Michigan offensive coordinator Kirk Campbell: Relying only on run game for explosive plays 'not sustainable'

Michigan Wolverines football threw the ball on 7 of 24 first-down plays in a 27-24 win over Minnesota, one week after doing so on only 3 of 21 in a 27-24 victory over USC. That was opponent-dependent, of course, but also part of the progression with junior Alex Orji going from his first to second start as Michigan’s quarterback.

Orji was 4-of-7 for 52 yards (7.4 yards per attempt) on first-down passes against the Golden Gophers. The Wolverines actually averaged only 2.6 yards per carry on their 17 first-down rushes, and they averaged 6.9 yards to go on third down, tough situations to convert in.

Michigan threw 18 times on 24 dropbacks, with Orji completing 10 passes for 86 yards and 1 touchdown with 1 interception. The week prior against USC, Orji dropped back only 17 times.

Offensive coordinator Kirk Campbell discussed throwing more on first down and attempting to create more balance with the Michigan offense.

“Overall, we called 26 passes last week. I think that was the most since Texas, which forced us into a throwing game,” Campbell said. “That’s kind of the honey hole we’ve always lived in around here. You go back and look at [former Michigan quarterback] J.J. [McCarthy]’s last six games, that’s kinda how we thrived right in there.

“So it is important to get the drive started, drives going. And I just felt last week that, for us, they were giving us some advantageous man situations to get the ball to [junior tight end] Colston [Loveland], especially, early in drives. That’s what we were trying to do there.

“But when you get first downs early in drives, it’s easier to continue to move the drives, so that’s a conscious effort by us. That’s more of the self scout that we look at, like how we’re calling the game, what we’re doing in the game. Not necessarily the yardage and all that — we care about wins and how we’re calling the game and how teams might call it against us.”

Michigan’s offense has taken on a bit of a boom-or-bust nature in recent weeks. Against USC, the Wolverines had 3 touchdown runs of 40-plus yards but, on the flip side, went three-and-out five times. Versus Minnesota, Michigan had four three-and-outs, but at other times put together long possessions.

“Getting the first, first down is the most important thing on a drive, right? You don’t want to go three-and-out,” Campbell said. “When you do, it’s detrimental to the defense, it’s detrimental to the punt team and you’re not playing complementary football. So we need to continue to be aggressive on first down — p-and-10 [the first play of a possession], especially — and then continue to get them to move the chains and go.

“In the second half last week, excluding the four-minute drive, we four drives, had two of them that were 14 or 13 play drives, and one of them we were moving the ball before the turnover and the other one was a three-and-out. So we need to continue to establish some more rhythm on first down and not get us in third-and-long. Nobody thrives well in third-and-long, so just continue to be more efficient on first down.”

Campbell understands that the Wolverines will need more big plays to drive the field and get in the end zone, but that they can’t rely only on the run game to produce them. Michigan ranks tied ninth nationally with 6 rushes of 30-plus yards but is one of only eight teams in the FBS with less than 3 passing plays of 30-plus yards, with 2.

“Against USC, we had a couple short drives where we had explosive runs,” Campbell said. “It’s hard to drive the field in college football 14, 15 plays. When you do, that’s great, that’s outstanding, but that’s hard. The defense is going to make a call, make a play, make an adjustment.

“The explosiveness in the pass game needs to show up so we can get faster drives. Now, do we need to score in one minute, two minutes, like these air raid teams? No, that’s not what we’re asking for, but it’s easier in seven-, eight-play drives when you get explosive plays in the throw game. You can’t just rely on the backbone of the run game to create those explosives. Obviously, that happened against USC — we’re thankful for that — but it’s not the reality that’s sustainable throughout the course of a season.”