One thing Michigan Football is doing well, one area to improve

Michigan football has gotten off to a hot start. Here’s what has worked for the Wolverines so far this season and one thing that needs to improve. 

Any time a team is 3-0 and has a margin of victory of 36 PPG, it is doing a lot of things well. One thing in particular that Michigan football has excelled at thus far is protecting the football. The Wolverines have yet to turn the ball over this season.

Michigan football has only played one good defense thus far (Washington), however, playing clean and turnover-free football for that long of a stretch is impressive at any rate.

It’s a great characteristic that will serve the Wolverines well when the competition level ramps up in Big Ten play.

What Michigan football needs to improve

Defensively Michigan has been playing well, but one thing it can do more is disrupt the opposing offense. In football, havoc plays occur when the defense records a sack, tackle for loss, forces a fumble, and intercepts or breaks up a pass. Michigan ranks 78th in sacks per game, 106th in tackles for loss per game, and 102nd in turnovers forced.

The sacks numbers may be a bit surprising since Aidan Hutchinson has been playing out of his mind. However, Hutchinson has 3.5 of the team’s 6 sacks.

Michigan needs someone to step up and consistently generate pressure.

Moving forward, Michigan is only going to face better offensive lines and more teams will gameplan to neutralize Hutchinson.

Michigan’s turnover numbers in the last few seasons have not made much sense to me. Even when Don Brown’s defense were at their peak, Michigan never forced turnovers at the rate you would expect given how good those defenses were.

Michigan almost exclusively played man under Brown and with the defensive backs having their backs turned most of the time, that somewhat explains the low interception numbers.

However, with how much pressure those defenses created, you would have expected more forced fumbles from sacks.

This season, Michigan is just +3 in turnover margin despite the fact it hasn’t turned the ball over. While that is a solid start, the best way to ensure that the team score more points than its opponents is to get more possessions.

Inevitably, Michigan’s offense will turn the ball over at some point. However if Michigan can keep its turnover numbers low offensively while forcing more turnovers on defense, it will ensure itself more possessions and likely lead to wins.