Lloyd Carr's Last Football Game and Lessons Learned.
2007 Capital One Bowl vs. Urban Meyer's Florida. I remember that ESPN had Florida as 95% favorite to win the game.
Lloyd took the huge gamble and brought an offensive game plan that looked nothing like what Michigan had run for the entire season. Multiple wide receiver sets. Spread the field. I believe, if my memory serves me, that was the first time I remember seeing an empty backfield multiple times in a game. Lloyd took a big gamble and it paid off.
I hope, in prep for our Bowl Game, that Michigan takes a good honest look at their play calling and formations and comes to the conclusion that it perhaps isn't good enough against teams of equal or better talent. That Pep and Harbaugh bring a dynamic look to our Bowl Game. Why not? Take a risk! Get creative and see what works in the Bowl Game. What do they have to lose? Last year's performance against South Carolina shows what happens when you bring nothing new to the table.
November 26th, 2018 at 8:30 AM ^
I just want to see more involvement from the WRs. We've got some great athletes at the position who are all capable of making plays, and they just feel, to me, like they're grossly underutilized in favor of the run game.
If we had a Bama-esque OL and Najee Harris sitting in the backfield, then I'd get it. But we don't. If we had John O'Korn still playing as our QB, I'd get it. But we have a QB who can clearly throw the ball well.
Harbaugh knows much more about the game of football than I ever will, but those guys are arguably your best offensive weapons and they seem like they are much less involved in the gameplan than they ought to be, given their talent level. It's not necessarily a criticism, but I'd really like to know why. I mean....how many times this year were we held to a 1-2 yard gain on first down, or no gain at all, because everyone in the stadium knew that Harbaugh was going to run the ball on first down?
November 26th, 2018 at 8:42 AM ^
Yeah, I agree. At the end of the day, the offensive gameplan against Ohio State played right into perhaps the few things they do well on defense. Maryland and Purdue provided the insight into giving them fits and we tried to do what we always seem to do regardless.
There were moments on Saturday, and really, there have been moments throughout the season, where I feel like we're pretending to be less than we are on offense. In other words, we have the personnel to do much more than we do. I would love to see them open it up and try things which, for this staff, would be a bit off-the-wall but perhaps also the right move in the right situation.
November 26th, 2018 at 10:00 AM ^
"Maryland and Purdue provided the insight into giving them fits and we tried to do what we always seem to do regardless."
People who aren't as old as I am may not be aware that this has been the Michigan philosophy going all the way back to 1969.
Doing "what we always seem to do regardless" is the way of the true Michigan Man.
November 26th, 2018 at 10:19 AM ^
This is exactly why the offense for Carr's last game was so...unexpected.
Carr decided that Michigan wasn't going to follow the script of 'establishing the run' by blasting into 8-9 man fronts daring Michigan to pass.
November 26th, 2018 at 8:57 AM ^
Our problem was the defense. We got zero pressure on the q.b.
November 26th, 2018 at 10:04 AM ^
The lack of a pass rush was perhaps the biggest problem, but it was still just one of many problems that we've been discussing.
November 26th, 2018 at 9:46 AM ^
Lloyd Carr had some phenomenal, horrible losses at Michigan. But OTOH he was pretty good at surprising opponents in big games/bowl games with new stuff. He did it a few times against OSU and ended up winning those games when OSU was a decent favorite. Credit to Lloyd Carr, even though we were a run first offense, he was not afraid to throw the ball all over the field, especially when down or when trying to surprise opponents with different shit.
We have solid WRs. Jim needs to take a page out of Lloyd's playbook and get more creative in getting those guys involved. I think we've had one game in two years that featured a receiver with 100+ yards? The ceiling seems pretty high in that area and we are at floor level right now.
November 26th, 2018 at 9:56 AM ^
Our offense wasn't the issue on Saturday, except for some pretty bad drops. I don't think it's prudent to abandon the offensive philosophy from your previous 12 games in favor of something new just for the sake of it.
A new wrinkle or two, sure, but I can't imagine you can overhaul.
November 26th, 2018 at 9:58 AM ^
Offense wasn't the main issue, true. But there is room for improvement. There are coaches dedicated to all three phases. No reason why fixing issues couldn't all happen in parallel.
November 27th, 2018 at 8:18 AM ^
I get knocked down but I get up again...