Michigan enters Big Ten play as the top rushing team in the nation, with the No. 3 scoring offense and the No. 8 defense against the score.
All that and $89.95 will get you a 16-ounce W Black Australian Wagu Ribeye at The Chop House the night before Michigan hosts Rutgers to begin playing for keeps. In other words, regarding a coveted rise in the Big Ten, junior defensive end Aidan Hutchinson’s words still resonate: “We haven’t done a damn thing.”
This isn’t Chris Ash’s smoldering heap of Scarlet Knights getting shoveled into Michigan Stadium, ready for another 78-0 beat down. Reinstalled head coach Greg Schiano knows what he’s doing, and brings his own 3-0 crew to town.
The visitors surrendered 34 points in three wins (Temple, Syracuse and Delaware) so far — just like the Wolverines. They’ve averaged 41 points per game, just a couple of field goals under Michigan’s 47 points-per-game mark.
Despite U-M’s strong start, despite the notion that it’s Rutgers — say the word like you just chugged an eight-ounce bottle of vinegar — the Wolverines can’t take anything for granted. When you’re coming off 2-4, and when everything gets tougher from here, there’s no room for looking ahead.
That said, we can look ahead. And we will.
Assuming the Wolverines claw their way past the Scarlet Knights, they enter a malevolent menu of eight games in nine weeks, including showdowns at Wisconsin, Michigan State and Penn State, with a seamy side of Buckeye tossed in at the end.
Who would have thought, eight months ago, the Spartans could be mentioned in that list of landmines? MSU finished even worse than Michigan in 2020, and saw players rushing to the transfer portal faster than Mark Dantonio rushing to appease probation officers.
But the portal works both ways, and MSU appears to have fixed itself through Steinbrenneresque means. It’s all part of what U-M sideline reporter Doug Karsch describes as the toughest college football season to predict in years.
“It seems like there are a lot of surprises and upsets,” Karsch said. “My theory is, last year was false data. So many teams had so many different circumstances that it’s hard to compare what a team on the West Coast went through that played four games, as opposed to a team in the South that played 14 games.
“We come into this year and we thought [Wisconsin quarterback] Graham Mertz was going to be a great quarterback, and he’s got the worst QBR for a Wisconsin quarterback in a decade. Spencer Rattler is struggling like no Oklahoma quarterback has since 2014. D.J. Uiagalelei is having problems at Clemson.
“Trying to predict what 2021 was going to be like? We lost the data points that are 2020 — a typical chance to evaluate a season and teams. It’s made this season really unpredictable.”
It’s true nationally, and it’s especially true about the home team.
Now that we’ve seen what we’ve seen, Karsch named the three toughest challenges still ahead for Michigan, in order.
1. Ohio State — “I think their toughest game is still Ohio State, until proven otherwise. Although, Ohio State is vulnerable. They’re absolutely vulnerable. So that just brings them back to the pack.
“Everybody else in the Big Ten has been vulnerable for years, and Ohio State has been immune to that. But now Ohio State is vulnerable.”
2. Penn State — “The road trip to State College is probably No. 2.” (We’d say the Nittany Lions have earned at least that, given a win at Wisconsin and a home victory over Auburn.)
3. Michigan State — “The trip to East Lansing is No. 3, given their resurgence.”
It’s almost shocking to see Wisconsin left off that list, at least in light of preseason expectations. The Badgers figured to be No. 2 on the list going in, behind the Buckeyes.
But Paul Chryst’s cheese chompers took one in the chops in their opener at Camp Randall Stadium. Locals insist the Badgers outplayed Penn State all afternoon, but the bottom line read 16-10 for the visitors.
If the Badgers drop one to Notre Dame on Saturday at Soldier Field, they’ll enter next week’s battle with the Wolverines desperate as a football program offering free tickets for Coke purchases.
“I would not say that Wisconsin is a punch-button win,” Karsch cautioned. “I would not say that Nebraska, coming off the glow of the most moral of victories [its 23-16 loss at Oklahoma] is a punch-button win.”
In other words, forget the future. Win on Saturday, and sit back and enjoy the carnage for another week. Hot starts against the MAC and the Pac(-12) are great, but the weekly attack is only beginning.
---
• Talk about this article inside The Fort
• Watch our videos and subscribe to our YouTube channel
• Listen and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes
• Learn more about our print and digital publication, The Wolverine
• Sign up for our daily newsletter and breaking news alerts
• Follow us on Twitter: @TheWolverineMag, @Balas_Wolverine, @EJHolland_TW,@JB_ Wolverine, @Clayton Sayfie and @DrewCHallett
• Like us on Facebook
