For those of you who don’t live in Southeast Michigan, you probably haven’t seen the ads for the Motor City Bowl. It’s worth checking out, mainly because I think I could have made a better commercial in about an hour
I’m making fun, but really I’m jealous. I would have been thrilled with the Motor City Bowl. Also, MSU, WMU and CMU all have 9+ wins. Weird…
Posted under Video
This week we talked to talked to Jason Mack, the Sports Editor for the Independent Collegian at the University of Toledo, pictured to the right. I’m trying a new audio player, so let me know if you can see it. Enjoy:
UPDATE: I tried a new player and there’s an issue with it. To get the blogcast, just right click here and select Save Target As.
Posted under Blogcast
Round 2.
The Situation
Illinois leads Michigan, 31-20 with about 9 minutes left in the game. After starting strong, the Michigan offense has sputtered, but finally got back on the board on its last drive. In spite of a questionable pass interference call on John Thompson, Michigan has Illinois in a 3rd-and-2 situation on their own 49 yard line. A stop here could help continue Wolverine momentum, and give the Wolverines a chance to get back into the game.
The Personnel and Formation
Illinois comes out in a 3-wide spread set, with a tight end on the right side of the line. Two wideouts are to the left. Isiah Williams is in the shotgun, with Daniel Dufrene lined up as the running back to his left. Michigan’s base 3-4 has a linebacker (John Thompson) on the line to the slot receiver side. Obi Ezeh and Jonas Mouton are centered over the line, which consists of the standard starters (Graham, Taylor, Johnson, and Jamison). The secondary is composed of Brandon Harrison, Stevie Brown, Donovan Warren, and Morgan Trent.
The Play
Juice Williams runs a quarterback draw, running right into the heart of Michigan’s strong defensive line. This should be a stop by Michigan, but Williams manages to scamper 50 yards down the field, before he is run down from behind by Stevie Brown at the 1 yard line. Michigan’s defensive play is a blitz of the weakside of the formation by Thompson, with the line clogging things up and the other two linebackers playing the run. The secondary mans up on the receivers.
Why it Worked
Brandon Graham and Jonas Mouton seem to both be to blame for Juice getting loose (damnit, I was going to avoid saying that). Michigan’s defensive play seems to be for the defensive line to plug up the middle, with the linebackers freed up to make plays near the line of scrimmage. Graham gets greedy, however, and gives up his inside position when it appears that Juice will try to go around the edge. This frees up a gap for Williams to head through. Mouton should be there, but he was also fooled by Juice, and has rushed to the outside to play contain. However, it appears as though his responsibility was not contain, as Brandon Harrison has filled the same gap. Mouton and Graham were both supposed to be in position to stop Juice here, and considering that neither was, it’s easy to see why he got free.
Now you know what it was like Inside the Play.
The Situation
Michigan leads Illinois 14-10 with about 11 minutes remaining in the second quarter. The Illini have the ball in a 2nd-and-10 situation on their own 43 yard line. Michigan’s offense has been clicking early in the game, and a big stop on Illinois’s potential go-ahead drive would sustain the Wolverine momentum, and possibly springboard another Michigan scoring drive.
The Personnel and Formation
Illinois comes out in a 3-wide spread set, with a tight end on the right side of the line. Two wideouts are to the left. Isiah Williams is in the shotgun, with Daniel Dufrene lined up as the running back to his left. Michigan is running out of its 3-4 Okie nickel package. The corners are playing off, and Charles Stewart is the high safety along with Brandon Harrison. Stevie Brown, Jonas Mouton, Obi Ezeh, and John Thompson are the linebackers. Mike Martin is the pass-rushing DT.
The Play
Michigan is in a cover-3, with both OLBs blitzing. At the snap, John Thompson blitzes, allowing Daniel Dufrene to run right by him. This is unfortunate for Thompson and the Michigan defense at large, as this play is a designed screen (not quite a swing pass, as The Davids – ESPN’s shittiest new announce team – state). Williams lofts the ball over Thompson’s head, and Dufrene makes the catch. He follows his screen blockers, breaks a couple early tackle attempts, and outruns the Wolverines to the endzone.
Why it Worked
John Thompson is the major culpable party in Illinois’s success on this play. In Shafer’s scheme, he is designated to blitz on this play, but has the responsibility to “hug up” on Dufrene if he leaks out of the backfield. It is plain to see Thompson realizes his mistake, as he has an “oh shit” moment, and turns around when he realizes Dufrene has passed him.
This was an effective play call against a blitz, and of course the responsibilities of the blitzers are supposed to compensate for this. Thompson’s fuckup amplified the effectiveness of the playcall.
It’s hard to fault him too much, since he was making sure there weren’t huge cutback lanes in the secondary, but Donovan Warren starts off this play taking a terrible angle. He almost manages to still catch up with Dufrene, and had he taken a better angle, might have stopped this 5-10 yards short of the endzone.
Now you know what it was like Inside the Play.
UPDATE: Issue fixed
Coach Simmons, purveyor of the best technical football blog this side of Smart Football, Three and Out, joined us today for the podcast. In addition to being an excellent blogger, he is defensive coordinator for a large high school in North Carolina. In whatever spare time he has, he acts as the resident coach of the Michigan blogosphere posting as gsimmons85.
In the podcast we talked about his coaching philosophies, his team, how he views Michigan and his love of his car. We barely scraped the surface so we hope to have him back. Without further adieu:
(If you can’t see the player, you can right click here and click save target as)
Visual Aid 1:
Visual Aid 2:
For this week, we talked to Derek Zetlin, the football beat writer and sports content editor for the Badger Herald. If you want to know what Mr. Zetlin looks like, I’ve got you covered. Topics ranged from the fleetness of Evridge to the fatness of Hill. Many thanks to Mr. Zetlin for his time and insights. I hope you guys enjoy the preview:
Posted under Blogcast
As some of you may know, Zoltan Mesko is a student in the business school. Also, some of you may be aware that our economy, as Sarah Palin would say, “has some things that need a little fixin’.” One reporter asked Prof. Mesko to explain the recent conversion of Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs. I’ll let the Mesko take it from here:
Here’s the NYTimes take on it, for what it’s worth. I wonder what’s in Mesko’s portfolio…
Posted under Video
With no opponent to preview, we went over all the happenings on the recruiting trail for the past month as well as looking into the future. Enjoy:
Posted under Blogcast, Recruiting
Comments Off on Podcast: Recruiting Overview 9/18
Jimmy Clausen is sporting a new ‘do and was showing it off against SDSU. Check it out:
Posted under Video
Unfortunately, we were not able to secure a phone interview with a representative from Notre Dame. Instead of having a polite, respectful interview with a member of another school’s media, we took a different approach. Enjoy:
Special thanks to Comrade Dex from Wolverine Liberation Army. Keep fighting the good the fight.
Posted under Blogcast
