Snowflakes Thread: Defense vs. Ohio State
I am actually in Ann Arbor using a browser on a small tablet, so if this works, awesome for me (not for the game) -
This will be your thread for snowflakes and hot takes regarding the defense and defensive playcalling versus Ohio State.
Those of you talking about LBs in particular....yeah, I would agree.
November 28th, 2015 at 4:20 PM ^
This is exactly right. The scheme was set up to put Bolden in place for a 1 on 1 tackle at or near the LOS and he failed miserably just about every time.
November 28th, 2015 at 3:51 PM ^
Did we have a single blitz get home all day? Holy fucking shit
November 28th, 2015 at 3:53 PM ^
Quite frankly the LB Corp needs turnover. Too slow and unathletic...glaring weakness against teams like OSU and IU, exposed because of the injuries to DL.
Of course, no guarantee that next year's LBs will be any better. But still..,we need better athletes.
November 28th, 2015 at 5:48 PM ^
It's not pretty.
Noah Furbush: Next year a junior, 6'4, 217, Rivals 3*
Mike McCray: Next year a senior, 6'4, 242, Rivals 4* (all kinds of injuries)
Jared Wangler: Next year a junior, 6'2, 230, Rivals 3*
Ben Gedeon: Next year a senior, 6'3, 241, Rivals 4*
Chase Winovich: Next year a junior, moved to TE this year, maybe moved back? 6'3, 230, Rivals 4* at LB
MAYBE they move 6'4, 238 DE Lawrence Marshall outside?
Or maybe they end up forced to play a 4-2-5 next year.
Verbals in class of '16: 3 star Dytarious Johnson (next best offer after UM is Syracuse) and 3 star David Reese, who's a soft verbal still taking visits.
Daelin Hayes and Caleb Kelly would be starts, but man oh man does that list look horrid for next year.
November 28th, 2015 at 3:54 PM ^
All I have to say.
November 28th, 2015 at 3:56 PM ^
461 total yards and 317 passing yards to Minnesota. 527 total yards and 307 rushing yards to Indiana. 482 total yards and 369 rushing yards to Ohio State. What a disaster.
November 28th, 2015 at 3:56 PM ^
What happened in the other games?
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November 28th, 2015 at 3:59 PM ^
The other games we played shit teams that couldn't run the ball. Durkin sucks
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November 28th, 2015 at 4:09 PM ^
Top 5 D for most of the year with bad luck with injuries, penalties fumble recoveries. All with mediocre LBs.
Yes, Durkin's unit stunk today but tossing aside the season is an avalanche in the place of a snowflake.
November 28th, 2015 at 5:19 PM ^
Yawn....we got taken to pound town! Durkin was MIA! Did we watch the same game today??? Get your head out of your ass. We got destroyed!!!
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November 28th, 2015 at 5:20 PM ^
SCHEME, SCHEME, SCHEME
All of Michigan's defensive success has been due to Durkin brillitanly scheming out what he can get out of his players.
But A) coaches get hip to the scheme learn to work around it, and B) when you face a REAL team, scheme only goes so far, and it becomes one-on-one match-ups.
Of which, Michigan was exposed. About 80-90% of our defensive snaps all season had only 2 LBs, we basically NEVER HAD linebackers. Our DL was thin, and our PassD put Lewis on an island in order to send help everywhere else.
Then you play a team that can go one-on-one with Lewis, has O-Lineman that can get to the second level to take out our LBs, and has a great QB and RB who can run past our DBs.
Scheme goes out the window.
C'mon guys this was a 5-7 team that just played the reigning National Champions that DESTROYED the field, and returned almost everybody!!
Good times lie ahead!
November 28th, 2015 at 4:09 PM ^
Send his ass to Maryland. He couldn't adjust to competent competition. He schemed well vs teams with no RB/QB, but vs teams with those attributes he was lost!
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November 28th, 2015 at 5:08 PM ^
That's absurd. You're calling for the head of defensive coordinator that just had a top five defense in his first year.
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November 28th, 2015 at 4:00 PM ^
going to take years. accept it now so its not a big deal later
November 28th, 2015 at 4:01 PM ^
Durkin was too busy interviewing for a HC job than to figure out how to stop osu. Did the fucking guy adjust at all? Stubborn moron I hope he gets the Maryland job so we can get someone that has a clue of how to stop the spread. This team reminded me of the final Carr years. Great vs pro style teams, atrocious vs spread option teams
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November 28th, 2015 at 4:18 PM ^
I think losing Ojemedia was a really big deal. He was terrific at defending spread option.
November 28th, 2015 at 4:35 PM ^
That's a good point, I really didn't think of that, but I doubt it would've gotten us much closer. The unfortunate thing in all this is that Michigan got embarrassed at home in front of a number of recruits and on national tv by a team that has taken 10 of 11 from them. It's just disheartening
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November 28th, 2015 at 5:01 PM ^
i thought was was bad vs Utah. Very bad but what do I know.
November 28th, 2015 at 5:43 PM ^
You win! I called it that there would be that guy blaming loss on supposed Maryland interview!
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November 28th, 2015 at 10:03 PM ^
It's a piece of shit thing to do
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November 28th, 2015 at 4:02 PM ^
We've never been able to defend the read option very well. That's helped OSU control the rivalry lately because they use it heavily. I thought things might be different with Durkin. We haven't had quick and athletic good LBs in years. We have to focus on getting some. They're very important when trying to stop read option teams. We also need to copy whatever the hell MSU does against OSU and quit being stubborn. It's amazing that Glasgow covered that many weaknesses and made our run D look so good.
November 28th, 2015 at 4:06 PM ^
was scheme today. M was short on d-line players (Mone, Ojemudia, Glasgow injuries). That was probably one key reason for the D scheme.
Anyway, the only way for M to win that game today, was to have lots of long time consuming drives with a consistent running game.
That would have shortened the number of possessions and kept the depleted d-line fresh enoough to play was well as they did iuntil the roughting the punter penalty. That was worse than a turn over. The D never played the same after than, and then got gassed and were on skates whem blocked/unable to shed blocks.
OSU's O was the nightmare matchup for M's depleted d-line. Simple as that.
November 28th, 2015 at 4:11 PM ^
we played defense today?
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November 28th, 2015 at 5:18 PM ^
Yes, I believe I saw 10 or 11 guys out there who sort of inconvenienced Elliott's running path
November 28th, 2015 at 8:29 PM ^
and we still couldn't stop their O. i was thinking we should've tried 13 or 14. maybe 15.
November 28th, 2015 at 4:13 PM ^
Im glad a lot of those LBs are graduating
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November 28th, 2015 at 4:53 PM ^
...who couldn't beat them out this year? Teams don't get better when below-average starters leave, because chances are they have to replace them with further-below-average backups.
November 28th, 2015 at 5:22 PM ^
Yeah, this is troubling but probably true. If there was someone better, they would have played. That is a scary thought for next year.
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November 28th, 2015 at 5:37 PM ^
Recruit a few 4 and 5-stars at LB and play them as true freshmen. Problem solved. In the end, this game was as much about OSU showing off their star power as anything else. I am now convinced more than ever that we will not beat OSU on a consistent basis again until we at least match their recruiting man for man.
November 28th, 2015 at 4:14 PM ^
I'm not sure how you watch the MSU-OSU game last week and think, hey, let's do the exact opposite of what sparty did. That ought to work well.
Sooooo many missed tackles.
Our defense had been the strength of the team all year, so they just threw out the scheme and had them learn the 3-3-5 stack thing in one weak and they thought that would go well? OSU runs a power spread, so we take away a big and replace him with a SLB, but put him in the middle, and confuse the heck out of Bolden and Morgan. I just don't get it. Epic fail.
November 28th, 2015 at 4:29 PM ^
given that it backfired.
On the other hand, with a depleted d-line, and also seeing what IU did to M's base D (minus Glasgow), my guess is that Durkin/Harbaugh felt they had to try it.
The problem today was much more about not having the right personnel (lack of speed at LB, and depleted d-line rotation) to match up with OSU's offense, than about scheme.
Moreover, once the d-line was gassed in the 3rd quarter, scheme was irrelevant.
That said, Bo used to build his team specifically to match up well against OSU. Harbaugh is going to have to recruit the right type of defensive players to deal with Meyer's offense.
November 28th, 2015 at 4:15 PM ^
This was pretty much our game vs Alabama 2012
November 28th, 2015 at 4:23 PM ^
Terrible performance. Worst all year
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November 28th, 2015 at 4:36 PM ^
Yep, and in the most important game.
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November 28th, 2015 at 4:38 PM ^
is not done yet. Put it back in the oven until it gets to the proper temperature....
this one was not ready.
November 28th, 2015 at 4:39 PM ^
I'm tired of the senseless penalties
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November 28th, 2015 at 4:46 PM ^
I wonder if Maryland backs off after that tire fire of a performance.
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November 28th, 2015 at 6:36 PM ^
Yeah - there is no worries about him leaving for a P5 team
November 28th, 2015 at 4:48 PM ^
Durkin was awful...I hate that he NEVER adjusted all game.
At some point you have to try something different.
Whatever happened to being "multiple" when the season started? The 3-4 and the 4-3...that's all everyone talked about.
The 3-man front got DESTROYED
At some point you have to adjust and go:
DL: Charlton-Hurst-Henry-Wormley/
LB: Ross-Morgan-Bolden
CB: Lewis-Stribling
S: Wilson-Peppers
....Durkin never adjusted and he lost control of the game.
November 28th, 2015 at 5:15 PM ^
Spot on sir!
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November 28th, 2015 at 4:49 PM ^
fast LB'ers, RB's and run blocking OL come to Michigan and start immediately. We need depth at DL as well. Though difficult to stomach this beating, the future looks bright IMO.
November 28th, 2015 at 5:12 PM ^
Was a shit snowflake. LB play was dysentery avalanche.
November 28th, 2015 at 5:16 PM ^
Seems to me the biggest difference between our D against OSU and MSU's was tackling in space.
MSU's D line did a much better job collapsing lanes, and they packed the box - but most importantly, Reschke and Bullough seemed able to shed blockers and fill holes; conversely, Ross just can't seem to shed blockers, and Bolden runs himself out of plays.
The lack of sound tackling was really disturbing today as well; Barrett just shoved people away with his stiff-arm.
Finally, where was Peppers? He's supposed to be our read-option killer, and I don't remember him making any plays in space. On their last TD, he was just frozen in place as Barrett ran right past him. Maybe playing so many snaps took a toll.
This game really showed how far away we are. Depressing.
Love our team, love Harbaugh - but wow, we're not close.
November 28th, 2015 at 5:20 PM ^
Agree. I posted this in the game thread, but Dymonte made 2 great open field tackles early in the game. He broke down and went for the legs and made the plays. Watching Bolden and Morgan grab at the shoulder pads of NFL running backs is infuriating.
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November 28th, 2015 at 5:18 PM ^
What else is there to say? Our linebackers are slow, unathletic, and piss poor tacklers. Our DL depth has been decimated, and with the best RB in the country coming in angry and pissed off after last week, it was a recipe for a defensive disaster.
Simply put, outside of Peppers, we have no true athletes on this team.
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November 28th, 2015 at 5:25 PM ^
I don't care. I hope he gets marriedand some other dude fucks his wife, and he gets herpes and he ends up paying child support for a kid that ends up not being his, and he goes broke after he becomes a bust in the NFL and he gets arrested and goes to jail for tax evasion. Fuck that guy.
November 28th, 2015 at 5:34 PM ^
Did you put this up just to see if you would make TWIS?
November 28th, 2015 at 6:32 PM ^
Classy
November 28th, 2015 at 10:48 PM ^
You serious, Clark?