Michigan football, the 3-2-1: Nebraska film review (OL dominance), more
Michigan travels to Minneapolis to take on Minnesota Saturday night, and the Wolverines appear to have kicked it into another gear. The offensive line was coming off the ball hard, the front seven dominant again. Here are three observations about the offense following a dominant win, two on the defense, and one prediction.
Three observations on the Michigan offense after the win at Nebraska
3. The offensive line finally played with intensity throughout. Two things here — it’s probably not a coincidence that they’ve picked up the intensity with their head coach on the sidelines. As good as the coaching staff is, as many have said, the first three weeks were like going into battle without their general. It’s just not the same. But they were firing off the ball, and LaDarius Henderson and Trevor Keegan have really started to find some chemistry on the left side. Some of the combo blocks looked like guys who have been doing it for two or three years. Henderson played well run blocking, and we’d expect him to continue to start. He did get beat across his face a few times in pass protection, though — at other times, he was really solid. But it only takes once to get the quarterback hurt, so he’ll need to clean that up.
Drake Nugent is one of the quickest Michigan centers off the ball we’ve seen. There are times it seems he’s engaged with a defender before the quarterback even receives the snap. And again, Karsen Barnhart looks so much more comfortable at right tackle. This is the group going forward (though Trente Jones, too, was blowing people off the ball. It was good to see the twos dominate, too, after a few weeks of going through the motions).
And shoutout to the tight ends, too, who answered the bell after a subpar first game. Max Bredeson has been a beast (as he should be, as a Bredeson). AJ Barner has really picked it up and looks the part, and Colston Loveland is improving a ton as a blocker.
We’ll say it — these guys were probably bored the first several weeks, but now it’s all coming together.
2. The receivers still aren’t getting great separation … but it was good enough because a) they were making the tough catches, b) they’re adjusting if quarterback J.J. McCarthy is scrambling rather than standing around and c) McCarthy was just so accurate — except on the first throw, on which he knew he got away with one. Senior Roman Wilson was open for a while, and though he wasn’t the first read, McCarthy was late to him. Wilson bailed him out with the elite catch (which happens at times – in no way is this a shot at McCarthy, who was outstanding), and a better defensive back might have picked it.
But Nebraska coach Matt Rhule noted his guys were draping the Michigan receivers in man coverage, and he was right. There wasn’t much room between them and the defenders. Two of the catches in particular — one from grad Cornelius Johnson and one from sophomore Darrius Clemons — were sliding grabs thrown perfectly so only they could catch them. In addition, Wilson — once again — was moving on his second touchdown to get open when he saw McCarthy was in trouble. We’d still like to see a bit more separation, but the room is getting deeper.
1. The backs ran harder than they have all year. They were tentative in the first couple games, and we get it. Both senior Blake Corum and junior Donovan Edwards were coming off injuries, and it’s human nature to want to protect yourself.
Now, though, they’re keeping the legs moving and fighting for those extra yards. That hasn’t been an issue with senior Kalel Mullings, who has the makings of a really good big back. Now that he’s concentrating on it full time, he is becoming a weapon. Our E.J. Holland always said he liked him as a back.
We want to see more of him, frankly, and perhaps that means more of Edwards in the passing game. Of the 11 “inefficient” runs Saturday (3 yards or less), Edwards had 8. We aren’t trying to criticize here — only suggesting Edwards is better in space, and his skills could be better utilized there. He seems to be pressing, though he did make strides against the Cornhuskers.
Two observations on defense
2. The passing plays given up to the middle of the field are easily correctable. But the secondary needs to get better, starting with the “studs.” Sophomore Will Johnson … well, there’s something to be said for missing a lot of practice time, no matter how good you are. He really struggled, both with technique and assignments. In addition to a 56-yarder the Wolverines gave up, another slant would have gone the distance against Johnson had Quinten Johnson not gotten a hand on a ball. As well as the front seven is playing, you don’t want to see those “cheap” big plays.
Part of this will be rectified when these guys get more reps. Safeties Rod Moore and Makari Paige aren’t the same, either, but again, both have missed significant playing time due to injury. The glue guy, grad Mike Sainristil, was on the field for less than 20 plays, too, nursing a lower body injury. Add it up and you get a bit of a mess.
We’d expect this to get cleaned up soon, though. Secondary coach Steve Clinkscale is too good to allow this to linger. And the more reps they get, the better it will look. They have 5 weeks or so before it needs to be really good (at Penn State).
1. The pass rush remains just fine. The Wolverines got to the Nebraska quarterbacks four times for sacks, had three knockdowns at the line of scrimmage, one resulting in sophomore Kenneth Grant’s pick. We’ve never seen a season through five games in which teams have respect the front seven so much that they max protect as much as they have this year. It’s often 6, 7, even 8 on 4 or 5, and the Wolverines aren’t blitzing a ton other than bringing Sainristil off the edge on occasion.
We’ve seen criticism of Michigan senior tackle Kris Jenkins — that’s not warranted. He’s usually being double teamed. The edges are winning a lot of their one-on-one battles and did again Saturday (especially senior Braiden McGregor), though the ball is getting out quickly. Again, part of that has to do with cleaning things up in the middle of the field.
But we have zero concerns about the front seven and expect it to continue to stifle opponents throughout the year.
One Michigan football prediction
Michigan won’t be tested in any of the next four games before meeting Penn State. Yeah, we’re not exactly going out on a limb here given they’ll be monumental favorites in all those games. But there are almost always a few games in season that catch you off guard — at Minnesota in 2015, Illinois at home last year — and become battles you weren’t expecting.
That won’t be the case this year, and we really aren’t worried about the game at Maryland, either. We expect Ohio State to handle the Terrapins this week and bring them back down a notch, and for Michigan to dominate in College Park before the OSU game.
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