If you are a Michigan fan this season, you have to be very pleased with how this football team has played so far. So far, Michigan has done everything you would expect from a top-5 team in the country. Blowout weak football programs (Hawaii, Rutgers, etc.), check. Come back from behind to dominate a team (Colorado), check. Finally, have a good win against a top-10 football team (Wisconsin), check. With Michigan enjoying a bye week this weekend, let’s take a look at each unit of the team
Michigan Defense
We knew that this defense was going to be impressive, but this defense could be described as otherworldly sometimes. Just ask Rutgers as they weren’t able to get a first down until the fourth quarter against Michigan 2nd team defense. Players such as Jabrill Peppers, Jourdan Lewis, Rashan Gary, Taco Charlton, Chris Wormley, Ryan Glasgow, Mike McCray, etc. make this defense special with the way they play. There is so much depth to this unit that Michigan will hardly miss a beat if one of these players gets injured. If there is one thing they need to improve, it’s limiting the big play ability for their opponent’s offense. This is an issue that has improved since the UCF game.
If Michigan is going to contend for a playoff’s spot, it will be on the strength of this defense.
Michigan Offense
When you score less than 45 points in one game, that’s a good sign that your offense is humming. While you can argue that their opponents’ defenses are not very good, you can look at the top teams who have not blown out meager opponents this season (Georgia beating Nicholls 26-24 was MUCH closer than that should have been). If there is one thing that need improvement, it’s the ability for the passing and running games to be potent at the same times. In one game, you have the running game dominating while the passing game is meh . In another game, you have the passing game clicking while the running game stalls. While Michigan still has time to match these two facets of the game. That comes down to Wilton Speight, the giant Michigan QB. While Speight has been above average this season, he still has trouble throwing the deep ball and avoiding pressure from the defense. Once he figures out the deep ball, you could potentially see the best Michigan offense in years.
Michigan Special Teams
This is an area of the team that needs significant improvement. While the punt defense and punt return have been stellar so far, the Michigan kicking game has left a lot to be desired. In the Wisconsin-Michigan game, the score made the game a lot closer than it needed to be because of the two missed field goals by Kenny Allen. When walk-on field goal kicker Ryan Tice was called on to kick a field goal, he promptly missed as well. You can ask some of the top football teams of the past how a field goal can turn your season upside down (ask Alabama). You can bet that this Michigan defense can keep any game close with any opponent, but the field goal unit will be the demise of this team if uncorrected.
As a Michigan fan, it has been hard for me to constantly hope that Michigan will somehow beat Michigan State or Ohio State despite being much worse than them in all facets of the game. Now for the first time in a long time, Michigan is either better than equal to those football game. At the end of the day, this team will be determined by how Michigan fares against those opponents. If they keep playing like this, we could be talking about the 2016 Michigan football team for years to come.
