Michigan Football: Army brings no fear mentality into Big House brawl

Saturday’s collision with the Cadets is an early test Michigan football cannot overlook for 60 minutes.

Heading into the second game of the season for Michigan football, Army, its opponent, is on the second-longest winning streak in the country behind only Clemson.

It boasts a well-known triple-option rushing threat that can take it to the house on any given down if the defense is not gap sound. Head coach Jeff Monken transformed his club thoroughly after his first two dismal campaigns. He’s gone 21-5 since the finish of 2016 and took Oklahoma to the limit in Norman nearly 365 days ago.

They are forged by quarterback Kelvin Hopkins Jr. In the 2018 Armed Forces Bowl, he ran for 170 yards and five touchdowns in a victory over Houston. He’s the perfect complement for Monken’s flex-bone powerhouse attack.

Cut blocking Michigan’s defensive lineman low will be their plan, meaning the second level defenders will have a busy day. We’ll see how the defenders respond after practicing ahead of time for this unconventional unit.

Army’s kids are just built differently. They are willed to do things that most humans don’t do. They work endlessly in whatever the job is and that makes them dangerous. That’s the kind of toughness and physicality that’s going to come from a defense that definitely has its work cut out for it.

Even though the Wolverines are overwhelming favorites, the maize and blue know what service academies can do in the Big House. They haven’t met since 1962, but the Cadets are surprisingly one of just three universities to hold a winning record over the illustrious tradition of Michigan football with a minimum of five games played.

Almost 60 years later, the stories have obviously flipped drastically. Michigan football will seek to establish its muscle far sooner than they did with the Blue Raiders.

Josh Gattis should want to show some more progress with an offensive unit that dominated the water cooler talk in week one. Be on the lookout for a heavier dosage of the running backs pounding it down the throats of an undersized defense, while Shea Patterson could receive a lighter workload than a week ago.

For Michigan to perform better in all facets is unrealistic, but not impossible. Army is coming in highly motivated for a tussle believing a win is not out of the question. So a close fight is not out of the picture, but Michigan’s athleticism and overall power is too much for a smaller Army program to handle. I anticipate the Wolverines to get it done in a fairly disciplined fashion.

Prediction: Michigan 34, Army 13