refereeing OUTRAGES argh!

Helpful: The UFR Glossary. Final reminder: Eyabi [was Anoma]'s name is now Eyabi Okie.

Substitution Notes: With scrub season over the depth chart compressed down to 20 guys in the rotation and 22 who played total. M also went small in this one, matching 12 personnel with a nickel and 11 personnel with Makari Paige in for a linebacker. Goode was the 4th DT to play but got bowled around and Benny came in. On the other side, UMD kept trying to get weird matchups with 2 or 3 RBs, multiple tight ends doing WR or RB things, etc.

Formation Notes: Nothing new. Reminder that a position in a parenthetical means he's covered and "Fritz" is a pistol with the QB flanked by two more RBs (or an RB and TE, whatever). L'shanah Tovah!

[After THE JUMP: Oh right, this is what it's like to play a Big Ten team.]

Formation Notes: Michigan started in 6-1-4 personnel.

They also used more split formations with both DTs in the A gaps and Hutchinson way out over the TE.

Substitution Notes: I couldn’t keep up. The six-man line went Ojabo-Jenkins-Hinton-Smith-Welschof-Hutchinson. The interior got a ton of rotation, while Hutchinson and Ojabo got the majority of the snaps at OLB. Ross was ever-present while Colson and NHG split the WLB snaps about 60-40. Turner started over Green but Green got plenty of go; Turner returned after going out for what appeared to be his wind knocked out.

On the subject of officiating, especially holding: My goal with this exercise is to get at the why of the game, particularly which *Michigan* players did well, and which coaching decisions bore fruit. Usually in the process I call out uncalled penalties that directly affected the play to explain my charting. Regular readers understand that it’s part of the game, and it excites little comment.

This game was unlike any I’ve ever charted; it was clear from the 2nd snap that what normally gets called holding wasn’t going to be. This also became apparent to the players (one in particular) who did as competitive athletes are wont. That’s a problem for me, because if I were to grade like I do normally, I’d end up with a very bad look, a lot of people would end up very mad, and there is just way too much good Halloween candy left for that to be healthy for any of us.

I know lots of Michigan fans want to know how bad it was, and that certain insecure elements of the MSU fanbase are just waiting to pounce on any sign that Michigan fans won’t acknowledge their win’s legitimacy. Validating either of these parties is not what UFR is for. So for this week, we're going to skip “refs” events in the charting, and things are just not going to add up. We will talk about some of the reviews at the end.

[After THE JUMP: Tackle rotation, no explanation.]

Formation Notes: Nothing new in the annals of MGoCharting but there were a few that probably need refreshers. They use a Double-Eagle on passing downs (see last year’s UFR that I did over the summer). I’ll note it as Eagle then where the LBs are on the line, e.g. Eagle AAD.

Michigan also brought back the Pistol Diamond formation we call Fritz. Hello again Fritz.

MSU had a lot of formations with two semi-safeties at about 7 yards and then a deep middle one. Often (as in this case) one or both walked down to LB depth at the snap so I just counted it at as “high.”

Substitution Notes: Barnhart got the start at LG but 11-manned two plays and got pulled for Keegan, who was reinserted in the 2nd half and stuck despite still clearly being injured; Zinter went the whole way at RG. Trente Jones came on wearing #80 as a sixth OL. Andrel Anthony took Baldwin’s spot, broke out.

[After THE JUMP: Many drives of opportunity.]