Notre Dame vs. Michigan: Wolverine Defense Against the Huskies Offense

I thought it would be useful to take a look at how Michigan's defense held a rather quality Connecticut offense (31.2 points per game last year, good for 27th nationally) to just ten points in their game on Saturday.  Zach Frazer, the transfer from Notre Dame, was back in shotgun for a majority of their offensive snaps, with running back Jordan Todman to his side.  If you want to follow along with the play-by-play, go ahead and click here.  The ESPN play-by-play is where I got all my names and yardages from, although Sean McDonough provided some help in clearing up what was going on.  Matt Millen contributed nothing, per usual.  If you want to check out highlights from any particular drive, I provide the timecode of when that drive started, along with a few specific plays I think you should check out.

All plays out of shotgun unless otherwise noted.

 First Drive, 0-0:

The first two plays are a quick throw out the wide receiver in the left flat and a run left.  Both are snuffed out immediately.  After a false start, Michigan gets some pressure on Frazer, who freaks out and throws it well short of his receiver near the line of scrimmage.

Second drive, Michigan 7-0 (:34):

Todman opens up with a nice run around the right side for seven yards, although he has more yardage in front of him and is barely tripped up by Carvin Johnson.  UConn starts moving down the field, as Frazer completes a short pass to his tight end Sherman for a first down before another 8-yard gain by Todman.  Play-action to Sherman again, who finds some open space up the sideline for 15 yards.  Another big run for Todman, this time left for twenty yards.  He has a blocker in front of him but just sort of runs into some tacklers instead of breaking back outside.  Frazer play-actions and has his wide receiver open inside the five yard line, but it's dropped (1).  Todman gets a short gain left on second down, and then on third down, the Wolverines get some more pressure on a weird play that looks like it could have been a screen but was likely just a terrible block by the right tackle.  UConn then gets their 40 yard field goal blocked.

Third drive, Michigan 14-0 (1:43):

Play-action to start and Frazer has his receiver running free down the sideline, but it's dropped (2).  Second down is a decent 4-yard run off the right side.  On third down, Michigan gets a little bit of pressure and Frazer unloads it as Roh speeds around the left tackle Ryan Masters unimpeded.  So far, no one in the passing game is really acquitting themselves well save for Anthony Sherman.

Second Quarter:

Fourth drive, Michigan 14-0 (2:08):

Frazer under center with Todman dotting the I formation behind him.  Michigan has eight in the box and blows up a very slow developing run.  Back in the shotgun, UConn gets an 8-yard gain on a quick wide receiver screen left.  On third and three, Frazer guns it to his receiver in the right slot, who drops it (3).  The receiver didn't set up in front of the marker and this would have likely been a fourth down even if he had come down with it.  Michigan rushed three and dropped eight, so Frazer had plenty of time, but quickly got rid of it anyway to a covered receiver short of the sticks instead of checking his options elsewhere.

Fifth drive, Michigan 21-0 (2:39):

Play-action on first down and slot receiver Kashif Moore runs right past Carvin Johnson on a little corner route and is wide open for a 21-yard gain.  Michigan only rushed three and dropped everyone else way back, leaving a nifty gap about fifteen yards downfield.  The next play is a quick little pass out to the right flat, which Sherman powers up for a 9-yard gain.  I formation on second and one, and a handoff off left guard to Todman goes nowhere, as Michigan was sitting with 8.5 in the box.  On third and one they go back to the I and the same play, this time handing off to DJ Shoemate, who picked up four yards and the first.

On first and ten, Todman goes left out of the shotgun and gets nowhere.  (ESPN was late cutting back to the play and I'm not sure the particulars on how this ended so poorly.)  On second and nine, Frazer throws it well high of his slot receiver running a quick hook to the right side, who was open.  Third and nine, Michigan blitzes and Frazer hits his tight end Delahunt on a little drag route across the middle of the field for 8 yards.  Good throw and catch, well covered, but short of the first.  On fourth and two, back in the I where Shoemate barely gets the first down running over the right side.

On first and ten, a shotgun hand off to Todman, who scratches out a yard on the right side.  On second down Connecticut blitzes and Frazer just sort of tosses it across the middle near a receiver and the umpire, where it falls incomplete.  On 3^rd and 9 at the Michigan 18, Frazer has plenty of time and outlets it to Isiah Moore in the left flat, well, well short of the first down and with two Wolverines between him and the mark.  The Huskies connect on a 32-yard field goal to get on the board.

Sixth drive, Michigan 21-3 (4:03):

With 2:08 left in the first half and starting at their own 23, Frazer has a man up the seam splitting the safety and corner but overthrows him.  On second and ten, they try another wide receiver screen left that gets dropped (4), although it wouldn't have gone for much anyway and probably saved the Huskies some time.  On third and ten, Michigan rushes three, drops eight and lets Michael Smith sit down in the middle of the field for an easy 21-yard gain.  I would recommend going to watch this play at 4:15, as Smith starts out on the right, runs cleanly off the line, around a linebacker and just sits down in front of the safeties for an easy pitch and catch.  For sharing the middle of the field with a half dozen defensive backs, there is a lot of green around him.

On first and ten at the Connecticut 44, a crossing route gets dropped (5).  Roh had come in unblocked on this play, but Frazer still got the ball off cleanly.  On second and ten, they run a six yard hook with the wide receiver out right, but Frazer skips it in short.  On third and ten, Michael Smith is open running a post route and Frazer hits him, but he juggles it three times as he runs by Michigan defenders.  He eventually winds his way down to the Michigan nine-yard line on a 47-yard gain.  Questionable hands and questionable tackling, all on one play.

Starting at the Michigan nine with just under a minute left and two timeouts, UConn runs Todman left for two yards and takes a timeout.  On second down, out of the I formation, Todman runs left down to the three-yard line behind his fullback and a pulling right guard.  On third and goal from the three and Michigan sitting with nine in the box, Toddman runs right out of the I formation for a short gain.  UConn hurries up to the line on fourth and goal and runs left behind the left guard, as the tackle and tight end pinch in on a somewhat confused Michigan defense, to get a touchdown and cut the halftime deficit to 21-10.

Third Quarter

Seventh drive, Michigan 24-10 (5:29):

They open up with a slow-developing swing pass to running back Robbie Frey, who gets back to the line of scrimmage and no further.  The Huskies run a nice play on second down (5:38), bringing the right side of the line around like they're pulling on a run play, causing the left side of the Michigan line to bite in.  Frazer then quickly shoveled it off to Todman, who sprints up the right seam for 17 yards. 

On first and ten at the Michigan 44, Frazer "runs" some sort of confused QB draw, falling down for a loss of four yards when confronted with a totally unblocked Roh.  Play action on second and fourteen finds Michael Smith wide open for a 19-yard gain in that same soft spot of the secondary that's been there the whole game thus far.  No one chips Smith off the line and he just runs up the right seam and turns out towards the sideline for the easy gain.

On first down, Todman takes a handoff right, bounces off the pile and runs into the umpire and a few Michigan defenders after a nine-yard gain.  A shovel off to Todman gets four yards and another first down.  Robbie Frey goes around left end of a quick six yards, then goes right out of the I formation for a gain of one down to the Michigan ten.  On third and three, Leon Kinnard takes a wildcat snap up the middle and is just shy of the first down marker.  Facing fourth and inches at the Michigan seven, UConn goes I formation, runs Shoemate and easily gets the first down...before fumbling at the three-yard line.  I recommend you going to about the 7:40 mark, where Matt Millen actually praises Michigan for allowing a hole to open that gives up the first down because it gave JT Floyd a chance to pop the ballcarrier and cause the fumble.  Crafty Michigan, conceding the first down for a chance at a goal line fumble.  If you weren't aware, Joe Theismann and Matt Millen will be in the NFL Network booth together this season, meaning that if you're not familiar with your mute button yet, you've got plenty of time to become comfortable with it.

Fourth Quarter

Eighth drive, Michigan 30-10 ( 7:51):

12:57 remaining in the game, starting at their own 28.  A miscommunication between Frazer and his wide receiver results in a ball flying out of bounds that was almost picked off.  On second down, Frazer tries for another pick, firing into the chest of the Michigan defensive lineman (Martin?)  who had dropped back into coverage.  Michigan brings five on third and ten, but Frazer steps up nicely in the pocket to get it to tight end Delahunt on a little curl for a gain of nine.  On fourth and short, they run Todman right out of the I, just barely picking up the first down. 

On first and ten, Todman rips a run up the middle, running through about three or four arm tackles on his way to a fourteen yard gain.  On first and ten, Frazer hits his man cleanly for what would be about an eight yard gain, and it is cleanly dropped (6).  Todman breaks another long run out of the shotgun, going over the right side on what looked like some counter action for 15 yards.  Michigan had the safeties back and UConn picked up the first down rather easily.  Todman works his way left for four more yards out of the shotgun, but on second and six, Frazer throws just short of his target in the right flat, but I really feel comfortable calling it another drop (7), or at least a very poor effort coming back to the ball.  On third and six, Robbie Frey gets about half of the yardage needed on a draw left where he had plenty of space in front of him but was dropped by an arm tackle.  On fourth and three, they run Frey right out of the shotgun and he ends up inches short.

~

Finite.  I'm not going to chart the last series, as it started facing a twenty point deficit with eighty-one seconds left and I'm not sure what we could take from it (although I'm sure there's another drop or two).  So, what did we learn?

First off, Connecticut is similar to the mid-2000's Seattle Seahawks in their ability to rack up a large number of drops.  There were at least seven, and maybe more if you wanted to be less critical of Frazer and more judgmental of his targets.  There were guys open, but they either let the ball hit the turf or Frazer didn't see them.  Sometimes this was justified - Roh was causing a lot of trouble all afternoon - but other times Frazer had plenty of time and went to his checkdown instead of pursuing other options.

And oh, the other options were there.  I urge you to look at some of the Michael Smith catches I referenced, as Michigan drops eight in coverage, lets Smith run cleanly off the line and then no one picks him up as he curls for fifteen-to-twenty yard gains.  They're just sitting there all day, waiting to be picked up by a semi-accurate quarterback and receivers who aren't Braylon Ginn, Jr.

To Michigan's credit, they did a good job taking care of short stuff out to either flat, as screens or swing passes were eaten up quickly.  There weren't many tackles missed, other than a few on one particular run in the second half.      UConn didn't run any pitches, but they got a decent amount of push just running draws and counters out of the shotgun.  Also to Randy Edsall's credit is the fact that every time his team went to I formation, they ran the ball.  Every time.  Great trickeration, Randy, you really threw Greg Robinson off his game with that.  They also only ran the wildcat once and besides the nice little shovel pass I highlighted, didn't really turn the playbook past page one or two.  Despite this vanilla effort, Frazer was sacked zero times and threw zero picks (and God, he was trying), and the only turnover was the fumble on the doorstep.

People are correct to point out that while Notre Dame was all over Michigan's defense last year, two of the key players in that domination, Jimmy Clausen and Golden Tate, are no longer on the team.  However, they tend to fail to point out that Brandon Graham, a player taken much higher in the draft than either Clausen or Tate, has also departed onto the professional level.  Graham was probably one of the three or four best defensive players in the country last year, and while Craig Roh and Mike Martin provide some problems up front, it's not going to be anything like dealing with a guy who had 10.5 sacks and 15.5 tackles for loss last year.

No one expected Michigan's defense to be a world-beater this year, and I didn't see anything in the UConn game to change that opinion.  They were feast or famine on the run defense, accruing a decent amount of tackles for loss but also giving up double-digit gains.  The secondary didn't cover anyone and after some early pressure, the pass rush really didn't get to Frazer consistently.  If Dayne Crist and company can take a step forward from their effort against Purdue, they should be able to put up points.  Will they be able to put up enough points to keep up in a race against Denard Robinson?  That remains to be seen.