Formation Notes: Bowl games tend to get a lot of looks because coaches use the extra time to install more of them. Georgia used a lot of multi-TE sets and varied formations with them to hunt good matchups. I stuck with numeric conventions to make it easier to follow, so for example this is Gun 13 Heavy (shotgun, 1 RB, 3 TEs, heavy formation).

And here’s the next play with the same personnel, which we’ll call “Gun 13 Empty 5w.”

I referred to this defensive setup as “4-4 Zero” because there are no safeties.

The offense is a “Gun 12 Str F Flex’ since it’s a normal 3-wide with the extra guy to the strong side (“Str”) with an "F" (not on the line of scrimmage) TE flexed out.

Finally, this is Bone:

Substitution Notes: TrueBlueinTexas provides. As in the second example above, Michigan tried to have a 5-2 unit that replaced Moore, Ojabo, and the starting DTs with Jeter-Speight-Jenkins-Harrell. It immediately got burned in a matchup problem. They also ran a lot of 4-3 with Barrett at SLB and Dax Hill on the bench.

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

Ln	Dn	Dst	OForm	DPack	Front	Hi	Type	Rush	Play	Player	Yds	EPA
O20	1st	10	Offset Str	4-2-5	Nk Over	2	RPO		Power/Slant	Colson	9	1.11
Bad sign. Smith(-1) moved by a double so the LG can come off and Colson(-2) took an outside gap that Ross(+1) attacked to plant the puller in the backfield. Ross fought back to constrict and hold it down.
O29	2nd	1	Offset Str	4-2-5	Nk Over	2	RPO	5	Hitch/Counter Trey	Gray	16	1.00
M blitzing Dax so there's no thought of a mesh. Turner(-2, cov-2) is playing way off so Bennett can fling this for easy yards plus yac from all the space.
O45	1st	10	Gun 13 Heavy	5-2-4	5-2 Over	2	Pass	5	TE Wheel	Harrell	35	1.66
M matches 3TEs by taking Smith, Hinton, Dax, and Moore off the field for Jeter-Speight-Jenkins and Harrell. Turner(-1) aligns like a safety with Harrell matched on Bowers and Moten in Dax's slot role blitzing. Georgia goes right at the Bowers-Harrell(-2, cov-3, RPS-2) mismatch that Turner should really get on top of. Hutchinson(+1) knocked over a G to get Jeter(+1) to PR+1, while Refs-1 ignore the RB bear-hug catching Moten to give Bennett time vs the blitz.
M20	1st	10	Gun 13 Empty 5w	5-2-4	5-2 Odd	1	Pass	4	TE Tunnel Screen	Ross	7	0.31
Scripted play catches M with that 5-2 personnel vs 5-wide (RPS-1). Harrell(+1) sees it and gets upfield but Ross(-1, cov-1) is aligned inside and can't get out to this until it's gained 7 yards.
M13	2nd	3	Gun 13 Heavy	5-2-4	5-3 Odd	2	Run		Tight Zone	Jenkins	2	-0.26
UGA taking a while to point at things and snaps with 2 secs. Jenkins(+2) is singled and deters an inside cut that momentarily looks good as Smith(-0.5) gets moved pretty far by a double. Jenkins then fights outside, forcing a bounce into Hawkins(+0.5) who tracked it, and Turner.
M11	3rd	1	Ace 13 Heavy	5-3-3	Goal Line	0	Run		Iso	Jenkins	2	0.15
Clock runs down again and UGA calls TO. Coming out of it they line up with 3 TEs to the right then flip all three. Harrell(-2) is confused as Hutchinson waves at him frantically to get to the other side, then rubs off Ross. Sucks because Jenkins(+1) snapped back after a grabby LT bent him in half and hit the RB's knees behind the LOS so a LB coming might have ended it.
M9	1st	Goal	Gun Unbal Str	4-2-5	Nk Over	2	Play-Action	4	PA TE Wheel	Hawkins	9	2.37
More scripting. The WRs get set and the rest sprint to the line, which is unbalanced with Bowers an eligible LT. Want to blame a useless Colson (and Hawkins seems to yell at him or the ref after the play) but Colson is on the run and the FS, which is Hawkins(-3, cov-3) is supposed to see that. Hawkins tapped his thighs which I interpret to mean he thought the WR was on the LOS and the TE was ineligible? (RPS-2). Would like to ask a coach about this one.
Drive Notes: Touchdown. 0-7. 10 min 1st Q. Scripted drive had Michigan nailed.
Ln	Dn	Dst	OForm	DPack	Front	Hi	Type	Rush	Play	Player	Yds	EPA
O41	1st	10	Gun 12 4w H-Orbit	4-3-4	4-3 Over	2	RPO		Flare Screen/Buck GT	Hawkins	9	1.32
Turner(-1) gives up the edge after impacting his WR, Hawkins had a long way to go (RPS-1) so it's 9 yards before he can track it down.
50	2nd	1	Ace Twins	5-2-4	5-2 Splits	1	Run		Split Zone	Colson	21	0.55
I mad. Smith(+1) blew into the backfield and has this if he isn't held (refs-1). Now it's an issue that Hinton(-0.5) got blown out by a double, which might have delayed Colson for a beat. Ross(-1) has a beat where he could shoot past the RG who's stepping down with Mazi but takes on that block without realizing that Jenkins(-2) has gone in that same gap and left the c-gap wide wide open. Harrell(-1) doesn't constrict that hole either. Colson(-1) gets caught in the wash instead of pursuing the RB to the hole: Big ass lane and many yards until Hawkins(+2, tackling+1) wins a one-on-one battle for all the rest.
M29	1st	10	Gun 2TE Wk	5-2-4	5-3 Odd	1	Pass	5	RB Flare	Ross	7	0.35
Tempo(24). UGA wants a wheel but Hawkins is in phase. Ross(-1, cov-1) doesn't trust that, gets a ton of depth, and there's 7 free yards underneath. PR-1 as they rush five and nobody gets close.
M22	2nd	3	Gun 2RB Y Flex	4-2-5	Nk Under	2	Pass	5	Flare Screen	Moten	2	-0.32
Moten(+1, tackling+1) read the WR screen, prevented an escape as Barrett(+1) blasted the TE back to force to the free hitter. RPS+1, Michigan had the extra guy out there.
M20	3rd	1	Ace Tackle Over (Y)	5-2-4	Goal Line	0	Run		Pitch Sweep	Harrell	2	0.16
UGA speed breaks from the huddle, gets in an under-center single-wing and pitches outside. Harrell(+1, tackling-1) moved a TE who's grabbing his shoulderpads but doesn't have the oomph to make the tackle before the RB can fall forward.
M18	1st	10	Offset Str	4-2-5	Nk Under	2	Pass	5	RB Pass	Gray	18	2.54
This is actually RPS+1 because Gray(-3, cov-3) is in Cover 1 without outside leverage. He's just bites so hard on a head fake inside that RB has plenty of space to make a good throw.
Drive Notes: Touchdown. 0-14. 4 min 1st Q. Freshmen, seniors playing like freshmen.
Ln	Dn	Dst	OForm	DPack	Front	Hi	Type	Rush	Play	Player	Yds	EPA
O25	1st	10	Ace Bone	4-3-4	4-3 Even	2	Run		Inside Zone	Hutchinson	4	-0.11
They want to bounce this outside of Hutchinson(+1) who two-gaps the TE and constricts space. Colson(+1) knocks back the LT, and it's a TFL if Hinton(+1) can get there but (refs-2) the LG he beat jumps on his back and outright tackles him from behind. RB trips over his blockers trying to squeeze through the non-gap that Hawkins(-1) was a beat late getting to and falls forward for 4.
O29	2nd	6	Gun Wk Y Flex	4-2-5	Nk Over	2	Pass	4	Fly	Gray	Inc(+5)	1.37
Hutchinson(-1) tries to time the snap and they trick him into flying way offsides. Free chuck down the sideline that Gray(-1, cov-1) got beat badly but pressure from Hutchinson's early start means Bennett can't lock in.
O34	2nd	1	Gun 13 Trips Bunch	5-1-5	5-2 Odd	1	RPO	5	TE Tunnel Screen/OZ	Hutchinson	-2	-1.64
UGA puts 3 TEs on the field and spreads them in a 4-wide bunch, Michigan counters with their 6-1 attack (RPS+2), blitzing Dax, and Hutchinson(+2, tackling+1) dominates it, slipping behind the blockers and taking down Bowers without giving up an inch.
O32	3rd	3	Gun Str	4-2-5	5-1 Odd	2	RPO	n/a	Slant/ZR Power	Turner	9	1.81
Hutchinson(+1, PR+1) blows up the run look by blasting past the LT. Bennett has to throw a slant while about to get hit and Turner(+1, cov+1) is in perfect position to break it up. WR one-hands it. Hat-2.
O41	1st	10	Gun Str	4-2-5	Nk Splits	2	Play-Action	4	PA TE Seam	Hawkins	Inc	-1.14
Tempo(30). Play-action sucks in Ross(-1, cov-1), Hawkins(+1) flies in from the opposite hash to separate TE from ball but this is mostly a drop (Hat+2).
O41	2nd	10	Gun Wk Twins	4-2-5	Nk Over	1	Pass	5	Flash Screen	Turner	8	0.80
Georgia is good enough without the refs-2 help. Moore(+1) read the pass and tries to run by the WR who reaches out, finds shoulderpad, and whips him back. Moore's size doesn't help. Turner(-1, tackling-1) can collect for a minimal gain but gets run over and somehow the WR stays inbounds (Hat-1). RPS+1, they had this trapped on the call with a Dax blitz and a rotation behind that.
O49	3rd	2	Gun Wk	4-2-5	5-1 Odd	2	RPO		IZ/Fly	Jeter	4	1.38
Tempo(25). M blitzes Ross who gets tackled so badly the OL who did it puts up a "that was me" arm and gets up looking for the flag (refs-2, seriously guys, they don't need help!). Jeter(+1) is left two-gapping and the RB can take the 1st down that creates, but sees Hutchinson(-0.5) and Smith(-0.5) regapping and tries to bounce for big yards. Hill(+1) shuts it down.
M47	1st	10	Ace 13 Heavy	5-2-4	5-2 Odd	1	Play-Action	5	PA Scramble	Welschof	20	0.87
UGA brings a WR across and Hawkins rolls down to that side and blitzes with Bennett unable to see the open guy that left because of his rollout (RPS+1). Everyone else is covered (cov+1) so he rolls, with Welschof(-2, tackling-2) getting edged without slowing Bennett. Then Harrell(-1) misses too for an extra 10 yards. Thus ends 1.2% of remote controls in the State of Michigan.
M27	1st	10	Gun 12 5w	5-2-4	5-2 Odd	1	Pass	4	Flare Screen	Harrell	1	-0.37
Tempo(27). This is meant to edge Harrell(+2) who spots the RB flaring, gets outside one of the flexed TEs, fights off that guy's holding, and closes it down with Gray(+1) setting an edge at the numbers.
M26	2nd	9	Gun Wk Y Flex	4-2-5	Nk Split	2	Pass	4	TE Out	Hawkins	Inc	-0.62
Hoo boy are they letting them play. Twelve yards downfield the TE meets Hawkins and just shoves him another five yards away. Maybe they throw the OPI flag if it's complete but the cheater looks for Bennett's pass too late and it sails over him. (Refs-1, Hat+2).
M26	3rd	9	Gun Wk Y Flex	3-2-6	326 Over AB	2	Pass	5	TE Out	Hawkins	Inc	-0.77
M shows six, drop NHG. Hutchinson(+1) and blitzing Hill(+1, PR+2) get deep, Ross(-1) has a free shot but sets up to plunk the RB instead (RPS+1). Man 1 coverage means there's only a TE out that's 3 yards short. He drops it; Hawkins(+1, cov+1) was there to make it 4th and 4 if caught.
Drive Notes: FG(43). 0-17. 12 min 2nd Q. Good adaptations, refs turned it into a scoring drive.
Ln	Dn	Dst	OForm	DPack	Front	Hi	Type	Rush	Play	Player	Yds	EPA
O25	1st	10	Gun Str Y Flex	4-2-5	Nk Split	2	Pass	5	TE Curl	Moore	6	0.33
Blitz sets up 3 guys to one side and overloads that side with just Hutchinson on the other. Ross in free (PR+1, RPS+1) but not at his usual speed--not for the first time this game I'm wondering if there was something wrong with him because his aggressiveness is all gone. Moore(-1, cov-1) is playing super soft on Bowers and gives up an outlet for a decent gain to which Bowers (Hat-0.5) manages to add 2 yards in free fall.
O31	2nd	4	Offset 12 4w	5-2-4	Nk Over	2	RPO		Power/Slant	Smith	1	-0.72
Harrell ends up in the Dax role with the TE split out. Michigan stunts the DTs and gets Smith (+1, RPS+1) free into the puller as Hutchinson(+1) beats the TE and brings down the RB who ran into the pileup.
O32	3rd	3	Empty 13 Heavy	5-2-4	5-2 Odd	1	Pass	3	RB Fly	Colson	53	3.91
Refs-1 miss a jump by the LT. Three-man rush (PR-2, RPS-2) is stifled and gives Bennett all kinds of time to throw to Dalvin Cook's little brother, who split out and toasted Colson(-2, cov-2).
M15	1st	10	Gun 12 Str Y Flex	5-2-4	4-4 Zero	0	Pass	5	Fade	Green	Inc	-0.32
Tempo(25). UGA sees nobody high and runs the Coward play where they cut everyone at the line and throw it up to a WR down the sideline. Green(-2, cov-2) is grabbing the hell out of that guy and gets away with it (Refs+2).
M15	2nd	10	Ace 23 Bone	5-2-4	5-3 Odd	1	Run		End Around	Harrell	-1	-0.46
UGA has 3 TEs and 2 RBs and tries to outflank Harrell(+1) who's having none of it, immediately getting wide of both TEs to his side. Ross(+1,tackling) pursues and brings Cook down when he bends to get around Harrell. RPS+1 for the 1950s response to the 1950s play.
M16	3rd	11	Gun 21 Y Flex	4-2-5	Nk Under	2	Pass	4	Z Cross	Hill	5	0.03
Good LORT the LT jumps a good half second before the snap this time (Refs-1) which contributes to the lack of any pressure (PR-1) as the RB chips Hutchinson on the other side. UGA is running three crossers with a post over it versus 7 defenders (Cov+2) and Bennett has to check down to a TE that Dax(+1) is all over. RPS+1.
Drive Notes: FG(28). 3-20. 4 min 2nd Q. This drive was the 53-yard fly to Colson and bupkis.
Ln	Dn	Dst	OForm	DPack	Front	Hi	Type	Rush	Play	Player	Yds	EPA
O31	1st	10	Gun Empty	4-2-5	Nk Splits	2	Pass	4	Tunnel Screen	Hawkins	12	1.14
2:15. More screens to avoid Hutchinson. Colson(+1) screams up to flush inside and Ross(-1, tackling-2) runs by the pulling OL to collect with Hawkins replacing Colson. That should be it but Ross loses his grip on the WR's legs, and Hawkins(-1) gets a 10-yard ride with Hinton(-1) the other culprit in letting things go on this way. This is how Michigan's opponents felt all year.
O43	1st	10	Offset Str Y-Flex	4-2-5	5-2 Eagle	1	Pass	4	Fade	Green	Inc	-1.16
1:52. M is set up in a pure Eagle look with Colson, Hawkins, and Ojabo dropping out and Ross(+1, PR+1) blitzing. He impacts the RB and forces a chuck down the sideline where Green(+2, Cov+2) has the route dominated. WR initiates contact (refs-1) else Green has a shot at an interception.
O43	2nd	10	Offset Str Y-Flex	4-2-5	Nk Split	2	Pass	4	Fly	Gray	57	5.57
1:46. Hutchinson(+1, PR+1) comes through the RT and Smith is about to sack so the ball has to get out now. Gray(-4, cov-4) set up with a ton of space then bites when the WR slows up for a beat and it's see-yuh.
Drive Notes: Touchdown. 3-27. 1 min 2nd Q. Good luck man. Defense right back on the field after the missed PI/INT.
Ln	Dn	Dst	OForm	DPack	Front	Hi	Type	Rush	Play	Player	Yds	EPA
O36	1st	10	Gun 13 Str	4-2-5	4-3 Over	2	Run		Counter Trey	Ross	7	0.71
1:28, 1 TO. Actual counter action with their counter trey (we should steal that!) gets a moment of hesitation out of Ross(-0.5) and that plus Hinton(-0.5) getting comboed creates enough space after Colson(-1) gets kicked pretty badly by the lead blocker. Both safeties back because it's a 2-minute drill so no RPS. UGA in no hurry.
O43	2nd	3	Offset Str Stack	4-2-5	5-1 Odd	1	RPO		IZ/Slants	Colson	1	-1.03
0:53. Think UGA figured M would give up a 1st down easily here. Hutchinson(+1) arms the RT into the backfield and Colson(+1) redirects without wasting too much time on the mesh to stuff.
O44	3rd	2	Ace Twins	4-2-5	4-4 Over	1	Run		Tight Zone	Colson	6	1.63
0:17. Refs-1 miss another false start on the LG. Colson(-1) has a shot with Smith(+1) fighting through a double and Hinton(+0.5) stacking the LG but Colson hesitates and the C gets to him. Bennett allows time to expire, gets chewed out by Kirby Smart, gets me to root for him.
50	1st	10	Gun 2TE	4-2-5	5-2 Under	2	Pass	4.5	RB Flare	Moore	Inc	-0.54
0:03. Moore(+1, cov+1) slows up on a blitz and takes the RB. Bennett throws it away, allowing time to expire, gets chewed out by Kirby Smart, gets me to root for him.
Drive Notes: EoH. 3-27. Michigan fans were rooting for Georgia, but not Kirby Smart.
Ln	Dn	Dst	OForm	DPack	Front	Hi	Type	Rush	Play	Player	Yds	EPA
O20	1st	10	Gun 12 H-Zip	4-3-4	4-3 Over	2	RPO		IZ/Flare Screen	Ross	0	-0.56
Ross(+2, tackling+1) times his blitz right past the LG and wrangles the RB down in the backfield. RPS+2: M forced the RPO they wanted and blitzed at it.
O20	2nd	10	Gun 12 4w	4-3-4	Nk Split	2	Run		Zone Read	Hinton	2	-0.17
Morris read, QB gives. Hinton(+2) stands up the LT, sheds, and makes the tackle. Ross(+1) attacked the next gap inside to force the RB outside, then gets tackled by the guard he beat (refs-1) which allows the RB to fall forward for a couple instead of going down for a loss.
O22	3rd	8	Gun 21 Y Flex	4-2-5	Nk Split AB	1	Pass	4	TE comeback	Morris	Inc	-0.17
Ross comes as Morris(+1, cov+3) drops out and has to find Bowers. He picks him up, carries to Hawkins, then sits to take away the WR dig. Ojabo(+1) and Hutchinson(+1, PR+2) flush Bennett, with Hutchinson getting bad held (refs-1) so the QB can roll but Ross(+1) came over to lay a hit. Ball is flung wildly near Morris, lucky not to be a returnable INT. RPS+2: perfect coverage call, incomplete was best possible outcome for UGA.
Drive Notes: Punt. 3-27. 8 min 3rd Q. Halftime adjustment win for Macdonald here. Corum fumble puts D right back out there.
Ln	Dn	Dst	OForm	DPack	Front	Hi	Type	Rush	Play	Player	Yds	EPA
O44	1st	10	Gun 12 Str F Flex	4-2-5	Nk Under	2	Pass	4	Slot Seam	Ross	26(-41)	-2.62
Ojabo gets facemasked (called) and Hutchinson(+1, PR+1) gets held (also called). Coverage lasts a few beats but Ross(-2, cov-1) inexplicably doesn't carry the slot to the safety level. Bennett lobs it over and slot makes a great one-handed catch. Brought back on the penalty.
O29	1st	25	Gun 21 Y Flex H-Flare	4-2-5	Nk Over	1	Pass	5	Flare Screen/Power	Ross	13	1.04
Frustrating as Macdonald blitzed Dax from this side and rolled towards the flare to set Ross up for a big play that he doesn't make when the blitz (RPS+1) affects the throw. Moore(-0.5) got hung up Bowers, but this is mostly on Ross(-2, tackling-1) who can just hem the guy in and bring up 2nd and 22, but instead goes for the TFL and whiffs. You're a senior! Take the 3-yard stop man! Arggh!
O42	2nd	12	Gun Str	4-2-5	4-3 Over	2	Play-Action	n/a	PA Split Flow	Moten	Inc	-0.89
Hill(+2) is the edge rusher and bats this. Moten(+1, cov+2) was flying down in position to tackle immediately if he doesn't.
O42	3rd	15	Empty 5w	4-2-5	Nk Wdie CA	1	Pass	5	Tunnel Screen	Hill	18	3.65
M blitzes the (O's) right and this goes left (RPS-1), Hutchinson sees the play and barely misses batting it down. Morris(-1) drops but gets edged by the LT. Hill(-1, tackling-1) can end this but misses the tackle and the RB rumbles for the 1st down.
M40	1st	10	Gun 13 Twins	5-2-4	5-2 Over	2	Run		Toss Sweep	Welschof	10	0.37
RPS-1 as they catch Welschof stepping in to play the QB and Gray playing high safety. Juice can only wave his hand. I want Ross(-1) to force this back inside instead of trying to slip inside the first TE, and want Harrell(-0.5) to set a harder edge.
M30	1st	10	Gun 13 Twins	5-2-4	5-2 Over	2	Play-Action		RB Flare	Ross	9	0.69
Catch M blitzing off the backside, fake the last play. Harrell(-2, cov-2) got turned around trying too late to stop Bowers from getting a clean release and that interferes with Ross's path to the RB. RPS-1 this was made tough by the alignment.
M21	2nd	1	Offset 13 Heavy	5-2-4	5-2 Under	1	Run		Outside Zone	Ross	5	-0.39
Tempo(24). Another toss sweep but with OZ blocking and Welschof(-2) is slow off the snap and reached by the TE. Uh oh. Moten(+1) shot into the backfield to rob a cutback and Ross(+1, tackling+1) holds down the gain.
M10	1st	10	Offset 13 Twins	4-3-4	4-3 Over	2	Run		Toss Sweep	Hutchinson	6(-16)	-0.35
They run it at Hutchinson(-1) this time and he gets too far inside: RPS-1 as M still has the safeties back and no answer for getting repeatedly flanked. Colson gets blown up by his TE who unnecessarily rips him down by the back of the helmet, creating a mess that Hawkins(-1) gets stuck behind because he was in the wrong gap. The TE's block gets called for holding.
M20	1st	14	Gun 12 Y Flex	4-3-4	4-3 Under	2	RPO		IZ/Curl	Hill-Green	2(-15)	-1.89
UGA wants to read the Barrett but he blitzes and they roll to 1-high, forcing a give. M has slanted the DL (RPS+1) with that, which gives NHG(+1) a clean shot he doesn't pass up. It also gets Bowers going at Upshaw's legs while he's engaging the LT which picks up a chop block call. (Tense moment in the broadcast booth where Fowler and the analysts have to tell Herbstreit it's an obvious call. Probably should take that guy off Michigan games, ESPN.)
M35	1st	29	Pistol Bone	4-2-5	4-3 Over	2	Play-Action	4	Scramble	Upshaw	7	0.44
Upshaw(+1, PR+1) in for Hutchinson and draws single blocking from Bowers, flushing but losing Bennett. Nobody open (cov+2) so he takes off and edges Jeter(-1) to get them back in FG range.
M28	2nd	22	Ace Bone	5-2-4	5-2 Odd	2	Play-Action	6	Throwaway	Gray	Inc	-0.98
The play where our DE outran our CB is an RPS+2 (PR+2) cornerback blitz into a rollout that should be a gift-wrapped sack for Gray(-3), who takes a path too far inside and doesn't have the speed or agility to adjust as the QB runs away from him with ease. Hutchinson(+2) blew through the line and is overtaking him, and nobody is even running a route to this side of the field so Bennett throws it away.
M28	3rd	22	Offset 12 Str	4-2-5	Nk Wide	2	Pass	4	Corner	Turner	Inc	-0.91
Hutchinson(+1, PR+1) blows through a double to force Bennett to throw off his back foot. He still gets a pass off that's just out of reach of a WR Turner(+2, cov+2) is blanketing despite setting up with inside leverage. Dang.
Drive Notes: Missed FG(45). 3-27. 2 min 3rd Q. Twas penalties which killed the pitch sweep drive. Technically garbage time after this.
Ln	Dn	Dst	OForm	DPack	Front	Hi	Type	Rush	Play	Player	Yds	EPA
O41	1st	10	Ace Twins	5-2-4	5-3 Odd	1	Run		Inside Zone	Jenkins	1	-0.92
Hawkins rolled up (RPS is off for garbage time) which means Harrell is in free. Jenkins(+1) stands up the LT in the backfield, NHG(+1) popped a TE and made sure there was nowhere to go but a pile until the free Harrell arrived.
O42	2nd	9	Offset 13 Twins	4-3-4	4-4 Under	1	Run		Zone Read	Hawkins	5	0.08
Works how it's supposed to but Morris(-1) pushed off the line so there's somewhere to burrow when a rolled down Hawkins (RPS off) is there to stuff.
O47	3rd	4	Ace 13 Heavy	5-2-4	5-2 Odd	1	Play-Action		PA Scramble	Hinton	5	1.82
OL bust (hat+2) gives Hinton(-1, PR+2) a free shot at Bennett. He whiffs as Bennett rolls out. Hutchinson(-2) tried to go inside the LT who's got his shoulderpad and yeah that's holding but it's a career moment for that LT let's not take it away from him. That means there's no edge. NHG(+1, tackling-1) dangerously abandons his man to try to make a stop, forces Bennett back inside and just gets him down but only after the 1st down.
M48	1st	10	Gun 13 Heavy	5-2-4	5-2 Odd	2	Run		Inside Zone	Hutchinson	6	0.33
Hutchinson(+1) swims inside a double to force this to the DTs but Jeter(-1) got too high and was moved out, and Speight(-2) is completely bulldozed by a double so the pile can keep churning over him.
M42	2nd	4	Offset 13 Heavy	5-2-4	5-3 Over	0	Run		Inside Zone	Smith	3	-0.36
Hinton(-1) just gets comboed enough that the C can catch Ross(-0.5) who comes in too tentatively after Smith(+1) beat the G. Jeter(-0.5) got cut on the backside so this can rumble for a couple more.
M39	3rd	1	Gun 12 Tight	4-3-4	4-3 Under	1	Pass		RB Wheel	Colson	39	3.67
Barrett(+1, PR+1) flies in off the edge and is going to have a sack if the first read isn't open. It is because Colson(-3, cov-3) got suckered by Cook out of the backfield and is D.E.D. dead. Ross turns to help and gets pretty blatantly interfered with by a WR but that wouldn't have changed things and refs let it go. Green(-1) was the guy attached to the lucky OPI'ing WR and reacts too late to get over this.
Drive Notes: Touchdown. 3-34. 11 min 4th Q. Might as well do the last two drives.
Ln	Dn	Dst	OForm	DPack	Front	Hi	Type	Rush	Play	Player	Yds	EPA
O6	1st	10	Ace Bone	5-2-4	5-2 Odd	1	Run		Outside Zone	Ross	3	-0.12
Ross(+1, tackling-1) perfectly times his blitz (RPS off) and misses the tackle. That's enough for his team to rally with Jenkins(+1) standing up a T in the backfield but NHG(-1) is tentative getting to his guy and that cuts of Smith enough for the RB to fall forward productively.
O9	2nd	7	Gun 12 Str	5-2-4	5-2 Odd	2	Run		ZR Counter Trey	Ross	3	-0.09
Smith(+0.5) and Hinton(+0.5) stunt the playside which wastes a blocker and gives Ross(-1, tackling-1) a free shot. He's a beat late, and the RB hops out of that, then gets gang-tackled falling forward (Hat-0.5).
O12	3rd	4	Gun 13 Heavy	4-3-4	4-3 Under	1	Run		Pitch Sweep	Barrett	1	-0.15
This is why I like a 4-3 with Barrett(+1) more than the 5-2 with Harrell. The Viper beats the TE outside to set a hard edge. RPS off but having Moore down low makes a big difference too because he can flash inside the T. Upshaw(-2, tackling-2) has a free tackle for no gain and slides off. Jeter(+1) never gave up on the play and runs the RB OOB to prevent a 1st down.
Drive Notes: Punt. 3-34. 5 min 4th Q. One more drive of the season if you can hang in there.
Ln	Dn	Dst	OForm	DPack	Front	Hi	Type	Rush	Play	Player	Yds	EPA
O34	1st	10	Ace 13 Heavy	5-2-4	5-2 Odd	1	Run		Split Zone	Moten	31	2.36
Technically this is on Moten(-1) and technically he was held in that gap. But NHG(-1), who twisted with Ross, buried himself uselessly in an A gap that's been crushed by Welschof(+1) holding up to a double instead of playing off the double and paying it off. This gets compounded by a bad angle from Moore(-3), who is the high safety and gets run by. Turner(+1) gets off a block and runs it down.
M35	1st	10	Pistol 13 Heavy	5-2-4	5-2 Odd	2	Run		Split Zone	Jeter	2	-0.26
The tackle is made by Gray(+1) off a CB blitz (RPS is off). Big cutback lane forms when Turner(-1) is blasted by the Bowers kickout but Colson(+1) hops into that gap to deter the RB. He should still try it (Hat+1). Instead he runs into a G that Jeter(+1) shoved back, whence Gray catches up.
M33	2nd	8	Ace 13 Heavy	5-2-4	5-3 Odd	1	Run		Split Zone	Hill-Green	1	-0.73
This is why RPS is off. M runs the anti-split that wrecked them all year. NHG(+1, tackling+1) is the free hitter who gets the RB's legs and hangs on to pay off the playcall. Ross(+0.5) hopped outside of a downblock and was around if NHG missed.
M32	3rd	7	Offset 12 Tight	4-2-5	Nk Over	1	Run		End Around	Morris	8	1.29
Smart running off the pitch sweep action (RPS off) and M gets got, especially Moten(-1) and Ross(-1) who go all the way backside at the pitch. Morris(-2) does not stay out on his edge. Bennett sees that and puts up the TD hands but Gray(+2, tackling+1) got off a WR block and made the stop just after the 1st down marker.
M24	1st	10	Ace 12 Heavy	5-2-4	5-2 Split	1	Run		Inside Zone	Jenkins	3	-0.14
Great individual play by Jenkins(+2) to two-gap a TE and make the lone stop. Speight(-0.5) let a double get to Ross(+0.5) who fought through the G's arm to help prevent too much fall forward.
M21	2nd	7	Gun 12 Twins	4-3-4	4-3 over	2	Run		Pitch Sweep	Hawkins	2	-0.25
No foolies. NHG(+1) quickly pops a TE and Hawkins(+1) shot down late to slip by a TE and end this in the backfield with Green(-1, tackling-2) setting a hard edge. His tackle attempt knocks Hawkins off and the RB is momentarily loose but Jenkins(+1) made it over to stop after minor damage.
M19	3rd	5	Gun 12 Wk	5-2-4	5-2 Odd	1	Run		Counter Trey	NHG	3	-0.18
NHG(-0.5) allows a TE to pop him when M is slanting (RPS off) this dead. He makes the tackle after a short gain that would have been none after Jenkins(+1) blasted through and took out the lead blocker.
M16	4th	2	Gun 12 Heavy	5-2-4	5-2 Over	1	Run		Duo	George	5	0.73
Speight(-1) blown out by a double. Jenkins(-0.5) held up on a cut when George(+1) moves an OL back to cut off the frontside, just can't make the tackle. Also there are 13 seconds left in a 34-11 game.
Drive Notes: Time expired. 11-34. Season over.

I have an Arrested Development meme.

Is it the dead dove one?

Yes.

I do not know what I expected, but there it is.

And yet here we are in the bag, investigating.

It’s what we do. This game got out of hand early, then the offense had a string of turnover drives that took us all the way to garbage time, so Georgia was working with a lot of short fields. They also scored quickly, so that late in the game Kirby Smart was still working through the stuff they’d prepared. Also Georgia has a lot of talent, and Michigan’s 2021 defense was pretty dang good, and sometimes randomness plays with results in ways that aren’t readily apparent unless you check it out. It was reasonable to assume, living in the kind of society that doesn’t often put dead doves in paper bags in fridges, that a granular investigation into this game’s doings would reveal a less objectionable truth than what was written on the label.

And what did we find?

Dead dove, do not eat. Drive chart:

• Touchdown drives of 80, 69, 59, and 59 yards.
• Field goal (one missed) drives of 64, 49, and 28 yards
• Two three-and-outs
• Two end-of-half clock drives.

Georgia scored on its first five possessions, IE every possession in the first half except the half-assed two-minute drill when they were already up 27-3. The second half went a little better: punt, missed field goal, long 3rd down touchdown, punt. Georgia was also starting most of those drives with excellent field position. Except the missed FG drive was mostly self-inflicted wounds. And Georgia was up 27-3 or 34-3 for all of those drives. It was 521 yards on 66 plays: 8 yards per play, 11 yards per pass and 5.4 yards per rushing attempt, with no turnovers.

The only metrics that look any better than dead dove are the down-to-down ones. Football Outsiders defines success rate as gaining 50% of yards needed on 1st down, 70% on 2nd down, and 100% on 3rd/4th down. Michigan held Georgia to a 44% (23/52) success rate on 1st and 2nd down, which resulted in an average 3rd down distance of 6.1 yards. That’s virtually identical to their Ohio State performance of 45% (22/49) success rate on 1st and 2nd down, and an average 3rd down distance of 6.3.

But you can guess what’s in the paper bag. Ohio State went 5/13, at 4.6 yards per attempt. Georgia went 10/16 on third downs, averaging 9.7 yards per attempt. Third down events in this game included two wheel route TDs that beat Junior Colson, and Mike Morris giving up the edge twice. A receiver one-handing a slant that Turner played perfectly or a left tackle jumping on Aidan Hutchinson’s back with no call are the kinds of things you expect to happen to a good defense. The breakdowns are not.

But they were all the fault of the guys who aren’t here anymore, right?

Uh,

Ross, the old DC—nobody relevant to 2022—right?

You want me to show you a breakdown?

Before March, please.

Dead chart. Do not eat.

Defensive Line
Player	+	-	T	Snaps	Notes
Hinton	4	4	0	45	Caleb Houstan-esque career.
Smith	3.5	2	+1.5	48	Mostly avoided. Mostly just a guy.
Jeter	4	2.5	+1.5	26	Held up well until a few plays late.
Welschof	1	4	-3	12	Georgia too big for his size, too fast for his speed.
Jenkins	9	2.5	+6.5	18	Shh..I need him to be eligible for 2022 breakout player.
Speight	0	3.5	-3.5	12	Came in late, immediately ragdolled.
Whittley	0	0	0	0	DNP
Hutchinson	15	4.5	+10.5	56	UGA's gameplan avoided him entirely.
Ojabo	1	0	+1	26	5-2 response to all the TEs took him off the field.
Morris	1	4	-3	20	Backedup Hutchinson, prefer him at DT.
Upshaw	1	2	-1	12	Won’t blow a run fit, won't frighten a quarterback.
Harrell	5	8.5	-3.5	28	Good edge-setter, bad pass rusher, hybrid safety preferred.
McGregor	0	0	0	2	DNC
TOTAL	44.5	37.5	+7	305	The 4-3 fronts were fine; the Ravens fronts were not.
Linebacker
Player	+	-	T	Snaps	Notes
Ross	10	14	-4	65	Jonas Moutan-esque career.
Colson	4	10	-6	42	No match for Cook, wasn't ready to play this year.
Barrett	3	0	+3	14	This is why football replaced its DE/LBs with Vipers.
Hill-Green	5	2.5	+2.5	28	Mistakes are loud, still Michigan's best ILB.
Mullings	0	0	0	3	DNC
TOTAL	22	26.5	-4.5	152	Bad, but not the disaster we feared preseason.
Secondary
Player	+	-	T	Snaps	Notes
Hill	4	1	+3	37	Blitzy, sat for half the game.
Hawkins	5.5	6	-0.6	63	A -3 for the wheel TD when he thought the TE was ineligible.
Moore	2	4.5	-2.5	37	Bowers is a tough draw, one uncharacteristic True Fr moment.
Moten	3	2	+1	29	Good and boring until he had to do LB things late.
Kolesar	0	0	-	0	DNP
Paige	0	0	-	0	DNP
Turner	4	6	-2	51	Only coverage issue was playing off early. Got blocked.
Gray	4	7	-3	61	Good luck in the NFL man.
Gem.Green	2	4	-2	24	Late in his career to have so many coachable problems.
McBurrows	0	0	-	0	DNP
TOTAL	24.5	30.5	-6	302	Face fewer tight ends in practice.
Metrics
Pressure	17	4	+13	-	Georgia rarely dropped back. Wonder why?
Coverage	13	26	-13	-	Got scripted: +0/-13 on first 2 drives, +13/-13 rest of the way.
Tackling	7	15	-8	-	Georgia's 5*s were covered in butter and knives.
RPS	19	12	+7		Mac gave better than he got, for minimal reward.

I don’t know what I expected.

It’s written very clearly on the paper bag.

We were just overrated because Big Ten offenses and Ohio State being allergic to snow?

I hate to dog on our guys but there were holes we knew about. James Ross and Vincent Gray aren’t exactly the first day draft picks in the propaganda. A Don Brown roster was being shoehorned into the Ravens 5-2 Amoeba system predicated on whip-smart athletic linebackers, planetary nose tackles, and 1st rounders all over the secondary. Only one cornerback could be left alone on a fly route.

A defense that doesn’t have deficiencies like these is a generational unit. Usually this year the opponent had deficiencies too and Macdonald was able to pick survivable poisons. Georgia was close to Ohio State in raw talent, and Kirby Smart did a much better job than Ryan Day of identifying how to press his advantages. The result was much like what Michigan did to Iowa: avoid the strong points, and press the weak ones early to build an insurmountable lead.

And the weak points were…?

We’ll do the linebackers first. Alarmingly, I thought the starters regressed later in the season, and that culminated in one of their worse performances. It’s also…like…not something that should be too surprising. This close to the draft I’m not going to surprise anyone by saying James Ross sucks at coverage.

That particular throw was wiped out on a hold—Hutchinson and Ojabo did work the few times they were actually given a chance to pass rush—but that’s been open Ross’s whole career for a QB/WR able to take advantage of it. Think all the way back to the first half of WMU. Or all of 2020. Ross gets crossed. He doesn’t get depth. I hope an NFL team coaches it out of him, but I wouldn’t count on it.

The part that regressed was Ross started playing tentative again, turning up some free shots that the defense demands he pay off. That I still put on how difficult it is to play linebacker in this system. I went around and around with various football people trying to figure out who was responsible for this simple split zone:

Before you say it’s ABSOLUTELY one guy or another, I’ve put this play before smart coaches and football writers who think it’s on actually on Ross, most likely on Jenkins, probably on Colson, and definitely on Harrell. As best as I can tell, any three of those guys could have made a play. Jenkins could have stayed in this gap outside RT#70. Harrell could have set that edge further inside. Colson could have scraped over Ross when the TE crossed the formation instead of getting hung up on the blockers.

But the guy who knows this system best pointed at Ross for not playing it aggressively enough. You’ve got this moment where the RG#50 is focused on doubling the DT when Ross can shoot into the backfield. The TE crossing the formation could be a key to activate on that, with an eye on the RB in case it’s a screen:

The window closes however, and then Jenkins and Ross are in the same gap, and Harrell hasn’t closed the next one shut, and it’s a big play.

Here’s my point: I know how Don Brown would have defended this. When the TE came across there would have been a Viper matched with the TE who either crossed the formation to take the outside, or flipped with a safety who would do the same. I can’t tell you how it’s done in “Multiple” because I’ve seen it done several different ways. But one thing I can tell you is that Ross had the opportunity to turn this into a TFL, and that a Macdonald-style defense is meant to create just that kind of opportunistic playmaking. Ross was never that guy.

Colson…well it was more than “he’s a teenager.” There were a couple of those moments—Georgia’s eight-yard first play was on the true freshman going to the wrong gap. But really if I had to put my finger on the thing that Colson struggled with here it’s either getting toasted by James Cook on a wheel route…

Or not even challenging Jakes Cook on a wheel route:

Yep, that’s the one. Now look, man, the guy was a true freshman, linebacking is hard, and the Cook brothers are going to do that to a lot of people. These are both 3rd and short-ish downs when you’re not expecting a deep ball. It’s just—there was that hope that Colson was the guy with enough pure talent that teams wouldn’t attempt the best play in football. Now I guarantee it’ll come out in every game this year. Colson has a long way to go, and that’s to be expected, but it’s hard not to wonder after this game if we also have to downgrade his ceiling.

As for their third middle linebacker, I will now more confidently assert that Hill-Green is marginally their best ILB. His ceiling is not Colson’s or even Adjusted Colson’s. NHG also tends to have more devastating busts. This one I put on him:

This comes from NHG’s tendency to make a quick decision on a gap and fling his body into it. That instinct serves him more than it doesn’t. It’s not a great fit for a front that already has five guys on the line to start because any screwup (or uncalled hold) is going to burst a guy into the secondary and beyond from this setup. I didn’t even clip the good moments from Hill-Green in this one to compensate. But when he appears in the charting usually it’s a positive. His mentions in this UFR:

• M has slanted the DL (RPS+1) with that, which gives NHG(+1) a clean shot he doesn't pass up.
• NHG(+1) popped a TE and made sure there was nowhere to go but a pile
• NHG(+1, tackling-1) dangerously abandons his man to try to make a stop, forces Bennett back inside and just gets him down but only after the 1st down.
• NHG(-1) is tentative getting to his guy and that cuts of Smith enough for the RB to fall forward productively.
• But NHG(-1), who twisted with Ross, buried himself uselessly in an A gap that's been crushed by Welschof
• NHG(+1, tackling+1) is the free hitter who gets the RB's legs and hangs on to pay off the playcall.
• NHG(+1) quickly pops a TE and Hawkins(+1) shot down late to slip by that.

Good score? No. Player? Player. Probably would have been burned just as crispy by James Cook? No question.

Spring practice rumors are making me nervous about the cornerbacks.

Yeah, me too. But they have one in DJ Turner. I dare you to find a pixel where this ball could have been completed 30 yards downfield.

Bryan Fuller got a shot of it if you need to zoom in:

That’s not to say that DJ Turner doesn’t give up completions. It’s just that it’s really hard:

I can’t find the pixel on that one either, to be honest. Michigan was able to get away with the Dax blitzes like the Hutchinson play we talked about in part because they could trust Turner to survive on an island. We should start talking all-Big Ten there.

After him, well, <breaths through teeth>. I was testing out a Brandon Johns/Gemon Green comparison in my head that doesn’t really work except this is a fourth-year athlete with all the natural gifts to stick with his receiver, but can’t get out of his own head when the ball comes to him.

Green isn’t outmatched there. He’s just as tall as the receiver if not a little taller. His arms are long enough to push this guy to the sideline. Aside from the fact that Georgia got away with even worse interference on their interception at the end of the first half, there’s no reason whatsoever to be grabbing at the guy that much. Except Green seems to be in his own head so much that perfect position on a pass results in a 75-percent likelihood of a completion. Clinkscale did wonders to get this guy playable last year. The potential is still there to be an NFL player if that comes along further. It’s just really late to still be this unsound.

As for Gray, I’ve been assuming he left because Will Johnson is going to assume the starting job. Assuming a true freshman can step in and start over a longtime player is the kind of hot take I usually make fun of people for. But after the Georgia game…

I kinda figure how bad can…

…a five-star be?

Just a brutal end to a career. The thing to remember about Gray, though, is that he won that job because he was the best they had. This was the last guy added to the “let’s get tall” class, and played four times as much as any of them. Along the way, when not being asked to do more than he was physically capable of, Gray had many fine moments. The program would have been much worse without him. They also need to get a lot better from that position than he could give them, especially in this outing.

And the safeties?

Hill and Moore only played 37 snaps apiece. Dax’s blitzes were good but he was avoided like Hutchinson until Michigan pulled him, probably so he wouldn’t get injured before the draft in a blowout. Hawkins had an unboring, mediocre end to his career—I gave him a –3 for the first touchdown and Moore –3 for the terrible angle he took on the big run. That made up the bulk of the negatives suffered by the unit. Moore and Moten seemed like they’ll be fine in 2022.

Interior line 2022: up or down?

Up. How much up depends on whether you put that big run on Ross, Jenkins, or someone else. Jenkins is the DE/DT over RT#70. You could certainly make a case that he’s the guy not in his lane:

I gave him the minus 2 for that one and he came out positive anyway. Hugely positive. Against THAT offensive line. A year before anyone predicted the grow-a-DT project would be viable. You could even argue, with Ojabo and Dax Hill getting barely more snaps, that Jenkins was Michigan’s second-best player on defense this game:

I wouldn’t say that Hinton’s odd decision to take off for the NFL early was based on Jenkins coming up behind him. But I’m not too worried about it, because Jenkins is coming up.

The rest of the DTs were themselves. Jeter held up pretty well against a team that shades more grabby than average, and Welschof had a tough time against a team whose quarterback and tight ends could outrun him. Morris had some edge issues. Speight was vastly overmatched. Upshaw and Harrell brought nothing to the passing game.

Where was Hutchinson?

So here we get into game strategy. To an even greater degree than Iowa, UGA’s gameplan was all about taking Hutchinson out of the game. If they ran, they ran away from his side. If they passed, it was usually something short and screeny to somewhere Hutchinson wasn’t expected to be. When he was able to make a play it was because he was out acting like a safety.

We saw this look above a lot, especially in the first half. It will be a Neck Sharpies. Smart used a lot of two- and three-tight end personnel, then bunched the TEs to a side and spread them away from the formation. This accomplished three goals:

1. Create space for the RB in a lighter box or as a receiver against an ILB.
2. Create matchup issues with their star TE, Bowers, where he’s either going against a LB in coverage or blocking a DB.
3. Stay the hell away from Hutchinson.

To get the stop in the clip above Michigan had to swap the roles of Dax Hill and Aidan Hutchinson, the former rushing off the edge and the latter tracking down a slipper receiver in space.

Georgia further leaned into their unbalanced sets by putting a ton of material to the *boundary* side. This was a common setup, with the TE and two WRs on the short side of the field, and the RB and a lone split end way out past the opposite hash.

The idea here was to present two very different threats to Michigan’s defense: on one side a ton of blockers in a small space to overwhelm the smaller defenders, and on the other, their fastest receiver and their receiver-like running backs to challenge Michigan’s speed. That challenged the Wolverines to choose what to do with their safety. If you leave him high on the field side, you’re using cornerbacks and linebackers against Bowers on the boundary side. If you have your safety help inside, even a little, you’re leaving a cornerback or linebacker in man against speed. And what were Michigan’s two big positional weaknesses? Linebacker and cornerback.

It also negated the usual things you can do with Hutchinson. Any pass play out of this look is a screen, a fade, a slant, or a swing pass to the running back: first reads that don’t last long enough for him to get to the quarterback. When they ran, it was usually an RPO attached to a simple inside zone to test the linebackers and DTs inside. Michigan had a couple of busts, but their five-man fronts mostly stood up, hence the 1st and 2nd down success rates. The RPOs were the key—Georgia was making sure Michigan wasn’t going to start doing anything wild to help their beleaguered mismatches. “Keeping ’em honest” if you will.

Anyways, that’s why Hutchinson was only a quiet +10 (All-American caliber) in this game. There were other reasons.

[Barron]

But nothing that we haven’t seen before.

[Barron]

Or can do much about.

[Barron]

No, I remember a ton of pitch sweeps

That was mostly in the last third of the game. Once Michigan had adjusted to space in the field and heft in the boundary by switching Hutchinson to the TE side, Georgia flipped the script and ran pitch sweeps to the not-Hutchinson side. Here’s the first one, which edged Welschof and Ross.

Note the personnel: Hutchinson, Hawkins, Turner, Hill-Green, and Moten (in for Dax Hill) are all to the field side with Vincent Gray playing high safety. Defeating this would take Harrell setting a tight edge, Welschof running it down from behind, or Ross making a quick read and slipping through the TEs. Apologies to those guys, but Georgia’s dudes are stronger than Harrell, and faster than Welschof, and Ross when he’s not in attack mode is a sub-B10 caliber linebacker.

Wait: Welschof? Harrell? Where’s David Ojabo?

So here we come to the spot where I think Macdonald’s choice to stick to his 5-2 system with a roster constructed by Don Brown worked against him. Welschof and Harrell—the base 5-2 guys—are decent players, but Ojabo and Michael Barrett—Michigan’s 4-3 personnel—are better. Here’s the same play, with the same CB-high setup, but against a 4-3 front.

Watch the bottom of the formation

Note how the edge is defended. In the first example Harrell was set up outside and traveled with the tight end while Welschof tried to run the play down from behind. In this setup, Barrett is tasked with the same job—set the edge—but rather than anchoring and traveling with the TE, Barrett is just going to slam into him. Both are equally effective; the difference is in who’s doing the chasing.

Example 1 (5-2):

Example 2 (4-3):

In the 5-2 setup you’ve got Welschof trying to run the back down and Ross trying (and failing) to beat a leveraged TE to the next gap. In the 4-3 setup, Barrett gets replaced by safety Rod Moore. He’s got a size mismatch with the offensive tackle blocking him, but getting the body to the right spot means the offense has to waste time dislodging it.

Please don’t take this as a knock on Harrell, guy who takes everything as a knock on Harrell. Michigan’s LB/DE hybrid is on the field in these situations because he’s going to make plays that a pure DE Ojabo probably won’t:

This approach suited Michigan well against other tight end-focused offenses like Iowa and Wisconsin because Harrell’s versatility let them play with extra weight in the middle—namely a DT/DE like Welschof—instead of a Viper who’s liable to get mauled when he meets some corn-fed Midwestern tackle. Georgia was ideally suited to blowing up Michigan’s heavier-than-thou approach because they could flood the field with tight ends that Harrell wasn’t able to handle. A lineman-ish linebacker against a normal tight end isn’t going to matter—those TEs are part linemen themselves. But if your guy with DE alleles in his DNA gets matched up with Brock Bowers, you’re gonna have a bad time.

The Bowers problem necessitated some kind of safety help to that side. Michigan chose to have Vincent Gray play an overhang CB/S hybrid rather than leave him exposed against a Georgia receiver, one more decision that makes sense in a vacuum. It’s only after everyone sets up that you realize your best players are all on one side, and your holes are all together on the other.

I liked the 4-3 personnel better against the Flex TE stuff Georgia was doing in the first half as well. It’s harder to play matchup games with LBs and DBs when the matchup guy is a half-breed of both. And Barrett is an older player with the speed to play both sides of a split formation.

#23, on the 25-yard line on the top

Also a 4-3 should allow you to run out David Ojabo at defensive end, since you’re removing the linebacker hybridization from that position. Sadly, because of the game state, by the time they figured it out Michigan was down more scores than there were minutes left in Ojabo’s Michigan career. Presumably if this counter to the pitch sweeps came out in a competitive situation it would have been Ojabo manning the backside edge instead of Michael Morris trying out for one of the starting DE positions in 2022. Morris got edged.

This late in the game it’s hard to take stuff that seriously. Smart was emptying the bag like it was personal (it probably is—the most corrupt hate the reformers the most). Compared to the championship game they played after, it was weird how much more stuff that hadn’t been put on film came out in this one.

But the cleverness shouldn’t have been as effective as it was. Brad Hawkins here gets caught looking, and Turner gets held (it’s not OPI because the pass was behind the line of scrimmage, barely), but Michigan doesn’t usually break down this badly.

So how did Macdonald win the RPS war?

Well, for one because I turned RPS off when it became a blowout and Smart didn’t. But the other thing is Mac gave as good as he got. When a player didn’t blow a first-read assignment the Amoeba looks made reading hard on Bennett.

The problem was in the players couldn’t cash in when put in an advantage. The sequence early in the 3rd quarter was a good example. On 1st down Macdonald anticipated an adjustment Georgia made to their screens, but Ross missed a tackle and Hawkins got run. Next play, 1st down again, Michigan shows an Eagle formation, and gets a fade that Green was set up to intercept…he loses it but the WR does too. Then on 2nd and 10, the defense set up with Vincent Gray playing soft over an outside receiver. They throw it anyways, Gray is phase, then short circuits and falls down: touchdown. The offense promptly turned it over on the next possession, the defense booted the Bulldogs off the field with a couple more RPS wins, and the offense promptly turned it over again.

I get that fans want to imagine everything comes down to the coach, but when your sniper misses his 20th wide-open three-pointer in a row, maybe it’s not the coaching. Here’s a canonical example, where Georgia dialed up a play-action RB pass and Michigan was in the correct coverage to defeat it.

The offense is hoping for a Cover 2 defense there in order to draw the secondary down. Michigan was in a Cover 1, Gray’s back turned to the play, with inside leverage on anything breaking out, and a safety over the top for anything that breaks inside. With a running back throwing on the run, at this point an interception is more likely than completion.

In a breath, that becomes this:

I don’t put that on the playcall. I put that on the cornerback biting on a head-fake and abandoning his duties.

As much Smart had planned, Michigan was able to adapt. The problem in this game wasn’t the (always overrated) rock-paper-scissors battle between coordinators from drive to drive. The problem was Georgia was getting the ball on short fields, a Michigan player would blow an assignment, and the Bulldogs would be in the endzone or scoring position before the coaching battle was barely played out. It was 17-0 after 24 snaps. Flinging the ball at screens and covered receivers was working, and they hadn’t yet gone near Aidan Hutchinson. David Ojabo? Put three tight ends on the field and Michigan will give you Jess Speight, Julius Welschof, and Jaylen Harrell instead. The only tradeoff was Georgia was going to lose some wide receivers to playing time transfers in the aftermath. They can buy new ones.

That doesn’t mean Macdonald got got, really. But I do think that this game was sort of a counter to the Ohio State meta-narrative. Ryan Day’s offense is all about running pro favorites like mesh and multi-verticals where somebody’s going to have leverage. The concepts Kirby Smart was running were closer to the stuff teams were running in the middle of the 20th century. This entire setup would not have been out of place on a reel from 1950:

Harbaugh ran those philosophies at Stanford, too. If you’re used to defending a pro passing game that’s designed to mess with a reading QB’s head, a heavy gap scheme where the gap could pop up anywhere is philosophically challenging to deal with. Historically, teams dealt with all of this by developing the 4-3 gap system. Michigan has that tool in their back pocket. But the big mistakes meant by the time they made the adjustment, it was too late.

Did they try to edge Dax Hill this week?

No need.

Drat.

It worked out for them.

Who’s Mr. Worldwide?

[Barron]

Mr. Worldwide is our chance to recognize a player who made a big impact on the game without necessarily (it’s not disqualifying) earning recognition for it during the game. Our criteria are attributes that we most associate with Pitbull: Versatility, the ability to make your teammates better, being cool against long odds, and enjoying time spent under highway overpasses. Your top three for this week:

1. Erick All. The usual. One drive entirely on him until they went away from him for an interception. Human overpass. Made me swear a lot in the offensive UFR.

2. Kris Jenkins: The one thing Georgia couldn’t really get going was an inside running game. +6.5 in 18 snaps and nobody noticed. Sat in the middle of highway overpass and held up traffic in both lanes.

3. Zak Zinter: Everyone else on the OL came out way more negative than I realized watching because Zinter was getting movement. Took the fall for a bad play that might not have been his. Dug out Michigan-style highway overpasses.

And the final standings:

3-2-1 point system so our standings are:

• 16: Aidan Hutchinson
• 10.5: Erick All
• 9: Hassan Haskins
• 7: DJ Turner II
• 6: Luke Schoonmaker
• 5.5: Ryan Hayes
• 5: Cade McNamara, Donovan Edwards
• 4.0: Andrew Stueber
• 3.5: David Ojabo
• 3: Ronnie Bell, Daxton Hill
• 2.5: Andrel Anthony, Trevor Keegan, Kris Jenkins
• 2: Mike Sainristil, Junior Colson, Josh Ross, Andrew Vastardis, Jaylen Harrell, Mazi Smith
• 1.5: Julius Welschof, Cade Kolesar
• 1: Nikhai Hill-Green, Chris Hinton, Donovan Jeter, Carter Selzer, JJ McCarthy, Zak Zinter
• 0.5: Blake Corum, Joel Honigford, Chuck Filiaga, Daylen Baldwin

That Haskins didn’t with this thing despite my heavy biases means something. Like that Erick All should go on the next cover, and Hutchinson should have been on the last one.

Heroes?

Aidan Hutchinson, DJ Turner II, Kris Jenkins.

Maybe not so heroic?

Vincent Gray, Junior Colson.

What does it mean for 2022?

Lotsa talent is good. Recruiting matters, on aggregate.

Linebacker is a problem. Guys get better, especially young guys. But there’s a lot of better between where they were in December and where they need to be in a world without Hutchinson.

4-3 > 5-2 against college crappe. Multiple needs to stay multiple until the roster is turned over well and good.

Kris Jenkins is coming. I do hope that Jeter returns because there’s not yet much behind, but Jenkins is probably going to start next to Smith, and seems like an easy pick for breakout player.

Next playoff they’ll be readier? Hard not to see some first time jitters in a lot of guys who don’t usually make mistakes.

Defensive ends please apply. Welschof and Morris as the clubhouse leaders in spring is yikesey. Tell me Harrell can pass rush.

Macdonald knew what he was doing. I question the personnel decisions but even when the deck was stacked against him, his players had opportunities to change how things went.

Vincent Gray wasn’t this bad. Final act shouldn’t overshadow the good times, or the systemic issues that put him there.

Hutchinson was there, and you will know when he’s not. Please scale back all expectations for next year because a game-bending edge-destroyer isn’t going to be out there.