By The Numbers: Analyzing U-M’s Tempo & Its Increase In Offensive Plays

The offensive pace of play for the Michigan Wolverines’ football team has often been slow and methodical during head coach Jim Harbaugh’s tenure in Ann Arbor, with one of the main focuses having been on controlling the clock.

Harbaugh’s vision of his clubs playing stifling defense and dominating the time of possession was best achieved last season, when the Wolverines finished No. 2 nationally in the former category (275.2 yards allowed per game) and No. 5 in the latter (held the ball for an average of 34:18 per contest).

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The U-M head man stepped away from that offensive philosophy this offseason, however, when he hired coordinator Josh Gattis away from Alabama, with the 35-year-old bringing a no-huddle, up-tempo, spread system with him.

Fans got their first glimpse of the revamped Maize and Blue attack in last Saturday night’s 40-21 win over Middle Tennessee State, with the Wolverines running 78 offensive plays.

The 78 plays U-M executed were an increase from last season, when the club ranked 74th nationally with an average of 70.8 snaps per outing.

Although the sample size for 2019 is obviously incredibly small (as of Thursday afternoon, all 130 Football Bowl Subdivision teams had played exactly one game), Michigan’s 78 plays were tied for the 25th most in college football’s opening week, according to teamrankings.com.

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Whether or not U-M maintains the 78-play pace it showed on Saturday night obviously remains to be seen, but it is worth noting that the most average snaps a U-M club has racked up during a full season since 2009 were the 74.5 the 2010 squad averaged.

The most for a Harbaugh-coached unit at U-M, meanwhile, was the 2016 team that tallied 74.3 per outing, which is still 3.7 fewer than the 78 it registered against the Blue Raiders.

The Wolverines undoubtedly could have run more plays in the second half last week, but slowed up the tempo a bit upon building a 27-14 lead at the break.

The slowdown wasn't necessarily evident in the play discrepancy (42 in the first half and 36 in the second), but instead in the time of possession.

U-M held the ball for 15:30 prior to halftime and 17:86 in the second half, despite running six fewer plays.

The Maize and Blue offense primarily kept the ball on the ground after the break, accumulating 29 rushes and only seven passes, compared to 16 rushes and 26 throws in the first two quarters.

If Michigan would have executed an identical 42 plays after coming out of the locker room (which is how many it ran in the first half) to give it 84 for the game, it would have tied for the seventh most in college football for week one.

To put even more context behind it, East Carolina averaged exactly 84 plays per contest last season, which was the third most in the sport.

Eighty-four snaps per outing in 2017, meanwhile, would have checked in fourth nationally.

1st Of at least five scheduled noon kickoffs (ET) for the Wolverines this season comes Saturday, with several more likely to be added to the slate. Six start times still have not been announced, each of which have the possibility of beginning at 12 p.m. The Wolverines had five noon regular-season kickoffs last year and six in 2017.

2nd Drop of junior wideout Nico Collins' career came last week against Middle Tennessee State, per Pro Football Focus. The Alabama native was targeted 55 times last year (38 receptions for 632 yards) and did not drop a single pass, and only had one as a freshman in 2017.

11-0 Is U-M’s record at home in non-conference regular-season games under Harbaugh, outscoring the opposition 452-130. Notable victories during that span include a 31-0 destruction of No. 22 BYU in 2015 and a 45-28 win over eventual Pac-12 South champion Colorado in 2016. In fact, none of the 11 triumphs have been particularly close, with the tightest affair being a 29-13 victory over Air Force on Sept. 16, 2017. A 26-10 loss to Utah on Sept. 20, 2014, was U-M's last non-conference setback at home.

19-10-1 All-time record for Michigan against military academies. The Wolverines are 3-0 against Air Force, 12-5-1 against Navy and 4-5 versus Army.

75 Degrees for a projected high with nothing but sunny skies on Saturday in Ann Arbor, with maximum wind gusts of eight miles per hour and only a 10 percent chance of precipitation.

80 Yards for redshirt sophomore receiver Tarik Black last week against Middle Tennessee State, which were actually the second most of his career (trailing only the 83 he had against Florida in his first collegiate game in 2017). The Connecticut native also reeled in just the second scoring grab (a 36-yarder in the first quarter) of his collegiate tenure (the other was a 46-yard TD in the aforementioned Florida game).

90 Yards for freshman running back Zach Charbonnet last weekend in his collegiate debut, the most by a U-M frosh running back in his first game since Chris Evans ripped off 112 yards against Hawai'i in the 2016 season opener.

284 Total yards of offense (231 rushing and 53 passing) and 14 points Army managed against Rice last week, against an Owl defense that gave up 446.1 yards (which was 103rd nationally) and 36.0 points per contest (112th) in 2018.

1962 Was the last time Michigan and Army squared off. U-M won 17-7 that day at The Big House, but the Black Knights hold the all-time series edge 5-4. The Wolverines hold a 4-3 advantage over Army at home.

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