hybrid duo

I apologize for this taking awhile to get out but gravity hasn’t been functioning properly since last Monday night, and it’s hard to type when your feet won’t touch the ground. I was also trying to wrap my head around all of the parts of Michigan’s pass defense to show you, until I realized that’s going to require an entire UFR (that and the Rose Bowl one forthcoming).

So let’s do something simple that you can show your friends and relatives for equal enjoyment, that being the Michigan run game that blew a big enough hole in the Washington defense to drive a national championship parade through it.

The star of the Michigan running game, once again, was Duo, the Schembechler favorite that Harbaugh re-popularized in the middle teens. This was foreseeable. Washington has weak DTs and linebackers prone to big mistakes they can’t fix with Alabama LB athleticism. Even without Zak Zinter, Michigan has an experienced, large, mashing offensive line. But to really make it work against Washington, they had to have so much more. And while these plays are probably already being talked to death, when we talk about Michigan’s offense, we ought to understand how much value all of these parts are bringing to a running game that won them the Championship.

[AFTER THE JUMP: Big runs]

FORMATION NOTES: Indiana didn't do the thing.

There was maybe one corner blitz all day. They lined up in off coverage and the only instance of a hard cover two trap was the weird play on the goal line where Johnson ran the wrong route. For much of the second half they were content to sit with six in the box against three-wide and insert safeties late.

SUBSTITUTION NOTES: Wilson, Johnson, Loveland, and Barner in a dead heat around 40 snaps for the leader amongst WR/TE sorts. Morris and Bredeson got about 20 each. Moore, Morgan, and English got around 10, mostly late. For the sickos curious about the third string line: Gentry/Herring/Anderson/Guidice/Noah Stewart.

[After THE JUMP: same thing, different week]