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:

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:

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]

Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	RB	TE	WR	D Form	Box	Type	Play	Motion	Player	Yards
M20	1	10	Gun 4-wide tight	1	1	3	Base 3-4	7.5	Pass	Dumpoff	WR	Corum	4
Michigan generally comes out with a pass so Nebraska rushes 3 and JJ checks down. (CA, +0.5, 3, protection 1/1)
M24	2	6	Pistol 2TE tight	1	2	2	Base 3-4	8	Run	Split zone	N	Corum	7
Just a pile lurch up the gut. Olu(+1) first seals a guy out and then drives him when he tries to shed; this ends up three yards downfield. Hayes(+1) only gets about a yard, which is usually a half point, but when he realizes it’s time for a ruck he alertly holds Corum up and helps him drive; Corum(+1) churns those legs.
M31	1	10	Ace TTE tight	1	2	2	Base 3-4	7.5	Run	Split zone	N	Corum	5
Kind of think this is a dubious cut by Corum as there’s a gap right up the gut with Olu(+0.5) mostly sealing a guy with help from a Zinter(+0.5) chip. Barnhart(+1) drives his guy as well, LOS reset. Corum goes backside, where Honigford has no angle on a LB; Bell(+0.5) gets a kickout. Loveland(+1) grinds back a LB and Corum is able to dodge Honigford’s man and get five. Corum push.
M36	2	5	Ace TTE tight	1	2	2	Base 3-4	7.5	Pass	PA corner	WR	Bell	25
PA, no bite. Bell gets a safety and starts running a crossing route, then breaks it back out to the corner, flipping his guy around 360 degrees, wide open (route+). This throw could be better; it holds Bell up a bit, but still easily in CA range. (CA, +1, 3, protection 2/2) RPS +1.
O39	1	10	Gun trips TE	1	1	3	4-3 over	7	Run	Inside zone	Flare	Edwards	4
Henning into the backfield and then runs a flare; Nebraska sends a safety at this and rotates a CB back as M runs the other way. Looks like a legit RPO(+). Olu(+0.5) and El-Hadi(+0.5) double through the nose and El-Hadi picks up a charging LB. Barnhart and Honigford combo through a DE and Barnhart tries to get over to the other LB but has no angle; Edwards slows up and then hits the gap but never really attempted to sell the LB on another gap and gets lit up.
O35	2	6	Gun trips	1	1	3	Nickel even	6	Pass	Fade	WR	Anthony	Inc
M attempts to draw Nebraska off and gets three guys to twitch but nobody actually jumps. Olu snaps, OL does not have a snap count to go on, so edge rusher gets around Barnhart. This is not on him. JJ has no choice but to boot up the fade to Anthony, which is well covered. Ball is way, way too long. (IN, -1, 0, protection N/A, RPS -1)
O35	3	6	Gun 3-wide	1	2	2	4-3 over	7	Run	Split zone	TE	Corum	4
Hayes(-0.5) and Zinter(-0.5) kind of get stuck at the LOS here, with Hayes hinging back and Zinter just not getting any movement. Barnhart(+0.5) and Loveland don’t exactly blow out a DE but get enough movement for Corum to burrow in. Olu(+0.5) and El-Hadi(+0.5) blow up the other DT, which is not directly relevant since that’s not the gap Corum goes in but that block does make the free hitter LB hesitate.
O31	4	2	Gun 3-wide	1	2	2	Base 3-4	7	Run	Split belly	TE	Corum	4
DE slanting away and pinching in so M goes off the backside; Loveland(-2) IDs and attacks the overhang corner instead of the LBs here so this looks scary for a second but Honigford(+1) and Barnhart(+1) carve out enough space for Corum(+0.5) to grind it out.
O27	1	10	Gun trips TE	1	1	3	Nickel over	6.5	Run	Power GT	N	Edwards	9
M runs one of these pass-off blocks again with Barnhart(+0.5) engaging with a DE before moving on to the LB; El-Hadi(+0.5) comes in to finish him off. This guy got stuck at the LOS as a result of this and has no ability to actually set the edge; Edwards(+1) sees this and bounces, taking Hayes with him. Bell(+0.5) kicks a CB. RPS +1.
O18	2	1	Ace twin TE	1	2	2	4-3 over	8	Run	Power G	TE	Corum	5
Nice kick from Loveland(+0.5); LB shoots up outside and DE Honigford is on also wins out there, so Corum(+0.5) has to cut away from the POA; still a chunk as Hayes(+0.5) has controlled a DT. Other LB doesn't know what he’s doing so he sits and catches Corum, Hat -1.
O13	1	10	Gun TTB	1	2	2	Base 3-4	8	Run	WR insert	N	Corum	1
Bell(-2) is the insert guy here and runs by the playside LB. Honigford(-1) hits and moves an OLB but falls off that block. Loveland(+0.5) does get a kick. Two guys converge on Corum.
O12	2	9	Gun trips TE	1	1	3	4-3 over SAM	7.5	Pass	Corner	N	Wilson	Inc (Pen +10)
Man free from Nebraska and Wilson’s lined up against a safety; he chucks and then grabs Wilson’s jersey, drawing a warranted flag. This is probably a touchdown if not interfered with but I can’t chart this. (not charted, 0, protection 1/1, RPS +1)
O2	1	G	Ace twin TE	1	2	2	Goal line	9	Run	Belly	TE*	Corum	2
Johnson(+0.5) motions in and then inserts himself into the line, eventually getting to a LB and hitting him. This is more useful as distraction as he holds a couple of guys. Meanwhile this play just wants to wash down the TE side of the line. Honigford(+0.5 ) and Loveland(+0.5) turn guys in and Corum has enough of a gap that the CB can’t shut it down.
Drive Notes: Touchdown, 7-0, 4 min 1st Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	RB	TE	WR	D Form	Box	Type	Play	Motion	Player	Yards
M34	1	10	Ace TTB	1	2	2	Base 3-4	7	Run	WR insert	Reset	Corum	5
They run the same insert from the last drive and get it more correct this time. Bredeson(-0.5) has a kickout but gives ground on it. Loveland(+0.5) finds a charging LB and seals him. Bell gets a charging safety and just does enough; push largely because he is a WR. RPS +1, I guess, since no one really did anything that well and it’s still five yards.
M39	2	5	Pistol 3-wide	1	2	2	Base 3-4	7	Pass	Sack	TE	N/A	-8
Barnhart(-2) straight up whipped for sack. (PR, N/A, protection 0/2)
M31	3	13	Gun 4-wide tight	1	1	3	Exotic	6	Pass	Drag	WR	Bell	Inc
Another pressure instance here. Barnhart(-1) doesn’t get beat as comprehensively but his guy gets around enough to flush JJ up in the pocket. Edwards flips a linebacker on an excellent cut block but El-Hadi(-1) does not read this right and stays with a DT who’s lined up over Olu and moves right, away from him. Green dog LB sees Edwards cut and activates, nobody picks him up, JJ has to dump it and misses Bell, who was getting tackled for three yards anyway. (PR, +0, 0, protection 0/2)
Drive Notes: Punt, 7-0, 1 min 1st Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	RB	TE	WR	D Form	Box	Type	Play	Motion	Player	Yards
M27	1	10	Gun 3-wide	1	1	3	Base 3-4	7	Run	Power T	N	Corum	12
Unusual pull pays off for M as they freeze the backside LB and he can’t get over. Barnhart(+1) just gets a kick here but extra half point for coming from T. Loveland(+0.5) seals in a linebacker on a free release; Hayes(+0.5) gets a DE. El-Hadi gets out awkwardly and can only shove the held LB. Wilson(+0.5) gets a block; Corum(+0.5) extends to sideline before cutting off of it to maximize. RPS +1.
M39	1	10	Gun 3-wide	1	1	3	Base 3-4	7	Pass	Fly	WR	Anthony	Inc
No real PA here; JJ half-rolls to the field and has a flood concept that Nebraska covers all of. JJ says YOLO and loads up for a deep shot and then gives Anthony no shot at the ball. He’s tangled with a DB, ball is well wide and long. Arm punt this. (IN, -1, 0, protection 1/1)
M39	2	10	Gun 3-wide	1	1	3	Base 3-4	7	Pass	Fade	TE	Johnson	Inc
Straight dropback, blitz gets OLB in against Edwards, he cuts but time is limited. Press versus Johnson, he runs the fade. I zaprudered this and when Johnson comes in the screen again he’s running down the middle of the numbers and then he’ s a step or two further inside than that; he doesn’t get his head around quickly and when he adjusts to the ball he has a tough body control sort of catch that goes through his hands. I think this is is an excellent throw that meets a bad route. (CA, +1, 1, protection 2/2, Johnson route -)
M39	3	10	Gun TTB	1	1	3	Dime even	5.5	Pass	Drag	WR	Johnson	Inc
I have no idea what’s going on downfield because this director sucks ass, FWIW. What we see is Michigan pick up a complicated five man pressure and JJ step up into a five yard throw against zone that’s not going to convert, and then Johnson drops it. (CA, +0, 3, protection 3/3)
Drive Notes: Punt, 7-0, 14 min 2nd Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	RB	TE	WR	D Form	Box	Type	Play	Motion	Player	Yards
M34	1	10	Gun trips TE	1	1	3	Base 3-4	7	Run	Power GT	N	Corum	5
Corum cuts this away from the POA as Barnhart’s guy hops outside of him. Barnhart(-0.5) gets a couple yards of depth here so it’s not a huge problem but this is not ideal; El-Hadi(+0.5) gets a kickout and Hayes(+0.5) pulls through to whack that guy; Zinter(+0.5) has stood up a backside player so there’s a gap up the gut; two LBs fill it as M now has no angles to block them.
M39	2	5	Gun 2TE	1	2	2	4-3 over split LB	7	Run	Power GT	TE	Corum	7
This catches a slant away, RPS +1. Honigford(+1) and Barnhart(+0.5) wash their guys way down the line; El-Hadi(+0.5) gets his kick. Hayes(+0.5) gets to a linebacker and Bell(+0.5) hits a safety trying to fill. Corum(+0.5) gets hit three yards downfield by Hayes’s guy and from the side so he just deadlifts out his YAC.
M46	1	10	Pistol twin TE	1	2	2	Base 3-4	7	Run	Power GH	TE	Corum	5
Motion Loveland to an insert iso spot over Barnhart and use him as the first man through. Loveland(+0.5) kicks the OLB. Honigford(+1) chips and extends to a LB; Barnhart(+0.5) turns in a DE with that help. El-Hadi(+0.5) gets out to a LB; Corum(-0.5) probably gives up a few yards by trying to break it outside the corner and giving up his forward momentum.
O49	2	5	Ace trips TE	1	2	2	4-3 over	7.5	Pass	PA out and up	TE	Loveland	28
Loveland motions in to a wing TE spot, PA, he runs an out and then is gone off the screen; when he reappears he’s wide open after selling an out and then heading upfield. We do not get a useful replay. (CA, +1, 3, protection 2/2, RPS +1, Loveland route+ I guess)
O21	1	10	Ace TTB	1	2	2	4-3 over	8	Run	Belly	N	Corum	12
Nebraska does not set an edge; Bell(+1) reads the OLB he’s got slanting inside and gets to him; Loveland(+0.5) gets to his guy; Honigford(-1) gets extended back and forces an early cut by Corum(+2), who sees the wide open corner and gives a juke to the CB trying to fill to get a chunk. RPS +1, Bell was functionally an extra guy since this CB was not part of the run front once he blocked.
O9	1	G	Gun TTB	1	2	2	4-3 under	8.5	Pass	PA insert corner	N	Bell	9
Bell inserts inside of Loveland, safety charges at this pull, easy six. (CA,+1, 3, protection 2/2, RPS +2). This is not an RPO FWIW, as line is not blocking a run.
Drive Notes: Touchdown, 14-0, 8 min 2nd Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	RB	TE	WR	D Form	Box	Type	Play	Motion	Player	Yards
M33	1	10	Pistol 2TE	1	2	2	Base 3-4	7	Run	Double insert	N	Corum	11
Both TEs in wing spots; both go through the A gaps. Zinter(+2) and El-Hadi(+1) turn out DEs by themselves; Zinter will end up riding his guy almost ten yards downfield as he tries to disconnect and tackle Corum. Olu(+0.5) gives some ground but puts the nose to one side of him so Corum picks the gap behind; Corum(+1) dusts a safety trying to fill; Loveland(+0.5) and Bredeson(+0.5) both get their second level blocks and Corum runs up their backs.
M44	1	10	Gun 2TE	1	2	2	Base 3-4	7	Run	Pin and pull	TE	Stokes	1
Loveland(-1) gives up a significant amount of penetration ot the DE, forcing Stokes to bend around him; El-Hadi(-1) is pulling and attempting to meet a LB; LB goes upfield of him clean. Some sympathy here because this may be suicidal if Stokes gets a clean path.
M45	2	9	Gun 3-wide	1	1	3	Nickel even	6.5	Pass	Fade	N	Bell	Inc
Deep shot incompletion #4 is a well covered fade that JJ should probably come off in favor of a TE pivot in the middle of the field. If he throws it this looks like time for a back shoulder but this is truly excellent coverage; FWIW this ball looks like it’s right on point if the CB isn’t (legally) hampering Bell’s ability to get to the ball. (BR, -1, 0, protection 2/2)
M45	3	9	Gun trips	1	1	3	Exotic	6	Pass	Pivot	N	Wilson	13
Nebraska sends six; picked up. Pivot underneath is caught at six yards and Wilson almost certainly has the first down if he just goes straight upfield; he gambles on making the safety miss and does, so he ends up adding on a few more yards. I’m going to deviate from results-based charting here and just give this a push because this is not a good risk to take. (CA, +0.5, 3, protection 3/3)
O42	1	10	Ace TTB	1	2	2	Base 3-4	7.5	Run	WR insert	N	Corum	5
Loveland(+1) finds and turns in a linebacker charging. Anthony makes contact with a safety and gets hamblasted back across the line of scrimmage, but that guy doesn’t make a tackle so I guess push; Bredeson has an OK kickout that gives a little ground and when the safety pushes Corum wide he’s able to disconnect to tackle. RPS +1, this again has no free hitter because the corner is not part of the run front.
O37	2	5	Pistol 3-wide	1	1	3	Base 3-4	7	Run	Counter G	N	Corum	3
I wonder if this is a Barnhart bust, they’ve been running a lot of GT and this only has one puller so the MLB is a free hitter while Barnhart is blocking an OLB with no shot at doing anything here. ...yeah, Barnhart(-2). It’s either that or RPS -2, and this makes so little sense I have to assume bust. Hayes(+1) blows his guy up; Zinter(+0.5) gets his kickout; Loveland(+0.5) gets enough movement before falling off; LB makes the play. It is now third and two on the plus 33 with 1:38 left in the half, TO not called.
O34	3	2	Pistol 2TE	1	2	2	Base 3-4	8	Run	Dive	N	Corum	1
NT knows this is coming and resorts to a knee to remain in place, which works. Corum(-0.5) probably should be darting off the backside, which is there for a conversion but just jams it up the middle. Again no TO until Nebraska calls one.
O33	4	1	Gun TTB	1	2	2	Goal line	9	Run	Dive	N	Corum	3
Corum(+0.5) does make the cut here as Loveland(+0.5) makes contact with an OLB and knocks him back and Honigford(+1) hammers in a DE.
O30	1	10	Pistol 3-wide	1	1	3	Base 3-4	7	Run	Duo	N	Corum	6
Tempo, M catches Nebraska trying to sub, illegal substitution penalty. Unfortunately they do not have a shot play on, it’s just duo to Corum with 28 seconds left in the half. El-Hadi(+1) and Olu(+1) blow out a DT badly; Barnhart(-1) gets slanted under and Corum has to bounce it wide, where El Hadi has no angle to a linebacker; Corum(+1) spins through a tackle to pick up a decent chunk. Clock stops for penalty but resumes on ready for play and M is not prepared.
O24	2	3	Gun 4-wide	1	1	3	4-3 even LB split	6.5	Pass	Corner	N	Wilson	Inc
Olu(-2) beat clean and JJ gets pressure up the gut; he has to throw. Wilson is not at all open after getting man coverage from a safety at 12 yards but literally no one is open so whatever, I guess. (PR, +0, 0, protection 0/2)
O24	3	3	Gun trips	1	1	3	Nickel even	6	Pass	Slant	N	Johnson	11
After a bunch of dancing Johnson breaks to the slant an has separation(route+) for a catch and run. (CA, +1, 3, protection 2/2)
Drive Notes: FG(30), 17-13, EOH.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	RB	TE	WR	D Form	Box	Type	Play	Motion	Player	Yards
M31	1	10	Pistol 3-wide	1	1	3	Base 3-4	7	Run	Inside zone	N	Corum	8
Olu(+1) has a one on one block with the NT and gets him a yard downfield, completely sealed. Zinter(+0.5) locks his guy out but not as authoritatively. El-Hadi(+1) releases and gets to a LB despite having a dubious angle; Loveland(+0.5) shoves a LB. Corum(+0.5) breaks an arm tackle and maximizes.
M39	2	2	Gun trips TE	1	1	3	Base 3-4	6.5	Run	Power GT	N	Corum	0
Honigford(-2) gets a SAM and that guy gets under Honigford and drives him back in a flash; El-Hadi gets hung up on this, actually knocking Honigford over. Hayes(+0.5) gets his kick but with the bend and no second lead blocker this gets buried.
M39	3	2	Gun TTB	1	2	2	Base 3-4	7.5	Run	Belly	N	Corum	6
Hayes(+1) clubs a DE inside as he pinches expecting dive. Honigford(+1) checks this guy as well and when he goes in he moves to the second level to stand up a charging LB. Bell has no angle to a safety at seven yards but does his best to harass; Corum(+0.5) just runs away from him and starts grinding when he meets Honigford’s guy. Loveland(+0.5) also gets a kick, FWIW. El-Hadi(+0.5) got a second level block that removed a LB.
M45	1	10	Pistol TTB	1	2	2	Base 3-4	7.5	Pass	Hitch	N	Anthony	Inc
Anthony the solo WR to the boundary, hitches up at the sticks but gets off balance and is not standing up straight when the ball arrives, so an otherwise excellent throw clangs off the top of his hands. (CA, +0.5, 3, protection 2/2)
M45	2	10	Ace TTB	1	2	2	Base 3-4	7.5	Run	WR insert	N	Corum	8
Bredeson(-1) has his kickout defeated; he sets the guy outside and then that guy just drives him into the rushing lane. Loveland(+0.5) and Bell(+0.5) had paved a way inside for a decent gain. Corum(+2) looks like he’s going to bounce and then decides nah, and pivots the other way. He’s got a lane because Olu(+1) sealed his guy and then shoved him as he tried to shed, DT goes backwards fast. El-Hadi(+0.5) also got enough of the backside tackle to provide this very late lane.
O47	3	2	Gun 3-wide	1	1	3	4-3 even LB split	7.5	Run	Dive	TE*	Corum	4
Back to ol’ reliable after M has established a few other things in short yardage. Nebraska not in an odd front so Olu gets to double someone. Olu(+0.5) and Zinter(+0.5) blow a DT off the ball and that’s all she wrote.
O43	1	10	Gun TTE	1	2	2	Base 3-4	6.5	Run	Inside zone	N	Stokes	5
El-Hadi(-0.5) gives ground here but not too badly; Hayes(+1) and Loveland(+0.5) batter a DT off the ball and give Stokes a gap behind El-Hadi.
O38	2	5	Gun 4-wide tight	1	1	3	4-3 under split	6.5	Pass	Out	RB flip	Bell	Inc
Barnhart(-1) gets shot back on a bull rush and can’t anchor; this comes out quick anyway. Loveland gets the hell jammed out of him and falls but I don’t think that’s relevant for the quick out Bell runs, this is just off. (IN, -1, 0, protection ½)
O38	3	5	Gun 4-wide tight	1	1	3	Exotic	6	Pass	Sack	WR	N/A	Inc
JJ bugs out of this pocket so quick this seems like it’s a called rollout that’s just… weird? There’s no reason for him to bug out, and he doesn’t have Patterson disease so I assume this is called. M gets bad fortune here aa s sim blitzer drops out right in here and harasses JJ. Henning is covered; JJ misses the comeback window for Johnson. He then eats a sack. Should get to Johnson IMO. (BR, -1, N/A, protection N/A, RPS -1)
Drive Notes: Punt, 17-13, 11 min 3rd Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	RB	TE	WR	D Form	Box	Type	Play	Motion	Player	Yards
M35	1	10	Pistol 3-wide	1	1	3	4-3 over	7	Run	Power CT	N	Corum	4
Yet another power variant, and this one appears to have a real read that may be attached. I have to assume this is live because the play design implies it, with Loveland arcing out to a LB instead of going after a DE. DE plays it well and this is nonobvous. Keep/give is probably based on feel at that point and there’s nothing to feel since live ZRs have not existed; push for JJ. El-Hadi(-0.5) blocks down on a DT who rips past him, sort of. El Hadi stays attached but the POA is not clearly there. Corum ends up cutting behind El-Hadi; Zinter(+0.5) did ok on his backside block. Olu and Barnhart (+0.5 each) both got their bits of this play despite the sorta goof from El-Hadi.
M39	2	6	Gun 2TE	1	2	2	Base 3-4	7.5	Run	Power GT	TE	Corum	10
This is interesting, as Loveland(+1) motions to the backside and is clearly supposed to pick off anyone trying to shoot in from the backside after the two pullers exit the scene. No one does so he becomes a third puller. Pretty great recognition from a freshman. Meanwhile to the playside Honigford(+1) and Barnhart(+1) obliterate the playside DE on a double; El-Hadi(+0.5) kicks an OLB. Hayes runs outside of this and draws a safety; Corum(+1) puts his foot in the ground and runs by that dude. He then dodges an arm tackle and gets a chunk.
O49	1	10	Ace TTE	1	2	2	Base 3-4	7	Run	Duo	N	Dunlap	9
Olu(+0.5) and Zinter(+0.5) drive a DT off the ball with their double; it works but isn’t dominant. El Hadi(+0.5) gets a solid controlling block on the other DT and Dunlap(+0.5) hits the gap; he buckles the LB as he meets him and grinds out some nice YAC.
O40	2	1	Pistol 2TE tight	1	2	2	Base 3-4	8	Run	Split zone	N	Gash	4
Zinter(+1) gets a chip that moves a DL and then crunches a LB; Barnhart(+1) takes advantage and drives that guy and then locks him out. Olu(+0.5) stalemates another DT. Bredeson(-1) can’t fend off Nelson and he’s able to shed and tackle as Gash hits the LOS.
O36	1	10	Gun TTB	1	1	3	4-3 over split LB	8	Pass	Waggle improv	WR	Bell	9
This is pretty great from JJ as flat option is covered and he has a second guy running his ass off at him. He’s able to threaten outside, stop, form up, and lay in a dart to Bell. Ball isn’t perfect but I mean cumong. (CA+, +2, 2, protection N/A, RPS -1)
O27	2	1	Pistol 2TE	1	2	2	4-3 under split	8	Run	Power GH	RB flip	Stokes	3
Blocks all come off here but Nebraska is +1 in the box and there’s no hint of a keep. Barnhart(+1) turns in a DT; El-Hadi(+0.5) kicks OLB; Loveland(+1) fires his guy out of the gap; Bredeson(+0.5) stands up the other LB. Last LB gets there
O24	1	10	Ace 2TE	1	2	2	4-3 over	8	Run	Power GH	TE	Stokes	4
Pretty much the same deal as M spends Barnhart just kind of looking at an OLB who isn’t coming and there’s a free hitter in the box. Hayes(+0.5) and Honigford(+0.5) turn guys in; Loveland(+0.5) gets a kick; Zinter(+0.5) pulls and gets a LB, funneled to free hitter, RPS -1.
O20	2	6	Gun 3-wide	1	2	2	4-3 under split	8	Run	Power GT	TE	Corum	7
Same deal; Honigford(+1) gets more push and opens up a bigger gap; Zinter(+0.5) and Barnhart(+0.5) both get there; they add Bell against an OLB but maybe he should be shooting for said MLB. This is still contact three yards downfield but Corum(+1) just bulls it out. RPS -1, better LB gets this down sooner.
O13	1	10	Gun TTB	1	2	2	4-3 even SAM	7.5	Run	Inside zone	N	Corum	10
Right up the gut; El-Hadi(+0.5) gets a one on one block vs a DT; DT is able to try to close the gap down but Corum(+1) runs through an arm tackle. Other DT is sealed out as Olu(+1) chips and then erases a LB; Zinter(+1) stays attached on a rip move and thats’ all she wrote.
O3	1	G	Gun 3TE	1	3	1	Goal line	10	Run	QB lead stretch	TE	McCarthy	3
Just OZ with a lead blocker and that’s important as Loveland(-1) loses the OLB and may be on the verge of a holding call when Corum pops him; Hayes(+0.5) gets a kickout and El-Hadi barely does enough on his guy to get JJ into the endzone. RPS +1.
Drive Notes: Touchdown, 24-3, 1 min 3rd Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	RB	TE	WR	D Form	Box	Type	Play	Motion	Player	Yards
M24	1	10	Pistol twin TE	1	2	2	4-3 over	8	Run	Counter GH	TE*	Stokes	17
Crunching double from Zinter(+2) and Olu(+1) pancakes a DT and then Zinter erases a linebacker. El-Hadi(+1) gets a DE trying to squeeze down and adapts to seal him in and control him; Loveland(+1) finds a charging LB and moves him. Barnhart(+0.5) gets a kick. Bell’s addition to the box seems to induce Mr Free Hitter guy to attack upfield, where he gets hung up on the DT who got pancaked and thus there is no free hitter; Stokes(+0.5) finds the cut and accelerates into the secondary. RPS +1.
M41	1	10	I-Form Big	1	3	1	Base 3-4	8	Run	Pin and pull	N	Gash	-3
Well.. yeah, this is a -3 from Honigford as he’s blocking down on a DE and that guy shoots upfield and solo TFLs. First -3 of the year. I used to hand these out like candy.
M38	2	13	Pistol 3-wide	1	1	3	4-3 even	7	Run	Counter CH	N	Stokes	15
MLB inexplicably shoots up in an interior gap, removing the free hitter. Barnhart(+1) executes the pass-off block with Loveland(+0.5), delaying his guy and the extending to a second level player. Olu(+0.5) gets a kick. Zinter(+1) fires in a DT. Hat -2. RPS +1, I guess, as the slight counter action of the handoff going to JJ’s left is the trigger for the LB to bust.
O47	1	10	Pistol 3-wide	1	1	3	Base 3-4	6.5	Run	Zone stretch	N	Stokes	14
Loveland clearly has the wrong call but is able to recover in time to kick out the charging slot LB. Morris(+1) checks this guy and then moves to a safety once he shoots past. Meanwhile the DL gets wrecked. Hayes(+2) first moves a DE and then gets a LB in the wash, finally extending to a safety; that latter is pretty minimal contact but A for effort. El-Hadi(+1) continues the battering of the DE.
O33	1	10	Pistol 3-wide	1	1	3	4-3 over	7	Run	Counter CH	N	Gash	4
Free hitter again gets baited by the handoff action and is gone. Olu(+1) finds the LB and turns him in; El-Hadi(-0.5) struggles with the DT and if this does go interior DT has a play. Hibner(+0.5) finds the kickout but gets hurled to the ground, maybe a hint as to why he’s not in the rotation yet. Hayes(-2) airballs on a free release to a linebacker; that guy makes contact a few yards downfield; Gash(+1) breaks a tackle but doesn’t get much payoff for it.
O29	2	6	Ace trips TE	1	2	2	Base 3-4	8	Pass	Waggle pivot	TE	Bell	29
Bredeson(-1) tasked with getting the OLB who’s really the only relevant rusher and only delays him briefly; JJ’s athleticism allows him to get around the corner here and find an open Bell(+3) for about first down yardage. Bell then breaks a tackle, breaks another tackle, and is one foot from scoring when he fumbles(-3) easy come, easy go. (CA+, +1, 3, protection 0/1)
Drive Notes: Touchdown, 31-3, 9 min 4th Q. Backups in at this point and charting ceases. Here's an out to Morris from Davis Warren. And here's Loveland's neato catch.

Well, that was… robust.

Yes. Watching the replay it is amusing to hear Mark Jones descend into throes of boredom he will never escape. Mark Jones will never enjoy anything ever again, because the rest of his life will be calling 4-12 yard Michigan runs. He has second and five PTSD.

How about that podcast assertion that no one would have negatives aside from Honigford?

Well… it didn't quite turn out like that. There was the occasional negative tossed around. Spiritually, though? Yeah. Michigan ran sixty gorillion times in this game. Exactly five of those runs did not gain at least three yards, and one of those was a touchdown from the two. Only four runs gained three; 31 runs were four or more yards. The theme was demonstrated on the second play from scrimmage, for good and bad:

Nebraska DL made about two plays against the ground game and even when you manage to deliver a free hitter if your DL aren't doing anything the opposition still gets a decent chunk. With Michigan's consistency a "decent chunk" is enough to boa constrictor you out of the game.

Well why with the Honigford dumping?

I'm not trying to dump on Honigford; he had a couple of bad plays but offset those with a lot of solid blocks. He's a nice piece to have. I'm embedding this mostly because a couple of these plays were flashbacks to grimmer times. Here Honigford gets a forklift ride and that penetration blows up a play:

TE #84 to bottom of line

Charting this I was like "oh… right, this kind of thing happens." DL reset the line of scrimmage on OL all the time. Michigan does it on a weekly basis; Seth's charting is a bunch of +10 dudes across the DL. This does not happen to Michigan. I have issued the occasional –0.5 for a guy who gets stalemated a yard in the backfield, but –2 events like the above have been close to nonexistent. Not only do they execute their schemes with precision, they are all burly dudes who successfully single-block DL all the time.

"Ain't played nobody" is really the only thing you can say about this OL, except they've played SP+'s #1 (Iowa) and #16 (PSU) defenses and shredded them just as badly as everyone else—worse in PSU's case. They have #4 on deck. If they keep it up against Illinois you have to go into OSU expecting more or less the same.

I mean. Look at this.

Chart.

Chart.

Offensive Line
Player	+	-	T	Notes
Hayes	9	2.5	+6.5	One bad miss on a linebacker, otherwise basically perfect.
Keegan				DNP
Oluwatimi	11.5		+11.5	No negs! Rimington this man.
Zinter	10.5	0.5	+10	There's no award for guards, but!
Jones				DNC, got in last drive.
Barnhart	10.5	3.5	+7	I wonder how much dropoff there actually is between the two.
El-Hadi	12	2.5	+9.5	Uh… ditto El-Hadi/Keegan. Some, surely.
Anderson				DNC
Persi				DNC
All				DNP
Schoonmaker				DNP
Honigford	8	7	+1	Two stuffs primarily on him but did scrape over even.
Hibner	0.5		+0.5
Bredeson	1	2.5	-1.5
Loveland	13	3	+10	uhhhhhhh
TOTAL	76	21.5	78%	Absurd.
Backs
Player	+	-	T	Notes
McCarthy				One run.
McNamara				DNP
Orji				DNP
Corum	13.5	1	+12.5	Ye gods.
Edwards	1		+1	Just two runs.
Stokes	0.5		+0.5
Dunlap	0.5		+0.5
TOTAL	16.5	1	+15.5	Also +1 for Gash.
Receivers
Player	+	-	T	Notes
Johnson	0.5		+0.5
Bell	6	5	+1	Adventure on final TD.
Henning
Wilson	0.5		+0.5
Anthony
Clemons
TOTAL	7	5	2	Meh?
Metrics
Player	+	-	T	Notes
Protection	24	8	75%	-4 Barnhart, –2 Oluwatimi, –1 El-Hadi, –1 Bredeson
RPS	14	5	+9	Hard to get RPS positives when you're just getting blasted.

A 78% run block ratio is bonkers. We want 2:1, they were basically 4:1. And while the RPS isn't outrageous I generally use it when I get to the end of a play and the grading doesn't add up to the resulting yardage, and that doesn't happen a ton on incessant five yard runs. Make no mistake that this gameplan was brutally effective. They did a lot of stuff.

It kind of seemed like they did only one stuff. Maybe two?

From 1000 feet, yes. Drill down and my God, they just dumped it on Nebraska. I'm now making an effort to distinguish between various iterations of gap plays that pull different guys, because those do add complexity for any defense trying to read through its keys. I got tackle pulls, guard pulls, H-back pulls, H-back lining up at the POA and acting as a puller, and sometimes multiple at once. Michigan added a lot of vintage Wisconsin power plays where both the backside G and T pull:

That's hard! Having tackles who can pull around and also bring some oomph with them on arrival is not a common thing.

Those plays hit hard and then there are other plays where just the tackle pulls, which screws with opposition keys. The tackle has to get further and it's harder to do so but the tradeoff there is that if you're watching the guard you don't realize that you need to haul ass to the extra gaps away from you until it's too late. This pops outside for a couple of reasons but one is that the backside LB is a step late, and the playside LB doesn't interpret this as power and funnel to his teammate:

both Nebraska LBs, also M TE #18

If the guy Loveland blocks hops outside his teammate has a chance to hold this down. He does not.

This OL can seemingly bash 'em up front and also out-agility 'em, and when you can do both of those linebackers get put in hell. DL, too,. Michigan has have been running crushing inside zone/duo all year, and late in this game they said "what the hell" and brought out the third genre of run play: stretch. McCarthy's touchdown was one, as was this:

I've long contended that gap/IZ/stretch is a situation where you get to pick two you can be good at, because trying to cram all three onto a college offensive line is a recipe for not being particularly good at any of them. I am mellowing somewhat on this, in the specific case of "can this offensive line run all three run-game tentpoles and/or cure cancer?" Maybe. Probably. Yes?

I do not expect Michigan to start running much stretch down the home stretch here… but it was a surprise uppercut to OSU last year:

I think it can serve a similar role this year, because Michigan runs so much stuff that makes you desperate to get vertical and stick at the LOS.

Meanwhile, adding Ronnie Bell into the front has had mixed results this year—one of Michigan's five plays to not achieve three yards was in part because Bell just ran by a LB on one of those WR inserts—but there were a couple of events in this game that indicate why it's just another thing you have to deal with. This run from Corum bounces to the outside when Bell blocks a linebacker:

WR #8 to top of formation

Meanwhile the Nebraska corner is playing soft and does not add himself to the run front, so this is easy money for Corum once he bounces. Even if this corner does crack replace effectively, what are the chances Corum either dusts him or just runs through his tackle attempt? Decent.

And then there's Weird Harbaugh Stuff that he's been doing occasionally since his arrival, like this double iso:

both TEs

The NT cannot be right here unless he manages to two-gap Olu Oluwatimi, which good luck. \

However, none of this added up to an explosive.

Don't get you started.

I ALREADY GOT STARTED

All right, fine, go ahead.

Late in the game Nebraska went from fronts that I usually label "7.5" in the chart—meaning seven guys in the box and one guy in a gray area sort of close to it—to full on eight man fronts. (It says something about the direction of college football that this has been unusual this year.) Michigan was running 2TE sets for 7 blockers. 8 – 7 = 1, and Michigan was blocking all these plays just as well as they had been all game but things started getting jammed up:

Michigan does not have a guy to block #23 on defense and even though the blocking here adds up to +3 it's only three yards. Various other plays had similar issues.

Michigan was able to put guys in the wrong gaps with some counter actions and weird stuff and all the junk in the run diversity talk above. Here the free hitter is #12, the topmost Nebraska LB, and when the handoff goes to the right of McCarthy he thinks he's looking at duo/IZ and shoots up into the LOS:

If Hayes gets his second level block this is another large chunk. But it's not a devastating chunk because that linebacker is able to recover. Michigan is not using the biggest weapon they have in this regard: JJ McCarthy.

But… I mean…

To be clear: this is not a complaint, get your QB to the OSU game healthy. I'm just saying that the difference between this and PSU is the utilization of the McCarthy portion of the run game and that when that gets added back in against OSU this will get even more difficult to contain.

That is a ridiculous Loveland number. Didn't he suck last week?

He had some issues on the ground. Here he was coming in for a half point on 16 different plays and chipping in some actual +1 blocks on the semi-regular. The ground game the last two years has been so tight end heavy that whoever the #1 guy is is going to put up silly numbers as he's repeatedly asked to wash a guy down the line, or get a kickout, or go direct to a linebacker. These aren't all that hard, but that's why we're asking for a 2:1 positive ratio, and with only three minuses Loveland easily met that.

And… I mean… here is a true freshman tight end who's supposed to block down on the end man on the LOS, to free up pullers. That guy aborts and starts running across the formation, so Loveland just follows him like he's in man coverage and his guy went in motion. By the time he gets to the POA a double team has obliterated everything so there's not much to hit, but the sheer awareness says something about something:

M TE #18 motioning to top of formation, also Nebraska DE #44 to top of formation

I don't know if he's going to hold up against better defenses, but maybe he doesn't have to all the time to make it worth it.

Meaning?

It might be time to talk about Loveland in the present tense. Most discussion of him this season has focused on the future, stuff like "oh he's getting a lot of playing time he'll be an important piece next year," but he more than held his own as a blocker in this game and—while I am basing this largely on vibes at this point—he feels like an explosive downfield threat in a way that Schoonmaker is not:

This director is a horrible very bad person and should feel bad about not providing a replay of this play that showed exactly how Loveland went from this:

To this:

Suffice it to say that I don't think Schoonmaker is getting four yards of separation on an out and up; neither All. The list of recent vintage Michigan TEs who could do this is probably Devin Funchess, end of story, and Loveland is already miles better as a blocker than Funchess.

Also late in the game Loveland checked a box in the circus column by taking this Davis Warren pass off his shoetops:

I think he's getting a crucial chunk pass off PA in The Game.

How did the redzone stuff show up on review?

I mean, I sort of stole my thunder here in the game column but: yeah, it was a great adjustment after last week's head-into-brick-wall approach. Michigan stopped running the exact same thing for eight straight plays and instead added a couple different plays; some were very subtle differences and some were not. The first TD qualifies as subtle. The key for layman observers such as myself is the route the RB takes:

That is always going off the strong de of the formation; the Johnson motion and insert is always window dressing. The TEs to the strong side block down and are just trying to carve out space so that Corum can cut away from the force guy. When this happened from a zone read in the Rodriguez era we called it "Belly" and we're sticking with that nomenclature; belly plays are good for picking up 4-8 yards and rarely go for more even when the QB is a threat. Here Michigan is just playing off their dive tendency; when everything goes right up the gut all you have to do is move the POA a couple gaps over and you're good.

The Bell touchdown had been set up by a couple earlier plays I labeled "WR insert" that are supposed to go to the bunch side and see Bell dipping inside the TE lined up inside of him. The first one didn't go so well because Bell just ran by the guy he was supposed to block:

M WR #8 on hash to bottom

But they went back to it a couple of times after that and when they got to first and goal play action based off of it was free touchdown:

The guy who's supposed to be covering Bell is literally two yards in the backfield when McCarthy pulls the trigger.

I want to gingerly suggest that Michigan's play action game has been weirdly underutilized for a team with such a devastating ground game. It seems to me like any pass that's not on passing down should probably be PA.

And Michigan's third touchdown on first and goal was a QB lead stretch:

That is a much better application of QB legs in the low red zone. It's quick, it uses the extra blocker you get effectively, it does not expose your QB on the edge when the 11th man on defense is right next to the line of scrimmage.

Thumbs up.

And now.

Column over!

We gotta talk about it.

Okay, fine. The passing game was not exactly clicking here.

Is some of this Gattis exiting stage right?

Gattis's performance at Miami strongly implies the answer to this is "hell no," but I do have some trepidation about the number of passing plays that are cool and nice. Michigan had about one in this game, a waggle where Bell sold a guy on a corner and then broke back to the sideline, becoming wide open in the process:

I'm not sure we see a lot of that in the passing game. We have a lot of "ooh shiny" on the ground and here it was just some fades.

On a few plays it didn't seem like McCarthy had much of anything. This is a nothing three yard pass that's incomplete on third and thirteen but Barnhart caves and a late rusher gets in free and what else is going to happen here?

If this director had given us a single replay of anything I may be able to say something more about what happened on routes more than five yards downfield, but he didn't so I don't.

This may be keeping things in the barn for OSU; it may be a lack of game reps since the run game is so dominant. I do think it is a concern, but my level of panic is pretty low. We've seen these guys perform, and if M can't hit a deep shot but is running PA in the 10-20 yard range that's going to be just fine.

That said, our first fairly uninspiring chart:

JJ MCCARTHY

	Good				Neutral			Bad					Ovr			Reads
Game	DO	CA	SCR		PR	MA		BA	TA	IN	BR		DSR	GRADE!		RPOs	ZRs
Colorado State		4+											100%	oops		0/0	4/4
Hawaii	4	8(1)+											100%	+14		1/1	3/3
UConn	2++	5(6)			1	2							100%	+11		1/1	1/2
Maryland	2	15(1)	1						1	5	3**		67%	+1.5		1/2	1/3
Iowa	3+	11+(4)			3	3			1	3			78%	+8		1/1	2/3
Indiana	2	22++(3)	1		1	1				2*	3		83%	+16		4/4	4/5
Penn State	3	9(5)	2		2	1		1		1(3)	2		78%	+4.5		5/6	3/3
MSU	2	12(1)++	3		2	3				3	2		77%	+8.5		2/2	1/2
Rutgers	4	12(2)+	1		2	3		1		1(1)			89%	+10		0/1	0/1
Nebraska		11+			3					3	2		69%	+4.5		1/1	0

(Run +/- is in the other chart; the above is solely a passing/decisions grade.)

Note the midseason read surge as IU and PSU got both barrels—the former likely in preparation for PSU. I will be keeping an eye out for mesh reads against Illinois, as I figure they might want to get a dry run in for OSU.

We will never complete a bomb.

Maybe not. I do think they're close, and JJ is accurate in a way that makes me believe this is a matter of time.

Michigan's first fade attempt should probably be memory-holed, as Michigan is clearly trying to draw Nebraska offsides and gets the worst result—they jump but do not cross the LOS, so Oluwatimi snaps the ball and nobody on the OL has a snap count. JJ gets instant pressure and just punts it up:

That gets filed under RPS.

Other deep shots were not RPS. Even the one that was the closest to being completed was a difficult ask from the WR:

I kind of thought Johnson stumbled a bit and wandered inside the numbers by a step or two, and a step is the only difference between a tough leaping attempt and something in stride. In a similar vein, there's good news and bad news about a later fade to Bell:

The bad news is that Bell does not win this route at all and appears to be looking for a back shoulder throw, and that is not the throw that is attempted. The good news is that if Bell does get over the top this is right on point. This goes back to last week's complaints about a refusal to just punt a ball up when that's your best option. (Also this probably isn't your best option; Loveland on a pivot route seems pretty good.)

This attempted corner to Wilson is never going to happen because Wilson is going at a 12-yard cushion but McCarthy has to throw it because Oluwatimi picks up his first pass rush –2 of the year and nobody else is open for anything meaningful with 15 seconds left in the half:

Kind of want Bell to be an option coming across instead of sitting down against man coverage.

MY GOD SAY SOMETHING ABOUT CORUM

Like. Good man. High five.

Yay.

Backup running back takes?

Stokes takes can be found in the game column. Dunlap doesn't have the giddyup that Stokes does but his no-nonsense style got him a half point when he lowered the boom on a linebacker:

I think he's a guy but he can be useful.

Receivers?

	THIS WEEK					THIS YEAR
Player	Uncb	Circus	Tough	Routine		Uncb	Circus	Tough	Routine
Johnson		0/1		1/2		2	1/4	1/2	14/16
Bell	3		1/1	3/3		6	2/4	0/1	34/36
Wilson	2			1/1		3	1/3	1/1	12/12
Anthony	1			0/1		2	0/1	0/1	6/7
Henning									2/3
Morris								1/1
Walker							0/1	0/1
All						1	1/1		1/1
Schoonmaker						1	1/3	3/5	23/24
Honigford
Hibner
Bredeson									4/4
Loveland		1/1		1/1		1	1/1		5/5
Corum				1/1		1			6/6
Edwards						1		2/2	12/12
Stokes									1/2

Routes: Johnson: +-.

I mean. Lots of uncatchables, a couple routine drops, but there's no data here.

Block of the week?

It's Zak Zinter wsg Olu Oluwatimi on this double that sees Zinter's chip flip the nose tackle into the ground, and then Zinter absorbs a linebacker into his being:

RG #65

Gol dang.

Heroes?

All OL but especially Oluwatimi and Zinter. Loveland. Corum.

Maybe not so heroic?

Barnhart had some pass pro issues and is a step back from the other OL. Honigford had some rough snaps.

What does it mean for Illinois and beyond?

El-Hadi is a B+ Big Ten guard, probably. Maybe he gets exposed against better competition but mentally he's there and he really does not feel much different than Keegan, and this is his fourth game with a lot of playing time.

Oluwatimi Rimington soon come. I don't see how they don't give it to him after he was a finalist last year and is spearheading the most rough and tumble line in America.

Zinter is All Big Ten level. Who knows if they give it to him—there's probably going to be a quota keeping out Michigan OL this year—but he's at that level.

Michigan's ground game is the best I have ever charted. Week-in, week-out domination. Denard was different, because it was Denard being the explosion factory. This team is at Denard levels without involving the QB, and when they did go full bore they put up 418 on PSU.

Corum. Good.

Redzone approach: fixed. They've found a groove here. Pound it, but run five different plays, not one.

The passing game is pretty janky but I believe it'll be good enough. The deep balls are mostly in the area, the passing concepts are probably next up on the "let's fix this before OSU" list, and McCarthy's accuracy has been excellent even considering the last couple weeks. Circumstance, not a major performance drop.