MGoBlog: The MGoPodcast

WTKA Roundtable 11/20/2025: RPO Investment Strategies

Things Discussed: FOOTBALL v NORTHWESTERN * When not being a terrible freshman Bryce was a five-star freshman. Some incredible throws in this one. Not that mad about 2nd interception because that was on the OC. * Lindsey's gameplan of RPOs (ten Split Flows!) was perfect against Dantonio-style quarters. Got 70% of their yards, which is more important for future performance. * RPOs were also good for getting Bryce feeling comfortable. We have a freshman but also a five-star, and he looked like one. Sam: Note the first drive was downfield passing! * That throw to Andrew Marsh: wow. * Shoutout to NW safety Robert Fitzgerald. Let's tamper with that guy! * Andrew Marsh: What a perfect guy to be coming through. MARYLAND PREVIEW * They're young with no running game to fall back on so they lose games. Gotta win jump balls against their big receivers. Malik Washington will be a good one, but no OL and no run game. Their defense is also young and mistake-prone. BIG TEN PRIVATE EQUITY DEAL ON HOLD, MICHIGAN AND USC FTW? * Why the other schools want it: 1. They're all in big debt because building debt (paid to their big donors) was how these non-profits made their revenue disappear while getting to keep most of it and making the ledgers balance for Title IX compliance (e.g. updates to Breslin are Women's Basketball expenditures.) Now you want to free the ledgers and the donors to pay players, so you need upfront capital to unravel the old system. 2. Lock down a portion of Michigan's revenue. MSU, NW, IU, PU, RU, IL need to lock in a share of M/OSU revenue now because if the conferences break up for a super league they're not going to be invited. The length of the media rights contract is 20 years. This is CRITICAL. Michigan State has a real chance of becoming a mid-major. 3. Ohio State wasn't on board until they got a clause giving them a bonus for selling more gear/stadium advertising. The way it's structured now they get more money than Michigan, which is all they wanted to hear. Why Michigan and USC don't want it: Michigan already got itself out of the debt cycle.

Michigan HockeyCast 8.8: Truth or Lions

1 Hour and 14 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:  Extensive discussion on the extremely mediocre NHL. Michigan got bludgeoned in the first period of Friday’s game yet ended it up 3-0. PSU quit after that and Michigan dominated them. Guaranteed a fierce response on Saturday? Will Horcoff has been awesome this season. Segment 2:  Michigan didn’t play a bad game but came up short. Good in-zone defense, less good rush defense. Didn’t love the 2nd goal from Ivankovic. Valiant comeback attempt included a sweet deke by Perron. More discussion of McKenna’s defensive effort effort problems. Overall an okay weekend. Should the Gophers tank for a good draft pick? How good is Ohio State?    MUSIC * NHL on ESPN Theme * "Sunburn" -- Fuel * Ice Hockey (NES) theme

MGoPodcast 17.12: Eamus Toddleri!

2 hours and 34 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 Northwestern Starts at :51 This doesn't even qualify as a top five weird Northwestern game (we list our top five). This week's snack of the week is organic pumpkin seeds. On one level, this kinda looked like Michigan's best game of the year on offense and defense. Michigan comes out slinging it and Bryce's confidence seemed like it was at another level, but he made young mistakes. What happened on Bryce's sacks? Playing Northwestern always kinda feels like they have your signs. Michigan was able to counter some of Northwestern's defensive counters. Most of the mistakes are coming from freshmen which is just something that happens. Missed cuts on zone is whatever but missed cuts on power isn't good. Bryson Kuzdzal came in and did just fine. Bryce's scrambles were pretty good and mostly improvisation, his interceptions were freshman stuff. Safeties were baiting him, can he anticipate that in the future? The first interception was not understanding how to read the coverage, the second one was just needing to throw the ball better. Andrew Marsh made the Michigan catch of the year, you have a dedicated receiver going into next year. You could have 12 of 14 boxes in a great position next year. Andrew Marsh is the best freshman receiver since... Manningham? How much does this performance mean against Ohio State? The reverse fumble is on Chip Lindsey.  [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]  2. Defense vs Northwestern Starts at 44:15 Northwestern came into this game with a pretty good ground game and they got stuffed. This was a good game to run the 5-2 in, Northwestern is on the opposite end of the spectrum from USC. Northwestern's gamesmanship cost them two false starts, Michigan tipped what they were running multiple times. The defensive backs got beat a few times but sometimes a receiver just makes a nice play over you. You probably don't want to put Zeke Berry on Jeremiah Smith, Jyaire Hill is getting his star back. Brandyn Hillman tackled with his arms! He's grown as a much more mature player over the season. They're defending screens now! TJ Metcalf body-slammed a guy.   3. Hot Takes, Game Theory, and Special Teams Starts at 1:08:55 Takes hotter than suburban Chicago in mid-November. There seems to be differing views on how much people liked this venue for a football game. The camera shots were weird. Seth and Dave think the inside of the stadium is magical, Brian not so much. It might've actually been 90% Michigan fans. They did the best they could with clock management at the end of the first half. What about timeouts at the end of the second half? Zvada kicked the ball into the street outside of the stadium. Brian takes responsibility for the missed field goals by changing the preview. Semaj got replaced, he's a better player than he's performed but he may be overdue for a mental health break. 4th down decisions. NFL calculator says there's a complete coin flip in decision making. It shouldn't be a holding call if you're getting your ass kicked. Semaj was on the ground with the ball but they didn't overturn the fumble? There's no transparency between officiating and the fans, other conferences and sports are getting better at it. 4. Around the Big Ten with Jamie Mac Starts at 1:59:37 USC 26, Iowa 21 Iowa jumped out to a nice lead but scored zero points in the second half. The Hawkeyes lost three offensive linemen. The universe is paying them back for all the 10 win seasons they had no business having. USC is now a legitimate playoff contender.  Indiana 31, Wisconsin 7 This was a sludge fart for Indiana in the first half but put it away in the second. Wisconsin is one of the worst Big Ten offenses ever contemplated. Most of Wisconsin's offense was off of a couple weird plays.  Penn State 28, Michigan State 10 A rock fight between two of the worst teams in the league. Michigan State had 15 wins over the last three years... well at least they did. Penn State won the very ugly trophy which might actually be the best trophy and they looked like they really wanted it. Illinois 24, Maryland 6 Maryland is not even trying to run the ball anymore. Illinois ground them to a pulp. Don't throw at Maryland, just run them over.  Washington 49, Purdue 13 Washington doubles Purdue in yardage and most of that was likely garbage time for Purdue.  Oregon 42, Minnesota 13  This feels like danger zone for PJ Fleck. They could lose to Wisconsin?? Ohio State 48, UCLA 10 UCLA is without Nico in this game, their backup has never thrown a college pass. UCLA is moving out of the Rose Bowl??  MUSIC: * "Slow Burn"—The Rose City Band * "Swans"—Maston * "Optimism"—Jana Horn * “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

MGoRadio 11.10: Sports With An Exclamation Mark

wsg Rodger Sherman, founder of Sports! [https://sports.beehiiv.com/], formerly of The Ringer, coiner of "Fetty Wapping," college football hero [https://www.insidenu.com/2024/2/3/24059241/a-four-month-62-game-college-football-road-trip-catching-up-with-nu-alum-rodger-sherman]. 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: Terry Klein [https://www.terrykleinmusic.com/] THE VIDEO: [After THE JUMP: Things discussable.]  --------------------- Not necessarily in this order. 1. Northwestern Preview starts at the top They're fine. Their offense plods but for one good receiver or when their QB throws an INT, which he's got accuracy problems that were visible when he was a Rhett Ashlee QB at SMU. Their defense is decent, rotates, plays sound football of a Lloyd variety. Alex likes edge Aidan Hubbard more than Michael Kilbane (whom PFF prefers). Their DTs are a little undersized so they jump behind the line of scrimmage, which Nebraska was able to exploit down the stretch. 2. Northwestern Preview cont. wsg Rodger Sherman starts at 13:56 What's it like being a Northwestern fan these days? It's spending $800 million on an unnecessary stadium instead of players, because you can't put your name on players. 3. Wake Forest After-Action Report, and a short TCU Preview starts at 27:45 How many ways can we say Mara is a star? Defensive ceiling is ridiculous. Three-big lineup needs a name. We also talk about Matt D's findings regarding the defensive play of Michigan's guards, which was not at all what we expected. 4. Purdue Upon Further Review starts at 44:58 Young offensive line plus Zack Marshall and Jalen Hoffman continue to be good blockers—might meet their match vs Ohio State. Jordan Marshall is a beast. Bryce's second half wasn't great either—he was not feeling comfortable in the pocket, missed some RPO reads he made earlier. Need a bye to get right. Defensively, I wasn't mad about Wink. Don't say on the internet that I was mad. Defensively the kids were not alright and the defensive rotations were still weird, but more explainable given the injury circumstances. Long drives were explainable until Purdue figured out they were just running nail (where you insert a blitzing LB as a 5th lineman and play 5-1). Interested in Lugard Edokpayi. Featured Artist: Terry Klein [https://www.terrykleinmusic.com/] I usually don't go for country music, but I do when it's made by Terry Klein (LSA 1995), a folk country artist from Austin who's been touring festivals the most hallowed singer-songwriter venues across the country for decades, and reading a lot of MGoBlog between stops. His last album Leave the Light On won a bunch of acclaim, making American Songwriter's list of the best records released in 2023. His fifth album, Hill Country Folk Music [https://open.spotify.com/album/78DS0dIaJ7xgauPn3EsVlT?si=8u06R087Qxmmjzu9Fd5QCg], just came out. Songs: * I Used To Be Cool * The Dirty Third * The Job Interview Song     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

WTKA Roundtable 11/13/2025: Disturbing is Over the Top

Things Discussed: HOOPS * Craig and the Half a Head story vis a vis Tarik Skubal. * Aday Mara holy crap. He was last year's on-off numbers while playing 37/45 minutes. When he was on the floor Wake Forest was 27% at the rim. * M needs to figure out the rest. Loosening balls but not converting them to turnovers. Have three bigs on the floor and none know how to box out because they were the rebounding alphas. * Three Bigs? Don't think it's going to work because Morez Johnson taking a three in the flow of the offense isn't going to work. The point of Yaxel is to make him a four, so you're effectively using Johnson at small forward. Maybe if you also make Mara a Wolf-level assist guy? * They won a game when they shot 16% from three; if they can be 33% from three and have Mara's defense it's over. * Don't overreact to Lendeborg's start: injured hand and Wake was a weird team that didn't have big tradeoffs from switching only 6'7" guy on Lendeborg to another. * Loose balls: not boxing out when they're not boxing out, the way they play is everyone can be aggressive on their man and you have a behemoth, so nobody's facing the ball when he knocks it loose. Defense needs to be more aggressive: You saw Gayle got it; he overplayed on the perimeter and got some turnovers because if they cut behind you you're still covered. * Wake's first shots sucked. * LJ's thing is he goes in the lane, but this team doesn't have a lot of perimeter shooting. * Tschetter's defense doesn't match well with this team, but he can get you threes. Was hoping he could be on the court with Johnson and Mara but he can't unless Morez can take threes. * Trey McKenney was a revelation on defense. He knows where to be, has that length. * Can they run offense without Cadeau on the court? Cadeau also needs to be more careful with the ball—deserved six turnovers. FOOTBALL * Northwestern Preview: Low-scoring game. They're good on defense, they're interception-prone, they're best at putting two TEs on the field and running OZ and Duo; Michigan might be able to play two-DTs. When they do well they get movement on the front. * Caleb Tiernan: Always loved Northwestern. * If we're in a match of who can out-1950s the other give me Michigan's OL and Jordan Marshall. * If M gets an explosive they can look for it in the RPO game: NWern can't go to their 3rd safety and their SS is a 6'4"/220 hybrid guy. Maybe get him against Marsh? * Barham at edge or linebacker? I vote linebacker, because that makes them tell you how they're going to set up. TONY PETTITI IS GOING TO END THE BIG TEN * Trying to pass their their "pay-day loan" (thank you Regent Bernstein) over the objections of Michigan and USC is the way they get Michigan to leave when the Grant of Rights expires. When all of these are mid-majors in 20 years remember this moment, and the idiots trying to solve today's problems with a cash infusion that future fans will have to pay for.