Previously: Rutgers Offense

After studying the rough display that is the Rutgers offense, we get a much more respectable unit today in the Rutgers defense. Greg Schiano has consistently been able to coordinate solid defenses in his career, and the Rutgers defense looks in line with that. They rank 29th in SP+ defense and are allowing fewer than 300 yards per game (22.5 points per game against this season). At the very least, it's watchable football. 

 

The Film: I will delve more into this later on in the piece, but the list of opposing offenses that Rutgers has faced is lacking in quality. The only top 50 SP+ offense that they have played happens to be our bitter rivals down in Columbus and while I'd prefer not to pick the Ohio State buzzsaw offense and have something between "terrible" and "the best in the country", I have little to offer. The only other option was possibly Minnesota, but after the hassle that it was to get footage of that game for the offense FFFF, I wanted to stay away from that. So, OSU it is. 

Personnel: Click for big or here for PDF. 

The Rutgers defensive line has been hamstrung by the injury to Mohamed Toure, their top pass rusher who was ruled out for the season in June after undergoing surgery. In his absence, "Michigan transfer" Aaron Lewis is a starting DE. Lewis is a New Jersey native who was a 3* recruit in Michigan's 2020 class. He enrolled early but never practiced with the team due to COVID and then decided to transfer to be closer to home amid the pandemic, so he was in the program for a totality of a few months, hence the quotation marks. Lewis has been an active contributor at Rutgers for three seasons now, starting to round into a solid player with a touch of pass rush and alright holding down the edge. Opposite him is Wesley Bailey, clocking in at an identical 250 lbs. and a classmate of Lewis'. Bailey has taken a little bit longer to become a contributor but this season has ascended to the starting job, doing an admirable job. Jordan Thompson and Kenny Fletcher come on for a few snaps each but Lewis and Bailey are definitely the every-down starters. 

At defensive tackle, Ifeanyi Maijeh and Kyonte Hamilton are the starters for Rutgers, both of whom clocking in under 300 lbs. Hamilton in particular is a slight 270, so that's a weight matchup to watch. Both of these players are solid, but as I'll show you, I think they are exploitable against a rushing attack like Michigan's. Mayan Ahanotu gets in the mix, the clear #3 option at tackle, while Troy Rainey is used more sparingly, though he has logged significant snaps in garbage time. 

Rutgers uses two traditional LBs and these two guys play nearly every non-garbage time snap, WILL Deion Jennings and MIKE Tyreem Powell. Rutgers saw the LB level devastated in the offseason, losing four linebackers with significant experience, including star Olakunle Fatukasi. Powell and Jennings were very new to a starting role, yet surprisingly, they've done a respectable job keeping this ship afloat and not letting it turn into the dumpster fire many were expecting. Neither player is an impact piece but to this point in the season, they have been serviceable B1G starters, which is huge for Schiano's defense, in the process of rebuilding its front seven. Like I said, Powell and Jennings rarely come off, but if they do, Jamier Wright-Collins and Austin Dean are the next men up at LB. 

While the front seven saw sizable turnover, the secondary returned mostly intact. Both of last year's starters at safety return, but Christian Izien has slid to nickel. Izien was an All-B1G Honorable Mention last season and has been good in coverage, but struggled getting off the blocks defending the run. Rutgers uses its nickel in the box a decent amount, so that dimension of the position is worth noting. The other returning safety is Avery Young, this week's Dangerman after a nice showing against the Buckeyes, including an INT. His coverage was a highlight of the defense's performance against the high-powered OSU passing attack. Desmond Igbinosun is the other starting safety and I don't have a ton to say about him based on my viewings, other than that he's one of PFF's lower-graded Rutgers defenders. Young and Izien have rarely left the field this season while Igbinosun has missed some time with injury, which allowed Elijuwan Mack to get a bit of run. 

At corner Rutgers returns Max Melton, who you may recall missed the Michigan game last year after a "paintball gun incident". That was a shame for Rutgers, because Melton is a fine corner. Returning starter Kessawn Abraham has been dealing with injuries off and on so former Temple transfer Christian Braswell has been elevated to the starting role, but even then he has been rotating with Rob Longerbeam. Melton rarely comes off the field, the others are all rotating with each other. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: So this defense is gonna try and stop Blake Corum?]

Base set: Rutgers runs a 4-2-5 that rarely every deviates from that personnel package. Perhaps the only difference is whether the nickel is lining up near the box like an LB or in the slot in coverage. Here's the nickel looking like an LB: 

That's Izien lined up at the 25 next to the two LBs. Here he is in coverage: 

The good old-fashioned 4-2-5. 

Man or zone coverage: Rutgers runs a base quarters, putting them in the zone category for the generic defense. However, against an offense like Ohio State, Rutgers was forced to dial up a fair number of blitzes (see below), and in those situations they played with a Cover 1 shell, putting their corners more in man situations. So, more in the zone camp overall, but man is something they go to if they need to get pressure. 

Pressure: You need to get pressure against Ohio State, and that led Rutgers to ramp up their blitziness. They rushed more than four guys on 39.6% of their snaps against the Buckeyes, which clocks in as our second highest number of the season, ahead of MSU and PSU, who were also more blitzy, as well as Iowa and Maryland, who were blitz-apathetic. Indiana and its 60% is still the leader, though. I suspect, without the advantage of tracking another Rutgers game, that this was one of their blitzier outings since it seemed to be a response to getting gashed through the air when they gave Stroud time to throw. After OSU started moving the ball consistently, Rutgers responded by having to increase the pressure, so I'm not sure how much this will apply to a different sort of offense in Michigan. They never rushed fewer than four on any play I charted. 

Dangerman: This week's Dangerman is S Avery Young. I will admit it was a bit tough choosing a player that really qualifies for this distinction but we'll go with Young because he had a nice showing against the Buckeyes. There were some issues in run defense, and he had a hand in the long Miyan Williams run, but his coverage was pretty solid and he's had an excellent season overall in PFF's numbers. The highlight of the day for Young is the interception: 

Just a good ball-hawking safety play, finding the ball and coming down with it. Credit to Izien for good coverage on Egbuka as well and Stroud is not the most accurate with this ball. 

Young was assigned to cover Marvin Harrison Jr. from time to time and he is running stride for stride on this play: 

On this next one we see very poor coverage from the LB Deion Jennings but Young comes in and cleans it up with a huge tackle: 

As a safety, I don't have a ton of clips of him, but these three, good coverage, ball-hawking play, and solid tackling, sum up who he is. Rutgers' secondary is stronger than their front seven and for my money, Avery Young is the best piece in that secondary. Not an incredibly sexy Dangerman or anything but a fine player nonetheless. 

 

Overview

I talked about this briefly in the "The Film" section, but the first thing we have to discuss when looking at the Rutgers defense this season is that their level of competition has been very poor. Here is a list of opposing offenses they've faced, by SP+ ranking: 

• Boston College (113)
• Wagner (FCS)
• Temple (128) 
• Iowa (101) 
• OSU (1) 
• Nebraska (53)
• Indiana (82)
• Minnesota (58)

Woof. They did not face a single offense with a pulse in the month of September, then played OSU to start October, and then closed out the month with a slew of below-average-to-bad offensive opponents. Simply put, the numbers look pretty good, but the Scarlet Knights haven't been tested all that much. This was the reason why we didn't cyan any of the Rutgers defenders. Seth was asking me "well, who on Rutgers looks like a weakness?" and I'd say "are we talking for Michigan, or for the teams they've played?". I felt there were several very exploitable defenders for an offense like Michigan but it felt wrong to cyan them when they've played well this season and are part of a top-30 defense. 

So, as I go forward with this section, keep in mind that I am breaking it down for you, the Michigan fan, in the context of this Michigan-Rutgers game. When I say a DT is ripe for picking, I mean for the Michigan IOL, because those DTs have held up against most opponents this year... 

Speaking of which, let's talk about those DTs. The sense I got in charting the Rutgers game and watching the extended highlights of the Minnesota game last week was that there shouldn't be much trouble for Michigan when it comes to shoving the DTs around and getting consistent room on the ground. Miyan Williams of OSU rushed for 5 TDs in this game and while two were goal-line carries, he also ripped off this long one: 

That's the EDGE Wesley Bailey getting ejected from the play and DT Ifeanyi Maijeh getting shoved out of his lane, the offensive line reaches the second level to hammer the LB Tyreem Powell, and once Young fails to make the tackle, Williams is gone. 

Here's another chunk run: 

The other DT starter, Kyonte Hamilton, is moved just enough to open a crease while Bailey again is caved in on the edge. LB Deion Jennings overruns it and it creates another chunk for Williams.

Here's one more, this one targeting the other EDGE Lewis: 

Those are plays that picked up sizable gains, but more common were plays that were not sensational gains but just kept the chains moving by getting 4-5 yards consistently. Plays like this: 

Simple counter play, Lewis, the unblocked edge, gets moved by the pulling guard and Jennings is hammered by the pulling TE for a sizable pickup. Minnesota was clinical against Rutgers at picking up 3rd & shorts and it was a similar formula, just ground-and-pound right down their throats: 

And another: 

The entire defensive line is vulnerable to getting mauled by a beefy OL who has a weight advantage on them (Minnesota is the king of that) and it doesn't help that, in contrast to MSU, their DBs are all better in coverage than in run defense. I wasn't terribly impressed with their ability to get off blocks and shut down OSU's stretch running concepts or toss plays. Watch the nickel Christian Izien (#0 lined up to the bottom of the line vs the TE) get mauled here: 

In total for the run defense, you've got two 250-lb. EDGEs who will be up against Michigan's tackles and 260-lb. Joel Honigford. Lewis/Bailey have had nice performances this year and are coming along in Schiano's defense, but I'm not sure how they won't be crushed to pulp by what Michigan has to offer on the exterior of its line, given what we've seen from them this year. Likewise, their DTs are just guys. I like Maijeh more than Hamilton but both players will likely be ragdolled a fair amount (270-lb. Hamilton especially) when they're fighting against 305 lb. Oluwatimi/Keegan and 315 lb. Zinter. If you want to test the edges, I'll take Michigan's WRs blocking against the Rutgers corners every day of the week. 

That paragraph was a long way of saying that I expect this matchup to be a bloodbath considering what we've seen from these two teams. Miyan Williams rushed for 189 yards on 21 carries (9.0 YPC). Even if you want to take out the 70 yard TD, he was at a cool 6.0 YPC. Mo Ibrahim and Trey Potts combined to rush it 42 times for 216 yards (5.1 YPC) and their ability to consistently get plus gains on the ground allowed the Gophers to dominate time of possession (sound familiar?). Minnesota cobbled together two Army-like drives, one 19-play, 99-yard drive that lasted 10:27(!) and another 13-play, 86-yard drive that ate up 7:03. If Michigan wants to follow the same gameplan they had to crush MSU and PSU, there's no reason for me to think it won't be available. 

But say Michigan wants to get Jadyn Davis to commit by opening up the passing game? ($) I thought Rutgers as a whole did a solid job defending the very-difficult-to-defend OSU passing attack. They handled the WR screens pretty well and there were some passable moments in coverage for CB Max Melton, like this one below: 

Yeah the ball is underthrown, but considering the level of competition (Harrison), being that close is a win for a team like Rutgers.

The combination of ramping up the blitz packages and decent enough coverage got some stops. There was one instance in which Rutgers sent seven, which is something to be aware of. In fact, you already saw it, as it was the clip of Avery Young covering Marvin Harrison Jr. Here it is again: 

Sending the house worked a decent bit against a pressure-prone QB like Stroud and I'd expect Rutgers to be a bit blitzy against JJ McCarthy because otherwise they don't get a ton of organic pressure. Lewis flashed against Nebraska but showed me nothing against Ohio State. The same is true for Bailey as a passurhser and the interior guys. Blitzing and stunting seem like their best shots to get home. 

Though the coverage as a whole was admirable against OSU, it was far from perfect, and their base coverage cedes some soft space to pickup. Plays like this: 

Also a reminder that they were going up against Ohio State's receivers, which means, even with a cushion, you're going to get carved up from time to time: 

How applicable is that to Michigan? Eh, probably not too much, but the point is that there should be some space for JJ to throw. Rutgers' DBs are their strength. Don't confuse them for Joey Porter Jr. and Kobe King, though. Melton is a fine player, Izien was solid in coverage, and Kessawn Abraham and Christian Braswell were acceptable on the whole, but all have their moments of breaking down. 

 

What does this mean for Michigan? 

I laid this out rather clearly in the overview, but to me this is another game where, if Michigan wants to, they can slam it right down Rutgers' throat and there should be little resistance. The Michigan running game is humming like a well-oiled machine right now and the Scarlet Knights do not have the muscle in the front seven to stop it. If PSU and MSU's DTs couldn't stop it, I fail to see how a team like Rutgers, which struggled against OSU and Minnesota as a run defense, will stop Michigan from doing what it wants. If the Wolverines want to have another 43 minutes TOP game, they should be able to. If they want to throw, there should be short stuff available, and I suppose whether more deep shots are taken depends on whether Rutgers moves their safeties in from the parking lot, unlike the last two opponents. It was hard for me to get a feel on that watching Ohio State, but only time will tell in this one. Overall, though the Rutgers defense has had success this year, they don't seem well-equipped to stop Michigan's bread-and-butter which is, uh, a bad sign for the faithful in Piscataway.