OL and DL
- Thread starter olelion
- Start date
What I noticed when rewatching Olu from last year is that on the plays where he got beat or missed the block, it had no consequence on the play. Clifford didn't get sacked, a run didn't get stuffed.
I noticed that as well. Because rolling right was more prevalent, action was away from Olu. I'll have to check but I thought the running game was more right to right-middle prone.
Right. He got beat occasionally. EVERYONE does. BUT when beaten it wasn't a whiff. QB still had a little time. RT routinely whiffed.
It is painful to rewatch that game but when you do, it is apparent that problems were more than Beamon or DL. Michigan completely confused our LB and secondary with pre-snap motions. Here is example of completely mis-aligned D on first drive. The UM WR motions across the field and ends up undefended on 2 and 4. No one within 15 yards. It was easiest throw and 10 yard gain that you will see.
Another example of big chunk plays because of confusion and misalignment below. Why do we have 5 guys loaded on one side? The play went other way. UM easily pushes the lone LB out of way and Corum picks up 12 easy, up the gut.
Lastly, we ran some garbage plays call at critical times. The dumb 'no chance' fade to Tinsley on 3rd and 4 from 10, after nice drive. We settle for FG. With PSU trying to hang in, we get a pick block on Warren which negates Singleton first down. Cliff scrambles on 3rd and 19 to make manageable 4th and 6. This is the play we get from MY? Cliff has all day yet we have one WR not past marker and Washington was blanketed (Wallace off screen that was covered and Cliff never looked his way). No RB in middle of field as outlet. No TE anywhere to be found. Cliff overthrows Parker on play with no chance. Game over as Corum scored next play (again DL did not attempt straight push. They stood up and shifted which allowed OL to seal them easily. Corum ran right up middle untouched).
Looking at tape. Reason we lost:
1. UM had superior seal blocking for their talented RBs. We got nothing is run game.
2. Out-schemed us with pre-motion. Diaz seemed unprepared. Confused young LBs and secondary
3. UM rolled JJ away from pressure with short and intermed WRs open while Clifford stood in pocket looking for long ball.
4. UM brought pressure and OL folded as game went on.
Interesting that Lee came into game early. DeLuca was playing on key 4th down in 3rd and Allar brought in, down 17 with 12 mins left. That is pretty early and crazier things have happened. I think CJF was pretty frustrated with leadership that day. The only plus was that UM could have scored 60 plus but our red zone D stiffened. We gave up alot of 3rd and longs. Their last TD drive had 3 and 14. What happens? We rush 4. UM shows a fake WR out pass. Rushers get sealed and secondary freezes on out. UM simply brings extra OL to block LB. Edwards pops for 30 up gut. UM just had call for everything we threw at them. Too many young players at LB. That was crux of game to me.
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The linebackers will not be young this year.It is painful to rewatch that game but when you do, it is apparent that problems were more than Beamon or DL. Michigan completely confused our LB and secondary with pre-snap motions. Here is example of completely mis-aligned D on first drive. The UM WR motions across the field and ends up undefended on 2 and 4. No one within 15 yards. It was easiest throw and 10 yard gain that you will see.
Another example of big chunk plays because of confusion and misalignment below. Why do we have 5 guys loaded on one side? The play went other way. UM easily pushes the lone LB out of way and Corum picks up 12 easy, up the gut.
Lastly, we ran some garbage plays call at critical times. The dumb 'no chance' fade to Tinsley on 3rd and 4 from 10, after nice drive. We settle for FG. With PSU trying to hang in, we get a pick block on Warren which negates Singleton first down. Cliff scrambles on 3rd and 19 to make manageable 4th and 6. This is the play we get from MY? Cliff has all day yet we have one WR not past marker and Washington was blanketed (Wallace off screen that was covered and Cliff never looked his way). No RB in middle of field as outlet. No TE anywhere to be found. Cliff overthrows Parker on play with no chance. Game over as Corum scored next play (again DL did not attempt straight push. They stood up and shifted which allowed OL to seal them easily. Corum ran right up middle untouched).
Looking at tape. Reason we lost:
1. UM had superior seal blocking for their talented RBs. We got nothing is run game.
2. Out-schemed us with pre-motion. Diaz seemed unprepared. Confused young LBs and secondary
3. UM rolled JJ away from pressure with short and intermed WRs open while Clifford stood in pocket looking for long ball.
4. UM brought pressure and OL folded as game went on.
Interesting that Lee came into game early. DeLuca was playing on key 4th down in 3rd and Allar brought in, down 17 with 12 mins left. That is pretty early and crazier things have happened. I think CJF was pretty frustrated with leadership that day. The only plus was that UM could have scored 60 plus but our red zone D stiffened. We gave up alot of 3rd and longs. UM just had call for everything we threw at them. Too many young players at LB. That was crux of game to me.
Hopefully Diaz is not as well. They need to be prepared on lanes and assignments. Looking for Durant and Vandenberg to make some leaps into rotation as well. At some point, you have to push OL straight back, forcing Corum to dance a bit. He is amazing at finding a hole quickly.
That is really good stuff so I rewatched after reading your post. Confusion was quite evident at every level. You would immediately put it on Diaz but what are the limitations when having so much inexperience on the field? We'll see. Oh, and despite what some say, Fashanu was not overwhelmed by UM. Not at all.
Our LB group was just not capable of handling everything needed that day. Elsdon and Sutherland were limited players. Jacobs was out of position and Carter was still relatively young and not on the field enough to make a difference (although as film shows, he was in position to make a couple more plays and missed due to his inexperience).
Our DL should be improved. Enough to not get pushed around or fail to shift towards the strong side vs Michigan? That we are yet to know.
Additionally, how often did we line up exotic and try to overwhelm Michigan at the point of attack? Sure, we didn't get them in 3rd and long enough to use the Prowler package as typically deployed, but I don't think lining up vanilla and playing them straight up was the answer.
In totality, we went into this game very vanilla in my opinion. We played conservative when we should have took chances.
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