MGoBlog: The MGoPodcast

WTKA Roundtable 12/4/2025: What's the Dog Number

FOOTBALL v OHIO STATE * Offense had some neat ideas in the run game, not so much the passing game. * Problem with not running read options all year is Bryce blew too many of them. * Sherrone is a run guy, had some great run tweaks, but it ended up costing them in the passing game as Bryce was cold—gotta throw on early downs if you're going to be a successful passing team. * Defensively it was worse when we looked. "Only 27 points" is because they only had nine possessions and one of the killed the game in the 3rd and 4th quarter. * Wink: Not great. Felt mailed in, no interesting ideas, and the ideas he did have were bad ones, like delayed blitzes that won't get to Sayin until it's too late, or showing his hand. Sayin was never confused: he read out what he planned to. * Sam not a fan of spot-dropping. That was most of the defense this game; in the past Michigan's used a lot more switch and poach coverages. Wink is too easy to see coming, and that's not going to change. We're ready to move on, hope he is as well. * Differences aren't all on Wink: Ernest Hausmann was a big loss, and a big difference last year. Josiah Stewart was and The Gifts were a big deal last year. Getting off the field on 3rd & 3 is when those playmakers have to do something, and Michigan didn't have those guys. SIGNING DAY * Got interesting yesterday. Big money plays at Zion Robinson, Travis Johnson and (from UNC) Julian Walker. Michigan is either getting Zion Robinson (who got a big offer from Syracuse) or Georgia commit Brady Marchese—if Calvin Russell is serious then they'll work that out separately. * Julian Walker is deciding today; his connection to Michigan in the first place was his dad, isn't sure he wants to leave home, which is understandable. If he goes to UNC it's just money. * Hiter was just a misunderstanding when his contract came and they got it cleared up eventually. * Underrated guys in the class: Alister Vallejo (we love), McHale Blade (fell too far after his injury) and Tommy Carr (we think he's better than Brady Smigiel, not better than Bourque).

Michigan HockeyCast 8.10: New England Thanksgiving

1 Hour and 18 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul [http://www.michiganlawgrad.com/] is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1:  NBA Cupdates and Thanksgiving food debrief. Michigan largely hammered Harvard in the first game, scoring early and often en route to a comfortable win. Nick Moldenhauer has elevated as a playmaker and Josh Eernisse continues to score. So does Will Horcoff. Hobey? Decent special teams night, just a ho-hum win Segment 2:  Different game script from the first one, Harvard came out much more energetic. Michigan kept them to the outside for the first two periods and kept Ivankovic’s eyes clean, while cashing in on high-danger chances the other way. Harvard did control play and finally broke through when Michigan’s dumb penalties gave them too many looks. Horcoff redeemed himself after terrible 3rd period penalties. Okay with an OTW to achieve the sweep. Still 3rd in NPI. Many of our old friends took the week off… should Michigan take Thanksgiving week off? Huge clash with MSU this weekend, a team riding the Porter Martone and Trey Augustine wave but looking for depth scoring.    MUSIC * NHL on ESPN Theme * "Smarter Than You" -- The Undertones * Ice Hockey (NES) theme

MGoPodcast 17.14: At Least Snow Is Off the Hook

1 hour and 43 minutes The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing [https://undergroundshirts.com/custom-t-shirts?callout=mgoblog] 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 [http://undergroundshirts.com/]. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management [http://peakwm.com/mgoblog], Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender [http://www.realtorandlender.com/], Ann Arbor Elder Law [http://www.annarborelderlaw.com/], Michigan Law Grad [http://www.michiganlawgrad.com/], Human Element [https://www.human-element.com/], Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning [http://sharonsheating.com/], The Sklars Brothers [http://www.supersklars.com/], Champions Circle [https://givebutter.com/thosewhostay?utm_source=mgo&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=cfp-championship-mgo&utm_content=keep-team-together], Winewood Organics [http://winewoodorganics.com/], Community Pest Solutions [http://www.pestfreemi.com/], Venue by 4M [https://www.experience4m.com/venue/] where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery [https://www.drradecki.com/], and Long Road Distillers [http://www.longroaddistillers.com/]. 1. Offense vs Ohio State Starts at :51 Good thing this is pivoting to being a snacks podcast. Combos are way up there as far as gas station snacks go. Every time Ohio State got into a 3rd down situation they would just drop back and throw it to an open receiver. When Michigan was in this situation, Ohio State would just man up and Bryce had nowhere to throw. Those substitutions that happened all season continued in this game. Is trophy done going brrr? You cannot have this many holes in your team and expect to compete with Ohio State. The offensive line didn't look as dominated as it seemed, if Jordan Marshall and Justice Haynes played the whole game they'd probably break some more big runs. It didn't seem like Chip Lindsey brought much into this game that was built off of what they had been doing all season. Maybe Bryce froze up (pun not intended) a bit. He only had five throws at halftime? Guarnera actually looked really good, Frazier and Sprague held their ground. The reasons this offense didn't shine this season weren't because of the offensive line. Who's even going to sit out on offense in the bowl game?  2. Defense vs Ohio State Starts at 29:05 Giving up 27 points to Ohio State seems not that bad but we're still done with Wink. Ohio State's 3rd down conversions were the easiest possible. Neither Barham nor Derrick Moore got anywhere near Sayin all game. The 5-2 came back... It's year two, the defense shouldn't be this simplified. Yes, simplify it early on but it cannot be simplified against Ohio State. He learned nothing from the USC game, Wink needs to get fired and if he isn't then that's on Sherrone. There was a 20 play 81 yard field goal drive that took 12 minutes off the clock. That goal line stand was nice, though. Ohio State was at their own 10 but the backups were in?? Also it's a Fox broadcast, there's plenty of time to rest your starters during tv timeouts! There's a lot of work that needs to be done on the defensive line going into next year. The waves of elite defensive tackles has run its course.  3. Hot Takes, Game Theory, and Special Teams Starts at 53:38 Takes hotter than... idk. I'm out of ideas just like Michigan's coaches. The first sign that it was over was when Ohio State declined a holding call and then held Michigan on 3rd and 5. Zvada made field goals and a mob didn't have to come after Brian (they would've been right to do so). Hollenbeck had an 11 yard punt. Keeping Andrew Marsh just to fair catch punts is a valuable skill, don't make him a kick returner though. Kicking field goals early on 4th down felt like the right thing at the time, it could've been a stupid blizzard game later. You'd trust Zvada to make these field goals more than you'd trust the offense to get six yards in the redzone. Apparently an Ohio State player had head butted a Michigan player and Barham was demonstrating - but also don't do that. Jeremiah Smith almost had the funniest application of the worst rule in football. There were a lot of Ohio State fans at this game, how does that keep happening? Were there Ohio State fans near you and if so what was the experience near them like?  4. Around the Big Ten with Jamie Mac Starts at 1:25:11 Oregon 26, Washington 14 Washington's hyped offense just never came true in any of their big games this year. Oregon locks up a playoff bid, they'll probably get the G5 bid or the ACC champions. Penn State 40, Rutgers 36 Congrats to Penn State on getting bowl eligibility. This was a shootout. Tamper with the Rutgers receivers.  Minnesota 17, Wisconsin 7 Wisconsin is not good.  Michigan State 38, Maryland 28 Jonathan Smith was fired after this recording. There might've been 10,000 fans at this game but the weather kept a lot of people home.  Illinois 20, Northwestern 13 Snow game!  Iowa 40, Nebraska 16 Just a first half blowout without much effort in the 2nd half. A very disappointing ending to Nebraska's season. Nebraska is 2-10 the last three years in November. USC 29, UCLA 10 UCLA lead at halftime and then USC ran away with it in the 2nd half.  Indiana 56, Purdue 3 A year after Indiana gave Purdue their worst loss in the rivalry they give Purdue their first home loss in the rivalry. MUSIC: * "Colors Change"—Tanks and Bangas * "Too Good Too Bad"—Jason Scott and the High Heat * "My Girlfriend Doesn't Worry"—Jeffrey Lewis and the Voltage * “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

MGoRadio 11.12: Excuses Ready

The Sponsors We want to thank Underground Printing [http://shop.undergroundshirts.com/collections/michigan] for starting this and making it possible—stop by and pick up some gear, check them out at ugpmichiganapparel.com [http://ugpmichiganapparel.com/], or check out our selection of shirts on the MGoBlogStore.com [https://mgoblogstore.com/collections/mgoblog]. And let’s not forget our associate sponsors: Peak Wealth Management [http://peakwm.com/mgoblog], Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender [http://www.realtorandlender.com/], Ann Arbor Elder Law [http://www.annarborelderlaw.com/], Michigan Law Grad [http://www.michiganlawgrad.com/], Human Element [https://www.human-element.com/], Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning [http://sharonsheating.com/], The Sklar Brothers [http://www.supersklars.com/], Winewood Organics [http://winewoodorganics.com/], Community Pest Solutions [http://www.pestfreemi.com/], Radecki Oral Surgery [https://www.drradecki.com/], Long Road Distillers [http://www.longroaddistillers.com/], and SignalWire [http://signalwire.com/] where we are recording this. Featured Musician: Sunday the Band THE VIDEO: [After THE JUMP: The show notes.]  --------------------- 1. Ohio State Preview: Offense starts at the top Forecast is wind and snow, the real blizzard arriving after the game. Other than one guard they all range from solid to stars. They're back to what they were in 2021-'22, with a future 1st round QB in Julian Sayin who reads leverage on Ryan Day's standard multi-level drag routes and throws to the guys getting open. Those guys: Jeremiah Smith, the future #1 overall pick, and Carnell Tate, who will be a 1st rounder this year. Both have been banged up, but we think they're both going to play and more or less be themselves, with an excuse banked if they lose. Where they've advanced is they use a lot more two-TE sets, particularly Max Klare, a true blocky+catchy hybrid who may necessitate a hybrid response. They use the TEs in clever RPOs to create space for Sayin's throws, and are good enough in the run game with Bo Jackson to punish you for overplaying pass. 2. Ohio State Preview: Defense starts at 16:59 Be afraid. Illinois gained 295 yards on 4.2 YPP and Washington gained 234 yards on 4.4 YPP. Alex Drain does not like Matt Patricia, but he's slimmed down himself and his playbook and has Ohio State playing at an elite level. That's Caleb Downs, the guy Corum juked for a touchdown in the Rose Bowl, and now the best player in football, who's allowed to rove around and make plays while they man you with everybody else. It's also the play of their linebackers; Sonny Styles was the guy Corum juked on the 6-5 touchdown, but was always supremely talented and is at the peak of his game. Arvelle Reese was another big recruit; he came on last year and is in the conversation to go 1st overall as a grow-a-Parsons. He can be a safety, a DE, a linebacker, or anything. They can get away with all of that man and blitzing LBs because Igninosu, Matthews, and Styles are excellent athletes in coverage, and the Big Ten doesn't like to flag their grabbiness. The next generation of DBs is coming up—you remember trying to recruit Aaron Scott and Bryce West, plus #8 overall Devin Sanchez. They replaced four superstars on the DL with a superstar, a star, and two Just-Guys. Kayden McDonald is the lone member who wasn't a top-50 recruit but he's the star, and is probably a step too far Crippen and Guarnera. Caden Curry made the leap; he's Jack Sawyer 2.0, a strong pass-rusher and a force against the run. Kenyatta Jackson is equally strong against the run but is a block-and-done rusher. Tywone Malone has been there for ages. 3 and 4. Hoops in Vegas After-Action Report starts at 31:49 and 44:49 Beat Auburn by 30 and SDSU and Zaga by 40. Teams came into this thinking they could blitz Michigan's ball screens, Michigan came in having practiced their response to it. Zaga thruck? Look who took their shots—those aren't their shooters. The defense has been incredible; Morez allows you to be switchable when Mara is off the court and when he's on there's nowhere to go with the ball. Zaga had to take a bunch of push shots from 12 feet that are good shots for them, but that's not going to sustain an offense. Cason is coming around, though the offense is still much smoother with Cadeau. Turnovers are going to be the thing for this team again; when they get anything like even shot volume they're murder because their threes are open and they have all of these guys who score at the rim. Yaxel is becoming the Weapon that he was thought to be in the portal, but is extra dangerous because he doesn't have to be. Big-big actions are going to have to level up now that teams are sitting on them. This is where you bring in Tschetter, because a team that prepared for Johnson is out of sorts. Featured Artist: Sunday the Band [https://www.instagram.com/sunday_theband/?hl=en] If it wasn't for Brad Dumont I might still be in the Rose Bowl parking lot. Brad recognized us, let us in his car, and took us to Randy Sklar's place in time to catch Washington vs. Texas. He also put on the music of his then-14-year-old son Nate. Part of this had to be the fact Michigan had just won 26-20 in overtime in Nick Saban's last game. Also these kids rocked. It's relatable catchy stuff with a funky rhythm that's way more advanced than anyone ought to be at that age. Apparently in the two years since these high schoolers have picked up a following in the Pasadena music scene, but were getting in at the bottom floor; these are the two songs they've recorded so far. Trouble in Paradise was the one we were bouncing around to like middle-aged Mikey Sainristils. Rewind hits right now. Also give it up for a four-piece band when all the stuff that gets pushed these days are from solo artists and collabs. You can make fun of me now then turn this on for the ride home after we win. Songs: * Rewind * Trouble in Paradise Also because Across 110th Street will get our Youtubes taken down, the opener and outro: * “The Employee is Not Afraid”—Bear vs. Shark * “Ruska Vodka”—Motorboat

Michigan HockeyCast 8.9: The Game(s)

1 Hour and 17 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul [http://www.michiganlawgrad.com/] is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1:  Opener: discussing thanksgiving foods. Michigan was much better than Ohio State on Friday but had to grind for a 3rd period victory. Talk about possible soft goals. Good goaltending from Eberly. Nice pass by Valentini --> Hughes wins it. Segment 2:  Michigan scored a touchdown and got the 2 pointer on Saturday. 4th liners set the tone, skilled guys bring it home. Bad Eberly game. Sucked ruining the shutout. Discussion about B1G expected goals numbers and Michigan’s place in the conference hierarchy. College hockey’s west is way better than the east yet again. Checking in on old friends. When will Mercyhurst win a game? Michigan should pummel Harvard but Harvard’s goalie is really good. Michigan picked up a commit from Nic Sima out of the OHL so we check in on the 2026 recruiting class.   MUSIC * NHL on ESPN Theme * "Celebrate the Reckless" -- The Magic Giant * Ice Hockey (NES) theme