Week 4 v Michigan - Saturday, September 20: Game Notes, Depth Chart, Etc

[ZJSARENOTFREE]

Our defense causing turnovers is luck now?

No, they dropped a pick 6 and also didn’t pick up a fumble that probably gets returned. Their coaching also set up V9s great play and also caused the game to not go to OT. They had a lot of missed opportunity as well. Michigan has better talent than Cincy and is going to test our front 7 all day. I’m skeptical until I see them shut down the run

 

[V-Doub]

I do have a point, but it's not really about the 2021 team.

I'm seeing a lot of fans who seem terrified by a match up with this 2025 Michigan team.

Much worse Nebraska teams have nearly beaten a vastly superior Michigan team in Lincoln. I don't quite understand why people are freaking out.

Probably because they’ve seen 15-20 years of coaches and teams that could find a way to fail a pregnancy test. I think this team is different, but until they’ve done it they ain’t done it.

 

[TampaBaySkers]

Probably because they’ve seen 15-20 years of coaches and teams that could find a way to fail a pregnancy test. I think this team is different, but until they’ve done it they ain’t done it.

As long as Dylan doesn’t get the yips and our defense stays nasty we win easily despite the refs

 

[V-Doub]

As long as Dylan doesn’t get the yips and our defense stays nasty we win easily despite the refs

Everything I’ve seen on paper, and everything I’ve seen from both these teams leads me to the same conclusion. I think we have the ability to beat this Michigan team by 14-21 pts. But my brain won’t let me accept that conclusion until I see it happen.

 

[TampaBaySkers]

Everything I’ve seen on paper, and everything I’ve seen from both these teams leads me to the same conclusion. I think we have the ability to beat this Michigan team by 14-21 pts. But my brain won’t let me accept that conclusion until I see it happen.

My only worry is the refs completely fucking us

 

[ZJSARENOTFREE]

My only worry is the refs completely fucking us

This will happen. Referees will refuse to call holding, we will get 4 of them and Underwood will constantly be bailed out by a PI call after a horrid throw

 

[vailhusker]

 

[Sous Chef]

This will happen. Referees will refuse to call holding, we will get 4 of them and Underwood will constantly be bailed out by a PI call after a horrid throw

 

[Chi7397]

No, they dropped a pick 6 and also didn’t pick up a fumble that probably gets returned. Their coaching also set up V9s great play and also caused the game to not go to OT. They had a lot of missed opportunity as well. Michigan has better talent than Cincy and is going to test our front 7 all day. I’m skeptical until I see them shut down the run

If you flip every break that went our way then obviously we would lost. That 2021 team would have been undefeated applying the same logic.

The margins aren’t that wide in most Power 4 games.

 

[V-Doub]

This will happen. Referees will refuse to call holding, we will get 4 of them and Underwood will constantly be bailed out by a PI call after a horrid throw

You just know it. We have to beat them so bad the refs can’t save them.

 

[Seaofred92]

I do have a point, but it's not really about the 2021 team.

I'm seeing a lot of fans who seem terrified by a match up with this 2025 Michigan team.

Much worse Nebraska teams have nearly beaten a vastly superior Michigan team in Lincoln. I don't quite understand why people are freaking out.

I’m more terrified of the matchup of what Michigan wants to/can do offensively against Nebraska’s defense than Michigan itself if that makes sense

We saw NU get pretty well gashed by UC at Arrowhead with QB run defense being a glaringly obvious issue for us that nearly lost us the game

2025 UM is not 2023 UM. They don’t have Mullings, Corum, etc on the roster. But Haynes is good and a load to tackle offensively and Underwood finally used his legs to the tune of 9 carries for 114 yards and TDs yesterday against CMU, including tons of scramble yards. Impossible to know how much better we are or are not in run defense after the last two weeks but its the glaringly obvious weak point of our offense against what they probably do best offensively that gives me concerns going into the game.

If we can keep Underwood in the pocket and make him throw I feel a lot better about our chances to win. But Underwood has thrown 24 (@ OU) and 25 (CMU) times the last two games - if they stick with a game plan like that, they are going to run it ~40-45 times on Saturday against NU. Can we do better than the 6.7 YPC Cincinnati had against us against Michigan? If we can keep it closer to 4 it will bode much better for us and give us a good chance to win. Would love to take a page from the OU book and get up 7-0 early, make Michigan play from behind and throw.

 

[V-Doub]

I’m more terrified of the matchup of what Michigan wants to/can do offensively against Nebraska’s defense than Michigan itself if that makes sense

We saw NU get pretty well gashed by UC at Arrowhead with QB run defense being a glaringly obvious issue for us that nearly lost us the game

2025 UM is not 2023 UM. They don’t have Mullings, Corum, etc on the roster. But Haynes is good and a load to tackle offensively and Underwood finally used his legs to the tune of 9 carries for 114 yards and TDs yesterday against CMU, including tons of scramble yards. Impossible to know how much better we are or are not in run defense after the last two weeks but its the glaringly obvious week point of our offense against what they probably do best offensively that gives me concerns going into the game.

If we can keep Underwood in the pocket and make him throw I feel a lot better about our chances to win. But Underwood has thrown 24 (@ OU) and 25 (CMU) times the last two games - if they stick with a game plan like that, they are going to run it ~40-45 times on Saturday against NU. Can we do better than the 6.7 YPC Cincinnati had against us against Michigan? If we can keep it closer to 4 it will bode much better for us and give us a good chance to win. Would love to take a page from the OU book and get up 7-0 early, make Michigan play from behind and throw.

Stop the run, get them in 3rd long situations and we could win by several scores. If we can’t stop the run this game will be close and could go either way. Seems like it’s pretty much that simple.

 

[Seaofred92]

Also - one John Butler quote I can’t get out of my head after that Cincinnati game is he said that Sorsby “turned it into a high school football game” by running all over the place. Not sure I love the hubris in that quote and hope we are well prepared for the likelihood that we see Underwood scramble 5-8 times on Saturday because we seemed to have zero answer to Sorsby doing that when it was pretty well documented on film that he would be a willing ball carrier if nothing was open downfield

 

[Sous Chef]

Also - one John Butler quote I can’t get out of my head after that Cincinnati game is he said that Sorsby “turned it into a high school football game” by running all over the place. Not sure I love the hubris in that quote and hope we are well prepared for the likelihood that we see Underwood scramble 5-8 times on Saturday because we seemed to have zero answer to Sorsby doing that when it was pretty well documented on film that he would be a willing ball carrier if nothing was open downfield

yeah that quote bothered me too. It was borderline making excuses. Almost Frost like.

 

[Seaofred92]

yeah that quote bothered me too. It was borderline making excuses. Almost Frost like.

He said it and I was like…. But it’s been on film all summer long lol. Your job is to stop them not make judgments about the level of offensive sophistication they’re running

 

[Jim14510]

He said it and I was like…. But it’s been on film all summer long lol. Your job is to stop them not make judgments about the level of offensive sophistication they’re running

I think the point was that Sorsby wasn't getting a lot of yards on designed QB runs. It was on scrambles. As you said Jobu should know that could be an issue and game plan for it but its a tough thing to game plan for outside of controlled pass rush (which we did most of the time) and/or keep a spy on him when they drop back to pass.

 

[Seaofred92]

Michigan #21 - Nebraska unranked

 

[ChocaEgg]

My only worry is the refs completely fucking us

They will try. B1G refs have been consistent in that regard.

 

[Seaofred92]

I think the point was that Sorsby wasn't getting a lot of yards on designed QB runs. It was on scrambles. As you said Jobu should know that could be an issue and game plan for it but its a tough thing to game plan for outside of controlled pass rush (which we did most of the time) and/or keep a spy on him when they drop back to pass.

Right.. and I know it was week 1 and we did a terrible job with rush lane integrity, etc but I’m going to be pretty pissed if we lose with Underwood running all over the place and Butler says some nonsense about how they couldn’t beat us at “real” football so they had to run the QB a bunch or something along those lines

 

[vailhusker]