Film Review: Michigan at Michigan State, 2021, Part 1

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I breakdown interesting plays - schematically, technically, and from and execution standpoint - from the 2021 Michigan at Michigan State football game.

Two parts, due to the length. Part 2 here.

First includes some thoughts.

Michigan Offense

  • I felt like Michigan came out with a really good game plan offensively and it showed. On the ground, they started with a lot of counter plays which were very close to breaking if they were just able to complete the margins. In the air, they dominated by attacking the LB level with the TE, RB, and crossers that achieved inside leverage vs MSU's Cover 1. They mostly forced MSU to abandon their standard passing down package as well. Even in the red zone, they recongnized: 1) they had issues finishing when the field got compressed; 2) MSU was great at preventing red zone TDs. Because of that, around the 15-25 yard line, they took shots several times, they pulled out some trick plays and tendency breakers, etc. While it didn't consistently work, they did exactly what they should have from a play calling standpoint. I think anyone that tries to claim that this wasn't a very good offensive gameplan is missing a lot of what is actually happening. This was a very good game plan.
Michigan Defense
  • I believe going into the game, the expectation was a low scoring game (winner in the 20s), and that impacted Michigan's gameplan. Michigan came out with a lot of 1 ILB formations because they felt MSU could not win one-on-one blocks. On a down-to-down basis, that was correct, and allowed safeties to help over the top of WRs. But it allowed Walker room to work once he got through the 1st level, and in that way, it backfired in a major way. Michigan is clearly much more comfortable in their 2-4 package, with at least 2 ILBs, and the stats will show that. But I think from a gameplan perspective, they didn't feel they would force enough stops and field position wins. In retrospect, obviously that was wrong.
Michigan State Offense
  • The Michigan State offense found ways to step up at the most critical junctures. You can point to the OTs getting beat up, especially in the ground game. But they managed to avoid many straight drop backs and protect them, and when high leverage plays were needed, MSU found them. Walker is getting the headlines, and he had a great game in terms of contact balance, setting up cut backs, etc. But I think it's actually Reed who is more responsible for getting MSU back in the game, with four or five major plays. But it trickled throughout the offense, and when a big play was needed, they found a way to pay off big play calls.
Michigan State Defense
  • The Spartans had a big game from a player at each level of defense. Slade was dominant. He gave Michigan's young LG a ton of trouble in this game, and when asked to handle him alone, the Center was no match either. Barrow also continues to flash. He's a RS FR, and sometimes it shows, but his upside is really big. At LB, while Michigan could pick on Crouch a bit, Halladay had a great game, showed great instincts with angles from the backside (or which Michigan regularly tried to keep him on) and leaked very, very few yards. And then of course, Henderson continues to make plays from the secondary. In crunch time, some little seen faces also made plays to seal the victory.

 Overall

  • These are two clearly very closely matched teams. While the high scoring nature was not what I was expecting, the gameplans (outside the 6-1) largely was. And they worked. At the end of the day, Michigan finished with about 150 more yards, had plenty of good field position from punt returns, but stalled too many times in the red zone, where Michigan State really takes advantage of the shorter field to prevent TDs. But at the end of the day, when it came time to win the 50-50 plays, or the 30-70 plays, or whenever the high leverage situation arose, the Spartans did. Michigan felt like they had about 10 opportunities to put the game away, but couldn't find that last play. That can be hard to stomach, but it felt like two good teams (in a bit of a down year overall outside the top few teams, these being two top 10 teams isn't unreasonable) that traded punches, and the clock ran out.
  • As I did say on twitter, I think both teams showed a lot of heart. And while people hate the idea of moral victories, I thought Michigan came out loose, made some plays, and didn't back down. Michigan State obviously came off the mat twice and won, but twice Michigan could have felt they let the win go away, only for in both instances march right down the field and take back the lead (and the second time, quickly get a 3 and out on D). The players showed up, the coaches showed up, neither team should leave this game thinking they don't still have a lot to play for.
Key Article for this Game

 


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