Masterclass chess match that wasn't: Michigan's defense of TCU
The TCU win over Michigan was so shocking to me I had to reconsider if they could beat Georgia. Why couldn't the Wolverines control the game with their defense?
Michigan lost their semi-final game to TCU largely because they underestimated the Frog secondary and overall Flyover scheme.
TCU had some real talent, three draft picks on defense and probably two more when Josh Newton (cornerback) and Bud Clark (safety) are ready to enter into that process.
The Horned Frogs inflicted 13 tackles for loss and draft pick Dylan Horton (defensive end, 4th round) had four sacks. Even more importantly, Bud Clark and draft pick Dee Winters (linebacker, 6th round) each had devastating pick-6s to put 14 points on the board for the Frogs in a single-possession game. It was a boom or bust day for the Michigan offense with JJ McCarthy throwing for 343 yards and the Wolverines racking up 186 rushing yards on 40 carries.
Yet boom or bust results made a certain amount of sense. TCU’s defensive scheme was completely foreign to Michigan and their secondary and pass defense had legitimate talent which lead the Frogs to play their defensive backs on islands routinely.
What didn’t make sense was TCU running for 263 yards and scoring 37 points in their own right on offense against a Michigan defense which had held up against Ohio State and dominated the Big 10 before sending three of their own defenders to the NFL as well as the punter and will probably send another 3-4 of those defensive starters in the next draft.
TCU had clear weaknesses on the offensive line in pass protection which were exposed by Texas and K-State down the stretch in the Big 12. After the Michigan outcome you almost wondered, “were guys hurt? Did they figure something out on the offensive line?” Then Georgia absolutely ran through them.
So why didn’t Michigan? I determined to finally go back and uncover this dimension of the game which could have flipped the outcome and offered up the Georgia-Michigan Final we expected.
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