Coaches Corner: Ohio State at Michigan Preview - When Michigan has the Football

When Michigan has the ball:

Ohio State plays a base 4-3 zone blitz scheme. They will use a double zone, 3 under 3 deep about 95% of the time. Ohio State has added some 3-3 stack to their nickel package, but the schemes and packages are the same or at least look similar.

Ohio State will use a strong side and quick side to the defense much of the time. With the SDE and LEO, Ohio State version of SLBer following the TE. Up front Ohio State will use a 1-tech DT Todd Denlinger a big tough player and Dexter Larimore another tough kid, I do not buy the 300 lb listing. And a 3 tech DT converted DE Worthington, a good athlete who is not as strong at point of attack as other Ohio State DT's have been.

In the secondary Ohio State rolls or rotates he secondary to one side of the field. They prefer to roll into the boundary. This keep WLBer out of the flat. But havethey roll rolling more to the field this year. This is because Freeman and Laurinitis are excellent at LBer drops. Ohio State will roll to a specific WR if he is hurting them. Did this with both Braylon and MM in the past.

If Michigan is going to win they have to run the football better. Strength of Ohio State team is the back 7. This is especially true in nickel. Ohio State has best nickel in Big Ten and one of top in country. All the DE's Gholston, Wilson, and Rose are excellent pass rushers and the zone blitzes are a pain in the ass to pick up. Laurinitis and Grant, a physical freak are excellent blitzers. But this is not a particularly big defense and it can be muscled. Ohio State because of its quickness and aggressiveness can be hurt with counters and misdirections.

Another area Michigan needs to exploit is TE. Again, the DE's are not overly large and have had some difficulty with TE's. Beckham had some success against Ohio State. TE's and slots attacking center, between the hashes can really give a rotation secondary in a bind. In fact Michigan works extremely hard at rerouting and impeding inside WR's to combat this, but a TE is tougher to reroute. If you engage TE to hard you open underneath to slots and WR's.

If Michigan is going to win they must block better and this is a team issue, not just a line one. Our TE's, RB's and WR's all must improve, none was particularly effective against Wisconsin. If this does not improve, Saturday could be a long afternoon for Michigan. This is the best defense Michigan has faced this year. They are obviously not unbeatable, but Michigan will have to execute and play full four quarters to beat them. Michigan cannot have three turnovers and numerous penalties. Michigan cannot have numerous three and punts. Coach Tressell is master at controlling and using field position. If Michigan gives Ohio State short fields our chances at winning go way down.


Predictions to come Friday with programming as well.