Indiana Snowflakes: The Defense

Great to see defensive adjustments at halftime to shut everything down, but it was frustrating they didnt' come in the 2nd quarter after 4+ screens gashed the D. Great pass rush yes but I'm going to hold judgement similar to CSU, IUs offensive line is horrendous. DJ Turner played an uncharacteristically bad game, and it looked like Will Johnson is moving up in the rotation (above green? Not sure if he was injured for a bit). Lets see them get Clifford down next week and I will sing the Dlines' praises

These guys don't always look great, but when they focus, they're really good.

BEST GAME OF THE SEASON!! Lights out second half! 7 QB Sacks, can you say pass rush? It was awesome. They saved us in the first half and kept Indiana from taking the lead.

They get an A++. Way to play!

Have to echo the praise for the adjustments to Indiana’s preference for the screens. And perhaps we were wrong to question the lack of 5+ Rush blitz calls in previous games because Morris, Okie, and Moore seem to be improving quickly. Maybe the plan was to get them as many reps as possible on 1v1 pass rush situations so they could get that improvement in game.

They got their crap together. They stuffed the run but I still worry about a halfway competent QB or WRs. 

Love to see effective pass rush.

First half was frustrating, when they were picking up 8 yards on every wr screen.  Second half, they just dominated.  When bad teams run hyper speed aid raids, their quarterbacks throw like 60 times a game , and that’s gonna get him crushed against good defenses.

Didn’t look great to start but they looked great in the second half and pitched a shutout after halftime. 

They gave up ten points and notched at least seven sacks. Might've been right. Pass rush was on full display. Can’t ask for too much more. 

Minter is making adjustments and overall it’s hard to be upset. This is what Indiana is. 

Like I said in the “O” thread…get your jockstraps ready boys. 

Michigan won 

So many sacks 

Need Hill-Green back ASAP. 

Defense got better and better as the game went on. We were for sure worried when they were converting on passes in the first half. Adjustments made and we had a good second half. It almost feel like they were throwing it up there with a prayer. But, this defense basically shut them down and gave offense plenty of opportunities to show what they can do. D is improving every week. Need NHG back...

Overall, good. But always rocky getting to good.

Biggest issues have been linebacker sniffing plays out and corners not coming off blocks on WR screens.  We gave up a ton of yards on screen plays and sometimes guys were there to tackle but missed.

Aside from that, the DL has been stellar.

We have problems against pace and getting spread out...most teams do, but we seem especially vulnerable to it.

The good news is, that in a 60 minute game, most offenses aren't equipped to sustain a 2 minute drill offense all game.  Also, given our style of play on offense, it tires out the opposing defense - especially if their O goes 3 and out.

Unfortunately, OSU is built to sustain an uptempo offense like that all game.  We will need to turn the game into a rock fight somehow.

Defense made adjustments in the 2nd half! They need to keep their 2nd half play into next week against PSU!

If either of Indiana’s scoring drives don’t get their ref-assist, this looks like a complete throttling with a few bits of annoying yards gained by a screen happy tempo team. Which isn’t bad at all!

LBs in coverage still very sus though. 

Minter gets huge props today. The DL gets huge props today.

Minter downloaded what they were trying to do and shut it right down in the second half. Nice.

DL was dominant....if Bazelak didn't bail on many plays in the second half, the D could have had 10-12 sacks.

As far as the first half, I'm sure some of it had to do with being in shock about the Hart situation. I'm inclined to give everyone on our side a pass for some of the first half play. I can't imagine thinking straight, let alone running out there and playing football at a high level, after seeing that happen . That's players and coaches included.

Need to have a ref thread. Total refshow. 

It was a rough start to the game.  Getting lined up was a challenge.  Maintaining leverage on WR screens was a challenge.  DBs getting off blocks on the perimeter was a challenge.

And then....?

Murder.

That was fun.

Bazelak goes down behind the line of scrimmage--he's slow to get up.

Morris and Okie are really coming on at the EDGE position.  It is fun watching them.  That play where Okie took on the Hoosier RG #67, deposited him on his ass, sacked the QB, and #67 went off injured.  That is a play grown ass men make.  Eyabi Okie is a grown-ass man.  Whenever our defense stiffens up, it seems like Okie and Morris are right in the thick of it.

Bazelak, under heavy pressure, throws the ball out of bounds.

There were a couple of weak penalties (the BS pass interference on DJ Turner, the unsportsmanlike for Harrell "throat shush" gesture, the 12 men on the field when the refs didn't let us match substitutions) that helped Indiana early.  But, damn the defense was Impressive with a capital I for the 2nd half.

Bazelak brought down for a loss.

The defensive line has gone from Mazi + who? to a vintage Michigan unit.  Connor Bazelak aged about 10 years in this game--his ribs aged about 30.

It was good.

I'm really glad Okie transfered in.

The first half was alarming, to be honest. This defense goes through stretches where its play is just not great.

But then it goes through stretches where it plays really well. This is particularly true in situational passing contexts, where the pass rushers are freed from significant run defense concerns. Standard downs appear to be much more exploitable, and I have to believe a big part of that is the big cyan light flashing over the LBs. 

So this is kind of a hot/cold defense that is going to be frustrating for most of the year. There are obviously worries about that game at the end of the season, as there always are; Penn State is going to be a stiff test as well. But there are places where the pass rush is coming into its own and we have some guys who cover well at least most of the time, and that bodes well for a possible situation where we get into a high-stakes shootout. 

I feel like this stat is important

C. Bazelak 7 rushes for -61 yards

The pressure looked great today with more Okie and Moore out there. The scheme in the first half was pretty frustrating though. Indiana's offense was pretty predictable and we were still getting shredded. I yelled at the TV so many times that they were clearly throwing a screen when they had 3 WRs out wide on the right and we decided to leave a man uncovered on that side.

The second half was a lot better but weird that Minter let us get shredded for a whole half

Anyone else notice in the fourth that they had Grant, Graham, and Moore all in at the same time? And that it ended in a sack? True freshmen on the DL playing well is a great sign for the future!

Defense results undeniably good.

But sinking feeling that it is only because we haven't faced a team this season that can exploit our obvious weakness at linebacker.

And we are going to face such teams.

Great halftime adjustments! This pass rush is getting home and putting clean hits on the QB. Quietly Rod Moore is having a solid 2nd campaign at safety.

Junior Colson actually looked okay when the entire offensive gameplan isn't built around putting him in conflict.

When from bad to average, but it's time for him to be good to great. He's been the most disappointing starter this year, he has to find his confidence and aggression and build on the improvement he showed today.

Iowa is always going to he tough for a MLB, but he was so bad I thought he should've been benched if we had another option. 

He took steps forward yesterday, going to need him big versus PSU. But if we think we won't see a naked boot...we're kidding ourselves. Franklin loves to try things he's seen work.

It wouldn't surprise me if we get the counter draw play they torched us with (Saquon) in 2018 or whenever that was.