Not every area has been a disaster for Michigan this season. Here are five areas where the Wolverines are playing well:
With just two games left in the regular season, the most important metric for the Michigan Wolverines is “.500” — i.e. the team’s winning percentage. Unless there is an upset in Columbus in a couple of weeks, it will be hard to look back at this year with any sort of fondness or much optimism for what this program’s future holds.
Despite the mediocre record, there have been some areas in which this team has performed well. The box scores and eye test have been more bad than good, but digging through the numbers yields a few gems that are perhaps worth celebrating. Below are a key stat for each phase where the Wolverines are doing better than they may appear.
Offense: Fourth down conversions
Though Michigan’s short-yardage issues were on display again against Indiana, the team has been surprisingly solid on fourth-down attempts this year, completing 73.3 percent of them, ninth-best in the entire country. Blake Corum and outstanding offensive linemen have left for the NFL, but the trend of successful fourth downs has continued.
Sherrone Moore has not been super aggressive in this area, only going for it 15 times, but credit where credit is due. A 3-for-3 effort against USC played a big factor in maybe the season’s high-water mark, while a combined 5-for-7 result against Texas and Illinois was not nearly enough for either win. Moore was aggressive on fourth down against Ohio State last season, so this is something to watch in two weeks.
Defense: Tackles for loss
Ok, no one should be surprised that Michigan is 12th nationally in TFLs (against Power Four opponents), and similarly a top-20 sack figure was the expectations heading into the season. However, this production does feel a little surprising given the general dissatisfaction with the defense this season.
There are plenty of other holes on this side of the ball, and the unit’s SP+ ranking (18th) seemingly falls every week, but the success in this stat is a good reminder of the talent that exists. The misuse of that talent remains one of the biggest frustrations, but the four sacks and eight TFLs against the Hoosiers give some hope that maybe it is finally being deployed correctly.
Special Teams: Defending kickoffs and kicks
A little twofer here. Special teams has been (shockingly) up and down this year, but one area that has been on lockdown is in the kickoff department. Opponents are just not attempting to return kicks at all against Michigan, with only five attempts on the year (tied for sixth-fewest nationally) and a meager 16.6 average yards coming from those returns (15th).
Additionally, the Wolverines’ three blocked punts and kicks is tied for third-best amongst the Power Four. While not really representative of anything greater, these positive contributions from special teams is something that was fortified under Jim Harbaugh. Punting remains a challenge, but there are still some nice plays being made from the teamers this year.
Coaching: Penalties
For much of this season Michigan has looked very unprepared, but one way that has not shown up is in the penalty totals. At just 4.3 flags per game, the Wolverines are tied for seventh-best nationally and have conceded just 41.4 yards per game on average. They do not happen to be drawing many calls either…but hey, focus on the positives!
Obviously the play calling has been terrible, and there are still struggles in fundamentals at times, but at least this team is not shooting itself in the foot with procedural issues or constant flag-worthy offenses. It is a little surprising to see the penalty total this low, but some praise should be given to the experienced players on this roster, especially on defense.