MGoBlog: The MGoPodcast

3 hours(!!!) and 11 minutes

The Sponsors

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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”