TwoBlueandOSU

 Now that the Harbaugh drama is officially over, it's time to start taking a look at the 2022 season, and that means recruiting as well. Michigan currently has four verbal commitments highlighted by four star and top 100 prospect linebacker Raylen Wison out of Tallahassee, Florida. Michigan's prospect list looks like a list you'd expect from a team just coming off of a playoff birth with seven five star recruits high on the Wolverines. We'll look at some targets that I feel would be the biggest gets for Michigan. Verbal Commits #73 4 Star - LB Raylen Wilson, Tallahassee, Florida #332 4 Star - TE Andrew Rappleyea, Milton, Massachusetts #341 3 Star - WR Semaj Morgan, Blooomfield, Michigan #595 3 Star - K Adam Samaha, Ann Arbor, Michigan (#1 kicker in the country) Key Targets #4 5 Star - CB Cormani McClain, Lakeland, Florida. The Florida native is getting crystal balls to Florida and FSU early in the year, however Michigan did great work not only recruiting Florida with th...

 I am glad I had a lot of writing to catch up on today so I didn't write this in the morning. As I begin, Harbaugh has informed the Michigan athletic department that he plans to return to Ann Arbor for the 2022 season after interviewing with the Minnesota Vikings. It's good news if continuity is important to you, and for the human pinatas that pollute the Michigan fanbase. One staffer was reported to be "elated" with the news, how much should we rejoice though? The Harbaugh rumors to the NFL began almost immediately after the Orange Bowl, for 30 plus days the Michigan football program was held hostage by media reports and a mum Harbaugh as he flirted with NFL teams. Recruits, players, coaches....us lowly fans, all had no idea what was going on and even one prominent Michigan writer had the odds at 80-20 of him going to the Vikings this morning. It's safe to say that Harbaugh was very interested in returning to the NFL, and honestly who could blame him? To get so c...

Success doesn't come without it's downfalls in the college football world. After Michigan's most successful season in the last 17 years the departures started with interior defensive lineman coach Shaun Nua heading out west to USC. That loss wasn't the biggest deal, however the loss of the young and promising defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald hurts quite a bit.  Jim Harbaugh went to his brother John and the Baltimore staff to replace Don Brown, the 34 year old Macdonald had been coaching linebackers for the Ravens before coming to be a coordinator for the first time in his career. And after one season, big brother John came back to take his coach back.  Macdonald came up in the NFL world, and it's no surprise that the 12 month recruiting cycle of the college football coaching world didn't appeal to him and his family. But his success was quick and his departure, even quicker. Michigan took major leaps in a lot of areas under Macdonald. When Don Brown was the ...

 As with every year, the offseason begins with the not so fun news. Players leaving, whether it's heading to the NFL or taking advantage of the new transfer portal, it's always tough to say good bye to members who contributed to the success of the program. This year is no different, and it hits a bit harder, as many of the biggest playmakers, especially on defense, are moving on to new opportunities. Below is a list of players from the 2021 team who have declared for the NFL, or have left via the transfer portal and where they ended up.  NFL Draft DE Aidan Hutchinson - projected top 2 pick DE David Ojabo - projected top 15 pick S Dax Hill - projected 2nd round pick DT Christopher Hinton - projected 5th round pick RB Hassan Haskins - projected 5th round pick OT Andrew Stueber - projected 6th round pick S Brad Hawkins - projected 6th round pick LB Josh Ross - projected 7th round pick CB Vincent Gray - projected UDFA WR Daylen Baldwin - projected UDFA Transfer Portal S Sammy Faus...

 Michigan wrapped up the 2022 recruiting cycle in style. Currently ranked as the #8 class in the country that features in state, five star and the 14th ranked player in the country, cornerback Will Johnson. The Wolverines filled a lot of needs, especially in the secondary, the Wolverine's secondary class is the second best in the country trailing only the Georgia Bulldogs.  The Wolverines also replace some needs along the defensive line. Four star, #48 player in the country Derrick Moore out of St. Frances Academy in Baltimore is a physical freak at 6-4 250. He also MVP at the Under Armour All American game. He could potentially fill a whole on the edge in year one with the departures of Heisman finalist Aidan Hutchinson and All-American David Ojabo both heading to the NFL.  This class has a few players who could be instant impact guys, as well as future diamonds in the rough. A few notable three star prospects who stand out are defensive tackle Kenneth Grant out of Merri...

 I stated on our podcast that I thought Michigan would win this game, it was not based on any statistic or match up. If anything, match up wise an objective person would call it in favor of Georgia easily. But I had hope and confidence. And why wouldn't I? We had just beaten the terrors of the Big Ten Ohio State 42-27, then followed it up with a 42-3 beat down of Iowa in the Big Ten title game. Georgia meanwhile was coming off of an embarrassing loss to their own version of Ohio State, Alabama in the SEC title game. And while Georgia had been dominate, especially on the defensive side of the ball, their schedule was far from the toughest in the country. Yeah, none of that mattered as Georgia put an absolute whopping on Michigan. This was more than a 34-11 beat down in the college football semi-finals. It was a display of the moment being too big for one program, and another program being pissed off and on a mission. Michigan made all of the mistakes that they avoided in the regular...

Michigan, after 17 years, reached the mountain top of the Big Ten, and did it in dominant fashion beating Iowa 42-3. All week, the talk was all about this being a let down game for Michigan. Beating Ohio State for the first time in a decade and all of the emotions that went into that game, the national media was asking if Michigan could come back down to earth and focus on beating Iowa in the Big Ten Title game - they got their answer. Michigan put on a dominant performance on the scoreboard, winning the game 42-3. The best part, it wasn't even a complete performance. They made multiple, uncharacteristic mistakes, had dumb penalties, two turnovers, allowed the Iowa offense to move the ball well early on. At the end of the day though they found ways to stop Iowa and win big. It was such an odd performance that Aidan Hutchinson received MVP honors with a stat line of 4 tackles and 1 sack. Running back Hassan Haskins only averaged 3.3 yards per carry against the tough and disciplined ...

      I sat on my parent's couch on Thanksgiving weekend as the final moments ticked away, fans storming the field of the Big House. I didn't know whether to smile, cry, cheer, run around high fiving everyone around me - so I did all of the above. Buckeye fans might laugh at this, their level of success has made them forget how much this game means to each fanbase. Our level of futility over the last 20 years had made me forget how joyous it is to win The Game. Growing up I would never thought that I would have had to live through two separate long term losing streaks vs the Buckeyes, I never would have thought we would have gone 17 years in between Big Ten title's either. All of the downfalls, the 2008 type years, the "oh so close" games and the blowouts all disappeared in that moment and I was 100% unapologetically happy.     Michigan came into the game as underdogs, OSU had the #1 scoring offense and passing offense in the country. Michigan, even with all of ...

 Getting to this a little bit later in the week than I would like, I have been busy revelling in Michigan's absolute undressing of Ohio State. A lot of trash talk to be had, an every morning greeting to Morgan reminding him of his dumpster fire of a team's failures. But alas, I must continue my run of 17-4 on my picks so far (we got a late start but my genius is obviously on full display). It's Conference Championship weekend, playoff positions are on the line, legacies to be cemented and a chance to finally take home the Big Ten title again for the Michigan Wolverines.  Kicking off tonight: Conference USA Championship Western Kentucky vs UTSA - Now I have a lot of love for the WKU Hilltoppers (8-4, 7-1) having attended WKU in 2006 and 2007 before joining the military. UTSA (11-1, 7-1) was having a Cinderella like season before it all came crashing down last weekend when they lost for the first time this season, 42-23 vs North Texas. This game features a rematch from Octobe...

The college football regular season is winding down, with eyes starting to shift to conference championship games and projected bowl berths we have one final weekend of Big Ten action - and it's for all the marbles.  Iowa @ Nebraska - The Friday night game of the week is the battle for who has the better corn field. Nebraska has been the best worst team all season long. The Cornhuskers are 3-8 (1-7) and have lost 5 straight. Unsurprisingly is they've lost seven of those eight games by one possession scores, their average margin of defeat is 6 points per game. A touchdown a game is the difference between them leading the Big Ten West and their current position of next to last. They have a magical habit of finding new ways to lose games, and I would expect nothing less this week as the 16th ranked Iowa Hawkeyes (9-2, 6-2) come to town still competing for the Big Ten West crown. Iowa has to win this game and hope for a Wisconsin loss to stamp their ticket to Indianapolis for the...

 I came into this college football season with very low expectations (as did the nation considering they were pre-season unranked) for the Michigan Wolverines. Coming off of a 2-4 shortened COVID season and having a very young team I predicted a 6-6 or 7-5 at best season. And here we are, the last week of the regular season and Michigan is 10-1 - hosting the 10-1 Buckeyes for the Big Ten East crown, a shot at a Big Ten championship and a potential spot in the playoffs. This team is not the most talented during the Harbaugh era, they're not the biggest nor the fastest. They have a quarterback who physically there's nothing too impressive with him. A secondary that was torched last year repeatedly and wide receivers who anyone outside of Ann Arbor couldn't name. Yet they're 10-1, they hold their fate in their hand. This team just keeps finding ways to win, and more importantly, they have fun doing it.  It's been a while since I have been this excited for "The Gam...

It's almost time for another week of Big Ten football, and we have some potential good ones on the docket this time around. Both Ryan and Morgan bounced back with 5-2 records last week, I am still leading the charge though. Back to back 6-1 weeks has me sitting pretty at 12-2, and we're going into the championship rounds.  (6) Michigan @ Penn State - Kicking off with one of the big games of the week, Michigan (8-1) travels to Happy Valley to take on the Nittany Lions (6-3). This is a huge game for Jim Harbaugh and the Michigan Wolverines, after last week's loss for Michigan State at Purdue, Michigan is now right back in the running for the Big Ten East crown. A loss here could all but end those hopes, at the very least it would take their fate out of their hands.  This game is going to come down to a few key factors, 3rd down efficiency, red zone efficiency and Jahan Dotson. Michigan's defense is stellar in a lot of areas, they put pressure on the quarterback as well as...

 The first 2021 College Football Rankings came out last night, and while they are sure to change in the coming weeks (a lot of football still to be played) the committee continued showing their SEC bias and made one thing very clear; your losses may hurt you, but Alabama's don't count.  I wrote a paper in my creative writing class my freshman year of college titled the B.S. in the B.C.S. highlighting all of the issues with having a computer decide who were the two best teams in college football. I didn't feel like it was a great way for one of the biggest sports leagues in the country to decide a champion. Sixteen years later and I find myself having similar thoughts, only this time it's with the limited four team playoff that the NCAA decided on in 2014, where the decisions are up to a committee. The recent rankings highlight many of the issues I have. The rankings were as followed: Selected 1. Georgia (8-0) 2. Alabama (7-1) 3. Michigan State (8-0) 4. Oregon (7-1) Out ...

I was sitting on the couch with my fiancé when Michigan was up 30-14, she looked at me and said "Hey they're doing great!" Without skipping a beat I just shook my head and responded "I've seen this game before." I'm not sure how I can further illustrate how frustrating it is to be a Michigan fan right now, we were winning the game 30-14 and as I sat there I knew - to my very core that we were going to lose that game. The way it had unfolded, settling for field goals, defensive mistakes, big drops in the passing game, overthrows in the end-zone, this was such a Harbaugh coached big game.  When I was doing my preview for the Big Ten week 9 games I posted that I was planning on doing an in depth preview of the Michigan vs Michigan State game, I decided against that because what I wrote on the preview was perfect. It wasn't going to be about the Jimmy's and the Joe's, it was going to come down to the X's and the O's.  The Jimmy'...