Which leads to the second thought: Michigan can’t beat us with their pass. Therefore, in first and second downs, our D could look more like a 5-2 with one extra big body like Tuitele/Bandes playing alongside Letuligasenoa and Ale with Trice and ZTF on the ends.
On the first defensive series against Tejas, UW came out with a D-line of Tuitele-Ale-Letuligasenoa-Trice. I’d expect to see a lot of this look against Michigan. Probably see Bandes, Parker and Tunuufi rotate in a bunch too.
Ale/Tuli bout to put in work this game, I can sense it in my boner. Corum has been mediocre for 4 games, they lost their star OG/team captain 3 games ago, they have no serious passing threat, we shut James/Irving down in the most similar situation we've seen recently, and Bonicks/Oregon WR were way more of a threat than Michigan's passing game. Texas/Sark ran the ball well but you can't play 5-2, 8 in the box, whatever, against Texas much and I sense that was a big part of the game plan to take away the pass and concede the run somewhat.
We are not elite enough on D to defend a multi-dimensional attack but Oregon and Texas were as close as it gets and I suspect that we are ready for what Michigan's one-dimensional threat offers. Some of our most seasoned vets, Ale/Tuli/Tuputala/Bruener/Hampton/ZTF etc are quite literally "built for this" run attack (because they ain't pass game/open space guys) and can play downhill as much as you can possibly expect in a game like this while Asa/KamFab/Jabbar take on more solo responsibilities against mediocre wideouts with a poor man's Bo Nix at QB. Bralen/Ulo gonna do their 6th year captain thing, whatever it demands.
Feeling strangely confident [/i][/b]over here, moreso than Texas and Oregon. We got all the proof we need to make the smart bet which is 34-17 Dawgs, whatever that entails.