The Good, Bad and Ugly for Michigan’s Offense
The Good
Somehow, Michigan has found a way to run the football. The team was obviously brutal during their opening game against Utah. That isn’t a shock given the youth across the entire offense and the fact the Utes boast the #5 ranked rush defense. But look at their stats since that game:
| Opponent | Rushes | Yards | Avg | Rush TDs |
|
Miami |
35 | 178 | 5.1 | 2 |
|
Notre Dame |
42 | 159 | 3.8 | 1 |
|
Wisconsin |
34 | 172 | 5.1 | 2 |
|
Average |
37 | 170 | 4.7 | 1.7 |
4.7 yards per carry since the second game? With an offensive line that features four linemen who are first year starters? With an all-rookie backfield? That’s pretty impressive. The team goes through long stretches where they obviously cannot move the football. Once they gain some consistency they could average over 200 yards rushing per game although the schedule will obviously get tougher. Michigan averaged 165 yards rushing per game and 4.0 yards per rush last season with:
The #1 pick in the NFL draft [Jake Long]
Their all-time leading rusher [Mike Hart]
Their all-time leading passer [Chad Henne]
A two-time All-Big Ten lineman [Adam Kraus]
Two NFL quality receivers [Adrian Arrington and Mario Manningham]
The #2 rated QB in his class as a backup [Ryan Mallett]
Once Rich Rodriguez gets his current players a little more experience on the offensive side of the ball the Wolverines will be even more dangerous on offense. And if he brings in the type of NFL talent Lloyd Carr and Mike Debord routinely had at their disposal? Shut the gates of mercy, because it will be on.
The Bad
It’s clearly the passing offense. This isn’t a criticism of the players, simply an acknowledgement of how difficult it is for a rookie signal caller, especially when you are also dealing with young and inexperienced receivers who might encounter some issues with route running. Based on what I’ve seen I think it’s pretty much a team effort and it ain’t pretty:
| Opponent | Att | Comp | Yds | Comp% | Yds/Att | Pass TDs | INTs | Rating |
|
Utah |
8 | 19 | 69 | 42% | 3.6 | 1 | 0 | 90 |
|
Miami |
6 | 13 | 63 | 46% | 4.8 | 0 | 0 | 86.9 |
|
Notre Dame |
16 | 23 | 175 | 70% | 7.6 | 1 | 0 | 147.8 |
|
Wisconsin |
12 | 31 | 96 | 39% | 3 | 1 | 2 | 62.5 |
|
Average |
11 | 22 | 101 | 50% | 4.6 | 0.75 | 0.5 | 96.8 |
I think Steve Threet is very important as far as getting the running game going as he can hit receivers on vertical routes. He had a lot of misses but he also had three deep passes that were dropped or were just slightly off: one endzone pass to Greg Matthews, another pass to Matthews that the receiver couldn’t haul in, and one wheel route run by Brandon Minor that fell through Minor’s outstretched hands.
Even though Michigan didn’t complete those passes if forces the defense to back off a bit, particularly the safeties who would otherwise start each snap running downhill to help shut down the running game. It’s no coincidence the running game started to find holes during the second half when Michigan started taking shots downfield, although putting Tim McAvoy back in the lineup might have helped.
Threet took every snap yesterday and while it wasn’t pretty he was effective. The more experience he gets the better he will do.
The Ugly
Oh, it’s the turnovers. They were also a big issue in the return game, which has no positives at all right now. The Wolverines as a whole rank 104th in turnover margin at -1 per game. If Michigan can just take better care of the football they’ll help their defense out and won’t put themselves down by a significant amount of points at the start of every game.
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