Let the old ways die. The team insists 2021 was a starting point. #GoBlue
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — When it comes to the national perception of Michigan football at the moment, the Wolverines get some respect after having beaten Ohio State before going on to win the Big Ten and advance to the College Football Playoff. But the idea that the maize and blue will repeat seems rather far-fetched in the eyes of many.
While some of that is paying deference to an Ohio State team that’s been beyond consistently good, if not elite, the other part is a disbelief that Michigan can reload and repeat. A fair question, and one this team hopes to dissuade pundits of.
As the Wolverines ready themselves for the 2022 season, their sights are set differently, higher than last year. Last season, the focus was on ending the drought to the Buckeyes. This year, the team wants to beat all of the rivals in the same year, win the conference, get back to the College Football Playoff, and then some.
“Our goals for the season is different,” junior wide receiver Roman Wilson said. “Last year was more like beat our rivals. But this year is more like we want it all, we want to beat our rivals, go to the playoffs, Big Ten Championship, all that. We want to come for it all — we do. We don’t want to be what old Michigan was like, we want to set a new standard for us.”
[lawrence-related id=61902,61813,61627,61599]
Old Michigan. That is a team that has high expectations but falters mightily once the spotlight is on. The 2007 team. 2012. 2019. Years when Michigan football was expected to be among the country’s best and simply failed to succeed.
For Wilson and his teammates, they’re no longer settling for mediocrity. They no longer want a satisfactory year to be 8-4 or 9-3. Like how Ohio State head coach Ryan Day said at Big Ten media days in July, that the Buckeye standard is higher than 10-2, that’s what Wilson and the Wolverines want — better than very good — elite. And they know that the maize and blue have not lived up to the hype in years that weren’t 2021.
“It’s no surprise that we haven’t done that well in the past few years,” Wilson said. “We want to take our game up here. We want to be considered one of the best when we leave this program.”
That’s all good and well to want something, but for a want to become a reality, there has to be action involved. Wilson says that’s been the case thus far in fall camp, especially compared to previous years. He sees how much better things have been.
When the Big Ten Network came to Ann Arbor last week, Dave Revsine raved about what he saw in practice, noting that this team appears further along than last year’s Big Ten Championship team. Wilson says that there’s been something of a mentality shift inside the locker room, and it’s helped propel the Wolverines as they ready themselves for the 2022 season.
“Just like effort and energy,” Wilson said. “When I was a freshman, I always felt like we was working hard. But — just the difference we’ve come (along) in the amount of like energy and the guys really want to. It just feels different. It’s like, you can’t even explain it.”
“People talk (expletive deleted) to each other (in practice), they get upset over plays. And nobody likes to lose — everyone’s a sore loser. So this is just — it’s competitive.”
Fans will get to see whether or not the continual renewed energy, which started last year, will pay dividends for a second consecutive year, starting on Sept. 3 when Michigan hosts Colorado State for the season opener.
There are a lot of playmakers at the position this year. #GoBlue
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — It’s no secret — at least in Ann Arbor, that Michigan football has a loaded wide receivers room.
From last year, the Wolverines return everyone except Daylen Baldwin, who finished sixth when it comes to overall receiving yards. Ronnie Bell is back after tearing his ACL in the 2021 season opener, leading receiver Cornelius Johnson returns for his senior year, Mike Sainristil may be moonlighting at defensive back but he could still play receiver, while Roman Wilson, A.J. Henning, Andrel Anthony, and Cristian Dixon all should be factors. As could the three freshman wideouts.
Wilson is entering his third season on the team, and while that usually would signal that he’s ready to take on a larger role, given the breadth of talent in the unit, he along with the other receivers are more so just fighting to get their shot in practice.
“For me, it has been different because I feel like you’re no longer fighting to be a starter, you’re just fighting to get like reps in practice, and you know, just better yourself,” Wilson said. “Like no matter where you are as a veteran, all 19 receivers are just trying to get as many reps as they can. So, it’s not just fighting to start, but it’s fighting to get better.”
[lawrence-related id=61627,61603,61601]
The Wolverine offense has the opportunity to be much more prolific in the passing game this season given how much talent it has at wideout, along with returning quarterbacks Cade McNamara and J.J. McCarthy. But, there is only one ball, and only one receiver can make a play at any given time. And considering there are also threats to catch the ball from the tight end position as well as at running back, to become a reliable pass catcher means separating yourself.
But how does one do that, especially in fall camp? Wilson says it’s about consistency as well as football acumen.
“I feel like the one way to separate yourself is to be consistent and reliable,” Wilson said. “You got to know what’s going on at all times and you got to make plays when the ball comes your way.”
Wilson feels like he better understands the challenges before him now that he’s in his third season at the college level. Thought to be the fastest receiver on the team, the former four-star from Honolulu, Hawaii is more focused and has a better grasp of what it takes to succeed.
That means working harder, smarter, and not listening to any outside noise there might be. That, and being team-focused rather than on his own individual accomplishments.
“Something big for me is I put a lot more effort and energy into things,” Wilson said. “I gotta stop caring about what people think. And I just got to go out there and bring good vibes and just have fun.
“Not caring but stop thinking so much. Kind of just be in a space where I’m just focused on football and focus on winning games. That’s all that really matters.”
Wilson broke out in Week 5 last year against Wisconsin, but he was lost for several weeks due to a wrist injury he sustained in Madison. He’s healed enough, but he says that there will always be pain and some limitations there.
Still, he doesn’t think it will inhibit his play on the field.
“I can still feel it. Like it still hurts. I can’t do push-ups and not push off,” Wilson said. “I can’t really bend it. But I wouldn’t say it bothers me though.
“It’s just gonna be like this rest of my life. I just gotta deal with it.”
LINCOLN, Neb. — Michigan football was already short-handed at wide receiver with Ronnie Bell having been injured in Week 1, and it will be even more short-handed now on the road at Nebraska.
Rumors swirled all week about a hand/wrist injury to sophomore wide receiver Roman Wilson. While the severity of it is currently undetermined, Wilson did not travel with the team to Lincoln and therefore will be out vs. Nebraska, per reports. Wilson had a career-best six receptions for 81 yards against Wisconsin.
Sources tell The Michigan Insider Wilson sustained an injury versus Wisconsin that will sideline him for an indefinite period. He is expected to be reevaluated after Michigan’s bye week, which will come after tonight’s game.
With Wilson out, Michigan football will likely rely more heavily on fellow sophomore A.J. Henning, who has excelled in punt return duties, showcasing electric playmaking ability, but hasn’t been included often on the offensive side of the ball, save for jet sweep situations. According to PFF, Henning has played 63 offensive snaps thus far in 2021.
Michigan and Nebraska will kick off at 7:30 p.m. EDT at Memorial Stadium.
MADISON, Wis. — The fans slowly filled into Camp Randall Stadium, the student section still half-full at kickoff.
The Badgers, and their fans by proxy, are used to seeing winged helmets bowed in defeat once 60 minutes of game time have concluded. But on Saturday, Michigan would not be denied.
Bolstered by a new-look, aggressive defense that made a typically stout offensive line look pedestrian, at best, the offense had to find a way to match. A week beforehand, against a seemingly improved Rutgers team, it had stalled, sputtering its way to culmination, relying on a bending, but not breaking, defense to carry the day.
On Saturday, that wouldn’t be the case.
Though it took a moment to get going, the offense came out swinging. This was a different version of body blows than the 2018 offense, which slowly and methodically wore down defenses over the course of a game. This wasn’t even the same offense that rumbled for 300-yards rushing the first three weeks of the season. Against Wisconsin, the nation’s top run defense, despite midweek confidence that they’d be able to move the ball on the ground, the stodgy nature of the staff wasn’t going to stubbornly and perpetually run into a brick wall in an attempt to stick a square peg into a round hole.
It appeared that might be the case to some degree early, as a dive play on the second fourth-down attempt on the first drive was stuffed at the line of scrimmage. But once the defense stood tall, forcing four-straight three-and-outs, the offense was determined to put the game away early and for good, striking first and often.
“Felt great. Wisconsin, on film, they’re known to stop the run, so we knew going into this game that we were gonna throw it a little bit more,” quarterback Cade McNamara said. “I thought overall the offense did a good job.”
[vertical-gallery id=47218]
So how much of a conscious strategy was it for the Wolverines to change things up? To suddenly shift gears after a third of the season’s identity had been forged?
The next week, with a stout Washington defense coming to town, Harbaugh noted that the pass defense was too stellar to try and win the game through the air. Fans grumbled, despite a dominant performance in the trenches and on the ground — not because the 31-10 win wasn’t good enough, but because this trip to Madison loomed. Because there are defenses in the Big Ten predicated on stopping the run. If you haven’t proven that you can pass and you can’t run, what do you do?
So the Wolverines came into Madison, a place it hadn’t won in 20 years, and flipped the script. The narrative was changed at the outset, even if the drive didn’t end in points. But the offense came to play right out of the gates.
“Yeah, we threw the ball on the first play of the game!” head coach Jim Harbaugh said. “That’s what — we’ve been striving to be balanced, throwing the ball and running the ball. Had a very similar approach this week and a team that has a really good run defense. Yeah, it was well-mixed. We really believe in our quarterbacks. We believe in our receivers and our tight ends. We believe we can throw the ball well. We believe we can run it well.
“But, yeah — we’re gonna do both. There’s two ways to travel, right?”
[lawrence-related id=47472,47466,47461,47459]
Gone was the stoic approach to football. Yes, many of the plays were the typical pro-style variety with spread concepts mixed in as we’ve seen in offensive coordinator Josh Gattis’ tenure. But with McNamara hitting short plays and missing them, alike, that’s when Michigan decided to get on the board in a hurry.
McNamara handed the ball off to running back Hassan Haskins who tossed it right back to him. Wide receiver Cornelius Johnson crossed the field, initially lined up on the right side, but streaking towards the left corner of the end zone, where he had a beat on the coverage. McNamara hit him in stride and put seven on the board.
Cornelius Johnson marches into the end zone after reeling in a flea-flicker pass from Cade McNamara via Hassan Haskins. Photo: Isaiah Hole
These things have been in the Wolverines’ arsenal, but we’re just now seeing them for the first time, in a big, must-win game if the overall narrative of the season, itself, has truly been flipped.
“The flea-flicker is something we were practicing throughout camp — fall camp, August, September,” Johnson said of his first of two touchdowns on the day. “We got to bring it out of our bags. We got to dig into our toolkit and bring out the right tool for the right moment. That one we were able to execute.”
Though the offense had just put three on the board to stretch the lead, 13-3, as the first half waned, Graham Mertz and the Badgers weren’t intent on being dominated. With seconds left, Wisconsin drove the field as Mertz hit Chimere Dike twice for 54 yards, which included a perfect strike in the end zone, threading the needle to where Michigan safety Daxton Hill couldn’t reach it.
Previous Michigan teams would have entered the locker room befuddled and downtrodden, down on their luck. But this version, on both sides of the ball, was determined to change their fate.
The defense stood tall, knocking Mertz and Badgers tight end Jake Ferguson out through impressive physical plays. And the offense responded by putting together a five minute, 29-second drive that culminated on a J.J. McCarthy fourth-down, goal line keeper which put the Wolverines back up two scores.
J.J. McCarthy is pushed into the end zone by his teammates to push the score, 20-10. Photo: Isaiah Hole
It took until the next quarter before Michigan put the Badgers away for good, but they eventually did, and they did so with impunity.
“We just wanted to make sure, coming into the locker room, that we had a good plan going into the second half,” Johnson said. “We practiced a lot of plays over the course of this past week coming up to this trip we took to Madison. We wanted to make sure that all of the plays we practiced during the week we were able to bring out in the second half and execute those to the best of our ability.”
For this offense, though, it all started on that first drive, when Harbaugh kept them out there for two consecutive first downs on the wrong side of midfield. The first one made it, the second didn’t.
Still, they knew that Harbaugh and the offensive staff had confidence in them due to the faith of making such gutsy calls so early in the game.
“The playcalling was amazing,” wide receiver Roman Wilson said. “Just on fourth down, I feel like a statement — a statement play. We’re not gonna back down.”
For once, we saw Michigan refusing to rest on its laurels. It entered Saturday knowing it was elite at running the ball. But with Wisconsin’s strength matching the Wolverines’ strength, Harbaugh chose not to take the road less traveled and instead take the path of lesser resistance.
“I kinda knew going into this game that it would be difficult to run the ball,” McNamara said. “I accepted the challenge. We got the dub. So next. That’s all I got!”
No. 14 Michigan traveled to Madison to take on the Wisconsin Badgers on Saturday. The Wolverines haven’t won up in Madison since 2001.
All streaks must come to an end. The Wolverines won their first game at Camp Randall in 20 years with a final score of 38-17.
In the first half, Michigan came out dominating, especially on the defensive side. The Badgers had four straight three-and-outs to start the game. The Wolverines led the game 13-3 with 20 seconds left in the second quarter, but the Michigan defense apparently fell asleep, and Graham Mertz threw a couple of long passes — with one of them being a touchdown. The maize and blue went into the locker room up 13-10 at halftime.
The second half started out just like the first half begun Michigan dominance — but it stayed that way the rest of the game. The Wolverines defense was constantly getting pressure on Mertz and Chase Wolf where they had zero time to make good throws. The defense forced two turnovers in the second game en route to a big Michigan victory.
We even got to see a touchdown run and pass from JJ McCarthy in this blowout victory against the Badgers.
Here are three things we learned after the Michigan win.
In accordance with Michigan football policy, the media isn’t allowed to upload more than 5 minutes of footage from any press conference. But we found our way around that. Giving you the best of every press conference, we cut out the questions to give you the straight answers, with the most interesting parts of each media availability taking center stage.
WolverinesWire presents our new series: RECAP in five minutes or less.
[lawrence-related id=41764,41761,41717]
Topics include:
• How Joel Honigford switched from offensive line to tight end
• Playing against Giles Jackson
• Why Chuck Filiaga is playing with a nasty streak now
• Why Michigan is preparing for Ohio State, even as it prepares for Washington
Michigan football WR Giles Jackson shares why he feels the offense has looked great at times and sputtered in others.
[jwplayer iLOLiLL5-XNcErKyb]
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — In Big Ten Week 1, it appeared that the Michigan offense was unstoppable, only punting once as it just never even grazed the brake pedal against Minnesota.
Since, however, it’s look great on some drives, while most have been terribly uninspiring.
The Wolverines have started slow out of the gates in all three games. Though the very first play of the season was a big game, against Minnesota, penalties caused the maize and blue to go three-and-out after that, and then the next two games featured three-and-outs to start things off, as well.
Michigan didn’t lead at all in the past two outings, both losses, and though the offense put up 48 points in Week 1, it only managed 24 against Michigan State and 21 against Indiana.
So what does the offense need to do in order to get back into form? Sophomore wide receiver Giles Jackson says that what the team does in practice is inconsistent, and its leading to the same thing happening once facing off against a different color jersey.
“I think we just have to be more consistent, like in practice,” Jackson said. “We practice good, Monday through Wednesday – the last couple Thursday practices haven’t been so well. We gotta pick it up – be more consistent in games, instead of just relying on one or two drives, doing good on one drive, taking it off. We just have to keep our foot on the gas the whole time.
“Thursday – that’s usually our last practice before Saturday. I think it’s not as intense, because we’re not in full pads. I think that carries a big role in it and we’re more laid back.”
[lawrence-related id=29938,29936,29927,29925]
Additionally, Michigan is implementing a lot of new players — whether it be in a full-time capacity or as key reserves.
Last season, at the wide receiver group, the primary targets were juniors Donovan Peoples-Jones and Nico Collins as well as sophomore Ronnie Bell. Bell has continued his trajectory from a year ago, with 14 catches for 269 yards in three games — an average of 19.21 yards-per-catch, sixth in the conference, and that’s with more catches than any player ahead of him. But outside of Bell, Michigan is relying on a lot of players with inexperience, comparably. The second-leading receiver is Cornelius Johnson, a sophomore, with 9 catches for 134 yards. Then, it’s freshman Roman Wilson with 8 catches for 118 and Jackson with 10 receptions for 81 yards.
It’s an assuredly young receiving corps, and Jackson says that’s led to some lapses during the week.
“We’re a young receiver group – there’s some things we don’t – we’re not as focused as we should be,” Jackson said. “In the meeting room, we should be taking notes – we don’t take as much notes as we should be. It’s just the little things for us. It’s all there, we just have to put it all together. When it’s all together, we’ll be a really good offense and really good receiving room.”
So, outside of that, what does the group have to work on?
Compared to their predecessors, outside of the aforementioned Johnson, this group is relatively diminutive in stature. So it’s that much more imperative that they play bigger than their size.
Outside of that, they’re not getting as much separation as they were in Week 1 than in Weeks 2-3. The lack of focus certainly has encumbered them on that front.
“We definitely have to work on contested catches,” Jackson said. “We’re definitely not the biggest group, obviously. I’d say contested catches is what we need at this point and creating more separation on our routes.”
Beyond that, three Michigan receivers are in the top ten when it comes to drop rate in the Big Ten. Freshman A.J. Henning and sophomore Mike Sainristil each have drops, whereas fellow freshman WR Roman Wilson has three. Ronnie Bell also has two, and tight end Erick All leads the conference with four drops thus far.
The Wolverines will likely need a near-flawless game on that front with No. 13 Wisconsin coming to town on Saturday night.
Michigan football stumbled in the 38-21 loss to Indiana yesterday. How did each position grade out in the season-defining loss?
[jwplayer oJbneJEJ-XNcErKyb]
The 2020 Michigan football team suffered a season-defining 38-21 loss Saturday to Indiana as it lost to the Hoosiers for the first time since 1987. This loss eliminates any hopes and dreams for the Wolverines to hoist a championship trophy, whether in the conference or in front of the country.
The Wolverines offense once again wasn’t able to put up points after failing to put up over 24 points last week. The running game didn’t exist, and the Wolverines needed to sling the ball around to try and spark a comeback. The defense for Michigan was a huge issue as well. It didn’t have an answer for Indiana’s passing attack: The secondary was torched all day.
While this loss doesn’t hurt as badly as the loss last week, considering Michigan State lost to Iowa 49-7 this week, it still isn’t what Michigan needed to show in front of the country. Indiana is a good football team. On paper, Michigan is better, but when it came to it happening on the field, the Hoosiers were the better team yesterday. How did each position do in the loss?
Offense
Quarterback: C+
Starting quarterback, Joe Milton was asked to pull this offense out of the hole they were put in and lead them to another comeback. While he didn’t throw the football as much as he did last week, Milton could still make some good plays, but it could have been a better showing for the young quarterback. Milton finished the game going 18-of-34 for 344 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions, along with five carries for negative-9 yards.
Milton had to escape pressure many times and was sacked three times. The first interception Milton threw was a mistake solely on Milton. He seemed to have underthrown a pass, but that wasn’t the issue itself. He didn’t see cornerback Jaylin Williams near the receiver as he intercepted the pass. The second interception he needed to make a play and threw it deep. That one you can’t blame him for entirely.
Milton also didn’t have the help he was looking for during the game. Multiple players dropped passes they should have caught, but they aren’t alone in the mistakes. Milton overthrew a few passes and was just a touch too hard on his throws. Twice his receivers had to dive for the ball, and both came up just short. It was Milton’s worst game as the starting quarterback, and for his worst performance so far, it still wasn’t a bad game overall.
Running Back: D
The rushing attack saw no life against the Hoosiers. Hassan Haskins saw the most carries with six for 19 yards; he was the leading rusher. Chris Evans was next with three carries for five yards. Zach Charbonnet only had one carry for four yards. Now the poor grade for the running backs isn’t all on them. With no holes created by the offensive line, the backs struggled to move the ball forward.
Michigan had to abandon the running game being down by 17 at halftime, so they weren’t given much of a chance in the final two quarters. When the running game fails to live up to expectations for the Wolverines, the offense struggles as a whole.
Wide Receiver: C+
Though the team had 344 yards through the air, one wide receiver had almost half of those yards. Ronnie Bell had six catches for 149 yards and a touchdown. Another wide receiver that had a big day was Cornelius Johnson, who finished with four catches for 82 yards and a touchdown. Freshman wide receiver Roman Wilson was the final receiver to catch a touchdown on his lone catch for 13 yards.
While some big plays were made by the receivers catching the ball, they also made big plays by dropping the ball. Some of the throws were overthrown or too high for them; that is on Milton. Others were right in the breadbasket, and they couldn’t hold on. They didn’t have issues getting open against Indiana, but they had issues holding onto the football, and when you can’t run the football and struggle to catch it, your offense will continue to fail over and over again.
Tight End: D
Another unit that had issues with drops was tight end. Starter Nick Eubanks had one catch for 22 yards but had a drop as well. Backup Erick All had a drop as well as that would be his only target of the game. The groups blocking didn’t help the running game either, and both of them need to have a better game next week if they are going to try and win.
Offensive line: F
With two starters out of the lineup, no position saw a bigger challenge than the offensive line. Even with two new starters, left tackle Karsen Barnhart and left guard Zak Zinter, the offensive line shouldn’t have performed this poorly. They struggled to keep Milton free from pressure: He was sacked three times and had to escape the pocket to try and keep passing plays alive too many times. The running game suffered the most with the way the offensive line played. If this unit isn’t able to fix its problems, this season could get even worse.
Michigan football wasn’t able to take down Michigan State in the 27-24 loss yesterday. How did each position grade out in the big loss?
[jwplayer GQIqPfvq-XNcErKyb]
After starting the season with a big win over Minnesota, Michigan took a big step back as it was upset by Michigan State, 27-24. The loss was an unexpected disaster that could derail the Wolverines’ 2020 season.
The Wolverines offense was shut down against the Spartans defense, a complete 180 after putting up 49 points the previous week. The Wolverines had issues passing and running the football. Neither could move the chains.
Michigan didn’t lose because one unit or one play changed the outcome. Overall, Michigan was outplayed by the Spartans, and it seemed MSU wanted it more than Michigan. The loss puts Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh and his team back to the drawing board. It starts by looking back at how each unit performed in the game. How would each position grade out in the loss?
Offense
Quarterback: B
Starting quarterback Joe Milton was asked to do more than what was expected coming into this game. Milton finished 32-of-51 for 300 yards and 12 carries for 59 yards. Despite Milton throwing for 300 yards, the passing attack wasn’t very effective in putting up points and moving the ball down the field against MSU. Milton’s wide receivers weren’t able to get open, and multiple drops didn’t help.
Milton faced a lot of pressure and had to leave the pocket countless times. There was even a moment where Milton stood up in the pocket and took a huge hit while throwing a pass that was completed. Milton made a few risky decisions, and on the final drive, he kept throwing short passes over the middle when the time was important. It wasn’t as good as a performance last week, but Milton still played a sound game overall.
Running Back: C
Michigan’s rushing attack went from being the main source of offense to being a unit that struggled to get the ball rolling. Hassan Haskins was the top running back once again, finishing with eight carries for 56 yards and a touchdown, while he was also 0-of-1 on a halfback pass play that was almost intercepted. He wasn’t the only running back to find the end zone. Freshman Blake Corum scored twice with five carries for 15 yards.
Zach Charbonnet was held to a quiet five carries for three yards, while Chris Evans had three carries for 10 yards. Milton was the leading rusher, and when your quarterback is your leading rushing threat, that isn’t the best thing for your running backs. The group struggled all game to break tackles and find any hole to gain yardage against this defense. It seems as if you can slow or stop the Wolverines ground game, you have a better chance of winning.
Wide Receiver: C
Despite having 300 yards in the air, Michigan only scored on the ground. Multiple wide receivers dropped passes yesterday, and there were issues with separation between the receivers and the MSU defensive backs. Giles Jackson was the top wide receiver with seven catches for 58 yards. Freshman Roman Wilson got involved heavily and finished with five catches for 71 yards.
The top wide receiver last year, Ronnie Bell, had four catches for 46 yards. Cornelius Johnson, who didn’t get involved last week, had five catches for 52 yards. Michigan’s wide receivers couldn’t elevate their level of play when the Wolverines needed it most. When the Wolverines needed a strike downfield, they weren’t able to do so. This offense is dependent on the receivers beating their defenders, and if they are unable to do so, it falls flat on its face.
Tight End: C+
Starting tight end Nick Eubanks made his 2020 debut, but he couldn’t do much through the air with just one catch for five yards. Erick All, who started last week, had three catches for 13 yards. All had an impressive double block in the game where he blocked one player, then moved over and blocked another to help the running back gain yards. Overall the group wasn’t effective through the air, and the blocking was fine but could have been better to help the running game.
Offensive line: D
No offensive unit did worse in the loss than the offensive line. This line went from looking like a top line in the conference to looking like the unit has four new starters across the board. The linemen faced a lot of heavy pressure from Michigan State. While they only allowed one sack again, the pressure Milton faced was different than what he faced last week. Milton had to leave the pocket countless times to keep plays alive and to avoid sacks.
Not only did linemen struggle to help the passing attack, but they also struggled heavily helping the running game move the ball. There were never really holes for the running backs to find. Michigan State stuffed the running lanes and force the running backs to bounce outside, where they wouldn’t find much success either. Starting right tackle Jalen Mayfield left the game early with an injury, so this unit could face even more struggles with its best player possibly missing time.
Michigan football lost against Michigan State in the battle for the Paul Bunyan Trophy. What were the five biggest takeaways from the loss?
[jwplayer g0gX6XZ7-XNcErKyb]
This game wasn’t what anybody expected. Michigan was upset 27-24 against Michigan State. While rivalry games can bring out the best in each team, Michigan State came out better than what anyone expected when taking on the Wolverines. They outplayed the Wolverines for all 60 minutes and deserved to win the game.
The Michigan offense that put up 49 points on the road against Minnesota struggled to put up over 24 points at home. Michigan put up 452 yards of offense after putting up 481 the week before, but the number of yards wasn’t equal to the number of points they had the previous week. The offense this week took a step back, and it allowed Michigan State to stay in the game.
The defense was the biggest unit that changed from last week. The secondary suffered the most, allowing 323 passing yards as big plays through the air as wide receiver Ricky White had eight catches for 196 yards and a touchdown. He was a bigger threat than what Minnesota had last week in wide receiver Rashod Bateman. Check out my five takeaways from the 27-24 loss against Michigan State.
1. The offensive line and secondary got hit with a dose of reality
Michigan’s biggest question marks coming into the season were the secondary and the offensive line. While the offensive line impressed heavily in the week one win over Minnesota, the secondary showed some weak points but still held its own up. This week against MSU, both took a step back in its performance.
The offensive line allowed pressure on quarterback Joe Milton, and the running attack for the Wolverines didn’t have many chances to move the ball with a lack of holes from the line. The secondary was tested multiple times to start the game, and it ended up being the reason why MSU was able to score both times. MSU quarterback Rocky Lombardi went 17/32 for 323 yards and two touchdowns and was able to pick apart the Wolverines secondary.
2. The offensive freshmen stepped up for the team
While the freshmen on both sides of the ball have had plenty of playing time to start the season, the offensive freshmen that came up big and had the team’s biggest impact. Running back Blake Corum had five carries for 15 yards and two touchdowns. While he didn’t see the field that much, offensive coordinator Josh Gattis trusted him inside the red zone to put up points and give the Wolverines offense some life.
When it came to the passing game, freshman wide receiver Roman Wilson was a big part of it. Wilson had four catches for 67 yards, and he had a huge third-down catch in the third quarter as the Wolverines needed to score to tied the game up at 17.
3. Lack of pressure from the defensive front seven cost the defense.
Last week against Minnesota, Michigan was able to get in the backfield countless times. Defensive end Kwity Paye had two sacks, and viper Michael Bennet made a huge forced fumble on a sack that turned into a touchdown for the Wolverines defense. The front seven was a huge factor in the win as they also helped the secondary not see as many attempts in its first test.
This week that was the opposite. The secondary saw more action as the front seven couldn’t get much pressure on Lombardi when he dropped back to pass. Lombardi was never sacked and only saw pressure just once or twice throughout the game. With the front seven not doing what they could, it hurt the secondary and made it easier for MSU to move down the field.
4. Michigan shot themselves with penalties
Last week against Minnesota, Michigan had seven penalties for 80 yards, and while they didn’t hurt them, it needed to be addressed. Going into the game against MSU, penalties needed to be less of a factor as tensions are usually high in this rivalry. While there wasn’t much trash-talk and play by either side, Michigan still made costly mistakes with penalties.
The secondary was the main issue when it comes to getting those penalties. From holding to defensive pass interference, these mistakes kept MSU in the game and would plague the defense to stop the Spartans offense. Michigan had 10 penalties for 86 yards, and these penalties were costly in the end. To lose this game, Michigan needed to limit turnovers and avoid costly penalties; they could only do one of the two.
5. Lack of a run game slowed down the speed in space offense.
Last week we saw three different running backs find the endzone, and the Wolverines had an easy time moving the chains. This week that wasn’t the case. The longest run of the game was just 19 yards for the Wolverines, and overall, Michigan only had 125 rushing yards on 28 carries and two touchdowns.
The MSU defense is a stronger group than what Minnesota was, but with the offensive line not being able to make holes and help the running backs find them, that was a big factor for the group to get going. Michigan had to pass the ball more with the ground game failing, and with an inexperienced quarterback in Milton, that is what MSU wanted to see.
