Each of Green's & Smith's runs...

Nice breakdown. Really am looking forward to the UFRs. 

Green is superior to Smith....but he leaves a lot of yards on the field at the end of longer runs. He easily left ten yds in that long run at 5 min left of the second, due to unawareness of the pursuer to his left. And Damien harris and his lifelong fandom might be feeling chummy right now...his skills are ideal for this O. Good choice Weber!!!

I like this writeup.  You saw a lot more than I did, and explained it very clearly.  Your conclusions seem very evidence-based; that's rare in college analysis.  Thanks for doing this.

Gets Green in the end zone on a couple of his long runs.

paste this over the soccer preview on the front page.

Smith >>> Green     Isaac >>> Smith

Excellent post. I believe we have a nice 1-2 punch at running back. I think both Green and Smith have their faults, but both compliment each other well. 

Im hoping the line improves each game, which I think it will. I also agree that Miller just doesnt have it. The coaches rave about him, which makes me think Glasgow might not take over the center duties against ND. I believe Kalis performed well yesterday, and will keep that RG spot. The question for me is, where will Glasgow end up? 

Nice write up.....agree with Miller, any type of power blocking for him could be a problem. Glasgow is interesting to where they put him. According to reports Cole has been the main guy at LT getting the reps and has done well.

At this point do you change up before ND or do you go into it with the same starting OL and see where you put Glasgow is someone struggles?

I just cant imagine they go into the ND game and have their best OL sitting for that game in Glasgow. They gotta put him somewhere.

Glasgow at RG.. he's not as mobile as Miller and thus is not as suited for center in a zone scheme. I dont't think messing with the LG/LT chemistry would be helpful either.

Breaking down plays is difficult and time-consuming, so kudos to bamf16

I kind of like the idea of having Glasgow and Kalis at LG/RG. Two big, physical guards to help the run game. I'm just worried that Cole and Mags won't have the strength to effectively run on the left side of the line. Teams might start loading up on the right side. I think we'd be more balanced with two big guards, and I assume Mags is a bit stronger than Cole. Regarding the center, I think Miller will do well enough. Also, we were in shotgun/pistol a lot yesterday, and Miller is better at shotgun snaps.

Thanks for taking the time to do this - very interesting.  I can't wait for the UFR this week, also.

Note to Michigan staff:  can we make centers wear 50-59, guards wear 60-69, and tackles wear 70-79, please?  I was thrown off completely by seeing a 52 out wide LOL

Here's the question, does Isaac have that breakaway speed that Green/Smith are lacking? If so, he could very well be our most complete back next season and take the starting spot. It's crazy to me how much frickin' talent we have at RB.

Great post, kudos to you sir. I'm loving this two headed monster rushing attack. Just imagine how fearsome this becomes next year with Ty, THREE HEADED RUNNING BACK MONSTER!!!!

Don't get me wrong, I loved what I saw from both Green and Smith but both seemed to lack that extra gear needed to break it big.  They reach that top end speed fairly quickly which is great going through the 2nd level but they both ran out of gas on a couple of their big runs.  They both also looked eerily similar when they flashed the stat lines mid 3rd quarter, thought I was too drunk but my drinking buddies said the same thing.

It's so hard to predict what to do with Glasgow because none of us really know what is talent level is compared to Miller right now, since by all accounts Glasgow lost the position battle to him fair and square before the start of the season. 

That being said, I rewatched the first half of the game last night, paying specific attention to Cole and Magnuson. Mags was great and did exactly what he needed to the entire time although I didn't think he looked comfortable pulling. Cole also was more than adequate in both the run and pass game, but did lack the strength you'd like to see. That is to be expected. The few times I watched Braden he looked great. 

In conclusion, start Cole-Mags-Miller-Kalis-Braden. If Cole struggles to run block or looks like he's getting exposed by ND in the passing game, put Glasgow in for Mags and shift Mags to LT. If Miller struggles, just plug Glasgow in and you have your line for the rest of the year.

thread and an offseason thread. Great analysis. Kalis looks like his back no longer bothers him, the wide receivers really like to get physical and block the hell out of people and Braden is a really large man.

I think Mags goes back to LT with Glasgow coming back. As great as Hoke has talked about Cole, I believe he was starting because he was the best option once Glasgow was suspended for the opening game. Had Mags not gotten hurt in spring ball and Glasgow not been suspended, the starters would have been Mags, Glasgow, Miller, Kalis and Braden. Cole would have been on the two deep tho I believe.

I'm liking Smith better than Green. Better vision. Breaks more arm tackles. Both aren't outrunning the defense and that is fine. But zone running needs good to great vision. Green seems to back behind in that department right now.

One other point I'd like to make based on your analysis: if the receivers truly are mountain goat blockers incarnate then we should really avoid two+ tight end formations. I'm a little concerned that Funchess was the only one catching TDs but it's not like he was the only one catching passes. If they truly bring that blocking dimension that our offense desperately needs they need to see the field even if their hands are slabs of concrete, which I don't think is correct just trying to demonstrate the need for blocking guys. I did see some positive mentions of AJ Williams and it will be interesting to see if he has improved, at least he is a willing blocker and I give him full marks for that attitude. If he hasn't improved that much then get a slot on the field to spread it out a little and make it easier for our big guys.

I don't pay enough attention, nor would I know what I'm looking for in terms of specifically how the O-Line looked, but it looked like it got better as the game went on. I thought Cole performed pretty well as a true freshman at LT, but have to keep in mind the level of competition. He'll get a real test against what should be at least a decent Irish defense on the road next week.

I really don't know how much changing things up I'd do even with Glasgow coming back. He might be a better option than Miller, since I know Miller is undersized, but I'm just hoping Nuss doesn't want to change things up too much unless it's clearly the better option. Still, I have faith in Nuss. He really seems like he's got the ability to make the right adjustments to put us in a position to win.

I thought both Green and a Smith looked good, but both seem to lack the real top-end speed to be a true home run threat. Green seemed to get caught from behind several times, and Smith doesn't look like he has the world's greatest stride. Keeps his legs really close together. Still, both looked very good yesterday, and as long as the O-Line continues to improve week to week, they should continue to do well together. And then, of course, we've got Isaac waiting in the wings next year. Its eerie to think how much talent we've got in the backfield right now.

After the 11th run, it appears the entire OL made use of the head-ass extraction machine on the sidelines.

If the plan is to put Glasgow at LG why would they put Mags there to begin with? I would think they would start him at LT and Cole/Bosch at LG, and Glasgow replaces them. I think the left side is set.

I agree on Miller - if he has help on a scoop block on down lineman, he can seal that man well or move off to the LB.  Head-up drive blocking, he's still getting overpowered.  It's possible that he's better at the line calls than Glasgow though, b/c hat-on-a-hat was much better this game. 

Disagree on Cole.  Sure he needs to get stronger, but he's not getting shoved around.  I like leaving him there and letting him get better.

I rewatched the game in slo mo late last night and saw a lot of what you did. I think Miller did a little better than you described. I only saw one or two plays where he got straight up beat, mostly it was that he stalemated the NT and didn't get push when asked to do it alone. He was quite adept at passing the NT off and moving to the next level. He had this uppercut technique that was very effective at sealing the guy off as he ran by him so his guard combo buddy could swoop in and take over. It'd be hard to pull him for Glasgow from just this game performance I think, Glasgow will have to clearly beat him in practice.

Kalis played fewer snaps than I thought. Really just the 2nd quarter. Joey B started and then came back in for much of the second half. I'm guessing Kalis is still either not 100% or they're just being really careful with him. Glasgow probably goes here until Kalis gets totally healthy. Kalis was probably our best run blocker, so it's a shame to pull him, but probably the right decision long term if it means having him healthy the rest of the season.

I think Cole sticks where he is. I was a little overwhelmed on run plays but did ok. The other side of the coin is pass protection and he did pretty well there, the one sack excepted. All the noise from the coaches seem to point to him being the long term solution there.

It looked like a lot of 6-man fronts to me (do they play a 4-2-5 base D?), with safeties walking up to be a seventh man.  Undersized at several positions though, so sometimes hard to tell LB from safety.  

This may be the wonderful world of Funchess we're living in though, b/c every time I saw a 6-man front and wondered WTF, I saw the clear double team of Funchess outside. 

The OL was able to get in front of the defenders, which is a great start.  Hat-on-a-hat.  But better/bigger defenders are going to knock some of those pulling lineman back into the hole (or knock them down), rather than absorb the block or be walled off.  On too many plays our guys are playing with straight backs and not enough bend. 

But lots to be encouraged about, obviously.  As everyone is saying, if you put more in the box, Nuss will take the bubble or other free yards in the air. 

that Michigan was able to break some runs, but App State is quite possibly the worst and most undersized team we play this year.  I really need to see a lot more against better teams.

On big plays I tend to watch the other teams LB's and safeties and many cases App State's safety was nowhere to be found and often enough an LB was sucked in the wrong direction.  Either Michigan gave great movement to get players out of position or App State's safety and LB play was just awful.  It was nice to see Michigan take advantage of that with some really excellent, powerful running.

 

I did like that the oline blocking schemes seemed to be an actual plan and not the helter skelter crap we saw last year. 

 

Encouraging but we have a long way to go to say we've fixed anything.

If it ain't broke don't fix it. These 5 at least deserve another shot to prove that this week was not a fluke, 300+ rushing yards and keeping Gardner upright gets them the start at ND.

Good job on the breakdown.  I watched the first 20 minutes of the MGoVideo and saw some encouraging things, as did you. We'll see how it shakes out next week.

Jehu Chesson, pound for pound, is the best blocker on the team.  IMHO.