MGoPodcast 13.0.c: Otherwise Known as a Team
1 hour and 12 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.
And let’s not forget our associate sponsors: HomeSure Lending, Ann Arbor Elder Law, the Residence Inn Ann Arbor Downtown, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, and Information Entropy, the Raw Power app for iOS by Gentleman Coders, and SignalWire, which is the virtual office platform we recorded on during the pandemic because we’d had it up to here with Zoom (use the code MUPPETS and they’ll buy your team lunch!)
This episode however was recorded at Prentice 4M, on the other end of The Bridge, started by a couple of readers to have the perfect, affordable, safe, and clean living/renting/working space near campus.
1. Special Teams
starts at 1:00
Two guys who took the jobs of two pros. If Ronnie Bell can get to punts and not drop them they’re 75 percent of the way to being a top punt return team in this age of spread punts. Michigan doesn’t spread punt; they need to find someone who can get to them like Khaleke Hudson.
[The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]
2. Hot Takes and the Big Ten West
starts at 19:04
We believe in Bert! Well above Northwestern maybe? Could Nebraska go 4-8 and KEEP Scott Frost? Wisconsin or Iowa?
3. The Big Ten East
starts at 39:04
We discuss from worst to first. Rutgers is performing at a program all-time high under Schiano. Alex has been reading the Maryland blogs. Michigan State is still starting an Allen. Penn State and Michigan could form one super team to challenge OSU. INDIANA!!!
4. Stupid Predictions and State of the World
starts at 57:44
Who’s your boy on this team? Most disappointing thing about the season? Winner of the Big Ten East? C’mon, you know you want to say it.
MUSIC:
- “Living Colour”—Cult of Personality
- “Edit”—Geese
- “Role Models”—Treeboy & Arc
- “Across 110th Street”
THE USUAL LINKS:
Herbstreit’s like Week one: Alabama versus Miami, really interesting matchup.
September 1st, 2021 at 8:36 AM ^
I'm glad Brian is back and doing better, but if he's not interested in tackle football anymore...I dont know, man. Maybe sit out the football podcasts?
September 1st, 2021 at 10:56 AM ^
It is definitely a different experience hearing the guy who created this site and usually has erudite, nuanced ideas about football have takes that read more like board comments.
Like, I found Ace exhausting by the end of last year on the podcasts specifically because he seemed really angry whenever anyone said anything positive about UM football, and while Brian isn't there yet (and he has perfectly fine criticisms), 13 weeks of "but why did they do X instead of Y" after every win and loss for 75 minutes isn't going to be the most enjoyable listening experience.
September 1st, 2021 at 12:55 PM ^
Pretty much this. Even the "x instead of y" thing is ok as long as it doesn't turn into something personally existential. But my biggest concern is that Brian sounds like a guy who has checked out on college football entirely (like I have over the years with hockey and baseball). He's familiar with names and things from the past, but not necessarily current. No worries - just put it down for awhile and see if the program or sport becomes more interesting later. Bottom line, he needs to do what's best for him.
September 1st, 2021 at 1:14 PM ^
I agree. If you're not into the product that makes sense but Seth and Alex were talking about interesting stuff in the league this year and Brain's pretty consistent "don't care, it's boring" got a little tiring.
I think Brian is like a lot of us in that he wants to see a winner, which is why basketball has suddenly got so interesting for a lot of fans here while it wasn't during most of the late 90s and 00s. Like, the conference was interesting in terms of basketball before 2010, but since UM wasn't all that good it didn't seem particularly worth the effort.
September 1st, 2021 at 1:45 PM ^
He doesn't enjoy college football anymore, which is totally fine but then why still talk about it? Like the reality is Iowa vs. Wisconsin was never interesting from an actual football perspective. Neither team mattered and you only watched if you loved the sport. If you don't love it anymore its not going to be interesting but its not like those programs or where they sit in college football changed, nobody cared about the battle of which team got to the outback bowl in 1993 either.
September 1st, 2021 at 8:58 AM ^
Seth, Bloomington is the town Ann Arbor tells everyone it is.
September 1st, 2021 at 9:23 AM ^
I'm with Brian on two counts:
1) Saturday's used to be for college football; but now I'll record most Michigan games and watch them later, after other things are finished. National games may, or not, be viewed depending on what else I might have going on. Maybe this is just a function of getting older, wanting other things, and having other responsibilities?
2) Will speed in space continue to be non-existent. If the offense is what we've seen the last couple of years, JH must be gone.
I'm largely good with the defense, I think it'll be okay. Not really good, but not bad, either. The offense - as has been the case for 7 years now - will make this team, or break it. It's an offensive world - if you can't score against everybody, why bother?
September 1st, 2021 at 9:50 AM ^
1) For me it was the kids getting older, when they were little it was easy to have toys set up in the living room for them or watch them in the backyard while the game was on. Now, there's just too much other stuff happening on the weekends to turn it into football day the way it used to be. You also see just how many people are out and about and doing stuff and it makes you start to think there's more to life. I'll watch games if I have the time, but it needs to be a special event anymore.
September 1st, 2021 at 10:26 AM ^
The best is waiting about an hour after kickoff to start watching the recording. You can fast forward through all the commercials and half time, and then almost watch the end in real time. It's so nice to hit the FF button during the TD->commercial->extra point->commercial->kickoff->commercial segment.
September 1st, 2021 at 9:40 AM ^
Disappointing to hear talk of other teams possibly unseating OSU in the B1G East...year 7 of JH era...
September 1st, 2021 at 10:05 AM ^
I love this format. Seth and Alex trying their best to convince Brian why he should be optimistic only to be met with reality and facts LOL. Replacing Defensive linemen with more corners "that is literally the worst possible answer you could have had" LOL
Also, "I've been rubbing my temples for an hour" has to capture the sentiment of watching every Michigan football season
well done gents! The three part series of this podcast preview have been great fun, even if based in the reality that is UM football in 2021.
September 1st, 2021 at 10:51 AM ^
Except CB/S blitzes are exactly what helped bring down any semblance of a Michigan run game last year. So why would that work against other teams?
September 1st, 2021 at 10:51 AM ^
The good (?) news is that Seth was wrong on that point as we'll be replacing a DL with a safety (RJ Moten) for nickel and probably be lifting a LB for another safety for dime. 4 safeties isn't an ideal lineup but it's probably better than 4 corners would be?
September 1st, 2021 at 11:11 AM ^
Whenever someone asks about Bayern all I say is they are the Ohio State of Europe. This statement seems to resonate. I really don't care that it is owned by the city because Munich is the Columbus of Europe.
September 1st, 2021 at 11:42 AM ^
Jeez, going straight to preemptive BPONE rather than waiting for bad things to happen.
I mean say what you want about the tenets of feelings ball and old school boosterism, Dude, at least it's an ethos.
September 1st, 2021 at 1:14 PM ^
OMG ... I really think a few of bloggers need to just give up watching M football. I feel like I represent maybe 5% of posters here who go to Michigan Stadium as a season ticket holder, and I'm excited as hell for Saturday's game! For me, a day of tailgating and being in Michigan Stadium are the 7 greatest Saturdays every year. Football is NOT life and death. Yes, winning is the goal ... but I choose to support this team as a fan.
The trolls gotta be loving the Blog right now ... so woke with pessimism !
Go Blue!
September 1st, 2021 at 2:28 PM ^
Yeah, I gave the offense and defense podcasts a listen, not interested in this one at all...especially after reading some of the comments below.
Havent even played a game yet and the season is lost and a failure, great to put out there. If you hate the program right now, why talk about it on a podcast were listeners get pulled into all that negative stuff?
Im excited for this season and I hope the men play their asses off and make a lot of folks on here eat crow.
September 1st, 2021 at 2:50 PM ^
I don’t have much to add to the existing comments other than please, please, please, never get rid of the HAWT TAKES segment. Even after a brutal loss that segment has me laughing out loud.
September 1st, 2021 at 4:59 PM ^
There are folks who are on this blog all year long..listen to the podcasts..but have better things to do on the weekend than watch the game? Not buying it. Is that being woke or parenting humblebrag? Whatever. Although I can be OK with watching the recording an hour after kickoff and catching up in real time for the end...as long as no one is texting me commentary while I am behind real time.
September 1st, 2021 at 6:32 PM ^
I like college football.
September 2nd, 2021 at 10:21 AM ^
Whoever selected the music for this podcast did a much better job than the last decade of these podcasts.
September 2nd, 2021 at 12:28 PM ^
Given the structural problems with NCAA FB I don't see how changing coaches is going to get UM into championship contention.
Its just a mess of a situation.
If the playoffs are expanded then yeah UM gets back into something of a story line as a team in the running for one of the spots..but that's not a whole lot different than whats been going on ( UM would have been in that conversation pretty much the entirety of JHs time at UM).
And NIL doesn't change anything it seems...I mean UM could throw tons at a recruit (it won't because its 'above' that) and still get out bid by OSU, Bama, Clemson..where they seems to have written the book on that game.
Personally...I just pull for the players and team no matter what. And tune out the negativity...which often means staying away from this place during games :)
September 2nd, 2021 at 4:59 PM ^
These have been the most disappointing podcasts in the history of podcasts. Sheesh Brian don’t be such a buzzkill bud dawg.
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