MGoPodcast 15.5: Buttery and Sweet
2 hour and 12 minutes
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1. Offense vs Nebraska
Starts at 1:00
There are people saying Michigan runs TOO MANY flea flickers?? It's hard to win 45-7 when you play at the pace that Michigan plays at. This game was domination. Kalel Mullings emerged, De'Veon Smith but fast? Donovan Edwards showed improvement, despite what the stats might show. LaDarius Henderson played most of the game, maybe he just needed some time to get broken in since he played guard last year and wasn't at Michigan in the spring. JJ McCarthy didn't seem phased by the windy conditions. The Nebraska run defense might hold up against Penn State? The passing game bread and butter is a 15 yard dig route. Bredeson and Barner are A+ blockers.
[The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]
2. Defense vs Nebraska
Starts at 46:06
There was a Nebraska highlight reel at halftime that involved three plays. Kris Jenkins was not blocked at all. Nebraska's left tackle scored a zero in PFF two years ago. Will Johnson got beat in man coverage which isn't great! Ernest Hausmann played a great game in his old stadium, was called a traitor by someone in the stands. Zone drops need improvement by defensive ends. Otherwise not much else to complain about.
3. Hot Takes, Game Theory, and Special Teams
Starts at 1:08:57
Takes hotter than Lincoln, Nebraska in October (for some reason). Dave attended this game and describes the Nebraska experience. Their fans are as nice as advertised and have great shirts. JJ was also very nice in this game for reasons discussed. Per Blake Corum, this game was buttery and sweet. Dorks! Tommy Doman startled the commentators with a punt. Not much to discuss in terms of game theory (besides Nebraska timeout usage).
4. Around the Big Ten with Jamie Mac
Starts at 1:37:49
Minnesota - 35
Louisiana - 24
Louisiana outgains Minnesota, that can't feel good with Michigan coming up. By the 3rd quarter, Minnesota took control. Based on Minnesota vs Northwestern and Nebraska, this probably won't be a competitive game coming up.
Iowa - 26
Michigan State - 16
Iowa gets 26 points but their offensive net contribution is 10. But hey, they got their goal of >25 points! Michigan State outgains Iowa but throws three interceptions. This was just a hideous game.
Penn State - 41
Northwestern - 13
This game was tied at halftime but Penn State really put it away in the second half. It's hard to think that Penn State's offensive line will do much against Michigan. 31 of 63 of Northwestern's offensive plays went for one yard or less. Penn State sort of ran a fake kneel down to beat the spread. That doesn't seem like a team that seems confident enough to beat Ohio State.
Purdue - 44
Illinois - 19
Lots of penalties for Illinois. One third of Illinois' yards came in the last nine minutes. This is a year zero for Purdue which makes this more impressive.
Maryland - 44
Indiana - 17
This was ugly, feels like Tom Allen's swan song. Maryland is 5-0 and is looking decent, but they probably won't have the lines to compete with Ohio State this weekend.
Rutgers - 52
Wagner - 3
MUSIC:
- “Dead Fox”— Courtney Barnett
- “Eye On The Bat”— Palehound
- “Find Me in the Air”— The Builders and the Butchers
- “Across 110th Street”
THE USUAL LINKS:
- Helpful iTunes subscribe link
- General podcast feed link
- Direct Download Link
- What's with the theme music?
"Fortune favors the flea flickerers"
October 2nd, 2023 at 7:27 AM ^
LaDarius Henderson played most of the game, maybe he just needed some time to get broken in since he played guard last year and wasn't at Michigan in the spring.
With how Hinton was playing...and how he completely vanished, I honestly think the staff played Hinton to get him familiar with the system and get experience, and then are redshirting him. That's the only thing that I can get to make sense.
Maybe Henderson needed more time to get up to speed too. But I wouldn't be surprised if we don't see Hinton again this year
October 2nd, 2023 at 7:33 AM ^
Hinton got dinged up last week and was on the injury report this week as questionable.
October 2nd, 2023 at 1:06 PM ^
I suspect the coaches saw the 5* inside Hinton and gave him a chance to show he could bring it out. Either/and, the coaches wanted to give Hinton a reality check of where he was and where he needed to go.
By all accounts, he is dedicated and coachable, so it could be any of the above. But yes, barring injury or developmental-explosion, I suspect Hinton will redshirt this year.
October 2nd, 2023 at 8:35 PM ^
Was happy to see Henderson in and doing well.
Would disagree on Hinton not playing though.
1. If injuries happen you wphld tather have the back up with experience
2. If it looks like he's going to be a factor on next year's line, you want him to have as many game reps as possible
3. With our schedule and the way we've been blowing teams out, there's way too much garbage time for the backup tackle to not get in the game
October 2nd, 2023 at 7:28 AM ^
"Fortune Favors the Flickers"
I'd buy that for a dollar.
October 2nd, 2023 at 8:54 AM ^
Ugh, I don't know why I even bother to listen to the Jamie Mac segment week after week. The dude clearly doesn't watch the games (only reads box scores), and Brian and Seth don't watch the other Big Ten games. It's also clear that Jamie Mac doesn't listen to Seth's other podcasts. Penn State did not run a fake kneel down. Within the last week (maybe last 2 weeks) Seth said on a podcast that play action off QB power is what Denard did against Illinois. I believe he called it QB oh no. That's what Penn State did with backup QB Beau Pribula. Pribula has 28 rushing attempts this year, and 13 pass attempts. The dude is twice as likely to run than pass, so they baited Northwestern with a QB oh no. The Big Ten Network announcer even pulled out his highlighter marker on replay, and showed how "they are running a QB power." Second, Seth said Bryant threw the inexcusable interception. It was Sullivan, not Bryant. Brian and Seth don't watch the games, and Jamie doesn't know what he's looking at.
October 2nd, 2023 at 9:02 AM ^
But Jamie is funny.
October 2nd, 2023 at 9:34 AM ^
That's nice and all but the Penn State QB did do a fake kneel down.
October 2nd, 2023 at 9:51 AM ^
Ah, yes. Short snippets on X. I sure this is where Jamie Mac get his info as well. Clearly didn't watch the next 15 seconds of analysis.
#6 Penn State vs Northwestern Football Game Highlights 9 30 2023 - YouTube
23:12, Announcer explains it's play action off QB power.
October 2nd, 2023 at 9:59 AM ^
By the way, Jake Butt is the BTN announcer who explains that this is a QB power.
October 2nd, 2023 at 10:03 AM ^
QB power look with a fake kneel down. Show me his other runs where he does the same kneel down every play.
October 2nd, 2023 at 10:14 AM ^
Ok... You're up 34-13 against an obviously overmatched opponent, and you fake a kneel-down to get a long TD pass? How lame. Frames going for style points in a meaningless beatdown.
At least Michigan's excessive score didn't come from style-point scheming when the game was functionally over.
October 2nd, 2023 at 9:53 AM ^
Ugh, I don't know why I even bother to read the trajictones comments week after week.
1. Jamie Mac is the humor writer on staff, not the analyst - it's clear trajictones doesnt even read his other work.
2. Penn State DID execute a fake kneel down (see clip below) which he didnt see. It's clear trajictones doesnt even watch the games.
3. A "QB oh no" is simply an well executed RPO and a running QB puts more pressure on the defense to commit to the run. I'm not sure trajictones even knows what he's looking at.
October 2nd, 2023 at 11:12 AM ^
"McCord is going to look better/good over the next two games. Then, he'll start on the road against ND and he'll stink. He'll get benched mid-game in favor of Brown. Brown will be the starter the rest of the season." —trajictones, 9-6-23
Devin Brown didn't get a snap during the entire game against ND
October 2nd, 2023 at 11:19 AM ^
I wonder why a fervent PSU fan bothers to spend so much time on a website that he thinks has such inaccurate analysis of PSU football.
October 2nd, 2023 at 11:40 AM ^
I’ll be the arbiter on this concept, thanks….
October 2nd, 2023 at 10:14 AM ^
Sorry, I remembered the wrong Northwestern QB. I remembered the play.
I actually do watch the games, which is not always easy because it takes awhile to get home from the Michigan games. This week was easier because it was a 3:30 game on the road so I could watch the noon games at home. For those I can't watch live I use the 1-hour version they put on BTN. I watch what I can at night and then finish up in the morning while downloading a copy of the Michigan game to rewatch, but I have to leave my house at 10 to be in Ann Arbor for recording at 11.
The problem for us is after all of this football the games and players start to run together, so we do use box scores as a crutch to get their names straight. Looks like you made some mistakes as well; now imagine you had 6pm to 10am to download an entire day's worth of B10 football to your head, become an expert on the minutiae of the Michigan game, and get a night's sleep so you're not a groggy mess when you're talking about all of it off the cuff for 2 hours.
October 2nd, 2023 at 10:15 AM ^
No need to explain yourself to a guy that's just here to complain...
October 2nd, 2023 at 10:16 AM ^
Ok, sorry for that attack. Any thoughts on the play in question?
October 2nd, 2023 at 10:25 AM ^
I mean, this is a fake kneeldown. It worked like an Oh Noes but the thing Northwestern is reacting to is the QB showing like he's going to kneel it out. Pribula isn't threatening a run and the puller isn't trying to run block. They used the kneeldown as play-action.
October 2nd, 2023 at 10:29 AM ^
If Frames and Day had an Insecure-Off, who would win? Day is obviously triggered by the near-incoherent blatherings of an old man and a swath of message board posters, while Frames is so worried about his precious box scores that he consistently runs up the score to assuage his fragile ego.
It's a tough one. Oops. Sorry, Ryan.
October 2nd, 2023 at 10:34 AM ^
I think Frames is significantly more secure. Mainly basing this on their respective reactions to losing to Michigan by 3+ TDs last year. Frames handles it pretty well, at least outwardly. Day hasn't been emotionally OK since then.
October 2nd, 2023 at 12:40 PM ^
Frames seems very comfortable in his "good D, terrible O-line" skin. The other one isn't even comfortable with the hair on his skin.
October 2nd, 2023 at 3:06 PM ^
Just For Men™, baby!
October 2nd, 2023 at 12:59 PM ^
Not to belabor this point, but I don't think the intention of the play was to fake a kneel-down. It makes no sense in the context of the time left (over 2 minutes) and of the action by the other players. It only looks like a fake kneel-down based on the QB who has probably been coached to sell the play action by taking an exaggerated step toward the line of scrimmage (and perhaps ducking down a bit to further sell the illusion of power).
October 2nd, 2023 at 2:57 PM ^
Yes, this is correct.
It’s not a fake kneel down because none of the other action in the play is a kneel. Starting with the formation being non traditional for a kneel down, then the reaction of the running back, add in several players out in a pattern with no delay/hesitation. Yes the quarterback looks to be faking a knee but he’s just not a professional actor and this is his attempt to sell a run.
October 2nd, 2023 at 4:40 PM ^
Yep. It's an old Tim Tebow play. Straight PA QB Power w/ some pass concept. Tebow was lauded as the "one man play action" at the time for his ability to pull it off.
RichRod riffed on this by adding the RPO aspect to create QB Draw Oh Noes.
October 2nd, 2023 at 10:18 AM ^
Any particular reason you're being rude as hell this morning?
October 2nd, 2023 at 10:29 AM ^
Imagine complaining about a high quality and free product like this. I haven't encountered a more detailed or more literate Michigan football podcast than this one. It's published like clockwork every Monday morning, it's always funny, and it's free. I can't imagine how miserable you have to be to complain about any of this.
October 2nd, 2023 at 10:45 AM ^
Maybe he's still mad about Cade getting a cyan circle
October 2nd, 2023 at 10:19 AM ^
I'm sorry you couldn't avoid listening to a podcast segment with clearly delineated timestamps and audio cues for the start of it. It must be difficult not to have access to a pause button.
October 2nd, 2023 at 10:57 AM ^
Listen James, your team is playing well so I don't know why you're going around on message boards complaining about people accurately noting how you called for a fake knee to a pass with your backup QB up 34-13 at your opponent's 30 yard line with 2 minutes to go.
Also, QB Oh Noes is more nuanced than "you sorta kneel toward the line". This was a clear QB Oh No by Denard in 2011 against NW that would have been a TD had he throw it properly. Denard ran toward the outside and acted like he was going to run before pulling up. It's about selling the run, of sucking guys in the second level in so that your TE or slot can sneak into the vacated area for a big pickup. What Pribula did was act like he was going to take a knee, then pulled back and threw a pass for a TD to make the score look even more lopsided. And that's what Franklin teams do especially in ugly games where their offense looks like shit; they'll run it up at the end. That's fine to an extent but it clearly was his intent to try to score at the end of a comfortable win and that was the type of play you call when you want to make people forget your golden boy threw for under 6 ypa against a NW defense that ain't that good.
Also, sometimes people misname a QB. It happens - shockingly you can watch a game and not remember every player's name at all times, or conflate two when speaking off the cuff. But again James, congrats on the big win this weekend.
October 2nd, 2023 at 10:13 AM ^
I know Neb has some decent defenders on the DL, but Henderson whiffed a few times yesterday. One got JJ planted. Cant really have that from a LT... especially against better teams and in colder weather. Would prefer to avoid. Maybe someone more X and O advanced could tell me if that wasn't actually hsi fault, but I saw at least 2 times where Henderson whiffed.
The run game, however, looked 100x better. Hinton is banged up though, i doubt he stays out. I do think at some point, you gotta pick 5 dudes. Unfortunately, we don't play anyone with much fight until November. I hope that doesn't bite us.
October 2nd, 2023 at 10:23 AM ^
They covered Henderson's three blips during the podcast, saying two of them needed closer review because they might not be his fault alone. And I doubt we see Hinton again, except maybe garbage time.
October 2nd, 2023 at 10:18 AM ^
Kalel Mullings. Kalel. Mullings.
Kallllllellllll. Mullllllings.
Ommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....
October 2nd, 2023 at 10:25 AM ^
My totally relevant input - JJ was asked how the corn tasted, not how the game went, when he answered "buttery and sweet".
October 2nd, 2023 at 11:00 AM ^
I have updated my 2023 MGoBlog music playlists with the songs from this episode - here are the links:
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Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/2023-mgoblog-music/pl.u-11z0ofMkqvL
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Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2a7Hw0FHtgqw351LwW8wPz?si=8690043244a24050
Nothing like some Nebraska corn on the cob - Go Blue!
October 2nd, 2023 at 12:53 PM ^
Dead Foxes is a great deep cut, was very happy to see it.
October 2nd, 2023 at 11:06 AM ^
Not enough flea flickers. Should do 4 a game minimum, with our success rate so high.
October 2nd, 2023 at 11:59 AM ^
We should try to beat state this year by running a flea flicker every single play.
October 2nd, 2023 at 12:09 PM ^
It started out immensely successful because A) we have a killer run game and B) it plays off that killer run game with a devastating twist.
We still have a killer run game, but like re-watching a thriller, the devastating twist isn't so devastating anymore. We're seeing the receivers get covered more often, which is fine, it means the safeties are getting pinned back which gives Corum more room to run. But the initial success we had with it was unsustainable.
We should definitely keep running them, and I don't feel it's too many, but it's very much entering the realm of "just another changeup" -- good to have in the bag and pull out now and then, but the RB is extremely vulnerable when turning around for the pitch, so I wouldn't run it more than once a game or so. If the RB gets hit while turning around it's a fumble, so we should run more play-action and go back to the 'flicker if they stop respecting the PA fake.
October 2nd, 2023 at 12:32 PM ^
I suspect it's an option the RB has - pitch it back, or not, depending on what the road ahead looks like. I mean, it's not like Corum doesn't see what's happening in front of him.
October 2nd, 2023 at 12:42 PM ^
Did anyone else see in the MSU game they ran the same flea flicker and Noah Kim got sacked. I've honestly never seen a sack on that flea flicker but perhaps that sums up the state's year
October 2nd, 2023 at 1:12 PM ^
Logged in just to upvote this. Hilarious.
October 2nd, 2023 at 12:01 PM ^
I haven’t listened yet, but Mullings reminds me of 2019 Hassan Haskins. If he develops like Haskins did, woah Nellie, we’ve got another great back to relish.
The Nebraska game was a fun watch. 3rd and 1? Give it to Mullings and watch him get 6. They knew it was coming and couldn’t stop it. That’s beautiful execution. John Madden style football, just wham, bam, blast open a hole and hit it hard and fast and fall forward for 6.
October 2nd, 2023 at 12:56 PM ^
I'm not convinced that Mullings can leap tall buildings with a single bound like Haskins. We may have satisfy ourselves with watching him flatten the first fool who tries to slow him down.
October 2nd, 2023 at 1:20 PM ^
Watching Mullings get in the game, and my Engin '23 son says: "Damn, I shoulda worn my Haskins jersey."
As my eyes well with tears of joy, cue the music:
October 2nd, 2023 at 12:50 PM ^
So many good things so I'm gonna play devil's advocate and look at a few concerns on defense.
Mid-range slant routes against the defense seem to be working with safety help arriving really late? If someone whiffs on tackling the WR (Rutgers opening drive), could be an issue going forward.
The defensive sexy stats are also not that riveting. 13 sacks total through 5 games is whatever but I know a few of these are of the QB falling down, recovering a weird snap sort of variety. Whether it's a pressure/blitz thing, I dunno. Not saying everyone has to be Hutchinson but I'm not sure the next great pass rusher is on the roster right now.
Also 5 INTs (2! by DL, only 3 by DBs) and 4 forced fumbles but only recovered 1. Sound defense is sound I guess but hopefully these become more plentiful as teams get desperate.
October 2nd, 2023 at 1:05 PM ^
very gung ho for a 2024 season with Mullings as lead RB
October 2nd, 2023 at 1:26 PM ^
Doubt Seth will see this but the national pundit in question is Bud Elliot. He said it on the Cover 3 podcast and maybe he wrote it somewhere too. It was more in the context that he said he wanted to see Michigan do less play action (and he mentioned flea flickers as a part of those) and do more straight passing sets. But I think Brian has posted before that Michigan already does way less PA than they should.
I think he just sees that most of Michigan's most successful passing plays are on PA. And he mentioned that TCU and Georgia gave them trouble on PA in those games but he didn't provide more context than that passing comment.
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