Early in the season and in the bowl game the defense was moving its d line alignment to adjust for strong sides. It seemed like there was a stretch in the middle of the season where they were not doing this. Was this because they were lined up prsnap correctly or do they mainly only adjust when motion by the offense dictates a switch in the strong side? Also when there is a switch in strong side why do the mike and will not switch sides? Are they that interchangeable?
Early in the season, the guys didn't know where to line up. That was especially apparent in the first game against Western Michigan. I think they were having a tough time determining strength. Once they got that sorted out, they started lining up properly more often. That's why you saw the defense moving less.
The teams following WMU probably noticed that Michigan was having a hard time lining up, and therefore they tried to exploit Michigan's youth/new defensive system. When Michigan showed that they a) could line up properly and b) could quickly adjust to motion/changes of strength, teams stopped messing around with motion because they realized it wasn't giving them a significant advantage.
Virginia Tech decided to test Michigan's defense again by running lots of motion and changing the strength. The defensive linemen change to strength, which is why you saw Van Bergen, Roh, Black, Ryan, etc. running around. However, the inside linebackers are pretty interchangeable (as are the safeties), so that's why the linebackers weren't running around like crazy. Mattison has maintained since last spring that the inside linebackers and safeties need to be ready to play both positions, so it's a smooth transition for them.
Early in the season and in the bowl game the defense was moving its d line alignment to adjust for strong sides. It seemed like there was a stretch in the middle of the season where they were not doing this. Was this because they were lined up prsnap correctly or do they mainly only adjust when motion by the offense dictates a switch in the strong side? Also when there is a switch in strong side why do the mike and will not switch sides? Are they that interchangeable?
ReplyDelete@ fishdaddy 8:03 p.m.
ReplyDeleteEarly in the season, the guys didn't know where to line up. That was especially apparent in the first game against Western Michigan. I think they were having a tough time determining strength. Once they got that sorted out, they started lining up properly more often. That's why you saw the defense moving less.
The teams following WMU probably noticed that Michigan was having a hard time lining up, and therefore they tried to exploit Michigan's youth/new defensive system. When Michigan showed that they a) could line up properly and b) could quickly adjust to motion/changes of strength, teams stopped messing around with motion because they realized it wasn't giving them a significant advantage.
Virginia Tech decided to test Michigan's defense again by running lots of motion and changing the strength. The defensive linemen change to strength, which is why you saw Van Bergen, Roh, Black, Ryan, etc. running around. However, the inside linebackers are pretty interchangeable (as are the safeties), so that's why the linebackers weren't running around like crazy. Mattison has maintained since last spring that the inside linebackers and safeties need to be ready to play both positions, so it's a smooth transition for them.