Michigan Football: 3 key takeaways from Army thriller for Wolverines

Protect the football

Turnovers were the outlier in this one. A combined six between both schools. Shea Patterson had two of them himself. So far it has been a foreshadowing of Michigan’s two wins. The question has to be asked if Patterson is even 100% out there by the way he is turning it over.

Luckily the bye week cannot come at a better moment, which not many thought that would be the case after just two games.

On the final series, Michigan’s defense stuffed Army’s signature option. Something it couldn’t do for much of the day. Army gained 200 yards with an average of 3.3 per carry. Connor Slomka saw the bulk of it with 29 rushes on 92 yards. Kelvin Hopkins Jr. did his usual part besides the last snap, but he will surely remember that moment for a long time.

Michigan football had all three of its giveaways in the first half. If the Wolverines held onto the football then maybe this is a different outcome. However, that wasn’t the case and it let Army execute the way they wanted to in Jeff Monken’s system. Their gameplan fell just short, but they’ll have more positives to stew on then negatives for the road ahead.