2018 michigan state

Special Guests: Tom VanHaaren, promoting his book The Road to Ann Arbor

Here’s a link to all the information for the book signing I’ll be at tonight at 7pm at @LiteratiBkstore. I’ll also be joining @mgoblog on MGoRadio at 5:30pm. Make sure to come down, I’ll be hanging out and talking about the bookhttps://t.co/DIOse086zn

— Tom VanHaaren (@TomVH) November 2, 2018

The Sponsors

We can do this because people support us. You should support them! The show is presented by UGP & The Bo Store, and if it wasn’t for Rishi and Ryan we’d be all be very sad ex-SBNation employees with “real” jobs.

Our other sponsors are also key to all of this: HomeSure Lending, Peak Wealth Management, Ann Arbor Elder Law, the Residence Inn Ann Arbor Downtown, the University of Michigan Alumni Association, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, and Lantana Hummus

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1. TomVH and “The Road to Ann Arbor”

starts at 1:00

Tom VH comes on the podcast to chat about his past with MGoBlog and his new book, The Road to Ann Arbor, which retells some of the great stories of Michigan football recruiting in the last 50 years.

2. Hoops Talk wsg Craig Ross

starts at 27:27

Craig was disappointed that he didn’t get to share his basketball takes on the WTKA Roundtable so he shares them with us. Craig defends Ted Valentine through referee magazine. Brazdeikis can play the 2-3-4 and ambidextrous, Michigan has three tremendous defensive players: Simpson, Teske, and Matthews. Only real question defensively is at shooting guard. Eli Brooks looked good in practices. Teske and Simpson could be a very good pick-and-roll tandem. Craig is hopeful in Simpson’s free throws. Could Brandon Johns play the 5? Michigan is extremely deep. Brian and Craig agree that Michigan is a better team than MSU.

3. Segment 3: MSU Recap and PSU Offense

starts at 52:40

Lewerke was hurt but MSU might have been fortunate for that or else he would have thrown 3 picks. 5 DT’s played about the same number of snaps. Massive RPS blowout on the offense. Shea made some bad reads and we should see some improvement. Still accurate however and his legs are devastating. Are the tackles now good? PSU will be the final exam. If Jon Runyan survives Penn St, he is legit good. Michigan solved the double A gap blitz with satisfaction for the most part.

Penn State lost a lot of their dangerous and large sized pass catchers. Gesicki, Godwin, Allen Robinson are all gone. McSorely’s lost about 1.5 YPA this season. It’s not the same offense as last year. Miles Sanders is not Saquon Barkley and the rushing attack has fallen off this year. The loss of Joe Moorhead is big.

4. Segment 4: PSU Defense Preview

starts at 1:08:03

Penn St has a lot of very good pass rushers and could make Michigan’s life very hard if the Wolverines are trapped in 3rd & longs. Michigan is not a good 3rd and long offense. Yardage on 3rd downs will be important. PSU’s starting defensive tackles are basically just both Mike Dwumfour. Not a lot of run stoppers on the defensive front despite the great pass rushers. This is the type of defense that Michigan has eviscerated in the past. PSU has a very good CB. KJ Hamler is a dangerous kick returner.

MUSIC:

Featured tonight: Bear vs. Shark

• "I F---ed Your Dad” from "Terrorhawk
• "We Were Sad But Now We’re Rebuilding" off Right Now, You're in the Best of Hands. And If Something Isn't Quite Right, Your Doctor Will Know in a Hurry
• "MPS" off off Right Now, You're in the Best of Hands. And If Something Isn't Quite Right, Your Doctor Will Know in a Hurry
• “Across 110th Street”

If you or a friend made some good tunes and don't have a label out scrubbing for them we'd be happy to feature you.

THE USUAL LINKS:

• Helpful iTunes subscribe link
• General podcast feed link
• Direct download link
• What's with the theme music?

It’s hard to play basketball about a guy with two hands

Things discussed:

• Nate Stanley: Dude!
• Maryland: Dude! Once you have a certain level of money and power you think you lose accountability. How to check this: have a legitimate 3rd party making medical decisions. Any donor who wanted to pull their money: pull your money.
• MSU-Purdue: dude! State gets the rain again, Blough had his bad day.
• Penn State: At their most potent when Trace McSorley is running the ball. Make him throw! Alan Robinson wanted to come to Michigan badly—they don’t have anyone like that anymore.
• McSorley healthy? He ran a 51-yard TD after his knee got banged. He’s performing at a better level than his stats imply but his receivers are his receivers.
• Their DL has five guys who can get after the quarterback. Two Michael Dwumfour types at DT and three dynamite DEs, including Yetur Gross-Matos who’s playing out of his mind.
• Nobody can say Oruwariye, nobody in the linebacker level looks like a Linebacker U guy. Can PSU stand up against Michigan’s ground game? Pull out all the Harbaugh and grind them down.
• Jansen: Brian explains why you don’t run much power against an odd man front. Here’s a graphic from me:
  
  
• Ed Warinner has a play sheet now—Michigan didn’t know what they’re doing with Shea against Notre Dame; maybe Ed’s teaching them how to not suck at spread
• We want Bama…to win against LSU? Don’t trust the committee to leave out a 1-loss Alabama that doesn’t go to the SEC Championship over a Michigan that wins out.
• Ferentz still brings up the fact that Chris L. Rucker got out of jail and played against him.

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

Segment two is here. Segment three is here.

THE USUAL LINKS

• Helpful iTunes subscribe link
• General podcast feed link
• Direct download link
• What's with the theme music?

Not every school sells their soul.

SPONSOR NOTE: Reminder that Matt is hanging out at the Charity Tailgate at 327 East Hoover (if you were at the preseason MGoEvents this year and last it's the same place). It's right next to the train tracks on Hoover. The band goes right by it on their way to the stadium, which is cool. Say hi.

When not tailgating Matt is also a person who will get you a mortgage right quick from the comfort of your own home.

FORMATION NOTES: Just one 3-3-5 snap, which didn't go so hot. Michigan is continuing with their rush package with Uche/Dwumfour/Paye/Winovich across the front, and semi-frequently went with a dime behind that. I have been filing Uche as a linebacker but I'm on the verge of calling him a DE.

SUBSTITUTION NOTES: Paye and Winovich nearly omnipresent with Hutchinson picking up a few late snaps. DT snaps got split about equally between all five contributors (Solomon, Marshall, Kemp, Mone, and Dwumfour).

Bush and Hudson omnipresent, as per usual. Ross and Gil split WLB snaps. Uche got about 20 snaps as a rush end; cameos from Furbush and Glasgow.

Secondary the usual. Long and Hill got more snaps than Watson but it was close to even. Thomas got in at the end.

[After THE JUMP: one broken QB, barely more yards]