mad magicians

[Patrick Barron]

Matt Demorest, Realtor and Lender and I have brought back our (sometimes-)weekly video short. The purpose of these is to show you something on film that you as a fan will be able to pick up on when you see it in the future. Or to just show you what people are talking about.

This week we get into the Single-Wing. Why was it a big part of football in the first half of the 20th Century, how did defenses adjust to it, what more can you do with it, and how can Michigan use this offense in 2024 to maximize hybrid skill player like Orji, Mullings, Bredeson, Edwards, and Loveland? We go back to 1904, 1948, and examples of Alabama, Michigan, and Washington running it in this year's Playoff. If you're in the housing market, Matt's the guy.

There is nothing after the jump because it's video content.

Weisenburger down the gullet. [UM Bentley Library]

SPONSOR NOTE: Upon Further Review is sponsored by HomeSure Lending and Matt Demorest. Mortgage rates are LOW right now, so if you've been waiting for the right time (read: after football is over) to see if refinancing can save you a bunch of money, now's a good time to strike. It usually takes Matt and his people about 5 minutes to know if a refi makes sense, and if it doesn't they'll tell you. You know the guy, and you know from a bunch of other readers that he does a better job and charges less than the mills that use the difference to buy Super Bowl ads and other peoples' basketball coaches.

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You might have heard by now the play that Kansas City ran on 4th and 1 was right out of Fritz Crisler's Mad Magicians tape. Here's the old Michigan play, captured in the 1948 Rose Bowl:

And here's the Chiefs play from the Super Bowl:

Here's Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bienemy copping to where he got it from:

And thanks to John Kryk (Stagg vs Yost, Natural Enemies), we also know where Reid found it—his high school coach played for those Trojans:

And I'll add it's not the first time KC ran a Magicians' play.

While my shiny medal for pointing it out first makes its way through the mail, the Bienemy quote has generated a small cottage industry of writers linking the two together. Views of the Sap version, the Wolverine Historian video, and the copy of that set to "How You Like Me Now" were duly plundered to show them both side by side and talk about where the ideas come from. If you read just one, I'd recommend Kryk's in the Toronto Sun. If you read two, Alex Kirshner of The Banner Society incorporated Fritz's playbook and some history.

All that's left is for one of the internet X's and O's guys to draw it up, explain how Fritz Crisler (and Bennie Oosterbaan)'s offense worked, and why it's such a nice complement for Andy Reid's offense in 2020.

[After THE JUMP: Why we wing]

Jack (third from left) and the All-American 1947 backfield [Bentley Library]

Awful news this evening: I just learned former Mad Magician Jack Weisenberger is gone. Jack was the spinning fullback, meaning the guy who takes the snaps and does most of the passing, for Michigan's National Championship winning 1947 team, sharing a backfield with fellow stars Howard Yerges, Bob Chappuis, and Bump Elliott.

I had the privilege to interview him few years ago after his family friend, a member of our community, made the introduction. The part that sticks out to me the most from that interview is when I asked Jack what he remembers best about his time in Michigan: It was the train ride to the Rose Bowl, playing cards with his teammates. I keep a playing card on my desk, a jack of clubs I happened to be flipping around with when I was on the phone with him, as a reminder that all of these helmeted shapes throughout history were just young dudes doing a thing. Jack was a delightful person, the greatest teammate, and the proudest alumnus of his university.