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November 15, 2019 - Image 12

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The Michigan Daily

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TheMichiganDaily, www.michigandaily.com

Breaking down Michigan State’s infamous array of trick plays

During his Monday press conference, a
day when all eyes were on the Michigan-
Michigan State rivalry, Jim Harbaugh
mentioned trick plays four different times.
It’s for good reason — Michigan State
coach Mark Dantonio is notorious for
his trick plays. He’s run them for years,
with well-known plays dating back to the
beginning of his tenure in East Lansing.
The Wolverines are well aware how much
hate goes into this rivalry, and they know
that Dantonio’s trickery is another thing
to look out for.
“(We’re) on high alert for everything,”
Harbaugh said Monday. “We understand,
Mark Dantonio’s a master motivator and
there could be trick plays, special teams,
punt fakes, field goal fakes. Everything
needs to be alerted and prepared and
ready.”
But what are these trick plays, and what
can Michigan do to prepare for them? The
Daily dug into the film, breaking down
several of the Spartans’ trick plays from
the 2018 season.
The fake punt
The opponent: Penn State
The down: 4th-and-6, MSU 34
The situation: First quarter, down
7-0
It’s clear that this fake punt fooled the
camera operator, too, so it’s a little tough
to tell what’s going on at first.
Michigan State lined up in a normal
punt formation, but the ball was instead
snapped to No. 11, running back Connor
Heyward. With the return team on the
field, there’s no one there to stop Heyward,
who gets outside for a 26-yard gain.
Later in the drive, the Spartans scored
a touchdown.
The key to this play was the element of
surprise. Nobody expects a fake punt in
the first quarter in a team’s own territory.
The Nittany Lions understandably weren’t
lined up properly to stop such a play, and
that’s why it worked. No matter how alert
you are, you can’t line up on every punt
like it’s going to be a fake.
As far as the actual playcall, this
is pretty low-risk for a fake punt, and
the main requirement is faith in your
blockers. But the game situation increases
the risk — Heyward had to make it at least
six yards starting from behind the line
of scrimmage, and had he been stuffed,
Penn State would have taken over with
excellent field position.
Heyward, one of Michigan State’s go-to
guys on trick plays, is now in the transfer
portal. But presumably, the Spartans have
practiced this with a variety of players
who know how to execute it. No matter
who’s running it, the Wolverines have
dedicated preparation time for these sorts
of situations and they’re very familiar

with how a play like this could work.
“We’ve definitely gone back, I wanna
be accurate here, Michigan-Michigan
State 12 years ago, they ran a fake punt or
something,” said Michigan special teams
coach Chris Partridge. “We’ve seen it all.
We’ve seen every fake punt that they’ve
run probably for 12 years. … The last three
fake punts are exactly the same.”
The fake field goal
The opponent: Indiana
The down: 4th-and-3, Indiana 6
The situation: Third quarter, up 21-7
The fake punt was a fairly simple play.
This one has a lot more moving parts.
Let’s be honest here: Michigan State
didn’t really need to run an elaborate fake
field goal up by two scores in the third
quarter, but this is just what the Spartans
do. And again, they had the element of
surprise working in their favor.
On most teams, the holder doubles
as the punter or backup quarterback.
(Michigan’s holder, for example, is senior
punter Will Hart.) But Michigan State’s
holder is starting quarterback Brian
Lewerke, allowing them to draw up a
variety of fake field goal plays that have a
higher percentage than what many others
can do.
Instead of holding for a kick, Lewerke
(No. 14) takes the snap himself and
scrambles for a few yards before pitching

the ball to No. 4, the kicker, Matt Coghlin,
who runs a route towards the sideline and
got enough separation to get into the end
zone.
Most Indiana players, sticking to their
assignments, seemed to have no idea what
was happening as the play developed,
and the Spartans had plenty of blockers
for those that came over. It didn’t
help that one Hoosier, attempting
to block a kick that never came, fell
down and was out of commission
for the rest of the play. Indiana’s No.
28 appears to have anticipated that
Lewerke could keep the ball, but
he wasn’t expecting the pitch and
hesitated as Coghlin coasted into
the end zone.
This play was very well executed,
and clearly caught Indiana off
guard. But it probably wouldn’t
work as well with a longer distance to go,
and even with no defenders in the area,
Coghlin looked, well, like a kicker trying
to handle the ball. It’s easy to see Lewerke
mistiming his pitch or Coghlin bobbling
the ball, and a fumble that close to the end
zone could be disastrous.
Against a bad team like last year’s
Hoosiers, why not throw this one out?
But Dantonio may want to try something
lower risk against a better team like
the Wolverines, where every scoring

opportunity counts.
“Opportunities presented themselves,”
Partridge said of Michigan State’s fakes.
“They’re not going out there, and I know
people are saying, ‘Hey, their trick plays,’
they’re not going out there doing crazy
stuff for no reason. When you watch their
fakes, they’re executing them because
the
opportunity
presents itself for
what
the
other
team is doing.”
The
double-
reverse pass
The opponent:
Michigan
The
down:
2nd-and-goal,
Michigan 4
The situation:
Third
quarter,
down 7-0
You probably remember this play,
and you probably remember that people
called it the “Sparty Special” due to its
resemblance to the famed “Philly Special.”
In reality, this isn’t quite the Philly
Special. In that play, the ball was snapped
directly to a running back.
Here, Lewerke lines up under center
as if to run a normal play. He pitches it to
running back LJ Scott (No. 3), who pitches
it on a reverse to wide receiver Darrell
Stewart (No. 25) running in the opposite
direction.
If that wasn’t enough trickery for you,
Stewart throws the ball back to Lewerke,
who runs a corner route to the edge of
the end zone after pitching the ball.
It’s clear here that Michigan has no
idea what was going on. The Wolverines
are in man coverage, and you can see
most of the secondary move to the top of
your screen when Lewerke pitches the
ball, expecting a run play. Cornerback
David Long (No. 22) sees Lewerke wide
open and runs to cover him, but as Long
originally lined up on the other side of
the play, he doesn’t get there in time,
and the rest of the defense is even more
belated.
This was the Spartans’ only touchdown in
a game Michigan won, 21-7. It’s quite possible,
maybe even expected, that Michigan State
will try a play like this again if it gets in the
red zone. After all, the Spartans’ offense
has struggled, and the Wolverines’ defense
is one of the best in the country. Michigan
State’s best chance will be to get weird.
Nevertheless,
Michigan
knows
as
much as anyone that against Dantonio
and the Spartans, they should expect the
unexpected.
“You look at everything that the team
has done in terms of fakes or misdirection,
deceptive types of plays, what they’ve done
and then prepare for that,” Harbaugh said.
“But also, what is a possible complement to
something they’ve already done we could
be working on, we could be practicing?”

ARIA GERSON
Daily Sports Editor

KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio was dubbed a “master motivator” by Jim Harbaugh this week.

You look at
everything that
the team has
done...

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