Article on Michigan's OT approach against Army
I was curious while at the game about how Michigan would approach a short field situation against Army. Obviously, the first Army possession in OT did not go as hoped, and I remember thinking that a short field played to Army's strengths. Anyway, the article is interesting, though I wish I knew what led to the 3 straight passes on Michigan's last possession. I was happy to see them open it up, but it seemed like a departure from all that came before. Anyway, here's a piece about the overtime:
https://www.michigandaily.com/section/football/how-michigan-approached-overtime-against-army
September 11th, 2019 at 11:18 PM ^
Appreciate the post and link, but not sure I'm ready to relive it yet.
September 11th, 2019 at 11:20 PM ^
When Don Brown retires, ne need to put a statue of him up in the stadium.
September 12th, 2019 at 12:02 AM ^
Made of iron.
September 12th, 2019 at 1:59 AM ^
Steel
September 12th, 2019 at 2:19 AM ^
Adamantium
September 12th, 2019 at 7:40 AM ^
Vibranium.
September 12th, 2019 at 11:28 AM ^
Mustachium
September 12th, 2019 at 9:02 AM ^
Abyssal Blood Iron.
September 12th, 2019 at 4:04 AM ^
Right at the goal line.
September 12th, 2019 at 6:59 AM ^
I like Brown, but that is ridiculous. Dude gave up 62 last year to osu with everything on the line.
September 12th, 2019 at 8:44 AM ^
Agreed. Stubbornly putting Brandon Watson on 1 on 1 coverage man to man was so dumb.
No cfb or nfl program has 3-4 corners who can play 1 on 1 man.
September 12th, 2019 at 10:29 AM ^
Besides all that, the guy's an assistant coach.
September 12th, 2019 at 11:08 AM ^
I was debating whether to make a snarky suggestion that the statue should weigh 567 pounds and I decided against it, so I'm glad to see someone else pointed out the obvious.
September 12th, 2019 at 1:52 PM ^
So Don Brown is responsible for giving up points to OSU's defense/special teams as well? Including field goals and extra points, his D gave up 48 points. Still bad, but not 62 points.
September 13th, 2019 at 7:51 AM ^
Creative defense of Pony, for sure. Held them to only 48.
Not sure how you decided giving up a TD should only count 6 against him, but good try.
September 12th, 2019 at 7:16 AM ^
Unobtanium
September 12th, 2019 at 11:13 AM ^
I don't know man. That stuff costs $20 million per kilo. I'd rather see that money go to improving the facilities.
September 12th, 2019 at 12:52 PM ^
Or, you know... the players.
September 12th, 2019 at 9:37 AM ^
I might be interested in purchasing bronze Don Brown paperweights for my desk or bookends for my library
September 12th, 2019 at 11:31 AM ^
Should include a pure Espresso fountain for all to enjoy enhanced energy!
September 12th, 2019 at 12:00 AM ^
Passing made more sense because the clock is not a factor in OT.
September 12th, 2019 at 12:39 AM ^
Passing also made more sense at the end of regulation because you're allowed to punt. The clock-drainage theory on our last drive, proposed by many including the linked article, is nuts. If we just punted and pinned Army back, they'd have had a little more time and further to go. It would've been a wash.
And of course, ya know, we might have actually completed a pass and kicked a game winning regulation FG, instead of turning it over at midfield repeatedly running straight into blitzes. Oh well.
September 12th, 2019 at 12:57 AM ^
That’s a very large and unknown IF you got there. The only data we have is what actually happened....?
September 12th, 2019 at 1:18 AM ^
On the other hand, statistics would tell you that if you're getting 2.4 yards per carry on ten straight plays, doing almost anything else would be better. Don't need any facts specific to this game to know that; we have mountains of data from all games played.
September 12th, 2019 at 8:04 AM ^
Yes, we know what happened. We had the ball with 5 minutes left, went virtually nowhere, handed them the ball near midfield, and watched in horror as they attempted a 50 yard game-winner.
And you think that strategy worked?
September 12th, 2019 at 9:16 AM ^
The takes that spin those two fourth quarter decisions into anything but complete coaching atrocities are extreme staff-apologists.
I am of the mind a coaching staff is always learning, and that Saturday will result in better, more reasoned decisions in the future. And it is always a good break when a team has the luxury of making mistakes and learning from them in a win instead of a loss, so that is a positive. But the position that those decisions were correct or even defensible is untenable.
September 12th, 2019 at 12:37 AM ^
First pass in 2OT was an easy TD to Nico if Shea didn't airmail it. Passing would've destroyed them all game if Shea wasn't hurt and rattled.
September 12th, 2019 at 12:58 AM ^
Maybe the reason you don’t call 3 straight passes is that your QB is hurt? ?
September 12th, 2019 at 1:06 AM ^
well, maybe if your QB is hurt and can't pass or run, he shouldn't be in the damn game.
September 12th, 2019 at 5:14 AM ^
This is where I keep ending up when I hear the reports that Shea is "dinged" or "nicked" or whatever other cutesy term they want to use. If he is injured to the point that he cannot perform, that he cannot play the position satisfactorily, then he shouldn't be on the field. Not his fault - injuries happen to everybody.
But one thing we've heard repeatedly since spring is that McCaffery is right up there with Shea, and on other teams he'd be the starter, and so forth. If he's that good, bring him in.
But they didn't. And what does that mean? That McCaffery isn't really that good, and that an injured Shea is still a better choice? Or that Harbaugh is too damn stubborn to change from "his" QB?
We don't know the "why," so we're forced to concentrate on the "what." And the what is that Michigan got out of this game by the skin of its ass. It doesn't bode well for the rest of the season.
September 12th, 2019 at 6:55 AM ^
My hypothesis is that a healthy Shea is ahead of Dylan. But, Dylan would've been the better option against Army. However, putting Dylan in against MTSU caused some issues (Shea's confidence, locker room, who knows). By playing Shea, the coaches were playing the long game -- trying to avoid qb controversy and keeping who they believe to be the better qb in place for the rest of the year.
September 12th, 2019 at 7:31 AM ^
My question is whether ability to throw matters less than managing the offense in the face of a more complicated defense. Shea has played a lot more games than Dylan, perhaps the coaches are more confident that in the 4th quarter he wasn’t going to turn the ball over? Perhaps Dylan can throw and run and do a lot but maybe is more prone to bad decisions that lead to worse results? Shea certainly isn’t perfect in that department but what if Dylan is worse? Doesn’t make Dylan a bad QB or a failure or anything negative but if coaches are choosing between who is less likely to make a major mistake perhaps they know Shea is a lot less likely (read: not infallible but ahead of the underclassman).
September 12th, 2019 at 10:25 AM ^
If Shea is injured, I don't see how that's a problem for him or the team. Missing wide-open receivers repeatedly doesn't exactly help a QB's confidence either (plus the criticism that comes with it).
Sit him for Army, let him rest an extra week, he starts vs. Wisconsin. It should be easy to manage that with Shea and the team, especially if you're projecting an image that you don't force players to play when injured, which is an issue in both CFB & NFL.
September 12th, 2019 at 12:39 PM ^
My hypothesis is that Dylan is also hurt.
September 12th, 2019 at 7:39 AM ^
Regarding the rest of the season.....did you see last years game when Army played Oklahoma? Oklahoma looked bad. The rest of their season turnout good. The only difference to me is that the strength of schedule is more demanding for Michigan this year but could still have a stellar year.
September 12th, 2019 at 10:30 AM ^
Oklahoma plays Army again next year...at Army! Whoops. At least Warde wasn't foolish enough to schedule two games against that team.
September 12th, 2019 at 8:48 AM ^
Do we have any evidence that Shea is hurt (more than any other QB in the B1G)? I keep seeing that tossed around here.....but it certainly hasn't come from the media or the coaches (who obviously wouldn't tip their hand regarding injuries). We haven't seen him limp on the field. We haven't seen a change in his mechanics. We did see him stretch out his legs at one point in the Army game.
I think that he may be hurting (everybody is).....but I don't see any indication that he's actually injured. If he was, McCaffrey would be in the game, particular if the game plan is for the QB to run the ball.
September 12th, 2019 at 8:59 AM ^
Came from both the media and the coaches. One example below. Also, mentioned on the Fox broadcast.
ANN ARBOR — Jim Harbaugh hinted at it last week. On Monday, Josh Gattis confirmed it.
Michigan quarterback Shea Patterson played “banged up” during the first two games, having suffered an oblique injury in the 10th ranked-Wolverines’ season opener against Middle Tennessee State.
The news was first reported last week, with Harbaugh telling reporters after the overtime win over Army that Patterson “was better.”
“It was something he struggled with early, since the first play of Middle Tennessee,” Gattis, Michigan’s first-year offensive coordinator, told reporters on Monday.
September 12th, 2019 at 11:06 AM ^
Unless an injured Shea is still a better option than a healthy DMac...nope that can’t be it...DMac and his 17 career passes are proof he’s the man
September 12th, 2019 at 1:06 PM ^
As I recall.. the GOAT was losing the QB battle for a LONG time before he emerged. Won't know until you try...
September 12th, 2019 at 11:12 AM ^
Shea could have pulled for big gains but not when he hurt . Then you hear Spath report talking about Harbaugh already dictating the plays . So tired of him thinking he is Bo .
September 12th, 2019 at 2:26 AM ^
I would think Army would be a fantastic team to face in OT. Their offense is near doomed after a TFL, sack, or penalty. They are a completely 1 dimensional offense. Their gimmick pass plays are less likely to succeed in a short field. Their kicker was a freshmen with zero career attempts entering the game.
September 12th, 2019 at 7:33 AM ^
And that’s pretty much what happened.
September 12th, 2019 at 8:01 AM ^
Well, even in this game they averaged 3.3 YPC which as their lowest total in years. So that means on average they would be right at a first down after 3 runs. I don't know what their standard deviation (variance? been a while since Statistics) was, but it was pretty low. Army ran ~80 plays and had ~3 offensive penalties and gave up one TFL on a running play. It would seem to me that giving a team like that a short field, like in OT, would be much harder to stop than preventing them from going on an 80 yard drive, where there are more plays and more chances for a penalty or TFL.
To your point, OT would be the time where you should "try something" and take a risk- a new run blitz, etc to cause a TFL to get them behind the chains.
September 12th, 2019 at 8:51 AM ^
I would have a different take. I would think that it's easier for Army to average 3.3 YPC when they have 80 yards in front of them (more space), on a compressed field from inside the 25 when the D is playing (even marginally) closer to the line of scrimmage. Less space should equate to fewer YPC.
September 12th, 2019 at 5:52 AM ^
I wish I knew what led to the 3 straight passes on Michigan's last possession
At that point in the game Shea was 19 of 26 attempts (73%), which isn't bad at all for all of the talk about Shea not doing anything right all game.
I had actually been complaining a lot throughout the game that we weren't passing more. That Shea nearly connected on what could have been a huge TD in the 1st quarter and that I'd love to see more attempts down field.
1st and 10 Shea missed a TD.....now it is 2nd and 10 and the WR dropped a tough ball...now it is 3rd and 10 and a clear passing down and Shea misthrows again. I don't really think it is unreasonable there to have 3 straight passing attempts personally, you don't always want to run on 2nd and 10 and be too predictable.
September 12th, 2019 at 8:21 AM ^
I wonder if Army felt it had an advantage in overtime, because if it did the decision to pass on the last down makes no sense. Get some yardage on the ground, kick a FG, and go to a third OT. Since you have to go for 2 after a TD in a third OT, that would seem to give them even more of an advantage.
September 12th, 2019 at 8:23 AM ^
I think it would be best to put this game film and analysis into the garbage never to be seen or thought of again.
September 12th, 2019 at 9:36 AM ^
Remember that game against PSU in '16, when we ran the same play 8 consecutive times?
Yeah, that game we averaged 4.7 YPC, totaling 326 yards and 6 rushing TD's.
Good times.
September 12th, 2019 at 11:03 AM ^
Even though we missed all 3 passes, I'm glad they called them. We should be passing as often as possible, especially when we've got a massive advantage against the secondary like we did vs Army. Be aggressive and lob it up to the NFL guys at wide out.