SCAR & DUE! Episode 24 Minnesota Recap 10/5/26

[Everybody’s pissed off. Scar’s pissed off. Due’s pissed. Players are pissed. Coaches are pissed. Fielding Yost is rolling over in his grave. Everybody’s upset. We’re going to have a great discussion. We’ll be critical of coaches and players, but it’s not going to be an “everybody sucks” kind of day. Right, D? We’re going to try to be fair. How are you doing?

I’m doing great. The sun came up. Listen, it’s disappointing. It gets people fired up. The Twitter feed is ablaze. [Laughter.] They’re angry. “Fire this guy. It’s Whit’s fault. It’s Beck’s fault. It’s the line’s fault. It’s Bryce’s fault. It’s the offensive line coach’s fault. It’s Warde’s fault.” Yes, there are a lot of problems. They have to figure it out.

They can be an effective offense. We saw it against Iowa. But they have to figure out a way when the defense doesn’t give you exactly what you’re looking for. The defense isn’t going to stand there like the X’s on the page of the playbook, where you draw a line that says, “He’ll be there. Go block him.” It doesn’t happen that way. You need a counterpunch.

I said online, during the review on Sunday, that I’m curious. I don’t feel like we have a counterpunch. We’ll go through the film and see some things. People will get more fired up because a lot isn’t good, but it’s not one guy’s fault. I don’t think you can replace one guy and solve your problems.

I am, and will always be, a believer that it starts with the guy in charge. The buck stops with the head coach. That’ll never change.

We’re going into the bye week, and that’s good. Marshall’s hurt. Everybody who’s watched him the last couple of years knows he’s doing the best he can. He’s limping around. He’s tough. Dominic Nichols tried to play. He’s banged up. John Henry tried to play. He’s banged up. Sprague—we don’t know what’s going on with Sprague. That’s how you have a bad team, when guys get hurt on a Friday after walkthrough. That stuff doesn’t happen to championship teams. I don’t know what he did.

During the bye, we’ll get some scrimmaging in. I’ve got to believe there might be changes at some positions. They’ll scrimmage with young guys and continue developing them.

The big thing for this team and Whittingham—I’m trying to put myself in his position. You’ve got bullets flying in every direction. A lot’s going on. But you’ve got to get in that submarine and make the best of these seven games left. They’re probably not winning the Big Ten championship, one of their goals, but Penn State is coming here in two weeks.

Keep these kids off social media, reading all this BS. Apparently Bryce is on the front page of The Wall Street Journal or something. These guys have to get in the bunker, believe in each other, believe in their coaches, and get fired up for Penn State at home. That would be the big message from the player and coaching leadership. It doesn’t do any good to moan and listen to what everybody else is saying. Believe in each other and your coaches.

Whit said after the game he has to make some tough decisions. You can read into that whatever you want. Most people’s knee-jerk reaction is, “We need to make a change at quarterback.” I tweeted today that I don’t believe changing the quarterback fixes everything that needs fixing.

When I hear Whit say we need tough decisions, in my opinion, that means the offensive coordinator has to figure something out. We saw an offense that looked functional against Iowa. A week later, it looked completely opposite. Totally dysfunctional. Couldn’t do anything right. Very few plays went the right way.

Whit needs to talk with Beck and say, “We have to figure out what we do well and build on it.” For instance, we started against Minnesota with a couple of duo plays. This is something the line has done a lot over the last three, four, five years. First down, we pick up eight yards. Second down, seven. Then we go to the Wildcat.

You talk about putting a defense in conflict, making it make choices. How does that offense put you in conflict? When we run the Wildcat, everybody on defense pins their ears back because they know exactly what’s coming. There’s no guesswork. We ran it once where Marshall pitched to Bryce, and Bryce threw it. That’s a one-off. It’s not going to happen again.

The safeties are within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage, and one comes flying through an open gap. We’ll watch that and discuss what went wrong. We need to take a hard look at it. Go back to duo and power. Get the linemen comfortable. Get the running backs seeing what they’re used to: seams opening on the frontside or backside. If they have to bounce it, bounce it. That has to be the base.

When I look at Michigan after five weeks, this is what I believe: Kyle Whittingham is a really good defensive coach. He did a really good job getting Hill. I’m seeing Enow Etta play the best football of his life. I’ll attribute some of that to the strength coach and defensive line coach. When guys improve and play better than they have, some of that is coaching.

I’m seeing a defensive scheme and philosophy that I believe can compete with anybody.

Sure.

We have one half of the deal in good shape. The kicking game has to be better. We’ve dropped punts. We’ve had big plays and kick returns, but I still have faith in Kerry Coombs.

Offensively, I played defense and coached it for 25 years. As we go through the film, this is what I don’t want to face as a player: smart, athletic, fast, big, tall, tough, competitive, highly skilled, strong guys. Five weeks in, where does Michigan stand if you rank them against the other teams on Scar’s list of what I don’t want to face?

As a defensive coach, I don’t want to face a smart coach whose teams execute and block the right guy all the time. They put me in conflict with motions, shifts, great fakes, whatever. I defended a straight-T team that ran one formation and put me in a ton of conflict. They blocked the same play three ways. One formation. There are a lot of ways to put people in conflict.

The coach is smart. His teams block the right guy. They put me in conflict. They secure the ball. Their players compete like crazy and play with great technique. They block low and block the right guy. Those are coaches I don’t want to face.

I’ve defended and beaten teams with big-time players who had poor technique and were predictable. I’ve lost to teams with little guys who weren’t going anywhere but did all the little things. That’s what I’m looking at with Michigan’s offense. As we look at the film, maybe you can rate our coaches and players offensively. I think we’re maximizing what we’re doing defensively. Ask those same questions about the defense, and we’re at the top of the league. Keep those questions in mind. What else have you got before the film?

I went through the rushing attack this year versus last year. In 2025, we averaged about 195 yards a game. I took out Central Michigan last year and UTEP this year. I didn’t want to skew it. I’m going with quality opponents in the nonconference and the conference games. Last year, 195 on the ground. This year, 123.

Last year, we had two runs of 75 yards. Not counting UTEP, the longest run in the other four games this year is 38 yards. Here’s what stood out: Runs of 10 yards or more this year, counting UTEP, we have 12. Runs of one yard, zero, or negative yards, we have 33.

There’s a problem with the running game, which is what you base everything on. We’re not a dropback, pro-style passing offense. We need to run to open up the pass. Thirty-three times we’ve had one, zero, or negative yards. Two were one-yard plunges into the end zone. Reduce it by two, and it’s still 31 versus only 12 runs of 10-plus yards. That’s an issue.

We averaged 183 passing yards last year. Right now, 164. Bryce has more interceptions than touchdowns. We’re averaging 0.75 touchdown passes a game and one interception a game.

Everybody starts and ends with Bryce. That’s shortsighted. You’ve got to put your players in the best position to succeed. Before Iowa, I said Bryce isn’t a sit-in-the-pocket, dropback quarterback. Everybody can see that. But on film, you’ll also see receivers aren’t getting into space.

It reminds me of when Pep Hamilton was the passing game coordinator during Jim’s tenure. I hated that pass tree. His route combinations weren’t creative. Just run deep, run this. Right now, Buchanan and Marsh run wheel routes a ton. I don’t see guys clearing out with another crossing underneath. I don’t see drag routes. All of that needs to be ironed out. I don’t believe a new quarterback is the answer. Could he be better at some things? Sure. Could he be worse at others? Absolutely.

This is a hot topic because everybody takes it personally. They love Michigan football. We watched a national championship four years ago, and now we’re 0–2 in the conference, with losses to Iowa and Minnesota. People are furious.

Yeah. A couple of comments: “We’ve got to fix the mesh point.” The mesh point is all about repetition. You learn by getting multiple reps every day: reading a tackle, feeling the mesh, the back in your gut. Do it with all the different backs. That mesh-point read takes repetition. That’s the only way to handle it.

Talking about not wanting to run the ball—you look at what Whittingham did at Utah. He ran it so much.

I’ve been thinking about that. He had a successful rushing quarterback and rushing attack last year and the year before, right up near the top. Does playing in the Big 12 or Pac-12 have anything to do with that success, knowing they did a lot of what we see now? Or was the system installed, with the right players who grew up in that offense? Is it the conference? Are Big Ten defenses stuffing it?

We should have better talent. Talent is relative. Is it the scheme? Do we need another year? How many years was that quarterback in the system? If you compare talent, we should have better players on offense, right?

You’d think.

I want to get to the film, because a picture is worth a thousand words. People talk about doing too much and confusing your offense. I watched Chip Kelly at Northwestern. Did you see that? He ran a whole package of stuff he hadn’t shown all year. Wing-T stuff. Stuff I ran in high school. I knew those plays, and I thought it was awesome.

I get it, but he saved it for week five.

His kids perfected it. They ran it well.

They’d been practicing it.

You want to deceive an opponent by showing things they haven’t seen. Great coaches deceive, but they also execute.

They had a neat package they practiced throughout the year. You know why they could spend time on it? They had their base offense dialed in and were running it well. Here’s a little dessert, a little fun, and it worked to perfection. There’s no way Beck could introduce that now. We’re still—

I get it.

For people listening who say, “We should try that,” no. We should run duo and power more often and block the right guy.

With great technique. Those are guys I don’t want to face. They block the right guy, deceive me, and have great technique. Flat backs, knowing who they’re blocking. I’ll get the film going. Hit a sponsor real quick.

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Offense. Are you seeing this first play?

Yeah.

I like this stuff, but we haven’t run a play from this formation. We’ve shifted out of it a few times.

You like this formation?

If you run plays from it. I’ve defended it, and it can be problematic, but we haven’t run a play from it yet.

You have nine guys within eight yards. We haven’t seen this formation before, but they shift out.

I’m making the point that it can be effective. You can do things from it. Maybe he’s getting a feel for how people line up. Maybe he wanted to run it later and put it out there to see their alignment. It might show him something he wants to do. He shifts out, and I like this with Bryce, because teams are concerned when we’re in empty. They have to keep extra people in the box they might not keep against other teams. We throw a little hitch, and we should.

In my opinion, this should go to the right. You have two guys playing 10 yards off. When you motion the back out, watch the defense. They bring more guys over there. They still have two guys on an island to Bryce’s right. I’d have thrown that way.

I thought this was a first down. We got a crummy call, a terrible spot. This sets up third-and-one. We start out coming out of the blocks, and he’s clearly beyond the line to gain.

We’re going to beat this play up and get educated on it. It’s third-and-one, crucial because we have momentum and we’re driving. I don’t like the weak fake. I don’t like our quarterback jogging when he’s supposed to threaten jet sweep.

This guy makes the play. How much have our coaches repped this with a safety coming in late? Keep that in mind. I don’t like the jog from Bryce. There’s no way that threatens jet sweep.

That’s weak. Lazy. It isn’t threatening anything.

We get stuffed on third-and-one. This is gap scheme. Number four fires a gap and makes the play. We pull the backside guard. I’m trying to evaluate Avery Gach’s rule and how he’s coached.

The rule of gap scheme is you stay on track. If this player slants here, Frazier blocks him. That’s his gap. If he slants here, Norton blocks him. They don’t slant there, but I want you to understand. Everybody stays on track. That’s what’s great about gap scheme.

The terminology we used was “read, gap, down.” These players are stepping with the left foot and are responsible for the inside gap. This guard pulls and kicks out. He comes right off the line’s ass and kicks out the first thing out here. The center blocks back, and the backside tackle rips down to cut this off so there’s no penetration where the guard pulls from. That’s how we seal the backside. The frontside steps down: read, gap, down.

I’ve got you so far. Next step.

Here’s the dilemma: I don’t want to yell at guys without knowing how they’re coached. I don’t know if they’re asking Gach to punch, double, then seal his gap. He should be conscious of his inside gap, but maybe they’ve asked him to stick on this defender for a second. I don’t want to rip him without knowing. They run through and make the play.

They’re all stepping with the left foot. Our left guard lets his guy go and picks up the backer who fires his gap. Gach is in the same situation. His guy slants out. If he lets him go and does what Norton does, they block down inside. Frazier picks up the guy who slanted out, and Avery should pick up whatever shows in that gap. That’s how I would coach it and how I believe they’re coaching it.

It’s a huge play. I talked about not wanting to face teams that execute. We didn’t execute. We didn’t have the right guy.

We ran duo the first couple of plays and picked up 15 yards combined. It’s third-and-one. Why aren’t we running duo? Why run this Wildcat, which hasn’t produced much? Don’t get cute. Pound them in the face. We did it the first two plays. Run duo, get the first down, and get another series. I can’t stand Wildcat. Never liked it. I hate it more after watching that. [Laughter.]

I like this: using your quarterback who can run. They still have a good amount of defense in the box. Four, and I’d call him a half. About six total. These guys hang closer because they fear Bryce, but we still rip them with quarterback iso.

You spread them out so everybody isn’t stuck in there. Run that again from the beginning.

I don’t know how Marshall’s coached, but I’d like him to pick up this guy.

I’d like somebody out there.

That’s who makes the play. I don’t know who they have Marshall keying, because he tries to block this guy over here.

Let’s move on. Hayder’s a true freshman, and this is something he has to improve. You’ve got to attack and meet this guy. You can’t be in the quarterback’s lap. No, never mind—he’s got the inside guy. They’re running a double-A-gap blitz.

He has to meet him, punch, and not get walked back into the quarterback. I don’t know if that factors into this interception, but this is a good pass by Bryce. He gets a double-A-gap blitz, steps into it, and makes a good pass. He was accurate. I think he was six of seven on the first drive.

Later, there’s an interception where he doesn’t stop the guy like I’d like. This is more smart coaching, looking at what they do against empty. Avery Gach barrels in and hammers a guy. We run quarterback power. Well executed. Good stuff.

I don’t know why our guard gets so much depth. He should come flatter. But we block it and rip them. They have to fear this play. If I’m coaching against Michigan, this formation scares me. This kid can run, he’s tough, and if we throw well enough from empty, it’s one of the last formations I want to see. Agree?

Yeah. It’s smart because you saw Bryce reach for his wristband. He saw what the defender did when the back motioned out and went right to the right play. Good call.

I don’t know what’s going on here. Take this, dude. This read—you covered it?

This is the one where Hayder took the ball and Bryce looked back at him. The second time Hayder has taken it on his own read.

How many times a day do you think they work on this?

It’s happened before. If they haven’t practiced it a bunch before practice starts—

I have to believe they do it 15 times with each back every day.

I don’t see how, because it’s the fifth game and the same mistake. He’s a freshman, but there are freshmen and second-year quarterbacks all over the country, with less experienced lines, who don’t make these mistakes repeatedly.

We defended Auburn with Bo Jackson, the wishbone, and the option. It’s the same stuff 40 years later. This is how I coached it: If my tackle is unblocked, I want him to close and make the read as difficult as possible. Aim right at the mesh point. That defensive tackle does that and makes it difficult for Bryce.

I don’t think it was difficult. Bryce wanted to pull it, and Hayder took it. You saw Bryce’s reaction: “What are you doing?”

The quarterback is responsible. He controls the football, from what I was always taught.

If the guy takes it from you, what do you do?

It’s a feel thing. They have to get it right.

My theory, because we’ve had a couple of examples of Hayder taking it: Bryce needs to exaggerate that mesh point and ride it out. He’s sticking it in and hoping Hayder knows what he’s going to do. Put the ball back here, ride him with it, then pull and go.

Multiple repetitions cure that. Here’s a wheel route, and we get something going. They bring guys, and we block it, get them confused.

That put them in conflict. Nice job.

Remember against Iowa, when we simply moved the back? Some teams are predictable based on the backfield set. I like Beck doing this because it’s simple for us, but sometimes it creates confusion.

Run it. What confusion did it cause?

I don’t know for sure. Sometimes you don’t know which guy gets confused by one movement.

Watch the guy by the G on the hash. I think he sees the motion and thinks, “He’s handing it off.” See him charging through? That’s what he thought.

Could have been, because we’ve run a lot of jet.

He thought Marshall was getting the ball.

That’s conflict. Remember what I said I don’t want to face? If that created conflict, tip your hat to the coaches.

Look at what they do to Marsh. This looks like a box-and-one in basketball: zone, with man on one player. Those guys on the hashes look like they’re bracketing. These guys are in zone, but he’s man-to-man here.

That’s crazy. Could be a blown coverage. I don’t know.

It’s interesting. That’s why you’d like other threats. Throw to Hoffman if we can.

You’re seeing successful plays. Here’s a rollout. You’ve got to step into it and make this throw.

What did the shift get us? Did it create confusion? He’s wide open. Throw the ball.

I don’t know if it gave us anything.

He’s wide open. Maybe it did. Sometimes you don’t know.

They’re both running dig routes, and Bryce reads the man on the hash. He floats toward Marsh, so Buchanan’s open. That ball has to come out earlier.

They’re screwed up. They have two guys defending a flat, a guy wide open here, and we don’t complete it. I have to believe the coaches did something to create confusion.

That’s clearly on Bryce. No doubt. He’s wide open. That should be complete.

That gets back to highly skilled guys, the ones I don’t want to face.

CD Klein asks, “Why are the tight ends nonfactors in the passing game?” Clearly, they don’t have much confidence in Zack Marshall because he’s gotten little playing time. Early, Jalen Hoffman got most of the reps. They thought he was a better athlete who could block and catch. Marshall hasn’t gotten much.

Hogan was hurt. Now he’s healthy and getting more reps. He was in the backfield a couple of times and caught a few passes. I’d like them to get—

Stop it there. I want this guy to step up and block. I don’t want people in our quarterback’s face. I don’t want to defend the quarterback, but the back has to step up and stuff somebody at the line of scrimmage.

Run it back before the shift. I had a question, and Hunter Reynolds, the former Michigan safety, has one too: Why is Eli Owens in at tight end? We have Hogan Hansen. Owens is inline now, then he’ll shift.

What’s the down and distance?

Second-and-five. Hansen’s healthy and a good receiver. Why take a fullback, put him at tight end, and split him out? Why isn’t that Hansen?

Second, watch Buchanan’s route. Why isn’t that an out? Did you say second-and-five or third-and-five?

Second-and-five.

Why a wheel route? Get the first down. We don’t need a home run or something tricky. He runs 10 wheel routes a game. Run this and throw to the sideline. He’s open.

Third, if Bryce were more patient, watch that corner hesitate. Marsh will be wide open for a touchdown.

I think they benefited from a blown coverage. Why is this guy breaking on the football?

They’re in zone.

I know, but nobody’s in that deep third. Start it again. I have to count the guys.

We put them in conflict.

It almost looks like they benefited from being jacked up.

They did. That guy picks it off.

It’s almost like Bryce anticipated that guy covering the deep third.

Marsh.

Yes.

Pause it. The interception is Bryce’s fault. But this play design—just throw the out to Buchanan. Why send him upfield when Marsh is already upfield?

I noticed that. I almost think it was blown coverage by them.

This is execution. I talked about teams I don’t want to face. This player probably should have been in motion. He doesn’t have a prayer of making this block. You have to put him in motion or cheat him in. If you snap it with him here, he’ll never get that edge player.

Never in a hundred years. That’s a good defensive end.

I think I could make that play now. The design stinks. Down and distance?

First-and-10.

You probably aren’t calling timeout, but this is what you work out in practice. That’s not the player’s fault.

If I’m Whittingham, I’m asking Beck, “What is this? How many times did you rep it? Was Bryce supposed to motion him and forgot?” The tight end doesn’t look like he’s waiting for motion, but he can’t block him from there.

Not even close. Pause it again. Let’s see what this is supposed to be. Look, the inside receiver’s blocking. He isn’t coming off the line; he’s sizing up that guy. What’s the play supposed to be?

Who’s getting the ball?

The receiver outside isn’t running a route either. He’s blocking.

It’s jacked up. What have I got here? Tackle pull. We’re pulling a tackle, and he has to get flatter. Again, execution. I talked about players I don’t want to defend: good, tough, athletic. But why so much depth? Come right off his ass and block the first thing that shows. Too much depth lets this guy—

One reason: Our offensive line doesn’t reset the line of scrimmage well. I complained about it in the Low Hanging Fruit review Sunday. Efobi’s getting handled. The tackle still steps too deep and loops around. Bad technique. That’s on the players, and coaches have to coach it better.

We get a little something, but come right down and block him, and we pick up yards. This isn’t talent or the weight room. It’s execution. Block the right guy. Come right off his ass and block the first thing that shows. You get depth, and he goes underneath. They rep that in practice all day.

I don’t have much more offense because there wasn’t much to see. If you’re a Michigan player and this is your quarterback, look at this fight. At least he’s fighting like crazy for a first down. Say what you want, that’s a tough kid fighting for his team. Is this toward the end?

That’s the end. Watch the tight end.

Hogan Hansen.

No, that’s not the last play.

I missed that play. That was earlier. Fourth-and-five—give somebody a chance.

This isn’t the fourth-down play. That had Hansen at tight end on the right. He releases and is wide open.

Enough offense. Get a couple of sponsors.

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Preston says that play where both receivers were blocking was an RPO, and JJ looked for the safety to break on the ball. I didn’t see receivers running routes, Preston. I saw them sizing up defenders to block, unless I misunderstood.

This quarterback is what we thought. Second-year kid, accurate. He reminds me of Drake Maye.

This defense is championship-caliber. It gives you a chance to win at least a Big Ten championship. If we had a semicompetent offense that scored 28 points, we’d be undefeated.

I’m watching the edges early. Dominic Nichols tries to play, but he’s hurt. Number 90’s hurt, too. Dominic’s getting waxed off the ball. That’s not him. You think that’s Nichols?

He’s getting hammered.

I think that’s Cam Brandt.

Is it? Sometimes when a guy gets whacked that badly, it creates lateral seams, and the linebackers come underneath to make the play. Is that nine or eight?

I think nine. Is it eight?

It’s eight. He’s starting and trying to play hurt. Have we seen him in a four-point stance this year?

Yeah, earlier in the season. He’s tried to play, and he’s hurt.

I’ll credit the coaches. A true freshman’s in here. There’s depth at edge, and these guys are already in because the other two are hurt. For young guys, these two didn’t really hurt us.

Tariq Boney is a player. I like him and look forward to seeing him grow. I hope he doesn’t grow too much this year and somebody offers him a bunch of money in his Instagram DMs.

Fourth play, he’s in, playing ahead of Brandt and 94—what’s his name?

Marshall.

He’s ahead of him. Interesting to see young guys in early on the first drive.

This is a wheel route. Where’s 44?

Watch the mesh. Basically a pick play outside. He has to work through traffic. Smart call. This is what I don’t see from Michigan. When do we do this? It’s man coverage. They know the linebacker has the back. Run receivers in his way, create traffic, and get the back wide open. I love Minnesota’s play. Smart scheme and execution.

We’re single-high. It’s coaching. Not so much conflict as a matchup. A smart coach understands you have a guy who isn’t the fastest and a fast running back, and exploits it. That’s who I don’t want to face.

I like this. Last week we lost contain with Dominic and Pierce. Jonah Lea’ea is the guy we want doing these stunts, with Enow Etta. He does a good job here. They end up scoring, right?

Yeah. Good job containing. He’s in the quarterback’s face and smashes the back coming out. We saw what happens when the quarterback gets outside: tipped passes and all that BS.

This was the worst pass-interference call in football history. The ball’s uncatchable. Bracy isn’t trying to hit him.

The ball’s way over his head and inside. Not catchable. They call interference. Garbage. Bracy’s looking at it sailing over and behind his head. Because the receiver stops on an uncatchable ball, it’s interference? I don’t believe it.

I don’t like it.

Me neither. Guys, hit thumbs-up, subscribe, like, tell your friends, and comment on the videos.

We looked at Michigan on the goal line with seven offensive linemen. Iowa matched with six defensive linemen and big linebackers and edges. Eleven big dudes. I don’t like this. It’s first down, ball on the two, and we have four DBs. Three linebackers. Here’s a 215- or 220-pound linebacker who gets waxed. You know who used to do that?

Don Brown.

That’s what I mean. I don’t like this adjustment.

I don’t like it either. I don’t like the personnel based on field position. “You want to throw down there? Go ahead. I’m not letting you do that.”

I’m reading a quote from Whittingham: “There’s a lot of issues with the offense. This is not all on Bryce.” That’s what we’ve said. Everybody shares the blame.

Our inside guys—I like Pierce, Etta, and Bobby Kanka. Kanka’s solid. I like the edges. I don’t know if the linebackers are the most athletic, highly recruited future pros, but we’re getting a lot out of them. Taylor’s young and will get better.

This is a pick. BS is playing well.

Well-executed blitz. Great blitz.

We show a three-man front, which we use a lot. Third-and-six. You don’t know what Hill’s going to do. A three-man front with a wide, wide nine. We’ve done so much from this that you have no idea. We run a blitz and execute it perfectly. I’ll break it down.

The other view’s better. That wide-nine knifes in two gaps. The corner’s outside, creating a seam. Bowles is patient, then flies through it, gets to the quarterback, and causes an interception.

It’s coordinated and worked on in practice. Coach Mo used to put out garbage cans or helmets for blitz walkthroughs. The key: This player has to come underneath and cross that guy’s face. You don’t just go hit the guy, or you have two guys in the same gap. He comes underneath exactly as you want. That’s scheme, good coaching, execution, and a guy catching the ball. The whole deal.

Greg says they had small guys on defense against Minnesota, lots of 3–4. I don’t remember many four-linebacker sets. They run 3–3–5 a lot, but I don’t remember 3–4. Do you, Jim?

With four DBs? A little. We had three defensive linemen.

Three linemen, but I don’t think four linebackers.

Look at this. Five DBs. You need all three guys playing on a flat wall. Kanka’s playing good football, but only one guy is on that wall. Watch what Kanka does while the other two get waxed. Not good football.

Moa is on the edge, 13.

Look at these guys getting knocked out.

Is that Dominic trying again? He’s not the same. He’s hurt. He got pancaked.

Low stance there.

That isn’t the guy I watched the first couple of games. He’s playing hurt. He’ll benefit from time off. That’s Owusu-Boateng out there, number 12.

I had to show this. Highly recruited, skilled, fast, tough. You have to position yourself. Huge penalty.

Third-and-six or something.

It was interference. He stopped his feet, got flat-footed. Break this down. You have to be gap-sound. This is his gap, this is his gap, this is his gap. A linebacker comes over to this gap. Four’s over here. Know your responsibility. This is zone.

That happens when you get nosy. You think, “I have to make a play.” No. Do your job.

He should be here, letting number four handle this gap. They pick up yards. Little thing, but I wanted to point it out. Bowles has played pretty well.

There are mistakes in football. You’ll never play a perfect game. You make mistakes and bounce back. But you can’t make the same mistakes over and over. That’s the offensive problem. We see the same things.

Third-and-two. We line up right against the tush push. We didn’t really stop them, but now they shift out. I don’t like the adjustment. They’ve got a running back here, the quarterback over there.

No reason for two deep safeties.

That’s where they got us.

I have no qualms with Jay Hill. He knows this better than I do. But they caught him with this shift. Every team we’ve played has its safeties—

If I’m Whittingham, I ask Hill: Have they shown this before? If they haven’t, you can’t always pull something out and line up right. If I’ve seen it, I’m putting a lot more defense in here. I don’t like this player’s technique.

What does the defense have to do on the shift? Think. Those safeties go, “Wait. This isn’t a tush push. They’ve shifted. It’s something different.” I’m thinking. What happens? You play slow. That’s what I think happens on offense. Too much thinking, playing slow.

Here’s Boney. A true freshman. I don’t know how much freedom they allow, but if we had him punching—

Boney isn’t out there. That’s Taylor. Chase Taylor.

If he punches into this inside gap, he should know he has outside help.

You end up with two guys outside the defense, two out here and the back here. That’s young guys. He follows instinct, thinking, “Make a play,” instead of, “Do my job.” Cover the gap. Know you have somebody outside. Turn your head and look.

As a coach, you see formations they’ve never shown, like Northwestern’s stuff against Penn State.

This is a blitz I don’t remember seeing. Number 90 and 93. Second-and-two. Two big defensive guys, 265-pounders.

I didn’t see that.

We ran it four or five times.

Funny. Staehling is over here.

Staehling, right there.

He moved guys, put linebackers out here. What does this give you? Good inside punch. They might not know which gap you’re firing. Creates conflict, not knowing which gap the blitz comes from.

Big 270-pounders smashing it. They get the first down, but interesting. I haven’t seen it. The offense doesn’t know which gap they’re coming through.

From the rear view, the defensive tackle angled in, and Patterson was supposed to take the left gap, right where the back went.

We run so much man. I watched this 10 times and don’t know what they’re trying to run. Not a screen. We’re in three-deep, three-under zone. Linebackers drop, and we bring the backside corner. They make a mistake and boot away from us. What play is this?

Some wheel route? There’s a lineman out there.

It’s the tight end from over here. The rest of the line steps playside, not running screen.

Watch the two on the right. The guard and tight end are looking to block a screen. Maybe the tailback got too deep.

Whatever it is, Staehling just rushed for more yards than all our linebackers combined on one play.

A big thing: We don’t clip. This guy almost does something dumb, but we don’t clip anybody. We worked on that a ton when I coached. Don’t clip. Don’t hit the quarterback.

The running back went too far downfield. It was supposed to be some kind of screen.

Tell me which linemen get downfield, because I don’t see them.

Boney has to play the run better. That’s the hard part. Rushing the quarterback is easy as a young guy. I like number three’s run support.

First thing I see, before the play starts: Why is his left foot forward? I’d have my right foot forward.

Some coaches teach differently. When you play edge, keep your eyes on your work. His eyes have to be on the tackle’s shoulder.

Feet are one thing. He has a good punch. Right there, good spot. Stay outside. Keep going. That’s his fault. You have outside contain. You can’t duck in. It isn’t your job. Do your job.

He’s young. There’s nothing inside but a butt chewing.

Exactly. [Laughter.] That’s what I tell my guys. Nothing in there but a butt chewing.

More of this blitz. I can’t believe I didn’t pick it up. Now they bring 41. About 550 pounds of blitz from the inside. [Laughter.] Punch in the quarterback’s face.

We have to tackle him. We had a tackling problem against Minnesota. I can’t count how many times I said, “Tackle, for crying out loud.”

Get off the blocks. This is the guessing game coaching defense. They call a screen, and we’re in man. Man can be great against a screen if the linebacker gets there fast. BS gets there right now. Don’t let the linemen get there.

Zone can be the worst against a screen. You’re dropping, giving linemen natural kick-out blocks. BS does a great job in man. Get there before the linemen. Sometimes you guess right as a coach, sometimes not.

Good job sniffing it out.

Where are we in the game?

Sudden change. There was so much of it. This is after the muffed punt.

Wasn’t that earlier?

Third quarter.

I thought first half.

No, third quarter.

I like how we get 93 out. They were listening to Scar on our podcast. They realized, “I’m not having 95 contain. I’ll have 93, 17, 91. Guys who can run, get up, and contain if I run a stunt.” If an inside guy loops out, he has to be able to run and contain. Ninety-three gets there. I like seeing it.

Four or five plays left. You have to get to your gap. We run a stunt, and this player has to get here. He doesn’t. If you slant into a gap, you can’t get cut off. I think that’s Pierce. The center cuts him off. Is this their final drive?

No, they were going the other way.

You’re right. Still the third quarter, maybe the end. I don’t like him getting cut off.

Staehling comes inside. Somebody didn’t go outside.

They run a stunt. He has to reach this gap. Staehling has to smash 65 so our guy can come off. He went around.

Sometimes you call a blitz and get out of position. It doesn’t all go perfectly. That’s the risk.

He has to get into that gap. If I’m looping there, I have to beat him.

Yes, but credit the lineman for not letting it happen.

For sudden change after the muffed punt, holding them to a field goal is a win for the defense.

I talk about coaching and getting players ready. I played and coached this position. We had what we called a ready list. Have you heard that?

No.

It’s a coaching term: What does this guy need to know to play outside linebacker for Michigan? Everything. Every block he could see. Drop in coverage, play man, play zone, take on double-teams. Everything he might see in a game has to be coached.

When I played, we worked on reverses and naked boots at least twice a week. As an edge player, I saw them in practice, so I was prepared. The Philly Special, where the quarterback runs across your face—even if a team doesn’t run it, you need to show it to your edges every couple of weeks.

Think about that. It’s a downside of running so much stuff. How much reverse and bootleg work is this player seeing? Number 13. Huge play. Sets up their score.

That’s Moa.

Are you giving him reps? Is he seeing reverses, bootlegs, this play? He doesn’t look like he sees it much in practice. Find the football.

His eyes are lost. He’s square initially, then turns and completely loses sight of it. Stay square.

The other view is better. In your stance, you read the threats, your pre-snap keys. Look at the backfield set.

When I coached backers, if I had a guy there, I’d split the difference. He goes away, so now my eyes go to the outside shoulder of the guy across from me.

You’re feeling the tight end’s block. He doesn’t block you. Stay square. Great. But find the ball. Right now he’s fine, but he’ll lose his squareness because he turns his head inside. In my opinion, feet aren’t as important as knowing where the ball is. He doesn’t know.

Feet are important. He’s okay there.

I get it. But if I know where the ball is—tell me when you think he knows.

The quarterback tosses it. The ball’s there. Now he knows.

You think he knows? I don’t. Still doesn’t. No clue. I get that feet and staying square are important. Totally. But he doesn’t know where the ball is. My point: How many reps did he get in practice? Huge play, sets up the score.

I don’t want to run the score. I want to end here. I feel proud of the guys who played defense for Michigan. You and I are former defensive guys. They played defense the whole damn game.

I think back to 1984 when Harbaugh got hurt. We played defense all year. Sudden change didn’t faze you because it happened so often. I hope that isn’t the case here, but they’ll be mentally tough and prepared for it. It makes you a tough dude. I hope it doesn’t get to that, but I’m proud of how the defense played.

Oh, yeah.

I talked about players and coaches I don’t want to face. Did you have thoughts on that? Any comments?

Nine Lives took a while to get here, but he’s here. We like having you. Thanks for coming. “Ninety-three’s the defensive end. He got mauled.”

He’s young and athletic. He rushes the quarterback, but doesn’t play the run well. That comes with time. The Owusu-Boateng penalty—he has to position his body right.

Does anybody know when Whittingham’s radio show is?

Normally Monday. Maybe they delayed it because it’s a bye. I looked and didn’t see it. Maybe later, because I saw that quote. We’ll check.

It’s a bye week for everybody, fans included. Some call it spouse weekend. Michigan isn’t playing. Take your spouse out. Go to the cider mill. Take a hike or bike ride. See grandparents, your mom and dad, hang out with family. Have a beer with your neighbor. Take your mind off football.

It’s not the end of the world. It sucks. Nobody likes losing, but the sun comes up tomorrow. Be thankful you’re coming up with it. Cheer on your team. Social media has made villains of people who don’t need to be villains. These kids don’t need it from fans on social media. They’ll hear it in film review from the people who matter, their coaches.

As fans, support the team. You can be disappointed and still love your team. Love your team, enjoy spouse weekend, and Go Blue.

All right, D, you said it well. Players, get in the bunker. Coaches, get in the bunker. What?]