nickel formation

The 404 Tite (original image via MatchQuarters)

Fielding Yost had a problem. After four years of dominating college football many other teams had learned his speed-'em-up and spread-'em-out offense, and were coming up with new ways to use the attack. Single-wing football was taking over, and the old way of matching seven players on the offensive line with seven defensive linemen was starting to get run around.

The guy who solved it for him was center Adolf "Germany" Schulz. Rather than limit himself to taking on interior linemen when the ball kept going outside, Schulz stepped back, ready to launch himself back at the interior if need be:

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If you're wondering where's the safety, he had to hang way back in case the offense punted.

It wouldn't be the last time defenses learned to counter offensive innovations by pulling back box defenders.

As forward passing took hold, Crisler and his contemporaries began playing with lighter guards they could move off the line as a third linebacker. When teams starting regularly splitting ends out as wide receivers, Bump had to turn one of those linebackers into a second safety. As the I-formation took hold Bo had to replace his ends with OLBs to match their speed to outside runs. As shotgun three-wides became the norm, so did fifth defensive backs like Don Brown's Viper. And if you think it stops there, you're still living in the 2010s.

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Michigan's 4-2-5 defense was good enough to match up with most of their schedule, but you don't need to be reminded of the times when it got got. You recall Saquon Barkley on McCray. You remember Devin Gil hopelessly chasing Ohio State's scatback DeMario McCall. You probably remember Florida quarterback Feleipe Franks running into acres of space. And if your lizard brain didn't go to "RECRUIT HARDER!" you've probably begun to understand what that signifies: The reign of nickels is over. The time of the dime has arrived.

[After THE JUMP: Why elite spread offenses torch us, and how we can use Woody Hayes's defense to stop it]

peppers in space

After the spring game this year I was moved to write about the stuff Michigan was doing with Peppers. So moved in fact that I scrapped a "10 ways the NCAA can fix itself" feature for HTTV and wrote it on hybrid spacer players and how Peppers is a special type of that. If you'd like to read that, there are ways:

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(not to scale)

Actual book: Free for a first-time Draft Kings user with $15+ deposit, or pre-order from our online store. ETA ~July 4

Digital book (a PDF version of the above): Draft Kings deal but $5+, or available now for $5 from our store.

e-Book version: Fewer photos, but a few paragraphs here and there that were cut for space. Now available from the Kindle store, working on iBooks.

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Part of that article gets into how they aligned him (and Dymonte Thomas) in the spring game, but I wanted to explain more in detail what we mean by this:

Michigan will spend most of its time this year in nickel formations with Peppers acting as a hyper-athletic strongside linebacker. Against conventional sets they’ll be a base eight-man front with one deep safety (Jarrod Wilson) and Peppers acting as a maniacally aggressive strong safety, allowing the rest of the defense to play all kinds of tricks.

The gist is Michigan's defense, whether against spread or tight formations, is trying to have its run-stopping cake and eat the passing game too by putting Peppers in the slot, where his linebackerness can be brought to bear as well as his cornerbackosity.

Here's the Blue Team's first play in the Spring Game:

The soundtrack is off by a few seconds; sorry.

[There is Woodson after the jump]

That's my compilation of all the Zips passing plays and check-downs. What you saw:

  • Lots of quick, dinky-dunky passes (not on the DL)
  • A handful of screens the DL didn't chase
  • Black consistently getting into the backfield but nobody else.

The first complaint of many from the near-disaster on Saturday was the front four's continued inability to get any pass rush, with the bonus problem this time of no contain. Many observers noted, and the coaches confirmed, that part of the problem was the pass rushers were often chasing the quarterback instead of keeping him boxed in so the rest of the rush could arrive. Other culprits mentioned: Akron was doing a lot of max protect, a lot of uncalled holding, and of course the biggie: our DL getting completely owned.

So let's look at some Akron passing plays and see who to blame:

While the Zips are mostly a dinky-dunk offense, when they do go long they tend to leave the running backs in to help with pass pro. Max protect is generally a win for the DL already since spending seven (or eight!) guys on four DL gives the DBs an easy time. You usually want to call it against blitzes, since defensive linemen who don't have to worry about the run will break through eventually. (Unless they don't).

They did this a lot in the first half. On Akron's first drive there were two long pass calls on 2nd and 10 and 3rd and 10 that give us a baseline.

All Day

Michigan was in their base 4-3 under and rushed four. Akron had the RB and both TEs both stay in to block. Both back and the TE to the strong side help the RT block Heitzman; he's not going anywhere. Washington gets off slowly and is doubled by the right guard and center; he gets no push on the center and the guard only has to help a little while watching to see if Bolden comes.

Clark is doubled by the weakside TE and the LT—he tried to bull rush the TE, got stood up, then ripped around him and was in the middle of trying to split the two when the pass got off. Black gets the only single-team, but he tried to go inside of the LG who ran him right into Washington's mess; Black tried the other side and got held but that wouldn't have mattered since the pass is already gone.

Blame:  Knock QWash for not even moving his center, and Clark and Heitzman can't split their double-teams.

[Jump]