November 16, 2023

WTKA Roundtable 11/16/2023: America’s Team

52 minutes

Things Discussed:

Petitti has to thread a needle because he's tied to Ohio State/Michigan State Twitter's version of events where having in-game scouting, video, and interpretations of a team's signs from coaches sharing it is fine, but having in-game video of a team's signs from a fan with an iPhone is a player-safety issue.

He wants to say sign-stealing is this evil thing but the language he used in the letter very carefully pulls back right before saying it.

Unprecedented things: NCAA sharing their investigation with the Big Ten, the Big Ten going after a member institution instead of protecting them from the NCAA, and the Big Ten commissioner allowing the other member schools to railroad him into sabotaging a member institution.

Screwed up by going after Harbaugh with Malice. They clearly got Michigan's letter and had the lawyers try to get Harbaugh anyways. The midnight punishment and the maliciousness of Petitti's pursuit has turned Michigan into the sympathetic party. This is what scares a dishonest Buckeye bootlicker like Ari Wasserman the most: the haters are exposed, and people start to question where this "scandal" really comes from.

Seth/Brian disagree on whether OSU wants to punish Michigan's players or get The Game canceled. Seth: Ryan Day still has to recruit at IMG. Brian: They hate Michigan that much, and the worst thing for Day is getting the brakes beat off of him again.

Leaving the Big Ten? Sam says saber-rattling, Seth says take it seriously because there is no way Michigan can remain a member if Tony Petitti is the commissioner. When this is all over, how do we get a fair hearing?

Possible future: show USC that they're in danger from this same thing (they are), see what Notre Dame is doing, maybe go after Texas, and then sad to say if this Ultra-conference gets any legs Ohio State will come. This is what the other Big Ten schools should be concerned about: other than OSU and to a much lesser degree Penn State, they all have sweet deals, and the way they lose it is if a Michigan or Ohio State no longer wants to share revenue with them. Rutgers, MSU, Northwestern, Indiana: if you are relegated to mid-majors in a decade, this is what you did.

PSU game: Did you get the message? Michigan beat a Top 10 opponent by yelling "RUN" every down.

Michigan had issues with their big OL package but extra gaps nerf Penn State's defensive advantages. They had to cancel their rush package entirely and the 5-star DEs they emphasize and stunts they practice are less valuable when those are happening many gaps away from the one we're attacking. Instead of the play turning on the athleticism of the PSU front seven it turns on whether a 210-pound safety can win a block against a 270-pound AJ Barner.

After the show: We talk basketball but I didn't get a recording of it. We are very sorry we couldn't fit it in.

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