Michigan 24, Penn State 15: Bet
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A little over a month ago, Jim Harbaugh met with the media for his normal weekly press conference on a Monday afternoon. Michigan was coming off a 42-point road win at Minnesota and had already put the wheels in motion toward focusing its sights on Indiana, its opponent the following Saturday. But the topic of the press conference shifted from on-field issues and quickly settled on what was — at the time — the biggest issue surrounding Harbaugh and the Michigan program: his long-term future in Ann Arbor, in regards to potential future NFL overtures.
“Yeah, I mean like anybody, I’ve said it. You want to be somewhere where you’re wanted,” Harbaugh told reporters that day. “They like what you do and how you do it, and they tell you that. Your bosses tell you that, and then that gets reflected in a contract.
“The bottom line … any of us, right? We want to be somewhere they like how you do it and what you do.”
Outside of this feeling like it was five years ago rather than five weeks ago, it’s jarring to read that comment and take inventory of just how much has changed in the weeks that have followed.
Sure, Harbaugh’s future with the program is still center stage in the national discussion. But the reigning Big Ten Coach of the Year has gone from a successful coach who has felt on an island in terms of institutional support over the last few years to someone who finally found a way to bring the fractured members of the Michigan community together as one. I’m sure a month ago nobody would have dreamed to see the top-to-bottom unity that was on display both Saturday and in the days leading up to it.
But at the same time, I’m sure they also wouldn’t have ever imagined the circumstances that would have led to that unity, nor would they have expected to be stuck staring at the dark cloud hanging over both the program and this oh-so-promising season on a daily basis once the season hit November.
On Saturday in Happy Valley, 33 days after his comments about wanting to feel wanted and supported and respected both for his success and the way that success has been manufactured, Michigan played in its biggest non-Ohio State conference game in years — if not decades. And Jim Harbaugh, the man who resurrected Michigan from a program that went 46-42 in the seven years following Lloyd Carr’s retirement to one that has gone 1,445 straight days (and counting) without losing to Ohio State, was nowhere to be seen on the sidelines.
Yet somehow, despite the fact that Harbaugh was watching the game from a nearby hotel rather than surrounded by the 100-plus players, coaches and support staff who made the trip to Pennsylvania, Michigan’s embattled coach probably felt more embraced and accepted than he’s felt in years — and maybe in his entire tenure in Ann Arbor.
From top to bottom, everyone involved with the Michigan football program and the University as a whole was on the same page as Harbaugh, a rarity if not an outright divergence from the norm.
After Michigan players and Harbaugh alike all found out Harbaugh wouldn’t be coaching because someone on Michigan’s team plane — not the actual Big Ten Conference — gave Harbaugh a heads up thanks to a leaked media report on social media, the gears of rallying around this started in motion.
Players took to social media and simultaneously shared a basic yet impactful collective statement: “Bet.” Others, like University president Santa Ono, noted GOAT Tom Brady and roughly 50,000 other random Michigan fans with social media accounts, joined in on the action, too, posting the same three-letter response that looked so innocuous on the surface, but really made a statement as a collective action.
It was far from the only show of solidarity Ono has provided. A week ago, his letter to Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti went viral for the proactive support he showed for both Harbaugh and the program as a whole. Prior to that, Ono and the Michigan administration made clear they’d be standing by “their guy” and that they were not only open to offering him that contract extension Harbaugh was alluding to in that early October press conference in between the Minnesota and Indiana games, they were going to actively get the ball rolling to get that done.
And Ono was far from a one-man support show when it comes to University administration, too. You also had regents calling out the Big Ten leaking a decision to Pete Thamel by name. And a look through the tweets and “likes” of many other regents show a similar mindset — one of support surrounding the program and simulteanous anger and shock regarding the Big Ten’s unprecedented actions.
And maybe most impactfully, you had Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel, an easy and frequent target of the Michigan fanbase for not being a vocal enough supporter of Harbaugh, pen one of the most aggressive public defenses of an under-investigation coach I’ve ever seen in college sports. The whole thing is worth a read, but the final paragraph is particularly impactful, especially when you weigh the recent history he has with Harbaugh and the reported coldness of the two’s relationship at times over the years:
“You may have removed him from our sidelines today, but Jim Harbaugh is our head football coach. We look forward to defending Jim's right to coach our football team at the hearing on Friday. He has instilled his pride, passion, and the team's belief in themselves to achieve greatness. I will continue to support Jim throughout this process, my coaches and staff, and especially our student-athletes as we continue to play this game and fight to win for Michigan and all who love us."
The unprecedented acts by the Big Ten Conference (and most notably, the timing of how it all played out) were so absurd that I’m very hesitant to paint it as any sort of positive, because I don’t want to let the conference or its in-way-too-over-his-head commissioner off the hook, even in the slightest. But if there is a positive byproduct to come out of this whole saga, it’s that this has truly served as a rallying cry for the entire University — something that’s been way too fractured than its needs to be in recent years.
But saying all the right things, having coordinated social media posts and being unified off the field doesn’t really mean a thing if the team doesn’t come together on it. And on Saturday, in a game where just about everyone associated with the Big Ten Conference not named Michigan was pulling for Penn State to win so life could be made easier for everyone else involved, Michigan put together its best team performance of the season — even if that didn’t mean Michigan’s usual gaudy, lopsided margin of victory on the scoreboard.
Instead, Michigan’s performance was best exemplified by the people who were willing and able to sacrifice for the good of the team, and for the good of the coach who wasn’t allowed to patrol the sidelines on Saturday afternoon.
J.J. McCarthy, the man who stepped into “favorite” status in the Heisman Trophy race just a few short weeks ago, did not attempt a single official pass in the second half. Not one. At a time when college sports is losing some eyeballs as fans complain more and more about these 18-22 year-old kids making “business decisions” and prioritizing their professional future, draft hype and individual awards over the team, McCarthy is the antithesis of that movement. Not only did he go along with Michigan’s on-the-fly pivot in gameplan, he embraced it. If you’ve seen him interviewed after games this fall when he throws for 4 TDs or tops the 300-yard mark, you wouldn’t have noticed a difference in his post-game demeanor after those video-game number performance games and Saturday in Happy Valley, where his final stat line was a shocking 7-of-8 for 60 yards and no TDs. He got his W, and that’s all he set out to accomplish on Saturday.
The same can be said for Roman Wilson, a senior wideout in the mix for the national lead in touchdown receptions and in the discussion for All-Conference and even All-American honors. Wilson not only didn’t have a catch on Saturday, he didn’t get a single target. In fact, the only ball he caught all day was the one McCarthy chucked in the air over his head after he took a knee on the final play of the game. There was no sulking on Wilson’s end, either. Just celebration for his teammates who were equally happy for him earlier in the season when it was Wilson’s turn in the spotlight.
The last time a road trip to Penn State felt so impactful, it was in 1997. That year, then-No. 4 Michigan walked into Beaver Stadium as an underdog against No. 2 Penn State. The Wolverines not only walked out with a win, they did so emphatically — besting Joe Paterno's squad by a 34-8 margin that was so impressive that Michigan went from No. 4 to No. 1 and never gave that ranking back in any future versions of the AP poll that season.
This year’s game about a quarter-century later wasn’t the blowout it was back then. But the stakes felt just as high — and the statement was just as loud.
No coach. No passing game. No problem.
This team had no fear. It had no regard for outside noise. And it left Happy Valley the same way it came in: no losses.
Now let’s dig a bit deeper into Michigan’s biggest win yet of a memorable season that almost certainly has many more twists and turns ahead.
Let’s talk about the game plan
How soon we forget, Michigan fans. Saturday’s game felt like a hybrid form of Déjà vu, pulling in memories of both the 2021 edition of The Game and that same year’s matchup between Michigan and Washington. And somehow people treated that like it was a bad thing?
Unless you were holding a J.J. McCarthy Heisman Trophy Winner betting slip, I can’t fathom watching Michigan’s strategic masterclass on Saturday and walking away angry.
I enjoy the live element of watching a game alongside thousands of my closest e-friends in the form of Michigan fans on Twitter. But wow, it can also be quite jarring to see how mad people can get over decisions that may not be the most aesthetically pleasing, but are absolutely designed to get this team what they traveled to Happy Valley to get: a win. And that’s exactly what Michigan walked away with.
Penn State showed its defensive hand on Saturday over the first few drives. And it was a damn strong hand. Every single time Michigan had a true dropback to pass, McCarthy faced pressure. And I’m not talking hand-in-the-vacinity-of-the-pass pressure, I’m talking about-to-get-hit-by-a-freight-train pressure. Penn State’s defensive linemen, particularly those facing Michigan’s right side of the offensive line, looked like they were up against turnstiles rather than the returning starting right tackle from a Joe Moore winning offensive line.
In a very unfortunate first (at least for me), Karsen Barnhart ended up receiving a 0.0 pass blocking grade from PFF. I can safely say I've never seen anyone, let alone someone who played 50+ snaps in a given game, get a 0.0 pass blocking grade. Along with the two times he was beat to end each of Michigan's first two drives, Barnhart was also flagged for Michigan's only two offensive penalties of the day — both false starts.
It’s something that caused me to tweet out the following after the culmination of Michigan’s second drive: “Michigan needs to make a change at right tackle. I hope the guy who has to simultaneously coach Michigan's offensive line, serve as offensive coordinator and serve as head coach has an opportunity to address this.”
Luckily for Michigan fans, Moore did exactly that — even if it wasn’t the solution that a lot of people assumed would be coming (substituting Barnhart for someone like Trente Jones or Myles Hinton). Instead, Moore — serving as a head coach for just the second time in his career and the first time against a team with an actual pulse — was prepared to be proactive and make a call that others might not have the balls to make.
Starting with its third drive, Michigan adjusted. It was time for a chess match. But when it comes to a battle of wits, if Moore was playing chess, James Franklin had one of those paper placemats and packages of three crayons that you’ll give a kid at a place like Denny’s. Moore made smart, nuanced calls that used the Nittany Lions’ aggression against themselves, moving the ball, milking the clock and — most importantly — eliminating the possibility of a game-changing mistake. Franklin, well, I’m sure he drew a really cool picture of a giraffe or something.
Michigan’s third offensive drive of the game was its most important drive of the season. And it will go down as one of the most important drives of the Harbaugh Era. Barnhart stayed in the game. And he was put in position to succeed in the run game, with the help of deft playcalling that allowed him to use Penn State’s overaggression against itself. And that’s exactly what happened. Michigan turned a 3-0 deficit into a 7-3 lead that it would never relinquish. All three of Michigan's pass attempts were completed, but didn't call upon McCarthy to do into a true dropback. The team converted a 3rd and 10 on the final play of the first quarter thanks to an absolutely perfect play call from Moore that led to McCarthy keeping it for 13 yards and getting into Penn State territory for the first time of the game. And after a 2-yard loss on a quick screen to Semaj Morgan put Michigan in another 3rd and long situation just outside the Penn State red zone, Moore made another ballsy call to go to that exact same well on the next play, giving the speedy freshman the ball in space and giving Michigan’s blockers a chance to do what they do best: hit the other team and create holes.
After the ensuing third drive, I sent out the following: “Should be noted: Both of those 3rd and long plays were executed incredibly well, particularly by the offensive line. Karsen Barnhart had a shaky first few drives in pass protection, but made key blocks on each of those plays.”
Don’t feel too bad for Jones and Hinton. Even though neither received the call to sub in for Barnhart, they still had opportunities to help Michigan win its biggest game of the season. Michigan had 56 offensive plays on Saturday. Its starting offensive line played all 56 of those snaps. But in addition to that, Jones played 17 snaps (30% of the team’s snaps) as a sixth OL. And Hinton played 13 snaps (23% of the team’s snaps) as a seventh OL (yes, you read that correctly). For a good chunk of the season, there was debate within the program and the fanbase as to “which of these seven future NFL offensive linemen are going to get to play for Michigan this season?”
In Michigan’s biggest game so far this season, the answer somehow became “everyone — at the same time.”
The element of the game plan that I don’t think is getting enough credit is the timing of the changes. So often, we see teams try to “make it to halftime so we can make adjustments.” Michigan knew it might not have that luxury, and it recalibrated its plan in real time and I truly think that was the difference in this game.
By the time Donovan Edwards’ 22-yard touchdown run on 3rd and 11 ended Michigan’s next drive and gave it a 14-3 lead, one of the biggest “chef’s kiss” moments of the entire Harbaugh Era, Michigan was already done passing for the rest of the game. The team’s lone remaining “unofficial” passing attempt of the game was a third quarter attempt that was ruled a non-play because of pass interference. Michigan simply rode the running game to victory. It was both a bet on the running game, an endorsement of how much the team believes in its defense and a preventative measure to fight against Penn State’s best chance of turning this game around — a game-changing turnover by the defense, whether it be an interception or, more likely given the way the game started, a strip sack. It may not have made some Michigan fans happy on Twitter, but it was the right tactical move for a number of reasons.
Chief among them: Blake Corum is a pretty damn nice “Plan B” to fall back on if you’re going to ask your Heisman Trophy candidate QB to take a step back for a few hours. Speaking of that “H” word, Corum was a legitimate Heisman Trophy contender last season before seeing his dream season come to a tragic, short end with a freak injury against Illinois. If you don’t think he was New York City bound, let alone a potential winner of that title, look at where he stood in the Heisman Trophy odds this time last year compared to Caleb Williams, and remember that Williams ended up winning the title despite losing down the stretch for USC.
Corum returned this season and has seen a dramatic decrease in his usage. This is by design, in hopes of keeping him fresh and healthy for games like this, when he’s needed to be called upon to be a workhorse. This step outside of the spotlight for a good chunk of the season luckily works for Corum, but Michigan fans need to be aware of just how unique that may be. How many other college athletes would delay a jump to the pros for a year just for one last shot at a national championship? Corum came back this season for team accolades (and if you don’t believe me, listen to this post-game soundbyte from his on-field interview after Saturday’s game — the one he conducted with a big ole bloody dent on his face — and I dare you to find a single inauthentic moment).
On Saturday, he got his name called early. He got his name called often. And time and time again, he ran right into the mouth of one of the nation’s most intimidating defenses and then he got right up and did it again.
For the game, Corum had season highs in both carries (26) and yards (145). He also added two more rushing touchdowns to his national lead, which now sits at 18, three ahead of anyone else.
There’s something hilariously ironic about Michigan facing all these questions over the past week about the advantages of knowing what the opposition is going to do, then essentially handicapping itself for the majority of this top-10 road game by having the most transparent game plan since the advent of the forward pass.
It’s not hyperbole to say that on Saturday, the Wolverines basically just shrugged their shoulders, grabbed a metaphorical megaphone and just yelled “IT’S A RUN” for the final 36 minutes of the game. And then ran it every. single. time.
Bet.
Let’s talk about James Franklin
Having Jim Harbaugh watch Saturday’s game from a nearby Pennsylvania hotel was obviously not ideal. But Michigan still won the coaching battle on Saturday — and by a pretty significant margin.
That is absolutely a compliment to Sherrone Moore, someone I have a great deal of respect for and someone Michigan fans should feel very fortunate is available to step in and coach in situations like the one Michigan found itself in on Saturday. But it’s also a statement of just how overrated of a coach James Franklin is.
Franklin has somehow* been a mainstay on these national “Top 10 coaches in college football” lists. It started off as annoying. Then it became maddening. Now it’s just a fun little combination of sad and hilarious.
(*the “somehow” actually isn’t much of a secret — Franklin is kind to national reporters and media personalities and he’s met in turn with favorable placement on these lists and gets his name floated when high-profile openings pop up, giving him leverage to earn him inexplicable raises from a school that’s dumb enough to continue to play into his game.)
As MGoBlog’s Seth Fisher said during the game, “If the Big 10 really wanted to screw Michigan they would have suspended James Franklin.”
One thing Franklin has been getting skewered about that I actually think is unjust, though, is his decision to go for 2 after Penn State’s touchdown made it a 24-15 game. I think his first two-point conversion attempt in the first half was premature — there’s no need to chase points in the first half of a game. And going for it on fourth and 6 from his own 30 with 4:21 left on the clock and multiple timeouts in hand is borderline coaching malpractice. But I’m a firm believer in the belief that you need to have as much information as quick as possible when it comes to two-point conversions late in games, so I’m not among the (surprisingly large) group of people criticizing him for that.
Did he explain it well in the post-game press conference? Absolutely not. It was a bad enough explanation that I actually think it’s plausible he doesn’t understand why it was the right call. But in that case, at least he has an analytics guy on his payroll that’s making proper suggestions and Franklin is smart enough to actually accept that advice.
Enough defending Franklin, though. This guy is a fraud, and I’ve been banging that drum for the better part of a decade on Twitter now. In fact, I dedicated an entire newsletter to that topic three years ago, before Jim Harbaugh turned things around in Ann Arbor.
Somehow “Jim Harbaugh is a better coach than James Franklin” was a controversial topic three years ago. If you see my data-driven breakdown of why that’s the case was the case back then, though, and then compare the trajectories of the two programs since it was written, just imagine how much of a slam-dunk argument that is now.
If you’re somehow not convinced, try this stat on for size: James Franklin, currently in Year 10 as Penn State’s head coach, is still searching for his first career top-10 road win. Sherrone Moore, Michigan’s offensive coordinator who just served as head coach in a road game for the first time in his career, now has more career top-10 road wins as a head coach.
Woof.
Franklin went in full deflection mode less than 24 hours after the loss, firing offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich. For those unfamiliar with Yurcich, he's had a decorated career as an assistant, serving as Oklahoma State's Offensive Coordinator and QB coach from 2013-2018 before being poached away by Ohio State to be the Buckeyes' Passing Game Coordinator/QB coach in 2019. He went to Texas to be the Longhorns' Offensive Coordinator/QB coach in 2020, and has been at Penn State in the same role from 2021 and beyond. No FBS coordinator has had his teams score 50 or more points (27 times) or 40 or more points (57 times) since 2013 than Yurcich. I’m not saying Yurcich was a coach without warts and I’m not saying Penn State’s offense was a juggernaut. But even after Michigan shut them down, the Nittany Lions were second in the Big Ten in scoring (ahead of Ohio State!) and were closer to No. 1 than No. 3.
James Franklin has now run through five different offensive coordinators in fewer than 10 full seasons in Penn State. That’s more offensive coordinators than he has wins against Michigan and Ohio State … combined. At what point does the finger pointing start coming back his way?
Let’s talk about Donovan Edwards
There is not a member of the Michigan football team that has received more criticism from me this season than Donovan Edwards. I stand by that, by the way — I don’t think it’s been mean-spirited and it’s almost always met with the caveat of “I still think Edwards can and should play a key role on this offense.” But even though it’s been fair, I do think Edwards has earned the opportunity to dunk on me after showing up in a big game yet again on Saturday.
So talk your talk, Big Game Don. You’ve earned that nickname for a reason. Edwards' four biggest games of 2022 were against No. 2 Ohio State (22-216-2), No. 3 TCU (23-119), No. 10 Penn State (16-173-2) and against Purdue in the Big Ten Championship Game (25-185-1). His biggest game of 2023 came on Saturday against yet another top-10 foe.
In Happy Valley, Edwards had a season high in rushing yards (52) on 10 carries. After going six games to start the season without a touchdown, the junior has now found the end zone in three of his last four games. It’s the first time in conference play that Edwards averaged more than 5 yards per carry in a single game. And he just so happened to wait to have a game like this against the toughest defense he’ll face all season long.
Now he’s not “cured” yet. And I’m not really ready to change my tune when it comes to the optimal usage for Edwards — I still think he’s best used as a receiving threat and as a decoy that opposing defenses need to account for because of his eclectic skill set. Edwards carried the ball 10 times on Saturday. Four of those 10 carries went for negative yardage. Two others went for just 1 or 2 yards. So the majority of those touches are still “wasted downs.” But those wasted downs are far more tolerable if they’re offset by big ones, and Edwards broke off his two longest runs of the season (both 22 yards) against the best defense he’s faced yet, in the biggest game he’s played in. Not bad when your last rush of 10 yards or more came in the middle of September against Bowling Green (11 yards).
Edwards is a home-run hitter. The problem in the first 75% of the season: he wasn’t hitting home runs. But Big Game Don showed why he’s earned that nickname on Saturday, delivering in one of the biggest moments of the game with what I deem to be the offensive play of the game — a 22-yard touchdown run on 3rd-and-11 that help pay off one of the craziest chess moves I’ve seen in a Michigan game in quite some time.
Michigan needed to pick up 11 yards and Sherrone Moore opted to give it to the guy that had gained 11 yards just twice in 74 carries leading up to the game. That’s a ballsy call. But it also shows the trust this team has in Edwards, even if certain newsletter writers may have lost that faith long before Saturday’s game kicked off.
Maybe that’s why I’m here and they’re there. Luckily, this is one of those times I’ll happily eat a big helping of crow. It actually doesn’t taste that been when it’s washed down with a nice, tall glass of Nittany Lion tears.
Let’s talk about officiating
I’m not going to lie. When Penn State’s roughing/running into the kicker flag (doesn’t matter which — Michigan was punting on 4th and 3, so either penalty would have given the Wolverines a first down) was picked up at the end of the second drive, I was very, very worried.
I’m not a tin-foil hat wearer, but it sure felt like a situation where Michigan was not going to get a fair whistle. But while there are some other spots in the game where a call/non-call annoyed me (Penn State’s lone first-half touchdown was aided by a very egregious hold right in the middle of the field and Quenten Johnson’s interception-turned-incomplete-pass-turned-unsportsmanlike-conduct-penalty-on-Michael-Barrett ended up being the difference in this game being a blowout and a game with a single-digit margin of victory), the game actually had a pretty fair whistle. Not necessarily a well-officiated game, but the calls weren’t skewed disproportionately in one direction. When Michigan is playing in a big game (particularly with all the noise surrounding the program), I’ll sign up for that in a second — even if Michigan, the least penalized team in the country, ended up with 50 penalty yards compared to Penn State’s 33.
If there is one thing Michigan is bad at, it’s ruining impressive stats late in games. Penn State’s meaningless scoring drive not only led to a garbage-time TD that gave Michigan its highest points-allowed total of the season (15 points), that drive featured a pair of Michigan personal foul penalties (Barrett taking his helmet off prematurely and Cam Goode picking up an illegal hands to the face personal foul) that bumped the team total from four penalties for 20 yards and change to six penalties for 50 yards.
Michigan is still the least penalized team in America heading into this weekend’s game against Maryland (30 total penalties for 258 yards). But between the Penn State and Michigan State fourth quarters, the Wolverines’ impressive lead over the rest of the country lost about 100 yards worth of cushion.
Let’s talk about a couple other quick things
Some quick hitters that also deserve some mention before I wrap this up:
The defense isn’t going to get the shine it deserves in this week’s column (there’s too much other stuff to touch on and I’m already flirting with the 6,000-word mark), but I need to point out a couple things that very much deserve mention in some capacity here. First, the way the defense showed up in its first goal-to-go moment of the season on Saturday was huge. Penn State had its most impressive offensive drive of the game on its second possession, coming on the heels of the maddening flag pickup on the running into/roughing the punter play that ended Michigan’s second drive. So it really felt like Penn State was going to jump out to a big lead. Anyone who watched the 2017 version of this rivalry knows how dangerous that can get. But once the Nittany Lions became that elusive team to finally break into the back half of Michigan’s red zone on the heels of a seven-play stretch that caught Michigan off guard — a 19-yard pass, 5-yard run, 6-yard run, Michigan pass interference, 6-yard run, 11-yard run and a 9-yard run — the Wolverines clamped down time and time again (and even more times after officials gave Drew Allar a maddeningly favorable spot and a subsequent first down). Penn State had five cracks inside Michigan's 4-yard line, starting with a 2nd and 1. Here's what happened: Nick Singleton run for no gain, Drew Allar run for "one yard," first down, Kaytron Allen run for no gain, incomplete pass, incomplete pass. Those short-yardage situations became a Michigan advantage all game long, as evidenced by the fact that James Franklin felt the need to call a halfback pass on 4th and 1 late in the first half to pick up the 2-3 yards he needed for a first down. Just an incredibly dominant performance by Michigan’s defensive front all game long.
Speaking of which, my second point: Rayshaun Benny picked a fantastic game to have his best game as a Wolverine. Benny was involved in two of Michigan’s most impactful plays on defense all game long. He punched the ball loose on Penn State’s opening-drive fumble to kick off the second half, leading to a Makari Paige recovery and the lone turnover of the game by either side. He also made a huge tackle on Drew Allar to put a quick end to Penn State’s third drive of the first half — one that was bookended by two Michigan touchdowns — when Penn State started the drive with a 9-yard run, but couldn’t convert a 2nd and 1 or a 3rd and 2 after a huge Rod Moore TFL and then a major Benny stuff of Allar on a play where Allar looked destined to pick up a first down. Benny ended the day as Michigan’s top-ranked player on either side of the ball via PFF, bringing in an 89.0 grade — more than 10 points clear of his next closest teammate (Zak Zinter, 75.2)
Third: Kenneth Grant, all 340 pounds of him, running down Kaytron Allen is one of the most impressive things I’ve ever seen on a football field. And yes, I’ve double-and-triple checked this in my mind before publishing, because I know how hyperbolic that sounds. Michigan is so lucky to have this guy, and it’s doubly lucky to have him locked into college football for another year. Because if this true sophomore was draft eligible after this season, I’m very confident he’d be a Day 1 pick.
And a non-defense thing to wrap this section up: Don’t say these coaching changes (especially the timing of them) didn’t impact the game. I think Sherrone Moore did an excellent job. But it was abundantly clear that Michigan had more trouble on Saturday getting plays in than it had in the first 75% of the season combined. Michigan is lucky the game wasn’t close, because its timeouts in both halves were largely torched on countless occasions where the team needed to use them to prevent picking up delay of game penalties. I’m hopeful it’s something the team can clean up this week. But it remains a joke that such cleanup is even required, given the fact that Michigan hasn’t come close to being fairly investigated on these accusations.
Let’s talk about what comes next
Up next is Maryland, right?
Well, kind of.
It’s probably arrogant to discount a bowl-eligible team on the road (especially one that was the clear pick for “trap game of the year” in my preseason expert roundtable). But … that’s pretty much exactly what I’m going to do.
While Michigan’s next game is indeed the Big Noon Saturday matchup at Maryland this Saturday, that matchup is bookended by events that are far more important to the Wolverine program. The first of which is Friday’s TRO hearing at Washtenaw County Circuit Court. The University of Michigan has requested a temporary restraining order against the Big Ten. The second event is The Game, which is getting closer and closer to being mere single-digit days away. The former will determine whether Jim Harbaugh will be on the sideline for the rest of the regular season, and will likely also play a factor in what types of dominoes fall in a Michigan-Big Ten battle that has enough bad blood that it’s almost guaranteed to spill into the offseason and beyond. The latter will almost certainly determine the Big Ten Champion and a top-2 berth into the College Football Playoff for the third straight season.
With that said, and even though Saturday’s game against Maryland takes third billing in terms of the events that are bookending it, and even though the Wolverines will likely be a ~20-point favorite around opening kickoff, there is a really legitimate reason worth tuning in on Saturday. With a win — and regardless of who’s on the sideline to coach the game — Michigan will earn its 1,000th win as a college football program. That’s a first for a football program at any level: pro, college or high school.
No matter everything that’s happening with this program on and off the field, that’s an incredibly impressive milestone. And something I hope the members of this team can savor when it happens this weekend.
…and something I hope Jim Harbaugh can be on the sideline to experience, too.