Should we always take the ball if we win the toss?

Seeing as we've deferred every time we've won the toss so far, and that we're 4 and 0, I'd say probably not.

Defer and take the ball at half. Adds another possession in the 4th

but why in the hell is there an advertisement for Ohio State ralley towels on the left of the screen on this site? o_o

I like getting the ball in the second half.  I'll bet the Mathlete or someone could come up with a better mathematical way of putting it but basically, since you essentially push the reset button on the trading of possessions at halftime, you're more likely to maximize your possessions in the all-important second half if you get it first.

In the first half, either your possession or the opponent's is cut short at halftime (/master of the obvious) so if you get the ball in the second half, from a possession-maximization standpoint the absolute worst thing that can happen is for the opponent to score to end the half.  From that, your possession benefit is zero.  Otherwise, you see some benefit in maximizing your possessions and minimizing theirs.

What's more important, having the ball at the start of the first quarter, or at the start of the third?  To me, it's a pretty easy choice.  The closer you get to the end of the game, the more valuable each possession becomes.

no... huge momentum swings occur when you score to end the 1st half and come right back out and score to start the 2nd half.

the 'sudden impact' of our offense gearing up and scoring in a heartbeat, that would put some stress into the opposition, that's for sure, the way our offense scores. I don't know if it's human nature or just a better strategy, but the winner almost always defers; it seems much more comfortable that way or something, and you don't want to make your team uncomfortable. No coach has managed to make a big advantage taking the ball first; if there was one, more teams would be doing it.

With a quality opponent, I think it's best to defer.  But if we are playing an inferior team (like BGSU, for instance), it may be better to take the ball first and try to get an early lead.  Bad teams will quit sometimes. 

Defer if you can. That said, I don't mind quite as much this year when the other team wins and chooses to defer.

Pretty much in almost all cases its better to defer to the second half because its the strong conservative play.  If you choose the ball, in most cases, you don't have as much confidence in your defense to stop their offense and you hoping you can stagnate them by scoring first.  In our case, we need to keep encouraging our defense and have confidence in them to stop any opponent.  GO BLUE!!

I could be wrong but I don't think any team has scored on us on their first drive.  It seems like teams manage to adjust to our defense fairly quickly but it takes a couple drives before that happens.  Usually by the time the other team scores Michigan already has a two touchdown lead or more.  Then we get the ball to start the 2nd half, score again and be up by at least two or three touchdowns.

Defer... Always!

I 100% agree that the potential extra possesion in the 2nd half trumps any other theory.

However, I also agree that taking the ball this year, when the other team defers, kinda gets the juices flowing !!!

Go Blue ! 

I defer unless you don't have a good d.  Unfortunately, we don't.

Taking the ball first allows our offense to go out and set the tempo.  We can get the momentum and play with the lead. 

about this choice?  I was intrigued by the posting on when to go for it on 4th down and it seemed to be based on fairly good data.  What is the point value of winning the toss? If there are two equally matched teams, how much difference does it make to win the toss?  Mathlete where are you?  You are our only hope Obi-wan.  We wander in the data-less darkness living off opinions rather than fact.  Would it not be useful to know what you give up or gain on average by winning or losing the toss?  When did coaches begin to decide to defer and why? etc. etc.

There may be statistics that show that this is wrong, but my guess is that offenses are slightly less effective on drives that start the game b/c the players are a little too keyed up.  If that is correct, kicking off to start the game would decrease your opponent's offensive effectiveness on one of their drives (the first).  Of course, for this to matter, there would need to be a decrease in effectiveness on drives that start the game and that decrease would have to be greater than any decrease observed in initial offensive possessions that do not start a game, i.e., the kicking team's first possession (the game's second possession).  Otherwise there would just be a cancelling-out effect.

If you have an excellent defense, if you defer the logic is :  kickoff and hold the return to the 20  -  get a 3 and out forcing the other team to punt from their 20  -  a 40 yard punt then gives your offense the ball at the 40   -  thereby giving you control of the field position.  Even if you fail to move the ball  -  your punt should put them back at their 20 ... and so on.

The '97 team excelled at 3 and outs and could win games just on field position.  ie - the other team has to go 80 yards for a TD and we only needed to go 60 yards for a TD.   For Denard and Co. the field could be 200 yards long and we would still score !!

Go Blue !

tl;dr

But in a word, YES.

So we should always do the opposite just on principle.

Usually I let the wife control the radio, because it's all horrible.  But she was going to leave it on that horrible song and I said no change it now.

However, I think we should take the ball.  The pedesttrian defense and the awesome offense.  I just have fears of deferring.  Allowing the td on the first possession, going 3 and out and getting another quick score on our defense.

However, if we take the ball with our offense.  We put the opposing team in the same danger.  Score, get a defensive stop, and we can be up 14 before the 8 minute of the quarter.

I only think this way with a top 5 offense and a bottom 20 defense.  All others defer!!

I always feel more comfortable knowing that we will get the ball going into the second half, just in case we are down at the half.

1.  Take ball now = score now.

2.  Take ball later = Score later.

Lesson:  Sooner and later we're going to score on you.

Only in overtime.

Otherwise, defer and give the defense some work to do, plus you can get the ball back in the 2nd half

As an Indiana resident, I'm going to be drawing a comparison to the Colts.  Just like them, this Michigan team is obvioulsy going to rely on their offense to win games.  The Colts are only really effective if they get an early lead.  It allows their defense to play more aggresively, covering up their problems in run defense.

I would think that if given the early lead, the MIchigan defense could play in a similar manner, especially against teams with suspect pass blocking.  The best defensive players on defense right now are those that excel at pressuring the QB, so why not give them that cushion that the offense can provide?

It is nice being up 7-0 to start the game as opposed to being down 0-7 to begin.