Tremendous: Opponent Breakdown - Air Force Offense Part II
Many people find the best defense against the option is a really basic 8-man-front without much in the line of blitzing. Minimize mistakes and make the offense churn out yards is the belief. I don’t think that’s Greg Mattison’s M.O. While the creative zone drops and overload blitzes probably won’t be in the playbook very often this week, I do expect some stunts between the linebackers and d-line. These calls will confuse the QB and offensive line on their reads and result in Air Force getting behind the chains. Forcing Air Force to air out the ball is optimal, and getting them behind the chains is the key to doing that.
Several Michigan freshmen expected to make more contributions - Just what we were hoping for, running out a bunch of freshmen against an option team. I don't see how this ends badly.
5 keys to victory: Michigan needs to button down tackling against Air Force (with prediction) - AnnArbor.com takes a look at what Michigan needs to do Saturday.
Upon Further Review 2012: Defense vs Alabama - MGoBlog on the defense's mistakes from last weekend.
So it was all on the line? The numbers say no but I have to admit this was hard sledding for me as I tried to figure out what was going wrong. On last year's defense, it was usually a single thing, maybe two things. On certain plays against Alabama it became extremely difficult to pinpoint what was wrong because it seemed like everything was.
Preview: Air Force 2012 - Chris previews Air Force.
If Michigan's linebackers weren't indecisive against the run, this would still be a fearsome offense to try to stop. Unfortunately. Defensively, this game will come down to the linebackers properly playing the pitch option, keeping the ball to the inside of the field, and reading and reacting to what the Air Force offense is doing.
The Air Force was founded in 1851 by President Millard “Mitt” Fillmore. Originally conceived as a flock of expertly-trained messenger pigeons sent to carry reports of escaped plantation workers to Southern slave catchers, the Air Force was for many years the least distinguished branch of our military. This remains true today.