Michigan 2nd slowest team in the NCAA
This is a pretty funny tweet:
A MICHIGAN MAN SAVORS THE MOMENT MT @McMurphyESPN: Slowest teams in seconds per play this year: Army (31.1) & Michigan (30.9)
— Ryan Nanni (@celebrityhottub) September 15, 2014
On the other hand, it does raise serious issues. What is with Michigan's tempo? One answer is that Nussmeier and Hoke aren't averse to tempo but are focusing on executing a new offense, and as the team settles in, tempo will become part of Michigan's offensive arsenal.
Another viewpoint is that there must be other teams breaking in new offenses, which have less experienced coaching staffs, as well as less good football players learning these offenses, and they are faster on a per play basis than Michigan (except for Army).
I wasn't able to find the full breakdown of each team, but it's something worth keeping an eye on, especially as it's been a topic of some interest for Brian and the rest of the MGoStaff.
September 16th, 2014 at 7:46 AM ^
He said he doesn't beleive there is any correlation between number of plays run and winning games. He beleives the execution of the play, 3rd down conversions, and red zone plays are the priority right now, so that's what they plan to focus on. It sounds like it's really just youth and guys running a new system that makes him want to take his time with plays to focus on execution. But, IMO tempo makes you think less and react more, which is better for guys that are unsure of what to do and maybe already thinking too much. Just get it and go kind of deal. But, Mattison also said in his presser that they do run uptempo in practice a lot, so who knows.
September 16th, 2014 at 8:55 AM ^
It's almost like....the coaches are doing what they can to deal with the youth and inexperience on the roster....
Look, I was as pissed off as anyone else after Notre Dame, but I'm not going to bitch at the coaches for micromanaging various aspects of the game. All I care is that michigan scores points and gives up less points.
September 16th, 2014 at 9:03 AM ^
I mean, srsly, who gives a crap...I want them to be Top Ten period...
September 16th, 2014 at 9:48 AM ^
Right. This is what we heard last year. Its probably what we'll hear next year, only next year the excuse will be "Well, we're breaking in a new QB, so...".
This is just something you should be able to do to some extent because get this - there is going to come a point where you have to do it. And we've seen from our two minute drills over the years that this is something our head coach obviously doesn't understand or doesn't deem important.
September 16th, 2014 at 9:58 AM ^
You really think that scoring more points than the other team leads to wins? WE NEED TO GO FAST. FAST = WIN
September 16th, 2014 at 8:03 AM ^
September 16th, 2014 at 9:55 AM ^
September 16th, 2014 at 7:58 AM ^
September 16th, 2014 at 10:17 AM ^
I have nothing constructive to add so I'll call everyone else dumb.
September 16th, 2014 at 10:33 AM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
September 16th, 2014 at 11:07 AM ^
September 16th, 2014 at 11:20 AM ^
you should probably add: Dave Brandon, piped in music, ticket sales (100K streak broken), why isn't northfleet getting more touches,etc.
September 16th, 2014 at 8:00 AM ^
calculated all our players' 40 times from recruiting data or something. Now THAT would be interesting to see where we rank.
September 16th, 2014 at 8:07 AM ^
I posted this a while back, but don't expect Nuss to run a up-tempo offense. At Alabama, and now Michigan the players have said they run a high tempo practice to get as many reps in as possible. They will not play that way, however.
Aj McCarron did an interview about how they practice compared to how they play and he stated this exactly. High tempo offense in practice. but rarely use it in a game.
I think this also helps the defense a lot. More fast pace spread teams in today's game, so practicing fast and getting tons of reps in helps everyone.
September 16th, 2014 at 8:21 AM ^
And before that at Washington. I don't think it'll ever be the nominal strategy, I don't think Michigan fans will see it this year, but nominally he'll have it installed for certain situations when he wants to utilize tempo in his favor in the future. He just doesn't believe (as stated above) that it's of great importance over other things right now.
September 16th, 2014 at 8:08 AM ^
September 16th, 2014 at 8:19 AM ^
In three games, Michigan has two delay of game penalties, one of which was on purpose, the other was out of a timeout. Getting to the LOS between nominal snaps hasn't really been the big issue people are making it out to be.
September 16th, 2014 at 8:23 AM ^
I'm not worried about when the ball is snapped. I'm worried about when the offense gets to the line of scrimmage. In the NTM game, they were worlds ahead of the first two games. There was a good 17 seconds on the play clock in most cases. That give Devin time to look over the defense, call his Mikes, and maybe adjust the play.
I could care less when they snap the ball, as long as it isn't after the play clock strikes 0:00.
September 16th, 2014 at 9:04 AM ^
Don't think anyone would care if we were 3-0 and saw progress from last year. Instead we are 2-1 wth a completely embarassing loss to ND and the same questions we've had the last 2 years about the direction of the football program.
September 16th, 2014 at 9:17 AM ^
September 16th, 2014 at 10:25 AM ^
I agree that the stat is less than perfect. Teams that throw a lot of incomplete passes look high-tempo, sure. But it's also not meaningless, either -- it's not for nothing that Oregon is always high-tempo using this statistic as a measure -- and it basically corresponds to what we see on game days.
September 16th, 2014 at 9:21 AM ^
If it's effective and Michigan wins a ton of games then I'm all for a slow tempo. Whatever works is fine with me. However, from a purely selfish standpoint I prefer watching a faster tempo.
September 16th, 2014 at 9:22 AM ^
like a bunch of guys that learned to play football from the internet...
September 16th, 2014 at 9:40 AM ^
September 16th, 2014 at 1:13 PM ^
If we could just improve to Georgia's Tempo...
September 17th, 2014 at 10:11 AM ^
My dad had one of those; drove it until the wheels fell off.
September 16th, 2014 at 9:41 AM ^
Notre dame can vouch just how slow Michigan is.
September 16th, 2014 at 10:45 AM ^
"Lloyd Carr's Michigan" is smiling.
September 16th, 2014 at 11:00 AM ^
What Michigan really needs is a player in street clothes to hold up a "Win the Game" sign.
September 16th, 2014 at 11:08 AM ^
As I tweeted Saturday at halftime, Michigan's offense is slow, slower and death.
September 16th, 2014 at 11:18 AM ^
Adding the number of plays, all else equal, should reduce variance and lead to the better team winning more often. However, all else isn't equal, so some styles of play and other factors may make moving slower more advantageous.
Different from tempo is GETTING OUT OF THE FUCKING HUDDLE! There's no reason to stroll up to the line with 10 seconds left and take whatever the defense gives you. You can stand at the line for 20 seconds without running a play while checking into an advantageous play.
September 16th, 2014 at 11:21 AM ^
September 16th, 2014 at 12:42 PM ^
I've never cared about the speed of Michigan's offense; I've been annoyed with its inefficiency and mistakes in running it. I know people like to bitch about checks in and out of blitzes, identifying plays, audibles, etc. and argue that quicker teams have more time to react, but it also gives more time for the defense to counter and react as well. Lots of "fast" teams suck offensively. If Michigan's offense remains coherent and executes properly, it should be successful regardless of how "slow" it is.
September 16th, 2014 at 1:41 PM ^
September 16th, 2014 at 4:15 PM ^
September 16th, 2014 at 5:08 PM ^
I could care less if we use the whole play clock, but I'd like for us to get to the line quickly, so as to limit the amount of time the D has to substitue, or simply reduce the amount of substitutions per game. I hate it when we get to the line with only ten seconds, or less. However, I'd take sound decision making and execution over tempo any day.
September 16th, 2014 at 6:44 PM ^
Which is why every mistake is magnified when you are the equivalent of Wisconsin in basketball without the being good part. They need to vary the pace more.....
September 17th, 2014 at 8:19 AM ^
...when I was able to watch the DVR'd game quite efficiently using the "skip forward 30 sec" button on my remote while Michigan was on offense. Just hit the button after each play ended and it was remarkable how Michigan would be just about to snap the ball for the next play.