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TheMichiganDaily, www.michigandaily.com
What to watch for: Offensive line
seeks breakthrough vs. Beavers
By ZACH SHAW
Daily Sports Editor
1. Can the offensive line
finally improve?
With all five starters returning
from 2014, the general sense was
that this season would be the
one when Michigan’s offensive
line returned to the program’s
bruising ways of old. That was
half-true in Thursday’s loss to
Utah.
The
Wolverines
kept
the
nation’s leader in sacks last
season from getting to Rudock,
but still failed to create holes
in the running game. It didn’t
matter if it was up the middle or
to the outside or whether it was
De’Veon Smith, Derrick Green or
Ty Isaac. The junior backs only
earned 2.6 yards per carry, far
from a victorious formula.
“Of course we want to be better
at rushing the football,” said
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh.
“And that comes with the interior
line, and the interior line has
got to play as an entire unit. We
talked about it a little earlier,
(the key is all 11 players) playing
together and not one guy having a
breakdown or missed block.”
The answer to the offensive
line woes may have taken a hit
early Thursday afternoon, when
junior offensive tackle Logan
Tuley-Tillman
was
dismissed
from the team for what Harbaugh
called “conduct unacceptable for
a Michigan student athlete” in a
statement. Though Tuley-Tillman
was on the line’s second unit, the
dismissal puts a large dent in the
offensive line’s depth. Those still
with the team will look to live up
to their big expectations against
another Pac-12 defensive front.
2. How will Michigan win
the turnover battle?
Sometimes,
even
free
sweatshirts
in
exchange
for
interceptions aren’t enough to
get the Wolverines to win the
turnover battle.
Last season, Michigan was
124th out of 128 teams in the
country
in
turnover
margin,
handing the ball over 16 more
times than it took it. With eight
defensive
starters
returning
and (previously) turnover-proof
gradute
transfer
quarterback
Jake Rudock taking control of the
offense, many expected the team
to turn the tables and table the
turnovers.
Instead, a Rudock pick-six —
his third interception of the game
— turned what could have been a
Michigan game-
tying
drive
into a dagger
by Utah, while
the
defense
mustered
a
meaningless
Hail
Mary
interception
at the end of
the first half.
Though Rudock
threw just five
interceptions in 345 attempts last
season, it took him just 31 throws
to reach three for the Wolverines.
“I would like to see more
aggressiveness in terms of the
ball,” Harbaugh said. “Clubbing it,
ripping it, getting it out, getting it
over to our side. Be more handsy.
Getting our hands on balls,
whether they’re tips or (pass
break-ups) or interceptions.”
Fortunately
for
Michigan,
Utah had the 18th-best turnover
margin
among
Power
Five
conference teams last season,
and the Beavers didn’t. With
less
defensive
pressure
from
Oregon
State
and
a
true
freshman
starting for the
Beavers,
the
Wolverines will
have
a
great
chance to win
the
turnover
battle for just
the second time
since 2013.
3. Can Michigan contain a
spread offense?
Michigan’s defensive problems
against the spread date all the
way back to the Lloyd Carr era,
but until they go away, no game
is a cupcake for the Wolverines.
Against Utah, Michigan allowed
quarterback Travis Wilson, who
didn’t earn the starting job until
days before the game, to scramble
for 53 yards on the ground — more
than any Wolverine in the game.
Things
don’t
look
much
easier this week. True freshman
quarterback
Seth
Collins
scampered for 153 yards on 17
carries in the Beavers’ 26-7 win
over Weber State on Saturday.
Michigan
provides
a
much
tougher test for Collins, but as
Michigan fans know all too well,
mobile quarterbacks from Ohio
State to Appalachian State can
wreak havoc in the Big House if
given room to run.
“We’ve got to start playing
more
aggressively
and
stop
waving and start going to attack
the
offenses,”
said
defensive
backs coach Greg Jackson. “I
don’t think we did that enough as
a secondary last week.”
4. Will Michigan Stadium
explode from Harbaugh fever?
This is the safest bet of all. You
can be sure the biggest cheer of
the game will be when the former
quarterback
officially
returns
to the Big House sidelines as a
coach. ESPN’s SportsCenter has
even traveled to Ann Arbor to
broadcast live from the scene.
Though
the
coaches
—
including
Harbaugh
—
have
largely
downplayed
the
homecoming event, Harbaugh’s
son,
tight
ends
coach
Jay
Harbaugh, admitted that after
hearing about Michigan Stadium
so much as a kid, his first game
in Ann Arbor will be one to
remember.
“I’m excited for it, I’m really
excited for it,” Jay Harbaugh
said. “I tell all these recruits
about it, and I haven’t even
experienced yet. It’s a one-of-a-
kind experience from what I’ve
ALLISON FARRAND/Daily
Redshirt junior guard Kyle Kalis and the offensive line will look to improve on the 2.8 yards per carry Michigan averaged last week at Utah.
“It’s a one-of-a-
kind experience
from what I’ve
heard.”