Fee Fi Foe Film: Oregon State Defense Comment Count

Ace



Pictured: half of OSU's returning defensive starters.

While the defense is a significant question mark for Oregon State this year, they passed their first test by doing what should be done against a bad FCS team, holding Weber State to 178 yards and no offensive points in their 26-7 win. How much can be learned from such a game is in question, but let's try anyway.

Personnel: Oregon State is the ninth-youngest team in the country. This is on full display in Seth's diagram [click to embiggen]:

Your eyes do not deceive you. There are two—two!—returning starters.

Base Set? Oregon State hired former Utah defensive coordinator Kalani Sitake, who runs a real, two-gapping 3-4 defense. It usually looks like the diagram above, but they'll show some different fronts, especially on passing downs.

This created a strip-sack when the standup rush linebacker ended up one-on-one with the fullback somehow. Weber State: not good.

More often, the Beavers would go with a 2-4-5 look, lifting the nose tackle for the nickel:

Or, on shorter third downs, they'd run a more traditional 4-2-5:

If you're looking at the diagram and wondering "isn't Oregon State really undersized to be running a 3-4?" then you are an astute reader.

[Hit THE JUMP for the rest of the breakdown.]

Man or zone coverage? Mostly zone, which tended to leave some holes underneath. More on this in the overview.

Pressure: GERG or Greg? Much more Greg than GERG. Sitake doesn't often call for more than five guys to rush, though he'll occasionally bring extra heat on passing downs. The tricky part is figuring out who's going to rush. Sometimes it's two linebackers. Sometimes it's a safety. On several occasions he blitzed the boundary corner, usually to good effect:

Blitzing that corner worked very well against WSU, which had some success picking apart zones with underneath throws; the corner blitz forced some misses even when the coverage wasn't great and sped up the QB so he had a more difficult time picking the correct target.

Dangerman: In a first, I'm going with the defensive coordinator, Kalani Sitake. This is in part because Oregon State brings back two starters; it's in part because Weber State wasn't good enough to test the new guys; it's also in part because Sitake called a great game.

While his aggressive style will cede some decent gains now and then, he didn't back off when that happened. In one second-half sequence, Weber State set up a third-and-short when they correctly anticipated the boundary corner blitz and immediatly threw to the abandoned flat. Instead of abandoning the concept, Sitake blitzed the same corner on the very next play; WSU didn't anticipate it at all and their QB nearly tossed a pick when he double-pumped a throw to the flat after being surprised by the pressure.

Sitake didn't get very creative with his coverages. He also didn't have to; Weber State didn't threaten downfield at all. With Utah last year, Sitake handily won the RPS metric (don't click that, trust me) in the Michigan game. The circumstances are obviously different this year, but he should get the most out of this defense.

OVERVIEW

The concern, of course, is it's tough to tell how much Sitake can get out of the defense. They shut down Weber State, but Weber State is not good. Even after that performance Oregon State bloggers have no idea what to expect from their defense. Their top performer against WSU was inside linebacker Rommel Mageo, who roamed unblocked—including on a sack against a blown blitz pickup—for most of the afternoon. Mageo is a solid tackler and a good athlete who can line up on the edge in addition to playing inside, but I don't know how he'll fare when he has to take on a block.

Nose tackle Kyle Peko, a JuCo transfer billed as the man to solidify the defense, held up strong in the middle. The starting ends were invisible, combining for two tackles; part of this is the nature of being 3-4 ends, especially against a team focused on holding first-level blocks instead of reaching the second level, but they certainly didn't come off as playmakers. Backup DE Jalen Grimble, who rotates in frequently, did tally an impressive shed and stop and the line of scrimmage; that was about the full extent of the DE production.

The linebackers cleaned up nicely against the run, often unimpeded, and the safeties are aggressive, sure tacklers. Weber State mostly abandoned the run, but they averaged 4.8 yards on 15 non-sack carries. They could usually get past the line, but met resistance at the second level.

One major concern for OSU is their underneath pass defense. Their linebackers were exposed in zone coverage on several occasions, often on crossing routes, and they were beat badly enough in man coverage that they usually avoided calling for it at all. WSU's best pass play of the day occurred when Mageo got no depth on a drop and left a huge hole between the linebackers and safeties:

Weber State didn't have the talent to take advantage. Michigan has Jake Butt and Amara Darboh.

The corners were tough to judge as they were barely tested at all. Larry Scott, one of the two returning starters, made it appear screen yardage may not be as easy to come by as it was against Utah:

I wanted to see WSU test Treston Decoud, a JuCo transfer corner built like Jeremy Clark, but they did not, because they're not very good, in case I haven't made that clear.

The safeties could get aggressive as Weber State didn't even attempt to throw deep. Free safety Justin Strong looked good in run support, wrapping up and making a couple big hits—including one in which he briefly knocked himself out of the game with a shoulder stinger. Strong safety Cyril Nolan-Lewis was disruptive as a blitzer but missed his chance at a sack when he flew right by the QB instead of breaking down for the tackle.

I have a hard time expecting this defense to be very good. They're young, playing a new system under a new coordinator, and really undersized for a 3-4 outfit. This game didn't tell me much. I can say with some confidence it'll be a very bad sign if Michigan's guard can't get push in this game—the Utah line this ain't—and Jake Butt should be in line for a big game.

Comments

alum96

September 11th, 2015 at 9:24 AM ^

I expect OSU (NTOSU) to have one of the top 5 defenses in the Pac 12 in about 3 years as Andersen is a defensive guy and notwithstanding what OSU did to them, Wisc had a pretty damn good D last year with another young bright DC.  They should be able to recruit decent athletes (but not elite ones) ala Wisc at OSU.

This year? Not so much. 

Points given up last year to P5 teams:  35, 31, 29, 38, 45, 39, 27, 37, 47.

And that was their "experienced" defense - not this newbie defense. 

Now granted UM is not exactly a firepower offense but I hope we can get to at least upper 20s on what should be a defense that struggles all year.   And I agree - if we cannot get the run game going vs this type of DL (265 and 258 as ends on a 3-4!!!) it bodes poorly for the rest of the year even accounting for general improvement - unless Drake Johnson just is a 3rd round NFL pick and makes the whole run game go.

Jgruss42

September 11th, 2015 at 9:28 AM ^

Good time for a game with stuff the O needs to fix. The unpredictable pick up assignments highlight what the OLine needs to get right, but the talent disparity should still let us make up for a few mistakes.
Utah was frustrating, but entertaining.
Oregon St should be a relief, but I'd love to see better downfield timing, better guard play, and better patience from the RBs.




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Moonlight Graham

September 11th, 2015 at 9:37 AM ^

so I'm less optimistic in general. That was very discouraging. I still believe the OL situation will gradually improve throughout the course of the season, but man it's hard to fathom how such an experienced group could look so bad.  

MichiganTeacher

September 11th, 2015 at 1:18 PM ^

Totally agree. I'm walking around the school today thinking maybe this kid could graduate and go play guard at Michigan, maybe we could get that kid, or that kid, none of whom are football players of course, but that's what it's come to, and then I start wondering about inanimate objects and wondering how easily they could be literally hurled into the backfield, and then I just wander back to my classroom all depressed.

LJ

September 11th, 2015 at 9:43 AM ^

Man, how can this offense struggle so much with ten returning starters and the eleventh guy being a Big 10 starting quarterback for another team?  Really hoping we see significant progress throughout the year.

dragonchild

September 11th, 2015 at 9:56 AM ^

We returned 10 starters from that offense and our QB was demoted at Iowa.  I mean, it's not like your 1978 Corolla gets bigger and faster every year.

I do expect progress though.  I never expected improved efficiency out of the gate, especially with the switch from zone to power.  They took two steps forward in the submarine but that's after five steps back with a scheme change.

dragonchild

September 11th, 2015 at 9:53 AM ^

Mageo is a solid tackler and a good athlete who can line up on the edge in addition to playing inside, but I don't know how he'll fare when he has to take on a block.

With our guards it looks like you'll have to wait beyond this Saturday to find out.

Needs

September 11th, 2015 at 10:57 AM ^

Even 150 would be a pretty bad sign. This is a defense undergoing a scheme change, with almost no returning starters and guys playing DE in a 3-4 that are at least 20 pounds under the ideal weight for those positions.

 

I'll feel good if we do something like 225 at somewhere north of 5 ypc. The backs should be able to bust multiple 15-20 yard runs. 

Wolverine fan …

September 11th, 2015 at 10:01 AM ^

first game against a good to very good Utah defense, this should be a game where the Michigan offense moves the ball with relative ease on the ground. Whether it's Smith, Johnson or Issac, someone must rack up some yards against these guys. There's a size and experience mismatch pretty much across the board. Working out the kinks against a team like Utah in their place sucked, but should serve as a good tool for the staff to evaluate where the team stands against a quality opponent.

kstevens26

September 11th, 2015 at 11:16 AM ^

This game could be the one we need to lift the spirit of the O Line and the RB's. Start gaining that confidence and momentum each week!

 

Also, I'd like to see at least one PA bomb to Harris. Hopefully Rudock can connect on a big play to ignite the home crowd.

Danwillhor

September 11th, 2015 at 11:18 AM ^

but I officially don't trust Kalis to get push or identify who the heck to push. I've had a bad feeling about this game all offseason and I'm called paranoid but I have a feeling this will be one of those hair tearing games. We may win but I don't think it's in a fashion that leaves us feeling warm and fuzzy about any other game. I just have a bad feeling.....ha. I hate it.