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We ended up dividing this week's, uh, This Week's Obsession into two parts because we are excited about the state of things. The prompt:

HOW HAVE YOUR PRESEASON EXPECTATIONS CHANGED SINCE THE MINNESOTA GAME

Seth: I may have underestimated Rutgers. Or something.

Ace: Joe Milton go brrrrrrrrrrrrr

Brian: Well, as the nation's leading Worried About Joe Milton guy, I mean... I'm less worried.

Ace: Michael Barrett go boom.

Brian: I kind of expected that from Barrett?

Ace: Roman Wilson go zoom.

Brian: Many persons went zoom.

Seth: Some of those who went zoom were recruited for their zoom.

Ace: Josh Gattis [rocket noises]

Seth: I do not think I expected to see Blake Corum go zoom so early.

Ace: The diversity and efficacy of the zooming was very encouraging.

Seth: Best zoom of 2020 by far.

Ace: I expected speed in space but for Michigan to eliminate the outside cornerbacks from the gameplan and gain nearly a first down per play was not necessarily expected.

Seth: The Harbaughification of the Gattis offense was glorious, and I'm not saying that as the conductor of the Ben Mason hype train. There were traps off power. Real 2015 stuff. Plus zoom.

Brian: So the things that stood out to me as unexpected:

1. Joe Milton, game manager
2. Gemon Green, person with large pockets containing receivers
3. Ben Mason, key component of offense

We've been over the Milton stuff on the podcast and in the game column. I wasn't expecting a mistake rate that low.

Ace: His rushing ability also opened up the offense in a way we didn’t see last year. As you said, he’s got a scary power/speed combination.

Brian: I cannot believe he only ran for 250 yards as a senior in high school.

Alex: Harbaugh called him Cool As A Cucumber after the game and he really was. Only forced one throw that I can recall. Executed the easy plays. Looked good as a runner to move the chains. A steady stable Joe Milton who makes a few unbelievable throws a game... that’s the ticket, baby. That’s it right there.

[After THE JUMP: that's the ticket, baby.]

SPONSOR NOTE: Upon Further Review is sponsored by HomeSure Lending and Matt Demorest. Rates are the lowest they've been in three years so it can't hurt to check whether you can save money on a refinance. Or you could buy a house in Ann Arbor! Good luck with that!

Matt's relocated the bus to Pioneer this year, BTW, and invites everyone to stop by and say hi. There's beer. I mean, obviously. Matt. Matt and beer: a good pairing.

FORMATION NOTES: The usual split between one high and two high looks with a lean to two high, and a ton of depth from the safeties:

That was an extreme example since M was blitzing off the corner but the depth of those safeties was pretty consistent. This didn't make a ton of sense against Indiana's offense and almost seems like Michigan getting in some trial runs for what they intend to do against OSU.

SUBSTITUTION NOTES: Standard on DL, with Paye/Kemp/Hutchinson getting most of the work, Danna spotting the two DEs, and Uche/Dwumfour being an either/or with Uche having a small lead in snaps. Standard at LB, where the starters went virtually the whole way. Hinton did get some early snaps. Michigan's short yardage package now adds him as a third DT.

Hawkins's absence in the secondary meant Dax Hill got his first start; when Michigan went to their jetpack sets they brought in Gray instead of a safety.

No real surprises during quasi-backup time late. Jess Speight continues to be the first guy off the bench when it's garbage time. Vilain, Jeter, and Upshaw got a few snaps; Barrett got in at viper a bit.

[After THE JUMP: it was bad, and then it was okay]

SPONSOR NOTE: Upon Further Review is sponsored by HomeSure Lending and Matt Demorest. Rates are the lowest they've been in three years so it can't hurt to check whether you can save money on a refinance. Or you could buy a house in Ann Arbor! Good luck with that!

Matt's relocated the bus to Pioneer this year, BTW, and invites everyone to stop by and say hi. There's beer. I mean, obviously. Matt. Matt and beer: a good pairing.

FORMATION NOTES: Michigan had a couple unusual things. Here's a pistol diamond formation:

This covers up the slot WR and somewhat limits your options. Michigan had three snaps out of this, all runs, and got 5, 3, and 1 yard, although I think Michigan execution was the problem on the one-yard run. There were also three wildcat snaps.

These were minor deviances. The larger news is that MSU safeties are no longer your, uh, older brother's Michigan State safeties. At no point did MSU stick both guys at eight yards. Frequently they were outright conservative with their positioning:

Safeties at 13 and 15 yards on second and eight; no coincidence that this play was the easy RPO slant for Collins.

Michigan ran a lot more fullback stuff in this game than the RB/WR/TE charting below suggests because I glossed over some Ben Mason snaps when he was in a wing TE spot. Not that there's a huge difference between Mason and McKeon in terms of what a play might accomplish. But FWIW.

SUBSTITUTION NOTES: One snap for McCaffrey; RB was again about equal between Haskins and Charbonnet with Wilson getting a bunch of snaps late. Mason is back at FB/TE full time and got ~20 snaps. TE usage was reduced, with only a few 2 TE snaps. McKeon got the bulk of the work.

Now-standard 4 WR rotation has Sainristil vying to make it 5—he got about 20 snaps himself. Jackson got a few.

Vastardis got 5 snaps replacing Ruiz on one drive. Hayes got a few bonus OL snaps and then the final drive at RT.

[After THE JUMP: speed in space]