Indiana Snowflakes: The Offense
October 9th, 2022 at 7:56 AM ^
You are wasting your breath Stephen. People see what they see and they are not going to give you schemes except to say "running into stacked box" including me. Just against Iowa, they ran a counter reverse. Mind you, I just learn these terms by watching various shows and most of us are probably not savvy enough to know the differences. Harbaugh does seem like he messes with various running schemes compared to passing schemes.
Just this year, the game plan has been different against each of the last 3 teams. In IU game, they did try to run a bit when IU was ready to take it away in the first half. But, that setup nicely for the fourth quarter and they couldn't stop us mostly. It is who Harbaugh is, but a pretty damn good coach.
October 9th, 2022 at 8:24 AM ^
this, right here. “saving stuff” apparently means trick plays that make people gasp in surprise for one or two plays…not constraint plays off established schemes that will put a team in a trash can for a half. which - as you so ably point out - we do all the time.
then, when we do pull something out - the abortive ronnie bell pass, the speed option - people complain that we didn’t set it up properly, or it was a dumb idea in general, or we should’ve saved it for ohio state instead of using it during a game we have in hand.
i think harbaugh is just constantly evolving and tweaking his approach. i bet he’s extremely hard to prepare for.
October 8th, 2022 at 7:43 PM ^
I mean... Michigan continually added new wrinkles and plays to the offense last year as the season wore on. How many times did we motion Edwards out wide and dump it off and then the first touchdown against OSU was a play to the side of the field that was evacuated when the entire defense paid attention to Edwards motioning out. Two new OCs and a new Quarterback. It's pretty reasonable to think Michigan isn't doing everything yet.
October 8th, 2022 at 8:17 PM ^
Jabrill might, but we know Orji's gonna run. I'm cringing when I see the wildcat coming once again.
October 8th, 2022 at 11:02 PM ^
The only game it's actually felt like we've saved things for was the B1G championship
October 9th, 2022 at 12:31 PM ^
I don’t know if you remember last years Maryland, Ohio State, and Iowa B10 champ game or not?
Harbaugh has absolutely saved things for October/November games in the past.
Or how about last year against MSU where all before that game we complained about no downfield passing game then all of a sudden a 400 yard passing day.
Harbaugh and staff can frustrate us a lot with their conservativeness, I know, but they also have a tendency to take what is given to them and not bother risking a loss for the sake of opening up more downfield passes.
Washington game last year is a great example of that.
Harbaugh has a lot of NFL in him, so he often goes for what gets you the win, not the for huge stats the fans prefer.
Also, look up our average yard per play difference in comparison with our opponent’s yards per play….hint hint….it is elite, and has been most years under Harbaugh, UM has just had the misfortune of playing the 5 or 6 best/most athletic OSU teams of all time in his tenure, which has greatly tainted our view of Harbaugh and staff’s coaching prowess.
Trust me, I go into every game hoping to see multiple 50+ yard plays (which we actually led the country in last year), but just because we don’t get them, doesn’t mean we have some archaic coaching staff who doesn’t have a plan or realize they have tendencies (which they will break, and have more or less on a year to year basis, even with the past losses to Ohio State). I take last year as closer to the ideal Harbaugh had in his mind of how seasons and team development pan out, not the former years of playing catch up from being about 10 years behind Ohio State.
i remember the Hoke years when we truly had an offense that had absolutely zero creativity, and the entire offense would regress as the season went on, and then suddenly Harbaugh shows up and everyone on this board is talking about how much Rudock and the offense improved as the season went on, and how we have an NFL ability to be creative in our offensive schemes, even if it’s more power run based (and we still are) And his teams have more or less improved each year as the season went on, even 2017 had a great game plan for OSU. We hit a buzz saw with an all of a sudden OSU super air raid a la Ryan Day in 2018, a JUGGERNAUT OSU in 2019, and then a fake COVID year.
It’s not going to be perfect, but we are finally where we want to be and very close to how Harbaugh envisioned things, and there will be tweaks over time, but we are here. Thank god we waited and didn’t pull the trigger on our coach or this staff.
Let’s see the season out and see if we can slay the Death Star in Columbus, and maybe end up in a national championship game, and maybe even win it!
Go Blue.
….Offense looked great when they needed to in the second half, minus one uncharacteristic drop from Johnson…
October 8th, 2022 at 8:09 PM ^
"saving it for next week" my favorite mgoblog delusion
October 8th, 2022 at 3:49 PM ^
Sure there will be complainers about a conference road game, 3 score win.
But I'm happy with JJ's accuracy and with his first 300+ yard game.
O line played well.
October 8th, 2022 at 3:49 PM ^
As soon as they opened up the game and allowed JJ to use some talent they pulled away. Amazingly they took the handcuffs off inside the two yard line, the one time it would be completely legitimate to turtle.
October 8th, 2022 at 3:50 PM ^
JJ played really well. OLine had near perfect pass pro. RBs got what they could, and Corum still had 100+ yards and a tuddy on a slog of a day.
Our passing scheme was super underwhelming against one of the worst pass defenses in the country. If Nebraska can scheme guys wide open all day, we should be able to get more than a couple of yards of separation once in a while.
Sometimes I wonder if Matt Weiss has too much respect for college defenses. It's quite easy to make them bust -- especially at Indiana's level -- if you mess with their keys, rather than simply try to beat guys straight up.
October 8th, 2022 at 4:21 PM ^
The "couple of yards of separation" comment is on target. The interception basically was a linebacker staying with Ronnie Bell, which is "does not compute" to me.
The first half seemed like a lot of short passes to Schoonmaker, who's a nice TE with an NFL future, but well he's going to get you 5, maybe 10, yards, not 30. I was ready to start a thread about the quality of the receivers, because if that's your passing game against this Indiana team, then maybe we should dial back expectations a bit.
October 8th, 2022 at 4:52 PM ^
I’m getting back into my “look at Harbaugh” trap again, but while the formations vary this feels a lot like other Harbaugh teams. Rare programmed deep shots married with a passing game that otherwise seems to shorten the field; play designs that sacrifice some efficiency to set up a counter in a later game; some creative plays that intersperse with some very conventional ones.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve liked a lot of what I’ve seen this year, but I feel like Michigan’s passing offense under Harbaugh has a certain feel to it that cuts across most coordinators (except in games where they randomly turn on “attack” setting, eg MSU last year), and it feels like Michigan gets comfortable tipping plays and setting things up and then pulls new stuff out of that in later weeks.
A lot of this is feelingsball. We don’t have all-22 and it’s really hard to analyze the passing game in context. But it does seem like Michigan is just ok with some very easy-to-read tendencies and that a big part of that is to set up one or two trick counters in later weeks.
October 8th, 2022 at 9:25 PM ^
We have literally no vertical passing game over multiple game. It's amazing, really. Doesn't matter who the QB is, even one who threw frozen ropes when he was the backup.
October 8th, 2022 at 3:50 PM ^
Once the play calling opened up in the 4th quarter, it was like a brand new offense. Everything was fluid, plays stacked up on each other, and Michigan moved the ball with ease. Hopefully it doesn't take until the 4th quarter for them to do that next week.
October 8th, 2022 at 3:52 PM ^
Whichever O coord won the 4th quarter play calling bingo I hope they win some more.
October 8th, 2022 at 6:06 PM ^
Winner!
October 8th, 2022 at 3:51 PM ^
Klatt’s comments about predictability out of motion and underuse of play action made a lot of sense, but it also looked like they might have opened up the playbook a bit in the second half. They’ll need their A game next week.
October 8th, 2022 at 3:54 PM ^
Also Brian's observation that pistol tips run is still very true. You saw Indiana's linebackers attacking downhill whenever we went pistol. Need to run some PA off of it, even if it's just to put it on film.
October 8th, 2022 at 4:12 PM ^
Hopefully the coaches are holding that for next week & will put it on film a couple of times for big plays
October 8th, 2022 at 4:20 PM ^
Said every UM fan every football weekend since 1976
October 8th, 2022 at 7:49 PM ^
We lost in the playoff to Georgia because we didn't want to put our good plays on tape
October 8th, 2022 at 4:17 PM ^
I was wondering about that and really hoping we are withholding/head faking stuff. This pistol tendency is twinning OSU last year when 10 out of 10 times in pistol against us they ran and we would check to a blitz.
October 8th, 2022 at 3:51 PM ^
Running on first down, don’t do it so much.
October 8th, 2022 at 3:51 PM ^
This week I’m choosing to believe that Michigan spent 6 games setting Penn State up for an offensive masterpiece lol
October 8th, 2022 at 3:51 PM ^
It was a great second half. JJ got in rhythm. Corum got back on track. Great WR catches and of course Schoonmaker.
The stats were very good including long drives and got TDs.
October 8th, 2022 at 3:52 PM ^
They’ll get this thing rolling. Prayers for Mike Hart.
October 8th, 2022 at 3:52 PM ^
a lot like the Star Wars series of films, really.
October 8th, 2022 at 3:52 PM ^
Anthony not being on the field 70% of the time is a mystery.
October 8th, 2022 at 3:52 PM ^
I give it a B.
October 8th, 2022 at 3:53 PM ^
McCarthy impressed me. Even his INT was a damn good throw. Plus, he's absolutely lethal on the run. I hope they keep him moving, but lose things like that huge hit he took.
October 8th, 2022 at 4:23 PM ^
The keeper with JJ spinning back to the middle of the D when we’re up 2 scores and have Indiana in a sleeper hold where he got his head taken off seems like odd timing. Let’s not do that kthx
October 8th, 2022 at 4:25 PM ^
I agree with the rest, but the INT was a forced throw to a well covered Bell on 2nd down. I don’t think it’s a throw you expect to get intercepted, that was bad luck, but I think the throw was a notch too aggressive.
October 8th, 2022 at 5:17 PM ^
I hear you, but I think it's a style thing. Bell should've been able to get separation from a linebacker, JJ made the throw, but the LB went against type and made a pretty outstanding play. If he's not making the play of his life, that's a TD.
October 8th, 2022 at 3:53 PM ^
That first half Welcome Back Kotter offense was some pure bullshit.
Nice adjustments at the half though.
October 8th, 2022 at 3:53 PM ^
THROW THE FUCKING BALL!
October 8th, 2022 at 4:04 PM ^
They did. JJ was 28 for 36. Maybe that’s not enough, but it got the job done.
October 8th, 2022 at 4:20 PM ^
What is the school record for season completion percentage?
October 8th, 2022 at 4:26 PM ^
He clearly underperformed.
0.777777777777778 <<<< than his 79% pre-Indiana #1 in college football completion percentage.
October 8th, 2022 at 4:31 PM ^
So the thing people complained about the most last year about Cade (short and intermediate passes) are what those same people are going to cheer about now?
October 8th, 2022 at 5:32 PM ^
I think we're cheering the inclusion of those same short throws into a larger repertoire.
October 8th, 2022 at 7:09 PM ^
Nobody complained about Cade's 300 yard+ passing game. Nobody.
October 8th, 2022 at 8:22 PM ^
Yeah I remember when cade was leading the country in completion percentage
October 8th, 2022 at 6:02 PM ^
We came out throwing in the second half and buried them. The first half was the problem.
October 8th, 2022 at 3:53 PM ^
Corum with another 100+ yard game.
JJ is basically Cade that can also run 10-20 yards a game regardless of how much the media, fans, coaches hype him up as being a combo of Lamar, Mahomes, Brady, and Rogers. Feel like 90% of the completions today were less than 15 yards.
Seems like everyone was sleeping the first half maybe looking ahead to Penn State?
October 8th, 2022 at 3:57 PM ^
He’s still pretty raw. Let’s see how he develops.
October 8th, 2022 at 4:01 PM ^
Idk. He looked pretty good pushing the ball down the field in the 2nd half besides that interception.
October 8th, 2022 at 9:02 PM ^
I still don't have a problem with that interception. WR on a LB. You make that throw every time. It was even accurate. I think it was just a great play by the LB on a tough matchup.
October 8th, 2022 at 4:51 PM ^
While I'm with you that JJ is way overhyped at the moment, I do think he has a much higher ceiling than Cade. As far as JJ being Cade...not a great take considering JJ's completion percentage is 14 points higher than Cade's was last year.
It does sort of feel like JJ has been "managing" the game, like a lot of us complained about Cade last year (including me). Granted, so far, JJ has been a much better game manager in his starts than Cade typically was last year. Only halfway through the season though. It also seems like 80% of the plays that JJ ran last year have been taken out of the play book when he was given the starting job
October 8th, 2022 at 5:10 PM ^
The strength of schedule this year is significantly less than last year.
October 8th, 2022 at 6:39 PM ^
Yeah I don't disagree with that. but even against the lesser competition last year, McNamara had issues with missing open receivers and inaccuracy that we havent seen on the same scale with JJ.
The offense does need to find a way to send the ball downfield more often though.