There seems to be some corners of the internet that think the Irish need to be a power-I running team simply due to the fact that coaches said they were going to "pound the ball" in the preseason and it makes some fans feel more manly to run the ball down the opposition's throat.  With the success of the passing game late Saturday, some Irish fans have begun stating that Weis should just air it out against Michigan, causing others to bemoan this approach, stating there needs to be balance or failure will occur for the third straight season against our foes from Ann Arbor.

Rob and I both fully believe that it is not in this team's make-up to just line up and run off tackle, then play action off of it.  In fact, I don't think any Weis-led offense has ever been particularly good at that, whether that team was in the pros or college.  When you consider the fact that the strength of this Michigan team is their defensive line, while the Irish appear to have a decent chance of having a good passing game, it seems absolutely absurd to want to play power football.  Pass to establish the run, then you can slip in some screens, draws, swing passes and other short routes to keep your opponent honest.

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You don't have to stay with a 50-50 balance on offense, but you do just have to do enough to A) Keep your opponent guessing and B) Take advantage of their weaknesses as much as possible.  My favorite example of this comes from week two of the 2002 NFL season, when the Pittsburgh Steelers took on Rich Gannon and the Oakland Raiders.  The Raiders were a fantastic passing team, as Gannon would win the MVP and lead the team to the Super Bowl tossing it to Hall of Famers Jerry Rice and Tim Brown.  The Steelers, however, were absolutely laughable in their pass defense (I assure you, it was hilarious, with only the 2004-2006 Irish coming close to matching them in secondary hijinx).  So the Raiders had Gannon throw a staggering 64 times, and when they did mix in the run, Charlie Garner looked like Barry freaking Sanders.  I'm not suggesting a ratio that wild, but seriously, let's not line up with two tight ends and ineffective fullback to run at an opponent's strength just because it makes you feel like more of a man.

The last three seasons against Michigan, the Irish have scored four relevant touchdowns (I'm not counting the last one in 2006, which sliced the deficit from 342 to negative 7 to 342 to 0; and seriously, four touchdowns in three games?).  In those drives, the Irish were in a no-huddle, quasi-hurry up, with no drive lasting longer than four minutes and twenty-five seconds (one was a two play drive after a turnover, so kindly disregard it).  There was a steady helping of Darius Walker in those drives, but he was doing what he does best - finding cracks on draws after Brady Quinn, either threw throwing it or simply reputation, had established the pass and had the defensive line getting up-field too recklessly.  While Robert Hughes is more of a downhill runner than D-Walk, both he and Armando Allen are more than capable of finding holes without a lead blocker in front of them. 

If Charlie had just retired after the Pitt game, he'd be a legend right now.

When you consider that Michigan has been staying in a 4-3 against multiple receivers, it seems even more important to run a no-huddle, pass heavy offense.  Some clips from Michigan's 16-6 victory over Miami (OH) Saturday.  First, from MGo:

Michigan's problems with underneath coverage continued; the little dreads guy on Miami must have caught 4 or 5 little hitch routes that he managed to turn upfield because a late-arriving linebacker-usually Thompson-did not tackle immediately.

And then from Dave at Maize n' Brew:

Even on defense things were spotty. This may be a strange thing to say when the defense limits a team to 252 yards and less than 50 rushing yards, but there were holes evident in the linebacking corps and safety positions. On more than one occasion the linebackers were sucked up into the line of scrimmage for no reason, leaving the corners of the line exposed for first down runs. At the safety position, while I thought Brandon Harrison was one of Michigan's best players on Saturday, Stevie Brown had his second straight shaky game. Brown repeatedly found himself trailing receivers that were his responsibility only to be bailed out only by an overthrow or the receiver bobbling a sure catch.

Why are we still playing zone against experienced teams and shouldn't there be a few more blitzes? Your guess is as good as mine. For some reason Shafer likes his DBs 10 yards off the receivers. Maybe he thinks it takes the pressure off his linebackers to react to things they're not ready to manage. I don't know. When Michigan brought its linebackers to the line, it left the corners of the line wide open, so perhaps he wanted to limit the ground game, but that is just a guess. Michigan got pressure simply overloaded the Miami line. But when the D Line went mono-y-mono with Miami's very large line, Miami's QB had enough time to make a sandwich, as well as air out a couple of bombs against Stevie Brown or Morgan Trent. When faced with more talented receivers, the pressure and the coverage could be problems.

Utah and Miami rushed for 83 combined yards, neither eclipsing more than a yard and a half per carry.  The Irish can go no huddle, take advantage of the front seven sucking up towards Clausen and then test Donovan Warren and Morgan Trent if they can get some one-on-one coverage.  Warren is going to be (is?) a top-flight corner in the nation, but all the Irish need is one or two big plays down the field to put Rich Rodriguez's offense (which was nearly outgained by the RedHawks on Saturday, despite the victory) in a hole they'd have some difficulty crawling out of.

You may want balance in the offense, which is a noble, acceptable goal.  I'd prefer to just score some damn points and repay Michigan for the Yakety Sax of the last two years.  If we go into a quick-hitting passing game and Clausen starts throwing interceptions or getting planted into the ground repeatedly, adjust, but don't think the Irish have to be a power running team just because of a few preseason quotes. 

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