Iowa Snowflakes: The Offense
October 1st, 2022 at 3:17 PM ^
The play calling was and continues to be ass.
October 1st, 2022 at 3:18 PM ^
Disagree, there's one way Iowa wins that game and they didn't allow it.
October 1st, 2022 at 3:26 PM ^
JJ hasn't thrown an int yet in 5 games. There are safer throws that they can make that are better than running into a stacked box and punting and letting Iowa back in it.
October 1st, 2022 at 3:51 PM ^
that could have been a text book boot leg. Everyone committed to the dive play.
October 1st, 2022 at 10:51 PM ^
We also had several 1 on 1 match ups with no safety.
I thought it was a chance to take a deep shot.
Who knows though, I did think it was foolish to just plow straight ahead into a mountain of Iowa players.
October 2nd, 2022 at 7:30 AM ^
If JJ keeps on the 3rd and 1, he might still be running. I'm not sure if the play call allowed him the option to pull it though. But for the love of God, please pull it a bit more often. At least enough to keep the defense honest.
October 2nd, 2022 at 9:07 AM ^
compound words, my friend. Compound words. Foot + Ball = Football. Text + Book = textbook. Boot + leg = bootleg
October 1st, 2022 at 8:03 PM ^
The last series I didn’t understand the run, run, pass sequence. When you can confuse Klatt to the point where he’s like “why use 2 downs to keep clock running and then pass on 3rd and stop it for them” was fairly indicative of the disjointed decisions that seem to pop up a few times a game.
October 1st, 2022 at 10:55 PM ^
That was our 2nd last series. I didn't mind it.
We had done well running the ball. We ran it twice and didn't get anywhere, so to pass on 3rd to try and pick up a 1st down was a gamble probably worth taking.
October 1st, 2022 at 4:18 PM ^
But we want exciting games with high powered offense! Ball security and two score wins be damned! The best results for a top 5 team visiting Iowa in 3 decades does not appease us!
October 1st, 2022 at 4:33 PM ^
WeThem -- correct answer and you deserve all the upvotes. There's a valid reason our offense looked this way today.
October 1st, 2022 at 3:19 PM ^
Agree very disappointed with our offense we have all this talent and we waste it. We run our plays way to slow and don't utilize our speed. Very disappointed. Thank God Iowa's offense is terrible or we might have lost.
October 1st, 2022 at 7:36 PM ^
Thank God Iowa's offense is terrible or we might have lost.
That's what every team that beats Iowa this year will say. They are 2/3 of the way to having a great team. Fortunately for the rest of the B1G, they can't even be mediocre at the other 1/3.
October 2nd, 2022 at 9:09 AM ^
No top 5 team had scored more than 24 in Kinnick in the last 20 years. But yea, 27 points with a relatively breathable victory = offensive failure.
October 1st, 2022 at 3:20 PM ^
Hard disagree. We were up against the #1 defense on the road. That 3rd and 1 miss felt bad because we missed but they literally had nit stopped Corum once. It felt like an audible out would be good but I get it. The next series there was so little time left why not burn clock and give JJ a Chance on third down. The game was then all but over.
October 1st, 2022 at 9:19 PM ^
Lol for calling Iowa's defense the #1 defense. Let's stop the shenanigans.
October 1st, 2022 at 11:01 PM ^
ESPN's FPI has Iowa with the #4 defense and there is a small gap up to #1.
That offense has constantly put the defense in bad spots and 3 and outs.
October 1st, 2022 at 3:22 PM ^
No neg from me but the disagree. They methodically moves down the field at will. A missed deep ball and a couple other mistakes and this game is UM at 34-41 points on the board.
October 1st, 2022 at 3:23 PM ^
The play calling was brilliant through 2.5 quarters. Once JJ had that backward pass things ground down; that’s a philosophical choice I don’t like from the HC more than a play calling choice. The plays in the first half, especially the first drive, were outstanding.
October 1st, 2022 at 3:47 PM ^
Yep, JH seemed to get a little too conservative for my taste down the stretch, but hey, we won and covered.
October 1st, 2022 at 7:40 PM ^
Easily the best opening drive of the season in my view.
October 1st, 2022 at 3:24 PM ^
If there's ever a team to turtle and play it safe it's this one. Iowa's defense routinely out scores their offense, don't give them anything dangerous, especially when backed up.
October 1st, 2022 at 5:54 PM ^
Yes but the long pass would be open and everyone including me wishes they throw a few more. JJ will keep overshooting them like he did Wilson if it's once a game.
October 1st, 2022 at 6:04 PM ^
Throwing an extra deep ball or two per game isn’t going to make the QB any more accurate with them… he throws dozens of them a week in practice. One or two more isn’t going to make a difference in his timing, touch or accuracy
October 1st, 2022 at 9:53 PM ^
Maybe they need to throw some more in practice then.
October 1st, 2022 at 3:26 PM ^
They played smart against a dominant defense that is built to generate turnovers against everyone it plays. It wasn’t a sexy win, but top-5 teams never win sexy at Kinnick. Every other top-5 team that has rolled in there in the last decade has either lost, or had to win on the last play of the game.
They did what they needed to in order to get out of one of the scariest stadiums in the country with a win.
October 1st, 2022 at 3:33 PM ^
Bingo. We didn't route them like B1GC game but this is a hard place to play. JJ"s first road game. Have to be conservative. Don't beat yourself up and UM did that.
October 1st, 2022 at 3:37 PM ^
Going to expand on this a bit:
Michigan's first 5 possessions were:
75 yards for a TD
35 yards, punt, this is where JJ got tripped on first down and lost 5 yards, freakish event.
54 yards for a FG
61 yards for a FG
67 yards for a TD
At this point it's 20-0 against a baaaad Iowa offense. Michigan used terrific variety on all downs. They took openings the defense gave them. They didn't push deep often (though the JJ trip may have been a setup for a deep shot) but didn't need to. They used Anthony, Bell, Schoonmaker, and Edwards. Corum was getting easy yards behind the OL. JJ was nearly perfect. You'd like one of those FGs to be a TD, but otherwise you can't ask for much more.
The next drive was the drive where JJ got hit while releasing the ball and it went backward (that would have been the second consecutive pass to Donovan Edwards; that's zero runs on first and second down, that's not turtling). So Michigan punted. The next time Michigan got the ball back it was the 4th quarter. They had two three-and-outs as Iowa was pushing to come back. I would have liked them to be more aggressive on that first three-and-out--Iowa telegraphed what they were going to do on 3rd-and-1 and Michigan could have converted quite easily if they hadn't run Corum.
But that's one complaint. Two drives where Michigan didn't do a great job of running clock. That's it. Two drives, with a lead of 2 scores. And people are lighting themselves on fire over it.
October 1st, 2022 at 3:47 PM ^
And people are lighting themselves on fire over it.
First time here at MGoBlog? :)
October 1st, 2022 at 3:50 PM ^
I don’t super love the lack of aggression down the stretch, but as you said, Iowa had a pretty big mountain to climb by then. I’m OK not giving them anything free there.
October 1st, 2022 at 4:36 PM ^
Fantastic post. Everyone needs to read this. We played this way for a reason.
I would have liked some more aggressiveness on the two FG drives, but okay, that's just a nitpick. You've got the Groza winner and are 100% trying to avoid TOs. It was fine.
October 1st, 2022 at 4:41 PM ^
Thanks for laying this all out and well said! I think some of the complaints people are levying about the conservative play calling in the 4th quarter may be premature. That’s projection of how this performance would fare against the likes of OSU (and maybe PSU) where conservative play calling would lead to 3 and outs and to an actual comeback against Michigan. I think we can probably assume that the game plan in the 4th quarter against much better teams would be a lot different. The offense played very disciplined and mistake-free football for about 3 quarters and was taking nearly everything Iowa could give them. I do wish that they would still give JJ some more responsibility and let him make some plays out there, but in the first true road game against Iowa, you really can’t complain too much about the way the offensive coaches handled it.
October 1st, 2022 at 4:52 PM ^
I only had 3 complaints on playcalling. First was speed option on 3rd and 4, I absolutely hate speed option it usually doesn’t work because it’s rarely ever used. Second was running Corum on 3rd and 1 when it was clear Iowa was selling out to jam the middle. Corum is good but he’s still human, that was the perfect opportunity to run JJ. Third was passing on 3rd and 8 one drive later, with 4 minutes left and a 13 point lead…needed to be a run or quick screen to keep the clock moving or force Iowa to burn a timeout.
October 1st, 2022 at 5:40 PM ^
I love how this post, and breakdowns of what actually happened defensively show that the people complaining are really reaching, and using raw stats that have zero context.
October 1st, 2022 at 3:48 PM ^
5-0 is 5-0
Just won at Iowa
People said the same thing last year. Now, remind me how last year turned out?
October 1st, 2022 at 3:50 PM ^
Lol what? The play calling was masterful. Literally everything was working in the 2.5 quarters. The stops were things like Keegan steps on JJs foot or JJ fumbles backwards for 15 yards.
At the point it’s 20-0, the only way they can come back is quick 3 and outs or turnovers. Rbs we’re getting 4.8 YPC, corum looked like the best player on the field. Pounding the rock and making their offense beat you was absolutely the right call.
October 1st, 2022 at 4:26 PM ^
They had 3 quick 3 and outs in a row and let Iowa back in it.
October 1st, 2022 at 4:47 PM ^
None of that had anything to do with playcalling. First one was the 20 yard loss on the backward pass. Not a play call issue. 2nd one was a run on 3rd and 1, which worked on 3 previous conversions. No reason to out smart yourself, hard to fault them for going with what worked. If you throw there and don’t get it, people still complain. And the final was due to a tipped pass. Again not a play calling thing. If you’re mad about the 1st and 2nd down runs, well you’re on the 5 yard line and there are less than 6 min left in the game, you’re up 2 scores and their offense is terrible. Run, run, pass was absolutely the correct call their. If they went run, run, run on 3rd and 7 then people would have a point that the play calling was too conservative. But that didn’t happen so the whining is misplaced.
when I say quick 3 and outs I mean 3 straight incomplete passes that takes 40 seconds off the clock. Not a 3 and out that burns 2 min with 6 min left in the game against a terrible offense.
October 1st, 2022 at 4:52 PM ^
The blue collar "final score 20-21 book it"
October 1st, 2022 at 6:07 PM ^
Let Iowa back in it
At what point was Iowa “back in it?” The closest they got was 13 points.
October 1st, 2022 at 6:11 PM ^
Which to Iowa may as well be 100 points.
October 1st, 2022 at 6:53 PM ^
Iowa lives off stuffing the run and making you throw dumb passes. Neither happened today. Your opinions are ass.
October 2nd, 2022 at 1:48 AM ^
As someone who thought the paly calling last week was, indeed, ass, this week was quite good. I wish we would've run Corum to the edge on that 3rd and 1 call, but that's it.
October 1st, 2022 at 3:17 PM ^
Conservative, but fine...
October 1st, 2022 at 5:04 PM ^
Will take getting out of the pink locker room fuckhole with a W every time.
October 1st, 2022 at 3:17 PM ^
The first half was a clinic
The second half was classic Harbaugh Turtle™️
October 1st, 2022 at 3:17 PM ^
Excellent
October 1st, 2022 at 3:18 PM ^
Too conservative
October 1st, 2022 at 3:26 PM ^
Against a team that scores exclusively via defensive turnovers?? Na, this was classic old school big ten football and the coaches called it almost perfectly.
October 1st, 2022 at 3:18 PM ^
Started out good. Didn't need to do more. Actually felt like one of those "don't put stuff on tape" games.
A great win for the Michigan Corums