From the desk of a playcalling apologist:
Playcalling is hard. If you have been reading or listening to me long enough, you know I am not the bombastic, overreaction type (most of the time). Sometimes, to a fault, I am overly patient because I have such a deep appreciation for the difficulty of the job.
To judge a good playcall, it isn’t just yards gained. It’s sequencing (the order of plays), layering (plays off of plays), personnel deployment, adjusting to the defensive style, and finding advantages anywhere on the field to exploit. Even the best playcalls may not work based on what the defense is sequencing, layering, deploying with its personnel, and adjusting to the offense’s attempts at exploitation.
I know, this all sounds a little sports pretentious. Like the friend of a friend who raves about the costume design in an Ari Aster movie — no one cares, dude, Beau is Afraid still sucked. But good playcalling is like a work of art, a chess match of violence. Conversely, bad playcalling is like watching someone take the chess pieces off the board and try to eat them.
Enter: a hungry Jason Beck. Beck’s performance on Saturday was laden with attempts to gnaw at pawns and scarf down the horsey pieces (he doesn’t know they’re called knights) between overwrought election commercials. At its best, it was watching your grandfather struggle to find the circle button the first time he played College Football ‘27; at its worst, Beck seemed to be using Sark AI.
“You’re an offensive coordinator aggressively outmatched with a true freshman quarterback and a patchwork offensive line. Give me a play call.”
“Sure thing, Jason! How about a Duo run from the pistol formation with 11-personnel? The personnel should lighten the box. The formation allows your running back to get downhill. And Duo is a play the interior of this offensive line has been running for years at Michigan.”
“I really like slow-developing plays that half-ass two concepts on either side of the formation.”
“Great idea, Jason! Here is Rhino Personnel Jet Sweep/ QB Power Read.”
This isn’t Kirk Campbell in 2024. Beck isn’t dialing up fake-reverse throwback passes from Semaj Morgan on 4th-and-5. But in a way, it’s worse. Campbell had never called plays as the season’s primary guy in his career when he took over that season. When you hire an unqualified person, you get incompetent results. Beck arrived after turning around multiple offenses, and last season at Utah was a tremendous success by any metric. He understands the job at every level and how to attack defenses. He does know ball (I don’t know if Campbell can spell “ball” even if you spot him the vowel).
This season, Beck molded a run-heavy offense to fit a quarterback’s present skillset against Oklahoma, and his balanced attack against Iowa was expertly laid out and executed against a Phil Parker defense. Minnesota was a regression, but the second-half spark against Penn State ostensibly signaled a return to form, with a quarterback more capable of running his scheme the way it was designed. But now it’s like the job interview in Step Brothers when Seth Rogen realizes the tuxedos aren’t ironic.
Beck did nothing on Saturday to help his true freshman in his first career start against one of the best defenses in college football. There were no reliable schemes, no bread and butter plays baked into the game plan except for losing 4-5 yards on the occasional sweep. Somewhere, tight end Zack Marshall is cackling like a hyena in the group chat. It got so bad against Indiana that I began to wonder if we can control live buffaloes and longhorns at Colorado and Texas games, could we wheel Sherrone Moore to the sidelines on a Hannibal Lecter-style dolly, have him call the game, and transport him out the same way? At least he wouldn’t call plays scared.
Beck played the part of the frightened little brother against Indiana defensive coordinator Bryant Haines. In order to beat his big brother, he felt the need to overthink every situation and win with deceptive X’s and O’s instead of empowering the Jimmys and Joes. He was too worried about providing all the answers to every possible scenario instead of trusting his guys to create their own answers with physicality, especially in the run game. Look no further than this insult of a playcall from the two-yard line on third down.
If only there were a play three plays earlier that showed Michigan converting on short yardage. To dump salt in the open wound, watch the nearside edge cover the quarterback after the handoff.
The third-down call isn’t just being too cute – it’s willful negligence. This was the perfect opportunity to reinsert Bryce Underwood, have the defense anticipate a bootleg, and then have Marshall punch it in. Or just have all 6-foot-4, 230 pounds of Underwood try to sneak it in! But even with three-and-a-half quarters of psy-op playcalling, Beck and this offense – thanks to some “Tommy Magic” plays – marched down the field in the waning moments of the game with a chance to win. Two minutes remaining, armed with one timeout and only 10 yards of Indiana resistance, Beck had an opportunity to absolve many a sin with potentially four plays. Here’s how it unfolded:
11-Personnel RB Draw
First down. Coming out of the quick intermission, Michigan was buzzing! Carr had just extended a play and found wide receiver JJ Buchanan for seven yards on a critical third down. Now is the time to go win the game.
Beck sends out 11-personnel – indicating pass – and makes his best play call of the game. Carr takes the snap and rolls to the side of Buchanan and Andrew Marsh. Both safeties and linebackers flow to this side of the field to take away any open lanes. But the ball isn’t going in the air – Carr sneaks a delayed draw handoff to running back Bryson Kuzdzal, who picks up six and goes just inside the five.
Indiana executes a perfect twist against the right side of Michigan’s offensive line to limit this gain to only six yards. If true freshman right tackle Marky Walbridge is able to get better inside leverage, Kuzdzal scores and Michigan wins the game. But even a run play that isn’t perfectly executed resulted in a great first-down gain. Second down.
12-Personnel (Rhino + 1) Inside Zone
The world is Beck’s oyster right now. As a playcaller, these are the moments you dream of. Inside the five, with three plays left and a timeout in the back pocket, every play is on the menu right now. Perhaps for the first time all game, Beck has the upper hand against Haines.
Call me a psycho, but this would have been a great spot to go 11-personnel again, but with two quarterbacks and Underwood lined up as a receiver. You bring Underwood in motion, who suddenly stops, takes the under-center snap, and plows ahead. I digress. Michigan comes out in rhino plus a tight end and is looking to get physical. Finally.
It’s straight inside zone. On this blocking scheme, left tackle Evan Link gets beat like he stole something. On the right side of the line, it’s another twist, and center Jake Guarnera and right guard Brady Norton compete to see who could be the least impactful on this play. Hey, at least Walbridge bounced back with a great rep!
Michigan is a little more than nine feet away from the end zone. Whittingham has done a great job managing the clock, so there is still a timeout in hand, and as long as Michigan goes forward on this play, there is an opportunity for two plays to reach the promised land. And despite the blocking malpractice, Marshall gets Michigan down to the three-and-a-half. Third down.
11-Personnel Fly Motion Z-Cross, Y-Stick
With the game and the postseason on the line, Beck opts to go to the air. Indiana had been playing vastly more man-to-man than they had all season in this game and down near the goal line, Cover Zero is usually the go-to choice for most playcallers. But this is Broyles Award winner Bryant Haines, and what he gives this freshman quarterback is unfair.
Pre-snap, it looks like Cover Zero with pressure coming from the field. The way the safety is stacked over the linebacker, it means one of them is likely coming off the edge. Marsh comes in motion and this is where the details of Indiana’s coaching come into play. The corner moves with Marsh initially, indicating man-to-man, and Carr takes notice. But as soon as Carr goes to clap his hands, the corner stops and, at the snap, retreats into the flat. Indiana is playing a split-field coverage with Cover 2 into the boundary and man-to-man to the field. This is nasty work for a teenager to navigate with the season on the line.
Carr looks to Marsh, expecting that man-to-man still, and you can see the “oh crap” moment in his feet. He tries to go to tight end Jalen Hoffman on a Stick route, but he is also smothered. Carr takes a step up, looking to evade before being sacked by the blitzing linebacker we highlighted pre-snap.
Before we continue, watch how the blitzing linebacker gets to Carr so fast. Left guard Nate Efobi has him 1-on-1. There is no confusion – no twists or stunts to navigate – and this effort is frankly inexcusable. But this only further underscores the problem with the call.
Beck does not trust his players to gain between 1-3 yards on the ground, but thinks a freshman quarterback can read a disguised coverage and Efobi — who is not a Big Ten-caliber player — can hold up in pass protection? This would have been the perfect spot for Power, G-Lead, Long Trap, Iso, Wedge, or another Inside Zone play. An Underwood sneak also moves the ball forward. Or, if you want to get crazy, a Marshall wildcat pop pass to break a tendency. All these, regardless of outcome, are better options. Alas, Michigan settles for overtime.
Playcalling is hard. It’s even harder with a young quarterback making his first career start, the fifth different offensive line combination in seven games, and an unreliable kicker, all while facing an elite defense. But Beck undermined this team by shifting the onus of success onto his big-brained schemes instead of trusting his players. Michigan outgained Indiana in spite of Beck and lost this game because of him.
The Michigan defense deserved the win. The unit padded its national lead in yards per play and moved up to second in the country in total defense. Turnovers aside, if Michigan’s offense scored just 21 points per game against Power 4 opponents, this team would be undefeated. That means Michigan would just need to be as potent as Wisconsin’s attack at No. 70 in the FBS. All this unit has to do is be slightly closer — but still below — to average to be ranked in the top-five and in the driver’s seat for the College Football Playoff.
After Saturday, Beck has to be considered day-to-day, if not play-to-play. Whether he’s let go or steps down midseason or is just stripped of playcalling duties similar to Campbell before the Northwestern game in 2024, this offense has to show improvement, identity and consistency now. The Rutgers defense allows more than 30 points per game, and if Michigan cannot average one touchdown per quarter, Beck needs to be left on the tarmac.
However, let’s take our foot off the accelerator and pump the brakes on Kyle Whittingham.
Firstly, he isn’t going to be fired this season. If Michigan loses the rest of its games from here on out, he’s not being fired. Power 4 coaches are not fired after one year solely for performance. This is just a lazy take. If you are not a fan of his interviews, that’s one thing, but to put more stock in performative deflections over two decades and three conferences of winning evidence seems misguided. Defensively, although he’s not calling the plays, he deserves a portion of the credit for what Jay Hill and this unit have become this season. Similar to Lane Kiffin at LSU and Will Stein at Kentucky, who are offensive minds and no longer call plays as head coaches.
That said, Whittingham made the wrong hire in Beck. Not a bad hire, the wrong hire. On paper, it checked every box, hence the paycheck. Similar to Jim Harbaugh hiring Mike McDaniel with the Chargers, the only winless team in the NFL. Did Harbaugh become a terrible coach overnight or did he just make the wrong hire?
Moreover, despite the growing pains and the hiring of someone who may have ties to the Kremlin to call plays, this team is closing the gap on the top teams. Here is the average point differential for Michigan against ranked teams over the last three seasons:
Before you can win big, you have to win small; before you win small, you have to lose small. Let’s not lose sight of the forest for the trees, even if Beck is playing with matches around the shrubbery. But if/when the pyro is fired, Whittingham’s tenure will ultimately be decided by his next offensive coordinator hire.