trap play

FORMATION NOTES: Minnesota was a dedicated 4-3 team, probably the first of the year depending on how you want to classify "multiple" outfits that base out of stack personnel.

Note the low safety. This is after Bredeson's motion starts and that guy is moving up to ~7 yards deep. Minnesota had a lot of late shifts that occasionally gave Michigan trouble. They don't really have any dudes this year but I can understand why they ranked highly in SP+ defense last year. Their system seems pretty good.

SUBSTITUTION NOTES: Nothing particularly unusual at this point, except that TE domination continues to, uh, dominate. Snaps for skill positions:

• Barner: 40
• Loveland: 34
• Johnson: 31
• Wilson: 24
• Morris: 21
• Bredeson: 19
• Clemons 13
• Moore: 11
• Morgan: 9

TE 2 is now above WR 1 in snaps. Dios mio man.

FWIW, the backup line was Jones/El-Hadi/Crippen/Persi/Hinton, so they're not trying to get a redshirt on Hinton. Jones also got five ponus OL snaps. RB snaps were split about down the middle between Edwards, Corum, and Mullings, though Mullings caught up during the Tuttle Time drive.

[After THE JUMP: more of the same]

Poke any general or military historian with what's the biggest blowout battle in history and they'll either say Cannae or have a reason why not. In August 216 BCE Hannibal of Carthage finally got the Romans to engage him. Hannibal weakened his middle and concentrated on winning at the edges, and the Romans walked right into the trap, creating a bulge in the middle that turned into a Carthaginian envelopment. Thus compressed, the superior Roman numbers (86.4k to 50k) and heft (80k heavy infantry vs 32k heavy and 8k light infantry) were more hindrance than help, further reducing the space they needed to operate. It was an annihilation.

One of the most frustrating parts of Michigan's offense this year to me was they were constantly unprepared for the #1 thing that opponent defenses do. The first half of the Rutgers game was more of the same. Some of the endgame was too. But for most of the second half, the Wolverines were suddenly running plays that suggested they had at least read about Cannae, and had an idea how to get out of one.

[After THE JUMP: Marian reforms needed.]

SPONSOR NOTE: Upon Further Review is sponsored by HomeSure Lending and Matt Demorest. Rates are the lowest they've been in three years so it can't hurt to check whether you can save money on a refinance. Or you could buy a house in Ann Arbor! Good luck with that!

Matt's relocated the bus to Pioneer this year, BTW, and invites everyone to stop by and say hi. There's beer. I mean, obviously. Matt. Matt and beer: a good pairing.

FORMATION NOTES: Not much of note other than the occasional pistol formation and one I-Form Big on the goal line. Michigan did have a wildcat snap inside the five as well. About 60% of snaps had 2 TEs; the large majority of the rest were 3 WR formations.

Illinois mostly had a slightly shaded odd front:

This resulted in Michigan running a bunch of trap plays that didn't feel like traps, but more about that later.

SUBSTITUTION NOTES: QB/OL the usual except McCaffrey came in for the last three drives and Hayes got the last two. The deep backups didn't get in at all. Odd.

Haskins and Charbonnet again split the RB snaps down the middle until Wilson got in late-ish; Mason got a few snaps as a FB/TE and Turner got in for one meaningful snap and a few late.

At TE McKeon took back the starting spot, logging a ton of snaps; Eubanks got all the 2TE snaps, of which there were many. All and Schoonmaker got some time, with All getting in for the last two drives. At WR the usual rotation between Black/DPJ/Collins on the outside and Bell/Sainristil in the slot, with Bell getting some outside WR snaps. Jackson and Johnson made cameos.

[After THE JUMP: mediations on a trap]