Can the same offense work again for Michigan Football?

Can Michigan football use a similar formula on offense to find success this season? 

Great offenses tailor their scheme to the personnel that they have, not the other way around.

This goes for defense too, but it needs to especially be true for the offense, because the quarterback is on offense, and that’s the most important position in football.

Over the years, we have seen some great offenses that are able to run the football down the opponent’s throat when called upon, but the offense is also multiple and is able to stretch the field and light up the opposing team’s secondary.

Some great examples of this include the 2015 Crimson Tide (with Derrick Henry, Damien Harris, Calvin Ridley, and OJ Howard on offense), the 2019 LSU Tigers (with Joe Burrow, JaMarr Chase, Justin Jefferson, Clyde Edwards-Helaire on offense), and the 2020 Crimson Tide (with Mac Jones, Najee Harris, DeVonta Smith, Jaylen Waddle, and John Metchie on offense).

I could’ve mentioned many more dynamic offenses for various college teams with tons of NFL talent throughout the years, but you get the point.

Last season, Michigan football made the college football playoff by mainly riding on the backs of their great defense, while the offense was good enough to get them to the Orange Bowl.

Michigan football was mainly a run-first team last year, with quick passing over the middle to get receivers into space for YAC (yards after catch), as part of Josh Gattis’s scheme. It wasn’t perfect, and there were a bunch of times where it looked downright awful, but it still got Michigan to the playoff right?

This is a new season though, with new personnel and new coordinators, and what worked last year might not work again this season.

Can Michigan still succeed this year with last year’s offensive scheme?

It’d be an understatement to say that Michigan football fans are excited to see what the Wolverines’ offense will look like this season.

Ronnie Bell is finally back from injury, and looks even better than before his injury, Michigan returned offensive lineman Ryan Hayes, Trevor Keegan, and added second team All-American Remington Award finalist Olusegun Oluwatimi from the portal. Andrel Anthony, AJ Henning, Cornelius Johnson, and Roman Wilson return as well.

Anthony is ready to make a second-year leap and Darrius Clemons is a freshman that might have the most potential of any of the receivers. Blake Corum is back, and Donovan Edwards wants to have a monster second year. Luke Schoonmaker and future All-American Erick All return at TE. Oh yeah, and Cade McNamara and J.J. McCarthy are back to give Michigan football a two-headed monster at QB (never thought I’d say “two-headed monster” for the quarterback room).

There’s no question that this is Michigan’s most talented roster on the offensive side of the ball since Jim Harbaugh’s been in Ann Arbor. My hope though is that Harbaugh, Matt Weiss, and Sherrone Moore open up Michigan’s offense and tailor the offense to its strengths.

Although Michigan will never have an offense where the ball is thrown 50+ times a game, at least some scheme change is crucial to the team’s success this fall, no matter how big or small.

Michigan needs to be effective running the football, yes, but the issues over the years haven’t been running the football, but passing it. Michigan needs a dynamic passing attack this year. There’s no excuse for this year’s Michigan Wolverines to not have supremely effective passing attack.

Michigan football might never have an offense quite as good as this, at least talent-wise, for the rest of Harbaugh’s tenure and the Wolverines need to make the most of it.

This leads me back to my main point, which is no, I don’t think Michigan football can quite succeed to the level of last year, with the same scheme as last year for this year.

With last year’s scheme, I think Michigan can win 10+ games. Any season that Michigan wins 10 or more games makes the season successful, but failing to go further than that is disappointing.

Gone are the days when Michigan accepts a 10-3 record. The playoff appearance last year showed us that anything is possible, and the goal is to always make the playoff.

To get to 12 wins, Michigan needs a better passing attack this year. Not so much for the weaker teams on the schedule, but for the better teams. Those are the games that always make or break Michigan’s schedule. Penn State, Sparty, Iowa, and Ohio State. Four games where Michigan needs to have a potent offensive attack.

Michigan’s passing attack was very underrated last year, as they led college football in catches of 50+ yards, but overall, the passing attack was conservative, and that reared its ugly head against Georgia in the Orange Bowl.

You can’t rush the football effectively against every single team on the schedule. It’s just not going to happen. Michigan learned that the hard way. They didn’t have a potent-enough offense to really keep pace once Georgia stuffed the running game.

There’s a reason why teams like Iowa and Wisconsin fail to make the college football playoff every year, despite having really solid programs. 10 wins every year is something any team would be happy with, but it still leaves more to be desired.

Those teams never have elite passing attacks, and when facing the most dynamic passing attacks, fail time and time again to keep pace.

The lack of a dynamic passing game is probably the main thing holding those two teams back (aside from geography and how it affects recruiting, old school schemes, and recruiting in general).

Ohio State just got a new defensive coordinator from Oklahoma State (Jim Knowles) during the offseason. He is very good at his job.

Ohio State couldn’t stop Michigan’s rushing attack last year to save their lives. Do you think Ohio State is going to be bad two years in a row? I highly doubt that, especially for the rivalry game. They get up for those (usually).

So, Michigan needs to still rush the football but also needs to be more dynamic vertically to repeat as Big Ten champs. We can’t forget the defense will probably not be quite as good either.

Only the best passing teams win the whole thing. It’s an offensive game. The more points you score, the more likely it is that you will win. Time for Michigan to come into modern times.

Maybe I’m overreacting to this, and Michigan finds a way to repeat using the same scheme, but every season is different, opponents watch more and more film on each other, and the numbers show that the better the offensive attack, the better the team.

Michigan fans, do you think the Wolverines can still make the playoff with Josh Gattis’s old offensive scheme this year? Would you change anything in the scheme to better suit the personnel this year? Sound off in the comments below!