11/2/2019 – Michigan 38, Maryland 7 – 7-2, 4-2 Big Ten

A game at Maryland is always a time for contemplation of life's mysteries. Foremost amongst them is "why are we playing Maryland?" Michigan has one of these annually now: they wander out to the Eastern Seaboard to play in a mostly-empty stadium in which Michigan fans are a clear majority. The game is either a boring blowout, like this one, or an exciting blowout with third-string FB touchdowns, like 78-0 against Rutgers.

With that lone exception these games melt away almost before they're played. Here are the things I remember about other Maryland and Rutgers games, post-Hoke. One year against Maryland they ran a lot of tunnel screens that worked and everyone freaked out about it. They played a tiny guy at QB once. Rutgers got a touchdown last year. That's it. Wait: also this year people were freaking out about Glasgow because he missed a couple tackles. That's it.

The only memories these games generate is when one of these teams puts up a boggling statistical marker of ineptitude, like that time Rutgers passed for one yard against Indiana, or is forced to put an elf in at quarterback because all previous quarterbacks have been murdered by pass rushers or escaped to Bolivia to escape said fate. They are the football equivalent of pixie sticks: a sugar rush of touchdowns that don't taste like anything.

I mean, look at Indiana. Indiana is the definition of a moribund football program but you remember things about Indiana. Antwaan Randle-El. Lee Corso fielding a lateral right before Anthony Carter scores. The pure sphincter-tightening terror of playing the Hoosiers at their jet-speed #chaosteam apex. An inexplicable run of NFL tailbacks. Their sheer cussedness to both stay in and lose every game against top-tier opponents for a solid decade. Indiana isn't good but they are interesting. They are the Steve Buscemi of the Big Ten. They are great in a supporting role and then they get put in a wood chipper.

has no idea what's about to happen to him but also already knows what's about to happen to him

Indiana has personality. Indiana is a character in the rich tapestry of college football.

Rutgers and Maryland are filler. Since joining the Big Ten in 2014, the high water mark for Maryland and Rutgers was a 30-36 Maryland loss against Boston College in the Quick Lane Bowl. By the old scoring ratio rules we used way back for GopherQuest, this year's Rutgers team is on the verge of becoming the worst in conference history. They are the conference's comic relief, except when they are repeatedly abusing their players.

Michigan marks time against both of these schools every year because they get some more money from television. This era is rapidly coming to an end. In a few years it's estimated that 20% of the US population will have cut the cord, and if anything that rate is likely to go up as over-the-top providers organize themselves in a war for supremacy.

So it's a matter of when, not if, two Eastern Seaboard schools with no history in the conference and a record of absolute misery in the sport that makes the most money become a net drag on the revenues of teams like Ohio State and Michigan. It's one thing to carry Northwestern and Minnesota, and entirely another to carry the worst athletic department in the country and also Maryland.

Maybe it takes 10 years. Maybe it takes 20. But there will be a point when it makes sense to kick Delany's Folly out of the conference. Until then, a couple more of these will happen every year, gone before they're even over.

[After THE JUMP: words you've already forgotten]

AWARDS

[Sherman]

Known Friends And Trusted Agents Of The Week

you're the man now, dog

#1 Mike Danna/Kwity Paye/Josh Uche/Aidan Hutchinson. This is an impossible game to KFaTAotW: no offensive player with more than 65 scrimmage yards except Patterson, whose 6.8 YPA was meh. Defensive players in a similar boat. Our #1 is a hodge-podge of Michigan's defensive ends, who all chipped in. Uche had a couple sacks; Danna forced an INT and had a third-down stick; Hutchinson had a PBU and a sack; Paye was a stalwart run defender in some difficult scenarios.

#2 Josh Metellus. 9 tackles, eight of them solo and two TFLs on screen type activities. Maryland's lack of big plays was a team activity but he was a major part of that. Also had the INT, and may have had that INT even if Danna didn't turn it into a pop-up.

#3 Nico Collins. I guess? Scrimmage yards leader on ~4-5 targets because of a tough contested bomb he brought in, and he also drew yet another PI to make a Michigan TD a formality.

Honorable mention: Glasgow and Hudson were both excellent on the edge; Hudson had a PBU and a half-sack as well. Hassan Haskins, Tru Wilson, and Zach Charbonnet each had a couple runs on which they generated important yards themselves. Whole Dang OL kept Patterson clean all day. Will Hart averaged 50+ yards a punt and didn't get return yards on his face. Giles Jackson scored a return TD that was mostly the blocking but he did set up the first one really well. Michael Barrett had a pancake on the TD and converted a fake punt.

KFaTAotW Standings

NOTE: New scoring! HM: 1 point. #3: 3 points. #2: 5 points. #1: 8 points. Split winners awarded points at the sole discretion of a pygmy marmoset named Luke.

17: Josh Uche (#3 MTSU, #3 Army, T2 Rutgers, #2 Illinois, HM ND, T1 Maryland), Aidan Hutchinson(#1 Army, HM Rutgers, T1 Iowa, HM Illinois, HM ND, T1 Maryland)
14: Whole Dang OL(#2 PSU, #1 ND, HM Maryland).
13: Zach Charbonnet (#2 MTSU, #2 Army, HM PSU, HM ND, HM Maryland)
12: Cam McGrone(HM Rutgers, T3 Iowa, HM Illinois, #3 PSU, #2 ND), Nico Collins (HM Rutgers, HM Iowa, #1 PSU, #3 Maryland), Jordan Glasgow (HM MTSU, T3 Iowa, #1 Illinois, HM Maryland)
10:  Ambry Thomas (#1 MTSU, HM Rutgers, HM Illinois), Shea Patterson(HM MTSU, #1 Rutgers. HM PSU), Kwity Paye (T2 Rutgers, T1 Iowa, HM PSU, T1 Maryland)
8: Khaleke Hudson (#2 Iowa, HM Illinois, HM ND, HM Maryland)
7: Josh Metellus (HM Army, HM Iowa, #2 Maryland), Hassan Haskins (#3 Illinois, #3 ND, HM Maryland)
4: Ronnie Bell (HM Army, T3 Rutgers, HM Illinois)
3: Lavert Hill (HM Army, HM Iowa, HM ND)
2: DPJ (T3 Rutgers), Dax Hill(HM Rutgers, HM Iowa), Tru Wilson (HM ND, HM Maryland), Mike Danna (T1 Maryland), Will Hart (HM MTSU, HM Maryland).
1:  Josh Ross (HM, MTSU), Sean McKeon (HM, MTSU),Brad Hawkins (HM Army), Christian Turner (HM Rutgers), Nick Eubanks (HM Illinois), Carlo Kemp(HM ND), Brad Hawkins (HM ND), Giles Jackson (HM Maryland), Michael Barrett (HM Maryland).

Who's Got It Better Than Us(?) Of The Week

Giles Jackson sets the tone.

 

Honorable mention: The fake punt is followed immediately by the weekly Why Don't We Do This More bomb at Nico Collins. Josh Uche turns a purported OT into a projectile weapon to be thrown at the QB. Mike Danna forces a pop-up INT.

?MARCUS HALL EPIC DOUBLE BIRD OF THE WEEK.

Maryland breaks the shutout with a 97-yard kick return TD mere minutes after your author tweeted out about how awesome Chris Partridge is at special teams coordinating.

Honorable mention: That period in the second quarter where Michigan goes three and out a couple times and Maryland goes on 12-play drives. Maryland continues the recent trend of annoying late drives that push Michigan's yards ceded over… uh… 200.

OFFENSE

Back to the salt mines, sort of. Michigan was up 14-0 quickly against a team that they were expected to beat badly, so some part of the middling offensive performance was based on that. Patterson had zero keeps (his two runs were a called QB run inside the five and the hurry-up sneak), and we've seen all year how a lack of threat from the QB hampers the ground game from the gun.

Combine that with an unusually inaccurate day from Patterson, who usually trashes teams like Maryland, and you get that period mid-game when Michigan can't do much, and a blowout that didn't feel anywhere near as dominant as last week's.

It can be both. I have click-on-the-tweet-and-read-the-replies disease, and I did this with this bit of @JDue51's weekly clips:

Damn. If Shea puts this on the money, Eubanks is running a long way. The safety got himself way out of position pic.twitter.com/CdEeEEiaeG

— Due# (@JDue51) November 3, 2019

The replies there are an all-out war between people going UGH EUBANKS and UGH SHEA when it's not 100% either guy. Eubanks can't make a tough catch behind him. Patterson threw a marginally catchable ball. Even if Eubanks catches that he's not getting the buckets of YAC he would if he's hit in stride.

This kind of throw was unfortunately common. Michigan failed to convert a third and medium when Patterson threw a hitch well upfield and outside of Tarik Black, necessitating a diving catch. This was this week's evidence that former quarterbacks cannot be trusted to talk about current quarterbacks, because Brian Griese immediately ripped Black's route and didn't mention the throw. Black was past the sticks and open. I guess he could have baked more QB margin-for-error in, but it's pretty weird to not mention that the QB was outside of the margin of error.

Former QBs cannot be trusted, part 2. Also in this department:

pic.twitter.com/9epn0t8a2n

— Due# (@JDue51) November 3, 2019

This was adjudged a great throw on which Collins should have gone up with two hands when it's likely that going up with two hands means he can't get a fingernail on it. This was part of a theme: in the second half the announce team talked about how the Michigan WR corps had been massively disappointing, which is flat-out insane. You've got a guy who's batting .800 on throws 30+ yards downfield.

The country needs more WRs on color commentary.

[Sherman]

If I don't say "target Nico more" I will die, it's like Speed except with yelling about Nico Collins. What the bolded thing says. Collins drew yet another endzone PI, had a 51 yard catch on which a defensive back ripped at his arms, and also had a wide open slant on Michigan's first drive. People are terrified of him, justifiably.

Pin and pull adapts. Maryland was dead set on not letting Michigan's pin and pull outside of the tight end. It was interesting watching it adapt on the fly: the first guy pulling would still head outside but the #2 puller would read what was going on with the TE and when he was inevitably getting a kickout block he'd head inside. This was what happened on Michigan's longest run of the day:

Most of Michigan's pin and pulls ended up using Runyan and Ruiz's blocks as Maryland forced them into the interior. They were still decently effective, but Michigan didn't end up with the wide open spaces they had against Notre Dame.

Charbonnet paid off Eubanks's block [Sherman]

Running back vision. One of the longest-running UFR subplots have been runs on which I think the back should have done something different while people in the comments say that's stupid. That's come to an abrupt end as Michigan backs have been just about maximizing their yards on a weekly basis. The number of RB minuses has plummeted this year, and when someone picks one up it's usually been for getting tackled in the open field.

I've been a little suspicious that this is more about the nature of Michigan's run game, which tends to point guys at a particular spot even if it's nominally a zone play, and that if and when things get more complicated we'll get some screw-ups. This game was a step away from that skepticism, as RBs repeatedly had to pick through interior gaps because of the above section and did well. Charbonnet's touchdown was a really nice bit of patience to set up his blocks and then burst outside, away from pursuers.

I might pick some more things up on a more detailed rewatch. If I had to bet it's going to be another week where the RBs grade out almost uniformly positive.

Never turn upfield. A play of some controversy:

Nope. pic.twitter.com/WfB0r2AHaV

— Due# (@JDue51) November 2, 2019

I don't think that's ideal from Eubanks but I don't think it's actually that bad, either. He gets a blitz and gets caught off guard by a guy shooting inside him. He's able to get a shove in on the dude but then he's gone. Eubanks correctly doesn't chase him and instead goes downfield to see if he can find someone else to get. That LB ends up getting in an ankle tackle on Turner that brings him down. That is a hair away from a Eubanks 2 for 1 and a big play.

Anyway, never turn upfield. If a guy is gone he's gone and it's not your problem until film study.

McCaffrey time. I'm not nearly as down on McCaffrey's portion of this game as everyone else seems to be. He nearly threw an INT when Maryland dropped a DL into his main read. That is getting a BRX in UFR but it's relatively understandable for a young QB. His other incompletions:

• Sainristil drops a sure first down.
• A rollout against his throwing arm sees all three routes covered; he tries McKeon because he's the least dangerously covered and a good throw gets PBU'd.
• He throws it about 20 yards past Collins on play action. This was a two-man route that Maryland didn't bite on at all; there were two guys over the top of Collins. I'd prefer he try to back-shoulder it but I'm guessing the throw looked bad because Collins anticipated that he'd have to come back and McCaffrey didn't.

The keep that turned into a TFL wasn't really on him, either: DPJ was the arc escort on that play and did the thing where you decide to block one guy, change your mind mid-play, and then don't block either opponent. If DPJ commits to stopping and sealing the LB inside McCaffrey's probably getting a decent chunk.

DEFENSE

Mode 2 [Sherman]

Two modes. Maryland's offense had two different ways to operate: 1) avoid involving your tackles and run inside them, and 2) do anything where your tackles are important. #1 worked out pretty well. #2 was a disaster. Since there's only so much you can do in football where your tackles don't matter—Michigan fans are well aware of this—Maryland trundled to under 200 yards of offense until the requisite Defeat With Dignity Drive at the end of the game.

But getting there didn't feel great because of Mode 1.

Mode 1 details. Maryland went on two long marches in the first half that resulted in zero points. Those long marches were almost all runs between the tackles on which Maryland was able to move Michigan DTs and squeeze through cracks in the line before the rest of the defense could rally.

This is a concern. Maryland has a couple of pretty good guards, and they got clear Ws. What previously looked like a story of redemption and development now looks a lot more like a slate of poor opponents making the DTs look okay when really they're about as good as they were against Wisconsin. Since they played Rutgers (Rutgers), Iowa (#92 in YPC), Illinois (#85), Penn State (#66), and Notre Dame (#59). Maryland is 38th and things felt a bit different despite their lack of explosive runs.

MSU and Indiana are not likely to take advantage of this; OSU… uh. At least we're regarding the OSU game as hypothetically winnable if various comets align, though! That's progress.

Mode 2 details. This guy is supposed to be 300 pounds.

3rd & long
Josh Uche bull rushes this 300# OT and puts him on skates pic.twitter.com/MkVGFU9KQf

— Due# (@JDue51) November 3, 2019

Supposition: nope.

Bring back Navarre for a spring game just to see what happens. Aidan Hutchinson now leads Michigan with 5 PBUs. He'd have a sixth if Mike Danna hadn't batted down a screen before he had an opportunity to. One of these days he's going to find the ricochet and actually intercept one.

I believe in Anthony McFarland. Dude stiffarmed McGrone in the chest and got a missed tackle out of him, which is one of just a couple on the season IIRC. We haven't seen McGrone bested in a sideline-to-sideline situation until that, I don't think.

Still no Ross. Josh Ross traveled and dressed but did not play even in garbage time. If you make the travel team you're healthy enough to play; if he's healthy enough to play and not getting snaps in a 38-7 game it's probably because Michigan is going to get Ross a redshirt unless injury intervenes.

A glance towards the future. Chris Hinton nearly got a fourth down stop by firing a dude into the backfield. Freshman DTs suck and the hope is they start flashing towards the end of their first year; that's definitely a flash. If he can come on late here, Michigan's D next year looks like it'll be pretty damn good.

They lose four starters but should get the entire DL aside from Danna back, give or take a a Kemp redshirt. Jeter/Hinton/Smith should give them three shots at more functional DTs. They can plug and play Dax Hill and Ross into two of the vacated spots, and then your only worries are replacing Hudson with Barrett and whether or not Vincent Gray can take a moderate-to-large step forward.

Secondary depth is a worry. There might not be a dominant DT. Other than that…

SPECIAL TEAMS

Kickoff return comparison. We never got a good look at the Maryland KO return but this almost has to be the problem:

28, 32, and 42 are all within  a foot of each other. That looks like a Michigan bust. This is not something I'm confident in—I have never done kick returns. But it doesn't feel like a tactical thing Maryland did, it's just a screwup Leake, who's very good, took advantage of.

I think the Michigan TD was actually a plan, what with walk-on LB Adam Shibley purposefully moving across the formation to kick out a  guy who was probably supposed to be in the lane Jackson hit. Ben Mason, Devin Gil, and especially Michael Barrett get thumping blocks to make it pay off but it kind of feels like Michigan thought they'd get the ball about where Jackson did and had a good plan to get everyone blocked.

Ack, putrid fate. Michigan did not add to their nation-leading blocked punt count when Devin Gil tipped one, because it got across the line of scrimmage and those don't get filed as blocks. This has been a persistent bugaboo with Michigan's punt block, which has had rotten luck actually paying off contact with return-to-sender blocks that get filed. I think I remember one where Hudson got in so fast he actually dove past the punter.

Still, Michigan getting a hand to a Maryland punt is a reminder why their adoption of the pro-style system on their own punts is justifiable. Also:

A gimme of a fake. Barrett got a 14 yard chunk on fourth and one as Michigan just wedged it up the middle after snapping it to him. That's Michigan's second successful fake punt on the year. Meanwhile I'm pretty sure the last one anyone's even tried against M was the one Glasgow snuffed out against OSU three years ago.

A hypothesis: the prevalence of spread punting has made punt return units lighter  and less prepped to defend a fake, so when they get a bunch of guys blocking them they are both small and unprepared.

Catching punts. Did a good job of it in a windless environment even though a lot of them were short.

MISCELLANEOUS

Hoke shrug. Michigan got to the line for a fourth and short conversion so fast that TV only came to the play after Michigan had converted. Hooray tiny punt flag for that, except for the fact that the spot on the previous play was off by a yard and change and Michigan shouldn't have had to risk it. The mental state there goes from "what are you doing" to "okay, whatever" before you can even complete the first thought.

HERE

Best and Worst:

Worst: #Narrative

If a top-15 team did the following:

1. Beat a P5 team by 31 points on the road.
2. Hold them to 233 yards of total offense, about half of that coming when they were down 35-7.
3. Limit an offense averaging 5.8 ypp to 3.4.
4. Score on 50% of their possessions, including 5 TDs.
5. Struggled somewhat offensively but still averaged 5.4 ypp.

the general feeling would be "good win, nothing to see here." Unfortunately, Michigan football under Harbaugh is a well-traveled lab specimen that just gets passed around so it can be examined under microscopes operated by ever more manic scientists dying to unearth some hither-to undiscovered strain of failure. To read the comments after this game both here and elsewhere, or frankly to listen to Brian Griese and Steve Levy DURING THE DAMN GAME would lead to be believe the game was constantly in doubt, that Michigan repeatedly set itself on fire, and that one can neither confirm nor deny that Jim Harbaugh is actively trying to sabotage this team (and the many backups who are clearly better than the starters) by calling all of the worst plays on both sides of the ball.

Maybe I'm being a bit hyperbolic (as always, Scott Bell has the correct take), but sometimes the line between satire and reality is paper-thin. Coming off a heart-breaking ending to the PSU game, and a triumphant ass-kicking of a rival last week, expecting Michigan to maintain that level of intensity against a Maryland team sorta playing for their lives is unreasonable. The offense absolutely looked a bit wobbly compared to the last couple of outings, and the defense had some issues early on that they were somewhat lucky to escape without Maryland putting points on the board (Maryland definitely found purchase running inside).

ELSEWHERE

Pretty much:

2. Michigan’s annual stretch of dominance in between disappointments, by Alex

Jim Harbaugh seasons have taken on similar arcs: a loss or two early, followed by an elite-looking run in some part against cupcakes, followed by Ohio State caving the whole house in.

• 2015: loss to Utah, then nine wins in 10 games, then a 42-13 Ohio Stating
• 2016: 9-0 start, followed by a tough loss to Iowa and then, two weeks later, the J.T. Barrett Spot game
• 2017: 4-0 start, two losses in three games, three blowouts of Rutgers, Minnesota, and Maryland, and then a loss to Wisconsin that set up another L to Ohio State
• 2018: tight loss to Notre Dame, 10 straight wins (including all the Big Ten East’s bad teams, but also decent Michigan State and Penn State), and then maybe the most demoralizing loss yet to Ohio State, this time as a rare road favorite

Every year’s a little different, but you get it. Michigan often puts itself into some kind of hole, then appears to work out its issues by dropkicking little guys. “Maybe they’ll be ready in time for Ohio State,” the fair but incorrect thought goes each time. This can make for a miserable time, because many Michigan fans are absolutely aware this is happening and thus aren’t able to enjoy blowout wins along the way.

Anyway, Michigan is doing that again. The 2019 Wolverines’ customary road losses to ranked teams have shot their Playoff hopes. But they then crushed Notre Dame and have now demolished Maryland in Week 10, winning 38-7 in one of those road takeovers that looked like a home game.

The Wolverines will destroy MSU and Indiana in their next two games. I’m almost as sure of that as I am of what’s going to happen to them after that.

2017 is a weak fit. The rest of it: yep.

Sap's Decals:

SPECIAL TEAMS CHAMPION – It’s not very often that the Michigan SPECIAL TEAMS gets top billing, but when they return the opening kickoff for a touchdown, execute a fake punt for a 4th down conversion, and partially block a punt (I know, they also allowed a kickoff return for a TD), that’s a BIG deal – especially when the Michigan offense did not possess the ball very much in the first half. I’ve said it before and I’l say it again – you need all three teams to be clicking if you want to win consistently. Like Keith Jackson used to say, “Special teams. Special teams. Special teams.” They matter!!

Orion Sang on the pass rush. Maize and Blue Nation:

WORST OF THE GAME
Maryland's offense is not a joke. They gashed Michigan's vaunted run D multiple times, especially on those two long first half drives I just mentioned. That was a bit worrisome, at least until Michigan stiffened at the right time to end any serious ground threat from the Terps.

All told, Michigan only gave up 129 yards on the ground...but it just felt like more I guess. During those two drives, it really seemed like Maryland could actually make this a game...much like Illinois did a few weeks ago when Michigan seemingly let up on the gas after getting a comfy lead.

Spoiler alert: Michigan did not let up and Maryland's ground threat never really materialized again throughout the remainder of the game.

Touch The Banner:

Emotional letdown. Watching as a fan, I did not take as much pleasure in this 38-7 victory as I normally would. Maybe that’s what happens after a big game against Penn State and a beatdown of Notre Dame in a night game. People talked about it potentially being a trap game for Michigan’s players, but I guess it was for me as a fan, too. Michigan played well overall, but there wasn’t a lot of juice. Other than the opening kickoff return, there weren’t many big plays. It was a solid beating, but Michigan didn’t exactly run roughshod over the Terrapins. It wasn’t death by a thousand papercuts, but it was close.

MGoFish:

Three targets, two catches. C’mon man. Nico Collins is one of the best receivers in the country and needs more targets. I don’t care how it’s done but when you have a 6’4” mismatch that’s averaging 19.95 yards per catch, you need to trust and target him more.

HSR.