Fulton Analysis: Cauterize

The Ohio State defense survived a Michigan game plan that stressed the structure and weaknesses of the Buckeye defense.

The Wolverine game plan attacked the two areas where the Ohio State defense has struggled, one structural and one execution. As to the first, Jim Harbaugh’s staff used formation and motion to outleverage the Buckeyes to the boundary edge with the run game.

Ohio State opened by playing primarily a 4-3 under that was aligned based upon Michigan’s formation strength, combined with cover 4. The Buckeyes continued having the Will linebacker (Jerome Baker) “travel” with the 3-technique and the Sam linebacker (Chris Worley) align on the same side as the 1-technique nose guard.

Ohio State also placed their best corner Denzel Ward to the boundary. This is likely an attempt to minimize the Buckeyes’ defensive weakness against Iowa, where the Hawkeyes placed their tight end to the short field away from wide receivers to feature that end in the passing game.

Nevertheless, Michigan’s primary rushing success resulted from placing wide receivers to the field, a tight end and/or fullback to the boundary, and running to that short field edge. Boundary runs stress the run support from quarters coverage. To defend the short field, the defense only has the Will linebacker, who is also responsible for the backside A or B gap, the boundary corner, who also has pass concerns, and the boundary safety, who may have responsibilities to the field, as discussed below.

Michigan used alignment to magnify that weakness. Below, the Wolverines used a short wide receiver split to limit the corner’s ability to provide force support.