upon further review

Substitution notes: The base secondary was the same and played every snap IIRC. At linebacker Mouton played every down and Ezeh was the MLB but pulled regularly for the dime package; Carvin Johnson started the game but was pulled in the first half and replaced by Thomas Gordon. The line did its usual amount of rotation (mostly Martin, Banks, always RVB, a little Patterson and Sagesse) with one exception: Jibreel Black got a significant amount of time in passing situation, replacing Banks.

Formation notes: A heavy dose of the dime package that pulls Banks/Ezeh off the field for Avery and Talbott. Meanwhile, Indiana had all manner of weird stuff. I called this "Empty bunch quad":

This was "Pistol FB twins"; note that the TE is covered up on this play:

 

The FB is more of an H-back on this play; he was lined up next to the QB on most other plays of this variety. The rest of it was fairly straightforward.

Insanely long show:

Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Form	Type	Rush	Play	Player	Yards
M23	1	10	Shotgun empty	3-3-5 stack	Pass	3	Rollout throwaway	Banks	Inc
Roh lines up over the center. Martin and RVB flip positions. Indiana rolls the pocket away from Martin but lets him in free anyway; Banks(+0.5) drives through the tackle to force Chappell to pull up. He has to throw before his receivers can force Floyd(+1, cover +1) into a choice, so he chucks it OOB. (pressure +1)
M23	2	10	Pistol 3-wide	3-3-5 stack	Run	Banks	Power off tackle	Ezeh	6
Not to be that guy who hates Ezeh but this is pretty much Ezeh. IU brings Doss in motion and fakes an end around, then runs power at Banks. Banks(+0.5) fights inside and Mouton(+0.5) takes on the FB at the LOS, cutting off the frontside. Roh recognizes and attacks through a gap in the backside of the play and could get this at the LOS or in the backfield but slips, so no plus or minus. He does force the RB to head outside of Banks, where he finds room because Ezeh(-1) stepped towards the end-around and did not get back; Martin actually peels off a blocker and heads downfield to tackle.
M29	3	4	Shotgun 3-wide	3-3-5 nickel	Pass	4	Slant	C. Gordon	14
Michigan threatens blitz and does come, dropping Banks and Roh off into short zones; Indiana picks it up (pressure -1) and a slant comes wide open (cover -2) with Cam Gordon(-1) sinking on a route Rogers should have covered. Good tackle by Kovacs(+0.5, tackling +1).
M43	1	10	Pistol 3-wide	3-3-5 stack	Pass	N/A	PA WR flare	Johnson	15
Fake end around, fake handoff, throwback to Doss after everyone chases after the fake. IU has acres of space since Roh(-1) chased after the fake even though he's the linebacker to this side and abandoning the WR means there's no one out there; Johnson(-1) gets sealed, Rogers(-1) never does get off his blocker, and it's an easy first down (cover -1, RPS -1).
O42	1	10	Pistol 3-wide	3-3-5 stack	Run	RVB	Inside zone	Mouton	2
Willis decides to cut this back despite no penetration; it looks like they were trying to scoop Martin(+0.5) but he knocked the C back and ended up occupying two blockers; still, Willis might have a crease on the frontside. Instead he cuts it back into a huge space because Banks(-0.5) was kicked out easily; Mouton(+1, tackling +1) reads and reacts to tackle.
O40	2	8	Pistol trips TE	3-3-5 stack	Run	Banks	Power off tackle	Martin	24
Man, this should be easy to read: the pulling G starts pulling out before the snap, a dead giveaway. It doesn't turn out that way. Martin(-2) completely misses the pull, fighting into the space the G has just vacated. This opens a huge gap and allows the guy doubling him to get a release on Ezeh; pulling G hits Mouton and the two LBs just have too much space to shut down. Willis is through the crease between them as their waving arm tackles are unsuccessful. Floyd(-1.5) is playing deep safety here and comes up to make a tackle(-1) attempt after ten yards but almost misses it and allows Willis to drag him another 15 yards. This is an example of how useful Cam Gordon is as a run defender; this has happened zero times to him.
O16	1	10	Pistol trips	3-3-5 stack	Run	Banks	Inside zone	Martin	-1
Some redemption as Martin(+1) drives the C backwards and causes the back to hesitate, allowing Renaldo Sagesse(+0.5), unblocked on the backside, to close and tackle with help from Kovacs(+1), who read the play and shot the gap at the right instant, beating a block and getting in on the TFL.
O17	2	11	Shotgun empty bunch quad	3-3-5 stack	Pass	5	Slant	Floyd	12
Terrible terrible coverage by Floyd(-2), who has one receiver to his side of the field and is in the redzone and lays off this slant to the point where it's unbelievably wide open on the world's easiest read (cover -2). Michigan had gotten a free rusher and if Floyd is up on this Chappell is running for his life. Terrible pairing of pressure, coverage, and game situation. I really hope this isn't how the play was drawn up. Floyd then compounds things by getting dragged past the sticks by Belcher(tackling –1).
O5	1	G	Pistol twins unbalanced	Base 4-4	Run	N/A	End around	Kovacs	2
Kovacs(+0.5) is out providing contain and forces the play into Mouton, who helps tackle.
O3	2	G	Pistol twins unbalanced	Base 4-4-	Run	N/A	Power off tackle	Van Bergen	-2
Fake end around, hand it off. RVB(+3) comes underneath a guy trying to downblock him, reads the handoff, and meets the tailback two yards in the backfield. He holds him up and help arrives.
O5	3	G	Shotgun empty bunch quad	3-3-5 stack	Pass	3	Improv	?	5
Absolutely forevvvver on a three man rush that gets nowhere and doesn't even have Roh in it (RPS -1, pressure -2). Martin eventually comes through blockers to hit but it's too late as one of IU's receivers has separated from the coverage of Mouton and found an open spot in the endzone.
Drive Notes: Touchdown, 0-7, 9 min 1st Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Form	Type	Rush	Play	Player	Yards
O39	1	10	Pistol 3-wide	3-3-5 stack	Pass	3	Throwaway	?	Inc
IU runs a series of hitches that are all covered by Michigan's eight-man drop (cover +1), at which point Martin(+0.5) flushes Chappell and forces the throwaway.
O39	2	10	Pistol trips TE	3-3-5 stack	Penalty	?	Delay	?	-5
Oops.
O34	2	15	Pistol trips TE	3-3-5 nickel	Pass	3	Out	Rogers	Inc
Rogers in a three-deep zone and beaten badly for at a ten-yard completion but Chappell chucks it well OOB, then starts grabbing his hand. (Cover -1) Actually, I think the player most at fault here is Avery(-1) who sucked in on routes others were covering instead of sinking back into this one.
O34	3	15	Shotgun 3-wide	3-2-6 dime	Pass	4	Scramble	Roh	10
Floyd lines up as a deep safety, then runs to the LOS to threaten a blitz. Roh rushes! Chappell sets up but can't find an open guy(cover +1) at first, then moves up in the pocket thanks to Roh(+0.5) and Black (+0.5) coming around the end. He takes off to run, which works about as well as you might expect. Roh runs him down from behind. (Pressure +1.)
Drive Notes: Punt, 7-7, 7 min 1st Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Form	Type	Rush	Play	Player	Yards
O26	1	10	Pistol 3-wide	3-3-5 stack	Run	N/A	Power dive	Ezeh	3
Martin again seems like he's about to get sealed and let his blocker out on a linebacker, and does cede a big hole here. He jumps back and flows down the line when he reads the play, though, so no minus. Ezeh(+1) reads the play and blasts into the pulling G, forcing the play back inside, where Martin and Mouton come off blocks to tackle after a moderate gain.
O29	2	7	Wildcat 4-wide bunch	Base 4-3	Run	Banks	QB stretch	Banks	0
They start out in one formation then motion all around and end up in the wildcat. Why? Who knows. They then run a stretch that Banks(+1) strings out, occupying two blockers and giving no ground. This allows Mouton(+1) to attack the edge when Doss commits to it, tackling for no gain. Roh flowed down the backside to help tackle.
O29	3	7	Shotgun trips	3-2-6 dime	Pass	4	Slant	Roh	14
Two blitzers up the middle (Black one of them) with Mouton and Roh dropping into short zones. Michigan again pairs a blitz like this on third and medium with a soft zone that sees a slant route open up as Roh(-2) sucks up on a two-yard drag that had no chance at first down. (cover -2) Chappell got wasted by Martin as he threw; just a second more in coverage and this is a stop, but I say that all the time.
O43	1	10	Pistol FB	Base 4-3	Pass	NA	PA TE corner	Kovacs	Inc
Kovacs initially beaten on this but tracks the TE down by the time this ball gets there and has a chance to maybe make a play on the ball if it's in a certain spot. It's long. Floyd, playing FS here, had been sucked to the other side of the field by a roll away from the route—this is a tough throw. No coverage +/- since this is mediocre.
O43	2	10	Pistol 3-wide	3-3-5 stack	Pass	3	Out	Rogers	Inc
They're going high-low on Rogers and he sinks back so the out is open; Chappell misthrows it. (Cover -1)
O43	3	10	Shotgun trips	3-2-6 dime	Pass	4	Drag	Roh	6
Roh(+1) rushes. He sets the OT up outside, then dives inside of him to get pressure(+1) on Chappell, hitting him as he throws short (cover +1) to the drag route; Floyd and Mouton tackle.
Drive Notes: Punt, 14-7, 3 min 1st Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Form	Type	Rush	Play	Player	Yards
O1	1	10	Ace	3-3-5 stack	Run	N/A	QB sneak	--	1
They get a yard.
O2	2	9	Pistol 3-wide	3-3-5 stack	Pass	4?	Rollout hitch	Rogers	9
Okay, so this is going to happen sometimes but the thing that grinds my gears is that this is a five yard route that a good defense would tackle immediately and ours would give up a first down on, which they do. Rogers -1; his ability to change direction is not so good, and it results in stuff like this here. (Tackling –1)
O11	1	10	Pistol trips TE	3-3-5 stack	Pass		Bubble screen	Johnson	7
Johnson(-0.5) and Rogers(-0.5) both get blocked, opening up the corner.
O18	2	3	Pistol 3-wide	3-3-5 stack	Run	RVB	End around	Roh	7
Roh(-1) sucks in on the playfake and even though Johnson(+0.5) does a good job of funneling it back inside Roh's slow reaction opens up a crease for the first. This was the kind of stuff he was always going to be vulnerable to as a linebacker. C. Gordon comes up for a killshot that lands a glancing blow; Roh wraps up from behind.
O25	1	10	Shotgun 3-wide	Base 4-3	Pass	4	Hitch	Johnson	5
Roh rushes; neutralized. Martin is coming in on Chappell eventually, forcing a throw. Chappell finds a guy open but could have had a better option to the outside; as it is Ezeh and Johnson(+0.5, cover +1) tackle immediately.
O30	2	5	Pistol FB twins	Base 4-4	Pass	N/A	Waggle corner	Floyd	Inc (Pen +10)
Floyd does grab his jersey in a flamboyant fashion as the guy cuts outside and uses that to stay in contact and make a good PBU(-1, cover -1). I'd rather see this than Rogers not being within three yards of a guy.
O40	1	10	Shotgun H-back bunch	3-3-5 stack	Pass		Long handoff	Rogers	1 (Pen +15)
Rogers(+1) does react to this quickly, forcing the WR inside of him at the LOS and allowing Kovacs(+0.5, tackling +1) to plant the guy; Rogers gets flagged for a face mask. I don't minus stuff like this that's accidental instead of dumb.
M44	1	10	Shotgun trips TE	3-3-5 stack	Pass	3	Dumpoff	Ezeh	Inc
Good coverage downfield(+2, Ezeh +1 for a good drop in space that took away the primary read) induces Chappell to chuck a three-yard checkdown that he overthrows and nearly sees intercepted.
M44	2	10	Pistol 3-wide	Base 4-3	Pass	3	Out	Johnson	7
Another frustrating dink of a pass that should be shut down for little but ends up giving IU third and short. Johnson(-0.5) was too far to tackle right away and Roh(-0.5) was awkward in space instead of aggressive. (Tackling –1)
M37	3	3	Shotgun trips bunch TE	3-3-5 nickel	Pass	3	Flare	?	5
With Mouton chucking the TE Chappell reads his flare is open and throws it on the money, giving the RB the opportunity to get the first despite Kovacs(+0.5, tackling +1) coming downhill and making a solid tackle almost on the completion. Excellent execution from IU and a conversion that would not have happened with better tackling on the previous play.
M32	1	10	Shotgun empty	3-3-5 stack	Pass	3	Tunnel screen	C. Gordon	9
This is a bubble fake that counters into a tunnel screen and gets Cam Gordon(-1) shooting up to the outside of the play; Roh(-1) also headed outside despite watching the OL release downfield; there is much space. Gordon does recover to tackle solidly(+0.5). This is a clever play we should consider adopting.
M23	2	1	Shotgun empty	3-3-5 stack	Pass	3	Hitch	Floyd	Inc
Open in front of Floyd for four yards; in this down and distance whatever, it's probably right to play it safe. Pass is a bit short and dropped.
M23	3	1	Shotgun empty	3-3-5 stack	Run	N/A	QB sneak	?	1
Chappell runs up under center and takes a snap; they get it. Very tough to stop this with how they've spread the field.
M22	1	10	Pistol FB twins	Base 4-3	Run	N/A	Inside zone	Johnson	22
So they've been putting Johnson(-2) on the interior on these plays right over the tackle. IU runs right at him and he makes a critical mistake by doing… something, I don't know what. He steps to the right for some reason, maybe because IU has an end-around fake; this allows an IU guard to seal him easily. Ezeh(-1) also stepped right, getting blocked out of the play, and Gordon(-1) moved over too with the WR motion. As a result there's a big hole right where the RB is hitting it up and three players who should be in the area are all gone because they moved to combat a playfake that was not their responsibility and they could do nothing about.
Drive Notes: Touchdown, 14-14, 11 min 2nd Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Form	Type	Rush	Play	Player	Yards
O31	1	10	Pistol trips bunch TE	Base 4-3	Pass	4	Flare	Roh	Inc
Roh rushes. He draws attention from both the LT and the LG, giving RVB a free run at the QB despite no blitz. Chappell is forced into a quick swing that he throws wide of the tailback. This is pure bust by IU but Roh did run right by the tackle to pressure, as well (+1 Roh, pressure +1)
O31	2	10	Shotgun 3-wide	Base 4-3	Pass	4	Flat	Floyd	9
Roh rushes; LT fends him off. RVB(+0.5) and Martin(+0.5) are crushing the pocket so Chappell has to get rid of the ball (pressure +1); Floyd(-2, cover -2) is jumping a slant route that is not open because Mouton is dropping into it(+1). This opens up a nothing pass in the flat for major yards.
O40	3	1	Ace 3-wide	Base 4-3	Run	N/A	QB sneak	?	1
They get it.
O41	1	10	Pistol Trips TE	3-3-5 stack	Pass		Bubble screen	Roh	8
Rogers(+0.5) and T. Gordon(+0.5), in for Johnson, recognize this, attack it, and cut off the outside, where Roh(-2) awkwardly overruns the receiver and turns 0 yards into eight. (Tackling -2, Cover +1)
O49	2	2	Shotgun trips	3-3-5 stack	Run	Banks	Inside zone	Mouton	3
Linebackers on their heels here. Martin(+0.5) absorbs a double without giving ground or allowing a guy off on a downfield player but Mouton(-0.5) took his first steps into a zone drop and can't hit the hole before Willis is through for the first; he does come up to tackle after the short gain.
M48	1	10	Pistol trips	3-3-5 stack	Run	RVB	Inside zone	Martin	-1
Martin(+1.5) takes a double and drives it playside by himself, cutting off any hole. Willis has to cut to the backside, where Sagesse is unblocked. He misses but delays the guy, allowing four Michigan players to come through the line and surround Willis; Mouton(+0.5) tackles for a loss; Ezeh(+0.5) had dipped past a blocker to cut off another lane; everyone else just had to run to the ball.
M49	2	11	Pistol 3-wide	4-1-6 dime	Pass	4	TE Seam	Floyd	27
Roh rushes, Stoned. Chappell is looking right down the center of the field where Mouton and Floyd are; both suck up on a little drag route and subsequently leave a TE seam wide open (cover -3); Cam Gordon comes over to bash the guy to the ground. I am not entirely sure what is desired here but I find it hard to believe that Floyd(-2) isn't supposed to carry the receiver deeper; Gordon may have been late as well.
M22	1	10	Shotgun empty bunch quad	3-3-5 stack	Pass	3	Slant	Floyd	6
Fake blitz gets Banks in free (pressure +1, RPS +1), but there's no zone under the slant to the short side and it's an easy pitch and catch. Immediate tackle from Floyd(+0.5, cover –1).
M15	2	4	Pistol FB twins	Base 4-3	Pass	4	Rollout corner	Gordon	Int
They roll away from the pocket to the wide side of the field and leave everyone in to block; Chappell makes a horrible decision to throw to a guy on a corner route that Gordon(+2, cover +2) has blanketed; he intercepts and manages to not fumble it back.
Drive Notes: Interception, 14-14, 6 min 2nd Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Form	Type	Rush	Play	Player	Yards
O28	1	10	Shotgun trips	3-3-5 stack	Run	?	Draw	Martin	-3
Martin(+3) zips between the C and G with evil intent on the QB but has the agility to change direction and swallow the draw well in the backfield.
O25	2	13	Shotgun 3-wide	4-1-6 dime	Pass	4	Flare screen	Kovacs	12
Guh. Okay, Black(-1) does not recognize this and just runs at the QB. Talbott(-1) eats an OL and doesn't seem to even think about getting off his block. And Kovacs(-1) came up slow, didn't recognize where Mouton was coming from, and ends up making a weak ankle tackle that turns this from third and medium into third and two. (Tackling -1)
O37	3	1	Shotgun 3-wide	3-3-5 stack	Pass	3	Hitch	Floyd	7
DL tight in case of a sneak so not likely they'll get pressure; IU does not sneak, instead hitting a receiver in front of Floyd's soft zone (cover -1).
O44	1	10	Shotgun 4-wide	3-3-5 stack	Pass	4	Hitch	C. Gordon	17
Zone blitz sees Banks and Martin drop out as two guys come from the linebacker level, getting a free run on Chappell, but since it's backed with a three deep zone he has a wide, wide open guy on a hitch that he hits (cover -2, presure +1). C. Gordon(-1) was not in the deep zone and needs to react more quickly to this; another example of M giving up a ton of YAC. This could have been eight; it's seventeen.
M39	1	10	Shotgun trips	3-3-5 stack	Pass	3	Throwaway	?	Inc
No pressure(-1) but the coverage(+2) is very good and Chappell has nowhere to go when Patterson eventually gets through and flushes him.
M39	2	10	Shotgun trips bunch	4-1-6 dime	Pass	4	Corner	Rogers?	24
NFW Michigan can defend this as aligned, as Rogers has a nasty choice between giving up the corner or the flat and chooses poorly by not sinking into the corner. (Cover -2, RPS -2); Gordon has no prayer of getting over in time and can only hope to tackle. Also, Avery(-1) appears to be abandoning his zone to ride the WR on a little hitch farther, which means the flat is wide open; Michigan is putting lots of guys in the same areas on their zone drops.
M15	1	10	Shotgun 3-wide	3-3-5 stack	Pass	3	Slant	Roh	13
Roh(-1) fakes a rush and then drops into a zone; his drop is not good and Chappell can just wait for the receiver to clear him on the slant; C. Gordon(+1) does read this and delivers a hellacious hit just as the ball arrives; receiver hangs on but that was a monster hit that could force an incompletion or fumble. (Cover... 0). Also this is an example of Indiana's pass offense being flat good.
M2	1	G	Pistol FB twins	Goal line	Run	RVB	Inside zone	Van Bergen	1
Van Bergen(+1) surges into the backfield, cutting off the RB's intended path and forcing a cutback. Martin(-0.5) has been shoved down the line and eventually collapses in a heap of bodies; Campbell(-0.5) is also on the ground, so no loss here; Mouton(+0.5) and others converge to tackle short of the goal line.
M1	2	G	Pistol FB twins	Goal line	Run	RVB	Power off tackle	Van Bergen	-1
Van Bergen(+2) slants past the tackle into the play, absorbing the pulling guard and forcing the RB up the middle of the field, where Demens(+1) forms up and tackles, driving the tailback backwards with help from Mouton, who basically tackled Demens from behind to provide extra momentum.
M1	3	G	Shotgun empty bunch quad	3-3-5 stack	Pass	6	Circle	Talbott	1
Rush gets unblocked guys in (pressure +1) and Chappell has to get rid of it, which he does by throwing a circle route in front of Talbott, who is right there but can't do anything about a perfectly placed pass that required the 6-5 Belcher to lay out. Again: Indiana's passing offense is legitimately good.
Drive Notes: Touchdown, 21-21, EOH. Indiana had 45 seconds and three timeouts when they got to first and goal and still would not have had a fourth down play here.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Form	Type	Rush	Play	Player	Yards
O24	1	10	Pistol 3-wide	3-3-5 stack	Pass	N/A	PA WR flare	T. Gordon	15
A repeat of a play from the first drive. Roh(-1) hauls ass after the handoff fake despite RVB sitting there unblocked to handle any cutbacks, opening up space for Doss; T. Gordon(-1) also bit inside pointlessly and gave the IU WR a great angle to block him despite having no earthly way to do anything about a hypothetical run from this far outside. C. Gordon makes a solid tackle(+0.5, tackling +1) but not before the first down.
O39	1	10	Shotgun trips	3-3-5 stack	Pass	5	Hitch	?	11
Easy since M is playing the same soft zone behind their blitzes, giving Chappell plenty of opportunities to hit guys. Man coverage does not exist. (Cover -2, RPS -1). T. Gordon and Rogers tackle after the first.
50	1	10	Shotgun trips	3-3-5 stack	Pass	5	Bubble screen	Rogers	3
Blitz caught(RPS -1) and leaves a ton of space since Michigan has sent it from the receiver-heavy side of the field.
M43	2	3	Pistol 3-wide	3-3-5 stack	Run	Banks	Inside zone	Banks	1
Martin(+1) and Banks(+0.5) shoot through the line immediately, crushing the play's blocking and forcing the RB outside, where Floyd(+0.5) comes up to tackle. Banks let the RB outside, so no +1.
M42	3	2	Pistol 3-wide	3-3-5 stack	Run	RVB	End around	T. Gordon	0
Van Bergen(+1) sets up outside and maintains contain responsibly, stringing the play out. This allows T. Gordon(+1) to get outside his blocker and string it all the way to the sideline, with Rogers adding the final dainty shove OOB.
Drive Notes: Insane punt, 28-21, 11 min 3rd Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Form	Type	Rush	Play	Player	Yards
O39	1	10	Pistol 3-wide	3-3-5 stack	Pass	3	Fly	Rogers	46
This is a cover two that Rogers(-2) immediately gets burned on, a step behind the receiver and unable to do anything about a good pass; Gordon(-1) was also late after not reacting to where the vertical routes were coming from. (Cover -2.)
M15	1	10	Wildcat 4-wide bunch	Base 4-3	Run	N/A	Zone stretch	Van Bergen	-1
Indiana throws away a down so okay. RVB(+1.5) drives into the backfield, forcing a cutback into Banks(+1), who came under a blocker, and Kovacs(+0.5), who was free on the backside.
M16	2	11	Shotgun empty	3-3-5 stack	Pass	3	Flanker screen	Mouton	5
So this is what I would like to see on this: okay, you gave up some yards but not that many. Floyd(+0.5) took on his blocker quickly and Mouton(+0.5, tackling +1) thumped the ballcarrier after a modest gain. Not third and one coming up.
M11	3	6	Shotgun 4-wide bunch	4-1-6 dime	Pass	6	Out	Talbott	8
Blitz does not get there in time (pressure -1) and Talbott(-1, cover -1) is smoked in man coverage.
M3	1	G	Pistol 3-wide	Base 4-3	Run	Banks	Power off tackle	Banks	3
Banks(-1) tries to slant inside and gets shoved out of the play without taking out another blocker, leaving a lot of space and a lead guy. RVB has come all the way from the backside of the play and Martin is also there; they connect at the LOS but get dragged into the endzone.
Drive Notes: Touchdown, 28-28, 6 min 3rd Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Form	Type	Rush	Play	Player	Yards
O39	1	10	Pistol 3-wide	3-3-5 stack	Pass	3	Waggle deep cross	Floyd	19 + 15 pen
Linebackers suck up to the playfake but recover decently; Ezeh(+0.5) is just a step behind the receiver and Chappell has to fit it in a tight window (cover +1) since Floyd is on the edge; Floyd(-1) then misses a tackle(-1) and turns this first down into a first down plus like ten more yards. Black(-0.5) shot into the supposed run play and gave up the corner, giving Chappell some time. He then gets a roughing the passer call(-1.5).
M27	1	10	Shotgun trips	3-3-5 stack	Run	N/A	Draw	Martin	-1
Another stupid wasted down. Martin(+1) pushes through the IU blockers; no one bothers to stay with him, and since he's so agile he can shut down even mondo space like this. RB does run past him but the blocking angles are screwed up and Ezeh(+1) can read it and move up to make a solid TFL(tackling +1).
M28	2	11	Shotgun trips bunch TE	3-3-5 stack	Pass	5	Angle	Ezeh	Inc
Mouton(+0.5) gets a free run but no RPS plus on this because Indiana has a hot route that looks like it will work since Ezeh(-1) is in man on the RB and flies out expecting a flat route only for the RB to dive back inside. Pass is too hot and dropped. First IU drop of the day. (Cover -1)
M28	3	11	Shotgun empty	3-2-6 dime	Pass	3	Throwaway	Black	Inc
No one open immediately (cover +1) and then Black comes around the corner with enough of an angle to force Chappell to start moving his feet. Black then comes around like he's taking another pass in a bomber, forcing Chappell to the sidelines, where RVB can help chase; they force him to chuck it OOB. +1 Black, I think, and pressure +1.
M28	4	11	Shotgun empty	3-2-6 dime	Pass	3	Cross	Black	Inc
Black(+2) shoots inside the tackle and is tripped by the guard, drawing a holding flag and forcing Chappell to start moving his feet; RVB(+0.5) takes advantage of this to start chasing from the outside. Chappell throws to a guy well-covered by Floyd(+2, cover +1) and the pass is broken up.
Drive Notes: Turnover on downs,35-28, 4 min 3rd Q. Couple of nice plays by Black there.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Form	Type	Rush	Play	Player	Yards
O20	1	10	Pistol trips TE	3-3-5 stack	Pass	3	Sack	Banks	-11
So this is pretty weird from IU, with the RT just sort of holding off Banks and expecting inside help that the G is not providing. This allows Banks to head upfield pretty much unmolested and sack. +2 for him, though that may be generous given the bust, and +1 for good coverage downfield.
O9	2	21	Shotgun trips	4-1-6 dime	Pass	3	Dumpoff	Mouton	5
Martin playing DE here and though there's not much pressure Chappell gets spooked and tosses a dumpoff (cover +1) that Mouton(+1, tackling +1) closes down.
O14	3	16	Shotgun 4-wide	3-2-6 dime	Pass	3	Deep hitch	Avery	17
BWS picture-paged this and I agree: Avery(-2) abandons his zone responsibility to essentially play man on the slot receiver and opens up a 20-yard completion. (Cover -3) Rogers(-1) was also passive here; he's never close to receivers.
O33	1	10	Pistol 3-wide	Base 4-3	Pass	4	Long handoff	Floyd	12
Floyd(-1.5) sucks in on play action and gives up an easy first down. (Cover -1)
O45	1	10	Pistol trips TE	3-3-5 stack	Run	RVB	Dive	Mouton	3
Martin(-0.5) controlled and sealed though he doesn't give up too much room; Mouton(+1) slams into the lead blocker at the LOS and Black(+1) chucks his blocker away, forcing a cutback from the RB that Kovacs(+0.5, tackling +1) tackles on.
O48	2	7	Pistol 3-wide	3-3-5 stack	Pass	7(!)	Out	?	Inc
Inevitable someone gets a free run here and it comes right up the middle; quick throw is wide of the WR. Rogers did not have very good coverage. (Pressure +1)
O48	3	7	Shotgun trips bunch	4-1-6 dime	Pass	4	Hitch	Avery	10
Roh(+1) spins inside the RT and nails Chappell as he throws (pressure +2) and Banks(+1) is coming around the edge; any hesitation and this is a sack. There isn't any because Avery(-2) has again totally vacated his zone in favor of chasing a guy across the field, providing a huge window in which to throw (cover -2). I can't believe they haven't ditched this package yet; Avery has no idea what he's doing.
M42	1	10	Pistol trips TE	3-3-5 stack	Pass	3	Out	T. Gordon	12
Plenty of time (pressure -2) but good downfield coverage(+1) leaves nothing but a short out; T. Gordon(-2, tackling -1) is there and whiffs, turning four into a first down.
M30	1	10	Shotgun trips	Base 4-3	Pass	3	Flare screen	Floyd	-1
No one out on Floyd(+1) so he rolls up on the RB and makes a solid open field tackle(+1) for loss. I assume the WR busted here?
M31	2	11	Pistol 3-wide	Base 4-3	Pass	3	Sack	Martin	-15
Eight man drop sees no one open immediately (cover +1) and Martin(+3) shoves the center backwards, forcing him to trip over one of his linemates. Free, Martin consumes Chappell's soul.
M46	3	26	Shotgun 4-wide	3-2-6 dime	Pass	3	Dig	?	10
No one gets near Chappell this time (pressure -1) and he has plenty of time to find a WR for about half of it; Roh(-0.5) overruns a tackle but Mouton(+0.5) makes up for it and they get him down about where he catches it. In this situation, fine.
M36	4	16	Shotgun 4-wide	3-2-6 dime	Pass	3	Scramble	Van Bergen	7
Coverage(+1) at first, then RVB(+1.5) chucks away a guard and threatens to come up the middle, flushing Chappell; Black(+0.5) comes from behind to chase and Chappell has to scramble fruitlessly. (pressure +2)
Drive Notes: Turnover on downs, 35-28, 12 min 4th Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Form	Type	Rush	Play	Player	Yards
O18	1	10	Pistol 3-wide	3-3-5 stack	Run	RVB	Dive	Ezeh	2
RVB(+0.5) heads upfield and past his blocker and Ezeh(+1) thumps into the pulling guard at the line, causing the RB to head to the backside where Mouton(+0.5) is unblocked and makes the easy play.
O20	2	8	Pistol 3-wide	3-3-5 stack	Pass	3	Throwaway	?	Inc (Pen +15)
Michigan blankets all three of the bunch receivers(cover +2) and then Martin(+0.5) fights through blockers to force the dumpoff. Michigan is hit with a borderline roughing the passer call as Martin bangs into Chappell after the throw (-2).
O35	1	10	Pistol trips TE	3-3-5 stack	Run	Banks	Zone stretch	Banks	0
Banks(+1) takes the double but doesn't get sealed, leaving Mouton(+0.5) to slam up into the frontside gap before the OL can get out on him. This forces a cutback into Ezeh(+0.5), who is unblocked but in good position and tackles(+1) for no gain.
O35	2	10	Shotgun trips TE	3-3-5 stack	Pass	3	Hitch	Ezeh	Inc
Michigan has this bunch set down and has again covered(+1) the options. Ezeh(+0.5) drops right into the TEs route, and Chappell has to scramble as RVB(+0.5) comes free. He chucks it at one of the covered receivers; pass goes wide. (Cover +1, again.)
O35	3	10	Shotgun trips TE	3-3-5 stack	Pass	3	Post	Floyd	Inc
This same route package with one exception: deep receiver to the bunch side runs a post. Short guys covered, deep guys covered, and Floyd(+2) drops right into the targeted area. Chappell throws it well long, which is fortunate for IU (cover +2).
Drive Notes: Punt, 35-28, 9 min 4th Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Form	Type	Rush	Play	Player	Yards
O20	1	10	Pistol FB twins	3-3-5 stack	Run	Banks	End around	Kovacs	13
Kovacs(-1.5) is too focused on the dive playfake and gets thunderously cut to the ground; Banks(-0.5) also sucks inside, leaving Doss wide open on the corner; Floyd(-0.5) comes up and gets run over without so much as an attempt to wrap up; he doesn't force the ballcarrier back into help, either.
O33	1	10	Pistol 3-wide	3-3-5 stack	Pass	3	PA WR flare	Rogers	8
Third time for this play; this time T. Gordon(+0.5) gets into his blocker and forces a choice, which is outside; Rogers(-1) beats his blocker but overruns the play to the point where he runs up between Rogers and the guy trying to block him. Cam Gordon makes a solid tackle after all that.
O41	2	2	Pistol trips TE	3-3-5 stack	Run	Banks	Inside zone	Martin	2
Martin(+1) jams up the frontside, forcing a cutback with help from Banks(+0.5); IU G attempting to block Martin successfully diagnoses that he's screwed and makes a really smart play to peel off and hit Ezeh just as he's about to hit the RB at the LOS, allowing him a tiny crease for the first.
O43	1	10	Pistol trips	3-3-5 stack	Pass	3	Bubble screen	Roh	9
T. Gordon(+0.5) does zip past his blocker and get into the WR at the LOS. He could/should have this for nothing but the throw is a ltitle bad—inside and upfield—which gives the WR some momentum away from where Gordon expects him to be and he ends up missing the tackle. He's still disrupted the play, but Roh(-1) bit on the run fake and is late, and Rogers(-0.5) makes a really weak tackle(-1) that sees the guy pick up 4-5 YAC. Our corners don't tackle well.
M48	2	1	Pistol FB twins	Base 4-3	Run	N/A	Inside zone	Patterson	8
Patterson(-1) sealed easily enough for the C to pop out on Mouton(-0.5) who had a tough job but had help in the box from Kovacs and should have attacked the hole here more aggressively. Ezeh had another gap that was open to sit in.
M40	1	10	Pistol FB twins	Base 4-3	Penalty		False start	?	-5
Oops.
M45	1	15	Shotgun trips	3-3-5 stack	Pass	3	Hitch	?	5
Open. T. Gordon and Rogers are running out on it but it's upfield and the WR can't catch it and stay on his feet. M has pulled Roh for Fitzgerald on this play.
M40	2	10	Shotgun trips	3-3-5 stack	Pass	3	Dumpoff	Roh	5
Roh's absence was very temporary; he's back. Good coverage(+1), no pressure(-1); Chappell dumps it off, where Roh(+0.5) does make a good tackle(+1) after little gain.
M35	3	5	Shotgun trips bunch	3-2-6 dime	Pass	3	Hitch	Roh	Inc
Chappell misses an open out in favor of throwing a deep hitch that Roh(+1, cover +1) is right in front of. Chappell throws it really high and uncatchable; if not this high could have been deflected/picked.
M35	4	5	Shotgun empty bunch quad	3-2-6 dime	Pass	3	In	Roh	11
Man. Black(+2) smokes the LT and gets inside of him, nailing Chappell as he throws (pressure +2) and forcing a throw short of the sticks. This is a little in that Roh(-1, cover -1) is just a yard or two too deep on but there was a route behind him. This is just outstanding from Chappell to get this pass off and get it to the right place. I do think Roh took his eyes off the QB for a moment for whatever reason and that's why this ends up in a first down.
M24	1	10	Pistol FB twins	Base 4-3	Run	N/A	Dive	T. Gordon	0
Mass of bodies, no creases in the line, and T. Gordon(+1) moves up into the gap, hitting the lead blocker in the backfield and forcing a cutback. Kovacs peels back and Mouton(+0.5) stands up the RB at the line.
M24	2	10	Shotgun empty bunch quad	3-2-6 dime	Pass	3	Dumpoff	Patterson	Inc
Time(pressure -2) but good coverage(+2) and Patterson(+0.5) bides his time, coming through blockers as Chappell starts moving around the pocket to force an inaccurate throw on a dumpoff.
M24	3	10	Shotgun trips bunch	4-1-6 dime	Pass	4	Middle screen	Martin	5
Just one LB in the middle of the field and Indiana runs an RPS+2 play against it that could/should obliterate this D except for Martin(+2) peeling back and tackling the RB from behind. How many DTs can do this? That saves Michigan's bacon temporarily.
M19	4	5	Shotgun trips bunch	4-1-6 dime	Pass	4	RB flat	Talbott	19
This is another clueless freshman essentially playing man in zone; do not listen to the man with the telestrator blaming Mouton. Talbott(-2, cover -3) runs with the slant way too far, opening the RB flat wide open and giving up the first down. Kovacs(-1, tackling -1) makes a heady, gritty play by missing the tackle and giving Denard time to work with. That's the ticket!
Drive Notes: Touchdown, 35-35, 1 min 4th Q. Last drive happens with 12 seconds and is not charted, but Talbott does make a good play on the slant that was play 1, FWIW.

This is the UFR that never ends / it just goes on and on my friends / some people started charting it not knowing it was the 2010 Indiana game / and they'll keep on charting it forever just because…

Michigan gave up a lot of first downs, yes, and many of them were on stuff like this:

That should be two yards, and then it should be four yards, and then it is six. The next play is a little flare that Kovacs tackles on immediately:

That's about as well as you can play that and if Michigan had held two yards to four it would have been fourth down (and Indiana would have gone for it). This happened a lot. When you're playing against Indiana a lot of defensive execution is keeping dink passes dinky, and Michigan did not do this well at all. This is because of crappy tackling, the lack of defensive backs athletic enough to tackle on the catch, and…

This is the UFR that never ends / it just goes on and on my friends / some people started charting it not knowing what it was / and they'll continue charting it forever just because…

I mentioned this in the game column and saw it when I reviewed the game: Craig Roh is oh exploitable in space.

As we'll see in a bit, this was not a good day from him and it was mostly stuff like that; you'll note that the clip in the first section above also features Roh being uncertain about attacking the guy with the ball.

I'm confused by the decision to play him at LB in this game after we saw him be effective against a passing spread at DE in the Notre Dame game. Okay, Brandon Herron is out, but how much worse than Herron can JB Fitzgerald be? And isn't the passing-down upgrade from Banks to Roh worth it?

The only thing I can think of is that Roh is not a guy who is going to beat two blockers and Michigan was addicted to the three-man rush, but even that's weak.

This is the UFR that never ends / it just goes on and on my friends / some people started charting it not knowing what it was / and they'll continue charting it forever just because…

The natural effect of the three-man rush is to not give up anything long—Indiana's long reception on the day was a 46-yarder to Doss on one of the few instances where they tried to play man and Rogers got burnt. The next longest was a 24-yarder, again to Doss. It also does a crappy job of getting negative plays and booting people off the field, yielding lots and lots of long drives.

This is the UFR that never ends / it just goes on and on my friends / some people started charting it not knowing what it was / and they'll continue charting it forever just because…

Denard.

This is the UFR that never ends / it just goes on and on my friends / some people started charting it not knowing what it was / and they'll continue charting it forever just because…

This is going to sound like the self-serving thing fans do where the opponent is total crap that will fall weakly until they actually do, at which point they were a colossus overcome by derring-do and iron, but you can check the game preview to confirm this is what I thought after taking in the Western Kentucky-IU game: Indiana has a legitimately very good pass offense. They had 41 opportunities to make catches and made 40. Chappell almost never went to the wrong guy and missed on maybe five of his 65 attempts. Their receivers are tall and fast and shifty. One dollar they're the most productive pass offense in the conference at the end of the year.

This is the UFR that never ends / it just goes on and on my friends / some people started charting it not knowing what it was / and they'll continue charting it forever just because…

Chart. Keep in mind that the numbers for DL will be inflated to the positive simply because of how many plays they got; similarly, the defensive back minuses will be larger than usual.

Defensive Line
Player	+	-	T	Notes
Van Bergen	12	-	12	Excellent against the run, got some pass rush, mentally round this down to a +8.
Martin	16	5	11	Actually got beat out by someone, also round this down to +7 or so.
Banks	8	2.5	5.5	Still adequate, though his sack was a gift.
Sagesse	0.5	-	0.5	Hardly used.
Patterson	0.5	1	-0.5	Also infrequent.
Black	7	3	4	Nice performance for a freshman.
Campbell	-	0.5	-0.5	One short yardage play.
TOTAL	44	12	32	Or around +20 for three DL, which is a decent, not great day.
Linebacker
Player	+	-	T	Notes
Ezeh	6	3	3	STILL VERY HOPELESS I HATE HIM THIS IS NOT AN ANTIJINX
Mouton	9.5	1	8.5	Er?
Roh	5	12	-7	I totally took clips off all his bad stuff so people wouldn't yell at me. Not deployed properly; this is hardly his fault.
Johnson	1	4	-3	IME the primary guy on the long Willis TD..
T. Gordon	3.5	3	0.5	I think he's the starter here for a bit.
Leach	-	-	-	DNP
Moundros	-	-	-	DNP
Demens	1	-	1	Goal line only.
Herron	-	-	-	DNP
Fitzgerald	-	-	-	One play IIRC.
TOTAL	26	23	3	Players other than Mouton struggled tackling in space.
Secondary
Player	+	-	T	Notes
Floyd	7.5	11.5	-4	Busy day came out to the negative mostly because of bad tackling.
Rogers	1.5	7	-5.5	Beat up pretty good for the first time.
Kovacs	3.5	3.5	0	The king of moderate-moderate-0.
C. Gordon	4	5	-1	More on him later.
Talbott	-	4	-4	Zone vacancy.
Christian	-	-	-	DNP
Avery	-	6	-6	Zone vacancy II.
Ray Vinopal	-	-	-	DNP
TOTAL	16.5	37	-20.5	Chappellbombed
Metrics
Pressure	14	11	3	I'm still having a hard time judging what is reasonable in the three man rush.
Coverage	28	34	-6	Possibly too kind.
Tackling	11	11	0	I should change this to a percentage: 50% on this sample size is not good.
RPS	1	8	-7	Chappell found holes in the zone all day.

[RPS is "rock, paper, scissors." Michigan gets a + when they call a play that makes it very easy for them to defend the opponent, like getting a free blitzer. They get a – when they call a play that makes it very difficult for them to defend the opponent, like showing a seven-man blitz and having Penn State get easy touchdowns twice.]

Again, there are a lot of factors throwing off the numbers: a vast number of plays. The reliance on the three-man rush. The 3-3-5. I'm still searching for my footing in a new environment. These things are just supposed to be guides surrounded by plenty of context, though, not gospel.

As for the guides: I thought Mouton was good, Kovacs and Gordon okay and reliable, and all cornerbacks not good. Floyd is the best of the bunch right now and he has major issues tackling; his coverage is much better than last year but still only brushes up against adequate. Rogers plays it safe because whenever he doesn't he gets burned. Roh was covered above: he's not being done a favor by this D.

Any bright spots?

I like Cam Gordon. He imploded magnificently against Notre Dame but this week very little of what went wrong can be put on his head. There was the interception, of course. And he did this:

I know he didn't get a PBU or wrap up but that's a hit with the potential to jar a ball free. When was the last time a Michigan safety did that? In contrast, this is JT Floyd moonlighting at safety:

That stuff happens all the time with defensive backs trying to tackle, but so far Gordon has not fallen victim. Through five games the longest run an opponent has had on Michigan was the 29 yards Armando Allen picked up on an edge pitch that Michigan was doomed on because they were blitzing Kovacs right past it. While he took a dodgy angle on that one it's hard to remember another run on which I thought "argh Cam Gordon." The run minuses have been few and far between for him.

He's off to a good start for a redshirt freshman who just flipped to defense. As he gets more comfortable the wood will be brought with more regularity.

Elsewhere, the linebackers who are actual linebackers did little that was objectionable, though the big tests for them come the next two weeks. And Jibreel Black got a +4 in limited time, showing good pass rush ability against an Indiana line that is at least competent at protecting the passer. That seems like the first step on the way to a productive career; if he can push through a competent Banks into the starting lineup that will be encouraging int the same way Lewan's emergence has been. Even if he just ends up in heavy rotation and does fairly well with it that will probably plug one of the three holes in next year's starting line up with an upgrade.

Heroes?

Martin, Van Bergen, Mouton. I thought Kovacs and Gordon had a lot of opportunities to make big errors and did not, as well.

Goats?

Any of the four cornerbacks, and the linebacker version of Roh. I think all save Rogers (who is what he is as a fifth year senior) can and will get better, but in this game they were the guys most responsible for giving up 35.

What does it mean for Michigan State and beyond?

Maybe not that much since Michigan is done playing passing spreads until they meet Purdue; I'm actually more worried about what happened in the UMass game re: MSU, Iowa, PSU than anything that happened against Indiana. Okay, a veteran, accurate quarterback and his band of tall, excellent receivers burned Michigan's secondary. This is not shocking. Michigan State is not likely to come out throwing on 80% of first downs anyway.

I think this dime package can work once the freshmen get some more experience; many of the errors were correctable. If guys start dropping into the right zones Michigan's front three has shown enough pass rush to get opponent offenses off the field somewhat regularly, and "somewhat" should be enough.

Roh should and probably will play way more defensive end against the rest of the schedule; at the very least when he's a linebacker Michigan should be sending him on blitzes at least 70% of the time. The extra guy in coverage just isn't that useful compared to the extra pressure he can bring. 

Some issues are fixable, but the lack of raw talent in the secondary isn't. Roh's inability to move like a linebacker and the lack of pass rush from the starting DEs are also issues that will persist throughout the year. The best I can offer is that I'm not 100% sure that State will shred Michigan's D for 500 yards because the linebackers have picked up their play and this could turn out to be an all right run defense and Indiana could turn out to be the best passing offense in the league by some distance. I don't think it's quite as bad as it looks right this instant.

I will reserve GERG bashing until I see what happens the next two games. There are clear problems that can be addressed by player development or scheme adjustments; hopefully Michigan can get the ship somewhat righted.

Substitution notes: Nothing unusual little. It appears the top three outside receivers are all getting approximately equal snaps. Smith played the whole game, I think, with Hopkins the other guy in the lineup on the rare occasions Michigan used a two back set. He never carried the ball. The second slot receiver is being de-emphasized in favor of more lineups featuring tight ends.

Formation notes: nothing new.

Gratuitous video:

Show:

Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	RB	TE	WR	D Form	Type	Play	Player	Yards
M24	1	10	Shotgun H-back	1	1	3	Base 4-3	Run	Zone stretch	Smith	3
Playside DT slants and does not get sealed but also runs himself out of the play so there's a hole-ish; Schilling trips over the legs of that guy and falls, removing a blocker. Whether it's because of this or Dorrestein(-1) not being able to do anything with the backside guy, Smith decides on the full cutback, which is open because the backside DE maintained contain. DE runs him down, etc. This play is a good example of what Smith gives you: he's okay. He doesn't break tackles and isn't fast enough right now to juke opponents. (ZR +1)
RUN+:							RUN-: Dorrestein
M27	2	7	Shotgun H-back	1	1	3	Base 4-3	Run	QB lead draw	Robinson	73
Omameh(+1) blocks down on the playside DT and blasts him out of the hole. Molk(+1) gets out on and seals one MLB; Webb(+1) plugs the other in the hole and Robinson has a lane right up the middle. FS comes up to fill, Robinson goes WOOP, and then he's gone. Stonum(+1) picked up a good downfield block to remove the last guy who might have had an angle. Replay.
RUN+: Omameh, Webb, Molk, Stonum, Robinson(3)							RUN-:
Drive Notes: Touchdown, 7-7, 8 min 1st Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	RB	TE	WR	D Form	Type	Play	Player	Yards
M15	1	10	Shotgun H-back	1	1	3	Base 4-3	Run	Inside Zone	Smith	4
Schilling(-1) is beaten and falls to the ground, forcing Smith behind him. There's a lane because of an excellent block from Webb(+1) on the backside but it's not open for much as Lewan(-1) was blasted backwards by the LB and falls over. That guy should put this on his NFL highlight tape. Smith has nowhere to go because of the minuses here and gets what he can. Molk(+1) did get a good downfield block on the MLB, which helped create a pocket for these yards. (ZR+1, btw)
RUN+: Webb, Molk							RUN-: Lewan, Schilling
M19	2	6	Shotgun 3-wide	1	1	3	Base 4-3	Run	Zone read keeper	Robinson	5
This is not the right read with the backside DE setting up outside and another linebacker coming up, plus Stonum getting attacked like whoah by the corner. Anyway, Robinson's on the edge with two Hoosiers but manages to dance past them and pick up some yards; Omameh(+1) had gotten an excellent driving block on the backside DT and his push opened this up for a few more yards that you might expect. (ZR –1, Robinson gets off without a minus because his agility made up for the poor decision.)
RUN+: Omameh							RUN-:
M24	3	1	Shotgun 2H	1	2	2	Base 5-2	Run	QB lead draw	Robinson	27
Smith motions out before the snap; he'll do this before most snaps out of this formation in this game. Molk(+1) and Schilling(+1) momentarily double the playside DT, who hops inside as Denard hits it upfield immediately; Schilling pops out to seal a linebacker. Lewan(+1) has obliterated the playside DE and ends up pancaking him; Webb(+1) runs over a defensive back and Robinson gets into wide open spaces. It looks like he might be en route to a touchdown but a safety just manages to grab him from behind and take him down. I'm not sure if this was ruled a fumble or not but on replay it's clear he was down before the ball is out.
RUN+: Molk, Schilling, Lewan(2), Webb, Robinson							RUN-:
O49	1	10	Shotgun H-back	1	1	3	Base 4-3	Pass	PA rollout hitch	Hemingway	17
Webb acts as the lead blocker here and Indiana bites hard, leaving Robinson a ton of space to operate in. He hits an open Hemingway in time for Hemingway to turn upfield and get some YAC. Pass was a little high but not too bad. (CA, 3, protection 1/1)
O32	1	10	Shotgun 2-back	2	0	3	Base 4-3	Pass	Bubble screen	Roundtree	32
Indiana is running the same response to this bubble that they did last year: crash the safety at it. Michigan is responding to the response by having the outside WR block the safety—they did this against UW and OSU late last year. Hemingway(+1) picks the safety off and Roundtree(+1) shakes the hesitant, evidently not good corner for a touchdown. (CA, 3, screen, RPS +1)
RUN+: Hemingway, Roundtree							RUN-:
Drive Notes: Touchdown, 14-7, 5 min 1st Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	RB	TE	WR	D Form	Type	Play	Player	Yards
M19	1	10	Shotgun trips	1	0	4	Base 4-3	Pass	Flanker screen	Odoms	5
Grady(-1) whiffs on a safety, which forces Odoms outside if he's going to get anything and robs Roundtree of his blocking angle. Still a decent gain thanks to a quick reaction and stiffarm from Odoms(+1). (CA, 3, screen)
RUN+: Odoms							RUN-: Grady
M24	2	5	Shotgn trips	1	0	4	Base 4-3	Pass	PA doom seam	Roundtree	74
QB lead draw fake sucks the linebackers and the single deep safety up, providing Denard an easy throw to a wide open Roundtree that he hits. Roundtree starts rambling downfield, getting some vague help from Grady but mostly doing it himself, cutting back and then cutting out to get down to the three. (CA+, 3, protection N/A, RPS+3)
O2	1	G	I-Form Big	2	2	1	Goal line	Run	Dive	Smith	1 (pen +1)
Come to the play late so not really sure what happens, but Indiana has twelve guys anyway.
O1	1	G	I-Form Big	2	2	1	Goal line	Run	Yakety Sax	Robinson	0
Fumbled snap.
Drive Notes: Fumble, 14-7, 1 min 1st Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	RB	TE	WR	D Form	Type	Play	Player	Yards
M22	1	10	Shotgun trips	1	0	4	Base 4-3	Run	QB lead draw	Robinson	2
Schilling(-1) beaten to the playside by a guy he has position on, which forces Smith to ineffectually block that guy too and sends Robinson to the backside of the play, where multiple unblocked IU players meet him.
RUN+:							RUN-: Schilling
M24	2	8	Shotgun 4-wide	1	0	4	Base 4-3	Pass	PA circle	Grady	Inc
Poor read by Robinson with the safety tearing after this and Gallon breaking open over the middle on the same route Forcier tossed to Roundtree last week; the deep hitch may also have been available. As it is he throws the circle and Grady drops it, though he was going to get blown up for three yards anyway. (CA, 3, protection 1/1)
M24	3	8	Shotgun empty	1	0	4	Nickel 4-3	Pass	Tunnel screen	Smith	Inc
Robinson throws it high; this was getting blown up anyway with at DT running right into Smith as the ball passed overhead. (IN, 0, screen, RPS -1)
Drive Notes: Punt, 14-14, 10 min 2nd Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	RB	TE	WR	D Form	Type	Play	Player	Yards
M19	1	10	Shotgun 3-wide	1	1	3	Base 4-3	Run	Zone stretch	Smith	4
Contain; good handoff (ZR+1). Michigan does block the backside end but the DTs slant past Omameh(-1) and Schilling(-1) to blow up the play and the downfield blocking. Smith(+1) does a good job to cut it back behind Schilling, who just got enough of the DT to give the backside crease; he gets his point back. He hits it upfield until the contain guy comes down on him. This play was blown up and still got some yards.
RUN+: Smith							RUN-: Omameh
M23	2	6	?	?	?	?	?	Pass	PA rollout hitch	Odoms	14
Watching highlights because you suck ESPNU; as we come back Odoms is sitting down in a hole in the zone and Robinson is nailing him for a first down. (CA+, 3, protection 1/1)
M37	1	10	Shotgun 3-wide	1	1	3	Base 4-3	Run	QB power off tackle	Robinson	13
Schilling and Molk pull around as Koger and Lewan block down. Koger(+1) locks down the DE; Schilling(+2) pulls up to absorb a blow from a charging linebacker; very nice play. Robinson heads outside of that block, then cuts up inside of the corner that Roundtree got a piece of. Molk(+1) gets a downfield block on the last remaining LB; Smith(-1) is surprised by the direction of the guy he's attempting to block and lets him through; his diving arm tackle is just enough.
RUN+: Koger, Schilling(2), Molk, Robinson							RUN-: Smith
50	1	10	Shotgun H-back	1	1	3	Base 4-3	Pass	Bubble screen	Roundtree	7
This one barely gets out there, forcing Roundtree to dig it out. He does and manages to dodge the charging safety (who is now chagrined after terrible things happened to him), picking up decent yardage thanks to a good block from Odoms(+1). (MA, 2, screen)
RUN+: Odoms							RUN-:
O43	2	3	Shotgun 3-wide	1	1	3	Base 4-3	Run	Zone stretch	Smith	6
Correct read (ZR +1); we come to this late because of cool graphics but as we do Omameh(+1) has control of Larry Black and is driving him down the line; Webb(+1) pops out on the linebacker that shows up in the B gap and Molk(+1) has both the agility and intelligence to decide he's going to pull around Omameh since this scoop isn't happening, allowing him to plow a safety. Smith runs up his back for a decent gain.
RUN+: Omameh, Webb, Molk							RUN-:
O37	1	10	Shotgun 3-wide	1	1	3	Base 4-3	Run	QB down G	Robinson	28
Just Schilling pulling this time as Molk shoots downfield for a block without coming around. Lewan(+1) and Koger(+1) blast their dudes inside; Schilling(+1) gets that same linebacker, and Smith gets a slight shove on a charging safety that Robinson(+2) just runs outside of. He then picks up an awesome block from Roundtree(+2) that allows him to cut inside and set sail for the endzone, whereupon the guy Schilling blocked(!) runs his ass off to make a shoestring tackle at the ten.
RUN+: Roundtree(2), Robinson(2), Lewan, Koger, Schilling							RUN-:
O9	1	G	Shotgun 2TE	1	2	2	Base 5-2	Run	Zone read keeper	Robinson	5
So this is kind of interesting here since because of the 2TE set and Indiana's response to this, this looks like midline. Koger kicks out the OLB on the line, leaving the backside DE unblocked; he chases after Smith and Robinson pulls (ZR+1). Lewan(+1) gets a clubbing downfield block but it's for Smith and he guy is able to spin off of it. He's there to tackle once Robinson dances inside the safety who comes up to deal with him.
RUN+: Robinson, Lewan							RUN-:
O4	2	G	Shotgun 2H	1	2	2	Base 4-3	Run	QB lead draw	Robinson	1
Backside DT times the snap and beats Schilling(RPS-1) thanks to it; there is a big crease to the right side of Omameh since the playside DE is actually running away from Dorrestein into Webb; Koger heads into it but Robinson can't follow since Omameh(-1) loses his guy; cutback and tackle.
RUN+:							RUN-: Omameh
O3	3	G	Shotgun 2H	1	2	2	Base 5-2	Pass	PA TE flat	Koger	3
Zone stretch fake gets Denard on the edge; three Hoosiers attack him, opening up Koger for six; he flicks it in calmly. (CA+, 3, protection N/A, RPS +1)
Drive Notes: Touchdown, 21-14, 2 min 2nd Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	RB	TE	WR	D Form	Type	Play	Player	Yards
M28	1	10	Shotgun trips	1	1	3	Base 4-4	Run	Inside Zone	Smith	2
IU playing man with cover zero behind it so Robinson can't keep it (ZR +1) but the safeties in the box let everyone scream towards the playside and forces a Smith cutback into nothing. (RPS -1)
RUN+: N/A							RUN-:
M30	2	8	Shotgun H-back	1	1	3	Base 4-3	Pass	Slant	Hemingway	70
This is what happens when you play cover zero, Larry. Michigan fakes the same play, runs the bubble route, has Robinson pump, then throws a deep slant to a wide open Hemingway, who breaks the tackle of Indiana's terrible corner—same guy who got smoked by Roundtree on the bubble TD—and sets off for the endzone. +1 for employing the Tecmo Bowl zig-zag along the way. (DO, 3, protection 1/1, RPS +4)
Drive Notes: Touchdown, 28-21, 14 min 3rd Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	RB	TE	WR	D Form	Type	Play	Player	Yards
M13	1	10	Shotgun trips TE	1	1	3	Base 4-3	Run	QB lead draw	Robinson	8
Two MLBs blitz so they're out of the play since M is running to a gap they're not attacking. Smith kind of holds one of them to prevent at TFL but does not get called because it's all subtle-like. I guess he gets a plus? Omameh(+1) gets his guy a yard back and when he tries to reach out for Denard Omameh shoves him so he falls; DE comes off a block to tackle from behind but not before major yards.
RUN+: Smith, Omameh, Robinson							RUN-:
M21	2	2	Shotgun H-back	1	1	3	Base 4-3	Run	Inside Zone	Smith	1
Tate comes in as Robinson has dinged himself, and IU sells out to stop what the believe is coming, which comes. No chance for anyone to get out on the second level, guys slanting, no holes for Smith, and since Smith is totally average he can't do anything but get tackled. (RPS -1.)
M22	3	1	Shotgun H-back	1	1	3	Base 4-3	Pass	Bubble screen	Roundtree	0
Safety comes up on this and kills it when a simple slant would have been wide open; IU again sells out against this package of plays. Two straight. (RPS -1)
Drive Notes: Punt, 28-21, 9 min 3rd Q. This is Forcier's pooch punt. Michigan seems hesitant to let Forcier throw downfield when he comes in like this.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	RB	TE	WR	D Form	Type	Play	Player	Yards
M31	1	10	Shotgun H-back	1	1	3	Base 4-3	Pass	Slant and go	Hemingway	Inc
Gaaaah. Denard pumps the bubble and sucks up the safeties, then Hemingway burns the corner. Denard throws a 69-yard touchdown on a platter well long. (IN, 0, protection 2/2, RPS +3)
M31	2	10	Shotgun 4-wide	1	0	4	Base 4-3	Pass	Slant	Roundtree	13
Safety runs up late and Michigan just goes drop-back pass against man, with Roundtree running an excellent slant and Robinson fitting it in a tight window for the first down. Roundtree makes a good catch. (CA+, 2, protection 2/2)
M44	1	10	Shotgun 2-back	2	0	3	Base 4-3	Run	Zone stretch	Smith	56
Another textbook scoop by Omameh(+1) and Molk(+2) seals the playside guy and gets Omameh(+1 again) out on the second level. Schilling(+1) cuts the hell out of the MLB and Stonum seals off the safety, sending Smith into the open field; he runs through a shoestring tackle attempt at the ten and scores.
RUN+: Omameh(2), Molk(2), Schilling, Stonum, Smith							RUN-:
Drive Notes: Touchdown, 35-28, 6 min 3rd Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	RB	TE	WR	D Form	Type	Play	Player	Yards
M28	1	10	Shotgun 2-back	2	0	3	Base 4-3	Run	Zone stretch	Smith	1
ZR+1 as there is contain. Schilling(-1) and Molk(-1) cannot scoop the playside DT here and the linebackers are flowing downhill super fast, leaving Smith nowhere to go on any part of the play. Still, this is a play someone else might have been able to run through an arm tackle on and get three or four, not one. (RPS -1)
RUN+:							RUN-: Schilling, Molk
M29	2	9	Shotgun 2-back	2	0	3	Base 4-3	Pass	Slant and go	Stonum	Inc
Blockers left in and three deep routes. Denard overthrows Stonum, who is doubled but has a step on both guys; probably should have come off him and looked to Roundtree on the deep post. (IN, 0, protection 2/2)
M29	3	9	Shotgun 4-wide	1	0	4	Base 4-3	Run	QB draw	Robinson	8
Five sent and live I thought Robinson spooked but on replay it's obvious the receivers are blocking. Blitz forces Robinson to take a circuitous route out of the backfield and Roundtree(-1) whiffs his block, leaving two guys able to contain Robinson; he shoots up between them but comes up a yard short.
RUN+:							RUN-: Roundtree
Drive Notes: Punt, 35-28, 3 min 3rd Q. This is where you go for it, no?
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	RB	TE	WR	D Form	Type	Play	Player	Yards
M30	1	10	Shotgun H-back	1	1	3	Base 4-3	Run	Zone read keeper	Robinson	11
Another midline-ish look with the H-back lined up to the same side the tailback is and Michigan blocking an edge player with him; unblocked backside DE crashes down on the tailback and Robinson pulls (ZR+1, RPS +1), finding open space.
RUN+: Webb, Robinson							RUN-:
M41	1	10	Shotgun trips	1	1	3	Base 4-3	Run	Inside Zone	Smith	1
M blocks the backside end so the read here is the backside LB, who is crashing down on the play. Robinson should pull, but does not (ZR -1), and that LB is right in the play, tackling at the LOS since the slanting DL took away the gap he's not in.
RUN+:							RUN-: Robinson
M42	2	9	Shotgun 3-wide	1	1	3	Base 4-3	Run	QB power off tackle	Robinson	4
Omameh(+1) pulls around to lead block; he picks off the MLB but Indiana is reacting to this better and he's able to force Robinson inside where Webb(-1) has lost control off the DE after starting to drive him downfield; that guy tackles.
RUN+: Omameh							RUN-: Webb
M46	3	5	Shotgun trips	1	1	3	Base 4-3	Pass	Hitch	Stonum	Inc
Indiana goes M2M, it appears, with a robber in the middle of the field; Robinson pumps the RB in the flat but wisely does not throw, then comes off on Stonum. He is well covered but breaking just open about ten yards downfield. The throw is one-hopped. (IN, 0, protection 2/2)
Drive Notes: Punt, 35-28, 10 min 4th Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	RB	TE	WR	D Form	Type	Play	Player	Yards
M39	1	10	Shotgun H-back	1	1	3	Base 4-3	Run	Zone read keeper	Robinson	3
I think this is Robinson screwing it up. He again pulls it on the midline read (ZR +1) as the DE crashes down on Smith, and should blast it upfield in the gap where there isn't a linebacker for days. Instead he takes an angle way too far upfield and then cuts outside Koger's block, only to cut back up, allowing the DE to recover and tackle. This is a big error, as Michigan had IU dead to rights. (RPS +2)
RUN+: Koger							RUN-: Robinson(2)
M42	2	7	Shotgun H-back	1	1	3	Base 4-3	Run	QB stretch	Robinson	-1
Reverse fake to Roundtree, FWIW. Playside DE does a good job not to get sealed by Dorrestein(-1) and then Omameh(-1) gets blasted back and actually pancaked by the IU MLB; Robinson has to cut way outside, where Koger(-1) loses his guy. That guy tackles Robinson in the backfield.
RUN+:							RUN-: Dorrestein, Omameh, Koger
M41	3	8	Shotgun empty	1	0	4	Base 4-3	Pass	Fly	T. Robinson	Inc
IU sends six guys but has a couple of them in definite don't-let-DR-escape mode. Dorrestein(-2) gets confused and lets a guy in free; Denard lets it go long to a single-covered Grady but the pass is well long. (IN, 0, protection 0/2, Dorrestein -2)
Drive Notes: Punt, 35-28, 7 min 4th Q
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	RB	TE	WR	D Form	Type	Play	Player	Yards
M27	1	10	Shotgun 3-wide	1	1	3	Base 4-3	Run	QB stretch	Robinson	8
Not quite a scoop on the playside DT but Molk(+1) does well enough, giving Denard a crease since Lewan(+1) blew out the DE. Schilling(+1) buries a linebacker; Omameh(+1) got downfield to bash someone, too.
RUN+: Molk, Lewan, Schilling, Omameh							RUN-:
M35	2	2	Shotgun empty	1	1	3	Base 4-3	Run	QB draw	Robinson	17
Is this a planned counter? I don't know. Robinson takes a couple steps to the TE side of the line, then cuts back. Schilling's guy gets playside of him but then gets shoved past the play; Lewan(+1) buries the DE and then gets a little tug as Robinson passes. He evades the holding call and Robinson is into the secondary, picking up good blocks from Stonum(+1) and Roundtree(+1)
RUN+: Lewan, Schilling, Robinson, Stonum, Roundtree							RUN-:
O48	1	10	Shotgun 3-wide	1	1	3	Base 4-3	Run	QB stretch	Robinson	2
Decent job on the playside by the left side of the line but IU is slanting harrrrd and Dorrestein has no chance to do anything to the backside DT so he's down the line and a cutback is out of the question. Robinson runs OOB after a few; Lewan did a good job to get the corner for him. This probably should have been PA. (RPS –1)
RUN+: Lewan							RUN-:
O46	2	8	Shotgun 3-wide	1	1	3	Base 4-3	Pass	Fly	Hemingway	42
Five men rush with two more in short Denard Zones; Omameh(-2) stumbles out of his stance as Michigan slides the protection and allows Black under him. Not really his fault but he did stumble. Black comes right up the middle to nail Robinson. He throws just before the impact and the ball is a lofted ball in man coverage that's to the receiver's back shoulder; Hemingway adjusts and leaps to catch the ball, stumbling to the ground at the four. THEY TRIED TO MAN UP CRAB. Seriously: if Texas Tech did this you'd be all like "they drill the back shoulder of the WR all the time." Do I think Robinson meant to place this perfectly as he was getting lit up by a DT? No. Can I say for sure? No. Was it the best possible pass in this situation? Yes. (DO+, 2, protection 0/2, Omameh -2)
O4	1	G	Shotgun 2H	1	2	2	Base 4-3	Run	QB off tackle	Robinson	4
Dude shoots right into the play; Smith(+1) submarines him and takes him out but that's erased Koger, too, so Robinson has to run away from the other guy shooting up the middle. Webb(+1) walls off the contain, Lewan(+1) rides the DE down the line and again doesn't get that holding call, and Robinson slams it up for the points that win the game.
RUN+: Smith, Lewan, Webb, Robinson							RUN-:
Drive Notes: Touchdown, 42-35, EOG, basically. Woo!

Oh my gaaawd we scored so faaaaast.

Yeah. I'm pretty sure that's mostly Indiana's doing. Their defensive philosophy was totally different from Michigan's, especially in the second half. IU came out and shut down a run for nothing by sending both safeties on a kamikaze mission, so on the next play Magee calls this:

One clunky-lookin' white dude who's already given up a touchdown on a bubble screen versus Hemingway on a deep slant with no one else within ten yards == RPS +4. That's the main takeaway from this game, IME.

ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS: 14 – 7 = +7

Plus seven is a big number. Michigan had a lot of plays on which gaining 70 yards was as easy as slipping a tackle, and since IU decided they couldn't sit back they opened themselves up to a lot of big plays when they guessed wrong. They could have bled Michigan down the field if they wanted to.

So all your complaining about Michigan's passivity in the defensive UFR should keep this in mind. I mean, the numbers for Denard were ridiculous and his—

Chart.

—chart was actually a tiny bit lame this game:

DENARD ROBINSON

Opponent	DO	CA	MA	IN	BR	TA	BA	PR	SCR	ZR	DSR
2009, All Of It	1	7	6(2)	3(1)	4	4	-	-	?	-	44%
UConn	2	15(6)	-	-	3	2	-	-	2	-	68%
Notre Dame	3	25(8)	3(1)	4	1	-	4(1)	2	-	-	71%
UMass	4	10(3)	-	1	1	-	1	1	-	-	73%
BGSU	1	4(1)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1/1	N/A
Indiana	2	8(2)	1(1)	5(1)	-	-	-	-	-	9/11	66%

(Tate threw one screen that I didn't bother charting since we already know he can throw screens.)

Two of his misses were out-and-out bombs UFR is generally forgiving about, but on one Stonum was magnificently wide open and Robinson could have put it in a five-yard radius for a completion but overthrew it badly. His strike rate on those is still pretty good: with the two from BG and the one completed one to Hemingway, he's at 60% on the year.

His reads on the zone were strong and his failures are a small portion of his overall resume at this point; I'm not worried he's going to go backwards. I think we all knew his miraculous lack of inaccurate passes from the UConn game was not sustainable long-term.

A note: I could have handed out a BR on another circle where he got his slot receiver lit up (see: you're killing Roy Roundtree) but gave him a CA since it should have been a short completion.

Receivers:

	This Game					Totals
Player	0	1	2	3		0	1	2	3
Stonum	2	-	-	-		3	-	3/4	11/11
Odoms	-	-	-	2/2		-	-	3/4	11/11
Hemingway	1	-	1/1	2/2		2	-	2/2	4/5
Jackson	-	-	-	-		-	-	-	-
Roundtree	-	-	2/2	1/1		5	2/3	3/4	20/20
Grady	1	-	-	0/1		3	-	1/1	6/7
T. Robinson	-	-	-	-		-	0/1	-	2/3
Gallon	-	-	-	-		1	-	-	1/1
Koger	-	-	-	1/1		-	-	1/2	3/3
Webb	-	-	-	-		-	-	-	-
Smith	1	-	-	-		1	-	0/1	4/4
Shaw	-	-	-	-		1	0/1	0/1	3/3
McColgan	-	-	-	-		-	-	-	1/1
Hopkins	-	-	-	-		-	-	-	-
Toussaint	-	-	-	-		-	-	-	-

Not much action because everyone scored so quickly; highlights were Hemingway plucking that 42-yarder out of the air just like his recruiting profile said he would and Roundtree grabbing a slant nicely. The one drop was the aforementioned three-yarder so no big deal.

Protection actually has a ding for a tackle. PROTECTION METRIC: 10/14, Omameh –2, Dorrestein –2.

10/14 isn't a great number but the sample size is so low it's not a big deal.

And, finally, a run chart:

Offensive Line
Player	+	-	T	Notes
Huyge	-	-	-	DNP
Lewan	8	1	7	Not getting called for holding, so those are on the plus side.
Schilling	7	3	4	More slant trouble.
Molk	8	1	7	Had a clever play to impromptu pull on a zone.
Omameh	8	3	5	This qualifies as an off day.
Barnum	-	-	-	DNP
Dorrestein	-	2	-2	Big difference in impact between him and Lewan
Webb	6	1	5	H-back club is clubby.
Koger	3	1	2	They're playing more than the slots lately and for good reason.
TOTAL	40	12	28	On a per-play basis, ridiculous.
Backs
Player	+	-	T	Notes
Robinson	12	3	9	Still Denard.
Gardner	-	-	-	DNP
Forcier	-	-	-	Wasn't involved in his two plays.
Shaw	-	-	-	DNP
Smith	4	1	3	Long run was pretty easy.
Cox	-	-	-	DNP
Toussaint	-	-	-	DNP
Hopkins	-	-	-	Did a little blocking.
McColgan	-	-	-	Didn't get to see the one play he was relevant on.
Jones	-	-	-	DNP
TOTAL	16	4	12	Maybe I should plus Denard more, but I don't know.
Receivers
Player	+	-	T	Notes
Stonum	3	-	3	Great block on Denard's long touchdown.
Odoms	2	-	2	--
TRobinson	-	-	-	--
Roundtree	4	1	3	Showed zip on his TD.
Grady	-	1	-1	--
Gallon	-	-	-	--
Hemingway	1	-	1	--
TOTAL	10	2	8	Consistent quality.
Metrics

The charting did not keep up with the long runs. A 70-yarder is going to be +10 or something but 7 ten yard runs are going to rack up a lot more than that. Maybe I should had out a FLAWLESS VICTORY award for everyone when the play is successfully executed by everyone and Denard bursts downfield for six.

Anyway, the chart above seems to be the developing story of the season: Michigan has four very good offensive linemen and a serviceable right tackle. The tight ends are effective and versatile. Denard is a ninja. Vincent Smith is a reliable blocker and receiver without much wow to him even when he hits a 50-yard touchdown. And the receivers will block your ass. Together they result in Denard having more rushing yards than most D-I teams and some leftovers.

Oh no Denard's effectiveness waned after the usual injury?

Well, yes it did but I don't think that had anything to do with reduced physical ability. Michigan's first three plays of their game-winning drive were Denard runs on which he looked spry as ever. Drives after he came back:

1. Misses Hemingway for sure TD, nails Roundtree on slant, watches Vincent Smith score a long TD.
2. Indiana sells out to stuff first down run. Denard overthrows doubled Stonum when he should have come off on Roundtree. Denard's QB sneak comes up a yard short when Roundtree whiffs block.
3. Keeper for 11, blown up handoff because Robinson did not pull when he should have, four yard Robinson run, Indiana goes man to man and Robinson misses Stonum.
4. Robinson keeper should go for many yards but Robinson does not have faith in his read; stretch blown up; free rusher forces inaccurate bomb to Grady.
5. Gamewinning TD drive on which he carries four times and bombs it to Hemingway.

Robinson was still running a ton, but he made some mental mistakes and poor throws. If he was damaged it didn't change Michigan's playcalling; more likely we're just talking about a true sophomore who is going to have some moments when he doesn't do the right thing.

Any hints of new stuff we might see against Michigan State?

I mentioned this after the Bowling Green game but Michigan has gone away from its all-zone-almost-all-the-time run game and has started putting in a number of power plays. Here's something straight out of the Michigan State playbook:

State features a jumpy, slanty defensive line and mixing plays up will either keep them from swarming the zone stuff or burn them badly when they get something other than what they expected. For all the Greg Jones talk, Michigan State gave up 5.5 YPC to Armando Allen and 6.6 to Wisconsin's Clay/White combo, and it was clear that Clay was laboring for much of that game. I'm not sure how much better their run defense is than, say, Notre Dame, and Notre Dame got gashed.

Also, Steve Sharik brought up the midline option in a diary and that's something I've been crying for for ages. By now defensive ends are pretty good about containing; tackles are not and tend to tear after the tailback. ND got us on the midline a few times, and no one is going to confuse their quarterbacks with Denard Robinson. Michigan showed something like it a couple times:

Okay, this is still the DE Michigan is optioning off of but Magee noticed that IU was using the WLB as a contain guy, so you block the contain guy and option of a guy who is not expecting to contain. That's similar in principle: do not allow the defense to know which guy is going to have to contain the QB before the snap. With Worthy a guy who absolutely loves to penetrate, running the midline at him seems like it could bust big.

Heroes?

Denard, most of the OL including the TEs, and Junior Hemingway's ability to high-point the ball.

Goats?

Again, when you put up 42 points and almost 600 yards there really aren't any but I am still hoping someone pushes Smith to third string. Dorrestein is clearly a step behind the other guys on the OL.

What does it mean for Michigan State and beyond?

It's further confirmation that this offense is for real, though not a lot. Indiana's defense was as preposterously bad as expected. We didn't learn much we didn't already know except that maybe Junior Hemingway is a downfield weapon on jump balls, Marquise Walker-style. We always suspected it but he could never stay on the field long enough for anyone to confirm.

Everything else is par for the course.

Formation notes: A couple new formations. One was a 3-2-6 dime package on which Banks and Ezeh were pulled for Avery and Talbott:

Roh moves down to DE and Leach was usually in for Gordon for whatever reason. Sometimes this was a 4-1-6 with Mouton at DE, sometimes a 3-2-6 with Mouton a linebacker. Floyd would drop back to play safety when they went to this. The other was a nickel package where Avery would replace Gordon. This aligned just like Michigan's usual defense.

Substitution notes: plentiful. The usual rotation on the DL. Cullen Christian got a couple drives in place of Rogers (he struggled). Leach played a lot in place of Gordon; Fitzgerald and Demens saw some time at linebacker but less than I expected and neither did much of anything.

Charting note: I've changed up the points distribution to be more generous to CBs who make a play. Usually a zero-yard run will be +2 or +3 to the defense. When a CB breaks up a pass that's a zero yard play I've been giving a +1 to; I'm bumping that to at least +2 unless it's clear the offense is more responsible for the incompletion than the D.

Show:

Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Form	Type	Rush	Play	Player	Yards
O28	1	10	Shotgun trips	Base 4-3	Pass	NA	PA out	T. Gordon	Inc
Michigan sucks up on fake and Pankratz has two receivers running wide open (cover -2) as Mouton(-1) doesn't get anything resembling a zone drop. Could this be man to man? I don't know; Rogers is looking at the QB but hops up on the curl, leaving T. Gordon chasing a WR on an out that he lined up inside of. His guy is open but he really had no chance to cover this. I'm not sure which guys to individually minus since the coverage doesn't make sense to me. (RPS -1.) Oh, right: Pankratz chucks it wide.
O28	2	10	Shotgun heavy something	Base 4-4	Run	?	Dive	Martin	1
BGSU deploys two H-backs directly in front of their tailback and goes right up the middle. Martin(+1) engages his blocker and then discards him behind, popping up in the hole the H-backs are hitting. He does this despite being lined up outside of the C. He takes out a second blocker. T. Gordon(+0.5) is rolled up to the line and is now free; he forms up to tackle with help from Kovacs(+0.5), who was free on a backside blitz and leaps on the RB's back after making sure the handoff was actually made.
O29	3	9	Shotgun 3-wide	3-2-6 Dime	Pass	3	Dumpoff	Van Bergen	4
DL: Roh, Martin, RVB. LB: Mouton, Leach. Normal DBs plus Avery and Talbott. This is kind of rushing two since Martin just sits at the LOS after taking two blockers. Screen coverage? M covers the first read(+1) and then RVB(+0.5) gets upfield and harasses the QB into moving. Martin starts charging the QB down as he rolls, forcing a dumpoff as downfield options are covered(+1).
Drive Notes: Punt, 7-0, 11 min 1st Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Form	Type	Rush	Play	Player	Yards
O30	1	10	Shotgun 4-wide bunch	3-3-5 stack	Pass	3	Hitch	Mouton	3
Martin(+0.5) plowing through blocks to force a throw here; Kovacs(+0.5) covered the flat route, so the QB throws a hitch that Mouton(+0.5) was in position on, tacking immediately (cover +1)
O33	2	7	Shotgun 3-wide	Base 4-3	Pass	3	Flanker screen	T. Gordon	6
Major overload with a TE covered up and a WR in motion so everyone is to the right side of the field. They throw a screen out there. T. Gordon(-1) and Rogers(-1) are both cut to the ground but good flow from Mouton(+0.5) and Ezeh(+0.5) runs the play down before the WR can test Cam.
O39	3	1	Wildcat	3-3-5 stack	Run	?	QB lead draw	Banks	4
Think the RB takes a bizarre cut here since it looks like the play design has the first easily. Banks(-1) was blown way out of the hole and Mouton(-0.5) took a weird angle right into Kovacs, giving BGSU a lot of space and blockers for everyone left over. So of course the RB cuts back behind everything, getting tackled by unblocked guys on the backside including Banks, who got really, really blocked. M fortunate to not give up more here.
O43	1	10	Shotgun 2-back	3-3-5 stack	Pass	5	Sack	Mouton	-10
WRs to the paired side are stacked, and Rogers(-1) starts covering the same guy Gordon is(cover -1), so this post should be open. Qb decides not to throw it, though, and rolls right into a very blocked Mouton(+1.5), who to his credit does get off that block, close the space quickly, and tackle for a sack. Maybe Cam had this covered but I couldn't see it; I really doubt it. Think M got lucky with the n00b QB here.
O33	2	20	Shotgun 2TE	Nickel 4-3	Pass	4	Slant	Avery	Inc
Avery in for T. Gordon. TE motions well outside to be a flanker. Avery(+2) is in man on a receiver and looks like he's biting outside as the WR takes a step out then slants; Avery recovers to get a hand in and break the pass up (cover +2).
O33	3	20	Shotgun 4-wide	3-2-6 Dime	Pass	3	Throwaway	Roh	Inc
No one open(cover +1) as M drops everyone deep; Roh(+1, pressure +1) comes around the corner and his held, drawing a flag. QB scrambles out and chucks it away.
Drive Notes: Punt, 14-0, 6 min 1st Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Form	Type	Rush	Play	Player	Yards
O35	1	10	Ace twins	3-3-5 stack	Run	?	Inside zone	Martin	1 (pen -10)
Demens in for Ezeh on this drive. Martin(+1) again through the line before anyone can think of blocking him; Banks(-1) single blocked and easily sealed on the edge. Martin makes that irrelevant; Mouton(+1) gets into the lead-blocking TE at the line and erases any creases, forcing a bounce outside that Floyd(+1) has covered; he's held, giving the RB the corner, except for Kovacs(+1) roaring downhill and tackling at the LOS.
O25	1	20	Shotgun 2-back	3-3-5 stack	Pass	3	Out	Mouton	Inc
No pressure(-1) but no one open (cover +1) and the BG QB airmails a checkdown (cover +1) that wasn't going anywhere.
O25	2	20	Shotgun 4-wide	3-3-5 stack	Pass	3	Hitch	Floyd	Inc
No pressure(-1) again; this time a 10-yard hitch is blanketed by Floyd(+2, cover +2) and broken up.
O25	3	20	Shotgun 4-wide	3-2-6 Dime	Pass	3	Dumpoff	?	15
Again little pressure but Roh(+0.5) does come through quickly enough on a three man rush to prevent a minus; this forces a dumpoff(cover +1) in front of the coverage that Talbott and Mouton run down.
Drive Notes: Punt, 21-0, 3 min 1st Q. On the next drive lots of backups. Patterson, Black, and Sagesse are the DL for most of this drive, with Demens and Leach playing LB and Christian coming in for Rogers.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Form	Type	Rush	Play	Player	Yards
O36	1	10	Shotgun trips TE	Base 4-3	Run	?	Inside zone	Kovacs	2
Three guys block Patterson so Kovacs(+1) can come in and thump the ballcarrier (tackling +1) without anyone bothering him.
O38	2	8	I-form big	3-3-5 stack	Run	?	Counter	Patterson	4
It's hard to tell how the linebackers actually did on this play because Patterson(-1) is ejected from the center of the defense like he's Kovacs and Sagesse(-1) doesn't read the pull. He goes down to cut the lead blocker and create a pile but starts moving upfield and gets pancaked. So Mouton and Demens have blockers all over them and can't possibly shut down all the space. Both get blocked and Mouton gets pancaked, though, so -1 for Mouton; Roh fought through blockers to slow the tailback a little bit but it's an authoritative fill from Cam Gordon(+1.5, tackling +1) that holds this down when it could have been ugly.
O42	3	4	Shotgun trips	3-3-5 stack	Pass	6	Out	Kovacs	5
WR motions from trips side to create a 2x2 formation with two guys stacked, and then runs a pretty blatant pick on both M defenders, opening up an out. Kovacs(+0.5) is still right there to tackle, but just beyond the sticks. Blitz did not get there(pressure -1).
O47	1	10	Ace twins	Base 4-3	Run		PA draw	Sagesse	7
Screen fake to draw. DL slanting, getting Patterson(+1) in and disrupting anything up the middle. Problem on the backside is Sagesse(-2) getting way too far down the line and opening up a cutback lane. Mouton reacts and attempts to tackle but gets hit by a G peeling off Sagesse and has his tackle run through. I will -0.5 him but this is tough (tackling -1). Demens runs the guy down.
M46	2	3	Ace	Base 4-3	Pass	4	Corner	Christian	Inc
Starting DL back. BG goes play action and finds a wide open receiver on a corner route because Christian(-2, cover -2) completely whiffed a chuck and got beat by yards. QB throws it long. Decent pressure and coverage everywhere else; coverage from Christian might force a sack.
M46	3	3	Shotgun 4-wide	3-2-6 Dime	Pass	6	Slant	Kovacs	20
This one is on Kovacs, who is in man on the second stacked receiver and gets smoked(-2, cover -2) to the inside so badly he can't even make a tackle on the catch. Mouton(+1) was flying over a cut block from an RB on the blitz(pressure +1) and hit the QB; an instant more coverage and this is end of drive. RPS -2 for getting Kovacs in single coverage for 20 yards.
M26	1	10	Shotgun trips TE	3-3-5 stack	Run		Inside zone	Martin	2
Christian exits for Rogers. Martin(+1) absorbs a double team without giving any ground, allowing Mouton(+1) to attack unmolested and tackle.
M24	2	8	Shotgun trips TE	3-3-5 stack	Pass	4	Rollout hitch	?	6
Ezeh back. Roh running out on the edge but the little hitch here is wide open; not sure why but it just looks like this is a hole in a cover three. (cover -1). BWS disagrees.
M18	3	2	Shotgun 4-wide	3-3-5 stack	Pass	3	Post	Fitzgerald	17
Ezeh gets sucked up to a little drag route which is understandable, but Fitzgerald(-1) doesn't get any depth on his drop despite not having anyone in front of him and C. Gordon(-1) reacts late and there's a monster hole in the zone that's easy to hit for first and goal. (Cover –2.)
M1	1	G	Goal line	Goal line	Run		Power off tackle	Van Bergen	-2
Campbell(+1) drives his man backward, gets lower than him, and falls in the backfield. Van Bergen(+2) does the same, stalling the RB and allowing Demens to run downhill at him for the stop.
M3	2	G	Wildcat	3-3-5 stack	Penalty		False start	?	-5
Oops.
M8	2	G	Shotgun 4-wide	3-3-5 stack	Pass	6	Scramble	Van Bergen	7
House sent and gets there (pressure +2), with Leach(+1) immediately in the QB's feet after getting cut, forcing a scramble from a not-mobile QB that RVB(-2) badly overruns, turning a sack into a scramble down to the goal line.
M1	3	G	I-form big	Goal line	Penalty		Offside	Martin	0.5
Oh well.
M1	3	G	Wildcat trips	Goal line	Run		QB draw	Banks	0
QB motions out, no one covers him, it's a wildcat formation. Banks(+1) shoots past blockers into the center of the defense, eating blockers and creating a pile; Ezeh(+1) cleans up.
M1	4	G	Wildcat trips	Goal line	Run		QB draw	Campbell	1
Just a wad of bodies I can't make much out of; Campbell was right there but the guy managed to slam it up into his OL and fall forward into a massive pile of bodies that no one has a good view of. The refs eventually signal TD, but it's not like they have any idea.
Drive Notes: Touchdown, 21-7, 8 min 2nd Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Form	Type	Rush	Play	Player	Yards
O29	1	10	Shotgun empty	3-3-5 stack	Pass	4	Tunnel screen	C. Gordon	71
The big bad thing from the day. I'm not actually that mad because this is kind of a freak thing. T. Gordon takes a good angle to the ballcarrier only to see the guy bang into one of his own OL and sort of get tossed upfield, which Gordon was not expecting; he ends up whiffing an attempted ankle tackle. I will give him a -1 here, but only 1 (tackling -1 as well). So now he's on a totally different vector than would otherwise be possible and there' no contain because Rogers is held and can't get outside and force it back into Cam Gordon. Cam gets a -2 for fighting to the ball too much when he had the other Gordon, Kovacs, Ezeh, and a billion other guys; he should never have been that eager to close down the space he tried to. So that's it. -3. The other -3 you can tack on the refs who missed the Rogers hold. I mean, the WR grabs the back of Rogers's jersey and pulls him four or five yards infield.
Drive Notes: Touchdown, 21-14, 5 min 2nd Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Form	Type	Rush	Play	Player	Yards
O20	1	10	Shotgun trips	3-3-5 stack	Pass	3	Screen	Mouton	0
Very slow developing. M only rushes three but Mouton is the only player in the area with Ezeh and the safeties very slow to read the play. Mouton(+2) evades a blocker and tackles the RB just as he catches the ball for nothing. Timing seemed off for BG so this is  only +2 because part of the screwup is on the QB.
O20	2	10	Shotgun 3-wide	Nickel 4-3	Pass	5	Out	Floyd	4
Avery in. M sends five and doesn't quite get there but does force a throw; this out is open just in front of Floyd(+0.5). He's there to tackle, which is good enough on a four-yard pass on second and ten.
O24	3	6	Shotgun 4-wide	3-2-6 dime	Pass	4	Sack	Van Bergen	-7
The four man line with Mouton down. Martin and RVB stunt, with Martin(+1.5) driving the center back and threatening to sack as RVB(+1.5) comes around in the lane he's moving into to tackle(+1) for a big loss (pressure +2). Martin also draws a holding call.
Drive Notes: Safety (on terrible snap), 23-14, 13 min 3rd Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Form	Type	Rush	Play	Player	Yards
O10	1	10	Ace	Base 4-3	Run		Power off tackle	Ezeh	-2
This is completely obliterated by everyone, with about four M players in the backfield. Ezeh(+2) saw a gap and attacked it, blasting a pulling guard two yards in the backfield and slowing the RB, at which point he's dead meat. Banks(+1) was just behind cutting off any lanes to the back and Leach(+1) beat a tight end, almost getting held; those two combine to finish the TFL.
O8	2	8	Shotgun empty	Nickel 4-3	Pass	3	Tunnel screen	Kovacs	24
Guh, Ezeh(-1) gives it right back by dropping out of a threatened blitz into a short zone and then running well upfield and out of the play when he reads screen. There is room as a result. Floyd(+0.5) does a good job of forcing a cutback inside, but Kovacs(-2) doesn't have faith his CB will do this and ends up overrunning the play in an embarrassing fashion. (Tackling –2.)
O32	1	10	Ace	Base 4-3	Pass	4	Waggle deep out	Mouton	Int
Mouton(+3) bites on the play action a bit but then gets a great, great drop, going from two steps towards the LOS to 12 yards deep before the route can develop. By the time the QB throws it's right to him. +0.5 to Martin for getting in on the QB and possibly forcing a bad throw. (Cover +2.)
Drive Notes: Interception, 37-14, 7 min 3rd Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Form	Type	Rush	Play	Player	Yards
O31	1	10	Shotgun 3-wide	3-3-5 stack	Run		TGDCD	Mouton	16
Ezeh starts charging upfield to contain what looks like a rollout and Mouton(-1) sucks out of position to the frontside of the play; Martin(-1) is also handled and gives up a gap to the outside when Mouton may have had a chance if it was forced inside. This always works, I want us to run it so bad.
O47	1	10	Ace	Base 4-3	Run		Quick pitch	Black?	8
Floyd(+0.5) cuts off the outside well and Banks(+0.5) reads the play quickly enough to seemingly close down the hole; Geter pauses, then stumbles, then cuts back across the field—and I'm not sure who to blame. Roh(-1) definitely eased up when he thought the play was going away from him and I think Black(-1) took an angle too far downfield instead of a proper cutback pursuit one. But I'm really just guessing here. Gordon and Christian converge after a nice gain.
M45	2	2	Shotgun twins 2TE	Base 4-3	Pass	4	Rollout scramble	?	5
Excellent coverage(+2) from Christian and Gordon(+1 each) forces the QB to pull it down; Black(-2) again gets out of his lane fruitlessly, giving the QB an alley when he was about to be sacked. He scrambles for the first.
M40	1	10	Shotgun 3-wide	3-3-5 stack	Pass	5	Sack	Banks	-5
A quick look to one side is a feint and QB comes to the bottom of the screen where Mouton(+1, cover +1) has the first read covered, which gives the rush time to get home; Banks(+1) fights through a blocker and reaches out to grab the QB as the pocket collapses and Leach(+1) blitzed from the outside, coming around to finish the tackle.
M45	2	15	Ace	Base 4-3	Pass	5	Waggle deep out	Christian	12
Roh(+1) quick out to the edge, cutting the QB off and forcing a throw that's short and lofted (pressure +1), but Christian(-1, cover -1) is easily beaten in man coverage and should give up the first down. The BG player drops the ball, boots it skyward, and sees one of his teammates come down with it.
M32	3	3	Shotgun 4-wide	4-1-6 dime	Pass	6	Slant	Floyd	11
Blitz picked up (pressure -2) and Floyd(-1, cover -1) gets beaten on a slant for the first.
M21	1	10	Shotgun trips	3-3-5 stack	Pass	NA	Flanker screen	Leach	20
Michigan is misaligned with no one shifted to the trips side. Given earlier formations this is on Leach(-1), who compounds his error by getting cut(-1) to the ground; Cam Gordon(-0.5) has to take on a blocker and attempt to make a diving tackle off of it and can't, allowing the WR to get down to the one. (RPS –2.)
M1	1	G	I-form big	Goal line	Run		Iso	Campbell	0
Campbell(+1) runs over his guy, essentially pancaking the OL(!) and ending up two yards in the backfield, forcing a cutback since Martin(+0.5) and Banks(+0.5) clogged the middle; Mouton(+0.5) fills unblocked and tackles with help.
M1	2	G	I-form big	Goal line	Pass	NA	Fade	Floyd	Inc
Overthrown; Floyd doing okay enough I guess.
M1	3	G	I-form big	Goal line	Pass	NA
RVB(+1) is lurking on the edge of the line and shoots out on the QB when he sees the roll, forcing a quick pass that ends up being inaccurate. It would have had to be just right with C. Gordon(+0.5) sitting there in proximity to the target. (Pressure +1, RPS +1)
M1	4	G	Wildcat twin TE	Goal line	Run		Power off tackle	?-	1
Michigan totally stuffs this, with RVB(+0.5) and Campbell(+0.5) driving blockers backwards and Mouton(-1) giving the thump that ends his forward momentum but not wrapping up. RB bounces backwards, rolls out, cuts inside of a block, and scores. C'est la vie.
Drive Notes: Touchdown, 44-21, 2 min 3rd Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Form	Type	Rush	Play	Player	Yards
O35	1	10	Shotgun trips	3-3-5 stack	Pass	NA	Rollout out	T. Gordon	5
Starters still out there; weird. M not fooled by the PA and has good coverage on both these receivers from T. Gordon(+0.5) and Roh(+0.5, cover +1), who converge to tackle the receiver immediately.
O40	2	5	Shotgun trips TE	3-3-5 stack	Run		Inside zone	Mouton	4
Mouton(+1) hops in the hole before any one can peel off on him, which is good because he ends up cutting off the hole and drawing two blockers as Ezeh(-1) was dropping into coverage without so much as reading a key. RB cuts back where Kovacs(+0.5) fills quickly, causing the RB to delay and allowing Banks(+0.5) to come off a blocker and help tackle.
O44	3	1	Ace twins	Base 4-3	Run		Power off tackle	Ezeh	-2
QB stumbles and this throws off the RB but this was dead anyway with T. Gordon(+1) setting up his blocker with the right shoulder and Ezeh(+1) clubbing the pulling guard in the hole, leaving nowhere to go; Banks(+1) takes the opportunity from the stumble and the jammed up front to tackle(+1) in the backfield.
Drive Notes: Punt, 51-21, 12 min 4th Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Form	Type	Rush	Play	Player	Yards
O27	1	10	Shotgun 3-wide	3-3-5 stack	Pass	4	TE out	Moundros	6
Scroobs finally come in with the score 58-21. At this point I'm just looking for individual performances and will discontinue metrics. Here pressure is poor but coverage is right there to tackle on the catch, with Moundros(+0.5) there. Campbell is not exactly Martin when it comes to pass rush. He just kind of sits at the line.
O33	2	4	Shotgun 2TE twins	Base 4-3	Pass	6	Batted	Campbell	Inc
Rush is picked up as BG leaves a couple extra guys in to block. Campbell(+1) gets a hand up to bat the ball down.
O33	3	4	Shotgun 3-wide	3-3-5 stack	Pass	6	Out	Avery	Inc
Moundros(+1) does bash the tailback and get to the QB but Avery(-1) has been beaten in coverage and this should be a first down. Pass is too far upfield and bobbled, allowing Avery time to close and break it up. This bobble was super-slow-mo extended, which is why no plus.
Drive Notes: Punt, 58-21, 6 min 4th Q
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Form	Type	Rush	Play	Player	Yards
O31	1	10	Shotgun 3-wide	3-3-5 stack	Run		Inside zone	Demens	0
I'd love it if Demens did something awesome here but no one even thinks about coming out to block him so it's pretty easy for him to step up and tackle. +1 for the hell of it, and +0.5 for Black, who came around a tackle and helped.
O31	2	10	Shotgun 3-wide	3-3-5 stack	Pass	3	Out	Anderson	6
Good coverage, quick tackle.
O37	3	4	Shotgun 3-wide	3-3-5 stack	Pass		Out	Moundros	13
Moundros is actually in pretty good coverage here for an out ten yards downfield but the throw is low and to the outside where he can't do anything about it. Campbell did beat a blocker and then sort of lumber in at the QB.
50	1	10	Shotgun 3-wide	Nickel 4-3	Run		Inside zone	Campbell	7
Campbell(-1) sealed as two guys release downfield into Demens, so he can't do anything about it; Marvin Robinson comes up to make a good open field tackle.
M43	2	3	Shotgun 3-wide	3-3-5 stack	Run		Inside zone	Robinson	5
Moundros(+1) shoots upfield into a blocker as he tries to disengage from Campbell and delays the RB, allowing Robinson to come up and tackle, but the RB pops off and manages to drag Robinson forward past the sticks.
M38	1	10	Ace twins twin TE	3-3-5 stack	Pass		PA post	Vinopal	Int
Play action leaves seven blockers against three rushers so the QB has all day; he fires a post that Vinopal(+3) steps in front of and intercepts, immediately sending everyone back to videos of Michigan safeties of the last 20 years to find out the last time that happened. Vinopal fumbles, of course, but whatever.
Drive Notes: Interception, 65-21, EOG. There is one more play but I can't believe I stuck around this long.

I'm so confused. Was that good or not?

I kind of think it was, though extreme caution should be read into that given the epic suck of the backup BG QB. I saw a number of missed opportunities that I duly minused; there were probably a half-dozen more I could not see or did not notice. Here's one; watch the two receivers at the top of the screen…

…and also the guy on the drag there. Problems: we haz them.

Even so, BG tailbacks combined for 21 carries and averaged 2.8 YPC on them. Part of that was their inability to slam it into the endzone from the one, but stopping tailbacks for no gain or a loss five times on the goal line is a good thing.

Meanwhile, Spankratz had one screen pass for 71 yards and 27 other attempts on which he netted 5.9 YPA. That screen should have been about 20 yards, IME, as on replay the holding committed against Rogers is both flagrant and the main reason the play broke very long instead of sort of long:

Also the pinball game with the OL was a fortunate thing. Cam Gordon did screw up by fighting inside and not having faith that his teammates would deal, and then was outrun to the endzone, and these things add to the Hill of Cam Gordon Worry founded in the Notre Dame game.

That isn't exactly reassuring.

No, but at least this year our safeties are getting outrun by an actual wide receiver instead of a thumping Indiana tailback. So far. Still, the—

Chart.

--is decent. Also chart.

 

Defensive Line
Player	+	-	T	Notes
Van Bergen	5.5	2	3.5	Decent impact in little opportunity.
Martin	7	1	6	Quick passing offenses reduce DL impact; still did well when called upon.
Banks	5.5	2	3.5	Totally adequate.
Sagesse	-	3	-3	Seems I was wrong about him.
Patterson	1	1	0	Occasionally blasted to moon.
Black	0.5	3	-2.5	Got out of rush lanes a couple times.
Campbell	3.5	1	2.5	Impact in short yardage.
TOTAL	23	13	10	Three step drop city.
Linebacker
Player	+	-	T	Notes
Ezeh	4.5	2	2.5	STILL VERY HOPELESS I HATE HIM THIS IS NOT AN ANTIJINX
Mouton	13	5	8	Sacks, TFLs, INTs.
Roh	4.5	1	3.5	Impact waning?
Johnson	-	-	-	DNP.
T. Gordon	1.5	2	-0.5	Banks at linebacker, except a freshman.
Leach	3	2	1	Bounceback.
Moundros	1.5	-	1.5	Only played in garbage time.
Demens	1	-	1	And that +1 is generous.
Herron	-	-	-	DNP
Fitzgerald	-	1	-1	Eh.
TOTAL	29	13	16	Much, much better.
Secondary
Player	+	-	T	Notes
Floyd	4.5	1	3.5	Been solid except for run support issues vs UMass.
Rogers	-	2	-2	Eh, fine.
Kovacs	4	4	0	Burned in man coverage a couple times.
C. Gordon	3	3.5	-0.5	I feel like these numbers do not give him enough credit for not screwing up on run angles.
Talbott	-	-	-	Did play, did not register good or bad, which is probably good.
Christian	1	3	-2	Seems like the other two are ahead.
M. Robinson	-	-	-	Scant time.
Ray Vinopal	3	-	3	Go, Spinal Tap Drummer. Go.
TOTAL	15.5	13.5	2	Did what they should against a team like BG.
Metrics
Pressure	9	5	4	Revenge of the three man rush.
Coverage	18	12	6	Could be an artifact of confused QB.
Tackling	4	4	0	Okay.
RPS	-	5	-5	One misalignment, no free rushers.

[RPS is "rock, paper, scissors." Michigan gets a + when they call a play that makes it very easy for them to defend the opponent, like getting a free blitzer. They get a – when they call a play that makes it very difficult for them to defend the opponent, like showing a seven-man blitz and having Penn State get easy touchdowns twice.]

Looks about right to me. The line didn't have much impact except when good coverage downfield allowed them to get to the QB or it was time to man up around the goal line. The linebackers made few errors, though part of that is no doubt BG's reluctance to test them in coverage with the backup QB. Mouton had an impact day and didn't do much to criticize, nor did Ezeh. And the secondary made about as many plays as they did errors.

I do chalk this up largely to the competition and expect that we'll be looking at some tattered numbers after Chappell gets done with Michigan's back seven.

Did we learn anything about new players?

Despite contrary indicators from the passing skeleton in the pregame, your #3 corner appears to Courtney Avery, a part of both the nickel and dime packages. Avery had an impressive recovery and PBU early:

We still don't know much about him but that's a good start. He seems obviously ahead of Cullen Christian, who did not have much to the good Saturday. Terrence Talbott was not tested.

Campbell was the other guy who leapt out as potentially useful. Though his strategy in the pass rush is "sit at the line of scrimmage and maybe raise your arms," he was a major reason that Michigan's goal line defense was so stiff, consistently driving his guy in the backfield and falling over. He's never going to be Mike Martin and has a long way to go if he's even going to be Gabe Watson, but for the first time he looked useful.

What about the so fresh, so clean linebackers?

Yeah… I've heard a lot of people talking up Kenny Demens after the game but I didn't see him do anything of note until the last drive when he was able to stroll into the BG backfield and make a tackle since three Falcon OL decided to block the same guy. It's possible I got 25 and 45 mixed up on a couple plays but since whenever Ezeh did something aggressive and successful I said "is that Ezeh?!" and double-checked, I don't think so. Talking up Demens seems to be a case of hoping something is true instead of thinking it.

And the old hands did have a good day. Mouton got an easy pick on a great pass drop after play action for the second time, and at no point did I get frustrated with Ezeh.

Hey, how about a special teams digression?

Yeah, I never ever cover special teams and so haven't systematically quantified how much additional suck there is this year in the unit. There is lots, obviously, but by virtue of not kicking anything but a point after and deploying that three-man punt return formation Michigan had its best week of the season. We heard all about how Drew Dileo was being recruited mostly as a returner, thus justifying yet another slot receiver, and the early… uh… returns are good. This is slick:

That's a punt a lot of guys would fair catch; Dileo WOOPs two gunners and then a third guy before getting taken down. That's a twelve yard return and potentially a 20- or even 30-yard swing in field position compared to a single returner like Gallon watching that thing bounce. Dileo is not that fast but he's got some skills.

Dileo === PR win.

Suck on that, low-rated-white-guy-offer complainers!

Yeah! And we totally weren't those guys. As long as we're on the topic of low rated white guys who the internet wasn't happy to see commit, how about Ray Vinopal?

Enormous disclaimers apply since by that point BG was down to their third-string walk-on but damn if that isn't the best play I've seen a Michigan safety make in a long time. This caused everyone to get way ahead of themselves about moving Gordon to bandit or linebacker in 2011; while I'm still keeping my hopes for an anonymous two-star in check that was about as good a start as you could hope for minus getting clocked and fumbling.

Maybe these guys really do have a knack for unearthing uncut gems.

Heroes?

Jonas Mouton was the most productive Wolverine on the day, notching a sack, an interception, and failing to notch any Mouton brain meltdowns.

Goats?

No one stands out as a huge problem. The backups on the DL made some crappy plays, but that's to be expected, and some of the freshmen in the secondary had issues. Those guys aren't likely to play unless injury strikes, however. If I had to pick someone it would be Cam Gordon, who was one of three reasons Bowling Green hit the big play. That's weak, though, on a day when you hold the opponent under 300 total yards.

What does it mean for Indiana and beyond?

Not much, I'm afraid. Spankratz (in his first start, no less) is likely to be by far the worst quarterback on the schedule at year's end. Even second stringers or freshmen like Nathan ReallyDutchLastName at Illinois or Robert "Rob" Henry at Purdue will have way more experience when Michigan rolls into town, and there's no comparison between that guy and Indiana's Ben Chappell, who was genuinely impressive against Western Kentucky even when you take the opponent into account.

At least Michigan seems comfortable enough with the freshmen corners that they can throw them out there on passing downs—which will be most of them against IU—and get guys like Banks and Ezeh off the field. Avery showed well and the rest of the secondary kept it safe. I can see Michigan trying to get to Chappell with a four-man rush of Roh, RVB, Martin, and Mouton all day, content to take their chances when IU runs and bleed yardage until Michigan gets a sack or a couple incompletions, and I can see this working somewhat frequently. This year's IU team is far less of a threat on the ground than last year's, which still wasn't much of a threat.

UMass will probably be Michigan's worst defensive performance of the year; if the linebackers just play it safe and Michigan makes Indiana kick some field goals—probable once the field compresses and IU's total inability to run block comes to the fore—Denard and company should get a comfortable distance by game's end.

As far as beyond… not much. Indiana will give us way more information.

As a side note, I'm happy that the staff put in two new packages (the dime and the punt return) this week that are creative ways to address deficiencies. Minus punt fumbles, special teams has been a strength at Michigan under RR; moving towards a rugby-aware punt return system is another way in which Michigan's current coaching staff displays their willingness to adapt on a year-to-year basis. (The most powerful example this year is the near-shelving of the zone stretch in favor of QB lead draws and a lot of inside zone).

Formation notes: Michigan debuted something sort of like Gator Heavy:

This isn't different personnel than the shotgun 2TE set that Denard scored on to beat Notre Dame but deploying the two TEs as H-backs gives Michigan added flexibility and unpredictability in the run game. I called this "Shotgun 2H," since if I did call it Wolverine Heavy I'd have to come up with something else if and when we see a formation that adds McColgan or Brandon Moore to the mix by taking one of the WRs off the field. Wolverine Super Heavy? Wolverine Weis*?

Other than that it wasn't too exciting. Bowling Green stuck with base personnel the whole game, deployed a ton of eight-man fronts either by alignment or a safety walking down before the snap, and played way more man than any previous opponent. You can see their "base 4-4," as I called it, above. Here's what I called "nickel 4-3," as the slot LB is way outside the box:

This almost always saw a safety walk down, FWIW, and often had the nickel LB blitz for contain.

Substitution notes: You know all about the carousel of incredibly dangerous quarterbacks. Lewan started at left tackle and Huyge did not get in until Dorrestein came off with a slight injury. On the last series before Michigan sent in the backups, Barnum replaced Schilling at left guard.

At tailback, Shaw and Smith remained the starters with Hopkins getting the first non-those-guys opportunities. When he fumbled it was back to the starters for a while, then Cox, then Toussaint, then Teric Jones. With Shaw and Toussaint "doubtful" for Indiana per RR, Hopkins and Cox are poised to get more first-team opportunities against Indiana.

At wide receiver, the usual rotation with less Terrence Robinson and more Jeremy Gallon.

*(Fairly indifferent to you at this point, xoxo.)

On with show:

Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	RB	TE	WR	D Form	Type	Play	Player	Yards
M20	1	10	Shotgun 2-back	2	0	3	Base 4-3	Run	Inside zone	Smith	5
Lewan starts at LT. BG slants a bit and the backside DT gets into the A gap past Schilling; Omameh tripped and so the frontside doesn?t look to good; Smith(+1) cuts it back behind Schilling. DE is moving laterally down the line and is in good position until Shaw pops him backwards, allowing Smith to snake his way for decent yardage. Lewan clamped onto a LB downfield, FWIW. He was not blocking for the cutback so it didn't really matter.
RUN+: Smith						RUN-:
M25	2	5	Shotgun 2-back	2	0	3	Base 4-4	Pass	Rollout quick out	Roundtree	7
Man coverage so Roundtree has plenty of room working against a safety. Robinson seems a little late on this but this is not a good D and it doesn't matter; Roundtree has time to catch and cut back inside past the safety overrunning the play to pick up some YAC and a first down. (CA,3, protection 1/1)
M32	1	10	Shotgun 2-back	2	0	3	Base 4-4	Run	Zone stretch	Smith	5
BG flowing hard, so Molk and Omameh have no chance of scooping the playside DT; Omameh ends up taking him and riding him down the line; Shaw stands up a LB in the playside B gap. Molk(+1) sees what's going on and adjusts, picking off the MLB as he shoots up into the gap and giving Smith(+1) a crease he finds and hits. Schilling(-1) could do nothing with the backside DT, who did a good job of not getting sealed and makes a diving tackle just as Smith looks to be off to the races.
RUN+: Molk, Smith						RUN-: Schilling
M37	2	5	Shotgun 2-back	2	0	3	Base 4-4	Pass	Corner	Roundtree	35
BG has been putting their DBs in man on Michigan receivers and being very aggressive up front so Michigan goes after it, running a hitch/corner combo that opens up as Roundtree gets his man turned and ends up with yards of separation. Robinson reads it and pulls up on his roll, hitting Roundtree in the numbers. This was pretty easy but I usually DO any long pass that's right on the money and this is a 30-yarder to the edge of the field that could not be thrown better. (DO, 3, protection 1/1, RPS +2)
O28	1	10	Shotgun 2-back	2	0	3	Base 4-3	Run	Zone stretch	Shaw	12
Similar to the last stretch but to the other side: playside BG DT does not get sealed and neither does the backside guy. I'm not minusing either G here because they do control their guys well enough; neither manages any penetration. Molk(-1) whiffs on the MLB, though, and he's through on Shaw. Shaw(+1) runs through a tackle, then spins through another one(+2) past four BG defenders, stumbling his way for a first down. Lewan(+1) engaged the DE, who then attempted to shuck him upfield; Lewan was off balance for a moment but maintained contact and finished the kickout, providing a large amount of space for Shaw to operate in. Smith isn't getting a plus but I appreciate his instinct to bash the DT flowing past Schilling; too often in these situations under Carr guys just ran by and problems resulted.
RUN+: Shaw(3), Lewan						RUN-: Molk
O16	1	10	Shotgun 3-wide	1	1	3	Base 4-3	Run	QB power	Robinson	9
A down G scheme where Koger and Dorrestein block down on the playside DL and Omameh pulls around to the outside. Omameh(+1) has the agility to wall off the MLB, who charges outside to force Robinson back into safety help; Molk(+1) got out on the WLB, providing a ton of space that Robinson hits it up into. This was the GTFO play.
RUN+: Molk, Omameh, Robinson, Koger						RUN-:
O7	2	1	Shotgun 3-wide	1	1	3	Base 4-3	Run	Dive	Shaw	3
A power look with Lewan and Schilling doubling the backside DT; Molk and Omameh double the playside DT. Koger kicks out a DE and this leaves the WLB unblocked. Schilling(+1) peels off the double to get a shove on the MLB blazing into the picture, giving Shaw a spot to cut up behind Lewan, who's burying a dead donkey. A note: I try to keep +/- about in line with how good a play was; as the field compresses I get more generous since a two-yard run from the six is much better than a two yard run from the 50.
RUN+: Schilling, Lewan						RUN-:
O4	1	G	Shotgun 2TE	1	2	2	Base 4-3	Run	Inside zone	Shaw	2
Omameh(+1) gets under one DT and kicks him out. Schilling gets a good shove on the BG DT but doesn't seal him away; there is still a big gap right up the middle. Molk again lets the MLB by him but I think that's partially on Schilling not getting his block exactly right. I won't minus Schilling because he did hit this guy back far enough that it's still two yards in a situation when you do that twice and you get a TD.
RUN+: Omameh						RUN-:
O2	2	G	Shotgun 2TE	1	2	2	Base 4-3	Run	QB lead draw	Robinson	2
BG actually does a good job of coming underneath the blocks on to the playside but in doing so they just open up the outside, which Robinson(+1) reads, using his agility to walk in.
RUN+: Robinson						RUN-:
Drive Notes: Touchdown, 7-0, 12 min 1st Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	RB	TE	WR	D Form	Type	Play	Player	Yards
M12	1	10	Shotgun 4-wide	1	0	4	Base 4-3	Pass	PA circle	Grady	9
This curl-flat combo was picture paged against ND. It looks like BGSU is running almost all man here, so the guy covering this is the safety. He is nowhere near the LOS when the play starts so it's a fairly simple read for Denard to see the open guy and hit him. Grady turns upfield for some YAC. (CA, 3, protection 1/1)
M21	2	1	Shotgun 4-wide	1	0	4	Nickel 4-3	Run	QB lead draw	Robinson	24
Hopkins in. Schilling(+1) locks out his DT; Omameh(+1) locks on to his guy and starts driving him downfield, which is important because the BGSU LB is attacking the LOS. Hopkins(+1) gets a good block on him but the quick reaction and Molk(-1) missing another LB means Robinson can't cut it behind Omameh's excellent block but has to hit up the small crease Hopkins has provided. Second level and more because of excellent blocks from Stonum(+1) and Grady(+1).
RUN+: Schilling, Omameh, Hopkins, Grady, Stonum, Robinson						RUN-: Molk
M45	1	10	Shotgun trips	1	0	4	Nickel 4-3	Pass	Flanker screen	Hemingway	7
Hemingway is the outside WR; the other two guys attempt to get him blocks, with Roundtree doing okay since the BGSU CB attempts to go inside of him, opening up the outside and a good gain. (CA, 3, screen)
O48	2	3	Shotgun trips	1	0	4	Nickel 4-3	Run	Belly	Hopkins	2
Correct handoff(ZR+1) as BGS blitzes from the backside, getting two guys in unblocked. Hopkins is immediately tackled by the second guy, falling forward for a couple. (RPS -1)
RUN+: N/A						RUN-: N/A
O46	3	1	Shotgun 2TE	1	2	2	Base 4-3	Run	QB stretch	Robinson	46
Schilling(-1) does not get a seal again and this time his guy shoots into the backfield, which is bad. Robinson(-1) misses a pretty obvious cut since Omameh(+1) had sealed the backside DT and there was a crease up the middle. He heads outside, running past both Schilling's guy and a charging linebacker, then stopping on the sideline for a safety to overrun him and slide to the ground. He leaps past a tackle attempt from a corner and is then into the open field, at which point it's academic. Points to Dorrestein, Stonum, and Webb for getting downfield blocks that assured no BG players had angles. Oh, yeah: Robinson +4. BWS picture-pages.
RUN+: Robinson(3), Webb, Dorrestein, Omameh, Stonum						RUN-: Schilling
Drive Notes: Touchdown, 14-0, 9 min 1st Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	RB	TE	WR	D Form	Type	Play	Player	Yards
M9	1	10	Shotgun 2-back	2	0	3	Base 4-3	Run	QB lead draw	Robinson	42
BG slanting again; this time Molk(+1) realizes it and starts a combo block with Schilling on the backside DT, bashing him downfield; Omameh(+1) seals the playside guy. Schilling(+1) peels off the combo to take out the WLB and there's a big hole; Smith is one on one with the MLB and gets a hat on the guy; hole is big enough for Robinson to move through it. Robinson(+2) then smoothly jukes a safety down in the box and is off, getting great downfield blocks from Odoms(+1) and Grady(+1); the last guy has an angle and tackles him as Robinson crosses the 50. Robinson bangs his knee and is done for the day.
RUN+: Robinson(2), Omameh, Molk, Schilling, Odoms, Grady						RUN-:
O49	1	10	Shotgun 2-back	2	0	3	Base 4-3	Run	Zone read keeper	Gardner	1
Gardner in. Correct read(ZR+1) as the DE crashes down and there's no one scraping over, but instead of slamming it upfield into acres of space he cuts outside and gets tackled by the cornerbacks.
RUN+:						RUN-: Gardner
O48	2	9	Shotgun 2-back	2	0	3	Base 4-3	Pass	PA fly	Stonum	35
Stonum(+2, though I don't track this) smokes the corner with a great double move, getting yards of separation. There is no deep safety. Gardner has okay protection and launches it deep but the ball is well underthrown, forcing Stonum to cut back and haul it in underneath. This is something Stonum could not do last year; he's made a leap. Some part of the throw ending up short was Dorrestein(-1) letting his guy in on Gardner, shortening his release. Still... (MA, 2, protection 2/3, Dorrestein -1)
O13	1	10	Shotgun 2-back	2	0	3	Base 4-3	Run	Zone read keeper	Gardner	2
Incorrect read since the crashing DE is not the guy to read since Shaw is going to cut him; it's the scrape backer who keeps contain. Gardner is run down from behind by a late blitzer who came free and either would have nailed Smith in the backfield if the handoff was made or (more likely) run right by him and given Smith a good shot at a TD. (RPS -1)
RUN+:						RUN-: Gardner
O11	2	8	Shotgun 2-back	2	0	3	Base 4-3	Pass	Bubble screen	Gallon	11
Just man on the edge and Gallon's guy is ten yards off the LOS so unless he tears at this immediately he's not in great shape; he does not. Hemingway(+1) blocks his corner into the sideline, leaving Gallon(+1) one on one with the safety, who he beats for a touchdown. (CA, 3, screen)
RUN+: Gallon, Hemingway						RUN-:
Drive Notes: Touchdown, 21-0, 4 min 1st Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	RB	TE	WR	D Form	Type	Play	Player	Yards
M26	1	10	Shotgun 4-wide	1	0	4	Nickel 4-3	Run	Belly	Hopkins	4
Slot LB is the contain and is tearing downhill so probably a correct handoff despite the DE crashing on Hopkins (ZR +1, RPS -1). Hopkins(+1) does well to carry the tackler four yards.
RUN+: Hopkins						RUN-:
M30	2	6	Shotgun 4-wide	1	0	4	Base 4-3	Run	PA circle	Roundtree	5
Same play as earlier; BG again in man and the safety too far away to effectively combat this, overrunning the play. Roundtree cuts past him but slips as he goes and stumbles short of the sticks when he had an opportunity to pick up a lot of YAC. (CA, 3, protection 1/1)
M35	3	1	Shotgun H-back	1	1	3	Base 4-3	Run	Inside zone	Hopkins	7
Omameh(+1) latches onto and controls one DT with help from Molk(+1), who then pops off and whacks the MLB. Schilling and Lewan double the other guy and handle him, though really they should. Hopkins slams it up in the crease, picking up the first down and a bit more.
RUN+: Omameh, Molk, Schilling, Lewan						RUN-:
M42	1	10	Shotgun H-back	1	1	3	Base 4-3	Run	Zone stretch	Hopkins	19
The classic stretch we haven't really seen much of this year. Molk(+2) and Omameh(+2) execute a textbook scoop block, which seals the playside DT and dooms BG. This is tough to do and they make this look easy. After they seal the guy Molk crushes him backwards and Omameh peels off to batter the MLB; Webb(+1) kicks out another LB and Schilling(+1) successfully delays the backside LB with a cut; Lewan(+1) cut the backside DE. Essentially everyone on the OL except Dorrestein dominated his man on this play, and Dorrestein still did a good job of kicking out the DE. Hopkins has huge lanes to hit, which he does, running through an arm tackle and into the secondary. (Run+: Molk(2), Omameh(2), Schilling, Webb, Lewan.)
O39	1	10	Shotgun 2-back	2	0	3	Base 4-3	Run	Inside zone	Smith	4
BG slants under the blocking, which gives M trouble as Omameh and Dorrestein are split on the backside and Molk and Schilling have a tough time with the playside DT. The latter guys do get their guy under control but do not get out on LBs; Omameh(-1) does not help seal the other guy and he comes through Dorrestein. Dorrestein avoids a minus for pushing the guy beyond the play; allowing Smith(+1) to cut behind it and pick up an excellent edge block from Hopkins(+1) to pick up a few.
RUN+: Hopkins, Smith						RUN-: Omameh
O35	2	6	Shotgun H-back	1	1	3	Base 4-3	Run	Zone stretch	Hopkins	-2
Well, first Michigan gets a deserved chop block call as Schilling(-1) engages with the backside DT and then Lewan chops him. I blame Schilling since Lewan had this guy. On the frontside BG again slants under, this time getting past Molk(-2) and Omameh(-1), leaving Hopkins facing down two guys in the backfield. He gets hit and fumbles. Fumbles are not a part of the run tracking.
RUN+:						RUN-: Schilling, Omameh, Molk(2)
Drive Notes: Fumble, 21-0, 1 min 1st Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	RB	TE	WR	D Form	Type	Play	Player	Yards
M24	1	10	Shotgun H-back	1	1	3	Nickel 4-3	Run	Inside zone	Smith	9
Gardner should have pulled with a TE coming to block the backside DE and Lewan moving out on the WLB (ZR -1). Schilling doesn't get a seal but manages to control his guy enough that he can't make a play in the backfield. With an unblocked linebacker coming up into the playside B gap the cutback's where it's at. BG DE does a good job of flowing down the line and cutting it off but Koger(+1) gets enough of him to provide Smith(+1) a window behind him; Lewan has engaged the WLB and though he ends up playside Lewan just donkeys him to the ground, giving Smith another cutback lane he takes; a safety fills at this point.
RUN+: Smith, Koger, Lewan						RUN-: Gardner
M33	2	1	Shotgun H-back	1	1	3	Base 4-3	Run	Zone stretch	Smith	11
Lewan(+1) gets a face-planting cut block on the backside DT, leaving him crumbled on the ground. On the frontside Molk(+1) and Omameh(+1) get a good scoop on the playside guy; Omameh pops out on a LB. BG brought a safety down late and has a guy in the gap, though, as Webb got caught up in some wash and can't get out front. Because of the Lewan cut, though, there's a huge cutback lane. Schilling(+1) gets a shove on the WLB and Smith has a lane, leaving a guy over the slot receiver to recover and tackle. Handoff was correct (ZR +1).
RUN+: Lewan, Molk, Schilling, Omameh, Smith						RUN-:
M44	1	10	Shotgun H-back	1	1	3	Base 4-3	Run	Zone read keeper	Gardner	3
Should hand off with the DE maintaining responsibility; this is compounded by a safety filling fast, leaving three guys out on Gardner with no shot for him to do much (ZR-1).
RUN+:						RUN-: Gardner
M47	2	7	Shotgun 2-back	2	0	3	Nickel 4-3	Pass	PA Fly	Gardner	Inc
MICH obviously pissed about all this cover zero safety nonsense, so they go deep. Gardner sets up in the pocket and this time the pocket is excellent. He lays one out to Hemingway, who's got a step on the DB; DB falls; ball hits Hemingway in the hands at the ten... dropped. Breastonian. (DO, 3, protection 2/2)
M47	3	7	Shotgun 4-wide	1	0	4	Base 4-3	Pass	Post	Gardner	53 (pen + 2)
Gardner knows he has Grady on a linebacker and goes right to him, feathering a ball on a post route that fits perfectly in a window between that LB and the safety, who takes a terrible angle and turns a big gainer into a touchdown. Molk gets it called back for whacking some guy. (DO, 3, protection 2/2)
M49	3	5	Shotgun 4-wide	1	0	4	Base 4-3	Pass	Slant	Hemingway	16
Zone this time; double slants to one side of the field. Roundtree's interior slant drags a defender and opens up Hemingway's; Gardner nails it for the first down. Finally. (CA+, 3, protection 2/2)
O35	1	10	Shotgun 4-wide	1	0	4	Base 4-3	Pass	PA circle	Gallon	Inc
BG prepared for this after seeing it a few times and blitzes into it, getting a guy in free(RPS -1). Gardner has an opportunity to make a play but his pass is inaccurate as he gets hit as he throws. Still think his delivery gets poor when he's under duress. I am going to mark this IN because the ball is out before he gets hit. (IN, 0, protection 0/2, team, RPS -1)
O35	2	10	Shotgun H-back	1	1	3	Base 4-3-	Run	Zone stretch	Shaw	3
BG again slanting under blocks. Lewan(+1) does an excellent job to react to it, latch onto the guy, and shove him out of the RB's path, giving Shaw a lane with Koger(+1) kicking out a blitzing LB. Schilling blocks a linebacker on the second level but Dorrestein(-1) could not do anything with the WLB, who flows down the line and tackles. RPS -1.
RUN+: Lewan, Koger						RUN-: Dorrestein
O32	3	7	Shotgun H-back	1	1	3	Nickel 4-3	Pass	Flare screen	Shaw	2
Great read by one of the BG DTs, who takes off after Omameh as soon as he feels him release. A safety is screaming down past blockers as well but while this play looks grim Shaw might have a cutback lane for big yardage if the DT(!) isn't quick enough to get out there and tackle him from behind. (CA, 3, screen)
O30	4	5	Shotgun empty	1	0	4	Nickel 4-3	Pass	Drag	Hemingway	Inc
Zone behind a four-man rush; Gardner cannot find anything and tries to hit Hemingway on a drag. He is between two guys, and one of them almost intercepts. Very poor decision since he was short of the sticks anyway. (BR, 0, protection 2/2)
Drive Notes: Turnover on downs, 21-7, 4 min 2nd Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	RB	TE	WR	D Form	Type	Play	Player	Yards
M31	1	10	Shotgun trips	1	0	4	Nickel 4-3	Pass	Flanker screen	Odoms	2
Tate in. TRobinson(-1) gets chucked by the guy he's blocking and Roundtree(-1) whiffs on a cut, leaving Odoms dealing with two guys and no blocks. He gets what he can. (CA, 3, screen)
RUN+:						RUN-: Roundtree, TRob
M33	2	8	Shotgun 4-wide	1	0	4	Base 4-3	Pass	Bubble screen	Roundtree	0
TRobinson(+1) gets a good cut this time, but instead of heading straight upfield and either juking the linebacker coming out on him or plowing into him and getting somewhere between 4 and 8 yards Roundtree(-1) spins around and falls to the ground in an attempt to get outside. (CA, 3, screen)
M33	3	8	Shotgun 4-wide	1	0	4	Base 4-3	Pass	Deep hitch	Odoms	13
Just a very long pitch and catch; worry that he does not have the arm strength to get this out there against top competition, because as it is this BG CB isn't exactly miles away here. Nevertheless today it's good enough and Odoms evades the CB for a few YAC, though it could have been more if he had kept his feet. (CA+, 3, protection 2/2)
M46	1	10	Shotgun 4-wide	1	0	4	Base 4-3	Run	Zone read keeper	Forcier	5
Eh? probably the right read since the DE was sliding down the line to prevent the belly and the LBs both came in(ZR+1). Tate ends up on the edge with the slot LB and I still want him to just run upfield until he gets tackled but he tries to juke the guy to the outside and gets tripped up.
RUN+: NA						RUN-:
O49	2	5	Shotgun H-back	1	1	3	Nickel 4-3	Run	Inside zone	Shaw	10
Backside DT gets completely donkeyed by Lewan(+1) and Schilling(+1), ending up somewhere around the first down marker by the time Shaw flies by. Molk(+1) and Omameh(+1) had done basically the same thing to the other DT, with Lewan and Molk getting easy popouts on the BG LBs. One of them gets a diving tackle attempt that Shaw spins out of but he's lost his momentum and goes down. If this was a read it was the right one with a DE in an inconvenient place and a scraper over the top(ZR+1).
RUN+: Lewan, Schilling, Molk, Omameh						RUN-:
O39	1	10	Shotgun H-back	1	1	3	Base 4-3	Pass	PA Bubble	Roundtree	10 (pen -6 lol)
Forcier fakes the inside zone and immediately goes to the bubble; Odoms pounds a guy in the midsection for a good block and somehow gets called for a chop block because these guys are pure Sun Belt. (CA, 3, screen)
O45	1	16	Shotgun 4-wide	1	0	4	Base 4-3	Pass	Throwback screen	Stonum	-3
The counter to the flare screen; Robinson(-2) gets confused and doesn't block the slot LB at all, which blows up the play. (CA, 3, screen)
RUN+:						RUN-: TRob(2)
O48	2	19	Shotgun empty	1	0	4	Nickel 4-3	Pass	Improv fly	Roundtree	Inc (pen +15)
Ton of time as M stones four rushers; no one open for Forcier so he starts rolling in the pocket. His receivers break deep and he picks out Roundtree but throws the pass well short. Roundtree is run over, drawing a flag. I don't really know what to tag this. It was good play to chuck it because the DB was definitely in trouble but the ball was not great. I'm going with... (MA, 0, protection 3/3)
O33	1	10	Shotgun H-back	1	1	3	Nickel 4-3	Pass	PA Bubble	Roundtree	23
All Roundtree(+3) as he jukes two different guys and turns this into a big play; Stokes(+1) did get a good block on the corner and finished it off by shoving the guy past Tree as he cut back for his final six or so yards.
RUN+: Roundtree(3), Stokes						RUN-:
O10	1	G	Shotgun 2H	1	2	2	Base 4-4	Run	Inside zone	Shaw	8
Wolverine heavy, sort of. It works, with Omameh(+1) controlling and shoving his man to seal him just as Shaw approaches the line; Dorrestein(+1) kicks out the DE and Koger(+1) gets an excellent lead block on a filling LB; Molk(+1) moves to the second level and plants the MLB. Shaw bursts through and gets cut to the ground by a desperate safety.
RUN+: Omameh, Koger, Shaw, Dorrestein						RUN-:
O2	2	G	Shotgun 2H	1	2	2	Base 4-4-	Run	Inside zone	Shaw	2
Pretty much the same thing, with BG slanting heavily to the inside; Dorrestein(+1) caves his guy in and Shaw(+1) reads that, slipping outside and running over a linebacker who tried to fill. Webb(+1) got a good edge block.
Drive Notes: Touchdown, 28-14, EOH.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	RB	TE	WR	D Form	Type	Play	Player	Yards
M49	1	10	Shotgun 2-back	2	0	3	Base 4-3	Run	Zone stretch	Shaw	2
No cutback with Schilling(-1) unable to do anything with the backside DT; he is moving into the backfield. This is relevant because BG has slanted heavily and the frontside guy is shoving Omameh(-1) well into the backfield, forcing Shaw outside the tackle. Smith(+1) plugged the LB to that side, actually pancaking him, which does give Shaw a little crease; the delay allows a BG safety to thwack him just past the LOS.
RUN+: Schilling, Omameh						RUN-: Smith
O49	2	8	Shotgun 4-wide	1	0	4	Base 4-3	Pass	PA cross	Roundtree	21
BG again getting good pressure on this PA rollout protection scheme by having a linebacker zip up into the hole between the line and a pulling Schilling, so Forcier doesn't have much time. The BG linebackers jump the circle route M's thrown a few times today, opening up Roundtree behind them. Forcier reads it and finds Roundtree. Ball is a little high but just in front of the safety and Roundtree brings it in as he's hit. The guy in the face increases the DOD. (DO, 2, protection 1/2, team -1)
O28	1	10	Shotgun H-back	1	1	3	Base 4-3	Run	Inside zone	Shaw	8
Schilling(+1) owns one DT on a single block, shoving him back three yards. Omameh(+1) and Molk(+1) do the same to the other, with Molk popping out on a middle linebacker. All that beef moving downhill means Shaw is met four yards downfield and the pile lumbers another four. Lewan flashed his impressive agility here, too, though for no real purpose.
RUN+: Schilling(2), Molk(2), Omameh						RUN-:
O20	2	2	Shotgun 2H	1	2	2	Base 4-3	Run	Zone counter	Shaw	2
At least I think this is designed to cutback with both TEs headed to the backside of the play, the line blocking down, and Shaw ready to cut back real fast. Lewan(+1) helps cave in the playside DT and then pops out on the LB. Webb(+1) takes out the slot LB and Shaw looks like he's about to be in the clear with Koger ahead of him and just one BG safety left; he heads outside, Koger(-1) watches the safety run by, and that guy makes a desperate arm tackle to prevent six.
RUN+: Webb, Lewan						RUN-: Koger
O18	1	10	Shotgun 2H	1	2	2	Base 4-4	Run	Zone stretch	Shaw	9
Slanting under again and moving an eighth guy in the box. Molk(+1) moves past the playside DT and then realizes what's happening. He peels off and seals that guy. Lewan and Schilling are dealing with the playside DE who is threatening to slant between them as Koger(+1) kicks out a blitzer. Webb(+1) is leading Shaw and kicks out the playside LB, giving him a lane between that block and the Lewan/Schilling double. Shaw(+1) did a good job of finding and hitting a small crease.
RUN+: Shaw, Koger, Webb, Molk						RUN-:
O9	2	1	Shotgun 2H	1	2	2	Base 4-3	Run	Inside zone	Smith	0
Confusion between Lewan(-1) and Webb(-1) as Lewan starts moving to the second level and then gets held up by the DE; DE is now in good position to eliminate a cutback. Webb runs by this for a second level block; this is not so good. Forcier could have kept but I don't know if he actually has a read here; since it would have been successful and he didn't keep it I have to ZR -1 him. Smith(-1) should have just run to the frontside of the play, where Omameh(+1) had blown out the playside DT badly and there was a gap for the first down and maybe more.
RUN+: Omameh, Koger						RUN-: Webb, Lewan, Smith
O9	3	1	Shotgun 2H	1	2	2	Base 4-3	Run	Inside zone	Smith	3
These are not all the same play as the H-backs keep going in different directions, FWIW. Here Omameh(+1) and Molk(+1) pancake a BG DT; Schilling(-1) falls and loses his guy, drawing Webb's block and allowing a BG guy to come in to tackle after a short gain, but the obliteration of the DT was sufficient for the first.
RUN+: Omameh, Molk						RUN-: Schilling
O6	1	G	Shotgun 2H	1	2	2	Base 4-4	Run	Zone stretch	Smith	4
Good handoff (ZR+1) with lots of guys unblocked on the backside. BG is running down the line fast, preventing anyone from getting a seal, so the OL just rideS guys down the line. Omameh(+1) gets the relevant block, controlling his guy and keeping him at the LOS, driving him far enough along that there's a cutback hole between him and the unblocked backside DE; Dorrestein and Molk(+1 each) get second level blocks. Smith hits it up and is lassoed down by the DE.
RUN+: Smith, Dorrestein, Molk, Omameh						RUN-:
O2	2	G	I-Form Big	2	2	1	Goal line	Run	Iso	Shaw	0
No push from the line but there is a gap for McColgan to hit, which he does(+1), blowing his guy into the endzone. If Shaw(-1) had run up his FB's back it's a touchdown but he hesitates and then has nowhere to go.
RUN+: McColgan						RUN-: Shaw
O2	3	G	I-Form Big	2	2	1	Goal line	Pass	PA boot FB flat	McColgan	2
McColgan wide open as BG bites (RPS +1) and he flips it in for the easy TD. (CA, 3, protection NA)
Drive Notes: Touchdown, 37-14, 9 min 3rd Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	RB	TE	WR	D Form	Type	Play	Player	Yards
O37	1	10	Shotgun 2-back	2	0	3	Base 4-3	Pass	Fly	Stonum	Inc (pen +15)
Forcier fumbles the snap on what was going to be a bomb and just chucks it after he recovers. TA? IN? MA? I don't know. I'm going to file it TA since I think he's just getting rid of it to live another down. BG's corner has great position on the play and gets an awful flag for pass interference. This is raw, throbbing injustice in a can. A perfect example of the kind of play a cornerback in position should be allowed to make. (TA, 0, protection 2/2)
O22	1	10	Shotgun 2-back	2	0	3	Base 4-3	Pass	Rollout quick out	Gallon	14
No PA, just a plain old rollout that sees Shaw cut the playside DE, giving Forcier plenty of time to find Gallon yards in front of a slot LB that appears to be in man coverage. Easy pitch, catch, and YAC. (RPS +1, CA, 3, protection 1/1)
O8	1	G	Shotgun 2-back	2	0	3	Base 4-3	Run	Zone stretch	Smith	8
Molk(+2) gets a great reach block on the playside DT, creasing the line; Omameh(+1) gets a second level block, and Lewan(+1) cuts two(!) guys on the backside. Schilling(-1) whiffed his second-level block but Smith(+1) runs through the tackle into the endzone. Dorrestein(+1) pancaked his guy too.
RUN+: Molk(2), Omameh, Lewan, Smith, Dorrestein						RUN-: Schilling
Drive Notes: Touchdown, 44-14, 7 min 3rd Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	RB	TE	WR	D Form	Type	Play	Player	Yards
M38	1	10	Shotgun 2-back	2	0	3	Base 4-3	Pass	Bubble screen	Roundtree	2
I am officially in half-ass mode, FWIW. Good play by a deep corner to charge this down. (CA, 3, screen)
M40	2	8	Shotgun 2-back	2	0	3	Nickel 4-3	Run	Zone stretch	Cox	3
Corner blitz provides contain on the QB so BG has a DE and a LB on the backside; they slant hard to the playside and don't get sealed. Cox cuts up in a big hole between Omameh and Dorrestein and sort of avoids two tackles before being whomped by a safety. RPS -1. Could have minused Dorrestein if I was feeling mean.
M43	3	5	Shotgun 2-back	2	0	3	Base 4-4	Pass	PA Deep comeback	Stonum	10
PA rollout sees a BG blitz get in Forcier's face; he pulls up and nails a comeback route to Stonum. It's weird to remember he can do these things. (CA+, 3, protection 1/2, team -1)
O47	1	10	Shotgun H-back	1	1	3	Base 4-4	Pass	Bubble screen	Roundtree	16
This one is wide open by alignment and M takes it; Roundtree gets a block from Hemingway(+1) and it's easy. (CA, 3, screen, RPS +2)
RUN+: Hemingway						RUN-:
O31	1	10	Shotgun H-back	1	1	3	Base 4-3	Run	Inside zone	Smith	6
Little room as BG slants under again and Molk(-1) gets driven into the backfield some. Smith(+1) cuts back and gets outside thanks to a crushing block from Webb(+1) on the edge and jukes a tackler for decent yardage.
RUN+: Smith, Webb						RUN-: Molk
O25	2	4	Shotgun 2-back TE	2	1	2	Base 4-4	Run	Power off tackle	Forcier	16
This is a broken play since Shaw just takes off to block someone on the backside as Forcier holds the ball out for a mesh that never comes. Okay, so Forcier just runs the play, which features Dorrestein(+1) and Webb(+1) blocking down as Omameh and Molk pull. Smith(+1) kicks out a linebacker; Omameh(+1) demolishes his guy, and Forcier hits the gap, makes a safety miss, and would be gone if he was Denard but is not Denard and gets a shoestring tackle for his troubles.
RUN+: Forcier(2), Omameh, Smith, Dorrestein, Webb						RUN-: Shaw
O9	1	G	Shotgun 2-back TE	2	1	2	Base 4-4	Run	Down G	Smith	6
Other side of the line with Webb(+1) sealing the playside DE and Schilling pulling around. Schilling(+1) and Cox(+1) both kick out second level guys and Smith is one on one with a safety in some space; he lowers his head and is tackled. Meh.
RUN+: Webb, Lewan, Cox, Schilling						RUN-: Smith
O3	2	G	Shotgun 2-back TE	2	1	2	Base 4-4	Run	Inside zone	Cox	2
Omameh(-1) whiffs on his guy, who ends up falling in the backfield in the path of the runner, forcing Cox outside where he runs through one arm tackle and then meets a safety while still off balance, getting stood up. This was possible thanks to Huyge, now playing RT, kicking his guy out far enough for Cox to have a lane.
RUN+: Huyge						RUN-: Omameh
O1	3	G	I-Form Big	2	2	1	Goal line	Run	Zone stretch	Smith	1
Omameh, Huyge, and Webb all blow their guys out and Omameh actually has a moment in this play where he's blocking two separate BG players by pushing them in the chest simultaneously. McColgan doesn't even have anyone to block as Smith strolls in.
RUN+: Omameh, Huyge, Webb						RUN-:
Drive Notes: Touchdown, 51-21, 13 min 4th Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	RB	TE	WR	D Form	Type	Play	Player	Yards
M6	1	10	Ace twins	1	2	2	Base 4-4	Run	Inside zone	Cox	4
Barnum in. Okay, I will do some vague charting here but I'm not going to bother with RPS since M is just running the game out. Here blitzing linebackers hit the gaps too fast for the linemen to get out on them, forcing a cutback from Cox(+1). He runs through a tackle and drags another guy forward four yards; would have gotten a couple more if the refs hadn't whistled it down for lack of forward progress that seemed to be progressing still.
RUN+: Cox						RUN-:
M10	2	6	Shotgun 3-wide	1	1	3	Base 4-3	Run	Inside zone	Cox	2
Also discarding ZR since I don't want QBs carrying at this point, but this should have been a keep if it wasn't a 30 point game in the fourth. Omameh(-1) gets stalemated and then his guy fights inside; Dorrestein is only doing OK on the edge so Cox does not have gap to the outside and has to cut back into a crashing DE. He keeps his feet impressively on a tackle attempt but the delay allows BG to converge and he only gets an extra yard out of it.
RUN+:						RUN-: Omameh
M12	3	4	Shotgun 3-wide	1	1	3	Nickel 4-3	Pass	Scramble	Forcier	7
Five guys come and Michigan blocks them all; Forcier actually has Koger wide open for the first but sees a lane open up in front of him and knows he can get the first with his legs; he does so. (SCR, N/A, protection 2/2)
M19	1	10	Shotgun 3-wide	1	1	3	Base 4-3	Run	Zone read keeper	Forcier	2
Forcier keeps; no idea what or who he's reading here since the blocking is unfamiliar. He fakes the bubble as he attempts to get to the edge but a linebacker runs him down; Molk was blocking for the handoff and the LB read keep too fast. Denard gets the corner here but you knew that.
RUN+:						RUN-: Forcier
M21	2	8	Shotgun H-back	1	1	3	Nickel 4-3	Run	Inside zone	Cox	10
Omameh(+1) and Molk(+1) fire off to double one DT, who gives a ton of ground; Molk pops off on the MLB. The other DT is crushed by Barnum(+1) with help from Lewan; a crashing DE is taken out by Koger(+1). Cox just has to run up in the gaping hole and does.
RUN+: Barnum, Omameh, Molk, Koger						RUN-:
M31	1	10	Shotgun H-back	1	1	3	Nickel 4-3	Run	Zone read keeper	Gardner	3
Gardner returns, and should definitely keep this since BG is cheating on the RB but still gets run down for two yards by taking an angle not far enough outside. I think he's plenty fast but he's got a lot of work to do as a runner.
RUN+:						RUN-: Gardner
M34	2	7	Shotgun 2-back TE	2	1	2	Base 4-3	Run	Power off tackle	Toussaint	60
Features a pull from Omameh as Huyge(+1) blocks down on the playside DT and provides a big hole. Koger(+1) kicks out a DE; a blitzing MLB has taken himself out of the play and Omameh(+1) clubs the last LB out of the way, opening up green pastures for Toussaint.
RUN+: Huyge, Omameh, Koger, Toussaint						RUN-:
M6	1	G	Shotgun 2-back	2	1	2	Base 4-4	Run	Zone stretch	Toussaint	6
Backside DT is cut to the ground by Lewan(+1) and the frontside guy kind of lunges in at Molk, forcing Toussaint around him but falling uselessly; Omameh(+2) controls and then destroys the playside DE, who is blocked into the endzone. Toussaint with an easy TD. Barnum(+1) also did well to get a block on the second level.
RUN+: Omameh(2), Lewan, Barnum						RUN-:
Drive Notes: Touchdown, 58-21, 7 min 4th Q. Backup OL comes in and charting ceases, as we're not going to learn anything about this year's team from this game. You can watch Cox's long run, on which Quinton Washington obliterates some dude, though. And here's Gardner's touchdown.

*Elaborate yawning mechanism.*

Yes, yes, steampunk fictional questioner who does not appreciate where he has come from.

Well, is there really even a point?

No, not on this side of the ball. I would have cut this off sooner but for BG's annoying persistence on offense and our first extended look at Devin Gardner. The offensive line was crushing to the point where it was tough to tell whether or not I should be handing out pluses to the tackles on plays where the interior linemen were ridin' that donkey five, six, seven yards downfield. Here's Fitzgerald Toussaint's touchdown. Watch Omameh:

 

This was most of the day. So take everything below with a grain of salt. Michigan won't face a defense this bad after this weekend again.

We demand low-information charts anyway.

Low information charts, then.

Hennechart comes with a reminder that numbers in parentheses are screens! I've also added the zone read metric to these charts instead of spreading it out. It's in the format correct decisions / opportunities.

DENARD ROBINSON

Opponent	DO	CA	MA	IN	BR	TA	BA	PR	SCR	ZR	DSR
2009, All Of It	1	7	6(2)	3(1)	4	4	-	-	?	-	44%
UConn	2	15(6)	-	-	3	2	-	-	2	-	68%
Notre Dame	3	25(8)	3(1)	4	1	-	4(1)	2	-	-	71%
UMass	4	10(3)	-	1	1	-	1	1	-	-	73%
BGSU	1	4(1)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1/1	N/A

DEVIN GARDNER

Opponent	DO	CA	MA	IN	BR	TA	BA	PR	SCR	ZR	DSR
BGSU	2	4(2)	1	1	1	-	-	-	-	4/7	N/A

TATE FORCIER

Opponent	DO	CA	MA	IN	BR	TA	BA	PR	SCR	ZR	DSR
BGSU	2	9(6)	1	-	-	1	-	-	1	3/4	N/A

Nobody had enough downfield throws to warrant a downfield success rate, but everyone impressed. Denard hit a 30-yard corner route, Devin had two long should-have-been touchdowns, the second a beautiful touch seam, and Forcier rolled out and pulled up to hit Roundtree over the middle.

My only complaint/worry here was the short toss to Gallon on which Gardner was pressured. He defaulted to that pushing motion, it looked, and the resulting pass was well off target. Oh, and there was the failed fourth down attempt. In any case, it certainly looks like Michigan is more loaded at quarterback than they've ever been.

Who works for number two?

Uh… if that's a question about the second-string quarterback, I think it should be Tate, but not because of any of the passing numbers above. It's the zone read stuff, where Gardner's barely above 50%, and the numbers from the—

Donkeychart.

Run chart, but whatever. BEHOLD THE DONKENING

Chart II?

Chart II.

 

Offensive Line
Player	+	-	T	Notes
Huyge	2	-	2	Couple of good plays at RT late.
Lewan	11	1	10	Was very effective on cuts, too.
Schilling	10	5	5	Had some trouble with BG slants.
Molk	16	5	11	Wish he'd be more consistent on MLBs.
Omameh	20	6	14	Most of Michigan's long runs came over his side of the line.
Barnum	2	-	2	I'll take it from the back of the rotation starter.
Dorrestein	6	1	5	I'll take it from the back of the rotation starter.
Webb	9	1	8	Fetch me the club…
Koger	7	1	6	…and smite the heathen seals.
TOTAL	83	20	63	Even more obliteration.
Backs
Player	+	-	T	Notes
Robinson	8	-	8	Not bad for four rushes.
Gardner	-	5	-5	Yeah… about that.
Forcier	2	1	1	Was limping, too.
Shaw	10	2	8	Broke some tackles, seemed to hit all the right holes.
Smith	10	2	8	Smart blocking, good cuts, an occasional broken tackle.
Cox	2	-	2	Physically impressive. Good balance again.
Toussaint	-	-	-	Runs were super easy.
Hopkins	3	-	3	Fumble not included.
McColgan	1	-	1	Usual.
Jones	-	-	-	Stopped charting by the time he got in.
TOTAL	36	10	26	Shaw again most impressive.
Receivers
Player	+	-	T	Notes
Stonum	2	-	2	--
Odoms	2	-	2	--
TRobinson	1	3	-2	--
Roundtree	3	2	1	--
Grady	2	-	2	--
Gallon	2	-	2	--
Hemingway	2	-	2	--
TOTAL	14	5	9
Metrics

So this was more of the same, with Lewan being impressive for a tackle just because he is noticeable on so many run plays. Tackles mostly just lock out DEs who are happy to cut off the outside; Lewan is making an impact comparable to an above-average guard. Also, the tight ends were just clubbing guys all day.

At tailback, Smith and Shaw came out about even in the numbers above and the official ones (both had 12 carries; Smith had three more yards) but if I had to pick it would be Shaw and it wouldn't be that close. The three backups who got charted all flashed some ability and didn't screw up except for the Hopkins fumble. Cox really is physically impressive, capable of dragging tacklers and again flashing great balance. I'm hoping we get to see more of him as the season goes on.

So about number two?

Right, so, Gardner has a –5 up there, the only minus of the day aside from Terrance Robinson. This came about because he pulled the ball on three separate instances when he should have handed off and got roped down for little gain; on a couple other runs he eschewed certain yards for more of that high school stuff where you just cut it outside all day on the assumption you are faster than everyone else. Tate has more experience at the college level and when he cut it way outside he had a block and got tracked down by a linebacker from behind; he also seems to be better at ascertaining when to hand it off.

That plus Tate's excellent day throwing makes me lean towards Forcier in the unfortunate event of a serious injury to Robinson.

I still have a couple more charts, by the way. Receivers:

	This Game					Totals
Player	0	1	2	3		0	1	2	3
Stonum	-	-	1/1	2/2		1	-	3/4	11/11
Odoms	-	-	-	2/2		-	-	3/4	9/9
Hemingway	1	-	-	2/3		1	-	1/1	2/3
Jackson	-	-	-	-		-	-	-	-
Roundtree	1	-	1/1	8/8		5	2/3	1/2	19/19
Grady	-	-	-	2/2		2	-	1/1	6/6
Robinson	-	-	-	-		-	0/1	-	2/3
Gallon	1	-	-	1/1		1	-	-	1/1
Koger	-	-	-	-		-	-	1/2	2/2
Webb	-	-	-	-		-	-	-	-
Smith	-	-	-	-		-	-	0/1	4/4
Shaw	-	-	-	1/1		1	0/1	0/1	3/3
McColgan	-	-	-	1/1		-	-	-	1/1
Hopkins	-	-	-	-		-	-	-	-
Toussaint	-	-	-	-		-	-	-	-

A fairly boring day here. Just one drop, but it was a big one: Hemingway's oopsie on Devin Gardner's first shoulda-been touchdown.

And this isn't a chart but PROTECTION METRIC: 26/31, Dorrestein –1, Team –4.

The "team" minuses were for blitzes into Michigan's favored rollout package that got Forcier and Gardner in trouble a couple times. Michigan might have to go way from that now that Bowling Green has demonstrated how to pressure it consistently. M got away with it against a team with little talent, but add some speed to that linebacker or some competence to the secondary and bad things might happen.

Did we see anything new?

Obviously the Wolverine Heavy look was new, but Michigan also started responding to BG's tendency to slant like there's no tomorrow by breaking out the pulling OL. Watch Omameh:

That's a completely standard run play I've seen Michigan defend dozens of times over the past few years. I've even got an automatic link for it: Down G. See? It linked.

On Down G you've got a tackle and sometimes a tight end blocking down on the line as Michigan pulls one OL and finds a lead blocker from somewhere else, whether it's a tailback or a H-back or whatever. This is a response to BG's uber-slanting. If the DL slant in the direction of the play, they meet the downblockers head on and get blown up as they do above. Then there's lots of space off tackle and usually the linebackers will be hanging out on the backside of the play where the cutbacks are on a zone. On this play one blitzes right up the middle, another heads to the backside, and there's just one guy in a big hole starting down the mobile death that is Patrick Omameh. And then you get a lot of yards.

Here's another example, on which Shaw busts his assignment but BG is so confused that it doesn't matter and Molk doesn't even have anyone to block:

Michigan has not shown this much in the RR era (and literally never ran it during the DerpBord stretch-and-stretch-only era). I wonder why they chose to do so in a game they'd salted away already. It's not like this is rocket science—it's a totally standard play—but I'd rather break it out against Michigan State than BG.

What does a can of injustice look like?

This:

Poor BG cornerback. This is my least favorite iteration of pass interference, where a guy is running in front of or even with a receiver who tries to run through the DB. The DB has great coverage and is penalized for it. They should clarify the rule to express that a player who is even or deeper with a wide receiver can't be penalized for not changing his momentum. If you're beaten and the ball's underthrown and you run a guy over, fine, flag. But that stuff above is painful even when you're on the right end of a wrong call.

Heroes?

Again, you could almost pick anyone. Special commendation to the offensive line and tight ends.

Goats?

Hopkins fumbled, Molk got that personal foul, and Devin Gardner had some iffy running plays, but that's it when you score touchdowns on 9 of 11 drives.

What does it mean for Indiana and beyond?

Indiana is going to get nuked. They are currently sporting the 92nd-best rushing defense in the land thanks to the dynamic ground attacks of Towson, Western Kentucky, and Akron. None of those teams have a win over a I-A opponent, and they're actually 1-3 against I-AA thanks to Towson sucking and Gardner Webb beating Akron in OT. Akron exceeded their season average in yards by over 100 and their opponents other than the I-AA team were Syracuse and Kentucky. They are donkeys.

As for the rest of the season, Taylor Lewan seems to have locked down the left tackle job and pushed that position from average or slightly above to good, potentially verging on great. His emergence gives Michigan spare bodies on the OL and makes the offense close to bulletproof without an Angry Michigan BLANK-Hating God injury monsoon with the lone exception of quarterback, where your prayer vigil should be unceasing.

Even there, both Michigan quarterbacks showed well. Michigan gave up a couple scores late in the first half and there was a rumble of worry in the stadium when it was 21-14, but Rodriguez just threw Forcier out there and watched him march down the field for a touchdown, another touchdown, some more touchdowns, additional touchdowns, etc.

I'd ratchet up expectations another half-notch here. Lewan gives the offense more depth, Denard's added a few more items to his "not a fluke" pile, and the backup quarterbacks look solid. Also they just put up 721 yards, and I don't care who it's against if it's a I-A team: 721 yards means your offense is scary.