Michigan beats Penn State; MSU loses; Pistons ready for opener |

Sports2 SportsWorks starts now. Yes, it does start right now. Good evening, one and all, and welcome to SportsWorks Sunday night. Tonight on the show, we'll hear from Cade Cunningham as the Pistons prepare for Tuesday night's season opener against Boston, and we'll also check in with the Red Wings as they take a two-game win streak into Seattle, plus Stoney and Rieger here at the roundtable. But we start with college football on a weekend that had fans of both the Spartans and Wolverines talking. And coming into Saturday, much of that talk was negative. Could the Wolverines come out of their bye with a renewed energy behind Bryce Underwood? And how badly would Michigan State get blasted by Northwestern? It sounded like a weekend of failure, but in a strange way, the situation turned towards the positive as Michigan found their QB in Tommy Carr, and MSU took another step forward against the Wildcats. Let's start our college football rewind in East Lansing with MSU on the attack. Second down, 11. I get paid to win, and we're not winning, so it starts and ends with me. And we've got to look at all the reasons why things happened the way that they did, and just get back to work and roll our sleeves up. There's a lot of fight in this group, and a lot of guys getting their first opportunity, and I'm proud of them. That's what I said to them after the game. For a lot of the guys, their first opportunity happened today, and they'll be better on Tuesday going through the experiences that they had. We've got to coach better to be able to get over the hump to win those games. We'll take a look at a lot of plays today that were missed opportunities in all three phases. But, again, I don't want to discredit Northwestern. They made a bunch of big plays, especially the ones down the stretch that you needed to make in a one-score Big Ten game. 30 seconds yes being the first team offense and he said we did a little bit more about 30 maybe a little bit more than that so they had kind of prepared for this situation should have arisen and has and now Bryson Kudzal inside the one Jordan Marshall touchdown Wolverines a walk-in and the bones let's see if he was down that's the exact term that we were looking for as a spark for the offense and uh he provided it i mean uh you know he came in and there's rallied around him, and that's not to be disparaging against Bryce, because that's pretty typical when you have a changing quarterback, everyone rallies and ups their level of play, and there's a big difference in our production, obviously, in the second half as opposed to the first half. Now, a great deal of that credit goes to the defense. We had three takeaways in the second half, all of which led to touchdowns. And that brings us to the roundtable for official introductions. Mike Stone is a charming fellow who originally hails from Philadelphia, and Jeff Rieger is a brash young hothead from the Farmington Hills area. Both of these characters can be found on 97.1 The Ticket. I thought the hotheads are from Philly. No, they're not. They're from all over the place. Alright guys, let's get into it right now with Michigan. Okay, 21-18 win over Penn State. Tommy Carr emerges as the quarterback. I mean, comment on his performance just real quick. I mean, listen, he didn't throw a touchdown. He ran for a touchdown. You know what it reminded me of, Stoney? And I know you remember this. Do you remember years and years and years ago Michigan was down to Rutgers 17-0 and they decided to go to Cade McNamara to take over for Joe Milton and he ended up going 13-3 at Michigan and he went and won the game in triple overtime and I think all Michigan fans were totally excited this time, I mean, listen Tommy Carr changed the vibes without a doubt he didn't do much, he got three short fields, he didn't throw a touchdown he ran for a touchdown, so I hear a lot of people saying Tommy, touching number two We got to probably let it breathe against Indiana next week. But without a doubt, it changed the offensive vibes. No doubt. I was at the game, and the place was very happy that he was in the game. And, you know, first pass was complete. So that set the tone. In 10 yards. Yeah, the bottom line is, though, the offensive line finally showed up, and they ran the frickin' football. That's why they won the game and the turnovers. Tommy Carr, it's fine. I would assume he's going to start against Indiana. But I don't think this is the last we're going to see of Bryce Underwood unless Tommy Carr completely lights it up. I mean, they're playing an Indiana team that, you know, knocked Ohio State's quarterback out. Now, let me explore that question with you, Sterling, about Kyle Whittingham able to go back to Bryce Underwood. He's going to have to answer a lot of questions if he does that, and it's not an injury situation. No, I'm not talking about starting. I mean, Tommy Carr will, I think Bryce will end up, some game will be in the game. whether Tommy Carr gets shaken up or Tommy Carr has a really bad game or a bad half. And, you know, maybe to use the spark word, the S word, you know, he says, you know what? Maybe Bryce can come in and give us a spark. What kind of message does this send to the locker room when a freshman can come in off the bench and lead a comeback like this? I think it's a good one. I think the players, I can't prove this, but I think the players were sick and tired of Bryce Underwood because simply he wasn't good enough. He had, what, five games and a half this year around last year? I mean, look, I wrote it down. Bryce Underwood, over the course of his Michigan career, has thrown 16 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. That's not good. So it was probably time for a change. Then you get the reports. You're talking about going back to him. His agent has already heard from Missouri, Colorado, Oregon. So I don't know that we see him again. You mean Lane Kiffin hasn't called yet? I'm sure that's just around the corner. You want him as a replacement for Trinidad Chambliss at Ole Miss? I don't know. I don't know. Well, no, Chambliss is going to be in the NFL next year. Right. I mean, how much longer were you going to continue to throw Bryce Underwood out there and experience the first half like you did without making a change? Look, he hasn't been good. There's no doubt about it. But maybe it's just he needs to be in a place where the system is better suited for him. Who knows? Let me ask you this with Michigan right now before we get to Michigan State. Is this now a different offense, or are they just executing the existing offense a little more efficiently? I think they just executed a little better in the second half because they ran the football. There you go. And I also like the spark the defense showed as well. The defense has been pretty good all season. They got turnovers, too. They haven't got enough turnovers. And they also actually threw the ball to a tight end. Yeah, they did. They did that as well, Stoney. Yes, they did. Let's move on to Michigan State. Okay, they lose to number 25 Northwestern. But, you know, Pat Fitzgerald is establishing culture. And was Saturday a sign that the Rebels are moving in the right direction? Well, he leads the league in one very important stat. It's a huge stat. Moral victories. I got him at 2-0. I got him at 2-0. I'm not even trying to do that anymore. But he hasn't said that. No, no, no. I thought he was going to say he leads the Big Ten in blaming it on himself. Oh, that is true. It's like that old Dan Campbell excuse. You know, I coach, I blame it on me. I get paid to win. But, no, I do wonder, and I'm having that inner turmoil about this. All right, so is it the program's getting better, nothing was expected anyway, and you give the guy a couple years to get it off the ground, or is it you look around the league and college football like alex golrash who's auburn's coach first year beat georgia bob chesney ucla's first year coach he's undefeated from james madison will stein kentucky six and one so there are a lot of coaches that have just taken over programs that are having success and then you look at a guy like fitz who obviously wasn't from this era didn't bring his own staff or his own team because he didn't have one to bring right so i wonder like Like, hey, are we even allowed to expect these things? I don't think we are because you just said there's expectations for one part where a guy's bringing in his own coaches, his own players, and things like that. Fitzgerald is dealing with how many injuries, Tony? Like 800? That's the other thing. They have so many injuries. All the transfers, as Jeff is correct, are not his from the portal. But they're not a very good football team. They play hard as hell, but they're just not very good. And there's a lot of reasons why. The quarterback played good. But Jeff is right on that. You know, the game of football has changed due to Kurt Cignetti. Everybody, every fan base expects or hopes that their team will do what Cignetti did. And Chesney and James Madison at UCLA also come from James Madison. But, look, Fitzgerald hasn't done it. Whittingham hasn't done it. And Matt Campbell at Penn State certainly hasn't done it either. So what's going to qualify as meaningful progress for Pat Fitzgerald? You've got to win a Big Ten game. You've got to win one Big Ten game. And, I mean, UCLA, Michigan, no, no, Washington, maybe, Oregon, no. Can they go to Piscataway and beat Rutgers? Don't they play Maryland the last game this season? Do they? I don't have that on my notes. I must have forgot about that game. But can they win what? You can't go winless in the Big Ten in year one and expect Spartan fans to get excited over year two. Well, it doesn't get any easier because UCLA is next. All right, let's move to the Red Wings. Hey, Jeff Rieger, Detroit has won the last two games. They're in Seattle on Tuesday night. they are four points out of the wild card how about that you're so negative i think it's four games in a row where they haven't lost in regulation too it is yes no i wrote this down the wings have got to be the best in the nhl with an interim gm a former captain wanting out and the second best defenseman on the team actually not signed yet but i will say this emmett finney has been good, Taylor Larkin has been awful his line has been bad without a doubt and this is going to sound stupid, but I'm actually impressed by what I see with all the turmoil and dysfunction. They have a really good line, the Brinket, Finney, and Embiid. Really, really good. Defensively, they've certainly been more responsible than I thought they'd be. And look, now they go on the road. I mean, they had seven of eight games at home. Now they go on the road against, except for Edmonton, who's playing great. They have three. Right, Seattle on Tuesday. Seattle, now Seattle beat us here, but then it's Calgary and Vancouver, so i don't know is asking five out of eight points to four out of eight points does that be realistic that'd be okay right i don't know like i do believe like obviously there's the disgruntled fans right that's that chance sell the team and they're so upset about everything but i think there's also Red Wings fans that are secretly holding out hope okay they switched to a one three one and they're more of a checking team and they play hard too like yesterday Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith right down the San Jose Sharks go up by two goals in the third period It's not like I bet on it or anything. And the Wings come back. And not only do they tie it late in regulation with the empty net, but they win it in a shootout. And Raymond did something. That's true. He got a shootout goal. They're not going anywhere. We know they're not going anywhere. How does this help build the character that McClellan and everybody else is looking for with this young team? It's good for the younger players. There's no doubt about it. And, you know, the fact that the Brinkett's going to be here for six and a half more years, seven years, whatever. Look, another question is this. Why are we not seeing what we saw in the third period for a full 60 minutes? Well, I think it's true, but I think there's a talent disruption. I mean, they don't have enough centers. They lost way too much scoring. And, I mean, again, they play hard, but what do you say about teams that play hard? They're probably not that good, right? Is Detroit a team that's maybe starting to believe in itself with wins like these? Yeah, but it's so early to even sit there and— Well, come on, Stoney, four points out of the wild card. What are you going to say? I got two points out of the wild. Is it even better? I love it. Let's not worry about that until the month of what? March. Will Dylan Larkin be here in March? Hey. Will Sean Horkoff be here in March? Who knows? Will Simon Edmondson be here in March? Here's a question. Is Detroit finding its stride right now? Four straight games earning points. I think if this is their best stride, they're going to be finished last. But you know what I mean. But that's what you expect. I know. I'm going to say something, and it sounds a little disrespectful, but we're going to go ahead and say it anyway. It's not a bleep show. Which I think. Correct. That is actually improvement. That's probably the best thing. Yes. You know what? I'll have to leave it right there. But then again, it's still early. Positives about the Red Wings. It is still early. On the other side of the break, we'll get into the Pistons and the Lions. You're in touch with SportsWorks Sunday night right here on Fox 2. Penny Les. I still feel like we're a little slept on, man. I still feel like people don't really give us the credit that maybe we have earned. Yeah, that's the beauty of it. I think that's part of being in Detroit. I think that's part of being, you know, a team that is young and, you know, people don't really expect much. versus other teams that have bigger names or whatever you want to call it. So we don't really worry too much about that stuff. We just got to go out there and do our jobs at the highest level and represent. Those were the comments from Pistons guard Cade Cunningham last week. And with the season opening on Tuesday night at home against Boston, is he right? Is the league sleeping on Detroit? Well, it depends what you mean by sleeping. You heard Cade. You know what he means. Yeah, they're not going to win 60 games, which is fine because the only thing that matters is the playoffs. Now, the East is so much tougher. I don't think you can guarantee them to be even a top three seed this year. I mean, you know, Boston, the Knicks, obviously the defending champs, Miami with Giannis, you know, Philly with Jalen Brunson and even, you know, some guy named LeBron as well. What about Kawhi back in Toronto? Exactly. That's a sleepy team. Indiana's going to be really good. Halliburton's back. Halliburton's back. He looks good, too. Yes, and, you know, Orlando gave them fits in the playoffs last year. So Cleveland is still on paper better than them. So just get in. So how has the pressure changed for Detroit? Has it at all? I mean, they still need to get into the postseason. That's the goal. I mean, I think they're going to be a postseason team for sure. And you know what Cade's doing. He's doing the whole chip on the shoulder. It's good. I like it. I absolutely love it. Now, what I'm most intrigued with, though, Woody, and I don't know if you heard this, Stoney, but somebody said, hey, Jalen Duren, are you going to shoot threes? His response was, hell yeah. And he has yet to make a three in the NBA, but I can't wait to see J.D. He missed it, but I'm excited about that. And Abuko Okori, have you seen this kid in preseason? Late in games. He has been fantastic with the ball. I know it's preseason. Slashing in and getting to the basket. Twice 14 minutes. One time he played nine minutes and scored 14 points, rather. So, I mean, a couple things to look for. It's going to be a fascinating season, especially coming off left. Well, on the start. I mean, opening day. Right. Just to kick the season off. Look, I'm not going to suggest it's going to be like Tiger's opening day. But, you know, maybe it'll start a tradition. I don't know if the Pistons will be part of it every year. But I think it's kind of cool, you know, Tuesday afternoon at 3 o'clock. I think that's cool. But then they've got to go to at Miami, at Philly, and at the Knicks. You can't play the schedule game early on. No, no, I'm just saying. I like it, bro. I want to see the big names right from the get-go. No, all I'm saying is it's a tough start schedule-wise. On paper, I'm not going to go win-loss, win-loss. But, you know, because a team like Philly, they're going to take a while to gel. The Knicks are going to still have the championship hangover. So, look, none of this stuff matters to the playoffs anyway. Jeff, you mentioned Jalen Duren. Is he ready to play like a cornerstone piece every night? He's got to be, right? He signed the contract. Apparently, he got off the candy. He's eating grapes instead. So, that's a positive. Now, listen, I truly believe that Jalen Duren is not like Dylan Larkin. He's got a chance because he's definitely going to be here to get everybody on his side. And I think if he goes out and balls out and adds a three or a shot to his game and just plays hard like you know he will, I do believe Piston fans are going to jump aboard. Like, look, I wrote this down. You're writing a lot of things down. 24 points in 15 minutes in an exhibition game for J.D. That was pretty good. Go ahead and do that, and I think fans will forget about the contract. Look, I want to see the Pistons get a lot more dangerous. I want to see Cade Cunningham step up. I want to see Jalen Duren be a force. We want to see all of it. Does the star Thompson have a shot? I think he does. All right. You know what? It starts on Tuesday against the Boston Celtics. All right, let's move to the Detroit Lions. All right, coming off the bye, they take on the Green Bay Packers on Sunday. Can this offense continue to put up the numbers we're seeing? Yes. I think the offense, especially, you know, you're going to have Cade Mays probably back. Back, right. You know, so, you know, Scruggs has actually played pretty good. I love the depth now they have on that. He can play guard, but Mahogany's played well, too. So the offensive line, you think it's going to get better. They'll be able to run the ball even better than they have with Gibbs. and you know the passing game is what it is it's terrific what's one thing that has to carry over next week from the cardinals win well first of all the defense right yes they're going to try to play more sticky man you get brian branch back so how big of a deal will he be don't expect him to be great right i know but can he be 65 can he be 75 but like i think stoney asked a great question we were talking about the show beforehand he said who's good in the nfc did you see the rams The Rams lost? Yes, Arizona. See who they lost to? They lost to Arizona, yes. So all of a sudden, going out to the desert and bludgeoning the Cardinals. Well, the Rams lost at home. Well, yeah. But I'm just saying, last week, everybody's like, ah, the Lions beat a bad team. Well, okay, we don't know what the Lions are. We don't know who anybody is. Stanley, it's fair to say. Maybe the Lions are better than the Rams. San Francisco's really good. Minnesota's probably good. Minnesota's good. Seattle, once they get Charbonnet back, they might be able to be good. What about the Chicago Bears? The Bears are good. They got Caleb back. He was awesome to me. Yes, the Bears are good. What about the Buffalo Bills? Are they good? We were just talking about the NFC. They're not bad. Yeah, well, they're not bad. They're not bad. Another good part about the NFC is the play of Jared Goff. This guy has, what, 12 touchdowns and no interceptions so far? He's been fantastic. I mean, if we get this kind of production from Goff, sky's the limit, right? Are you going to chant it? I'm not going to chant anything yet. No, no, no. I mean, no. We're bigger than that. You know? That's great stuff. That was so 2024. Exactly. Do you remember walking into your local Meijer Deli and hear the dive? Oh, yeah. And Jerry Goff, Jerry Goff. But again, with his performance and raising all the boats, it seems that these guys are set up for success moving forward as far as offense goes. If I can nitpick just a little bit, if I'm allowed. I want to see the offense start on time better. I want to see the offense end better as well. And you know what? Other than that, it's pretty hard not to be impressed. And then, of course, the other side of the ball. I want to see Brad. Look, the deadline, I believe, is what, November 1st or something like that? Coming up quick, yeah. Right. After the Minnesota game. Go get somebody. I don't know, Buda Baker, you know. That'd be amazing. Yes. They don't need him anymore in the desert. No. But do we believe Brad's going to make a move? He's made three trade deadline moves. Can you name them? Well, he traded T.J. Hawkinson. That's one. Picked up Z'Darrius Smith. Two. The third one's a tough one. The year after Hawk. The year after Hawk. Oh, Donovan Peoples-Jones. So we need something bigger than those three moves. Those DPJ Lyon memories. Did he play a game? Yeah. Look, we'll have to see if Brad cooks or Brad doesn't cook. We'll have to see what happens. And you know what? We have a little bit of time before we get to that deadline. Hey, look, I got to wrap it up. These guys have been great. Thanks a lot to Mike Stone. Thanks a lot to Jeff Rieger. Thank you, Woody. 97 won the ticket. And there's much more SportsWorks Sunday night coming up after this break. All right, let's get to it. Go Canes. Oh, come on. I was going to ask you. NASCAR at the Phoenix Raceway for the running of the Freeway Insurance 500. Kyle Larson looks to extend his lead at the NASCAR Cup Series standings with four races remaining. However, there were issues. With 29 laps to go, Larson crashed into the wall, and that was costly because he headed back to the garage and did not finish. That left things wide open, and with 18 laps to go, Tyler Reddick passed Chase Briscoe to take the lead, and he never looked back. Kyle Larson still has the points lead, but Tyler Reddick takes the checkered flag to move into seventh place in the postseason standings. With the ALCS tied at two games each, Game 5 between the Guardians and the Rays was pivotal. Could Tampa Bay separate themselves in this series, or might Cleveland show toughness and take a 3-2 series lead? Well, it all came down to Tampa Bay playing small ball. He's got one of the best swings you could have, and he shoots one to the opposite field, a base hit. And Williamson on his way to the plate, throw comes in late, and it's an RBI single for Aranda. Rays coming out, swinging the bats in Game 5. one out in the third, one ball one strike on Hicks and he sends one in the air centerfield coming in how that is going to fall, a base hit, Simpson will score, Liam Hicks muscles one to centerfield for an RBI single, single runs in the first second and third innings making the difference as the Rays take a 3-2 series lead thanks to a 3-1 win in game five tampa bay can send cleveland home and advance into the world series with a win on monday in game six to the nfl where the lions have the week off but there was other NFC North action in play that would have an effect on the standings like the Bears heading to Atlanta to take on the Falcons. Chicago QB Caleb Williams returning from a hamstring injury and he was ready to go. Williams completed his first 12 passes as the Bears built a 31-7 lead and a Falcons comeback attempt fell short as Chicago won it 31-23 was the final. It's surprising how good the Bears are but the biggest surprise so far are the Los Angeles Chargers. Jim Harbaugh's squad is winless on the season, and they were in danger of falling to 0-6 with the Sunday matchup against the undefeated Kansas City Chiefs. QB Patrick Mahomes is always a concern, but Kenneth Walker III is also creating problems for defenses, and he was at it again on Sunday. Wow, the former Spartan with two scores on the day as the Chiefs win it 22 to 6 the Chargers joining the Dolphins as the only winless teams in the NFL finally tonight Aaron Rodgers has reached another milestone the Steelers QB threw for two touchdowns and the Steelers win over the Buccaneers but he also tied Peyton Manning for third place on the NFL's all time passing touchdowns list with 539 Rodgers and Manning are now behind Drew Brees with