With Kyle Whittingham as the Michigan football head coach, it's hard to have confidence in anything.
The first season under Whittingham has felt like a flashback to the Brady Hoke era with all of the incompetence.
Things have gotten better since Tommy Carr took over as the starting quarterback. He passed for 266 yards and ran for 54, accounting for three total touchdowns without an interception in the win over Rutgers.
You can say it was Rutgers, but you have to wonder if Bryce Underwood would have played as efficiently as Carr. Even Jason Beck got back to basics. The run-game issues against Rutgers can be laid at the feet of the offensive line more than at Beck's.
That's all to say, there are still issues on offense. Rutgers had the worst run defense in the Big Ten, and Michigan still couldn't get an explosive run with a running back.
Those are all reasons to be concerned about Sparty on Saturday night. The Wolverines are double-digit favorites, but who cares? In this rivalry, you can throw that stuff out the window. This will be a war.
Whittingham says he's ready. It's hard to understand this rivalry until you have been part of it. The same can be said for Pat Fitzgerald, although the Spartans being fired up about this game isn't a concern.
There is on the Michigan side. Rod Moore is doing his best to quash that. He spoke to the team this week about how important it was to beat Michigan State.
However, there are just six players from the state of Michigan, on the Wolverines roster. These are all causes for concern. The one reason not to be concerned is the defense.
Why Michigan football fans should be confident against Sparty
It's the same thing we said about Rutgers, which scored 21 points. Yet, the 80-yard touchdown was a little flukey as Smith Snowden stumbled. The Scarlet Knights also got a 56-yard run from Antwan Raymond, who was an All-Big Ten preseason selection.
Raymond is one of the best backs in the Big Ten. The Spartans don't have anyone quite like that. The defense should also learn from those mistakes. Maybe it was ever better that those things happened last week.
Some flukey plays are going to happen, but now at least, the defense will be guarding against that kind of thing. I would be stunned if Michigan football allowed two plays of more than 50 yards this week.
A win will ease a lot of the pressure on Kyle Whittigham for at least one week. It could set up the Wolverines for a strong November. At the very least, it avoids the worst-case scenario, and the defense, the one that has been among the best in the country at times, will be the reason Michigan fans should feel confident in a win Saturday night.
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