Mailbag question: Watching Wisconsin play in the bowl game
GBMW,
What do you guys think of how Wisconsin was able to dominate Miami on both sides of the ball? Yea the score got close at the end of the game, but this game reminded me of what solid defense, a strong running game and controlling your opponent with time of possession can accomplish. Football like this is something I really have missed the past couple of years.
Dan B.
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Thanks for the question.
In fact GBMW were discussing what you alluded to above while talking after the Wisconsin game. We also miss this type of football.
Here is a comment: “In fact, after watching the Champs Bowl, we talked about writing a piece on this exact subject. It should be coming up very shortly.”
We at GBMW 100% prefer a strong physical offensive line that can dominate and wear out opponents. If you ever get to hear coaches speak at a clinic press conference, they all basically say the same thing: "We want to play physical, fast, hard-nosed, aggressive, and all the rest of the coach-speak or clichés meant to excite the fan-base. But a team must show it on the field as well, as no points are scored at clinics and press conferences.
We do not discount the need for speed and the ability to stretch a defense. In fact, we believe a program can do both and be more deadly with having several options (formation, style, personnel, etc.) and make the offense hard to predict and hard to play against.
We just support a line of thinking that if an offense can force a defense to over-commit to stopping the run, this opens up the passing lanes and sets up the play action game, such as Wisconsin and Iowa do so well. Wisconsin lets people know that they want to pound and run you over, but the Badgers also use this philosophy and execution to their advantage with the play-action pass, which can suck in the defense and create big plays.
We think there is a place in the game for both a power athlete like the A-Train and a speedy third down back like Warrick Dunn. We believe Michigan can have both types, but it depends on if the offensive coaches will diversify the offense a little bit, because what we have seen so far at Michigan does not support an effort to be diversified. Hopefully we will see some changes this spring.
Please come back and check out our later thoughts on this subject and let us know what you think.
Written by GBMW Staff
Go Blue -- Wear Maize!
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