Sparty #1 Overall Defense Ranking - Not that impressive?

Submitted by mdsgoblue on

Maybe I'm just looking to closely at numbers instead of how this game is played (i.e. Unnecessary roughness and bullying) but I'm not all that impressed with the nations #1 ranked defense considering the competition level.

Opponent Passing Yards Rushing Yards Total Yards Scoring
W. Michigan 193(90) 11(109) 204(115) 13(119)
South Florida 66(119) 89(112) 155(123) 6(120)
*Youngstown State 121 51 172 17
Notre Dame 142(54) 78(96) 220(82) 17(72)
Iowa 241(88) 23(47) 264(75) 14(79)
Indiana 259(10) 92(63) 351(10) 28(8)
Purdue 160(92) 66(121) 226(122) 0(121)
Illinois 103(43) 25(94) 128(74) 3(58)
Average Rank 71 92 86 82
][\/][ Rank 42 49 45 8
*FCS (National per game rank in parentheses)

I know that this type of data will be discussed ad nauseam over the next few days but I was hoping to generate some like mind discussion or to the contrary, as I am not being productive at work anyway.

UM28 - MSU13

 

JHendo

October 29th, 2013 at 1:35 PM ^

I hate everything about Sparty and hate giving them an ounce of credit for anything they do.  But you've got to be a moron to not be impressed with their defense.  They've got one hell of a group on that side of the ball.  If Borges doesn't draw up the best gameplan he ever has in his life, and if our guys don't execute said gameplan to a T, we're in for a very long and painful Saturday.

LSAClassOf2000

October 29th, 2013 at 1:39 PM ^

So, I was just going through the conference stats when this thread appeared. Granted, this is a narrower focus than all of Division I, but if you normalize the overall defensive statistics for Michigan State against the conference mean, it is far and away the best defense statistically in the Big Ten. For example:

Conference mean - rushing yards allowed - 1,056.92 yards

Z-score for rushing yards, Michigan State: -1.781 (439 yards)

Conference mean - passing yards allowed - 1,673.75 yards

Z-score for passing yards, Michigan State: -1.740 (1,285 yards)

Conference mean - total yards allowed - 2,730.67 yards

Z-score for total yards, Michigan State: -2.074 (1,724 yards)

So, they are exceptionally good against the conference mean, but it can also be noted that, save for passing defense, we perform better than conference means as well. The graph is too large to do justice here, so the thumbnail is below. 

 

 photo DefenseNormalized_zps317b55ac.png

mdsgoblue

October 29th, 2013 at 1:49 PM ^

what prompted me to even look at this was the down nature of the offensive production in the Big Ten, as well as their OOC competition (which they did smother).

As you can tell my "not impressed" statement has caused quite the tizzy and maybe I should have chosen the following words instead.  They are good but beatable.

GoBlue!

HarBooYa

October 29th, 2013 at 2:23 PM ^

D statistically is in the elite category, but like most d's still beatable (particularly since their own offense sometimes helps the opposition score against it).



I think it is not accurate, however, to say they are merely "good" on d. Their the best in our league and comparable to the top d's on the country. We have our work cut out for us.



That all said, I hope they suck on Saturday.

alum96

October 29th, 2013 at 7:40 PM ^

I think the "not that impressive" tag line with 1 question mark or a hundred doomed your post.  If they were ranked 5th or 8th or 1st it would be an impressive defense.  Maybe something like "MSU defense - taking a closer look" would be more of what you were trying to do but your phrase immediately after immediately offered an idea that you are trying to find a way to dismiss what their defense has done.

I Have A Gnarly Face

October 29th, 2013 at 1:57 PM ^

I am with the OP and have been saying this for a while. MSU has benefited from playing crappy offenses, which inflates their defensive numbers.

NOLA Wolverine

October 29th, 2013 at 2:12 PM ^

If you want to look at what MSU has done and say "well they've played garbage teams!" then we can go ahead and throw out everything we think we know about Michigan at this point as well. Michigan State holds teams to 60% of their average output this year, and that leads the nation. If we dressed them in Florida uniforms would you be a believer? I hope they're as good as advetised and we see the first quality Michigan football game since Notre Dame.

Indiana Blue

October 29th, 2013 at 2:14 PM ^

guess that's why Vegas has MSU -4.5.

It still will not be surprising if Michigan has success against this defense.  MSU's schedule has been less than impressive.  Best win is probably at Iowa, but Iowa cannot generate an offense close to what Michigan is capable of.  Also Sparty really has not been playing that well at home this year ... last home game was 14 - 0 to Purdue, and it was a trick play that scored the only offensive TD in the 4th quarter.  They seem to be a better road team thus far, with solid wins at Iowa and Illinois.

I don't think Michigan has to play its best game to win, and if we actually do play our best game of 2013 - then I believe it won't be a close game at all.  What are the odds we DO play our best game ?  Proabably about 10 - 15%.

Go Blue!

turtleboy

October 29th, 2013 at 2:46 PM ^

I'm not worried about sparty at all, I'm very worried about which offense we're going to call that game. Spartys defense is pretty obvious and we havent gameplanned around it to date. Im worried we'll keep tipping our hat and not adjust, and sparty will take what we give them. If we use misdirection and run more than one play from a formation, and run out of the shotgun and run playaction and throw to funchess we'll take the free PI calls all day and let sparty penalize themselves out of the game by overcommitting.

UMxWolverines

October 29th, 2013 at 3:24 PM ^

What is with this board lately? They just shut Purdue out and gave up 3 to Illinois. I'd kill for a defense that good this year. Our defense is meh. And since this is their superbowl, I fully expect them to bring everything they have on offense. I also expect them to create turnovers because 1. Why should I expect anything different from Gardner on the road? and 2. Gardner is going to have limited options to throw the ball to since Dileo is out. 

Ty Butterfield

October 29th, 2013 at 3:32 PM ^

Keep telling yourself that. This game will be another shitshow. But hey, just wait until 2015!!

hfhmilkman

October 29th, 2013 at 4:02 PM ^

My big concern is I measure UM by how they do against MSU and OSU.  If we ask who has improved throughout the season I would have to say MSU & OSU seem to be putting it together for a November run while we are still trying to answer questions.  At the begining of the year MSU did not know who their QB or RB was and the entire offense was a tire fire.  MSU has an identity now.  They are not great and there are kinks.  However, their offense is more consistent with our defense.  MSU's identify on offense and defense is set.   They know who they are.  Our identity changes every week.  Likewise OSU is a much better team then 4 weeks ago.  We will probably see three more OSU routes of opponents going into the big game.

For us to win Gardner will have to play like he did at ND when he was making every right decision and every throw was on the money.  It is a given we will not be able to run when MSU suspects and perhaps even when they are not.  They will blitz and young linemen will be confused.  If Akron could confuse them they have seen nothing yet.  The great thing with a QB is he can single handidly win the game.   MSU is inconsistant enough on offense that a bend but don't break should limit points.  Of course the TO's on our side have to be limited to one else it will be impossible to win.

 

Soulfire21

October 29th, 2013 at 4:30 PM ^

Their defense is still impressive.  Plenty of teams play cupcakes with offenses ranked in the lower half of FBS and don't come away with near the success they do.  Any way you cut it, MSU has a very good defense.

chunkums

October 29th, 2013 at 7:09 PM ^

If you have watched any MSU football and come away thinking, "that wasn't a very impressive defense", then I don't know what impresses you. That defense is da troof.

umfanchris

October 30th, 2013 at 9:31 AM ^

Michigan St. is top 5 in almost every single team defense category that is available:

Total Defense - 1st

Rushing Defense -  1st

Passing yards allowed - 3rd

Team Passing Efficiency Defense - 2nd

Scoring Defense - 3rd

3rd Down conversion Pct Defense - 3rd

First Down Defense - 1st

 

I know you are trying to find a reason to downgrade their defense, but their defense is solid.  Competition isn't a question since Mich St has played just as many good offenses as we have (2 - Ind and ND).  Uconn, Akron, PSU, and CMU aren't good offenses either. You don't see us in any of the defensive stats do you?