When playing in Big Ten country, teams focus on running the ball and stopping the run. Of course, Ohio State and Purdue have turned into throwing teams, but when playing in the heart of Big Ten land — running the football is paramount.
Which is what makes the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl so intriguing. Not only will Michigan face TCU on Saturday for the first time, but the Wolverines’ ground game will take on a Horned Frog’s defense that the maize and blue aren’t used to seeing schematically.
TCU plays in the Big 12, which has turned into an air raid offensive conference. That explains why the Horned Frogs run a 3-3-5 defensive scheme. TCU will trot out three linemen, three linebackers and five defensive backs when it takes the field in Arizona to take on the Wolverines.
Michigan’s co-offensive coordinator, Matt Weiss, admitted the Wolverines don’t have much experience facing a five defensive back look in the Big Ten. Ohio State hired Jim Knowles from Oklahoma State this past season, so the Buckeyes may have flirted with that look a few times, but this will be a brand new look for the Wolverines’ offense on Saturday.
“We certainly don’t have much experience,” said Weiss. “Ohio State has a little bit of flavor with that, with James Knowles coming from Oklahoma State, Big 12-style defense. They play three safeties and some of that stuff, but to Olu’s point, that’s totally valid. We haven’t seen anybody play like this all season. It’s a different style.”
TCU plays mostly three safeties along with its two corners on defense. Even with the extra defensive back — in the Big 12 it’s needed — the Horned Frogs have the 83rd-ranked passing defense in the country giving up 235.6 yards per game thru the air. Weiss said Michigan’s identity will not change, but its process may look a little different at times.
“So we’re not going to get too much into game plan, I’m sure you understand,” Weiss said. “But, yeah, it poses its own unique set of challenges. They have the third safety who not only is a factor down the field in the pass game, but when you run the ball, he shows up pretty quickly. In the end, our identity is not going to change. Certainly, our approach might change a little bit. We’re going to find ways to do things we do well in a way that will be effective against TCU. But, yeah, we’re not going to have to change who we are to attack a 3-3-5 defense. Are we going to have a little bit of a different look? Sure.”
Since the base defense for TCU is a 3-3-5, does that favor Michigan? In a way, yes. The Horned Frogs are the 64th-ranked run defense allowing 149 yards on the ground per game and that’s in a Big 12 conference that throws more than running. The Wolverines will enter Saturday with the No. 6 run offense averaging 243 yards on the ground per game.
Matt Weiss told the media on Tuesday, not only has Michigan not seen much from a 3-3-5 scheme, but TCU hasn’t seen this Wolverine offense take on a 3-3-3-5 scheme, so the Horned Frogs truly don’t know what to look for.
“To a degree,” stated Weiss. “I mean, the defense kind of evolved to stop air raid offense in the Big Ten, right? So it’s really hard to have a quick air raid defense. You don’t see them playing against people who look like us. So it’s really hard to watch the tape and say, OK, this will definitely work, but this won’t. At the same time, they have the same issue. They’re not seeing us go against a 3-3-5 defense, so they don’t really know what we’re going to look like either.”
Michigan and TCU will take the field at 4 p.m. ET on ESPN.
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