Salvaging the Season
Lloyd Carr needs to do something about his pop gun offense
Photo: Alan Warren - Ann Arbor News
The Michigan Football team is saying all the right things as far as staying together and working to get their season turned around. When the team started the 1998 season 0-2 they went on to win the Big Ten. The difference that season was their defense improved while their offense struggled [big shock there as Mike DeBord was in his first stint as offensive coordinator back then].
I don’t think there’s any question Lloyd Carr is a tough-minded, competitive guy. He’s had a great career as a defensive backs coach, defensive coordinator and head coach at the University of Michigan. But he probably faces his biggest challenge this season as he has an offense that should put up 30+ points on most opponents but hasn’t looked nearly as dominant as it should. They put up 32 on what should have been an overmatched opponent in Appalachian State but only 7 on Oregon.
Based on past history Carr is likely to gameplan with the idea his offense has to run the ball in order to keep his beleagured defense off the field. The problem is Mike DeBord’s offenses have consistently struggled to reach the red zone. So while Michigan may run more plays, rush for more yardage, and win the time of possession battle, the team is going to continue to leave points off the board. This was demonstrated all too vividly yesterday when every Michigan drive in the first half made it into Oregon territory but the Wolverines only had 7 points to show for their efforts. On two drives they finished just outside of field goal range and on their final drive of the half they turned the ball over on downs at the Oregon 8 yard line.
Last season in conference play Michigan had fewer red zone opportunitites than Wisconsin, Ohio State, Iowa and Purdue. Michigan’s 1998 offense featured a quarterback named Tom Brady [oh, and Drew Henson], an offensive line that featured Steve Hutchinson, Jon Jansen, Jeff Backus, and a running back in Anthony Thomas that would become the program’s all-time leading rusher.
With this collection of talent - a future Super Bowl MVP, three very capable NFL linemen, and the all-time leading rusher in team history - the team averaged just under 20 points per game in conference play. And nearly half of those opponents Michigan struggled against [12 points against Iowa and Northwestern, 15 points against Minnesota] were just bad teams that went a combined 4-20 in the conference. So based on past history and the start of this season there’s reason to wonder whether Mike DeBord is capable of reconfiguring the offense so that it can be as dangerous as it should be.
That’s why I think it would make sense for Lloyd Carr to expand Scot Loeffler’s role in the offense. The quarterbacks coach has been with the program for five years and - along with former offensive coordinator Terry Malone - helped Chad Henne become the first true freshman signal caller to help his team win the Big Ten. Henne was a freshman All-America that season. Loeffler also helped John Navarre become an All-Big Ten quarterback in 2003. Not bad for a guy who was recruited by most other programs as a defensive end. Ryan Mallett has actually been on campus longer than Chad Henne had been on campus when he started his first game as a true freshman. So if anyone can help Mallett succeed in the Notre Dame game it’s Loeffler.
Michigan’s defense may show some signs of life when they face a more traditional offense that doesn’t feature a dual-threat quarterback. But one thing that’s clear right now is the offense hasn’t scored as many points as it should with the amount of talent assembled on that side of the ball. The team needs an offense like they had in 2003 - when they last had a senior quarterback and running back - that can score just over 35 points per game. The best way to get the offense to perform at a higher level might be to give Scot Loeffler a larger role in designing the offense and in calling plays during games.
Lloyd Carr Michigan Football Mike DeBord scot loefflerNo Comments
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