2021 wmu

1 hour and 13 minutes

The Sponsors

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

And let’s not forget our associate sponsors: Peak Wealth Management, HomeSure Lending, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, Prentice4M, and SignalWire (use the code MUPPETS and they’ll buy your team lunch!).

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

Substitution Notes: Forgot to do this for the offense. Smith, Jeter, Hinton, and Jenkins rotated at the 2-3 inside positions, with Mazi the nose when they had a 3rd guy and Julius Welschof coming in for passing downs. I didn’t see Jess Speight but Braiden McGregor got some run. Hutchinson was in and out with the other OLBs—Ojabo, Upshaw, Morris, and some Jaylen Harrell. Linebacker was Ross and NHG until backup hour, when Junior Colson and Kalel Mullings came in ahead of Michael Barrett. Dax played the hybrid nickel role or strong safety when they went 3-4, with Moten coming in as the extra safety with Hawkins. Cornerback was Green and Gray mostly, with rotations from Turner.

Formation Notes:

I used tech numbering for the fronts starting from the first strongside player with his hand down. So a standard odd front would be “404” for a nose guard (zero) flanked by 4-techs on the inside shoulder of their tackles:

…and a standard over front would be “32” for a 3-tech and a 2-tech. I didn’t bother with “3i” etc. (e.g. below) because that’s getting into the weeds and too hard to see.

Hi. I’ve shortened “Cover Look” and “x-high” to “Hi” and a number of DBs who are sitting at least 9 yards off the LOS to save space.

Expected Points Added. I’ve added a new column that shows the value of the play (to the offense). We’ll see if there’s value to glean from it later. Expected points are based on the points an average offense will score from that down/distance/field position on that drive. For example a two-point conversion attempt averages +1.1 EP. So if Jabrill Peppers intercepts an option pitch on an MSU 2PA and takes it back to the other end for 2 points, we calculate the result of –2 points for the offense minus the 1.1 EP they were expected to get, to call that a -3.3 EP swing for the offense.

[After THE JUMP: Good kids and bad vets]

Things discussed:

• Understand run-run-run when Zinter is in there.
• Sam: They didn’t think he would play much.
• Vastardis! We were both down at him, but he had a game, was reading Ralph Holley well. The Henning TD was mostly Vastardis—Sam noted they also bluffed the DE with a feint from Vastardis. Graham Glasgow-esque job vs Holley.
• Filiaga didn’t miss assignments. Good matchup for him.
• Ronnie Bell on his way to a Heisman before we lost him. We talk about That Catch!
• John O’Neill crew: Seth says it’s seriously time to do something. Keep the woman, let her build her own crew. Every single down these guys are screwing something up.
• Breaktalk: Ron Hefley is playing for Kevin Kelly, the coach who doesn’t punt.
• Washington talk: John Donovan sucks. He’s got a 6’3” guy playing RT and a 6’8” guy playing G.
• Michigan defense: they’re putting a LOT on their plates. Safeties look well-coached. Green can’t plan zone. Vincent Gray can’t play man, except he did well against WMU’s fast guy.
• Seth pronounces UW names.

[Hit the JUMP for the player, and video and stuff]