Film Review: Michigan State at Miami, 2021

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I break down interesting plays - schematicall, technically, and from an execution standpoint - from the 2021 Michigan State at Miami football game.

Some general thoughts:

A few thoughts

  • Walker continues to show his great vision and ability to erase angles. Haven't seen a lot from him between the tackles, but with the edges open he should take it. But it is TBC on if OL can/will consistently create holes on inside runs and if Walker can consistently make hay from it.
  • Speaking of OL, in the run they still continue to at least get to targets pretty well. Saw them wash down the Miami DL a lot, aided a bit by how much movement Miami uses up front (another reason why attacking the edges vs the middle makes sense), but not a ton of push or mashing doubles on the inside. Pass pro was a little rougher this game, but that's expected with how many exotic pressures Miami runs.
  • Thorne's presence in the pocket has been great so far, and his placement on short routes even under pressure is giving guys a chance to make plays. One thing to look for, there are very few down field passes. Is this a function of Miami defense? Hard to tell because most of the camera angles sucked. But I think there were only two throws 15+ yards downfield. Not worried about arm strength in that phase, but timing, reads, accuracy may be a concern.
  • DL continues to do their thing. Very disciplined, especially in the run, especially at DE.
  • LBs had a bit of an up and down day. You see flashes of good things, see the effort and physicality from most of the group, but the actual execution is still a work in progress.
  • Outside CBs look more comfortable in man, but inside coverage is not. Getting a lot of coverages that are very safe, staying deeper and forcing things underneath, which means mostly zone (Cover 3 and Cover 4 MOD it looks like) so far. We'll see how comfortable mixing in Cover 1 throughout the year. One thing though, is if they continue this strategy, tackling on the outside needs to get cleaned up.

 


Comments

  1. AnonymousSeptember 24, 2021 at 9:51 AM

    Thank you so much! For football fans without a technical background (like me), this is so great. One suggestion (feel free to ignore) would be a summary with top 2-3 strengths and top 2-3 weaknesses. Just bullet points. Thank you again!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Space CoyoteSeptember 24, 2021 at 11:30 AM

      Great suggestion. I used to do that when I'd do recruiting reviews. Makes sense in this context too

      Delete

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