Mailbag question: Coach Rod's offense in B10 weather

Hey guys,

Do you think part of the inability to rush and make the offense go was due to the type of field that MSU uses and a few other B10 teams still use? There were lots of slips and to me this would hamper Michigan because their small quick and fast players can't make the cuts they need to beat people in space, which is what Rod's offense is predicated on. If everyone used field turf then things would be smoother for our team, but since a few teams still use traditional grass, we should expect to see our offense stall at times when we have a combination of a wet field and natural grass? This seems like this is where a traditional smash mouth football offense would excel late in the season where conditions are less than optimal.

Thanks,

Mark C.

------------------------------

Thanks for the question.

Our experience is that field conditions can have a negative effect on Coach Rod's style of offense. The amount of lateral movement and cutting can be influenced by poor field conditions.

Remember, many of the teams in the Big Ten are going to field turf, so this concern should not be as magnified as it could have been, say, ten years ago when most of the Big Ten was on grass fields, after schools switched back from the Astroturf because of all the injuries artificial fields seemed to cause back in the day.

We also think the field conditions was not the primary problem against Michigan State. The field was wet, so obviously it would be slippery, but the field looked in good condition for a grass field during a rainy game.

Also both teams have to play in the same conditions just like last year against Notre Dame, where Michigan was losing the ball all the time, while Notre Dame had no problems hanging on to the ball.

Field conditions were not the cause of poor blocking, not the cause of all those dropped passes, and not the cause of Michigan getting out-hit and physically getting beat up for almost the entire game, except for the last eight minutes or so.

Thanks for stopping by Go Blue Michigan Wolverine
If you have any questions please E-Mail

Written by CoachBt and ErocWolverine