One area of improvement over last year
While I don't have any stats on this to back it up, it seems we are way more efficent in the redzone this year compared to last. We struggled so much to score last year from inside the 20 it was paingful, and this year for whatever reason I don't sence that being an issue. Am I alone in noticing this?
September 25th, 2011 at 12:36 PM ^
Going into the game we were 10 for 10 in the RedZone..pretty good percentage!
September 25th, 2011 at 12:37 PM ^
September 25th, 2011 at 5:25 PM ^
We're #1 in the nation even if WMU never happened:
September 25th, 2011 at 12:38 PM ^
No 1-AA teams on the schedule
September 25th, 2011 at 2:35 PM ^
you mean eastern is a fbs school???
September 25th, 2011 at 12:38 PM ^
I think our RZ percentage was nearly perfect heading into sparty last year.
The biggest area of improvement, IMO, is clearly defense. I have no doubt in my mind that SDSU team would have racked up 30+ on our 2009-2010 units who gave up 30+ to crappy indiana teams.
September 25th, 2011 at 12:40 PM ^
Through four games this year, Michigan has a 100% red zone scoring %. Last year, the team scored just 77% of the time they entered the red zone (over the course of the entire season).
More stats to come....
September 25th, 2011 at 12:48 PM ^
Red Zone Scoring %:
- 2007: 80% (43/54)
- 2008: 77% (27/35)
- 2009: 65% (32/49)
- 2010: 77% (44/57)
September 25th, 2011 at 12:58 PM ^
Do you know the breakdown of TDs versus FGs? Obviously, there's a big difference between coming away with seven points versus three.
September 25th, 2011 at 2:42 PM ^
I can venture a pretty good guess about the number of field goals.
September 25th, 2011 at 3:52 PM ^
Working from ESPN historical stats because it is Sunday and I am lazy:
2007: We made 14 FGs, so 29 TDs were made in the red zone
2008: We made 10 FGs, so 17 TDs were from the red zone
2009: We made 11 FGs, so 21 TDs were from the red zone
2010: We made 4 FGs, so 40 TD were from the red zone.
September 25th, 2011 at 4:14 PM ^
So, our TD percentages were as follows:
2007: 29/54 = 53.7%
2008: 17/35 = 48.5%
2009: 21/49 = 42.9%
2010: 40/57 = 70.2%
2011: 12/13 = 92.3%
Yikes - we were brutal from '07-'09. Last year's percentage was pretty good. It may have been helped by the fact that we went for it on a lot of 4th downs (since we knew a FG wasn't a likely probability), giving us an extra offensive down to try to get a TD.
This year's rate will almost certainly go down, but so far it's been awesome.
September 25th, 2011 at 4:32 PM ^
In the red zone versus ranked teams (total scores against over attempts):
2010: 8 / 16 = 50.0%
2009: 8 / 13 = 61.5%
2008: 9 / 10 = 90.0%
2007: 14 / 19 = 73.7%
September 25th, 2011 at 12:41 PM ^
is the turnover margin. Forcing a lot of turnovers on defense this year and it's making a huge difference.
September 25th, 2011 at 12:42 PM ^
I sence paingful is not a word. Neither is sence.
September 25th, 2011 at 12:43 PM ^
A little thing that exists outside of statistics but is a relevant illustration of the defense's new-found competence is this: Yesterday, SDSU did a ton of shifting at the line. Our D shifted with them accordingly, like clockwork, every time.
If presented with the same shifts yesterday, I think it is safe to say there would have been a lot of scenes with our D-Linemen looking to the sideline with a hand up and "wft" expression.
September 25th, 2011 at 12:48 PM ^
I'd say the biggest improvements have been 1) tackling and 2) being in the vicinity or receivers, even if the pass is completed. We're making the other team execute on offense for the most part (with the one obvious bust against ND) and I think that leads to all the other improvements.
September 25th, 2011 at 3:51 PM ^
That might actually be the biggest improvement on the team: not giving up HUGE plays to the opposing offense.
The longest play allowed in each game:
- WMU - 24 yards
- Notre Dame - 38 yards
- EMU - 19 yards
- SDSU - 30 yards
That is a vast improvement over last season, when teams were ripping off huge gains consistently on our defense.
September 25th, 2011 at 12:59 PM ^
Biggest area of improvement (for me) for this year: The defense seems to be getting BETTER every week. Maybe not a whole lot, maybe only marginally better each week. But this was the first game in a while where I could confidently say "I thought our defense looked pretty good out there."
September 25th, 2011 at 1:12 PM ^
The D has been fantastic in quick-change situations. That includes the ND game when we forced a three-and-out right after ND got an nterception in our territory.
Yesterday, holding a team to seven points when they started four (?) possessions in our territory was very impressive. With last year's defense this could have been scary.
September 25th, 2011 at 12:59 PM ^
Our ability to rip NDs fucking hearts out.
September 25th, 2011 at 1:04 PM ^
See that one we've been able to do for the last several years.
September 25th, 2011 at 1:08 PM ^
Yeah, but each year we get better at it.
September 25th, 2011 at 8:08 PM ^
I just thought I'd comment on awesomeness of this little mini-string of posts.
September 25th, 2011 at 1:08 PM ^
I'd say biggest improvement is points allowed by the defense. We would have given up 20-30 to emu last year and 30-40 to sdsu.
September 25th, 2011 at 3:26 PM ^
Everyone keeps saying this. I don't buy it. We held Notre Dame to fewer points last year and we held a team that went to a BCS bowl to 10 points. By no means am I saying that last years defense is as good as this years, but we are 4 games in. I actually think our defense will be much better than last year because 1) returning 10 starters usually does that and 2) we won't be playing Wisky, MSU, and OSU teams that end up 11-1. Our problem the last 3 years hasn't been our OOC. As bad as the Big East is, it is still better than the Mountain West. Now let's take this momentum and run through the B10
September 25th, 2011 at 4:20 PM ^
September 25th, 2011 at 5:10 PM ^
No I don't. That is why I said our defense this year is better than last year.
September 25th, 2011 at 5:15 PM ^
You should read what you wrote; it's enlightening. You responded to the following comment:
I'd say biggest improvement is points allowed by the defense.
...and you said the following:
Everyone keeps saying this. I don't buy it.
I'm not sure how much more clear it could have been. I didn't even have to dig deep - first sentence of the comment and first sentence of your reply.
September 25th, 2011 at 6:11 PM ^
Maybe you should read what I wrote. I was responding to him saying that SDSU would have put up 40 points against us last year and Eastern would have put up 30 against us. Iv'e read that a couple times and I don't buy it. Sorry you didn't get it and sorry you didn't see my saying this year's defense is better than last years. It is ok to think this defense is better and still keep a level head about it. If you have questions about my posts, you can ask me if it is unclear.
September 25th, 2011 at 1:12 PM ^
I know it's been discussed before but to me the biggest improvement this from the last three years is in game coaching adjustments, especially on defense. Last year EMU would have been able to run that end around all day and we would give up 10 or more yards each time. This year the coaches are able to make the correct adjustments and tell the players how to do it. I love this coaching staff so far.
September 25th, 2011 at 2:24 PM ^
Seeing how the last 2 years started out, nothing will be known until UM gets through 3-4 Big Ten games.
September 25th, 2011 at 3:42 PM ^
Last year through the first four games, we gave up 92 points, 37 of them to UMass.
This year we've given up 51.
September 25th, 2011 at 3:59 PM ^
GETTING PLAYS FROM DEPTH PLAYERS ON DEFENSE. It's worth all caps.
September 25th, 2011 at 5:22 PM ^
Red zone D is greatly improved. We've played a (fairly) solid OOC schedule and are #3 in the nation. No DII Umass. No Delaware State.
http://www.ncaa.com/stats/football/fbs/current/team/1053
Here's our overall scoring D:
http://www.ncaa.com/stats/football/fbs/current/team/1043
The coaching makes a world of difference.
September 25th, 2011 at 6:15 PM ^
So does returning 99% of your two deep and 10 starters.
But you can tell that Mattison is better than anything we have had on that side of the ball for a very long time. In today's college football world of spreading the field, it would have been very easy for us to let up a garbage TD or some points here and there against the lesser teams. Kudos to Maddison for not letting that happen.
September 25th, 2011 at 8:12 PM ^
See I think you're on to something here. I don't see last year's team getting that last 4th down stop near the goalline against SDSU.
September 25th, 2011 at 6:56 PM ^
Has become solid. The D-line may not be meeting expectations, but I feel that's more by scheme than performance.
September 25th, 2011 at 6:56 PM ^
I think it will end up being in the recruiting class of 2012. I can name about 6 future hosses on the defense who never would have given Michigan a look if Rodriguez or someone he chose at d-coordinator was still coaching Michigan. This defense isn't nearly what it will be when we get premier athletes like Carr used to.
Watch LSU currently and you'll see the type of size and impact in that back 7 we'll see playing for Michigan in a couple years. The previous coach didn't even think we needed guys like that. He was going to outscore everyone. As evidenced by his indifferent recruiting of elite Michigan and Ohio defensive talent.
September 25th, 2011 at 8:01 PM ^
We are currently starting 5 four star kids, 4 three star kids, and 2 former walk-ons. One walk-on is starting in front of a 3 star kid, one walk on is starting in front of a 4-star kid. Two of our 3 star kids are starting at CB, in front of a handful of 4 star guys. We have 16 players total on the defensive side of the ball that have reached their Junior year. That means 27 kids on this defense are either freshmen or sophomores so you might want to hold off calling them talentless.
But I am sure the team loves hearing how little talent they have.
Also, I think the defensive recruits (actually all recruits) are going to start thinking twice about committing to the team that has dominated Ohio recruiting the past couple years.
September 25th, 2011 at 8:04 PM ^
I'd say that tackling is the best improvement. I don't have any stats to back it up either, but you can just tell.
September 26th, 2011 at 9:14 AM ^
Last year through four games by my count:
| Opp. | RZA | RZTD | RZFG |
|---|---|---|---|
| UConn | 4 | 3 | 1 |
| ND | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| UMass | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| BGSU | 8 | 8 | 0 |
| Total | 18 | 17 | 1 |
That looks perfect to me. And, hey, UConn = SDSU, ND = ND, and UMass = EMU. Western is surely better than BGSU, though.
September 26th, 2011 at 10:05 AM ^
So really the offense this season is a little less prolific than last season at this point of the season, which kind of bears out from what we've been seeing in the UFR. I mean, let's be honest, going into Big 10 conference play last season, nobody was complaining about our lack of scoring in the redzone. That didn't rear it's ugly head until later.
This season is setting up much as expected preseason....slight regression offensively, impovement defensively, on track to pick up 8-10 wins. Let's stay healthy and make it happen.
September 26th, 2011 at 10:25 AM ^
I think there are many, many facets if improvement on this Defense
Creating turnovers, more sure tackling, THEY PLAY WITH A SWAGGER, limiting big plays, DBs actually covering WRs, Player development, experience, depth. CLUTH CLUTCH CLUTCH performances in quick change situations and in short yardage situations and the ability to turn TD drives into FG drives or worse
RED ZONE DEFENSE STATS
2010: 86-percent time allowed scores; 68-percent they were TDs
2011: 54-percent time allowed scores; 38-percent they were TDs
D only forced 8 scoreless red zone trips a year ago. Already have 6 this season
D allowed 37 red zone TDs a year ago to 20 trips of a FG or less a year ago. This season its 5 TDs and 8 trips of a FG or less
If these numbers hold tight through Big 10 play, then look out.....