Here's what Michigan football is doing to stabilize its offense

Look past the shotgun formations and ignore the zone-read concepts. Strip away the pre-snap window dressing and the avant-garde approach. This was old-school football a traditionalist like Jim Harbaugh could appreciate.  

There were punishing blocks that wiped out defenders. There were snap decisions made by running backs who selected the gaps leading to the best results. There was perfect execution. For those who prefer their Big Ten offenses to be direct, this was a feast for the eyes with the main course served roughly 90 seconds into Michigan football’s 42-25 victory over Illinois.

It was then that Zach Charbonnet zipped through a crease and bounced outside for 16-yard gain, setting the table for what was to come next. On the ensuing play, the freshman running back sprinted through a gaping hole for 11 more yards. Then he carried twice more, moving Michigan within feet of another first down. With the Wolverines parked at Illinois’ 29-yard line, Hassan Haskins replaced Charbonnet in the backfield and then spun through a group of oncoming tacklers before racing to the end zone to give Michigan a 7-0 lead. Five plays. Five runs. A statement. And a prelude to Michigan’s latest win.

“Our running game really rose to the occasion,” Harbaugh crowed afterwards.

On Saturday in Champaign, Michigan gained 295 yards on the ground, exceeding its combined rushing total during a three-game stretch that included a pair of victories over Army and Rutgers and a crushing loss to Wisconsin.

It was after that defeat that tight end Nick Eubanks lamented the Wolverines' decision to neglect their rushing attack as if it were a convenient accessory instead of an essential cog. Against Wisconsin, coordinator Josh Gattis dialed up nine passes in Michigan’s first 12 plays, setting the stage for the Wolverines to lose their offensive equilibrium before the Badgers knocked them off their feet with a series of haymakers.

Running the football then, Eubanks observed, was an afterthought.

“Now we’re back to it,” the tight end said Monday at Schembechler Hall as a smile spread across his face.

The Wolverines’ commitment to their ground game has been seen in their first-half play differential since the loss to Wisconsin, with the Wolverines calling 61 runs and 43 passes. It has been a marked change in approach that resulted from the coaching staff reevaluating its strategy and scrapping some of the new ideas that Gattis wanted to incorporate into the playbook.

“That’s when Coach Gattis stepped in and said we’re going to do the things we’re good at,” Eubanks explained.

In subtle ways, the course correction is encapsulated in the way Shea Patterson has executed the offense. Perhaps hampered by an early season oblique injury, the senior quarterback didn’t venture much outside the pocket against Wisconsin and never carried out a designed run. In the victory Saturday, six of his rush attempts were premeditated, according to Pro Football Focus. And two of them were made during a critical scoring drive that immediately followed a 25-point surge by the Illini. Patterson’s mobility and the threat he presents on the edges with Michigan’s zone-read options enhances the ground game, especially on runs directed between the tackles.

As Eubanks said, “That has opened up a big lane for us as an offense.”

It’s one Michigan is determined to use as it again embraces the physical brand of football that initially went missing after the Wolverines installed a flashier scheme this offseason. For the football purists around Ann Arbor, it’s a welcomed change that could prove meaningful as games against Penn State and Notre Dame loom. The running backs won't beg to differ.

“We are always trying to run the ball down any team’s throat,” Haskins said.

Against Illinois, Michigan left no doubt that was the mission.

Contact Rainer Sabin at rsabin@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @RainerSabin. Read more on the Michigan Wolverines, Michigan State Spartans and sign up for our Big Ten newsletter.