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This job on the whole doesn't suck, but picking a play to talk about out of this holistic failure hasn't exactly been the highlight of it. What's wrong with the defense? See the ball? Go to guy with ball!

I don't know what's going on with safeties coach Bob Shoop so I can't judge who's responsible for the fact that he's not with the team this year. I can tell you that not having a safeties coach is really showing on the field but you don't need Seth to say "THE BALL! DON'T LOOK OVER THERE THE BALL GO TO THE BALL! GYOTDJAMMIT"

#Analysis!

I also hope I've taught you enough by now that you know all about setting up with outside leverage, and how that leads to slants when you blitz.

Why are they having Daxton Hill set up like he's Tyree Kinnell against a walk-on named Lutz when the WHOLE DANG POINT of using Daxton Hill as a safety is he doesn't have to cheat to the slot fade to cover it?

[After THE JUMP: #Analysis]

It's possible they were planning on having the other safety, Hunter Reynolds, hammer down on anything inside and he didn't.

But now, Michigan doesn't have any plan. The six-man pressure blitz is supposed to force a quick decision, the quickest decision is the slant, and if you take that away the quarterback is going to last only as long as his freshman RB can stand up to Josh Ross and his freshman right tackle can hold off Kwity Paye.

If you're calling a six-man pressure using both of your middle linebackers, your thought process for coverage should be "I need to get the quickest reads covered" because there's likely to only be one or two. Dominating those quick reads however comes with potential risks. Which would you rather?

1. Play Dax Hill with straight-up or inside leverage to take away the H slant, trusting he can catch up and make a play on a slot fade. OR
2. Play Dax with outside leverage, have Reynolds hammer down into it for a possible interception, and trust Michael Barrett and Vincent Gray can survive without safety help.

A safety coach is teaching both techniques, getting them used to playing off each others' strengths, and having them set traps. A grad student is having Dax Hill set up the way Tyree Kinnel did because that's all the grad student knows.

DAX HILL IS NOT RAY VINOPAL

Here's another hair-pulling event. It's the play where we thought we had a fumble-return touchdown. Watch it again though, and count how many receivers there are to cover.

Two.

Sorry that wasn't meant for you. I know the defense doesn't know it's just two guys in the route at the start of the play. They do know there isn't a huge downfield threat going on because PSU has two tight ends on the boundary side and immediately the RB steps to the backside too. What Michigan is running here however is a Tampa Two, which is, you know, the defense that teams installed when their safeties couldn't cover too much ground. Watch the MLB, #45 Adam Shibley.

Now, if you're a Tampa Two aficionado I know what you're going to say. You're going to say that it's the cornerback's responsibility to pick up the out route because the whole dang point of the Tampa 2 is to give the safeties some middle-of-the-field help from the MLB and let them play aggressively over the sideline routes. Well, Lovie,

Dax is so far away from this play only the long shadow of the November sun has left any sign of his existence. Teams with weak safeties who can't get around very well will live with this. There's no reason to have Daxton Hill backing up this far unless he has ceased being Daxton Hill. There are only two plausible threats to his side, two tight ends and another safety to handle the other side, and a middle linebacker dropping back to 12 yards deep across the middle. I don't even know why this is in the playbook. Since it is, somebody in charge of the safeties should be instructing them on a running down in the 1st quarter with two TE on the other side to jump some damn routes. Hammer down on the #1 (outside) receiver so Green can make a play on the out. Make him go to another read, by which time the guard blocking Hinton is in his lap. TAKE AWAY THE FIRST GODDAMN LOOK.

So what the hell is going on?

FORTY SECONDS IN HELL

After the Minnesota game I wrote a piece on how Don Brown changed up his looks against Minnesota to waste their "Check with me" calls. 

Remember, Penn State's new offensive coordinator is Kirk Ciarrocca, who was PJ Fleck's offensive coordinator prior to that. Sure enough, Michigan was doing the same shift they used against Ciarrocca's mentor. It's Cover 2! (Check). Nope: Cover 1, 8-man box, run stuffed.

It's Cover 1! (Check)

Nope, Cover 2.

But eventually they're going to catch on. Next play is the same thing. Michigan shows Cover 1, waits for the QB to talk to the coaches, then bails the field safety, this time Hunter Reynolds.

But note what's happened here. The first play we had Michael Barrett destroying WR #3 (who's a pitiful blocker) and holding things up until Adam Shibley arrived. Dax Hill, the safety to that side, didn't show up until the rest were already halting the TE's progress after four yards. This time Jaylen Harrell can't get out there as fast as Michael Barrett did, and they get the first down before Reynolds gets there.

Penn State adapted, checking to the sideline and anticipating that the defense was going to change up its look. I mean, c'mon, do you really think when Clifford looked to the sideline his coaches said "Yeah, run a quick out against Daxton Hill"?

It was a nice trick against Minnesota because they want to run and will do so if you show them a friendly enough box for it—worst case scenario you're in a two-high, they're running the ball into your light box, and you can bring your safety down as soon as he sees the tight ends aren't releasing downfield.

That's Gemon Green, by the way, because Michigan flipped their safeties' and cornerbacks' jobs in those situations to get a safety off the overhang. I'm pointing that out because the problem with Michigan's defense against Penn State wasn't just that they got caught in Cover 2 when the enemy suspected it. It's that Daxton Hill doesn't know what to do in that situation:

He's not the only one. One of the first things safeties in this defense learn is the switching rules for Cover 1. For example if a tight end comes across the formation, the safety over him has to become the deep guy while the deep guy rotates down to be able to fire at the tight end if there's a run play. Hunter Reynolds here does not get the memo.

What Michigan is doing on defense makes sense enough schematically. However the way their safeties are reacting to things, and aligning to things, and certainly not creating any havoc things, tells me a crucial part of their defensive structure isn't on the same page.

Probably could use a coach there.