OSU Blogger's Breakdown of Hankwitz's Defense

[17gradnu]

It's a pretty solid detailed analysis

Film Study: Northwestern's No-Nonsense Approach to Defense Has Struggled to Slow Down Ohio State in Recent Years

One of the conference's stingiest units has carried the Wildcats back to Indy. Will this be the year it finally slows down Ryan Day's offense?

www.elevenwarriors.com

 

[Rebel_]

It's a pretty solid detailed analysis

Film Study: Northwestern's No-Nonsense Approach to Defense Has Struggled to Slow Down Ohio State in Recent Years

One of the conference's stingiest units has carried the Wildcats back to Indy. Will this be the year it finally slows down Ryan Day's offense?

www.elevenwarriors.com

This is an outstanding analysis. Thanks for sharing! Trips with a flexed TE is a bitch for our secondary. Here's to Hank for finding a way. Get 400 Saturday.

 

[EvanstonCat]

Reading this makes me feel a bit ill. If Hank can find a way to stymie the horses of dOSU, he is truly the mastermind. #400 will be well earned, as will the Broyles. I believe in him, even if I have no idea how he will do it.

 

[Gladeskat]

Hank was a TE at Michigan, not an outside linebacker. Otherwise, a good article.

 

[CatFan_Mike2]

It's a pretty solid detailed analysis

Film Study: Northwestern's No-Nonsense Approach to Defense Has Struggled to Slow Down Ohio State in Recent Years

One of the conference's stingiest units has carried the Wildcats back to Indy. Will this be the year it finally slows down Ryan Day's offense?

www.elevenwarriors.com

This was a great read. Thank you for sharing.

 

[Go Catz]

I get the impression that many NU fans (me, for sure) just want to forget about last year's game and think about what happened in the 2018 championship game.

OSU fans aren't forgetting last year's game. This article has brought back some of the horror for me. That second quarter was just brutal... I think we got beat in every way from scheme to technique to of course sheer athleticism. The defense just caved later in the game - no support from the offense, huge OSU crowd roaring under the lights.

This year's game ought to be different. Hank will find a way.

 

[Hungry Jack]

Great read. Outstanding analysis. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of truth to it.

 

[gocatsgo2003]

It's a pretty solid detailed analysis

Film Study: Northwestern's No-Nonsense Approach to Defense Has Struggled to Slow Down Ohio State in Recent Years

One of the conference's stingiest units has carried the Wildcats back to Indy. Will this be the year it finally slows down Ryan Day's offense?

www.elevenwarriors.com

While this is a pretty darn good analysis, the one thing that it overlooks is the quality of our DBs and especially corners. While Montre Hartage gave a valiant effort in 2018, we were down to our fourth and fifth corners for most of the game. Trae Williams, Alonzo Mayo, and a still-not-100% Greg Newsome flatly had no chance against that group of wideouts.

The 2020 edition is different. Hank has shown a willingness to use Newsome to try to simply take away an opponent's top wideout while the corners opposite him have stepped up their level. This gives Hank much more room to operate, not having to shade safeties as far to help, etc.

And, frankly, Joseph has been a hell of a lot better in pass coverage than Whillock ever really was.

 

[GeauxCatsGeaux]

While this is a pretty darn good analysis, the one thing that it overlooks is the quality of our DBs and especially corners. While Montre Hartage gave a valiant effort in 2018, we were down to our fourth and fifth corners for most of the game. Trae Williams, Alonzo Mayo, and a still-not-100% Greg Newsome flatly had no chance against that group of wideouts.

The 2020 edition is different. Hank has shown a willingness to use Newsome to try to simply take away an opponent's top wideout while the corners opposite him have stepped up their level. This gives Hank much more room to operate, not having to shade safeties as far to help, etc.

And, frankly, Joseph has been a hell of a lot better in pass coverage than Whillock ever really was.

Having read a lot of the OSU analysis, I can say that 100% of them do not think we have athletes in the secondary. I am optimistic that we are about to prove them wrong, and I think it dramatically changes what kind of game we see.

 

[Hungry Jack]

I assume Newsome will spend much of his time covering Olave. I feel good about that matchup. I will be curious to see if Ruiz mans the other corner, or if Heard or Mitchell gets a shot. Ruiz might be better suited in the slot.

 

[phatcat]

The key to the game is pressure on Fields. He's thrown like 80% of his career interceptions in two games, mostly under pressure/forcing the ball.

If he has a clean pocket - we are dead, plain and simple. He will complete 90%of his passes if not pressured

 

[ricko654321]

The key to the game is pressure on Fields. He's thrown like 80% of his career interceptions in two games, mostly under pressure/forcing the ball.

If he has a clean pocket - we are dead, plain and simple. He will complete 90%of his passes if not pressured

That, and containing him in the pocket. We have done a poor job of that against multiple QBs this year. In most cases they have then beaten us with their legs when breaking contain. In Fields’ case, he could escape the pocket and then beat us with his arm. I think we will selectively send pressure, but I wouldn’t be surprised if at times it looks like we are doing a bit of a “contain rush”. Unfortunately that approach didn’t work very well against OSU in 2018 - hoping we have better DBs this time around and better athletes on the DL.

 

[hdhntr1]

This is an outstanding analysis. Thanks for sharing! Trips with a flexed TE is a bitch for our secondary. Here's to Hank for finding a way. Get 400 Saturday.

Would that be a sweet 400th or what???

 

[Figrating]

Good stuff.

Doc has a couple more players these days , though. Won't be as easy as last time.