Entering Saturday’s matchup against Oklahoma, the college football world did not give Michigan a shot to win. Everyone on College Gameday and Big Noon Kickoff (minus Desmond Howard and Charles Woodson, of course) picked Oklahoma to win. Coming out of a shocking performance against Western Michigan, the Wolverines could have let the negativity get to them.
Instead, Kyle Whittingham’s group rallied to pick up one of the biggest non-conference wins in college football this season. Jay Hill’s defense delivered an elite performance, Bryce Underwood played a much more composed game, and the special teams unit shined. It was far from a perfect performance, and Michigan is far from a perfect team, but the Wolverines are 2-0 with a quality win now tucked in their pockets. Here are my biggest takeaways from week two.
1. Defensive dominance
Through two games, the Michigan defense has allowed a grand total of one touchdown. They held John Mateer and the Sooners offense to only 289 yards, 3-of-13 on third down, and forced two turnovers. Each position group made its mark on the game at various times. Defensive ends John Henry Daley, Dominic Nichols, and Nate Marshall owned the edge, dominating the Sooner tackles and putting constant pressure on John Mateer without having to blitz. Daley recorded eight tackles, three for a loss, and one sack. He looks every part of an All-American on the edge. Marshall’s sack of Mateer ended the game, and Nichols combined with Chase Taylor for a sack.
The secondary did an excellent job in coverage all game long. Isaiah Sategna, Oklahoma’s best receiver, caught only two passes for nine yards. Jyaire Hill’s interception in the fourth quarter was the play of the game, setting up the game-winning touchdown run from Jordan Marshall. Zeke Berry, Smith Snowden, Chris Bracy, and Rod Moore were flying around all day. Bracy forced an early fumble, punching the ball out from wide receiver Parker Livingstone at the Michigan 35, likely keeping points off the board.
Troy Bowles led the defense with nine tackles and recovered the Bracy forced fumble. Nathaniel Staehling (seven) and Chase Taylor (four) were effective in limiting Oklahoma to only 100 rushing yards on 29 attempts. The only time Oklahoma saw real success was with tight end Rocky Beers, who caught six passes for 94 yards. Other than that, and a few signature John Mateer runs, the Michigan defense was lights out. A stellar showing from Jay Hill’s unit.
2. A stride from Bryce Underwood
After a brutal outing against Western Michigan, Bryce Underwood found himself in the national spotlight with criticism coming in from all sides. On Saturday, against a Brent Venables defense, Underwood showed a lot of poise and composure. His passing is not where it needs to be yet, clearly. But every aspect of Underwood’s game looked noticeably improved from week one.
Underwood shined as a runner, totaling 87 yards on the ground, including a dazzling 38-yard touchdown run. Jason Beck’s game plan clearly emphasized using Underwood’s legs frequently, and it paid off. With his size, strength, and speed, the QB power looks are highly effective. Ideally, the rest of the offense will round into form over the next month so that Underwood does not have to carry the ball 15-plus times in every game; that is a major physical burden to place on the starting quarterback. However, it is clear that Underwood can handle it and find success doing so.
Underwood’s passing line (9/17 for 111 yards) doesn’t impress. I thought he played much better than the raw stats suggest. He threw a beautiful deep ball down the field to Andrew Marsh that would have been a touchdown had the OU defender not committed pass interference to prevent it. JJ Buchanan dropped a nice ball that would have been a first down and had a sideline toe-tap ruled incomplete that was very close on another good throw. Freshman tight end Mason Bonner grabbed another good pass along the sideline, but did not get a foot in bounds.
Those four plays show up as incompletions or a penalty in the box score, but were all well-executed throws from Underwood that were not there in week one. He looked more comfortable in the pocket, did not put the ball in danger, and certainly took a step forward against an elite defense. He still has a long way to go as a passer, but deserves a lot of credit for his performance against Oklahoma.
3. Special teams play makes an impact
In low-scoring games, special teams are all the more important. UNLV transfer punter Cam Brown made his mark on Saturday. He punted seven times, with six of them inside the 20 yard line, and a long of 51. Two of the punts were downed inside the Oklahoma one yard line, totally flipping the field. Punting was a problem last season for Michigan; it certainly does not look to be one this year. Brown deserves a game ball for his efforts on Saturday. Michigan controlled the field position battle for most of the game thanks to him.
New kicker Trey Butkowski knocked through a 40-yard field goal in the second quarter that made it 10-0 Wolverines. The hands team did an excellent job containing the dangerous Isaiah Sategna on punt returns, limiting him to three returns for only 17 yards. The unit did make one crucial mistake, running into the punter on a drive in the first quarter, which extended the Oklahoma possession. Fortunately, the drive ultimately ended in a punt.
4. Penalties remain an issue
The aforementioned running into the punter penalty was one of 11 committed by Michigan, totaling 90 yards. Through two games, the team has been penalized 20 times for 170 yards. The mistakes are everywhere: holding, illegal formation, personal fouls, etc. Jyaire Hill, the eventual hero on defense, committed the worst penalty of the day. After Cam Brown pinned the Sonner offense inside the one for the second time, Hill got tagged with an unnecessary roughness call for throwing down an Oklahoma player after the play was over. With Oklahoma pinned, it was a prime chance to flip the field. Instead, Hill’s penalty allowed OU to put together a scoring drive to tie the game.
A holding call on Jake Guarnera wiped out a chunk run from Savion Hiter. As the season goes on and the offensive line starts to gel (more on that in the next section), the penalties should clean themselves up. Similarly, the formation penalties on offense should resolve themselves with more reps. But, for now, the lack of discipline Michigan has shown through two games is a major concern and area of focus going forward.
5. Running the ball is still a struggle
For the second straight game, Bryce Underwood led Michigan in rushing yards. Jordan Marshall and Savion Hiter combined for only 38 yards on 18 attempts after putting up 59 on 16 against Western. Once again, the offensive line is not doing its job. Too many times there is a missed assignment or whiffed block that, if executed properly, would have sprung a big play. The Oklahoma defensive front is one of the best in the country, and played like it.
There is too much talent between Hiter, Marshall, and the offensive line for the running game to struggle this much going forward. Once the starting unit is permanently established, and it appears to have moved closer to that with Nathan Efobi and Brady Norton starting on Saturday, improvement should come. Efobi did commit two penalties. Going into UTEP, I believe the guard spots are still up in the air. Fortunately, UTEP is nowhere near the level of Oklahoma, or even Western, up front, affording Michigan the opportunity to sort out a number of issues on offense. The run game has not performed well, but I am confident in Jason Beck getting it in tune as Big Ten play approaches.
Final thoughts
My biggest takeaway from Saturday’s win is how well the defense played. It looked like an elite unit full of high-level playmakers. The pass rush regularly won, bringing only three or four; the secondary held strong all game, and everyone tackled well. Bryce Underwood played a more mature game and held his own against an excellent defense. He and the offense as a whole still have a long way to go. The good news is that Michigan gets a “get right” game against UTEP next before Big Ten play starts with Iowa and Minnesota. Based on how the Hawkeyes struggled with Iowa State, Michigan is looking at a 4-1 record heading into the Penn State and Indiana homestand in mid-October. The team has a lot of work to do, but an outstanding defensive effort has Michigan at 2-0 to start the season, and all of its goals are still well within reach.
Photo via MGoBlog
