Fifty times.
That’s how much Michigan offensive coordinator Josh Gattis estimates he’s watched every one of U-M’s offensive plays from last year, self-scouting in trying to determine how the Wolverines can get better in 2020.
The Wolverines’ offense was solid at times, very good at others, including 40-plus point showings in wins over Rivals Notre Dame and Michigan State. There weren’t many missed assignments, Gattis noted, but there were a lot of missed opportunities to be even better.
“We broke it down into Power Five (conference) statistics, but we were about four percent off from being in the top 10 in touchdown drive percentage,” Gattis said. “We had 16 drives last year that ended up in the red zone where we didn’t score touchdowns, had to settle for field goals.”
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In scoring drive percentage they were 3.5 percent off from being in the top tier of top 10 teams, having had another 17 in which they drives didn’t score. There were missteps in the red zone or fourth down stops, including seven turnovers and four missed field goals, four turnovers on downs.
“I think there are some areas we can improve offensively, and that’s not just with the players,” Gattis said. “That’s, ‘how can I can help them with the call; how can I help them with the situation?' Are we too aggressive, not aggressive enough?
“Those are all type of things that go through these studies and mindset for me. It’s been valuable. Ultimately you want to figure out a way to put your kids in position to be successful.”
Another area – second down calls. Gattis did deep studies and talked to NFL coordinators about different things they’re studying. It’s changed in the game of football, he said, where teams are now playing third down defense on second down to keep teams in long down and distance scenarios.
“You want to be able to help yourself in third down scenarios by having better calls on second down, whether that’s eliminating a third down and being aggressive if you want to get the first down in two downs, or trying to cut the distance," he added.
Gattis has been conducting different studies with the entire staff on Zoom to get everyone on the same page philosophically and incorporate everyone’s thoughts. The self-scouting has been extremely beneficial, as has staff continuity.
“Retaining the offensive staff is very, very important. The ability now to go back through … we’re doing a lot of offseason studies and making sure they understand all the details in the thought process, what I think, getting those guys on the same page as me in alignment. I think that is very key and critical,” Gattis said. “It’s difficult when you’re coaching something for the first time as compared to coaching for the second time. I think for a lot of our coaches the comfort level is extremely high now going into year two in the system.
“I think we’ve got a great offensive staff. We’ve done a lot of studies this offseason on ourselves where we’re breaking down everything, and I’ve been meeting with the offensive staff every morning. I think areas for growth, we’ve been looking at a number of different things. We’ve been right there on the cusp with kind of scratching the surface of being something special last year. If you look at it, we had some self-inflicted wounds. We left some big-time opportunities in two areas, specifically touchdown drive percentage and scoring drive percentage. That’s an area of growth where I think as a unit, we’re going to be able to take the next step.”
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