Michigan Monday: The Calm Before The Swarm

Michigan secured bowl eligibility on Saturday with a 50-6 win over Northwestern. People said it couldn’t be done but the Wolverines proved everyone wrong with their sixth win of the season.

There is a pointless nature to writing about a game against a 4-7 Northwestern team with a 10-1 Ohio State waiting in the wings. This game told us nothing about the Wolverines that we didn’t already know.

In fact, this was about the best version of Michigan, complete with big hits in the running game and small hits in the passing game.

As expected, the defense dominated. The Wolverines held the Wildcats to 127 yards of total offense, which is about half the yards Northwestern managed against Ohio State one week earlier (251).

(And as we know, the best way to measure two teams that are about to play in a few days is via the transitive property.)

Michigan did a good job of not losing a game they should always win, so that’s a positive.

When Michigan Was On Offense

Michigan had their highest-scoring game of the season, putting 50 on the board against Northwestern. Their previous high was a whopping 30 points in their season opener against Fresno State.

Quarterback Davis Warren completed 26-of-35 passes for 195 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He was sacked once and had a long completion of 28 yards.

Since there wasn’t much to learn from this game, I did want to see how far down field Warren was throwing his passes. This is something I do from time to time to detail how short Michigan’s passing game is.

For instance, on average, Warren threw his passes about 3.7 yards downfield. His completions traveled 2.3 yards downfield. That’s spectacularly short. He threw just four passes 10 yards or more downfield, and all were incomplete.

His longest pass downfield was overthrown and intercepted.

Michigan remains the only team nationally without a completion of 40 yards or more downfield. Don’t be shocked if that changes on Saturday because, man, crazy stuff happens in this game.

Receiver Semaj Morgan did not play and tight end Colston Loveland left the game in the first half. No updates on either have been provided or are expected to be provided.

The running game returned for the Wolverines, such as it is.

Michigan rushed for 201 yards on 35 carries, averaging 5.7 yards per rush. They got a 47-yarder from Kalel Mullings, who finished with 92 yards on 12 attempts. He scored three touchdowns. Donovan Edwards rushed for 65 yards on 10 carries, with his final two carries in Michigan Stadium going for 20 and 24 yards.

Interestingly, the Wolverines managed just 14 yards rushing on 12 attempts in the first half. Also interestingly, quarterback Alex Orji did not play in this game. Expect that to change against the Buckeyes.

Also expect somebody other than Davis Warren to throw a pass in The Game. It’s a virtual certainty.

When Michigan Was On Defense

Northwestern rushed for just 10 yards in this game on 25 attempts. Much of the damage came from Michigan’s six sacks of Wildcat quarterbacks Jack Lausch and Ryan Hilinski.

Lausch completed 10-of-21 passes for 106 yards with two interceptions. He did have a long completion of 39 yards to receiver Bryce Kirtz on a perfect throw with good coverage. Hilinski added 11 yards passing.

Cornerback Will Johnson did not play in this game, and is not expected to play against the Buckeyes. He will have missed Michigan’s final five regular season games. Maybe he will be back for the bowl game, he said jokingly.

The Wolverine secondary is a patchwork group of corners and mismatched safeties. If Will Howard has time to throw the ball, he will be able to find some receivers running throughout the UM defensive backfield. Also, having Makari Paige at nickel against OSU’s receivers could be a good plan of attack for the Buckeyes.

Defensive ends Josiah Stewart and TJ Guy were impactful. Buckeye left tackle Donovan Jackson will have his hands full with both of those guys this weekend.

It was an overall dominating Michigan effort that showcased everything that the Wolverines are capable of doing well.

In that kind of way, this was the perfect look for Ohio State. They got to see what Michigan does when they’re at their best. There have not been many opportunities to do that this year, so it was good to get the latest info on what the Wolverines look like.

I’d spend more time on what the Wolverines were able to do to Northwestern’s offense, but it’s not all that applicable.

The Michigan Special Teams

A week ago, freshman running back Jordan Marshall was pointed out here as a guy to watch on kickoff returns. He had one return following a safety in this game and returned it 63 yards. He now has five kick returns for 163 yards in the past two games.

Receiver Tyler Morris also had a 19-yard punt return. Former Wolverine AJ Henning returned a punt 27 yards, so that’s something to watch considering what Caleb Downs just did for the Buckeyes this past weekend.

The punt return touchdown for Downs was OSU’s first in a decade. The last time came 10 years and one day earlier against the Hoosiers. The Buckeyes’ last kickoff return touchdown was 14 years ago in two days. It came against the Wolverines.

Just something to keep in mind.

Also, place-kicker Dominic Zvada hit both of his field-goal attempts, including a 56-yarder that was a no-doubter the entire way.

What Does It All Mean?

Not a damn thing.

And the same would be true if Michigan had lost the game.

This game was simply a means to an end. The last step before the top floor.

But now that they’re here, the Wolverines are going to have to play their best game of the year. By a lot. They will need to create their own breaks and be handed a few as well.

The team that runs the ball best wins this game. But if neither team can run it all that well, that stat will just become a coincidence if it continues to follow history.

The Buckeyes came back for this game.

Jim Harbaugh didn’t.

That won’t change how much Ohio State wants this game, only how much more they would have enjoyed it with a win.

The Road To The Game

Aug. 31 – Michigan 30 – Fresno State 10 (1-0)
Sept. 7 – Texas 31 – Michigan 12 (1-1)
Sept. 14 – Michigan 28 – Arkansas State 18 (2-1)
Sept. 21 – Michigan 27 – USC 24 (3-1, 1-0)
Sept. 28 – Michigan 27 – Minnesota 24 (4-1, 2-0)
Oct. 5 – Washington 27 – Michigan 17 (4-2, 2-1)
Oct. 12 – OPEN
Oct. 19 – Illinois 21 – Michigan 7 (4-3, 2-2)
Oct. 26 – Michigan 24 – Michigan State 17 (5-3, 3-2)
Nov. 2 – Oregon 38 – Michigan 17 (5-4, 3-3)
Nov. 9 – Indiana 20 – Michigan 15 (5-5, 3-4)
Nov. 16 – OPEN
Nov. 23 – Michigan 50 – Northwestern 6 (6-5, 4-4)
Nov. 30 – at Ohio State

Go to discussion...