hawkeyegamefilm
Well-Known Member
Couple of general observations about the defense I had from the box:
1) 1-3 quarters this defense looked far and away the best they have all season. Schemes were more aggressive, and guys were doing a better job with responsibilities. In those 3Qs the tackling was solid and contain was great on Denard. They were getting bumps on WRs and disrupting timing out there consistently on the edge. They were good in man coverage and mixed up the calls as well. The DL was active in the run game and played with a lot of passion. Saw Mike Daniels firing up guys and jumping around on the side-line. Pretty impressed by both individual efforts and the team effort.
2) Last drive in the 4th quarter was disappointing from a schematic perspective. They left their base scheme out there in a two minute drill for the whole thing. LBs vs WRs isn't a great match-up when they're fresh, but to leave them out there repeatedly and stay in Cover 2, 5 under zone the whole time was just a low % situation. Michigan's QBs struggled all day to hit smaller windows against man coverage and Iowa sat in zone with no pressure and let Michigan pick them apart. Given the way you were playing pocket contain and not letting Denard run you know he was gonna have all day back there. Asking LBs to hold up in zone or man coverage for 5+ seconds just isn't a high % situation. I feel like they allowed Michigan a better chance than they needed to. Especially given the success they had slowing Michigan down earlier with more aggressive bumping schemes.
Overall though, at the end of the day Iowa had a lead in the 4th quarter because of their defensive play for the first 3 quarters. I feel Iowa was probably in that look at the end to keep Michigan from running Robinson at them. I understand not wanting to give them easy uncontested running yards. Would have liked them vary up the scheme on DRob and try to get a turn-over to kill that drive instead of sitting on their heels. The way Lowery has played should give them confidence to put him out there on the outside and put Hyde in the slot to help support the run. A lot of encouraging signs for those first 3 quarters though. Something they can build on for sure.
1) 1-3 quarters this defense looked far and away the best they have all season. Schemes were more aggressive, and guys were doing a better job with responsibilities. In those 3Qs the tackling was solid and contain was great on Denard. They were getting bumps on WRs and disrupting timing out there consistently on the edge. They were good in man coverage and mixed up the calls as well. The DL was active in the run game and played with a lot of passion. Saw Mike Daniels firing up guys and jumping around on the side-line. Pretty impressed by both individual efforts and the team effort.
2) Last drive in the 4th quarter was disappointing from a schematic perspective. They left their base scheme out there in a two minute drill for the whole thing. LBs vs WRs isn't a great match-up when they're fresh, but to leave them out there repeatedly and stay in Cover 2, 5 under zone the whole time was just a low % situation. Michigan's QBs struggled all day to hit smaller windows against man coverage and Iowa sat in zone with no pressure and let Michigan pick them apart. Given the way you were playing pocket contain and not letting Denard run you know he was gonna have all day back there. Asking LBs to hold up in zone or man coverage for 5+ seconds just isn't a high % situation. I feel like they allowed Michigan a better chance than they needed to. Especially given the success they had slowing Michigan down earlier with more aggressive bumping schemes.
Overall though, at the end of the day Iowa had a lead in the 4th quarter because of their defensive play for the first 3 quarters. I feel Iowa was probably in that look at the end to keep Michigan from running Robinson at them. I understand not wanting to give them easy uncontested running yards. Would have liked them vary up the scheme on DRob and try to get a turn-over to kill that drive instead of sitting on their heels. The way Lowery has played should give them confidence to put him out there on the outside and put Hyde in the slot to help support the run. A lot of encouraging signs for those first 3 quarters though. Something they can build on for sure.
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