Michigan Football: Grading Wolverines win vs Western Michigan
Michigan football earned a 47-14 win over Western Michigan on Saturday and here’s the report card for the Wolverines.
For the first time in a long time, Michigan football fans have something to be happy about. The Wolverines looked good against Western Michigan in a 33-point blowout.
And while it’s not a win over Washington, which the program needs in the worst way next Saturday, it did create some momentum and had to build some confidence.
It also ended a losing streak inside the Big House.
Of course, we need to remember that even though Western Michigan is one of the better teams in the MAC and has a solid quarterback, the talent gap is wide enough that the Wolverines should win this game by 3-4 touchdowns.
But fans are much happier than they would be if it was a struggle and Michigan football was still battling in the fourth quarter. That would have caused a little panic.
As I said when I looked at five things we learned, not everything was perfect. It was a solid showing and here are the grades for the offense, defense, special teams, and coaches.
Offense: A
Outside of Ronnie Bell getting hurt, you couldn’t have scripted a better day for Michigan football on offense. The Wolverines rushed for over 300 yards and two quarterbacks, Cade McNamara and J.J. McCarthy threw for 216 yards and three scores while completing 13-of-17 passes.
The offensive line was solid, even though there was some shuffling. Zak Zinter played and Jim Harbaugh said he should see more action in the coming weeks.
I have no idea what that means. Chuck Filiaga seemed to hold up well and Andrew Vastardis needs to be given credit. He was smart and physical. It needs to continue but you can see how he earned the starting job, despite many people doubting him, including me.
The running backs were exceptional. Blake Corum was flat-out special and notched the first 100-yard game of his career. We’ll get to what he did on special teams later, but it would be fair to say he’s pulled even with Hassan Haskins, who is just as valuable but has different strengths.
The explosive plays were the biggest positive. Michigan football scored three touchdowns on plays of 69 yards or more. It’s been forever since that happened and hopefully, we see much more of it.