Michigan Football: Five Takeaways Through Four Games
By Connor Boyer
We’ve made our fair share of complaints about Michigan football’s first four games, but there are also reasons for optimism.
Through four games Michigan is a perfect 4-0. As with every season there have been ups and downs. Since it’s a bye week and we don’t have a game to break down this week, here are some things that stand out about the team as the heart of the season draws closer.
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The Defense is Legit.
This Michigan defense is scary good. They rank first in the country in total defense. Don Brown is a mad man when it comes to coordinating hard-nosed, fast-paced, blitz-heavy defenses. He has done so again this year.
Through four games this season the defense has only given up a total of four touchdowns. They have held their opponents to an average of 203.3 yards per game, which is by far the best in the country. The defense is also only giving up 3.5 yards per play, which also tops the country. They also rank No. 1 in sacks with 18, and they’re No. 5 in third own defense, only allowing the offense to convert at 19.3 percent of the time.
And I haven’t even gotten to their defense against the run. They have allowed an average of only 2.2 yards per carry and 69.3 yards per game. In fact, only one opponent has scored a rushing touchdown on this defense so far.
The stats tell the story, but if you need to see for yourself how dominate this unit can be, just go watch the second half of the game against Purdue. The defense completely took over that game, only giving up 15 total yards.
It’s true that Michigan’s defense has its toughest tests still a head of it, but so far, so good. They are only allowing offenses to score 10 points per game. If that number stays consistent then Michigan will be in a position to beat any team it plays this year, so long as the offense is able to stay on schedule, which brings me to my next point…
John O’Korn needs to be the guy.
I wrote a few weeks ago about how Wilton Speight gave Michigan the best chance to win. Oh my, how times have changed. The Wolverines got off to another rough start where the offense only moved the ball a total of 12 yards in their first three drives under Speight before he went down with an injury.
When John O’Korn entered the game he preceded to move the offense 84 yards right down the field and into the end zone, in what was arguably Michigan’s best looking drive all season. O’Korn looked like he was more comfortable running the offense. He was able to keep a number of plays alive by avoiding sacks. Michigan implemented the tight ends more and O’Korn was able to find them for big gains in the second half.
O’Korn would end the game completing 70 percent of his passes, with a total of 270 passing yards, one touchdown, and one interception, which wasn’t his fault. Not to mention he was able to consistently do what Speight hasn’t through three games, and that’s finish drives in the red zone.
Under O’Korn the offense was 3 for 3 finishing red zone drives, all of which were touchdowns. That’s the type of play we’ve been looking for out of the quarterback position this season. That’s the type performance that could win games for Michigan late in the season. Harbaugh needs to go with the hot hand here. O’Korn needs to start at quarterback coming out of the bye week.
Devin Bush is a stud.
The player who has stood out the most to me through four games has been Devin Bush. He has been flying all over the field for this top-ranked defense. Bush has recorded 32 total tackles and his 4 1/2 sacks leads the team. The young linebacker has the ability to blow plays up with his quick reads. Bush is the leader of the defense.
To this point in the season he has been making the plays that needed to be made when Michigan has needed it. Whether getting to the quarterback or stopping a run behind the line of scrimmage, Bush has been a stud to this point.
He hasn’t done it alone, though. Michigan has had a plethora of production from the guys around him. Chase Winovich, Mike McCray, Maurice Hurst, Tyree Kinnel, Khaleke Hudson and Rashan Gary, to name a few, are having good showings too. This defense is loaded with playmakers across the board, but it’s been Bush’s impressive play that’s stood out the most.
The Offensive line has got to be better.
The offensive line has been a big question mark. They haven’t necessarily been terrible, but they for sure have not been consistent. At times they seem unable to open up holes for the running backs. Against Air Force, Michigan finished with 190 yards on the ground, but a lot of that came in the fourth quarter. They also struggled to run against Purdue, only finishing the game with 139 yards rushing and averaging 3.4 yards per carry.
They also haven’t done a great job of protecting the quarterback, giving up 12 sacks on the season. This is something that will need to improve because the defenses that Michigan will face will only get better.
The Special Teams has been very good.
Harbaugh got made fun of a lot a few years ago when spending the night at the house of the top-ranked high school kicker. No one is laughing anymore. The sophomore kicker has been money this year kicking field goals. Nordin has made 11 of 13 kicks this season. The only two he missed came in Week 1 against Florida, a game in which he already booted four kicks through the goal posts.
He has hit two bombs from 50-plus yards and another one from over 40. In big games, a reliable kicker is often what decides the game. As the competition will begin to get better, rest assured that Michigan is in good hands when it comes to getting important points in close games.
The return game has been better too. After a rocky couple of games to start the season, freshman Donovan Peoples-Jones has improved in receiving punts. He returned a punt for a touchdown already this season and has 162 yards. He has also gotten a lot smarter at calling fair catches. Fair catches are one of the small things that if not done well, could completely change the momentum of a game, as it did against Cincinnati before Peoples-Jones showed massive improvement.
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Michigan has some things to be excited about and some things to work on. But this team is still on schedule. The Wolverines have beaten who they’re supposed to beat. With Michigan State up next coming out of the bye week and Penn State a few weeks after, we will really begin to see how good Michigan is when it starts to play some tougher Big Ten competition.