3 reasons why Michigan football will bounce back against Washington

Michigan football is at a "crossroads."

That's what Michigan legend Jake Butt said on a recent podcast. He's not wrong. The product on the field last week wasn't good enough against USC, by any stretch of the imagination.

USC dominated Michigan, on the perimeter and in the trenches. In every facet of the game. A loss is one thing, the 18-point defeat was quite another.

The message from Sherrone Moore this week was getting back to work. He wore his blue-collar shirt on Monday. Wink Martindale reportedly focused on tackling. Fundamentals need to be stressed. This team needs to tackle. It needs to block. It needs to play with a sense of urgency.

We didn't really see that last week. Michigan is a six-point favorite against Washington, but the Huskies are 5-1 and should be ranked. Demond Williams is a dynamic, dual-threat quarterback averaging 324 total yards per game.

Washington averages 39 points per game, and Jedd Fisch is an offensive guru in his own right. He's not a dummy, and he has certainly watched the USC film a few times.

Wink needs to figure it out. Bryce Underwood needs to play better and the coaching staff, from top to bottom, needs to put the players in better positions.

Michigan's back is against the wall, and here are three reasons why the Wolverines will get back into the win column.

Travel/Game time

One advantage for Michigan is that this is a Big Noon game. It's 12 PM eastern time, which is 9 a.m. out in Seattle. Playing a football game that early might take some adjusting too for Washington.

It might not be a huge factor but Michigan didn't play well on the West Coast, just like plenty of teams have struggled traveling two time zones East.

We'll find out a lot about Washington in this game, but the early start is one advantage that Michigan needs to take advantage of with a hot start.