Illinois Snowflakes - The Defense
October 12th, 2019 at 3:48 PM ^
Phew, glad Don Brown figured out how to fix his ailing back. Must be rough with the offense riding on it all day.
October 12th, 2019 at 5:25 PM ^
They gave the D a 28-0 lead...I mean...I surely don’t think the offense let Illinois score 25 straight points. But that must be Gattis’ fault too I guess.
October 13th, 2019 at 1:18 AM ^
Do you even watch the games?
These were Michigan's offensive drives while Illinois scored 25 unanswered points:
3 plays, 1 yard
3 plays, 12 yards
3 pays, -5 yards
7 plays, 26 yards
2 plays, 11 yards
Two of Illinois scoring drives came on short fields of 31 yards and 36 yards (after the offense fumbled). The defense gave up only one drive of over 70 yards all game.
So yeah, I think its safe to say that the offense had a pretty big part in it.
October 13th, 2019 at 11:28 AM ^
However, this is Illinois with an eighth string freshman walk-on qb, while I can excuse the offense going to sleep (#lostinspace) we should have still shut their offense down a bit better than we did.
October 13th, 2019 at 11:36 AM ^
I never said it didn’t. But look st the threads - this one has like 80 replies and the offense has over 200. Michigan’s no good very bad offense put up 489 yards. People say the D is good but the O is not...well this game wasn’t an O-problem, it was a team problem, but for some weird reason everyone is talking about just the O’s failures. And btw, those drives you highlighted were, yes, bad...but if they didn’t fumble the damn ball on two of them and make silly execution errors on the others (because they lost focus), we would not be so OUTRAGED today.
October 12th, 2019 at 3:49 PM ^
The same 11-13 players play the whole game. Don brown never rotates d linemen.
October 12th, 2019 at 3:50 PM ^
Ever wonder why we suck in November?
October 12th, 2019 at 3:57 PM ^
This is a relatively new phenomenon — and not one that happened last year as much. So I'd say it's more of a depth issue, which is pretty well-documented, no?
October 12th, 2019 at 4:46 PM ^
Yes, but teams like Illinois would be the game to get some rotational players experience.
This defensive-line is an injury or two from playing true freshman, it would be way better to have them see some real CFB snaps rather than less/none, in case they're needed in a big game....
October 12th, 2019 at 5:53 PM ^
At some point you have to give the backups a chance. No one knows if they can play because they never do.
October 13th, 2019 at 7:11 AM ^
Backups earn playing time.
October 12th, 2019 at 4:55 PM ^
And yet, we still get tempoed. Nice.
October 12th, 2019 at 3:49 PM ^
Brown looked like a world beater against Iowa. What the hell happened in the 2nd half?
October 12th, 2019 at 4:42 PM ^
Illinois doesn’t run an offense from the 80’s. Mobile QBs will always give UM trouble.
October 12th, 2019 at 5:18 PM ^
Mobile QBs give everyone trouble. It isn't just M.
October 12th, 2019 at 4:57 PM ^
Said it in the game thread....tempo, quick passes, plays that took advantage of overpursuit.
DB has 80s offenses, like Iowa, downloaded. His defenses have trouble against modern concepts - always have while at Michigan.
October 13th, 2019 at 12:35 AM ^
I don't think it's DB. He saw all the modern crap at BC and did great there with less talent.
TBH, I think our guys just took the foot off the gas on both sides of the ball after halftime. A little too much self-congratulatory feeling maybe? Hard to know without being in the locker room or on the sidelines.
October 12th, 2019 at 8:47 PM ^
The offense fucked up twice in a row, and the defense never got back to the bench long enough for Don Brown to get his “wake the fuck up!” speech. Notice when the offense put a long drive together suddenly the defense was back on it.
October 12th, 2019 at 3:50 PM ^
Funny how everyone is blaming Shea Patterson for the 25 points Illinois scored.
October 13th, 2019 at 1:07 AM ^
....and Gattis....and Harbaugh.
October 12th, 2019 at 3:50 PM ^
25 point second half from a pathetic Illinois team.
Time for the Don Brown apologists to explain it away...
October 12th, 2019 at 4:11 PM ^
I'm not particularly an apologist of anyone, but here:
1) It was an 18-point second half. 7 were at the end of the first.
2) 10 points in the 3rd were not great. No one can deny that.
3) The 4th quarter drive was set up by a Michigan fumble in their own territory, so let's take some of the heat off the defense for that.
4) Defense gave up less than 300 total yards and forced 2 turnovers. Let's not go jump off a cliff.
October 12th, 2019 at 4:21 PM ^
Agreed. Not a perfect game by any stretch, but the offensive fumble contributed to 8 of those points.
October 12th, 2019 at 4:42 PM ^
October 13th, 2019 at 1:45 AM ^
THIS ^^ is my biggest gripe from today. How we didn't coast to a 42-3 win is a head scratcher for the ages. Yes, fumbles were a bitch but it felt like we let up on D. Or Illinois was getting lucky.
October 12th, 2019 at 4:51 PM ^
Personally wouldn’t mind if several here made their way to the closest cliff.
October 12th, 2019 at 4:19 PM ^
We consistently have a top 15 defense. Next question.
October 13th, 2019 at 11:32 AM ^
And we consistently get bet by teams ranked above us. Next question.
October 12th, 2019 at 4:28 PM ^
Math is hard
October 12th, 2019 at 3:51 PM ^
Went to sleep a bit but made big plays when needed for a conference road win.
October 12th, 2019 at 3:51 PM ^
This game went candy-dogshit-candy for the defense.
Look, I get that the other team makes adjustments too. But holy hell a 25-point adjustment that let them within 3?!
I'm really really interested in Neck Sharpies and UFRs this week to see what Illinois did or what we stopped doing.
October 12th, 2019 at 4:22 PM ^
Illinois only scored 18 in the 2nd half. And 8 of those points came off a fumble from our offense while relatively deep in our territory.
October 12th, 2019 at 5:02 PM ^
That explanation is pretty weak. I don't think it's particularly relevant which half the points came in. A really bad team scoring 25 is not great.
And the turnover you mentioned was at the 36 yard line. That's hardly a guaranteed 8 points. The defense could have held them to a FG, maybe even a very long FG. Instead, it let them drive 36 yards into the endzone and then let them score the 2-point conversion for good measure. Not a great look against this awful Illinois team.
Don Brown is a great coordinator, but today was not a great day for his defense.
October 12th, 2019 at 5:30 PM ^
And 10 came on two drives totaling 25 plays and over 10 minutes of clock. That doesn’t sound like what a great defense should do against an overmatched opponent.
October 12th, 2019 at 3:52 PM ^
i kept posting this week that the illini freshman RS QB, matt robinson, was a gunslinger. well, he wasn't perfect, but on the whole he had a whale of a game. he knows how to run a 'speed-in-space', spread offense. we should be so lucky.
October 12th, 2019 at 4:58 PM ^
Can we sign the guy? Nah, that wouldn't be fair to him....
October 12th, 2019 at 5:21 PM ^
Gun=slinger mentality
He sure looked comfortable back there; even under pressure.
October 12th, 2019 at 3:53 PM ^
It's ok.
October 12th, 2019 at 3:56 PM ^
Even though Illinois scored 25 unanswered points, I still think the defense played well.
Fight me.
October 12th, 2019 at 4:01 PM ^
Midnight at the docks. Come alone.
October 12th, 2019 at 4:05 PM ^
No touching of the hair or face
October 12th, 2019 at 4:46 PM ^
There was a significant period where they didn’t play well. Didn’t get any pressure on the QB and couldn’t contain a mobile QB at all. That seemed to start once up 28-0.
October 12th, 2019 at 3:58 PM ^
Except for the four drives when the Nerdlucks took their talent, they played well. Glad they woke up in time.
October 12th, 2019 at 4:00 PM ^
Consistency is lacking, most notably on the road. Story of the Harbaugh era. Except we usually beat the crap out of shitty teams like Illinois. This game was odd.
October 12th, 2019 at 4:02 PM ^
It just seemed as if the team figured the game was over at 28-0. Unfortunately, Illinois didn’t think so, and played with some enthusiasm while we looked flat. Once it got to 3 and the offense countered with a nice TD drive, the defense woke up and realized it was time to replicate what they had done in the first quarter. But man, those middle 30 minutes or so. Dreadful.
October 12th, 2019 at 4:07 PM ^
Vincent Gray was awfulllll today. He may check in for a near record minus in UFR. Any success Illinois had passing was getting their tall WR matched up on him.
This might’ve ended up 45-10 if Hill was able to play.
October 12th, 2019 at 4:49 PM ^
He had pretty good coverage on the one long pass play but Metellus really fucked up. I don’t even know what he was doing. He was turning around and the ball never made it to him? It was an easy PB but he must have terrible misjudged the ball.
October 12th, 2019 at 11:02 PM ^
Agree. And Gray looked like he expected Metellus to fly in like his Iowa pick. His safety was there. Weird misplay by 14.
October 12th, 2019 at 4:09 PM ^
Despite their late game heroics, IMO the defense took a step back today. They let Illinois up off the mat to start the second half when faced with a little adversity. They didn't look comfortable again until the offense finally righted the ship. Still felt Glasgow, McGrone, and Hutchinson played great games,. For the life of me I hope that McGrone doesn't get pulled once Ross is ready to play again. He is clearly a superior athlete.
October 12th, 2019 at 4:15 PM ^
McGrone really looks like a guy with the potential to be great as his career develops. I thought Glasgow, Hutchinson and Kemp (except for the penalty) looked good, too.
They missed Lavert Hill. But I think the problem in the 3rd quarter was simply that they went to sleep a little.