Michigan Football: Josh Gattis explanation for Army doesn’t make sense

Michigan football offensive coordinator Josh Gattis explained why Michigan football ran so much during the final drives vs Army but it doesn’t make sense.

Following Michigan football‘s 24-21 win over Army in overtime Saturday, Josh Gattis and the rest of the coaching staff met with the media Monday.

Gattis was the co-offensive coordinator for Alabama last season, but this is the first time he’s called the plays on his own and through two games, things haven’t gone as well as we’d hoped.

One of the most curious calls was a run on a fourth down late in the game. Instead of kicking a short field goal to go up 17-14, Michigan football tried to convert a fourth-and-two. Running back Zach Charbonnet was stopped short on what seemed like the 20th consecutive run for UM.

In his press conference, Gattis explained why the offense went basically all run down the stretch and he said it was to try and even up the time of possession, as well as to close out the game on the final drive. Here’s an excerpt from Wolverines Wire: 

"We go on an 11-play drive right there where we eat up four minutes off the clock. Army only has one timeout left. So we knew they’re not a two-minute team, because they’ve gotta run their plays in from the sideline. So I wanted to use as much clock as possible. If we could have converted on fourth down, we could have ended the game on our terms. Had it gone any other way, we would have gave the ball back to them with a ton of time left an an opportunity to get even closer for a field goal.”"

There are some valid things to what Gattis said but he mentioned that Michigan football wanted to try and even up time of possession, which is one reason why they went with so many runs.

But right there is where he lost me. Did the rules for football change recently? Does time of possession now matter more than points scored?

I get not wanting the defense to be on the field all game. That makes perfect sense. Even being more conservative to take care of the ball can be justified but why then be aggressive and go for it on fourth down?

If the objective was to even the time of possession and not give them time, then kicking the field goal was the right thing to do. It would have forced Army to drive 50-60 yards in a short time just to tie.

Regardless, the whole time of possession argument is really asinine. I have no issue with Jim Harbaugh, Gattis and the offense going for it on fourth down. It didn’t work but I get it.

However, worrying about the time of possession is the kind of thing this team needs to quit doing. Isn’t the object to score points? I doubt Dabo Swinney was worried about the time of possession when his Tigers were kicking the crap out of Alabama last year in the national title game, so I don’t see why the Wolverines were worried about it.

Yes, the offense ran 80 plays but it could have run more and by doing so, it could have put more pressure on a defense that was honestly given a break because of poor playcalling.

I don’t mean the plays specifically called, I mean more the mindset.

Last November, Michigan football went into Columbus and acted like a team that hoped to win 17-14 because it didn’t have the firepower to win a shootout. Like if it didn’t win being tough it had no other way.

That’s the same thinking we saw Saturday and you wonder if it will ever change? Gattis talked all offseason about speed-in-space and getting his athletes involved, yet Tarik Black and Nico Collins barely touched the football. How is that part of the plan?

Where is Mike Sainristil and why hasn’t Giles Jackson gotten more touches? The lack of imagination is almost as disappointing as the lack of execution. It all makes no sense.

Obviously, Army made a concerted effort to take away guys like Black and Collins but it shouldn’t be that easy and that should mean plenty of chances for other parts of the offense to succeed.

Once again, Michigan football appears stuck in the stone age, with an offense incapable of carrying the load. Hopefully, it was part of the transition process but until things change, when it comes to beating elite teams, it’s going to stay the same.

Wisconsin might be doable with this offense. Ohio State? Give me a break.