Michigan football: 4 key things to watch for Wolverines against Army

Defending triple option

This barely heeds mentioning anymore. It’s a fact of college football just as death is a fact of life — the service academies (and, until this year, Georgia Tech) run the triple-option.

That being said, no one else really does. And because the triple-option is so different from every other offense Michigan will see this season, it will be hard to glean much of anything from Saturday’s defensive performance. This week, and the game itself, will be a one-off affair.

But the Wolverines still have to win.

Only two teams did win against Army last season, because it ran the triple-option so well. Quarterback Kelvin Hopkins ran for 1,017 yards and 17 touchdowns as a junior last year, and as long as he’s under center, the Black Knights will move the ball.

They didn’t move the ball all that well against Rice, averaging just 4.1 yards per carry, but maintained possession for 35 minutes, as is their want.

It’s not just that Army runs the ball — they don’t let the other team touch it, either. The Black Knights run the ball and the clock keeps churning. It’s methodical and tiresome, especially if you’re on the other side of the ball.

While Michigan’s defense won’t have to stop the option all season, its defense will get tired eventually. Season, as well as game fatigue, will set in.

In this regard, Army couldn’t come at a better time for the Wolverines. A talented, but unproven and somewhat thin front seven will get a test they’ll need to pass, on Saturday and forever. Can they bottle up opponents when crunch time comes and exhaustion sets in, when they have no option (no pun intended) but to make a play?

Michigan is vastly more talented than Army, and it shouldn’t have trouble stopping the Black Knights once or twice. Can the Wolverines do it for 60 minutes?