Thoughts after watching Xichigan against Maryland and Penn State.
Let's not be in denial, Xichigan's offense has picked up where it left off last year:
- OL that is very strong and well coached
- RBs who can pick up tough yards, break long runs, and participate in the passing game
- QB who is an elite athlete but unpolished at the position
- WRs who are not elite, but are good enough to get open and make tough catches
- A philosophy that creates mismatches with adding extra Tackles and Tight Ends to create unbalanced lines and extra gaps to defend
- A philosophy that is content to be vanilla in the passing game until forced by circumstance to be more open and aggressive
- A coach who is patient enough to keep running until attrition sets in on the defense
If you're Ryan Day and Jim Knowles, and you spent the afternoon watching the game at your home - what scheme / game plan are you creating to bottle up Xichigan's running game?
I know Ryan Day wants to score early and often (to quote my good friend Johnny Lawrence, "The best defense is more offense.") to get Xichigan out of their game plan, but there has to be a defensive layer to it.
Do we blitz more? Bring in an extra DL? Extra LB? How does a "safety driven" defense match up against a heavy set o-line package every down?
I think we might gain some clues against our match up against Iowa. I thought we might against Wisconsin but they were out of the game at the end of Q1.
What say you?
