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3 Questions Michigan Football must answer against Rutgers

By Chris Peterson

ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN - NOVEMBER 14: Joe Milton #5 of the Michigan Wolverines tries to get a first half pass of while being tackled by Leo Chenal #45 of the Wisconsin Badgers at Michigan Stadium on November 14, 2020 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN - NOVEMBER 14: Joe Milton #5 of the Michigan Wolverines tries to get a first half pass of while being tackled by Leo Chenal #45 of the Wisconsin Badgers at Michigan Stadium on November 14, 2020 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /
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Detroit Free Press
Detroit Free Press /

Can this team find itself?

At the start of the season, much of the talk was about the quarterback, but the strength of this offense was always expected to be the running game with Zach Charbonnet and Hassan Haskins both back, along with Chris Evans and Blake Corum.

The offensive line was down four starters who went to the NFL and then took another hit when Jalen Mayfield and Ryan Hayes were hurt. But that still doesn’t excuse rushing for a combined 60 yards the last two weeks against Indiana and Wisconsin.

Looking back to 2018, that team was physical, ran the football and punished people on both sides of the ball. It appears with the speed-in-space system, Michigan is getting away from that physical style of football.

Defensively, things have been just as bad. Michigan actually went 15 quarters without a sack or a turnover, which is pretty baffling even without Aidan Hutchinson and Kwity Paye.

Jim Harbaugh talked this week about the fundamentals and essentially, getting back to basics. That’s what is needed. This team needs to play smash-mouth football and if it can’t do that against Rutgers, then that is very concerning going forward.

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