Episodes

  • MGoRadio 11.1: You Bring Far Too Much Attention to Yourself, Mr. Underwood

    MGoRadio 11.1: You Bring Far Too Much Attention to Yourself, Mr. Underwood
    Aug 29 2025
    The Sponsors

    We want to thank Underground Printing for starting this and making it possible—stop by and pick up some gear, check them out at ugpmichiganapparel.com, or check out our selection of shirts on the MGoBlogStore.com. And let’s not forget our associate sponsors: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklar Brothers, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Radecki Oral Surgery, Long Road Distillers, and SignalWire where we are recording this.

    Featured Musician: Magic Toaster

    THE VIDEO:

    [After THE JUMP: Things to be said.]

    ---------------------

    1. New Mexico Preview: Offense

    starts at the top

    They've got a very 2022 Colorado State vibe after importing a Big Sky team. We like their Big Sky RBs better than MSU's. Mikey Keene-ish QB wasn't the reason they gave Oregon trouble.

    2. Preview in Review: Defense

    starts at 11:24

    The wily open defensive end is. The rest of lines and their secondary are terrible, save a Bruce Feldman Freak who had six kick return touchdowns in the FCS.

    3. Preview in Review: Defense

    starts at 22:58

    We're so into Metcalfs. Shark Teeth mode now with players behind players. Only thing is they don't have so many superstars—just good guys all around. Can Jyaire Hill step forward into one? Benny? Derrick Moore is the one EXTRA guy that we can't lose.

    4. Preview in Review: Offense

    starts at 35:50

    Surviving Evan Link.

    Featured Artist: Magic Toaster

    Songs:

    • Saturday Night
    • Anything's Fine
    • Blue Night Oberon

    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
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    56 mins
  • WTKA Roundtable 8/28/2025: How to Put Out a Mustache Fire

    WTKA Roundtable 8/28/2025: How to Put Out a Mustache Fire
    Aug 28 2025

    Things Discussed:

    • Craig Ross introduces the MGoBlog Rub Some Dirt On It player of the week.
    • What's the offense look like with Bryce? Not a spread, some RPO, some downfield passing, most of that off play-action.
    • Opponents are going to bring safeties down—Oklahoma runs a Venables defense that wants to attack, so you have to punish that.
    • Remember 2021 Georgia when JJ came in? He had some simple reads, but things opened up because he could physically get certain types of throws further downfield, increased the spacing between receivers.
    • RPOs? Chip Lindsey's job is to make what you do work, not rewrite the offensive script. There will be tag RPOs where the read is more of a "run-unless"—it's not going to be like Stanford's long mesh where the read is the point. It's a check on bad behavior so they can do their thing, which is run off-tackle.
    • Sam: Program philosophy isn't to allow the defense to set what you're going to do.
    • Brian wants to see Bredeson used on those Aaron Shea dumpoffs more often because you freak out when he's coming your way.
    • Mikey Keene? He's got a shoulder injury. You don't get to choose when the injury is healed; he will probably be the QB2 when he's back.
    • Brady Norton: Not like last year. If they were down to two RGs and they were Efobi and Hattar and Norton won it would concern us, but it was Efobi-Norton two weeks ago.
    • Concern is left tackle; they were talking about replacing Link with a true freshman before Babalola got hurt. Evan Link will start, Blake Frazier will play; Blake has to prove he's durable because he's coming off a knee injury, and he has to be stronger in the run game because he's 290-something. If Link isn't clear of Frazier right now that's an issue.
    • DT depth chart: People were surprised that Trey Pierce was ahead of Damon Payne, but we've been saying that all offseason. You want that: Trey has eligibility next year and showed some talent.
    • Opening weened for CFB: What's up with Ohio State and their new coordinators? Probably going to be fine with Hartline because he will just say throw it to Jeremiah Smith and…yeah that works. Matt Patricia has two great players in the back-seven but they are going to be just okay at D-tackle (I like the end they picked up from UNC).
    • Maybe Matt Patricia is here to bottom out the culture, because as soon as he left Detroit and Philadelphia those locker rooms become two of the best in the NFL.
    • Quick New Mexico preview: They have a 246 pound defensive tackle and a backfooting QB who's going to punt it up to a former Iowa receiver that might be injured.
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    49 mins
  • MGoPodcast 17.0.c: The 'E' Stands for Ebweebody

    MGoPodcast 17.0.c: The 'E' Stands for Ebweebody
    Aug 22 2025
    2 hours and 13 minutes The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing 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. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. Noncon and Big Ten: The Bottom Four Starts at 0:54 New Mexico. Former Wisconsin player who was at Idaho takes over, brings the QB and the DE who gave Oregon problems last year. Keegan Johnson used to play at Iowa.Oklahoma. Spiderman pointing game. Their defense was great and their offense just as terrible. Mateer the savior doesn't have WRs and his OL is highly recruited and young. They spent a lot for Damonic Williams at DT, have a great FS and iffy corners. Punting and arm-punting is winning?CMU. New coach is the former Army OL coach, interesting dude who sends his coaches home at 5pm, got all local coaches because he wants to be there a long time. Got an Iowa QB.#18: Purdue. Odom: Why? Team was falling apart already under Walters and got gutted. Multi-year rebuild.#17: Maryland. Walking Locksley to the gallows season. Inexplicable receiver depth is gone. Jalen Husky (from Bowling Green) and secondary is the relative strength of the defense. How much will Maryland seriously try to compete in this sport or just throw their House money at basketball?#16: Northwestern. The2021 running backs are still there. Caleb Tiernan how do you not come home? Edges Hubbard and Anto Saka (getting draft hype) are good. Dillon Tatum late transfer followed Harlon Barnett. Receivers are gone though.#15: UCLA. Encouraging second half last year, new belief in Deshawn Foster. But they're back to rebuilding from the portal, look like they have to do that every year. Only 2/15 players with 200+ snaps returned. Did get Nico Iamaleava. They have some access to money, but where's it going? Jalen Berger is their RB! [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP] 2. The Big Ten Middle Starts at 34:54 #14: MSU. Defense takes a step back, offense takes a step forward, Aidan Chiles could be a budding star. Jonathan Smith probably didn't understand what kind of fanbase he's walking into.#13: Wisconsin. Is this the last hurrah of Fickell? They dumped the spread and their best player is a huge RT so that's good; their defense is kind of falling apart so that's bad.#12: Rutgers. Schiano has done it: Rutgers is a perennial bowl team! No more Monangai but plenty of parts are back, especially on the OL.#11: Minnesota. High-variance offense, Koi Perich is an All-American. If a few of the transfers hit it's a strong defense. Could win 10 games vs a bad schedule, could also be just fighting for a bowl.#10: Nebraska. Raiola year 2 has a lot of weapons. They really spent to get him some WRs, Dane Key and a contested catch guy from Cal. Still going to be a 3-3-5 but playing tiny. The problem is their DL coach left and took the DL with him.#9: Washington. Only Big Ten RB to return, really like them. Also got back Boston. Upgraded from Stephen Belichick to Ryan Walters at DC, have a dual-threat QB who took over last year. Opposite Michigan: no kicker, weak in the trenches. #8: Iowa. Mid! Offense improved quite a bit under Tim Lester, rose to 69th in SP+, had fewer wins because that's not Iowa. "We have a quarterback now!" /runs a waggle.#7: Indiana. Cignetti is tough to play for but he was able to rebuild through the portal again with guys who don't have to get to know Cignetti, including a new QB who might be pretty good. 3. The Contenders Starts at 1:10:38 #6: Illinois. Brian is wearing an Illinois shirt after a 10-2 season that was really lucky. Lose their playmakers from a team that was really lucky last year and did most of their work. Paid all these guys to return because they have a very weak schedule. Circle Illinois-Indiana.#5: USC. Ewebwuddy Woves Waymond. Scott Frost season where they lost to Maryland, banking on a massive, sorta overrated 2026 class. Have their choice receivers, have their QB in Maiava, have a magic wand to turn their secondary into poop.(#4 is Michigan)#3: Oregon. Dan Lanning is our top coach in the league but in-game management in Rose Bowl scares us. Doesn't lose bad games. Will be some talent drop-off, do we trust Dante Moore? He's had a year in the program and they didn't import someone. Probably spent the most of anybody in the portal. Bear Alexander at DT is a reason to doubt them; this team has a big potential to come together or completely fall apart with locker room issues. ...
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    2 hrs and 13 mins
  • WTKA Roundtable 8/21/2025: Hey It's a Run

    WTKA Roundtable 8/21/2025: Hey It's a Run
    Aug 21 2025

    EVENT REMINDERS: Come see me in CHICAGO TONIGHT at 6PM. U-M Club of Fairfield is hosting an online Q&A at noon tomorrow. And then Monday, August 25 is U-M Club of Greater Detroit's kickoff w/ me, Isaiah and Henschke, and hosted by Ira.

    Things Discussed:

    • The NCAA's NOA: Not surprised it was nonsense; not surprised it was just money because they can't risk operating this anywhere that facts matter. Surprised how little they actually had. They only had one two witnesses, both of them whom the report called liars, for Signgate, and one witness, whom the report also called a liar. Whenever evidence was presented it undermined their conclusions.
    • This was, from the start, about getting Harbaugh out of college football, because he was not wired for putting up with their bullshit. Sherrone--and this comes off in the report and in his response--is one who knows how to play ball. That's all they want: is for you to tell them they're relevant. If you play ball (Sherrone, Compliance, Partridge) they praise you; if you expose them for the frauds they are, they'll do all they can.
    • Nobody still staying it mattered is someone you ever have to listen to again. Michigan got better without Stalions. They were that good because they were better football players. I never want to hear Stalions's name again, because it just takes away from the actual accomplishments of Mike Sainristil.
    • Game in Germany? Not 100% sure it's happening. Me: whatever. I'm not gonna go to Europe to see one of my teams; I want to go to Europe to see Europe.
    • Savion Hiter: The balance stands out. He has a Beastquake on his highlights:

    • Reminds me of watching Ricky Powers as a kid. Comp will probably be Corum.
    • Big Nickel: The math is when on offense removes a slot for a TE they still have a lot of receiving ability on the field; when Michigan matches by removing a DB for a DT they now have to match the TE with somebody else, and thus far it's been the SAM: Harrell, Stewart, Guy. Offenses in the NFL have been exploiting that so defenses have come up with big nickels (e.g. Kyle Hamilton) in place of their SAMs who still have the length to hold an edge in the run game against a TE but can also cover a TE down the field. Mason Curtis has the perfect build for it.
    • Questions people ask on the road? How good is Bryce, what will the offense look like, who is this guy Craig Ross?
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    52 mins
  • MGoPodcast 17.0.b: Breathing Through His Eyelids

    MGoPodcast 17.0.b: Breathing Through His Eyelids
    Aug 20 2025
    2 hours and 8 minutes The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing 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. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. Quarterback Starts at 0:54 Quick rundown of all the options: it's Bryce. Expectations for Bryce: Vince Young as a RS freshman, who doesn't quite know what to do with the ball and gets jumpy when the pressure's on, but you can see the talent. One thing in his favor: he isn't jumpy at all in the pocket, and the overthrows in the Spring Game were out of character. Michigan has to roll with it, but Big Ten average with huge swings. Will he be more like a sophomore by Ohio State perhaps? [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP] 2. Skill Positions Starts at 35:36 Running back has two really good players and then a drop to ???. On the very goods, we love Jordan Marshall and might be underrating Justice Haynes—he's got a lot of Corum in him. He's also got a lot of experience as a lead blocker for a running QB, but that's probably not what he came here for. WRs are Donaven McCulley and then a big drop to Just-Guys who probably were better than they looked last year. Think Semaj Morgan should be the #2 since he gives you something—F.Moore, Bell, O'Leary just guys, hearing things about the freshmen doesn't give Brian happy feels. Tight end is the strength of the offense. The spectrum goes fullback: Max Bredeson, h-back: Jalen Hoffman, inline: Marlin Klein, flex: Hogan Hansen. Bredeson kickouts force defenders to overcommit, create bounce opportunities. Klein is an underrated blocker (watch the Reliaquest Bowl). Hansen was open last year, Davis Warren was allergic to throwing at him. Hoffman might be Underwood's secret binkie, can run WR routes and block like an OL. 3. Offensive Line Starts at 1:18:36 PLEASE do not activate our rule that if two guys are battling for a job and it's won by a third guy it's a very bad sign. Concerning that OL was an issue, and player evaluation was an issue, when the HC was the OL coach. It's not a hot take that Andrew Babalola is going to start at Ohio State, Brian. If Evan Link gets fixed and Gio El-Hadi truly feels more comfortable at LG that'd be great; the latter is more likely than the former, but they don't have better options so Link to start. Crippen is who he is; if his issues were mental then could see Juan Castillo having an effect, but Crippen is mentally there and just gets physically dominated. RG and RT are two really good stories for the future, as Efobi and Sprague (especially Sprague) are on track for excellent careers. Depth at G. 4. Hot Takes, Special Teams and Chip Starts at 1:46:36 Takes hotter than Sabrina Carpenter. Thank you to the Michigan fan who left Dominic Zvada out of the Groza semifinalists so he would come back to be the best kicker in Michigan history again. Punter…wasn't great last year but it's not like Hudson Hollenbeck was better in the one game we saw him, and attempts to get more guys in the portal is a little concerning. Returns should be Semaj, I'Marion Stewart, and hearing things about the UMass transfer Anthony Simpson. Chip's offense is about building his passing game onto your running game. They'd like to be an outside zone one way/rollout the other way team but they probably can't run outside zone. Need to hit the downfield shots to keep safeties off their screen game; last year they were set up at 7 yards. MUSIC: "Small Worlds"—Mac Miller "Memo from Turner"—Mick Jagger"Is the Hugeness Translating"—Floating Action“Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra
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    2 hrs and 8 mins
  • MGoPodcast 17.0.a: My Dude is a Guy

    MGoPodcast 17.0.a: My Dude is a Guy
    Aug 18 2025
    1 hour and 53 minutes The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing 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. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. We have to talk about the NCAA NOA Starts at 0:54 A great exercise in bad faith, and deeply insulting to Mike Sainristil. NCAA doesn't want to go to court because they'll lose, so they produced a blustery document to make it about money. Clearly Stalions should not have been part of any organization. If Jim Harbaugh is still the head coach when this comes out they would have had to fire him. But these are clearly minor violations hopped up as an extension of Harbaugh's reaction to telling them to go to hell for Burgergate, and part of a pattern of the NCAA coming after him personally. We're actually shocked at how bad all of their evidence is: 1) Stalions who's a liar. 2) Joey Velazquez, who recorded Stalions, tried to entrap Partridge, and Partridge proved was lying about their interaction, and for the Level II recruiting violations 3) a player who was broomed from the class whom the NCAA also admitted didn't have his stories straight. The only evidence they had of an atmosphere of noncompliance was an assistant (likely Stalions) saying screw Compliance. When they say the benefit was not marginal they don't even try to justify that take—Michigan got better without Stalions. The report makes its conclusion on the value of this entirely on the basis of the lengths that Stalions went to trying to get film when the guy goes to extreme lengths to pump up his own importance as a rule. Their defining piece of evidence is Harbaugh gave him a game ball, when they also say they found Harbaugh gave out 15 game balls per game to try to make sure everyone on staff got one, and Connor's value was so little that he a defensive ball from Iowa. [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP] 2. Defensive Line Starts at 16:16 Rayshaun Benny was grading out like Mason Graham—see: the end of the OSU and Alabama games. He is not Mason Graham, but should be able to keep up that sort of ratio because they are so deep they can keep him fresh at the end of games. Tre Williams is a Mazi Smith, M valued him more than Clemson did; he isn't a pass-rusher. Damon Payne is an innings-eater. Ike Iwunnah too. Trey Pierce and Enow Etta are the ones we want to see emerge because they have eligibility for next year. Pierce is on that track while Etta gained weight after getting pushed around last year, is ticketed for the Jenkins role. If a 7th DT plays we think it's Palepale, who looks huge and athletic. Edge has a floor of All-Big Ten and a ceiling of Derrick Moore turning into a Day 1 pick. He is that freakish combination of technique, length, and athleticism, got better at dropping into coverage last year, has a Mike Morris style of pass rush that should work. Last year he was getting to the quarterback but everyone else got there before him. TJ Guy is possibly the smartest guy on the field, had the most dip of last year, underrated strength, lots of versatility, though hit a ceiling when it came to carrying Flex TEs. Saved Michigan vs OSU. Cam Brandt is the established backup to D-Mo; we're a little iffy on him, but he might be on the Morris track. Backup to Guy is Nichols—clearly the program likes him but unproven. Would like to see Nate Marshall used in a pass rush only role this year. Would like to see Baxter and Edokpayi playing more this year too. 3. Linebacker Starts at 50:02 Everybody came back/is healthy after they prepared to lose everyone, so there's a lot of age and a lot of depth. Ernest Hausmann is the glue of the offense, another very underrated player who moves like a nickel and reads plays well. Had to get in better shape because when you're the button you can't be breathing hard between plays—you have to yelling. Barham is the Problem for offenses, because you can't block him with a RB and you have to block someone with the RB. Been caught "covering grass" as we say but has the ability to blow up. Can also spend time at edge if need be. Depth is incredible. Rolder is your Braiden McGregor-memorial back-from-injury senior who's going to play plenty and play well but start losing time to Cole Sullivan, the next Barham who's rocked up and earning a ton of practice hype after being under-ranked out of high school by 247 and ESPN (On3 moved him up to #112 so I couldn't make him...
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    1 hr and 53 mins
  • WTKA Roundtable 8/14/2025: We’ve Horseshoe Theoried Brian

    WTKA Roundtable 8/14/2025: We’ve Horseshoe Theoried Brian
    Aug 14 2025

    Things Discussed:

    • What kind of offense should Michigan be? They’re really built to be a 1990s team: strong TEs and FBs, run-blocking OL, big-armed quarterback who doesn’t have to make super-hard reads.
    • Chip Lindsey is a balance guy, not a screen guy. He comes in, looks at what you’re doing, and builds a functional passing game around it.
    • What does that look like this year? Their base two plays can be the stuff that worked for 1997 Michigan/Kirk Ferentz: Run off-tackle to one side and rollout flood passes with a side of Bryce running out the other way, and some screens and play-action deep shots to keep them honest.
    • The Left Tackle conundrum. Seth says it’s Evan Link until Andrew Babalola is ready, Sam says don’t count on that, but it sounds like that would be a mistake—shades of the 2017 tackle problem when their best player at RT was Juwan Bushell-Beatty but he couldn’t pass-protect, and instead of changing what they do around that they went with Nolan Ulizio to start the season.
    • They don’t look like a run-first team in practice, says Sam. Well, they’re probably having to practice passing a lot. Remember you can have a 400% increase in passing from last year and still barely hit their 2021 level. Sometimes you gotta be you and let the cards fall where they may.
    • News hits mid-show that Michigan will receive their NOI tomorrow. Expectations? Brian: removing wins etc. is off the table. There will be a show-cause for Harbaugh and Stalions because they refused to participate—Harbaugh probably has a lot of unread text messages. Guessing a two-game suspension (which games?) for Sherrone because all they really have on Michigan is the “deleted texts” that he apparently retrieved immediately from an image.
    • The math here is Michigan didn’t really do anything. They had a signs guy; everyone had signs guys. They scouted Georgia; Georgia wasn’t on the schedule. The NCAA needs to make it look as big as possible but they really aren’t working with much because Michigan didn’t cheat, Michigan didn’t harm anybody, and Michigan didn’t cover it up. So the NCAA will absolutely maximize the infinitesimal infractions: completely ignore any time served from the Big Ten’s overreaction in 2023, punish Harbaugh for not being present, yeet Stalions, fine Michigan because money isn’t real, and penalize Sherrone for the appearance of hiding evidence. Ohio State will be mad because this was their show from the start and they didn’t get the lynching they wanted, but even when the NCAA is doing their best to be as unjust towards Michigan as possible, but Michigan really didn’t give them anything to work with.
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    50 mins
  • WTKA Roundtable 8/7/2025: Gitche Gumee Got Me

    WTKA Roundtable 8/7/2025: Gitche Gumee Got Me
    Aug 7 2025

    Things Discussed:

    • Underwood v Keene: Craig tries to make the case for Mikey Keene if he's at all better than Underwood; Sam and Seth jump all over him (with history!)
    • Sayin v Keinholtz: Ohio State tries to make the case for Keinholtz, we jump all over them and prove they're going to be fine (with history!)
    • Young Coaches v Old Coaches: It's good to have a mix.
    • That's really all we talked about, actually. Enjoy the history.
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    56 mins