As a football fan, I follow several websites . . . obviously Eleven Warriors, but also Michigan-centric Mgoblog, about all things Michigan Sports. (And for the record, there are plenty of things I like more about Eleven Warriors website in terms of functionality. You win, in that regard.)
Last week at Mgoblog, there was a discussion which came off of Klatt's assertion that OSU would win The Game in 2022 6 times out of 10. In the discussion, several thoughts were shared about the respective defenses, both OSU's and Michigan's. DISCUSSION LINK: https://mgoblog.com/content/wtka-roundtable-7202023-excuse-enough-talk-45-23
Here are the relevant points:
- OSU had to play a gambler's defense with their safeties in the box because they could not play their base defense against Michigan.
- M practiced the right defense to beat OSU as their base defense all year. OSU's offense is predicated on the fact they can beat anyone's athletes, and that was true against even Georgia.
- Michigan's defense is designed to screw with NFL passing offenses, and OSU's is the most NFL passing offense in CFB.
- Lathan Ransom had a bad game.
So, I am a football fan, and not a football coach. I'd really like for a coach or a good football mind at 11W to explain this in more detail to me. I'm especially interested in the first point. Is it true that OSU had to abandon their base defense? And move their safeties to the box? Ideally, I think this would be a good topic for an article. I don't remember reading about this here. But if this was covered previously, please reply with a link. I vaguely think that I heard something about this on Youtube from OSU commentators reviewing and dissecting and doing a post mortem on 2022's interation of The Game. But I don't remember the details.
Still, if OSU's defensive athletes aren't good enough in their base defense to beat Michigan, I'd like to have a better understanding of that. Because I always assume that OSU has great athletes.
And if you want to comment on the other points, that's fine too.
Thanks!
