In what would be highly panned as a "boring" game of football, Michigan was able to beat Nebraska using a heavy dose of running in a 34-3 victory over the Huskers on Saturday.
Below are three final thoughts from the win.
The passing game is what it is at this point
It wasn't pretty. I think we can retroactively stop asking out loud when the passing game is going to open up. With two games left in the season, it's just not going to happen.
Which is fine, I suppose.
The rushing attack is what has gotten you here, you just have to hope that these last two games don't require you to challenge defenses downfield, the last game in particular.
Wide receivers are struggling to find separation and, when it happens, the play just seems to be off-kilter with its timing by about a second.
You can absolutely blame Michigan's rushing attack on the passing woes, too. When you're passing 17 times a game and rushing for over 40, you will never find the rhythm necessary to get a passing game flowing. Thankfully, the scoreboard hasn't reflected any sense of desperation—yet.
At this point, the passing game is what it is and fans will have to accept its limitations despite the talents that are on the field. Maybe the switch magically gets flipped for Ohio State but the run game is always going to be relied upon moving forward.
Blake Corum will take this team as far as he can go
To go along with the point above, this team would be nothing without Blake Corum. He is clearly going to take this team as far as it can go. Teams are loading the box in a desperate attempt to take away the running game from the Wolverines. It showed with Corum's day on the ground. 28 rushes for 162 yards.
His longest of the day? 12 yards.
The team is firmly on his back and he proved it once again against a Nebraska defense that is bad.
They'll need him two more times in order to start thinking about postseason football.
Nagging injuries are adding up
To no fault of their own, the injury bug is biting the Wolverines at an inopportune time. Fortunately, most of the injuries aren't serious so there's a silver lining in all of this.
However, it's clear that the Wolverines will need to be as close to full strength as possible in the stretch run.
Of course, this is football, injuries happen and asking a team that has played 10 games of physical football to have a clean bill of health requires a lot of luck. It's unfortunate that the injuries are happening to key players.
Both Donovan Edwards and Mike Morris departed the game with injuries and it's unknown the severity of both. Trevor Keegan missed the game with an unknown injury as did Luke Schoonmaker.
The idea is to rest guys with Ohio State in mind. Fortunately, the Wolverines have been afforded that opportunity with the schedule.
There's no denying the injured list is growing rapidly by the week. I am not ready to hit the panic button just yet, though.
