Our Defense
In case anyone didn't notice, our defense isn't very good.
Not very good at all.
I know we held them to field goals a few times yada yada yada....but they look like they couldn't stop Inkster H.S's offense.
I was scared last week against EMU, but thought that maybe the D was just playing down to theit opponent. EMU ran very well and moved the ball against us....and they are EMU.
While Indiana is better than they usually are, they absolutely killed us on the field. I feel that we should have lost that game, that we didn't "deserve" to win the way we played.
We need to get better, but I think it's a matter of depth and youth, not scheme.
Our D is bad and it makes me sick.
That is all.
September 26th, 2009 at 10:25 PM ^
Wow calm down. I'm pretty sure if michigan beat indiana, they could stop inkster high school's offense considering inkster has lost two games already. but i am wondering where the defense is that we saw against western michigan? they were playing great against western, then against eastern and indiana, they have only looked ok. we want the defense we saw against western!
September 26th, 2009 at 10:25 PM ^
You honestly started a thread whose entire content is "I'm angry because our defense is not as good as I imagine it should be"?
Dude.
September 26th, 2009 at 10:28 PM ^
In his defense, his isn't nearly as stupid as the two or three frozen threads started earlier. Yeah, our defense is bad. Okay. We half way expected that with the depth and players we've got out there. Our D is probably performing better than it should. I'll take that. Like the OP says, we'll be better someday.
September 27th, 2009 at 2:10 AM ^
Our D is bad and it makes me sick.
I counter with "Our D is bad and I'm enjoying a fucking WIN!"
This post is just as stupid as the others. The other posts weren't bad simply because they were inflammatory (though that may be why they were frozen). They were bad because they were looking for a cloud in a silver lining, just like this post.
I know the D is bad. I know that Michigan's defense lacks depth and is already starting walk-ons. I know that a stiff breeze may break Forcier's clavicle. As you said, we expected these things. That doesn't mean we need posts like this a mere 7 hours after a fucking WIN.
We had 3 wins all of last year. We already have 4 this year. To anyone that feels the need to take a shit on that, I have to wonder what joy he/she takes in watching football.
September 26th, 2009 at 10:27 PM ^
that the good tackling and good angles taken in game 1, seem to have disappeared and a number of players are reverting back the "reach and dive" tackling that plagued the 2007/08 teams.
September 26th, 2009 at 10:28 PM ^
Can we stop acting like the sky is falling. After all, we are now 4-0. Note, we did not win 4 games last year. Sorry, bourbon usually makes me happy, but these myopic posts are killing my happiness.
September 26th, 2009 at 10:32 PM ^
Try going over to Mlive.com, they are probably having a scintillating discussion about M football
September 26th, 2009 at 10:30 PM ^
I was hoping that Brian was being overly pessimistic in his analyses concerning UM's defense, but he is looking to have been spot on.
Today, though, the four or five botched snaps kept the defense on the field a lot more than they should have been. All year, it is going to be the job of the offense to bail out the defense. This involves not killing drives with bad center snaps. I am pretty sure this will be straightened out in practice this week.
I wonder how much the team was believing their own press clippings and/or looking ahead to the game in EL next week? I think we will see a much better UM team for that game, and that they should win by around ten points in EL.
At any rate, it is a lot better to be lamenting after a win to go 4-0 than a loss to go 1-3.
September 26th, 2009 at 10:34 PM ^
Depth, and Youth are the issues
GERG will need to do his best McGyver imitation to get the most from this group.
September 26th, 2009 at 10:35 PM ^
This thread doesn't really add anything to the previous complaints about the defense. Yeah, they've been disappointing.
Chris Balas from the U-M Rivals site was pretty scathing, though: "it resembles a below average MAC unit." Ouch.
http://michigan.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=993996
September 26th, 2009 at 10:40 PM ^
As we all lament the death of our defense, has anyone given a thought to the prospect that our defense could be next year what our offense is this year compared to last year?? If that happens even to a lesser degree with the offense still hitting on all cylinders, look out. I'll take shootout wins versus low scoring losses any day...
September 26th, 2009 at 10:48 PM ^
we lose BG and potentially DW. depth will be better, but our starters might not be.
September 26th, 2009 at 11:31 PM ^
I'm not sure how much better our depth will be next year. As you mention, we lose BG and possibly Warren. Our depth at DB is especially frightening.
DBs: If Warren goes, that makes Cissoko #1 and a probable redshirt freshman (Turner) as the #2. After that its just more freshman or Floyd. So regardless if we get say Cullen and another stud DB, we still lack depth, or specifically non-freshman depth.
LBs: Ezeh and Mouton are back and there are a bunch of current redshirt freshman that are currently not playing. RR is instead playing walk-ons. That being said, is a warm body on scholarship currently on the bench in favour of a walk-on considered depth? Big trouble here.
DL: BG gone but not too bad here. Roh and Martin both look like 4-year starters. We have big Will there and RVB also back. Lalota and couple 2010 recruits look to fill in the depth there. DT could use at least 2 more bodies in this years class.
Its gonna take more than 1 year to build up the depth IME.
September 26th, 2009 at 11:38 PM ^
I think we will probably get Warren back unless he really starts to make more noise. He has been very good but not enough to get the 1st round status that would make him jump IME. There is a lot of season left for him to make more noise though.
Our linebackers are going to continue to be the Achilles Heel of this defense for several years to come. We need a stud linebacker recruit like whoah.
September 26th, 2009 at 11:48 PM ^
This sounds stupid and please forgive me but ... why do we suck SO bad at the linebacker position. I mean come on, how can one not improve/see the suckiness. Look @ penn state, Iowa, tOSU how can they make their linebackers do good stuff, while Umich is mediocre. So frustrating. argghh
September 26th, 2009 at 10:47 PM ^
walkons starting on defense and we're 4-0. For criminies sake, be positive. On October 18th this team will be, at worst, 5-2. Don't act for a second like that is a bad thing.
September 26th, 2009 at 10:51 PM ^
At the beginning of the season we thought we would be performing about like this defensively but worse than this offensively. Hopes were for a 3-1 start. After ND our collective expectations grew but reality is this team is performing to about what we expected with the exception that we have won 4 games. Wins our great but we can't let them dilute the reality that this team is much more the team we thought they were pre-season than the one their record indicates. Regardless, we're 4-0 and I'll take it. However, I think some of the optimism was overblown as we tried to erase 3-9 and presume all early moments of greatness would be replicated consistently in a season of mistake-free dominant football. That isn't the case and Iowa, PSU, Wiscy, and OSU look like very tough wins if we play like today. MSU loks like a toss-up.
September 27th, 2009 at 12:15 AM ^
the bloodletting that will be the defensive UFR. It looks to be an Ezeh negbang.
September 27th, 2009 at 12:31 AM ^
We also have a curious inversion of last year's problem. When the offense racked up plenty of 3 and outs, the defense never actually had time to get off the field and break. In the first quarter alone, Michigan's 14 points came off of drives of 0:27 and 1:40ish. If your defense isn't filled with studs (like this one clearly isn't), scoring quickly can be as bad for the defense (although not the game as a whole) as going 3 and out.