joel honigford

you got... gashed [Patrick Barron]

FORMATION NOTES: Nebraska is primarily a 3-4, which meant the usual duo maulings looked a bit different; Michigan largely went off tackle instead of up the gut, with a few exceptions. Nebraska's usual approach:

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You see an OLB flexed over the slot and then a standup DE/OLB sort (Garrett Nelson, who popped out as by far their best player). This is a seven man front from them in my charting, as I count the overhang guy but not the cornerback and the safety is at about ten yards. Borderline—S creeps down a little further and I'll put 7.5 in.

Later in the game Nebraska upped the beef, bringing in a full eight-man front:

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This helped a bit, but only a bit.

SUBSTITUTION NOTES: Keegan and Schoonmaker were out. Hayes/El-Hadi/Oluwatimi/Zinter/Barnhart at OL, with Trente Jones getting the last drive. TE was a ton of Loveland and Honigford, somewhat less Bredeson, and a Hibner cameo. Edwards only got two carries after taking a big hit on his first one, which led to way more Corum than normal and then some not-quite garbage time for Stokes, Dunlap, and Gash.

[After THE JUMP: thump thump thump after the jump jump jump]

[David Wilcomes]

FORMATION NOTES: Rutgers uses a blizzard of different fronts but spends the game in a nickel with said nickel over the slot almost all the time, and then that guy gets nosy in the box almost all of the time.

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Here they've shifted their line over to the strength of the formation and the nickel is the littlest LB closes to the center of the field.

SUBSTITUTION NOTES: Usual at QB, obviously. Edwards got more carries earlier than usual; seemed like Corum may have been ill and Michigan was trying to limit his usage. At TE, Schoonmaker went out for a portion of the game and this led to more Loveland snaps. At OL, Persi took over for Hayes. On some goal line snaps Persi went out, El-Hadi came in and Keegan kicked out to tackle. Also El-Hadi got the last drive with the starters when Keegan got dinged.

WR saw more rotation with Wilson out. Walker and Morris both got targets and Anthony was a bigger part of the gameplan. No Clemons.

[After THE JUMP: a much more interesting defense]

[Patrick Barron]

FORMATION NOTES: Hello, it's Iowa. Iowa loathes putting guys in the box:

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This play has Edwards in the backfield and has the Iowa safeties rolled up inside of ten yards. This was an occasional change up; this was more frequent:

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Split safeties at 12, six guys in the box. Michigan severely cut down the number of multiple TE snaps. They had 43 snaps with 1 TE, 17 with two, and six with three. Half of those 3 TE snaps were Michigan's last drive.

Later in the game Iowa started firing up their blitzes and got aggressive, but until it was desperation time the light box was near-universal.

SUBSTITUTION NOTES: With Keegan back the OL did not deviate from Hayes/Keegan/Olu/Zinter/Jones. RB was Corum/Edwards exclusively. TE lacked All, had a ton of Schoonmaker, and was relatively limited otherwise. Until late Michigan's TE density was relatively low, for reasons discussed above. WRs as usual except Wilson went out later in the game after taking what looked like a hit to the eat.

[AFTER THE JUMP: a thousand cuts]

up and down but still positive 

it's all happening 

it got better on review 

yiiiiipes

The one where bolded alter ego cries.

The new phonebook's here!

sure what the hell roll with it 

they have eaten the beef and now emerge from the cocoon 

certainly the most optimistic OL preview post since 2011 

The phonebooks are here.