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8A — Wednesday, September 6, 2017
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
New formation a success in first trial against the Gators
On Saturday against then-
No.
17
Florida,
Michigan
defensive
coordinator
Don
Brown showcased yet another
wrinkle to his blitz-heavy
defense.
The
new
scheme
incorporated a 3-3-5 stack,
which,
as
redshirt
junior
defensive end Chase Winovich
explained, involved moving
the eighth-ranked Wolverines’
SAM linebacker to defensive
end. In doing so, Michigan
had the flexibility to add a
linebacker to the box while
putting a VIPER on the field
as well.
Winovich
added
that
the
new
formation
allows
the
linebackers
to
blitz
while
deceiving
opposing
quarterbacks with the guise of
their standard 4-3. And if the
Gators’ offensive performance
was
any
indication,
the
Wolverines weren’t easy to
figure out.
“When we unveiled it, I
think they were just like, ‘Oh,
crap, how do we adjust to this?’
”
Winovich
said
Saturday
night. “We had so many plays
early on (in the) first half,
Coach Brown said we have so
many plays we haven’t even
done yet, and we’re having a
lot of success. And he said,
let’s keep pushing.”
According
to
senior
linebacker Noah Furbush, the
inception of the new scheme
all
began
during
spring
practices,
as
Brown
was
rotating a collection of players
at different positions in an
attempt to try to maximize
everyone’s strengths.
And
as
it
turned
out,
Furbush’s
strengths
were
maximized
at
the
SAM
position of the new 3-3-5
stack.
“I think it’s a lot of the same
things I do at SAM,” Furbush
said. “A lot of the principles
carry over. But it’s definitely a
new thing, it’s different having
your hand in the dirt than just
two feet on the ground.”
Originally,
though,
Michigan never intended to
anchor its defense around
the stack in its season opener.
But with the success the
formation
yielded,
there
was no reason for Brown to
deviate from it.
After all, the Wolverine
defense
recovered
three
fumbles — including one for a
touchdown — while applying
enough pocket pressure that
Florida managed to register
just 181 yards in the air.
Perhaps
most
relevant
of
all, though, is that the new
formation held the Gators to
just 11 yards on the ground.
By the end of the day, the
Wolverines had registered six
sacks and 11 tackles for loss.
“The defense, the way they
played, it was the best since
I’ve been here coaching, that
I’ve seen our defense run to the
football,”
said
Michigan coach
Jim Harbaugh.
“Holes
opened
up
and
they
closed. Pursuit.
Nobody
on
the
ground.
Everybody
(was)
getting
up
running,
making
the
tackle.”
As
it
turns
out,
one
of
those fumbles was the icing on
the cake for Furbush and the
Wolverines during the debut
of their new defense.
With just over 90 seconds
left in Saturday’s game, after
Michigan had already chased
Gators
quarterback
Feleipe
Franks, Malik Zaire took the
snap on 2nd and 18 in his own
end zone. But Winovich burst
through
the
line,
forcing
a
fumble
that
Furbush
promptly
covered up for
a
touchdown,
putting a nail
in the Gators’
coffin.
“Don Brown
had an excellent
game
plan,”
Harbaugh said.
“(He)
worked
one style of offense with the
first quarterback that was
in there. When they went to
Malik Zaire, it changed. More
read option and adapted the
scheme.
“Our players knew it. They
knew what they had with the
one, and they knew what they
had with the next. They were
on it. Very happy. We were
a
confident
unit,
really
well-coached
defensive unit.
We thought we
were going to
be
good,
and
we were good.
We’ll
continue
to build. I was
really
pleased
with
the
way
they ran to the
ball.”
And
while
the
Gators
will
be
glad
Michigan’s new-look unit is
in the rearview mirror, there
may be no one happier than
the Wolverines’ own offensive
unit. For the first time in a
calendar year, they finally got
to play someone else.
“We’ve seen it for so long
now that — to me it’s more
personnel, just because we’ve
got
a
lot
of
guys
that
do
a lot of things
really
well,”
said
fifth-year
senior running
back Ty Isaac
on Monday. “I
know when we
first
started
seeing it, it was
giving us fits,
just
because
it’s hard to tell
what’s
coming
from where.
“It turns into playing spots
instead of body type. They’ve
done a really good job of
keeping (the) offense, at least
us, off balance and obviously it
worked against Florida.”
FILE PHOTO/Daily
Senior linebacker Noah Furbush and the Wolverines have benefited from the implementation of a new 3-3-5 defensive formation, as demonstrated against Florida.
BY THE NUMBERS
Michigan’s New 3-3-5 Defense
181
Yards allowed in the air
11
Yards allowed on the
ground
6
Sacks registered
3
Total points given up
KEVIN SANTO
Managing Sports Editor
“A lot of the
principles carry
over. But it’s
definitely a new
thing.”
“They’ve done a
really good job
of keeping (the)
offense, at least
us, off balance.”