Three things we think: An important reminder on Michigan’s run game ‘issues,’ much more
By Saturday night / early Sunday morning, Michigan Wolverines football will be a quarter of the way through with the 2023 regular season, after taking on Bowling Green in the non-conference finale. There are still areas that need to be cleaned up, but we offer a reminder not to ignore the larger college football landscape when honing in on the team you root for. That and much more in this week’s column.
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1. Stop watching your team in a bubble
Michigan’s run game has ‘struggled’ through two weeks. After pummeling opponents to the tune of 238.9 rushing yards per game last season, the Wolverines are averaging 150.5 this year, in a much smaller sample size. The ‘issues’ have been the talk of the town, and even head coach Jim Harbaugh and offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore have said the run game needs to improve and is an emphasis heading into the non-conference finale against Bowling Green.
But have some perspective. Early on last season, Michigan’s offensive line had some lapses in pass protection, and the defensive front wasn’t creating consistent pressure (at least not enough of it). Two years ago, Michigan’s pass game was still getting up to speed. The Wolverines completed just 7 passes in a victory over Washington and didn’t pick up a second-half first down until there was 5:24 left in a close win over Rutgers.
Nobody remembered or cared either of the last two Novembers, after Michigan beat down Ohio State, or early December as confetti rained down on the Big Ten champs.
Look around the country. Three teams that joined Michigan in the preseason top 10 have lost games (Alabama, LSU and Clemson).
Arch rival Ohio State just figured out its quarterback situation, but Kyle McCord is still a question mark, as is the offensive line.
Big, bad, two-time defending national champion Georgia had an article written about them titled “Diving more into the Georgia offense and blocking issues.” Yeah, we clicked. Guess what? Opponents have been loading the box against the run, just like they’ve done to Michigan. Ball State held the Bulldogs to just 99 rushing yards and 3.5 yards per carry in a 45-3 game. Fans in Athens are complaining about the same things Michigan supporters are.
We point all of this out as a reminder that there are one or two areas that are a work in progress each and every season, even for the great teams — it’s normal, not abnormal. These aren’t excuses, either, but rather to point out that improvements — sometimes drastic ones — are made throughout a fall, that things aren’t stagnant but instead always moving, shifting and evolving, as do the opponents, the stakes and the motivation.
It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t keep a close eye on the areas that are lagging behind — we are just as much as anyone — but between the great staff and talent Michigan has, there should be a high level of confidence that kinks will be ironed out. They have before.
2. Michigan play calling
The fact that Michigan is facing former Indiana quarterback Connor Bazelak, now with Bowling Green this weekend, has us reminiscing.
The Wolverines’ 31-10 win over Indiana last fall in Bloomington marked Michigan junior signal-caller J.J. McCarthy‘s first 300-yard game. But prior to the staff unleashing McCarthy was a bit of stubbornness against the Hoosier defense, which was loading the box with extra, aggressive defenders hell bent on stopping the run. The infamous ‘game thread’ on our premium message board, The Fort, had some emotional posters calling it the worst play-calling effort of Harbaugh’s tenure at Michigan when the Wolverines were tied up with the Hoosiers at halftime. Then, it was McCarthy’s time to shine and win the game.
“We just had to adjust some of the perimeter plays in the run game were especially being taken away,” the Michigan head coach said after that win. “And I thought we did a good job making those adjustments. Other adjustments were to really put it in J.J McCarthy’s hands.”
It also took the Wolverines probably too long to open up the passing attack in a 51-45 loss to TCU in the Fiesta Bowl. The Horned Frogs and their odd front, too, were selling out against the Michigan run game.
We didn’t see that kind of stubbornness when ECU was stacking the box. And when the run game wasn’t overly successful against UNLV, there was no hesitation to continue putting the game in McCarthy’s hands. The Wolverines have made it a point to get to the edge more on run plays — outside zone was run more last week — and run play-action passes. McCarthy has been great at those, a perfect 12-for-12 this season after leading the nation with 13.1 yards per attempt in 2022.
3. ‘Big game blues’ and Michigan’s run game
We put out a VERY IMPORTANT stat about the Michigan run game on ‘X,’ since the Wolverines are set to wear their all-blue uniform combination, according to sophomore defensive tackle Mason Graham: Michigan has averaged 319.6 rushing yards per game while wearing blue pants at home since the start of the 2021 season.
Twitter user @JoelDeldmanPhD is 1) much smarter than us, with his fancy PhD and 2) was mean in pointing out how “inconsequential” that information is.
Sure, we know it has nothing to do with this weekend’s game (though if Michigan has a lot of success on the ground, we will continue to push this narrative). However, there might be something to it.
The Wolverines have gone blue on blue in some of the biggest home games over the last two seasons. Each time, the offensive line — back to back Joe Moore Award winners and the heart and soul of this program recently — have absolutely dominated. The blue pants are merely an indicator of a big game and Michigan showing up for it. The Wolverines didn’t always do that in previous seasons under Harbaugh.
We’ll keep workshopping it, but one thing is for certain: As a football fan, there’s nothing better than having the more physical team that can impose its will on the opponent, led by a great offensive line.
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