jim harbaugh is disgusted by your wimpy field goal
"Never mind the maneuvers, just go straight at them." –Admiral Horatio Nelson
"Never do this." –Dude who fought at the Somme
[GAME OF THRONES SPOILER ALERT]
So yesterday military and football strategists were dunking on the Night King's gameplan for taking Winterfell. Leaving aside the unique military advantage of being able to convert your enemy's defeated soldier's into fresh troops, iceman here had a thousand lifespans to plan his attack on humanity, and somehow the best he could come up with was to walk straight into the Godswood.
[END SPOILER]
A direct frontal assault could be your best chance in some cases, but if we learned anything from 20th century warfare, it's that that you should probably avoid it when you can. That's not just my thought. In 1954 the British military historian B.H. Liddell Hart published Strategy: The Indirect Approach, a seminal work on military history largely informed by the lessons of two World Wars he participated in. The book, which is in the public domain, discusses the strategies of great generals and their counterparts in various time periods and theaters, and is well worth the (short) read that most people who reference him never undertake (especially his take on Ludendorff). Hart favors tactics that get the enemy moving one way then hitting them where they ain't:
To move along the line of natural expectation consolidates the opponent's equilibrium, and, by stiffening it, augments his resisting power…An examination of military history—not of one period but of its whole course—brings out the point that in almost all the decisive campaigns the dislocation of the enemy's psychological and physical balance has been the vital prelude to a successful attempt at his overthrow.
Admittedly, Hart's conclusions are colored by his biases, and he is so often misquoted by wannabe business Napoleons that most people who've heard of Hart now roll their eyes at his mention. But the guy had a point, and I think if he was alive this spring, Hart probably would have really enjoyed some of the things he saw in Michigan's running game under new offensive coordinator Josh Gattis.
Others did as well:
Q pin/pull concept paired a flare RPO. @UMichFootball ran this a ton out of 22 personnel. Good stuff @Coach_Gattis! pic.twitter.com/FHsaG96S95
— All-22 Film Breakdown (@All22_Breakdown) April 19, 2019
Brian commented that these plays reminded him of the way Scott Frost attacked us in 2016. Here's an example of one of those things except run two weeks later by the offensive staff Gattis was a part of at the time:
A lot of plays could lay claim to represent the Indirect Approach school of rushing offense—simple outside zone is a good candidate—but here you really see the Hart philosophy at play. You've got three frontside receivers and a backside tackle pull directing defensive material away from the point of attack. Look at all the guys whose reads are telling them to move/stay to the (offense's) left:
That's a lot of red.
A zone read of the unblocked defensive end is there as a contingency; worst-case scenario the optioned DE (Taco) decides to fling himself upfield into Barkley's path, and quarterback can dive forward behind a puller and a double-team, still a numeric advantage.
The way to defend this from Michigan's base cover 1 would be for the weakside linebacker (McCray, with the green edged thought bubble above) to beat the crack block from the top receiver, and for the cornerback on that side (Stribling) to see the crack and "replace," i.e. take over McCray's edge duties and force Barkley back inside. They both misplayed it and Barkley picked up 30 yards en route to…
/checks drive chart
/looks at scoreboard
/re-checks drive chart
So that's what we mean about getting the defense moving one way to attack elsewhere. This play is a stark (not sorry) example of this running philosophy. Now let's see how 2019 Michigan's using it.
[After the JUMP: Gattis hasn't given up]
1 hour, 30 minutes
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The Sponsors
We can do this because people support us. You should support them too so they’ll want to do it again next year! The show is presented by UGP & The Bo Store, and if it wasn’t for Rishi and Ryan we’d be talking to ourselves.
Our other sponsors are also key to all of this: HomeSure Lending, Peak Wealth Management, Ann Arbor Elder Law, the Residence Inn Ann Arbor Downtown, the University of Michigan Alumni Association, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Lantana Hummus and Ecotelligent Homes
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1. Indiana After UFR
starts at 0:25
Indiana’s in the Denard 2012 part of the inevitable offensive fadeout under new management. Long and Hill and Watson excelled against Simmie Cobbs, who’s the best WR they’re likely to face this year. Dwumfour has a rotation role now. Gary breakout. Refs had a terrible game—McCray cut block, Metellus thing, and Fant got the worst PI maybe ever. Ran a freshman offense for O’Korn; that throw into double-coverage on a two-man route summarizes the passing offense; where do we go from here? Running game is finally coming into its own.
2. Mid-Mezzo-Equidistant Feels
starts at 28:24
The defense is above where we thought they’d be, especially the cornerbacks. Keith Washington loss isn’t even a thing so far. Noah Furbush: defensive fullback as your backup DT! Special teams the returns could be better but nice not to worry about kicker all of a sudden and nobody saw Foug coming. QB… RB… OL… But hey TE is up despite Wheatley being hurt and Bunting falling off. WR…fuh.
3. Gimmicky Top Five: Favorite Things About Penn State
starts at 52:05
Nick Hopwood of Peak Wealth Management joins us. Some of these are really actually nice, like they have good tailgating, the stadium is kinda nice inside, and their uniforms are never uniformz, and they let you get revenge on Gerry DiNardo. Joe Pa was basically a guy with a sideline pass.
4. Penn State Preview
starts at 1:10:20
How is that defense very good? They’re very stout up front with the DT firm of Cothran and Cothren. The new DEs are good; Shareef Miller especially. Still have some stars in the secondary and Cabinda at linebacker is a solid dude. PSU gets pressure from blitzers. Barkley has 29 catches on 32 targets—he’s very very good—Devin Bush will have to draw him in coverage. Missing that big play receiver (Gesicki isn’t it as much this year) to replace Godwin. OL is a bunch of guards and look like Michigan in stats, but it’s Michigan with a quarterback and a Heisman candidate.
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MUSIC:
If you or a friend made some good tunes and don't have a label out scrubbing for them we'd be happy to feature you. This week our bumper music was provided by the Beatles on Ukulele Project.
- “Fixing a Hole” by the Repairmen
- “Paperback Writer” by the Noble Three
- “Back in the U.S.S.R. by A.L.X.
- “Across 110th Street”
THE USUAL LINKS
"I've been thinking a lot about this over the last four, five, six weeks," Harbaugh said after No. 4 Michigan's win. "Because I am the football coach doesn't mean I can dictate to people what they believe. I support our guys. I think this is something, it's not going away, it's gonna keep happening."
Jim Harbaugh didn't know ahead of time about the pregame display of unity and strength by members of the football team, but hearing his postgame comments, it's clear his players have his full support. That became even more important yesterday, when racist propaganda was posted around campus, prompting a denouncement of the fliers from the University and a protest at the Fishbowl.
I know how our readers feel about getting politics mixed with their sports, so I'll keep this brief, though as Harbaugh said, this isn't something that's going away. As a human being, I was horrified to see what appeared on campus yesterday; as a Michigan grad, I could not be more proud of the actions and statements from the players, the support and response from the program, and the swift action taken by many on campus. I hope we can all agree that hate has no home at U-M. For far more nuanced thoughts on this, I strongly encourage you to read these pieces by MTV News's Jane Coaston, a Michigan grad, and SBNation's Spencer Hall.
And now, let's see that ref take a football to the face again.
[Hit THE JUMP for the Penn State game in GIFs.]
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