Michigan 2017 S&P+ stats
The final S&P+ rankings have been posted (barring the National Championship game). Here's a couple of tables:
Michigan Overall S&P+ Performance Under Harbaugh
|
Year |
Overall |
Offense (Run / Pass) |
Defense |
|
2015 |
#5 |
#38 (#61R / #17P) |
#3 |
|
2016 |
#3 |
#41 (#49R / #29P) |
#2 |
|
2017 |
#27 |
#86 (#14R / #87P) |
#10 |
Michigan's 2017 Opponent S&P+ Results
|
Team |
Overall |
|
Florida |
#86 |
|
Cincinnati |
#102 |
|
Air Force |
#100 |
|
Purdue |
#41 |
|
MSU |
#19 |
|
Indiana |
#51 |
|
PSU |
#4 |
|
Rutgers |
#110 |
|
Minnesota |
#97 |
|
Maryland |
#114 |
|
Wisconsin |
#6 |
|
OSU |
#2 |
|
South Carolina |
#60 |
I think it's worth keeping in mind Harbaugh's #5 and #3 finishes in his first two years (without his own players) before getting too upset about his overall coaching tenure.
On the other hand, there's no sugarcoating how bad that bowl game was. Losing to the #2, #4, #6, and #19 schools sucks, but in a rebuilding year is maybe understandable. Losing to #60 South Carolina with a month to prepare is just...pick a word.
January 4th, 2018 at 4:39 AM ^
better today than yesterday we all hoped for, that is for sure.
Agreed we have to get better at finishing games and be a 4th quarter team (as well).
DPJ reminds me of Darboh except about 2 years accelerated in the process. I think we're going to notice a difference with T Black back at full speed.
The unintended QB carousel I hope will stop spinning. I think the competition is going to find the best of 3 and we'll profit. I think I want to see B Peters play with a little "dark side" anger once, it might unlock something....
The running game took a step forward this year. Aside from the bowl game 3rd downs seemed to be generally more manageable in distance.
We gotta find another Jake Butt..."the mailman"...get open and never drop it.
January 4th, 2018 at 9:05 AM ^
to the S. Carolina game.
On offense, the only two sustained drives came at the beginning of the 2nd half (TD) and in the 4th quarter from the M20 (endzone INT). Otherwise, the offense stunk consistently throughout the game. Other than the TD drive, the 19-3 lead was built on S. Carolina turnovers/giveaways.
As usual, the defense was utterly dominant except for the 3 consecutive S. Carolina TD drives in which it yielded yards with ease. The typical feast or famine. (But the famines do tend to come in the 2nd half.)
The 19-3 lead masked the meager output of the Michigan offense throughout the game.
January 4th, 2018 at 8:54 AM ^
a feast or famine characteristic. Call it rigid but puncturable versus bend but don't break.
At times, it is absolutely dominant. If memory serves, during the Outback Bowl the announcers quoted a stat of Michigan being #1 in three-and-outs.
But that #1 in a form of temporary absolute dominance is not predictive of a #1 scoring defense. As an example, Michigan surrendered three consecutive touchdowns vs S Car but was otherwise dominant.
I would guess htat the Michigan defense has a much higher autocorrelatiion of some measure of success/failure than other teams. Or maybe it's a 1st half/2nd half thing (conditioning?) as the defense gave up more points in the second half in all losses except the monsoon MSU game. (But the thought also occurred to me that maybe opposing teams get their "sea legs" against previouslly unseen pressure.)
Or another way of looking at it, if the distribution of drive lengths were compared to a Poisson distribution, I would think Michigan's distribution would have "fat tails". (I would account for touchdowns impact on the length of drives by simply combining the next drive onto the touchdown drive: the defense hasnt stopped a team when it gives up a touchdown.)