Michigan leads the nation in scoring
We're also #5 in scoring defense.
Yeah, weak schedule blah blah blah . . . but I can't think of us ever being #1 nationally in points scored before. We also did this while playing eight quarterbacks yesterday.
September 18th, 2022 at 12:52 PM ^
Whoops, that should be #4 in scoring defense actually. (We can't edit OPs?)
September 18th, 2022 at 12:56 PM ^
But....if we didn't have these results given the schedule people would be going apeshit on this board.
September 18th, 2022 at 1:09 PM ^
In other words: "If this good thing that happened didn't happen, we would be upset that it didn't happen."
I suppose we would be.
September 18th, 2022 at 1:10 PM ^
Exactly. Now Maryland is the true test. UM blasts them. Guess what. There will be a bunch trying to create panic about how MD is awful. It will be that way until after OSU game. Michigan fans just love to live in panic about their football team.
September 18th, 2022 at 1:19 PM ^
Ain’t gonna be no bitching if we Hamblast Sparty. Take that to the bank.
September 18th, 2022 at 1:37 PM ^
Jim likes his revenge. I'm feeling a 50 point torching of that secondary.
September 18th, 2022 at 1:52 PM ^
That secondary looks soooo bad! And it was something they were working to improve in the off season. Tuck comin I guess.
September 18th, 2022 at 2:19 PM ^
I'm not as confident as everyone else about the Sparty game. I do think we'll win but last night, I saw a team that didn't give up. Washington was on the offensive and the defensive and had an answer for every Sparty score, but Sparty played hard until the end.
September 18th, 2022 at 2:43 PM ^
That was the same Washington team we blasted last year. Only difference is they grew a Penix.
September 18th, 2022 at 3:58 PM ^
Home field advantage is real, especially when dealing with 3 time zone differences. But, yeah, UW’s offense last night was nothing like last season’s. Part of that was the Penix effect, part was MSU’s horrific pass defense.
September 18th, 2022 at 7:11 PM ^
That was in no way the same team as last year + a Penix. Last years team had already lost to Montana fergodsakes. Teams change dramatically year to year and that’s never been truer than in the age of the portal
September 18th, 2022 at 7:18 PM ^
I'll see your Penix and raise you an Orji
September 18th, 2022 at 2:57 PM ^
They played hard and didn't quit. Good for them!
All the more reason to keep the starters in late and run it the hell up even more...
September 18th, 2022 at 3:14 PM ^
Agreed. And we're always confident about a big win over Sparty, and almost always, they play out of their minds against us. 2019 is the only truly comfortable win the current regime has had over them.
September 18th, 2022 at 9:58 PM ^
Yeah, and it was with Speight, who we jettisoned, go figure.
September 19th, 2022 at 1:51 AM ^
??? not sure if the person you replied to edited their comment, but 2019 was Shea Patterson. The final score may not indicate it, but 2018 and 2016 were both pretty comfortable, and Speight was responsible for one of those.
September 18th, 2022 at 4:53 PM ^
We do it every year. It's an annual tradition for Michigan fans to talk about how much better Michigan's <insert any O, D and/or ST unit here> is than MSU's, then MSU comes out, reverses tendencies and manages to keep the game close or even win the game. Michigan is always the better team on paper, sometimes drastically so. And it's truly annoying how we DON'T hamblast them each and every year.
September 18th, 2022 at 1:38 PM ^
MSU fans love to live in panic about University of Michigan football as well.
September 18th, 2022 at 2:13 PM ^
michigan fans are unique to other sports fans in that regard?
September 18th, 2022 at 12:57 PM ^
There was a time when we’d play super conservative against super weak opponents for some reason and have scores that were way closer than what it should. And if I remember correctly, there was a 10 year stretch that we were the worst against the line in non-conference play.
so in short: I have no complaints about how we are performing against our schedule. I also have no complaints about our schedule in general
September 18th, 2022 at 1:20 PM ^
We were 1-2 vs. the spread the last 3 games.
September 18th, 2022 at 1:41 PM ^
What relevance does that have the the statistical anomalies that haven’t occurred since at any time since 1879?!
UM HASN’T SCORED 50+ POINTS IN EACH OF ITS 1ST THREE GAMES IN THE HISTORY OF MICHIGAN FOOTBALL!!!
What super annoying qualifier do you want to post about that fact?!
September 18th, 2022 at 2:23 PM ^
They have scored 50+ in the first 2 games before. However, they also went the entire season, not allowing any other team to score a point that year. They would finally allow the other team to score 6 points in week 2 of the next year. They followed that game up by beating Michigan State 119-0
September 18th, 2022 at 4:23 PM ^
Of course that was back when teams didn't have 100+ players on the roster to put in blowout games. Our first-string defense hasn't given up a point this season.
September 18th, 2022 at 4:54 PM ^
The 119-0 game (our biggest ever win!) is hard to compare to a modern game (though this cuts both ways). I wouldn't say it was "a different game" back then, but it makes apples and oranges comparison difficult.
Back then:
* The scoring was a bit different--we scored 20 TDs and made 19 of our 20 PATs, but TDs were only worth 5 points back then (as were field goals).
* The field was longer--110 yards from goal line to goal line (though there were no end zones).
* You had three downs to go five yards.
* Forward passes were illegal.
You can read a recap of the game from the 1902 version of the Michigan Daily by clicking here.
September 18th, 2022 at 1:59 PM ^
I think that Michigan is 2-1 against the spread this year. First game was 27.5 (won by 44). Second game was 51.5 (won by 46). Third game was 46.5 (won by 59). The spreads may not be exact depending on the source...but you get the idea.
September 18th, 2022 at 4:54 PM ^
Nope, Michigan is 2-1 ATS this season and a poor McNamara outing against Hawaii away from 3-0.
September 18th, 2022 at 6:31 PM ^
2-1, we covered against CSU and yesterday
September 18th, 2022 at 1:22 PM ^
During last night's Washington game everyone kept repeating: the obvious formula for beating sparty is throw on them, do not run on them. I immediately had disturbing flashbacks to a time when we would not only do the opposite of that, and run into stacked boxes all night no matter how badly it turned out, but we would telegraph it. I'm more than happy to be the #1 scoring offense in the country, regardless of the level of competition.
September 18th, 2022 at 1:58 PM ^
Yep, and that's why it's significant that we took what the UConn defense gave us yesterday. Find the weakness, game plan for it, and attack it on the field. This is so much better than "this is what we're going to do, try and stop us", which happened for so many years.
Further, it seems like we have a QB versatile and talented enough to execute any game plan.
September 18th, 2022 at 12:58 PM ^
The only other P5 team in the top 10 in scoring O/D is . . . Minnesota. Have fun with that, Sparty!
And Iowa has a loss despite giving up 4.3 ppg on defense.
September 18th, 2022 at 12:59 PM ^
That's impressive considering we don't try and run up the score like other schools just to pad stats (looking at you osu).
September 18th, 2022 at 1:00 PM ^
Well Michigan has probably never played the easiest out of conference schedule in the country before. These teams weren’t just not good, they were all among the worst 20 teams in the country. It’s a stunningly bad schedule you couldn’t have built intentionally if you tried three years ago when it was set.
Michigan did what they had to do against those teams to be an elite team, but nothing actually proves they are elite yet.
September 18th, 2022 at 1:13 PM ^
I remember enough cupcake games going awry for UM. Also, none of the three teams above UM has proven that they are elite. They have played at least one decent team, but nothing elite. I seriously thought ND game would tell the story. But given how ND look this year, I am not sure how good OSU is.
September 18th, 2022 at 1:20 PM ^
I keep reminding myself that we struggled in the not-too-distant past against the likes of Toledo, UMass, UConn, Army, etc. in what we all thought should be easy non-conference matchups.
Yeah, our pre-season schedule turned out to be pillow soft this year. But I'm quite satisfied that we really haven't broken a sweat and have devoured opponents that we should devour.
The B1G season awaits...
September 18th, 2022 at 1:19 PM ^
Exactly right. Michigan's three opponents are arguably the THREE WORST TEAMS out of the 131 in the nation. They are extraordinarily bad. It's nice that they won so handily. But it's absolutely NOT a measure of whether Michigan is a top team. There's just no way of knowing this at all.
Maryland will pose a real test for our defense, but not our offense. Iowa will pose the exact opposite challenges. We won't fully be tested until Penn State.
September 18th, 2022 at 1:20 PM ^
I recently started learning about smoked meats. My best metaphor is, “Never start with a brisket.” Excited to see where this season is headed
September 18th, 2022 at 1:45 PM ^
UM HASN’T SCORED 50+ POINTS IN EACH OF ITS 1ST THREE GAMES IN THE HISTORY OF MICHIGAN FOOTBALL!!!
What super annoying qualifier do you want to post about that fact?!
September 18th, 2022 at 1:56 PM ^
I don’t know if it’s been said on here yet, but I had read that this is the first season in 78 years where Michigan hasn’t played an OOC P5 or Notre Dame. I just wish the AD wasn’t so money hungry so as to cancel the UCLA series because, to be honest, UM probably Hawai’i’s them as well.
September 19th, 2022 at 12:56 AM ^
And if we did where would we be? This whole damn thing is about money. That is why we are playing Maryland and Rutgers in the coming weeks.
September 18th, 2022 at 1:01 PM ^
Let's play a team in the Top 100 before we get too proud of ourselves...
September 18th, 2022 at 1:13 PM ^
Let’s enjoy the ride. This is the most talented Michigan offense since at least 2007 and our scheme is so much more creative now. BPONE is dead, let it go.
September 18th, 2022 at 1:08 PM ^
Let's hope Michigan can do to OSU what it did to U Conn.
And was it just me or did the picture that ABC used of JJ remind you of this:
September 18th, 2022 at 1:18 PM ^
I mean we did just play the 121st, 647th, and 86,561,900th best defenses in the country.
But it’s not like they were consistently running into stacked boxes, or throwing to opponent linebackers. We’ve seen Michigan struggle against UConn, so, that’ll do.
September 18th, 2022 at 1:21 PM ^
Even considering the quality of competition, McCarthy going 30-for-34 passing with 473 yards and 3TD's is cause for celebration. That's a level of lethality from the air that we just haven't seen.
September 18th, 2022 at 3:46 PM ^
There were at least two passes, maybe three against UCONN where the receiver got all the way to the one yard line so Corum got to feast and no pass TD’s for JJ
September 18th, 2022 at 1:28 PM ^
Bill Connelly of SP+ has stated that blowing out cupcakes as you are supposed to, or worse, is one of the best predictors of a team's future success. It's more predictive than beating a decent team but letting them hang around or struggling for a half.
Meaning: Michigan should be very good. That also doesn't mean they can't lose 2-3 games. But it's when relatively struggling with cupcakes compared to expectations that 4 to 5 losses becomes likely.
September 18th, 2022 at 1:39 PM ^
Especially when M is maintaining blowouts using...112 players?
September 18th, 2022 at 1:48 PM ^
Rumer has it that Ricky "The Peach" Leach was warming up on the sideline to get one snap yesterday.
September 18th, 2022 at 2:12 PM ^
I thought I saw David Cone taking snaps on the sideline.