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What we learned next against Minnesota and Washington

Posted on by Vanessa
What we learned next against Minnesota and Washington

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Free Press sportswriter Tony Garcia looks back at Michigan football's 27-24 victory over Minnesota and looks ahead to the Wolverines' first road trip of the season, a return game in the College Football Playoff championship game against Washington in Seattle:

NEW RANKINGS: Michigan in updated college football rankings: No. 10 Wolverines after outlasting Minnesota

Next up for the Wolverines: Washington Huskies

Matchup: No. 10 Michigan (4-1, 2-0 Big Ten) vs. Washington (3-2, 1-1).

Start: 7:30 p.m. Saturday; Husky Stadium, Seattle.

TV/Radio: NBC; WXYT-FM (97.1).

Line: Wolverines by 1½.

Know the enemy

The Wolverines will leave Ann Arbor's friendly venue for the first time since their CFP title game in Houston in January; Funnily enough, they will see the same program that they learned about on the field that night.

No. 10 Michigan travels to Seattle to face Washington after the two met on Jan. 11, when Michigan won 34-13, capping its undefeated season and securing the 2023 national championship. A lot has changed for both teams since then. Former Washington coach Kalen DeBoer left the Pacific Northwest to succeed Nick Saban at Alabama. That's why the Huskies poached former Michigan offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch (who had just led Arizona to a top-25 season) to take over the program.

Washington was expected to slow down with dozens of players coming in and out, but things have been going well for the Huskies so far. Naturally, they're upset about how things went last week. Washington controlled the game against Rutgers, outscoring the Scarlet Knights by more than 200 yards (521-299), including an average of 7.1 yards per rush.

More importantly, transfer quarterback Will Rogers (Mississippi State) had a fantastic day, completing 26 of 36 passes for 306 yards and two touchdowns. UW turned the ball over twice on downs, including once at the Rutgers 2-yard line, and also missed not one, not two, but three field goals (from 42, 37 and 55 yards) and converted just two of 12 third downs as they lost 21-18.

Washington is No. 21 in total offense (469.8 yards per game) but only No. 89 in offensive rating (25.5 points per game) as they have struggled in the red zone, ranked 116th in the nation and scored just 13 times (nine touchdowns and four field goals) in 18 drives inside the opponent's 20. Rogers has been fantastic so far, completing 110 of 147 passes (74.8%) for 10 touchdowns and no interceptions in five games. His two favorite targets are Denzel Boston (30 grabs, 412 yards and seven touchdowns) and former Wolverine Giles Jackson (34 receptions, 401 yards and one touchdown). In addition to the passing game, keep an eye on running back Jonah Coleman. The former Arizona defensive lineman, who came with Fisch, has already completed 72 carries for 521 yards (7.2 yards per carry) and four touchdowns, numbers on par with UM's Kalel Mullings (77 rushes, 540 yards and six touchdowns). for perspective).

Meanwhile, Washington was very good on defense under new defensive coordinator Steve Belichick, son of legendary coach Bill Belichick. The Huskies are No. 10 in the nation in both scoring defense (12.4 points per game) and total defense (249.8 yards per game), and as a team, UW is tied for 50th in turnover margin ( plus two).

Tony Garcia's 3 things we learned against Minnesota

Loveland remains the passing game: Quarterback Alex Orji went 10-for-18 for 86 yards against Minnesota, surpassing the stat line from his first start by three, six and 54, respectively. It's no coincidence, these were similar to Colston Loveland's recent stats, as he returned to caught four passes for 41 yards from an upper-body injury that sidelined him completely at the end of Week 3 and the Week 4 win over USC. For the third time in as many starts and targets at Loveland, he led all UM pass catchers in targets, receptions and yards. “Having Colston on the field is like jumping into the water with a life jacket on,” Orji said after the game. Loveland converted the game's first first down when he caught a 6-yard out route from Orji on third-and-4, one of the better-timed routes of the day. Of the five first downs that Orji converted via pass, Loveland was responsible for four.

WHERE IS THE PASSING PLAY: The ground-and-pound style leads to victories, but Michigan football knows it needs more balance

Offense is still booming or busting: Not counting the last few games in which time was running out for the Wolverines, Michigan had 11 possessions against Minnesota on Saturday. The vast majority did not follow the team's ideal game plan. With the current structure of the attack, the aim is to possess the ball, gain time in possession, control position on the pitch and generally dictate the conditions of the game. This time, UM's offense was unable to do so consistently, as there were only three possessions that lasted longer than 2 minutes and 10 seconds. Those three rides took 18:53, while the other eight (before the final one ran 1:36) took just 12:48. Sure, two of those were quick trips that ended in touchdowns as the defense and special teams got the offense into the red zone, but the vast majority of the possessions were way too quick, with six drives ending in four plays or less without scores.

The error rate is extremely low: For the second straight year, Michigan led a game by multiple touchdowns in the second half, but the fight didn't end until the final minutes. This could be because the Wolverines are too one-dimensional on offense. The passing game piled up 118 yards through the air in eight quarters with Orji at quarterback, and in the second half, after the teams made schematic adjustments, Michigan scored just 19 points in the final four quarters combined. When UM wasn't chewing up the clock and turning the court over, it was able to lean on defense to create takeaways. (Michigan's defense had an interception and a forced fumble to get the offense going inside the 20, while the special teams blocked a punt to get the offense going at the 11.) But the last two games show that this is not a perfect plan. The Wolverines' defense was tired by the end of the game, having to defend both a short field and two long possessions, and for the second straight day it seems clear that Michigan would not have had the ideal start (that it deserves) . It's thanks to me that the game would have been different.

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