Maybe it is time to go back to on-field huddles
I know we all got excited about " speed-in-space" but that's not really happening. The cumulative season stats show UM's time-of-possession is about 5 min less per game than our opponent. The stats show that we are converting only 36% of 3rd downs. Maybe it is time to go back to the huddle to eat time - slow the game down - keep the ball as long as we can.
October 7th, 2019 at 5:54 PM ^
Yeah, that will fix everything!
October 7th, 2019 at 6:22 PM ^
I think all coaches should also remove headsets and clap more.
October 7th, 2019 at 6:30 PM ^
Jason Garrett has the clapping thing down.
October 7th, 2019 at 8:47 PM ^
Nah, then if Shea got concussed they’d just trot him back out there.
October 7th, 2019 at 9:41 PM ^
That’s ridiculous! Everyone knows our offense sucks because Harbaugh doesn’t flip out enough anymore on the sideline!
October 7th, 2019 at 5:55 PM ^
I'd rather watch ourDefense on the field.
October 7th, 2019 at 5:55 PM ^
Or just call better pass patterns, actually use some crossing/run routes/drags; quick slants, screens, etc.
October 7th, 2019 at 6:13 PM ^
That was my first thought... instead of spreading out 4 wide, and creating mismatches, we power run into the back of the guard
October 7th, 2019 at 6:14 PM ^
And also run the ball on the edge instead of running inside zone all game.
October 7th, 2019 at 6:48 PM ^
OSU has incredible WR blocking for their RBs. Do we teach that stuff at Michigan?
October 7th, 2019 at 9:22 PM ^
Did you see Eubanks not even attempt to block the IA DE? Charbonnet got dropped for a loss or no gain on that play. If Eubanks even rubbed him slightly they would have gained a few yards. It's about effort and mentality. Hopefully they figure it out.
October 8th, 2019 at 12:42 AM ^
Urban Meyer called his 2012 WRs “a clown show” and said they didn’t really start blocking well until 2014.
I’ve been saying this since people started getting all fired up, this transition will not bare fruit until 2020. Our offense was all sorts of bad, it’s not getting fixed overnight.
October 8th, 2019 at 8:50 AM ^
We had a top 25 offense. It wasn't all sorts of bad. It was Wisconsin this year.
October 7th, 2019 at 9:17 PM ^
All of that may be true, but to the OPs point, if our offense is going to suck, why not try to eat clock and keep our defense off the field. There ain’t no speed and there ain’t no space. Perhaps the offense could give the D a break at least.
October 7th, 2019 at 8:22 PM ^
A lot of the pass plays do have crossing routes. Patterson either doesn’t leave his first read or does so too late.
October 7th, 2019 at 5:56 PM ^
irrelevant. theyre usually snapping the ball with 5 seconds on the play clock
October 7th, 2019 at 6:19 PM ^
Exactly. Just because they're not huddling does not mean the pace is fast. They're all just getting their plays from the sideline, while they're in formation, which is taking forever.
October 7th, 2019 at 5:58 PM ^
Will this help Shea keep the ball? Will it help him throw to someone other than the first read?
October 7th, 2019 at 6:03 PM ^
Maybe we should just follow through on what we have started, and get really excellent at it.
October 7th, 2019 at 8:20 PM ^
The problem is that it’s not really obvious what we’ve started at this point.
October 7th, 2019 at 6:04 PM ^
WOW!!! Finally we get some hard hitting analysis of what needs to be done to get the offense back in shape! On-field huddles to slow down the game and gain ToP! Genius!!!
October 7th, 2019 at 6:05 PM ^
I like this idea and I would add: let Shea call the plays.
Before going all ballistic on my idea hear me out: I think QB's, in general, have a better idea of what plays they can pull off, at any given moment, than OC's do. Much of the failure of many teams is the coaches don't let the kids take responsibility for the game. Shea is in a much better position to know when he is up for a run, bomb, or hurry up than some guy on the sideline with a chart. its his body and we all know when our body is ready for something.
Plus, with a QB calling the shots you can get a true hurry up offense.
What were doing ain't working.
October 7th, 2019 at 6:30 PM ^
Aren't you afraid that would put too much pressure on Shea?
October 7th, 2019 at 6:45 PM ^
You might be on to something here. In a huddle offense the QB calls the play, correct? Maybe Shea would be better doing that as opposed to looking at those stupid play cards on the sideline.
October 7th, 2019 at 6:48 PM ^
No, a QB certainly does not call the plays in 99% of huddle offenses. Maybe 100%.
October 7th, 2019 at 7:21 PM ^
sure. a guy who struggles to read a defense is sure to be great at calling the plays against that D.
October 7th, 2019 at 7:50 PM ^
Well, he likely won't be calling any reads . . .
October 7th, 2019 at 7:43 PM ^
Please please end silly posts like that with an /s. Otherwise some of the simple folk like me can misunderstand and think you actually believe that. Tell me you don’t actually believe that....
You do know the all 22 view of the QB is significantly less optimal than a view from the booth, right? You can’t be arguing that a QB who is struggling to read defenses is in a better position to attack what he thinks he is seeing? You expect him to have a better understanding of down and distance tendencies than a group in the booth with sheets of data in front of them?
/s is your friend
October 7th, 2019 at 8:51 PM ^
There is also a lot the QB can see that the guy in the booth can't- like fatigue, confusion
Also, a QB that can read the D can change when the D makes last minute changes- its too late for the guy in the booth to react
Worked for Manning
October 7th, 2019 at 10:08 PM ^
What you're describing is called an audible in this particular sport. Believe it or not, this head coach has even trusted a few of his former QBs to use this profound play call at the line. It just helps to trust the QB you have to be able to make decisions.
In what sport have you ever seen this method employed? The closest I can even think of is a catcher calling pitches. Even that takes an advanced knowledge of each pitcher and batters tendencies.
Coaches call plays. That's how it works
October 7th, 2019 at 6:05 PM ^
I am watching the replay right now. Just got to the point in the game on our 3rd possession where we fumbled twice (& recovered) & threw an interception consecutively. I'm going to ff it to the end now.
October 7th, 2019 at 6:32 PM ^
Yes, but imagine how much more pleasurable this sequence of events would have been if the plays had been separated by lengthy huddles.
October 7th, 2019 at 8:35 PM ^
The issue seems to be that Shea doesn't yell "Omaha" enough prior to the snap. If only...
October 8th, 2019 at 12:40 AM ^
Bad idea. I heard Fox is trying to figure out how to insert a commercial break during huddles.
October 7th, 2019 at 6:06 PM ^
Or Michigan can just get good at the thing they're doing instead of going back to a thing they weren't good at last year.
And to think, we haven't even gotten to basketball season and the inevitable "Do it the way Beilein did it!!!!"
October 7th, 2019 at 9:14 PM ^
As well we should.
October 7th, 2019 at 6:27 PM ^
I bet we are all kicking ourselves now for not applying for that "Michigan Offensive Coordinator" job opening. Based on experience needed, I might have gotten it.
October 7th, 2019 at 6:39 PM ^
Many M fans are Not Happy
Unless they are Not Happy
Go Complain Somewhere Else.
October 7th, 2019 at 6:41 PM ^
October 7th, 2019 at 6:59 PM ^
I question your choice of the word “should.” “Could” win 9 games, but based on everything I’ve learned in life, we should not be favored against OSU or at PSU. MSU and ND are toss ups in my opinion. Maybe we’re favored against MSU but underdogs against ND. We could win 9, but I think 8 is more likely unless a light switch goes on for the offense. It could happen. The defense certainly turned things around after Wisconsin, but Don Brown has a track record of success. Our offense has a track record of continuously underperforming expectations.
October 7th, 2019 at 7:04 PM ^
I personally am fine with 7-5 for one season if this offense eventually leads us to a higher ceiling.
We won 10 games last year and no one was happy. So, we made the change.
Can't have the reward of a higher ceiling without the risk of a (temporarily) lower floor.
October 7th, 2019 at 7:34 PM ^
October 7th, 2019 at 7:05 PM ^
A far cry from all of the preseason predictions and hype. How fast that ended...
October 7th, 2019 at 6:45 PM ^
Dumbest post i've seen this season.
October 7th, 2019 at 8:55 PM ^
not even close
October 7th, 2019 at 6:46 PM ^
I get the point that you are trying to make, that we'd give the D more of a breather. But the same could be accomplished by just being better at keeping the chaines moving. At this point we've committed to going in a certain direction and you can't just pull the plug on the transition midstream because of growing pains.
October 7th, 2019 at 6:49 PM ^
Huddles that follow Robert's Rules of Order.
October 7th, 2019 at 6:58 PM ^
Yea that’ll win us games...
the worst thing to do is blow everything up. I don’t know what needs to change but hopefully the coaches figure stuff out. They’ve got a few practices, another tune up game, and then shit gets real.
Theres a reason we moved away from last years offense. It was horrendous in the osu game regardless of the final score and it sucked when playing from behind.
Maybe Gattis was an awful hire maybe we need a QB change but the offense last year wasn’t cutting it.
October 8th, 2019 at 12:52 AM ^
We blew it up and hired Gattis. Unless we give it 2 years we’re going to blow it up again and be right back where we started except I don’t think 3 WRs who should be the backbone of the offense will stick around to see how it turns out.
I’m not sold on Gattis. If he was god’s gift to offense he’d be calling plays for Franklin who chose his other 6+ year assistant.
The playcalling is average, the execution sucks. Shea isn’t a good QB and the OL isn’t progressing. Harbaugh put a first year coordinator into the deep end without much of a support network. The only guy who called plays is Warriner and the guy had a bunch of NFL guys looking like crap when he was calling plays at OSU.
October 7th, 2019 at 6:59 PM ^
Well, it would give our defense a rest. If you are going to go three-and-out, you might as well give the defense time to catch its breath and have a Gatorade.