2021-09-25 - NCAAF - Michigan Offense vs. Rutgers - Every Snap

Thanks for posting these each week!

I may only watch the first half of this one, though.

Thanks. Maybe skipping this one. 

It sure looks to me like Cade has a lot of daylight available on almost every play where he has the option to keep. Could someone who knows the game better than I do either confirm or deny?

Thanks MGA, your'e contribution is invaluable. I was going to forgo the Lions massacre and watch it again today. This saves me a lot of time and I can try to do both. 

Man, hindsight is 20/20 but look at the coverage on the slot receivers in the second half. Rutgers was begging to get torched but we just couldn’t oblige. 

Just watched every snap.

1. McNamara didn’t look the same after the targeting. I still think the passing game is fine.

2. Rutgers continually loaded the box with 7,8 or even 9 players to stop the run, it worked.

3. We absolutely have to have a greater balance of run vs passes or we are gonna get killed next week.

It seems like we came into the game expecting to pave them without anything fancy. The jet sweeps and jet action were mostly gone, which was odd. Even without the jet action, this is my interpretation of what went down.

1. We did our thing on the first drive with "try and stop us" runs up the middle.
2. Rutgers adjusted and sold out to stop the run.
3. We adjusted by using RPOs and punished them with several big passing gains as halftime approached.
4. Cade got his head rocked.
5. Cade stopped completing passes after getting his head rocked and we kept trying to run inside. 

I'm not sure why we ditched the jet action or why Haskins vanished, and I wish we would have subbed in JJ if Cade really was hurt. I'm not a "JJ should start" guy, but Cade was clearly not himself in the second half. 

16 total plays the second half. 16!

I think 5 had real success considering down and distance, 3 others were sure first down if the ball was thrown well, 1 of those 3 was probably at least a 30 yard gainer had he hit All over the middle. 
 

4 run plays actually worked pretty well considering down and distance, another Cade should have not kept and we probably have 6-8 yards from Corum. 
 

Haskins i think made a cut to the left on one run where he should have kept going to a lane in the middle and probably gets 5 yards on either 1st or second down. 
 

I think we are going to see more story of this game was defensive confusion and not getting off the field. Again, I don’t think we can stress enough how important from a leadership, assignment and alignment perspective it was when Josh Ross isnt out there calling the defense on the field. 
And also Cade had 3 bad missed throws that were all relatively easy first downs, one a huge gainer. 
 

this is all fixable, the defense will be a major focus I think in practice, as well as Cade’s timing, and maybe feeling the heat from JJ too. 
 

and again this is all just me looking at the second half, I have no real concerns from the first minus the missed TD throw in the end zone 

i have a feeling based on sheer number of plays in second half, offensive UFR comes out better than expected overall considering the score and perception of second half offense. Defense UFR up front another story in second half.

A couple of my novice observations

Targets to CoJo: 2 (2 catches for a seemingly effortless 40 yards).  Targets to Honigford: 1 (lined up at wideout and we targeted him, incomplete obviously. Why?)

Michigan not only completely abandoned the jet/end around game, they abandoned even the motion, with the exception of Haskins' second TD. Why?

Even worse, while we all know M piled up hundreds of rushing yards this season by drawing LB's into the pile and smartly bouncing around that, neither Michigan back bounced a single carry outside the tackles.  Rutgers LB's were playing exactly the same as our previous opponents.  There is no fathomable explanation for this. Why?!?

Fade to our shortest wide receiver.  Michigan does not seem to learn that fades to the short guy don't work. Wasted chance at a TD or 1st down on 3rd and 7. Why!!!

The incoherence on offense that makes it so difficult to just trust and wait for real improvement returned yesterday for the first time this season.

Cade was sharp and played great throughout the entire first half.  Rutgers was getting sliced up in the passing game.  So at least there's that.

Playing football against any team with one hand tied behind our back is always going to lead to outcomes like this.  Far, far short of optimal.  Yet under Harbaugh, Michigan finds a reason to do it year after year after year.  They haven't lost yet, but they will lose next week putting this nonsense out there in a big game.

The one play I forgot about on our last possession was when Corum took the handoff and nearly broke a td which he clearly would have.

The rutgers player came out of nowhere and shoestring tackled him..

Had he busted that play michigan goes up 27 to 13 with a few mins left

Missed the game and I'm only about 3 minutes in, but this team looks like national championship contenders!! Can't wait to see the rest! Anybody catch the final score?

Appreciate the work! I swear that I'm going to watch as soon as I get the fork out of my eye.

I was concerned about the offensive line. After watching again, I think a couple guys missed a pickup but I'm relieved about the OL play. Vestartis is amazing. 

Our concerns rest with Cade and pressure. I'd rather the second half misses was the hit he took than getting rattled on the nerve side.

If we get the first half performance the whole game next week, I like Michigan. We shall see.

I would also say that I hope Rutgers keeps playing this hard. They could clip MSU and that would be fine.