Kyle Whittingham's first Michigan football team has already achieved his first objective: Win every nonconference game.
Early in the season, it looked like the Wolverines story might be more tragedy than triumph under their new coach. U-M needed a Hail Mary (and an incorrect interpretation of NCAA rules on clock reviews) to beat Western Michigan and a timely interception to hold off Oklahoma. On Saturday, Michigan was down seven to lowly UTEP – which lost its opener by 51 points to Oklahoma – with less than two minutes to go in the second quarter.
From there, however, it was all Michigan. The Wolverines outscored the Miners by 42 points in the final 31:31, en route to a 52-17 rout.
it up in 2nd half
The No. 19 Wolverines (3-0) now enter Big Ten play, where their nascent College Football Playoff hopes, a season after going 9-4, will be answered – or dashed. U-M has yet to put four full quarters together, yet the most recent half has Whittingham feeling better about his team's outlook headed into his first Big Ten slate.
"I think we're trending in the right direction," Whittingham said. "Certainly our most productive offensive game by a landslide today. ... It's very obvious that when we play with the passion and energy that we need to display, that [we're] a really good football team.
"We've got to be able to bring the same mentality and the same energy week after week."
Through three weeks, one clear strength has emerged on this team − coordinator Jay Hill's defense. The Wolverines buried the Miners' offense in a major way Saturday, racking up 11 tackles for loss (by a combined 11 players), including four sacks. Much of that came during UTEP's first three drives of the second half, when U-M forced three consecutive three-and-outs.
Then, on the fourth drive, defensive tackle Jonah Lea'ea grabbed a screen pass for a pick-six. U-M's defense has allowed just three touchdowns through three weeks, with its front line wreaking havoc and its back end delivering consistent coverage.
But the most encouraging sign for U-M was a passing game that finally got going. Whittingham said Michigan made a concerted effort to get sophomore receiver Andrew Marsh the ball. It made a difference, as he hauled in 10 passes for 105 yards, including a 34-yard TD in the second half.
As a result, Bryce Underwood had his best game of the year, going 19-for-25 passes for 223 yards and two TDs.
"I feel like we're just now starting to kind of play our ball, really play to our level," Marsh said after the game. "But we know moving forward [into Big Ten play], I mean, it's real now."
Whittingham's goal on offense is for U-M's points and first downs add up to 60. The Wolverines' first two games fell well short of that, adding up to 56 – in two games combined.
But against UTEP, U-M had 52 points – and 27 first downs, for a total of 79. That's despite struggling for most of the first half.
Blame the rushing attack for that, despite some positive moments – Jordan Marshall scored from 6 yards out, true freshman Savion Hiter had the first two touchdowns of his career and ripped off another aggressive 15-yard run – more outliers than trend.
Through three games, Marshall, Hiter and Bryson Kuzdzal have averaged just 3.8 yards per carry and don't have a single carry of more than 15 yards. That won't cut it for long in league play, but Hiter believes the best is yet to come.
"I feel like we haven't played to our best ability yet," Hiter said. "Need to do more in first halves and finishing halves, and I feel like by then, no other team will beat us."
Therer are other issues to clean up. Among them:
- Underwood has just two completions of more than 20 air yards this season, one of which came on the Hail Mary that beat WMU.
- U-M has six turnovers (five fumbles, one interception) and fallen on potential fumbles on two more occasions. "Big concern," Whittingham said, pointing out that Indiana, the defending CFP champs, fumbled once all year. "We have definitely got our work cut out for us. We emphasize it in practice every day; it never goes uncoached. It's always something that that we're harping on."
- Michigan entered averaging 10 penalties a game and added four more Saturday, including a pair of critical ones: a holding call on its first drive that turned a would-be first-and-goal into first-and-20. Two plays later, U-M fumbled. On UTEP's ensuing drive, an offsides negated a sack that would've forced fourth down. The next play was a 45-yard UTEP touchdown.
So yes, Michigan is undefeated – but far from unworried.
The challenge level ratchets up against Iowa on Saturday (3:30 p.m., CBS). Nonconference play has taught U-M what's worked and what hasn't. Now, it's up to the Wolverines to shrink the latter.
"I don't think we had our best game yet," linebacker Chase Taylor said. "It's still coming, but we definitely know that you know it's conference play, it's getting real, so it's definitely time to take it up a notch."
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Tony Garcia is the Michigan beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.
Next up: Hawkeyes
Matchup: No. 19 Michigan (3-0, 0-0 Big Ten) vs. No. 20 Iowa (3-0, 0-0); Big Ten opener.
Kickoff: 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 26; Michigan Stadium, Ann Arbor.
TV/radio: CBS; WCSX (94.7).
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan football enters Big Ten knowing its strengths, warts
