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Michigan is coming off a bye week this week as they got extra time to prepare for Michigan State before they play on Saturday. The battle for the Paul Bunyan Trophy will happen once again and this year the story is different for both teams.
Michigan is coming in 7-2 with their Big Ten title and College Football Playoff hopes slim, they could still reach a New Year’s Six Bowl. Michigan State is coming in 4-5 with their bowl game chances up in the air, and coming off a 37-34 loss to Illinois after being up 28-3 stings even more.
Check out my three things to watch this week below.
1. What kind of Brian Lewerke will the Wolverines face?
Last year against Michigan, MSU quarterback Brian Lewerke had the worst game of his career, going 5/25 for 66 yards. His throws were off and he didn’t seem to have his kind of touch he usually has. That was partially due to a shoulder injury that he played through, this year that injury isn’t there and Lewerke is playing well.
So far this season, Lewerke has thrown for 2,012 yards for 12 touchdowns and seven interceptions, along with 265 rushing yards and a touchdown. Lewerke started the season great but has been on a downward trend recently, but he could certainly still turn it around against his rival.
Michigan doesn’t know what version of Lewerke they will take on this week, but they better prepare for his best as if they doubt Lewerke can do certain things, he can surprise them and attack with ease. In this game, you can’t doubt anybody and Lewerke will want to help get his team closer to a bowl game, and beating Michigan in the process is just icing on the cake.
2. Michigan must get the ground game going
The biggest thing that the Wolverines must do on offense this week is to get the ground game working. Michigan State has the 24th ranked defense, 16th when it comes to the rushing defense. Michigan might have some trouble getting things moving against the Spartan’s defense, but they will have to find some cracks in the foundation if they want to win this game.
Michigan State linebacker Joe Bachie is already suspended for a failed drug test, so his presence in the run defense won’t be there but that doesn’ mean it will be a cakewalk. The Wolverines will have running backs, Hassan Haskins and Zach Charbonnet to deal some damage to the tough Spartan’s run defense.
Michigan has had struggles running the football this year, but recently it’s been their strength, putting up 303 yards on Notre Dame three weeks ago. If Michigan can get this ground game working, it will open more doors for the offense.
3. Who starts at kicker?
Michigan has had a kicker battle all year long. Head coach Jim Harbaugh said both kickers, Jake Moody and Quinn Nordin, were in a rotation to begin the season. As the season progressed though, we saw Moody be the lone kicker for two straight games, hinting that he won the job. After a missed kick against Maryland though, Nordin was the one on the field.
Nordin would finish the game as the kicker, and heading into the bye week the question would be who starts at kicker, or if the job was back on a rotation basis. Whoever comes out first to kick a field goal or extra point will be interesting, and if that same kicker comes out for the second attempt, you gotta believe they won the job. If the other kicker comes out for kick two, the rotation could be back.
The kicker is an important position and one that needs to have some consistency. This late into the season the position should already have been figured out, but with miscues and struggles it hasn’t been. Will it be figured out this week against MSU?