The Michigan Wolverines head into the bye week 3-1 after a 30-27 victory over Nebraska that never felt that close. Despite Michigan’s best efforts to self-sabotage at times, the Wolverines controlled the game
on both sides of the ball and have shown steady improvement since the Week 1 victory over New Mexico.
Since we have focused so heavily on the offense and the development of quarterback Bryce Underwood to begin the season, it’s time to show the defense some love. Wink Martindale’s unit was smothering on Saturday and flashed the potential as one of the best in the country. To be fair, the unit still has areas to clean up — Hail Marys and penalties — but the performance at Nebraska served as a reminder of the ceiling and depth of this unit.
One of the areas the defense shone the most was on third down, a down that had been previously troublesome for this unit earlier this season. Against Nebraska, the Wolverines limited the Cornhuskers to 2-of-13 on third downs and found success through a combination of pressure and disguise. Let’s check the tape and see what our resident mad scientist cooked up on the critical down to get the best of Nebraska.
3rd-and-8: Cover 3 Twist
Following Nebraska’s scripted drive to begin the game, Martindale had quarterback Dylan Raiola in hell. Unsure of where and when pressure was coming, Raiola struggled to get a clean look pre-snap and was frequently under duress immediately post-snap.
On the first play of the second quarter, Martindale came out with a five-man front of Jaishawn Barham, Derrick Moore, Rayshaun Benny, Cam Brandt and T.J. Guy, from near to far side. I am sure the broadcast booth was predicting blitz — unless they were clamoring for a face mask — because it appears obvious. Martindale is known to bring the heat; he loves to bring the heat, and this is an obvious passing situation. But Martindale flashes restraint and creativity in this instance.
Knowing Barham has been unstoppable and knowing Nebraska knows Barham has been unstoppable, he is used as a decoy. At the snap, instead of rushing, Barham drops out into coverage. Raiola’s eyes start left, anticipating a hole in coverage that is immediately filled by the dropping Barham. Raiola begins to work across the field as Michigan’s simulated pressure gets to work up front.
Moore replaces Barham and sets a hard edge on the near side to keep Raiola in the pocket. Brandt crashes into the A gap to draw the attention of the right guard and center as Benny pulls around him. At the top of the formation, Guy drives the right tackle within one yard of Raiola as the running back half-asses a chip block. The right guard does a decent job recovering on Benny, but because Guy has won so emphatically, Benny additionally loops around him as all four defensive linemen converge on Raiola. With nowhere to turn, Raiola falls down and effectively sacks himself.
Everyone knew Martindale was blitzing — he loves to blitz! And that’s why he didn’t. He took this tendency-breaking to another level a few minutes later.
3rd-and-3: Drop Eight
This time, it is 3rd-and-short in the red zone. Martindale has to blitz in this situation, right? Nebraska aligns in a 3×1 formation before Raiola empties the backfield by sending his running back to the perimeter. Nebraska loves to do this to help give Raiola a cleaner picture of the defense pre-snap. Ernest Hausmann follows the running back out in coverage and the Wolverines have five on the line of scrimmage, showing pressure.
Jimmy Rolder and T.J. Guy are lined up at the edges with Benny, Trey Pierce and Brandt inside. Even safety Brandyn Hillman has walked up to the line of scrimmage on the near side. Nebraska knows Michigan loves to bring heat in the red zone and that they especially love to blitz a defensive back from the boundary. Showing a Cover One-Man look, the Cornhuskers have the Wolverines right where they want them.
Until the ball is snapped.
Immediately, Rolder and Guy drop and Hillman jams a receiver at the line before attaching to the No. 3 receiver in coverage (defenses number receivers from the outside in). Michigan is still playing a version of Cover One with Rod Moore patrolling the middle of the field, and every coverage player pre-snap is still playing man-to-man. The wrinkle is that Rolder and Guy are both playing underneath zone coverage as robbers and reading the quarterback. Raiola is lost.
Raiola starts right, looking for the quick slant to his running back who is working against Hausmann in space. The only problem is Guy is directly in the window staring back at him. Raiola, struggling to process what he is seeing, flips his vision to the other side of the field, when WHAM! Benny has strong-armed both the left guard and left tackle and split the B gap on the near side, while Brandt has spun to the inside at the top of his rush and both collide at the quarterback before he knew what was happening.
Schematically, Martindale was head and shoulders above Dana Holgorsen’s offense for the majority of the game. But sometimes, schemes or players’ interpretations of schemes can go too far when trying to disguise intentions.
3rd-and-8: Coverage Bust
Just outside the red zone facing another third-and-long, Martindale once again sells the idea of pressure. Michigan has eight players near the line of scrimmage. From the nearside, Derrick Moore, Rayshaun Benny, Ernest Hausmann, Cole Sullivan, Tre Williams, Jaden Mangham and Jaishawn Barham are all showing heat with safety Brandyn Hillman lurking as well.
As the Nebraska running back shifts to the other side of Raiola, Hillman rotates toward the middle of the defense. At the snap, Hillman, Mangham, Sullivan, and Hausmann all bail out for a three-deep, four-under coverage. The only problem is Hillman, with his eyes in the backfield, does not get enough depth to play deep.
If Michigan is playing Cover Three, Hillman needs to be on his horse or retreat earlier so the defense does not get beaten over the top. If this is Cover Six, it’s expected that Hillman would be playing quarters coverage to the field with two receivers to that side, so he needs to get his eyes back to the right and really needs to be on his horse. Situations and alignments can change coverage rules, so it’s hard to say definitively, but Hillman undoubtedly has to get his eyes on the No. 2 receiver to the field and gain more depth pre-snap.
This is an example of a defense disguising itself out of position. The deception was brilliant, but too brilliant to where it even fooled Michigan.
BONUS PLAY
Let’s fire up the DeLorean to 88 mph for a quick trip back to the last time Michigan played in Lincoln. Going back to 2023, I thought Bryce Underwood’s touchdown run looked familiar. I wonder if Matt Rhule will blame it on the signs.
