Michigan -- How Does NU win?

[knapplc]

D Rob has 2,475 of Michigan's 3,927 yards of total offense, or greater than 80% of their offensive production thus far. I don't think dedicating your best player to stopping that is wasting him.

Those stats aren't >80%. Just saying.

However, containing D Rob must be of emphasis. Using David to do so makes sense.

You are correct! I threw the numbers into Excel and .88 popped out, and I didn't pay attention to the numbers. Turns out I used 3,475 instead of 2,475. So it's 60%, or a little more. Thanks for catching that. +1

It's right around 63%. Jsayin'...

It's 63.025%.

And I'm glad we have that all cleared up now.

 

[Sub-Husker]

This has been my major hangout for several years. NU forums come and go......SI (so sad....a terrific forum setup), HP (years ago before Clownahan), 360 (awesome forum.....again, so sad) and so on. A hopeless addict has to go somewhere, right?

Were you at CNNSI, and later the CFB megasite and Talent's dive at WXing?

 

[bshirt]

This has been my major hangout for several years. NU forums come and go......SI (so sad....a terrific forum setup), HP (years ago before Clownahan), 360 (awesome forum.....again, so sad) and so on. A hopeless addict has to go somewhere, right?

Were you at CNNSI, and later the CFB megasite and Talent's dive at WXing?

Yes! Sure was....CNNSI was a blast & Talent's site was cool too.

Is Talent still around? I bet he's dying a horrible death this year. Haha....

 

[AK-47]

D Rob has 2,475 of Michigan's 3,927 yards of total offense, or greater than 80% of their offensive production thus far. I don't think dedicating your best player to stopping that is wasting him.

Those stats aren't >80%. Just saying.

However, containing D Rob must be of emphasis. Using David to do so makes sense.

You are correct! I threw the numbers into Excel and .88 popped out, and I didn't pay attention to the numbers. Turns out I used 3,475 instead of 2,475. So it's 60%, or a little more. Thanks for catching that. +1

It's right around 63%. Jsayin'...

It's 63.025%.

And I'm glad we have that all cleared up now.

Well according to Kevin from the Office it's, "Those are big numbers. I'm just gonna put down 'a lot'."

To clarify, I did not actually consult him.

 

[Ziebol]

Pressure is key here. Force Robinson to try and make poor throws and the secondary should have a day. I expect a lot of draws and designed runs so pressure is going to be key if we get them into obvious throwing situations.

 

[Sub-Husker]

Yes! Sure was....CNNSI was a blast & Talent's site was cool too.
Is Talent still around? I bet he's dying a horrible death this year. Haha....

When WXing went down, Talent and crew set up shop at a sub-thread at Cletus' Goat Pen site.

You will recognize many old names/friends there, like Entropy and Wizard.

http://goatpen.net/forums/

 

[jsneb83]

I don't think NU fans are going to see much "pressure" on Robinson. The d-line will play with a controlled rush forcing Robinson to "run away" from the play. NU will play man on the backside (with the backside DL just playing containment) allowing an extra person LB or DB to follow Robinson to the "play side". This will be the formula to contain Robinson and force a turnover or two.

With Dennard in a man-to-man, and Green playing in a zone with Stafford/Cassidy, the Wolverines might actually just play into the strengths that the Husker defense has. David/Stafford will be able to run and make plays.

Going out on a limb...Nebraska 38; Michigan 17 (Robinson will score at least once on pure athleticism)

NU offensively: keep doin' what you do!!!

If the d-line comes out and plays with a controlled rush, we can automatically mark this down as an "L". Sorry, but the controlled rush thing is the dumbest thing I have seen. It looks like the d-linemen are just standing around and not even trying. I mean, what's the point? So the QB has all day to sit back there and pick apart our D? The d-line has enough problems pressuring QBs and then you ask them for a controlled rush? Forget about it. Controlled rush equates to ZERO pressure and ALL day for WRs to get open and the QB to get them the ball.

Get after Denard with blitzes and let our d-linemen loose. That's the only way we have a chance to win this game.

Yup.

That's why I sometimes wish I could get a press pass, fly up to Lincoln and ask Bo point blank if that's the premise of his defense and WHY he runs that silly scheme? Again, if there is proof that we run this "patty cake DL" scheme by design, then Bo is simply not a very good DC. To me it just looks like we have no talent on the DL and that equates to guys not being able to shed blocks.

We got after the QB in the Mich St game. He was pressured all day long, but it was because we actually went after him. Obviously the QBs are entirely different players, but I can guarantee we will lose if Denard is not pressured. When he is pressured, he makes alot of mistakes. Will he scamper from time to time? Yes, but it's better than being picked apart in the passing game. And I understand he isn't a good passer, but when you have more than five seconds for the WRs to get open and for the QB to make a decision, it's pretty simple pitch and catch.

If we put pressure on him, we win this game.

That's what MSU did. They harassed the bejesus out of him. The question is - can NU generate that same pass rush without giving up huge runs? MI has found a RB now (Toussant) and he's very good. We'll have to keep the rush lanes in check. This is where great DE play comes in - and which we have ZERO talent. MSU had great DE play in that game.

I sure am surprised we have any wins, Imean we are constantly being told how little talent our team has. :sarcasm It is simply moronic to say that!

So if we have 8 wins with zero talent, that must mean that Bo is the greatest coach ever. :sarcasm

 

[AustinHuskr]

I'm more concerned about Toussaint than Robinson. It's going to be a long day if he's getting 5-6 yards a carry.

There's hope....

Supposedly MI's OL is not very good. And they have a few guys banged up.

 

[bshirt]

Yes! Sure was....CNNSI was a blast & Talent's site was cool too.
Is Talent still around? I bet he's dying a horrible death this year. Haha....

When WXing went down, Talent and crew set up shop at a sub-thread at Cletus' Goat Pen site.

You will recognize many old names/friends there, like Entropy and Wizard.

http://goatpen.net/forums/

Wow.....THANK YOU, my kind sir. I really appreciate it!

 

[Enhance]

I don't think NU fans are going to see much "pressure" on Robinson. The d-line will play with a controlled rush forcing Robinson to "run away" from the play. NU will play man on the backside (with the backside DL just playing containment) allowing an extra person LB or DB to follow Robinson to the "play side". This will be the formula to contain Robinson and force a turnover or two.

With Dennard in a man-to-man, and Green playing in a zone with Stafford/Cassidy, the Wolverines might actually just play into the strengths that the Husker defense has. David/Stafford will be able to run and make plays.

Going out on a limb...Nebraska 38; Michigan 17 (Robinson will score at least once on pure athleticism)

NU offensively: keep doin' what you do!!!

If the d-line comes out and plays with a controlled rush, we can automatically mark this down as an "L". Sorry, but the controlled rush thing is the dumbest thing I have seen. It looks like the d-linemen are just standing around and not even trying. I mean, what's the point? So the QB has all day to sit back there and pick apart our D? The d-line has enough problems pressuring QBs and then you ask them for a controlled rush? Forget about it. Controlled rush equates to ZERO pressure and ALL day for WRs to get open and the QB to get them the ball.

Get after Denard with blitzes and let our d-linemen loose. That's the only way we have a chance to win this game.

Yup.

That's why I sometimes wish I could get a press pass, fly up to Lincoln and ask Bo point blank if that's the premise of his defense and WHY he runs that silly scheme? Again, if there is proof that we run this "patty cake DL" scheme by design, then Bo is simply not a very good DC. To me it just looks like we have no talent on the DL and that equates to guys not being able to shed blocks.

Bo isn't a DC - he's a head coach. Just sayin'.

Anyways, I don't remember hearing complaints about this scheme the last two years. It seemed to be working pretty well most games, which is about all you can ask for from a defense. Was it is always perfect? No. Were their faults? Sure. But ask yourself this - what defense is capable of shutting down every single team week, to week, to week? Not a single one.

That said, scheme and player talent has been brought up a lot this year. This our first year in the B1G, and Bo said in the off-season that they were going to have to change some things. One thing, specifically, was that Bo felt we weren't going to get away with the tight secondary coverage we had been doing in previous years. Now that we've reverted back to it, you've seen that our secondary has played pretty well the last few weeks. Poor against NW, but they shut down some very good receivers from MSU.

Give Bo time to readjust to a new conference with a new style of football. It's unfair to question his abilities, and straight up call him a bad coach, when he has proven (at almost every level of football) that he knows what he's doing.

 

[AustinHuskr]

I don't think NU fans are going to see much "pressure" on Robinson. The d-line will play with a controlled rush forcing Robinson to "run away" from the play. NU will play man on the backside (with the backside DL just playing containment) allowing an extra person LB or DB to follow Robinson to the "play side". This will be the formula to contain Robinson and force a turnover or two.

With Dennard in a man-to-man, and Green playing in a zone with Stafford/Cassidy, the Wolverines might actually just play into the strengths that the Husker defense has. David/Stafford will be able to run and make plays.

Going out on a limb...Nebraska 38; Michigan 17 (Robinson will score at least once on pure athleticism)

NU offensively: keep doin' what you do!!!

If the d-line comes out and plays with a controlled rush, we can automatically mark this down as an "L". Sorry, but the controlled rush thing is the dumbest thing I have seen. It looks like the d-linemen are just standing around and not even trying. I mean, what's the point? So the QB has all day to sit back there and pick apart our D? The d-line has enough problems pressuring QBs and then you ask them for a controlled rush? Forget about it. Controlled rush equates to ZERO pressure and ALL day for WRs to get open and the QB to get them the ball.

Get after Denard with blitzes and let our d-linemen loose. That's the only way we have a chance to win this game.

Yup.

That's why I sometimes wish I could get a press pass, fly up to Lincoln and ask Bo point blank if that's the premise of his defense and WHY he runs that silly scheme? Again, if there is proof that we run this "patty cake DL" scheme by design, then Bo is simply not a very good DC. To me it just looks like we have no talent on the DL and that equates to guys not being able to shed blocks.

Bo isn't a DC - he's a head coach. Just sayin'.

Anyways, I don't remember hearing complaints about this scheme the last two years. It seemed to be working pretty well most games, which is about all you can ask for from a defense. Was it is always perfect? No. Were their faults? Sure. But ask yourself this - what defense is capable of shutting down every single team week, to week, to week? Not a single one.

That said, scheme and player talent has been brought up a lot this year. This our first year in the B1G, and Bo said in the off-season that they were going to have to change some things. One thing, specifically, was that Bo felt we weren't going to get away with the tight secondary coverage we had been doing in previous years. Now that we've reverted back to it, you've seen that our secondary has played pretty well the last few weeks. Poor against NW, but they shut down some very good receivers from MSU.

Give Bo time to readjust to a new conference with a new style of football. It's unfair to question his abilities, and straight up call him a bad coach, when he has proven (at almost every level of football) that he knows what he's doing.

The run defense has always been porous. Even with Suh we had games where we just couldn't stop the run.

 

[scarletNcream]

True. The controlled rush D is like my boarder collie herding my lab only until my lab gets a clue that she can run through her because she is just standing there on one side.

 

[Enhance]

The run defense has always been porous. Even with Suh we had games where we just couldn't stop the run.

Very true. I'm not saying I've been a huge fan over the last few years of our run defense, but it's quite obvious (at least to me) that Bo's emphasis is stopping the pass. Forget all the technicalities, because the concept is this - contain the quarterback, drop into coverage, stick to the receivers like glue and either force a bad throw or get a coverage sack. Because of this emphasis, our run defense struggles I think. And in run defense - contain the linemen and let your backers hit the gap for a tackle. Of course, when we're lining up only six in the box to their seven, it's tough to do anything because we focus on the pass so much.

Again, we are facing different types of monsters this year than in years past. Different styles of backs with more power run football is a staple of a lot of Big 10 teams. I think we should trust Bo to evaluate his defense at the end of the season and make the necessary adjustments. It could be talent, it could be scheme, it could be both.

The interesting thing to me is this - we heard all off season that we were going back to more traditional defensive sets. Yet, the last few weeks especially, we've been doing a 4-2 set with two deep safeties a lot. It's very reminiscent of last year's defense and the year before. Ergo, it's obvious we're not tough enough up front yet to deal with power run games, and it's even more obvious that we struggle to stop the run when using this defense. I think a big issue is linebacker inconsistent, outside of David. Our linebackers aren't athletic enough to stick to receivers but also plug the run game effectively. David's the only one who does it and does it well imho.

 

[walksalone]

I saw this at the end of an article, and thought it was interesting...

Michigan has lost five straight home games against ranked opponents by an average of 16.6 points.

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/preview?gid=201111190029

 

[Mierin]

we cosre more poitns than michuigain derpa derp derp har har har. (i swear, someone replies with that every time this question is asked).

so for the real strategy: we spy robinson, which pelini is not wont to do. so we don't spy robinson. instead, we do well offensively and don't bother with defense. the end.