Minnesota Snowflakes: The Defense
October 7th, 2023 at 10:46 PM ^
Mason Graham's spirit animal is a T Rex.
October 7th, 2023 at 10:48 PM ^
"T-Rex, but stretchy"
October 7th, 2023 at 11:27 PM ^
With good pad level
October 8th, 2023 at 10:41 AM ^
TRex, but with long, muscly arms
October 8th, 2023 at 7:00 AM ^
He had one hell of a game.
Interested to see how Grant pans out in the UFR. I thought he looked shaky a couple times.
When your “worst” game of the season is giving up 10 points on the road, it’s a good sign. Though why Jesse Minter went all “Don Brown” on us is a little baffling.
October 8th, 2023 at 7:16 AM ^
If a T. rex was a big time wrestler and a UFC fighter mixed together. Mason Graham went vertical, in a way a man his size shouldn’t be able to do on a few tackles. He channeled his inner waterboy last night. Fucking beast mode!
October 7th, 2023 at 10:47 PM ^
I don't really get what Minter was doing in the 1st half. Two down DTs, the ends standing upright, and a lot of just 6 guys in the box...vs a team that wants to run the ball. It got gashed a lot, but then they seemed to fix everything in the 2nd half. I don't know if they were trying to see how the defense might do with a super light box / pass defense focus for the PSU-Maryland-OSU stretch? I just can't figure why else you'd do that vs a run first team
October 7th, 2023 at 10:52 PM ^
It felt like Minter was just experimenting honestly
October 7th, 2023 at 11:09 PM ^
Also the 3 12yd runs in a row in their FG drive featured Benny and, I think, Goode, trapped out there on our DL. The call guy raving about their blocking showed replay of Benny being escorted way out of his lane
October 8th, 2023 at 6:11 AM ^
Which is weird because Benny is pretty good against zone typically
I saw Grant taken for a really bad ride once or twice on zone plays
October 8th, 2023 at 9:15 AM ^
On that drive Minnesota was running outside zone where their OL is stretching the defense horizontally. They either get the edge(didn’t happen) or they create cutback lanes when the front seven over pursue their gap. LBs and DT’s created an interior lane for those three consecutive gains.
October 7th, 2023 at 11:10 PM ^
This.
October 8th, 2023 at 10:36 AM ^
People forget Michigan did a lot of this last year as well. The whole season was essentially preparing for OSU. Seeing what worked and what didn’t. Putting different looks and different plays on film.
It doesn’t make sense in the scope of “we’re playing Minnesota, we should be playing to beat Minnesota.” But we won 52-10 and gave up just 3 yards per play. We’re SO good, we can play to beat PSU/OSU and thoroughly dominate our other opponents
October 7th, 2023 at 11:07 PM ^
It still feels as though they are approaching these games as though they are glorified practices.
Trying different things. Seeing which plays work. Getting players reps. Etc.
October 7th, 2023 at 11:10 PM ^
And this!
October 7th, 2023 at 11:22 PM ^
It really was only the first quarter. They had like 45 fish yards at the half and that was about 3-4 big runs. Not sure what they were doing alignment wise at first
October 7th, 2023 at 11:26 PM ^
Love fish yards, dude.
October 8th, 2023 at 2:59 AM ^
We call them "ponds" 'round these parts.
October 8th, 2023 at 12:03 AM ^
Any chance he's setting up Minnesota for the second half ? I mean, showing only this and then they decide the forward plan and then take it away for the easy win. Minter may have been baiting them.
October 8th, 2023 at 12:20 AM ^
We also had Goode and Benny in for much of that drive. Also, in addition to light box, we had DTs tasked with playing two gaps and that's just not their game. Once we sent guys bursting into gaps causing penetration, we got Minn off schedule a ton and killed all their drives save the end of half one.
October 8th, 2023 at 10:12 AM ^
Possibly those two should not be in together, mix them with Graham or Jenkins
October 8th, 2023 at 1:33 AM ^
I'm not positive (some good responses in this subthread) but I'll throw out a rare "trust the coaches" bit here. We've had other guys "download" offenses before, but Minter has built off of the base Macdonald built in a way that really impresses me; Michigan has a terrific arsenal of tactical answers to questions posed by opposing offenses. After that scoring drive (third drive of the game; Minnie's runs were getting chunks in the second drive, too, but they got off schedule and punted before it became noticeable) Michigan did a good job in most circumstances.
And Kal looked terrified every time he set up to pass. And confused in every play except, alas, one.
October 8th, 2023 at 10:53 AM ^
If I had to guess, it’s like the slants against Nebraska. Minter was scheming to stop what they do on film, but since we’re the #2 team in the country, everyone spends the week practicing changeups.
It works for some yards but not points. Then Minter adjusts and it works for neither.
October 7th, 2023 at 10:47 PM ^
Interior pass rush is legendary. These guys will all be top players in the NFL
October 7th, 2023 at 10:48 PM ^
We allowed 169 total yards on defense. we scored two touchdowns to boot. Our defense single-handedly won the game 14-10. Incredible.
October 8th, 2023 at 12:40 AM ^
To Fred Jacksonify this take, we are like Iowa but with an elite offense?
October 8th, 2023 at 10:28 AM ^
Na, this is better than Iowa's defense, way more depth. Iowa's starting defense can hold anybody, but they can't keep it up for more than two quarters.
October 7th, 2023 at 10:48 PM ^
Was a little concerned about the non-run-stuffing on that second drive, but they tightened up nicely and played a great game.
Would have been nice to get that sixth >30 to <7 game, but alas.
We look amazing on both sides of the ball. And amazing future too. We can get all those guys drafted that Jim said, and the D will still be a top 10 D.
October 7th, 2023 at 10:48 PM ^
They got got on the run game early but adjusted nicely.
I think Sabb will come in for a negative on the TD (?) but made up for it (obvi).
The D outscored them, so that’s nice. Great game.
October 7th, 2023 at 11:09 PM ^
That was my first thought but on replay (TV, I rarely rewatch) was less sure.
October 7th, 2023 at 11:14 PM ^
My guess is that’s a both-and : Sainristil got beat, but Sabb is supposed to have deep help at that game-stage for sure. Unless we had only 1 deep and they had 2 out, in which case may not have been much Sabb could do, and it’s on Mikey alone (and Minter for only 1 deep at that game stage?) Also best throw and catch of the night for them. That’s it: a -6 play: -2 Mikey, -1 Sabb, -1 RPS, Hat + 2
October 8th, 2023 at 12:33 AM ^
You’re probably right. Mike E was close but not in perfect coverage. Great throw and catch.
Also, I’m a bit disappointed that the JJ touchdown was zaprudered but not the catch. Idk.
October 8th, 2023 at 4:54 AM ^
I actually think Sabb’s error was worse than Mikey’s. Thanks to Fleck’s head-scratching clock management, there were only six seconds left in the half, and they were already in field goal range. As a deep safety in that situation, I think you have to be as deep as the deepest man. If he wants to throw the ball over the middle, fine. The only way they can improve their game state there is to throw a touchdown pass.
I don’t recall another receiver in the package, but unless he was also on a deep route (Go / Fly / etc.), I think Sabb still has to keep on the guy racing for the back pylon.
Still took the most accurate throw of the game from their quarterback, by far, though. He got 2/3 of his passing yards for the game on one NFL dime.
October 8th, 2023 at 7:05 AM ^
With a kicker who already hit from 50+
October 8th, 2023 at 9:02 AM ^
I’m with J. Redux, I think Sabb got caught looking at something in the middle of the field and then couldn’t get over to help Sainristil over the top.
October 7th, 2023 at 10:49 PM ^
Kaliakmanis got in his one good throw. His other 12 throws gained a total of 17 yards.
October 8th, 2023 at 1:46 AM ^
That TD pass you kinda just have to give it to them. Amazing throw and catch
October 7th, 2023 at 10:50 PM ^
A shutout at some point would have been great... but 2 pick sixes is not a bad consolation!
October 7th, 2023 at 11:19 PM ^
The defense scored more points than they surrendered so arguably that's better than a shutout.
October 7th, 2023 at 10:51 PM ^
I like it when the defense scores touchdowns
October 8th, 2023 at 2:10 AM ^
Then you're gonna LOVE this!
*especially if you (or anyone else here) are secretly a Hawkeyes fan.
October 8th, 2023 at 10:30 AM ^
Yeah, great, so now in the game threads everyone will be yelling “What are you doing?! Run the TD play!!!” on D as well?
lol
October 7th, 2023 at 10:54 PM ^
Will Johnson’s confidence and composure in the post game interview 😎
October 7th, 2023 at 10:59 PM ^
Two pick sixes! But can they score points like the Iowa defense? ;-)
October 7th, 2023 at 10:55 PM ^
They gave up 10 points but scored 14. Who doesn't love 2 Pick-6s? Good to see Will Johnson get his first Pick-6 of the season. Although they gave up 10 points, they pitched a shutout un the second half.
I'll give them an A-. Minnesota gave them their best punch and got popped in the mouth several times. Not to mention Minny had a lot of their players get injured. Hopefully, not serious.
October 8th, 2023 at 10:04 AM ^
Technically, the defense scored 12. Special teams got the other 2 :)
October 7th, 2023 at 10:59 PM ^
Hard to nitpick when the defense outscores the other team.
October 7th, 2023 at 11:02 PM ^
With the exception of one play, I am comfortable with the defensive performance on the evening.
October 7th, 2023 at 11:03 PM ^
Mason Graham lead the team in total tackles, solo tackles, TFLs and sacks. With one hand.
October 7th, 2023 at 11:17 PM ^
Was all-world tonight. Absolute beast mode