Big Ten Preview Week 5

There are a couple interesting conference games this weekend.  Including Ohio State traveling to Iowa.  Don't sleep on Friday's night game with Penn State at Northwestern.  Only 7 Big Ten games this weekend. 

Friday:

Penn State (-3) @ Northwestern:  I haven't watched either team this year and PSU got upset by Wisconsin last week.  I like Northwestern in this game but Penn State is probably the better team.  Northwestern 27 PSU 20

Saturday:

Ohio State (-14.5) @ Iowa: It's hard playing at Iowa and the Hawkeyes will keep this one close for maybe a half.  Then OSU will find out they can pass on this defense and score a ton of points, if they just score points in the red zone. No upset this weekend for Iowa.   OSU 28 Iowa 13

Maryland @ Nebraska (-14.5):  Nebraska continues to dominate the lower teams in the Big Ten, they could be schedule good this year.  Nebraska 31 Maryland 9

Purdue @ Illinois (-10):  Illinois looked decent at times against OSU last weekend, Purdue does not play defense.  Illinois 38 Purdue 24

Washington @ USC (-9.5):  Trojans has a tough weekend and so did the Huskies.  USC should be able to rebound from the Oregon beat down.  USC 41 Wash 31

IU (-23.5) @ Rutgers:  This is a night game?  Why?  IU 44 Rutgers 21 

Michigan and Minnesota injury report:

Marsh, Nichols, Sprague, and JHD on Questionable is not great, but last week most guys on "questionable" played.  So we got that going for us.  Yes, Michigan needs all 4 guys on Saturday. 

Wolverine Wednesday: Does Coach Whitt Know?

I've been critical of Coach Whitt and staff for not knowing Michigan traditions until after they happen, they should have a Michigan Historian on staff.  Examples through 4 weeks that Coach Whitt was surprised about:

• Michigan playing poorly in game 1 
• Michigan playing poorly in a night game 
• Maize Jerseys 
• That people are still talking about a play from Week 1 
• That the Wolverines play best a noon 
• Iowa has some weird magic
• Every point against Iowa is ultra important 
• Every defense they will face will sell out to stop the run 
• Even when you win it feels like a loss as the Michigan Head Coach 

There is another one coming up on Saturday and you better be prepared.   Minnesota will play like they are in the CFP this weekend to win the Little Brown Jug.  It's the most important trophy the 

Golden Gophers can win.   They will not win a Big Ten Championship or get to the CFP,  this game and maybe a bowl game in Nashville are the most important prize for the Golden Gophers. 

When you have young players and transfers they don't understand.  When you mix in a new staff and they are naive to these things, do you know what happens?  You actually lose football games you should win.  Best example was the Iowa game last weekend.   Long time, Michigan fans knew bad things were coming after that weird tip ball that landed in a Hawkeye's hand after coming from out of bounds. 

If the Wolverines are not ready to play on Saturday, they are going to lose another game and the oldest trophy in college football.  

Like I said on Monday, sometimes playing at home has too many distractions.  Get on the road, start bonding as a team, play Michigan Football and start to dominate on both sides of the ball.  Everyone has to be better this week, Coaches, Coordinators, Head Coach, Players, Defense, Offense, and Special Teams. 

Michigan Tuesday: JJ to Giants

Michigan fans love JJ no matter what.  Even if he doesn't complete another pass in the NFL, he delivered a National Championship to Michigan in a year full of non-stop distractions.  He will always go down as a legend in Ann Arbor.  

We all know he got off to a bad start in Minnesota, injured during his first pre-season game and struggled in year 2 without any NFL experience and more injuries.   This year, Minnesota wasn't all in on JJ and signed Kyler Murray and JJ dropped to #3 on the depth chart.  

Michigan fans love JJ and so do the Harbaugh's and luckily they control 2 NFL franchises.  John (maybe the better coach) traded for JJ to replace his young and hurt QB and to backup Jameis until that story gets too old and JJ learns the playbook.  Great spot for him but NYC is never easy on a QB.  

• Lesson #44 on being the Michigan head coach.  This quote from Coach Whitt yesterday: He feels they’re 0-4, but 3-1 and need to be better.

• Coach Whitt didn't like the 4th down jump QB sneak by Bryce.

• Coach Hill made the call on the defensive formation for the last play and thought it was the best formation for the moment. It wasn't.

• I did like the hoodie coach was wearing during his press conference. Nike put it up for sale!

• Coach also said John Henry Daley was walking around on Monday without a boot, so he hopes he is ready to go on Saturday for the Little Brown Jug.

• The Big Ten will not allow any player that signed an NBA or NFL contract to comeback, the good news is Roddy Gayle did not sign an Exhibit 10 contract and should be ok for next season.

Michigan Monday: Concerns About Coaching and Too Early Look at The Golden Gophers

Cignetti and Dusty May ruined coaching for every college football and basketball coach.  They took two programs and won National Championships in year 2 by leveraging the Transfer Portal and finding the perfect fits.  I know this statement is my favorite broken record but the Michigan job is not like any other job in College Football.  There are very strict expectations and most coaches can't handle them.   Moeller couldn't, Rich Rod couldn't, Brady Hoke couldn't, Sherrone couldn't, and it even took Harbaugh years to figure it out.  

So it's not fair what I'm going to say right now because "the cake isn't baked yet this year" and Coach Whitt and staff are still figuring things out in Ann Arbor but,  Coach Whitt and staff are not meeting expectations currently.  There are two things I expected out of Michigan this year at a minimum, clean and discipline football and we've seen very little of either through 4 games.  

You can not coach Michigan like Utah or BYU or any other school out there, because Ann Arbor is different.  Before you take the job in Ann Arbor, every head coach needs to understand that.  

Case in point, I love being aggressive against certain teams. Go for 4th downs and throw to the end zone, but not against Iowa.   Why?  Because when you play Iowa every point is like 7 points.   If Michigan had a different strategy on Saturday, they would've been up 9 or more points the entire game.  On my group chat at half-time, I said Michigan is playing its best game of the year but they are playing right into Iowa's hands.  

The penalties and dumb plays are on the coaches.  I thought Coach Combs was probably doing the best job on the staff until Saturday's kick off return.   That last drive the Michigan defense was gassed and out of position for the final play.  How a WR has a 1 on 1 coverage with two seconds left and zero threat of a running game is beyond me.  The Sunday night NFL game last night had the exact same scenario and Denver had a large amount of the defense standing on the goal line and picked off Stafford to end the game.  

I would love to point tp the Oklahoma game as a success but Georgia just rolled them like they were not even on the field and Boise shut out Western in Kalamazoo.    Michigan has yet to beat a good team and this year might continue to be a struggle if they can't turn things around and play smarter football.   They have the talent but do they have the mindset plus the skill and will to play better football?

Going on the road, might be what this team needs.  Get away from Ann Arbor, get away from school, and get away from distractions.   Michigan has a trophy game on Saturday and its Minnesota's Super Bowl.  The Wolverines need to be prepared for a Golden Gopher team that just upset UW late night on Saturday in Seattle, which is no easy task.   Someone better prepare Coach Whitt and staff what to expect on Saturday.  

Minnesota 3-1 

Best Win: UW last week 

Loss: Miss St

Pass: 258.8 per (65th)

Run: 119 (116th) 

Score: 35 (46th) 

Give up: 19 (40th)

Minnesota likes to the row the boat and run the football but this year they seem to favor the pass with QB Drake Lindsey.  Should be an interesting one and and a noon kick.   Michigan is currently -8.5 favorite. 

• Michigan Pro's had a good Sunday: Mason Graham had 2 sacks, Roman Wilson caught a long TD pass from Rogers, and Wallace has a pick for the Rams.