michael barrett

Can you read my mind? [Patrick Barron]

FORMATION NOTES: The UFR Glossary is here and you may want to brush up because DeBoer made me bring out rare formations like a true under-center Single-Wing, and weird notations like Z->Y means the WR and TE have switches spots. This is the Go Go setup (aka Single-Wing RB) that UNLV was running way back in September.

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I put covered players in parentheses, but Washington also managed to get away with some illegal formations where nobody was covered, in which case I just put a question mark in there, e.g. Go Go Right (?).

"Hide H" was a trick where Rome Odunze hid out at tight end and got M to align in a mismatch. That's him trying not to be noticed as the H-back on the top of the formation (where all the Michigan players are pointing).

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I'm using "Flex" for a TE split out wide for a 2x2 set. "Demi" means the TE isn't tight but neither is he in the slot (see #37 on the left). Also we were treated to a skycam version of this game, so I can provide a few canonical examples of terms we're often flinging around, and some new ones. Michigan in the above is in an G front, which means the nose is head up over the guard. Sometimes he was over the tackle, which I call Wide, where the DT is lined up over a tackle.

Letters or numbers (A, AA, 0) in the defensive front that means they've added LBs on the line of scrimmage in that alignment (A gap, both A gaps, head up on the center, etc). Another nuance I can capture with greater accuracy than usual is the difference between Kirby Smart's "Mint" front and a true 404 where the DL are heads up on the tackles—I think a lot of the Tites I charted this year were actually Mint. Michigan got creative too. This is "Crable":

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I'll also try to note in the text when Michigan used sim pressures, since that's going to be relevant.

[After THE JUMP: Winning a natty.]

1/1/2024 – Michigan 27, Alabama 20 (OT) – 14-0, 9-0 Big Ten, Big Ten Champs, Rose Bowl Champs

I didn't go to the 1998 Rose Bowl. I was a freshman in college, and thought I'd go to the Rose Bowl when I was a senior. Instead I watched the most important Michigan game since 1948 in my then-girlfriend's house. She chatted in a corner with a friend, not really paying attention. At one point her mom mentioned that if Washington State scored a touchdown she would win a quarter in the office squares competition. I regretted my choice then, and regret it more now.

I did go to the 2004 Rose Bowl. Michigan lost that one due to a confluence of factors—there was a bizarre interception off of Braylon Edwards's foot; Pete Carrol literally refused to run the ball after halftime and was correct—but the main one was that USC was the better team. They'd snag a split national championship after the season. Michigan was good, but John Navarre was a seventh-round pick and the other guy was Matt Leinart. Lendale White, Reggie Bush, and Mike Williams were on that team.

After the game when we got back to the hotel room my dad pulled out the champagne he'd hopefully bought and started drinking it, bemoaning the fact that Michigan never wins these games. I was still young enough that I didn't believe that was the case, but also drowned my sorrows.

I did not go the next year, when Michigan was the first team subject to Vince Young's Epic Glow-Up, nor in 2007. Michigan lost both those games, because Michigan loses bowl games. That's just part of the deal.

I went to the last two playoff games. I spent the second half of the Georgia game in a lounge, not our seats, nursing a beer. Against TCU my brain short-circuited after the Wilson overturn/Mullings fumble sequence. I guess Michigan also loses bowl games. That's just part of the deal.

So, despite best efforts I'd receded into the Black Pit of Negative Expectations with four minutes and change to go. Michigan had the ball on their 25, down 20-13, having done approximately nothing with the ball since scoring a touchdown a half prior. I glowered at the scoreboard and mentally swapped around eight points in various configurations, stewing about the special teams fiascoes that had squandered a dominant first half and seemingly tanked The Year.

I did not see a way out.

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Today, the day after the Rose Bowl, I was fortunate enough to go on a tour of the place. It was slightly surreal to see a phalanx of workers attempt to sweep up the leftover confetti at the same time as I was scooping up pieces and sticking them in my back pocket. Several times I thought I had acquired enough, then decided I should get some more. The Tournament of Roses could have saved themselves some dough by telling any Michigan fan still in the area that they could come get some if they wanted. Then these poor people would not have had to attempt to sweep small pieces of paper on a grass field into plastic bags. I have children, and a rug. I know their pain.

To be perfectly honest, when Seth said we could go do this thing the day after the game I was willing but sort of indifferent. It is a stadium, I have been in it, I am not sure what this is supposed to do for me. But here is a thing: I believe in the Rose Bowl.

This is a silly thing to believe in, because it is a football game played in a certain place on a certain day. It is sillier because college football is devolving into a dick-measuring contest between television executives at FOX and ESPN, destroying any traditions that happen to be in the wrong conference at the wrong time. At this juncture I largely disdain the bowls and their guys in pastel suits attending games for no reason. They all seem like part of the same class of parasitic grandees that sit on top of the players, denying them their share of television revenue. I think college football should dump them all out of the playoff in favor of on-campus games.

At the same time I think the Rose Bowl should be the site of the national championship game every year.

In part this is because the Rose Bowl has made at least some effort to not go the way the rest of college football has. The halftime show consists of the two bands. The title sponsor has to settle for "oh yeah and these guys are presenting the game." There's a statute of Keith Jackson outside the front of the stadium and he will deliver a sermon about the Rose Bowl about 30 minutes before the game on the tiny little video screens. During commercial breaks you will not be exhorted to Light A Mup.

This only extends so far—before Michigan's game-tying touchdown drive ESPN went commercial-kickoff-commercial and nobody tried to stop them. This is a commercial enterprise. But the Rose Bowl matters to me in a way that is more than just a commercial enterprise.

Maybe that's dumb. But it's true that I was standing in Michigan's locker room and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.

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There was a way out.

Sherrone Moore, who'd rolled only snake eyes during the second half, was once again dialing up the right thing at the right time. A fourth and two conversion saw Blake Corum dart into the flat without anyone following him. QB counter bash ripped off 16 yards, and a play action pass was about to be complete down to the 15 when an Alabama player got a fingertip on McCarthy's throw.

Here, the grand cavalcade of life comes to a screeching halt. Time's arrow only goes one direction but sometimes it slows its velocity drastically. This is generally because you are travelling at a high rate of speed towards utter disaster. I am mentally revising the expected path of McCarthy's pass from Roman Wilson's facemask to the outstretched arms of an Alabama safety. The Alabama safety is doing the same thing. He is leaping, reaching. He feels like Rod Moore watching a wounded duck come out of Kyle McCord's hands. This one isn't even hard—somehow the tip didn't affect the spiral one iota. He is going to win this football game.

I live a lifetime in this moment. I have a PhD in Aramaic that I didn't even want by the time Roman Wilson leaves the ground and extends his arms and snatches the ball away from the Alabama safety. In my mind's eye the safety starts frantically attempting to run while airborne before holding up a sign that says NO FUNERAL and plunging off the cliff to the valley floor below. Another Alabama defender is so stunned by this turn of events that it takes him a moment for his processing to flip from "let a naysayer know, boiii" to "oh shit oh shit." Wilson turns the meteor about to end all life on this planet into first and goal from the five, and when Michigan slips him out into the flat two plays later he is so open he can sort of hop into the endzone.

New ball game, and one team would have already won this game if not for a series of inexplicable special teams gaffes. It takes two Corum runs to punch it in during overtime. The second is a glorious flashback to peak Blake Corum; he's got a linebacker shooting up the gap so he explodes outside, regapping so fast you can't possibly stay with him. Karsen Barnhart somehow does the same thing, picking off the safety, and now it's just arm tackles that aren't going to get it done.

Michigan holds on defense after Milroe sets them up at the nine, stoning two runs to set up third and fourteen. Bama gets back down to the three, but after several hundred timeouts everyone in the stadium knows Jalen Milroe is running the ball. He gets nothing, and Michigan streams onto the field.

I am floored. It suddenly occurs to me that I have just watched Michigan beat Alabama in the Rose Bowl. I turn the words over in my head. Michigan. Beat Alabama. In The Rose Bowl. The woman next to me has been very concerned for me, probably because at every opportunity I have been sitting down and pushing my fingers into my eye sockets, and says she didn't even know who I was rooting for because I had been so tense I couldn't do anything. (This is not quite true, as I have clearly been saying things like "get him" when people are chasing Milroe, but fine.)

I still can't really do anything. It takes me 20 minutes before I think to go find my friend Nick, who went to the Waterloo, Indiana game with me some 14 years ago and waited the exact right amount of time before putting on that Phoenix album as we drove home. For a moment I think he's gone, but no, it also took him 20 minutes to find the capacity to move about the world again. We hug, and here begins a process where every Michigan fan you know will hug you when he sees you for the first time after this game. I have done Craig and Dave and the Sklars and you have probably done a half dozen too.

They say time heals all wounds, but I say beating Alabama in the Rose Bowl does.

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The day after, after I'd scooped up enough confetti (I would scoop up more confetti later), I walked down to the seventeen yard line outside of Michigan's endzone and thought about that run. That cut. The dart. The thing that I thought was lost due to injury and the ravages of time, just like all things eventually are. I didn't run the play, exactly, but I walked through the steps near as I could figure. The cut was here, and then he bursts up field here, and he cuts back outside of Barnhart here, and he spins through the tackle here, and now we're in the endzone.

That endzone is always the endzone Blake Corum scored in. The one in the Rose Bowl, which I believe in.

AWARDS

Known Friends and Trusted Agents Of The Week

53437184204_da2bd39b3f_c

[Bryan Fuller]

you're the man now, dog-2535ac8789d1b499[1]

#1(T) Derrick Moore, Josiah Stewart, Braiden McGregor, Mike Barrett, and Kris Jenkins. The story of this game if Michigan won was going to be Jalen Milroe living under siege in the first half and Bama going away from any sort of downfield passing aside from a drive right at the end of the first half. Michigan does not have a single dominant pass rusher but they have one of the country's best pressure marks anyway. And Michigan won, so it's a party at the top. 5 points each.

#2 JJ McCarthy. Quietly efficient, with 8.2 YPA against Bama's lethal pass defense. Three TDs, no picks thanks to an overturn on his first attempt, and ran for 25 yards on three carries. Had some bumps in there, but made the plays late to tie.

#3 Blake Corum. Explosive OT jump cut gave Michigan the winning points, and was a crucial outlet on two catches: the first Michigan TD and the fourth down conversion on the fourth-quarter TD drive. 4.4 yards a carry on 19 attempts, spiritual rock on offense.

Honorable mention: Mike Sainristil was blitzing off the slot to good effect all game. Mason Graham had a crucial TFL in OT. Rod Moore had a PBU that ended Bama's downfield aspirations for the most part. Will Johnson was targeted just twice and gave up no completions. Tyler Morris not only converted a third and ten but tightroped the sideline and beat Bama's DBs to the pylon. Roman Wilson snagged a tipped ball on Michigan's tying drive and finished it with a TD. Quinten Johnson punched out a fumble.

KFaTAotW Standings.

(points: #1: 8, #2: 5, #3: 3, HMs one each. Ties result in somewhat arbitrary assignments.)

58: JJ McCarthy (#1 ECU, #1 UNLV, #2 Rutgers, HM Nebraska, #2 Minn, #1 IU, #1 MSU, HM PUR, HM PSU, #1 OSU, #2 Bama)

34: Kris Jenkins (HM ECU, T2 UNLV, #1 BGSU, HM Rutgers, #1 Neb, HM MSU, T2 OSU, HM Iowa, T1 Bama)

29: Mike Sainristil (T3 ECU, HM BGSU, #1 Rutgers, HM IU, HM MSU, #1 MD, #1 Iowa, HM Bama)

26: Mason Graham (HM ECU, T2 UNLV, #1 Minn, HM IU, HM MSU, T2 MD, T2 OSU, HM Iowa, HM Bama) 

25: Blake Corum (HM ECU, HM UNLV, #2 BGSU, HM Rutgers, HM Neb, HM IU, #1 PSU, HM MD, #3 OSU, #3 Bama)

21: Kenneth Grant (T3 ECU, T2 UNLV, #2 PSU, T2 MD, T2 OSU, HM Iowa)

20: Mike Barrett (HM UNLV, T3 Rutgers, #2 IU, T1 PUR, HM MD, HM OSU, T1 Bama)

16: Braiden McGregor(T3 UNLV, #2 Nebraska, T1 PUR, HM Iowa, T1 Bama)

15: Roman Wilson (T2 ECU, HM UNLV, HM BGSU, #3 Nebraska, #2 PUR, HM Bama)

13: Colston Loveland (HM Rutgers, T3 IU, T2 MSU, HM PUR, HM MD, #3 OSU)

12: Derrick Moore (T3 UNLV, HM Neb, HM MSU, T1 PUR, T1 Bama)

11: AJ Barner (HM BGSU, HM Neb, HM Minn, T3 IU, T2 MSU, HM PSU), Will Johnson(#3 Minn, #3 PUR, HM PSU, #3 OSU, HM Bama)

10:  Jaylen Harrell (HM UNLV, HM BGSU, HM IU, T1 PUR, #3 OSU, HM Iowa)

9: Junior Colson (#3 BGSU, T3 Rutgers, HM MSU, #3 Iowa), Josiah Stewart (HM Minn, T1 PUR, T1 Bama)

8: Cornelius Johnson (T2 ECU, HM UNLV, HM BGSU, HM Minn, HM Iowa)

5: Tommy Doman (HM ECU, #3 MD, HM OSU), Semaj Morgan(#2 Iowa)

4: Ernest Hausmann (T3 ECU, T3 Rutgers), Max Bredeson (HM Rutgers, HM Neb, T3 IU),  The Offensive Line (HM Minn, #3 PSU),

3: Donovan Edwards (HM ECU, HM PSU, HM OSU), Rod Moore (HM PUR, HM OSU, HM Bama), Quinten Johnson (HM Rutgers, HM OSU, HM Bama)

2:  Josh Wallace (T3 ECU), Semaj Morgan (HM Rutgers, HM PUR), Tyler Morris (HM UNLV, HM Bama)

1: Kalel Mullings (HM Minn),Keon Sabb (HM Minn), Ben Hall (HM IU), Rayshaun Benny (HM PSU), Cam Goode (HM MD), James Turner(HM OSU)

Who's Got It Better Than Us(?) Of The Week

Jalen Milroe gets a low snap and doesn't follow his blocks as a result, ending the game.

Honorable mention: Corum puts Michigan up. Wilson salvages the tip. Milroe is sacked a zillion times. Moore puts together a bravura drive after Alabama goes up 7-0.

imageMARCUS HALL EPIC DOUBLE BIRD OF THE WEEK

Semaj Morgan muffs a punt, robbing Michigan of good field position and setting up Alabama with a short field to open up the scoring.

Honorable mention: Jake Thaw muffs a punt, almost leading the the worst way to lose a game in football history. Michigan botches an extra point. James Turner misses a 48-yard field goal. Michigan can't fit an iso on the 34-yard Bama TD. Various mishaps in the second half murder the offense until 4 minutes are left.

NICK SAMAC PATHETIC DOUBLE BIRD OF THE WEEKsamac_thumb1

N/A. A missed late hit doesn't really rise to the level we want here. There were no egregious moments.

Dishonorable mention: N/A. 

[After THE JUMP: sloppy but ok]
[Patrick Barron]

Things hadn't gone well for Michigan in the second half. Through 26 minutes of football, the offense hadn't scored a point and a three point halftime lead turned into a seven point deficit in the later stages of the fourth quarter. Michigan needed a drive to tie the game and as the eleven men took the field, it was fair to deem it a legacy drive for so many veteran heroes of this Michigan team, JJ McCarthy, Blake Corum, Roman Wilson, and the rest of the OL. They needed to make plays and tie the game. They would. Then a little while later with the score 27-20, Michigan's defense needed to get one stop to slam the door and win the game. They did.  

Backs against the wall, this Michigan team dug deeper than they've had to all season, battling their own errors and demons to rally against #4 Alabama and win the 110th Rose Bowl Game, 27-20. Touchdowns from Wilson and Corum late put Michigan in the lead and the defense shut down two potential Alabama drives to tie or win the game as this veteran Wolverine team had the necessary answers. 366 days after the heartbreak at the hands of TCU in the 2022 semifinals, Michigan got to give the great Crimson Tide their own dose of heartbreak. Michigan is 14-0 and headed to the National Championship Game. 

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It's hard to envision a more disastrous, BPONE start to the game than what nearly occurred on the first play from scrimmage. JJ McCarthy took the snap, rolled to his right, and despite having Roman Wilson open for free yards, held the ball looking for Cornelius Johnson. Johnson was not open but McCarthy threw it anyway, right to Alabama safety Caleb Downs, who toe-tapped for an interception deep in Michigan territory. Catastrophe... or not. It was pointed out shortly thereafter that Downs had stepped out of bounds on his last step before catching the ball, never re-establishing himself in the field of play, which made the pass incomplete instead. Michigan was let off the hook. 

[Patrick Barron]

The drive that followed after the mulligan Michigan had been gifted was a dud. The Wolverines ran a quick screen to Semaj Morgan with TEs blocking in front of him and he was tackled promptly. That set up 3rd & 8 and McCarthy threw short of the sticks to a well-covered AJ Barner, which was an easy PBU by the Bama defense. The Wolverine offense was out of sorts early and needed the defense to pick them up, which happened. Michigan sacked Jalen Milroe twice on the opening Alabama drive, one from Braiden McGregor and one from Josaiah Stewart, forcing a quick three-and-out. 

Then came the deadly mistake that did count. Alabama punter James Burnip lofted a rather short kick and Semaj Morgan ran up to field it, sensing the opportunity for a good return. Perhaps Morgan had his eyes pointed downfield too early but he never secured the catch and put the ball on the ground. Alabama recovers, taking over at the Michigan 44. Gifted great field position, the Tide grinded out a first down on the ground and then hit a home run shot when the right side of Alabama's OL caved in the Michigan DL and Mike Sainristil blew a tackle on Jase McClelland, who was off to the races and into the end zone. 7-0 Alabama and about as bad of a first five minutes for Michigan as you could have imagined. 

With the team reeling, the Michigan offense needed to step up and they did, utilizing a well-crafted scripted drive from OC Sherrone Moore that used all kinds of tricks to put Alabama's defense in conflict. A neat pitch play to Blake Corum picked up 21 and then a designed run for JJ McCarthy picked up 7 on 3rd & 8. Michigan paved Bama on 4th & 1 to pick up the first down and two plays later they got Kalel Mullings running a route matched up on a LB, which McCarthy identified and targeted for 19. That got Michigan into the red zone and they needed just two plays to get it in the end zone, a jet sweep to Morgan and then a pass to Corum who was wide open underneath for a walk-in TD. 7-7 tie. 

 

[Patrick Barron]

Alabama's third drive looked a lot like their first, utter domination at the hands of the Michigan defense. The first down run was stuffed, then a quick incompletion, and finally pressure forced Milroe to scramble, falling down short of the line to gain. Three-and-out and another punt. Michigan did appear to be let off the hook on the punt when Kechaun Bennett made contact with the Alabama punter, who did his best to sell the call. Referees didn't buy it and the Wolverines took over. They had another solid drive brewing near midfield when Max Bredeson was called for a personal foul after jumping on the player he had been blocking, making helmet-to-helmet contact. That erased a first down run and turned it into 2nd & 11 for a foul unrelated to the play. Michigan ended up getting to 4th & 1 despite the setback but opted to punt on their half of midfield. 

Still no dice, for the Bama offense, though. Mike Barrett sacked Milroe on first down, then Milroe was sacked by Kris Jenkins on 2nd down. Faced with 3rd & 23, Michigan conceded the 12 yard QB draw from Milroe and forced another punt. Michigan's offense was still missing an effective McCarthy and that killed their next drive. They gained four yards on first down thanks to an Alex Orji run but McCarthy missed an open Cornelius Johnson down the field, airmailing it over his head. On 3rd & 6 McCarthy targeted Roman Wilson, who was not open, and the ball fell incomplete. Punt. 

The defensive struggle continued. Michigan shut down Bama runs on first and second down and then Mike Sainristil sniffed out a 3rd & 9 Milroe keeper to force yet another Alabama punt. Michigan took the ball back over and began what would be a much busier close to the half for the two teams after a long stretch of defensive dominance. Michigan started it on the ground, Blake Corum churning out yards and then McCarthy delivered a missile to Colston Loveland for 12 yards over the middle. Michigan then dialed up a double pass, with Donovan Edwards throwing laterally across the field to McCarthy. His throw was nearly too high for McCarthy, who had to catch it, step backwards, and throw, all with Alabama EDGE superstar Dallas Turner bearing down on him. Amazingly, JJ did so and got it complete deep down the field for Wilson into Alabama territory. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: more recap]

Master bluesmen practicing their craft.

after all that

hooray seasons here 

I've been fighting for your honor but you wouldn't understand.

I already tried the cut-and-paste column gambit. 

The 'e' in "Mike" isn't silent.

it's shorter than it used to be

Now 80% less likely to be distracted by youtubes about slime.

Rise, Champions of the West. 

Here it is your moment of zen.