Think We'll See More Trick Plays This Year?

Submitted by BursleyHall82 on

I'm sure somebody has studied this, but what's Harbaugh's track record when it comes to running trick plays? I know we've had a few, but it seems like through the years, our opponents have run more of them than we have. I can't remember but one or two during the entire Hoke era.

We saw a bunch of them in the Spring Game, but we are thinking Harbaugh is going to keep that going during the season? Will we be seeing more Intents to Deceive?

If he's looking to MGoBlog for guidance, I vote yes. Let's see an onside kick during the first quarter against Hawaii. Let's see Jake Butt hitting John O'Korn in the end zone. Let's see every single PAT against Ohio State be a fake.

Speaking of Michigan trick plays, Wolverine Historian put together a nice video compilation going back to the Bo years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDbwTCoL8do

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truferblue22

August 16th, 2016 at 1:58 PM ^

Thanks for the link to the video. Pretty neat.

 

I personally don't want to see any trick plays until we're in a big game that's close. I remember Borges running like 5 trick plays against Eastern one year and then the next week MSU stopped them all because he had already shown all his cards. Moron.

 

 

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Blue Carcajou

August 16th, 2016 at 2:20 PM ^

Wouldn't be a terrible idea to create half a dozen for Shane to utilize his arm and athleticism alá what we saw during the Spring Game. Certainly would take opposing defenses by surprise.

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reshp1

August 16th, 2016 at 2:20 PM ^

I'd like to see lateral-throw type trick play with Zack Gentry at TE this year. Throw the bubble screen to him lined up out wide a few times with Perry or Chesson going out and cutting the corner a few times for big chunks, then have the blocker fake the cut block and go streaking wide open for Gentry to toss it to them. 

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father fisch

August 16th, 2016 at 1:59 PM ^

I would think not.  Assuming JH is happy with the level of play, that means we'll be rushing a lot and wearing down defenses.  Just trying to bring down Butt or chase after Chesson/Darboh should be plenty on top of that.

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Yo_Blue

August 16th, 2016 at 3:21 PM ^

He likes players who can do more than play a single position.  That gives you plenty of options like Peppers touching the ball in a dozen different ways, or Gentry getting the ball in space with a pass option.

The video was fun to watch - seems like we picked on Illinois a lot.  I don't thing Lloyd liked the Illini much.

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father fisch

August 16th, 2016 at 3:50 PM ^

I don't disagree.  However, lining Peppers up as a receiver and throwing to him or handing the ball off to him when he is in the backfield isn't a trick play.  My point is simply whoever is lined up at a position will be good enough at what they do that you can just line them up and let them go.  More often than not, I think they will do their jobs successfully.

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funkywolve

August 16th, 2016 at 3:27 PM ^

I remember with Carr is the Minny game with Navarre.  There might have been more than just that one, but with the exception of Henson, I don't think to many DCs worried about one of the QBs under Carr getting the ball and ripping off large chunks of yardage.

Not sure it would have worked as well with Devin or Denard since they were generally one of the focal points of the opponents defense.

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stephenrjking

August 16th, 2016 at 4:26 PM ^

Other famous examples are Brian Griese/Charles Woodson at Wisconsin in '97 and Tom Brady's fake injury to bring on Drew Henson to use the play in the '99 Penn State game. Those are just the ones that come to mind right now.

Being a "focal point" of the offense isn't the issue. The play worked because the defense reacted to the initial backward pass, zeroing in on the target, leaving the QB open on the sideline with blockers and space. A couple of plays could easily have set that up for DG and Denard; the only question was whether or not Denard had the ability to throw it--he might not have.

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StephenRKass

August 16th, 2016 at 2:22 PM ^

Of course we'll see trick plays. But you really only get to use them once (In terms of a trick play being a surprise). Given the level of the competition, I hope we don't see the best trick plays until OSU. There are two caveats.

  1. Obviously, you may need to use a trick play to win an earlier game in the season. Hopefully not.
  2. From my understanding, the defensive coaches watch film, and tell guys, "when you see this (odd formation), it could be a TRICK PLAY. So watch out, and don't fall into the trap." That being the case, a really crafty coach would use multiple "trick plays" earlier in the season to make it harder for the defense to know what really is coming. And I'm guessing you might tell the QB, "If you see the defense do THIS, counter with this super sneaky trick play that they aren't ready for, 'cause they've never seen it before."

That's pretty convoluted. Short answer:  Yep, trick plays.

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mgowild

August 16th, 2016 at 2:06 PM ^

I'd love to see Jabrill throw the old halfback pass. Me thinks the D will be 100% keyed in on him, so take a handoff on a sweep, watch the D zero in on him, and then toss it to a wide open receiver. I also want to see Jabrill score a touchdown in these more traditional ways:

Fumble recovery
Interception return
Kick return
Punt return
Rushing
Receiving
Passing (QB)


 

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Blue Balls Afire

August 16th, 2016 at 2:09 PM ^

I don't know if they're called 'trick plays' but JH brought out a new wrinkle every week last year and I think he'll do so again this year.  JH runs the most complicated offense in college football, and it seemed like his playbook expanded week to week.  I loved seeing something new every game.

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Hail-Storm

August 16th, 2016 at 2:24 PM ^

Harbaugh offense seems to be a jacknife when it comes to how a play can unfold out of the same or very similar alignments. The most common one is the fullback getting the carry. I know it was talked to death on here, but Borges had a million set plays in different formations. We saw a jet sweep as soon as they lined up. Having a multitude of plays that come out of a set formation is the best way to go, as aggressive defenses don't know where the play is going and when it will bite them in hte ass. 

Reminds me of stories of the Mad Magicians where noone knew where the ball was. 

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stephenrjking

August 16th, 2016 at 2:11 PM ^

I don't think "trick play" is an easy category to define anymore. Michigan under Harbaugh does not run a majority of its plays from a "base offense" with a couple of wrinkles thrown in. As mentioned in articles highlighting other coaches views of Michigan, up to 75% of the plays that Michigan runs are new every week.

Now, this "mad genius" principle has costs--Al Borges installed a lot of new stuff each week and the team couldn't execute any of it--but the result is that a bunch of stuff a defense sees every week is brand new. 

And, while there are some week-to-week tendencies that are deliberately established, some stuff just never gets re-used. Michigan deployed an honest-to-goodness full-house T formation against Maryland and that formation was never seen again, for example.

So, what's a trick play? Is that really cool pitch-around to Jabrill against OSU that Brian highlighted in the UFR a trick play, or just a slightly exotic play designed to mess with the keys of the defense? How about the double-fake TE screen that came up twice last year?

They're tricky. But they aren't exactly bizarre. If you define trick plays one way, Michigan's offense uses a dozen of them every game; if you limit the definition to traditional things like halfback passes, well, there will be a lot fewer.

But a halfback pass or a double pass seems downright conventional compared to some of the stuff Harbaugh cooks up.

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mGrowOld

August 16th, 2016 at 2:11 PM ^

Muliple sets, formations, pre-snap movement along with mulitple different plays coming fromt the exact same sets with the exact same personnel.  The very nature of Harbaugh is to screw with the defensive coordinator's mind.  Remember the B1G coaches comments a week or so ago when they referred to seeing plays in games against Michigan they had NEVER seen on film prior to the game.

Brian spoke at length about it when he was here in Cleveland a couple of years ago and Seth did a nice write up shortly after his hire.

http://mgoblog.com/content/haknpoints-messing-run-fits

 

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