Washington is #10 total offense and has tremendous passing stats with iffy defense
Michigan is more the reverse of that - being #1 for total D (Wash is #97) and #72 for total offense.
Michigan #10 for time of possession and Wash is # 65 (about 2 mins difference)
Michigan #2 for pass D and #15 for sacks (Wash 104 for sacks)
Michigan #2 for turnover margin and Wash = #56
On screen Michigan has more balance but coaches can pull rabbits out for big games
From an Athletic article interviewing coaches.
Pressuring Penix without leaving the secondary vulnerable is almost impossible. That leaves defenses with one other option, said multiple coaches: Confuse him.
From the article:
“If I’m Michigan, I’m utilizing a lot of disguises in my coverages. Pre-snap, I want Michael to see Cover 2 but really I’m Cover 3. I want him to see man but at snap, we’re getting into Cover 3, Cover 4. You press those corners, you disguise and you send pressure. That’s what
Arizona State did. They were in his head a little bit. He didn’t have time to go through his reads, and it wasn’t as clean as he wanted it to be.”
That 15-7 win over the Sun Devils was the only game this season in which Penix threw more than one interception and one of two games in which he was held without a touchdown pass, and the Huskies didn’t have a pass play longer than 21 yards.
“Michigan is so tough on defense,” said one coordinator who faced the Wolverines this season. “They made Alabama one-dimensional. Their D-line is that good. They made Bama look like an average O-line.”
If Penix, in his sixth year playing college football, can sniff out coverages clearly before the snap and check into a different play, it’s a disaster for defenses.
“They have more Cover 3 zone beaters than you’ve ever seen,” one head coach said. “Schematically, these guys are incredible. I have the utmost respect for them.”
