October 19th, 2010 at 9:01 PM ^
I should probably run up and buy a pack of smokes or a 5th before viewing this, shouldn't I?
October 19th, 2010 at 9:12 PM ^
You'll need some glue to sniff for the special teams video ;)
October 19th, 2010 at 9:05 PM ^
WTF was ABC doing showing the end of some crap MAC game? Man was I hot.
October 19th, 2010 at 9:14 PM ^
That was unreal. Thank goodness Miami had that 70-yard TD pass in the final minute. Otherwise we were looking at overtime and missing even more of the U-M telecast.
October 19th, 2010 at 9:08 PM ^
really, i was hot as well. Pointless MAC game! Really....Really!
October 19th, 2010 at 9:09 PM ^
Ugh watchin JT floyd turn the wrong way on DJK twice, once he got burned for the TD and the other time was on a critical third down.. made me sick
Also whoever it was that completely blew that tackle on 3rd and 8 on Iowa's last drive.. Courtney avery? yikes
October 19th, 2010 at 9:10 PM ^
but I am way to consumed waiting to see if Brian is leaving!!!!
October 19th, 2010 at 9:12 PM ^
At least we can watch a MLB attacking the LOS. Hurray for silver lining!
October 19th, 2010 at 9:14 PM ^
I give you 11:40 in the fourth. I was listening to the Iowa feed on XM, and they suggested JT take the rest of the day off.
October 19th, 2010 at 9:15 PM ^
All you can hope is are players learn from there mistakes,1Jordan kovacs has to take the right shoulder when he has the outside gap,2Jt floyd can not give up the inside route on a slant pass.We have a bye week to get things fixed.Go Blue
October 19th, 2010 at 9:35 PM ^
That pancake Ezeh takes on his first snap is just so sad to watch....just watching Demens on the first few plays and then watching Ezen is just night and day.
We flat out saw a LB that attacked gaps and then saw a LB that literally stands there and waits for the ball carrier to get to him.
Utterly amazing that he has been a 4 yr starter.
October 19th, 2010 at 9:43 PM ^
scary reality isn't it
October 19th, 2010 at 10:38 PM ^
it's the point at which Demens took over the starting MLB job for good. Love Obi, and even the best LB's can get owned, but contrasting this to Demens on the first 2 drives, you have to go with the younger guy. Obi just doesn't seem to realize on that play that someone might release from the scrape and block him. Better yet, avoid the blocker altogether and get after the ball. There was plenty of time to shoot the gap
EDIT: beaten to it. Also... progress? Despite 38 points it seems like it. But that sounds stupid
October 20th, 2010 at 1:30 AM ^
The 38 points makes the defense's performance look worse than it actually was. Much of the blame should be pinned on the 4 turnovers, 2 botched kickoffs, and blocked FG.
October 20th, 2010 at 2:55 AM ^
I'm assuming you believe that our D was decent based off the 388 total yards allowed (which, tho high, was better than we'd expected). To this I refer "the game"
Statisticians like playing a game. It's called which created which created which. Did the good field position lead to the high scoring, but low stats (as in "we would have stopped them after they gained X yards, but they only had X-A yards to get to the end zone") or did the Good position lead to less yards, despite getting the TD (as in "they would have gotten 500 yards to go if the endzone hadn't gotten in their way"). I'm pretty sure there's a better way to phrase it than that, but I hope you understood it.
October 19th, 2010 at 9:47 PM ^
Really the defense didn't play as bad this game as it has in previous games. There were a few glaring mistakes, but overall there is some noticeable improvement. Demens is an upgrade, (That Obi pancake...yikes.) but he must still get better.
Should Cam Gordon have reacted faster and prevented the TD pass at 3:50?
At 4:38, the 3rd and 14 run for a first down... that really sucked...but the straw that breaks the camel's back, in my mind, was the 3rd and 9 conversion at 9:40 marker.
I have to admit, I rewatched the game today... I was thinking of starting a post, but figured I didn't have anything scientific to add other than Lewan really held is own against Clayborn. You could tell Clayborn knew it too. Ther was one play where Lewan pushed him back a few yards. He just had 1 bad penalty (and a couple of close/questionable ones.)
October 19th, 2010 at 9:51 PM ^
To see the number of cutback runs and misdirections that sprang for long yardage, it is just startling. Guys are just running into blockers instead of really engaging and pushing them back/over. It was nice to see Kovacs make a couple of nice plays - he's not athletic, but seems to make the right play more than not (I did notice him taking the outside shoulder of the blocker on one of the longer Robinson runs, which was probably not the best in that situation despite needing to keep contain). I have to hope that a healthy Martin and a more seasoned Demens will help. You almost wonder if the upgrade from Ezeh to Demens in terms of awareness will be like the improvement a team receives when the Center returns from injury - doesn't seem like much on paper, but just having a guy who makes plays stops those 3-and-14 conversions that kill a team.
October 19th, 2010 at 9:59 PM ^
Kovacs had a really good game, but it could have been a tremendous performance (with that interception!). I do have a question if you or anyone else might know the answer to this. At 1:38, who's responsibility is it to stop this run? What went wrong? The commentator blames the CB, but how is he to bite so early? (e.g. What if that's a playfake?)If I had to guess, I'd say it's the angle the CB takes. Thoughts?
October 19th, 2010 at 10:17 PM ^
Floyd mostly, and perhaps Banks slightly. Floyd just needs to make a big time play there.
October 19th, 2010 at 10:38 PM ^
Not really sure. My sense is that the backside DE (Banks?) probably should have closed in, but I agree that the responsibility is probably with the CB at that point. Kovacs cleaned up as best he could, and maybe GERG could have called a different package that would have left a LB at home. Not really sure - the Xs and Os are not my forte.
October 19th, 2010 at 9:53 PM ^
But since I don't have enough points to start a new thread, I was hoping someone could put this up:
http://www.the-ozone.net/football/2010/Wisconsin/postgame/MichiganMuesday.html
Michigan Muesday (previously Monday) is up. As I read this, I actually felt a sense of camaraderie with the Ohio State fanbase. I suppose it is comforting to know that even your worst enemy can still be rooting for you when you're down ... even if it is just so they can try to beat you with more relish at the end.
October 19th, 2010 at 10:07 PM ^
On the positive side, Jordan Kovacs is a stud in this game. Credit where credit is due.
October 19th, 2010 at 10:21 PM ^
I was screaming, "EPIC KOVACS!" a lot at the game.
October 19th, 2010 at 10:08 PM ^
Wow, I'm pretty impressed by the play of Jordan Kovacs here. He takes a lot of criticism for being undersized and a bit on the unathletic side, but man, he stood some guys up this past weekend. He really has a great mind for football, and knows how to get in on the tackle. I think the UFR will be kind to him this week.
I bet he'll make a great defensive coach somewhere someday.
October 19th, 2010 at 10:21 PM ^
Restating the obvious, pretty much, but these videos are @#$%ing awesome. Much, much appreciated ...
October 19th, 2010 at 10:26 PM ^
Yet you don't upvote Boyz... You're one stingy bastard.
October 20th, 2010 at 7:27 AM ^
Done ... thanks for the reminder.
October 19th, 2010 at 10:31 PM ^
I thought about how much better our defense would be with D-Warr/Dorsey/Turner/Booboo at corner and T-Wolf back deep and I cried a little
October 20th, 2010 at 1:33 AM ^
Well, Cissoko was a head case and Turner was a bust who probably won't amount to much at WVU, either.
But yeah, agreed on the other three.
October 20th, 2010 at 9:33 AM ^
Cissoko was an underclassman, who at any other school in America, wouldn't have been thrown into action so early in his career. Turner was a RS Freshman. Never even PLAYED. How can you call someone who's never played a bust?
October 19th, 2010 at 11:25 PM ^
The difference in play between Demens and Ezeh is nite and day. Demens still made some mistakes, but his overall quick, decisive moves to the ball were a plus.
Another point on the LB play: I think our LBs are playing too close together(Mouton and Demens/Ezeh). They cannot cover sideline to sideline like they should be since on most running plays they seem to go to the same general area. Cutbacks by the Iowa RB were a killer with only Kovacs being anywhere near the play, and he was getting blocked by the FB or TE. Separate them out a couple more yards and more ground is covered. Not only that, but the backside LB on the play should be in better position to make a tackle on the cutbacks for only minimal gains.
October 19th, 2010 at 11:56 PM ^
Maybe I'm just not used to seeing consistently good linebacking play, but on second watch I think Demens might have been our best defensive player. Van Bergen seemed to have a good game too. Thought Kovacs was hit or miss.
October 20th, 2010 at 12:13 AM ^
Kovacs is what he is. He isn't going to overpower blockers. He isn't going to run down RBs or WRs. And he isn't going to blow up plays by hard hitting or impressive speed. He will, however, consistently be where he is supposed to be, make fairly consistent tackles, and every now and then(as seen on the almost Int) make a play on the ball.
Demens, while better than Ezeh, missed a few angles, missed some cutbacks, but overall played well, including tackles in the backfield and a spine-jarring hit that caused an incompletion.
VanBergen needs Martin, and vice versa. With both playing, I love the DL play. If we only had a monster 300+ lb DT to take more doubles, RVB would have a couple sacks a game.
October 20th, 2010 at 1:06 AM ^
Disclaimer: I'm next to useless diagnosing film and this will almost surely be exposed as laughable when Brian puts out the next UFR. With that said, I respectfully disagree on just about every count. The problems I saw with Kovacs were unrelated to physical deficiencies. A few times he was the outside guy and got too far upfield leaving a big hole or failed to trail Stanzi on rollouts. I thought Demens' problems came in pass coverage. I remember once seeing him take a shallow drop (although this was compounded by Cam being way too deep) and once seeing him be a little timid on a drag route In run defense Demens was supremely active. Unlike Ezeh he attacked blockers and a number of times he was thisclose to bailing us out when plays were run to Mouton's side. (Mouton was ineffective, to put it kindly, in run support.) Demens' contributions in run defense were almost universally positive, as I saw it. I don't think I saw a single run cut against the grain on him, but I might be wrong.
Also, Martin was hurt even before he came out and he wasn't his usual disruptive self. Despite that, I thought Van Bergen had a very good day. Banks looked uninspiring as usual. Nothing jumped out watching either Gordon (except for Cam being too deep on the aforementioned play). I thought Rodgers was fairly nondescript except for one bad play. Floyd obviously got burnt on the slant TD, but he seemed to come up with a fair number of stops that saved huge gains. Obviously Courtney Avery's missed tackle on third down was brutal.
October 20th, 2010 at 10:23 AM ^
.......to very little difference overall for the defense.
Kovacs is where he is supposed to be on darn near every play. If he isn't, it is more due to lack of speed or quickness that just doesn't allow him to get there. On the big cutback run by Iowa's Robinson, for example, his job is outside contain, which he does well. His only problem on that play is getting blocked by a 250lb or so FB(remember, Kovacs is 200lb in all his equip.) There was no LB support from a scraping Mouton or Demens to get there and make a play for minimal yards, hence the big run. If Kovacs doesn't force him inside, and Robinson gets outside of him, then it wouldn't matter if we had a Ray Lewis on the team for that play, the RB is too far outside for a LB to have any shot at the play. All in all, for Kovacs, I'll take his play anyday over that of someone who may be more athletic, but isn't ever in the right position.
Demens is good and will get much better the more he plays, but he did have some plays where he was taken out of it, either by overaggressiveness, or bad angles. Didn't see much of him in pass coverage. I mentioned in another thread that our LBs are playing too close to one another. This concentrates people in one area, and when they both make the same move to the same general part of the line to plug gaps, we lose coverage area. This happened on several plays, particularly the Robinson cutback where the LBs were concentrated to the inside portion of the line, flowed to the initial direction of the play, and couldn't get anywhere near a tackle, even with Kovacs forcing it inside. Our LBs need to space out further from one another by 3-4 yards, and a couple more yards back from the LOS.
October 20th, 2010 at 1:17 AM ^
Honestly that wasnt too bad. Iowa had short fields to work with most the time so that probably saved some of the pain(with a quicker kill). Mouton was definitely the goat that game IMO.
If you tell me DR, Martin, and Molk all dont play the whole game, I would have called for a complete blowout. Guess there are some positives to take from that. oh ya and DEMENS! any upgrade at that position basically makes the defense look better, even if the scoreboard didnt show it.