11/7/2026 10:01:00 PM | MGoBlue Podcasts
00:00:00 Jon Jansen
Michigan drops a tough one here.
00:00:01 Jon Jansen
15 to 6 is the final score to Michigan State.
00:00:06 Jon Jansen
We'll get a chance to hear from Doug Karsch, Jason Avant, Brian Boesch, myself, as well as from head coach Kyle Whittingham, all on In the Trenches.
00:00:16 Jeff Laurence
Welcome to the official podcast of Michigan football in the trenches with Jon Jansen presented by Meijer, presenting sponsor of the 2026 Michigan football season and proud supporter of hundreds of local sports teams across the Midwest.
00:00:31 Jeff Laurence
Nobody covers Michigan football better than the two-time captain, national champion, and Michigan Athletics Hall of Honor inductee.
00:00:39 Kyle Whittingham
Got to come up with some solutions, some answers, and obviously what we're doing right now is not working.
00:00:45 Kyle Whittingham
It starts with me and there's some sort of disconnect between what we're doing during the week with our practice because they're practicing very well and what's going on in the games.
00:00:52 Kyle Whittingham
And so, that's our job as coaches to figure that out.
00:00:57 Jeff Laurence
This is In the Trenches presented by Meijer.
00:01:00 Jeff Laurence
Once again, here's Jon Jansen.
00:01:03 Jon Jansen
At this time, I'm going to bring in my partner, Brian Boesch.
00:01:05 Brian Boesch
Overall here, Jon,
00:01:07 Brian Boesch
It's tough to break any aspect of this down when you just look at something that you and Doug reiterated several times during the broadcast, Michigan State seemed to want it more.
00:01:17 Jon Jansen
Well, they did.
00:01:18 Jon Jansen
And I mean, they came in here with a purpose.
00:01:20 Jon Jansen
And I don't necessarily know that they had a clear plan or a vision as to what a victory would look like.
00:01:27 Jon Jansen
I just know that they came in here and they laid it all on the line.
00:01:32 Jon Jansen
And I don't mean, I don't say that jokingly either.
00:01:36 Jon Jansen
They literally played everything that they could.
00:01:39 Jon Jansen
Those guys over there, they played their best game of the season.
00:01:42 Jon Jansen
There's no doubt about it.
00:01:43 Jon Jansen
And they played with passion.
00:01:45 Jon Jansen
They played with emotion.
00:01:46 Jon Jansen
And Michigan started out that way, but it waned quickly and they were never able to regain the juice or their mojo on the sidelines.
00:01:55 Jon Jansen
And when you're unable to pick up first downs, you're unable to put the ball in the end zone.
00:02:00 Jon Jansen
The defense
00:02:01 Jon Jansen
I mean, going into halftime, the defense had played well.
00:02:05 Jon Jansen
It just, there was nothing offensively that was working.
00:02:09 Jon Jansen
They couldn't get the run game going.
00:02:11 Jon Jansen
There was no consistency in the pass game.
00:02:13 Jon Jansen
And then the pass protection was breaking down.
00:02:15 Jon Jansen
And that's probably the thing that I'm most surprised at.
00:02:18 Jon Jansen
One of the things I mentioned at the very end of the broadcast was
00:02:21 Jon Jansen
This was a Michigan State team that had only accumulated 12 sacks through eight games.
00:02:28 Jon Jansen
And they got five tonight.
00:02:30 Jon Jansen
And that doesn't even account for the amount of times that Tommy was on the run.
00:02:35 Jon Jansen
He threw the ball and he was getting hit.
00:02:38 Jon Jansen
It just there was nothing working at all tonight for this Michigan offense.
00:02:43 Brian Boesch
Yeah, frankly, it's a surprise it wasn't more than five.
00:02:47 Brian Boesch
In this offense, it seemed to gain a little bit of momentum, but of course it came with several asterisks by it, with it being against Rutgers.
00:02:55 Brian Boesch
What faltered so significantly offensively today?
00:02:59 Jon Jansen
Well, even if you look at the game against Rutgers, and I mean, I think it was Tommy had 54 yards rushing and the running backs combined had a total of just over 100 yards.
00:03:09 Jon Jansen
And that was the worst rushing defense in the Big Ten.
00:03:13 Jon Jansen
And so you can't look at that and say, well, you know, things were working well
00:03:17 Jon Jansen
here.
00:03:18 Jon Jansen
It just, but you thought that maybe some of that would carry over to this week where maybe there was a couple of things where they started to find some confidence.
00:03:26 Jon Jansen
And they did with Bryson Kuzdzal, but it just, it felt like anytime Michigan was able to do something good, it was one step forward, two steps back.
00:03:37 Jon Jansen
Bryson Kuzdzal finds a crease, then he lays the ball on the ground.
00:03:42 Jon Jansen
It just, it literally was every time you took a step forward, you thought, okay, here we go.
00:03:47 Jon Jansen
Michigan would do something to negate everything and at times make it worse.
00:03:52 Brian Boesch
And defensively, yeah, there are some elements that you can tip your cap to them.
00:03:57 Brian Boesch
This defense has been the saving grace for Michigan.
00:04:00 Brian Boesch
Wolverines wouldn't have five wins if not for this defense.
00:04:04 Brian Boesch
They'd have far fewer than that.
00:04:06 Brian Boesch
But boy, it just felt like Michigan State was a step ahead, and that tackling it's been so sure fire for Michigan much of this season just did not have the consistency we've seen.
00:04:16 Jon Jansen
Well, it certainly did in the fourth quarter, and that's when you gotta be at your best, and you're in a bar fight,
00:04:23 Jon Jansen
And you've got to have your best punch.
00:04:25 Jon Jansen
And Michigan just didn't have it when they needed it.
00:04:29 Brian Boesch
This is obviously a now three-game stretch where Michigan will be underdogs in all three games.
00:04:34 Brian Boesch
This was an opportunity to get bowl eligible to lock down a rivalry win and set up a chance to build a foundation moving forward.
00:04:42 Brian Boesch
Because the next three games, Oregon had a big win today.
00:04:45 Brian Boesch
UCLA's undefeated.
00:04:46 Brian Boesch
Ohio State's struggling.
00:04:48 Brian Boesch
They still have plenty of talent.
00:04:49 Brian Boesch
Now it is a legitimate wonder who in that locker room, what players, what leaders rise up to try to get this team to bounce back because this can be a bottoming out type of a loss.
00:05:00 Jon Jansen
Well, you're going to have to lean on your captains.
00:05:02 Jon Jansen
You're going to have to lean on the leadership council that Coach Whittingham put together at the beginning of the year.
00:05:08 Jon Jansen
Those are the guys that you have to lean on.
00:05:10 Jon Jansen
It's your juniors, your seniors, guys that maybe they haven't had a moment like this, but they've had moments of
00:05:18 Jon Jansen
disappointment where they've been able to bounce back.
00:05:20 Jon Jansen
They've been able to recover.
00:05:21 Jon Jansen
That's those are the guys that you have to lean on in moments like this.
00:05:26 Jon Jansen
That's why it's just
00:05:28 Jon Jansen
You're going to have to have your veteran players step up and be leaders because you're going to have to pull a lot of these guys along with you.
00:05:36 Jon Jansen
There's going to be a lot of sour faces in that locker room tomorrow and the meeting rooms on Monday and there's no time for that.
00:05:43 Jon Jansen
They're not going to cancel the rest of the season.
00:05:44 Jon Jansen
You're going to have to come out and play and you're going to have to find something that you can build on whether it's the first quarter of the Oregon game you can build on for the second quarter or if something happens in the third quarter.
00:05:56 Jon Jansen
You've got to find something that
00:05:58 Jon Jansen
you are doing well that you can build on.
00:06:01 Jon Jansen
Because right now, quite honestly, on offense, there's nothing that you can hang your hat on.
00:06:07 Jon Jansen
The rushing game hasn't been there all season long.
00:06:09 Jon Jansen
You thought you had a little bit of a glimmer of hope with Tommy and Tommy's throws early today.
00:06:16 Jon Jansen
We're all going high.
00:06:18 Jon Jansen
And I felt like he was rushing a lot of throws.
00:06:20 Jon Jansen
He was forcing some things, causing them to go high.
00:06:23 Jon Jansen
And some of that is probably just mechanics, right?
00:06:26 Jon Jansen
Where is his weight when he's throwing that ball?
00:06:29 Jon Jansen
What's causing it to go high?
00:06:31 Jon Jansen
Those are fixable things.
00:06:33 Jon Jansen
What is a bigger challenge is, and is really confounding so many people, this is an offensive line as constructed that started today
00:06:44 Jon Jansen
that had returning starters from last year.
00:06:47 Jon Jansen
They were able to run the football.
00:06:49 Jon Jansen
They were able to have success.
00:06:50 Jon Jansen
And you can't tell me that they've just forgotten how to block.
00:06:55 Jon Jansen
It's just unbelievably frustrating that that's the one thing this year that is the identity of Michigan football that they haven't been able to find a way to do.
00:07:04 Brian Boesch
Doug, late in the game, you said the phrase rock bottom with green and white painted throughout this Michigan stadium.
00:07:12 Brian Boesch
as the Wolverines lose for the first time in their last five tries against Michigan State.
00:07:17 Brian Boesch
And not even just the what, but the how makes those two words feel right.
00:07:21 Doug Karsch
Yeah, it's pretty embarrassing.
00:07:23 Doug Karsch
They did very little right offensively.
00:07:27 Doug Karsch
They did not run the football at all.
00:07:30 Doug Karsch
Can't turn the football over.
00:07:32 Doug Karsch
They turned it over, lost the battle of special teams, lost the rushing battle decidedly, the defense to their credit,
00:07:41 Doug Karsch
While they gave us some rushing yards, the defense did just about all that they could.
00:07:46 Doug Karsch
But the formula, we talked about it in the pregame, the things you couldn't do.
00:07:51 Doug Karsch
And Michigan did many of them, which opened up the door for a Michigan State team that came in here.
00:07:57 Doug Karsch
And Jon said it during the broadcast.
00:08:00 Doug Karsch
And I don't know that it could be argued.
00:08:01 Doug Karsch
They played like they wanted it more.
00:08:04 Doug Karsch
And look, both coaches are new to this rivalry, but now Kyle Whittingham has a sense for what it's all about.
00:08:10 Doug Karsch
And you know they're going to have to take a look in the mirror in terms of what they're doing on the offensive side of the football.
00:08:16 Doug Karsch
What they're doing to bring out their best like I bet there's some hard conversations that are about to take place.
00:08:23 Doug Karsch
On top of that, that is going to be one salty locker room and there's probably a lot of players that are really, really upset with this result.
00:08:32 Doug Karsch
And I mean, you would hope that it it stings inside to never let anything like this happen again, but.
00:08:40 Doug Karsch
At the end of the day, they got a difficult schedule coming up.
00:08:44 Doug Karsch
They've got a million things to work on offensively.
00:08:49 Doug Karsch
The defense is good enough to win a lot of these games that they've lost.
00:08:53 Doug Karsch
But this is three of the last four games Michigan has held scoreless in the first half.
00:08:57 Doug Karsch
So what they're doing right out of the gate, you script plays, you hope to put things together, and they did have one drive where they went right down the field.
00:09:08 Doug Karsch
and 71 yards, 13 plays, I think it was, and they don't the field goal off the off the goalpost.
00:09:14 Doug Karsch
So look, there's a ton of work to be done and you know, I don't know if they can get it done this season.
00:09:23 Brian Boesch
No, 36 points for Michigan in the first half in Big Ten play.
00:09:28 Brian Boesch
36 points in the first half in Big Ten play.
00:09:32 Brian Boesch
I do want to touch on the defense because
00:09:34 Brian Boesch
Yes, the defense has been the calling card.
00:09:36 Brian Boesch
It's been what fans have grasped onto as hope for salvaging something out of this season.
00:09:42 Brian Boesch
Something Kyle Whittingham has talked about and talked positively about much of the season, broken tackles.
00:09:47 Brian Boesch
I don't know the difference that they gauge broken tackles versus tackles that didn't quite get finished until a few yards down the field.
00:09:55 Brian Boesch
But there were several times where, to your point about wanting it more, Michigan State churned the legs
00:10:01 Brian Boesch
A lot more than maybe any team has against this Michigan defense.
00:10:04 Doug Karsch
Yeah, and the Michigan defense, they're going to be disappointed.
00:10:08 Doug Karsch
Specifically, when they pinned Michigan State on their own one-yard line and let them take 10 minutes off the clock, 17 plays, 79 yards.
00:10:19 Doug Karsch
And got a field goal out of it, that was a moment where the game could have changed.
00:10:23 Doug Karsch
That was the time the defense needed a three-and-out.
00:10:25 Doug Karsch
And I'm sure that's what Jay Hill is going to say.
00:10:28 Doug Karsch
Jay Hill, who's done an outstanding job with this defense, inherited this group, brought some players with him.
00:10:33 Doug Karsch
He's been very, very good.
00:10:35 Doug Karsch
But I can guarantee that he's going to look at that moment in a game.
00:10:39 Doug Karsch
We know him well enough.
00:10:40 Doug Karsch
We talk to him every week.
00:10:42 Doug Karsch
He's going to be really upset that they let him out of jail there.
00:10:44 Doug Karsch
And on that drive, they completed one pass.
00:10:47 Doug Karsch
They only tried two.
00:10:49 Doug Karsch
Technically, maybe a third, I think.
00:10:51 Doug Karsch
It was a sack, but that looked like a QB run.
00:10:55 Doug Karsch
So, you know, they did it on the ground.
00:10:58 Doug Karsch
which is just not characteristic of this Michigan defense.
00:11:01 Doug Karsch
Quite frankly, I don't know if it's characteristic of this Michigan State offense, but give them credit, they did it tonight and that's the only thing that matters.
00:11:10 Brian Boesch
Yeah, 10 straight runs to finish that drive and it goes to show you the value of finishing drives with a kick.
00:11:16 Brian Boesch
five field goals for Michigan State.
00:11:18 Brian Boesch
Michigan had four turnovers.
00:11:20 Brian Boesch
And outside of that 13-play drive that ended the doink field goal and the last drive where Michigan was just trying to find a way down the field and scored its lone touchdown, Michigan did not have a drive longer than four plays.
00:11:32 Brian Boesch
Part of the reason why the time of possession, yet again, we've talked about this a lot this year, very much tilted to Michigan State.
00:11:38 Doug Karsch
Yep, you're not gonna win football games playing that way, and you're not gonna win football games
00:11:44 Doug Karsch
in a rivalry game where you play that way.
00:11:46 Doug Karsch
We talked about a pregame.
00:11:47 Doug Karsch
I don't think this game was a out of body experience for anybody at Michigan State.
00:11:53 Doug Karsch
I think they played about the way I would have expected them to play.
00:11:58 Doug Karsch
I think what we have here is Michigan's equivalent of that game where they beat Ohio State, when Ohio State won the national championship or Ohio State didn't show up.
00:12:08 Doug Karsch
Credit Michigan on that day.
00:12:10 Doug Karsch
But Davis Warren and the crew went down there and got that upset win.
00:12:14 Doug Karsch
And there was a lot of soul searching in Columbus.
00:12:18 Doug Karsch
And this Michigan team, I don't know how else to put it, didn't look like they showed up.
00:12:23 Brian Boesch
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00:12:28 Brian Boesch
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00:12:57 Brian Boesch
Now, let's hear from Jack Miller.
00:12:59 Brian Boesch
What irritates you most about what you saw tonight?
00:13:03 Jack Miller
Boy, that's a tough one.
00:13:05 Jack Miller
There's a lot to pick from.
00:13:07 Jack Miller
You know, I guess it's probably just the
00:13:09 Jack Miller
The lack of passion and intensity that the team played with in the second half just didn't have it and started the night strong.
00:13:17 Jack Miller
There was a lot of energy in the stadium.
00:13:19 Jack Miller
It felt like the fans showed up.
00:13:21 Jack Miller
They were ready to go.
00:13:22 Jack Miller
The team came off and it was playing hard to begin with and that dissipated throughout the course of the game.
00:13:29 Jack Miller
As the game went on, that slowly went away.
00:13:32 Jack Miller
You know, look, this defense is is tired.
00:13:34 Jack Miller
Defense is broke.
00:13:35 Jack Miller
I think you know their their morale, so to speak.
00:13:38 Jack Miller
I mean, playing really, really well all season long and bailing out the offense, trying to carry the team to victory.
00:13:45 Jack Miller
And and and I think eventually it just wears on you as a as a teammate and coaches and fans when you know there's so much there's a high potential there that's just not being fulfilled in any way offensively and and
00:14:02 Jack Miller
That takes the wind out of your sails.
00:14:04 Jack Miller
You saw that today.
00:14:04 Jack Miller
The team did not play very inspired football in the second-half.
00:14:07 Jack Miller
Michigan State played their best and brought it to us today.
00:14:11 Jack Miller
And that was disappointing to see.
00:14:13 Brian Boesch
75 to 52 in plays, 38 minutes to just shy of 22 minutes in the time of possession battle.
00:14:21 Brian Boesch
And I mean, all the two drives or four plays or fewer.
00:14:26 Brian Boesch
I just don't know what, I understand fans fire in brimstone, can everybody, bench everybody.
00:14:32 Brian Boesch
I understand it, right?
00:14:34 Brian Boesch
I just don't know what the answer is.
00:14:35 Brian Boesch
It's not kneeling down three times in punting, which honestly, there were a couple games this year, maybe that would have worked.
00:14:43 Brian Boesch
But truly, I don't know what the solution is for an offense that has been
00:14:48 Brian Boesch
in essence, just kind of waving in the wind for nine games.
00:14:51 Brian Boesch
And that's tough when we're sitting here in November and we're saying that.
00:14:54 Jack Miller
Yeah, I mean, look, if there was an easy fix to be done by now, right?
00:14:58 Jack Miller
If somebody had a silver bullet to make the offense go, we would have it.
00:15:03 Jack Miller
It's not working.
00:15:04 Jack Miller
The play calling is not working.
00:15:06 Jack Miller
The execution from the players isn't working.
00:15:09 Jack Miller
There's talent gaps.
00:15:11 Jack Miller
There's a lot of talent in some spots, but not enough consistently across the board to get anything going.
00:15:17 Jack Miller
It's just a miss.
00:15:18 Jack Miller
It's not clicking.
00:15:19 Jack Miller
And doesn't mean that you got bad coaches or bad players.
00:15:23 Jack Miller
I think maybe you do at times.
00:15:25 Jack Miller
That doesn't mean holistically that's always the case.
00:15:27 Jack Miller
But it's a team game for, you know, it's the greatest sport in the world because it takes everyone pulling their weight to make things happen and make things go.
00:15:37 Jack Miller
And, you know, I've talked a lot about it the last couple weeks.
00:15:39 Jack Miller
A lot of 10 man football.
00:15:40 Jack Miller
So 10 guys are doing it right.
00:15:42 Jack Miller
One guy messes up.
00:15:42 Jack Miller
Then the next play, it's the other guy, right?
00:15:44 Jack Miller
It's not the same.
00:15:46 Jack Miller
When you have stuff like that going on, you know you got to look internally and figure out what your role is and your contribution to that and to fixing it.
00:15:55 Jack Miller
And you know from an offensive standpoint, I mean it's it's abysmal right now.
00:15:59 Jack Miller
There is no answer.
00:16:00 Jack Miller
There's no identity.
00:16:01 Jack Miller
There's there.
00:16:02 Jack Miller
I mean things don't make sense and then they're not executing.
00:16:05 Jack Miller
The players aren't executing very well and so.
00:16:09 Jack Miller
You know, it's gut check time, that's for sure.
00:16:12 Jack Miller
You know, we're past, we're officially past the hey, we got some things to work on standpoint.
00:16:16 Jack Miller
Like that's over with now.
00:16:17 Jack Miller
And so now it's about pride and it's about, you know, playing hard for yourself, for your teammates and for your school.
00:16:25 Jack Miller
And it's inflection point.
00:16:27 Jack Miller
We'll see if they're able to keep that locker room together.
00:16:29 Brian Boesch
Unfortunately, we've said something similar for a few games at this point.
00:16:33 Brian Boesch
Reality now is Michigan wins any of its final three games.
00:16:37 Brian Boesch
that will resonate nationally because of who they beat.
00:16:40 Brian Boesch
But because those teams are good, it has a chance to get really ugly.
00:16:43 Brian Boesch
And that's the worrisome part.
00:16:45 Jack Miller
Yeah, it does.
00:16:46 Jack Miller
I mean, and I think that maybe, you know, back to your first question, what's the most frustrating thing?
00:16:51 Jack Miller
They're not getting any better.
00:16:53 Jack Miller
And so look, if you're just not better than the other team and you lose games, that's life.
00:16:57 Jack Miller
There's other good coaches and players in the world.
00:16:59 Brian Boesch
That happens.
00:17:00 Jack Miller
But with the talent that's here, with the support that's here at a place like Michigan,
00:17:06 Jack Miller
It is a fair expectation to look week in and week out and say, all right, we're getting better at that.
00:17:11 Jack Miller
That's progressing.
00:17:12 Jack Miller
That's going the right direction.
00:17:13 Jack Miller
And there's not a semblance of that offensively right now.
00:17:16 Jack Miller
And I think that's the part that leaves everyone so frustrated is not only are there no answers, you're not even on the path to answers right now.
00:17:25 Jack Miller
That's disheartening.
00:17:26 Brian Boesch
Let's get into the postgame reaction from the Michigan locker room after the Wolverines drop a tough one to Michigan State 15 to 6.
00:17:33 Brian Boesch
Here is Jon Jansen with head coach Kyle Whittingham.
00:17:36 Jon Jansen
Coach, I know it didn't go the way you guys wanted it to.
00:17:39 Jon Jansen
What were some of the struggles that you had early on in this game?
00:17:41 Kyle Whittingham
Wow, offensively, you name it, and we struggled with it.
00:17:44 Kyle Whittingham
I mean, didn't get much of anything done on offense.
00:17:46 Kyle Whittingham
Less than 200 yards, 4 turnovers, you know, horrible on 3rd down.
00:17:53 Kyle Whittingham
We didn't do anything well.
00:17:55 Kyle Whittingham
Not one redeeming quality coming out of that game offensively.
00:17:59 Kyle Whittingham
Defensively, we were okay.
00:18:02 Kyle Whittingham
Didn't let him in the end zone.
00:18:03 Kyle Whittingham
I mean, that was a positive.
00:18:04 Kyle Whittingham
I don't think I've ever lost a game that we didn't give up a touchdown, so that's a first.
00:18:08 Kyle Whittingham
But we're still a little bit soft against the run.
00:18:12 Kyle Whittingham
Didn't play our usual effectiveness on defense.
00:18:15 Kyle Whittingham
We didn't take the ball away at all.
00:18:18 Kyle Whittingham
Any time you're -4 in the turnover margin and you can't get any offensive production and you can't get a touchdown till the last two minutes of the game, you got problems.
00:18:27 Kyle Whittingham
And so we got plenty of problems to address.
00:18:31 Kyle Whittingham
Disappointing, especially since we had been really effective last week against Rutgers on offense and moved the ball and scored some points and to take a big step backward like this is very disheartening.
00:18:42 Jon Jansen
It does feel like a big step back.
00:18:44 Jon Jansen
You just mentioned it.
00:18:45 Jon Jansen
How do you recover?
00:18:47 Jon Jansen
What's the next step?
00:18:48 Kyle Whittingham
Well, we'll come in tomorrow and go back to work and find out and watch the tape and got to come up with some solutions, some answers.
00:18:57 Kyle Whittingham
And obviously what we're doing right now is not working and it starts with me and there's some sort of disconnect between what we're doing during the week with our practice because they're practicing very well and what's going on in the games.
00:19:08 Kyle Whittingham
And so
00:19:10 Kyle Whittingham
that's our job as coaches to figure that out, and we'll be back at it tomorrow trying to do that.
00:19:15 Jon Jansen
And I know Jason Beck moved down to the sidelines at halftime.
00:19:19 Jon Jansen
What were you guys trying to accomplish with having him on the sidelines?
00:19:22 Kyle Whittingham
Well, I just wanted to be able to talk to the offensive personnel eye to eye and look him right in the eye and talk about what needed to happen and be able to visit with Tommy one-on-one without being on the headphones.
00:19:36 Kyle Whittingham
And so that was the reason for that.
00:19:39 Kyle Whittingham
He had decided that was not my request.
00:19:41 Kyle Whittingham
That was his desire to come back, to come down after AFTA.
00:19:44 Kyle Whittingham
Touchdown.
00:19:46 Meijer Radio Spot
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00:20:15 Brian Boesch
Player reaction in a moment, but Foguth Financial Group reminds you that another night out at the Big House is coming up.
00:20:21 Brian Boesch
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00:20:30 Brian Boesch
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00:20:33 Brian Boesch
That's mgoblue.com/bighouse.
00:20:36 Brian Boesch
And hurry, it's coming up this Tuesday, November 10th.
00:20:40 Brian Boesch
Player reaction, first, here is quarterback Tommy Carr.
00:20:43 Jason Avant
Feelings after such an emotional game?
00:20:46 Tommy Carr
Yeah, just disappointed overall in our performance and the result.
00:20:52 Tommy Carr
There's not really another way to put it, just disappointed.
00:20:56 Jason Avant
It seemed like they were giving you guys some different looks defensively.
00:20:59 Jason Avant
Did they do something that was different from what the film showed?
00:21:03 Tommy Carr
It was a lot of what we expected, but mixed in a little bit more of man coverage.
00:21:08 Tommy Carr
But really at the end of the day, it was a lot what we expected.
00:21:12 Jason Avant
Seemed like they had some too high safety looks and it seemed like there was some balls over the middle that kind of got away from you.
00:21:20 Jason Avant
Can you explain some of the plays over the middle, namely the one in JJ that got intercepted?
00:21:25 Tommy Carr
Yeah, that one was just, you know, came off the handle a little hot, just outside the reach, you know, and took a tip, you know, it's unfortunate, but you know, just got to be more accurate with the football.
00:21:40 Jason Avant
Seemed like there was a few drives in the road where there was a bunch of turnovers.
00:21:46 Jason Avant
How do you stay focused when things aren't going right?
00:21:51 Tommy Carr
You just got to honestly just put your head down.
00:21:55 Tommy Carr
You know, mistakes are going to happen.
00:21:57 Tommy Carr
You just got to be able to forget them and go out there and you got a job to do.
00:22:04 Tommy Carr
We just weren't able to do that.
00:22:06 Jason Avant
When it came to protection, it seemed like you had to run prematurely before you got to the top of your drop a lot of times.
00:22:16 Jason Avant
Do you know why that happened?
00:22:19 Tommy Carr
You know, a few injuries.
00:22:21 Tommy Carr
You know, we had some guys come in who hadn't played a lot, so I thought protection was fine all day.
00:22:30 Tommy Carr
You know, stuff's gonna happen sometimes and
00:22:35 Tommy Carr
guys are going to get free.
00:22:36 Tommy Carr
It's just got to be able to make a play.
00:22:39 Jason Avant
Was it any different for you having Coach Beck on the sideline in the second-half in comparison to him being in the box?
00:22:46 Tommy Carr
You know, it's a little different, but not really.
00:22:48 Tommy Carr
You know, he's there to have to talk to after drives, but at the end of the day, it's a lot of me and the quarterback coach and then Coach Beck
00:23:03 Tommy Carr
We'll say his comments and then talk to the rest of the offense.
00:23:06 Jason Avant
All the best going forward.
00:23:07 Tommy Carr
Yes, sir.
00:23:08 Tommy Carr
Thank you.
00:23:08 Brian Boesch
More offensive reaction as Jason Avant visits with JJ Buchanan.
00:23:12 Jason Avant
JJ, tough loss to Michigan State.
00:23:14 Jason Avant
Tell me what they did defensively in order to limit you guys.
00:23:18 JJ Buchanan
They didn't do anything.
00:23:19 JJ Buchanan
We just didn't execute at a high enough level all day.
00:23:24 Jason Avant
Overall feeling after this?
00:23:26 Jason Avant
I know this is a new rivalry for you.
00:23:29 Jason Avant
Is there something that you wish or that could go different?
00:23:36 JJ Buchanan
I mean, yes, it's a horrible feeling.
00:23:38 JJ Buchanan
Yeah, it sucks.
00:23:40 JJ Buchanan
I wish a lot of things would have went different in the game, but bottom line is they didn't and we'll have to live with it.
00:23:45 JJ Buchanan
And yeah, I gotta take it on the chin and keep going.
00:23:52 Jason Avant
Seem like Tommy struggled today to get the ball to you guys.
00:23:57 Jason Avant
How do you encourage him, you know, to continue to make plays and when things aren't going right?
00:24:03 JJ Buchanan
Well, we got to do a better job of helping him out.
00:24:05 JJ Buchanan
I got to do a better job of helping him out.
00:24:07 JJ Buchanan
I feel like there's some plays left on the table for myself personally.
00:24:11 JJ Buchanan
So I just got I got to help him out more kids.
00:24:16 JJ Buchanan
a freshman you know this isn't normal for a freshman freshman to be doing all this so man we just gotta I gotta I gotta help him out more and I didn't so.
00:24:26 Jason Avant
It seemed like coach Beck came down to the sideline in the second-half did that make a difference or how was it different for you guys?
00:24:37 JJ Buchanan
Nah business as usual you know you get a play call you go execute it wasn't it wasn't too different obviously I've never seen him on the sideline
00:24:44 JJ Buchanan
Been with him for a year and a half now.
00:24:45 JJ Buchanan
I've never seen that, but yeah, it didn't change anything.
00:24:51 Jason Avant
All the best going forward.
00:24:52 JJ Buchanan
Thank you.
00:24:52 Brian Boesch
Let's flip to the defensive side.
00:24:54 Brian Boesch
A guy who was grinding it out, banged up, John Henry Daly.
00:24:57 Jason Avant
Overall feelings about the game.
00:24:59 John Henry Daley
Man, tough loss, never one to lose to a rival, stinks.
00:25:04 Jason Avant
Seemed like their run game had a few wrinkles.
00:25:09 Jason Avant
What did they do in order to gain
00:25:12 Jason Avant
Some yards, get some creases in the run game.
00:25:15 John Henry Daley
Yeah, lots of inserts, saw the tight end come in, inserting the AB gap lots of times, bumping our guys out of their gaps and creating new gaps in the interior.
00:25:22 John Henry Daley
So they had a little bit of success with that.
00:25:25 John Henry Daley
Should have been a little bit more solid up front.
00:25:28 Jason Avant
It seems like there is a lot of like defensive rotations.
00:25:32 Jason Avant
There's times where
00:25:34 Jason Avant
and you and other guys that are not in there, is there a methodology to it or is it just the guys that are healthy or is there rotation that has been talked about before the game?
00:25:45 John Henry Daley
Yeah, we got lots of great guys on the defensive line and we want to keep guys fresh and make sure that we can all play the 60 minutes to the highest of our ability.
00:25:52 John Henry Daley
And so the coaches, they've been doing this a long time and they're obviously very smart with that and being able to keep us all fresh and playing to the best that we can.
00:25:59 Jason Avant
It seemed like that quarterback had, you know, a beat on when guys were coming, able to get the ball out of his hand.
00:26:07 Jason Avant
Can you talk about how frustrating it was to be close but not get there in some of the waning moments?
00:26:16 John Henry Daley
Yeah, I mean, for me, I never want to get blocked, obviously, so a little bit frustrating in that regard.
00:26:25 John Henry Daley
I thought as a defense we played.
00:26:28 John Henry Daley
Played all right in the past game.
00:26:31 John Henry Daley
Definitely something to clean up.
00:26:33 Jason Avant
You were able to get home a few times.
00:26:35 Jason Avant
Can you talk about that success and what you were able to do in order to turn the offensive tackle?
00:26:41 John Henry Daley
Yeah, they were rotating a couple different guys against me.
00:26:45 John Henry Daley
I believe it was 55 and 75.
00:26:47 John Henry Daley
And this week we switched up a couple things.
00:26:50 John Henry Daley
So I was able to kind of get in my groove and start setting different moves up and yeah.
00:26:55 Jason Avant
Last question I have for you.
00:26:57 Jason Avant
How do you focus going forward with three really good teams and staying locked in and being prepared for the next game?
00:27:06 John Henry Daley
I mean, I don't really think it's too hard.
00:27:11 John Henry Daley
When you go out there, you know, you gotta play with some pride.
00:27:12 John Henry Daley
You gotta have some pride as a football player and nobody wants to get their butt kicked.
00:27:17 John Henry Daley
So it's kind of like, hey, we're gonna go out there and prepare and be able to.
00:27:22 John Henry Daley
perform at a high level and be happy about and look yourself in the mirror and be happy about what you're putting out on film and the way you're representing yourself, your family and university or not.
00:27:28 John Henry Daley
So I don't think there's a whole lot that goes into locking in.
00:27:32 John Henry Daley
I don't think you know any high level competitor ever wants to lose games or get their butt kicked.
00:27:37 Jason Avant
Thank you.
00:27:38 John Henry Daley
Yep, thank you.
00:27:39 Brian Boesch
Last but not least, Michigan's leading tackler on Saturday.
00:27:42 Brian Boesch
He had 15 tackles.
00:27:44 Brian Boesch
Jason chats with Troy Bowles.
00:27:46 Jason Avant
Just tell me the overall feeling about the game.
00:27:48 Jason Avant
I know it's a tough loss.
00:27:50 Troy Bowles
Yeah,
00:27:51 Troy Bowles
Definitely, I just keep saying it, but heartbreaking.
00:27:57 Troy Bowles
I don't know, you come in week in and week out and try your best, try your best to get your body right for the game and everything and for stuff to end that way, it definitely, it hurts.
00:28:08 Troy Bowles
It cuts deep.
00:28:09 Jason Avant
It seemed like you were all over the field.
00:28:14 Jason Avant
They were able to get some running yards.
00:28:16 Jason Avant
What did they do in order to get those yards?
00:28:20 Troy Bowles
I think they definitely, they found the crease.
00:28:25 Troy Bowles
They found the creases in where we're maybe too soft at on the edge and they were pushing the pile.
00:28:30 Troy Bowles
We gotta do a lot better job at pushing back on the pile.
00:28:34 Troy Bowles
Obviously not letting them fight for those extra yards.
00:28:37 Jason Avant
It seemed like when you guys started to have rim blitzes, they were able to get the ball to number 13 a few times on crosses and things like that.
00:28:49 Jason Avant
Tell me how to prevent that when you guys have to stop the run.
00:28:55 Troy Bowles
Yeah, we're definitely, the pressures definitely have to get there, but we have to have good eyes in the secondary and the linebackers to watch him.
00:29:05 Troy Bowles
We seen him on our scout report as their gadget guy, and we knew he was heavily involved with those little quick passes, so we have to have better eyes and better angles, and we had a lot of missed tackles today, so that definitely plays into it too.
00:29:20 Jason Avant
Did they do anything offensively that you guys didn't anticipate in this game?
00:29:26 Troy Bowles
No, we know all the runs they were going to do, but they're kind of a flavor of the week type of run game.
00:29:32 Troy Bowles
So if they find something that's working a little bit, they're going to stick with that all day.
00:29:34 Troy Bowles
And it was really that counter today.
00:29:37 Troy Bowles
So yeah, we definitely have to be more stout in the run game.
00:29:44 Jason Avant
Their quarterback seemed like he had some success and just made a lot of smart football plays.
00:29:50 Jason Avant
Can you talk about how difficult it was in order to get pressure on him or, yeah.
00:29:58 Troy Bowles
Yeah, he was coming off a concussion, so we know he didn't want to get hit, so a lot of those 50/50 balls he was throwing up 'cause he didn't really want to get touched, but yeah.
00:30:09 Troy Bowles
We gotta do a better job of just dialing up pressure, just winning our one-on-ones, you know?
00:30:14 Jason Avant
What's the mindset and the conversation amongst the team heading into a tough place like Eugene next week and with the season online, trying to get at least to a few more wins in order to be bowl eligible?
00:30:30 Troy Bowles
Yeah, the mindset honestly is,
00:30:34 Troy Bowles
If you're with us, you're with us.
00:30:35 Troy Bowles
If you're not, you can enter the portal on Monday.
00:30:37 Troy Bowles
Like, we don't need you.
00:30:38 Troy Bowles
So it really comes down if you really want to do it or not.
00:30:41 Troy Bowles
And I guess we're going to see these next three games who really wants it or not.
00:30:46 Troy Bowles
We're going to weed out the ones who are not meant to be here.
00:30:51 Jason Avant
All the best going forward.
00:30:52 Troy Bowles
Thank you.
00:30:53 Brian Boesch
No sugarcoating it.
00:30:54 Brian Boesch
A really tough night at the Big House.
00:30:56 Brian Boesch
Wolverines drop to 5-4, they lose the Paul Bunyan trophy, and here they sit.
00:31:02 Brian Boesch
With three games left, still not bowl eligible and very much in a tough, tough spot.
00:31:08 Brian Boesch
We'll be with you the rest of the week here on M Go Blue podcast, continuing basketball coverage, conquering heroes.
00:31:14 Brian Boesch
We'll have radio shows, all of that to come, but no question, a tough, tough day.
00:31:19 Brian Boesch
In Ann Arbor, Michigan falls 15 to 6.
00:31:21 Brian Boesch
Thanks for listening and Go Blue.
00:31:23 Jeff Laurence
Thanks for listening to this edition of In the Trenches with Jon Jansen, presented by Meijer, presenting sponsor of the 2026 Michigan football season and proud supporter of hundreds of local sports teams across the Midwest.
00:31:35 Jeff Laurence
In the Trenches is part of our Michigan Athletics Podcast Network, M Go Blue Podcasts.
00:31:41 Jeff Laurence
The preceding is a Learfield presentation of the Michigan Sports Network.
