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

JULIA SCHACHINGER/Daily

JULIA SCHACHINGER/Daily

JULIA SCHACHINGER/Daily

JENNA HICKEY/Daily

JULIA SCHACHINGER/Daily

JENNA HICKEY/Daily

JULIA SCHACHINGER/Daily

