Mailbag question: Handling the power running game?
My concern is the big power running teams. Our outcome was fine with ND.
However, how do we stop huge, power running teams in the future, with our smaller, quicker guys? That in the future is my biggest concern. Are we a little small up front?
Trduke
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Thanks for the question.
One of things Coach Robinson did against Notre Dame is play more man and pulled the safeties into the box.
There were times Michigan was basically in a 9-man front with the cornerbacks on a big island. We would also expect to see Michigan play more of the 4 deep look, especially with Herron in the game.
In our opinion, one that is easy to support, you are indeed onto something that will be an issue all season, namely size differential. How will Michigan defense hold up against bigger stronger offenses?
Notre Dame definitely has one of the bigger, more experienced offensive lines Michigan will face. This is a group of highly sought after players, many of which UM recruited heavily.
Michigan's quickness in the second half did cause some problems as exhibited by Notre Dame having numerous holding penalties.
Teams with big strong tight ends, like Notre Dame's Rudolph, pose a clear threat. He was a problem on Saturday and we are still not sure why Notre Dame did not use him more. Likely others are wondering the same thing.
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Written by CoachBt and ErocWolverine
Again, think back to the bowl game two years ago when WV totally dominated the beefy corn-fed favorites Oklahoma. Though RR had left by then, it was still basically his team.
ReplyDeleteSize might be more of a problem for this group due to their inexperience and lack of depth, but as these issues get worked out, speed, smarts, and Barwis will prevail.
Go Blue!
Don't they used Rudolph after the first couple of series due to pressure. They pretty much went to max protect "Two man" routes after that, well on many occasions. Cissoko's injury and his inability to play off/loose man did not help us. He will get better, both physically and mentally.
ReplyDeleteWould like to see better decision making from the LBs, but that might happen only in the offseason.
In the mean time would like to see Big Will, Turner and Vlad getting on with it and start getting into the rotation by mid season. Might be a difficult task, but studs get it done, at least pray they get it done.