Figure out a way to adapt I suppose. But saying that a preview is off base because it points out a potential matchup issue with UMs tight ends "because we played Stanford" is silly.
Stanford uses tight ends (and fullbacks), but not to the same extent that UM does. On the year 22.1% of SU's receptions have gone to TE/FBs vs 40.5% of receptions for UM. That is enough stylistic difference to be worth mentioning. UM has the highest TE/FB utilitzation in the country I believe.
Addressing your second point first (SOS hypothetical). I'm not sure where wins/losses are coming into play here. I included SOS figures only because of the original statement made:
I was showing that NU has not played the tougher schedule. Whether the teams won or lost those games is...
You have a fair argument for the points off turnovers, but at least the NU defense was on the field for all the points. UM defense has only been on the field for 31 points all year. With strong defenses and special teams on both sides this game will come down to who can make the least costly...
Ok, let's leave the numbers off, since they offended you. The NU defense has had more points scored against it than the UM defense. That is a fact. UM has a higher strength of schedule according to the majority of commonly used metrics. That is a fact. Who is right will be decided on Saturday.
I think they are very comparable, but I do feel like UM's D is actually slightly stronger. They have given up only 184.0 ypg compared to 247.4 for NU. Also the one stat (scoring defense) that has been touted in NU's favor is actually slightly off (7.0 ppg for NU vs 7.6 for UM). The number for...
Meh. That was just a round table where people were giving their personal opinion, not really an analytical piece. They did post the film preview of NW's offense today:
http://mgoblog.com/content/fee-fi-foe-film-northwestern-offense-1
Oh I fully expect MOON part 2 for this game or something close to that. Any way you look at it these are both top 5 defenses (and M offense hasn't exactly looked dominant). I'm just surprised at the official statistic on the NCAA page. You would think "scoring defense" means scoring against...
I'm surprised the NCAA page has that for scoring defense, I'd be interested to read their definition. The M defense only gave up 17 points to Utah, which should put them at 6.2 ppg. The other 7 points that game were on the game sealing pick-six.