Illinois Snowflakes: The Defense

that osu offense concerns me. I am encouraged by Will Johnson. I don’t know who covers harrison. I’m most encouraged by Mikey and Will. I just don’t know if D.J. has it aside from speed.

zone? Double? Bracket?

Not a single sack.

Third quarter was ugly but otherwise the defense played fairly well. The coverage schemes seemed very passive a lot of the time. 

11-0

Wrong one

Defense was OK.  Not as good as previous games.  Coverage on the sideline out routes was too soft and led to Illinois keeping the pressure on.  Chase Brown got his yards with strength, shiftiness and quickness.  He's a lot like Corum in that regard.  Tough to handle so I think the D was pretty good against him.  Good enough I guess.  Lack of pass rush is still alarming.  And the blitzes didn't get home either.  Not a good sign but Illinois seemed well prepared for it as well.

Can we have Mike Morris back, please?

They "got got" some, but C. Brown is very talented. They got the stops when they had to.

Minter is going to have to earn his money in the next week scheming up some pass rush.

Thought we got got on a number of quick out routes.  Chase Brown was as advertised.  Otherwise, the defense continues to play to their pedigree as a stout Michigan football defense.

Minter and the guys delivered when necessary. Shutdown in Q4 to give the offense a chance.

Very good, just not great. Get ready for the Buckeyes.

Ugh, I'm gonna have nightmares all week of Stroud standing in a clean pocket with zero pressure calmly mulling over which five-star receiver he'd prefer to throw to

Beat tOSU

Gave up too many plays in the 3rd quarter, especially the big run (may have been some holding)….Illinois WRs seemed to keep getting the best of UM DB’s at the sideline for first downs, was frustrating….but overall just 17 points, a shade over 300 yards, and they got some big 4th down stops and the perfect 3 and out late in the 4th. 

We seem to have packed away a lot of blitz packages the last few games.   Remain surprising stingy against the run on big downs.

I don't think there's a lot to complain about, got the big big stop when they needed it.

The Defense and Special Teams were Co- MVPs. We know our limitations on O but both other units are performing at a high level!

Michigan: 0 sacks, 1 TFL, 1 QBH, 1 PD, 0 TOs, 1 win

Illinois: 0 sacks, 6 TFL, 3 QBH, 5 PD, 1 TO, 1 loss

Glad to survive but CJ Stroud is going to feast if our pass rush is that non-existent again. 

They played well and I think missing Morris (as well as the Illinois scheme) was a big factor in limiting pass rush.  

I do worry about the LB's.  I think Colson has improved, but the LB's had issues in coverage.  Everyone talks about OSU's WR's, but they have a terrific tight end in Cade Stover and they have actually targeted him more than they looked at the tight end last year.  That's a less talked about x-factor for the Game.

Maryland did a pretty good job (relatively speaking) against Stroud and Co. yesterday.  Michigan is better equipped than them to stop the run, so if they can take away big plays they have a good chance at keeping OSU under 35 points.  

On the other hand, Michigan hasn't faced a WR like Marvin Harrison, Jr.  He's bigger than DJ Turner, has great ball skills and of course is really fast.  I expect Michigan to hit a couple of big plays to him.  Can they limit the other guys, force some FG's, and get some timely pressure to tank a couple of other drives?  That's the key.  It's doable.  And they'll need some help from the offense to control the clock.