2018 smu

Waaaaay back in the nonconference portion of the season Michigan was getting repeatedly gashed by slants. The problem hit a crescendo against SMU, and their excellent little slot bug James Proche.

SMU threw six slants for 44 yards on 4 completions; only on the last did a safety make a play on the ball, and there’s a big reason for that we’ll get into further down. As the season’s progressed, however, Michigan’s gotten much better not just at defending slants but convincing opposing offenses not to even bother with them by running trap coverages. Why were we bad at them before? Is that a hole in our base defense? What’s a trap coverage? Let’s discuss.

Defending Slants and Fades with Man Coverage

The reason Michigan was bad at slants was they were bad/unlucky last year at fades, and made a conscious decision to be align in a way that made fades harder and slants easier.

Michigan likes to run a lot of Cover 1: man to man defense with single high safety. They also like to blitz their linebackers and play them aggressively against the run. The coverage has help inside on deep plays but no help outside, and small help underneath. Offenses learned long ago that you can put a Cover 1 slot defender in a bind by threatening him short/inside (a slant) and deep/outside (a fade). Both routes start by running directly at this guy, trying to get him to flip his hips to defend whichever of the two you’re not running.

[After the JUMP: a wild Mon Calamari appears]

[photo: Matt Demorest]

1 hour and 35 minutes

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1. Upon Further Review: SMU

starts at 1:00

Takeaways on offense: Shea is a super accurate QB. Run game is still good. Passing game as a whole is a marked improvement. This is a very short segment.

2. The Sklars, Part I: We Grill Them on Comedy

starts at 10:07

We talk about the history of their comedic routine and then share a handful of amusing stories abut sports and life. Also: will Michigan ever rush the Big House field ever again? Brian doesn't to talk about sports but the Sklars only want to talk about sports.

3. The Sklars, Part II: They Grill Brian on Football

starts at 44:15

Our esteemed guests stayed for more! Brian and the Sklars debate potential movie ideas, how comedy has changed over the years, and why they love reading MGoBlog. Grant Newsome is a future President, Rashan Gary is a team leader. Mark Dantonio’s heart attacks are disrespected.

4. Nebraska Preview

starts at 1:12:25

Nebraska’s QB Adrian Martinez may play, but if he does, he’s pretty good at running. The Huskers rely a lot on Zone Read. Small tweaks to basic concepts. Passing comes out of those sets. Pretty good WR corps and another good slot dude. Michigan needs to keep contain if Martinez plays. Nebraska’s defense is bad. Retooling the scheme and personnel in year 1 under Frost and Erik Chinander. Michigan needs help from the TE’s to have success on the ground against big defensive linemen. Patterson needs to be ready to feast.

MUSIC:

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Featured tonight: The Neal Anderson Quintet

• “M-119”
• “Parallel Fifths”
• “Bacon Sundae”
• “Across 110th Street”

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Welcome to Ft. Worth, he was alive when we left.

SPONSOR NOTE: If you need a tailgate location and a mortgage at the same time there's only one place to go: the Charity Tailgate at 327 East Hoover (if you were at the preseason MGoEvents this year and last it's the same place). Food trucks! Beer! A home lending expert! TV! Watched Nebraska lose to Troy there last week, which was certainly a thing of relevance this week.

FORMATION NOTES: Just 15 3-3-5 snaps versus 51 with four DL, and almost all of those 3-3-5 instances were passing down exotics. All but two, in fact. And they got gashed on one. Thus explaining the lack of that.

I should probably stop noting "press" since every single Michigan snap is press coverage, but the split between one (slash zero) and two high is a good proxy for zone snaps versus man snaps. Michigan was in a two-high look for about a third of its snaps.

SUBSTITUTION NOTES: Less rotation on the DL, which was in its new normal setup of Gary/Mone/Kemp/Winovich backed up by Paye, Hutchinson, and Dwumfour. Dwumfour's snaps in this game were almost exclusively pass rush DT in the 3-3-5. Without Solomon there was no real backup NT; Donovan Jeter only got in on the last drive. Marshall dressed IIRC but did not play.

The usual at LB with Bush omnipresent save injury and Gil and Ross splitting snaps approximately down the middle; Jordan Glasgow came in for Hudson after the targeting call. Furbush was the extra guy when Michigan added a pass rush LB. Uche did not play.

Usual CB rotation with Long ahead of the game in snaps slightly; Ambry Thomas got maybe a dozen snaps late. Brad Hawkins rotated in behind Metellus and Kinnel, with reduced playing time after the big bust. Jaylen Kelly-Powell, who's been quietly hurt, got snaps on the last drive.

[After THE JUMP: slant slant slant slant]