Michigan football: In Depth Review of Fresno State and Looking Ahead to Texas

Looking Ahead to Texas

There are going to be a lot of comparisons from the Box Score against Fresno State to Michigan's games against ECU and Bowling Green last year. However those comparisons are really not apt.

Last year Michigan football consistently took control of those games early. Heading into the fourth quarter they led 30-0 and 31-6 against ECU and Bowling Green respectively. Against Fresno State, Michigan led 13-3 entering the fourth quarter.

In those games last year the starters came in and dominated. It was when Michigan put in the second and third-string players that the game remained closer than expected.

The biggest difference between last year's team and this year's team is simply JJ McCarthy and having a quarterback who can play off schedule and attack defenses for over committing to playing the run. We may see that from Davis Warren or Alex Orji in the coming weeks, but I think it'd be naive to expect that from either guy this early on. Even JJ Struggled with this in 2022.

Michigan is going to have to play a really great game against Texas to have a shot on Saturday. I think that Texas may just be the more talented team. That's not a knock on Michigan football at all -- it lost 13 players to the draft, several more to the NFL, and most of their coaching staff. The fact that they can be competitive against an elite team early in the season says a lot about how much talent they bring back and how great of a coaching staff they've put together.

The formula is going to have to be playing aggressively early, trying to find extra possessions either through takeaways or special teams, and effectively running the ball against a Texas defense that lost their two elite defensive tackles from a year ago. I expect to see a lot of improvement from Michigan this week, we'll see if it'll be enough to take down one of the best teams in the country.