cade mcnamara's midseason rudock renaissance

Formation Notes: Michigan used this balanced formation that I called “Gun Wk Demis”, where the TE and H are both demi-flexed:

Iowa had a Tite shift when they expected a counter run where they lined up in a 4-3 with the NT head up on the center. I called it “4-3 Odd” but it’s Tite vs 2TEs really.

Iowa also had a quasi 3-3-5 passing downs package that defies conventional labeling, where they pull a DT and an ILB for two hybrid DE/OLBs, a “Rush DE” who’s 6-2/248 and a “Leo” who’s 6-4/236, plus their normal hybrid hybrid space player who’s 6-1/205:

I called this package “Rush.” One time they were all standing around not getting set before it and I called that “Rush Amoeba.” Finally, this didn’t need a title but I called it “4-7 Over” anyways.

…not to be confused with the 8-1.

Who’s having fun yet? We having fun?

WCIDDIS. Last game I kept having to throw points at OSU’s WR’s doing insane shit. This week my excuse for the numbers not lining up is Well-Coached Iowa Defenders Doing Insane Shit, or “Wakiddis,” which put a serious hamper on Corum’s day especially, and also accounted for a lot of the pressure that McNamara faced for the first time all year. It’s very jarring after a month of teams coached by former Ralph Friedgen assistants and Ryan Day to chart against such fundamentally sound defensive players.

[After THE JUMP: Fun with tight ends]

Label Notes: Reminder that I’m combining all scores (except QB) in the charting. p=pass pro, y=YAC, c=catch, b=block for RBs, and route=route. It might be more than one or an odd number, in which case the higher one goes first, so if you see something like “Wilson(+3croute) that means Wilson got a +2 for a difficult catch and +1 for running a good route. Capital letters in the formations refer to skill positions: R=RB or tailback, S=superback (2nd RB), Y=inline TE, F=off-line TE, X=split end (WR on weak side), Z=flanker (WR on strong side), H=Slot.

Formation Notes: Michigan spent much of its day in Gun Wk Z Tight, which is just Twins but a WR tight to the line instead of a tight end, then mostly ran to the backside of this. As you can see in the same clip, Ohio State broke out a Bear front that I called Hurricane in the charting. The number after is how many safeties they left high, e.g. Hurricane 1:

Substitution Notes: Trueblueintexas had the snap counts. Six McCarthy snaps. Line was Hayes-Keegan-Vastardis-Zinter-Stueber the whole way (no Filiaga). All got the most important snaps but was still a little lame and Schoonmaker closed it out with Honigford and two Selzer snaps.

[After THE JUMP: Anyone who tries to make you feel bad about reveling in this is a sad person who never has to be listened to ever again.]

Scoring Note: Brian did things differently but I’m going to start counting pass events in the chart because people never read the run chart as a running game chart no matter how often they’re reminded. I’ll still have the other charts, and note pass pro things, but the charts are going to be cumulative from here on out. That includes pass pro minuses and receiver routes.

Formation Notes: Indiana kept their 4-2-5 personnel on the field almost all the time but they changed up formations a ton. They even used a 404 Tite, which predictably obliterated the “zone reads” Michigan brought back to torture me.

On passing downs they went to a 3-2-6 dime that lifted a DT for a CB. If you stuck around to the end things got goofy. I won’t show them all but this is what I labeled Nickel Wide I because they have the LBs lined up in a I-formation.

Substitution Notes: Lots of injuries so the rotations were thinner than usual. Erick All didn’t play which meant lots of time for Schoonmaker, Honigford, and Carter Selzer. WRs went Johnson, Anthony (until he went out), Baldwin, Wilson, and Sainristil then Henning (until he went out) in the slot. Line returned Zinter and Keegan at the guard spots, and all five went all the way, with Trente Jones often out there wearing #80 as a sixth. Corum’s ankle injury was early and Donovan Edwards has been hurt (he didn’t travel vs MSU) so Hassan Haskins was still carrying the ball in garbage time, with Leon Franklin getting in first then Tavierre Dunlap getting a drive. Quarterback was McNamara (46/70 chartable snaps) most of the way. McCarthy got a few third and long situations after Michigan was up two scores, and got the second drive of the second half plus garbage time. Michigan’s clearly trying to give him some experience. He also clearly needs it. Wait, that’s for the next part.

[After THE JUMP: Tom Allen is very good at this; he just doesn’t have the weapons]