Mailbag Question: Michigan running the 3-3-5 stack Defense, WHY?

Hey Guys,

It was a terrible loss on Saturday. I have a few questions.

Why did we run the West Virginia 3-3-5 defense against Purdue and why are the players playing so poorly with bad fundamentals, poor tackling, and bad pursuit angles and terrible containment?

Coaching or just not football players? Are they better athletes then football players?

Thanks ... Jim from Tampa

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Thanks for the questions and keep them coming. This helps us as much as it helps you understand what is going on, or what we think is going on.

It appears to us that Coach Shafer is longer in charge of the defense. That is why they changed to the 3-3-5 stack defense.

Coach Shafer has never run this defense before and we doubt he would make that change, especially in the middle of the season with so much to learn.

There a multiple problems here with this defense:

Coach Rod did not do a good job assembling his defensive staff. You have Coach Shafer, a 4-3 person who also likes his 3-4/Okie Defense.

You have Coach Hopson who is a 4-3 and 4-2 nickel person.

Then you have Coaches Tall and Coach Gibson who are 3-3-5 and 4-4 people.

Just not a good fit.

As for the players, they were recruited to play in a completely different scheme and philosophy. They do not have the skills to handle playing aggressive, in space game.

Yesterday the team looked slow and maybe even a bit overtrained. It's possible they spent extra time on field installing the new defense. The players who are not sure and confident of assignments have a tendency to look and play slow.

written by CoachBt and ErocWolverine