In the Trenches 616 - Penn State Recap Transcript
10/17/2026 10:18:00 PM | MGoBlue Podcasts
Jon Jansen • 00:00
Michigan has a gotta have it game and they get it twenty one to eighteen over Penn State. We've got a lot to get to and we'll get to all of it here about this Michigan win on in the Trenches.
[music builds]
Jeff Laurence • 00:10
Welcome to the official podcast of Michigan football in the Trenches with Jon Jansen. Presented by Meijer, presenting sponsor of the twenty twenty six Michigan football season and proud supporter of hundreds of local sports teams across the Midwest. Nobody covers Michigan football better than the two time captain, national champion and Michigan athletics of honor inductee.
Tommy Carr • 00:33
Grateful for the opportunity and we came out there and we established a run, you know, hit a few passes and just started playing great team football. Defense got three big turnovers that we scored off of. So that was huge and just a big win, a well needed win.
Jeff Laurence • 00:49
This is in the Trenches presented by Meijer. Once again, here's Jon Jansen.
Jon Jansen • 00:55
At this time I'm going to bring in my partner, Brian Boesch.
Brian Boesch • 00:57
John, obviously so much goes into the quarterback positions, the decisions around them, but it did. Based on how the Minnesota game of the first half of this game went, it felt time to give Tommy Carr a look and most certainly he and the offense took advantage.
Jon Jansen • 01:11
Well, yeah, and for, I mean it was frustrating for Bryce, I'm sure you know where, hey, he's got a throw to Andrew Marsh. It was a little under thrown but the ball hits off Andrew Marsh's legs and into the, the waiting arms of, of a receiver. Right. It's just the way the ball bounces sometimes. And then his second interception is a magnificent play by a, a Penn State defender as well. But you heard coach, it was a little bit of a spark in the second half. Couldn't be happier for Tommy and him coming in and finding some success. But it was really more about the success for this team, for the rushing attack, for the offense. The confidence that you could feel build in the second half whether it was, you know, hey, Bryson Kuzdzal with the forty two yard touchdown run, Savion Hiter, you know, backed up. All of a sudden he gets it out to midfield. The couple of interceptions that they had, you know, defensively it just was a second half that this team desperately needed to gain a little bit of confidence and have some fun playing the game of football again here in the big house.
Brian Boesch • 02:05
How'd the running game get going? Your thoughts on that? And an offensive line that was without Andrew Sprague again, no Brady Norton and Jake Guarnera, boy, he battled as a gametime decision.
Jon Jansen • 02:14
Well, he did. And I mean you and I both talked about this in the pregame. And I knew if there was any chance that Jake Guarnera was going to be able to go, he was going to give it a go and he fought through it all game long. I thought Avery Gach did a really nice job stepping in for his first start, but they were able to get up on that second level. They were starting to get some movement on those defensive linemen, getting hands on the second level. And then, you know, on that long Kuzdzal run, let's not forget that Channing Goodwin goes in motion and then he is downfield on the ten yard line making the ultimate, you know, touchdown block downfield. You've got to have moments like that, blocks like that, if you're going to have explosive plays instead of just, hey, all of a sudden you, you got the ball at the ten yard line. No, he's the one that makes it possible to get into the end zone.
Brian Boesch • 03:02
Of course Tommy Carr is going to draw a lot of the headlines. But you and Doug talked about it late in this game, the impact of Chris Bracy interceptions, the big pbu. He did a great deal for this Michigan defense.
Jon Jansen • 03:12
Well, and here's the thing about Chris Bracy is you can see that he puts in a ton of time watching film, studying what Penn State was going to do because there were a lot of times where, you know, he wasn't on run blitzes or run dogs. He was just at his safety position, twelve twelve yards deep. He reads the offense and makes a play at the line of scrimmage or forces the ball to go back inside, ultimately not get where it was intended to go. And then the rest of the Michigan defense is there to clean things up. It's the interception, it's the forced fumble. I mean, he was literally all over the field tonight defensively and obviously the
Brian Boesch • 03:48
defense as a whole. Another sterling effort. How'd they make things so tough for Rocco Becton for a running game for Penn State that barely got above two yards of carry?
Jon Jansen • 03:57
Well, I still think the secondary is doing a great job of not allowing explosive plays. And there's a couple of times in there where it was coverage sacks or they take away the first. Even. Even on that Chris Bracy sack fumble, it was taking away the first option that Rocco Beck wanted to go to. And then all of a sudden, hey, he is in desperation mode. Doesn't understand that Chris Bracy is coming from the backside. I mean, I think the defense is just playing really good team defense. And the defensive tackles, I think they're doing a Tremendous job of getting upfield, cutting a defense, cutting an offense in half, not, not allowing any of those cutback lanes. It's just you can look around the defense and on almost any given play you can go around and talk about a special performance by so many guys.
Brian Boesch • 04:43
And you want to talk about steady veterans. Troy Bowles again leads this team in tackles with ten a half sack. And Nathaniel Staling, not as flashy as his pick six couple of weeks ago in his home state, but nine tackles, four of those solo like bowls against this Penn State group that had a lot of tight ends, a lot of short passing. Impressive from those two.
Jon Jansen • 05:03
Well, yeah, defensively the linebackers have been really good and you know, the speed that Troy Bowles plays with, the diagnosing of plays and going able to make a play. But it's also Jay Hill where, hey, you know, Penn State goes down on that opening drive and they put three on. Great job by, by, you know, not allowing a touchdown and only allowing that three, but then adjusting and adjusting how the secondary is playing some of those receivers. I thought he did a really nice job of calling this game.
Brian Boesch • 05:31
Boy, we got a long way to go. But just to get off the schneide and bounce back and feel like there's real opportunities, not just for improvement but upside down makes this feel really sweet.
Jon Jansen • 05:42
So much of the game of football is about belief and confidence. And when you have that belief in the run game, you have that belief in protection, you have that belief in your defense, it allows you to play fast, it allows you to play with that confidence and, and you get results like you did today. Now, not everything was perfect. You got a good team coming in here next Saturday in Indiana and it's about time, you know, we got to start taking those next steps.
Brian Boesch • 06:07
Doug, it is much more nuanced than simply saying Tommy Carr comes in. Michigan's offense gets going. The running game had its three longest runs from running backs this season, but boy, there was some sort of spark there. And this was a completely different offense. First half, the second half.
Doug Karsch • 06:26
Yea, I mean, Jon Jansen talked about it and sometimes just making that change, everybody elevates their game for whatever reason. You got a freshman quarterback in there. Maybe your offensive line is paying a little bit, trying to take care of him a little bit more. Look, I do want to stop and take our hat off to Bryce Underwood. We saw clapping and cheering on his teammates in the second half. It's got to be a tough day for Bryce. But look, a change was necessary. And when you go Scoreless for seventy three minutes offensive football and thirteen consecutive drives. You have four interceptions in that time. You know, it was time to make a change. And then when Tommy Carr takes over, they score twenty one points in a game offensively. The only other time they've done that was against utep, so. And that all happened in the second half. So, I mean, you got to hand it to Kyle Whittingham for making that call and Bryce Underwood for handling it, apparently with the best interest of the team, from what we could see from his body language.
Doug Karsch • 07:22
But there's no question that Tommy Carr, the freshman from Saline, who. Quarterback coach Coy Detmer, calls him Tommy Pickles from the Rugrats. And everybody knows he's Lloyd's grandson and his dad, Jason, nicknamed Bertram, by the way, Jason Carr. Bertram got to watch his son lead Michigan to victory. And it's just gotta be a magical moment for a family that's been through a lot. And, you know, I've known Tommy since he was a little kid, so this is a little weird for me to see him out there running around, but at the end of the day, it was a much needed spark. And this Michigan offense, which only had eighty yards in half, number one. I don't know if you got the final numbers in front of you right
Brian Boesch • 08:01
there, but Michigan's overall offense, three hundred one yards for the game.
Doug Karsch • 08:05
Okay, so that's a decent enough second half.
Brian Boesch • 08:07
Yeah, and it got all the Phil and Lils for Michigan fans very excited. Did Tommy Pickles here in this one. And listen, the three scoring drives for Michigan were a forty three, seventy four and thirteen yards. This is all complimentary. Everything has to factor in. And the Michigan defense put out another sterling effort. And it's required for this team, the offense. Still, nothing is completely solved. Certainly a ton of improvement. They'll get a steep, steep test next week against Indiana. But when you do get that type of play from a defense that Michigan got two weeks ago against Minnesota, got against Iowa, other than really that final drive, you need to take advantage. And that's why those drives, their touchdown drives, I don't care how long or short they were, they found the end zone.
Doug Karsch • 08:51
First, the defense, Rod Moore, the senior with a huge play, the interception to give Michigan's offensive short field. Then Chris Bracy comes up with an interception. What did Michigan do? They scored off that drive as well. Then Chris Bracy forces a fumble. You know, funny story, Smith Snowden told in the spring that Bracy was wearing number twenty and he switched his number to seven in the Middle of the spring and that day he had two interceptions. So sometimes, you know, you never know what the key to a player's success is. So maybe it's lucky number seven. But huge day for Chris Bracy, who you know, we gave a co best in the game to for the way he played that forced fumble and Oeta recovered it. Michigan's defense forced three turnovers. Michigan's offense scored twenty one points. Two of the drives are pretty short, but the one was long.
Doug Karsch • 09:36
And so bottom line is it's a team effort. And you know, there's. I know John Jansen just watching Michigan be able to run out the clock at the end of the game after they recovered the onside kick is the kind of thing that it's a Michigan tradition to be able to run out the clock on an opponent. And they were able to do it today. They only needed one first down, but they got it.
Brian Boesch • 09:58
And the other thing, one of Chris Bracy's biggest plays was that PBU on the deep pass on the first play of what ended up being a touchdown drive. But if they connect on that, they might score and Michigan might need two or even three first down. So Bracy did it in pretty much any way.
Doug Karsch • 10:14
No, that's, that's a great point because so was open deep and, and Bracy
Brian Boesch • 10:19
surprising because I mean he just didn't do anything before that. Eleven for one hundred and fifty one. What a stud.
Doug Karsch • 10:24
He take your hat off.
Doug Karsch • 10:26
Eight to their tight ends. I thought back battle today and and so is, you know, I mean they came into this game shorthanded. They were missing their top playmaking wide receiver. What's the kid's name? Kobe? Howard.
Doug Karsch • 10:39
He's been out and you know, to get, to get that kind of performance out of Sowell they expect to get Howard back. This Penn State offense is going to be a problem for people if they can stay healthy. But this is a much needed win. Look, that was a long two weeks. You like the bye week because you get extra time to work. But if you lose going into the bye week, boy, does the talk come from every direction. And I think some criticism obviously warranted and then some stuff out of left field that doesn't seem to have anything to do with anything. And so you got to sit on it and wait. And when they started to run the ball more between the tackles, it looked like a Michigan rushing attack. And I know they like the rpos and zone reads, but straight old school Michigan rushing attack between the tackles was their most effective running the football Today and maybe all season.
Doug Karsch • 11:27
I mean, you said it. Their three longest runs from running backs came in this football game.
Brian Boesch • 11:32
Yeah, six yards of carry, also a season high. A win that was necessary. And now if you can find a way next week against Indiana, it really makes things intriguing.
Doug Karsch • 11:41
So Indiana's really good. I think people are aware of that
Brian Boesch • 11:43
now and they're going to have a week to scheme for Tommy Karn now. And that defense, listen, I know they lost to Ohio State, but I mean, Indiana's defense did a lot, so it's different.
Doug Karsch • 11:52
I remember hearing Dylan Raiola when he went in, came in in relief for Oregon the next week. A team had a week to prepare for him and it changes things up. So look, just switching a quarterback doesn't lead to instant results. Talking with Kyle Whittingham off Mike, our pregame show, he said, you know, we've done a study. When you switch a quarterback for injury, you win about forty six percent of your, your games. After that, when you win a switch a quarterback because of by performance, it's forty two percent. Now that doesn't mean you don't reach a point where you got to do it, but credit the whole team for performing in the second half. And again, I can't say enough about what I thought was a quarterback that got benched who handled it about as well as you could, based upon the body language I could see from up here.
Brian Boesch • 12:36
The team, the team, the team. Thanks, Doug. We'll talk throughout the week.
Doug Karsch • 12:38
Sounds good.
Brian Boesch • 12:39
Jack Miller with us here on the seatgeek postgame show. Just a sigh of relief, isn't it?
Jack Miller • 12:44
Yeah, yeah, it sure is. I mean, at the end of the day, wins and losses are what count we got out of here with a win. Certainly wasn't the prettiest. There's a lot of question marks out there still, but your defense is terrific and defense can keep you in games and always give you a chance. And we've seen that now week in and week out from this defense, from the front, the linebackers and the secondary, very, very elite. Play special teams. Okay, today probably not great. And the offense got question marks, but you know, every. It was time. It was probably time to go to Tommy Carr. They did.
Jack Miller • 13:20
He gave the spark that was needed. Not perfect, but changed things up. Got some energy in, in the stadium today. I talked about it at halftime. There was not enough juice, there was not enough passion on the sideline or in the stands. And so I think Coach Whittingham made the right call to go to Tommy and, and find A way to put up points, find a way to get the running game going. He made plays when he had to. That touchdown at the end was terrific. And Michigan comes out with a win.
Brian Boesch • 13:43
Yeah. Carr, five of seven, forty seven yards. Underwood, five of eleven, forty three yards. The difference, of course, the two interceptions and the fact that Michigan ran the football better in the second half. Who knows why that is or what transpired there, but truly it shows you the importance of keeping the football with your offense and what complementary football offensively looks like.
Jack Miller • 14:05
Certainly. And when you don't make mistakes offensively, it leads to things down the line that, that end up helping you that you don't see in the immediate, you know, play. When you're smart with the football, when you live the punt and let your defense do some work, you can get the ball back, make some adjustments, go down and find ways to score. I think that's really what the rushing game got going on, was just everyone was able to settle in instead of kind of panicking and, oh, geez, we, you know, the defense is in a bad spot, then we're back on the field. It was just, you know, it was a boring game, that. The entire game was boring, but in the second half, at least the defense was able to, you know, to do their thing. And the offense didn't shoot itself in the foot when it didn't perform. And I think that's the biggest difference. And then before you know it, then.
Jack Miller • 14:46
Then the running game gets going and then Tommy Carr makes a play here or there and things start to work themselves out. I mean, if you got a good defense, you always got a chance, and we're seeing that from these guys right now. The other, the other thing to take home is the turnover battle. They won the turnover battle, and we scored twenty one points on three turnovers. They had three turnovers. That was all the points. So Coach Whittingham's been preaching that all year. Turnovers, we got to get better about that. We got to get on the positive side of that. We did that today. I'd say the other feat yet to accomplish is the penalties, and we got to find a way to get that better. But if you can do that, you know, you. You found a way to get the turnovers right, if you can get the penalties right and let this offense continue to just, you know, find ways to stay in it, make plays when they have to, you never know what can happen.
Brian Boesch • 15:31
It shows you what type of floor a good defense can provide you. Penn State had its second lowest offensive output of the season and they had the garbage time touchdown that got them above what they put up at Northwestern a couple of weeks back when they scored thirteen points. That defense, they might have been probably were re energized just by the fact that the offense was starting to get things going. But they've been such a stabilizing force. And I know Penn State, they're now three and four, they're, they're plummeting down the standings here in year one of the Matt Campbell era. But having that type of defense against a veteran group, there's a lot of guys that have played some football for Penn State. Unique tight ends, all of that. And Michigan's defense was able to hold them at bay.
Jack Miller • 16:13
Yeah, I mean, Chris Bracy, what a performance from him today. Troy Bowles, Staling. I mean, the linebackers are playing great, the D line and Enow Etta playing terrific. I mean, this defense from from the beginning, you know, from, from the line of scrimmage all the way back into the secondary is playing elite football and that's keeping them in games and, you know, not perfect all the time, it's never going to be. But when you can create turnovers like that. So they've always been good. They've always been able to stop the opposing team and, you know, get them out on third down, make them punt. Now they're getting turnovers. And if that continues, you know, Indiana's got vulnerabilities, you know, I know we got to go on the road to Oregon. That's going to be a tough thing, obviously on the road in Columbus, but like, you know, who knows? When you have solid defense, you never know exactly what can happen.
Jack Miller • 16:56
The offense has a long, long, long way to go, but the second half was a step in the right direction.
Brian Boesch • 17:02
Unquestionably great stuff, Jack. Appreciate you. We'll talk to you next week.
Jack Miller • 17:05
Thanks, Brian. Go Blue
Brian Boesch • 17:06
Fun to recap a victory with the radio crew here on this post game episode of in the Trenches by Meyer. We'll get into the locker room and talk with Coach Whittingham and a handful of players. But first, a couple of events to tell you about, remind you about again, our friends with Michigan Field Hockey and Farm Bureau Insurance of Michigan are teaming up. On october thirtieth, Michigan plays Ohio State in field hockey and fans attending that five o' clock game are encouraged to bring non perishable food items to be donated to local Ann Arbor food banks. You can learn more about how Farm Bureau Insurance of Michigan is working to end hunger in Michigan by visiting Mish FB and hey, the fifth annual night out of the Big House sold out earlier this year. But Fogarth Financial Group is bringing back another big time event coming up at the Big House.
Brian Boesch • 17:50
Tuesday, november tenth. You can learn strategies for managing the risks of retirement and enjoy complimentary dinner and drinks, door prizes and have exclusive access to tour Michigan Stadium. Just go over to mgoblue dot com BIG House to sign up. That's mgoblue dot com Big House. Limited seats available for another night out at the Big House with Foguth Financial Group. All right, interview times. Let's start with the head coach, Kyle Whittingham.
Jon Jansen • 18:12
Coach, obviously a happier locker room. What was the message to the guys after this game?
Kyle Whittingham • 18:16
Well, they hung in there and continued to battle. You know, the first half wasn't good offensively and we had, we had our struggles. Decided to go to Tommy Carr just to try to give the team a spark. It did just that and it was very much assisted by three takeaways and we had three takeaways on defense and all of them led to touchdowns which proved to be the difference in the game. We ran the ball effectively, two hundred plus over six yards of carry. We defended the run really well. Got to get better on pass coverage and still too many penalties and we got it. We got to cut down on those penalties and that last drive we just kept giving them first downs with penalties and so we had a lot to work on. But you know, we always make it exciting here I guess. And it was went right down to the wire. Great job recovering that onside kick at the end to seal the victory and offense obviously got a first down to put it on ice.
Kyle Whittingham • 19:03
But very proud of the guys. They worked hard all week, really maximized the bye week and we, you know, had some, some good things that we can build on hopefully.
Jon Jansen • 19:13
I know it's never easy to make a decision like that at halftime. What went into making that decision and what was the advice to Tommy in the second half?
Kyle Whittingham • 19:20
Well, we only had sixty yards at halftime, I think it was, or seventy something in that range and, and hadn't done much with the ball and, and really just trying to find a way to spark the team and, and that was, you know, the way that the entire offensive coaching staff came to the conclusion that, that let's give Tommy a shot and see what he can do. And, and he responded. He wasn't perfect, but he did a lot of good things and you know, we came away with enough points to, to win the game.
Jon Jansen • 19:46
Two hundred eleven total yards rushing in the game. It felt like especially in the second half, you only had thirty seven in the first, but one hundred seventy four rushing yards in the second half. What changed?
Kyle Whittingham • 19:55
Well, I don't know that anything changed schematically because it didn't. We just played better football in the second half and, and like I said, the team rallied around Tommy and that's not to be disparaging to Bryce, but you know that just kind of a typical race reaction when you, when you go to another QB as the guys rally up and, and Savion ran hard, you know, he ran for what, eighty yards or just about eighty yards. Broke that big one to get us out of that bad field position the second to last possession. But it was just a matter of doing everything better than what we did in the first half.
Jon Jansen • 20:26
Defense has been consistent all year. What did you see from them today especially you mentioned the momentum change with, with Tommy going in the offense operating a little bit better. Rod Moore had a big interception. That really started things off in the second half as well.
Kyle Whittingham • 20:38
He did. That was great to get that takeaway because we didn't have any in the first half. And then Chris Bracy got two of his own. The interception and the strip sack. And of course Enow recovered it, but he caused it. And so that's the name of the game. If you can win the turnover margin. That is the most indicative statistic and determining factor in winning games.
Jon Jansen • 20:57
We didn't get a chance to see Rod. Everybody obviously curious because of the two years that he spent out. He got up limping after that play. Is he okay?
Kyle Whittingham • 21:05
He should be alright. It's something minor and we'll see how he responds. We'll know a lot more tomorrow, but X rays were good and so we think he's going to be okay.
Jon Jansen • 21:15
And the impact you already mentioned, the one play, Chris Bracy, the sack fumble. But he also had the interception and he was all over the field, third in the team in tackles. His impact on today's game.
Kyle Whittingham • 21:26
He's got a big impact on the game and he has all season and he was a great pickup for us in the off season and he is playing safety as well as anybody in the Big Ten right now.
Jon Jansen • 21:37
Thanks, coach and congratulations.
Kyle Whittingham • 21:39
Okay, thank you. Appreciate it.
Meijer Radio Spot • 21:43
Touchdown. From the biggest of the big games to the littlest of the little. There you go. Go run, James. No, no, no, no. First base. Go, go, go. Whenever you shop, Meijer, you help support hundreds of local sports sports teams across the Midwest from some of the biggest stadiums in the state to the Familiar fields down the street. You're helping make a difference to the people and places you call home. Learn more at meijer dot com COMMUNITY.
Brian Boesch • 22:12
To the players. Now let's start with the quarterback who made one heck of an impression in the second half. Here is Jason Devant with Tommy Carr.
Jason Avant • 22:19
Let's talk about the game and the win.
Tommy Carr • 22:22
Yeah, you know, we weren't playing great in the first half. Coach at the second half told me that I was going in and I was just really excited and grateful for the opportunity. And we came out there and we established a run, you know, hit a few passes and just started playing great team football. Defense got three big turnovers that we scored off of. So that was huge and just a big win. A well needed win.
Jason Avant • 22:49
Talk about the preparation and the mindset leading up to this game, because what happens on Saturday is only a small clip of what's going on. Tell me your mindset leaning up to this game.
Tommy Carr • 23:00
Yeah, I mean, it goes back to shoot months ago. You know, you prepare for these moments. This is what you practice for spring ball. It's all for these moments. And especially this week, you know, going off two wins, you know, we got to win this one. So we're preparing extra hard and continuing to work hard. And it helped us out today where, you know, we went out and executed well and got the win.
Jason Avant • 23:25
How do you balance you and Bryce being friends and having to go in and replace him? You want to be successful, but at the same time, I'm pretty sure it's heartbreaking for you at the same time.
Tommy Carr • 23:38
Yeah, you know, at the end of the day, what we both want is for Michigan to win. So we're going to continue to push each other and we're going to stay friends on and off the field and just continue to support each other and try to get more Michigan wins. That's all we're trying to do here.
Jason Avant • 23:54
When it comes to the offense and Coach Beck, it seemed like you guys had some good wrinkles in the run game. Can you talk about how you guys were able to get so many yards? Two hundred plus.
Tommy Carr • 24:04
Yeah, I mean, I think just the O line played excellent second half. You know, like the touchdown run from Coos. It was a, you know, it was a.
Tommy Carr • 24:15
It was a big gap and Kuz hit that hard and took it to the end zone. But the O line played excellent today and just we executed in the run game and that's what we got to continue to do all year.
Jason Avant • 24:26
Congratulations on the win.
Tommy Carr • 24:27
Yes, sir. Thank you.
Brian Boesch • 24:28
Michigan's ground Game got going with Tommy under center too. Let's catch up with a couple of running backs. First, true freshman Savion Hiter.
Jason Avant • 24:35
What does it feel like to get back into the win column?
Savion Hiter • 24:38
I mean, it was due time. I mean, we've been practicing all week, practice very hard. The run game was what we focus on most throughout the week and we kind of executed during the game.
Jason Avant • 24:49
Now, does anything change for you mentally? Bryce, go out. Tommy come in.
Savion Hiter • 24:55
Not really. I mean, I just got to play my game and keep Tommy up to par and keep him right.
Jason Avant • 25:01
You had a few big runs in this game. Talk about those plays and how they came about.
Savion Hiter • 25:06
I mean, we've been practicing all week through stretch and zone reads and we knew it'll fall during the game and then we executed it and it worked.
Jason Avant • 25:16
Penn State was able to present some challenges defensively. They had some free runners. What did you guys do to like kind of stop their linebacker pressure really
Savion Hiter • 25:26
working just second level defenders and trying to just shake them really well.
Jason Avant • 25:31
Congratulations on a great win.
Savion Hiter • 25:32
Thank you, sir.
Brian Boesch • 25:33
Now let's visit with Bryson Kuzdzal.
Jason Avant • 25:35
First of all, let's talk about the win. What'd you guys do to prepare in order to play like this?
Bryson Kuzdzal • 25:39
I think we just played more of who we know we are. Two games. I don't. It's a completely different product out there that we haven't seen in practice, we haven't seen in spring and summer. So I think we just got back to who we are. Trusted ourselves and it ended up working out.
Jason Avant • 25:53
You ended up with the longest run of the season. What happened on that play?
Bryson Kuzdzal • 25:58
Yeah, right when I got the ball, I mean, it was Frazier and the right guard just opened up a seal right when I got the ball. And then it was just me in the corner of number two. I just, it's. It was mostly instinct just making a move off of him, but yeah, nothing but green grass after that. And I was just trying not to get caught.
Jason Avant • 26:16
You didn't. You got caught by Channing, though. You got caught by Channing.
Bryson Kuzdzal • 26:19
You're talking about that? We were talking about that. You said he couldn't let him get me. He couldn't let him get me.
Jason Avant • 26:24
And lastly, the defense played great. Talk about, you know, how much easier it is to lean on a defense like that.
Bryson Kuzdzal • 26:33
That was one of our biggest things coming into it was just winning the turnover margin, which comes on our side, but it's also them. They're. They're playing hard every game. We know we've had a little bit of Time to ramp up as an offense. But you know, both, both of both sides are starting to get into their groove. So we're starting to see that.
Jason Avant • 26:48
Congratulations on the win.
Savion Hiter • 26:50
Thank you.
Brian Boesch • 26:50
More postgame reaction after we tell you that you might already wear maize and blue on game day. You probably know all the lyrics to the victors, but what if you could give back to Michigan Athletics every day simply through your phone bill? Michigan Mobile is wireless built for loyal Wolverines members. Enjoy connection on America's largest five G network, plus exclusive perks and ticket access, all while giving back to Michigan athletics. Michigan medicine and student scholarships support Michigan Athletics every day, not just game day. Visit michiganmobile dot com to switch. That's michiganmobile dot com Go blue everywhere you go with Michigan Mobile. One more offensive interview. Here's Jason with Blake Frazier.
Jason Avant • 27:25
Blake hadn't saw a win in a few weeks. How you feeling?
Blake Frazier • 27:29
I feel great, man. It's a good feeling. You know, you learn to love winning that much more when you, you have to go through a couple of losses. So just proud of this team. The way we bounced back, we knew we could do it. We just had to get it back together.
Jason Avant • 27:40
You guys found some success in the run game. What caused you guys to be successful?
Blake Frazier • 27:44
I think it was just a mentality. We knew that we needed to get back to it. You know, Coach Beck did a great job calling those runs that, that we knew we were going to be comfortable with. We executed our blocks and at the end of the day, the running backs in our room, like those guys can make anything work. So, you know, credit to them, credit to coach Beck, credit to the rest of the O line, everybody did their job.
Jason Avant • 28:01
How do you guys turn on a different switch mentally when it goes from Bryce to Tommy?
Blake Frazier • 28:07
I think at the end of the day we know that both guys are prepared. You know, Bryce didn't play his best game. Coaches made a game time decision, but everybody in our room knew that Tommy was going to be ready to step up. He came in, the kids got boys, I'll give him that for sure. But he came in, commanded a huddle, made a couple big time plays and we were rolling from there.
Jason Avant • 28:26
When it comes to, to you guys battling with injuries, seem like there's a different combination all the time. How do you guys stay focused and stay locked into the game plan with so many moving parts?
Blake Frazier • 28:37
I think we're just close off the field. You know, we spend a lot of time with each other and so there's, there's obviously the on field chemistry, but I Think when you got the field, when you got the chemistry off the field, too, it makes it a lot easier to adjust on the fly. And so obviously, unfortunately, injuries are part of a football O line especially, and so you got to be ready. Next man up and. And, you know, Avery did a great job today with that.
Brian Boesch • 28:58
We got one defensive interview to share with you. Here is John Henry Daley.
Jason Avant • 29:02
How does it feel to get back in the win column?
John Henry Daley • 29:04
Man, it feels fantastic. Just the boys going out there doing what we were supposed to do and got that win. Feels great.
Jason Avant • 29:09
Seemed like Penn State found some success on their first drive. What did they do in that drive in order to move the ball?
John Henry Daley • 29:14
I think we just needed to settle down and kind of get into the flow of the game. And then once we got our foot in them, we played lights out.
Jason Avant • 29:20
They had a unique game plan with, you know, three tight ends or two tight ends, tight ends on the field a lot. How did that affect you guys at all?
John Henry Daley • 29:28
Now, obviously, they're stacking the box, so we had to come in with different packages and different blitzes to be able to play against that, but we were prepared and we got ready for it.
Jason Avant • 29:37
You were able to get home, get a sack today. Can you explain that play and how you were able to get success?
John Henry Daley • 29:42
Just know this pass had to get after it. I knew if I wasn't getting it, then Dom was going to get it. So it was just a race to the queue.
Jason Avant • 29:48
Congratulations on the win.
John Henry Daley • 29:49
Thank you. Appreciate it.
Brian Boesch • 29:50
Awesome stuff. After a big win, Michigan over Penn State by three. Wolverines get the reigning national champs, and they're going to come in a little bit irked after they fell to Ohio State at home on Saturday. All right, for everybody who made this possible, I'm Brian Boesch. Michigan a winner, twenty one eighteen over Penn State. Thanks for listening and go Blue.
[music builds]
Jeff Laurence • 30:09
Thanks for listening to this edition of in the Trenches with Jon Jansen, presented by Meijer, presenting sponsor of the twenty twenty six Michigan football season and proud supporter of hundreds of local sports teams across the Midwest. In the Trenches is part of our Michigan athletics podcast network, M GO Blue Podcasts. The preceding is a Learfield presentation of the Michigan sports.
