Interview with #SpeedInSpace Coach Gattis with Jon Jansen's Podcast

Tempo isn't a function of having one man or multiple men call the plays. It's not like there was a debate over the headset every down before the play got called; the play was typically in with 20+ seconds to go. The contrast with the Hoke/Borges regime with the team getting to the line with 5 seconds left in the clock is stark.

It's more fundamental than that--tempo teams can slow down, but they can also speed up, because the entire way the team practices and communicates is different. Harbaugh, with his NFL background, ran an NFL-style QB-centered playcalling process, where the QB receives the play, calls it, and controls the LOS. Even though, due to complexity, Harbaugh didn't give the QB much authority to adjust things.

Modern high-tempo offenses (the high-end stuff, like Oklahoma State, Ole Miss, etc, that Michigan will definitely not become) work with vanishingly small playbooks. They require the whole team to look to the sideline for the playcall, which can be done quickly, and adjustments come from the sideline only. 

There's a middle ground available, and I think Michigan can find it. If it wants to. But it is a function of the entire team, not just "who calls plays." The committee wasn't the issue there--it was the process that Harbaugh wanted the team to go through.

Michigan certainly went 3, 4, and 5 wide a fair amount last year. They need to actually use the strengths of those formations, and perhaps be willing to run by spreading teams out. With blockers like DPJ, one would think that you could run with 4 guys split out and extra space on the field.

If Michigan goes 4-wide, I want defenses to be stuck worrying about single coverage on one of our three great receivers or terrified of Zach Charbonnet or Chris Evans in space. And when they cheat a safety down, Michigan has to be willing and able to drop back and pull the trigger to a single-covered wideout every time. 

It may actually get completely overhauled. Listen to the interview. Gattis said he is installing a completely new offense. There may be overlaps in terminology, but it will be a whole new offense. 

That game was over after we got 2 total yards on the first drive

I'm with you. Fuck it.

Its the off-season after all - and it's a time for unbridled optimism and hopes for 2019.

This is not delusional, but will be somewhat opponent dependent.  If we can just pound the rock to 42+ points, that is likely what we do.  But if we need to go with 10 or 11 personnel more often to get to 42+ points, we will have that in the arsenal.  That is the difference.

I believe last year was a great building block to this Gattis approach as Coach Ed has already built the right kind of run game and blocking schemes to support the overall approach.  The install of the expanded pass game will be the most challenging for the WRs ... and a bit of a bummer for TEs and FBs as their snaps will diminish.

It's not clear what "routes weren't set up very well" actually means. We don't have comprehensive all-22 coverage, so we don't have a good idea of how all of the route combos set up. I have a better idea of how Clemson and Alabama run their passing offense than Michigan because the Film Room channel used all-22 footage, even though I scoured every bit of Michigan stuff I could find this year. 

Often the issue appeared to be Shea. I discussed that here when I overanalyzed some plays from the MSU game. One play in particular (Brian clipped video of it here) I noted that Shea should have thrown the ball and did not until it was too late; my analysis is actually a bit shallow because I didn't get a chance to analyze the replay clipped above, but I dissent from Klatt's commentary there--DPJ cut inside of his single-coverage defender 20 yards downfield and had room and Patterson absolutely should have thrown him the ball. 

Shea simply did not pull the trigger at times when there was a man to throw to. The MSU game has another, obvious example of this when he rolled out and had DPJ wide open in the end zone and didn't throw to him. 

This is where I wonder if Harbaugh's QB coaching style has an effect, encouraging caution given the philosophy of the coach and the team. And if a defense that is really good at man coverage but is pretty vanilla in its understanding of zone makes it tough for our QBs to pick apart zone coverages from teams that know what they're doing.