MGoPodcast Episode 14.7: The Director of Swag
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, 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 Penn State
starts at 1:00
The subplot of this game in the 4th quarter was if Michigan would get 400 yards rushing or not (they got 418). There was a hiccup in the 2nd quarter but otherwise it was The Great Plain Of Reasonable Expectations. The two big runs were a result of JJ's legs because the defense has to respect his running ability. Introducing: the double arc! Urban Meyer said Michigan had no chance of running the ball against Penn State. JJ was great except for a couple uncharacteristic misses on... swing passes? They threw out of the pistol on the first play of the game (obviously they listen to the MGoPodcast). Absolute annihilation in RPS. The pick-six ultimately didn't really matter and probably hits the ground 99 times out of 100 (Brian forgot it even happened). Incredible amount of movement from the offensive line. Blake Corum's little dolphin feet.
[The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]
2. Defense vs Penn State
starts at 42:13
Total domination aside from two or three plays. Not many deep shots by Penn State, but Frames Janklin dialed one up on 4th and six (after a timeout...). Two goal line fades?? Kris Jenkins devoured Penn State's five star running back on the first drive. Someone on the Michigan sideline gets a headset sticker for pulling Will Johnson away from getting a taunting penalty. Interesting rotation at safety, Quinten Johnson played a lot in the 4th quarter. Michael Barrett had a thundersack, this was probably his best game.
3. Hot Takes, Special Teams, and Game Theory
starts at 1:06:02
Takes so hot they're Jim Harbaugh after he thinks there's been a simulated snap by Penn State's defense. JAKE MOODY CAN TACKLE. FLEX ON THEM, JAKE. TAKE THE FIFTEEN YARDS, IT'S FINE. Seth has Brian's blessing to make fun of Penn State's coaching. AJ Henning was fine, he's shooting his shot. Brad Robbins enjoyed a lovely day outdoors. Penn State players were apparently tweeting before the game which may have led to the tunnel shouting match. Two point conversion was probably the right call. Michigan seems to have greatly reduced playcalling issues (with respect to getting the play in or play clock). They're better at play packages this year.
4. Around the Big Ten With Jamie Mac
starts at 1:40:41
Michigan State won a game that they actually deserved to win. Wisconsin couldn't even get 100 passing yards until deep into the 4th quarter, how do you not throw the ball more against Michigan State?? Wisconsin is so bad that only squeezing out a win against them might not actually be a good thing. Purdue walk-on Devin Mackobee put up 178 rushing yards against Nebraska, what on earth is going to happen when Blake Corum gets a chance?? Are we projecting 800 rushing yards against Nebraska?? Starting to look like Purdue vs Illinois for the Big Ten West (how did it come to this). Taulia Tagovailoa might've had a season-ending injury. Maryland just can't escape this from happening every year, now they'll probably lose a few more and it may impact Michigan's strength of schedule. The Illinois vs Minnesota boxscore just does not look indicative of the final score. Illinois dominated in yardage but only won by 12. O/U 1.5 - how many times does Michigan play Illinois this year?
MUSIC:
- "Glad Girls"--Guided by Voices
- "Beep"--MIA
- "Plumb Line"--Archers of Loaf
- “Across 110th Street”
THE USUAL LINKS:
- Helpful iTunes subscribe link
- General podcast feed link
- Direct download link
- What's with the theme music
“Oh, frippery... Yes. Give me the frippery.”
October 16th, 2022 at 10:20 PM ^
FUGITIVE, WHAT’S YOUR HOTTEST TAKE?
Harbaugh has instructed Moore and Weiss to call running plays so that JJ (who Jim has said is better than him) wont break his records.
October 17th, 2022 at 6:03 AM ^
Michael Barrett is calling the plays!
October 16th, 2022 at 10:25 PM ^
Jake Moody is a DUDE!!!!💪
October 16th, 2022 at 11:20 PM ^
The cutbacks thing seemed to be an epiphany especially for Edwards. If he keeps running like that, then there may be more 400 yard games in the future.
October 17th, 2022 at 7:48 AM ^
I'm really hopefully we remember this as the Edwards game. His vision and patience looked markedly better than previous games. Hopefully that isn't an illusion (and given the quality of Penn State's defense, it probably isn't).
October 17th, 2022 at 10:14 AM ^
Too bad Stokes couldn't have kept his balance on the shoe-lace 'tackle' in the 4th. He'd have been gone and we'd be talking him up again!
October 16th, 2022 at 11:49 PM ^
JJ needs to learn when to throw the ball away.
The pick six was a dead play from the start. Even if it’s completed, which was unlikely, there was four guys hawking it and the play was going nowhere.
The back foot floater to Corum was scary as hell. I’m not so sure he should be throwing that one either.
JJ has so much confidence and talent he thinks he can make something happen on every play. Live to fight another day especially when we are clearly the better team.
His running was exceptional. It’s so much fun to have that ability on our offense. It stresses the defense in so many ways. Scrambles alone can keep a couple drives alive each game.
October 17th, 2022 at 7:13 AM ^
JJ needs to learn when to throw the ball away.
A bit harsh I think. I agree he should have thrown those two balls away, but rest of the game was pretty flawless. (Missed screen throw in the first quarter as well.) Kid has the best completion percentage in the country and if you watch on Sundays they make mistakes too. McCarthy played a very good game and I hope he continues to improve!
October 17th, 2022 at 10:54 AM ^
There’s the key, he is only going to get better and smarter. BTW, Bo used to look at JH after some plays where he took chances the same way JH looked at JJ after that floater tossed just over the PSU linebacker. Priceless!😉😂
October 17th, 2022 at 8:11 AM ^
You can find more than 2 plays a game where Tom Brady should be throwing the ball away in every game he has played over his career (especially this season). What is the standard people are applying to JJ? Did you actually watch Michigan quarterback play the last decade? Cade alone bounced a dozen balls off lineman helmets last year and it is just a matter of chance that none of them popped into a DBs hands.
October 17th, 2022 at 8:15 AM ^
It appears the standard is perfection. I think jj is meeting all reasonable expectations and certainly surpassing what is needed from him given our run game. I would like him to connect on a few more deep shots but I’ll live with some of the things you point out because that ability is also what got us multiple first downs with his legs and gave Corum and Edwards an advantage on their long runs.
October 17th, 2022 at 10:21 AM ^
Agree... The kid has 6 starts to his name, and he's dissected two pretty damn good defenses to a very convincing win and a total hamblasting. Let him grow with experience, already! For my money, he's better than both Hendon Hooker and DJ Uoeyalagalagala. I think he's an overall better (and more complete) QB than Stroud (or will be by seasons end - he needs to dial in the long balls). I would still put Bryce Young over him, though - but that's not really a negative, is it?
Simple fact - JJ McCarthy is fucking good.
October 17th, 2022 at 1:19 PM ^
I don’t think it’s overly harsh to say this is still an area of improvement for JJ, nobody is saying he’s “bad”. He’s improved even from the start of the year but he’s still got a bit of the “every play must have a chance” mentality.
Which is awesome if you’re trailing in the 4th and it’s 3rd down in a must-score drive.
Less so if it’s 1st down in a game you’re dominating and the only way the other team wins is if you shoot yourself in the foot. It’s just getting a better sense of when to take your shots and when to be a game manager.
October 18th, 2022 at 11:26 AM ^
C'mon man.....
The dude's started a handful of games and is a RS Soph. There are going to be mistakes.
Also, you don't get spectacular plays like the TD to Edwards previously without that innate aggressiveness. I'd prefer he keeps that as opposed to becoming too game manager-y. Also, as he gains experience, he'll learn.
TL;DR -- it's fine.
October 17th, 2022 at 2:33 AM ^
"you read the bible, frames?"
October 17th, 2022 at 6:34 AM ^
Brad Robbins enjoyed a lovely day outdoors.
October 17th, 2022 at 7:49 AM ^
It may have been a little chilly, considering he didn't get to do any exercising or physical exertion to warm himself up.
October 17th, 2022 at 7:50 AM ^
BLINKIN'S HOTTEST TAKE:
MGoPodcast makes me look forward to Monday mornings.
October 17th, 2022 at 10:37 AM ^
It definitely makes the morning commute more tolerable.
October 17th, 2022 at 9:09 AM ^
Business Mentoring Moment: don’t say “Our problem is that we don’t have enough listeners” right before you list and thank your sponsors. 🤣
October 17th, 2022 at 9:16 AM ^
It's a very professional podcast. Says so right in the name.
October 17th, 2022 at 9:18 AM ^
Finished the first segment on the way to work today. Two minor nits to pick.
-- First, let's not absolve JJ completely for the picksix just because he's been so good and it was a little fluky. He threw it right into a facemask, not an out stretched hand. We have been hard on Cade and other QBs for that. It was a bad play and bad decision. That's ok, he was very good otherwise.
-- Sorry Brian, All isn't coming back. I think he's out for the year partially because he's going to the NFL. He put a lot on tape last year and has a young child. I think he's done.
October 17th, 2022 at 10:19 AM ^
I wonder if Brian has some inside information on All. I had assumed that All was out for the year and headed to the NFL based on the initial rumblings. But Brian sounded so confident* about All's potential return this year and seemingly inevitable return for 2023 that he might know something that we, the unwashed public, do not.
October 17th, 2022 at 12:11 PM ^
You really got me with the * - I scrolled the whole page looking for where you left the reference.
October 17th, 2022 at 12:42 PM ^
That was totally inadvertent. I was going to add a footnote and hedge on Brian's hypothetical insider knowledge, but decided against it and forgot to get the initial reference in the body of my comment.
October 17th, 2022 at 9:45 AM ^
Here's a Hot Take: in Fear/Paranoia Level for Franklin teams, Coming Off A Bye needs to be a -1 instead of a +1 until proven otherwise
October 17th, 2022 at 5:27 PM ^
Unfortunately they thrashed us in 2017 coming off the bye, but that probably has more to do with Saquon (and Trace and some great WRs) plus a great gameplan by Moorhead that took advantage of Don Brown's tendencies...
October 17th, 2022 at 7:21 PM ^
Plus the 2017 team just wasn't very good. That was the worst non-pandemic Harbaugh team.
October 17th, 2022 at 9:51 AM ^
Across 110th Street song, is it ever in the podcast the past few years ? It is listed as so.
October 17th, 2022 at 12:58 PM ^
Yes? It’s both the intro and the outro music.
October 17th, 2022 at 5:40 PM ^
Logged in just to say Brian and the gang picked the songs on this particular one just for me. "Glad Girls" and "Plumbline"? In 2022? This will be our year.
October 17th, 2022 at 10:23 AM ^
A happy Brian is such a great Brian. This is the most passionate and confident I think I have ever heard him.
October 17th, 2022 at 10:26 AM ^
My Hottest Take: it’s awesome when Gus says any sentence that includes the phrase “… for JJ”. Go ahead and say it yourself and find out why.
October 17th, 2022 at 10:50 AM ^
MR. ELBEL's HOTTEST TAKE:
"Loud let the bells them ring" is an English sentence and I will hear no argument against it.
October 17th, 2022 at 1:29 PM ^
“In stalwart step they’re nighing!”
October 17th, 2022 at 10:55 AM ^
@Seth can we Neck Sharpies the double arc?
October 17th, 2022 at 12:39 PM ^
Forgive if you mentioned this, but I don’t remember if you brought up Moten’s sack in the defensive section?
What looked like an odd misalignment on TV turned out to be a pretty brilliant defensive spying scheme that took away their primary weapon in Clifford on a key third down, and ended in a great sack.
October 17th, 2022 at 12:57 PM ^
Can’t believe you guys talked about kickers making tackles and didn’t give a shout out to Zoltan Mesko. Dude could lay a hit, and did, more than once.
I mean, the student section having a hand sign for the punter is 100% Big Ten.
October 17th, 2022 at 1:05 PM ^
Hottest take:
Lance Leipold should stay and Kansas and Wisconsin should hire Sean Lewis, former Wisconsin player and Kent State head coach.
October 17th, 2022 at 8:02 PM ^
I will believe Michigan is a great team when (if) they beat the other team from Michigan. Game should not be close. Don't care what they (Sparties) scheme (dream) up. Crush it. No excuses.
October 17th, 2022 at 8:54 PM ^
Super disappointed you guys didn’t talk about Mel’s time (mis)management at the end of regulation. Jamie tried to raise it twice and Brian shut it down. Why??? Brian’s rationale was something about it not being relevant to Michigan. But isn’t mocking poor time management kind of a thing? And isn’t mocking Staee a thing? I need someone to try to explain to me what Tuck was thinking! Alex Drain, please cover in detail on FFFF. MGoTeam, please cover in detail in the Staee game preview podcast. Moar Sparty No!
October 18th, 2022 at 8:31 AM ^
It was horseshit clock management.
Comments