PFF Grades Last Night's Game
Many of you will be familiar with Pro Football Focus (PFF), a service that analyzes and grades every NFL game. This year (or maybe they started last year?) they have extended their services to the college game, and have graded out last night's game. You'll probably be unsurprised by who graded as Michigan's best player:
https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2015/09/04/utah-michigan-grades-bad-start-for-jake-rudock/
Grading methodology:
https://www.profootballfocus.com/about/how-we-grade/
I was glad to see Willie Henry crack M's top five performers, didn't seem like I noticed him much during the course of the game but he must've been doing something right.
Will be interesting to see how this ends up lining up with Brian's UFRs.
September 4th, 2015 at 12:41 PM ^
Dat Peppers, doe.
September 4th, 2015 at 12:55 PM ^
I think I was smiling like a little school girl when he popped Booker on the sideline. Damn if that isn't good football. A freshman planting a stud senior into the grass.
September 4th, 2015 at 12:57 PM ^
It was all about Dat Butt!
September 4th, 2015 at 1:47 PM ^
His coverage was pretty suspect all game. Run support was pretty good, and his athleticism makes up for some mistakes, but he has a ways to go.
September 4th, 2015 at 2:01 PM ^
he seems better at playing as a saftey than as a corner
September 4th, 2015 at 2:03 PM ^
He didn't play corner.
September 4th, 2015 at 2:15 PM ^
thats right, my bad
September 4th, 2015 at 5:15 PM ^
no doubt, his natural position is safety and he has most upside there (both as single high free type or more box safety -though well prob see him as a beast SS playing closer to LOS or slot).
given time and reps to develop, im sure peppers could be a pretty darn good CB if focused on it. as of now, hes instinctually so much better and more of impact player at safety (while his CB instincts and technique lag a bit behind). his only real troubles were the few minor issues he had in coverage, mostly from the slot (which is very hard to do by the way)
September 4th, 2015 at 12:42 PM ^
Thanks for posting, very level-headed commentary.
September 4th, 2015 at 1:00 PM ^
that 3 of their top five performers were on their DL.
September 4th, 2015 at 1:04 PM ^
Zero sacks
September 4th, 2015 at 1:09 PM ^
but also zero notable runs.
September 4th, 2015 at 1:10 PM ^
2.1 yards per carry
September 4th, 2015 at 1:10 PM ^
I think that has much to do with Rudock as the OL. He was getting rid of the ball quick when under duress (to the detriment of his accuracy, unfortunately).
I think we're all so used to Gardner holding onto the ball as long as possible trying to make a play with his legs and ending up getting sacked we forgot what it looks like to have a QB get rid of the ball when pressure's coming.
September 4th, 2015 at 1:11 PM ^
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September 4th, 2015 at 1:32 PM ^
Isaac didn't pick the blitzing LB, so Rudock had to throw the ball about a half second before Butt would've been open downfield. Maybe that's why Isaac and to a lesser extent Green isn't starting.
September 4th, 2015 at 4:59 PM ^
I remember before Green's freshman year, rivals insiders said that he had problems with pass protection. Two years later with a new coaching staff and he must be having the same issues.
September 4th, 2015 at 1:21 PM ^
As well as this little factoid - granted, 76 rushing yards across 29 attempts is not impressive numerically, but that net of 76 comes from a raw positive total of 78 yards, or in other words, "Yards -" was only -2. That's improvement too, even over last year, which was itself a major improvement over 2013 in this regard.
September 4th, 2015 at 1:21 PM ^
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September 4th, 2015 at 2:40 PM ^
Big James Ross fan huh?
/s
September 4th, 2015 at 2:13 PM ^
September 4th, 2015 at 1:00 PM ^
Getting beat by a true freshman WR..blurgh.
September 4th, 2015 at 1:07 PM ^
Agreed but I still think the PI call was BS. Peppers was the one being held!
September 4th, 2015 at 1:17 PM ^
September 4th, 2015 at 1:45 PM ^
It wasn't pass interference to begin with, and I don't how it was called that way because Peppers didn't even make contact with the guy. I think the officials know they screwed that one up too because later they called the same guy for holding on one of the longest gains of the night for Utah by Travis Wilson who actually Harbaughed Michigan.
He was the difference maker, the very type of qb Harbaugh is recruiting, tall rangy and mobile with a strong arm who can run when necessary.
September 4th, 2015 at 1:48 PM ^
I agree with that, but I don't think the ref could see it from his angle.
September 4th, 2015 at 1:08 PM ^
Umm he's only a freshman too. He's still very very young with little experience in college.
September 4th, 2015 at 1:10 PM ^
Logical responses and even temperment have no place on the internet!
September 4th, 2015 at 1:17 PM ^
The first half he looked like his head was swimming. The PI call was BS. The second half he was more relaxed and was just fine. No worries.
September 4th, 2015 at 1:05 PM ^
Yeah he got beat like a drumb in the passing game, though the pass interference was pretty weak.
September 4th, 2015 at 1:05 PM ^
He is just a football player with great knowledge of the game...scary part is that he made a few mistakes and still showed us all what he can do. I know he is a "freshman" but he looks like a senior out there...he will be fun to watch this year.
And to the posters above comment, that hit on Booker was dope. Good solid pop to that senior from a 19 year old kid...awesome.
Regroup, practice and beat up on OSU
September 4th, 2015 at 1:35 PM ^
He looks like a good freshman, not a senior. Making a lot of plays but also more errors than you'd expect a veteran to make. He's a bit like OSU's Ryan Shazier early in his career, or a better and more physically gifted version of Jonas Mouton.
September 4th, 2015 at 1:06 PM ^
about that PI penalty on Peppers. I couldn't really get on the blog given the terible wifi at the bar last night, so I didn't get to read everybody's reaction, but I was pretty pissed about that call.
In fact, everyone at my table—as well as everyone at the neighboring table—was convinced the call went against Utah. And we were all initially confused when Utah lined up to run the next play at 1st and 10.
This doesn't absolve Peppers of his mediocre coverage at other points in the game, but it does seem like this was a pretty fluky call that (at the very least) could have gone either way.
September 4th, 2015 at 1:18 PM ^
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September 4th, 2015 at 2:01 PM ^
Was not tremendous for Peppers. I swear people see one or two highlight plays, and then just parrot whatever the game announcer says. He was VERY shaky in coverage all night. Run support was pretty good though, but he did miss at least one tackle that I saw live.
The kid is human, and people need to stop with the endless hype train until he actually proves himself.
September 4th, 2015 at 5:05 PM ^
He definitely looked better in the 2nd half. Did you not see all the tackles he was making and blowing up the screen play? He even came close to a sack (on the blitz play where Morgan got to Wilson first).
September 5th, 2015 at 2:54 AM ^
You're definitely the negative end of the opinion curve for Peppers. Not sure why. Yes, he could have been in better position on some plays... that puts him in same category as most of the team.
He has already made more spectacular and impactful plays in this one game than a couple current upper classmen multi-year 'solid' starters have in their entire careers.
Perhaps your expectations are a bit out of position?
September 4th, 2015 at 1:08 PM ^
Also I'm guessing the UFR's are going to be real tough on the LB's. A lot of missed arm tackles, they looked unimpressive dropping in zones and were getting torched like they had never seen a zone read before.
September 4th, 2015 at 1:21 PM ^
September 4th, 2015 at 5:55 PM ^
I was screaming at Bolden more times than I can count for the missed tackles. It was mind boggling between the whiffs or over running the play.
September 4th, 2015 at 1:08 PM ^
It looked pretty basic to me, I didn't notice much zone.. we got beat on a lot of man coverage.. I wish they would have switched it up a lot more
September 4th, 2015 at 1:16 PM ^
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September 4th, 2015 at 1:11 PM ^
September 4th, 2015 at 1:37 PM ^
A freshman with a few halves of experience. Let the kid (which he still is) get some experience before you start saying what's inexcusable.
September 4th, 2015 at 1:11 PM ^
September 4th, 2015 at 1:11 PM ^
September 4th, 2015 at 1:16 PM ^
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September 5th, 2015 at 3:01 AM ^
Now you won't so easily forget that name when you hear it later in the context of accolades.
Peppers and others may have let him loose at times, but that kid made some plays on his own.
September 4th, 2015 at 1:14 PM ^
I always look forward to UFR, but I am very much looking forward to this one. I had to watch at a crowded bar on not the best TVs, so it was hard to really analyze much.
September 4th, 2015 at 1:21 PM ^
Ignorant question - does the altitude of SLC affect how far a thrown football can travel? We saw how both kickers' kickoffs sailed out of the endzone most of the night. Could this have affected Rudock's deep overthrows?