Rushing defenses improving in general (!?)
Are more teams getting better at stopping the run?
If you look at the games, only Wisconsin racked up the type of rushing yards we've grown accustomed to seeing in the years past. Lesser non-conference teams going up against a Big Ten team would usually give up 200+ yards and literally get run over. Here are this week's data.
Game Rushing Yds (Big Ten if winner) Yds per carry
- Wisc - U Buffalo 314 7.9
- Illinois - Toledo 163 4.7
- OSU - Indiana 143 4.6
- Maryland - Towson 160 4.6
- PSU - West Virginia 146 4.2
- MSU - CMU 127 4.1
- UM - ECU 122 3.9
- Purdue - Fresno St 109 3.6 Lost
- Rutgers - NU 122 2.8
- Iowa - UT State 88 2.4
- Minn - Neb 55 2.2
The 8 non-Big Ten opponents ran the gamut from Big 12 (West Virginia), Mountain West (Fresno State, Utah State), MAC (U Buffalo, Toledo, CMU), American Athletic Conference (ECU) and Colonial Athletic Association (Townson).
We would expect the Big Ten teams to be experienced dealing with powerful running attacks, but it seems that many teams across many conferences can put up credible defenses against the run - at least statistically.
The one outlier was the Wisconsin U Buffalo game where if one didn't know better one would assume it was a traditional Badger attack - and not a new approach
Are more teams capable to clogging running attacks now because of better coaching and players? It isn't a new idea, of stacking the box, but in the past the lesser teams would try but still end up getting ground down.
Excluding the COVID 2020 year we have these data from the UM openers of the past few years.
2022 Colorado State 234 yds 5.9 average
2021 WMU 335 yds 7.8
2019 Mid Tenn State 233 yds 5.3
Are CFB teams in general improving when asked to stop the run or are teams perhaps quicker in the Big Ten to switch and throw more? It seemed that way watching the game at the Big House, that rather than spend a whole quarter smashing repeatedly between the tackles, the offense quickly switched to throwing more often on first down.
September 3rd, 2023 at 8:56 PM ^
It's early in the season... Defenses are fresh.
September 4th, 2023 at 9:06 AM ^
And there are fewer run plays with the clock rules.
...but the sample size of one week is *WILD*.
September 4th, 2023 at 9:49 AM ^
And defenses weren’t fresh in week 1 in years past?
September 4th, 2023 at 1:48 PM ^
And teams have had weeks and weeks to prepare for /scheme for their first-game foes.
September 3rd, 2023 at 9:08 PM ^
I think you're reading way too much into one week of football.
September 3rd, 2023 at 10:21 PM ^
Counting stats are going to be down because there are 11% fewer plays. Will hit running teams more.
September 3rd, 2023 at 11:16 PM ^
Can mostly adjust for that using yards per run; but still way too early for any type of YoY comps
September 3rd, 2023 at 11:45 PM ^
Call me on Thanksgiving to discuss.
September 4th, 2023 at 6:33 AM ^
Call me 3 days after Thanksgiving to discuss.
September 4th, 2023 at 11:26 AM ^
I appreciate this analysis. While it's certainly early in the season and the sample size remains small, these are interesting numbers. Thanks for posting
September 4th, 2023 at 12:08 PM ^
Or are the number of passing plays up? Sure seems like more passing plays and less runs in the games I watched.
September 4th, 2023 at 12:40 PM ^
Defending Michigan will be pick your poison. The Maize and Blue OL needs a little more time to gel. Blake and Donovan have a long season ahead so the opportunities will come.
As long as JJ remains very accurate with his throws plus our WR can make those grabs, opposing defenses will be subject to be gashed on big run plays. This might be a turning point in Big 10 style of offense that will have to feature less run and more pass. As far as Michigan is concerned, the more even split between passing and running is welcome to me.
September 4th, 2023 at 12:51 PM ^
Maybe. Or maybe it had something to do with the mostly fine weather. Or that offenses wanted to throw more with the weather. Or maybe there is a consensus among defensive coaches to load the box more and force QB to beat you (especially if it's a young QB). ECU seemed to be doing that, and McCarthy responded.
September 4th, 2023 at 4:22 PM ^
The 3 predictable runs from the 1 in the first drive and the several predictable feeds to Edwards at the 1 in the second half really crushed our YPC. Aberration.