Team Statistic Rankings: Michigan's The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
The Good: Michigan is ranked 7th in total defense (yards/game) nationally and 10th in rushing defense.
http://www.cfbstats.com/2014/leader/national/team/defense/split01/categ…
Upside: We get Taylor and Wilson back
GMatt is the man
The Bad: Michigan is ranked 61st in total offense with 436 yards per game.
http://www.cfbstats.com/2014/leader/national/team/offense/split01/categ…
Upside: We are in week four of installing a new offense.
The Ugly: Michigan is ranked 124 out of 128 in turnover margin.
http://www.cfbstats.com/2014/leader/national/team/offense/split01/categ…
Upside: Regression to the mean baby. No more mistakes
September 15th, 2014 at 1:02 PM ^
Wow, college football really has opened up offensively when there are 60 teams putting up over 436 ypg.
September 15th, 2014 at 1:56 PM ^
spread offenses + easy OOC schedules against FCS and lower level FBS teams at the beginning of the season inflates stats.
September 15th, 2014 at 6:14 PM ^
only 29 FBS teams are giving up 436+ yds per game.
September 15th, 2014 at 7:00 PM ^
http://www.cfbstats.com/2014/leader/national/team/offense/split21/categ…
This shows how many yards FBS teams are putting up against FCS teams. For example if you take out FCS opponents, Michigan is ranked 50th in Total Offense. They also move up to 5th in Total Defense.
September 15th, 2014 at 1:28 PM ^
The two categories that Michigan was absolutely horrendous in last year were Tackles for Loss Allowed and Sacks Allowed. They were ranked in the triple digits and damn near last in Tackles for Loss Allowed, depending on the site you looked at. These were the only two things I wanted to see improved this season.
I don't think it's super critical and I won’t panic if the offense this season doesn’t put up insane points or rushing and passing yards. I think they had to begin not going backwards. It’s only three games into the season and I’m not sure how that compared to this point in 2013, but the Sacks Allowed ranking is about middle, 59. That’s ok. The Tackles for Loss Allowed ranking is currently 81 and while not outstanding, there seems to be an improvement and can hopefully improve the more the season goes on.
September 15th, 2014 at 2:33 PM ^
Agree on TFLA - believe we were 2nd worst in the country last year. I am not as positive as you that we are still 81st as we played 2 horrible teams so the fact we are that low with 66% of the plays being against very bad teams is still worrying me. On the flip side, I am encouraged by the fact most of the Big 10 is probably not much better than those 2 horrible teams.
Run defense looks stout (this presumes ND can run). TCU held Minnesota to less than 100 yards and if UM can keep them to 110-130 in 2 weeks that will be very pleasing because that is what they do. Outside of Indiana (?!) there is not really a great run offense we play the entire year. I'd like to say Minnesota but hard to say you are a great running team when you get destroyed like that by a middle of the pack Big 12 team. Utah may actually be in the top 3? Rutgers has a very good back but PSU completely stymied him. That is not MSU's strength this year (it was last year)... and OSU had a great run offense last year but has regressed enormously this year with all the graduations. PSU can't run against even Rutgers. Maryland's leading rusher last week was a QB and 2nd leading rusher had 4 yards.
We don't face Wisconsin or Nebraska who are the 2 very good running offenses this year in conf outside of maybe Indiana. Should be a core strength all year - Glasgow power!
September 15th, 2014 at 1:39 PM ^
If the last item is fixed, the second item gets better.
Nothing kills a drive like a turnover.
September 15th, 2014 at 1:47 PM ^
The most encouraging thing about this Defense is they have the potential to get better as the season goes on just like in 2011. If they are about to start creating turnovers that will create more opportunities for the offense and produce more confidence for the team as a whole!
September 15th, 2014 at 2:50 PM ^
The biggest difference is that we've run the ball on everyone we've played so far. Now we need some pass protection. The turnovers need to be corrected and it's not just Gardner.
September 15th, 2014 at 2:57 PM ^
Really? I thought the pass protection has been decent through the first three games. More than anything I've thought it was a product of Devin holding onto the ball for too long. Certainly the line can improve, but they're ahead of where they were last season.
September 15th, 2014 at 5:22 PM ^
I'm not sure you can count the ND game, here.
September 15th, 2014 at 2:53 PM ^
Michigan is #25 in the country in offensive yards per play.
September 15th, 2014 at 6:25 PM ^
Some of this is just tempo. Michigan plays shorter games than the average FBS team; the defense is always going to be worse than the raw per-game stats and the offense better.
September 15th, 2014 at 2:59 PM ^
that ugly is FUGLY. We won't win games in conference play without winning the turnover stat.
Go Blue!
September 15th, 2014 at 6:48 PM ^
as we confront a high powered offense. My guess is they are going to attempt to spread and shred us and I hope Mattison has been cooking on the correct answer for a couple of years.
September 15th, 2014 at 7:00 PM ^
September 15th, 2014 at 7:42 PM ^
September 15th, 2014 at 8:25 PM ^
It should be noted that Michigan is actually middle of the pack, 68th, in TFL's allowed per game. A bunch of teams have only played 2 games. Michigan is actually allowing less TFL's per game than MSU, OSU and Wisconsin.
As a comparison, Michigan has allowed 5.67 TFL's per game so far this year. Last year it was 8.69 TFL's per game.