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FORMATION NOTES: About 50/50 3-3-5 and 4-2-5, although the former got almost all of the last third of the game when MSU was in a big hole. Early it was mostly a four-man line. MSU's offense looked almost identical to Michigan's, formation-wise, with almost all gun and a lot of 2TE sets. Notably, Michigan was almost all two-high:

I noted about a dozen one-high snaps, some of which were pretty ambiguous. The rest of the game was either two high or Michigan's occasional three-high look (six snaps), which generally plays out as a two high where you don't know which S is coming forward presnap.

SUBSTITUTION NOTES: Completely standard, with Paye/Hutchinson/Danna rotating at DE with Danna a bit behind in snaps, Kemp omnipresent, and Uche/Dwumfour replacing each other with Uche getting a slight majority. Vilain, Upshaw, and Jeter got in late; Chris Hinton had scattered snaps earlier. That appears to be your second-string DL.

McGrone/Glasgow/Hudson at LB; Hill/Gray/Thomas rotation at CB, Metellus/Hawkins at S, Dax Hill got a dozen or so jetpack snaps.

The near-total lack of novelty here is good because it means Michigan is healthy and settled.

[After THE JUMP: OL? more like No, L!]

Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Pack	Front	Cover look	Type	Rush	Play	Player	Yards
O20	1	10	Maryland I	3-3-5	3-3 stack	Press two high	Run	N/A	Counter iso	Metellus	3
Idea here is to load up against a light formation and then get backside with what’s functionally an iso. FB #1 goes for a kickout on Metellus, FB #2 used as a lead blocker on whoever shows in the hole. Hutch(+1) stacks and sheds his blocker to force the RB wide. Uche(+0.5) takes the lead blocker hit a yard deep, which isn’t ideal, but sheds it; McGrone(+0.5) scrapes over the top to fill that gap and Metellus(+0.5) contains on the edge.
O23	2	7	Shotgun 2-back	4-2-5	Nickel even	Press two high	Pass	N/A	Flare screen	N/A	4
Hudson shades down before the snap and a slot TE has a great angle on him; this is likely to split the two edge defenders and go direct to Hawkins. Lewerke throws a terrible pass that’s actually backward; WR bats it forward and falls on it for a gain. RPS -1, this was probably a first down if Lewerke throws straight.
O27	3	3	Shotgun trips	Jetpack S	Dime over	Press two high	Pass	4	Slot fade	D Hill	Inc (Pen +15)
This is such a garbage flag. Dax(+2, cover +2) wins over the top of this route; mutual handfighting, and then the WR tries to come inside of Hill, where the ball is not, instead of running through Hill himself. Bogus flag comes out, refs -3.
O42	1	10	Shotgun 3-wide tight	4-2-5	4-3 even	Press two high	Run	N/A	QB power GT	Hudson	8
This feels like something out of the Gattis playbook, with a TE motioning to the field and getting the M LB corps to shift that way. MSU threatens bash, which Glasgow has to respect. Paye slows up for the mesh as well and Lewerke outruns him after he keeps; Kemp gets blocked by a guy with a good angle on him and both backside OL pull around. Hudson(-2) now an ILB and he gets pancaked by a TE. Danna(+0.5) slides down to spill the play and wins his block; McGrone comes over and forces it back behind the second puller; if Hudson was able to just stalemate his block they probably jam this up for not much. As it is Metellus(+0.5, tackling +1) is put in some difficulty and has to make an open field tackle. RPS -1, M should steal this.
50	2	2	Pistol 3-wide	4-2-5	Nickel over	Press two high	Penalty	N/A	Offsides	Kemp	5
Kemp -1.
M45	1	10	Pistol 3-wide	4-2-5	4-3 over SAM	Press two high	Run	N/A	Inside zone	Danna	3
M slides McGrone to SAM and blitzes him, slanting to this play. Dwumfour(-0.5) gets shoved a bit too far down the line and there’s a small gap that Danna(+1) is able to close by working around an OL who had an angle on him initially.
M42	2	7	Shotgun trips tight bunch	4-2-5	4-3 even SAM	Press two high	Run	N/A	Inside zone	Hawkins	4
Hudson tips a blitz; he creeps down presnap and threatens to jet inside the TE. MSU check, M seems to check in response. Hudson does blitz but goes outside of the TE; someone else appears not to get the check. I think it’s Hawkins(-0.5), who is late reacting to the Hudson move and has a chance to fill unblocked after starting at four yards off the LOS; seems like he should be able to fire and close this down at the LOS. The hesitation opens up a little hole. Hutch(+0.5) able to redirect and help tackle after getting to a gap further inside. Hudson(+0.5) did do a nice job to dart around the TE.
M38	3	3	Shotgun trips tight bunch	4-2-5	4-3 over SAM	Press two high	Pass	5	Sack	Danna	-4
M lucky here as Metellus(-3, cover -3) busts; MSU puts a TE down the middle of the field with three yards on Metellus for a TD. Lewerke appears to be reading the mesh first? Surely this is MSU trying to exploit M mesh coverage and succeeding, as McGrone gets picked off and an RB wheel may be there. Danna(+2, pressure +2) bails M out by winning against the RG and sacking after a brief delay. Yikes.
Drive Notes: Punt, 0-0, 7 min 1st Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Pack	Front	Cover look	Type	Rush	Play	Player	Yards
O40	1	10	Shotgun 3-wide	4-2-5	4-3 over	Press one high	Pass	5	Back shoulder fade	L Hill	Inc
Hill(+2, cover +2) matched up on a solo WR to the boundary; Lewerke comes back to him after an initial read and throws a back shoulder fade Hill PBUs easily. Pressure push as Glasgow was pushing the pocket and a throw had to come out.
O40	2	10	Pistol trips TE	3-3-5	5-1 line slide	Press two high	Run	N/A	Counter GT	Hutchinson	1
Jet fake, counter action the other way; Hutch(+2) fires off so hard that he gets to the back before either of the pullers has a chance to block him. He’s got no support so Collins is able to muscle back to the LOS. RPS +1.
O41	3	9	Shotgun trips bunch	Jetpack S	Dime even	Press two high	Pass	4	Angle	N/A	13
Protection breaks down immediately as Uche(+1) and Hutchinson(+1) both come through(pressure +2) but the route beats the coverage(-2) as Thomas sets up with outside leverage and the WR who comes to him then breaks back inside. Metellus(-1) feels like he’s out of position here and claps in frustration; RPS -1.
M46	1	10	Shotgun empty TE	4-2-5	Nickel even SAM	Press one high	Pass	4	Fly	McGrone	Inc
Ye olde quick fade; Paye(+1, pressure +1) around the corner and is going to flush or sack on anything but a three-step throw. McGrone(+0.5, cover +1) in coverage on a RB; very much in trail position but he’s in a decent spot. QB almost beats him with a good throw but RB can’t make the catch, because he’s a running back.
M46	2	10	Ace tight	3-3-5	3-3 stack	Press one high	Run	N/A	Inside zone	Kemp	3
M with a three man line and inviting this; works out okay. Kemp(+1) able to drive the C and get off that block to grab the RB; doesn’t tackle but does slow the guy. Actually he kind of does tackle as Hawkins comes up to help.
M43	3	7	Shotgun trips bunch	Jetpack S	Okie	Press two high	Pass	5	Hitch	D Hill	6
Coverage here is strange with nobody anywhere near a dink hitch five yards downfield(cover -2). Looks like Dax(-1) drifts far too deep on a vertical route that Metellus is over the top of. Lewerke takes WR off his feet to prevent a conversion. Rush decent with Uche(+0.5, pressure +1) coming through the middle to force a throw.
M37	4	1	Pistol twins twin TE	4-2-5	4-3 over SAM	Press one high	Run	N/A	Zone read keeper	Glasgow	7
Looks like arc but the TE flips around for a pass, Metellus(+0.5) has to respect that and is able to get back to the QB once the run is revealed. Glasgow(-2) crept down way too far and gets blindsided by the keep, slightly frustrating since QB keep on short yardage is a trademark.
M30	1	10	Shotgun twin TE	4-2-5	4-3 over SAM	Press one high	Pass	N/A	RPO slant	Thomas	29
RPO action takes out the underneath level, which includes Hawkins. Metellus was lined up on one hash and is supposed to be deep middle so as soon as Hawkins fires Lewerke knows he should prefer the field side WR. Thomas(-2, cover -2) loses contact w/ White such that he can’t even get a tackle attempt in until Metellus does get over. RPS -2.
M1	1	G	Maryland I	Goal line	Goal line	Press zero	Pass	N/A	PA FB flat	N/A	1
They get it.
Drive Notes: Touchdown, 0-7, 1 min 1st Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Pack	Front	Cover look	Type	Rush	Play	Player	Yards
O25	1	10	Shotgun 3-wide	4-2-5	4-3 even	Press two high	Run	N/A	Split zone	Kemp	-1 + 16 pen
Kemp(+1) drives the RG, cutting off frontside gaps and forcing an awkward cut by the RB. TE also slowed on his split block. Paye(+0.5) stands that guy up and Dwumfour(+0.5) works his way around to finish it. RPS +1, this was a DT twist that got this done. Refs(-3) give Hutchinson a dubious PF call and they also put this at the 40 instead of the 39 because the play should count. FFS.
O40	1	10	Shotgun trips tight bunch	4-2-5	4-3 over	Press two high	Run	N/A	Bash	Hudson	3
Other half of the Lewerke power run from before. Hudson(+1) does his edge thing, edging one blocker and getting into a second; first blocker turns upfield for him. Hudson contains and now there’s no one for Metellus(+0.5), who fills ably. Danna(+0.5) got out to help tackle as well.
O43	2	7	Shotgun empty quads	3-3-5	3-3 stack	Press two high	Pass	N/A	Tunnel screen	Glasgow	20 – 30 pen
Nice design from MSU as this has a fake bubble and then a tunnel opposite that. M blitzes a corner so it’s a five man pressure and the DBs are slid to the boundary. Glasgow does recover here and has an opportunity to tackle at the LOS; he misses it(-1) and worse the attempt acts as a slingshot for White, who is suddenly going a different direction. Ugh. If Glasgow had played this worse and missed entirely M rallies to this and holds it down. I guess -1 but I hate doing that. Thomas(-1, tackling -1) whiffs in that manner to make this longer. MSU then gets two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties after. The one on White is definite. Other is not shown.
O33	1	10	Shotgun 3-wide	4-2-5	4-3 even	Press two high	Run	N/A	Power C	Paye	2
Paye(+2) moves down to spill this and jams up the pulling C; TE gets hung up on this as well. Glasgow(+0.5) comes around the edge to tackle and does well; Paye comes through to stop momentum.
O35	2	8	Pistol trips TE	4-2-5	4-3 even	Press two high	Run	N/A	Counter GT	Hutchinson	3
M blitzes McGrone off the edge and slants away. McGrone(+0.5) runs inside and gets picked off but does force it outside; Hutch(+1) makes a nice play to stop his slant when he sees the RT pass him up and redirect back outside. McGrone getting to the first puller in the backfield gives him a clear path; Hudson(+0.5) comes up to contain and those two hold it down.
O38	3	5	Shotgun trips bunch	Jetpack S	Nickel even	Press three high	Pass	4	Hitch	N/A	10
M has two deep S over the bunch and they are well behind the sticks; Thomas is stuck between two WRs and Lewerke gets the ball out to the interior one; nothing he can really do about this. Presnap decision is pretty easy as QB knows he can get this out. Cover -1, RPS -1.
O48	1	10	Shotgun 4-wide	4-2-5	4-3 even	Press two high	Run	N/A	Zone read keeper	Glasgow	1
QB keeps as he feels he has the edge against the DE and he dos but M just shifted Glasgow(+1) out over the boundary and he easily runs the QB out. WR stopped for a potential throw, may be a bust. RPS +1.
O49	2	9	Pistol 3-wide	4-2-5	4-3 over	Press one high	Run	N/A	Pin and pull	Danna	2
Danna(+1) is probably supposed to be picked up by one of the two pullers but hews tight to the LT and then knocks him over; he is able to recover and tackle at the LOS. McGrone(+1) beat a block to join him; Glasgow(+0.5) did as well after being the force guy.
M49	3	7	Shotgun trips	Jetpack S	Okie	Press one high	Pass	4	Rollout corner	D Hill	Inc
Rollout buys just enough time; RB hits Uche as Uche contains the roll and McGrone(+0.5) converts to a blitzer who’s in free. Hill(+0.5, cover +1) beat initially but makes it up and gets in a tackle just before the ball arrives (refs +1); this doesn’t grab his arms like it should but does knock White off balance and contributes to the incompletion.
Drive Notes: Punt, 7-7, 10 min 2nd Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Pack	Front	Cover look	Type	Rush	Play	Player	Yards
O19	1	10	Pistol FB 3-wide	4-2-5	4-3 over	Press two high	Run	N/A	Split zone	Hutchinson	1
M slants to this and has Metellus fill as the force defender; Hutch(+2) is able to take on the cut block from the FB and then get in a leaping squirrel tackle at the RB for one yard. McGrone(+0.5) had come up to take on an OL and restrict space.
O20	2	9	Shotgun 3-wide	3-3-5	3-3 stack	Press three high	Pass	N/A	TE flat	N/A	Inc
Lewerke misses badly. Was going to be a few as this was no screen and M was in zone.
O20	3	9	Shotgun trips	Jetpack S	Dime even	Press two high	Pass	4	Drag	Paye	Inc
Paye(+1) drives his guy into the lap of the QB and Hutch(+1, pressure +2) comes around tight and fast to force a throw. Hawkins(+0.5, cover +1) swapped onto the mesh route and is in good position; throw is off and nearly tipped to him.
Drive Notes: Punt, 14-7, 3 min 2nd Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Pack	Front	Cover look	Type	Rush	Play	Player	Yards
O25	1	10	Ace tight	3-3-5	3-3 stack	Press one high	Pass	4	PA Post	Thomas	Inc (Pen +15)
Double posts from MSU and M is in trouble with just one deep safety and both CBs in a bad spot. Lavert Hill(-1, cover -1) beat and Metellus rolls over the top of him; Thomas(-1, cover -1) beat, holds, and then when the throw comes he jumps on the back of the WR and interferes. This is actually a decent play since it saves M 20 yards, so just -1. Paye(-1)gets hit with a roughing call that is preetty tenuous, but it doesn’t matter so whatever.
O40	1	10	Pistol FB 3-wide	4-2-5	4-3 over	Press two high	Pass	4	PA Y cross	Metellus	Inc
PA gives MSU good time, with Dwumfour breaking through late, pressure -1. Lewerke has WR on a Y cross that it looks like Metellus(-1, cover -1) gets lost on and just leaves it short. Wobbler.
O40	2	10	Pistol 3-wide	3-3-5	3-3 stack	Press two high	Run	N/A	Triple option	Metellus	0
WR motions in behind the RB; dive threat and then an option look to the perimeter. Metellus(+2) scoots down on the motion and fires off the LOS; he and McGrone(+0.5) come hard, beating the TE and inducing a pull; Metellus is then outside of the QB and a pitch is dangerous so Lewerke just eats it. RPS +2.
O40	3	10	Shotgun 3-wide	Jetpack S	Okie	Press one high	Pass	5	Fade	Thomas	INT
Glasgow(+1) and Hutch(+1, pressure +2) surge up the middle; this is a twist between the two where both get through. Lewerke punts up a fade that is miserably short and intercepted by Thomas(+2, cover +2). Thomas had put Barnett basically on the sideline already so that’s some good coverage; the INT is kind of a gift.
Drive Notes: Interception, 17-7, 14 min 3rd Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Pack	Front	Cover look	Type	Rush	Play	Player	Yards
O25	1	10	Shotgun 3-wide	3-3-5	4-3 over	Press two high	Pass	4	Drag	Hudson	Inc
Coverage(+1) good for a beat and then Paye(+1, pressure +1 )comes through on read two; Lewerke dumps it out to a guy on a drag. WR hears the footsteps and drops it; Hudson(+1, cover +1) levels the dude, legally, just after and has a great shot at dislodging the ball if initially caught.
O25	2	10	Shotgun 2-back	3-3-5	4-3 over	Press two high	Run	N/A	Lead zone	Hutchinson	4
M has a bubble to the right side of their line and they run a stunt where NT Kemp is going around Uche and Paye. MSU runs right at the bubble, which is extra vacated now. Paye(+0.5) and Hutch(+1) close it down as quickly as is reasonable. Paye had the stunt as aid.
O29	3	6	Shotgun empty quads inner bunch	3-2-6	Nickel over	Press two high	Pass	3	Scramble	N/A	5
Three man rush, which never happens, with Dwumfour dropping out into a short zone. This ends up being overkill; Hudson covers the same guy. Uche comes around and flushes but falls and since it’s a three man rush Lewerke can run up the middle and get a solid gain. RPS -1, pressure -1. Vilain in on this snap FWIW.
O34	4	1	Pistol 2TE	4-2-5	4-3 under	Press one high	Run	N/A	Arc read keeper	Glasgow	3
Jet fake, pointing, Thomas switches back to S. Paye fires down hard; he’s got a blocker so he has to expect he needs to do this; problem here is that he knocks this dude back so far recovering is hard. Glasgow(+0.5) runs out to take on the TE block and sheds it to tackle well but hard to do that and hold the play down. Not really an RPS since it’s fourth and one on the MSU side of the field and you don’t want to do anything crazy up 17.
O37	1	10	Pistol 3-wide	3-3-5	3-3 stack	Press one high	Run	N/A	Split zone	McGrone	3
Kemp(+0.5) does a reasonable job to stick against a double and delay a release; McGrone(+1) takes on that late release and tackles after an ok gain.
O40	2	7	Ace trips tight bunch	3-3-5	3-3 stack	Press two high	Run	N/A	End around	Gray	10
Jet fake, pull some OL one way, end around the other. Gray(-2) ends up being the force guy and goes too far upfield so there’s a gap despite Danna(+1) doing a good job to string this out; Barnett cuts up at the numbers and Gray should be able to at least delay if he’s at the LOS being a force player instead of of four yards in the backfield. Hudson comes up to tackle and gets a little bit of the business from Barnett. It’s a few extra yards but the tackle does get made in space so a push. RPS -1, this did ask a lot of Danna and still had a solid shot of working.
50	1	10	Shotgun 4-wide	3-3-5	30 nickel slide	Press two high	Pass	5	TE corner	Gray	20
Slick from Lewerke; Hudson(+0.5) makes him move in the pocket a bit; Uche(+0.5) works his way through to leap in his face; Paye(+1, pressure +2) beats the RT and is about to whack him in the back. He relocates and puts a DO on his TE. A wobbly one, but one all the same. Rare. Gray(-1, cover -1) gets a little lost; this is as cover 2 beater that catches cover 2 but he’s turned around and can’t challenge at all.
M30	1	10	Shotgun 4-wide	4-2-5	4-3 even	Press two high	Pass	N/A	Flash screen	Thomas	-1
Thomas(+1, tackling +1) remains undefeated on perimeter throws but this time no one bothers to block him.
M31	2	11	Shotgun trips tight bunch	3-3-5	5-1 split	Press two high	Pass	4	Screen	Thomas	8
Well executed by MSU; they make this work despite a high throw that takes a long time to get there. Glasgow drops out after threatening a rush and eats a crack block from the WR. Thomas(-0.5) replaces, firing upfield of two OL blockers, but he cannot make the tackle. Doesn’t slow the guy, really. Dax(+0.5) makes up a lot of ground to help force this out before the sticks.
M23	3	3	?	?	?	?	Penalty	N/A	Illegal substitution	N/A	5
bah
M18	1	10	Shotgun empty tight bunch	3-3-5	4-3 over	Press two high	Pass	4	Flat	Uche	1
Uche(+2, pressure +2) puts the LT on his ass and forces a throw after coverage(+1) is good for a read. Thomas(+0.5) sitting on the flat and makes no mistake.
M17	2	9	Shotgun 3-wide	3-3-5	4-3 over	Press two high	Run	N/A	QB counter pin and pull	Glasgow	0
Bash one way; M also blitzes McGrone to the field and he gets beat by the playcall because he’s got to stop and then restart. This looks real bad for a second. Then the second MSU puller dives inside for no reason. Glasgow(+2) stands up and sheds the other OL and pops up in QB’s face as a surprise, QB goes over in shock.
M17	3	9	Shotgun trips bunch	3-3-5	Nickel even	Press one high	Pass	5	TE flat	Uche	Inc
Uche(+0.5) and McGrone(+0.5, pressure +1) both coming through, Lewerke panic-checks to a flat route that’s doomed. Also short. Hudson(+0.5, cover +1) over the top of this and going to crush it after a few yards anyway.
Drive Notes: FG(34), 24-10, 6 min 3rd Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Pack	Front	Cover look	Type	Rush	Play	Player	Yards
O25	1	10	Shotgun 3-wide	4-2-5	4-3 over	Press two high	Pass	4	Dumpoff	L Hill	11
Looks like a screen for a second as both Paye(+2) and Kemp(+1, pressure +3) whip blockers and threaten to sack; Lewerke dumps it to the RB; L Hill(-2, tackling -1) is in the flat and loses leverage, getting beat outside and turning a meh gain into a first down; Glasgow was flowing out to help but can’t do much after Hill gets edged.
O36	1	10	Shotgun twins	4-2-5	4-3 over	Press two high	Run	N/A	Power shovel	Hutchinson	7
Inverted veer threatened and then a shovel underneath to the TE. Hutch hilariously discards his OL but misses a tackle(-1) on the TE; Hinton then grabs him and but dude grinds out a ton of YAC. Hutch(+0.5) for forcing it back to Hinton(+0.5); that should have been enough for a modest gain but no LB support as Glasgow heads way out of the picture. RPS -1? Ok.
O43	2	3	Shotgun 3-wide	4-2-5	Nickel over	Press two high	Run	N/A	Counter GT	Paye	1
Glasgow(+0.5) comes up to take on one puller and stalls him out; Paye(+2) is left, finds puller 2, whacks him, closes any gap between the two pullers, and then thunks the RB at the LOS by himself.
O44	3	2	Pistol 2TE	4-2-5	4-3 over SAM	Press one high	Run	N/A	Split zone	Hinton	1
DT twist; Hinton(+1) ducks inside and drives his guy two yards in the backfield to force a cutback. Paye(+0.5) slides down and tackles on that cutback. RPS +1.
O45	4	1	Pistol 2TE	4-2-5	4-3 under	Press two high	Penalty	N/A	False start	N/A	-5
MOVE! RPS +1.
Drive Notes: Punt, 27-10, 14 min 4th Q. How are you going to punt down three scores in the 4th on 4th and 6?
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Pack	Front	Cover look	Type	Rush	Play	Player	Yards
O25	1	10	Shotgun trips tight bunch	3-3-5	3-3 stack	Press three high	Pass	4	PA Post	Uche	22
Uche(-2, cover -2) on the LB level and sucks way too far up on PA, eventually starting a pass drop from a yard off the LOS. McGrone(-1) also nowhere near, but reacts more quickly. Pocket gets annihilated as Kemp, Hutch, and Glagsow(+0.5 each, pressure +2) all come through in short order but it’s too late.
O47	1	10	Shotgun trips	3-3-5	Nickel over	Press two high	Pass	4	TE flat	L Hill	INT
Lewerke throws it way behind his guy and Hill(+1) intercepts. Hill(cover +1) in a good spot to nail this guy for minimal yardage if accurate.
Drive Notes: Interception, 34-10, 14 min 4th Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Pack	Front	Cover look	Type	Rush	Play	Player	Yards
O25	1	10	Shotgun 3-wide	Jetpack S	Okie	Press two high	Run	N/A	QB draw	Paye	4
M is up 37-10 here so RPS is off for 5 yard runs. This is RPS as M loads up a pass D and backs out the NT, Hutch, to create a gap; Paye(+0.5) reacts inside and pushes QB out to Hawkins(+0.5), who does a good job not to fling himself at the QB and draw a flag, which would have happened for any reason at all.
O29	2	6	Shotgun 3-wide	Jetpack S	5-1 split	Press three high	Pass	4	Hitch	Thomas	6
Solo WR opposite trips; Thomas(-0.5) does get beat slightly here and offers a tiny bit of separation that MSU takes advantage of with a quality pitch and catch.
O35	1	10	Pistol trips TE	Jetpack S	5-1 split	Press two high	Pass	5	Throwaway	Uche	Inc
Uche(+1) flings himself up the middle and flushes Lewerke immediately; he is able to escape the pocket but Glasgow(+0.5) and Hutch(+0.5) pursue and nearly sack; QB throws it away. Cover +1.
O35	2	10	Shotgun trips tight bunch	Jetpack S	Nickel over	Press three high	Pass	4	Dumpoff	Uche	Inc
MSU tries PA and to get a guard puling to Uche(+2, pressure +2), which almost gets QB killed as Uche is around at 7 yards and just gets blocked off a sack. QB immediately checks down to a guy at the LOS Hawkins(+0.5) is going to tackle if he catches it, which he does not. Cover +1.
O35	3	10	Shotgun 3-wide	Jetpack S	Nickel even	Press one high	Pass	4	Fade	Thomas	Inc
Hutch(+1, pressure +1) loops around two gaps and gets in clean. Throw enforced and again I’m wondering what Metellus(-2, cover -2) is doing, as he sucks up on an interior guy as Thomas cedes the inside and doesn’t cover either guy?
Drive Notes: Punt, 37-10, 8 min 4th Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Pack	Front	Cover look	Type	Rush	Play	Player	Yards
O36	1	10	Shotgun 3-wide	3-3-5	30 nickel slide	Press three high	Pass	5	Sack	Kemp	-7
Glasgow(+1) and Kemp(+2, pressure +3) push the pocket such that QB runs into two of his own OL and Kemp comes through to sack.
O29	2	17	Shotgun trips bunch	3-3-5	30 nickel slide	Press two high	Pass	4	Rollout TE out	Uche	7
Uche(+0.5) able to press this even as it rolls away from him. Gray(+0.5) and Hudson(+0.5) there to tackle.
O36	3	10	Shotgun 3-wide	Jetpack S	Nickel over	Press two high	Pass	4	Screen	Danna	5
Screen to a TE lined up in the backfield doesn’t get enough as Danna(+1) slides inside and holds up one of the guys releasing and then tackles after McGrone(+0.5) comes up to force it back to him.
Drive Notes: Punt, 37-10, 6 min 4th Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Pack	Front	Cover look	Type	Rush	Play	Player	Yards
O14	1	10	Shotgun 4-wide	3-3-5	Nickel over	Press two high	Pass	4	Scramble	Vilain	1
Coverage(+2) good on two guys to the boundary and then Lewerke is bugging out. Vilain(+1) comes through late to pressure(+1) up the middle and then Upshaw tracks him to the sideline.
O15	2	9	Shotgun trips	3-3-5	Nickel under	Press two high	Pass	4	Sack	Kemp	-11
Uche(+1) drives inside on the RT, no one is picking up this stunt so RT sticks with him; that provides a good flight path for Kemp(+1), looping around Uche and Vilain. Pressure +2; cover +1.
O4	3	20	Shotgun trips tight bunch	3-3-5	Nickel over	Press two high	Pass	4	Rollout flat	N/A	0
Lewerke has no interest in taking another hit and just immediately dumps it in the flat. Thomas(+0.5) tackles.
Drive Notes: Punt, 44-10, EOG.

Sick of Don Brown. Always getting crushed in rivalry… come on, I'm not reading the rest of this.

I got a tweet like this in the first quarter! You are a manifestation of things people are saying on the internet. It is your sworn duty to represent—

That tweet is too silly to countenance.

All right, fine.

MSU more than doubled their yards though!

That's the spirit. Yes, MSU got up to 210 yards. Drives:

• three three-and-outs, two first-down-and-outs, two first-down-and-INTs
• 38- and 26-yard drives ending in punts
• a 60-yard TD drive and a 59-yard FG drive

MSU's main RB had a long run of four yards. MSU did have a couple of things up their sleeve and seemed fairly competent for about a quarter, after which they had the FG drive and all of the drives in the first bullet point.

So… fall camp drive stuff?

 

There was a semblance of one, but MSU couldn't execute it. The backwards pass on MSU's second play was likely to work for a first down if it was, you know, forwards; a couple plays later MSU unearthed this QB counter coupled with bash that I want Michigan to steal:

But after an offsides MSU ran a couple basic-seeming inside zones, which isn't really Fall Camp Drive script. I spent far too long looking at this play trying to suss out what the weird bit was. There is no weird bit, it's just inside zone:

DE #4 to bottom if you're looking for the +1

For three yards, on a day when your RB's long is four yards.

Then on third down I can't decide if this MSU walking into the same mesh defense Michigan's been playing all year or Lewerke screwing it up:

MLB #44, RB #24 running a wheel to the left

Set aside Metellus busting on the TE down the middle of the field, which is a –3 but not really relevant to what MSU is trying to do. If the first read is the RB wheel why isn't he throwing it? And why wouldn't the first read be the RB? Surely it can't be the same mesh Michigan's dedicated all its safeties to since about game three?

And then the bunch stuff mentioned earlier?

On drive two MSU got a third and nine conversion and turned third and seven into a fourth and one by exploiting Michigan's coverage approach against bunch formations.

Seth had a whole section on this earlier today that I don't have much to add to. Michigan shifted to a different approach in the second half and the bunch throws became panicked dumpoffs in the flat. MSU did get another couple of hits out of their bunch stuff, but they were leavened in occasionally so they didn't get an immediate riposte—or lead to much in the way of scoring threats.

The final MSU fall camp drive thing may have been more about Michigan than MSU. That would be the near TD, on which Michigan flat out tells Lewerke presnap that he's got White. He's to the bottom of the screen here; Michigan has slid Hawkins down and Metellus is on the other hash:

Hawkins steps back intitially, then fires on the RPO, Thomas is in outside leverage, and Metellus can't get over.

Thomas got beat such that he couldn't tackle and ate a minus on that play—contrast that coverage with Hill's on the other side—but I'm not sure what the point of having Metellus on one hash is there.

It's annoying that Michigan continually ends up in an RPS hole in these games.

Brown got his hits in as well. I don't usually RPS things like stunts that create pass rush but they were very effective in this game, and there were a couple of incidents where Michigan clearly baffled MSU. This attempted triple option got Don Brown Notre Dame Vine'd:

S #14 and LB #44 screaming off the edge

Lewerke probably saw McGrone flying down and kept, and then whoops there's a safety between you and the pitch man. I think the approach was just fine; we tend to forget that opposing offenses get to do stuff. Just not very much stuff.

But they did stuff?

Sort of? It's not a surprise they had some success early and then went in the tank. This is the pattern of all limited offenses everywhere, and this is very limited offense.

It's sort of incredible to chart them. MSU gets obliterated in pass protection on virtually every play but entered this game having given up just 12 sacks on the season. Watching it it makes sense how this happens, because Lewerke makes one read. He throws this if it's open. If this happens Lewerke looks pretty good.

But if you look at the pocket when Lewerke throws, what happens if the first read is covered? He dumps it off or dies. If read one isn't immediately checks down, or… throws the thing that's not open. He doesn't have the arm strength to throw off-platform and has terrible footwork in the pocket, so if he resets his feet or even drifts back a little bit the resulting throw can go anywhere.

These combined for a couple of gimme interceptions. On the Thomas one a twist between Glasgow and Hutchinson gets both guys up the middle free. First read is a fade, it might be there so throw it, except Lewerke doesn't step into the throw. Result:

NT #97, standup LB #29 next to him

Ensuing drive: one read, nope, checkdown. Is this a drag against zone coverage? Yes. Did it trigger the deployment of the "khaleke hudson shatter machine" tag? Yes. Doesn't matter, ball needs to be gone.

DE #19 to top

Second half field goal drive: one read, not obviously there, Josh Uche has put the left tackle on his ass, throw it in the flat against cover two.

standup DE #6 to bottom

You get the idea. Every once in a while Lewerke will defy this take, as he did on that TE corner route. But even this throw is a bit of a wobbler by the time it gets there:

I think the slams on the MSU offense are a little misplaced. They are doing things that make sense in context, but that context is one of the worst offensive lines in the country, no WR talent, and a noodle-armed QB who can't throw off-platform. You could blame MSU's many injuries for the OL, but this is the fourth consecutive year their OL has been somewhere between bad and appalling.

You mentioned that MSU's RB had a long of four yards. Did you see that stat about the runs?

This one?

Here are the top-5 run defenses in the nation, ranked by lowest rate of 10+ yard runs allowed:

1. Michigan - 7.2%
2. Buffalo - 7.2%
3. Arizona State - 7.8%
4. Georgia - 7.9%
5. Penn State - 8.4%
FBS Avg = 13.7%

Limiting those chunk rushing plays is so critical

— Jarad Evans (@Jarad_Evans) November 20, 2019

Yeah what's the deal with that? I thought our DTs were okay at best?

The DTs are indeed okay at best. Kemp has 4.5 TFLs; Dwumfour has 1. I don't see anyone talking about Kemp, nominally a senior, as an NFL prospect. This has put a lot of pressure on Michigan's defensive ends to cover a lot of ground when the DTs take on doubles, but between Danna, Paye, and Hutchinson they have three A+ run defenders at DE. Each guy turned in impressive plays in this game. Danna's is above in the fall camp section.

Here's Hutchinson finding a guy, anticipating a cut block, getting off of it, and then closing down a ton of space:

DE #97 to bottom

If you just look at the DTs this looks like a problem…

…but McGrone pops up to help out Hutchinson and Michigan makes it work.

Paye has been spilling things all year and when they don't spill he's stuffing runs on the interior:

DE #19 to top

The awareness to stop, redirect, aggressively go after a guy pulling to you, and then get off to tackle is the reason Don Brown was saying things like "he's the best DE, technically, in the country" before the season. Aside from that one play against Wisconsin where there was no edge I'm not sure he's made a mistake this year.

Add it up and you get week after week where Michigan's DEs have lines like +8 –0 or +7 –1. They don't get beat on the ground, they chip in a bunch of team rush, they stay in their lanes to avoid scrambles, they are not Chase Winovich marauding across the European steppes.

And we're killing the QB?

Yeah the other PFF stat that's kind of crazy:

Here are the top-5 FBS defenses ranked by QB knockdown rate (sacks + hits):

1. Michigan - 23.7%
2. UAB - 22.8%
3. Miami - 22.0%
4. Virginia - 21.6%
5. Syracuse - 21.0%

The #Michigan defense sends opposing QBs to the turf on nearly 1/4 of pass plays

— Jarad Evans (@Jarad_Evans) November 15, 2019

Uche is of course a pass rush dude but he's off the field 40% of the time, Michigan barely blitzes—just 8 five-man pressures in this game versus 22 four-man rushes and 1 three-man rush—and they're not getting much from their DTs. And yet. My best explanation for how the tweet goes with the context:

Look at that pocket. Lewerke, a guy with no protection and good mobility, had two scrambles in this game. One went for one yard. The other went for five, and that was against Michigan's only three man rush of the game (and maybe season?), when you can't staple the pocket closed nearly as well. Other scramble results against P5 teams:

• ND: scrambles for 0, 0, 1, 5, and 9 yards. Nine yarder looked to have a hold that sprung it. Another scramble did get hit for a hold.
• PSU: scrambles for 1, 1, and 5 yards.
• Iowa: none.
• Wisconsin: scrambles for 1 and 25 yards.
• Illinois: scrambles for 5, 7, and 9 yards.
• Maryland: one for 1 yard.
• Rutgers: one for 0 yards.

That's eight games in which the opponents average two scrambles per game for under 10 yards. That is great pocket integrity, especially when you are also leading the country in hitting the QB.

So it's no surprise there's a certain genre of Michigan sack this year that feels like everyone sacking the QB at once, including the OL.

So: beefy, responsible, decent pass rush DEs, more push from Kemp, and extremely responsible LBs has led a ton of situations where Michigan slams the pocket shut and almost no instances where opponents are able to productively break the pocket. And if all else fails maybe Uche puts a guy on his ass or Don Brown gets one of his LBs a free run.

Sounds like it's time for a demonstrative chart.

Yep:

Defensive Line
Player	+	-	T	Notes
Paye	12	1	11	Minus for the iffy PF, otherwise flawless.
Dwumfour	0.5	0.5	0	eh
Kemp	7	1	6	Consistent winner against this level of comp now.
Hutchinson	13		13	Paye clone. Or is Paye the clone?
Danna	7		7	All DEs are the same.
Uche	9.5	2	7.5	Knocked man on ass.
Jeter				DNC
Upshaw				DNC
Hinton	1.5		1.5	Makes one short yardage play per game.
Vilain	1		1	Healthy.
TOTAL	51.5	4.5	+47	Not quite the –2 against ND but all right
Linebacker
Player	+	-	T	Notes
Hudson	4.5	2	2.5	Edge winner.
McGrone	6	1	5	Almost all half points for finishing what DL starts.
Glasgow	8.5	3	5.5	Draftable?
Gil				DNP
Anthony				DNP
Solomon				DNP
Barrett				DNP
TOTAL	19	6	+13	Ended up not mattering on various runs.
Secondary
Player	+	-	T	Notes
Metellus	4	7	-3	Two big busts discussed below.
Hawkins	1.5	0.5	1	Could have been an issue on RPO near TD.
Lavert Hill	3.5	3	0.5	PBU, INT, couple blips that weren't punished.
Thomas	4	5	-1	Lost contact on RPO near TD.
Gray	0.5	3	-2.5	Could have stopped that end around for minimal gain.
Dax Hill	2.5	1	1.5	Helped induce White drop.
Reynolds				DNP
TOTAL	16	19.5	-3.5	Discussion below.
Metrics
Pressure	30	2	+28	Now with statistical support for weekly absurd numbers.
Coverage	20	18	+2	Leakier than you might think.
Tackling	2	4	-2	eh
RPS	7	9	-2	I'll take it.

The above chart continues various trends for the season. There is no single DL as dominant as Chase Winovich was last year but they turn in absurdly low minus counts and continually chip in +0.5s and +1s with the occasional whiz-bang play. The main thing separating Danna from the starters is his snap count. Kemp does work against lower level OLs and returns to being quiet. Dwumfour is gamely attempting to play a role that's not really his jam. The pressure metric is absurd despite a relative lack of sacks.

There are your PFF stats charted out.

Uh… the secondary, though?

That was indeed a blip. This could have been hairier if Lewerke had gotten any time at all or could have made throws after moving off his spot. The weirdest thing was Metellus setting MSU WRs free twice. So there was this early:

S #14 to bottom

That is a wide open guy for a touchdown that Metellus clearly screws up on. Danna, and Lewerke's tendency to go one read and immediate checkdown, save Michigan a TD.

Halfway through the fourth quarter Metellus looks to be a deep half; Thomas is in outside leverage, and Metellus sucks up on the slot guy, then gets beat over the top by him anyway:

FS #14

MSU could not pay off either of these because of the offensive issues they have but these were uncharacteristic giant busts we haven't seen the like of in some time. I'm willing to write these off as just one of those things since I don't think I've seen this happen with Metellus in the last two years.

I'm a little surprised Michigan is playing outside leverage with the corners they have. If someone can complete a fade over Thomas or Hill, fine. Both the above clip and the near-TD RPO feel much less dangerous if Michigan just makes the QB throw to the sideline.

Various other minuses in the secondary saw their owners fight back to get to even or slightly above except for Gray; his main issue was on the MSU end around where he went way too far upfield as a force guy and forced nothing. In coverage he got hit on that TE corner route but even if he plays that better it's probably still a completion.

FWIW, it is my assertion that Dax Hill's PI was of the extremely garbage variety. The WR here stops to fight inside of Hill and not only is this a "do you expect his body to disappear" kind of flag, but the WR isn't even trying to get to the ball:

He's trying to get away from the ball! Coupled with the no-calls early on MSU that is tough to take.

That Lavert Hill PBU though.

Yeah, oh no baby what is you doin' for MSU, trying this:

CB #24 to top

Hill has 10 passes defensed this year. He has 7 solo tackles. Nebraska's Lamar Jackson leads the league with 15 PDs; he has 26 solo tackles. NW's Greg Newsome: 11 PDs, 28 solo tackles. Tariq Castro-Fields: 10 PDs, 28 solo tackles. Coney Durr: 10 PDs, 13 solo tackles. That's the top end in the Big Ten. If Hill isn't All Big Ten I'll complain about it on the internet.

Any visual evidence to back up podcast assertions?

It is a very visual podcast. This is the kind of thing I was talking about on the podcast. You can send two blockers to Hudson's side of the field on a perimeter run, and he's either going to occupy both or make a tackle:

LB #7 to bottom

That has been near-constant on any outside run. At some point we're going to miss this era of vipers who cannot be edged; hopefully Michael Barrett is able to continue it next year.

Any plays on which you felt like George at the end of Of Mice And Men?

Glasgow featured in a play that I found maddening to issue a grade for, because he drops out of a rush and gets a tackle attempt in on White. He misses. He misses but the attempt significantly changes his momentum. Usually this is a good thing because you've just slowed a guy up and your teammates can now clean up, but in this case White's able to use the tackle attempt to change direction faster than he would be able to by himself and that turns into one of MSU's very few chunk plays:

LB #29

I felt I had to issue a minus there but YMMV. Mostly I think it's just rotten luck.

(FWIW, you can see White go well out of his way to loom over Hudson; there were a lot of questionable PFs in this game but that was not one of them.)

On the happier end of things, Glasgow was able to rescue a play that looked pretty bad by stacking and shedding an OL pulling to him:

LB #29 to bottom on LOS

Draftable. Probably? Never count out a Glasgow.

I see a couple of points for some backup DL.

Despite an extremely limited set of backup snaps we did get a couple plays from guys who might be more notable next year. Chris Hinton got a third and two snap on which he crunched a couple yards into the backfield and forced a fourth down:

DT #15 to bottom

This immediately preceded the MOVE(!) incident, punt block, and Collins TD. Potentially meaningful that Hinton appears to be part of Michigan's short-yardage D package in Dwumfour's stead. He got approximately four snaps in meaningful time.

Taylor Upshaw and Luiji Vilain got MSU's final three-and-out, with Vilain providing some pass rush:

DE #18 to top inside Uche standing up

Danna's departure may open up some DE snaps for one or both of these guys, although I wouldn't put it past Brown to dump DE rotation entirely since his starters next year project to be very good.

If Kemp gets his redshirt Michigan should return their entire DL save Danna and Uche, if you classify him as a DL, but they could really use Hinton coming through and blowing up in year two. Some early hints that's possible over the past couple weeks.

Heroes?

The DEs had one minus between the three of them and annihilated the MSU OL. Uche also in that boat. McGrone had a nice, if not flashy, game.

Maybe not so heroic?

Metellus had a couple of apparent busted coverages. Thomas did give up some separation on the near-TD.

What does it mean for Indiana and the future?

Michigan's boa constrictor pass rush is extremely effective but might have a hard stop against higher echelon competition. IE, OSU. Although it'll be a lot harder for one injury to completely destroy M's pass rush against them.

This is Brown's best job at Michigan. He's woven in the 3-3-5 and all three DEs, maintained a solid run D, and turn a DL with some holes and mismatched parts into the best two-way DL in his tenure. He's shifted Michigan to a much more diverse defense structurally and given up virtually nothing in the transition. A year after losing Bush, Winovich, Gary, and David Long M is #5 in defensive SP+.

Maybe next year for Dwumfour. He's not in a role that suits him but if he was going to make a little noise it was going to be in this game.

We're just going to ignore the Metellus things for now. Blip. That's the ticket.

Hinton is flashing some ability. A couple more plays in the next two games and then a solid bowl showing and he'll be on a good track to be a major contributor next year.