Michigan Football: Shea Patterson should be unleashed against Nebraska

Michigan football has been really conservative offensively and with Nebraska coming into the Big House Saturday, that needs to change.

The Michigan football team rolled to a pretty easy win over SMU last Saturday at the Big House. When it was all said and done, the Wolverines won the game 45-20.

However, for much of the first half, things were much closer than they needed to be. Michigan football was tied 0-0 midway through the second quarter. It was also 7-7 with just a few minutes left in the half. That was before Shea Patterson hit Donovan Peoples-Jones for a touchdown and Josh Metellus returned an interception 73 yards for a score making it 21-7 at the break.

Yet, if head coach Jim Harbaugh had called more than 10 pass plays against the 110th-ranked pass defense, Michigan could have had a much more commanding lead. Both of the Wolverines second and third drives lasted nearly seven minutes. Why? Because Harbaugh was obsessed with a ground game going nowhere (88 yards on first 30 carries) instead of letting his quarterback, the best player on his offense control the game.

On the first drive of the game, Harbaugh called passes on four of the first five plays. That resulted in a first down, two completions and one sack. Then on the next drive, it was almost all run based until Patterson threw an interception in the red zone.

That was a mistake. Patterson isn’t a mistake-free guy. He will throw some interceptions but he will also drop dimes and touchdown passes — if you let him. So far, Harbaugh has handcuffed his quarterback with conservative play calls and it needs to stop.

SMU ranked outside the top-100 in pass defense and Michigan threw the ball 18 times and ran it more than 40. It should have been far closer to 50/50. Patterson should have thrown about 20 passes by halftime. Then, maybe Dylan McCaffrey could have gotten some mop-up duty in the fourth quarter.

I get that Michigan football wanted to see its offensive line respond against a decent run defense. Well, without Karan Higdon, it didn’t work. At least not until the second half, when Chris Evans and Tru Wilson both broke off some big runs.

The question is, why does Harbaugh feel the need to ram his head against a wall? Meaning, if the ground game isn’t working, why not throw more?

The Wolverines have the best quarterback they’ve had since Chad Henne and a really good group of pass catchers. Peoples-Jones has four touchdowns in two weeks; Nico Collins looks like a stud and others like Oliver Martin, Grant Perry and Zach Gentry have shown they can make plays.

Really, how many teams have a trio of pass catchers like Collins, Gentry and Peoples-Jones? Plus a quarterback like Patterson? Not many, especially not in the Big Ten.

This week, UM has Nebraska on the docket. It’s the first Big Ten game for the Wolverines and considering they will be facing the 124th-ranked pass defense in the FBS, they better come out throwing.

Patterson needs to be unleashed. He’s averaging just over 20 throws per game and in conference play, that numbers needs to be more around 30. He’s good enough to carry this team to a Big Ten championship, as long as Harbaugh and whoever calls the plays, will remove the handcuffs.