1 00:00:07,680 --> 00:00:10,800 You're listening to the Back Home Network presented by Home 2 00:00:10,800 --> 00:00:21,280 Field Apparel. Welcome back to Crimson Cast 3 00:00:21,280 --> 00:00:22,960 Full. GAIL and Clavio are joining you. 4 00:00:22,960 --> 00:00:26,320 Here. It is Thursday, November 7th and 5 00:00:26,320 --> 00:00:30,080 a big week for Indiana football. It's a take on Michigan and what 6 00:00:30,080 --> 00:00:32,840 is a game that has a lot of implications for IU football 7 00:00:32,840 --> 00:00:34,200 coming up here over this weekend. 8 00:00:34,480 --> 00:00:38,720 Big game, marquee match up on CBS Sports. 9 00:00:38,720 --> 00:00:40,240 You got Michigan coming into town. 10 00:00:40,240 --> 00:00:44,560 You got Indiana on the precipice of something truly, truly 11 00:00:44,560 --> 00:00:48,440 outstanding. And we're gonna talk about all 12 00:00:48,440 --> 00:00:51,400 of that on today's show as we've got our friend Taylor Lehman 13 00:00:51,400 --> 00:00:55,280 back with us from Bite Sized Bison as we're going to do our 14 00:00:55,360 --> 00:00:59,560 now customary Thursday night slash Friday morning breakdown 15 00:00:59,800 --> 00:01:02,160 of what to expect in the game. Taylor, good to have you back 16 00:01:02,160 --> 00:01:02,880 again. How you doing? 17 00:01:03,200 --> 00:01:04,800 I'm good. Thanks for having me on. 18 00:01:04,800 --> 00:01:06,640 Yeah. You know, I, I love being on the 19 00:01:06,640 --> 00:01:09,800 show, of course, and I always appreciate you having me on, but 20 00:01:10,040 --> 00:01:13,200 I don't necessarily have a Crimson cast to listen to when I 21 00:01:13,200 --> 00:01:16,800 am on the on this show. So I could I could go back and 22 00:01:16,800 --> 00:01:19,920 listen to this show again, but I I avoid doing that anymore so. 23 00:01:20,920 --> 00:01:23,760 I I don't think there's any shame in being like I was on 24 00:01:23,760 --> 00:01:25,280 that show. I am going to listen to that 25 00:01:25,280 --> 00:01:27,200 thing. That's totally fine as far as 26 00:01:27,240 --> 00:01:29,880 I'm concerned. But well, it's a couple of good 27 00:01:29,880 --> 00:01:32,480 shows that got recorded today. Of course, Crimson Cash out and 28 00:01:32,480 --> 00:01:35,480 then Scott had a great interview with Jeremy Gray, which I'd 29 00:01:35,480 --> 00:01:37,280 recommend everybody listen to as well. 30 00:01:37,280 --> 00:01:39,640 So go back on the feed, check that out. 31 00:01:40,200 --> 00:01:42,600 But we're going to dive into the numbers here for IU football. 32 00:01:42,600 --> 00:01:45,320 We did this last week. It's funny Taylor, we did that 33 00:01:45,320 --> 00:01:47,680 Michigan State preview. I had a bunch of people in the 34 00:01:47,680 --> 00:01:50,440 day and 1/2 after that between that and the start of the game 35 00:01:50,440 --> 00:01:53,840 who were like, man, I was really worried, but I felt much better 36 00:01:53,840 --> 00:01:58,480 after listening to your podcast. And so hopefully we can make 37 00:01:58,480 --> 00:02:00,440 people feel better again with this one. 38 00:02:00,520 --> 00:02:02,720 This is a fascinating game. We're going to talk about it 39 00:02:02,720 --> 00:02:04,720 here in just a second. First of all, folks, just a 40 00:02:04,720 --> 00:02:08,080 reminder, we are here on the Back Home Network brought to you 41 00:02:08,080 --> 00:02:10,160 by Home Field Apparel. Your place to go for the finest 42 00:02:10,160 --> 00:02:14,640 in college fashions, the softest fabrics, the coolest designs and 43 00:02:15,200 --> 00:02:19,160 of course, Indiana being a flagship school of home field so 44 00:02:19,160 --> 00:02:21,400 much home field that you can purchase. 45 00:02:21,640 --> 00:02:24,320 They've been dropping some amazing stuff here recently. 46 00:02:24,760 --> 00:02:28,440 The 9 Indiana shirt was back. The the Kurt Signetti shirts 47 00:02:28,440 --> 00:02:31,240 have been awesome. The pullover, the 90s era 48 00:02:31,240 --> 00:02:32,960 pullover has been awesome. He's had a little bit of 49 00:02:32,960 --> 00:02:34,400 everything from home field apparel. 50 00:02:34,680 --> 00:02:37,840 So if you are an IU fan and you have not been home field apparel 51 00:02:39,240 --> 00:02:41,640 there, there's still hope for you, but you need to get over 52 00:02:41,640 --> 00:02:45,080 there as quickly as possible. Go to homefieldapparel.com and 53 00:02:45,080 --> 00:02:47,800 follow them on social media, Sign up for alerts. 54 00:02:47,800 --> 00:02:50,480 You get some great text messages talking about what's available 55 00:02:50,480 --> 00:02:52,960 and, and what you should maybe think about purchasing. 56 00:02:53,280 --> 00:02:56,480 And of course, just the full gamut of, of, you know, hundreds 57 00:02:56,480 --> 00:03:00,560 of schools and you know, thousands of different designs 58 00:03:00,560 --> 00:03:04,160 that you can choose from, including a ton IU football, IU 59 00:03:04,160 --> 00:03:06,680 basketball, it's all over the place. 60 00:03:06,680 --> 00:03:11,320 So go to homefieldapparel.com, use the code home 23, home 2-3 61 00:03:11,960 --> 00:03:14,600 and get 15% off your first order. 62 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:18,400 Let's also remind everybody that we're on sub stack. 63 00:03:18,640 --> 00:03:23,240 Taylor's on stuff Taylor the the sales ending probably before 64 00:03:23,240 --> 00:03:25,000 people are going to actually hear this episode. 65 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:28,120 But you've got I got what, a 30% off deal right now on sub stack, 66 00:03:28,120 --> 00:03:31,320 right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. 30% off on on 67 00:03:31,320 --> 00:03:34,800 sub stack ends at midnight on the 7th going into the 8th. 68 00:03:34,880 --> 00:03:38,240 So like, like you're saying, Galen, let's let's say you hear 69 00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:41,080 this, you know tonight. Yeah, they might not be able to 70 00:03:41,080 --> 00:03:46,520 cash 10, but it'll be the only mid season sale for BSBI. 71 00:03:46,520 --> 00:03:48,360 Just want to I, I felt it was a good time. 72 00:03:48,400 --> 00:03:51,120 You know, and we're talking about we're talking about the 73 00:03:51,120 --> 00:03:54,280 significance of this game coming up, but also, you know, the the 74 00:03:54,280 --> 00:03:56,880 post season and, and obviously the Ohio State game as well. 75 00:03:56,880 --> 00:04:01,320 So yeah, yeah, yeah. A lot of people have have become 76 00:04:01,320 --> 00:04:03,320 paid subscribers through that. So it's been really cool 77 00:04:03,320 --> 00:04:05,280 welcoming some more people into the BSB community. 78 00:04:05,360 --> 00:04:08,760 And to be fair, even the normal rate of $50.00 to be a 79 00:04:08,760 --> 00:04:11,360 subscriber to BSB is a tremendous bargain. 80 00:04:11,400 --> 00:04:14,400 I mean, all the data that, that Taylor crunches, all the graphs, 81 00:04:14,400 --> 00:04:17,120 all the visual visualizations of what's going on with IU football 82 00:04:17,120 --> 00:04:19,760 as it compares to the rest of the conference in the country 83 00:04:20,079 --> 00:04:21,760 are absolutely worth your time and money. 84 00:04:21,760 --> 00:04:26,000 So head over to bite sized bison.substack.com. 85 00:04:26,360 --> 00:04:29,520 And while you're there, you can find crimsoncast.substack.com. 86 00:04:29,520 --> 00:04:31,160 We'd love to have you as a part of our community as well. 87 00:04:31,160 --> 00:04:35,600 Over 1000 people have subscribed for free to the distribution 88 00:04:35,600 --> 00:04:39,400 list for Crimson Cast. You get podcast notifications 89 00:04:39,400 --> 00:04:43,600 emailed right to your inbox. We also have a paid option which 90 00:04:43,600 --> 00:04:46,360 you can help us keep the lights on, help us providing you this 91 00:04:46,360 --> 00:04:50,040 great content that we try to provide on a weekly basis as far 92 00:04:50,040 --> 00:04:52,440 as IU football and IU basketball are concerned. 93 00:04:52,440 --> 00:04:54,920 So again, crimsoncast.substack.com, we'd 94 00:04:54,920 --> 00:04:56,000 love to have you in the community. 95 00:04:56,600 --> 00:04:59,720 All right, Taylor, we got a lot to talk about with this game, so 96 00:04:59,720 --> 00:05:01,760 let's go ahead and jump into it. So Indiana comes into this 97 00:05:01,760 --> 00:05:05,400 contest, they're nine and O, they take on a Michigan team 98 00:05:05,680 --> 00:05:09,840 that is not 9 and O Michigan 5:00 and 4:00 on the season. 99 00:05:10,360 --> 00:05:14,320 And this is one of those games I I always love when you know, if 100 00:05:14,320 --> 00:05:16,880 you're a subscriber to bite sized Bison, you'll know this 101 00:05:16,880 --> 00:05:18,640 and some of you on the audience already are. 102 00:05:19,520 --> 00:05:23,240 I always wait for Taylor's like preliminary grid that he puts 103 00:05:23,240 --> 00:05:26,880 out the the worksheet, the advanced stat preview, I guess 104 00:05:26,880 --> 00:05:30,240 is what he technically calls it that lays out, you know, the 105 00:05:30,240 --> 00:05:32,920 Indiana's offense versus their opponent's defense, Indiana's 106 00:05:32,920 --> 00:05:35,720 defense versus their opponent's offense, individual stats for 107 00:05:35,720 --> 00:05:40,840 each of the categories. You know, last week I waited and 108 00:05:40,840 --> 00:05:43,320 then it popped for Indiana, Michigan State and I was like, 109 00:05:43,320 --> 00:05:45,800 oh, this is a much more favorable matchup than I thought 110 00:05:45,800 --> 00:05:49,480 it was statistically. So I was really curious what the 111 00:05:49,480 --> 00:05:51,480 Michigan matchup would look like. 112 00:05:51,480 --> 00:05:55,360 And again, it's a much more favorable matchup in terms of 113 00:05:55,360 --> 00:05:58,600 like strength versus weakness and whatnot than what I would 114 00:05:58,600 --> 00:06:00,400 have anticipated. We're going to dive into all of 115 00:06:00,400 --> 00:06:03,520 these, but I guess as you as you put this together and it first 116 00:06:03,520 --> 00:06:08,040 formulated on the page, like what came to mind when you were 117 00:06:08,040 --> 00:06:10,960 trying to think of how to categorize or describe this 118 00:06:10,960 --> 00:06:13,840 particular matchup and what to potentially expect in the game. 119 00:06:14,840 --> 00:06:16,640 Yeah, So, you know, I always knew that. 120 00:06:17,040 --> 00:06:19,480 OK, So Galen, I've been looking at the numbers all season 121 00:06:19,640 --> 00:06:22,240 because I've been putting the data, the data visualizations 122 00:06:22,240 --> 00:06:25,640 together. And I knew that I knew that 123 00:06:25,640 --> 00:06:27,440 Michigan's conversion rates weren't good. 124 00:06:28,320 --> 00:06:30,400 I, I knew that they were a rushing team. 125 00:06:31,600 --> 00:06:34,280 I knew that the, the advanced analytics did not really like 126 00:06:34,280 --> 00:06:37,280 Michigan much this year, which you know, being 5:00 and 4:00. 127 00:06:37,280 --> 00:06:41,480 So would suggest that as well. But the, the thing that I was 128 00:06:41,480 --> 00:06:45,360 actually surprised did not show up much and there's not really 129 00:06:45,360 --> 00:06:50,120 anything necessarily dedicated to it, But I, I have a defensive 130 00:06:50,120 --> 00:06:53,400 line havoc chart that I fill out that or that I, you know, update 131 00:06:53,400 --> 00:06:58,840 every week in the recaps and Michigan always does super well 132 00:06:58,880 --> 00:07:01,120 in that. And so I was surprised to see 133 00:07:02,040 --> 00:07:04,360 throughout the season, I was surprised to see how well 134 00:07:04,360 --> 00:07:08,160 they've been creating havoc with their defensive line, but how 135 00:07:08,160 --> 00:07:11,600 that's not really translating to wins necessarily. 136 00:07:11,600 --> 00:07:13,400 And then, you know, putting together the chart, I was like, 137 00:07:13,400 --> 00:07:16,040 OK, where is this going to show? And it didn't really show 138 00:07:16,040 --> 00:07:19,280 anywhere. They, they have like NFL, like 139 00:07:19,480 --> 00:07:23,000 several NFL guys on the defensive line, which I've 140 00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:29,280 outlined in the preview and, and it doesn't really show in their 141 00:07:29,280 --> 00:07:32,680 defensive profile, at least, you know, the the one that I put 142 00:07:32,680 --> 00:07:35,040 together. And I was kind of, you know, 143 00:07:35,480 --> 00:07:37,400 trying to piece that together in my head. 144 00:07:37,400 --> 00:07:39,040 And I was like, you know, how, how does that work? 145 00:07:39,040 --> 00:07:41,800 But I think teams are just able to scheme around it. 146 00:07:41,840 --> 00:07:46,520 And yeah, I think Indiana's even better suited than some of the 147 00:07:46,520 --> 00:07:48,040 opponents they played to scheme around it. 148 00:07:48,040 --> 00:07:50,720 So. So a lot of people that listen 149 00:07:50,720 --> 00:07:55,400 to the podcast know this, but just so we're all on the same 150 00:07:55,400 --> 00:07:59,560 page, explain havoc to the other. 151 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:02,520 So havoc is a measure of what the defense is able to do when 152 00:08:02,520 --> 00:08:04,640 they're racking up what. Yeah. 153 00:08:04,640 --> 00:08:10,680 So it's it's a different measure for for different places. 154 00:08:10,680 --> 00:08:13,560 I like to include any time the defensive line is disrupting a 155 00:08:13,560 --> 00:08:15,880 play. So a lot of a lot of places they 156 00:08:15,880 --> 00:08:20,360 just include sacks, tackles for losses and that and those leave 157 00:08:20,360 --> 00:08:22,280 it that. But I also include like passes 158 00:08:22,280 --> 00:08:24,000 defended 'cause they'll bat passes. 159 00:08:25,280 --> 00:08:27,800 Quarterback pressures is a big one that I like to include 160 00:08:27,800 --> 00:08:31,880 because if you're disrupting a quarterback's comfort, you're 161 00:08:31,880 --> 00:08:35,360 you're causing havoc. So mine's a little bit more, it 162 00:08:35,760 --> 00:08:38,080 has a little more breadth, I guess. 163 00:08:38,080 --> 00:08:40,400 And so, yeah, that's the idea of a havoc. 164 00:08:40,720 --> 00:08:44,600 Havoc instance is whenever there's some sort of disruption 165 00:08:44,600 --> 00:08:48,040 that is caused by, you know, the defense for that group. 166 00:08:49,800 --> 00:08:52,680 So when you talk about this Michigan team, I mean, it's one 167 00:08:52,680 --> 00:08:54,760 of the things we've talked about and, and you actually have a 168 00:08:54,760 --> 00:09:00,280 really nice chart in this week's game preview where you lay out 169 00:09:00,720 --> 00:09:04,040 the sheer amount of talent that Michigan has when you relate it 170 00:09:04,040 --> 00:09:07,080 to high school recruiting rankings and whatnot. 171 00:09:07,080 --> 00:09:09,800 And obviously that's not a like for like in terms of the actual 172 00:09:09,800 --> 00:09:12,800 talent, but it's a good overall metric. 173 00:09:13,320 --> 00:09:16,560 You know, Michigan is is basically tied with USC in terms 174 00:09:16,560 --> 00:09:18,480 of composite talent in the Big 10. 175 00:09:18,840 --> 00:09:21,480 Ohio State's the clear leader. Oregon's behind them. 176 00:09:21,480 --> 00:09:23,880 Penn State is ahead of USC and Michigan barely. 177 00:09:23,880 --> 00:09:26,080 And then it's like Nebraska, Indiana's like close to the 178 00:09:26,080 --> 00:09:29,360 bottom. Only Rutgers and Illinois have 179 00:09:29,360 --> 00:09:32,640 less accrued talent. Northwestern has more than 180 00:09:32,640 --> 00:09:34,640 Indiana does, like Maryland does. 181 00:09:34,640 --> 00:09:38,640 So anyway, all of that to say, you know, the, the hallmark of a 182 00:09:38,640 --> 00:09:41,480 lot of Michigan teams has been their ability to simply out 183 00:09:41,480 --> 00:09:44,440 talent their opponents on both sides of the ball. 184 00:09:44,880 --> 00:09:48,680 And yet, whereas the last three vintages of Michigan teams have 185 00:09:48,680 --> 00:09:52,480 really been able to do that under Jim Harbaugh, the Charon 186 00:09:52,480 --> 00:09:56,160 Moore Michigan team that we've got this year is really 187 00:09:56,160 --> 00:09:58,280 struggling across a number of metrics. 188 00:09:58,280 --> 00:10:01,360 And it's interesting because like you said, like even though 189 00:10:01,960 --> 00:10:05,080 we have seen I, I think a lot of this seems to manifest itself in 190 00:10:05,080 --> 00:10:08,760 Michigan being able to make plays early in drives or early 191 00:10:08,760 --> 00:10:11,760 in down sequences where they're making great stops on 1st down. 192 00:10:12,520 --> 00:10:15,480 But it appears to melt away as they get further into the drive 193 00:10:15,480 --> 00:10:20,320 chart, which leads them to kind of keeping their opponents from 194 00:10:20,320 --> 00:10:23,120 scoring a ton of points, but not keeping them from scoring the 195 00:10:23,120 --> 00:10:26,160 points or gaining the yards that they need to to gain an 196 00:10:26,160 --> 00:10:28,120 advantageous position over Michigan. 197 00:10:28,120 --> 00:10:29,880 Would would that be a good summation of things? 198 00:10:30,440 --> 00:10:33,440 Yeah, yeah, I think so. And you know, I think that 199 00:10:33,440 --> 00:10:36,560 probably is the biggest threat honestly just is Michigan's 200 00:10:36,560 --> 00:10:38,960 talent because they do have a ton of talent. 201 00:10:38,960 --> 00:10:41,920 And so, you know, when you're thinking about, you know, plays 202 00:10:41,920 --> 00:10:44,480 on a micro level, that talent can be disruptive. 203 00:10:45,160 --> 00:10:49,440 So I think that the the talent really is, is a a threat, 204 00:10:49,440 --> 00:10:52,840 obviously. But the the coaching really, and 205 00:10:52,840 --> 00:10:54,560 I wrote this in the in the preview as well, but the 206 00:10:54,560 --> 00:10:56,840 coaching really seems to be letting down the talent on the 207 00:10:56,840 --> 00:10:59,840 roster. You know when, when, when you 208 00:10:59,840 --> 00:11:02,360 have a lot of high talent, but you don't. 209 00:11:03,200 --> 00:11:06,080 I wouldn't even say, I wouldn't even say it's just not a good 210 00:11:06,080 --> 00:11:08,480 conversion rate. It's like a terrible they have 211 00:11:08,480 --> 00:11:10,840 terrible conversion rates on both sides of the ball and it 212 00:11:10,840 --> 00:11:12,080 just seems like a coaching issue. 213 00:11:12,360 --> 00:11:16,440 Just to just to classify this, so conversion rate is ultimately 214 00:11:16,440 --> 00:11:19,880 when you, when you talk about it like it's the percent of of 215 00:11:19,880 --> 00:11:22,360 first downs or scoring plays on either side. 216 00:11:22,360 --> 00:11:26,040 So how many are you gaining if you're an offensive team? 217 00:11:26,040 --> 00:11:27,920 How many are you allowing here if you're a defensive team? 218 00:11:27,920 --> 00:11:31,840 So Michigan on the season, the conversion rate they're allowing 219 00:11:31,840 --> 00:11:36,600 on defense is 74.3%, which is 92nd in the country. 220 00:11:36,960 --> 00:11:39,800 Coming into this week of football, their offensive 221 00:11:39,800 --> 00:11:44,520 conversion rate is 71.2%, which is 87th in the country. 222 00:11:44,520 --> 00:11:47,920 And just to compare, like what Indiana does on defense, the 223 00:11:47,920 --> 00:11:50,320 conversion rate they've allowed has been really impressive, 224 00:11:50,320 --> 00:11:54,520 62.4% on defense, that's 13th in the country. 225 00:11:55,080 --> 00:11:59,160 And on offense, their conversion rate is 80.3%, which is 23rd in 226 00:11:59,160 --> 00:12:01,560 the country, which isn't quite as good as their defensive 227 00:12:01,560 --> 00:12:04,440 conversion rate stopped, but it's still pretty good. 228 00:12:05,120 --> 00:12:07,680 And it's really fascinating because like you said, like 229 00:12:07,680 --> 00:12:10,720 Michigan is clearly more talented, but Indiana to this 230 00:12:10,720 --> 00:12:14,880 point has demonstrated like a much clearer game plan and much 231 00:12:14,880 --> 00:12:18,120 better preparation in games versus what Michigan has shown 232 00:12:18,120 --> 00:12:22,640 in basically the same time span. Yeah, yeah, and, and, and I want 233 00:12:22,640 --> 00:12:24,120 to add real quick conversion rates. 234 00:12:24,120 --> 00:12:26,320 The reason why I include them is because that shows how well 235 00:12:26,320 --> 00:12:29,960 A-Team can move the ball. And, and a lot of times once 236 00:12:29,960 --> 00:12:31,840 they get down into the red zone, then they struggle with that. 237 00:12:31,840 --> 00:12:34,600 But I have a chart that also disaggregates all of those. 238 00:12:34,600 --> 00:12:38,920 So it shows how it ends, how how their conversions, how their 239 00:12:38,920 --> 00:12:41,440 conversion rates are dispersed. And also when they don't 240 00:12:41,440 --> 00:12:44,840 convert, how do they end? But anyway, yes, you're right. 241 00:12:44,840 --> 00:12:51,520 The, I think a lot of it comes from just a lack of experience 242 00:12:51,560 --> 00:12:55,520 and, and, and you know, Sharon Moore, he had never been a head 243 00:12:55,520 --> 00:12:58,320 coach at any level before he took this job. 244 00:12:59,440 --> 00:13:03,640 And he honestly, he reminded me a lot of Desean Foster Galen 245 00:13:03,640 --> 00:13:06,320 when we had talked about him before how he was just very 246 00:13:06,320 --> 00:13:08,840 contained to UCLA. Sharon Moore. 247 00:13:08,840 --> 00:13:10,520 I mean, he, he, I think he worked a bit. 248 00:13:10,520 --> 00:13:12,240 He worked like a year or two at Louisville. 249 00:13:12,840 --> 00:13:16,520 He was at Central Michigan for a bit, but then he got hired at 250 00:13:16,520 --> 00:13:22,320 Michigan and then worked his way up there and, and, and it just 251 00:13:22,320 --> 00:13:24,320 felt like, it just feels very similar to me. 252 00:13:24,360 --> 00:13:27,840 And so the, and then the, the offensive coordinator as well. 253 00:13:27,840 --> 00:13:33,880 I mean, the, he, he coached 2 years of FBS as in the FS as an 254 00:13:33,880 --> 00:13:35,600 offensive coordinator at Old Dominion. 255 00:13:36,080 --> 00:13:38,720 And now he's, he just happened to be the quarterbacks coach for 256 00:13:38,760 --> 00:13:41,960 JJ McCarthy last year. And so he got promoted to OC and 257 00:13:42,680 --> 00:13:48,120 it was just a big effort to of retain whatever was leftover 258 00:13:48,120 --> 00:13:50,360 from the Jim Harbaugh era at Michigan. 259 00:13:50,800 --> 00:13:54,640 And I don't think it's exactly working out for them. 260 00:13:56,000 --> 00:13:58,200 Yeah, I mean, it's interesting because like if you look at 261 00:13:58,200 --> 00:14:01,000 Michigan's wins so far this season, we talked about this a 262 00:14:01,000 --> 00:14:04,040 bit on Bison chat earlier on in the week, like they're they're 263 00:14:04,040 --> 00:14:07,960 five wins on the season. Maybe Fresno stayed at home 30 264 00:14:07,960 --> 00:14:10,920 to 10 in the opening game of the year at the Big House. 265 00:14:10,920 --> 00:14:13,040 And I mean, Fresno's only 5:00 and 4:00. 266 00:14:13,720 --> 00:14:16,320 You know that that's not a team that's exactly left the world on 267 00:14:16,320 --> 00:14:21,040 fire in in the Mountain West. They they beat Arkansas State. 268 00:14:21,040 --> 00:14:24,040 Again, that's that's not a a great team. 269 00:14:24,040 --> 00:14:25,800 They're five and three on the season. 270 00:14:26,640 --> 00:14:31,200 They beat Southern Cal or USC, not to offend any of my Southern 271 00:14:31,200 --> 00:14:34,880 California brethren, but they beat USC 27 to 24. 272 00:14:35,280 --> 00:14:38,800 And at the time, that looked like a really big win for 273 00:14:38,800 --> 00:14:42,240 Michigan. Now that USC is four and five 274 00:14:42,600 --> 00:14:45,960 and, you know, has lost on the road to Maryland, has, you know, 275 00:14:46,040 --> 00:14:50,440 lost on the road to Minnesota, It it looks less impressive 276 00:14:50,440 --> 00:14:53,080 certainly than it did when Michigan did it originally. 277 00:14:53,440 --> 00:14:55,760 They beat Minnesota. But that if you go back and 278 00:14:55,760 --> 00:14:58,320 remember that game, even though that looks better because 279 00:14:58,320 --> 00:15:00,320 Minnesota's six and three has played pretty well. 280 00:15:00,320 --> 00:15:02,280 They've won four in a row since that loss. 281 00:15:02,560 --> 00:15:04,760 The ending of that game was kind of controversial. 282 00:15:04,760 --> 00:15:07,720 There were some calls on the onside kick at the end of the 283 00:15:07,720 --> 00:15:08,920 game that didn't make a lot of sense. 284 00:15:08,920 --> 00:15:10,080 There's a couple of other things. 285 00:15:10,960 --> 00:15:13,920 And then Michigan also beat Michigan State, the team Indiana 286 00:15:13,920 --> 00:15:15,320 just beat. But whereas miss, you know, 287 00:15:15,520 --> 00:15:20,200 Indiana beat Michigan State 47 to 10, Michigan beat them 24 to 288 00:15:20,200 --> 00:15:21,560 17. And even if you're going to take 289 00:15:21,560 --> 00:15:25,880 the rivalry game thing and put it in the mix, it's like you 290 00:15:25,880 --> 00:15:29,280 probably should be beating that Michigan State team at home by 291 00:15:29,280 --> 00:15:32,040 more than seven points if you're a good football team. 292 00:15:32,040 --> 00:15:35,880 And so you look at the losses Michigan suffered, none of them 293 00:15:35,880 --> 00:15:38,400 are embarrassing per SE. I mean, they lose at home to 294 00:15:38,400 --> 00:15:41,000 Texas 31 to 12. Texas is legitimately, you know, 295 00:15:41,000 --> 00:15:44,800 a top ten team in the country. They lose at Washington. 296 00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:47,320 And that felt like a big win for Washington at the time. 297 00:15:47,760 --> 00:15:49,160 And it's progressively become less. 298 00:15:49,160 --> 00:15:53,080 So the real kind of red flag game, I think was the 21 to 299 00:15:53,080 --> 00:15:55,640 seven loss at Illinois, because as we've learned, Illinois is 300 00:15:55,640 --> 00:15:58,200 not very good. Like they're they're kind of the 301 00:15:58,200 --> 00:16:01,000 classic, we're going to beat everybody worse than us and lose 302 00:16:01,000 --> 00:16:02,920 to everybody better than US type of team. 303 00:16:03,440 --> 00:16:06,520 And then of course, this past weekend they played Oregon, I 304 00:16:06,520 --> 00:16:09,520 would say better than a lot of people, myself included, thought 305 00:16:09,520 --> 00:16:11,520 they would, but they still lost 38 to 17. 306 00:16:11,520 --> 00:16:13,880 Like that still was not a particularly close game. 307 00:16:13,880 --> 00:16:16,840 So you you take all that into account and then you look at the 308 00:16:16,840 --> 00:16:20,200 statistics that Michigan's racked up, it's almost 309 00:16:20,200 --> 00:16:22,760 surprising they've won as many games as they have. 310 00:16:23,000 --> 00:16:26,000 You could kind of argue that the Southern California and 311 00:16:26,000 --> 00:16:29,880 Minnesota games, there was some luck involved in the fact that 312 00:16:29,880 --> 00:16:31,800 they were able to win both of those games. 313 00:16:32,360 --> 00:16:35,400 They just haven't been that terribly impressive and it 314 00:16:35,400 --> 00:16:38,360 hasn't been one particular area. Like a lot of times when a team 315 00:16:38,360 --> 00:16:41,560 like Michigan is bad or a team like Ohio State is, is like 316 00:16:41,560 --> 00:16:44,280 average, it's 'cause there's a glaring weakness. 317 00:16:44,280 --> 00:16:46,240 And it doesn't, it's not like there's a glaring weakness on 318 00:16:46,240 --> 00:16:49,400 this Michigan team. As the kids say, Taylor, they're 319 00:16:49,400 --> 00:16:53,800 just kind of mid. Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, they they 320 00:16:54,240 --> 00:16:57,880 and and interesting set that that that I found when I was 321 00:16:57,880 --> 00:17:02,080 kind of researching them was in their five wins, they've won by 322 00:17:02,080 --> 00:17:04,480 an average of eight points like that. 323 00:17:04,480 --> 00:17:08,720 They're, they're not blowing anybody away and the, they've 324 00:17:08,720 --> 00:17:11,680 lost three of the last four games. 325 00:17:11,839 --> 00:17:15,599 And, and just the, and that USC game Galen that, that I really 326 00:17:15,599 --> 00:17:20,040 feel like the getting them that early in the season was, was 327 00:17:20,040 --> 00:17:23,000 really important as well, because they ran the ball a ton. 328 00:17:23,040 --> 00:17:26,680 I think they passed like 12 times and then they ran for 290 329 00:17:26,680 --> 00:17:29,800 yards. And then shortly after that, 330 00:17:29,800 --> 00:17:31,800 teams figured out, oh, hey, that's what Michigan's going to 331 00:17:31,800 --> 00:17:33,120 do. They're just going to run the 332 00:17:33,120 --> 00:17:35,000 ball. So if we forced them into 333 00:17:35,240 --> 00:17:39,280 passing the ball, if we sell out on, on, you know, defending the 334 00:17:39,280 --> 00:17:43,680 run, then we can really, you know, neutralize that Michigan 335 00:17:43,680 --> 00:17:45,640 offense and, and have a good chance. 336 00:17:46,120 --> 00:17:48,880 So I expect Indiana to do something like that as well. 337 00:17:48,880 --> 00:17:54,440 But yeah, like you were saying, it's like it's it's it's I 338 00:17:54,440 --> 00:17:55,680 thought they would be better this year. 339 00:17:55,760 --> 00:17:59,120 Really. I, I I, I, I remember before I 340 00:17:59,240 --> 00:18:01,160 remember in pre season, I was like, you know, that could be a 341 00:18:01,160 --> 00:18:03,120 game that Indiana could win. That's like kind of a winnable 342 00:18:03,120 --> 00:18:04,600 game. You know that Michigan doesn't 343 00:18:04,600 --> 00:18:07,200 look too good going into the season, but I didn't know it was 344 00:18:07,200 --> 00:18:11,120 going to be like this. I mean, and we obviously like 345 00:18:11,120 --> 00:18:15,120 our advanced stats here when we do our previews with Taylor, but 346 00:18:15,520 --> 00:18:18,160 there are some basic stats that you just kind of scratch your 347 00:18:18,160 --> 00:18:20,560 head about. This Michigan team in passing 348 00:18:20,560 --> 00:18:24,240 offense is 17th in the conference. 349 00:18:24,880 --> 00:18:27,560 And the only team that's worse than them in passing offense is 350 00:18:27,560 --> 00:18:30,960 Iowa, who happens to not be very good at offense, like 351 00:18:30,960 --> 00:18:34,840 historically and I believe as a former Michigan quarterback in 352 00:18:34,840 --> 00:18:38,040 their midst. So you know, Michigan on the 353 00:18:38,040 --> 00:18:42,040 season they've they've attempted 210 total passes. 354 00:18:42,040 --> 00:18:46,440 Now compared to Indiana, Indiana has not attempted at that many, 355 00:18:46,440 --> 00:18:48,960 relatively speaking. Indiana's only attempted 250. 356 00:18:48,960 --> 00:18:53,560 But the difference is Michigan's 210 attempts has resulted in 134 357 00:18:53,560 --> 00:18:56,960 yards a game. Indiana's 250 attempts has 358 00:18:56,960 --> 00:19:02,920 resulted in 284 yards a game. Michigan has 10 touchdowns, 9 359 00:19:02,920 --> 00:19:06,280 interceptions. Indiana has 23 touchdowns and 360 00:19:06,280 --> 00:19:10,080 four interceptions. Indiana averages 10.2 yards per 361 00:19:10,080 --> 00:19:14,600 attempt in passing. Michigan's averaging 5.8, which 362 00:19:14,600 --> 00:19:17,760 is the worst in the conference. It's worse than Iowa. 363 00:19:18,000 --> 00:19:21,720 It's worse than Northwestern. It's a passing offense that's 364 00:19:21,720 --> 00:19:26,000 just kind of dead in the water. And it's fascinating because, 365 00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:27,840 you know, I mean, they've, they've had some issues. 366 00:19:28,160 --> 00:19:29,640 They don't really have a quarterback. 367 00:19:29,640 --> 00:19:33,120 They've had three quarterbacks start games so far this season 368 00:19:33,440 --> 00:19:35,640 and play major minutes. One of them has retired from 369 00:19:35,640 --> 00:19:38,600 football, the erstwhile Jack Tuttle, who many of you are 370 00:19:38,600 --> 00:19:40,200 quite familiar with in Indiana land. 371 00:19:40,480 --> 00:19:43,280 But you go down their list and it's like in the games they've 372 00:19:43,280 --> 00:19:48,160 won, it's in the USC game, they they attempted 12 total passes 373 00:19:48,160 --> 00:19:50,800 and completed seven of them for 32 yards. 374 00:19:51,040 --> 00:19:54,600 In the Minnesota game, they attempted 10 or 18. 375 00:19:54,600 --> 00:19:59,200 They completed 10 for 86 yards. You know, and it's, it's 376 00:19:59,200 --> 00:20:01,360 interesting because in the games they've had to pass in 377 00:20:01,360 --> 00:20:05,640 Washington, IL. Ohio State, excuse me, Oregon, 378 00:20:06,000 --> 00:20:09,360 they've attempted 2532 and 25 in those games and they lost all 379 00:20:09,360 --> 00:20:11,640 three of them and they weren't particularly impressive in any 380 00:20:11,640 --> 00:20:14,920 of those games. The Illinois game is one of only 381 00:20:14,920 --> 00:20:17,640 two games all season where they've cracked the 200 yard 382 00:20:17,640 --> 00:20:22,720 barrier in passing. So when you look at that and you 383 00:20:22,720 --> 00:20:25,440 look at the Indiana defense, which is proven, you know, 384 00:20:25,480 --> 00:20:28,200 they're not the best pass defense in in the conference 385 00:20:28,200 --> 00:20:32,640 necessarily, but they're they've gotten so much better over the 386 00:20:32,640 --> 00:20:35,320 course of the last few weeks in terms of being able to be 387 00:20:35,320 --> 00:20:39,400 opportunistic and pass defense. You got to be licking your lips 388 00:20:39,400 --> 00:20:41,400 a little bit. If you're Indiana, going in and 389 00:20:41,400 --> 00:20:44,840 knowing like this is not that hard of a pass offense to shut 390 00:20:44,840 --> 00:20:48,080 down. And it allows you to channel so 391 00:20:48,080 --> 00:20:50,360 much more of your coaching attention into stopping the run, 392 00:20:50,360 --> 00:20:52,120 which is really what Michigan likes to do. 393 00:20:53,120 --> 00:20:58,400 Yeah, yeah, no, definitely the the, yeah, the, the it's really 394 00:20:59,120 --> 00:21:02,360 interesting, Galen. There's a there's a a chart that 395 00:21:02,360 --> 00:21:05,840 I make that's like it measures EPA per target and then the Big 396 00:21:05,840 --> 00:21:09,080 10 and amongst wide receivers. And I was looking at the other 397 00:21:09,080 --> 00:21:10,600 day and I'm like, am I doing something wrong here? 398 00:21:10,600 --> 00:21:12,160 There's like no Michigan on here. 399 00:21:13,040 --> 00:21:16,480 And I looked at this because like, you know, to to keep it, 400 00:21:16,480 --> 00:21:18,360 you know, fair to the guys that are on there. 401 00:21:18,360 --> 00:21:22,000 I have a cut off. You have to have so many targets 402 00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:25,720 to to qualify to be on the chart and they don't have a single 403 00:21:25,720 --> 00:21:28,200 receiver that has 30 targets this year. 404 00:21:28,760 --> 00:21:31,960 And I'm like, wow, that is insane. 405 00:21:31,960 --> 00:21:34,200 And it's because they target their tight end all the time. 406 00:21:34,240 --> 00:21:40,320 Like Colston Loveland is, is probably the maybe the second 407 00:21:40,320 --> 00:21:45,040 best tight end in, in power 4 to, to Tyler Warren at Penn 408 00:21:45,040 --> 00:21:47,960 State probably. But the, it's really 409 00:21:47,960 --> 00:21:50,320 interesting. And, and really that like I saw, 410 00:21:50,320 --> 00:21:53,480 I saw a Michigan fan tweet last week that they they're like, we 411 00:21:53,480 --> 00:21:56,400 have to have something other than slant to Loveland. 412 00:21:57,280 --> 00:21:59,440 And I was like, oh God, that's that's not a good sign. 413 00:21:59,840 --> 00:22:02,800 So yeah, the, the, I think I think it's scheme. 414 00:22:02,840 --> 00:22:08,080 I think it's also, you know, the quarterbacks I I don't think are 415 00:22:08,080 --> 00:22:10,200 very high quality. I think their offensive line is 416 00:22:10,200 --> 00:22:16,640 a bit inconsistent. But yeah, I mean, ultimately I I 417 00:22:16,640 --> 00:22:18,920 think it is scheme, you know, I think I think when you do have 418 00:22:18,920 --> 00:22:21,200 the talent that you have at Michigan, and I don't think 419 00:22:21,200 --> 00:22:23,760 their quarterbacks are terrible. But I will say, you know, the 420 00:22:23,840 --> 00:22:26,720 Dave Davis Warren has played better in his last couple games. 421 00:22:26,720 --> 00:22:29,000 He hasn't thrown an interception in two games since he came back 422 00:22:29,000 --> 00:22:31,520 as a starter. So yeah. 423 00:22:32,000 --> 00:22:34,200 But now, yeah, you mentioned like Colston, Loveland is is 424 00:22:34,200 --> 00:22:38,320 clearly the the bright spot in the receiving game. 49 catches, 425 00:22:38,320 --> 00:22:41,200 523 yards. Averages about 6 catches a game. 426 00:22:41,200 --> 00:22:44,920 4 touchdowns on the season, yes, 49 catches. 427 00:22:45,200 --> 00:22:50,840 The next closest guy is Samaj Morgan, who has 21 and the next 428 00:22:50,840 --> 00:22:54,400 closest guy from that has 12. There's two guys Donovan Edwards 429 00:22:54,400 --> 00:22:56,880 and Tyler Morris with 12. So it's just not a it's not a a 430 00:22:56,880 --> 00:22:58,960 feature of the offense that's getting used very much. 431 00:22:59,680 --> 00:23:05,640 Now, running wise, Michigan, you know, Khalil Mullins, 710 yards. 432 00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:11,120 Donovan Edwards has 467 yards. Alex Orgy is a quarterback has 433 00:23:11,120 --> 00:23:14,120 227 yards. But what's interesting is like, 434 00:23:14,120 --> 00:23:17,320 as much as Michigan has had to rely on the run, they're not the 435 00:23:17,320 --> 00:23:19,760 best running team in the Big 10. Like if you're going to have 436 00:23:19,760 --> 00:23:22,200 that offensive performance in the passing game, you kind of 437 00:23:22,200 --> 00:23:25,360 have to be. But they are 8th in the in the 438 00:23:25,360 --> 00:23:30,240 conference in yards per game, 14186 yards, 11 touchdowns. 439 00:23:30,240 --> 00:23:34,960 Indiana on the ground, by comparison's sake, has 17127 440 00:23:34,960 --> 00:23:38,280 yards and an insane 32 touchdowns. 441 00:23:38,280 --> 00:23:42,280 I we need to wait, we need like an ESPN 30 for 30 just on 442 00:23:42,280 --> 00:23:44,760 Indiana's rushing attack and the amount that they've scored. 443 00:23:44,960 --> 00:23:47,960 But it it's a stark contrast given that Indiana does not lean 444 00:23:48,480 --> 00:23:50,400 like exclusively on their running game. 445 00:23:50,400 --> 00:23:53,160 The fact they've been able to scheme and play as well as they 446 00:23:53,160 --> 00:23:56,120 have, while Michigan, who has to lean on their running game, has 447 00:23:56,120 --> 00:23:58,960 not been able to, is really fascinating to think about, 448 00:23:58,960 --> 00:24:01,080 especially now that we've got a pretty large sample size to 449 00:24:01,080 --> 00:24:04,480 consider for the season. Yeah, yeah, it's, it's, it is 450 00:24:04,520 --> 00:24:07,360 really interesting. It's the the rushing attack is, 451 00:24:07,360 --> 00:24:11,640 is good Mullings and Mullings and Edwards are, are very, very 452 00:24:11,640 --> 00:24:14,160 good running backs. They're actually, it's 453 00:24:14,160 --> 00:24:16,840 interesting given the the, you know, we talk about the 454 00:24:16,840 --> 00:24:20,120 distribution of carries in in Indiana's backfield and, and 455 00:24:20,120 --> 00:24:22,920 it's kind of the same for Michigan between those two 456 00:24:22,920 --> 00:24:27,480 running backs that there are 20 Big 10 running backs that have 457 00:24:27,480 --> 00:24:30,760 80 or more carries and they're two from Indiana and two from 458 00:24:30,760 --> 00:24:32,800 Michigan. So the only two teams that have 459 00:24:34,160 --> 00:24:35,600 running backs to the 80 plus carries. 460 00:24:36,360 --> 00:24:40,000 But yeah, no, the, I think Indiana's tackling is going to 461 00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:44,200 have to be very strong. You know, those they're, they're 462 00:24:44,600 --> 00:24:47,400 tough guys. Donald Evers is a big guy 463 00:24:47,920 --> 00:24:51,960 mulling his runs really strong. So they're going to attack. 464 00:24:51,960 --> 00:24:54,720 I mean, I think the entire offensive philosophy for 465 00:24:54,720 --> 00:24:57,360 Michigan is going to be attacking the interior of the 466 00:24:57,360 --> 00:25:02,160 defense, whether that's passing to the tight ends in the middle 467 00:25:02,160 --> 00:25:06,320 of the field, trying to get that open space behind the the 468 00:25:06,360 --> 00:25:11,960 offensive line or defensive line to the second level or just 469 00:25:11,960 --> 00:25:14,280 running right at them. So I think that's, I think it's 470 00:25:14,280 --> 00:25:18,920 going to be crucial that Indiana is, you know, they, they don't 471 00:25:18,920 --> 00:25:21,760 allow them to, to get a lot of yards after contact because 472 00:25:21,760 --> 00:25:24,760 Mullins especially can and Edwards is also a very talented 473 00:25:24,760 --> 00:25:27,560 runner. But yeah, it, it is really 474 00:25:27,560 --> 00:25:30,040 interesting. I, you know, Galen, I covered 475 00:25:30,040 --> 00:25:34,160 Donovan Edwards recruiting quite a bit because Ohio State was 476 00:25:34,160 --> 00:25:36,960 very much in on him back when I was, you know, covering Ohio 477 00:25:36,960 --> 00:25:40,720 State recruiting and super, super nice guy. 478 00:25:40,760 --> 00:25:43,760 I, I texted you actually really today, I'm like, I actually 479 00:25:43,760 --> 00:25:48,960 really like Donovan Edwards as a person, but the he, he, I, I 480 00:25:48,960 --> 00:25:51,640 keep waiting for him to kind of explode, but he just hasn't 481 00:25:51,640 --> 00:25:53,200 gotten the opportunity to at Michigan. 482 00:25:53,440 --> 00:25:56,040 The talent is there. He can work in the pass game. 483 00:25:56,040 --> 00:25:58,640 You just mentioned him as one of their leading receivers with 12 484 00:25:58,640 --> 00:26:02,000 catches. And you know, I, I, and he's 485 00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:05,160 their backup running back. And so, you know, these two guys 486 00:26:05,160 --> 00:26:11,440 are just, they're very talented. It just depends on how that 487 00:26:11,600 --> 00:26:14,840 offensive line can work against this Indiana defensive line. 488 00:26:14,840 --> 00:26:16,320 Or is the Indiana front in general? 489 00:26:16,800 --> 00:26:19,160 Because I don't, I don't, I don't know if the cornerbacks 490 00:26:19,160 --> 00:26:20,800 could be tested all that much for Indiana. 491 00:26:21,760 --> 00:26:25,720 So, you know, the safeties, the linebackers, they're going to be 492 00:26:25,720 --> 00:26:27,640 able to cheat a little bit. And then it'll it'll be 493 00:26:27,640 --> 00:26:31,720 interesting to to see how much progress Michigan, Michigan can 494 00:26:31,720 --> 00:26:33,680 make it. And that might also be, you 495 00:26:33,680 --> 00:26:35,320 know, what we were talking about earlier, Galen. 496 00:26:35,680 --> 00:26:38,480 I mean, if you're going to have a very interior centric 497 00:26:38,640 --> 00:26:43,160 offensive scheme, it needs to be really effective like in in the 498 00:26:43,160 --> 00:26:46,360 Big 10, especially because if you're not really able to get to 499 00:26:46,360 --> 00:26:50,680 the perimeter teams are, you know, everybody talks about, you 500 00:26:50,920 --> 00:26:54,160 know, packing the baseline and and basketball teams can do the 501 00:26:54,160 --> 00:26:59,000 same thing and and in the box. So, you know, I think that's 502 00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:01,400 partially why, you know, Michigan wants to run the ball, 503 00:27:01,400 --> 00:27:04,120 but they're not super effective because they don't really put 504 00:27:04,120 --> 00:27:08,360 their guys in the best position. So yeah, I know kind of kind of 505 00:27:09,360 --> 00:27:11,120 covered a lot of different things there when we were just 506 00:27:11,120 --> 00:27:13,320 talking about the running backs. But yes, Bowlings and Evers. 507 00:27:13,600 --> 00:27:18,400 I, I, I, I do like those too. And, and so Indiana's going to 508 00:27:18,400 --> 00:27:20,640 have to be very fundamentally sound. 509 00:27:20,840 --> 00:27:24,880 If you're looking for offensive bright spots for Michigan, it's 510 00:27:24,880 --> 00:27:26,840 like there's two things you can zero in on. 511 00:27:26,840 --> 00:27:31,120 One is their success rate in rushing, which is is decent. 512 00:27:31,120 --> 00:27:34,400 It's 3230 second in the country, 45.2%. 513 00:27:34,400 --> 00:27:39,320 The other is line yards in rushing like that, they, they do 514 00:27:39,320 --> 00:27:41,600 get a good push and you'd expect that 'cause they have a really 515 00:27:41,600 --> 00:27:44,440 talented and, and big offensive line. 516 00:27:45,080 --> 00:27:47,800 They don't do very well in past production, but they, they don't 517 00:27:47,920 --> 00:27:50,120 pass the ball that much. So it's not as big of a deal, 518 00:27:51,040 --> 00:27:54,280 you know, And so I think like if you're looking at Michigan and 519 00:27:54,280 --> 00:27:56,080 you're trying to figure out, OK, how would Michigan win this 520 00:27:56,080 --> 00:27:57,440 game? What would be the scenario that 521 00:27:57,440 --> 00:28:00,840 would play out for for Michigan to win this game for Indiana 522 00:28:00,840 --> 00:28:03,720 struggle Like Michigan can keep the ball on the ground if they 523 00:28:03,720 --> 00:28:06,800 can gain, as you've noted, like they don't do a lot of chunk 524 00:28:06,800 --> 00:28:07,840 plays. They don't have a great 525 00:28:07,840 --> 00:28:11,240 explosive play rate. You know, they do pretty well 526 00:28:11,240 --> 00:28:13,720 once they get the ball to midfield and beyond. 527 00:28:14,000 --> 00:28:15,400 But you know, it's getting to that point. 528 00:28:15,400 --> 00:28:18,160 But if they can, if they can maintain success on the ground 529 00:28:18,520 --> 00:28:21,960 and get a consistent push against Indiana's defensive 530 00:28:21,960 --> 00:28:26,000 line, that's really their route. Like, you know, they're they're 531 00:28:26,000 --> 00:28:27,800 they're gonna have to chew clock. 532 00:28:28,200 --> 00:28:30,080 They're not going to be able to get into a track meet with 533 00:28:30,080 --> 00:28:32,400 Indiana. They're going to have to force 534 00:28:32,400 --> 00:28:34,720 turnovers, which they frankly have not been very good at so 535 00:28:34,720 --> 00:28:36,720 far this season. But they got to figure out a way 536 00:28:36,720 --> 00:28:38,280 to get the ball out of Indiana's hands. 537 00:28:38,280 --> 00:28:40,120 They got to do some things defensively, which we'll talk 538 00:28:40,120 --> 00:28:42,840 about in a second. But like, offensively, they've 539 00:28:42,840 --> 00:28:45,840 got to run the ball and they've got to kind of impose their will 540 00:28:46,000 --> 00:28:50,720 physically on Indiana, which feels like a thing that would 541 00:28:50,720 --> 00:28:53,600 normally happen because it has historically happened. 542 00:28:54,240 --> 00:28:57,000 But the way this Indiana defensive line is playing, the 543 00:28:57,000 --> 00:28:58,960 way they played, especially last week on the road at East 544 00:28:58,960 --> 00:29:02,800 Lansing, it's hard to envision a scenario where this particular 545 00:29:02,800 --> 00:29:05,600 Michigan offense is able to impose their will to the degree 546 00:29:05,600 --> 00:29:09,400 they will need to against Indiana to figure out a way to 547 00:29:09,400 --> 00:29:11,800 to score enough points to come up away with a victory. 548 00:29:12,600 --> 00:29:14,960 Yeah, no, absolutely. And and I think that there's 549 00:29:15,840 --> 00:29:21,960 there's AIII just have these visions of Indiana surrendering 550 00:29:21,960 --> 00:29:25,840 space to rushing attacks on the interior, you know, from earlier 551 00:29:25,840 --> 00:29:28,560 in the season, whether it was Charlotte and I think Maryland, 552 00:29:28,560 --> 00:29:29,640 there was quite a bit of that too. 553 00:29:29,960 --> 00:29:32,880 They haven't as much in recent weeks since then. 554 00:29:33,160 --> 00:29:34,760 But that just kind of sticks with me. 555 00:29:35,240 --> 00:29:40,880 So, so part of me is like, you know, maybe there is some sort 556 00:29:40,880 --> 00:29:43,440 of, maybe the door is ajar for Michigan to be able to do 557 00:29:43,440 --> 00:29:47,720 something like that. I, I, I don't necessarily have 558 00:29:47,720 --> 00:29:50,640 confidence in their coaching staff to scheme something like 559 00:29:50,640 --> 00:29:54,560 that. I guess Indiana, but the, I just 560 00:29:54,560 --> 00:29:56,480 think Indiana has a huge advantage when it comes to just 561 00:29:56,480 --> 00:29:57,960 coaching. Like when you're talking about 562 00:29:57,960 --> 00:30:00,280 adversarial coaching, I think Indiana has the advantage. 563 00:30:00,560 --> 00:30:03,320 So I'm, I'm not super optimistic for Michigan to be able to do 564 00:30:03,320 --> 00:30:06,920 that, but you know, there's room for it. 565 00:30:07,040 --> 00:30:09,360 And so yes, you're right. That's that's how they're going 566 00:30:09,360 --> 00:30:14,080 to try to win an offense. Defensively, this is a tough 567 00:30:14,080 --> 00:30:17,760 game for Michigan because this Indiana offense is so good. 568 00:30:18,160 --> 00:30:23,600 I mean, I I don't know that IU fans fully understand the 569 00:30:23,600 --> 00:30:27,640 playground that they're watching this Indiana offense play on. 570 00:30:28,080 --> 00:30:30,720 I mean, this is, I mean, we're we're not talking about you had 571 00:30:30,720 --> 00:30:34,000 a great chart a couple of weeks ago or last week that 572 00:30:34,000 --> 00:30:36,400 illustrated like the the top or maybe it wasn't. 573 00:30:36,400 --> 00:30:37,320 Yeah, I forget whose chart it was. 574 00:30:37,320 --> 00:30:38,640 I think I'm going to give you credit for it. 575 00:30:38,640 --> 00:30:40,280 But Brian. Yeah. 576 00:30:41,240 --> 00:30:44,680 But the top offenses of the last five years of college football 577 00:30:44,680 --> 00:30:47,560 and Indiana was like right up there among the very best. 578 00:30:47,560 --> 00:30:50,760 And it's like you, you kind of have to pick your poison. 579 00:30:50,760 --> 00:30:54,960 I mean, they're the most successful passing team in terms 580 00:30:54,960 --> 00:30:57,600 of EPA in the country. They're 19th in rush. 581 00:30:58,240 --> 00:31:01,680 They're great in early downs. Like they pick up, they pick up 582 00:31:01,680 --> 00:31:03,360 first downs sooner than they should. 583 00:31:03,720 --> 00:31:07,360 They're amazing once they get to midfield, they they get great 584 00:31:07,360 --> 00:31:10,080 field position, which is largely a product to special teams and 585 00:31:10,080 --> 00:31:12,520 defense. I mean, they just do so many 586 00:31:12,520 --> 00:31:14,040 things well. And Michigan, and this is 587 00:31:14,040 --> 00:31:15,160 probably the biggest surprise to me. 588 00:31:15,160 --> 00:31:18,040 Like I, I'm not shocked that Michigan's struggling on 589 00:31:18,040 --> 00:31:19,560 offense. Like that's always kind of in 590 00:31:19,560 --> 00:31:23,440 Michigan's DNA to some degree. Michigan normally doesn't 591 00:31:23,440 --> 00:31:26,880 struggle like this on defense. And you know, they're not 592 00:31:26,880 --> 00:31:31,120 terrible in any defensive category, but they're very, very 593 00:31:31,120 --> 00:31:32,680 average. You know, they, they don't 594 00:31:32,680 --> 00:31:35,280 defend the pass terribly, but they don't defend it well. 595 00:31:35,280 --> 00:31:37,400 They don't defend the rush terribly, but they don't defend 596 00:31:37,400 --> 00:31:40,800 it well. And you know, the, the one thing 597 00:31:40,800 --> 00:31:43,760 they tend to do is they do tend to force you to 3rd downs, but 598 00:31:43,760 --> 00:31:46,040 then they're terrible at stopping you on 3rd down. 599 00:31:46,040 --> 00:31:47,440 They're one of the worst teams in the country. 600 00:31:47,440 --> 00:31:51,120 They're 116th in the country in defensive third down success. 601 00:31:51,880 --> 00:31:56,480 So I, I say all that because if you look at Michigan's schedule, 602 00:31:56,640 --> 00:32:00,520 they, you know, and, and who they played, I guess the thing 603 00:32:00,520 --> 00:32:04,000 that sticks out to me the most is, you know, they, they kind of 604 00:32:04,000 --> 00:32:06,480 got lucky that they faced Minnesota when they did because 605 00:32:06,480 --> 00:32:09,960 Minnesota hadn't quite gotten their offense rolling US CS. 606 00:32:09,960 --> 00:32:11,600 Their offense has not been very good. 607 00:32:12,520 --> 00:32:16,480 You know, Illinois's has been kind of sort of there. 608 00:32:16,840 --> 00:32:19,040 The best offenses they've faced have been Texas. 609 00:32:19,040 --> 00:32:23,360 They allowed 31 points to Texas and Oregon, they allowed 38 610 00:32:23,360 --> 00:32:26,000 points to Oregon. They probably should get some 611 00:32:26,000 --> 00:32:29,120 credit for only allowing 31 and 38 points in those games. 612 00:32:29,120 --> 00:32:33,840 But I would argue Indiana's offense is as good as Oregon's 613 00:32:33,840 --> 00:32:36,680 at this point and better than Texas's. 614 00:32:36,680 --> 00:32:39,200 And that does not bode well if you're Michigan, especially 615 00:32:39,200 --> 00:32:42,440 since you have to go to Memorial Stadium to play this offense. 616 00:32:43,200 --> 00:32:47,480 And just like you were saying earlier, again, just the the way 617 00:32:47,480 --> 00:32:50,080 that they're going to try to find success in offense is not 618 00:32:50,080 --> 00:32:53,440 going to be able to keep up with with Indiana if they get 619 00:32:53,440 --> 00:32:55,360 rolling. So if Indiana gets up, if 620 00:32:55,360 --> 00:33:01,440 Indiana gets up early like they've done so frequently, I 621 00:33:01,440 --> 00:33:04,080 mean, we could be looking at, you know, lights out for 622 00:33:04,080 --> 00:33:07,640 Michigan early in this game because I good luck passing. 623 00:33:07,640 --> 00:33:08,720 I don't. Know, well, that's the thing, 624 00:33:08,720 --> 00:33:11,360 like Ben Wittenstein, like what he he called in your, in your 625 00:33:11,360 --> 00:33:13,840 column for in, you know, Michigan, Indiana to score like 626 00:33:13,840 --> 00:33:16,480 30 points in the first half. And I'm like, Ben, come on back. 627 00:33:16,520 --> 00:33:20,120 But but I'm like, well, maybe I mean, this is, this is what's 628 00:33:20,120 --> 00:33:22,160 going to be fascinating to me. You and I were debating this a 629 00:33:22,160 --> 00:33:25,480 little bit early on in the week. Like, how does Indiana, Yeah, 630 00:33:25,520 --> 00:33:27,760 'cause you 'cause you want to get up early if you're Indiana 631 00:33:27,880 --> 00:33:31,080 and, you know, you want to put Michigan on their back foot 632 00:33:31,240 --> 00:33:35,120 because we, you know, when you look down the schedule, the most 633 00:33:35,120 --> 00:33:38,680 points that Michigan has scored against a Power 4 opponent all 634 00:33:38,680 --> 00:33:43,240 season is 27. And, you know, Indiana, like 635 00:33:43,360 --> 00:33:46,480 they find 27 points in the couch cushions. 636 00:33:46,480 --> 00:33:48,400 You know, when they're when they're fishing around for their 637 00:33:48,400 --> 00:33:52,000 keys in the morning, you know, And if so, if you can, if 638 00:33:52,080 --> 00:33:55,720 Indiana 4 touchdowns puts you beyond anything Michigan's been 639 00:33:55,720 --> 00:33:58,280 able to do offensively against a power for school so far this 640 00:33:58,280 --> 00:34:01,480 season. So how does Indiana best attack 641 00:34:01,480 --> 00:34:03,720 this Michigan defense who does have talent? 642 00:34:04,120 --> 00:34:07,560 And, you know, it's like, you know, how do you scheme so that 643 00:34:07,560 --> 00:34:09,199 you're doing it the most efficiently? 644 00:34:09,400 --> 00:34:12,159 Because the further you get Michigan behind in the count, 645 00:34:12,320 --> 00:34:15,719 the harder it's going to be for them to to mount a legitimate 646 00:34:15,719 --> 00:34:18,480 challenge the rest of the game. Yeah, yeah. 647 00:34:18,480 --> 00:34:20,960 And, and like you had said earlier, Michigan is really good 648 00:34:20,960 --> 00:34:23,560 early in offensive series when it comes to defense. 649 00:34:23,560 --> 00:34:28,440 So yeah, we we were talking about this before recording, 650 00:34:28,440 --> 00:34:32,320 which was like how, how, yeah, like you just asked how do they 651 00:34:32,320 --> 00:34:34,440 attack the defense? And I think it's a great 652 00:34:34,440 --> 00:34:36,840 question. And the crazy thing is this is 653 00:34:36,840 --> 00:34:39,960 where I've been so impressed because the the Indiana staff, 654 00:34:39,960 --> 00:34:43,560 they're they don't have they don't have one thing they go to 655 00:34:43,760 --> 00:34:46,560 it is they're very multiple, like you've already said, like 656 00:34:46,679 --> 00:34:49,440 they could, I mean, they could run straight into the teeth this 657 00:34:49,440 --> 00:34:53,440 defense, which is what they did, I guess the Brassica and I was 658 00:34:53,440 --> 00:34:55,639 just Florida was not expecting that. 659 00:34:56,080 --> 00:34:58,680 And and they did it really effectively. 660 00:34:58,720 --> 00:35:02,280 And then, you know, I don't know if I would be able to do that 661 00:35:02,280 --> 00:35:06,120 against this again, team that the talent is just crazy on that 662 00:35:06,120 --> 00:35:09,000 defensive line, especially the interior. 663 00:35:09,040 --> 00:35:11,160 They have some great defensive tackles. 664 00:35:11,160 --> 00:35:13,880 I mean, they have two defensive ends on both sides that just 665 00:35:14,440 --> 00:35:18,720 they they're just amazing. But it's been super productive 666 00:35:18,720 --> 00:35:20,320 too when it comes to quarterback pressures. 667 00:35:20,320 --> 00:35:22,480 It doesn't necessarily translate to sacks, which is interesting. 668 00:35:22,480 --> 00:35:25,720 But you know, the and then that's the thing too. 669 00:35:25,720 --> 00:35:31,880 They, they, they're, they, they are probably the best, you know, 670 00:35:31,880 --> 00:35:34,400 when it comes to applying pressure on the quarterback in 671 00:35:34,400 --> 00:35:38,320 the conference. And, you know, does Indy, does 672 00:35:38,320 --> 00:35:41,200 Indiana want to risk that? Do they do they want to risk the 673 00:35:41,800 --> 00:35:45,600 pressure on Rourke or do they want to risk not getting much in 674 00:35:45,600 --> 00:35:47,200 the running game on a first down play? 675 00:35:47,240 --> 00:35:51,320 And, and so, you know, obviously we're talking about risk and, 676 00:35:51,320 --> 00:35:54,000 and, and they're, they're scheming against this defensive 677 00:35:54,000 --> 00:35:57,320 line, but I just, you know, I think we're gonna see a 678 00:35:57,320 --> 00:35:58,880 challenge we haven't seen yet this season. 679 00:35:59,040 --> 00:36:02,200 And so, you know, that means like Drew Evans and Bray Lynch, 680 00:36:02,200 --> 00:36:05,800 those two are really gonna have to to show that, you know, the, 681 00:36:06,360 --> 00:36:09,800 the the what we've seen from them on tape and the grades that 682 00:36:09,800 --> 00:36:11,840 we're seeing from them from, from Pro Football Focus. 683 00:36:12,840 --> 00:36:15,800 Are those accurate? Like are, are you this good? 684 00:36:15,880 --> 00:36:18,760 And, and this it's going to be really interesting to see. 685 00:36:18,760 --> 00:36:20,840 I'm I'm going to be watching the interior of the Indiana 686 00:36:20,840 --> 00:36:24,040 offensive line because I think that's that's that's a huge 687 00:36:24,040 --> 00:36:26,160 match up here. But yeah, I don't I don't know 688 00:36:26,160 --> 00:36:29,560 how they attack them on early downs And, and it'll be it'll be 689 00:36:29,560 --> 00:36:32,120 interesting to watch my. My philosophy was I think 690 00:36:32,120 --> 00:36:35,040 they're going to they're going to use a lot of initial short 691 00:36:35,040 --> 00:36:38,800 passing into space to try to spread the Michigan off or 692 00:36:38,800 --> 00:36:42,480 defensive line out and and not let them just zero in on Justice 693 00:36:42,480 --> 00:36:46,000 Ellison or Tyson Lawton. You know, it didn't seems like 694 00:36:46,000 --> 00:36:48,040 the logical spot to be. I mean, it's interesting because 695 00:36:48,040 --> 00:36:50,160 you mentioned like Michigan has a lot of talent in terms of the 696 00:36:50,160 --> 00:36:53,440 pass rush and the defensive line, and yet they're only sixth 697 00:36:53,440 --> 00:36:57,080 in the conference in Sachs. You know, you know who's first 698 00:36:57,080 --> 00:36:59,320 in Sachs in the conference. Indiana. 699 00:36:59,480 --> 00:37:02,720 Indiana by a significant margin. Indiana has six more sacks than 700 00:37:02,720 --> 00:37:05,360 the second team in the I every time I look at these numbers, 701 00:37:05,360 --> 00:37:08,320 I'm like, did someone like like screw up the data set? 702 00:37:08,320 --> 00:37:10,480 Like what happened? Have you seen the tackles for 703 00:37:10,520 --> 00:37:12,000 loss, Galen? It's insane. 704 00:37:12,000 --> 00:37:15,720 I have like if you the the Indiana leads the conference in 705 00:37:15,720 --> 00:37:18,080 tackles for loss with 69 of them. 706 00:37:19,280 --> 00:37:23,120 The next closest team is Nebraska, who has 57. 707 00:37:23,760 --> 00:37:26,280 Ohio State's only got 56 tackles for loss. 708 00:37:26,280 --> 00:37:28,680 So just just to give you some comparison, it it makes no 709 00:37:28,680 --> 00:37:31,320 sense. But if you if you look at what 710 00:37:31,320 --> 00:37:36,320 Michigan has done against their opponents, it, it does feel like 711 00:37:36,320 --> 00:37:38,960 if you have a good game plan, you've got a couple of different 712 00:37:38,960 --> 00:37:40,560 ways that you can go about attacking. 713 00:37:40,560 --> 00:37:45,480 So if you look at, you know, Michigan was really good against 714 00:37:46,200 --> 00:37:50,160 mid opponents in rushing, like, you know, Fresno State only 715 00:37:50,160 --> 00:37:54,920 gained 9 yards rushing, Arkansas State 58, USC 96. 716 00:37:54,920 --> 00:37:58,720 Minnesota rushed the ball 25 times and gained 38 yards. 717 00:37:58,720 --> 00:38:00,360 I don't know how the hell that's possible. 718 00:38:00,360 --> 00:38:02,960 That's wild. But if you look at it like they 719 00:38:02,960 --> 00:38:06,720 let they let 143 yards on the ground up versus Texas, 114 at 720 00:38:06,720 --> 00:38:12,080 Washington, 187 at Illinois, 163 against Michigan State, 176 721 00:38:12,080 --> 00:38:13,760 against Oregon. So even though they've got some 722 00:38:13,760 --> 00:38:16,960 physically imposing guys, this is clearly maybe a defense you 723 00:38:16,960 --> 00:38:20,120 can scheme the run against and be successful. 724 00:38:20,120 --> 00:38:23,120 Because all of the good offenses that Indiana or that Michigan 725 00:38:23,120 --> 00:38:26,120 has played against, with maybe the exception of Minnesota, who 726 00:38:26,120 --> 00:38:29,040 I still don't understand as a football program, has figured 727 00:38:29,040 --> 00:38:33,560 out a way to move the ball and gain somewhere around 4 to 5 728 00:38:33,560 --> 00:38:36,200 yards a carry against this Michigan defense. 729 00:38:36,200 --> 00:38:40,440 If you go to the passing game, what's interesting is they've 730 00:38:40,440 --> 00:38:43,120 they've let up a lot of passing yards so far this season. 731 00:38:43,480 --> 00:38:46,520 You know, they're the one game that they did a good job of not 732 00:38:46,520 --> 00:38:48,080 letting up passing yards was Illinois. 733 00:38:48,080 --> 00:38:50,400 But Illinois didn't need to pass the ball 'cause they were 734 00:38:50,400 --> 00:38:54,800 running the ball so well. But the most recent, two of the 735 00:38:54,800 --> 00:38:59,120 most recent four games, they let Washington pass for 315 yards 736 00:38:59,520 --> 00:39:04,600 and a 70% completion percentage. They let Oregon pass for 294 737 00:39:04,600 --> 00:39:07,440 yards and a 65% completion percentage. 738 00:39:08,240 --> 00:39:11,000 And so it it to some degree, and even Michigan State, I mean, 739 00:39:11,000 --> 00:39:16,280 Aiden Childs, who got smothered in the crib against Indiana last 740 00:39:16,280 --> 00:39:21,080 week, pass for 74% completion percentage only at 189 yards. 741 00:39:21,080 --> 00:39:25,280 But it it was like, you can clearly move the ball there as 742 00:39:25,280 --> 00:39:27,760 well. And so this is where, like, I 743 00:39:27,760 --> 00:39:30,600 struggle with this game because I look at this statistically and 744 00:39:30,600 --> 00:39:34,240 I'm like, I don't know how Michigan competes just looking 745 00:39:34,240 --> 00:39:36,240 at the numbers they've racked up, looking at the advanced 746 00:39:36,240 --> 00:39:38,480 stats. Yet my brain won't let me go 747 00:39:38,480 --> 00:39:42,080 there because of the helmets, because of just the aura of 748 00:39:42,080 --> 00:39:44,880 Michigan and the fact that like, even when Indiana has had some 749 00:39:44,880 --> 00:39:48,200 statistically equal or superior teams, they haven't been able to 750 00:39:48,200 --> 00:39:50,400 execute. But man, everybody else has so 751 00:39:50,400 --> 00:39:51,920 far this season against Michigan. 752 00:39:52,080 --> 00:39:54,600 It doesn't feel like Indiana's going to necessarily be the 753 00:39:54,600 --> 00:39:56,880 exception here. Yeah, yeah. 754 00:39:56,880 --> 00:39:58,720 It's, you know, I just think, I think. 755 00:40:01,280 --> 00:40:03,480 I know I've already touched on this a couple times, but I just, 756 00:40:03,480 --> 00:40:07,240 I just think that this Michigan team just highlights the 757 00:40:07,240 --> 00:40:09,440 importance for coaching in college football. 758 00:40:09,880 --> 00:40:14,440 I there, there is, there's a ton of talent on this roster and, 759 00:40:14,720 --> 00:40:19,680 you know, there are playmakers on this roster, but if it's not 760 00:40:20,440 --> 00:40:23,080 if, if they're not put in the best positions to to succeed, 761 00:40:23,080 --> 00:40:25,840 they're not going to. And so, yeah, like you were 762 00:40:25,840 --> 00:40:29,280 saying, Galen, like you, you see the talent, you know that 763 00:40:29,280 --> 00:40:31,520 there's NFL talent on this roster. 764 00:40:31,800 --> 00:40:34,920 And, and like you're saying with the helmets and, and, and like 765 00:40:35,320 --> 00:40:38,440 it's, it's easy. And my mind is doing this too. 766 00:40:38,440 --> 00:40:45,160 It's easy to, you know, you take take statistics with a grain of 767 00:40:45,160 --> 00:40:49,000 salt and be like, OK, yeah, this Michigan team is struggling and, 768 00:40:49,000 --> 00:40:51,480 and, and understand that, you know, they're going to make some 769 00:40:51,480 --> 00:40:55,720 plays, which they will make some plays, but how badly they're 770 00:40:55,720 --> 00:40:58,840 struggling is, is really hard to get a grasp on. 771 00:40:58,840 --> 00:41:02,840 And yeah, it's, it's it is really interesting. 772 00:41:02,840 --> 00:41:09,400 And I think, yeah, I think, I think when I think what we're 773 00:41:09,400 --> 00:41:16,640 really going to see is, is Indiana really dominate on in 774 00:41:16,640 --> 00:41:19,680 the trenches? And, and I think with if they 775 00:41:19,680 --> 00:41:22,000 are dominating in the trenches, I think this can get really 776 00:41:22,000 --> 00:41:25,280 ugly. And, and I don't think Sig is 777 00:41:25,280 --> 00:41:27,880 going to take his foot off the gas at all. 778 00:41:28,040 --> 00:41:31,240 And this could be, I mean, this could be a game that's 779 00:41:31,240 --> 00:41:33,640 celebrated for a while by Indiana fans. 780 00:41:34,080 --> 00:41:37,920 And I and I get frightened when I hear that I really do, you 781 00:41:37,920 --> 00:41:39,360 know, but it but it is no worth noting. 782 00:41:39,880 --> 00:41:44,160 Michigan has only somehow how the hell this happens, like in 783 00:41:44,160 --> 00:41:46,440 terms of scheduling. I'd love to get an answer. 784 00:41:46,840 --> 00:41:50,320 Michigan's only played two Rd. games the entire season and they 785 00:41:50,320 --> 00:41:52,560 lost both of them. They lost to Washington on the 786 00:41:52,560 --> 00:41:53,840 road. They lost to Illinois on the 787 00:41:53,840 --> 00:41:55,200 road. This is only their third Rd. 788 00:41:55,200 --> 00:41:57,600 game. And but as you said, they've 789 00:41:57,600 --> 00:42:02,360 lost three of their last four. And you just like even the 790 00:42:02,360 --> 00:42:05,400 Michigan State game, it was hard to take a tremendous amount of 791 00:42:05,400 --> 00:42:07,680 positives out of that game from Michigan, partially because of 792 00:42:07,680 --> 00:42:10,440 the fight at the end and just kind of the the the general 793 00:42:10,520 --> 00:42:12,960 screwball stuff that happens in that series. 794 00:42:12,960 --> 00:42:16,720 But it was also, you know, Jack Tuttle retired right after that 795 00:42:16,720 --> 00:42:18,400 game. They still don't seem to have 796 00:42:18,400 --> 00:42:20,880 much of an identity. So, yeah, I mean, I think here's 797 00:42:20,880 --> 00:42:23,920 the thing, I I'm I'm always concerned about Indiana when 798 00:42:23,920 --> 00:42:26,320 they play brand name teams because I've just watched them 799 00:42:26,320 --> 00:42:28,760 lose those games so many times. And yet when I look at this 800 00:42:28,760 --> 00:42:36,160 game, what I see and what I feel and how I how I have come to 801 00:42:36,160 --> 00:42:38,720 appreciate the way that this team and this coaching staff 802 00:42:38,720 --> 00:42:44,360 approaches games, this coaching staff and the players on the 803 00:42:44,360 --> 00:42:48,440 team relish taking opponents apart bit by bit. 804 00:42:48,440 --> 00:42:50,320 And it's like, it's that thing that we've talked about on the 805 00:42:50,320 --> 00:42:53,000 podcast where like Mike Kadic's talking about, well, we felt 806 00:42:53,320 --> 00:42:56,640 Washington's will breaking as we got further into the game. 807 00:42:57,040 --> 00:43:00,480 Or, you know, the the joy on, you know, from Justice Ellison 808 00:43:00,480 --> 00:43:03,000 when he's talking about like the Red Sea parting against 809 00:43:03,000 --> 00:43:04,680 Northwest or I guess in Nebraska. 810 00:43:04,920 --> 00:43:09,440 Like this team just loves slowly, you know, you know, 811 00:43:09,480 --> 00:43:11,560 taking an opponent apart bit by bit. 812 00:43:11,560 --> 00:43:13,960 And I'm sure they've looked at the the film. 813 00:43:13,960 --> 00:43:16,600 I'm sure they're very respectful of the talent on this Michigan 814 00:43:16,600 --> 00:43:17,760 team. But they have to have looked at 815 00:43:17,760 --> 00:43:19,600 these numbers and they have to look at what's going on in these 816 00:43:19,600 --> 00:43:23,120 games and being like, man, if we just execute and do what we do, 817 00:43:23,360 --> 00:43:26,720 we've got a real opportunity to win by a pretty significant 818 00:43:26,720 --> 00:43:30,560 margin in this game. And you know, I as I've as much 819 00:43:30,560 --> 00:43:33,360 as I've resisted that mentality, as I've looked at the numbers 820 00:43:33,360 --> 00:43:36,400 and tried to formulate my own thoughts on the game, that has 821 00:43:36,400 --> 00:43:39,840 become more and more to the forefront, Which I guess worries 822 00:43:39,840 --> 00:43:42,080 me because it's like, it almost feels like it's too good to be 823 00:43:42,080 --> 00:43:44,760 true in term of the match up. Because everything Michigan 824 00:43:44,760 --> 00:43:46,400 struggles with Indiana does really well. 825 00:43:47,760 --> 00:43:51,680 Yeah, yeah, and, and yeah, Galen, I, I I'm looking at the 826 00:43:52,480 --> 00:43:57,640 opponent adjusted EPA that that Bud Davis releases out his his 827 00:43:57,640 --> 00:44:02,920 EPA chart and Michigan's down there with with Maryland. 828 00:44:03,000 --> 00:44:07,280 They're on the same tier as Nebraska right next to Illinois. 829 00:44:08,800 --> 00:44:13,280 And yeah, it's, it's I mean, I think they're underneath UCLA 830 00:44:13,360 --> 00:44:16,120 like that. They because UCL as had a had a, 831 00:44:16,120 --> 00:44:18,080 you know, they had a tough, tough schedule. 832 00:44:18,520 --> 00:44:22,520 But it's it is really interesting to to consider how 833 00:44:22,640 --> 00:44:25,040 how poor this Michigan team could play in Bloomington. 834 00:44:25,160 --> 00:44:30,240 Well, and, and one thing to note is like, if you're looking for a 835 00:44:30,240 --> 00:44:33,440 match up that might be a good harbinger of what goes on with 836 00:44:33,440 --> 00:44:37,280 this game, like watch the left side of Indiana's defensive line 837 00:44:38,320 --> 00:44:40,200 because they're going up against the right tackle. 838 00:44:40,200 --> 00:44:43,440 And Evan Link, who's one of the poorest graded offensive lineman 839 00:44:43,440 --> 00:44:46,600 in college football this year, like he he's really struggled 840 00:44:47,320 --> 00:44:49,640 and he and and he really struggles in pass blocking. 841 00:44:49,640 --> 00:44:51,760 Now, if Michigan doesn't pass the ball that much, that's one 842 00:44:51,760 --> 00:44:54,120 thing. But they may have to at some 843 00:44:54,120 --> 00:44:55,320 point. And it's kind of like what 844 00:44:55,320 --> 00:44:56,480 happened to the Michigan State game. 845 00:44:56,480 --> 00:44:59,880 You could see that kind of scenario playing out where if 846 00:44:59,880 --> 00:45:02,520 Michigan starts to fall behind and they have to pass the ball, 847 00:45:03,160 --> 00:45:06,880 you could see Mikhail Kamara, CJ W, James Carpenter, like that 848 00:45:06,880 --> 00:45:11,200 whole group just start to feast. Because even the I mean, outside 849 00:45:11,200 --> 00:45:15,280 of the right guard, you know that that Michigan has got all 850 00:45:15,280 --> 00:45:17,640 of their offensive line has just been kind of average. 851 00:45:17,960 --> 00:45:20,400 But they're right tackle situations real bad. 852 00:45:20,400 --> 00:45:23,080 And, and that's probably not something that they fixed in the 853 00:45:23,080 --> 00:45:25,080 week between the Oregon game and this game. 854 00:45:26,680 --> 00:45:30,960 No, no, yeah. And, and I, I, I do think the, I 855 00:45:30,960 --> 00:45:32,720 do think they're off their offensive line. 856 00:45:32,760 --> 00:45:38,200 You know, when, when they're, they, they are, they're when you 857 00:45:38,200 --> 00:45:40,840 think about, when you think about the expectations with 858 00:45:41,160 --> 00:45:44,600 Michigan offensive line, you think, OK, you know, very good 859 00:45:44,760 --> 00:45:46,440 because that's just the way it always is. 860 00:45:46,760 --> 00:45:52,240 But they are average to a little bit above average overall as a 861 00:45:52,240 --> 00:45:56,920 unit, which is better than Indiana has played in most games 862 00:45:56,920 --> 00:46:00,120 this season, right. So that is that is important to 863 00:46:00,120 --> 00:46:03,080 note. But but yeah, it's it's not it's 864 00:46:03,080 --> 00:46:05,200 not what we're used to seeing from a Michigan offensive line, 865 00:46:05,200 --> 00:46:07,040 like you were saying. And yeah, if if you're if you're 866 00:46:07,040 --> 00:46:10,280 looking at that match up on the right side of the line, I think 867 00:46:10,280 --> 00:46:12,720 that'll be a lot of Lenell Carr on that side. 868 00:46:12,720 --> 00:46:15,880 So that'll be that will be interesting to see. 869 00:46:16,760 --> 00:46:22,360 But the, yeah, the I, I, I think that, you know, Mikhail Kamara 870 00:46:22,360 --> 00:46:24,120 is playing out of his mind right now. 871 00:46:24,200 --> 00:46:27,440 And I, I think he's, that's somebody, that's somebody to 872 00:46:27,440 --> 00:46:30,160 watch on, on Indiana's defensive side for sure, especially in 873 00:46:30,160 --> 00:46:33,360 passing situations. Yeah, ultimately, I mean that. 874 00:46:33,360 --> 00:46:38,360 And then on the flip side, like can Michigan bother the Indiana 875 00:46:38,360 --> 00:46:40,920 offensive line who has played so well this season? 876 00:46:40,920 --> 00:46:44,320 It's been, that's been probably maybe the biggest revelation on 877 00:46:44,320 --> 00:46:46,000 the whole team. But as you mentioned in your 878 00:46:46,000 --> 00:46:49,840 piece, Michigan's D line is really talented and and 879 00:46:49,840 --> 00:46:52,600 statistically racks up really well against the best teams in 880 00:46:52,600 --> 00:46:55,200 the conference, including Indiana in terms of of 881 00:46:55,200 --> 00:46:58,840 quarterback pressures and sacks and all of the things that that 882 00:46:58,840 --> 00:47:02,640 you would normally see generated by by a good defensive line. 883 00:47:02,640 --> 00:47:05,760 So those are the things to watch like a lot of this game as 884 00:47:05,760 --> 00:47:07,880 normal with Michigan's going to be one of the trenches. 885 00:47:08,320 --> 00:47:11,160 And how well can Indiana utilize all of the levers that they have 886 00:47:11,160 --> 00:47:14,880 on offense to take some of that pressure off to back the defense 887 00:47:14,880 --> 00:47:18,480 up a little bit, make them play deeper and and not be so keyed 888 00:47:18,480 --> 00:47:21,400 in on trying to get into the backfield and tackle Curtis 889 00:47:21,400 --> 00:47:22,960 Rourke and disrupt the passing game. 890 00:47:23,880 --> 00:47:25,560 It's going to be a fascinating thing to watch. 891 00:47:25,560 --> 00:47:29,160 And I'm very I'm really curious to see how Mike Shanahan decides 892 00:47:29,160 --> 00:47:31,280 to attack this from a play calling perspective. 893 00:47:32,120 --> 00:47:34,360 And this is, you know, what you've talked about many times, 894 00:47:34,360 --> 00:47:38,240 Shanahan, just like being in his bag, you know, drive after drive 895 00:47:38,240 --> 00:47:40,760 this season. It's been a great thing for IU. 896 00:47:41,080 --> 00:47:43,120 This is probably, as you said, it's going to be the biggest 897 00:47:43,120 --> 00:47:47,320 test just in terms of, you know, the just the numbers and what 898 00:47:47,320 --> 00:47:51,760 the the particular parts of Michigan's defense have done. 899 00:47:52,240 --> 00:47:54,960 But then again, we said that about Nebraska too, and that 900 00:47:54,960 --> 00:47:57,520 ended up being the biggest mismatch of the whole year, one 901 00:47:57,520 --> 00:47:59,560 could argue. So who knows? 902 00:47:59,560 --> 00:48:02,920 I'm I, I cannot wait to watch this play out. 903 00:48:02,920 --> 00:48:05,640 I'm very curious to see how Indiana ends up tackling it. 904 00:48:05,640 --> 00:48:07,800 And it should be really fascinating 1. 905 00:48:08,120 --> 00:48:10,720 The thing I appreciate about Mike Shanahan's play calling is 906 00:48:10,720 --> 00:48:17,560 that he seems to have a deep well of plays for every 907 00:48:17,560 --> 00:48:21,440 situation and, and he knows how they work together. 908 00:48:21,440 --> 00:48:24,480 He just knows his own playbook really intimately, which is, you 909 00:48:24,480 --> 00:48:26,960 know, kind of a low standard for an offensive coordinator. 910 00:48:27,280 --> 00:48:30,960 But from what Indiana has seen, just like how like Rod Kerry 911 00:48:30,960 --> 00:48:33,120 showed a little bit of it towards the end of last season, 912 00:48:33,120 --> 00:48:35,360 how can you make plays build off of each other? 913 00:48:35,720 --> 00:48:39,400 And just with all the misdirection and the RP OS and, 914 00:48:40,240 --> 00:48:45,160 and, and the screen game and how, and some of the, the, the 915 00:48:45,160 --> 00:48:50,680 pre snap motions that they have. And then also Curtis Rourke and 916 00:48:50,680 --> 00:48:55,080 his his familiarity with it and and his you know, I don't know 917 00:48:55,080 --> 00:48:57,920 how he learned it so quickly, but you know, how well he knows 918 00:48:57,920 --> 00:49:01,960 the playbook is, is super impressive to me. 919 00:49:01,960 --> 00:49:05,600 Just like, and I I tweeted this last week. 920 00:49:05,680 --> 00:49:09,320 I said that Mike Shanahan must be the the best red zone schemer 921 00:49:09,320 --> 00:49:11,960 in the country right now. This is some of his red zone 922 00:49:11,960 --> 00:49:16,240 plays are just insane miles price that just he always cashes 923 00:49:16,240 --> 00:49:21,240 in on some sort of like insane scheme play. 924 00:49:21,560 --> 00:49:25,080 You know, it's an RPO screen to the sideline. 925 00:49:25,080 --> 00:49:28,320 Curtis Rourke is throwing off his like throwing shoulder has 926 00:49:28,320 --> 00:49:31,960 somehow and miles price is right there wide open or they're, you 927 00:49:32,000 --> 00:49:36,040 know, it's some sort of mesh concept and miles price is 928 00:49:36,040 --> 00:49:37,640 always wide open in the red zone. 929 00:49:37,640 --> 00:49:40,640 I I don't understand. It's wild. 930 00:49:40,680 --> 00:49:42,920 It really is it it it, it's something new. 931 00:49:43,320 --> 00:49:47,400 And and I I I'll say like I was pleasantly surprised that the 932 00:49:47,520 --> 00:49:51,800 you know, they they mixed 2 receiver like end arounds into 933 00:49:51,800 --> 00:49:53,600 the last game. It's like, where's that been? 934 00:49:53,600 --> 00:49:56,640 And and yet, you know, one of them went for a touchdown, the 935 00:49:56,640 --> 00:49:58,320 other one almost went for a touchdown. 936 00:49:58,520 --> 00:50:00,320 You know, they just keep throwing new wrinkles in. 937 00:50:00,320 --> 00:50:03,040 I I think I I forget who I heard talk about that. 938 00:50:03,360 --> 00:50:05,360 He was one of the national commentators might have been 939 00:50:05,360 --> 00:50:09,600 Mike Golek Junior, who was like, this is this team keeps adding 940 00:50:09,600 --> 00:50:12,560 things like they're, it's not like they're running like 941 00:50:12,560 --> 00:50:14,840 advanced versions of the same stuff they were running in week 942 00:50:14,840 --> 00:50:16,680 4. Like they're just like, yeah, 943 00:50:16,680 --> 00:50:18,880 no, let's throw these wrinkles in that no one's seen. 944 00:50:19,400 --> 00:50:22,240 And, and one can only wonder what they've got in the bag 945 00:50:22,240 --> 00:50:24,480 waiting to be uncorked in this one. 946 00:50:25,080 --> 00:50:27,400 It is. It makes IU offense appointment 947 00:50:27,400 --> 00:50:29,360 television. And I hope all of you are 948 00:50:29,360 --> 00:50:30,880 keeping those appointments because they're good 949 00:50:30,880 --> 00:50:33,040 appointments. It is really cool seeing like 950 00:50:33,040 --> 00:50:36,080 national pundits talk about Indiana's offense. 951 00:50:36,080 --> 00:50:39,480 Like I see some people tweet videos when I follow a lot of 952 00:50:39,480 --> 00:50:42,520 people who study football scheme and so the, you know, I'll see 953 00:50:42,520 --> 00:50:44,200 them post videos of Indiana's offense. 954 00:50:44,200 --> 00:50:45,520 I'm like, what is what? Then? 955 00:50:45,520 --> 00:50:50,320 Then then Mike Goleg Junior like talking about Zach Horton and 956 00:50:50,320 --> 00:50:52,520 Carter Smith and I'm like, what is happening here? 957 00:50:53,360 --> 00:50:56,800 This is crazy. But yeah, their offense is so it 958 00:50:56,800 --> 00:51:00,880 is, it's just so complex. But but it must not be that 959 00:51:00,880 --> 00:51:03,480 complex to learn if if Kurdish work came in and all these 960 00:51:03,480 --> 00:51:07,800 transfers came in, they just, they just must be really 961 00:51:07,800 --> 00:51:11,680 effective at teaching and organizing and communicating 962 00:51:11,720 --> 00:51:15,520 and, and, and Kurdish work. Obviously he's a dude, but you 963 00:51:15,520 --> 00:51:20,120 know that I I'm very curious how, how that works exactly, 964 00:51:20,120 --> 00:51:24,000 because yeah, they just keep adding things and I, I actually 965 00:51:24,040 --> 00:51:26,600 Galen, I don't want to hold, I don't hold you too much longer, 966 00:51:26,600 --> 00:51:29,040 but. I'm the one that invited you on 967 00:51:29,040 --> 00:51:31,320 the podcast. What do you want, Taylor? 968 00:51:31,760 --> 00:51:35,280 Yeah, the, well, the the Colorado's offensive 969 00:51:35,280 --> 00:51:39,200 coordinator, I think Pat Shermer, he was talking, he was 970 00:51:39,200 --> 00:51:42,080 talking in an availability earlier this week and he was 971 00:51:42,080 --> 00:51:49,240 talking, he was asked a question about refinement versus, I can't 972 00:51:49,240 --> 00:51:52,160 remember it like innovation or whatever. 973 00:51:52,880 --> 00:51:55,800 You basically, you know, how much are you trying to fine tune 974 00:51:55,800 --> 00:51:59,680 your offense versus how much are you developing and innovating 975 00:51:59,680 --> 00:52:01,240 still? And he said you're doing a 976 00:52:01,240 --> 00:52:03,640 little bit of both. And I was like, OK, well, that 977 00:52:03,640 --> 00:52:05,360 really seems to check out Mike Shanahan. 978 00:52:06,600 --> 00:52:08,920 And and with the way that things are running now, I'm not sure 979 00:52:08,920 --> 00:52:10,200 how much fine tuning they're actually doing. 980 00:52:10,200 --> 00:52:12,400 So they have room where they can add a bunch of things. 981 00:52:12,400 --> 00:52:15,400 So well, yeah, I just find offensive play calling super 982 00:52:15,400 --> 00:52:17,360 interesting. So Mike Shanahan is It's been a 983 00:52:17,360 --> 00:52:20,640 treat to be able to watch him every single player he's called. 984 00:52:21,000 --> 00:52:23,400 He has and and I mean the one thing I'll add to that before we 985 00:52:23,400 --> 00:52:27,400 wrap up is I mean the offensive play calling's been amazing, but 986 00:52:27,400 --> 00:52:31,360 what makes it work is the players willingness not just to 987 00:52:31,360 --> 00:52:34,000 execute the plays, but to do the extra stuff. 988 00:52:34,000 --> 00:52:38,040 And again, I think it was that Mike Gold junior video that came 989 00:52:38,040 --> 00:52:40,000 out earlier this week. And like he went out of his way 990 00:52:40,000 --> 00:52:45,200 to highlight how, yeah, the the play that Miles Price, the the 991 00:52:45,520 --> 00:52:47,840 the end of round with Miles Price that almost scored a 992 00:52:47,840 --> 00:52:50,800 touchdown. It was Zac Horton going out and 993 00:52:50,800 --> 00:52:54,080 like selling out on the block. But it was also, I think Trey 994 00:52:54,080 --> 00:52:57,280 Weddig going down and like blocking at three different 995 00:52:57,280 --> 00:53:00,680 levels and like springing Price on two separate occasions. 996 00:53:00,680 --> 00:53:05,440 And it is that level of buy in from the people that are doing 997 00:53:05,440 --> 00:53:09,200 the blocking, including other receivers on these plays that 998 00:53:09,200 --> 00:53:11,960 allows Mike Shanahan to do all the things that he does. 999 00:53:11,960 --> 00:53:14,440 I mean, we've seen, I mean, look, we were both around for 1000 00:53:14,440 --> 00:53:17,240 the Kevin Wilson era. Like we've seen like smart play 1001 00:53:17,240 --> 00:53:19,440 calling. But if you don't have guys that 1002 00:53:19,440 --> 00:53:21,880 are bought in to the degree that this Indiana team has 1003 00:53:21,880 --> 00:53:25,120 demonstrated that they're bought in so far this season, it 1004 00:53:25,120 --> 00:53:28,440 doesn't work nearly as well. You know, a, a 35 yard gain 1005 00:53:28,440 --> 00:53:31,560 becomes an 8 yard gain because you don't have that block that 1006 00:53:31,560 --> 00:53:34,440 springs the guy for the extra yardage at the end. 1007 00:53:34,840 --> 00:53:38,880 And that, to me, it's like, you know, play and the play calling 1008 00:53:38,880 --> 00:53:41,040 again has been great. I'm not trying to take away from 1009 00:53:41,040 --> 00:53:42,880 that. But without that execution by 1010 00:53:42,880 --> 00:53:45,360 the players, it doesn't look nearly as great. 1011 00:53:45,360 --> 00:53:47,360 And you don't get the statistical benefits that you've 1012 00:53:47,360 --> 00:53:49,960 gotten, you know, without that extra effort. 1013 00:53:51,160 --> 00:53:54,320 Yeah, and, and just the depth to, I mean, Keyshawn Williams 1014 00:53:54,320 --> 00:53:57,320 leading the the wide receiving corps last week was a surprise 1015 00:53:57,320 --> 00:53:59,920 to me. So, you know, just being able to 1016 00:53:59,920 --> 00:54:04,240 turn to to these guys, I'm not really even sure how that's 1017 00:54:04,240 --> 00:54:06,080 decided. I don't, I don't know how it's 1018 00:54:06,080 --> 00:54:07,840 like, yeah, you know, we're going to keep going to Keyshawn, 1019 00:54:08,880 --> 00:54:10,160 Just it's happened. I don't. 1020 00:54:10,160 --> 00:54:12,520 I don't really know. Why does I I think a lot of it, 1021 00:54:12,520 --> 00:54:14,840 at least from, you know, having watched as many of the games 1022 00:54:14,840 --> 00:54:17,720 that I have, a lot of it is just OK, who's the defense deciding 1023 00:54:17,720 --> 00:54:19,000 that they're willing to leave alone? 1024 00:54:19,600 --> 00:54:21,480 And and that's where you end up going. 1025 00:54:22,000 --> 00:54:24,360 It's, it's, and it's wild to think about because it's, you 1026 00:54:24,360 --> 00:54:27,360 know, when we've seen, you know, it's like last week, Elijah 1027 00:54:27,360 --> 00:54:30,560 Sarat gets back onto things after that one catch game 1028 00:54:30,560 --> 00:54:32,800 against Washington. He has four catches, 59 yards, 2 1029 00:54:32,800 --> 00:54:35,040 touchdowns. And you're like, oh, OK, great. 1030 00:54:35,280 --> 00:54:37,160 You know, But, you know, you look at Omar Cooper. 1031 00:54:37,160 --> 00:54:41,960 Omar Cooper, He's had one catch the last three games, but it's 1032 00:54:41,960 --> 00:54:45,040 been a 36 yarder, a 42 yarder, and a 21 yarder. 1033 00:54:45,320 --> 00:54:49,040 He's almost become like, well, let's wait until they forget 1034 00:54:49,040 --> 00:54:51,120 about him on one play and then let's make sure to take 1035 00:54:51,120 --> 00:54:53,120 advantage of the fact that they've forgotten about him. 1036 00:54:53,120 --> 00:54:55,760 Meanwhile, it's like Miles Price has been probably the most 1037 00:54:55,760 --> 00:54:58,800 consistent receiver. He's got 28 catches on the 1038 00:54:58,800 --> 00:55:00,840 season. He has no game where he's caught 1039 00:55:00,840 --> 00:55:04,040 more than 4 balls in in a single game. 1040 00:55:04,280 --> 00:55:07,240 Miles Cross, who's almost like the forgotten Miles on this 1041 00:55:07,240 --> 00:55:09,160 team. He's been feast or famine. 1042 00:55:09,160 --> 00:55:11,080 He had 7 catches against Nebraska. 1043 00:55:11,480 --> 00:55:14,000 He's at He had one catch the last two weeks combined. 1044 00:55:14,000 --> 00:55:17,120 Didn't catch a thing in the in the Michigan State game. 1045 00:55:17,120 --> 00:55:21,440 So it really does feel like, you know, whose turn is it to step 1046 00:55:21,440 --> 00:55:22,960 up? And a lot of it comes down to, 1047 00:55:22,960 --> 00:55:24,880 well, the opposition is just not paying attention. 1048 00:55:24,880 --> 00:55:27,400 And again, it's like Keyshawn Williams didn't catch a ball in 1049 00:55:27,400 --> 00:55:30,920 the Florida International game, had 6 catches for 85 yards 1050 00:55:30,920 --> 00:55:34,920 against Michigan State. So I am, I'm both impressed by 1051 00:55:34,920 --> 00:55:37,160 the coaching staff and their willingness to like, bring 1052 00:55:37,160 --> 00:55:40,160 people in and be like, all right, we'll take what you're 1053 00:55:40,160 --> 00:55:43,080 giving us and we'll still gain enough yards to score. 1054 00:55:43,440 --> 00:55:47,160 But I'm also terribly impressed with the willingness of this 1055 00:55:47,280 --> 00:55:50,640 remaining group of receivers since we've, as you know, lost a 1056 00:55:50,640 --> 00:55:52,400 couple since the start of the season. 1057 00:55:52,840 --> 00:55:56,880 This group's willingness individually to say it's not my 1058 00:55:56,880 --> 00:55:59,440 day to catch balls, I'm going to go do other things and I'm going 1059 00:55:59,440 --> 00:56:01,880 to contribute to the team's success, and my day might come 1060 00:56:01,880 --> 00:56:04,160 later. And in almost every single case, 1061 00:56:04,160 --> 00:56:06,680 it has come later. Like no one's really been left 1062 00:56:06,680 --> 00:56:09,400 behind in the process. I want to add one more thing, 1063 00:56:09,400 --> 00:56:13,960 Galen, in a place where I think the playbook might expand is 1064 00:56:13,960 --> 00:56:18,360 with the slot receivers with Kashawn Williams and Miles 1065 00:56:18,360 --> 00:56:20,640 Price, which it might have already done that against 1066 00:56:20,640 --> 00:56:23,200 Michigan State. That's why my Keyshawn Williams 1067 00:56:23,560 --> 00:56:28,720 saw so many targets. But Miles Price is I can't 1068 00:56:28,720 --> 00:56:31,000 remember if it's fifth on the team and targets or 5th on the 1069 00:56:31,000 --> 00:56:33,200 team and routes run. I can't remember which one it 1070 00:56:33,200 --> 00:56:36,160 is. But either way, he is, you know, 1071 00:56:36,560 --> 00:56:40,520 not seeing the most opportunity, but he as the second most win 1072 00:56:40,520 --> 00:56:43,720 probability per target and on the team. 1073 00:56:43,720 --> 00:56:46,440 So, you know, a major heat check type of guy. 1074 00:56:46,440 --> 00:56:52,440 But at the same time, at JMU, this staff just really 1075 00:56:52,440 --> 00:56:55,600 prioritize their slot receivers. They would catch, you know, more 1076 00:56:55,600 --> 00:56:58,960 than 1000 yards receiving. And and I just think that 1077 00:57:00,920 --> 00:57:04,680 there's more that more to be discovered, more to be shown 1078 00:57:04,680 --> 00:57:07,120 when it comes to scheming the slot receivers. 1079 00:57:07,320 --> 00:57:10,200 I think, I think in the last stretch of this season, since 1080 00:57:10,280 --> 00:57:11,960 they're playing Michigan, they're playing Ohio State. 1081 00:57:11,960 --> 00:57:14,360 And whatever the postseason brings, I think we're going to 1082 00:57:14,360 --> 00:57:17,640 see a lot more creative scheming with the slot receivers, which 1083 00:57:17,640 --> 00:57:19,560 we've already seen a little bit of Miles Price, like I was 1084 00:57:19,560 --> 00:57:22,840 talking about a little bit ago. But I think there's more there. 1085 00:57:23,000 --> 00:57:26,360 And I think that's something especially some explosive plays 1086 00:57:26,960 --> 00:57:29,600 like downfield. I think there's more that they 1087 00:57:29,600 --> 00:57:31,800 haven't, they haven't on court yet, like you were saying. 1088 00:57:32,960 --> 00:57:36,680 One last note, statistically, So when we first started looking at 1089 00:57:36,680 --> 00:57:41,280 this game a few weeks ago, Indiana was about a 78 to 80% 1090 00:57:41,280 --> 00:57:46,400 favorite on FPI. They are an 86.8% favorite in 1091 00:57:46,400 --> 00:57:50,080 this game according to FP I I and it's I The one thing that's 1092 00:57:50,080 --> 00:57:52,360 fascinating and we've talked about this like the, the 1093 00:57:52,360 --> 00:57:56,880 hereditary nature of college football and how much is is 1094 00:57:56,960 --> 00:57:59,520 placed on prior success from previous seasons. 1095 00:57:59,520 --> 00:58:04,160 And that feeds into brand name. You know, S&P Plus has Michigan, 1096 00:58:04,160 --> 00:58:06,480 I think it's 30th in the country, at least they did 1097 00:58:06,480 --> 00:58:10,360 coming into the week and they're 46th in FPI. 1098 00:58:10,520 --> 00:58:12,640 So that, you know, it's one of those games again, where you've 1099 00:58:12,640 --> 00:58:16,320 got like a pretty big delta between Indiana and the team 1100 00:58:16,320 --> 00:58:18,960 that they're playing. What's exciting I guess is like 1101 00:58:18,960 --> 00:58:22,160 if Indiana wins this game by a sizable margin, this is a good 1102 00:58:22,160 --> 00:58:24,080 strength of schedule victory for Indiana. 1103 00:58:24,080 --> 00:58:26,760 It's a top half team. They're about the same as 1104 00:58:26,760 --> 00:58:29,520 Washington when you look at their rankings, like Indiana 1105 00:58:29,520 --> 00:58:32,520 could really, if they play the way that they need to in this 1106 00:58:32,520 --> 00:58:36,200 game, they could really do themselves a whole lot of favors 1107 00:58:36,200 --> 00:58:38,640 when that next College Football Playoff poll comes out next 1108 00:58:38,640 --> 00:58:40,200 week. Yeah, yeah. 1109 00:58:40,200 --> 00:58:44,960 That's this one thing that's, you know, we understand that a 1110 00:58:44,960 --> 00:58:47,520 lot of even some of the statistical models they'll favor 1111 00:58:47,520 --> 00:58:52,160 the brands, the historical winners and you know, obviously 1112 00:58:52,320 --> 00:58:57,720 humans subjectively will as well like the committee and there are 1113 00:58:57,720 --> 00:59:00,240 obviously some major drawbacks to that which Indiana fans have 1114 00:59:00,240 --> 00:59:02,280 felt. There are also some really great 1115 00:59:02,640 --> 00:59:05,160 upsides as well. Like you were just saying that 1116 00:59:05,160 --> 00:59:09,080 if you be a bad Michigan team, you're still beating Michigan 1117 00:59:09,240 --> 00:59:12,160 and you're still beating them by as much as you beat them by. 1118 00:59:12,520 --> 00:59:16,040 So, you know, obviously, like you were saying, Galen, this 1119 00:59:16,040 --> 00:59:17,600 whole conversation is very uncomfortable. 1120 00:59:18,520 --> 00:59:23,000 But but then when you're talking about like style points, it is 1121 00:59:23,000 --> 00:59:25,280 crucial. And and that is something that 1122 00:59:25,280 --> 00:59:28,800 they that, you know, I thought of when they kept racking up the 1123 00:59:28,800 --> 00:59:30,760 points against Michigan State, It's like you got to keep the 1124 00:59:30,760 --> 00:59:32,840 starters out there because you have to make statements every 1125 00:59:32,840 --> 00:59:35,880 single week as Indiana. And so, you know, this could be 1126 00:59:35,880 --> 00:59:38,320 another one. Obviously you know you have to 1127 00:59:38,320 --> 00:59:40,960 win, but you know how much do you win by? 1128 00:59:40,960 --> 00:59:44,640 That becomes a conversation. Yeah, I mean, at this point, 1129 00:59:44,640 --> 00:59:47,320 it's not style points, it's preservation points. 1130 00:59:48,440 --> 00:59:50,280 You know, it's real. It's it's having you think about 1131 00:59:50,280 --> 00:59:52,880 it like if it's why Indiana kept scoring against Michigan State, 1132 00:59:52,880 --> 00:59:56,600 they had to because we've seen that Indiana's not going to get 1133 00:59:56,600 --> 01:00:00,240 respect unless they unless they win these games by large 1134 01:00:00,240 --> 01:00:03,520 margins, which is what makes this game even more fascinating. 1135 01:00:03,520 --> 01:00:06,240 I think in terms of like, you know, what can Indiana do, 1136 01:00:06,240 --> 01:00:09,760 'cause you know, as much as we've laid out the the frailties 1137 01:00:09,760 --> 01:00:12,520 of Michigan over the course of this season, I mean, the reality 1138 01:00:12,520 --> 01:00:14,840 is they've. They haven't given up more than 1139 01:00:14,840 --> 01:00:18,400 38 points all season, and Indiana regularly scores over 38 1140 01:00:18,400 --> 01:00:20,000 points. Like, what does Indiana do? 1141 01:00:20,360 --> 01:00:22,360 You know, if that 38 points was an outlier? 1142 01:00:22,360 --> 01:00:29,520 I mean, the other games they've given up 3127212424. 1143 01:00:29,520 --> 01:00:32,600 I mean, this is a team that does a good job of keeping you under 1144 01:00:32,600 --> 01:00:33,920 wraps a bit. So it will be a really 1145 01:00:33,920 --> 01:00:36,800 fascinating test when you get beyond the wins and losses 1146 01:00:36,800 --> 01:00:38,560 thing, even though that itself will be a test. 1147 01:00:38,560 --> 01:00:42,280 But like, exactly how much muscle can Indiana flex in this 1148 01:00:42,280 --> 01:00:45,480 kind of a game so well? Stat that was like Indiana is 1149 01:00:45,480 --> 01:00:49,560 won by an average margin of 32 points, which is more than 101 1150 01:00:49,560 --> 01:00:52,880 teams average game. It's almost like, and it's one 1151 01:00:52,880 --> 01:00:55,880 of those stats where I'm like, I can't, I'm sure this is an 1152 01:00:56,200 --> 01:01:00,480 accurate stat, but I can't take myself seriously and and read 1153 01:01:00,480 --> 01:01:01,920 that and think that that's accurate. 1154 01:01:01,920 --> 01:01:04,000 It's, it's just it, it boggles the mind. 1155 01:01:04,920 --> 01:01:07,800 Yeah. So anyway, well, Taylor, this 1156 01:01:07,800 --> 01:01:09,800 was fun as always and informative. 1157 01:01:09,800 --> 01:01:12,120 And we really appreciate you taking the time to join us. 1158 01:01:12,120 --> 01:01:16,920 And folks, if you like this type of statistical analysis, like to 1159 01:01:16,960 --> 01:01:19,600 dig into the numbers like this, be sure to head over to bite 1160 01:01:19,600 --> 01:01:21,480 size, buy some throw subscription down. 1161 01:01:21,480 --> 01:01:24,040 You will not regret it if you're an IU football fan or just a 1162 01:01:24,040 --> 01:01:27,040 college football fan in general. So Taylor, thanks again. 1163 01:01:27,360 --> 01:01:30,400 We will not have you on next week for the preview 'cause it's 1164 01:01:30,400 --> 01:01:33,520 a bye week, but we will absolutely be having you on as 1165 01:01:33,520 --> 01:01:36,360 we get ready for the Ohio State game in a couple of weeks, 1166 01:01:36,360 --> 01:01:38,000 regardless of what happens this weekend. 1167 01:01:38,000 --> 01:01:39,400 So thank you again for joining us. 1168 01:01:39,920 --> 01:01:42,560 Yeah, thanks for having me on. And thanks to all you folks for 1169 01:01:42,560 --> 01:01:45,560 listening and we wish you the best of luck as you hopefully 1170 01:01:45,560 --> 01:01:48,760 voyage down to Bloomington to watch Indiana versus Michigan or 1171 01:01:48,760 --> 01:01:51,200 at the very least figure out where you're going to watch the 1172 01:01:51,200 --> 01:01:52,720 game at home or at a bar locally. 1173 01:01:53,240 --> 01:01:55,200 Our thanks to Home Field Apparel, our presenting sponsor. 1174 01:01:55,200 --> 01:01:57,080 Our thanks to Taylor Layman from Bite Sized Bison. 1175 01:01:57,080 --> 01:01:59,480 And I thanks to all of you folks out there in the audience. 1176 01:01:59,960 --> 01:02:02,440 I'm Galen Clavio. Thank you for listening to 1177 01:02:02,440 --> 01:02:04,120 Crimson cast. We will catch you folks. 1178 01:02:04,120 --> 01:02:07,160 On the flip side, bring back the Bison, stay never daunted. 1179 01:02:07,480 --> 01:02:12,480 It's all on everybody and goodbye YouTube.