Michigan Football: Week 1

There is a lot to unpack with this not only being the first game of a new season, but also the first game with a new offensive system and many new starters that need to step up this year.

I plan to do a post like this every week, summarizing everything that happened in the game for the Wolverines. I will dive into every aspect of the team, and what I thought of each positional unit and player that stood out, either for good or bad reasons. Before I do any of that, though, I will provide what I thought of our opponent for the week in order to help give some sort of basis for how Michigan looked, and I will finish with my hopes and expectations for the next week.

Opponent: Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders

Overall, I have to give a lot of credit to the Blue Raiders, they came to play and were not about to just roll over despite being a major underdog. They were scrappy, and played with a ton of intensity, and I respect that. Now, did we gift them most of their points? Yes, and I will get into that later. They took advantage, though, and I can not knock them for it.

They also had a two-quarterback system, which was interesting, given that we ended up doing that as well. Their primary quarterback, Asher O'Hara, was clearly the better of the two, and he is a pretty impressive athlete at the quarterback position. There was at least one instance where I was sure we had him, and then he managed to escape. With that athleticism, they ran a lot of options, which I personally hope will help serve as a warmup for Army and that ridiculous offense they run.

As far as their defense goes, their cornerbacks can not seem to stay on their feet, which was quite entertaining. They also committed possibly the most blatant pass interference penalty I think I have ever seen, and I could not help but laugh at it. Outside of that, nothing really stood out.

I think Middle Tennessee State could really do some damage in Conference USA this year, they certainly have the talent.

Alright, now let's get into the Wolverines and how they looked.

Offense

This game obviously got off to conceivably the worst start possible. On the very first play of the new season, Shea Patterson takes off, which in itself is encouraging because our offense is best when he run. Perfect example is the Northwestern game last year, he took over that game and led us to victory in a tough contest. He then, however, does not cover the ball and brace for contact, and it gets punched out, leading to a turnover. MTSU would then score a few plays later. That was a major punch in the gut, but I hope that it served as a wake up call to the team that they can never be comfortable during the college football season, because that is how you get upset like MTSU's neighbor, Tennessee. Unfortunately, Shea had issues with the ball throughout the game, including a dropped snap and a mishap on a handoff. If we are going to compete for a Big Ten title and potentially make the playoffs like some people are predicting (Even though I personally am not there yet), then we have to take care of the football. It is especially important that the quarterback takes care of it, since he touches the ball every single play. Now, the other quarterback that played significant time, Dylan McCaffrey, I thought looked really good. He only threw two passes, but he completed both of them, and they were nice throws. He definitely runs a lot more than Shea, but if it gets us down the field and scoring like it did in this game, then I certainly do not mind it. There is something about the way he runs, he just seems to glide down the field, that is really the only way I can think to describe it. People can say what they want about why Jim Harbaugh decided he wants to see both of them in game action, but I think it very well could be because McCaffrey is making this quarterback competition closer than many expected. He clearly has a lot of talent, and I am sure many people would rather see him play over Shea. You can really hear it from the fans at the stadium, too. When McCaffrey came in, the stadium erupted into cheers. People think he can really lead us somewhere, and I can not sit here and say I disagree. I love what I have seen from McCaffrey in limited action so far, dating back to last season. Unfortunately, it comes down to the fact that we all just have to trust that Harbaugh will play the guy that gives us the best chance to win.

I was very excited when Michigan hired Josh Gattis, because I have hated our offense, specifically the play calling, every since Harbaugh got here. Overall, I really liked what I saw from our offense in this game (excluding the gimmicky two-quarterback sets, which are only acceptable if they result in big plays every single time). I think the biggest significant difference is how much more often we threw to our wide receivers in this game. I never liked that we seemed so dependent on guys like Zach Gentry and Sean McKeon in our passing game. They are fine players, but not game-breakers, and that is what you really need to have an explosive offense. We have so much talent in our wide receiver corps, and I was very pleased to see us finally utilize it. Donovan Peoples-Jones did not even play, and we still had so much talent on the field. Tarik Black and Nico Collins both did their thing, and did it well. Aside from an uncharacteristic drop over the middle by Collins, those two did exactly what you would hope for from your top two receivers. As for the guys behind them, there is a bit more variation in performance. Ronnie Bell, to put it simply, was very disappointing. He came on well last year, and I was hoping that after hearing all the glowing reviews out of training camp, he would play even better this year. He had a couple bad drops, including a diving one in the end zone, which yes, was very difficult, but it was still catchable. I hope this game was just an anomaly and that he comes out much stronger as the season keeps going. Mike Sainristil was a guy I was hoping to see more of, but unfortunately he did not play very much. From the routes I saw him run, he looked good, and I am confident that more targets will come his way. Now, a guy that I was happy to see was Cornelius Johnson. I loved him as a recruit, I think he has a lot to offer, but I was concerned about how much he would play in a crowded receiver room. He looked good, even though his usage will likely decrease when DPJ returns. The tight ends looked fine, nothing really stood out. My one thought on that positional group is that I am excited to see if Erick All sees the field at some point this year. Outside of that, I do not have any huge expectations for them.

I think the fact that Zach Charbonnet started says everything we need to know about our running backs. He is the real deal. I have anxiously awaited the chance to see him play ever since he committed to Michigan, and I was not disappointed. He showed impressive burst for his size, and was able to shed some tacklers along the way too. I can not wait to continue seeing him play this year. Christian Turner is the perfect compliment to Charbonnet, he is the typical lightning-fast running back that would typically be paired with a back of Charbonnet's size. I expect at least a few big plays from him this year. I was calling for Turner to be Karan Higdon's primary backup last year, as I very much preferred him over Chris Evans. I was not too upset, though, because Tru Wilson did a great job in that role last year. Speaking of Wilson, I was very surprised about how little he played. I expected him to be our primary running back, at least to open the season. If this game is any indication, however, Charbonnet will be our primary back, and I love it.

Our offensive line played fine, they opened up some nice holes for our running backs. The quarterbacks did seem to be pressured a little more than I would like to see, but hopefully that was just some early-season rust that needed to be shaken off.

Defense

This is the unit I think I found most concerning heading into the year. Michigan lost a ton of talent on defense. Guys like Devin Bush and Rashan Gary do not just roll into your program every other year, they are special talents that are not easily replaced. I think that showed up most on our defensive line, where we lost both Gary and Chase Winovich, who played with arguably the most fire on the entire team. I love the guys we have on the ends, Kwity Paye and Aiden Hutchinson, with Josh Uche rotating in, but they are going to really have to step up if we want to really compete with the bigger teams. A pass rush is crucial to the success of a defense, and I worry that if we can not put a good one together, we will struggle on defense this year. Maybe a guy like transfer Michael Danna will step up, or maybe we will find a stud pass rusher from the interior. Carlo Kemp is a good defensive tackle, but he is not really a pass rusher. It would be awesome if a guy like Mazi Smith or Chris Hinton stepped up in a big way. Unfortunately, it is really hard for freshmen to make immediate impact, although Charbonnet, Sainristil, and Johnson are getting looks on offense, so perhaps we will see some freshmen start playing more on the defensive side too.

Our linebackers played well, and they did a good job of not letting the option tear us apart. I really like Josh Ross, I think he has underrated speed that will really help to keep outside runs from going the distance. Khaleke Hudson had a good game, but after last season's letdown I hope that he can really improve and elevate his play. The other linebackers are a bit of a question mark for right now, and against MTSU we saw a mix of Devin Gil and Jordan Glasgow. Glasgow was great for using against the option, and he showed incredible effort when he chased the quarterback down from behind on one play. I expect to see more of him against Army.

One of the most intriguing questions for me going into this game was what our secondary would look like, specifically our corner opposite Lavert Hill, who painfully dropped a would-be pick-six. It looked like it was a mix of Ambry Thomas and Vincent Gray. They both played quite well, Thomas had a nice interception as MTSU was looking to score again, and Gray had multiple nice plays of his own. I especially like Gray because he is a tall cornerback and after watching Charles Tillman terrorize the Lions for many years, I have always wanted my teams to have one. I was pleasantly surprised with how well both of those guys played, hopefully they can keep it up. There is not much to say about our safeties, outside of the fact that Brad Hawkins had quite a few good plays. Josh Metellus is the big returning name back there, and while I love his physicality, he does get called for quite a few unnecessary roughness penalties, so hopefully he can dial it back and avoid those. The guy everyone wants to see, of course, is Daxton Hill. I can not think of a recruit I was more excited to get than Dax, especially after the whole thing where he flipped his commitment to Alabama, then signed with Michigan. He did come in at the end of the game at safety, but he played a lot on special teams, which is good because of his incredible speed. He also took a few minutes while warming up before the game to receive punts, so that may be something to look out for in the future.

Special Teams

Speaking of special teams, I would love to know whose genius idea it was to put Lavert Hill back on punt returns. I could think of at least five other guys off the top of my head I would rather see back there. Lavert is our number one cornerback, so I feel like the risks from putting him out on punt returns far outweigh the rewards. Hopefully after he muffed that one punt that led to another MTSU touchdown, whoever put him back there will decide to go elsewhere for a return man.

I thought Giles Jackson would be a perfect candidate for any and all returns, and in this game he showed that. He looked great on kick returns, I thought he would take the opening kick back like Jehu Chesson against Northwestern a few years back, but he was just stopped. I would love to see him do punt returns too, he has great quicks.

To be completely blunt, I think Jake Moody should be the lone kicker. He has shown nothing but poise and accuracy, dating back to last year when he basically beat Indiana for us. I love Quinn Nordin, I love the intensity he plays with even from the kicker spot, but Moody has shown far more consistency. Nordin kept kicking those low shanks last year that would just kill us, and we can not afford that. We need dependency from the kicker, and Moody brings just that.

Finally, Will Hart is good at punting.

Next Week

Since the schedule was announced, I have been wary of the Army game. Army is one of those teams where if you do not do your job, they will sneak up on you and steal a win. Air Force gave us problems just two years ago, so that is still fresh in my memory. The real issue is the offense they run. It is unbelievably run-heavy, and if you get behind, they will just burn the clock on you, taking 10 minutes to drive the ball down the field and then cap it off with a touchdown. If Michigan gets behind, I am very nervous about what will happen. Michigan can not afford to turn the ball over like they did against MTSU. They have to protect the ball, and score touchdowns, not field goals, to really get up on Army. If Michigan forces them to throw the ball more than they want to, then they are very beatable. The other way to beat them is to just stop their ridiculous offense. Unfortunately, that is easier said than done simply because it is so different from every other offense in football. I think Michigan has the players to stop Army, it is just a matter of if they will really show up or get left in the dust. I cautiously expect Michigan to win, but if they start turning the ball over or going three and out, then look out, we could be in a lot of trouble.