Don Brown defense vs #9 FSU 2015 Every Snap

Submitted by Wolverine Devotee on

7 points allowed

217 yards of total offense allowed

119 passing, 98 rushing

Dalvin Cook held to 54 yards on 15 carries

MGoBoard
Football

stephenrjking

December 21st, 2015 at 12:41 PM ^

I get good feelings seeing the score of this game, too, but we should be careful not to get too carried away: FSU naturally has loads of talent, and holding the brilliant Dalvin Cook down is no mean feat. But Florida State's offense this year has been Dalvin Cook and very little else, all season long. They are not very good.

Joined: 03/15/2012

MGoPoints: 20143524

Motoslave

December 21st, 2015 at 12:44 PM ^

What's great about this example is that FSU gashed em down the field on the first drive and then very little after that. I'm not football savvy enough to tell if they made adjustments, but the defense being able to clamp down like that is a good sign.

Thanks for the video!

Joined: 07/08/2015

MGoPoints: 445

stephenrjking

December 21st, 2015 at 1:07 PM ^

I'd love to see someone do first-drive vs whole-game statistical rundowns. I don't see people talk about this often, but given the way offenses tend to script their first 15 or so plays, the performance of the offense in the first drive is often different both in form and in production from the rest of the game. 

Michigan has seen both sides of this: Many good defenses dating back to 1997 would give up scores or at least some yardage in the first drive or so before stiffening (for what it's worth, MSU's recent top D units did this too--recall Brian's discussion of MSU "downloading" an offense after a drive or two back in the Borges years). In contrast, Michigan's offense under Harbaugh and even Borges often opens the game with a dazzling variety of plays that attack defensive weaknesses and move the ball before settling into a period of relative struggle, or total incompetence in Al's case.

A lot of this is a function of offensive scripting for the beginning of a game. Offensive coaches of many stripes like to script their early plays to establish (or confound) tendencies and attack the defense they are playing where it is vulnerable. The extra time spent preparing and practicing the script allows for greater precision, and it allows a coordinator to determine how best to attack over the course of days rather than seconds. 

Jimbo Fisher is an offensive mind; I suspect the scripting issue plays in here.

Joined: 03/15/2012

MGoPoints: 20143524

stephenrjking

December 21st, 2015 at 1:00 PM ^

On quick view:

Looks like Brown is running 4-man over fronts with the DL. This would, obviously, be a change from Michigan's current philosophy. And he parks three linebackers behind them in standard sets. My initial viewing suggests that early downs feature a lot of base vanilla stuff, with the more exotic blitzes happening in passing situations, but perhaps I don't know what to look for. Not a lot of press coverage, but I don't know if that's philosophical or just a wise use of the talent he has.

I do see a lot of interesting line stunts and slants, which seemed to cause FSU trouble in protection. Golson had to make a lot of guys miss in his own backfield, including an impressive dance just to avoid a safety early.

It will be interesting to see if Brown adjusts his scheme to Michigan's personnel strengths (I think the philosophical similarity between Mattison and Durkin was a real positive for the D this season) or if he brings in all of his own ideas. I'm honestly a bit skeptical about this.

Joined: 03/15/2012

MGoPoints: 20143524