Zone or Power

Submitted by Commie_High96 on
I can't tell the difference between Zone blocking and Power. I heard all week on all the radios and podcasts that the OL should simplify and not try this complicated zone stuff. What did you all see today, did our ground-game success come from getting better st Zone or by running a more simple blocking strategy? Edit: I am not asking about what Power and zone are, I am asking if the blocking today was any different from last week or earlier this year. I should not have been self-deprecating...I know 1/2 the people here know everything about football there is to know. Holy hell!

stephenrjking

October 14th, 2017 at 10:18 PM ^

Why? Sometimes jargon slips through and guys miss it. And it's hard to read the blocks live unless you both know what to look for and are focused on the OL instead of the ball.

This is a good question, and a focus of much discussion given the improvement in the OL the last two weeks.

As it happens, the OL is running a lot more power and it seems to be paying off. 

stephenrjking

October 14th, 2017 at 10:59 PM ^

Yeah, it's not really me. And the fact that it's a subject of discussion at all speaks poorly for it. But now I actually have to pay attention to a pic, which will be annoying.

JHumich

October 14th, 2017 at 10:20 PM ^

I thought we were doing more gap blocking than usual today. But I also thought a big part of our success was Higdon making something out of nothing.

I didn't answer, because there are guys who are a lot sharper on this stuff than I am.

If you're one, help us out!

Couzen Rick's

October 14th, 2017 at 10:24 PM ^

If you see a pulling guard (ie opposite guard moves in the direction of the play after the snap) that's a hallmark of a power play. Power O and Counter are two of the most common "power" plays.

stephenrjking

October 14th, 2017 at 10:23 PM ^

Here's an article that should answer a lot of your questions: What is Zone vs Gap blocking by Seth. The "What is" series is a great repository of info like this. There's a lot of specific stuff, with articles on several different particular blocking schemes (wham blocks, pin and pull, split zones, etc). 

yossarians tree

October 14th, 2017 at 10:37 PM ^

Let  me just take this opportunity to say that the Liveblog during games is atrocious and not worthy of this website. Pure anime jacking off, firing Harbaugh and everyone else. Just stupid. Not reflective at all of the usual blog back and forth between relatively sane community. It seems like Mlive users plus a bunch of pure trolls who are probably sparties or buckeyes looking to cut everyone. I feel dumber for having been a part of it for just ten minutes. Stop  the Liveblog.

LSAClassOf2000

October 15th, 2017 at 7:42 AM ^

The worst part is any attempt to actually mod the liveblog. I don't generally hang out in there for the reason you mentioned, but I have been given the driver's seat on comments and when you start to see the dregs of the board and their comments stacked in the queue, you begin to realize what a horrible mistake you've made in accepting this task. There have been a few games that have been made difficult to enjoy as a result. 

BrewCityBlue

October 15th, 2017 at 12:49 AM ^

I tried twitter today. Just follow the main guys. Filters out a lot of stuff. Besides me probably not knowing how to twitter and possibly saying some stuff that made me look like the live blog twitter rep, I'd say it went alright.

stephenrjking

October 14th, 2017 at 10:43 PM ^

Sorry, I misunderstood the question, too.

Per the UFR I think we've seen a lot more power starting with last week. It was mostly zone the first four weeks, but the "Improvement week" effort seems to have brought power schemes back into the mix.

And I have to say that the results are impressive. The monsoon/QB play/perhaps the playcalling obscured it last week, but Michigan seemed more adept at running the ball, particularly with Higdon, against MSU. Then we came into today with the run basically making up our entire offense and it worked. Against a defense that isn't bad. 

We've been crying out for this offense to have one thing it can do. Could it be getting there? We won't win a national title just running power, but if there's something to hang a hat on, that's a plus. And the second TD (that should have been enough to seal it) was a drive that featured nothing but runs.

YouRFree

October 14th, 2017 at 10:50 PM ^

i would be satisfied when we can seal the game with a running for a 1st down. Until then, our OL is not good enough. That said, the game plan today is exaclt what i want to see. Go back to basics and wear down the opposing defense. no matter how much momentum they have, they are too tired to beat us. that's what i want to see. However, it does raise concern on injury. For PSU game, we probably need to rotate more often and keep the defense fresh.