JARED GREENSPAN
Managing Sports Editor
Michigan trounces Colorado State, 51-7, in season opener
T
hroughout
fall
camp,
the
Michigan
football
team maintained that it
had moved on from last season.
Nonetheless,
the
Wolverines
remained defined by last year’s
successes — a triumph over Ohio
State and a Big Ten Championship
— as well as its death knell, a
deflating loss to Georgia in the
College Football Playoff.
Saturday, after an offseason of
waiting, Michigan could officially
begin anew.
The Wolverines wasted little
time starting the season on a high
note, crushing Colorado State, 51-7,
in its season opener.
“The thing that strikes me the
most is, the opener is usually when
you get the most blown coverages
or muffed punts or turnovers, and
there was really nothing (today),”
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh
said. “… I can’t really think of any
instance from the team where
I didn’t think that we improved
from
today’s
efforts.
Good
learning experiences across the
board.”
Senior Cade McNamara —
appointed QB1 for Week One
— engineered a scoring drive on
Michigan’s
second
possession,
needing just two plays to find the
endzone. Junior receiver Roman
Wilson caught a screen pass and
burst down the sideline, juking out
a defender on his way to a 61-yard
touchdown, setting the tone for
the day.
But, despite what the score
suggests, the endzone became an
elusive target for the Wolverines
as the game progressed. On
three occasions in the first half,
Michigan settled for field goals
after entering the red zone, with
McNamara scuffling. Hampered
by injuries to graduate offensive
tackle Ryan Hayes and senior
offensive
lineman
Karsen
Barnhart,
the
Wolverines’
offensive line proved vulnerable.
Michigan’s receivers — highly-
touted throughout the offseason
— showed rust, too, with a couple
of dropped passes.
“It just looked like a first game,
I felt like, on the offensive side
of the ball,” McNamara, who
finished 9-of-18 with 136 yards,
said. “We’ve definitely got to clean
that up and I’m gonna be a part of
that.”
To
move
the
ball
against the Rams, the
Wolverines
leaned
on last year’s bread and butter:
the run game. While not quite
the same bruising unit without
Hassan
Haskins,
sophomore
Donovan Edwards and junior
Blake Corum produced 140 total
yards
and
two
touchdowns.
Corum’s score late in the first
half propelled a comfortable 23-0
halftime lead.
Under first-year coordinator
Jesse Minter, Michigan’s new-
look defense flourished, ensuring
that the game stayed out of
reach. For one day, at least, the
Wolverines did not miss Aidan
Hutchinson and David Ojabo, with
the defense generating seven sacks
and consistent pressure along the
line. Senior edge rusher Mike
Morris, who contributed
two tackles for loss,
maintained
that
the
RAMPING UP
defensive line played with a chip on
its shoulder; the rest of the defense
appeared to have mimicked that
mantra, too.
“There’s been a lot of talk
about that we lost a lot of guys,”
sophomore
linebacker
Junior
Colson said. “I just think we
proved that we can still be
dominant without them.”
They did just that against
the Rams, also forcing a pair of
turnovers — one of the unit’s
concerted
efforts
during
the
offseason. Senior cornerback D.J.
Turner notched a 45-yard scoop-
and-score early in the second half
to put Michigan up 30-0, erasing
any concern of a collapse.
With the outcome a formality,
Michigan gave fans a treat by
turning to its Week Two starter,
sophomore J.J. McCarthy. In
what may be a sneak peek of next
week’s performance, McCarthy
flourished in the read option
game, rushing for 50 yards and
a touchdown — a performance
Harbaugh dubbed as “electric.”
In the public eye, Saturday
marked the first step towards
replicating
—
and
perhaps
besting — last year’s success.
Not everything was rosy, but the
Wolverines merely did what good
teams do, avoiding any notion of
an upset.
Postgame,
Harbaugh
noted
that he judges each game based
on three criteria: winning, getting
better and staying healthy. And
with year eight of his tenure
as Michigan coach under way,
he could categorize Saturday’s
performance as a stellar start.
“I just think it was a good
warmup,” Colson said, candidly.
“It was a good warmup game.”
SPORTSWEDNESDAY
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