Michigan Wolverines have one major area of need on offense to clean up ahead of their massive showdown against Oklahoma Sooners
The Michigan Wolverines have one key area of improvement to make on offense before they take on the Oklahoma Sooners
If you’re a fan of the Michigan Wolverines, seeing Michigan’s offensive display against New Mexico in Week 1 had to feel like a breath of fresh air after seeing last year’s disaster week in and week out. Michigan’s 34 points in Week 1 were more than they scored in all but one game last season (a 50-6 rout of Northwestern).
However, there was one area that stood out for Michigan that they will have to address if they want to pull off a win over the Oklahoma Sooners.
Michigan’s Rushing Attack Needs Plenty of Work
On 17 of Michigan’s 27 non-touchdown runs, they went for three or fewer yards. Outside of the explosive runs produced by Justice Haynes, the Wolverines’ rushing attack was largely lackluster. While Michigan will certainly take the explosive plays, the consistency has to improve.
They averaged .25 EPA/Rush against New Mexico. However, if you remove those explosive plays, they fell to -.14 EPA/Play, over a full third of a point differential. In fact, New Mexico actually produced a higher defensive stop rate than Michigan did in this game.
Improving their consistency will matter in the long run, because Michigan needs to avoid getting into true passing situations in late downs. On early downs, Michigan had a .23 EPA/Play, buoyed by those explosive passes. On late downs? That number dropped to -.11 EPA/Play. That .34 difference is the same as Miami’s offense last season compared to Michigan’s. Suffice to say, it’s a vast, vast gap.
This is made even worse by their opponent. Brent Venables is a mad scientist, and Oklahoma’s defense has taken major steps forward under his tutelage. Their defensive line is one of the best, if not the outright best, in the country, and they aren’t going to give up ground easily against the Wolverines.
If Michigan wants a chance at beating the Sooners, they have to be able to run the ball better consistently. They cannot ask Bryce Underwood to simply shoulder the load and put it all on his shoulders in his second career game and first start on the road in a primetime hostile environment.
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