Home
i'm an actor, not a reactor

Primary links

  • About
    • $upport (lol)
    • Ethics
    • FAQ
    • Glossary
    • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
  • MGoStore
    • Hail to Old Blue
  • MGoBoard
    • MGoBoard FAQ
    • Michigan bar locator
    • Moderator Action Sticky
  • Useful Stuff
    • Depth Chart By Class
    • Hoops Depth Chart by Class
    • 2017 Recruiting Board
    • Unofficial Two Deep
    • MGoFlickr
    • Diaries, Windows Live Writer, And You
    • User-Curated HOF
    • Where To Eat In Ann Arbor
  • Schedule/Tix
    • Future Schedules (wiki)
    • Ticket spreadsheet
Home

Navigation

  • Forums
  • Recent posts

User login

  • Create new account
  • Request new password

MGoElsewhere

  • @MGoBlog (Brian)
  • @aceanbender
  • @Misopogon (Seth)
  • @Aeschnepp (Adam)
  • @BISB
  • @EUpchurchPhoto
  • @FullOfTwitt (Fuller)
  • Hail to the Victors 2016
  • MGoFacebook
  • MGoPodcast
  • WTKA
  • Instagram

Michigan Blogs

  • Big House Blog
  • Burgeoning Wolverine Star
  • Genuinely Sarcastic
  • Go Blue Michigan Wolverine
  • Holdin' The Rope
  • MVictors
  • Maize 'n' Blue Nation
  • Maize 'n' Brew
  • Maize And Go Blue
  • Michigan Hockey Net
  • MMMGoBlueBBQ
  • The Blog That Yost Built
  • The Hoover Street Rag
  • The M Zone
  • Touch The Banner
  • UMGoBlog
  • UMHoops
  • UMTailgate
  • Wolverine Liberation Army

M On The Net

  • mgovideo
  • MGoBlue.com
  • Mike DeSimone
  • Recruiting Planet
  • The Wolverine
  • Go Blue Wolverine
  • Winged Helmet
  • UMGoBlue.com
  • MaizeRage.org
  • Puckhead
  • The M Den
  • True Blue Fan Forum

Big Ten Blogs

  • Illinois
    • Illinois Loyalty
    • Illinois Baseball Report
  • Indiana
    • Inside The Hall
    • The Crimson Quarry
  • Iowa
    • Black Heart, Gold Pants
    • Fight For Iowa
  • Michigan State
    • The Only Colors
  • Minnesota
    • GopherHole.com
    • The Daily Gopher
  • Nebraska
    • Corn Nation
    • Husker Max
    • Husker Mike's Blasphemy
    • Husker Gameday
  • Northwestern
    • Sippin' On Purple
    • Lake The Posts
  • Notre Dame
    • The House Rock Built
    • One Foot Down
  • Ohio State
    • Eleven Warriors
    • Buckeye Commentary
    • Men of the Scarlet and Gray
    • Our Honor Defend
    • The Buckeye Nine
  • Penn State
    • Slow States
    • Black Shoe Diaries
    • Happy Valley Hardball
    • Penn State Clips
    • Linebacker U
    • Nittany White Out
  • Purdue
    • Boiled Sports
    • Hammer and Rails
  • Wisconsin
    • Bruce Ciskie

Links of Note

  • Baseball
    • College Baseball Today
    • The College Baseball Blog
  • Basketball
    • Ken Pomeroy
    • Hoop Math
    • John Gasaway
    • Luke Winn/Sports Illustrated
  • College Hockey
    • Chris Heisenberg (Class of 2016)
    • College Hockey Stats
    • Michigan College Hockey
    • Hockey's Future
    • Sioux Sports
    • USCHO
  • Football
    • Smart Football
    • Every Day Should Be Saturday
    • Matt Hinton/Grantland
    • Football Study Hall
    • Football Outsiders
    • Harold Stassen
    • NCAA D-I Stats Page
    • The Wizard Of Odds
    • CFB Stats
  • General
    • Sports Central
  • Local Interest
    • The Ann Arbor Chronicle
    • Arborwiki
    • Arbor Update
    • Ann Arbor Observer
    • Teeter Talk
    • Vacuum
  • Teams Of The D
    • Lions
      • Pride of Detroit
    • Pistons
      • Detroit Bad Boys
      • Need4Sheed
    • Tigers
      • Roar Of The Tigers
      • Bless You Boys
      • The Daily Fungo
      • The Detroit Tigers Weblog
    • Red Wings
      • Winging It In Motown
      • On The Wings
    • Michigan Sports Forum

Beveled Guilt

Site Search

Diaries

  • New
  • Popular
  • Hot
  • Thirteen unlucky minutes (TL;DNR-This is a bit of rant about the refs)
    docwhoblocked - 2 weeks ago
  • Fan Satisfaction Index End of Season Bball Survey
    OneFootIn - 2 weeks ago
  • How likely are we to revert to the mean?
    Bo Glue - 2 weeks ago
  • It's time to avenge Villanova's 1985 NCAA tourney upset over Michigan
    Communist Football - 2 weeks ago
  • 14 Months Ago: The Fire Beilein Threads.
    stephenrjking - 3 weeks ago
  •  
  • 1 of 2
  • ››
more
  • This Month in MGoBlog History - March 2008: Pryor isn't coming, Boren has left, and some academic fraud allegations sprinkled in
    Maize.Blue Wagner - 215 comments
  • The Ballad of Jordan Poole
    k.o.k.Law - 176 comments
  • 14 Months Ago: The Fire Beilein Threads.
    stephenrjking - 91 comments
  • PreSpring Football updates from Sam Webb
    AZBlue - 90 comments
  • Thirteen unlucky minutes (TL;DNR-This is a bit of rant about the refs)
    docwhoblocked - 61 comments

MGoBoard

  • New
  • Recent
  • Hot
  • Auston Robertson arrested again
    42 replies
  • Michigan announces single-game ticket prices for 2018 football season
    24 replies
  • 2018-19 Michigan Basketball B1G slate announced
    41 replies
  • Final 247 Basketball rankings published
    39 replies
  • Any news on Grant Newsome?
    68 replies
  • Karsen Barnhart - did we cool on him?
    88 replies
  • HELP WANTED! I'm moving to Chicago for school and I need good haunts to watch football/basketball games. Recommendations?
    46 replies
  • Angelique on Patterson Transfer
    54 replies
  • CBS Sports: Shea Patterson details scope of Ole Miss deception in lengthy letter to Michigan
    38 replies
  • OT: NFL Schedule Release
    12 replies
  • OT: Gregg Popovich's wife Erin dead at 67
    23 replies
  • Belleville coach Jermain Crowell mad at UM again
    236 replies
  • Q&A with FB Ben VanSumeren--Video
    8 replies
  • "Being Not-Rich at UM" Guide
    167 replies
  • Apparently, the NCAA has already received a response from MSU about Nassar
    61 replies
  •  
  • 1 of 6
  • ››
  • Final 247 Basketball rankings published
    39 replies
  • Auston Robertson arrested again
    42 replies
  • Michigan announces single-game ticket prices for 2018 football season
    24 replies
  • Angelique on Patterson Transfer
    54 replies
  • Karsen Barnhart - did we cool on him?
    88 replies
  • OT: Gregg Popovich's wife Erin dead at 67
    23 replies
  • Belleville coach Jermain Crowell mad at UM again
    236 replies
  • 2018-19 Michigan Basketball B1G slate announced
    41 replies
  • Any news on Grant Newsome?
    68 replies
  • "Being Not-Rich at UM" Guide
    167 replies
  • Apparently, the NCAA has already received a response from MSU about Nassar
    61 replies
  • HELP WANTED! I'm moving to Chicago for school and I need good haunts to watch football/basketball games. Recommendations?
    46 replies
  • CBS Sports: Shea Patterson details scope of Ole Miss deception in lengthy letter to Michigan
    38 replies
  • OT: NFL Schedule Release
    12 replies
  • No additional protest of Shea Patterson appeal by Ole Miss
    113 replies
  •  
  • 1 of 6
  • ››
  • Why should we be optimistic about 2018 M football?
    273 replies
  • Belleville coach Jermain Crowell mad at UM again
    236 replies
  • Police investigating Elysee Mbem-Bosse for death threat against Harbaugh
    224 replies
  • How Many Football Games Will Michigan Win This Year? (Poll)
    167 replies
  • "Being Not-Rich at UM" Guide
    167 replies
  • Buckle Up
    159 replies
  • Scouting the Enemy: Ohio State QBs are Good
    158 replies
  • Semi-OT: What sports would you fix?
    158 replies
  • Elysee Mbem-Bosse disturbing tweets
    157 replies
  • Whats the Best Way to Make Flight Arrangements?
    149 replies
  • Wagner to NBA
    141 replies
  • Urban Meyer throws more shade at Michigan
    141 replies
  • FB new Nutrition plan under Herbert is well received by players
    132 replies
  • Today’s MSU outrage Apparently Engler has attempted to bypass the victims attorneys
    130 replies
  • Was All or Nothing's filming a distraction?
    126 replies
  •  
  • 1 of 6
  • ››

Support MGoBlog: buy stuff at Amazon

Upon Further Review: ND Defense

  • View
  • Revisions
By Brian — September 15th, 2005 at 5:24 PM — 0 comments
Filed under:
  • upon further review
1 10 O24 Pass 6 Man coverage against a crossing route, Stovall versus Chris Graham(?)
2 4 O30 Run 7 Woodley loses outside contain(-1)
1 10 O37 Run 9 Walker bounces outside, no contain again. Biggs(Biggs? -1) gets wasted by Levoir
2 1 O46 Run 4  
1 10 50 Pass Inc Wide open Smarjajajaj, Mason(-1) blows the coverage. Woodley(+1) does beat the tackle but is too far away to affect the play
2 10 50 Pass 12 Corner blitz gets telegraphed (Hall -1) and picked up and they have a route right in the vacated area.
1 10 M38 Run 9 Wow. Biggs(-1) gets pancaked and gives up the corner for a big gain.
2 1 M29 Run 2  
1 10 M27 Pass 10 Slant in front of Mason off a blitz. Not bad by Mason, just the right call for the blitz. Good read, inaccurate throw.
1 10 M17 Pass 9 Dump off to Walker in the zone, Mason(-1) allows Walker about 4 yards he could have stopped with a good tackle
2 1 M8 Run 3 Lucky this wasn't a touchdown, double OL pull looked like it was going to crush but the linebackers (Harris +1, Burgess +1) managed to hold at the point of contact.
1 G M5 Pass 5 Touchdown. What is Hall(-1) doing? Already playing off McKnight and backpedals off the snap.
Drive Notes: Jesus. Two of these plays are pretty much guaranteed first downs due to the offense winning the rock-paper-scissors battle. No Watson at all on this drive and Rondell Biggs? Rondell freaking Biggs? He's getting run over.
1 10 O22 Pass 4 Walker is the outlet. Seemingly good coverage downfield.
2 6 O26 Pass 8 Quinn finds Fasano in the zone's hole. I think Graham should have been in better position, there was no threat to the inside.
1 10 O34 Pass Inc Woodley(+1) comes around the corner, forcing Quinn up into the pocket and forces the throwaway.
2 10 O34 Run 5 Draw should have been stuffed but both linebackers take the middle hole when Burgess(-1) should have had contain.
3 5 O39 Run -7 This is either an idiotic call or a missed check by Quinn. Motion reveals UM to be in a zone, so Trent's obviously going to come up. Unblocked Biggs(+1) keeps contain.
Drive notes: Weis overthinking things with the reverse. The short passing was working.
1 10 O23 Run 4 Fullback dive.
2 6 O27 Pass 6 Another Walker dumpoff.
1 10 O33 Run 6 Stretch play to one side is pretty well strung out but no one from the secondary is there at the very end. Mason(-1) is the guy who should be there
2 4 O39 Pass Inc Ton of time but Quinn misses Smarjajajaja.
3 4 O39 Penalty -10 Holding drawn by Branch(+1). Good coverage downfield.
3 14 O29 Pass Inc Corner blitz from Hall(+2), who nimbly avoids the tackle and flushes Quinn. Receiver drops it, Engelmon was there for the tackle even if he caught it.
Drive notes: Fortunate on the Smarj miss. We see our first instance of "Grant Mason, downfield tackle specialist." Breaston hit immediately on the PR. This has bothered me for two years now: why don't we double the gunners?
1 10 O20 Pass Inc another Quinn f-up. Biggs was coming. Guy was open.
2 10 O20 Run 1 OMG OUTSIDE CONTAIN. Engelmon(+1) lets everyone else catch up.
3 9 O21 Pass Inc Again an open receiver and Quinn misses him.
Drive notes: Quinn can't throw. Only reason we stop this drive.
1 10 O20 Run -1 Woodley(+1) destroys his man and makes the TFL all his ownself.
2 11 O19 Pass -5 Safety blitz from Engelmon(+1), who's unblocked , and makes the sack
3 16 O13 Pass 18 They rush three here, completely inexcusable call. Absolutely terrible.
1 10 O31 Run 3 No cracks in the interior of the line, which is Massey and Johnson.
2 7 O34 Pass -6 TE screen after a fake, Burgess(+1) slices up and makes the tackle.
3 13 O27 Penalty   Delay
3 18 O22 Pass/Scramble 7 Holding call is declined after Branch(+2) just kicks the ass of the C and G, forcing Quinn to scramble.
Drive notes: Great series except for the insane rush three on third and 16 thing.
1 10 O28 Run 4 Woodley can't quite get to Walker outside and the help is a little late.
2 6 O32 Pass 7 Fasano in a hole in the zone.
1 10 O39 Pass Inc Quinn can't find an open receiver and Woodley(+1) forces him to dumpoff inaccurately to Walker.
2 10 O39 Pass 3 Flare to Walker against a zone, that's not gonna work.
3 7 O42 Pass 9 Again Fasano, again a three step drop against the zone.
1 10 M49 Run 8 A doubled Will Johnson gets crushed, and the pulling guard nails Burgess.
2 2 M41 Run 4 I think it's Watson(+1) that drives the guard way back into the backfield but Graham(-1) misses the TFL and allows the first.
1 10 M36 Pass Inc McKnight catches the ball but gets plugged by Engelmon(+1), forcing the drop and probably ending his career, unfortunately. Looks really bad.
2 10 M36 Run 13 Draw to Walker. Just hard to stop him when he moves up into the hole and just decides to go the other way. Could have been holding on Van Alstyne, maybe.
1 10 M23 Run 17 Jesus. Michigan appears to have six guys in the box against 3WR, and Walker takes advantage, the OL just crushes every Michigan player in its path.
1 G 6 Run 1 no creases.
2 G 5 Pass 5 Goddammit. You lucky bitches. (Graham +1 for the deflect, despite the result.)
Drive notes: The second and last effective ND drive of the day, again based on short passing and Walker, who proves himself to be a really good back today. Some of those yards are just due to his excellence, but there are still major contain issues, and I'm surprised UM hadn't decided to just screw deep coverage and make Quinn get off the short-yardage stuff.< br />
1 10 O28 Pass 0 Screen to Walker, Harris(+1) cuts between the blockers and blows it up.
2 10 O28 Pass 4 Three step drop and fire.
3 6 O32 Pass -9 Corner blitz from Hall(+1) is unblocked. Total pickup bust, as the TE, lined up wide, stays into block and completely ignores Hall, who's running right by him.
Drive notes: Three and out with one nice play, one meh, and then some fortune.
1 10 O12 Run 3  
2 7 O15 Pass 4 Another three step drop, Burgess makes the tackle. They aren't even trying to throw anywhere downfield.
3 3 O19 Run 4 Draw to Walker that works entirely because Massey(-1) gets doubled and pushed back a couple yards and then the guard pops off on Harris.
1 10 O23 Run 3 Massey(+1) does better here, holding his ground and making the tackle.
2 7 O26 Pass -2 Corner blitz again from Hall (+1). Walker's cut attempt is weak and Hall just goes around him.
3 10 O23 Pass 26 Double blitz from Mason(-1) and Trent(-1), both of whom miss. Quinn jump throws and it's right on the money, somehow.
1 10 O49 Pass Inc Stovall is open and Quinn reverts to his normal inaccurate ways.
2 10 O49 Run -4 Massey(+1) avoids a block and pops up into the hole, when Walker tries to bust it outside, Woods(+1) is there for the TFL.
3 14 O45 Pass -9 Snap goes over Quinn's shoulder, totally his fault. Woods is there to clean up.
Drive notes: Quinn stepped up and made a crazy jumping, floated, accurate touch throw between two zone defenders, but other than that Michigan is doing well.
1 10 M33 Run 3 This is jammed up nicely. Walker cuts it back, then cuts it back outside, catching Woodley a little off guard.
2 7 M30 Run 4 Watson(+1) plows his guy into the backfield and trips up the FB, but he falls three yards forward because there's no one else behind him.
3 3 M26 Run 1 Quinn fumbles the snap.
Drive notes: The drive starts with a really nice punt and the both Harrison(-1) and McClintock(-1) miss tackles. Three and out, FG anyway. ND is now in total clock-kill mode.
1 10 M23 Run   Harris(+2) slices up into the hole and forces the fumble.
Drive notes: What drive?
1 10 O5 Pass 9 All day for Quinn, but can't find anyone downfield and hits the outlet.
2 1 O14 Run 5 Harris(-1) runs into the wrong hole.
1 10 O19 Run 1 Powers-Neal into an 8 man front, which goes nowhere, largely because of Watson(+1)
2 9 O20 Run 3 Again they run into an 8 man front, Adams comes up to make the stick.
3 6 O23 Pass Inc Quinn lofts a jump ball out to Smajajja. Morgan Trent(+1) is fast and there. He finds the ball, and makes the play. Nice.
Drive notes: run-run-inc-punt.
1 10 O20 Run 0 Harris(+1) takes on a blocker and forces it outside. Mason comes up.
2 10 O20 Pass -5 Why was this even called a fumble originally? Quinn was obviously down.
3 15 O15 Run 1 Perfunctory run and punt.
Drive notes: Another instance of Weis out-thinking himself.
1 10 O20 Run 5 Watson is held but there's no call made, else he swallows this at the line.
2 5 O25 Run -1 Burgess(+1) penetrates immediately and Watson and Engelmon clean up.
3 6 O26 Pass Inc Harris comes on a slightly delayed blitz between the G and T off a stunt as Biggs(+1) plunges into the G and shoves him into the C.
Drive Notes: Sigh.

Plus/minus? What the deuce?

Call it an experiment, a very rough one. You get a + for a good play (one that's out of the ordinary) and a - for a bad one. Certain plays garner greater + or - than others. I'm still tweaking it; I think the scale is too low because I wanted to give out a lot of half-plusses and half-minuses. It's a work in progress, and will probably never be comprehensive.

Player + - T Notes
Woodley 4 1 3 Not enough from him.
Woods 1 - 1  
Biggs 3 2 1 Got crushed early in the run game but was relatively solid afterwards
Massey 3 1 2  
Watson 3 - 3 Did this with very limited playing time, all instances of crushing opposing blockers and gumming up inside runs.
Johnson - - -  
Branch 3 - 3 A holding penalty drawn and another instance of explosive interior pass rush, that precious thing long reserved for the Florida States of the world.
Burgess 3 1 2 A few more contain issues
McClintock - 1 -1 Bad play was a missed tackle that led to a good return
Harris 5 1 4 Night and day from McClintock.
Graham 1 1 0 Didn't really do much.
Mason 0 4 -4 16 tackles for a cornerback == bad day.
Hall 4 2 2 + mostly from blitzing.
Engelmon 3 - 3 Huggles.
Trent 1 1 0 The + was a very nice, very important play on third down towards the end.

In fairness to the cornerbacks, there were several instances of Quinn getting copious time to find receivers but failing to do so and dumping the ball off to Walker. I assume everyone had good coverage downfield in those instances, but it's impossible to confirm that. It's obvious when they screw up.

So... how did we do?

The stats (like 230 yards allowed) are too kind. Michigan was often bailed out by Brady Quinn and The Hilarious Attempts To Throw Downfield and in the fourth quarter the ND offense, nursing a persistent two-touchdown lead, was largely content to run-run-inc-punt. But 230 yards is 230 yards; this was a decidedly better performance than against NIU. The zone seemed to work well. There were many instances where he couldn't find anyone downfield. The blitzes Michigan sent were consistently effective.

There remain issues with the DL pass rush and the linebacker containment, though. No sacks were logged by non-defensive backs and other than a couple hurries from W oodley and Branch there was little threat from the linemen. Walker got outside the defense several times and kept the two ND touchdown drives moving forward when the hole was jammed up. Maybe that's a don't get burned on play action move? Note that the free safety, Barringer, is not mentioned once anywhere in this recap. No 76 yard runs today, but Walker still busted 100. Damned if you do, don't, etc.

What was the deal with the DL?

Rondell Biggs took more snaps than anyone at DE and Will Johnson and Pat Massey probably logged more DT snaps than anyone else. Watson and Branch played less but made more plays. I don't understand the substitution patterns at all. What happened to Van Alstyne? Why Johnson instead of the consistently-threatening Branch? And for God's sake can we get a linebacker to clean up some of the Watson destruction? When he was in there he was really good. I understand that he's not the fittest guy and everyone was pissed after NIU, but come on now.

Who is the MLB?

David Harris, end of story.

Who is the nickelback?

Morgan Trent, apparently. He was tested only once and came up with a very nice play. ND fans generally think that Smarj and Shelton are good WRs and ND went with a lot of three wide sets, so he must have been doing something right to not be thrown at, especially as a redshirt freshman in his first game experience.

Charles Stewart has seemingly contracted underwood.

You want to "huggle" Engelmon?

You're goddamn right. No screwups yet.

Grade: B.

  • Login or register to post comments
Powered by Drupal, an open source content management system
Theme provided by Roopletheme; sidebars adapted from Chris Murphy.