Northwestern Snowflakes: The Defense

Still need to clean up some busts and coverage on the screen game, but at the end of the day they did their job today.

Was this a Dj Turner breakout performance where he cements himself as a starter? Northwestern seemed to attack him more than the other corners but he was seemingly always in great coverage. Granted, not exactly a potent passing attack they were up against, but a positive to see regardless.

Was mostly glad to see bodies stay healthy though.

Very good overall. They gave up a few big plays but that's expected in B1G play. They get an A-.

Defense was good!  Except for that one long TD, Northwestern couldn’t sustain a drive.  

Good except for the one big bust and a few screens. The line looks good.

Domination...outside of a single slip-up.

Complacent on one long run at end of first half.  Messed up on a few well timed and designed screens before catching on to those.  Other than that, domination.  DJ's pick was highlight reel material.

Did anyone expect the DL, especially the tackles, to play as well as they have this year? Another solid game today.  Could have had a shut out but for one busted play on a simple rush up the middle.

Thank goodness for Ross playing like Chris Spielman today.  Dude was all over the field. 

who was the rotund DT late in the game wearing #3?

D was really good other than the one bust.  Lots of hands in passing lanes.  The defensive PI was complete bullshit but whatever.  B1G refs gonna B1G ref.

Thought Turner played a good game - and nice to see some ball skills out there!

Good tackling, aggressive pass rush. Ross lays wood.

Hutchinson is an unstoppable force. He's making a case for best DE season ever at Michigan.

Only area of concern for me is once again susceptibility to screens/wheels on the edge. Clearly a problem for us, one that's likely to be exploited. I fear an overcorrection may lead to wide open guys downfield, too.

NW is not good. We dominated, as we should have. Well done.

7-0! Go Blue! Beat State!

I mean they're entire offensive output of the day was essentially one play.  I'll take it.  

Pretty, pretty good. I'll take one busted play per game. The Turner interception was awesome.

Defense looked good minus about 3 plays. Colson took a bad angle on one screen and it ended up a 25 yard play on 3rd and 18, however, later in the game on the same play call Colson came in very disciplined and made the play. I think much of the success of this defense in this last 5 games comes down to Colson becoming more consistent in his discipline against short and mid level passing 

This D just seems far more balanced which I love.  No D is perfect but these guys seem to get it done when it matters and make plays when they need too.  Going into the games now I just don't worry about the defense as much as I worry about the offense getting off to a strong start and putting the game away early. 

Good game for the D today with a few learning points to brush up on. 

That one bust before half sucked and the coaches had to know that Hecklinski (whatever his name is) couldn’t pass downfield. Frustrating to watch back to back 3&16 and 3&8 get busted by simple screens. Then a smoke screen on the next play for 8 free yards. Need to tighten that up. 

Aiden is a treat to watch. Shame he was hurt early last year because he is so disruptive. Turner had a solid game and it was great to see him making plays. Nice to have a defense that has mixed looks and confuses the offense. Onward to sparty.
 

Only saw Dax a couple times. Did he play the whole game?

Dismantled them.  One play and a bunch of annoying almost sacks. 

Woah, nice play DJ Turner II ! That was an eye-opener. The week after Dax's pick, we have another PLAY made in the secondary.

Overall, this game felt like more of the same. A weak offense a bit overwhelmed by UM's more talented defense. Aidan Hutchison just doesn't have any off weeks. Beast.

Other than a couple of ~25 yard passes and that one play where Hull ran zone up the middle and cut back for 75 yards, Northwestern did jack squat. That play did reconfirm that the secondary has some pretty dreadful long speed although I'm not sure how fast that Hull guy is.

Praise to based Macdonald. Ee i ee i o indeed.

Great D. Loved it. Looking more and more like Baltimore D. Can they turn into Baltimore D for the stretch? That would be fun to watch. Hope to see more improvement in LB and CB play next week. That would make that game awesome. If Turner can handle a WR like he did today, I have a lot of confidence in our D shutting them down except for a couple of busts. Looking forward to next week. 

I bet nobody guessed that after 7 games Michigan would be #2 in the country Scoring Defense, only behind Georgia.

Pretty remarkable performance by the defense so far.

Excellent job by the whole D squad. Busted one play and that is it  (big plays are safety mistakes). DL is playing great.

Defense has played great especially Dline and that is with the refs refusing to call holding on offense linemen who just bear hug Hutchinson all game. Do college teams send tape to conference office like NFL teams do to show stuff like this?

Getting better every week! We are susceptible to screens but I’m pleasantly surprised by our DBs! Let Hate Week begin!!

I was on the optimistic side and thought Michigan could get up to around 25th this year in defensive FEI. Last year they were around 100, but the injuries and scheme were clearly a huge issue. They are 12h right now, and I assume the NW game will move them up. The rubber will meet the road in these last few games, but this has been a fantastic season so far.