The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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"Devin, obviously, did some things that neither of us really wanted," Nussmeier said. "But that happens. It's all about the process of learn- ing, of going through reads, going through progressions. What did you see? Where do your eyes and feet need to be? He's growing, and we're growing together. "It's our second game together, and there are things I need to do bet- ter, for sure." The bigger picture, the offensive coordinator noted, involves making certain everyone is working together and not committing the errors that create bad situations against stronger foes. "It's about 11 guys, on every play, doing the right thing," he said. "When you play a quality opponent like Notre Dame, if it's 10 guys doing the right thing and one guy doing the wrong thing, you're doomed. We've got to get 11 guys on every play do- ing the right thing. "When you play a quality oppo- nent, you can't play from behind the sticks. You've got to stay on schedule. When we got hurt was when we got behind the sticks." Plus, Nussmeier noted, Michigan may not be ready to pull off sus- tained drives against good defenses. It needs some big plays mixed in, which developed far too rarely in South Bend. "We didn't create enough explo- sive plays," Nussmeier confirmed. "For us, an explosive play is a 12- yard run or a 16-yard pass. We had five explosives, so it averaged out to about one every 13 plays. That's not good enough for us. "When you can't generate big plays, it makes it difficult. That means you've got to sustain long drives. How do we get our guys in situations where they can create ex- plosive plays?" The return of sophomore tight end Jake Butt could potentially assist in that regard, Nussmeier noted. "He gives you a dimension in the passing game," Nussmeier said. "If you can get a tight end that can ver- tically stretch the field, it helps the passing game tremendously. He's coming off the ACL, so as he con- tinues to get healthier, we need to implement him in our system." Defense Many hung hopes on Michigan's defense holding the fort early, while the new U-M offense gathered itself in the non-conference season. With Taylor and Peppers out, and the Wol- verines' defensive backs struggling to contain the Irish in press-man sit- uations, that just didn't happen in South Bend. On Notre Dame's opening scoring drive, sophomore cornerback Jour- dan Lewis — arguably the Wolver- ines' best cover corner — got flagged twice for pass interference. Mean- while, Michigan's other defensive backs consistently gave up slants to Irish wide receivers, or bit too hard and gave up plays behind them, most notably a touchdown bomb in the closing moment of the first half to make it 21-0. Defensive coordinator Greg Mat- tison gave strong support to Lewis,