What’s Wrong With Michigan’s Offense? Former Wolverines Chris Howard & Rod Payne Break It Down

[What’s going on Michigan fans? Welcome back to another episode of The Breakdown. But before we get started, want to give a special shout out to some of our sponsors who make this show possible. First, Sheri Weintraub, better known as the A2 Homegirl with eXp Realty. Sheri is a lifelong Michigan fan who knows Ann Arbor inside and out. So whether you’re buying, selling, or looking for your next home, Sheri has you covered for all your real estate needs. We also want to thank OLIPOP for bringing us a delicious and refreshing twist on soda.

Knight’s Steakhouse, an Ann Arbor staple known for great food and even better hospitality. And Valiant, a clothing brand representing the pride and tradition of Michigan. We appreciate all of our sponsors for supporting Hail Media and helping us bring you more Michigan sports coverage. Go Blue. All right, so now let’s get back to the real reason we’re all here.

Chapter 2: Introduction of Rod Payne

when it comes to Michigan offensive line, of course, we got a plethora of guys we could go and talk to. One of the things Michigan has always been known for is its outstanding offensive line play and its grittiness, its toughness, and its ability to move the line of scrimmage. So, while I could go to a few people about this conversation, no one is as entertaining as this guy I’m about to bring on right now. Oh, boy. My former teammate, All-American captain, played a few years in the NFL, won a Super Bowl with the Baltimore Ravens.

My guy Rod Payne, I could go on the list cuz he’s done everything. He done jumped out of airplanes. He’s been doing a whole bunch of other crazy stuff, which comes no surprise to any of us. But my guy Rod Payne, what’s going on, brother? Glad to be on and possibly shed some light on this dreary Michigan season thus far. So, we’ll see. Yeah, listen.

Chapter 3: Michigan’s current crisis

Yeah, man. Listen, let’s jump into it, Rod, because I think, coming into this season, I had a lot of high hopes for what I believe was an upgrade on the Michigan offensive staff. Just looking at the guys’ pedigree and what they were able to accomplish at, Utah, it has not panned out that way. And one of the things that I try to tell people is, yeah, of course it’s going to take some time for these guys to get acclimated, but this was a group of offensive linemen that played a lot of football last year.

So I was expecting no matter who came in that we would see some progress because one of the things that Michigan did very well last year was they were able to run the football no matter what. And people knew we had a quarterback situation last year. People still loaded the box. People still had their safeties playing up close to the line of scrimmage. And yet we were still able to pop off big runs, right? 70-yard touchdown runs, 60-yard touchdown runs.

I mean, we had two running backs that were close to being, the first 1,000-yard rushers in the same backfield in a number of years. So coming into this season, I felt like this was going to be the year that we would see some more progress, right? But it is not panning out that way. So I wanted to talk to you about what you’re seeing, right? A lot of people out there talking about the offensive line and everything else. That’s a major talking point.

But what are you seeing, Rod? Man, that’s a loaded question. I mean, what I’m seeing is a lot. Okay. Let’s just make that a simple one-word, two-word answer. A lot. I think there is a tremendous amount of movement and newness, getting your feet wet, getting your feet solid. Hey man, if these guys, even if if I called Coach Whitt and said, hey, meet me at Touchdown’s for, for a beer, he wouldn’t know where to go. These guys are still learning Ann Arbor.

They’re still learning what the lay of the land is. That’s a significant university and its hometown crew, and I can only imagine even though he’s, what he is as a football coach, I can only imagine inheriting a team in his position that was a team that was in a position that Michigan was, and Michigan still is quite honestly is that Michigan has seen a wholesale character crisis. I think that has lent itself to, a lot of people just really not knowing what Michigan’s all about, not knowing how we did things, even though people say, “Well, hey, same tough type coaching, so on and so forth.” I think Michigan’s in a bit of a crisis right now, just figuring out what really is Michigan and how can we get back to being consistent, tough-nose, hard-nosed, blue-collar type football team.

And I think a large part of that is what we see in the immediate development of young offensive talent. Obviously the defense, it seems the defense is getting some things squared away, but I think obviously the elephant, pink elephant in the room and to

Chapter 4: The impact of Bryce Underwood

my acknowledgement, the entire stratosphere changed, I think, when this kid by the name of Bryce Underwood signed for, 10, 12, I don’t know how much how many millions of dollars as, what was then and what is now the highest paid NIL athlete in the business. And that has just brought about a tremendous amount of scrutiny and learning curve, of what it means to be in that hemisphere of million, what is considered million-dollar quarterback. The expectations, not just a million-dollar quarterback, but then the expectations that come along with, what some people would assume is a great, talent and that talent would be able to produce.

And I think that’s something that’s, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone that would say that’s not pretty much what has happened at Michigan with Bryce Underwood and what what Michigan’s gone through and that’s forget the game by game drama, but just understanding what it is to really develop a player and where Bryce Underwood is and what’s out there. There’s a lot going on. There’s a lot of moving pieces. And I think, you’d be a fool not to acknowledge it and not to say that, on some level, a lot of it has to do with I would I would say the new term value.

Okay. Right. In college football now value I think has become the code word for the commercialization through NIL and making sure and people really feeling like hey man if university got together and put this kind of money together the boosters the whoever they may be is have put million dollars at the stake of these young men I think much like the NFL just recently is just finding what it really takes to sift through and comb through the talent level and the character of the young men that they’re going to be handing a king’s ransom to one can what’s their character like just plain and simple, plain and clear: character and you And for that matter what their abilities are, what they really can manifest man manufacture as athletes and the spotlight.

What can they do about it? I think that’s a man that’s not a position I’d rather I’ I’d like to be in as a coach trying to figure out, the brand new a brand new team that is one of the most storied teams in all of college football. But as we said when we were, when we were coming up, you knew the expectation was for the position. And when you talk about, what’s going on offensively, obviously everything falls back on the offensive line to where I think it’s unfortunate that the spotlight has, and maybe rightfully so, been at a been on the position that, as we know, tends to take more responsibility, for, take too much credit for wins and not enough responsibility for losses.

But I think what we’re seeing with Bryce Underwood is a kid that from my experience having played center and having snapped to multiple All-American quarterbacks and the Boomers and Jeff Blakes of the world, I think that criticism is deservedly so with Bryce, and I think, at some point the quarterback play is subject unlike like a lot of other areas, it’s subject to really affecting an entire offense.

Chapter 5: Offensive challenges

Yeah. Yeah. I can definitely see that. And I think, part of that it seems like it’s like a like a little bit of everyone’s to kind of blame, right? Everybody has a little bit a part to play in it, right? Yeah. Last game last game they you first series they came at ran it down the throats, man. They looked like they were going to dominate Minnesota. And quite honestly, I don’t think it was I don’t think I saw Minnesota put up a defense or find a new way to deal with what we were doing.

I just I obviously saw us go away from what we were doing. I I had questions regarding play selection and what, why wouldn’t we lean on these guys and, and really take our shots down field. So there’s a lot of questions that Michigan’s, miss Michigan I think is putting out more questions than answers right now. And I think the criticism is fair. Right. Well, Rod, let you say something earlier about the coaches kind of getting to know who these players are.

Right. So, let’s just kind of go back. The coaches come in, they’ve got a short window to really evaluate who these kids are. Yeah. What their strengths are, what they’re good at, what they’re not good at, and then also personnel wise, what can I really do with them based off of the offense that I’m now bringing right from Utah to Michigan. Yeah. I’ve I’ve heard all these thoughts and positions. Talk about that a little bit because you I always tell people this like we ran the same plays when I was a freshman till I was a senior.

So by the time we it was my time to play start whatever we was I was proficient at running the same plays right we knew those plays at like the back of our hand Plymouth drive bear claw that was about it. I hear your question. I hear your I hear your experience. I hear I hear some limitations, but I also I I also have a little push back on that and I guess just getting into the weeds of it, hey man, I’m hearing a lot about hey, you got to play with your personnel.

And I would think that in modern day football, there’s not a kid that’s coming from a Wing-T offense. Mhm. That is now stepping into a dropback, pro-style offense. Okay. Most of these kids have been running RPOs and, edge plays, offensive line and two-point stance, shotgun, so on and so forth. So there’s no I don’t think modern day football has changed so much from high school to college where at the University of Michigan in particular that the kids we get and the coaches we get come in with a system that man we just now have to wholesale find somebody that could run this type of system.

Mhm. And I just don’t think that’s it. I think I saw where the offense changed in form in some form and function of a lot of things during our time where we went from Les Miles and Cam Cameron as co-coordinator duo and to what was Stan Parrish who put in the shotgun. We didn’t even have shotgun and I graduated where we were shotgun snapping and I was poor. Yeah. So I have seen a change enough to say man I would think at the University of Michigan we would be recruiting and retaining the type of athletes and the type of strength and conditioning program and the type of development of both the mental, the physical, the brain, the football IQ that is not so like hey we already saw that experiment of trying to match a particular scheme when Rich Rod came in, right?

And and trying to change up from what the Big Ten required, from what fundamental football required in that you had better have an offensive line that puts their hand in the dirt and get some yards. You better have a stretch play. You have better have a sturdy running back, that can pound the ball 15, 20, 25 times on average. And, and a, just the fundamentals that I still don’t see are any different in the pro ranks.

I still don’t see they’re any different in the top, say, 20 most consistent college football programs out there, right? And that is a stalwart offensive line, tough offensive line, being able to pound the ball, being able to control the ball, being able to work within the confines of a base offense that is, some coaches believe a little bit more run, some coaches believe a little bit more pass. And I think obviously the passing dictates a lot more on quarterback, but there, name me a team that still doesn’t move and shake with having that play caller, be able to execute, not just with his arm, but with his decisions.

Hey Michigan fans, we will be right back. But first, a word from our sponsor. For generations, Knight’s Steakhouse has been an Ann Arbor

Chapter 6: Quarterback play and coaching

tradition. Family-owned and serving the community since 1952. From hand cut steaks and fresh seafood to classic cocktails and genuine hospitality. Visit Knight’s on Dexter Avenue or downtown Ann Arbor. Knight’s Steakhouse. Great food, strong drinks. Ann Arbor tradition. Hey fellow Michigan fans, this is your A2 Homegirl Sheri Weintraub with EeXp Realty. I am a lifelong Michigan fan. I know Ann Arbor. I know real estate. And I know what it means to Go Blue. Find me at a2homegirl.net. Yeah, we talked about that earlier, right? And how that can sometimes as a coordinator, you’re not able to call the game the way that you want to call the game because of maybe a lack of confidence in the quarterback being able to execute those plays, right?

And let me tell you, that’s huge. If a coordinator doesn’t doesn’t go into a ball game with his full offense, not necessarily like, okay, hey, I got this play call. I got this series. I want to I really want to run this. I believe I got the right guy at the shot caller that can make this happen. A quarter a coordinator usually is at the beck and call of like saying, “Okay, where will the play breakdown?” I know we have some I know we’re here and here, but by the time he goes into a game plan, he’s got a solid game plan that fits everybody and whatever he knows he can get done with this guy with his whole offensive unit.

So, if he if there is a situation where he’s not he’s limited, man, that shows you what he’s thinking and not seeing in practice. You don’t get you don’t start with the whole offense and then get to game day and all of a sudden you wake up on Saturday and be like, “Oh man, what? I need to narrow down this offense real quick.” Right? You’re looking at it through practice saying, “Damn, we can’t run that. We haven’t run that.

He hasn’t thrown that.” So on so forth. And I think what you have seen and what I think we’ve seen is a very prepared and very meticulously and I would say exorbitantly coached quarterback. Okay, we got a got a quarterback’s coach so on and so forth. But I haven’t seen where that execution post, once the game starts is now like, okay, I see those decisions being made by that quarterback that elicit that he understands and is like making those decisions without being told or without critical errors or without turnovers or without leaving a man open or without so on and so forth.

And that’s that’s with, that’s with errant play caller. I mean, come on, man. You and I both know we question our play calling all the time. Like, what the hell, Coach Jackson, Coach Parish, like we what the hell you come on, coach. And we influence play calling all the time. We’re like, coach, what are you doing? Like, like, so that’s nothing new. But the inability to execute it would be way more glaring if from the from I think the position of quarterback we really struggled.

Mhm. And I don’t think we ever I don’t think I’ve seen I’ve only seen this type of struggle offensively when it comes from the quarterback. Not like I would see it differently if the real struggle was like man this offensive line can’t block worth crap or like man that guy can’t catch crap and I think I think we do need a I think we do need a refresher course or some play calling that really puts the ball in Big Ten because hey man Utah plays Big Ten football.

Utah has a quarterback that’s in the NFL in the NFL right now. So it’s not like they came in here teaching and trying to implement the Wing-T. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. It’s not like they came in and all of a sudden forgot how to coach. Right. You don’t go from a Broyles Award finalist, from one year to all of a sudden not knowing how to how to coach. But Rod, I wanna I want to

Chapter 7: Addressing penalties and team culture

kind of stay on the on the offensive on the offensive line side because one of the things that has been driving me crazy as well is the penalties, right? Penalties. The penalties. The penalties have just been driving me absolutely crazy. Right. Yeah. And I hear, of course, you go on some of these message boards and everybody’s got some sort of an idea or feeling about it, but what can the offensive line do? Because I always put it on the players, right?

And I always say, listen, Coach Jackson wasn’t a reason I missed my block. Coach Jackson wasn’t a reason I fumbled the ball. Coach Jackson wasn’t a reason I jumped off sides. That was all my That was all That was all my doing. Right. So there has to be some sort of player accountability. What are you seeing from that perspective? Are they are they not being able to play fast because they’re afraid of making mistakes? Like what’s going on when you see that many penalties offense?

I think people underestimate two things in football. All right. Turnovers and penalties. All right. And both of them have equal, if not completely devastating effects. Now, a penalty, a five yard false start penalty or first-and-10 at your 45 yard line and you’re up by seven. That’s not a devastating penalty. Mhm. But a false start on a third and four that now takes you to a third and nine in the red zone and now you got a kick.

Those are critical errors. And I think that one thing, if I can, I’m never I’m never one to just like, oh, the coach, the coach or the player or player. You really got to look at things, in a in a kind of like equal manner, like, okay, how much of this is the player? How much of this is the coach? And but when it comes to penalties, that’s one of the things that man, I you got to give to the coach.

You got to you got to wonder in fact there’s two there’s two areas where that goes to coach and the bellcow leader. Okay. And the coach being that man just the implementation of top down discipline foot in your ass like holy cow. Only the coach and the strength coach have the ability to turn a team against itself over a penalty. Like, like a coach can show up one day after a bunch of penalties and just run a team till it’s sloppy, stupid.

To where now every guy on that team is ready to kill a kid, kill one of their teammates if they get a penalty. Okay, a coach can do that. All right. If the coach doesn’t do that or if the if that’s being done then it falls to the next highest level of leadership in your in the hierarchy of football and that’s the bell cow senior leader. Okay, that’s the kid that’s that man can win the locker room. And when I say win the locker room, if there’s, you got on the field stuff and everybody’s like whatever.

Well, when you go in the locker room and it’s just the guys and the guys say, “Hey man, we got to fix this, or there’s a issue on the team that’s spilling into the locker room.” The guy that can win the locker room is usually a guy that can kick somebody’s ass. He’s usually a guy that nobody really wants to physically fight, let alone get into it where this guy is so consistent and so respected in a in leadership that it’s like, man, you don’t want to be the a-hole that is bumping up against this guy.

Right.

Chapter 8: Offensive scheme and player development

Right. Le let’s talk scheme because earlier we were talking about, Utah, Kyle Whittingham brings his offensive staff over. There’s this notion out there that, oh well, they’re asking these guys to do something that they’re not used to doing, which I’m like I’m like, hold on. Like, it’s still football at the end of the day. And I don’t and to your point you said earlier like a lot of these kids have been running from RPO have been running some of these same schemes right whether it’s pulling reaching getting up to the second level.

Whatever it is it’s I hear people always saying like well Michigan’s got to run downhill. They got to run downhill. I’m like well I’ve watched them run downhill and we still ain’t getting any yards. I’ve watched them run stretch plays and we still ain’t getting any yards. I’m like, so it can’t it’s in this day and age of versatility, it can’t be that you’re not used to running your or you’re only used to running a certain style of offense because that’s just not modern-day college football right now.

Now, you may be a run-heavy team, but the principles of how you be become a run-heavy team have not changed. It’s still kind of the same thing. Talk to me a little bit about the scheme part of it, Rod, because again, you played a lot of football to your point, you talked about how when Stan Parrish came in and next thing we running out of shotgun and we doing draw plays and all this other stuff. Execution. Execution, bro. Execution.

Like the simple part of it is execution. Do you rep enough rep it enough to where the guys know who and how to block, right? Who do we block and how do we block them? Okay, well, there’s some whys in there. Well, why do we block this? Well, because this play’s coming over here and we want to influence this guy. So, that linebacker who’s reading him is going to take one step this way and that’ll give you a little bit more time to get on this angle.

Now, we’re on the we’re out the backside hole. All of those things are questions that come up in camp or you establish a base offense and a base offense has a dive. A base offense has a stretch. A base offense base offense has a zone stretch. They got a RPO. They got a slant. They got, the route. They still use a route tree. Right. Right. There’s still, there’s still a trap. There’s still a pull.

There’s still tackle pulls. There’s still, iso blocks. And I think there’s two things. There’s the symphony of notes that you put together in a particular song, and then there’s I’m sorry, the song in the notes, but then there’s the symphony of how you put all those songs together so they flow evenly. Well, I think there’s just a disconnect right now with the staff and it’s instrument players and I believe there’s a shared responsibility on both sides of that disconnect. One from the coaches side because obviously these guys and not saying that Utah hasn’t played on a national scale but it’s much different where they’re coming from playing in the Big Ten and or playing with a Michigan target on your back.

The one thing we know as lifelong Michigan guys bled the maize and blue. You’re from Florida. I’m I mean you’re from Louisiana. I’m from Florida. We had no clue on what Michigan was until we got there. That we learned really quick, right? Playing for Michigan, people have a lifelong desire to beat you. And they prepare in much different ways for Michigan than almost any game on that schedule, including playoff games, right? Right. You got teams that prepare for Michigan like they would their championship, they don’t give that type of effort unless they were in a in a conference championship game or a national championship game.

That’s the way people truly prepare for us. And I think that’s a learning curve for the coaches to realize not only what their limitations are. Forget the kids being, well, what are their strengths? What are their limitations? What can’t they do? Mhm. All right. And I think too many people are looking at, hey, man, they’re not going to the strengths of these players. They if you I’m sorry you give a kid, this much money or these you recruit these kids from this five-star da that kid I’m sorry should be a good enough athlete to get within 80%.

He may not be on the 10% of the bell curve high or low but he if you get a five-star lineman, you get a five-star running back, you get a five-star tight end, you get a four- or five-star quarterback, they should be able to knock out that 80%, right? And I just don’t think that’s happening. I think across the board there’s a there’s too much newness. There’s too little of that 80% player responsibility being left on the field by players.

All right, I’m not going to say any particular names or individuals, but by players to where there’s a, there’s a there’s a problem offensively. And I think and I think it’s pretty clear too that it’s offensively. It’s not like defense, and people like, “Well, man, defense did this.” I said, “Man, do the most embarrassing, the most the most shameful time I ever had as an offense was turning the ball over, having to run past the defense, running on the field after immediate change, after we just fumbled or threw an interception or had a stupid penalty that caused us to punt the ball.

So, trust me when I tell you this defense I think has been playing even better, right? Considering Yeah. Considering, like think about it. If we don’t turn the ball over, we don’t give Minnesota 10 points and the defense doesn’t score a touchdown, we get blown off the field. So, I we’re getting ready to play this homecoming game against Penn State and I’m just like, “Oh, boy. Let me see what

Chapter 9: Restoring the offensive line

has changed in two bye weeks. I mean, two weeks of bye, you’re you’re talking about a significant position in football when you are as criticized and in a critical critically like horrible position that Michigan is right now. Who could easily be two and what? Two. We could easily have dropped that game. Yeah. Two and three. We could easily be two and three. And you’re saying, “Well, we got two weeks and we got a problem. Everybody’s acknowledging we got a problem.

Everybody’s calling for the OC. People are talking about, the head coaches and people are the quarterback. It’s offensive line. I’m hearing all of this stuff.” And I’m like, “Okay, the fire has been turned up, Michigan. Let’s see what let’s let’s see what you produce. Let’s see what happens.” Yeah. One of the things that, we’ve I’ve always been taught, and I’m sure you always been taught this as well, and is that Michigan will go as far as the offensive line takes it, right? Are you seeing and again, I want you to be as honest as possible on this.

Are you seeing the same tenacity that you’re accustomed to seeing? No. Out of our offense? No. I don’t see the same nastiness. I think that but to that point that comes through confidence and battle. Okay, that comes through battle. And if you’re going to lose a game at Michigan, it had better be in the trenches because if it’s in the hands of quarterback or the peripheral and it’s not in the trenches and you lose, then you never you’re not honing those offensive linemen for the next battle.

See, it wasn’t It was when the It was when we went tooth to nail, fist to fist, and we lost, and coaches said, “See, we put it on the offensive line, and you guys didn’t measure up.” And they were in our ass the whole next week, right? And you better believe they were in our butt so bad that when it came time for that next fourth and one, like, I ain’t going to be the one. You going to be the one.

You going No, that’s And you And it’s smashmouth football. And all of a sudden you come up out of that fourth and one or that third and two and you’re like, “Man, we taking this. We’re warriors. We’ve been here. I’ve had my arm cut off. I will die before I not give not before I not get this yard.” So if we haven’t lost games like that where the play calling is congruent to developing and enriching the battle-hardened structure you want your offensive line to be at as they get within the season.

It’s it you don’t even know it. You don’t even know it. So I think part of that and I think that’s a coach’s responsibility. But if the and I and everything I’ve heard and been told and seen with Whitt is that he’s the he’s that type of guy. And I’ve seen, I just don’t think we the right mix is the right putty or the right hardener to that cement has been added in the right ratios. To really harden this group up.

And I don’t know what it is, but they had better fix it because we’re getting into the thick of the Big Ten and it’s only going to get worse from here. We’re playing Penn State. And let me tell you something, Penn State kids are hardened. All right, these are the by the time these kids get to and I’m and I’m hoping that we are hardening enough to where like, hey, our harder is harder than theirs. And now, and then on for that matter, it goes back to, hey, making sure the coaches recognize and call that hardness to bear.

You forge your sword layer over layer, the layer over layer of steel, not to leave it in the sheath. Right. Right. Right. Right. Okay. Right. So, if you’re going to forge them, and you better have be forging, you better be folding these dudes over and letting them know they lost, we lost because we could not run the ball. All right, he see critical error run the ball. Forget the quarterback. Forget these yo-yo skilled guys who always want yardage, whatever.

You five to seven dudes. The tight end that was talking about, well, he doesn’t value us. I I’mma go I’mma I’mma be watching that who had his messages leaked. Yeah. All right. Okay. You better believe if I’m a hard-nosed coach I’m watching that kid on every run play. Well yeah I’m put I’m putting him in because you want the ball. Let me show me. Yeah. Since we talking we going we going to change some things up and we going we going to run right off of off of your butt.

Yes. We running right off your tail. Your right your right butt cheek, son. And it better not be in the hole. Yeah. Yeah.

Chapter 10: Strategic adjustments moving forward

And it’s funny you say that, Rod, because one of, pe I was and I was one of them. I be like, why are we consistently running the ball up the middle with eight men in the box and nine men in the box and this and that. And I started thinking about I’m like I’m like well because that’s what you’re going to face and you have to be able to get that yard or if you don’t get that yard these guys to your point need to be hardened to a point to where they have to figure out a way to get that yard in that situation.

And think about it. If you’re hardened that situation, you get enough of that. Yeah. You get enough hardened guys in that third and one, fourth and one, third and two, fourth and two situation. And what happens is the defense has to respect you. Mhm. And when they have to respect you, now you’re playing chess. Now, hey, now I can dump pass to a tight end. Now I can really run that draw or really run that play because, man, they got nine in the box. They peeking in the box because we don’t we’ve made sure, or even if it could be, it doesn’t have to be in a fourth and one situation.

Look, man, I want to see some good oldfashioned toss sweeps. Run for the edge. Let me see. That’s let’s have a track meet at least six, seven times a game where I’mma to I’mma as fast as we can fly to that edge. I’mma see how I’mma see how fast you can come up and contain it. And if you can’t contain it, if you can’t contain it, man, I’m running for the edge. And what happens when you press someone’s edge, defense’s edge like that with full gusto, they get ants in their pants.

So if you look like you going that way, defense flies. Now you got Now you can hold back and hit it more up the middle or you can have a counter where you reverse toss. You reverse like you’re going to toss it and you hand it to a dive underneath and that backside is wide open. These are all things that, yes, experience is life’s best teacher and being at the center position at for one of the most heralded offenses and offensive minds like Les Miles and Cam Cameron and Michigan, it gave me a pedigree background to understand and see how both can be done, but there’s only one way to really develop the ability to do it is you got to you have to go out and do it. You and I we’ve run some toss sweeps.

They haven’t been successful for a number of reasons. The thing that I’ve been screaming for has been to do more off-tackle runs to get those linebackers flowing to create some of those backside cuts, like the Plymouth and the what Cleveland and all the stuff that we used to run because you can’t just hike the ball in the in the shotgun position and then hand the ball strictly to the running back who’s right there because you’ve you’ve manipulated nothing in front of you, right?

Backers read their keys. They’re shooting their gaps and we’re leaving and we’re leaving the end man on the line untouched, right? So, we’re leaving the end man on the line for a read, and if you got one guy that can read you better than you can read him, he going to which has been the case most of this season, right? We have not our defense, the defenses we have faced have read our quarterback–running back exchange on read-option plays better than we have read their reaction to it.

Yeah, it is definitely not tell me whatever they want to. You can debate whatever you want to. Those are facts. Yeah, it is not worked in our favor. Which again, which is why I’m just I’m a I’m more of a fan of being under center. Or if you’re not going to be under center, give the illusion of some sort of stretch where you get guys off their spot so that you can then whether it’s going to be a waggle, tight end waggle to the backside or whatever it is, you have to do something to help your offensive line, right?

Get in a better position to get those blocks, right? To get them better position to get that leverage or whatever it is. Nebraska Cleveland. Nebraska Cleveland. Those were our stretch plays, people. If you didn’t if you didn’t know, those were our stretch plays. Off tackle stretch plays. Yeah, I want to see more of that, Rod. I just need to see more from the offensive line. But again, it’s not just the offensive line. It’s just a lot of things that aren’t aren’t aren’t working. When you got a secondary whose safety and free safety heels are at 10 yards. They’re they’re not respecting the passing game. We’re no absolutely no threat whatsoever. Sometimes there’s a little bit there’s too many men in the box and not enough blockers in the box.

On top of that, penalties have hurt us, turnovers have hurt us. And it’s just been a just a combination of just bad football on the offense at every position. I ain’t going to say every position. Wide receivers have been lights out. Buchanan and Marsh have been absolutely lights out, but we need to see something different in this Penn State game. I know they made a decision to go with Bryce again, which I think I will be it’ll be interesting to see how those first three to four possessions go.

And if they don’t go well, I can definitely see a change cuz at the end of the day, maybe Tommy is not the best athlete, but I don’t need the best athlete at the quarterback position. I need a quarterback at the quarterback position that understands how to how to quarterback, right? That’s going to make the right throws, that’s going to go to the right places, that’s going to read the defense and take what the defense gives them. To me, I Michigan needs that kind of game manager right now as opposed to the lights out athlete, quote unquote generational talent that everybody called Bryce. Which I just think was, a bit unfair to put that on this kid.

But right now, Michigan has to find something consistent and they are inconsistent at two of the most important positions you need to be consistent at on the offense. So, yeah, no question about it.

Chapter 11: Closing thoughts

man, Rod, brother, as always, man, you are a beacon of information. Let me tell you, listen. Rod Payne, Rod talked about influencing play call. What was it? Was it the Ohio State game where you went and told the offensive coordinator, “If y’all run the ball again, I’m taking off my P.” No, if you throw the ball again, I’m taking off my pads. What game was that? That was Michigan Ohio State where Biakabutuka rushed for 400 yards. We rushed for 400 yards and we threw not one, not two, but we threw three first-half interceptions.

All right, that’s a that’s a typical case of where, hey, my computer’s about to go dead, but that’s a typical case where, coaches trying to force when you got the when you got the ability to do it the right way, right? Right? So, been there, done that. Hey, well, brother, listen, man. I appreciate you and we’ll we’ll touch base soon. We’ll maybe we’ll do a recap of this Penn State game, man. But I appreciate you, Rod.

I’m down with that. All right, brother. Peace. Go Blue always. If you like this kind of content, please like, share, follow, and subscribe. And as always, go blue!]