Michigan Football: 5 things we learned from win over Western Michigan
Michigan football trounced Western Michigan in the season opener on Saturday on here are five things we learned about the Wolverines.
Saturday was a long time coming for Michigan football and after not winning a single game at home in 2020, the Wolverines quickly put that streak to bed.
That was thanks to a dominant effort against Western Michigan. Yes, the Wolverines are supposed to beat up on MAC teams by a score of 47-14. But would last year’s team have been able to do that?
The Wolverines have said they want to be a ground and pound team and they looked the part on Saturday. Michigan football went over 300 yards rushing and had three rushing touchdowns, all of which covered at least 22 yards.
Not everything was perfect mind you, and Ronnie Bell’s injury is awful. It’s a huge loss for the team and just terrible for Bell, who judging by his play in the first half, was going to break out for at least 1,000 yards this season.
Bell caught two bombs down the field. He got robbed on the one-hander but it was still an impressive play and all he did to respond was catch a 75-yard touchdown.
It’s hard to put into words how much someone like Bell will be missed.
At any rate, it was a stellar effort on both sides of the ball for Michigan football, and here are five things we learned about the Wolverines.
Michigan has something at quarterback
The quarterback play was always going to be judged closely and Cade McNamara played pretty well. He threw two touchdowns in the first half, didn’t turn the ball over, and completed 9-of-11 passes for 136 and an average of 12 yards attempt.
His two most impressive throws were the balls down the field to Bell. But he also drilled Erick All on his big play in the first quarter. As Jim Harbaugh said after the game when McNamara is in the game, the Wolverines score points and they did on Saturday.
Michigan football also scored with J.J. McCarthy in the game. And he wowed the fans with his 69-yard touchdown pass to Daylen Baldwin. It was a play very few college quarterbacks can make and also showed why J.J. will be the starter sooner rather than later.
Will that be this season? Only time will tell. But McNamara looked solid and steady, so I don’t think he’s giving up the job anytime soon, although next week is a much bigger test.