Flip Thursday: Michigan Has Flipped DT Mason Graham

2022 Mason Graham a 6'4 300 pound defensive tackle from California has flipped to Michigan from Boise State.    A DT named Mason Graham just sounds like a Michigan player doesn't it?  If he can live up to being a Ben Mason or a Brandon Graham it will be great for this under the radar recruit who visited Ann Arbor last weekend.  

Mason's other offers included the likes of Army, UNLV, Oregon State, Colorado State, and others.  

The buzz on Mason is he is having an incredible senior year against very good competition in California and could be a late riser in the rankings.  

Welcome Mason!  

Michigan Thursday: Previews the Big Ten Weekend

The Big Ten office in Indy was a bit off this week.  Rarely, do they have to deal with a week where Ohio State loses.   I hope the staff was able to find their offices this week.    I'm sure they cancelled the meeting where they review the competence of their Big Ten officials.   Actually, that weekly meeting at the Big Ten offices is on the calendar as a  joke so the members can go golfing.    

This is a very strange week for Big Ten Football with a number of sneaky match-ups against ranked teams.   These are the leagues that the Big Ten will be playing:  ACC (2), Big 12, SEC, MAC, PAC 12, ND, American (2), CAA in FCS, and a conference game. 

Friday Night Football: Maryland -7.5 @ Illinois:  Is Maryland sneaky good at 2-0?  Strange that Illinois will have played two big ten games a week before Michigan plays its first.   Maryland 28 Illinois 20

Nebraska @ #3 Oklahoma -22:  Why Nebraska?  If Scott Frost wants to change the trajectory of his program this could be a career saving win.   Oklahoma is known for having a few "stinkers" and Nebraska could come in and upset one of the best teams in the nation.   Or not.  OK 50  Nebraska 21

#8 Cincinnati -4 @ Indiana:  What a sneaky good game.  The big question here, is either team good?  IU looked terrible in week 1 and UC is riding high in the top 10 after playing nobody so far.  IU needs this win to recreate some 2020 momentum.  UC wants to sneak into the playoffs.  These campuses are closer then people may think and only a 2.5 hours drive.   IU 31 UC 30

MSU @ #24 Miami -6:  Another unique meeting between past powers.  Miami lost to a professional team in Alabama and barley got by App. State last week.   MSU had a nice week 1 win against Northwestern and an FCS team last week.  Another game where we don't know if either team is good.   Miami 20 MSU 17

Minnesota @ Colorado - 3:  When Minnesota lost that really good RB, their season turned on dime.  I don't like Big Ten teams playing at elevation.  Colorado 30 Minn 14

Purdue @ #12 ND -7:  Is this game NBC worthy or will they put it on the Peacock?  Will this game be a bit strange for Drew Brees to be calling a Purdue game on the ND Network?  How is Drew's hair growing at the rate it is now?  Is ND for real after a close win over a bad FSU team and Toledo?  Is Purdue better this year?   We need answers!!!   ND 28 Purdue 23

Tulsa @ #9 OSU -24.5:  Everything will be fixed this week!  OSU 52 Tulsa 10

Delaware @ Rutgers No line:  Rutgers 40 Delaware 3

Northwestern -3@ Duke:  The SAT Bowl.  They should forget the game and just do a standardize test.  Duke 1550  Northwestern 1500 

#22 Auburn @ #10 Penn State -5:   Wow, another weird match-up.  An SEC team playing at Happy Valley at night in a White Out.   Is this the Citrus Bowl in September?   I'm not buying Penn State yet but I have no idea who is coaching Auburn these days.   I would never bet against PSU in a white out.   PSU 20  Auburn 14

Wolverine Wednesday: Ryan Day is Not Happy With His Defense

Want to know how to fix the Ohio State defense?  Play Tulsa on Saturday.  Ryan is not happy and says changes are coming:

"Yeah I'm not happy about that at all," Day said. "That's part of the deal - for me to do what I need to do on offense, I need the defense really on point, the special teams on point, I need Mark Pantoni to do a great job in recruiting, Mick Marotti to handle strength and conditioning, and the minute that I get taken away for those type of things, then it affects everything else that's going on on offense. So yeah, to be honest with you, I'm disappointed."

"We are going to make some adjustments, some changes. We have to. But I'd rather not get into all that right now ... you want to act, not over react. You have to make sure you do things the right way and you allow people to do their job, but when it gets to a certain point, you have to get things fixed - and that's what we're going to do."

OSU having a QB without any experience and a defense that gives up a ton of yards, seems familiar for some reason.   Also not being able to stop crossing routes because your defense is always in man coverage. 

• Domani Jackson is posting Michigan picks on his social media with terms like FAMILY.   

• Michigan predictions are coming in for 22 DL Kenneth Grant.   He is rated 3 stars but has a very nice offer list including Ohio State and Wisconsin.  

• RIP Norm MacDonald

• Is AJ Henning going to take over punt returns?  He seems like the next man up.   Northern Illinois might be a good game to try a few new guys out there before Big Ten play starts. 

Michigan Tuesday Likes PB&J as Well

Payton Manning has a new MNF Mega-cast with his brother on ESPN.   Last night he told a story about working out for 49'ers at Duke then having a meeting at David Cutcliffe's house when David's wife asked if anyone wanted anything to eat? Our head coach replied, I'll have a PB&J after everyone else declined.    There is also a rumored story from that same event that was not mentioned on air last night.   While warming up throwing the ball, Jimmy joked that Payton's velocity didn't match his.   

More news and notes:

• David Long got his first NFL Interception on Sunday night for the Rams. 

• An SI article on the hiring of Dan Mullen at Florida has two interesting info points.  1 - that Michigan did contact Dan Mullen during a past coaching search and 2 -  the Florida leadership did not think Scott Frost was impressive or ready for the Florida job (while at UCF). 

• Clay Helton got fired at USC yesterday afternoon.  For those wondering if that means Domani Jackson will commit to A2 after he visited last weekend.   His position coach at USC is now the interim head coach.  So this is not a slam dunk that he heads to Michigan.   Domani is still a Michigan fan and good friends with Will Johnson, so there is a chance.   He also said after this visit, he is only considering Michigan, USC, and Alabama. 

• Joe Milton went out with an injury in Tennessee's loss last weekend and UT analysts and fans are are concerned with something we already knew:  from 24x7:  So much so that the starting spot may be up for grabs again. Following Milton’s injury, Hendon Hooker entered the game and, at the very least, managed the offense well. When asked whether Hooker or Milton should be Tennessee’s starter moving forward, 247Sports’ Bud Elliott had a fairly direct answer. “Hooker easily,” Elliott wrote. “Milton has a (skill set) that gets coaches fired. Huge arm, built like Cam (Newton), but just not accurate or on time ever.”

• How was Urban Meyer's Weekend?   His NFL team the Jacksonville Jags lost and looked bad, OSU got upset at home by Oregon, Utah got beat by rival BYU, and Bowling Green lost.   Only Florida beat a bad USF team.   Does anyone believe that Urban might start getting headaches again when USC calls?

• Corum was named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week and Hutch was named the Lott Impact Trophy Player of the Week.  Congrats to both!