Wolverine Watch: U-M Warms To Frost Melting
This time around, Nebraska coach Scott Frost might have seen the train coming.
Frost boasted two years ago that his Central Florida squad “outhit” Michigan in a 51-14 nail-biter at The Big House. This time around, the ‘Huskers were hiding in an outhouse, unwisely located directly on the tracks of Jim Harbaugh’s Blue Express.
Thirty minutes into Michigan’s 56-10 devastation of the Cornhuskers, all that remained were some wood splinters, a massive red smear and scattered corncobs. Michigan thundered through Frost’s 0-3 crew in a 39-0 first half, rendering the final 30 minutes meaningless as a surfboard shop stand in South Sioux City.
Frost is back in the big leagues, and he probably had a clue coming in. Maybe he was trying to set the Wolverines up when telling the local press days before the game it was probably going to get worse for Nebraska before it gets better.
Or maybe he’d just run out of bluster.
In any case, his team caught a cow-catcher right in the teeth, from a Michigan crew intent on delivering a message.
They’d heard Frost two years ago, loud and clear. They were going to hit back, a 60-minute hailstorm reducing the cornfield to shreds.
Some downplayed the motivation, like head coach Jim Harbaugh. The boss hailed his team’s grit, execution and improvement, but insisted he didn’t even remember Frost’s chilly post-game comments from 2016.
His players added a dose of long-memory motivation to their game-day arsenal.
“It was stressed a lot,” junior linebacker Devin Bush Jr. said. “Coach [Don] Brown came into a meeting and he restated what he said two years ago about UCF. We really took that to heart. We wanted to make a statement — when you say something, make sure it’s true.”
Michigan didn’t have to say it hit harder that the ‘Huskers. They just went out and buried them, over and over and over again.
The Wolverines treated Nebraska quarterback Adrian Martinez like the endangered species he became. They hounded him mercilessly, picking him off on the opening series and allowing him a grand total of 22 yards passing.
By the second half, the game was gone (39-0) and so was Martinez. Why get your best hope at QB crushed in a contest already decided?
“The game was over at halftime,” Frost bluntly admitted. “We didn’t want to play him anymore.”
Michigan’s offense belted Frost’s defense in the first quarter, scoring three touchdowns and nearly getting senior tailback Karan Higdon to 100 yards rushing in 15 minutes.
All part of the plan, the senior captain stressed.
“That was one thing we talked about this week, just bringing it to them, unleashing everything all at once,” Higdon said. “Guys don’t like that. I don’t think you’d like to be punched in the face, either.”
Redshirt junior offensive tackle Jon Runyan insisted an offensive line that paved the way for 285 rushing yards sustained strong memories as well.
“We took that to heart,” he said of Frost’s 2016 remarks. “We didn’t forget that. We remembered the coach’s comments the last time we played against him. All week, Coach Harbaugh and Coach [Ed] Warinner talked about being tough and out-toughing them. That’s what we did. We proved it today.”
And the man whose words helped fuel the fire? He said his team hit bottom against a team that hit hard.
“I thought they competed,” Frost said. “Execution, no. Physicality, we got whipped … I thought it was pretty clear, we’re not ready to compete against a team like that. Coach Harbaugh has done a great job. He’s been here long enough to get his guys and get it installed.”
Now, nobody will hand Michigan a trophy for pummeling a winless, retooling team. But the Wolverines are getting better, week-to-week, and Alabama, Georgia, Clemson and Ohio State don’t appear on the schedule over the next several weeks.
The teams that do are hardly invincible. Duke, Akron, Temple, BYU and Arizona State have proven that.
Michigan’s offense is light years ahead of where it was 12 months ago. Its defense is rounding into shape, building depth and situational savvy. Its special teams are potent.
“This was a statement game, and there’s more to come,” Higdon said. “When other people we’ve got to play watch this film, they’ll say, ‘Wow. Those guys up front are bringing it.’”
And the statement?
“We’re here,” Higdon stressed. “We’re here for Big Ten. We’re here to compete, and see where we end up at the end of the season.”
The possibilities remain wide open. Properly motivated and increasingly capable, this team can get on a run.
Not much can shut Frost’s defiance up. Michigan did, if only for a day. Somewhere, Lloyd Carr and Charles Woodson are smiling — and they have plenty of company.
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