Michigan now leads NCAA in total passing defense by yards.
Previously Michigan was tied with Alabama with 1167 passing yards allowed. Following the Minnesota game, Michigan has given up 1314 yards through the air. Alabama has given up 262 so far to LSU with 6:44 remaining in the game, bringing their total to 1429. I'm damn proud of the defense this year, and having the top overall passing defense by yards going into week 11 is an astounding feat, especially with the loss of Blake Countess in week 1. Go Blue!
November 3rd, 2012 at 11:36 PM ^
I'll take it, but let's keep in mind the quarterbacks/offenses we've played against this year. Proud of the guys not giving up many big plays, but lots of wide open guys have been missed.
November 4th, 2012 at 12:02 AM ^
And what great passing offense has Alabama faced?
November 4th, 2012 at 12:17 AM ^
Try not to laugh, but Arkansas was #17 going into today's win over Tulsa, and Tennessee was #21 before putting up 530 passing yards on Troy. None of Michigan's opponents were in the top 50 heading into today. (Rankings based on passing yards per game)
November 4th, 2012 at 12:19 AM ^
Alabama played Arkansas without their starting QB (Tyler Wilson), though.
November 4th, 2012 at 12:24 AM ^
+1 Good call, totally forgot about that. Tennessee will have a top 10 passing offense based on average yards per game if you factor in their performance today.
November 4th, 2012 at 1:35 AM ^
They're awful in every other phase of the game, but they can throw.
November 3rd, 2012 at 11:36 PM ^
since I think the strength of the D is the run defense. I think much of it can be attributed to none to the fact that no QB's we've faced can hit their guys on those fly routes everyone seems to try on us
November 4th, 2012 at 4:40 AM ^
NO FLY ZONE.
November 4th, 2012 at 6:32 AM ^
November 3rd, 2012 at 11:39 PM ^
Yeah, its a very misleading stat (played 1 less game than other teams too). That being said, I've been impressed with our overall defense and glad that the coaching has rubbed off so well on the young players.
Do you think we would get shredded by an air raid offense, i.e. West Virginia, Texas Tech, Okie State?
November 3rd, 2012 at 11:44 PM ^
Actually greater than 75% of the teams in the FBS have played 9 games through week 10, including Michigan and Alabama.
November 3rd, 2012 at 11:40 PM ^
November 4th, 2012 at 1:01 AM ^
I believe LSU was leading in Average. Significantly.
November 3rd, 2012 at 11:47 PM ^
Regardless of the competition, this is a huge feat considering the loss of most of our pass rushers and how bad our pass defense was only two years ago. Props to Mattison. I doubt we could have had a better defensive coordinator.
November 4th, 2012 at 1:34 AM ^
November 3rd, 2012 at 11:52 PM ^
November 3rd, 2012 at 11:54 PM ^
That said, this is very much due to poor competition. Most games have seen open wide receivers streaking down the sideline that quality QBs would hit. However, that is not who is on the field. Even today, late in the game, Nelson had open men downfield (against Floyd) and was simply not accurate enough. Good QBs will exploit this.
Still, it's a great place to be.
November 3rd, 2012 at 11:58 PM ^
"we're gonna kill Michigan" talk from? THEY HAVEN'T BEATEN ANYBODY DECENT. Nebraska is an exception cause it looks like they might finally have their heads together but seriously Ohio St's passing game is anemic and if Miller can't do anything they won't win. Shutting him down is basically shuting down their whole offense and the fact our secondary is currently leading the nation in pass against even with the loss of Countess has to be taken into consideration on their part. Then again their beliefs are so idiotic who knows what they think. In my view I can see our defense throwing around Miller and putting a complete halt on their rush attack in 3 weeks. I'm not anywhere sold on Ohio st despite the record they have.
November 3rd, 2012 at 11:59 PM ^
they've done it without arguably the most talented player in their secondary. So, although the stats are decieving, they could be even better with Countess in the line-up.
That said, I too have been disturbed by the opposing recievers finding themselves WIDE OPEN as of late. It reminds me of the Ohio game last year, and I hope they get it fixed... SOON
November 4th, 2012 at 12:03 AM ^
Its better, its improved but they really haven't been challenged much this year.
But considering this program was stareing at national defensive rankings in the triple digits just 2 years ago I think we can all be pleased at the turnaround in the overall D.
Michigan is now more than competent on defense and it just feels like its going to continue to get better over the next couple years.
November 4th, 2012 at 1:56 PM ^
I agree-- they are decent, but not great. SO much beter than recent memory... But they haven't been challenged by an above average QB. I have a feeling those QB's woud shred the Db's. But given our curent opponents, we've done okay.
November 4th, 2012 at 12:05 AM ^
Well congrats on that. Job well done.
November 4th, 2012 at 12:35 AM ^
But doesn't erase the 3 loses. And rushing D needs a lot of help at 50th in the nation.
Let's all hope Devin remains healthy and can improve at QB for the remaining games. AFter shaking off the dust, he looked quite good out there today. Made good decisions for the most part and showed some vision that I haven't seen with Denard this season.
November 4th, 2012 at 10:43 AM ^
Our rush defense numbers are inflated from playing Alabama and Air Force in weeks one and two. Since then it's been fine.
Overall, we are seventh in the country in total defense (288.7 ypg) and 13th in scoring defense (16.8 ppg). That's pretty impressive. Does it erase the losses? No, but the D was hardly at fault in two of the three.
November 4th, 2012 at 12:46 AM ^
I applaud the defense for their effort and success thus far.
That being said, we are playing in the big 10 where offenses in general are fairly bad and the QBs can barely hit water falling out of a boat. Today alone Minnesota had at least three long balls where the all the QB had to do was get the ball close and it was a catch.
I think the numbers are misleading, but they are still there. Either way, Bama would still beat us by three touchdowns.
I was rooting for LSU because I really want to see Oregon DESTROY ND in the title game. The score would be so embarrasing, Brian Kelly's head would assplode.
November 4th, 2012 at 1:27 AM ^
November 4th, 2012 at 6:24 AM ^
"I really want to see Alabama DESTROY ND in the title game."
FTFY
Think about this carefully. What is ND's relative strength? Defense, right? What is Oregon's strength? Offense.
Much better match-up for ND, one they can at least *hope* to win. (I'd still expect Oregon to win easily.)
Alabama, though? ND would be lucky to get a field goal against them on offense, and the Tide's line would be able to punch at least a few holes in ND's front seven.
November 4th, 2012 at 1:52 PM ^
so beautiful, that would be...
November 4th, 2012 at 9:10 AM ^
I was rooting for Alabama because I knew if LSU won then the football gods would arrange it so that Notre Dame, Oregon, and KSU all lost so that we'd have another rematch otherwise.
November 4th, 2012 at 10:46 AM ^
I want no part of ND in the title game and receiving a month of media hosannas. Even if you get killed in that game, you reap a ton of goodwill for being there. I want USC to destroy them and then their Sugar/Orange/Fiesta bowl opponent do the same.
November 4th, 2012 at 1:09 AM ^
November 4th, 2012 at 1:39 AM ^
George Walden, is that you?
November 4th, 2012 at 9:51 AM ^
I think what he was trying to say was that if we really don't want to be ranked high in basketball defense, then we should always go against a post-Rich Rod unless it's mediocre at passing.
November 4th, 2012 at 1:51 AM ^
November 4th, 2012 at 1:54 AM ^
Yes we do.
November 4th, 2012 at 1:14 AM ^
Like i said before, im never doubting the defense again!!!
November 4th, 2012 at 1:28 AM ^
Are you kidding me? I'm still getting used to the idea that our secondary isn't a harikiri-inducing tire fire.
*MIND BLOWN*
November 4th, 2012 at 1:33 AM ^
Our defense has played great this year, especially considering the talent we have to work with. That said the criticisms about our competition are too true. Thank you BIG TEHNNN
If anyone truly thinks that we could have done anything against either of the offense lines we saw in the Bama-LSU game today, they're joking themselves. There is no way that we could stop the best offenses in the country, a team like Oregon would shred us.
Give it 2-3 years. When we have the best passing defense then, you'll truly feel we deserve it...
November 4th, 2012 at 1:33 AM ^
is the average starting field position. It seems like its never in michigans favor anymore. Not that it matters to me because the defence is playing lights out, but maybe the numbers are skewed because of it.
November 4th, 2012 at 4:07 AM ^
November 4th, 2012 at 6:07 AM ^
If pass interference penalties were averaged into passing yards allowed, we might not be #1. How many times was Michigan called for PI yesterday? It was at least four times, I believe (JT Floyd twice, Raymon Taylor once, Jake Ryan once).
November 4th, 2012 at 9:04 AM ^
Legit PI calls, or all PI calls including a couple terrible ones from yesterday? To be fair the Gophers had at least one that I remember that shouldn't have been called too.
November 4th, 2012 at 1:27 PM ^
The only PI call yesterday that was questionable was the second Floyd PI call, when he had his hand on the shoulder of the receiver. He was definitely touching the receiver with the ball in the air, although it probably didn't impede the WR from catching the ball.
November 4th, 2012 at 6:26 AM ^
As far as passing defense goes, the improvement in average yards given up in the air from last year to this year is worth noting. Last year, we gave up an average of 190 yards per game passing, good for 16th in the nation. To date this year, it is 145 yards per game, which is a 23.7% improvement.
We are third in the conference for pass efficiency defense, behind only Nebraska and Michigan State with an average of 5.72 yards per attempt. Overall, the entire defense is giving up about 10.5% less yards overall than last year. which is significant improvement (averaging 288 yards per game total this year, down from 322 yards last year average).
November 4th, 2012 at 8:40 AM ^
November 4th, 2012 at 9:01 AM ^
November 4th, 2012 at 9:27 AM ^
Although I love our defense this year and couldn't be happier, I think it says more about the caliber of Big Ten QBs.
November 4th, 2012 at 9:55 AM ^
Imagine what Mattison will do with the recruiting level Michigan is at
November 4th, 2012 at 11:37 AM ^
that another team playing in Tucson has a defense that's ranked 110th in the country and just gave up 66 pts and 611 yards to their opponent.