Upon Further Review 2014: Defense vs Penn State

FORMATION NOTES: Michigan introduced a true 3-3-5 package, not the standup Frank Clark stuff we've seen before. Here's a weird example with Godin, the guy who was usually the nose in this formation, shaded over a tackle. This was for hijinks; more of ten it just looked like a regular 3-3-5.

Other than that, standard.

SUBSTITUTION NOTES: A shakeup on the line as Charlton started, as did Mone and Wormley. Henry was out with an injury (presumably one to his thumb); Glasgow was absent for most of the game but then came on late and played well. Super, super weird. Beyer reclaimed most of his PT by halftime; Mone and Wormley were spotted by Hurst and Godin, getting almost equal time.

LB was the usual, except when Michigan went to a new 3-3-5 package Gedeon was the third option instead of Ross.

Secondary was Lewis 100% of the time I think with Taylor getting more PT than Countess; Countess and Hollowell split nickel snaps. I think it was Clark and Wilson at safety with Thomas occasionally spotting Clark but given the way this played out the safeties weren't on the screen much.

[After THE JUMP: Penn State not so much.]

HOORAY

Penn State is really bad.

aw man why you gotta harsh me like that

I'm just saying don't get your hopes up. There was a play on which Penn State was running a pin and pull zone and one of their OL pulled the wrong way.

My hopes aren't up I'm just enjoying this non-loss.

All right, do that. Just don't take too much from this game. Penn State knew it couldn't protect Hackenberg, based its entire strategy around this, and still got sacked six times. So… yeah. They're not good.

WE GET IT

I'm just saying that this

CHART

chart may be a little less rapturous than you would expect from a game in which you hold the opposition to well under 300 yards because on some plays I chalked up most of the doings to Penn State.

Huge  bounce back from the secondary, though part of that is on the PSU OL and Hackenberg being indecisive. Indecisive is great compared to what we've seen so far. Nobody's been indecisive against Michigan all year and even if this is a broken Penn State team I didn't expect them to be quite so broken. I figured they'd complete a bunch of dinky junk. They didn't complete it well enough to hold the ball.

What happened early?

Unfortunately the torrent I got doesn't have the first three plays, one of which was the 31-yarder to kick things off. That burst outside, IIRC, and I think that was Charlton's location. A couple plays later Charlton would get edged when Michigan had the play dead to rights if he just forces it back:

Instead it's a first down, and Brennen Beyer gets a lot of playing time after.

What was with Glasgow's absence?

No idea. He didn't seem to play until the middle of the third quarter and then he was out there most of the fourth, and playing well. I could be wrong about this since Godin and Glasgow are really hard to tell apart in these jerseys, but since they play different positions it seemed straightforward to me.

Godin did pretty well for himself, BTW. It was his instant pressure up the middle that forced the critical Hackenberg interception:

Godin was also the second guy on the Hackenberg sack that ended any comeback hopes for Penn State, churning his feet like Mike Hart to work through a double team and getting penetration when the threat of a stunt leaves him singled up with an angle; his presence sets up Clark for the killshot:

He's a three tech and is unlikely to pass Henry but the last few weeks I've preferred him to Wormley, I think.

Do you think Chris Spielman enjoyed anything about this game?

Yes. Yes I do.

Spielman was probably watching some other game because he has that option but when that happened he felt the disturbance in the linebacker force and involuntarily screamed WOOOOO! I guarantee this.

Man, Ross had a game. On this second and goal he gets a route-destroying chuck on a TE:

That chuck also slows the route up enough to prevent it from damaging Michigan's coverage on the WR crossing behind; Hackenberg has nowhere to go and eats a sack almost entirely because of that play by Ross.

Here he strings out a jet sweep against a blocker basically by himself:

He had a senior Stevie Brown kind of game. Makes you wonder about the nickel focus earlier in the year and starting RJS. Michigan's coaches seem to have problems seeing who their best players are.

That Bolden number is weird. I thought he was doing well?

He was doing okay. Not so much on Saturday.

I don't like it when someone starts coming out super negative unless they get yanked, especially when they seem like a good player most of the time. So I start clipping everything defensively. I did that here. I thought Bolden had a very bad day.

Here he gets out of his lane and ends up on the ground, so Hackenberg can flip for a first down after almost getting sacked:

You want Countess to get him on the ground there but sacks often take two guys and Bolden should have been there to clean up or at least prevent Hackenberg from moving up in the pocket so easily.

Here he loses faith in the rest of the defense and hops outside to a gap that is definitely not his (watch Jeremy Clark charging down to the outside and Frank Clark rip back outside when the back threatens). He's unblocked and barely gets to touch the RB's ankle on a nice gain that should have been zero:

A similar incident happened later; Ryan burst into the backfield and forced the back away from the frontside, into an unblocked James Ross. Bolden tried to fight to an already-filled gap and when the back cut away from Ross his absence turned a 0 yard gain into 4.

Here is an ole on a tight end, which is just like…

…that's a tight end, man.

He got erased on some blocks as well, one from a wide receiver, the other an OL. I think I clipped almost everything he did wrong and very little he did right and that's not entirely fair to him but I'm defending my number here and if the above isn't convincing I don't know what to tell you. He struggled, a lot.

Here's to a bounceback next week.

How did Wilson end up negative when they completed nothing downfield?

There wasn't really much to do in the secondary so anything bad puts you down in the hole, and Wilson had a couple. He overran a  flanker screen and turning what should have been a modest gain into a first down:

I was also not a fan of Wilson's reaction to another flanker screen. It worked out because the throw was to a freshman TE instead of a Norfleet type but going to the inside of this block is asking for a big play on your face:

Elsewhere in the secondary, Countess did get beat for the touchdown but barely; if a guy has a rake at the ball and it doesn't come out that's life. He did some good things, too, shutting down a third and medium completion short of the sticks.

Heroes?

Clark, Godin, Ryan, Lewis, Taylor, Ross.

Maybe not so heroic?

Bolden, Wilson. The backup NTs were nowhere near as impactful as Glasgow.

What does it mean for Michigan State and beyond?

It means Michigan might hold up decently well before a version of last year's game reasserts itself.

As far as beyond-beyond, Lewis continues to prove himself Michigan's top corner and getting good contributions from Godin is a bonus I hope to see continue; the backup DTs do not seem ready for prime time outside of him.