Sportsworks 9-6-26 -- Woody, Stoney & Riger's spirited discussion on WMU-UM finish plus MSU, Lions & TIgers

Good evening all and welcome once again to SportsWorks Sunday Night. I'm Woody Woodruff and tonight on the show we'll go one-on-one with 2026 IndyCar champ Alex Pillow and we'll also look in on the Lions as the start of the regular season approaches. Plus, roundtable commentary from Stoney and Rieger but we begin where we left off last night, Ann Arbor's Big House, the scene of the crime between Western Michigan and the Michigan Wolverines. And to many, crime is the correct term because how the heck could an extra second magically appear and save the Wolverines from another trip into the dark days of Toledo and Appalachian State. We'll start this discussion but first, let's review how it all unfolded. And you wouldn't know that. At the 26, Dylan Moore. It's Underwood stepping up. And it's Underwood. Michigan believes they've got it. Nine seconds remaining. Deep drop. Underwood. Five seconds left. It's the attack. There's one second remaining in the game. To throw away the hope to the Broncos. As I watched the first Hail Mary end and the ball sailed out of the back of the end zone, as I glanced at the clock, I was pretty sure there was one second left. But that obviously is not up to me. But as the refs went to replay, they confirmed it. And so it gave us one more opportunity. And that second time around, Bryce threw a perfect ball. And J.J. made a phenomenal catch. And so this game will go down in history, Michigan history. I don't know if it's in a positive way but it'll go down in history for certain. The broadcast showed a different clock than what the reviewers saw in the review center. The Big Ten has released what their reviewers looked at. And if you look at those two, any objective person would see that they lead to completely different results. There are no appeals in this review process for the Big Ten or the MAAC. And I asked if we should have a review process, if we should think about building one. But there is none right now. So I can tell you, as a graduate of Western Michigan University, as someone who is immensely proud of this institution, and who saw two football teams work really hard, but one football team be the better football team, I did want to find a way to appeal that decision. But there is none. Alright, time for official introductions. Mike Stone can be found on 97.1 The Ticket and so can Jeff Rieger. Thanks for joining me tonight, guys. Alright, let's get right into it. What did you think about the end of the game? And has your opinion changed? Tony, I'll start with you. Well, first of all, last night I thought of two songs. Michigan song being the Rolling Stones' Time is on my side. And then from the Western side, a very unknown Bruce Springsteen song called Held Up Without a Gun. I don't know that one. But it's true. However, because I don't believe, there's only one conspiracy theory I believe, and that's the Patrick Ewing frozen envelope in the first lottery. Fair. When I saw, I went to bed this morning, last night, thinking that Western got hosed. And then when I saw the video, with the audio of the replay process, I said, well, I guess they got it right. And that's how I end up feeling. But there are more issues besides that, but we'll get into that later. Jeff, your comments about the end of the game? No, I totally disagree with Stoney. I wholeheartedly disagree with Stoney. Like, the Big Ten's not even trying hard to sell their so-called evidence because they know they have the perfect victim. Western Michigan got paid $1.5 million to play in that game. They're not going to create a stink. They're not going to say, oh, woe is us. No, they're going to take it because they want their teams in the MAAC to keep playing Big Ten teams. But it's not like the Big Ten even tried hard here. Look at their so-called evidence. They didn't include the whole play, Woody. They only included the last 30 or 3 seconds. So you think it was edited? Well, no, I don't think they showed you the whole thing because let me ask you this, Stoney. How does the official time official say, let's sync our clock at 9 seconds? That's my point right there. And then something screws up in 9 seconds but the Big Ten's time is more important than anybody else's time? No, what happened here was the Big Ten is covering up for the mistake and I just ask you boys this. I ask you this. If the shoe was on the other foot, if Western Michigan was driving, would they give them the extra play? The answer is no. Probably not, but we don't know. It's all conspiracy. And the money thing has absolutely nothing. If they got screwed, fine. I can deal with you saying they got screwed. But they're not quiet because they don't want to, oh, Michigan, they won't schedule us again? Bull crap. Oh, I totally disagree. Why does the Mack Commissioner and also Lance Taylor and the president of Western Michigan say, oh yeah, they handled it right. Oh yeah, we agree with the Big Ten. It's because they don't want to rock the boat. They should be pissed. Seriously, if you're going to be mad at one person or one group of people, be mad at Western. To not stick up for your kids, to not stick up for your community, that's a joke, man. It's an absolute joke. You know what? I would have liked to have seen Lance Taylor with a little more emotion on the field, especially after the game before everything got stormed. But I understand how he wanted to calm his emotions down in the press conference after the game. I get that. But I would be hot like you would not believe and I would make sure that my school president knew how hot I was after this game. And by the way, Whittingham saying that he could tell that it was one second. I don't buy that at all. That's what I'm talking about. You don't believe the lip reading? I believe the lip reading. He told them at the end there was no time. And that's what I believe. I saw with my own eyes. We all saw this. If the Big Ten is so intent on getting us to believe and they don't care if you believe, you're going to watch football regardless. But why show the video of 18 touching the ball? They gave you a video where you saw the back of his jersey. You can't even see him touch the football. I'm going to take it like that Henry Ford commercial where I am Henry. I am Western, my friend, right here, right now. I am Western all day long. And you know what? Here's the thing. Terry McAuley, three-time Super Bowl ref, rules analyst for NBC, said A, all the clocks were synced 85 minutes before the game. And B, for the nine seconds to go off of the game clock and nine seconds to go off of whatever clock the Big Ten was watching. How is there a difference in nine seconds? Where is that? Now if you want to play the conspiracy route, that clock when it went from nine to eight was certainly about a half a second. Now that could be too. But that's irrelevant. It's like almost the return of Spartan Bob. Yes. And there's another one too. If you remember, I forget the exact year, Penn State came into the Big House undefeated and Lloyd pleaded for another second on the clock I think you make perfect sense. I really do. Like the Big Ten, their whole proof is well, our time is real and everybody else is not. But you're absolutely right. So they strobe sync the watches, the clocks, 85 minutes before the game as you said. So they also said nine seconds, put nine seconds on your clock. How is their nine different than your nine and why does their nine matter more than your nine? Look, we're going to be talking about this for years. Bryce Underwood, I mean, 54 quarterback rating, 12 of 22, 170 yards. Tommy Carr could be coming around the corner real quick, Jeff. What did you think about his performance in this game? Yeah, Bryce was awful. He was just awful and I think we expected with a quarterback coach that he was going to be better. He had the fumble to end the game or at least we thought was going to end the game. He had the bailed out interception in the first half. He had the mind-numbing interception at the end of the first half. He even had a holding penalty. But he's throwing off his back feet. The footwork isn't there. He was horrible. Equally as horrible was the offensive line. They could not run the ball on Western Michigan with all due respect to the Broncos. That was abysmal. The other thing that was abysmal was the coaching. I'm sorry, you had pre-snap penalties galore. You had the interception that you're talking about. I'm sitting next to my wife in the stand. I threw the ball. I said, take a knee and get out of there. Not only did you throw the ball, you threw an out route where a guy can snap. It was ridiculous. That was awful. I have to agree with Kyle Winningham in one aspect. There's a lot of work to be done before next week's game against Oklahoma. By the way, will they have tight ends on this roster? You can continue to ask those questions, Tony. It was a much different story in East Lansing as Michigan State kicked off the Pat Fitzgerald era by hosting Toledo. The 30-20 nail-biter was tense, but the result was good to see with solid performances on both sides of the football as the program tries to move forward. Here's a look back. I got a little aggressive with the long field goal. Scared money doesn't make money. I'm not here to win a punting contest. Not reckless, but I want to be aggressive. I'm looking to make money. Self-inflicted wounds slowed us down across the 50. Also, on the flip side, defensively, we gave up explosives that we just cannot allow to happen as we move forward. Credit to Toledo. They made those plays. I'd like to go practice because we've got a lot of work to do, but really proud of the guys, and I'm really thankful for them. Pat Fitzgerald's comments bringing us back to the roundtable. All right, guys, I love his comments, scared money don't make none, but what are the Spartans still lacking on defense, in your opinion? Speed in the defensive backfield. They got toasted back there, but, look, everybody knew this was going to be a work in progress, and what impressed me the most was after they stubbed their toe and Toledo took the lead, they went right down, went for it on fourth down, got aggressive. Scared money don't make none. You heard the coach. Hey, Jeff, can this offense stay consistent with Milivojevic? Yeah, you know what, by the way, Alessio Milivojevic, he wrote that for me. Pronunciation, thank you. I'm actually really impressed with that kid, and I was impressed with him last year when he came in. He had like 11 touchdowns and two interceptions. He only played four games. I thought he showed poise. I thought he showed playmaking ability on Friday night. The problem is, he's going to get killed. That offensive line is very difficult to watch, and I thought the offensive line was actually going to be a strength of theirs. They got a whole bunch of big bodies there, including Hank Fraley's kid, but I think if you don't protect Milivojevic, he's going to die out there, but offensively, I wrote down a couple names, like Rodney Bulley Jr. Yeah, he's very good. Seven receptions, 90 yards, didn't use them all that much last year, and then Cam Edwards, the transfer from Toledo, almost 100 yards and a touchdown. I think, yes, the offense should be good as long as you can protect the quarterback. Stoney, quickly, what do you like about Pat Fitzgerald and what he's building? He's just like one of those guys with some spirit, some energy, and it's something that they needed after Mr. Dull was there for two years. Who's Mr. Dull? Jonathan Smith. Jonathan Smith? Yeah, that guy. Does Whittingham remind you of Jonathan Smith? Not yet. Not yet. How many games do you think they'll win, MSU? I said six. I'll go six. Maybe six, seven. Yeah, exactly. We'll go with that. We'll see what they do against Eastern Michigan next. Let's move from the college game to the NFL and the Detroit Lions. Is this squad ready for the regular season kickoff next week against the New Orleans Saints? I don't know if I believe that. However, when Brad Holmes met the media last week, he seemed pretty pleased with how the offseason went and how the players progressed during training camp. I thought Dan did a great job managing the camp. Even going all the way back to right after the draft, the phases of the offseason program, OTAs, just had everything married up very nicely with the management of everything. Getting the necessary work in, getting the guys prepared. He's always done a great job about that. You can bring the competition in, but to have those guys to play fast, to compete hard, those guys getting pushed, it's golden evaluation opportunities to look at those guys. Everybody did a great job. Back to the roundtable. Brad Holmes seems happy, but did he fix the Lions pass rush problem? I think they're deep. I really do. I think if you look at a D.J. Wanham or you look at a Derek Moore and you add it with Aiden Hutchinson, I think Lions fans believe this is the deepest defensive line that Brad Holmes has ever had. The problem is, will it work? We have no idea. They've got to stop the run, too, and hopefully Ali McNeil will return to the old Ali McNeil. Yeah, that would be big because they need that push in the middle, and then maybe the ends work a little easier. Which position group do you trust the most, Tony, on this team? Wide receivers. What about the least? The least? Safeties. I would agree with that. Jeff, what's your biggest show-me moment for the Lions in Week 1? I want to see if Jamiro Gibbs can really carry the ball as much as they want him to carry the ball. I really wonder about the running back situation. You pay him all that money, which he totally deserves. He's one of the better running backs in all of football. But if the plan is, we have no backups. Our two backups have to combine nine carries, and one just played in the XFL UFF. I'm sorry. I apologize. One just played in the UFFL. How many carries can you give Gibbs without wearing him down? He's never really been a bell cow. Can he be a bell cow? Let me ask this final question to you, Tony. Can the O-line be trusted? No. Because their best center is not playing, and they have some questions with some of the young guys. They'll have to earn our trust, so to speak. They just got rid of their second-string center, too. Do you think Drew Petzing can unleash this offense? Yeah. They have so many weapons that anybody whose name isn't John Morton should be able to unleash this offense. That was a cheap shot. That was a cheap shot right there. Stoney, that's something I would say, not you. You know what? Will we know what this team is like starting in week one, or how long until we know what this team is? I think four to five weeks. They have a favorable schedule early on, so I think they're going to be able to roll, obviously, in a last-place schedule, but I want to get Branch back. Will Kirby ever get back? I don't think we know the answer to that. My guess, and it's just a guess, Kirby Joseph will not play football the rest of the week. He hasn't even been with the team. I might believe that as well. You know what? I've got to stop it there. Back to the roundtable. Question number one for you, Jeff Rieger. Three walk-off losses against Cleveland. Your reaction? Were you watching? I tried not to. This bullpen is unbelievable. I'm actually sick, I must say. I can't stop watching. I know some people have turned it off, but I need to see high-leverage Tiger innings, and it happened again this weekend, twice on Friday, and then one today. Woody, I've got to tell you, this bullpen, Kyle Finnegan, Kenley Jansen, Drew Summers, Jacob Wagusbach, the list goes on and on. This has to be the worst bullpen Tiger fans have ever seen. I found myself asking this the other day, and I want to ask you guys, have we ever had a reliable Tigers reliever that actually trotted out there and actually got the job done? That one time with Jose Valverde. Yeah, that was it. 49 for 49. Yeah, and in 87, when Henneman came up. Home run Henneman, they called him. Well, yeah, later on in his career, but yeah. Stoney, what did you think about what you saw? Two walk-offs. You've seen a lot of baseball in your day. Come on, this is rock bottom, isn't it? This is rock bottom, isn't it? It's bad, and it's time. It's offseason. They might have to have a little conversation about A.J. Hinch. I don't disagree. This has been a bad year for A.J. I don't know if it's all his fault. It's not all his fault. A lot of the levers he's pulled hasn't worked, and let's be honest, when the pressure hits on this team over a three-year span, they kind of go in the tank. How much is that A.J.'s fault? I don't know the answer, but I agree with you. Not to mention, maybe he wants to leave. Right, I'm not saying they should fire him, but I think it has to be discussed. Wasn't there talk about another position for A.J. Hinch? The GM job in Houston. He said no, apparently. Well, maybe he wants to reconsider. We'll see about that. I mean, him being at a loss for words really had me saying, oh man, I feel for the guy. I'm starting to feel for the guy because I do like A.J. Hinch. Isn't it crazy though? So I go back to May 31st, A.J. Yank hit him on Terrell Watt at the game in 66 pitches. They got swept by the White Sox. They were 16 under, and then they caught fire. I'm like, okay, they got the one under, and now they're 13 under again. It's incredible. They hit that Chicago series, and just, that was it. Look, you know what? It's obviously a lost season, and we'll let it go. Another baseball aspect I wanted to bring up was umpire Doug Eddings against the Cardinals on Friday for ordering rookie pitcher Hansel Rincon to straighten his hat. I don't like the way you're wearing your hat. It was tilted left, and now I'm going to tilt it left in respect for him. Oh, unbelievable. He's a veteran now. And I believe that the Cardinals today, a lot of their players wore that hat. Exactly. Which is amazing. Now, apparently, Major League Baseball told Eddings that he acted inappropriately, and he apologized to Rincon. That was a big deal. But again, Stoney, we get these umpires where it's like, hey, you're not looking like that on my field. It's not their field. I know. I think they're getting a little butthurt by all the challenges and things like that, so they need to do something. Umpires, but this is like as old as the test of time. Uniformed police, bro. Come on. All these try to make it about themselves. Like, yeah! You're killing me. You know, when you strike out, don't go crazy. Oh, my God. There were so many guys who did it. Dontre Willis, Fernando Rodney, CeCe Sabathia. Hey, look, don't forget the Tigers are back on Fox 2 this Wednesday afternoon for their series finale with the Twins. Join us for our pregame show at noon as we get you set for the game. Wojo and Birchie will join Dan Miller live from Camerica Park. Detroit Sportsnet takes over at 1230, followed by the game. It's the Tigers on Fox 2, and it's on Wednesday afternoon. So, thanks a lot to Mike Stone, Jeff Rieger. Yes, Stoney? I have one question, real quick. I thought there was a rumor that we were going to get a general manager for our hockey team, Labor. You know what? I'm glad you brought that up, because the time is ticking and the team reports to camp on the 17th. So, yeah, and there's still nothing going on. This is franchise malpractice with the Red Wings. That's exactly what it is. Dylan Larkin was just on Aiden Hutchinson's podcast. He didn't say anything about the Wings, but maybe he's getting excited. Unbelievable. Hey, these guys can be heard on 97.1 The Ticket.