Nebraska Snowflakes: The Defense

They played hard and made some big plays. Made the biggest play at the end that set up the win.

The defense struggled in the 2nd half.  But this was not a bad offense.  They presented interesting triple option RPO football that we did not defend well.

Yeah, this might eventually cost us.  But tonight Hawkins made two HUGE plays (I vote him player of the game) and Hill made the best Michigan interception I’ve seen since Woodson in 97.  They got it done in the end.

Ok it was barely an interesting enough observation to make once…damn hamsters.

The defense struggled in the 2nd half.  But this was not a bad offense.  They presented interesting triple option RPO football that we did not defend well.

Yeah, this might eventually cost us.  But tonight Hawkins made two HUGE plays (I vote him player of the game) and Hill made the best Michigan interception I’ve seen since Woodson in 97.  They got it done in the end.

I don't know what changed at half but MacDonald and the D got worked in the 2nd half. It was a miracle they escaped. Not sure if Mike changed anything or Frost did

Credit for Nebraska for running an entire different offense and used how we played Martinez against us . Got the W and that is all that matters 

Credit for Nebraska for running an entire different offense and used how we played Martinez against us . Got the W and that is all that matters 

Credit for Nebraska for running an entire different offense and used how we played Martinez against us . Got the W and that is all that matters 

Credit for Nebraska for running an entire different offense and used how we played Martinez against us . Got the W and that is all that matters 

I sure don't like 10.4 yards per pass attempt for the entire game (it felt like twice that in the second half). I think about OSU and their NFL-caliber receiver depth chart and I don't like it even more. I know Martinez got some breaks in there, but the secondary was leaving much too much space on many plays.

Still, they made some plays in the fourth quarter and 6-0 is 6-0, even with the three toughest games still remaining.

Things I liked

-You play to win the game

-Playmakers making plays (Dax Hill, Hawkins, Ojabo, Gemon Green on that last drive, NHG had a nice stick)

-Generally rocking NEB back at the LOS

-Won't face an offense as "scrappy" as NEB again (extremely experienced and athletic QB, lots of frippery)

-When Scott Frost cried

Things I did not like

-Josh Ross is not Devin Bush, and he got dusted a couple of times

-Aidan choosing heads when it was tails on the Martinez run late

-We need a counter for 55-year-old-man-shooting-floaters-at-the-Y offense

-Getting beat over the top maybe 4 (?) times...LBs need to activate their inner doom squirrel only some of the time, and coverage is still suspect (hard to see anything other than DJ Turner II is pretty awful out there)

-Scott Frost's face

Strong first half. They were being physical and aggressive. A few busts here and there but solid overall. 
 

Similar to the offense responding after getting punched in the mouth, the defense stepped up when it mattered most and made the plays needed to win the game. Not going to ask for more than that right now. 
 

6-0 is 6-0. I’ll take it any way I can get it. 

First of all the defense came up big late to get the turnover then seal the game. That said McDonald got worked over by Frost for a good portion of the second half. Frost identified that the safeties were coming downfield too hard and exploited it.McDonald should have noticed what their game plan after half was after that first drive. Instead it took him way too long to adjust which could have cost us the game. Hopefully he learns from that. That string reminded me a little too much of Don Brown not being willing to adjust as OSU receivers ran slipshod against us.

Better coached teams will exploit the LBs the whole game. That said, I trust MacDonald more than the last guy in figuring out how to prevent that.

Fuck Scott Frost

N Hill got got by wheel route. 

Ok. Michigan needs to keep repping wheel routes and covering running QBs. Cuz like, fuggin A , how many times is M gonna get brunt by that ? Jfc

A tale of two halfs.  Martinez is a heckuva athlete.  While the D looked lost at times in second half, they found a way to win stealing the ball from Martinez, then stopping next drive.  3rd quarter was painful but they kept fighting, kept their composure, and battled the whole game against an inspired Nebraska team.   Nebraska played pretty well and is talented.  Michigan took Nebraska's best shot tonight for a hard earned conference road win.  

I think we have a defense, but with linebackers that can be toyed with when the other coaches want to toy with them.

BRAD HAWKINS BITCH

What adjustments did Nebraska make at half that changed the trajectory of the game and got them scoring points almost at will? This is the second game where the second half looked a bit like a UM collapse, but we somehow pulled out a hard fought win. 
 

I thought we were toast after Moody’s FG with over 1:20 left on the clock. 

I know it was ugly on defense.  Weird ass games like this are more the norm than the exception anymore.  Georgia seems to be immune at the moment but I am sure they will have theirs before season's end.

Hey, I'd rather be Michigan than Alabama on this particular evening.

Nebraska had two very well designed plays go for TD’s….the offense left them hanging out to dry on the one interception. Definitely some discipline stuff to clean up with running QBs (although none will be better than Martinez) and a couple missed tackles that led to 1st downs.

Dawkins strip and recovery was an all-time defensive play, and Dax hill with a good pick again (almost broken up by Mouten lol) for a second straight week, let’s keep those up. Ojabo and Hutch were in Martinez’s grill a lot, but that guy is so good at getting out of that stuff, had Vince Young 2005 Rose Bowl PTSD when he would evade a sack. 
 

I just have to say that Nebraska came to PLAY in the second half, but the defense still came up the play of the game, so an overall plus but with some stuff to clean up. 
 

also, if anyone is super down on the D tonight for giving up 29 points in second half….Alabama lost to an A&M team who scored 7 points on Colorado 41-38. 

Positives:

- Great first half. Completely dominated.

- Made plays down the stretch. Juuuuust enough.

- Seemed to do a pretty good job closing off the middle. Bodes well.

- Dax's pick - dude is a playmaker.

- Forced Nebraska to make a Nebraska blunder at the end. 

Negatives:

- Letting the throwback moonball play work TWICE. Once is a fluke; twice is inexcusable. 

- Why, oh why did they not focus on Martinez near the goal line. OF COURSE he was gonna keep it, both on the 2-pt conversion and the 4th down. Everyone in the stadium knew he was keeping.

- Beaten on the edge again and again. That's a real hole in our defense, and Neb exploited it. 

- OMG, I thought Dax gave them another set of downs with that penalty at the end. No stupid unsportsmanlike penalties! 

- 2nd time (Rutgers) Michigan's D was exploited in the 2nd half. That's kinda scary.

Ok, no more complaints. Michigan did just enough to win - well done! 6-0!

The Strip.

Brad Hawkins made a football play.  Thank you!!!

Secondary and linebackers kind of got exposed. Some missed tackles and busts on undisciplined play.

On the other hand, Nebraska seems to be rounding into a good offense that is going to get theirs. And they seemed to hit on almost every opportunity their playcalling bought them, while Michigan missed on a lot of theirs, and that was the difference that made the game close.  

Rough defense in the second half. Nebraska exploited Michigan’s linebackers, and they did it a lot. Anyone else catch Morrison covering the TE on the missed cross route on the last drive? Kinda felt like Uche covering Hamler. 
 
I’m the end the defense made plays to win the game. 

The defense is a work in progress. Like the offense today, mental toughness showed on the road in a tough situation. Thank god for Dax and Aidan. Tip of the cap to Adrian Martinez for keeping it together (right up until the end) and making some nice plays. 

Macdonald absolutely ate Frosty's lunch in the first half. In the second half they weren't disciplined enough for all the counters to Michigan forcing the ball out of Martinez's hands with the option fakes while slipping backs/TEs out the backside.

That said, they're a tough team to play, they dominated up front without getting an obvious hold called. Nebraska got away with an illegal formation on the pop pass TD and blatantly held quite often. Nebraska also blatantly committed OPI a couple times. Michigan's defense made the plays when they had to and I'm thrilled to get out of Lincoln with the W. I don't foresee playing an offense that quirky again, although the athleticsm of PSU, OSU, and even MSU will provide enough challenges down the road. 

The play-action pop pass was a fantastic call by Nebraska, especially right after Martinez picked up 3rd-and-11 with a 20-yard run.

Martinez was huge at a number of points, and I tend to give him more credit than demerits to the defense for some of that.

There are definitely some issues that Nebraska exploited.  Some of that can be improved.  Some of that is just what we are on defense.  But it does look like we're scheming to put our talent in position to make plays, and we're not giving people easy reads play after play.

Ross got lost in coverage badly. 2 long touchdown passes where he got burned. Ugh. Not good. 

The defense did enough to win, and sometimes you just need to accept that. However, I hope that this young coaching staff uses the bye week to review the film and make adjustments to eliminate the explosive scoring plays in the future. 

Defense overall did okay. Concerning that Nebraska scored so easy and quickly and so often in the third quarter- reminded me a little of Don Brown defense getting throttled. Hope McDonald gets it together. 

I’m curious to see whether UFR will attribute the huge bust TDs to specific players making mistakes or coverage calls. Big plays given up:

3rd qtr playaction TE TD - can’t tell if this is the linebackers (Ross?) or lack of safety up top

3rd qtr RB wheel TD - they said it was NHG but just looking at alignment think it should be Ross in coverage? NHG never really looks in the backfield and goes with the TE

3rd qtr slot WR TD - looks like Dax gets caught up with the play action, but again I’m not sure whether there should be safety help anywhere near the sideline here

Glad the bye week is here - those were uncharacteristically not bend-but-don’t break

Have to give Nebraska credit for some really good playcalls, and the usual College Bullshit that ended up working a fair bit

We came up clutch just enough. Dax's INT was masterful, as was Hawkins strip. And we clearly had studied a few of their plays and diagnosed them early and shut down. Green and Hawkins both had excellent stops on the edge on key downs. 

I think perspective is in order... the defense is playing WAY better than I thought they would. Despite below average CB play, and LOTS of questions about DL talent and depth, and switching to a totally new scheme, we've been playing pretty darn well on defense for most of the year

If you honestly thought the defense would be this good and we'd be undefeated right now, please stand up and take a bow

They got an A+ in the first half and a C for the 2nd half for an overall B. 1) they made key plays when they needed it. 2) they caused a huge TO late 4th quarter to end the NE threat. 

They get an overall grade of a B because NE was bound to score at least 20 or more points. 

The original game plan was smart and obviously well executed.  Shutting Nebraska out in the first half directly won this game.  In the second half, Nebraska was able to do two things that really hurt M.

1. Set up play such that Ross was chasing a fast player sideline to sideline instead of Dax.  Ross is just not fast enough, and that player was Dax in the other games this season.  Nebraska must have been doing something with their alignments to make this happen repeatedly.

2. Generally pull our defense out of it's intended shape.  That play early in the second half where four defenders all blew up one guy near the sideline in the backfield was a harbinger for things to come.  That one play worked for us, but the defense was all mis-shapen.  Nebraska was able to do that the rest of the night and made us pay.

But this defense has a backbone, Smith and Hinton seem to be closer to dominant every week, and their overall transformation from last year to this year is a wonderful sight to behold.

I don't think the defense is great. They're at best, at least to me, average to slightly above. I don't think they'll do very well against MSU, PSU mainly because they have very good receivers and our corners are very eh. I can't even think about what OSU will do. I know a lot of people are impressed by MacDonald, but I'm not. He seems, once again fine, but unless you're comparing only to last year, I don't see any great as of now. 

I also don't get why they play so badly against read options, you would think they see it often enough to be more prepared for it.

Not the best game for play calling / sticking to assignments. Feels like we let an inferior team pop a few big surprises but they had nothing down to down. Need to get it cleaned up because MSU is gonna dump out their whole horseshit playbook on us in a few weeks

Hawkins made the two biggest plays of the game.  Stopping Martinez on that 4th and 2 in the first quarter and of course forcing Martinez to fumble with less than 2 minutes to go.