The Wolverine

December 2016

The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports

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DECEMBER 2016 THE WOLVERINE 35 with the pressure from up front to lead the nation by allowing just 131.6 pass- ing yards per game on average. The scheme works hand-in-glove, between the front and back ends. Michigan's secondary covers well and tightly enough for quarterbacks to hesitate — a dangerous proposition, at best. Meanwhile, the heat on them gets balls out more quickly, leading to chances for the defensive backs. Michigan hit a rough patch early against Colorado, giving up some deep balls. After that, Brown came out the next week breathing fire, vowing that the Michigan defense would be much better three games down the road, and even better six removed from that outing. T h e Wo l v e r i n e s a re a d d i n g "prophet" to Brown's list of job titles. "It's a combination of both us ma- turing and having the coaching staff to be able to get us in place to be in the right positions to execute on Sat- urdays," Lewis said. "It takes both to have that dominant defense you see on Saturdays." Of Michigan's defensive attack, Lewis added: "It's aggressive. It's cal- culated. Every move we make is one that is going to get us closer to that win, closer to that sack or that big play. Those guys go out there and execute to the highest level I've ever seen — espe- cially that front seven. "That's what defense is. You have to attack to be on defense and be relent- less. You don't want any stats from the offense. That's definitely our game plan and our mindset every time we step on the field." The Wolverines, the senior insisted, don't want to merely slow or over- come foes … but crush them. If they keep it up, Thomas has a dream for what that might mean. "He'll always say, 'Hey, you're The Dude,' right before practice; he'll say something to remind you you're spe- cial and that you mean something to him," the senior said of Brown. "Maybe at the end of the season, we can all be The Dude." ❏ Senior cornerback Channing Stribling paces the Wolverines with four interceptions in 10 games. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN Big Plays Bump Up Totals Michigan has trotted out one of the nation's best defenses the past two years, under two different coordinators. The Wolverines finished 2015 with the nation's fourth-best scoring defense, allowing an average of 16.4 points per game. This year, U-M has upped the ante, allowing an average of 11.0 points per game through 10 contests, good for No. 1 nationally. In both instances, big plays accounted for significant amounts of the yardage gained against the defenses. For instance, in 2015 foes averaged 280.7 total yards per game, with 96.5 of those yards occurring via big plays (20 yards or longer). Without the big plays, Michigan surrendered 184.2 yards per game. Here's a game-by-game breakdown of the yardage surrendered (big-play yards represented by BPYs) from last season: 2015 BIG-PLAY YARDAGE ALLOWED Game .................. Yards ... Plays ...... BPYs/Plays (Avg.) ..... Non-BPYs (Avg.) Utah ............................ 337 ......... 70 ...................42/2 (21.0) .......................295 (4.3) Oregon State ........... 138 ......... 53 .......................... 0/0 ..............................138 (2.6) UNLV ........................... 235 ......... 62 ...................53/1 (53.0) .......................182 (3.7) BYU ............................. 105 ......... 50 ...................29/1 (29.0) ........................ 76 (1.6) Maryland .................. 105 ......... 62 .......................... 0/0 ..............................105 (1.7) Northwestern .......... 168 ......... 58 ...................20/1 (20.0) .......................148 (2.6) Michigan State........ 386 ......... 72 ................. 211/6 (35.2) ......................175 (2.7) Minnesota ................ 461 ......... 68 ................. 254/8 (31.8) ......................207 (3.5) Rutgers ...................... 225 ......... 59 ...................96/3 (32.0) .......................129 (2.3) Indiana....................... 527 ......... 89 ................. 131/5 (26.2) ......................396 (4.7) Penn State ................ 207 ......... 54 ...................81/2 (40.5) .......................126 (2.4) Ohio State ................ 482 ......... 69 ................. 175/5 (35.0) ......................307 (4.8) Florida ........................ 273 ......... 52 ................. 162/7 (23.1) ......................111 (2.5) In 10 games this season, Michigan has surrendered an average of 244.7 total yards per game. Opponents have garnered 113.3 via big plays, on average. Here's the breakdown: 2016 BIG-PLAY YARDAGE ALLOWED Game .................. Yards ... Plays ...... BPYs/Plays (Avg.) ..... Non-BPYs (Avg.) Hawai'i ....................... 232 ......... 60 ...................53/2 (26.5) .......................179 (3.1) Central Florida ........ 331 ......... 68 ................. 212/5 (42.4) ......................119 (1.9) Colorado ................... 325 ......... 67 ................. 157/3 (52.3) ......................168 (2.6) Penn State ................ 191 ......... 55 ...................63/2 (31.5) .......................128 (2.4) Wisconsin ................. 159 ......... 53 ...................48/2 (24.0) .......................111 (2.2) Rutgers ........................39 ........... 54 .......................... 0/0 ............................... 39 (0.7) Illinois ......................... 172 ......... 38 ................. 131/3 (43.7) ....................... 41 (1.2) Michigan State........ 401 ......... 70 ................. 223/8 (27.9) ......................178 (2.9) Maryland .................. 367 ......... 66 ................. 197/6 (32.8) ......................170 (2.7) Iowa ............................ 230 ......... 68 ...................49/2 (24.5) .......................181 (2.7) Michigan State and Central Florida did the best job of taking advantage of big plays against Michigan's defense, yet Iowa delivered Michigan's only loss while recording just two. — John Borton

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