THERE’S A SAYING in boxing that styles make fights. If that’s the case, Michigan offensive coordinator Josh Gattis said, then expect the Capital One Orange Bowl to be a “heavyweight matchup” of “smashmouth” football teams — the No. 18 rushing offense vs. the No. 2 rushing defense.
Michigan makes no secret that it wants to be physical up front on offense and wear defenses down through the running game, led by Hassan Haskins and Blake Corum, who have combined for 2,227 rushing yards this season. Georgia, behind 340-pound, All-American nose tackle Jordan Davis, seeks to take away the run, then get after the quarterback.
“It’s going to be a train wreck inside,” Gattis said of the Orange Bowl (7:30 p.m. ET Friday on ESPN/ESPN App).
When Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh reached out to Gattis following the end of the 2018 season, he made an offer to the then-Alabama receivers coach and co-offensive coordinator: Come here, he said, and “you’re going to run your offense.”
Curiously, though, the product on the field today doesn’t look much like what many Michigan supporters envisioned when Gattis was hired. The offense appears to be built more around Harbaugh’s brand of conservative bully ball than Gattis’ modern spread concepts.
But Gattis isn’t poking holes. It’s still his offense, just … different. It has been a long three years in Ann Arbor, Michigan, as his hire was questioned in the beginning, decried in the middle and now, finally, celebrated. This was a year of vindication — Gattis won this season’s Broyles Award, given to college football’s top assistant coach, while the school punched its first trip to the College Football Playoff.
So don’t expect Michigan to alter its game plan much to counter Georgia.
If there was any doubt, a week ago, Harbaugh was pictured in a shirt with boldface type that might as well have been broadcasting their strategy in advance: “RUN THE DAMN BALL.”
Source : espn
