Does Michigan actually have a decent defense? Um, maybe?

Rick Osentoski, US Presswire

We all know Michigan has struggled on the defensive side of the ball the last few seasons.  Struggled is probably the wrong word.  Flailed maybe?  Had major problems?  A complete disaster?  Thrashed around like a wounded seal waiting to be devoured by a killer whale?

That's the Michigan defense in his mouth there.  The killer whale may be GERG or something, I don't know.  This metaphor is confusing.

But this year Michigan fans have some hope.  Sure the Wolverines have given up some yardage, but overall it just feels better doesn't it?

The first quarter has obviously been a problem on both sides of the ball.  Michigan has been outscored 21-0 in the first quarter through the first three games this season.  Over the next three quarters they've outscored teams 100-23.  While they struggle at first it seems like Greg Mattison is making the right adjustments at the right times.

But I wanted to go back and see if this was perception or reality.  I wanted to see if the pass defense has actually been decent and if the run defense has actually been as bad as it looked.  So I went back and charted the first three games for yards per carry, completion percentage, yards per play, etc. by quarter.  Standard caveats about extremely small sample size apply.  Charts are fun:

Michigan defense vs. Western: first quarter

	Completions	Attempts	Comp. %	Yards	Yards Per Attempt
WMU Pass	8	8	100	56	7

	Rushes	Yards	Yards Per Carry
WMU Rush	7	18	2.6

	Total Plays	Total Yards	Yards Per Play
Totals	15	74	4.93

Second Quarter

	Completions	Attempts	Comp. %	Yards	Yards Per Attempt
WMU Pass	9	16	56.3	76	4.75

	Rushes	Yards	Yards Per Carry
WMU Rush	6	45	7.5

	Total Plays	Total Yards	Yards Per Play
Totals	22	121	5.5

Third Quarter

	Completions	Attempts	Comp. %	Yards	Yards Per Attempt
WMU Pass	5	7	71.4	48	6.86

	Rushes	Yards	Yards Per Carry
WMU Rush	12	33	2.75

	Total Plays	Total Yards	Yards Per Play
Totals	19	81	4.26

Michigan defense vs. Notre Dame: first quarter

	Completions	Attempts	Comp. %	Yards	Yards Per Attempt
ND Pass	8	8	100	95	11.88

	Rushes	Yards	Yards Per Carry
ND Rush	9	56	6.2

	Total Plays	Total Yards	Yards Per Play
Totals	17	151	8.88

Second Quarter

	Completions	Attempts	Comp. %	Yards	Yards Per Attempt
ND Pass	4	14	28.6	69	4.93

	Rushes	Yards	Yards Per Carry
ND Rush	9	50	5.6

	Total Plays	Total Yards	Yards Per Play
Totals	23	119	5.17

Third Quarter

	Completions	Attempts	Comp. %	Yards	Yards Per Attempt
ND Pass	5	6	83.3	52	8.67

	Rushes	Yards	Yards Per Carry
ND Rush	9	89	9.9

	Total Plays	Total Yards	Yards Per Play
Totals	15	141	9.4

Fourth Quarter

	Completions	Attempts	Comp. %	Yards	Yards Per Attempt
ND Pass	9	14	64.3	98	7.0

	Rushes	Yards	Yards Per Carry
ND Rush	6	10	1.7

	Total Plays	Total Yards	Yards Per Play
Totals	20	108	5.4

Michigan defense vs. Eastern: first quarter

	Completions	Attempts	Comp. %	Yards	Yards Per Attempt
EMU Pass	1	2	50.0	18	9.0

	Rushes	Yards	Yards Per Carry
EMU Rush	20	118	5.9

	Total Plays	Total Yards	Yards Per Play
Totals	22	136	6.18

Second Quarter

	Completions	Attempts	Comp. %	Yards	Yards Per Attempt
EMU Pass	2	3	66.7	11	3.7

	Rushes	Yards	Yards Per Carry
EMU Rush	10	32	3.2

	Total Plays	Total Yards	Yards Per Play
Totals	13	43	3.31

Third Quarter

	Completions	Attempts	Comp. %	Yards	Yards Per Attempt
EMU Pass	0	0	0.0	0	0

	Rushes	Yards	Yards Per Carry
EMU Rush	5	11	2.2

	Total Plays	Total Yards	Yards Per Play
Totals	5	11	2.2

Fourth Quarter

	Completions	Attempts	Comp. %	Yards	Yards Per Attempt
EMU Pass	0	1	0.0	0	0.0

	Rushes	Yards	Yards Per Carry
EMU Rush	11	37	3.4

	Total Plays	Total Yards	Yards Per Play
Totals	12	37	3.08

Michigan defense: 3 game totals: first quarter

	Completions	Attempts	Comp. %	Yards	Yards Per Attempt
Pass	17	18	94.4	169	9.39

	Rushes	Yards	Yards Per Carry
Rush	36	192	5.3

	Total Plays	Total Yards	Yards Per Play
Totals	54	361	6.69

Second Quarter

	Completions	Attempts	Comp. %	Yards	Yards Per Attempt
Pass	15	33	45.5	156	4.73

	Rushes	Yards	Yards Per Carry
Rush	25	127	5.08

	Total Plays	Total Yards	Yards Per Play
Totals	58	283	4.88

Third Quarter

	Completions	Attempts	Comp. %	Yards	Yards Per Attempt
Pass	10	13	76.9	100	7.69

	Rushes	Yards	Yards Per Carry
Rush	26	133	5.12

	Total Plays	Total Yards	Yards Per Play
Totals	39	233	5.97

Fourth Quarter

	Completions	Attempts	Comp. %	Yards	Yards Per Attempt
Pass	9	15	60.0	98	6.53

	Rushes	Yards	Yards Per Carry
Rush	17	47	2.77

	Total Plays	Total Yards	Yards Per Play
Totals	32	145	4.53

Conclusions

If the numbers seem a little off, I was pulling them from the "every snap" videos that MGovideo puts out, so I may have missed a couple plays.  However I think these numbers are at least fairly close.  Also for clarification, pass attempts include all attempts including INT's and PI penalties. 

It seems like the first and third quarters are a struggle, while the second and fourth are pretty good.  This leads me to the completely irrational and hopefully conclusion that Mattison is excellent at identifying problems and making changes, somthing we haven't seen recently.

The overall rushing numbers against EMU are a bit of a red herring.  In the first quarter they rushed for 118 yards and a 5.9 YPC average.  Over the next three quarters they rushed 26 times for 80 yards, and averaged 3.1 yards per carry.

I'm not sure we'll see another offense as explosive as ND's this year.  The numbers against the rush in that game (outside of the fourth quarter) are a little troubling.

So, maybe Michigan can be kind of alright on defense this year?  This is something I'm going to continue to track for the rest of the season.  Also later today I'll have up the offensive and defensive numbers from EMU, so check back later.