I remember a reporter once describing Don Brown’s defense as “high risk, high reward” in a question either early this year or last, and Don Brown responding with more than a little bit of hostility, stating something to the effect of “this isn’t stuff we throw against a wall”. I can’t claim to know exactly what the reporter meant, but he may have been onto something…
Don Brown’s defense can make overmatched teams look helpless. And that’s not nothing. Good teams lose to inferior opponents all the time, and that didn’t happen to us this year. And when Harbaugh teams have lost to inferior opponents (my quick list: Utah 2015, Iowa 2016, MSU 2017, SCAR 2017), I think it’s been more the offense’s fault. Michigan’s D didn’t lose those games. ( I realize Brown arrived in 2016, so we’re not always talking about Brown’s D.)
But when Michigan loses to good teams, the D has often gotten lit up. (quick list: OSU 2015, FSU 2016, PSU 2017, OSU 2018.) There are a few of Harbaugh’s losses against good teams that don’t, IMO, qualify as the defense getting lit up. (MSU 2015, OSU 2016, Wisconsin 2017, OSU 2017, ND 2018) Now…unfair as it may be…I think back to those losses that don’t fit in either place, and in most of those cases my memory first goes to a play our defense didn’t make. Tackle Curtis Samuel on 3rd down in 2016. That completion Haskins had along the east sideline in 2017. Those Wisconsin 2nd half completions from last year. Losing a jump ball to a walk on at ND this year. Admittedly, my memory is subjective and selective. But that’s where I go first.
Like all defenses, Brown’s defensive scheme can be beaten by talent and execution. When it gets beaten, it sometimes gets beaten barely, and sometimes soundly. The “soundly” part--that’s the risk. And whether it pisses Don Brown off or not, it’s there.
Don Brown’s defense can make overmatched teams look helpless. And that’s not nothing. Good teams lose to inferior opponents all the time, and that didn’t happen to us this year. And when Harbaugh teams have lost to inferior opponents (my quick list: Utah 2015, Iowa 2016, MSU 2017, SCAR 2017), I think it’s been more the offense’s fault. Michigan’s D didn’t lose those games. ( I realize Brown arrived in 2016, so we’re not always talking about Brown’s D.)
But when Michigan loses to good teams, the D has often gotten lit up. (quick list: OSU 2015, FSU 2016, PSU 2017, OSU 2018.) There are a few of Harbaugh’s losses against good teams that don’t, IMO, qualify as the defense getting lit up. (MSU 2015, OSU 2016, Wisconsin 2017, OSU 2017, ND 2018) Now…unfair as it may be…I think back to those losses that don’t fit in either place, and in most of those cases my memory first goes to a play our defense didn’t make. Tackle Curtis Samuel on 3rd down in 2016. That completion Haskins had along the east sideline in 2017. Those Wisconsin 2nd half completions from last year. Losing a jump ball to a walk on at ND this year. Admittedly, my memory is subjective and selective. But that’s where I go first.
Like all defenses, Brown’s defensive scheme can be beaten by talent and execution. When it gets beaten, it sometimes gets beaten barely, and sometimes soundly. The “soundly” part--that’s the risk. And whether it pisses Don Brown off or not, it’s there.
