247: Michigan in excellent CFP position heading into Wisconsin game

Submitted by Mr. Elbel on

http://247sports.com/Bolt/Michigan-in-excellent-CFP-position-heading-in…

Some great stats in this piece put out by 247 today. Really cool to see how we line up against the rest of the country on both sides of the ball. My favorite part:

"There are only three teams scoring more points per game than Michigan. No team has more sacks (17) or tackles for loss (44) than the Wolverines. Like Jabril Peppers, who leads the team with 332 all-purpose yards and is second with 33 tackles while leading the country with 23.7 yards per touch and with 9.5 tackles for loss, Michigan is dominating on both sides of the ball. It has an extremely tough game waiting at the end of the regular season against rival Ohio State. But arguably nobody is in a better position to earn a spot in the Playoff this year than Michigan."

Yes, week 5 caveats and such (also, beat Wisconsin...before anyone else says it). But it's great to see us at the top of so many categories of stats already and looking ahead, should we continue that trend on Saturday, in great position to have a really special season.

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Yost Ghost

September 29th, 2016 at 4:03 PM ^

Exactly.

 

Per FFFF:

Hurry it up or grind it out? A surprisingly quick grind? UW huddles between most snaps and don't ever try to tempo the defense, but they're an above-average 45th in adjusted pace. I'm honestly not sure how to explain that. They're a good deal slower than UCF and Colorado, and despite what David Jones would have you believe, much faster to get plays off than Penn State.

 

http://mgoblog.com/content/fee-fi-foe-film-wisconsin-offense#more

 

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JonnyHintz

September 29th, 2016 at 1:59 PM ^

But what if he's 100%? Word is he's practicing and looking like Mone usually does. Maybe dont fully bring him back yet. Give him 10-15 snaps. Bring him back gradually. We have a bye in two weeks so slowly bring him back against Wisconsin and Rutgers, and then he'll have a bye week and then he'll be in full swing for the second half of the season. Even that is a conservative way to bring him back. If he's ready, he's ready. Rest won't do anything for him if he's ready to return.

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Mr. Yost

September 29th, 2016 at 4:31 PM ^

Confirmed.

 

As for the OP and the article. I actually did an in-depth analysis of B1G schedules last night because I couldn't sleep.

Our schedule sets up BEAUTIFULLY.

  1. We get Wisconsin after the high of beating MSU on the road.
  2. Our bye comes at the perfect time (for once)
  3. We get a nice warm-up in Illinois post-bye week before MSU...perfect game to knock the rust off
  4. MSU's bye was week 2...so they're going to have a string of games with no week off before they play us. Including a sneaky night game @ Maryland that has "fuck, we're going to have to play harder than we thought" written all over it.
  5. Iowa's got Wisconsin and a night game @PSU the week before us similar to MSU. But they haven't shown much all year.
  6. OSU was off last week, meaning they'll have a ton to weeks with no rest.
  7. OSU is @MSU the week before us in what will likely be a Championship Game for Sparty because they'll be eliminated from a real B1G Championship. Dantonio going for it on 4th down and fake punts...all of his lucky fuckery.

 

We should most certainly be undefeated going into Columbus if we continue to improve, play our best game, remain focused, and don't believe the hype. If you're ever going to play OSU after getting smacked the year before, having them play a bunch of games in a row and @MSU the week before sure can't hurt.

Go beat OSU and I'm thinking it's a 2-loss Nebraska team in the B1G Championship game.

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umfan323

September 29th, 2016 at 1:30 PM ^

I think we have 1 more game against a team that play similar to OSU after that game I'll be able to judge... I think Brown has a few tricks up his sleeve that he will be waiting to unleash against OSU that will be the difference.. I think we matchup well against them JT Barrett running will be the difference, hopefully he has Peppers spy him instead of blitzing and leaving open running lanes like Colorado had

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The Fan in Fargo

September 29th, 2016 at 10:57 PM ^

JT Barrett is going to get absolutely murdered that game. Mike Weber and Michael Thomas aren't going to run over the Michigan defense like Elliot could or did. Dr. Blitz is also going to dial it up something fierce for the ages. No doubt they are saving the good stuff for the sucknuts. Pep and Big Play Mcray are like a combined 37 times faster than Bolden and Morgan. I can back pedal faster than them two at the age of 34. Michigan is going to run all over Blohio this year! Book it.

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evenyoubrutus

September 29th, 2016 at 2:30 PM ^

Holy hell people, do you realize how much football is left to be played? We really don't know that much about OSU. They're obviously very good but it's not like we aren't. This time last week everyone was saying that MSU was a legit top 10 team. For all we know Oklahoma may not be as good as we thought. I mean shit, maybe we should just pack up now.

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I Like Burgers

September 29th, 2016 at 2:37 PM ^

Its almost like I said in my reply there's a lot of football left to be played....

 

Look, all I'm saying is that both Michigan and Ohio State look really good 3-4 games into the season, but Ohio State looks perfectly setup to counter Michigan's strengths and take advantage of their weaknesses.  Lots of time for both teams to get weaker through injury or stronger through development, but as of this moment, on September 29th, that game looks like a hell of a roadblock to the postseason.

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Guy Fawkes

September 29th, 2016 at 3:39 PM ^

If I had to say one it would be the damn spread option that OSU runs. Up the middle nobody is better than Michigan but theres space on the outside and OSU has the guys to exploit it. Also dont think our LB's have the speed to defend it consistantly.

If Mich does stop the run though, its over. OSU isnt beating them through the air.

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JonnyHintz

September 29th, 2016 at 3:55 PM ^

You're basing this on what though? Michigan hasn't played an offense like that. Closest would be UCF. And Michigan played them without Taco, Mone, and Lewis. I'd have to think Taco is better at containing a QB of Barrett's caliber than Winovich (started in place of Taco). I'd also assume Michigan didn't open up the defensive playbook against a 35 point underdog and show exactly how we plan to contain the option. Fact is, when we are winning games by an average of 38 ppg, and doing so without 3 key defenders for the vast majority of the season, you don't know what our weaknesses are at this point. Michigan isn't going to play the same defensive strategy against OSU as we did against Hawaii, UCF, and Colorado. Add in an NFL DE, All American CB, and a good rotational DT to that mix as well and the defense won't perform the same either.

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Guy Fawkes

September 29th, 2016 at 4:03 PM ^

I'm basing this off what I've seen. I know the playbook hasn't been opened up, I know we have a different scheme for OSU, I know we were missing defenders, but I also know these guys didnt contain it last year...

Gedeon and McCray have been great so far, but they MAY struggle chasing speedsters to the sidelines is all I'm saying. I wasnt really implying Michgan had a weakness but if I had to say one that was it.

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The Fan in Fargo

September 29th, 2016 at 11:02 PM ^

I really don't think they are that tough of a team on defense. I think many teams could pound the ball on them. Like their d-line and linebackers are all new and young. Raekwon is like the only vet in that front seven. They really all cant be that tough and good. I think Oklahoma was a shit show that game too. Sucknuts played their best game last year against Michigan. They spent that money this year on the Sooners. Go Blue and it sucks to be you OSU!

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markp

September 29th, 2016 at 1:48 PM ^

Get outta here with that mess.

Michigan is an extremely talented and well-coached football team and Don Brown won't be packing his bags for Maryland during OSU game week.

They bring the fight to the Buckeyes' doorstep this November and they'll settle it on the field.

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