...or flattery will get you nowhere. It depends on your point of view.
It seems that Michigan was so impressed with USC offense last year that the Michigan coaching staff asked for copies of USC's game films from last year.
Wolf has the story in today's Daily News.
"He broke down every game film," USC offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin said. "Our passing games are extremely similar."
Kiffin said the common plays could help both sides as they prepare for the Rose Bowl.
"The offenses are extremely similar," he said.
That's cool. It is also not surprising. With the talent that Michigan has on their team they did the right thing by looking outside of the box for new ways to advantage of Henne's and Manningham's talent. Bill Callahan of Nebraska also has tried to model his team after USC. Success breed's imitation and teams will do this sort of thing until someone finds a way to defend against it or a new wrinkle is thrown into an offensive scheme.
SC used the same sort of forward thinking on the defense this year in order take advantage of all the talent they had at the linebacker position. I think the results were mixed but you always have to try something new to see if fits. If it does than you keep using it until it doesn't work anymore or you modify it in order to adjust to your talent.