Neck Sharpies News Today

FORMATION NOTES: The UFR Glossary is here and you may want to brush up because DeBoer made me bring out rare formations like a true under-center Single-Wing, and weird notations like Z->Y means the WR and TE have switches spots. This is the Go Go setup (aka Single-Wing RB) that UNLV was running way back in September. I put covered players in parentheses, but Washington also managed to get away with some illegal formations where nobody was covered, in which case I just put a question mark in t...

Matt Demorest, Realtor and Lender and I have brought back our (sometimes-)weekly video short. The purpose of these is to show you something on film that you as a fan will be able to pick up on when you see it in the future. Or to just show you what people are talking about. This time, even though we already did a Neck Sharpies on it, Matt wanted to get further into what happened on the two Donovan Edwards runs, so we zoomed in on the thing Washington was doing, which was to have the DTs be the r...

Previously: Alabama Offense  While 'Bama's offense has had its ups-and-downs, the 'Bama defense has been a rock solid unit all season long. Boasting a hyper talented, NFL-ready secondary, the Crimson Tide have SP+'s #9 defense in the country. There are some weaknesses in the middle compared to past years, but the pass rush and secondary is legit and there's plenty to be frightened of here:    The Film: We're sticking with the Georgia-Alabama tape for the defens...

UFR GLOSSARY is here. FORMATION NOTES: Maryland mostly stayed in 11 personnel even when they went to twins formations like the below. I called this defensive front from Michigan "Nk Over!" with the exclamation mark denoting extra wide splits between the DL. Also for those of you who weren't around when I was doing the FFFFs, "TaTa Time" is a Maryland-specific play where Taulia Tagovailoa abandons the pocket and runs around 15 to 40 yards behind the line of scrimmage with...

PSU Links: Preview, The Podcast, FFFF Offense (chart), FFFF Defense (chart). Something's been missing from Michigan gamedays since the free programs ceased being economically viable: scientific gameday predictions that are not at all preordained by the strictures of a column in which one writer takes a positive tack and the other a negative one… something like Punt-Counterpunt. PUNT By Bryan MacKenzie@Bry_Mac For the 20,653rd year in a row, the Dunning-Kruger Effect is having a banner yea...

FORMATION NOTES: Indiana didn't do the thing. There was maybe one corner blitz all day. They lined up in off coverage and the only instance of a hard cover two trap was the weird play on the goal line where Johnson ran the wrong route. For much of the second half they were content to sit with six in the box against three-wide and insert safeties late. SUBSTITUTION NOTES: Wilson, Johnson, Loveland, and Barner in a dead heat around 40 snaps for the leader amongst WR/TE sorts. Morris and Brede...

UFR GLOSSARY is here. FORMATION NOTES: Minnesota was mostly an under-center or shotgun 3-wide with a WR jetting across. Their 4th down formation was Unbalanced; the guy at the bottom of the line is a TE/eligible receiver. And Michigan used a weird formation on 3rd & 7 with 3 DEs on the field and Harrell and a LB stacked behind the nose that I called 3-1 stack. They also split a DE wide on their 5-2s odd formations that I called 5-2 split—the nose is still over the center. SUBSTITUTION NOTE...

THIS POST HAS A SPONSOR: Looking for betting action this weekend? Friend of the blog Ed Feng delivers in 5-Nugget Saturday, his list of sports betting tips and analytics: link. Previously: Nebraska Offense, Seth's Neck Sharpies on the Nebraska's 3-3-5 defensive system. On Wednesday we profiled the Nebraska offense, a unit of intrigue and QB controversy getting back to the roots of Nebraska football. Today we move to the defense, which has been a pleasant surprise in rush defense but i...

UFR GLOSSARY is here. Also apologies for the 2009-level quality on some of these recordings—my copy of the game was in low-res for a chunk of the 2nd quarter. FORMATION NOTES: Mostly basic stuff we've been charting since Loeffler was a Michigan assistant. Michigan broke out an odd formation from its nickel with the WDE (Moore, at the bottom) playing inside the RT. I called it Nickel Tite. A few notation reminders: parentheticals mean the player is covered. I'm still using hyphens for...

Previously: The Story. Quarterback. RUNNING BACK: RUN IT BACK [Bolded player rules: not necessarily returning starter, but someone we've seen enough of that I'm no longer talking about their recruiting profile (much, anyway). Extant contributor.] FEATURE BACK Yr. SHORT YARDAGE Yr. THIRD DOWN YR. Blake Corum Sr. Blake Corum Sr. Donovan Edwards Jr. Donovan Edwards Jr. Kalel Mullings Jr.* Blake Corum Sr. CJ Stokes So. Benjamin Hall Fr. CJ Stokes So. Benjamin Hall Fr. Alex Orji Fr.* Cole ...