5 questions for Michigan Football against Iowa

Can Michigan stop the Sam LaPorta? (with a bonus)

Again, nobody is scared of Iowa’s offense, but if there’s one player on Iowa’s offense that Michigan football needs to pay attention to, it’s Iowa’s tight end Sam LaPorta.

Michigan fans will remember him for his decent start against Michigan in the Big Ten Championship game, only to cool off after Michigan made adjustments at halftime. He finished that game with six catches for 67 yards.

Iowa is a tight end factory, so it’s not surprising that Sam LaPorta is Iowa’s best player on offense.

I don’t know who will match up with Sam LaPorta (probably Mike Sainristil or Gemon Green) but it is imperative that they shut him down. Once Michigan football takes LaPorta out of the equation, the Iowa offense pretty much becomes completely one-dimensional, with all runs, which brings me to my bonus point.

Michigan needs to shut down Iowa’s rushing attack. The Wolverines need to focus on this first and foremost, even more than the pass rush, because Iowa’s more of a run-first team than pass-first anyways.

One of the most concerning things about the Maryland game last week was Michigan’s lack of wrapping up (against Maryland’s RBs) and allowing Maryland’s offensive line to dictate the game a little bit.

Maryland’s rushing attack wasn’t amazing, but they were effective enough to allow for multiple second and short plays, which Maryland picked up with ease, at least in the first half.

This cannot happen on Saturday, as Michigan is too talented and too disciplined to let Iowa just run the ball down their throat.