Michigan Football: Defense blanks BYU in 31-0 shutout victory
Dominant. That’s the only word that comes to mind when looking at Michigan football’s 31-0 shutout victory over BYU on Saturday afternoon.
For the last few weeks, many fans and analysts had this date circled on their calendar when talking about the evaluation of the Wolverines in 2015. This matchup against No. 22 BYU was supposed to be the litmus test to see if Michigan could be successful this season.
If that’s the case, then the Wolverines passed the test with flying colors, displaying a virtually perfect performance at home to win their third straight game.
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With any team, you want to see improvement from one week to the next and coach Jim Harbaugh’s team has done just that in his first season. Since Utah, this team—particularly the defense—has gotten significantly better in every game through the first four weeks.
While keeping BYU scoreless, the Wolverines held their opponent to just 105 total yards on offense and put pressure on the quarterback with three sacks and a handful of other tackles for loss.
One player that stood out in particular was senior defensive tackle Ryan Glasgow. The 6-foot-4, 297-pound Glasgow had yet to really make an impact this season but had a nice showing on Saturday against BYU disrupting play and getting into the backfield with two tackles for loss.
Some may look at the victory and point out that BYU’s quarterback, Tanner Mangum, is only a freshman and the Wolverines’ success was largely due to the young play caller’s inexperience.
Sep 26, 2015; Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Michigan Wolverines defensive tackle Maurice Hurst (73) celebrates a sack of Brigham Young Cougars quarterback Tanner Mangum (not pictured) in the second quarter at Michigan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports
So to put the defense’s dominant performance into perspective, this BYU team defeated Nebraska in Week 1 — a game in which Mangum threw the game-winning touchdown pass — topped No. 20-ranked Boise State 35-24 in Week 2 — with Mangum throwing for 309 yards and two touchdowns — and narrowly lost 24-23 to No. 10-ranked UCLA in Week 3 — Mangum led the offense to 405 yards of total offense — yet were completely blanked in Week 4 against the Wolverines.
Michigan’s performance in this shutout win over BYU cannot be understated. This is a quality win for the Wolverines and the first notch on Harbaugh’s belt in Ann Arbor. The defense has been the strength of the team through the first four weeks and has gotten better and better with each game.
This win was proof that the offense is starting to catch up to the defense in terms of improvement heading into conference play next week, and if that’s truly the case then this team is way ahead of schedule and could be a competitor much sooner rather than later.
Big Ten opponents should be on alert after Michigan’s Week 4 victory, as it appears the Wolverines defense is legit and in mid-season form, now turning its attention to conference-play.