It's not the scheme, not the inexperience, not the talent at fault.

In a lot of aspects this IS a coaching issue. GERG and RR are throwing way too many schemes at this defense. 3-3-5, 4-3, "4-4", 3-4 all with position switches by the week. It's sickening. I would prefer to run a base 4-3 with the simplicity of an 8th grade defense so they at least know where they need to be on most plays.
Again, to prevent negbang, I love Coach Rod. But GERG has proven basically nothing at the college level.
IIRC GERG was in charge of a talented defense basically keeping teams from catching up to the offense with the Broncos. That is his specialty...not being forced to run a scheme that puts the most players of our worst position group (secondary) on the field.
I'm no coach and GERG knows 1000x more than I ever will (I think), but this stuff is so irritating to watch.

Completely agree.  Harbaugh now, please.  Forgive me, but 7-6 doesn't satisfy me, nor should it any Michigan fan.  I don't care if we have to rebuild again, this is just ridiculous.  Remember the days when we actually had legitimate hope that we could win every game on the schedule?  Yeah, me either, and that's pretty damn telling.  The Rodriguez experiment will soon be over, powerful alumni behind the scenes, who never wanted him here in the first place, will work their magic in the off-season.  A 25+ point loss in the Shoe next week will seal the deal.

Wisconsin ran all but one play the entire second half and our defense couldn't get them to punt once. (not) ONCE!!! In the entire half! All the defensive coaches should be fired yesterday. People who wanted to bring GERG back after last week: you're out of your minds and now you know.

when you keep seeing safties coming up to make tackles on runs...that means the LB's are not doing there job.  I believe it is the scheme...hence 3 down lineman 3 LBs and 5 safeties...

You cannot stop the run when you have safties coming from 10-12 yards back.  Gerg has not developed these LBs at all...I just hate everything about the defense.  Ya they are young bla bla bla...everything and everyone is at fault.

maybe it's a combination of the scheme, the inexperience, the lack of talent, and yes, the lack of fundamentals.

OVER-REACTIONARY GAMEDAY LOSS POST ARRRRRGHHHH

It didn't help that the Purdue punter thought he had all day to put his thumb up his ass before he got his punt blocked.

It has gotten to the point that a failed onside kick attempt is almost better than kicking the ball off, because the offense will get the ball quicker...if that doesn't speak to defensive FAIL on all levels, I don't know what does...

We were killed today, humiliated on defense. It's an insult for them to run the ball on every single play (save one) and for us to not be able to stop them once. How do you not adjust as a DC? Put in the four-man beef machine on the DL, Demens, Mouton, and Obi at LB, and Marvin and Carvin at safety. STOP. THE. RUN. Adjust.

That said, we don't have the players on defense right now. I begrudgingly agree with Spielman (who is awesome in Techmo Superbowl, btw--sack machine) that we just don't have the talent, size, and speed on defense to be a Michigan defense. Spielman said that RR is still recruiting WVU-caliber defenders, and that needs to change. For starters, you bring in an entire defensive staff with NFL credibility, with a history of sending players to the league, and you let them run the show on that side of the ball. Do that and we'll be in the running for the blue-chip defenders.

Wisconsin has 19 starting seniors and is, right now, the more talented team. Sometimes we lose because of the things we do (poor angles, tackling, etc.). This week we lost to a better, more experienced team. Not much point of whining about angles when the better team clearly one. I do think it's very possible that next year we are the better team, though. Go blue!

for ushering in Mich first winning season in two years.  The young guys comming up next year yes I see some great things they will be able to do.  I'm not ashamed of the defensive effort this game Ironically the Offense put Michigan in a serious hole.  Next year we'll be real good

Yah thats what it could be...

My balanced view is this team is getting better.  The offense is prolific and top 10 worthy. I like what Rod is doing and I hope he gets the time. That said I think this is the worst collection of talent (defensively anyway) that we've had at Michigan since the 60's. Rich Rod has not recruited the defesnive side of the ball effectively and he is ultimately responsible for this failure. That is the truth. Rod is very fortunate to have Denard on the roster. Were it not for Denard it's possible Rod would be out of a job...

It was utter and complete domination by Wisky offense vs.  Michigan defense.   It was one of those so called " Men against boys" situations.  Michigan had NO CHANCE to stop Wisky today.     Even Michigans seniors got DOMINATED...Patterson, Banks, and mostly Mouton were taken to the woodshed on Senior Day.

The problem is that everything is a trainwreck. Kicking, Coaching, Tackling, schemes, consistency, playcalling, clock management, player management, everything. A trainwreck.

I think after three seasons it's pretty obvious that defensive coaching needs a serious upgrade.  And if we can get a DC who can also recruit well that would be the icing on the proverbial cake.

REALLY???  The players can't tackle, that's partially a talent issue, which is a recruiting issue - too many project type 3-star players.

They can't tackle or take good angles.  That is youth, but it is also coaching.  The coaches have not done a good job teaching fundamentals on defense. 

The scheme is poor.  The 33-5 or whatever the hell this useless defensive scheme is puts the defense in a bad place.  They can't stop a running team and they can't stop a passing team.  Again the scheme is on the coaches.

Not having the players to play the scheme is also on the coaches, from recruiting to devising a scheme that utilizes the talent available.  The defensive recruiting is horrible and the coaching of the talent is not good either.

Hire a real DC and let him pick his staff and the scheme he wants and let him coach it.  The 3-3-5 or the stack or whatever doesn't not work in a power conference.  The Dlineman are not big enough and there are no LBs on this team that can play in this scheme.

So, I disagree, most of the problems this team has are on the coaches, offensively and defensively.