2020 citrus bowl

So I was scheduled to have a recruiting update for you today. But in light of recent events, I wanted something more metal. It's time for the BEN MASON IS AWESOME HERE'S WHY Neck Sharpies.

Since Mason's appearance on Jansen's podcast a few months ago the only mention of the senior is that he's with the tight ends. So is the fullback really dead in this offense? Based on how they used him, and how effective he was, in the Citrus Bowl against Alabama, I highly doubt it. Since that, more than "Harbaugh would never not have a fullback" is my basis for believing Mason will play a big role in this year's offense, and hopefully next year's as well, I figured I should show you what I saw.

I counted 16 MURDERFACE snaps in this game, not including a Mayfield false start. On most of those he was a centerpiece or a primary decoy, meaning he either made the key block the play was designed to run through, or he was supposed to look like it. Only one of these plays was a non-play-action pass and we can get it out of the way because Mason didn't seem to know what his job was on it, and that nearly led to a disaster.

We'll have to work on that.

[After THE JUMP: Women and Children First]

If you're into this kind of stuff, I wrote an eight-page feature that dives deep into the offense in the first season under Gattis, with lots of diagrams and charts, in Hail to the Victors 2020, which Kickstarter ends at 4pm this afternoon. If you like that I can do this for a living, well, so do I. Two big reasons are HTTV, which was what let me take this job full-time in 2012, and HTTV's/UFR sponsor Matt Demorest, proprietor of HomeSure Lending and Five Shores Brewing in Beulah.

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I did Ohio State already—no there won't be a defense because this was done mostly to gather data for my HTTV article. Why would any person want to relive this? Well I wanted to know things about #SpeedInSpace, how it matches up against elite defenses, and how they adjust to it. While I was at I figured I'd complete our data on the season, especially for the guys returning. I didn't dwell too long on scores that affected those who weren't.

Formation notes: When Michigan had all of their receivers in I called it "tight" and when they had just one of them split out I called it "bunch." This is tight:

Alabama was mostly in their 3-4. "Even" for the 3-4 means the nose is over the center, the DEs are on the tackles, and the LBs line up behind/inside those DEs. "Tite" is normally when the WLB is lined up behind the nose guard, the MLB is over the TE, and the SAM is a nickel safety way out in the slot, but Bama ran it without moving the WLB at all because #99 NG Raekwan Davis counts as two players.

[After THE JUMP: a 16-play punt drive]

HTTV NOTE: Our kickstarter ends TOMORROW for HTTV. We plan on having at least two live, socially distanced pickup events in August. One at…

Five Shores Brewing up north in Beulah, Michigan. Neck Sharpies/HTTV sponsor Matt Demorest didn't pick the best year to open a brewery, but he did pick the best brewer, and also a location that has lots of outdoor space so you can lawn it this year. If you're in the Traverse area this summer stop in and try it. Watch this space for updates on the pickup events and how those are going to work while keeping the safety of our readers foremost.

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Someone not yet very practiced at the art of explaining things once described to me why Pokemon is so popular. Forgive me if I get any of this wrong but as I understand it you capture a basal creature with some kind of elemental property. Then you train it. After a certain point your creature gains access to more of its baked-in power, and then with more training it reaches a level of maturity where it can use that same basic elemental ability to deal with all situations. To reach its final iteration you have to add some kind of outside element, at which point your Pokemon is a spiky, accoutrement-covered bad-ass.

And I thought that's a lot like how football plays work. You've got your basic play, and as you get better at it you can run it from different looks and adapt it on the fly to whatever the defense is doing to it. #SpeedInSpace is that added item, which one determining the thing's ultimate form.

The offensive gameplan for the Citrus Bowl was really the culmination of a season in which Michigan steadily tweaked and improved their base Pin & Pull running game. One of the ways they did this was to toy with motions, personnel, and formations to create the matchups they desired on the outside. Observe this beauty:

I call it Pin & Pullazord.

There's a LOT going on with this play, too much to unpack with one graphic. I expect you already know how to play Pin & Pull, and its intermediate forms so we can go right to Level 64 and beyond.

[After THE JUMP: add Held Item BenchMasonite]