Michigan fired offensive coordinator Jason Beck after last week's Michigan State game, and it was about time. Michigan lost 15-6 against a miserable Spartans football team and didn't even squeeze out those six points until a touchdown with about two minutes left in the game. Here are Michigan's current offensive rankings:
Passing efficiency: #107 (123.44 QB rating)
Rushing offense: #109 (128.7 yards/game)
Yards per carry: #119 (3.57 yards/carry)
Passing offense: #125 (173.9 yards/game)
Scoring offense: #126 (19.6 points/game)
Total offense: #132 (302.6 yards/game)
Michigan doesn't do anything well. Not one player is having a standout offensive season other than perhaps wide receiver J.J. Buchanan (40 catches, 644 yards, 5 touchdowns), and even he is #17 in the conference in receptions. The three leading rushers (Jordan Marshall, Savion Hiter, and Bryce Underwood) are all averaging around 3.6 yards per carry, and the only guy with decent numbers is former walk-on Bryson Kuzdzal (30 carries, 166 yards, 1 touchdown), who fumbled away the ball on one of just a couple decent runs last Saturday. Kuzdzal is a decent player who's performing above expectations, but when he's arguably the only bright spot in a rivalry game against a beat-up, awful Michigan State team, you have major problems.
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The big problem with Beck - aside from a confused and poorly coached offensive line, an inability to coach up a quarterback wearing a Michigan uniform, and a lack of understanding of how to create open receivers - was his insistence on using the "Rhino" position, which is basically an extra lineman wearing an eligible jersey number. It has mostly been German converted defensive tackle Manuel Beigel, along with a little bit of second-year offensive guard Avery Gach. Neither one has caught a pass, and the only time they were even on the way to being targeted was when Tommy Carr took a sack on a poor play call at the end of the Indiana game. The Rhino has been employed on nearly 50% of snaps in some games, including 37% of the time against Michigan State. Despite numerous games of it being proven not to work, Beck went to his gimmick one more time and got smoked against an inferior rival.
People on the radio and the internet have said "Well, that's all Beck knows how to run" while ignoring that Beck didn't use the Rhino very much during stops at Syracuse and Virginia. It was supposedly named for fullback Chris Elmore at Syracuse (Beck's place of employment in 2022-2023), but Elmore was a 6'0", 286 lb. fullback on Bruce Feldman's "Freaks List" who literally played in just one game before suffering a career-ending injury; Elmore was also a long-time contributor for the Orange(men) at fullback, even before Beck arrived.
Ryan Swoboda was a 6'10", 325 lb. offensive tackle who started literally one game - against MAC team the Ohio Bobcats - at tight end in 2018 for Virginia.
Jamari Peacock was a 5'11", 245 lb. fullback who played for Yulee High School - whose claim to fame is it's the alma mater of Derrick Henry - and ran for 1,800+ yards and 33 touchdowns as a senior in high school. Peacock played some fullback for Virginia in 2019.
The concept that Jason Beck was tied to the Rhino position and that it was in his DNA is a myth, and even the name of it stemmed from a guy who only played one game for Jason Beck's offense. Beck played at BYU in the mid-2000s and coached there from 2013-2015. He presumably has tons of connections he could call upon for help - including NFL quarterback Taysom Hill, football content creator and former quarterback Kurt Benkert, and former coach Bronco Mendenhall, whom he coached with at BYU and Virginia - and he chose to just stick with the Rhino until his demise after nine games as Michigan's offensive coordinator.
Now I'm not saying an extra offensive lineman can't be helpful. Jim Harbaugh and Sherrone Moore used a sixth offensive lineman with aplomb, but they used those guys about 5% of the time, max. In certain situations and/or against certain teams, putting an extra 300-pounder on the field and making a team adjust can be effective. Outmuscling smaller teams can work. Forcing teams to sub in different defensive packages can help. Tricking teams into over-adjusting so you can take advantage of the adjustment is smart.
It's not often that I get totally fed up with a coach, but Beck's inability to put together a cogent offense out of Michigan's offensive personnel was mind boggling. I thought he would figure it out after a time, and I was willing to give him some grace. Three or four games to figure out the Big Ten and his new personnel.
There's no good reason for Andrew Marsh to be averaging less than 10 yards per catch.
There's no good reason for Jordan Marshall to be averaging 3.6 yards/carry.
There's no good reason for the offensive line to have regressed. (And that might be the fault of the newly named offensive coordinator, Jim Harding, who hasn't fared much better.)
Goodbye, Jason Beck. You seem like a nice dude. Good luck at your next gig as a QB coach for a Big 12 school.
“5%”
ReplyDelete“certain situations”
“certain opponents” (or tendencies)
I’d also consider field position, score, time on clock, and the ability of the extra OL, all of which drag that percentage down from 5o% to 5%, including under RunFirstRunOften Jim Harbaugh, and Sheronne without a viable QB and no pLaYmAkErS at wide receiver
This was obvious in summer. Well, to anyone who can easily identify a gimmick when they see one. That’s not always so simple, for those who do not know the game
There are so many questions that come to mind when thinking about all this:
ReplyDeleteQ1 - Why did Beck persist with the Rhino in the face of so little success with it?
Q2 - Why Biegel? His ability to block and move people is uneven.
Q3 - Why so little use of Tight Ends?
Q4 - Why the odd play selections at key points in games?
Q5 - To what degree did Beck's play designs degrade the offensive line?
I refuse to think Beck is so utterly incompetent that basic elements of offensive design were lost on him. I tend to think it's more a case of stubbornness born from fear. I don't think Beck anticipated what play in the Big Ten would be like, and I don't think he has the natural ability to adapt in the face of adversity. So he doubled-down, insisted on his view of things, and created what we saw in the games leading to his firing.
I don’t know the exact answer for this, but - not unlike RichRod - Beck had tremendous success for two straight years …
DeleteHe had every reason to believe in himself, and had a Head Coach who blindly delegated the offense to him. He tried what he thought would work, and went all in. Reversing course isn’t easy, especially since history shows that sometimes new concepts take a few games to click
Obviously I wanted him gone early, but I’m trying to make sense of his logic …
Turns out, John Henry Daley was more than ready for the B1G. But some coaches were not
In 2007, Rodriguez had lightning in a bottle with Pat White and Steve Slaton, a one-two punch offensively. He spent his time at Michigan trying to recreate that. He was close on half of it in Denard Robinson, but he never had his Steve Slaton.
DeleteDucks game, 1st Half:
ReplyDeleteEveryone on Offense got worse this year. On Defense, only Mason Curtis. He’s been awful
4 wide, but one is Hoffman … not saying Ffrench or even Goodwin are “best 11,” but - lined out Wide - anyone in that room should be ahead of Hoffman. TE room too, meaning actual TEs
3rd & 9 on that first drive, all routes short of the sticks. Oof
Beigel was the LG who paved the hole for Savion’s big tuddie
Bryce has elite arm strength but his decision-making is as bad as we’ve seen around here. Accuracy looks even worse than before
Beigel is a big man and can move people. If he ever gets the details of being an offensive lineman into his bones, he might be pretty good.
DeleteMichigan won't win another game this season. Hello 5-7.
ReplyDeleteWhat's the betting line on how many players enter the portal? 50? 60? More?
ReplyDeletemakes me sick to think about it
Delete
ReplyDeletefirst time Carr was sacked in the second half, Gasch was outside (Rhino), tasked with blocking a future NFL pass rusher. That’s the coaches creating shitty matchups for our Offense. The exact opposite of “best 11”
Zach Marshall sighting late in the 3Q … aaaand he moves early (no flag)
Marky Walbridge had a damn good game, until the last drive
Hiter played well. Kuz had moments, despite yet another fumble. I don’t know if Jordan Marshall is hurt, but for some reason the coaches insist on giving him more carries
Carr throws like a child just now learning how to
Still, Bryce had weeks on the bench to reflect and get ready to make an impression. He failed miserably
on Carr’s fumble, he had Hogan Hansen wiiide open. Our TEs wouldn’t seem so bad if our QBs saw them half the time
I might be fine with some of these explosives our defense gives up, if they could only create turnovers