In the Trenches 603 - Oklahoma Recap Transcript
9/12/2026 6:24:00 PM | MGoBlue Podcasts
Michigan takes on Oklahoma and they come out two and oh, big seventeen to ten win. We're going to get a chance to talk to head coach Kyle Whittingham. We'll talk to players. Brian Boesch and I will break things down. You'll hear from Jason Avant, Doug Karsch, all on In the Trenches.
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Jeff Laurence • 00:15
Welcome to the official podcast of Michigan Football 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. Nobody covers Michigan better than the two time captain, national champion and Michigan athletics Hall of honor inductee.
Zeke Berry • 00:37
I feel like last week we came out a little flat. You know, that's something that we talked about as a team. We had our player meeting. We came in there and talked about how we needed to come out fast. If we come out fast, we finish the game faster. And I feel like we did a good job as a whole offensive defense of coming out fast and finishing faster.
Jeff Laurence • 00:53
This is in the Trenches presented by Meijer. Once again, here's Jon Jansen and without
Jon Jansen • 00:59
And without further ado, I'm going to throw it back to Brian Boesch.
Brian Boesch • 01:02
Jon, let's start with the defense performance overall, your biggest takeaways, your biggest highlights from an outstanding effort for the Michigan defense.
Jon Jansen • 01:10
Well, I thought the defense was really good in the second half and late in the first half when they were good on first down, I think they figured it out right. Hey, it's going to be Oklahoma is going to run the ball on first down. They want to put themselves in an advantageous position but Michigan wasn't allow them to do it second down. You knew they were going to throw the ball at that point and then it was a matter of anytime they dropped back to pass, of making sure that you kept John Mateer in the pocket, not letting him escape. He did it times but it didn't hurt him like he did last year. They corralled him. They didn't allow the big play downfield. The, the really the only big play was a, a pass that was a catch and run by Rocky Beers, their tight end. Other than that, I thought the secondary played extremely well. The pass rush was there. Great performance by the defense.
Brian Boesch • 01:53
Yeah, Beers had six catches, ninety four yards. He was really the only big time threat. Isaiah Sategna, just two catches for nine yards and he didn't do a whole lot on the special team side of things either. How about Jyaire Hill, a guy who really has ebbed and flowed, showed some incredible highs and he's had some frustration Spots so far in his Michigan career as well. But that was a tremendous defensive play. It was the play of the game.
Jon Jansen • 02:16
Well, it was. And just think back to last week, right? Puts himself in great position, but you know, a little push off at the end, doesn't get the interception. In fact, it's a pass interference. Then this year or this week, all of a sudden, hey, we didn't see it. We don't know what it was. But hey, he hit somebody that wasn't in the pile and gave Oklahoma a free first down, then turns around with that interception. The way that he has played, the maturity that he is showing of making mistakes but then being able to recover, not letting it bother him, not letting it fester. I thought it was a tremendous job by Jair today.
Brian Boesch • 02:50
A lot of guys to highlight on that defensive side. Another big tackle day for Troy Bowles. Nathaniel Staling, he's a young man who has shown that he's ready for the type of talent that he will face on the other side here at a higher level. And how about John Henry Daly? We see why he was so coveted by Whittingham in this staff to bring him from Utah.
Jon Jansen • 03:08
Yeah, and it wasn't just the sack by John Henry Daley. He was setting the edge. He was doing great things in the, in the rushing attack. A half a sack by Dom Nichols and Chase Taylor. And you mentioned it in terms of Troy Bowles, he is that sideline to sideline guy. And Nate, Nathaniel Staehling being able to be that, that linebacker between the tackles that's filling the gaps because you're getting really good play by your defensive tackles. And Nathaniel Staling is doing a tremendous job of mopping things up after that.
Brian Boesch • 03:37
And how about Nate Marshall, a guy we heard a lot of during the off season. He comes up with that final sack to tick the final seconds off the clock. Assess what you saw from a different offensive game plan than what we saw against Western Michigan.
Jon Jansen • 03:49
Well, I think we all knew it was going to be a quick passing attack and there wasn't a lot of it. But then you look at what Bryce was able to do. Eighteen carries, eighty seven yards. You know, he really put this team on his back today. And credit to the coaches for adjusting the game plan and making it something that is more suited for Bryce. And I think we're going to see that throughout the course of the year. This is a very experienced coaching staff. They're going to adjust. The more they learn about the players, the more they learn about what they are comfortable with and what they excel at the. We're going to see more and more of that.
Brian Boesch • 04:20
What do you think of the offensive line today?
Jon Jansen • 04:22
Still some work to do and I'm not going to, I'm not going to complain about any, not a lot right now about anything that happened in a win. At the point of attack, we still need to get better movement. We still need to work on blocking movement up front. That was a front for Oklahoma. Now, hey, this is a very talented Oklahoma front and they were giving Michigan's offensive line fits a little bit more movement at the point of attack. Being able to get up on those linebackers will go wonders.
Brian Boesch • 04:49
How about the punter, Cam Brown, forty two yards a punt, twice pinning Oklahoma at its one yard line. That was massive in this one.
Jon Jansen • 04:58
Oh, it was huge. And I mean, what did we talk about during the week? Right. One of the keys for special teams was going to be field position. I thought they did a tremendous job of winning the field position battle.
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Brian Boesch • 05:08
Doug, this past week, Jack Miller put it perfectly in pregame. It felt like one of the longest weeks last leading up to a game for Michigan to stay locked in, to stay true to some of the things we expect from Michigan football and to find a way against this team, a playoff team last year that really befuddled them a season ago and Norman, one heck of a get back.
Doug Karsch • 05:28
Well, we talked about a lot of stuff in the pregame show and one of them was Jordan Marshall immediately after the Hail Mary with Jason Avant in a very telling interview made it clear the moment was cool, they're glad they won, but it was an unacceptable performance. And when they went up that tunnel after that victory over Western Michigan, Jordan Marshall in a very quiet locker room called a team meeting, players only team meeting for Sunday morning at ten AM And Marshall spoke and Blake Frazier spoke and the captains all spoke and the leadership council all spoke. And the whole point was to try and get back on track with a huge opponent coming in. And then you and I were sitting with Marshall during the week and he said, I'm glad Oklahoma's next. We need this kind of challenge. We need this daunting task in front of him. And they came through.
Doug Karsch • 06:17
And something else that we both talked about in the pregame show was the defense setting up the offense. It looks like the defense has a chance to be elite. The Michigan offense, a work in progress. And that means you're going to have to have your defense and your special teams help you out as as much as they can. And Jyaire Hill made a huge mistake earlier in the fourth quarter when Michigan had, or was that late third quarter Michigan had Oklahoma backed up and Jyaire Hill got a personal foul penalty that came out from the one yard line and set up Oklahoma for a drive. And then Jair jumped. Jair jumped in front of that pass on a third and nine and took it back to give the offense a goal to go situation.
Brian Boesch • 06:59
And as we spotlight today's best in the game brought to you by Orange Old Dominion Freight Line. That play by Michigan's Jyaire Hill really was the best in the game. Old Dominion Freight Line works hard to be the best in the game and it's proud to support those striving to be the best in theirs. And really that was a telltale sign. That was a third down last year. Oklahoma on third and fourth downs, ten for eighteen today. Oklahoma on third and fourth downs, three for fourteen. And John Mateer had one of statistically his worst games in a Sooner uniform. And he battled some injury last year. They made things difficult for a guy who seemed to always pull a rabbit out of his hat on third or fourth down last year.
Doug Karsch • 07:37
Yeah, yeah, he really did and he was a problem. But this year, if you look at flip the script here a little bit. John Mateer last year rushed for seventy nine yards and two touchdowns. Today it was Bryce Underwood, eighteen carries, eighty seven yards and a touchdown. And you know, prior to the season, the Michigan coaching staff, Jason Beck said there's a balance. How much you want to run them, how much goes into it. They wanted to be smart about it. He also said you can't run them twenty five times today. They might have run him twenty five times if they have the chance. But the offense that they put together for Bryce this week seemed to cater more to his skill set. He got the ball out quickly and they got him on the edges. And it really did work today against a defense that's being talked about as one of the best in the country. And you know what it's like.
Doug Karsch • 08:20
You know these kids, everybody's telling them they're going to get killed. Everybody's going to tell them that they didn't deserve that win. Last week.
Brian Boesch • 08:26
The Vegas line flipped a touchdown. That's unheard of from one week to another.
Doug Karsch • 08:31
And what happens? They come out and they play. I wouldn't call it a complete ballgame, but you could talk about big plays made by the offense, certainly a ton of big plays made by the defense and special teams downing the ball inside the one on a couple of occasions. You got to give Cam Brown and that punt team a Ton of credit.
Brian Boesch • 08:49
The Jyaire Hill interception, really, this game as a whole resembled the Will Johnson pick six against USC with Bryce kind of playing the Kalel Mullings role running the ball. A ton. A lot was made about Kyle Whittingham's comments about where Bryce is in terms of infinite, not infinite, starting quarterback leash. And then Bryce's comments. The other thing Bryce has said day in and day out is I'll do what I need to do for our team to win. That was running the ball today.
Doug Karsch • 09:15
Yes. And he did a great job. Ball security, did put it on the ground once. And the one time that he did, he was able to recover it and that was huge. So this Michigan team, they didn't play a complete game. I'm sure they're going to talk about too many penalties, but they win the turnover battle, which is big in this. In this football game, a football game of this magnitude. And I just can't say enough about Jay Hill and the defense. They've allowed one touchdown now through two games, and the Sooners really had those two drives and that was about it. In the fourth quarter, Michigan's defense came up huge.
Brian Boesch • 09:50
You asked a lot of people, they probably said Michigan would have had to have had close to a perfect game to win. Eleven penalties for ninety yards, four of thirteen on third down, only one hundred eleven passing yards, and they beat the number eleven team in the country.
Doug Karsch • 10:02
And what was the final time of possession?
Brian Boesch • 10:03
Thirty three seventeen for Michigan, twenty six forty three for Oklahoma. The Sooners had the ball more in the second half, but a vast difference. Michigan got Oklahoma off the field.
Doug Karsch • 10:13
Great day. Great win for the Maize and Blue. And now they got a lot to work on. They got a lot to work on specifically offensively. But sometimes in a new system with a new coordinator, new offensive coaches, it takes some time to get it up to speed. And we'll see, we'll see what happens. But promising to come out, to say the least, to come out with a win today.
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Brian Boesch • 10:35
Jack Miller. That was a big boy win for Michigan here this afternoon. Obviously much needed. What, what were the biggest differences you saw? Just mindset. You can get into the execution, but boy, it just seemed like there were two different teams on the field last week to this week.
Jack Miller • 10:51
Yeah, I think the effort stood out. I mean, defensively, flying around, making plays, a lot of energy from that defensive unit offensively was really, really encouraged by Coach Beck and his. His desire to translate the offense into what Bryce does well, and that worked really well in the first half in particular. But Even in the second half, you know, understanding what these guys are good at, what there's still a lot to improve on because there's plenty of it. There's no doubt about that. Special team showed up in a huge, huge way. That's a full team win right there. The sense that I have is that offensively there's still a lot to accomplish, but yet you have the sense that they are moving in the right direction, that they found something today a little bit that they can start to, to tweak and figure out. The offensive line played better in the second half.
Jack Miller • 11:36
Still not great. We still got to get a little more push up front and get the running backs going to give Bryce a little break so he doesn't have to run all the time. But even when he does, the offensive line played much better today. Obviously Bryce played much better today. That defense is special. I kind of predicted coming into the season that they were always going to keep us in games. When special teams plays like that and defense plays like that, really doesn't matter what your offense is doing, you're always going to have a chance to win. But the offense finally got what they needed to. And here's the thing that, you know, they didn't put up the points necessarily or the yards that they, you know, would shock everybody, but they controlled the ball. They kept Mater and that Oklahoma offense off the field. They gave themselves a position to own the game and it felt like they did for the majority of that.
Brian Boesch • 12:18
The offensive game plan, we all want to see what the tools and the, the God given ability from Bryce Underwood could eventually, eventually yield because his potential, his upside is sky high, sure, but this was a, you know, circle the wagons, for lack of a better phrase, with Oklahoma in town and just find a way to win the game against Brent Venables led defense. Frankly, doesn't matter how many points you score if you win. If this is all that bright, I want to say all, but if this is the primary game plan for Bryce in November, yeah, there's cause for concern. This was a, hey, find a way. Show your teammates, you'll do whatever it takes, even if it is eighteen carries for eighty seven years.
Jack Miller • 12:57
Well, and I think that's why it's such a great win, is because the, the whole team found a way to get it done. Right. And so based off of last week, you would have been like, man, this team doesn't stand a chance. But they did and they found a way as a team to win. Certainly there's parts that they got to pick up and they got to figure out, I think they'll keep progressing as the season goes on. They'll start refining things. We know we're good at this, we're not so good at that, and we'll keep getting better at the things that we are good at. But after last week, I think there was a lot of consternation from the fan base and everyone else that was like, man, is this a good football team? Can they find ways to win games? It's not like Michigan has had some prolific offense for the last decade. That's not really been our thing. We have had the ability to win games because the team knows how to win games.
Jack Miller • 13:40
And you saw that today. And after last week, there was a doubt of confidence about that. But today to get that win against a good Oklahoma team really shows okay, these guys know what they're doing. It was a fluke a little bit last week. Obviously some things are correct, but they have the talent, they got the coaches that know how to put them in the right spot if they can rally in that locker room, continue to build that camaraderie, continue to build that chemistry. This team's got what it takes to really, to compete with anybody.
Brian Boesch • 14:07
I, I think it's interesting how you put that. First off, last week was an ugly win.
Jack Miller • 14:12
This was an ugly. Might have been the ugliest win of all time.
Brian Boesch • 14:14
In the history of this wonderful stadium. But I, I do think it's interesting, the point you make about the offense, because the one thing that we haven't seen yet from this group that the great teams that won three straight Big Ten titles and a national championship did, the offensive line was just fantastic. We haven't seen that yet, but were there strides today?
Jack Miller • 14:33
I think so. I think so. And there's certainly work to do. But they seem to put themselves. I think the coaches put the offense in a better position where they knew how they made plays out of nothing. And like, you know, Jordan Marshall didn't have a great first half. I don't think he had a great second half. But you're starting to see little bits of. It's getting better, right? So what was a two or three yard gain in the first half became a four or five yard game in the second half that gave him a first down. They might not have scored on those drives, but all of a sudden it extends the clock, it extends the drive. You punt, the special teams is great. You pin them down at the one. Those are things that you don't really pay attention to. If you're just looking at the box score. But when you own a game like that, which has always been our style, that's encouraging to see that they still have that.
Brian Boesch • 15:16
I hope that the expansion of the playoff does not take these types of games away. This was awesome. It was great to see Oklahoma fans around town over the last thirty six hours. Just like it was cool being in Norman last year. You were down on the, on the sidelines. You'll have the tan tomorrow to show for it.
Jack Miller • 15:33
I, I sure will.
Brian Boesch • 15:34
Or the burn. No, no. Hey, hey, hey. Ugly or gritty? This was a gritty performance.
Jack Miller • 15:39
Not last week a gritty tan. But.
Brian Boesch • 15:44
But truly. I mean, what's it like to be down there in that type of environment with, with that type of game where it goes down to literally the last play?
Jack Miller • 15:51
So you know what was interesting? I went into the locker room before the game. I wanted to of what that locker room felt like. And to be honest with you, I was a little shocked. It was quiet and I didn't know if that was good or bad. I didn't know if that meant, you know, these guys aren't confident. They don't know what they're doing or they're really locked in. And you saw the performance today. Those guys were locked in. So whatever the week of preparation was coming into this Oklahoma game, they knew what they had to do. They knew they had to take care of business. Those guys were locked in, played a great game. The atmosphere was great. Fans were great here. The weather was beautiful. It was an all around great day. Not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but a tremendous performance, particularly given last week and a lot to look forward to.
Brian Boesch • 16:31
Jack, great stuff as always. We'll talk to you Tuesday. Live stream. Michigan Athletics YouTube will be on twelve to one. Jack will be stopping by around twelve thirty five or so. Looking forward to that. We'll see the gritty tan on display.
Jack Miller • 16:44
Yeah, I can't wait for that. Thank you, Brian.
Brian Boesch • 16:46
Great thoughts as always from the Michigan radio crew after an awesome Wolverines win seventeen ten over the Oklahoma Sooners. Plenty of post game reaction from the locker room to come. But first, a reminder, because this event will sell out and it will sell out soon. Foguth Financial Group, the proud wealth management partner of Michigan Athletics, is celebrating that by inviting those already retired or nearing retirement to attend the Night out at the Big House. It's an annual event. This year's is Thursday, september twenty fourth, where you can learn strategies for managing the risks of retirement. You get complimentary dinner, opportunity to win door prizes, an exclusive tour of Michigan Stadium. All you got to do, head over to mgoblue dot com BIG House to sign up. Mgoblue dot com BIG House this will sell out. Limited seats are available.
Brian Boesch • 17:31
Get there now. Mgoblue dot com BIGHOUSE let's catch up with the head coach. Kyle Whittingham visited with Jon Jansen right after the Wolverines win.
Jon Jansen • 17:40
Really felt like this game was about leadership and it's a reflection of the leadership that you've shown the program and your players, the captains. We heard about the players only meeting on Sunday. How did you see that reflect today?
Kyle Whittingham • 17:51
Well, first of all, it was a great week of preparation and that was, you know, very evident. And we had prepared well, you know, in the previous week, but not to the extent that we did this past week. They took it to a whole other level and it's a credit to our leaders. And you're right, they had a players only meeting on Sunday and obviously it was very beneficial and came out and we still got a lot of work to do. We're still doing some things that, you know, are not conducive to winning, you know, namely penalties. You know, we're extending drives with defensive penalties and we're putting ourselves behind the chains too often with offensive penalties. But great, you know, game to learn from, you know, we got so much more in the tank. I can tell you that we're going to hopefully continue to stay on this upward trajectory, but very proud of our guys for hanging in there and really out physically and out toughing the opponent.
Jon Jansen • 18:37
Coming out of last week, one of the things you talked about was turnovers. You were able to win the turnover battle. You had two defensively and there's none bigger than Jyaire Hill at the end of the game. What have you seen from him? He was one of those guys that had a penalty, but he sure responded.
Kyle Whittingham • 18:50
He did. He responded and really atoned for it. But Jyaire is a tremendous athlete. He's one of the top cover corners in the country, I believe. And he played that ball perfectly and picked it off. And not only picked it off, but he got us about twenty or thirty more yards of field position and set us up inside the ten yard line and offense proceeded to punch it in. And that was a huge series of events in the game.
Jon Jansen • 19:14
Jay Hill put together a tremendous plan. It was attacking John Mateer, their quarterback, but also the defense, the secondary, the play that we saw them make. What did you see from the plan and how did this team go out and execute at such a high level?
Kyle Whittingham • 19:26
Yeah, Jay did a great job putting the plan together. He studies film ad nauseam. I mean, he's. He's in the film room constantly, and he's got the opponents down cold. And he had a. He had a great plan and the players executed. And you know what? The opponents found the end zone one time in eight quarters now. So that's pretty good defense.
Jon Jansen • 19:44
There's a lot of pressure on the quarterback. Obviously, Bryce had addressed it this week. You addressed it as well, the play coming out, but he had eighteen carries, eighty seven yards. How did you guys adjust what he's doing to provide success today?
Kyle Whittingham • 19:58
Well, we just expanded his role in the run game. And as things turned out, he doubled up the opposing quarterback in rush yards, and the opposing quarterback's a pretty darn good runner. And Bryce made some tough runs and got us some, you know, tough yards. And. And that really was a huge difference in the game was his ability to run the football.
Jon Jansen • 20:16
Cam Brown, not a lot of times in a postgame interview, we talking about punters or kickers, sometimes kickers when they hit a game winner. But he did a tremendous job of pinning Oklahoma inside the twenty, twice inside the five. How important were those moments for your team?
Kyle Whittingham • 20:29
Those were crucial, and Cam's proven to be a great weapon for us these first two weeks. And, you know, the punt game is the most important phase in special teams, and right now we're hitting on all cylinders in the punt game, and the coverage is outstanding. Zeke Berry, one of the best gunners I've been around. I mean, he's always down there, right in the returner's face, and we've given up very few yards in the punt return game the last two weeks.
Jon Jansen • 20:51
Before we let you go. Obviously last week, I'm sure there was a certain tone in the. In the way that you approached the team after the game. What was the tone today? How different was it walking into this locker room today, night and day?
Kyle Whittingham • 21:03
Last week? You could have heard crickets chirping in there. And as it should be. I mean, we did not play well last week. We ended up with a W. But there was nothing to really be proud of in that game, with a few exceptions. I mean, we did make some plays that were pretty, you know, impressive. But this locker room after this game, that's what it should sound like after a win. And that's the. That's the reaction we should get.
Jon Jansen • 21:26
Coach, thanks a lot and congratulations.
Kyle Whittingham • 21:28
Okay, John, thank you.
Brian Boesch • 21:29
A few post game interviews from the player side of things. Let's start on the defense because boy, they were awesome. And the man with the play of the game, Jyaire Hill, is here to catch up with Jason Devons.
Jason Avant • 21:40
You made a play in the game on interception that changed the complexion of the game. Can you explain what happened in that play?
Jyaire Hill • 21:46
The whole. The whole preparation, the whole week, you know, going in with the mentality to do more, and we was practicing. We already knew what they was going to do, and all I needed to do was execute.
Jason Avant • 21:59
Yeah, you faced Oklahoma last year and Norman. What lessons did you learn from last year's game that propelled you to the victory this year?
Jyaire Hill • 22:10
Execute. Finish. Finish plays and execute. Go hard.
Jason Avant • 22:15
You guys have different members on in the secondary. You got Bracy and Snowden. Those guys winning a point of attack. How does that make your job easier on the back end?
Jyaire Hill • 22:24
Man, everybody shout out to D line. My coaches. Coaches. For real, though, coaches put me in a good position to execute in my D line, making it easier for me.
Jason Avant • 22:34
Last question. I have for you a lot of noise with the way Michigan won last game. Game. How did you guys channel all of that negative energy in order to come out and perform better this week?
Jyaire Hill • 22:49
Using negative energy as motivation. Come in harder. Like I said, we came in the week. You know, the main focus was to do more. Just do more.
Jason Avant • 22:57
Congratulations on the win.
Jyaire Hill • 22:59
Thank you.
Brian Boesch • 22:59
Staying in that Michigan secondary. Let's hear from Zeke Barry.
Jason Avant • 23:03
Zeke, everyone doubted you guys this week. How were you guys able to be so successful today.
Zeke Berry • 23:09
You know, come out the brand of football. Come out and play the brand of football. You know, we know we could do, you know, coach, coach. We told us, you know, during the week, do more, do more. And I feel like the team really took that to heart, and we came out today ready to show what. Show the country what we could do.
Jason Avant • 23:22
You guys on defense played physical the entire game. It seemed like that was a point of emphasis, maybe a challenge from the coaches, maybe the staff or the team. Was that one of the points of emphasis?
Zeke Berry • 23:35
No, definitely. You know, I mean, for the defense, we try to be physical every game. And, you know, we knew coming with this team, we really need to be. We need to be more physical than them because we knew how they were going to attack us. So I felt like we did a good job of being physical at the point of attack, you know, and making the ball be overthrown as the DB's and the D line of eight today, you know, so I feel like we
Jason Avant • 23:53
did good overall last year. You guys played them that didn't have the same level of success. So when it comes to this year, what was the game plan and also what was the lessons learned from last year to this year?
Zeke Berry • 24:08
You know, I feel like last week we came out a little flat. You know, that's something that we talked about as a team. We had our player meeting. We, we came in there and talked about how we need to come out fast. If we come out fast, we finish the game faster. And I feel like we did a good job as a whole offensive defense of coming out fast and finishing faster.
Jason Avant • 24:25
Congratulations on a win.
Zeke Berry • 24:26
Yes, sir. Thank you.
Brian Boesch • 24:27
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Brian Boesch • 25:14
Oh boy, he's been fun to watch. Early in a Maize and Blue uni, it's Chris Bracy with Jason Avant.
Jason Avant • 25:19
Just a great game played by the defense. What was the mindset of the defense to go against such a potent Oklahoma offense?
Chris Bracy • 25:26
Just coming in, working, disguising, making the quarterback choose different things, switching it up for them and just showing that we're the best defense in the nation. Honestly just coming in, know it's going to be a defensive game and do what we do best.
Jason Avant • 25:37
You guys had a challenging responsibility with Beers today. Being a big guy. What was the game plan against such a big, a big fella?
Chris Bracy • 25:46
Just, just having our eyes in the right place, having great feet, just being, being intentional in every call and just lining up and playing fast.
Jason Avant • 25:54
Now you, Smith, Snowden, a lot of guys that are new, what does it mean for you guys to be here learning like what Michigan's tradition is about and what have you learned in this last week or so about it?
Chris Bracy • 26:05
For sure it means everything to us. I can remember when we first got here being all together, just saying how great it is to be at Michigan. Just trying to uphold the Michigan standard and the culture and just trying to be the best team in the nation.
Jason Avant • 26:18
How can this win help you guys going forward?
Chris Bracy • 26:21
This win is definitely good. Definitely can't look over it gives us great momentum going into the season and just keep building each and every step, block by block.
Jason Avant • 26:31
Last question. I have Jarrett Hill on the pick. You with big hits. We didn't get a chance to see how good you were last week against Western Michigan. This is looking like a pretty good secondary.
Chris Bracy • 26:41
Yeah. I mean, I said it from day one. I feel like we got guys to have the best defensive back coordination at each position. We have depth and we just gonna put it on display week in and week out.
Jason Avant • 26:53
Congratulations on the win.
Chris Bracy • 26:54
I appreciate it.
Brian Boesch • 26:55
To the offensive side, let's catch up with QB one. Here's Jason with Bryce Underwood.
Jason Avant • 27:00
Bryce, it was a lot of chatter last week with the way Michigan won the game. How did that propel you guys in order to come out focused this week?
Bryce Underwood • 27:05
What mattered was what our team thought about the win. We were not happy with it. So we want to move forward and just be the best of us this week because we didn't play to our standard last week.
Jason Avant • 27:14
Last year, going up to Norman in a big time game, were there lessons that was learned last year in Norman that kind of helped you prepare for this same style of defense this year?
Bryce Underwood • 27:23
Not necessarily. I just feel more confident than I did last year. I was at a very rough patch last year at this moment, but I'm just glad to have the trust of my teammates to move forward. That's where they'll go.
Jason Avant • 27:34
We're starting to see more of you implemented into the run game. Is that something that you kind of said, you know what, coach, I need to be. I need to run this a little bit more.
Bryce Underwood • 27:42
I feel like I'm just here for whatever the team needs. So if that's what it is, perfect. I'm cool with that.
Jason Avant • 27:47
So congratulations on the win.
Bryce Underwood • 27:48
Thank you so much, boss.
Brian Boesch • 27:49
We wrap things up with one of the members of the Michigan tight end room. It's Zach Marshall with Jason.
Jason Avant • 27:54
Zach, it was a lot of noise after the way Michigan won last week. What was said in order to inspire this game to performance?
Zack Marshall • 28:01
We knew who you who we are. Like at the end of the day. We've been through fall camp. We've played great football. Not every Saturday you're gonna show up and be the exact same person. We knew that last week wasn't an example of who we were. So we took that thing to heart. We took it personally and we turned it around. We were physical all Week in practice translated to the game, the execution. The execution wasn't even the highest that it could have been. I mean, we could have even played better than that, like. But we did exactly what we needed
Zeke Berry • 28:31
to win the game.
Zack Marshall • 28:32
We were physical up front. We kept drives going and we. We made plays when it mattered, so that's all that matters. Shout out. Shug. For the. For the pick in the. In the red zone. That was huge.
Jason Avant • 28:42
When it's talking about a Brent Venables defense, we've seen what he was able to do against Michigan last year and pressure and all those things. How was going against him part of the game plan and how to stop what he can do?
Zack Marshall • 28:56
Yeah, I mean, he's. He's an incredible dc. Let's not. Lets, or, Well, he's the head coach there, but he calls the defense. So, I mean, you want to talk about a guy that, like, knows. Knows his scheme, at the end of the day, you can have people in the right place. If you don't make the tackle or you don't. If you don't make the block, like, that's all that matters. Make, run, hit, block, tackle. That's. That's all that matters. And we did the fundamentals better than they did. They had. They had a cool scheme. I mean, they brought samfire, they brought smack, they brought no corner shot, but they brought the safeties. They brought a bunch of different things to try to try to trick us. Dude, they brought zero. They brought cover. I mean, they played so many different coverages, it didn't matter because at the end of the day, we ran, hit, blocked, and tackled better than them. So that's what we. That's what. That was our emphasis all week, and it translated to the game.
Jason Avant • 29:46
How weird was it to see Cole Sullivan in a different jersey? Number eighteen for Oklahoma?
Zack Marshall • 29:51
I lined up probably in the, the.
Zack Marshall • 29:52
In the second quarter, and he would. I had to block him. I'm looking at him, I'm like, bro, your big blue eyes shouldn't be over there. You in the wrong spot, man. But I mean, I just want. I wish the best for him. You never wish. Root against guys that you. You love and you like, at the end of the day, wish the best for him, wish the worst for. For the opponent. You know what I mean? You always. You always wish the best for the person, wish the worst for the opponent. So that's what we wanted.
Jason Avant • 30:16
How can this win help moving forward?
Zack Marshall • 30:20
I mean, it's a little bit of a confidence builder. I mean, we won a game and got and got deranked. I mean, when was the last time you saw that that was the biggest move in the AP poll for a winning team. Now did we need a win like that last week?
Zack Marshall • 30:35
We should have played better. But now we just be a top ten team and it doesn't matter if they're a top ten team. I mean we could, we could, we could play with anyone. Like our personnel is good enough. We just got to execute. So it's a confidence builder and it's everything we need to go beat the rest of the ten teams on the remaining schedule.
Jason Avant • 30:54
Congratulations on the win.
Zack Marshall • 30:55
Thank you man.
Brian Boesch • 30:56
Great stuff from Jason, Jack, Doug, Jon, from everybody who joined us, and great work from the Wolverines as they win it. Seventeen ten do you want to experience Michigan football like never before? Champion Circle gives Wolverine fans exclusive access to once in a lifetime experiences you can't get anywhere else. Get closer to the action and support Michigan student athletes at champions circleufm dot com Champions Circle is an official partner of the University of Michigan and Michigan Athletics Wolverines. With the victory seventeen ten, it's UTEP coming to town to conclude non conference play this Saturday, three thirty kick from Ann Arbor. Obviously it'll be different from a Vibe standpoint. After the week one to week two transition, Michigan a huge win to get to two. And oh, thanks to all those who joined us who made this podcast possible.
Brian Boesch • 31:45
And thanks to all of you, we'll have another jam packed week of content all across MGO Blue Podcast Brandon Nerado on Conquering Heroes. We'll catch up with a member of the Michigan Men's basketball team on Defend the Block. We got a few more freshman interviews to share with you and of course three episodes of in the Trenches presented by Meijer for everybody. I'm Brian. Thanks for listening and Go Blue.
Jeff Laurence • 32:04
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 presentation of the Michigan Sports Network.
