Orange Bowl confidential: Coach feedback on Georgia-Michigan

The three-week buildup is over. We’re hours away from the kickoff of the College Football Playoff semifinals — first No. 1 Alabama vs. No. 4 Cincinnati, then No. 2 Michigan vs. No. 3 Georgia.

To help you prepare for the games, On3 gathered feedback from coaches whose teams have faced the four Playoff squads this season; they were promised anonymity so they would be more forthcoming.

Thursday, we shared coaches’ thoughts on the two Cotton Bowl participants, Alabama and Cincinnati. Today, let’s delve into the Orange Bowl matchup between Georgia and Michigan.

The Bulldogs (12-1) are favored by 7.5 points over the Wolverines (12-1).

Michigan offense

Under Josh Gattis, who won the Broyles Award as the nation’s top assistant, Michigan has gone from seventh in the Big Ten in total offense in 2020 to second this season.

Powering the offense has been a running game that ranks 10th nationally (223.9 yards per game) and third in rushing touchdowns (39). Senior running back Hassan Haskins has run for at least 110 yards in five of the Wolverines’ past eight games, including 169 yards and five touchdowns in Michigan’s 42-27 win over Ohio State on November 27.

“Offensively, obviously talented, speed, physical,” a Big Ten staffer said. “They can kind of hurt you both running the ball and passing the ball. We knew we had to play sound defense. Going into our game, that was a few games before the regular season ended, so we saw what they’d put on film to that point. And they seemed pretty balanced. We knew that they had big-play capabilities on the edge — a ton of speed, and some of the guys, they had size on the edge as well. And we knew that they wanted to pound the ball. So I thought they were pretty, pretty solid across the board. Just a good, sound offense that did a lot.”

Michigan has scored at least 42 points in each of its past three games. But the Wolverines did get held to 21 points during a four-point win over Penn State and to 10 second-half points in a 37-33 loss to Michigan State.

Quarterback Cade McNamara has thrown for 200 yards in only four of the Wolverines’ 13 games. 

“We thought their offensive line was something that we could take advantage of,” a Big Ten staffer said. “Not knocking them, but we just thought that we had a better matchup there. Now, the thing that they do well is they’re committed to running the ball. We just wanted to try to eliminate big plays.”

Michigan defense

Led by new coordinator Mike Macdonald, who came from the Baltimore Ravens, Michigan ranks first in the Big Ten in scoring defense (16.1 points per game) after ranking 12th in the conference last season under former DC Don Brown (34.5 ppg). 

The Wolverines have held 10 of their 13 opponents to 18 or fewer points; that comes after they gave up at least 24 points in every game last season.

“The best thing that he (Macdonald) was able to do with the defense this year, in my mind, was he got the guys to play really hard and really fast for four quarters,” a Big Ten offensive coach said. “And they do have good depth, so they can just cycle guys in and out. But it didn’t matter who was in. Those guys were going to play their asses off through the echo of the whistle. And that’s usually what you’re going to get from a Michigan-style defense, but that was trending the opposite direction before this season. So they look like they got back to the roots. That’s the biggest thing, those guys just play hard and fast. We played some pretty dang good teams this season. And they were just as good as anybody, to the point where they were probably the most intimidating defense that we played against. …

“Just watching all the tape that we’d seen on them throughout the course of the season and then kind of keeping an eye on what they’re doing, those guys just play hard and fast and they cause collisions and they force turnovers.”

Leading the way for Michigan’s defense is the edge rusher tandem of Aidan Hutchinson, who finished second in the Heisman voting, and David Ojabo. Hutchinson, the potential No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, ranks third nationally with 14 sacks and has seven in the past four games. Ojabo is tied for sixth among Power 5 players with 11 sacks.

“Obviously, their two edge players in the front are really good,” a Big Ten personnel staffer said. “We thought they were a little bit average in the middle. Wasn’t super impressed by their secondary. Their front seven is OK. Those edge players take away a lot, kind of like the New York Giants from back when they were winning when they had those players that could cause a lot of havoc. They make everybody else’s job easier. We weren’t really intimidated by them from their defense other than those guys. We thought if we could kind of manage those two guys, we’d have a good shot.”

In the Wolverines’ most recent game, a 42-3 rout of Iowa in the Big Ten title game, Michigan held the Hawkeyes to 279 yards. While the Wolverines only had one sack, they did have nine additional quarterback hurries and limited Iowa quarterbacks to 175 passing yards and a completion rate of just 51 percent (19 of 37).

“If you’re just going to drop back and put the launch point in the same spot and dropback pass, you’re going to have a long day,” a Big Ten offensive coach said. “That’s probably the biggest thing — just trying to make sure that you stay out of obvious passing situations. And then the next thing is they just did such a good job playing man coverage. What we were really worried about, too, was if we were throwing the football, we didn’t know if we’d be able to get anybody open. 

“If we were going to pass, it needed to be some kind of play action. And then we had to have man answers because even when they were playing quote unquote zone coverage, it was still man principles or match principles behind it. So they just kind of suffocate you. They force you to get into these passing situations, and then it’s really going to be difficult to get separation. So I would be interested to see what Georgia is going to be able to do to isolate some of their (guys) and how long they can hold up in protection. And then with that being said: How are they going to get guys free? Because [the Wolverines] do such a good job of mixing up the coverage and playing match principles within their zone concepts.”

Georgia offense

As is typically the case, Georgia is built around its running game. The two lead backs, Zamir White and James Cook, have run for a combined 1,337 yards and 17 touchdowns.

The Bulldogs also have one of the nation’s top young players in freshman tight end Brock Bowers, who has produced 47 catches for 791 yards and 11 touchdowns.

“I think with their offense, it starts and ends with you’ve just got to just stop the run,” an opposing team official said. “And then if you look at the big plays that they’ve made, explosives outside of the run game, it’s just the quarterback using his feet to buy time, whether that’s scrambling or getting out of the pocket, and throw the ball downfield. But it starts and ends with you’ve got to stop the run versus those guys because they’ve got a good offensive line, they’ve got elite tight ends in the passing and the run game, and then they’ve obviously got physical downhill running backs.

“And then ‘19’ (Bowers) to me is the key at tight end because he’s like the fastest tight end I’ve ever seen catching the ball. We had drop eight, Cover 2, and he took a little slant pass and split the safeties and took it to the house. He’s ridiculous. And he blocks his ass off, too. He’s not just a receiver. He’s a mismatch. And that’s what they do; they bring all those tight ends and create mismatches because they can line up and just run the ball down the field or they can just spread those guys out and throw the ball to them.”

Nevertheless, Georgia’s offense does have some limitations, specifically at quarterback. Stetson Bennett has thrown for more than 269 yards once in the past two seasons. 

“You’ve just got to load the box and stop the run, and then make the quarterback beat you on the outside in the one-on-one matchups,” the team official said. “If you can’t stop the run, then they’ve got all the play-action stuff and he can throw the ball down the field to the tight ends. Just makes for a long day. And keep contain. Keep the quarterback in the pocket to where he’s got to throw from the pocket.”

Georgia defense

Until surrendering four touchdowns during a 41-24 loss to Alabama in the SEC Championship Game, Georgia’s defense had been basically invincible for most of the season.

While the Crimson Tide did expose some vulnerabilities — especially with Bryce Young throwing for 421 yards — the Bulldogs do still rank No. 1 nationally in defensive yards per play (4.01) and scoring defense (9.5 points per game).

Under defensive coordinator Dan Lanning, recently hired as Oregon’s new coach, the Bulldogs held each of their first 12 opponents to 17 or fewer points.

“You just kind of have to use varying tempos because if you just sit there and try to line up whatever, they’ll adjust to whatever you’re doing with that front seven, which is the best I’ve ever seen,” an opposing team official said. “Everybody talks about their d-line and everybody talks about ‘99’ (NT Jordan Davis), but, shit, those three linebackers are what makes the thing go. They’re ridiculous in the way they play. So we wanted to just kind of get the ball on the perimeter as much as possible, varying the tempo so you do what’s called the ‘muddle huddle’ or whatever, and just get to the line fast and snap the ball where they can’t get adjusted.

“If you look at what Tennessee was able to do on them, they probably had the best, besides Alabama, success as far as just lining up quick, formation to the boundary. Georgia couldn’t figure out where the Star (nickel back) lines up. With everything, same with Saban and with Kirby’s defenses, it’s all predicated on where the nickel lines up and being able to adjust to different formations and make calls. So if you’re going fast, varying the tempos, you can kind of screw them up a little bit.”

The Bulldogs have four All-SEC selections in that front seven; linebacker Nakobe Dean and linemen Davis and Devonte Wyatt were first-team selections. Lineman Jalen Carter was a second-team All-SEC pick.

“I think ‘95’ is probably the most underrated guy on their defense, Wyatt,” the team official said. “He’s got such great balance. He can move sideline to sideline. Plays with great pad level. And he’s not like ‘99.’ He doesn’t take a lot of plays off. And ‘88’ is going to be probably the best one they’ve had, Jalen Carter. He’s a mismatch because they can line him up inside, lines up at end sometimes and he’s disruptive. ‘99’ will flash and he’ll make a play, but we knew we could get him tired, and he doesn’t play hard every down. But ‘95’ and ‘88’ were ones we were very concerned about. I think ‘95’ and ‘88’ are even better players than ‘99.’ ”

With those guys and others, such as linebackers Channing Tindall and Quay Walker, the Bulldogs are second nationally in rush defense (81.7 yards per game) and have allowed just three rushing touchdowns this season. No other team has allowed fewer than six.

“Obviously, their d-line is phenomenal. Their linebackers are incredible. Their weakness, I think, is in the secondary,” an SEC offensive coach said. “I do think you can take advantage of them on the back end, get those safeties isolated in some one-on-one matchups, being able to take some shots in windows. We had some success with that early on before the game kind of got away from us.

“Really, that back end, if they have a weakness, that’s it, to be able to take advantage of that.”