http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2016/10/13/13258192/michigan-w…
Nice breakdown here from Ian Boyd. I guess having the best D line and the best secondary and the best D coordinater in the country is the way to a historically good 3.7 Defensive S&P+ rating.
October 13th, 2016 at 1:02 PM ^
I'd appreciate it if all these talking heads would stop giving away our secrets.
October 13th, 2016 at 1:05 PM ^
I know, it seems like it would be easy to find out what a team is doing and game for it.
It may not be that simple but it seems like sometimes.
October 13th, 2016 at 1:46 PM ^
I am sure the coaches for the other teams have their own resources outside of random internet dudes. Between coaching clinics, staff visits, all-22 film, game analysts, etc. they have plenty of resources at their disposal. Just enjoy the content and let the paranoia pass.
October 13th, 2016 at 2:31 PM ^
dont you think that if a journalist was that good , he would have a defensive coordinator job somewhere . i can guarantee that a defensive coordinator at a major college makes WAY more money than a blog writer. so any (most?) def coordinator can see what a journalist sees...
October 13th, 2016 at 1:06 PM ^
I've thought the same thing about the UFRs.
October 13th, 2016 at 1:58 PM ^
It's a bit like having another GA on the coaching staff.
October 13th, 2016 at 2:36 PM ^
If I were an opposing coach, I wouldn't waste my time looking through the blogger analysis. I'd have a GA do that and then compare to their own film studies.
October 13th, 2016 at 4:52 PM ^
I would be rich! Those dudes make some serious cash.
October 15th, 2016 at 12:25 AM ^
I know it can seem like some big secret is being revealed becasue it looks hard to us, but we're talking about guys who live and breathe football for decades. Coaches are definitely not scouring the internet for strategy. Durkin obviously wasn't checking things out on mgoblog the week before The Game.
October 13th, 2016 at 2:16 PM ^
All it really says is Lewis is awesome and here look at how much they move Peppers around and use him to take away open space.
October 13th, 2016 at 9:27 PM ^
I think there are some sarcasm meters in serious need of calibration.
October 13th, 2016 at 1:15 PM ^
"Since that was a fourth-down attempt by Wisconsin, Lewis should have just batted that ball away, but the loss of field position might have been worth it, just to put the fear of God into the rest of the Big Ten."
October 13th, 2016 at 1:15 PM ^
That we have endured all of the season ending injuries we will see this year. The secondary may be one of the best, but injuries could change that quickly. Fingers crossed!
October 13th, 2016 at 1:20 PM ^
everyone knows that is a possibility, why even bring it up?
October 13th, 2016 at 1:31 PM ^
I'm not sure why but a lot of people are compelled to always throw this in. A lot of the podcast and radio guys drop that in too whenever talking about performance or player evals.
It's a pet peeve of mine. Just don't mention it.
October 13th, 2016 at 1:54 PM ^
This may be the worst post I've ever seen on Mgoblog, cheers to you.
October 13th, 2016 at 2:04 PM ^
of SHUT THE HELL UP!!!
October 13th, 2016 at 3:05 PM ^
Don't you take that tone with my grandmother
October 13th, 2016 at 3:03 PM ^
You must be a real joy to be around at parties...
October 13th, 2016 at 1:26 PM ^
If Jeremy Clark were healthy there would be no "might" about whether this is the best secondary in college football. Hell even with his injury there may be no question.
Credit where it's due Hoke found a couple serious diamonds in the rough with Clark and Stribling.
October 13th, 2016 at 1:33 PM ^
That will always be the biggest mystery to me. Hoke clearly knows talent. He has to know football after all these years, especially the defensive side. Then he puts an LB coach with no experience in as his D.C.??
I almost think he should go to Purdue. I don't know how his teams would do, but if he could recruit there a couple years it might help set the stage.
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October 13th, 2016 at 1:38 PM ^
As a head coach for any Power 5 conference has ended, IMO. Since his brief rise at SDSU, he brought Michigan further down and has taken Oregon's defense to new lows. They are NUMBER ONE in total yards allowed, #4 in PPG allowed.
For as bad as Purdue is, Hoke won't get hired there. He couldn't get Western's job after Fleck leaves. He's best suited as a position coach.
October 13th, 2016 at 5:41 PM ^
He has only 5 returning starters off a pretty weak defense. We put a pretty good d on the field the year he went 10-2 with the same players Rich Rod was giving up 40 a game with. He deserves some time to get some talent in.
October 13th, 2016 at 1:47 PM ^
set his stage for a.300 winning percentage at Illinois. Hoke is damaged goods. It sure is funny listening to Sirius/Xm and his old buddies talking about he just needs more time. Solid D coordinators dont crash and burn then get really good after that. It just doesnt happen.
October 13th, 2016 at 1:53 PM ^
Just my honest opinion, but Hoke's time as a Power 5 coach is done. At least as a HC or a coordinator. He could land a solid P5 gig if he was a DL coach. He is proven there, and he can obviously still recruit.
But I just don't think he's able to handle the expectations of being a HC or a coordinator at a big time program. You could tell that when things started to really go south here, Hoke just kind of froze up and went into his shell.
I think he'd be good to great back at a MAC program where there are minimal expectations, but I think he's coached himself right out of anything beyond being a position coach at the P5 level.
October 13th, 2016 at 1:58 PM ^
I think Purdue should back up their piggybank to the Mad Hatter's house. I dont know if he'd take that job, but he should be #1 on their list -- with no one else on it, until he turns them down.
Assuming their current coach gets fired. He DID just win this weekend.
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October 13th, 2016 at 2:07 PM ^
At the age of 62 after spending a decade for a major SEC team, he's not going to Purdue to spend another decade trying to rebuild a horrible program.
October 13th, 2016 at 3:29 PM ^
he meant our Mad Hatter on the blog...
October 13th, 2016 at 3:05 PM ^
He put a LB coach in as his CBs coach. Greg Mattison was his DC. An NFL DC with tons of P5 college experience.
October 13th, 2016 at 3:28 PM ^
You are right. I meant LB Coach. THe point I was trying to make was that the guy is a paradox to me. Thank you for the correction.
October 13th, 2016 at 6:09 PM ^
others around here, including Brian), I just don't get that criticism. Coaches move to different positions frequently. They don't have to coach the position they played either.
Look at our current staff. Our TE coach never coached before and didn't play. Our LB/ST coach was a DL and DB coach at low level colleges and a HS HC. Our QB/WR/co-OC was a tennis player before he started coaching.
If you go back and look at Bo's staff, he moved Gary Moeller from DC to OC. Hanlon coached OL, then QB, etc. Good coaches can learn to coach different positions. When Hoke moved Manning to CBs he kept the previous DB coach who worked with him. The bigger problem may have been that Mallory wasn't that great of a DB coach.
October 13th, 2016 at 9:51 PM ^
Hoke hired a LB coach, with no prior experience as a DC, to be the DC? Who was it and when?
Couldn't be Greg Mattison as he was the DC at both Notre Dame and Florida after his first gig at Michigan as the DC not to mention WMUs DC during the 1980s.
Couldn't be Rocky Long because he never coached LBs, and he had DC experience at Oregon State and UCLA before being hired by Hoke to be the DC for San Diego State.
Couldn't be Mark Smith because he was the DC for Indiana State immediately before Hoke hired him to be the DC for Ball State.
October 13th, 2016 at 1:57 PM ^
Jabrill Peppers:
He's the Visa card of the Michigan defense, everywhere you want to be.
October 13th, 2016 at 2:13 PM ^
Of the article? Best line of the Internets.
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October 13th, 2016 at 4:11 PM ^
Luckily too, I might add, because the Michigan defense doesn't accept American Express.
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October 13th, 2016 at 2:24 PM ^
While the secondary is very good in its own right, having a great DL makes them better, and makes their job that much easier. If we had an elite secondary but a piss poor DL, an opposing QB could sit back all day and wait for his guys to get open. He'd pick that secondary apart.
All starts up front. An elite DL that can get after the QB can make an average secondary look very good.
Again, guys like Jourdan Lewis and Channing Stribling are very good in their own right. But having a nasty DL that gives opposing QBs little to no time to pass certainly helps.
October 13th, 2016 at 2:45 PM ^
It’s hard to send your running back around the line with Peppers roving the edge alongside Chris Wormley or Rashan Gary. It wasn’t long before Wisconsin was throwing on first down to avoid the pressure and obvious passing downs, after Michigan would inevitably stuff the Badgers’ first-down runs.
It was nice to see Wisconsin get put in a position where they were having to try un-Wisconsin things just to get some positive yards, but that's evidence of one thing that I enjoy in particular about this defense, their ability to very quickly take offenses to plays they don't want to go.
October 13th, 2016 at 5:48 PM ^
This is all fine, but the offenses that we have played so far suck, except for Colorado and their QB was injured during the game.
October 13th, 2016 at 8:35 PM ^
And the backup has torched Oregon and OSU, but had 0 completions and negative rushing yards. PSU averages 34 puts a game and is #17 in O eff. It's a good defense whether you choose to believe it or not
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October 13th, 2016 at 9:00 PM ^
I know that this is the narrative that all the cool kids have adopted, but it isn't true. Wisconsin's offense doesn't suck, nor does penn State's, nor even, really, CFU's. They just looked like they sucked against Michigan because M's defense is really very good, whether you want to believe it or not.
October 13th, 2016 at 7:35 PM ^
Please stay healthy. This defense is so lights out, I just want to see them all finish the season healthy
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