Michigan Football: 5 Biggest questions facing Wolverines in 2020

Can the defense stop elite teams?

When it comes to Don Brown, there are two sides to the fence. On one hand, Michigan’s defense has been very good under him. It’s one of the leaders in the country each year in points allowed and turnovers but can’t seem to hang with elite competition.

Over the last three seasons, in 16 games against ranked opponents, Brown’s defenses have allowed an average of just under 28 points per game. Keep in mind, this includes three games (MSU, PSU 2018, Iowa 2019) where the defense allowed seven points or fewer.

And still the overall average is four touchdowns. Not surprisingly, the Wolverines are 6-10 in those games. Against non-ranked teams, Michigan has allowed just 13.3 points the past three years.

So the defense looks elite against lesser competition and pedestrian against the top teams. To further illustrate this, in five of the Wolverines last 15 games, they have allowed 35 points or more. All of those were against teams ranked in the top 15.

Now, part of the problem is that the offense needs to score more. It’s nearly impossible to have a shutdown defense in this wide-open era of college football. But if you can’t even hold someone under 30, it makes it tough and that’s where the defense needs to improve.