Every week TMI’s Sam Webb and former Michigan defensive backs coach and Oklahoma State, Louisville, and Texas defensive coordinator Vance Bedford come together for the Michigan defensive breakdown, a review of the prior week’s contest with a deep dive into game strategy and analysis. Bedford uses his decades of coordinating experience to explain key takeaways for the Wolverines moving forward. To view the most recent installment in its entirety, press play on the video embed below.
In the transcribed excerpt below Vance explains why he believes Michigan is poised to win another Big 10 championship this season.
Sam Webb: “Not everybody sees the game through the lens of a coach. That’s why we talk to you. So, you can get us right. We look at the first two games and we see high sack numbers and it’s like ‘okay, this is pretty encouraging.’ Then you look at this game (vs UConn) and you see no sacks. I said in the postgame break down that a lot of that you could probably attribute to UConn’s approach to the game. Would you say that that’s accurate?”
Vance Bedford: “That is pretty accurate. Again, UConn is a running team. No. 1 is that we had great pressure. So, the completion percentage wasn’t great. The quarterback was running for his life. He’s a very athletic quarterback, so he can avoid certain things. But, if Tom Brady was running for his life, he doesn’t play very well. That quarterback was running for his life the entire ball game. He had pressure almost every time he threw the football. So, the ball was high, the ball was low, the ball was inside. So, there were not a lot of completions, and that’s the difference in the ball game. The name of the game and not always getting quarterback sacks. If you throw the ball 10 times and you get eight quarterback pressures, you’ve probably got seven incomplete passes. And that’s winning football. That’s what I saw. I saw a lot of quarterback pressures. The quarterback saw the pass rush. If a quarterback is watching the pass rush, he cannot have his eyes down the football field to complete passes. And that’s what I saw. I saw great pressure throughout the ballgame.”
Sam Webb: “Did you see that pressure come with four, or did you feel like Jesse Minter… the DC… did you feel like he was bringing pressure as often as he did in the prior games? Was there any difference in his approach to the game?”
Vance Bedford: “Jesse is an aggressive coach, just like Mike (MacDonald) was last year. He plays a lot of man and zero coverage. He brings a lot of different stunts, but the front four got pressure when they came with just four. When he brought five, they got pressure. I don’t care what he did, they could not block four-man rush, five-man rush, or six-man rush. So, he called this game like he always called the game. Anytime you got third down and seven-plus, guess what you saw? Pressure. In the first two ball games on third down and seven-plus, guess what you saw? A lot of pressure. So, he continued to do things that he’d done in the first two ball games. The difference is you saw screens, you saw a quick passing game (from UConn), so you’re not going to get a lot of sacks. But you can get pressure in the quarterback’s face, and that’s what we saw. So, I’m not concerned about the sacks. I’m concerned about the pressures, and I saw a lot of pressure. So, the front and pressures, they all executed very well in this ballgame.”
Sam Webb: ”So, let’s look at the picture through three games… (what I call) the preseason. What do you feel like you know about this defense right now? That you’re confident that, ‘I know this about this unit?”
Vance Bedford: “First of all, you’re not going to be able to run the football on this defense. I think the linebackers… right now their run fits are so much better than last year. That’s because of experience. A lot of guys played last year. You can see that I think we were more physical up front. I don’t think we’re going to have the great pass rush by the two defensive ends that we had last year. I think in the secondary I still have major concerns about the cornerback position. So far, we’ve matched up. Maryland is going to have better athletes at the receiver position. I’ve said it for the first three ballgames now… can we match up in zero coverage and man-to-man against better personnel? We’re going to find that out right now. But overall, as a team defense right now, I think we are farther ahead because of the teams we’ve played. Here comes the first real test. We’re going to see power football. Last year, we didn’t fit the run very well. They schemed us up pretty good (in spots). We’re going to see better athletes at the wide receiver position. Can we match up when we blitz, and can we get home when we blitz? You’re going to see an athletic quarterback who can throw football, and he can escape the pass rush. So, this isn’t going to be a test. If we pass this test, I see another Big 10 Championship coming. I really do.”
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