WTF is wrong with our defense?
Over the past 4 years, we've gone through three coordinators, two coaching staffs and a multitude of different players, and we have sucked EVERY YEAR.
It's like someone flipped the "terrible" switch the minute Lloyd left.
I'll tell you right now that these kids are going to get their asses kicked by Hillman and SDSU next week if they don't correct some things fast.
September 17th, 2011 at 3:01 PM ^
and 3 pts. Youngstown State did better than that with dozens of new players vs MSU's vaunted defense.
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<br>That said, UM still struggles vs Manball. EMU pushed UM around at times.
September 17th, 2011 at 3:02 PM ^
The defense has been stingy in the red zone, come up with timely turnovers, and make good adjustments as the game evolves. None of this was evident the previous 2 seasons, but by all means, let's PANIC!!!!!
This is not a Top 30 defensive unit. We will look bad in numerous situations this season. Relax.
September 17th, 2011 at 3:04 PM ^
We held EMU to 3 pts and had a bunch of takeaways. We didn't look amazing doing it but that's what's on the stat line.
September 17th, 2011 at 3:05 PM ^
The defense is at times painful to watch but they keep improving. Our defense didn't make goal line stances last year and they do now. It is roughly the same personnel that was the worst defense in the NCAA so I will take these difficult performances. Mattison continues to adjust and calm.
But I can't believe they didn't use sleds. Rich Rod wasn't eating a sandwich on the sidelines. Turn the page. It's a new team.
September 17th, 2011 at 4:00 PM ^
the countdown to kickoff practice video of the past few years showed sleds and cages
September 17th, 2011 at 3:07 PM ^
September 17th, 2011 at 4:10 PM ^
That's what she said.
September 17th, 2011 at 3:15 PM ^
September 17th, 2011 at 3:16 PM ^
Yeah. The minute Lloyd left our defense sucked because his shitty recruiting classes from 2005-2007 didn't do anything to fill the void left from the earlier classes that led to the great 2006 defense. Yeah, our shitty D coaching didn't help things over the last three years, but it's just amazing to me how people can scratch their heads and go "Wha Happen?"
September 17th, 2011 at 4:43 PM ^
Few people realize that we're still working with a class and a half of Lloyd's recruits. Blaming him for a mediocre finish in that area is still somewhat fair. (Overall, obviously, he was a very good recruiter. Look at '03 and '04, among other years.)
Similarly, in a couple of years, if not now, people will justifiably point to the smoking hole that is the '09 recruiting class in defense. Some of RichRod's decisions will haunt the program for a few more years.
September 17th, 2011 at 3:18 PM ^
this seems like a completely reasonable thread to me. i mean in my mind one of the worst defenses in the entire nation last year should definitely be turned around into a complete powerhouse by game 3 next year. /s
wake up the defense is a work in progress, it is still not good. it has improved in terms of in game adjustments, turnovers and tackling in my eyes. the defense will struggle though game in and game out and will probably eventually cost us a game or two sometime this season. if your expectations were for something different than that, then you just weren't in tune with the reality of the situation.
September 17th, 2011 at 3:18 PM ^
we had one of the worst defenses in the nation last year, how much do you think could happen in a handful of months??
Stick to the positives, Mattison is a Genius, Martin and Kovas are studs, it isn't pretty, but hey they have made some big plays this year already, causing turnovers in games 1 & 2 and kept emu out of the endzone, held them to one field goal.
Calm down, maybe you have been living under a rock but have you seen the 2012 recruiting class?? ... Its good.
September 17th, 2011 at 3:32 PM ^
held to under 90 yards in the last 3 quarters and held to 3 points in the whole game and you're still complaining. Your pointless banter reminds me of my sister; who is a little bitch.
September 17th, 2011 at 5:15 PM ^
I think if it were a shutout, this guy would be crying and whining that it wasn't a pretty enough shutout. Kind of like the LSU fans that are always bitching that their ten win seasons are too ugly.
BTW Joey, I think I married your sister. Why don't you ever visit ? ? ?
September 17th, 2011 at 3:33 PM ^
Last time we held an opponent to 3 points or less was the shut out of Notre Dame back in 2007.
September 17th, 2011 at 3:43 PM ^
Have there been a lot more sacks and TFLs this season? I hardly remember any last season, except for that sack of the Illinois QB in the triple OT victory. I think I've seen better fundamentals, too. Maybe better coaching, or maybe the defense has grown up a little, or both. I don't have the stats; that's just my gut feeling.
September 17th, 2011 at 3:44 PM ^
Giving up 3 points for the game=suckage? This bizarro land? The D made adjustments, they make stops when they have to, and make way more plays than the past three years.
September 17th, 2011 at 3:45 PM ^
Watched the replay of the defense for most of the first quarter. Two things of note:
1) Eastern's line is pretty good. On one 22 yard run, they bent Campbell backwards. Their line blocks well.
2) Our tackling is much improved. There are no metaphors which truly describe how bad last year's tackling was. But think about it. How often is our defense out of position or unable to make one-on-one tackles? This year that is not the issue. Our secondary might get beat. Our line might get blocked. But we don't miss tackles. That's a vast improvement.
All in all, the improvement continues. Now off to watch MSU-ND
September 17th, 2011 at 4:01 PM ^
Agreed. Rome wasn't built in a day. But the improvement in the defense now from the GERG era is night/day. And BWC made some pretty good plays today. Secondary will be tested next week against SDSU though, since Eastern hardly ever passed.
September 17th, 2011 at 3:46 PM ^
The defense will be fine. You can only expect so much improvement in one spring and fall camp from one of the worst Ds in the country last year. The same kids are showing that they seem to understand what they are being taught alot better than previous years. For the most part they are getting better as the game goes on which is a positive.
September 17th, 2011 at 4:28 PM ^
September 17th, 2011 at 4:35 PM ^
Like everyone else has said, are defense adjusted well and showed improvement, granted it was a Mac team but it's better then what we showed last year against umass. The one thing I will say is we were damn lucky not to be down inthat game 14 to 21-0. Gotta have better starts or the better teams will jump on us
September 17th, 2011 at 4:38 PM ^
It needs a lot of work. As a number of folks have said here, the fundamentals (tackling, number of blown assignments) are much better. We don't have speed on the edges in the front seven. That's not the current staff's coaching.
September 17th, 2011 at 4:38 PM ^
OP writes: "It's like someone flipped the "terrible" switch the minute Lloyd left."
Um ... yeah.
http://espn.go.com/ncf/recap?gameId=272440130
http://espn.go.com/ncf/recap?gameId=272510130
Yep, things were just fine for all the games when Lloyd was coach. Yep.
/s
September 17th, 2011 at 4:40 PM ^
Keep in mind the defense has had to be taught fundamentals. GRob and Rich Rod did a horrible job with the defense. I think they have improved tremendously from last year and are getting better each game. The in game adjustments have been excellent along with the lack of penalties. The most notable observation I have is that after 3 years of hoping for a big play from the defense, I wonder where is the next one coming from.
September 17th, 2011 at 5:04 PM ^
We all know our Defense will be a work in progress. I see much improvement compared to last year. I hope Denard can become a threat throwing the ball, so our running game can have success come Big 10 time.
September 17th, 2011 at 5:35 PM ^
I have seen more defensive pressure in the underware football league on mtv, and they have to play three yards off the line.
Carr's fault? At first, yes. Rich Rod did nothing to help things, and it appears Hoke isn't doing much, either.
September 17th, 2011 at 5:42 PM ^
Ok, I feel like this needs to be said. Yes, our defense is better than last year's defense. When you return 10 starters and all the freshmen and sophomores get a year older and most of your 2 deep are back, your defense should and will get better. The coaches are doing a great job, but this defense was going to get better regardless.
September 17th, 2011 at 5:48 PM ^
It seems obvious to me that the coaches knew that the best way to find out where exactly they are with these kids is to test them in combat, if you will. To that end, yes, it will look a bit flat early because they are trying to find the right personnel for the schemes they want to run. It certainly looked a bit flat in the first quarter today, but the more tweaks they made, the better it became and the more Michigan-like we looked. They're learning, but the point is that it looks vastly improved in comparison to the GERG era, but it still has much room for improvement. Thus far, with very little game data to use, mind you, I like this trend.
September 17th, 2011 at 5:50 PM ^
It's going to take a few more years before Greg can develop a great Michigan defense. I'm not happy about smaller O-lines pushing around our D-line, but hopefully that can improve through the season and the front 4 can start getting some type of pressure on opposing QB's.
My concern is how slow the offense takes to get on track. It's going to be very important for the offense to start clicking and scoring more points. I have hopes the D will improve through the season but to win half our B1G games we are going to need an explosive offense!
September 17th, 2011 at 5:51 PM ^
September 17th, 2011 at 5:55 PM ^
I've said this countless times, but what makes our defense different?
If ND scores 21 points in the first half against Michigan State, it's because their offense is high powered and Michigan state has a REALLY good defense with tons of playmakers.
If we hold ND to 17 points in the first half despite them having the ball for 3x as long as us, we have a terrible defense.
Where does this discrepancy come from?
If Mississippi state allows Auburn to rack up 500 yards of offense on them, nobody cares! In fact, they continue to say Miss. State has a great defense.
If Michigan allows ND to rack up 500 yards of offense, it automatically leads to everyone in the stadium screaming "F---!" and going all emo and bitching and moaning.
No.
Stop.
This is a new year. A new scheme. We're here to win. And if you want to keep complaining, then you're better off not being a fan.
I think the main thing we have to work on is being multiple enough to stop the scripted plays that other teams will run. The commentators were saying that the first 15 plays that EMU ran were uncharacteristic of their offense so we need to work on better defending scripted plays.
September 17th, 2011 at 5:58 PM ^
September 17th, 2011 at 6:19 PM ^
September 17th, 2011 at 7:25 PM ^
Also, don't forget Roh has been hampered by an illness that has apparently left him drained. Looks like he's on the way back seeing his performance today. If we beat San Diego State I wouldn't be surprised if we go into EL 6-0.
September 17th, 2011 at 7:42 PM ^
They came out and loaded the offensive line with 6 and 7 OL"s. They broke some of their tendencies early and confused the defense. Once we figured out what was going on we pretty much shut them down. Kudo's to the EMU staff and ours.