Michigan football: 4 things to watch for against Wisconsin

Shea Patterson says he’s healthy. Will his play back it up?

Really, this point is more about the Wolverines’ entire offense than it is about their senior signal-caller.

Patterson’s oblique injury, reportedly suffered in the season opener, drew more scrutiny after the close call against Army. While the two fumbles he lost stood out the most, of possibly greater concern, was his eight rushes for -18 yards.

Michigan offered no threat of its quarterback taking off all game, instead resorting to mostly-futile zone-reads for freshman running back Zach Charbonnet. This meant that in the second half, the Wolverines’ play-calling reverted to an unfortunately familiar form: stale. And no matter how talented Charbonnet is, talent isn’t enough when the defense knows exactly what’s going to happen.

Patterson not being at 100 percent offers a convenient excuse. With him back to full health this week, that line of reasoning goes, we should see a more dynamic offense against Wisconsin.

But what if that’s not the case?

What if Gattis, in his first year as primary play-caller, is still having trouble implementing his full offense for whatever reason? What if the offensive line’s performance two weeks ago, where it was routinely overwhelmed by the much smaller Black Knights, wasn’t a fluke?

It won’t matter that Jon Runyan Jr. will take the field Saturday and that Donovan Peoples-Jones might also return if Michigan’s offense can’t make the most of its personnel. It needs a healthy and in-form Patterson, a different offensive approach, or both of those things, in order to do so.