Defensive Grades: Notre Dame Gets Pushed Around, Caught In Blocks
Prior to Saturday, Michigan had played three ranked teams on the season in Wisconsin, Iowa and Penn State. Against those teams, backup Wolverine running back Hassan Haskins ran for a total of 47 yards and 2.9 yards per carry.
But against the Irish this past weekend, he was given large running lanes and ran for 149 yards on 20 attempts. This was good for 7.5 yards per carry.
Even after taking out his long run of the day for 49 yards, he still averaged 5 yards per touch.
This is the type of performance, against an inferior running back, that Notre Dame cannot allow to happen, and every normal defensive contributor is to blame.
During Notre Dame Head Coach Brian Kelly's weekly teleconference yesterday, he signaled out his team's lack of physicality, which for some reason appeared to be an issue across the board.
Ordinarily, these grades are broken down into "Standout," "Room for Improvement" and "Overall Position Group." Due to how poorly Saturday night went, I've decided to look borrow from Clint Eastwood's playbook and go with "The Good," "The Bad and The Ugly" and "Overall Position Group Grade."
The logic behind this is two-fold. One, in a game this ugly, it's hard to pick a standout. Two, since the entire team struggled, it makes more sense to evaluate their play as a position group and not rag on one individual player/college kid.
By looking at the Pro Football Focus grade for each regular defensive rotation player and the number of snaps they played, the defense averaged a 62.1 rating. This seems way too high.
Defense Overal PFF Grade: 62.1 - "Average"
DEFENSIVE LINE
Though it didn't happen often enough, both the starting and backup Notre Dame defensive line had moments where they did a good job of handling Michigan's offensive line.
The Good
On this play, defensive end Jamir Jones (44) and both back up defensive tackles do their jobs well. Jacob Lacey (54) pushes his way to the other side of the line of scrimmage and forces the running back to cut back, where Jones and Jayson Ademilola (57) are in good position to help make the tackle for no gain.
As you'll see shortly, one of the biggest issues all night was the defensive line's inability to contain the quarterback, which is a major reason why Michigan quarterback Shea Patterson was able to have early success dropping back, despite completing just two of four throws in the first half.
On this play, Ade Ogundeji (91) rushes from the left edge. He starts to get pushed too far back, but he then cuts back inside and forces Patterson (2) to stay in the pocket. It also helps that Lacey (54) got a good push while being double-teamed by two Michigan offensive linemen. The play ends with Patterson inadvertently falling to his knee for a loss.
The play is another good instance where the Notre Dame defensive line had good contain and it resulted in a Jones (44) strip-sack and huge loss for Michigan.
The Bad and The Ugly
As I just mentioned, the Notre Dame defensive line often struggled to contain Patterson, and no series exemplifies this more than the one below.
On several plays, a Notre Dame defensive end gets pushed too far into the backfield, which gives Patterson (2) an easy running lane for positive yardage. Above its Jones (44), which allows Michigan to turn a potential sack or tough throw in the rain into positive yardage.
On the next play, Khalid Kareem (53) has the boundary edge. While rushing the quarterback, he makes a bad mistake and turns inside, which once again allows Patterson to get outside and run, which is where he's better as a passer. The play breaks down and Michigan converts on a third and long situation.
By the end of this drive, the Wolverines are up 17-0 and the game is out of hand.
Overall Position Group Grade:
By looking at the PFF grade for each rotational defensive end and the number of snaps they played, they averaged a 63.7 rating, which is considered "Average." This is probably a little too high given how the position group played. But it looks even worse since the defensive line has been and needs to be one of the best position groups on this team. Instead, their performance was pretty bad.
If they play like this going forward, it could be a long month of November for the Irish.
Overall PFF Position Group Grade: 63.7 - "Average"
LINEBACKERS
Like all the other position groups, the linebacking corps had its moments where they did well on one play and looked lost or lackadaisical on the next.
The Good
On this play, linebacker Asmar Bilal (22) — as well as defensive end Julian Okwara — reads the play perfectly. Bilal also avoids getting blocked by a Michigan tight end and makes Patterson pay for making a poor decision to keep the ball.
The Irish linebackers also made some good plays on the goal line.
On this play, Jordan Genmark Heath gets in the game in a big spot and, once again, makes a good read on Shea Patterson and tackles him in the backfield. The key is to keep him from getting around the edge and Genmark Heath does that beautifully.
Drew White (40) also had a good goal-line stop on this play, which actually saves Michigan from scoring a touchdown on this series. He reads the play well and, with some help from Jones (44) and Bilal (22) stops the Michigan running back two yards short of the end zone.
Unfortunately, for the Irish, the linebackers didn't always read the play this well.
The Bad and The Ugly
This is a bad read by Owusu-Koramoah (6), who needs to stay put while Kareem forces Patterson into a decision. If he does, he likely makes a tackle for a loss after Kareem forces Patterson to the outside.
Instead, Patterson is pushed out of bounds just short of the end zone, which eventually leads to a Michigan score.
On this play, White (40) actually reads the play well, but he does a poor job of wrapping up and lets the Michigan running back get just inches from the goal line. The play then goes from bad to ugly when White waves his arms, seemingly in celebration.
But the ugliest part of how the linebackers played had to do with how they flowed to the ball.
On this play, White's (40) blitz seems to be without direction or much of a purpose and, instead, he gets caught up in a block and is unable to have an impact on the play. Bilal, on the other hand, looks lost, overruns the play and doesn't have a chance to make make the tackle.
It's plays like these, which happened throughout the night, that contributed to Michigan accumulating more than 300 yards on the ground and an ugly outcome for the Irish.
Overall Position Group Grade:
By looking at the PFF grade for each rotational linebacker and the number of snaps they played, they averaged a 67.1 rating, which is considered "Average." This is too high.
Collectively, the linebackers were only credited by PFF with two missed tackles, but that's because they were often too far out of position to have a chance.
Overall PFF Position Group Grade: 67.1 - "Average"
DEFENSIVE BACKS
On a night where the Michigan starting quarterback only completed six passes, it's somewhat difficult to evaluate the play of the defensive backs, especially when several of the incompletions were due to bad throws or drops.
The Good
On this play, cornerback Donte Vaughn (8) gets beat to the inside and Patterson actually steps up and makes a really nice throw over the middle. But Vaughn was in good enough position to immediately make a play on the ball and knocks the ball loose by the time the receiver hit the ground, which results in an incomplete pass.
Outside of somewhat influencing a few incompletions, the Notre Dame defensive back did not tackle overly well and made a few plays that really hurt the team.
The Bad and The Ugly
This is a play that (along with a few others) greatly impacted the momentum early in the game. It's third and seven and Patterson throws a prayer into double coverage.
But Alohi Gilman (11) covers the play poorly, has ugly technique and makes a lazy play on the ball that results in a pass interference and a Michigan first down. From here, the game turned and Notre Dame never really got back in it.
But the most frustrating play to watch on the night was the one above. The game is already a blowout, but that's no excuse to give up and make an ill-advised decision.
Jalen Elliott (21) is actually in position to stop the Michigan running back just short of the end zone, but instead, he see Patterson running out to block and decides to give the Wolverine signal-caller a shove.
The Michigan running back crosses the goal line within a few feet of Elliott, who wasn't even watching the play.
It was ugly.
Overall Position Group Grade:
By looking at the PFF grade for each rotational defensive back and the number of snaps played, they averaged a 56.9 rating, which is considered "Below Average." Once again, this is too high.
The defensive backs certainly weren't the reason Notre Dame lost this game, but when they had a chance to make a positive impact, they generally didn't come through.
Overall PFF Position Group Grade: 56.9 - "Below Average"
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