Hitting Rewind: Offense vs. Michigan State
As further proof that I don’t yet know what I’m doing, I’ve decided to take a slightly different approach to the Hitting Rewind feature. I hope to make this a regular aspect of the season, but quickly found out that finding time to do a UFR-style review for each game would be impossible because of the time they took to complete. That Hippie Up North puts together amazing reviews for every week of the season, but he’s not exactly rolling into an office every day like the rest of us. So, I’ve settled on a more visual approach where I’ll try to take the two or three key plays on each side of the ball and give them a closer look. Hope you enjoy.
Pryor’s First Run
Thanks to a muffed kickoff, the Spartans had the Buckeyes pinned back inside their own 10 yard line for the opening drive of the game. On first down, Beanie was stuffed for just a one yard gain and the home crowd was imploring Michigan State to snatch the early momentum. On 2nd and nine, the Buckeyes lined up in a shotgun with two wide receivers and Brandon Smith in as an H-back. The call was the read option and with some nice blocking, good moves and deceiving speed, Pryor raced out for a 32-yard gain on the left sideline, instantly seizing momentum.
The Buckeyes would go on to punt a few plays later, but Pryor’s first run was huge for the fact that it snatched momentum, flipped the field position battle and got him off to a hot start in a game where he’d need to play well.
Michigan State lines up in a 4-3 with man coverage.
The middle linebacker, Decker, reads run and starts to fill, while end Brandon Long stays home as he has been taught all week in practice.
Pryor sees one guy to beat and three blockers for three defenders, so he pulls the handoff out.
Using his speed, he gets outside on the containment and starts to hit the corner.
Brandon Smith’s block on the edge was huge, spring Pryor for 25 additional yards.
He gets the sideline, but a Greg Jones trips him up to save a touchdown.Beanie’s Reverse Field Jaunt
After the Buckeyes had held the Spartans to a three-and-out on their first offensive possession, they started their second drive of the game in good field position thanks to a bad point. On 1st and 10 from the Michigan State 47 yard line, Cordle was whistled for a false start and the ball was backed up five yards to the Ohio State 48. Then with one brilliant reverse field run, Beanie Wells single-handedly put the team into position to score their first points of the game. Three plays later, Pryor did just that.
The Buckeyes come out in their pistol with three wide receivers. Saine is lined up to Pryor’s left and Beanie is behind him. Michigan State is in a nickel with Decker lined up deep next to Jones.
Brewster gets a helmet on Jones, but Browning is unable to get to Decker because of his depth.
Michigan State gets good penetration against the left side of the Buckeye line, bottling the run up. Decker is closing the backside lane and this play is destined to go for a loss.
Beanie stops and delivers some justice to Decker with a rare forward stiff-arm.
After freeing himself of Decker. Beanie begins to reverse field with Saine tracking Jones and yes, Rehring pwning someone at the top.
Beanie gets to the right edge and has Pryor "lead" blocking for him.
Pryor earns some respect from the hogs and Beanie is tackled after turning -4 into +20.Pryor’s Touchdown Throw to Robiskie
On the Buckeyes third possession of the game, they moved quickly to the Michigan State six yard line before getting hit up with a chop-block penalty negating a Beanie touchdown run. It was 1st and goal from the Spartan 21 yard line and after getting 14 yards on their first two plays, the Buckeyes were facing a 3rd and goal from the MSU seven yard line. A play-action is dialed up and Pryor makes a nifty move to avoid the end and find Robo in the back of the end zone to make it 14-0. That would be too much, too quick for a team that likes to run the ball 40 times per game and the state of Ohio erupted in joy as the offense was now 2/2 on red zone attempts.
The Buckeyes come out in an offset I featuring Smith and Beanie with Ballard in at H-back. Michigan State shows a 4-3 with man-press coverage on the outside.
MSU linebacker Eric Gordon blitzes the run inside with Decker looking to plug the middle as well.
Spartan left end Trevor Anderson doesn’t bite on the fake and closes in on Pryor. At the bottom, Robiskie’s route takes him upfield.
Pryor has Ballard for a probable touchdown but in his youth, opts for the fake on Anderson. Robiskie is starting to cross the end zone.
After eluding Robinson, Pryor focuses downfield…
… and finds a wide-open Robiskie sitting in the back of the end zone.
Good Stuff. I liked Hitting Rewing much better this way
i like this approach, i don’t think we need a play by play analysis, but showing us how the key plays unfolded rules pretty hard
I like this a lot better. Didn’t have time to read the whole analysis, but I like being able to see a couple of the big plays and understand what was happening based on some still-frames. Great for those of us who have never seriously studied the game.
another example of why this is the best Buckeye Blog going right now…
This is much much better than the old version. Some of us don’t know all the formations very well so this help us visualize them. nice work Jason
out of curiosity, how are you getting the frames? You have a tv card on your pc?
Don’t feel bad. Everyone gives up after a few weeks.
It is amazing what blocking on the O-line can do for play calling…. you don’t have to be fancy, just execute what is called. It also helps to have a QB who can buy some extra time and not a statue
“Don’t feel bad. Everyone gives up after a few weeks.”
Exhibit A: The 2008 Michigan Wolverine Football Team.
I got nothing against Brian (don’t even know the dude, respect immensely what he does and so on), but “That Hippie Up North” earned a definite giggle from me.
The crystal clear screen caps + commentary is a definite win, but the play-by-play really helps determine things in the aggregate. Time I’m sure is an issue, but the full game analyses are really useful in that regard.
I prefer this to the play-by-play, but good job either way.
This is an awesome idea; it takes what Brian did and blows it away by actually showing what happened on the play. Excellent work as always.
seriously, this is pretty sweet
Good stuff as usual. All that I can expect or need from this element. Cheers to Brian though for doing this year in and year out in what is now surely a painful endeavor.
Yup, yup, this is great and its a good idea. We all understand that is far less time intensive than the full blown deal, but then again, its easier for us to digest as well.
For those who applaud this ‘evolution’ of Brian’s UFR…um, he’s been doing this for awhile. Granted, he hasn’t replaced a UFR with a series like this, but he runs this series in some weeks as a complement to the UFR.
And, FTR…one of his most memorable implementations of this feature was last year’s OSU/UM game, the screen cap where the entire buckeye d line has gotten penetration to M’s backfield. A favorite screen cap of mine, for sure.
Dirty6, got a link to that game’s screen caps?
Awesome, screen caps Jason. What did you use to get them?
Thanks, guys.
Brian’s UFRs are pretty solid b/c he’s got the whole pop-out video thing going and he’s always been gracious about encouraging people to steal the idea. I’m not trying to go soft on you guys, he’s still a dirty hippie from Ann Arbor, but he does a great job.
Another factor that led me to pause the full-blown reviews was I was wondering how good I was at actually grading play. The obvious stuff is easy, but I’m not sure about my consistency. Especially since 80% of the line somehow graded positive in the review of Purdue.
Regarding the capture tech, there are a couple of ways to go about it. What I do is pause my television and draw what I see in MS Paint. I think I’m getting good at it.
You could also use something like an HD stick, a TV card, TiVo to Go. There are a few ways to get games on to your computers these days.
Ok, so clarification is needed on my part.
First, when Brian posted that picture I’m talking about, it was NOT as a part of a screen-cap UFR supplement. I could have swore it was, but it was a standalone picture. Apparently it was posted in the MGoBlog open thread during the 2007 game, Brian threw it up as part of his Unverified Voracity series and was later told that it was the work of Vijay at IBFC. So, anyway, here’s your link to the Unverified Voracity with the pic in it.
http://mgoblog.com/content/unverified-voracity-buried-backfield
Sorry it took awhile to find this, but there was some serious sifting through Brian’s archives required to find it. The pic was posted in the middle of their coaching search and there were only about six million posts I had to sift through to find it.
HOWEVA, I do stand by the assertion that Brian has done this type of a screen-cap re-cap before, although maybe he hasn’t done it for as long as I thought. All the MGoBlog sifting has caused me to be less interested in finding the *first* time he did it and instead I just went for the first one I could find. I *think* this was the first one he did, as he introduces it as a ‘irregular new feature.’ He did a few for their Illinois game this year.
http://mgoblog.com/content/picture-pages-reach-blocking-fails
All that took entirely too much time roaming around the UM blog for finding something that really wasn’t worth proving (oooh the michigan man did this first, um, who cares), but along the journey I found some fun nuggets:
In his 2005 preview of OSU, Brian recalls the 04 game-OSU was 6-4 and meh, Michigan was 9-1 and then (brian’s words) “that thing happened.” His explanation for that game:
“There ain’t no way around it: we got Coopered.”
Later in the 2005 preview, he talked about Troy Smith, and rates OSU’s QB posn:
“Rating: 2. One game against Michigan turned Troy Smith from a really tan version of Steve Bellisari into the next next Michael Vick. But the new Ron New Mexico he ain’t.”
The he reviews Troy’s 2004 campaign, mostly stating the obviously weak competition TS flourished against, especially noting that violent Penn State game we lost on the road, then when he gets to the TS performance against 2004 M:
Michigan: Inexplicably explodes for approximately eight billion yards. Drives me to brink of homicidal rampage.
Lolcats FTW. Anyway, I’m not trying to pick on Brian here, his work is the very extreme definition of FANatatical, and its always a great read even when you don’t like what you’re having to read. Also, after lambasting TS in the 2005 preview (he even says “But I’ll believe Troy Smith, Actual Quarterback when I see it more than once.”), he goes on to preview the 2007 Ohio State offense with the following line:
“Ding dong, Troy Smith is dead. Church bells should peal across the state the first time Todd Boeckman throws an interception or completes like 50% of his passes or like blows a game like whoah.”
And then he nicely summarizes what just about everyone but Florida thought of the 2006 offense:
“Last Year: JESUS CHRIST. MAKE IT STOP MAKE IT STOP MAKE IT STOP. PLEASE.”
Lolcats again. Thanks for the trip down the memory lanes Baby Booey.
Very nicely done. I like the UFR way of doing things, in no small part because I like numbers assigned to everything, whether they’re meaningful or not. But this is pretty seriously awesome as well. My only suggestion would be to not be afraid to take a look at some of the less significant plays. The big plays get all the attention, and it’s pretty easy to point out stuff like “Beanie stiff arms a corner 35 years into the past, where he must solve mysteries and try to find his way back to the present day.” That’s what we get from those hacks at the Big Ten Network. What I dig is the less obvious stuff, like where you pointed out Rehring pancaking (holding?) the dude to spring Beanie’s cutback. Even if the play itself is less exciting, I’d rather hear about picture-perfect zone blocking on a six-yard run or a great stunt by a couple d-linemen on a one-yard loss. Not saying what you’ve got there isn’t great as is, just don’t be afraid to venture even further from highlight territory.
Nicely done. Not encouraging to steal ideas but the Varsity Blue blog has a pretty sweet feature called “Inside the Play” which is similar to this except he draws out and explains the intended play, then explains what went right/wrong in execution.
Looks very nice. I think I like it and the original format about even. This gives a very nice visual representation of what went right. What I liked most about the play by play format, though, is realizing what exactly when right/wrong to make the difference between Beanie running off tackle for 1 yard and Beanie running off tackle for 20 yards. It’s hard to catch who made/missed their blocking assignments the first time you’re watching something. The things I’d probably miss most are the answers to the questions:
1) Who specifically did and didn’t make blocks on the O-line. They’re always referred to as a unit during the game. It’s interesting to see who is messing up and who isn’t (and how - physically or mentally).
2) Are the running backs (generally other than Beanie) too slow on their first step, hitting the wrong hole, or is there just no hole to run through?
3) When Pryor does stupid freshman stuff, was it because there just wasn’t anyone open or did he miss a wide open hartline across the middle?
That’s what I don’t get from broadcast coverage that I really enjoy getting from the old format of UFR. But I understand you don’t have time, and this format is pretty sweet for the visual understanding of just what clicks on the big plays. Thanks for all the hard and awesome work.
Items:
1) I wasn’t trying to be sarcastic in my first comment. I’ve seen a dozen people strike up the UFR thing and then go “ugh” and drop it. If I still had a job outside the blog I wouldn’t be able to do it; I don’t even remember how I managed it when I did. (Partial answer: it was suckier back in the day.)
2) Yes, I have made some extremely stupid predictions. I don’t try to hide them, though, you can at least give me credit for that.
3) *Fuck* Troy Smith, man. Seriously.
Brian, I totally give you credit for hot hiding any of your predictions. Actually, as I reviewed your old posts, I was struck by something:
We of the fanbase have a tendecy towards uber-optimism regarding our team, and we also have a tendency towards uber-pessimism regarding the other team. Example, Troy Smith circa 2005; Ohio State fans were sure this guy was going to win a Heisman, Brian (and many other Michigan fans) were certain that he was a meh thrower who had some nice legs but could be contained easily enough. We all know how that worked out.
Also, example: Michigan circa 2008. Michigan fans (well, at least intellegent ones) are certain that in a year or two this RichRod thing is going to find its stride and explode. Ohio State fans are gleefully convinced that the entire UM football program is swirling its way down the toilet bowl of irrelevance on flames and all.
Now, sometimes a fan base is optimistic and it doesn’t work out-see Notre Dame fans for, oh, like 12 years. However, I think the real ‘learning’ here is that when we look at our opponents we look for that little bit of criticism or that small justification to write them off, then we attach all our hopes to that small justification and ride the ‘OMG they’re going to suck’ bandwagon until its on fire and swirling down a toilet bowl…
So, fellow Buckeyes, be forewarned: Just b/c M doesn’t look so hot this year does not a bad coach make RickRod, or a bad experiment make the spread in Ann Arbor. Just because you want them to be bad, and they look bad now, does not mean that they won’t go all Troy Smith on our asses in a year or two.
Err… there are several of us Buckeyes that fully believe RichRod will have that program back on its feet and competing year in and year out. I don’t want to beat a dead horse but untested pro-style players in a spread offense under a completely new coaching staff… square peg round hole.
Given the right players, experience, and enough knowledge of the system, the Wolverines will be back in a couple years. That’s why I think everyone should get a headstart and start preparing NOW for the kind of schemes Rich Rod is going to be throwing at them.
They just need to worry about all their recruits not decommitting.
Flip,
I totally hear you…I just think *many* Buckeye fans are not seeing this like you and I. And everytime I see a comment or a blog post that basically says “OMG RICHROD SUCKS UM SUCKS LOOK THEY’RE NOW GOING TO SUCK FOREVAH…”
Well, I just shake my head and wonder what those folks will be saying 3 years when M is on fire again.
I wish I coulda been a fly on the wall in the room that DickRod was in when he found out that LiC chose the good guys. He must’ve had a minor heart attack or stroke. LOL
I would I could have been a fly on the wall when he decided to start Nick Sheridan over Threet at the beginning of the season… I mean WTF, seriously.
Dirty6, please take your tongue out of Brian’s ass.
woody, GFU
Just wanted to say that this kind of analysis is awesome. The lengthy play-by-play format was good, but the visual aids really help showcase the individual battles that are won and lost.