If all of you are as blessed as I am to have a plethora of humans you consider good friends, then inevitably a hand full are probably supporting that team up north. And that same hand full of misguided friends have probably already declared that the 2015 Natty will be housed somewhere within the athletic facilities on the God forsaken patch of soil know as the scUM campus. Much of this confidence/bravado/lunacy is provided by the outstanding play of the defense in the first half of the season. And although they have lost a game, it was to a Utah team that is currently ranked #4 in the Coaches Poll, and picked by many savvy experts to reach the playoff this year.
So, it would be remiss of any self proclaimed fan of College Football not to provide some stats that can be used to more accurately determine if this vaunted _ichigan defense is "The greatest defense ever to lace up and walk on water to the gridiron!" Or perhaps, something different.
According to the NCAA site, and their compilation of game statistics to date for the 2015 tackle football season, here are the total offensive rank for scUM opponents on game day, and their current rank as of 10/1215:
Team | Opponent O-Rank Gameday | Gameday Poll Rank-Coaches | Opponent O-Rank 10/12/15 | Current Poll Rank-Coaches |
Utah | N/A | UR | 70 | #4 (5-0) |
Oregon St. | 114 | UR | 120 | UR (2-3) |
UNLV | 80 | UR | 86 | UR (2-4) |
BYU | 107 | UR (#22 AP) | 63 | UR (4-2) |
Maryland | 84 | UR | 109 | UR (2-4) |
NU | 68 | #14 | 98 | UR (5-1) |
MSU | 72 | #4 (#7 AP) | - | - |
AVG. | 88 | 88 |
Hmmm...have to be leaning to JUGGERNAUT here don't we...? While three straight shut-outs is impressive, and compared to recent years, the 2015 defense is definitely much improved...let's wait until they play a top 20 offense. Like the one they will face on November 28th.
GO BUCKS!