Penn State Snowflakes: The Defense
October 21st, 2017 at 10:59 PM ^
October 21st, 2017 at 11:13 PM ^
October 21st, 2017 at 11:36 PM ^
Everything Penn State had success with tonight was something that some other school Mich played this year had success with. Only difference is that Penn State actually had the talent to pull it off and do so repeatedly.
October 21st, 2017 at 11:00 PM ^
The corners played well not the best game from them but not a weak spot. Aubrey Solomon was playing good. Everyone else not good at all. Kinnel and the LBs were not good at all today.
Also why are the starters still playing late?/
October 21st, 2017 at 11:10 PM ^
October 21st, 2017 at 11:10 PM ^
October 21st, 2017 at 11:01 PM ^
The effort on defense tonight was atrocious. McCray should never be assigned a running back ever again. Metellus, Hudson, and Kinnel were toast.
I kept saying this all damn year. The front 7 shielded CLEAR defficiencies in the back 4, and it proved tonight well. Next year the safeties will get better, but not this year.
October 21st, 2017 at 11:46 PM ^
I honestly think 5 clones of Toby Flenderson would have played better than our linebackers and safeties tonight. I don't want to overreact right after the end of a game, but that performance was close to pathetic.
Sad edit: The last time we won the Big Ten the cast of The Office were doing their auditions.
October 21st, 2017 at 11:12 PM ^
he has zero chance of sticking to Barkley on those passes.
October 21st, 2017 at 11:44 PM ^
October 21st, 2017 at 11:02 PM ^
I think it’s worth noting the offensive S&P+ ratings of the teams that our defense was dominant against.
Florida: 83
Cincy: 113
Air Force: 44 (Triple Option weirdness applies here)
Purdue: 55
MSU: 20 (Pretty successful against us before the monsoon came, also likely to go down after this week’s game)
Indiana: 90
The first legitimately good offense we face and the defense was miserable. We know exactly what the offense is going to give us. If the defense can't keep us in games then it’s gonna be a long couple weeks until basketball season.
October 21st, 2017 at 11:02 PM ^
October 21st, 2017 at 11:02 PM ^
I don't think matching up McCray all night vs the dude who's going to win the Heisman trophy was a smart idea. But, I'm not a football coach.
October 22nd, 2017 at 5:48 AM ^
Well, it worked really well against Dalvin Cook, so I figure that's why they went back to it.
/s
October 21st, 2017 at 11:04 PM ^
October 22nd, 2017 at 1:08 AM ^
Instead of replacing our senior captain on the defense, just let him play to his strength and don't play him in man against the Heisman frontrunner
October 21st, 2017 at 11:04 PM ^
offensive coordinator earned is salary tonight. Schemed receiver mismathces with allignments and pre-snap motions all night.
No other team can crate the sort of receiver mismatches the PSU created tonight.
I doubt there is any real adjustment Don Brown could have made to neutralize it. Inserting a CB to cover the slot (for example) would just make it easier for Barkley and McSorley to run.
Only way to do better would have been to force more turnovers.
October 21st, 2017 at 11:22 PM ^
Iowa did it pretty well. They played vanilla, but they did not isolate any of their players on an island like we did.
October 21st, 2017 at 11:52 PM ^
Penn State did not bring the same stuff when they played Iowa.
Tonight Moorehead showed that he had spent a lot of time during the bye (and probably before) devising special plays, alignments, concepts, etc., specifically designed to create mismatches with Michigan's D. That is what the best OCs do.
Here is my question: If Penn State's offensive staff can do this, why isn't Michigan's offensive staff showing a similar level if intelligence, planning, etc.?
Michigan has some issues at QB, a mediocre line, still developing receivers, etc. But no matter, the offensive staff has not shown much this year in taking the pieces available and using them intelligently.
Making it harder rather than easier for this young offense to succeed.
October 22nd, 2017 at 12:02 AM ^
gave up nearly 600 yds to psu
October 21st, 2017 at 11:47 PM ^
Penn State did the same thing as everyone else did against Michigan’s defense this year, they just had the talent to actually pull off the plays.
October 21st, 2017 at 11:59 PM ^
Not sure how you really stop what they did. The entire gameplan was based on exploiting physical mismatches by getting tall receivers on shorter safeties (Kinnel) and McCray to cover Barkely/McSorley. Not sure how you fix that outside of benching McCray for someone faster and Kinnel for someone taller.
Not a lot of options when you have a QB that can make NFL level throws and can run the ball, multiple 6'4"+ receivers, a Heisman running back and PSU is given a green light to hold on every play.
October 21st, 2017 at 11:06 PM ^
October 21st, 2017 at 11:06 PM ^
Don Brown has been excellent in every game save one. Sadly, this was the game. However, Dalvin Cook beat up on McCary last year in pass coverage. Brown needs to find a way to give safety help over the top or match up Bush. It was also silly how long they waited to put Hill on Hamiltion. Even then, they only did it on third downs. Long got a pick on the play when they mixed in zone. I know Brown likes to dictate to the offense, but they should have gone full Iowa out there, dropping into zones to keep eyes in the backfield and not matching McCary on Barkley. I could live with it if it had happened in the first half. I'm annoyed that they didn't adjust at the half.
October 21st, 2017 at 11:24 PM ^
Agreed. Sometimes you gotta play contain. Can Brown even do that?
October 21st, 2017 at 11:07 PM ^
October 21st, 2017 at 11:07 PM ^
Safeties were absolutely exposed by the McSorely arm punts, but this is what happens when they're in man coverage against a 6'6 WR who can track the ball and jump, and a slot receiver who's caught more balls than anyone at PSU.
I wonder if against OSU (who can do to UM what PSU did tonight) we'll see more zone and Cover 2 and perhaps be a bit more unpredictable in that regard. Because again, tonight Don Brown was absolutely beaten to a bloody pulp.
October 21st, 2017 at 11:07 PM ^
October 21st, 2017 at 11:14 PM ^
I think we are still good, but nothing like we all thought.
October 21st, 2017 at 11:28 PM ^
Just gave up 69 points in last two games.
October 22nd, 2017 at 2:40 AM ^
The D was fine against Indiana. It was terrible today.
October 21st, 2017 at 11:08 PM ^
McCray is so bad. I'd rather have Foug out there.
October 21st, 2017 at 11:14 PM ^
McCray is not a bad player. But he was schemed into mismatches all night. PSU is a problem B/C if the D tries to stop Barkley, then they can easily create mismatches in the slot or with the TE, etc.
October 21st, 2017 at 11:21 PM ^
Hot McCray takes are misplaced
October 21st, 2017 at 11:43 PM ^
He has been a nightmare doing anything but defending the run all year.
October 21st, 2017 at 11:10 PM ^
Ooooof. First time Brown has been comprehensively whooped in our two years of him. Moorhead kicked his ass. Safeties struggled in man coverage. Corners seemed like a strength. LBs were fooled by a lot of misdirection. Bush was fast enough to run with Barkley so his athleticism is still impressive. Why he wasn't matched with him one on one is a mystery. Gary wrecked their tackles but didn't have enough help Depth is weak right now. We need reinforcements, especially in the front seven.
October 21st, 2017 at 11:10 PM ^
Spread out the offense, lining your fastest RB wide and your best WR in the slot.
Trust your that your QB can make throws to open receivers on long bombs.
MSU did this on against us in the first half (the only one that mattered).
Cincy tried to do this, but their QB and WR missed two gimme bombs that would have given them the lead in the second half.
Luckily, we don’t play another decent QB all season.
October 21st, 2017 at 11:16 PM ^
constantly get a great reciever on our safeties, torching engaged.
October 21st, 2017 at 11:20 PM ^
October 22nd, 2017 at 5:58 AM ^
PSU provided the blueprint for beating Don Brown *after he lost almost his entire starting defense from last year*
This performance was disappointing, but it doesn't make me worry about the future. It took a heisman caliber RB, a damn good QB with wheels, a couple great receiving threats, and a really good OC at home at night to finally expose a defense that lost a shit ton.
This is also the skepticism I sometimes hold for advanced stats like S&P+. To some extent it certainly does matter how badly you lose or win, even if it's against an elite team or awful team, but I also feel like it can't quite account for a defense like ours. A good one with a great DC that papers over some things so it looks elite against weak teams but can get exposed by the great ones.
October 21st, 2017 at 11:10 PM ^
worked well. They both have very quick first steps and our defense hesitating deciding who had the ball was very effective for them.
David Long and Lavert Hill played pretty well imo.
October 22nd, 2017 at 12:18 AM ^
Without reviewing the film, this seemed like some kind of zone read they were using to option off the linebacker (McCray)
The other thing they were able to do consistently was using Barkely on misdirection to pull linebackers away from the play. You would think they would have been a little more prepared for this since it seems like a very similar concept to the FB counter that Michigan ran 5 times to score a TD against Indiana last week.
October 21st, 2017 at 11:10 PM ^
October 21st, 2017 at 11:11 PM ^
Should never never never be allowed to cover anyone that does not basically look like, run like and act like a fullback or TE built to play 1950s era football.
October 22nd, 2017 at 6:01 AM ^
I mean, McCray covering RBs in the passing game has obviously been a weakness, but I still don't think anyone's offered up a solution that doesn't leave us exposed somewhere else.
October 21st, 2017 at 11:23 PM ^
October 21st, 2017 at 11:13 PM ^
turned off the game to read a book. That's how little I care about this season now.
October 21st, 2017 at 11:13 PM ^
October 21st, 2017 at 11:16 PM ^