Five Key Questions For Michigan Football On Rutgers Week

Michigan Wolverines football is looking to snap a three-game losing streak in Piscataway on Saturday night, when it takes on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, who are also on a three-game skid.

Here are five key questions we have about U-M this week:

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Rutgers was the cure for a reeling U-M team last year, after the Wolverines got blown out, 35-14, by Wisconsin. The Maize and Blue pulled off a 52-0 victory at The Big House after hitting rock bottom in Madison during a debacle of a game.

Coming off a 49-11 home loss to the Badgers this year, U-M is in a similar spot, starving for a win, though the hunger level is even higher now, and there's as much pressure as there could possibly be.

The big question is, was last week's embarrassment rock bottom, or could the Wolverines fall even further?

There's already been discussion about whether the coaching staff has lost the team, and a loss to the lowly Scarlet Knights would make it nearly impossible to regain the focus of the group.

The 2014 season, Brady Hoke's final one in Ann Arbor, saw U-M hit rock bottom with a loss at Rutgers. There was virtually no way Hoke would be returning the next year after that one and, sure enough, he didn't. The Wolverines ended up winning three of the final six games after that, but those didn't mean much.

But unlike then, this one means a lot for the future of not only this season, but beyond, which goes hand-in-hand with our next question ...

For now, we'll take this team's word for it that they're still motivated and want to win badly enough to pick up a W in Piscataway, which — considering the talent gap — should be all the Wolverines need to do just that.

“Everybody trusts each other here — we trust the coaches and they trust us," redshirt freshman left tackle Karsen Barnhart said this week. "It’s just a big family who wants to win. We’re looking at our mistakes and continuing to push forward.

“We’re keeping a positive mindset and just looking at the next week. Everyone is still locked in.”

We'll know for sure Saturday night if there is life left in this team. There's no reason why a focused U-M team shouldn't beat a team that just lost to Illinois. U-M fans are hoping the Wisconsin game was rock bottom, and that there's no more spiraling left to go.

Head coach Jim Harbaugh revealed Monday that the quarterback competition has "opened up," after redshirt sophomore starter Joe Milton struggled mightily against Wisconsin and redshirt freshman Cade McNamara made the most of his opportunity in relief duty.

Milton has had an up-and-down season, and while he wasn't the reason for the Michigan State and Indiana losses, he didn't do enough to win the games. He was reason No. 1 why the Wolverines failed to even compete early against the Badgers, though, throwing two interceptions on his first two passes (making it three straight throws that were picked off, going back to the loss in Bloomington). He's completing 58.7 percent of his attempts with four touchdowns and four interceptions on the season.

The easy bet is on Milton retaining his title as starter. He's shown throughout his time in Ann Arbor that he's willing to fight, and we wouldn't bet on him backing down from the competition this week. But if he again has a hard time, McNamara could come in — and he's shown he can be effective, completing 3 of 3 passes for 74 yards and a 23-yard dime of a touchdown pass (plus the two-point conversion) in his first drive of the night, late in the third quarter.

There are no excuses for what's gone on, but U-M has seen five of its top players entering 2020 either opt out or get injured early on.

Junior defensive end Aidan Hutchinson confirmed on Instagram this week that he will miss the remainder of the season with a leg fracture. Senior end Kwity Paye has a "lower-body injury," with his status uncertain. Redshirt sophomore starting offensive tackles Ryan Hayes and Jalen Mayfield have also missed the last two games, and it's unknown when they will return.

That's in addition to preseason opt-outs from senior wideout Nico Collins and classmate cornerback Ambry Thomas, arguably the team's top players at their respective positions.

Flat out, the replacements for those injured (and opted out) aren't getting the job done.

U-M was gashed on the edges by Wisconsin without its bookends, Hutchinson and Paye, with the Badgers having wide receivers average 10 yards per carry on jet sweeps and gain 105 yards on the ground.

On the offensive side, the Wolverines are 58th in the country in run blocking, per PFF, with the numbers going down drastically the last two weeks while the team was without Hayes and Mayfield.

Getting Hayes, Mayfield and Paye back as soon as possible would go a long way in trying to salvage some pride the rest of the way.

Running backs coach Jay Harbaugh indicated two weeks back that he had no plans to change what he had been doing with the rotation, and he's stayed true to his statement. All four of the top backs — sophomore Zach Charbonnet (84 snaps), freshman Blake Corum (63), fifth-year senior Chris Evans (60) and redshirt sophomore Hassan Haskins (43) — have essentially received similar reps through four games, even though it's been clear Haskins has been the team's best at the position.

Haskins is averaging 7.8 yards per carry and is leading the team in rushing by a long shot, with 163 yards and three touchdowns. He's actually averaging 3.8 rushing yards per snap, which is much better than what Corum and Evans are averaging per carry.

Jim Harbaugh said last week he's placing a priority on rotating more players at different positions to try to get more production, but running back is a spot where less rotation seems to be the logical next step.

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