Let’s break down Michigan’s first touchdown in the Big Ten Championship versus Iowa.
Blake Corum had a blistering 67 yard touchdown run (with a little help from QB J.J McCarthy) that maybe would have been stopped if not for some blown assignments on the Iowa defense.

PRE-SNAP
The Michigan offense lines up in the pistol formation on the right hashmark with QB #9 J.J. McCarthy and RB #2 Blake Corum in the backfield. WR #5 Mike Sainristil goes in motion from the left side of formation.

Michigan is targeting the right side of the Iowa defense, pre-snap there are good gaps for a running play and bringing WR #5 Mike Sainristil brings an extra blocker to the point of attack.

POST SNAP
#2 Blake Corum takes the handoff from #9 J.J. McCarthy in the backfield.

Check out the Michigan offensive line- #77 Trevor Keegan and #68 Andrew Vastardis double team the Iowa down lineman in front of them, taking him out of the play. #65 Zak Zinter and #71 Andrew Steuber do the same to the down lineman in front of them.
At this point Iowa is in trouble- they have two defenders #44 and #28 to account for two Michigan players– TE #86 Luke Schoonmaker and WR #5 Mike Sainristil– and plenty of space for #2 Blake Corum to make some moves.
WR #5 Mike Sainristil comes in motion and ignores Iowa defensive end #92 as he crashes and takes himself out of the play. Sainristil heads downfield to block.

And here is where things go wrong from bad to worse for Iowa. Linebacker #44 steps up into the double team of #65 Zak Zinter and #71 Andrew Steuber taking himself out away from the point of attack. Linebacker #31 slides over and is in good position to stop Corum but inexplicably takes on #86 Luke Schoonmaker.

And Blake Corum is off to the races. Note the distance between Blake Corum and J.J. McCarthy. Now Blake had to slow down a bit to evade defenders but J.J made up an incredible amount of ground.


#Roman Wilson blocks a defender while #5 Mike Sainristil blocks for Blake Corum with J.J. McCarthy joining the attack.


#5 Mike Sainristil blocks #33.

#9 J.J. McCarthy places himself between a final Iowa defender, allowing Corum to score a touchdown.



Check out the clip below to see the entire play.
PLAY DIAGRAM — THE ACTION

Corum took advantage of a few mis-steps by the Iowa defense and completes the scoring the play with the help of QB J.J. McCarthy whose hustle downfield makes the difference.
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