Why Joel Klatt thinks Michigan football has a chance to beat Ohio State

Joel Klatt has called a lot of games for both Michigan and Ohio State this year. The premier color commentator for Fox Sports, Klatt has seen the Buckeyes in Week 1 against Minnesota, for instance, and called Michigan games at Wisconsin, against Northwestern, and at Michigan State.

So he has a good handle on what this matchup will be.

Speaking on Tuesday to a very nervous Michigan alum in Rich Eisen on ‘The Rich Eisen Show,’ Klatt broke down what he expects in The Game. And he says it all starts with the pressure that the Wolverines defensive end tandem in Aidan Hutchinson and David Ojabo can do to get to Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud.

“100% accurate, and in the games that Ohio State has struggled a little bit, that’s been the only constant, the fact that Stroud has not been comfortable in the pocket,” Klatt said. “Make no mistake about it, they’ve got a very good back in TreVeyon Henderson and a pretty good offensive line in terms of run-blocking. But they’re not a running team. This is not a J.K Dobbins Ohio State, or even a J.T. Barrett Ohio State, or even a Justin Fields Ohio State. This is a team that resembles more of a Dwayne Haskins version of Ohio State on base downs — first-and-10, second-and-6 or shorter — base downs. Base offense. They’re throwing the football about 64-65% of the time. That’s a ton! That’s as much as anybody in the country. And the way to get to a team like that, when you see throughout levels of football, when you see Brady and those pass-heavy offenses, when you’d see Manning back in the day, is to get to them and to get to the quarterback and make him uncomfortable in the pocket.

“It just so happens that there’s three defenses in the country, maybe four, that are uniquely suited to just that. I would say Georgia and Bama — particularly Bama with Will Anderson — and then Michigan and Wisconsin, which may be the next two opponents for Ohio State if they’re able to beat Michigan. Aidan Hutchinson and David Ojabo are two of the best edge rushers in the country, and as a tandem for Michigan, they’re presenting a ton of pressure, as much pressure as anyone in college football. Each one has double-digit sacks and the game rests completely on their shoulders. I know that’s a bit reductionist, if you will, in terms of philosophy, but that’s really where it’s at. Because if Stroud is clean, you cannot stop Ohio State, and that was proven last week and even the week before against Purdue.”

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With that in mind, Klatt doesn’t anticipate that it will be like the last two contests for Michigan defensively, given what happened with Don Brown compared to new defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald.

He says that Macdonald is much more multiple, has better adjustments, and there’s a reason why the Wolverine defense might not be statistically as sound as some of Brown’s defenses were, but why it has a much better chance at making it a game against Ohio State and its vaunted offense.

“I remember meeting with Coach Day when he was a coordinator in the Haskins year, and he just had this wry smile because Michigan was favored, they were coming into The Horseshoe, they had a very good defense, if you remember,” Klatt said. “That was the Rashan Gary defense and those players. And Ryan Day was like, ‘Yeah, I got a plan.’ And you have to remember, he coached with Don Brown back when they were both at the New England area — anyway, they had coached together, and Ryan had picked them apart in practice. Basically, he used that game plan in front of 12 million in the Michigan-Ohio State game.

“Enter Mike Macdonald — here’s this young guy who was the linebacker coach for John Harbaugh at Baltimore. And he’s a very NFL-style of guy, and that’s why they stood those two edge rushers up and they want to run more of that Baltimore style of defense. But what they have more so now than they ever did before is answers. They don’t just have one pitch. Don Brown was a really effective middle reliever who had one really good pitch, and when he was dominant, he was very good, particularly when they had the players that were better than the opposition. The problem was, you’ve got somebody better in Ohio State that was faster than them, that could block them, and they had no other pitch to get to. There was no secondary pitch, there was no adjustment from Don Brown’s defense. So Ohio State just ravaged them. And, to be fair, anybody with like talent or better talent would beat Michigan. That was the knock on Jim Harbaugh and it was really more about Don Brown and his defense and his lack of a secondary pitch.

“Now, Mike Macdonald comes in and the defense may be not as dominant against teams that they’re better than, but they’ve got a secondary pitch, so they can adjust much better than they used to. I’ve said this all year long: this does not mean I’m picking Michigan or that they’re gonna win, I just think that they’re more suited for this game than they have been in previous years. They are built better because of those answers they have on the defensive side for what Ohio State will bring — mainly that they can present pressure whether they’re blitzing or not. They don’t have to steal resources from the back end to pressure C.J. Stroud in the pocket because of those two edge rushers that I was talking about.”

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While that might be the primary matchup of the day, Klatt says that perhaps the most intriguing could be the Wolverine offense against the Buckeye defense, especially given the recent emergence of Cade McNamara and the Michigan passing game.

“Ohio State has had — how do you put this? They’ve had to in-season adjust more than anyone in college football because of their absolute failure against Oregon,” Klatt said. “If you go all the way back to a game that I called — in The Shoe, second week of the season, couldn’t stop the run game, couldn’t adjust on defense. They had a lot of young players out there that were overwhelmed, to be quite honest with you. And Ryan had a big decision and he took the playcalling duties from Kerry Coombs and they spread it out in the defensive staff, and they’re playing much better defense. From that point, they’ve been a much more sound defense. I wouldn’t call them a great defense, but they’re more suited to stop people than they were previous in those first couple of weeks.

“They’re starting to run a little bit of zone coverage instead of man coverage, which puts more eyes in the backfield and lets these athletes run around and they’ve got young players that have developed over the course of this season — namely a defensive end named J.T. Tuimoloau who was one of the top 5 recruits in college football this season and he’s been outstanding for them. Denzel Burke, a true freshman at corner, whose name we’re going to call in a couple years as an NFL top 10 pick in the draft, Rich. So these are young guys that are developing in the defense that are much better.

“Now, having said that, I thought that the biggest issue for Michigan was the fact that they were one-dimensional on offense and only could run it. And now they’ve developed a passing game, and I think that their quarterback, Cade McNamara, has developed into a real threat in the passing game. What they’ve done is, after losing their No. 1 receiver in the first week of the season, Ronnie Bell, they have now established a few guys that can catch the ball and go out there and be effective. Their tight end, Erick All, they’ve got a a freshman wide receiver named Andrel Anthony who was very good against Michigan State, and they’ve got a freshman running back who, actually, as a receiver, catching the ball out of the backfield, went for 170 yards last week. So they’re starting to develop those reps, and that’s where I think it’s going to be a fascinating matchup — that defense against the offense. Because I think the other side you’ve got great against great — great passing against great passing defense. And the unknown is what happens when Cade McNamara and the Wolverine offense is on the field against that Buckeye defense.”

Overall, Klatt says that, regardless of other big games going on this Saturday, such as Bedlam and the Iron Bowl, The Game — which pits the No. 2 team at the No. 5 team — has so much more intrigue than the rest of the Week 13 slate.

“This one is sucking all the air out of college football and rightly so.”

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