“Every Michigan Touchdown Pass in 2020” sounds like a lot. As you already know, it isn’t. 
The Wolverines completed nine touchdown passes last season — four from Joe Milton, five from Cade McNamara. Over the next few posts, I will break all of them down, with analysis on the context of the play, why it worked, what it meant, and most importantly, what movie character I would compare the play to. Because I’m lazy and don’t want to deal with some arbitrary ranking system, I’ll do them in chronological order. 

At Minnesota

Milton to Ben Mason

I’m gonna be honest here — I do not remember watching this play. I don’t remember much of this game at all (no, not for the reason you’re thinking). I think the rest of the season just pushed everything that didn’t involve Donovan Jeter out of my mind, to the point where I audibly laughed when I heard Fowler and Herbstreit calling the game. Michigan and Minnesota went a combined 5-8 last season. College Gameday was there. What a time to be alive. 

The Context: Minnesota entered this game without its starting kicker, punter, and kickoff specialist due to COVID protocols, so most of the Gophers’ kickoffs were … interesting, to say the least. The latest one — off a Minnesota field goal that cut Michigan’s lead to 14-10 — was a funky squib kick that bounced into the hands of Michael Barrett, who snuck past the Gophers’ disorganized coverage and went out of bounds at the eight-yard line. 

Despite the lead, Michigan kind of needed a touchdown here. The offense hadn’t quite found a proper rhythm yet — the two touchdowns were a 70-yard run and a Donovan Jeter scoop-and-score — and Jake Moody had already missed a 38-yard field goal attempt earlier that quarter. First down was an incomplete pass to Erick All, second down was the touchdown: 

Why It Worked: This is a cool wrinkle off of a read option-based play that Michigan runs a lot. The offensive line blocks down for the read with Charbonnet, Milton pulls and makes it look like he wants to run. While 34 on Minnesota tries to contain Milton as a runner, and 55 commits hard to stopping Charbonnet, Mason crosses in front as if lead-blocking and peels into the flat. The safety steps off Erick All to make a play, but the size difference is too much, and Mason flips into the endzone. 

I really like this play design. There are a lot of wrinkles to it that look almost identical at the start, from a straight handoff based in split zone, to a read option with the H-back lead-blocking (arc read) when the QB pulls. Defending against a play with that many variations can be difficult for any defense. Minnesota is definitely not an exception. 

What It Means: With the gift of hindsight, it’s easy to see that the touchdown didn’t say much about the offense in 2020. As inconsistent quarterback play and injuries on the offensive line hampered Michigan’s production, so too did Minnesota’s own defense continue to struggle throughout the season, where they ultimately finished 72nd in total defense. Even if the play design was unique and well-executed, that didn’t translate to sustained success later on. 

At the same time, this play signals a willingness and ability from Gattis to get creative when working with a short field. Michigan will still need more than that to be successful — it finished 75th in the country in red-zone offense last season — but it could certainly go a long way in improving that number. 

A quick note: Be cautious with any optimism about fun wrinkles on read option. Michigan inexplicably abandoned the idea of having Milton as a runner against MSU and Indiana after he was incredibly effective at Minnesota, so even if something is objectively good and works, the staff just might decide not to run it. 

Movie Character I Would Compare It To: Frozone from The Incredibles. He’s obviously not the main character and not the first thing that would come to mind when thinking of a superhero, but he’s a fun addition and he gets the job done. 

At Indiana

Against Michigan State the previous week, Michigan’s passing offense wasn’t all that bad. Though he failed to score any touchdowns, Milton did complete a respectable 32 of 51 passes (Hassan Haskins was 0-for-1 in the goal-line wildcat, because of course he was) for 300 yards. The passing attack wasn’t perfect — there were definitely some missed opportunities to exploit MSU’s secondary — but it was far from the biggest reason Michigan lost that game. 

Indiana was a similar story. Again, Milton struggled with consistency, especially on his two late interceptions as he tried to lead a comeback, but still did what should have been enough to win (the rushing offense, meanwhile, combined for 13 yards on 18 attempts, which is what the experts would call “bad”). In all, he threw 18 completions on 34 attempts, for 344 yards and three touchdowns. Here, I’ll break down the first two.  

Milton to Cornelius Johnson

The Context: On its first two drives of the game, the Michigan offense had put together a whopping four combined yards on six offensive plays. On Indiana’s first series, the defense, too, seemed stuck in the previous week’s debacle, ceding an exhausting 11-play, 74-yard touchdown drive that came almost entirely through the air. Milton and Co. took the field with 5:50 remaining in the first quarter down 7-0 and in desperate need of anything resembling a spark. 

On the second play, Milton provided one, with a strong pass on the run to Ronnie Bell for the Wolverines’ first real gain and only first down up to that point. A play later, Indiana’s Jamar Johnson — a first-team All-Big Ten safety — threw a punch after the play that got himself ejected and put Michigan in Hoosier territory for the first time. Immediately, Milton capitalized:

Why It Worked: That was one of Milton’s best throws all season. Not only does he throw a dart right where the ball needs to be, he does so from the 45-yard line. 

Schematically, this play wasn’t all that complex. It didn’t have to be; the coaching staff knew Indiana had just lost its safety, and went over the top to exploit that. The broadcast doesn’t show a great view of it, but you can kind of see the backup safety jumping on Nick Eubanks about 15 yards downfield, leaving Johnson in single-coverage. From there, the corner falls behind, and Johnson times his jump perfectly for the touchdown. The execution was solid from all parties — Milton kept his poise in the pocket, Johnson got a good jump off the line, and, crucially, the protection held up long enough for Milton to make the throw.

What It Means: At the time, the play was a showcase of Joe Milton at his best. For the rest of the game, he still struggled to find consistency, but this throw and the one two plays before demonstrated the height of Milton’s ability as a downfield passer. 

Even with Milton gone as the latest Harbaugh quarterback that just didn’t pan out, I think there are two solid takeaways for the Michigan offense moving forward. First is the willingness to attack a weakness right as it appears. It’s no secret that Harbaugh’s offenses haven’t properly taken advantage of mismatches in the past — Nico Collins was a mismatch with just about any cornerback lined up across from him, yet somehow ended up with fewer targets than Ronnie Bell in 2019 (not knocking Ronnie Bell at all; it’s okay to not be Nico Collins). But on this play specifically, Michigan took a position where Indiana had just lost a player and went right after it, and it paid off immediately. That’s something they’ll need to do more of in the future. 

The second takeaway is Cornelius Johnson’s potential as a downfield target. At 6-foot-3, he’s the tallest receiver in a room that emphasizes quickness over size, and on this play, he demonstrated his ability to both create space and leverage that size to high-point the ball and still come down with it at the end. Even with a talented and deep young corps, Johnson should see more targets in 2021 (though the usual caveats apply with Michigan targeting good receivers). 

Movie Character I Would Compare It To: Professor Brand from Interstellar. Much like Christopher Nolan, I will use Professor Brand exclusively as a vehicle for Dylan Thomas’s “Do not go gentle into that good night.” Look, I don’t want to be that guy who compliments a team for refusing to give up after a tough loss. Michigan was still pretty awful last year, and that translated into plenty of issues with motivation and body language. Still, that pass brought a modicum of excitement to a game that offered little else to be excited about and represented a team that, if only for a moment, refused to go gentle. 

Also, the poem is really sick:

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Is there a better way to represent watching Michigan football? 

Milton to Roman Wilson

The Context: After a six-play Indiana touchdown drive to open the second half (like before, almost entirely through the air), the Wolverines again had their backs to the wall, and again found a glimmer of hope in a Milton-to-Bell connection. After a holding penalty set Michigan up with a first-and-20 on its own 10, Milton found Bell over the middle for a first down, then found him again while scrambling to his left for a 52-yard gain. That brought the Wolverines down to the 15-yard line, where an inexplicable pair of short runs brought up a third-and-eight (the broadcast calls it a third-and-six because FS1). Milton finds Roman Wilson over the middle for his first career touchdown reception: 

Why It Worked: Like with the previous touchdown, the play design isn’t complicated. Indiana blitzes five and double-covers Mike Sainristil, leaving Michigan’s other receivers on an island. The key here is Roman Wilson’s speed and route-running ability. His cut isn’t anything fancy — just a quick head fake and burst toward the middle — but it was enough to create space. Milton fires from a mostly clean pocket, and that’s that. 

What It Means: Right now, this touchdown offers a hint of what’s to come for Roman Wilson. Even though it was a simple route and a fairly easy catch in the end, Wilson still showcased his route-running and explosiveness off a cut, and those traits can be crucial for a speedy-but-small receiver moving forward. In 2021, he’ll only be a sophomore, but the departure of Giles Jackson means he’ll need to take on a much greater role in the passing offense. 

In terms of the 2020 season, though, the touchdown was mostly meaningless. More than anything, that Indiana game fully exposed Michigan’s weakness in the run game (which, to be fair, was worsened by offensive-line injuries) and continued to display the ineptitude in the passing defense. It’s extremely difficult to win football games on passing offense alone, and even if it weren’t, the Wolverines’ passing offense wasn’t nearly on that level in 2020 anyway, and it won’t be in 2021. 

Put simply, Michigan can’t win in one phase of the game alone. To truly move forward in 2021, it’ll need improvements in passing and rushing on both sides of the ball. Miss on one, and the others won’t matter. 

Movie Character I Would Compare It To: F*ck it, more poetry: 

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.