The Anatomy of a Drive

Many games are determined on clutch, endgame drives, i.e. John Elway taking the Bronco's 98 yards in the 1987 AFC title game or Vince Young masterfully leading Texas down the field and scrambling for the game winning touchdown with 30 seconds remaining in the 2006 Rose Bowl. These famous possessions have such obviousness to them: score or go home, make a spectacular play or you lose. It's for this reason that these endgame scenarios become famous and are replayed on ESPN Classic.

I love these drives as much as the next armchair pundit, but I also hold great appreciation for the possessions not discussed the next day over talk shows and water coolers (do people still talk over water coolers? I don't know). I learn the most when one 5 minute drive can sum up an entire off-season of hard work, or when a few seemingly meaningless running plays in the 2nd quarter accentuate the dominance of an offensive unit over its opponent. I aim to concentrate on that kind of unnoticed drive in The Rivalry's Drive of the Week series.

Obviously this is before I saw Michigan's spread offense operate

My apologies for bringing this "Drive" article 10 days after the Michigan-Utah matchup. You will notice that the offensive problems plaguing the Wolverine's against Utah also showed up against Miami (OH). The ND game will be another test of how few points Michigan can score...

3 ½ Hours of Impotence

Viagra, sadly enough, has somewhat soiled the usa of the word "impotent" in a sports context. But I cannot think of a better word to describe the Michigan offense in its early season loss to Utah. RichRod's daunted spread failed to establish a running game or fool the Ute's defense with misdirection. Neither UM quarterback was able to break a run into the secondary or make a string of accurate throws. 137 penalty yards by Utah provided the most effective boost for the Wolverines offense.

An early 4^th quarter drive by Michigan is indicative of the struggles in Rich Rodriguez's first attempt at running the Spread in the Big House. Enjoy The Rivalry's breakdown of this Wolverine offensive possession.

Drive Analysis

1st and 10 at MICH 15, 14:04 left in the 4^th Quarter. Score: Utah 25, Michigan 10

Michigan comes out running, something they were unable to do effectively all day. Frosh RB Sam McGuffie, the YouTube leaping sensation himself, gets this drive started with a 4 yard run. I vaguely remember large holes opening up for the West Virginia RB's under Rodriguez...those holes have not opened all day. Still, for myself and the other crazy's in the corner endzone, 4 yards feels like a solid start for this key drive.

2nd and 6 at MICH 19, 13:40 left in the 4^th Quarter.

McGuffie gets the ball again and picks up 5 yards. This is the 2^nd longest run of the day for the Wolverines, a shocking statistic. Two key factors stymied the rushing game, the offensive line's inability to open holes and the horrible quarterback play. All day long, unblocked Utah defenders flew in to stuff the running plays, exposing the weakness of the O-line.

3^rd and 1 at MICH 24, 13:15 left in the 4^th Quarter.

McGuffie again, 2 yards, first down. The cheering on this play was somewhat muted - down 15 with 13 minutes to go, Michigan fans knew that 2 yard runs were probably not going to push the Victors to victory. But with only 11 first downs the entire day, this chain moving plunge by McGuffie was a welcome departure from another 3 and out.

The crowd rises to its feet to celebrate a first down

1^st and 10 on MICH 26, 12:55 left in the 4^th Quarter.

Incomplete pass from Threet. I wrote about this before but I want to reiterate again: Threet's arm strength and accuracy isn't very good. Michigan is moving away from the slow, big-armed quarterbacks of the past and Wolverine fans should not expect great throwing skills from its QB...but Threat has been blatantly ineffective as a passer.

2^nd and 10 on MICH 26, 12:37 left in the 4^th Quarter.

Threat rolls right and underthrows the intended receiver on the play, but the Utah defender impedes the receiver's attempt to catch the ball and a 15 yard pass interference penalty is assessed against Utah. Utah's penalties allowed Michigan to stay close in this game and in fact, the 137 yards of penalties led to more first downs than the running game could manage. At this point in the game, who cares? FIRST DOWN!

1^st and 10 on MICH 41, 12:31 left in the 4^th Quarter.

Michael Shaw catches a short pass and is tackled after a two yard gain. Tricky short passes were a key to West Virginia's offense under Rodriguez, but Utah hasn't been fooled all day by misdirection or screen passes

2^nd and 8 on MICH 43, 12:00 left in 4^th Quarter.

Threet throws incomplete and Michigan will be in 3^rd and long, a place where the Wolverines have embarrassed themselves. To paraphrase Dean Wormer from Animal House, 3 for 14 on third down is no way to go through life.

3^rd and 8 on MICH 43, 11:53 left in 4^th Quarter

Threet throws short to Martavius Odoms for a 1 yard loss and Zoltan Mesko trots onto the field to punt...again. By the 4^th quarter, every semi-coherent fan in the Big House knew that Michigan's passing game was not effective enough to complete 10-15 yard passes.

Drive Summary

The Ann Arbor Spread showed all its weaknesses on this fourth quarter drive: An O-line that cannot open holes for talented running backs, an ineffective passing game, and the inability to trick the defense with misdirection. 1 week later, the Wolverine's held onto victory over Miami (OH), showing an improvement in running but a complete lack of passing efficiency again.

Both the Utah and Miami (OH) games make it expressly clear that Michigan needs to figure out how to run pass plays that stretch the defense and opens up the run. Until then, RichRod's Spread offense will be more like the "Smushed" offense, with 8 defenders jammed into the box to stop Sam McGuffie, the only successful part of the Wolverine attack.