Surprising Insights from Minnesota Rewatch
Special thanks to jswavel34 for posting the link to the game since I didn't record it. As always, I am happy to defer to Brian if his film study differs from my own. But these were my takeaways after reexamining the film:
-Apologies to Michigan fans for bringing up a fear that has not previously been mentioned but I was not a happy camper after watching Ryan Hayes in pass protection. He does not anchor well at all and later in the game, he started overcompensating for this deficiency, which robbed him of much of his athleticism. I'm really hoping this is not a pure lack of strength issue. Perhaps Ed Warinner can help him tweak his technique moving forward to fix the problem.
-The defensive tackles were perfectly fine against the run. Instead, I saw Paige, McGrone and Hawkins make a lot of critical errors collectively.
-Another problem is that every single time Minnesota ran against one of our 3-3 defensive fronts, we got gashed. Every.... single.... time. And of course, there were a few times when Minnesota's scheme or their talented running back did something good that beat us to some degree. That was always destined to happen.
-Donovan Jeter has some technique issues. He plays too high much of the time and he doesn't always use his hands effectively. But make no mistake, he appears to have NFL level tools to work with. And given the fact that this was his first meaningful playing time, there's plenty of hope he'll improve as the season goes along.
-Chris Hinton did not wow in his limited snaps. Nevertheless, he too has NFL level tools and he's only a true sophomore. Let's hope and pray that he takes the leap we expect this season.
-Carlo Kemp seems to wear down during the course of games. That was obvious last season because he was playing out of position and far too many snaps. I guess what I'm saying is, it would behoove us to move him to a rotational role if Hinton and Jeter can show some improvement. They're clearly our best hope of fielding quality starters at DT.
October 26th, 2020 at 6:12 PM ^
Also surprising was that we would've scored on 9 of our first 10 drives had we hit all three FGs.
October 26th, 2020 at 6:20 PM ^
Milton also almost had 4 touchdowns. One to Ronnie Bell, who stumbled with no one in front of him. Another from Erik All who dropped the ball with daylight in front of him. And I think you can count the bomb to Jackson, which was a catchable ball though it would have been a very tough catch.
October 26th, 2020 at 6:45 PM ^
yes - though had Jackson caught the bomb with the way he was moving I think he'd have been down inside the 5 but momentum would have taken him out of bounds.
October 26th, 2020 at 7:05 PM ^
shows Milton's arm strength. I think Brain mentioned that there was an open guy on the post that should have gotten the pass earlier, but I was impressed he could zip in in like that. I think Milton has a high ceiling (captain obvious I know).
Go Blue
October 26th, 2020 at 7:11 PM ^
Lastly, I was surprised at the lack of Covid threads Saturday and Sunday, INTO MONDAY! I thought we were about to make it three days.. but not so you guys... We got a much needed update. Sadly the thread is locked. In only there were other websites on earth besides MGBLOG for covid information. Like a nationally recognized organization with the first name John and last name Hopkins....but there isn't such a thing. How can I enjoy football with out constant reminders of a life threatening illness? It's not possible. Keep up the good work, guy! We probably need some Dilly Dilly responses while we are at it.
October 26th, 2020 at 7:49 PM ^
Yep here you are invading this strictly football thread with more Covid.
October 27th, 2020 at 8:35 AM ^
It's Johns, which leads me to believe you have never read closely up on it, considering you cannot start with the right name of a well known (especially now) university. Cry a little more about football threads in which football players are impacted by covid.
Would you be the first to be surprised if there's an outbreak on the team? What would you do, then? Pout about people reporting facts, rather than come to terms with a pandemic. Cool. Must be nice to have that much privilege to pretend things aren't happening.
October 27th, 2020 at 11:13 AM ^
And the one drive we punted was killed by a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty. Based on how the rest of the game went, I'm not sure Minny would have gotten a stop otherwise.
October 26th, 2020 at 6:15 PM ^
3-3 fronts - only there to make you worry
October 26th, 2020 at 6:16 PM ^
It was surprising really for me by the way that most of Bateman's catches came on short routes and Minnesota didn't really have that many deep completed passes. Of what I saw by the way.
October 26th, 2020 at 9:34 PM ^
It takes time to get downfield. Their QB didn’t have a lot of time in the pocket before it started collapsing.
October 26th, 2020 at 10:54 PM ^
True.
October 26th, 2020 at 6:19 PM ^
Good insights.
Definitely agree about the LBs being the major factor for the disappointing rush-D. LBs lacked discipline. Too often they tried to predict in advance where the running was heading, instead of staying patient, and watching where the ball actually is.
October 26th, 2020 at 10:18 PM ^
LBs did the same last year vs Wisconsin
October 27th, 2020 at 3:02 AM ^
We'll see on the UFR but I kinda doubt this. Minnesota was fairly effective running, but they didn't have any particularly big gains, so it seems unlikely it was the LBs and safeties busting as the OP says.
From Michigan Monday, "If you’re looking for a worry spot, Michigan never tackled him in the backfield. He was held to no gain on just four of his 26 rushes." That's generally not a sign of the DL making plays.
October 27th, 2020 at 11:19 AM ^
Surprising? Have you been watching us the past two years? All of college football is moving toward Big 12 defense. For us the good news is, finally, we are starting to show some Big 12 offense. Don Brown will provide just enough defense that we can win a lot of 45-38 games. Just like Oklahoma. This is the best I've felt about an offense since Denard. Joe Milton can not run like Denard but Denard could not throw like Joe.
October 26th, 2020 at 6:20 PM ^
I was a big fan of Hinton after OSU and Alabama but after my rewatch I was pretty disappointed in his play at Minnesota.
Mobility is down quite a bit. Not sure if he has a lower body injury or something else is the problem.
Also have no idea how Barrett didn't get Brian's first star. He was everywhere. Milton was decent, composed even, and fascinating upside given this was his first game, but it was more about potential that actual plays made this game.
October 26th, 2020 at 6:25 PM ^
Barrett was lights out. Best defensive player IMO
October 26th, 2020 at 6:42 PM ^
I bet he gets the freshman Jonas Mouton award in UFR. He made tons of highlight plays but also got absolutely ejected by the TE a bunch too.
October 27th, 2020 at 6:25 AM ^
Agreed. On the RB run near the goal line where Taylor Upshaw pursues from behind and saves his team 4 points, Barrett (who had edge duty) gets rocked back 4 yards and ends up on the ground. This happened to Hudson and Peppers occasionally, too.
October 27th, 2020 at 9:45 AM ^
I'll be honest, at my level of football knowledge I quite frequently miss non-plays like that. Perhaps Barrett will be the Moutan award winner in UFR.
I just hope he's better than Hudson, who I never much cared for. Too many mental errors.
October 26th, 2020 at 9:26 PM ^
I’m not convinced yet Hinton is all in.
October 27th, 2020 at 9:34 AM ^
I have a hard time making that judgement yet, young men, especially football players, have a lot going on, but that's been in the back of my head.
October 27th, 2020 at 4:47 PM ^
I’m not saying he is not and only watched him in limited snaps but I didn’t see that fire. I hope I’m wrong.
October 26th, 2020 at 6:23 PM ^
dynamite takeaways from a game we controlled almost entirely.
October 26th, 2020 at 6:29 PM ^
Not sure those insights, though accurate, are necessarily surprising. We knew DT was a likely issue and OL was a bit of a question mark. I was a tad surprised to see McGrone out of position so much. Maybe trying to do too much make up for holes in DT / LB? Thankfully he’s fast enough and talented enough to make up for it on many plays.
October 26th, 2020 at 6:32 PM ^
You’re a Moran. It was the first game of the season.
October 26th, 2020 at 6:45 PM ^
What's a moran?
October 26th, 2020 at 6:56 PM ^
just in case you weren't kidding
October 26th, 2020 at 6:58 PM ^
"moran" is another MGoBoard inside joke/spelling tradition.
October 26th, 2020 at 7:44 PM ^
There are a lot of Moran's that live in Utah.
October 26th, 2020 at 8:43 PM ^
There are a lot of Moran's that don't.
October 26th, 2020 at 9:55 PM ^
And trools live under bridges.
October 26th, 2020 at 10:12 PM ^
The UP town of Moran is only a twenty minute drive NW of the Mackinac Bridge. It might be full of morans but most trolls continue on by.
October 26th, 2020 at 9:55 PM ^
Rat bastard double post and most assuredly not user error, I think.
October 26th, 2020 at 10:26 PM ^
Nope. Not responsible.
(I just responded in order to get my binary equivalent point total up to 60)
October 26th, 2020 at 10:38 PM ^
Ha, broke the binary!
October 27th, 2020 at 12:08 AM ^
https://drive.google.com/file/d/16RDNReeLUdR9viyfh5OErOiUJXwWklOi/view?usp=drivesdk
And now I'm at 111,111. (63)
Screenshot time!
(edit: Darn, for some reason I couldn't post the actual screenshot from my android. I know I've done it before, but apparently forgot how)
October 26th, 2020 at 6:43 PM ^
Brian's definition of a good DL seems to be the ability to occupy 2 blockers or defeat the double team. I haven't re-watched the game, but idk if our guys did a lot of that.
October 26th, 2020 at 8:05 PM ^
Yeah, I wouldn't say our DT's were world beaters against the run but I'm just saying Jeter and Hinton have never been starters and they still were solid against the run. There's hope that they will get better over the course of the season.
October 26th, 2020 at 8:20 PM ^
Where have you been, Jeter started last year.
October 26th, 2020 at 6:43 PM ^
Watching live I thought a lot of the run issues were on the safeties and LBs that were supposed to be setting the edge (often Paige which was understandable).
But the line got caved in with ease sometimes, which made it easier to bounce and I think that was an artifact of either 3 man lines or DTs unable to handle doubles. Brown is having to ask lot of his second and third levels because of the interior line.
October 26th, 2020 at 7:06 PM ^
My thought too on the LBs and safety, they got pinched. It will interesting to see how the defenses run fits morph based on the opponent
October 26th, 2020 at 6:43 PM ^
you sound fun at parties. Very interesting Michigan did not play an absolutely perfect football game against a top-25 opponent on the road to open the season.. who could have seen that coming?
Hayes, had a shaky first series and then settled in from what I could tell. He's young, but has some experience. Milton was sacked once, and Michigan ran for almost 9 yards a carry. The offense line, and Hayes, played just fine
Ibrahim is an excellent back, and Minnesota has a powerful interior line. They ran the ball well, and DT is going to need to develop over the season. That said we have a bunch of guys getting their first considerable game action in their careers. They will develop, and think they will hold up fine next week against MSU
Paige first off the bench behind Hill is a concern. Can't hold it against him as he is a true freshman. Would like to see Faustin rotate in if Hill needs to come out in the future. Looks like the coaches wanted to give him a shot, and he's not quite ready for prime time yet.
3-3-5, not a good formation on running downs. I still like that package for obvious passing downs. I am assuming they were using that as a way to defend the RPO's that Minnesota runs so frequently.
October 26th, 2020 at 7:10 PM ^
What's wrong (abstractly) with the 3-3-5 on running downs?
October 26th, 2020 at 7:37 PM ^
Our second three are fast but not built to take on olineman. We have had LBs in the past that wouldve been fine but our back 8 in a 3-3-5 is slender to say the least.
October 26th, 2020 at 8:12 PM ^
Agreed, personnel is part of the issue. Also, I think it typically leaves 2-rushing lanes open because you only have six players in the box. It's not totally obvious which one it is to the offense because you can disguise run blitzes and pressures pretty well in the 3-3-5, but if they pick the right gap you're going to get gashed.
October 26th, 2020 at 8:24 PM ^
Nothing if you have a space eater to draw a double team but we don't, so you get outnumbered at the point of attack. If they can play man on man on your nose and end they have free runs at your LB 2 - 3 yes up field.
October 26th, 2020 at 8:48 PM ^
You pretty much need a huge guy in the middle to eat up space and take a double team to be effective against the run with a 3 man front. That's one thing we don't have.
October 27th, 2020 at 8:49 AM ^
3-3-5 against the run is all about surprising the OL with where the "4th DL" is coming from, so your blitzer gets free shot in backfield. That means all of your LBs need to be able to hold up at the point of attack. Sometimes your MIKE follows the WILL. Sometimes your MIKE follows the SAM. Sometimes the WILL/SAM follows the MIKE. etc.
The problem with Don Brown's 3-3-5 after it was figured out, is that we ALWAYS use our SAM to be the lead blocker for the blitzer. The OL can easily identify where the 4th DL is and shift to protect against it. And now you're vastly undersized at the POA.