Upon Further Review 2015: Defense vs Oregon State

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FORMATION NOTES: Michigan stuck mostly with its nickel even against a run-oriented spread team. At times either Peppers or Hill would line up as a WLB:

My deeply unsatisfying nomenclature for this was "nickel 4-3." I know this is a nonsense thing to say, but this is the world we live in.

I also don't like calling this a "3-3-5 nickel" since it's really just taking a DE and having him run at the LOS:

I need better lingo for that if you've got it.

M did this some with Frank Clark last year and they're continuing to do it with Ojemudia. I kind of get the idea, but execution so far has been weak.

Oregon State used a lot of H-backs and I designated those with "H" after whatever the formation is. This is Shotgun TE H for the Beavers. Michigan is an actual 4-3 here.

PERSONNEL NOTES: Much the same as the first game, with heavy rotation on the front that justifies the OR next to Matt Godin's name. He played both DE and DT and probably got as much time as either Henry or Wormley. Glasgow probably got the most snaps on the DL; Hurst appearances were infrequent. It was mostly Ojemudia at buck, with a reasonable number of RJS appearances.

Secondary was as in the first game: Lewis, Peppers, Hill, Wilson + Stribling/Clark. When they went to a 4-3 it was Stribling/Clark coming off the field instead of Hill. After Lewis went out it was Stribling and Clark. Dymonte Thomas got some snaps in the dime.

LBs were Morgan and Bolden with Ross coming in for 4-3 snaps; Gedeon and Ross both got a couple drives as ILBs.

[After THE JUMP: short is good]

They did not get any yards.

No. Oregon State drives:

• 79-yard TD drive
• 50 yard drive that ends on downs
• 31 yards and punt
• ~20 yard drive before Tacopunts
• 5 three and outs
• four and out
• two play fumble drive

That's thoroughly dominant.

So then what happened on that one drive?

That drive came in four big chunks. On the first one Oregon State busted a big run up the middle:

That is a corner blitz on which a couple of players don't react to the fact that they've got Peppers roaring to the back of the play; Glasgow and Godin get creased and Morgan is way too concerned with the QB or RB popping out the backside given the D playcall. (Also check out how much ground Peppers makes up on this dude as he chases from behind.)

James Ross is held blatantly on the second:

You can see that Ross wins that block and gets outside of it, but then he cannot release because the tight end is grabbing the outside of his shoulder pads. The way Ross moves after he gets outside the block is completely unnatural and should have been a dead giveaway, but this was only the start of a largely incompetent day from the refereeing crew.

Stribling played a hitch badly on a ball that could have been intercepted for 12 yards; the rest came on the touchdown:

Lewis ends up trailing there but that's an NFL window that Oregon State hit. Here is a cookie.

CHART

You didn't even interrupt me.

I thought I would follow the example of the defense in the second half and just cut you off before you even get started. 

Ah so. This was 53 plays; a pretty short game.

Themes include bouncebacks from Bolden and Ojemudia, Ross pressing for PT, the continued excellent performance of a deep DL, and Wormley blowing up.

The chart is very encouraging for the six men who are rotating on the defensive line. Even when the backups are in Michigan is getting plays like this from Godin and Charlton:

And Wormley, I mean.

ooh kill 'em

Yep. Wormley was again terrific. This play is a TFL that he gets by coming under a blocker:

If he does not get that it's… well, it might be okay because Willie Henry is similarly destructive. But if it gets past both those guys there are no linebackers for miles. Wormley is surprisingly good in space for a large man. Here he cuts off the outside and recovers to tackle:

That's the kind of thing I'm impressed by when a 250-pound guy like Ojemudia does it. At 300 pounds I be like dang.

Also:

It's not just the swim move, it's the timing of it. He waits just long enough to get the guard looking elsewhere and the tackle moving to kick him out.

Wormley was not just making these plays, either. His Utah performance was slightly hollow in that he was either doing something spectacular or not doing much; here he stressed the Oregon State offense play in and play out. That's how you get to +15, which is a Mike Martin/Brandon Graham number. He's hit the exponential bit of his growth curve.

Meanwhile Bolden did not draw ire again?

Bolden was better in this game. He said he made a couple mistakes on the opening drive but I didn't catch anything that was material to the plays on which Oregon State actually gained yards; I'm pretty sure he's conflating that zone read keeper a bit later with the Wormley TFL on the opening drive that saw neither LB anywhere near a ballcarrier. If he's not then whatever he messed up was too subtle for me to catch without knowing the playcall.

Bolden did get to just about the sideline on one of the most dangerous plays Oregon State had:

I kind of wish he went to the sideline slightly flatter and didn't make this as hairy as it was but he took on a block and got off it to make a play that saved Michigan 20+ yards, with help from Peppers. That was looking bad. Also the fumble was a bit of luck but Bolden did make a nice one handed grab on it.

I thought Morgan made a couple of mistakes as well; on the other hand, bang:

A lot of linebackers allow the back to squeeze out a few yards there. Morgan also showed a bit as a blitzer, running through some cut blocks and flying up to sack on a delayed attack. That has not been a major part of his game to date.

I liked Ross in this game. When he was in he was decisive. He does not take a block here but it's not uncommon to see linebackers sit on fakes like these, unsure of where to go. Ross does not. His flash to the hole cuts the QB off and boots OSU off the field when the D rallies:

Both the starting ILBs had instances where they did not do this, like on the first clip in this column where Morgan gets caught outside. If Michigan ever plays a pro-style outfit he'll be an asset.

Pepper done killed that man.

He needed killin'.

At this instant Peppers is a bad cover guy and the best tiny linebacker. Heck, Michigan lined him up as the latter in this game and that went fine.

He didn't have to take on a block from an OL but I mean all right.

Blocking someone with his explosiveness on the edge is a futile task. This is a screen that he turns in barely outside the hash and still gets a tackle in on, because he can wait until the proper moment and just explode past the guy who drew the short straw:

Peppers gets places fast and brings a pop when he gets there. Sometimes he makes the play himself and sometimes he allows others to rally to make it, because he's constricting space that other guys cannot.

Even on plays where he's not making the tackle because the rest of Michigan's defense has it on lockdown he's proving himself close to unblockable. His raw speed is ridiculous…

…and he's able to cover tons of ground in desperate situations while still remaining balanced and able to tackle. He bounces up from cuts to help tackle. The Hybrid Space Player stuff is fire 100 fire 100 fire.

As far as coverage…

…it's a bit rougher. When you are Peppers and at boundary you can just line up with inside leverage and refuse all routes to the inside and then run down the sideline with the guy until you get a questionable PI call on you; at nickel it's a different world. Peppers was a high school safety, remember, so he's being asked to do the toughest bits of coverage without much experience. I expect improvement over the year; it is not good right now.

FWIW, I don't think the guy who was open during the Ignominous Murder Of That One Dude was Pepper's guy but a missed swap by the cover three gents. Also, Peppers did this to a person:

I can hear the "OOH OOH AHAHAH" from that "Down With The Sickness" dude already on some 14-year-old's highlight video.

I hear that we're missing Bryan Mone?

Mone got a lot of hype in the offseason and there are still consistent moans from a couple places about his absence hurting the defense. I'd like to have him, to be sure, but the idea he'd be displacing Ryan Glasgow much is fanciful to me. Maybe if Glasgow ends up not able to stand up to the MSU/OSU lines I'll feel that loss more acutely.

Right now not so much. Glasgow has built on a promising first year as a starter and is now a highly consistent, disruptive interior DL. He's got a great feel for the game. Here he catches a downblock and rips through it almost automatically:

I don't think he even bothered to look at that guy.

Glasgow is capable of blowing guys up with raw power as well:

He has terrific endurance and has even added a little pass rush this year. Michigan is lucky to have him.

The magic eight ball said "ask again later" about the second corner last week. What does it say this week?

Ask again later.

For the second straight week we didn't get much information here. What we got was decidedly mixed. Clark had one nice pass breakup, but it he was a step off on a slant and the QB helped him out a little there:

That's still a quality play. Ideally he stays a step closer to the WR.

He got beat on a similar route earlier, and sometimes it looked like QB incompetence and Michigan's pass rush helped him out when his change of direction was not sufficient to keep up with short routes.

Stribling had top notch coverage on one attempted fade…

…and misplayed a poorly thrown hitch earlier in the game. On that play he was torn between playing the short guy tight or dropping into a deeper route; he ended up allowing the short WR to attack the ball while he leapt straight up.

Lewis only got targeted twice. One was the Oregon State TD; the other was the badass PBU that knocked him out.

He also blew leverage on a screen, but he's still really good. If I was Michigan I'd hold him out against UNLV. That'll be a blowout either way and he's too valuable to risk even a little bit.

Do we even have opinions on safeties yet?

No, not really. As a team and defense they are doing well. Michigan's coped well with all the jet action, shooting playside S down as they remove a backside guy or a corner to free safety depth. Hill had a bust in this game where he played zone while everyone else was in man; on the other hand, this is our first on-field glimmer of why certain insiders were so gung-ho about him over the offseason:

That is an impressive open field tackle on a shifty dude.

Thomas is only getting on the field in the dime package right now. It's clear they like him, as they could just keep their nickel on the field without much dropoff—M will rotate Hill or Lewis down to man coverage happily. But the mistakes we've seen from him in the past cropped up again on the tunnel screen that could have broken for a touchdown if the wide receiver perceived that Thomas had done something so deeply weird:

I don't know how much indication that WR had to give Thomas that he was blocking for a screen before Thomas realized it. The whole play he ends up shadowing a guy who is in no way a threat to get the ball.

It's tough to play that guy at safety if he's going to do something like that.

What is with this 3-3-5 thing where the DE is hanging out near the NT?

I think the idea is to surprise the OL with the destination of the DE and get some additional push since he gets a running start, but it's not really working out. Ojemudia is uncomfortable with it and doesn't get the kind of hits I think Michigan wants him to get, and then there are huge bubbles on the DL that allow second level blocks to get out easily.

Here Ojemudia gets ripped out of the hole and blown back; easy release for the other guy on the double:

Things are going very well when Michigan just plays it straight. This seems like unnecessary frippery that you don't even need.

Heroes?

Wormley. Tiny linebacker Peppers. Most of the defensive line to some degree.

Not so heroic?

The weakest part of the D was the second CB; Thomas could have cost M a touchdown.

What does it mean for UNLV and the future?

UNLV gonna die. Think last year's Indiana game minus Tevin Coleman.

Wormley comin'. I hope he's whistling the Farmer In The Dell. A few more weeks of this and it'll be time to start mentioning him with Calhoun and Bosa and so forth and so on.

The rest of the DL is going to whip just about everyone they play, too. MSU and OSU and everyone else is very, very tractable.

Jabrill Peppers is not an All American yet. Coverage issues are consistent so far. He's great at the HSP stuff. He should get better at the coverage; he's got more room for error than most.

The linebackers are fine. Neither great nor terrible; they are B+ guys.

I am slightly worried about that second corner spot. Early indicators are not great.