Four Plays – Brigham Young @ Michigan 2015

This series examines the probable individual matchups Michigan expects to face against particular opponents on one of Michigan’s key running plays and one of its key passing plays, as well as defensively against a couple of the opponent’s key plays (assuming first-sting personnel in a base defensive alignment).

I’ve been meaning to say, those “Fee Fi Foe Films” pieces Ace puts together before each game are a major solid for a guy just trying to get a diary out every now and then.  Saves me from having to surf through multiple enemy blogs just to try and figure out stuff like which wide receiver lines up in the slot or which linebacker is which.  The objective analysis is also much more useful than the typical product from the hagiographers at most other teams’ sites.   So, much appreciated.

And with that, Michigan completes the second leg of its Utah-centric 2015 nonconference schedule on Saturday when 11^th-year head coach Bronco Mendenhall brings his BYU Cougars to Stadium & Main.  The injury bug has already stung the BYU program hard in the early season; not only is star QB Taysom Hill is out for the season with a broken foot, but injuries will also keep BYU starters Steven Richards (TE), Garratt Juergens (S), Colby Jorgenson (LB), and Travis Tuiloma (NT) on the sidelines for Saturday’s game as well.  Despite the injuries, BYU has probably been the nation’s most fun team to watch—and not only because so many of their players have cool names.  BYU has won two games (@Nebraska and Boise State) on Hail Mary passes, and lost a third game in a prime-time thriller against UCLA at the Rose Bowl. With good talent on both rosters and plenty of high-variance athletes in the mix, the excitement could well continue into this weekend.  Now, let’s look at some matchups.

When Michigan has the ball…

1.     Crack Toss Sweep

As I though Brian’s offensive UFR rather strongly alluded, last week’s game against UNLV provided an uncommonly exquisite demonstration of constraint theory.  Michigan wanted to run Power O, and UNLV knew it—so UNLV loaded up the front with 8, 9 sometimes even 10 defenders.  Constraint theory holds that when an opponent cheats to stop your base play by alignment, then you punish them by running a play designed to exploit the resulting weakness.  In this case, packing defenders into the box left UNLV vulnerable on the edges (and deep, though I’m not going there right now).  So Michigan capitalized on this weakness by attacking those edges with smoke screens to the WRs, a picture-perfect end around, and a number toss sweeps.  Granted, after scoring enough points Michigan went back to banging their heads against 9-man walls—but hey, let’s talk about those toss sweeps.

The origin of the toss sweep is generally traced back to the Wing-T offenses of the 1940s and the so-called “buck sweep”—a play on which both guards would pull outside the playside tackle and lead block for the wingback, who would circle behind the formation to receive the ball.  Vince Lombardi’s famous "power sweep" was essentially the same play from a two-back formation.  Both were great plays in their times, but by relying on pulling linemen to block the edge defenders from the inside-out, the plays were slow-developing and vulnerable to fast-flowing defenses.

Contemporary offenses have added one final modern wrinkle to counter the slow-developing nature of these toss sweeps: the crack block.  By aligning two blockers to the outside and having them crack-back to seal the playside linebacker and defensive end, the sweep hits much more quickly and gives the pulling linemen favorable blocking matchups—usually against defensive backs.  And while the outside blockers—usually tight ends and wide receivers—are usually much smaller than the opponents they are tasked with blocking, this size disadvantage is compensated for by “leverage”—that is, favorable angles for the offensive players to make those blocks. 

By hitting quickly and attacking outside the formation, the crack toss sweep is a good complement to an offense based around Power O—as teams that load the box to shut down inside runs make themselves vulnerable to being sealed inside and powerless to defense the edge.  Isaac’s 76-yard crack toss run came against a loaded 9-man box—and went for a touchdown even though one of the outside blockers targeted the wrong player (a safety, rather than the SLB) and barely delayed him.

Assignments:

SE Amara Darboh: Crack block OLB Fred Warner

UTE Henry Poggi: Motion to the slot, crack block DE Graham Rowley

LT Mason Cole: Pull outside the crack blocks, advance downfield and block first inside defender (“KAT” safety Eric Takenaka )

LG Ben Braden: Downblock NT Logan Taele OR Travis Tuiloma

C Graham Glasgow: Pull outside crack blocks, advance downfield and block first unoccupied defender (ILB Harvey Langi)

RG Kyle Kalis: Advance to second level, block FS Kai Nacua

RT Erik Magnuson: “Cut off” block on DE Bronson Kaufusi

TE Jake Butt: Advance to second level, block WLB Jherremya Leuta-Douyere

FB Sione Houma: Kick out block on CB Micah Hannemann

RB Ty Isaac: Catch pitch from QB, aim for point three yards outside the end-man-on-line-of-scrimmage (or “EMLOS”), but watch for cutback lines inside; by third step, decide which gap to attack and bring outside shoulder to square to LOS.

Advantage: Michigan

After a rough start to the season in Salt Lake City, the Michigan offensive line has shown improvement the past two weeks (albeit against greatly inferior competition) and show signs of gelling together as a unit.  BYU will either be missing its best defensive lineman or will have an injured version of him.  I may be going out on a limb here, but I think M has a good day running the ball.

 

                  2. TE Mesh

BYU is mostly a zone team, but admittedly I haven’t yet got a handle on Michigan’s go-to plays against zone coverage.  Utah and UNLV ran mostly man coverage.  Oregon State ran a lot of zone, but on most of the passing plays in that game the camera did not show enough of the downfield action to make an intelligent determination as to what the route combinations were.  But Michigan did run this TE mesh play three times against Oregon State.

The mesh concept pairs shallow crossing routes at one of the busiest areas on the field.  If you force defenders to navigate high-traffic areas, then usually at least one of them will be slowed up trying to avoid a teammate, a different receiver, or even an official—leaving the guy that defender is supposed to be covering to run open.  Michigan’s TE mesh play features two in-line tight ends crossing, then adds a third crossing route—a dig from the outside WR—over the top.  In the linked clip above the WR’s dig route delayed the linebacker responsible for Y-TE Ian Bunting; this left Bunting wide open, creating an easy throw for a big gain.

What’s also notable about the linked clip, however, is that Michigan caught Oregon State in man underneath coverage.  Running crossing routes against zone coverage isn’t usually such a good idea.  But hey, Ace does say that BYU goes to man as a changeup sometimes, so that’s good enough for me.

Assignments:

XWR Amara Darboh: Motion toward formation, reset; run dig route at 8-yard depth, force defenders in your path to re-route (covered by CB Micah Hannemann)

U-TE Henry Poggi: run crossing route at 4-6 yard depth, (covered by ILB Manoa Pikula) cross under Y-TE

LT Mason Cole: Pass protect vs. LB Jherremya Leuta-Douyere

LG Ben Braden: Pass protect vs. DE Graham Rowey

C Graham Glasgow: Pass protect vs. NT Logan Taele or MLB Harvey Langi

RG Kyle Kalis: Pass protect vs. NT Logan Taele OR Travis Tuiloma

RT Erik Magnuson: Pass protect vs. DE Bronson Kaufusi

Y-TE Jake Butt: run crossing route at 4-6 yard depth (covered by OLB Fred Warner), cross over U-TE

ZWR Jehu Chesson: Run comeback route at 10-yard depth (covered by CB Michael Davis)

TB Deveon Smith: Pass protection

QB Jake Rudock: Use pre-snap motion to confirm man coverage underneath; receive shotgun snap, read left-to-right on Y-TE (crossing route) to X-WR (dig) to to Z-WR (comeback).     

Advantage:  Even

Jake Butt has already made good on his high pre-season expectations and Michigan’s wide receivers and other tight ends have been probably the most pleasant surprise in the early going.  They face a BYU secondary that made Tommy Armstrong look like an effective pocket quarterback.  But Rudock comes off a game in which he was consistently late and almost comically in accurate.  If he’s back to being at least somewhat accurate, then we can give an edge to Michigan in this facet of the game.  But for now, I have to call this a push.

 

When BYU has the ball…

1.     Counter Draw

Those of you who weren't around for the John L. Smith era at Michigan State might not have such abhorrent recollections of the Counter Draw.  But yeah, BYU runs it—which is kind of odd, considering it’s a play for devil-worshippers and highway bandits.

The Counter Draw is designed to use a defense’s own aggressiveness against itself.  At the snap, the line executes a sprint protection scheme that vaguely resembles inside zone, but it is designed to induce the defensive line to rush upfield.  Meanwhile, the QB and tailback sprint to the strong side, which is intended to induce the linebackers to flow hard to the strongside; the tailback then reverses field and receives the handoff to attack the vacated weak side.  The play is especially dangerous threatening to a team that does not remained disciplined about staying in its pass rush lanes.

The fundamental technique for defending the corner against outside runs is for the primary force player to “set the edge.”  This means fighting to a point two yards wide of the formation and two yards into the backfield, and from there not letting the RB outside of him.  In Durkin’s nomenclature, it is the Buck LB who has primary force responsibility on outside runs to the weak side, where this run attacks.  Were the Buck LB to read run immediately on this play, its chances of success would be slim.  But this play is designed to fool the defensive line into reading pass, so I will describe assignments as though the line was indeed initially deceived.

Assignments:

Buck LB Mario Ojemudia: Pass rush vs. LT Ryker Mathews; stay outside the tackle until he reaches QB depth; when run revealed, defend playside C-gap (outside LT) and force runner back inside

NT Ryan Glasgow: Pass rush vs.C Tejan Koroma; stay outside center and inside Buck LB; when run revealed, defend playside A-gap

DT Chris Wormley: Pass rush vs. RG Ului Lapuaho; stay outside the center and inside SDE; when run revealed, defend backside B-gap

SDE Willie Henry: Pass rush vs. RT Brad Wilcox; stay outside tackle until reaching QB depth; when run revealed, pursue through backside C-gap

WLB Joe Bolden: Avoid dropping into coverage; defend playside B-gap vs. LG Kyle Johnson

MLB Desmond Morgan: Avoid dropping into coverage; defend backside A-gap

SLB James Ross: Backside pursuit vs. TE Tanner Balderree

Advantage: Michigan

BYU does have a pretty good running back, Adam Hine; according to Fox Sports, his nickname is “The Ninja.”  Going up against ninjas is not ideal.  But BYU’s offensive line is underwhelming, whereas Michigan’s defensive line has been playing particularly well all season.  Perhaps most importantly, every member of Michigan’s front seven is an upper-classman, and thus less susceptible to deception plays like Counter Draw—particularly ones BYU has already put on film. 

 

2.     Post-Corner

BYU quarterback Tanner Mangum may not have the experience or the running ability that Taysom Hill brought to the field, but he does have a huge arm.  Against UCLA, the Cougars looked to take advantage of Mangum’s deep ball ability by running lots of double moves against UCLA’s secondary.  One of the most effective was the post-corner route, such as this one on which Mangum connected with 6’6” slot receiver Mitch Mathews for a TD.  It’s a good thing Michigan has a talented and deep secondary, because BYU will line up four-wide and look to exploit mismatches between their huge receivers and opponents’ third and fourth corners (or safeties).

 

Assignments:

BCB Channing Stribling: Press coverage vs. WR Mitch Mathews

Nickel CB Jabrill Peppers: Press coverage vs. WR Mitchell Juergens

WDE Mario Ojemudia: Pass rush vs. LT Ryker Mathews

3T Chris Wormley: Pass rush vs. RG Ului Lapuaho

NT Ryan Glasgow: Pass Rush vs. C Tejan Koroma

SDE Willie Henry: Pass Rush vs. RT Brad Wilcox

LB Desmond Morgan: Man coverage on RB Adam Hine

Dime CB Jeremy Clark: Press coverage vs. WR Nick Kurtz

FCB Jourdan Lewis: Press coverage vs. WR Devon Blackmon

FS Jerrod Wilson: Play deep half to weak side

SS Delano Hill: Play deep half to strong side

Advantage: Even

On paper, this is a pretty epic strength vs. strength matchup—possibly the best one I’ve looked at in a Four Plays diary.  BYU’s receivers are extremely tall, but if any team has defensive backs who can hang with tall receivers it’s Michigan—with several corners over 6’.  Granted, Michigan was still looking for a second trusty corner just a couple weeks ago and even the vaunted Jabrill Peppers saw his inexperience exposed a bit against Utah—but BYU is starting a rookie QB coming off a four-year Mormon mission, and he’s understandably shown some rough spots of his own.  Michigan’s shown some better-than-expected pass rush this season, but BYU has a senior-laden offensive line and pass pro is their jam. 

We seem to spend a lot of time griping about sorry football around here, both in the Big Ten and in the Big House specifically.  So hopefully everyone will appreciate this weekend’s matchup of the BYU passing attack against the Michigan pass defense—two genuinely good units (even if on flawed overall teams).

* * * * 

I should add that I thought about doing the Hail Mary for BYU’s passing play—but the memories of Rocket-Jet Right are still too damn painful.  If you’re interested, though, check out this post from Matt Bowen of National Football Post for a nice diagram and a good explanation of each player’s role in defending against Hail Mary passes.  I will say, Bowen covers the “rush three and knock the ball down” approach, though I personally tend to agree with the school of thought that says you should rush four and never let the QB even get the pass off.  I could be wrong, but I suppose that’s what silently shuffling miserably out of a stadium with 100,000 other stunned comrades will do to one’s perspective.  Let’s win this one by 9+ points on Saturday, huh Blue?  I’m getting old, and the doctor says these Hail Marys aren’t good for my heart.

Go Blue!