Pro Football Focus: Michigan Defense

Submitted by akim on

JIM HARBAUGH HAS BUILT A TERRIFYING MICHIGAN DEFENSE

Perhaps the most remarkable thing about this defensive run isn’t the results, but the grading at the heart of it. Of 26 players that Michigan has used on defense this year just two of them have a below-average grade, and none is worse than a -1.8, which is still closer to average than disastrous.

16 of those 26 have strong positive grades and of the players that are left, five of them have played fewer than 20 snaps. In fact, the Wolverines have just one player on defense that has played 100 or more snaps and doesn’t have a significantly positive grade.

It’s no secret that the Wolverines are looking like contenders again, but this defense is looking terrifying. Sterner tests will come for them this year, but right now they are playing lights-out across the board. There may not be a finer combination of talent, execution and coaching in the country right now.

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PopeLando

October 13th, 2015 at 6:14 PM ^

What makes me giggle with evil glee is #69 (Hurst?) coming up from the back. Orthogonal reference: remember the 08 Capital 1 bowl where Manningham took a jet sweep to one side, stopped, and ran all the way back to the other side for a nice gain? I see that kind of possibility on a lot of plays that go for little yardage. Not specificall this type of play, but quite a few where the back of the play is open. Seeing the backside sealed off by a pursuing terror of a man out for blood...it's nice.

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LSAClassOf2000

October 13th, 2015 at 3:07 PM ^

Even late in the game when they were rushing just four guys and being as conservative as this defense gets, they were able to generate easy pressure and confuse the Northwestern protections by lining up the fourth rusher behind the nose tackle and not showing until after the snap which side he would be coming. This worked time and time again, and it was just one of the multiple combination rushes that Michigan used during the game.

They did this quite a few times in the fourth quarter, even when they probably didn't really need to do it, and it worked beautifully basically every time. These combo rushes are fun to watch, but the innovation and determination of that defense has just been exciting in general. The GIF where you see Northwestern trying odd pre-snap shifts and Michigan having none of it is another example of that. 

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amaizenblue402

October 13th, 2015 at 3:07 PM ^

I just love the pursuit to the ball this defense has.  Even on the very last play of the game, the way they attack the QB at the 19:04 mark in the video below just makes me smile.  This is the type of Michigan defense I have been waiting to see.

 

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AlwaysBlue

October 13th, 2015 at 3:12 PM ^

football. We haven't seen it for a long, long time, even before Carr retired. I know the coaching is spectacular but I do reserve some thanks for Hoke and Mattison who started this journey at less than zero after their first season.

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MileHighWolverine

October 13th, 2015 at 6:21 PM ^

My point is the defense had a lot of talent that just was not being utilized properly. You can argue a year makes a difference as these guys are all older and stronger but you don't go from what we were last year to this year without serious talent on the roster. 

And the same could be said for the year he took over as HC. They went 11-2 immediately after and the D jumped from bottom of barrel to highly rated. That doesn't happen without talent.

The entire time he was here, Hoke had the talent, he just didn't know what to do with it.....so less than zero is BS.

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UM Fan from Sydney

October 13th, 2015 at 3:36 PM ^

Oh, but according to haters, Michigan hasn't played anyone good.

I don't care what league you're in. Shutting out three straight opponents and averaging six points surrendered per game is damn impressive.

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Here2CWoodson

October 13th, 2015 at 7:30 PM ^

That is some unbelievable denial going on there. My favorite is the ones saying that the UM defense is good because it has faced the third least amount of plays per game in the country, a product of Harbaugh running the ball to keep them off the field. Maybe I am missing something, but could that maybe have to do with the insane number of 3 and outs that the defense has forced for itself?? They really are entertaining.



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DairyQueen

October 13th, 2015 at 11:13 PM ^

 

Michigan is #2 in the country in forcing three-and-outs.

So yes, they are delusional.

But this is also the problem with statistics. They are only useful to people who understand how to truly "use" and "understand" them (or at least are trying to understand/remain balanced). If you use statistics to make a single, large-scale, all-encompassing argument, you are, quite literally, decontextualizing, and focusing on one single, linear way of understanding something. Only when taking all, or at least the most ideally "supplemental" statistics into account, can you truly utilize statistics for your benefit. But it's very very difficult, it's like juggling 17-tennis balls at once, you need to practice and be balanced, nuanced, and unbias with it (very difficult for anyone, let alone on internet, let alone on online message boards!), because the statistics are describing a story, but you can't feed into one single aspect/storyline too heavily. And, you still need a deep-level understanding of the topic being quantified, to best contextualize those statistics.

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Indonacious

October 13th, 2015 at 7:02 PM ^

Of all things that make you nervous...it's the unit of our defense with all American in Lewis and one of the most dynamic athletes in the conference in peppers?? I'm curious what the overall sample size of passes that have been completed for legitimate gains because our corners "didn't find the ball" even is. I agree msu has the best receivers we have faced but we have the best defense they have faced too... Game on.



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