Something always seemed off with this Michigan football team. While the offense has struggled much of the year, there have been games where the offense, mostly, led the way (first half against USC and Minnesota) but the defense faltered (at least in the second half).
Given that the Wolverines were coming off of two losses (at Washington and Illinois), they needed a big win in the worst way. The only problem was that the next game came against an MSU team that was playing with a ton of confidence.
Somehow, some way, Michigan got it done, despite MSU having a ton of success moving the ball early. But now that the Wolverines are 5-3 on the season, the No. 1 team in the country in Oregon comes to town, which will be a significantly more difficult task.
Regardless, second-year defensive tackle Trey Pierce says that last week’s win was just what the team needed before this impending matchup against the Ducks.
“The mood, I think, is confident,” Pierce said. “We’re coming off that Michigan State win. Think we as a team, feel like we can do it. We can compete with the best teams, we just got to put that out there.”
Sure, the Spartans weren’t ranked, just like Michigan. But given how much Michigan’s back was against the wall, being able to come from behind and take a rivalry win was something that the team needed to prove to itself.
So when the Ducks take the field on Saturday, they’ll be facing a team that has a renewed understanding of just how good it can be.
“Huge for us,” Pierce said. “It’s always good to beat up on a rival like that, especially defensively, like how we did it. It’s always good. Always a good confidence boost.”
Michigan and Oregon are set to kick off at 3:30 p.m. EDT with the game nationally broadcast on CBS.