3. Michigan’s rush defense flashed its true colors
The Wolverines were smacked in the mouth by Kenneth Walker and Michigan State’s rushing attack. They had no answer to try and slow him down either. That could be very concerning moving forward, but luckily for the maize and blue, they don’t have to see Walker again which makes this an overreaction for now.
Expect Michigan football’s defense to rebound with Indiana at home and handle Maryland on the road in a few weeks, respectively of course.
Those two schools just don’t have the firepower, like Walker, to hang with Michigan’s defense and that means we’ll likely see the dominant defense that we’ve come accustomed to earlier in the campaign.
Hard to fathom a more boom-or-bust performance from Michigan's defense:
— Michael Cohen (@Michael_Cohen13) October 31, 2021
Two INTs, three sacks, 23 pressures, one FF, seven PBUs.
But also 15 missed tackles, 197 yards for Walker and the most rushing TDs by one player in the history of #Michigan football: https://t.co/oWfkn7IK0K
When Michigan faces off with Penn State and Ohio State though, things will surely be different.
The talent is far superior, meaning it will be a lot harder for the Michigan defenders to stop. These two showdowns could be shootouts like Saturday unless things somehow drastically change between now and then.