The "Wild Wolverine" 2nd half touchdown
Michigan put together a good drive right after halftime, capped by a nice run by Jabrill Peppers out of what I'm pretty sure I heard the announcers refer to as a "wild wolverine" formation - aka the wildcat.
The play starts fairly normally, with Rudock under center and Peppers in the backfield. However, after pointing at a few members of the Minnesota defense, Rudock motions outsite of the numbers, leaving Peppers in the shotgun with Chesson, Butt and Williams to his left. Minnesota has 4 down lineman (the standing DE ends up in a 3 pt stance before the ball is snapped) and 3 defenders over Michigan's 2 tight ends and 1 receiver bunch.
Or if you prefer:
After the snap Cole and Glasgow pull to the left, while Williams blocks down, Kalis cuts a DT and Magnuson tries to occupy a linebacker. I think Darboh is supposed to get the safety to his side, but he doesn't quite get there. Doesn't end up mattering. Braden gets pushed back a bit and harasses one of the DTs who pursues the play, irrelevantly. The weakside DE is left unblocked, and he'll chase the entire play. Rudock actually occupies a defender as well, respecting a throwback or something, which puts the math in Michigan's favor.
Michigan now has 4 blockers ahead of the ball carrier (Chesson, Butt, Cole and Glasgow), which ideally will account for the 4 unblocked defenders. In the next shot you can see that Williams has guided his new DE buddy almost to the endzone (and might be getting away with something of a hold).
Things don't go quite as they were drawn up. The middle linebacker (labelled #4) comes inside of the DE Williams is manhandling and first Cole and then Glasgow both go for him, Cole more effectively. Butt goes outside and blocks the guy Chesson is working on, but I think he's expecting Peppers to follow him towards the sideline. Instead, Peppers cuts it up and the defenders marked #1 and #2 above are unblocked. He's got some work to do.
The first guy (Minnesota #31) squares up and tries to tackle, but his attempt barely slows Peppers. Next up, the MLB that Cole and Glasgow went after comes in and gets his arms around Peppers (who's now secured the ball with two hands). The DE that Williams has been battling with starts to come off his block and tries to impede Peppers' path. The final unblocked guy (#1 in the diagram above) overruns the play slightly, and tries to swipe at the ball as the pile crosses the plane.
All to no avail. Touchdown
November 3rd, 2015 at 1:05 AM ^
I wish Harbaugh coined the term "Wild Wolverine" instead of that announcer.
November 3rd, 2015 at 11:26 AM ^
So what you're saying is that we had the numbers for an easy TD, but didn't execute it as drawn. However, Peppers is athletic enough to "screw up" the play and still get the score. I love it.
November 3rd, 2015 at 12:21 PM ^
Good write-up. Thanks for doing it!
To be strictly accurate, I think Ruddock was off the line of scrimmage. In the formation shown, there are 8 on the LOS with Ruddock covering-up Darboh. That would be both an illegal formation and make Darboh inelligible.
7 and exactly 7 on the LOS, 4 and exactly 4 in the backfield on every play or it is illegal.
November 3rd, 2015 at 1:13 PM ^
That's not true. You can put more than 7 on the line, but anyone who is covered up is inelligible. The only NCAA rule is "no more than 4 players may be backs."
You're correct though, that Rudock was lined up in the backfield and was eligible on this play.
November 3rd, 2015 at 7:21 PM ^
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November 4th, 2015 at 12:35 AM ^
llike Peppers as just that. He is too valuable for us right now on the other side of the l.o.s., but there is no one else on our roster who has the combination of quick burst and power to be able to bowl that defender over and score on that play. It will come............I hope. Also that defensive play he made on the tall ass receiver was awesome. Thinking he leaped about 40" and w/o hitting him came over the top to knock it away. Quite a baller.
November 4th, 2015 at 12:46 PM ^
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