...IF we are fortunate enough on Saturday to gain control of the game on the scoreboard relatively quickly--and this is college football, so nothing is guaranteed, but I'm certainly hopeful that things may play out this way against the NIU Huskies--I really hope Harbaugh can embrace the idea that falling back on a vanilla running game offense over the course of this game is just not the way to go.
Between the extremely unfortunate Ronnie Bell injury, and the lack of an opportunity to even try to get the passing game in gear against the first real defense we faced: we really have no idea if we have even a halfway competent passing attack right now. Our full offense needs live game reps passing the football, and this is the kind of game where (fingers crossed, knock on wood) you hope the stars will align to allow you to focus in on your needed areas of growth as a football team. The idea that it would be more advantageous for Michigan to somehow conceal its passing attack--which, again, we may or may not have right now--from future opponents is just ludicrous, in my opinion. I'm pretty sure a legendary old football coach used to preach "execution over innovation"... anyone have any idea who that guy was?
At the moment: I'm williing, for the most part, to buy into the notion that what we saw this past Saturday against Washington was simply a reflection of the correct offensive game plan to soundly beat that particular team. And a part of me is genuninely thrilled at the fact that we found something that was working offensively, and actually decided to just keep hammering away at it relentlessly until the opposing defense proved they could stop it (which Washington never did, as is often the case in this sport). But for all the varying opinions on the Fort the past few days about the playcalling from Saturday, I kind of think we can all agree that what we saw on Saturday isn't really a sustainable path toward this team achieving its goals. I hope Harbaugh realizes this, as well.
Between the extremely unfortunate Ronnie Bell injury, and the lack of an opportunity to even try to get the passing game in gear against the first real defense we faced: we really have no idea if we have even a halfway competent passing attack right now. Our full offense needs live game reps passing the football, and this is the kind of game where (fingers crossed, knock on wood) you hope the stars will align to allow you to focus in on your needed areas of growth as a football team. The idea that it would be more advantageous for Michigan to somehow conceal its passing attack--which, again, we may or may not have right now--from future opponents is just ludicrous, in my opinion. I'm pretty sure a legendary old football coach used to preach "execution over innovation"... anyone have any idea who that guy was?
At the moment: I'm williing, for the most part, to buy into the notion that what we saw this past Saturday against Washington was simply a reflection of the correct offensive game plan to soundly beat that particular team. And a part of me is genuninely thrilled at the fact that we found something that was working offensively, and actually decided to just keep hammering away at it relentlessly until the opposing defense proved they could stop it (which Washington never did, as is often the case in this sport). But for all the varying opinions on the Fort the past few days about the playcalling from Saturday, I kind of think we can all agree that what we saw on Saturday isn't really a sustainable path toward this team achieving its goals. I hope Harbaugh realizes this, as well.
