jaylen kelly-powell

i take no pleasure in reporting that this man will be in Bloomington next year [Marc-Gregor Campredon]

I spoke it into being, I apologize. I have been joking that John Beilein will be Indiana's coach next year and uhhhhhhhh:

After stunning his players in a film session Wednesday with a verbal suggestion that they were no longer playing "like a bunch of thugs," Cleveland Cavaliers coach John Beilein later reached out to players individually to insist he instead meant to use the word "slugs." …

"I didn't realize that I had said the word 'thugs,' but my staff told me later I did and so I must have said it," Beilein told ESPN on Wednesday night. "I meant to say slugs, as in slow-moving. We weren't playing hard before, and now we were playing harder. I meant it as a compliment. That's what I was trying to say. I've already talked to eight of my players tonight, and they are telling me that they understand."

John Beilein is one of about four people worldwide who could claim he wanted to use the word "slug" in that context without getting laughed out of the room, but even leaving aside the… uh… fraught terminology he may or may not have meant to use his team hates him in ways that are probably unrecoverable.

This is why Beilein leaving for the NBA seemed insane even if he was losing second-round picks to the NBA at a rate that made him crazy. The power dynamic is reversed at the pro level so if you walk into the Cavs situation you're a dead man.

[After THE JUMP: Almost got Northwestern'd]

unleash plz [Patrick Barron]

image-6_thumb_thumb5_thumb_thumb_thu[1]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: So: lots. There was a lot of standard 4-2-5 stuff that you've probably seen before. There were also some stack snaps, and ways to get Uche on the field. Here Uche is the standup guy on the LOS. Michigan is in a front with a pure nose tackle lined up right over the C; I've called this "30 nickel slide" for reasons that I do not remember:

30 nickel slide

Note that this package has Woods as a fifth DB.

This lineup has Uche, Danna, Hutchinson (at NT) and Paye. Glasgow is the only linebacker-type person on the field, and Woods has come in as an extra safety. I called this "jetpack" because it sounds cool and noted the 3 S look by calling this specific thing "jetpack S". These were the only jetpack snaps but if a CB gets in the game that'll be jetpack CB, etc.

jetpack S

JETPACK

This front was declared "5-1 fold" or "5-0 fold" depending on whether there was someone in the box behind the LOS. Because Uche and Glasgow are folded inside the very wide DEs.

I did not call this out specifically but an interesting wrinkle was Michigan dropping Hudson as a single high deep safety on a number of snaps.

hudson deep

They evidently like Hawkins and Metellus better in coverage.

SUBSTITUTION NOTES: So: lots. The starting DL was Paye/Kemp/Mason/Hutchinson. Danna and Uche mostly got passing down snaps but did also get in some on standard downs. Hinton and Speight got in the game late. Hutchinson and Paye almost never left the field; Kemp only got pulled on jetpack downs. Dwumfour got one snap, the first TD, leaving after aggravating his hand injury.

At the LB level Hudson did not come off the field. Ross only got pulled on passing downs; Glasgow got about 3/4ths of the snaps with Gill getting a dozen or so. Anthony and McGrone got in late. Uche got slightly under half of Michigan's snaps.

DBs: Metellus and Hawkins didn't leave the field until garbage time; Thomas, Gray, and Hill were in a near-equal rotation for CB snaps, and there were never any 3-CB snaps. Kelly-Powell got a few eventful snaps at the end.

[After THE JUMP: I hope you like the perimeter]

[Bryan Fuller]
Comment Count

123

8/31/2019 – Michigan 40, Middle Tennessee 21 – 1-0

Well, folks, it's week one.

Michigan fumbled on the first snap, muffed a punt, fell for the same clapping trick on four separate offsides plays, dropped a sure pick six, dropped passes, and failed to punch it in from the one against a team of ornery koalas. They were also outgaining a decent CUSA team about 450-200 with six minutes to go. (Afterwards there were Backup Events.)

Across the country other teams were experiencing week one in the same fashion, even good ones. Alabama got through a quarter against Duke without scoring. Ohio State jumped out to an early lead and then farted around for two quarters, causing the bits of their Twitter I follow to crab. Clemson… nevermind Clemson. Miami-Florida, that whole vibe, though? That's week one.

It's important to distinguish what's likely to keep happening and goofy week one stuff that will recur in about one game when Michigan plays two standard deviations below their ability. Michigan State rushing for under three yards a carry against last year's #96 SP+ defense? Likely to keep happening. Lavert Hill forgetting what hands are for? Not likely to keep happening, and also largely avoidable anyway.

48662968537_c7e96f0eca_k

week one ish [Fuller]

Bad things on defense were limited to injury issues forcing a fullback onto the field and facilitating a missed tackle on a weird TD, plus backup things late. If anything the prognosis there is better coming out of the game because Ambry Thomas is fully functional and Vincent Gray played well, for the most part. Dwumfour's injury is temporary; Jeter's probably back next week.

Offensive issues mostly fall into the unlikely to recur category as well. Michigan dorfed a bunch of things and were primarily stopped because of, and only because of, those dorfs. Concerns about Patterson's third quarter are warranted. He took a number of sacks where he held the ball too long; he had a period of inaccuracy shortly before McCaffrey came in. Maybe that's something you can chalk up to injury. Maybe that's Patterson not getting to where Michigan wants him to be.

------------------------------

When not dorfing, though, there were some things. Nico Collins's touchdown felt like it could be the beginning of something with Randy Moss outlines. Who is stopping this?

As Harbaugh likes to say, nooooobody. Michigan threw 25 times in the first half, which was one off Patterson's game average from a year ago, and threw on 11 of 20 first down opportunities. I felt a small twinge of irritation when I checked the box score and Charbonnet only had 8 carries, and then I remembered what that implied.

And yet, the state of the fanbase is already in a pre-wroth state. Dylan McCaffrey got a sizeable ovation when he entered for real in the third quarter; Patterson actually fielded a smattering of boos after an admittedly bad series where he had errors on three straight plays. It is possible our eyes don't quite work right after so many beatings. PFF's All Big Ten QB this week: Shea Patterson. Because he had a bunch of bombs in addition to the above that were on point, only half of them actually caught.

Michigan has an above average number of kinks to work out for a veteran team because of a shift in offensive system. Those will probably keep popping up here and there for much of the season. But it's about ceiling, and Michigan's is about as high as Nico Collins's vertical leap.

[After THE JUMP: a constellation of men all in rotation about each other]

getting a little hairy out there 

On the growth of Thomas, Hill, and Gray; who's at nickel; a bit on man vs. zone and what happened against Ohio State

So many guys discussed I maxed out the site's ability to tag a post

Got some Guys, might just have some Dudes

Shouts: "JETER IS REALLY IMPRESSING!" Whispers: "We're starting a former middle linebacker and a recent fullback at DT."

Chris Partridge talks to the media.

aspire to boredom, oh safeties of mine. learn to knit.