Film Analysis Ep 1.2 - Run Offense Struggles vs. ND
And I'm back! Thanks for all the comments and support for Episode 1.1 that I posted yesterday. I finished up Episode 1.2 last night, and you can find it below.
I focused mainly on the running issues Michigan saw, looking at primarily the negative plays.
I also added some numbers on the top right of the screen to make it easier for you guys to reference an individual play in the comments. Let me know if there are any other features you guys would like to see, as I always want to improve upon it.
I'm thinking about trying to do a "live analysis" mode, where I explain the play as I draw it, instead of using text. Let me know if that's something you guys would be interested in, otherwise I'll stick to the current format.
Episode 1.3 - "Defensive big plays" is coming either late tonight or early tomorrow.
September 7th, 2018 at 12:07 PM ^
Very much appreciate this. Thanks again!
Two observations:
1 - On play 6, Patterson should've faked the pitch.
2 - Our offense, for the umpteenth year in a row, relies too much on everybody doing their job perfectly to succeed. We need to run an offense where only 3 or 4 guys need to "get it right" for the play to succeed. That's what it feels like, anyway.
September 7th, 2018 at 12:25 PM ^
I agree entirely with your point 2. This is why the offense has had an unsettling Hoke/Borges feel to it recently. Great play call, just (one guy) didn't execute.
Other teams regularly find ways to turn as few as one talented guy into an entire offense. Why can't Michigan make an offense out of 10 guys executing?
September 7th, 2018 at 12:26 PM ^
I think this idea is pretty mythical. There isn’t an offensive system that gets by in execution of 3 or 4 guys unless every play is a quick WR screen, which isn’t an offense.
September 7th, 2018 at 1:13 PM ^
I'm no expert of course. But I would think spreading the field and letting your athletic playmakers "make plays" with only a couple blocks would be better than condensed manball with O-linemen rubbing shoulders. Especially at the college level. I guess I'm just a solid advocate for the spread offense.
September 7th, 2018 at 1:31 PM ^
And UM did that quite a bit. You can't have that be your entire offense though.
September 7th, 2018 at 1:48 PM ^
Isn't RichRod's offense a quick-hitting make plays in space offense? Our 3-9 2008 offense suggests that such things aren't so simple. Our 2009 offense kind of stunk as well. You still need a bunch of guys simultaneously executing the appropriate blocks.
September 7th, 2018 at 2:51 PM ^
I say play to Patterson's strength of improvisarion and call plays to reflect it .
September 7th, 2018 at 12:27 PM ^
Excellent post, don't get to see the game broken down like this very often. TV angles generally suck for trying to figure out what happens. keep them coming
September 7th, 2018 at 12:38 PM ^
Even if he fakes the pitch, the DE is in a pretty good position to make a play. Overall analysis is correct in determining that Patterson and Evans had the spacing wrong on this.
September 7th, 2018 at 1:02 PM ^
I feel like our offense never utilizes the players. We bring in top 15 recruiting classes all the time and yet that turns on mediocrity or worse on offense. It's not about talent. It's about not being able to teach young players to execute a playbook to precision.
Other B1G teams bring in comparable or less talent yet produce offensive stand-outs all the time. Where are Michigan's offensive stand-outs? The coaches are failing to produce high-end offensive talent.
September 7th, 2018 at 12:16 PM ^
Excellent analysis!! But as an M fan, so frustrating to watch how/why plays 'fail' versus why they work. Sorry, a turnaround year like OSU after losing to Va Tech in '14 and PSU in '16 ain't happening unless that tackle position changes/improves FAST!!
September 7th, 2018 at 12:21 PM ^
I think the oUFR will be better than we expect. I don't think we RPS'd our way to 300+ yards. I'm not sure a why-the-play-worked video would be as interesting to watch, or as educational.
September 7th, 2018 at 12:42 PM ^
I was also thinking a why the play worked video would be interesting, but it depends on the play. For example, Khalid Hill used to 2 for 1 some defenders on the edge causing success, which you wouldn't always pick up live. Things like that were pretty interesting.
September 7th, 2018 at 12:48 PM ^
Great point. I redact my statement! I'd love to watch Khalid's 2 for 1 blocks all day. Even the obvious ones. In a boom-a-rang style gif form.
September 7th, 2018 at 12:16 PM ^
Re: Fail option play.
On the backside, looks like Onwenu thinks the play is going to the right. His mistake lets the backside thru untouched, which might be the reason Shea doesn't press the LOS as much as he should. At the very least there wouldn't have been a 2nd guy right in Evans' face.
Not trying to let Shea off the hook though. Just adding another layer of fault.
September 7th, 2018 at 12:17 PM ^
Thanks!
Play 1 Never understand why teams run stretch type plays to the short side of the field, the sideline almost becomes another defender.
September 7th, 2018 at 12:25 PM ^
Because defenses often rotate coverage to the field and/or align their fronts to the field. A lot of teams are setting the edge to the boundary with a DE or safety coming from the hash, meaning a difficult angle. Therefore, while there’s less space to the short side, it is easier to leverage the defense to the boundary and get preferable matchups to the field (such as a CB being responsible for defending the run)
September 7th, 2018 at 12:55 PM ^
I guess it would work better if someone could set the edge, thanks!
September 7th, 2018 at 1:12 PM ^
You're not wrong in the reasoning behind it, but Michigan has been running short field pitch plays for years now and I'm not being sarcastic when I say I've only seen 2 work and that was last year because Higdon broke 3 tackles (2 of them behind the LOS) and the other was Air Force.
Those plays are the ones you run when you have numbers and know you can win the 1 on 1 blocks on the edge with pulling OGs who can get there. Michigan, to this point, has not had the ability to win the 1 on 1 blocks nor the OGs who can get out there and help (outside of the Air Force game).
It's a decent play when it works and you can run plays off of it (Evans last year against Purdue) but it has almost always resulted in 4-5 yard losses that kill drives.
September 7th, 2018 at 12:25 PM ^
These are very good. Thanks! It seems like we're seeing some Higdon vision issues. I saw three plays where it seemed Higdon left some yards on the field. Plays 2, 3, and 4. I thought he could done better by cutting earlier or going to the wrong hole.
September 7th, 2018 at 12:35 PM ^
The Power O play I don’t think it’s a vision issue. He hit the gap, just late. Most likely it’s because he abandoned the A gap too early. Power O is an A gap run that bounces outside once it’s closed. Normally it is, and it eventually turns into a C gap run, but your first look has to be A. Looking at Higdon’s path, it looks like he started working out too soon before working back
On the zone play, backside C is a difficult cut to make. You’d like to see him make it, but with free rusher coming outside, he likely isn’t going to redirect and make that hole before getting tackled. JRJ needs to do better there and it’s a nice gain
September 7th, 2018 at 12:52 PM ^
SC, with regards to play 3, is the fact that Higdon isn't able to cut sharper once he reaches the hole mostly a skillset issue? I envision a back known for more lateral quickness, like a Mike Hart, making something out that play, which looked pretty well blocked.
September 7th, 2018 at 1:21 PM ^
that should have been a huge gain. i was bitchin at higdon while watching that play live. evans probably gets a TD there.
September 7th, 2018 at 1:49 PM ^
Heard Jamie Morris on The M Zone once say that Evans cuts off the wrong foot. So maybe he and Higdon both need a real RB coach:)
September 7th, 2018 at 1:40 PM ^
Higdon makes good cuts; it's one of his strengths. You can see, though, that at the point where he wanted to make the cut, he was on the wrong foot. The issue here is that he saw the hole just a split-second late. A hard cut literally a half step earlier and he's in the clear.
September 7th, 2018 at 2:07 PM ^
Yup, you could tell that he saw it but it was too late to adjust. He was bumping into the back side of a blocker at the time.
September 7th, 2018 at 1:21 PM ^
Thanks SC! I really appreciate reading your analysis on this.
September 7th, 2018 at 12:37 PM ^
EDIT - Listen to Space Coyote, he knows way more about run concepts than I do :)
September 7th, 2018 at 12:38 PM ^
3 for sure. The other two, I disagree. The cutback on 2 is open because he pushed the initial hole. Runyan's guy meets him in the backfield before he get the chance to cutback. On the sweep by the time he catches the ball with inertia heading toward the sideline. The play is over before he could make a decision to cut 90 degrees upfield.
September 7th, 2018 at 12:45 PM ^
As the young kids say, this shit is fire
September 7th, 2018 at 1:01 PM ^
On play 4: It doesn't even seem likely, even if DPJ makes a perfect block, that our pulling OL can match the speed of the LB's. You can't expect a 300+ lb OL to outrun a 220lb LB to a spot on the far side of the field.
September 7th, 2018 at 1:19 PM ^
yes, and ruiz is supposed to chase down block the MLB.. ya, good luck with that. again, horrible play design.
September 7th, 2018 at 1:54 PM ^
Football teams have OLs pull and match up with LBs all the time. It's a huge mismatch in favor of the offense. The play isn't designed to go all the way to the sideline; the outside blocks get in place and the RB can choose a gap with massive OLs crushing the LBs and DBs in the way.
And Ruiz wasn't assigned to the MLB; that was Runyan's job, but he got held up by DPJ's man. Ruiz is assigned to the weakside LB, which he has an angle on.
Blocking in cases like this isn't intended to work in only one direction. When the OLs engage their targets, their target will naturally try to get away... and the OL will use this effort to move them. If they go outside, the OL pushes them outside, allowing the RB to cut inside them. If they go inside, they push him inside.
Ruiz saw that Runyan wasn't going to make the block, so he felt his best bet was to chase the MLB on the off chance that Higdon cut back, at which point Ruiz could wall the man off inside. It never got to that point, but that's why he bailed on the WLB.
September 7th, 2018 at 1:12 PM ^
Great stuff. Like the format.
Need Mason in there More.
September 7th, 2018 at 1:16 PM ^
this OL just plain sucks. not one block was made on play #6. and it was horribly designed. i don't see this getting much better. these guys are clueless. hell, if runyan just chips that DE, the play gains good yardage, but both he and bredeson start running downfield. and block no one.
September 7th, 2018 at 1:42 PM ^
Speaking of clueless: You realize that the whole design was for Runyan not to touch the guy, right? It's an option play. If you think that's bad, you'd be horrified watching film of, say, mid-90s Nebraska.
September 7th, 2018 at 1:43 PM ^
Runyan isn't supposed to block anyone but the LB. The DE is supposed to be optioned off.
- Bredeson needs to help Ruiz secure his block before moving to the next level.
- That provides Runyan a better angle at his 2nd level block.
- Onwenu needs to know what direction the play is going to limit backside pressure.
Then Shea has the room to press the LOS and allow for the correct spacing to adequately option off the DE.
September 7th, 2018 at 1:46 PM ^
Yikes. That was intentional. That's how option plays are supposed to work. You leave the one guy unblocked so he has to make a choice: either go for the QB or RB. When the play works, the QB pitches to the RB only after the defender commits to the QB. Or, if the defender commits to the RB, then the QB tucks it and runs.
As the OP pointed out, the failure on the play was on Patterson and Evans, because they were too close together. So the defender was able to essentially cover both of them without over-committing. Better spacing (and better patience from Patterson), could have made that play work.
September 7th, 2018 at 1:21 PM ^
That option play is just never going to work unless Shea is really going to keep it. No DE is going to take a pitch fake when they know Shea is just a decoy and will never keep it and take on a nasty OLB. I would just kill this play altogether.
The zone blocking stuff is just not our thing. Seems like all the bad run plays are zone blocked. My view is Harbaugh base offense is power and the OL can execute that darn good. But this spread look with zone blocking looks so awkward. Maybe it is just showing it early on film and then we will start to RPO from it, but man it looked really awkward and our tackles can't block 1-on-1 good enough to make it work. ND's safeties never even needed to get in the box on these zone plays as the their OL put Higdon or Evans DOA at the LOS.
September 7th, 2018 at 1:44 PM ^
Actually, I thought it looked a lot better this year than last. Warriner mixes zone and gap blocking, but zone is part of the bread and butter and you have to let him coach it.
September 7th, 2018 at 8:59 PM ^
Stats don't really support that view. We ran 6 power I plays for 33 yards and then ran about 24 plays from the spread for a net 25 yards. That just sucks no matter how you want to rationalize zone is "bread and butter". We don't run the spread looking zone stuff worth a shit. The mix needs to be the opposite of what we did at ND ... 24 power I plays and 6 zone read stuff. Out of the gun is fine, but we should stick to the base WCO passing attack and maybe a series or two of true RPO to let Shea loose.
September 7th, 2018 at 1:32 PM ^
On #4, why wouldn't you have McKeon execute DPJ's block, and have DPJ go out on the safety that McKeon blocked? It just seems to me that the block DPJ was asked to make was so critical, so why are you asking a WR to do that? Leave the critical block to someone who is going to be a better blocker.
September 7th, 2018 at 1:45 PM ^
1. WRs are asked to make crack-back blocks like that all the time, particularly in Michigan's offense.
2. DPJ was allegedly our best WR blocker. I would expect some hand-wringing about this in this afternoon's UFR.
September 7th, 2018 at 1:47 PM ^
Seemed like he stopped to catch the block instead of cracking back and hitting that guy as hard as he could.
September 7th, 2018 at 1:48 PM ^
Agreed.
September 7th, 2018 at 2:10 PM ^
I'll be the first to admit I don't know what I'm talking about, and have no feel for what should be done or how plays are designed. I'm just talking from what I observed, and am genuinely curious.
I get that receivers are asked to make blocks all the time...but in theory (and in practice with McKeon and DPJ), tight ends are better blockers than receivers. So on a play when you have your receiver and tight end lined up next to each other, and you ask your tight end to run a longer distance to block someone that he is over-qualified to block (TE vs Safety), all while leaving your WR to block someone he is underqualified to block (WR vs LB)...it just seems like you're asking for trouble. Especially when you're relying on that LB being blocked to seal the edge for the run.
I'm not trying to delve into the "coaches are calling bad plays" argument. It just seems to me that play could have succeeded by just switching McKeon's and DPJ's blocking assignments. Is that an over-simplified or naive take?
September 7th, 2018 at 2:20 PM ^
DPJ should have an advantage blocking his assignment just by the angle; however, he chooses the wrong angle and also it seems like he doesn't go as hard as is needed.
September 7th, 2018 at 2:25 PM ^
I think so. There are a couple of issues here:
1. Angles -- DPJ's block functions because he has an advantageous angle on the play. He is supposed to block down, toward the center of the field. He is not supposed to face up and hold his ground; he is using the player's natural momentum toward the ball against him. The player he is blocking needs only be directed inside and Higdon will be outside of him before he can make a play. You can't have Mckeon reaching left to that guy, he'll get blown by and the play will have no chance.
2. Tipping a play -- to have Mckeon block that guy, you need to flip DPJ and Mckeon, so that Mckeon is outside and DPJ is inside. Well, that's a big massive alarm telling ND that Michigan is running the football to that side. From the existing formation, it's possible for Michigan to call a regular pass play with those guys running routes, and ND has to respect that.
Those blocks are designed for WRs to be able to make them, and they make them all the time at many levels of football. It's not unreasonable.
September 7th, 2018 at 1:39 PM ^
We never run to short side of field with success
September 7th, 2018 at 1:45 PM ^
Can't watch anymore. Somewhat of a clown act. I get the impression that blockers are surprised by game speed. Hopefully they are practicing a lot of this stuff at close to full speed. DPJ missing his cutback block--needed an aggressive angle, just kind of went through the motion. Higdon: get vision!