To say the No. 25 Michigan football team is expecting Michigan State to run screen plays against it would be an understatement.
“We gonna get screens the rest of the year after what we put on tape versus (Southern California), any offense would be stupid not to run screens against us,” graduate defensive lineman Tré Williams said Tuesday.
The Trojans deployed screens frequently two weeks ago to circumvent the Wolverines’ pass rush. With Michigan’s second level and secondary unable to tackle in space, the quick passing game became a death sentence.
USC’s second play of the game was a delayed screen to the running back. So, even ahead of the Wolverines’ ensuing defense meltdown, their weakness was already on tape.
Michigan defensive coordinator Wink Martindale has always been a blitz-heavy playcaller. He’s a self-admitted aggressive playcaller, going as far back as his days serving in the same role in the NFL. Like every scheme, there’s inherent pros and cons.
Against teams that rely on their quarterback to be a dropback passer, the Wolverines have been able to get home frequently. Their win over Nebraska is the most obvious example, as quarterback Dylan Raiola was sacked a whopping seven times. In recent weeks, Michigan has also forced four quarterback hurries against both Wisconsin and Washington.
Teams who prepared to get the ball out quickly against the Wolverines, however, minimized the impact of the pass rush. Oklahoma didn’t run as many screens as USC, but it utilized several quick passes. Quarterback John Mateer threw for 270 yards in that game, while taking only one sack for just 2 yards.
“We run to the football at a high level, and we want to play aggressive,” Michigan linebackers coach Brian Jean-Mary said Wednesday. “So they try to use that against you. Last year, we got more screens than probably most teams in the country. That’s just because of the nature of what we do. We have to do a better job of recognizing them, and being aware that teams are going to run a lot of screens on us, and that anticipation part is going to really, really help us.”
Following the loss to the Trojans, the Wolverines were significantly more prepared to defend screen plays and short passes. They learned their lesson, emphasized it in practice and mitigated the impact enough against Washington.
When Michigan was up 7-0 at the beginning of the second quarter, the Huskies responded and drove the ball just past the 50. Senior linebacker Jaishawn Barham ended the drive emphatically with a tackle three yards behind the line of scrimmage on a screen to running back Adam Mohammed.
“We attacked that all last week, all last practice,” senior edge rusher Derrick Moore said Tuesday. “We know this week we probably gonna get it again. So we making sure that we locked in for that as well.”
As prepared as they were last week, the Wolverines still had to concede some successful screen plays against Washington. On the drive Barham ended with a tackle for loss, the Huskies picked up a first down on third-and-10 via a screen just prior.
For the rest of the year, and probably as long as Martindale is employed, Michigan will have to be prepared to deal with screens. It’s just a natural drawback to his system. And seven games in, the tape proves screen plays can wound the Wolverines at their worst. The Spartans aren’t “stupid,” they’ll try to do the same this week.
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