Michigan Tuesday: OSU Wins Peach Bowl

ND showed some heart late but it was miss-match from the start as the Buckeyes rolled the Irish in the 2025 Peach Bowl last night.  Ohio State rebounds after losing at home to the worst version of the Wolverines since 2020. Luckly, Ryan Day secured his job after the Buckeyes reached 1 of their 3 goals on the season as Peach Bowl Champions.  

Now we all can finally move on to next season.  I was in favor of a 12 team playoff but things must change with this format.  The seedings have to be better, the first round home game and the byes didn't seem to work out.  It also takes way too long, its nearly February.  Hopefully, they will hire someone who can figure this out. 

• Michigan has been starting to get more predictions for 5-star OT Haywood.  The longer he goes without committing the more nervous I get. 

• Ben Johnson looks to be headed to the Bears.  Aaron Glenn could be the Jets next head coach. 

• Indy hires Lou Anarumo, so Wink seems to be safe for the time being. 

• Rumors are ND DC AL Golden could be heading to the Bengals and OSU DC Jim Knowles could be headed to Oklahoma.  Al Golden looks like a different person from the guy that coached Miami. 

Michigan Monday: Peach Bowl Preview

Michigan fans are in a bit of a pickle tonight watching the Peach Bowl.  Two rivals are playing each other for right to be named The National Champion of Peaches.  The first year of the 12 team playoffs lead by Michigan's often confused AD Warde Manuel has worked to perfection as the #7 seed is taking on the #8 seed.  Neither team played in a conference championship game and neither would have been in the traditional 4 team playoff.  

ND is known for their lock down man to man defense.  OSU's offense is known to be a huge man to man beater.  Tennessee and Oregon both thought they were smarter than Michigan and didn't follow the game plan the Wolverines used to beat the Buckeyes, both got blown out.   Texas did follow the plan and made it a game, until it wasn't late.  

Ohio State has the better team but we know they can sometimes lose their minds.  Maybe it's the Michigan helmets but the Irish is going to try to frustrate the Buckeyes tonight and win a close game.  I think ND is the lesser of two evils.  

A few words on the Detroit Lions.  At the end of day that never was a Super Bowl defense with the injuries they had.  Someone was going to expose that defense and it happened to be Washington.  With that said, I thought Ben Johnson called a terrible game.  In a drive where you need a TD, you let the player with the worst judgement on the team, throw a pass?  The trick plays are fun in the regular season, but play good sound football in the playoffs.  Terrible decision.  That play would give me second thoughts about hiring him as a head coach.  You don't need those plays when you were getting pretty much anything you wanted on offense.  It's also the playoffs.  The pass play on the goal line where Goff fumbled was also a terrible call.   Run it!!  Happy for Mikey and his 2 picks, just wish it came against a different team. 

• Michigan Basketball got back to their winning ways after a terrible loss to Minnesota last week.  Northwestern has a solid team and took the favored Wolverines into OT.  The game lasted forever but Michigan got the W.  Vlad went for over 30 again. 

• No feedback yet on how the visit with 5 star OT Ty Haywood went this weekend.  I wonder if he will announce on signing day. 

• Cade transfers to East Tennessee State, I guess he got a waiver for his 20th year in college.   Let's review his decision to leave Michigan:  Lead a historically bad offense for the Hawkeyes, had 2 knee surgeries, suffered a bad concussion. and then loses his starting job.  If he stayed, he would have a National Championship and startered last season.   Thank you, Cade for what you did for Michigan Football and helping Michigan win a Big Ten Championship. 

• Mason Graham has a younger brother Carson that plays football and just finished his Freshman season at 6'2 230.  I don't care if the kid can play or not (I'm betting he can!), give him a scholarship! That would be 2 gifts from the football gods! 

Michigan Thursday: Jim is Going to Fix Himself This Off Season

Jim did a great job with the Chargers this year and got them to the playoffs.  Yes, his QB and offense went a little sideways on Saturday and they lost to an underdog Houston.  With everything going on in LA, you can't blame the players to maybe have their minds on that situation then the Texan's defense. 

Jim in this off season will need to add some playmakers.  When your #1 WR and playmaker is named Ladd, you have an issue with not enough playmakers.  A young RB would be good, a rookie WR, and free agent WR is a must.  

Not only that, Jim is planning on working on some health situations.  He will have a cardiac ablation procedure and have his hip replaced.   

Google AI has a summary of a cardiac ablation procedure as:  Cardiac ablation is a minimally invasive procedure that treats irregular heartbeats, or arrhythmias. During the procedure, a catheter is inserted into a vein in the groin, arm, leg, or neck and guided to the heart. Electrodes are then placed in the heart to measure electrical activity and identify the source of the arrhythmia. Heat or cold energy is used to destroy the abnormal tissue, blocking irregular electrical signals and restoring the heart's normal rhythm. 

Good luck with those Jim and watch out for those co-pays.  

• Michigan Basketball (-9.5) travels to the Barn tonight to take on Minnesota. 7:00 FS1

• Transfer Portal Punter? We need one! 

• Michigan OL Giovanni El-Hadi is back for his 5th year

Wolverine Wednesday: A Wink and a Smile

Reports started to surface yesterday that Michigan's DC Wink Martindale was interviewing with the Atlanta Falcons and is also expected to interview with the Colts.   This was not a shock to me.  Wink came to Michigan to rebuild his brand and in the last two games, he did just that by taking out both Ohio State and Alabama.  His defense has been the only thing to stop the Buckeyes in the last 60 days.  

It's not a secret of what I thought of Wink's overall performance this season.  Last 2 games A+, the rest of the season a D.  Michigan had a boat full of talent on defense this year and I thought that defense way under performed (outside of the final 2).  I don't know if Wink will be offered by these NFL teams or another, but if he goes, I wish him good riddance! 

Let's grab another NFL young guy, who can relate to the roster, scheme the shit out of the defense, and work the recruiting trail.  A Jesse Minter or Mike MacDonald type is the goal.   Yes, these guys might be in Ann Arbor only a few years, but I will take them everyday over a guy at the end of his career. 

• Jeff Daniels sings the "Curse of Bobby Layne" on Kimmel last night. 

• Penn State's top 2 RB's are staying in Happy Valley, but their top 2 WR's enter the portal.