[Patrick Barron]

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FORMATION NOTES: Just 15 3-3-5 snaps versus 51 with four DL, and almost all of those 3-3-5 instances were passing down exotics. All but two, in fact. And they got gashed on one. Thus explaining the lack of that.

I should probably stop noting "press" since every single Michigan snap is Press coverage, but the split between one (slash zero) and two high is a good proxy for zone snaps versus man snaps. Michigan was in a two-high look for about a third of its snaps.

SUBSTITUTION NOTES: Less rotation on the DL, which was in its new normal setup of Gary/Mone/Kemp/Winovich backed up by Paye, Hutchinson, and Dwumfour. Dwumfour's snaps in this game were almost exclusively pass rush DT in the 3-3-5. Without Solomon there was no real backup NT; Donovan Jeter only got in on the last drive. Marshall dressed IIRC but did not play.

The usual at LB with Bush omnipresent save injury and Gil and Ross splitting snaps approximately down the middle; Jordan Glasgow came in for Hudson after the targeting call. Furbush was the extra guy when Michigan added a pass rush LB. Uche did not play.

Usual CB rotation with Long ahead of the game in snaps slightly; Ambry Thomas got maybe a dozen snaps late. Brad Hawkins rotated in behind Metellus and Kinnel, with reduced playing time after the big bust. Jaylen Kelly-Powell, who's been quietly hurt, got snaps on the last drive.

[After THE JUMP: slant slant slant slant]

Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Pack	Front	Cover look	Type	Rush	Play	Player	Yards
O19	1	10	Shotgun 4-wide	4-2-5	Nickel over	Press one high	Pass	4	Slant	Metellus	10
Metellus(-1, cover -1) beat clean by non Proche, tackles on catch.
O29	1	10	Shotgun 3-wide H	4-2-5	Nickel even	Press two high	Run	N/A	Reverse	Umpire	14
Ref(-3) is bizarrely trying to move Bush out of the box before the snap as SMU goes tempo. Bush is moving to the sideline on the snap and then comes back to participate. The resulting play is a reverse. I have no ability to grade the LB level because of the ref business. I don’t know if they’re swapping assignments or what. Neither really knows what they’re doing, understandably. Bush does flow out on the reverse but too late and gets blocked by the QB. Long(+1) forced it back reasonably and gets off to tackle to shave 10 yards off this play; Winovich(-1) flows tight to the line and doesn’t bend the reverse guy at all to help his teammates rally.
O43	1	10	Shotgun 3-wide H	4-2-5	4-3 even	Press one high	Run	N/A	Inside zone	Gary	1
Kemp(+1) gets one of those play long belly doubles where they’re trying to move him out as he attacks IZ. He holds up well. He’s at the LOS and has given up maybe a yard of lateral space. This allows Gary(+0.5) to shuffle and tackle with little space to shut down. Mone(+1) fended off a playside double without moving as well.
O44	2	9	Shotgun 4-wide stacks	4-2-5	Nickel even	Press one high	Pass	5	Waggle RB flat	Bush	Inc
M blitzes Bush(+1, pressure +2) off the edge into this QB rollout. QB feels the heat and wires it high. Metellus(+1) had read his WR cracking down on Gil and was flying up to TFL if complete. RPS +1.
O44	3	9	Shotgun 4-wide	3-3-5	4-1 dime	Press two high	Pass	4	Tunnel screen	Winovich	Inc
Winovich(+1) loops around two teammates to the edge and is right in the passing lane; he bats the ball down. M put Hudson(+1) in an overhang spot as they zone this and he was able to zip by the releasing OL and likely has this play dead or delayed enough that it’s the same thing. RPS +1.
Drive Notes: Punt, 0-0, 11 min 1st Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Pack	Front	Cover look	Type	Rush	Play	Player	Yards
O42	1	10	Shotgun twin TE H	4-2-5	4-3 over	Press two high	Run	N/A	Trap	Ross	1
Mone let through to be trapped by H-back. Ross(+1) is reading the backfield and creeping up so when the OL can’t get through totally clean Ross is by him and into the gap. Bush(+0.5) stood up a blocker and Hudson(+0.5) also attacked to shut the space down.
O43	2	9	Shotgun 3-wide H	3-3-5	Exotic	Press one high	Run	N/A	Inverted veer keep	Kemp	10
Running QB in. M in a weird thing and appears to misalign. Definite confusion, with Gary and Kemp flipping. M has no edge to the field. Kemp(-2) blocked down upon and ejected. Hudson and Metellus in a lot of space against blockers and can’t make big time plays. Everyone else is gone on a blitz. Gary and Winovich are looping away from the play, nobody even has to block them. Kinnel(+1, tackling +1) gets a vertical runner to him with no delay and shuts it down really well, putting the guy definitively to one side of him and minimizing the damage. RPS -3.
M47	1	10	Shotgun 3-wide H	4-2-5	4-3 even	Press one high	Run	N/A	QB arc keeper	Winovich	1
H back pulls to backside to arc block. Hudson(-1) is in man on him and runs over to try to fend him off; he gets clocked. Doesn’t matter as Winovich(+2) is able to shuffle and redirect really well to contain and tackle solo.
M46	2	9	Shotgun 3-wide H	4-2-5	4-3 over	Press one high	Run	N/A	Insert iso	Ross	-1
Trying to hit the bubble between Mone and Winovich by inserting the H-back. Ross(+2) gives him the business, blasting him back into the RB. Winovich(+1) has come all the way around the kickout to finish the play. Mone(+0.5) helped a bit by holding his ground.
M47	3	10	Shotgun 4-wide	3-3-5	3-3 stack	Press one high	Pass	4	Throwaway	Gary	Inc
Gary(+2, pressure +3) slants inside and woops right around a G. Then he accelerates in scary Godzilla fashion at the QB… and somehow misses the sack. FFUUU. QB immediately has Bush(+0.5) and Hudson(+0.5) on him and can only chuck it away.
Drive Notes: Punt, 0-0, 7 min 1st Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Pack	Front	Cover look	Type	Rush	Play	Player	Yards
O2	1	10	Shotgun 3-wide	4-2-5	4-3 over	Press one high	Pass	6	Slant	Kinnel	13
Kinnel(-2, cover -2) is torched here and cannot even get a tackle attempt in. Only Hawkins-induced delay allows the tackle to happen. M in a run blitz, so read was clear and easy. RPS -1.
O15	1	10	Shotgun twin TE H	4-2-5	4-3 under	Press two high	Run	N/A	Jet sweep	Watson	0
Lucky here as Hawkins’s charge gets cut off by a WR but still absorbs another blocker’s attention for no reason. Watson(+0.5) is thus free on the edge and forces it out for little gain. Winovich(+0.5) had pursuit and made a cutback impossible.
O15	2	10	Shotgun 3-wide H	4-2-5	4-3 over	Press two high	Pass	N/A	Tunnel screen	Kinnel	-1
Not relevant yet but Hudson is timing up these jet motions and getting across the line in a flash. This is a screen away from him. A bad idea screen. Long is in press but M is zoning so when jet motions away he just presses the target, and is unblocked. Winovich(+0.5) chucks an OL trying to release, delaying him. Kinnel(+1, tackling +1) takes advantage and flashes up for the TFL, with Long(+0.5) in good position behind if necessary. RPS +2.
O14	3	11	Shotgun 4-wide H	4-2-5	Nickel even	Press two high	Run	N/A	QB power	Dwumfour	1
Running QB. Dwumfour(+3) gets a double, rips one of the two guys away and has the other one release, and then pops up in the hole to solo TF… aw the guy got across the LOS.
Drive Notes: Punt, 0-0, 13 min 2nd Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Pack	Front	Cover look	Type	Rush	Play	Player	Yards
O25	1	10	Shotgun 3-wide	3-3-5	3-3 stack	Press one high	Pass	5	Hitch	Hill	Inc
Blitz picked up but Paye(+0.5) and Kemp(+0.5) are able to pus h the pocket and force a throw. It’s a dink hitch that Hill(+2, cover +2) breaks up from behind.
O25	2	10	Shotgun 4-wide	3-3-5	3-3 stack	Press two high	Run	N/A	Inside zone	Ross	14
Kemp(+1) drives his man back and forces a cutback. Winovich(-1) got too far inside and gives up the edge, which might not be a huge problem since this is a zone behind it. Ross(-2, tackling -2) is free on the edge and whiffs. Whiffs, losing leverage, so RB is able to run away from Metellus.
O39	1	10	Shotgun trips	4-2-5	Nickel even	Press one high	Run	N/A	Inside zone	Paye	2
Bush moves down to edge and comes off as contain. RB goes up the middle. Kemp(-0.5) gets pushed a little too far; Paye(+1) is able to drive down the line and hit the RB at the LOS. Ross finishes it. His blocker fell at the LOS.
O41	2	8	Shotgun 4-wide	4-2-5	Nickel even	Press one high	Pass	5	Slant	Hawkins	9
Hawkins is in contact here but is unable to get a grab in or bat at the ball; tackles on the catch. No replay so I can’t see how close he actually is. -0.5, I guess.
50	1	10	Shotgun 3-wide	4-2-5	4-3 even	Press one high	Pass	4	Fade	Hawkins	50
This is a collective bust between Long(-2) and Hawkins(-3, cover -3), who manage to leave both guys in this stack very open. Long jams the front WR a bit and then both guys go for Proche, who’s just drifting to the sideline long, before stopping and going for the inside WR.
Drive Notes: Touchdown, 7-7, 5 min 2nd Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Pack	Front	Cover look	Type	Rush	Play	Player	Yards
O25	1	10	Shotgun 3-wide	4-2-5	4-3 over SAM	Press one high	Run	N/A	Inside zone	Winovich	0
Safety flip when jet is threatened. This allows Winovich to ignore it. Mone(+1) avoids a double and moves his guy back to shut down space; Winovich(+1) shuffles down and tackles. RPS +1.
O25	2	10	Shotgun trips	4-2-5	4-3 even SAM	Press one high	Run	N/A	Inverted veer keep	Hudson	-4 (Pen+5)
Hudson(+3) uses the implied snap count from the WR coming in motion to fly across the LOS on the snap and solo TFL in the backfield. Awesome! He is called for offsides when he is not! FFFFUUU! Refs -3.
O30	2	5	Shotgun trips	4-2-5	Nickel even	Press one high	Pass	5	Sack	Gil	-6
Winovich(+1) flushes by getting around the corner at 8-9 yards. Can’t get all the way around but M sends five and Gil(+1) converts to a blitzer when he sees the back block. He’s directly up the middle moving at moderate speed and can attack when he sees the opportunity. QB tries to get around. Mone(+0.5) and Kemp(+0.5) have pushed the pocket shut and Kemp gets off the block for the sack. Pressure +3.
O24	3	11	Shotgun trips TE	3-3-5	Exotic	Press two high	Pass	5	Post	Hudson	32
Cut blocks from the OL, which is bizarre but will start being a thing. Kemp(+1, pressure +1) is able to avoid two separate guys diving at him and get pretty quick pressure up the middle. QB says YOLO and throws at a very very covered Proche, hitting a window about six inches above Hudson(-1, cover +1)’s hand. Hudson’s in great position here but ends up stumbling or something; he doesn’t jump and it doesn’t seem like he’s even at his full height. This a DO DO DO throw though.
M44	1	10	Shotgun 4-wide	4-2-5	Nickel over	Press one high	Pass	4	Sack	Winovich	-7
Winovich(+2, pressure +3) around for the sack this time despite getting the old collar yank halfway through the play. He can’t quite tackle but the pocket got pushed by Kemp(+0.5) and Mone(+0.5), with Mone finishing.
O49	2	17	Shotgun 4-wide	4-2-5	Nickel even	Press one high	Pass	4	Slot fade	Metellus	Inc (Pen +15)
The first of the dubious PI flags. The only contact here is Metellus grabbing an arm early in what looks like very typical handfighting. And… yeah, you could call that. Does it usually get called? No. Metellus push, cover +1, pressure -2.
M36	1	10	Shotgun 4-wide	3-3-5	Exotic	Press one high	Pass	5	Wheel	Metellus	INT
Paye(+0.5) and Hutchinson(+0.5) are delivering some pressure but this is mostly just a horrible decision by the QB to toss a wheel directly at Metellus(+3, cover +2), who has excellent awareness to check for the ball and break on it before the WR. He then runs for a TD.
Drive Notes: Defensive touchdown, 21-7, EO1H.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Pack	Front	Cover look	Type	Rush	Play	Player	Yards
O25	1	10	Shotgun trips	4-2-5	Nickel over	Press two high	Pass	4	In	Watson	Inc
No replay here but live I thought Watson(+2, cover +2) got a tomahawk in just when the ball got there and made this a real PBU instead of a harassed drop.
O25	2	10	Shotgun 4-wide	4-2-5	Nickel over	Press one high	Pass	4	Slant	Bush	Inc
This is an adjustment by Brown to have Bush(+1, cover +1) run under this slant. Running QB, who’s in for most of the rest of the game, wings it high and wide. Bush clobbers the WR, legally, and then gets hurt for a bit. RPS +1.
O25	3	10	Shotgun trips	4-2-5	Dime	Press two high	Pass	4	Scramble	N/A	0
Hudson pulled back to a deep S spot and Michigan shows a two high man look. SMU does something weird, freezing two OL for no apparent reason. Many people run at the QB, who scrambles. Winovich(+0.5) and Kinnel(+0.5) track him down. RPS+2, because lol what.
Drive Notes: Punt, 21-7, 14 min 3rd Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Pack	Front	Cover look	Type	Rush	Play	Player	Yards
O13	1	10	Shotgun 2-back	4-2-5	4-3 even SAM	Press two high	Run	N/A	Inside zone	Mone	1
Mone(+1) reset the LOS and gives back very little room. Kemp(+0.5) gets moved out a bit but takes two blockers and there is no LB release. Bush(+0.5) is back from his injury issues and also unblocked and makes no mistake.
O14	2	9	Shotgun empty H	4-2-5	4-3 over	Press two high	Run	N/A	QB power	Gary	0
WR in motion and threatens inverted veer but mesh is fake and keep guaranteed. Gary(+1) fends off a TE and jams up the puller and the interior. Hudson(+0.5) comes up from the edge to tackle; Kemp(+0.5) was able to fight through a double to help finish the play.
O14	3	9	Shotgun trips	3-3-5	Exotic	Press one high	Pass	5	Slant	Kinnel	12
Cut blocks again and this is a pretty clever play that’s supposed to look like a tunnel screen, with inside WRs set up to stalk block until the #3 breaks inside on a slant. Kinnel(-1, cover -1) gets beat but somewhat understandably. He can tackle just after the catch. RPS -1.
O26	1	10	Shotgun 4-wide	4-2-5	5-1 split	Press one high	Run	N/A	Inside zone	Kemp	-2
Mone(+0.5) and Gary(+0.5) win single blocks and stay at the LOS to make their gaps unpleasant to contemplate. Kemp(+2) does the same and sheds to tackle when the RB tries to test his. Winovich(+0.5) almost came around the kickout and does constrict space.
O24	2	12	Shotgun empty	3-3-5	3-2 dime	Press one high	Pass	4	Tunnel screen	Gary	2
Timing on this isn’t quite right so the receiver has to dodge an OL before he can start trying to go downfield. This gives Gary(+1) time to track him down despite being the DE away from this play. Gil and Bush in the area to help and this probably isn’t a big gain either way.
O26	3	10	Shotgun trips	3-3-5	4-1 dime	Press one high	Pass	4	Wheel	Kinnel	Inc (Pen +15)
Extremely garbage PI call on Kinnel, who’s over the top of this wheel route that goes five yards OOB. Kinnel should just turn and run with the guy and find the ball but FFS. Pressure -1, cover +1, Kinnel push.
O41	1	10	Shotgun double stacks	4-2-5	4-3 over	Press two high	Run	N/A	QB power	Hudson	5 + 15 Pen
Paye(-1) gets washed inside and sealed so there’s a gap. Bush(+0.5) is able to force it back to help and pursuit is there to keep this to a relatively minimal gain. Hudson(-2) comes in and goes for a high killshot that is asking for a targeting call, which he gets.
M39	1	10	Shotgun 3-wide	4-2-5	4-3 over	Press one high	Run	N/A	Inside zone	Bush	2
Bush(+1) moves late and zips through the line, forcing the back into Mone(+1), who held up and gets off to tackle. Paye came back fairly well.
M37	2	8	Shotgun 3-wide H	4-2-5	4-3 even	Press one high	Run	N/A	Power O	Glasgow	1
M plus one in the box and this doesn’t option a guy off. Hutchinson(+0.5) doesn’t get washed and is able to constrict space and affect the pull. Glasgow(+1) comes down hard and meets that puller a yard in the backfield, coming through to help tackle; Bush(+0.5) is there with the uncontested stick.
M36	3	7	Shotgun trips	3-3-5	Exotic	Press one high	Pass	5	Out	Kinnel	8
Proche motions across the formation and Kinnel gets picked by the interior two WRs. Don’t think he can do anything about this. Cover -1, RPS -1. Rollout and quick throw is pressure push; Glasgow was coming through.
M28	1	10	Shotgun trips	4-2-5	Nickel over	Press one high	Run	N/A	Inside zone	Winovich	7
This is going to be another nothing run up the gut but the RB is able to dodge Winovich(-2) and burst to the outside. Long(-0.5) also misses a tackle(-2) but Glasgow(+0.5) is able to come in and clean up after coming from a deep S position. Mone(+1) had blown through his guy and forced it back for what should have been nothing.
M21	2	3	Shotgun trips	4-2-5	Nickel over	Press one high	Run	N/A	Inside zone	Mone	0
Mone(+2) again drives his guy into the backfield. This time back tries to test it. Mone discards his blocker for the tackle.
M21	3	3	Shotgun trips H	4-2-5	4-3 over	Press zero	Run	N/A	Inside zone	Winovich	-1
Refs(-1) miss an illegal formation. Dunno if M anticipates this or what but they go zero against what should be an unbalanced formation that heavily implies run. Hill(+0.5) comes off the edge to force a give and Winovich(+1) is able to crash with impunity as M has not given him contain. He TFLs. RPS +2.
M22	4	4	Shotgun 3-wide	4-2-5	Exotic	Press zero	Pass	6	Rollout out	Watson	7
America’s Rollout Out against a clear zero blitz. SMU stacks the WRs and the front guy gets a good rub on Watson. Watson might still be able to drive on the WR for the PBU… but falls down. -2, cover -1.
M15	1	10	Shotgun 3-wide	4-2-5	4-3 even	Press one high	Pass	4	Fade	Hill	Inc (Pen +7)
Absolutely absurd flag as Hill(+2, cover +2) wins over the top with a jam and turns around to find the ball. Refs -3.
M8	1	G	Shotgun twin TE H	4-2-5	4-3 under	Press zero	Run	N/A	Split zone	Glasgow	6
M loads up and comes after this and still gets edged as Glasgow(-2) does not pop outside to set it, which he absolutely has to do. Ruins Gary(+1) coming through his guy like he’s not there. Watson does a good job to prevent the TD.
M2	2	G	Shotgun 2TE H	4-2-5	Goal line	Press zero	Pass	N/A	Fade	Hill	Inc
Well thrown fade almost brought in with a circus catch as Hill(+0.5, cover +1) forces the perfect throw/catch combo. Proche barely doesn’t make it.
M2	3	G	Shotgun 3-wide	4-2-5	Goal line	Press zero	Pass	4	PA TE Flat	Glasgow	2
M again caught with no switch on a rub route. Glasgow does get beat here but has to get through traffic and that’s asking a lot on a two yard pass. Cover -1, RPS -1.
Drive Notes: Touchdown(missed XP), 28-13, 1 min 3rd Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Pack	Front	Cover look	Type	Rush	Play	Player	Yards
O20	1	10	Shotgun twin TE empty	4-2-5	Nickel even SAM	Press two high	Pass	4	Fly	Ross	Inc (Pen +15)
I take back what I said about the PI here in the game column. This is very tenuous. Ross(-1, cover -1) more or less gets beat clean and gets an arm grab in on an overthrown ball; flag comes out. I don’t even know man. Refs -2.
O35	1	10	Shotgun trips TE	4-2-5	Nickel over	Press two high	Run	N/A	Zone read belly	Gary	9
Gary(-2) is more or less it on this play. He’s got a TE to his side of the line. He lunges out at that guy as dude releases to Kinnel, stumbles, way too upfield, and RB can cut behind for a good gain. Kemp got moved a little bit but not too much and any reasonable shuffle here is nothing.
O44	2	1	Shotgun trips TE	4-2-5	Nickel over	Press two high	Run	N/A	Inside zone	Kinnel	12 (Pen -10)
DL has this stacked up, more or less, with Kemp(+1) getting penetration and forcing a very unwise bounce. Kinnel(-3) is the edge guy and inexplicably thinks he should go do someone else’s job, running back towards the middle of the field just as the RB decides he should take the edge because there’s nothing else. Gary(+1) manages to draw a hold with a demonstration despite that not really affecting the play. Refs +1.
O34	2	11	Shotgun trips TE	3-3-5	Exotic	Press one high	Run	N/A	Inside zone	Gary	3
Gary(-1) slants in as M presents a weird blitz package and gets doubled and blown out; kind of stood straight up there.Kemp(+0.5) is able to hold up and shed; Furbush(+0.5) comes around after backing out to help tackle. Ross(+0.5) took on a lead block and shed to help stop momentum as well.
O37	3	8	Shotgun trips TE	3-3-5	Exotic	Press two high	Pass	4	In	Watson	7
Watson gets a push here as he’s not contesting on the catch but is able to immediately tackle and force fourth down. Refs(-2) spot the ball for first down; replay(+2) corrects it.
O44	4	1	I-Form	4-2-5	Exotic	Press zero	Run	N/A	Counter pitch	N/A	16
All RPS. SMU breaks huddle with tempo and M is trying to line up, pointing ensues, guy in motion, more pointing, once pitch made there’s no M player with any chance. RPS -2.
M40	1	10	Shotgun 2TE twins	4-2-5	4-3 over SAM	Press two high	Pass	N/A	Reverse QB wheel	N/A	14
I guess you could break out a trick play in this situation. RPS -1.
M26	1	10	Shotgun 3-wide	4-2-5	Nickel even	Press two high	Run	N/A	Power O	Ross	2
Tough to grade. Kemp gets some penetration and sheds after taking a momentary double but gets run by. Gary(+0.5) fights back from his kickout to threaten. RB is trying to cut behind various blocks as he reaches the LOS when own blocker trips him. Probably boxed in and gave up a yard or three only. Ross(+1) rocked back the relevant OL who gets tripped upon.
M24	2	8	Shotgun 3-wide	4-2-5	4-3 even	Press one high	Pass	4	Slot fate	Metellus	24 (Pen -10)
Well, it’s a slot fade. Metellus is in good position and is unfortunate that the ball doesn’t deflect off him. It finds the hole and Proche is able to catch it at his waist. I dunno man. I’d rather Metellus grab some stuff but this crew, and Proche never puts his hands up because the ball is short-ish. Turning around is bad and I dunno man. Push. Paye(+2, pressure +1) does induce a clear hold even if it isn’t material.
M34	2	18	Shotgun 3-wide H	4-2-5	Nickel over	Press two high	Pass	N/A	Flare screen	Bush	2
Inverted veer basically, but no mesh and RB flares out for a screen. Bush(+2) anticipates the crack, runs around, it and gets sideline to sideline to minimize the damage.
M32	3	16	Shotgun double stacks	3-3-5	Dime even	Press two high	Pass	4	Scramble	Thomas	25
Pocket collapses instantly with Winovich(+1) and Dwumfour(+0.5) surging up the gut. QB bails. Thomas(-2) and Metellus(-2) are both trying to figure out routes here and pay zero attention to the QB; Thomas is the edge guy here and completely loses himself on a route well short of the sticks. Pressure +1.
M7	1	G	Shotgun trips TE	4-2-5	4-3 even SAm	Press one high	Pass	N/A	Flare screen	Bush	-1
I mean, why? Glasgow(+0.5) helps clear the way for Bush(+1, tackling +1). RPS +1.
M8	2	G	Shotgun trips TE	4-2-5	Exotic	Press zero	Pass	6	Slant	Metellus	Inc
Cut blocks and a must throw situation. Ross(+1, pressure +1) is able to dodge his and get into the QB’s feet; Metellus(+2, cover +2) blankets this, gives a bit of a wrap yank, but doesn’t get called. Refs +1. a
M8	3	G	Shotgun trips	4-2-5	Nickel over	Press two high	Pass	4	Scramble	Gary	6
Huge pressure but it doesn’t cohere. Winovich(+1) and Dwumfour(+1) surge up the middle as Gary(-1) tries to go speed to power. Gary gives up the edge. Bush(-1) is on a delayed spy/blitz thing and doesn’t get out on it fast enough. Metellus(+0.5) and Bush do well to track QB down and shove him OOB.
M2	4	G	Shotgun 2TE twins	4-2-5	Goal line	Press zero	Pass	4	Out	N/A	2
Straight man against a rub loses. Gotta switch this. Banjo! They call it banjo. RPS -1, cover -1.
Drive Notes: Touchdown, 35-20, 10 min 4th Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Pack	Front	Cover look	Type	Rush	Play	Player	Yards
O20	1	10	Shotgun trips H	4-2-5	4-3 over	Press one high	Run	N/A	Insert iso	Kemp	0
H-back pulls and inserts in the gap in the Michigan line. Back ignores this. Okay. Kemp(+1) stands his guy up and tackles. Gary(+0.5) and Mone(+0.5) do similarly in other gaps.
O20	2	10	Shotgun trips H	4-2-5	4-3 over	Press one high	Run	N/A	Split zone	Mone	-1
Blitz plus a playside slant. Gary(+1) drives his guy all the way across the formation to cut off space; Mone(+2) sheds his guy and TFLs.
O19	3	11	Shotgun 3-wide	3-3-5	Exotic	Press one high	Pass	5	Throwback screen	Winovich	5
Freeze from the OL and RBs. Winovich(+2) smells a rat and stops well before the throw is made. He’s able to force the RB OOB well short of the sticks.
Drive Notes: Punt, 38-20, 6 min 4th Q. Last drive not charted, EOG.

Aigh! 20 points ceded to a team that seems real bad at football!

Yeah. I mean.

Two Ishtar-length TD drives!

Well, you know.

Panic? We should probably panic!

I don't know if I'd go that far. There are clearly some bits of the defense coming in below expectations and the unit as a whole does not feel like the ball of knives the 2016 defense was. I think we're talking about a reframe from A+ to A or, at worst, A-.

And this game is tough to judge from a thousand-foot distance, because:

Michigan got four pass interference calls in this game that could be charitably described as "marginal." On each there is a moment of contact that provided a tenuous justification for the call. One, on Metellus, appears to be an I-grab-your-arm incident:

Proche is leaving his arm in there to ward off Metellus's torso and that's why you rarely see anything plausibly mutual in the handfighting department called.

The above call on Kinnel and the call on Hill saw Michigan DBs win over the top of guys, briefly jam, and then turn to run:

Those calls are... rarely made. Because the DB won. He's got his body between the WR and the ball. I can't recall many flags like that in the past, let alone two in a game. Also the call on Kinnel is on  ball that lands five yards out of bounds.

#4 was on Josh Ross and might have been holding—the replay angle wasn't too useful—but the WR's momentum didn't seem to break at all and it was called PI. On this:

On an average day with a crew of average competence you're maybe suffering one of those calls, and you're not getting a killer Hudson TFL wiped off the board incorrectly. This is the frame where the center starts moving the ball on Hudson's backfield slash that got called offsides:

These items extended drives; the Kinnel one was the worst from a game competitiveness standpoint because if that call isn't made SMU's long TD drive halts after one first down.

That's a lot of stuff to throw your hands up about in one game.

Okay but they did move the ball semi-consistently.

Things were less dominant than you'd hope. Some of that is pretty easy to write off. I have no earthly idea what Sonny Dykes was doing in this game, but he spent a reverse, a QB throwback off that reverse, and a hurry-up fourth-down counter pitch in a game he wasn't going to win. That's 40 of their yards. 50 came on the bust they scored their first touchdown on, and 56 more were on their pointless final drive.

The run defense did do pretty much what you'd want them to. Excise the reverse (which had the weird Bush-ref event), 31 yards on three scrambles, and the two sacks SMU suffered and they come in with 78 yards on 25 carries. By the second half SMU runs up the middle were wasted snaps that inexplicably kept getting wasted.

The pass defense-

SLANTS

slants

slants

slants

(Mitigating factor for Kinnel on that last one: it's set up to look like a tunnel screen, with the WRs stalk-blocking, or looking like they will, before he #3 slices inside. Clever.)

These weren't quite as common as it felt like because there were a couple other in-breaking routes that were outside WR/CB  matchups instead of slot/S matchups. There were six. Four were complete for between 9 and 13 yards, one got under-run by Devin Bush and broken up. Only on the last was a Michigan safety able to make a play on the ball:

That's a good play but when your safeties are 1/5 on even contesting that's not so hot. I wouldn't have minded the slants if a couple were open and the rest were those plays where someone's on the WR's back and raking but it doesn't quite work out. That was not what happened.

So our safeties can't cover?

The slants were not encouraging; a holistic view is a little bit better. There were four other instances where their coverage got tested against slots. Two were slot fades where Metellus was on Proche. One was the arm-grabby PI above. The second was downright strange:

Neither of those is exactly inspiring coverage. Metellus is able to disrupt Proche into an incompletion on the first, barely, at the cost of a flag that gets thrown a low percentage of the time. He's a bit unfortunate that his positioning doesn't get an accidental PBU on the second but that's still a guy chasing the whole way with no ability to go find the ball.

The two wheel routes went better. Kinnel got the above-embedded dubious PI call after winning that route; the other one was the Metellus pick-six.

That's an inexplicable ball; Metellus takes advantage.

That's nine episodes—we're not counting the Bush undercut—where a Michigan safety was a primary pass defender. I'd say three of those (the two wheels and Metellus slant PBU) were good events, one was neutral (the called-back TD), and the other five were poor. There was a big difference between safety and CB coverage on similar routes. When Hill or Watson's been called into duty on them they're in the area, making life difficult and requiring perfect throws:

CB #28 to top

The safeties are mostly tackling after the catch.

Michigan can address this by running more zone and having more man coverage plays in which someone is in a "rat" zone like Bush was.

#10 MLB

That does mean the rat isn't blitzing and is a tradeoff. It's probably one Michigan needs to make. Safety coverage on slots doesn't seem much better than it was last year.

Kinnel did have a couple of good tackles in space, FWIW.

Can't Michigan use a third CB?

They can but if they're going to flip the safety down on motion the opposition can get that safety matchup anyway. And if you don't then you're not in a great spot for a jet sweep or similar. It's a bit of a hole.

Something something CHART

this is not how this goes

too late sucka

Fine. I would like to mention that this was one of the best-directed BTN games I've charted and while it may not have been up to Rick standards there wasn't too much that didn't get a useful replay and no snaps were outright missed. Also the camera wasn't so tight on third and fifteen you couldn't see the slot receivers. Go this guy.

Defensive Line
Player	+	-	T	Notes
Gary	9	4	5	You are permitted 0.68 units of concern
Kemp	9.5	2.5	7	Ejected once otherwise maintained MAC-crushing level from last week.
Mone	11.5		11.5	SMU could not block him on interior runs. Pushed pocket on a couple of passes.
Winovich	15	4	11	Lot of pursuit in this one.
Paye	4	1	3	Drew an obvious hold.
Dwumfour	4.5		4.5	Solo stuff on QB draw on 3rd and 11 is most of this.
Solomon				DNP
Hutchinson	0.5		0.5	PT hard to come by.
Marshall				DNP
TOTAL	50	11.5	38.5	Hurst-era rampant in this one.
Linebacker
Player	+	-	T	Notes
Hudson	5	4	1	Doing well until ejection.
Glasgow	2	2	0	Functional.
Furbush	0.5		0.5	Scanty snaps.
Bush	8	1	7	They tried two flare screens. Why?
Gil	1		1	Quiet, few plays got to him because of DTs.
Ross	4	3	1	Less boring, discussion below.
Uche				DNP
TOTAL	22.5	10	12.5	Ross coronation delayed.
Secondary
Player	+	-	T	Notes
Metellus	6.5	2	4.5	Keeck a touchdown
Kinnel	2.5	6	-3.5	Inexplicable bust turned 0 yard run into 12.
Hawkins		3.5	-3.5	Bust on TD.
Hill	5		5	Yeah he got a +2 on a PI flag. He deserved it.
Long	1	2.5	-1.5	Also busted on TD IMO.
Watson	2.5	2	0.5
Thomas		2	-2	Got lost on the scramble.
TOTAL	16.5	18	-1.5	Honestly don't remember the last negative unit grade.
Metrics
Pressure	15	3	+12	SMU resorted to cut blocking everyone.
Coverage	15	14	+1	Too close for comfort.
Tackling	3	4	-1	Couple of escapes for edge yards.
RPS	11	10	+1	Ok.

I think we already talked about the DB issues.

Mostly. The long TD was a –5 from me because both Long and Hawkins got confused and covered nobody. The inside receiver here is also open:

That's a communication issue and won't happen again unless it does, which it might.

At what point in the Vince McMahon GIF are we about the DTs? I mean, the grades are all right.

Still phase one.

They were good. Michigan needed very little from their linebacker level to shut down the SMU running game because Mone and Kemp were consistently re-setting the LOS in the backfield.

#90 DT to top

When that happens RBs have to decide immediately and LBs can flow without hesitation. Also you'll note on that play that no one even releases downfield because three guys are trying to fend off Kemp and Gary. They do, but the play is doomed in part because of it.

Mone had his best game of the year, going from extant person who holds up pretty well to a drive-and-discard machine:

#90 NT

I'm guessing that's more a function of the opposition than a sudden switch flip.

SMU's OL probably isn't very good but Kemp holding up against a long double team like this...

#2 DT to top

...is encouraging all the same. He's able to swim one guy past and just kind of burrow in there. Like a tick. We'll call him The Tick. That's not taken, is it?

Like last week Kemp was consistently able to whip single blocking:

#2 DT to bottom

#2 DT to bottom

That latter is textbook: hands inside, in control of your man, shed when the back picks a gap. When a DT gets a solo TFL he's having a good game. Kemp did get ejected from the gap on the backup QB's first snap, but Michigan was running around in an exotic 3-3-5 look and he may have not been entirely prepared for the snap. It was out of character. Which is a nice thing to be able to say two games in.

Meanwhile Mike Dwumfour had a more limited role but did well with it. He had one play of note where he ripped through a guy for a solo run stuff:

Reset those goals: effective pass-rush DT and able to spot Kemp for 15-20 snaps, and let's go from there.

You know I am sensitive to the performances of Michigan's DTs.

But!

Both Kemp and Mone are both Regular-Ass DTs. Set absurd Mo Hurst goals aside. Let's focus on Ryan Glasgow. Neither guy is anywhere near Glasgow as a penetrator, disruptor, or pass-rusher. Both guys are pushing the pocket and whooping up on single blocking in the run game against poor competition. This is a good base to operate from. But they've still got to establish themselves as top end run defenders against Big Ten competition. And the bit where you fall over backwards in the chair seems permanently out of the question. Which is mostly fine.

I wanted to be falling backwards out of my chair about Gary. And...

You're not. I know. Gary has not yet made the transition to all-conquering absurdity. He doesn't seem a whole lot different than last year, which means he's holding steady at a first-team-All-Conference level. He is not rampant. Occasionally he displays his full, scary athletic package:

#3 DE to top

But events like that haven't been particularly common. Gary picks up a ton of +1s on the ground and is often around the corner a little bit less quickly and effectively than Winovich. I think I've mentioned this before but I'd prefer Gary take a Taco Charlton approach where he usually tries to hammer through the OT after forcing him to expect his edge rush. When he edge rushes we've seen this probably a half-a-dozen times already this season:

He's around but a half-yard deeper than Winovich and maybe a step slower. There it works out because the DTs have hammered the pocket shut; other instances could really use Gary on a rush where he does damage if the QB has to step up.

Gary's tracking towards a mid-first round pick per PFF, which is still a most excellent person to have on your defense. The opposition seems to be avoiding him in the ground game at all costs, which is one reason Winovich keeps getting funneled points. The thing where he's ripping through to the QB on every other rush hasn't happened and probably won't at this point.

The WLB battle didn't exactly resolve itself?

No. Last week's creeping certainty that Ross was the guy didn't show up in the snap counts—Gil and Ross split them down the middle—and SMU's general inability to even test the WLB on the ground meant neither guy featured that much. Ross was