2021 michigan state

NOTE: The podcast version didn’t hit the feed until later tonight because I have to get to the basketball exhibition. Thank you to our special guest tonight: Former IU basketball player and NBA head coach Butch Carter

The Sponsors

Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. UGP makes custom apparel such as t-shirts and sweatshirts and was founded by 2 Michigan alums over 20 years ago. They have 3 retail locations in Ann Arbor and offer thousands of University of Michigan athletic products for sale, ranging from clothing to accessories and memorabilia. Check them out at ugpmichiganapparel.com.

And let’s not forget our associate sponsors: Peak Wealth Management, HomeSure Lending, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, Prentice4M, and introducing Team Fan Club! We are of course made possible by SignalWire.

THE VIDEO

[After THE JUMP: the player and what we said]

Formation Notes: Michigan started in 6-1-4 personnel.

They also used more split formations with both DTs in the A gaps and Hutchinson way out over the TE.

Substitution Notes: I couldn’t keep up. The six-man line went Ojabo-Jenkins-Hinton-Smith-Welschof-Hutchinson. The interior got a ton of rotation, while Hutchinson and Ojabo got the majority of the snaps at OLB. Ross was ever-present while Colson and NHG split the WLB snaps about 60-40. Turner started over Green but Green got plenty of go; Turner returned after going out for what appeared to be his wind knocked out.

On the subject of officiating, especially holding: My goal with this exercise is to get at the why of the game, particularly which *Michigan* players did well, and which coaching decisions bore fruit. Usually in the process I call out uncalled penalties that directly affected the play to explain my charting. Regular readers understand that it’s part of the game, and it excites little comment.

This game was unlike any I’ve ever charted; it was clear from the 2nd snap that what normally gets called holding wasn’t going to be. This also became apparent to the players (one in particular) who did as competitive athletes are wont. That’s a problem for me, because if I were to grade like I do normally, I’d end up with a very bad look, a lot of people would end up very mad, and there is just way too much good Halloween candy left for that to be healthy for any of us.

I know lots of Michigan fans want to know how bad it was, and that certain insecure elements of the MSU fanbase are just waiting to pounce on any sign that Michigan fans won’t acknowledge their win’s legitimacy. Validating either of these parties is not what UFR is for. So for this week, we're going to skip “refs” events in the charting, and things are just not going to add up. We will talk about some of the reviews at the end.

[After THE JUMP: Tackle rotation, no explanation.]

Sponsor note. Richard Hoeg will do business law things for you. Contracts! Incorporation! Advice! That sort of thing! If you're interested in being the proprietor of your own small business he'll get you started.

We should probably get his Dune takes. Because he does that, too: purvey opinions on the internet. You could even have a business that purveys opinions on the internet. Who's heard of such a thing?

Moving on up. Aidan Hutchinson is #2 in PFF's latest mock draft:

2. HOUSTON TEXANS: EDGE AIDAN HUTCHINSON, MICHIGAN

Hutchinson is not only an elite prospect from a traits perspective, as he checked in at No. 2 on Bruce Feldman’s preseason Freaks List, but he’s also been elite from a production standpoint. Hutchinson is the highest-graded edge defender in college football this season (93.7). He's racked up 30 pressures across his past five games and is the kind of cornerstone player Houston can build a defense around.

Other names of note: #7 Tyler Lindenbaum (C, Iowa), #8 George Karlaftis (Edge, Purdue), #18 Garrett Wilson (WR, OSU), #23 Chris Olave (WR, OSU), and #27 Jaquan Brisker (S, PSU). The only other Michigan player in their top ten positional rankings is #4 S Dax Hill. That might be good news, overall, because Michigan should get almost everyone back next year.

Grimace dot emoji. Also in PFF items:

Highest single-game rushing grade vs. Michigan in the PFF College Era

Player
Rushing Grade

1. Kenneth Walker, Michigan State (2021)
90.8

2. Dalvin Cook, Florida State (2016)
88.4

3. Jonathan Taylor, Wisconsin (2019)
81.6

Three of his five touchdowns came on a run of 20 or more yards, even though Michigan had given up only one 20-plus-yard touchdown run on the year before this weekend.

PFF apparently had Michigan their top-graded rush defense in the country prior to Saturday, which is odd given, like, Wisconsin and Georgia, but grading does not happen in a vacuum. You get points for winning your matchup even if that's against bad teams, and there's no reasonable way to adjust for strength of schedule at the macro level.

It is wild that a guy who transferred away from Wake Forest is a Heisman contender at Michigan State and Wake Forest (Wake Forest!) is 8-0.

[After THE JUMP: more PFF and basketball preview items]