UFR: Ohio State - Defense
Hoping to win the award for "Least Timely Post Ever," I took a crack at
UFR-ing the Ohio State game. Here's the defensive side of things.
Now, I'm not even pretending to be Brian, so I'll have a hard time getting formations right, let alone plays. But what I can do is chart the game, sum it up, and hopefully provide some insight into the season that was and the season that will be.
Notes
Announcers kept pointing out that Ezeh DNP, don't know if it would have made a difference. Minor out for the offense. Would have made a difference.
Drive Chart:
Well, that doesn't seem so bad. Numbers?
Bear in mind that I may have (probably did) screw up simple math. Also, I probably missed who's really responsible for what plays, since all I was looking for was either missed tackles, woefully out of position, or other gross misplays that I noticed.
Heros
Graham, obviously for the one-man goal-line stand. The numbers say Mouton also had a good game. I'll give an award to "Tackling" as well, since there were only a couple noticeable wiffs of consequence.
Goats
Can I give one to "Zone Read" defense? No one really stood out. After the first couple series, the coverage got better, and played a good game.
Summary
First of all, these things are really hard and time consuming. Please give Brian more money for doing this week after week.
I think the 3-3-5 experiment actually started in this game. I think a lot of what I called Nickel is really 3-3-5. The single deep safety is kind of a give-away. One thing I did notice, is that our Zone Read defense looks different than most. Here's an example:
At the snap, everyone looks good. Three down linemen, 7 total in the box.
But nobody holds the corner. Leach is gone, Brown and Mouton(?) are holding position at the line. Basically being blocked by the one TE.
Now they realize what's going on. Kovacs comes up and makes a great stop to hold this short of a first. This could have been bad.
Some of the effectiveness may be due to OSU's play calling, but overall the defense looked good. They only gave up a few big plays, nothing over 30 yards, and generally tackled well. I think there are a couple technique holes that need to be filled, but for a bunch of freshmen, they looked good to me. I have some hope for the team, mostly from the heart and grittiness they showed against the #10 team in the country. How can you not get behind a team that looks like this?
Now, I'm not even pretending to be Brian, so I'll have a hard time getting formations right, let alone plays. But what I can do is chart the game, sum it up, and hopefully provide some insight into the season that was and the season that will be.
Notes
Announcers kept pointing out that Ezeh DNP, don't know if it would have made a difference. Minor out for the offense. Would have made a difference.
Drive Chart:
Ln | Dn | Ds | O Form | RB | TE | WR | D Form | Type | Play | Player | Yards |
OSU26 | 1 | 10 | Shotgun 1-back | 1 | 2 | 2 | Nickel | Pass | PA flat | Floyd | 11 |
Michigan starts with a single deep safety and 3 down linemen. Quick out, pushed out by Floyd. Playing not to get beat deep. | |||||||||||
OSU37 | 1 | 10 | I-form | 2 | 1 | 2 | Nickel | Run | Off-tackle left | Kovacs | 1 |
Lots of jumping around on D, formation inverts. Kovacs unblocked around the end, hit in the backfield. Called 1 yard. | |||||||||||
OSU38 | 2 | 9 | Shotgun trips | 1 | 1 | 3 | Nickel | Pass | Rollout out | Leach | 11 |
Floyd playing 10 yards off, tackle by Leach. | |||||||||||
OSU49 | 1 | 10 | I-form | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4-3 | Run | dive | RVB | 0 |
Nothing glaringly wrong. | |||||||||||
OSU 49 | 2 | 10 | I-form | 2 | 1 | 2 | Nickel | Pass | PA out | Warren | 0 |
Pryor airmails one. Not much pressure. | |||||||||||
OSU 49 | 3 | 10 | Shotgun 2-back | 2 | 0 | 3 | 4-3 | Pass | RB under | Brown | 2 |
Pryor gets protection, good open field tackle by S. Brown (tackle +1) | |||||||||||
Drive result: punt, 11:47 1st Q 0-0 |
Ln | Dn | Ds | O Form | RB | TE | WR | D Form | Type | Play | Player | Yards |
OSU 22 | 1 | 10 | I-form | 2 | 1 | 2 | Nickel | Pass | WR flare | Warren | 2 |
Can't really call it a flare. Receiver just stands there. Warren Tackle +1 | |||||||||||
OSU 24 | 2 | 8 | Shotgun trips | 1 | 0 | 4 | 4-3 | Pass | Out | Brown | 0 |
Pryor misses by 3 yards short. | |||||||||||
OSU 24 | 3 | 8 | Shotgun 1 back MP | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4-3 | Pass | sack | Martin | -5 |
Great play by Martin! Shows us his helmet hair T +1, Pressue +1, Awesome hair +1 | |||||||||||
Drive result: Punt. 8:06 1st Q 0-7 |
Ln | Dn | Ds | O Form | RB | TE | WR | D Form | Type | Play | Player | Yards |
OSU20 | 1 | 10 | Shotgun 1-back 2 TE | 1 | 2 | 2 | Nickel | Run | Power left | Roh | 4 |
Good contain by Roh, tackled by Martin et. Al. | |||||||||||
OSU24 | 2 | 6 | I-form | 2 | 1 | 2 | Nickel | Run | dive right | Mouton | ` |
Good tackle by Mouton T +1 | |||||||||||
OSU25 | 3 | 5 | Shotgun 4 wide | 1 | 0 | 4 | 4-3 | Pass | swing flat | Brown | 4 |
Stevie Brown hangs on until Mouton gets there to stop short. | |||||||||||
Drive result: 3 and out, good punt 2:04 1st Q 0-7 |
Ln | Dn | Ds | O Form | RB | TE | WR | D Form | Type | Play | Player | Yards |
OSU6 | 1 | 10 | I-form 2 TE | 2 | 2 | 1 | Nickel | Run | dive | Martin | 1 |
Pryor bobbled snap, run into the line | |||||||||||
OSU7 | 2 | 9 | I-form | 2 | 1 | 2 | Nickel | Run | off-tackle | Leach | 18 |
Leach got out of position, turning a 5 yard gain into lots. Huge hole. | |||||||||||
OSU25 | 1 | 10 | I-form | 2 | 1 | 2 | Nickel | Pass | PA out | Floyd | 13 |
Floyd playing off receiver, coverage -1 | |||||||||||
OSU38 | 1 | 10 | Shotgun 1-back | 1 | 1 | 3 | Nickel | Pass | Rollout | Floyd | 6 |
Floyd playing 5 yards off receiver, coverage -1 | |||||||||||
OSU42 | 2 | 4 | I-form | 2 | 1 | 2 | Nickel | Run | off-tackle | Campbell | 1 |
Will taking up space, good tackle T +1 | |||||||||||
OSU43 | 3 | 3 | Shotgun 1-back 2 TE | 1 | 2 | 2 | Nickel | Run | option-look | Brown | 1 |
Good pursuit by everyone, good tackle by Stevie | |||||||||||
Drive result: punt, 11:21 2nd Q 0-7 |
Ln | Dn | Ds | O Form | RB | TE | WR | D Form | Type | Play | Player | Yards |
OSU20 | 1 | 10 | Shotgun 1-back 2 TE | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3-3-5 | Run | power right | Campbell | 14 |
Graham has a hold in the backfield, Will (and everyone else) wiff on tackles. T -1 | |||||||||||
OSU34 | 1 | 10 | Shotgun 1-back 2 TE | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3-3-5 | Pass | PA scramble | Brown | 9 |
Pryor takes off (pressure +1) Graham +1, RVB +1, Brown stops short of 1st | |||||||||||
OSU43 | 2 | 1 | I-form | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4-3 | Run | dive | Graham | 0 |
Graham break through, good tackle (tackle +1), stop short. He's good. | |||||||||||
OSU43 | 3 | 1 | I-form | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4-3 | Run | dive | Nobody | 3 |
Nobody noticably messed up, LBs slow to react. | |||||||||||
OSU46 | 1 | 10 | Shotgun 1-back 2 TE | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3-3-5 | Run | Zone read/keep? | Herron? | 25 |
Herron (-1) can't shake his block, misses Pryor. Graham bites on the fake. Mouton overpursues. | |||||||||||
M29 | 1 | 10 | Shotgun 1-back | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4-3 | Run | Counter | Everyone | 29 |
Line slanting right, play goes left. TD. Heniger gets knocked back, opening the hole more. -1 for something. | |||||||||||
Drive result: TD. 5:22 2nd Q 3-14 |
Ln | Dn | Ds | O Form | RB | TE | WR | D Form | Type | Play | Player | Yards |
OSU32 | 1 | 10 | I-form | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4-3 | Pass | PA post | Floyd | 0 |
Play action, throws deep. Receiver had a step on Floyd, ball overthrown. | |||||||||||
OSU32 | 2 | 10 | I-form | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4-3 | Pass | Option pass? | Warren | 0 |
Mouton hold the corner, forcing a pass. Warren had a shot at the pass, receiver pretty much dropped it. | |||||||||||
OSU32 | 3 | 10 | Ace | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3-3-5? | Pass | scramble | RVB | |
Pryor flushed by Mouton, scrambles, RVB contains, Pryor throws it away. Pressure +1 | |||||||||||
Drive result: punt. 3 and out. Defense got away with one or two. 4:45 2nd Q 3-14 |
Ln | Dn | Ds | O Form | RB | TE | WR | D Form | Type | Play | Player | Yards |
OSU19 | 1 | 10 | Shotgun 1-back 2 TE | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3-3-5 | Run | Zone read | Banks | 11 |
D-line can't break out, missed tackles (tackling -1), runs OOB | |||||||||||
OSU30 | 1 | 10 | Shotgun 1-back 2 TE | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3-3-5? | Run | Zone read | Kovacs | 14 |
Zone read keep. Kovacs misses a tackle T -1, Graham and Mouton lost contain. | |||||||||||
OSU44 | 1 | 10 | I-form | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3-3-5 | Pass | PA scramble | Graham | -25 |
Graham busts through the line, Mouton holds Pryor in, Pryor throws it away pressure +1, intentional grounding | |||||||||||
OSU20 | 2 | 35 | I-form | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4-3 | Run | off-tackle | Leach | 1 |
Basic play, non-remarkable outcome. | |||||||||||
OSU21 | 3 | 34 | Shotgun 1-back2 TE | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3-3-5 | Run | Zone read | Graham | 11 |
Graham/Kovacs pursue the RB again, leaving Pryor with space. Why aren't they better at stopping this play? | |||||||||||
Drive result: punt, 1:14 2nd Q 3-14 |
Ln | Dn | Ds | O Form | RB | TE | WR | D Form | Type | Play | Player | Yards |
OSU40 | 1 | 10 | I-form | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3-3-5 | Run | off-tackle | Woolfolk | 6 |
Big rock beats littler rock. Good tackle by Woolfolk T +1 | |||||||||||
OSU46 | 2 | 4 | Shotgun 1-back trips | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4-3 | Pass | bubble screen | Kovacs | 0 |
Got lucky Bubble screen wide open, receiver drops it. Kovacs watching Pryor, forgets about the receiver. Nearest defender 10 yards away when the ball is thrown. | |||||||||||
OSU46 | 3 | 4 | Shotgun 1-back | 1 | 0 | 4 | 4-3+ | Pass | stop | Mouton | INT |
Corners showing blitz, drop out. Pass tipped, caught by Mouton +1, Warren +1 for the tip | |||||||||||
Drive result: INT 13:07 3rd Q, 3-14 |
Ln | Dn | Ds | O Form | RB | TE | WR | D Form | Type | Play | Player | Yards |
OSU11 | 1 | 10 | Shotgun 1-back | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4-3 | Run | Zone read | Roh | 6 |
Roh +1, reads the zone read correctly, great tackle +1 | |||||||||||
OSU17 | 2 | 4 | Shotgun 1-back | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3-3-5 | Run | Zone read | Roh | 13 |
Bah. Pryor dropped the snap, RVB can't get a hand on him, Kovacs can't catch in the backfield, Roh and Leach finally make the tackle. | |||||||||||
OSU30 | 1 | 10 | I-form | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3-3-5 | Run | dive | Martin | 4 |
Martin makes a hit at the line, falls for 4. | |||||||||||
OSU34 | 2 | 6 | Shotgun 1-back | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4-3 | Run | Zone read | Martin | 16 |
Martin and others miss the tackle, giving a big gain. Tackle -1 | |||||||||||
M50 | 1 | 10 | Shotgun 1-back | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4-3 | Run | Zone read | Mouton | 13 |
Almost identical to the last play. Tackle -1 Giving this one to Mouton for getting sealed. | |||||||||||
M37 | 1 | 10 | Shotgun 1-back 2 TE | 1 | 2 | 2 | Nickel | Run | Zone read | Fitzgerald | -1 |
Graham +1 penetrates, allowing Fitzgerald to wrap up. Tackle +1 | |||||||||||
M38 | 2 | 11 | Empty backfield | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3-3-5? | Run | Zone read | Herron | 13 |
Herron and Fitzgerald bite hard, allowing Pryor to keep for a bunch. ZR -1 | |||||||||||
M25 | 1 | 10 | Shotgun 1-back | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3-3-5 | Run | Zone read | Roh | 23 |
Roh and Banks lose the corner, big gain. Stevie Brown slow to react. -1 | |||||||||||
M2 | 1 | G | Goal line | 2 | 3 | 0 | Goal line | Run | dive | Graham | -2 |
Brandon Graham, we'll miss you Tackle +1, line +1 | |||||||||||
M4 | 2 | G | Goal line | 2 | 3 | 0 | Goal line | Pass | Rollout sack | Graham | |
Sniff. Graham +1, tackle +1 | |||||||||||
M6 | 3 | G | Shotgun 1-back | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3-4 | Pass | TE screen | RVB? | TD |
Don't know who to give this one to. Michigan brings 8, nobody gets TE. RPS -1, RVB is the closest D. | |||||||||||
Drive result: TD. Why can't we defend the ZRS? 4:46 3rd Q, 10-21 |
Ln | Dn | Ds | O Form | RB | TE | WR | D Form | Type | Play | Player | Yards |
OSU17 | 1 | 10 | Shotgun 1-back | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4-3 | Run | counter | Mouton | 6 |
Good tackle by Mouton to keep this short. | |||||||||||
OSU23 | 2 | 4 | Shotgun 1-back | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4-3 | Run | Zone read | Kovacs | 6 |
Again. Holly Rowe has underpants. | |||||||||||
OSU30 | 1 | 10 | Shotgun 1-back | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4-3 | Run | Zone read | Roh | 6 |
Again. Roh makes the tackle. | |||||||||||
OSU36 | 2 | 4 | I-form 2 TE | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3-3-5 | Run | dive | Everyone | 4 |
3 yards and a cloud of dust. | |||||||||||
OSU40 | 3 | 2 | Shotgun 1-back | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3-4 | Run | Zone read | Roh | 4 |
Roh almost had Pryor in the backfield, still made the tackle. | |||||||||||
OSU41 | 1 | 10 | |||||||||
Illegal shift, end of 3rd Q 10-21 | |||||||||||
OSU37 | 1 | 15 | Shotgun 1-back | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4-3 | Run | Zone read | Kovacs | 3 |
Zone read sweep, good tackle by Kovacs T +1 | |||||||||||
OSU37 | 2 | 13 | I-form | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4-3 | Pass | PA rollout out | Woolfolk | 5 |
Rollout, Woolfolk forces out | |||||||||||
OSU43 | 3 | 8 | Shotgun 1-back | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4-3 | Pass | Go | Roh | 0 |
Pryor looks like he wants to scramble, Roh holds him in the pocket. Deep bomb, Floyd cramps up, overthrown. Pressure +1 | |||||||||||
Drive result: punt, 13:43 4th Q 10-21 |
Ln | Dn | Ds | O Form | RB | TE | WR | D Form | Type | Play | Player | Yards |
OSU6 | 1 | 10 | I-form 2 TE | 2 | 2 | 1 | 4-3 | Run | draw | Mouton | 1 |
Draw, met in the hole by Mouton +1, T +1 | |||||||||||
OSU7 | 2 | 9 | Shotgun 1-back 2 TE | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4-3 | Run | off-tackle | Mouton | 3 |
Zone read-look, tries to cutback, brought down by Mouton +1 | |||||||||||
OSU10 | 3 | 6 | Shotgun 1-back | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3-3-5 | Run | Zone read | Brown | 5 |
Stevie Brown -1 gets caught up behind a block, almost allowing this to go for a 1st. | |||||||||||
Drive result: punt. 10:13 4th Q 10-21 |
Ln | Dn | Ds | O Form | RB | TE | WR | D Form | Type | Play | Player | Yards |
OSU19 | 1 | 10 | Shotgun 1-back 2 TE | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4-3 | Run | off-tackle | Warren | 6 |
sweep/off tackle, brought down by Warren. | |||||||||||
OSU25 | 2 | 4 | Shotgun 1-back 2 TE | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4-3 | Run | Zone read | Roh | 3 |
Roh -1 bought the fake and is past Pryor when he takes the ball back. Kovacs +1 T+1 | |||||||||||
OSU28 | 3 | 1 | Ace | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4-3 | Run | dive | nobody | 1 |
Move the pile | |||||||||||
OSU30 | 1 | 10 | I-form | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3-3-5 | Run | draw | Leach | 1 |
Good hit in the backfield by Leach +1 | |||||||||||
OSU31 | 2 | 9 | Shotgun 1-back trips | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4-3 | Run | Zone read | Graham | -4 |
Yay, we defended it! Leach +1 holds the corner, Graham +1 TFL | |||||||||||
OSU27 | 3 | 13 | Ace | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4-3 | Pass | rollout sack | Graham | |
Pryor rolls out and runs right into Graham +1. Pressure +1 | |||||||||||
Drive result: punt, 4:49 4th Q 10-21 |
Well, that doesn't seem so bad. Numbers?
Defense | + | - |
Graham | 6 | 0 |
RVB | 1 | |
Herron | 1 | |
Heniger | 1 | |
Kovacs | 2 | 2 |
Roh | 1 | 2 |
Brown | 1 | 2 |
Warren | 3 | |
Martin | 1 | |
Mouton | 4 | 2 |
Leach | 2 | 1 |
total | 21 | 11 |
Bear in mind that I may have (probably did) screw up simple math. Also, I probably missed who's really responsible for what plays, since all I was looking for was either missed tackles, woefully out of position, or other gross misplays that I noticed.
Heros
Graham, obviously for the one-man goal-line stand. The numbers say Mouton also had a good game. I'll give an award to "Tackling" as well, since there were only a couple noticeable wiffs of consequence.
Goats
Can I give one to "Zone Read" defense? No one really stood out. After the first couple series, the coverage got better, and played a good game.
Summary
First of all, these things are really hard and time consuming. Please give Brian more money for doing this week after week.
I think the 3-3-5 experiment actually started in this game. I think a lot of what I called Nickel is really 3-3-5. The single deep safety is kind of a give-away. One thing I did notice, is that our Zone Read defense looks different than most. Here's an example:
At the snap, everyone looks good. Three down linemen, 7 total in the box.
But nobody holds the corner. Leach is gone, Brown and Mouton(?) are holding position at the line. Basically being blocked by the one TE.
Now they realize what's going on. Kovacs comes up and makes a great stop to hold this short of a first. This could have been bad.
Some of the effectiveness may be due to OSU's play calling, but overall the defense looked good. They only gave up a few big plays, nothing over 30 yards, and generally tackled well. I think there are a couple technique holes that need to be filled, but for a bunch of freshmen, they looked good to me. I have some hope for the team, mostly from the heart and grittiness they showed against the #10 team in the country. How can you not get behind a team that looks like this?
nice work
Too bad we were so young and injured for this game. One thing is apparent from the pictures: We need to get bigger on defense. I like to have speed, but it will always be a tough task stopping the OSU run game when the RB outweighs defenders by 30 pounds. I'm not sure if there is a plan to have video UFR's for this game, but those would make it easier to understand the version of the 3-3-5 they are planning.
Thanks a lot for putting in the work. This is a rare treat for April.
Because size matters, size matters, size matters.
Our defense played their hearts out in this game. We were banged up, young, and small compared to Ohio State and we still played a pretty good game defensively.
whats happening in the play you have pics of is that osu has overloaded our stack by going heavily unbalanced (2 wrs, 1 te, 1 rb to same side), which creates problems for a balanced front like 3-3-5
whenever we went to that look, which definitely did not start in the OSU game.
I really appreciate you taking the time to do this. I kept hoping that Brian would be able to find time for it, but at least we got something out of it. I really wanted to know what we had to look forward to next year, what mistakes could be fixed, which ones are going to continue to plague us, etc.
Thanks again.
I think the Ohio State game is a great look in the crystal ball.
Everyone keeps bringing up "we need size on defense", but forgets that two more touchdowns and this game is won.
And after reviewing the Offense UFR, I'm confident that next year's offense is scoring more than 21 points a game.
So yes, we will be at a disadvantage to the traditional running formations and size of big O-lines and Running backs, and we'll have to rely on gang tackling and a bend not break mentality.
But the full strategy is that the offense is paired with a rapidly explosive offense, so again, trading TD's for field goals is better than a 2-1 advantage.
And then we are perfectly matched against the emerging spread forcused teams.
And who's to say that once recruiting stops being reactionary that we don't have some "heavier" options in the 2-deep, dare I say 3-deep at the Linebacking position, such that we can substritue the heavier look for the tank and cannon style offense, and then switch to the "D-Lite" version for the Jet strafing/bombing attacks of the spread teams?
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