OOC Over - End of Vanilla?
With our out of conference schedule over, can we now expect an end to our vanilla play calling? By vanilla I mean designed to win the game with talent rather than 'decided schematic advantage'
I want to posit that our offensive line play has been limited by our coaching staff's lack of concern over RPS wins losses in the OOC.
We saw one interesting play - the Morris pitch to Peppers - which was due to the fact Speight was dinged, not a desire to be unique. (When can we expect the return of the full house backfield?)
It will be interesting to see what wrinkles come out against Penn St. / Wisconsin /Rutgers / Illinois
Any time the staff can get MSU to chase their tail in the film room and practice will be determiend by what they see on film in these 4 games.
Maryland / Iowa / Indiana will be the petri dishes for OSU
I believe the line will improve this week signifiacntly due to PSU being back on their heels trying to figure out what we are doing. I believe the coaching staff will get them guessing and that will be the difference in the run game.
September 21st, 2016 at 10:54 AM ^
On a somewhat related point - but certainly not worthy of its own thread - I was wondering if, going forward, Harbaugh would attempt to work in plays designed to pad Peppers' stats on offense. I know that Harbaugh as 100% dedicated to The Team, The Team, The Team, and I don't see him ever doing this if he thought that the plays wouldn't help the team, but at the same time, I could see Harbaugh doing whatever he can to help Peppers get into the Heisman discussion. Harbaugh is pretty open about his love of Peppers - he gushes about him unprompted in pressers, and is VERY open to Peppers being a three-way player.
While individual awards initially seem to run counter to the concept of the Team, on a long term basis, this is not necessarily so. Winning helps recruiting, but there are lots of teams that consistently win. Having a guy like Peppers in the Heisman race only increases the already rapidly-growing cool factor of Michigan. More than most, Harbaugh gets the importance of a high profile and good publicity in recruiting (see all of his off season stuff).
Again, I don't see him designing a game plan focused on padding Pepper's stats on offense, but I could see some plays designed to get him some touchdowns, especially if we are up comfortably, or if there is a mismatch that Peppers' speed can exploit.
September 21st, 2016 at 11:15 AM ^
I mean, the Citrus Bowl was basically a highlight reel for Rudock to get drafted.
September 21st, 2016 at 11:07 AM ^
We all agree that Harbaugh likes to make things uncomfortable for his players. It's been stated many times. That applies on the field moreso than anywhere else. He didn't remove Speight after he was drilled because babying your QB (or anyone, for that matter) sends the wrong message. Hell f'n no. Put him back in in an uncomfortable position and see how he responds. It's how you build toughness.
Three times in the first quarter, we ran a play to our weakside when we were clearly outnumbered. Do you think perhaps, maybe, this is Harbaugh's way of saying, "I DGAF if we're outnumbered. Show me what you got."
Here's two screen grabs. You tell me if you think Harbaugh is so clueless that he unknowingly ran into CU's strength THREE TIMES in the first quarter.
We have 4 blockers: Cole, Kalis, Mags, Poggi to CU's 5 defenders. We ran this twice
This is 5.5 defenders to our 4 blockers on our left side.
This is NOT poor O Line play. This is a deliverate play by our coaching staff to A) test the mettle of our offense and B) put something on tape.
September 21st, 2016 at 11:10 AM ^
I agree that Harbaugh likes to keep his players uncomfortable and off balances (he has said in the past that this makes them best prepared to handle a game when the game plan goes awry and on the fly adjustments are needed). While it seeems crazy, I could see him running these plays for the reasons that you listed - he is, after all, crazy.
My only reason for questioning this is that we were getting our asses kicked in the first quarter, and there was a real concern that the game would get out of reach. Would he risk that just to run these types of plays as a means of toughening up his players?
September 21st, 2016 at 11:28 AM ^
Good question. I just don't know.
September 21st, 2016 at 11:26 AM ^
thanks for the screen grab
can't blame o-line for that
September 21st, 2016 at 2:10 PM ^
This theory presumes that Harbaugh knows how CU will line up before he makes that play call, or, that Speight has the option to switch the running play away from the strength of the D but was told not to.
When he signals the play in how would Harbaugh supposedly know that CU will lineup with strength to the playside?
September 21st, 2016 at 11:48 AM ^
Obscure and very underrated.
September 21st, 2016 at 12:12 PM ^
Harbaugh will continue to insert wrinkles from week-to-week. Certainly, there were things (particularly with Peppers) that Michigan didn't show. But Michigan still did a lot of things. Not being able to run consistently up the middle was more due to how the defense stacked interior gaps with DL and were exposed on the outside more than anything. Michigan ran a number of things in the run game, had quite a few things in the pass game. They will continue to build the playbook and show new things, but they didn't just go bash their heads against the wall in the OOC games.
September 21st, 2016 at 12:49 PM ^
You ain't Hoking
September 21st, 2016 at 1:01 PM ^
Probably won't see much this weekend against Penn St. I wouldn't expect the playbook to open up more until MSU.
Even Penn St. guys are not expecting to win this game. On the Wolverine podcast the Penn St. guy they were interviewing predicted a 52-10 UM win and Penn St. may be a 5-7 or 4-8 team. He thinks if they get blown out this game that it will start the process of getting James Franklin out the door.
September 21st, 2016 at 1:09 PM ^
He's interested in winning the game in front of him, imo. As for PSU, I think we match up well with them and should be able to easily win that one with the plays and schemes that we've shown in the first 3 weeks. Looking on down the line to MSU - I think we match up well with them too, not too worried about them either. As for OSU - it just feels like if we go in there with this defensive philosphy that they'll absolutely boat race us. Sending 5-6 defenders after Barrett will not end well for us. So, yeah I guess I hope they're holding back in preperation for The Game.
September 21st, 2016 at 4:52 PM ^