I am skeptical of this team. Not because of coaching. I am excited about this team since I really want to see them get to 9 wins if possible. That would be a fantastic year relative to what 'our' expectations are for this program and where we have been over the last 7 or so years.
Is this defense elite? No. I doubt it. Elite is 97 level. Is this defense pretty good...probably and I'll know exactly where this defense is after the MSU game. Can this defense carry this team in some tough games? Yes. This team can arguably when any game OR lose any game when the offense isn't quite performing.
The reason I bring up 97 is when you look at that team...it wasn't the offense that was overly great but the defense was dominant. This defense doesn't have Marcus Ray, Woodson, Steele, Gold, Jones, etc. That team was flat out talented. Nasty.
The 97 team with all it's offensive flaws still had a very accurate Griese who had developed along with a great OL and some talent with Street and Tuman.
Here is my point relative to 97. A defense can carry an offense. Without that defense...UM may wind up losing 3-4 games over the course of that year.
In relation to this year...this defense can carry the offense. The offense basically buried the defense in the Utah game but the offense helped out the defense against BYU. Based on what I see with this particular team the defense is good enough to keep UM in every game but the offense has too big of a performance deviation based on talent (Rudock, Smith, wr's).
So going forward I know UM is going to have 1-2 games (I can't tell you which ones) where the offense is going to lose the game. A wrong cut or a bad pass or a really good defensive opponent or even when the defense or ST's isn't on their 'A' game. The 97 team would have lost a couple of games if they had this offense regardless of how much talent they had on defense.
Reality Man
Is this defense elite? No. I doubt it. Elite is 97 level. Is this defense pretty good...probably and I'll know exactly where this defense is after the MSU game. Can this defense carry this team in some tough games? Yes. This team can arguably when any game OR lose any game when the offense isn't quite performing.
The reason I bring up 97 is when you look at that team...it wasn't the offense that was overly great but the defense was dominant. This defense doesn't have Marcus Ray, Woodson, Steele, Gold, Jones, etc. That team was flat out talented. Nasty.
The 97 team with all it's offensive flaws still had a very accurate Griese who had developed along with a great OL and some talent with Street and Tuman.
Here is my point relative to 97. A defense can carry an offense. Without that defense...UM may wind up losing 3-4 games over the course of that year.
In relation to this year...this defense can carry the offense. The offense basically buried the defense in the Utah game but the offense helped out the defense against BYU. Based on what I see with this particular team the defense is good enough to keep UM in every game but the offense has too big of a performance deviation based on talent (Rudock, Smith, wr's).
So going forward I know UM is going to have 1-2 games (I can't tell you which ones) where the offense is going to lose the game. A wrong cut or a bad pass or a really good defensive opponent or even when the defense or ST's isn't on their 'A' game. The 97 team would have lost a couple of games if they had this offense regardless of how much talent they had on defense.
Reality Man
