Grading Michigan Football’s defense in loss to Michigan State
Defensive line: D
The only thing that saved the defensive line from getting an F was the fact that the run defense was better than it was a week ago against Minnesota.
MSU still wasn’t great but compared to the last two games against the Wolverines, it was a huge improvement and while they didn’t win the rushing battle, the Spartans did enough, coupled with their passing attack to win the game.
The biggest disappointment on the Michigan side of things was the lack of a pass rush.
We all knew going into the season that the corners were going to be a weakness. Lavert Hill graduated and Ambry Thomas, the other starter, opted out.
So that was going to put an onus on the pass rush and this week, it just didn’t deliver as Lombardi wasn’t sacked once. In two games, Aidan Hutchinson has zero sacks and that really needs to change if this defense is going to have a fighting chance going forward.
As a whole, the unit got five sacks in the first game and next week, we’ll see if it gets closer to that total or the zero it got against Michigan State.