Fee Fi Foe Film: UNLV Defense Comment Count

Ace

Previously: UNLV Offense



SS Peni Vea (#42) is half of an aggressive UNLV safety duo.

In positive news, UNLV's defense didn't look as bad as their offense in their 37-3 loss to UCLA.

In negative news, UCLA left a ton of points on the board early, and that was with a hurry-up spread-to-pass offense that looks less suited to exploiting UNLV's weak areas than Michigan's smashmouth outfit. Let's get this over with.

Personnel: Like Oregon State, this is an inexperienced and undersized group [click to embiggen]:

Yes, that is a 230-pound DT, and he really does play DT.

Base Set? UNLV lists themselves as a base nickel and show two starters at DT, but they're really more of a 3-4 team. It's tough to tell what UNLV will run against Michigan because UCLA's offense almost never went fewer than three-wide and stayed in the gun. This was about as heavy as they got and UNLV countered with essentially a 3-3-5 under:

The standup rusher on the near side is listed as a DE on UNLV's depth chart; their two guys on the depth chart at that spot weight 230 and 245 pounds, so neither had their hand in the dirt much at all. The strong safety is creeping up to fake a blitz and take the H-back in man coverage. The 230-pound DT is playing nose on this play; he actually got decent push but the running back had ample room to the weak side with nobody else getting off their blocks. That would be a theme.

[Hit THE JUMP for the rest of the breakdown.]

Man or zone coverage? UNLV ran a fair amount of man, especially when blitzing, though they'll go into a softer zone look on long passing downs.

Pressure: GERG or Greg? They dialed up a lot of heat in this game, though that mostly led to big-play opportunities for UCLA. This blitz and the man coverage are so telegraphed even a true freshman starter doesn't hesitate to hit the slant:

UNLV also tempted fate with a couple risky blitzes that left corners on an island against receivers going deep. Josh Rosen barely missed a pair of touchdowns. The first:

The second:

While the corners handled these relatively well, the opportunities were there for big plays. Of course, Michigan will need Jake Rudock to be more accurate with his deep throws if they're going to take advantage of this better than UCLA did.

Dangerman: I've nominally chosen strong safety Peni Vea, mostly because I felt obligated to choose somebody. Both of UNLV's safeties are aggressive and make a lot of tackles; they'll also miss a few. I planned to put free safety Blake Richmond in this spot after a couple nice plays like this:

He ended up making a few more poor plays than Vea, however, so I went with the steadier presence. Neither is a superstar, but they'll both make some nice tackles near the line, and with this front that's very necessary.

OVERVIEW

So... this is basically Oregon State but even smaller and less talented. UCLA ran for 5.8 yards per carry on a bunch of stuff that looked like this: 

The defensive line got no push, the linebackers were unathletic and often caught up in the wash, and the play usually got to the secondary before initial contact was made. UCLA was able to do this while spreading out UNLV; Michigan should have even more success loading up and going right at them—they don't look like they can hold up against a big, run-heavy team.

Michigan should have a lot of success running power. UNLV's DEs had a tough time holding up when runs went right at them. Their linebackers weren't quick to the edge, either, and the defensive backs had issues tackling in space. De'Veon Smith should spectacularly run through a few tackles this week; even the linebackers had trouble bringing RBs down one-on-one.

To make up for their issues up front, UNLV has their safeties play very aggressive against the run, rolling them towards the line or blitzing them outright. This helped keep big run plays down but opened up major opportunities over the top; UCLA barely missed those, as shown above.

The defensive backs weren't bad in coverage over the top—they at least hung close when UNLV brought risky blitzes—but they were susceptible to underneath and intermediate throws. Rosen's first-half throw chart:

Slants were especially reliable, as were short throws to the flat when UNLV brought edge pressure—a couple times they failed to replace the blitzing boundary corner with anyone going into that area of the field. UCLA also came close to breaking a couple huge plays on screens, only for their downfield blocking to fail them when things were set up.

UNLV managed to get a little bit of a pass rush, though it was usually in the form of one D-lineman slicing through a gap; Rosen didn't have much trouble avoiding one guy and still making a throw.

Michigan should be able to dominate this defense with their size up front, like they did against Oregon State. Hopefully we'll see them hit something over the top, too—there should be a few opportunities to do so.

Comments

PeterParker

September 17th, 2015 at 3:10 PM ^

Looks like Rudock will have a chance to hit a couple of deep balls if they play us like they did UCLA.  A little redemption maybe?  Unless we have no need to pass and just run 14 play drives consisting of run plays.

Brick in The Wave

September 17th, 2015 at 4:58 PM ^

My fear, which has already been realized to some degree, is that the fields all of the sudden are riddled with ads, logos, hastags, etc.  It takes away from what is going on on the field.

It is gimmicky, "promoting the brand" type stuff.  

It reminds me of when Ricky Bobby puts the fig newton sticker on his windsheild in Talladega Nights.  

 

Njia

September 17th, 2015 at 3:21 PM ^

When Michigan would play awful teams like Northwestern back in the day, Bo would just run off-tackle plays all day to keep the clock running and keep the game as mercifully brief as possible. This game is shaping up similarly, I suspect.

wahooverine

September 17th, 2015 at 3:25 PM ^

Why are we playing this team?  Is the idea to schedule a Power 5 team that is actually worse or equal to MAC teams so it looks better on paper?  This appears to be the baby seal or baby seals and doesn't even have regional interest. Not trying to be Connie Complainer here. Maybe I can't get excited unless there is some uncertainty about the outcome.  I've learned to never be overconfident but come on, a 230 lb DT?  Ben Braden has taken bigger dumps than that.

Everyone Murders

September 17th, 2015 at 4:11 PM ^

Every year most teams schedule a tomato can or two.  Many good things can come out of these games:

  • It adds a "W" to the record, allowing Michigan to pad its schedule similar to other P5 schools.
  • Since there is no pre-season for Div. 1, these gimme games fulfill that role.  It allows the coaches a chance to work on execution of plays, evaluate players, and establish a game-day rhythm.
  • Michigan's pre-B1G schedule is actually relatively challenging compared to our P5 peers.  Utah's no joke, and BYU is fully capable of punching Michigan in the nuts.  FULLY.
  • Baby seals like to go clubbin' too, since it lines their pockets.

So long as it's not a home-and-home, I've got no problem with Michigan playing UNLV at all. 

Also, how many Kourics is a 230+ lb dump?  That's Bono territory, at least. 

BursleysFinest

September 17th, 2015 at 3:55 PM ^

You were probably joking, but the masked guys are from The Jabbawockeez, a dance crew that has a Vegas show at the Luxor Hotel.  They won the 2nd season of America's Best Dance Crew. I also remember them doing a bit with Shaq for one of the NBA All Star games a few years back.  ... Their videos are worth checking out if you like hip-hop dance.

BrownJuggernaut

September 17th, 2015 at 3:42 PM ^

I would like to see Michigan go with 60 carries. I would like to see us go right through the RB depth chart, handing carries to all of them. Lots of power. Reward the tight ends with a few receptions for all of the blocking. Also, a couple shots over the top. I would like to see Rudock put a little more air under those passes to at least give his receivers a chance to make the play. I think that this is the formula for victory.

Evil Empire

September 17th, 2015 at 5:02 PM ^

One of Leach's six pass attempts was caught by an Ohio State player.

Good news for OSU that day: averaged 52.2 yards per punt.  Bad news: punted eight times.

Their first five drives gained -2, 5, 6, 2, and 5 yards.  They had one decent drive in the first half, proving Woody's axiom about passing correct: they got to our 10 and threw an interception in the endzone.

A very satisfying box score to peruse:

http://www.umich.edu/~bhlumrec/athdept/fbstats/1976osuB.pdf

 

 

jsquigg

September 17th, 2015 at 4:16 PM ^

Another opportunity to get better.  I think the team can compete with anyone on the schedule and this could be a special year with incremental improvement and a bit of luck.  If the defense lives up to its potential, it can be great and UM can beat anybody.

B1G_Fan

September 17th, 2015 at 4:48 PM ^

 So basically, what you're saying here is you would be hard pressed to find a worse defense to run against Michigan's offense. Their DB's are susceptible to throws underneath, Their line has trouble when you run right at them and they'll either have a 6'2 or 5'10 not too terribly athletic LB covering Jake Butt. I'll take those odds, especially at home