The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/603303
suck it up. It's a fact there. "There's nothing in football you hate to see more than a team that goes on a long drive and only runs the football. That's all they did. They didn't throw a pass the entire drive. "There are some things I guess that are worse than that. Losing would have been worse that that." Harbaugh also noted the Wolverines have plenty to clean up and little time to do so. "They were running the wide zone play, and we were having difficulty with it," the coach explained. "We widened out our five technique and they still got around the edge. We were overrunning it, and he would cut it back; linebackers would overrun it, he'd cut it back inside. We'll look at it. "I thought there were some holds that didn't get called … They were so much more effective than we were at getting off those blocks. Retool, refit, regroup and come back stronger next week." Through 10 weeks, Michigan's defense ranked: • No. 6 in the country for scoring defense, allowing an average 14.8 points per game. Wisconsin led the country through games of Nov. 14 at 12.3, while Ohio State stood second in the nation at 13.8. • No. 2 nationally in total defense, averaging 268.7 yards per game allowed. Boston College (236.5) was No. 1, while Wisconsin (272.0) and Alabama (278.1) were third and fourth, respectively. • No. 8 in defense against the rush. Indiana's 307 rushing yards pushed Michi- gan's defensive average up to 103.2 yards per game. • No. 6 in passing yards allowed, averaging 165.5 yards per game. Penn State (159.0) stood No. 2 in that category. • No. 2 in pass efficiency defense, with a rating of 93.37. Only Marshall (92.44) ranked better when the numbers were crunched. Wisconsin (97.79) and Ohio State (99.72) ranked No. 4 and No. 6, respectively. • No. 3 in third-down conversion defense. Opponents were moving the sticks only 23.4 percent of the time in third-down situations against the Wolverines, a mark better than all but Clemson (21.0) and Boston College (23.3) had managed. • Tied for No. 35 in team sacks, with an average of 2.50 per game. Penn State led the nation through 10 games, putting up an average of 4.20 sacks per contest. • Tied for No. 42 in tackles for loss, with an average of 6.9 per game. Penn State stood No. 2 in the nation, averaging 9.3, behind only Boston College's 9.8. • Tied for 119th in turnovers gained this season, with a total of nine on the year, including just one fumble recovery. Houston and Arkansas State have both secured 27 turnovers to lead the nation in that category. Michigan State is the Big Ten's best at prying the football away; they are tied for No. 13 nationally with Florida and Northern Illinois, all three garnering 21 turnovers through 10 games. — John Borton