3 things Michigan football needs to improve against Bowling Green

Michigan football shouldn’t have any problems beating Bowling Green on Saturday but here are three things that the Wolverines need to improve. 

The final non-conference game of the regular season shouldn’t be a challenge for Michigan football as the Wolverines enter Saturday’s game as a 40.5-point favorite.

Michigan has failed to cover the spread in the last two weeks, but the Wolverines also called off the dogs and didn’t play their starters in the fourth quarter.

The point is, they could have covered if that was a priority. Obviously, the priority is winning games and getting better. Big Ten games start next week and Rutgers isn’t looking like a pushover at 2-0.

While Michigan football has been really solid during the first two weeks — the starting defense hasn’t allowed a point and J.J. McCarthy leads college football in completion percentage — there are still things that need to improve and here are three I’m focused on against Bowling Green.

Short-yardage/red-zone situations

These things tend to go hand-in-hand but so far in 2023, the Wolverines are 0-for-2 on fourth-down conversions. We all remember how that was an issue in the TCU game and how red-zone failures essentially cost Michigan a shot to play for the national championship.

That needs to be fixed. The Wolverines are scoring on 80 percent of their red-zone opportunities, but they need to get more touchdowns against good teams, meaning they need to execute against teams like Bowling Green.

Fourth-and-short playcalling has maybe been too predictable. I’d like to see McCarthy get on the move with a run-pass option. We’ll see if a short-yardage scenario comes up for the first-team offense, but I want to see better execution if it does.