Michigan football is synonymous with the old-school ground-and-pound style.
Those roots go back to Tom Harmon, the school's first Heisman Trophy winner in 1940, and in 2022, Blake Corum is firmly in the race for the trophy.
Jim Harbaugh carried a strong run game from his time in San Diego to Stanford and the 49ers in the NFL. While it took time to get here, Harbaugh's time-eating, run-it-down-your-throat style is now fully equipped & filled with ammo.
A mauling offensive line, two backs with superstar abilities, an every-down tight end, and wide receivers willing to block their tails off on the perimeter.
It's all there now for Harbaugh's Wolverines.
They were tremendous on the ground in 2021 -- namely, a five-touchdown performance from Hassan Haskins again Ohio State -- but they're even better in 2022.
Haskins finished with 1,327 rushing yards last season. Corum eclipsed 1,000 in eight weeks and has 100-plus rushing yards in all five of U-M's Big Ten games so far.
While the success in the run game from last season carried over into this year's production, it wasn't with the exact blueprint.
In 2021, Michigan relied on a lot of counter runs, and while the run game was the team's strength last year, it switched up its concepts in 2022.
Space Coyote is the owner of Breakdown Sports & specializes in breaking down film, concepts, & techniques, mainly Michigan & the Big Ten.
He initially made the observation.
Running only one counter per game on average leaves Michigan at around eight total on the season -- a year after running it in tenfold.
Of course, the run game is undeniable right now, so the risk paid off -- but why switch a run game that was working so well?
"Some of this game has shifted a little bit. Really, I should say it's all a credit to Coach (Sherrone) Moore, the offensive line, & running backs -- they're really just like a good luck charm. But I will say that from year to year, you have to constantly evolve," Michigan co-offensive coordinator Matt Weiss said during a press conference on Wednesday afternoon.
Weiss -- who said the talk about his analytical mindset is "overblown" -- is still always thinking, processing, & curating ideas to maximize his offense's potential.
Instead of piggybacking off last year's successful scheme, Weiss used some foresight to anticipate how teams would defend Michigan's run game. In theory, the opponent wouldn't be prepared.
"All the stuff that we were doing last year, every team in the Big Ten spent the whole offseason trying to figure out how to stop it. So we're seeing different looks. We've taken advantage of what the defense has given us," Weiss explained. "Certainly, we still have the ability to run all those counters, they're still in the offense. But from a game-to-game basis, that seems to be, at least starting out the year, what people are focused on stopping."
With over 1,000 yards and a national-high 14 touchdowns through 8 games, Corum is thriving in the evolved & refreshed run scheme that refuses to get complacent.
Weiss didn't come up with the idea to change the scheme & did it. Like most schematic changes, it was a process.
"I think it just it just happened naturally. The way that people were playing us, we had other run schemes. Those run schemes kind of moved to the front, I call them a little bit more, and other stuff got called a little bit less."
If Weiss is running the offense long-term, never get too comfortable.
"Continual evolution."
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