MGoPodcast 11.9: Do You Want to Win or Do You Want to Be Comfortable?
1 hour and 45 minutes
THE SPONSORS
We can do this because people support us. You should support them! The show is presented by UGP & The Bo Store, and if it wasn’t for Rishi and Ryan we’d be all be very sad ex-Vox employees with “real” jobs.
Our other sponsors are also key to all of this: HomeSure Lending, Peak Wealth Management, Ann Arbor Elder Law, the Residence Inn Ann Arbor Downtown, the University of Michigan Alumni Association, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, FuegoBox, Perrin Brewing, and The Athletic
--------------------------------------------
[After THE JUMP: Spam]
1. The Offense
starts at 1:00
Spanellis: They call him Spam. Michigan rushes for 200 yards in the rain in a half. Whams and traps: Old Harbaugh stuff comes back (*cough cough just like Seth said they should in Foe Film cough*). A new bubble action gets Charbonnet past the safeties—that's how you get chunks! Brought out Down G, a big play on an arc keeper. Eubanks gave a guy a hammer panda. Ruiz and Onwenu were excellent at picking up blitzes on pin & pull, where you have to stop and pick that guy off. Went back to what they did last year and it turns out they run it well. Throwing it to Nico: how many times does he get interfered with? Turner: despite fumble issues, let's fix that and get this guy back in the rotation. If you play Jim Harbaugh and he's running 80% of the time you had a bad day.
2. The Defense
starts at 34:06
Michigan students are incredible towel-throwers. Agree it was harder to hit Cole Kmet than the camera. John O'Neill: the worst. Kelly got crap for throwing in a hurricane but he couldn't run either. Ian Book was bailing clean pockets. ND was running man beaters against Cover 2. Got crushed by Michigan's 3-3-5 stack even. Kemp had a great game. McGrone has Devin Bush speed with a greater physical package, but he's not a direct comparison: Bush has unreal anticipation too. The Hawkins INT taken away was a solid #2 all-time after the Northwestern call on Higdon. Brian Cook is the world's only John O'Neill defender.
3. Special Teams/Game Theory
starts at 57:04
Low-hanging fruit from Texas Tech and Notre Dame. Okay with field goal because you could be in an Iowa-Northwestern situation. DPJ had to stop fielding pouncing footballs in the rain. Poncho take: get the pyramid kind with the arms inside because then you can go in a cocoon and go on Twitter. Sad ten-second runoff. Weather destroyed Book and they didn't have a plan B, but this was on par with Wisconsin/PSU wins last year. They've come a long way since last September.
4. Around the Big Ten wsg Jamie Mac
starts at 1:19:13
A lot of bad offenses, a lot of rain. Mick McCall vs Iowa goes how that matchup was going to—Reigning Big Ten West Champs Northwestern could not win any Big Ten games. Rutgers upsets Liberty—Johnny Langan don't go out like that to Hugh Freeze. Illinois has bowl eligibility in the likelihood column: has Rutgers and Northwestern (and MSU on the road). State scored (darn) but the beauty of Dantonio's quotes is… Hamler not going here is sad, the reason he gave for not going to MSU is beautiful. Julian Barnett transfer? Row the boat! Ohio State doesn't need to practice anymore. WHOP! Luke McCaffrey debut. IU's football program is in better shape than their basketball program. #Ninewindiana requires a win at PSU or when Michigan visits.
MUSIC:
- “One More Night”—Stars
- “They'll Need A Crane”—They Might Be Giants
- “Don't Leave Me This Way”—Lee Fields
- “Across 110th Street”
THE USUAL LINKS:
- Helpful iTunes subscribe link
- General podcast feed link
- Direct download link
- What's with the theme music?
I enjoyed his tweet afterwards; he got himself a milkshake and a gas station hot dog because he deserved it.
October 28th, 2019 at 8:08 AM ^
Brian Cook is the world's only John O'Neill defender.
Of course, because John O'Neill brings misery and that is what Brian likes.
October 28th, 2019 at 8:47 AM ^
I like how they're all surprised that:
A) They get comments on their blog.
B) People call Brian a real downer.
My dudes, do you even MGoBlog? Did you hear the Roundtable last week? This was a curb stomping for the ages and Brian could still barely bring himself to start talking about the game.
October 28th, 2019 at 9:27 AM ^
Because Brian is using his realism and isnt getting excited for the curb stomping we're going to receive against OSU
October 28th, 2019 at 12:50 PM ^
Can't imagine going through life like that. Suffering through losses that are at this point imagined instead of enjoying a 30 point win over a highly ranked rival that actually happened.
Like sulking through the awesome part of a relationship because one day you might break up.
October 28th, 2019 at 5:01 PM ^
FOr real - a lot of people on here said we had no hope of beating ND. Look how that turned out. Am I aware that the odds of beating Ohio State are extremely small? Yes. Do I care? No. Go out and punch them in the mouth. If we're gonna sulk about not winning every game, we might as well just drop the program.
In the immortal words of Herm Edwards: YOU PLAY TO WIN THE GAME.
October 28th, 2019 at 7:47 PM ^
Curb stomping based on playing Nebraska Nortwestern n Indiana on road. Indiana backup qb.
October 28th, 2019 at 9:40 AM ^
I think Brian really really really believed that this year was going to be the year.
beating OSU. winning Bigten and heading to the playoff.
to him the only thing that is still attainable and that makes the season is the OSU game and he is 100% sure that we will lose.
October 28th, 2019 at 9:53 AM ^
You and SiKa7x make fine points, but it just reinforces mine. If Brian is going to mope, don't be surprised that people are like, hey, you're mopey!
October 28th, 2019 at 1:32 PM ^
I believe Brian is losing his mind. Crying baby at home, suffering his white privilege, stock market at new highs; tough times for leftists.
October 28th, 2019 at 10:02 AM ^
based on Brian's preview for the season, I'm not sure how you can think that. He was cautiously optimistic the offense might be good and had big concerns about DT and DB on the defensive side. I think Brian's just Brian - worn down by years of disappointment. He founded the site in 2004 and makes his living scrutinizing every detail of this program. Since that time he's seen ONE win over OSU during the Luke Fickell year. He's lived through sleepwalking Lloyd Carr on his way out, the RR debacle, whatever it was that Hoke was doing.
I'm not saying I agree with him - he's definitely more pessimistic than I am on the program, but if you can't understand why the man is down after living this and attaching his life's work to it...
October 28th, 2019 at 10:20 AM ^
'a major reason to believe this might be The Year is quarterback depth.' what do you think he meant by 'The Year'?
his season preview ended with '11-1. The most likely 1 is OSU, of course, but I think Michigan should win that game. "Should" and "did" have not often met in the recent history of the rivalry.' i read that as brian thinking since we were favored in every game preseason and should win every game, but only due to the recent history of THE GAME brian put a loss there just because it is OSU, even though 'I think Michigan should win that game'. if not for THE GAME he would have put 12-0.
understanding brian's emotions is one thing. doesn't mean people have to agree with them or how he is coping with it via the blog.
i really enjoy the blog but there are times after a loss or bad win, even before this season, where i don't come back for a period because i don't want all the feelz. but even after a good win against ND it seems he is still pretty down about the season and i think people in general are saying 'please try to enjoy the good things'.
i think most people not agreeing with his pessimism are asking 'what will make you be optimistic for the program?'. and based on what brian had mentioned previously after losing to UW and PSU, beating OSU and only that matters to him regarding this season, and i read it as for the future of the program as well. since UM beating OSU this season seems to be unlikely in brian's mind he is not optimistic.
i understand that. i don't agree with it. and i saw a great game played by UM against ND and want to enjoy that.
October 28th, 2019 at 1:03 PM ^
There indeed is a strange dynamic going on with Brian and the emotional tenor of the site overall. He talks a lot about BPONE and all, but I don't really buy it -- he seems to overrate the team in pre-season, then get disappointed. Isn't BPONE supposed to be 'negative expectations'? And if you're still sad even when reality far surpasses your negative expectations (like Saturday), what is the point of those alleged negative expectations?
October 28th, 2019 at 12:19 PM ^
I was thinking the other day that I wonder when Brian was happy with Michigan football? I love this site and I'm happy he created it. But...
First we had Bo, with the most "old fashioned" offense ever.
Then we had Moeller who opened things up a bit but never had the huge success.
During the Carr era he didn't like the offense and endlessly ridiculed DeBord. I think everyone loved '97.
Then we had Rich Rod, which started bad and slowly eeked up to 7-5. He loved that offense but we still hadn't shown any real movement towards getting a defense.
Then Hoke.
then RR; who he liked for a bit but then started to sour on.
I'm not trying to be a dick here. I just don't understand. I started loving UM football by watching as a kid and falling in love with the ball control. Later, it was reinforced by going to camps, listening to their mantra of the team, and hard work, and setting high goals and working towards them.
RR and Hoke were tough. Very tough.
Now Harbaugh who I like.
But if I was Brian, who likes spread offenses and having uber programs like '80's Miami or 'Bama now, Michigan football just doesn't seem a natural fit; yet that is where he spent a ton of time, especially early on in the blog.
October 28th, 2019 at 12:39 PM ^
At some point, we may need to ask the question...
Is there an MGoBlog curse?
Brian founded the blog in December 2004, right after our 42nd Big Ten championship. Fifteen years later, we still have 42 championships.
Was the original occupant of "mgoblog.com" some sort of indigenous website that has been wronged? Can we get an online exorcist?
October 28th, 2019 at 12:39 PM ^
I've argued for years that the Lions need an exorcist.
October 28th, 2019 at 12:56 PM ^
Sorry, but the Lions' drought is a *lot* easier to explain -- the "curse" just happens to completely coincide with Ford family ownership.
October 28th, 2019 at 12:53 PM ^
I noticed that as well. Probably a coincidence.
Probably.
October 28th, 2019 at 10:46 AM ^
Brian has always been this way. Remember the time he threw a water bottle at another fan out of frustration?
There is a reason Spencer Hall and co talk about the dichotomy of Michigan fans being erudite elitists until they start watching the game and then they devolve into every dumb fan cliche.
October 28th, 2019 at 10:45 AM ^
My guess is they'll get a bit more excited each week leading up to OSU, especially if UM looks competent-to-very-good against IU. That's usually the barometer for "not in the face" against OSU.
But at this point, even beating OSU likely will just transition to "and why didn't they do this against Wisconsin and PSU!!!!!!" complaints.
October 28th, 2019 at 11:14 AM ^
i think you'd be hard pressed to find much other than pervasive jubilation if we beat OSU for just the second time in 15 years. Don't get me wrong, a few weeks later there will be loads of complaints, worries, and concerns but i'm pretty sure the hangover from a win vs OSU would even put this boards most strident pessimists in a good mood for a little while.
October 28th, 2019 at 12:22 PM ^
Thanks. I was tempted to listen. I'll go back to Jansen and Locked On Wolverines instead.
October 28th, 2019 at 1:08 PM ^
This was honestly one of the funniest and most entertaining episodes I've heard in a while. Well worth the listen.
October 28th, 2019 at 1:15 PM ^
Yeah, Brian wasn't mopey today. I didn't mean to imply that. But there wasn't much giddiness or spiking the football going on if you're looking for that.
October 28th, 2019 at 8:43 AM ^
This game is the epitome of what we all wanted and pleaded for in the off-season. We all wanted last years rushing attack to be coupled with modern passing strategies. Hopefully the team can keep this up moving toward. Go blue
October 28th, 2019 at 8:48 AM ^
We were saving the good stuff for Notre Dame.
Not sure what we've got left for OSU.
October 28th, 2019 at 10:59 AM ^
Yeah I don’t know about that. It’s dumb to think they would be or should be “saving” anything. Your best execution is going to be on the stuff you run the most. Seems like the improvement has come from going back to some of the stuff they knew last year, in addition to fewer brain farts from the OL (these might be related, fwiw). Remember Army and Wisconsin when the OL looked lost and couldn’t pick up basic stunts? The OL actually looks good now, for the first time in a while.
October 28th, 2019 at 9:35 AM ^
You know, I might be in a minority here, but I loved the darker look of blue the uniforms had when they were drenched. They almost looked black. Looks awesome with the maize numbering and pants.
October 28th, 2019 at 9:39 AM ^
SO to Ace - I believe in the Biodome future too!
Only problem? Our recruiting efforts will suffer if we become the rain team lol
First biodome team by 2050!
October 28th, 2019 at 10:44 AM ^
All I can think of when someone says Biodome is, "I want to come back as a leotard"
October 28th, 2019 at 11:12 AM ^
Also, the title of this podcast and that discussion reminded me of one of my favorite books that I read to my daughters when they were younger, A Bargain for Frances. Basically, Frances the badger gets ripped off by her friend, so she plays a trick back on her. Eventually, they realize that is no way to be friends and ends up with Frances saying, "Do you want to be careful, or do you want to be friends?" That's all I've got...
October 28th, 2019 at 9:47 AM ^
". . . #Ninewindiana requires a win vs PSU or UM. . ."
Indiana was tough for us at home last year. Now we get a likely better IU team on the road, the week before OSU, just like last year. Hopefully it's time to give IU a "tuneup," foreshadowing momentum for our last game of the season.
October 28th, 2019 at 9:51 AM ^
I mean at the end of the day the ideal outcome with a new OC would have been the team and the new OC getting into a groove by game 3 or 4, but was that really the most likely outcome? I would argue game 6 was more realistic and that is exactly what has happened. I mean yes it sucks that it came too late to win the Big Ten, but it at least bodes well for the future. Pair some of the old power with the new speed and space stuff, and more modern passing concepts, sounds like a good long term plan to me. Now if you want say Gattis should have not of gone so gung ho with the new stuff and paired the old and with the new from the jump this year that is probably a fair criticism.
Also I am going go against the grain and say if the offensive and defensive lines play as well as they did against ND and the offense continues to improve they can maybe at least stay in the game against OSU, I mean they were in the game a couple years ago at home with O'Korn at QB and would have won with a couple better throws. Though this is clearly OSU's best team in awhile, so it will require the best gameplan and execution all year on both sides of the ball to stay in it. Have to come up with a way to limit Chase Young's impact.
October 28th, 2019 at 10:27 AM ^
Copy-and-pasted from last week:
I will buy Brian 1000 hair ties if it means he'll use them to prevent his hair from randomly tapping the mic during the podcast!!!
Alas, it's been like this for a LONG time so I have no hope of it getting better. As it is, I find it just annoying enough that I have to stop listening for a while but not so bad that I can easily allow myself to just skip the podcast entirely. And the randomness of the tapping makes it nearly impossible for me to tune out.
This little thing is far and away the biggest gripe I have with this otherwise excellent site.
Note: I'm assuming it's Brian's hair based on a comment Seth made when someone else brought up this exact issue in the Comments section of a different podcast. Seth said he can't make Brian stop.
October 28th, 2019 at 11:24 AM ^
I've come around to the point of view that there are certain little things that Brian does, like the hair on the mic and the terrible functionality of the site, simply because it pisses people off. He seems like the type to always leave the seat up despite being repeatedly asked to put it down. I bet he starts the dishwasher the minute he hears his wife get in the shower.
October 28th, 2019 at 11:15 AM ^
I thought the fake bubble to Sainristril TD the other way to Charbonnet was maybe the best play all season. The exact kind of thing I was hoping to see more regularly. Unlike the various other actions Michigan runs as fakes but don't do for real that one played off something that Michigan had done previously and successfully.
I am still wondering why the run game was suddenly so dominant. If it really is as simple as adding back in all the stuff from last season then the first half of the seasons seems like a serious lost opportunity. But it can't actually be all of that. The running game last year wasn't as good as on Saturday or only very rarely so.
October 28th, 2019 at 11:47 AM ^
It appeared, to my untrained, uneducated, non-coaching eye.... that we started running straight into the line up the middle and were getting mostly stuffed, again!
Then we pulled the center and used a TE in blocking schemes to create some holes off the edge and started popping some nice positive yardage runs.... once we got that working, we were able to get an occasional hole opened up in the middle and run between the tackles with success.
When we do exactly what the opponent expects us to do, we have limited success, but when we mix it up and give them something they weren't planning for, the world opens up like a blooming hydrangea......
Keep on blooming BLUE, keep on blooming!
October 28th, 2019 at 11:40 AM ^
Ace wants hail. . . to the victors.
October 28th, 2019 at 11:45 AM ^
What the hell is that sound that I’ve noticed the past two weeks? To me, it sounds similar to a bubble popping. It won’t stop and makes me want to drive into a bridge embankment.
October 28th, 2019 at 12:29 PM ^
It sounds like the mic stand has a wobble and it’s clicking on the table. I assume someone has there hand on it as they’re speaking and rocking it back in forth on the table without realizing it.
October 28th, 2019 at 1:04 PM ^
Based on previous comments from Seth et al, I believe it's Brian's hair touching the mic. I absolutely hate it too but it's been going on for years so I doubt it'll ever change.
October 28th, 2019 at 11:48 AM ^
I'm confused by the poncho take.
The Michigan band looked resplendent in their rain gear. The Notre Dame band looked like the Klan.
I stopped at the M Den in Novi looking for a poncho. They didn't have any, but they did have a rain jacket. While, unsurprisingly, not in the same price range, it was ridiculously effective. The garbage-bag style disposable ponchos didn't seem like they did much for people.
October 28th, 2019 at 11:53 AM ^
We wore Walmart disposable trash bag ponchos for the downpour sparty game two seasons back and they worked great, provided you stood the whole time. Might have been the best $2 I ever spent (not counting quarter draft night)
October 28th, 2019 at 12:53 PM ^
I second the aesthetic take -- assuming they were even close to comparable in effectiveness (and there's no reason to think otherwise), the MMB's actual raincoats beat the heck out of the clear plastic trash bags used by the ND marching band. I will also note that the tough-as-nails MMB only used the raincoats for pregame and took them off for the halftime show, thus accentuating the contrast with their Klan-like counterparts from ND.
October 28th, 2019 at 1:18 PM ^
Book saw ghosts.
October 28th, 2019 at 1:19 PM ^
They can move on from the hot take segment anytime now. I'm firmly in the fast forward camp, when I come to it.
October 28th, 2019 at 6:56 PM ^
re: towel throwing
While I obviously can't speak for everyone in the student section, I don't believe many people were weighting the towels. Most people around me were simply tying the sopping towels into a single knot, but they seriously upped the quality of the towels this time around -- they were screen-printed microfiber rather than the usual one-ply toilet paper with blue DTG bleeding everywhere with a single drop of water (the MSU 2017 towels definitely ruined some clothes and turned my skin blue). Don't underestimate the weight of a microfiber towel after 2 hours of downpour.
October 28th, 2019 at 7:50 PM ^
Mgobrian should be the name. Geeeshh.
October 29th, 2019 at 1:11 AM ^
They win out then this will be the best season to me in 10 plus years.
keep recruiting studs and eventually all the stars will align!
next years D = possible All-Americans in Hutchinson, McGrone, Ambry, and Dax!!!
October 31st, 2019 at 6:36 PM ^
Excellent use of TMBG. Hats off.
Comments