receivers. Billy Edwards comes in from Maryland and the worst offensive line in the country, he's a big guy. On the offensive line they bring in Jordan White from Liberty, need a tackle. It's been frustrating that Michigan hasn't brought in as many new players as we'd like to see. Derrick Moore and TJ Guy are back next year.  [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]  2. Basketball vs Arkansas Starts at 36:36 Arkansas 89, Michigan 87. This basketball game was three different basketball games. Michigan goes from a four point lead to an 18 point deficit once they start turning the ball over in the 2nd half. The boxscore is fun at least. There were some desperation zones. The shot distribution was as good as you could expect. Goldin's usage has finally gone up and Wolf is making the plays he needs to make. Roddy Gayle has been making some bad decisions. Should Michigan slow it down a bit? Are the turnovers mental because they tend to come in bunches? Wolf is the alpha on offense (get it?). The rest of the non-conference should be wins and then they ease back into the Big Ten conference play against USC.  3. Hot Takes and Hockey vs Wisconsin Starts at 1:03:45 Takes hotter than the Heisman voters who got it right for once. Hockey finally scored a goal! And they're still 9th in Pairwise. Take a breath into the break and say "it's fine." Michigan probably isn't winning the Big Ten but they're not bad, they're half of a gritty hockey team. Wisconsin is a good team, they've just been unlucky on their shots this season. Right now Michael Hage is really the only guy driving plays. 3-on-3 overtime needs a shot clock! They're good enough to be a tournament team and the shooting will probably get better.  4. Gimmicky Top Five   Starts at 1:30:24 Gimmicky Top Five worst bowl matchups! Marshall entered the transfer portal and opted out of their bowl game and now Louisiana Tech has to face a furious Army team.  Seth has real world bowls, Brian has hypotheticals. Don't play BYU in Miami. A bowl game in Middle Earth. PLAY A BOWL IN DUBLIN.   MUSIC: "Q4" -- Father John Misty "Love Town" -- The Glands "What's The Rush?" -- Jesse Woods “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

Things Discussed: The Book: It's what we would have wanted. Kickstarter backers: I wrote an update but the gist is tracking numbers might come after the books because USPS. Ohio State is Flag-Mad. Brian: 11W and MGoBlog diverged in business models a long time ago: they do clickbait, we make big books. Seth: The reason this hits Ohio State so hard is they have nothing else to be proud of anymore. They bet everything on beating Michigan and then got absolutely punked again. Symbology is all that's left. Chip Lindsey: Came up through high school so he's got a lot of different ideas. Lots of coordinator experience. He develops somebody else's quarterback. QBs take fewer sacks, run less (more scrambles than called runs). Lindsey's philosophy, if there is one, is to run what works best for the players he's got. He doesn't want to have a "blob" on usage distribution—wants you to worry about screens and downfield, outside runs and inside runs. Portal? UNC guys of interest (Hampton is probably going pro). Michigan's portal strategy: looking for guys they can get value. ZVADA is the epitome of portal success: a guy who's going to be more valuable to you. Part of that value is seeing if you can make more out of a player (Barham, Stewart, etc.) than he is. You're in a salary cap world. Kentucky guys? Miller Moss? Feeling different because he's getting big portal offers. Brendon Lewis—that would be a dude; he's a Year 6 guy, probably will come down to dollars because it's not certain there's an NFL future. Don't be too worried about Underwood in Year 1 because he's not turning 18 until August. Billy Edwards? Sam nodding. UMD had the worst OL, Edwards is a perfect example of a guy who looks a lot better as a 25x/game thrower. Hoops: Danny Wolf is the tallest 5-10 guy we've ever seen. Sucks to lose to Calipari. Craig says hit your free throws. In a dozen years we'll say "I remember getting beat like that by Boogie Fland in college."

1 Hour and 9 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1: WOOOOOOOOOF   Opener Lots of goals More Goals Against We Have to Talk About Something Segment 2: Better But No Goals   Can't Win With No Goals Weekend Takeaways Old Friends and the League Wisconsin Preview MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "Gopher Guts" -- Aesop Rock Ice Hockey (NES) theme

1 hour and 59 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, the Autograph: Fandom Rewarded app, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, and Venue by 4M where we recorded this. 1. Michigan Men's Basketball vs Iowa Starts at 1:00 The first half of this game was a battle of mid-range jumpers and not turning the ball over (Iowa) vs going to the rim aggressively but turning the ball over a lot (Michigan). Michigan's amplitude of proficiency changes throughout a game are huge. This team is dead set on not taking mid-range jumpers. Addressing Michigan's rebounding woes. Did they play great against Iowa and Wisconsin? Not really. Are they still 2-0 in the Big Ten, though? Yeah. Danny Wolf turns the ball over too much by throwing the ball too hard. The play of the game played off of the big pick and roll. Michigan vs Iowa is an oddly friendly rivalry. Be careful with playing neutral site games when it comes to NET rankings.  [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]  2. Transfer Portal Needs Starts at 35:24 Michigan needs an offensive coordinator first. Jason Candle (Toledo head coach), Dan Mullen (former Florida head coach), and Joe Craddock (Tulane offensive coordinator) are among the biggest names rumored. Scott Frost mentioned! Michigan needs a quarterback and multiple wide receivers. Running back might be okay? Offensive line is a lot more interesting. Would like to get a defensive tackle since you're not getting either starter back. Linebacker is probably okay.  3. Hot Takes & Transfer Portal Names Starts at 58:13 Takes hotter than the fact that Georgia should not be in the playoff because they don't have their starting quarterback. Miller Moss would be the ideal scenario at QB. There's a case for Billy Edwards out of Maryland! The list falls off pretty quickly after that. Ideally you want someone to start for the year and then Bryce Underwood gets ~100 snaps. Michigan has some connections with Oklahoma Wide Receiver Nic Anderson. Michigan needs to get as many as they can. A biomechanical engineer out of Rice would be nice. There will be some players from playoff teams that hit the portal later.  4. The 2025 Recruiting Class   Starts at 1:39:02 Bryce Underwood is not allowed to be the answer to any of these. Favorite guy in the class? Most unlikely to be in this class? Sleeper of the year? Most Important? Michigan is 9th in recruiting but recruiting at the same quality as Ohio State. It revolves around one guy.   MUSIC: "It Ain't Easy" -- 2Pac "Vaping In Vegas" -- Wolves of Glendale "Let's Go Back" -- Jungle “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Michigan Hockey watch-along tomorrow night. Be here. Kickstarter backers: look for a shipping update soon. Short version is yes you will have them by Christmas but most haven't shipped yet because of Thanksgiving. MGoStore has shirts, books. Things Discussed: Michigan 13, Ohio State 10: You gotta play the game not the board. OMG and KtG are two guys apiece, so if you're seeing five in the box you're running into a seven-man box; you just don't know it. Wink didn't do Wink stuff, OSU's gameplan was to use those opportunities. There were checks on his blitzes and looks all game—he just didn't give them those opportunities. Chip Kelly like Urban Meyer looks where he has numbers and run the ball into light boxes, which is what they did all year (this was their passiest game of the year!). But Urban brought in Ryan Day to not be that. It's not like their pass game was that effective either. It comes down to blocking and tackling. It shouldn't have come to that, but fundamentally is Ryan Day going to catch up to Michigan? Brian's main concern: Michigan's had Hutchinson, Mason Graham…when they don't have super-elite defensive lines can they continue that going forward or do they have to play Ohio State like other teams do? Keep Ryan Day? Would you rather keep beating up on this guy (like one more time) or let Ross Bjork give him a $34 million buyout and hire his definition of a good idea? Brian: It's not like they're going to hire Urban Meyer. Seth: They could literally hire Urban Meyer. Michigan got better on defense when they moved Zeke to cornerback and Paige to nickel. Rod Moore could be the most important guy for next year. Hoops vs Wisconsin: Did Danny Wolf make himself an NBA guy over the offseason? Not ready to say that, but it worked against a John Tonje. Offensive coordinator: Tulane OC Joe Craddock has a good track record of fixing dumpster fires (e.g. at Troy). Toledo HC Jason Candle is in a weird spot where he's too successful in the MAC to move up but not successful enough for more than a Purdue job. Dan Mullen? Pro names also on the list: do they talk to Brian Griese (not an OC) or Byron Leftwich (not currently coaching)? Michigan's priority is finding a guy who will develop Underwood.

Thank you to 247's Steve Lorenz for joining us, as always, for a Podcast-length edition of Across the Crooked Blue Line. 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, Champions Circle, Human Element, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Venue by 4M, Winewood Organics, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, Royal Oath Insurance Group, Community Pest Solutions, Autograph: Fandom Rewarded, who just launched an app where you earn rewards for things like reading MGoBlog and listening to our podcast, and SignalWire where we are recording this. THE VIDEO: [After THE JUMP: People in yellow puffy jackets.]  --------------------- 1. Things We're Watching and Offensive Recruits Starts at the top PEOPLE OF INTEREST: Jayden Sanders will sign tomorrow; that's just when his school does that. Olesh might get caught up in Oregon's big day, since he's their final target. Good that he's held out, Michigan's working the phones. Lean? Who knows. Derek Meadows: sounds like Alabama came in with a bigger NIL offer. Ty Haywood: 5-star, as long as he makes it up to campus we're in good shape. QB BRYCE UNDERWOOD: The cackling segment. Been a five-year recruitment—there was a Bryce Underwood recruitment paragraph on every QB target since Dante Moore was on their radar; shows M is serious. Steve's comp is Trevor Lawrence, but runs like Vince Young. Ivins thinks the distance between #1 overall the the #2 and #3 guys in the class is massive. RB JASPER PARKER: So underrated he can't be called underrated anymore. Not fast but is Hart-But-Big. RB DONOVAN JOHNSON: Freaks list, early 5-star because IMG, big injury drop and other schools dropped out, but made Freaks list after recovery. WR ANDREW MARSH: Elite WR. How? Bellamy did work. Seth comps to Cornelius Johnson, because elite double-moves and intellectual family. WR JACOB WASHINGTON: Never wavered even though big Sr season and had Washington come calling. Bellamy's HS, his HC is still the HC. Adrian Arrington/Marquise Walker tall possession type, but needs a redshirt. WR JAMAR BROWDER: Might be 6'5"—flipped from NC State and big riser, contested baller. NC State thought they had a dude. Common pick for class sleeper. Nico? Nico was a unicorn because of his speed. Bellamy recruiter of the year? West Bloomfield legend, Louisiana legend, and owns North Carolina since brother-in-law Biakabutuka lives out there. FB ELI OWENS: Wants to be Max Bredeson!!!! LT ANDREW BABALOLA: Comps to Stanford guys don't work; Jake Long in that he's a bit raw, basketball, length. OG AVERY GACH: Yay Groves, Yay Seth's Temple. Zinter/Sainristil of the OL who led Groves to the greatest season in school history (along with Barry Sanders's son). Why hasn't been bumped up? Nobody was at his games. C KADEN STRAYHORN: Funniest commit; dad is the color guy on MSU radio, but MSU was out a long time ago, won over OSU. IMG center, might be a little small. 2. Defensive Line and Linebacker Starts at 43:25 DE/DT NATE MARSHALL: Most surprising commit x2. Big win out of Chicago. Steve sees him growing into a DT but has the athleticism to stay outside. WDE JULIUS HOLLY: Injury meant nobody got to see him after a killer start to his Sr year but great measurables, guy Michigan sees as next Dom Nichols. DT BOBBY KANKA: Matt Godin. SDE BENNY PATTERSON: Might be the Wormley of the class. Build-a-bear rose late, should have been a 4-star. Edge for sure. PSU and USC were also trying to flip off senior tape. DT TRAVIS MOTEN: Wrestlers have the stamina as well as the leverage. His Hudl looks like Chris Hinton. Might be 280 already. Seth comp: Rayshaun Benny. MLB NATHANIEL OWUSU-BOATENG: Another early highly ranked IMG kid, injury hid him as a senior, probably much much larger than his listed 6'0"/200. More of a MIKE to Michigan. WLB CHASE TAYLOR: The Sullivan-esque super long athlete, outside linebacker with crazy athleticism and length, finally rose late. 3. Secondary and Class Wrap Starts at 1:00:40 CB JAYDEN SANDERS: Legit 6'3" and long. Ceiling is insane. Amorion Walker but this time he's starting as a CB. Freakish ability to move—if you can play cornerback at that size… CB SHAMARI EARLS: Will Johnson Memorial Hey Elite Cornerbacks Are Good. Sam Webb all over this recruitment. Expect the 5-star cornerback track. ATH ELIJAH DOTSON: Pat Narduzzi complains about Michigan throwing around money. Freaky athlete, late riser, CB-WR-S freaky athlete type. Might be best as a CB (think Jeremy Clark). FS JORDAN YOUNG: Clemson decommit because "their recruiting class wasn't that good." Michigan operating in the real world. Flipped him after we lost Ike Taylor, similar ceiling, similar profile (think Zeke Berry) but he's right that he needs some development. NK KAINOA WINSTON: Reminds Brian of Quinten Johnson. Reminds Seth of Rod Moore and Mike Sainristil in that Winston is a football savant. Also a sprinter. THE CLASS AS IT STANDS: Talent parity with Ohio State! What happens when Michigan isn't disadvantaged by rules they follow and their competition doesn't? Look at 1990s: they had a LOT of talent on those teams. Now they just need to get an OC who isn't going to run 80% of the time when he has Tom Brady. Class put together in adverse circumstances: Yes a natty run but also Will Harbaugh Go to the NFL? Their slow walk to taking NIL seriously. Their rough 2024 before winning The Game. OFFENSE Pos Player State Stars In a nutshell QB Bryce Underwood MI 5.0 Drew Henson 2.0, basically. RB Donovan Johnson GA 4.0⬇⬇ Elite as a Fr, IMG, injured as Jr. RB Jasper Parker LA 3.8⬆ Hart-selected, Alford approved WR Andrew Marsh TX 4.5⬇ Gliding track athlete/deep threat WR Jacob Washington LA 4.0 Parker's teammate. Big & Tall WR Jamar Browder FL 3.6⬆ Giant contested baller. TE Andrew Olesh PA 4.4⬆⬆ #1 target, catchy-blocky, Bama wanted. TE Eli Owens TN 3.7⬇⬇ Blocky FB/TE. OT Andrew Babalola KS 4.8 Elite 1st rnd type but a bit raw too. OG Avery Gach MI 4.1⬆ Smart and nasty Zinterish G. C Kaden Strayhorn MI 3.8 IMG, top C in class, son of MSU radio DEFENSE Pos Player State Stars In a nutshell NT Travis Moten KY 3.5⬆ Wrestling build-a-bear DT Bobby Kanka MI 4.0⬆⬆ Tenacious DT DT/DE Benny Patterson IN 3.6⬆ Build-a-bear flipped from Cincy. SDE Nate Marshall IL 4.6⬆ Elite heavy edge, maybe DT WDE Julius Holly GA 3.9⬇ Solid high-floor pass rusher. MLB Nathaniel Owusu-Boateng MD (IMG) 4.3⬇⬇ Ravens-type, BJM top target all cycle. WLB Chase Taylor GA 3.6 Lanky/speedy underrated athlete Nk Kainoa Winston DC 4.4⬆ Rod Moore-ish Mike Sainristil. S Jordan Young NC 4.3 Zeke Berry-ish burst CB Shamari Earls VA 4.5 Elite tall CB flipped from UGA CB Jayden Sanders TX 3.9⬆ Tall/skinny super athlete ATH Elijah Dotson MI 4.2⬆⬆⬆ Very tall CB/S/WR, Belleville 4. Hoops vs Wisconsin Starts at 1:21:29 What did we learn? We learned WOLF! He wasn't playing like this at Yale—he was a point center but not a point GUARD. Finding that 14-foot pick-and-roll and Wisconsin has no answer. Defense is also this team's calling card, because Wolf can stay in front of a 6'5" guy. Rebounding? Maybe they didn't focus on it because everyone is still playing icebreakers to get to know each other, maybe they didn't practice it because Wisconsin and Gayle used to guard PGs. Songs: “Hi, Hey There, Hello”—The Mowglis    "Strawberry Letter23”—The Brothers Johnson “Mr. Fear”—SIAMES 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