run-pass options

When Josh Gattis was hired this space got really excited for the incorporation of RPOs into Michigan's power running game. The very first spring game I was like "look at all the backside defenders who can't pursue the run!"

The first game I was giddy over the RPO reads that had been slapped on to every one of Michigan's base run plays, especially their meatiest of meaty running plays, Pin & Pull.

(I also spent way too long drawing on my videos back then)

There were a couple, especially early, but what that mostly became for this program was a gimmick. If they did actually turn on the reads it was for a big game or a rival.

Time and again, quarterback after quarterback, we'd see a Patterson, Milton, McNamara, or McCarthy look at a receiver apparently running a route before handing off. A year after the transition, even the rivals weren't getting it anymore.

By Rutgers last year everyone knew what Michigan was up to. It was a gimmick. A look. They weren't really going to throw it, or burn precious practice trying. As opponents caught on to the ruse, the team gave up on the ruse. Michigan wasn't reading anybody—they just wanted you to think it, and maybe to drive a blogger or two nuts. With the exception of Penn State, nobody thought they were getting read, so nobody stayed backside.

This week I found some guys who were buying RPOs that the offense wasn't throwing. Unfortunately it was our own.

[After THE JUMP: It would seem we're out of practice.]

Throwing a quick one up to highlight something that got too long in the UFR. You already know the gameplan against Washington: Run. You probably figured out why they stuck to the gameplan too: Washington was hyperfocused on stopping everything but the run.

Specifically, Michigan was finding ways to get their big burly linemen involved in run blocking the cadre of Husky OLB/DEs they were rotating through, and the main way of doing that was to bring multiple dudes across the formation.

Their base plays this game were Split Zone and various forms of Counter. Here’s the 2nd play of the game (after the false start):

If you caught everything going on here in the first viewing, please apply to Jim Harbaugh immediately because you were born a coaching savant. For the rest of you, here’s what I saw:

Basically it’s Counter Trey except they shifted everything a gap inwards. Here’s how:

1. Kickouts of the overhang CB and the SAM with the F-back (All) and pulling center (Vastardis).
2. A zone block of the frontside Tackle with the Y (Schoonmaker)—block him down if he wants to go that way or kick him out if he tries to go to Schoonmaker’s left shoulder.
3. The biggest lead blocker the can find (RT Andrew Stueber) pulling around to remove the free MLB from whichever gap the T didn’t choose.
4. Downblocks on the other two DL and WLB with the guards (Keegan and Zinter) and frontside tackle (Hayes).
5. An RPO snag concept going on with the backside to keep the Jack from crashing on a long-developing run play.

I wanted to highlight the player matchups because those are important.

[After THE JUMP: Across the formation]

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If I were tell you an offense is running the same handful of plays and throwing to the same four spots most every standard down, how would you defend it? Why not cover those four spots and react to those same plays, training every player in exactly what he has to do to defend them?

Well, Minnesota has ways to stretch your needs. They have good receivers—gotta leave an extra linebacker to keep leverage on them. They have big offensive linemen and a great RB—gotta activate your linebackers before your DL crumble. And they stretch your linebackers between them. They also change up their formations, personnel, and shifts to turn your linebackers into linemen and your safeties into linebackers. And they'll get to the line quickly after a play so they have a good 35 seconds to survey your defense, check into what would work against it, check again if they don't like your reaction, and then run another RPO.

That's a recipe for last year's #7 offense to SP+, one which put up 7.67, 6.25, 6.82, 5.55, and 6.59 yards per play against Penn State, Iowa, Northwestern, Wisconsin, and Auburn to close out 2019. Yet starting mostly the same lineup—though absent a few important lineman and a graduated NFL receiver—Michigan held the Gophers to their least efficient passing outing since 2017. Yes, the year they started Demry Croft and let Khaleke Hudson roam free in the backfield.

That 2017 Minnesota offense got 4.88 yards per play. Demry Croft's career yards per play was also 4.88. Minnesota's offense on Saturday: 4.53. For every snap they took, Minnesota was half a yard per play less efficient than Demry Croft.

It wasn't for lack of trying. I want you to watch this sequence. It's not a play, but all the pre-snap stuff as Brown and Fleck played the game within the game.

Let's unpack it.

[After THE JUMP: How to be in two places at once]