nathan carter

The Paul Bunyan Trophy is up for grabs this weekend as Michigan and Michigan State do battle on Saturday night in East Lansing. Michigan State comes in at 2-4, riding a four game losing streak and reeling from a titanic collapse against Rutgers last weekend in Piscataway. Their offense didn't have a bad outing and were boasting a new QB, so plenty to talk about today: 

The Film: Due to the elevation of Katin Houser to the starting QB job, I had to go with last week's defeat at Rutgers. Thankfully, Rutgers has a pretty solid defense, so we won't be undergoing a crazy strength of opponent adjustment in comparing what Houser faced last week to what he'll see against Michigan. 

Personnel: Click for big. 

Coming out of the bye week, interim head coach Harlon Barnett tabbed class of 2022 4* Katin Houser to be the Michigan State starting QB. Houser had some moments in garbage time against such teams as Maryland and Washington, leading fans to call for his promotion, while previous starter Noah Kim's inability to lead the team to victory nor prevent the turnover was a key factor. Houser's first career start was last week against Rutgers, again showing a few flashes but being a clearly limited player who is not ready to be an operational downfield QB, hence the cyan designation. 

Our Dangerman for this piece is RB Nathan Carter, who makes his second appearance as a Dangerman in two seasons, for two different programs. Carter was listed as the Dangerman for the UConn Offense last season and in the offseason he packed his bags and relocated to East Lansing. Carter is not a superstar, but he's the closest thing to an impact player that this toothless MSU offense has. He's supplanted returning starter Jalen Berger and is currently dwarfing his workload in carries by nearly 5:1. Those two RBs are the guys at the position, as there's not even really a #3 RB to speak of on this team. 

WR was our big question mark coming into the season after MSU shed two premium NFL talents (Keon Coleman and Jayden Reed) and the result is basically what we expected: all the WRs are mid. Tre Mosley is still around as a solid player, but has not made any proverbial leap to speak of. Montorie Foster Jr. has emerged as the other primary target, leading the team in both catches and yards. After that there's a bit of a drop-off in targets, with Jaron Glover clearly the most used based on snaps, but in catches Tyrell Henry and Christian Fitzpatrick are not far behind. The real third receiver is the TE, Maliq Carr, still a 6'6" thicc boy, boasting 17 catches for 169 yards and a TD to his name. He's the only TE who gets any substantial work as a downfield target, with Evan Morris and Jaylen Franklin mostly being blocking-only players (despite being quite bad at blocking). 

The MSU offensive line, having long been a major weak spot for the program, may have its best unit in recent memory. That said, it still isn't impeccable by any stretch. We didn't cyan anyone in the starting lineup, which is a step up, though the depth is iffier. The starters at tackle are Brandon Baldwin at LT and Spencer Brown at RT, Brown being the stronger of the two but they held up alright against Rutgers. Houser was given quite a bit of time to throw by the entire line.

At guard, JD Duplain is a multi-year starter opposite Kevin Wingenton II, a new name. Though I have liked Duplain in the past, I thought he was rather disappointing against Rutgers and was outplayed by Wingenton. PFF agrees with that assessment for the full season. Center Nick Samac is also a returning starter, one I hated last season, but he was quite a bit better against Rutgers and gets his cyan circle removed. The backups were all a step down for me, Ethan Boyd a cut below the starters at tackle and Geno VanDeMark a steep fall from the caliber of the starters. If either reserve is out there, look for Michigan's DL to take advantage. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: who are we afraid of?] 

On the heels of several days of getting my soul restored after watching Hawaii's defense, I am back with this week's FFFF. No, it's not a good team this week. In fact, it's likely another very bad one, but I can guarantee you this piece will be less grim than either of the Hawaii ones from last week. Today we're looking at the offense for the University of Connecticut, who return to the schedule for the first time since 2013, when the main photo for this piece was taken by a then-much-younger Patrick Barron of The Michigan Daily in his pre-MGoBlog days. The Huskies are 1-2 on the season and in the first year of head coach Jim Mora Jr. Can he fix UConn football? Too early tell, but we can learn a few things in doing this exercise. 

The Film: We're using film from UConn's week zero matchup with Utah State for this one. I had hoped to use last week's game against Syracuse due to the Orange being a Power 5 opponent but I could not find a usable copy of that in time to start charting, perhaps because it was approximately the 39th most important game from last weekend and the kind of people who upload these games have enough self-respect. Week zero, though? It was one of only a few games, so footage was ready to use. An important thing to know here is that Utah State does not appear to be the Aggies of the past. USU went 11-3 last season and won the MWC but this year they appear to be horrendous, getting spanked by FCS Weber State last weekend. That Utah State still ended up beating this UConn team in the game I broke down, so, yeah. 

Personnel: Chart, click to enlarge. PDF.

Quarterback appeared to be the most ominous position for UConn coming into the season and that has mostly stayed the same. Anointed starter Ta'Quan Roberson lasted just two drives to begin the season before suffering a torn ACL that ended his 2022. Backup Zion Turner is now the starter, a 3* true freshman who is very much playing like one right now. Cale Millen, brother of CSU starter Clay Millen, is now the backup QB and has been used as a run-first QB option, almost like a Wildcat QB. 

Nathan Carter gets the start at RB and he is this week's dangerman, a fine player who shoulders a sizable load for the Huskies as the primary every-down back. Brian Brewton is #2 back who comes on in 2 RB sets for receiving purposes and occasionally in relief of Carter, a smaller, more lightweight option. Robert Burns has two carries this season and is the nominal FB for when UConn goes to the I-Formation. His lone carry in this game was a FB dive. 

UConn uses TEs a decent amount, with Brandon Niemenski being the one who is used most often. He is a poor blocker and doesn't offer a ton as a receiver either. Reserves who come on in 12 personnel include Russell Dixon and Bo Estes, the former being the biggest receiving threat at the position. As for the WRs, Quebecer Kevens Clercius has emerged as the primary big outside guy, while Aaron Turner is a smaller slot type who gets the most catches (because spoiler, UConn runs a lot of screens). Keelan Marion, Nigel Fitzgerald, and Jacob Flynn are other outside WR options who rotate, while Devontae Houston doesn't get many snaps but gets lot of touches as the designated jet motion handoff guy who comes across the formation. 

The offensive line is relatively stable for the Huskies, with the headliner being Christian Haynes, a very solid player who is definitely the best of the bunch. Dartmouth transfer Jake Guidone starts at center next to Noel Ofori-Nyadu to complete the interior, while Colorado transfer Valentin Senn anchors LT opposite Chase Lundt at RT. Lundt was the weakest piece of the line in your author's opinion. Chris Fortin is the sixth OL, notable because UConn uses six OL a not-insignificant amount of time. Fortin may also rotate in at one of the five starting positions as well.