With D.J. Durkin off to Maryland, Jim Harbaugh has reportedly turned to the next best thing to run his Michigan defense.
Check that. The Wolverines’ defense actually just got better.
That’s what the numbers say at least, as Sports Illustrated reported Sunday Harbaugh has hired Boston College defensive coordinator Don Brown to run Michigan’s defense.
This season, Boston College ranked....
- 4th in scoring defense (15.3 points per game)
- t-1st in touchdowns allowed (19)
- 1st in total defense (254.3 yards per game)
- 1st in yards per play (4.07)
- 2nd in rushing defense (83.17 yards per game)
- 2nd in yards per carry (2.39)
- t-1st in rushing touchdowns allowed (6)
- 8th in passing defense (171.2 yards per game)
- 9th in pass efficiency defense (104.57)
- 12th in opponent completion percentage (51.7)
- t-5th in passing touchdowns allowed (9)
- 1st in tackles for loss per game (9.5)
- 4th in plays of 10+ yards allowed (119)
Brown posted the best defensive numbers in college football despite playing opposite an offense that ranked 126th nationally in total offense and 122nd in scoring. Essentially, his season was the equivalent of Pedro Martinez posting a 2.54 ERA despite playing with the Altoona Curve as his batting lineup.
Michigan will represent -- by far -- the biggest job Brown, 60, has ever held. He went 43-19 as Massachusetts’ head coach (prior to their disastrous move to the MAC) and parlayed that into Maryland’s defensive coordinator job in 2009. Brown lasted two seasons in College Park before becoming the defensive coordinator at Connecticut (2011-12) and Boston College (2013-15).
Brown’s 2012 UConn unit finished eighth nationally in yards per play allowed, and his 2010 Maryland defense ranked 14th.
If he can produce top-15 numbers with those players, one figures he can work wonders with a Michigan unit that finished the regular season ranked sixth in yards per play.
That’s Harbaugh’s plan, at least.