GO VOTE! I'm out all day working the election. Vote.org has information if you're wondering where/if you're registered. Michigan accepts same-day registration at your Clerk's office. Also your absentee ballot can be turned in there at any time before 8PM today (if you got an absentee but want to vote in person, please bring that). Democracy forever!

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People have been getting the wrong idea about how we feel about Pro Football Focus. I get folks in my mentions wanting to make them out to be utter fools. Au contraire they are an extremely useful site for many things, and I am happy to keep subscribing. The problem we've been having lately is that their run blocking grades are uncanny. They have Michigan's run blocking about on par with Michigan States. These two running games however are not performing anything like each other. It doesn't pass the sniff test.

The problem, I've been led to believe, is that they mark a "0" for a "got the job done" block, with minuses if you mess it up or pluses if you do something extra.

The thing is that's now how blocking really works. If you're completing your assignment every play on the offensive line you are the most incredible offensive lineman who ever lived. The legends of our charting—Long, Lewan, Molk—were guys who were executing things that are hard to do. Offensive line is a HARD job, and that job can change on you so swiftly that you can't process most of it. And offensive line at Michigan is especially hard.

Let me show you an example.

[Hit THE JUMP for the breakdown.]

What Michigan is Running

This is a standard Pin & Pull, or Buck, with two guards pulling and the rest blocking down. The guys pulling varies not on the playcall (usually) but on how the defensive line set up. We've been over this before many times but a refresher: on power runs you…

1. Block down on any defenders you have an angle for.
2. Kick out the defender setting the edge (usually) to set one side of the gap.
3. Pull a lead blocker around from the backside to hit the first defender who shows.

The rest is up to your back and the play design, and what the defense does to you. The next level of running this stuff is to adjust to all those things a defense does on the fly. This is when we start raising the difficulty level, which is bound to happen if you're running this as your base stuff. Some examples of things that could happen:

• The DL slants to the direction of the play? Win the blockdowns you can, cut or zone block what you can't.
• The Edge comes underneath the kickout? Turn him inside so he's now a blockdown and run out the open edge with the free blocker.
• A Linebacker blitzes a backside gap? He's still the puller's responsibility. Pull up and cut him off, or if he gets across you kick him out.
• A Linebacker blitzes a frontside gap? Kick him out and run inside.
• The Safety blitzes the intended gap? He's probably replacing a linebacker. Treat him as such.

It's funny how this can all break down into a zone play after all, but that's what's really going on. The defense is going to come at you from weird angles, and it's up to you to make sure the ones who angled outside stay outside of the gap and the ones who angled inside stay there. Let the RB worry about finding the lane.

The more of these you get the greater the difficulty of the execution. Technically if the defense is 100% selling out against this play you should still be able to get it blocked up. That's what your coach claims at least. Easier said than done, coach.

What Did Rutgers Do?

They're bringing a run blitz that simulates a slant towards both edges (where Michigan loves to run), adds a blitzing linebacker to the middle to blaze into anything going through there, or across. Two defensive backs on that side are activated against the run, the strong safety replacing where the MLB was, and the cornerback, cornerback, who's got that TE in man coverage. If Michigan was running left they have the WLB doing the same thing.

Pin & Pull should be dead against this. And sure enough, things look bad at the beginning.

Michigan has an RPO on the backside (top) of the play that should rid them of the WLB when Loveland heads out into the flat. Yay, one less thing to worry about. However Rutgers is happy to take that since they should have lots of defenders in the right position against Pin & Pull:

1. The guys who needed to get blocked down are slanting playside.
2. If the first puller tries to kick any of those no-longer-blockdowns, the CB is a free extra defender on the edge.
3. The MLB is blitzing the backside gap where there's no way to block him down to intercept the lead blocker.

Doing your job isn't going to be enough here. Let's get to the handoff.

We've got trouble. Barnhart has his guy inside of him but outside of the hash marks, IE where the run wanted to go. Schoonmaker released to find no linebackers to block down. Zinter is arriving on the edge to find the DE he expected to be the edge and another guy besides. Keegan has it the worst—he was supposed to get all play to get through the intended gap and keep a defender out of there, but now the blitzing MLB is going to be set up right where we don't want him to be: IN the gap, and deep in the backfield besides. In fact he's on a direct trajectory with Edwards. Also the safety is rolling down and nobody had him in their plans.

So What Did Michigan Do?

What everyone does is their jobs, modified for what they got. Schoonmaker found the safety and made him his downblock. Barnhart couldn't get his downblock sealed after all so he adjusts by starting to zone block that guy outside where he wants to be. Zinter is doing the same with the DE.

Keegan IDs the MLB in the backfield, and has nowhere else to put him, so he starts shoving the guy outside in hopes that Edwards can find a lane in there. And you know what? He does.

Things

This is what a well-trained, good offense does. Just about nobody ended up running the play "Pin & Pull" as it was put on paper. Two of the downblocks become kickouts as Barnhart adjusted to his slanting DT and Keegan had to find somewhere to put the blitzing MLB. Zinter had to choose between two edge defenders and managed to get a full kick on the most dangerous one. Schoonmaker didn't panic when he stepped down to an empty second level and found the guy replacing the missing linebacker, removing a safety. Meanwhile that cornerback took himself out of the play because he didn't believe Edwards had the vision nor the agility to hop back inside of all of those blocks. Who could blame him, when most backs just end up eating that MLB blitz.

Ultimately everybody did their jobs, even if it wasn't the original assignment. That would be a "pass" if you're grading on a pass/fail of execution, and a zero if you're starting with the expectation that everyone does his job. Executing at this level when the defense has called the play to beat the play you're running is additive, not neutral, for the simple reason that run plays are designed to get everyone blocked to the secondary.

Michigan's running game isn't just doing their jobs. They're giving every other running game coach in America evidence that it's okay to ask this of their players.

Heh. Good luck.