[Upchurch/MGoBlog]
If you watch the video at the bottom of the post, you’ll see very quickly that third-down plays had not gone all that well for Michigan to this point in the game. Now, facing another third-and-long in the middle of the fourth quarter, Michigan was faced with another convert-or-punt situation should they choose to pass. Michigan went five wide and spread Wisconsin’s defense just thin enough for Speight to both have time to throw and to get the matchup he was looking for to his left. I started describing to Wilton the purpose of these posts, and as soon as I mentioned which play I wanted to talk about he was ready:
“That was probably the biggest play of the game, bigger than that touchdown throw, because that set that up. We hadn’t been as successful as we’d like to on third downs, but motioned out the running back and bumped the linebackers out a little bit, and I knew I was going to my left. Didn’t know if I was going to the inside or outside slant, but their linebacker dropped underneath the inside slant and I just ripped the ball to Darboh and he plucked it with his fingertips and dove with it for the first down. That was big time.”
What do you remember about their alignment before the snap?
“Yeah, I knew to not judge anything until our running back, De’Veon, motioned out. As soon as he motioned out, I kind of saw them bump and adjust exactly how we wanted to, so that’s right when I knew I was going to work the boundary. My eyes kind of lit up and I ripped it in there.”
On that topic, once you move De’Veon out, you see a safety comes down to cover Grant Perry, you’ve got Cichy split out wide, do your reads change based on those matchups, or do you have a very rigid progression you’re working through?
“Well, presnap when De’Veon went out there I said, ‘Okay, I’m going to my left. I’m going to work these two guys.’ Then it was just the progression. I start with the inside slant, and if that gets taken away I go to my outside slant. Darboh ran an incredible route, got spacing off of the corner, and made a play.”
As far as breaking down a defense, as soon as you see they’ve set, do you have a way you do that every time? Has Coach Harbaugh taught you to work through a certain way, like first read safeties, then linebackers, etc.?
“Yeah, yeah. Harbaugh and Fisch teach me that it’s a three to five second max of decision-making of what’s the front, where are the linebackers, what’s the secondary doing, are the corners over, is it one high, is it two high, are the linebackers cheating up, does it look like they’re blitzing, where’s the shade, stuff like that. So there’s a lot that goes through on a presnap, and it helps, though, when you know what’s going on.”
What do you remember seeing immediately after the snap? Was it the off coverage on Darboh?
“Yeah, off coverage on Darboh. I immediately saw someone sink underneath the inside slant, but I knew that window was going to be open on the outside slant. Yeah, it was a good play.”
It looked like a perfectly placed ball. On a five-yard slant like that, walk me through where a perfectly placed ball would be in terms of what the receiver wants and what you want.
“A little bit out in front, depending on where the corner or the defender is. If he’s right on his back, you like to put it right in his gut, right on his numbers. It’s a chest throw so the corner or the defender can’t get around it. He had a little bit of space so I wanted to lead him, and he likes catching things with his hands, so just let him do that.”