[NU Sports] Putting it into perspective (fwd)

[Jeff Beamsley]

You only got a hint of the whole UoM playbook in their first two drives.

Once UoM got a lead and found that they could stop our offense, Carr closed
the playbook and handed the ball to his defense.  The key to the game IMHO
was their ability to play a nickel defense the whole game, still get a pass
rush, and shut down the run.  We had nothing up the middle (Watson), they
were too fast for us to get to the corner, they blew up every screen play we
tried to run, and STILL got a good pass rush.  That's because, as a result
of penalties and drops, we found ourselves in obvious passing situations way
too often.  The only way to force them to change was to complete some passes
into the seams of their zone, which we never did.  As a result, we spent the
whole second half punting and playing defense.

Carr is playing for the OSU game.  They have a bye next week and Indiana the
week after that.  So we won't see the whole playbook (and probably Hart)
until the OSU game.  Then I will guarantee you that if Hart is healthy, he
will be on the field.

Jeff




-----Original Message-----
From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com [mailto:nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com] On
Behalf Of Tom Maycock
Sent: Monday, October 31, 2005 9:16 AM
To: nwu-sports at tssi.com
Subject: RE: [NU Sports] Putting it into perspective (fwd)

--- Jeff Beamsley <jeffb at hilgraeve.com> wrote:
> Tom wrote <snip?
> 
> The good news:
> 
> * The defense made huge strides. I have no idea how they managed to 
> hold up in the 2nd half, but they did. This loss was all on the 
> offense.
> 
> =======================
> 
> You obviously haven't seen a lot of UoM games this year.
> 
> Carr is a very conservative coach.  

There's no question they played it conservatively in the 2nd half, and
wisely so in my opinion. And their passing game is nowhere near as dangerous
as, say, Penn State's. But that doesn't change the fact that this was the
best our D has played all year. Several huge stops on 3rd and 4th down,
generally good coverage, and essentially NO big plays. 

Who knows what might have happened if Michigan had been forced to heave the
ball downfield more often--we might have seen more breakdowns in the
secondary. But from what I saw, the defense played more than well enough to
win, *especially* given that they were on the field almost the entire second
half.

Tom


If it were possible to win a game
> 1-0,
> he would. He feels much more comfortable letting his defense shut the 
> other team out than outscoring the other team.  I agree that our 
> defense has been playing much better as they gained experience through 
> the season.
> Carr's
> plan in the second half of he game, however, was based on not taking 
> any chances, keeping NU pinned deep in their own territory, and 
> letting the defense continue to shut NU down.  So you saw a lot of 
> runs up the gut and just enough pass plays to move the chains and keep 
> the defense honest.  He could have put up a lot more points if he 
> wanted to, but he knew at half time that all he had to do is not give 
> up the big play and he had the game won.  That's what his team did.
> 
> Jeff
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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