2019 ohio state

SPONSOR NOTE: Not Upon Further Review is sponsored by HomeSure Lending and Matt Demorest because it falls under Neck Sharpies which is what he sponsors now. He's also open now, and one of the things you can do from your home while supporting this good dude and his local employees is to check whether you can save money on a refinance.

WHY? I was charting up this game because I needed to extend UFR data to the end of the season for my HTTV article on the course of #SpeedInSpace over the 2019 season. Since I had it I figured I'd post it. 

FORMATION NOTES: For most of this I only took personnel notes for OSU because I was just trying to complete data. Their standard personnel is like ours except they replace the strong safety with a slot cornerback. I called that a "Nickel." Sometimes the slot cornerback is replaced with a second hybrid (they call it the bullet). I called that a "4-2-5." Their passing down dime is four DEs and an ILB lifted for a second safety. I called that "Rushmen". I called this Nickel Eagle:

[After THE JUMP: I use swear words and so can you!]

SPONSOR NOTE: This article was written while wearing pants, despite being sponsored by HomeSure Lending and Matt Demorest. While it's true that, like applying for a loan through HomeSure Lending, pants weren't precisely necessary, since I work in a hardwood-floored office inside the home Matt helped me refinance, I tend to wear socks for the floors, which I figure if you're going to go through the effort for socks you might as well do the pants. Perhaps if I hadn't saved so much money by refinancing through Matt I would still have the old carpet in here and wouldn't need the socks or pants.

There are a lot of answers to what happened to Michigan's defense against Ohio State. Most of it was Michigan putting Ohio State in a position where they had to execute something difficult, and Ohio State doing it anyway. Whatever they're paying JK Dobbins, KJ Hill, and Justin Fields, it's probably not half of what they deserved.

But the real killer is sometimes, especially in the second half, Michigan made some dumbass mistakes. Sometimes it was freshmen. Sometimes it was senior three-year starters. Often it was stuff they only screwed up one or two other times all season. Just for my own sanity I wanted to look again at some of these breakdowns in fundamentals, and see if they were occurring because Michigan was trying to do too much, or maybe it was just the players leaving their assignments as a calculated risk in order to make a play. And sometimes it was yes.

Take the first play of the second half. Mistakes and Ohio State's devil's luck have conspired to put Michigan in a 12-point hole. But maybe they've been able to adjust. Maybe the luck will swing the other way. Michigan just needs a stop on the first drive to make this a game again. And then…

Live, like you, I saw Khaleke Hudson and Lavert Hill run by on the edge and thought this was on them. Turns out it was McGrone. Let me explain:

The play is what Ohio State calls "Tight Zone" because that institution is incapable of crediting ideas it got from Michigan. Its real name—almost throughout football because of its spread vector—is "Duo," a Bo base play that Harbaugh appropriated in 2015 and 2016.

[After THE JUMP: Who's to blame? Not entirely sure.]

Football things discussed:

• Best OSU team at least since 2014, probably ever
• Most undisciplined game, especially by the defense, in a long time.
• Craig calls out fans: 25,000 truck drivers invited, students late, even calls out MMB
• You get to halftime down 12 it's over. Four key sequences: Patterson gets two called runs and doesn't cut behind his blocking for a TD, then fumbles the snap. Offsides. And two long yardage situations when they didn't cover a drag route.
• Like the Wisconsin game because DTs can't hold up.
• Sorta like the PSU game when PSU didn't do anything and Michigan shot themselves in the foot, except Ohio State kills you if you do that.
• Sam: I get mistakes from Chris Hinton, but when it's Khaleke it's gotta be LBs just freaking out because they're overmatched. Haskins botched his 4th down run because pin didn't work 1st time and he cut back.
• Brian: Justin Fields hasn't stepped on Ohio State's campus; doing nothing all day every day except football is why Ohio State wins this game; Michigan won't hit parity until they have that kind of dedication. M's DTs don't have the level of focus, OSU's players have learned how to dribble a football.
• Heartening to see the offense come along. It's not "What are we doing?" anymore.
• Scuttlebutt: McCaffrey can throw the ball. Sam: If Boston College calls Don Brown he'll take the call, but not sure they will.

Hoops things discussed:

• Battle for Atlantis: WHY DON'T THEY GIVE YOU A TRIDENT? That floor is an abomination: always wet ballroom is gonna lead to injuries.
• (Unless Juwan Howard is around) His speech at the end of the tournament established him as a mensch.
• Credit to Ohio State's hoops team who beat an injured UNC on their floor. UNC might not be very good—they don't have their same five-stars and eyebrows guy anymore. Leaky Black is playing, Brooks just a guy at center, they're going to be .500 in the ACC this year.
• Louisville: doesn't bother us—schedule loss since Cardinals have been prepping for Michigan all year. They were LOCKED IN for this game, especially with how they prepped for the screens. M had two days to prepare for L'ville and they had 2 months.
• The Screens, The Screens, The Screens! UNC: Michigan runs you off so many screens there's no way to keep up. Like Michigan State: are you going to keep hedging as well if you're banging off screen after screen?
• Won't matter for Iowa because Iowa doesn't play D. M's going to become a better post team, but that's not efficient offense.
• X has to be better at faking passes that aren't there and going to Livers in the corner. Semi-contested threes are their money shot.
• Ohio State the team to beat in the Big Ten? Of course: nothing goes wrong for those guys. What about Purdue—other than recruiting Matt Painter is among the best coaches in the country.
• Sam: I hate Iowa. Luka Garza has bulked up and gets a lot of contested stuff up now.

[Player after THE JUMP]