Look at Final Scores
September 30th, 2012 at 10:55 AM ^
Alabama?
September 30th, 2012 at 2:20 PM ^
MSU/OSU? Penn State?
September 30th, 2012 at 2:44 PM ^
MSU and Penn State are not that good overall. Ohio State is winning games and holding opponents to an average of 17 points per game, but their defense isn't as good as you might think. They have given up tons of offensive yardage against mediocre teams. Miami put up 312, UCF 352, Cal 512, UAB 403, and last but definitely least: MSU with 303.
September 30th, 2012 at 10:56 AM ^
Yeah it is. Thats why teams are doing it.
September 30th, 2012 at 11:01 AM ^
September 30th, 2012 at 11:03 AM ^
September 30th, 2012 at 11:26 AM ^
September 30th, 2012 at 12:26 PM ^
Perhaps that's true.
But let's give credit where credit is due ... the QBs for both teams were doing some really nice things in that game. I recall a couple of deep throws by Smith that were perfect over-the-shoulder touch passes to the receiver ... with the DB right there. The ball was thrown perfectly.
The perfect passes do not explain the 70-63 outcome ... a good deal of that game was poor defense. But some was just very, very good play by the offenses.
September 30th, 2012 at 6:47 PM ^
I give all the credit to two coaches playing the softest defense in the history of the NCAA. Barely rushing 3 linemen and dropping 8 into coverage and STILL leaving receivers wide open?! How does that even happen? How can 8 guys possibly leave 5 receivers wide open for an entire game? They could've had 2 guys covering most of the receivers on every play, instead they had several guys covering nobody. I remember seeing Baylor blitz twice in the entire game. First time was late in the 3rd quarter. The DBs just jogged the entire time, too. Receivers were wide open because nobody even made an effort to keep up with them. It was a joke. Smith spent the entire game standing perfectly still in the pocket taking 30-60 yard shots downfield to wide open guys from kickoff until the final whistle. The true walkons on Michigans scout team could've held them to half that score. I've seen better defense in 7 on 7s. 1 interception in a combined 98 pass attempts in regulation. Nobody deserves credit for that.
September 30th, 2012 at 11:07 AM ^
The violent shoulder hit appears sometimes like the head to head, and no replay is used to confirm. Tough on the defense!
September 30th, 2012 at 11:04 AM ^
September 30th, 2012 at 11:05 AM ^
There are wacky weekends sometimes when teams just drop huge numbers of points on each other, but the Big 12 and the ACC (minus FSU) are not known for their defenses. And when you add in refs who are perhaps interpretting rules too much in the favor of the defense, you'll see games like yesterday's Baylor-WVU game.
September 30th, 2012 at 11:28 AM ^
September 30th, 2012 at 11:31 AM ^
...the introduction of the shot clock.
September 30th, 2012 at 11:45 AM ^
September 30th, 2012 at 11:41 AM ^
Rule changes and scholarship limitations are giving offenses the advantage over defenses, on the whole, in college football. But that makes really good defensive minds, like Mattison, like gold. From his NFL days, he has experience dealing with complex offensive schemes, while most other college DCs don't. Having a good defense now sets you apart. The few teams that can actually play defense are the ones who will contend for the national title.
September 30th, 2012 at 11:46 AM ^
...the first thing I do is say "would you look at this!"
September 30th, 2012 at 11:52 AM ^
Without looking at any advanced statistics, I'd say Michigan's defense is in the top 15 percentile. I really have a good feeling about our chances in the Big Ten now that MSU is disintegrating. It looks like our game against Nebraska will most likely decide the Legends division, and that's perfectly fine by me. That doesn't undermine the importance of our two remaining rivalry games, but is interesting nonetheless.
September 30th, 2012 at 1:02 PM ^
September 30th, 2012 at 12:02 PM ^
If I might mention a few potential counterpoints beyond Morgantown, just to be fair, Texas Tech held Iowa State to 189 total yards of offense, which I wouldn't exactly say is performance that involved no defense (consider the teams involved, of course - again, all this is quite relative). Washington held Stanford to 235 yards of offense, which is a better performance than USC managed against Stanford (also, Washington won - compare to USC outcome). TCU won despite being held to 156 total yards by Craig James' alma mater, so for SMU, not an atrocious effort despite losing. There were a few games out there that were likely decided by defense, I would say.
September 30th, 2012 at 12:09 PM ^
So you're using a sample size of ONE from yesterday and using to to justify lack of defense in an entire league?
September 30th, 2012 at 12:13 PM ^
I'm confused. You're saying a team like Alabama is not playing defense?
September 30th, 2012 at 1:28 PM ^
Points scored per game by the team ranked in the middle of FBS (I'm using the median, not the mean, so things aren't skewed by one or two teams with exceptionally good or bad offenses):
- 2003 26.6
- 2004 24.6
- 2005 26.2
- 2006 23.0
- 2007 27.0
- 2008 24.8
- 2009 26.4
- 2010 26.2
- 2011 25.2
- 2012 26.1
Nada.
September 30th, 2012 at 2:40 PM ^
The one score im feeling better about is that Marshall put up 44 pts on Purdue's D yesterday at home, and over 400 yards passing... If denard can throw it to "our WR's" he could have a big day..
Here's to hoping we don't turn the ball over and play conservative to give Denard confidence back. Let our D do work..
September 30th, 2012 at 8:52 PM ^
Our offensive line also seems to finally be clicking in the run game a bit too. Despite having a couple solid defensive tackles I think a mix of inside zone and veer runs to set up play action would be a wise call. Make Denard's legs a threat, get Toussaint 20 carries, then start taking shots to the edges with Gallon if they give you soft coverage, or over-the-top to the Devins if they're rolling up their safeties.
I don't think we'll have any trouble with Purdue though. MSU and Nebraska are key. We also can't let our gaurd down against Northwestern or Iowa (Purdue also goes here)... Illinios and Minnesota look like snacks though.
We'll be fine as long as long as we keep unblocked defenders out of Denard's face most of the time and tell him to just run for the sideline when it happens (and stop calling rollouts).
As for no defense... eh. What'd you expect from WVU and Baylor? Baylor's never really had a great defense; particularly against air-raid offenses, and WVU has injuries/issues that have led to major problems at CB. Makes sense. Texas Vs OSU (ntosu) is a little more inexplicable, but it sounds like it was an off-day for tackling on Texas's part and they still came away with a win. Things will settle down more as the season goes on/more film is available for DCs to build their gameplans around and good teams stop playing cupcakes. It seems crazy right now, but I don't think there's been drastic league-wide changes in the scores...