2019 middle tennessee

Special Guests: Greg Dooley, program writer, Michigan uniform know-it-all, and Dude of MVictors, and Craig Ross, 3,000-year-old druid.

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[After THE JUMP: A real good time.]

Things discussed:

• We could run the Arc Read/Split Zone thing every play. Borges calls it the "QB bluff run."
• Freshmen: Hayes killed it, the RBs killed it.
• You could see they had some screens in the offense—
• Not crisp—Craig compares us unfavorably to Bowling Green.
• Charbonnet: Has a chance to join A-Train and Hart as great pass pro RBs
• Shea: decision-making still not great, but accurate and efficient
• MTSU tried to get to the perimeter, "did so belligerently." Brian liked their offensive gameplan, not so much defense.
• First time Brian charted some off coverage—greater diversity. Natural to play Cov2 against teams that are trying to get outside.
• Gray: UFR less encouraging than live.
• Mason not ready. Goes so hard he ends up on the ground and can't get back to the play.
• Michigan has to find a way to get Josh Uche on the field. Hutchinson looked close to a breakout. Did work inside.
• Army: Their offense is all about 10 minute drives: three yards is a win because they'll go for every 4th and 1. Rice is so bad and played Army pretty evenly.
• Around the league: Justin Fields, Wisconsin, Penn State: impressive starts. Michigan State, Nebraska, Purdue. Northwestern has a five-star QB who comes in and sucks.
• State: Man you need some offensive tackles.
• Nebraska: congratulations you have a slot receiver; you already had a good one.

[Player after THE JUMP]

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: So: lots. There was a lot of standard 4-2-5 stuff that you've probably seen before. There were also some stack snaps, and ways to get Uche on the field. Here Uche is the standup guy on the LOS. Michigan is in a front with a pure nose tackle lined up right over the C; I've called this "30 nickel slide" for reasons that I do not remember:

Note that this package has Woods as a fifth DB.

This lineup has Uche, Danna, Hutchinson (at NT) and Paye. Glasgow is the only linebacker-type person on the field, and Woods has come in as an extra safety. I called this "jetpack" because it sounds cool and noted the 3 S look by calling this specific thing "jetpack S". These were the only jetpack snaps but if a CB gets in the game that'll be jetpack CB, etc.

JETPACK

This front was declared "5-1 fold" or "5-0 fold" depending on whether there was someone in the box behind the LOS. Because Uche and Glasgow are folded inside the very wide DEs.

I did not call this out specifically but an interesting wrinkle was Michigan dropping Hudson as a single high deep safety on a number of snaps.

They evidently like Hawkins and Metellus better in coverage.

SUBSTITUTION NOTES: So: lots. The starting DL was Paye/Kemp/Mason/Hutchinson. Danna and Uche mostly got passing down snaps but did also get in some on standard downs. Hinton and Speight got in the game late. Hutchinson and Paye almost never left the field; Kemp only got pulled on jetpack downs. Dwumfour got one snap, the first TD, leaving after aggravating his hand injury.

At the LB level Hudson did not come off the field. Ross only got pulled on passing downs; Glasgow got about 3/4ths of the snaps with Gill getting a dozen or so. Anthony and McGrone got in late. Uche got slightly under half of Michigan's snaps.

DBs: Metellus and Hawkins didn't leave the field until garbage time; Thomas, Gray, and Hill were in a near-equal rotation for CB snaps, and there were never any 3-CB snaps. Kelly-Powell got a few eventful snaps at the end.

[After THE JUMP: I hope you like the perimeter]