Ohio State Snowflakes: The Defense

Played great!!!!!

Why can’t we just get Jack White to play 7 Nation Army live on the sideline all game long?

Why can’t we just get Jack White to play 7 Nation Army live on the sideline all game long?

Gotta be honest, I was optimistic about our defense's potential in this game but even I am left speechless. Ohio State made unbelievable play after unbelievable play. They didn't turn the ball over. They converted every 4th down try. They made every field goal. And we still held them to 27 points.

Special recognition for our much maligned cornerbacks who all played a hell of a game!

Aidan is the most important Michigan player since Tom Brady. For being great, and for coming back. 

What a game by the D-Line... Hutch was a force that would not be denied, just like he's proven to be all season!

Ohio has been officially fucked!

Lowest point total for the season for OSU? 

HOW IS HUTCH NOT AT LEAST A HIESMAN CANDIDATE!

Remember when Sparty gave up a 50 burger to those ass bags in the first half? LMFAO!

They held death star under 30 points, they made key stops, they played their hearts out.

What a way to play in the second half and then closing minutes!

GO BLUE!!!

Solid against the run and good harassment on stroud. Secondary gave up a lot, but made the necessary stops. 

Linebackers awesome. 

But most of all, Hutchinson and Ojabo were beasts!

Fuck ohio 

Go Blue 

All praise to Aiden Hutchinson. He came back with a mission, and his attitude infected the team.  No one saw this coming in September.  Inspirational leader.  Just like his dad, but bigger.

The ultimate “bend but don’t break”. Fucking hero’s on this defense.

Hutch, Ojabo, whole defense, including secondary vs great receivers put out an outstanding effort against one of the best or the best offenses in the country.  Great job by players and all defensive coaches.   Totally awesome effort and performance. 

Easier to beat OSU when they're not scoring 60+ points. 

Great all around. Linebackers played out of their minds. Hutch and Ojabo, I mean, you know.

Ohio State's fumble luck continues to be generationally lucky.

Also, AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Let's break this fucking website like our defense broke OSU.

So can we say our defense is legit?  I have been the biggest doubter, but every yard was a battle.  They didn't have one big play TD.  Earth, Wind & Fire were as good as advertised and yet we won.  

Also every big throw was well covered, just crazy I am so jacked!!!

This is the 2nd time this season (Wisconsin) that the defense played better than I was expecting and I couldn’t be happier. So many guys stepped up too. Mike freaking MacDonald was brought in to turn it around and he officially has done that now. Bend but not break paid off.

I’ve been hard on Ross at times this year, but he made a huge 3rd down stop which potentially saves 7 pts.

The DBs all played great coverage today. Ohio State’s big catches were all spectacular, contested catches.

They bottles up the run. Hawkins with two big run stops.

Harrell comes in after rarely playing as of late and makes a great play. Donovan Jeter with a huge play. And of course our DEs made Stroud work quicker than he wanted too. As I said in the Hutchinson for Heisman thread, Aidan is currently having the 2nd greatest defensive season by a Michigan player in my lifetime. Dude became a legend today.

I didn’t think we had a chance today, but these boys couldn’t have done it much better. Let’s f’ing gooooooo!

This is a credit to the coaching and the players. That great OSU offense (and it is great) made only a few big plays in the pass game. And every one of them required a combination of a great throw and a great catch because the coverage was there. Fantastic job by the defense.

This game would have been a blowout had the OSU receivers not made a couple of season highlight catches. Some of those plays where on like 3rd and 19. With all that said, the Defense really showed up in the red zone. Nothing was free.

Much of the glam will rest with the offense for this game, and rightfully so, but I found the defense really impressive today. Big assist to the crowd being in full throat (all those penalties on OSU's O Line) and keeping the ratio of UM fans to OSU fans in our favor. Being worried about seeing a bunch of red in the stands, I was really blown away to see the Sea of Maize instead.

The weather no doubt helped, but I saw a unit playing with confidence and flying around out there. Josh Ross (and the LBs overall) has been shaky at times, but I thought they saved their best game for this one. I think UFR will bear that out. We saw gang tackling deep into the 4th QTR, and to me that's an energized group of DL and LBs. They didn't make every tackle, but they played with enthusiasm unknown to mankind, I felt. Again, feeling like an old man here, but hard to tell if it was Josh Ross or Sam Sword out there today.

The secondary took away anything deep (was the TD to Garrett Wilson the only "long" completion of the day?) and it just looked like they belonged. It wasn't poor damn Brandon Watson getting toasted and guys hanging their heads. Both Vincent Gray (loved the chirping early on) and D.J. Turner II were really good. Credit to Ohio State's WRs for even keeping them in the game. Without some heroic plays of their own on 3rd downs and 4th downs, this had the feel of a Michigan blowout win. Credit to all our guys (Moten, catch the ball!) and especially Daxton Hill who battled JSN the entire game in a prime time showdown--it could've been a lot worse with anyone else trying to cover him. Can't forget to mention Hawkins who has quietly become a fine All-B1G level safety after an inauspicious start in the Notre Dame game as a youngster.

But, it came down to UM's D Line just being better than OSU's O Line. Even with OSU cheating pretty regularly (and sometimes even getting called for it), Hutchinson had his own "Woodson Game," and if only he had batted down that 4th down floater pass, I think he'd have a real shot at the Heisman. Still, it was a ferocious game for our edge guys and the tackles held up pretty well also. I mean holding OSU to 64 yards on 30 carries? Better than any of our wildest dreams.

Maybe need to clean up the communication and getting set on defense, but I was starting to think "if our own guys don't even know the play call, then how can the offense read them?" lol

I’ve tried so hard. Created 2 separate threads to highlight Vincent Gray, but nothing will post. Using the snowflakes thread to say, kid deserves appreciation. He was the most hated CB in the last decade, and he did his part today against NFL WRs. 

Gotta give credit to the interior and lbs holding their own not allowing them to double hutch and ojabo all day and letting them do their thing. Great game plan by McDonald not allowing them to get over the top and realizing they will make plays but not big ones. Nice job by Dax Hill not letting JSN get yards after the catch. Excellent containment of the run game. Total team effort.

I was worried playing so much press on their WR that Michigan's DBs would get beaten deep several times, especially when Stroud had good protection for much of the game, but fortunately Michigan was able to keep the OSU playmakers "within the defense" and never got beaten over the top.

Thank you for coming back Aidan Hutchinson, you made this win happen! Also tied the Michigan season sack record. Well fucking done!

Go Blue!