Last Year vs. This Year

Submitted by allezbleu on

Last year. #75 offense, #25 defense  (both national rankings in terms of yds/game and excluding bowl peformance)

This year.  #89 offense, #97 defense

Last year. 5 NFL Players -- #1 Overall draft pick Jake Long, senior, record-breaking, 4 years starter QB Henne, heisman candidate Mike Hart, one of the most talented receivers in UM history in Manningham and of course Arrington. Senior-laden team.

This year. 5 freshmen starters(Threet, Stonum, Odoms, Koger, McGuffie - prior to injury), wildly inexperienced offensive line. New coaches, new offensive system.

Sure, we were #25 on defense last year. How? I don't know. We gave up 32 to App. St, 39 to Oregon, 22 to EMU, 37 to Wisco, 32 to Florida (acceptable I suppose). We also had 2007 ND to pad our stats. We didn't exactly have the best defense. We were slow, got torched by every running QB, and suffered from general incompetence. If on the 1st or 2nd play of last season Stevie Brown takes a bad angle, misses a tackle and gives up a long touchdown then (armanti edwards to dexter jackson i think), how is Scott Shafer supposed to turn him into Ed Reed and our unit into some amazing defense?

Look at last year's offense. #75!! This with the aforementioned talent. As Brian said, this wasn't exactly the greatest show on turf.

Am I disappointed with this season? Incredibly. But we were at a peak last year in terms of the talent cycle with most of our key players being seniors and we weren't that good. Let's keep the talent and circumstance we currently have in perspective, and cut the coaches and players some slack please.

I'm not really sure what kind of people write on these boards, but as a UM student it is somewhat disappointing to see so many people getting on the players and coaches in such a disgusting way. Sure there is whining among the students but it seems to be a lot worse among the rest of the fan base. 

True fans empathize with their teams, not cheer them during the good times and throw em under the bus in the bad times. If you had a child that does something stupid, you scold him. But if your child disappoints you in a deep way, you feel sadness, not a burning desire to beat the shit out of him. That's how I feel about Michigan football. So next time we lose, take a deep breath and have a drink. It will get better.

Comments

Tha Stunna

November 2nd, 2008 at 11:25 PM ^

The issue that everyone who watched has is with the defense, and cherrypicking Michigan's worst defensive games from last year doesn't help. How we repeatedly have up to three guys sitting several yards around a receiver who catches the ball nevertheless. How we turned the 3rd string QB into Troy Smith. I don't know if Michigan has ever scored 42 points and lost; I doubt it. Mindless support for the coaches, in particular the DC, is worthless, and it's ridiculous to say they don't deserve a fair chunk of the blame. I'd like some evidence that the defense is going to get better, and maybe even get an interception from time to time.

The offense is doing fine, relatively speaking, although you carefully neglected the injured Hart/Henne issue and how much better we did with both halves of offense working. Minor has emerged as a good running back after being mediocre last year. But, this weakens one of the excuses for the defense, in that a crappy offense means more plays against the defense means the defense looks worse.

 EDIT: So I guess I screwed up on the 42 points thing; we lost to Northwestern 51 to 54 a while back.  Still, you see my point I assume.

Joined: 10/13/2008

MGoPoints: 845

M - Flightsci

November 2nd, 2008 at 10:32 PM ^

"Am I disappointed with this season? Incredibly. But we were at a peak last year in terms of the talent cycle with most of our key players being seniors and we weren't that good" I disagree with this statement. I would argue that 2006 was the peak of talent on offense, as half of last season featured The Ryan Mallett Learns to Take Snaps Under Center Show, and Hart and Manningham were hurt/hurt-suspended for portions of the season.

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 462

jim48315

November 2nd, 2008 at 11:24 PM ^

There is something seriously wrong, more even than it has been. It started with Mo, and continued with Lloyd, and what it appeared to be was an assumption that high school kids would block and tackle and catch and hold on to the ball properly, instead of coasting on far more physical tools than the other high schoolers. Mo and Lloyd often worked more on Xs and Os and forgot the fundamentals. Did no one notice Mallett couldn't take a snap from center? Has anyone watched the bad tackling for the past several years? The team got away with bad fundamentals against worse opponents, and now it has caught up with a vengeance, because RR is even worse about ignoring how to do it right. His forte is using scheme to try to make up for having fewer good athletes, and W Va put up with 3-9 the 1st year because they were used to it. The Big 10 is not the Big East: Ohio State is not Syracuse. Some kids were so superior in high school they think they can get away with bad technique. LaMarr Woodley was like that most of his time at M. He would swoop in and be surprised when swatting the QB with his hand didn't put him on the ground. AND NO COACH DISABUSED HIM. Ezeh on the goal line against Purdue came to a stop and then tried to launch himself against the runner. No cigar. They need to learn (1) EYES OPEN; (2) HEAD UP; (3) KEEP YOUR FEET UNDER YOU AND MOVING. Being on one's knees is good for only two things, prayer being one of them. The same holds for blocking. Bo taught fundamentals. It is a canard to think he had the best athletes. Cold cloudy Ann Arbor cannot compete with Southern California, which is why Bo lost Rose Bowls. Did anyone count the pros from USC compared to those from UM? No contest. Hell, Michigan has enough trouble competing for recruits with Ohio State. Most kids in Ohio, whose HS football is far superior to Michigan HS football, want to be  Buckeyes. And if they don't, their fathers want them to be Buckeyes. Ask Chris Spielman why he didn't commit to Michigan: his father told him he was going to Ohio State. But the biggest difference is coaching. Lloyd was nice to the kids and let them get away with some lapses. But RR seems different, and now the kids are not only lacking coaching, but now they are missing something more. RR better get his head out of his ass. The program is not about him. Did no one wonder why M would want someone who quit W Va the way RR did? Now that we have him, OK. I wanted to be wrong. Too bad I wasn't. Lynn Henning knows whereof he spoke. And this is not about not loving the program or hating the kids. I AM NOT BLAMING THE KIDS. I AM BLAMING THE 6 MILLION DOLLAR MAN.

Joined: 11/02/2008

MGoPoints: 124

mstier

November 3rd, 2008 at 12:11 AM ^

Troll?

Are you serious about RR not teaching fundamentals.  The kids he got at WVU could run, catch, and tackle like the best of them and most of them NEVER even got a sniff from a major program. 

And you seem to have SOOO much insight into the UM football atmosphere.  Tell me, how many players/coaches do you actually know?  Actually, second thought, don't answer that.  The internet makes it all too easy to lie. 

Joined: 09/18/2008

MGoPoints: 258

Hoopie

November 3rd, 2008 at 1:26 AM ^

Right, the Big-10 is not the Big East. In the past three years the Big East is 9-5 in bowl games and the Big-10 is 8-13. However, the Big-10 might be able to improve on their bowl record this year since Michigan wont be playing in one.

Joined: 11/02/2008

MGoPoints: 29

Blue Durham

November 3rd, 2008 at 8:08 AM ^

I have been working on this for a little bit.  The defense was not very good last year and was covered by the offense (at least more so than this year).

2007 (not including bowl for comparison sake)

  1. Opponents time of possession: 30:22
  2. Opponents turnovers: 27
  3. Opponents number of possessions per game: 14.3
  1. Michigan time of possession: 29:38
  2. Michigan turnovers: 25
  3. Michigan number of possessions per game: 13.75 

 

2008 (through 9 games)

  1. Opponents time of possession: 34:20
  2. Opponents turnovers: 16
  3. Opponents Number of possessions per game: 14.8
  1. Michigan time of possession: 25:40
  2. Michigan turnovers: 25
  3. Michigan number of possessions per game: 15.1

Offensively, Michigan has gone from being essentially even in TOP in 2007 to an almost 10 minutes deficit. And this is with almost 1 and a half more than possessions per game increase. This is due to more turnovers and less take aways, as well as more 3-and-outs. I think the difference from 2007 to 2008 in yardage per possession would be revealing as well.

The defense this year is crappy. The defense last year was crappy. The offense last year was passable. The offense this year is beyond crappy, last game not withstanding (42 points, yeh, but only 300 yards). That is major difference between the two seasons.

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 6082

Blue Durham

November 3rd, 2008 at 8:52 AM ^

2007 (excluding bowl)

  1. Opponents yards per game:  330.4
  2. Oppenents yards per possession:  23.1
  3. Michigan yards per game:  373.5
  4. Michigan yards per possession:  27.2

 

2008 (through 9 games)

  1. Opponents yards per game:  393.6
  2. Opponents yards per possion:  26.6
  3. Michigan yards per game:  288
  4. Michigan yards per possession:  19.1
Big drop off from 2007 to 2008 in offensive yards per possession, smaller difference defensively, either (1) due to a few more big plays given up by worse safety play or (2) forcing fewer turnovers this year.

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 6082

arod

November 3rd, 2008 at 10:19 AM ^

accounts for the defense dropping 72 spots from 25 to 97th?  Not to mention a decrease of 11 turnovers.   Granted, you might claim that when an offense is bad, teams don't need to call risky plays to get a lot of points, so that could account for some of the turnovers.  Of course, that claim will argue against this as an explanation of why this year's defense is giving up so many points.   I don't think that the offense being shitty hasn't hurt the defense.  But I still think that the offense's poor play cannot account for such a severe drop off in defensive play.

Joined: 11/01/2008

MGoPoints: 611

Kolesar40

November 3rd, 2008 at 8:20 AM ^

asking RRod or Shafer to turn this defense into the Ravens. We are expecting a defense with 8 returning starters to be better than last year, and show improvement as this year goes on. Neither has happened, and that is enough for people to bitch. I agree our defense last year was not good despite that ranking. I am not throwing in the towel, nor am I screaming for any of the coaches to be fired, but that does not mean we should not be asking questions and wondering why we are so bad. .

Joined: 07/03/2008

MGoPoints: -851

verine2116

November 3rd, 2008 at 11:07 AM ^

I agree that our defense should be much better than its playing right now, but as alot of people have already shown, the defense wasn't that great last year. If you need more convincing, this defense got schooled by App. State and Oregon. Stevie Brown was terrible last year, and he's terrible this year. I love Coach Carr, but he left us with no talent on offense and untalented LB's/secondary on defense.

Joined: 07/12/2008

MGoPoints: 1