Another year, same result... Michigan (Don Brown) #1 in Total D at 233 ypg
What’s craziest about this stat is:
1) I think the general consensus is that the defense has been underwhelming.
2) Gary is either injured or he is just simply not the player we thought he would be. (8 sacks in his career)
3) Penalties have kept them on the field for many extra plays
Some future opponents:
Wisconsin tied at #17
Sparty #28
Penn State #50
OSU #55
September 30th, 2018 at 12:13 PM ^
Gary has been tremendous, I don't get the criticism.
all four games will be tough...how do our offenses compare to those teams?
September 30th, 2018 at 12:23 PM ^
He has been and I also think he's banged up. He's got shoulder issues that date back to several games last year where he missed a series and got right back out there. He might not produce the numbers but because of the attention he gets from the opposing O-Line, his teammates reap the rewards.
September 30th, 2018 at 4:11 PM ^
He is definitely injured. He can be a great player. Is he really getting doubled a lot? I would assume winnovich is? How many can be doubled??? I’ve criticized Gary lately but it’s clear he’s injured. It looks like he needs a week off, or possibly it’s sometbing that needs more than a week, idk. Winnovich has been unreal.
September 30th, 2018 at 4:26 PM ^
Did you watch the game last night? Did you ever see Winovich doubled? I didn’t. I saw him fake in and step out against his guy one on one and then straight to the ball on 3 of his TFLs
September 30th, 2018 at 12:25 PM ^
The criticism is he hasn't lived up to his potential. He isn't making splash plays. He often demands double teams, and he is good at stopping the run, but is he really doing anything that Wormley didn't? Now I loved Wormley, but he wasn't touted as a top ten draft pick.
September 30th, 2018 at 12:27 PM ^
Careful, this board will call you a troll for being somewhat grounded on the view of the team. Or the mods will just ban you.
September 30th, 2018 at 12:29 PM ^
Exactly they will ban you for one “mean” comment about a coach even yet let all the other trolls and idiots post at will.
September 30th, 2018 at 12:44 PM ^
You know what's the worst? The constant bellyaching by guys with 20 usernames over "unfair" treatment.
September 30th, 2018 at 12:32 PM ^
Not always I like when people speak their mind...lot of groupthink here yes but people who are always negative it gets tiresome
September 30th, 2018 at 12:37 PM ^
You sure about that? Mods banning people in snowflake threads for well... posting snowflake posts?
Yeah that defeats the purpose.
September 30th, 2018 at 8:32 PM ^
I thought the negative consensus was the groupthink
September 30th, 2018 at 11:35 PM ^
Concern troll here....lol
So I’m told...
September 30th, 2018 at 12:28 PM ^
NFL isn't fooled with "splash" plays. Last year, NFL analysts were dropping Hurst into the 2nd round (before his heart condition popped up) because they felt he benefitted from the double and triple teams that Gary was eating last year.
He is still eating those on the regular this year, even with a dinged up shoulder.
If opposing coaches and NFL analysts are telling us something, we should be listening...
September 30th, 2018 at 1:36 PM ^
Then why do they put such a premium on pass rushers? Those are the guys who make the splash plays.
And what Mel Kiper says doesnt really effect what he is doing now. He will likely be a 1st rounder based on his combine, but so far the production doesn't say early 1st rounder. And all I care about is what he does for us.
September 30th, 2018 at 12:30 PM ^
Gary is a freak he will be a first rounder
September 30th, 2018 at 12:33 PM ^
You also said Michigan will win by 40 yesterday.
September 30th, 2018 at 12:37 PM ^
Who expected us to be in a dogfight with a team that lost to Akron?
September 30th, 2018 at 12:46 PM ^
Apparently quite a few people considering how everyone is reformatting their view of the game (from easy W warmup game on the road to tough, fought road victory against world warriors) after the W.
*shrugs*
September 30th, 2018 at 1:04 PM ^
NW was on an emotional high last week due to Larkin retiring and wanting to do it for him
September 30th, 2018 at 1:16 PM ^
Exactly what I thought too, same as when we went into Minnesota in 2015, a few days after Jerry Kill retired due to his health.
September 30th, 2018 at 1:31 PM ^
Plus they had a bye week and a great game plan. The officiating was garbage, worse than usual and our team was way overconfident after the Nebraska game. All that added up to what we saw, my biggest take away from that game was that was the first time I have seen the defense hold when the game was on the line. NW's offense is poop like Brian said but in the past our great D has folded like a cheap lawn chair in tight games.
September 30th, 2018 at 1:47 PM ^
All of you must be in sales to spin this one to make it sound like we beat Alabama, haha.
September 30th, 2018 at 3:10 PM ^
I'm pretty sure I said NW's offense is poop, how does that make them sound like Alabama? I pointed out in the past our defense would have given up more points after we took the lead, this time we did not. Get a grip man
September 30th, 2018 at 2:50 PM ^
Well if you really know anything about NW you’d know they’re a very well coached team (albeit without the high caliber athletes it takes to win big).
Coming off of a bye week with an extra week to prepare, I really felt Northwestern would come out prepared with a gameplan to attack our defense out of the gates. They did.
If you look at the score, yes. We struggled. But if you watched the game it wasn’t all that much of a struggle. Northwestern came out of the gates hot and did nothing the final three quarters. Aside from some penalties being a setback for Michigan, it’s pretty clear we were the better team here and it wasn’t all that close. Even though the scoreboard didn’t reflect that
September 30th, 2018 at 4:54 PM ^
NW losing to Akron makes zero sense based on how they played us yesterday. They played well enough, with a good amount of help from the refs, to beat Michigan. We just came out on a mission on D in the second half, Shea made some plays and we eked out a win. If NW played and executed against Akron like they did against Michigan I highly doubt they would've lost to Akron. It's the frickin' bullseye theory. We always get the other team's best. See every single MSU game for many examples.
September 30th, 2018 at 8:54 PM ^
Gary would have been a first rounder based on his athleticism regardless of where he went. Problem is that his stock has been trending down all season
September 30th, 2018 at 2:09 PM ^
It's my belief that Gary hasn't lived to some fans expectations based on his recruiting rating.
September 30th, 2018 at 2:44 PM ^
Gary is a very good player. That said, I think some people thought he might end up being a Clowney - which he is not. Not many are. Damn glad to have him though.
September 30th, 2018 at 6:34 PM ^
I love Wormley, but he wasn't even close to being able to cover the flat like Gary could. Also Gary's speed rush (which, in my opinion is Don Brown's default), pretty much opens up a hole in either side for a blitzer.
Of course the downside is overpursuit, but Don Brown is clearly a risk-reward guy with being over-aggressive.
September 30th, 2018 at 12:28 PM ^
Gary is amazing...my only criticism of Don Brown it feels like we're always in learning mode every first quarter til he gets the Death Star powered up.
September 30th, 2018 at 12:52 PM ^
I feel offendes have to scheme differently than what they have previously shown on film...that’s how much they respect his defense. Brown is an elite coach. This game demonstrated that to me
October 1st, 2018 at 4:35 AM ^
ND had all offseason to plan (and get lucky with that long TD). NW came off a bye.
September 30th, 2018 at 1:22 PM ^
September 30th, 2018 at 1:35 PM ^
He has the athleticism of Von Miller or Khalil Mack, but even against college OLs he isn't putting up similar performances to those guys. It's hard not to feel like we have been getting too little out of him.
September 30th, 2018 at 2:02 PM ^
Criticism is mostly from people who have no clue about football. Like the same ones who constantly criticize the "old school" offense as the reason for our struggles, but that is a post for another day.
For the top player in his class (and projected 1st-round NFL talent) you'd expect a ton of fancy stats, and he hasn't racked them up. Those in the know understand his impact. Gary makes it possible for those around him to make the plays they make, Hudson, Bush, Winovich aren't the terrors they have been without Gary on that line.
And who gives a shit what the critics think anyway. No matter what Harbaugh and Michigan do they will always harp on something that isn't good enough. Harbaugh is the ultimate click-bait name, Michigan could win 5 national titles in his tenure and the knock will be he didn't win more or something equally ridiculous.
September 30th, 2018 at 4:16 PM ^
He’s banged up clearly. But he has 8 career sacks...his pass rush is just try and run around the tackle, ive never seen him use another move. He plays with energy, however, when healthy, Id like to see more. Unfortunately that looks like it will have to wait another season as he looks banged up right now.
September 30th, 2018 at 7:16 PM ^
This is similar to what people on this board said about Da'Shawn Hand.
October 1st, 2018 at 12:08 AM ^
> Gary has been tremendous, I don't get the criticism.
It boils down to the lack of production. Yeah, sure Gary might get double teamed pretty often, but so do other projected top-10 pass rushers. Jadeveon Clowney, Ed Oliver, Joey Bosa... All those guys face double and triple teams regularly, but they still find a way to rack up numbers while freeing up teammates at the same time.
October 1st, 2018 at 1:19 AM ^
I agree Gary’s been great but I think he’d have a bigger impact on the team at the 3tech though. If we had someone that could get inside penetration like Hurst we’d be significantly better off. Not to mention we’d have more talent on the field. I’d rather have Paye on the field than Marshall, and that’s not a knock on Marshall. I just think Paye has been a standout.
September 30th, 2018 at 12:18 PM ^
Gotta stop these slow starts or at worst hold people to early FG's instead of TD's.
September 30th, 2018 at 12:20 PM ^
And yet the haters are already calling for Don Brown's replacement...
September 30th, 2018 at 12:23 PM ^
People do that after every first down and TD.
September 30th, 2018 at 12:49 PM ^
Exactly. Some people think every opponent's drive should be 3 and out with a sack or two thrown in for good measure. Defense is about adjusting to what they throw at you. Brown is as good as they come in that respect. Northwestern had two weeks to scheme against us. EVERY defense has weak points. They found ours and exploited it. When we shored up against their slants, they had no other options.
September 30th, 2018 at 1:22 PM ^
Yep. When an opposing offense schemes for two weeks and the best they can come up with is "a bunch of slants, and I hope we've scored enough when they adjust"...you have a damn good defense.
September 30th, 2018 at 2:07 PM ^
I don’t think it’s unrealistic to expect every opponent drive to be 3 and out, every UM kick return to be a TD, and every UM drive to be a TD.
September 30th, 2018 at 4:04 PM ^
I'm not a hater but everyone said this defense was elite last year and now here's their second year in and they were supposed to be dominant this year. They were dominant against Nebraska but we'll see what these cats are made of against Wiscy and Sharty. Sharty will hold all of their best schemes and plays for that game. That's a given every year and the sick obsession they have with Michigan. Fucking idiots.
Yet, I don't put too much stock into what happened in this game. It doesn't matter. What matters is how they play in those next three big games coming up. Michigan State didn't look impressive yesterday against whoever it was right? They are holding stuff back. Do you guys understand that concept??
September 30th, 2018 at 12:20 PM ^
While certainly admirable, statistics feel very hollow to me at this particular juncture in the history of Michigan Football. We all know what counts more than ever.
September 30th, 2018 at 12:22 PM ^
And what helps us get there? A strong defense rated #1 in the country.
September 30th, 2018 at 12:31 PM ^
I love Michigan Football to the deep recesses of my soul. All I am saying is when you have lost something like 9 meaningful games in a row, you shouldn't be pointing at shiny numbers. It's unbecoming and frankly a bit disrespectful to the tradition we cherish.
September 30th, 2018 at 12:34 PM ^
Get off the high horse. Can we acknowledge that the defense has been pretty good without some downer telling us what we already know?
Let's maybe look toward the future. I like our chances against most teams when we have the number 1 overall defense.