GBMWolverine: Michigan Football — A Look at Urban Meyer — Ohio State’s New Man in Charge
Posted at 6:00am — 12/3/2011
GBMWolverine: Michigan Football — A Look at Urban Meyer — Ohio State’s New Man in Charge
Overview of the Urban Meyer we know.
Coach Meyer is without a doubt one of the most successful coaches in college football today. He has used a very simple philosophy at every stop, get the best people possible, coaches and players, and outwork everyone else. Coach Meyer is, as are most successful coaches, possessed with the motivation to achieve success. He is as focused as any coach we have been around and is extremely intense. But in our opinion the overriding keys to his success are organizational skills and attention to detail.
Coach Meyer is a firm believer in playing a very physical defense. However, it is still the offensive style and success for which he is best known. The remainder of our article will deal with Coach Meyer and his offense.
There is one huge myth about Coach Meyer and his offense, that it is not a passing offense but one that is about running the football, Coach Meyer and his OC’s have stated over and over they would rather run the football than pass it. The basic philosophy centers on creating mismatches and confusion.
Like all offenses, Coach Meyer’s spread option attack counts on being fundamentally sound and precise in execution. The basic tenet is using the entire width of the field to gain the offense an advantage, namely, to force the defense to defend the entire field from sideline to sideline.
Coach Meyer also believes that a defense can stop the run or the pass, but cannot stop both. And he tries to force defenses to stop one (either the pass or run) and then attack using the other mode. The intention is to create room or space for the offense’s superior athletes. It is primarily a single back offense with QB in the gun.
Coach Meyer will use an empty/50 formation from time to time and will have a quarterback go under OC in certain situations. The offense has three basic components, a basic option offense, a short/timing passing game, and a triple option scheme. The triple option/QB read option is basically a split back veer out of the shotgun. The steps and reads are basically the same, although the blocking is 100% different. Coach Meyer has evolved the offense in recent years, adding a counter and trap. This gets the O-linemen moving and changes the defense’s reads.
Another thing Coach Meyer talks about is using the short passing game to limit blitzes, getting rid of the ball before the blitzers can get to the quarterback.
To stop the Meyer spread offense, Defensive Coordinators we have talked with use 5 general rules.
1. Keep everything in front
2. Keep the offense between the hashes
3. Build a wall around the ball, be sound with position and stay home/play with discipline
4. TACKLE in space
5. Pressure the quarterback
Meyer’s first task is to build the nation’s best staff. What we are hearing is Coach Fickell as DC/Assistant HC and Coach Greg Studrawa as OC. One well known hired gun will hire others of the same ilk. Gene Smith already has said that money won’t be an issue and is anybody surprised by that statement besides the point that Urban Meyer is reported to be receiving a 7 year contract for 40 million dollars so you can bet the staff’s budget will make them one of the most expensive in college football.
Ohio State will present Meyer in a very positive light. The temptation to comment will show refrain. Meyer is at Ohio State for one reason, to win more games than other college programs.
Michigan fans just remember the last time Michigan played Urban Meyers team with his best quarterback of all-time? Michigan was singing “The Victors” after the game and carrying our Coach Carr off the field!
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Written by GBMWolverine Staff
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