The Michigan football team opened the 2013 season with a convincing win over Central Michigan on Saturday. Even though the game was well in hand by halftime, it was a good preview of what we can expect to see for Notre Dame and beyond. The Wolverines were better than the Chips in every facet of the game, but there are still some areas that need improvement if Team 134 is headed for Pasadena.
The first thing that I noticed on Saturday was the speed of the Michigan defense. They were without their best two players (Jake Ryan and Thomas Gordon), but the winged helmets were flying all over the field. Greg Mattison was able to rotate multiple players at each position without a significant drop off of production. It looked like the Wolverines went 12 deep on the defensive line, and it looked like 10 will be playmakers or eventual starters (I was not very impressed with Matt Godin or Richard Ash). The linebacking two deep is easily the best in the entire conference, and once Ryan comes back the Wolverines will have 7 legitimate backers. The secondary was missing both assumed starting safeties, but performed pretty well. It looked like Michigan was content to give a 5-10 yard cushion on the CMU receivers in order to help the inexperienced safeties prevent a big play.
As I mentioned in the preview, one area I was looking for was how well the defensive front four could hold the blocks to give the three linebackers free lanes to the ball. Even though Central’s offensive line is undersized, and the Wolverines are expected to dominate the trenches, it was still impressive to see it happen on Saturday. Morgan, Ross, Gordon, and Beyer were all able to play downhill, and each showed better initial instincts. I can remember each of the 4 linebackers making a play at or behind the line of scrimmage with Beyer and Gordon recording at least one sack each. In addition to the defensive line just holding the blocks, the front four was able to bust into the back field on multiple plays. Black, Ojemudia, Washington, and Wormley stood out as the biggest playmakers.
It was more difficult to grade the offense after week one because the game plan was so basic, and Gardner made broken plays look so easy. The stable of running backs definitely impressed. Fitz looks explosive and healthy, and the freshmen are college ready and pushing Fitz for playing time. It was tougher to really assess the passing game with Devin only throwing 15 times, but the offensive line looked great in pass protection. The Lewan and Schofield tackle tandem is clearly the best unit in the conference, and could be one of the best in the nation, and Kalis will be the best Michigan guard in quite some time. The word is still out on the receiving unit not named Gallon. Gardner looked a little nervous at the beginning with an interception on his first throw, but settled in completing 10 of his last 12 throws. He was clearly the best athlete on the field, and made CMU’s defense look silly multiple times.
Top Performers
1. Cam Gordon
2. Brennan Beyer
3. Desmond Morgan
4. Taylor Lewan
5. Devin Gardner
Areas of Concern
1. Interior offensive line against
Notre Dame
2. Defensive secondary (should be better
this week with Gordon returning)
3. Frank Clark’s lack of production
4. 2nd receiver position
Michigan definitely made a strong impression in their season opener, even while not revealing much of the playbook. Notre Dame was uninspiring against Temple, but will provide one of the toughest tests for the Wolverine offensive line.
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