Maize & Burner

Michigan sports opinions and the occasional political rant

[Maize & Burner @Maizeandburner]

People on Twitter engage in whataboutism and straw man arguments at an incredible rate. Pretty much makes any debate unbearable

[Maize & Burner @Maizeandburner]

The Seahawks DLine and Patriots secondary are both playing incredible right now #SuperBowlLX

[Maize & Burner @Maizeandburner]

Patriot’s edge containment has been suspect at best to start this one #SuperBowlLX

[Maize & Burner @Maizeandburner]

I’ve never seen two fighters more tired than Tai Tuivasa and Tallison Teixeira tonight. Dudes were both begging for the fight to end with like 3 minutes left and putting hands on hips lol

[Maize & Burner @Maizeandburner]

Drake Maye will enter the game vs Seattle in two weeks having put together the (probably) worst postseason run for any QB entering the Super Bowl in (at least) the last decade.

Maye ranks 20th of 20 QBs in Total EPA, EPA/Play, CPOE, and Success Rate (via https://t.co/dlMpakNHVm)

[Maize & Burner @Maizeandburner]

Refs are letting these rushing dogpiles to go on for a while lol

[Maize & Burner @Maizeandburner]

Miami DLine is looking really scary tonight

[Maize & Burner @Maizeandburner]

Miami makes Indiana earn it and stands up in the redzone. Door is cracked for Miami…can they go through it?

[Maize & Burner @Maizeandburner]

One drive in and Miami has already done a pretty good job making this physical. If they can put together a first down or two here and drain some clock, this game starts to get interesting 👀l

[Maize & Burner @Maizeandburner]

One drive in and Miami has already done a pretty good job making this physical. If they can put together a first down or two here and drain some clock, this game starts to get interesting 👀l

[Maize & Burner @Maizeandburner]

CJ Stroud is really single handily preventing an incredibly defense from being a win against Jarrett Stidham away from the Super Bowl

[Maize & Burner @Maizeandburner]

Indiana OLine is MOVING guys right now…impressive to watch them work

[Maize & Burner @Maizeandburner]

Hill has done a great job improving BYU’s defense. Compared to Wink, you can expect a defense more dependent on stuffing the run at the line instead of the second level tackling Michigan has relied on. Should also be much better on late downs, but more susceptible to explosives

[Pete Nakos @PeteNakos]

Michigan is working to hire BYU defensive coordinator Jay Hill, sources tell @on3.

No deal has been agreed to, but new Michigan head coach Kyle Whittingham is targeting Hill, his former Utah assistant.

https://t.co/AZxfi5ZYcn

[Maize & Burner @Maizeandburner]

@SpartanRyan During his last 5 seasons at Utah, Whitt’s teams had an average talent comp of 37th. They finished those seasons 22nd in SP+ on avg with ~9 wins/yr.

Fitz, meanwhile, brought in teams ranked 47th in talent just to turn out the 81st ranked team and average barely 5 wins/yr.

[Maize & Burner @Maizeandburner]

Probably not great to hire your buddy who has run some of the worst college offenses over the last 5 years. Not to mention that Bajakian has never led a top 30 offense (via SP+) despite twice taking over as OC for top 10 offenses (2009 Cincy & 2012 Tennessee)

[Matt Fortuna @Matt_Fortuna]

Sources: Michigan State is set to hire UMass OC Mike Bajakian as its next QBs coach.

Bajakian was Northwestern’s OC from 2020-23, working the first three of those seasons under new Spartans coach Pat Fitzgerald.

[Maize & Burner @Maizeandburner]

Surprisingly low annual contract value. Hopefully this means a bigger salary pool for assistants on Whittingham’s staff

[uofmcoverage @uofmcoverage]

Kyle Whittingham will make $8.2 million per year at Michigan per @PeteThamel

[Maize & Burner @Maizeandburner]

Hill has a relatively short track record as a DC, but in that time has shown some serious chops. BYU was 102nd in Defensive SP+ in 2022 and under Hill has now finished in the top 25 two years in a row

[Matt Zenitz @mzenitz]

BYU defensive coordinator Jay Hill is expected to be among the names of interest for the Michigan DC job, sources tell @RJ_cfb and me.

Hill, who has a longstanding relationship with Kyle Whittingham, has led the way as BYU is ranked 21st nationally in scoring defense.

[Maize & Burner @Maizeandburner]

Utah’s offense jumped from 96th to 11th (via SP+) with Beck at the helm. New Mexico saw a jump as well while his Syracuse time was lackluster. A little concerned he may be riding the coattails of Dampier, but Beck will have another incredibly talented QB to work with at Michigan

[Matt Zenitz @mzenitz]

Utah offensive coordinator Jason Beck is expected to be the target for Kyle Whittingham’s OC job at Michigan, sources tell @CBSSports.

Led by Beck, Utah ranks fifth nationally in scoring with an average of 41.1 points per game.

[Maize & Burner @Maizeandburner]

Whittingham’s ability as a floor raiser who pretty consistently outperforms talent would make this hire by Michigan a success. That being said, Utah has one T25 recruiting class in the last decade and KW is 66. Nailing the coordinators (especially OC) will be crucial
Overall: B+

[Maize & Burner @Maizeandburner]

BRING HIM HOME

[Maize & Burner @Maizeandburner]

Not saying I want it to happen BUT this is great value for a straightforward “Committee screws the G5 and bails out the ACC” scenario

[Maize & Burner @Maizeandburner]

@LetJSNCook Man I hope so. I just see them shitting all over the Sun Belt to discredit JMU.

If that’s the case, I think Miami replaces Notre Dame. It would essentially be the final nail in the coffin for the ACC (even though it probably is already dead in 2036) if they are left out

[Maize & Burner @Maizeandburner]

Final CFP Ranking Predictions:
1. Indiana
2. Georgia
3. Ohio St
4. TTech
5. Oregon
6 Ole Miss
7. TAMU
8. Oklahoma
9. Notre Dame*
10. Alabama
11. Tulane
12. Duke^

*Bama loss lets committee sandwich a team between ND & Miami
^Don’t see the ACC left out. If JMU’s in, so is Miami