5-1 defense

Michigan was passing a lot more in this year than we've seen from traditional Harbaugh outfits, and even by that standard this game was pretty extremely tilted to throwing the ball. Sometimes that's the gameplan, and it makes sense to be with a Heisman-candidate at quarterback.

Except I don't think that's the story here. Michigan's offense would love to run the ball, and their opponents would love to take that away from them. Again, Purdue was an extreme. So before we all panic about the running game I thought I'd use a moment to go over how the "No Name" defense works, what Purdue was doing to shut down Michigan's running game, and how Michigan still found ways to get around it without exposing McCarthy to runs. Like so:

How does Purdue's defense work? Why did this work so well against them? Why didn't Michigan's normal power runs work as well? Let's pull out our sharpies.

[After THE JUMP: Pinching edges punished precipitously]

Matt Demorest, Realtor and Lender and I have brought back our (sometimes-)weekly video short. The purpose of these is to show you something on film that you as a fan will be able to pick up on when you see it in the future. This week's is about how Ryan Walters's "No Name" 5-1 defensive system works, and how Michigan will attack it.

If you're in the housing market, Matt's the guy.

There is nothing after the jump because it's video content.