The Word on the Wolverines

 

Here is a good look at the Wolverines. Photo courtesy of Bill Marklevits.

The Michigan Wolverines come in with their heads held high after a 42-35 win over Indiana and a 5-0 start to the season. Michigan, however, led by the feet of Heisman candidate quarterback Denard “Shoelaces” Robinson, will face its biggest test as of yet versus the Spartans. The strength of the Wolverines is their offense, an area in which the team dominates. Led by head coach Rich Rodriguez, Michigan runs the spread formation, and runs it well. No team thus far has been able to figure out how to stop the Wolverine offense. For Michigan State to win on Saturday, it will have to devise a way to stop the lethal Denard Robinson.

 

• The numbers that Michigan puts up on offense are astounding. The team averages 41 points and 565 yards (324 rush yards) per game. The Wolverines are in the top ten in the nation in those two categories.
• Michigan works out of the shotgun on almost every play on offense. Rich Rodriguez will spread the field with three to four wide outs and will keep a running back with Robinson in the shotgun.
• There are four basic offensive plays the team runs: the draw, play action pass, and the option run. The draw is utilized by Robinson the most- he will often take a step back then run it up the gut or to the outside. The play action pass is also very frequent- almost every pass Robinson throws is based on play action. “Shoelaces” will either take a step forward, then throw the ball or fake a handoff to the running back. The option run (when Robinson either hands the ball off or fakes the handoff and runs himself) is the main running play of Michigan. Against Indiana, the handoff to the back was not successful, save for one play in which sophomore Vincent Smith took it all the way to the house on a fake quarterback keeper by Robinson. Thus, we will see Robinson keep the ball more often than not.
• Stopping the inside run will be no problem for MSU- the key will be to keep Robinson between the hashes. When Robinson gets the corner, he will burn you every single time.
• Another weapon Robinson utilizes besides the draw and the play action is the pump fake. One more than one occasion, he pump faked to a wide receiver in the flat and threw to a wide receiver open deep. His passes were off, however. Although his wide receivers were wide open deep downfield, he couldn’t get the ball to them. The Spartans must be wary of the pump fake.
• Simply put, the Wolverines’ D is atrocious. The unit surrenders 25 points and 433 yards per game. The defense is good in rush defense (125 yards per game- 30th in the FBS), but is appalling in pass defense. Michigan’s secondary gives up 307 yards a game, which is 120th out of 120 teams in the FBS. This bodes well for Cousins and the Spartan offense.

Another weakness the Spartans need to take advantage of is the poor play of Michigan’s special teams. The unit ranks near the bottom of the FBS in net punting, kickoff returns, and punt returns. Special teams and field position make a difference over the course of the game. Look for special teams and turnovers to have a huge impact in this battle between these Big Ten behemoths.