what I saw Saturday from Minnesota, particularly on the first drive of the second half, was Michigan being blocked effectively. Minnesota went to a double TE formation with one back and pounded it inside the tackles. Essentially, the Gophers had 7 men in the box plus the running back. There were doubling our DL's on the initial push and then combo blocking the Linebackers in a zone blocking scheme. The Minnesota tight ends were looking for any DB or loop from linebackers off the edge and if there was none, they double teamed our DE's initially then went looking for someone to block in their zone. If our edge defenders took an inside path, they just caved them into the middle of the field and Ibrahim then bounced it outside. On one play with about 12 minutes to go in the third quarter, Minnesota had 4 offensive lineman blocking Jeter and Kemp, the Left Tackle drove Huntchinson Inside followed by a huge TE driving Van Summeren inside right behind him. The WR blocked our corner (holding him) and both Hawkins and McGrone were slow to respond which resulted in an 8 yard run, 5 yards before contact was made.
Minnesota's success in the running game was aided by three factors. One, Michigan edge defenders got sucked inside on more than one occasion. Two, our Linebackers and Corners were slow to fill gaps and/or read running play. Third, there WAS a fair amount of plays where holding should have been called.
Initially, I was critical of Kemp's play. After watching the replay, it was clear he was double teamed more often than not. Jeter and Hinton too. The Twin TE heavy set is something we will see all season. Our linebackers were making first contact past the Line of Scrimmage, that has to change. Also, our safeties need to come up and neutralize the TE's so they cannot double on our outside contain. Paige is a Freshman so I'll give him a pass for Minnesota but he was out of position a number of times. Hawkins hesitated on reads and missed a bunch of tackles. I'm sure these were all pointed out during the film session Monday and that they are working on the corrections in practice this week. Lots of teaching moments before a rivalry game. Go Blue!
Minnesota's success in the running game was aided by three factors. One, Michigan edge defenders got sucked inside on more than one occasion. Two, our Linebackers and Corners were slow to fill gaps and/or read running play. Third, there WAS a fair amount of plays where holding should have been called.
Initially, I was critical of Kemp's play. After watching the replay, it was clear he was double teamed more often than not. Jeter and Hinton too. The Twin TE heavy set is something we will see all season. Our linebackers were making first contact past the Line of Scrimmage, that has to change. Also, our safeties need to come up and neutralize the TE's so they cannot double on our outside contain. Paige is a Freshman so I'll give him a pass for Minnesota but he was out of position a number of times. Hawkins hesitated on reads and missed a bunch of tackles. I'm sure these were all pointed out during the film session Monday and that they are working on the corrections in practice this week. Lots of teaching moments before a rivalry game. Go Blue!
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