Underestimating Our 2012 Defense aka More Praise for "Swag" Mattison

Submitted by alum96 on

Was a bit bored and was looking at some stats for the ND and MSU defenses of 2012 on ncaa.com as we always hear how superior they were and now hear how superior they will be in 2013, and I came upon a realization.  I think most of us (myself being guilty) underestimate statistically how nice of a defense we had.  I think most of us are in awe of the 2011 v 2010 transformation with essentially the same crew, but without a ton of highly rated players (for various) reasons including the loss of the best corner Michigan had some very impressive stats, inclusive of a beatdown by Alabama. 


Scoring defense: 19.85 ppg, 20th in the nation. Take out the non BCS teams and its 18th. (ND 2, MSU 9). Fun fact: Rutgers was 4th.

Total defense:

320 ypg, 13th in the nation. One non BCS ahead. (ND 7, MSU 4). Rutgers again impressive at #10, albeit its Big East football.

Passing defense 5th in the country, but rushing defense was the one negative at 51st in the country.

Maybe it also was the lack of splash plays - 78th in the country in sacks, 51st in fumbles recovered, so we did not see the "sexy" plays week to week or the scoring plays by the defense. But this team played a very solid brand of fundamental defense (which we all knew) that created perhaps a greater sum of parts than individual pieces - esp. considering some of the talent gaps versus a vintage Michigan team.  Also keep in mind this team faced the #1, #2, and #3 teams of 2012.

I know stats are not everything and it needs to pass a sight test but the stats were generally better than I assumed and not very far from those "elite defenses". Maybe people need to ask "how are we going to score on this Michigan defense" more often...  This makes me even more excited for what we will see in the next half decade with the talent influx coming in. But let me be the first to say while I was so very impressed with Mattison, I did not realize just how well the defense was doing last year, helping to offset some of the hijinks we had from time to time on offense.

WolverineHistorian

August 22nd, 2013 at 8:52 AM ^

I mainly remember both Bama and South Carolina completing a 70 something yard pass in stride during their 4th play from scrimmage. And South Carolina's hail Mary type bomb game winner looked really easy too.

The defense wasnt Gerg bad but the teams that wanted to throw on us, when they needed it, got the job done.

LSAClassOf2000

August 21st, 2013 at 10:36 PM ^

Here's the yards allowed for rushing / passing defense by game for the regular season:

 photo MichiganScoring2012.jpg

Apologies for the link, but I do find it interesting in retrospect that, although we came very close several times, we did not surpass 200 yards of passing allowed in any one game. We only gave up more than 200 yards rushing in four games (Alabama, Air Force, Northwestern and Ohio State). As a result, we averaged well below the conference average in the Big Ten for passing defense (155.4 yards to an average of 204.7) and very slightly below the conference average in rushing defense (157.3 yards to the average of 157.0).

alum96

August 21st, 2013 at 10:51 PM ^

Yes but to be truthful the brand of QB in the Big 10 last year was nothing short of awful.  :)  Purdue used to have a lot more potent QB regime in the Tiller years, Iowa usually had someone above average (not always but sometimes), Illinois usually has something worth worrying about just a little - no disrespect to Nathan Scheelhaase and his aeriel attack.;)  I think maybe 2 QBs in the Big 10 last year have a chance to be in the NFL as a QB, and one is ours.



p.s. if that is your Festivus tree in the link, congrats on that. The airing of grievances is my favorite part of the holiday. :)

stephenrjking

August 22nd, 2013 at 12:45 AM ^

It needs to be said that Mattison has patched together a serviceable passing defense in the last two years out of base that couldn't even get out of its own way just a short time ago. He's done it with Duct Tape, walk-ons, and mostly average talent.

But let's not kid ourselves: it's hardly world-beating. The B1G was an atrocious passing league last year, and Michigan benefitted from it. OCs were taking deep shots at JT Floyd every week, and they were almost always open. They just didn't have the QBs and receivers to put it together.

And yet today's UFR makes a persuasive case that Floyd's absence was the crucial missing link. Michigan just wasn't that solid in the back, and the few teams with serious deep talent (you could include Devier Posey from 2011 in this, too) were able to expose it in a serious way.

Things look a bit rough this year. I'm really glad we have athletes coming down the pike.

bronxblue

August 22nd, 2013 at 9:43 AM ^

I generally view pass defenses in college with a massive grain of salt because most college QBs simply aren't that good throwing the ball, so unless you are an LSU/Alabama-type with elite corners and pass rushers the rankings kind of fall apart when good passing offenses show up.  

That said, Mattison has put together a solid defense with the parts he inherited, but it is probably going to take another year or two for his "system" to be stocked with the best players for it.  ND and MSU have superior defenses to me based both on returning talent as well as pedigree, and that's fine.  Both of their offenses are varying degrees of hot garbage, while UM's should at least be competent.  But relying on the defense this year to carry this squad is probably still a foolish proposition.