Klatt Discusses Jim's Transformation with Cowherd
Funny how Cowherd seems to devote 1/4 of every segmetn with Klatt to talk Michigan. He's clearly become a big fan, despite him and Jim's brutal interview a few years ago. Anyway, Joel K as usual spreading the gospel of UM, but some nice insight into Jim's transformation last few years.
October 18th, 2023 at 4:35 PM ^
Pump this poison right in my veins
October 18th, 2023 at 5:04 PM ^
Cowherd is still annoying but suddenly less so.
October 18th, 2023 at 5:53 PM ^
Once a dickweed, always a dickweed.
October 18th, 2023 at 6:17 PM ^
One person's dickweed is another person's dickflower.
October 18th, 2023 at 6:57 PM ^
You may have something there.
October 18th, 2023 at 7:02 PM ^
I'm with you, my furry little friend. I'm still not a fan of Cowherd.
October 19th, 2023 at 7:51 AM ^
Rat poison with sugar and cream on top
October 18th, 2023 at 4:39 PM ^
Through Michigan football's wandering through the desert, I just wanted to get it back into the national conversation. But THIS current state of affairs? This is great fun, and more than I expected.
October 18th, 2023 at 4:43 PM ^
Klatt seems like a good guy, and I think he does give Michigan a fair shake, but he’s careful not to be a “Michigan Guy.” I think that this is mainly because he’s a “Big Ten” guy and is usually very careful to give the big 3 (M, OSU and PSU) very favorable treatment and coverage. In fact, he made a dig at Frames on the Michigan broadcast this past week (“that’s pretty rich coming from a guy playing UMass this week”) and then apologized for it on his podcast. He knows where his bread is buttered and knows that it’s better for him when he promotes the best of the Big Ten. Sort of like how ESPN has a love affair with the SEC.
I’m not meaning to disparage Klatt, but I don’t think you will see him come out and totally disparage one Big Ten team at the expense of another. He will say things like, “i think Michigan is maybe a little bit better than OSU in the trenches” but he will shy away from being too honest about any team.
October 18th, 2023 at 5:48 PM ^
Someone may accuse me as being a "sensitive PSU fan" ---- but I thought Gus and Joel's discussion on the whole "Franklin said Michigan ain't playing nobody" and "that's pretty rich coming from a guy playing UMass this week" was unprofessional and unfair. They're a #1 announcing crew with a big audience, not the #8 crew on ESPNU: they need to do better.
Neither one of them did their homework (both misquoting Franklin and not contextualizing his comments, and understanding there's a reason the UMass game was in October) and Gus was cackling like a freaking hyena at Joel's comment.
Yeah, PSU played UMass --- every B1G team schedules 2 marshmallow OOC games a year, and UMass was one of them. UMass was in October because PSU/WVU was Week 1 and the B1G gave PSU conference games in Weeks 3, 4, and 5.
I get it, Klatt likes Harbaugh and he thinks considerably less of Franklin (there have been other signs of this over the years) - but he's still paid to not be blatantly unfair.
October 18th, 2023 at 6:21 PM ^
There's a balance of humor and content. Though I do believe you might be a bit sensitive to this - it's also fair to say that Klatt apologized for the comment during this weekly Podcast, I believe that was on Monday.
Michigan and Penn State will meet on November 11th - let's see what happens.
Your squad has a pretty important game in Columbus - I hope you enjoy it.
And - FWIW, I'm quite glad that PSU's White Out was against Iowa earlier this season.
October 18th, 2023 at 7:42 PM ^
That's all fair. Franklin didn't do anything wrong IMO, but his penchant for rambling and not being specific as to who he was talking about didn't help either.
Anyway: yes, PSU @ OSU kicks off in 64 hours and 20 minutes. I existentially fear yet another Groundhog Day. But hope also springs eternal: some day hopefully I will wake up to victory (the cute brunette next to me) as opposed to defeat (no cute brunette but Sonny & Cher singing instead).
October 18th, 2023 at 8:00 PM ^
Is there a rule they can only do that once a year?
October 18th, 2023 at 6:25 PM ^
I hear you, and I can totally see this from the PSU perspective.
He apologized and that's good, but it does feel like he might have a little underlying bias influenced by his personal affinity for the coaches.
That said, everyone has bias, it's just people in positions like his have to work to temper it if they want to seem professional
October 19th, 2023 at 6:14 AM ^
I mean how could one not have bias against Penn State. They basically give you no choice.
October 18th, 2023 at 7:03 PM ^
Yes, you're being sensitive. But you're within your rights to be annoyed by it.
A wise man once said: A faithful man forgives. A smart man forgets. A NittanyFan remembers.
And to those saying he apologized, yeah, and about 0.05% of the game viewers heard it.
October 18th, 2023 at 7:42 PM ^
Franklin brought any criticism on himself. He pretty explicitly called out Michigan, and inaccurately. He said a team cancelled "a ton of game contracts." Michigan cancelled two games: the UCLA series. Two is not a ton. And Michigan did it for financial purposes, specifically so that they would have at least seven home games every year.
I think the whole point Franklin was trying to make is that the B1G conference schedule is going to be so difficult that the non-conference schedule should be pretty weak moving forward. Fair and accurate take. Then why call out anyone for their scheduling and the cancelling of a single series? It was inappropriate, and he deservedly brought the criticism on himself.
October 18th, 2023 at 8:44 PM ^
But he wasn't calling them out. He was pointing out that teams across the board--including PSU who was about to play UMass, which was the context of the question--are scheduling easy games.
And it's more likely that the team that he said canceled a ton of contracts was Indiana. His reference to Michigan, probably, was later in the quote when he said "there's another team" that's had success with this strategy the past couple years.
But if you want to insist he brought it on himself, it's only because he rambles and speaks vaguely.
October 19th, 2023 at 2:15 AM ^
Just gonna point out that Michigan also cancelled an Arkansas and Virginia Tech series.
It's too nuanced to say to most College Football fans, but:
-Michigan scheduled these series when the playoff was first implemented and it was said that strength of schedule would matter a lot more than overall record
-The playoff committee demonstrated that overall record mattered more by letting in teams with very weak non-conferences (also the B1G switched to 9 game conference schedules around the same time, taking away another cupcake to mid opponent)
-Michigan wasn't willing to lose money on higher risk games that lost them millions of dollars and did little for their standing
We just have to take the heat for now, and recognize that CFB is about to be very different next year
October 19th, 2023 at 8:04 PM ^
His quotes were taken way out of context. He did not "call out" Michigan
October 18th, 2023 at 8:27 PM ^
I'm just a Michigan fan but knowing more than just the misconstrued soundbite I cringed when he said that.
October 18th, 2023 at 9:22 PM ^
I'm gonna call BS here. Franklin insinuated that Michigan was removing the difficult non conference games to soften the schedule due to the conference being so tough as well as the new additions coming. That is absoluttely bullcrap, Michigan did it for home game money, that's it. If what Franklin impli0ed had any merit theTexas game next year would 100% be cancelled.
He took a shot and got called out for it. You can't twist his words when they are on video.
Klatt apologised because he can't be smack talking fan bases, but you guys deserved that.
October 18th, 2023 at 9:36 PM ^
Try “overly” sensitive PSU fan. That’s redundant - all of us fans are overly sensitive about slights.
Carry on.
October 18th, 2023 at 10:43 PM ^
I don't know enough about the Klatt/Franklin history but agree that the comment on Saturday was unfair and it was right for Joel to apologize. I admittedly got caught up with the quote until I saw the rest of the press conference and the context it was in. I think if anything, Franklin was complimenting UM for good scheduling strategy, not throwing shade.
October 19th, 2023 at 8:06 PM ^
I think if anything, Franklin was complimenting UM for good scheduling strategy, not throwing shade.
I agree. This is the problem with taking quotes out of context.
October 19th, 2023 at 1:47 AM ^
This was kind of my point. He messed up on the broadcast and knew he needed to walk it back because he was wrong. I think on the broadcast he didn’t handle it the right way, but in his defense I think he really respects Gus and he may not have wanted to contradict or correct Gus on the air, so he chickened out and took the shot/made a cheap joke at Franklin’s expense.
October 18th, 2023 at 5:52 PM ^
In the clip he said Michigan is by far the best team he has seen live including OSU and PSU…
October 18th, 2023 at 6:23 PM ^
I think that this is mainly because he’s a “Big Ten” guy and is usually very careful to give the big 3 (M, OSU and PSU) very favorable treatment and coverage.
He calls a lot of Big Ten games, but he played at Colorado.
October 18th, 2023 at 11:59 PM ^
So what if he played at Colorado. Gary Danielson played at Purdue and up until this year was a very obvious SEC shill, often cheerleading whichever team that was dominant in the conference. The story has changed now that CBS now has the rights to the Big Ten and their SEC rights are expiring this year. Danielson was much more complimentary of Michigan this year. Perhaps this is because he actually has firsthand experience seeing Michigan in live action doing color commentary for a game. Perhaps it’s because the Big Ten is the product that he is repping now.
Whatever the case, I see more than a little of Danielson in Klatt’s coverage of the Big Ten and the teams at the top of the conference. I am not saying that his assessments are dishonest because it could just be that you are more likely to be more impressed by the teams in the conference that you cover. Or it could be because he is going to promote his network’s product. More likely a combination of both.
I used to get upset at what I perceived as Danielson’s SEC bias. I can see how others might be annoyed by what comes across to me as Klatt’s infatuation with Big Ten teams, Michigan in particular.
October 18th, 2023 at 4:47 PM ^
Cowherd's been on the Harbaugh bandwagon for about 3 years now.
Klatt used to take more of a wait and see approach, but after the 2021 UM win, he's been on the train as well.
October 19th, 2023 at 9:53 AM ^
Yeah, Cowherd was one of the few people with reasonable takes through the first part of Jim's tenure.
I know a lot of people think he's a tool, but I actually find him enjoyable. Doing a solo show for so long is incredibly impressive. Not many ppl can do that. Obviously, he fires off some takes that miss, but you can tell he's one of the ones who actually does the work and watches games.
October 18th, 2023 at 5:04 PM ^
I think this weekend will prove if this team is different. In the past a Michigan vs MSU game would be a tough, sloppy sometimes ugly win no matter the records. If they beat down MSU like they did IU or Nebraska, then that's when I feel like this is really going to be something crazy as a season.
October 18th, 2023 at 6:02 PM ^
Last year was rough and sloppy, and it was a pretty damn crazy year imo
October 18th, 2023 at 9:40 PM ^
What? You don’t embrace 5 FGs and 2 TDs as high octane football?
29-7 should’ve been 45-0.
October 18th, 2023 at 5:06 PM ^
We are getting a little too much positive press for my taste.
But damn, it sure feels good that national pundits feel the same way about this team as I do.
October 18th, 2023 at 5:38 PM ^
I agree about the positive press😬. I don’t like that this is the story. Well, I do but I don’t. Let’s beat PSU to a pulp after they beat OSU to a pulp and then I’m on board.
October 18th, 2023 at 5:53 PM ^
We need it. Our team is coming out of the dark ages. Need to eradicate that bpone and instill confidence whenever possible.
October 18th, 2023 at 5:07 PM ^
It seems to me that Klatt is "pretty level" in his analysis. He provides insight in a number of areas - for instance - one area earlier this year was the Media Agreement for the Pac-12.
The points about supporting the B1G as a whole are fair - and, Fox wants / needs that. It's important that eyes follow / watch games - generating interest helps draw those eyes.
The vast majority of us are huge Michigan fans, which you'd expect. Yet - we don't know a number of things - one of which is - which team is going to win in Columbus on Saturday? Columbus on Saturday will help us all understand just what those two teams actually can do.
Klatt's support of Michigan is great to hear. However, it's also my opinion that Michigan's play on the field is what earned his support. The reference to the Boa Constrictor has gotten a lot of air time - and, it's great to see that level of interest - again, IMO - it's been earned.
In a few weeks, he's not going to "go crazy" advocating either PSU or Michigan, and a couple of weeks after that - he'll be balanced when Ohio State visits Ann Arbor. I do expect him to "call it like he sees it" - and, respect his acumen.
October 18th, 2023 at 5:28 PM ^
Do you know what is super ironic about this interview? Klatt praises the new culture and how much Coach Jim has changed becoming more personable and complimentary of his players. He tells them how much he loves them and they say how much they love him. I think Sam Webb said Biff Poggi had a lot to do with helping to shift the culture.
Well, what is so ironic is that in the interview between Cowherd and Coach Jim that went so bad, Cowherd was actually questioning Coach Jim along these lines but he used the wrong terminology. He actually asked Coach Jim if he was getting "soft". Now what he was trying to ask was if Coach Jim was becoming more vulnerable with his players. But what Coach Jim heard was SOFT! THE WORST THING A FOOTBALL TEAM COULD BE. Like '21 OSU soft, when the Big Boys up front just kept pushing the line of scrimmage down the field and Hassan just kept scoring more touchdowns. To Coach Bo and Coach Jim, to be accused of being soft insulted their manhood. Coach Bo, when challenged with creating a unified culture when racism was more of a thing in the '60's said to his team, "If any of you are worried about getting fair and equal treatment, don't worry because I'm going to treat you all the same...like DOGS!"
But Coach Jim has changed and it's not that they've become soft, they've become a brotherhood. There is a camaraderie, an esprit de corps that you find in military combat units that you really don't find anywhere else in society. I believe UM has a measure of that combined with the mental toughness training they get from Coach Herb that is going to make them extremely difficult to beat this year. In fact, another irony, the Brotherhood actually makes them tougher and stronger.
October 18th, 2023 at 5:40 PM ^
Interesting! Thanks for the insight
October 18th, 2023 at 5:51 PM ^
You bet. If you are interested in going deeper into the subject of the uniquely deep brotherhood forged in combat, author Sebastian Junger gave a great TED Talk (13 min, linked below) about why veterans miss war. He was embedded with troops in Afghanistan and observed it firsthand. He notes when seeing combat veterans gathering for reunions with their unit how close they are with each other, typically closer than with their own families.
It's a fascinating dynamic, the sense of deep connection and brotherhood forged in the crucible of war.
October 18th, 2023 at 10:53 PM ^
Queue up “White Christmas.”
October 19th, 2023 at 7:59 AM ^
The interview between Harbaugh and Cowherd went bad in part because of what is, in retrospect, an amusing misunderstanding. Cowherd was asking if Michigan was now a “buy” (as in stock market, a stock about to go up). Harbaugh interpreted it as a “bye”, ie an easy to beat team, a la SEC scheduling the week before Thanksgiving. This pissed Harbaugh off, and things unraveled from there.
October 18th, 2023 at 5:39 PM ^
Klatt’s a good guy whose role on Fox is to provide an earnest counterpoint to Gus’s mad ramblings. What struck me in the interview was just how sincere his belief in Michigan and Harbaugh is. I’m gonna break with my own tradition and pick the Wolverines to cover the spread against Sparty this year. When you add their motivation to the methodical way they grind opponents into paste, it will get EPIC.
October 18th, 2023 at 6:04 PM ^
I don't like all this Michigan dickriding in the media. Who have we beaten to deserve it? Sure, it's a good team, but shouldn't we at least wait until after the PSU game to make any pronouncements concerning the relative quality of the team vs other highly ranked teams?
There's nothing to be gained from this stuff other than complacency and conceit.
October 18th, 2023 at 6:28 PM ^
I used to think like this, but then I realized you should just sit back and enjoy it.
October 18th, 2023 at 6:58 PM ^
I get this line of thinking, but honestly I don’t think it matters. When Jim got here, everyone wanted to be like Alabama. This is what an Alabama team would do. Just steamroll all the mediocre or worse teams on its schedule. Ours just happen to be the first 9 games this year.
We all know it’s really a 2 game season but from what we’ve seen so far, PSU and OSU don’t scare me. I’ve been enjoying the dismantling of the bad teams on our schedule and have been gaining confidence that we will go 13-0 along the way.
October 18th, 2023 at 7:12 PM ^
All weight gain and weight loss is good.
All media dickriding and media disrespekting is good.