How valuable our defense really is
It seems to me there's less and less defense being played every week in college football. Clemson and Louisville just played a zero defense shootout. Stanford laid an egg the other night. MSU's defense has gotten worse since Narduzzi left. Even power programs such as FSU, Texas, and Oklahoma are struggling terribly on defense this year. Alabama had a bad game against Ole Miss. The only defense I can think of that has been consistently good the last few years is...our biggest rival OSU.
Even though our offense has a lot to work on today showed that we have the talent to play bad and still win. The big question is though, can we stop the buckeyes? That will be our key to a big ten title and CFP appearance.
October 2nd, 2016 at 1:24 AM ^
Wisconsin very well might knock off Houston, but based on results so far I'd still rank the Cougars ahead of the Badgers. They're undefeated, and have a pretty good win over OU.
So, do you rank Wisconsin's 2 good wins and 1 "good" loss over an undefeated with 1 good win? Close, but I wouldn't.
Lots of football still to be played. UW still has a bunch of tough games, and Houston has...Louisville. Time will tell.
October 2nd, 2016 at 1:06 AM ^
No, probably not Houston. But we'll never know because they such a weak schedule against teams with much weaker defenses.
October 2nd, 2016 at 12:47 AM ^
October 2nd, 2016 at 5:11 AM ^
What do you consider a Top 10 team? Wisconsin had beaten 2 of those prior to today. They qualified.
October 2nd, 2016 at 8:43 AM ^
Actually idk why MSU was in the top 10. Neither name nor merit make sense.
Anyways yeah, Wisconsin's early wins were not that impressive in terms of play on the field, only by artificial rankings
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October 2nd, 2016 at 10:19 AM ^
October 2nd, 2016 at 6:19 AM ^
October 2nd, 2016 at 11:56 AM ^
October 2nd, 2016 at 10:41 AM ^
October 3rd, 2016 at 5:00 AM ^
October 3rd, 2016 at 12:52 PM ^
Defense AND offense win championships.
Over the last 10 years, average S&P+ of national champions:
Off: #9.8
Def:#7.5
In the last 10 years there have only been 2 teams that won a NC without both a top 20 defense AND a top 20 offense.
2015 Alabama. #24 Offense, #4 Defense
2010 Auburn. #1 Offense, #36 Defense
Every other team since 2006 has had a top 20 unit in BOTH categories.
October 2nd, 2016 at 12:53 AM ^
October 2nd, 2016 at 5:17 AM ^
Its interesting that teams can get ocassional success on the Perimeter vs. Michigan, but they usually take it away after one or two big gainers.
Ive been impressed.....very impressed at how Don Brown has the kids making adjustments on the fly.
This defense is like one of those 80s toys, Tranformers (more than meets the eye). They can morph in to several types of D depending on who they are playing.
Of course having a 2 deep DL that will all be playing in the NFL helps. Plus Jabrill, Lewis and Stribling.
Brown is the most intelligent DC that Michigan has ever had, in my opinion. Let's see how they do versus OSU or Clemson's offenses...., but Id say they can handle most anyone else, including Alabama.
October 2nd, 2016 at 12:30 AM ^
October 2nd, 2016 at 12:31 AM ^
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October 2nd, 2016 at 12:42 AM ^
Stanford laid an Ostrich egg...
October 2nd, 2016 at 12:47 AM ^
Stanford wasn't sharp either.
October 2nd, 2016 at 8:56 AM ^
October 2nd, 2016 at 10:40 AM ^
October 2nd, 2016 at 10:33 AM ^
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October 2nd, 2016 at 12:35 AM ^
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October 2nd, 2016 at 12:37 AM ^
October 2nd, 2016 at 12:44 AM ^
Not worried about Speight at all. Just wish we could find a running game.
October 2nd, 2016 at 8:39 AM ^
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October 2nd, 2016 at 10:32 AM ^
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October 2nd, 2016 at 12:45 AM ^
You expect him to learn on the job against our two biggest rivals? Those are going to be heated games with everything on the line!
October 2nd, 2016 at 7:44 AM ^
October 2nd, 2016 at 10:31 AM ^
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October 2nd, 2016 at 12:46 AM ^
October 2nd, 2016 at 12:46 AM ^
October 2nd, 2016 at 12:49 AM ^
October 2nd, 2016 at 9:43 AM ^
October 2nd, 2016 at 12:52 AM ^
Other than one bad quarter, our defense has completely shut down every opponent this year.
October 2nd, 2016 at 12:59 AM ^
October 2nd, 2016 at 1:19 AM ^
October 2nd, 2016 at 1:25 AM ^
But we really need to improve on offense before the OSU game. If OSU destroys WI at Camp Randall then we may be in trouble when we have to play them in Columbus. It will be pathetic if OSU prevents us from winning the B1G.
October 2nd, 2016 at 1:31 AM ^
The '97 team was a defensive juggernaut with a very average offense. Didn't make mistakes, controlled the clock, and kicked ass when the other team got the ball.
This team seems awfully similar to me. The defense we saw today gives us a chance to win every game.
I'm confident JH will work his magic and improve Speight and the offense. We'll need it against OSU for sure.
October 2nd, 2016 at 2:34 AM ^
October 2nd, 2016 at 5:26 AM ^
Remember Chris Howard.... great back....never fumbled...
but people think Deveon Smith is slow? Howard was sllllllooooowwww....but still pretty good. As I recall, he had almost 900 yds and about 9 TDs in 1997.
The A-Train put up some good numbers as the backup that year too. His freshman season.
Tuman was a pre-Butt type TE. Very good player who ended up playing with the Steelers for many years.
Shea was a good H-Back. The passing game had very little deep threats, but Tai Streets had deceptive speed. He was a loper who could jump. Streets was very good at Michigan and no one seems to bring up his name very much any more for some reason which I can't figure out. Tai Streets was good. Big playmaker.
That OL was loaded with NFL talent.
Griese was steady and accurate. Did not get rattled.
Woodson.
The conservativeness of Carr and his offensive staff was a big hold back for those early Carr teams who had so much talent.
EDIT: Tai Streets, suprisingly lengthly and complete Wiki
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tai_Streets
October 2nd, 2016 at 10:18 AM ^
You brought up some good comparisons. Here's a little more about them.
Running back by committee. In '97: Howard, Williams, Thomas. Now: Smith, Isaac, Higdon, Evans.
O-line. In '97: 2 really good RS freshmen (Hutchinson and Backus) on the left, and good, experienced linemen elsewhere. Now: Work in progress, especially after the injury to Newsome.
Fullback. In '97: Floyd. Now: Hill, Poggi.
D-line, depth everywhere for both '97 and now. The biggest difference might be that '97 had an elite pass rusher on the edge with Glen Steele.
LB. Edge to '97 with Jones, Gold, Sword, and Hall if you classify him as an LB. Now: Peppers, obviously. Gedeon and McCray are in their first year as starters.
DB. '97: Just awesome, led by Woodson. And Marcus Ray at safety was good. Now: Good corner with Jordan Lewis, Stribling has looked good, Peppers sometimes moves to DB, depth hurt by losing Clark for the season; I wish our safeties would be a little more boring.
October 2nd, 2016 at 10:32 AM ^
October 2nd, 2016 at 11:59 AM ^
October 2nd, 2016 at 2:55 PM ^
Except the part about holding back the early Carr teams, especially '97. Undefeated NC is as good as it gets.
Carr took full advantage of his defense by going with limited but steady Griese and a very conservative but mistake-free offense.
JH must be looking at film from '97, because the team and style he's playing this year is eerily similar.
As you noted, on offense Tuman and Shea mirror Butt and Hill. Howard=Smith, with the help of a stable of backs on both squads. This year we have a deeper group of WR's, but a less dominant line. Under JH, Speight has every chance to be as effective as Griese.
Both defenses are lights out,. As good as Woodson + Ray were, I might just take Peppers + Lewis. '97 had better LB's, but I think I'd take this year's line, only because of depth. Someone mentioned Steele's outside rush threat, but I think Gary and Taco are just getting rolling - and Peppers is a monster.
Peppers is every bit the ST threat Woodson was.
JH proved at Stanford that old-school football with modern touches can work in today's game. His NFL days have brought more innovation and creativity. We're in good hands.
October 2nd, 2016 at 12:00 PM ^
October 2nd, 2016 at 2:02 PM ^
You perfectly described every recent 'bama team - strong defense and a so-so offense.
Every year 'bama has a dominating, smothering defense.
Their very predictable offense always has:
- average (or worse) QB
- strong but often inexperienced o-line
- bruising RB
- one great deep threat
Combine with conservative play-calling and serve.
Their RB's have been good, but wouldn't be helsman caliber on any other team. Their line steamrolls inferior teams.
Kiffin has opened things up a bit, but 'bama wins with defense, ball control, and just enough playmaking.
October 3rd, 2016 at 1:27 PM ^
I agree with you. These guys are scary good.
The last Michigan defense I saw this hungry was in 1997.
October 2nd, 2016 at 1:33 AM ^
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October 2nd, 2016 at 10:10 AM ^
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October 2nd, 2016 at 12:01 PM ^