Why Michigan Football’s Run Game Hasn’t Looked Elite in 2023
By Cullen Corr
For a team that averaged over 238 yards per game rushing the ball last season, the expectations for the Michigan football ground attack were enormous coming into 2023.
Michigan football has two of the best running backs in the country, four returning starters along the offensive line, and three elite transfer offensive linemen.
With all this hype, so far this season the Michigan run game has seemed like a bit of a dud.
Michigan has only managed to run for just over 300 total yards through their first two games. Keep in mind this is against inferior competition. A year ago they had their way running the ball against some of the best defenses in the country.
This has left many Michigan fans confused and a little worried to start the year. However, it’s not quite time to hit the panic button just yet, and here’s why.
1. Opponent Strategy
Both ECU and UNLV came into their matchups against the Wolverines with one goal: stop the run. Each team stacked the box, outnumbering Michigan football at the line of scrimmage and taking away the Wolverines’ inside run game.
After really evolving the run game schematically from 2021 to 2022, so far Michigan has decided to use a lot of the same concepts they leaned on last season.
Both the Pirates and the Rebels wanted to keep Michigan from running between the tackles by using run blitzes that countered Michigan’s favorite run concepts from a year ago.
This opened up the secondary and helped J.J. McCarthy throw the ball downfield. Teams are going to have to start respecting the Wolverines passing attack and that’s going to open up the run game.
Additionally, with teams trying to shut down Michigan’s inside run game, the Wolverines are going to start running the ball to the outside with stretch plays and reverses.
This isn’t something that Michigan specializes in and we’ve seen that manifest itself in the first few games. The good news is that U-M has the talent to be successful — both along the line and with the ball carriers. They just need more reps to start executing these runs better.