Utah Snowflakes: Defense

Submitted by LSAClassOf2000 on
This will be the thread for discussion of snowflakes and hot takes on the defense in tonight's game.
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MichiganTeacher

September 4th, 2015 at 12:23 AM ^

Good job by the defense.

The biggest problem was that they didn't generate turnovers. Almost had one in the first half on the bobbled pass that would have been a pick six when they were pinned deep. But almost doesn't count.

Peppers was excellent in second half. 

Second biggest problem was the linebackers. Too slow laterally. 

We made good adjustments after each of their scoring drives, forcing them to try something different the next time.

17 points given up, although that was helped by two missed field goals. Good, really, for first game on the road against a top-25 (imo, at least) opponent.

 

Joined: 10/06/2011

MGoPoints: 9263

Spirit of 69

September 4th, 2015 at 12:24 AM ^

The Peppers hype is real, he had that one boneheaded play in 1st half, but was lights out otherwise. The insane closing speed I saw in practice definitely translates to the playing field in game. I was very impressed with the tackling on the edge. Guys like Stribling and Peppers routinely blew up plays for a loss when they were the only man to beat for chunk yardage.

Joined: 06/12/2015

MGoPoints: 458

Spirit of 69

September 4th, 2015 at 1:13 AM ^

Unfortunately that will happen. The hope is the guy in question can at least slow the offensive player down and buy time for his teammates. Disconcertingly though, it is our safeties and corners primarily blowing up not just the attempts to get the ball to the edge, but all outside running attempts. Hopefully our lack of speed in the middle of the field becomes less apparent as we move into the B1G schedule. Ohio State will be a nightmare if we can't stop them from stretching the field horizontally though.

Joined: 06/12/2015

MGoPoints: 458

zggolfer

September 4th, 2015 at 12:24 AM ^

Everyone will run at Ojemudia and Jenkins-Stone, they arent big enough to hold up at the line of scrimmage.  Linebackers just arent speedy enough to make the big playssideline to sideline or dropping back ito coverage.  Losing Mone really hurts inside.  Utah is a good team, tough opener.  Linebackers next year could be really young and scary.  If you are a stud linebacker come to Michigan and play early and often, same with d-line.  Hope for improvement, and i think that will happen with this coaching staff.

Joined: 10/16/2010

MGoPoints: 480

Sheed

September 4th, 2015 at 12:25 AM ^

Seemed like the D could stop the shotgun run, but if it was a read option they made the wrong read most of the time which was hella frustrating, especially with experienced Linebackers.

Joined: 08/28/2015

MGoPoints: 217

MichiganTeacher

September 4th, 2015 at 7:52 AM ^

Yup.

My prediction was 8-4 with losses to Utah, BYU, and two of MSU, PSU, and OSU. We'll see how that holds up, but you bet, as of now I think Taysom is going to carve us up. Linebacker was supposed to be a strength, but watching last night, maybe we should play a 4-1-6. /jk /sort of not really

Joined: 10/06/2011

MGoPoints: 9263

cbs650

September 4th, 2015 at 12:26 AM ^

Dline played well but our linebackers are not playermakers. When they started sending Peppers down in the box and played him like an outside backer that is when he looked most comfortable and played instinctively. Didn't see much of Wormley in second half after a great first half tho.

Joined: 02/07/2011

MGoPoints: 4848

MaximusBlue

September 4th, 2015 at 12:27 AM ^

Dline looked solid even without Mone. Wormley flashed a few times. LB's have to tighten coverage up. Bolden has to be better. Need to see a lot more of Ross on the field. Secondary was ok but didn't live up to the preseason hype IMO. Peppers not quite consistent yet. I realized how much he hasn't played so I'm not judging him too hard on the first game. I would've liked to blitz more. Lack of pass rusher on defense is going to be a problem going forward.

Joined: 07/31/2012

MGoPoints: 9765

enlightenedbum

September 4th, 2015 at 12:27 AM ^

I think our LBs struggled a bit in pass coverage.  Most of what Utah got was attacking them down the middle with their TEs or Booker in the flats.  Otherwise they were good.  DL was really good though we need an edge rusher.  Wilson is slippery and played a really strong game though.  Credit to that kid.  Peppers showed some promise in the second half in demolishing some of the base spread plays.

Joined: 06/06/2009

MGoPoints: 64438

Avant's Hands

September 4th, 2015 at 12:28 AM ^

I will be very interested to see the UFR on this one. I am pretty bad at telling who is doing what on defense live. I thought Wormley and Lewis had great games. Peppers had a rough first half, but was nearly unblockable in the second half. Bolden and Morgan were brutal. And no deep passes, yay? Didn't see Stribbling get beat really. Seemed like their passes were mostly screens and passes over the middle the linebackers weren't covering. They did good against Booker, but I wish he hadn't gotten that late 16 yarder. It got him over 3 yards a carry, which is too bad. 

Bottom line: giving up 17 points on the road to a good team is not a bad thing. Still, can we please get a turnover or three? That is what will make the difference in close games.

Joined: 10/22/2011

MGoPoints: 9271

BlueBreeze

September 4th, 2015 at 12:35 AM ^

Bolden was noticeably the weakest link in the defense to my eyes. Just doesn't stop ball carriers in their tracks, try's arm tackling too much and just overruns plays entirely too often.

Joined: 12/26/2014

MGoPoints: 265

jonvalk

September 4th, 2015 at 12:44 AM ^

Solid performance overall. Gave up only 17 points, even with the offense turning it over 3 times. Normally, if you hold an opponent's offense to 17 points, you win. Unfortunately, we also had our offense helping out their defense with a pick-six, which was the point differential.



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Joined: 07/19/2009

MGoPoints: 8315

maize-blue

September 4th, 2015 at 12:47 AM ^

Pretty decent. It still looks like they could fly to the ball more. There were a few instances where I thought tackling could be be better. I like the secondary. The LBs might be too slow side to side.

Joined: 01/10/2013

MGoPoints: 44662

Dudeing around...

September 4th, 2015 at 12:49 AM ^

LBs need to get deeper into their drops, faster. The dline is good enough to cheat a bit. Bolden and Morgan were biting badly on any play action and that's what hurt us over the middle and in the flat time after time. Other than that, it was a competitive, well played game defensively. Not world beaters but they compete.

Oh, and I think peppers is much more of a LB/SS than a CB. He looked kinda bad in coverage against a few different types of players. Did not flash any elite man coverage skills. Fortunately, he looked 10/10 amazing vs run and should play good zone coverage all over the field that will allow him to make plays.... But definitely a SS and not a CB

Joined: 08/20/2015

MGoPoints: 77

SpaghettiPolicy

September 4th, 2015 at 1:13 AM ^

I wasn't impressed with Ojenudia. He missed at least 3tackles because they were just one arm reaches instead of breaking down his footwork and going in with both arms. So frustrating bc he was right there



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B1G_Fan

September 4th, 2015 at 1:20 AM ^

Defense played good enough to win but didn't do as much as I thought they where capable of.

 Utah made plays when they had to and Michigan didnt when they had a chance to. We're not world beaters yet

Joined: 10/11/2012

MGoPoints: 3411

mwolverine1

September 4th, 2015 at 1:20 AM ^

Same story as the last few years. We need pass rush and turnovers. This defense is good enough to win with but not good enough to win by itself. Offense will have to improve a lot to get to 9 wins.

Joined: 11/23/2009

MGoPoints: 13596

lilpenny1316

September 4th, 2015 at 1:47 AM ^

I mean the defense did enough for a competent offense to win that game.  If we don't throw three picks, we probably win.  This was a tough game to start off the season.  All the motion and misdirection in a hurry up scheme is hard to handle for the first game of the season.  If this was later in the year, I think the outcome would've been different.

I respect our LBs, but Caleb Kelly, Dontavious Jackson: Please come to Ann Arbor.

Joined: 11/19/2009

MGoPoints: 61859

Jhow

September 4th, 2015 at 1:48 AM ^

The defense wasn't great tonight. However, this Utah offense is designed to spread you horizontally, play fast, and score lots of points. We held them to just 17 offensive points. Not enough, obviously, but not bad. And the coaches have game film on the kids now. So, they can plug in the gamers for game 2, and bench the practice MVP's.

Joined: 08/24/2011

MGoPoints: 535

treetown

September 4th, 2015 at 9:32 AM ^

Basically the defense in spite of 3 interceptions played well enough to win. I guess it is like that saying "trying to have your cake and eat it too." The team can't seem to have consistent games where both the offense and defense play 'good enough to win' simultaneously.

Joined: 11/10/2010

MGoPoints: 6339

UofM626

September 4th, 2015 at 2:11 AM ^

Offense made the game hard for the defense tonight. Kinda sad watching Green waste away on the sideline and the O line getting blown up again. Butt is gonna be a beast. Peppers looked great at times, but Utah capitalized on his aggressiveness and got him out of his designed area and took advantage of him at least 3-4 times

Joined: 01/02/2012

MGoPoints: 3443

Bodogblog

September 4th, 2015 at 7:23 AM ^

our ILB's are not 5/5. they're 3.5/5. geez Bolden played just like last year after great camps - confused, not reading well, out of position and missing tackles

Joined: 06/08/2010

MGoPoints: 26674

Ali G Bomaye

September 4th, 2015 at 9:32 AM ^

Here is a listing of Utah's drives:

  • 10 plays, 63 yards, FG
  • 3 plays, 6 yards
  • 3 plays, -1 yard
  • 11 plays, 75 yards, TD
  • 3 plays, -4 yards
  • 4 plays, 21 yards, missed FG
  • 11 plays, 35 yards, interception (end of half)
  • 10 plays, 74 yards, TD
  • 12 plays, 47 yards, missed FG
  • 4 plays, 21 yards
  • kneel to end game

17 points, and 337 yards, on ten real drives. Not too bad. Five of the ten drives were 3-and-out or 4-and-out. The only thing we could do better is forcing turnovers, but that's hard to do against a senior QB running a dink-and-dunk offense.

Joined: 07/08/2008

MGoPoints: 17699

pescadero

September 4th, 2015 at 10:58 AM ^

Dline - good.

Linebackers... ugh. Just awful.

Jourdan Lewis - good.

Rest of DBs? Mediocre.

 

Peppers looked great when he was playing as a box safety/OLB. Peppers did NOT look good in coverage.  All this talk about potentially moving him to corner? That would appear to be based on fiction.

Joined: 03/28/2013

MGoPoints: 12138