College football fans, rejoice. The season is underway and both the Spartans and Wolverines are about to play their openers.
For more on that and other sports news, Michigan Public sports commentator John U. Bacon joined host Doug Tribou on Morning Edition.
Football this weekend:
Toledo at Michigan State - Fri., 8 pm
West Michigan at Michigan - Sat., 7:30 pm
Doug Tribou: Kyle Whittingham is the new head coach for the Wolverines. He came to Ann Arbor after stepping down from his position at Utah, where he was the head coach for more than 20 years. He’s 66 years old. You had a chance to sit down with Whittingham recently. What did you learn about him?
John U. Bacon: Well, it was not an interview, per se. Although I guess, Doug, in life, all conversations are interviews, aren't they? Including this one. But I would say a few things...
One, he's 66, about to turn 67, but he works out constantly. So if people are worried about how much gas he's got left in the tank, don't worry about that. He doesn't drink beer. He doesn't drink Diet Coke, for that matter. So he's about as healthy as a horse. He's also got more fire in the belly than I expected.
This is not a retirement job for him. He left Utah not as happy as people expected. He got pushed out, basically, and he still wanted to coach. So here's his chance. And he's got a chance now — with those resources — for a national title. So I think Michigan football right now is in very good hands.
DT: Michigan quarterback Bryce Underwood is back. He is a true sophomore this season — all of 19 years old. As we talked about last week, Michigan’s going to need Underwood to show some growth for the team to be successful. What will Bryce Underwood have to do better?
JUB: What won't he have to do better? That's a shorter list. Everything. His mechanics, his decision making, his fundamentals, his execution. All of it has to be better. It was not a good season last year. And for the top recruit in the country, it was almost embarrassing.
However, as Devin Gardner, former Michigan quarterback, told me — and it's a great quote — "Nobody knows how big that stage is until you're on it and then it's too late." So there have been no great freshman quarterbacks in the history of Michigan football because it's too hard. So he got a lot of experience at quarterback last year that no one else has got. That's going to help him out a lot.
This time he's also got, by the way, a quarterback coach. Why Michigan, last year, with a $12-million quarterback did not pay a $250,000-quarterback coach is a mystery to everybody. But he's getting real coaching this year. He's got real experience. He's going to be much better. That's my very easy guess.
DT: As we’ve discussed, the Spartans also have a new head coach, Pat Fitzgerald. The Spartans’ starting quarterback is Alessio Milivojevic. Last season, he got his first four college starts in MSU’s last four games of the year. Threw for about 1000 yards in that stretch. How much is Fitzgerald banking on Milivojevic this season?
JUB: He's betting the whole ranch basically because they really don't have a backup, per se, at Michigan State this year. He's not had a chance to recruit. Except that Fitzgerald teams at Northwestern always played outstanding defense, so they should always be competitive. They don't expect too much right now in East Lansing, but you watch, that team is going to be substantially better.
DT: Turning to baseball, the good news is the Tigers won Wednesday.
JUB: [Laughs] Any bad news in there, Doug? Wow! That sounds great!
DT: [Laughs] The bad news is they only won 4 of their last 18 games. If it keeps going this way, their final regular season games won’t mean much in terms of playoff hopes. But the Tigers have announced that in their final homestand, they’ll honor pitcher Justin Verlander not once, but twice before he retires. Now I guess the only question is: will he pitch again by then?
JUB: Great questions. A few things. One, I love how you said their final regular season game won't mean much. It doesn't mean much right now. We're already in in early September, and none of these games count for much. They have less than a 1% chance, statistically, of making the playoffs.
I also like how they, they're going to honor J.V. twice. Why? They've got nothing else to say. So, why not three or four times before it's all done? So will he pitch by then? Man, it'd be a wonderful thing to see. I sincerely doubt it, obviously. But, man, just to throw an inning would be a blast. So that's all you're down to this year with the Tigers, sad to say.
DT: And it is disappointing for fans and obviously for the team. Justin Verlander [was] brought in to try to help what looked like it might be a bigger playoff push, and you've got this final season where he has one start. He hasn't pitched in months now. He's still trying to get back [from injuries] in time. It's really not the way, obviously, he'll be remembered after such a terrific career here and elsewhere in the league.
JUB: Undeniably true. But the good side for Verlander is that he gets paid full price to sit on the dugout. So that's pretty good [Laughs].
DT: The Detroit Lions don’t open their regular season until Sept. 13. We’ll talk more about them next week. But another Michigan team got some NFL-related news this week. The University of Michigan’s men’s hockey team will be playing at one of the NFL’s most iconic venues in February. Michigan will take on Wisconsin at the home of the Green Back Packers - Lambeau Field. I mean… why not?
JUB: Why not indeed. If you know anything about football, the old NFL Films from the 1970s had a guy named John Facenda doing the voiceover. And one of his greatest lines was "the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field." And every football fan knows that one. So here are the Wolverines going to — truly — the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field, [but on] ice this time.
This will be Michigan's 11th outdoor game, the most of any college team — perhaps because they've been around for 100 years or because they always draw a good crowd. And they are 4-5-1 in these games. Not that great. So good luck, Wolverines.
Editor's note: Some quotes in this article have been lightly edited for length and clarity. You can play the full audio of the interview near the top of this page.
The University of Michigan holds Michigan Public's broadcast license.
