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ANN ARBOR, Mich. — A week after Michigan football prevailed in its season opener and Washington lost to FCS-level Montana, the two teams matched up at The Big House for a Big Ten-Pac-12 showdown.
The Pac-12 North showed up earlier on Saturday with Oregon’s win over Ohio State, so would the same hold true in Ann Arbor?
The answer is no, Michigan dominated Washington pretty much from the jump, behind almost exclusively a running attack. Meanwhile, the Huskies got next to nothing going until the fourth quarter of the game, as the Wolverines defense snuffed out pretty much anything that QB Dylan Morris and RB Richard Newton were looking to do.
With that in mind, here are our thoughts from the game as they happened.
First half
- Hassan Haskins was seeing the field really well. I spoke to a former Michigan coach before the game, and they said the Wolverines couldn’t be afraid to run between the tackles, despite Washington’s bulk up front.
- Washington inexplicably relied on the run game even though it didn’t work for it at all last week vs. Montana. Consistently. It finished with just 15 yards on the ground in the first half.
- Michigan’s receivers had to work to get open.
- We saw Michigan go tempo at times, which was highly effective.
- Washington wasn’t biting when Michigan was putting Blake Corum and Haskins in the backfield at the same time.
- Zak Zinter’s rust was apparent in that he had multiple false starts.
- Brad Hawkins is looking more 2019 than 2020.
- Michigan didn’t want to throw the ball in this game for some reason. While Washington’s pass defense looked pretty good, the Wolverines brass didn’t even want to test it.
- Aidan Hutchinson is showing off why he’s so well thought of from a national perspective. Absolutely changing the game up front.
- Mike Morris has flashed some impressive ability in the game.
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Second half
- Michigan opened the second half with an eight-play, 73-yard drive to go ahead 17-0. Every single play was a run. The Wolverines seemed intent on breaking Washington’s will up front.
- The Wolverines were quite ballsy going for a fourth-and-1 in Michigan territory, up 17-3, but just as Washington was finding some offensive momentum. Had they not converted, it would have let the Huskies back into the game.
- Michigan’s offensive line has looked excellent in run blocking, but pass blocking seems to be a work in progress.
- The maize and blue continue to play with fire by not going for the jugular. Yes, when the Wolverines were up 24-3, that was working. But Washington scored a touchdown and Michigan punted on the ensuing possession, up only two scores. The lack of killer instinct from the offensive side of the ball is a little troubling.
- Josh Ross looks vastly improved in coverage from a year ago.
- Michigan stayed in a single-high safety look defensively pretty much all game. Washington punished the Wolverines often late by hitting the underneath routes. While Michigan did very little in terms of disguising what it was doing, finally, as Washington was driving the field on third and fourth down halfway through the fourth quarter, Mike Macdonald mixed it up and forced a turnover on downs.
- The Wolverines staying with full ball-control offense at the end, keeping the ball out of Washington’s hands.
Final thoughts
OK, yes — this was a relatively boring game with very little fireworks. Both teams were intent on running the ball, which makes less sense in Washington’s case because it showed no proclivity against Montana at being able to actually do so. For Michigan, getting over 300 yards for the second consecutive week, it makes sense. However, rushing at the expense of being a bit more balanced by passing the ball, it makes you wonder a bit. Yes, three things can happen when you throw the ball and two of them are bad, but Michigan is going to need to pass the ball against teams like Wisconsin, Michigan State, Penn State, and Ohio State.
Regardless, Michigan bullied Washington up front, and that’s a welcome sign, both of the health of the offensive line and the tailbacks. It was still a resounding win. We’ll see if Michigan stays with its ground and pound next week when it takes on Northern Illinois.
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