Is crowd noise against uptempo offenses counter productive?
I rewatched the game last night and noticed several times guys on defense trying to yell something to a teammate and the teammate was noticeably having a hard time hearing because of the crowd noise. I know Michigan Stadium isn't known for being the loudest place to play, but even so, I was wondering would it be better if we collectively kept quiet while the defense was trying to align.
Hurry up teams don't really rely on voice communication and since they're almost always in shotgun, there isn't really a snap count to hear so crowd noise doesn't really hurt them. In fact, most of the really rushed plays were probably called prior to the play before, so there's really no communication at all.
I realize this would be hard to do in practice since it goes against long standing tradition and habits, but could it be helpful?
October 22nd, 2013 at 4:29 PM ^
October 22nd, 2013 at 4:16 PM ^
but there has been no crowd in history quiet enough for our defense not to have gotten torched on Saturday.
October 22nd, 2013 at 4:18 PM ^
I think you might be on to something here. From my earliest days as a Michigan fan (late 1960's) through the Lloyd Carr era what was Michigan mostly known for?
Defense
And what else were we known for durning those same years?
Being quiet in the stands
So basically once we built the luxury boxes and made the place noisy as hell we screwed up our ability to play defense. Now it all makes sense to me!
October 22nd, 2013 at 4:20 PM ^
Insightful
October 22nd, 2013 at 4:35 PM ^
And what else were we known for durning those same years?
Being quiet in the stands
We were plenty noisy back in the 80s before the magic skyboxes and RAWK. Loud enough that we drew warnings (idk if there was ever a penalty assessed) for crowd noise. At the Purdue game ca. 1983, the PA guy warned us about noise when the refs gave a sideline warning; we did a shh Wave in response.
Afterwards(in the papers) Bo said it was not acceptable and that he would sooner "clear the stadium of fans" (AS IF) than have yards marked off because the fans were loud.
So yeah, our "quiet" 90s andf 00s can be traced to Bo.* Kind of a salute, really.
*and definitely not traceable to the end of open gates after halftime/the beerstore on the corner because Bo>*
October 22nd, 2013 at 5:11 PM ^
historical perspective.
October 23rd, 2013 at 2:35 PM ^
Only problem with that theory is the defense was good in 2011
October 23rd, 2013 at 3:16 PM ^
but that defense didn't lead the B1G in any statistical category.
| Category | National Rank | Actual | Conference Rank | Big Ten Conference Leader | Actual |
| Rushing Defense | 39 | 131.7 | 3 | Michigan State | 100.5 |
| Pass Efficiency Defense | 36 | 120.5 | 6 | Penn State | 107.2 |
| Total Defense | 17 | 322.2 | 4 | Michigan State | 277.4 |
| Scoring Defense | 6 | 17.38 | 2 | Penn State | 16.77 |
| Turnover Margin | 25 | 0.54 | 2 | Wisconsin | 1.14 |
| Pass Defense | 16 | 190.5 | 5 | Illinois | 162.3 |
| Passing Efficiency | 40 | 139.2 | 4 | Wisconsin | 186.2 |
| Sacks | 29 | 2.31 | 4 | Illinois | 3.15 |
| Tackles For Loss | 68 | 5.54 | 6 | Illinois | 7.92 |
| Sacks Allowed | 33 | 1.38 | 3 | Penn State | 1.08 |
October 22nd, 2013 at 4:19 PM ^
I think it could help, but it would be almost impossible to measure without someone monitoring the decibal level and then further checking to see if there was/is in fact a noticeable difference in play outcomes
October 22nd, 2013 at 4:30 PM ^
...in a very long time.
They ran a kind of an infomercial in the third quarter, about athletic academics at Michigan. It was weird; everybody in the Stadium shut up and watched it. The players on the sideline were watching it. It was uncomfortable, it was so quiet. If I had yelled something stupid (BABABUEY!) I think the whole Stadium might have heard it.
So the IU game crowd, dampened by the all-day rain, was really quiet. The quietest of the year, and as quiet as any crowd in my recent memory.
You no doubt did see a lot of confusion on our defense. Caused by IU's speed on offense, and all of our switching on defense. Not noise.
I will say a couple of things about noise in Michigan Stadium this year:
- Michigan's sound engineers are getting really obnoxious about playing stadium rock up to the second at which the opposing team (on offense) snaps the ball. We deserve to get a complaint for that. It's as classless as it is tasteless.
- They are mic'ing the Michigan Marching Band SO LOUD now. It is an embarassment in my view. Are people's tastes for loudness so dulled that they need this audio assault? Ohio State band people are laughing their asses off, that Michigan has to mic its band to get the requisite volume ...!?!?
October 22nd, 2013 at 4:36 PM ^
I agree the crowd was exceptionally quiet. I think the weather and the pace of the game both played factors (people trying to figure out what was going on).
I thought it was odd on point 1 that they kept playing music, though on point 2 I disagree. Maybe it was where I was sitting, but the band was not that loud, and without the amplification I don't think I would have heard them very well.
October 22nd, 2013 at 4:46 PM ^
I sat for the first half in Section 12, at the level of the portal. So that is directly in front of the North scoreboard speakers, but at the far end of the Stadium. Those speakers are remarkably "directional"; if you are in front of them, it's loud.
It actually isn't that loud, sitting off to the side of the Stadium's centerline, in Section 1. But of course in Section 1 the MMB sounded very good with no amplification. Because they were "aimed" right at us. But no matter where, I have noticed a distinct increase in the volume of the band-amping.
October 23rd, 2013 at 7:56 AM ^
Sat first half in Sec 37 low and second half in Sect 1 up high. Much louder near the middle of the field.
October 22nd, 2013 at 8:03 PM ^
You call them engineers?
That's so polite.
It's basically an intern with health benefits.
October 22nd, 2013 at 9:36 PM ^
October 22nd, 2013 at 4:44 PM ^
I forget which paper ran the article, but there was a piece on how Louisiana Tech dealt with noise and uptempo offense sometime late last year. I believe what they do - at least out of the shotgun - is actually make the calls between plays and run the offense through the center to take some of the load off the quarterback. The center calls the protection scheme and relays them via pre-determined hand signals to the QB. If I can find the article, I will provide the link here.
October 22nd, 2013 at 5:06 PM ^
Hey All,
I can't post a new thread (yet) but for my fellow fans of TWIS, the one for this week is up:
http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2013/10/22/4867322/clemsoning
Can someone please post it as a separate thread.
Sorry for spamming this thread.
October 22nd, 2013 at 5:22 PM ^
Done, thanks for the heads up
October 22nd, 2013 at 5:12 PM ^
October 22nd, 2013 at 5:14 PM ^
October 22nd, 2013 at 6:52 PM ^
I don't know how much of a difference it made here (defense might've just been bad, crowd might not have been that loud) but it does go against common understanding of MAKE SOME NOISE because it does seem like IU's offense negates the 'damage' of crowd noise while it might possibly affect our defense rushing to get set up
October 22nd, 2013 at 8:51 PM ^
Like mentioned above, any veteraned "no-huddle offense" can execute regardless of noise. Oregon is a great example of this. Our defense needs to be ready at all times!
October 23rd, 2013 at 8:04 AM ^
October 23rd, 2013 at 8:06 AM ^
October 23rd, 2013 at 2:41 PM ^
The crowd was a joke on Saturday. It wasn't loud enough save maybe a few plays. All the crowd noise in the world won't help if you anyway if you have a defense that can't stop anything. Ask Texas A&M. A loud crowd plus an elite defense is a good combination.