2019 wisconsin

This series is a work-in-progress glossary of football concepts we tend to talk about in these pages. Previously:

Offensive concepts: RPOs, high-low, snag, mesh, covered/ineligible receivers, Duo, zone vs gap blocking, zone stretch, split zone, pin and pull, counter trey, inverted veer, reach block, kickout block, wham block, Y banana play, TRAIN, the run & shoot

Defensive concepts: The 3-3-5, Contain & lane integrity, force player, hybrid space player, no YOU’RE a 3-4!, scrape exchange, Tampa 2, Saban-style pattern-matching, match quarters, Dantonio’s quarters, Don Brown’s 4-DL packages and 3-DL packages, Bear

Special Teams: Spread punt vs NFL-style

We've been throwing around a term for how Michigan is playing defense this year a lot lately and haven't stopped to explain what it means: Playing to Spill.

Definition

Playing to spill is a defensive technique where the force player (edge defender) dives inside of a kickout block while another defender pops outside. This is done on the fly, usually against power runs, as a way to screw up blocking assignments and force the ballcarrier into this now-unblocked outside defender.

A play

So Maryland—not for the reason you might think—runs an offense extremely similar to Michigan's. Particularly this week they were heavy into arc zone read and its counter, split zone, plus pin and pull and its flipside, Counter Trey. We've discussed Counter Trey on here a bunch. It's Pin & Pull the opposite direction with some counter action in the backfield to get the defense stepping to the frontside before you swing the ballcarrier and a few escorts to the backside.

Locksley's Terps will kindly demonstrate this for us:

This is vintage Locksley: trying to get you thinking about a run one way so you're not paying attention when it goes the other way, then he thunks your edge guy outside, pins you inside, and rips somebody's heart out. On this play you see the tight end come across the formation and the running back step that way like it's going to be that edge pitch Penn State liked to run, and it's a surprise when the ball goes the other direction. Michigan's defense wasn't fooled however.

Remember, the pulling guard coming across the formation is trying to kick out Aiden Hutchinson, DE #97 on the top of the line.  I want you to pay close attention to Aiden's response to the kickout. The pulling guard wants Aiden standing outside all passively. Aiden has other plans; he sees the guard coming…

…and leaps inside of him:

Aiden has now placed himself in the intended running lane. But this is Maryland's most base play, and the guard doing the kicking knows how to respond to this: turn the end inside. If you recall Michigan was doing the same thing on their pin & pulls versus Illinois.

The difference is here Michigan's defense has an edge.

[After THE JUMP: a scrape exchange for power]

Featuring special guests Randy and Jason Sklar, and Reid McCarthy of Ann Arbor Elder Law

The Sponsors

We can do this because people support us. You should support them! The show is presented by UGP & The Bo Store, who are the living embodiments of the Pitbull philosophy.

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[After THE JUMP: Philosophy, gaming, comedy, and Rutgers]

SPONSOR NOTE: Upon Further Review is sponsored by HomeSure Lending and Matt Demorest. Rates are the lowest they've been in three years so it can't hurt to check whether you can save money on a refinance. Or you could buy a house in Ann Arbor! Good luck with that!

Matt's relocated the bus to Pioneer this year, BTW, and invites everyone to stop by and say hi. There's beer. I mean, obviously. Matt. Matt and beer: a good pairing.

FORMATION NOTES: This game in a nutshell:

That is a seven-OL formation I called "beefcake". Michigan's short yardage package had Kemp as a head up nose and no one else inside either guard; Glasgow is called into action as a tilted three-tech in a three point stance.

Michigan tried some 3-3-5 stuff with Uche but spent most of the game in a 4-2-5, with weird stuff speckled in.

SUBSTITUTION NOTES: A significant amount of variation but Uche was mostly relegated back to about a third of the snaps as Michigan went with a four man line. This was almost without variation Paye/Kemp/Jeter/Hutchinson. Danna and Mason both got some snaps, with Mason's concentrated after the game was over.

LB level was Glasgow and Hudson basically the whole way—Gil got the last drive I charted in place of Glasgow. MLB was a rotating trio of meh: Ross got pulled early for performance reasons, and then Anthony got pulled seemingly for performance reasons, and then McGrone got some time.

Secondary the usual Hawkins/Metellus/Hill/Thomas setup with Gray rotating in for about equal snaps at CB; Woods got some time in dime packages.

[After THE JUMP: also not so great]