This became an interception! Seriously! (Don't worry, Gary Nova still had an awful game.)

So I just watched the 13-10 Penn State win over Rutgers from a couple weeks ago in which Gary Nova threw five interceptions and let's just get this over with as quickly as humanly possible.

Personnel. Rutgers doesn't just list a starting FB and TE—they mean it, coming out in a 2WR I-form set on just about every standard down. They trotted out this formation a few times, as well, in which they'd start from their base I-form, then motion both the FB and TE into a trips set:

Otherwise, they went I-form on standard downs and shotgun on obvious passing downs with little exception.

Seth's diagram [click to embiggen]:

We decided to expand the recruiting-related star from composite top-100 only to top-250, since that still encompasses relatively elite prospects while not being quite as exclusive—limiting it to just the top 100 from each class left out some highly regarded players with impressive recruiting profiles.

Spread, Pro-Style, or Hybrid? Pro-style. As mentioned, I-form is their base set, and the shotgun pretty much exclusively came out in third-and-long situations. Ralph Friedgen's offense is like a time portal to 1990s NFL football.

Basketball on Grass or MANBALL? A mix of both gap and zone blocking concepts. Rutgers leaned heavily on zone running early, then added in more power later in this game. RB Paul James had to make something out of nothing either way for the most part; in very bad news for Rutgers, James tore his ACL the next week against Navy. He'll miss the rest of the season, and his backups aren't of his caliber.

Hurry it up or grind it out? Huddletastic.

[Hit THE JUMP for the rest of the breakdown.]

About Last Week:

Note from Samuel L. Jackson to Big Ten defenders: hold onto your Butts.

The Road Ahead:

Utah (2-0, 0-0 PAC-12)

Yep. Them.

Last game: Bye

Recap: No recap. Bye.

This team is as frightening as: I am of two minds. The first is that Utah hasn’t played anyone yet, so their two blowouts provide us almost no information. They beat Fresno State by 32… which is the closest the Bulldogs have kept a game this year (they lost by 36 at Nebraska and 39 to USC). They also beat Idaho State by 42, and at least Idaho State has won a game this year. Over Division II Chadron State. By 5. The point is that if you think the transitive property of college football is unreliable, believe me when I say that the second order transitive property is slightly more unreliable.

On the other mind, Utah has an experienced QB, a very talented receiver, a couple of quality running backs, and a defense that can walk and chew gum at the same time. And Michigan really needs this one. Fear Level = 7.

Michigan should worry about: Dres Anderson. The wide receiver is averaging 27.8 yards per catch. Which is many.

Michigan can sleep soundly about: This will be Utah’s first road game of the year. It will also be Utah’s first game against a team with a pulse.

/checks Michigan for a pulse

/waits

/moves fingers to slightly different location on Michigan’s wrist.

HA. Totally feel a pulse. Knew it all along.

When they play Michigan: The clenching. So much clenching.

Next game: @ Michigan (UM -6), 3:30 Saturday (ABC/ESPN2)

Minnesota (2-1, 0-0 B1G)

Last game: Woodshedded by TCU, 30-7

Recap: Minnesota’s team is designed around one thing: running the ball effectively. TCU stuffed Minnesota’s running game. The results were… predictable.

Minnesota ran for 2.5 yards per carry, and David Cobb was held to 41 yards on 15 carries. In the first half, Minnesota put up 111 yards of offense in nine drives. Those drives ended in three turnovers, five punts, and the sweet mercy of the halftime gun. By then TCU led 24-0, which they extended to 30-0 in the third quarter before calling off the frogs.

Mitch Leidner finished 12 of 26 for 151 yards (5.8 YPA) and 3 picks. And if THAT wasn’t enough, he ended up with a foot injury (reports are mixed between a broken toe, turf toe, and a general angering of the gypsy). He’s also coming off of a sprained MCL two weeks ago. His backup, Chris Streveler, is a redshirt freshman. I wonder if he knows how to throw a football?

I’m pretty sure “Flick the Booger” is actually Minnesota’s motto this year.

This team is as frightening as: Fighting a guy you’ve fought a bunch, and who you’ve beaten 39 of the last 42 times. Except this time he has one arm tied behind his back. And the other arm has turf toe. Fear Level = 3

Michigan should worry about: You know what you’d get from Leidner, and it is the kind of thing that Michigan is ideally suited to stop. If Streveler is in, maybe he gives Minnesota an added dimension of some kind. Like, he can throw a football. Kind of.

Michigan can sleep soundly about: The most frightening thing I could think of was “maybe Minnesota will be starting a freshman.”

When they play Michigan: Booooooooring. But in a good way.

Next game: vs. San Jose State, 4:00 p.m. Saturday

[After the jump: OH MAH GAWD IS THAT MILEY'S MUSIC???]

This is an actual movie. See? There are worse things than Draftageddon

Draftageddon is complete, to the relief of many of you and the heartbreak of… well, some of you. Maybe. But there are still some non-terrible football players to be discussed, so to be properly prepared for the season, let’s take a look at some of the players who were not selected, but could have been if we’d Heiko’d just a little deeper. We’ll also review who WAS taken at various positions and take a quick gander at the position group as a whole. If you want to go back and read our snark, on any of the players, the hyperlinks on players' names will take you to the relevant articles.

Quarterback

Who was taken:

Who’s left:

Joel Stave, Wisconsin – Threw for 7.4 YPA with 22 TDs, 13 INTs. He’s a game manager, though not a particularly inspiring one. Stave didn’t exceed 9 YPA in any game against a power conference team, despite a massively effective running game behind him. Wisconsin’s passing game stagnated last half of the season, and as a result, Stave is theoretically battling w/ Tanner McEvoy for the starting job. Stave will almost certainly win the job, but he’s returning to a gutted receiving corp: Wisconsin loses their four leading receivers, including Jared Abbrederis & Jacob Pederson. Their leading returning receiver had 127 yards. Way more red flags than green ones.

Jake Rudock, Iowa – Threw for 6.9 YPA with 18 TDs and 13 INTs. These are not inspiring numbers, especially for a quarterback with a solid running game behind him. Another game manager type, Rudock didn’t throw for more than 256 passing yards in any game, and didn’t crack 9 YPA against any non-Purdue opponent. Meh.

Trevor Siemian, Northwestern – Was a pretty stoppable Throw God last year, throwing for 7.2 YPA with 11 TDs and 9 INTs. In B1G play he went for 4 TDs and 0 INTs against Illinois… and 3 TDs and 7 INTs against the rest of the conference. He seemed to regress over the course of the year (along with Northwestern’s entire offense), and whether it is the result of missing Venric Mark (SIT DOWN, SETH) or just Northwestern not being that good, it’s hard to expect great things this year.

OVERALL – Braxton, then a few guys, then wheeeeeeeeeee. Despite the gap in draft rounds between the second and third quarterbacks taken, there is a solid tier just below Miller that includes Devin Gardner, Christian Hackenberg, and Connor Cook (and potentially Nate Sudfeld or CJ Brown, but probably not). Beyond that, you’re looking at uninspiring game manager-types, young guys prone to moments of WTF, and Gary Nova. Michigan is very much in the “haves” half of the draw in this respect, so be pleased.

[After THE JUMP: other positions, as you probably guessed.]