SPONSOR NOTES. If you're a Power 5 university that still doesn't have air conditioning in a visitor's locker room in 2017, there's probably a reason. Maybe you're paying a buyout for a guy you hired after one good year in the MAC, that sort of thing. Maybe you've made some poor choices in your athletic department and do not have ready cash to repair the embarrassing thing about yourself. Maybe you need a loan. Well, HomeSure Lending can get you that loan.

Probably. I mean... it's not like you're a part of the Michigan fanbase. No promises. But you'll find out fast if you have sufficient credit to build a marginally acceptable locker room. That HomeSure Lending can promise.

FORMATION NOTES. 15 4-DL snaps versus 39 3-DL snaps; Michigan had a few passing down snaps where Furbush was a DE and they lined up in a four-man line, so call it 1/3rd four-man lines and 2/3rds 3-3 stuff with a heavy stack emphasis. Michigan had three dime snaps with all three CBs on the field, which is a slightly meaningful indicator about the trust they've got in their top three.

They had some more of their weird line slide snaps.

This was about the only thing of note in the formations. Purdue had a bunch of bog-standard spread stuff. Michigan did what they'd done in their previous games. The end.

SUBSTITUTION NOTES. A little bit more rotation on the interior DL, with Solomon, Kemp and Dwumfour getting several snaps. Winovich was omnipresent until very late. LBs were Furbush, McCray, and Bush the whole way except for one drive Wroblewski got in the first half.

The secondary saw the now usual rotation of Hill, Long, and Watson through the snaps, in approximately equal shares. Hudson, Metellus, and Kinnel did not come off the field.

[After THE JUMP: throwbacks and doom]

I AM VERY TINGLY

Yo let's drive chart this:

• 8 three-and-outs
• 3 first down-and-outs, one of which is a FG after Michigan's INT.
• fumble on first play
• opening drive that's a trick play and a scramble and a three-and-out
• 75 yard throwback-heavy TD drive

That is one annoying drive away from perfect, at least in the non-Rutgers realm. Purdue's probably going to find that their early optimism tops out into a season where bowl eligibility seems pretty good. (This is still an accomplishment for Jeff Brohm.) They did not have any of the things that an opponent needs to test Michigan's defense except a decent-to-good slot receiver and a balls-to-the-wall attitude.

Still, not screwing up is hard and Michigan mostly did not.

Mostly?

The pass rush obscured a few open guys, and there were tight windows that could have been hit. I shudder to think of what this week might have been like amongst the Michigan fanbase if Purdue was able to hit this deep shot:

That's tough, and the coverage is decent.

Earlier, Hudson got beat cleanly. This is a chunk play if McCray (probably) doesn't get a fingernail on it:

#7, MLB-ish

That's a clever route combo that plays on the third-down tendency to run America's Rollout Out... but it probably shouldn't work so well on third and seven, which is not an ARO down. If you are looking for holes, Michigan's safeties all came out at or around zero in this game, and there are hints here and there that they have some weaknesses the other parts of the defense patently don't.

But, I mean. You can live with that when you've got this front seven.

Man, what a great game. I tingle in anticipation about who had the greatest game. Tell me. I want to know.

FOX's director.

...not Devin Bush

Look, Devin Bush is great and all but I'd trade him to have this director follow Michigan around and do every game. Not only did he zoom out when it was appropriate to do so, he had tight shots for probable runs and had two useful replay angles cued up for many plays. The only play they missed the start of was in garbage time when it was time to talk about Brady Quinn's career against Purdue. It was my favorite direction of a Michigan game I've charted. Ever!

Okay... but Devin Bush.

I love this man, who I do not know. The man who does the football directing good.

Please, please, please talk about Devin Bush now.

Well first, here's this...

disturbingly sensual chart titled "RICK" because you think this guy's name is rick I guess?

Rick just sounds like the kind of guy who would be amazingly competent at directing a football game, shut up

RICK, THE CHART

That RPS number is a big Don Brown win and it was the Braylonfest of RPS wins: after the Purdue TD drive I had all of Purdue's RPS positives and just one of Michigan's. They went from –11 to +7 on an 18-0 run.

I have to ask about the –11 section of the game.

I understand.

I wish it to be known that I expect a number of bad things to happen and Don Brown always comes in under expectations.

This is not a criticism.

Certainly not.

And yet we must delve. Onward. Live I thought the Purdue touchdown drive was a –10 RPS kind of thing; turns out it was –8, which is still not great. On this particular drive Michigan committed a bunch of guys to contesting rollouts and got throwback tunnel screens on their face twice. Purdue switched it up by having their slot receiver grab the screens; the rollout sent Michigan players running the wrong way and they could not redirect to be useful:

Ace detailed Purdue's throwback wheel-with-drag-under-it play; this is a similarly clever tweak to regular play that was effective. Very Brohm. Purdue did get lucky that Michigan had the worst possible blitz on versus this playcall, but this probably would have worked anyway.

Sindelar picked up a first down on a bizarre scramble on an attempted throwback, and then Michigan rolled out the red carpet for another slot tunnel when they lined up in their line slide package on second and ten. Nobody from the box can contest this. It is a free first down with a blocker delivered to the last man:

I did minus Kinnel here but only –1 because I think he made the right decision; his tackle attempt did give the rest of the D time to rally and stop this at the ten. Other than that there's nothing a Michigan player could have done.

Finally, Hudson got sold a bill of goods on the TE throwback, which is undefeated once a game. Throw in the –3 on the QB throwback and there's Purdue's coaching positives for the game.

Why didn't Purdue keep doing this?

They tried. Michigan adjusted. The first play of Purdue's next drive was an attempted TE throwback screen that got thrown into the ground because Hudson was in the chest of the TE. The second was a throwback to the TE that broke for a first down mostly because Kinnel didn't go low on a guy 50 pounds heavier than him; if Kinnel cuts the guy's legs out he picks up five yards.

Michigan had Purdue downloaded after this drive, on the throwback stuff and the trick play stuff and even some of the more basic concepts. Don Brown twice dropped Devin Bush directly into Purdue routes for near-picks, once on a slant, and once on mesh:

Hurry the QB a little more or widen Bush out a little bit more and that's a pick six. The slant went into the turf, possibly because the QB realized what he was about to do at the last second.

Michigan also had Bush specifically tasked with whomping a tunnel screen that Purdue duly ran on third and long. He whomped it. By the end of the game Brown was practicing whatever blitzes he hadn't gotten to yet and Blough got snowed under. Purdue's yards in this game were mostly RPS, and they all but stopped after their TD. Thus the comeback and a solid W for Don Brown against a tricky customer.

Okay but can we please talk about Bush now?

It's really hard not to get ahead of yourself with Bush, but here we are. Four starts, four great games. My favorite Bush play was probably the one he didn't actually make a tackle on, but would have. Raise your hand if you saw the QB throwback and the impending Buffalo Stampede and then saw Devin Bush closing like an avenging angel and though "oh thank God":

This is where Bush is when the D has collectively realized it's a throwback. He's the guy with dreads in the dead center here:

He turns that into a would-be tackle 25 yards downfield. JFC.

Bush's ability to read plays and redirect effectively showed up again. He nearly intercepted a screen on Purdue's first drive on a play that looked otherwise certain to work. He blew up Purdue's flea flicker by going 0 to 60 in a flash:

He jarred the ball loose from Purdue's tight end in another situation where he made up a ton of ground. He tracked down a back who had gotten dangerously loose on third and a bunch, and he was obviously a terror in the backfield.

Four games into his sophomore year the discussion is already about how far back in the past you have to go to find a better Michigan linebacker. I'm still holding the line at David Harris. If he keeps on this track that might not last the season.

I don't understand why nobody blocks him. If I'm an offensive coordinator I might be like "okay guys, let's try to block this guy," you know?

I think it's time to talk about Noah Furbush. Michigan is playing him instead of Bryan Mone, a 330-pound tank. Why? WTKA's Ira Weintraub put it best: Furbush is Bush's fullback. His job is to blitz and get engulfed by two guys. His only goal is to prevent the guy who should be blocking Bush from doing so, and he's excellent at that. This Bush QB hit was the clearest example of Furbush's job and why he's good at it. It's subtle, but watch Furbush feint outside before diving in at the C:

#59 LB to top of screen

OL commits and then Bush is gone, doing Bush things. This is the story of virtually all of Bush's free runs into the backfield.

#59 LB just left of umpire

Furbush's combination of speed and heft draws OL attention; he is able to drive these OL after getting a running start, and the rest is rabid squirrel history.

Mone is not able to do this. He cannot run at a couple OL and force both to block him even when it's pretty clear they shouldn't. There are many reasons Michigan is running a 3-3-5 this year; Furbush's ability to clear the way for Bush is #1. He is the definition of an unsung hero.

Doesn't that feel like something that opponents will adjust to?

Probably? Maybe? You have to figure that Purdue went into this game aware that they needed to block Bush first and foremost, and that didn't happen. Furbush has been good at putting himself in spots where the OL is picking between guys to let through. I'd still choose "not Bush" if I was an OC, and we'll see if that is the pick going forward.

Michigan's late pass rush did display some variations on the theme that should forestall a total shutdown of Bush's backfield forays. Winovich's first sack features Bush dropping while Furbush loops around untouched:

He doesn't get there as fast but it's fast enough. Later a Mo Hurst hurry has its path carved out by... Devin Bush:

#73 NT and #10 MLB

Bush's guy is understandably 100% focused on him. The idea that someone might stunt around never occurs to him and Hurst gets a free run up the gut. Brown has kept opponents guessing and will continue doing so; the Bush decoy section of the game was no less likely to get a guy to the quarterback than the rest of the game was.

And then the other guy... you know... captain... name is on the tip of my tongue...

It must be weird for Mike McCray, who entered the year as Michigan's Last Returning Starter and was instantly relegated to the sidekick's sidekick. He was great last week and quietly effective this week. Bush wasn't the only linebacker to rescue an ohshit screen:

#9 LB to top of screen

McCray didn't get a lot of other plays on which he was tested; that was a lifesaver. He mitigated another very open-looking tunnel screen:

I'm not usually a fan of going upfield of a block, especially when you're the last guy between Purdue and a guy shooting straight upfield until Metellus either tackles or gives up a TD. But that job got done.

McCray did get a little lucky on a would-be third and short conversion that he overran. The tight end's knee hit when he made his move, forcing a punt. The rest of his day was solid.

I used to remind people that UFR grades needed to be interpreted differently by position: zero was bad for a DL but okay for a linebacker. I said this because Michigan's linebackers had a tough time keeping their heads above zero. While McCray had a bad day against Cincinnati and is currently being dwarfed by Devin Bush on the chart, he too is an upgrade from Michigan's linebackers since... about David Harris, I think. Just not as much of one.

Sweet Odin's teats, Chase Winovich.

Yeah, 18-0=18 is something. Winovich was again rampant. Like Khaleke Hudson's interception against Cincinnati, his late sacks were only justice for a day of pillaging opponent backfields. Here he's the "nose tackle" in Michigan's slide and finds himself matched up with a guard. It does not go well for that guard:

#15 nose tackle

A few plays later he'd win on a pure speed rush; again the ball was out a fraction of a second before Winovich plowed the QB:

#15 standup DE to top of screen

This was a theme. Purdue could not keep Winovich from getting around the corner productively. He of course helped out on Bush's two half-sacks.

His pass rush is in fact more impressive than Bush's since he's almost always beating a guy straight up. Bush gets his meat cooked by Furbush, to use an old RichRod term. Winovich gets it raw, and gets to the quarterback. And even with all of that I think this play was my favorite from Winovich's day. Pitch sweep to him:

#15 DE to top of screen

Winovich doesn't anticipate the crack pre-snap—his first step is upfield—and he's still athletic enough to redirect around it in a flash, whereupon he seals the edge and takes two blockers and paves the way for his teammates. Winovich is no longer a wild and crazy guy. He's just the latter.

(BONUS: check out the announcer reacting to a pitch outside with "and here comes the trick play." I thought the same thing.)

Winovich is playing at or above Taco Charlton's level from last year. We'll see how it goes against higher-end competition, insofar as that exists on the rest of the schedule. It might not: PSU is still running out guard-type guys at tackle and Isaiah Prince holds down the right side for OSU.

Did I see something about Hurst being an AA despite not, like, doing much?

Despite the lack of stats, Hurst is really doing some yeoman work on the inside. He's a PFF All-American through four weeks; he has zero sacks and 2 TFLs. This is about right. In case you forgot about Dre, here's one for the Mo Hurst file:

#73 DT to bottom of screen

That does not happen. People on the back side of a power play take the play off because they are incapable of doing anything about it.

Hurst is another reason Bush gets so many free runs. He starts in a zero tech and all three interior OL have to be aware of him since his first step threatens to jet through either A gap. No wonder it's hard to get one of those guys out on a linebacker.

Man, Mike Zordich must get upset about a lot of things.

For a position group that got publicly chewed out in fall camp, the cornerbacks are currently executing the best case scenario. Our data is still limited; cornerbacks not named Watson got their first real tests of the year and shined. As Ace detailed last week, Purdue's receivers, especially on the outside, are very bad. This only matters so much, though, because a lot of CB play is finding the ball when it's in the air. Both Hill and Long did this impeccably. Long was tested on fade routes three times; each time he got his hand on the ball. Two were impressive PBUs...

...and one was a bad-luck event where Long forced the ball out of the WR's hands only for bloody fate to decree it would hang there for the gentleman to acquire.

Hill meanwhile was robbed of a PBU on this excellent bit of underneath coverage:

No idea how you don't offer the havoc stat for that. (Also this is why the director was so good. Endzone cam followed immediately by an isolation shot of the coverage, now I know everything about this play. Thank you based Rick. Are we still saying "based"? Please inform.)

Hill's other obvious involvement was on the non-PI that Fox discussed for a few minutes. This spurred a Bonafide Rant in the game column and I stick by that. The broadcast angle was the one that provided the best view of the relative position and momentum of the participants:

A cornerback can't run in a straight line downfield? I'm sorry, I thought this was America. If that's not explicitly called out in the rules as not PI, it should be.

Hill did bite on a double move early, which was a weakness we expected going into the year. He probably should have gotten called for holding—certainly if the Crawford flag was the standard the refs were going by—but if you do get beat like that, giving up 15 yards is hardly a tragedy with this defense.

You had some mumbles about the safeties above.

I mean, they're good. They're in the right spot, and with the exception of Air Force getting one over on Metellus busts have been nonexistent, or close to it. They're benefiting from Michigan's pass rush, it's true. They are not screwing it up so badly that the pass rush doesn't get home on a regular basis.

But! There were some opportunities they provided with bad coverage, and Kinnel had a bit of a rough day with his tackling. This is the kind of whiff I'll –2 because it neither contains nor slows the target:

Third and twenty one but once that RB breaks outside Purdue might get this if Devin Bush was, say, Desmond Morgan, or if the Purdue running back was Dalvin Cook.

Kinnel also whiffed on one of the tunnel screens on the TD drive—though not as badly—and got run over by Purdue's tight end. He leaked about 20% of the yards Michigan gave up on missed tackles, and didn't have many opportunities to make up for that in coverage. As always with defensive backs they share in a big positive coverage number.

Any flashes from the young DL?

A couple. Dwumfour forced the bad throw on the semi-controversial Hill play by getting around a couple of guys and then bursting upfield in a Hurst-ish way, and Solomon had a shove-and-disconnect tackle late in the first half:

Hints here and there that they'll be good when called upon next year.

Heroes?

Winovich, Bush, and Long stand out amongst a defense that was almost uniformly excellent.

Maybe not so heroic?

Nobody was bad, or even particularly close to it once you figure in the coverage number for the safeties. But those three guys were Michigan's relative weak point in this game, getting beat in coverage a few times and missing some tackles. "Relative" is doing a lot of work in the preceding sentence.

What does it mean for Michigan State and the future?

Here it is for Devin Bush. If he can be effective against an offense that is going to do everything it can to put a big dude in his face the sky's the limit. Even if MSU does get him on the regular he's already established he is an All American against the spread.

Also Bryan Mone. If MSU's heavy sets don't result in a lot of Bryan Mone playing time, either 1) he's just not going to be used much this year or 2) Michigan's whooping up on MSU's OL with the 3-3-5 so much it's hard to change.

Noah Furbush has one job and he does it well. He's a defensive lineman that starts off the LOS. His job is to clear the way for Bush.

Chase Winovich is out of his mind. Every snap until garbage time, and he only got more productive as the game went along. Now relentless and responsible. AA-level performer, making three along with Hurst and Bush.

The cornerbacks: probably good. Hill and Long were in hip pocket coverage the whole game, and were able to make plays on the ball when tested. Air Force tested their run support; all that's left is for these guys to take on some top flight competition.

If there is a weak spot it is the safety trio. Not saying they are. Not saying they ain't.

Don Brown: dude. Dude, Don Brown.