Let’s begin our weekly stop rate update with a little appreciation for the brilliance of Michigan defensive coordinator Don Brown after a 42-7 trouncing of Penn State that merited the highest possible praise from his boss.



“He’s the king,” Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh said. “He’s the king of defensive coordinators.”



Stop rate is a simple measure of defensive success: the percentage of a defense’s drives that end in punts, turnovers or turnover on downs. We’re tracking all 130 FBS teams by this metric all season. And Michigan is terrific at getting stops.



The Wolverines’ defense has moved up in the stop rate standings every week. Two games in, this unit ranked No. 37. They’re now up to No. 4 and are getting stops on 82.2 percent of all drives. And because they get off the field and let their offense rank fourth best nationally in time of possession, they’re only having to play 11.9 drives...