Episode #5
Season 7 - Episode 5 - Mike talks 2026 College Football Preview with Tim Horvath and Chad Massey
Send us Fan Mail In Episode 5 of Season 7, Mike welcomes noted college football fans and expert prognosticators/dear friends Tim Horvath and Chad Massey for the guys’ annual college football preview of the 2026 season. The guys break down the start of the Kyle Whittingham era at Michigan, what they expect from Bryce Underwood in Year 2, the players and position groups that will define the Wolverines’ season, and the biggest games on the schedule. They also fire up the Michigan Football Time Machine, take out a few extremely necessary Branch Insurance policies, make some predictions they fully expect to regret later (although maybe not!), and look ahead to the Big Ten and College Football Playoff picture. College football is back, objectivity is once again the name of the game, and Tim, Chad and Mike are ready to rise to the occasion. Follow the podcast on BLUESKY: @friendsofmiked Email the podcast at talkingfriendship@gmail.com Key moments from the pod: 0:30: Mike welcomes listeners to S7E5 1:50: Mike updates the listeners on the plan for the rest of Season 6 of the podcast 2:15: What’s been going on with Mike? Namely trips to San Francisco (a future episode of the pod will focus on this) and juke box battles in Boston. 4:40: Mike then features a song by some Goats from the Mountain involving Charlie Sheen and really going for it and how that song encapsulates the vibes of the Michigan Football Team heading into 2026. 10:45: Mike welcomes Tim Horvath and Chad Massey onto the podcast. There’s definitely some insurance humor involved as always as well as some massive life updates, including Tim’s son Trevor heading across the pond for the summer and Chad and his brother going to the next level with Branch Insurance. 17:45: Mike lays out the plan for the rest of the episode and the guys reflect on the updates to the tailgate from the 2025 season, including the introduction of a Yukon Jack-related scroll. 20:45: The guys look back at the end of the Sherrone Moore era 28:00: Michigan Head Coach Kyle Whittingham: will he be a bridge, builder or champion at Michigan? 34:00: Who is the incoming freshman the guys are most excited about? The answers include a dominant edge rusher, a legacy lineman and a couple of game breaking WRs 38:00: The guy then talk transfer portal pickups, including a linebacker from North Dakota, a jump ball specialist, and a veteran DE known as JHD. 41:00: Does Bryce Underwood make the vaunted Sophomore leap? 44:30: What will be the first win of the Kyle Whittingham era that will make it feel real? 49:45: The guys enter the Michigan Football Time Machine where they talk Michigan football games before their time that they would’ve wanted to have attended in person, the one Michigan loss of their lifetime that each of Chad, Tim or Mike would reverse, and the one former Michigan player at his college peak that would most help the 2026 team. 1:04:40: The Branch Insurance Michigan Insurance Policy - it’s critical! 1:08:40: Which position simply can’t afford to underperform on the 2026 Michigan Football Team? 1:12:00: The guys’ top 3 individual key players heading into 2026. 1:15:30: One BOLD prediction from each guy about the upcoming season. 1:19:40: The guys go through their annual Michigan schedule rundown 1:20:10: Western Michigan 1:21:50: Oklahoma 1:24:30: UTEP 1:26:00: Iowa 1:27:40: Minnesota 1:29:50: Bye 1:30:10: Penn State 1:32:40: Indiana 1:37:00: Rutgers 1:38:15: Michigan State 1:41:40 Oregon 1:44:30: UCLA 1:45:30: Ohio State 1:48: 30: The guys predict the Big 10 Champion 1:45:40: The guys then predict the College Football Playoff teams and 2026 National Champion
