Four Plays – Michigan State @ Michigan 2015

This series examines the probable individual matchups Michigan expects to face against particular opponents on one of Michigan’s key running plays and one of its key passing plays, as well as defensively against a couple of the opponent’s key plays (assuming first-sting personnel in a base defensive alignment).

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve done a Four Plays and my, how things have changed.  Last time around, Michigan was sitting at 2-1 and we confident about an upcoming visit from BYU. Maybe not that confident; the two wins were against Oregon State (one of the worst teams in the Pac-12) and UNLV (one of the worst teams in FBS), while the loss, though on the road, was to a fringe top-25 team—like BYU.  But Michigan’s team had shown improvement, the game was at the Big House, and a couple key injuries had softened the Cougars up for us, so we had good reason to think this week would be different—with “different” meaning maybe we complete that big 4^th quarter drive this time, or maybe it’s our defense that gets the critical late takeaway to ice the W.  One thing was for sure though—it was going to be a good game.

And then Michigan won the game 31-0, with the victory well in-hand before halftime.

With Michigan having followed that up by punking Maryland on the road for another shutout, and then blowing the doors off #13-ranked Northwestern last weekend, the narrative surrounding the Wolverines has gone from “eh, I think we can take BYU now that their quarterback is injured” to “wow—this team could actually make the college football playoffs.”  So now my 9-3 prediction, which had cast me as a foolish homer at the outset of the season, actually looks pessimistic. 

This Michigan State game was one of the losses I’d anticipated, with the Spartans ranked #2 to start the year on the strength of a fine offensive line, a potential first-round draft pick at QB, and a typically fierce Spartan defense.  But I don’t feel that way anymore; Harbaugh has delivered on his promise to build an army, while injuries, poor, and entropy have plagued MSU.  If anything, my feeling on this game is probably about what I imagine Ohio State fans would have felt heading into The Game in the mid 90s. That’s not very comforting, however, so let’s look at some matchups.

When Michigan has the ball…

1.     32 Belly Lead

One of the oldest forms of ritualized expression, the Raqs Sharqi or “Dance of the Orient” is believed to have originated as a fertility rite among early tribal peoples in Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Indian subcontinent.  The art from was later called the “danse du ventre” by the French, meaning “dance of the stomach”—and loosely translated by American observers at Chicago’s 1893 World’s Fair into the term Americans all recognize today: “belly dance.” 

Like the belly dance, the fullback belly concept also has ancient, yet uncertain, origins.  Some trace the belly back to Walter Camp, the famous Yale coach responsible for such innovations as the “line-of-scrimmage,” reducing teams from 15 to 11 men per side, and—most importantly for our purpose—inventing the “T formation.”  The T would come to dominate football for more than two decades, but quickly fell out of favor when the forward pass was introduced in 1906. 

Camp’s T-formation underwent a renaissance of sorts after the 1940 NFL Championship Game, in which the Chicago Bears used the T to annihilate its opponent (the football-team-from-Washington-DC-that-shall-not-otherwise-be-named) by a 73-0 score—still the greatest margin in NFL history (and also notable as the last pro football game to feature a helmetless player).  One of the most successful coaches in this second wave of T formation offense was Georgia Tech’s Bobby Dodd, who rode the T to an 11-0-1 finish in 1951 and a perfect 12-0 in 1952. 

In 1954, Dodd published a book, On Football, which detailed a so-called “90 series” of quick-hitting fullback runs that incorporated a “belly fake.”  The belly fake, Dodd explained, was a technique in which the quarterback would place the ball into the fullback’s belly and then either hand off to the FB on the dive—i.e., a quick-hitting run that attacks the B-gap (between the offensive guard and tackle), or pull the ball back out and toss it to a trailing runner, drop back to pass, run option (in a pitch relationship with the tailback), or roll to the backside of the formation (a.k.a. “bootleg”).  Importantly, even if the quarterback does hand the ball off to the fullback, the quarterback and tailback still need to carry through their post-handoff actions so as to freeze second-level defenders. 

Whether as the belly’s original creator (which seems highly doubtful) or for his consolidated refinements (which seems much more likely), Dodd is mainly credited as the father of the football belly.  And in later years, the belly fake would later go on to form the basis of countless great offensive schemes, such as the wishbone, flexbone, I-form, and other option offenses that washed through college football in the sixty years or so since Dodd’s book came out—all the way through to the modern spread & shred (where the belly fake involves a quarterback and speedy running back).  But Coach Dodd up in football heaven certainly beamed a little smile in the direction of Schembechler Hall on Monday, when Jim Harbaugh mentioned in his press conference that it was “heartwarming to see the fullback dive be successful.”  A follow-up question asked what had made the play successful, and on cue Harbaugh replied: “Everybody who doesn’t have the ball is essential.  In terms of blocking and carrying out fakes, everybody becomes a blocker who’s not carrying the ball.” 

Harbaugh’s fullback runs are not true belly plays—just straight handoffs to the fullback, not reads with the QB having the option to pull the ball out.  This may change at some point.  But Harbaugh still utilizes the post-handoff fakes to freeze linebackers and safeties and while his beastly fullbacks thunder through piles.  Maybe it ain’t no Raqs Sharqi, but it’s still some beauty in motion.

When Harbaugh debuted this particular fullback run against BYU, the H-back (Poggi) lined up right behind the right guard (Kalis); at the snap, Kalis went straight for the WLB and Poggi stepped up to kick out the DT.  And wouldn’t you know it—here comes the left guard to lead the ballcarrier through the hole and hit the MLB, just like Power O.  I kind of struggled with what to call this play; I might have done better just calling it “Inside Power.”

Assignments:

SE Amara Darboh: Block CB Darian Hicks (or Jermaine Edmondson)

H-Back Henry Poggi: Kick out block on 3-tech DT Joel Heath

LT Mason Cole: Down block WDE Lawrence Thomas

LG Ben Braden: Pull around Center and lead the fullback through the 2-hole; block first green jersey (likely MLB Riley Bullough)

C Graham Glasgow: Down bock NT Malik McDowell

RG Kyle Kalis: Fire out to second level immediately, kick-out block on WLB John Reschke

RT Erik Magnuson: Kick-out block on SDE Shilique Calhoun

TE Jake Butt: Kick-out block on EMLOS (SLB Darian Harris)

FB Sione Houma: Mesh with QB Jake Rudock; whether or not ball is given, proceed through 2-hole (right-side A-gap), read and cut off of LB Ben Braden’s block

QB Jake Rudock: Reverse out of center at 45° angle; mesh with FB Sione Houma, complete handoff; then proceed to backside in pitch relationship with TB Deveon Smith—sell option fake

TB Deveon Smith: Run to backside in pitch relationship with QB Jack Rudock—sell option fake

Advantage: Michigan State

The Spartans’ typical stout defensive front features quality DTs and preseason all-B1G defensive end Shilique Calhoun.  Michigan’s running game is much improved this season, and Rudock and Harbaugh’s offensive playcalling team have shown an especially good feel for when to call fullback runs, but I still think State has to get the nod here.

                  2. Smash-Wheel-In

One of the few frustrating moments Michigan has endured outside of the Utah game was an ill-fated fourth down conversion attempt against Maryland on which Rudock passed up two open receivers for a futile scramble attempt and wound up fumbling.  The playcall, a smash-wheel play from a trips formation, sprang receivers open deep and shallow, but Rudock was late on his reads and couldn’t get the ball out.  We’ll see this again, however—and hopefully this time for a big gain or a critical third- or fourth-down conversion.

After a fair amount of searching, I found numerous plays run from a twins formation, with the two outside receivers running a curl & wheel combination while an inside receiver (usually a releasing back) would head to the flat on an arrow route.  Harbaugh’s version, run from a trips alignment, had the outermost receiver break underneath to the inside, rather than send a back from the inside-out.  In both cases, the play design gives the QB a triangle read on one half of the field and stresses underneath zone defenders (who must simultaneously cover the smash and the flat route) as well as man defenders (who must navigate traffic resulting from the multiple intersecting route patterns, and potentially switch on receivers). 

Assignments:

XWR Amara Darboh: Run shallow (two yards deep) cross behind Y and Z receivers, covered by WLB John Reschke

LT Mason Cole: Pass protect vs. WDE Lawrence Thomas

LG Ben Braden: Pass protect vs. NT Malik McDowell

C Graham Glasgow: Pass protect vs. NT Malik McDowell

RG Kyle Kalis: Pass protect vs. DT Joel Heath

RT Erik Magnuson: Pass protect vs. SDE Shilique Calhoun

TE Jake Butt: Pass protect vs. SDE Shilique Calhoun

YWR Jehu Chesson: Run smash route (release five yards, then turn and work to open area) behind ZWR Drake Harris, covered by Nickel CB Andrew Dowell

ZWR Drake Harris: Run wheel route (release to outside at 45° angle, then turn vertically), covered by FCB Darian Hicks (or Jermaine Edmondson)

TB Deveon Smith: Pass protection

QB Jake Rudock: Receive shotgun snap, 1-step drop; read cross (1) to smash (2) to wheel (3); if nothing comes open then run

Advantage:  Even

The secondary has been an uncharacteristic weak spot for State through the first half of 2015 and covering trips formations is one of the trickier duties to pull, while Michigan’s receivers have been strong in the short game this season.  But MSU still features a wicked pass rush and though Rudock was on target against Nothwestern last weekend, he has not been consistently accurate over the course of the season.  I, for one, believe we’ll start seeing Rudock round into the 70%+ DSR form he showed at Iowa as the season grinds into the later stages.  But that might not happen, and the possibility that accurate Rudock was a one-game blip is too high to call the advantage for Michigan here.    

When Michigan State has the ball…

                  3. Tackle Trap

As you might have heard, the Michigan defensive line has been killing people this season, mainly due to the unit’s outstanding defensive tackles crushing pockets or quickly penetrating past centers and guards.  Michigan State, with several offensive linemen playing hurt or out of action altogether, cannot realistically hope to counter Michigan’s pressure physically—but they may be well-suited to counter it schematically.  Through the use of trap blocking, such as this play that Space Coyote excerpted from the MSU spring game, the Spartans can potentially exploit holes in the defense that may occur through over-penetration, or slow down rushers leery of blind-side trap blocks.

Assignments:

Buck LB Royce Jenkins-Stone: Defend back side C-gap vs. RT Donavon Clark; backside pursuit

NT Ryan Glasgow: Defend back side A-gap, alert for trap block from LT Kodi Kieler

3-tech DT Chris Wormley: Defend play side B-gap vs. LG David Beedle

SDE Willie Henry: Defend front side C-gap vs. TE Josiah Price

WLB Joe Bolden: Defend back side B-gap vs. RG Benny McGowan; backside pursuit

MLB Desmond Morgan: Defend play side A-gap vs. C Brian Allen

SLB Ben Gedeon (?) James Ross (second half only): Defend D-gap (outside TE) vs. FB Trevon Pendleton; constrict C-gap and contain run inside

Advantage: Michigan

With James Ross on the bench for the first half due to a targeting ejection last weekend, State might look to profit with heavy formations early to test Michigan’s unproven backup OLBs.  But Michigan’s defensive line has been so disruptive this season that it’s hard to see the Spartan running game finding much daylight, especially with an OL of walking wounded.

                  4. Switch Verticals

The three verticals and four verticals plays attack two-deep and three-deep coverages, respectively, by “flooding” the deep zones—i.e., by sending three receivers to outnumber two deep defenders, or four receivers to outnumber three deep defenders.  Theoretically, the defender with two receivers in his zone will have to leave one of them open, and making for an easy completion.

In their shootout against Rutgers last weekend, MSU scored a critical second-half touchdown on a three verticals concept—but with the added wrinkle of switch route to complicate the coverage and facilitate easier releases for their receivers.  The play I mentioned above got DeAnthony Arnett open against a single defender, and Cook didn’t miss him.  MSU appears to have picked up the switch concept last season, after Oregon used it used to beat Sparty in Eugene; Space Coyote just posted a link to his post on MSU’s switch vertical technique, where he covers it in extensive detail. (I read both the James Light post and Space Coyote’s very carefully and bother were extremely helpful in preparing this diary, so thanks to both of them).

Assignments:

FCB Jourdan Lewis: Press coverage (“Man everywhere he goes”) vs. WXR Aaron Burbridge

SDE Willie Henry: Pass Rush vs. LT Kodi Kieler

NT Ryan Glasgow: Pass Rush vs. LG David Beedle

3T Chris Wormley: Pass Rush vs. RG Benny McGowan

Buck LB Royce Jenkins-Stone: Pass rush vs. RT Donavon Clark

MLB Desmond Morgan: Man coverage on TE Josiah Price

WLB Joe Bolden: Man coverage vs. RB L.J. Scott

Nickel CB Jabrill Peppers: “Banjo” technique with BCB Channing Stribling; play man coverage on first receiver to release inside (ZWR McGarrett Kings)

BCB Chnning Stribling: Banjo technique with NCB Jabrill Peppers; play man coverage on first receiver to release outside (YWR RJ Shelton)

FS Jerrod Wilson: Play deep half to twins side

SS Delano Hill: Play deep half to TE side

Advantage: Michigan

I think Connor Cook is a pretty good quarterback and I’ve always been impressed with Burbridge’s talent, plus MSU’s usually mediocre receivers always show up to play against Michigan.  So if this was just a comparison between those guys and Michigan’s lights-out secondary, I might call this even.  But with an injury-depleted line against Michigan’s fearsome pass rush, no chance.

Go Blue!