As previously mentioned in our “Behind Enemy Lines” post last night, Michigan is now running the Zone Blocking scheme in their offensive system brought to you by Offenive Coordinator/Retread Mike Debord and the Letter L.
When I learned of this, I knew immediately what that meant, but I also realized I didn’t know a ton about it. I just knew the basics: Usually calls for blocking are “zone right” or “zone left” and the offensive linemen work in tandem to eliminate blockades for their running backs by levels. First they attack the defensive line, and then they attack the linebackers.
So I did what any knowledgeable football fan would do when they want to learn a little more about blocking schemes: I googled “zone blocking.” And lo and behold, Bob Davie’s Football 101 feature came up in the results.
Convinced I must have made a typo and rather than searching for “zone blocking” I googled “painful sunburn,” I tired again. Alas, Bob Davie’s piece on Zone Blocking appeared again. So I gave up, gave in, and started reading this piece.
Clearly, this piece was ghost written. It’s actually pretty good, and furthers a mystery that has always bothered me: Bob Davie may infact understand the basics of football. It’s a mystery that bothers thousands of Notre Dame faithful as Bob sits in the press box and fairly consistently predicts whatever the next offensive play will be. Infuriating.
Anyway, as stated above, the piece is pretty good, and after reading, I’ve got a few thoughts. (These may only make sense if you read the piece and know what I think I now know.)
- ND Defensive Team Speed – Notre Dame’s defense is being celebrated early this season for having improved their overall team speed despite pre-season talking heads saying that nothing was done in the offseason to improve such a thing. Travis Thomas and Maurice Crum have looked quite quick so far, closing well, and striking fast. And even Zibby and Ndukwe look faster than ever. This helps a ton against a zone blocking scheme, because there’s a moment, when making reads against zone blocking, where you’ll have a chance to read and react to the ball from the defensive middle and backfield before an offensive lineman makes his way to you. This is because of the initial double team the OL places on the DL. It’s not a very long moment, but it still exists. And with ND’s improved team speed on D, this could be a very favorable matchup.
- Michigan Offensive Line Size/Speed – Well, to be honest, I can’t really put together good information on whether or not their offensive linemen are fast, but I can tell you they’re big. Maybe too big. See, I went to look at the average weight of the Denver Bronco’s Offensive Line (The NFL Team that takes the zone blocking scheme to new heights), and discovered that the Michigan OL (starters) is just a shade heavy: (Michigan OL Average Weight: 304.4 lbs) (Denver OL Average Weight: 298.4 lbs). It’s not a ton of weight, but it is a difference, and I don’t really believe that the Michigan OL is as well conditioned as the Denver OL. Here’s betting the Denver OL can boast more “functional” weight. And as such, I believe that the Michigan OL may have a hard time beating the ND linebackers to the point of attack, especially if we can keep the linebackers relatively fresh.
- Michigan Runningback Speed – Here’s one place that concerns me. By all accounts, including Charlie Weis’, the starting Michigan Running Back, Mike Hart, has a lot of speed and has hit the holes quickly. Then again, the holes have been opened up against CMU and Vandy. I could hit those holes quickly. But if Mike Hart can hit open holes quickly against a linebacking corps with one converted running back and one OLB playing MLB, then we might have some problems and it could be a long day hearing, “Mike Hart carries for 6 yards.” Also, in the zone blocking scheme, there may be more than one hole available to a runningback, giving him the advantage in the cat and mouse game between he and the linebackers.
- ND Defensive Line – Llloyd Carr today on ESPN 1000 in Chicago spoke highly of the “excellent defensive front 4” of Notre Dame. While that may just be so much coaches speak, he’s right. At least, he’s right if our DL lives up to its potential. We have excellently conditioned athletes with a lot of ability and a fair amount of depth, enabling ND to keep fresh legs on the field. This is important because these guys will go up against a double team on every run play, and Michigan is sure to want to run the ball quite a bit.
Overall, I think the Notre Dame defense matches up quite well on paper with Michigan’s blocking scheme. Of course, “that’s why they play the game,” yadda, yadda, yadda. Just keep in mind a few things as you watch Saturday afternoon:
- This is not a power rushing game, and anyone who tells you otherwise is misguided. The zone isn’t meant to smashmouth rush. It’s meant to allow speedy, shifty backs to find a hole and hit it, no matter where it goes. This is not your father’s I-formation.
- Pay attention to the Michigan offensive line’s ability to chase down our rather fast linebackers. They may get tired out late in the game, when they most want to be able to run and run and run to shorten a game if they’re ahead.
- Keep and eye on Travis Thomas. As weak LB, he’s got to flow very well to the ball, and while his speed may be an asset, his ability to read the play (and recognize the occasional counter) will be very important. His lack of experience could really hurt here.
- Michigan has racked up some yards in their first 2 games, but they’re still quite new at this scheme and they’ve been playing against athletes that, for the most part, wouldn’t have merited an offer from a school like ND. (Even in the Willingham years.) It’s a very simple idea that is very hard to execute upon, and I think executing against Notre Dame will require a different level of speed and crispness than it did against CMU or Vandy.
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