Michigan Football beat Spartans and Badgers at their own game

Michigan football beat Wisconsin and Michigan State in back-to-back weeks by doing what those two teams do to most everyone else.

It’s crazy what two big wins will do to change the narrative surrounding a program. A couple of weeks ago, people had plenty of questions about Michigan football. But after two dominating performances against top-25 teams, many of the questions have been answered.

While there have been a lot of impressive things about the way Michigan football has won games the past two weeks and honestly, throughout this seven-game win streak, one thing stuck out to me after the Wolverines dismantled Michigan State, much like it did against Wisconsin:

Michigan football is beating these teams at their own game, with smashmouth, physical football.

When you think about it, the recipe is simple. It calls for great defense and a gritty run game. For a long time Michigan had one of the two things — now it has both.

You knew Michigan would play well defensively in these two games, that wasn’t a question. Last season, Wisconsin and Michigan State scored a combined 38 against UM and this defense is better than last year. This time around, the Wolverines held the two teams to 20 points.

If it wasn’t for a garbage-time touchdown and a gift from Chris Evans, it wouldn’t have even been that much.

To put it simply, this defense is incredible. It might be the best in the country and it certainly makes Michigan a favorite in the Big Ten. People want to talk about the College Football Playoff, yet the reality is that the Wolverines just need to win games and the rest will take care of itself.

Michigan Wolverines

After yesterday’s win, in both the Big Ten and National Championship races, the Wolverines control their own destiny. No, if’s and’s or but’s about it.

How they got there though, is maybe what wasn’t expected. They did it by bullying two of the biggest bully’s in the Big Ten and it was masterful to watch.

Against a run defense in Wisconsin, that is pretty good, Michigan ran for 320 yards. This is Wisconsin we are talking about, not Rutgers or Minnesota. The Wolverines didn’t do anything fancy, they played power football and they owned the night.

Turn the page to Michigan State. With the Spartans owning the best run defense in the FBS before Saturday’s game, allowing just 62 yards per game, most everyone expected Shea Patterson to carry the load. Patterson certainly made some big plays. But the story of the day and the reason Michigan won, was the fact that the offense ran the ball for 183 yards, 168 more than the paltry 15 managed by the Spartans.

Michigan State managed just 93 yards total and Wisconsin got 283 but they were under 200 with just a few minutes to go and got a late drive that didn’t matter.

Either way, maybe the most telling stat over the past two weeks is that the Wolverines had more rushing yards (503) than Wisconsin and Michigan State had total yards (376).

That’s staggering and the fact that it came against two Big Ten contenders, just emphasizes how dominant Michigan football was the past two weeks.

It was also incredibly satisfying to see the Wolverines beat the Badgers and Spartans at their own game, with old-school, tough football. Michigan didn’t just beat Michigan State and Wisconsin, it demoralized them.

And by the looks of it, those two teams won’t be the last ones to feel the wrath of the Wolverines revenge tour.