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Joel Klatt told WolverinesWire back in July what Michigan needed to do to reach a 10-win season. At the time, it seemed unfathomable. 11 wins and a victory over Ohio State later, the maize and blue are looking to tie a program record 12 wins should it be able to take care of business against Iowa on Saturday in the Big Ten Championship Game.
On Tuesday, Klatt appeared on ‘The Herd with Colin Cowherd’ after having been on the call for The Game, and shared his thoughts about Michigan’s 42-27 win over Ohio State.
“First off, that scene was incredible. That was best environment I’ve ever been at in any sport, any level,” Klatt said. “It was absolutely great. The crowd was phenomenal, the snow added to it obviously, and they did exactly what they needed to do. Ohio State came into this game with a lot of confidence, there’s no doubt about that. But they were banged up on defense and in particular at linebacker. And they had to play in the fourth quarter with basically a nickel defense on the field at all times. And guess what Josh Gattis did for Michigan? He said, ‘I see your structural deficiency.’ Nickel defense meaning you only have two linebackers and five DBs. And he said, ‘I see your structural deficiencies,’ and on the last drive, they didn’t throw a pass! This is a huge credit to Josh Gattis, the offensive coordinator, who is a Broyles Award finalist for the top assistant in college football, because he understood what was on the field and what was happening, so he said to himself, ‘I even don’t need to put the ball in harm’s way, I can just go out there and run the football right down the field,’ and they were able to do that.
“That was a great identity, like you said. And what’s fascinating for me is that Jim Harbaugh, who’s had to chase a few things during his tenure at Michigan — he had to chase defense, ‘OK, I’ve gotta get Don Brown to stop Ohio State,’ and then that didn’t work, so he gets Mike Macdonald. And then he chased Josh Gattis to get the spread offense and then he had to marry it back to — you know what that was? Stanford beating USC in the Coliseum. He went back to what made him great to begin with! It was incredible, the physical domination at the line of scrimmage.”
While Klatt and Cowherd continue to be bullish about the Wolverines’ chances against the Hawkeyes, but Klatt is a little more leery. Still, both anticipate that the maize and blue will be champions once more.
“I don’t think Iowa matches up with Michigan,” Cowherd said. “I thought Wisconsin matched up better but Iowa beat them (by getting the B1G game berth).”
“I agree with that,” Klatt said. “Iowa, I don’t know what they can bring to the table offensively, but that defense is sound. They can turn the ball over. Michigan’s playing for a playoff spot, Cincinnati’s playing for a playoff spot. I think if Oklahoma State wins, Oklahoma State plays.”
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Watch the entire segment:
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