Just The Stats: Defense Remains Best Overall

Submitted by RakeFight on

Despite allowing a season high 401 yds against a scrapy Sparty squad, Michigan remains the best overall Defense in the FBS.  National ranks after week 9 (Michigan is #1 in the Big Ten unless otherwise noted.):

#1 Total Defense: 231ypg

#1 Scoring Defense: 11.6ppg

#1 3rd Down Conversions Allowed: 0.155

#1 Passing Yards Allowed: 120pg

#1 Red Zone Defense: 0.583

#2 First Downs Allowed (#1 Florida with 96): 97 total

#2 Passing Efficiency Defense (#1 Florida with 82.9): 89.1

#4 TFL: 8.9pg

#9 Sacks: 3.4pg

#15 Rushing Defense (#2 in Big Ten behind Wisc): 111.1 ypg

T#20 4th Down Conversions Allowed (T#4 in Big Ten): 0.353

 

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DrMantisToboggan

October 30th, 2016 at 6:58 PM ^

Right, I said Arkansas is mediocre. But, list the teams for me that would want to play Auburn or LSU right now. I'll wait. Auburn is running for like 400 ypg lately and playing great D. LSU is opening up the playbook and Coach O has them playing like they've got nothing to lose, and they just got a healthy Fournette back. Both of these teams will give Alabama a good shot in the next four weeks. 

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dipshit moron

October 30th, 2016 at 4:27 PM ^

im pretty sure well over one third of that yardage and points came after the score was 30-10 in the fourth qtr.

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Swazi

October 30th, 2016 at 5:25 PM ^

MSU had 143 yards of offense in the first half.  They were then set up with a short field after Wilton's pick and then turned it over on downs essentially twice.

 

Their last four drives of the game went for over 50 yards.  All four of those drives were in the fourth quarter.  Michigan had the ball for all of the 3rd quarter except for 4 and a half minutes of it, so MSU had 172 yards of offense through three quarters.

 

After that, I think they let their foot off the gas and Harbaugh went conservative on offense.  There was zero chance MSU were going to score on three straight drives even with the defense also taking their foot off the gas.

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BLHoke

October 30th, 2016 at 7:11 PM ^

And 75 of those 143 came on the opening drive fueled by adrenaline and emotion.

Also, terrible calls and non calls bailed them out on several of their drives that would've resulted in 3 and outs or eventual punts. And yes, LJ Scott had a great game, he's likely one of the top 2-3 backs in the Big Ten. He broke some tackles where most of the season, we stop the play for no gain or 2-3 yards. Part of that is LJ being talented, and I think the other part is probably some of our players being a little too amped themselves and overrunning the play.

Aside from that and a wonky 4th quarter where we just opted to try and nurse the lead we had, the defense played up to their usual standard. MSU is 2-6, but they are far more talented than Illinois, Rutgers, UCF, Hawaii, etc... They're probably more along the lines of PSU in that regard and the game could have ended in a similar score had a few things broke differently (49-10... Yesterday's game was 30-10 in the 4th). The difference here is that we were at home vs PSU, and Mork > Frank.



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BigBlue02

October 30th, 2016 at 5:12 PM ^

This is ridiculous. The idea that every player has to play perfect on every play through an entire game or else UNACCEPTABLE is asinine. If you think teams and players play the same whether the game is tied or you are up 3 scores in the 4th then you don't know football very well. Our fans are starting to sound as ridiculous as Spartan fans who think Lewerke starting would have won them the game. They look at one stat or aspect of the game and focus on that to make them feel better about the loss. They think Michigan scoring 6 points in the second half is because they were star spangled awesome on defense, not because we were sitting on a huge lead. That's the problem with a statement like "we need as much intensity up 30 as we have when we are up 7." It completely ignores all logic and shows a complete lack of understanding of how an actual football game is played. If we just look at the second halfs of those games, we miss that our defense is the best in the nation statistically and focuses on an individual eye test regarding effort or intensity.

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DrMantisToboggan

October 30th, 2016 at 4:45 PM ^

I'd like to see us dominate our next 3 opponents on defense. I'd love a combined, idk...14 points? Including a shutout? Then the big one. I think our top rated defense will back that up big time against OSU.



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NateVolk

October 30th, 2016 at 5:03 PM ^

We looked fine and finished the game fine.  State was stuck in the mud for almost three whole quarters. We had a couple missed tackles and the QB made a nice throw on the run for a big gainer in the 4th. 

And it didn't matter. They pushed some yards on the ground and in the process drained the clock for us. Exactly what you want. What you don't want is a couple huge bombs for touchdowns with half a quarter or more to play.

It's great to have high expectations. It's also great to have perspective gained by paying attention to the football games many of us here have purported to watch the last ten to twenty years.

 

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