Immediately after Michigan's first drive I got an Honest Trailer's worth of requests to do the Ronnie Bell touchdown.

It wasn't that complicated—an end around that looked like Michigan's favorite power running play to the other side that caught Iowa overplaying the favorite power play. It wasn't even new, since we ran it against Hawai'i.

But it's fun to draw up big Rock/Paper/Scissors wins, and there was more going on than Schoonmaker reversing direction, so let's draw it up!

Counter

To understand why Iowa got so disoriented you have to understand the play it countered, Counter Trey.

Trey is a base power run, a bread and butter football play they were already running when Horace Prettyman was an 8th year senior and Craig Ross was still in his late 2800s. It's withstood the test of time for two key reasons:

1. It makes you defend the side that didn't have numbers at the snap.
2. It forces blocking encounters between non-equivalent players.

In the base example above you've got an "F" (a TE, FB, or H-back) slamming into a third linebacker, who these days is usually more like a safety. You've also got a guard slamming into an end or OLB, a type of player that's also been shrinking as defenses look to get faster and more athletic off the edge.

[After THE JUMP: Someone forgot about the counter to Trey.]

Today, Michigan is one of Counter's primary collegiate practitioners. They run it multiple times every game. They run play-action from it (but not often enough). They run it from different formations, with every kind of option read, under center and pistol and shotgun, spread and heavy, on running or passing downs, at the goal line or between 40s. They run it so often I have an exact color scheme for blockdowns, kickouts, leads, ballcarriers, and options whenever I draw it up. They have built-in counters to the typical things defenses do to stop it so they can punish those on the fly. They have ways of running it with different jobs going to different positions to screw with keys for it. Visit any Michigan opponent a day before the game and you will be able to point to the bruises on the scout team tight ends from repping it.

Last year alone I charted 37 different variations of this. It was this play.

And this play and this play and this play and this play:

and this play and this play and this play and this play when they beat Those Guys 42 to 27.

They sometimes even run it multiple times in a row, to the point that opponents will start selling out their entire linebacker level to defeat it.

Before Hassan Haskins ran a guy over on the play above, MSU had delivered that guy right to the line of scrimmage, a rock-paper scissors win for the defense. They did it with a slant/exchange, IE having all their DL slant to the frontside (up) and bringing their linebackers backside (down). The result is a game of blocker musical chairs: the LBs all move over one role, and the DL's slant means the OL who's free to release is on the backside of the play, with no angle to get to free hitter.

There are ways to counter that behavior—the TE can wash the slanter down and get to the WLB for example. Or you can use it to get the defense going completely the wrong direction. And that's what happened to Iowa on this play.

Looking Like Counter Trey

Iowa was only barely slanting the DL—when they saw what looked like Trey those guys were actually content to get back in their normal gaps. The linebackers however were moving for a slant. Off the snap we have what looks like a typical Counter Trey vs Slant battle brewing.

Just by looking at the arrows if they're running Trey here Iowa is winning. Head forward a few frames and they're sure of it. They already saw Schoonmaker (on the far left) start crossing the formation, reacted to the key, and put eyes on the running back to line up a TFL before the presumed lead blocker can get there to stop it. Doing so means looking up the blocks to make sure there are no TEs or OL releasing on them from the frontside. The WLB here has his eyes on Jones and Zinter doubling a DT.

The Hawkeye linemen now start doubling down on Counter Trey, having prevented the OL from releasing they're betting playside (our right) of their blockers and controlling those shoulders in case of a cutback, envisioning –2s in the next UFR for Oluwatimi and maybe Hayes, who's stepped down and is blocking the left side like he didn't get the playcall. In the meantime, the secondary, who've been hanging in a two-deep shell all game, are not reacting to Ronnie Bell. Hypothetical Iowa UFR is mad at that backside safety for not already moving down the left hash mark. Also note that all three linebackers are are within 2 yards of the line of scrimmage, only one is now (what's ultimately) playside of the quarterback. None are playside of the center.

It's at this point that it finally dawns on these guys what each of them really are on this play. Oluwatimi even hopped another guy outside. The poor cornerback way out there is now the edge of the defense, and has to flip himself outside of Cornelius Johnson to funnel back to his help. His help, however, is either outflanked, or way downfield.

Switching angles, you can see Iowa's linebackers are all trapped on the wrong side of blockers—even the DT reaching his arm out to get an illegal hold on Zinter (#65) doesn't matter because Ryan Hayes has an angle (and speed) on both LBs. Schoonmaker doesn't have to block the DE, who started this play across from Honigford and slanted all the way through, because he's not catching Ronnie Bell from here. Meanwhile Iowa's FS is so deep he's not even on screen.

Michigan wins a few more blocks, including Schoonmaker's on that safety.

And it's six points.

Lessons:

1. Counter Trey isn't split zone but it's the power version of it. Pulling the guard is the difference, but slanting works against it either way.

2. Reversing course with the backside TE is a cool wrinkle for Michigan's running game. The backside linebacker was keying the TE's cross but once that's keyed the LB wants to get his eyes on the blocking to know what's coming at him. Schoonmaker's yo-yo is timed to occur after that guy has moved his eyes to the blocking in front of him. The later his reaction, the more he's disadvantaged.

3. Iowa's soft safety strategy hurt them in the running game. When the cornerback put his hand up the safeties should have been notified to shift, with the FS looking up Luke Schoonmaker and looking for the end-around or even a pass to the flat. But they wanted to stay in their Cover 2 shell, where neither safety could really see Schoonmaker coming out the backside until it was too late.

4.  Let that be a lesson. Play Counter Trey straight up, future opponents, or you get the Bell.