Michigan is explosive, and surprisingly so. Eight of its FBS-leading 17 plays of 50 yards or more were runs, and nine were via the pass. But Georgia has given up only five plays of that length this season, and two of them were in the SEC title game against Alabama. As far as more replicable big plays go, Michigan is 58th in passing plays of 20+ yards (42) and 18th in rushes of 20+ yards (24). Georgia leads the country in allowing the latter category (3) and is sixth in the country in the former (28). However, Alabama lays claim to seven of the 20+ yard passing plays that Georgia has allowed this season.
Michigan is good. Michigan isn’t Alabama, at least not on offense. Both of these things can be true at the same time.
On defense? Well, that might get a bit trickier.
Dropping players into throwing lanes up front is one way to change up the picture post-snap on a quarterback. Another is to rotate in the secondary, which Michigan does about as often as Alabama does as far as snaps rotating from two safeties high pre-snap to one safety high post-snap. That will come into focus against the Georgia quarterback.
“Stetson Bennett to me is very instinctive,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said after the SEC championship game. “If he knows what the picture is, that’s when he made plays and several big plays. So, I think changing the picture on him a little bit helped.”
How much Michigan can effectively re-create the Alabama game plan?
Get The Picture 
Michigan ain’t Alabama – good but still.
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They’ve got a good scheme, but they lack top flight personnel outside of one corner and one safety. Monken should be able to find the holes.
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I’m confident Monken can handle whatever Michigan comes up with. SBIV, as Saban has assessed, not so much.
Our D is gonna have to bring their A game. If we get behind our chances diminish fast.
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Rat poison! The way UGA loses this game is having Alabama stuck in their heads – not in the way of dwelling on the loss, but in the way that UM ain’t shit because they ain’t Bama
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I think Michigan is at a far greater risk of looking past this game than Georgia is. We just got exposed and we’ve been hearing about it for weeks. Michigan thinks they’ve arrived and thinks they’ve got to just follow the Bama blueprint for beating Georgia on their way to the real game in the finals.
I think we’re about to mop the floor with Michigan. Our players are about to take out some rage on these dudes. It could get as ugly as the Hawaii sugar bowl.
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Was unsure about Clemson, other than history. Rest of the season was a breeze. Auburn handed us a playbook which we fully ignored. Michigan worries me…no history and they’ve been handed a playbook from Saban. Game day coaching…who will be better at taking what’s being given? How we deploy and how our front D 7 plays should dictate the outcome. First team to 24 likely wins.
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I think all the old-timers will have wood on New Year’s Eve as I see this one harkening back to the 3 yards and a pile of dust days of old. Defensive slugfest.
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Does 24 points beat Michigan? If you believe it does, I have to think your blood pressure about this game drops significantly.
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UofM is a well coached team and they have had 4 weeks to implement some of what they saw Bama do, so UGA will definitely have to deal with it.
Flipside is Stetson will be better prepared.
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And yet we still rank higher than Alabama or Michigan in YPP.
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Michigan ain’t Alabama and Jim Harbaugh ain’t Nick Saban. Neither of those statements is disrespectful of our opponent or an insult, they are simply the truth.
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I think Michigan will look at the Clemson tape more than the Bama tape. That game was a defensive stalemate, (flip to snarky voice) despite Georgia actually playing its superior QB. It was a long time ago, so Georgia’s improved at a lot, especially building the passing game around Bowers now, but Michigan can replicate a lot of what Clemson did successfully in that game. UM and CU have pretty similar personnel on defense, with the edge probably going to Michigan both on the D line and on the back-end. Michigan has the much better offense.
That’s their path, if they have one.
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Better be able to make some explosive plays because you’re almost guaranteed to give up some, especially at this level. We need that complimentary ball back.
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It’s going to be about game flow. I don’t think this team can chase anyone down from multiple possessions. If we get down 10, I don’t see a comeback.
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It’s all rather incredible how this matchup is playing out. I understand and can be lumped in with the deflated expectations after this latest Bama turd-show.
But, I went back into the Steele preview of 2021. (Understanding it is purely ‘measurables’ and objectivity…) Michigan had not a SINGLE position group rated better than #40 in the country. Special Teams was @ 40.
UGa has to cover the Slot. Offensively, the Dawgs must not turn the ball over. This could be $$ for UGa IF they play clean.
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