Page 2 - Split Zone News Today

Unpacking our power rating and projecting GT’s season

Transitioning to transforming transactions. Michigan's annual Grand Traverse weekend was an opportunity to test Harbaugh's new "We're transformational not transactional" motivational poster catch phrase for its approach to NIL. This atop their sluggish start to 2023 recruiting while those they mostly recruit against—namely Notre Dame, Penn State, and Michigan State—are cleaning up has created a sense there's a state of emergency in the recruiting department. Reg...

Transitioning to transforming transactions. Michigan's annual Grand Traverse weekend was an opportunity to test Harbaugh's new "We're transformational not transactional" motivational poster catch phrase for its approach to NIL. This atop their sluggish start to 2023 recruiting while those they mostly recruit against—namely Notre Dame, Penn State, and Michigan State—are cleaning up has created a sense there's a state of emergency in the recruiting department. Reg...

Tom Brady, Russell Wilson, and the future of NFL player movement.

Formation Notes: Michigan used this balanced formation that I called “Gun Wk Demis”, where the TE and H are both demi-flexed: Iowa had a Tite shift when they expected a counter run where they lined up in a 4-3 with the NT head up on the center. I called it “4-3 Odd” but it’s Tite vs 2TEs really. Iowa also had a quasi 3-3-5 passing downs package that defies conventional labeling, where they pull a DT and an ILB for two hybrid DE/OLBs, a “Rush DE” who’s 6-2/248 and a “Leo” who�...

Label Notes: Reminder that I’m combining all scores (except QB) in the charting. p=pass pro, y=YAC, c=catch, b=block for RBs, and route=route. It might be more than one or an odd number, in which case the higher one goes first, so if you see something like “Wilson(+3croute) that means Wilson got a +2 for a difficult catch and +1 for running a good route. Capital letters in the formations refer to skill positions: R=RB or tailback, S=superback (2nd RB), Y=inline TE, F=off-line TE, X=split end...

Formation Notes: Northwestern kept their safeties down all day so the “Hi” metric is doing more work than normal. I started giving safeties +0.5 in the box if they got within 8 yards within a second after the snap, and +1 in the box if they got closer than that. Michigan had a formation where the slot receiver and tight end switched spots. When they did this I denoted it with “Flip” then the position headers, so this is Gun YH Flip. Substitution Notes: Filiaga (RG) and Barnhart (LG) went...

Formation Notes: Double Eagle. This was called 245 Split and if I added a letter that’s the gap with a down LB. 245 Split A. And they also ran a 404 Tite front with a pinched DE, which I called 4-3 Tite. Continuing with my convention of naming their 11 personnel formations by the position of the H (slot) receiver—”Gun Wk” for in the slot weakside, etc.—when he lines up inside I’ll call out the gap. So this is Gun Str B (H receiver is in the B gap of the TE’s side). Substitution Not...

Well, we're back to this. VS. I thought we were done with this. I did too, but first a few clarifications.  Help me out here with some emphasis?  First things first:

Formation Notes: Double Eagle. This was called 245 Split and if I added a letter that’s the gap with a down LB. 245 Split A. And they also ran a 404 Tite front with a pinched DE, which I called 4-3 Tite. Continuing with my convention of naming their 11 personnel formations by the position of the H (slot) receiver—”Gun Wk” for in the slot weakside, etc.—when he lines up inside I’ll call out the gap. So this is Gun Str B (H receiver is in the B gap of the TE’s side). Substitution Not...