WTKA Roundtable 3/14/2024: Josh Wallace But Fast Comment Count

Seth March 14th, 2024 at 10:36 AM

Things Discussed:

  • Tony Alford: What does it say about Ohio State? Ryan Day's program might have a culture problem. If he loses to Michigan [they get to play one or two more times but] he's out, right?
  • Seth checks OSU's schedule; somehow they got just @Oregon and vs PSU out of the Big Ten powers, so yeah, he could get to Michigan unscathed.
  • You'd think Alford wouldn't be worried about job prospects if Day is fired; he pulled the ripcord early, which means there's something making being the RB coach under Ryan Day/Chip Kelly intolerable. Brian: Could be the offense doesn't let the RBs do their thing.
  • Tony Alford: What does it say about Sherrone Moore? Guys wanna come work for him. Sam: They lost Adegoke because it got leaked so they kept this one quiet. Brian: That speaks to Moore's organization that they got the background checks and everything done.
  • Seth: Taking a coach 2 practices into spring is bigger than getting their signs because by this point they have a plan, and they've already started talking about what they're doing for The Game.
  • Sherrone: Good early signs. Had a competent assistants process, has a plan with recruiting, prevented Martindale from using up a staff spot. Making big baller moves, like how Harbaugh came in with satellite camps, etc.
  • Losing Hart: Plenty. He was a *great* RB coach, a great judge of talent, and a great Michigan player.
  • Seth: This exposes OSU culture issues. The Mattison comp: Matty got a title bump and $600k raise, but money can't buy the kind of Jerry Hanlon love he gave up to go to OSU, so there had to be something else. It turned out that something else was Don Brown was a Buddy Ryan, and as much as we love Brown it was a sign that Michigan needed a culture change.
  • Quinten Johnson: not a small deal. Good NIL (more valuable to college than pros), great for Michigan, not a replacement for Sabb but does allow them to maybe start Q-Jo and try Moore at nickel, which can ameliorate the loss of Mike Sainristil, who was the QB of the defense at nickel.
  • Wink Defense: Need to stop overplaying the differences between him and Minter, because Giants defense had more plays than any other NFL team inside their own 40, also once you have Jyaire Hill ready to go you can play a lot more man.
  • Break: Sam mentions more guys who wanted to come work for Sherrone.
  • Wink: You guys are doing stuff I wasn't even doing with the Giants. Brian: That's the Mikey Factor.
  • Pernell McPhee for support staff: Pahokee guy that Rich Rod wanted, Ravens guy under Mike Macdonald who can step into LB job in the future.
  • Lionel Stokes: Defensive analyst who worked with Morgan at Louisiana, been a DC and DB coach at Jackson State, gonna have big shoes to fill from Mallory.

[Hit the JUMP for the player, and video and stuff]

You can catch the entire episode on Michigan Insider's podcast stream.

Segment 2 is here. You can watch the video here:

The Usual Links:

Wink could walk into this defense, drink coffee for six months, and go back to the league.

Comments

Vasav

March 14th, 2024 at 4:54 PM ^

His margin for a successful "run" is less if he loses to M. If he manages to win the big ten and get a bye (and I'm not sure that trip to Autzen will end with a Buckeye win) or even if he doesn't win the Big Ten but gets a high non-bye seed, he likely won't play a bonafide top-5 team until the semis. If you beat Oregon twice and win a semi but lose to M, for sure it's crazy to can the coach of the second best team in the nation. But if your "run" is you win 2 games against top 10ish competition, before losing a close SF? I'd say that's not the standard they expect.

Doesn't mean they can him but I doubt they'd be satisfied with that

jippolito

March 15th, 2024 at 4:47 AM ^

It's fun to dunk on OSU, but I think you guys are overselling the cultural issues talking about the wheels coming off. They're in the middle of a three-game losing streak to us. If the culture there were an issue, everyone would be pointing fingers on their way out of town, not postponing the NFL to come back for one last crack at us. They'd also be losing to Penn State as well. The culture there is probably way more family friendly than we like to give them credit for - as opposed to a ruthless football factory - considering all the whining from OSU fans about how soft Day is and how he doesn't embrace the rivalry enough because he doesn't run a Vick-style dog fighting ring but with punters and backup safeties instead of pit bulls.

I definitely think they're panicked and are overcorrecting - see: running off the QB who was way closer to beating the best Michigan team of our lifetimes on the road than CJ Stroud ever got to beating versions a step below that; but treating their version of Mike Hart leaving for higher ambitions as proof they're in shambles is just wishful thinking. All this talk about how their run is over and they keep finishing as a top three team in the nation.