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Things discussed: What are we looking for in a new QB coach? Brian: Harbaugh can be himself, need a recruiter. Seth: Shoot your shot because a superb OC/QB candidate, see if you can steal an arguably #1 person because they get a chance to run this machine. If you can't do that, grab Partridge and move Jay to QBs. Floor is still good, ceiling worth exploring. Jay Harbaugh Appreciation Hour: Funny how he's so much more like his uncle than his dad. Michigan on the bubble: Teams there are like Pitt, which we beat! Zero Quad 1 victories, lost their shot to make a run when Jett went down. Probably lost a chance to bring Jett back last year because he's looking like a lottery pick now. How do they get off the treadmill? They've recruited some guys, need to develop their guards. Hunter talk: Settling for 2PJs because he gets hacked like crazy, doesn't want to bully his way in, and because our Gs aren't able to get the ball to him down low. Purdue? Plausible, more plausible if they had Jett. During the break Craig makes an insane case that we should just not talk about ever again. Portal talk? Football this year was a bit of an outlier because Stanford collapsed and Michigan was in the perfect position to do something about it. Next year? Give Llewellin the option to return, MAAAAAYBE get Jett back? Gotta hit the portal for wings anyways. Might also get development from Khayat, and a big jump from Bufkin. Just not rebuilding your backcourt every year would be a way off the treadmill. Long term: Guards matter. Great teams have continuity and then add a difference-maker. If Howard recruited his point guard when he came here, they'd be so much better right now. If they held onto DeJulius they'd be fine too. Who'd they get? Nobody in 2019, Zeb Jackson in 2020.

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. [Writeup and Player after THE JUMP] Segment 1: Couldn't Hang On An Opener Surviving the First Half A burst of goals Poor Third Period and OT Segment 2: Much Better But Not Quite A Fast Start Goals and Penalties Almost Closing the Game Old Friends and Around the League Penn State Preview MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "Little Sadie" -- Crooked Still Ice Hockey (NES) theme

​1 hour and 17 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, HomeSure Lending, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, Venue by 4M where we recorded this, TicketIQ! and The Nose Bleeds, which is the Sklars Bros’ reboot of Cheap Seats on UFC Fight Pass. 1. Basketball Post-Minnesota starts at 1:00 How did we get to a throwaway year? We got fool's gold five-stars who weren't great college players, Frankie bolted for insane reasons, Llewellin got hurt, Michigan own-goaled themselves on Terrance Shannon, Hunter doesn't have the same motivation. Next year? Recruits aren't going to change things but could get everybody back. Year it's like: 2006, except we're not going to have a linebacker covering the slot...unless it's Moten? [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP] 2. Football: What's Coming Back starts at 32:57 Getting back the OL is a bigger deal than people realize: OL get better. Third cornerback? Odd they haven't hit the portal. They do have options: McBurrows, last year's freshmen, Jyaire Hill...got a long season ramp-up to get him used to playing in the system. One-game season? Or two if Drew Allar is ready. Easy schedules won't last because UCLA and USC will be on the schedule IMMEDIATELY. Coaching staff continuity other than Mr. Computer Crimes. 3. Football: What Happened in the AD's Office? starts at 49:49 What does the way the Harbaugh situation down mean? Might mean Warde is out, or is being told to be out, or just that Ono isn't going to participate in the old song and dance that only Michigan would still dance to. Name one thing Warde's done? Seth: He's extracted at least as much money from the donors as Dave Brandon did without annoying me once. 4. Seth's Hockey Podcast starts at 1:06:27 A lucky(?) three points at Minnesota since the Gophers clanged four off the pipe, but also a great way to utilize Michigan's speed. Like the lineup change because Samo is going to get his no matter what line you put him on. Getting close to being able to roll out three scoring lines when Nazar is ready. The league is suddenly a gauntlet. MUSIC: "Bandages"—Hot Hot Heat "What Ever Happened"—The Strokes "Your Dog"—Soccer Mommy “Across 110th Street”

Things discussed: Harbaugh returns. At this point they're probably close on an agreement and have recruiting to worry about. Broncos were definitely interested, but this is just a return to status quo from last year. Contract will matter. Harbaugh clearly has NFL interest still, also has interest in being paid like a top-5 coach for respect purposes. Not about respect though: Saban's contract, Day's contract, Mel's contract: they all say the same things, which is this guy is staying. Ono: Very different experience for an athletic director. Did he cut Warde's legs out or is this just how he operates? NCAA investigation: Somebody there has a bug up their ass, and is clearly an incompetent idiot who's exposing the depth of his organization's fecklessless. Seriously, what they're doing here is the equivalent of trying to get Harbaugh for perjury for telling the officer he doesn't remember if he was going 35 or 30 in a 25 zone. Nobody does that unless they clearly shouldn't be in a position to do so. Weiss: Was hacking emails but for what? This could be really nothing but it also could be REALLY bad. Normal people don't do that, and when they do it's often for a very nefarious purpose. They've already ruled out some of the more awful stuff, but he could be harassing, covering something up…there are a lot of very bad reasons to be hacking email accounts and no good ones. QB analyst Kirk Campbell, Gattis guy, Michigan might be looking at him as on-field guy. How does this affect Jadyn Davis? Sam admits Davis's dad told Weiss he's a bad recruiter, but also they have a very good relationship now. Basketball: Praise for the two-bigs lineup, no praise for the tiny Big Ten, which Brian calls an "NIT league."

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. [Writeup and Player after THE JUMP] Segment 1: WTF WAS THAT?!?! An Opener 39-9 at Halftime That short-handed goal Just rust? Or something else? Segment 2: Coming Down Off the Ledge A BAD Start Quality Goals with Adjustments Closing the Game Old Friends and Around the League Minnesota Preview NHL Ketchup MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "I'm Coming Home" -- Diddy ft Dirty Money & Skylar Grey Ice Hockey (NES) theme

Things discussed: Moving the Comerica Park fences: fine, but why do it AFTER Cabrera?! Blake Corum's return: Thank NIL that it's possible. Gonna be a Denard/Gardner/Braylon/Hart/Marlin whose name is etched in history. Jim Harbaugh's contract negotiation. Warde Manuel: Brian goes off. Sam clarifies it's a message board post that USA Today picked up on, and not everything in that contract negotiation timeline is correct. Seth: They're probably not arguing about the money but the buyout because Michigan needs a long-term commitment and Harbaugh wants a chance to take an NFL job. Solution: MAKE A DAMN DECISION!!!! You're all just losing value the longer this goes on. If Harbaugh's not going to say it's his last job, name a successor so when it does happen the program rolls on.

1 hour and 51 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, HomeSure Lending, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, Venue by 4M where we recorded this, TicketIQ! and The Nose Bleeds, which is the Sklars Bros’ reboot of Cheap Seats on UFC Fight Pass. 1. TCU: Offense starts at 1:00 Michigan overly punished for mistakes, which drowns out the game: there were four events in this game worth more than a TD and they all happened to Michigan. Like 2010 Illinois but with stakes. Most unforgiveable thing was not making JJ's legs part of the offense. TCU's approach was so aggressive Michigan couldn't comprehend it, since they didn't back off after Michigan burned them with it. JJ had a great game except for his two worst throws of his career. TCU DE/DTs held up well, can't be too mad since they surged the 2nd half and should have scored 60 points (in 18 drives). OL got turned around—some of the running game explosives were there but had mistakes. Why would you play into their hands with inside zone? 2. TCU: Defense starts at 38:38 Probably could have gotten away with the Cover Zero if Turner just doesn't miss that tackle. Shallow screen for two TDs, one is a hat tip, the other a blitz tip. Defending their normal pass game was fine otherwise. Morris was not healthy, Smith had a bad game—devastating that he turned down the 3rd and 2 sack that was there for him because next play is Green blitzes and Quinten Johnson is not covering his guy. Why was Cam Goode in for that drive, which was two huge plays in a row. Defensive end discussion had—Morris barely played, McGregor is a true freshman from the waist down, Harrell had one of his worst games, Upshaw had his worst game, Okie had a bad game. Colson two excellent plays, several terrible plays, next year not so Mouton. 3. Hot Takes, Special Teams, Game Theory, Plus Harbaugh and NCAA "Violations" starts at 1:04:05 The Pax Specialistica has come to an end, but ends with a 59-yard field goal. Thanks to TCU for "freezing" him so he got a practice shot. Harbaugh's late timeouts? You should probably use them early because the most they're going to save is 40 seconds. Smart of TCU to take a PI call there instead of allowing the catch. Refs: Insane to overturn a clear touchdown, refs also put that drive two yards back because they forgot with 49-yard-line it happened on. Seth thinks the targeting call was correct. See: https://twitter.com/alex_kirshner/status/1610457604999741443 Harbaugh contract stuff: Everything is so obviously coming from the agent that you can read his quotes on Twitter. The NCAA stuff is so so weak. MSU fans lol. To OSU fans, nailing Tressel for lying about huge program things that would get him in trouble is not the same as forgetting a burger. More like the difference between nailing Capone for tax fraud versus the IRS finding you were $50 short on your estimated taxes. Seriously, anyone who is taking this seriously never has to be taken seriously ever again. 4. Hoops Takes After MSU starts at 1:35:23 Make your shots is now a refrain after several seasons in a row of not making them when they visit Breslin. What's the problem? For one Hunter Dickinson isn't as motivated this year—perhaps not having to prove himself to the NBA has taken it out of him, but Michigan needs more from their star. Freshmen a little off-kilter in their first true road game is understandable. Have to ride with what you have, but sick of new PGs every year. At least next year they should get Llewellyn back on a medical redshirt. MUSIC: "Watching Strangers Smile"—Parquet Courts "I Don't Wanna Be Famous"—NNAMDÏ "Rock Bottom"—Kevin Morby “Across 110th Street”

Things discussed: The Fiesta Bowl: Mistakes maximally punished—Michigan's game-swinging oopsies were worth two or three oopsies each, which turns the rest of the game into background noise. The rest of the game: Why does it take 3 quarters to get to McCarthy's legs? Why are we making the mistakes that defined the last month of college football? Why don't we keep throwing flea flickers? Break: Get back Corum? Harbaugh: Don't think it's coming from Harbaugh but from the NFL. Harbaugh obviously has some NFL interest or he'd shut these rumors down. Brian: It's got to be coming from the agent, because nobody else in the world would be saying "I know what Harbaugh's going to do."

1 hour and 50 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, HomeSure Lending, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, Venue by 4M where we recorded this, TicketIQ! and The Nose Bleeds, which is the Sklars Bros’ reboot of Cheap Seats on UFC Fight Pass. 1. TCU Preview: Offense starts at 1:00 Don't buy the "They ain't played nobody" line; TCU's schedule was the same, also Michigan beat Ohio State, a Playoff team, 45-23 on the road. Spread offense with Duggan pulling out magic. Has a deep ball down, has some good deep threats in huge receivers Quentin Johnson, the star, TE Jared Wiley who's 6-7, and Savion Williams who's 6-5. Plus a standard slot and a good running back. The OL doesn't get much push; they're all the same 6-5/300 too-stiff-for-tackle guard, give up pass rush, but don't let Duggan loose. Man up Johnson on Johnston or play lots of zone? Seth thinks man; Brian thinks zone. 2. TCU Preview: Defense starts at 35:20 It's the 404 Tite, with ISU's three-safety three-high look that temps you into passing. Positionless defense is tough on reads but breakable if you plow through it; Michigan might want to go many-TEs and push the gap out to the edge versus smaller force defenders. DL want to take on doubles, Michigan moves those kinds of DTs. LBs are not the most athletic sorts; would be great if Edwards's hand is healthy enough to make him a passing game threat again. 3. TCU Preview: Special Teams and Heuristics starts at 1:02:33 Their slot is also a dangerous returner; just kick it out of the endzone. Meh Aussie punter, very good kicker who rarely misses and has a career long of 54. Michigan hopes Brad Robbins was hurt when their punt efficiency went off a cliff later in the season. Their season was Vikings-esque, pulling out all of the games that could have swung either way, benefiting from things like Texas not hitting any open deep shots. Discussion on the meta of Playoff competition, TCU being at the lower end of teams to make it. 2015 MSU was the outlier; every other Playoff team is at least good. Ryan Day scenarios. 4. Hot Takes and Hoops vs North Carolina starts at 1:22:46 Hard to beat UNC when your best player is a no-show. The quadruple technical was some weenie-ass officiating, Seth's still mad at Hunter for doing that when fouls on either center are the game. Good to see Bufkin turning into a real star, good to see Jett can shoot over any wing. What to do now? Kinda have to roll with what they got and hope TW and HD can pick up their games. MUSIC: "Surfing in Iceland"—Goth Babe "New Beginning"—Automatic "Ain't That Enough"—The Teenage Fan Club “Across 110th Street”

Things discussed: Craig and Seth came on early to talk about Michigan's shifting portal strategy. Craig: new strategy is to get all high ceilings with freshmen and backfill with transfers. Seth: same portal strategy, just more guys in the portal who fit what Michigan's needs were or for whom Michigan fit their needs. The 2023 class: No top-100 guys? Staff shakeup prevented them from capitalizing on last year's playoff run. Seth: NIL was the story of the class, unfortunate that they didn't get the playoff payoff in recruiting because this was the year the NIL market was shaping itself out. Michigan couldn't play that game well, but everyone else is bad at it, and the top-100 is riddled with families and programs who thought it was about money. I predict this class will have a lot more kids in the portal because their decisions weren't made by best fit/best school/best development, and that hurts a place like Michigan that is objectively the best in college football at those things. Craig thinks Michigan's going to continue being behind on NIL. The rest of the panel thinks they won't be, that Michigan will figure out how to make their offering competitive. This is a job market, a new job market, and everyone has to figure out where the level is. In the near term that means establishing a collective and pay a salary to all the players. In the long term that means the market itself coming to terms with itself. In the short term this meant Michigan wasn't used to having these conversations, parents didn't know how to have these conversations, intermediaries were trying to get in an direct these conversations. Portal: They're mostly not plugging holes, they're adding guys, maximizing this window where they're championship caliber. Gotta care about the future and recruiting over your own guys, but I don't think Michigan's done that. If you're walking into your starting job at Michigan, they're going to fix that. Brian: A lot of the guys they got have 2+ years, e.g. Myles Hinton could redshirt and that makes him more like a recruit. Cornerback? They're looking, but options aren't as there. Should try to talk Turner into coming back because his draft stock isn't high right now. Corum? Seriously 50-50. Sam thinks he should go *shut up Sam!!!* but retaining stars like him is more possible with NIL because you can offer them security that the NFL won't. Favorite players of the class? We all have them. Jyaire Hill could be really special but probably not in Year 1. Hoops? Dickinson had a bad day, the quadruple technical was stupid on the refs and stupid on HD. Rough situation where they have three guys who aren't going to be great every day, and nobody else who can give them a boost.

The Guest Steve Lorenz covers Michigan athletics and recruiting for 247Sports. They've got a 50% off flash sale if you subscribe today. The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. 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, HomeSure Lending, TicketIQ, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, Venue by 4M, and we are recording this on SignalWire. Featured Musician: Grand Gesture The Video: For those of you asking, the guy in the upper-left is Alex Drain. You may not know him, but he's probably seen film on you, and has you cold. [After THE JUMP: What we said] --------------------- 1. Across the Crooked Blue Line, wsg Steve Lorenz: Offense starts at the top. QB Kendrick Bell: Uh, is he a quarterback? Who cares, he's Ronnie's brother. RB Cole Cabana: Put on weight, become Donovan Edwards. Doesn't mind blocking. RB Benjamin Hall: Low-rated, but thick and has some wiggle. WR Karmello English: Late pull out of SEC country, athletic, can play outside. WR Semaj Morgan: Comp was Sainristil before the switch. WR Fredrick Moore: Steve very high on him. Productive, great routes, skinny. Roundtree! TE Deakon Tonielli: 6'6" athlete, needs to gain some pounds before he's Loveland 2.0. TE Zack Marshall: Staff loves the measurements, athleticism. OT Evan Link: Staff thinks he's a 5-star. Important to get a true OT in this class. OG Amir Herring: The high floor. Center possibility? OG Nathan Efobi: The high ceiling. Long way to go. PK Adam Samaha: Steve is on a mission to give kickers some love. 2. Across the Crooked Blue Line, wsg Steve Lorenz: Defense starts at 34:40 DT Trey Pierce: Late riser, didn't rise high enough. Immediate Kris Jenkins. DT Brooks Bahr: Long (e.g. Godin) DT who can't stay blocked. SDE Enow Etta: Headliner, big for a DE, moves like one anyways. Mike Morris? WDE Aymeric Koumba: No floor, no ceiling. France, FRA. MLB Semaj Bridgeman: Scouting pass/fail for Helow. He+sites high, other schools not. MLB Hayden Moore: Tackling machine from Unscoutable, CO. M wanted bad. ATH Jason Hewlett: What is he? An athlete! A Viper! A receiver? EDGE Breeon Ishmail: What is he? An edge. To grow. S D'Juan Waller Jr.: What is he? Could be Jeremy Clark. Could be a FS. CB Cameron Calhoun CB Jyaire Hill: The Illinois battle. The Vibe. All the ability, teach him CB immediately. 3. Portal starts at 1:06:44 QB Jack Tuttle: We need depth, he increases his rolodex. Locker room guy. TE AJ Barner: Also a locker room guy. Tough to scout TE in a Walt Bell offense, but should Schoon. OG/OT LaDarius Henderson: The new Olu. Could have gone pro. Will be LT or Zinter. LFG! C Drake Nugent: Now we defend PFF: two QB pressures in hundreds and hundreds of pass sets. OT Myles Hinton: Needs a reset, was hurt last year, was not good in 2021. Would he take a redshirt? WDE Josaiah Stewart: More devilish than Danna. Huge deal for M's needs. Proverbial "dip." WLB Ernest Hausmann: Was #1 in the portal. M saw his best game, came around late in the season. Portal and Michigan: This is going well, probably because of a little luck this year in what was available, also because the market is bigger. This is not how MSU is doing it. 4. Wrap starts at 1:43:46 What happened? Coaching turnover/Harbaugh's NFL flirtation killed momentum, and then NIL, which is the difference between Michigan and Notre Dame this time. Future is brighter: M is getting their feet under them with NIL, staff is stabilized again. This was the Year of NIL, Michigan didn't play, and a lot of those who did set unreasonable expectations that are going to see these guys portaling. About the Featured Musician Grand Gesture (bandcamp, Spotify) is a Brooklyn-based jam/psych band that emphasizes sophisticated song writing, seamlessly crossing genre boundaries, and interweaving a thread of catchiness. Song choices: Gift of Sleep I Can't Explain Computer Love 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

Final Scores:  Friday - (Michigan St. 2, Michigan 1)  Saturday - (Michigan 2, Michigan St. 1)  Episode Notes [NOTE: This recaps the MSU series from the previous weekend. This episode was delayed a week due to travel circumstances. Content is the same since Michigan Hockey has been on break] 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. [Writeup and Player after THE JUMP] Segment 1: Good, but Not Good Enough An Opener Well-played, but Rued Chances What Happened In Net Bounce-Back From Portillo A Split Segment 2: The Same with a Better Result Check-in on Old Friends Around the League First Half Takes MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme Ice Hockey (NES) theme

Things discussed: TCU preview: Dykes is gonna play some backyard football, defense plays three safeties—don't know how they're going to deal with tight ends. OSU-Georgia: Ohio State is soft. What happened vs Michigan: they looked like a good success rate because they "pulled their goalie." Can we get Corum back??? No. But maaaaybe???? No. Hoops after Llewellin. Hockey: Rounding into form, losing guys to RSV sucked. Q&A: Checking in on injuries, how Michigan can survive without Corum/Edwards's hand.

Things discussed: Purdue: Very prepared for Michigan, Michigan adjusted well to deliver their RB to the free hitter with space for Edwards to make something happen. Think Michigan came in battered, wanted to keep JJ healthy. He was dealing! O'Connell had a great game, Chuck Sizzle had a great game, Michigan has some zone issues to clean up with Moten and their LBs. College football postseason: Seth wants the NCAA to have different options for the season: When you have 2 teams, have the 2 teams play, when you have 4 worthy have a 4-team playoff, when 6 have six, when it's 1 play the bowl games. Ideally: 12-team playoffs AFTER bowl games. They ruined the bowls. Cade and All: Weird that McNamara is burning perfectly good bridges unnecessarily. As for All, what's Michigan supposed to do if he went and got surgery from Dr. Nick against their doctors' advice? They still paid for it, hard to hold them responsible. Seth suggests this might mean All's injury was more career-debilitating than anyone wants to let on. Cade isn't being gracious, but who cares? So we won't root for him at Iowa anymore; we all know what happened: JJ McCarthy happened. Breakdown of the trick play: Purdue saw what Michigan was doing but doubled the trick guy and left another TE open. Big Ten West: Matt Rhule's recruited Texas which is the way to win at Nebraska, Wisconsin should do well with Fickell, those are the teams that are usually stronger. Purdue losing Brohm is a big deal. Basketball: Losing Frankie just sucks and for no good reason, now they have to try Bufkin there and see if they can get Barnes to play the two. Hockey: Recruiting is bonkers again, time to give Brandon Naurato the job.

Final Scores: Friday - (Wisconsin 6, Michigan 3) Saturday - (Michigan 4, Wisconsin 2)   Episode Notes 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: Spoiled Dairy A Good Start Fades Fast The Ref Show/Portillo to Blame? Close Game, Better Result Takeaways? Segment 2: Around the League, New Sparty Check-in on Old Friends Around the League Michigan State Preview MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme Ice Hockey (NES) theme

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, HomeSure Lending, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, Venue by 4M where we recorded this, TicketIQ! and The Nose Bleeds, which is the Sklars Bros’ reboot of Cheap Seats on UFC Fight Pass. 1. Offense vs Purdue starts at 1:00 Blocking was there—Purdue kept delivering free hitters, but how do you grade it if the free hitter's a cornerback versus Edwards? Surprised that JJ only threw 17 passes—felt like he was slinging it. We can remember each one because they were all remarkable. Also remarkable was true freshman Colston Loveland, because that was so smooth. Don't bulk up—just be you! And then Donovan Edwards: star performance. Set up blocks, ran around guys. [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP] 2. Defense vs Purdue starts at 47:45 Purdue was moving the ball, part of that was Aidan O'Connell and Chuck Sizzle were balling. Part of it was Moten, who had at least four really bad breakdowns in one drive. Sometimes he was running into Michael Barrett, who also struggled that drive. How come our LBs don't chip? Harrell played well, spin-off sack vs the bad RT. Okie shoved a guy into O'Connell's legs. The DTs were making him uncomfortable. Will Johnson: Dude. This is what happens with the 5-star freshmen. 3. Hot Takes, Special Teams and Game Theory starts at 1:09:57 The fake punt: Welschof needs to come up on the edge. Sad field goals. Michigan tried a new style punt. Swinging gate 2PC was fun, win percentage doesn't change from 16 (99%) to 17 (99%) or 15 (99%) so whatever. Time management at the end of the half: go for it on 4th and 2? Maybe just don't give them a drive. Officials: If your review takes 4 minutes and 32 seconds you should be shot at midfield. Running into the kicker: wasn't—he touched the ball, should be a carve-out if the punter isn't a punter because he drops it or something. M got a ticky-tack illegal formation, they got away with a facemask horrible, Okie got away with terrible acting. 4. Hoops vs Kentucky & Virginia starts at 1:40:23 Sucks that they lost both games, also sucks that it looks like we're going to lose Llewellin for the season. Good that they were able to compete with two good teams. Losing Frankie is such a bummer, cold take. Turn Kobe Bufkin into the PG, run the offense out of Hunter, see if Barnes can be your two so you don't have too many limited defenders on the court at once. MUSIC: "New Day Tonight"—Michael Rault "The Lost World"—Babytron "Heartbreaker"—The Walkmen “Across 110th Street”

The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. 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, HomeSure Lending, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, Venue by 4M, and we are recording this on SignalWire. Featured Musician: Tres Crow The Video: [After THE JUMP: What we said] --------------------- 1. Purdue Preview starts at the top Meh. O'Connell isn't talented but he can fill the role of Air Raid QB and get the ball to Charlie Jones, who's been their most effective weapon. Next is the tight end. Defense is a bunch of guys playing Ron English ball. The Cover 2 breaks down, not great at tackling, heavy up front except they're down a DT. 2. The Game After Review: Offense vs OSU starts at 28:46 This is what they wanted. The advanced stats can't account for this style of play because if you give up 10 touchdown opportunities and the opponent hits seven you get blown out. Michigan missed some of their shots early, blocking was the same it is usually. McCarthy's legs led to explosives. Was it the block of the year? 2. The Game After Review: Defense vs OSU starts at 50:01 This is what we wanted. Ohio State was expecting more pressure, Michigan sat back and played games with the defensive backs. Sainristil had a DAY. Jenkins stood out, Harrell had a good game for him. Strategy was to get Day to give up the run, which he would do at the first provocation. 4. Hoops vs Virginia, Kentucky Preview, World Cup if we get to it starts at 1:06:47 That was their shot. Worried about the defensive ceiling Dickinson and Williams because they went small and we couldn't stop them from driving. Need one vs Kentucky or UNC now. USA got out of their group, definitely getting tired after 60 minutes of their heavy press. Pulisic should be okay, probably not going 90. What's a win this year? About the Featured Musician Tres Crow (Spotify) is my best friend. Originally from Grand Haven, he was in a few bands there, then came to Michigan where we met and jammed around. Junior year he formed the band Oblivion, who became our core lifelong friend group. After college he had a short solo career, punctuated by some success in a group called Greenland and again with a breakaway called Noble Three. That landed him in Nashville and then he got married and that was it for the solo career. But his music's still out there, and it's high time you listen to it. I'm the friend in the 3rd song who "grew wider than tall." Shadow Box Second Head Shipwrecked 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: Ohio State's hyper-aggressiveness on defense led to a high success rate and five easy touchdowns. Oh, Michigan just made five plays: those weren't ungodly low-percentage plays, they were plays that Ohio State put out there to be taken. OSU offense: throwing the ball on 3rd and 2 all year, M sat back and let them get into 3rd and short, and if they throw to Marvin Harrison Jr. they'll get 12 yards and if they throw to anyone else you can boot them off the field. Tons of their yards this game were hollow when M was letting them run down the clock. The 75-yard TD: OSU has a 3-man line and Jack Sawyer because that's what the answer to 2021 was supposed to be: run guys at gaps they're not expected to be in, which is hard to get right. When you get it right though? 75 yards. M had two more opportunities like that where Stokes could have been gone if he saw it. Day did leave yards on the field on offense, spreading it around instead of concentrating on matchups like PJ2 vs McGregor where they were winning. Sam: Urban gave them a few run plays. Why did OSU go away from the RB switch stuff? It was working. Theory: Day's program is about spreading it out to everyone, being super clever (4th and 2). Did he try too hard to prove he wasn't born on 3rd? Michigan's defensive gameplan: Just cover Stroud's first read, because there's usually just one concept they're stressing you with. Pass rush: nil. Dropped seven and have guys jumping routes. He's a first read QB. Ohio State was surprised: they were very prepared for the Amoeba Defense stuff, maybe spent their practice time prepping for all of those pressures not getting to 3rd and 4th reads. Purdue: Don't have the same gamebreakers. Defense is not hard to crack, harder than they were before Ron English took over.

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. [Writeup and Player after THE JUMP] Segment 1: Michigan vs Michigan of the East Backup goalie leads to hole Then the Turbo Jets Michigan Picks Up Where They Left Off What a Fun Night All Around Segment 2: Around the League, Badgers or Mushrooms, NHL Deadline Check-in on Old Friends Around the League Wisconsin Preview NHL Revelations MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "It Ends Tonight" -- The All-American Rejects Ice Hockey (NES) theme

3 hours(!!!) and 11 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, HomeSure Lending, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, Venue by 4M where we recorded this, TicketIQ! and The Nose Bleeds, which is the Sklars Bros’ reboot of Cheap Seats on UFC Fight Pass. 1. General Vibes starts at 1:00 The story looked like it was going to be "Michigan lost this game because Blake Corum and Mike Morris were out and Michigan didn't have the recruiting depth to make up for it." And then Mike Sainristil completely denies a touchdown with a pass break-up. Ohio State said "make JJ beat us." And then he did. Michigan exposed Ohio State to their 3rd down issues. Ohio State's whole offseason was about saying "last year was a fluke." It wasn't. On 3rd and short, Ohio State is sawft. Michigan has always been behind the meta game vs Ohio State. For the first time in a long time, it feels like Michigan is ahead of Ohio State tactically. Michigan can simulate Ohio State's offense in practice, but can Ohio State simulate Michigan's smash mouth run game? The story of Ohio State last year was they had a bad defensive coordinator and Michigan was able to expose their flaws. This year... they still exposed the Ohio State's defense's flaws.  [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP] 2. Offense vs Ohio State starts at 23:30 Ohio State comes in with a very aggressive defensive approach, so Michigan throws deep to Cornelius Johnson. That same play happened in the Penn State vs Ohio State game. Brian's takes are preserved. Michigan wasn't able to run their go-to offense, but once they hit the deep balls to Cornelius Johnson and Colston Loveland Ohio State had to drop their safeties. THEN Michigan could run their offense. What is a "catchable" ball? JJ had some great decision making, especially on some scrambles and on his touchdown run when Ohio State wasn't set. Olu is Brian's favorite Center, even more than senior Molk. Once again, just a little bit of QB run was able to confuse the defense. Cornelius Johnson's route running was frustrating for much of the year, all is forgiven after this game. They did a lot to set up that RB pass play to Loveland. Colston Loveland is ready now.  3. Defense vs Ohio State starts at 1:03:08 Alex's take on the Ohio State offense from a month ago was on point. Once Ohio State gets to 3rd and short, they are horrible. They don't have a consistent run game that can get 3-ish yards. You can't build a run game off of getting either 12 yards or no yards. There were a lot of plays where Michigan couldn't get to Stroud, but CJ Stroud didn't have anything. If CJ Stroud runs at all it might change Michigan's defensive approach but Stroud won't even scramble. The coverage in this game was incredible. Michigan finally gets turnover luck in The Game and it didn't even really matter. There was maybe one bust? Last year Sainristil caught the flea flicker from Cade, this year he went god mode on defense, so next year he'll be the kicker. Will Johnson has grown up. Ohio State had their heads down in the 4th quarter and Michigan knew "we are going to win." The headbutt was probably the end. McGregor had a great TFL to eventually force a punt. God bless Michael Barrett, he didn't have a huge role in this defense but he sticks it out and he had to learn a whole new role. His progress has been outstanding. There is probably some truth to the idea that these players are completely bought into the program. Michigan is now Stanford with more talent. Rod Moore is not boring but in a good way!  4. Hot Takes and Game Theory starts at 1:43:38 Takes hotter than Ryan Day's hot seat. Brian's hot takes voice has transcended. The biggest bummer from this game might be that if Blake Corum puts up Donovan Edwards' numbers he would win the Heisman. Ryan Day is a coward and a turtle. Several of Ohio State's punts were probably a "go for it" situation. He is a super conservative coach on 4th down decision making. Some of these decisions might be from the fact that Ohio State has never really needed to play in dogfights or from playing down. Stroud was begging to go for it on 4th down after the 1st and 35, they still punted. Ohio State had a fake punt that they could've gotten a huge gain from, but they botched it. MSU and OSU's hate for Michigan finally backfired. Ohio State seemed like they weren't expecting Michigan to fight back like they did. Michigan's clock management before halftime was probably the right move. That was a gutsy 4th and 1 call, all things considered. Would a punt have been better than Moody attempting a 57 yard field goal? Ryan Day turtle'd and Michigan gets it right, is he on the hot seat? If you play offensive line at Michigan, people will know your name. Michigan is recruiting heavily in Ohio now, what happens when you beat Ohio State? Do any of Michigan's coaches leave after this season?  5. Around the Big Ten With Jamie Mac starts at 2:43:24 Jamie gives us his personal takes on The Game. Purdue wins the Big Ten West, somehow. Indiana lost their quarterback on the opening drive. Purdue is a much better matchup for Michigan than Illinois. This year is similar to last year where Michigan dodged a hot Wisconsin team (and Illinois is the new Wisconsin). Northwestern goes 0-11 in North America and 1-0 in Europe. Why is Spencer Petras playing football?? Nebraska wins an improbably(?) game against Iowa. The sins of the Iowa offense caught up with them, Nebraska has a bad defense but the Hawkeyes put up less than 300 yards. Michigan State rushes for 25 yards and fails to gain bowl eligibility - they get rushing rutger'd! Michael Penix is... 5th in the Heisman trophy odds??? Michigan State might be in for another long year next year. Minnesota gets their 3rd win over Wisconsin in five years. Wisconsin gets Luke Fickell as their new head coach!  MUSIC: "New Day Tonight"--Michael Rault "Three Day Loser"--Joy of Cooking "Tek It"--Cafune "King"--Zayde Wølf “Across 110th Street”