Analysis of play Ill got 2 TD's using

It looked like they were in zone and being in zone they are taught that when a quarterback rolls out you should follow him. And our zone on that side of the field followed Scheelhasse. The real bad mistake was letting it happen again.

I think the first one was on Thomas Gordon and the second one was on Mouton

It looked like a straight-up wheel route to me but I havent watched the film yet.  If so it is normally the OLB assaignment to cover the RB once he's read pass.

  It's a pretty basic play so I'm surprised that we were surprised by it and I'm even more surprised that they were able to surprise us twice with it.

Brian probably won't know the answer either, the only people who know for sure are on the team. It looks like Michigan could possibly like to roll their coverage, with Avery following the post. In which case, who ever had the flat should be running with him. It could have been straight Cover 3 where Avery forgot/never knew to look for the runningback on a wheel, which wouldn't be surprising, because the post route appeared to be bracketed on both TD's with Avery following.  

defending that play was for the LB to take the wheel route.  If Avery "switched" guys to take the wheel route, his guy would have been wide open.  They had 3 guys on the backside of rollout play trying to be defended by two UofM defenders.

A bigger note, it seems like our defense has problems "seeing the field" or diagonsing a play as it develops.  Example, there was a play where Ill had in the first half with 20 yards to go for a first down and the Ill TE ran a route right in front of Mouton.  Mouton was so totalally fixated at reading the QB's eye's, he fails to acknowledge or flow with a receiver in his area / zone.  The TE runs a skinny post right in front of him and is 5 yards past him before he decides, well maybe I should  try and cover that guy, but too late, 1st down Ill....They showed a slow mo replay from behind the QB and you can just watch Mouton fixate on the QB...... I understand the "philosophy" about reading a QB's eyes to try and step infront of pass and make an Int.  But, I think with our level of experience and talent at LB at this point, they would be better off focusing on reading keys (RB's, TE, crossing routes, etc.) instead of trying to read the QB's eyes and anticipate where he is going to throw it. 

I know on one, it appeared to be three deep coverage, and I think Avery took his man too far inside..he probably didn't see the threat from the RB on the wheel and was aligned too far to to the middle of the field.

Illinois ran the same play the week before FWIW.

All I know is if you go back and watch Mouton on that long run, he had a clear shot for a tackle or a shove out of bounds but instead he just tickled Ford in the belly and fell down.

I could have sworn we ran a very similar play on offense in the 2nd overtime, after getting burned by it twice on D. I was also pretty drunk during the game though, so I might be wrong.

I watched the second time they ran the route (in 2OT) on the torrent, and it looks like the defense just became fixated on Scheelhouse and let the RB slip out the other side.  By my count, there were four defenders that rolled with the QB, inclujding both LBs.  It should be noted that at least on the 2nd play, GERG was bringing some heat from the outside (I couldn't make out who, but probably one of the freshmen DBs.  That left two WRs on that side, and they were picked up by the corner on that side.  This was obviously a breakdown defensively, but I think it fell on one of the LBs to at least try to follow the RB, not break on the QB.

Whoever was at fault, it sure was bad defense.

At least according to standard coverage rules.

Whoever is the deep defender (be it halves, thirds, or quarters) has to close the post.

Any curl/flat defender is taught to carry any 2nd receiver through his zone.  (This doesn't necessarily mean the #2 receiver--#2 is the 2nd receiver from the outside by formation.) 

For example, #1 begins his route with a vertical stem (i.e., running straight downfield).  Even if he is eventually going deep or over the middle, at some point he is running through both the flat and the curl zones.  He is the 1st receiver through the curl/flat zones.  The curl/flat defender will cover that until that receiver clears.  He then matches the 2nd receiver to enter the zone, be it a slot receiver, TE, back, receiver from the other side of the formation, whoever.  If that 2nd receiver then turns it upfield, the curl/flat defender must run with it.

The Spur had twins to his side.  #1 ran a dig and #2 ran a post, meaning #1 was the first receiver to his zone.  Leshoure was the RB to his side, making him the #3 receiver.  He ran a wheel route (actually crossed the Spur's face w/no reaction, and the Spur actually picked up the backside RB), making him the 2nd receiver through the zone and, therefore, the Spur should've matched him to the end zone.

On the 2nd one (in the 2nd OT), we were bringing 6 with 3-deep, 2-under behind it.  When you bring 6 and play zone behind it, you can't zone the flat, let alone a wheel route.  When you bring 6, whether it be man or zone behind it, the contain rusher must either hug up a releasing back or peel and cover him.  Therefore, it was the blitzing safety's responsibility.

The worst part is they used that exact same play last week against Purdue for a TD, so its not like Michigan didnt see it coming. He was wide open then too.

I can't remember if it was Griese or the other guy that said the OLB should pick up the back coming out of the backfield.

... they overpursued because the play was designed to look like a waggle. Defensive backs had no choice but to follow the receivers and clear out the entire left side of the field for the wheel to slip out

Simple.  LB needs to go with the RB out of the backfield.  Not enough other help on that side of the field due to offensive formation.  If DB waits and picks up RB, the WR is open in the endzone.  LB missed it both times.

haven't rewatched it yet, but I think we were blitzing from the edge, maybe kovacs, on both plays which put us down a defender, and then it's the corner or the OLB job to maintain that zone.  I don't think we were in man coverage.  

are going to happen this year, but what really kills me is the 23 yards on 2nd and 22... or all of the 3rd down conversions....  2nd half the d was better...  and we only need them to get a handful of stops...