The Michigan Wolverines put together their most complete game of the season. They return from West Lafayette with their first B1G victory of the season. Heading into the game most “experts” picked the Boilermakers to win and to plant themselves as the new Rose Bowl favorite. I even picked the game to be a lot closer than what really happened.
I want to start with the defensive performance for the 2nd straight game. This group is following the same trajectory as the 2011 unit. They are beginning to come together and form one of the better defenses in the entire conference. The Purdue offensive coordinator thought the Boiler offensive line played their best game of the season, but the Michigan defensive front was just better. He put the Wolverine defensive line on par with Notre Dame’s. This is some big praise for what was supposed to be the team’s weakest point. William Campbell and Quinton Washington are doing a good job holding their blocks and also getting some penetration. This is allowing the rest of the defense to flow downhill to the ball. It is amazing how much better the linebackers look when they don’t have to fend off blocks from lineman who outweigh them by 70 pounds.
It also became clear that Purdue was a little over-rated. While I thought the Michigan secondary played a very good game, even with an injured Kovacs, Purdue does not have the ability to stretch the field with the deep passing game. While the Boiler receivers are a strength for them, most of the routes are kept short. The Michigan cornerbacks kept the plays in front of them, and made some very good open field tackles. However, they will be tested downfield more by a few of the better teams remaining on the schedule.
After the first drive of the game it was obvious that Al Borges closed some of the playbook for Denard. He put the pressure on the offensive line to line up and blow a very good defensive front off the ball, over and over again. They lived up the challenge. I have no doubts that Kawaan Short is one of the best tackles Michigan will face this year, but he was not as destructive as I have seen him. Michigan threw the ball 16 times, and most of these routes were simple one read throws. It gave Denard the chance to stop thinking as much and just throw the ball. He was able to step into a few throws where he showed above average arm strength, and he also threw the ball away once. At this point in the season, Michigan has a very good rushing attack with Denard and hopefully Fitz or Rawls. The offensive line is good enough to line up and open holes to get 4-6 ypc. If they can continue that production, Denard will not need to throw the ball more than 20 times a game.
Looking forward, I would pencil in wins if Michigan played MSU, Nebraska, and Ohio at home. The problem is 2 of these games are road games, and the other is a rival where Denard has looked awful for the past two years. I think Michigan is the best B1G team that is post season eligible at this point. Will they live up to this thought, or turn a few games into Notre Dame 2012?
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