Otish: Durkin looking to run Meyer's offense at MD

Harbaugh's passing game is much more complex than Bo's was.  He also uses far more shotgun/empty backfield sets.  (Did Bo use those at all?  Not sure.)

 

 

that anything Bo (or Mo or Lloyd) ever ran, but that's where it's roots are.

There was a play he called earlier this year (I don't remember what game) but people were saying that the formation was something not seen in 40 years, but with some modern wrinkles.

Once we're hitting on all cylinders, Michigan is going to be unstoppable.

For many years Bo ran the triple option with very little down field passing. I don't know that I would even call his laters years pro style but he did have fullbacks and tight ends. Much more vanilla than Harbaugh in my rememberance.

I always thought he was better at execution and motivation than strategy.

Harbaugh is signing guys like Viramontes?  He's probably not going to ever play QB on the field, but maybe he'll do a great job simulating a dual-threat guy on the scout team.

I also seem to recall OSU has had more than a little trouble handling that team over the years, and plays MSU on about a 50/50 basis in recent years. 

usually has NFL caliber players in the offense so that helps.

you're living in the 90s reminder.

Iowa is bad at offense almost all the time, so they're not a good example, and when they are decent, it's when several of their plethora of 3 stars turn out to be NFL talent at the same time, which is the best they can hope for running their offense - decent once every 5-10 years. Their last four years in FEI offensive ranks: 2015: 30th; 2014: 71st; 2013: 52nd; 2012: 85th.  Not even going to go back further because they don't do well at all for a P5 school. 

Wisconsin has had as good or better O line talent the past 10-15 years than anyone else in the B1G (save maybe OSU) and for that type of offense, o line is mostly what matters.  The RBs and WRs are essentially plug and play (as every single one of them doesn't end up doing much in the NFL after having steller careers at UW, but even still their RBs and QBs are mostly NFL backups which is better than we can say).

And MSU has had top level talent for the past 8+ years. No one in the conference can boast the level of QBs (Hoyer, Cousins and soon Cook will all be starting in the NFL), RBs (Bell, Langford, etc) and WRs they've had, and the O lines have been very good as well. Their offensive success has been absolutely talent driven.

The assumptions of the past (that UM and OSU will as a given have superior talent) have not held true the past 8-10 years in the conference.

But there is some nuance there that you aren't touching. 

MSU has had NFL caliber O talent as of late.

The air raid offenses generally use a quick inside trap as their main rushing threat and use play action off this. Their targeted recruits are burners on the outside that can cause headaches for any defense because they just get on the dbs so damn quick and past them far easier than mos teams. Their RB is usually a 230 to 235 lber that hits the hole quickly and doesn't have to contend with more than 7 in the box.  QBs are recruited with a premium on passing accuracy and just enough speed to pull the ball occasionally. 

Meyer's offenses, as we have seen puts a premium on athletes that even at wideout are great open field runners and carry enough weight to almost always carry out their blocking assignments in a punishing manner. He likes an elite rusher as opposed to one that will pick up decent yardage to pull the defense in. He wants a real threat here and that comes with his recruitment of AA OLmen. As we've seen w/players ranging from Tebow, Miller, Barrett, Smith, he wants a qb whose athleticism makes him a decent passer by default. His qbs, his premier qbs, have all been blessed with superior football intelligence as well. The drop off this season in his rotating door approach to qbing kept OSU from hitting stride much earlier and could have cost him a shot at the Final Four. His offenses, as you wisely point out in grasping the difference are made up of truly great offensive players at every position, not unlike all great offenses and are not designed to mitigate the inefficiencies of his players, but to magnify their strengths. That is why, when clicking, they can make a Bama defense look like most defenses throughout the nation. The MSU game was an aberration and was Urban at his very worst. Anyone who has ever coached know we all have experienced at least one game like that, no matter the level. Our advantage next year, provided we are as productive on offense will be our defense returning almost intact and w/the addition of Mone and a group that was RSed this season, hopefully learning technique. OSU should be a little down in the first half of the season,losing so many players but will have the most important member back in Barrett.

They're not Baylor or OSU. But they're closer to OSU with Cardale then they are to what Harbaugh runs. Or what Bama was 4 years ago.

Lane Kiffin:

Position coach at USC in its prime under Norm Chow, former BYU OC under Lavell Edwards, back in the hey-day w/ Steve Young, they inspired Hal Mumme & Mike Leach to create the air raid.  BYU was influenced heavily by Sid Gillman:

http://smartfootball.com/offense/the-air-raid-offense-history-evolution…

http://smartfootball.blogspot.com/2009/04/sid-gillman-father-of-modern-…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sid_Gillman