Offense Staff vs. Defense Staff
Tonight, I was trying to decide which coaching staff I was more excited about, the offense or the defense. Although I like all the hires so far, I'm more excited about the hires on the defensive side of the ball.
IMO, the defense brings a more proven track record. I believe Durkin was a grand slam and I may have squeeled slightly hearing him state that he was waiting for JH to call him when he heard the Harbaugh to UM rumors. He's also a hellacious recruiter. I'm also excited about Greg Jackson. I think we'll see our DB play greatly improve, especially at safety.
Some of you are much more knowledgeable than I when it comes to football and I'm sure there are also people with much more insight on these particular coaches. Just for fun, are you more excited about the hires on offense or defense at this point?
-I'm going with JUB's report on Wheatley accepting the job for this scenario.
-I counted Baxter as neutral (also an exciting hire).
EDIT: In order to keep it fair, Harbaugh is neutral as well. Clearly is the most excitingest of exciting hires.
January 9th, 2015 at 12:02 AM ^
January 9th, 2015 at 1:29 PM ^
A good no-huddle will beat a good defense every time. Michigan defense was the 7th highest ranked defense this year. Of the defenses ahead of them only Penn State didn't have a single bad game defensively.
1. Clemson; Georgia(45 points)
2. Penn State; Michigan State(34 Points)
3. Wisconsin; Ohio State(59 Points)
4. Stanford; Oregon(45 Points)
5. Louisville; Kentucky?(40 Points), FSU(42 Points)
6. And UCF who played no one of notice.
The most points Michigan gave up was against Ohio State(42 Points). Besides the OSU & MSU game Michigan's defense single handily kept them in every other game as long as they could. I want to show you how good this defense was to manage 5 wins with the 111th ranked scoring offense.
Here's how Michigan defense performed in their wins;
App State; 14 points scored.
Miami (OH); 10 points scored.
Penn State; 13 points scored.
Indiana; 10 points scored.
Northwestern; 10 Points Scored.
11.4ppg average in wins.
All but one school averages over 11.4ppg on the season. SMU is last with 11.1ppg, Wake Forest is next at 14.8ppg, so for argumentative purposes every offense could have won 5 games with our defense.
Here's how Michigan defense performed in their loses;
Notre Dame; 31 points scored.
Utah; 26 points scored.
Minnesota; 30 points scored.
Rutgers; 26 points scored.
Michigan State; 35 points scored.
Maryland; 23 points scored.
Ohio State; 42 points scored.
30.4ppg average in the loses.
55 teams averaged 30.5ppg or more on the season. So argumentative reasons 55 teams could have gone undefeated with this defense. I'm not sure what you consider elite, but Michigan's defense was that this year. While Durkin is a step up in today's current state of football, Mattison was a damn good coach.
January 9th, 2015 at 12:58 AM ^
I think most people here won't understand the impact of Drevno until he gets here. There are probably only 5-6 other OL coaches in the country I'd take over him. When we were in the midst of searchbits in Dec and I was dreaming of a Harbaugh era I was so disappointed he had just lost Drevno to USC the prior year and with the Mallory talk I thought we'd never get him. So was shocked.
Even USC this year with a "young" line did way better than anything we saw here the past 2 years - and that's excluding the great job at SF and Stanford. Guys like DeCastro and Martin became high end NFL draft picks and were measly 3 stars out of HS.
I miss the old UM OLs of the 80s 90s and early 00s. I can't wait to get back to it - you get a good OL and your QBs and RBs suddenly all become a whole lot better.
January 9th, 2015 at 4:16 AM ^
January 9th, 2015 at 6:20 AM ^
January 9th, 2015 at 6:21 AM ^
January 9th, 2015 at 7:09 AM ^
"Dear Diary" post.
January 9th, 2015 at 12:25 PM ^
We already have a magical prophet.
January 9th, 2015 at 7:12 AM ^
offense, simply because we have the best QB coach in the country, possibly the best overall coach in the country along with one of the best OCs in the country.
The fact we are even having this debate makes me giddy.