The BIG HOUSE Blog

Big Ten Preview Week 5

2026-10-01T09:31:19.160-04:00

There are a couple interesting conference games this weekend. Including Ohio State traveling to Iowa. Don't sleep on Friday's night game with Penn State at Northwestern. Only 7 Big Ten games this weekend.

Friday:

Penn State (-3) @ Northwestern: I haven't watched either team this year and PSU got upset by Wisconsin last week. I like Northwestern in this game but Penn State is probably the better team. Northwestern 27 PSU 20

Saturday:

Ohio State (-14.5) @ Iowa: It's hard playing at Iowa and the Hawkeyes will keep this one close for maybe a half. Then OSU will find out they can pass on this defense and score a ton of points, if they just score points in the red zone. No upset this weekend for Iowa. OSU 28 Iowa 13

Maryland @ Nebraska (-14.5): Nebraska continues to dominate the lower teams in the Big Ten, they could be schedule good this year. Nebraska 31 Maryland 9

Purdue @ Illinois (-10): Illinois looked decent at times against OSU last weekend, Purdue does not play defense. Illinois 38 Purdue 24

Washington @ USC (-9.5): Trojans has a tough weekend and so did the Huskies. USC should be able to rebound from the Oregon beat down. USC 41 Wash 31

IU (-23.5) @ Rutgers: This is a night game? Why? IU 44 Rutgers 21

Michigan and Minnesota injury report:

Marsh, Nichols, Sprague, and JHD on Questionable is not great, but last week most guys on "questionable" played. So we got that going for us. Yes, Michigan needs all 4 guys on Saturday.

Wolverine Wednesday: Does Coach Whitt Know?

2026-09-30T08:35:38.227-04:00

I've been critical of Coach Whitt and staff for not knowing Michigan traditions until after they happen, they should have a Michigan Historian on staff. Examples through 4 weeks that Coach Whitt was surprised about:

Michigan playing poorly in game 1
Michigan playing poorly in a night game
Maize Jerseys
That people are still talking about a play from Week 1
That the Wolverines play best a noon
Iowa has some weird magic
Every point against Iowa is ultra important
Every defense they will face will sell out to stop the run
Even when you win it feels like a loss as the Michigan Head Coach

There is another one coming up on Saturday and you better be prepared. Minnesota will play like they are in the CFP this weekend to win the Little Brown Jug. It's the most important trophy the

Golden Gophers can win. They will not win a Big Ten Championship or get to the CFP, this game and maybe a bowl game in Nashville are the most important prize for the Golden Gophers.

When you have young players and transfers they don't understand. When you mix in a new staff and they are naive to these things, do you know what happens? You actually lose football games you should win. Best example was the Iowa game last weekend. Long time, Michigan fans knew bad things were coming after that weird tip ball that landed in a Hawkeye's hand after coming from out of bounds.

If the Wolverines are not ready to play on Saturday, they are going to lose another game and the oldest trophy in college football.

Like I said on Monday, sometimes playing at home has too many distractions. Get on the road, start bonding as a team, play Michigan Football and start to dominate on both sides of the ball. Everyone has to be better this week, Coaches, Coordinators, Head Coach, Players, Defense, Offense, and Special Teams.

Michigan Tuesday: JJ to Giants

2026-09-29T10:00:52.697-04:00

Michigan fans love JJ no matter what. Even if he doesn't complete another pass in the NFL, he delivered a National Championship to Michigan in a year full of non-stop distractions. He will always go down as a legend in Ann Arbor.

We all know he got off to a bad start in Minnesota, injured during his first pre-season game and struggled in year 2 without any NFL experience and more injuries. This year, Minnesota wasn't all in on JJ and signed Kyler Murray and JJ dropped to #3 on the depth chart.

Michigan fans love JJ and so do the Harbaugh's and luckily they control 2 NFL franchises. John (maybe the better coach) traded for JJ to replace his young and hurt QB and to backup Jameis until that story gets too old and JJ learns the playbook. Great spot for him but NYC is never easy on a QB.

Lesson #44 on being the Michigan head coach. This quote from Coach Whitt yesterday: He feels they’re 0-4, but 3-1 and need to be better.

Coach Whitt didn't like the 4th down jump QB sneak by Bryce.

Coach Hill made the call on the defensive formation for the last play and thought it was the best formation for the moment. It wasn't.

I did like the hoodie coach was wearing during his press conference. Nike put it up for sale!

Coach also said John Henry Daley was walking around on Monday without a boot, so he hopes he is ready to go on Saturday for the Little Brown Jug.

The Big Ten will not allow any player that signed an NBA or NFL contract to comeback, the good news is Roddy Gayle did not sign an Exhibit 10 contract and should be ok for next season.

Michigan Monday: Concerns About Coaching and Too Early Look at The Golden Gophers

2026-09-28T09:23:34.114-04:00

Cignetti and Dusty May ruined coaching for every college football and basketball coach. They took two programs and won National Championships in year 2 by leveraging the Transfer Portal and finding the perfect fits. I know this statement is my favorite broken record but the Michigan job is not like any other job in College Football. There are very strict expectations and most coaches can't handle them. Moeller couldn't, Rich Rod couldn't, Brady Hoke couldn't, Sherrone couldn't, and it even took Harbaugh years to figure it out.

So it's not fair what I'm going to say right now because "the cake isn't baked yet this year" and Coach Whitt and staff are still figuring things out in Ann Arbor but, Coach Whitt and staff are not meeting expectations currently. There are two things I expected out of Michigan this year at a minimum, clean and discipline football and we've seen very little of either through 4 games.

You can not coach Michigan like Utah or BYU or any other school out there, because Ann Arbor is different. Before you take the job in Ann Arbor, every head coach needs to understand that.

Case in point, I love being aggressive against certain teams. Go for 4th downs and throw to the end zone, but not against Iowa. Why? Because when you play Iowa every point is like 7 points. If Michigan had a different strategy on Saturday, they would've been up 9 or more points the entire game. On my group chat at half-time, I said Michigan is playing its best game of the year but they are playing right into Iowa's hands.

The penalties and dumb plays are on the coaches. I thought Coach Combs was probably doing the best job on the staff until Saturday's kick off return. That last drive the Michigan defense was gassed and out of position for the final play. How a WR has a 1 on 1 coverage with two seconds left and zero threat of a running game is beyond me. The Sunday night NFL game last night had the exact same scenario and Denver had a large amount of the defense standing on the goal line and picked off Stafford to end the game.

I would love to point tp the Oklahoma game as a success but Georgia just rolled them like they were not even on the field and Boise shut out Western in Kalamazoo. Michigan has yet to beat a good team and this year might continue to be a struggle if they can't turn things around and play smarter football. They have the talent but do they have the mindset plus the skill and will to play better football?

Going on the road, might be what this team needs. Get away from Ann Arbor, get away from school, and get away from distractions. Michigan has a trophy game on Saturday and its Minnesota's Super Bowl. The Wolverines need to be prepared for a Golden Gopher team that just upset UW late night on Saturday in Seattle, which is no easy task. Someone better prepare Coach Whitt and staff what to expect on Saturday.

Minnesota 3-1

Best Win: UW last week

Loss: Miss St

Pass: 258.8 per (65th)

Run: 119 (116th)

Score: 35 (46th)

Give up: 19 (40th)

Minnesota likes to the row the boat and run the football but this year they seem to favor the pass with QB Drake Lindsey. Should be an interesting one and and a noon kick. Michigan is currently -8.5 favorite.

Michigan Pro's had a good Sunday: Mason Graham had 2 sacks, Roman Wilson caught a long TD pass from Rogers, and Wallace has a pick for the Rams.

Stupid Football Never Wins

2026-09-26T19:23:00.838-04:00

Michigan might have played its best game on Saturday and lost. The reason they lost, they play stupid football. Let me count the ways

Zeke Berry doing that is just incredibly stupid
Michigan turned the ball over in red zone 2 times. Michigan should of had a comfortable 9 point lead the entire game.
A huge mistake on the kick off return
Why wasn't the entire defense in the end zone on that play?
Michigan dominated the entire game and at the same time was playing Iowa's game
I think the Bryce INT was on Marsh
I think that hands to the face by Trey Pierce was the wrong call (so I don't consider that a stupid play)

My only concern about hiring Coach Whitt was just this. His Utah teams were good but never great and he always lost big games. There are very few head coaches that can take a team to great. I sure hope Coach Whitt has one career run left in him. Because this was a comedy of errors today and probably Bryce's best game as a Michigan QB.

I truly can't process that last sentence.

If you are a Michigan fan, you knew the Wolverines were in trouble when the out of bounds tip play happened. You knew this was going to be some type of Iowa strange win and it was.

Somedays you get beat by a better team and some days you beat yourself. Michigan clearly beat itself today. Many we say this win by Iowa is Karma and maybe it was. I just know this team continues to do stupid things at the worst moments.

BTW: Oklahoma and WMU got blown out today.

Iowa Preview

2026-09-25T10:59:02.728-04:00

Time: 3:30
Location: Big House
Weather: 71 No Rain
TV: CBS

Line: Michigan -5.5

Historically, Iowa has had a great defense and poor offense. The offense is better and the defense is still really good. Michigan has a really good defense this season and the offense has struggled at times. Both teams are 3-0 with close wins over instate teams. Everyone thinks this will be a low scoring game where a turnover might be the difference.

Dear Coach Whitt:

I know you understand what "Clean" football is. It's when your team doesn't receive penalties or turns the the ball over. Michigan is struggling with both offense and penalties on defense. You can not make those mistakes against Iowa because they will capitalize on everyone of those. In fact, their game plan includes them.

If you're looking for a comp, your Utah teams were sort of the Iowa of the West. By now you know what it means to be the Michigan head coach and winning in the Big House is paramount to having a good season. So this is a big game for two reasons, it's your first conference game and its Iowa in the Big House.

Now to the team, we can't have another first half like the team put on the field against UTEP. That is unacceptable and you know iit. The defense needs to play with aggression and the offense can't run into a loaded box over and over. Every defense is going to make Bryce beat them through the air, I would've assumed you and your staff understood that before the season started. If not, you do know now.

Get Savion involved in the passing game and continue to leverage JJ and Marsh. I do believe we have TE's that are great for getting first downs. I love running the ball but you can't do that when the box has every defender in it. On the goal line, UTEP didn't even cover JJ on one play last week.

We need more creativity on offense and that doesn't mean running Bryce non-stop. Yes, he needs to get his running plays in, but his ball security concerns me.

This game should be sponsored by Tide Pods, because the team that plays the "cleanest" will win. Michigan has to limit the mistakes because Iowa wants to "hang around" and win late on a field goal. I hope Michigan's injuries have healed this week and we get Berry, Sprague, and Marshall off the list.

It's hard to win on the road in the Big Ten and Michigan needs to protect the Big House. Play clean and play with aggression!

Michigan 24 Iowa 14

Michigan - Iowa Availability Report

2026-09-24T10:35:58.257-04:00

Sprague and Berry Questionable is interesting. Dom being on the list is not great.

Micah Ka'apana has been injured his entire Michigan career it seems

Big Ten Week 4 Preview

2026-09-24T09:43:23.355-04:00

We finally made it through the non-conference matchups and it's time to play Big Ten Football! Only 2 non-conference games this week.

Friday Night:

Howard @ Rutgers (-41.5): Rutgers loves them some Friday night football! There are already rumors about Brian Kelly being the next head coach as the Scarlet Knights are looking for their 1st win of the year. Rutgers 31 Howard 10

Northwestern @ IU (-21): Ok, on paper this looks like a blowout. Don't sleep on the Wildcats who just blew out Coach Prime's Colorado team. IU 28 NW 14

Saturday:

Illinois @ OSU (-26.5): What has happened to Illinois? I expected them to be solid this year and they lost to Duke at home. To be fair, Duke was the ACC Champs last season. OSU 40 Illinois 20

UCLA (1.5) @ Maryland: I'm not sure of either team. I thought Maryland would beat VT last week and they didn't. UCLA has a new coach and seems to be playing better football this season. I still don't like how the California teams travel East, Maryland 24 UCLA 21.

ND (-27.5) @ Purdue: This should be a walk over for ND as long as they show up. ND 38 Purdue 10

Wisconsin @ Penn State (-10): This should be a huge Big Ten matchup but the game ends up at 5:00 on Peacock. Penn State 21 Wisconsin 10

Nebraska (-5.5) @ MSU: Sparty is not getting any respect after playing ND tough last week. Nebraska could be fools gold right now. I like MSU in this one. MSU 17 Nebraska 14

Oregon (-3) @ USC: So let me understand this, USC is ranked #12 and Oregon is #20. USC is playing at home but still a home dog? It's because USC defense is questionable at best. Lots of points here. Oregon 40 USC 38

Minnesota @ Washington (-10): These 11:00 EST kick off times are a killer for teams traveling West. I like Washington here. Washington 34 Minn 17

Wolverine Wednesday: Points at a Premium

2026-09-23T10:18:04.214-04:00

The over/under for Iowa at Michigan at 38.5 continues to remain low and I joked on Monday, the first one to 10 wins! Leading the Hawkeyes now is QB ~~Mark Gronowski from Naperville who was a transfer from South Dakota State,~~ Hank Brown, transfer from Auburn. We all know too well about Michigan's struggles on that side of the ball. Michigan has faced a very difficult 4th ranked Oklahoma defense and Iowa has faced Iowa State's who has the 13th ranked defense (points against for both stats).

When defense is king points become a premium and that means field goals will play a huge role in Saturday's game, which will probably take 2.5 hours to play. Which means we will be commericaled to death by CBS as they try to pay for the Romo contract buyout.

The Harbaugh brothers are a combined 1-3 in the NFL right now.

Tony Diaz Iowa's best WR #14, loves man to man coverage and calls it "shopping at a candy store"

Tony again on Michigan's man to man: "We've just got to make plays. We're going to get what we want — we're going to get man on man. It's just, who's better at the end of the day?"

Michigan Tuesday: The Andrew Sprague Mystery

2026-09-22T12:42:58.575-04:00

Andrew Sprague name sound like a NYC Detective that fumbles through his cases but always arrests the killer and has a 100% close rate on all his cases.

In actuality, Andrew is an NFL Offensive Tackle prospect on Michigan's O-Line. He was a late scratch on Saturday morning for the UTEP game after practicing all week and going through walk throughs on Friday.

Coach Whitt did not seem pleased after receiving the news for Jim Harding the offensive line coach. I had assumed he was just out sick, but it now seems more serious then that.

Coach Whitt on his radio show:

“What happened between half hour ago and now," Whittingham said his response to Harding was. "It was just a weird thing, but hopefully we get Andrew back. That's the major concern right now. The primary concern is his health and making sure we can get him back to where he needs to be.”

Then at Monday's presser:

“Andrew Sprague, gosh, that's a tough question. I think it could be anywhere from this week to several weeks," Whittingham said. "And so we just don't know and we're trying to sort through that, not we but the medical staff and making sure that we get the exact diagnosis and treat this thing the right way.

So for right now, it looks like Andrew is out against Iowa and there isn't a good timeline for his return to the lineup.

Michigan Monday: Too Early Look at Iowa

2026-09-21T07:27:09.897-04:00

I would like to say, this is the week things get real for our Michigan Wolverine Football team, but that happened almost immediately during the Western Michigan game. This week is the start of conference play and if Michigan is going to gain the respect of the league and CFP, it starts on Saturday.

Iowa: 3-0 #17

Best Win: Iowa State 16-13

Worst Loss: None

Pass: 209 yards (143rd)

Run: 268 yards (10th)

Score: 37 per (47th)

Give up: 4.3 (#1)

I haven't watched a lick of Iowa Football this season. It seems they have gotten their offensive problems fixed. I think the most interesting game to review would be the Iowa grudge match with Iowa State two weeks ago. I still find it funny that Iowa's program got in trouble by the NCAA for contacting Cade while he was on Michigan's roster. How did that work out?

There are always 3 things we know about Iowa Football. #1 They play good defense, #2 they like to run the ball, and #3 they use their Tight Ends. You could also throw in; they lately have had a good punt returner.

With Michigan's struggles on offense and aggressive defense, the first one to 10 points might win this game. The game opened with an O/U on 38.5 the lowest of any game this season. Iowa giving up 4.3 points per game is just crazy!

Michigan is now #18 in the AP

Hope to get an update on injuries at Coach Whitt's presser this morning

UTEP Post Game: Arnold Palmer

2026-09-19T20:31:15.413-04:00

Jacob Hamilton | MLive.com

I drink Arnold Palmer's, if your not familiar it's half ice tea and half lemonade. Other's call it half and half. At a restaurant one time, I ordered a half and half and they brought me half sweet tea and half regular ice tea, which doesn't make sense to me.

Today's game was 2 distinct different halves. The first half had 2 turnovers and 2 lapes by the defense that led to two separate occasions where UTEP was leading the Wolverines 7-0 and 14-7. Michigan's offense looked like a bad high school offense. You can't run right at a box full of defenders, doesn't matter the quality of the defense, they can tackle the RB when they have a numbers advantage.

Michigan limped to 3 point lead at half-time and felt lucky to be leading by that much. Then the 2nd half became the dominating defense, Marsh, and Underwood show. The defense decided to lead with aggression and limited the UTEP offense to negative yards for the 3rd quarter and Beck decided running into a loaded box was a fool's errand.

Michigan dominated from that point on and it was game over. I was worried about this staffs ability to adjust strategy at the half, but they did that and Coach Whitt got the team back to playing with energy and aggression.

Cheers:

Bryce was 19/25 for 223 Yards
Hiter had 2 TD's
Marsh 105 yards 10 catches and 1 TD
JJ 7 for 92 and 1 TD
Chase Taylor led the D with 5 tackles, 1/2 sack, and 1 TFL
Bowles continued his good play
Lea'ea with the Big Man Pick 6 (Thick 6!)
Trey Butkowski with a nice long FG
The 2nd Half

Jeers:

The 1st Half
2 bad turnovers fumbles by Bryce and Savion
Marshall being banged up
The offensive line is still not great
Some early penalties were very costly

Hello, Nice to Meet You!

Boney Toney! (Tariq Boney) 4 Tackles, 1 Sack, and 1.5 TFL
Cater Meadows
Travis Johnson
S. Moa with a TD catch
Tommy Carr with his first Michigan TD pass

First half was full of WMU flashbacks for the fans, the players, and the coaches. Good on the staff for re-focusing the team at the half. Michigan can't have a half like that with conference play starting and a ranked Iowa team coming to the Big House next week.

3-0 and we will take it.

UTEP Preview

2026-09-18T09:16:00.981-04:00

Paydirt Pete

Time: 3:30

Location: Big House

Weather: 61/71% 🌧

TV: BTN

Line: Michigan -34.5

Michigan is playing the University of Texas the week after they played Ohio State. Wait a second, its the University of Texas El Paso. My bad. Why doesn't Michigan other campuses have football teams? U of M Flint or U of M Dearborn? Flint is known for their basketball and Dearborn could be the football campus. I like this idea lets run with it!

UTEP as reported earlier this week likes 51 points. They got beat in week 1 by Oklahoma 51-0 and scored 51 in week 2. Will this trend continue in Week 3? The rain might be an interesting factor.

Dear Coach Whitt:

Not a big fan of swearing in these letters to you, but this is the best way for me to explain it. The shit got real for you at Michigan really quick. You win on conservaeral play in Game 1 and then play really well the next week and beat a ranked Oklahoma team. The Big Ten season starts next week and by nothing short of a miracle your team is 2-0. I asked you last week to win on defensive and that is exactly what you did.

Now to this week. Coach, we need some offense and we need it in a hurry. The run game is poor to average, the offensive line has not been great, and our passing game is iffy at best. Hat tip to Bryce, he was not well received after Week 1 but played much better Week 2. We need to continue to see that weekly progression.

The Big 10 Season is no joke, so we have to respect UTEP but get better and gain confidence this week. Here is a quick priority list of things we need to see on Saturday.

#1: Run the dang ball, Bert!

#2: The offensive line needs to be road graters and open up some holes

#3: Move the ball through the Air, hit WR's, throw to a TE, get Bryce some confidence.

#4: Score lots of points

#5: Play dominating defensive like you have

#6: No more penalties

I would like to see Marshall and Hiter both have 100 yards. I really like Hiter catching the ball out of the backfield and his total can be a combo between running and receiving yards. Get Marsh a TD, would like to see Bryce complete a long pass.

If the game starts to lean to a blow out, would love to see the young WR's in the game with Carr. Don't take your foot off the gas, get them into open spaces and let them run.

Now, let me be clear on something. I'm not suggesting Michigan look past UTEP or not respect them. We saw how that went for Oregon last week and your squad week 1. Respect the opponent and play clean Michigan Football.

Now that is out of the way, this week is about getting better, gaining confidence, and setting the table for a Big Ten Championship run.

Michigan 51 UTEP 9

Big Ten Weekend Preview: Week 3

2026-09-17T13:37:35.271-04:00

Not the best weekend for the Big Ten after tough weekend last week when the top 2 teams took loses on the road.

Friday:

Portland State @ Oregon (-57.5): Well, I guess this is the reward for playing Boise and OK State in the first two weeks.

Saturday:

Kent State @ OSU (-52.5): Well, I guess this is the reward for traveling to Texas and playing bad in the 4th.

Buffalo @ PSU (-41.5): Is this MAC vs. Big Ten Week? PSU 41 Buffalo 13

Akron @ Minn (-23.5): Golden Gophers looked pretty bad last week against the SEC. This week the Zips. Minn 28 Akron 10

EMU @ Wisconsin (-23.5): Don't sleep on the Eagles! Wisconsin 21 EMU 17

S.Illinois @ Illinois (-38.5): Illinois lost to Duke last weekend. Enough said. Illinois 24 SIU 7

USC (-21.5) @ Rutgers: What is this? A conference game? USC does not travel well to the East, but Rutgers doesn't play well anywhere. USC 38 Rutgers 21

N. Iowa @ Iowa (-40.5): Is Iowa good? Not sure this game will be a proof point. Iowa 44 NIU 9

North Dakota @ Nebraska (-24.5): Is this Dakota team good? Is this Nebraska team good? Does anyone want to watch this game? Nebraska 31 NDU 17

E Wash @ UW (-42.5) These are really some good games. UW 51 EWU 6

MSU @ ND (-29.5): Wow that is a high line. Is ND 30 points better then Sparty? I doubt it. ND 33 MSU 14

Colorado @ NW (-3.5): This is a sneaky good game. I like Coach Prime in this one. Colorado 24 NW 20

VT (-3) @ Maryland: Another good sneaky game. James Franklin back in the Big Ten! I have no idea on either team, I like Maryland at home. Maryland 17 VT 14

Purdue @ UCLA (-14): Talk about a body clock game for the Boilermakers, this game kicks at 11:00 EST that is 10:00 Boilermaker time. That means trouble. UCLA 31 Purdue 28

Good Big Ten games after dark!

Wolverine Wednesday: What Are We Doing?

2026-09-16T11:43:33.629-04:00

CBS and ESPN are struggling with being media companies and being profitable. So here is a question for you: Why are they paying these guys in the booth so much? Tony Romo which CBS clearly wants to cleary cut ties with gets paid $1M per game. Monday Night Football host Joe Buck just signed a $108M extension. For working one night a week for 17 - 18 weeks?

These companies really think people are tuning in for the folks in the booth and not the game? This entire industry needs a reboot.

University of Miami is moving from adidas to Nike next year.

Oklahoma needs to be very careful with New Mexico this weekend.

WMU has Boise State in two weeks. It would be great for Michigan if they are ranked

The Dabo vs. Capel Bill might have one of those old pro wrestling, "Loser leaves town games this weekend'

It makes me proud and pissed that Coach Minter and Coach Mac are seeing so much success in the NFL. Michigan's program would be in a different place if Jesse Minter was our head coach right now.

Michigan Tuesday: The Vanilla Gorilla

2026-09-15T10:51:44.205-04:00

Coach Whitt has some Harbaugh coaching similarities. Both are a bit of old school and both are little different. Evidently Coach Whitt has nicknamed John Henry Daley: The Vanilla Gorilla. I don't like it, I love it!

Readers be prepared, I will be running with this often! 😃

Speaking of the Vanilla Gorilla, he was named the Big 10 Defensive Player of the Week.

Iowa game with be a 3:30 Kick on CBS, this weeks game is also a 3:30 kick

Sounds like Babalola continues to have injury issues and won't be back for some time

Two Freshmen I expect to see more is TE Mason Bonner and DE Tariq Toney who was held twice on pass rush against Oklahoma. Mason made a nice catch but had a foot out of bounds.

Oregon 5-star WR commit Dakota Guerrant was in A2 for the Oklahoma game

Kerry Coombs has done a really nice job with the Special Teams units

Excited to see the Defensive line with Carter Meadows who will be back from injury this Saturday.

Michigan Monday: Too Early Look at UTEP

2026-09-14T09:12:45.684-04:00

The Michigan Wolverines are 2-0, when I turned off the TV and was in the shower two weeks ago, I wondered to myself if this season was a total wash already after 1 huge upset by Western Michigan. Now, Michigan is sitting at 2-0 and I'm not sure I even believe it.

Michigan lost a little shine off its win after Ohio State lost its big lead in Austin and The Ducks got embarrassed by OK State. But I will take a quiet upset win, where Michigan's defense was dominate outside a couple bad plays.

Now it's "a get better week" against UTEP who lost to Oklahoma by 51 points just over a week ago.

UTEP:

Best Win: Texas Southern 51-10

Worst Loss: Oklahoma 51-0

Pass: 162.6 yards Per (201st)

Run: 182 per (58th)

Score: 25.5 (91st)

Give up: 30.5 (118th)

This team has a weird 51 thing going on. They lost by 51 in week 1 and scored 51 in week 2. Maybe we can keep that trend going by the Wolverines scoring 51 on Saturday afternoon. Here is a deep thought, is North Dakota State the best team in the new Mountain West in their first year of FBS Football?

Michigan is in no place to overlook any opponent and there is plenty to work on this week in practice. The Wolverines need to find a functional offense and clean up some play on the defensive side of the ball.

Not to mention, a ranked Iowa team coming in 2 weeks, a ranked PSU rolling in 3 weeks, and the National Champs in just over a month. A trip for the "Little Brown Jug" is in there as well.

Michigan now #19 in both polls

Nice to see the National Champs back together on Saturday picking up their rings and enjoying an upset football win!

Quick question for the BHB Inmates: How does Cole Sullivan transfer to OK and not even start? He did make one nice play that I saw on TV. He would be the star of the Michigan Defense right now.

Post Game: Secondary Help

2026-09-12T16:19:43.760-04:00

The Oklahoman

In my preview to Coach Whitt, I told him Michigan had to win this game on defense and they sure as hell did. The secondary locked down the Oklahoma WR's and for the most part got Mateer on the ground when he scrambled. The pass rush showed up and Michigan ended the game with a big sack by Marshall.

In the 3rd quarter the secondary was doing its best to lose the game. A terrible personal foul call on Hill and letting the Big Oklahoma TE run wild in the secondary. Not to mention back to back terrible plays by Earls with a face mask and a blown assignment for a butt naked TD pass.

Bryce was effective but the offense was very basic all game.

There is plenty to clean up and that's why we do Cheers and Jeers:

Cheers:

Michigan Defense making winning plays and basically scoring the winning TD
John Henry Daley had his best game as a Wolverine with 3 TFL's
Marshall closed the game with a sack
NOB out there making plays
Another solid effort by Bowles
Secondary for locking down the WR's
Get the ball to JJ!
Hiter had a few nice catches
Marshall catching all the punts
Our punter is an All American
Butkowski had a nice field goal

Jeers:

The offense needs work
Bryce was the leading rusher
Oline played better but there just not enough holes
Michigan needs to find a way to pass the ball
11 Penalties for 90 yards is unacceptable
The mental mistakes are unacceptable

This was a great win as the Wolverines and Bryce were the joke of the week, now they just upset the #11 team in the nation. This is a huge win for Coach Whitt and this team. They need to focus on getting better next week and finding more options on offense. Bryce running the ball non-stop scares me with his fumbling issues and his health. Mateer was gassed at the end of the game.

Huge win and it feels great! Now go get better again!

Oklahoma Preview

2026-09-11T12:00:07.212-04:00

Time: Noon

Location: Big House

Weather: 77 feels like 87

TV: Fox

Line: Michigan +5.5

This is a tale of two programs through one game. Neither team let in a touchdown in Week 1. One team won 51-0 another one won a Hail Mary. One team is ranked 11th in the country the other was ranked 16th but no longer ranked. Oklahoma was posed to make a title run last year after their Michigan win, they got to the playoffs but their QB got hurt after the Michigan game and they weren't the same the rest of the year. Any chance that OK State shows up on Saturday?

Dear Coach Whitt,

I'm not sure I have words for what happened last Saturday night. I do have some advice for you as you got a Michigan Head Football coaching experience in one fire hose blast. First off, the all maize uniforms are weird and we don't like them. Secondary, Michigan does not play well in night games at the Big House. Third, Michigan has a tendency to be very sleepy in its first game of the year at home.

I'm sure you also learned that no matter the opponent you will get that team's best effort times 10. Something makes the other team play at another level when they see that Maize and Blue. This job is unique and nothing like Utah. You have your hands full this week to not be embarrassed on Saturday.

Lou Holtz used to say that there are no greater improvements then between Game 1 and Game 2. I sure hope that is the case for your team. Outside of punting and not allowing a TD, there wasn't much to love from last week. When everything is broken, where do you start to fix the problem was your greatest issue this week during practice.

It has to start at QB. I think Bryce has potential but he is snake bitten, falls back into old bad habits, and completely lacks confidence in his play. It's hard to bench someone that is making so much NIL but that might be the right approach, he has never been able to watch and learn in college and he currently isn't equipped with the proper experience to deal with fire hose of college football yet. I think Carr has better fundamentals but he is not ready for Oklahoma. That leaves BFN if he knows the offense.

These are very difficult decisions and reason your in this role. You inherited Bryce and maybe he can't be fixed in a way that will win you football games this year. If that is the case, we need to move on quickly. On the other hand, the kid has a ton of talent and if you can fix him, his upside is through the moon. Good luck with that decision.

This week can change your season. It's an opportunity to flush the Hail Mary that still seems be a topic on all the sports shows. Or it can be one of the most embarrassing loses of your career. The game will need to be won on defense for the Wolverines. No matter how much your OC learned or Bryce can execute, it won't be enough to beat The Sooners, without a dominating defense. In fact the defense probably has to score for Michigan to win.

Final advice, the turnovers and penalties are not acceptable. That is not Michigan Football and has to be fixed right away. Finding a way to score points against Oklahoma's defense will need another Big House Miracle and I think you've spent those dollars. My only hope is Michigan surprises us once a year in a game and I hope its this weekend. Again coach, I'm at a loss for words and please don't embarrass the program on Saturday.

Oklahoma 31 Michigan 10

Big Ten Preview Week 2

2026-09-10T11:50:51.841-04:00

Last weekend outside of the Boise State - Oregon game there wasn't much to look at in the Big Ten. Yes, there was a game in A2 that had a controversial finish. This weekend there are some bangers! Ohio State traveling to Texas is the big dog and Oklahoma in the Big House could be a good game if the Wolverines find an offense.

Friday:

Rutgers @ BC (-3.5) Both teams suffered bad loses last weekend and neither program is on the rise, with both coaches seat sort of hot. Not sure anyone wants to coach Rutgers. Rutgers 14 BC 17

Saturday:

Howard @ IU (-56.5): WTF? IU really needs to be embarrassed about this non-conference schedule.

Oregon (-23.5) @ OK ST: I don't blame the Ducks for this one, OK State was once a fine football program. Oregon 38 OKST 7

Penn State (-23.5) @ Temple: Interesting road game for the Nittany Lions. I expect Temple to stay in the game for about 2 quarters. PSU 28 Temple 14

Wake Forest (-3) @ Purdue: I think Purdue will surprise a few folks this season. Purdue 24 Wake 21

Utah State @ UW (-26.5): The Apple Cup was close for awhile but I think Utah State will not compete in Seattle. UW 28 Utah State 9

Miss St @ Minn (-1.5): This is an interesting game and not a normal visitor for the Golden Gophers. I like the SEC in this one MSU 27 Minn 21

Duke @ Illinois (-6): Duke were the ACC Champs last season and now all their good players play for Miami. Illinois 19 Duke 13

EMU @ MSU (17.5): I think the Hurons/Eagles keep this game a bit closer than we think. EMU 17 MSU 27

Maryland (-12.5) @ UConn: This is what I'm taking about an old Big East match-up. Let's bring back Big East Football! (Maryland was never in the Big East but could be now with a few phone calls!) Maryland 28 UConn 10

Bowling Green @ Nebraska (-29.5): Bowling Green, Nebraska sounds like a nice city to live in. Bowling Green, Florida has one of best Golf Resorts in the country. Nebraska 44 BGSU 13

SDSU @ UCLA (-12.5): I wonder what Brady Hoke is doing these days? UCLA 17 SDSU 14

Western Illinois @ Wisconsin (-38.5): Ok. Wisc 52 WIU 3

OSU @ Texas (-1.5): Game of the Week. I like Texas in this one in a very close game. It will probably be 110 degrees at night. Texas 28 OSU 24

ISU @ Iowa (-14): Iowa seems to have an offense now but these games are always close. Iowa 21 ISU 17

Louisiana @ USC (-30.5) This game kicks off at 11:00 PM EST. USC 45 Louis 6

Wolverine Wednesday: We're Not Going to Apologize for Winning

2026-09-09T10:35:54.135-04:00

It's funny how we are influenced by social media. The MAC conference asked the Big Ten for an explination for the 1 second, they got it and agreed with the decision. Then social media blows up for WMU and Fox's rules guy Mike Pereira goes on a pod and says the Big Ten didn't follow protocol for the remaining 1 second and the MAC gets the idea to petition the NCAA on the outcome.

Tread lightly here MAC, I understand your frustrated and I understand you had a historic upset in your hands. The Big Ten spends millions of dollars with your conference and your teams. I would be careful poking the bear or the Wolverine in this case.

I still don't understand how putting 1 second on the clock makes one of the rarest occurrences in sports (winning on a Hail Mary) a real strong possibility, it's just a extra opportunity. Can we move on already?

I was watching the NFL Network and Rich Eisen of course had a few Michigan winning jokes. The best one was a clip from Mike Tomlin former Steelers coach saying, "Were not going to apologize for winning"

I've spent a lot of time pointing out the negatives from Saturday as there was a boat load of them. Let's start to focus on some of the good.

Bring me all your JJ's! He played great and if Bryce can figure it out, Marsh and JJ are going to be a great combo at WR.
I thought Troy Bowles played well and led the team with 12 tackles & 2 TFL's
John Henry Daley looked good but might of got gassed at the end
The Fall camp buzz on Dom Nichols was real with 1.5 sacks and 2.5 TFL's
Cam Brown averaged nearly 45 yards with 6 punts
I like Smith Snowden's game
Bracy likes contact! and had 6 solo tackles
The defense didn't give up a TD
I liked the first drive

The NFL is here and I believe it's the first Wednesday opener. It's a Super Bowl rematch, which I don't love to start the year but I do support the former Wolverines on both teams. Sorry Reacher, I got NFL Football tonight. 😀

Michigan Tuesday: A Bad Investment

2026-09-08T12:18:31.581-04:00

The biggest question going through Michigan fans and rich donors is; Have we made a bad investment in Bryce Underwood? The state of Michigan has had its unfair share of top tier QB's lately: Carr at ND, Chambliss at Ole Miss, and Moore at Oregon were all in the Wolverines backyard.

Carr was lightly recruited by the Wolverines, Moore didn't get the money he was looking for in Ann Arbor, and Chambliss wasn't even on their radar.

Michigan went all in on Bryce and now there are more questions than answers. As you might expect, I got a few texts about the game last weekend and Bryce. Here is my take on Bryce:

Bryce has been told since probably age 7 that he is the greatest gift to football ever. His rocket arm allowed him to dominate in high school and made him the #1 QB and recruit in the nation. There are many problems with the above. The first is, Bryce has not been "coached up" and never learned the proper QB mechanics. If you look at either Carr QB, you can tell they have been coached up and neither has the talent or body design Bryce has. In turn, this makes Bryce a walking contradiction, he has nothing but confidence in his ability because he has been told forever he is great and he also has zero confidence because he has only seen limited success at the college level and when the heat turns up he regresses to his old bad habits. Bryce is full of too much confidence and at the same time has no confidence.

The next question is: How long is Coach Whitt going to stay with Bryce? After this weekend, I don't believe its going to be long. He was using terms like, "he is the starter for now". I don't believe Saturday was 100% on Bryce and he did throw a ball 60 yards in the air to save the game but his window at Michigan is getting smaller and smaller. On Saturday, he looked like he was a player playing out of position. This weekend has a high probability of being pretty ugly and that will probably be Bryce's last stand. Even the donors that funded this experiment can't argue this was a bad investment.

---

I also want to take a minute on college football this weekend. Saturday's games were for the most part just awful, they were pre-season games. There needs to be at least one good game every TV window. Most of the day it was painful to watch college football. The games on Sunday and Monday turned out to be decent to pretty good. Even with the power outage at FSU last night. What a strange weekend for college football.

Tuesday Too Early:

#10 Oklahoma Sooners

Last game: Beat UTEP 51-0

Pass: 231 yards (104th)

Run: 170 (63rd)

Mich Line: OK -5.5

That line seems strangely low after the week 1 performances.

I heard not only did the team practice on Sunday (a usual day off), they practiced in pads.

The Aftermath

2026-09-06T08:23:28.706-04:00

This is how I watched the final play:

I watched Bryce throw it out of the endzone.

I shut off the TV

Immediately wrote the Disaster post

I hopped in a sad shower

My phone rings as I'm in the shower

My son said, that he can't believe Michigan won

I said, I saw the final play and the game was over, the WMU head coach was walking to shake hands.

He said, they put 1 second on the clock and Bryce hit JJ for a Hail Mary.

I turned my TV on and YouTube TV had saved exactly where I left off and saw the final play.

I know social media lost its mind that 1 second was put back on the clock. I 100% agree, WMU got robbed. The same way Michigan has gotten robbed many times over. There was an extra play against MSU where the clock operator stopped the clock with one second to give Sparty a free play, which they won on. They even nicknamed the fella, like one second Bob or something. Dumb shit happens in football and this time Michigan benefited from it.

Let's also be real about something. Those officials and the video review booth were terrible all game. There were at least 2 bad spots that were reviewed and up held. One I'm pretty sure was a tackle for a loss that they gave a first down to the Broncos.

The other point I've been seeing online is that, the fix was in by the Big Ten to protect next week's game between Michigan and OK. Michigan had trouble all game completing a pass more than 5 yards, they had less than 1% chance of hitting that Hail Mary from 60 yards out. It's not like they were in the red zone or goal line. That gift was buying your broke friend a lottery ticket and saying I hope this hits and you can pay off all your loans.

Update: The Big Ten released the audio and video from the review and it seems like a legit call with the clock synced with #18 from WMU touching the ball. The MAC appreciated the transparency and agrees with the finding.

I don't love rushing the field, but those fans were there all night, with nothing to cheer about. They had 4 hours of cheering to get out of their system. Those plays always happen against Michigan, not for Michigan. So I get it.

This sucks for the Broncos, I know the feeling all too well, but Michigan is nowhere near a good team right now. They can't run, they can't block, they can't stop the run, they have a ton of problems with a top 10 team coming in next Saturday.

Cheers:

JJ told Sam Webb that 50/50 balls are 90/10 when thrown to him. He is right.
Our punter was really good
First drive and last play was good

Jerers:

New Michigan staff got a hard lesson that this place is different.
Team was not prepared at all
The play calling (outside of the first drive) was head scratching
I love that they want to run Bryce but he has a fumbling problem
Marsh has shown not to be the best Special Teams player in the past
Coach Whitt be aggressive in the 2nd half when the team is moving the ball, go for a 4th down
Turnovers and penalties are not Michigan Football and needs to be cleaned up right away
Offensive line play was maybe the worst I've seen in 5 years
Beck, let's at least try to throw to a TE

Outside the final play and the first drive, Michigan had very little to like about the game last night. It was nice to see Michigan has a good punter.

The late Lou Holtz used to say, "the biggest improvement jump teams get all year is between Week 1 and Week 2 of the season". Let's hope that happens here. Lots of long nights for the Michigan staff this week. No Labor day BBQ for them.

A Complete Disaster

2026-09-05T22:50:32.016-04:00

I'm not sure I've seen anything like what I just witnessed. I've seen Michigan not show up against App. State and RR got beat by Akron but I'm not sure what just happened tonight.

Michigan got beat today by Western Michigan in every aspect of the game. Coaching, execution, running, passing, special teams. It was a complete disaster after the first drive.

One of the things I worried about with Coach Whitt is his teams did not win big games. Well, this team was not prepared at all. Maybe it was the not hitting in camp, maybe they don't understand how to be Michigan Football Coaches. For Fuck sakes, they lined up 12 guys on offense on one play.

The play calling was awful, the penalties were excessive, there was no execution at all.

They are scared to have Bryce throw the ball and Western sat on the run all night. Yes, they are a good experienced team but please, that was one of the ugliest games I've ever seen.

Michigan loses the game without giving up a TD. What the hell did I just watch?

The offensive line was terrible

The coaching was nowhere to be found

The defense after a good first half, got pounded by basic high school football plays

Got killed in the turnover margin 3-0

Marsh struggled in the punt return

Marshall had zero holes all night

Huge mistake by Coach Whitt not to go for the 4th down at the start of the 2nd half.

~~I'm not trying to be a prisoner of the moment but this team might not win a game all year. They might have to make a QB change right now.~~

I'm sick of night games, I'm sick of watching this program go backwards, I'm sick of coaches not understanding Michigan Football. This program is in a fucking tailspin and it makes me sick to my stomach.

A complete disaster and the only ones to blame is themselves.

Edit: I thought the game was over and I'm in complete shock they won. I might need to call a doctor. :)

Western Michigan Preview

2026-09-04T08:56:17.909-04:00

Time: 7:30 EST

Location: Big House

Weather: 70 No Rain

TV: NBC

Line: Michigan -27.5

Anytime you see a MAC team vs. a Big Ten team you think it should be an easy win for the Big Ten. Ask Rutgers how that went last night. Western Michigan was a good football team last season and won the MAC Championship. They play solid defense and run the ball. Yes, this is a new year, but that foundation is set and a physical team will show up in the Big House to face the Wolverines.

Michigan is also a brand new team, with a new staff and many new players. I'm thankful this game is a the Big House and not Germany. Warde got something right as he rides off into the sunset.

Dear Coach Whitt:

First off I would like to introduce myself. This is the Big House Blog. Myself and thousands of BHB inmates love this program. We care about this program and we wear our Maize an Blue with pride and respect. We want to be proud of this program, on the field, in the classroom, and off the field. We expect excellence in all areas as the University of Michigan are clearly the Leaders and Best. At the core we are fans and football Saturday's are more important to us then you will ever know. Please bring these young men's best to the stadium every week and will will bring the respect and energy that effort deserves.

We also use this space to give you advice on the weekly opponent. This week of course is Western Michigan. This is your first game in the Big House as the Michigan Head Coach, same with your staff. It would be easy to sit back and take that all in. You will have roughly one minute to do that, after you run out of the tunnel prior to kickoff. Enjoy the moment of Zen and then lets snap back to business.

Night games are special at Michigan, for many years the team, the athletic department, fans, and the head coaches did not believe football should be played in the dark in Ann Arbor. It took ESPN to fund the first set of lights on the Big House. Michigan wanted to play at Noon or maybe 3:30 but never in Primetime. Of course, TV has changed that and its now become more commonplace.

Coach you have brought a calmness to Stadium and Main we haven't seen in many years. Our football team has been full of championships and scandals. Only one part of that sentence is Michigan Football. We believe in you and your talented staff. But let me be clear, playing tough football and falling short every year like you did at Utah, will not work here. We expect championships and good clean football every week. The bar here is very high and we expect your ready to exceed it.

Western Michigan is no cupcake. They won their conference last season and their Bowl Game. They like to play a Utah or Michigan type of football in being physical and running the ball right at you. They are coming to the Big House to not fool you but to play physical football. This should match Michigan's style and expectation. They are not driving East for a payday they are coming to Ann Arbor to win the game and embarrass you on your first game has head coach. Do not sleep on these guys.

For your team, all eyes will be on Bryce and hopefully a strong jump forward. He is a talented young man that was given the keys to this offense on his 18th birthday and wasn't coached at all. We expect a strong run game, great O-line play, and Bryce to hit his new WR's downfield. Bryce doesn't have to be Tom Brady back there, he just has to play smart and clean. As much of train wreck as last season was, they were one win away from making the playoffs.

On the defense side of the ball, I'm looking for an improved pass rush and a secondary that can cover. The LB's are the biggest question mark and everyone will be watching what we have at that position group. Nothing will protect them more then good D-line play and a great pass rush.

Special teams have been pretty bad in the games I've watched so far this season. Every fans' expectation is that Michigan's special teams will be locked in from the first kick.

Lastly, play clean, play aggressive, but most importantly play Michigan Football.

What I expect to see:

Michigan rushes for 250 yards (100 for Marshall, 80 for Hiter, 50 for Bryce, 20 for backups)
Bryce passes for 225 yards and 2 TD
Michigan defense dominates but gives up a late TD

Michigan 31 WMU 10