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Guest Graphs: Iowa vs. Michigan

In a slow game, the stats showed no clear winner.

NCAA Football: Iowa at Michigan Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports

In celebration of bye week #1, I’m going to post the graphs from select non-Alabama games this week. The commentary will be light, but the stats aplenty.

Iowa (3) vs. Michigan (10), Oct 5th

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Team Success Rates (cumulative)

Blegh. While the teams here did slightly better than Auburn and Florida in their afternoon game, this was a slow, gross game. Iowa actually came out on top in terms of efficiency, but couldn’t quite get into the end zone.

Success and Explosiveness by Quarter

So many quarters, so much below-league-average offensive output. Sigh. I suppose if this were an SEC in the match in the 90’s we would have just cheered and called it “a slugfest,” though. Thanks, Iowa and Michigan, for reminding us how things were back in the day.

Play Map: Yards and Result by Play

Iowa spread out their (limited) offensive success throughout most of the game. Michigan seemed to only come alive once or twice during this entire thing—and even then, just barely alive—but I suppose that’s enough to win a game where the final score is 10-3.

Success and Explosiveness by Play Type

Iowa’s passing game was more efficient and more explosive than its running game. Wait, really? Iowa?

Success and Explosiveness by Down

Rushing rate (cumulative), Iowa

And with other weird-for-Iowa news: in the first quarter they were trying “to be Iowa,” but by the end of this thing the rushing rate slipped to 30% overall. Weird! If coach had known they’d be playing games like this, maybe he’d shop harder for quarterbacks.

Rushing and Passing Success (cumulative), Iowa

Rushing rate (cumulative), Michigan

Rushing and Passing Success (cumulative), Michigan

Top Runners, Iowa

Well, Iowa, that’s not much success, but at least you spread the love across a few running backs! One of those qualities is something you share with the Tide: I’ll let you guess which.

Top Passers, Iowa

Top Receivers, Iowa

Oddly, this is a lot of receivers. Iowa: Seldom-Used Receiver U.

Top Tacklers, Iowa

Top Runners, Michigan

Top Passers, Michigan

Top Receivers, Michigan

Top Tacklers, Michigan

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Takeaways

Looking back, the only charts I had fun commenting on were focusing on Iowa. Michigan managed to barely win this game on dull football, but their charts still came out boring. Holler if you see something that I missed.