ESPN's Take on Michigan's Offense and Defense
Well, folks here's ESPN's take on the Offense and Defense of Michigan 2015 season. Check it out.
http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/119189/michigan-wolverines-pre…
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they planned on sending it out in a tweet. /s
Not much new in this. I wonder how "green" Rudock is, seeing as how he has started 25 games.
Hmm. Didn't know Harbaugh named Rudock as starter before he steps foot on hte practice field. Odds are, he does, but at this point Harbaugh has stated Morris is the guy to beat.
I texted him. He called me back, told me Rudock will start. It got wierd when he went on about the merits of being a jackhammer and asking me for whole milk.
He’s looking for a game manager, more than a playmaker, under center. “Don’t turn it over, and complete passes,” he says. “That’s what we’re trying to drill into them.”
FEI: 41
S&P: 37
They're basically average defensive unit. They're nowhere near top 15 like many thought they are.
The fact they gave up 30+ points to ND, MSU, Minnesota, and OSU and made Gary Nova look like a Heisman candidate. I'm not sure how people think they're a top 15 unit with this kind of performances against team with a pulse.
Throw in a loss of Frank Clark who is their best DL and Ryan who is their best LB. You'd be hard pressed to see anyone who is not a Michigan fan think it's a top 15 unit.
The offense didn't help them out too much last year. The "only a Michigan fan" comment is very true, they could look so good at times and get big stops. Then also Nova, ND, Minnesota, Elliot.
The offense lost its best skill position player (by a mile) and a QB who, before being the last man left on a sinking ship, accounted for 50 TD in his first year and a half as a starter.
Unless there are a ton of surprises, the offense isn't going to get much better, even with Harbaugh at the helm.
This debate will rage on. We will know who is "right" eventually. Until then I am going to be optimistic that our trajectory us better.
Go Blue!!〽️
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Bolden, Ross and JRS are who they are at this point. They're a decent LB group, but not a great group overall.
That while development scheme and coherency may rise and improve the team, a single spring+fall camp doesn't turn Northwestern into Wisconsin.
David Cobb did whatever he wanted. Had like 30 carries for 200 yards.
Tevin Coleman was dinged up but still went for over 100 on a stacked box the whole game because Sudfeld was out and Diamont had to play.
Maryland was effiecent running against us CJ Brown their QB almost had a 100 yards, and won the game on a run.
Frank Clark wasn't just the best guy on the team, he was a top talent who went in the 2nd round of the NFL draft. And we lose Beyer opposite him who was the #2 guy in sacks and solid against the run. Ryan was a Butkus finalist on a team that was horrendously bad. We need to replace something like 40 TFL between those guys to tread water.
Even if Peppers is the revelation many assume he'll be, this team is going to have a hard time getting appreciably better on defense. Combined with an offense that isn't exactly primed for improvement this looks to me like a long year.
On the bright side, Harbaugh will get the benefit of the doubt and be allowed to build the fantastic team he's capable of putting together.
No one said Ryan wasn't that good (at most people maybe doubted the efficacy of moving him to MLB, which I still think was a mistake, despite his fantastic play at that spot since it wasn't worth the loss in pass rush ability). Folks who didn't think Clark played well just weren't paying attention. He regularly beat his guy only to see the ball quickly out of the QBs hand this past season. The folks who know (coaches) voted him 2nd team all-conference as a junior even though his numbers weren't off the charts. And the NFL scooped him up quickly despite off-field problems.
Throw in the loss of Taylor/Countess and you have a ton of question marks and no reason for optimism based on the team-building and recruiting prowess of Brady Hoke (outside of maybe Peppers, like I mentioned).
So the defense essentially returns 9 starters from a solid unit, and you're saying there is no reason for optimism? Seriously?
I don't think they'll be world-beaters, but claiming there are a "ton of question marks" is laughably ridiculous.
Michigan didn't turn the ball over in the first half but yet ND had a 21-0 after 30 minutes. The 3 TD drives went for 71, 80 and 56 yards.
Countess, Lewis, Taylor and Stribling all are in the box score.
before the turnover avalanche and they gave up long TD drives so saying holding them to 280 yards is moot point when the game is already out of reach by halftime. Saying it's an extremely solid unit is false when they gave up a ton of points against ND, Minnesota, MSU and OSU and gave up 400 plus passing yards against Gary Freaking Nova.
Michigan defense is not that good.
MSU defense had some weaknesses. They gave up 46 points to Oregon, 31 points to Purdue, 49 points to OSU and 41 points to Baylor. The difference is MSU offense is good enough to overcome the defensive weaknesses by outscoring teams. Michigan isn't good enough to overcome it.
Of course, the ranking will punish defense on who you play. B1G overall all suck offensively with the exception of OSU and MSU. You know why OSU and MSU are all head and shoulder above everybody else? They have good QBs. The rest with the exception of PSU with Christian Hackenberg, all suck.
against, MSU, Minnesota, OSU, ND and Rutgers. Michigan defense is elite. The point is they still gave up a shit ton of yards and points to them. Taking it away does not matter when they sucked and their advanced stats ranking reflects that. They're an average defense at best regardless of the offensive performance.
Michigan's defense wasn't just off against Nova, they were awful.
In the other 7 Big Ten games Nova played here are his passing numbers:
PSU: 15-30, 192 yds
OSU: 17-28, 192 yds
Neb: 8-19, 156 yds
Wisky: 5-15, 46 yds
IU: 16-27, 217 yds
MSU: 11-26, 108 yds
Maryland: 28-42, 347 yds
Against UM:
22-39, 404 yds
Other then Maryland, Nova didn't do squat against any other team in conference play.
ESPN can suck my taint.
Lord, someone was paid money to write these?
I mean, I have 10 minutes a day if ESPN wants to throw some money to me to write-up LSU or ASU.
You might want to go back and check the box score and drive charts for the Maryland game. Michigan dominated the time of possession. Michigan had the ball 34 minutes to Maryland's 26. In fact when Maryland got the ball trailing 16-9 in the 3rd quarter and then went on back to back TD drives, the Michigan defense had only been on the field for 15 of the first 42 minutes of the game.
is pretty big. There's no way the defense should have been worn out from being on the field at that point, but then they proceed to give up 2 long TD drives.
Maryland actually had 164 yds rushing on 33 atempts for an average of 5 yds/carry.
The game should have been over after the Norfleet Punt return TD. The flag was comically late (the field goal net was already up). It was a chicken shit call, and Hoke lost the pulse of the team once again.
win that game and we go to a bowl, go to a bowl and hoke may still be our coach.
jdon
I agree with that. Worked out for us in the end.
If anything, the awfulness of the offense camouflaged how mediocre the defense was. Had there been more games like Rutgers and Maryland—teams that had somewhat competent offenses and a need to score in the second half—I suspect you would've seen the same defensive letdowns you saw in those two games.
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