Latest / Return to Glory - Nebraska / Episode 37 | Michigan State Preview

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Episode 37 | Michigan State Preview · Return to Glory - Nebraska

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Welcome, Return to Glory podcast. I am Austin Rose, joined
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: by Dakota Freetag. Hunter is on the road to East Lansing.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Neither one of us tagged along. He didn't really invite us.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: That's fine. No big deal.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: We both would have went, though, if he invited us.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: If he invited us, we definitely both would have gone.
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: 100%.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: I know we were lamenting during our tech issue. So shorter,
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: a little bit of a shorter pod today, probably because
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: we had some tech issues getting rolling, but we were
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: both lamenting while we're getting set up on how sad
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: we were. And Dak cried several times. It was emotional. Um,
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: but you know, next time, next time Hunter, maybe, maybe
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: think about it.
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: That's all.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: Uh, yeah. Michigan state preview pod today. How are you
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: feeling Dak?
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: Um, super excited, especially gets closer and closer.
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: Especially after these first three basically no-name games, whatever you
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: call them, no team. Especially his third one here, I
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: was like, all right, let's get these over with by now.
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: I want to see what this team is actually about.
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: And I don't know if Michigan State.
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: Will be the game to prove it or whatever, but
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: it's definitely tougher competition.
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: It's better.
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a lot better. I was watching another game,
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: Michigan State, and it's just incredible how how much difference, like, say,
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: North Dakota schools and all that is compared to Michigan State,
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: just size-wise, skill-wise.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: No, I agree. I was kind of starting to get antsy.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: Second half in North Dakota, I was like, okay, I'm
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: ready to play a team that I feel good about beating. Obviously,
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: you know, we kind of talked about it last week
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: with Hunter and I did about how he prefers teams
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: that we can easily beat because he'd rather win I
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: don't know. There's something to feel good about beating Michigan
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: State a little more so than North Dakota.
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: Let's dive into that right there, Austin.
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: I truly believe every Power 5 team should have to
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: play a Power 5 school, one Power 5 school in
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: the first three games. It can be whoever you want,
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: but you have to play a Power 5 school in
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: your first three games.
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: I don't like these.
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: I think you should get two warm-up games and And
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: that's about it. But you have to play at Power
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: 5 school because three of them is just too many. Like,
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: you don't play, like, it doesn't matter in these games.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: I think I agree with you. I don't know if,
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: you know, like right now I'm scheduling Tennessee. You know,
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: there's a balance between what Hunter wants. But maybe at
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: some point we are the Ohio States and Texas is
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: where it's, We can lose one. We want to challenge
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: ourselves here with another big brand and make some money.
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: But yeah, I think I agree. We definitely should have
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: played someone.
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: Well, especially now at the playoff.
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: If you lose to, say, Tennessee or whatever, you still
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: got a shot at making the playoff.
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: So it's not that big a deal anymore to play
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: a hard non-con.
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: If they expand it to 16 teams, then there's no
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: reason not to. You can have two losses and still
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: make it.
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: Yeah, easily.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: All right, Michigan State Spartans. What do you know, Dak?
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: I know their offense.
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: There's really not that much of a difference with this
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: team besides their head coach, like style-wise, that we see
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: every time. Their offense, not great at all. Their quarterback,
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: I'm not very worried about. As I say that, he
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: will probably come out for 350 yards, honest, but it
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: just seems like they have a good quarterback. And Aiden Childs,
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: I was not huge on either. But I haven't had
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: a good quarterback in years. Their offense is not very good.
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: Their run game is okay. So it should be another
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: game where our defense looks good.
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: Yep. Yeah, I guess quick background. New era, Pat Fitzgerald.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: Name might sound familiar to some of you. He is
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: the head coach. He was the head coach at Northwestern
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: before being fired for a hazing scandal that happened underneath
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: his nose. He claimed to have no idea what was
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: going on, but there was naked players with helmets doing
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: something on the football field at some point. I don't
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: remember exactly the details.
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: I'm not going to dive into the schema here, but
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: this is actually one I do believe the coach. I
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: think it was kind of a, let's get you out
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: of here.
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: There's no way that he had no idea.
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: What was going on.
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: It was kind of one, though, that Northwestern fans were
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: ready for him to go to.
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: He had been there for.
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: A long time with no major success.
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it was kind of, whatever pops up, we're going
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: to get you out of here.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: But there has always been decent, I would say, shared respect,
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: mutual respect between Pat Fitzgerald and Nebraska. They've given us some,
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: it seemed like every year it was a close game.
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: We usually squeaked them out, but sometimes they did beat us.
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: He is now head coach of Michigan State Spartans after
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: a couple years away. He's kind of like an Iowa-lite,
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: you know, conservative offense, aggressive defense, wait for you to
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: make mistakes kind of guy. Their offensive coordinator, Nick Sheridan,
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: was the co-offensive coordinator for Alabama last year. He's coming over.
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: I agree, their offense so far this year hasn't looked...
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: Super explosive. Their starting quarterback, Alessio Milovecich, I think that's
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: how you pronounce it, is their starting quarterback after Aiden
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: Childs left. This year he's passing 66 completion percentage, three touchdowns,
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: two interceptions. The name might sound familiar because last year
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: when we played Michigan State, we won by 11, but
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: we absolutely contained Aiden Childs and eventually he got hurt
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: And Alessio came in and went six for seven for
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: 101 yards and a touchdown, and we kind of started
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: to sweat a little bit. But we know he's coming
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: this year. The other players, key things to look for
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: on offense. So like you said, they're a very run-heavy offense.
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: Conservative play calling their running back Cam Edwards. He's kind
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: of their main guy, 288 rushing yards so far in
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: the year. For receiving options, Rodney Bullard Jr., who is
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: a sophomore, second year at Michigan State, has 12 catches
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: for 182. And Jaden Savory, I have no idea if
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: that's correct, but he's their tight end and has 11
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: for 129. So those are kind of the top two
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: targets right now. But yeah, offensively, if you look at
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: their team stats for the year, It's not great. Not great.
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: And here's the good thing about the quarterback is, and
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: I might not be able to remember this right, but
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: I feel like last year, didn't he run on us
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: a little bit?
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: Aiden did. I don't think their backup did.
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: He didn't move much.
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: This guy, especially this year, he can't move, which is
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: good for us because under the rule era, we have
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: struggled with running quarterbacks or mobile quarterbacks.
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: Mobile.
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: So we don't got to worry about this guy moving
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: at all. He's not a runner. Yeah.
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: No, I'm He's not really in Michigan State. So they've played...
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: Let me pull up their schedule real quick. So you
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: mentioned Notre Dame. They lost to Notre Dame 27-10. They
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: beat Eastern Michigan 35-7 and Toledo 30-20. And they currently
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: rank 108th in FBS for total yards per game, 100th
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: in passing yards, 89th in rushing yards, 99th in scoring.
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: So.
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: Not... They didn't play– I would say outside of– the
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: first two games were very similar to our first two
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: games talent level-wise. Toledo and Miami– not Miami, sorry. Ohio
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: is worse than Toledo for sure. But similar structure. And
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: I feel like we did a little better than they did.
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: Is it crazy to say that I'm more worried about
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: the coach than I am about the football team?
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: That's actually a great way to put it, because I
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: kind of feel the same way.
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm not too worried about what Michigan State's going
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: to roll out on the field. I'm more worried about
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: the game plan. Pat Fitzgerald kind of knows how to,
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: at least he always knows how to keep it close
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: to Nebraska.
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: Yep. I guess since we're talking their offense and our defense, so,
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: you know, last year we kind of had a game plan.
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: They had Nick Marsh, who's now transferred to Indiana, was
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: kind of the guy we had to worry about. This year,
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: I think it's just making sure we get them off
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: on third downs and we've done pretty well this year,
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: but not giving them the opportunity to kind of grind
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: out long drives, keep our offense off the field and
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: keep it as low scoring game. If it's a low
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: scoring game, you know, it becomes a little bit more, that's, that's,
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: that's what they're going to want. That's, and Pat Fitzgerald
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: has always done that against us. So that's what they're
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: going to try to do. So it's important for us
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: to get off the field on third downs and then
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: creating turnovers. Uh, Like I said, their starting quarterback, through
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: three games, 66 completion percentage, 71 attempts, so two interceptions already.
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: Notre Dame obviously has an impact on that because Notre
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: Dame is a much better team than what they operate
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: against or what we are, to be honest. Yeah.
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: Like you said, we don't need to play in their
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: hands of keeping this a low-scoring game because that's exactly
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: what they want. They don't want us scoring, honestly, anything
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: over 24 points. I think they're screwed if we score
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: over 24 points. I don't think an offense can put
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: up anything higher than that against us.
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, I probably agree because their offense, like
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: I said, they're going to try to milk the clock.
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: They're going to try to run the ball a lot.
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: Kim Edwards, who's averaging five yards a carry. Let me
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: pull up what the stat lines were last week because
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: I think that's probably a little bit more comparable to what,
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: not that we're Notre Dame level, but.
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: At least not yet.
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: He had 38 rushing yards last week on 12 carries.
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: So I expect him to do a little better than that.
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: But I don't know. Last year we won 38-27. So
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: it wasn't like we were defensive stoppers on what they
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: were trying to do last year. I guess their backup quarterback, essentially.
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: And that was a wild game last year. Like we
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: were up, I'd say, a good margin.
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: Not big in that. Early in the game, it was
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: from Shade. Then they came back to the lead. It
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: was like peaks and valleys. That was a very weird game.
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: Yep.
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that is not how I expect this game to
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: go at all. They are going to try to control
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: this clock a lot, lean on their defense, which isn't–
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: it's not great, but it's by far the best defense
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: we've played so far.
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, we're opening Big Ten play, so this matters.
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: First road game, too, for the year, right?
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: Yep, and I always feel like– I said this yesterday
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: on my pod. I always feel like it's just crappy weather.
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: Anytime I watch a Michigan State game, it's never sunny there.
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: It's always either raining or cloudy or windy or something.
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: It's always crappy weather out there. Something weird is going
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: to be going on. And I don't know if we've– yeah,
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: I think we did win one game at Michigan State
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: so far, but it feels like– yeah, it feels like
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: I– I'm more excited to see our offense in this
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: game and see how we fare against a big 10 opponent.
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: Yep.
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: Let's see.
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: Let it go. Just don't play in their hands at all.
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Let's transition to basically what, what we, I, I
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: agree with you. I think that this, the matchup of
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: the game is their defense versus our offense. Defensive coordinator.
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: What's his name? Joe Rossi. He was on the Michigan
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: State coaching staff last year coaching the linebackers, I believe.
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: It is definitely the strength of their team. They've got
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: decent size. Their front seven looks decent. Their linebacking core,
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: Jordan Hall, Brady Pretzloff, and Eli Konin. are kind of
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: their leaders on their defensive end and this is where
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: it gets interesting so I guess their goal is going
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: to be to contain our run game and our goal
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: is going to be to contain their run game and
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: so it's whose front seven is going to be better
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: so far I would say our front sevens looked better
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: but again like I said our quality of opponents has
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: been iffy And I do believe Jordan Hall is on
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: the injury report with some health issues. I think he's
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: still playing on plane, but I don't know if he's 100%.
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: I feel like, and this is just me in these
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: Matt Rule era games, we like to play kind of,
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: we kind of fall into the opponent's hand more than
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: I like.
• 14:10
  Speaker 3: We, like, some of the guys.
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: Back then in the game last year, like, This is
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: exactly what Michigan State's going to do.
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: They're going to try to run the ball, control the clock.
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: Screw that.
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: Air this ball out.
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: Keep doing what you've been doing this whole time. Let's
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: see it.
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: And Ryan Calandria, now just let him lose, especially in
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: the Big Ten play.
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: What do you got to lose here?
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: And also, I feel like the offense has not shown
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: exactly everything they have yet.
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: No, I agree. We talked about it last week being
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: a little bit of a vanilla game. Yeah. I don't
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: know what to think of Notre Dame, of Michigan State yet.
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: Like I said, the opponents that they played, they gave
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: up 20 points to Toledo.
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: Which they were down in the fourth quarter of that game.
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: Correct. Eastern Michigan, they only held them to seven. But
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: I don't know. I genuinely think our offensive line looks
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: really good this year. So I think we're going to
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: be fine moving the ball. And I know Pat Fitzgerald
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: and Northwestern, they've done a decent job of making a,
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: you know, fourth quarter slugfest with us, but he's been
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: gone for two years. And I don't know. I think
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: we're going to be okay. I think we're going to
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: be okay. But I guess keys that I'm looking for
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: from the office, kind of like you were saying, I
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: want to see us keep doing what we're doing. Not
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: playing into their hands. You know, we don't want it.
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: We don't want it. We don't want to be a
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: slug bet. So we need to put up points, let
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: Calandria loose, make them have to think about it, which
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: is going to open up their own game. I agree.
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: I agree with you, Dak. Good answer. See, Hunter's not here.
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: It's a little more positive.
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it is. Now, we both agree. This is kind
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: of flipping around here.
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: That Pat Fitzgerald's not going to throw a wild card
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: here and try to just air it out on us, right?
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: He's going to run the ball. That's 100% guarantee right there.
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: Yep. I agree. They're down big, and they have to
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: start moving the ball.
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm not counting that at all, which we both
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: hope so. But I just feel like Michigan State is
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: kind of a team which we could blow them out,
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: especially Pat Fitzgerald. They're just tough teams.
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: To blow out. They keep it close and make it
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: look ugly. Mm-hmm.
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: So.
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: This does feel like kind of a game. Might not
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: be able to take much away from it. Just win
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: and get out of here.
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: Yep.
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: Don't fall into their hands is my key to the game.
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: Don't fall into what they want us to do.
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: Yep. And they do have, like I said, their key
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: players are mostly linebackers, which I do think is slightly
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: concerning for a run game. But I just feel good
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: about a run game. I thought our offensive line was
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: really good. So I'm excited to actually see our offensive
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: line against a real, not that the other teams aren't
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: real tests, but.
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: See, that's, that's scary part is Austin. I'm starting to,
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: I'm starting to believe all this.
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: Like, Hey, we might actually be good here and not,
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: and we haven't, we got to just keep remembering we
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: haven't played anybody yet.
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: So yeah, it's going to be real.
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: I mean, completely up to in care business, which we
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: can't say every year coming into this and we don't
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: play opponents either. Complete 10-year business, which is all we wanted.
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: But let's see that keep improving here. Our defense last–
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: which the first two games I was– I know if
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: you're on defense. Last week proved I think our defense
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: can hold up in the Big Ten.
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: I think we can have moments. I don't know if
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: I'm totally sold yet.
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: You're not saying we're shutting down Ohio State's seven points? No,
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: I don't.
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: I did not get that feeling. We did finally get
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: pressure last week, so that was good.
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's something I was worried about was pressure on
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: the quarterback D-line, which I'm still a little iffy on.
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: So I guess this is, I'll be watching, who I'll
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: be watching this game is the D-line, number one. Second off,
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: what we do on offense, if we're going to keep
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: with our game plan, we've been doing it, airing it out,
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: spreading it out, running the ball. and how Calandria looks
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: against Big Ten opponents if he looks truly as good
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: as he has the first three games.
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I agree. It's worth pointing out. So we
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: are favored to win by five and a half points.
• 19:00
  Speaker 3: Which take that. If anyone listening here, take that.
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: That we're going to win by more or take the.
• 19:08
  Speaker 3: Yeah, taking Nebraska 5. I am.
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: The over-under is 52.5. That's the number where I'm like.
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: That's crazy. I would go under on that.
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: Oh, I guess that was the opening number. It's moved
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: down to 48.5.
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: Okay, I was going to say 52.5.
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: That's a little high because I don't... I don't think....
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: I think Michigan State makes it harder on themselves to
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: even score 13 points. No matter what the defense is.
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: They just are a struggling offense. Um, and truly, truly,
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: I think we played a better offense last week than
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: this offense.
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: We're going to play this week.
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: Wow.
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: That's what I.
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: I don't know. Our defense looked decent last week. I
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: didn't really get a good feeling.
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: I know, but I was going in there. I was like, man,
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: North Dakota has a good offense. But then we shut
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: them down. I just– I mean, I would take North
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: Dakota's quarterback over to his quarterback any day. I know
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: that's like crap against us, but I just have no
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: faith in that offense at all for Michigan State. I
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: think we're going to completely shut them down.
• 20:19
  Speaker 3: Which, again.
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: They put up 27 points on us last year. Yeah.
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: Again, that was.
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: I don't... I really don't know how, because looking back
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: on it, I feel like we shut their offense down
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: that game.
• 20:32
  Speaker 3: It just.
• 20:34
  Speaker 3: That was the weirdest game of the year for sure
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: last year against Michigan State.
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: Which is how they won it. It always feels like
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: that with them.
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: It always feels like that. It always feels like it's
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: going to be a field goal game. I'm probably with you.
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: I don't think it's going to be a field goal game,
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: but we will talk about that in the tailgate pod.
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: Any last thoughts on Michigan State and Nebraska's matchup? I
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: think we both agree, don't play into their hands. We
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: need to put up points, you know, Winning the battle
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: up front, blah, blah, blah. Classic.
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: Not really, besides I want to see Jamal Rule keep
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: doing what he's been doing. Which I was going to
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: ask you this. Most exciting freshman. I was listening to
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: another podcast, and it took a while for them to answer.
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: Most exciting freshman since when for Nebraska?
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: Adrian Martinez? Yeah.
• 21:27
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's probably a good pick, yeah.
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: Well, I shouldn't say that. Dylan Rayola, the Bollyhoo around
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: Dylan Rayola. Five-star quarterback. I remember, it wasn't that long ago,
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: I guess. Non-quarterback position, though?
• 21:46
  Speaker 3: Gosh. Yeah, I guess running back.
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: Even if you take out quarterback position, the most exciting
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: freshman since?
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: Archie Wilson.
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: That's it no I was thinking I'm trying to think
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: back to a freshman that I was just blown away
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: by I don't know Stanley Morgan Stanley Morgan Morgan why
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: am I blanking on his name was it Morgan Stanley
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: Stanley Morgan was it Stanley Morgan is that just the
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: bank and I'm just thinking.
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: That no it was Stanley Morgan I'm pretty sure or
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: Pierce wasn't Pierce Nell a good freshman.
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: Pearson L is the other one I was thinking of, actually.
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that'd probably be the other one where I'm like,
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: holy crap, this guy's really good. But Jamal Rule, I
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: think that guy, what you getting? We're saying this with
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: him playing nobody yet. That guy, I think, is a stud.
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: And I think Nelson behind him, too. Great one-two punch.
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: So let those two be the bell cows, too, especially
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: if Klander is struggling in these games. It's good you
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: can fall back on your run game.
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: Yep, I agree. Assuming that Klander's not struggling because our
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: offensive line is struggling.
• 23:04
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, because then you can't run the ball.
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: But if our offensive line is strong, in theory, that's
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: when Kalander's legs come in handy.
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so he shouldn't be strong.
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: Which, speaking of Kalander moving around, Daniel Norellis still can't move.
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: He did go 11 for 11. Yeah, he did. Against
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: Portland State.
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and man, his Oregon fans just type that up
• 23:32
  Speaker 3: like no other. But anyway.
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: Okay. Close the book on Michigan State. Did want to
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: shout out volleyball. Sweeps Missouri in the rescheduled game. And
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: then the other big news, Dak. We didn't even text
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: about it in our group chat. Nebraska basketball news.
• 23:51
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: Highest ranked basketball commit in program history, Dawson Batty. Class
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: of 2027. Power forward? Small forward?
• 24:00
  Speaker 3: I think it's small forward. Okay. Okay.
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: Commits, what was that, a couple days ago, Brad Hoiberg?
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, two days ago, I think, yeah. Now, who knows
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: if he actually plays here, but that's a huge commitment.
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: Players are starting to buy into his program, is the
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: feeling I'm getting.
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: I think I agree. Now, last time we got a
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: five-star crew, it didn't quite work out the way we
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: hoped it to.
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't.
• 24:33
  Speaker 3: I think Hoiberg is... I.
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: Think he's figured it out. He's recruiting for his system
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: entirely now, not... I don't know. We'll get to some
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: basketball stuff here soon as we approach October. NBA's kicking
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: off in, I don't know, four weeks. You're going to
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: listen to Celtics fans think that they're the biggest underdogs
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: in the face of the earth under the Paul George trade.
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: even though they'll probably win 57 games just like we
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: did last year.
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: I'm not going to say anything on them yet because
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 25:11
  Speaker 3: I don't know how good they're going to be.
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: I'm not going to act like I think they're going
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: to be that great, but we'll see.
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: They'll be competitive in the East, but the East is
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: good this year. That's all I got from Michigan State.
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: Look out for our tailgate pod tomorrow. I guess I
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: don't know if I just played the other tailgate pod.
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: Do we need to give our predictions?
• 25:32
  Speaker 3: I'm sure.
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we'll just do them here. I think we'll do
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: two again, Bob, but I'll do it here. I think
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: it's going to be 27-13 Nebraska. I think the first
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: half will be close just because Michigan's going to try
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: to control the ball and keep that clock rolling. And
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: then I think we pull away in the end of
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: third quarter, start of fourth quarter.
• 25:54
  Speaker 3: We pull away.
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: I was actually thinking something similar. I was going to
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: go 23, 17, Nebraska, um, taking the under, but also
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: taking the over on the spread. Uh, I agree with you.
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: I think it's going to be pretty close. First half
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: low scoring. I didn't have a look to see what
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: the weather is supposed to be, but I think it's
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: supposed to be pretty nice. Um, And then second half,
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: we're going to get a little bit of a lead,
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: and it's only a six-point game, but I think second
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: half we're going to have a 13-point lead for most
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: of it, and maybe they'll score a touchdown in the
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: fourth and get a little bit tight, but I think
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: we'll pull it out.
• 26:39
  Speaker 3: Okay, weather report to end it here.
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: 71 degrees there, sunny, five-mile-an-hour wind, which has, as I
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: said in the podcast, or started the podcast, I feel
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: like it's never nice there.
• 26:49
  Speaker 3: That's beautiful.
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: Sounds gorgeous.
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's an upset right there. It's going to be nice.
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's all we got for Dak and I.
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: Look out tomorrow. Hunter is potentially going to be doing
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: a podcast with a couple of special guests that he's
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: on the road with. And then Saturday, I don't think
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: you can expect tailgate pod because Hunter, who's our tech
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: guy who puts these together, will be at the game.
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: So looking good against Michigan State and go Big Red.
• 27:19
  Speaker 3: Go Big Red.
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: Thank you.