[Special Toussaint Mini-UFR is what this is but it didn't seem like a good title.]

The single downer from the Purdue game was Fitzgerald Toussaint's anemic output: 17 carries, 19 yards, and at least one kicked cat in the Toussaint household after his return from West Lafayette. What happened? Should Thomas Rawls be inserted as a replacement? Let's look at pictures and try to find out.

First, let's set aside three short-yardage carries. One was a third and one power that just made it; two were goal line attempts that got in. (There was a third goal line attempt that did not wiped out by penalty.) Now we've got… 15 carries for 22 16 yards, one of which went for two yards but was wiped out by an irrelevant chop block. Dios mio, man.

How much of this is on Toussaint, how much the OL, and how much the line? Let's find out. Toussaint's non-goalline carries ordered by play type.

Barnum gets blown into the backfield here by a Short slant that can happen because of a corner blitz:

Toussaint is forced to cut behind that and then the end shuffling down behind makes the play.

VERDICT: 75% RPS, 25% blocking.

This worked well enough that we can dispense with the Verdict Of Blame.

This was not set up well from the start:

Michigan's running to the left of the center, where there are four Boilermakers and three blockers. A cutback develops and I have a sneaking suspicion that this run is supposed to cutback just because it can't work if it's run directly at where the action goes.

VERDICT: 50% Toussaint, 25% RPS, 25% blocking.

[AFTER THE JUMP: BLAME! BLAME! BLAME!]

VERDICT: 100% RPS, not that anyone cares given the game situation.

VERDICT: 100% Toussaint, but at this point the guy is stir crazy.

Denard has just busted a 60 yard run when the DE takes off for Toussaint and he keeps. DE takes off for Toussaint again, he hands. Also Schofield gets shoved into the backfield:

This doesn't end well.

VERDICT: 50% Denard, 50% blocking.

VERDICT: 50% okay since it's essentially a first down, 50% blocking by frosh WR.

Likely what happens on the following iso if Toussaint just runs them.

A couple times Toussaint refused to take a meager gain and tried to dance for long ones, with poor results. This is a first and fifteen iso on which the blocking is fine. Toussaint's got a crease, Kerridge impacts a linebacker across the LOS, and the unblocked guy is a safety:

Pretty sure Rawls thunders into that guy and falls forward for five. Toussaint tries to hop around Kawaan Short…

…and that goes about how you'd expect. Okay yeah this could happen if Barnum is getting movement on short, which he's not, because he's one on one with a first round draft pick.

VERDICT: 25% RPS, 10% blocking, 65% Toussaint.

Toussaint's got no shot on this play:

Secure in the knowledge they've got a corner blitz behind them, the Purdue line sells out to the playside, giving Michigan's blocking scheme little chance to get a seal. Toussaint makes the cut he should, whereupon he is buried by Short.

VERDICT: 75% RPS, 25% blocking as Barnum is not able to handle Short.

Michigan kind of sucks at power.

Here Schofield lets a guy under him, who then picks off Barnum. Unblocked MLB on power is bad.

VERDICT: 100% blocking.

Sucks at power!

That's a Purdue run blitz (or LB flowing so hard he's essentially blitzing) shooting a backside gap to make a TFL. Nice play, pretty sure no one on Michigan's team is able to do anything about this.

VERDICT: 100% RPS.

Other times it's just Purdue going nuts on run defense. Here they go pure cover zero and shoot their last safety into the box to provide a guy in the hole despite this play getting blocked well:

In a perfect world, center Mealer gets out on the linebacker who Barnum eventually takes, leaving the safety for Barnum and Toussaint runs for 80 yards, but once the LB flows hard that's never happening.

VERDICT: 100% RPS.

I'm serious, nobody is blocked on this play. It's to the point where it has to  be an issue with both the blocking and the call.

VERDICT: 50% RPS, 50% blocking.

Here's the moment of truth for Toussaint on this play:

That's not on him. I called this "Four Boilers, One Cup."

VERDICT: 75% blocking, 25% RPS just because all power from the I gets an owlish glare from me.

BLAMEOFF

Toussaint's crappy day was a combination of:

Getting caught in bad situations. Corner blitzes blew up a couple plays. A wholesale lack of safety held others down. Approximate total blame: 25%.

Michigan's lack of give a damn. With the counterpunches to Michigan's bread and butter plays wisely stowed in the garage, Purdue was free to get an extra defender in the box even when they had to account for Denard's legs. That guy held plays that otherwise would have picked up big chunks down. Approximate total blame: 40%.

Crappy blocking. It happens. Against Short it happens with frequency. Approximate total blame: 20%.

A furious Fitz making anti-plays. Late he clearly started pushing; on a couple of plays where it was just like get your five yards dude he started getting all fancy and got as many yards as an 18-year-old in Appalachia wearing a come-hither dress would have. Approximate total blame: 15%.

Now: you expect your ballcarriers to make plays. That's been the whole complaint with Smith as a runner—he doesn't get more than you give him much. Fitz didn't get more than Michigan gave him at all in this game.

What about Rawls?

Well, Rawls had those things what are they called oh yeah, holes:

At this point Purdue had thrown in the towel. I'm not ready to throw out Fitz's extremely good 2011 because a guy broke a couple tackles on backups with three minutes left in the game.

That said, Rawls seems a better fit for certain plays Michigan is running, like those isos and inside zones that tend to cut back. He probably can't be the feature back because the veer is so key to Michigan's offense, but it's not like they can't run the thing a couple times a game with him in there. Defenses are going to contain that by default and won't be able to put in a special Rawls veer defense package unless it's getting a ton of snaps.

Meanwhile, you can still test the edges of opposing defenses by using Rawls as a lead blocker on Denard sweeps and other such things. The Denard Iso made a comeback in this game—I'll talk about that more later in the full UFR—and a 5'10", 215 pound tailback is going to be pretty effective bashing linebackers into the turf on stuff like that.

We still don't know how Rawls is at pass blocking or if he's fumbling in practice, so there may be a couple good reasons he's not seeing the field. If he's being secure with the ball I expect to see some more of him; the spread is diverse enough to handle a power back package (see Brandon Minor). The persistent awesomeness of the veer puts a ceiling on his use, though.

I think we'll see a lot of him against the Illini, and Michigan will go to him if Fitz struggles early against State.