Greg Robinson and Notre Dame
So I remembered that Syracuse upset ND in South Bend last season with Greg Robinson as head coach. He has some familiarity with their offense and must have film of what he did right in that game. I didn't watch the game last year and am not fully sure about what happened, but I was curious to what people here thought ... How does this translate for us?
September 8th, 2009 at 9:24 AM ^
and Jimmah didn't have a good game. Syracuse hit a couple big plays and GERG seemed to have a good game plan for using the same base front but bringing lots of different angles/coverage packages to confuse the OL, and therefore, Jimmah.
September 8th, 2009 at 9:31 AM ^
it comes down to putting pressure on the QB. I think if we get good pressure on Jimmah and do not give him a good pocket, he will eventually get happy feet. We need to have a lot of pressure, as I am a little worried about getting beat deep. We cannot give Jimmah time to pick us apart.
September 8th, 2009 at 9:46 AM ^
I watched some of the ND-Nevada game, and there were quite a few missed tackles that led to big ND plays. Obviously our lack of depth and inexperience in our secondary is a concern, but one thing GERG focused on was the skill of tackling. Hopefully that emphasis pays off.
That being said Floyd, Tate, and even Rudolph looked pretty solid, making catches despite being covered.
I can't wait for saturday... I'm actually heading to AA for it!
September 8th, 2009 at 9:56 AM ^
that they will also have tape about what GERG does defensively too. I would say it is more of an edge for us (a little one), but it still will come down to execution on defense (blitz's and tackling) and turnovers (see last year).
September 8th, 2009 at 10:05 AM ^
But assumed that Weis will make appropriate changes in game plan. I'm not so sure that's the case. Plus, I think defensive game plans are harder to adjust for than offensive game plans, especially if the defense shows flexibility.
September 8th, 2009 at 10:29 AM ^
But they don't know what GERG will do with this Michigan defense. You have to remember that we have a whole different talent set here than he had at Syracuse. I didn't see that game, so can't say for sure, but I doubt he could field the exact same scheme even if he wanted to.
I think more of an advantage for us is that GERG has already figured out Notre Dame's offense, and I'm pretty sure he can find more than one way to crack a nut. He may throw some of the same kind of stuff at them that he did last year, but I've been impressed so far with his ability to tailor Michigan's defense to fit the talent at his disposal.
So I'm betting he comes up with something somewhat different. ND's film of the Syracuse game shouldn't help them too much.
September 8th, 2009 at 10:06 AM ^
How right you are. I guess I didn't think of it that way.
September 8th, 2009 at 10:19 AM ^
Nevada had the 119th ranked pass defense in FBS last season. I cannot imagine that they have improved one iota based on their performance against ND. If Boubacar is good to go, we should do a much better job.
I think we will run it down ND's throat. Nevada had good success running (153 yards on 29 carries - 5.3 ypc), and clearly the only reason they didn't run more was the large deficit they found themselves facing (28-0 at the half).
September 8th, 2009 at 10:29 AM ^
good post.
i didn't know that about Nevada's pass D, that is quite comforting.
as for our running game? Denard + Minor Rage = ownage.
look for denard to do more zone read, which we saw very little of on Saturday out of either QB.
September 8th, 2009 at 10:32 AM ^
and hopefully his appetite will be filled. The better our D-Line plays the more success we will have against ND in protecting our secondary.
I just hope that Roh has a second game equal to his performance against WMU.
If it's a nom nom nom type of day for our d-line good things will happen.
September 8th, 2009 at 11:45 AM ^
Notre Dame likes to max protect, so the pass rush might be a little bit stunted. Hopefully our secondary can recognize the max protect schemes and adjust accordingly. I'm also hoping that Steve Brown can cover Kyle Rudolph one-on-one, which would leave our safeties available to stay deep and help with Tate and Floyd.
(By the way, all this discussion of Golden Tate and Tate Forcier and Michael Floyd and J.T. Floyd can get kind of confusing.)