Michigan hammered Wisconsin, 38-17, and now has momentum heading into the remainder of the Big Ten schedule. Here’s what we saw after watching the film a few times …
First off — no, this is not a typical Wisconsin team. At the same time, this is a really good squad defensively — VERY well coached by coordinator Jim Leonhard — and one of the best U-M will face this year. The group didn’t get much help from its offense, but the Michigan line more than held its own from the outset and got great push up front for much of the game.
It started on the first series. Loved the first play — straight drop to pass. Running back Hassan Haskins did a nice job picking up a blitzing defensive back, but McNamara aimed it a bit and threw a bit behind receiver Daylen Baldwin.
Flat out, that ball should have been caught, one of three we’d consider drops. Baldwin admitted as much Monday when we spoke with him at noon. He had another one later in the game in which he should have waited for the ball in the zone rather than continuing to run (also hit him in the hands and should have been caught).
McNamara would have been 21-of-28, 75 percent, for about 240 or 250 yards.
He also got hit too much (more on that in a minute). People were complaining about the long ball to frosh receiver Roman Wilson being short, but a defender got the quarterback’s legs and didn’t give him a chance to step into it. That one was on left guard Trevor Keegan. He threw behind a receiver on a slant on second and six on the first series, which was a great move considering the left side blocking was awful. It looked as though either Ryan Hayes got beat at left tackle or Keegan blew an assignment when he was supposed to help inside.
And the ball to the middle of the field that it appeared he was throwing to nobody — it looked like he wanted to go to Wilson but caught himself rather than throw into coverage. That’s better than the alternative, no matter how ugly it looks. It happened again on a first quarter slant on which a linebacker came through untouched.
That’s been McNamara’s strength. He doesn’t lose yardage and put them behind the sticks. He runs away from pressure or gets rid of it before he gets sacked — and make no mistake, the biggest reason he hasn’t been sacked this year is him, not the line (though it’s been solid, for the most part).
He’s been solid-plus, and his deep ball to sophomore receiver Cornelius Johnson on the flea flicker was underrated. Yeah, Johnson had a couple steps, but that throw was damn near perfect — just as frosh J.J. McCarthy’s was to Baldwin.
The left side of the line absolutely blew the Badgers off the ball on the first running play, for seven yards with Haskins, as did Zak Zinter and tight end Joel Honigford (lined up outside LT). They were great on the first fourth down play, too, which Harbaugh probably should have punted.
Andrew Vastardis was outstanding, too, minus a second drive pressure on which he got beat. Keegan was fortunate his man slipped, or the Badgers would have gotten a safety on U-M’s second possession. Keegan let his guy through, but McNamara escaped and Blake Corum did his Mike Hart impression in making a guy miss, putting his head down and getting a first down as a safety valve.
Both Mike Sainristil and Luke Schoonmaker were a half yard shy of the sticks on their routes to come up short to set up the two fourth downs on the first drive. They need better awareness. Ditto Roman Wilson on the play on which he stepped out of bounds late in the game. That can’t happen when there’s nobody around you.
Those are plays that will lose tight games for you.
Four guys blocked extremely well and blew their guys off the ball on the second fourth down play, but Hayes got beat inside again. He needs to be better.
Great recognition on the screen by both DT Mazi Smith and DE Mike Morris on Wisconsin’s first offensive series. That would have been a 15-yard gain or so; instead, it was a punt. And kudos to Brad Robbins for flipping field position back
Protection was fantastic on the wheel route throw to running back Donovan Edwards in the first quarter. McNamara needed to throw it earlier, but the frosh needs to make that catch. It didn’t appear it got tipped.
Love it when guys come out of nowhere to make big plays, especially when it’s a kid who works so hard. Enter Joey Velazquez, by all accounts one of the hardest workers on the team. He got that muffed punt and wasn’t letting it go, a gift wrapped three points.
It might have been seven, but Haskins was marked at the four rather than the 2.5 yard line on the first carry for some reason, and the coaches swept him on second down for a loss. Tight end Luke Schoonmaker’s bad first step (needed to step with the left, not his right) allowed his man to beat him into the backfield.
Schoonmaker also threw a chicken wing on a second and six play with a minute remaining in the half that was otherwise blocked well and could have been a nice gain for Haskins. His guy made the stop for no gain.
That shouldn’t be happening. Later, it appeared Erick All didn’t know who to block on a play. For all the talk about great tight end blocking — we haven’t seen it, and certainly didn’t Saturday outside of Honigford. One of them (either Honigford or All) missed an assignment on third and one at the end of the third quarter, too.
The D-line did a hell of a job against the run all game. Wisconsin didn’t get push. Chris Hinton continues to play at a high level in that regard, and David Ojabo had his best game in a Michigan uniform even without the 2.5 sacks. He was all over the field and did a much better job staying home on the edge on play action.
That’s a good sign given how big edge responsibility will be in the option game Saturday at Nebraska against Adrian Martinez. Morris is playing really good football.
The squib kick was dumb. Harbaugh probably knows it, because he hasn’t commented on it. That gave the Badgers life. They had -2 yards at the 10-minute mark of the second quarter and trailed only 13-10 at the half. Kick it deep, Wisconsin starts at its 25, runs a play and heads to the locker room down 10. For the “it’s only 12 yards” crowd — those 12 yards were the difference in going for points or not.
It’s about Risk/Reward. It wasn’t worth it. Even giving up three points there would have been bad.
But they handled the adversity and set the tone early in the second half. Mertz might be bad, but he was Wisconsin’s only hope, and it was over when Hill knocked him out with a shot to the chest on the third down blitz. That was a great play call on a blitz they’d been sitting on, and it changed the game.
Josh Ross was there, too. He’s playing the position like Jefferson in Fast Times at Ridgemont High vs. Lincoln. If he’s not hitting the ball carrier, he’s taking blockers head on like he’s trying to run through them. He’s having an incredible year.
From the ‘little things’ file — Henning’s 13-yard punt return to start Michigan’s first possession of the second half was huge. Every 10 yards increases the chance of success on a drive dramatically. He split two guys, made another guy miss after five yards — he’s a weapon.
Jake Moody’s 48-yard field goal to put them up 23-10 was huge, and McNamara’s third and nine, back shoulder completion to All and his touchdown pass to Johnson that clinched it were big time plays. That’s what Michigan football is supposed to look like.
And the late interception by Alan Bowman that set up a touchdown was a shame. This would be one of the top three scoring defenses in the nation if not for garbage time scores. On Bowman … @SaBills , you owe us a steak.
Onward.
First off — no, this is not a typical Wisconsin team. At the same time, this is a really good squad defensively — VERY well coached by coordinator Jim Leonhard — and one of the best U-M will face this year. The group didn’t get much help from its offense, but the Michigan line more than held its own from the outset and got great push up front for much of the game.
It started on the first series. Loved the first play — straight drop to pass. Running back Hassan Haskins did a nice job picking up a blitzing defensive back, but McNamara aimed it a bit and threw a bit behind receiver Daylen Baldwin.
Flat out, that ball should have been caught, one of three we’d consider drops. Baldwin admitted as much Monday when we spoke with him at noon. He had another one later in the game in which he should have waited for the ball in the zone rather than continuing to run (also hit him in the hands and should have been caught).
McNamara would have been 21-of-28, 75 percent, for about 240 or 250 yards.
He also got hit too much (more on that in a minute). People were complaining about the long ball to frosh receiver Roman Wilson being short, but a defender got the quarterback’s legs and didn’t give him a chance to step into it. That one was on left guard Trevor Keegan. He threw behind a receiver on a slant on second and six on the first series, which was a great move considering the left side blocking was awful. It looked as though either Ryan Hayes got beat at left tackle or Keegan blew an assignment when he was supposed to help inside.
And the ball to the middle of the field that it appeared he was throwing to nobody — it looked like he wanted to go to Wilson but caught himself rather than throw into coverage. That’s better than the alternative, no matter how ugly it looks. It happened again on a first quarter slant on which a linebacker came through untouched.
That’s been McNamara’s strength. He doesn’t lose yardage and put them behind the sticks. He runs away from pressure or gets rid of it before he gets sacked — and make no mistake, the biggest reason he hasn’t been sacked this year is him, not the line (though it’s been solid, for the most part).
He’s been solid-plus, and his deep ball to sophomore receiver Cornelius Johnson on the flea flicker was underrated. Yeah, Johnson had a couple steps, but that throw was damn near perfect — just as frosh J.J. McCarthy’s was to Baldwin.
The left side of the line absolutely blew the Badgers off the ball on the first running play, for seven yards with Haskins, as did Zak Zinter and tight end Joel Honigford (lined up outside LT). They were great on the first fourth down play, too, which Harbaugh probably should have punted.
Andrew Vastardis was outstanding, too, minus a second drive pressure on which he got beat. Keegan was fortunate his man slipped, or the Badgers would have gotten a safety on U-M’s second possession. Keegan let his guy through, but McNamara escaped and Blake Corum did his Mike Hart impression in making a guy miss, putting his head down and getting a first down as a safety valve.
Both Mike Sainristil and Luke Schoonmaker were a half yard shy of the sticks on their routes to come up short to set up the two fourth downs on the first drive. They need better awareness. Ditto Roman Wilson on the play on which he stepped out of bounds late in the game. That can’t happen when there’s nobody around you.
Those are plays that will lose tight games for you.
Four guys blocked extremely well and blew their guys off the ball on the second fourth down play, but Hayes got beat inside again. He needs to be better.
Great recognition on the screen by both DT Mazi Smith and DE Mike Morris on Wisconsin’s first offensive series. That would have been a 15-yard gain or so; instead, it was a punt. And kudos to Brad Robbins for flipping field position back
Protection was fantastic on the wheel route throw to running back Donovan Edwards in the first quarter. McNamara needed to throw it earlier, but the frosh needs to make that catch. It didn’t appear it got tipped.
Love it when guys come out of nowhere to make big plays, especially when it’s a kid who works so hard. Enter Joey Velazquez, by all accounts one of the hardest workers on the team. He got that muffed punt and wasn’t letting it go, a gift wrapped three points.
It might have been seven, but Haskins was marked at the four rather than the 2.5 yard line on the first carry for some reason, and the coaches swept him on second down for a loss. Tight end Luke Schoonmaker’s bad first step (needed to step with the left, not his right) allowed his man to beat him into the backfield.
Schoonmaker also threw a chicken wing on a second and six play with a minute remaining in the half that was otherwise blocked well and could have been a nice gain for Haskins. His guy made the stop for no gain.
That shouldn’t be happening. Later, it appeared Erick All didn’t know who to block on a play. For all the talk about great tight end blocking — we haven’t seen it, and certainly didn’t Saturday outside of Honigford. One of them (either Honigford or All) missed an assignment on third and one at the end of the third quarter, too.
The D-line did a hell of a job against the run all game. Wisconsin didn’t get push. Chris Hinton continues to play at a high level in that regard, and David Ojabo had his best game in a Michigan uniform even without the 2.5 sacks. He was all over the field and did a much better job staying home on the edge on play action.
That’s a good sign given how big edge responsibility will be in the option game Saturday at Nebraska against Adrian Martinez. Morris is playing really good football.
The squib kick was dumb. Harbaugh probably knows it, because he hasn’t commented on it. That gave the Badgers life. They had -2 yards at the 10-minute mark of the second quarter and trailed only 13-10 at the half. Kick it deep, Wisconsin starts at its 25, runs a play and heads to the locker room down 10. For the “it’s only 12 yards” crowd — those 12 yards were the difference in going for points or not.
It’s about Risk/Reward. It wasn’t worth it. Even giving up three points there would have been bad.
But they handled the adversity and set the tone early in the second half. Mertz might be bad, but he was Wisconsin’s only hope, and it was over when Hill knocked him out with a shot to the chest on the third down blitz. That was a great play call on a blitz they’d been sitting on, and it changed the game.
Josh Ross was there, too. He’s playing the position like Jefferson in Fast Times at Ridgemont High vs. Lincoln. If he’s not hitting the ball carrier, he’s taking blockers head on like he’s trying to run through them. He’s having an incredible year.
From the ‘little things’ file — Henning’s 13-yard punt return to start Michigan’s first possession of the second half was huge. Every 10 yards increases the chance of success on a drive dramatically. He split two guys, made another guy miss after five yards — he’s a weapon.
Jake Moody’s 48-yard field goal to put them up 23-10 was huge, and McNamara’s third and nine, back shoulder completion to All and his touchdown pass to Johnson that clinched it were big time plays. That’s what Michigan football is supposed to look like.
And the late interception by Alan Bowman that set up a touchdown was a shame. This would be one of the top three scoring defenses in the nation if not for garbage time scores. On Bowman … @SaBills , you owe us a steak.
Onward.
