Mattison v. Narduzzi Total Defense rankings
First off, I realize threads comparing UM and MSU (particularly those that are complimentary of MSU) will inevitably cause some sore anuses among a handful of posters here. To those posters, there's nothing I can do for you. The thread has been posted and now you're upset. You're just going to have to deal with that.
To everyone else, the chart below shows the Total Defense rankings of Michigan and Michigan State since 2006. Narduzzi took over for MSU in 2007, Mattison for UM in 2011.
| Total Defense Rankings | ||
| Year | Michigan | Michigan St. |
| 2006 | 6 | 83 |
| 2007 | 23 | 39 |
| 2008 | 67 | 59 |
| 2009 | 82 | 73 |
| 2010 | 110 | 43 |
| 2011 | 17 | 6 |
| 2012 | 13 | 4 |
| 2013 | 41 | 2 |
Narduzzi is unquestionably the gold standard in our conference when it comes to defensive coaching. However, contrary to popular belief, he's not invincible. While he drastically improved MSU's defense in his first year (2007), it took him 5 seasons to really get MSU's defense going and turn it into a dominant force. The point being, it takes time for even the top defensive coach in our conferece to build a dominant defense. With that said, it was no small task taking the 83rd ranked defense in the nation and turning it into the 39th ranked defense in his first year. That alone was very impressive.
However, I submit to you that what Mattison has done in his first 3 years is just as impressive (if not more so) as what Narduzzi did in his first 3/4 years. Mattison took the 110th-ranked defense and immediately (not in 5 seasons) turned them into a top 20 defense in each of his first two seasons. Granted, 2013 was a regression (though not a drastic one) which was at least in part due to departures/youth/lack of depth, injuries, and our offense constantly putting our defense in tough situations. But just as Mattison took us from 110th to 17th in his first year, I see every reason to expect improvement this year in light of our depth/talent and (hopefully) less error-prone offense.
Now, I'm not arguing that Michigan will become a dominant defensive force like MSU. I don't think anyone will match what they've done any time soon. But given what Mattison has accomplished since 2011 and the roster he has to work with this year, I am arrogantly, but comfortably, predicting that Mattison will field his 3rd top-20 defense in 4 years this year.
Thoughts? Criticisms? Personal insults?
TL;DR: Narduzzi is the shit, but Mattison ain't no slouch either and will probably field his 3rd top-20 defense in 4 years this year.
Dunno why you started out so insulting and aggressive. Your info seems interesting, your conclusions seem to follow the evidence, so why not just go with that and save the sore anus bit?
All I'm gonna say is the defense this year better be top 20 if not top 15 or something isn't right.
110 to 17 in a year and then it was sustained. No fluke there. He's either a genius, Richrod's staff was full of fools, or (most likely) some combination of both
Jake Ryan, Desmond Morgan and Blake Countess may have had something to do with it.
MM and RVB were absolute hosses that season. I believe both (I'm 99% sure MM did) said that the level of coaching they got once Hoke and staff came in was light years ahead of what they were getting before. Makes sense with Hoke, Montgomery and Mattison.
I'll give Rich Rod credit for being one hell of an innovative offensive mind, but man did the D absolutely suffer while he was here.
but they were on the 2010 team too
(Thanks for comment though as it reminded me of how insanely, beautifully awesome we were on 3rd and short that year.)
Des was young his first year and was screwing up constantly.. He has improved each year, but he wasn't the reason why our defense was great.. He was benched several games that first year.
Our Dline was much better that year as well which made it easier on everyone else
It's difficult to gather a lot of good, direct comparison data when Narduzzi has had much more time to develop his philosophy and install a system than Greg Mattison, but the FEI Defensive numbers for years when they were both in the Big Ten as a DC are below:
2011 - Michigan State = -0.542 (6th), Michigan = -0.414 (16th)
2012 - Michigan State = -0.683 (2nd), Michigan = -0.338 (26th)
2013 - Michigan State = -0.733 (2nd), Michigan = -0.201 (37th)
I anticipate a nice jump for us this year, and you're right really, OP, considering where the defense was in 2009-2010, the overall turnaround has been remarkable.
Am I the only one that thinks Dantonio is the reason MSU has such a great defense and not Narduzzi?
You'd have to be a complete moron to not think that. Dantonio was the DC for OSU when they won the national title. I would say he knows a thing or two about defense.
This picture makes me physically ill.
His old boss?
trail he isn't very good at it. Speculation around PED's may be another matter, but I would guess there's a bit of that going on everywhere. The degree is another matter...
August 7th, 2014 at 11:47 PM ^
Tressel has to pee and can't manage to hide it.
.August 7th, 2014 at 11:50 PM ^
is playing pocket pool.
Tressel looks like he has one. And Dantonio may have provided it. Sorry, it's crude I know. But fuck it, it's Friday.
My MSU friend has zero worries about Narduzzi leaving, if that tells you anything.
Depends who your friend is.
August 7th, 2014 at 10:04 PM ^
August 7th, 2014 at 10:15 PM ^
Sounds like Narduzzi smartly wanted more money from UConn to hire legit assistants and they balked so he didn't go. He was a candidate for Louisville but not the leader - that would be the type of job he would go for. Right now there are only a few jobs he would leave for in any year. They increased his pay substantially so he is making more than a lot of low level conf HCs.
As for who si the brains etc yes you never know until he leaves - I assume Dantonio is more of it than Narduzzi but Narduzzi is the emotional leader and hammer and obviously a lot of Dantonio will have rubbed off on him in 7 years.
And thanks for the stats - the last 3 years have been very good for them but good point about how they took a while to get there.
I meant it more as who my friend sees as the brains behind the MSU D.
August 7th, 2014 at 10:51 PM ^
Don't worry, Bob Diaco stepped in. Now ND might be able to stop Navy!
Will be as good as Mattison let's them be... if he coaches aggressive I think we have the skill, the speed to be very good but if he plays conservative then we will be average again
Maybe he's refering to the posters who are defensive of MSU and get angry at anyone who isn't stroking their ego. See the Michigan State circlejerking threads from January.
Fuck Nordoguzzi and Fuck Mork Dan7onio. Anyone with half a brain knows that Greg Mattison is a better coach.
source: I have half a brain.
I believe Mattison played conservatively because he had to. Our safeties and corners were mediocre and we had to protect ourselves from the big play. I don't think we'll do this in the future. As for the chart, it looks pretty similar to our offense. They started out with some upperclassmen then had a few lean years after those players graduated then became elite when they had their players.
None of the back seven's problems are related to talent. They're a year smarter and another year stronger with arguably the best recruit in the nation joining for nickel packages.
We have more experience and a guy named Jabril Peppers.
first stat I look for when looking at a team's upcoming season
No. We added Peppers and everyone else is a year older. We have way more returning starters on that side of the ball than we did last year.
I think that's actually the point.
I think he played conservatively because the D lacked the ability to get to the QB on a consistent basis.
when was the last time Michigan ran the same base defense for 3+ years? I'm inclined to start that clock over again this year what with 4-3 under vs. over.
Has MSU changed its base defense since Narduzzi took over? That's not rhetorical, I'm asking.
The defense will be as good as the D-line. The back seven has talent and depth. The only real question mark back there is SS. If the D-line can be good, this defense could be scary this season.
I remember reading a Narduzzi interview a while back where he talked about finally convincing Dantonio to let him change the defensive focus to speed, rather than power. I'm not sure when exactly that happened, but it's worth considering.
I'm not sure what the point of this thread is. I'm a big Michigan fan, but what has Mattison really accomplished? He has the reputation and track record. Look at your numbers, it's not trending in the right direction. "The point being", in your words, is there isn't any player development on both sides of the ball. Does anyone else feel that Peppers will be severely handcuffed? If I look ahead a year from now and there were rumors of Peppers transferring, would I be surprised? No. I like Hoke, but I don't think he would have ever been considered for this job if he wasn't a "Michigan Man."