Tag: Zach Charbonnet

Ahead of Ohio State, Michigan must rekindle fire in the backfield

Michigan football has had success in the passing game recently, but the ground game has stifled in those weeks. That’s gotta change fast.

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Michigan’s offense has finally seen the type of explosion that everyone has been waiting to see all year. “Speed in space” was what the new offensive coordinator Josh Gattis preached when he was coming to Ann Arbor. Before the recent surge of attack from quarterback Shea Patterson and the passing game, the running game was the bread and butter for the offense. Besides the loss to Wisconsin, Michigan has run for over 100 yards in every game this season before taking on Michigan State.

You could see the offense revert to last seasons scheme where it seemed run-heavy and it helped put up points and win them games. Patterson and the passing game played well still, but the running game was getting more of the attention and praise for helping them gain yards and move the chains.

The defense has been stout for most of the season, but the offense started out flat and inconsistent. After the second-half performance against Penn State, Michigan has seen some life rejuvenated in their team. Head coach Jim Harbaugh’s known for having a run-first attitude on his teams, but that seems to have changed along with the mantra of the offense. While the change has been good for the offense the running game has seemed to take a hit as the passing game as blown up.

Against Notre Dame and Maryland, Michigan put up 458 rushing yards and six touchdowns. In the past two games against Michigan State and Indiana, Michigan has only run for 173 yards and one touchdown. The passing game has seen the opposite trend.

Against Notre Dame and Maryland, Michigan threw for 310 yards and four touchdowns. Against Michigan State and Indiana, Michigan has thrown for 750 yards and nine touchdowns. A complete turnaround as Michigan has thrown for more yards in their last two wins, then the previous two combined.

While it’s positive that the passing game seems to have figured out their issues from early on in the season, it’s negative that the running game has regressed from it. Having a balanced offense that can strike between the tackles, or in the air is huge for any team. While it’s a good thing if you can dominate in one of the two, having both be strong is even better.

Michigan has found the answers to the questions they had when it came to passing, but for them to regress in rushing is a concern ahead of next week’s game ahead of Ohio State. Michigan will be going up against the best defensive player in the country in defensive end Chase Young and he won’t be giving Patterson much time in the pocket to work with, meaning Michigan’s rushing attack must improve if they want to try and win this game next week.

Freshman running back Zach Charbonnet has made an impact in his first season in Ann Arbor, rushing 132 times for 635 yards and 11 touchdowns. Charbonnet has the most rushing touchdowns by a freshman running back in Michigan history, and he has a chance to have the second-most yards in a season by a freshman as he is 107 yards behind Ricky Powers. He has no chance of reaching Mike Hart’s 1,455 yards.

He isn’t alone in the backfield success though, as redshirt freshman Hassan Haskins has played well this season too, rushing 91 times for 483 yards and three touchdowns. His emergence has given the backfield another weapon that can help move the ball without relying solely on Charbonnet.

Michigan has a good ground game and it needs to find out how to get in involved again against Ohio State next week. Young will be a problem even in the running game, but his presence is known in the passing downs. The passing game might have some troubles, so if the running game can work, that can help the passing game get back on track.

In this big of a game next week, Michigan will want to make sure that every aspect of their offense is running smoothly. The passing game seems to have done just that, now the focus is getting the ground game back to what they were earlier in the season. If Michigan can have the passing game of late and the running game from before their last two weeks, this offense could truly give Ohio State’s defense a huge headache next week.

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Halftime Analysis of No. 13 Michigan vs Indiana

Michigan football is up 21-14 against Indiana today at halftime. How are the Wolverines playing as they hold the seven-point lead?

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After their big 44-10 win over Michigan State last week, Michigan had to travel to Indiana to take on the Hoosiers as they look to try and avoid the trap as Ohio State is looming in the background.

The trap started out as one as Indiana drove down the field against the Wolverines and scored off a one-yard touchdown run by running back Stevie Scott. Quarterback Peyton Ramsey was 4/5 for 39 yards and had 13 rushing yards on the drive as he was confident attacking the Wolverines defense.

Michigan wouldn’t be phased by the early score from Indiana, as quarterback Shea Patterson was perfect on the drive, going 7/7 for 79 yards and a six-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Ronnie Bell, his first this season after he’s been struggling to get in the end zone.

Indiana would struggle on their next drive as Ramsey got hit as he threw and safety Daxton Hill, who is starting for the first time this season, intercepted the ball. Michigan wouldn’t move much on their drive and would end up punting the football.

After the interception, Indiana would have another solid drive that went 52 yards on seven plays as Ramsey got into the endzone on a one-yard quarterback sneak to give Indiana the lead once again.

Michigan didn’t let them enjoy the lead for long as once again Patterson helps drive the team down the field. Running back Zach Charbonnet got his first carry for 22 yards to open the field, but Patterson overthrew on two easy touchdown passes. He would want the tough touchdown as he threw a beautiful 11-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones who made a wonderful catch as well. Michigan ties it up at 14.

After three straight punts, two by Indiana and one by Michigan, the Wolverines would break the punt spell as Patterson just threw up an 18-yard pass to wide receiver Nico Collins that would be caught for a touchdown as Collins just used his size to dominate the defender and give Michigan the 21-14 lead, their first of the day.

POSITIVES:

  • Michigan’s passing game is working well once again. Patterson is 13/18 for 176 yards and three touchdowns. Earlier in the year, we saw a more run-first approach for the Wolverines offense as they seemed to adjust to their old playstyle. Now the offense seems to have switched to a pass-first approach as Patterson is playing his best football this season.
  • The wide receivers for Michigan are getting open against the Indiana secondary. On two of the incomplete passes by Patterson, he overthrew two wide-open receivers for touchdowns. The Indiana secondary is having trouble covering the multiple weapons from Michigan as they don’t know what else they can do.

NEGATIVES:

  • Michigan has five penalties so far today for 44 yards. While the yards aren’t much, they have hurt themselves on defense with two penalties in the secondary. On offense, a false start and an intentional grounding forced Michigan to punt on their second possession. Special teams even got a penalty as tight end Erik All was taunting. Just mistakes everywhere by the team that is only helping Indiana stay in this game.
  • Michigan hasn’t had much success when running the football so far, as the team has 16 carries for 56 yards. The longest run as been by Charbonnet who got off a 22-yard run. Besides that big gain, it’s been tough getting yards on the ground for the Wolverines.
  • Punter Will Hart is having his worst game of the season so far today. He has three punts for just 94 yards with his longest being 39 yards. The poor punts gave Indiana some good field position when they came back onto the field on two of the three punts. His third punt was his best so far today, so maybe he has figured out his issues.
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Michigan at Indiana odds, picks and best bets

Previewing Saturday’s Michigan at Indiana college football matchup, with college football betting odds, picks and best bets

The Michigan Wolverines (8-2, 5-2 Big Ten East) and Indiana Hoosiers (7-3, 4-3 East) battle at “The Rock” in Bloomington, Ind., in a key divisional battle Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET.

We analyze the Michigan-Indiana odds and betting lines, while providing college football betting tips and advice on this matchup.

Michigan at Indiana: Three things you need to know

1. Michigan has covered four in a row, but is 3-8 against the spread in its past 11 games on the road and 0-3-1 ATS in its past four meetings with Indiana.

2. Wolverines freshman RB Zach Charbonnet has rolled up 589 rushing yards and 11 total touchdowns.

3. Hoosiers RB Stevie Scott III has posted 791 rushing yards with 10 total scores, while WR Whop Philyor is good for a team-high 863 receiving yards.

Get some action on this game or others by placing a bet at BetMGM!

Michigan at Indiana: Odds, betting lines and picks

Odds via BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated Thursday at 2 p.m. ET.

Prediction

Michigan 40, Indiana 24

Moneyline (ML)

Michigan (-345) is a moderate favorite on the road, and the Wolverines are not going to be caught looking ahead to their titanic battle next weekend with Ohio State. However, they’re too expensive on the road against an underrated Indiana (+265). The Hoosiers would have been a much more tempting play had QB Michael Penix Jr. not gone down with an injury.

New to sports betting? A $10 wager on Michigan to win would return a profit of $2.90.

Against the Spread (ATS)

MICHIGAN (-8.5, -115) will come home from Bloomington with a hard-fought double-digit victory. Indiana (+8.5, -106) will keep it close — and might even be tied or leading at halftime — but the deeper Wolverines will pull away in the second half.

Over/Under (O/U)

The OVER (53.5, -110) is 5-1 in Michigan’s past six on the road, and 6-2 in the Wolverine’s past eight inside the conference. The over is 5-0 in Indiana’s past five at home against teams with a winning road record, and 10-4 in the Hoosiers’ past 14 inside the Big Ten, too.

Get some action on this game or others, place a bet with BetMGM today. And for more sports betting picks and tips, visit SportsbookWire.com.

Follow @JoeWilliamsVI and @SportsbookWire on Twitter.

Gannett may earn revenue from audience referrals to betting services.  Newsrooms are independent of this relationship and there is no influence on news coverage.

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3 Things to Watch for Against Michigan State

Michigan football takes on Michigan State this week as the in-state rivalry gets renewed. Check out which three things you should watch for.

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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?

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5 Players to Watch Against Michigan State

Michigan football takes on Michigan State this week in the battle for the Paul Bunyan Trophy, who are the key players to watch for it?

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The biggest week for the state of Michigan when it comes to football is here. Michigan vs Michigan State. The Wolverines are coming off a bye week and with the extra week off they should be extra prepared for this game. The Spartans are coming off a 37-34 loss to Illinois, a game where they were up 28-3 and lost the lead.

The Spartans will be coming into this game upset and angry with themselves with the loss last week, and a win over Michigan would be the perfect cure for it. Michigan will be looking to keep its possible New Year’s Six Bowl hopes alive as they continue their recent hot streak after losing to Penn State.

Before you watch the game on Saturday, check out these five players you should watch when the action unfolds.

1. QB Shea Patterson – MICHIGAN

Last season against Michigan State, Michigan quarterback Shea Patterson went 14/25 for 212 yards for two touchdowns. This year he’d like a similar, if not better performance in front of the home crowd against his in-state rival. It won’t be easy though as this is Michigan State’s biggest game of the year. It doesn’t help that the Spartans are 4-5 either, as a loss will put them to the brink of being bowl ineligible.

MSU doesn’t want to avoid a bowl game, so winning this game will be even more important as a loss would mean they need to finish the game on a two-game winning streak to play in a bowl game in December. Patterson and the offense is going up against the 24th ranked defense and with desperation and grit in the Spartans mindset, their effort will be turned up to 11 for this game.

For Michigan State’s offense, their quarterback could be dangerous with his arms and legs…
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How Chris Evans return to Michigan adds explosiveness to backfield

Michigan football will have running back Chris Evans return to action next year, how will his explosiveness change the backfield?

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Back in February of this year, Michigan football simply announced that running back Chris Evans was “not a member of the football team at this time.” Evans would later post on Twitter that he was going through some academic issues and would continue his career at Michigan.

In July, there wouldn’t be any changes and he would be suspended for the entire 2019 season, as he would explain on Twitter that he was no longer enrolled in the university. Head coach Jim Harbaugh said the decision was made by the university, not the football team. Also that Evans had a chance to rejoin the team in the spring, but that wasn’t able to get resolved by then. Evans said the situation was “an academic mistake. Not my grades. I’m on pace to graduate.”

Since then we haven’t heard much about Evans, until last week.

Evans posted this on Twitter, hinting at his return to the field in Ann Arbor in 2020.

That talk continued today, as Harbaugh spoke to the media and addressed the Evans situation.

“Chris will be reinstated for the winter term,” Harbaugh said. “When he gets back in school he will be able to participate fully in football again. My knowledge of the situation is that he had a productive meeting to see if he could be reinstated back into school and my understanding that he will be for the winter term. We’ll welcome him back to the football team.”

The winter term begins in January, and no that doesn’t mean that if Michigan plays in a bowl game in January that he will be on the team. Michigan doesn’t start their winter academic term until Monday, January 8.

What does this do for the 2020 running back room? Only make it better. Evans was looked at as a possible starter heading into his senior year this year with running back Karan Higdon graduating and the other being underclassmen or freshman and not having much playing time.

The Wolverines have missed Evans speed in the backfield, and his ability to be a shifty receiving back as well. The running game has been fine without him though, as Hassan Haskins and Zach Charbonnet have stepped up big this season.

Haskins has 72 carries for 426 yards and two touchdowns, while Charbonnet has 117 carries for 559 yards and 11 touchdowns. While they have been able to score and get some nice carries, the receiving aspect hasn’t been the same without Evans. Haskins and Charbonnet have a combined 11 catches for 39 yards.

In his three years at Michigan, Evans has a total of 304 carries for 1,722 yards for 14 touchdowns, along with 40 catches for 392 yards and two touchdowns. Evans saw an increased workload after his freshman year in 2016 and was seen as a threat on the ground with his speed, and as a receiver.

In 2020, Haskins and Charbonnet will return and with the addition of Evans means the Wolverines will have a nasty trio in the backfield. The elusive back in Charbonnet, the bruiser in Haskins, and the speed and receiving back in Evans.

Another year learning the playbook will be huge for the younger guys. Having Evans being used as a weapon in the passing game can help the spread offense out as the Wolverines haven’t used the running back much as a receiving threat this season. Evans returning will be a big shot in the arm to the backfield next year, and something everyone will be talking about heading into the 2020 season.

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