10/29/2026 5:00:00 PM | MGoBlue Podcasts
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Radio Network Scene Setter • 00:01
We're competing every week and these guys continue to fight. We're a tight net. We know what we have to do to get better, hang our hat on what we're good at and just try to improve at what we're not so good at. We just gotta continue to get better as a team and play complimentary football. We're not sitting here saying we can't compete with anybody. We're just not finishing. We just gotta find ways and, you know, I think we'll. We'll do that. Just win the next game. That's the most important game is the next game. Focus on going one and 0 each week.
Jeff Laurence • 00:24
We're closing in on another Michigan game day. Now let's get you set for Saturday's matchup with our keys to the game edition of in the the Trenches, presented by Meijer, presenting sponsor of the twenty twenty six Michigan football season and proud supporter of hundreds of local sports teams across the Midwest. Now here's Jon Jansen.
Jon Jansen • 00:44
Michigan hits the road, this time to Piscataway, New Jersey to take on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. Hoping to get back to five hundred four and four after this trip. And here are some keys. But before we get there, game day just got a style upgrade. Before kickoff of the Michigan State game on november seventh, head to the Tommy Hilfiger Prep rally at Fan Fest on the corner of Stadium and Main street to check out pieces from their varsity Prep inspired collection. Get a free Tommy Hilfiger hat that you can customize with a patch if you sign up for the Hilfiger Club. But hurry. Supplies are limited to the first five hundred fans. Then step inside their Airstream, strike a pose and and snap a photo to remember the day. Do the pregame right with the Tommy Hilfiger Prep rally. Find them at the Michigan State Fan Fest, open four hours before kickoff.
Jeff Laurence • 01:36
Offense.
Jon Jansen • 01:37
Offense is all about keeping it simple. Don't overthink. It's not rocket science. This is the game of football where physicality and execution matter. So, number one, run, run, run, run the football. You've got to establish something in the run game. Rutgers is the worst rushing defense in the Big Ten. They allow just under two hundred yards, one hundred ninety nine per game. They are actually worse than Penn State who comes in at number seventeen. We know what happened in the second half of Penn State. So you've got to find a way to consistently run the football. Find some confidence plays. And it doesn't have to be ten different plays. It just has to be two, three, four plays that you know the offensive Line, running backs, quarterback, wide receivers, tight ends, everyone on the same page that no matter when the what the play is, no matter when it's called, that play will be executed at a high level.
Jon Jansen • 02:42
Everybody knows who they have. Everybody feels like they can come off the football, be violent, be aggressive and knock Scarlet Knights back. We have to get back to removing the line of scrimmage. You must move the down lineman into the linebackers, tight ends, wide receivers, get downfield and block the second level. And off to the races we go. You've got to find confidence plays. You got to find confidence in being physical and violent. Number two, just like, hey, they're the worst rushing defense, they are the worst defense overall in the Big Ten. So take advantage of them. They allow four hundred yard plus yards per game, over thirty three points per game. This is a defense that you should be able to execute your offense. And again, let. We don't have to get complicated. We don't have to get fancy, we don't have to get cute. It's just a matter of finding what are the protections that we are confident in.
Jon Jansen • 03:40
Communication is solidified. No matter where the blitz comes, no matter what happens up front, we know five offensive linemen, we've got these five running back, we've got six tight end, we've got seven. Whoever it might be, you know exactly what you're doing on every single play. And then number three, and this is really for the rest of the season, every position is an open competition. We've had an open competition at quarterback. We had a change there. It needs to be an open competition at all eleven positions. Some guys, hey, you've already got a head start on winning that job for next week when you play Michigan State, for the week after, when you play Oregon, go right on down the list. But you've got to show that you know what you're doing. You go out there and put it all on film and everybody gets a chance because you've got to find who the best eleven are so that you can build on it for Michigan State, that you could build on it for Oregon and UCLA and the game that matters most, the game against the Buckeyes at the end of the season, hey, Big Ten and playoffs, that ship is sailed.
Jon Jansen • 04:46
But you still have opportunity to go out there and play your rivals. So go out there and earn your position every single day. Show you can do it against Rutgers and earn that opportunity against msu. Show you could do it against MSU and earn that opportunity. When you go out to Eugene to take on the Ducks. That's what it has to be for this Michigan offense. It doesn't matter what position is. You have to find the best eleven, put them out there and go to war.
Jeff Laurence • 05:13
Defense.
Jon Jansen • 05:15
There's going to be a good matchup on defense. And we saw the secondary where whether it's Jyaire Hill or Zeke Barry, Chris Bracy, Smith Snowden, Rod Moore, throughout the course of the year, all have played well. All have played at a winning level. Last week the highlight was Jyaire and Zeke. The matchup. You ace that matchup. Now I'm going to give you another challenge because you got wide receiver KJ Duff. All of six, six, two hundred thirty pounds, nine touchdowns so far, this year's seventeen yards per reception. He is an NFL talent. You must match up and win that matchup. And it's not just those guys. You got to have safety help over the top. You've got to be able to communicate linebackers in drops. Everyone has to be on the same page because this guy is a stud. Find a way to match up. Take him away. He leads the country right now in contested catches.
Jon Jansen • 06:15
Like I said, he's six. Six. He's a big dude. He is a really talented wide receiver. And I can't wait to see how the secondary and how Jay Hill figures ways to stop KJ Duff. Number two, stop the run. They're running back Antwan Raymond is top twenty in rushing yards per game at just under one hundred yards. This is a defense finding ways to continue to get better. The secondary we've talked about you the front seven. I want to give you a couple of things here in key Number two, stop the run. And when they drop back to pass, crush the quarterback. You've got to be able to flip that switch from run stopper to pass rusher. And that if we can do that just a little bit quicker, find ways to pressure the quarterback, all while stopping the run. That's one of the next steps for this defense. And then number three, continue to create turnovers. Greg Schiano, coach teams while he's on Ben on campus.
Jon Jansen • 07:13
They are twenty one and four when not committing a turnover. So what does that say? You got to go out there, force fumbles, get interceptions. You got the first one last week against Josh Hoover. Do it again, do it multiple times. No one says you got to stop at one, two or three. Keep turning that ball over. Give it back to the offense. And it's all about creating opportunities, opportunities for the offense. Give them the advantage of a short field. Give them the advantage of multiple opportunities. This is the ultimate team game right now. Defense, you're playing at an extremely high level. Help out that offense if you can. Take it to the house, take it to the house.
Jeff Laurence • 7:49
Special teams.
Jon Jansen • 07:50
This is where it gets a little bit interesting because when you're playing against bad teams and right now Rutgers is one of the worst teams in the Big Ten. You've got to, you got to understand that they're going to try and steal possessions. They're going to try and, hey, you gotta be on the lookout for fake punts, fake kicks, onside kicks. Everything is on the table because they're going to try and steal a couple of possessions. Greg Schiano-coached teams in Piscataway have blocked seventy six kicks. I'll say that again, they have blocked seventy six kicks. Forty six of them are punts. Three last year were returned for touchdowns. Seventeen field goals, thirteen pats. This is a team that prides itself in special teams. You've got to find a way to protect the punter, protect the football, protect the kicker at whatever you got to do. And it's just a simple matter of focus. It's you protect the ball at all costs because this is how they try and stay in games. And number two, win the field position battle. It's simple. Win the field position battle. You've got to find ways to be good on coverage, both kickoff and punt.
Jon Jansen • 08:58
And, and in the return game, if you're able to bigger one out on a kickoff return, hey, take it out as far as you can. Pick up as many yardage as. As much yardage as possible. Same thing on the punt return. You've got to find ways to continually win the field position battle.
Jeff Laurence • 09:17
Now it's time for Jon's locker room speech.
Jon Jansen • 09:21
This game isn't about Rutgers. In fact, no game, the remainder of the schedule will be about the opponent. It is simply about Michigan. This is a team defense, three phases, and you're going to have times where the offense steps up and has the back of the defense. Throughout the course of this season so far, it's mainly been the defense having the back of the offense. Special teams, same thing. You've got to find ways to step up in every phase, but it's a. It's the ultimate team sport because it's thirty three guys in all three phases. There might be some overlap in regards to those that are playing special teams, but it is all three phases that have to operate at a high level to win football games. And you've got to be able to pick up your partner. You got to be able to pick up your teammate. You've got to be able to support the other phases of this football team and defense.
Jon Jansen • 10:14
If you are called upon to be the leaders of this football team, to set the standard, to set the tone, to set the identity, then you go out there and you do it every single time. Just because you've done it for the first seven games doesn't mean you ha. You don't have to do it for the last five. It is a standard that you have set and you will continue to reset that standard higher and higher and higher until this football season ends. Offense, you've got to find a way to help this team. You got to put points on the board, you've got to sustain drives, you got to win time of possession. All of these things all go back to execution. You've got to go out there, do your one eleventh, follow the plan and go out there and execute on the first play all the way to the last play. Now, no one expects perfection, but we do expect improvement. We expect effort. We expect that you're going to go out there and play Michigan football the way that it's supposed to be played.
Jon Jansen • 11:11
And it is a physical brand of football, no matter if you're blocking or or if you're carrying, if you're throwing or if you're receiving. Now find a way to go out there against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights and get it done. Go Blue.
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Jeff Laurence • 11:26
Thanks for listening to this edition of in the Trenches with Jon Jansen presented by Meijer, presenting sponsor of the twenty twenty six Michigan football season and proud supporter of hundreds of local sports teams across the Midwest. In the Trenches is part of our Michigan Athletics Podcast Network, MGO Blue Podcast. The preceding is a Learfield present of the Michigan Sports Network.
