‘It did feel like we knew what was coming.’ Opposing players talk Michigan’s 2020 defense

INDIANAPOLIS — The marriage between Michigan football and former defensive coordinator Don Brown came to an abrupt halt after the 2020 season, but after the way the season unfolded, Jim Harbaugh’s loyalty to Brown wasn’t going to win out.

I’ve spoken before, at great length, on the Locked On Wolverines Podcast about rumblings of Brown’s defense becoming far too predictable over the past few seasons (particularly the playcalling) and it seemed in 2020 that other teams had really caught on — like they knew what was coming. So, at Big Ten media days last week, I asked a handful of players — Indiana’s Michael Penix Jr. and Ty Fryfogle; and Wisconsin TE Jake Ferguson — what they saw from the Michigan defense last year.

While they weren’t going to say in front of a bunch of reporters, ‘Yeah, we knew they exact play before it unfolded before us,’ they somewhat alluded to what I’ve long been saying. Penix and Fryfogle more spoke about the game plan and execution, while Ferguson was a little more direct, though still saying the same thing.

Here’s what they had to say — judge for yourself.

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Indiana WR Ty Fryfogle

Photo: Marc Lebryk-USA TODAY Sports

Of the three I spoke to, Fryfogle mostly credited knowledge of Brown's scheme, putting corners on an island. In the Nov. 7 game against the Wolverines, Fryfogle had a career day, reeling in 7 catches for 142 yards, his best to that point. You could make the case that it was less Brown being predictable in playcalling as much as it was the fundamentals of his scheme and not having the personnel to run it. "Just film study," Fryfogle said, when asked why he was able to have a career day against Michigan. "We knew they were gonna play man (coverage) the whole game. It was about earned trust from the coaches and Mike (Penix Jr.). We knew it was gonna be one-on-one situations the whole game and Mike trusted me to throw me the ball a lot."

Indiana QB Michael Penix Jr.

Photo: Marc Lebryk-USA TODAY Sports

Penix was a little more mum about what he saw from the Michigan defense, more saying that the coaches came up with the perfect game plan to attack the Wolverines. Penix went 30-for-50 for 342 yards and 3 touchdowns. "Just with our preparation," Penix said. "Just guys buying in, buying into the game plan the coaches put in. Coach came up with a great game plan that week. All of the things we expected to execute, we executed at."

Wisconsin TE Jake Ferguson

Photo: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

While Ferguson said similar things to both, he took things a little further when pressed about how Wisconsin seemed to have a beat on Michigan's defensive attack. From the press box, it appeared to me that the Badgers knew the defensive play before the snap, which caused them to easily avoid the blitz and attack where Michigan players weren't. Ferguson credited the game plan and all of the preparation that the team came into to cause the drubbing at The Big House. "I think a lot of it was our game plan we came into it with," Ferguson said. "I think we had a really good plan and were executing it really well the whole week prior. And then I think game day came and we were just clicking on all cylinders. Nothing's better than that. And Graham Mertz gets into his little rhythm -- even coming off of a two-week quarantine, that's just something you don't see that often coming off of something like that. He really just overcame that adversity and it was something really special." But was the Michigan defense actually predictable? After I pressed Ferguson, he admits -- pretty much, yes. "Maybe towards the end a little bit, because our game plan was really good," Ferguson said. "Yeah, Coach Chryst, Coach Rudy really set up a really good game plan that game. And it did feel like we knew what was coming. We prepped so much that when we did get down on the line and we saw something we were familiar with, we were like, 'Oh, OK -- here we go!'"

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