College Football Survivor Show: Analyzing Michigan’s Rose Bowl chances w/ Aaron

Bobak Ha’Eri and Shehan Jeyarajah continue breaking down each CFP team, this time talking about the other team in the Rose Bowl. Wolverines beat writer Aaron McMann from MLive joins them to talk about what Michigan has learned from the past two CFPs, what’s different about this year’s team, how it shapes up against Alabama and much more.

You can listen to the full episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hello everybody. This is the College Football Survivor Show, where we are all about the race for the College Football Playoff Championship. I’m Bob Akayeri and I’m joined by the infinitely informed Shahan Jayaraja, National College Football writer for CBS Sports. You can find us on X and TikTok at CFB Survivor Show, where we have video highlights of the show, run polls and you can always send us feedback. As a podcast, we always appreciate it when you take a moment to like, rate and subscribe to our show wherever you find us. Good reviews.

Help people find more. We’re on a mission to find the ultimate survivor in the college football playoff race with a pair of playoff games coming up on January 1st. We continue our series going through each playoff team with those who cover them in depth. Today we’re gonna be looking at the number one college football playoff ranked team, Michigan. Jihan, I don’t know about you, but I have a notice of level one excitement for this matchup. How about you?

Shehan Jeyarajah (00:57.887)

I do too, I do too. You know, obviously Michigan, I think this year and a lot of the year has been the, I don’t wanna say like least challenging, but they’ve been the most perfect team. I think that you can say for most of the season, they haven’t played very many close games, they’ve handled their business every single week. I’m really curious to kind of get into the weeds because, you know, obviously this is Michigan’s third time in the playoff and certainly it would be great if there was their first time to win a playoff game.

Bobak Ha’Eri (01:26.282)

absolutely there’s so many stories going on here but let me go and introduce our guest we are joined again by erin mcmahon the chief beat writer for the university of michigan football program at and live media group where he’s worked since twenty fourteen he took the michigan football beat in twenty seventeen and is served as an authority voice on jim harbaugh’s wolverines garnering several awards were happy to have them back last time we spoke was ahead of the game with penn state when we thought we’d finally get to see what these wolverines

were made of the head coach or not. And this time with the head coach going into this game. Aaron, thanks for joining us again.

Aaron McMann | MLive (01:59.8)

Guys, it’s good to be back. As you guys said, third straight year for Michigan. I think they’re eager to finally get over the hump and win a game. It’s gonna be back with you.

Bobak Ha’Eri (02:10.262)

You know, one thing I wanted to mention, and I know I said this right before we went on the air, but pound for pound, the most adventurous beat this season in college football has to have been covering the Michigan Wolverines. Like the story never ends. We thought there was a bit of a calm, and then the NCAA comes out with, you know, something about a cheeseburger during the COVID years. But I mean, you know, it’s just, it’s constant, this churn. And it’s funny too, because I was thinking we were getting a playoff run, even though they’re not in the college football playoff, by Florida State in terms of off season news, or just news in general that was going to make up this gap.

Man, Michigan just does not give. I mean, they hot. You know, we were talking about. I mean, you just wrote a story about Alabama hiring, of course, a former Michigan assistant coach, you know, that there’s just so much of an adventure going around there, but at the same time, they’re trying to focus on getting into the playoff and finally winning at least one round. It’s it’s absolutely a fascinating thing for you. What’s been what is the tone of the program right now?

Aaron McMann | MLive (03:05.12)

Well, I think, I hesitate to say this, but maybe cautious optimism. I mean, as I just said, this is their third straight playoff appearance and they haven’t been able to win a semifinal game. And I think there’s a need and desire to do that. As you said, this team’s been through a lot this year. They’ve lost assistant coaches, they’re head coach with Sialine for six games. They’ve dealt with injuries and everything else. It seems like every obstacle has been put in front of them.

they’ve been able to overcome. And so far, I mean, you can’t write them off. I mean, the 13 and 0 Big Ten champions again, they are the number one seed for the first time. So the college football world, at least the playoff committee has respected them and the job that they’ve done on the field. So, I think they’re eager to prove folks wrong. I think that’s kind of been the tenor of the program all season long, right? Like they came into the year knowing Jim Harbaugh is gonna be sidelined and they’re under NCAA investigation.

They lose assistant coaches, they lose Harbaugh again, and they’re under the Big 10 probe. It just seems like it’s one thing after another, and still they’ve come on the right side every single time.

Shehan Jeyarajah (04:13.279)

You know, after 13 games, you know, how do you kind of compare this Michigan team versus the last two?

Aaron McMann | MLive (04:21.624)

Yeah, that’s a good question because I think in some areas they’re better than maybe last year and then some areas not so much. So I guess we’ll start on the offensive side of the ball. I do think this is probably Michigan’s best year they’ve gotten quarterback play. I think J.J. McCarthy is obviously better than he was last year. He’s more dynamic. They’ve kind of added dimension to his game with his legs, I think has helped. At the same token, the bread and butter of the Michigan offense, they’ve kind of…

built the last couple of years around the ground game maybe hasn’t been as effective. I don’t think this offense line has been as good as it’s been the last couple of years. They’ve been rotating guys in and out. They’ve been dealing with injuries. I just don’t think the play top to bottom has been as good. But then they’ve gotten, I think, better play from the receivers. So the offense has been a mixed bag, whereas the defense, I think this might be cohesively as a unit the best that they’ve had in the last couple of years. And that’s saying something because you can remember they had a…

Aiden Hutchinson a couple years ago, it was a top draft pick. Another first ground pick and David DiGiabo. I think as a unit, they’re more well-oiled. I think they got some exceptional playmakers on the back end. I think this defense is better than it’s ever been. I think this offense is better in certain areas, but not necessarily where you think. I think that’s, but I think maybe the biggest surprise to this Michigan team.

Bobak Ha’Eri (05:43.062)

You know, heading into this, their third, again, their third time at the Apple or at the very least, the final step to the Apple. We look back at the last two times they were in the playoffs. Obviously that first time they were a bit outmatched by Georgia. Second time they just had critical mental mistakes against TCU, especially JJ McCarthy. How are they, is there a difference in how they’re preparing for this particular semifinal? Because you figure at this point, third time might be a charm or at the very least they have a pattern to work with.

Aaron McMann | MLive (06:15.44)

Yeah, they’ve kind of changed up the routine. They started practice about a week and a half ago now. It sounds like there’s less hitting to begin things. I don’t know exactly what it looks like because obviously we’re not privy to practice when we’re allowed in the doors. But based on what they’ve told us, yes, it’s kind of been a slower build. This time last year, Michigan was an incredibly banged up unit.

Blake Corum was injured and out, the guys along the offensive line banged up. I think they’ve learned from the last couple of years that maybe a slower build is better than maybe go all out practice. If you go back two years ago and players on the team now admit it, they’ll tell it to us. At that point, I think they were just happy to get to the playoff. They’d never been before. They’d just won their first Big Ten championship under Jim Harbaugh. In a way, it was kind of a vacation. The game was in South Florida, so I think they were kind of eating it up. They were enjoying the warm weather and everything else.

and they didn’t really know what to expect. And you’re right, on the field, they were just open match. I mean, Georgia was by far the best team that year. They really had no, there was no, you know, no real shot. Last year, they went into the game against TCU and the Fiestable as the favorite. I think every one of their brother picked Michigan to win that game. And it turned out to be a track meet. It was something Michigan wasn’t really prepared to play in, something that they weren’t equipped to play in. And you’re right, they shot themselves in the foot. J.J. McCarthy throws a pair of pick sixes. They fumbled the goal line.

They settled for field goals instead of touchdowns, and ended up losing that game by a possession. So it wasn’t really the Michigan team we had seen all season long. So the last two years on this stage, they’ve really stumbled. I think they acknowledge that. Really, if you go back to Jim Marraball’s real entirety here at Michigan, he’s won in six in bow