The fear from Michigan football fans entering 2024 was that new defensive coordinator Wink Martindale would be a newer version of former embattled DC Don Brown.
The similarities don’t exist much outside of their penchant for pressure, as they’re schematically much different and Brown had some limitations within, whereas Martindale’s a bit more complex. However, we saw similar issues, particularly in Week 2 against Texas. Martindale is pressuring much more than his predecessors and that has caused some issues, but there have also been execution issues, players not being in the right places, et cetera.
Junior defensive tackle Mason Graham is confident that Martindale is scheming things up correctly on a per-game basis and that the blitz rate is contingent upon the opponent.
“I feel like it changes every week, depending on who we’re playing, it’s kind of goes week to week,” Graham said. “If he feels like he wants to blitz and we’re going to blitz and feels like that’s what’s up best for us, then that’s what we’re going to do. So, we have trust in him, supporting him. All the defense guys rally around each other, whatever, we all play together. So it’s kind of just trying to get the job done at the end of the day.”
The blitz rate is up about 20% from what it was last year, at least through three games. But given that there are multiple things to clean up defensively, sophomore edge rusher Cameron Brandt says that the onus is on the defense being better in terms of execution and that there isn’t pressure to rise back up to the defense’s lofty expectations.
“No, I wouldn’t say really pressure,” Brandt said. “Just making sure we’re again, setting our standard, making sure that’s all good, making sure (we’re) maintaining our pillars throughout everything. Feel like, yeah, maintaining our pillars, keeping things the same.”
Graham agrees, the pressure isn’t necessarily on to perform defensively. USC does provide both a test and an opportunity as it’s a high-flying offense that is the cornerstone of a highly-ranked team. If Michigan loses again, the chances that the Wolverines will make a fourth straight College Football Playoff appearance goes down significantly.
So there might not be pressure on one hand, but at the same time, lose on Saturday and the Wolverines’ goals in 2024 likely go out the window.
“I don’t think our backs are against the wall,” Graham said. “We just know, like, one more loss, we might be sitting on the couch watching TV if you lose another game. So that’s really not what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to get back to where we were last year. So just kind of coming in here every day with that mindset and winning the next game.”
Michigan and USC will kick off at The Big House at 3:30 p.m. EDT and the game will be nationally broadcast on CBS.