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After 7 weeks of college football being played without Michigan, we all finally got our wish in CFB Week Eight.
Big Ten football is back. More importantly, Michigan football is back.
There were multiple unknowns about Michigan as game time swiftly approached, and all eyes were on the Wolverines for a primetime matchup against Minnesota. Not many people knew what to expect from the Wolverines with a new starting QB and four new starting offensive linemen.
After a dominating performance and a 49-24 win, here are the three things that we learned from the first game of the year:
Michigan is loaded at running back
Most people believed that Michigan was going to be fairly strong at running back this season with returnees Zach Charbonnet and Hassan Haskins.
With Chris Evans returning to the team this season, and the speedster, true freshman Blake Corum coming into the fold, it makes this group arguably the strongest position on the team.
Michigan ran for 253 rushing yards as a team Saturday night, and the running back group had 192 of it. As a group they averaged a stunning 9.6 yards per play on the ground. That’s nearly a first down every time they touch the ball. Got to give the offensive line a ton of praise last night, as the unit had created giant holes for the backs most of the evening.
The eye vision from Haskins and Charbonnet was spot on. Haskins found a gap on the right side of the line for a 66 yard run, and Charbonnet hit a hole up the middle for a 70 yard TD run on the secnd drive of the game for the Wolverines.
We also saw some explosive plays from Evans and Corum throughout the night. Corum’s first play was a 24 yard catch-and-run from Milton where he showed off his speed. And Evans found the end zone for the first time since 2018.
With Michigan being able to rotate four backs during any game, it will give them a major advantage all year. Keeping these guys fresh and energized will go a long way.
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