News & Views: Gattis On U-M's Fumble Issues, Patterson & 4th-Down Attempts
Michigan Wolverines football offensive coordinator Josh Gattis saw his unit struggle mightily on Saturday against Army, putting up just 24 points (in double-overtime) and only 340 yards.
The 35-year old went in depth this week on the team's ongoing fumble issues and senior quarterback Shea Patterson's play over the weekend, and we break down what it all actually means in this week's News & Views segment:
NEWS: Michigan was just one-of-three on fourth-down tries in Saturday's win over Army, including two critical failed attempts on the Black Knights' side of the field in the fourth quarter.
A fourth-and-two at the Army 17-yard line with 10 minutes to go was especially scrutinized, as a potentially successful 34-yard field goal would have given U-M a 17-14 lead at the time.
GATTIS: “We wanted to be aggressive throughout the game and analytics supported going for all three that we went for. We had the ball backed up on our own 20 with six minutes left, and went on an 11-play drive where we ate up four minutes off the clock.
"We knew Army wasn’t a two-minute team since they have to run their plays in from the sidelines, and I wanted to use as much clock as possible. I felt like we had a great call, and we just have to execute it.
"It’s a discussion we have throughout the series [on whether or not to go for it or kick a field goal]. There are obviously situations where you can take the points — you can take them and give Army the ball with plenty of time, or you can end it on your own time.
"We had hit a fourth-down conversion earlier, so we felt good.”
VIEWS: Analytics are obviously becoming a bigger and bigger part of the game nowadays, but sometimes coaches simply overthink things.
Sure, diving into what the numbers and statistics suggest can be good, but oftentimes the eyeball test is better.
With that being said, Gattis made an outstanding point about Michigan taking matters into its own hands and attempting to end the game on its own terms (which a successful fourth-down conversion would have come close to doing).
Choosing to go for it on fourth-down each time isn't necessarily what deserves criticism, but instead the play calls: straight gives to freshman running back Zach Charbonnet were way too predictable, especially when U-M hadn't been able to get anything going on the ground all day.
Army clearly had a good idea of what was coming on the attempt with 10 minutes left, easily dropping Charbonnet for a six-yard loss.
NEWS: Patterson didn't appear to be himself on Saturday, consistently missing throws and handing the ball off almost every time he had the option to.
Gattis was asked whether or not this was by design and had been determined beforehand.
GATTIS: “Everything we do has some level of read. Army obviously tried to take the quarterback run away, but it gave us favorable matchups inside with some six-man boxes.
"They pressured 85 percent of the time, and it’s about cleaning up the little things. There were a few Shea should’ve pulled and one where he shouldn’t have given the ball. We have to go back and make the corrections and continue to get better.
"I don’t think it’s a process by any means — everybody has a little bit of familiarity within every system. We just have to make the correct decisions for us and not worry about last year, whether it’s in dropbacks or quarterback reads in the pass game.
"We have to understand what the defense is trying to do and how we can put them in conflict.”
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