When the No. 17 Michigan football team found itself in an early hole against No. 2 Texas on Saturday, it had to adjust. In doing so, it strayed from its signature ground-heavy, smashmouth brand of football. The result was a blowout in which the Wolverines’ offense floundered.
Michigan netted just 80 rushing yards against the Longhorns, but more notably, it only attempted 23 run plays. Texas, in comparison, ran the ball 32 times for 143 yards. The week before, the Wolverines looked more like the Longhorns, running the ball 34 times for 148 yards against Fresno State. Texas on Saturday and Michigan against the Bulldogs were able to run the ball so many times because of one key commonality: they were winning.
“It’s hard to run the ball when you go down because it takes time off the clock, and you obviously need those seconds when you’re down,” senior running back Kalel Mullings said Monday. “For a team like us, when we want to establish the run and assert our dominance that way, it’s important that we’re able to have success on that early in the game so that it can now open up the pass and open up other things.”
Texas quickly struck first in the first quarter, putting the Wolverines on their back foot in the process. They broke off some solid runs on their ensuing drive, including a 12-yard pickup for a first down, but the few bursts weren’t enough to make it to the endzone.
As the clock wound down, Michigan took to the air more and more. On the Wolverines second-to-last drive, they only ran the ball on three of their 13 plays, and one was a quarterback scramble. On their last drive — their only touchdown drive of the game — they didn’t attempt a single rush. With less than five minutes left, they couldn’t afford to waste time with runs, and the running game hadn’t been effective enough anyway to warrant it.
“We have to be more consistent running the football,” Michigan coach Sherrone Moore said Monday. “When you get in games like that versus really good teams, if you get behind and it becomes a throw game, that doesn’t put you in the best position to win — never has. (It’s) never been a formula for us to be successful. So we got to do a better job establishing (the run).”
Oftentimes, the team with more rushing yards wins the game. So far this season, the Wolverines’ two games have followed that trend, furthering their desire to run the ball more and stay true to their identity going forward. Reestablishing the run would also take some pressure off first-year starter Davis Warren. As the senior quarterback develops his passing presence, he needs a strong running game to set up manageable throws.
“It’s our job on those first and second downs to get it to third-and-manageable,” Mullings said. “It’s so important for us to be able to establish a run game early and early in the drives so that we can avoid those third-and-longer situations.”
On third-and-long, the defense anticipates a pass and can prepare for it, either by blitzing or dropping everyone back in coverage. Third-and-manageable opens up the offensive playbook, creating uncertainty for the defense.
That’s not to say third-and-short leads to an automatic conversion. Michigan failed on three third downs of four or less yards on Saturday. Third-and-longs aren’t an automatic turnover either, and Warren has executed a few chunk plays to move the sticks in his first two starts.
Establishing the run isn’t an infallible strategy, but it certainly helps, and the Wolverines want their running game to be the identity of their offense. After being outgained on the ground on Saturday, they’re even more steadfast in returning to their tried and true.
The post Michigan hoping to reestablish identity as run-heavy offense appeared first on The Michigan Daily.
Leave a Reply