Michigan Football: Defense will have to carry conservative UM offense

Don’t look for fireworks from Michigan football; once again, it’s going to be up to the defense to win games.

Michigan football looked pokey and uninspired in its season-opening loss to Notre Dame, but, and here’s where Michigan fans can grab at a few tendrils of hope, even without a potent offense, Michigan only lost by a touchdown.

Some would note that the bungled field goal would have cut the difference to four points and that a near interception would have put the Blue up by three.  Even without hazy imagining of a different Notre Dame game, a quick scouting around the Big Ten East reveals a few fissures that might be overlooked in the wake of a disappointing first tilt.

Penn State came close to dropping an opener to Appalachian State, a game that would have done a great deal to ease the pain of Michigan’s humiliating loss to the Mountaineers on 2007, a loss that has not been erased by Michigan’s 2014 decisive 52-14 win at home in 2014.

The good news for Michigan is that Penn State was down 38-31 in the fourth quarter and needed an overtime stand to win.  The better news is that their linebacking unit looked less than impressive from the start.

Meanwhile, the equally highly ranked Michigan State team barely eked out a victory over Utah State, 38-31. Quarterback Brian Lewerke was sacked three times in the first half and the Lions couldn’t really get a running game going on the ground.  Yes, Ohio State put 77 points on Oregon State, but a widely discounted Oregon State team put 31 on OSU, and much of the territory claimed by the Beavers came on the ground as Artavis Pierce picked up 168 yards, averaging more than 15 yards per carry.  The cautionary note in the eastern side came as Maryland looked sharp in beating Texas 34-29,  and on the western side as Northwestern beat Purdue 31-27, and Wisconsin allowed Western Kentucky only 3 points.

This brief scan of conference play is significant because there is every reason to believe that Michigan’s defense will show up with its customary impact throughout the rest of the season, pushing even the most imaginative offense back on its heels.

The Michigan offense, on the other hand, is not built for change, for fast-and-loose, run-and-gun spread and option football.  This is a team that sends out two receivers in most instances and which depends upon big tight ends to bulk their way to the sidelines when the running game stalls.  This is not a team that can change up blocking assignments and allows a quarterback much room for improvisation.

Shea Patterson will not have a lot of time to wait for his targets to get open; he is far more mobile than Wolverine quarterbacks of recent vintage, however, and Nico Collins and Zach Gentry can do a great deal of damage if he can get the ball to them.  He’ll have to hit them routinely in order to create the space Karan Higdon and Chris Evans need to get out of the backfield.  Dylan McCaffrey seems as able a game manager should Patterson cramp out again, so for the first time in several years, the level of quarterback play is not holding Michigan’s offense back.

No, the offense won’t look much different in formation in the weeks ahead, but even a few held blocks, a few decent runs, a few long balls will put enough points on the board to allow a talented defense to challenge all comers, including Michigan State, Penn State, and Ohio State in the three games that will matter most to Michigan football fans this season.