This game was never really in doubt. Mich dominated even though the score at the half didn't show it. Even still, there were plenty of points left on the field for one reason or another.
First, if there's a better RB duo in the country, I'm not sure where it's at. I don't think it exists. In a game where the opposing defense runs a lot of Cover 4, you have to run the ball and run they did. They also have to make secondary guys miss who are unaccounted for. NW defense made Corum look like Barry Sanders in the hole on several plays. Maybe Blake is just that good with his feet. I'll leave that for a different discussion. Some of his cuts and jukes were impressive to say the least.
The OL had a good game. Even when they didn't look good on particular plays, Corum and Haskins made a lot happen with jump cuts to make the first guy miss and gain yards. Haskins is an animal after contact. The Big House might've had a "Beast Quake" moment if he had broken that run after breaking out of a 22 man pile.
The defense was solid. The halftime adjustments to the bunch formation (sliding Aidan out) and screen game (less aggressive play calling in screen down/distance) of NW were exceptional. The run play for a TD was a great design. Ross, as good as he is, got taken advantage of on this play. If he's reading the guard, he'll see run right away but it looks like he's keying on the RT, who appears to pass block (steps back, high hat). His eyes go outside and they run through his gap assignment. Moten can't accept contact here. He's the only guy who can make this play and he obliterates the TE coming to block him but it doesn't matter. He has to break down, get away from that contact and get in the RB's way at a minimum.
After a rewatch, I'm more concerned about UM's execution inside the 10 yard line than Gattis' play calling. More than a few of these plays should've been TDs. After NW's long TD run, Cade led a beautiful 2 min drill inside the 10 that resulted in Sainristil's fumble. The fumble is Sainristil's fault but it should've been a TD. Baldwin absolutely whiffed on his block where he was supposed to crack on the defender who made the play and caused the fumble. Sainristil would've been at a dead sprint against Baldwin's defender who had to change directions in a race to the pylon. I'll take Sainristil to win that one all day.
On the drive before that, NW made a good defensive play on Henning's sweep. Then, UM ran a RPO they've had a lot of success with this season getting guys open. They get a little unlucky though. Schoonmaker allows himself to deal with contact for the first five yards of his route other than fighting to cut underneath and break outside. Regardless, All was going to break wide open but a collapsing LB on that side ran into him coming across the formation on his arrow route and he gets no depth. Cade has to lob it to him because of the pressure in his face and the timing is thrown off because of the contact with All. All makes the catch but the defense had time to recover and make a play. It could've easily been 14 or 21 to 7 at the half.
Cade...
Ok, when a defense plays a lot of Cover 4, as NW did, there are going to be limited opportunities to throw down the field. That said, he did have a few and he missed them, got PI on a couple others. I'll start with what I thought he did well and what the next step may be.
Cade's read progression and accuracy on short to intermediate routes has come a long way since Western Mich. Early on, it seemed there was a lot of talk about how catchable his deep ball was and how he seemed off in the intermediate game where he didn't make quick decisions or throws and wanted to "see his guy open" before he threw it. That hasn't been the case the last two games. There were several instances against Neb and NW where he was willing to throw the ball knowing what the coverage was and that his receiver was going to break open and threw it when his target wasn't even looking. In this game, there were several times where he came off his first and even second read to find guys. He was clutch on these reads/throws on third downs, especially when the game was close.
The long passes...
This is where things seem to have come off the rail a little bit. It's not that he can't do it. He's been inconsistent since the NIU game. Watching the last couple games and his throwing mechanics on the deeper throws, it seems to me like he's trying to aim the ball. Those who follow or have played baseball will know what I'm talking about. Rather than get good weight transfer through the throw and let your athletic ability do the job, he doesn't transfer his weight and wants to "see the ball to the target." In baseball, this causes you to lose both velocity and accuracy. This usually happens when you're thinking about what you're doing too much rather than just "playing." You can see this on his throw to CJ where he doesn't lead him across the field. You can see it on his throw to Schoonmaker where he inexplicably underthrows a seam route where he has a step. I'm not a fan of throwing a slot fade to Sainristil but even those throws seem like he's more wishing the ball there instead of just throwing it.
A few balls were also forced. Against a quarters coverage, there's going to be a lot of opportunities for check downs. One in particular, a slot fade to Sainristil, drew two defenders on the play side before the ball was thrown. Cade has to see that and throw the 6 yard hitch to the outside. It's going to go for 20 or 30 but just a quick 6 yard throw for a much bigger run after the catch due to the coverage. That wasn't the only time but definitely the most noticeable. He did a good job, for the most part, of taking what the defense was giving him but there were missed opportunities.
This is the next step I want to see from Cade. He has the short/intermediate game figured out. When he throws on time on one hitch, he's pretty deadly. When he has "too much time" his mechanics seem to break down and aims the ball. I want to see the same decisiveness on those throws.
JJ...
Dude is going to be a stud. That doesn't mean he can't miss throws. He made a couple really good plays with his feet and a great scramble and throw across his body where Filiaga got a blind side block. He also missed a couple throws. The out to CJ was poor footwork rolling to his right and stopped before throwing. He has an elite arm but not that kind of arm and threw short. His throw to Sainristil on an out was a misfire. Then, he came back on the next play and threw a great 15 yard out to Sainristil. He's going to be something and he does give them an element they may need if Cade isn't getting it done for whatever reason.
Beat State!
First, if there's a better RB duo in the country, I'm not sure where it's at. I don't think it exists. In a game where the opposing defense runs a lot of Cover 4, you have to run the ball and run they did. They also have to make secondary guys miss who are unaccounted for. NW defense made Corum look like Barry Sanders in the hole on several plays. Maybe Blake is just that good with his feet. I'll leave that for a different discussion. Some of his cuts and jukes were impressive to say the least.
The OL had a good game. Even when they didn't look good on particular plays, Corum and Haskins made a lot happen with jump cuts to make the first guy miss and gain yards. Haskins is an animal after contact. The Big House might've had a "Beast Quake" moment if he had broken that run after breaking out of a 22 man pile.
The defense was solid. The halftime adjustments to the bunch formation (sliding Aidan out) and screen game (less aggressive play calling in screen down/distance) of NW were exceptional. The run play for a TD was a great design. Ross, as good as he is, got taken advantage of on this play. If he's reading the guard, he'll see run right away but it looks like he's keying on the RT, who appears to pass block (steps back, high hat). His eyes go outside and they run through his gap assignment. Moten can't accept contact here. He's the only guy who can make this play and he obliterates the TE coming to block him but it doesn't matter. He has to break down, get away from that contact and get in the RB's way at a minimum.
After a rewatch, I'm more concerned about UM's execution inside the 10 yard line than Gattis' play calling. More than a few of these plays should've been TDs. After NW's long TD run, Cade led a beautiful 2 min drill inside the 10 that resulted in Sainristil's fumble. The fumble is Sainristil's fault but it should've been a TD. Baldwin absolutely whiffed on his block where he was supposed to crack on the defender who made the play and caused the fumble. Sainristil would've been at a dead sprint against Baldwin's defender who had to change directions in a race to the pylon. I'll take Sainristil to win that one all day.
On the drive before that, NW made a good defensive play on Henning's sweep. Then, UM ran a RPO they've had a lot of success with this season getting guys open. They get a little unlucky though. Schoonmaker allows himself to deal with contact for the first five yards of his route other than fighting to cut underneath and break outside. Regardless, All was going to break wide open but a collapsing LB on that side ran into him coming across the formation on his arrow route and he gets no depth. Cade has to lob it to him because of the pressure in his face and the timing is thrown off because of the contact with All. All makes the catch but the defense had time to recover and make a play. It could've easily been 14 or 21 to 7 at the half.
Cade...
Ok, when a defense plays a lot of Cover 4, as NW did, there are going to be limited opportunities to throw down the field. That said, he did have a few and he missed them, got PI on a couple others. I'll start with what I thought he did well and what the next step may be.
Cade's read progression and accuracy on short to intermediate routes has come a long way since Western Mich. Early on, it seemed there was a lot of talk about how catchable his deep ball was and how he seemed off in the intermediate game where he didn't make quick decisions or throws and wanted to "see his guy open" before he threw it. That hasn't been the case the last two games. There were several instances against Neb and NW where he was willing to throw the ball knowing what the coverage was and that his receiver was going to break open and threw it when his target wasn't even looking. In this game, there were several times where he came off his first and even second read to find guys. He was clutch on these reads/throws on third downs, especially when the game was close.
The long passes...
This is where things seem to have come off the rail a little bit. It's not that he can't do it. He's been inconsistent since the NIU game. Watching the last couple games and his throwing mechanics on the deeper throws, it seems to me like he's trying to aim the ball. Those who follow or have played baseball will know what I'm talking about. Rather than get good weight transfer through the throw and let your athletic ability do the job, he doesn't transfer his weight and wants to "see the ball to the target." In baseball, this causes you to lose both velocity and accuracy. This usually happens when you're thinking about what you're doing too much rather than just "playing." You can see this on his throw to CJ where he doesn't lead him across the field. You can see it on his throw to Schoonmaker where he inexplicably underthrows a seam route where he has a step. I'm not a fan of throwing a slot fade to Sainristil but even those throws seem like he's more wishing the ball there instead of just throwing it.
A few balls were also forced. Against a quarters coverage, there's going to be a lot of opportunities for check downs. One in particular, a slot fade to Sainristil, drew two defenders on the play side before the ball was thrown. Cade has to see that and throw the 6 yard hitch to the outside. It's going to go for 20 or 30 but just a quick 6 yard throw for a much bigger run after the catch due to the coverage. That wasn't the only time but definitely the most noticeable. He did a good job, for the most part, of taking what the defense was giving him but there were missed opportunities.
This is the next step I want to see from Cade. He has the short/intermediate game figured out. When he throws on time on one hitch, he's pretty deadly. When he has "too much time" his mechanics seem to break down and aims the ball. I want to see the same decisiveness on those throws.
JJ...
Dude is going to be a stud. That doesn't mean he can't miss throws. He made a couple really good plays with his feet and a great scramble and throw across his body where Filiaga got a blind side block. He also missed a couple throws. The out to CJ was poor footwork rolling to his right and stopped before throwing. He has an elite arm but not that kind of arm and threw short. His throw to Sainristil on an out was a misfire. Then, he came back on the next play and threw a great 15 yard out to Sainristil. He's going to be something and he does give them an element they may need if Cade isn't getting it done for whatever reason.
Beat State!
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