Picture pages

(Previously on The Michael Schofield Trilogy - http://mgoblog.com/content/picture-pages-denard-tacopants-int, http://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/moving-picture-pages-denard-tacopants-int)

Here's Part II of the trilogy.  This time Schofield sees the blitzer and saves the day, which I wasn't expecting to see until the third movie.  The second movie is where it looks like the bad guy is going to win, isn't it?

Setup: Michigan has the ball fourth-and-one at their own 42 shortly after stopping Northwestern on their own fourth-and-one attempt.  Michigan lines up in the shotgun with a slot and WR left and two TEs right.  Smith is the RB.  Northwestern plays 4-3 even with a linebacker (loosely) over the slot receiver, the CB on the line against the two TEs, and one safety rolled into the box.

Wha'hoppon: Schofield pulls on the QB Power to the right.  The two TEs double the playside DE, and the RT and RG double the playside DT.  The SLB comes hard for the gap between them, but this time Schofield sees him and stands him up so he can't blow up the play.  Smith kicks out the CB, and the safety can't come up in time as Denard easily converts the fourth down.  Michigan would go on to score a TD on this drive.

Original Picture Pages at http://mgoblog.com/content/picture-pages-fourth-and-fun

Full YouTube link at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXgNZxFOpbc

I've got three of these to get through by tomorrow night so I won't have time for the extra analysis/summary that I need to make this a diary. 

Original PP for this is at http://mgoblog.com/content/picture-pages-denard-tacopants-int

Full YouTube link: http://youtu.be/Pes91BmnOs4

In Part I (MPP: http://mgoblog.com/diaries/moving-picture-pages-two-way-hopkins-i, PP:http://mgoblog.com/content/picture-pages-two-way-hopkins-i ), Stephen Hopkins shows his value as a blocker.  Here, he builds on the 35-yard Toussaint run that was enabled in large part by his two-for-one block.  The BTN announcers referred to this as a 'pop pass,' but I think 'Iso Oh Noes' has a much better ring to it.

Setup: Michigan has the ball back quickly after the previous drive (which contained the Toussaint long run).  They line up in the same formation as that play, and Minnesota counters with their same formation, with two safeties up and the corners waaaay off.

Wha'hoppon: The play starts out looking like the Toussaint run. Most likely with their ears still burning from the chewing-out they got after that, one LB and one S fail to notice that Michigan's line is pass blocking rather than run blocking, and both move to fill the hole that Hopkins is heading into.  Much to their chagrin, Hopkins heads straight out of the hole and has two steps on them before they can change direction.  Denard's pass is on target, and the result is a 28-yard gain.

Full YouTube page is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cw05WqUONNk

I left a fair amount of Brian's analysis out of this MPP because it didn't translate particularly well to video.  If you haven't read Brian's original PP, go do it now.  If you have, go do it again.

Setup: Michigan has it first-and-ten on their own 38 on their first drive of the game.  They come out in a 'power' shotgun (a 12-gauge, if you will) with two backs and a TE, and will run an iso to the right utilizing combo blocks on the NT and a lead blocker (Hopkins).

Wha'hoppon: Schofield and Molk plant the NT like he's a burlap-wrapped sapling.  Omameh and Huyge single-block their men halfway to the bench, Denard freezes the backside DE with his ever-present run threat, and Hopkins roars into the hole.  He gets his helmet across the LB and blasts him out of the hole, collecting a safety who really sucks at geometry in the process.  This turns out to be key to the play, since it both completely opens the hole and eliminates the man-advantage Minnesota had by walking an extra safety down into the box.  Toussaint flies through the hole untouched until he gets well into the secondary, and breaks an ankle-tackle on his way to a 35-yard gain.

Full YouTube link is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5U0Wh_TNn5E

Video aid to http://mgoblog.com/content/picture-pages-toussaint-jab-step.

It's one thing for a running back to have quick feet; it's quite another to have feet capable of nailing an unblocked guy's feet to the ground and teleporting an opposing nose tackle from one side of your guard to the other.

Of course, on this play Toussaint wasn't the only guy with super powers.  The SDSU DE running the scrape exchange made himself invisible, at least to Kevin Koger.

The Setup:  First and 10 for Michigan on the SDSU 16, up 21-7 and driving to close the game out.  Michigan will run the zone read (I think; I'm sure I'll be corrected if I get it wrong) out of the shotgun, pulling Kevin Koger to open the backside. 

Wha'hoppon: Robinson sees the LB come down for contain and so hands off to Fitzgerald Toussaint.  Koger misses the DE coming down the line on the scrape exchange, blocking the LB that had already been neutralized by the handoff. 

With a free hitter staring him in the face, Toussaint takes a half-step to the outside, freezing the DE and changing the momentum of the NT being blocked by Omameh.  This puts him on the wrong side of the hole, and Omameh rides him out of the hole as Toussaint comes through one step ahead of the DE.  Good downfield blocking lets Fitz ride his OL to a 9-yard gain.

Full YouTube link is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxVJpWo2NOc&hd=1

(EMLOS == End Man on the Line of Scrimmage, in this case Jake Ryan).

The ability to make my lower case letters actually be lower case continues to elude me.

Setup: EMU is on its second drive of the day.  They have a counter bootleg called; Michigan will blitz Jake Ryan off the right side.

Wha'hoppon: Ryan reads the pulling OL coming at him and turns up the line to face him instead of blasting straight upfield (vice Brennen Beyer in the WMU game, captured in http://mgoblog.com/diaries/moving-picture-pages-how-not-defend-power-part-i), stepping inside the OL to clog the lane for the runner... who doesn't have the ball.  This forces him to disengage the OL to the inside instead of to the outside, allowing the QB to roll out without having Ryan in his face the moment he turns around.  One of the three receivers crossing right-to-left finds the seam behind the LBs and Gillett throws an on-target pass for an 18-yard gain.

The counter play-action froze the other linebackers long enough that they couldn't drop to the depth necessary to take away all the passing lanes.  Ironically, if Ryan had blitzed on this play the same way Beyer blitzed in the aforementioned play (straight up the field at maximum afterburners), he would most likely have beaten the pulling lineman through the spot and dined on Gillett's soul, or at least forced an off-balance throw. 

Analysis courtesy Brian, as usual.  Original Picture Pages is at http://mgoblog.com/content/picture-pages-emlos-keys-are-hard.