What makes for a good offensive coordinator in 2020?
From SI.com: After catching five passes for 105 yards on Saturday, Cornelius Johnson has the same amount of 100-yard receiving games as Nico Collins, Tarik Black and Donovan Peoples-Jones had in their Wolverine careers COMBINED.
With Haskins rushing for 111 yards in the game, it was the first time since 2016 that the Wolverines had a wide-out with over 105 receiving yards and a running back with over 105 rushing yards in the same game. SAD.
DISGUST.
November 24th, 2020 at 10:18 PM ^
A single and solitary focus, to score points as quick as is reasonable with regards to game situation.
November 24th, 2020 at 11:33 PM ^
The offense should seem coordinated.
IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK
November 24th, 2020 at 11:51 PM ^
The offense has to be coherent, simple and run very crisply, meaning there are no presnap twitches or misalignments. The OC has to practice exactly the way they want to play in games, and drill the offense in deeply enough that it becomes natural.
It's become clear that the most effective offenses are able to attack the short, intermediate and deep levels of the field across the full width of the field. This should go without saying by now, but should also be the conceptual focus of the offense.
Ideally, the offense practices at least double the allowed weekly hours and has experienced players.
Regardless of the plan, having a broken play expert at QB will make every college offense much more effective. So the OC should look for a QB who can run the offense but also work in broken plays.
Combine all that, and the OC will look like a god damn genius.
November 24th, 2020 at 11:58 PM ^
I'd say a bunch of five-star talent in the backfield, O-line, QB, and receivers. No team without that is going be beat teams with it with any regularity.
November 25th, 2020 at 6:48 AM ^
I have a strong suspicion that elevating the Milton project to starter and leaving him there for four and a half games was a Gattis thing.
November 25th, 2020 at 10:10 AM ^
Nobody has presented any actual evidence one way or the other, but if it's true that Milton was a Pep/Harbaugh recruit while Cade was a Gattis recruit, I'm skeptical that Gattis would be going to the wall trying to keep Milton as the starter.
November 25th, 2020 at 7:20 AM ^
It's fascinating how many are certain that Harbaugh interferes with Gattis' mastery and how many others are absolutely sure that Gattis is messing up.
November 25th, 2020 at 7:43 AM ^
It would always be nice to have an inside scoop to tell us who is really pulling the strings, but this year it would be especially nice to know who to blame for our team being so fucking shitty.
November 25th, 2020 at 9:51 AM ^
Agree, but I think we will learn the answer in the offseason. If Harbaugh is the one meddling and calling runs into a stacked line, no way Gattis sticks around. The message from the team is that Gattis is calling the plays. Would he really keep allowing that message to be sent if JH is interfering? Especially, if he is trying to run a "speed in space" offense and in reality is running 1990's 2 yard runs and play action on 3rd and 14?
November 25th, 2020 at 10:16 AM ^
The thing that makes me somewhat skeptical that Gattis is entirely responsible for the offense's woes is that much of the head-scratching stuff we've seen this season—nonsensical situational play calls, running plays that don't take advantage of your own talent, nonexistent two-minute drill, horrible clock management, for example—was happening before Gattis got here.
November 25th, 2020 at 8:13 AM ^
One who can score more than 24 against MSU and doesn’t mind putting in the better QB at halftime because they couldn’t move the ball AT ALL!
November 25th, 2020 at 10:27 AM ^
I’m still convinced that to have a good offense that you need a solid offensive line and a QB that makes good decisions.
That’s the foundation of every good team. Not everyone can find a Trevor Lawrence so instead you get your QB a line to give him more time in the pocket and put playmakers around him.
Schools like Wisconsin have done this and found relatively good success, but teams like Penn State in good years and Alabama pre-Tua come to mind. Jalen Hurts wasn’t exactly lighting the world on fire, was he?
It really comes down to developing an offensive line and recruiting some playmakers.
November 25th, 2020 at 12:41 PM ^
OL! Absolutely. I may be near the average of fans, mostly watching the ball and the QB, RB & receivers, but I do know enough about football to recognize that good offensive lines are fundamental to a good team.
November 25th, 2020 at 5:43 PM ^
Alabama definitely took it to another level with Tua. With that said, I'm always hesitant to make Alabama comparisons because they made Nuss look competent with their talent.
November 25th, 2020 at 11:10 AM ^
For Michigan? The best offensive coordinator this team could have in 2020 is Covid-19.
SHUT IT DOWN!!
November 25th, 2020 at 11:11 AM ^
"Cornelius Johnson has the same amount of 100-yard receiving games as Nico Collins, Tarik Black and Donovan Peoples-Jones had in their Wolverine careers COMBINED."
Assuming that's accurate, that's an indictment of Jim Harbaugh and his offensive staff.
November 25th, 2020 at 11:23 AM ^
I suggest watching some film sessions/breakdowns so you can have a better understanding on how much of the responsibility falls on play calling vs execution. One player missing their assignment is often the difference between a 60 yd td and a 1 yd loss. You can then start to form an educated opinion on whether the play call was correct. Ask yourself questions like: Did the offense have the numbers in their favor on this play? Did the qb make a read? Was it correct? Did we misidentify a block? Did the play design ask someone to do something they are incapable of doing? I think most on here are tired of reading the old "score more points or fire everyone" takes.
November 28th, 2020 at 6:03 PM ^
To a point. You can also design plays that don't require 10 things to go right to be successful.
I personally cannot stand Harbaugh with his "if my slot back can block an outside linebacker, while my guard pulls to get the middle linebacker and my fullback fills against a free defensive tackle, we will get a lot of yards" schemes.
Asking a slot back to block an outside linebacker is not a high percentage proposition. It is often hard for a guard to find his assigned middle linebacker in space. Full backs are not well suited to blocking defensive tackles.
Harbaugh's plays are full of these types of concepts. We have to win all sorts of low percentage match ups.
Urban Meyer would just motion the slot out in the same circumstances. Get the slot and the OLB out of the play. The O-line would just zone block because it is much simpler. He would not have a fullback on the field. Instead, he might run a read option. One simple read.
Gattis may be the OC, but the offense has lots of complexity that is suspciously Harbaugh.
November 25th, 2020 at 2:10 PM ^
Ya know what I find interesting:
Since '18, the increased rank in UofM's passing offense
(#80 to # 29) = 51
Is a greater number than the decreased rank on the defensive side in yards per play
(#9 to #57) = 48
I just do.
November 25th, 2020 at 3:35 PM ^
The OC in 2020:
Regardless of concept, putting your players in their best position to succeed -- playing and adapting to their strengths AND accounting for the defense's weaknesses.
Being flexible enough to adapt to in-game changes and moves by the opposing defense.
Training up the players to run an up-tempo offense, which his clearly been shown to be effective, should be a priority as well. Ten years ago, I wouldn't have said that, by the evidence is overwhelming in tempo's favor.
November 25th, 2020 at 5:39 PM ^
Ability to adapt your system to your personnel.