TheWolverine.com - By The Numbers: Michigan's pass rush has struggled

March 4, 2013

Michael Spath
TheWolverine.com Senior Writer

Over the last five seasons, Michigan has ranked as one of the worst teams in the Big Ten at rushing the passer, sitting just ninth among the league's 12 teams in accumulating 121 quarterback takedowns.

From 2008-12, the Wolverines had a high of 30 sacks in 2011, ranking fourth in the Big Ten during that campaign, but they've ranked seventh or worse in every other season (see chart) and have tallied just six more sacks than Indiana over that five-year stretch.

Nebraska has been the Big Ten's most dominant team up front, averaging 32.4 takedowns per year en route to 162 overall. Penn State is second with 152 and Michigan State third with 145.

Individually, Brandon Graham (10, 2008; 10.5, 2009) is one of nine players nationally to record double-digit sacks twice during the past five years.

Both Florida State and Connecticut have produced four double-digit sack campaigns while Texas, Texas A&M, Nevada, Troy, Georgia, Arizona State, Houston and TCU have had three seasons in which a player has reached 10 or more QB takedowns.

In the Big Ten, only Michigan and Purdue (Ryan Kerrigan, 2009-10) have had two performances of 10 or more sacks while 11 of 12 teams have had at least one such effort. The lone program without a double-digit sack campaign is Ohio State.

There were 26 different players across the country to record 10 or more sacks in 2008, 21 in 2009, 18 in 2010, 13 in 2011 and 22 in 2012. Of these 100 total, Graham represented 2.0 percent.

Michigan's five-year haul of 121 represented a significant drop from the previous five years, when U-M had 151 sacks from 2003-07, including a high of 42 in 2006.

Rk./Team	2012 (Rank)	2011 (Rank)	2010 (Rank)	2009 (Rank)	2008 (Rank)	Total
1. Nebraska	31 (2nd)	21 (9th)	31 (2nd)	44 (1st)	35 (1st)	162
2. Penn State	34 (1st)	31 (3rd)	17 (9th)	37 (T2nd)	33 (T3rd)	152
3. Michigan State	20 (11th)	44 (1st)	20 (7th)	35 (4th)	26 (9th)	145
4. Wisconsin	30 (T3rd)	25 (5th)	23 (T3rd)	37 (T2nd)	23 (11th)	138
5. Illinois	21 (10th)	41 (2nd)	23 (T3rd)	19 (12th)	32 (5th)	136
6. Purdue	22 (T8th)	22 (T7th)	33 (1st)	32 (5th)	24 (10th)	133
Ohio State	30 (T3rd)	23 (6th)	23 (T3rd)	30 (T7th)	27 (8th)	133
8. Northwestern	28 (5th)	17 (12th)	16 (10th)	30 (T7th)	34 (2nd)	125
9. Michigan	22 (T8th)	30 (4th)	18 (8th)	22 (T10th)	29 (7th)	121
10. Indiana	27 (6th)	18 (11th)	15 (11th)	25 (9th)	30 (6th)	115
11. Minnesota	26 (7th)	19 (10th)	8 (12th)	22 (T10th)	33 (T3rd)	108
12. Iowa	13 (12th)	22 (T7th)	22 (6th)	31 (6th)	18 (12th)	106