The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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think you get the toughness and the tough mentality of your team running zone schemes all the time. Number one, I don't think it helps your defense. "It doesn't help your defensive front. Now, I am a defensive coach mentally, but I want the offense to be physical. It's the old linebacker in me, taking on an iso, and the power play, and being vertical down the field. "When we were at Ball State and when Stan [Parrish] came, we were probably more of a stretch and zone team, and play-action team. But we also had the ability to run the ball downhill." Those who interpret those words as some version of "three yards and a cloud of dust" haven't been paying attention. The head coach is a fourth-down gambler, although he insists with the right offense and defense, it's not that much of a gamble. Hoke's teams throw the football. He's excited about Gardner's ability to run playaction, but there needs to be some reason to fear the fake at the start of those plays. The Wolverines intend to supply reasons for respect. "When you look at your mindset and your vision on how you want to be offensively, there is some awfully good play-action that comes off of hard runs," Hoke said. "There are some awfully good opportunities. "You talk about going for it on fourth down. To me, that's really a sign that you've got a lot of confidence in your offense, but you also have confidence that defensively you're going to go out there and play." From the offensive linemen, to the coaches, to everyone involved with Michigan football, the 2012 Ohio State game will serve as motivation to take the ground game up a notch. "I tell the guys, 'You're on scholarship. If we've got to go out and get one yard, we've got to get one yard,'" Hoke said. "That was the most disappointing thing a year ago. We had a lot of opportunities, especially in the Ohio game, to get one yard, and we don't block the line of scrimmage, or we don't have the vision in the backfield to go where we're supposed to go. "You keep the chains moving in those situations, it's a different ball game." Winging It Borges knows how the threat of the run can boost Gardner's effectiveness. The offensive coordinator also knows some plays set up others. "To make the play-action passes as good as they can be, you have to be able to run the football, but sometimes you run the ball and you don't gain many yards, but the playaction gains 35 yards," Borges noted. "If you run two plays and the first gains one yard and the second goes for 35, would you say that's worth running? The yield on that is 18 yards. So you don't always have to run the ball down peoples' throats, but you have to pose the threat of a run. Of course, you can't be running the ball for one yard every play. "We're all about balance. That's what we're trying to do as best as we can, knowing that there will be days you throw it more and days you'll run it better. But always being able to present both threats to the defense Offensive coordinator Al Borges said of U-M's appraoch, "We're all about balance. That's what we're trying to do as best as we can, knowing that there will be days you throw it more and days you'll run it better." photo by per kjeldsen because that's the toughest thing to defend — 'If you crowd the line of scrimmage we'll throw it over you, and if you play loose we'll run it.'" Michigan will enjoy a greater opportunity to throw it more often, and more effectively, this season. The Wolverines averaged 73.3 yards per game more through the air after Gardner took charge at quarterback last season. He threw for 1,219 — nearly half — of Michigan's 2,591 passing yards, and five of its 19 interceptions. On a team looking to protect the football and take it down the field effectively, Gardner knows what needs to happen. "We need him to manage the game and understand the blessing and the curse of him being able to make plays," Hoke stressed. "We lost five football games. We had 18 turnovers in those five football games. "We were a plus-seven the year before in turnover margin, and we were minus-nine a year ago. We didn't take care of the football. "There are a couple of throws that he and I have talked about that he made, trying to make a play. That's a blessing and a curse, it really is. We've got to do a better job of taking care of the football, from ball security, whoever is carrying it, to where we're throwing the ball." Hoke experienced part of a national championship once, when a quarterback named Brian Griese managed the game. He threw just six interceptions all year, three of them in one ugly half of football against Iowa. Hoke doesn't reference '97 much. In his mind, it's in the past. But some of his words harken back to those days, when a ballsecure offense combined spectacularly with a robust defense. "Sometimes punting isn't a bad deal," Hoke said. "And if we're where we need to be defensively, it might be a good deal for us. It might be a weapon for us." At the same time, Gardner can throw it, and the Wolverines all know it. The first play of the spring game featured a sideline bomb to sophomore wideout Amara Darboh. Asked it if represented a message, receivers coach Jeff Hecklinski just laughed. "What, the out and up?" he said. "No, I don't think there are any messages there. We've always been a deep-throwing team. You look at Al's history and our history together. We've always pumped the ball. "We're going to pump the ball deep in multiple ways. Our theory is, if you throw 10 and you hit four, there's 28 points, or it puts you in position for 28 points. In this game, if you're scoring 28 or more points a game, you're in a good position to win, especially with our defense. The Wolverine 2013 Football Preview ■ 39