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Host Nick Lundberg recaps all MSU sports events with Impact guest Joe DesVergne.
The State News sports reporters discuss all MSU sports.
Nick Lundberg 0:10
Welcome back, everyone. My name is Nick Lundberg. And this is the Sports Roundtable here end of the week sports update on all things Michigan State. We are live here from Impact station with Joe Des. It's your first time on the podcast. Joe. Good for you to be here.
Joe DesVergnes 0:22
Yeah, I'm pretty excited to get this going. That's good.
Nick Lundberg 0:24
So we're gonna just jump right into it. First off, I want to talk about women's soccer. They're really making waves around campus as previously they beat number five Northwestern two to one on the road. They're now ranked sixth in the country by the US Soccer coaches poll. Lauren Kozal the goalkeeper has recently named a top 100 player in the country, Courtney Koehler, named a top 100 freshmen. Sam White has been racking up big 10 Defensive Player of the Week awards, and they have an opportunity to win the big time for the second time ever. Their first time since 1994. Joe, this season has just been magnificent for the women's soccer program.
Joe DesVergnes 1:00
Yeah, the fact that they're up with multiple players in the Top 100, Top 100 Freshmen also coming in first year, and actually making that big of an impact is rather impressive stuff to see from that team.
Nick Lundberg 1:09
Exactly. And I just wanted to say Lauren Kozal, who's been here for the ups and the downs, the team was not very good before Jeff Hosler showed up last year, and being named a top 100 player sticking through all the losses before that, it's just a very, very honorable thing. And it's very good to see her make that, you know, jump to being recognized as a top 100 player in the nation. And they still got a couple games left to continue to prove themselves, their face to top 20 teams, one in Ohio State, and then another one coming up against Rutgers. So we'll see if they can manage to come out of these next two tough, tough games with you know, the historic finish for the second time since 1994.
Joe DesVergnes 1:54
Yeah, first time, I believe 28 years what that would be pretty insane stuff. The fact that they had that win over number five Northwestern that's a statement game like that shows what they are made of and what they are coming into the season with.
Nick Lundberg 2:05
Exactly. And switching over to men's soccer. They beat Rutgers four to three on Sunday. They are unbeaten. And five of the last six massive matches. They now sit at six, five and two overall and three, one and won a big 10 play. They'll face Maryland, who's number one in the big 10 tonight at 7pm. And right now they sit at the right behind Ohio State in the in the big 10. And but they've been on a hot streak. And they started off really slow this year. But it's been good to see them kind of build up to become one of the better teams in big 10 play.
Joe DesVergnes 2:34
Yeah, I was gonna say it looks like they turn their season completely around before that, that would mean that one wins. So now they've won five, the last six. That's impressive stuff. I actually shows the resiliency of that team.
Nick Lundberg 2:43
And it's good to see them. Turn it up at such a crucial point in the season. Because we know that teams, especially in college that get hot late in the season, can carry that momentum into the postseason play. And if they can do that, then maybe some special things will happen. Like a couple years ago when they went to Final Four with when they were Will Perkins who's a leader on that team has experience going to big games like that. So if they can keep up this hot streak and maybe end up to where they were a couple years ago. Anything can happen.
Joe DesVergnes 3:15
Yeah, I really can't underestimate the staff I think coach would rather have the team heat up near the end of the season and cool down at the end be hot at the beginning. Because when you're going into playoffs, you want momentum. And that's what they have right now.
Nick Lundberg 3:26
Exactly. And then moving on to volleyball who hasn't been as hot as the men's and women's soccer team. But they started off just as hot. They lost three to zero, excuse me against Michigan. But they did set a record attendance with 7326 fans showing up on last Friday, which was about 500 more than their record set in 2016. And then they lost to Indiana on the road and a five set thriller. They now sit at 10 and nine in the season and only one in seven and big 10 play. And they'll face another tough opponent in number five, Wisconsin coming up tonight at 8pm.
Nick Lundberg 4:01
But I know that it's been a tough stretch for the team in big 10 play. But I talked about this earlier with my other co hosts that you can't expect much from a first year head coach, especially with a program that has that hasn't been, you know, relatively elites in a while. And especially in a conference with so many great teams.
Joe DesVergnes 4:23
Yeah, one thing I have to say too, I was watching the University of Michigan game even though they lost three to zero it was a close games what's weird second set, they had to win by to multiple times and have gone for the final score be like 29-27 I believe? Pretty insane stuff like you get swept. You are not supposed to be close at all. They are close in every single set and they were showing what they were doing on that play. Or in that game, I should say. And then it's the big panel. So it's one of the best conferences in college volleyball has to be expected that there might be some losses that come with it.
Nick Lundberg 4:53
Exactly. And with the first year head coach like Leah Johnson, you want to see fight from your team and like us said they didn't roll over against a very good Michigan team. Obviously, it's easier to do that when you have 7000 fans in Breslin for the first time this season, they're at Breslin, if, if people haven't known, but it's good to see fight from a lot of young players, especially with a young coach, it's, uh, it tells you that they're buying into what she's having to say. And I mean, they beat the teams, they were supposed to be coming into Big 10 play. They just haven't they just have a had a rough go of it against top teams in the country, which can be expected from new, you know, new coaching staff, new players, everything's basically new them.
Joe DesVergnes 5:37
Yeah, they're still adjusting a little bit. Yeah, a couple more weeks, I can imagine they'll be playing a little bit, like more cohesive, I'd say. But also you got to applaud the school spirit right there. In fact, they broke the record attendance or attendance record, I should say, in the presence. I have two people that know how that move was gonna go. So that's very impressive stuff to see.
Nick Lundberg 5:53
Exactly. It's good to see that from a program that needs some more support and some more love from the fan base in my opinion.
Nick Lundberg 6:00
But moving on to basketball, which the season starting to heat up. They both teams, the men's and women's team will tip off in about two weeks with the women's team playing host to Saginaw Valley and their exhibition and the men's teams, hosting the men's team hosted in Grand Valley for their exhibition on November 1. But big 10 media days were last week and we heard from Suzy Merchant and Tom Izzo and I want to talk about what Suzy Merchant had to say first, she mentioned that her team, the best part about her team is that they're healthy this year.
Nick Lundberg 6:29
I know last year they were down without Julia Ayrault and Tori Osmond and I talked about in my previous podcast I don't know Joe, if you were at Midnight Madness or saw any of the scrimmages or anything but Julia Ayrault was lighting it up. She had at one point she had eight points of her own and the 10 Minute scrimmage and she started off the game with a layup and it just like you couldn't even tell that she was injured all of last year.
Joe DesVergnes 6:52
Yeah, she asked to become on the season was something I've heard was a thing. She realizes there's only a certain amount of years of college eligibility. She wants to use hers to the maximum which is what she's gonna do this year in my mind.
Nick Lundberg 7:02
Exactly and Tori Osmond is coming back she missed all of last year to she'll be a big piece but she mentioned a lot about the new transfers coming in. And these are some pretty big time names. You've got Kamaria McDaniel transfer from Baylor, Gabby Elliott transfer from Clemson to you know, big power five schools and then Stephanie Fisher from Stephen F. Austin and she mentioned that the fact that she's from Sweden as well as Matilda Ekh which can build that connection with your international players. And we know how special Matilda can be she absolutely is a sniper. She can drill it from just about anywhere beyond the three point line and it's good that to see her have a connection like that with another transfer coming in.
Joe DesVergnes 7:42
Yeah, one thing I want to mention about Gabby Elliott from Clemson also she was named in all ACC freshman player of the year last year. She's coming out this year with a lot of momentum she should be showing up every single game.
Nick Lundberg 7:53
It's and it's good. It seems like the guard the team's guard plays a lot deeper than last year. Even though you lose a player like Nia Cloud and who we know how special she was she dropped and just to mention how special she was, she dropped 50 points in a game that wasn't even televised so she knew that game should have been televised in my opinion but it's all good but.
Nick Lundberg 7:53
I measure highlights were televised exactly points in that game.
Nick Lundberg 8:15
Yeah she so it's it's no easy task to step up for a player like that when you lose someone like that. But you mentioned Gabby Elliot, we've got DeeDee Hagemann running the show, and then Ayraults coming back among other pieces that are in there. So it's gonna be exciting to see what they can do this season. And I mean, we didn't, we didn't I want to mention Kamaria McDaniel. She actually was one of the players that went to Big 10 media day to represent the team. So you can tell how highly Merchant thinks of her as well as Elliott and Fisher to mention them.
Nick Lundberg 8:46
But moving over to the men's side. Tom Izzo, of course, was asked the question when he's going to retire. And he gave an interesting answer. He said he's going to do it like Jay Wright did. And I think that that's the right approach. If people don't know how Jay Wright did it, he basically said that, once he stops enjoying ticking red eyes from across the country and going on recruiting trips, and just once he says he loses that passion, he's going to quit. And I think that's, I think that's the right way to do it.
Joe DesVergnes 9:14
No 100% Because once they lose the passion, you can see it in the way that they coach their team. Basically, you can like the players are going to understand and one of the big things about Michigan State, Tom Izzo is passion and how much he loves the players and the game is what draws so many recruits. If he doesn't have that anymore, and he's not Tom Izzo is one of the things so I think that's the best way to go about he doesn't want to lose his actual cell.
Nick Lundberg 9:34
Exactly. And you can see that he hasn't lost that passion. In his recent recruiting. We know about the highly touted class coming in next year. This year seems to be more like a transitional year of sorts with you kind of lacked that frontcourt depth that a lot of people have been talking about even though didn't mention that. He still believes that strong guard play. He favors that over dominant big man plan we've seen like the likes of Zack Ed and Hunter Dickinson and big time he mentioned those guys as very phenomenal players, but we know that next year going back to the recruiting aspect we know the next year that class is highly touted. He's been hosting some very unmoored some 2024-2025 athletes that four and five stars, so it's good to see that he's it seems like he's more motivated than ever to bring a winning to bring a championship back to East Lansing.
Joe DesVergnes 10:23
Yeah, I think he definitely wants the championship before he retires. I imagine that as the main goal. He set his sights on one thing now, obviously next year, pretty insane stuff has gotten for the basketball program, but this year, one freshman was coming in the big man, Jaxon Kohler, I'm actually really excited to see how he does.
Joe DesVergnes 10:38
When you look at websites He's listed between 6'8, 6'10 not fully sure which one it is, but he's turned 50 pounds. He's a freshman, insane post moves. Defense might not be the best right now. Tom Izzo can work on that, but his post moves are gonna be the song that actually really helps us going into March madness going in the playoffs. All those type of things you need a big man who can score down law.
Nick Lundberg 10:57
Yeah, he was coming in. He was very highly touted and a lot of scouts and analysts actually had him as the best post up player coming into college and I could see this year after that scrimmage watching him work against I know Mady everyone we know Mady barely played now over the last two years and he's going to step into this big starting role but to do that against a junior center like to absolutely you when he put him in the post Mady look lost sometimes out there and that's, I feel like that's more of a testament to just how good Kohler can be in that low post work in that high post using his footwork and I mean, he's got his jump shot is just it's pure.
Nick Lundberg 11:39
So it's more of a guards jumper, if anything, but I'm excited to see him work on the offensive end like you said, the defense will come. But I also want to talk about the fact that Izzo brought five guys to Big 10 media day compared to the average of just around like three players but he mentioned that he brought these guys because they've made such a big jump in the offseason. Now I want to say that they've Malik Hall, Joey Hauser, AJ Hoggard, Jaden Akinns and Tyson Walker. And I think is it bringing all of these guys speaks volumes to the way they've improved in the offseason?
Joe DesVergnes 12:12
Yeah, one thing I know is Malik Hall for 2.6% from three last year, he's gonna be going off this year. I'm excited to see what comes from his senior season.
Nick Lundberg 12:20
Yeah, it makes I'm excited to see all these guys work. I noticed that AJ Hoggard looked, and Joey Hauser. Actually, they both lost some weight. It was more surprising to see from Joey Hauser and that scrimmage that he lost, he looked a little more lean. He was bringing they were both bringing the ball up, AJ was shooting and with more confidence. And that's one thing I want to see from him this year is the ability to progress in that three point shot. And Joey Hauser.
Nick Lundberg 12:44
He was bringing the ball up, he looked a lot more lean, and I want to see him more of an A roll like we did in the Davidson game, because I know that even though we're thin in the frontcourt this season, his game really is on the outside, it's not he doesn't really have that ability to play and do well against big 10 players down low, at least what he from what he showed last season, but against Davidson when they had him stretch the floor and put them in that the 15 foot post in that area. He made things happen and I want to see more of that kind of come from Joey Hauser and the fact that he's lost weight and looks more lean tells me that he might have more of a role on the outside on the perimeter.
Joe DesVergnes 13:25
Yeah, I think Hauser definitely have a use of the stretch big he shoots 39.1% for career from three that is excellent for big man he's gonna be put probably corner threes outside the arc just basically allowing his teammates to pass to him. One thing though, you've mentioned AJ Hoggard his jump shot you say he's looking a little bit more confident. He is amazing as a playmaker loves guys teammates involved 20% career three point shooter if he can get that jump shot going he is going to be insane player this year.
Nick Lundberg 13:51
Yeah and Tom as I mentioned that AJ Hogaard is his guy his quarterback. And so it's gonna be good to see kind of last year Walker and Hoggard kind of went back and forth sharing the starting point guard role. They even played together on the floor at some point which I think that they're gonna play together on the floor a lot this year, just based on the fact that Tyson Walker is a knockdown three point shooter but I know that this is AJ's team now Izzo was saying and it's going to be good or interesting to see him step into that role as the true leader or the true quarterback of the team. Next to Malik Hall as a leader, and you know, take the offense. Take the reigns of the offense and you know, make it his own.
Joe DesVergnes 14:34
Yeah, I'm definitely excited to see what the two guards who are both pretty good playmakers are actually able to do when they're both on floor together. Walker for the first weighing games last year he ended up averaging 2.4 turnovers and then for the last 16 games on Arizona 1.1 turnovers cut that in half. So the fact they have two players who can actually involve all their teammates is gonna make the guard position excellent this year to watch.
Nick Lundberg 14:55
And one thing I wanted to I want to see more out of TysonWalker is just let it fly because we know he can hit. Like when he shot it last year. He it seemed like everything went in for him. And he showed a reluctancy to take some of those threes last season where he preferred to he I feel like he was doing too much as a point guard. He wanted to be a past first playmaker a guy like for which is probably what is I was preaching to him. But he, when he took that three with those threes, it just seemed like they all went in and I want to see him take more of steps as you know, a true three point shooter because I feel like that's where his bread and butter is honestly.
Joe DesVergnes 15:36
No, I agree with you completely. If this team plays confident they can be a deep threat for March Madness coming up in a couple months.
Nick Lundberg 15:42
And yeah, and the one thing I mentioned that could have a negative effect on them is their rebounding. And Izzo mentioned that he is worried a little bit about the lack of size they share in the frontcourt. But he also said that he's planning to use his disadvantages and make them advantages against other teams. So playing small against teams, like let's say Michigan with Hunter Dickinson or Purdue with Zack Ed, who have bigger players playing small can kind of get them out of their comfort zone. We saw that against. We saw that with Purdue again in the March Madness against oh my gosh, who made the run? I'm blanking on who beat them in March Madness
Joe DesVergnes 16:19
Oh, I know what you're talking about.
Nick Lundberg 16:20
The Cinderella team.
Joe DesVergnes 16:21
Yeah.I want to say St. Peter's
Nick Lundberg 16:23
St. Peter's yes, St. Peter's. So St. Peter's didn't have the biggest lineup out there. And we know that, you know, they played lights out, obviously. But to show the fact that a team like that they even though they didn't play their best game against Purdue, they still managed to win and throw off kind of that big the big fail they had in the middle was Zach Ed. So maybe Michigan State can kind of replicate against teams like that, what kind of what St. Peter's did to beat Purdue, but it's gonna be interesting to see how the team, you know, starts to mesh together as especially after that nonconference schedule.
Joe DesVergnes 16:56
Yeah, with the spacing and versatility from so many of the players on this team. If they can draw those big players out to the perimeter and make them guard around there. They're going to be actually drawing them into a mismatch, which I'm very excited to see how they actually are capitalizing on that.
Nick Lundberg 17:09
And we talked about, we have the shooters to do that. So it's, I hope to see some of that this year from the squad.
Nick Lundberg 17:15
But moving on to the hockey team. They had a very big win over the weekend against number 16. UMass Lowell, they're now two and two on the season, they split that series against UMass Lowell. Their first game, they won for three I believe their second game, they lost one of the two but for a young coach like Adam Nightingale, to go in against your first ranked opponent ever and come out with a split in the season series is always it's always a good thing.
Joe DesVergnes 17:41
Yeah, there's a reason they're ranked the fact they were able to capitalize and get at least one winner. That was a great job of the coach and the team together as as a whole.
Nick Lundberg 17:49
Yes, exactly. And the freshmen have been stepping up and that's been good to see especially with like, it's kind of like what we mentioned with the volleyball program. We got a first year head coach, and we know that Munn is we talked a lot about this but Munn has been renovated. It's kind of like the volleyball team moving to Breslin, you've got some new, new things to work with. And a new coach and some new players and a whole new staff and getting a win like this is very big for a team's confidence going forward, especially young team like the hockey team is. So it was good to see them come out and play hard. They played hard all four games this year, but it's always good to see two of those games come out with wins.
Joe DesVergnes 18:27
Yeah, you mentioned the confidence. I also think the trust and the coach is gonna be exponentially better after this game. They showed they can beat a ranked opponent they showed they can beat the best of the best that those players are going to be looking to better coach for advice for just how to play and just how to continue the season throughout the entire rest of the next month.
Nick Lundberg 18:43
Exactly. And they're going to face Long Island University for a two game home series starting tonight at seven.
Nick Lundberg 18:50
And moving on football. I'm actually looking forward to talking about football this week after a rough rough three weeks, but they beat Wisconsin over the weekend for homecoming and it was very it was really good to see Jayden Reed and his old shape.
Joe DesVergnes 19:03
Yeah Jayden Reed. He had he is definitely one of two players I'd say you as the argument for best all around player on the team Jacoby Windmon so it would be the other but Jayden Reed. He had a kick returner a punt return technically touchdown called back. He had a passing touchdown, technically a perfect passer rating because he got one pass point where yards, touchdown right there. Yeah. Then he also had the overtime game winning touchdown. He is a monster, nine interceptions. 119 yards. He's just so good at every facet of the game.
Nick Lundberg 19:30
It seems that he likes to make those big plays we saw against Penn State, he went up we saw against Michigan, he made that big fourth down catch. We saw against Penn State he made that big touchdown. It seems they all happen in that same spot in the corner of the endzone we saw against Pitt in the bowl game. He had a big catch to seal the win. And then this game was arguably one of the biggest games of the season for Michigan State especially since you're going into by week and then match up with obviously the school down the road and we'll talk about that matchup in a minute but you It's good to see you know him kind of after having a very slow start to the season banged.
Nick Lundberg 20:05
He was banged up a little bit, come, you know, come back and do what he's been doing, or at least in the last game, and hopefully he can continue that going into the next game. But you did mention that Jacoby Windmon is arguably the second best or the best all around player on the team. And he won the national Defensive Player of the Week award for the second time this year in third time. He's been named the big 10 Defensive Player of the Week award, I believe. They dropped him back in coverage, she had an interception, they put him you know, on the line, he forces a fumble, it seems like he can do everything out there.
Joe DesVergnes 20:39
Yeah and that force fumble could not have come at a better time we were in second overtime, possibly would have gone to a third. If he didn't get that one right there. He ended up sealing the win for Michigan State, obviously right before the January touchdown. Those two players haven't won on offense, one on defense just shows the star power of this team.
Nick Lundberg 20:55
And with injuries, it seemed like the team Mel Tucker wanted to switch up his defensive scheme. So you move Windmon from,2 he comes into Michigan State as a stand up linebacker you move them to defensive end and the first two games he makes a ton of noise and then the team kind of, you know falls off from there. But then moving back to linebacker one of the first plays of him going back to his regular stand up position. He makes an interception and it's just it's incredible to watch a guy like this who's going to be playing on Sundays next year. Just you know, kind of carry uplifted defense by himself. And it was good. I feel like he had a lot of confidence for gained this week with Xavier Henderson coming back.
Joe DesVergnes 21:36
Oh, yeah, I definitely agree that the injuries did slow down the season a little bit. Getting those players back just makes the whole team so much more cohesive together because they had the whole preseason together. That's how this team was supposed to be. And then for weeks, it just was not able to actually be at 100% capacity. Now they're back confident as ever rolling into the next game coming up obviously after the spy week.
Nick Lundberg 21:56
Yeah, and I wanted to mention that the fact that they looked a lot more like you said cohesive with Xavier Henderson being back there for the first time since I believe it was the first game of the season he was he's been injured and I really am, I'm I gave me a lot of hope going into the spy week into this next week. Seeing and especially with slate up front too.
Nick Lundberg 22:18
That's another big piece that has been missing since the first two weeks of the season. He's there run stopper their you know their anchor in the middle and not having a guy like that just gashes. You can gash, you up the up the middle. And we saw that in a couple of those games, especially the Minnesota game. But with these injuries with these players coming back, it's very key for this defense that has been the weakest link of the team, even though the offense really before this hasn't really, you know, made any, you know, hasn't made their case as much as the defense has. But it's good to see that these players these key players come back and the team kind of or the defense at least kind of put it together a little bit.
Joe DesVergnes 23:00
Yeah, again that run stopper back is a massive part. Like you mentioned one thing I also want to talk about on offense. Peyton Thorne obviously has caught a lot of heat recently. He did a great job this game there was a play I believe it was third and eighth where he needed to get the first down for them to get in the field goal range right for overtime. Obviously, we know that field going up. And then yeah, yeah, not the best overall, but he talked it down and ran through risk getting hit. He showed his leadership in this game and was one of the big reasons why they beat Wisconsin.
Nick Lundberg 23:27
Yeah, I have never had I haven't had a problem with Thorne this year. I do think that he hasn't improved as much as I was like to have seen this year with this decision making but a lot of people have been calling for his job and I just don't think that's fair when it's not just his it's not just on him. It's the whole team that hasn't been gelling together but you mentioned something that I did want to get into which makes me nervous was that last overtime call or the call the play calling leading up to overtime.
Nick Lundberg 23:55
I was not very impressed with Jay Johnson's play calling this game even though they did come up with big plays when they needed to that call that decision to go to throw it to the flat to Jayden Reed on third into when you have no timeouts left and to not get the first down and then force a very long field goal to kind of speed speed up your kicker and then eventually not even getting off not even getting it off and the fact that your long snapper is injured so you have a backup long snapper snapping it with in a rushed situation just wasn't a good look for the offensive play calling.
Joe DesVergnes 24:30
No I think the clock keep running just like you said definitely stressed out the players the time that they were thinking like we need to get this off in a certain amount of time we're we're gonna hear that buzzer and we got to play like 15 more minutes of football but what ended up happening obviously you said backup long snapper fumbled snap, not the best outcome there you would definitely appreciate a little bit better play call and just the setup so the kicker was more comfortable.
Joe DesVergnes 24:51
The long snapper was more comfortable in a big time game situation that he was not supposed to technically be in for unless injury happened. And I definitely do agree with you that they have the set up better for the players to be in the right mindset for that final play.
Nick Lundberg 25:04
But I know that winning washes away everything. So let's move on to the next game. Obviously we have Michigan coming up and the big house under the lights, it's going to be MSU they always step up for games like these big rivalry games, but it's going to be a dogfight and it's gonna be a tough one because you've got Michigan coming in, they just whoops Penn State at home. The first half shouldn't have been that close. There was JJ McCarthy made some questionable decisions and Penn State they capitalized on him but that run game for Michigan is looking very, very scary. That O line just absolutely moves people.
Joe DesVergnes 25:42
Yeah, one of the massive things about this too is most of the wins that you see from Michigan are just blowouts. I don't think that's gonna happen this week, no matter what, it's a rivalry game. They're fighting for the state of Michigan. Even if the records are a little bit stark differences between the two. I think there's gonna be a close game coming up.
Nick Lundberg 25:57
I definitely think Michigan State will come to play as they always do. And you always hear all the talking that the fans go back and forth with but I'm just very concerned about our run defense going up against those guys up front for Michigan, they had at least against Penn State who had one of the best defenses in the country coming in. They only gave up I think believe it was like 300 combined yards of total rush of total rush running offense and then you come in to Michigan and then you allow 160 yards and two touchdowns not just from Blake Corum, but from Donovan Edwards and against a team like that to do that. Makes me a little nervous.
Joe DesVergnes 26:36
Now that was definitely actually a terrifying step to see almost half of the total yards a lap all season were led up in that game basically, obviously compounding each other a little bit there. So different numbers work different ways. I guess, guy was just talked myself into a circle there. But now definitely not going to be the best to see how the run defense stands up against the run offense of Michigan.
Joe DesVergnes 26:55
But as you mentioned earlier, we do have a run stopper back in the middle. So hopefully that strengthens that D line a little bit makes them ready to face such a tough opponent. I think Michigan State is ready for the test.
Nick Lundberg 27:06
And who knows Tuck might pull something out of his bag like he did last year we we saw a couple couple of tricky things but it's going to be a good game. I going to be in the stands. I don't know if you are Joe, I spent about a pretty penny for the game. So I really hope that it's it's going to be a good good matchup, but I'm expecting a dogfight and I hope that the game can be close and who knows anything can happen a rivalry game.
Joe DesVergnes 27:33
Oh, 100%. Don't worry. I emptied my wallet too. So I could be there.
Nick Lundberg 27:35
All right, good. That's That's good. That's good. That's about all the time we have today. Joe, I want to thank you for coming on the podcast is pleasure to have you on.
Joe DesVergnes 27:43
Yeah, it was a great time. I appreciate you letting me on.
Nick Lundberg 27:45
Yep.
Nick Lundberg 27:45
And thank you for everyone for listening. We'll see you next Friday for another edition of Sports Roundtable. Peace out
Transcribed by https://otter.ai