Ryan Van Bergen on Michigan's defense: "Where could we potentially be if we continue to get better? That's the question the defensive guys are asking themselves.

Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com

A month into this season, it's second best.

It's a remarkable turnaround, considering the depths to which that unit sank the past two years. Now, the No. 12 Wolverines (5-0, 1-0 Big Ten) are fresh off a 58-0 shellacking of Minnesota, their first shutout of a Big Ten team in a decade.

That's the biggest win in the history of the more-than-century-old rivalry. Yet, it's not good enough.

"It looks encouraging, if you look at the stats and watch the game as a fan," defensive tackle Ryan Van Bergen said Monday during the team's weekly news conference.

"But as a player, when you know what other guys are capable of, and you know what their assignment was, and you still are able to make the play regardless of the fact someone might have had a (missed assignment), or a small mental error, you want to see the team play clicking on all cylinders."

If this is what Michigan looks like defensively when it's not clicking on all cylinders, then what will it look like when it is?

Not like it has the past three years, certainly. The Wolverines seem to be turning a corner many thought they wouldn't only a year removed from allowing 35.2 points per game.

Now, Michigan is allowing a paltry 10.2. Only Alabama is better.

Yet, there still are critiques.

Van Bergen said when defensive coordinator Greg Mattison entered the room for their Sunday film session, he wasn't congratulatory. Rather, he focused on some first downs they shouldn't have allowed and a couple missed assignments.

Coach Brady Hoke said "we still don’t blitz worth a dog, period."

"They'll tell you exactly what you need to hear, regardless of whether it's what you want to hear or not," Van Bergen said.

Players have fed off that never-good-enough philosophy, even adopting it as their own. Here's Van Bergen's assessment of where one of the country's best defenses is right now:

"We're OK, but right now, it's, 'Where's the ceiling? Where could we potentially be if we continue to get better?'" he said. "That's the question the defensive guys are asking themselves.

"We realize we haven't played as good as we could, yet we have the stats we do."

Hoke said his staff has begun to taper introducing new schemes -- Michigan is running a 4-3 after using a 3-3-5 last year -- to ensure players master what they already know and focus on fundamentals.

"Better to have 11 guys in position than maybe that great defense that you think you may have called and have guys confused," he said.

Normally, it takes some time for players to pick up a new scheme, particularly at game speed. That, obviously, has not been the case. The secondary has improved each week, as has the defensive line.

"We’ve been a little more disruptive," Hoke said "That’s enabled the linebackers to do their job. I think we put a little bit more pressure at times on the quarterback."

There's also the in-game adjustments, which have helped Michigan get stronger as games progress. The Wolverines are winning the first quarter 28-21, and the rest of the quarters 158-30.

They're winning the fourth quarter 48-7. It has been their best quarter.

Part of that also is a function of Michigan's ability to sustain offensive drives, which has helped to keep the defense off the field — and rested.

"I played 28 plays on Saturday, and there were games last year I played 85-90 plays," Van Bergen said. "When you're only playing limited amount of reps, you can sell out and have the gas (pedal) all the way down through the whole game. That's something everybody's been able to do."

That's all helped to start erasing the embarrassment players experienced the past three years.

"The thing that kind of hit home for us, as the guys who are veterans, was that there were criticisms that we weren't giving our effort, we weren't preparing the way a Michigan defense should, we weren't physical the way a Michigan defense should be," Van Bergen said.

"When we got our new coaches and our new staff, we had the scheme come in, which was great for us, but we also had an unbelievable hunger of, 'Yeah, we accept the fact we weren't where we needed to be last year.'

"We'll do anything and everything to be good this year."

So far, they are.

Kyle Meinke covers Michigan football for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at 734-623-2588, by email at kylemeinke@annarbor.com and followed on Twitter @kmeinke.