November 24th, 2018 at 4:26 PM ^
No more falling for all of that great defense hype we hear almost every season.
Our defense always seems to totally fail or flop toward the end of these games against OSU.
November 24th, 2018 at 4:32 PM ^
Actually, Michigan's defense did really well the last two years against OSU; a modest offense (this offense this year, really) would have been enough.
But Michigan's press man philosophy is clearly vulnerable to precise QBs with talented receivers. It got beat that way against PSU last year and against OSU this year. And, when you think about it, we could see it coming: there's always a play or two in every game where one of our (generally excellent) CBs has given up a step to a receiver and the QB doesn't hit it.
Today we played a guy who can hit it, who was equipped with plays that would get him those openings. They connected on enough of the throws to destroy us. By the third quarter, some key mistakes opened the floodgates, and Michigan wound up playing under the gun without Devin Bush and with a DL that was totally ineffective all game.
That ineffective DL was really where all of this starts. Haskins had all day. Did we record a single sack? Barely even a hurry, much less consistent pressure. The DL just collapsed after the PSU game, it is bizarre. It's not like OSU has a dominant OL; they have flaws everywhere. Minnesota, of all teams, was slicing through it like it was nothing.
November 24th, 2018 at 4:40 PM ^
It’s all YAC with these wrs, how many deep throws did Haskins make? One to a wide open wr in the end zone. It doesn’t take Tom Brady to run, its simple and effective. Now why on earth doesn’t harbaugh implement some short yac type plays? This isn’t the nfl, we don’t need everything to be air yard completions.
November 24th, 2018 at 6:01 PM ^
And those are the plays that have killed Michigan on defense all season. ND, SMU, Maryland, and Indiana all exploited that. Been a flaw with the defense since game 1 and Ohio State showed it off in all of its ugly glory.
November 24th, 2018 at 6:28 PM ^
Ironically, Michigan was in zone on the throwback off sprint TD that made it 21-6.
November 24th, 2018 at 8:46 PM ^
and it showed how little we run it
total confusion on that play
November 24th, 2018 at 4:50 PM ^
Michigan's defense did well for the first quarter last year. The last 7 quarters of football have been an evisceration.
Even if you want to say they were fine while Barrett was in, ever since Haskins emerged down 20-14 last year, Don Brown has been completely incapable of stopping Ohio State.
November 24th, 2018 at 4:53 PM ^
Yes I agree ... our D in the past couple did fine with a better offense it would have been a different story ... but ... we gotta win these games in the near future. We all want and need that.
November 24th, 2018 at 5:02 PM ^
Frustrating that the crossing routes were not shored up after exposure in last week's game against Indiana.
Unfortunately, the reason it wasn't is because it's not schematic. It's a function of the DL being unable to pressure the QB. This has been a growing problem post-Ped State.
Today, OSU took advantage . . . .
November 24th, 2018 at 5:46 PM ^
Shored up before Indiana?
We’ve been getting burned by the slants all year.
It’s just we’ve played sub-OSU level D-Lines, and were able to get pressure.
November 24th, 2018 at 6:10 PM ^
Exactly. Been an issue all year. I mean, if James Proche had 11 rec for 166 yards, what did we think Ohio State was going to do?
November 25th, 2018 at 12:57 AM ^
Those crossing routes off picks are very different than slants.
Regardless, that's been the OSU MO all season long. It was very, very obvious that was going to be what Michigan needed to stop and they didn't do it.
I don't think it was so much a pressure issue because those are not long developing plays. They're quick. We needed a zone or something other than watching Watson get beat time and time again.
And then when they did go zone, OSU put guys in the gaps. Wide open. Just poor preparation.
And that's Michigan's biggest problem: they do not treat this game with the focus they need.
We spend too much time and effort trying to blow out bad teams instead of giving ourselves the best chance against the good teams. DB had nightmares about PSU. He said he thought about last years game every morning. So we went out and crushed them. But they had an entirely different team and coach. So who cares that we won that game by 100? We had our starters in late and were disappointed not to get the shutout.
That's the sign of a program with the wrong priorities. I'm sure DB is going to have nightmares about this game for 364 days but it shouldn't take a beatdown for that to be the focus.
November 26th, 2018 at 9:41 AM ^
Um - it seemed like those turds were not on the Buckeyes menu saturday. Crow was served by them though.
November 24th, 2018 at 5:23 PM ^
Dwayne Haskins on Michigan's D on film: "I was licking my chops, I see the one-high covers and that's a quarterback's dream. The biggest responsibility for me all week was to be able to pick up blitzes and protection, because we saw a lot of different fronts and exotic looks."
— Zach Shaw (@_ZachShaw) November 24, 2018
November 24th, 2018 at 5:29 PM ^
That’s a huge fucking problem, Schiano was better today
November 24th, 2018 at 6:32 PM ^
That was a really low bar today.
The score is less indicative of the difference between the teams and more the shortcomings of playing man defense against good throwing QBs with athletic WRs who can protect. I don't know how many teams there are in the country who have that combination, but Ohio State clearly does with Haskins who has basically lit this defense up the last 6 or so quarters.
November 24th, 2018 at 5:50 PM ^
I know, I just don’t get it. Same with their notoriously lousy run D. We ran on MSU but not OSU??
The vagaries of sports...
November 25th, 2018 at 3:24 AM ^
Did we really run on MSU all that well? Seems like are production was similar, we just got he RBs more carries because we were't playing from behind. Higdon only averaged 4.4 ypc against MSU.
November 24th, 2018 at 7:38 PM ^
I couldn’t even finish reading your comment. You’re a great poster and seem like a nice guy but our slow ass fucking defense got embarrassed today. Fuck this team. The only hope we have is that Urban Meyer retires or dies or goes to prison.
November 26th, 2018 at 10:49 AM ^
This appears to be a very alcohol infused delusional and extremely pessimistic post.
November 25th, 2018 at 10:07 AM ^
We weren't blitzing nearly as much as we normally do but we were spying Haskins.
The coaches had not enough respect for OSU's oline, too much respect for Michigan's dline, too much respect for Haskins running it, and too much faith in Brandon Watson when he was getting beat over and over again.
November 25th, 2018 at 7:01 PM ^
Our defense worked better when Gary was sidelined due to his injury. More penetration into the backfield produced more sacks and hurried throws.
November 24th, 2018 at 4:27 PM ^
Seriously.
I got closer to pussy in Jr. High than UM's defense got to Haskins this afternoon.
November 24th, 2018 at 4:31 PM ^
We lost this game due to one reason only and that is we got zero pressure on Haskins. I don't think we had a QB hit all day and had maybe one QB hurry. The only time we hit him was when he was 8-9 yards downfield after a nice run. I just don't understand how we could not generate any pass rush. It looked like we were playing with 10 guys on defense and they all had sprained ankles. After watching Willekes dominate their tackles, I am at a loss for how bad we looked today.
Because of the lack of pass rush, I'm not even going to talk about Watson. What happened out there today Donny Brown?
November 24th, 2018 at 5:33 PM ^
When you have the talent and riches that OSU has, they can easily rest on their laurels, play sub-100% all year, and then really turn it on when you finally have to.
Alabama does this all year. That’s why they stay so fresh and uninjured.
Injuries only happen on maximal effort plays.
Devin Bush hurts himself at 100% effort pursuit.
It’s why LeBron has stayed healthy his entire career. He’s rarely above 80% of maximum exertion his entire career.
November 24th, 2018 at 5:31 PM ^
FUCK EVERYTHING AND EVERYBODY
November 24th, 2018 at 4:09 PM ^
What defense? No one showed up today.
November 24th, 2018 at 4:22 PM ^
After this weekend's stats are tallied up, Ohio wont be able to say they torched the #1 defense! Always a golden nugget
November 24th, 2018 at 9:44 PM ^
If today’s defense was a flavor, it’d be “Red Hott Ass”
November 24th, 2018 at 4:09 PM ^
Zoinks Scoob.....
November 24th, 2018 at 4:09 PM ^
DAHN BROWN!
November 24th, 2018 at 4:53 PM ^
I mustache you a question....
November 24th, 2018 at 5:31 PM ^
Frank Broyles assistant coach of the year winner. I mean, finalist. I think that vote turned in a different direction today.
November 24th, 2018 at 4:10 PM ^
What defense?
November 24th, 2018 at 4:10 PM ^
Horrible showing.
I like Gary i think hes a good player and probably a good person but id take a on field Frank Clark over him anyday.
November 24th, 2018 at 5:10 PM ^
Yeah I hate bashing these young men on this defense. I'll stick up for them though because you cant expect them to consistently cover these speed guys for that long. I cant believe the defensive line played that way. Chase and Gary did nothing for the pass rush. The defensive tackles haven't done anything all year so that was expected. Hopefully next year they have an answer for this same offense and talent. They'll be as good next year or better so you gotta figure something out. The defensive line needs to work their ass off and get stronger and quicker. That's the only answer there. Ambry needs to grow up quick. Maybe Daxton Hill is a difference maker in coverage. Need a lot of those young linebackers to get in the weight room because Bush will be gone probably. He shouldn't though. He wasn't elite out there against same or better talent. Hopefully Lavert and Long come back. We all knew they had to get hits on Haskins and they never did.
November 24th, 2018 at 11:20 PM ^
Where was Uche? He played great when Gary was out this year.
November 24th, 2018 at 6:05 PM ^
Agree. Assuming he goes pro, I'm really not sure what Michigan misses. He's not disruptive at all. Feels like he could be replaced with just about generic 4 star. Where he gets drafted will be pretty interesting. The combine numbers should be off the charts, but the tape on him?
Was always waiting for the light to go on with him. Never really happened.
November 25th, 2018 at 12:38 PM ^
I think some NFL team is going to reach for him and end up sorely disappointed.
November 24th, 2018 at 4:11 PM ^
November 24th, 2018 at 5:50 PM ^
Today was our defense’s first real test against a good offense with a healthy QB. we weren’t good enough.
November 24th, 2018 at 4:11 PM ^
Which team? I was watching the Florida FSU game.
November 24th, 2018 at 4:11 PM ^
Fire Don Brown
November 24th, 2018 at 4:12 PM ^
A fucking disgrace
November 24th, 2018 at 4:12 PM ^
Defense? What defense? You mean the minor hindrance to OSU as they score touchdown after touchdown with ease? LMAO what a joke.
November 24th, 2018 at 4:12 PM ^
Live by the sword. Die by the sword.
If you're going to play man defense and not get home, you are going to probably be in for a long day. OSU clearly had the athletes to make Michigan pay.
I'd argue the bigger issue is that there is no backup plan. They looked out of sync when they were trying to run some zone defense in the 2nd half.
November 24th, 2018 at 4:13 PM ^
If you would have told me at 11:59 AM we would put up 39 points today, I would have hired strippers for the celebration.
November 24th, 2018 at 4:13 PM ^
Feasted all year long on sub 8-win teams.
FLAT. OUT. EXPOSED.