Upon Further Review 2014: Defense Vs Indiana

FORMATION NOTES: Michigan spent almost every standard down in a 4-3 over with Ross as your SAM. Once Indiana managed to get Ross flipped way out to the sideline. He's the guy at the bottom of the screen here:

SUBSTITUTION NOTES: No Henry, so lots of Wormley and lesser amounts of Godin. Gedeon made the odd appearance when Michigan went to a 3-3-5. Countess didn't play much… pretty sure only nickel packages.

The rest was as per usual.

[After THE JUMP: shortest UFR in a long time, because Indiana.]

This is… short.

Remarkably so. Since a 24 point deficit with 7 minutes left was filed as garbage time (by everybody: Indiana didn't go for two after their TD), this chart has just 42 plays. IU had one drive longer than five plays, that their FG drive out of halftime, and just two drives longer than ten yards.

I don't really have much to say as a result. Indiana was crippled by their quarterback situation, and when Coleman fumbled a couple times to hurt (or end) IU's first two drives and then took the next three off, it was game over.

As a result the

chrt

chart is pretty light on numbers. Remember that RR game where Indiana had something like 110 plays? This was not that game.

Glasgow returned to his normal levels of PT after a couple of weeks where he wasn't playing much. Injury? Maybe. I'd guess he was dinged, because his replacements weren't doing as well as he did.

Anything of interest?

I do have a little bit. Earlier this year I was complaining about the defensive tackles in the pass rush. Not so much that they weren't getting any—that's life as a DT—but that they weren't doing the basic thing you have to do to help your buddies get sacks. That would be stay in your lane and push the pocket.

Here is an example of doing this well:

Neither DE makes a Brandon Graham style move here, but after the initial coverage is good and Beyer gets through Diamont has nowhere to go but down. That's because the DTs are pushing up the middle of the pocket without getting either too close together or too far apart. They haven't done that much this year, which has contributed to Clark's lack of production.

This is still inconsistent. One guy will do it; the other guy won't. Here's Mone not doing what he did on the above clip, releasing the QB into the second level.

Ryan should still make that tackle; that's a much easier job if the QB is delayed at all.

Meanwhile, contrast Wormley and Mone on this play—Mone is the good example this time:

Mone is in control and rips back to the hole once it's clear where the RB is going. Wormley over-penetrates and has no play once he does that. Sometimes it's not just about being in your gap by being on the correct side of the blocker, it's about anchoring in place so that the rest of the D doesn't have to shut down a lane the size of the Panama Canal.

Mone showed some power though?

He did thump a third down and short dead by discarding an OL:

He remains a freshman NT, though, and there's a certain level of error that goes hand in hand. One of Indiana's best gains of the day came when Mone ended up right next to Beyer on a play that was otherwise pretty stuffed up:

(Bolden played a large part in that as well; he gets stuck behind a double trying to check two gaps when the blitz Michigan has on means he should be free to attack the gap where the play actually goes.)

Lots of linebacker points.

Both linebackers had nice games, with the caveat that it's not too hard to have 'em when throwing is not an option for the other team. Bolden got a sack on that blitz Mattison has where he drops both DEs and shoots three guys up the middle (I'm calling it "spine" so I don't have to say that mouthful anymore). On that play he made IU's running back look like Michigan's RB pickups of a year ago:

His quickness was also on display on this blitz, where he's under an OL in a flash and absorbs the pulling G:

I didn't clip much from Ryan except the missed tackle but he had a fine day himself.

WHY DON'T YOU GIVE THE ORDER OF ST KOVACS TO GLASGOW ALREADY –BISB

I did, man. I did. But here's Glasgow destroying an OL to blow up a play anyway:

And here he is tossing the C to the ground to give Jake Ryan a free shot at the RB:

And oh right the strip/recovery.

He and everyone else struggled against Michigan State; he's still a very legit Big Ten player.

Anything… else?

Uh, no.

I guess that's understandable.

This was less of a game than almost anything I've seen before. Hooray?

Heroes?

ILBs, Glasgow, everybody in general.

Maybe not so heroic?

Thought Wormley did not do as well as the rest of the DL.

What does it mean for Northwestern and the future?

This is a pretty good D. It's not a great D. It lacks any true star, with Lewis and maybe one of the ILBs coming closest, but it doesn't have huge weaknesses except when you get down to the backup DTs. That should be good enough to keep Northwestern down for most of the game unless Siemian goes off because I'm watching him play.