The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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OCTOBER 2019 THE WOLVERINE 23 opening half alone during the 24- 21 double-overtime cliffhanger win against Army. Gattis likes plenty of what he sees regarding the potential for Michi- gan's offense — good talent, strong contributions from his young run- ning backs and a plan in which he firmly believes, for starters. Now it's about working out the bugs, and quickly. They're easily identifiable. Michi- gan's two non-conference wins fea- tured eight fumbles, 10 offensive penalties and what Gattis regarded as seven catchable passes dropped. "You go back and you look at all those plays in critical situations — they're kill- i n g u s , " Gattis said. "Now, there are a lot of p o s i t i v e s . Over the last two games, we've run 160 plays. We've had 17 explosives. We've had a number of other explosive opportunities we've just missed, whether it's overthrown balls, dropped balls, guys wide open to create big opportunities that we've missed — about six of those. "We've got to get our timing down, in every phase, every aspect of our offense. We've just got to quit [mak- ing] the mistakes that hurt us. On drives where we've been stopped, we've stopped ourselves more than anything." A MIXED BAG There's no better illustrator of Mich- igan's offensive ups and downs in the early going than a closer examination at quarterback. Senior Shea Patterson sported solid numbers through the first two games — 410 yards and three touchdowns through the air, with a completion rate of 62.1 percent. They look even better when fac- toring in the aforementioned drops. But the "other than that, how was the play, Mrs. Lincoln?" element gets right back to the fumbles. Patterson coughed up the ball on a scramble during the Michigan's very first play from scrimmage in 2019. He also injured an oblique muscle on that run, which certainly didn't help him against Middle Tennessee State and lingered into the Army fight for survival. In that game, Patterson fumbled twice, both times under pressure af- ter a missed blitz pickup by running backs. Harbaugh boasted of a perfect game in that regard by the young U-M backs in the opener, but they took a step back in game two. Harbaugh, the former quarter- back, put some of the onus for ball protection on his signal-caller when the pressure comes, during his radio show two days after the game. "When Shea starts to get tackled, his first response is to get rid of the ball and avoid the sack," Harbaugh said. "We have to reinforce the men- tal keys of securing the ball when you get touched or tackled. "Throwing the ball out of bounds and getting rid of it happens next. The backs missed a protection on the second fumble, and on the third, we keep reinforcing two hands on the ball in traffic." Gattis stressed the backs stepping it up when it comes to picking up blitzers, while acknowledging Pat- terson's responsibility. "We had two fumbles on sacks," he said. "Both were easy protection pickups that we missed at the run- ning back position. The first, we'd love Shea to continue to hold onto the ball with two hands on it. "The second one was a strip sack. Blind side, he didn't see it coming. Our third fumble was with our run- ning back, just running with it. [Red- shirt freshman tailback] Ben [VanSu- meren] has shown great ball security throughout camp. We've just got to clean up the protection deals, when we miss-ID'd people and didn't pick them up at the running back posi- tion." The fact that the trifecta of trouble occurred in the opening 30 minutes against Army wasn't lost on Gattis. "Those three were big, because they all happened in the first half," he said. "They really deflate your momentum going into the half, and they put your defense in tough posi- tions. "We've got to secure every ball, and not put the ball on the ground." Michigan certainly possesses the weapons to go over the top on de- fenses, even without injured junior wideout Donovan Peoples-Jones. Redshirt sophomore receiver Tarik Black and junior wideout Nico Col- lins both secured long TD tosses in Michigan's opener, and so did senior tight end Sean McKeon. Sophomore Ronnie Bell asserted himself against the Black Knights, leading the team with seven catches for 81 yards. U-M didn't complete a pass into the end zone against Army, despite some strong opportunities. Collins broke open in the second overtime against the Black Knights, but Pat- terson over- t h r e w h i m a n d M i c h i - g a n s e t t l e d f o r a f i e l d g o a l . B l a c k also dropped a pass that could have gone for a touchdown. Those are chances the Wolverines have to cash in on, Gattis stressed. "We've had some big opportunities that we've made," he said. "We've also had some big opportunities that we've missed. We had some guys wide open, uncovered. One positive is that we drew four defensive pass interferences [against Army]. "Pushing the ball, vertically, down the field, being aggressive with it in that way, our guys have made plays. I wish we had some of the plays back that we've missed, because they've been total big plays. "When we have guys wide open, we've got to cash in on those. Our kids understand it, and we've got to make those plays moving forward." THE BACKS ARE BACK Freshman tailback Zach Charbon- net factors in as one of the brightest lights in Michigan's offensive arse- nal, only two games into his career. Harbaugh hailed his ability to pass block after the opener, saying he makes it look easy. The rookie didn't falter in that regard against Army, either, while carrying a whopping 33 times for an even 100 yards and three touch- downs. The early returns have Char- bonnet looking like Michigan's best rookie back since Mike Hart in 2004 (1,455 yards, nine touchdowns). Offensive coordinator Josh Gattis "We've got to get our timing down, in every phase, every aspect of our offense. We've just got to quit [making] the mistakes that hurt us. On drives where we've been stopped, we've stopped ourselves more than anything."