Michigan Football: Four Things to Watch for Against UNLV
After two Fridays of anxiety and anticipation, Michigan fans should have some peace of mind heading into tomorrow’s matchup against the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels.
UNLV comes in to Ann Arbor with an 0-2 record that includes a loss to Northern Illinois and a blowout loss at the hands of UCLA. Being a week removed from the first win of Harbaugh era and a week away from a matchup at BYU, this has all the makings of a trap game.
If all goes according to plan, this game will probably look a lot like the second half against Oregon State: the defense shutting down an inferior offense and the running game slowly sucking the life out of an overmatched defense. This is the first true cupcake of the season.
That Old Familiar Feeling
Playing two power five teams to start the season is stressful. Playing UNLV should not be stressful. Playing teams like UNLV have too often been stressful lately. One of the most demoralizing things about the Brady Hoke era was that it seemed like every game was losable. Nothing was safe; there was no respite from bumbling incompetence. Whether it was Akron, Rutgers, UCONN, or . . . well I’ll spare us all and stop there.
Fans probably had their hearts in their throats after the disastrous, all-too-familiar opening drives against Oregon State, but where a Hoke team may have let things spiral into a close win or a loss, this team regrouped and methodically beat the Beavers down after the initial tail slap.
It’s depressingly odd to have faith in the fact that the team will come out and do what it should tomorrow, but I do. There’s nothing better than an encouraging win in a noon game.
Steady Improvement
Even though Michigan’s opponents are getting incrementally worse (until next week) and the team now has more time to gel, I don’t think the improvements we saw in last week’s game were an optical illusion.
Rudock was making better decisions and crisp throws, Jabrill Peppers wasn’t getting lost in coverage, the offensive line made fewer mistakes and did a better job hitting their assignments. Oregon State isn’t nearly the team Utah is, but this is the type of thing you expect to see with a Harbaugh coached team.
The improvement will most certainly be magnified tomorrow, and it could all come crashing down to Earth against BYU, but keep an eye on the offensive and defensive lines and the assignments in the secondary and you’ll be able to see a collection of players that know their assignments and work well together.
Will Jabrill Peppers Play Offense?
No. That said, Harbaugh ever the troll, trotted out Peppers on offense last week, only to have Jake Rudock knee the game to a close. The rest of the offense definitely took their sweet time showing the formation and it really did seem like he was going to get a snap or two, but it was not meant to be.
Never has a victory formation been so disappointing.
Pretending that it’s a possibility, this could be a good time to get him the ball. Jumping to the other side of the line is crazy difficult already but Michigan’s upcoming opponents will make it that much harder. Even if it’s just to see how he looks, this is the last quality opportunity.
Aside from all that, he’s just generally awesome to watch. Considering that UNLV is down to backup quarterback Kurt Palandech–threw for four yards on 15 pass attempts against UCLA–Peppers should have his hands full fielding punts. A guy can hope, though.
Rushing Offense
Not too much to say about this one because we all know what’s coming. Power, power, power. Still, Harbaugh’s power system really is gorgeous to watch when it’s clicking and it should be clicking tomorrow. I’d be surprised if Rudock made it to 15 pass attempts. Hopefully he won’t need to, and hopefully De’Veon Smith can get out of the game early to rest up for next week.
The intrigue here is if we’ll see Drake Johnson get more than a few carries and if he’s back up to speed (pun intended). There’s not a whole lot of speed in the backfield, even though we had 42 backs at my last count. If he’s healthy, the quick Johnson could be an important compliment to Smith down the stretch.