Wolverine Watch: Running Away With One

Michigan’s night showdown with Washington drew eight months of hype worthy of a heavyweight prize fight. In the end, the Huskies played speed bag to the Wolverines’ pummeling.

U-M’s revived defense surrendered a mere 10 points and 50 rushing yards — compared to U-M’s overwhelming 343 rushing yards — in the Wolverines’ 31-10 win. New coordinator Mike Macdonald retains his wizard hat for another week, while U-M’s running backs keep storming on.

The question becomes, are the Wolverines really that good on defense, or is Washington that inept on offense? It might just be a little bit of both.

The Huskies came in tainted before 108,345 maized-out fans in The Big House. The Pac-12 invaders looked like dogs in week one of the 2021 season, managing 65 yards rushing and throwing three interceptions in a mind-numbing, 13-7 defeat against FCS crew Montana.

That didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of the crowd, on go from the onset. They forced a delay of game penalty on the first play of the game, and it fed a high-decibel effort from the packed house all night long.

Macdonald’s crew took over from there. No, Washington isn’t Ohio State on offense — and OSU isn’t, yet. But the Huskies pointed to and prepped for this one over the course of eight months.

As Freddy Fender might have sung it, those were wasted days and wasted nights.

Macdonald spent a week hailed as a “scientist,” a “stud” and a play-diagnosing genius from this troops, following the season-opening win over Western Michigan. Junior defensive end/outside linebacker Aidan Hutchinson hasn’t curbed his enthusiasm for the new DC’s approach almost since he walked in the door.

Jim Harbaugh looked comfortable with a defensive, grinding battle. He leaned on the Wolverines’ defense and run game like a road worker leaning on a shovel.

“We didn’t target too much [passing-wise],” Harbaugh acknowledged. “We all kind of realized, they’re having a hard time stopping this running game. We’re going to keep doing it until they stop it — and they didn’t. We kept feeding the running game.

“Going into the game, we’re not going to win throwing the ball outside the numbers. Those corners are really good. We were going to fare a lot better running the ball 52 times than we would have throwing 52 times.”

U-M’s offense demonstrated the enthusiasm of a shotgun wedding groom for throwing downfield. The Wolverines wound up with 44 yards through the air, 33 of them coming on a single toss to sophomore wideout Cornelius Johnson.

Harbaugh’s offense spent most of the night paying silent tribute to Bo Schembechler. The Wolverines kept ringing up yards on the ground, featuring the lightning and thunder combination of freshman back Blake Corum (171 yards, three TDs rushing) and redshirt sophomore running back Hassan Haskins (155 yards, one touchdown on the ground).

“If H2 [Haskins] is hot, he’s staying in,” Corum said. “If I’m hot, I’m staying in. We just kind of feed off each other. Like I said last week, Thunder and Lightning. We don’t go into the game thinking, you’re going to get this many carries, I’m going to get this many carries. We just go with the flow.”

The flow came in a flood against the Huskies.

Corum’s 67-yard touchdown bolt delivered a 10-0 halftime lead to the Wolverines, after Harbaugh rolled the dice on a successful fake punt in his own territory. Meanwhile, Haskins played battering ram to close out the win late, after Washington scrambled to its only touchdown early in the fourth quarter.

Bottom line in this one? Defensive backs coach Steve Clinkscale nailed it in his session during the week. Asked if he saw the defense elements getting him excited, he stiff-armed the opportunity.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” he insisted.

Harbaugh didn’t disagree afterward, while acknowledging U-M’s strong work. He noted the Huskies hit some passes, insisting the Wolverines need to clean up their communication game.

“They hit a couple of slants and hit a couple open dig routes in the middle,” Harbaugh said. “We weren’t playing the call. There’s still improvement to be had there, but Mike did a great job of calling the defense.”

Work to do. That goes for every aspect of U-M’s game, save perhaps special teams. Junior Jake Moody nailed a 52-yard, first-quarter field goal that would have been good from 60, while the gutsy direct snap to redshirt sophomore linebacker Michael Barrett in punt formation set up Corum’s long TD bolt.

But it’s way better to go back to work 2-0 than 1-1, with a second-week humiliation against Michigan State. Or 0-2, like the Huskies.

This season remains about building some significant forward momentum, following the offseason’s dramatic remake of the coaching staff. So far, so good there.

“From here, we’re just going to put our head down, remain humble,” Corum said. “We haven’t done anything yet. It’s two great wins, but we have more to do, more to prove, and I can’t wait to see how far we go — because it’s going to be far.”

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