Michigan Football: The Wolverines Offense is Better than Expected

Much of the attention this year has focused on Michigan football and its defense. But after another big outing, how about the offense?

Has anyone been paying attention to the offense of Michigan football? The offense on the field last Saturday against Maryland, was as good as any I have ever seen.

Ever since last season, when Michigan football’s defense began to show glimmers of greatness, the talk has mainly been about how the defense would carry this team. The offense, we assumed, wouldn’t be flashy.

We would all get to see Big Ten, run-it-up-the-middle offense. Thank you, De’Veon Smith and Ty Isaac. But all of the greatness of this year’s team would be supplied by Jabrill Peppers, Jourdan Lewis, and a few other defenders.

Then, with the arrival of Don Brown as defensive coordinator, we all thought the defense would reach even greater heights. “Dr. Blitz,” as he was once known, was going to dazzle us on very play with slants and coverages, the likes of which we had never seen.

And to be fair, the Michigan defense this year is pretty good. No, it’s really good, even great at times, especially in the red zone. The defense is probably the best in the country, statistically speaking, holding opponents to 11.6 points per game and a 15.5 percent third-down success rate.

So, who would have thought at this point in the season that the really exciting action would be on the offensive side of the ball?

I’m not sure what Michigan’s 10-man train-formation really accomplishes, but there it was again on Saturday against Maryland. Maybe it doesn’t accomplish anything, except letting opponents know that this Michigan offense is going to be fun and unpredictable, two adjectives not historically associated with the Wolverines.

But it’s not just the train formation. This year Michigan football has also attempted a faked extra point and a couple of gadget plays.

On Saturday, for example, quarterback Wilton Speight handed off to Jabrill Peppers, who promptly threw the ball back to Speight, who launched a long pass downfield to Jehu Chesson.

It’s a flea flicker. High school teams run the play. But on Saturday that one play, which gained 41 yards, had the effect of charging up the whole team and everyone who was watching.

Sometimes I think the wildcat formation, with Peppers at quarterback, is designed simply to showcase Peppers for the Heisman Trophy voters, but it clearly does more than that. It lets opponents know that this offensive is unpredictable, that lots of players contribute, and that anything could happen once the ball is snapped.

Who gets credit for all of this? Well, beyond head coach Jim Harbaugh and offensive coordinator Tim Drevno, a lot of the credit goes to Speight who, just like Jake Rudock last year, has developed into a fine quarterback. After the game on Saturday, Harbaugh was even talking him up as a Heisman contender.

The thing is, he has the stats to be considered – 228 passing yards per game, 64.5 percent completion rate, 15 TDs, and just three interceptions.

Some games he doesn’t even get on the field in the fourth quarter. Last week Speight had 292 passing yards in the first half, the most by any Michigan football quarterback in the first half of any game. The red-shirt sophomore has turned out to be everything we hoped he would be – and more.

Next: Top 10 Michigan Running Backs of All Time

I can’t wait until next week (hello, Iowa City!), but what I can’t wait to see is what happens on offense.

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