Indiana Snowflakes: The Defense
November 23rd, 2019 at 6:49 PM ^
We have some swarming motherfuckers
November 24th, 2019 at 12:05 AM ^
This year's defense is what Don Brown spent all off season coming up with to stop Ohio State.
Disciplined, versatile, fast.
Ohio State will need to be careful. Don Brown gotta be taking this game personally.
November 23rd, 2019 at 6:50 PM ^
Beat Ohio
November 23rd, 2019 at 6:50 PM ^
Rough start, but under 270 yds before garbage time, can't complain about that.
Still think they're going to be gashed up the middle by OSU, but maybe they'll show up.
November 23rd, 2019 at 6:52 PM ^
People around here will still complain.
November 23rd, 2019 at 11:22 PM ^
You're right. Michigan could shut out every opponent en route to winning the national championship and you'd have people going "but they let a couple teams get some slant and fade passes for like 100 yards! One trick pony Don Brown! Wake me up when they can actually hold teams to under 100 yards of offense every game."
November 24th, 2019 at 12:01 AM ^
They win three quarters handily. But god forbid the other team, who is good and also trying to win, is better for one quarter but still loses.
November 23rd, 2019 at 6:52 PM ^
Felt pretty leaky. Like... twice the yardage they should have gotten.
Doesn't make me feel great for next week.
November 23rd, 2019 at 7:08 PM ^
224 yards passing on 30 attempts. 7.4 ypp.
97 yards rushing on 37 attempts. 2.6 ypc.
Fire everyone and start over.
November 23rd, 2019 at 7:32 PM ^
Stats are ok, though 321 ty to a very banged up Indiana probably translates to 500+ for OSU, so even the stats aren't that encouraging.
I'm talking about holes that were too big, not closing quickly enough, missing some tackles. Just... a little leaky everywhere. Many, many plays that felt like they shoulda gone for about half what they did.
I think it was a sound defensive gameplan, and we have great athletes who know what they're doing. It just could have been significantly tighter/sharper, and it needs to be next week, if we are going to deliver the beatdown to OSU that I think we will.
Kind of ironic to overreact to a comment that you feel like is overreacting...
November 23rd, 2019 at 9:05 PM ^
Only stat that matters ultimately is the points on the scoreboard. Yards without scores are meaningless.
November 23rd, 2019 at 9:18 PM ^
Fact. “When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.”
November 23rd, 2019 at 10:25 PM ^
Goodheart’s Law
Well said!
November 23rd, 2019 at 9:56 PM ^
IDK, I'm about the outcomes.
Past number of weeks teams might get out to a lead (Sparty), move the ball a little (ND) or more (Indiana) but then the adjustments come and things slowly shut off.
Ohio State will be harder but I'm personally interested to see Don Brown vs. Ryan Day (as opposed to Don Brown vs. Urban Meyer (and his minion Ryan Day).
November 24th, 2019 at 2:00 PM ^
The 1st qtr was leaky.
Then DB adjusted and that was that
November 23rd, 2019 at 6:52 PM ^
Hope we play great from the opening kickoff rather than after a quarter.
November 23rd, 2019 at 6:53 PM ^
My big question is Uche ok and will we get Hawkins back next week?
Need all hands on deck.
Happy with the performance this week and hoping they can force some field goals next week even if we give up yards.
November 23rd, 2019 at 7:08 PM ^
People in the liveblog were claiming Uche just had a cramp, citing unnamed reporters on Twitter and Karsch (on the radio, I presume).
November 23rd, 2019 at 7:47 PM ^
I thought it looked like Jordan Glasgow got banged up in the 4th quarter as well. He didn't look right and was signaling for a substitution. Michigan ended up taking a timeout, and I don't think we saw him on the field for the rest of the game with some mix of Vincent Gray and Devin Gil in his place.
November 23rd, 2019 at 6:53 PM ^
Lack of a star DT and more 2 high zones is taking a little of the bite out of this defense. We aren't the TFL machine of 2016, but hopefully we are more equipped to not get torched as much as last year.
November 23rd, 2019 at 6:55 PM ^
Nice performance; need to adjust quicker next week. Hopefully today's OSU turnovers continue next week and we take advantage.
November 23rd, 2019 at 6:58 PM ^
It appears that at this point the only thing the defense is missing is that big run plugger right in the middle that gives you confidence that you can stop the other team from getting one yard when they really need it.
November 23rd, 2019 at 9:34 PM ^
Agreed. But I guess the hope is, if Ohio State is having to battle for short yardage conversions, you’re slowing them down sufficiently for an improved offense to be able to keep pace. I’d sure rather them convert a few 3rd or 4th and 1s, and us have fewer 1st and 10 TFLs in exchange for them not ripping our guts out with 15, 20, or 30-yard crossing routes and hanging 63 points on us.
November 23rd, 2019 at 6:58 PM ^
Average. Got lucky with some penalties in the second half
November 23rd, 2019 at 9:45 PM ^
Actually, we held them to fewer than half their average points per game.
November 23rd, 2019 at 9:52 PM ^
...And we also held them to fewer points allowed per game than our own season average through 11 games. So, certainly better than average in the ways that count.
November 23rd, 2019 at 7:03 PM ^
Is Uche okay?
November 23rd, 2019 at 7:07 PM ^
Doug Karsh talked to him after the game while on the field, Josh says he's fine.
November 23rd, 2019 at 9:53 PM ^
Boy, I hope this is right.
November 23rd, 2019 at 7:03 PM ^
Pretty decent performance to hold them to 14.
November 23rd, 2019 at 9:59 PM ^
MGoBlog Response: "Now that Michigan has beaten probably the best Indiana team of the last decade or so it is clear that Indiana sucked".
November 24th, 2019 at 6:58 AM ^
Right? For the first time in years we didn’t let Indiana stick around passed the second quarter and people bitch.
November 23rd, 2019 at 7:03 PM ^
Indiana is talented and we won big. Wasn't D's best game, but adjustments were made and they won by 25 on the road.
November 23rd, 2019 at 7:13 PM ^
This is correct.
November 23rd, 2019 at 7:04 PM ^
Good performance. Started shakey, made nice adjustments and shut them down before some garbage time yards. Much better than last year’s game against Indy.
November 23rd, 2019 at 7:06 PM ^
After falling behind 14-7, I would have never expected to shutout IU for the remainder of the game. Very impressive. Josh Uche is healthy after the issue with his leg.
November 23rd, 2019 at 7:07 PM ^
Held them to a shutout in the second half, so I can’t complain much.
Still, I have a bad feeling about next week. Feel like Dobbins and Fields are going to combine for 350 yards on the ground, so you’ve got to hope that the offense can find a way to keep up.
November 23rd, 2019 at 7:10 PM ^
Penn State actually slowed them both down. Mich defense will have to put pressure on Fields and at least slow down Dobbins to maybe half of his average. We have a good chance to pull this off.
November 23rd, 2019 at 7:17 PM ^
I agree. Our bottleneck has always been lack of offense, problem solved.
November 24th, 2019 at 1:08 AM ^
Well, I don't think that applies to last year's game.
November 24th, 2019 at 12:01 AM ^
I don't know if PSU slowed them down much at all. OSU only punted 3 times in the game. OSU almost doubled PSU in yards in the game.
Penn State got lucky as hell as they had some great fumble turnover luck. The OSU turnovers were brutal and led to a 17 point swing. I will be interested to see the Bill Connolly S&P+ box score tomorrow to see how much turnover luck points PSU netted in this game. They recovered three of four OSU's fumbles.
November 24th, 2019 at 5:52 AM ^
Some of those weren't only luck (although luck always plays a large part) -- PSU players tried specifically to strip the ball on a couple.
November 24th, 2019 at 6:07 AM ^
Fine. But you still only have around a 50% chance of RECOVERING a fumble. PSU recovered 5 of the 6 fumbles in this game. That isn't a skill. And the location of the fumbles were extremely damaging. That also isn't a skill. OSU literally fumbled the ball on the goal line as they were about to score. Another OSU fumble was inside their own 15 yard line that lead directly to a PSU TD. And the third OSU fumble was an indiscernible review if Fields knee was down before fumbling. Also not a skill.
Like I said above, the box score looks like a blowout for OSU, and I think Connolly's S&P+ box score is going to reflect that.
November 23rd, 2019 at 7:10 PM ^
Hutch has been a beast the last two games.
November 23rd, 2019 at 7:13 PM ^
Defense needs to hold OSU to 28 points. Michigan has a great chance in that case, especially if they avoid offensive turnovers. #BO
November 23rd, 2019 at 7:13 PM ^
So when they start the game against OSU getting beat left and right, are they going to be able to adjust before it gets out of hand? It was fine today because one, it’s indiana and two, their best offensive players were dropping like flies. I just don’t see it happening with this set of players ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
November 23rd, 2019 at 7:14 PM ^
Corner play against the pass a little concerning today.
November 23rd, 2019 at 7:16 PM ^
Shut them down once Brown figured out their gameplan. Very good performance against a good offense
November 23rd, 2019 at 7:21 PM ^
We will need Uche next week. Wasn’t our best game today. But hopefully we are saving that for next week.
November 23rd, 2019 at 7:22 PM ^
I’m sure we can count on lavert Hill for a couple of pass interference penalties.