Michigan defensive back Mike Sainristil recently finished one of the greatest defensive seasons in school history, notching 6 interceptions and returning them for 232 yards and 2 touchdowns. Altogether, he finished with 7 interceptions and 240 yards for his career. Where does that rank historically?
- 431 yards on 25 interceptions - Tom Curtis (1967-1969)
- 240 yards on 7 interceptions - Mike Sainristil (2022-2023)
- 237 yards on 9 interceptions - Will Johnson (2022-2024)
- 202 yards on 9 interceptions - David Brown (1972-1974)
- 182 yards on 8 interceptions - Thomas Darden (1969-1971)
- 169 yards on 10 interceptions - Marcus Ray (1995-1998)
- 169 yards on 6 interceptions - Blake Countess (2013)
- 145 yards on 6 interceptions - Raymon Taylor (2012-2013)
- 141 yards on 8 interceptions - Tony Jackson (1980-1981)
- 132 yards on 10 interceptions - Keith Bostic (1980-1982)
How in the world could someone like Tom Curtis make so many interceptions in an era where they didn't throw the ball that much. Was he just that good? Or was Michigan's defense such that opposing QBs were confused about coverage, and it just made what few throws there were easy for the picking?
ReplyDeleteQuarterbacks back then used to be really terrible at throwing the ball. The forward pass was pretty ineffective for a long, long time.
DeleteDuring Curtis's three years of eligibility, Michigan's quarterbacks threw 6 touchdowns to 7 interceptions (1967), 12 touchdowns to 10 interceptions (1968), and 5 touchdowns to 6 interceptions (1969). Overall, that's 23 touchdowns and 23 interceptions. Then keep in mind that teams were run-oriented, so coaches were putting 8 or 9 guys in the box, and the interceptions were being thrown at receivers down the field on play action to try to take advantage of the loaded boxes.
So there weren't nickel corners, extra safeties, etc. eating up interceptions.
If you look at the NFL's all-time leading interceptors, the top guys are mostly guys who played before the "modern era" of throwing 30-50 times a game and back when they played fewer games per season. You would think it would be the opposite, but here are guys that modern football fans have never heard of:
1. Paul Krause
2. Emlen Tunnell
4. Dick "Night Train" Lane
5. Ken Riley
10. Dave Brown
11. Dick LeBeau
12. Emmitt Thomas
Modern players are mixed in there (Rod Woodson #3, Charles Woodson tied at #5, etc.), but yeah...quarterbacks just sucked back then. (And I'm not really insulting them; it's just that the game hadn't evolved at that point.)
I'm trying to remember how football offenses worked back then. Michigan commonly had a single wide out, with two tight ends in close for run support. I don't remember a lot of passes to running backs. That leaves one TE and the one wideout as the target for passing. I would think a CB would cover the wideout, with the safety (which Tom Curtis was) playing somewhat in the middle of the field.
DeleteSo my question now is: from what kind of passing plays did someone like Curtis make most of his interceptions? Would it have been under/over-thrown balls to the wideout, or was it more sneaking in under the TE trying to leak out?
My memory is failing me trying to remember games from back then and the kind of passing game that emerged in a run-heavy offensive scheme.
Curtis was really good.
DeleteMore importantly he was always cheating in that while he definitely had definite responsibilities against the run, he played behind just a real consistent gang of ass kicking run defenders. He spent most of his time on passing downs reading QBs eyes. Passing offenses were basically your dad's Buick compared to what football has become today. Curtis was way smarter than the average bear ... or safety, and then, never really encountered anything more complex than streak, streak, drag across. He spent lots of downs just sitting on your QB's eyes.
He was a pretty good hitter too, as you would expect from a guy playing safety for Bo.
Thanks! That helps!
Deleteeither The Game is winnable or NW is gonna push our poop in ... get to work, Sherrone!
ReplyDeleteI'm embarrassed to not know this, but has the college ball changed since the late 60s?
ReplyDeleteAccording to a quick Google search, the ball has not changed much since 1934.
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crTgwcuzqL0
ReplyDeleteThis is mostly about the NFL Ball.
@jeLLLLLLLLLy
ReplyDeleteFWIW – I 100% agree that coaches can be criticized. Everyone makes mistakes and can learn. Practice tells you a lot but games are different. It’s not black and white. “Always” is always wrong.
I criticize coaches myself. Approach to injury management. Scholarship allocations. Playcalling. I wouldn’t be reading this post if I thought it was always wrong to criticize coaches.
Where I take umbrage with many fans is the constant criticism of personnel decisions. It’s particularly acute with Michigan fans but it’s universal. And fans are usually wrong. Almost always wrong? We don’t get to see practice, and even if we did, we wouldn’t be as good as the guys getting paid 7 figures to make the calls.
The backup QB talk happens every year. Every dang year. It may be 1% of fans or 50% of fans but it happens. Some people booed Patterson? C’mon.
I don’t know that it’s ever been validated at Michigan. Peters probably got closest but he wasn’t exactly good and the coaches were proven right to be afraid of letting him do anything risky.
The RB talk happens every year – ditto. These bold calls for backups are proven to be wrong across multiple coaching staffs, teams, leagues.
Sometimes – most times – the things that went wrong went wrong for reasons other than personnel. That’s lazy thinking, IMO. It’s knee-jerk.
There’s an inherent naive optimism to this. Bit of hope in the face of evidence. Easy fix. Seeing what you hope to see. Human nature I guess but I think our coaching staff has been good enough to have earned a bit more respect.
---------------
Does that sound like a new perspective to you jellllly?
Trust those coaches on personnel decisions, explicitly not everything.
It was posted in 2019.
https://touch-the-banner.com/michigan-vs-middle-tennessee-state-awards/
5 years ago! And now you want to fantasize about jedubs.
You have no memory, only fantasies.
and Ls. soooo many Ls
Posting this here and in the other thread just you can't dodge this one.
I'll always accept your white flag, Lank
DeleteNo need for an essay though. The rest of us are fine with questioning coaches, so your BS excuses & list of exceptions are irrelevant
You got caught in another one of your fantasies. Exposed yet again. With years old proof this time.
DeleteNothing but lies, because every accusation is a confession.
And on the topic of the depth chart -- the best you got it is Ulizio over JBB in ALL these years of crying. I called it out years ago. And you're empty handed until this incompetent staff came along. You try and stretch and duck, lie and avoid the truth. But in the end you're left with another L on the pile.
I gotcha again. Facts vs fantasies. Hold it up.
I told no lies. Yours include deception & misrepresent facts & quotes. Here's the reality:
DeleteCorum played ONE play after his injury, could barely move, and quickly headed for surgery. He did not dress again until the NEXT season ... this injury is NOT the same as finger boo-boos & speculated rumors about Devin Gardner, when both players dressed & participating in ea game before & after
Your boy played extended snaps immediately before and after benching, and sucked regardless
In *2o14* Devin got benched for bad play, and Hoke chose to start Shane. He was awful, so Devin finished that game & the rest of the season ... it's all in the links, including YOUR posts at the time
#outsmarted
#tooeasy
#jeDub
https://www.mlive.com/wolverines/2014/09/devin_gardner_or_shane_morris.html
https://touchthebanner.blogspot.com/2014/09/minnesota-30-michigan-14.html?m=1
***
"SPECULATED that Gardner's throws were so bad that the most obvious explanation was that he was hurt ... "
now I got this fool going back 1o yrs lying about unproven, online conspiracy theory
***
while omitting the rest:
"In context this was the worst game of his career, and it doesn't seem close" ...
"a lot of balls that were just miles off" ...
"Yeesh. That window was there. And also it's Funchess arm punt and give your guy a chance. Don't leave it TEN yards short" ...
"And that wasn't even the least accurate throw. That has to be Gardner finding AJ Williams WIDE open 50 yards downfield and throwing it about 30, making it seem like Jehu Chesson was the target when he certainly was not" ...
it is bad when your QB looks like a malfunctioning t-shirt cannon"
https://mgoblog.com/content/upon-further-review-2014-offense-vs-utah
You're getting beaten because you're not smart enough, and resort to lies
#exposed