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Our secondary has been receiving too much criticism lately; they are only a small part of the problem. It seems our defensive coordinator Jim Leavitt has far too much faith in the three-man pass rush. On almost all of the big plays our defence has surrendered, the fault clearly lies with the lack of pressure on their quarterback.
If you give any Division -1 quarterback 8-10 seconds to throw, they will invariably find an open receiver. And when they don't, they have the ability to scramble for 11 yards and make the first down.
I was watching the Michigan State vs Michigan game yesterday and do you know how often the Spartans employed the three-man rush? Answer - NEVER. That may explain why they won the game.
I cringe every time it's third & long, and we rush only three. That's an unrealistic expectation of three defenders going against a five-man protection.

In fairness, there were some egregious holds that were not called on some of their big plays.

Re: missed holding calls. You're right about that. It's always bothered me how they seem to turn a blind eye to intentional grounding, ie, there was a receiver in "the area" or illegal substitution where the player is 40 yards away from where the ball is snapped and hustling to get off the field but is a few inches from the sideline, causing them to throw a flag. But they are very selective in calling holding.

Also to be fair, it's rarely a 3-man rush. Leavitt often sends Coxe or Wiley or both.