Michigan Monday: Same Old Big Ten

The team Michigan beat, Oklahoma beat the #1 team in the nation Texas, who also has a win over Ohio State.   Predictably, the team Michigan lost to a week ago, thought they were CFP bound and got blown out by Purdue. 

The Big Ten started to show its old habits again.  Case in points:

-OSU blew out Maryland 

-Iowa ran over Washington who forget to play any defense 

-Illinois was dominating MSU, Sparty makes a comeback, new coach flips off the other sideline, and then loses in OT. 

-Minnesota remembers they are the Golden Gophers 

-Oregon over looks UCLA who could be a poor man's Indiana. 

-Nebraska looks to be back and ready to stop the streak of 30 loses in a row to ranked opponents, to lose it in the 4th to IU. 

-Penn State is 3-3 again, the exact same record that got James Franklin fired.

Just when I thought this was a weird year, the Big Ten says, "We're still the same!".

• Yes, Michigan fans.  Whoever Michigan hires as AD, needs to keep at eye on UCLA's coach.  The money cannon would be able to get him out of LA. 

• I forgot that Michigan Basketball played an exhibition against EMU on Sunday.  Sounds like they played well.  October Rodney did not play.  They must be waiting for some type of rubber stamp from the Big Ten.

• Z had a tough game for the Giants 

• Speaking of the Giants - Commanders, that might have been the dumbest thing I've seen on a football field and we all have seen a lot of dumb. 

• Coach's Whitt press conference this morning should be interesting.  5 days to get better Coach.
• Update on Presser:
• Bryce still the starter, Carr took 1/2 the 1st team snaps
• No change with Beck or play calling 
• Sprague is still out and still a mystery 
• Babalola will practice this week
• New punt returner on Saturday

Michigan Friday: A Day Off

The Michigan Football is taking a needed weekend off as they continue to try to improve for the final run of the season.  

• Michigan Basketball Center Marcus Moeller will not be available for the first scrimmage against EMU as he gets a Cancer check up in Denmark. 

• The EMU scrimmage is set for this Sunday at 2:00 on BTN+

• The Michigan Staff is out recruiting this weekend.  Half of me says that what they should be doing, the other half says, get back to Ann Arbor so you can fix this mess. 

• RIP Mike Ditka

Enjoy some free time this weekend! 

Big Ten Week 6 Preview

Not the best week for the Big Ten in match-ups, we do get to see if Nebraska is for real.  Somehow Northwestern sneaks a non-conference game in.  

Friday Night:

Iowa @ Washington (-3):  Iowa got a wake up call last week against OSU that is taking some of steam off the Michigan win.  Washington is up and down but that is tough travel on a short week.  Washington 21 Iowa 20 

Saturday: 

IU (-7.5) @ Nebraska: Both teams are hot but neither really have played anyone, the win over Northwestern looks better now then it did a week ago. IU 28 Nebraska 17 

Ball State @ Northwestern (37.5): Should be an easy win for the Wildcats. NW 44 Ball State: 10 

UCLA @ Oregon (-11.5):  The Ducks really responded after their upset loss to OK State.  With Moore probably out with a concussion its Raiola time again with a new jersey.  I like the Ducks.  Oregon 31 UCLA 17

Illinois (-2.5) @ MSU:  Not a great start for either team this season.  Illinois 17 MSU 14 

Maryland @ OSU (-34.5): Yikes.  OSU 52 Maryland 9

USC @ Penn State (-1.5): Both teams coming off tough loses and need a win.  USC doesn't travel east well but the Trojans are the better team: USC 28 PSU 23

Minnesota (-2.5) @ Purdue: Both teams coming off big wins and I think the Golden Gophers are set up for a let down.  Purdue 20 Minnesota 17

UCLA also has a prove it game this weekend as Oregon tries to hold on to their CFP and Big Ten Championship lives. 

Wolverine Wednesday: It Better Be More Than This......

The Michigan fan base is hoping Coach Whitt and Coach Beck have a good plan for fixing Michigan's broken offense in the next two weeks.  We thought we had seen improvement against Iowa but that faded away fast as they couldn't do anything against a mediocre Golden Gophers team that hadn't beaten the Wolverines in their home stadium in 50 years.  Nice to have that fun fact on your record in Year 1 Coach Whitt. 

Maybe he is not letting us know the real plan but it better be more than this:  "Yeah, well, first of all, self-analysis. What do we do best? What is our, through five games, what's been our strength?" Whittingham said. "Where do we need to gravitate? What do we need to gravitate towards schematically? Personnel-wise, who have been our best players through those five games, and are we getting those best players on the field often enough, and enough reps?

"And, offensively, we got a long ways to go. I'm telling you right now, there's a lot of issues, and we gotta address them. It's just a situation of, again, figuring out what have we done well so far, what do we need to just cast off and not try to do anymore, try to put a square peg in a round hole, and find a way to manage the game offensively so we have a chance to win."

Coach Whitt repeats the phrase, "figuring out what we have done well".   That is the most elementary of approaches he could have spoken at this point.   Let me answer that question in one word: NOTHING.  

• Your not running the ball effectively, with two of the best RB's in the country 
• Your OL looks to be running a blocking scheme that is foreign to them and does not match their skill set. 
• Your offense does not seem to use the TE at all and you prefer the Rhino position which has been completely ineffective. 
• Your QB is a one read QB and missing wide open WR's. 
• You continue to struggle on 3rd and 4th and 1. 
• Your offense turns the ball over and can't stay of the field to give your good defense any rest. 

What have you been doing well?

• JJ has been a great addition at WR 
• Marsh has made some crazy good catches
• These good things are muted when you don't have protection or a QB that can get them the ball.  

So the "figuring out what we do well" on offense action item, took about 2 minutes, what now Coach?

I sure hope this "awe shucks" from Coach Whitt is an act and not his approach to fixing the offense.  

• Zach Marshall group texts after the Minnesota game hit the Internet and he sent out an apology yesterday.  To summarize his texts, Beck is a problem, told the TE's they are not a part of this offense, all a defense has to do is blitz to stop Michigan's offense, and that Beck just tells Bryce where to go on offense. 

Things are great in the locker room right now.