Complaining about the play calling - Northwestern 2018
“In the beginning the Universe was created. This had made many people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move.” -Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
Michigan Football fans have long bitched about the way our team went about winning football games. At least this was my experience growing up as a Michigan fan. I had always assumed it was a success thing. Just ask John Navarre, the 2-time Big Ten Champion who left the program as its leader in passing yards while never actually being good enough according to the people cheering him on. But as time passed, I believe it’s just a characteristic of man.
While it’s impossible to get a straw poll from intergalactic beings on whether or not creating the Universe is thought of as a good idea, it is possible to project what the answer would be based on mans eternal existential crisis. And boy does Douglas Adams hit the nail on the head here. Man simply could not exist without the universe, yet you'd think man would be a little more grateful towards the universe for you know, being able to breathe.
It’s almost like we are predestined to complain. Hell, maybe that’s why there are so many Michigan fans in the first place. Michigan Football is just a long history of being good enough to be worthy of complaining about, but never great enough to stop the complaining. Michigan and Man, a match made in heaven. Michigan Man. Hey, that sounds catchy, we should put that on a shirt! Or maybe even hire a coach for that reason and that reason alone!
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Intangibles.
So here we are, sitting at 4-1, having just overcame the largest road deficit in the Harbaugh era, and mad that we Ran the Dang Ball(TM) on first down too much down the stretch. Or mad that we didn’t run the fullback enough. Listen. I know I just wrote paragraphs explaining how you are preordained to be mad at things. But much like man couldn’t exist without the Universe, you wouldn’t be a Michigan fan without Michigan. Maybe try to sit back and enjoy the ga/commercial/me.
Also enjoy my breakdown of play calling by drive.
- 3-and-out PUNT
- Michigan attempts to suck the air out of the building by electing to receive and go on a long TD drive. This blows up in their face spectacularly...
- 5 yard completion, -2 yd run by Ronnie Bell, Coverage Sack.
- GOT TOO CUTE! Ronnie Bell could have cut upfield for a few leaving third and short, but is Freshman so he didn't.
- 3-and-out PUNT
- 1 yard run, incomplete pass, incomplete pass
- Gotta run on first down every once in a while
- 6 plays, 21 yards, Turnover on Downs
- Shea scramble, dumpoff to Higdon for 1st down, 8 yard run, McKeon dropped pass, Collins doesn't put his foot in the ground and get the first down like the play sets up for him to, Karan stuffed on POWER.
- I see Brian's point that you shouldn't run Power against this team in this situation, but it also is something we need to be able to do against anyone. At least it was another rep of it. Live and learn. Liked the rest of the playcalling
- 7-79 and a TOUCHDOWN
- Run, run, pass, FB dive, pass, reverse, run.
- Beautiful drive
- 4-42 PUNT
- 30 yard run + 10 penalty, 3 yard run, -3 yard run, pass, false start limits chance to go for it on 4th down
- Like the aggression here to go for it on 4th down, but Gentry blows it by false starting. Not going to fault Harbaugh for wanting to feed Higdon after busting a 30 yarder on this drive.
- 3-7 PUNT (EOH)
- Incomplete pass, scramble (holding penalty), 17 yard WR screen pass, incomplete pass.
- Weakish holding call, Collins puts his foot in the ground and got upfield quick, then doesn't put his foot on the ground in time OOB. Looks like heel hits inbounds before the toe lands OOB though. Guess you can't heel drag??
- 11-69 and a FG
- Run(7), Run, Run, Incomplete Pass, Run, Scramble, 36 Yard BOMB, Run(6), Run(-1 from gun), Incomplete pass to Perry FG.
- Yes, I would like to go with Ben Mason on 2nd and goal from the 3. And then twice more if necessary. OTOH, we scored the game winning TD out of shotgun from a goaline to go situation so maybe Harbaugh saw something he could exploit and just got unlucky in RPS on that one.
- 11-56 and a FG
- Run (5), Run, Run, Shea Scramble on 1st down for 0, Run, Pass to Gentry, Pass to Eubanks, Run (-3), Pass to DPJ, Incomplete pass to DPJ though I think this was Collins not reaching up for the ball...
- Running on first down went well enough, normally. This is a TD drive if Collins just reaches up for the ball.
- 3-(-6) PUNT
- Rush (2), Higdon Holding (-30!), Pass to Collins, Incomplete to Collins, illegal formation kills a beautiful punt.
- THAT PENALTY WAS FROM MARS
- Our views of that penalty were not meant to offend those of you from Mars.
- 11-67 and a TOUCHDOWN
- Pass to Jared Wangler(!), Run, Run(1), Pass to Gentry, Run(1), Scramble, Scramble, Run (0), Pass to Gentry, Run (1), Run in for TD
- I am not going to complain about the onslaught of 1st down runs going for 1 yard when the drive ends with a TD. Also, see 1st down breakdown below.
- 6-16 PUNT (2:28 off clock, and then EOG)
- Run (1), Run, Scramble, Run (0), Run, Run, (NW jumped offside but no snap, no reaction from OL, so we let them off the hook).
- Typical 4 minute offense. Can't risk throwing on 1st and 10, just gotta win. Was one yard short of doing so and we gave back the gift of offsides they tried to hand us. all and All ran 2 and half mins off the clock and pinned them inside the 20, so success-ish.
So on first down we ran 19 times for 114 yards and a TD (6.0 YPC). In addition, we passed 9 times for 98 yards (including 2 scrambles for 3 total yards). It got weird during the 4th quarter where we saw nine 1st down runs for 6 yards compared to 1 pass play for 9 yards. This trend came out of nowhere. Thru the first 3 quarters we were pretty balanced (10 runs vs. 8 passes). Looking how effective we were up to that point, and based on us trailing/running our of time, Harbaugh probably thought we could catch Northwestern off guard for a decent gain or two. He thought wrong, but the evidence up to that point said running should have worked out just fine. Idk. Football is weird game sometimes.
In conclusion, there were a couple issues with play calling, but probably as many issues with execution. Oh well, we won a B1G road game. Now let's go beat Maryland! #GoBlue
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Jared Wangler(!)
October 1st, 2018 at 5:04 PM ^
Thoughtful write up. It was hard to feel like we weren't setting downs on fire every time in the fourth quarter running on first down. It's to see the numbers behind it and know that across the game it wasn't that bad. Running on first down (even for only one yard) is a good way to set up play action or an read option (like the one that Shea grabbed 30 yards on that was called back). I certainly wish we had thrown it deep on PA on one of those "set on fire" downs but we won and I'd like to never think about this game again
October 1st, 2018 at 5:18 PM ^
Thanks for a good read and, better yet a quality post!
October 1st, 2018 at 6:26 PM ^
Do buckeyes complain about play callings, I think they do, no less than us. It is part of football, the fans think that they know better than the coaches, and sometimes the fans get their wishes
October 1st, 2018 at 7:33 PM ^
I watched the OSU-PSU game with an OSU fan. He complained about Meyer the whole time. "Oh look another read-option." Sample size=1 says yes they do.
October 2nd, 2018 at 11:10 AM ^
Pretty sure a loud contingent OSU fans were ready to get rid of Meyer after their loss to MSU a few years ago.
October 2nd, 2018 at 11:39 AM ^
It was sort of surprising that Penn State D was able to contain OSU's offense for most of that game.
The impression going in was that Penn State has a good but not elite D, and OSU has an offensive machine.
October 1st, 2018 at 7:05 PM ^
Mostly agree. The passing game--the connection between Shea and the receivers--was off most of the day. The running game was strong until it was entirely predictable. A few quibbles with your takes on the drives/play-calling:
Drive 1: DPJ made the same mistake Collins made after he caught a hitch on the first offensive play of the game. Just catch the ball and cut upfield. Bell also got too cute. On 3rd down, Collins was open but Shea never looked at him, and Collins did not come back to the ball. Higdon would have been a fine check down.
Summary: Play calls were fine. Execution was not, and that is on the coaches as much as the players--we need to coach those guys to get upfield in those situations.
Drive 2: Passing game was out of sync, as DPJ was open on the roll out. It happens.
Drive 3: McKeon needs to make that catch. Great play call. Collins needs to be coached to get up field. Do not like the power call on 4th down. Mason has been a beast on short yardage and proved it again against NW. Just give him the ball.
Drive 4: Don't hear any complaining about this one.
Drive 5: Gentry brain fart on 4th.
Drive 6: Just missed on the pass to Collins. Another example of being just a bit out of sync.
Drive 7: The short yardage play calling is the only beef I have. If we're going to line-up in the shotgun on second down near the goal line, we better be running rub routes or be serious about allowing our QB to run the ball. Neither of those were the case, so, yes, I hated those calls and wish we would just give Ben Mason the ball there.
Drive 8: See drive 7. Yes, Collins should make the catch, but why not just pound NW into dust with our Bench Mason?
Drive 9: Ridiculous penalty. Shea finally allowed to run.
Drive 10: Hard to complain here; Shea was a legitmate keeper option at this point in the game and held a defender to make Higdon's run easy, and Mason was blocking.
Drive 11: Either get more creative with the run calls, or use--you guessed it--Ben Mason. Remember when Green Bay used to trot out their oaf of a FB for their 4-minute drill to kill games? Yeah, we have a better OL and a better FB. If we're just going to run dives, use the Bench.
The bitching about the play-calling is excessive, but there are some valid quibbles. And some more creativity/deception in general would be nice. Harbaugh teams used to use more motion, trap, and wham blocks. Jed used throwbacks and play action more. Heck, we even used more jet motion last week. Would love to see more gameplans like OSU 2017 and less like Notre Dame 2018--this NW game was somewhere in between.
October 2nd, 2018 at 8:28 AM ^
Thanks for taking the time to look at the plays and responding. I started this off as an mgoboard post, but it just got too long! Figured I'd give a place for people to continue to talk about both the good and bad play calling. There are definite opportunities to complain, but you look at three 2nd half drives that went 11 plays. Jack was talking on the podcast about Michigan killing them in 2nd half possession time on the podcast released this morning. I just think we did a lot of good on both sides of the ball after going down 17-0.
October 2nd, 2018 at 12:55 PM ^
Thank you for the thoughtful diary. As I said when I started the long post, I mostly agree. Fans are always going to complain about play calling when the result of a game does not exceed their expectations. For most people, there’s a very linear relationship between play calling and success. I think video games have had a big impact on that.
Harbaugh is a creative coach, but in a very different way than, say, Brohm. Most fans can’t see his creativity in action.
That said, he also some Colonel Jessup “train the lad” (also a Bo staple) to his scheming and can be stubborn.
I would actually say that my least favorite thing about his offensive style is the constant change. I hope he sticks with this spread iteration of his offense for years to come and only tweaks it rather than reforming it annually.
October 3rd, 2018 at 8:31 AM ^
The running game was strong until it was entirely predictable.
Your solution to every single short-yardage situation is to give every short yardage carry to the fullback.
This isn’t how it works.
October 3rd, 2018 at 4:40 PM ^
That isn't my solution. My solution is to use Ben Mason more in short-yardage situations, not just with FB dives. We have not explored many possibilities there yet.
October 1st, 2018 at 7:44 PM ^
Most people can't separate the process from the results.
First down run for 22 yards = brilliant
First down run for 1 yard = what the f*** THEY WERE EXPECTING THAT YOU DON'T RUN ON FIRST DOWN FIAR LEYLAND!!!!
October 1st, 2018 at 8:15 PM ^
Quality diary enjoyed it thank you
October 1st, 2018 at 10:16 PM ^
Good stuff. Thank you.
October 1st, 2018 at 10:58 PM ^
Stop Complaining.
October 4th, 2018 at 4:45 PM ^
That's kind of a complaint.
October 2nd, 2018 at 7:59 AM ^
First, this is a great opening post. Thanks B/C this is what makes the board excellent...
My own ramblings...
--Play calling was not terrible on most drives.
--But on some drives (at least at certain key junctures) it was terrible.
--Best example: two goal to go drives that ended in FGs were...unimaginative and uninspired play calling.
--JH gets too conservative late in tight games (see also MSU 2015, OSU 2016). 6 between the tackles runs on the final 6 first down plays is...hard to defend as great play selection. Sure you have to run to drain the clock. But using a misdirection run, or trying to get the edge, on that last clock killing drive...why not? Maybe Gaziano on the edge deterred those calls? Don't know. But Is Higdon between the tackles really the only way to go?
--OTOH, the play that resulted in the Higdon walk-in TD was...intelligent in design and called at just the right time. Same formation, but with Patterson keeping, was also later deployed very intelligently.
--Outside of situational play calling, there are a completely different set of issues/fan complaints regarding the playbook (at least the parts M uses) and offensive game plans.
Example: Where are the short quick iso pass plays? Opponents use them against M (guarantee opponents will call at least 6 slants per game until D. Brown shows he will stop them from the first series). M has rarely used this sort of play this year. Seems like something that would help move the chains if used 4 or 5 times per game (give or take depending on what the opposing D is doing). Closest thing M seems to use is the WR screen that is set up with 3 WR out to one side...
October 2nd, 2018 at 8:37 AM ^
The first FG saw them break Tru Wilson for six yards and had Perry open in the end zone. If you want to complain about the Higdon run in the middle sure. But that's 2/3 successful calls.
The second FG drive was similar: Bad Higdon running play (not saying it was his fault), successful pass to DPJ to set up 3rd and 4, Patterson looks like he throws a good ball to Collins who just doesn't try and get it for what would have been at least a 1st down on the 2. We weren't ever actually in a goal to go situation on this drive.
October 2nd, 2018 at 10:02 AM ^
Some valid points, for sure.
But..I do in fact criticize the hand offs to Higdon and also the Perry fade.
On 1st and goal from the 10 Tru Wilson got 6 on a run. On 2nd and goal from the 4 a run with Higdon. Why hot try to use 6'8" Gentry in the back of the end zone?
And on 3rd and goal, Perry was open enough but Patterson missed him on the fade. But that is sort of a 1 receiver play. Why not a play with two or three real receiver options?
And then on the next series, with 1st and ten from the 12, JH calls a vanilla hand off to Higdon...for a three yard loss. That is not a great call. Next two calls (Perry pass to the 6, and then Eubanks pass) were decent calls. Patterson was not accurate on the Eubanks target... It happens.
I guess I am in the camp that thinks JH should be passing more from the 10 or 12 yard line (but not really fades).
Gentry should be a real weapon in that situation. Not only Gentry, but also Collins is big enough to use the box out play that Stanford uses with Arciega-Whitehead.
From the 10 or 12 they should also consider pass plays that give Patterson a good lane to run if receivers do not break open quickly.
Instead, on both series, JH uses vanilla and predictable between the tackles runs on 1st down. One got 6 yards. The other a 3 yard loss.
The next time M got deep in the red zone, JH called that brilliant three receiver diamond formation. More of that sort of stuff would be better than vanilla and predictable running between the tackles on 1st down from the 10 or 12 yard line.
October 2nd, 2018 at 12:59 PM ^
I agree that there are different (better?) things that could have been tried, I just disagree that there weren't play calls that could have gotten us into the end zone.
October 2nd, 2018 at 6:40 PM ^
The answer to the six inside runs may as well be Seth’s Neck Sharpie post today. The NW defense runs a 4-3 with both DTs lined up in the B gap, which allows them to set the edge very well but be susceptible to runs up the middle, especially iso (see: both of Higdon’s TDs and a couple of his longest runs). But when Michigan tried to get to the edge, it would get blown up. Maybe this is Harbaugh just being conservative at the end of the game with playcalling, but then again he could just be favoring his senior RB and interior OL to gain a few, tough yards or at the very worst, stay at the LOS and burn clock.
October 2nd, 2018 at 8:03 AM ^
Very thorough & enjoyable post. Opening quote gave me a full belly laugh.
Like most close games, less than 10 plays are crucial: Failure to stop NW’s 36 yard screen pass, McKeon drop, subsequent failure on 4th & 1, holding call from Mars are key plays in retrospect. This is true for all our close, painful losses with Harbaugh.
Play calling complaining overdone. These are 20 year old kids on average who can be coached 20 hours per week. Stuff happens.
October 2nd, 2018 at 8:28 AM ^
The illegal formation penalty on the punt was just as phantom as the holding call. If someone could post a picture of the "illegal" punt formation and then a picture of the punt formation after the penalty was assessed - you cannot tell the difference. AT MOST we had 4 players in the backfield. The officiating is horrendous 11 penalties to 2 ??
Go Blue!
October 2nd, 2018 at 8:33 AM ^
Couple of notes:
On the first drive, the coverage sack is partially caused by DPJ slipping and falling.
Also, I don't think Patterson was out of sync with his receivers, I think he's out of sync with one: Collins. Really, Patterson missed two throws: He overthrew Perry in the end zone and then threw a bad ball to Collins on the (I think) phantom holding drive. He overthrew DPJ on a third down, but he was on the run with pressure after him and DPJ had two men on him so there wasn't much shame in missing that.
The bigger issue is that Collins is taking Black's minutes and I don't think he's quite there yet. There also aren't any other options, so growing pains are going to happen. He's very talented, but doesn't quite have the nuances of the position down yet.
October 2nd, 2018 at 12:22 PM ^
Yes, the Hidgon first down runs into the line for one yard several times in a row on that last drive were incredibly frustrating to watch. Can't we get a little more creative on first down on that drive? We were literally burning first downs and the clock over and over.
October 2nd, 2018 at 2:02 PM ^
On the last drive? Or the last TD drive? On the last drive I think it's hard to complain about the two instances, especially when we operated a 4 minute offense decently.
On the last TD drive, we opened up the drive with a pass then ran everytime. The situation (us being behind) and our success passing on first down shouldn't have allowed for Northwestern to tee off against the run like they did, but idk how you argue with the results. 11 plays and burnt clock was a good strategy in this game.
Idk, our goal wasn't to run into the back of our OL for 1 yard. Up until the 4th quarter, we only gained less than 3 yards on one first down run.
October 3rd, 2018 at 11:57 AM ^
I think it was the last TD drive. I know there were several 1 or 2 yard runs into the line in a row on first down. We were able to overcome these plays but it wasn't easy. And they burned a lot of clock while time was dwindling. Facing 2nd and 8-10 yards almost every time lowers our chances for success. Maybe it just worked out that way. Or maybe it wasn't the best strategy. Maybe it was.
And somebody down voting a reasonable post on play calling in a diary about play calling is just ridiculous.
October 3rd, 2018 at 1:59 PM ^
FWIW I didn't down vote you. I appreciate you participating in the discussion, whether I agree or not.
I have no idea why we went so run heavy in the fourth quarter, while trailing. The first three quarters we were fairly productive against them on first down on the ground and thru the air. Are you mad we kept running? Or mad we kept running after it failed previously? I just went back and watched those first down runs.
1st run out of shotgun, Gentry doesn't get out to the LB fast enough, and if he does Higdon is 15-20 yards downfield before he meets a safety.
2nd run out of pistol with Eubanks doing an h-back wham block. Looked like this might have been an RPO. If Higdon follows Eubanks to the hole it looks like the pass threat had the opposite safety flat footed at 6 yards. Instead he chooses the other hole and meets the safety not being optioned off.
3rd run was zone out of an ace pistol set, 7 v 7 in the box, and Runyan lost his block.
4th run (1st and Goal from the 6) was a bad play call out of a goaline formation. Everyone executed there blocks well on an ISO play and Higdon meets a LB in the hole at the LOS. An outside zone run against the grain of the jet sweep fake probably gets the edge and a TD. RPS-1
It's not like we ran the same play, or out of the some look, and I'm pretty sure one was an RPO. 75% of them should have worked if executed properly, imo.
October 2nd, 2018 at 7:51 PM ^
This is one of the most enjoyable threads I've read on this site in several weeks. Thanks to everyone who civilly contributed intelligent observations.
October 2nd, 2018 at 11:08 PM ^
Nice write up, thanks.
So right about the "fans", won't be too surprised to hear them complain about how the team wears their CFP Champions Baseball caps too "boring".
October 3rd, 2018 at 12:42 AM ^
I never understood the majority of the fans' reasoning regarding Navarre... I thought he was quite good.... and yet he got so much strife from the fans. Be careful what you wish for I guess...
October 3rd, 2018 at 9:43 AM ^
I think JH called far too many one- and three-yard plays in that game and not nearly enough of the 15-yard and 20-yard plays. Those three-yard plays are great when it's like 3rd & 1. But he was calling the one-yard plays even on first down. I understand you need to mix things up but that made no sense. Then on M's last possession, it was 3rd & 6 and he called a five-yard play--then punted on fourth down. What was that about? Why not call a seven-yard play in that situation? Or go for it on fourth down--perfect opportunity to use those one-yard plays. Some real head-scratchers in that one.
Seriously though, great diary. Thanks for putting in the work!
October 3rd, 2018 at 1:33 PM ^
Michigan and Man, a match made in heaven. Michigan Man. Hey, that sounds catchy, we should put that on a shirt! Or maybe even hire a coach for that reason and that reason alone!
Don't make me hurt you, mgobaran...
October 5th, 2018 at 9:29 AM ^
Fans have bitched about play calling as long as i can remember. Its normal. I don't care about the play calling as long as you have more points than the other team at the end of the 4th quarter. The RR years were fun to watch the offense but we all know how those games ended up.
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