Minnesota Rewind and Michigan Preview

Michael Citro and Chip Minnich break down Ohio State's 37-3 home win over the Minnesota Golden Gophers on Senior Day, discuss the other scores from around the Big Ten this past weekend, unpack recent developments in the ongoing Michigan scandal, and look ahead to the Buckeyes' visit to play the Wolverines for the right to go to the conference championship.

Episode Transcript

(00:19):
Hello again everybody, at this timeonce again for the Silver Bullets podcast.
I'm Michael Citro, I'm Chipminnick Chip. The Buckeyes have improved to eleven to
zero. The preseason is over.They've gotten to where they wanted to be
undefeated going into the game against theirrivals. The Buckeyes will take on the
Wolverines this Saturday at noon, andthat is because they have defeated the Minnesota

(00:46):
Golden Go for thirty seven to threein a game that really wasn't as close
as that final score indicates, andthey had no trouble with their trap game.
Michigan kind of got some good fortunein there to be able to hold
on in their trap game. Iwould certainly agree with that. Having had

(01:06):
the opportunity to watch Michigan and Marylandas it preceded the Ohio State Minnesota game,
I completely agree that Michigan did notnecessarily look to be playing at their
best, and I also agree thatOhio State really had no trouble whatsoever with
Minnesota. And I think that thephrase that you used as in the introduction

(01:29):
about preseason is over. Let's faceit, this is the way that I
think any Ohio State fan or Michiganfan for that matter, would would want
this game to be like both teamsundefeated, both teams highly ranked. This
is for winning the Big Ten East, who gets to who gets to go
on to the Big Ten Championship inIndianapolis, and that game will be against

(01:55):
Iowa. As we predicted back inAugust, we went we went a long
way to get there. We didgo a long way to get there.
And considering there's and I know thatwe'll talk about other Big Ten teams later
on in the podcast, just aswe did not predict, you know,
Northwestern being now Bowl eligible. Imean, like the teams that we thought

(02:19):
would would do better. I mean, there's just a complete log jam of
teams that are either Bowl eligible oron the cuss of Bowl eligibility within the
Big Ten West. But yeah,we definitely know that the Big Ten West
is going to be represented by theiowahaw Gyes. Yes we do, all
right. I want to congratulate youChip on your score prediction victory over me.

(02:40):
We both had forty two points forOhio State they finished thirty seven and
you had fourteen to Minnesota. Igave Minnesota a late garbage score to give
to sixteen, but they only scoredthree, so you were closer and it's
right. So I'm going to guessit's like the price is right. So
you know, like, you know, do I get you know, like

(03:02):
the year's right, year supply ofrice aroni? Or what do I get
from I'm keeping the rice arone?You get bragging rights because you were,
okay, are two points closer thanI was. I will I will badly
con see that. I'll take thebragging rights over the rice a roni too.
So yeah, the buck Eys Chip, I mean, they kind of

(03:23):
dominated this game. They just refusedto put it away for a while.
It was it was kind of oneof those sluggish offensive games, but this
time it was a lot of itwas inflicted by Ohio State's conservatism in their
own end. It was a lotof a lot of drives backed up inside
their own twenty and some of themunnecessarily. I remember an early holding penalty

(03:46):
on a punt a fair catch thatinstead of starting at the twenty five,
started at the fifteen. And therewere a few of those where they give
up, maybe they give up abig play to Minnesota, then get the
stop, and then when they didforce the they take over the eleven.
It was. It was a realproblem with the Buck guys starting deep in
their own territory in this game andthen just kind of hoping that Trayvon Henderson

(04:09):
could break them out of there.They really was. They weren't asking Kyle
McCord to throw them out of theirown end, right. It was was
not necessarily I mean for thirty sevento three, it wasn't. I mean,
it was kind of like in thesecond half is where like I don't
want to call it the floodgates,but that's kind of where Ohio State really
started to pull away. It was. It was just kind of Ohio State,

(04:32):
as you said, very conservatively,you know. And Kyle McCord wasn't
necessarily playing at his best. Hedidn't play horribly, he did, it
just wasn't as good as he hadplayed the previous week. So I mean,
it was, I'll say this much, I'll take kind of an ugly
win, and I think it'd beprobably harsh to say that that was ugly,

(04:55):
but ugly at times type of winas kind of like the springboard into
this huge game, because let's faceit, they're undefeated. They closed out
their home schedule you know, Ireally have very little to complain about as

(05:16):
we get ready for going up toan armor Yeah. I mean my thing
going into this I wanted to seethe offense. Can they do it again
where they come out and start hotand stay hot, And the answer was
they could not. They did itagainst Michigan State, but against Minnesota,
I don't even know if they hita third down on their first drive,
chip maybe one. It just easilywent right down the field and scored a

(05:38):
touchdown on the first drive, andthen the defense didn't look like it was
ever going to be challenged by Minnesotain this game. It was just a
matter of once that first touchdown wenton the board. It was all about
ken Ohio State keep going and putthis thing away early. And it took
a while longer than it needed tobecause the offense just kept bogging down after
a couple of first downs or theywould shoot themselves in the foot with the

(06:00):
holding penalty. Cad Stover got oneon the believe the second, second or
third series that put them back behindthe chains, deep in their own end.
And it was not It was notcrisp from an offensive standpoint. After
the first scripted drive, I wouldagree with that. I yeah, it
definitely was not the Crispas of offensiveperformances. But like I said, you

(06:26):
know, I think it kind ofin the second half is kind of like
when they really started to get rolling. And again the conservative style, I
for one, just wanted to getplayers out of the game healthy and they
were able to do that. Yeah, although we'll get to it, there
wasn't It wasn't as clean as maybeit could have been. Ohio State then

(06:50):
so led seven to nothing early inthe game, and really again once they
got to seven, it always seemedlike it was going to be hard for
Minnesota to without some kind of aturnover or something to really make a game
of it. It was seven tonothing at the end of the first quarter.
Ohio State had to settle for acouple of field goals in the second

(07:10):
quarter, and Chip took a thirteento nothing lead into the locker room.
But the Buckeyes did try to getthe ball back late and made a complete
mess of the two minute drill.It was. There was a play where
they got a first down, theyhad timeout, a timeout in their pocket,
decided not to use it and gofast, but then four or five

(07:33):
six seconds came off the board andthey weren't set before the snap, so
they had to use the timeout anyway, and also had a five yard penalty,
so not real crisp on the twominute drill. And then once they
hit another pass underneath that was theclock kept running. It was pretty clear
they weren't going to be able toget down the field on one more play.

(07:54):
They should have just took a kneeand gone to the locker room,
but instead they tried to throw pass, and despite being pretty deep still in
their own end, Josh Fryer completelywhiffed on his block and Kyle McCord was
bent backwards awkwardly and limped to thelocker room. And at that time,
you know, one week out fromthe Michigan game, that's pretty scary.

(08:16):
Yeah, that's kind of where mythoughts the entire time were. Obviously not
necessarily in the first half, butI was with a group of friends.
We were watching the game together,and after every every time Ohio State would
score, I would just kind ofbe like, let's get I mean you
fill in the blank, like,let's get this guy out, Like I

(08:39):
mean, you don't have to youdon't have to win by a substantial margin.
You just have to win and cantainAnne Arbor and yeah, having how
McCord already on a gampee ankle,just reaggravating it. Like you said,
you know, right at the tailend of the first half. That was
not, you know, not veryencouraging. It was. It was completely
a necessary and I know that alot of people were on Ryan Day over

(09:05):
it on social media. I thinkthat they were right to be on his
case because that again, I thinkthere were six or eight seconds to play
when the snap was taken, stilldeep in their own end. No reason
to force that there. You've gota thirteen nothing lead, you're getting the
ball first to start the second half. Just get to the locker room.
But instead, you know, hegoes to the locker room. He came

(09:28):
out jogging, but he still lookedlike he had a slight limp to me.
I don't know if they shot himup with some pain meds or rewrapped
his ankle, whatever, But that'sstill a concern for me because those things
tend to tighten up, you know, overnight. So hopefully he'll be okay
for the for the Michigan game onthe road this Saturday. I have no

(09:48):
doubt that taking care of that anklewill be pre eminent concern by the coaching
staff as well as the athletic trainers. I'm sure considering they were at home.
The fact that, you know,stereotypically the day after the game is
usually kind of just like all right, we're going to look at the film

(10:11):
and you know, kind of likewalk through. I'm sure Kyle McCord is
getting the kind of medical training heneeds on that ankle, probably, you
know, to make sure that it'snot necessarily becoming more of an issue.
Yeah, I hope that you knowthat it's just it was just like in

(10:31):
the moment, it hurt. Hopefullyit's hopefully it's fine. But because he's
one of those quarterbacks, he needsto get his footwork right. When he
does, he's very accurate. Imean, I think there was a lot
of talk on the broadcast about howhigh his his completion percentages higher than c
J. Stroud's. I think CJhad never been over seventy percent two games
in a row or something like that, and Kyle McCord has done that.

(10:54):
But yeah, not what you wantto see on the last play. But
Ohio State did not play with theirfood long in the second half, as
the first drive was a one playseventy five yard drive, Trayvon Henderson busts
it, goes to the house andquickly makes it twenty to nothing. Then
there was the Ohio State start takingthe ball away. Then Marvin Harrison got

(11:16):
his touchdown after I believe that cameon the heels of the JT Twoey moloow
scoop and almost score if Jordan Hancockhad thrown a block for him, but
he didn't get to score. Andshould give a shout out to Jack Sawyer
because he was amazing in this game. Came into the game chip with two
and a half tackles for loss andin this game alone had three and a

(11:39):
half tackles for loss, a passbreakup, forced to fumble. He was
just everywhere. Yeah, this wasdefinitely the best game of Jack Sawyer's career.
I know that you and I,as well as other O highest A
fans have kind of been waiting forthis kind of a game. It's nice
to see that he had it infront of the home crowd against Minnesota.

(12:00):
Jaden fielding at another field goal tomake it thirty to nothing after three and
in the fourth quarter, record througha one yard past Cage Stover and made
it thirty seven nothing, and heshould have been out, Like both of
those guys should have been out ofthe game by then, but at least
they were out shortly right after.I think maybe that was their last play,

(12:20):
and then the backups chip they ruinedthe shutout. They gave up a
Minnesota drive for a fifty four yardfield goal because PJ. Fleck doesn't really
want to win this game. Imean, sure he'd love to win a
game, but he knows he's notgoing to, so he's just going to
try to keep you from scoring alot of points and making it look bad.

(12:43):
And he is not also not goingto take any chances on picking up
a fourth down to maybe try toget a touchdown. I said on our
last podcast, I said, I'mnot going to be so bold as to
predict a shutout. It was kindof weird, how how you know,
with the with the exception of thatfield goal, how close it came to

(13:03):
being one. Yeah, I mean, I I was kind of surprised that
PJ. Fleck decided that, Iguess, just for for pride's sake,
that he wanted he didn't want tobe shut out rather than try to pick
up the first down. But that'sthat's the kind of thing that I'm sure
the local beat writers can ask PJ. Fleck when he meets with them,

(13:24):
you know, to talk about,you know, why did you kick the
field goal when you're down thirty sevenand nothing? Yeah? Thirty seven nothing,
thirty seven three, not a wholelot of difference. But they can
at least say they weren't shut out. I guess that's at the least they're
going for the moral victory. Onething I will say though about these field
goals. Even though we don't wantto see Ohio State stopped and having to

(13:46):
settle for field goals, we finallygot to see a long range bomb by
a Jaden Field and he kicked aforty seven yarder in this game, and
that's very comforting going into an artWe're knowing that you've got that in your
back pocket. You also missed afield goal in this game, which is
not as comforting. I'm gonna well, on the positive, Okay, sounds
good, all right, So reallyan easy win in all respects. I

(14:09):
mean, Caliak Mahanis wasn't going totear up this secondary and if Ohio State
could stop the run. There wasn'tgonna be much that Minnesota could do.
And uh and so that's how youget a thirty seven. It's a three
victory and probably should have been more. And again they they really they gave
Lincoln keenholes a couple of drives atthe in the fourth quarter, but I

(14:30):
didn't really let him do a wholelot. He was basically give the ball
to Isaiah Prior twice and throw asideways pass on third down and then punt.
Yeah. I mean it's kind ofthing where I think, you know,
especially you know at the at theend of the game, you know,
getting getting the backups in. Tome, that's that's the most important

(14:50):
thing just for Its not that Idon't care about their health, but let's
face it, when you've got theMichigan game looming, getting you know,
Evan pryor getting Lincoln Keenholtz, gettingyou know, any of the backups in
for that valuable game repic experience,that to me is I mean that that's
extremely valuable. Obviously I would preferthat they would play the more traditional style

(15:15):
offense, but I also understand whereRyan Day kind of has like the mentality
of like within the Big Ten,there's no real reason to try and run
up the score on somebody, especiallywhen you have won the game so convincingly
fair enough, fair enough, Yeah, it was. It was a pretty
comprehensive win. We even got tosee them dust off Dallan Hayden for a

(15:37):
few plays in this game. Iwill say that was a very welcome surprise.
And from what I understand, theidea of Dalan Hayden and kind of
maintaining his eligibility for the red shirtyear is still intact. Yeah, so
you want to it's going to beinteresting to see, all right, you

(16:00):
know, because when he's in heis productive, and it would not surprise
me if they decide all right here, you know in the you know,
in the the game that they feelthat he could be somebody that needs and
warrants, you know, carries againstthat Michigan defense. Yeah, all right,

(16:21):
let's take a look at our picksto click to see how we did
their chip on the offensive side ofthe ball against Minnesota, I took the
free space Marvin Harrison, and Iwould say no real click in this one
for for Marv. He was targetedsix times at three catches for thirty yards

(16:41):
and one touchdown. For a guyof his his status, that's not very
clicky. So I'm going to sayno on that one. And you took
Xavier Johnson and Xavier Johnson was surprisinglyquiet in this game. Caught both of
the passes he was targeted on fortwenty two yards, but really not a

(17:04):
whole lot. He didn't even getany carries out of the backfield this week.
I just think, I mean,well, getting back to your pick
Marvin Harrison Jr. It was unfortunatethat it wasn't ruled a catch, but
he did have a very nice onthe sideline catch that was ruled out of
bounds. I just thought, youknow that it just spoke volumes about how

(17:29):
you know, how talented Marvin HarrisonJunior is. And as far as Exavier
Johnson, yeah, I was alittle bit more surprised that they didn't use
him more, But again I thinkthat they they were comfortable with just getting
the win by any means, andthe fact that they didn't have to use
Xavier Johnson out of the backfield oruse him more as a receiver, I

(17:51):
guess that they were comfortable with that. Yeah, all right, defensively,
you took Cody Simon, and Ithink Cody Simon had a pretty good game.
He almost had an interception, wasruled in complete after review. He
had a decent game, didn't putup big numbers, two tackles, half

(18:11):
of a tackle for loss. Ithink it was just solid. I don't
know if we give any clicks forour guys this week. I had Sonny
Styles who also was very solid,but didn't put up big numbers, just
one tackle, but he was veryactive around the ball and I think there
was one sack that maybe he shouldhave got a half sack for that he
didn't. But other than that,both guys played really well. They just

(18:34):
didn't put up put up the numbers, I think. So. I think
we we got a goosegg this week. That's okay again, you know,
we everyone that we that we thoughtwould would play bigger roles that they didn't.
But everyone that we selected is onthe healthy list, and that's probably

(18:55):
the most important thing. Yeah.Obviously Jack Sewyer had the biggest game out
of the defensive side. I alsothought that Jordan Hancock flashed and j T
two him all the while flashed attimes. I noted that JT was tackled
on Minnesota's biggest play of the game, a thirty two yard pass play without

(19:18):
a call, after Ohio State havebeen already penalized for holding twice in the
game. So that was a littlebit irritating. Yeah, I mean,
that's the thing. It's like,you know, we're always wondering when they're
going to start calling these these holds, but unfortunately we're I guess we're the
only ones who see him, Iguess. I mean, and when it's
right in front of the quarterback andit's the only reason he's upright to throw

(19:41):
the pass that ends up going thirtytwo yards, those usually get called.
I guess I'm just used to watchingteams that are not my favorite team because
I watch a lot of college football, and those games all seem to have
holding penalties when the defensive ends gettackled and Ohio States just don't. Well.

(20:04):
I again, I just think thatthe officials, for whatever reason,
you know, we as Ohio Statefans, often accuse officials of having a
bias against Ohio State. It isinteresting. I'm always curious as to what
they are seeing, or more specifically, what they are not seeing when with

(20:25):
with some of the things that werekind of were puzzled by, you know,
in terms of the lack of holdingcalls on Ohio State's defensive linemen.
I just wonder how much of itis is just this is a better team,
so we're just gonna let some stuffgo this way, just to hey,
I would be And also maybe it'snot in the name of safety.

(20:47):
I talked about this all the timewhen Chase Young was with Ohio State.
Maybe it's a safety issue. It'slike if if they don't hold Chase Young,
he might kill someone, so theyjust allow it. Very possible,
very good, very good theory,because I'm pretty sure JT was gonna I
don't know if he were to knockKelly Kmnus out of the game, but
that was gonna be a big hit. Absolutely anyway, it didn't get caught

(21:11):
any and and it didn't matter.Thirty seven to three pretty easy. You
get through your your so called trapgame the game before the game, and
and no real worries. Uh.For the most part, everybody seemed to
get through fairly unscathed. We didnot have Mike Hall in this game,
uh, nor did we have TommyEikenberg. But I'm going to assume that

(21:33):
those two can walk, they're goingto play next week. Oh I have
no doubt Tommy Eikenberg. I can'tremember exactly how Jim Knowles referred to it,
about how he you know, grunted, you know at the at the
fact that he didn't get to play, or something like that. And then
I think Ryan Day joked about howhe was going to fight Tommy Eikenberg or

(21:59):
that he on the fight, youknow, to keep him from from playing.
And and and I get it.I applaud Tommy Eichenberger wanting to play.
I understand that, but it's let'slook at the big picture here.
You know, it's more important thatOhio State gets a fully healthy Tommy Eikenberg
against Michigan because that's what they need. That's what they need. And as

(22:22):
as the results showed, they werefine without him in the in the lineup
against Minnesota. Absolutely all right,chip anything else from this game. It
was pretty dull after the flurry tostart the third quarter. No, I
mean, if anything, just uh, you know, onward and upward to
the game. Best of luck toMinnesota, I guess in their season finale.

(22:47):
I know that I joked about it, but as true is that they're
now they're five and six. Uh, they're going to be playing Wisconsin,
so they need to get that magicsix number to get to Bowl eligibility.
Yeah, and or not the onlyone. So we got plenty to get
to before we get out of here. You and I will talk about the
game. We'll have our score predictions, our picks to click, and we'll

(23:08):
break that down a little more.We're gonna go around the rest of the
Big tennessee how everybody made out thispast weekend and more from the Jim Harbaugh
Michigan sign stealing scandal. Lots thereare lots that's known, lots that is

(23:29):
not known, and we'll get toall of that right after this the chip
we are back and do you wantto do the scores first and then talk
about Michigan or do you want totalk about Michigan and then do this.
Let's talk about the scores first,because I think we that the Michigan story

(23:53):
there. There's so much to discuss, all right, So let's start as
we go around the rest of theleague to see how everybody did. We
will start with Wisconsin and Nebraska ina battle for Bowl eligibility in Madison,

(24:14):
and this was a back and forthgame. Nebraska shot out to a two
touchdown lead. Wisconsin made it agame by halftime. I took the lead
in the third quarter and held Nebraskaoff a very furious rally attempt by Nebraska.
In fact, it went into overtimeand Wisconsin was able to seal it

(24:37):
in overtime. A very entertaining game. I didn't really think Wisconsin was going
to get back in it. Butnot only did they get back in it,
but Luke Fickle has taken the Badgersto a bowl in his first year.
Madison. Yeah, congratulations. Iknow that this first year Wisconsin has
not been as I guess you couldsay, as productive as I think,

(25:00):
I think probably most Wisconsin fans hadanticipated. I mean, we were joking
about the Big Ten West. Iknow that there were a lot of preseason
predictions for Wisconsin to be that team. But I have every confidence that eventually
Luke Fickle will have Wisconsin playing muchbetter football. The fact that they did
qualify for a bowl that means extrapractices. You know, regardless of who

(25:23):
the opponent is, you know,the opportunity for Luke Fickle and his coaches
and his players to get better ina postseason environment. You and I talked
last week about David Braun in Northwesternand how they should name him the head
coach, and they did that,Chip and his team went out and got

(25:44):
Bowl eligible with a twenty three tofifteen home win over Purdue over the weekend.
If David Braun is not named theBig Ten Coach of the Year,
I will be tremendously surprised, becausewe talked about it at the beginning of
the season. Terrible Northwestern was goingto be the fact that they had a
bad year last year and everything thathappened with the Pat Fitzgerald scandal, which

(26:10):
still has not necessarily been fully litigatedby the way, So I mean that's
that's going to be something in theoff season in terms of how Northwestern handled
that. Being said, Northwestern recognizinghow David Braun came into an extremely difficult
situation and has brought Northwestern to sixwins is I think a tremendous feat.

(26:37):
So congratulations to David Braun on beingnamed the next head coach for Northwestern and
to guiding the Wildcats to ball eligibilityin his first year. Yeah, I
thought they were They looked dead inthe water and they might not win another
game all year, and then allof a sudden they started putting it together.
And it's clear that David Braun's gotthe locker room in a way that
Pat Fitzgerald did not last year.Yeah, Now it remains to be seen

(27:03):
because, let's face it, alot of the coaches on that staff,
those those were the coaches that wereinvolved in this scandal. How many of
them will be on staff, that'sup to David Braun. But it's going
to be interesting to see going forwardbecause Northwestern that's a tough job for anybody.

(27:23):
The fact that Pat Fitzgerald was kindof considered, you know, the
favorite son, you know, consideringhis playing career and his longevity as an
assistant coach and coach, and howit turned out so badly, it's gonna
be interesting to see how David Browngoes moving forward. Yeah, let's go

(27:45):
to Bloomington, Indiana, chip wherethe Hoosiers played Michigan State, and Michigan
State wins it late with winning thefourth quarter ten to seven to nip the
Hoosiers twenty four te twenty one.And I will say, I don't know
if you saw the winning touchdown passthat Michigan State through to win the game.

(28:06):
But I think that was some alltime soft tackling attempts by the Hoosiers
on that play, and it mayhave only delayed the inevitable, but the
Spartan's able to escape with a twentyfour to twenty one win. I have
to confess I haven't seen it.So now that's going to be something after
we're done recording the podcast, I'llhave to look that up. Both.
You know, Michigan State and Indianahave had tremendously disappointing seasons. Michigan State

(28:32):
we were just talking about, likethe scandals with Bat Fitzgerald, you know,
with the mel Tucker thing, that'sstill an ongoing situation. Indiana,
I don't know what direction they're goingto go. I know that you know
just on social media that there's alot of frustration with with Tom Allen.
But I just don't see Indiana beinga type of institution that is going to

(28:57):
swallow the their pride and reach fortheir checkbook and say here's twenty million dollars
for you to not coach here anymore. I don't I maybe I'm wrong.
I just don't see Indiana really wantingto up the Annie in that kind of
realm of college football. Yeah,I think it's kind of up to the

(29:18):
Boosters. If the Boosters will raisethe money to pay his buyout, then
maybe his his days are numbered.But otherwise I think he's back and they're
gonna have to live with his contract. I agree with you. All right,
let's go to Iowa where Illinois.Chip was leading this game late in
a barn burner thirty two thirteen tonine, and Iowa was able to score

(29:45):
with just under five minutes to play, finally got in the end zone to
put them over the top fifteen thirteen, the final a burn burner as the
Hawkeyes clinch the West. Right,So Iowa, I mean we talked about
it, Uh, the fact thatIowa they know, no matter what happens
this coming weekend when they play onBlack Friday against Nebraska, that all right,

(30:10):
their postseason is set. Uh,that they are going to Indianapolis and
Illinois they're one of those teams that, all right, they're going to be
playing Northwestern. That's that's a Iguess you could say a rivalry game of
some sort. But Illinois has towin that game in order to get to
Bowl eligibility. They're sitting they're stuckat five wins. Now, granted,

(30:33):
they kind of started out poorly andhad like kind of like a mini rally,
but you're right. I mean Illinois, it seemed like that they had
this game won and that they snatcheddefeat from the jaws of victory. I
guess, yeah, they've they've donethat a couple of times this year.
They're they're they're not getting it done. But yeah, you're right. They
need to beat Northwestern and get Bowleligible like Northwestern, and they're sitting at

(30:56):
five and six in Iowa. Isgoing to Indianapolis again. Then we go
to Happy Valley where the Rutgers ScarletKnights chip led this game three nothing after
the first quarter but ended up losingtwenty seven to six as not able to
move the ball against that Penn Statedefense, and the Nittany Lions get to

(31:17):
win twenty seven to six and they'renine and two. Is once again James
Franklin shows he can beat everybody exceptthe big teams that he's playing right well,
kind of interesting considering this is theirfirst game after the firing of Mike
Yourrisich as their offensive coordinator and forRutgers. It's going to be an interesting

(31:37):
offseason because, yes, their bowleligible, and I do believe that Greg
Ciano is the right person for thatjob. I think that he's made Rutgers
significantly more competitive than they were inprevious years. But offensively, they need
to do more than just simply runthe ball, because, like you said,

(32:00):
you know, they really weren't ableto get much of anything going against
State defense. Yeah, and problemsin this game. Drew Aller left this
game. Yeah, I mean,well, Drew Aller is I don't want
to say is the future because he'sthe present, but yeah, that's it's
definitely that would be concerning about youknow, how how well Drew Aller is.

(32:22):
Uh, there's just you know,it's it's going to be it's going
to be a very interesting offseason PennState. I know we still don't know
what their bowl game destination is,but you know who James Franklin hires and
what kind of an offense that theyimplement. Like you said, you know,
Drew Aller is certainly like the biggestpriority. I think. Yeah,

(32:43):
finally, Chip, we go toMaryland, where the Terps fell behind twenty
three ten at halftime, they actuallywere. They were down pretty pretty far
early. Michigan was just kind oflooked like they were jumping on him,
and they just started chipped to Theystarted to chip. They started to chip

(33:04):
their way back into the game andgot to within thirty one to twenty four.
They really, Maryland should have,by all measures, should have won
this game. They handed Michigan somany gifts in this game and still had
a chance to win it. Latethere was a late really ticki tac intentional

(33:28):
grounding penalty on Tullia Tonga Baila,who yes, he was throwing the ball
away, looked like he got itto winin about eight yards of his receiver,
and had he just airmailed it outof bounds ten yards over the receiver,
it would have been less close tohis receiver, but it wouldn't have
been flagged. This one wasn't flaggedinitially. They flagged it after further review.
So any Michigan fans wanted to thinkthat the league has got it in

(33:51):
for them. Man, they gotsome breaks in this game. They got
some breaks in the last game.So that's clearly not the case. I
will say, watching with some friends, uh, that Michigan Maryland game and
it looked it looked ugly at firstlike Maryland in terms of you know,

(34:12):
just basically you know, like inthe first quarter, it looked like,
Okay, Michigan might blow these guysout. But credit to Maryland for flowing
back to make it a game.And I agree with you. I thought
Maryland they they certainly had their momentswhere they could have they could have won
this game. And if I'm ifI was a Michigan fan, I would
be looking at this game with insteadof talking about how they just won their

(34:37):
thousandth game and you know how theyou know, like how it's Michigan against
everybody, I would be looking atthis game with some concern because I think
the fact that Maryland was able toshow the college football world, yeah they
there are some major chinks in thatarmor. And and that's kind of that's

(34:59):
the way I orpre did it.Yeah, I agree, And I really
don't know how much Michigan has beenshowing the last two weeks. I mean,
they've hardly thrown the football, butit was it was it was ugly
on Maryland's part. I think theyuh talking of Ioloa through two interceptions,
one out of his own end zone, took an intentional grounding in the end
zone. They turned the ball overa few times. I think. Didn't

(35:22):
they have a kick blocked in thisgame as well? Yes, that's what
I mean. It was. Itwas ugly, very it was. I
mean, like the the fumble byby t tag Viola, the pund block,
I mean, the two safeties thatyou know, like the the interception.
I mean, like, there wereso many things that Maryland did wrong

(35:42):
and they were still within you know, they were still within a touchdown of
winning this game. Yeah, theybasically handed points away on at least three
chance three times, and so theyhad every opportunity and they just couldn't get
it done when it when it mattered, when they got the ball late,
they were not protect acting talking aboutAllowa did not make particularly good decisions in

(36:04):
that time either. So, uhso Michigan gets to the game unscathed,
although they got a little bit ofa scare in this one. It would
have been really interesting to see whatthe fallout of that would have been had
Michigan lost this game. Do theyjust go ahead and take a self imposed
Bowl ban this year? Good question, I'm not sure. I mean,

(36:29):
like because again, like the wholetenor of Michigan's approach dramatically changed, you
know, like the bravado and theyou know like oh, you know,
like how unfair and this and that. Uh, everything changed dramatically, literally
like the day before they traveled outto play Maryland. So I just think,

(36:53):
yeah, I'm in terms of liketaking a self imposed bullban. That
might have been a discussion the higherups, because I think they're starting to
realize that gravity of this whole situation. Every day, something worse seems to
come out of this. There's neverseems to be this piece of information that
looks good for Michigan. It justseems to keep looking bad. And after

(37:15):
our show last week Thursday, itwas announced that Michigan would not be pursuing
its restraining order to be able toget Harbaugh to play or to be able
to be on the sidelines for thesegames. He's still traveling with the team,
he's not allowed to go to thegame. I'm just waiting for somebody
to catch him wearing a hat anddark sunglasses in the stands somewhere a La

(37:40):
Connor Stallions. But it hasn't happenedyet. But this was a team,
This was a group that was sogalvanized, and they were so going to
fight for what's right and the justiceand everything, and all they want is
due process. And then they said, you know, we're good with these
three games. We'll be okay withthese three Well, we'll take it.

(38:01):
Well, besides everything you just said, I thought the fact that Chris Partridge,
who was Michigan's linebackers coach, wassummarily fired, right, I was.
I was going to get to that. I was taking one thing at
a time. Okay, I didn'tmean. I didn't mean to rush,

(38:22):
but that's okay. But so solet's let's talk about Thursday. So Thursday,
Michigan in the Big Ten, putout two extremely different looking statements.
Michigan put out a statement saying thatthe conference agreed to drop its investigation for
them accepting this to their accepting theirtheir penalty, which is not true.

(38:45):
It's not even what the conference said. The conference said the Conference is not
even doing the investigation. They arecooperating with the NCAA is investigation, and
they never said they're going to stopdoing that. What they said was this,
there won't be any further penalties unlessmore comes to life. Basically,
this is it for now, butmore could come extremely different tone than what

(39:09):
Michigan put out. I completely agree. Like I said, it just seems
as though there is some kind ofan alternate reality that that Michigan in terms
of like the way that they presentthings and the way that all right,

(39:30):
everyone else is being hold information fromBig Ten or the NC double A about
how this is proceeding that they arecompletely you know, they are miss miss
characterizing what is what is actually takingplace. And then you've got Michigan fans,

(39:52):
Michigan players on Saturday wearing free Harbaughshirts out and warm ups in it
like but your own school, exceptthis nobody he's not he's he's free.
He's just not able to be onthe sideline during the game. And incidentally,
this is all because yet cheated.This is not because it's not as

(40:13):
it's not some witch hunt, it'snot some crazy, misguided we're out to
get Jim Harbaugh. We're out toget Michigan. It is you broke rules,
and we can prove you broke rules. This is why this is happening,
and it's and quite frankly, you'revery fortunate that this is all you're
getting right now, and it's notall you're going to get. Well,
I think you just hit it righton the head right there. Am I

(40:37):
listening to you describe this the keyword in the or phrase that you use
right now? And I say thatwith all sincerity? Is I mean?
I when people ask me, well, what do I think about what's going
on? You know, up andann Harbor, you know, either just
you know, like in social situationsor just like you know, like I'm

(40:59):
like social media platforms, I givethem the very simple answer is that it's
almost impossible for me to keep upwith what's going on. I mean,
I'm not saying that I don't care, because I do care. Obviously.
I'm a college football fan. Youknow, I write about college football,
you know I we're on this podcasttogether. But it's almost impossible to keep

(41:20):
up with the drip drip drip ofconstant bad things that seemingly come out at
random inopportunity to times like the storylike you said, you know, like
the how Michigan they were like gonnafight this, and then when the NCAA
basically proved to them that this wouldbe very, very badly that they immediately

(41:45):
back down, and their fans onsocial media several of them, and we're
just kind of like, what's goingon because again, kind of what I
said a few moments ago, likethis alternate reality. They were led to
believe that Michigan was going to fightthis too. That okay, so what
is it? Obviously things are thingsare bad and things here's here's it's not

(42:08):
a news slash, you know,to borrow your phrase. Things are bad
right now. They are going toget worse as more and more information comes
out, because eventually it will comeout. It will. And one of
the things we saw late last weekwas that just a month before National Signing
Day, a Michigan position coach deletedas Twitter account. That is not normal.

(42:34):
That is you know, the waythat most of these coaches and players
stay on top of you know theyobviously they text each other as well,
but the Twitter game is very importantin the recruiting game. We've seen it
with Ohio State's coaching and it's nota good look. What was he trying
to delete? What was not wantingto be seen? That stuff all exists

(42:57):
somewhere. There are internet archives thatit can be so whatever he deleted will
come to light. But he deletedhis entire account and then as you touched
on, Partridge ends up being thefall guy for now as he gets fired
for essentially what we're hearing, eithertampering with deleting files or damaging or trying

(43:20):
to destroy a computer at Michigan thatmay have had some incriminating evidence. Now
they said they don't have evidence tyinghim to Connor Stallion's network of spying and
electronic surveillance. But people don't justdelete evidence or destroy evidence unless they've done

(43:43):
something. So it's a really badlook, even if in the end it
protects somebody higher up or means thatyou have to The NCAA has to go
on what it believes rather than whatit can prove. And remember the NCAA
is not a court of law.They don't have to prove anything. They
just have to believe, you know, that they know what's going on.
And the other thing that really thatI like to point out that Michigan fans

(44:06):
don't seem to realize is that proofagain is not necessary. They don't have
to prove that Jim harbon knew whatwas going on. All they have to
say is you should have known,and if you didn't know, that's a
failure to monitor and if you didknow and it happened and with then that's

(44:28):
lack of institutional control. The speculationis already running rampant that Jim Harbaugh is
looking at a significant suspension for nextseason. That's how big this is.
And you're right, the NCAA it'snot a court of law, so you
know, in terms of the waythat this all works, they don't have

(44:51):
to necessarily, you know, provethe guilt. But being able to,
for example, like a big partof this that I saw in some of
the reports besides everything that we talkedtouched on already that they're oh like not
surprisingly, oh, counter Stallions didn'tpay for everything that, oh, Connor

(45:13):
Stallion's never submitted. It's an expensereport. So you're telling me somebody that
was was earning a salary from Michiganfor fifty five thousand dollars a year was
able to procure tickets all around thecountry at you know, like essentially like
on the forty five yard line,fifty yard line, so excellent seats at

(45:35):
various locations around the country. Neverwas reimbursed for it, mind you.
And the shadowy persona known only asUncle T Uncle Tea, Uncle T paid
for it. So everyone's trying tofigure out, Okay, who Uncle TA
is. And I'm not sure ifyou saw it, you know, because

(45:57):
of course, like the everyone's like, oh, it's Tom Brady, and
it's like, no, it's notTom Brady. But there was a gentleman
by the name of Tim Smith whowas implicated, and at least what I
saw, I didn't read it,you know, exhaustively. Tim Smith vehemently
denied that he is Uncle T.Now he can deny it. All I

(46:22):
know is that he was removed,I believe is like one of the members
of like the you know as youknow, some some kind of an association.
He was removed from that. Butlike I said, this, this
is going to be an ongoing thingthat it just seems as though, like
the more you feel back, you'refinding out you know, who's involved,

(46:45):
how deep it went, and toyour significant point, that ignorance is non
an excuse for Jim Harbaugh. No, you know, he he has to
have some accountability. And that's whyI just think for all of the boasting
by Michigan players and fans, it'skind of man you to borrow that phrase

(47:10):
and like you're you're whistling past thegraveyard. Man, I mean they get
this is going to get bad.Yeah. Now, this is the thing
that we've seen enough footage of himon the sideline with his defensive coordinator,
with Connor Stawi's right there, alltalking together. He's been around the game
long enough to know low level staffersdon't typically hang out with offensive and defensive

(47:31):
coordinators during games, So he hadto know there was something a little bit
different, a little bit special atthe very least, about why this was
taking place on his sideline, especiallywhen input right before a play got his
coordinators to change plays. That's notsomething that can be hidden. It's it's
out there for everybody to see.We've got plenty of plenty of footage showing

(47:52):
him that he would have knowledge thatthat was taking place. So he can
say that he didn't know that electronicsurveillance was going on. But it seems
like will for willful ignorance. Butthere's so many little little side nuggets too
to this chip. There was JohnU. Bacon the other day who posted
that he was stunned that a respectedcoach, Chris Partridge pressured players to cover

(48:15):
it up. Uh, that's kindof newsworthy, don't you think very much?
So? And and I just ona personal I have tremendous respect for
John U. Bacon, Like heyou know, even though he is kind
he's kind of like the Michigan equivalentof Jack Park in my I mean,

(48:35):
for what it's worth, I youknow, I don't think he's necessarily been
one of these guys saying like Michigandid nothing wrong, like a person who
I kind of had respect for,but he's he's fallen in my estimation.
On the national side is Dan Wetzel. Dan Wetzel has been kind of promoting
like, oh like this is youknow, like nothing and blah blah blah,

(48:59):
while his under part, Ross Dellinger, who is one of these people
that kind of have been, youknow, very instrumental in breaking news stories.
You know, Ross Dellinger has beenthe severity and the scope of this
has been tremendous. I guess thelarger point getting back to both Dan what'sell
and Ross Ellinger is that they bothwere it was both of their joint byeline

(49:23):
of the story that that broke about, you know, the firing of Chris
Partridge. Uncle Tu you know allof this. So I think there's some
realization I would think on the behalfof Dan what'sill Like, Yeah, this
this is not this is not anothing burger, you know, not much
as I not going away. Soso all, like we talked about this

(49:46):
since Watergate, the cover up isworse than the crime, right, Yes,
So we've got a coach who's beenfired for not clear of these destroyed
computer equipment or just files. Uhso that's cover up. You've got someone
deleting their Twitter. You've got theChampions Circle Collective nil collective. They took

(50:08):
all their board members' bios off theirweb page. After this, it's and
I think that's kind of where thatTim Smith. I think that he was
one of those people that was removed. So, I mean, it's just
the scope of this is and theinvestigation is not even remotely close to being
done. As as an Ohio Statefan obviously wanting punishment, and I know

(50:35):
that there were a lot of peoplesaying, oh, you know, like
Jim Harbor being suspended three games byno means is this is? This is?
This is I think like the thevery first few moments of a lengthy
play put it that way. Honestly, there's a lot of coaches there at
Michigan that probably just need Jim Harbaughtto fall on his sword for this,

(50:59):
because otherwise going to go badly fora lot of people. I think the
the coordinators could see show cause penaltiesfor this, certainly Jim Harbaugh could.
There could be bowl bands. There'snot gonna be a TV bans. There's
too much money to be made forMichigan football for there to be a TV
ban, but I could see bowlbands, vacated wins, that kind of

(51:20):
thing could happen. And it justreally depends on how much the NCAA is
able to uncover what they uncover,you know, how well supported that is
by the facts that they find,obviously knowing that they don't have subpoena power,
so it's gonna be up to peopleto go and talk to them.

(51:40):
And if they don't talk to them, there will be presumed guilt on that
too, because again there's this isn'ta court. They don't have to prove
anything. But if you're not talkingto them, they're going to assume you're
hiding something. It's not going tobe it's not going to go well.
And it just gets really more andmore bizarre. With every piece of information
that drops, these little drips anddrabs, everything is just strange or makes

(52:07):
things look even worse. And Idon't know where it's all gonna end,
Chip, but for now it's justit's just a tip of the iceberg.
And there's even been discussions about there'syou know, players using this information for
gambling and stuff. All this isjust hearsay at this point. But when

(52:28):
the NCAA gets done with this andthe dust settles, it will be interesting
to see what comes to light.Sunlight is the best disinfected. I'm sure
you've heard that expression. And theit is in Michigan's best interest to cooperate,
not to not to throw up barriers, not to try and delay,

(52:52):
to cooperate with the NCAA and getthis behind them. And what direction this
possibly goes. I can't even beginto speculate in terms of how many people
are involved and how deeply you knowthat you know, like the speculation about
how many years this has been goingon all that. But the sooner you

(53:15):
cooperate with the nc double A andlike you said, somebody fall on the
sword, the better for the program. Eventually, I don't know, like
how long that, you know,Michigan might have to kind of deal with
reduced scholarships and bull bands and allof that, but it's it's in the
it's in the program's best interest tocooperate with the NC double A. All

(53:37):
right, Well, the only thatwe can do now is get ready for
the game, chip because I don'tthink anything else is gonna come of this,
although there have certainly been rumors thatMichigan could see some kind of a
band before the end of the regularseason, so I wouldn't rule out any

(54:00):
thing necessarily based on what we've seenthese last few weeks. Uh, it'll
be interesting to see what transpires outsidethe you know, the on the field
stuff and what and obviously what happenson Saturday is big as well. But
let's let's turn our attention towards thegame itself. So we know Jim Harbaugh
is not going to be on thesideline, so Michigan's got a built in

(54:22):
We didn't even need him to beatyou. If Michigan wins and if he
if I have State wins, thenit's you know, then then they get
to point to that say, well, that's the reason you won. It
kind of I kind of agree withthat to some extent. I would rather
Harbaugh be there. But at thesame time, if you if you take

(54:45):
a look at what has been goingon and how much they've already shown,
it's not a surprise that they wantedto get out and appease the other member
schools of the Big Ten that we'recalling for action. This is very We've
talked about it before. It's verybeen very light punishment for Michigan because Harbuck
can still be coaching the team allweek, preparing the team. He's just

(55:07):
not allowed to be in the stadiumon game day. Ultimately, that's not
the biggest penalty you could h couldlevy obviously. So what do you think
is the key to Ohio State Michigan. It's it's almost always the run game.
Absolutely, That's That's exactly where Iwas going to go. Is that
historically the team that is able torun and the team that is able to

(55:30):
shut down the other the opposition's runninggame is the winner. And I realize
that Ohio State has had their theirmoments, especially like you know, talking
with a friend about how you know, like if Notre Dame had stuck with
the running game, perhaps that gamewould have turned out differently for Notre Dame,

(55:54):
and we all remember what happened lastyear. I think anything, I
would be more concerned if I wasa Michigan fan the fact that Michigan their
passing game. This is kind ofwhere I'm going with. You know,
what I've seen over the last twoweeks. Their passing game is not anything

(56:15):
that I'm overly concerned with. Andif the running game isn't going, I
don't know how you necessarily counteract,you know, in terms of being able
to say, Okay, well thisis what we're gonna do. If the
running game isn't working, I thinkthat would be a big concern. And
the thing about Michigan's offense is thatthey have the last two weeks basically shuddered

(56:38):
JJ McCarthy. Whether that is toput less on film or whether that's just
because Searon Moore is just figures,we don't need to throw the ball a
lot to win these games. We'renot gonna need a lot of points.
I don't know what the reasoning is, but we've really seen a very strange
offense out of them the last twoweeks, which which means they're again either

(57:00):
they're they've got something up their sleeves, which could be or they really can't
they really can't throw the ball,And I've I don't know which one of
those is true, and I don'tI think they're going to try to throw
the ball. I think they're goingto throw quick outs and quick underneath stuff.
JJ McCarthy. One thing about him, he doesn't put the ball on
harm's way very often. So it'sgoing to be you're not going to force

(57:22):
him to make mistakes very often.You're you're really not going to be able
to sit there and rely on himmaking errors. He may not make a
ton of big plays, but hedoesn't tend to hurt his team. He
doesn't. I will say though,that I think a big part of his
game is the mobility factor. Thefact that you know when he when he

(57:43):
gets to move out of the pocketand possibly pick up yards with his feet.
Uh, you know to that thatthat would be something that would be
concerning for the Ohio State defense.I just know that if for all of
the critique criticism of Kyle McCord thatas Ohio State fans that we've read or

(58:06):
seen about how he's played, Ijust know that based on what I have
seen of JJ McCarthy as a passerthat I'd feel more better, I'd feel
more comfortable, I should say,putting the game in Kyle McCord's hands to
win the game. The JJ McCarthy'sall right. So the game is on
the road. Going to be afull big house for this one. It's

(58:30):
Kyle McCord's first start in this storiedrivalry. That is never a calming thing
for fans to see a first timestarter, especially on the road. What
do you think Ohio State's game planis going to be? What do you
think they're going to attack? Interms of the Michigan's defense. They've got

(58:51):
some very sound defensive linemen and obviouslya good secondary. So does that mean
they're going to try to attack themeet in the middle of the field,
the intermediate area between the defensive lineand the backfield. I think that that
would be a viable option. Michigandoes have a good defensive line. I

(59:14):
we talked earlier about Maryland and howMaryland had their opportunities. I think the
Ohio state wide receivers, no disrespectto to Maryland, are better than than
Maryland's and I think that Ohio Statesshouldn't necessarily refuse to try to throw the

(59:36):
ball around against Michigan. I wouldbe tremendously surprised if Marmon Harrison Junior is
able to have a huge game.I would I would truly suspect Marmon Harrison
Junior earning a double coverage, youknow from from Michigan. But to your
point about the middle of the field, yeah, I think the idea of

(59:58):
like the the middle of the fieldoptions for col McCord, get the ball
out early, hit your checkdowns.Whereas whether that's say Kate Stover, Tradon
Henderson out of the backfield, XavierJohnson, we talked about those kind of
options. I wouldn't be surprised ifOhio State is able to be very productive
in the passing game, especially inthose like short to intermediate routes. My

(01:00:22):
hope is that Chip the coaching staffhas been able to put little tweaks in
for several weeks now, they've hadthe knowledge about the Connor Stallion stuff to
be able to at least change someof their signs for this game. I'm
sure that they've changed almost all oftheir signs, and it wouldn't surprise me
if not only have they substantially changedtheir signs. If Ohio State did it

(01:00:49):
against Clemson a couple of years agowith Brent Venables, who was supposedly like
a really good sign stealer, itwouldn't surprise me if Ohio State decides,
hey, we're going to huddle upand we're gonna you know, it won't
really matter in terms of like thepersonnel coming in and out that maybe that
that that it wouldn't surprise me atall all if that's what they decide to

(01:01:09):
do, because you saw how wellthat worked against Clemson, UH in the
in the bowl game they destroyed them. They might I'm not saying that they're
going to do the same thing againstMichigan, but it would't surprise me.
At Ohio State. It says,you know, we don't have to worry
about signals, you know, likethis way, if we huddle up,
UH and we bring in the playyou send it in with Parnel Tate taking

(01:01:35):
Julian Fleming's place and things like that, well it could be I mean,
I know, I know your affinityfor for Parnel Tate is is definitely warranted.
I mean, let's face it there, I mean, I just mean
they rotate receivers a lot. Yeah, it would be easy to set the
receivers exactly a wide, a widevariety of wide receiver options. I mean,

(01:01:57):
we talked about Xavier Johnson of thefact that sometimes Ohio State goes to
two tight ends set, you know, so bringing in you know, like
g Scott Junior, the fact thatwith running backs you have Traveon Henderson and
U Chip, Trey Aum and wetalked about Dallan Hayden and you know who's
coming in and you know, likewhat kind of a play And I'm not

(01:02:21):
sure, Okay, is this arunning game or running play passing play?
You know, like you know,keeping them off balanced. I think that
definitely is going to be part ofthe game. All right, Chip,
Well, the game, the lastgame of the regular season is upon us.
I'm going to ask you for yourpicks to click. And of course
last week we started Chip with thedefensive side of the ball, So you

(01:02:44):
get to pick an offensive player foryour pick to click in the game.
Who do you got? I'm goingto go with Travon Henderson. He the
last two weeks has had a tremendous, tremendously impactful performance, says now Granted,
I understand Michigan State Minnesota not necessarilythe best defenses in the Big Ten,

(01:03:09):
but I think just his all aroundgame, not only as a runner,
but as a receiver out of thebackfield, kind of what we saw
against Rutgers, you know, asthat you know, lengthy reception that he
had. I think in the openfield, Trevon Henderson can make some big
plays and I'm anticipating him and dothat against the Wolverines. All Right,

(01:03:31):
that's a great pick. I've reallystruggled with. I figured you were going
to take Travon Henderson, so thatwas my backup. So I've been I've
been struggling over who I thought mightbe the guy to go to. I
think they're going to do what theycan and in some of the same ways
that Minnesota used to try to keepMarvin Harrison quiet. That might open up

(01:03:52):
some some room for others, likea mecha boog. But I'm going to
take Cage Stover because I think that'sgoing to open up opportunities for him.
I thought of that I and youknow, I would love to see Kate
Stover have a big game because traditionallyMichigan they pride themselves on the play of
their their tight ends, you know, in the in the receiving game.

(01:04:14):
I would love to see Kate Stoverhave a big game up there in Michigan
Stadium. I'm sure Kate Stover wouldlike to see that too. Uh So
that takes us over the defensive sideof the ball, and I'm going to
take him in. I'm going totake the free space in his return,
I'm going to take Tommy Aikenberg's gonnabe He's going to be licking his chops.
He didn't get to, you know, produce on the field during senior

(01:04:36):
Day, so this is kind ofgoing to be his senior day for him.
I think Tommy I'll have a biggame. He'll He'll have a bunch
of stops I like, I liketo pick and it makes complete sense.
I'm going to go with a guythat I think his versatility is going to
be something that I don't want tosay that Michigan can't account for, but

(01:04:58):
I think is going to uh havean impact. And now I'm gonna go
with with Sunny Styles. I thinkI was just talking about the Michigan passing
game. I think Sunny Styles andcoming up on run support, coming up
on uh, you know, passingdowns on those you know, like on
those short to intermediate routes, youknow, the Michigan tight ends. I

(01:05:19):
think Sunny Styles is gonna he's gonnabe able to make an impact, all
right. I like it. Ithink Sonny is he's is an impact player.
Even when he's not making plays,he's he's doing things to make the
opposing offense choose to go elsewhere withthe ball. I think his coverage has
been really, really good the lastfew weeks. You almost didn't even notice

(01:05:43):
that Lathan Ransom's been out. Ofcourse, we got Josh Procter back this
past week. He'll be back.Uh, I don't know, man,
It's it's we're only we're we're doingthis six days before the game. We're
we're recording this on Sunday. Soa lot of probably a lot of crazy,
strange twists and turns what happened thisweek that we aren't even going to

(01:06:04):
be able to count for. Butit comes to the time where we need
to pick our score predictions chips.So Ohio State goes to Michigan. I
know that this is kind of thescenario you envisioned all year, with the
exception of Penn State beating Michigan,which they did not. Where do you
see this going? What do yousee as the final score? I am

(01:06:26):
not deviating from an Ohio State wins. As you said, as we're recording
this, like what I'm looking atin terms of like the weather forecast.
I think if the weather as we'rerecording this, it looks like it'll be
raining in the morning, but bythe time the game comes around, it'll

(01:06:46):
be fine, which obviously from apassing game situation, I think benefits Ohio
State. So I'm going to goOhio State twenty eight Michigan twenty one.
So I'm going to give a tipof the cap to the Wolverines for being
the first team to put more thanseventeen points on the Ohio State defense.

(01:07:08):
Okay, well, I admire yousticking to your guns from preseason to now,
and I'm going to do the samething I am. I like Ohio
State's chances in this game. Idon't like that it's at Michigan. I
don't like that it's with a firstyear starting quarterback for Ohio State that has
been struggling through much of the firsthalf in many games this year. So

(01:07:30):
I'm a little concerned that that secondquarter slump that we've seen from Kyle McCord
is going to make the difference.I'm going to say twenty nine to twenty
seven Michigan, and you know,they get to keep it, maybe only
till the beginning of next season andthen it gets vacated. But I think
they go out they're galvanized. Theyseem to be extremely pulled together on this.

(01:07:55):
I do think Ohio State can winthe game, but it's going to
take a mistake free game for HigoState to win against this talented of an
opponent, especially with the as wellas their defense has been playing. I
think Maryland's scored two touchdowns in thethird quarter. I think it was the
first time that Michigan had allowed pointsin the third quarter all season. Yeah,

(01:08:16):
I mean it definitely the last coupleof weeks. I will say,
I understand your concern and everything thatyou said, have you know, laid
out is warranted. My anxiety aboutthis game has definitely decreased based on what

(01:08:36):
I have seen from Michigan the lastcouple of weeks, and that's kind of
where, you know, if anythinglike, I just feel more and more
comfortable that Ryan Day last year triedto say like, oh, we're just
as tough as you are. Itobviously didn't work out that way. And

(01:08:58):
Jim Knowles his defense of schemes.I mean we all saw, you know,
how Hiota gave up such huge plays. I think that lessons have been
learned, and I really do.I think Ryan Day in the aftermath,
that's why he played the style ofa play that he did against Georgia,
even though the Buckeyes didn't win.I mean like that he played aggressively and

(01:09:20):
didn't care, you know. Andand I think Jim Knowles has definitely learned
over the over the twenty twenty threeseason to not be as riverboat gambler type
with the defense. So that's kindof why I'm feeling comfortable, Ohio Sate
can do it. Okay, Ihope they can. I really, I
really just I think Michigan's team,the way they've been playing last few weeks

(01:09:44):
especially, this is a team that'sdesigned to get three or four yards of
play, and if they can dothat, they're very hard to stop because
that even if you get a fourthand one, it's a pretty easy quarterback
sneak. That's they've been putting allkinds of offensive line out there, what
many many extra offensive lines of manythey can get away with. I think

(01:10:04):
it's really going to come down token Ohio State stop Michigan's run and four
third and longs. If they cando that, they have a very good
opportunity to win the game, evenon the road, even with a first
year starter in d series of thegame. But if they aren't sharp,

(01:10:25):
and they don't you know, theyhave one of those second quarter slumps or
whatever, if Michigan can run theball, I think they could be in
a little bit of trouble. Ihope that they can play up to their
capability, because if they're playing theirbest, they can beat Michigan, I
think eight times out of ten.But I have yet to see Ryan Day's

(01:10:45):
Ohio State Buckeyes play its best orplay their best against the Michigan Wolverines in
a few years. That's fair,I would. I mean, you know,
it's going on four years now.The twenty nineteen season was Ryan Day's
first year and they went up toann Arborn and he did it, you
know, so I think understandably fanshave taken you know, when it comes

(01:11:13):
to like the last two years,you know, you know, kind of
wondering like how you know, RyanDay, you know, like how did
you let this happen? With allof the circumstances that we talked about earlier.
I mean, like okay, likeit kind of stands to reason like
that there might have been more thana few extenuating circumstances as to why Michigan
was able to kind of turn thetables, so to speak, on Ohio

(01:11:34):
State. So I just think Ithink Ryan Day, I really do.
I think he kind of that theloss to Michigan last year was such a
confident shaker and then getting that secondlease on life to be in the college
football Playoff. I think he wasable to kind of regroup psychologically, and

(01:11:59):
like I said earlier, I think, all right, we're going to play
our We're going we're going to playaggressively, We're going to play our style
of offense. And I you know, kind of what you said, like
maybe Michigan's been holding back some suffIt wouldn't surprise me for Ohio State,
you know. I I suspect hasa few things up their sleeves that that

(01:12:20):
Michigan hasn't seen yet. I hopethat's true. I hope that's true.
Like I said, I do thinkthis team, this Ohio State team was
talented enough. If it had CJ. Stroudback this year, I would I
would be predicting a three touchdown winright now. But yeah, Kyle scares
me a little bit at times.He's not seeing the ball or seeing the

(01:12:40):
field as well as he should bynow. And I mean he he left
some touchdowns unscored against Minnesota where hejust didn't see I think one time it
was might have been Xavier Johnson,another time it was Marvin Arrison. They
were wide open and just didn't evensee them. But who knows. Maybe
this is where Kyle puts it alltogether and has another big game. I

(01:13:04):
think it's definitely within within him todo that. And my biggest concern about
Kyle is, let's not I wroteabout this for for Langman Holyland. Uh,
don't force the ball into Marvin HarrisonJunior. I know that, you
know, because some of the frustratingthings of interceptions have taken place. Uh

(01:13:28):
you know, you know we're kindof like what do you what are you
doing there? Throwing the ball youknow, late, and you know,
forcing it in. I think that'sgoing to be probably a theme at the
Woody Hayes Athletic Center this week.Okay, look, just take what the
defense gives, you, find theopen checkdown receiver, and we keep possession,
and we are going to score onthese guys. Yeah. Uh,

(01:13:49):
well, certainly turnovers and special teamsare bound to be a big part of
this game. That's another It's anotherconcern I have is that Parker Fleming's special
teams unit has not been a exceptionalin a good way this year. So
I feel like Michigan has an advantagethere. Their quarterbacks a little more.
He may not be scary to somepeople, but he's a little more experienced,

(01:14:11):
especially in the series. And yeah, it really just comes down to
ken Ohio State handle the run andthen shut down the tight end passes when
Michigan tries to hit the tight ends, because that's sort of JJ McCarthy's security
blanket. So we'll see how itgoes. But either way, and I
think I might have predicted too manypoints in this game, and maybe you

(01:14:33):
also have predicted too many points inthis game. But since we picked different
results, it will be very easyto determine the winner next week. I
was leaning towards a lower scoring game. But then somewhere along the way,
I started thinking, you know,it wouldn't surprise me if it's kind of

(01:14:54):
when we talked about, like withthe Minnesota game, like in the second
half, like maybe both teams areable to to kind of figure out what
is working and get some points onthe scoreboard. Yeah, I do expect
a lower scoring first half. Thensecond half, I think it'll I think
as these teams get a little moreintense and the game gets heated, I
think things will open up maybe alittle bit. Then maybe some teams will

(01:15:15):
get they'll either make a big playor try to make a big play and
end up giving up a big playinstead. I think that's that's how these
things typically go. I completely agree. All right, Chip, we'll be
back next week to talk about thelast regular season game. Already, Well,
we always joke about it, butit's true, is that it flies

(01:15:36):
by so fast and you have tosavor it. So savor this one because
again, for this is what we'vebeen hoping for all season, both teams
to be undefeated. The stakes couldn'tbe any higher. So you know,
enjoy this this week of college football, especially when the clock moves to twelve

(01:15:57):
pm Eastern on Saturday. Yeah,this is what we do this for every
year, is to this is oneof the highlights. Sometimes it's a low
light after the fact, but youand I have been watching this rivalry for
many, many years, and youknow, wins come and losses come,
and it's been great to ride thiswave, the Trestle to Meyer today wave.

(01:16:23):
Although the last two years haven't goneto Ohio State's way, those may
not end up being lost as nextyear technically when the NCAAA is done ruling,
So we'll see how it goes.But we will be back next week
to get ready for that and thento talk about what's next, whether it's
a meeting with Iowa in the BigTen title game, or whether it's seeing
if Ohio State has done enough orif other results have gone their way so

(01:16:45):
that they can still get in theplayoffs. So there is a school of
thought this is Ohio State can goto Michigan, lose a close game and
still get in. But people don'tseem to think that the same is true
of Michigan if they lose at home, they don't have that other the other
resume building wins that Ohio State.Has you just said it, and that's
I mean, let's face it.The fact that Michigan's non conference schedule was

(01:17:11):
a joke and I'm I'm saying thatcharitably and it was hot in garbage.
The fact the fact that we arewe've been talking about, okay, the
last two weeks, mind you,the last two weeks of the season has
been you know, when Michigan hashas finally had to play against a team

(01:17:33):
that is, you know, somewhattalented and didn't necessarily look that sharp.
So I think that that that's noteven including the scandal that I think it
would be fair to say that theyalmost like the entire college football public is
openly rooting for Ohio State to winthis game. So I, you know,

(01:17:57):
I definitely believe that if Michigan loses, I think that they're definitely out
of the playoff. All right,Chip, where can people find you and
your fine work on the internet.I can be found on Twitter at Chip
Minick. Last name spelled m IN N I c H. Look for
an article three things to watch droppingon Land Grant holy Land around twelve pm

(01:18:17):
Eastern on Friday, usually around twelveo'clock. It might be around eleven.
It just really depends on when theeditors put it in the scheduling. And
then basically an article called Minix Musingsthat talks about the game on Sunday,
So again that usually drops Sunday morningat some time. Yeah, all right,

(01:18:42):
well, you can find me onTwitter at Mike thirty six fan.
You can also follow Silver Bullets Podon Twitter at silver Bullets Pod with no
E in silver sil v R bU L L E T s po D.
So just throw the first E atSilver Boltspod minus the first E and

(01:19:03):
that's how you find us on thetwitters. You can read my stuff every
Monday at Landgrant Holyland dot com andit's the Grumpy old buck Eye every Monday.
Of course, after a game,I tell you all the things that
really made me grind my teeth downto nubs while I was watching the game.
And so this week, of courseit has already dropped. It drops

(01:19:24):
right before lunchtime on Monday. Youcan go check out the things from the
Minnesota games. The Minnesota game thatreally irritated the heck out of me,
And of course there's not that muchin there that's really a note because it
was pretty comfortable win so very verytongue in cheek and very much in the
spirit of online griping, so hopefullyyou'll check that out. And of course

(01:19:48):
I write the posts for this podcaston Land Grant, holy Land every Tuesday,
so that's so how you can findus. Also, if you want
to just drop us a letter,you know, in the old electron mail,
you can find us at silver Bulletspodat gmail dot com. S I
l V E. R. BulletsPod, Spell it out, silver Bulletspod
at gmail dot com. We'd loveto hear from you. Ask a question,

(01:20:11):
We'll read on the air and giveyou your answer and you know,
or just say hi and tell ushow you're doing and where you uh,
where you listen to our show from. We would we would appreciate it.
Chip anything else to add before weget on out of here, just sincere
best wishes to you and to allof our listeners for a very safe and
happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy this this comingholiday, uh you know, family and

(01:20:36):
friends. If anyone's traveling, savetravels, uh, save travels to anyone
going up to ann Arbor. Uh. You know again, the weather is
supposed to be somewhat decent for thistime. Of year, but just make
sure that you're dressed appropriately for youknow, you never know it can That's
a great thing about living in theMidwest. You can get basically you know,
sun, rain, snow, everything, you know, all within you

(01:20:59):
know, a few minutes of eachother. Yeah. Well, we plan
to be here every week through theend of Ohio State's football season, whenever
that may be, and then goto our monthly off season schedule. But
we will just for a housekeeping notehere, we will probably be taking an
extra week off in December, butwe will again be here through the end

(01:21:23):
of the year, with the exceptionof that maybe that one week in December
that we take off, maybe theweek before Christmas or something. Chip and
I will talk about that offline andfigure out what our schedule will be.
But this is the intense time ofthe year. We will get ready for
the Michigan game. Hopefully everybody willenjoy it and we'll come out the other

(01:21:44):
side with a big win and betalking about the Big Ten title game the
next week. If not, we'llbe trying to figure out where Ohio State
is going to be, who theiropponent's going to be, and all that
stuff. But we will be backnext week, so thank you for listening.
There's only one thing left for usto do, Chip, and that
is to do the thing at theend that we always do, which is
to say, go box, GoBox,