Previewing Michigan Football’s season opener vs Colorado State

Saturday, Michigan Football is back in action when they take on Colorado State. This will be the Wolverines’ first matchup in the Big House since beating Ohio State in November.

With an ongoing quarterback battle, new offensive and defensive coordinators, and significant players from last season headed to the NFL, it will be interesting to see how Michigan Football shows up during the season opener.

The Rams are on a six-game losing streak coming into the season with their last win being in mid-October of 2021. With a new head coach this season in Jay Norvell, Colorado State is likely hoping to put an end to this streak and turn their program around.

Last week, Jim Harbaugh shared that graduate Cade McNamara would be starting week one against Colorado State, and sophomore JJ McCarthy would be starting week two against Hawaii. Whichever quarterback performs better in these pre-conference games will likely be the Wolverines’ go-to guy for the rest of the season.

McNamara led the Wolverines to the Big Ten Championship and College Football Playoff last season and has been said to have only improved in the off-season.

McNamara has a number of returning teammates on the offensive side of the ball that will hopefully keep the offense as efficient as possible. Wide Receivers Cornelius Johnson, Roman Wilson, Ronnie Bell, A.J. Henning, Andrel Anthony, and Darrius Clemons are all bringing their talent back to Michigan for another season.

Even with all of the wide receiver talent available for the Wolverines to use, McNamara has tended to be more conservative with passing the ball in previous seasons. He only attempted 327 passes in the 2021 season for 2,576 yards.

On a positive note, Michigan football led the conference in rushing last season with 3001 yards, the next closest team being Wisconsin with 2742 yards. Despite much of this success being brought by Hassan Haskins, running backs Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards are talented enough to replicate these numbers and hopefully allow for just as much success in the Wolverines’ run game. Sophomore running back Tavierre Dunlap is likely to hit the field behind Corum and Edwards.

Getting to know Colorado State

Comparing Michigan’s offense to Colorado States’ last season, the Rams had a more successful pass game than the Wolverines. Quarterback Todd Centeio had 2960 passing yards last season for Colorado State. With Centeio gone, the Rams now get to see how redshirt freshman Clay Millen shapes up.

Colorado State’s run game was not nearly as impressive as their pass game last season. The Rams only had 1,967 yards on 515 rush attempts. With only 50 more rush attempts, the Wolverines produced 1,034 additional rush yards.

Senior running back David Bailey produced 752 of these rush yards for Colorado State last season. He also scored 11 touchdowns for the Rams in 2021. Colorado State is hopeful that Bailey will be able to contribute similar results this season and specifically against the Wolverines.

On the other side of the ball, Michigan football lost significant members of the defensive team, specifically Aidan Hutchinson, David Ojabo, Josh Ross, and Dax Hill.

It is up to returning players such as Taylor Upshaw, Junior Colson, DJ Turner, and Mike Morris to set the tone for Michigan’s new defense under Jesse Minter. Wolverine fans hope that Minter will continue leading the defense in the same direction as Mike Macdonald did.

The Rams have a deep defensive line that includes former Rutgers’ defensive end CJ Onyechi. Onyechi had three tackles for the Scarlet Knights against the Wolverines last season. Michigan also needs to be cautious of sophomore defensive back Jack Howell who had 64 total tackles in his freshman season.

The Wolverines were lucky enough to have both Lou Groza recipient Jake Moody and veteran punter Brad Robbins return for one final season. Both special teams players have been exceptional for Michigan throughout their careers. Moody made 92 percent of his field goal attempts last season and all of his extra point attempts in his career. Additionally, Robbins averaged 46.3 yards per punt last season.

Colorado State does have a special teams weapon of their own in kicker Cayden Camper. He has never missed a PAT in his career and made 78.1 percent of his field goals for Colorado State last season. With new special teams coordinator Tommy Perry, the Rams are likely to see an increase in their already productive special teams this season.

Colorado State is not expected to be a tough matchup for Michigan on Saturday. However, this game is still extremely important to see how the team looks. Wolverine players, coaches, and fans all have high expectations for this season’s team after last year’s success.