There was much to like about Michigan football in its Week 1 win over Western Michigan, and the advanced Pro Analysis and Exploration Pro Football Focus (PFF) site matches.
With a game to finish reviewing, the Wolverines showed an explosive offense and a strong defense, with several players appearing at the start of the season. Of course, there are many things to analyze, and while WMU is an opponent of the MAC, advanced analytics tells PFF that after a game, Michigan has many things to its advantage.
PFF Team of the Week
Anthony Treash reunited his national team from Week 1 (although there were still two games left to play), and two Wolverines made the cut, one on either side of the ball. Andrew Vastardis, the sixth-year center and team captain, made the cut to the offensive team, while Aidan Hutchinson got the head-to-head defense.
Michigan was the only team to get two players on the roster.
Team qualifications
While not all teams have played (Notre Dame at Florida State will be held on Sunday night, while Ole Miss vs. Louisiana is on Monday), Michigan did very well in many team categories.
According to PFF Premium Stats ($), Michigan was ranked as the seventh best team in the country with a grade of 90.1, the second best of the Power Five (Auburn is number 4). He was led offensively, where Michigan reached No. 6 (87.9). The current game was the team’s best attribute, ranking as No. 2 nationally (93.4 degrees), while the approved game is seventh (90.8 degrees). In the passing block, Michigan earned the No. 79 ranking, while the Wolverines ranked No. 21 in the running block.
The defense has the number 37 overall rating (75.8 rating). He was 77th in running defense, 31st in attack, 18th in passing and 41st in cover. The special teams occupy the 23rd place in the general.
Individual qualifications
Offense
Five power QBs with the best grade of week 1:
1. Cade McNamara, Michigan – 93.0
2. Adrian Martinez, Nebraska – 92.3
3. Will Levis, Kentucky – 92.0
4. Kenny Pickett, Pittsburgh – 91.2
5. Bo Nix, Auburn – 90.1 pic.twitter.com/eeOKvTI1lq– PFF College (@PFF_College) September 5, 2021
Cade McNamara is offensively ranked as the best on the team and also the top quarterback in the Power Five. He is the third nationally, behind Dylan Hopkins and Pitt of the UAB, Davis Beville (neither of them tried more than three passes). He reached tenth place in “big pitching time” with two big pitches. He didn’t throw any billing-worthy passes against western Michigan.
Top 10
| Player | Grau | |
| 1. | Cade McNamara | 93.0 |
| 2. | Daylen Baldwin | 90.2 |
| 3. | Ronnie Bell | 87.6 |
| 4. | Blake Corum | 85.6 |
| 5. | Andrew Vastardis | 84.0 |
| 6. | Hassan Haskins | 81.4 |
| 7. | AJ Henning | 79.3 |
| 8. | Trevor Keegan | 74.7 |
| 9. | JJ McCarthy | 74.2 |
| 10. | Reece Atteberry | 73.9 |
Defense
The defense was not as stellar as the offense, except for a handful of players. Aidan Hutchinson was ranked as the best with 93 overall, which is the seventh best in the country. Its approval rating of 92.2 reaches 11th nationally. Caden Kolesar only played 7 snapshots according to PFF and was the best in coverage with a grade of 84.1 (32nd overall). Daxton Hill’s coverage rate of 78.4 is good for the 75th national position.
Top 10
| Player | Grau | |
| 1. | Aidan Hutchinson | 93.0 |
| 2. | Caden Kolesar | 80.5 |
| 3. | Daxton Hill | 78.7 |
| 4. | Mike Morris | 72.5 |
| 5. | Kris Jenkins | 72.4 |
| 6. | Joey George | 71.5 |
| 7. | Christopher Hinton | 71.3 |
| 8. | Vincent Gray | 70.5 |
| 9. | Josh Ross | 68.0 |
| 10. | Water Smith | 67.2 |
Special equipment
The special teams did not rank so well, but German Green, Caden Kolesar, Junior Colson, Makari Paige, David Ojabo, Keshaun Harris, Michael Barrett, Jordan Morant, Mike Sainristil and Kalel Mullings were the top ten, in that order. . Kolesar played 21 special teams, Barrett played 20, Green played 19, Harris had 18 and Sainristil had 15.
Snap counts
Of course, not everyone played the same amount of snapshots. Some of those who scored much higher played less than ten snapshots, while many played six times more.
Separating on offense and defense, here’s who has played the game the most.
Offense
| Players | Snap Count | |
| 1. | Chuck Filiaga | 53 |
| 2. | Ryan Hayes | 48 |
| 2. | Andrew Stueber | 48 |
| 2. | Andrew Vastardis | 48 |
| 5. | Trevor Keegan | 44 |
| 6. | Cornelius Johnson | 41 |
| 7. | Cade McNamara | 37 |
| 8. | Erick All | 33 |
| 9. | Roman Wilson | 32 |
| 10. | Blake Corum | 24 |
| 10. | Mike Sainristil | 24 |
| 12. | Luke Schoonmaker | 23 |
| 13. | Zak Zinter | 21 |
| 14. | JJ McCarthy | 20 |
| 14. | Ronnie Bell | 20 |
| 14. | Hassan Haskins | 20 |
Defense
| Players | Snap Count | |
| 1. | RJ Moten | 59 |
| 2. | Daxton Hill | 57 |
| 3. | Brad Hawkins | 55 |
| 4. | Gemon Green | 51 |
| 4. | Josh Ross | 51 |
| 6. | Vincent Gray | 43 |
| 7. | Aidan Hutchinson | 38 |
| 8. | Nikhai Hill-Green | 37 |
| 9. | David Ojabo | 35 |
| 9. | Christopher Hinton | 35 |
| 11. | DJ Turner | 29 |
| 12. | Water Smith | 28 |
| 13. | Taylor Upshaw | 28 |
| 14. | Mike Morris | 26 |
| 15. | Donovan Jeter | 21 |
Real first year students
| Players | Offense | Defense | Special equipment | |
| 1. | Junior Colson | 0 | 19 | 10 |
| 2. | JJ McCarthy | 20 | 0 | 0 |
| 3. | Andrel Anthony | 16 | 0 | 0 |
| 4. | Greg Crippen | 16 | 0 | 0 |
| 5. | Rod Moore | 0 | 14 | 0 |
| 6. | Donovan Edwards | 11 | 0 | 1 |
| 7. | Rashaun Benny | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| 8. | George Rooks | 0 | 3 | 0 |
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