Hypothetical DL
Hypothetically speaking, If Will Campbell was ready to play the 1 tech and thus, Mike Martin played the 3 tech, could our DL be big enough to handle "Big Ten OL" and play better against the run?
Will Campbell is, size wise, your prototypical NT and could take on the double teams on running downs and give more room for Martin and Graham to wreak havoc. And I think that Martin could be a better UT than a NT, but I'm sure the more pro people here could elaborate.
Anyone?
October 4th, 2009 at 10:22 AM ^
uh, i thought they D played really well against the run. take away Cousins 75 yards of scrambling, and MSU ran 42 times for 122 yards.
October 4th, 2009 at 10:22 AM ^
We stuffed the run all game. Campbell will not help this year.
Stop!! The only runs that hurt us were qb scrambles. Fail/
October 4th, 2009 at 11:24 AM ^
against a team that hasn't really been able to run it this year. Let's not get to excited.
UM simply couldn't contain the QB.
October 4th, 2009 at 11:26 AM ^
on wr sweeps but, overall the base running game wasn't our problem. Their RBs averaged 1.8 and 3 yards/carry for a total of 83 yards on 37 attempts (2.24 y/c). QBs and Martin got 110 yards on 12 tries.
QB yardage is a concern because we either don't blitz and allow them all day to pick apart zone coverage in our secondary which isn't all that great. If we blitz and the QB steps up we are in man and leaving LBs to make plays which has pretty much so been a slow agonizing death this year because Ezeh and Mouton have been so bad.
October 4th, 2009 at 11:37 AM ^
Give Big Will some time too. The main reason he isn't out there is because of his technique. You can't teach size and speed, but you can teach technique and he needs help there for sure.
I think next year you will see that our interior line is going to be one to reckon with. Which should help the rest of the defense because the D-line sets the tone for the entire D. Stuffing the Run and applying constant pressure on the QB is vital for a weak defense to do in order to not get burned.
October 4th, 2009 at 11:40 AM ^
Okay, since you're speaking hypothetically, I'll give you an honest answer.
Would we be big enough? Sure. We're big enough now, and that would make us bigger. That was easy.
October 4th, 2009 at 12:43 PM ^
O linemen are big everywhere.
Pad level and technique are more important than an extra 20 lbs.
I'm not even being sarcastic here, Pad level is actually important.