u/Michigan_Truth

1. Bryce Underwood played great- but there’s one thing he was particularly great at

Bryce Underwood’s improvement from the WMU debacle to now is nothing short of remarkable. Jason Beck is doing an incredible job of tailoring the offense to Underwood’s strengths: from adding the option to adding half-field reads, it feels like Beck is finding more and more ways to make Bryce effective.

This week, Beck added the rollout pass, and it worked beautifully. Bryce’s stats on the run were insane:

9/12 for 166 yards, 2 TD and 0 INT

Most of these were designed rollout passes, but a couple of them were pocket-designed passes where Bryce improvised on the run (including the 49-yard TD pass to JJ Buchanan). For the most part, Bryce was able to deliver his most accurate passes on rollouts, as he connected with JJ and Andrew Marsh on several option routes.

There are still some holes in Bryce’s game- he still tends to lock in on one receiver, and he also misses his checkdown at times (Hogan Hansen should’ve had a couple more catches).

Otherwise, his decision making is much improved- I’d argue he didn’t make a single bad decision all day. His one “mistake” may have been a mistake by Andrew Marsh- otherwise, I didn’t see any passes that he put in harms way.

We’re seeing Bryce evolve from a game manager to a game changer before our very eyes. Hopefully, that means the coaching staff will trust him in critical situations from this point onward.

2. The offensive line played well- there’s two more things that needs to happen for this run game to come together

It seems like the offensive line always catches a lot of heat, but the film suggests that they are playing well and improving every week. I thought they were particularly impressive against a very good Iowa front 7 on Saturday.

This offensive line very seldom whiffed on defensive linemen, and as a result, Iowa only had one tackle for loss all day. That’s huge for a run-first offense that needs to stay on schedule.

For the most part, I noticed the line getting 1-2 yards of push, executing their pull blocks, and allowing the backs to get at least 3 yards most plays. I think this run game is closer and closer to being a complete product.

However, there’s two final puzzle pieces to this run-game puzzle: one minor piece, and one absolutely major piece. I’ll start with the minor one first.

Although the line is improving in this regard, there were still 5-6 plays where the lineman failed to reach the linebackers after peeling off a double team. Part of this may have been Iowa’s defensive strategy- I noticed a few plays where an Iowa lineman intentionally held up those peeling blockers, which allowed the linebackers to make the play.

However, there was one big miss by Evan Link- who I thought had a really nice game: on a 2nd and 15 deep in Iowa territory in the 3rd quarter, Link had a missed assignment- instead of down blocking #36, he doubled the end briefly, and then blocked air. Had he got 36, Hogan Hansen’s lead block may have been on the safety instead of 36, and Bryce may have been able to score on the run. If Michigan wants to produce more explosive runs, they will need to to have fewer missed assignments on linebackers.

As for the major isssue: HOLDING!!!!! Why are we having so many untimely holding penalties?

There’s a split on blame. Some of it goes to the ball carriers, mainly when they bounce runs outside of the blocking scheme. That can make life very difficult on the blockers, as they have to disengage from their blocks in order to avoid a holding call. However, the ability to disengage is a skill- so the line needs to work on that. In a run heavy offense- these holding calls are drive killers.

So hopefully, Kyle Whittingham can make this a point of emphasis this week in practice. I’d argue this holding problem was the difference between a 19-point performance and a 40+ point shellacking.

Once this gets corrected, this run offense will be able to win us a lot of games.

3. I don’t have to go over the stupid penalties. But I have faith that it will be fixed- here’s why

For some reason, almost every penalty we committed came at the worst possible time. There were three holding calls on three separate drives- all of which took away first downs or on-schedule runs. An illegal formation on a 2nd and 4, on what would have been a critical first down run. Two absolutely unnecessary 4th quarter defensive penalties: a hands to the face that would have made it 3rd and 9, and…… a man, whose name I’m too disgusted to say, made arguably the dumbest penalty in Michigan football history on 4th and 12.

Michigan has been playing with fire all season- it feels like there’s at least 6 brain-dead penalties every week. But finally, it cost this team a game.

The fixes are incredibly simple- I already mentioned the holding issue- that’s one thing. But the unforced sloppy errors, like false starts and illegal formations, are Pop Warner level mistakes. Jalen Hoffman (who played better this week) needs to use his head and line up on the line after going in motion. Blake Frazier needs to know the snap count.

Kyle Whittingham can keep saying these things need to be cleaned up, but at some point, it needs to happen. If we want to save our season, discipline needs to be installed within the program ASAP- we’re reaching “now or never” territory.

But- I have some confidence that things will be cleaned up, and here’s why:

Michigan has had a fumbling issue all season, especially Bryce Underwood. Whittingham also talked about that problem to the media, mentioning that Indiana did not lose a fumble after week 1 last season.

It’s clear to me that Whit made this a point of empahsis in practice- and it worked, arguably too well. Bryce was exceptional at securing the ball, not ever putting the ball close to the turf on any runs. In fact, that emphasis on ball security may have cost us a first down, as Bryce was a bit too quick to tuck the ball on that 4th and 1. While I was unhappy with the result, I was glad to see how much Bryce valued ball security this week.

If we can correct that issue in one week, I think we can also correct the penalty problem. It’s clear that this staff is competent in many ways- but if they want to be known as disciplinarians, we need to see results sooner rather than later- arguably right now.

4. The Rhino formation worked very well- for multiple reasons. SO Avery Gach (#89) for a strong debut

I’ve been on the rhino-hating bandwagon all season- but today, I am officially jumping off of it.

And here’s a big reason why- Michigan was able to throw very effectively out of that formation.

Because defenses tend to put run-heavy personnel on the field, rhino can lead to favorable matchups and spacing for our wideouts.

I noticed that a lot of the successful rollout passes came out of rhino, which made sense- there’s the obvious advantage of extra pass protection, but also the advantage of loaded boxes creating spacing for Marsh and JJ to run option routes.

My biggest issue with the rhino is the run game- because it causes defenses to load the box, it can create a numbers disadvantage. So the rhino blocker needs to be very good- and that’s where I want to give a shoutout to sophomore Avery Gach, #89

I thought he was very effective out there. It wasn’t perfect, but for the most part, he did a nice job with down blocks, seal blocks, and pass protection. I wouldn’t be shocked if he just stole the job from Beigel.

One more thing I’ll say about rhino- because Bryce is always a threat to keep the ball, that can also move 1-2 defenders out of the box post-snap, so downhill running can be effective.

If the offensive line can continue to execute at a high level, we could very well wear teams down with the Rhino package.

5. Hogan Hansen is going to get a lot more snaps than Zach Marshall.

All we’ve heard about Hogan Hansen is his potential- how he’s the next in line at Tight-End U. But he’s been riddled with injuries thus far, and we haven’t gotten to see him play.

I thought as both a blocker and a reciever, Hansen was very effective. He can be a really nice safety blanket for Bryce, as well as a very good lead blocker. He had a couple of catches, and was also open for a few checkdowns.

As for Zach Marshall- the film wasn’t good. He really struggled blocking this week.

His holding penalty was one of three Michigan holds on the day, but it was the only one that can be solely blamed on the blocker. On a 2nd and 4 deep in Iowa territory, on the opening drive of the second half, Michigan called a sweep. It was well executed, except for Marshall, who failed to make a proper seal block. Because his head was out of position, he got a very costly holding penalty. That drive ended in a Bryce Underwood interception instead of a likely touchdown.

He also was suspect in pass protection, although that didn’t end up being costly, as Bryce got rid of the ball before one of his missed blocks.

Hogan Hansen seems like the tight end that can add an extra dimension to this offense- it’s good that we finally saw it in game action, and not just in practice.
I expect his snap count to go up, and for Marshall’s to dwindle.

6. Jordan Marshall is far better as a North-South runner

Marshall had a very nice game, but there’s one significant hole in his game: running east-west.

Not because of poor play design- but because Marshall doesn’t seem to know when to cut upfield.

The perfect example was on a 2nd and 8 (which should have been a 2nd and 6, but the refs were half asleep all game) at the Iowa 26. Marshall gets a “student body left” type of sweep, and it was well blocked. However, from my vantage point in the endzone, the hole was WIDE OPEN for a cutback. Despite that, Marshall kept trying to stretch the play outside, and only got 2 yards on what could have been a first down.

There was another play, ironically after another absolutely horrendous spot, at the Iowa 5, where Michigan called a run up the 5 hole. Marshall got a head of steam, but instead of running through the hole, he decided to cut the run outside, and may have cost himself 2 or 3 yards.

Meanwhile, when Marshall cuts north-south, he’s very effective. He’s very good at making the first defender miss, and he’s also very good at bulldozing ahead for an extra 4 yards when the line gets 2 yards of push.

In my opinion, the outside runs should be reserved for Underwood and Hiter- Marshall is much better as a downhill back, and he needs to avoid the temptation of cutting the run outside of the blocking scheme

7. On the kickoff return- Travis Johnson just had a teachable moment

That kickoff return touchdown could have easily been avoided- I wouldn’t mind if we only kicked the ball out of the end zone from this point onward.

That being said- it’s tough to tell exactly who screwed up on the kickoff coverage. Generally, half the guys on the field are just trying to maintain their lane, in order to prevent cutbacks or holes. The other half of the guys are “missiles”- tasked with just pursuing the ball carrier.

From what it looks like on film, #13 Travis Johnson did neither. He ran upfield, past the return man. If his job was to maintain the lane, he ran too far upfield to do that. If it was to be a missile, well, he didn’t pursue the return man either. My guess is, film wasn’t fun for him on Sunday.

As for the other guys, it looked like they all ran too far upfield, or didn’t pursue the ball carrier- it almost looked like they didn’t know who the missiles and who had the containment assignment.

Owusu-Boateng had decent pursuit, but he was blocked in the back (which was not called 😡)

Either way, this was a disastrous mistake that should have been avoided.

8. Jason Beck called a very nice game….. until the last possession.

I thought the offense had their best game of the season, by far. The creativity by Jason Beck was spectacular- between using the wildcat to throw a pass and a well-timed flee flicker, Beck’s trick plays were terrific.

Using the rhino package to pass also lead to success. Overall, a well called game on his part….

…. But the one drive where he screwed up was beyond infuriating. On their last possession, Michigan had a 3rd and 5, with 2:11 left in the game. The Hawkeyes only had one timeout, and the two minute warning was coming up.

Michigan’s mindset was to chew clock- so they ran the ball up the middle with Hiter. The only problem- with the two minute warning, Michigan only chewed off 11 seconds. It was a mind-boggling play call, especially against a loaded box with Iowa sitting on the run.

With all the success on rollout passes, I cannot understand why Beck went away from that concept on the last drive. It almost felt like he didn’t trust Bryce in that situation, which is a shame since he had the best game of his young career.

Hopefully a lesson learned from the young offensive coordinator-

I think from this point onward, Beck will not be so skittish to put the game in Bryce’s hands. I’d argue his job security depends on it- as they say, “play to win, don’t play not to lose”.

9. For some reason, Jayire Hill has a tendancy to give up inside leverage. Not sure what the issue is exactly. There were a few other gaffes between the secondary

While Iowa’s offense wasn’t great, QB Hank Brown made just enough plays to get Iowa a couple of touchdowns. I tried to do a deep dive to find out how we gave up some big plays through the air- outside of insane bad luck on two tipped balls.

On the first big pass play, where Iowa converted a 3rd and long late in the third quarter to Tony Diaz, it looked like Michigan’s defensive backs were late in identifying their man coverage on Iowa’s bunch formation. As a result, Smith Snowden and he-who-shall-not-be-named both got flat footed, and easily got beat after the wideouts crossed their faces. It seems like this team has communication issues in the secondary 1-3 times per game, although that one wasn’t quite as disastrous as others.

As for Iowa’s first touchdown- it looked like a well executed RPO. My only question- why did Jayire Hill give #2 the inside leverage? It seemed like he thought he’d have help inside, but because Staheling and Bowles bit on the play fake, the middle of the field was wide open. Rod Moore also played the deep middle, but was nowhere near any of the receivers. I’m not sure what he was doing on the play, but he didn’t get himself in position to stop the post route. Could have been a screw up by Hill, or it could have been a screw up by the backers, or by Rod Moore. Either way, I’d like to see Hill get more physical at the line of scrimmage there.

On a critical 3rd down conversion on Iowa’s last drive, Diaz beat Hill inside 14 yards downfield. Hill was lined up 15 yards away from Diaz, but somehow wasn’t ready for the deep in route.

It seems to me like defensive backs should force receivers to the sideline, as there’s not as much room to make catches there. So one of two things is happening- either Hill is getting beat inside, or he’s giving away to inside help, only for it to not be there due to blown assignments or biting on the play action.

I’ll admit this is pretty nit-picky, and Iowa had more skill talent than I thought.

10. Defensive Line gave a solid B+, A- effort. They were OK on the pass rush, but not as dominant as prior weeks

While I was at the game, it didn’t feel like we got a lot of pressure on Brown. So I wanted to see why that was the case.

First off, Iowa’s offensive line deserves a lot of credit. Coming into Saturday, they hadn’t given up a single sack on the season. I thought their tackles were very good against our ends, and they were heavy on double teaming our tackle/tackles.

It seemed like we weren’t as dominant this week with our 3 and 4 man rushes- one thing I noticed was our ends spinning inside right into a double team, specifically John Henry Daley, thus taking himself out of the play.

However, based on my calculations, I gave Michigan a pressure rate of 38%- meaning they put meaningful pressure on Brown 38% of the time, mainly through bull rushes and blitzes. That’s not a horrible rate, just not what we’ve been accustomed to this season.

I’ll admit- this game was a bit humbling. I still think we have a very good defensive line: they only gave up 58 yards on the ground and 2.4 yards per carry, which is incredibly impressive. But the idea that they can just line up 3 and get instant pressure on the QB is a bit of a fantasy. It doesn’t mean we have to get away from it, but it may not be the guaranteed move like it was against Oklahoma, who may have the worst offense in the Power 4.

The only player that was winning clean off the edge at a very good rate was Dom Nichols- it’s just too bad Brown didn’t hold onto the ball for .5 seconds longer, or else Nichols would have had a sack on the final play of the game.

ALSO- look for #99 Bobby Kenka to get more snaps- I thought he out-played #91 Jonah Lea’ea in this game

OVERALL:

This is one of the weirdest film reviews I’ve ever done. I was pretty impressed with most of the film- I’ve never seen a more dominant performance in a Michigan loss in my 17 years of watching football. The offense is coming together- we’re seeing a lot of the creativity from Jason Beck, and Bryce Underwood is continuing to improve.

That’s why I don’t want to give up on the coaching staff- you can see the immense improvement week-to-week, and it seems like this team is getting closer and closer to being a complete product. This team is on an exciting trajectory

It feels oxymoronic to say this next sentence. In the same breath, we’re at a crossroads. AT SOME POINT- THE STUPID CRAP HAS TO STOP!!!! THE STANDARD HAS TO BE SET!!! 4 GAMES OF INCREDIBLY IDIOTIC, STUPID PENALTIES!!!

(Deep breath, deep breath)- the good thing is, maybe after a loss, this team will get it. It would be one thing if they got away with all the stupidity and won, but maybe the sting of a gut-punching loss will be a true wake-up call.

If Kyle Whittingham is truly a disciplinarian, we need to see it ASAP. This is potentially the difference between Michigan becoming a championship contender vs Whittingham being fired in year one. At minimum, the standard needs to be set by years end. There is too much talent on this team to have it wasted away by selfish and careless errors.

I think we’ll learn a lot about this team next week against Minnesota. We know the offense will continue to develop and the defense will continue to be very good- but what is this team made of? Will they continue to play with fire via penalties and sloppy mistakes? Or will they be motivated to correct and change their ways?

If this is a championship caliber staff and team, they will play a clean, disciplined, and fiery game against Minnesota. If there continues to be dumb penalties and the same mistakes, I have to question if this coaching staff is doing their job in terms of establishing the culture.

Otherwise, there’s a lot of good to take out of Saturday. We have a very good team with very correctable problems. But as Bon Jovi says, “it’s now or never”- there has to be 100% urgency this week at practice

The favorite to win by 5.5 and it looked like itvwas gonna be just that.

Then in the last 30 seconds your defense lays an egg the size of Ford Field and allows Ipwa to somehow score a walkoff touchdown sealing the win.

Honestly, it's well deserved Karma for stealing Western Michigans win and it's fitting that a big 20 rival does it to you.

Iowa if you make the playoffs this game will be the reason.

Number 17 Iowa comes in clutch with a game winning TD against Number 18 Michigan as time expires!

Michigan falls to 3-1* while Iowa remains undefeated!

(*) = Michigan is technically 2-2 in most of our books due to the Western Michigan Refball Controversy

How in the world did you lose at home to a Falcons team that only scored 3 points last week? Okay, so the Falcons still suck, but I guess they suck less now. Hopefully we can keep Penix healthy. He's not perfect but he was probably the reason we ended last year on a 4-game win streak.