Strategic Decisions in High-Stakes Football Moments

1 hour and 48 minutes

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1. Offense vs Oklahoma

Starts at 1:00

How bothered/upset are you right now? Seth says this game was 2004 Notre Dame. It feels like they're playing for 2027 but you need some momentum if you want to get more wide receivers. You want Bryce Underwood to let it rip but instead the offense played way too conservatively. Michigan didn't keep it close, Oklahoma kept shooting themselves in the foot to keep Michigan in this game. Oklahoma knew Michigan would run a bunch of freshman quarterback plays and blew them all up. It's possible that Michigan didn't drop back much because they offensive line couldn't give Bryce enough time and the coaches knew this. Maybe the coaches are just trying to keep Bryce from getting hurt and that means playing conservatively in a non-conference game. Why are there so many runs and screens on 3rd down? Just throw it on 3rd and long and see what happens. How much of the Jim Harbaugh stuff is sustainable without literally Jim Harbaugh? Sometimes Crippen just isn't strong enough for his assignment. 

[The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP] 

2. Defense vs Oklahoma

Starts at 29:45

That felt like it should've been about 24 points. John Mateer also did some incredible things and came up positive in the random number generator game. Michigan wasn't able to get after Oklahoma's freshman left tackle. There was some cute Wink stuff again that the personnel couldn't execute. He reverted back to some of his ways from early last year. When Oklahoma did run it up the middle the defensive line was what you wanted it to be. Overall, the defense was okay, just not #1 defense in America okay. TJ Guy getting shut down by a true freshman tackle says "we're just not there." Was there much of a difference with and without Jaishawn Barham? Oklahoma seemed to adjust to his absence but Michigan didn't. 

3. Hot Takes, Game Theory, and Special Teams

Starts at 53:11

Takes not quite as hot Billy Napier's hot seat. Number changes must be approved by a sickos committee (unless it is to make the quarterback #98). Michigan elected to kick from the plus 38 yard line, this is indefensible when you have Zvada. The point of being Michigan is that you can get that 4th and 2. Sherrone should be old and young enough to have played Madden from the age of six. Go let Zvada (and all the guys who make plays) go make the plays they're supposed to make. There was no mention of Semaj getting targeted and looking woozie. In case you're wondering the difference between running into the kicker and roughing the kicker... that was roughing the kicker. 

4. Around the Big Ten with Jamie Mac

Starts at 1:21:51

Too many Big Ten teams so notes are reduced.

Penn State 34, FIU 0

Indiana 56, Kennesaw State 9

Minnesota 66, Northwestern State 0
Minnesota running back Darrius Taylor went out with an injury.

Ohio State 70, Grambling 0

Nebraska 68, Akron 0
It should be a little bit easier to run against Nebraska than Oklahoma at least.

Wisconsin 42, Middle Tennessee 10
This game was actually close for a while. Wisconsin couldn't run the ball well at all.

USC 59, Georgia Southern 20
USC with 11.3 YPP through two games. They have one touchdown per 6.5 snaps.

Washington 70, UC-Davis 10

Northwestern 42, Western Illinois 7

Purdue 34, Southern Illinois 17

Illinois 45, Duke 19
Duke is not a terrible ACC team, they outgained Illinois. How valid is Illinois being ranked #11? Duke had five turnovers. Illinois got a first down after Duke had two guys wearing the same number on a punt.

Iowa 13, Iowa State 16
This was a perfect rendition of ¡El Assico!. Zero explosive plays between both teams. Neither team got to 300 yards of offense. The same guy kicked the same game winning field goal for the 2nd year. 

Rutgers 45, Miami (NTM) 17
Rutgers has scored on 12 of their 16 drives this year. There's a legit passing attack here.

Oregon 69, Oklahoma State 3
Mike Gundy complained before the game that Oregon spent a lot of money on their players. Then oh no! Oklahome State is an OSU that looks too much like Oregon State apparently.

Michigan State 42, Boston College 40 (2OT)
Aidan Chiles can be anything in any given week and this week was Good Aidan Chiles. Is Michigan State's pass defense worse than Fordham's?

UNLV 30, UCLA 23
Going to UCLA is telling on yourself. UNLV's first win over a "Big Ten" team in 22 years. Alex Orji's only appearance was one running play.

Maryland 20, Northern Illinois 9
Would you rather take the Maryland job or the Virginia Tech job? Would you rather have mayo dumped on you or lose the Mayo Bowl?


MUSIC:

• "What's the Move"—Friendship
• "After the Flood"—Jesse Woods
• "Take My Heart"—Florry
• “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra