ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Thought to be Michigan football’s biggest strength the past two-plus seasons, the past few weeks haven’t been quite as strong in one aspect along the Wolverine offensive line.
Though there have been some lapses all season in both the run game and in pass protection, the pass protection has particularly struggled in games against Penn State and Maryland. In Happy Valley, on the first pass attempt, when star Nittany Lions edge rusher Chop Robinson used a speed move on right tackle Karsen Barnhart, it appeared that it wasn’t going to be a productive day for quarterback J.J. McCarthy as the signal caller found himself scrambling and caught from behind for a sack. Barnhart had to move to the left side late against Maryland, and similar issues ensued.
Senior right guard Zak Zinter says he’s not worried about his teammate to the right, knowing he’s fully capable. After all, Barnhart has played in The Game before and has been mostly solid in his career.
“Just tell him to be him. Everyone has a bad rap here, there — everyone’s got a bad game, a rep you want back here and there,” Zinter said. “I mean, that’s every game as an offensive lineman. You get beat sometimes, too. Those guys are D-I athletes, too, on the other side. I think it’s just part of the game — just tell him to be him.”
Not to be the bearer of bad news, but Barnhart did not play well in The Game a year ago, according to PFF. Usually checking in with solid grades, the only exception beforehand coming against Nebraska, Barnhart posted a season-low 5.0 in pass blocking against the Buckeyes. That’s 5.0 out of 100. His only worse game as a starter was the aforementioned game against Penn State when he posted a 0.0 grade on 11 dropbacks.
Senior left guard Trevor Keegan insists that the road environment is what caused the problems and that the friendly confines of The Big House should solve some issues. But any other issues, he says, will be cleaned up this week during practice.
“Obviously, pass protection, we haven’t been as crisp and clean,” Keegan said. “You can say what you want about the Penn State game. We couldn’t hear the cadence. So anybody could be put in a bad spot there. But that’s not an excuse.
“But yeah, we’re going to crisp things up. And we know that this is a huge game for us. And as you see the last 20 years, this game is dependent on the trenches and whoever can rush the ball best. So, we know that’s really important for our unit, and we gotta take full advantage of that.”
But what happens if the Buckeye duo of Jack Sawyer and J.T. Tuimoloau manage to get the best of the pass protection — anywhere on the line? Zinter says that Michigan has some cards up its sleeve.
“Just doing what we do,” Zinter said. “They brought another pressure, we’re getting the pressure off the edge. We got some different things that we’ve been adding in to shore things up for sure.”
We’ll know more come Saturday at 12:17 p.m. EST when The Game kicks off.