Michigan Football, Team 138, 2017 Season.

[Kstat]

The offense last season lacked talent. Not sure what was going to change that. The best athlete was a freshman and we couldn't block for him anyway.

[Hannibal]

I didn't have much of a problem with the play-calling per se as much as, in general, the approach. As an in-game tactician, I like Harbaugh a lot (although I wonder why Smith got so many carries when Evans was the better runner).

More stats -- this year we ended up 45th nationally in yards per carry.

[Jeff Buchanan]

No argument from me ........

The difference may have been QBs.

In 2015, M rushed for 4.3y per carry in their last 5 games with Rudock.

Going back to Denard's last year in 2012, M rushed for nearly 5ypc.

If you're arguing that the shitty OL play (or regression) or shitty scheme/playcalling is the reason for the decrease in the efficiency of the run game, I'd counter that it's QBs and how efficient the QBs are overall.

I didn't go back to look at QB efficiency numbers between Rudock and Speight but I bet the difference is significant.

[iam416]

IMO, the offense was incomplete. The offense had talent on the outside and at TE. Those guys could play. The running game, however, was just not good. Personally, I think it's as much to do with the RB and it is the OL -- or at least very close to being equal.

You guys get Najee back there and it makes a world of difference.

[Hannibal]

You guys get Najee back there and it makes a world of difference.

Not immediately, in all likelihood. He's going to be dodging guys in the backfield on a regular basis, and even if he gets past the LOS, he's going to be picking his way through tight traffic. 2017 will be a sucky year to be a Michigan running back. I hope that Najee isn't bothered by this.

[Kstat]

Evans would have gotten killed behind that O line as a primary back. I get why he was used sparingly. No need to ruin the kid in year one.

[Kstat]

Not immediately, in all likelihood. He's going to be dodging guys in the backfield on a regular basis, and even if he gets past the LOS, he's going to be picking his way through tight traffic. 2017 will be a sucky year to be a Michigan running back. I hope that Najee isn't bothered by this.

Find a deep threat to the outside and a QB that can actually hit him and there's no more traffic.

Half the problem last year was nobody respected us deep. Safeties played up at the LOS all season long.

There are more ways to have a good power run game than just blocking well.

[Hannibal]

The QB needs time to hit those deep passes though. That has usually come back to bite us against the athletic DLs.

Speaking of deep threats though -- what the hell happened to Chesson this year? After that huge breakout end to the 2015 season, he had a disappointing senior year.

[Kstat]

Speight missed him a lot. Not that either of our WRs were studs, but the QB made them look worse than they were.

Most of speight's big plays were screens that went for big yardage. He couldn't throw deep for shit.

[Jeff Buchanan]

The QB needs time to hit those deep passes though. That has usually come back to bite us against the athletic DLs.

I think there are ways to overcome a porous OL. JH's stubbornness may have gotten in the way of doing this. Against both Iowa and FSU (to a lesser extent v osu), the cabal had nothing to counter what these defenses did by lining up their best defenders over center to collapse the pocket.

You've already touched at it by suggesting a "change in approaches." You can still run a pro-style offense with a drop back/pocket passer like Speight although Speight may have been the limiting factor in doing that because his release is so slow and/or late in the season, injury.

I didn't see a lot of 3 wides to the far field side for example which demands coverage from a LB or S or both. That keeps potentially two guys out of the box. Maybe I missed this but I don't think so.

You can also space the offensive line wide. Set up in Pistol, motion guys and see if the defense is in man or zone. I never saw this. JH favored a tightly spaced OL, the over-use of TEs as blockers with the objective of plowing over guys in the run game. He may also wanted to protect Speight. I don't think that worked and isn't going to work well against competent defenses with a lot of speed at all whether they've got only 6, 7 or 8 guys in the box.

[hack]

Speight had quite a few good completions deep, just not with Chesson. Never really developed that connection with that particular receiver. He did with Darboh. Speight can throw it deep. But thanks to a combination of a regressing OL and his shoulder injury, that deep threat was no longer viable down the stretch.

Evans wasn't in there as much as Smith because Smith was the superior blocker. That was said several times over the course of the year. Not sure that makes a difference -- both backs had quite a few DOA carries thanks to the OL.

[hack]

I didn't have much of a problem with the play-calling per se as much as, in general, the approach. As an in-game tactician, I like Harbaugh a lot (although I wonder why Smith got so many carries when Evans was the better runner).

More stats -- this year we ended up 45th nationally in yards per carry.

I was mystified by the disappearance of the jet sweep, which never stopped working, and by mid-October had shown a few nice wrinkles. I thought it was going to be a big part of things. I was even further mystified by the stubborn insistence on using Pepcat, and not using Peppers in other ways. That was just awful. Especially in the red zone. JH wasted at least 3 to 4 crucial downs in November in the red zone with Pepcat, and probably 10 overall at any spot on the field. I really didn't understand the November playcalling save for JH must have perceived a lot of his options as unrealistic. I don't get why he stuck with the non-working ones he stuck with and ditched what he ditched.

[Kstat]

Because the jet sweep wasn't going to win Peppers the heisman.

[hack]

So Harbaugh tried to win Peppers the Heisman by putting him in a position to fail?

[Hannibal]

Teams seemed to catch onto those McDoom sweeps too. His appearance in the game tipped those plays. He had only five catches on the year and 16 carries. He at least needs to reach the Breaston level if he is going to be really effective all around.

The Pepcat was a major miscalculation. The staff had X amount of hours that they could spend on Peppers practicing offense, so it appears that they made a calculated decision to create a new package for him instead of fitting him into what they already did, which is (how they did it in 2015). In retrospect, fitting him in as a RB/Slot hybrid may have worked a lot better.