2022 Michigan Football Podcast -- Michigan 19 Illinois 17 Commentary - Ohio State Preview 11-21-22 | By Fans...For Fans Since 1999 | UMGOBLUE.COM Michigan Wolverine Football & Basketball

Phil and Clint discuss Michigan’s last second 19-17 victory over Illinois, RB Blake Corum’s status, and preview THE GAME with Ohio State. With audio QB JJ McCarthy, WR Ronnie Bell, DL Kris Jenkins, and Jim Harbaugh.

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Podcast Transcript

Phil Callihan 0:00
We’re going to cover Michigan’s thrilling last second victory 19 to 17, over Illinois to remain undefeated. And talk about the game. Well, Clint, first things first, what did you think about Michigan versus Illinois,

Clint Derringer 0:34
I thought the first half looked pretty normal. With Michigan, really executing efficiently on offense and bogging down a little bit. Once they got in the red zone, and then a little bit of IO, the defense was was still very strong. And they went into the halftime with a lead albeit a closely, you know, looks a lot like some other games from a statistic standpoint, but obviously, the huge difference was ready for halftime when Blake Corum you know, gets his gets hit at the knee level and looks like he hyper extended his his knee a little bit. And, you know, threw everything into question. And that, you know, obviously that changed the whole makeup of the game. And also, you know, since his knee since he had that kind of shockwave of pain and probably fear of an injury, he, he put the ball on the carpet and Illinois scooped it up. So not only was his status thrown immediately into question, but another scoring opportunity went by with, you know, with nothing scored. So, outside of that the first half was pretty much normal the way that I saw it. Then losing Blake Corum obviously changed the whole complexion of the second half,

Phil Callihan 1:59
Even before the apparent injury to Blake Corum. While we were watching him run, you made some observations, what did you think about the way he was running in that first half?

Clint Derringer 2:12
Well, I thought it looked really good running the ball. But finishing runs looked strange to me looked like, for example, there was on the second drive, Michigan was backed up near its own endzone. And for the first time, we saw a halfback screen, something that we hadn’t seen, certainly at all this year, and I don’t think that we saw any of those traditional halfback screens last year either. So it breaks out and Corum gets, I think 37 yards on that play. But he’s got to step on the corner, the guy chasing him. And he kind of goes out of bounds without being forced to it was like he was kind of avoiding all contact, kind of like, you hear quarterbacks coached, you know, to get down and slide early or to step out of bounds and avoid taking the hit, it seemed like he was kind of doing something similar. And I thought that that it looked strange, certainly didn’t look normal for him. And then there was another run, I think it was in the second quarter, where he was, he was running toward the home sideline. And it gets tackled, not a huge hit or anything, but he kind of like, as contact was made, he kind of like collapsed down and like landed on both knees. So it just, it just seemed like he was a little bit anti contact and maybe trying to protect himself from injury. And that’s what I had mentioned is that it’s you know, that’s it’s usually a bad idea to run differently, right, or to play the game differently to try to avoid an injury, it usually ends up putting you into a position that you’re not comfortable with. And that’s it makes because you’re in a position that you’re not comfortable with makes injuries more likely. So I should have kept my mouth shut. I didn’t realize that I had that kind of that kind of Jinx power. But it was, it was apparent right from that first. From the first, the first snap of the game was a long run. And he kind of went out of bounds instead of cutting back and trying to take it to the house that seemed you know, relatively normally the guys were in front of them, but defenders from Illinois had an angle, you know, on him that made sense. But once he got that screen pass, and was even or ahead of the guy from Illinois and kind of went out of bounds on you know, without being forced to that that was kind of strange. And that’s when I started kind of keeping an eye on how he ended every play right, you know, after before contact.

Phil Callihan 4:47
Well, Clint, you weren’t the only one. You know, we’ve been around Football long enough that it’s kind of a maxim that says, if you’re running to not get hurt or playing to not get hurt Sometimes you end up getting dinged. And I thought the same thing. I was glad that I didn’t tweet it while we were observing it. But but you know, we were definitely talking about it, he definitely seemed to be running a little bit different. And, you know, we can we can read a lot into that. And we really don’t know what it is. I mean, you know, in retrospect, I mean, it’s terrible to see that, you know, the apparent injury. And what that means, you know, for Blake and what that means for Michigan. It definitely affected the trajectory of the Illinois game.

J.J. McCarthy 5:35
I kind of had a feeling that he was going to come out there and be with us in the second half. I didn’t expect him to play really, but that’s just Blake, I mean, he he’s gonna be out there no matter what. But yeah, it’s just about adapting, adjusting. You know, I got trust in 143. Guys, and they’re gonna do the best of their ability and get it done in any way they can. And yeah, I mean, we just had to go a different route. And we had to trust different guys. And yeah, we were totally okay with that.

Phil Callihan 6:02
And, you know, it’s just a huge cloud hanging over, you know, the contest versus Ohio State. But, you know, to get back to Stowe, where we were in the game, I mean, like you said, Michigan enters the half, leading 73, and then gets outscored by Illinois in the third quarter, 14 to three, and fortunately, scored nine points and pitched a shutout against Illinois in the fourth quarter, of course, needed that last second field goal by Jake moody to to seal the victory. But again, it was heading into half it’s like, Oh, we’ve seen this before Michigan’s gonna come out and, and hit a gear and just run away with it. And that is not what happened. I mean, you know, Harbaugh makes a big point of wanting to win each half. And what’s interesting is that Illinois outscored Michigan by a score of 14 to 12 in that second half, so definitely not the way they drew it up. Always glad to have the victory. But, you know, with Donovan Edwards out, and, you know, Blake dinged up, we got to see some extensive action from Michigan’s next couple backs. And again, CJ Stokes look good. Isaiah cache had had a few runs. But there’s definitely a fall off after Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards. And, you know, it’s interesting, because even with the injury, Blake Corum still ran for 108 yards. And, you know, came back for a play and had a had a had a brief run, you know, a short game and that second half, but there’s definitely something going on. And it’s, it’s a huge concern for, for, you know, again for the rest of the season, because we don’t know exactly what’s going on now. It was covered in the media that Blake was out, handing out turkeys for the Thanksgiving Day holiday. So and the point that, you know, I made when we were there, Clint is, you know, our photographer saw Blake walking around in the tunnel, it was covered on the broadcast. And, you know, people were quick to point out on Twitter, well, that doesn’t mean anything. And I’m like, Well, yeah, it does mean something, okay? Because the most severe injuries were ruled out, okay, there are injuries where you’re not going to be walking around, you’re going to be you know, you’re gonna leave the field and you’re gonna come back. But there’s a lot of variability between a severe injury and an injury that’s going to prevent him from cutting from cutting and running and playing against Ohio State.

Clint Derringer 8:52
Yeah, you have to assume that you’re not going to have him at 100% That’s for sure. He, I thought it was a really good sign for Blake and for the team that he did come back in the second half, he did get the one carry on the first drive after halftime gained five yards and it was not a not a simple run. You know, he took some contact, broke a tackle and kind of moved the pile for the last two yards or so in pretty traditional fashion and stayed in the game after that run. I you know, we watch I pay a little bit closer attention to see what happened with him. That run went well. He stayed in the game played the next snap. The next snap was a play action pass where he like he took a fake handoff and kind of simulated a jump cut to his right, you know, and, and that’s kind of when he kind of came up lane and hobbled off the field and was done for the rest of the day. So it’s clear that he didn’t have didn’t feel stable. Doing everything that that he needed to do to be able to run the ball effectively. But I still take it as a pretty good sign that structurally his knee was was good enough for the doctors to clear him to take any to have any action in the in the second half

Jim Harbaugh 10:20
Nether right now got cleared to go back in and we’ll see where see where it is tomorrow how it feels tomorrow, structurally good. Which is great news.

Clint Derringer 10:35
For him to take an actual hand off in the third quarter, and stay in the game after being at the bottom of the pile. So to your point, I think that the greatest or most detrimental injuries likely are ruled out you probably sprained one of the ligaments in there. And the question is, how much progress can he make healing and resting in a week’s time? And and how? How much usage and and what percent of his effectiveness, we have him for the Ohio State game. And what I mentioned to a Wolverine fan friend of mine was, I think you got to kind of start your game plan around your first drive. How do you use? How do you use Blake Corum effectively, based on what he can do? But also how do you use him as a decoy in that first series on offense, and then build the rest of your game plan? Once the jig is up? Once they know that Blake is not at 100% or not going to be able to carry the ball 25 times? For sure, then you have to have your normal game plan. Right? You can’t, he’s not going to be an effective decoy for much more than the first series. So that’s that’s going to be a challenge for the for the coaching staff, but still a lot of a lot of capability for this offense. The game is certainly not going to be decided, you know, just based on this one injury, but it certainly it certainly sent a dark cloud over the whole program there for a minute.

Phil Callihan 12:14
Yeah, and it’s too bad because it was a really exciting game. You know, it’s always an exciting game when you can come out and when you always want to be on that side of it. But again, really a thrilling game to close out the home slate at Michigan Stadium. And wow, you know that last play Jake moody, you know, Coach, Harbaugh had had great things to say about it

Jim Harbaugh 12:38
I’ve been watching Michigan Football since I was a kid, pretty decent historian of Michigan Football, and I am I am nominating him for legendary status at the university.

Phil Callihan 12:55
And again, it’s just too bad that it comes on the tail end of you know, possibly a very serious injury. And not only for the season, but you know, you have Blake who’s just been a workhorse this season, who’s been, you know, enthusiastic to get the ball as much as as you know, they would give it to him, you never want to see a player get hurt. And again, it’s you know, there’s the see implications for the game and the season. And there’s implications for the player and you never want to see somebody get injured. Especially, you know, on the tail end of just an amazing season. And with with so much left to do. So. You know, I think, Clint, how did you feel about what Michigan did in that second half where after they had to kind of de emphasize Blake you know, unfortunately, we saw some of the same issues with the deep passing game. And part of that was influenced by the weather you know, it was it was quite windy down to the ball which again makes the kick the game winning kick even more amazing.

Jake Moody 14:11
Nothing that we haven’t seen before especially playing up here you know, it’s not the SEC you got to deal with some tough when conditions and you know, it was freezing cold out there. But you know, it’s it’s nothing that we haven’t dealt with before and

Question 14:26
Does any kick in your career that compares to this?

Jake Moody 14:29
No, not even close.

Chad Shephard 14:32
Standing on the left here, Angelique-

Angelique Chengelis 14:34
Jake last year, you said you’re talking to us and said that you often maybe can’t sleep you think about different kicking scenarios. And you mentioned kicking the game winner against Ohio State. What now that it’s happened I mean, how does it does it live up to those those dreams that you had in those sleepless nights?

Jake Moody 14:49
I’d say it’s even better. Honestly. This is actually my first game winner I’ve ever had, you know, in my entire life. Never had one in high school, middle school and nothing like that. So, you know, for it to be on my final game at the big house, you know, it was pretty magical and

Phil Callihan 15:08
but you have to wonder, you know, did we see a little bit of foreshadowing of what Michigan will have to do? Heading into Columbus if Blake is going to be out?

Clint Derringer 15:23
Well, I think for sure, having your top two running backs out was was obviously a critical factor. I think the underrated factor that no that we didn’t really talk about or follow up on was spoon maker did not take many snaps at tight end. So we did see Colston Loveland development story of the tight end snaps. And then the second and third tight ends in the game were Joe Hartford, and Matthew Hebner. And then Eric all obviously had surgery earlier this season. So you are really down to your third, fourth and fifth string tight ends, really leading your running game at the point of attack. And that was a huge difference, I thought, as compared to what we usually see with, with Luke schoomaker being the main tight end and leaving. From a blocking standpoint, I think we missed schoomaker in the in the passing game, as well. So those were certainly a big deal. I think. Also in this I don’t have a lot of insider information, of course, but I think some of the best, some of Michigan’s most reliable explosive passing concepts have been on the shelf for about four or five weeks, I think we’ve seen a pretty clear step down for JJ McCarthy in terms of output statistically. And, in my mind that aligns with some of their more reliable passing concepts that he’s really good at. They’re not calling those plays as much not putting it on film as much against different defenses. And it’s likely that they, they feel confident that they’ll be able to call those plays in the bigger games going forward against Ohio State and hopefully, in in the big 10 championship game. Without having to have, they tried not to bring out their best stuff and still win the game and short handed guys resting some of your best offensive concepts kind of gathering dust on the shelf. All of that was a lot of handicap to, to kind of strap yourself with. And that’s what we saw in the second half was kind of self imposed adversity and then all of a sudden, you look you’re down, uh, you’re, you’re down a touchdown, in the fourth quarter, and the silver lining to that cloud is we did get to see a little bit of facing adversity and mental toughness from from players in leadership spots. And that’s really what I was trying to focus on. And tried to channel my personal anxiety as a fan in that fourth quarter was really looking for who was going to step forward and make really big plays and big moments. And, you know, none bigger than Isaiah gash on a fourth down conversion making a catch after having dropped a big a big pass on the previous series. So from a mental toughness standpoint, and a leadership standpoint, Saturday was a really, really great day, you know, you still you still have to have those moments where your backs against the wall and, and you have to perform. Nobody really expected that to come in the fourth quarter against Illinois on senior day, but it is what it is and and I think Michigan showed that they can they can still make it work even without, you know, a lot of their best players on offense and and maybe their best player on defense is as well with that with Mike Morris out.

Phil Callihan 19:22
So the thing that I take away from Saturday that was surprising to me is it appeared in that third quarter. First Illinois scored two touchdowns. I mean, that’s you can’t take that. You can’t ignore that right. But it wasn’t just them scoring. It looked like they were getting it going on offense. And it’s one of the first times that I can remember this season in the second half that it appeared that an opposing offense was gaining strength on our defense, like, like it looked like they were getting it going on and catching gear and You know, they had the one play with the, you know, that kind of killed one of their drives. But I think that’s what surprised me. Now, conversely, we saw the Michigan defense firm up in the fourth quarter and stop it. Okay. So, you know, there were good things to see there was bad things to see. Like, if I had to pick a team that was going to scare me on offense, I wouldn’t have guessed it would be Illinois in this game. Heading into this last game. Now, before they took the field, right, there’s different opinions on the status of Donovan Edwards. And before anybody took a snap, I thought, Well, okay, perhaps, Donovan Edwards may be back for Ohio State. The thought is we don’t need him versus Illinois. You know, Blake and crew can take care of it. And then Blake came out. And as we observed, it appeared he was running tentatively. You know, I’m like, Well, maybe it’s it’s cold. Or maybe it’s he’s just being careful, right. And then he got dinged up. And at that point, like you said, it’s self imposed adversity, but oh, boy, you know, we had a preview of if Donovan is out and Blake is out, then JJ is really going to have to shoulder the load. And we have not, we’ve seen it, we’ve seen the long passing game so close to connecting, right. And as you said, it appears that they’ve taken some of the plays out of the playbook and, and push them back to just save for week 12, perhaps. But there’s also a point to practicing what you want to do. Right. And, I mean, practicing on State Street is not the same as you know, practicing in the ER executing on State Street isn’t the same as practicing on Main Street. So I hope that there is a a, a masterful plan being done by the coaches. I had to chuckle as I was walking to the press conference, there was a an older Michigan fan, and a very young boy walking behind me. And the kid was like, Dad, why was this game so close? And the dad was like, Well, you know, maybe Harbaugh is laying a trap for Ohio State. And I’m thinking, wow, you know, from your, from your lips to God’s ears, because, you know, that’s, that’s a little too much to change strategically for me. So, but I think we all were, were wondering, you know, and it is interesting, because it was a really cold day with trying conditions. And the fan stayed there. And they were definitely into the game and supporting the team. So that’s always good to see. And, again, I think after the game, the Michigan players said all the right things, JJ said all the right things are the game. You know, Coach, Harbaugh has talked several times in the last few weeks about them being on a joyful mission. It’s not grim. Right. No, that’s

Jim Harbaugh 23:13
As I said, I mean, well, it’s not it’s not been one of those. There’s no anxiety to it. I mean, what a happy mission, not a grim mission. And just the way this team is, I mean, there they are. There’s a together a team. And it’s not, it’s not anxious, that’s not nervous, they don’t play in fear. They don’t flinch. They’re not angry. They play with joy and gusto. Every single every single time they they go out there. You can tell this is I mean, this is one we’re really, really happy about and proud about.

Phil Callihan 23:57
And it’s funny, because I think we were all more scared than the team was. I mean, the team came in very loose Monday morning. And, you know, it’s, it’s really interesting for me to see having been around a lot of, you know, covering Michigan for a while, having been around a lot of, you know, teams at different levels. This team seems very loose, very confident, exactly how you’d want them to be and again, they’re 11 No, but it they don’t seem to be daunted by the challenge. And, you know, I think that bodes well. But I do you know, I do have concerns again, you know, you know, there’s that that saying the next time will be the first time that’s kind of how I feel about you know, JJ lighting it up with the long with consistently on long passes. I mean, we see it here and there. You know, there was the one play the really nice play to Andrew Anthony. And again, woulda, coulda, shoulda acot. It didn’t write, he catches that play, and it changes the whole perception, it changes the whole game a little bit. And we had a couple of different instances of that, like you said, when, when and that to me, you know, going back to the Blake, Corum injury. What concerned me was when he got hit, he dropped the ball. Okay. And, you know, I used to say, you know, when you were, you know, working with players at the high school level, hit him so hard, he’s a gumball machine, right? Gives you a treat. Well, they hit him and somebody who get who is who we’ve seen get hit pounded year in and year out and not drop the ball, the ball went flying. And that was the thing that really, you know, cause concern for me, because, you know, that, you know, it seemed like his instincts took over and he’s like, forget the ball, you’re hurt. Right? And, and that was something that you just, you just don’t see that. So, again, there was, on one hand, that game was really close to Michigan blowing it out, you know, hey, when you’re down in that situation, one bad snap. You know, it could have gone the other way. And it was good to see the team overcome adversity.

Clint Derringer 26:16
Yeah, and the I know, you mentioned the defense in the second half. Felt like Illinois really got rolling. But but really, it started in the second quarter. Illinois ran 23 plays in the second quarter and only came out with three points. And that’s where they they jumped from 29% success rate in the first quarter to 39% success rate in the second quarter. And they started really leaning on the same kind of pin and Polk concept that Michigan runs well, with multiple linemen pulling usually two guards pulling and they had more success, getting up to the linebacker level, getting getting those blocks and delivering them to the linebackers. Instead of linebackers plugging those holes. And that’s what changed. Back in the in the fourth quarter. The really, the play of the linebackers is really what you would map and look at, you know how successful Illinois was through the second and third quarter. And again, credit to those guys to Mike Barrett and to Jr Coulson and to the coaching staff for making those adjustments in game and and Illinois still ran 17 plays in the fourth quarter got no points and only 55 yards, you know, but 76% of Illinois total yardage came in the second and third quarter. And again, that main delivery, what was was really fixing that pin and pull concept concept, where Michigan was dominating in the first quarter where the the down blocks on the D line, were not effective at all. Mason Graham had a really brilliant first first quarter especially. And then they made some adjustments on their offensive line, it was successful for Chase Brown and Running Back in the second and third quarter. And then the Michigan linebackers made another adjustment and that’s what allowed them to pitch that shut out in the fourth quarter. So again, you have to be able to do that you have to kind of battle through some of those things. In the course of the season, it comes in a weird spot. And also this didn’t happen in a vacuum. I mean, Michigan played at noon, against Illinois. So we all saw this first and you know, but on the ride home, I was listening to, to Ohio State down at halftime in College Park against Maryland, and had a had a really significant chance to lose that game in the fourth quarter. So I think there’s a similar dynamic at play there. And they probably rested some guys, they probably, you know, put some of their best, best offensive concepts on the shelf and then tried to win a game you know, with that handicap and, and you know, flew a little bit too close to the sun there a little bit. So I think it happens everywhere. We saw some other places outside of the big 10 where teams just did not play their best for whatever reason. And it’s a pretty normal thing. It’s hard. It’s really hard to play your best game 12 times through the course of the season with with college kids and and over the course of three months of you know, some hard hitting you know big time Football. These injuries happen you know guys are being dumped guys are fatigued, mental mental fatigue and physical fatigue kind of take their toll. And November’s always full of chaos. So it was good to have to face that down into cars successful. And now we just we hope that those guys that were resting all come back close to full strength, especially Blake Corum and we move on on and make the trip to Columbus.

Phil Callihan 30:03
So, you know, I talked a little bit about how the team was really loose after the game. And again, we’re, you know, on a roller coaster ride, you know, Ronnie Bell comes out and says,

Ronnie Bell 30:17
It almost sucks sometimes when you win by a bunch, you don’t get to play four quarters, man. So you wouldn’t want it any other way.

Phil Callihan 30:22
The team seems to be definitely aiming for Ohio State, there was a lot of talk about that even in the postgame Coach Harbaugh would not address it, you know, he was ducking it, but but the players were definitely, you know, the players are aware of it. Okay. And, you know, you had Kris Jenkins talking about it.

Kris Jenkins 30:46
Honestly, I think we’re, I think we’re really prepared. You know, we really, we really tried to keep that mindset, you know, preparing for him, you know, throughout the year, and everything that we do, you know, not just you know, playing a game of Football, but when our workouts with everything, so we’re just we’re just setting our every, everything that we do, you know, we’re setting that mindset setting that attitudes and that identity. So when we, when we go over to play them, you know, we give them our best shot. Honestly, we’re really excited. You know, this is a big time game. Like I said, we’ve been preparing for this the whole year. So you know, now that the moments, you know, finally here, we’re really excited. We’re really excited to you know, go all out to just to just fly around, and, you know, just get ready to play that game.

Phil Callihan 31:23
Ronnie Bell and JJ talking about it.

Ronnie Bell 31:36
I wouldn’t say I wouldn’t go as far as saying it’s not there. But I think, again, just repetition and practice, man. I think like today, you know, like, like I said, with the meat of the bone, like, it’s just this is the slightest slightest of things that we’re missing on. I don’t think necessarily, though that like, yeah, I don’t I don’t know if I’d say it’s not there. It’s kind of crazy. What do you think?

J.J. McCarthy 32:01
You know, everything’s a work in progress. And obviously, we have so much so much high expectations for us as an offense, especially the passing game. So of course, everyone’s looking at that gap. Like, why isn’t it there, and there’s really no ceiling to it. So there’s always going to be questions of why isn’t there we shouldn’t be thrown for 40 yards, a game all that. But, you know, our identity is a smash fest, and we love to run the rock. We love to do it and inflict our force on any opponent we play. So a lot of the meat on the bone and still on the bone, and it’s ready to come off next Saturday.

Phil Callihan 32:37
As a fan, I’m sitting here going well, yeah, but we’re in we’re in game 12. Right. And we hope there are more games ahead, you know, a big 10 championship game and then two more games in the college Football playoffs. But we are getting to the point where you are who you are. Right, like and you know, during the season, I like to break it up into quarters and say, Okay, are we are we progressing? You know, kind of a dashboard? Are we where we thought we would be? And here we are heading into the last quarter, the last game of the regular season. And, you know, again, rushing game looks incredible. But there’s some questions with Donovan Edwards and Blake Corum being dinged up. And right now if I had to rely on you know, a long past play i i would have some concerns. With that said, hey, next week in Columbus would be a great time to to see that and there’s definitely people in the fan base who would like to see JJ unleased

Jim Harbaugh 33:47
It’s pretty cool. Coming off of coming off the game you had, you know, fourth quarter comeback win in the last minute game winning drive. That doesn’t happen to quarterbacks that often and to be in that situation, you know, first time and, and win it. You know, he’s just he’s got it. Talked about turning water to wine. I think he made that comment back in the summer that he had that ability. You know, see him shouldn’t drop the snap, but drops the snap, goes down on a knee has a presence before he touched the ball to lift his knee off the ground, pick it up, get out of the pocket, pick up a critical first down. You know, it’s just he’s, he’s got it. And it’s so glad that he’s, he’s on our team and he’s just, he’s fiercely protective of the team. He’s a tremendous teammate. But you know, he’s got that he’s got that grit and determination to that all into all into One package. didn’t tell him anything more now just go have at it.

Phil Callihan 35:04
He definitely sees himself in JJ, you know, there’s been some quotes throughout the season. And, you know, we know that coach, Harbaugh is a Quarterback came up big against Ohio State and next week, it will be JJ his opportunity. And if the running game is, is less than optimal, it’s going to fall on his shoulders. Clint, how do you feel about what Michigan should do heading into that game with what we know? Because, you know, perhaps the only person who knows is Blake Corum himself. And perhaps, you know, the the coaching staff deep in the heart of Schembechler Hall. Coach Harbaugh mentioned that if the players don’t practice, they won’t play. I’m a little skeptical of that, believing that if if a player woke up in Columbus, and with a miraculous healing and miraculous recovery, I think the team would be okay with them coming through even if they didn’t practice. But and I really took that comment as just Harbaugh trying to duck having to answer the question about if they were going to practice or not. But with what you’ve seen of Ohio State and what you’ve seen about Michigan heading in to what we know, what kind of game plan would you expect?

Clint Derringer 36:35
Well, I I would say first of all, the pressure still on Ohio State for is as crazy as that seems. Because Michigan is the defending big 10 champ. The pressure is still very much on Ohio State for the higher rank team. They’re going to be the favorite. I think the opening line that I saw was nine point favorite. They’re at home. They have won 10 of the last 12 or whatever it is. And, you know right now between Ryan day, and Jim Harbaugh the records one in one because the game and 2020 was canceled was called off for COVID reasons. And Ohio State had a ridiculously good team and Michigan had their worst team at the Harbaugh era. So throwing that year out, you know, in the record, and having it sit at one on one right now. This is a huge pivotal game for Ryan day and his future as the buckeyes head coach. Because questions about how he’s running the program and how he’s preparing the team physically, to match up against Michigan in November, he had to revamp his entire defensive staff almost immediately after the season last year because of the game and then harbor if Michigan finds a way to win this game in Columbus, especially if it looks similar, especially if it’s it’s really a dominating performance in the trenches on both sides of the ball for the Wolverines. There’s gonna be some pretty hard questions for for Ryan data answer. So in terms of the pressure cooker, there’s there’s a lot more over there on the Columbia side of the ledger, and I think personally that Harbaugh was kind of leaning into that, you know, and that’s a big reason for his messaging about this being a, you know, a happy mission, and they’re all happy warriors. They’re enjoying the ride and trying to stay positive, and they, they want all the pressure to be on top of the Buckeyes. And if they can execute well and play well, at the beginning of this game, I think you’ll you’ll feel the anxiety coming from the buckeyes in terms of X’s and O’s. Again, I think what Michigan was able to do defensively last year, we’re gonna see a lot of the same stuff. I know Aiden, Hutchinson and David at Jabo had huge gains individually in terms of pass rush last year, and we’re not going to be able to to replicate that. But in terms of what types of coverage and trap coverage we play, behind different zone blitzes, I think Michigan still going to be able to give CJ Stroud enough problems that he’s going to have to get the ball out relatively quickly, and that Michigan should be able to cover relatively well without giving up any major burst plays long touchdown plays. I still say that is the main key don’t give up. 40 Plus yard plays right? I think this offense, as good and as talented as they are Buckeyes are going to get plays that are 2025 30 yard chunks. But I think you got to stay over top of them, and give yourself room to stand right line up and play another down. Just don’t give up those 60 7080 yard touchdown plays, if you can avoid it. So defensively, I think that’s the main key, really capturing a lot of the same schemes and a lot of the same objectives that that Mike McDonald was able to do last year, I think that they can replicate that. On offense. I truly believe that the stuff that JJ McCarthy is the best at has not been really core to the offense in the last two or three weeks, I think some of the passing concepts that he’s best at, will come back out if you rewatch the second game of the season. And the third game of the season, when JJ was first starting, you’ll, you’ll go back and you’ll see some of those passing concepts that I’m talking about. Those are the things that he’s best at, when he was, you know, going 2021 for 22, and throw them for 300 yards, right, they weren’t given him a chance to be successful. And in the last three, four weeks, I think they’ve been trying to put more, more X’s and O’s on film and challenge JJ McCarthy to to make some different throws. And now that now that it’s time to play the game, we’re gonna get back into trying to set things up to where JJ McCarthy can be much more successful. So it’s still gonna be very run first, I think JJ McCarthy becoming a bigger part of the zone read, running attack, you know, he’s gonna, he’s gonna have more rushing attempt attempts this coming Saturday than he’s had the last few weeks, that’s going to open up a little bit wider lanes, for the running backs, whether it’s Edwards or Corum or or CJ Stokes, I think those guys are going to be the beneficiaries of having to account for the Quarterback in the run game. And I expect to see Michigan hit on a few chunk packs, pass plays of their own. Off of play X and off of some of the run X and stuff. And and also the last piece, that’s a big difference from what we saw last week to this week, is I’m hoping that AJ heading is able to return and likely we’ll see him as as kind of a threat to the edge in the running game on some of those end arounds. If you remember, he’s the one that scored the first touchdown against against the buckeyes last year and in arbor. So all of those things, again, I think are really sitting there, right, right beneath the surface, we’ll see some of those things again. And then when, when push comes to shove, I expect to see McCarthy linking up with Ronnie Bell, and Roman Wilson. You know, deep over the middle, big chunk plays 2025 yards off the front action. And I think Michigan has every chance to be successful, again, against the buckeyes this year.

Phil Callihan 43:17
So I think it is a very interesting point of strategy. If you win the coin toss, and you’re each team, what do you do? Right? On one hand, Michigan has scored a touchdown. And or scored first and seven other nine first games, right. And five of those were touchdowns. So, you know, like you said, I think the pressures on Ohio State, if Michigan can go down there, and score a touchdown, and kind of put the doubt in them. I think it would be huge. I think it would be ginormous. And conversely, if you’re Ryan day, you know, you know, conventional wisdom says you want to get the ball in the second half, right? And yet, if you can go down score on the Michigan defense and kind of, you know, set the tone. So for me, it’s all about the first possession of each team. And who’s going to defer to the who’s, who wants to have that initial advantage. Okay. And I think it’s going to be huge for setting the tenor of the game. And again, it’s, it’s a it’s a trivial thing, right? You know, it’s it’s literally a coin flip. It’s 5050 and yet with everything that’s riding on this game, with the pressure that’s, that’s sitting on Ryan day, and again, you know, you had the, you know, the COVID season, I’m gonna, I’m gonna hang 100 on him. And then Harbaugh came back the next year and said, Well, some people were born on third and you know, think they hit a triple, right? And again, Matt is shots across the bow on both sides. And this is, you know, splitting the difference, right? You had their one on one, you know, like you said against each other since Ryan day got there. And Ohio State really looked out of sorts last year. And, you know, again, Midwestern Football, we relish playing in the elements. And Ohio State didn’t look like they liked playing in the elements. And welcome to the Midwest, right. So I think that, you know, you mentioned that they revamp their entire defense, that’s not confidence. That’s not, hey, we were doing the right thing. And we just had a bad game. That’s a massive re reset, of course. So, again, if you do that, and you lose again, well, again, what does that say? So I do think the pressure is on Ohio State. I think that Coach Harbaugh has done a lot this season, you know, again, happy warriors, not a grim task. You know, again, he he referred to both teams as superheroes,

Jim Harbaugh 46:09
We’re very grateful to, to be in this position to be playing in this game. Winner takes the east, you know, winner takes all right there. So strong opponent. And it’s the, it’s the kind of situation that gives you the opportunity to display how strong our team is. There’s no need to hate, you know, be grateful for the opponent. It’s like superheroes. It’s through a strong opponent, that you get to find out who you are. They have a lot of players that are really good. They got great players, we got great players, they have great coaches. We have great coaches, they have players with Heisman habits, we have players with Heisman habits, and congratulations. Be grateful for having the opportunity to play in this kind of big game.

Phil Callihan 47:06
You know, never in my life, would I refer to Ohio State as a superhero, but you know, I can understand the tactic, right? It’s, it’s, you know, and he said, Hey, this is how you how you grade yourself, this is how you define yourself in these big games. So, again, I think that, you know, a key player for Michigan is going to be Roman Wolfen. Coach Harbaugh talked about, about how on the sideline versus Illinois, he reminded his team that, hey, this is like Penn State. You know, we’re, we’re coming down to it. And, you know, one of the players that came up big was Roman Wilson in that game. Now, we all remember Eric all had the winning touchdown, but Rowan Wilson had the one before that. And will Finn as a player who’s been dinged up this year, I expected more. And when I say expected more, I mean, again, you expect him to be available and targeted more between the trouble that we’ve had in the passing game, and with him being out, I think, you know, a huge game against Ohio State would be would really set his season, right. And I believe, you know, we saw even last year that when JJ got in, he and Roman Wolfen had, you know, had teamed up a little bit. So, again, I think that, you know, Ronnie Bell is always going to be an important player. You know, captain would love to have a shining performance against Ohio State. But I gotta believe that if you’re if you’re if you’re Ohio State, you’re going to be doing everything you can to take Ronnie Bell out. And it doesn’t mean you don’t go to him. But I mean, I think it leaves opportunities for other players. And, you know if Michigan is going to have to tilt toward the passing game. You know, you look for Andrew Anthony’s. He’s been, you know, I joked he was on a milk carton for most of the season, because really expected big things from him. So, again, I think that this is a chance for JJ and the receivers to change the narrative to rewrite. Well, the long passing game has been disappointing. And, you know, again, if Michigan is going to be relying on secondary players or backup players at the Running Back position, one way you open that up as you throw along, right, you stretch you go vertical. So I think there’s going to be lots of things to watch in this game. You’re going to have the chess match between Powerball and Ryan day and you know, I say I think it’s a chess match on Jim’s side and checkers on Ryan day side. So we’ll get to see if that plays out. But the way the way I think it will.

Clint Derringer 50:04
Yeah, I, I expect to see if you’re gonna go back again, if if you want to see the passing concepts and the plays and the routes, and the throws that JJ McCarthy does best, then go back and watch the second game of the season against Hawaii, and the third game of the season against UConn. And and you’ll see, I think a little bit more of what we should expect in terms of X’s and O’s. And then in terms of output or game flow, I think that this game is going to look a lot like the Maryland game, where the offense is will the offense is will dominate the narrative that you know that there are going to be big plays made on both sides. And it will come up, it’ll come down to which defense can stand up and force a really critical turnover, or come up with a key stop and a key in a key moment in the game. Or, as we’ve seen many times in this rivalry, who can kind of catch lightning in a bottle on special teams in the return game. So I think it’s going to be pretty much even in terms of how well their offense does against our defense. And vice versa, how well our offense does against their defense, I think that’s going to work out pretty evenly I think the yards gained is going to be a pretty even matchup, it’s going to be about really who makes the biggest plays in the in the high leverage moments, defensively. And I still think if if this is a close game, in the third and into the fourth quarter, I think the pressure cooker gets to them a little bit. And I expect Michigan to win. If it’s if it’s a close game, and you can weather the emotional storm in Columbus, then I expect Michigan to come out victorious and go to 12. And

Phil Callihan 52:03
I’m expecting Michigan to win. I think it’s going to be a dogfight and you know that’s the stuff you can say every year but I really I really think that these are 211 and AAU teams. I think that Ohio State is still stewing that they didn’t get a chance to put a beating on Michigan during the COVID year. And I think that they overlooked. If you can imagine that Michigan last year, I think they expected Oh, well. This is the same team we were going to put a beating on. And that’s not what happened in Ann Arbor. So I expect Michigan to win. And it’s going to be interesting, because, you know, Coach Harbaugh has said this, you know, it’s kind of you know, he has his his Pat sayings that he says right, it’s like, you know, when they pretty on the scoreboard reward, we’ll worry about it. Well, I was thinking that all during Illinois that you know, you know, Clint, you’ve said this survive in advance. Right. Basically, that’s what you want to do. While you know Coach Harbaugh has said repeatedly this year, this team finds a way. And with the challenges that they’re gonna face with these injuries, I think that this team has been instilled with to find a way. And I think I think that’s what’s going to happen down in Columbus.

Clint Derringer 53:31
Yeah, I agree. I agree. I think we will. I think we’ll get a much clearer picture of who’s going to really seize control of the game from a player standpoint, and from the team standpoint, in the third quarter, and Michigan has been a really great third quarter team, Illinois, the only team that had a successful third quarter and Michigan. And that’s really where we’re going to figure it out. I think it’s going to be close through the first half. You know, another series of adjustments, and who can really predict what the other team’s adjustments are going to be and then get your counterpunch ready. And that’s what what Ryan day did really well against Don Brown when he was the defensive coordinator. He kind of knew what what the adjustments would be any head his counter punches ready and kind of pre loaded. He was not able to do that against against Mike McDonald last year. And the Buckeye players made some just outstanding physical and individual plays last year just to keep that game close. And within two scores, you know, if they had an average performance on offense last year, that game would have been a fourth touchdown game. So I think Michigan’s defensive scheme is built to to have the flexibility to give the buckeyes just enough trouble. And I believe that the Michigan offense We’ll be able to be successful with their passing concepts. And with with likely, with Donovan Edwards kind of getting more carries and leading the charge in the running game. But I do think that Blake Corum is going to play. I think Blake Corum is gonna get a handful of of carries. And I think he’s gonna be reasonably effective. I just I think that he’s only going to get maybe 10 or 12 carries as opposed to 25 that we would have expected. So it’ll be interesting to see how they adapt the game plan. But if it’s close in the third quarter going into the fourth I think Michigan’s offensive line and that running game are gonna seize control and Michigan is going to win the game by a score.