Hail to the Defense!

This will go a long way to adding experience to some of the younger players. Well done.

The Defense gave up 500 yards, it wasn't awesome.  If Crist played the whole game, we might have been in trouble.  I am sooooooooo happy we won seeing as I live in SB and don't want to hear it from my idiot friends, but man we are lucky Crist was out.  500 yards, not great.

shore up that secondary somehow. That 95-yarder to a tight end was just too much to take.

that 95 yard touchdown. I could have done without that.

They were carved up, but still held ND to 24 points.  Nothing to write home about, but this is how the defense is going to play this year - give up yards in the middle, play tighter in the red zones.

However...you CANNOT FUCKING LET A TIGHT END GET BEHIND YOU WHEN YOU ONLY RUSHED THREE FOR A 95 YD TOUCHDOWN.....*deep breath*

besides my temporary insanity after that play, the defense was not that bad. They have to tackle better, they have to stop bad penalties at bad times. and yeah, the coverage breakdowns being eliminated would be beneficial to all...but they did hold ND for a lot of the game which was nice.

This is a learning experience for Cam Gordon.

 

Other than that, Michael Floyd was pretty quiet.  Good play from the CBs?

It was clear that the safety was thinking interception instead of bend don't break.  We will see a lot of games like this against quarterbacks who are as good or better than Crist.  Hopefully the d backs will watch the film and learn.  Still they did intercept a few and we seemed to get good pressure up front at times.  I give the the overall defense a C- but if you were to look at the scores its a mix of B, D and F plays.  Enough to win at ND with the best quarterback performance in the history of the the world --no the universe (dlithium crystals are not availble here yet except somewhere inside Denard).

Do not bother to rush/blitz  Ezeh since 90% of the time he cannot get off the block.  Does he lack upper body stregnth? He just seem to catch the players trying to block him and he's done at that point. Can't weem to shed them.  Seems to take bad angles on the inside run game. No motor like Roh or Mouton.  I seriously would consider letting Moundros get some experience if we get ahead in the next couple games. 

was shockingly quiet. The TE....not so much. They kept us in the game which is exactly what we need this year.

The defense did a tremendous job of taking advantage of Dayne Crist's absence in the first half by creating turnovers.  They also came up with some big stops in the 2nd half with Crist in the game.  There's no question that the defense helped win the game, rather than winning the game in spite of the defense.  And it didn't hurt that they gave up a long td to give our offense plenty of time to re-take the lead.

did better than his average game.  i'll have to watch the replay, but i saw him make some positive plays.  mouton brought the wood on several tackles.

But, I thought there were a few positives on the first ND drive so I was hopeful. 

Was anyone else surprised how much Michigan dropped 8 in coverage?  Certainly, it's difficult to argue with the results.  Perhaps, some of the coaches out there could weigh in. 

while we still come out of South Bend with a win. As bad as the 95 yard TD was, didn't you just want to pull your hair out with the senseless out-of-bounds hit? Fortunately ND QBs like to throw the ball out of the endzone to end each half.....

I think they will continue to learn, and continue to gain confidence in themselves and their teammates. Today will provide some coachable moments in live action, something that can't be duplicated in practice. They will learn from it, and it was a +1 on the win side. I still maintain that this defense will be fun to watch before it is all said and done. Note; I would hope to be able to survive the season to see it. :)

...goes a long way.  The secondary was still rough.  And after they fell apart, the running game opened up for them.  Allen was running off 10 yards a clip.

First, we need to bend but not break...and several times with Crist in, our secondary just broke.  

Hopefully, the young guys will learn, with no harm no foul on this one. 

I was impressed by Obi's play today.  He made plays. Cam Gordon however, was exposed greatly. In hindsight, I'm glad he didnt have the speed to catch up with a freakin tightend, but we have to tighten his coverage and angles up before we start the Big10 season. Get well soon Carvin...